SURPRISE(Brooke, open)

["Quick" Taylor]

Quick slowly and carefully loped up towards the water of the Oasis. It was his turn to patrol the borders of the Fallens' territory for any intruders. He was taking a break on his way through the desert area of their territory to get some water from the Oasis. He was absolutely parched, having been running around in his leopard form for the whole time. He'd been out there for several hours, and in that time the sun beating down through the glass dome overhead had parched him beyond belief.

Still in Leopard form, he leaned down and started lapping at the cool water. It felt good going down his dry throat. He took several more drinks of water, the muzzle of his feline face soaked in the stuff, before looking up at the horizon in front of him. That was when he noticed the silhouette moving in his direction. He stayed where he was and squinted at it, trying to discern what it was, but he couldn't quite make it out.

Growling quietly to himself, he crouched down in the high grasses and plant-life right next to the bank of the oasis to lay in wait for whoever it was that was coming....

[Deleted]

The Carna and the Fallen had a truce right? And the Carna were patrolling for the Fallen, right? So, that made fallen territory as good as Carnas, so why shouldn't Harlequin explore the territory to get better acquainted with it? It made perfect sense! And, that was what she would tell anyone from the Carna that she ran into. She didn't really care what the Fallen thought, so she wouldn't have to explain herself to them.

She quickly learned that desert sun plus huge black jaguar equaled not a good idea. Oh sure, the jaguar's natural climate was hot and humid, but Harley wasn't a natural jaguar and she didn't like the desert. "Never, again," she growled to herself harshly in shiftertongue. This had been a bad idea.

But then, like a gift from the supposed God, there was water! or it could be a mirage. One of the two, and it was probably a mirage, knowing Harlequin's luck. She had just began to think about the ancient saying that curiosity had killed the cat. She could understand where that saying had came from. She always had to go check out the slightest movement. Maybe it was paranoia though. She shook her head at that idea and sped up her walk into a ground swallowing lope.

She quickly reached the water, which wasn't a mirage, and bent her huge black head down to the water, her grey green eyes slipping closed as she lapped the water with the underside of her tongue, bringing it into her mouth. She probably shouldn't be drinking the fallen's water, after all they were allies now and didn't have much water, but all her black pelt did was attract heat and she was dying for water.

["Quick" Taylor]

Quick stayed crouched down low in the grass, his rosettes blending him in well enough to keep him hidden from the black panther that loped up towards the oasis. He growled mentally to himself as he saw her drinking some of the little precious water his ring had. He waited, though, for his opportunity to pounce, just like any actual Leopard in the wild would. He found it when she closed her eyes.

Immediately he leapt forward with an ear-shattering roar, pouncing from mere feet away and barreling into the panther, hoping to catch her so off-guard, he could get her on her back and his claws at her throat before she knew what was happening. She would be just one paw-twitch away from death, and no sooner than that would he begin to question who she was and what she was doing in Fallen territory....

[Deleted]

As soon she she felt someone spring onto her back, she quickly went limp, rolling with the blow. She quickly got her feet under her as she slithered out from under the other cat. She hissed, her lips pulled back to show off her white fangs. The other cat was a leopard, which meant she had the advantage when it came to size. His head was too big for her to use a jaguar's move on him. If he had been a smaller animal she could have bitten down straight through his skull.

She screamed out a challenge as her big, black body tensed, ready for another attack. There was no way this fool of a leopard would catch her off guard again. he had gotten the jump on her once, but he wouldn't get it again.

She hissed again, bunching her shoulders as she slowly began to circle the other cat, her tail thrashing violently. "You wanna fight? Well, you got one," she growled out in shiftertongue. Even before coming to the menagerie she had been fighting for her own skin. Of course, the boys on the reservation wouldn't have killed her (well, if they had found out she was a shifter they would have), but they still took sadistic pleasure from knocking the little pale girl around.

She didn't want to fight, she was too tired right now, but there was no way that this idiot of a leopard was going to get the best of her. She raised one front paw, ready to swipe at the smaller cat.

["Quick" Taylor]

Quick let out a quiet growl as the other, larger cat managed to worm her way out of his little tackle. He had hoped it would work, but apparently he'd need to start asking questions now to avoid a bad confrontation with a possible Carna, despite how much dislike he held for them. He would never understand why the Fallen, the ones who tried to avoid fighting as much as possible, would ally themselves with the Carnas, the ones who were as close to becoming the animals they shifted into as any of the shifters in the Menagerie. Perhaps it was out of necessity because of the Fulsi, but....

"You wanna fight? Well, you got one," the female panther said as she began to circle him. To avoid letting her get behind him, he did the same, always keeping his eyes on her.

