[Deleted]

[attr="class","ohlove"]

[attr="class","lacking"]

[attr="class","eyes"]
✎ tag: CBE-177/"Anna"

※ wearing: N/A
✉ notes: Camping

both were silent.

the air in my lungs, my hands on the keys.

He'd try to ask every possible question to retaliate against Senri's suggestion. Go camping? What was she thinking? Ever since his first change, he'd barred himself from not just his weekend hiking excursions, but even morning jogs outside of his neighborhood. She said it'd be a good stress relief, hammering hard on the fact that the stress was more or less likely what was making his changes so sudden and unexpected. He was already cleaning up every shattered or broken thing he would accidentally knocked over every other morning. His house, like all houses, wasn't exactly made for a giant animal.

He questioned immediately about the tourism. What if someone were to see him if he shifted? She responded with it being out of tourist season, that hikers stuck to the same main trails, and that the park was big enough for him to camp off the beaten path. She'd done her research knowing he'd attempt to back out as much as he could. Other perks she'd mentioned besides the stress relief, should a shift happen, were that if he did it'd be in a safer, more natural environment. He'd have space, he'd have water, he'd be comfortable. Being able to practice movement in a larger area was good for learning to get a hang of things. After all, regardless of his size, he had the bodily experience of an overgrown kitten...

So, here he was in the outer edges of the Bear Gulch within Pinnacle National Park. His Jeep was parked miles away on the side of a gravel road the furthest he could get in the camping area before he removed his minimal packing - a bedroll, a change of comfortable clothes, bug spray, a travel toothbrush, and his small portable speaker - before starting his hike. Yeah, that lasted all of three hours. He'd gotten a spot nearly settled with his bag rolled out, clothes folded neatly, and then he just couldn't get that damn constant "what-if" out of his head. That was the last thing his human clarification remembered.

All that mattered now was all the new smells: the desert plants, the river moss, the spring's water. This was much different than New York. A ground squirrel was quick to kick dirt in his nose when he got too close to its burrow, a few ducks on the stiller parts of the water paddled away from him, but he could still catch their new scent as well. What a gorgeous world it was at night through the black veil of what most could see.

Oh, what smell was that? A burning... something? He took his time walking towards it, occasionally catching a whiff again to make sure he was on the right track, and then found himself stepping in ashy, crumbled logs. There it was. He lifted his paw to sniff the still-warm remnants of wood. Who knew campfires could smell... inherently dangerous. "Mmrr...hfff," he huffed after a grumble of distaste, shaking his heavy head away and setting the paw back down. Another scent was masked by the fire, though. An animal- no. Something more than an animal. His nose went to the ground again, stepping a few paces forward further and catching a dried stain of red along the flat dirt. It was an animal at one point.

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[CBE-177/"Anna"]

The woods had been black and green and gray. Black for the rich earth, for the shadows under the trees. Gray for the misty sky she had spent the morning walking under, leaving human habitation behind. Green for the leafy branches she had built her makeshift shelter out of and laid down to go asleep under.

It was really Cory that had inspired her trip. The other girl's tales of native heritage, the way she had cast the natural beauty of this nation as almost spiritual, had struck a chord in 177. Not that she regarded herself as a spiritual person, but she had realized that her view of this nation had been entirely skewed towards the urban: San Francisco, and that trip with Jack to New York. There was a vast, untouched world out there, as lonely as the tundra of her native Russia, and she suddenly found herself longing to visit there.

It was no problem, really. She packed a map and a blanket and a cooking pot and some rope and a large hunting knife and a compass and book of matches and a pistol with two extra clips. She knew how to live off the land and didn't regard the prospect of catching and cooking her own food as daunting. Even the compass was only a precaution; her own senses gave her the same information. Getting out of her Uber at the roadside, she studied the map and stretched out her magnetic senses before picking a path and slowing beginning to pick her way through the trees.

She spent a wonderful afternoon. She made sure to walk silently and after a while the birds and squirrels almost forgot she was there. She sneaked up on a fox at one point, and the two hunters stared at each other in surprise before the fox dashed off into the bushes. She smiled in delight. It had been a beautiful creature. Sunlight filtered through the trees put a green sheen on everything, and that was beautiful too.

As the afternoon rolled on she checked her watch and decided she had found a good enough place to stop for the night. Evergreens near her provided branches for shelter and a bed to lay on; she climbed the trees to pluck the best branches she could find. Some of the branches were wide enough to sleep on, but it would be more comfortable to make her own bed.

Once her campsite was established there was the small matter of finding food. A river ran at the bottom of the hill nearby and she walked downstream until she found deer tracks. Deer would want an area with more ground cover, which meant a place with thinner trees. Climbing one, she located an area and sniffed the air until she thought she detected a telltale scent. She had barely walked halfway there when the doe leaped up from hiding, white tail flashing like a flag. She caught it, of course. Deer were distance runners, and she could sprint faster than any predator. When she caught up her knife and gun stayed in their holsters. What followed was a battle of nail and strength. The outcome was never in doubt, but it was fairly won. In the end she put the creature out of its misery by breaking its neck. She stood over the deer, panting, a feeling of triumph rising in her. The hunting, the fight, the bringing down of prey with your own hands- god, it felt good. She felt alive, prominent, bigger then she had been since she awoke into this strange new world. Unable to resist any longer, she knelt beside the creature and slashed its throat open, drinking greedily. When she was done she emptied her water bottle and filled it as much as she could with blood. Putting the corpse on her shoulders, she began the walk back to her campsite, stopping only to clean herself off in the stream.

