Quinn Cavanagh
Average Pup
You were a child who was made of glass...
Posts: 61
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Post by Quinn Cavanagh on Jul 3, 2010 0:43:58 GMT -5
... to feel not good enough.
Come on, come on! She was typing furiously at the keyboard, face contorted in concentration. The screen before her flashed like a strobe light, flickering and shaking her focus; but it wasn't quite enough to derail her. Get it... get it! Click-clacking resounded through the empty room as she continued to type, her eyes never leaving the screen. Seconds ticked past and the only movement in the room was Quinn's fingers and the image on the monitor. Then, the screen went back. All the tension was released from Quinn's body as her shoulders fell and she released a frustrated sigh.
"I almost had it!" She threw her hands up with the exclamation, sinking back into the chair. Her laptop sat on a small table in front of her, and beyond that sat a television set with a black screen. To anyone coming in from outside, it would look like she was just playing a computer game whilst watching TV, when in fact she was practicing hacking techniques using a program an old friend had designed for her. The latest level was kicking her butt. She had been sitting up in her room for hours working on it, when something told her that perhaps a change of scenery would improve her chances of success. So much for that plan. In reality, all it did was make her feel insecure. In the living room, she had to worry about being seen or being forced to talk to people. She would have been much better off in her room.
The open spaces of the living room were proving to be quite unnerving. Quinn let out another, calmer sigh and picked up the remote control. Perhaps she could distract herself from her failures with some bad reality TV. She flipped through the channels and found one of her favorite reality shows, Dog the Bounty Hunter. It was quite possibly one of the worst shows on television, but it afforded her an opportunity to laugh at the misfortune of others. In this case, it wasn't even the bounties she was laughing at, it was the hunters themselves. Those people actually thought they were making a difference by putting petty criminals behind bars, when in fact they were just making fools of themselves by being bad at their own trade. Quinn contented herself in feeling superior and settled down to watch the show for a while. Hopefully no one would decide to join her.
She closed the program on her computer, logged off, shut the computer down, and closed the top. It was all standard procedure for her, because the more effort it took to turn a computer on and reset it to the way it was found, the longer anyone trying to get into her files would have to stay, giving her more time to find them. Of course, Quinn never considered herself paranoid; only cautious. It was good for her that not everyone was so thoughtful when it came to their computers. She had stolen a lot of information because of people being careless. Besides, anyone who saw that program up on her computer was liable to ask questions. She could always lie and say it was a computer game, but there were some very intelligent and tech-savvy people in the apartment complex. Certainly at least a few of them could spot the difference.
Regardless, it was all taken care of now. No one would conceive of touching her computer with her right there. Most of the residents seemed a little leery of Quinn, probably due in part to her habit of staying in her room and avoiding contact with her neighbors. If all went according to plan, that alone would be enough to keep people from trying to socialize with her. She was already in a bad mood since she hadn't been able to get past that level. She was liable to snap.
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Post by TETRIS on Jul 3, 2010 20:18:13 GMT -5
Ivories flashed into view as Leave's plush lips pulled apart in a mischievous grin. "Almost had what, ne?" The amber hue shifted lazily, the pupil swimming lethargically in the pale-yellow pool. In contrast, the violet one was flushed a vibrant magenta, blood rushing into fine capillaries that strayed too near the surface of a blue iris, tainting the cobalt colour with purple overtones.
Her fingers curled into the edge of the table where Quinn's computer rested, and she rocked backwards on the balls of her feet, letting her weight sway her until she hung diagonally, anchored and pivoted with her heels, swinging too and fro lightly.
"Hmm, hmm? Were you playing a game?" The thought of a game, any game, visibly exited the tigress, and she let go of the table, her body crumpling gracefully to the carpeted floor. At the last moment, she twisted, bracing her fall with one palm, tucking her legs under her and flipping lightly onto her feet. It wasn't a particularly flamboyant motion. At least, not executed flamboyantly; more a matter-of-fact way for the tigress to express her exuberance at being alive, and possibly playing a fun game on one of those shiny new machines.
Leave had wandered out here in search of food. She was thoroughly sick of the stocked refrigerator in Verge Apartments. At her request, there was a shelf with her raw meats. Mostly steaks, because there was no place to get any other "safe" raw meat in the country. And an ever-dwindling bag of raw fish that was left over from Schuyler's stay.
