1014/A Cat of a Different Stripe

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A Cat of a Different Stripe
Date of Scene: 18 June 2017
Location: Huntsinger, Culver
Synopsis: Again near the town closest to Cat's Lair, Tigra meets another feral type sniffing around.
Cast of Characters: Feral, Tigra




Feral has posed:
Wandering through the small, long-abandoned town of Huntsville, Vanya pauses atop an old and almost crumbling church, standing carefully on its decaying roof to support herself on the stronger timbers. Looking out into the surrounding forest, she casts her yellow-tinted gaze up towards the towering stone edifice half-hidden by the tree line... and smirks as she sniffs the air. The predatory were-woman is on a hunt of sorts; today, she's hunting cats.

Dropping back down to ground level and kicking up a plum of dust that clings to her tattered red pants, the feral brawler resumes walking towards her destination - and pulls out a few flavoured beans from her pocket to snack on.

Tigra has posed:
The one on her way from Cat's Lair, while not actually a Thundercat herself, might be easily mistaken for one, for she is certainly catlike. Tigra strolls, perhaps even struts, as she moves along a forest path that brings her close to the old Huntsville area, connecting beyond that to more of Huntsinger proper.

This cat-woman shows obvious tiger traits, from the stripes on down to the tail, which flicks and sits in just such a way as to suggest contentedness.

Feral has posed:
Spying a glimpse of striped fur about as quickly as she catches a scent, Vanya's pale yellow eyes leap to the strutting were-feline and diverts her walk to head straight for her. The woman brawler smirks as she draws closer, not making any attempt to hide from the half-predatory.

Tigra has posed:
Nor is Tigra trying to go around unnoticed, appearing confident in her body language, hinting that she sees herself as unthreatened here. There was a sighting of her, then she disappeared behind some trees, the scent still carried along by the breeze. Definitely tigery. Clearly female. Yet, something human in there as well.

It's when Vanya now comes into view that Tigra slows her pace, mainly because she's got a brow raising as she seeks to determine just what she's looking at here. "And who are you?" she wonders, hands settling at her hips.

Feral has posed:
"Nobody," Vanya answers easily, tucking both hands behind her head as she strolls in front of the were-tiger and comes to a momentary stop. Her yellow, hawkish gaze takes an unbridled trip down then back up Tigra's body as she stands tall, square-backed and unruffled before the feline. The sight of those claws just makes her smirk a tiny bit more. "Call me Vanya if you want. And you?"

Tigra has posed:
"Tigra," she answers, showing an easy, casual confidence of her own in the midst of someone who, to her, appears to be on the edge, on the verge of doing...something. She's also already sizing the other woman up, tail weaving side to side in back of her. "You look like you're on the prowl. Am I right?"

Feral has posed:
Vanya nods, still flashing a few teeth as she lets her weight sink back onto her heels. "I was hoping that cat statue might mean cat people like you. So... where do you think you stand on the food chain, 'Tigra'?" the brawler asks with a lazy tilt of her head, still eyeing the feline as her pupils constrict into a tight stare.

Tigra has posed:
Tigra glances over a shoulder in the direction of Cat's Lair, which is currently blocked from her view. "I was investigating. I'm not actually one of them," she explains by the time she's considering Vanya once more. The question, however, leads to her looking skeptical. "High enough," she states, expressing a casual certainty of herself and her abilities. "Do you always ask that upon meeting someone for the first time?"

Feral has posed:
Vanya shrugs to the question. "Usually I don't have to." Lifting a hand to her mouth, she covers a heavy yawn. "Ugh, this walk's almost put me to sleep..."

"So you met whoever is in that cat statue?" she asks curiously, staring into Tigra's eyes with a casual intensity despite the apparent fatigue. Idly, the brawler clenches and relaxes her fists.

Tigra has posed:
"Does walking always make you tired?" Tigra wonders, beginning to move along again on a path that would take her within a few feet of Vanya in passing. It might be that she's testing the seemingly wild woman to see how she handles it, how she reacts, what sort of effect it has on her control.

She adds, "One or two of them so far. I've learned a little about them." She meets eyes with hers, pausing for a moment before she gives a sort of sniffing chuff. Amusement? At the least, her control appears to be unquestioned right now.

Feral has posed:
"Boring walks do," Vanya replies as she watches the tiger woman approach. Her nostrils flare subtly as she scents again and a subtle tension ripples down her bare arms. A slight, eager curl of her lip suggests she's hoping for more than just a quiet passing and up close, the yellow-eyed woman seems to have a long canine.

"They're cat people too?" she asks from within arm's reach, her body ready but her gaze exposing a predatory calm.

Tigra has posed:
Tigra muses, "Walks aren't all that exciting on their own. You don't see anything interesting around here? You don't wonder about what this place used to be like before it was abandoned?" she goes on to ask. "Or, do you live more in the moment, ruled by your instincts?" She's poking and prodding at the woman, seeing in her something to test, to figure out, perhaps to compare to herself.

"They are, more or less," the tigress adds with the two close enough to touch, and touch Tigra does. Her way of doing it is to grab for one of Vanya's arms, seeking to turn it this way and that, and have herself an inspection of those claws. Another test, no doubt, and she's ready to spring one way or the other depending on the reaction.

Feral has posed:
"A little of one, a little of the other," Vanya replies coyly. "I don't seen any reason to ignore them..." As Tigra reaches for her arm, the ostensibly human woman moves in closer, stopping barely a foot before the tiger as her off-colour eyes shine with a lively, quietly challenging spark. Just as quietly her arm resists manipulation, with its bare muscles tensing lightly to hold their position.

