Just Bein' Me -- KIERA

[Sandy]

The mountain lion didn't look as much out of place in these woods as other creatures that wandered there did. In fact, the rumor among cougars wandering the forest was very much convenient for this one. In all her time here Annaika had only scent one or two other mountain lions, but they could easily have been Shifters and were too old for her to pick up on the human part of their scent.

Annaika rubbed up against a tree, leaving her own scent as well as scratching her flank. She didn't usually Shift in the middle of the day but she had no classes and didn't want to spend her day among crowds or at home. The mountain lion halted quite suddenly, her mouth open in what could have been a pant, though she was really drawing in air for anything that wasn't normal. She could have sworn she'd heard something but the wind didn't bring her anything.

She swung around, scanning the forest behind her but again came up with nothing. Annaika hesitated, tilted her head and narrowing her eyes. It could be a hunter, or it could be a human, or another Shifter... Or it could just be an animal, her brain chimed in. A real animal not a Shifted one.

Annaika turned and jumped up the tree she had been scratching against, her jump taking her straight into the lowest branch. She climbed up a few more branches until she came into a nook, where she settled. She wasn't completely hidden from the world below but hopefully her tawny pelt went into some lengths to shield her. And she could see nearly everything, even if she had to peer around leaves.

words;; 282
listening;; voices
muse;; good but a not-so-good post

[kiera]

Kiera Fernidge

"You know you did it
I'm gone
To find someone to live for
In this world
There's no light at the end of the tunnel tonight
Just a bridge that I gotta burn..."

Kiera's paws thudded hard against the soft ground. The forest floor was littered with pine needles. Her bracken colored fur was a subtle flash, offset by her cream underbelly, between the rough tree bark. Kiera, for the moment, was on the search. She had parked her car, as she always did in human form, out on the road. Like any other hiker, it was inconspicuous. Her Saturday afternoons, which she told her roomates that she spent "hiking", were quite routine. She liked it that way. She liked to wake up, knowing more or less exactly what would happen to her. When that wasn't the case, she tended to become stressed, as she was now. Her pack, the pack of wolves - not shifters like herself - that lived in these forested parts, were not at the rendevouz site. From September to late April, they always inhabited the same familiar stretch of land. Prey was plentiful and it was well marked. Most of the other larger preditors avoided the spot.

Kiera had expected to exit her car, wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans, more than likely no shoes. She would wait until she reached the cover of the trees before letting her human skin melt away and be replaced by thick fur and a long velvety tail. She always ran to join with her pack, and they would greet her as family. That was what they were, her family, her pack. But today, the rendevouz site was empty. Their scents were stale. She was met with a crushing sense of loneliness and the assurance she had been left behind and forgotten. For a wolf, there is almost nothing worse than being pack-less. This feeling, this terror, was what had driven Kiera to be racing through the woodlands in search of her pack.

She had followed their fading scents, confused as to the paths they had taken. Her wanderings and searchings had eventually lead her to the tree Annaika now resided in. Kiera was far too distracted to have picked up the distinct scent of mountain lion, though she wouldn't have cared. Wolves and mountain lions were not natural enemies, why should she be worried. Kiera emerged from the trees, her head low and her chocolate brown eyes held a deep sadness. She sat, her chest heaving, under the tree. Raising her head, she let out a long mournful howl. It was her last resort, she didnt like to vocalize herself. She knew though, that if her pack was within hearing distance, they would answer and they would come for her. So she would wait, alone as a wolf as she was as a human.

"...You were wrong
If you think you can walk right through my door
That is just so you
Coming back when I've finally moved on
I'm already gone."

Character: Kiera Fernidge
Tagged: Sandy
Word Count: 593
Listening To: Don't Trust Me - 3Oh!3
Comments: My top banner is pathetic, I love yours though. I can't do graphic design for the life of me

[Sandy]

The mountain lion watched the wolf with interest. It was a Shifter, she decided immediately, and that was only confirmed when it's scent drifted up to her. But what was wrong with it? It was howling, as if it had just lost something, or someone, very dear to it.

She huffed and lashed her tail. She didn't so much care about the wolf's troubles as wanted it's pathetic howling to shut the hell up. She wasn't the only Shifter around but this was her private time! She didn't want it interrupted by some stupid mutt! And she didn't want to be stuck in the tree like a treed raccoon with that thing so close, making a racket.