She wasn't sure what species of shifters inhabited the same region, though she'd smelled musky lioness a few times. It astounded her - nay, she found it downright mind-boggling - that they could live without fresh kills, that they were content to eat lettuce. Lettuce! She'd herself lost interest in the steaks a while ago. The meat was tender, soft; she would have once considered any such flabby limp flesh as rotten and inedible. But apparently, tenderness was a much-prized and much-sought attribute of the rare sirloin.
Besides, more than just the disagreeable texture, Leave hated for her food to sit waiting, at below room temperature conditions. When she lifted the strips from their packaging, they were sticky with half-congealed blood which clung to the plastic. It was altogether unappetizing.
Finally fed up, she'd decided to wander into the living room, hopefully to snare one of those yapping little dogs that wandered the building, one of her neighbours' pets. She'd found something that looked more interesting, though. The urge of hunger momentarily discarded, Leave watched Quinn expectantly, with a hint of her former childish air.
Generally, Leave was far changed from the wildly immature pup she'd been. It was as though the feral nature of the tigress had been matured, edged, sharpened into a playfully menacing tone that laced her actions and words. In many ways, she was less impulsive, less prone to drawing attention, but more the silent predator of the jungles.
Still, she loved a good game as much as any other child, and was always up for something new.
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Quinn Cavanagh
Average Pup
You were a child who was made of glass...
Posts: 61
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Post by Quinn Cavanagh on Jul 4, 2010 17:58:30 GMT -5
Quinn hadn't even heard the footsteps approaching. Odd. Normally her rather acute senses served her well, alerting her to the presence of others. She needed those senses to keep herself safe. Either she was losing her edge, or this game was really getting to her, distracting her from the outside world. Either way, it wasn't good.
The voice startled her, and she had to force the surprise from her expression, hoping the girl standing before her hadn't noticed. In her line of work, being startled was simply not acceptable. She didn't want to come off as an amateur. Of course, that was silly seeing as no one in the apartments knew anything of her trade. It was likely just a pride thing. Somehow, that was more acceptable to Quinn.
She stared down at the figure, who was now on the ground, looking up with wide, mismatched eyes. All Quinn could think to do was wrinkle her nose and say, "I don't want to talk to you."
It was rude, of course, but Quinn was far from caring if she upset some nosy child-woman. That was the vibe she got from this girl's actions; it was as if she wasn't all human. Of course, she wasn't all human... but most of the shifters in the apartments were more human than animal. It was a sort of comfort to Quinn, who was already somewhat uncomfortable with the idea of living with a bunch of people who were liable to go all wild-rampaging-animal and kill everyone without them already being sort of like that. Which was admittedly a bit hypocritical of someone who was just like them, but she didn't consider herself quite so... untamed.
After a moment of sitting in silence, she turned and looked down at the wide eyes. "Yes, it was a game... of sorts. I doubt you'd like it." She then turned away again and put the volume on the television up even further. Maybe the girl would take a hint and leave. Probably not.
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Post by TETRIS on Jul 4, 2010 18:55:03 GMT -5
Leave pouted at the brusque, straightforward way that Quinn dismissed her. The amber hue curdled into an ugly yellow, and the tigress feigned, though her violet eye followed Quinn with a keen interest. Instinctively, she sensed that the girl would rather keep to herself. Because it was her nature to be inquisitive, to seek answers directly to her questions, to touch, probe, taste, smell, explore the unknown herself, through her five senses, Leave hopped closer, curling her long legs under her, eye-level with the laptop.
When Quinn broke her silence, with a statement that sounded like a challenge, Leave took her up on it. Her grin returned. "Bet'cha I would, ne? I like all games. 'Specially if they're... fun." She tapped her fingers along the rim of the laptop, then arc-crossed to Quinn, leaning over her to sniff her hair.
Not food, was her first analysis. Something secretive and quick, maybe a fox or coyote or mountain cat of a kind. The noise from the television bothered her, and she glanced with surprise at the girl. Wasn't she bothered by the loud noise? Most shifters didn't like loud noises, thanks to their less-than-human tendencies.
So she did the next best thing and feinted away in retreat, centring her attention on the laptop. Leave had seen plenty of people using the things before, but herself had never found the need for one. Still, flipping open the screen, the sleek compact body fascinated her, as she'd never been this close to one before.
