burning in the flames I'm working in

ISLA

Hunting. That's what Sunjata had said was on the agenda for today - along with a supply run, of course, but Isla isn't thinking about that right now. There's something deep in her bones that's yawning for release, and it goes beyond mere bloodlust (not that it has caused her much of a problem thus far). All that is to say that the Remedy is uncharacteristically fidgety as they walk out into the Barrows, her blue eyes pinned on any movement as if it might be prey worth stalking.

"We might get lucky enough to snag a few deer in this weather," she remarks quietly, though it's probably wishful thinking on her part. "I've never really paid attention to the sort of things that live out here, though. Apart from that one time I went flying with you." What a shame she can't be a dragon any more. But on the other hand, now she can drink smoothies and masturbate so, you know, win some and lose some.

apres moi le deluge
after me comes the flood

temporary fleeting thrills, keep me bruised and make me ill
my skin has lavender tones

Hunting. To be honest, he doesn’t know the primal need Isla has for this just yet. What he does know, is the one that lingers under his own skin, debating between shifts to pick. And while he’d prefer to stay on the ground alongside her, the dragon is out of the question even if it would be the easiest. The most fun shift, would likely be the panther that coiled and prowled under his tattooed and scarred skin.

“It’s possible.” He agrees softly, looking over at her with a small crooked smile. “When the war was over, I spent most of the time hunting in my shifts rather than preparing any meals.” He says, a subtle way to say that he couldn’t find it in him to eat until the creatures in his soul forced his hand.

So with the debate mentally finished, Sunjata’s decided the feline shift might be the play here. “I say we go until we catch wind of something and then go from there.” So saying, he guides them toward the spaces he’d captured them before – in places more hidden, more maze-like with the brush and shrubbery that dotted the otherwise large expanse of King’s End.

the flood

tell me i'm a loaded gun, tie me up and come undone
i can cover it up, i can cover it up

totally sniped from odd ilu

ISLA

"I remember you saying," Isla murmurs softly, jostling Sunjata with her shoulder in an act of what one might easily say is affection. Now that Isla knows hunger pangs again, she can appreciate the state of mind he'd have been in to ignore them until absolutely necessary. She'd have been the same in the immediate aftermath of the war.

Shaking off the damp blanket of grief that threatens to fall over her, the Remedy lifts her head and inhales the sweet, crisp air of Flowerbirth, following after her fellow hunter into the maze of brush and shrubbery. "Sounds like a plan," she murmurs, before flashing him a fanged smile. "Do you know that Ancients have shifts? I've been holding off on mine, just in case."

In case of what will be clear when, with a shiver, Isla succumbs to the claws and fangs and liquid stripes that lurk beneath her skin - there's no telling what would happen if she'd prowled around the House of Midnight for the first time, with so many tasty bodies on display. But now, out in the open when they're hunting anyway? There's no reason to hold herself in check.

As a tiger she's undoubtedly large for a big cat, but her form is more delicate, more sleek and agile than her male counterpart would be. Struck through with stripes of molten gold rather than black, her claws sink deep into the earth as she stretches, rumbling out unexpected appreciation for the shift. She's been lion and manticore both in her time, and while both have been close, this one is all hers at last, and it feels right.

apres moi le deluge
after me comes the flood

don't be scared

you're like the calmest slit to my neck

She jostles his shoulder and Sunjata snorts, feeling a bit like a broken record – unable to remember what he’s told her and what he hasn’t. She doesn’t seem to mind it, though, not as they peer over the land before them, picking apart the way they’ll hunt. She agrees with his plan and he tears his gaze away from the path to look back at her as she flashes him a fanged smile and asks him a question.

His scarred brow rises slightly, a playful smile blooming on his face. “I didn’t.” He admits, having learned little to nothing about the Ancients other than their love of heat. His head tilts out of confusion and curiosity, but immediately bleeds away as she takes a shape made wholly for her. No borrowed shifts this time – instead, something that certainly screams Isla the longer he looks at her.

“Aren’t you beautiful?” He comments without thinking of the words, stepping forward brazenly to inspect her further. His eyes follow each line of molten gold before he shakes himself out of it, stepping back to shift into his panther form, sleek and black and about the same height that she is, and with a playful glance shot her direction, the panther bolts down the path they’d picked.

bring me in closer

SUNJATA

bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones.

---

You've encountered the OG random event! This allows you to skip one levelling requirement with the character in this thread. (Unfortunately does not count for characters over level 10, how sad.)

ISLA

Now you do, Isla thinks regarding Ancients and their shifts, stretching out lithe, powerful limbs and resisting the urge to flump down and roll in the grass and the earth for no other reason than because it's there. Sunjata's comment is enough to keep her focus for now, at least, the tigress huffing out the feline equivalent of a laugh, her whiskers twitching.

Before she knows it, though, the Flood is clad in black velvet fur and equipped with fangs and claws not unlike her own. And when he bolts off down the path, instinct snatches the reins from Isla's hands, and she's off after him. Any passing strangers would likely run the other direction to see two big cats engaged in an intense game of chase, but luckily Isla thinks they're alone out here.

So when she catches up to Sunjata enough to bat at his tail, she does so without any care for consequences, even if it means spooking their potential prey.

apres moi le deluge
after me comes the flood

don't be scared

you're like the calmest slit to my neck

It’s a strange sensation, to shift and feel a metaphorical wall where an attuned bond otherwise would be. He knows that it’s Isla, that the molten tiger flumping down into the grass was that strong, fiery woman he’s come to know better in the past few months. So the panther can’t help but to try and become as attuned to the tiger as he can, stretching his claws out into the grass and dirt before he takes off, giving her an air of the chase.