She leapt from the tree, a snarl on her lips, and a snarl the remained as she Shifted to human form. The only part that remained unshifted was her slitted dark green eyes and her teeth, which were really a cross between human teeth and the teeth of a mountain lion. She had to let those go, though, or else she wouldn't be able to speak an understandable word.

Annaika closed her eyes and drew in a few deep breaths, letting the mountain lion go. It was stubborn and though her teeth returned to normal it wouldn't let go of her eyes. Those eyes always remained the same: glaring. Not at all like human eyes, which betrayed every emotion. When Annaika opened her slitted eyes, she could still see as a mountain lion Shifter did.

What the hell is wrong with you? Did it not ever occur to you that there are others in this forest that don't want to hear your pitiful wailing? Her words came out as a hiss more then anything. She crossed her arms in front of her bare chest and raised her chin, portraying to the wolf how little she cared about modesty and how she wasn't a submissive being at all. The message would be especially clear to a wolf Shifter, as a great deal of a wolf's life involved whether another wolf was dominent or submissive. Annaika wasn't a wolf but she didn't want the other Shifter to get the wrong idea.

words -362
muse - good
tagged - kiera
listening to - every light in the house is on
other - thanks but I can't take any credit, Parchy made it. I'm sure she'll do one for you too =D And loved the post btw

[kiera]

Kiera Fernidge

"You know you did it
I'm gone
To find someone to live for
In this world
There's no light at the end of the tunnel tonight
Just a bridge that I gotta burn..."

Kiera, still in wolf form, stumbled back with shock as an imposing mountain lion dropped from the tree she had been sitting under. Her ears folded flat against the back of her head instinctively. Her tail went erect and her eyes narrowed. The human Kiera would never have been so defensive, nor aggressive to begin with. However her wolf form was ruled by instincts. Her instincts were shouting at her DANGER! and so she responded accordingly. Her upper lip curled up to expose pointed canines as she snarled and a deep rumbling grown thundered deep in her throat. Her eyes widened as the mountain lion standing before her suddenly shifted. In seconds, a human girl that Kiera vaguely recognized as one from the University was standing before her. The mountain lion snarl seemed hesitatn to fade away, but it did at last. Her eyes however, her distinctly cat like slitted eyes, refused to change.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Did it not ever occur to you that there are others in this forest that don't want to hear your pitiful wailing?" This girl, first having dropped from a tree as a mountain lion, shifted, snarled and now she was standing screaming at Kiera. One thing was for certain, this girl was a shifter - and she knew Kiera was too. Kiera, still in wolf form, took a slight step backward. As a human, this girl would be nothing in a fight against Kiera. However, Kiera had no desire to take her chances verses the mountain lion. Her ears twitched and the snarl was frozen on her lips. Kiera looked the girl up and down. Whoever she was, she knew body language. The wolf inside Kiera was reading it, and getting the message loud and clear. She was not submissive, though Kiera didnt expect her to be. Kiera was no alpha, though neither was she weak.

Kiera slowly stepped forward again, the snarl fading from her lips. Her bracken and cream colored fur began to melt away and in seconds, Kiera was crouching on the ground. Unlike the other girl, she was fully clothed. While it was less cumbersome to remove clothing, Kiera could never be quite comfortable shifting and finding herself suddenly bare chested. She was modest by nature. Her palms were flat on the pine littered floor as she pushed herself into a standing position. She eyed Annaika warily for a moment, before hesitantly speaking. "I do, truly, apologize for disturbing you." Kiera hadn't thought of others when she howled. The only thing in her mind, as a wolf, was her pack. She couldnt expect a human, even a shifter who wasn't a wolf, to understand. "I'm searching for my pack." Her eyes met Annaika's slitted ones, the desperation clear.

Kiera was quiet and shy by nature, but not weak. She would not be walked over, nor bullied. She shook herself, dislodging a few leaves that had been lodged in her fur, and now stuck to her clothes. "If you've seen them, could you point me in the right direction? I'll be out of your life as quickly as I entered it." Kiera, though not fighting this girl, refused to be frightened of her. So she had yelled, that didn't make a difference to Kiera. She strained her ears, her hearing no longer as strong as her wolf form. Still, she could have sworn she heard a faint answering howl.