As evening fell she skinned and gutted the deer while her fire heated flat rocks to cook on. She cut the meat into thin strips to cook and dry faster and broke open some of the larger bones to pick out the marrow. The offal she buried a distance off, setting a rock on top of the spot. It was quite a lot of food and would keep her going for a few days.

Cooking took some time and it was full dark by the time she was done. Leaving the fire to burn itself out she wrapped the remaining meat and hung it between two trees at the edge of her campsite. After relieving herself, she went to bed, satiated and satisfied.

She wasn't sure what woke her. A huffing, a shuffling sort of noise. 177 lay awake on her bed of evergreens, listening. Yes, it wasn't her imagination. Something was moving outside. Something big. Quietly, very slowly, she pushed herself up and looked out between the boughs of her shelter.

And saw a monster.

She had no words, no name for the creature that stood outside. A thing of fur and tooth, looming and massive, taller than her, heavier than her many times over, sinew and blazing eye and legs that screamed strength, power. Her jaw nearly dropped. Never in her life, not in all of the reading she had done since coming here, had she heard, had she seen, had she even guessed the existence of such a creature. For a moment all she could do was stare, equal parts awe and horror. What power! What majesty, in such an enormous creature, king of all beasts! For a moment she even felt frightened. She, the weapon that feared no man, was suddenly frightened of the prospect of needing to do battle with this creature, wondered, for the first time, if there was a fight that she would lose. What a glorious beast!

She glanced next to her bed, where her gun lay, not yet loaded. She looked back at the creature. No, she thought. No, she could not shoot such a majestic creature. Not unless it was her life or its. It had not come to that yet. She might stay here and watch, and the animal might eventually go away.

Will it, though? she thought. You know the way of such creatures; when they find a scent they may choose to pursue it over days, miles. No doubt it had smelled her food hanging between the trees already. The precaution seemed laughable in the face of the sheer size of the thing. Yet she could not afford to be molested by it night after night. Best to scare it off now, if possible.

The wind shifted and she caught the thing's scent: an earthy, smoky smell, one that hardly smelled of blood, which surprised her. The thought made her realize she had been foolish to slaughter an animal right in her camp; it was no wonder it had attracted predators. Well, something to remember next time. For the time being she needed to see this beast scared off.

She waited a bit more, just for the wonder of it, for the sheer joy of watching something so mighty play at exploration, then, very carefully, quietly, she picked up her bedroll. She had been taught, as every Russian child was, how to deal with bears in her childhood, and it seemed like similar principles would apply. First, make yourself bigger. That seemed laughable, given how small she was, but the blanket thrown over her shoulders would fool an animal. Second, make noise. Seem frightening, intimidating. Realize it doesn't want to fight if it doesn't have to- make it realize you aren't worth the effort. Well. That she could manage.

She was ready. A jump, and she was outside her shelter. Her fingers were in her mouth, and she let out the loudest, sharpest, most piercing whistle that she could manage. The kind of whistle that cut through the night like a razor blade, echoed off distant rocks and back again. She liked it when she got a chance to use that whistle. Unable to speak, most people naturally associated quiet and silence with her. But a whistle, well, it didn't require any vocal chords, and she'd learned to make as much noise as possible with it. An instant later she threw her arms wide, blanket stretched between them, suddenly a much bigger creature to the eyes of a poor beast. And in her right hand she held the gun. Barrel pointed skyward, she fired three shots straight into the air. Smoke, fire, and thunder split the night.

She didn't want to hurt the beauty. But noise and lights to scare the thing off, that was simply good woodcraft.

Alistair Lane

[Deleted]

[attr="class","ohlove"]

[attr="class","lacking"]

[attr="class","eyes"]
✎ tag: CBE-177/"Anna"

※ wearing: N/A
✉ notes: GIANT BAT CREATURE

both were silent.

the air in my lungs, my hands on the keys.

"Hmmm... a patch of blood here, a patch of blood there. He was getting closer to the source of the scent but it seemed to be getting further off the ground. His nose tilted up, up, up until his eyes finally caught sight of it. Cleaned bones and plenty of stacks of dried meat hung in a rope-tied net of sorts between two trees. It was a handful of feet above him but he could smell it as if it were already on his tongue. A long tongue extended out the side of his mouth to lick his chops and catch whatever flavor was on the air, wetting his whiskers into order along the way.

His mind wondered, eyes scanning the outline of the lumpy net and its depth in the darkness, and he took another curious step towards it until his head seemed to tilt nearly straight up. Another hungry lick at the side of his mouth had the heaviness of his teeth clomping together with an excitable tail swaying behind him. It was tall, but the depth in his vision was already causing tension in the springs of his thighs. His arms lifted off the ground steadily, legs making an awkward walk forward on their own until his front paw could reach up and towards the ropes. He got his claw on a bit of it to hold steady, so it should be easy enough just to pull d-

*SHRIEEEEEEEEEEK* it pierced through the air into his eardrums so loudly it was disorienting, immediately stumbling back on his rear legs with arms flailing a little oddly. He didn't have time to catch his balance before the largest bat he'd ever seen hopped up beside him and loomed as wide as it could. He fell heavily to his side, arms and legs scrambling against the loose dirt to get himself back up. His Husky-like whine wasn't exactly vicious in tone... "MRRROAW!..."

