Boredom is dangerous. =O,O= -- Lake Arafette

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Date Posted: 09:13:36 06/30/03 Mon
Author: Heki and Mayah
Subject: Boredom is dangerous. =O,O=

...on another planet some distance away...

Mayah grinned, her dark blue eyes unnaturally bright as she darted out of the way of a massive battle-axe that split the rock on which she'd so recently stood. "Too slow," she taunted, wisps of brown hair that escaped her top-knot fluttering in the hot summer breeze. One long-fingered hand hovered briefly before clasping the black hilt of the Wolf Shifter's cutlass that was strapped to her back and drawing it with one smooth motion, parrying a second attack and angling her blade so that it didn't so much as nick. The Tiger whom she fought snarled, though in human form like his opponent, and tried a few more tricks with his axe; Mayah dodged or parried them easily, laughing all the while. Other than the dust on her loose black pantaloons and a few close calls that sliced the hem of her green cloth poncho, the Wolf hadn't even been touched. The Cat Shifter, on the other hand, was sweating hard and barely keeping his life each time the agile young woman took the offensive.

"What's wrong, stripes? Can't keep up?" Wolfish endurance put a Cat to shame and Mayah flaunted the fact as she ventured nearer the panting warrior. He shot her an emerald-eyed glare and abruptly dropped his weapon, lunging and dealing a few swift, powerful blows to the slender Wolf. She staggered back, surprised, and a roundhouse thrown at her skull sent her sprawling in the dust. The Tiger slipped a dirk from his belt and would've ended the stunned Wolf then and there had he not caught the quiet tattoo of running feet; he spun and barely raised his blade in time to block a vicious attack, stumbling backwards from the force of the down-swung spear as the newcomer rebounded easily, landing lightly on unshod feet.

Heki wasn't grinning, dark eyes that usually displayed so much poignant emotion currently glinting with anger. No Cat was going to kill his cousin, and the fact that he'd almost been too late made his mood worse. The Tiger straightened slightly, eyeballing the axe behind the male Wolf Shifter. Heki ignored it and launched himself in a relentless attack, wielding his double-bladed spear with expertise. The Cat was unable to do anything other than block his opponent's blows and nearly tripped over Mayah's motionless form... although a kick from the prone Wolf brought the big warrior to his knees. She laughed and rolled aside, springing upright out of blade-range.

"Ow. Nice timing, cousin," she complimented, grinning at her look-alike. While Mayah's hair was medium-brown and top-knotted to fall to her elbows, Heki's chocolate-brown tresses were loosely bound in a ponytail at the nape of his neck and fell to his lean hips. Mayah's cream skin was a fairer version of her cousin's tan, and the woman's midnight-blue eyes were echoed in Heki's dark gaze. That, along with their familial proud posture and quick, graceful movements, was more than enough to pinpoint the blood relationship between the two Wolves. Mayah proceeded to dust her silky pantaloons off and straighten her skewed poncho, the form-fitting white shirt underneath quickly hidden again by jade green.

"Tsuh," Heki muttered in response, twisting his tall, well-built frame to the side to avoid a slashing lunge that would've gutted him. In response, he brought the thick haft of his spear down across the Tiger's shoulders, sending the bigger warrior into the dust. The Cat rolled, though, springing upright before the Wolf could take advantage of his attack and follow up; breathing hard, the Tiger stared balefully at the two Wolves, Mayah once more on the end of a razor-sharp cutlass, the curving blade glimmering in the hot sunlight. "You can't win, stripes, so just give up," the slender Wolf purred, grinning ferally. Heki nodded slowly, holding his spear at ready, "Surrender and you can leave in one piece."

The Cat thought rapidly, emotions flashing through his green eyes before a sigh escaped him and he sheathed his dirk. "Fine. I give up," he grated, corded muscles jerking with suppressed rage at having to submit to two Wolves. Mayah grinned and sheathed her sword, folding her arms and looking unbearably smug. Heki nodded, straightening from his fighting stand and tilting his spear to use it as a bladed staff. "Good. Now go." The Tiger grinned, "Sure. I'll go." Mayah felt something amiss and opened her mouth to speak just before a burst of bronze energy caught her off-guard and sent her sprawling backwards, Heki skidding next to her. A big hand closed around her wrist and she looked up, snarling aloud to see the Tiger so close and laughing at the Wolves.

Suddenly... blackness.