It's freeing, however, as they bolt down the path, pausing around a slight bend where she catches up to him and bats at his tail, causing him to swish his tail around a bit, turn toward her with perked ears and an amused look on his face, before he nods his head toward the left – following the scent on the air. There’s a low rumble from his throat, barely there but loud enough for her to hear, before he promptly sits down as a stag appears in a break between the trees, already somewhat on alert of its surroundings as the environment shifts because of their presence.

His general body language seems to scream after you.

bring me in closer

SUNJATA

ISLA

Planning on creating prey out of his tail, Isla is rudely interrupted in her efforts by the reminder of why they’re actually out here, the tigress glancing up at the soft, undulating rumble from Sunjata’s throat. Following his gaze, they flatten to the ground almost in sync with one another, her eyes fixed on the emerging stag, pupils yawning wide.

There is a wall between them, and given that she’s been in an Attuned shift before, this is certainly a change, but hopefully the instinctual cues they give each other will be enough. For instance, after you is something she understands, a soft rumble igniting in her throat as she prowls forward.

Granted, a molten tiger in King’s End probably isn’t the best camouflage, but hopefully the stag is too busy to notice. Either way, when Isla springs forward, it’s with claws unsheathed and an intent to chase down and kill, and there’s no room for any thought in between that.

apres moi le deluge
after me comes the flood

don't be scared

you're like the calmest slit to my neck

It’s different being so … Cut off, emotionally from her – but in a way it’s perhaps for the best. It helps him keep his leaking attuned thoughts and emotions from pouring into her and souring her mood just as it often did his own. After all, he and Nate used to hunt in shift all the time and when he’d offered it out for her to join him, he hadn’t quite considered what it might be like doing this with someone else again.

At least she isn’t wearing his shift for it this time. Her own, gilded and molten and feline and wholly her, certainly helped him keep from reminiscing too far. The soft rumble that leaves her throat is met with an answering one of his own, Sunjata’s shift reacting in kind to her own movements. He lets her lead the way, watching her spring forward to chase it down.

The stag does notice them, but it’s a few seconds too late. It starts to bolt, bleating to any others nearby of the danger that ran through this part of the woods, but it doesn’t make it too far as Isla’s claws sink into its hind quarters, spinning it off kilter and tripping it up.

Sunjata, on the other side, leaves that one for Isla – bolting past the two to try and scout out any others that might be slow to get out of the way as well.

bring me in closer

SUNJATA

ISLA

Her claws sink into the rump of the deer and Isla swears she can hear its blood sing with adrenaline and terror, and while some might say that fear makes the meat tough, she doesn't care enough to lull the creature into a gentler death. If she did have the Attuned bond, Sunjata would undoubtedly be flooded by her raw emotions; the thrill of the chase, the need to rend and bite and tear, hunger and need all rolled into the hunt.

As it stands, though, he's a black blur in her peripheral vision and she's left to take the deer down in her own time. By the time Sunjata returns, with or without a successful kill, Isla will have ripped the unfortunate creature's throat out, and with a bloodstained muzzle, is nose deep in the carcass to feast. If she remembers they're meant to be taking the meat home for the House of Midnight, it clearly doesn't matter right now.

apres moi le deluge
after me comes the flood

don't be scared

you're like the calmest slit to my neck

Perhaps it is best to not have the Attuned bond, unsure how his control would falter as he chases down the rest of the herd while she stakes her claim. With how fast she’s ran toward it with the intention of destroying it, he seems to have some unspoken understanding that it’s likely she would rip into the first one. But that’s fine, perhaps some could be salvaged from it. And if nothing else, he hopes to have one to bring back in tact as well.

Which he succeeds in doing – as he chases down the stragglers, he manages to take out one of the larger stags, waiting until he’s gotten it under control before he grabs it with his teeth and drags it back to where he’d left Isla. He drops it as soon as he’s close enough to her, dark ears perked forward, and a look at her that seems to suggest that they’d only be taking the one back.

It’s fine, however, they’ve managed to get a decent amount of food for a little bit longer at least. And if nothing else, Isla got to experience her shift and all its molten glory as well.

bring me in closer

SUNJATA

ISLA

Busy tearing muscle and sinew and cracking bones to get to the marrow inside, Isla doesn't realise how close Sunjata has become until he's almost on top of her. With a baring of enormous fangs and a soft warning rumble, it takes a couple of moments for her to master her instincts. When she does, however - and notices the stag he's brought along with him - the Remedy realises she's rudely sidestepped their entire reason to be hunting.

Shifting back, the Ancient finds herself on her knees in the grass covered in blood, able to offer little more than a sheepish smile to Sunjata. "Gods, I am so sorry," she murmurs, trying to clean up her face (it's a laughable attempt with the state of her). "I completely forgot we were meant to be bringing this all back. I can go again and get something?" Unlikely, since they've spooked the herd by now, but she has to offer.

apres moi le deluge
after me comes the flood

don't be scared

you're like the calmest slit to my neck

The panther watches the tiger with a small hint of wariness as she protects her kill — not like Sunjata’s going to try and take it from her. It’s hers through and through, and as she shifts back to herself all covered in blood, trying to clean it from her lips, Sunjata shifts back into himself with admittedly less blood coating him, offering her a soft shrug. “We got one, that should be good for now.” He murmurs, gesturing toward the kill he brought.

The Flood steps toward her, offering a hand toward her and flashes an easier smile, helping her up before returning to the one he’d brought back, grabbing some twine to start wrapping up its legs before he moves to shift, to allow her to ride along as he shifts into his dragon shift, clutching his kill in his talons to bring them back to the House of Midnight.

— FIN <33

bring me in closer

SUNJATA