Post by Catcher Reeves on Oct 3, 2021 14:57:04 GMT -5
Once all the stuff was out of his hands, he picked up the bowl he had placed beside him, stirring the contents with a spoon as he listened to the conversation, thinking about the game. It was a great idea and he was happy to participate, relieved someone came up with something to do because he was up for anything yet had no plans. His mind was asking him why he was so afraid of struggling, dumb question to flirt and not flirt with Natasha revolving like it was unnatural when he had always just been whoever he was with her and it was fine. Something had changed drastically and he was suddenly noticing every little action he did or didn’t do, overthinking, completely out of character. As he flipped the spoonful but didn’t eat, he felt his heart beat quicken with some anxiety and anticipation. He wanted to try what he could tell Cloud wanted him to do the moment the teams had been decided and sure enough, he felt hands grip him to put him through an earthquake as he stiffened hold of the food to avoid spilling. The spoon clanked with the bowl until the man stopped shaking him and his eyes automatically went up to the sky in exasperation, blowing a gust through his nose that should have been a sigh. ”Would you just stop…” The clap, the comment that victory was to be had under his belt and all the staring Cloud was doing triggered him to show his impatience as he turned up from his food and faced his friend, half glaring with a sheen as the whites of his eyes flashed more than usual.
At this point there was no guarantee he could succeed but he had a few times since the first, yet he really didn’t want to be a wildcard and just thought being the wolf he was, would be the answer to any problems the future could bring. He didn’t think he would ever tell Natasha, it would shatter everything they had known about each other and just be an obstacle in their union. There were no leads about anything for him and he worried about what kind of abomination he had become as he reached an age maturity milestone. Claude and Cloud may have jumped for joy, intrigued, marveled, coming up with nefarious and amazing ways to relish in the gift he possessed but he was unstable, stressed like a ticking time bomb without mastery at this stage. Once that consistency was established, he would be troubled about the immense freedom that provided, the power it made him feel as he figured out what uses to put it to as though there may be a detrimental final form. Some days he was weakened, hurting himself more easily in spite of the healing factor and others he was normal, still burning a fever in his skin. It was almost a terrible identity crisis, a secret that deserved to be shared with the people he held dearest but there was a chance it just created an ocean between him and them. He was different now in a way all the differences he had before couldn’t challenge. It didn’t matter that he sounded like he reprimanded Cloud because there was no getting out of his friend’s insistence anytime, every time; it was just graffiti words against a wall.
”They don’t care if you scream like a girl… we just wanna know all about your beauty regimen. That photo Fefe took… should be a poster.” Cloud never lacked knowledge that he was an attractive man, sharp featured and pretty enough to wear anything but he passed it all off as though he were just some punk. He took the opportunity to remind everyone of how much his friend secretly liked to be praised for his appearance, it was why he tried so many new styles and developed the confidence to show it all off; attractiveness attracting many an attractive hopeful lover, he knew who he was in the most enviable way. Catcher’s hair was falling into his face after the jostling, longer strands waving on the tip of his nose as he pushed it quickly with the back of his hand so it didn’t stick to food. With a spoon he ended up biting on, he shoved the whole palm full of fringe up in a fluster so he could keep eating and it stayed in place as though wind had blown through. It slowed the eating process as he paused, chewing very judgmentally while Cloud talked about winning and would not stop moving like Adderall was his blood. The expression continued as he rested an elbow on his knee and held the utensil loosely, sideways glancing at the man and giving Feather a look of wonder as to how they had the same parents. Then Feather bluntly dissolved any way for Cloud to rebuke her by coming out with the fact he does scream like a girl and he almost coughed up his food. Simultaneously she handed him some of the potato that had crisped and it smelled like fries, wafting to him as he swallowed and nodded at her in thanks then started eating them.
Natasha’s faint whisper tickled the depths of his ear but he didn’t move, a tiny smile evolving as he swallowed and looked at her, forgetting for a moment to care about any of the unpredictable things abound. The way he met her eyes said it all; not only were his lips sealed, he didn’t want to do anything other than be alone with her and he would have fast forwarded the entire night until they were lying in the tent. He didn’t know what he would say to her once the time came but he was unafraid of silence and imagined that maybe she would be the rare person who wasn’t either even though they had plenty of scope to talk about. With any luck he would stop choking at crunch time because this was the first night they would be sharing what was close enough to be a bed. Before, being alone in so much time passing that the moon became the sun they didn’t sleep and they weren’t confined to a space, even if they had been at his house and this was a makeshift bed.
