Hello, Like Mind [CharlotteC]

[Lancaster]

The politics in this city had never been to Lancaster’s liking, but then, that was something that Charlie knew. It was what they had bonded over the first time they had met, and was one of the reasons why Lancaster had taken the younger vampire under his wing. He’d been around long enough now that he had a good grip on how the city worked; what the oil was that turned the ancient cogs. It was partly why he felt such guilt; not only because he thought he had done things wrongly by others, but because there were things he could work to fix but instead he chose to ignore them, to pretend like they were not there.

The dingo huffed and sneezed, shaking its head.

”They are a dictatorship who wrangled power for themselves, and no one yet has gained the strength or necessary organisation to rise up against them. It’s got nothing to do with allowance. There’s no higher power that we can plead with to get them to stop. If we want them to stop, it’s something that we – the city – have to do ourselves,” he said. And he had a whole lot of opinions in regards to that, too. No one got along. Everyone wanted to lead and no one wanted to follow. How did that saying go? Too many chickens in the hen house. And, he doubted he’d get along with many either. Most other vampires he met were far too inclined to violence for Lancaster’s liking. There was no point organising a group of vampires to overthrow the main power if they themselves were going to end up being worse.

It was something he could debate for hours, but not something he particularly wished to debate. So often he would start to get embroiled, passionate, only to realise it was a lost cause. He and Pi had tried, hadn’t they? With Canidae d’Artois – and yet it hadn’t remained as active as they had wanted it to be. Maybe it said more about them than the members that they had tried to curate.

”Okay. Wait for me if we find a bear, though. Tiger scratch is one thing…” he said as Charlie pawed at him. He turned and headed deeper into the wilderness, nose low to the ground as he tried to pick up the scent of the larger predator. This time, he would take part. Now that he knew that Charlie could scar, the last thing he wanted was for some bear to take half her face off.

[CharlotteC]

Charlie in her hyena form gave off a slight snickering at Elliot’s sneeze, for some reason, that action really amused her and she didn’t know why exactly, just that it did. She shook out for a moment as if she had just been swimming and then turned her eyes back on the dingo that was her sire. The tone of his voice, even mentally, was something she was used to by this point when they got on this subject. It didn’t bother her, hell, she knew her own was not very kind when speaking of this situation.

While she had been thinking of this, she watched as Elliot started off deeper into the hunting grounds, sniffing the ground, trying to find a scent. His comment made her smile because she knew that it was his idea of protecting her. He didn’t want her to take on something far bigger, far stronger without him. She could hear it in the tone of his thoughts and it gave her a sense that she was cared about, a sense that he really did want to protect her. As if he were her father… or if nothing else… a big brother.

She gave off a soft whooping sound as she began to follow him, letting him take the lead of this search. After all, she had pretty much taken down one prey by herself, she should let him get a little action with the animals as well. He was a stronger fighter, he was likely to come out of a battle - even one in his dingo form - unharmed, or at least relatively so. Her eyes searched the rest of the forest as she followed him. While he was searching for a scent, she knew he would not likely see anything that could jump out at them. She was his eyes. She was the one that would give the warning if she spotted something that neither of them could smell.

~Out of curiosity, is your ability to scent stronger in that form? I know the canine family tend to have better olfactory senses.~

[Lancaster]

The wilderness engulfed them, and Lancaster tried to let go a little. He tried to let the Dingo have control – even though a dingo, in its right mind, would not go toe to toe with a full grown bear. Certain that he could take on such a beast, however, he forged onwards, planting the seed of the idea in the Dingo’s mind. And yet, he couldn’t lost himself completely to the canine; though his nose was dropped to the ground and a scent had been caught – he was on the trail of his prey – he was still aware of the hyena following behind, and of the question that she had asked. It caused the Dingo to pause, to think about it.

Going about his ordinary business, Lancaster didn’t really pay any attention to what he could or could not smell, or how strong his olfactory sense had become. Upon first being turned, his senses had been heightened. He’d often suffered headaches from the bright lights and the veritable hum of life around them; the computers, the electricity lines, the cars, the wind thrumming through sewer tunnels beneath their feet. It had been infuriating. But then he’d turned the sounds into music, and the smells had just become ordinary. Over time, the heightened senses weren’t extraordinary; they became habit.

”…it’s different,” he said, after a while.

”I don’t notice it as much when I’m… me. But as the Dingo it’s more focused. Concentrated on the one thing. It’s almost like I can see the trail…” he said, and even as he said it his twitching nose lifted to the air, the breeze fingering through his soft red fur, ears swiveling to find the source of the snapping twigs to the North West of them. Assuming that Charlotte would be behind him, he padded off in the direction of the sound, the scent getting stronger as he went. The Dingo’s hackles stood on end, making him look far larger than he was.

It wasn’t long before he was upon the bear; the bear turned at the noise of the rustling leaves, the pattering of paws in the dirt. Except the lumbering creature didn’t turn fast enough. The Dingo leapt, sharp teeth tearing into the fur of the bear’s neck, clamping down hard until flesh tore. The bear swiped and spun, and the dingo leapt away, and began to circle. This was how this was going to have to work – tired the bigger animal out, kill it with small wounds, rather than one large one.

[CharlotteC]

Charlie could understand what he was saying, in a way she too had the same effect. However, it seemed she was more in tune with her animal and her animal with her. That was because she in her animal form no matter which was in control still was able to use the perks of the other. The hyena was faster, stronger, even a tad bigger than she would have been in her natural habitat. Her eyes were better, hearing too. Like he said, she could almost see a trail in her hyena form using the powers that came with just being a vampire. Of course, when she was more the hyena than herself, her hunting instincts more closer to that of a hyena, in that she was nearly down right vicious, she tormented and tortured her kills more in her hyena form than she did in her human form.

As herself, the hyena was a bit more tame, still she took cues from the animal, but usually was quicker about her kills, especially if they were on the smaller side. That was something that would not be in play against a bear though. In the wild, hyenas could and often did bring down animals far larger than themselves, but that was because they hunted in packs and they also were quick to injure the prey and get away before they could be attacked themselves. Back and forth, over and over until the larger animal grew too tired to fight back. Until they were just too wounded, too weak from blood loss to fight another moment more and they just collapsed where they were.

Then there was the times when she raged out, the times when the Hyena would make itself known in her human form, her fingers turning into deadly claws, her face shifting closer to that of the hyena, her eyes taking on that evil glow that happened when light hit the back of her retinas like would happen if light was shined into a hyena's eyes. And there too, she became more like the hyena than she was herself. She was vicious. Which was why she probably made sure to keep herself in check a lot more, to breathe through something that would cause rage in her. She was a monster in that form and she didn't care for it.

Charlie continued to follow Elliot, and when he came upon the bear, she let the hyena take more control of her actions. She gave off a soft whooping sound before she jumped in as well to help him, going for a different area then Elliot was, so that the bear couldn't swipe at them both. She would take a bite at its back legs or at its flank then back away again before she can get hit. She made sure to work in tandem with Elliot so that the two of them worked like a well oiled machine to bring down the animal far bigger than them. That was what the hyena in her was used too.

~Round and round we go, when he goes down, nobody knows.~ She sang out mentally to Elliot merrily.