This is shifty... (Private)

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    (I guess I'll start with uh... Cody????? And Im assuming ur using Alexis. Also sorry for taking so long, had to do errands and stuff. And this turned out way way way longer than I intended.)


    Also for convenience and reference im posting his bio

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    Distant footsteps, pounding across the forest floor and the overwhelming smell of blood dragged Cody out of his slumber. He groaned and opened his eyes, blinking. He felt dazed and confused. Why was he laying on the ground? Where exactly was he? And why did he have such an awful headache? He scanned his surroundings. It looked as if he were in the woods, but none of it looked familiar and he couldn't smell anything except... blood. A lot of it. Quickly he sat up looked around. Blood was spattered across the forest floor and smeared around. A sick feeling flooded him. Nothing short of some sort of supernatural creature could survive this much blood loss, and even a supernatural being could die.


    His gaze drifted downwards and he shuddered. His hands and body were smeared with blood. It caked him all over, staining his arms, legs and torso. His heart began to beat faster and panic set in. What happened?


    "Freeze!"
    Cody jumped and whirled towards the voice. A slim built man stood a few feet away, wearing what appeared to be some kind of police uniform, although it was not one he recognized. His skin was slightly tanned but his hair was what stood out. It was bright, fiery red. "It's over. Your days of killing are done. Surrender now, and this can be settled easily."
    He stared in confusion. "What?" he stammered.
    Two more officers of some kind jogged up. One was a brawny, muscular man with darker skin unsettling beady eyes. The second was smaller man with light skin and a slight build.
    "Don't play stupid. We've been tracking you. Waiting for you to slip up. Now put your hands up, before you make this harder, murderer." said the red haired officer.
    "I didn't kill anyone!" he cried out
    The red haired man gave a sharp nod to his comrades, and the muscular man charged forwards. “ Cody snarled as he shifted to wolf form
    Acting on pure instinct, he bit him. The officer literally bellowed in surprise and staggered back. As he scrambled away from the three officers, he watched in utter shock as a change began to occur. Like a mirage fading, their appearances rippled and shifted. The fiery haired man changed into a massive, regal bird with feathers the color of fire. The brawny one became a man with bulls legs, a man's torso and a bulls head. The third man didn't seem to change as much, until Cody noticed his legs. They were those of a goats, complete with hooves, and curly goats horns on his head.


    Cody gaped at them for a second. To be sure, he'd seen plenty of strange creatures, but not like this. A Phoenix, a minotaur and a Faun? Those didn't even exist!
    “Come here you puny thing!” The minotaur cried. He charged, and Cody turned and ran.
    A second later, he shifted to wolf form and ran faster. For a moment, he thought he'd gotten away. Then there was a blur of flaming feathers and searing hot pain sliced across his back. He tried and tumbled forwards, glancing back to see the phoenix beating it's wings and flying back up to five bomb him again.
    He turned and leaped into the air, catching it by the wing and ripping out its feathers. He screeched in pain and jerked away landing awkwardly. Cody took the opportunity to run.


    As he pelted through the forest, he panted heavily. His chest felt tight and with each breath, he wheezed a little bit. Sweat soaked his furred body and his muscles ached. But he couldn't stop running. Panic gave him strength, despite the burning pain on his back.


    He kept running, although he began to suspect that perhaps he'd finally gotten away. A familiar scent reached his nose. Similar to a human female, but more wild and like mixture of different animals. Alexis!


    Changing course, he ran faster. If Alexis was here, maybe she knew this woods. She would know somewhere he could hide. Her scent grew stronger until he burst into a clearing, staggering with exhaustion. His tongue hung from his mouth as he panted heavily and his back burned with every breath he took. Taking a sniff, he glanced around. Alexis was close. Too tired to bother shifting back to human form, he gave a short, desperate bark, flinching again from the pain on his back

    Alexis had become rather partial to the form of a bobcat in the past months of her dwelling in that bit of forest. She liked the heavy fur, sharp hearing, and the agility- sure, it was nothing compared to how she felt when she was a wolf, but the lack of beastly urges for blood was refreshing. Plus, she liked all the fluff that came with the form, it was cozy when she was, as she was now, curled in the hollow of a tree, tail over her nose, large, soft paws tucked under her as she dozed the midday away. She knew strange things had been moving in her forest, and she had meant to check them out further that night, but she wasn't going to get the chance. The bellow that ripped through the forest sent her ears flicking before she'd even opened her lamp-like eyes, fur prickling on her back as she caught the sounds of a fight, scent of blood on the wind. Tonight wasn't going to be good enough.