He had no idea why it was such a big deal when in the back of his mind, he had an inkling it was because he kept thinking of her as the way she was years before, near and far, untouchable darling who would never be caught dead in a tent even with Quil. It was more about her than about him as with every step he took closer to her, he had left so much up to her to initiate out of grace to truly know who she was now, but that felt like it wasn’t what she wanted. They hung out whenever he knew Candela was working her shift throughout the night in some guilty way that he just wanted to avoid conflict even when there wasn’t anything going on between all three of them. ”I guess I am.” He answered liquidly and scraped the rest of the food into his mouth as his gaze taunted Cloud directly with a creeping devious arrogance. When he noticed there was a faint murmur of zoning out in the shapeshifter’s actions, he straightened and poured the rest of his food into his mouth, softened vegetable and delicious gravy blending with meat that broke apart satiating hunger. The after taste stayed on his buds and his closing lips licked the spoon clean as he watched with bated breath that he should have known Cloud would cut right to the chase. It would have been nicer if there was more time for the women to bond as he saw Feather happily sharing her food with Natasha but she too ended up getting up and he wasn’t sure for a moment what she was going to do.
Genetic makeup of DNA distorted and the tan cat had stared at him, the thud of his pulse ringing in his ears as the icy irises fixated, large and round like empty glistening pools. It was a reluctant moment; he had chased him before even as a human and it was completely berserk, that ‘oh shit’ instant nowhere near how difficult it would be to catch him. They were each other’s responsibility and the impulsive timing of him taking off was going to force him to be something faster than wolf but he had no idea what or if anything unpracticed would even stick as camouflage. Now that it seemed Feather was changing, he witnessed the spellbinding switch as she became a smaller, tawnier mountain lion, her eyes equally pale and chillingly reminiscent of her spirit. It was like cameras were flashing and they were done within seconds, and she nudged her brother in cat like fondness. The slow silently creeping paws made their way back to their circle but he knew Cloud was about to sprint off any instant as he remained by the edge of the fireplace.
”Ah fuck, okay then.” It was a quiet mutter, so gentle it didn’t convey the crude nature of meaning. He put the finished bowl down and hopped over the log to rush behind Natasha to their tent, beginning to take his light jacket off and then halting to debate his dilemma, chucking it into the entrance flap. He had never needed to take his clothes off to phase; he just did it because everyone else had and seeing them taught him his clothes were supposed to shred. It took him through the entire inconvenience of acting the same way but saving his attire beforehand as a rule of thumb. Prior to moving here, it had happened when he was enraged, undressed and that aligned with everything the pack had told him was customary. When he turned on Claude’s couch, he zapped back without going nude and he had just stopped breathing as though someone did a fluke of a curse on him, some petrified mutated anomaly. To that day all his transformations were like a blast of gunpowder, a burst of flame, a grenade exploding; they were not bestial, nothing like Veronica’s change in front of Rafael. His change had not surprised Claude but he had been cautious Rafael may have seen the difference if he had woken up during but both he and Veronica were none the wiser when he painstakingly urged himself to turn back. He never phased in front of her or the others, limited to only unphasing and he sometimes came across as the ultimate prude compared to the other guys but it was a slow unfolding revelation that he had always had the signs of being something else and just ignored them. He dashed into the tent in a haste that would have confused Natasha and puffed in a silently discoloured, unlighted flare as discreetly as possible, holding still so that all that black he saw in his eyes, instead of the red fury everyone else had, didn’t appear or spread manifesting literal smog the more he moved in transition. The truth was in the shadows quite literally and he solemnly treaded out as the dark wolf she expected to see, blue grey evening sky coldly basking the shade of his fur as his narrowing eyes circled back to the slender mountain lions and he paced low, rounding Natasha until he was opposite Cloud, hair spiking at the tips.
