[open] Shut up and dance with me // Any - Printable Version +- Beqanna (https://beqanna.com/forum) +-- Forum: Explore (https://beqanna.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=1) +--- Forum: The Common Lands (https://beqanna.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=72) +---- Forum: Forest (https://beqanna.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=73) +---- Thread: [open] Shut up and dance with me // Any (/showthread.php?tid=28394) |
Shut up and dance with me // Any - Mikael - 12-01-2020 Beneath the deep green of the forest canopy, the darkly patterned stallion lay dreaming. He kicked in his sleep, legs pumping like a dogs when the sleep-driven rabbit is just out of reach. The muscles of his face twitched and spasmed in a snarl that did not quite translate to equine features. He was hunting with his father. Silent, one carefully placed foot in front of the other, then pause. Step, then pause. The dance played out as his sire took point, the muscular puma fixated on an unwitting half-grown bighorn sheep. Mikael followed his father's lead, angling behind the grazing creature while Ryan flanked it. The sheep's head bolted upright as the wind shifted, nostrils quivering. The puma broke cover with an all-mighty leap, powerful limbs pistoning as the startled lamb stumbled to escape. The chase was on, the quarry spinning on its heels to evade the oncoming cat. Mikael waited a half second before joining the chase, as awed of his sire's strength as he had been the first time he'd witnessed it. The lamb bleated, horrified, when the escape route was cut off by a second predator. A short, lightning quick chase, neck in neck with the puma. All ended in a blur of flashing teeth and grasping claws, a splash of brilliant red on the stones of the mountain. An offering to those who'd seen the hunt completed. Mikael grinned at his father over the still twitching corpse, the thrill of the hunt still singing in his blood. It had been a good dream. The kind that left him tired as if his muscles really had been stretched with exertion, his belly aching with hunger for a taste he didn't know. The kind of dream that left him happy and sad and longing for impossible things. With the deepest of sighs he rose to his feet, shaking debris from his coat as he did. There was a groan as the world spun around him, the earth tilting beneath his feet. Wonderful, maybe he was coming down with something... The euphoria of his dream trickled away as the unease in his body took over, legs heavy, head light. Everything felt out of proportion, or focus. He shut his eyes, a headache blooming at the back of his skull. Maybe a drink would help... The panther lumbered through the woods until they thinned, allowing a creek to pass alongside a fairly well traveled path. Sunlight hit his black coat, dappling blackberry juice colored spots from the dark fur. RE: Shut up and dance with me // Any - Mazikeen - 12-08-2020 MAZIKEEN mazikeen @[Mikael] RE: Shut up and dance with me // Any - Mikael - 01-01-2021 It was not elegant, the way he leapt into the air, stumbling back to earth with wild eyes and an unexpected yelp. He had been transfixed by the face looking back at him from the uneven surface of the water. It was his face. He knew that, though he had never seen it quite like this before. Feline, and blunt-nosed. Slit eyes, shearing teeth, and a bewilderment that he would know in any form. It was an exact match for what he was feeling, and no thoughts of how impossible this was could alter that fact. Mikael stared at her as he had been staring at himself. As though this white and black patterned creature was something thoroughly alien to his world. She wasn't, though. Not really. And he found himself smiling almost frantically at her subtle comment. She liked his spots. So calm. So demure. As though wearing a spotted fur coat was the most natural thing in the world. Not a dream. Not the impossibility he'd been yearning for since he was a foal and his half sister and his cousins and his father and aunt had all been able to shed one skin for another, and he'd been left behind. Shaking his head, he couldn't wipe the smile from his lips, so he figured he'd better say something before she took him for a loon instead of a leopard. Looking over his shoulder, he admired his own cloak of fur. "Thanks," he replied, still dazed but coming to grips. "They're new." Curious, he paused. Could he push this new body the same way he did as a horse? For a moment his mind went blank. Too many possibilities fought for attention, and he found himself searching