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 Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:44 pm
It had been some day. Alex had gotten clear of Loghedge, and once more found himself amongst the wild forest. Even as he walked through and around the trees, limbs snagged at his clothes and his new cloak. His clawed hand pushed the limbs aside, as he made his way through the mess.
After a few hours of wandering, the pilot eventually settled down on a fallen tree, as he looked around. He'd looked high and low for Hadley's little camp he had out in the woods, but most likely he'd gotten himself lost in the rush to get out of town. And now, now he was just trying to find some place to rest for a bit. Maybe some nice shelter for later.
His hand reached up and pulled back his cloak, letting his pointed ears twitch at the new sounds of the forest. His short tail twitches slowly behind him. He hadn't noticed how the forest seemed different to him, until just now. Maybe it was just the fact that he was part animal. Maybe it was something else. But Alex decided not to dwell on the why and instead focused on picking small leaves and twigs that had gotten caught in his hair and clothes.
And speaking of that, he reached down and slowly slipped off his shoes, wiggling his clawed toes. It felt good to be off his feet. The shoes were killing them, even if there were small claw holes in the tip of each. "Wonder if I can cut the ends off these", he said to himself, pondering if he had remembered to bring a small knife with him.
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:01 pm
Although Ironwood was virtually empty of people, it was filed to the brim with wildlife. Wolves, bears, deers, rabbits, foxes, birds... it wasn't necessary to stray too far to encounter any of these. And at this very moment there was one approaching Alex from the back
It was hard to tell what it was thanks to the dark shadows casted by the dense foliage, but it made almost no sound as it kept getting closer. Bit by bit it cautiously crept closer, a tail swishing occasionally in indecision and ears flickering in search for any other presences and threats
When it was no more than a couple of feet away, a big, deep meow made itself heard
It was a sandy colored cat, but a rather large one with violet colored eyes. It was easily the size of a medium sized dog, but it shown no signs of aggression or fear
It stared at Alex as if wondering what he was doing there in the forest
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:15 pm
It wasn't like Alex's hearing was too much better than it was before, but even if it was, he would probably have missed the sound of the approaching beast in his distracted state. The hearty meow from the large feline caused the pilot's ears and tail to stick out, the pilot going tumbling off the tree and onto the ground. His shoes fell to one side, and as he tried to get back up, Alex fought to push his cloak out of the way, as it wrestled with his clawed hands.
As soon as he was free from the cloak, he looked back over the top of the fallen tree, and blinked a bit as he stared into the feline's bright violet eyes.
Ok, Alex had no clue what to do about wild forest animals. Oh sure, he had feathers and a tail, but he was still clueless. He knew planes, not wild beasts. "Uh, nice kitty...", he said, his own tail twitching slowly as he looked at the feline.
At least the large feline didn't seem to be aggressive towards him, unlike the rat catcher's little terrier. Alex was grateful for that at the very least.
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:22 pm
The cat looked at Alex impassively, showing no signs of being disturbed by his sudden reaction or the fact it was facing a strangely looking human person. It simply sat there staring at him, eyes half closed in a passive manner
Slowly it moved along the tree trunk towards him, tail raised and deep purr coming from its throat. It sounded like it swallowed an engine
When it was close enough to Alex's leg, it nuzzled with the head and back, meowing again for attention
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:34 pm
Ok, so the big scary feline wasn't attacking him, and instead was rubbing against him. He chuckled softly and reached over to gently rub one of the feline's ears. "Uh, ok, so I guess you're not going to eat me. Thats a plus."
The pilot's tail twitched slowly as he watched the feline. "So uh, where in the heck did you come from?", he asked the feline, not expecting an answer as he moved to sit back down on the tree. He reached over and petted the feline some more, wondering if cats were naturally that big in this land.
He looked around some more, as he petted the feline. "Guess its nice to know that you don't wanna turn me into a chew toy or something."
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:39 pm
The large cat accepted the scratching and petting without complain, purring a bit louder in contempt
But a moment later it rejected the touch, jumping back onto the trunk and looking back at Alex. It pointed with his head to the direction it came from and looked back at him, meowing again before disappearing in that direction. It wanted him to follow
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:48 pm
Alex raised an eyebrow as the feline looked at them, and then took off into the forest. He sat there for a few seconds, before he slowly moved over the top of the fallen tree, and moved to follow the feline. He left his hood down, as he followed along, or at least where he thinks the feline went.