Last Edit: Oct 3, 2021 14:57:58 GMT -5 by Catcher Reeves
Post by Natasha Black on Oct 5, 2021 10:02:15 GMT -5
It was nice to hear Cloud speak highly of his sister. It was great they were so close, it made her wonder about how they were when they were growing up. Some siblings were so competitive but Cloud and Feather didn't seem like the type to fight about who was better at what. It was funny to hear how Feather could scare Cloud, she too could be quiet on his feet besides the odd clumsiness that came with her wearing higher heeled shoes which she did often feeling too short around the boys.Girls were just more light on their feet then boys were, being shifters they almost had an extra gracefulness about them. Catcher was right though, it didn't matter if he screams like a girl, it would only matter if Feather could catch it on camera one day. If it ever happens she would be the first one making into a meme and sharing it to all of their friends. " I think most guys scream like girls when they get scared. It's nothing to be ashamed of, the face masks, and lotions maybe.." it would actually be very amusing to see what he would look like after their little game of hide and seek. It was almost impossible to stay clean in the woods, it would be funny to see his precious face covered in mud and twigs and leaves stuck in his hair. She didn't mind getting dirty; it was the one thing she could never avoid.
This time was the first in a long time she had felt genuinely happy. She was sad for so long and had people always worrying about her. I was grateful to be around Feather and Cloud who didn't know who she was before meeting them at the national park. That day she was the farthest from her old self, cutting off her hair, dying it, her outfit and going for a ride on a motorcycle were all things she wouldn't have done regularly. She wouldn't have never done any of it if Catcher hadn't come back. Here around the fire she felt free from judgment, she had felt Seth and Veronica both had a problem with how she had been acting lately, almost giving up every free moment she had to spend time with Catcher.They thought she was just moving onto him like he was the toy she had forgotten in the back of her closet and didn't care about until the old one was broken. It was far from that, it took her breaking her imprint to notice the little things she had missed before. She owned it to him and herself to explore the feeling which seemed to spark into her mind when she had seen him looking down at her on the beach. She wasn't sure if they had always been there or not, hidden behind the curtain of a bond that gave her tunnel vision. Now the blinders were off.
When Feather held out the plate in her direction she looked at it from her hand thanking her friend with a smile."Who need meat everyday anyways?" She just hoped Feather would enjoy what she had prepared. Tash never just cooked vegetables as a meal. In reality she actually didn't cook big meals too often, maybe once or twice a month when her uncle would invite Charlie or someone over for dinner so she would do something simple as roasting vegetables and some chunk of meat. It was something most people couldn't mess up. He had never asked her to do it but there was a period of time she never really went anywhere and would use having a dinner guest as a way to stay in.
Sitting down she began to eat poking at the vegetables gathering them up on her fork trying to get one of each one to make them all blend together with taste in her mouth. She put the fork full in her mouth making her cheeks puff up like a chipmunk as she chewed them up enough to swallow them down with a gulp. She didn't want to be the last one to finish but at this rate she probably would be and they would be all waiting, Cloud probably wouldn't want to wait to see what advantage he had over her, he already seemed to be moving around as if he was all hopped up something rather it be excitement or something else. She blushed a little as he had mentioned Catcher being in bed with the enemy. He wasn't yet but the sure would be later, all snuggled either watching a movie or enjoying a moment to themselves. She poked at her food more, shoveling it in rather than responding to the conversation. She could see Cloud had finished eating his bowl, at this point he could give Seth a run for his money when it came to eating. The boys just seemed to rather enjoy having a full stomach over enjoying every bite.
Cloud had gotten up and moved into the tent, returning soon after in his other form. Her eyes widened a bit and she could see Cloud staring at her, she had never seen him in his mountain lion from. Her mouth fell open a bit, he was a lot larger than she had expected his tan fur would blend in well with the darkness and it almost made her rethink this whole game idea. There would be a slim chance she would see him hidden in long grass or up a tree. She would really have to depend on her nose to find him. Looking away from him for a moment she pushed the last fork full in her mouth chewing as Feather and got up herself. Commenting about how she likes Cloud better as a Cat. "I think I do too." Feather ran off towards the tent and she returned as a mountain lion herself. She was a bit smaller than Cloud, a little lighter in colour, only someone with good eyes would be able to pick out the difference. It got her thinking if there were other lions like them there would be a more variety of the sands type coats or would they all look something similar. She watched her nudge Cloud come sit close to where she had been before by the fire.
