Fantasy Game of Cat and Mouse, Bird, Dog... [P]

[Gary Sue]

Spoiler: Character Sheet

Name: Nate Cresswell
Age: 23
Species: Shapeshifter
Hair Color: Blond
Eye Color: Golden
Height: 180cm/5'9"
Personality: Nate is quiet and doesn't get too friendly with people. He comes and goes with no warning, and always seems to be up to something, making for a pretty suspicious folk. Add to it that he'll do anything to get by, and that explains why he likes to stay alone and acts the way he does.
Backstory: Not much is known about him other than the amount of trouble he's caused the nearby town. Although he hasn't caused any massive damages or assaulted anyone, it's not all that uncommon for shopkeepers to find things missing from their shelves or their stores sloppily broken into, and there's always been a few people that saw a blond man or some animal be moving away from said store. Better yet, he even made the mistake of transforming in front of a select lucky few, and it wasn't hard to make the connection from there. As a result, there's a pretty hefty bounty on his head, and he doesn't seem like too big a hassle with how sloppy his trips in and out of shops have been.

Spoiler: Reference

Yet another day, yet another opportunity for Nate to break into another store. Or so it would be, usually, but he had gotten enough from last night's haul that he was stocked up. Even worse, he was pretty sure that the shopkeepers were starting to implement actual security past locks, like alarms. If something that loud were to go off while he was transformed as anything with good hearing, that would stun him in place at best, and that was the second worst thing he'd rather avoid. The first being to get captured outright, of course. So now what were he to do, with a free day in his hands? He thought of heading to town and trying to find some trouble, being the greedy crook he was, but maybe it'd be best to sit back and relax for now. "Days like these don't come often. I'll make the most of it and hell, worst case, I'll hit the road and head downtown later when it's less crowded.", he mentally mapped things out and looked around the almost demolished building.

With not many liking Nate due to his constant break-ins and active attempts at being a nuisance for anybody trying to make a living in town, he'd chosen to find some hideout further out, into the woods. And there were a few structures further out, around a mile or two away from town, but most had deteriorated over time and broken down. This house he currently found himself inhabiting and stashing away all the stolen goods, was the last one standing. Even so though, it was just a little push from collapsing. He didn't intend on making this a permanent home though. His plan was to start storing some money by the side, and eventually get enough to buy, or steal, enough supplies and head for another nearby town or city, one where he preferably wasn't a wanted criminal. "I think I should be set for the time being.", he murmured lowly to himself as he checked his stash of food, bottled water and proudly nodded.

And moving out of the little closet of the abandoned house and into what would have been a living room, he saw it. The most precious treasure of all, a CD player he'd found thrashed in some alley, and a few discs along with it, all thrown on a shoddy, white plastic table. What better time to check it out than now? He took one of the CDs out of its case, inserted it and just hit the play button on the player. And god, did it click. Trashy rap started to play at an abysmally low volume, until he increased it. Nate quietly looked at it, pondering if it'd be a better idea to just let it be or... "... It's not like I've anything better to listen to.", he laughed and stretched, letting the music 'liven up' the atmosphere. Even from a bit further away, it did make a little too much noise for a deserted structure like this. The shapeshifter had headed to the back of the room, looking outside a half-built window and inspecting the rest of the unfinished and now collapsed ruins. "... Pretty close to making it into an actual life with a real house, huh. I wonder what other cities look like."

Deciding not to bother himself over it too much, he just smiled and nodded his head to the beat of whatever was plaguing the room at the moment, starting to mumble along the lyrics. Had he not raised the volume as much as he did, maybe he'd have been able to realise somebody was closing in on the house from the other side. Even better, he wouldn't have gotten their unwanted attention while they were looking for none other than him, probably.

 

[vada]

Spoiler: Orlaith Leah Sinclair

Name: Orlaith Leah Sinclair
Pronounced: OR-lah
Age: 22
Species: Human | Telepathic

Hair Colour: Red
Eye Colour: Blue-green
Height: 5’4”

Orlaith was born and raised in Scotland and has known no other home until recently. Her ability to hear people's thoughts has always been present, but it has progressively been getting worse the last few years. It is hard for her to concentrate on most things, it is nearly impossible for her to hold a conversation more than a couple of minutes, and she often becomes disoriented when around more than one or two people.

Orlaith cannot stand to be around people for long periods of time, but it comes in handy in her line of work. At the moment she has almost no control over her ability, but it is slowly becoming easier to be around others. She still hears voices in her head constantly, but now it is more like a dull roar rather than screeching, day in and day out.

Orlaith is actually a really sweet, sensitive soul who wishes that she fit in a little better. She hopes that she will be able to control her abilities soon so that she can make real friends, and maybe live some semblance of a normal life.

