Would you PREY upon those you do not understand? [Nikk]

[Makena]

The trees provided wonderful shade in the heat that spread throughout the dome, a light breeze filtering through the canopies as wildlife twittered and cooed throughout the forest. The overgrown stones were a slight to behold, as the young Bellator found her eyes dancing at her discovery - and the fact that there seemed to be no other retro in sight range. Makena often found herself alone on any scouting troops made during or around the hours of high noon; and thus she made a point of going during these times specifically. She liked the solitude more so than she liked company, the chatter of some of her fellow herd flowing between tolerable and grating irritation. An annoyed gust of air passed through her lips at the thought, the mere mention of the skin-walker habits making her jaw tighten in the slightest outward show of her inner thoughts. Though it didn't take long for her posture to relax again, at least as much as it would on foreign territory, she was alone and she thrived in the solitude.

She settled for gazing around her perimeter, listening and watching for any movement she hadn't seen before as she clambered up onto the first level of the moss-covered slabs. Her head was up and taking in the scents around her as she moved about, no tellings of others so fresh as to worry the zebra-giraffe into hiding; at least not yet. Satisfied, she moved a few levels higher, her goal was the overhanging branches of some nearby trees she knew to be quite tasty as far as leaves went. She turned her ears behind her while she ate as a precaution, acutely aware of every sound that was supposed to be there ... and the sudden awareness that someone was headed this way. She froze, her eyes unblinking as a statue as she inhaled the trace scent of nothing she had scented before ... rogue possibly? Surely there was more than one then, at least it was safe to assume so. Something was off about the smell though as she couldn't quite put her finger on it before movement made her shift to her dark skinned other-self and reflexively slip into the trees with the aid of her human digits. She gripped at the rough bark with her toes as she balanced herself, moving silently as she was able to press her back to the trunk to look out upon the clearing in front of her.

She saw the lone female, none following her closely like she had thought would happen. Her brow knit as her human nose lifted to the air once more to take in the others scent ... it was so odd ... it was like the other wasn't like her at all, nor did she seem to be that of a human by birth. Was she a Keeper? No. She smelled nothing of the clean, bright lit place. She would've thought on it more except for the fact that new smells soon found their way to her senses. Rogue shifters. This was the smell that was instantly recognizable and that she so easily identified; not like this odd human girl.

So what was she doing sitting there, watching everything begin to unfold? The rogues would be upon the area quickly enough and her mind told her she should slip away undetected. It was so simple and instinctual to a prey animal such as herself. Flight not fight. Though in the dome it was all different, a constant battle for survival to see that next day, and man became animal and animal became man; blurring the lines and making it possible for intermingling far beyond what one would think possible. She had spent many a day watching tribes from her homeland from afar, always wanting to get close but never being able to satiate her curiosity until she was able to confidently shift into her bipedal form. This form was a gift and a curse but one of the benefits came quickly enough, and that was the ability to defend herself .. as well as others when the need arose.

Her thoughts were cut short as the first few of the small group came from the opposite end of the clearing, her fingers slipping over the handles of her throwing knives that were strapped around her thighs. Her breathing slowed and her dark eyes settled back to the unique smelling one. There was an obvious disadvantage in numbers, though a shift form could swing a fight in the opposite direction easily.

So what was the lone female going to do? She waited.

[NIKK]

There were only a few good things about the Menagerie; one of them was the mornings.
Where she’d grown up in Manitoba fresh air was not something hard to come by, but visits to the bigger cities such as Winnipeg had her wondering how people breathed. Here? There was no pollution. Whether she were in central Fulsi territory on a roof, or in the middle of the Retro forest (as she was now) the mornings were always beautiful.

Nikk was a solitary creature. There were a lot of people who just needed people, but Nikk had never been that way. In a way her isolation was her support. The constancy and ever dependable reality that she was alone gave her freedoms many people might never appreciate. There was never an argument on chores, which way to go, whether or not they were taking the best route, or sleeping arrangements. She never had to wait for anybody taking too long to get ready, or feel bad for taking her own time when she wanted. Responsibilities and considerations for others were utterly gone and it was not something Nikk ever seemed to miss.

