Closed RP Animal Instincts

[Katpride]

Adelyn knows fear. Fear is an old friend, and it has made its nest in her body often enough for her to know the feel of it. How it sends tremors through the hands and quickens the heart, makes the shadows seem longer and darker. She is not afraid. She is excited.

A soft set of cascading clicks would be the first thing Rae heard. Innocuous at first, perhaps, but persistent. Drawing nearer. Circling around the little lean-to she was sequestered in, but always out of sight.

Keeping her breath soft but steady, Adelyn draws around to the back of the structure. It reminds her of the tents she would sometimes find in her forest, the ones she never drew too near to when their occupants were nearby.

Well, if there’s one thing she knows, it’s that these cobbled-together dens were rarely sturdy enough to withstand even a small girl falling on top of them. And she is much larger now.

Rather than bother with more fancy scare tactics, Adelyn draws herself up and throws herself down onto the hut, aiming to pin the girl under her own construction. They could dig the stolen money out of the blankets and wood later.

 

[Wendigo]

Rae poked her head out of the tent at the first sound of clicking claws, expecting to see a dog, maybe. She frowned to herself when she found her little clearing empty of anything except the trash that always filled it, then shrugged and went back to her wares. So maybe she didn’t experience nearly as much of the dramatic fear as the hunter closing in on her would have wanted – but the final attack drew out absolute surprise.

An indignant sound that vaguely resembled, “Hey, what the hell?” as limbs started to kick under the collapsed tent. Without clear view of who or whatever had fallen on her, there was no way for her to do anything more productive than lash out with all her limbs – but that was good enough for most of the time, and would keep her attacker from pinning her down completely without a clear idea of what was arm and what was leg. All the while a string of words that even a teenager really shouldn’t know ground out from under the weight of blankets and recycled wood posts.

 

[Katpride]

Oh goodness, this girl is wiggly. It’s like trying to wrestle a very loud snake. Not that Adelyn has ever wrestled a snake. Nor does she know snakes to be particularly loud.

“Give up!” She proclaims, right before taking a shin to the gut. Ow ow ow. She takes it back. This is not like wrestling a snake, because snakes don’t have limbs to flail and voices to holler right into sensitive ears.

“Just- ugh-” The girl just keeps thrashing in her general direction, and Adelyn is reduced to playing whack-a-mole through several layers of blankets and cheap wood. She takes more hits that are sure to leave an array of bruises all over her body, and her fun is quickly ruined.

“Give up on stealing forever!!” She demands, her hind claws shredding the blankets and leaving long gouges in the wood as she scrambles to regain her footing. Being lightly crushed should be enough of a lesson, right? She’ll give the girl a moment to breathe and consider her very poor life choices.

“And give back Mr. Todd’s money!!!” Standing with her hands on her hips, she does her best to channel her inner Momma Aspen at her most demanding.

 

[Wendigo]

While Rae was going to have her own fair share of bruises, she felt herself landing some pretty good hits on her attacker too. Another girl by the sound of it – although boy was she heavy. And then there was this tearing sound, which meant her attacker had to have some kind of knife. Rae, not being stupid, also had a knife, but it was now pinned under her body under another blanket, so she had to rely on the other girl’s ripping and tearing to release her.

The weight lifted, and Rae flailed some more to shove the blankets and old wood away from her body. Her hand was still on her open backpack, although her money was inside the pocket of her unseasonable jacket. She emerged, furious, and stumbled to her feet. She barely even looked surprised when she saw her attacker, the anger filling her up completely and boiling over to lash out at the stranger.

“That’s my house, you freak!” Then, she seemed to process the rest of the statement, because she scowled, her thick eyebrows pulling together over dark eyes. She folded her arms, leaving the open bag at an awkward position by her side where she could drop it if the clawed freak decided to attack her. “And stealing? When did I st– I mean, I dunno what you’re talkin about.”

She backed away from the catgirl, arms still folded, to put her lean-to between them. It’d give her space to bolt if the weirdo decided to pounce on her again. She was trying to think of anybody she might’ve stolen from named Todd…

Oh yeah, the tall guy from the park had an Ohio license that said Todd Falkner or something. She only remembered because she’d noticed he was out of state. He’d had a girl with him, although Rae was pretty sure she’d remember if the girl had furry ears and paws. He’d had like sixty and change in his wallet, no cards. Not like she cared about cards, or the wallet. Cash was a lot easier to work with.

But she wasn’t going to tell Kitty here about that. She wasn’t as freaked out as she maybe should’ve been, but come on, the freak could’ve at least come up from the front if she wanted to talk. Maybe in a better mood – and with fewer demands – Rae might’ve even given the money back. Now the other girl had to deal with her being stubborn about it.