"I'm a scout. It's my job to protect the Fallens' borders against those who come in unnancounced and trespass," he flicked his eyes towards the oasis,"and it's the job of all Fallen to protect our most precious of resources.

"Now, are you of the Carnas, or the Fulsi? Answer quickly. I'd rather avoid a needless fight," he said, still circling...

[Deleted]

Oh great, a scout. Well, at least he wasn't a hunter. Oh sure, Harlequin could more then hold her own in a fight, but she would rather take on another scout in her condition, rather then a hunter. She was too tired, too hot, and too thirsty to do much damage. Of course, she could always swim into the water. Most cats didn't like water, but her jaguar did. There was no reason to fight though, not really. She growled out a warning before she let her body shift back into her human form.

Harlequin was a big cat, just shy of seven feet in length and three feet at her shoulder, but she was no where near that size when she was human. In place of the huge black cat, a small girl was hunkered down on the heels of her knee high combat boots. She stood up, pulling herself up to her full height, which was a grand total of five feet. She pulled on the worn, black leather belt that held the baggy jeans on her frame, out of habit rather then necessity. She rolled her shoulders, the two tattoos on her shoulder blades rippling with the motion. She sneered slightly, the two silver rings in her bottom lip pulling slightly.

"According to Manic, it's my job to patrol Fallen borders, which means I'm not trespassing." She crossed her arms over her chest, long black french braid swinging lightly at the movement. It was a risky move, shifting back to human when her foe was still in his cat form, but it was also a show of bravado. By showing her human form while her opponent was still a cat showed that she wasn't worried about the leopard's superior strength. She spat on the ground, muscles loose as her eyes watched the other shifter, ready to shift back and defend herself if necessary.

["Quick" Taylor]

Quick snorted as he saw the jaguar begin to shift back to her human form, still circling and keeping his eyes trained on her. As she came up to her full height, which would be an understatement to call short, he stopped circling, standing there and watching her as she folded her arms across her chest, announcing her ring allegiance in a most arbitrary way.

He gave a small glare in her direction in his leopard form, and then he too transformed into his human form. As his human body reformed and he felt his balance shift to two legs, he slowly straightened himself. As the transformation finished, he was standing on two feet, standing much taller in front of the girl in front of him.

"I couldn't assume anything," he said,"You could have just as easily been one of the Fulsi. I had to be sure."

Though even the Fulsi would be preferable to one of you bloodthirsty bastards, he thought to himself. The thought of a lost opportunity to rid the world of one more of the Carnas passed through his mind, but he pushed it out of his mind. He couldn't do that. To do that would imperil their tenuous alliance with the Carnas. As much as he disliked them, he couldnt' just arbitrarily attack her with no reason.

He looked her over one more time, hands on his hips and his feet spread at shoulder length as he did. She had several facial piercings, which lent to a more feral look, not that she needed it. He towered over her, easily able to see over her head, but he didn't doubt that she had plenty of fight in her. In fact, if he judged the way she held herself correctly, she would prove to be someone he would rather avoid, since she seemed very dangerous.

At least, that would be the case during normal circumstances. He could tell, though, that she was weak and unsteady on her feet at the moment. She also didn't seem to be sweating, which in this area of the Menagerie was quite odd. Even he was sweating right now, and he was used to this heat. The Carnas, he knew, were not. That made it odd.

He looked from her to the water once, and let out a small sigh. He wasn't sure if Sky would get onto him for it, but...

"Go, drink," he said, gesturing towards the water,"You look like you could fall over from dehydration any moment. If anyone says anything about it, I'll deal with the heat."

With that, he turned towards the water and sat down, legs spread out in from of him. He'd been patrolling most of the morning, and now that he'd stopped moving, his legs hurt a little from the constant movementIt was time to rest them for a little while....

[talos]

Talos was out by himself. He often did such things when he knew that he was not required to be out hunting by the Lead Hunter. It did get rather uncomfortable from time to time when it comes to the sun beating down on him. His feathers do reflect some heat, but it does more to absorb it. Thankfully, Black Falcons are used to hot temperatures in Australia, so the heat actually did feel good for periods of time. The sky was bright blue, and it seemed for a moment that there was no dome above his head. Then he quickly shut away such thoughts, there was no use kidding himself. He was trapped like a rat, with no way out at all. If he had his chance, he'd rip out the heart of every single keeper with his bare....claws? He really wasn't sure what to call them anymore, they weren't exactly hands. He clenched them for a moment before relaxing again. His flight pattern right now was more coasting then anything, riding the wind.