*CKROW! CKROW! CKROW!* He'd made one bound before the explosive sounds had his head tumbling face forward, causing him to trip over himself. In a matter of seconds the large bat had successfully sent him around the nearest large boulder he could hide behind. Here was safer, yes... good... His heart was pounding, his head and ears aching from the sensation of the sounds, and-... a good foot of his backside was sticking out from behind the rock; tail visibly tucked low between the back of his thighs.

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[CBE-177/"Anna"]

She'd been prepared for all of the things she imagined a large cat might do when startled by noise. Prepared for it to run, to roar, to charge her. She'd been prepared for a lot of things. But she wasn't prepared for what happened.

Up on its hind legs, pawing for her food, the sudden noise seem to stagger it, rocking it backward as it flailed its arms like a human on a high wire, trying to regain balance. It made a noise more like a startled housecat than an apex predator, feet shuffling in the dirt as it tried to get off. That was the first thing that made her think something was odd. It was such a strange way of movement, entirely lacking the grace she associated with cats. It was downright shocking. But not nearly as shocking as what happened next, as the cat flew behind the nearest rock and- just stopped.

177 stood, dumbfounded, not understanding what she was seeing at all.

Running from her? That made sense- she was sudden, and she was loud and she was frightening. Attacking her? That made sense- it was bigger, and ate things her size for lunch and dinner. Running... and then stopping? With its tail between its legs (not a catlike gesture at all, more like a dog's act), half its hindquarters sticking out behind the rock? What kind of mistake was that? It was so utterly stupid that 177 could only stand and stare.

Her first thought was horror, mixed with fear. Rabies! The creature has rabies! But a moment's consideration made her realize this could not be. A rabid creature would be aggressive as well as irrational. A rabid creature would have attacked her, not retreated in fear. Try as she might, she could think of no reason for this strange behavior. The beast large enough to eat her in four bites was hiding, almost as if it was... afraid. Afraid of her? Granted, it was completely right to be afraid of her, but how on earth would it know that? And why would it not keep running if it did.

She watched the creature, still behind the rock. There were smaller rocks around and she might easily have thrown them to scare it off for good, but she was intrigued now, curious. Slowly she took a few steps towards the creature. With her tongue she made a soft clicking sound, a noise she associated with trying to calm horses. If she had had a voice she would have called sweetly to it.

She put the gun in her waistband, across from the knife, and moved a bit closer to the creature, trying to to get a better view of it. She made the nickering sound again, holding out her hand before realizing this was silly and drawing it back. She let the blanket fall from her shoulders.

Slowly, she moved around the rock, doing her best not to startle the creature, brow furrowed in concentration.

Alistair Lane

[Deleted]

[attr="class","ohlove"]

[attr="class","lacking"]

[attr="class","eyes"]
✎ tag: CBE-177/"Anna"

※ wearing: N/A
✉ notes: Not a bat?

both were silent.

the air in my lungs, my hands on the keys.

He'd just have to wait the giant bat out, that didn't seem so hard. It'd fly away or go back to sleep and then maybe he'd try again or move on. It almost didn't seem worth it given the scare he'd had so maybe it was just better to wait out a portion of the night and slip away. A shuffling caught his ears and he remained silent and immobile to listen to its proximity. His hearing was at least getting better after such a disorienting and violent attack against the sensitive drums. Wait, it was getting closer? The tail pulled out a bit from his legs, tense and straightened down.

He was expecting some noisy, bawdy attack again maybe from the bat to get him further away - which he'd gladly comply with - but not whatever clicking noise that was. It wasn't aggressive at all, in fact it was in a comfortable pitch range enough for him that it didn't take his ears much adjusting in direction to catch the full area of sound. His tail relaxed slightly, but stayed guarded. He waited, hearing another movement that shuffled even closer, and then another set of clicks. What was the purpose of that sound? Communication of a sort? Was it a different creature entirely? The air smelled the same, so it couldn't have been.

Yet, what began to slowly creep around the edge of the rock said otherwise. Immediately the sight of something so close had his large paws walking back a few steps, body and head low to the ground but resting down. The bat no longer had any wings- well, it wasn't a bat at all. It was a person, similar in size to another person he knew as 'friend' far away where the air smelled like salted ocean and felt much denser than the dryness of the temperate here. But this wasn't 'friend', this was a person that'd just meant to terrify him away. So why was it coming closer now without its vicious terrorizing behavior?

It was clear in the large cat's face that he gave her appearance some recognition, sniffing again in curiosity to make sure it was indeed the same figure and ears curved up and forwards to face her. She stepped closer again and he, in-turn, took another back with lips barely parted to give a low and wary, "Orrrrrrrrrr." Uncertainty glinted in the large eyes that caught what little light there was in the darkness and reflected back; nearly mirrors to onlookers. 