The pilot walked along, pushing more tree limbs out of the way. He couldn't help being slow as he wandered along through the trees once more. "Uh, I hope I'm not getting lost here." He sighed softly as he made his way slowly along. At least this was something different to worry about.
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 5:08 pm
The cat kept moving forward, not having the slightest problem in dodging the underbrush. But every time Alex was falling too far behind or the cat had abandoned him completely, a loud meow was clearly heard, pointing him to the right direction
Half an hour later they had reached a clearing. In the middle of it stood a shabby old hut, surrounded by a tall but crude fence made out of logs stuck to the ground. If it wasn't from the smoke coming from the chimney or for the rather unkept garden surrounding it, the hut could have been easily mistaken for abandoned
Half of it was buried in the forest ground, while the other half was almost completely covered by vegetation, a sign of how old it really was. It was a mixture of earth, wood and stone, much like other hunting huts existing in that region. They were made to withstand time and the constant growth of the forest, not to be as appealing to the eye as the buildings found within Loghedge's walls
The cat was sitting on top of the fence, eyeing Alex as to invite him to come in
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 5:28 pm
The pilot tried to avoid the trees the best he could, although a few wayward limbs hitting the poor guy when he wasn't looking. Still, other than having a few leaves stuck in his hair, he was more or less ok. He picked the leaves with his clawed fingers, as he made forward.
The fact that the feline had lead him to some cottage in the depths of the woods was sort of confusing though. "Uh..." He wasn't sure what to make of the fact that he was lead here by some big cat though. That wasn't very natural. Still, he was hardly natural either. The feathers and tail proved as much.
"This is pretty weird." That didn't mean he was going to go away. He walked over to the fence, and looked at the feline, then moved to go inside the fence. "You want me to come here?", he asked, tail twitching. He idly wondered if the cottage was still inhabited. If not, the feline might have been leading him to someplace safe to stay. Ok, probably not, but it was no more as far fetched as growing a tail and feathers.
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 5:45 pm
The cat simply blinked at the statement, jumping in itself and moving towards the house like it owned the place, tail raised high
It wasn't until Alex was inside the fence a loud barking was heard, followed by the voice of a woman
"Is that you Tusk? If I find you were attacking my carrots again I'll skin you up and hang your head in front of the door for the other boars to see, I swear to God!!!"
The owner of the voice slammed the door open and an elderly looking woman came out, followed by a shabby looking wolfhound. The dog made a beeline towards Alex, but the cat hissed and growled towards the large dog, teeth bared in anger
Strangely the dog lost complete interest in the stranger and, with its tail between its legs, ran back in to the safety of the house
"Oh sorry Iris, didn't know it was you"
The cat immediately dropped its act like it had never occurred, rubbing itself against the woman's leg and purring loudly. The woman petted its back and apparently hadn't notice Alex's presence
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 5:57 pm
Ok, what was it about dogs not liking him now? Alex really needed to figure that out at some point. Either way, he was glad to that the dog wasn't coming at him as soon as the feline discouraged him from attacking him.
His tail was pretty still, ears perked out as he watched the dog, making sure it wasn't going to change its mine, before his ears and tail relaxed. He raised his eyebrow as the owner of the house and it would seem the feline as well walked out. His tail twitched slowly, even though he'd forgotten to put his cloak hood back up.
"Uh, sorry to bother you, but your cat... sort of lead me here." Ok, he didn't know what else to say but that. Other than that, he stood there nervously, as he realized that he wasn't wearing his hood, and he was pretty sure his clawed feet were visible as well.
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 6:20 pm
The woman raised her had towards Alex as soon as she heard his voice. The blueness in her eyes made it clear she was blind, or mostly at least
"Now I know why Adam was so giddy" She turned back at the cat, hands on her hips as to demand an explanation "Is he a friend of yours?"