 

[Katpride]

The insult lands perhaps a little harder than the girl might’ve intended, and Adelyn feels some of her confidence desert her. Almost unconsciously, she tugs at her sleeve and double-checks to assure herself that her gloves are still on her hands. She can’t do anything to hide her hind paws now, and she has to be okay with that or she’ll bolt.

“You… don’t?” Instinct tells her that the girl is lying to her, but Adelyn still has to consider for a moment if, perhaps, she did have the wrong person. But Todd had said this was the spot, and the girl said that the spot was hers.

“No! Don’t try to trick me! You stole my friend’s wallet and threw it in a dumpster!” Adelyn points accusingly at the girl, taking a step forward. Her claws click on the concrete in the same way they had earlier, and she’s too busy to put in the effort to quiet her steps.

“Give his money back. Now, please.” She holds out her hand, only remembering her manners in a very vague and distant way. “If you do… I’ll help you rebuild your house. I didn’t realize you lived here.”

She does feel kind of bad about belly-flopping onto it, now. She knows a lot about the value of a home, however unconventional.

 

[Wendigo]

The other girl’s fidgets and hesitation gave Rae a boost to her confidence, and her jaw set in her face as she tilted her chin up and folded her arms. Her defiance lasted the entirety of Adelyn’s lecture. She chose to focus on the irrelevant part of the other girl’s speech, hoping to distract her again.

“I don’t need your help to fix it. Don’t you think you’ve done enough damage here?”

It was at that point that another voice came from one of the spiderweb side-alleys.

“Well, that’s not very nice.”

Rae wheeled around, pulling tight and reaching for a pocket where her knife should be – but wasn’t, it was still in the ruins of her home. A tall, lean man stood at the corner of one of the alley intersections, shoulder against the wall, legs crossed. He should’ve seemed relaxed, based on posture alone. She recognized him from his Ohio driver’s license. Fowler, Todd Oscar.

But there was something different from the politely smiling face from his photo there. He was still smiling, but Rae could see the edges of his teeth. There was nothing wrong with those teeth, clean and white as they were. But there was something about the smile, about the eyes, about the way he rested on the wall. About the way he took a deep breath just as she started to feel nervous.

She almost stepped back, when he pushed off the wall and started to walk towards her, even paced, hands in his pockets. She didn’t, though. Mostly because backing up put her closer to the catgirl, and she suddenly felt a little cornered.

Todd didn’t change his tone from genial – friendly, even, calm and cool, if a little disappointed. “It’s one thing to defend what’s yours, it’s another thing to make somebody else feel bad about it. Why don’t you apologize to my friend?”

“I–” Rae’s voice cracked a little, but she drew herself up and was ready to try again when Todd put up his hand.

“Forget about the money.” That took her by enough surprise that she let the man gesture behind her. “Just an apology, you’re sorry for hurting her feelings. Let her help you. If it’s a pride thing, then you can pay her back for it, whatever you think is fair.”

She wanted to snap at him, to tell him to piss off, but the spike in her heartbeat was trying to tell her that was a bad idea. She couldn’t even look him fully in the face, not with the way his eyes seemed to be waiting for him to challenge her, so she smiled weakly and turned around toward the catgirl. The anger then showed in her face.

“I’m sorry for hurting your feelings.” Her voice was tight and slow, but whether that was from the same anger that colored her face or the same fear that kept her from looking back at Fowler, Todd Oscar was hard to say. “If you want to help, I’ll let you. And I’ll give you the money after.”

From behind Rae, Todd gave Adelyn a little thumbs up, the cold dying in his eyes, his posture relaxing again as he encouraged her to take the deal.

 

[Katpride]

Adelyn can feel control of the conversation slipping away from her, silver fish between her fingers, but she doesn’t know what to do. She just stares at Rae, blank white eyes confused and a little hurt. Her sunglasses are still tangled in her hair, and her fingers tangle in the hem of her shirt.

And then Todd shows up with a net. Adelyn’s eyes flick to him immediately, picking him out in the gloom, and she watches him with a sort of awe overcoming the hurt.

The way he moves reminds her of the cougars that she would sometimes see when she wandered particularly far from home. Slow and assured, saving their energy until they have to strike. For a moment the images clash in her mind, and she can almost imagine his chin bathed in blood, the spoils of a fresh kill dripping from his teeth.

When Rae turns to her again, Adelyn is almost dazed. She wants to learn how to do that. She nods tightly, eyes lingering on Todd for another long moment before her head shifts just the slightest inch that says she’s focusing on Rae. “I forgive you. I’ll help, because I’m sorry too.”

Maybe that’s her path forward.