Faded Forests, Silent Fields [Open]

[Melissa|Tristan]

Melissa sat up with a lazy stretch, flicking her ears as her body stuck up above the top of the grass. Her lips pulled back over her sharp canines as she yawned. Tristan was napping a short distance away, also in his animal form, and had the grass not shielded her considerably smaller form from view the scene undoubtedly would have appeared unnatural. Horses and cheetah's just didn't co-exist naturally; not normally anyways. Theirs was a special case.

The two had met several months earlier, when she had needed to use the ambulance he worked out of, and they had gradually become friends. When Tristan had suddenly begun acting weird, Melissa had convinced him to tell her what was going on, and with his confession he had found relief in that she knew how he felt. The two had been close ever since, and they had planned a celebratory picnic after his first shift. They had already gorged themselves on the food, though they had quite a lot left still, and now they were enjoying the sunshine and warmth in a clearing beside the lake.

She still couldn't get over his colouring and size, just as he hadn't been able to get over hers. His black and white coat wasn't meant to blend in; rather, it was made to stand out. Constrasting his colouring was her own burnt sienna patches that aided her in blending in with her surroundings. Tristan had proved himself to be fairly nimble, despite his large size, but at the moment he looked quite small. He was lying with his legs curled into his body and his muzzle rested on his forelegs with his eyes shut. Which gave Mel an idea . . .

The first time he'd shifted, it had been pretty much accidental, and Tristan had been so excited that he had chased her around until they were both ready to drop. She'd been dozing and not paying attention at the time, so he'd scared the wits out of her. Now it was time for her to return the favour. Crouching lower and flickering her eyes quickly around, Melissa began silently stalking forward towards the horse's sleeping form. Her narrow shoulders spiked out of her back as she crept forward in silence, intent on her "prey" now. She'd get hell from Tristan for it later, but it would totally be worth it just to see the expression on his face. Now, if only she could control the giggles that were beginning to rise into her throat.

[Fulong|Clara]

It wasn't often you saw a cheetah stalking a horse, especially in the middle of Canada. It didn't take a degree in biology for someone to spot a few problems with that setup.

Thankfully, if Onji was used to anything, she was used to seeing stuff like this. Hell, it was practically normal. At least they were outdoors, for one thing--back in Toronto she'd seen a panther chase a gazelle through a shopping mall once (although to be perfectly honest she might or might not have been slightly involved in that; sneaking in after hours was fun, and that night had been made even more so by the discovery of an Innocent who'd decided to do the same. Sure, she'd lost five dollars to Dave after she'd bet him he couldn't catch the Innocent in question and he'd succeeded magnificently, but it had totally been worth it in the end).

The point was that Onji was pretty sure the same thing was going on here--Hunter, daft Innocent asleep by the lake, that sort of thing. The apparent Hunter was doing a fairly good job of it, all told; clean stalking technique and pretty damn silent, as far as Onji could tell. That didn't mean she felt inclined to help at all--this, as far as she was concerned, was for her own entertainment. And anyway, it was about time she saw some Hunters at work here. The meeting with that Angelique woman had been...lackluster, to say the least.

Settling down into a more comfortable position on her branch, Onji flicked her tail once, lazily, and kept watching, confident that her coloring would keep her invisible for the moment.

[Melissa|Tristan]

When Mel was within five feet or so of Tristan, she made her move. In the wild, a cheetah would stalk as close as possible and then race down their food at majorly high speeds. At the moment though, Tristan was lying down so that would have been no fun at all. Her stalking went textbook perfect, with her shoulderblades spiking as she crept slowly closer and closer. When she thought she was in range, she retracted her claws as far as they would go and pounced.

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Tristan was completely unaware of what happened. One second he'd been minding his own business and sleeping in a meadow of grass peacefully, and the next there was a not insignificant weight that had been dropped on his back. Not to mention the small spikes attached to that weight that caused his talisman to instantly jerk into wakefulness. It instantly jumped to a single word. Predator.

With a whinny of alarm he pushed himself to his feet, stumbling as he remembered the fact that he was on four legs and not two. The weight had made no movement as of yet, but it hadn't fallen off either, so he elicited a small buck. When the thing poked him harder, his talisman took control in a moment of panic. "Mel! Mel help me! Help!" His nostrils flared, ears swivelling to and fro as he tried frantically to dislodge the creature on his back. A minute portion in the back of his mind registered that there had been no answer from Mel.

A cry of rage made him launch into a series of bucks that first made the weight seem heavier. And then, as he was about to launch into another wave of them the creature left his back, landing lightly in the grass nearby.

****************************

It had been too easy really. As she'd landed, Mel had settled herself so that she was evenly balanced across his back, making it easier to ride out the up and down motion of Tristan's body. It was almost too much for her to control her laughter when he screamed out for her, so when he paused for a second she'd decided to end his misery and nimbly jumped back off of him.

Upon landing in the grass the laughter had been too much and she'd collapsed, breathless. As Tristan's muzzle appeared cautiously peering at her, her breathlessness returned and Mel was forced to pant after somehow discontinuing her laughter. The stunned expression on the horse's face would have made just about anyone laugh, but she somehow choked it back and rose in time for his snapping teeth to miss her.

****************************

As he pinned his ears, Tristan swished his tail in annoyance before beginning to chase the cheetah around the meadow. Mel's peals of laughter rang out behind her and she easily kept in front of him without breaking a sweat. Within a minute or two, she glanced over her shoulder at him, a sly cheetah grin prevalent over her face and he couldn't help but return the look. The irritation at her for scaring him out of his mind melted and he laughed, breaking into a gallop to pull alongside her as they raced in a circle.

Of course, since Mel was a cheetah, it was only too easy for her to keep up. As they ran round and round the meadow, neither of the two creatures in the meadow had any idea that they had company.

[Fulong|Clara]

The binturong emitted a faint snort of surprise. How about that. Either both of them were Hunters or neither of them were; it was difficult to tell from this distance, especially if she couldn't hear either of them. In any case, her initial impressions had been wrong. That was interesting. She'd considered this place fairly predictable before.

Then again, the idea that a few people with talismans might want to goof off a bit wasn't so unlikely as to be completely unbelievable. Onji considered herself a living example of that. The fact that her personal concept of goofing off occasionally involved wanton bloodshed and property destruction didn't mean a thing, as far as she was concerned. A slow smile crept over the binturong's face as she watched. Maybe it was time to introduce herself.

Yawning hugely, the binturong slid out of the tree with just enough noise to make herself noticeable, then puddled into a contented heap beside the trunk, apparently fast asleep.

Not that she wanted any wanton bloodshed and property destruction this time around, mind you. She'd had quite enough of that with the cabin fiasco last week. It was probably time to make some proper contacts around here.