    She stretched briefly, claws digging into the dead wood, before she dropped into the nearby tree, branches rustling under her heavy feet. Bobcats weren't as light as a house cat, but they were more able to defend themselves. Being a house cat in these woods was not the safest of things. She listened as the sounds grew louder, jumping from tree to tree as she was, until she was on top of a clearing. She was only there for a moment before a wolf burst through, smelling mostly of scorched fur, and then he stopped, with only a bark.


    That was odd. The way he just stopped, waiting for something, the bark was a signal, but there weren't any other wolves around. She could hear those in pursuit growing closer, and yet, here he was, just standing there. Waiting. She sniffed again, and in an instant, she'd dropped out of the tree, padding forward on silent paws, surprising for the weight of them. The purr that rumbled in her chest was more of a reflex than anything she did consciously- she hadn't been human for quite some time, purring was essential to feline communication. In fact, most of her actions were very feline, as she wound around his front legs, reaching up with her nose to press it against his chin. She was surprised at how happy she was to see him- not that she didn't consider them friends, but more because she wasn't used to such a reaction. She pushed words through thought at him, hoping they'd go through even with their different forms-


    Long time, no see, stranger. Who'd you piss off this time? She knew they couldn't have much time to chat, the sounds of pursuit were close behind, and without waiting for a response, she turned, signaling with a jerk of her head for him to follow. He was obviously tired, which meant he was more in need of a place to hide, of which places she knew many. She was headed downward, towards a river that cut through the land, going slowly at first, incase he was too badly injured to keep pace. Better to let him set the pace, she figured.


    [[ok but also imagine seeing a bobcat and a wolf being all friendly like that I mean that'd be pretty weird]]

    (That would be fantastic omg, but also weird.)


    At first, Cody didn't recognize her in Bobcat form, it was one he'd never seen in her in before. As soon as he caught her scent however, he recognized her. Relief flowed through him, along with some amount of frustration. His natural instinct was to fight back, but he was dealing with too many enemies, and ones he didn't understand. Ones that weren't supposed to even exist.


    As she approached, she actually purred, which was strange to hear from her. He briefly wondered how long she'd been a cat. No time to ponder such things now, though. Ignoring the question for the moment, he gave her a quick nuzzle, then trotted after her, walking as fast as he could, which wasn't more than a slow trot. Each step brought new agony to the gashes the phoenix had made. They didn't seem to be healing nearly as fast, which troubled him greatly. For now, he just wanted to get away. As he followed her down the slope, an angry shriek echoed through the woods. Had to be the phoenix. For second, he paused, ears cocked. Beneath his paws, he could feel the distant thudding of the minotaur's hoofs. He turned and quickly continued after Alexis.

    She could hear them getting closer, and her bobbed tail was fluffing out more than usual- she was used to being on the run, but what was he running from? Horses? Something smelled like a farm, though she wasn't familiar with it, and fire. They couldn't have lit her forest on fire though, there wasn't enough smoke for that. They were walking along a riverbank now, water trickling out along the edges of the main flow onto the rocks. The midday sun glittered off the water, and she only briefly hesitated to look into her fishing hole, disappointed that she couldn't stop. There were some good fish in there, she could see them just milling about. Still, she kept going, chiding herself on being so easily distracted, they were running for their lives here- well, trotting. Painfully slow, really.


    Finally, they reached the base of a cliffside, part of a rocky outcropping she spent time at on occasion. The river crashed down it into a small, frothy pool, and she stopped. For a moment, her form blurred, until she was about the same size as Cody, only slightly smaller- a wolf. You'll have to go through there, she nodded at the waterfall, sizing him up for a moment- It'll be a bit of a squeeze through the rocks, but it opens up on the other side. I've stashed some stuff there, yellow duffle in the corner. It had been a pain getting it in there- first she had to get the supplies, and then she had to get them out to the area, for which she found the shape of a deer most useful. She preferred not slogging through the forest on two feet if she could avoid it. Dragging the duffle into the cave as a bobcat had nearly drowned her, but once it was in there, she had some peace of mind. It made for a good emergency hideout. Basic first aid, blankets, some dried and canned food.