for something simpler. Ah. There it was. Black bled away, deep purple intensified, until... He breathed a contended breath, eyes half-shut in pleasure. He was white now, with his own unique pattern of spots now jet black against the snowy background. It had worked, he had worried it wouldn't, but it did. Now two monochrome cats stood on the edge of the river, and he felt his heart swell with the knowledge. "You caught me out at a weird time," he admitted, tongue rasping unfamiliar against the roof of his mouth. A very weird time. If this was more dreaming, it was thoroughly convincing. "I'm Mikael," he offered, arranging his new limbs with care beneath his body as he spoke. Every joint felt liquid. Bizarrely stretchy. He picked up a paw, marveled when he could twist the wrist and see the underside with no effort to speak of. @[Mazikeen] RE: Shut up and dance with me // Any - Mazikeen - 01-03-2021 MAZIKEEN mazikeen @[Mikael] RE: Shut up and dance with me // Any - Mikael - 01-07-2021 The startlement at having been interrupted during a moment of pretty significant self discovery faded at the amusement in his newly met companion's expression. He'd engineered (and been the butt of) plenty enough pranks to know a good jump scare when he was in the middle of one. It was enough to roll his eyes good-naturedly before moving on. He could feel the different shape of his jaw when he smiled, when he spoke. Words seemed to fit strangely between sharp teeth. "Mazikeen or Maze." He tried the sounds out. It was a name meant for sharp teeth, he decided, and rumbled in a satisfied way over the discovery. Her question took him off guard, though it shouldn't have. Anyone with eyes to see would be able to figure out this was not the skin he was used to. Setting the inspected paw down deliberately, he nodded distractedly. "Looks that way." A cat then, like his father. He looked over himself again, marveling at the change. Impulsive, he pushed his now-blunt muzzle into his chest, felt the plush fur that tickled his nose. He took an experimental lick with his prickly tongue, only to spit when he came away with a mouthful of strands. Lips curled at the oddness of it, the feline shook his head. This just kept getting weirder. "How d'you change back, then?" Which seemed to be a pretty important question at this point. There was no way he'd survive long in this skin without the reprieve of a familiar body to retreat into. His hazelnut brown eyes settled on hers, eager for whatever tips she might provide. @[Mazikeen] RE: Shut up and dance with me // Any - Mazikeen - 01-11-2021 MAZIKEEN mazikeen @[Mikael] RE: Shut up and dance with me // Any - Mikael - 01-12-2021 He had never been the bashful sort. It wouldn't have gotten him far with his family, and besides, curiosity almost always won out when put next to fear. In that way, it was certainly fitting that his new shape was a feline one. The need to know how and why and who and all the rest had summed up his life, and it very well may be what had planted him here today. He chuckled at her description of the process it took to return to his equine shape. "Practice, practice, practice, does nothing come without it? At least thinking about myself should be easy enough." He remarked with a touch of sarcasm. Nothing worth having came without effort, he knew, but a guy could dream. A thought dawned on him, made the hair on his neck rise briefly as it passed through his mind. With a grin more puppyish than panther, he looked at the she-cat dolefully. "My mother would take my hide if she saw me being so rude, going on about myself." He admitted on a laughing note. And very pleased too would Tickaani be with a leopardskin rug. "What brings you to this neck of the woods? Surely watching a new shifter get his feet under him wasn't on the plan of the day." He rose demonstratively to his feet, testing the weight on each one. He shrugged one shoulder, then the other, feeling his skin prickle uncomfortably. It was too much, holding a new shape and a color as well. With a sigh he let it go. His natural darker colors returned, and his skin quit its itching. Better. He looked back at Maze, eyes hooded in the dappled light. He'd been loitering in the common lands long enough to have a feel for the regulars that frequented these areas. Knew enough to know that for lack of better words, she wasn't one. Which meant she belonged somewhere else. He figured any land that could produce such a beautiful creature was alright by him. @[Mazikeen] RE: Shut up and dance with me // Any - Mazikeen - 01-15-2021 MAZIKEEN mazikeen @[Mikael] |