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Post by Deleted on Dec 8, 2017 9:36:38 GMT -5
It had been several years since the time Lovino got lost from the shelter that raised him. He was no longer the terrified child hiding 24/7 in the bushes; he was out and exploring, looking for resources he needed to stay alive. Kiku, the mentor cat that had taken him in under his wing and visited every now and then to keep tabs on him, left him once more to whatever duties he deemed more important. It was better for Lovino, too, anyway. He was no longer that tiny kitten that needed the constant warmth to nuzzle up to or be taught the very basics of how to simply stay alive in the streets. Taught repeatedly to keep from humans and tricks on how to hunt small prey, Lovino's confidence had grown, and he was beginning to slowly venture out of his hideout.
The city was full of stray cats that could potentially kill him in a heartbeat if he were to simply step a paw into the scented territory, so he needed to stay away and find other places to call his own. So far, his own territory included the bush in the park and a tree right next to the said bush; it was nothing grand, and often enough there was no prey that came by to keep him fed daily. Scrawny little kitten he was, taking the appearance of a 5~6-month-old ragged kitten he walked through the streets, making sure to sniff the air every now and then to not intrude on any stray cats' property. What was to the left of the garbage alley? Behind the fish store he often stole from? What about the moon-gazing tower of boxes pushed behind the wood-carving store? There was so much to explore!
It didn't take long for the kitten to find himself wandering into a forest, the change of scenery confusing him the moment he started realizing there were no longer any humans walking freely about. His sensitive ears picked up on rustling noises of the grass and leaves, and familiar scents of fresh prey wafted into his nose. Lovino immediately figured he found the jackpot of fresh food to hunt. Determined to take some back to his bush of a shelter to stock up on, the tabby kitten began pouncing about, missing several small mice and birds before he caught the scent of something new.
He didn't know what the scent belonged to, at first, but he slowly stalked it, making sure to keep himself low in the tall grass. It didn't take him very long the find the source of the scent, and it was something he had never seen before.
A white animal; a white, big animal. The curious and ambitious kitten could only think of how long it'll keep him fed, and the greed for food made him step closer and closer, creeping up on this strange creature. Luckily, it didn't seem to notice him yet. As he stalked the large animal, he focused solely on it, ignoring any sound other small critters around him made in an attempt to rush away from the hunting feline.
Focus... Focus... Lovino's ears flattened against his head as he took another step forward when a swallow suddenly busted out from the nearby bush. The kitten screeched in surprise, having not been paying attention, and in that instant Lovino's body too shifted.
There sat a naked young boy around 11-12 years of age, still eyes wide from the sudden surprise of the bird, not even a second later of the screeching noise made by him. It took a moment for the boy to catch up mentally one what just occurred, and terrified of his own circumstance, still not used to this strange being that he can turn into without his control, he quickly tried to push his much larger body back into the shadows of the grass, in panic from not being near his usual shelter to hide out in until this strange curse changed him back to his feline body.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 8, 2017 19:49:50 GMT -5
Sometimes it was easier to just spend her time in doe form. Sure, she liked that she could shift into a human form and still interact with other humans and carry on a human life - but sometimes it was easier to just spend time as a doe. She didn't have to constantly watch the clock and worry about balancing time when she was in her doe form. Her time in doe form was not limited, and therefore could be more relaxing at times. She was starting to get better at keeping track of time in her human form (especially in the modern era with modern technology), but it was still a challenge on occasion. She was wandering the forest looking for a snack, when she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. Aww, a kitten! Then a swallow through out, there was a loud screech..and suddenly a preteen boy was in its place?
That was odd, and that certainly required some investigation. Though not in her doe form..she quickly shifted into her own human form. "Are you alright? Were you..are you a shifter too?" She approached a bit cautiously, but in all honesty she was more curious than anything else. She assumed that he was a shifter, as what else could he be? He was a kitten one minute, and now he was human. She was immensely curious as to how his own 'curse' worked, not realizing that it was the opposite of hers.