She stood up to move closer to Feather wanting to look at her closer and study her. When he did she heard Catcher speak. She knew he didn't really enjoy phasing and it made her wonder if he was just playing this little game because she had suggested it not out of wanting to actually play. She watched him make his way over to the tent and toss his jacket in before getting distracted again by Feather. She had felt a big feline head nudge against her fingers and she parted the top of her head softly. She took this as Feather telling her to get a move on herself. "Okay just give me a second." She was waiting for Catcher to come back to join them. It had been a while since she had fully phases the time she had tried it was in a panic in the water. She couldn't do it unless she let some of her emotions out. She watched Catcher come back out of the tent as the dark midnight sky colored wolf she had remembered. She wanted to reach out and hold his big fluffy head in her hands and tickle his chin but thought better against it as he moved over Cloud. The big cat would never let her live down the small affections she showed to him as a wolf.
"I guess it's my turn now. No one peek." She ran off behind the tent, not wanting to make a mess of the set up she had spent the time preparing for late, stripping off her cloth she tossed them on top of the tent before taking in a few deep breaths. She let the darker part of her mind take over as she did her body contorted and bones twisted and shifted under her skin. it stretched with the changes allowing white fur to sprout out over her from the the tip of her newly emerged tail to the bottom of her now canine feet. Full morphed she wished she had gone over more details of the game before she had phases. Now she would have to rely on Feather being about to read her body language. Walking out towards the others, let them see her bright white coat that stood out bright against the darkening world around them. With their great eyesight she could never hide. She ran up to Catcher, nudging him once. "Tag your it.." before spinning in a circle three times and running into the darkness of the woods,hopefully Feather would follow
Last Edit: Oct 15, 2021 7:57:31 GMT -5 by Natasha Black
Post by Cloud Crestfall on Oct 9, 2021 2:48:45 GMT -5
Mute, he could only listen to his sister and Natasha state that they preferred him as a cat. There would be multiple good reasons he could think of but him being quieter this way was not one of them and his cat face fell, sagging the lips like it was frowning but not significant enough of an expression a human could read. His eyes rolled, big orbs of blue moving in tandem with his head as it threw back with impatience from lacking speech ability. His whiskers twitched as his mouth flexed wanting to say something but only really looking like he would hiss or produce a meek meow while Natasha talked about face masks and lotion as if those had a gender. He couldn’t defend himself and he twitched his black lip line, pacing in a circle before shaking his entire body to shed his excess fur. Strands fluffed off him and he trembled like a million water droplets could have flown off him but he was dry, and merely some leaves tumbled around the ground from his movement. All his complaints were going nowhere as he impatiently strut to disrupt their opinion of his cat behaviour, displeased that if they weren't still in human form, they would be getting an earful of his mental debate. Those products; he believed in having some tools to combat his otherwise very unkempt lifestyle as he didn’t want to lose all his hair or get wrinkly before his prime. He wanted to argue that contrary to common knowledge, men were just as self-conscious, if not more, too confined to admit it. He wasn’t going to be one of those ‘pussies’ who didn’t do what they needed or wanted but he had no idea why he was being touchy about it other than the fact he couldn't spread informative knowledge or preach.
Pouting, he finally stopped with a low frustrated growl that sounded more like a wounded beast, tilting his head as he looked at the women with a narrowed squint. His glowing eyes followed the wolf girl as she spoke to his twin and exchanged food, thoroughly surprised at their bond because this was one of the rarest moments he’d ever remember. To his memory, Feather never really let people in the way she was doing with Natasha and whatever friction he might at times have with the blonde Barbie doll, he would always appreciate her staying friends with his sister. In that sense, he would also be as much of a friend or even brother figure to her as she might need if she were to stay involved with his other half’s life. Ultimately, he found himself in some hot teasing water if they ever teamed up against him and he surrendered to finding another way to mitigate that; he was the one who laughed and joked, not the victim, he stubbornly reassured himself.