The screen was dark, but Leave was too pre-occupied with the keyboard to pay attention to turning it on. She tapped her fingers across the squares, relishing, delighting in the way the hard plastic gave way under the soft pads that tipped each digit, the way the keys slid down with a muffled click, the way the long space bar in the centre sounded at a sharper, higher pitch. It was absolutely riveting.
She tipped her head around to study Quinn upside-down, giggling a little at the strange reversion of ground and sky, before triumphantly shaking her long straight glossy tresses out, letting the buried streaks of amber and cinnamon surface in a flurry of fluid shifting stripes. "Neh, this is fun! See, see, toldja it'd be fun!"
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Quinn Cavanagh
Average Pup
You were a child who was made of glass...
Posts: 61
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Post by Quinn Cavanagh on Jul 4, 2010 19:32:51 GMT -5
Quinn kept an eye trained on the lithe form which crept ever closer to her, while trying her best to seem like she was ignoring it. The whole situation was rather unnerving, and the strangely colored eyes did absolutely nothing to help. It only got worse when the girl's attention was shifted to her computer. That was not ok.
Suddenly, the girl leapt up and leaned over Quinn, taking a deep whiff of her hair. Quinn instinctively batted her away, leaning as far away as she could manage. Her efforts were futile, as the girl was once again focused on the laptop sitting atop the little table. Before Quinn could so much as reach her hand out, the computer was open and it's keys were being pressed by unpracticed fingers. Her instincts took over and just as the child-person turned, delighted, to speak, Quinn slammed the lid down on her fingers.
"No touchy. Do you understand me, Miss boundary issues? That is my computer." She huffed and grabbed her laptop, cradling it in her arms like a precious infant. The keyboard would have to be sanitized, she thought as she looked down at the girl's fingernails. "And for the record, you weren't playing a game. The computer is off. You were just pressing the keys - my keys. Don't do that anymore."
Quinn would have risen from the chair and scampered from the room like a frightened rabbit, but the girl was sort of blocking her exit. For the time being, it would seem she was stuck. Hopefully she hadn't angered the child-beast too much. Besides the fact that she had no idea what shift species this girl was, she looked dangerous all on her own. In an attempt to ease the tension a bit, she said, "uh... what's your name?"
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Post by TETRIS on Jul 4, 2010 22:40:16 GMT -5
It was hard to guess exactly how much of Quinn's sudden outburst had filtered into Leave's rational mind. But the gist of the girl's anger and concern over her precious computer did transmit. And suddenly, Leave's earlier hunger, formerly detoured, now honed a keen edge to her hunter instincts. Her eyes didn't completely leave the computer though she glanced at Quinn, eyebrows and lips twitching quizzically, not certain what she'd done to trigger to the fit.
"You wanna play capture-the-flag 'nstead? I like that game too~"
Her weight shifted; both legs were splayed, as if she were going to execute a split, and her centre of mass undulated, ready to throw herself to one side if the game of tag was to commence.
A grin had returned; rather a different one though, more careful, with lips pulled over more of her teeth. A playful, wary flashing of teeth, in preparation for competition. Though Leave placed no intrinsic value on the laptop, and had already begun wearing of drumming the keypad, Quinn's possessiveness stroked the dying ember of her interest into a sizeable flame. Like any ego-centrist, she wanted what she couldn't have. Like any feral creature, she wanted what she valued the greatest. And like any human, when confronted with an ambiguous item, she'd rely on the wisdom of the crowd (in this case, a two-person crowd) for estimates.
"Miss boundary issues, ne?"
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Quinn Cavanagh
Average Pup
You were a child who was made of glass...
Posts: 61
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Post by Quinn Cavanagh on Jul 5, 2010 0:57:16 GMT -5
Huddled in the crick between the back and arm of the chair, laptop pressed tight against her chest, Quinn was feeling more uncomfortable by the second. She knew she shouldn't have left her room. This place was full of freaks and wild animals, and moving here was a mistake. Now, she was being cornered in an empty room with no way to escape, except possibly to shift, and that wasn't going to happen because it would mean leaving her computer behind.
It was strange, though. In all reality, Quinn shouldn't have felt that threatened. It wouldn't take that much to simply push the girl away and get out of the room, yet something told her that was not a good idea. Quinn had never experienced this feeling before, but it was something she could only describe as a gut instinct. Maybe there is more to this whole shifting thing than I thought...