"...You were wrong
If you think you can walk right through my door
That is just so you
Coming back when I've finally moved on
I'm already gone."

Character: Kiera Fernidge
Tagged: Sandy
Word Count: 707
Listening To: Californication - Red Hot Chillie Peppers
Comments: X[/quote]

[Sandy]

She'd surprised the other Shifter, it seemed. Obviously she hadn't been paying attention to what was going on around her, considering she had practically stood directly under a tree with a mountain lion in it. Mountain lions didn't generally mess with wolves and with real mountain lions and wolves it tended to be the wolf that won the fight, though not necessarily because the wolf was stronger. Unless it was protecting a litter of cubs, or a catch, or something like that, most mountain lions wouldn't bother with fighting a wolf. They were too easily matched and that meant wounds, leading to death if they were bad enough.

Perhaps she shocked the Shifter even more then she shifted to human, she didn't know because she was concentrating on shifting. When the other woman shifted and was completely dressed, Annaika scowled.

She'd never been able to master shifting with clothes on--there was a certain amount of "magic", or whatever you wanted to call it, involved. No matter how hard she tried she ended up ripping bucket loads of clothes and finally had to stop trying or get a job to pay for more. And getting a decent job when you're twelve was hard.

Annaika blinked at the girls honesty, and how she really did seem sorry, and then blinked some more when the girl said she'd lost her pack. Well hell, how was she supposed to remain bitchy enough to retain her privacy when the other girl was being all sad and pathetic--and yet at the same time, not pathetic at all? Annaika sighed and ran her fingers through her dark hair, brushing it away from her face.

Well...I might have smelled them, but I payed them no mind. I don't know which way they went, and even if I could find the location I smelled them again it would do no good. The scent would have faded by now and felines aren't really equipped to track. No, felines hunted by sniffing and pinpointing something with their ears and eyes, not their nose. Canines used their noses. If Annaika were still in mountain lion form her tail would have lashed in annoyance. Canines were treacherously loud with their sniffing and blundering. It was amazing that they ever managed to catch what they were pursuing.

But you know, she went on, without even paying attention to what she was saying, If you want help looking I can help. Or if you just want company... The mountain lion trailed off and cursed silently. She wasn't one to talk without paying attention to her words, and she certainly wasn't one to just offer help to others.

words - 437
tagged - kiera
muse - all right. not super at the moment, but good.
song - not ready to make nice

[kiera]

Kiera Ferndige

"You know you did it
I'm gone
To find someone to live for
In this world
There's no light at the end of the tunnel tonight
Just a bridge that I gotta burn..."

Kiera was holding her anxiety well in check. She wasn't usually a desperate person. She had no problem asking for assistance, but she didn't like the feeling of relying on people. Relying on her pack was different, they were...they were her pack. The shock of their dissapearance had been like a physical blow. It was inconcievable to her, how they could have left. They couldn't make that decision without her. What she had failed to mention to this shifter, was that Kiera was not just a member - she was one of the alphas of her pack. If they had left without her, without her command, something was very wrong indeed.

"Well...I might have smelled them, but I payed them no mind. I don't know which way they went, and even if I could find the location I smelled them again it would do no good. The scent would have faded by now and felines aren't really equipped to track." Kiera turned her gaze back to Annaika. She smiled softly, appreciation in her gaze. Look who has a heart underneath those slitted eyes. The girl was talking again though, saying words Kiera wouldn't have expected, especially considering her furious shouting rant only minutes earlier. "But you know, if you want help looking I can help. Or if you just want company..."

Kiera took a step closer to Annaika and extended her hand with an open smile. "Thank you, I can't begin to explain how much that would mean to me. My name is Kiera, I go to school at the University in New York City." She caught a faint howling sound once more and turned her head abruptly towards it. She shook herself, feeling a slight shiver go through her body. She as glad she had her clothing on, though she had noticed the other girl's scowl. Kiera's bet was that this girl, whoever she was, had not been able to master the skill. Kiera had always been an incredibly modest girl, her determination to remain appropriate had driven her to spend hours mastering the shift. Who knew, maybe if her and this mountain lion girl became close, Kiera could help her learn the shift.

