outfit
~*~

Ever since her fallout with Damien, the young huntress had stayed out of trouble. She'd gone to school, stayed in on weekends and worked on improving her grades. She hadn't even bothered to dye her hair in a while so it had returned to its more natural blonde. With no hunting getting done, she hadn't had any injuries either and had been able to keep her stash from depleting. Now however, it was time for some target practice.

Tonight, she was ready to really try to catch something. She was completely oblivious to the threat heading their way as no one had told her anything. Amelita just wanted to see if she could still hunt, even after the time she'd spent away from it all when she was being a pet. Making sure she had vampire blood running in her veins, she decided to see if she couldn't get a new supplier by shooting a vampire.

Entering the forest with her bow securely on her back, Amelita realized it was still early to be getting any real hunting done and picked out a tree to practice on instead. Taking her bow out, she carefully positioned an arrow with skilled hands. Once she was sure the bow string was pulled far enough back, she took time to breathe and center herself before she released the arrow.

Gale aimed at just a little higher than her first shot and released another arrow. After a third arrow had hit the tree, they made an almost perfect line. Whilst she wasn't aiming to hit anyone just yet, she was distracted when she released her fourth arrow and it narrowly missed someone approaching.

Alex was doing as she ran a decent clip through the forest. Her feline grace was allowing her to avoid tripping hazards with an incredible ease, enabling her to divert from the beaten trails and still focus on the issues that really seemed to matter. It seemed weird that after all these months trying to get home that now that she was home she seemed to be spending so much time away from the house. Everything was just so different now, she was different, her family was treating her differently, they were trying to make her feel accepted at home, but she couldn’t’ help but wonder if they simply thought of her as one of those little changelings left in place by fairy’s in the stories of old. And maybe she was, maybe she never really was their son and this was all some sort of weird mind game.

She came to a slow running stop near a clearing as felt her left running getting looser and looser. It had somehow come untied she noted she propped her foot up on a nearby mossy covered downed log and began the process of replacing it. All the while as she came down off her runners high her breath began to get more and more labored. That stupid bell around her neck making it’s stupid tink, tink, tink noise. That thing was just so annoying, the leather strap seemed to fit her around her neck decently enough, be it as a human or a cat, yet still fit but still it was a reminder of her plight, what she really was now.

As if on cue she began to feel a familiar sensation, a slight dull aching throb, the kind one gets if they keep a muscle flexed too long and she immediately knew what it meant. It wasn’t any sort of pain from the run. Whatever magic that was in her collar letting her being human for a time during the day was beginning to spend its daily charge. She could hold off the change for a little while at least but by this within a hour she would be back to whiskers and four paws. Dang , she figured she had at least until a few hours until after sundown. That was the problem with this thing; she had no idea how long each day she actually had to be a human and today seemed to be one of the shorter ones. If she began to make her way back now she should be able to make it home in time before the change. So sighing once she finished tying her shoe she stood back up, adjusting her running pants, and again had to ask herself why women’s running clothes had to be so needlessly tight.

And so she turned to leave before her feline ears twitched and picked up an odd noise causing them to twitch curiously and for her to freeze midstride for a second before instinctively moving to conceal herself against a tree. Though she did not know what the strange thwoping noise was at the time she was easily able to identify the area of origin. Despite her rather limited time frame and really not knowing what the source of this noise was she still found herself putting one foot in front of the other and pretty soon she was out from behind the tree and skulking on towards the next tree, and then the next, on her way toward without even thinking about the fact she was being stealthy. It was a stupid idea, she knew and a smarter part of her did acknowledge it, but really what was the worst that could happen and bedsides she really had to know.

It was as she was just on the edge of the clearing that she started detecting another mind, consumed in thought and turmoil, nearby and then curiosity almost killed the currently girl shaped cat aas an arrow buried itself mere inches from her head in the tree she just stepped out from behind to announce her presence.

“Holy Crap Don’t Shoot me!” She screamed and did her darndest not to growl and shows her teeth and other primal sort of actions, this had to be an accident. But still she brought her hands up in a manner that might imply that she was surrendering and everything, but in reality she was simply readying herself in case the archer loosed another shot at her she could telekinetically deflect it. “Sorry, didn’t mean to sneak up on.” Alex called out. “I guess I can be kind of too discreet for my own good sometimes.”

Amelita really hadn't meant to almost hit the girl. She'd been so focused on what she was doing, she hadn't even noticed the tinking sound of a cat bell, and she certainly hadn't expected a girl to be the reason behind it. Lowering her bow at the scream and the surrendering motion. Placing it in its sling, the young huntress chuckled slightly.

"You okay?" She asked and showed her open palms to show that she meant no harm as she approached the tree with her arrows buried in it. As she pulled out the first arrow and placed it back in the keg, and smiled slightly. "I didn't mean to almost hit you, I like to come out here and practice," sighing softly, she pulled out another arrow. She sure had managed to burrow them in deep and she had to work to get them out again. She hated losing her arrows unless they were burrowed deeply into a vampire or a werewolf that had tried to hurt her.