As she got a bit closer, she realized that the young man was panicking, and frowned immediately. Oh no, he was clearly upset about something. Was he not supposed to be shifting in front of others? "It's alright. Amelia, by the way." She held out her hand for him to shake as she introduced herself, her own look of confusion replaced with a small smile. He wasn't the first she met with an odd gift or curse, and from what she'd learned from her experiences in the past, trying to be as friendly as possible was the best way to soothe anyone else's fears and doubts. Of course, one still had to be somewhat vigilant..as she was prey in doe form, she was all too aware of this, and having to spend at least half of her time as a doe meant that some of those instincts carried over.
From what she could discern, though, she didn't have much to fear from him. Though she didn't realize he'd been trying to hunt her, the fact that he was a small kitten in animal form and a young teenager at the oldest in human form, compared to her doe in animal form and young adult in human form? She was clearly in the better position overall. The only thing she had to worry about was if this was a trap, and if the boy wasn't alone..she did glance around slightly
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Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2017 9:27:12 GMT -5
He was dead, he was so so dead. Lovino was certain the animal was going to now and stomp him to death now that he was vulnerable; the boy had no idea how to fight back when in this strange form he wanted to avoid as much as possible. He heard the voice and flinched, attempting right after to push himself lower against the ground, deeper into the grass. It did very little to hide his presence, but as a cat, that was all he knew how to do. So when he was easily spotted, not by the strange delicious looking creature but by a very being he's been told repeatedly to keep a close watch out for, the naked boy froze in ultimate fear.
The words spoken didn't register into the boy's mind; he heard her, yes, but it all meant nothing to him. He knew humans had a way of communicating through noises, as cats did through body language, but never did he feel he needed to learn the ways of the humans to keep himself safe. It didn't take him long to realize that his current position was doing nothing to keep him hidden, and instead, instinctively he curled up in utter fear, his arms reaching up and covering his head as he sat up slowly and attempted to scoot away. He only got a few inches back before his back hit a tree, in which he found himself stuck, his panicked breaths irritating his own sensitive ears along with the loud thumping in his chest.
The hazel green eyes only peeked out when a hand was offered his way, making him shuffle in place, attempting to push himself back even more. The trembling child flinched with every movement the young adult in front of him made, and in a feeble attempt to tell her to leave, he tried to communicate back using noises. The only noises that passed him, however, was one of incoherent groans and moans, having yet learned how exactly words worked, and always depended on meowing and mewing to communicate as a kitten. And all noises then only came out just by him opening his mouth and breathing out with a voice. "Aa... Ah.... Mn.."
@ameliaj
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Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2017 19:48:13 GMT -5
The reaction that Amelia received was not at all what she was expecting, and a look of puzzlement crossed her features. Not only did the boy seem positively terrified of her, but his 'attempt' (if one could call it that) at talking? Even Amelia, who wasn't always the most observant in the world, could tell that something was amiss. Perhaps she was wrong about the boy being the kitten..but she didn't think that she was. In fact, the way that the boy was acting almost seemed to confirm him - the boy was acting more like a kitten than a boy. She frowned, trying to make sense of what was happening..but she also wanted to show the boy/kitten that she was not a threat. She wasn't sure how to do that though if the boy couldn't talk or understand what she was saying? And it wasn't like changing back into her doe form would help with that.
"What's the matter, cat got your tongue?" She teased lightheartedly with a small giggle, though frowned once more when she realized that he probably wouldn't understand it. She shot him a soft smile, but was still at a loss for how to convince him not to be scared..or to at least lower his fear levels a bit. Or to communicate with him..and Amelia found that immensely frustrating. She didn't want to scare him! And she couldn't very well leave a scared boy alone in the forest..she was hesitant to even leave a kitten alone in the forest, and this boy was both!
How should she go about this? It was clear by the way that the boy reacted that it was at least some part her that he was scared of..had she seen her shift, and that's why he was scared? Or had he not seen her shift? Making sure that he was watching, she proceeded to shift to her doe form once more for a few seconds before shifting back to her human form. "See, just like you." She smiled. Not that she thought he would understand it, but perhaps he would be less afraid of her if he knew for certain that she was like him.