And then light. Heki blinked wildly, trying to figure out what was going on. The gravity tugged at him weakly and he couldn't quite find his balance, shoved as he had been into a sheer rocky slope. Mayah was thrown next to him, her slender frame impacting the ground harder than his had, and finally he looked up. Blue sky had been replaced by one of indigo, but more importantly, the Tiger's muscular frame hovered mid-air above them. Laughing. "What the--?! Where are we?!" Heki snarled, trying to rise and finding his balance still awry. Mayah groaned, stirring and trying to lift her face from the rock.

The Cat Shifter laughed again. "Good question, my Wolfish friends! Why don't you find out, because as you wished, I'll be going now!" And before Heki could say another word or even twitch, the Tiger had vanished.

Mayah snarled under her breath, pressing her hands to her pounding skull, and mumbled, "Teleportation. We're on some alien planet, Heki." The Wolf rolled onto her back, staring up at the strangely-colored sky and hissing at the pain such a movement caused. Heki growled, finally able to stand without a hand against a nearby rock. "Neither of us can teleport back, blast it," he muttered, flicking a strand of hair out of his eyes. Mayah glanced up at her cousin, his dark brown trousers torn and his plain white vest askew, sliding off one muscular shoulder. "I smell Cat."

Heki rolled his eyes, "No kidding. It's everywhere." Then blinked, realizing what this meant. Mayah slowly sat up, cradling her aching head, and twisted so she wasn't sitting so firmly on her bushy tail. "Maybe one of them can teleport and get us home, Hek'. Either way, I gotta shift, my head is killing me." Heki slowly nodded, crouching. "Not a bad idea. Whatever this place is, our Wolf forms would be able to get around the quickest. We can follow the Cat scent and see what goes, eh?" Mayah grinned slightly, "Yeah."

Both Wolves shifted simultaneously, humanish bodies replaced by massive predators within seconds. "At least the planet is energy-rich, otherwise we might not be able to shift," Mayah commented, her dark blue eyes peering now from a mask of pitch-black fur. Unlike her long-legged cousin, she was average in height and build as a Wolf; Heki's cinnamon-tipped golden fur, however, covered a more rangy and taller frame. The male nodded, raising a powerful muzzle to scent the crosswinds. The lake below was mostly ignored as Heki started to pad towards the forest, but a snort from his cousin brought him up short.

"Water. Who knows when we'll find some next? And there're a lotta scents down there. Maybe we can figure out just what this planet's about, anyways." Mayah's reasoning made sense, so Heki followed her down to the lake's shores, ears swiveling to listen for any strange noises. The black Wolf sniffed around for what seemed ages as he drank his fill from the clean, cold lake -at least the water wasn't alien- and she finally sighed, joining him. "I don't get it. Too many different scents; a lot of species and just as many people to match. Some scents seem unsteady, like something was in the middle of shifting but just froze there and went walking about. And a lot of metal and gases; these people have advanced technology, like K'anta do." Mayah slaked her thirst while Heki mulled over the implications of that verdict.

"Gimme some more time, cousin. I don't want to leave until I can put this puzzle together." Heki sighed but knew Mayah had the right idea; they were on an alien planet and had no clue what was going on. Chasing Cat Shifters without half a clue of what else they might run into was not the best idea. So, for now, the black Wolf and her cousin sniffed around, trying to identify various scents and piece the Etreusian puzzle together.

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Replies:

The Cat scent, meanwhile, is following you... -- Aduuni, Hashe, Hora, Eliqui, 16:57:10 07/02/03 Wed
- Ohhh boy. Hide'n'seek turns into lost'n'found... pardon the bad writing. It's early. :) -- Heki and Mayah, 04:55:27 07/03/03 Thu
  - *settles into an easy rhythm of relaxation* -- Aduuni, Hashe, Hora, Eliqui, 14:18:01 07/03/03 Thu
    - If she only had some tact, dee dee deedledee... -- Heki and Mayah, 17:17:01 07/03/03 Thu
      - Tricks? Let's see... -- Aduuni, Hashe, Hora, Eliqui, 18:26:13 07/03/03 Thu
        But but but I wanna poke it with a spear! -- Heki and Mayah, 07:25:04 07/04/03 Fri
        Nice, nice... -- Aduuni, Hashe, Hora, Eliqui, 08:05:30 07/04/03 Fri
        Ack! Tags! Sorry. (NT) -- Eliqui, 08:06:38 07/04/03 Fri
        Heh heh heh. XD -- Heki and Mayah, 16:39:25 07/04/03 Fri
        Re: Heh heh heh. XD -- Aduuni, Hashe, Hora, Eliqui, 07:33:53 07/05/03 Sat
        *G* -- Heki and Mayah, 15:07:17 07/05/03 Sat