Slowly, she leaned forward a bit, trying to ease the air of discomfort that surrounded her. Perhaps if she appeared more at ease, she would begin to feel more at ease. In any case, she was a little peeved that the girl hadn't answered her question properly. First, she barges in and gets altogether too close for comfort, next she takes the computer, and now she has the gall to be sassy about it? Nu-uh.
"Whatever, I'm getting kinda sick of this. Do you mind backing the hell off? Your breath smells like rotting meat." Ok, probably not the best way to get a feral, obsessive girl off of you, but the way she kept eying the computer was really making Quinn angry. It was her computer, and anyone who came anywhere near it had to have something of a death wish, as far as she was concerned.
"And no, I don't want to play capture the flag. Are you always this obnoxious?"
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Post by TETRIS on Jul 5, 2010 19:20:00 GMT -5
Quinn's voice meant business, and while the firm, even harsh, tone didn't do the least to sway Leave's mind, her eyes left the computer and shifted up to focus on Quinn's glassy eyes curiously. She generally didn't listen to *what* people said, ignoring the noise as though it came from afar. Her eyes, nose, and ears told her more than the surface text.
She swept the point of a pink tongue over her teeth, curiously, then allowed her eyebrows to slope, dipping up at the very inside with question. Hardly understanding what she'd said or done that annoyed the girl so much. Maybe it had something to do with her shift.
"What'cha shift into? Oooh, lemme guess." Capture-the-flag discarded as an idea, for the present at least, she raised one slender finger to her pursued lips, peering deeply into Quinn's optics. "Som'thing yappy, short, and fuzzy... shrew! K'sha, you're a shrew shifter?"
She'd caught the little animals for food a while ago. They were furious creatures. If you think a cornered rat fought, then a cornered shrew was practically self-destructive. It was much hard to just snap their necks; most encounters ended with shrew splattered all over the pavement, which attracted disgust, fear, and concern from human bystanders.
"Obnoxious? Keh, that's not very nice." Leave mock-pouted, but forgave Quinn with a smug grin. "Guess what I am, ne?"
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Quinn Cavanagh
Average Pup
You were a child who was made of glass...
Posts: 61
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Post by Quinn Cavanagh on Jul 6, 2010 2:43:34 GMT -5
What was it going to take to get this girl to leave her the hell alone? Did she have to full-on tackle her to the ground or something? Because that was definitely not going to happen. Quinn was simultaneously trying to come up with a plan of escape and trying to field the questions flying her way, and everything was becoming rather distracting. Fortunately, she was good at multitasking, and escaping was something of a specialty for her. Granted, this was proving to be a challenge. Then again, Quinn enjoyed a good challenge.
Then the girl tried to guess at Quinn's shift species and all of sudden the whole conflict seemed to become personal. A shrew? A shrew?! Did she really look like a tiny, sniveling animal? That was simply unacceptable. "I am not a shrew! Idiot." Quinn rolled her eyes dramatically. "I am a snow leopard. I eat shrews as snacks. Honestly. What next, a fly? Do I look like a freaking shrew to you?"
Quinn briefly considered placing her hands on the girl's shoulders and giving her a good push, but thought the better of it when she remembered that she had no idea what shift species this girl was. For all Quinn knew, she could be a polar bear ready to maul her at any moment. Although, she was being given an opportunity to find out. She thought about it for a moment, her fingers still gripping the edges of her computer, knuckles white. This girl did have some... distinctive qualities. "I don't know, are you... a dog or something? Maybe a German Shepherd?"
It wasn't a bad guess. Dogs had very childlike qualities, they were curious, and they could get obsessed easily. These seemed to be some traits she shared with them. Still, it didn't feel right. She felt much more feral, untamed, than a domestic dog. Perhaps wolf would have been a better assumption. Either way, she was bound to find out soon.
"Anyway, don't you have something better to do than interrogate me?"
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Post by TETRIS on Jul 6, 2010 17:42:34 GMT -5
Leave hardly cared to point out that had Quinn not resembled a shrew, she wouldn't have guessed it. Her feral mind grasped at the lack of logic, but she lacked the ready articulation to explain it, and by the time she could even form the thought, she'd moved on. Cocking her head from side to side, smiling at the way her long hair tickled her bare stomach, the furred collar brushed her eyelashes, Leave thoroughly considered Quinn's claim.
