A walk to clear the mind

[Guest]

Tasha was walking along trying to clear her head. So much had been going on lately, that a good long walk would do her some good. She knew that the caves were not too far from where she was in the Eastern Forest. She thought that would be a good point to turn around and head back. For now she was just enjoying watching the clouds roll in.

Sky sat quietly in his cave, he typically spent his days and nights alone all except for the wolves. They too had went back to their cave, after all they may be helping Sky but he wasn't part of their pack. He was putting the finishing touches on a bed made of pine and furn and other various objects. He sat down and took a critical look before smiling. He then sat cross legged and began to meditate, a storm was coming and he was going to prepare a spell for the upcoming burst of energy the squall would bring.

Tasha could see the mountains that housed the caves up in the distance. She was about to turn around to go back to the Inn when the sky's opened up and the rain started to pour down. Tasha was in leather pants and a bustier. Rain was not a good thing. She ran for the opening of the closest cave ducking inside before getting too soaked.

Sky immediately opened his eyes on hearing someone enter. His concentration was broken now plus he had better figure out who it was. He leaped to his feet and headed for the mouth when he saw a woman standing in his cave. He figured the only place she could have really come from was the Inn. This was an inconvenient time for her to come but it was better then being alone, although he would never say that out loud. "Hello welcome to my home caught in the rain?"

Tasha had no idea someone was already in the cave. She had just gotten under the cover of the cave and then started to shake her hair and try to dry it some. When she heard someone speak she turned around to see who was there.

What she saw standing before her made her scream. The loud ear piercing sound echoed throughout the cave. It was a black, well, nearly black, cat. And it was on two legs. A were? Here? She started to back away and tripped over a stone falling on her butt.

When she screamed it nearly made him jump out of his skin before he brought his hands over his really sensitive ears. He took two steps back unable to even think about catching her with his head booming like that suddenly. He took a deep patient breath before he spoke again. "Relax I'm not going to hurt you, and must you scream so loud us Anthros have really sensitive ears. Perhaps i can make you a fire so you can fully dry out."

Tasha blinked up at the creature while she was trying to crawl backwards from the cave. She was giving no thought to the rain. "A ... Anthro?" Was this some foreign word for the hybrid form of a were? She was confused, and now a little bruised. Luckily, the bruise would heal soon.

But the werepanther had a bigger problem on her hands. The sounds of bones breaking told her that her fear was causing her to shift. So much for this outfit. And if she shifted back ... Well, she wasn't Gawain. She tried to calm down and keep from shifting.

He just barely heard the sounds of bones cracking and tilted his head curiously. He leaned down towards her tilting his head to the side. He sniffed a few times to try and figure out if she was really ok had she soiled herself other things of that nature to show she might be injured or sick. "Are you sure you are alright something seems amiss." He reached his hand down to give her a hand up.

She hadn't soiled herself or anything. She was taking deep calming breaths, and the bones that had broken to shift into panther form were breaking again to take human form. She was maintaining. He reached out a hand to her and she turned over and scurried over to the other side of the cave opening. She pressed her back to the wall as she had stood up when she scurried. "I ... I'm fine." She had to ask. "Who ... What are you?"

He looked at his hand for a moment, as if to examine what was wrong with it before he sat down right where he was. He didn't have a problem with hard grounds. He smiled a very toothy grin and looked out into the rain. "As for who I am.. I am Sky. To answer your question of what I am..." He gave her a side long glance for a moment before looking out at the rain again. " I am what I am."

Tasha closed her eyes and shook her head. That was about a confusing answer. 'He was Sky, he was what he was'? That made no sense to her. "Ok, Sky ... That's your name?" One thing at a time.

"Yes Sky is my name. My mother named me after the Sky that my eyes reflected when I was born. So what is your name... After all you are the one who stumbled into my home correct?" He kept watching the rain with that small mysterious smile.

Deep calming breaths, yes, deep calming breaths. "Tasha. My mother named me after a character on a television show from Earth." That was more than she planned on saying about that. "Are you a Lycan, Sky?" That was the best way to ask.

"A Lycan? like a were? Oh no no. There is nothing like that to me. I am an Anthro. This is my natural form I was born like this I will live like this and probably die like this. Much like humans are evolved apes some other creatures became evolved as well. Some survived some didn't we are the missing links we call ourselves Anthros. Are you an enemy of the were-kind Tasha?"

Tasha never was good at Earth Studies in school. She had a vague memory of the theory of evolution. It was something about humans coming from apes. "Oh, no, well, what I mean to say is ... I am a were. A werepanther. But, I don't really like werecats. My Alpha ... my former Alpha that is. He ..." She stopped there. It was too hard to discuss.

Instead what she did was push away from the wall of the cave and walked closer to him very slowly. He would recognize her walk as that of a cat approaching something it meant to investigate.

Sky didn't move only watched her closely. He wouldn't push her to talk about anything she didn't want to. he would let her go one believing he just didn't care. He sniffed the air a couple times again. So thats what the extra earthy scent was about. He was kind of surprised he missed it usually he can guess things like that. No matter what another cat did it could never hide its scent fully from another after all.

Yes, the scent he was picking up was her feline side. She knew she couldn't hide it from him any more than she could hide it from one of the wolves within the Inn. And had he any doubt, one look into her cat-like emerald orbs would give her away. She had two features that never shifted back to human form any more, her eyes and her tongue.

