xx. winterfall

She was no more than a silent shape flickering above the trees, her pale colors melting into the smoke-swirl clouds that clung to the tips of the pines. She kept her foretalons close to her chest, buried inside the warm white down; she could feel the ice beginning to crackle into shape across her beak. Fall was coming near its end, and Winter just behind with a dagger at the ready.
The grisskon neatly folded her stiffly frozen wings and dropped back to the chilled earth. If a snowstorm was about to start - and she could feel it in her throat, in the bristling of her head feathers - then she didn't want to be caught up there with wings out and legs folded. Better to stick to the ground and look for shelter. Her dark eyes quickly scanned the surrounding trees, decided that none of the holes at their roots were big enough to hold her and trotted gamely forward. She was used to finding a makeshift home in a short time. The grisskon knew what to expect if she slept out in the open. Hind paws digging into the crumbling dirt, she shot forward with her wings stretched out only a bit to catch the wind and carry her onward.

Sither was walking in the forest, searching for some prey to survive for the few months where winter is going to sleep. But most of the animals are out of the forest; it's too cold already.
He curses, then stops walking. He then hears the walking of a creature. He then immediately gets up, and prepares to surprise the creature, and once he finally spots it, he then doesn't know what to do.
The creature is huge. Sort of like a griffon, but with bat wings. It seemed like the creature didn't notice him. It looks strong, he thought, I'll need to get it tired, first. Then he got an idea. He looked at the trees briefly, then uttered a brief 'yes', and started climbing the tree. Since the trees are packed, he thought, I'll be able to jump to one tree to another swiftly enough, so that it doesn't know where I am.

The faint rustling of pine needles, nearly hidden by the gusts of wind now scrabbling at her flanks, made her head snap around and her legs come to a jarring stop. The grisskon's quick eyes flickered over the ground, searching for the source of the sound, but she could see nothing other than the trees' waving branches and the tumbling brown needles covering the earth. Her mouth a grim line, she scanned the woods again. Nothing. She brought her wings in closer to herself, deciding that keeping herself warm for now was more important than speed.
Her talons scraped against the dirt as she began moving forward again. Her neck was bent, keeping her broad head low, but her eyes were still sweeping the trees from under the prominent bones of her forehead. There was something out there, even if she could not see it. Something dangerous. Gray-and-white feathers bristling and her tail fanning out nervously, the grisskon plowed on, her senses stretched to keep an eye out for shelter as well as for the hidden danger that lurked nearby.

A large, dark brown horse sailed over a fallen tree trunk. On its back, clinging to its mane desperately, was a child. No older than seven or eight, with wide violet eyes and shoulder length violet hair. Twilight urged the horse on forwards, afraid of something. She had a bag slung diagonally across her back, which kept knocking the breath form her everytime the horse lurched or jumped. The little girl looked almost comic, preched on a horse that was far too big for her, but Twilight didn't care. She needed to get away.

Suddenly, the horse spotted some sort of strange creature, and shied in alarm, rearing up. Twilight came off the horse, crashing to the ground. By the time she had gotten back to her feet, the horse had galloped off again, leaving her alone, on foot, looking around with petrified eyes.

The creature sensed something. Me, most probably, Sither thought. It looked around, but Sither turned and was was almost toally covered by the branches. He looked around a small bit, seeing that the creature was about to settle. Perfect, he let out in a whisper.
He then calculated where he would land, and try to simulate what the creature would do. He planned everything ahead. A small, cold, blow of wind from the east blew his bangs away as well as a few branches.
Three, he thought. Two, one...
He jumped off the branch, and landed right on the creature's back. 'Gotcha!' he said.

Twilight jumped away as something dropped down from a tree about two metres away from her. At first, she thought it could have been her sister, or one of her cousins, playing a trick on her. But looking more closely, she could see it wasn't.