Cloud felt the nudge as Feather changed into her alternate form and rubbed against him in acknowledgement she was ready to play this game. She was nimble and quick, even when shifting and he almost wanted to paw her so they could wrestle to the ground, saving it for if and when he finally found her and beat the game. He still believed it was possible even if he had no idea what to listen out for when it came to her silent treads and phantom breaths. Watching her for a bit as she sat down close to where she had been by the fire, he wondered how strange of a sight this would be if a camper or hunter had been hiding in the bushes and never caught them transforming. It would be a human girl in the woods with mountain lions who didn’t belong there, let alone be tame. He stood for a while lost in translation until he heard Catcher hurriedly move and go into their tent. It would take almost no time for him to turn and yet he was fussing like he bought time to assimilate and avoid the truth with Natasha, anxiously cunning. Expecting a wolf, he waited for his friend to come close to their opening so they could dash and draw out a lead but when Natasha stood up and clothing flew onto the top of the tent in pieces, he saw in shock as a white tail stuck out on the other side.
Soon he couldn’t take his colour blind feline eyes off a bright white she-wolf. She contrasted everything in the background and he stared unexpectedly. As the sun set, she broke the dark woodsy tones that looked a greyscale sepia which would have made most other beings appear like deer, perfect to prey on. The scent of her fur drifted and though his nose vaguely sniffed the faint trail, he pricked his ears to listen to the shallow breathing of his wolf friends. Feather made very little sound, her mind as crystalline as glass he could not hear more than a tinkle of thought; she had closed off and he knew it was going to be difficult to track her even if she was going to be bombarded by all his ideas and ever ranting thoughts about everything he could pull out of his mind palace. It was a tactic and he started searching through his brain directory for distracting things she hated to create some noise and distraction for fun.
Galloping speed, cantering motion of four feet paired in a rhythmic beat, he bounded in a forceful stride almost like he was the one who started the desperate cat and dog chase when he heard Natasha tag the dark wolf. It confounded him that he had just heard her voice in his head, faint but true as a microphone recording, static cancelled. They were now the hunters but he scattered faster than the rest to find a prime location. He would pounce on any of them if he found the right timing and he wrinkled his nose, folding so low to the ground he was semi-crawling when he crouched behind some larger boulders along the river. Nothing was large enough like a cliff that he could perch on and blend into; these rocks were grey and didn’t match his coat but he wanted to see if the water’s edge had any element of surprise. It would take a while before he could find a tree strong enough with a thick branch he could hide on, judging most of the thin spiky arms on the bark as hopeless to climb.
He leapt out along the rocks, at a vantage where he could see along the tree line edge of the forest, almost in the open of a clearing to gage where the women may run. His guess at the rules stirred like an amplifier to everyone; whoever was tagged still had to tag the other instead of their partner, or it would be too easy. This meant Catcher had to chase down the rare wolf and he was sure even if there were no rules there would be no stopping him. He almost lamented this, finding the hiding portion more fun than seeking considering that was his specialty and where they could experiment with the pretty boy shapeshifter's true abilities. They would have to get this over with as fast as possible so he could taunt the females, knowing Feather was also better at hiding than finding him as long as he wasn't bathed in a lit potion of marijuana, cigarettes and liquor or scented soap. If Cloud had any confidence, it would be in complete egotistical mania that he could very easily trap the snowy wolf before she had even made it away from their campsite, ready to start jumping in order to avoid any of her teeth and claws. He paused for Catcher’s fluid voice but nothing came and he glanced out of the corner of his eye for the shrouded wolf to gain traction. Their shadows would glimmer between the trunks and he stood, joints slightly bent and waiting patiently to speed.
Post by Feather Crestfall on Oct 15, 2021 9:10:45 GMT -5
Her gray eyes narrowed as she watched Catcher get up to phase himself, it brought her back to the conversation where they talked about him not phasing too often. For a shapeshifter she understood how sometimes phasing into your alternate form to often almost feels like the beast inside wants to take over. Feather never craved meat, it had been so long since she ate it but after she passed her nose picking up the slight remainder smell of the guys dinner almost made her want to just nibble on scraps. She had to shake the thought out of her head. It was difficult sometimes pushing past the animal urges but somehow she was still able to manage. She watched Natasha walk over to her and looked at her as if she was some house cat that she might reach out for a pet. Her friend didn't touch her though she could see between Cloud and herself to find some differences. With the dull light that came from the moon she wouldn't be able to pick them up much. Nudging her friend's hand she wanted to encourage her to change. From her twin's body language she could see he was growing impatient, sitting still wasn't his strong suit. She seems to be waiting though and Feather could hear her blonde friend's heartbeat quicken as Catcher took off into the tent to change. She was excited to see this side of him, maybe she hadn't in a long time.
