Maea
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved
Watching Liam closely for his reaction, he did not disappoint. Was it silly to enjoy the succession of shock and awe across his face? Maybe. It was a rare thing that she had anyone around to impress, and rarer still to actually want to impress at all.
Tigers didn't really smile, but the slow blink and yawn - displaying an impressive set of teeth along with a serrated tongue rough enough to lick meat off of bone - was a close thing. Casually licking her chops, Maea shifted slightly to clean the fur between toe pads on a front paw, quite willing to let herself be admired for as long as he wished.
When Liam spoke again, she paused and gazed thoughtfully at him. Did she really want to show him all her tricks? He knew of the crow, swift and agile, mischievous and free. He'd now seen the tiger, the hunger and unapologetic force underlying her whole personality. Perhaps shifts were only forms, but Maea had found that they spoke of who she was in very direct ways. It said something that the tiger had been her first form, that it mirrored the jaguar she'd lost, that there was something feline and clawed at the center of her being. It wouldn't be difficult to leave it at that, and keep everything else hidden.
But... where was the fun in that? Here was an excellent audience, and she had his undivided attention. Perhaps it could not hurt... to let this person know that there was more to her, more to a homeless vagrant of a strange race than the potential for violence?
Yes. She found that she did want him to understand that.
Maea shifted again. Shimmering as her form altered, this time it did shrink, if only by a bit. Resting on the ground amidst smoldering puddles of half melted steel, unbothered by the heat, lay a feirwe doe. The coat was white as snow, and she wore a rack of antlers that burned with blueish flame. Similar to a luxere in appearance, if he'd ever seen one of those, or perhaps not so far removed from a reindeer; regardless, this body certainly looked delicate compared to the tiger. Slender, graceful, with soft eyes as lavender in hue as they had been in her ancient form; this time it was only her horns that burned, and so she dared to extend her neck to nuzzle Liam's sleeve with a velvety nose. He looked somehow different through these eyes, though she could not quite pinpoint why. It was not bad, though. Never bad.
Tigers didn't really smile, but the slow blink and yawn - displaying an impressive set of teeth along with a serrated tongue rough enough to lick meat off of bone - was a close thing. Casually licking her chops, Maea shifted slightly to clean the fur between toe pads on a front paw, quite willing to let herself be admired for as long as he wished.
When Liam spoke again, she paused and gazed thoughtfully at him. Did she really want to show him all her tricks? He knew of the crow, swift and agile, mischievous and free. He'd now seen the tiger, the hunger and unapologetic force underlying her whole personality. Perhaps shifts were only forms, but Maea had found that they spoke of who she was in very direct ways. It said something that the tiger had been her first form, that it mirrored the jaguar she'd lost, that there was something feline and clawed at the center of her being. It wouldn't be difficult to leave it at that, and keep everything else hidden.
But... where was the fun in that? Here was an excellent audience, and she had his undivided attention. Perhaps it could not hurt... to let this person know that there was more to her, more to a homeless vagrant of a strange race than the potential for violence?
Yes. She found that she did want him to understand that.
Maea shifted again. Shimmering as her form altered, this time it did shrink, if only by a bit. Resting on the ground amidst smoldering puddles of half melted steel, unbothered by the heat, lay a feirwe doe. The coat was white as snow, and she wore a rack of antlers that burned with blueish flame. Similar to a luxere in appearance, if he'd ever seen one of those, or perhaps not so far removed from a reindeer; regardless, this body certainly looked delicate compared to the tiger. Slender, graceful, with soft eyes as lavender in hue as they had been in her ancient form; this time it was only her horns that burned, and so she dared to extend her neck to nuzzle Liam's sleeve with a velvety nose. He looked somehow different through these eyes, though she could not quite pinpoint why. It was not bad, though. Never bad.
In secret, between the shadow and the soul
