These Aren't My Woods (Open)

[Lin Wu]

Night had fallen in Ammon as she flew home back to her cottage hidden in the woods. It had been a long day of hunting with Valerie and had left her exhausted. It had been a successful hunt and she had caught a few deer and a buck. Valerie had suggested it would have been interesting to have a competition in human form to see who could catch the biggest buck. Of course it would have given Valerie an advantage since she was better at a bow and arrow than her, but it had been fun. In the end she won, but only by a slight margin.

Reaching her cottage she shifted into her human form and went inside. The cottage was the one her parents had raised her in. Oh how she missed her parents, but she promised that she would do her part in trying to stop the war. Finding her bed she crashed in it and fell asleep. Tomorrow she would speak with the council about Draetrialis and his irresponsibility in the neutral territory.

Sunlight rained down on her and the sounds of the woods seemed louder for some reason. Almost like she was outside her cottage. That was odd, she wasn't the type to sleepwalk. Opening her eyes she found herself outside in the woods, but these weren't the woods she lived in. The smells were different and made her nose twitch. Twitch? Her nose didn't twitch in her dragon form or her human form. Standing up she realized that what had been her hands were now black paws. Turning so she could see the rest of her body she found a fluffy orange tail. A fox!? How did she become a fox!? She shook her head, there was no way this was real. This had to be a dream! She tried shifting into her human form or her dragon form, but to no avail.

The sound of rustling and twigs caused her ears to swivel towards the source of the noise. Ugh, this would take getting used to. The sound could have been anything, but the only thought in her head was that it could possibly be something dangerous to her. Looking around she found some undergrowth near a tree and darted towards it. It felt so weird being this short. Once she was safely hidden she stared at the spot where she heard the disturbance.

[Charlise Aura]

Padding through the woods, Charlise came through a gap between the trees. It was still weird to wake up in fur and walk on all fours as a bear, seriously it was bad enough during her Harrowing with a Demon who pretended to be a Mage who died during their Harrowing who could change into a mouse and then learned to change into a bear.

Charlise tried to place her hand on her head but wobbled and then remembered that she needed all four of her paws in order to stand, let alone walk.

Taking a sniff of the air made Charlise stop. Since meeting Ruppo, Charlise had learned which creatures smelled like what but what she smelled was different. Slightly fox but also Human...... And something that she had no idea what to call. Bending her head a little, Charlise called out. "Hello? You can come out... I'm not going to hurt you...." She stated, hoping that whoever it was could understand.

[Lin Wu]

The smell hit her before the voice did. Why did it have to be a bear of all things? Running into a bear were just as bad as running into any hunters with traps and bows and arrows. She had seen fox furs being sold in market stalls before. Normally she could just shift into her dragon form and scare the bear away, but now she was much smaller and practically helpless. Goodness, that bear could probably swallow her in one bite if it wanted to! However there was another scent to this bear… Human? Why would a bear smell human?

She peeked out and looked at the bear. Yup, that bear was definitely bigger than her by far. However it didn't look aggressive at all and the tone of the bear's voice calmed her. Apparently being a fox meant she could understand other woodland creatures. "Who are you? Where am I?" she asked not moving from her hiding spot. She still didn't trust the bear enough to go out into the open, but this bear could know where she was and how to possibly get home. She hoped Valerie wouldn't miss her. In the worst-case scenario Valerie would go looking for her! But Valerie couldn't possibly do that; she had to lead the Ammon troops.

Looking at the bear, she figured that if she wanted to get home she would have to deal with this situation first.

[Charlise Aura]

Charlise heard the voice and smiled a little before she lied down onto the ground so that she was more level with the traveller whom she suspected the fox to be. "My name is Charlise..... And don't let the fur fool you.... I'm Human, a traveller like you...." She first answered before going further.

"As to where we are..... We are in the Woodlands area of some sort of sub-dimensional place which I believe is called the Extensions.... Though I am not entirely certain of that, I have only been in one other place since coming to this land...." She tried to answer but she didn't really have a clue. "And... Who are you dear?"