Feather watched as Catcher returned as a midnight blue wolf; she hadn't seen him in this form yet. Her head tilted to the side as she studied him from a distance watching him walk as he made his way over towards Cloud looking and his long dark hair fluffing up and in all directions. She was trying to memorize the sound of his feet as they lightly tapped the soil beneath them. He would be hard to find in the darkness but she would try the best she could. Natasha's voice cut the quietness as she ran toward the tent to change herself. All this talk about the advantage the boys might have over her in the dark surely was getting Feather's attention also. She watched as clothing began being tossed on top of the tent instead of her going inside, maybe she was changing as more violent than the rest. Her little ears could hear cracks and pops and soft padded feet before she revealed herself coming out almost like she was glowing against the contrasting dark background. They were both right, the snow white would would be able to be seen from any distance whether it be on the ground or from above in the trees where Cloud would clearly spot her.
She waited as the fluffy white wolf made her way to Catcher and she remembered how uncomfortable she was with the fuzzy white faux fur pillows back at the shop. It made sense Feather would never have a mountain lion pelt as a decoration; it probably the one thing that bugged her when it came to taxidermy. She had the one odd dream before that one day she or Cloud would get hunted in her feline form and end up as a head on someone's wall. It was probably never going to happen but the lucid dream always came to her thoughts when she became her alternate self. She was hiding this way from Cloud not wanting to be teased about it when Natasha's voice seemed to enter her head without invitation. She heard the white wolf tag assign the guys to be it. It was almost a mystery how the wolves voice could break through her mind but it might have been because they were close in proximity. It was strange but also made her feel a bond between them,without it it might have been radio silence.
As Natasha turned and started heading into the woods Feather took one last look at Cloud as he seemed to be finding a vantage point to them as they entered into the darkness. This little game of tag would probably be over sooner than later but she would try her best to avoid getting caught as long as possible. The white wolf couldn't climb trees so she had to be the eyes and ears of the team. Tash could be the nose, the girl probably knew exactly how Catcher smelt and Cloud well he probably still smell like the cologne he was often known to wear mixed with the feline undertone. She let her padded feast pick up the past as the Tash seemed to be heading somewhere so she followed after her until they reached a puddle of mudd that looked as though it could swallow up a whole person yet alone an oversized wolf. Feather tilted her head and looked at Tash before trying to project her thoughts into the wolf." Why have we stopped here?"
Post by Catcher Reeves on Oct 18, 2021 2:36:49 GMT -5
He was blending into the darkness as night fell. Teal shades became a midnight palette as the sun disappeared over the horizon. It shrouded him in a tint of shining dark blue that reflected as though his fur was damp. The fire was low, flickering but crackling less and less. Lacking more wood for fuel and manual stoking, it was past the point of worrying about a flame spreading as the air chilled enough the temperature drop felt like early spring. They would only need to feed it a little to keep it going throughout the night if they wanted it to stay alight. In his overzealous mind, this game wouldn’t be long and they would smell any changes to the smoke in the air. His blackened wolf frame was a canvass for the orange light, eerie and ominous like a grim in a cemetery.
Feather was looking at him curiously, and he glanced back at her, realising she had never seen him out of his human form. It was slightly awkward and he shied from her harmless gaze, knowing how intelligent and in tune with the world she was that she must be regarding him very intricately. Every detail was going under a microscope without her consciously scrutinizing; she was an artist and he knew how that naturally went. He had often felt she registered people, including himself like they were photographs she could revisit in her mind; it was similar to his own perception, eidetic and nothing but three dimensional images. It made memorizing things more like being in a trance; the negatives almost impossible to truly forget. Bad memories were just buried somewhere he had to remind himself not to actively go or they would all return like it was yesterday. His paws kneaded the soil, feeling and shuffling to gather some grip; the land told him how much he might track and how much noise the others might make. It was time to stop musing so much, the animal instincts gradually overtaking his focus.