There was simply desert for miles and miles of fallen territory. At one point Talos had flown clear across Menagerie, using his strength to cut through the air with inhuman grace. If there was one thing he could ever thank the Lab for, it was being able to fly in a human-ish form. Flying was such an amazing feeling, he didn't know how he could live without it. He looked down at the sand and scorched Earth below him, gazing out for his destination, the oasis. The cool shade would be a nice change from the hot sun on his back, even a warmer climate bird could only take so much of it.

His enhanced vision picked up the location of the Oasis rather quickly and it made it quite easy to guide himself in the right direction. With every single foot that he moved forward he noticed more and more minute details of the area. The palm trees with their plumage of leaves, the other small underbrush....and two figures of questionable origin that were circling the area. He could not hear what was going on at this distance, nor with the wind in his ears. It was his job to find out though, perhaps learn something that was of value to the FallenRing as a whole. He did owe them his loyalty for providing for him after the fall of Bestia. Closer and Closer. He could now be certain of the identity of at least one of the beings there. "Quick" Taylor was most definitely the leopard, he had taken lengths to remember the markings of his fellow ring members. The other was a Black Jaguar, obviously unaccustomed to this heat. He focused more closely on the Jaguar, as it may or may not be a threat.

It seemed that they quickly transformed back to their human forms, the girl first, followed by Taylor. He quickly took in the girl's appearance to remember it for later. Short in stature, baggy jeans, tattoos and piercings...He finished his mental list and sped up his speed. He noted that Taylor had sat down in the water, relaxing his guard. Talos would have never done something potentially foolish depending on who this was. If he guessed right, this girl was Carna. The alliance with them was fragile in the best of times, which made this girl still a possible threat. Regardless of whether Taylor had this handled or not, Talos was intending to come to the Oasis. He angled down and dropped his altitude quickly in what could be described as a nose-dive. Then quickly her opened his wings up, throttling back and flapping powerfully to slow his momentum down. He touched down just outside of the trees and walked forward to see the situation up-close. "Hello, Quick...and greetings to you as well...CarnaRing, I presume?" he spoke rather comfortably and evenly. He wanted to show that he wasn't here to pick a fight. Mentally however, he was definitely prepared for it if something happened. He was unsure whether the girl would react to his appearance, it really didn't matter. But, that was always in his mind when he met people no matter what happened. It was silly, yet he couldn't get rid of the occasional thought.

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Words: Enough xD
Clothes: Army Jacket [open], Cargo pants, Eye of Horus Necklace
Mood: Calm and Curious.
Notes: First post =D
Muse Rating: Medium-High

[Deleted]

Harlequin watched the other cat shifter as she slowly made her way to the water before she lowered her cupped hands, bringing the water to her mouth. She never lowered her eyes as she repeated the action several more times. It didn't matter that the Fallen and Carna had a truce, or that he had allowed her to drink. She was still out of her territory with a possible threat. She needed to be on guard, now more then ever. She silent cursed. She couldn't believed she had allowed herself to fall into a situation like this. Sure, she'd been into other territories before, but this was the first time she'd been attacked while sneaking around. Of course, she'd never been caught before. Normally, she was much better at hiding, but this black pelt didn't do a thing for her in the desert.

She was just starting to relax when a huge shadow flew over her. She jerked her head up, grey green eyes flashing. Her eyes quickly widened into shock as she sprang back, into the water. her lips curled up over her teeth as she hissed at the huge bird thing. She'd seen anthros before, and she didn't really have anything against them. She felt sorry for them, really. She had no idea what she would do is she lost her ability to shift. This though, this was like nothing she'd ever seen before. He, well she guessed it was a he, was almost fully bird. She couldn't see anything other then feather. He even had a beak!

She slowly made her way out of the water as the man, yes from the sound of his voice she could tell his gender, addressed the other cat. So, his name was Quick. good to know. She filed away that bit of information for later. She could always let the Lead scout know more about the fallen members. She watched him slowly, a low roar rumbling as it tried to make its way out. She nodded to the bird when spoke to her, though, trying to keep her face a neutral as she could. "Yes, I'm from CarnaRing. My name's Harlequin." Sure, she might get in trouble over giving out her name to two people out of her ring, but they were both of the Fallen, and, for now, she would honor the CarnaFallen truce. She wasn't going to let her guard down around this new threat though. One thing that living on the res had taught her was that it was never a good idea to drop it when more then one enemy was present. one, she could deal with, but there was no way she wanted to take on the bird boy, not with those talons and beak.

["Quick" Taylor]

Quick sat there in the lush, soft grass as he watched the woman bend down and drink. He might be showing a little mercy on her, letting her drink, and even though she was Carna, he didn't trust her. In fact, he trusted the Carna much less than he trusted the Fulsi, despite the alliance between their two Rings.