There was also a matter of gaining trust..were she somewhere other than the middle of the forest, she would perhaps try to get something cat-related for the boy. As it stood, the best that she could do was to hold out one of her hands gingerly. She did not touch him, she merely held out her hand in front of him, close enough for him to investigate it if he wanted to, but also close enough that he could retain a safe distance if he wanted to. Now she just had to wait and see how the boy would react
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2017 10:15:22 GMT -5
"What's the matter, cat got your tongue?"
Though the words itself didn't exactly get understood, Lovino couldn't help but blink slowly behind his hands he was peeking out from between the fingers of when he heard the small giggle accompanied the noises she made. His labored breathing paused momentarily as he listened in to any familiar noise to him, and fortunately for the other, giggles and laughter were things he understood. Possibly not in the exact way humans would, but the werecat associated it with happiness. With calmness. With relaxation. The humans that raised him in the shelter often let out that noise when they would feed him or let him play, and it didn't take long for Lovino and his playmates to understand it was something similar to their own purring noises.
But why was this human purring at him, now? Slowly lowering his own hands to get a better view of her, Lovino continued to tremble and watch her cautiously, flinching when she changed back to the strange creature he was trying to hunt only moments ago. If there was anything that could've helped him, this was it. The boy's hazel eyes widened as he watched the creature then shift back to a form of a human.
He was no stranger to the concept of shapeshifters; heck sure he was one himself, but he knew at least that Kiku, his own perhaps part-time caretaker and more of a mentor figure, had the same ability to do so as well. Though Lovino himself had yet to understand exactly how it all worked, it greatly calmed him in a strange sense of security knowing the one in front of him was a same of a kind as himself.
"See, just like you." The human spoke again, before she reached out to him, making Lovino flinch instinctively and attempt to push himself back up further against the tree he leaned up to. The sudden movement was enough to get his heart racing again, and fear clear on his face, the child froze once again. Sure, he wasn't nearly as scared of her as he was before, but the very idea of a 'human' touching him was still something he couldn't get himself to be calm about.
"A... Nn... AAah.." He tried once more, frustrated at this strange body for not having the fur that would help him look larger if he were in his "true" form. When he quickly figured his own voice wasn't going to help him in this instance, however, he used one of his hands to push up against the other's, trying weakly to push it away further away from himself. Frantically he tried to give the other small but sure slow blinks, looking for any way he could confirm in his own language that the other was not a threat. Unfortunately, he could only hope the other understood his intentions and would blink back. Desperately he continued repeatedly doing so, surely looking strange to a normal human from doing so, but not knowing to care or notice.
He just wanted to make sure she was safe, so he could move on to go back and hunt other small critters in this jackpot of fresh food. After all, the stomach rumbling loudly seemed to echo in his ears, itself reminding him of his own hunger.
@ameliaj
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2017 19:48:43 GMT -5
Though Amelia didn't realize that her giggles would have the effect that they were, she did notice that Lovino seemed to relax slightly when she did it. That was a good sign - the not so good sign was that Amelia didn't know what she was doing to put Lovino more at ease, which made it harder for her to replicate it. It wasn't that she didn't understand animal behavior, but it was deer behavior that she understood as well as humans. Cat behavior was different. He was lowering his hands though, which had to mean something - especially as he appeared to be looking right at her as he did so. She smiled at him, not sure if he would get the message that she was trying to convey, but attempting to do so nevertheless. She wanted to get across the idea that she wasn't a threat!
Then she had to go and ruin it by reaching out. "Oh no, I'm not going to hurt you." She frowned and retrieved her hand, especially once he reached out one of his own hands to push hers away. She should have known better, of course he wasn't ready to be reached out to yet. She still had to operate from a distance until she'd earned more of his trust and showed him for sure that she didn't pose a threat to him. That said, shifting to her doe form and back again seemed to help. Maybe that was the key.
She studied his face as if trying to find a way to communicate with him. She did notice his blinks, even if she didn't quite understand them, but she blinked back toward him nevertheless. She wasn't always the most observant, but she realized that she had to pay attention if she wanted to succeed in what she was doing, and that meant trying just about anything to establish some sort of communication with this scared cat boy. The corners of her mouth curved upward once more into a small smile.