"I would love your help...and company is always something I am up for." She grinned at the girl, her hand still extended and waiting - perhaps to form, start or cement a friendship neither of them could have predicted.

"...You were wrong
If you think you can walk right through my door
That is just so you
Coming back when I've finally moved on
I'm already gone."

Character: Kiera Fernidge
Tagged: Sandy
Word Count: 572
Listening To: Last Night - Skiller
Comments: I changed up Kiera's character a bit on her biography. The shy thing wasn't working out as well, so I made her a bit more outgoing

[Sandy]

Annaika frowned down at the hand that was offered to her and then looked up at the other Shifter--Kiera was her name--and then back down at the hand. She hated shaking hands. It was a form of physical contact and the only kind of physical contact Annaika liked was in a fight.

As a personal rule, Annaika avoided contact with strangers. It wasn't how her mountain lion worked. Once she got to know another, sure, she would greet with many touches and even rubbing her body along the other, if she were in mountain lion form, as was respectful. But she wasn't like that with those she just met and Kiera, a wolf, was probably just the opposite. Wasn't that how wolves worked, greeting each other intimately often?

Annaika sighed and took the hand, all her thinking taking only a second or two. She couldn't very well try to be a nice person without being polite. Hi, Kiera, I'm Annaika and I, uh, go to the University too. There. She'd told Kiera as much as she told any other stranger trying to be friendly except she'd done it in the span of seconds, rather then minutes.

She withdrew her hand quickly, suddenly wishing for pockets or a phone so she could do something with them. So your...pack is completely wolves? Real wolves? If she'd been human the disbelief would have been heavy in her voice, but she wasn't, so only an edge of it made it through her composure. Wild animals of the same species didn't usually fear their Shifter counterparts, unless it was in their instincts, but Annaika had never seen them accept a Shifter as one of them. Didn't mean it didn't happen, Kiera was proof of that, but it also proved to Annaika that wolves really were stupid.

words - 298
tagged - kiera
muse - okay
song - sound the bugal
other - okay muse but no so good post, sorry. I just woke up.

[kiera]

Kiera Ferndige

"You know you did it
I'm gone
To find someone to live for
In this world
There's no light at the end of the tunnel tonight
Just a bridge that I gotta burn..."

Kiera smiled as Annaika took her hand, though she felt the hesitant behind Annaika's movements, the tense way her muscles contracted. She wasn't offended when the other girl dropped her hand quickly. She said nothing for a minute, trying to think of times she might have seen Annaika around the University. She couldn't remember, but that was for many reasons. 1 - Kiera's mind was almost never on her surroundings, she lived and breathed her shifter form. She craved it, needed it physically and emotionally. Nothing else mattered. 2 - It was a big school, there were hundreds of students that passed in a blur before her eyes, never to be seend again. It made sense, in a way.

Kiera's eyes darted to Annaika's hands as the other girl swiftly shoved them into her pockets. Annaika's discomfort was painfully evident and curiosity poked at Kiera. It most likely had something to do with the nature of her shifted form. Kiera naturally and unavoidably craved company and was a very physical person. She talked a lot, but her body language spoke about three times as much as a normal human's. Kiera tried to mentally scrape together what she knew about mountain lions. It wasn't much. She knew they were solitary, not even living in mated pairs. They were aloof, silent, shy. Maybe aggressive? She couldn't remember. That accounted for a lot of Annaika's behavior already.

Kiera took a subtle step backward, trying to make the other girl feel at ease. She snapped out of her own analysis of Annaika when the other girl spoke again. "So your...pack is completely wolves? Real wolves?" Annaika's disbelief was only barely distinguishable, but there all the same. Kiera realized that she never talked about her pack, she couldn't. She didn't know many other shifters, and with the ones she did know - it had simply never come up. She grinned and nodded. "Wolves are different than many other animals. They're incredibly social and have an intricate language. If you can speak the language, you can join them." Her eyes grew slightly sad as a new pang of longing rose inside her. "As much as I am human, I am also a wolf. And my pack is more than a club I joined. Your pack is your family, you are them and they are you." She sighed. "For them to be gone, without my orders, means something awful. I can't quite hope to explain it, not to exclude you. Wolf social structures and the ways of wolf life are complex."