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[CBE-177/"Anna"]

As she walked forward, she realized, suddenly and without any warning, how what she was doing might be confusing for the creature. To appear in fire and smoke, to try and scare it, then to follow seconds later with calls and gestures of kindness- the creature might be extremely confused. The realization made her pause, yet a moment later she knew she had to proceed. Had she frightened the beast, she reasoned, it would have run; had she angered it, it would have attacked. It had done neither, and on that basis her curiosity was roused enough that she must see the matter to conclusion.

She moved forward, rounding the rock, and suddenly she was face to face with the creature. Up close, she had time to be awed and startled yet again at the size of the creature. She stared, a feeling of wonder sweeping over her anew. The thing's face was incredibly expressive. She could almost read its uncertainty. It made a noise like a person trying to decide between two options. How to reassure it? She smiled, careful not to show teeth in a way that might be a threat. She held out a hand, back of the palm facing the thing's nose, the way you did with a normal cat. Let it smell you. Let it recognize you are not a threat.

She took a deep breath, catching the scent of the beast herself. A deep smell, a musky and feline but not entirely unpleasant smell. She glanced down at the beast's paws and saw massive, knifelike claws. Deadly claws. It must be used to being the top predator everywhere it went. Yet it didn't seem aggressive. A friendly beast, despite its claws and size. Hardly- the thought crossed her mind- hardly like a wild animal at all. Yes, perhaps that was it. A tamed beast, raised in happiness by some rich owner, now released back into the wild. Used to humans, with none of the innate fear of them wildness placed on a thing. She studied it, the curious expression, the worried posture. Yes. That must be it. Tamed.

Something impelled her forward again, just another inch. A force she barely understood, wonder and awe mingled with curiosity, impelled her to move forward. To know this beast. To touch this beast. She had no voice, no way to speak reassuringly to the thing, no way to hum a relaxing tone. All she could do was relax her shoulders, her arms, adopt a posture that was not a threat, and slowly, ever so slowly inch forward until she could touch its muzzle. In touch there was a reassurance she could not form with words, a way of saying, I'm okay, you're okay on the deepest of levels. If she could touch, she thought, she could tell it she meant no harm if it did not. Could tell it she had only been trying to protect her food supply. Could tell it she wanted to be friends.

Alistair Lane

[Deleted]

[attr="class","ohlove"]

[attr="class","lacking"]

[attr="class","eyes"]
✎ tag: CBE-177/"Anna"

※ wearing: N/A
✉ notes: forest-dweller

both were silent.

the air in my lungs, my hands on the keys.

Another step closer, another, another, inch-by-inch and closing the gap between them. The beast kept low to the ground and scooting back along dry patches of dirt and dead, crunchy leaves until he felt his tail thump against the stump of a tree behind him. There wasn't quite enough space between the boulder at his side and the tree to run through for his size - just enough for his plan of hiding to have been horribly ruined. She held her hand out, face morphing into something less aggressive and more relaxing. The extension of the limb had the rumbling continue, though his jaw had shut, and ears flattened themselves onto the sides of his head within the thick, blonde mane. "Mnnnrrrr...rrrr...rrrr," he kept the rumble up just about every slow, uncertain exhale; more defensive and cornered than aggressive. Not unlike a good-hearted stray dog.

She was still coming closer. She was going to scare him again, wasn't she? Make his ears shrill and his head hurt? Make the thunder crack to disorient him? It was hard to know what to do. He didn't want to hurt her (she hadn't physically hurt him after all), she was so small... Pushing her out of the way to run was dangerous. His eyes shot off to the other side quickly to see where on earth he could sprint off to, but of course there was a pond and no telling how deep it was. Swimming didn't seem like a great idea, uncertain if he even quite knew how. But then he caught a scent the closer she came. The back of her hand smelled-... like the earth. The forest, the dirt, the wind. Like it belonged here.

Was she a part of this forest?

Maybe, then... they had scared each other. The weight of tension in his eyes slowly began to come to a quiet respect instead, ears lifting slightly from their furry cover, and his head began to raise beyond its lowly position. A silence filled his throat and chest now; only the night music of crickets and sprinkling of water as young fish safely played under the cover of the moon in the pond nearby. With mere inches between them, his neck stretched forward and closed the space - damp nose meeting the back of her knuckles. A long inhale memorized the subtleties of her unique aroma before warm breath escaped his nostrils and cascaded over her skin. His legs unbent comfortably rather than seeming so wound-up until eventually his head was lowering to keep contact with her hand. In a sign of understanding, almost apologetic, his snout pushed forward to give her hand some gentle pressure. 

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[CBE-177/"Anna"]

She came around the rock, slowly, gently approaching the creature. And it backed away. By all the gods, it backed away! She almost laughed. Never before had she seen such a thing. For all her life she had been marked as tiny, unthreatening. Men who saw her saw a tiny woman, something to smile at or bestow attention upon in exchange for plowing her. Her speed, her strength, her thirst for blood- the things that made her a monster were hidden in a package that disarmed. They were right to fear her, yet they did not. Now for the first time in her life something so many times larger than her saw her and backed away. It was a liberating feeling. She laughed, a silent laugh she felt as a tensing in her diaphragm and a hiss of air over dead vocal chords. The beast was afraid of her, yet it didn't run! Tame indeed. It was no surprise that someone had set so large a beast free- feeding it must have been an immense expense.