Once again, she thought that the best to convey that she truly wasn't a threat was to give him food (and she didn't even hear his stomach rumbling..she just knew she would appreciate someone offering her food in either form), but how? Cats ate meat, and there wasn't a lot of meat just hanging around in the forest. She knew how to find food, but the food that she found was all vegetation as deer were herbivores. She did eat meat in her human form, but this was usually prepared meat. She'd never learned to hunt before she was 'cursed'
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2017 10:03:55 GMT -5
Even if Amelia herself didn't understand what exactly she was communicating through slowly blinking back, Lovino clearly showed signs of easing his own tensed fear, his once widened eyes softening relatively quickly. More than her pulling away, more than her smiling or trying to use words to communicate with him in such manner, the simple act of just slowly blinking back in return made the werecat child relax. While most human children would either try to keep reaching for him or stare back insistently, this human weirdly used the language back that Lovino was familiar with.
When cats blinked slowly to one another, it showed they posed no threat to the other and established calmness and a signal for a chance to make an acquaintance. Of course, some cats used it as a means to just greet one another, while others used it to try to keep peace in their own territory, but it was the first time Lovino saw a human do the action back when he ridiculously attempted to communicate in such way with them. The brunet child slowly slumped back down on the ground from his strangely cornered stance only moments before against the tree and attempted to study back what Amelia was doing. As the corners of her mouth curved upward, Lovino returned the gesture, figuring it was a human's way to communicate peace. Several of the staff in the shelter often had the same features on their faces when caring for him and the other kittens, after all.
There seemed to be a long pause before Lovino finally gathered the courage to make the first move between the two. Unaware of her thoughts of trying to find his food, the child pulled himself up and walked closer to her, before he paused momentarily in thought and finally leaned on her. He was helpless in this strange form he didn't quite understand how to use, really yet, and this strange human in front of him had powers to shift to and fro from the same human creature, as well as communicated back with him by blinking when he tried to do so with her. His used his arms to wrap around behind her neck loosely, and his hands began squeezing and releasing her shoulder blades gently in what seemed like a massaging gesture to her shoulders. In reality, the boy attempted to show he wanted to depend on her and kneading with his paws as a cat was the way to communicate such way.
She was not going to hurt him, he was certain of that now, and she had him in his most vulnerable stance at the moment. It was a risky bet to see if she would let him depend on her or not, but Lovino was certain, with having no idea how long it would take this time to change back to his feline form, that he had to find somebody that'd keep him safe. And so far, she was the only one, if any at all, he could take cover under.
@ameliaj
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2017 16:48:40 GMT -5
It helped, honestly, that Amelia lived much of her life as an animal as well. Were she more in tune with merely her human side rather than both her human and animal side, she would be having a much harder time with this. Her smile increased in size when he smiled back at her. Given his limited communication skills thus far, Amelia was left to wonder if he even knew what he was doing..but in some ways it felt like the same sort of thing that she was doing by blinking at him in return when he blinked at her. They were communicating without a doubt, even if it was only rudimentary communication. It was a start, and it was clearly putting the cat boy more at ease, which was the best that Amelia figured she could hope for at this point. He certainly didn't seem to understand any English.
She was mildly surprised when he actually came over to her and then put his hands behind her neck and began to..massage her? She wasn't entirely sure what he was doing, but he looked a lot more at ease and that was the important part. It felt almost like an odd form of a hug, though given that the boy seemed more cat than boy at this point, she doubted whether it was an actual hug - Unless he, like he had with the smile, was imitating human behavior once more. But she hadn't hugged him, and she wasn't sure how much, if any, other human behavior he'd observed.
It actually took a moment or so for Amelia to debate her next move, not wanting to screw anything up. Then she realized she was thinking about it the wrong way..she kept thinking of this boy as a cat boy, and while he was, she needed to think more along the lines of cat based on his actions. And the fact that he'd gotten close to her was surely a sign of affection, at least from all the cats that she'd observed in the past. And what else was a sign of affection from a human to a cat?
