Midsummer Night

[Fell]

November flicked a lazy ear in Idrial\'s direction, mostly as a response to the loud splash he heard her make as she entered the water. It was probably too warm for November\'s liking if she didn\'t shriek as soon as she emerged, but he had expected that. Summertime made everything altogether too warm for his liking.

What on Earth she was doing running behind a bush, turning back into a human, stripping, then turning back into a wolf and diving back into the water November could not, for the life of him, figure out. He watched the spectacle rather curiously, noting how she turned back into a human once out in the water. Did that make sense to him? No. Did it need to? Probably not. Mortals were odd creatures all. He continued his cleaning without worrying too much about it.

Idrial\'s call to him came just before he deemed himself clean enough. November gave himself one more look-over, then made his way to the edge of the lake. He dipped a foot in, then shook his head. "Too warm," he stated simply, turning his back on the lake and moving towards the tree line. Trees were what he liked best, and being in them. Summertime water was just... unpleasant.

[Idrial]

"Too warm."

Idrial shrugged as he made his way to the tree line, she wasn’t going to play the dirty trick she intended to play. She swam deeper and deeper towards the middle of the lake. It got cold as she did so but she liked the cold on hot summer nights and welcomed it. As she got to the middle she dove under the lake to see how far she could go before she would heave to re-surface for air. The bottom of the lake was beautiful and it would have been a shame to re surface so soon, she closed her eyes and concentrated of her legs turning them almost in to like a fishes tail. She made gills appear on her neck, she was half fish half human.

She grasped some tough seaweed and wrapped it around her upper part to that her breasts were covered at least. It was amazing down here; she had only shifted into this form once or twice because it was dangerous if you did not have your full strength as you could get stuck in what her parents called mid shifting. It was a scary thought and the first time she had tried to shift into a wolf she was glad that she did not have a weak strain of shifting or she would have been stuck as a half human half wolf kind of creature. She shivered at that, she continued to explore the bottom of the lake. Finding interesting things as she went along, she found a skull of some sort, she couldn’t tell of what species.

She picked it up and hung it on her arm; it was cool and would make a good decoration in her room. She found some interesting rocks as well with out knick knacks that people had thrown in the lake. As she explored the lake bottom she had totally forgotten about November up above at the surface.

[Fell]

November listened to Idrial\'s swimming with half an ear as he approached the trees. The first one he came to he dug his small claws into and scaled easily, much in the same way a true cat would. The cait sith pulled himself onto the first branch, then stood and began to climb higher in the ancient pine. There was quite a ways to go, too.

Sure, November could have just teleported to the top of the tree, but that would have taken the challenge out of it. The challenge and the fun. Climbing trees was all about the process, not the achievement of the goal. November appreciated that fact more than many might guess he would.

When he reached the top of the tree, November surveyed his surroundings. He could see out over most of the forest, as well as the lake. He couldn\'t see Idrial, though - perhaps she\'d gone diving. November turned his attention elsewhere - he was curious to see where the Academy was from here. The student searched for a while, then shrugged and looked back at the lake. Still no Idrial. November found himself wondering idly if she\'d drowned. What a ridiculous way to die that would be, he thought with a snort, beginning his descent at the same time.

Idrial was finally up when he reached the bottom again. November eyed her curiously, noting the gills. "...That doesn\'t suit you," he mused, brushing his pants off. The other thing he\'d noticed while he was up in the tree was the position of the sun - or rather, where it would be fairly soon. "It\'s about half an hour until the sunrise. I\'m going home," November stated, meaning he was returning to the Academy. The way he said it left it open enough for Idrial to accompany him or not, whichever she chose. November didn\'t care much either way - walking was good exercise.

[Idrial]

Idrial almost panicked when she had forgotten about November being up at the surface and with a flick of her tail which use to be her legs she rushed to the surface still with her treasures that she had found on her. As she reached the top November just reached the bottom of the tree, she had a huge relief that he did not come in after her only to find that she was half fish who knows what sort of rage he would released.

He smirked at her which she took as a good sign, he eyed her for a while brushing his pants with his hands. She could still see dried blood under his finger nails.

"...That doesn\'t suit you,"

Idrial only smiled at this and lifted what use to be her legs up above the water for November to see.

“Not only do I have gills I have a tail as well ... but you are right it doesn\'t suit me I am even surprised I could change into this form."

She changed the tail back into her legs and let them drop, she would have to go and get her clothes and from what he had showed her earlier he was not interested in her, she swam to the shore with the skull hanging on her arm and the other treasures in her hand. As she pulled herself out of the water she saw the sun just barely over the horizon, she heard November walking away speaking as he did so.

"It\'s about half an hour until the sunrise. I\'m going home."

He started to walk and she quickly walked over the bush and pulled on her clothes. Now she was half jogging while trying to put on the cloak and daggers that she had gotten in the Fae realm when everything was theirs as it was yours kind of exchange. She eventually caught up to November her air still wet but she did not mind.

He walked in silence as did she, she stuck the smaller things in her pockets and examined the skull first that she had found, it looked to be of a wolf but the forehead was to long and the snout was a little shorter, maybe a dog? She turned it over and inspected the teeth the canines were to long for a dog and it could be a wolf for they did not have flat molars as they were carnivores. She almost gasped but kept it in and whispered softly as she held it eye level to her face and smiled as she did speak.

