Starlit Eyes & Others

"Who is he?" Two silvery hybrids were standing at the edge of the barn, peering in at the red-head who was occupying the place tonight. The larger one had earlier been pointed out as 'Bailey' by Greg, while the slightly smaller one with his black paws and tail, was 'Buck'. They accepted this names well enough, though their kind knew them better as Starcrossed and Ditaren.

"You don't have to whisper, humans can't hear us. Bad ears." Ditaren returned to his sister, cocking his wolfish head to the side as he eyed up Conan from the shadows. "Ask mom when she comes back."

Conan

Ordinarily, Conan would have retired to the hayloft, where he'd spent many comfortable nights when the Lady had been alive. But considering that he was keeping watch tonight, the teen was in the lower level of the barn, his back against a bale of hay and his body disguised in the shadows, though certainly scent and improved night-sight would allow the dogs and, inevitably, the big cat, to know about where he was. His double-barrelled shot gun was beside him; he didn't intend to use it unless some risk was posed to the people or pets of the house, but there was no way he was going to get caught without a weapon, when he knew there was a wild animal in the area. He didn't hear the siblings talking about him, of course... and he couldn't have understood them anyway. He simply kept his eyes focused on the house, his own admirable night vision serving to keep him intently informed of what was going on around them.

Starlit Eyes & Others

"Wait, what are you doing?" Ditaren hissed in a whisper now when his sister stepped into the barn without another word. Passing through a beam of moonlight, the silvery coat shown for split second before melding back into the deep shadows. Nose quivering and held low, the skittish daughter of Starlit used the safety of the night to get closer to Conan, until she had strayed within two yards of the boy. "Star! Get back here, he's got a gun!"

"Mother trusts him." The female dismissed, forgoing a low voice herself, "He was with Greg and Matt earlier, besides. He can't be all that bad if they're letting him stay in the barn."

Ditaren rumbled quietly, this time making a noise that was audible to human ears. Maybe it was his father's blood that made him leery of two leggers, or maybe it was just his nature - but he was wary of them in any case. "Don't come crying to me if you get shot. I'm going to keep an eye out for that damned cat."

Conan

As tightly wound as his nerves were right now, Conan's hand did reach for the gun when he heard the more audible rumbles of the two young hybrids, particularly when his keen ears told him that one of the canines was very close to him now - he hadn't seen her enter the barn, as slick as she'd been, though he'd heard something and jerked that way. But as he stared into the shadows where he'd last heard Star, he began to slowly make out her outline, thanks to his eyes' convenient adjustment to the dark. And after a moment, he untensed and lifted his hand from the gun. "Bai-ley?" he asked, as if just to be sure that this was one of their own dogs. He wasn't particularly wary of wolves, but he'd always feared dobermans and been careful of any dogs that he didn't know very well.

Starcrossed & Others

Ditaren had sauntered off from the barn, making his usual circuit around the yard, and leaving his sister to 'play' with the human. Eyes as pale gray as her coat glittered faintly when she took a step forward, stepping partway into another shaft of moonlight that poured down from a smaller window up high on the barn. She was tense for a moment, eying the gun, but all of that went away when she heard her human name. Her tail swished once to the side - nothing near the enthusiasm of her mother, but it was a good sign in any case. "Aren't you a curious one? There's not a ton of two-leggers with such tiger-colored hair."

"He's a good kid." Woken up by the talking, a little ancona hen bobbed her head up, lifting it from the dark feathers she'd tucked into, "Haven't seen him lately. He and Aralyn are good friends. Don't know where she's at." Unlike the tones the canines used, Penny's voice was a warble of clucking that was easily heard by Conan.

Conan

Conan took the little twitch of tail as a bit of reassurance, in combination with the semi-familiar flash of silver-gray fur that confirmed his guess as to which dog it was. This was one that he didn't know well, but at least it wasn't an unrelated canine - he could believe that she wouldn't try to hurt him, if he wasn't threatening anyone. So he offered out quietly, "Known yer Ma a lon' time... yer cur-iock-," He paused, when his voice betrayed him, but didn't seem embarrassed as he did when this happened in front of other humans. Instead he tried again, "You wanna know... what's up. Jes' like yer Ma. Don' look like 'er though... mus' take af'er yer da."

Starcrossed & Others

"Now you've gone and made him chatter." Penny chuckled, rousing her feathers briefly before settling herself down in a more comfortable position. "Mind what I've told you - he's a good lad. You're mother can sniff them out a mile away."