Following the stories of multiple break-ins along the coast, with several sightings of a young, blond man, who apparently had the uncanny ability to turn into an animal, Orlaith had tracked the thief for nearly a month before closing in on him. It was a difficult case to follow, with so many unknowns, even with her own helpful abilities, so she almost couldn’t believe her luck as she approached the not-so-abandoned house in the middle of the bright summer morning.

Music pumped from the dilapidated building, a somewhat familiar song she’d heard played on the radio. Her truck, a black, 80’s Chevy, was parked near the entrance of the neighbourhood, containing most of her hunting gear, save some weapons hidden about her person. From what she’d heard, this thief wasn’t particularly violent by nature, but one could never tell what was in a person’s heart, and so she never went into any situation unarmed. Her gun, a sleek, black 9mm holstered on her hip, contained silver bullets, and there were various blades on her as well, most small enough to easily wield in close combat. Her prized possession, a silver long blade, was sheathed down the middle of her back, keeping her hands free for the time being.

Quietly, she followed the sound of the music, through the ruined house until she came to its source, taking a mental inventory of the stolen goods spread about the place. There was a lot, even more than she’d anticipated, and she had to wonder what possible use there was for all of it. Maybe it was just the thrill of the heist… Shaking her head, Orlaith stepped into the doorway of the living room, her gaze coming to land the man himself. His back was to her at the moment, his thoughts a bit jumbled as he concentrated on the lyrics of the music, mumbling along with them at the familiar parts.

It would be easy to pull out her gun and shoot him in the head from where she stood, ending this hunt in a matter of minutes. However, something made her pull up short, a feeling she couldn’t quite place. He didn’t strike her as the type that needed to be put down immediately. This wasn’t a ‘kill now, ask questions later’ type of scenario. Instead, Orlaith lifted a hand and knocked on the doorframe, holding her hands up as he turned to show she was harmless… mostly.

“Hello…” She started, her blue-green gaze cautious. “My name is Orlaith. Might I have a word with ya?”

 

[Gary Sue]

As soon as Nate heard a knock on the door frame, his body stiffened and he paused his singing for a moment, before continuing. With his back turned to her for a good few seconds, he quickly scanned the surroundings one more time and bit his lower lip. "Shit. I can move from there to over that building, but... Okay. Easy. Calm down.", he tried to compose himself and then turned, eventually stopping his singing and putting both of his hands in his pockets, gripping a small pocket knife he had. Not that it had any use, but... just in case things got nasty. "Ah, a fellow traveler, are you~?", he put on a fake smile and a 'friendly' tone in his voice, tilting his head to the side as he took a small step back.

"I don't happen to owe you any money, do I now? You don't seem familiar.", he asked and leaned his back against the window, ready to fall back whenever he had to. He'd find something to transform into when the situation called for it. For now, he let his eyes scan her form, trying to look for whatever he could find. "... Gun, but it's holstered... If she moves for it, I'll skidaddle. I should be glad it's a woman and not that brute again.", he remained quiet, but his thoughts were almost endlessly analyzing the situation he'd found himself in, and under his facade she could tell that he was more than defensive from his body language. His body was pulled back, his muscles tense and his face stiff, even if he were smiling at the moment.

"... Shit. If I don't know her, she can't be anyone I owe money to. Which means...", his inner ramblings stopped suddenly as he started to worry about her. Before he tried going any further with his train of thoughts, he just closed his eyes and asked with the most shit-eating grin he could muster. "Ask away, lady. I'm all ears~."

If humans could somehow spit venom, he'd have doused her in it with the attitude he spoke. "... if she's here for the bounty, then she's packing way more than I'm used to. The basement's very dark, it should help stall her if I can get down there. Best case I can trap her there for a minute or two and hurry over to the treehouse by the lake after. I'll find another place to escape to once I've rested a bit. Fuck man... I'll have to return for all the stuff too at some point...", his thoughts started almost panicking out of nowhere as beads of sweat started to form on the back of his neck and his heart started to pump faster and faster. Had any part of the rumors been spot on about the thief, it was that he mirrored an animal quite well. Not even a minute past making the possible connection, he'd already entered fight or flight and his gaze was more narrow, ready to jump at the tiniest of movements.

 

[vada]

The blond man’s thoughts flooded Orlaith’s mind, louder than his spoken words, and she remained quiet for a few long moments, absorbing it all in a careful way that would hopefully buy her a bit of time before the internal noise became too much to bear. Cataloguing everything he thought, she made sure to make slow, deliberate movements, not wanting to startle him into fleeing. And she certainly wasn’t going to the basement with him. That sounded like a death trap if she’d ever heard one. But one thought stood out more than the rest, and she tilted her head at him, the hair tie securing her red curly locks keeping it from falling across her face.