"Nope! You're a shrew, neh." She flashed her teeth decisively, then flounced backwards with a simultaneous twirl, to display her glossy chocolate tresses, tanned skin, and un-pared nails, in all their glory, to better help Quinn guess her shift.
"A dog?!" The girl was being deliberately insulting, and Leave rumbled at the suggestion in her throat. "A German Shepherd?" She clacked her teeth together, scowling half from irritation, half because it amused her to rearrange her face into new positions, amber eye flashing now as the violet one dimmed to a dark cobalt sort of colour.
"Wrong, shrew~" Delivering the last in a sing-song, childish cadence, Leave stuck her tongue out at Quinn purposefully. "Guess again, ne?"
"'Sides, you di'nt wanna play capture-the-flag, so 's'not my fault you're bored. Orrrrrrrr, we could play tag," she offered. "I'll give you a clue, ne? I like eating shrews."
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Quinn Cavanagh
Average Pup
You were a child who was made of glass...
Posts: 61
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Post by Quinn Cavanagh on Jul 7, 2010 2:10:48 GMT -5
Finally there was enough space for Quinn to make her exit, but the insinuation that she was somehow shrew-like had knocked all thoughts of escape from her head. It had felt like a challenge, especially since the other girl was now insulted by being called a dog. If being called a dog was insulting (which, admittedly, it was somewhat intended to be), what must being called a shrew mean? Clearly, this girl did not think very much of her.
Carefully, so as not to startle the other girl, and to keep her laptop safe, Quinn rose from the chair. She slowly reached for the computer bag at the base of the chair, slid her computer inside, and strapped it shut. Perhaps that was enough defense, and all thoughts of the device would slip the other girl's mind. As they say, 'out of sight, out of mind.'
With that out of the way, Quinn took a step toward the feral girl, keeping both eyes locked on to the single violet one opposite her. She placed a hand gingerly on her hip, tapping lightly at her cheek with the other. "Hmm... Maybe you are a monkey? Or how about a cockatoo? No, I know!" A cruel smile stretched across her features as her eyes bore into the other girl's. "You're a fish, aren't you? Maybe a goldfish, or a guppy."
Perhaps this game wasn't so fun when both parties were on even footing. Quinn's temper had certainly risen, and she was no longer in the mood for these mind games. "I like eating shrews, too. Do you know what I like eating even more? Fish."
It was obvious that Quinn was the more intelligent of the two, and so she felt a little silly that she was letting this thing get to her. She should have been able to let it go, to simply walk away and hope never to see her again; but of course, it wasn't that simple. She was allowing her anger to get the better of her. Her instincts were telling her she needed to stop, but her pride wouldn't let her. Honestly, a shrew?
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Post by TETRIS on Jul 7, 2010 21:13:56 GMT -5
Anger hummed visibly in the air; Leave felt it clearly, even though this form lacked the sensitive, tapered whiskers her four-footed counterpart had. That amused her. Always the sort who lived on strong reactions - anger, sorrow, joy, clear, vibrant displays of emotion - Leave delighted in this turn of events. As Quinn rattled off a series of animals, the tigress recognized few of the names.
"I like monkeys!" She recalled seeing the playful creatures swooping over-head through the air, as agile and self-assured in the trees as her feline form was on the ground. They had a remarkable, mischievous, shrewd sense of humour. While she'd snapped at them at first, they'd forgiven her readily, and soon, she saw the amusement in the situation.
That encounter had ended unfortunately short when the monkeys bolted towards the sound of a zoo keeper coming with food. Obeying her sixth sense, she'd shifted, hauled out of the pen and taken to the superintendent, who, upon her bursting into tears, sent her without further questioning away with popcorn.
She had no inkling what a cockatoo was, but fish - well, she knew all about fish. Shouting over Quinn, like a young child clamouring for an adult's attention amidst a sea of other young children, Leave waved excited when Quinn mentioned fish. "Kyaaa, Schuyler was a shark, y'know? And cause he din have water an' all, he started to dry up so I hadta find him more water."
The mention of eating brought her distracted mind full-circle, back to her original purpose in coming here. Food.