The grisskon whirled around as something else intruded on her senses. A horse? What was one of those doing out here, in the pines? And by the smell of it, the horse was not alone. Lowering herself to the ground so the her belly fur brushed the frozen earth, her folded wings wrapped protectively around her, she edged in the direction of the sound.
Suddenly the beast was almost above her, hooves flailing and legs pumping; quick as a lizard she leaped back and out of its way. As the horse shot off elsewhere, the grisskon realized that it had left behind its small companion. Her dark eyes narrowed at the sight of the strange little being, all pale and purple color, before they shot wide open in surprise.
Something had just landed on her.
Reflexes were what made her move: she flipped right onto her back, crushing whatever had dared drop there beneath her weight, and rolled right back onto her feet in a battle-ready stance. What was happening? Was this the danger she'd felt, or was it the little girl now sitting petrified on the ground? She hardly felt like something to be afraid of; the grisskon could only hope that her one opponent was whatever had attacked her in the first place.
A vicious hiss slipped out of her hooked beak as she swung round to face it, ready with claws and talons splayed out.

The creature stirred and whirled Sither off and went into a battle ready position. Sither then cursed, but he thought that it wasn't finished yet. An animal is an animal. No self consciousness at all. Unable to take decisions on itself without instinct or reflex interfering. Sither then laid one palm on the ground, still looking at the creature, and arched his back.
Spines started to grow from his forearms. His bangs retracted upwards, and his skin became more of an emerald taint. His hair soon disappeared, an extra pair of legs sprouted out of his newly abdomen-shaped body, and he gained another articulation for his arms. His face elongated, and his eyes went pitch black.
Soon, Sither was a gigantic praying mantis of about three meters high. He crissed at the creature, trying to intimidate it.

Twilight looked at the two creatures that seemed to be squaring up for a fight. She scrambled backwards, trying to keep her eyes on both of them. She grabbed the bag she was carrying, and pulled out a battle sword. It comforted her to hold it, and she knew how to use it. However, for now, she stayed a distance away from the creatures.

Unfortunately, child curiosity overpowered her common sense. Swordsheath in hand, she watched them with fascinated eyes.

What was it? How could some two-legger suddenly morph into the biggest bug she'd ever seen? This was beyond imagination; it was hardly conceivable. The grisskon took a wary step back, but she refused to turn and run. Head crest bristling in warning, her tail feathers flaring and her wings unfurling, the female did her best to look bigger, though she knew it would probably have no effect on the massive opponent she was facing - it was easily two or three times as tall as her. The talons of her forefeet grated against the frost on the ground as she steadied herself, one foot forward and one foot back, dark eyes fixed on the huge insect.
What was it? Was it even aware, or simply hunting for survival? An animal? A consciousness? The grisskon snapped her beak, hissing again, slowly circling the beastial apparition, and at the same time edging away from where she'd last seen the other little creature. She could smell steel, or some kind of metal on the gusty air - and that did not bode well for her or her attacker.
If ever the thing lunged for her, then she would be prepared.

Twilight gripped the hilt of the sword tightly, biting her lip. She was glad of the sword, yes, but she didn't like killing. She had never liked it. Hopefully, the two creatures wouldn't attack her.

Sither thought, This isn't normal; an animal wouldn't react like that. I wonder... No. Oh well, I'll give it a try. It can't do anything to me, anyways...
Sither slowly reverted back to human form. He shortened, and his antannaes morphed back into hair. He stood up, his pants ripped, and his shirt like shreds. He then sighed, and said, 'Do you hear me?'

((hi everyone. Sorry, can't be bothered to read what has happened so can you tell me??? lol, nothing personal, just can't be aaa... bothered... lol ))

A Manticore padded towards the group of creatures, none human. The feline seemed to shiver, then morphed into the figure of a 16 year old girl. She hesitated, then stepped up to Twilight.
"Sorry to interupt, but you're one of Raven's kids, yeah?"
Her piercing green eyes which she used so often to hypnotise searched the demon girl's.

((btw, have we found out who Twilight and... euh... the other one's father is?))

