RP:A Lost Cub, A Dark Acquaintance

Synopsis: A young cub had wandered into the Dark Forest of Vailkrin, and Zahrani and her parents go after her. Upon collecting the child, the felines also stumble upon a formidable being in the darkness of the wood.

Forest of Abyssal Darkness

Zahrani || It is rare that Rani finds herself in such a place. But her duty and her heart dictate that she follow the scent of her quarry. Her armor is enshrouded in a gray cloak, the feline's black muzzle protruding from her hood. Her nares flare as she picks up the scent that brought her here. Cyan eyes are cast downward to the dark earth beneath her feet, picking up the shoeprints of a small bipedal being that had wandered here in the dead of night, all the way from Cenril. The cub’s parents are not far behind the paladin, silently stalking the woods for any sign of danger, ears pivoting like fuzzy satellite dishes.

Dubheasa : The forest had been restless, lately, much more than usual. The creatures of the forest had been attacked and attacked in like. Likely, the unrest was tied to the turmoil in Vailkrin and the single vampire House that called this forest its domain. Perhaps, just perhaps, it was due to the deaths that had taken place within the under the shadowy boughs. Somewhere deep in the forest a great roar rang out, the sound of a predator of predators, the sound of something woken from a long sleep. Moments passed before another roar split the air like thunder, making even the sound of an accompanying tree falling sound quiet in comparison. The sounds of carrion beasts, of spiders and worse, could be heard scurrying through the forest. Though these sounds were close enough to the party lead by Zahrani, it sounded as though the creatures that would normally be hunting were instead fleeing. Even still, it was for the best if no one looked up.

Zahrani and the two other felines crouch down under the concealment of a great tree, having a good idea what exactly that monstrous roar is coming from. Following the dragon's sound to pinpoint where it is in the air, the catfolk make sure not to turn their eyes to the sky, lest their reflective retinae reveal their location like tiny stars on the ground. They continue to scan the surrounding forest, searching for any sign of the young cub who had wandered in here. The child, meanwhile, huddles beneath the roots of a tree about 200 meters east. The wind picks up, and the familiar smell of her mother reaches her small nose. Her heart pounding, she pokes her head out just enough to spot 3 figures in robes, recognizing them by their tails, their gait, and their clothing. Rani spots the cub, bringing a finger to her nose as a silent warning not to cry out. As the child maintains her hiding place, Rani carefully checks for the sound of massive wingbeats, gesturing for the other two to follow her once they quiet down.

Dubheasa : It didn't take long for the sound of those wing beats to make the dragon's presence overhead abundantly clear. Trees shook, creatures fell, and then the dragon had passed. However, from the sound of the roaring it was circling back. A giant spider skittered right by the child Zahrani and her party were there to collect, but it paid the easy food no mind. If it stopped, -it- would be food. Even such a base creature had better survival instincts than that. But even as the trees began to shake from the dragon's wings again, suddenly the wind just...stopped. Everything became calm, far too calm for what it was just a moment before. Everything had stopped moving, afraid to breath, afraid to twitch lest they summon the dragon back. More heartbeats passed and it seemed like the danger had truly gone. The only sound that could be heard, though, were footsteps not too far from the runaway cub crunching lazily through the fallen leaves and twigs on the ground.

Zahrani silently pads her way towards where the child hides, pausing upon hearing the sound of footsteps replacing the wingbeats. The hair on the back of her neck raises at the eerie quiet. The child draws a small knife and freezes, instinct telling her to stand perfectly still upon hearing the footsteps; the instinct of a predator/prey not willing to give away its position. The three adult felines proceed towards the cub, the paladin armed with a crossbow and the other two armed with longbows. Three pairs of feline eyes and ears scan their surroundings, focused on the other sound of footsteps in the direction they were going. The hameh scampered off to the north.

Dubheasa : The footsteps were coming closer, but just what was making them was unclear at this point; who- or whatever it was was downwind from the felines. The thing's gait was slow, almost leisurely, but it was clear that it was close enough that it would know if the felines took off running. It had the potential to be a nerve-racking ordeal, but there was a voice that could be heard after a few moments, a voice speaking in a strange language. And then there was light! It wasn't a bright light, a sickly green glow perhaps fifty paces from the group, but it was enough to bring the shape of another cat-person into view. What might have appeared odd, though, was that this glow was hovering above the figure's head, and that there was a staff with the distinctive curved blade of a scythe held in one of the person's hands. "I don't suppose you lot are the cause of all the ruckus?" the figure called out, her voice heavily lilting (think North Dublin Irish). Forward the figure came again, ears flicking every so often as though the glow above the being was irritating their ears. Either that, or that the figure wasn't used to those ears. It was fairly obvious by the way they moved, however, that the figure was a female, taller than average but not quite as tall as Zahrani. What might stand out most to the paladin was that there was an aura of dread about the woman, as though the trees themselves were trying not to uproot and run.

Zahrani and the others are silent as they continue their path towards the tree. Rani's gaze turns towards the strange feline woman in the glowing green light. The parents stalk towards the tree, retrieving their child before rejoining the paladin. The armored woman's panther head tilts at the stranger's question about causing a ruckus, her cyan eyes narrowing slightly as if to say, ~Excuse me?~ The cats were some of the quietest beings in this forest. The aura of dread brushes against Rani. Her own aura is complex; pleasure, freedom, warmth, hunger, clarity. In that same feline tongue, the panther woman tells the others to take their child and head south. To answer the strange interloper's question (it would be rude not to, after all), the paladin responds with her own accent (think Turkish), a characteristic feline raspiness to her mid-tenor voice, "No, ma'am. If I were as loud as a dragon, something would be very wrong." Rani eyes the scythe blade, then back to the other's face.