Her ears were perked at the words the boy was making, noting how the sounded... different than normal human noises. Without ever turning her head, the hybrid's pale eyes darted briefly to the hen, "I trust your word on that, but Ditaren isn't so sure." Star went quiet, blinking silently as she held the boy in her wolfish stare. Her voice went hesitantly quiet when she spoke up next, "Penny... do you think I can let him touch me?"

"Let him touch you? You think he's poisonous or something?" The chicken laughed this time, giving her feathers another shake before settling down, "I've been sitting here all night, and he hasn't bitten me yet. Of course, you can let him touch you."

The hybrid planted her ears back, her tail going a little stiff as she took a mincing step forward. Her build spoke of pure wolf blood, and though she had a quarter lab in her veins, she bore a striking semblance to her sire, Vicious. Size and height where on her size, and the look would have been complete if only she carried his haunting yellow eyes. To most, she was a formidable looking creature, but her nature was as gentle as her mothers; if not a bit more on the wild side.

Conan

Completely clueless as to how the dog and the hen were discussing him, Conan kept his eyes on Starcrossed, knowing from experience and what Aralyn had taught him not to meet her eyes unless she sought out his gaze first. After all, for as much as humans wouldn't hunt down or eat dogs the way that some of the area's big cats might, he knew that in this area, humans were still a predator, mostly because of the guns they carried and their natural fear of wolves. So he was careful to keep still as she dared scoot forward a little, and kept his voice low. "Ere's a girl... Bail-ey. I'llna... 'arm thee." And, because it was the canine that he was talking to and not other humans, he let a tiny bit of the Cockney accent he had carry through into his words, not putting forth the effort to keep it back since only the animals could hear him.

Starcrossed & Others

"They're more afraid of you than you are of them." Penny insisted, "Just stay calm - go on, Star, just reach your muzzle forward. There, now wave your tail a bit, they seem to understand that."

Coached along by the bird, Star leaned her heavy muzzle forward, forcing her tail into a mild, slow wag as she was ordered to. Muscles went taunt, but she still stepped forward, one paw at a time until her quivering nose had reached one of his hands.

"He's back!" Ditaren's howl rose in a short, almost bellowing quality. Star jumped back with hackles ablaze and tail up. Her own silver jaws flexed for a moment before she joined her brother's howl, and was soon accompanied by their mother from somewhere out further in the wilderness, towards the north.

Penny jumped up so fast in a wild flap of wings that she cast out several feather. "Where's Rex? Where's Rex?" Hopping off her roost in the haybale next to Conan, the hen began to flutter around on the ground, clattering and making noise.

Conan

Conan had been just about to lift his hand to pet the muzzle that was offered to him, taking encouragement from the waving of the silvery tail, when Ditaren's howl made him tense as surely as it did Starcrossed. When all this was over, he might perhaps regret that what had almost been a dared moment of trust between them had been so abruptly cut off, but for now, he had understood the trio of howls and was grabbing up his shotgun and getting quickly to his feet. Penny's wild clucking and movement made him realize that it would be a very unwise thing to leave the barn door open right now - the cat might think to make supper out of the chickens. "C'mon Bai-ailey. Sh-show me." Trying to encourage the female to come with him in his own, awkward sort of way, he patted at the thigh of his jeans and moved forward, attempting to keep Penny in the barn until he and Star could get out, with the aim of closing the door behind him.

Starcrossed & Others

"Rex! Rex! Rex! Where are you?!" The chicken continued to run about, bobbing her head frantically and calling out, only to be answered several moments later by a groggy-eyed roster who'd been sleeping higher up on the hay bales, "Shush yerself! I'm up here."

The leg pat she understood - she'd seen that so often from Kate and Greg, and occasionally Matt. And she followed along to some extent, trailing after Conan until they reached the door; but that's where she stopped and planted herself. Holding her muzzle parallel with the earth, the hybrid howled again, this time turning her eyes away from Conan and calling out in a deeper, far-carrying tone.

"...last time I'm going to tell you!" In the corner of the yard, where the pale moonlight was abruptly cut off into dense shadow by the thick timberline, Ditaren was growling low and staring into the woods, "They'll be returned once they're healthy enough!"

Something positively massive shifted in the evergreen foliage of young cedar and boxwood shrubs, and the low, stretch-out rumble that followed was distinctly feline, "We've got healers to take care of that. Return them, pet, or I'll make a snack out of you!"

