06-22-2024, 11:46 PM
I L I A N A
One thing she had not been counting on was for her faux prey to suddenly shift into a predator — a panther, no less.
Inwardly chiding herself for not even considering that (a stupid mistake given where they live), she takes a moment to freeze, her feline eyes narrowing as she watches him carefully.. She is silent and unmoving, hardly daring to breathe, still cloaked in the shade of the treeline as she debates her next move. Since it appears that he has not pinpointed her exact location yet she does not want to give up so easily, though at this point she isn’t sure what her end goal is. She had not set out with the intention of locking into a fight with another panther, but she also despised losing, and at this point backing down felt an awful lot like losing.
But his exclamation catches her so off guard that it startles a laugh out of her, compromising her location, and so she straightens from her previously crouched position. “Well that’s a bit rude,” she says, though her easy tone demonstrates that she is not actually offended by the stranger’s comment and there is a trace of mirth when she speaks. Stepping forward, the shadows cast by the trees are left behind her, the sunlight revealing her rose-gold rosettes as she lingers at the water’s edge, choosing to not step into it. She can see that he is genuinely upset, and though he will not garner an apology from her, she does drop her hunting charade.
She is not cruel, after all.
Just bored.
“I wasn’t going to hurt you. Promise.” She isn’t sure if he will be able to tell that she is not lying; she is, after all, a stranger that had just made a game out of sneaking up on him. She settles back onto her haunches, her long tail curling around to rest over top of her paws, watching him. She cannot deny that she is curious as to why her presence has elicited such a reaction from him; based on the way he himself had shifted into a panther, she is going to assume it was not simply because of her predatory form. “My name is Iliana. Who did you think I was?”
Inwardly chiding herself for not even considering that (a stupid mistake given where they live), she takes a moment to freeze, her feline eyes narrowing as she watches him carefully.. She is silent and unmoving, hardly daring to breathe, still cloaked in the shade of the treeline as she debates her next move. Since it appears that he has not pinpointed her exact location yet she does not want to give up so easily, though at this point she isn’t sure what her end goal is. She had not set out with the intention of locking into a fight with another panther, but she also despised losing, and at this point backing down felt an awful lot like losing.
But his exclamation catches her so off guard that it startles a laugh out of her, compromising her location, and so she straightens from her previously crouched position. “Well that’s a bit rude,” she says, though her easy tone demonstrates that she is not actually offended by the stranger’s comment and there is a trace of mirth when she speaks. Stepping forward, the shadows cast by the trees are left behind her, the sunlight revealing her rose-gold rosettes as she lingers at the water’s edge, choosing to not step into it. She can see that he is genuinely upset, and though he will not garner an apology from her, she does drop her hunting charade.
She is not cruel, after all.
Just bored.
“I wasn’t going to hurt you. Promise.” She isn’t sure if he will be able to tell that she is not lying; she is, after all, a stranger that had just made a game out of sneaking up on him. She settles back onto her haunches, her long tail curling around to rest over top of her paws, watching him. She cannot deny that she is curious as to why her presence has elicited such a reaction from him; based on the way he himself had shifted into a panther, she is going to assume it was not simply because of her predatory form. “My name is Iliana. Who did you think I was?”
-- the shadow is mine, and so is the valley
@Meyer