She’d wake up from a few hours of shut eye (if she were lucky), have a bit of breakfast, wash, pack, and head out - simple as that. There were times she went weeks without talking, and she was happy enough.

This particular morning had started out strangely. She’d slept funny, causing a crick in her neck that no amount of stretching or rubbing seemed to remedy and there was the weirdest monkey-call that she’d been hearing for the last hour. Usually she might have been suspicious. Sure a call to warn friends or someone about – but it had gone on for literally an hour and she’d gotten tired of worrying. A constant state of panic did nothing for anyone, and Nikk gave up caring after the first fifteen minutes.

Pushing her fingers through her long and tangled blonde hair she tied it up away from her face. It was getting warm and … she stopped. In the distance she saw a beautiful flash of color and she froze. A brilliant red against the greens and browns of the forest was hard to miss, and within the next breath she relaxed. Even from this distance she could tell it was only a butterfly. Finishing the tie-off of her hair she threaded through a few trees until she was only a few yards away from it.

Cameras were not a luxury anymore, but sometimes Nikk still liked to pretend. Her fingers came up, her thumb and forefingers creating a frame as she closed one eye and made a shutter noise between her teeth – capturing the moment forever in her mind. Sudden movement on the edge of her peripheral just to the left of her fingers caused her to freeze again – but this time she knew she’d made a mistake. The forest had gone silent around her and she had only just realized it.

With effort, she pretended not to notice. She needed time to think. Her knives as always were stashed within easy reach, but she needed to figure out of it was just one being or many. The forest going silent to her right answered that question. She pulled her pack around, feigning searching for something inside biding for time. The crick in her neck was stealing her concentration, and she licked her lips. There was a rustle of twigs beneath feet behind her and she knew she’d run out of time.

Shifting her weight she waited until the right moment, then whirled her pack with all the strength she had and clobbered the shifter that had crept up behind her. A call went out, and another answering it. All she saw of the shifter she’d struck was a lithe dark body on the ground and she was off.

Nikk was a good runner. She wasn’t the fastest but she was nimble and could keep up a decent pace for miles. Sometimes – that was enough. The loss of her backpack was hard, but supplies could be replaced … her throat couldn’t. The scrambling of many feet told her there were at least two shifters that had taken up the chase and if she wasn’t scared already, the guttural growl of a large cat had her insides crawling and between one stride and the next she realized she couldn’t outrun them.

A yielding of sharp-thorned bushes at the base of a wide tree was the best she would likely come across to cover her back. As she breached the small clearing she hit the brakes and ducked low, stealing a glance behind her and sent out a dagger. The shifters, intent on the hunt obviously had not expected this and the blade bit deep into the shoulder of a short and swarthy black haired man – dashing him to the ground.

The golden spotted cat leaped. Arms bracing against its chest she rolled and feet-to-belly catapulted (ha pun!) the feline into the unforgiving thorn bushes behind her. Its claws sank deep into one of her forearms, but the adrenaline kept pain at bay. For now. Quickly as she could, Nikk found her feet and frantically looked about for her next attacker. The shorter man had pulled the blade from his shoulder hulk-like and, gripping it with menace started toward her. Ew, nothing made her angrier than someone using her own blades against her – that was just lame. She sent another dagger through the air with a flick of her wrist and it sank into his throat. The face he made reminded her of a bad horror flick as he clawed at the hilt in his throat and collapsed on the ground, covered in crimson.

The pained sounds of the frustrated leopard/jaguar – really who could tell the difference – was only a moment’s distraction before an even shorter swarthy black haired chicka appeared between two trees. The horror in the eyes of the girl efficiently made Nikk feel terrible, but the feeling passed instantly as her gaze rose to settle on Nikk with a fierce hate. Something about the shorty made Nikk leery and she took a step back - with good reason … the next instant the girl had shifted into a zebu.

Shhiiiiiiittt. Even immature as she was, the cow still sported sharp horns and weighed in at at least a three-fifty. The cat was untangling herself as the milliseconds tciked by, and in slow motion Nikk watched the cow’s foreleg strike the ground thrice before kicking her brown carcass into high gear straight for her.