It stopped backing. Its rump had struck a tree. She giggled, silently, delighted. It was like an awkward puppy. Still she moved forward. It breathed over her, and, with inches to go, it slid towards her and touched her hand with its nose. A gentle touch. A testing touch.

She answered by stroking its muzzle. Unable to put concern in her voice, she made her fingers gentle, comforting. She moved closer and her other hand came and stroked its neck. Up close she was even more awed by the creative's size. She ran fingers through its mane, leaning in close and taking in its scent-

(FEED FEED FEED FEED)

-brushing other thoughts away, reaching as high as she could to stroke its neck, it's back.

Alistair Lane

[Deleted]

[attr="class","ohlove"]

[attr="class","lacking"]

[attr="class","eyes"]
✎ tag: CBE-177/"Anna"

※ wearing: N/A
✉ notes: Did you bring me something?

both were silent.

the air in my lungs, my hands on the keys.

The small hand stretched over his nose where he breathed and tested further across it. When he saw the edges of the fingers curling only barely over the broad ridge of his muzzle, he skiddishly pulled away an inch or so before realizing that the scratching sensation was... good. It was soothing through the thickness of his fur, but gentle enough not to hurt or seem overbearing. Large, bright eyes kept themselves trained on her as her hand continued to kindly stroke further up his nose and the side of his face. Even more, then, as another hand that he watched in his peripheral carefully and slowly lifted to the side of his head. He felt the light brushes through his mane until the fingers finally found a way to the skin beneath it all.

A patient blink showed he was willing to let the test continue; not just for the fact that it brought him some form of comfort, but that it familiarized him with the stranger's movements, her sounds, her weight. When she stepped off to the side to be able to reach his shoulder and over the back of his neck, he too put a large paw lightly forward to crane his head around her, the entirety of his face covering the surface of her back as he inhaled another studying scent of her earthen tone. The tail lifted behind him, flicking off to one side and then the next with a content and calm seldom wave. His head lifted, mane brushing against her to the back of her shoulders until his nose pressed into her hair at an angle. No doubt the rapid, short sets of air intakes were audible so near to her ear before a large breath released the smell he'd taken in. Soon, he stepped back until the same amount of space that had been between them was there again.

Curious eyes finally left hers and focused to the top of the boulder beside them. The smell of the food was still there, more so now that part of it had begun hanging from the net that tore from his weight, and so his legs lowered and bent with a moment's hesitation before he felt confident enough to successfully leap from the ground to the top of the rock. His neck stretched out and his nose tested the air, front paws consciously sliding down the slick mound's surface until he caught his own weight to the ground and eyed the food above him from a couple of yards away; tail swaying in anticipation and consideration.

[newclass=.ohlove]width:480px;padding:15px;border:1px solid #d4d4d4;background: #6c9d73; /* Old breakowsers */ background: -moz-linear-gradient(90deg, #6c9d73 0%, #6c9d73 100%); /* FF3.6-15 */background: -webkit-linear-gradient(-85 deg, #6c9d73 0%, #6c9d73 100%); /* Chrome10-25,Safari5.1-6 */background: linear-gradient(-275deg, #6c9d73 0%, #6c9d73 100%)[/newclass][googlefont=Oswald][googlefont=Open Sans][googlefont=Roboto][newclass=.lacking]width: 400px; height: 0px; background-color: rgba(40,40,40,0.4); overflow: hidden; -moz-transition: 3s all; -webkit-transition: 3s all; -o-transition: 3s all; transition: 1s all;[/newclass][newclass=.ohlove:hover .lacking]width: 400px; height: 240px; padding: 10px;;[/newclass][newclass=.ohlove:hover .eyes]transition:1s;margin-top:0px;[/newclass][newclass=.eyes]background-color:#1f1f1f;opacity:.8;font-family:calibri; font-size: 9px; text-transform: uppercase;color:#ffffff;padding:20px;margin-top:400px;width:360px; height: 140px; transition:1.5s; letter-spacing: 1px; text-align: justify;[/newclass]

[CBE-177/"Anna"]

A smile covered her face as 177 continued to pet and stroke the creature, and as it seemed to like it. She heard it sniffing her and felt its breath on her neck, yet she wasn't frightened by the creature's size or its proximity. In its eyes she could see curiosity. It knew humans, she now understood, had spent time around them, was used to them. Perhaps had even loved them. She wondered at this creature's story, at this time and powerful and beautiful beast, and how it had come to be here, alone, seeking food at abandoned campsites. She wondered if it would follow her home. She wondered, humorously, if Jack would let her keep it.

While she was still stroking its fur (rich fur, wonderfully soft fur) it pulled away from her and looked once again at the two trees where she had hung her food. She had almost forgotten what had drawn it to her in the first place. It leaped to the top of the rock and she leaped after it, following it down to stand below the sack swaying slightly in the breeze. It looked up at the sack, clearly expectant.

Now she had a problem. Being friendly to an animal was one thing, but feeding it was something entirely different. It was already tame, already used to being fed by humans; if she reinforced its behavior she would only be causing more trouble for campers in the future. A creature this large who came to campsites seeking food was not merely an annoyance; it was dangerous, both for the creature and for any campers who might be nearby. Far better if it was afraid. Yet she was sure it was too late to revive an animal's natural fear of human beings. Hmm. Dangerous. Creatures like this were the sort that were shot by park rangers sooner or later.

