milliways_bar | (no subject)

Something's already out there, this evening.

Nestled in a snowbank downwind of a clearing where the demon rabbits graze, are two bright green points of light.

It helps, of course, that the demon rabbits are red against the snow. They'll only get redder, once the cat has his meal.

The fact that some of the demon rabbits are bigger than the cat doesn't seem to have occurred to it.

The green-on-white attracts her notice, and she changes her course. She drops to a crouch a few yards back from the eyes, carefully keeping likewise downwind. (Wouldn't do to spoil things before they start, after all.)

Artemis has never seen demon rabbits before; this promises to be quite an introduction.

The small white shape, hidden against the white snow, turns its head to look at the newcomer.

The green eyes blink shut, rendering the cat nearly invisible, then reappear.

He hopes she is not planning on giving the game away. She carries herself like a hunter, at least, and is skilled at moving silently. He doesn't worry overmuch.

There is nothing in her gear that is likely to rattle or flash, and she is well practiced at staying very still.

She nods deeply toward the eyes, a sort of silent Carry on.

The eyes blink again, then return to watching the warren.

He chooses the large buck near the center of the group, easily half again the size of the cat.

It slinks forward a few paces, silent in the sound-deadening snow. When it is on the level with the rabbits, it feels the fur on its back ruffle.

The wind is changing direction. They'll smell him any second. Best not give them the time to react.

The cat leaps from its concealment. The rabbits scatter back towards the far edge of the clearing, but the cat is fast. It and the great buck it had targeted go tumbling as the cat pounces... no, tackles it.

Only the cat is left to get to its feet. The buck lies limp, its neck broken.

Impressive, for a cat--if it is a cat. Too many members of her family have worn animal shapes for her to be entirely willing to trust he eyes.

Regardless, it was a skillful hunt.

"Nicely done," she murmurs.

"Thank you," it says primly. The polite tone contrasts rather interestingly with the blood that stains the white fur bright crimson around claws and mouth as it eats.

She arches an eyebrow. Not (just) a cat, after all.

"Never seen rabbits like that before."

Demon rabbits are so very tasty. The demonic blood makes the meat naturally spicy.

"They're demon rabbits," he says, pulling at another piece of meat. "Lucifer created them." While drunk.

"Really?"

She looks intrigued. "Are there a lot of them here?"

"There'd be-" he swallows, "-more if they weren't thinned out, occasionally. It's a heathy warren."

"In the leaner months they sometimes grow bold and attack patrons. We try to make sure they keep a healthy fear of patrons."

"And I'm sure you do that very well," she says.

"Aside from being more aggressive, how else are they different from normal rabbits?"

Because if the little bastards breath fire or something, she'd rather not find out in the middle of a hunt.

"Well, they breathe fire, for one," he says.

Yrael's so helpful!

"And they are opportunistic hunters, hunting in a pack and overwhelming prey by sheer weight of numbers. They'll graze on grass when they can't bring anything more appetizing down."

He's a furry little font of information, and Artemis is ever so glad she asked.

"Can they climb at all?"

Possibly she has Ideas.

"No," he shakes his head (which also helps him pull off the next piece of meat). "Their claws are sharp, but not long enough for that."

She smiles.

"Poor them."

It was late, and she had been out to practice on the range earlier. She had been walking around with her own bow and arrows, and was surprised to see a figure heading toward the woods.

Hunting? She started to follow, just to make sure they were all right.

Artemis is a very difficult person to follow without being noticed. Still, she waits until she gets to the edge of the woods to turn.

She grins when she sees the the other woman's bow. "Hi."

She smiled back at her, glad to see a fellow archer.

"Hello, out for a walk or a hunt then? If you don't mind me asking?"

"A walk, mostly," she says.

"Brought these--" She jerks her head back, gesturing to her quiver. "--out of habit more than anything else. What about you?"

Kate nodded at that, "Not quite a habit yet. I just finished a late practice over by the range. I try to head out here at different times of the day so I can adjust my aiming and firing to any lighting and visibility conditions."

"Did you want to be alone, or mind some company for the walk? I'm Kate Bishop, by the way," she then offered her hand out.

"I was out there a few days ago myself; haven't fired in the cold for a while."

She takes Kate's hand, shaking it. "Company sounds nice, Kate. I'm Artemis, pleased to meet you."

Kate listened, and her head tilted to the side, catching the name as she dropped her hand away again. "Pleasure to meet you, too, and thank you. That's a Greek name right?" Her blue eyes flickered over curiously.

"Mhm," she says.

"I was born there."

"I haven't been, but I think my father's been out that way on business before. Beautiful country I've heard. You were named after the goddess, or...?" More glances toward the bow. There were a few figures in her world too after all.

"It's wonderful, especially the islands."

She grins, a little nervousness in the expression. "Am the goddess, actually."

She nodded, and gave her a long look, "...I thought so. There's a few deities in my world. There used to be Thor, and Hercules was one of the heroes I fought alongside recently in the war back home. That just finished... I think?" The ending of it was odd and confusing.

Artemis looks intrigued. She knows her little brother likes a good fight, but it's been a long time since he used his real name while he was at it.

"Sounds like quite the place."

"Superheroes, mutants, and aliens, among others. Yes."

It's an interesting world.

"You've got aliens?"

Artemis doesn't sound so much disbelieving as possibly...envious.

She nodded and smiled, thinking of Teddy, "One's a good friend of mine, though he only found out about it recently himself."

Artemis blinks in surprise.

"Whoa. Hell of a thing to wake up to."

"More like someone from home showed up to kidnap him, killed the woman who raised him as her own, AND told him. It was very rude and horrible awakening if anything."

Artemis lacks any better response than

"Well, shit."

Kate nodded grimly, "Not only that, but son to two warring alien empires. Who almost started a war on Earth over him."

She remarked, "I understand my world's stranger than some around here."

She nods slowly.

"Sounds like his family's got mine beat for ridiculousness."

"Maybe. Uh, how true are some of the stories said about your family?"

She smiles wryly.

"A lot of them are pretty true. Any in particular you want to check?"

"Well... might be a little personal. Um, I could sort of understand how you took care of that pervert who was watching you bathe once? Though I wouldn't have been quite that harsh. Just strung him up somewhere naked with my arrows probably. And let a lot of people know about it."

"Actaion."

She sighs.

"If I had it to do over, I can't swear that I wouldn't have killed him, but I was younger and a lot more paranoid then. I wasn't sure he'd be content to stop with watching."

It was--and still is, sometimes--easier to act first and think about consequences later.

Shadowed glance at that, "I don't think it's being paranoid. Sometimes they don't just watch." She didn't have enough time to act first.

Brooklyn likes it out back. He grew up in Scotland originally, even though that was the rough coast far away from the mountains. He loves New York, but some sort of real nature instead of the cityscape is a welcome change.

He is perched up in a high branch of a particularly fine evergreen over looking the lake at the moment. Simply watching his breath turn into steam and enjoying the quiet. He doesn't get to enjoy quiet very often these days.

In the course of her walk, Artemis ends up pausing beneath said evergreen. Maybe she hears something, or maybe she's just curious; either way, she looks up.

Well, now. Never seen anybody like him before.

"Hello up there!"