"Neh, fish! I like eating fish too! Kekeke, that's something we got in common... you have any fish? Wanna come with me? Bet'cha there's fish in the kitchen, ne? Fish~" Delighted at that, and interpreting Quinn's sudden physical proximity as a sign of friendship, she clasped a slender golden hand around Quinn's arm, pulling the shorter, lighter girl after her as she whirled in the direction of the kitchens, her steps a light dance across the shared living room.
Leave couldn't resist a playful remark, though, and threw her head over her shoulder, grinning wickedly. "Did'n' know that shrews ate fish though, ne?"
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Quinn Cavanagh
Average Pup
You were a child who was made of glass...
Posts: 61
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Post by Quinn Cavanagh on Jul 8, 2010 1:08:02 GMT -5
The reaction was unexpected. It would seem the other girl harbored no animosity towards Quinn, because she didn't seem angry at all about any of the events in the past. It was like something had simply switched in her brain, and suddenly nearly any emotion she felt towards Quinn was gone. To be honest, Quinn was confused. She didn't really know how to take that, so she simply stood there until her wrist was latched onto and yanked towards the kitchen. She thoroughly disliked the idea of leaving her laptop in the living room unattended, but there was little she could do to reverse the situation.
"I think I saw some in there earlier..." she stammered, wondering what had just happened. All of a sudden, it was like they were best friends and no unfriendly words had been exchanged. Rather than questioning the girl, she decided the safest course of action would be to play along. As long as the other girl was happy, she could at least feign interest in her flights of fancy. Besides, she was rather hungry...
As she was being dragged along, Quinn had a thought. "Who is Schuyler? He was a shark?" Hopefully any friends of this girl didn't live in the apartment, particularly if they could shift into things like sharks. "He dried up? So aquatic shifters need water in their human forms, too?"
She decided to ignore the comment about shrews eating fish. It was better to just let the girl think they were friends, even if she wasn't sure why they were talking to each other to begin with. Quinn really wished people would just leave her the hell alone.
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Post by TETRIS on Jul 8, 2010 17:03:36 GMT -5
Leave rarely tended to react strongly to people, and would more likely deem them acceptable than not. Certainly, the small girl who put up a boldly brave and defiant front seemed to Leave more like cornered prey. Of course, she had claimed she was a leopard shift but Leave hardly tended to listen to anyone and trusted the feral machinations of her less-than-human brain.
So shrew it was; and given the ample possibilities of food in the fridge, as well as general disagreeable sentiment towards eating her kind, Leave would play with, but not eat, the game.
More than happy to talk about Schuyler, the tigress snickered at the questions. "I dunno if they all dry up, neh, but Schu's skin started coming off in flakes 'n pieces. He's not here 'nemore, went somewhere to find the ocean, ne? But, but!" She waved Quinn's arm in her hand, excitedly gesturing so that the leopardess would have a good idea of what her friend had looked like.
"He kinda had your hair, 'cept all silver 'n stiff 'n shiny. But the same line." Leave marked a straight line below eye-level with her left hand, indicating Schuyler's bangs, which had covered his eyes. "Really long too, t'cover his gills. An' he had blue skin ... oh, 'n knives 'long his arms." Raising her own arm for Quinn to see, she pointed to the forearm, tracing along the wrist to the elbow. "Finny knives that stuck all out, an' he used them to cut fish."
Schuyler never really went anywhere. For one, he'd been right misanthropic, and though he insisted that he could survive on dry land, he didn't like the itchiness that resulted from a few hours without water exposure. So he wore a wet suit and stayed in his room, usually. Leave had amused herself by dousing the carpets, bed sheets, any porous surface with buckets of water. Seeing that most would berate her for such behaviour, she'd taken full opportunity of the free license, never tiring of splashing in the toilet or flooding the sink.
When Schuyler had cleared out, the mechanic had thrown a fit at the state of the room, and yelled at Leave for ten minutes straight. Then he'd gone to re-wire the AC, hoping to dry the room, and returned half an hour later to yell at Leave again seeing as his metallic arm had rusted from the damp air. She grinned again, remembering the fun that was; her enthusiasm faded only slightly as she realised that Schuyler really was gone for good, but cheered up as she glanced at Quinn, whom she'd mentally deemed her new "fishing buddy".
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Quinn Cavanagh
Average Pup
You were a child who was made of glass...