“A werewolf skull .... A rare find indeed..."

[Fell]

((Sorry this has taken so long : /))

November walked the path - or the non-path, as it rather was - with little care. He was tired now, his energy ebbing away as the sun gained its power. Cait sith of his sort did not do so well in the sunlight, though at least it wasn\'t yet noon. Noon was ever November\'s least favourite time of the day. Sunrise, though, he disliked in his own right. It marked a transition he wasn\'t much fond of.

Idrial walked quietly by his side, but November was less than concerned. She had found something underneath the water. Some kind of a skull... That was interesting enough to the student, but he had now been up for about 20 hours and was more than ready to go to sleep, especially with the adrenaline rush of Midsummer coming to an end. Idrial seemed quite fascinated by it, however. She examined it as though it were horribly significant.

One of November\'s ears flicked back to Idrial when she whispered. They were plenty sensitive, and so he was not surprised to catch the words easily. Their content, though, was more interesting than the act of catching them. Werewolf skull? November thought, glancing back at the item. It was bone-white and very well preserved... That must be recent, then. Had it been very old, it wouldn\'t have had that colour or that shape. It would be far more dilapidated. Given that, and that she\'d found it in a lake...

"Did it die from drowning?" November asked, his voice somewhat scornful. Even he, a cat, could avoid so sloppy a fate as that. There weren\'t even any fractures in the skull... Though perhaps the creature had been wounded elsewhere on its body. All the same, in the middle of a lake? November didn\'t see any other plausible explanation.

[Idrial]

Still looking at the skull eye level she could see out of the corner of her eye that November was now looking at the skull as well, she could see that he was tired but still held interest with the item that she held in her hand. From what she had learned the sun sapped away their power and noon was the worst for them. He asked in what seemed to be a disgusted voice.

"Did it die from drowning?"

Idrial was still looking at the skull and was now looking for any sort of fractures but found none, not even old scars. Either this wolf lived his life very carefully which was highly unlikely but possible or he was young when he was turned. Idrial spoke in a simple tone as they walked.

"I don\'t think so, Werewolves are good swimmers. I think this one tried to swim across the lake trying to lose its hunters. Most likely reason is his hunter had good aim and the Werewolf didn\'t know what hit him and probably died before his head went under the waters surface."

She looked up to see the academy coming into view though it was very small. While holding the skull in one hand she sifted through her pocket, a couple of necklaces that were rusted a little but nothing a little TLC wouldn\'t fix, Pieces of metal, some bright colored rocks. As she reached deep down within her pocket she found a ring with a blood red jewel set into it. It looked like it was too big to be a woman\'s ring and she held it out between her two fingers. She looked at November and smiled holing out the ring.

"Too big for my fingers and a nice color to it as well almost looks like real fresh blood, you want it?"

It would look good on him she thought and still held it out seeing if he would take it or not.

[Fell]

Were they good swimmers? November didn\'t really know. It seemed like a strange thing for them to be good at, but then, swimming was good for almost any animal. Still... werewolves were so dense. November had always thought they would sink. But the young cait sith did recognise that he didn\'t know everything, and when it came to werewolfery, Idrial probably knew quite a bit more.

The ring interested him far more. It wasn\'t something he would want to wear himself, though it was his favourite colour. Idrial was wrong, though, in calling it blood red. Oh, November had had people call this particular shade of deis blood red before, but he always found it strange. Either way, it was something that was still too big for him. He would give it to December - his brother appreciated such things.

November reached out a hand to take the ring, examining it carefully. It had a trace of sidhe magic on it, but nothing that looked malicious. Magic was December\'s specialty, though, and he decided that he would wait to let his brother see it before he tried to put it on. "Thanks," the white-haired boy said simply, though he looked quite pleased as he pocketed the ring.

"What else did you get?" November asked, glancing over to her. There was the obvious, of course - a bow, a new cloak, and so on, but she probably had some other small objects as well. Sometimes the smaller the object was, the more interesting - at least when it came to the artifacts the sidhe often had.

[Idrial]

November carefully took the ring from her fingers and examined it carefully. He didn\'t put it on which Idrial didn\'t mind, it was his now and he could do what he pleased with it. He pocketed the ring before speaking to her again.

"Thanks, What else did you get?"

Idrial wasn\'t sure if he meant at the bottom of the lake or in the Fae Realm. Surely he could see the new cloak, bow and daggers that she had on her so she assumed that he meant at the bottom of the lake. She stuck her hand in her pocket and fished out the small objects. She spoke in a plain tone.

"Couple of colored rocks, pieces of metal and some necklaces, nothing to special..."

She stopped when she took out the necklace that she said that would need some TLC and looked at it more closely, she could see a symbol that was a Star and a circle around it almost like a Pentagram. She had seen this symbol before up in the Highland of Scotland, it was some sort of witchcraft symbol. She held it up to in the light still looking at the necklace as she spoke.

"A Pentagram ... You rarely see any of these apart from the Highlands."

She placed it in her pocket that was concealed within her cloak; she looked up to see that the Academy was maybe 300 yards away. She smiled and spoke warmly.

"I guess this is where we part our separate ways is it not?"