She looked away from Annaika, out in the distance. She was squinting, as if trying to look through the trees to find her pack. She shifted her feet nervously. She had only had an hour at most in her shifter form and the withdrawl pangs were rising again. An hour wasn't enough time to satisfy her need. She could feel the begginings, a throbbing in her head and a dull thudding ache deep in her stomach. She tried to hide this, she knew she was pretty good. She had had a lot of practice. She wanted Annaika's help, and her company, but it would have to be in shifter form. She continued, turning her gaze back to Annaika. "If you're seriously interested, I'd be more than happy to explain sometime. The important thing is this, I am the alpha. I've got to find them and I would really love your help. We should probably search in shifter form though to cover more area." She hoped the nervous desperation and rush wasn't obvious in her voice. She knew Annaika would know the meaning of alpha. Everyone knew what that was. She looked away again, shifting as the throbbing intensified slightly.

Shift...shift....shift...shift...shift...

"...You were wrong
If you think you can walk right through my door
That is just so you
Coming back when I've finally moved on
I'm already gone."

Character: Kiera Fernidge
Tagged: Sandy
Word Count: 780
Listening To: Sparks Fly - Taylor Swift
Comments: I absolutely love Annaika. Seriously.[/quote]

[Sandy]

She listened with obvious interest as Kiera spoke of pack structures, making mental notes of it in her mind. As a zoology major and a Shifter, she understood more of wolves then other humans would. Well, she wouldn't know more then an expert but there were some things that she could understand more, by being a Shifter, even though she wasn't a wolf. She couldn't help but feeling a twinge of wistfulness. The idea of having a family--a real family--was alluring. Annaika's family had been good to her but they'd feared her and wouldn't let her meet her own sister for four full years, and wouldn't let her be around other humans until she was middle school aged.

That sounds...pretty amazing, she murmured, more speaking to herself then Kiera. Annaika studied Kiera when the lupine suddenly looked away. She looked... restless. Almost desperate, though it was hard to tell for sure. She probably wanted to get to her back and find them, Annaika realized, having no idea of the true reason Kiera was acting like she was.

"If you're seriously interested, I'd be more than happy to explain sometime. The important thing is this, I am the alpha. I've got to find them and I would really love your help. We should probably search in shifter form though to cover more area." Annaika hesitated. This would be her last chance to back out of this, and she should, but she also realized that she didn't want to. She wanted to help Kiera, the fascinating wolf Shifter. With that decided, she nodded. All right, she agreed. If I find anything you'll hear me. Wolves are good trackers, right? I'll probably have to follow them, if I find them, so you'll have to follow me. And if you find anything you can...do what wolves do. Howl. And then I can follow the sound and come to you or...leave or whatever. Annaika shrugged, suddenly unsure of what she would do if they did find the pack. Kiera probably wouldn't want her around anymore, and that was fine with Annaika, she insisted silently, without really believing the words, so then Annaika could go and continue her day in peace.

words - 363
tagged - kiera
muse - good
song - this is where I belong

[kiera]

Kiera Ferndige

"You know you did it
I'm gone
To find someone to live for
In this world
There's no light at the end of the tunnel tonight
Just a bridge that I gotta burn..."

Kiera nodded and smiled, though her smile was weaker now. She was barely resisting doubling over. The withdrawl was worse because she had had a small taste, it was like taking half a dose of medicine - it did nothing to cure the symptoms and only made you crave the half you hadn't taken. It was only Annaika's presence that kept her from immediately shifting. She would have said more, but simply said. "Thank you." She couldn't wait any longer and hopefully, Annaika would assume it was need for her pack. Annaika seemed pretty knowledgable when it came to animals, perhaps she understood a bit more about pack workings than Kiera had given her credit for. Kiera hoped so, it would make lying about her addiction so much easier.

She had barely said the words when her skin began to melt away. Her clothing was soon replaced by fur and her face began to elongate. In seconds, her wolf form once more stood between Annaika. All the tension that had been increasingly evident in Kiera as a human had vanished. She bared her teeth in a wolfish grin up at the still human Annaika. Annaika, unlike Kiera had been, was entirely naked. It had puzzled Kiera, did this girl have no modesty? It wasn't her business, yet it made her uneasy. Kiera made a point of turning her eyes away. Her tail swished back and forth against her back legs and she padded a few feet away back to the tree she had paused to rest under and Annaika had been inhabiting.