Such were the arguments against feeding the creature. Yet at the same time she felt a tug of pity for it. It was clearly out of place in these woods, so clearly used to a more comfortable life. A thought struck her- did it even know how to hunt? Surely in the environment where it must have been raised there would have been little need for the skill. Suppose it didn't. Suppose it couldn't. Suppose that food that couldn't run was its only source of meat, that it went for food prepared by humans because it lacked the skills to hunt something wild. What then?

She studied the creature again, paying careful attention to its physique. It didn't look starved. But how long had it been out here? Its fur was clean, lacking knots and mats despite its length. That was surely not a sign of long wildness. The picture began to fall into place: Some rich owner, desiring a large cat, finding themselves possessed of one too large to care for, releasing it into the wild, leaving a friendly, confused beast to seek food the only place it had ever known how to get it from- from humans.

Yes. That would explain everything. And it put the creature's request in a new light. She couldn't simply agree- that would be instilling in the beast bad habits. Yet, viewed like that, she could not refuse the beast, either. She needed something else- some way of teaching it that it must chase and catch its meat, not steal from humans.

She glanced up at the bag and at the creature again. A potentially very foolish idea was growing in her head. But if she was right about this creature (and she felt that she had to be), then someone had to do it eventually, or else the creature would have to be shot. Everything in her rebelled against that. It was too beautiful of a creature to shoot. Yet it had to be taught that meat came running on four legs, not in campsites. Anything else was too dangerous to campers. And for what she had in mind, there was perhaps no one more qualified.

Stepping in front of the creature she put a finger on its nose. Wait. Turning, she climbed the tree, reeling in the bag. There was meat in it- and something else. The deer's hide, nearly intact. And rope was not a problem.

She was up in the tree for a minute or two. At the end of that time something jumped down out of it. It smelled of venison and wore a deer's hide crudely tied to it. It moved low, almost on all fours, brown hair falling down around its shoulders, fresh meat tied to its torso.

It gave a whistle to get the attention of the creature. Then it rushed off into the woods.

Alistair Lane

[Deleted]

[attr="class","ohlove"]

[attr="class","lacking"]

[attr="class","eyes"]
✎ tag: CBE-177/"Anna"

※ wearing: N/A
✉ notes: Got you! Omnom.

both were silent.

the air in my lungs, my hands on the keys.

She'd leapt with him him and remained at his side. His tail continued to flick here and there as he tasted the scent with as far as his stretching-forward nose would allow him. He only looked over to her with further attention when she stepped around him and observed the food for herself. With his rump finding itself calmly to the dirt, the white tail tucked a bit beneath him - muting its movement - and he remained sitting upright while discerning what it was she was doing. Would she allow him to tear it down? Would she protect it again with the loud noise?

When she turned about to him, his head tucked backwards with the hand drifting closer until he could only squint his eyes at the small finger resting on his nose. It smelled like the fresh, earthy meat that she'd cooked and he couldn't help but give it a small lick as it started to pull away. Oh! She was climbing the tree towards it! The ropes were shaking, the net was jostling! The lion stood again, tongue licking the outside of his chops to straighten the whiskers and imagine the juice of the meat in his jowls. She was bringing it down for him, he knew it! A minute went by and his forepaws padded on the ground, anxious and nearly impatient. Another minute and it had him groaning quietly, then loud enough for certainly nearby animals to hear and react (or, if they were truly unlucky this far away from the trail, other hikers and campers). What was taking so long? Was the food not going to come down after all? Why was she rustling around so much up there? His eyes could see the outlines of nearly everything, but it was such an odd mess against the trees that it was hard to tell exactly what was happening. Then she dropped down. Or it, rather.

His head lifted with curiosity, tilting to try and catch any different sounds with his ears, and his nose could smell the meat on the strangely-covered woman so close he could clear the space between them with a single bound. His lower jaw fell to let him naturally breathe through his mouth, the taste of it brushing just barely with hints over the tip of his tongue. Before he could even truly tell what had made him react, the whistle and the sight of the food sprinting away had him already covering ground just behind it. It was just as bright in the dark as in the day - albeit a very different kind of "light" - and his large legs made easy work of leaping over rocks, trees, and small crevices. Every time he thought he got close, she sped up and made further space between them.

The ground rumbled with his heavy sprints which ironically kept him otherwise silent if not for the thundering beats of constant pace. He cleared a small riverbank, hopped up the sides of a steep cliff one layer at a time, and even had to catch himself running downhill properly. Finally, in a long stretch of flatter ground, he could feel he was getting closer. The last yards between them had his legs giving a stronger burst of speed, double-timing for a brief moment until he sprung forward. Success!!! He could feel the food tackling beneath him, seeing his friend rolling out from the side while the scent of the meat and hide remained under his grasp. His chest lowered to the ground with shoulder blades and hips leveling out and upwards with folded legs to put his face in prime eating position for the large strips of fresh meat. His nose pushed it about to get the hide off and away in order to reach the good bits, happily munching with large, hungry bites.