[Makena]

The following moments were busy in action but slow to her ever awareness, her eyes darting from the cat in bush, to the 4th in the tree that was slower moving but seemed to be staying out of the action for now that was across the clearing. She had finally turned her eyes downward to the forest floor when the odd-blonde female took a step back while the enemy dark-skin shifted into a large angry cow-like hooved being. She breathed through her nose heavily as she fought internally with what the best course of action would be, her eyes darting back and forth in a dance that seemed ever going.

She found herself moving of her own accord to launch herself over and onto a tree that was further away from the female of her interest and closer to he charging bull. She settled her nerves in an instant as she reached up to take a sling of rope that was around her shoulders and torso as she slipped a knife from it's holder at her thighs. She needed to move now if she were to help in any efficient way and move she did.

She had moved onto an outermost branch, knowing full well the tree-stationed other of the enemy party would see her, and that's why the time in which she moved was quick and effecient. For as soon as she was in position she moved to fall forward into a somewhat dive, timing it so she would land on the charging beat's back.

There was a grunt as she smacked into the running steer, and as she felt herself slip she used the knife in her hand to plunge into the foreleg of the beast, issuing a cry from it's mouth as she used the handle to steady herself as best she could, her thighs squeezing the body for additional support. As soon as her blade had slipped into flesh her other hand went to work, moving to loop around either horn, as this was all she had time for anyway even though she would've preferred the neck; and threw all her weight to the opposite side her knife was in.

The steer cried out as she used what measly body weight she could to fling herself to the opposite side of where her knife was protruded, the bull veered off course just enough to not be going towards the female and she felt herself smack against the side of a tree, the wind getting knocked out of her as she twisted the knife out of the bull as she fell, cursing herself but also thinking she did what she meant to and that was to distract. She had dropped in a heap not very far off from where the other girl was, the hooved shifter running past to find a spot to turn around.

"Four on one is not so good," she simply said as she held back the grimace while she pushed herself up against the tree. She wiped her blade on the fabric of her shorts and visually checked the rest of her knifes were there before her eyes landed on the other, her brown eyes were calculating; the other seemed prideful in stance, much like others of her herd, but she was so different as well. She just intrigued the okapi and made her wonder how someone who was by themselves lasted for such a time. She was, herself, solitary, but stuck with the group out of a need for a back-up support system - or so she told herself.

She moved the knife in her hand to hold it by the blade now, as she turned to look around them; two versus four wasn't the best odds either.

[NIKK]

Nikk’s mind was in overdrive, and just before she was planning to tumble to the side – allowing the cow to charge into the cat behind her - yet another stranger appeared. The speed of the charge was changed suddenly, and there was chaos with a girl flying in from a tree, and riding the cow, and something about a knife. In the end Tarzan Girl slammed into the tree and the cow tor off past them. She blinked at the heap of girl at the base of the tree, and when her legs pushed herself to her feet Nikk could see that she was okay. As she spoke, the blonde’s attention strayed to the cat that seemed to be quite tangled in the thorns. However, it wouldn’t hold the ticked off spotted cuss for long and Nikk sighed heavily. “Nope,” she agreed simply and walked over to tangled creature. The golden cat hunkered down, ears pinning to her skull as her mouth splayed open in a hiss. The skin over her nose wrinkled in rage and she mock charged Nikk – aiming to swipe her face with large, sharp claws. The feline hit something, but it wasn’t Nikk and the cat screamed in pain and anger as her paw came away bloody. Instantly she turned to flee and Nikk arrogantly turned her back. She didn’t know what it was, but she had never had a cat keep coming after her after she had sliced off one of its pads or some toes. It was painful, and took a long time to heal. The bloody knife in her hand was flipped, and, catching it by the blade she turned and sent it with the flick of a wrist to the cat’s hind end as she disappeared into the trees. The echoing scream was the signal that she’d hit her target. Insurance to make sure the cat wasn't coming back. The cow was getting reorganized to charge again, and she turned around to reassess the attackers. Her gaze fell on the brown-skinned girl. She had helped Nikk. Did that mean she wasn’t going to hurt her? One could never be sure. The girl’s steady gaze settled on Nikk and her brow arched. Friend or foe. In the Menagerie, it could be both. “I guess the odds have changed,” she said and readied her stance again as the cow began to charge, and a second cat dropped from the trees.