Adventure Is Out There (Open)

He did ramble a little, but she enjoyed listening to him speak. It kept the attention off herself and her past. Was it hypocritical that she wanted to know about others but not have them know about her? Yes. She thought. But if they don't mind sharing, whether they gain knowledge in return or not, it's their choice. He was a bear, she kept telling herself, so he wouldn't know about the war. About me. But at the same time he was still a Bellator to this clan. He answered only to the Regina and her close companions when they spoke with her authority. The Regina of course had already seen both her forms, but didn't know why she was so loathe to shift between her forms. Blake hadn't spoken to the Regina since the border a week ago, but the impression left implied that Eden had no love for the lioness. It was a shame. All Blake could do was keep her distance until either she was summoned or they crossed paths by chance. For now there was a grizzly to placate. She gave him her best feline smile. "Well, hugging a panda, or really any bear, I have to admit is something I've never done. Something about claws in my back just isn't all that appealing." She chuckled, passing it off as a joke. If only. Claws were just one of the weapons to have made the scars she bore.

"Lions are built for the heat of the savannah, so our coats are short and rough. They do the job, keeping us warm when we need it and protecting us to some degree. What it's like to be a feline, well. There's so much that differs between the species, so I can tell you what I know about lions. We stick together, work together with our natural instincts. The bond between pride members is indescribable. You're so close to one another you could easily predict how someone is going to move in a hunt. Raising cubs - from what I know of the wild lions - is very communal. Everyone helps, everyone shares. Lions aren't flexible or good at climbing like leopards and tigers, but we take care of one another." That was why her father couldn't kill her. A male lion would never hurt his own offspring, it was detrimental to the survival of his genes. A male would only kill the young of a rival. But still, no love was lost on him. "As for food..." She trailed a moment, once more thinking of a delicious hamburger. Something meaty would be good. "We're carnivores, meat eaters. We love our red meat, or certainly I do. In the Serengeti a Pride would hunt antelope - they're like the african deer, but there's all different kinds - or sometimes zebra. Did you mean human food or hunting wild? Hunting wild I prefer zebra. There's just something terribly delicate and delicious about the meat. But if you meant human, I would have to go with hamburgers. Because it's meaty and delicious and customisable." Now she was rambling of course. So she redirected the conversation back to him. "What about you? Any particular food you'd choose to eat for the rest of your life?"

"If I am to be completely honest... felines sound like the much better family. Bears are mostly solitary creatures. We live with our moms for the first year of our lives and then we wander our own directions. If I were a real bear, I would have never met my father. Luckily, kinda, for me I am a Shifter. I get the best of both worlds.." he said as his tone kind of escaped from his lips. "I can tell you that I will honestly eat anything you give me. I am a consumer of anything which is related to food. If it is meat, I will eat it. Berries, I adore them. Lettuce is kinda lame, but with the right salad dressing... perfect!" He kissed his fingers and opened them to the world. He smiled to her and ate more berries, careful not to be rude again. When he finished, he was asked a question in return. What was his favorite food? "See, now that in itself is a very hard question for one who loves food as much as I do. There are many dishes, both rare and cooked, I enjoy. I love a good strip of steak, raw or even seasoned to perfection and grilled with lines and all. But I also love fish, only raw though. Cooked fish has a strange texture to it. But candy is amazing! Chocolate is probably, no... I like Twizzlers as well, that artificial cherry taste.. It's too damn good." Thinking of food was making his mouth really water. He wanted more than just berries. "So, why don't you shift to your human shell? I mean, you are gorgeous as a lioness, but surely you must be as gorgeous as a human as well..."

In her experience, life as a lion hinged upon whose offspring you were. You survived so long as your parents did. It might've been different once you came of age, but Blake never got to see that side of things. War had broken out long before then. She spent her eighteenth locked in a dungeon and her twenty-first as a prisoner of war in the enemy camp. This bear it seemed had a history of his own with war. But his history revolved around the tales she heard over the years. The war between humans and all other species had claimed his childhood. He didn't say it, but the way Kenai spoke about his father suggested that the older bear was no longer of this earth. She wanted to comfort him, but what words could make it any better? Her brain could not think of any, so none were said. Yuck, berries. The lioness stuck her tongue out in distaste. Berries contained too much chance. Some were delicious and nutritious, but many held death i their juicy folds. But her grin was angelic as he rambled his love for food, it was a funny trait about him. One she had heard of in the human world. So many humans who claimed one food or another was their vice, that they always gave in to an offer of it. For some reason pizza was the most common. She didn't get it. "I don't shift because I don't want to. I've spent too many years as a human. I might as well enjoy what time I can as a lioness," the lie was smooth and almost undetectable. Of course she did enjoy time in her primal form, but she chose not to shift out of paranoia. Sadly, the girl was oblivious to his flirtatious attempts.