[newclass=.ohlove]width:480px;padding:15px;border:1px solid #d4d4d4;background: #6c9d73; /* Old breakowsers */ background: -moz-linear-gradient(90deg, #6c9d73 0%, #6c9d73 100%); /* FF3.6-15 */background: -webkit-linear-gradient(-85 deg, #6c9d73 0%, #6c9d73 100%); /* Chrome10-25,Safari5.1-6 */background: linear-gradient(-275deg, #6c9d73 0%, #6c9d73 100%)[/newclass][googlefont=Oswald][googlefont=Open Sans][googlefont=Roboto][newclass=.lacking]width: 400px; height: 0px; background-color: rgba(40,40,40,0.4); overflow: hidden; -moz-transition: 3s all; -webkit-transition: 3s all; -o-transition: 3s all; transition: 1s all;[/newclass][newclass=.ohlove:hover .lacking]width: 400px; height: 240px; padding: 10px;;[/newclass][newclass=.ohlove:hover .eyes]transition:1s;margin-top:0px;[/newclass][newclass=.eyes]background-color:#1f1f1f;opacity:.8;font-family:calibri; font-size: 9px; text-transform: uppercase;color:#ffffff;padding:20px;margin-top:400px;width:360px; height: 140px; transition:1.5s; letter-spacing: 1px; text-align: justify;[/newclass]

[CBE-177/"Anna"]

It was a merry chase she led the creature on. Across a stream, up a hill, through the pines and into a flat place. A longer chase then a deer would have led, in all honesty, but it was a joy to run and being taught to chase for longer then it would have to would only help the creature. She was surprised at how well the creature kept up with her; when it put on a final burst of speed and caught her she might have been struck by its claws had she not been ready and prepared to escape. As it fed itself on the meat she had left behind, 177 stood by with hands on hips, smiling in satisfaction. It had been her meat, of course, her hunt, her kill, but she gave it gladly. It was like sharing with a friend.

There was nothing she wanted to do more than stay here and wait for her friend, but she knew as she saw him begin to eat that she could not stay. Her friend was tame, but had been left to be wild. It knew humans, but it seemed that fate had decreed he must live apart from them. So he must learn the skills required of a wild beast- to run and chase and kill and eat without a human looking over his shoulder. He must learn to hunt alone, to make his own meet without looking over his shoulder every minute for the approval of a human.

In other words, he had be without her.

Once the realization struck her she wasted no time in regret. It had been a friendly beast, a lovely beast- but only a beast after all, one that must learn to make its way without her. The pet must become wild again. It must rise from its meal, blood on its jowls, alone and unchallenged, a master of the forest. The image appealed to her. While her friend was still eating, not without regret, she slipped away.

Alistair Lane

[Deleted]

[attr="class","ohlove"]

[attr="class","lacking"]

[attr="class","eyes"]
✎ tag: CBE-177/"Anna"

※ wearing: Here

✉ notes: Roadside assistance.

both were silent.

the air in my lungs, my hands on the keys.

Blurry, abstract sounds and pictures did a poor job of connecting memories of the previous night into something translatable, but he was incredibly thankful he'd had some kind of mind to return just beside his original campsite where he was able to quickly clothe himself in the extra set he'd known well enough to bring. His muscles ached with weakness and his head felt light, so Alistair did something that he hadn't done in years. He went out to eat. The closest diner wasn't too far on the side of the nearest interstate exit and he'd done his best to be rather inconspicuous about ordering two twelve-ounce steaks, a handful of strips of bacon, and a biscuit. It wasn't even quite solved when he arrived home and he found himself digging through his fridge to finish a few leftover scrambled eggs and two glasses of milk. All there was left to do was to count his blessings; he hadn't been shot by a park ranger, it was a weekend, and he added the afternoon to another list of "firsts". He deviated from his schedule.

After a long shower, he found it impossible to have the energy to focus on his tasks. How long had he been... that? His mind had slipped into sleep almost the second his head hit the pillow. The following weekend he skipped camping, a bit behind on grading and needing to catch up with work as his priority. To keep himself more on track during the school week even, he stayed late at the office on campus rather than heading immediately home to organize lessons and the like. After the sun had just started to set, setting his cello case in the trunk and briefcase on the passenger's seat, he headed home. It was smokier in the air of the city than usual, a bit difficult to see in the "magic hour" lighting with the reflective fog from a distant forest fire. Most cars drove a bit slower to account for the conditions, but some still figured they'd try their luck. An unfortunate set of emergency lights blinked a few hundred feet away. Naturally a worrisome person, Alistair frowned at how close they were to the thin shoulder of the road along with the smoke and traffic.

A flick of his turn indicator had others slowing behind him until he could safely pull up at the car's rear and step out of his driver's door. Alistair kept the engine running, lights on and flashing to add attention to the shoulder of the road in order to help signal for caution, and jogged casually to the pacing young man he saw beside the car. He couldn't have been older than his students by his looks, his dress, and his voice that spoke nervously into a phone. There was a passenger shaded behind the windows of his car, but he was more concerned about the slight panic the young man seemed to carry. "Everything okay?" He noticed him, blinking and mumbling something into the phone before pulling it away as to not yell in the other person's ear. "It just died and it won't turn back on. I'm driving Uber and now I'm stuck in the middle of the-, hold on-," he turned around and went back to frantically explaining over the phone.