Posts: 61
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Post by Quinn Cavanagh on Jul 9, 2010 13:10:29 GMT -5
In the short time she got to think before being forced to pay attention to the other girl again, Quinn decided that at some point she would have to dispel this idea that she was a shrew. It was just not acceptable. She got only a small amount of time to consider this, though, because soon the girl was waving her arms about, presumably indicating Quinn's bangs.
"Your friend sounds... interesting," and inhuman, Quinn thought to herself. It was probably good that he had gone to try to find some sort of water if he was that conspicuous. It would be difficult to hide blue skin and 'knives' on your arms. For his sake, and her own, she hoped he had found a nice pool of water and was not coming back. Although, maybe if he did this girl would have someone else to bother.
"So, you uh... you like fish?" Quinn tried to steer the conversation towards a topic that was more likely to remain amiable. She didn't want to slip-up and call the girl's friend a monster or something. She had no idea how to predict her companion's reactions, so it was safer to just stick to smalltalk. Although, she honestly wasn't sure if the girl comprehended the difference between smalltalk and true conversation. Talking about fish could be just as engaging to her as talking about old friends and memories, not that Quinn was particularly interested in either topic. "Um... what else do you like to eat? Maybe I could try guessing your species again or something?"
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Post by TETRIS on Jul 11, 2010 18:55:35 GMT -5
"Keh, you're not very good at it," she remonstrated, before letting go of Quinn, standing proudly legs akimbo and forefinger raised to make a point that lost logical consistency once it left her primal cognition. "I'mma tigress, ne?"
Returning to the original question of what she ate, Leave started ticking off various items on her fingers. "I like fish, and cow, and horse - nev'r had it more'n once, though - and chicken and pigeons but not puppies, an' no cats ... and little mouse-things but they have too many bones." She waved a hand dismissively, trying to assemble a summary of her diet.
"No carrots," she warned after a pause of thought, nodding with finality. "Or seaweed. Slimy green water lettuce, nyeeeh."
"I dun like food all sliced up 'ready," Leave muttered. "'S not even really what it claims t'be. I haven't seen the real animals hardly. I like hunting better, ne?" Inspiration struck her, and she tugged at Quinn's shirt this time, dropping the mockery of a shrew. After all, shrews didn't hunt but leopards were hunters surely. "Wanna go huntin', ne? Com'n, it'll be fun! Like a game - a new game!"
She longed to get outside. Stretch her limbs a little. It wasn't shifting; Leave spent half her days curled up on her pile of furs and trinkets wearing a rough flame-coloured pelt. No, she wanted to run, to hunt, to tussle... if she'd been in her animal form, her ears would have swivelled, ruff standing on end. Even to play. There was no one around here to play with, since Schuyler'd left. He hadn't *liked* playing but he was also easy to provoke. When irate, he'd swipe at her with his fins, which amused her to no end.
Leave'd tried provoking some of the others neighbours, but it hardly ever ended well. Stupid pups would go bawling to the higher-ups and she'd get a lecturing.
Unconsciously, she flexed her fingers. Hell, it'd be good even to raid a butcher's shop again. Find some massive carcasses she could sink her claws into and drag away with her. More meat than she could hope to devour, but the remains were there for her to chew on once in a way, in a proprietary sort of way, just to let other scavengers know who the kill belonged to.
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Quinn Cavanagh
Average Pup
You were a child who was made of glass...
Posts: 61
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Post by Quinn Cavanagh on Jul 20, 2010 2:07:09 GMT -5
A tigress, eh? Quinn would not have pegged the girl as a tigress. She had always pictured the other big cats as more regal personas, women and men who fit in perfectly with high society and excelled in difficult jobs. Perhaps she was simply being naive, assuming that most shifters were people first, as she was. This was clearly not always the case, as was evidenced before her.
"You, uh... you eat a lot of things," was all she could come up with. Fortunately, this girl didn't seem to mind Quinn's lacking conversational skills. She had never been good with people, and she was quickly finding out that she wasn't any better with animal-people. Animals themselves, fine - they didn't talk much, anyway. Shifters, however, were like regular people, only even more complicated if that was possible. They had two planes of consciousness to wade through: the human intellect and the animal instinct. It made them very unpredictable. That was not a trait Quinn liked in a person. She was reminded of this when the other girl mentioned hunting.
