The sun beams were dancing through the leaves as Regan walked through the woods solemnly. She looked down at the blood that covered her furry hands and her heart filled with dread. She hated that she had to kill in order to keep her feral mind at bay, and thus hated herself even more. “Monster…” she muttered under her breath as she continued along through the woods.

There had to be some place she could clean up. The sight and smell of the stag’s blood was starting to turn her stomach. She started scanning the woods for some place to wash up when a breeze blew through and ruffled her fur. The breeze carried the musty smell of frogs and reeds, there was a pond nearby. Regan followed the scent until she found the small pool of water and sighed, “Well this will have to do.”

She shrugged off her back pack and tossed it on the ground before she knelt down next to the murky water. She rummaged through her bag until she found a small hand mirror, sighing as she held it up to her face. Her fur was matted up with dried blood all around her mouth and pink, feline nose. Even her bright red hair was stuck to her facial fur. She tried to gently pull it free with a clawed finger but winced as it tugged on her cheek fur. “God, I’m a mess!” she exclaimed, her Irish accent was a little thicker than usual. She put down the mirror and dipped her hands into the cool water.

Vicente had been practicing. Really…he had. Now may not exactly look like it though. The young chimera, ever since learning of his strange abilities after waking up in a haze of amnesia, had been attempting to practice. After he accidentally shifted the first time in a fit of rage, Vicente had been hoping to channel his abilities better. The first time he tried to force himself to shift, he only achieved a migraine. But he was slowly getting better at it! And almost able to hold it for longer! That had to be progress.

But there was an issue with Vicente’s abilities that the chimera never really thought of, or even realized was possible.

Today he had decided to push his powers to the limit. Vicente had discovered that he could shift the limbs of his body into corresponding animal parts. He was not entirely sure how these animal parts were chosen, but it was a rather intriguing end result. He could shift one arm into an octopus tentacle, the other in a tiger’s forearm, and lastly he could shift his head into that of a bear! It was pretty awesome but he still struggled with the finer mechanics of it.

(Not to mention…it hurt like hell!)

So today, the young man had ventured to push himself. He found a nice, shady wood that was not far behind the mansion, trudged out into its depths, and shifted.

The pain that rang with the sounds of cracking and reshaping bones echoed so loudly in his ears that Vicente thought for sure he was going to go deaf. He cried and growled, feeling as soft fur crept out of his pores while his nose elongated into a muzzle. Before long, Vicente found himself, exhausted, and leaning up against a tree. But the pain from his experience soon melted away as he found himself bombarded by his senses.

Lifted his soft, black nose into the air, Vicente took a deep breath and immediately felt overwhelmed. He smelled so much! The grass, the trees, the leaves, the insects, the animals, everything both near and far were all around him. The chimera was actually awestruck by the experience that he really considered just staying this way from now on.

Unfortunately, a downfall to his mutation was that he couldn’t keep these shifts for long without degrading to certain…instincts. Despite the allure of his enhanced senses with his bear head, he suddenly began to feel more base. He sniffed at the interesting air, wanted to delve deeper into the greenery, and all thoughts of his plush bed in the girl’s wing of the mansion were drifting away and being only phantoms of memories.

It was not long after this that Vicente was soon stalking through the woods, following the smell of freshly killed game. The blood in the air was like a beacon, followed by the cleansing, cool smell of water. The combination was too much to resist.

Instinct taking over, Vicente stalked closer and closer until he could practically smell the water on top of his nose. He peered through the brush and sniffed at the heavenly aroma before he leaned down and dunked his muzzle into the cool liquid. He drank deeply.

The scenario would have looked odd to any passerby. The 6’1, muscular eighteen year old, in a clawed at, ripped up muscle tee, black jeans, and possessing the head of grizzly bear. But such thoughts were beyond Vicente right now. Instead…all he could focus on was the cool drink he required…

Regan sighed heavily as she tried to wash the dark red blood off of her paw like hands. She scooped up the cool water, some dribbling off the sides of her hands, and splashed her face. She ran one hand over her tired tigress face, the fur now moist and dripping with red water.