Whichever creature he had turned into delivered different aspects of their biology in ways he couldn’t explain. He had begun to notice the nature of his shifting caused him to delve more fully into the being, become more like the species. It took some time to make sense of the fact every strain of his DNA morphed completely to turn into more than one animal. It exhausted him the larger it was; the longer it lasted as his concentration took a toll. It was the reason sometimes he had failed; the better he knew the logistics of his goals, the more successful he had been. This was all honing since the trash panda incident; grappling for some semblance of sanity in practice. With time, he hoped it would evolve powerfully. The wolf was the one he should know as well as his true self, the second skin until another replaced it someday. He felt all these things, careful to let the voice in his head be more agreeable in what he already knew instead of blasting like fresh thoughts and vague questions for anyone else to hear. For Cloud, they had been able to communicate psychically as shifters and he knew Feather would be able to radio him like the clearest satellite because she had a meditative mind, body and soul. It was either too loud, too sporadic with Cloud but that was the way his friend’s mind functioned; like it was on crack, hyped and draining at the same time.
Beginning to walk away, lifting his feet more than usual to lighten and get a hang of the body he felt so foreign in, he watched as Natasha finished her food quickly. Backing a few steps, it was like trotting from the tent to yield her right of way as she told everyone not to peek. She did what he would have done if he needed to take off his clothes and he should have, in order to continue his charade but she hadn’t noticed. It was a relief he felt as her shirt and other belongings flew on top of the tent. He turned his head away and padded around Feather to ready himself nearer to Cloud but stopped when everyone’s attention grew surprised. In spite of their animal masks, he could still see their emotions heighten, the look of interest and shock at the wolf behind him. This was probably what she had seen in his eyes when they first met and he tried to erase some embarrassment from finally witnessing something similar to how he had been. He was probably more star struck and it made him prickle, unable to blush in shame. It was like looking into the past with room to wonder if he had been incredibly silly being stared at and staring at her back then.
A light breeze of cold air shot out from his wet nose and he finally looked at her, turning over his shoulder. She shone like a star under the moonlight, reminding him of the night in the ocean where she glimmered out of the water towards him. Her eyes had glowed with luminescence before she kissed him and he shook his head to stop reminiscing, returning to the process of moving away. She was guiding his attraction to her in a constant orbit ever since he returned and a part of him couldn’t tell where she found the sudden inspiration, longing to know the truth. Her part in the trifecta tattoo he had of his friends couldn’t have been a more appropriate symbol than something as celestial as the moon. His ear flicked back hearing a few leaps and she was beside him. A soft nudge pushed into the side of his neck and she spun excitedly like a child in a playground, tagging him. It had been a very long time since their thoughts could be shared; he had worked very hard on blocking out a lot of things since they were younger, even if it meant the guys often found him empty headed. He had been by far the least spirited and open of them all, built on secrets they never found out. A delicate balance had to be struck with the thoughts chosen to be telepathically spoken and the ones still locked away in privacy. It was no different now and he was sure Natasha was doing the same in his presence as he received nothing more than her playful tag.
He licked his teeth, clamping his mouth shut in a sleek motion, lowering his head and hunching back. The thickest parts of his fur along his spine spiked and his toes dug into the ground, nails extruding more under the pressure. He didn’t need to think further, to tell Cloud anything. His eyes narrowed, vision targeting her as she dashed away into the thicket. She wanted him to chase and he was happy to oblige. It was like a flirtatious thrill he couldn't stand to pass. A second later, he strode after her, covering time she had been afforded by making the first move. Cloud raced ahead, splitting off in bounding, tilting leaps and he knew he was looking for a vantage point. It was what he would do if he were as agile and he suddenly had an idea. On the flip side, Natasha would have to figure out a way to conceal herself and remain the hunted for as long as possible. This would have been too easy if she was the hunter and he was a spectre in the shadows. Slowing, he walked, sniffing the trail before abruptly halting to process all the scents and isolate the aromatic tones of each person. There were other humans within miles and wildlife scattering. As deviously as a keen tracker could make of a good nose, he began to predict what the women would do to evade them and it clicked. He would give them all the time they needed because once he managed to change again, the composition of his scent would alter enough to confuse Natasha and throw her off. It was assuming she even remembered what he smelled like; the illegal, multifaceted scent of Tonka bean in a nutshell. The element of surprise wasn’t even important anymore if he could shrink and hide in plain sight or frighten her as something she didn’t recognize.