Dubheasa came finally upon the group of Cenrili. She was a strange sight, clearly a woman who lived her life in less civilized lands. Her clothing was comprised of a simple leather harness for a shirt, leather pants that seemed more like two halves of pants with stitching up the sides of her legs to hold them to her body, and a pair of runed leather boots. For the most part, she looked wholly feline, but the her toothy grin seemed too sharp, and her eyes were a strange red instead of the typical green cat eye. At least her hair and the fur of her tail and ears were normal, all jet black like any other black cat in the world. Those ears, though, were still twitching. "Well, you wouldn't be the first to make that much noise. What sounded like a storm came through the other night, but there was no rain or clouds in the sky to cause the thunder. I take it you haven't been here over the last week or two, then?"

Zahrani makes no comment or judgment about Dubheasa's appearance, the panther more concerned about the woman's aura and actions. Her physique beneath her armor is well-trained and androgynous; she gets 'sir'd as often as she gets 'ma'am'd, especially in her more feline form. "Sorry. We arrived today, and we're leaving today. Care to walk with me while I escort them out?" The dread aura makes the paladin tense, but it is not shunned; the feline would also rather not turn her back on a complete stranger in such a place.

Dubheasa cocked her head in an all too reptilian manner as she thought about the paladin's offer. The dragon could feel it, but it was not something that caused the woman concern; her aura was a natural part of her kind, the aura of a creature at the pinnacle of its food chain. In the end she nodded, her smile back on her face. "Of course. It would do me well to see the state of the outside world, anyways, and company would not be unwanted." A swipe of her hand dismissed the glowing orb over her head, returning the forest to its usual darkness.

Zahrani walks alongside Dubheasa, her feline eyes adjusting quite well to the darkness as the green light is snuffed out. Occasionally she would glance to the stranger, the paladin's crossbow still cradled in her arms. They walk a few meters behind the family as they make their way out of the woods. The area is dead silent, save for the crunching of leaves and twigs beneath their feet. To the odd scythe-wielding feline, the paladin says, "You seem quite at home in this forest. What draws you to it?" She eyes the dragon's form up and down; it's attractive and the voice is quite charming, but it seems ill-fitted, but for all Rani knows, Dubheasa is just a really odd feline.

Dubheasa cradled her scythe at times, much like Zahrani and her crossbow, and at others she used it as a walking stick. The way she moved, it was unlikely that the thing was used for combat. Perhaps the only thing that is of comfort about the woman and her strange presence. She squinted as she looked ahead into the forest towards where it merged into Vailkrin's city limits, as though she could see the lights of the city. Perhaps she could, considering the response that came to the paladin's query. "I have lived here all my life. I was raised deep in the forest, beyond where the Dragana whelpling built her home. It can get lonely, but every now and again one of the werewolves braves my neck of the wolves and I have a playmate for a time." She shifted her gaze to Zahrani, those currant red eyes of hers blatantly roaming up and down the woman's body. "You look like you could survive here, yourself, but your attire makes you look more like you belong in a city."

Zahrani could feel the woman's gaze on her, listening to her speak of her life in this forest. Honestly the adrenaline-junkie in her is getting a bit of a rise out of walking next to such a predator-like presence. As they approach Vailkrin's exit into Kelay, the family of cats goes ahead and leaves the dark forest behind them. The paladin hangs back for a moment, and responds to the dragon's comment on her abilities, "I have ~survived~ every place I have been, thus far. From Frostmaw and Xalious to Cenril, Larket, and the desert south of here. But I did grew up in a city, yes. I want to ~live~, not just survive." Her cyan eyes linger on Dubheasa's odd face, offering a smile before saying, "I go by Zahrani. What are you called?"

Dubheasa could appreciate Zahrani's zest for life. In some ways, it was the complete antithesis of her own existence, but it wasn't often that such a person came into the forest. Vailkrin, perhaps. Every now and again mortals ventured there to visit, but the forest was not exactly a tropical paradise. The question of her name, however, gave the dragon pause. Of course she had one; not even her kind were so barbaric as to not name their offspring. However, it was likely unpronounceable to a non-saurian. What was a collection of syllables that could come close? Ah, yes. There was a name she had heard from one of her old wolf playmates that she had liked because of its mild similarity to her own name. "Dubheasa," (ooc: pronounced Dew-vee-suh, for the record) she said at length, perhaps a bit too long to not seem strange that she didn't even know her own name. She leaned on her scythe as she looked down the path the feline family had went, at the gradual brightening of the world as it left the land of eternal darkness. "It has been quite some time since I have seen beyond the forest. Perhaps, Zahrani, you and I could go out and live together after I've taken a brief tour of the realms." Wouldn't that be a sight, a necromancer and a paladin trekking along together somewhere.

Zahrani smiles at the name. It is a nice one. As she prepares for her own departure, the feline raises a brow at the dragon's proposal, that they just go off and live together. With a soft chuffing sound, the kind that big cats make, she says, "Well, it's a big world. Anything is possible..." The paladin adds, "Just know that I'm not the marrying type." Her work as a paladin would make such vow problematic, but she's also not exactly a one-person type of person. "Until we meet again, Dubheasa..." the name rolls off of her accent quite well. The panther turns and steps into the portal, before working to catch up to the feline family on their way back to Cenril.

Dubheasa blinked a few times. Marrying? Oh hells, this was what she got for not having people to talk to. "Oh, no, that's not what I meant! I merely meant going out and adventuring!" Gods, Dubheasa, great way to start off meeting people, shoving your foot in your mouth. But Zahrani was already off. With a sigh the woman shook her head and turned the other way. If she was going to explore, she may as well have started with the nearest town. Sure, someone could try to bite her, but she was a dragon, after all. It would turn out more fatal for them than her.