The cat simply meowed and walked towards the house
"I thought so. Might as well come in sir and I'll see what I can do for you"
The woman motioned him to follow her. The hut seemed bigger on the inside thanks to half of its walls being below ground. And whatever Alex was expecting probably wasn't this
It was a single division house, with kitchen, bed and living quarters all mixed together. But wherever you looked the place was covered with plants, herbs and dried goods hanging from the ceiling and nails on the walls, along with shelves covered with all sorts of bottled goods, pots, pans and even a few animal bones. The little room there was left was taken by a round table and 2 chairs in front of the small fireplace that heated the house
The cat, dog and a goat Alex had yet met were sitting in front of the fire. And at least this time the dog payed no attention to him
"You can take a seat by the table, but please don't touch anything" he woman said as she grabbed a kettle and filled it with water from a jug
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 6:43 pm
The pilot nodded a bit, sighing a bit that the person who was looking at him probably couldn't tell he was some freak of nature or something to that extent. "Oh, well, we just meet in the forest actually. I'm just glad he got your dog to not attack me."
He followed her in, running his clawed hands through his hair. "You live out here alone? I don't mean to be disrespectful or anything like that, but you are blind, yes? I mean, you'd think someone would be around here to help you out."
He looked over at the animals in front of the fireplace, a bit weirded out by how all three were sitting there. Then again, maybe it was just the day catching up with him that made things seem more surreal than they were.
"Oh, right, I'm Alex Barrett by the way. Its nice to meet you", he said to her, sitting down at the tail, although he forgot about his tail, causing him to give a small erf as he pinched it against the chair, causing him to get up for just a few seconds to thread the tail through the hole in the back of the chair, so it wouldn't hurt when he sat down. He was thankful she couldn't see what he'd one, even as his ears lay back. At least the blind might not think he was some sort of freak.
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 7:04 pm
"Iris is a she, mind you. And if she defended you from Adam..." She said as she pointed to the dog "then you might not be as worthless as the people at Loghedge"
The woman didn't respond to Alex's questions immediately. She took her time to fill the kettle and set it on one of the hanging irons if front of the fireplace, before she took the second chair and sat in front of her guest
"From your silly questions I can gather you never heard of the Elkweed Witch, correct? And from the fact you followed a cat in Ironwood that means you're either stupid or you're not from around these parts, am I wrong?"
She had an amused grin in her face, but before Alex could reply she continued her talk
"But no, I am not blind. I may not see as well as in my youth but the shadows still haven't robbed me from my vision, so don't you start thinking you can take advantage of me. And I am the Witch of Ironwood, so if you do dare I'll cast a curse on you and make your hair fall before its time Mr. Barrett"
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 7:20 pm
"Oh, she's a she." He chuckles a bit and looks over towards the cat and dog, then back over. "Uh, well, the folks over at Loghedge are ok, in their own way. Then again, its not like they could help me very much."
He shook his head, "No, I'm not from around here, so I'd like to think I'm not stupid. Not that I can admit to ever seeing a cat act quite like Iris though." He frowned just a bit, "Actually, I'm from Manila. I'll understand if you never heard of it though. Its far away, as far as I can tell."
"And I hardly meant to imply that I would do you ill. If anything, I just find it a bit disconcerting that someone like yourself seems to be doing so well off, out here on your own with your pets, and I can't walk 20 feet in these woods without getting a face full of leaves or falling over from some roots." He tapped his finger claws a bit, since it was the first time he'd really looked at them, and idly he wondered if they might do the trick for 'fixing' his shoes so the toes were free.
He chuckled just a bit and held up both of his hands, showing her he meant no harm, "No need to put a curse on me. I promise I'm pretty harmless." He wasn't about to say he doubted her claims at being a witch, he was a good ol' modern day pilot after all, but then again, most good ol' modern day pilots didn't have feathers either.
"So, what do you do then, other than put curses on folks, and live out here? You read palms or fortunes or something as well? Uh, don't take that the wrong way. I'm just curious. Never met a witch before either." He scritched his ear some and frowned, "I must seem pretty clueless. Sorry if I do." This was going to be a long day, if he was going to have to apologize for how uninformed he was, since he didn't know a lot when it concerned Athlaias.
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