“Brute…?” She asked, forgetting for a moment that he hadn’t actually spoken the word aloud. Still, she kept her hands loose and empty at her sides, her posture seemingly relaxed and unassuming. She knew some brutes, hunters who definitely had that mentality of ‘kill it on sight’, no questions asked. Personally, she tried to not be like that, and so she stayed away from other hunters, but she still knew quite a few of them by name. Had one of them been tracking the thief? Or was it someone entirely different?

“Someone is chasin' ya…” Orlaith clarified, stealing a quick look around the loot filled room. It wasn't like she could blame anyone for chasing him. He'd stolen so much. “Dae ya happen to ken their name?”

 

[Gary Sue]

His panicked thoughts all came to a halt before the only thing on his mind was "... Huh?", in complete confusion. He looked up and down her form one more time and shifted his stance a bit, remaining close to the window and flinching when he saw her scan the room. "Granted you have a gun, there's no way in hell you're one of the many, is there?", he asked in slight annoyance, tapping his foot on the ground and propping himself on the window a bit more casually, although he was still ready to dive as soon as she made a sudden move. With a quiet sigh, he figured he might as well guide her through things. His day off had already been sabotaged by this unexpected visitor after all.

"Whatever hulk the town's gangs or whatchamacallit sent to get their money back last time. I'm not good company to some, probably cause I don't keep names.", Nate explained and huffed in annoyance, resting his eyes on the radio as the song came to a close before looking back at her with a raised eyebrow. "No chance you'd let me take whatever I can and hide elsewhere, Scottie?", he asked with a faint smile, although they both already knew the answer to that. "Just when I was at the finish line.", he murmured in the back of his mind and tried to shake that depressive train of thought off, giving Orlaith a narrow and somewhat cold stare. "Why's she just trying to talk? Most would have already gone right for the throat.", the shapeshifter started to grow increasingly alarmed of her calm demeanor, looking around nervously and feeling his body tense up again.

 

[vada]

Orlaith lifted a brow in confusion at his question. “One of who?” She asked, then shook her head at his next question. No, she wouldn’t be letting him disappear with an untold amount of stolen goods and currency.

His thoughts continued to fill her head, her expression becoming more bewildered as they did. Finish line.. What did he mean by that? Was he in some sort of trouble aside from the police chasing him? As much as it was her duty to hunt and rid the world of the monsters that lurked within the shadows, it was also her job to help those in need. Sometimes, the line between the two became blurred. She was starting to believe this might be one of those instances.

“Sorry… I dinnae think I can let ya leave, but maybe…” She sighed, uncertainly. She knew she had to tread carefully, or else spook him. Still, she couldn’t tread too carefully or else they’d never get anyway, and he might spook anyway. “Maybe, if ya tell me what’s at the finish line, I can help ya get there in one piece.” She pressed her lips together in a fine line, glancing over her shoulder at the door behind her.

“I’m nae the only one like me. There are others, hunters, who will be comin' for ya. They won’t be so generous…” Bringing her attention back to him, Orlaith offered him a genuinely kind, but slight smile. “Let me help.”

 

[Gary Sue]

Nate would be confused, if he believed in good will. But fortunately or not, he had his doubts about anything and everything, and the hunter in front of him was no exception. "Mae secrae admirers.", he mocked her accent and felt his body tense up more as she asserted herself, his look staying relatively cold and apathetic towards her. He slowly pulled both his hands out of his pockets and took his coat off, looking at it quietly before dropping it out the window. It hit the ground after a second or two with a slight 'thud' and he sighed, crossing his arms and looking at her the same way. "They tend to look for me with guns and whatever else you could imagine. Lovely, I know.", his demeaning attitude continued, and then the Scott got back on track.

"I didn't think you'd think I'm that stupid. What, am I gonna tell you what I'll do after I get the hell out of here so you can hunt me whenever you want?", he snarled at her and grit his teeth, clenching one of his black shirt's sleeves tightly with one of his hands. "She's just buying time. I didn't hear her coming in, so somebody else is probably with her as well. Closing in on us as me as she's talking.", he didn't hold back at all, his glare only getting sharper. "I'd call you a moron if you'd pointed the gun at me first and then asked to help me out. Now you're just being naive though.", the thief practically scolded her, looking at the cheap watch he wore on his right wrist and yawning. "If she's that kind, she'll keep out of my business. I should have some foods and drinks by the treehouse, fuck this."

And so, he clapped his hands and put on another horribly unlikeable smile on his face. "I appreciate trying to rob me blind, but no thanks. And by the way.", he trailed off as he started to lean further back out the window, his smile turning into a smug smirk as he saluted her. "I don't remember askin' for your permission, lady. See ya.", he chuckled and fell down, only for another thud to be heard as the metallic part of his belt hit the ground. Rather than him though, if she were to look down, all she'd see would be a black wolf with his clothes in its mouth, making way straight for the woods. "If she's here on anything but a motorcycle, I'm good. She won't be able to keep up, and I'll have to get back to the grind tonight."