The feral woman reaches out and takes hold of Tigra's opposite wrist, mirroring her gesture as her nostrils flare. Up close she can smell fur and sweat and breath... the subtler clues lingering on the tiger's body to where she's been and what she's about. In turn her own scent is bared; mingled sweat, a natural musk, the jalapeño spice in her snack, and something more... predatory. Eagle? Or even tiger?

Vanya smirks and her canine seems just faintly longer than it was a minute ago.

Tigra has posed:
There is a reaction in Tigra that isn't that dissimilar from Vanya's when her arm is captured in the same way. A test. Overall, she remains calm, cool, collected, composed, confident. In short, controlled, even as Vanya shows a somewhat more aggressive side to her than before along with the things the scents are giving off. Tigra is also on the curious side, but it doesn't look like there's any interest in a fight. Not out of concern, but out of disinterest. The pertinent question would be: why?

"You act like you're trying to find your place in this world, testing whoever you come across. I've felt things like that before," Tigra explains without indicating whether that's all in the past or not. Her body language, at least, suggests a readiness to act if it gets that far. "Do you live for the fight?"

Feral has posed:
Vanya quirks an eyebrow at the were-tiger's composed and probing response. It draws the wild woman pause for a moment and checks her other impulses while it draws out a surprised chuckle. "What are you, studying me for a college paper?"

Giving the matter a little more thought, the yellow-eyed brawler shrugs. "Life's a little boring without a good fight, don't you think?" Her gaze falls down Tigra again - pensive, weighing the worth of the lithe and athletic werecat holding her wrist before coming back up. "What do you say to a little spar, Kotya? Fifty dollars to the winner."

Tigra has posed:
"Studying you? Yes, but not for the reason you think," Tigra replies, sounding mildly cryptic without giving anything specific in her answer. Let Vanya take a crack at figuring it out further.

Then, the obvious feline gently but steadily and firmly makes to separate her grip from the other woman's, tail flicking back and forth a few times, a slow sway. "Nothing wrong with a good fight, but only when there's a reason." She makes a show of yawning exaggeratedly, adding, "And I don't do it as a bet or just because someone wants to see how dominant she can be around someone else. Sorry. I'm not that insecure." Did the proverbial claws just come out?

Feral has posed:
Vanya delays in releasing her own grip but eventually lets Tigra go free. The human frowns and snorts derisively. "Some tiger you are. Are you sure those stripes aren't painted on?" Give one, get one, it seems.

Tigra has posed:
The reaction is met with a short round of laughter, almost a chuff. Tigra shakes her head and looks back over a shoulder toward Vanya. "I don't need to prove myself to anyone when I already know what I'm capable of. Reach that point, and you'll know what I mean."

Jerking a thumb in the direction of Cat's Lair, she adds, "The cat people - Thunderians, they call themselves - live there for now. You go looking for them, don't try pulling this 'let's fight' act over there. That's not civilized and it probably won't get you very far." She ends this by flashing a fangy grin, a reminder that, yes, she can be sharp when there's reason to be as well.

Feral has posed:
"That is silly," Vanya dismisses with a shake of her head, setting her hands on her hips. "Even house cats play-fight. You sound like you're hiding from your instincts," she adds, playing psychoanalyst back as she raises one hand again to show off plain human skin and unremarkable digits. "And I know plenty of what I'm capable of. If you think just having stripes makes you a tiger..." The hand and wrist sprout distinctive two-tone fur and needle-like claws as the feral woman becomes a were-tiger from the forearm down.

"Anyone can do that," she concludes with a matching fanged smirk and eyes that have darkened to a predatory feline orange.

Tigra has posed:
"You sound like you're on the verge of letting yours control you. I've been there. I don't need to go back there again." Tigra says it about as pointedly as the fangs and claws are. The question of what makes a tiger and what doesn't goes ignored, mainly because of the tiger-like look that shows in the other woman, even if it's just part of an arm.

She squints. "So you're a shifter of some kind. That's versatile, but this is me. This is who and what I am. I don't exist to satisfy your opinion of what I should be, and I don't fight 'just because.'"

Feral has posed:
"Then you're missing out, kotenok," Vanya lectures as the transformation spreads down her arm and quickly envelopes the woman's entire body. A fanged white-furred face looks back at Tigra with a toothy smile as the tiger's distinctive stripes spread, enlarging her already athletic silhouette and accentuating a rise in height as she shifts onto the balls of her feet. The shape-shifter grips the ground beneath her tightly and takes a big, chest-swelling breath as she sucks air into her new form before gusting it out her nose.

"With bodies like these you should," she purrs. "It's so much fun..."

Tigra has posed:
There are a few seconds where Tigra looks more annoyed and irritated, but she clenches her jaw and slowly shakes her head. Instead, she's watching the change, studying it closely, taking note of the features and how they come to be.

"Impressive, but I still don't think you get it and I'm not in the mood to start repeating myself. You go along and see who you can. I've got better things to do than argue about what I am or what someone else thinks I should be doing." With that, she turns her back to the other woman and starts off. Still paying attention, though.

Feral has posed:
"Your loss," Vanya shrugs, placated by the heady rush of her own transformation, feeling the air against her fur, the enhanced smell and hearing, and the newly-revealed sinew able to carry her with ease. Her own tail swishes widely behind her and she turns only her head to watch the other tiger depart, offering her undefended side to the passing.

"Maybe if I see you in the next town I'll buy you a beer so you loosen up," she calls out gamely. "And nice scent. I won't forget it," the were-tiger adds with a tap to her felid nose before turning the other way and resuming her own walk.

Tigra has posed:
"Neither will I," Tigra replies, but nothing more is said or done to further the situation. Under normal circumstances she might have been more interested in this strange woman, but not today. Bad mood? Irritation at being challenged by a complete stranger? Some other reason? It might take another time to know for sure. Then, after passing between a couple abandoned houses in disrepair, she's out of sight.