    I'll head them off, hope they don't see the difference. She brushed past him then, heading back up the slope, feeling the earth beneath her new paws. She did enjoy this form, she didn't feel as heavy, everything moved faster, the world alive with sounds and sights and scents, all for her to investigate- of course, she knew the feeling was enhanced by the magic. It was supposed to be addictive, but she figured as long as she knew that, it would be fine. She'd been a wolf before, it wasn't the end of the world. It didn't take her long to reach their pursuers, but when she did, she stopped in surprise. A fire-bird (there was a better name for that, she just couldn't think of it), some guy with goat hooves (a satyre? That sounded right), and a minotaur. She could recognize that one because she had a great uncle who suffered from a similar affliction. She barked once or twice at them before skidding off into the forest, back up the stream, away from the waterfall in hopes that they wouldn't notice that A] she wasn't injured and B] she was a female wolf, not Cody.

    Cody panted heavily as he trotted after her, slipping slightly on the rocks, though otherwise keeping his balance. His back still burned, although not quite as bad as before. Maybe it was healing? He sure hoped so. One or two run in with silver weapons taught him how painful it was when wounds didn't heal, not to mention inconvenient. In the distance, he hoard a dull roar, as the longer they walked, the louder it became, until they had reached a cliffside where the river spilled down into a pool.


    "Through there?" he eyed the space. Tight squeeze, but nothing he couldn't handle. He'd been in far worse scrapes before, such as running from the alpha of a wolf pack he angered. That had been interesting. This was nothing.
    "Careful," he warned as she bounded off. She could handle herself. Probably. It angered him not to know what he was dealing with. After he'd become a skinwalker, he took care to learn all he could about supernatural things. But these things were like nothing he'd ever encountered. The only reason he did know about them was from books and movies he'd watched as a child.


    Moving excruciatingly slow, he threaded his way through the narrow gap. Just as he was beginning to think it would be easy, his paw slipped. A moment of sheer panic flooded him before he managed to scrambled and right himself. Heart pounding wildly, he managed to make it through to the cave Alexis mentioned. With a huff and a sigh, he flopped down, relieved.


    Meanwhile, the minotaur heard two short barks, followed by a brownish blur darting through the forest. "Fyren! That way!" he bellowed, giving chase to Alexis. The phoenix, who glided high above, cocked its head at the sound of his comrades voice. A moment later, he spotted the wolf. Narrowing his eyes, he screeched and gave chase, the pain in his wing slowing him. That beast would pay for injuring his wing.

    It was an unusual feeling, to be the hunted rather than on the hunt, but there was something thrilling about it. Her mind raced as quickly as her paws, trying to figure out where she could lead them. There was a small city, not so far away- it'd be a long, hard run, and she was only briefly concerned about the people who lived there. Of course, if these guys behaved anything like normal supernatural beings, they'd want to avoid human attention. Rule of thumb. There was the witch, of course, she lived in the area as well, but that was a risky gamble. She and the Witch didn't get along so well.


    The city it was, if she could out run them. If she was going to be caught, she knew she could just shift into something small, slip out in the leaves. They wouldn't expect it, not if they were looking for Cody. The forest broke out into a strip of grass as she streaked through, the trees thinning. There was a busy road just through the trees, and she could smell the fumes as she pounded forward. The city was still a ways, she'd never tried getting there in a sprint, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to make it. Already, she was growing tired, tongue hanging from her mouth as she panted. Above her, she could see the phoenix, and behind her the sounds of hooves was growing louder. Too loud, she wasn't going to make it to the city. Change of plans, she veered off towards the thicker forest again, recalling a manmade culvert in one of the hiking trails. Tight for a wolf, but she only had to squeeze in for a moment, then she could shift again. Once she was there, she stopped, sides heaving, waiting for them to catch up. In order to give them the slip, they had to see her trying to hide in the culvert. Any second.

    After taking a few moments to rest and catch his breath, Cody decided to shift back to human form. As it turned out, that was a pretty poor idea. It caused him immense pain, but after a couple seconds he lay gasping for breath on the rough stone floor. His jacket and shirt had been shredded by the phoenix's claws, but he felt fine otherwise. Closing his eyes for a few minutes, he let out a long sigh. If he focused hard he could still faintly hear the phoenix screech and the minotaur's cry. He hoped Alexis was ok. If she didn't return soon, he'd go look for her.


    Fyren kept his gaze trained o the dark blur of his prey. Normally, he could have caught up to it by now, but with his injured wing, his flying was limited to mostly gliding. Ajax, however, was gaining ground on it, and Lyskell was right behind him. Even as he watched, the little faun broke into a full sprint as their prey veered from the open field back towards the woods. Mistake, Fyren thought. Fauns like Lyskell were excellent at navigating dense forests. Fyren smirked and banked, following from above. He could catch occasional glimpses of the wolf through the foliage. Much to his surprise however, it stopped. Perhaps the foolish thing thought it had escaped, or was too tired to continue. Fyren screeched, alerting Lyskell, who was only a few yards away now.