Conan

After once again patting his leg, and then seeming to understand that Star wasn't going to follow him, Conan left her to guard the barn, figuring that she knew better than he did how to defend the farm now, considering it had been over a year since he'd lived here. So he glanced back at her briefly, and then left her there. He couldn't match the absolutely silent gait of the canines, but with his shoes and socks off and himself barefoot in the chill air, he could move with a stealth that was near-feline in nature. And he used that now to begin to draw closer to where Ditaren was facing off with the cat. He couldn't understand the argument that was passing between them, but as he moved closer to the house, his gun aimed at the growling, shifting brush, he was analyzing what he could of the situation.

Starcrossed & Others

"You said that last time." An ear flicked back when Ditaren heard Conan venture by, and as unnerving as it was for him to have the strange kid at his back, he didn't dare turn his face away from the feline prowling in front of him. "You want Quaidah after you? You know he's in alliance with us - everyone with just a scrap of common sense knows this is neutral ground..."

The big cat turned and stalked the opposite direction, then froze when he saw the human and the gun. "Your human took my cubs. I'm not going to sit back and let them stay in this place." His rumble turned sour at this point as he moved along the edge of the timberline, slinking now to the very edge of the yard as Ditaren went tense and watched his every step. "That sure as hell isn't a dart shooter!" Finally stepping into the pale light of the moon and stars, the tawny hide of Sundown became visible to the kid's gaze.

Conan

Standing there a few feet from the porch, in the dim light offered by the glow of celestial bodies, Conan was straining his keen ears to pick up the soft sounds of Sundown pacing back and forth as he talked. Showing a decent skill for this, the gun swung back and forth and followed the cat's movement with an amazing degree of accuracy, considering he couldn't see the feline's shape very well. He didn't instantly fire when Sundown stepped out into the light - but he did tense up, and there was the sound of the gun's hammer clicking back in the silence around them. Damn..., he though, recognizing from book illustration the characteristic features of an african lion. What on earth is a creature like that doing roaming wild in this country? But he kept his eyes, and his gun's sight, keenly upon Sundown... ready to fire, if the cat made any sudden moves.

Starcrossed & Others

"Watch it, cat..." Ditaren shifted himself around, taking a few steps back when he heard the click of the gun. It was distinctly different than the sound of the dart guns that Kate and Greg occasionally had to use to subdue wild animals, and though his eye for detail wasn't that sharp, he could clearly see this weapon was different. This one caused damage.

The hybrid's slanted eyes widened just a touch, and his tail gave a quick lash to the side in rising aggression, "Neutral turf, huh?" Sundown lowered his massive skull a little, stepping sideways in a path that took him along the edge of the timberline, revealing enough of his frame to show he had just a sketchy bit of mane along his shoulders, but nothing like the full flow of hair that his sire had. "You'd best stop that human, or I will." Lifting his lips back, the hybrid bore his fangs briefly before he slunk along the timberline, moving in a wide circle towards the other side of the house. His size and strength lent him the self confidence to stride in the open as he did, where most others would have kept to the trees.

Conan

Unaware that his more damaging weapon was the cause of more than a little uneasiness on both parts, Conan kept tracking the male, though he never did fire since Sundown made no move toward the house. He could tell from the way the cat was eyeing him that he knew perfectly well what a gun was, and Conan meant to use that to his advantage - at this point, his aim was a warning thing, a way of distinctly telling the cat to keep his distance. And even so, it was unlikely that he'd try to shoot the cat unless it moved to attack, though he might fire off a few shots into the air or the dirt close to the fellow to impress upon him not to come any closer, if need be. He was very aware, at the same time, what reaction those shots would have on the people in the house - he knew that likely all of them would disapprove of his use of real ammunition instead of darts. So he wouldn't fire unless he thought, for some reason, that the cat presented an immediate threat.

Starcrossed & Others

Sundown treaded a little further, until he'd come to the side of the house. Standing stalk still, the lion hybrid caught Conan in an unblinking stare, his jowls hanging open in the fashion that lion's so often did. "You think you're tough with that gun, two-legger?" The cat's voice rose in a low rumble again, "Go on, show me what you've got."

Ditaren was following the stand off, keeping himself slightly behind the boy and liger mix so that he could keep them both in his sights. "Stop antagonizing him, or he will shoot you! He's not a regular here, cat."

While Sundown was playing the decoy, and Starlit making her way back from a visit with Galar to the north, two more feline shapes were slinking in towards the front of the home. One was similar to Sundown, but smaller in size and ruddier in color. The third male was even smaller, bearing a gray coat and large rosettes that made him look almost entirely like a snow leopard, if not for the fact that his coat was much shorter and his build not so compact and dense. "Who's that one?" The gray hybrid whispered, earning a shrug from his ruddy counterpart, "Dunno, Realgar. But Sun has him distracted. Come on!"