Continuing to enjoy the sweet berries, Kenai never took his silver stare off of her. The moonlight painted beautifully across her back. She was a very stunning creature. "I can understand where you are coming from, but it is important as Shifters to love both of our forms. One will keep is safe around the humans, while the other will protect us from the wilds. In my years, I have lived both forms separately and never together until I moved here. For the first many years of my life, I lived and acted as a true Grizzly Bear. I lived with one female and she was my mate. We had a life together, but some hunters decided to kill her, using her pelt as a trophy. I could not save her then. After losing both my family and my mate, I devised a plan to get into the human ranking system of their military. I forged fake documentation such as a birth certificate and school records, and submitted myself into the human education system. I was a Senior in high school. I trained myself to keep one form at all times, never allowing anyone to know the truth. I made human friends, but one stood above all the rest. He was my best friend, the first and only I have ever had. We played football together on the varsity team and had many parties to celebrate our good fortune. After graduating high school and earning our diplomas, he and I enlisted into the army. But shortly after our basic training, between the time in which we were going to specialty schooling, a war broke out with the Werewolves. We, as new troops, were forced to get our battle gear and were sent to our deaths. I was not ready and neither was my best friend. He was killed by a werewolf, beheaded by the evil creature and I could not save him. I lost all control and shifter to my bear form. I killed the werewolf, decapitating it and ran from the humans. I don't know if they ever learned the truth about me, or if my form was protected by the tides of war... But from all this, I learned to love both parts of me, for without one I am incomplete, but when I embrace both, I am whole. As Kenai finished his speech, he looked to her with a smile. He had not meant to go so deep into his story, but it happened and he could not retract it now. He popped some more berries into his mouth and are them, waiting for her response.

His tale was grim, as she had predicted, but far worse than she might have thought. "I'm sorry that you have had such experiences. But you seem the stronger for them, if it is possible to take any solace from that. And you're right, we do need to learn to love both sides of ourselves. If we can't, then why do we call ourselves shifters? But there are those who believe otherwise. That one side is more dominant than the other, more powerful. There always have been and there always will be." Of course her own clan had not been this way. They had utilised both the human and primal forms, they often referred to themselves as the true shifters. But some had passed through their lands when they were younger. Cats who believed they needed to live solely as animals: wild and untamed. In the human world she learned that shifters were thought of as unnatural beasts who needed to be eradicated. In the human world there was always a necessity for disguise, even when you were human. As a shifter, her disguise was her human form and she used it well. One had to adapt to survive. Part of that adaptation was to remain human for a long time. It had been so long that up until a week ago, she'd been worried she'd forgotten how to shift. Her fears were groundless though. She'd managed to shift for the Regina, and once again this evening. His speech made her want to shift to her human form for him. And she came so close. Her chest tightened in anticipation of the shift. But she couldn't. She wouldn't. The fear was too strong. She released the breath and turned her head away, unable to meet his silver gaze.

"It was a learning experience and without it, I would not be the Shifter I so proudly am today. Look, I understand not wanting to shift because you had lived one way for so long. But this here is your people. You are among friends and possibly even family. None of the creatures here will ever want to harm you. Everyone is all very nice it seems. And understanding. But I'm probably the nicest guy around here." he joked as he popped more berries into his mouth. He chewed then with a closed smile, not flashing any teeth to be considered rude. "Well, it's getting pretty late and all, it was nice meeting you, Blake. And I hope to see you around sometime, maybe in your human form.." He flashed a quick smile and headed from the area, moving back to his den. He hoped his words would encourage her to open up and just accept the fact she would live both skins equally here. Nobody needed to hide any form away. Especially not one who's primal side was so stunning.