Petting. Petting was a sign of affection. She might be able to observe some cat behavior from the way that 'cat boy' acted, but she couldn't mimic all cat behavior. So she would respond the way that humans often showed affections to cats. She reached up to the boy's hair and began combing her hand gently over it. She hoped that it would not startle him as her earlier attempts to touch him had, though he was the one who'd approached her first in this case and thus she assumed it was safe to do this
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2018 2:00:09 GMT -5
As limited as his study on human behavior was, Lovino continued the strange embrace that he vaguely remembered human children doing to their own caregivers. Sure the added on slight kneading of his hands were not something that came from the same observation but just his instinct taking over to somehow establish a bond between the two of them, but he hoped the other would not take it the wrong way and start attacking. After all, when cats held each other down or wrapped limbs amongst one another, it was a sign of dominance. And Lovino at this point in no means wanted to display such aggressive posture towards this shapeshifting human. If she wanted to, she could change forms on him right now seeing she seemed to have had a great understanding and control of her own powers being able to shift on her free will from what he saw, and he didn't need to risk himself of harm when he himself had no ways of protecting his own vulnerable self at the moment.
He couldn't help it when he flinched feeling movement from the other, bracing himself in case of the need of immediate escape. He had reflexes nobody could joke about when it came to fleeing from danger, that his muscles tensed for the possibility of being needed to be used. The child waited as the hand continued to move until eventually, it met contact with his head, something that made Lovino clench his kneading hands into tight fists in fear in an instant. That is, until, the fingers were felt combing through his messy, uncared for locks, making his tensed muscles relax. He felt strange nostalgia at the action alone, it feeling similar to when the shelter people or Kiku groomed him in places he couldn't quite reach himself, in turn triggering him to feel a strong sense of security. The once balled fists uncurled slowly as he pressed his face against her insistently, enjoying the soft moment of just warm comfort.
Maybe, just perhaps, humans weren't all too bad? Sure Kiku warned him about trusting one too much but... This one didn't fully count as a human, did she? She was just like Kiku and himself. With that running in his mind, he tried to hope for his transformation to return him back to his regular form real soon. Especially when his stomach growled much louder this time, reminding him of the hunt he needed to continue to get himself fed.
"Nn.."
@ameliaj
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2018 10:48:49 GMT -5
Despite the fact that he'd clearly calmed considerably, Amelia could tell that the cat boy was still on edge and wary. And she honestly could not blame him. Based on her observations, he seemed to be more cat than boy - The opposite of how Amelia started off. She'd been a cursed human, but now she'd grown accustomed to both sides of who and what she was and considered herself just as much the doe as she did the human. Perhaps she could help this boy grow accustomed to his human form? They would have to learn to communicate first though..and that would be the biggest challenge that she could foresee. For now, as she attempted to work her way past cat boy's defenses, gestures would work - but those would only go so far if she wanted to really teach him how to cope with his human form.
She could visibly see him starting to relax as she combed her hands through her hair. As the boy did not have fur in his human form, petting his hair was the closest that he could come to petting him, and thus she would stick to it for the time being. The boy clearly had little experience with his human form, unlike herself (though this stood to reason if he was indeed a cat first and then a human later..unlike her, who spent the first 19 years of her life as a human then found herself 'cursed' to switch between forms for the rest of her centuries).
It was at that point that she heard/felt a rumble. Were the boy still in his kitten form she would have attributed it to purring, but he was not - and in human form that rumble could only mean one thing. It was his stomach rumbling, and he was hungry. "Aww, you're hungry aren't you? Let's get you something to eat.." Amelia peered around, a small frown coming across her face as she realized she wasn't in the best position for this.
She wasn't averse to eating meat - She ate meat in her human form all the time. But she ate mostly vegetation in her deer form, which meant that she found it easier to find fruits and plants than meat. Being that this boy spent more time as a kitten than a human? He might be able to tolerate plants in his human form, but she knew he'd prefer meat. That meant that she had to find some sort of animal..thus far the only things she could spot around were birds. There was also his increase in size and thus increased need for calories as a result..she was unsure if a bird would even suffice
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