    Alexis let her head droop, as if she was too tired to go on- not much acting there, though she could have run more if she needed to. She panted and drooled, and panted some more, feeling the seconds tick by like years in cold honey. The screech of the bird caught her off guard, and she snarled as the goat-man burst through the trees at her. She backed up towards the entry of the culvurt, which angled down slightly, trying to plan her next form, but there wasn't time. He was too close already, and she lunged forward with a snap, though only bluffing, before turning tail into the culvert. There in the dark, she shifted back into a bobcat, forcing herself to come streaking out the other side, as if she'd just been ousted by a wolf. Only sparing a few seconds to hiss and spit at both the creature and her imaginary wolf, she tried tail and sprinted away, hoping that she night have lost them like that. If they knew Cody well enough, they'd know he could only turn into a wolf. If she was lucky, they wouldn't catch on, and she'd get back to the cave safely.


    [[ayy sorry this took a little bit and sorry it's kinda short- crazy busy day. Very tired. Weekend starts tomorrow though, and by tomorrow I mean technically today because it's past midnight now]]

    Lyskell scrambled backwards, narrowly avoiding the beast. From this close, he thought the wolf looked different, but before he could ponder the thought further, the wolf turned tail and ran, disappearing into a culvert. The ground shook with hoofsteps and there was a loud snort as Ajax trotted next to him. The minotaur muttered a curse. The gap was far too narrow for either of them.


    Fyren circled above, watching in frustration as the wolf vanished into a culvert. A few moments later, a startled cat looking creature of some sort burst out the other side, seemingly terrified out of its mind. Fyren paid it no mind, circling and diving down to land on the other side of culvert. It was dark inside, and thanks to the angle that it sloped down at, he couldn’t see inside. Still, it had to be in there somewhere.
    “We will wait out here for it,” Fyren called. “It will have to show itself eventually.”

    She only ran until she felt she was out of sight, before breaking into a trot. Her bobbed tail flicked with delight and she reveled in victory for a moment, then recalled how badly Cody had been injured. She'd come a distance from the cave, but it wasn't hard to get back to the river, following it along. There was a myriad of questions in her mind- who were they? Why were they attacking Cody? She wondered briefly if the Witch had made such beasts, but it was hard to say. She, apparently, didn't 'do that kind of thing' anymore, by which she meant, cursing entire family lines to generations of horror and seclusion from the human race. But perhaps if Cody had angered her enough? Except that she would have done something personally there, not send goons such as those.


    No, it wasn't the witch. So the question was still unanswered, perhaps Cody would know something. She wasn't surprised whens he made her way around the fall, into the cave, a mist of water sticking to her whiskers, to see Cody shifted back into human form, and she quickly followed suit, feeling rather gangly all of the sudden as she shimmered back into her human body. Everything felt all...wrong.
    "Eugh, I think I've got hair in my mouth." Was the first thing she said, the words feeling clumsy at first. She still looked like Alexis though, her streaky brown, blond hair hanging unevenly by her shoulders, a black t-shirt and jeans so worn they almost looked white. Aside from that though, she looked somewhat healthier perhaps than the last time she had seen Cody, like she'd been eating more regularly (probably because she had), not as harried and angry. Her brown eyes were still tinged with yellow, as if she was having a hard time letting go of the Bobcat form, but she looked over at Cody.
    "Dude. You ok?" She asked, reaching for the small duffle for her supplies- if he was badly injured, she wouldn't be able to do much.

    (I totally forgot it was my turn whoops)
    He’d been laying there for what felt like ages, and Alexis still hadn’t returned. He wished he had a watch. Just as he was about to go out and look for her, he heard the sound of approaching pawsteps. He sighed in relief. If he’d had to go and find her, he wasn’t sure he could have fought that group.


    A moment later, she padded into the cave and shifted into her regular human form. She almost looked stranger to him as a human than as an animal. As he watched her behavior, he wondered how long she'd been a bobcat. Or how long since she'd been human for that matter. Although he didn't know the exact nature of her powers, he knew that staying in one form too long could cause issues.