”Cloud, do what you need to do to track Fefe.” It was an open invitation masquerading in simple words. He wanted everyone to hear him if they were within radius so they would temporarily rattle their plans, affected by what Cloud might be doing. If Natasha’s trail hadn’t diverted nearby a dank smelling, musty area that led along the water, he would have been able to catch her, physically speedier. She was like a silver bullet through the air, enduring the distances but he was a crack of a whip, faster and bolder in sprints that were meant to secure a kill. He was out in the open, basking under the effervescent light, listening with his eyes closed. The flow of the river was a calming overlay, eroding the traces of movement he wanted to hear. They were stopped somewhere. The silence of everything else was deafening and he decided what he was going to do, sounding off the true beginning of a hunt with a mournful gathering cry. A drawn out warning shot, he was taunting them to start running, ears at full attention to pick up what he hadn’t been lucky to find. A murderous, unearthly haunting howl that left birds flocking from the canopies rose above the wind, drawing out and hiding away those who might have impeded their game.
Post by Natasha Black on Oct 20, 2021 12:16:55 GMT -5
She darted off into the darkness in the direction of a mud hole that seemed to near or clear up, all the rain they got didn't allow for it to ever solidify back into solid ground. She took in deep breaths as she was enjoying letting her alternate self free. Her heart pumping blood through her veins gave her a rush that she only felt when she became the white wolf. She would often try to remember what it was like the first time she exploded a cotton coloured creature but she could no longer remember. When she had first changed there was such a rush of emotions she wouldn't ever be able to achieve again. For a while when she changed she felt so hollow so keep her beast hidden away in herself. Now the hole was no longer there like it had been mended like a distressed teddy bear filled back up with new stuffing and stitched back closed ready to be cherished again.
She let her white feet pound the ground in front of her, quickly becoming more dirty with every step. She turned her head back a few times to see if Feather was flowing, she was so quiet not just with her feet but she couldn't hear any thoughts passing the telepathic barrier between them. She wasn't sure if the others actually heard her attempt to communicate or just read the little subtle movements in her body language. She stopped at the edge of the circle a few times. It was as thick as chocolate cake batter but didn't smell anything like it. The only benefit was that it didn't smell bad at all, if it had been giving off the stagnant pond water there was no way she would have even been considering rolling in the muck. "Keep watch Feather."
She laid down at the edge of the mud stretching her legs out in front of her before rolling over a few into the center of the mess. She stopped her back and wiggled her body back and forth like she was scratching her back making a devit if the tick brown slop as it coated every bit of her pristine white coat. She stood up fellig the mud squeeze between the pads of her toe and the sensation almost made her hair stand up feeling the cool gooyiness fill up between the webbing of each diget. She climbed back out a few moments later when she had thought she would be less visible, but be scent and colour against the dark landscape they would be trying to conceal themselves in. She moved away from Feather for a moment, shaking off any access that would spray off as she ran through the trees. A howl broke the silence in the air and her ears turned like little satellites in its direction, the very tips of them still white where she couldn't reach to cover them without rubbing her head in the dirt. She turned her head and looked at Feather and let her tongue fall out of the side of her mouth in a playful grin.
Catcher had already begun to track them and wouldn't take him long to sniff out the trail. The only thing that might be their saving grace was the occasional cigarettes he smoked wreaking havoc on his olfactory system. It took all of her self control not to answer him back with an equally loud call. Instead she just spun in a circle like she did similarly when putting on another outfit checking herself out before running bits if mud fleckig off as she moved finally hiding behind a large boulder. She pressed her body as close to it as possible trying to blend it. All she had to do now was try her best to stay still. She was almost too alert to do so.
Last Edit: Oct 20, 2021 12:19:23 GMT -5 by Natasha Black