She breathed in deeply, her nose close to the ground. Her muzzle brushed the dirt, sweeping the pine needles around. Her eyes were narrowed with concentration. She raised her muzzle from the ground, standing still and searching for traces of her pack. A slight wind ruffled her bracken and cream fur and she stiffened. A very faint scent clung to the passing breeze and Kiera's tail began to lash back and forth. Pack! Her wolf mind formed simpler words in times of stress. She bounded the few feet to Annaika, butting the broad part of her head against Annaika's legs. She couldn't speak to Annaika any longer and couldn't bear the thought of shifting out of her wolf form. She needed it. Her body language, even for a human, was clear. She butted against Annaika once more before bounding a few feet away and looking over her shoulder at Annaika. She motioned with her head, hoping Annaika got her message.

I'm going this way! She barked, one short note. There was no more communication to be done. Her muscles bunched and she bounded away, vanishing into the surrounding bushes and leaving Annaika alone. She knew the other girl would be alright, she was a mountain lion and could take care of herself. Now that Kiera was in her shifted form, her top priority was the pack. She had caught the faintest scent of them and she needed to follow it before she lost it. She could only pray that Annaika would be true to her word, would shift and help with the search. Kiera flashed through the trees, simply searching. She began to lose hope as the scent faded, then vanished altogether...

"...You were wrong
If you think you can walk right through my door
That is just so you
Coming back when I've finally moved on
I'm already gone."

Character: Kiera Fernidge
Tagged: Sandy
Word Count: 690
Listening To: Where Are You Going - Dave Matthews Band
Comments: Do you want to have Annaika find the pack?

[Sandy]

Kiera shifted with obvious anxiety, and while Annaika watched she began to feel the Shifters' anxiety as well, though she didn't shift immediately. For her, shifting into feline form was a sort of private ritual. She didn't have to do it in private but it was what she preferred. When Kiera butted against Annaika's leg, her hand automatically fell to give Kiera's ears a quick, soft caress before withdrawing. Go. I'll look, promise. She waited until the wolf turned and bounded away, with obvious purpose, before dropping to a crouch.

The mountain lion was pacing inside of her, anticipating another shift. With her mind, she stroked the mountain lion, feeling it's desire become hers, arousing her. Her eyes shifted first, as they always did, followed by her teeth and claws. Her bones cracked as they rearranged themselves and her ligaments tore. Her face readjusted itself, elongating a bit though not as much as a wolf. Her spine twisted and lengthened to become a cats' flexible spine and tail. Her fur came last, changing her from a hairless feline to a mountain lion with rich tawny fur.

Of course, the shift occurred quick enough that, had anyone been watching, they wouldn't have had time to dwell on how disgusting she looked as a hairless cat. In the times when she had company she could control the shift more, so that the fur didn't come last, but most often she let the mountain lion shift how she wished to.

Annaika stretched in the way that only a cat could, reorienting herself to having four legs rather then two. She purred, feeling completely at home and at peace in this form. Claws scraped the earth, testing their sharpness, and then suddenly she sprang into action. She didn't run--mountain lions weren't running, like wolves and some other cats were--but instead moved with a quick, graceful deadliness. She looked every bit the kind of cat that moved silently and ambushed her unsuspecting prey. She was hunting wolves, though, not prey, she reminded herself.

She went the opposite direction as Kiera. She stopped occasionally to scent the air but came up with nothing. She couldn't pick up scents from a distance as well as the wolf could. So she switched tactics and traveled with the only sound the occasional light thud of paws on the dirt. She used her ears and her eyes to try to pick up any movement and before long her traveling took her to a small stream.

She'd seen the stream many times but now that she thought about it, it was the logical place to look. If the wolves were indeed traveling, wouldn't it be smart to come to the water, or travel along the water, for drink? So she chose a direction at random and began traveling down it.