Seeing that this wasn’t going to do, and she needed to change her clothes, Regan stood up. Her sleek and well-toned feline form suited her. She bent over and started to unlace and remove her black combat boots. Slipping them off her fur covered feet, she let out another heavy sigh; she hated this.

Regan had just started to unbutton her black, blood stained jeans when she heard a horrible scream nearby. Her head shot up and the scream turned into a growl. Her pierced feline ears flicked forward in the direction of the sounds, her heart started to pound rapidly in her chest, panic was setting in.

Regan quickly looked for a place to hide. Her emerald eyes darted around the pond, looking for any place she could go. Finally her eyes spotted a large tree, she dashed to it, her sharp claws gripped the bark and she climbed up it in a few seconds. She found a large branch to perch on as she waited for whatever was coming her way.

Her heart still pounding like a drum in her chest, she watched as a large man came towards the pond, but he was huffing like an animal. She leaned down a bit to get a better look and let out a soft gasp; the man had the head of a bear and was drinking from the pool of water. She tried to stay motionless in the tree as she watched with curiosity. She wondered what had happened to him, his shirt was all torn and shredded, and she prayed he didn’t smell the blood on her.

He drank deep and he drank good. The water was so cool and refreshing that Vicente really didn’t want to stop but as soon as his thirst was alleviated, he stopped and pulled his muzzle out of the water. Thick lines of water dribbled back down into the pond while Vicente licked water off his nose and fur. He had barely straightened up when his nose instantly caught that whiff of blood again. He turned sharply, trying to find the source of this scent

Slowly he moved around the edge of the pond, powerful nose relating to him all the information from the world around him. Animals, blood, grass, all of it was infiltrating his nostrils so that he could get a full layout of what was around.

It was then that he caught a completely different smell. A scent of something particular…the scent of another predator!

Instantly he felt the fur on his face rise up. A small swelling of fear rose in his heart as he tried to identify what this scent was of. What creature would be in this territory with such a strong and distinctive scent? Did he wander into another predator’s territory on accident? If he did, he was going to have to defend himself, especially if this creature proved to be a threat! Vicente was not about to give up an excellent water source and show signs of being weak!

A rumbling in his chest, he sharply turned and began to follow the scent more closely. The blood was drying but he could follow it as if it had been spilled only a second ago. Sniff…Sniff…Sniff… the predator had to be around somewhere. The scent was so close now that he cou—

BUMP![/b]

Vicente paused when his nose bumped into the harsh bark of a tree. Shaking his head and pawing at his nose, Vicente growled slightly before he shook off the bit of bark that stuck to his muzzle. Free of the intrusive bark, Vicente was focused enough to caught the scent even stronger. It obviously wasn’t the tree that was the predator though. Leaning against it, he sniffed it more, moving his gaze upward and sniffing towards the branches of the tree.

Up there?

He growled…

Regan tried to sit as silently as she could in the tree, which wasn’t easy with her heart pounding like it was going to explode from her chest at any moment. Her sparkling emerald eyes stayed locked onto the Bear-man?….. Were bear?…… Bear…… Thing?

She was starting to feel a small sense of relief as he finished his drink. That was so shortly lived as he picked up the sent of her bloody body once again. Regan quietly cursed in Celtic and tried to move up a few more branches to get out of sight.

“Damn it to all hell.” she whispered to herself as the large man moved his way closer to the tree, he was tracking her. She wasn’t going to get out of this without a plan.

She quickly tried to study her opponent. He was roughly 6 feet tall, and very built. She was a mere 5’6, but she was lean and muscular as well; not to mention the added bonus of her feline mutation. She at least stood a chance, she hoped.