"But yeah, you really need to be less stealthy around here, it's far too easy for accidents to happen. Gale," she said brightly and offered her hand to the girl she'd almost hit, really feeling bad that she'd almost hurt someone who obviously wasn't dangerous.

Alex stood in a mildly dazed state as she eyed the arrow while it was still so firmly logged in the tree. It was inches away from where her head was. For a second, perhaps because of how truly stunned she was at the fact curiosity quite literally nearly killed the cat, she succumbed to the feline urge to swat at it with her right hand the fletching when she caught herself. Wincing at this embarrassing little slip she shoved her hands into her pockets. She hated when she did things like that, it was so embarrassing to think that sometimes there was just some things she could not prevent herself from doing, especially in front of a stranger. “I’m fine, I’m fine.” Alex answered, sounding a little nervous and shook up, and while that was true she was really doing her best to hide it from this lady-archer. “Don’t worry about it I’m fine I know you did not mean it.” She said and sincerely meant it. Of course the girl didn’t’ mean to almost hit her, she didn’t need to be a telepath to know that his was a real accident, though she was and that definitely didn’t hurt.

She winced and gave a slightly sheepish smile as the girl admonished her for her stealthiest. Alex could not really argue with that, she was pretty sneaky now, there was just something about living for a almost a year as a house cat that just made Alex naturally act that way. Many times she caught herself instinctively creepy around her house, and cautiously peering around corners, and going low any time she heard a noise. And it seemed a tad more off putting than was useful, like when her sister Elle learned that she could seriously distract her newly minted sister with a laser pointer or dangly piece of twine.

“Yeah I guess I kina have too, I guess I just sorta wasn’t expecting to see anyone this far into the forest.” Alex conceded with a nervous chuckle and pulled her right hand out of her pocket and scratched behind her triangular-shaped ears, a nervous tick that she picked up recently. “But yeah my name is Alex” She introduced herself and took the girls offered hand and decided to explain why she was out here for fear that this girl would start coming up with her own reasons. “I was just going for a run… well obviously…” That was pretty obvious she was wear running shoes, a sports bra and pants, what else would she be doing out here? Bird watching? “I do that sometimes out here to clear my head and everything, I was just on my way home though it is getting kinda late.” What she did not mention was that she was having to get home cause she was turning back into a cat. “So why are you practicing with that bow?” She asked while deciding to change the subject from her back to the archer girl. “Are you on some sort of archery team… or club… organization?” She had no idea what you would call a competitive group of archers.

Gale couldn't help the giggle that escaped her at this girl's swatting before she caught herself. It was actually quite adorable and she was glad the stranger was fine, even if she seemed a bit nervous. Who said people couldn't meet in strange ways? Heck, she was glad she hadn't accidentally hit the girl, she'd never have been able to live that down. It was one thing to hit werewolves when they were in their wolf form, but she still had issues with the whole vampire thing. They looked so human...

"There aren't that many other places to practice in complete and utter silence," the huntress said with a smile and pulled out the arrow that had almost hit Alex. Under different circumstances, the two girls could probably have a lot of fun, but Gale couldn't shake the feeling that this had been too close a call for her comfort. Even if the girl was just going for a run.

When the attention was turned back towards the blonde, she smiled again. She loved talking about archery really and was glad the question came up. She didn't need to admit to why she was practicing in the first place. "It's something my dad taught me when I was little, I find it helps to clear my mind. Also, I do occasionally do contests and stuff, so it's really good to be on top of things." And it wasn't even a lie. "It comes in handy at times, but I can't really practice up at the dorms. People might get the wrong idea."

The last thing Amelita really wanted was for people to think she was there to hurt them. She'd never kill a gifted just for being gifted, they'd have to threaten her first.

“Yeah that is true this is a pretty good place to practice I guess.” Alex conceded as she gave the area another proper scanning for the first time since almost getting an arrow to the face. They were pretty deep in the woods and in all honesty the chances of both of them being out here at the same time and running into each other were pretty slim. So she could no fault Gale for her choice in practice areas. “You could do all sorts of things out here and no one would probably interrupt you,” She added a nervous chuckle as she realized how odd that sounded.

Then there was slightly unnerved by the implication that that if that arrow was a few degrees to the right and actually hit she in the head, this girl could have easily made it so no one would have known what happened to her rather easily. That would definitely suck. Her parents just got their only son back…. Mostly back only for her to vanish again. The girl-shaped cat felt a shiver down her spine in that instance, and she was pretty sure it wasn’t because her change was imminent, at least no entirely.