Before long it chose a good choice because she found obvious signs and scents of wolves. Fresh, too. Kiera would be able to pick up a scent. Annaika paused and let out a sound that few animals could replicate. She screamed as a cougar did, though she was calling Kiera to her, not potential mates. The screech wasn't pleasant at all. Like the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard, or the screech of brakes, or a harsher, longer version of the yowl of a housecat with its' tail stepped on. Despite how unpleasant it was, it got the job done and her call was loud enough that the wolf shifter should hear.

words - 575
tagged - kiera
muse - great
song - i will always return
other - so yeah. I went by what you said and had her kinda-sorta find them, or at least a trail that Kiera can followed to find them

[kiera]

Kiera had lost the scent, and with it her hope. That small beautiful thing with feathers, that had nestled in her heart and made its nest deep within her. Its warmth and fragile beauty had made her heart soar, but within seconds it had flown away. The nest in her heart where hope had once resided, was cold and empty. And as the last faint wingbeats of her hope faded into the distance, despair began to settle in where hope had once been. Kiera began running almost blindly. She needed her pack, the desperation was rising. She was a wolf, through and through. It was why she had come to University.

Realistically, she shouldn't even be in University yet. She was only seventeen years old. She should be finishing her senior year of highschool, but instead she was a freshman at the University. That was the power of her parent's money and influence. She needed the constant flow of people, the feeling of being surrounded. She couldn't be alone. It was the reason that, while at time she hated living with her roomates, she needed them. She couldn't come back to an empty house. It was like entering the woods without a pack. Which was what had happened today. She had returned home, to find all the furniture gone and not even a note telling her what had happened. It was killing her.

She halted as a loud piercing screetch echoed through the woods. Her ears perked and her dulled eyes gained a small smark of light. She knew that sound. Annaika! Annaika had found something. Kiera whirled around, her paws kicking up clods of dirt as she dug in. Kiera was no longer just running or padding, she was sprinting. The trees flashed in her vision as she raced towards the dying echoes of Annaika's voice. She was a streamline. Her heartbeat was rapid and she was gasping for air, but she ran. Her pack was most important. Branches tugged and tore at her fur as she barrelled and crashed through the woods. She no longer cared how much noise she made, this was necessary. By human standards, she was still silent and swift. By animal standards, well she was like a moving bomb.

She reached the river, Annaika's scent flooding into her nostrils, and paired with something familiar. Pack! She searched, her eyes alighting on Annaika. She halted beside the mountain lion-girl. Her chest was heaving and her tongue lolled from her mouth. She rubbed her head against Annaika's shoulder hesitantly with gratitude. She pressed her muzzle to the ground, searching for clues as to what her pack was doing here, where they had gone and where she could find them. They would scent her soon, they would come for their alpha. She lifted her head and flicked her tail towards Annaika, inviting the other girl to follow her. As she turned back to follow the scent, low growls began to sound from the woods surrounding the two shifters. The pack had found their alpha, and an enemy.

tagged. Annaika
outfit. click.
notes. I found templates!
credits. carolyn's sweet blasphemy *

[/justify][/blockquote][/center][/size]

[Sandy]

Annaika didn't have to wait long for her shriek to be answered. At all. Before long she could hear the crashing of Kiera through the undergrowth. The mountain lion tilted her head, and if she'd had a human face she would be smiling. As it was her green eyes held just the slightest tinge of amusement, as much as was possible for eyes that were eternally glaring in this form.

When Kiera did appear, she looked joyful in every sense of the word, even in this form. Annaika couldn't help but purring slightly when the wolf touched her out of gratitude. She was so concentrated on the joyful Shifter that she didn't realize the growing crowd either, not until their growls pierced through her. Instantly Annaika responded, or more like her mountain lion did.

Her tawny fur began to stand on end and her eyes narrowed. Her tail lashed while her claws scored at the earth and a deep growl rumbled in her throat unchecked. Her mountain lion wanted to run, the fight its way through the wolves and then climb a tree to safety until they left her alone. It knew that they could fight a wolf or two, though with severe injuries, but not an entire pack. Annaika, on the other hand, wouldn't let them attack. She couldn't let them hurt the pack at all, because it was Kiera's pack and hurting the pack would hurt Kiera.

