First entry

[homeless_pard]

The woman was falling. Backward. As if a moment ago she had been pressed tightly against a wall rather than passing through a door. Her fingers scrabbled at the air, then straightened in surprised shock as she felt nothing, nothing behind her

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[loyaltyinmotion]

Jason had come back to the strange hotel when he'd noticed that time seemed to pass differently in the hotel. And he had needed a break, so he was there, packed with some changes of clothes and ready to relax.

Seeing the woman's strange arrival made him turn curiously, but her terror-stricken escape through the door made him worry. Yeah, they were all disoriented when they got here, but the only ones that scared seemed to be people in trouble before they found themselves there.

And she was a shifter. Even more interesting.

Quietly, he rose and went to the room he'd found, grabbed a change of clothes, and ventured out after the strange leopard. It was harder to track in human form, but he did as best he could, wandering out away from the hotel.

[homeless_pard]

The pard seemed well versed in hiding. Her trail, such as it was, went cold at the first tree, and it was a wise man's bet that said she'd stayed far from the ground as much as she was able. In her mind, the precaution was bound to be worthwhile, even if these new hunters were as wily as her last, it would buy her precious time.

There was the bitter scent of exhaustion though, underlying the leopard and the fear before the path took to the trees. Utter, aching weariness that was inevitably catching up with Khemrys. The adrenaline was the only thing that had allowed her to flee at all...

...and when the trees gave way to desert suddenly, she nearly tripped over her own feet, the tree branch creaking ominously under her as she saved herself from falling. Despair hit her then, sudden and sharp. She had not the energy to go out into that. Not here, not now.

[loyaltyinmotion]

He can faintly scent that exhaustion and fear when he hits the treeline, but without shifting he can't even track where she might have gone. He sighs, peering into the trees.

"Hello?" he calls loudly, hoping she's still around to hear him. "Hey, I know you're probably pretty freaked out right now, but I'm not going to hurt you. You wanna talk, I'll be sitting back in that hotel over there."

He holds up the clothes to the unanswering trees. "Figured you might need some clothes to change into. When you're ready." He places the clothes neatly at the base of that first tree and turns, walking slowly but deliberately towards the hotel.

[homeless_pard]

She didn't hear him, but she did scent him when she came stumbling back toward the inn. Behind her by no more than a pard length, the trees were all falling away into desert sand. The landscape was changing, and she had no wish to be buried along with the foliage, so she'd allowed herself to be chased back.

Thankfully the tide of change seemed to stop at the brick walkway off the inn, but she didn't risk keeping her paws on the ground. Instead she slipped up into one of the window casements, fur pressed against the glass as her claws hooked firmly in the ancient brick. Given the chance to pause, to breath, that was when she scented him. A man...not bristling with aggression as a hunter would be...

...and his scent clung to a small pack that was...just out of reach in the sand. Her tail twitched tiredly as she eyed that target, curious despite herself.