The tree gave a small shake as it was bumped into by the bear. Regan’s long, stripped tail twitched to keep her balance on the branch and she dug her claws in for added support. As the bear was moving his soft, black nose up the tree, Regan knew this was the only chance at the upper hand she was going to get.

With a roar, the white tigress leapt from her perch, head first. Her paw like hands landed in the nooks of the bear’s collar bones. The force of her pounce knocked him to the ground with a loud THUD!

She then leapt off of his form and moved behind him, landing on all fours. She faced him, her green stripes more noticeable in the open light. Her dark green tank top and black jeans clung to her toned body, though they were more of a brownish red in colour at this point. There she stayed, her sleek form matted by dry blood, ready to pounce with a long, angry tail whipping around behind her.

The smell was so foreign to Vicente that he could hardly make the connection to what it was. It was so mixed in with the blood smell that he was having a hard time keeping his focus. All he wanted to do was find out what this predator was. All he really needed to do was show his strength. If the creature was intimidated enough then it could just move on and leave the watering hole and this territory to him. That was all Vicente wanted. Then there wouldn’t have to be a fight and they could co-exist.

But one never knew with other predatory animals. His instincts were telling him that this creature was going to prove to be far more difficult than he wanted it to be.

Despite that, he was not going to back down. He sniffed again into the tree, trying to lean upwards and get a better whiff of the creature.

RAWWWRRR!![/b]

Momentarily startled, Vicente backed down half a second, but soon he was met with a crushing weight that slammed into his shoulders and forced him back down into the ground. With a bellowing roar of pain and surprise, Vicente stumbled down onto the ground, snarling and lashing at the grass as the predator (which he could now identify from the scent on top of him) pressed down onto his back. But then, just as suddenly as the weight appeared, it was gone. Still smelling the creature’s presence, Vicente scrambled up to his feet.

Growling deep in his throat, he turned sharply to the other predator. He saw a white furred beast, female, with dangerous looking claws, sharp eyes, and a wildly thrashing tail. Its own fur on edge, Vicente knew instantly that the creature was a threat and probably territorial. He would have to intimidate it as best he could.

Standing to his full, tall height, Vicente growled as he held out his arms to make himself as big as possible. Fingers arched, he leaned forward and bellowed out another thunderous bear roar as loud, as fierce, and as bone shaking as he could. He was not going to be pushed off this territory! Not by anyone! He would defend it with a show of strength!

Regan kept her eyes fixed on the bear headed man as he scrambled to his feet. She could see he was NOT happy with what she had done, but what else could she have done? She wasn’t about to get eaten by a bear, man, thing.

She took in a deep breath and made note of his scent, it was such an odd mixture. She smelt a man, and the bear, but there was more there and she just couldn’t place it, which made her head tilt.

Her deep contemplation was suddenly interrupted by the loud, blood curdling roar from the bear. The show of power was impressive, and she flattened down her pierced feline ears as flat as she could onto her bright red hair. Her sensitive ears were ringing from the roar and she had to shake her head a few times to get it to stop.

“God! How did I get into this mess?” she shouted out, though directed to herself. Her Irish accent was on the thicker side then usual, it always did get thicker when she was upset. Maybe she could reason with him, all she wanted was to get washed up and change her clothes so she could move on.

Regan kept her form, she looked like a football linesman ready to pounce. She crouched down slightly though, making her already small frame look even smaller. “Look.” she said in a firm but sweet tone, “I just want to get this crap off of me. Please, don’t make me have to hurt you just to take a bath in some dirty water!”

She could feel the sabre tooth pressing on her mind, it so badly wanted to come out and play. It took her so much restraint to hold it back, and the strain was visible on her furry face. “Please…”. Her voice was pleading, she couldn’t hold back the beast much longer.

Vicente was being challenged! That was the only way he could interpret the scene as the female creature stared at him from across the way. It hissed and snarled, tail swiping left and right, seemingly egging him on to attack her. He was not going to back down from this prime sound of water and the fresh scent of game in the air. There was just no way that he was going to allow another predator to just shove him aside!