The two of them warred until they came to a compromise. They would fight themselves out, but only if there was no other alternative. Real smart, being that loud so near a wolf pack, Annaika snarled at herself as she pressed herself against Kiera. She wished she could talk to the wolf, but she couldn't let herself shift. She couldn't allow the couple of seconds of time when she was so completely vulnerable during shifting, and then the more minutes of vulnerability after she shifted. At least in this form she could protect herself with claws and teeth, and she had all of the senses that were dulled in her other form.

words - 348
tagged - kiera
muse - good
other - I went to find a template to but found that it annoyed me xD

[kiera]

Kiera's eyes brightened with pleasure, but soon dimmed as she realized the situation. Her pack, determined to protect one of their own and sure of their own victory against a mountain lion, had emerged from the trees. They stood in a rough semicircle, tails erect and hackles raised. Rumbled growls resounded throughout the small clearing. Their eyes flicked between Kiera and Annaika-lion. Their lips were peeled back in matching snarls, eyes narrowed and heads down threateningly. The message was clear enough to read without wolf knowledge - Annaika was in serious trouble.

Kiera's gaze darted between her pack and Annaika. Annaika was obviously distressed and unable to shift to her human form. Kiera couldn't shift either, communication with her pack would be the only way. Kiera felt Annaika press against her and pressed back, hoping to comfort her new shifter friend. Kiera-wolf raised her head high, a sign of her dominance over her pack. She stepped forward, using her body to stand between Annaika and the pack. Her own hackles raised and a vicious snarl ripped from between her parted jaws. Her tail lashed, but her threat was directed at her pack. Stand down. Her body language was instructing them. The foremost wolf, a dark ash gray male who served as her second, looked around uncertainly. He growled, taking a precise step towards Annaika. His muscles were tensed.

Kiera was a blur of bracken and cream fur. She slammed head-on into the ash gray male. The surprise and the speed behind her attack took the male off guard. Kiera pinned him with deadly swiftness, standing over him. Her teeth were bared and poised over his throat. The male began to whine, rolling to his stomach and nudging under her chin in submission. Kiera snarled at him, her hackles still raised. Slowly, she stepped off of her second, giving him a last meaningful growl. She looked around at the pack. Their hackles had somewhat settled and the snarls had died away. They sent nervous distrusting glances towards Annaika. Kiera padded back to Annaika, shifting to human form mid-stride. She was fully clothed once more.

She rested a hand on Annaika-lion's back. She spoke lightly. The pack knew of Kiera's human form. The body didn't matter, but the pack-member within. Kiera still smelled of Kiera, still moved and acted like Kiera. To the pack, she was still Kiera. Kiera knelt by Annaika. Her voice was quiet. "You need to shift. There is only so much I can do for you in this form. They won't be as threatened by you in human form, you look like me. They won't hurt you, but they'll accept your presence easier if you're human." She prayed Annaika would listen. The ashen male was whining again, pawing at the dirt restlessly as his eyes darted between Kiera and Annaika.

tagged. Annaika
outfit. click.
notes. X
credits. carolyn's sweet blasphemy *

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[Sandy]

The mountain lion couldn't help by whine a bit, trying to encourage Kiera along with the master plan that she'd better have. She was half frozen as Kiera began communicating with her Pack and then, to Annaika's utter surprise, attacked the gray one.

On second thought, she knew better then to be surprised. She was majoring in zoology and had studied wolves a bit. Still, no matter how much she read and how much she watched videos on it it still did surprise her, if only because mountain lions were solitary creatures that met only to mate.

You need to shift. There is only so much I can do for you in this form. They won't be as threatened by you in human form, you look like me. They won't hurt you, but they'll accept your presence easier if you're human. Annaika growled at Kiera and swung her head from side to side, the best way she could say no way in hell. The growl turned to another whine though and she glanced at Kiera as long as she dared before focusing on the wolf pack again. Kiera knew best, she reminded herself, and if one of the wolves attacked her while was shifting then she'd kill Kiera.

The shift took longer then usual, because her mountain lion didn't want to let go and allow her to be vulnerable as a human, but then she was human. A weak and defenseless human. So now what? she asked and it turned out she wasn't completely shifted, because her words still came out as a half growl, a bit slurred around teeth that were still partly mountain lion teeth. Annaika forced them completely back to human and looked at Kiera again.

She hated being so dependent. She was trusting Kiera right now, the human part of her wanting to trust and the mountain lion part wanting to not. She wasn't used to letting others figure out what to do for her, she made her own decision, but in a situation like this she had no choice.

words - 340
tagged - kiera and those lurfely wolves x]
muse - great