06-17-2023, 03:17 AM
Of all the things he had expected to greet him, this was not on his list. Abrus watches through his companion’s eyes as the black feline seems to extract itself from the early-dawn shadows, landing on the ground before sitting neatly. Although he has never seen one of these black cats before, the name is supplied by a collective consciousness from the forest he’s already greedily reaching his magic into - a panther. This name, for him, conjures up the image of a tawny creature - not this fascinating one with rose-gold eyes.
A shifter? He believes that she was not born this feline because he does not feel a connection to her the way he does with other creatures and features of the woods. If she were simply a forest creature he would feel… well, he would feel something from her. He is not aware of her the way he is the needles upon the ground where they shift under the hooves of some deer off to the west or the way the mist paints its presence on the bark of the trees. If he wanted to borrow energy from her, he’d have to put far more effort into it than if she were like the squirrel nearby who begins to descend down a trunk, sees the panther, and then quickly changes its mind and scurries back up into the canopy.
He keeps the connection to his companion’s sight as he stops and faces her - finding himself curious enough to not fall back into familiar darkness just yet.
“Hello.” He repeats the word back, and is in the process of choosing which question to ask when the raven shifts her stance in his branch-antlers and gives him an idea. “You’re making my companion nervous,” Abrus remarks with interest rather than accusation - before asking with obvious curiosity. “Are you a threat?” He won’t mind whichever way the panther decides to take it (a threat to himself, the raven, or a secret third option) - he believes in letting others impose their own limitations and assumptions.
His companion quietly seethes, thinking about how she has not been nervous a day in her life.
A shifter? He believes that she was not born this feline because he does not feel a connection to her the way he does with other creatures and features of the woods. If she were simply a forest creature he would feel… well, he would feel something from her. He is not aware of her the way he is the needles upon the ground where they shift under the hooves of some deer off to the west or the way the mist paints its presence on the bark of the trees. If he wanted to borrow energy from her, he’d have to put far more effort into it than if she were like the squirrel nearby who begins to descend down a trunk, sees the panther, and then quickly changes its mind and scurries back up into the canopy.
He keeps the connection to his companion’s sight as he stops and faces her - finding himself curious enough to not fall back into familiar darkness just yet.
“Hello.” He repeats the word back, and is in the process of choosing which question to ask when the raven shifts her stance in his branch-antlers and gives him an idea. “You’re making my companion nervous,” Abrus remarks with interest rather than accusation - before asking with obvious curiosity. “Are you a threat?” He won’t mind whichever way the panther decides to take it (a threat to himself, the raven, or a secret third option) - he believes in letting others impose their own limitations and assumptions.
His companion quietly seethes, thinking about how she has not been nervous a day in her life.
@Iliana