As he focused on the possible threat in front of him, though, something large swooped in near them from the sky. Reacting instinctively, Quick quickly shifted and sprung to his feet, roaring in challenge at whatever it was that had just landed nearby. It took a few moments for him to register just who, not what, it was. It was Talos, an Anthropomorph from his own Fallenring. Quick had met the Falcon Anthro on several occasions, and they were quite familiar with each other. Quick relaxed, shifting back to his human form and straightening in the process, as he usually did, knowing he could trust the other Fallen to help subdue the woman if she decided to get violent, as many Carna decided to do on a stray whim.

"It would seem you gave us both quite a shock there, Talos," Quick said, glancing over at the Carnaring scout where she had jumped into the water. He wasn't sure what she had been thinking, jumping into the water where her mobility was restricted and slowed by the heavy liquid, but it didn't really matter. He wasn't overly worried about her at the moment,"Perhaps next time you could announce yourself less....explosively?"

He looked over at the woman as she gave her name to Talos. It was a short, matter-of-fact response. She was still quite guarded against the both of them, thinking they might hurt her.

"You don't have to worry, we won't hurt you," he said as he reached a hand in his pocket,"We wouldn't do anything to jeopardize the Fallens' tenuous relationship with your ring. Right now, you need water. It's quite that two small handfuls of water isn't enough to fight off dehydration."

With that, he pulled out a small bundle of paper and unwrapped it, revealing a few small strips of dried meat. He held them out to her.

"And here. I was saving this for a treat, but you look like you could use it. I dont' know what would possess you to come out into the desert without any supplies or such, but I can tell you that that's a very bad idea. You should bring a bottle of water with you at the very least. I wouldn't advise another trip like this again. It may not end quite so well next time."

[talos]

He noticed that the dark haired girl, jumped back and let out a spitting hiss at him out of surprise. The girl curled her lip over her teeth as she did. He could understand why she was on such high alert. He'd seen his own reflection since the lab had made him what he was. But, whining about it wouldn't make it any different, so he accepted it. She made her way slowly out of the water, obviously her guard was well up now. Shame, he thought that at least the Carna might be a bit more wary, even in 'friendly territory. He also saw that he had surprised quick as well, who quickly shifted and roared in his general direction to try and scare him. He merely did what he could to raise one eyebrow at the move. It really didn't make much a difference on his facial appearance, but a keen eye might have been able to see the muscle movement.

"It would seem you gave us both quite a shock there, Talos....Perhaps next time you could announce yourself less....explosively?"

"Perhaps...when you find a way to quickly and quietly decent from 5,000 feet to investigate a possible threat, without me flapping my wings to prevent flattening to a anthro-pancake....Let me know.", he said rather seriously, though if Quick knew him well enough, it was one of his rare half-jokes. He'd been flying high to prevent getting dehydrated, a trick that many birds use during migration. His advantage was the power to stay aloft which they lack. Then he found the the girl decided to introduce herself.

"Yes, I'm from CarnaRing. My name's Harlequin."

"Pleasure, I assume you heard my name from Quick?", he said to the girl. He still saw from her body language that she was very tense from his arrival. Then it seemed the Quick spoke again.

"You don't have to worry, we won't hurt you...We wouldn't do anything to jeopardize the Fallens' tenuous relationship with your ring. Right now, you need water. It's quite that two small handfuls of water isn't enough to fight off dehydration."

He then pulled out a small bundle and unwrapped it, revealing a few strips of dried meat. It was a peace offering to Harlequin to be sure, something that might be wiser then what Talos might have done. His social skills have... degraded since he's been rejected by the majority of shifter society. Before he finished the thought, Quick continued.

"And here. I was saving this for a treat, but you look like you could use it. I dont' know what would possess you to come out into the desert without any supplies or such, but I can tell you that that's a very bad idea. You should bring a bottle of water with you at the very least. I wouldn't advise another trip like this again. It may not end quite so well next time."

He decided that some might think it treason to give away their precious water so willingly. But, he knew it was the right thing to do, no matter what the guidelines might think. Plus the fact that they had an alliance with the Carna which gave them plenty of access to more water made this minor. It's really not important to say anything about this to anyone. What starts here ends here, simple as that.

"This wasn't a scheduled patrol, Harlequin....was it?", he asked her plainly, looking her right in the eyes. It wasn't exactly a good thing if Carna started to feel so entitled that they could just walk in here whenever they pleased. He had no issue with it personally, but he knew that certain shifters would get their tails all in a twist about it. So he wanted to know for the sake of the Fallen. It was simple logic in his head.

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Words: Too lazy to count
Clothes: Army Jacket [open], Cargo pants, Eye of Horus Necklace
Mood: Calm and Curious.
Notes: N/A
Muse Rating: Medium-High