Hunting? Honestly? She wasn't sure how to react. It would be unwise to upset the volatile person before her, especially if she was a tigress. A tigress could devour a snow leopard, if she were so inclined. Still, the idea of killing and eating raw flesh was enough to make her stomach churn. It was not a pleasant thought. Although, there was something nagging at the back of her mind, something whispering that this was a good idea. It was... a hunger. A small part of her wanted the hunt. A much larger part of her wanted to throw up.
Then, Quinn got an idea. "You want to play a game? I know games. Lots of them. Fun ones. Have you ever broken into a building before?" It was perfect. If the girl wanted a challenge, Quinn would give her one.
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Post by TETRIS on Jul 21, 2010 11:13:09 GMT -5
HUNTER LEAVE
What an odd response. Leave snickered, her bi-coloured eyes flashing as she licked a finger and ran it along the stray strand which kept teasing her nose. Tracing it back behind her ear where it clung to the rest of the tresses, she eyed Quinn's neat bangs, wondering how and why the girl kept them cropped so evenly.
Schuyler, she could understand. His glossy silver hair resembled wire filigree more than keratin, and he used wire cutters to clip it. It naturally cut even, particularly since he cut it himself and had to pull it straight before running a blade over the length.
There was something endearingly fluffy about Quinn, that appealed to the tigress, who liked her plush furs and pelts. So she reached out her other hand and ruffled it on the girl's hair, lightly, feeling first the slightly warm hairs give before being plastered to the contour of her skull, underneath the weight of the pat.
"Keh!"
Leave drew away when Quinn proposed a game and she was attentive now, her eyes wide and her eyebrows slack, the left one dipping rather quizzically as it arched down to the bridge of her nose.
Of course!, she scoffed mentally at the girl's question. Who hasn't broken into a building?! Some instinct warned her to keep quiet, though. Quinn's question did not seem to ask for an affirmative response. Half-fearing that she'd call the game off, Leave lied and shook her head.
"What 'bout you, ne?"
On second thoughts, it also seemed likely that Quinn wasn't asking about a butcher's shop, but maybe somebody's home? Leave had trespassed on domestic premises, but never into the house before; she'd really been more concerned about the dog in the front yard than any valuables inside the house.
"I wanna play!" Either way, it would be something new, something exciting... a chance to get outside this building! Leave flopped herself down on the floor in an expansive stretch, curling her toes, bending her neck and spine, and waving her arms along the cool tiled ground. "Naaaaa!"
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Quinn Cavanagh
Average Pup
You were a child who was made of glass...
Posts: 61
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Post by Quinn Cavanagh on Jul 22, 2010 4:47:09 GMT -5
Ignoring the seemingly random pat on the head (a lot of what this girl did seemed to be random; Quinn quickly learned to filter much of it out), Quinn's eyes lit up. Finally, a game they both would like to play. The other girl simply wanted entertainment, that much was clear. Quinn wanted a little bit of free help. Besides, once she was used to the back-and-forth nature of the tigress, her company was rather pleasant. Quinn didn't feel judged or pressured in any way, which was unusual. Plus, the simplistic nature of the girl was almost doglike: she wanted entertainment, and in some ways she seemed to want to please Quinn, to gain her approval. If nothing else, she certainly wanted to win the game. That could prove to be an asset.
"I have broken into many buildings before. I'm quite good at it." Quinn almost felt the need to talk to other girl like a child, breaking it down into simple concepts and easy ideas. She fought this, telling herself the other girl was not as dim-witted as a child; her intelligence was simply a different kind. "This is a secret game, though. We can't play it if you tell anyone else."
There was one job Quinn was having difficulty figuring out. It wasn't that there were high-tech security systems or anything: Quinn could handle those. The fact was, she simply wasn't strong enough to get in, even in animal form. She had been scouting the location for weeks, just trying to find a weak point where she could potentially bust through. The high walls were impenetrable, and the weakest point was a wrought iron gate much too large for her to break through. A tigress, though...
"There is something inside this building that I want, but I can't play the game alone. If you played it with me, maybe we could get to it. Once we are inside, you can take anything you like - jewelry, food... pets." She cringed as the words left her lips, but the potential prey in the house seemed like a more likely draw-in for the tigress than any jewels. "What do you say? Are you in?"
Quinn examined the other girl for signs of doubt or betrayal. All she saw was raw enthusiasm and energy. Either the girl was an excellent grifter, or she simply wanted to play. Quinn would just have to wait and find out.
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