“Your dad taught you? That’s kinda cool,” She said with some genuine enthusiasm. “I kinda wish my dad knew something cool like how to use a bow, and could teach me. I mean he taught me how to throw a spiral pass, and hit a fast ball and stuff but that is kind of boring compared to that,” She gestured to the girls bow and everything. Though she did remember seeing some pictures of her dad in college, apparently he was a part of some rock band, played the bass guitar. Maybe she could ask him if she could teach him, bas guitars were cool right.

Still Alex had to wonder exactly what she meant by the skill coming in handy sometimes. When would being able to hit something accurately with a bow come in handy, at least after the nineteenth century? Did she hunt animals with it, or other things? Her animalistic instincts seemed to make her tense up for a second at that thought, but she did her best to hide it with a fake casual stretch and a question in hopes of deflecting the girl’s attention. “So you live in the dorms? Which ones? Are you in high school or college?” Alex guessed the college, she wasn’t sure the girls age but she knew she hadn’t really seen her around school recently. Then again she had been out of school for several months herself and hadn’t exactly been going out of her way to meet new people since returning.

The huntress couldn't help but chuckle at how awkward things had gotten all of a sudden with Alex pointing out she could get away with anything that far out in the forest. Wasn't that why she only hunted werewolves and vampires this far in? No one would know what happened to them out here. That didn't mean she did so unprovoked of course.

"Well, my dad thinks it's important to be connected to nature, so he wouldn't have wanted me to practice any other place." She said with a slight chuckle. Her dad being a werewolf now and all made connecting with nature all the more important. Besides, it was useful to know how to get by out in the woods in case she'd ever have to run off or something. You could just never be too careful.

"It's a family thing frankly, I'd rather have learned sports and things I could do with the other kids growing up, but it was always just family and very little time for anything else." Not to mention he taught her sister to shoot with a gun, but that was probably best kept a secret as it sounded just crazy enough as it was that her father saw the need to teach her how to use a bow.

"I just moved to the college dorms this year actually, still haven't fully decided what to major in though.. What about you?

“Yeah I suppose having a connection with nature is kind of important.” Alex nodded in absent agreement, as she felt a twinge of discomfort still reminding her of the pending change. She did more or less agree with Gale though. However before she became a cat Alex really did not give nature much thought, I mean she did not have any out and out hostility towards it, and everything but she hardly felt any sort of connection with it save for the fact that it was there. However after becoming a cat, she had seen it with whole new eyes. It was big, it was fun there was so much to explore and experience out there. That’s why it seemed at night when she was a cat, she found herself actually spending more time outdoors, in her yard, in the woods at the edge of it, and generally out there exploring.

She did note the strangeness of Gale mentioned she would rather have learned sports than archery. Was it not considered a sport by most people in this day and age? Alex was pretty sure it was, well unless you were one of those people, who hunted with a bow and everything, but what was Gale and her family hunting, she did not seem very much like the, stalk, kill, and dress a deer type of person. Part of her was tempted to do a quick poke around in the girls mind to find out, but she successfully avoided that temptation. Whatever she hunted it wasn’t her business... unless she tried to shoot her again. “Well I suppose it’s still nice to do some stuff with your family at least.” She mused allowed to the other girl. “I mean I uh recently spent some time away from my family and you really kinda miss it when they are all gone.” Of course she wasn’t going to tell the girl why she wasn’t with her family or anything; it was just something you did not share with people you just met. Though she was sure if she lingered here longer she this little archer girl will find out anyways.

“I’m living back at home right now,” Alex shared. “I’m still in high school but I’ll probably live in the dorms next year and everything.” Part of her wanted to leave right now go live in the dorms for school, it was just too awkward at home right now. Then again she doubted living as a cat in those dorms would be any less uncomfortable than at home.

Nature probably wouldn't have been important to her at all if her father hadn't been changed. All she could really remember before was a great insistence that she learned some kind of fighting. Both her parents and her sister kept her busy after school with some kind of training, after she'd done her homework of course. Then, when her mother refused to kill her husband just because he'd changed, their whole lifestyle changed and it was all about hunting while being one with nature so as to make sure they could survive in any conditions. Also, it was about learning to fight like the supernaturals, by learning from their strengths and weaknesses rather than relying solely on human perception of things.

Shifting her feet slightly before placing her arrows back in her keg, Gale couldn't help but chuckle slightly at what Alex had to say. "Sometimes it feels like we haven't done anything but family stuff growing up. My sister is much better at this stuff than me, but I really have an aversion to fighting, so I watched more than participate in anything but childish games of hide and seek." Upon realizing that she'd just divulged far too much information, the blonde bit her bottom lip, hoping she hadn't freaked the girl out entirely. "It's good to spend some time away from family too though, to find yourself rather than who they want you to be."

Hearing the other would probably move to the dorms the next year made Amelita smile. "I love living in the dorms, I loved it in high school as well, it was a great way to make friends and it makes going home to mom and dad much more precious."