>> “Look…I just want to get this crap off of me. Please, don’t make me have to hurt you just to take a bath in some dirty water!”

It growled and snarled at him. Though the woman may think she was saying words, Vicente was actually catching little of it. He only saw the fangs in her mouth and the seeming need to keep low and in a position that just screamed of attack. Never once did it cross his mind that she was on the defense or that he was the wrong one in his assumptions. This was his territory…he thought. If not he would make it his own by any means necessary. Even if that meant defending it.

But as he snarled and left out another bellowing roar, he made ready to make the first move when--

>> “Please…”

The voice. The pleading tone. That was probably the only thing that managed to snake its way into Vicente’s mind. It ignited the form human core that he had and suddenly he felt flooded with information: words, sentences, phrases, memories of waking up in an alley with no clue as to who he was. That was right, he wasn’t an animal, he was a human being! He was a mutant! And apparently he had carried things too far!

Trying his best to cling onto those thoughts, Vicente staggered back, forcing down the instinct in him that told him he needed to defend the water source. He was not an animal…he was not an animal…he was not an animal…

With a gasp, the bear-headed man pushed himself back against the tree looked around with his wide, bear eyes. Catching sight of the woman, seeing the dried blood on her, he instantly began to fear for the worst. Had he attacked her?

“M-M-Miss? A-Are you okay?” he asked, trying to force words through the longer bear muzzle. It was always so difficult to talk with the bear’s head. “Did I hurt you?” came out his gruff, deep voice, tinged with genuine concern.

At the sound of another horrifying roar from the bear, Regan cowered, closed her eyes and braced for an attack. She knew by that point, no matter how much fighting she was doing in her own mind, the sabre tooth would take over and defend her.

She waited, and waited, and waited. What was most likely only thirty seconds felt like an hour. She hadn’t been attacked yet, but why not? Did she get through to the bear? She opened her eyes and looked up.

The bear was backing down. She watched him intently, her emerald eyes flicking over his large form as he took each step back. He looked confused, and when he hit the tree, she flinched a little. She did hope he was alright.

She took in a deep breath of relief as he started to speak to her. She had done it, she got through! She collapsed backwards onto her rump, and brought her knees up in front of her. She placed her fur covered arms on her knees to rest, her hands dangling down between them.

Regan shook her feline head softly while looking at the ground. “I don’t know if I’m ok.” she said with a soft Irish voice. “But you didn’t hurt me.” She started to laugh nervously “You sure did scare the bajeebus out of me though!”

She was panting softly, still trying to calm the beast that was brewing inside her head. Finally she looked up at the bear-headed man with concern in her large feline eyes, “I didn’t hurt you did I?” she was referring to when she had knocked him over. “I’m sorry if I did.”

Vicente’s bear eyes were full of concerned as he looked at the mutant, which he now deduced was female by her body shape. She was a feline mutant with dry, matted blood all over her. For a moment he thought that he had actually attacked her! He couldn’t believe how out of body he was just now. All he wanted to do was tear her apart for being in a territory that he wanted to claim! How was that for just sick and twisted?

He could never apologize enough, or forgive himself if he had hurt someone else you didn’t deserve it. As a matter of fact, he was about to step over to make sure she was okay when she finally did respond.

>> “I don’t know if I’m ok. But you didn’t hurt me…You sure did scare the bajeebus out of me though!”

Exhausted, but thankful, he leaned back against the tree again. He breathed deeply as he thought about what had just happened, trying to piece together everything inside of his head. It was hard because everything was such a jumble. When the bear instincts took over, he lost all rational thought, at least human rational thought. Instead he was purely focused on instinct and that was something hard to recall. He got images, sounds, scents, but that was it. Nothing really concrete.

But her admittance that she was fine, and the look of the dried blood backed up her point, he breathed in relief. He didn’t hurt anyone. It was close though. Very close.