Once she was close enough she knelt down on one knee and reached out to him. "Can ... Er, may I?" She was meaning to touch him, see if he was real.

"Y... Yes but be careful. I do not typically like being touched and if you touch a few sensitive areas it could have surprising results. Remember this... I am very feral." He meant shocking results in a lot more ways then one. He might snap if she touched the wrong spots and bite her, or he might snap and do other... things. He all in all was still a wild animal. "You will find I am quite real. If I am fake I like to believe I'm real anyway..."

She reached her hand out and brushed her fingertips over the top of his head, she was in fact petting a cat. His fur was real. Her fingers trailed over to his ears and she touched them for only a fraction of a second. That was all she needed to know that the flesh she felt was real. "You're amazing." She stayed knelt before him as she withdrew her hand slowly.

"I would not particularly call me amazing... You still are wet aren't you cold. I can get a fire started. Had I know I would have company it would have been only proper for one to have already been started after all. He continued to sit there and concentrated a little in front of him before conjuring up a small fire. He let out a slow breath. He was really low on magic if a simple fire conjuring spell was tiring him.

She was about to say that she was getting cold when the fire poofed to life. She was startled and fell over to her side. She was now sitting near him, she moved slightly, not wanting to invade his space. "Thank you, I am getting a little cold." She wrapped her arms around herself and rubbed her bare shoulders.

"There is nothing else I can do for you. It is a little warmer deeper in the caves... If you want you can lean on me I have heard I am warm and soft. Though I don't know weather to take that as an insult or a compliment," He gave her that side long glance again and a quirky little smile to let her know he was joking. Not something he typically often did. It was nice to sometimes not be a humorless fighter.

She chuckled. "I would take it as a compliment if I were you." Was she that cold that she could lean against him? Actually she was. All she was wearing for a top was the equivalent of a strapless bra. She pushed on the ground to scoot closer to him and then wrapped her arms around herself and leaned to her side hesitantly.

He didn't flinch but his muscles quivered on her approach. He wasn't used to being touched period and despite his calm exterior his mind was racing. Why did he have to be so nice? Sometimes he wished he was the cold hearted cat he always presented himself to be. He brought up on knee and placed an arm on it. He felt his fur stand a little and looked away from the entrance. A moment later a bright flash of lightening accompanied with a loud crash of thunder. He had to speak over the echo. "Storms, are beautiful." He had dug a small drainage in the rock to lead the water away from the center and into a small hole that lead to only Gods know where.

She was getting a little warmer. She thought maybe she could lean back upright again. So she sat up and hugged her knees to herself. "Yes, very beautiful." Save for the mud she was going to have to go through to get back to the Inn. Mud in heels. Just what she needed. She would go back holding her shoes.

"I am sorry i can not be more entertaining. The only thing i really do is travel this caves and make sure the forest stays beautiful. You are welcome to stay here as long as you would like. As long as you don't trash up and respect the ... what do you call it? Nature? Respect the nature around you it is fine with me. If you want to see me i am easy enough to find. That is.. if you plan on coming back in the future."

He tilted his head to the said and said almost a little desperately. "Not that I am saying you have to leave or anything.... I guess... I... well. I am not good with words, forget I said anything."

Tasha chuckled and instinctively reached her hand out to run her hand over his head. "Thank you for saying I am welcome. And I did not think you were trying to run me off. And as far as entertainment, I like watching storms, when I'm not caught in them in leather." She laughed some more. She was becoming more comfortable. Maybe she would come visit him again sometime.

"I don't wear leather too often... imagine how much fur would be puffing out. Like a poodle dominatrix." He shivered then over exaggeratedly. He never took his eyes off the ran he typically avoided the connection that eye contact brought. he felt you could read to much in the eyes to stay impersonal

Tasha tried to hold back the laughter from his comment but it burst fourth and erupted from her "Now that would be a site." She didn't mind the lack of eye contact. Sometimes when someone looked her in the eye, she felt like they were staring at the human with the cat's eyes.

Getting the reaction he was hoping for he allowed himself a small chuckle and a big grin. He flexed his left hand cracking his knuckles then his right. He was a little nervous it wasn't her in particular it was people. He didn't know what to do or how to handle being around them... especially alone. "Tasha correct? What brought you out here by yourself?"

She rested her chin on her knee's. "I needed time away from those at the Inn, time to think my own thoughts, not the ones they wanted me to think." That was the best way she could put it. There were expectations of her. She was supposed to show up for certain things. Keep her mouth shut about things. It was almost like a prison for her.

"Sometimes I feel the opposite way. All I have is my own thoughts. They gnaw away annoyingly at me biting me to the point of insanity. It forces me to go find something to do just to free myself of the pressure of my own suffocating thoughts." He defiantly spilled a little more about himself then he chose. But her openness did open him up a little.

Tasha smiled at that. "Well, now you are not alone with your thoughts. And you have no expectations of me or my thoughts. Sounds great to me." She was definitely more comfortable around him that she thought she would be.

"I only expect that you continue being you... after are you are what you are right?" He gave her a quick sideways glance again with that little mysterious smile of his. He often seemed like he was in a world of his own and usually heard a different joke then everyone else did. He took a deep breath and the fire grew a little larger.

((T.B.C.))