(Poor Exalok was simply walking around when she was savegely jumped by a hunting kuijin and nearly ran into a terrified horse, off of which Twilight fell. Hmm. And no, we haven't found out anything much yet up to now x3)

Yet suddenly the massive insect was gone, and all the grisskon was facing was a thing that looked a lot like the little one with the sword, sitting farther away. She narrowed her dark eyes, inspecting her new opponent. But was he? He was saying something. Sounded familiar...
The grisskon ruffled her wings, letting herself relax somewhat, and straightened the bristling feathers of her head with a jerk of the neck. She was still alert, legs braced and ready, but now she was not trying to make an impression any longer.
"Hear you," she rasped. Her voice wasn't used to this language, but she'd learned snippets of it in her wandering life, and it came vaguely back to her as she looked the creature up and down. Now she could recognize it, even if the picture wasn't exact: a human. The girl nearby looked like one as well. They were the only things she knew of that spoke this language. She'd never seen any human morph, though, and neither had any of their young seemed strong or skilled enough to wield a sword. They were different. Her eyes flickered back to the girl - she edged a bit farther away as she saw that another 'human', or whatever they were, had soundlessly appeared next to the young one - then to the male one again.
"What are?" she finally asked, twisting her head sideways questioningly.

((Hm. Well then, Alba: Exalok, here, was just roaming amongst the forest. I, Sither, lept on her back and startled her, whilst Twilight lost her horse and hid behind a big log, while Exalok and I have presumably a tension between us. That's all.))

Sither answered, 'I am Sither. Kuijin. I see -or mostly hear- that you can't speak... human pretty well. Who are you?'
But then, at the same moment, Sither heard something come from his side. He looked at where the sound could've come from, then saw a sort of hybrid creature, and a little... human. He snarled at the human, but wanted to approach the hybrid. He slowly walked towards the creature, lifting his hands, in sign that he has no weapons. He then asked, 'You can talk?'

Alba stared at the creatures infront of her. She had never incountered anything like them. She walked up to the two, careful not to get too close in case they attacked, and asked:
"The question lingers in my mind aswell..."

Sither held his hands up higher, seeing that the creature was probably afraid. Well, creature, that's not the right word. The being. He then coughed, 'Heh. You talk better than the other creature back there, but you're a... Manticore. I've only heard those in legends. Where are the others?' he said, approaching.

Alba smiled.
"I inherited my skills from my parents. I'm a Manticore animagus. My parents died when i was small, so, for all i know, i'm the last one..."
Alba eyed the creature with intence green eyes.
"Sorry if it sounds rude, but..." she hesitated, "What are you?"

Twilight recognised Alba, and smiled slightly, glad of a familiar face. She stood next to the Manticore quietly.

Alba looked down. She crouched so as to be level with the young demon. She gazed into her violet eyes and asked:
"What were you doing on Merlas (?). Where are the others? You seemed to be on the run... What happened?"

Twilight looked at the ground.
"I don't want to fight..." She looked up at Alba with pleading eyes. "Mother can't know where I am!"

Sither laughed, then he said, 'What am I? Good question. I'm kinda like you, an animagus. I can transofrm into my Soul Animal. I think you saw it. A praying Mantis. A big one, to be exact.'
He then sat down on the log where the girl was hiding. He looked down. Then he asked to the female manticore, 'You know her?'

Alba nodded.
"Her aunt and I are good friends. I feel slightly responsible for you now, Twilight. Where's your sister. ((who's name escapes me... help me out jenn)) And why can't Raven know you're here?"
A smile flashed across her face, but disappeared fast. Only her green eyes showed amusement.
"What have you done? You and your sister are like your cousins - always getting into some kind of trouble."

Sither thought for a moment, then said quietly, 'I don't like where this conversation is going...' smiling a tad.
He then stood up, something alarming him. There's something observing them, other than the other consciousness. Something. Something big. Sither looked around. He didn't recognize this part of the forest, and he's been here multiple times. He then thought of something. No, it can't be... Would there... Would there be ents in a place like this.

((Eclipse))

Twilight looked ready to cry as she pulled up one sleeve to show a large, bloodstained bandage.
"Mother did this." She said quietly. "I was running away."