    Her question drew him from his thoughts, and he shifted slightly to look at her. The motion sent fresh pain across his back and he winced.
    “Well, I'm not dead.” he replied, managing a grin. It changed into a grimace. “That thing... Phoenix or whatever the heck it was... It scratched me bad I think. It's healing, but not as fast as usual.” he shook his head and glanced down. His hands and shirt were still covered in dried blood, although he didn't know where it had come from. He supposed he wouldn't have believed himself about being innocent either

    "Not dead is good." She cleared her throat and began to rifle through the bag, realizing how small the cavern felt with now, two humans. The ceiling was low, and little light filtered through the rushing water at the entrance. She had herself scrunched into one corner as Cody took up most of the floor. The first thing she got ahold of was the flashlight, which she flicked on and stuck on a ledge in the corner, causing her eyes to reflect like small, copper coins- evidence of her form still not totally adhering to a humans shape.


    "That- uh, a lot of blood there." She remarked, fidgeting with the first aid kit- it was only for minor wounds, she didn't have anything heavy duty, not to mention that she wasn't sure how to handle any heavy duty wounds. For herself, she just patched herself up best she could and then held really really still until she felt less like dying. She wasn't sure if the same was going to help him.


    [[fun fact: I've got kind of an au thing going on with Alexis where she meets a group of low-level magic users that are college students of one sort or another and they're kind of a support group for each other, kind of a vigilante group. Melony's a med student there so she works with them too, though she doesn't have any magic.]]

    (aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh sorry for taking so long)


    "It... It was a Phoenix," he stammered. His heart still beat faster than usual, and he felt on edge. Now that he wasn't running for his life, he was starting to think back on everything and process it. This was as unsettling as when he learned of the existence of the supernatural world.


    "And a satyr and a flippin minotaur!" he took a breath. "Something is going on. I've been framed." Grimacing, he sat up. "I woke up and I was covered in blood and they just appeared out of nowhere. I think they're cops but... Those things don't even exist."

    "I have a great uncle who looked a bit like the cow-dude." she suggested, going back through the contents of her bag. Scooting around Cody, she stuck two tin camping mugs under the small fall, passing one towards Cody. She hadn't noticed before that it would be nearly impossible to get out of the cave in human form. She hadn't considered that particular problem when she'd chosen the hideout, which was disappointedly un-thorough of her. Her paranoia was slipping, she ought to remember that just because she was paranoid, it didn't mean a massive fire-bird wasn't going to swoop down and tear out your eyes.


    "Alright, so, Framed. For murder? And, supernatural...cops." She stifled a yawn, and blinked. With the excitement over, she felt more like going back to sleep, and she shook her head as if to clear it- "Sorry. Haven't had any excitement in a while. How do you want to play this? Think you can make it out of the woods?"


    [[ay no worries. The only reason I'm getting back so quickly is because you caught me on my weekend]]

    (Sorry for taking so long. been busy finishing school, getting over being sick, trying to finishing this job to build a website for a guy, and trying to find a college)


    Cody took the mug and gulped down the water in seconds. Until now, he hadn't really noticed just how thirsty he was. Parched, in fact. How long had he been laying there on the forest floor? Minutes? Hours? Maybe even a day? He remembered thing from before he woke up, but nothing concrete about what precisely he'd been doing beforehand.


    He frowned at her question. "I guess so. That Phoenix thing got me good, but I think I'm starting to heal more. I gotta figure out what's going on..." he muttered to himself. He looked up at Alexis. "What's around here? Any towns?"
    Maybe he could make a call to someone, or call in a favor.

    [[Holy cow dude you've been busier than a couple of beavers during flood season (insert hillbilly accent)]]


    "There's- uh, well a city. Few miles out, college campus on the edges. I've got a few friends there, but I don't want to drag them into things until I know what we're dealing with." She took his cup, refilling it along with her own. Part of her was refusing to acknowledge just how weird the whole situation was, focussing more on the fact that Cody was, in fact, still alive, which was nice information to get from time to time. They hadn't heard from each other in a while, though she'd been mostly stationary in those woods for- what had it been, a few months? A year? Time slipped away from her sometimes, it was something she figured she should get a handle on.


    Meanwhile, the other part of her was freaking out about how weird this was. A Phoenix, a faun, and a minotaur (all walk into a bar- what was the punch line to that one again?), all in one place, all after Cody for...something. She didn't know what the something was. For all she knew, it could have been really bad, she could be helping a serial killer out- time had passed after all, people did change. She wouldn't turn her back on him at the moment, but precaution would probably be necessary to handle the situation.