Uber? Turning his head over to the tinted windows again, he couldn't help but feel sympathy for the person waiting inside. Still, this wasn't the safest place to wait it out. "Hey," he called after him lightly, taking a few wide steps to him to get his attention. At first the kid seemed startled, but loosened up once Alistair's tone and gestures made it apparent that he as here to help; a knowledgeable and responsible adult. "The shoulder isn't a good place to wait and you really shouldn't stand out with the smoke today either, so..." his shoulders dropped with a shrug, the offer honest and content, "If you hop in with me I can drive up to the next exit and you can at least hang tight somewhere less dangerous." "Really?" he beamed, saying goodbye quickly to the person on the phone before reaching for Alistair's hand and shaking it with frantic, grateful excitement. It left the large man a bit baffled but ultimately grinning and nodding in return. "Let me go ask her real quick!" Watching the young man run back to the driver's door of his own car, Alistair waited with hands in his pockets and eyes on the traffic behind them just in case.

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[CBE-177/"Anna"]

A week passed.

Anna went back home and resumed her prowling of the city and odd jobs for Jack. Not that there were too many of those. That was okay, though. Her life had recently been completely transformed. The reason for this was called Uber.

It was magnificently simple. You took out your phone, you told them where you were and where you wanted to be, and within minutes, someone with a car appeared and drove you to that place. Utterly wonderful. She could hardly believe she lived in a place with such magic.

She'd never learned to drive, of course, unless you counted carts, having been born in a town that had no cars and run away to somewhere she didn't need them before being sold somewhere she couldn't use them. With Uber she didn't need to. She went to the mall, not to buy anything but simply to stand by and watch the people around her. After a while she had called Uber again to go home.

That was when everything went wrong. The car hit something: there was a pop, a scraping, and a shower of sparks, and her driver pulled over and got out of the vehicle. Anna got out to see. One of the tires was flat.

“F***!” said her driver. “F***! I don't know how to fix this.”

Anna looked at him blankly. She didn't know either (she was pretty sure she'd seen the wheel changed on a cart once, but that wasn't the same).

“F***!” said her driver again. “F*** f*** f***!”

Anna began to believe she would not be learning new English vocabulary from this driver.

“F***, I'm so sorry,” said the driver, looking at Anna. “Look, I'll... figure something out. You're okay, right? Please tell me you're okay.”

Anna nodded.

“I'll call someone,” said the driver. “F***! Can you wait a minute?”

Anna nodded, got back in the car, and went back to browsing Instagram. There were many pretty pictures here and she liked them.

She heard the other car pull up behind them and glanced out the window to see a man- tall, dark, bearded- getting out of another car. She looked, and then she looked again. The man was quite pleasant to look at. She kept looking. She heard his offer to drive them a little onward and her eyes narrowed. Unable to travel... a man and a woman alone on the side of the road... they might be tempting prey. She studied the man again, not seeing any telltale signs of concealed weapons, only strong shoulders and arms beneath his sleeves. His face was warm, friendly. She couldn't get a scent through the overpowering smell of automobiles.

Her driver opened the door. “Hey!” he said. “So this guy says he can drive us up to the next exit- you wanna do that? It'll be easier to call and we aren't as likely to get hit-” A truck zoomed by, far too close, as if to drive home the point.

Anna unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car, the shortest of the three. Much shorter than the man. “I'm Derrick,” said her driver, holding out his hand. “This is Anna, she's mute.” Anna nodded once and, after a moment, extended her hand. Her face was expressionless except for a slight narrowing of the eyes as she studied the newcomer.

@ali

[Deleted]

[attr="class","ohlove"]

[attr="class","lacking"]

[attr="class","eyes"]
✎ tag: CBE-177/"Anna"

※ wearing: Here

✉ notes: Roadside assistance.

both were silent.

the air in my lungs, my hands on the keys.

A few cars whizzed by way too close for comfort, making him take another step back away from the line for added safety though still in view for oncoming traffic to hopefully draw attention and make them alert of the unlucky stalled group on the shoulder of the road. He was anxious already to be back in the Jeep and moving instead of a sitting accident-waiting-to-happen. Not to mention the fact that the smoke was burning his nose and the speeding traffic ached in his equally-sensitive ears. Thankfully it wasn't long until a car door shut behind him and he turned to see the disheveled driver and his client - an incredibly short young woman - agreeably coming his way to accept his offer.

"Alistair Lane. Pleasure's mine," his hand reached out for the man's again as it had before, this time with more affirmed meeting than giddy, grateful excitement. Derrick and Anna, a mute. He nodded to her with the same greeting, also offering his hand and seeing her... odd, momentary hesitation. Suddenly he was very aware (as if he wasn't constantly already) or his uncommonly large size specifically to her even more uncommonly small size. More than likely the reason she looked uncomfortable at best. Incredibly conscious of the handshake, he was sure to make it sturdy, but soft and careful.

"You have everything you need?" he looked to the both of them and Derrick was quick to respond after with a few stuttered confirmations while he searched his own pockets for each individual item on his person. It didn't seem Anna carried much with her surprisingly enough, but he wanted to make sure. "Should get in on the passenger side," he turned to his vehicle behind them and motioned to the safer side away from traffic. A hand reached into his pocket and pressed a button that caused the lights to flash and the locks to give a soft click. He opened both the front and the back door to let them in, waiting to shut them behind.

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