>> “I didn’t hurt you did I? I’m sorry if I did.”

“Huh?” he straightened up and looked across to the were-cat.

The woman was actually concerned for him? Why? Then he felt the soreness of his shoulders and remembered something had landed on him. It was her, wasn’t it? He smirked a little (which probably looked funny for a bear), and shook his head.

“OH, um, I’m okay,” he said with a confirming nod. “My, ugh, head’s still a little loopy but, you know, the shoulders are fine.” A deep sigh and he sniffed the air. The scent of blood was still heavy. He glanced back to her. “Well, if I didn’t hurt you, are you okay? That’s, um, an awful lot of blood.”

Regan watched the bear-headed man as he leaned back onto the tree she was once perched in. He had a puzzled look on his features and she tilted her head like she was trying to figure it out with him. She eventually gave up and just let out a hefty sigh, she had her own things to figure out, like how she was going to get out of this mess she got into.

Her head shot up when she heard him start to speak. She watched him trying to figure out what she was talking about, and then saw what looked like a smirk cross her muzzle. It made her smile.

When he replied that he was alright, she sighed happily. She never wanted to hurt him, she just wanted an escape route, and since she was up a tree, down was the only way.

Regan stood up as he asked where all the blood was from. Looking down at her clothes, she noticed her jeans were still unbuttoned. She quickly buttoned them back up and brushed a strand of her bright red hair out of her face shyly. “Oh, um, I kind of ate a stag. None of its mine, I swear.”

She was so embarrassed. She wished she could just crawl under a rock and vanish; she couldn’t even look the bear-headed man in the face. Regan stared at her toes instead, and tried to make small talk. “So, um, what are you doing out here?”

She hated herself for running into someone looking like this. She felt like a monster most days, walking around like a giant cat. But this on top of it all? A blood covered, beast. She was hurting on the inside, but she wouldn't show it. Regan quickly whiped the fresh tears from her eyes and shook it off. She had to be strong right now.

Vicente’s eyes were still full of concern. He would have hated to think that he could harm anyone while he was some mindless beast. That apparently was a drawback to his powers. Despite just having to deal with the pain of his pains snapping and reshaping, he also had to worry about losing his damn mind whenever he turned into an animal. It was a cold slap of water to the face that he was going to have to learn to deal with.

Looking back over to the woman, he watched as she started to make a more leisure posture. That was good. At least the tension between them was beginning to wane. The last thing he wanted was to make her even more suspicious of him. He didn’t need another enemy in this world.

Especially considering that he didn’t really know how many he already had.

Visibly a bit more comfort he watched as the woman started to explain the blood all over her. God, he really hoped that she didn’t just come back from killing someone…

>> “Oh, um, I kind of ate a stag. None of its mine, I swear.”

Sigh of relief! Getting bloodied up by food was far better than ripping someone open and eating their still beating heart! That at least was some explanation. And, now that he thought of it, when he caught a good whiff of her, the blood did smell more animal than human-like. At least that corroborated her story some.

>> “So, um, what are you doing out here?”

And alas the conversation had to switch back to him. It was not that he didn’t want to introduce himself, it was just that he had so little to say. With no memories, it was had to really come up with conversation material. But, if she was taking a chance by letting down her guard, maybe it was best that he did too.

Scratching his furry bear muzzle, Vicente placed his arms behind his back and leaned against the tree again. He really was just trying to look more casual to put them both at ease.

“I…am having some troubles with my abilities,” he said with a shrugged. “I kinda just learned a few months ago that, you know, I’m one of you guys. So I was out practicing when I guess I just lost control. I didn’t mean to scare you the way I did. Guess the instinct is a little hard to get past some times.”

Regan smiled softly as the man sighed an obvious sigh of relief when she told him what happened. That smile quickly left her feline face as she realized she must have looked like a total monster, once again. Her heart was so heavy with emotion, why did she have to be this beastly creature? Why couldn’t she have just been normal?

Watching the man lean against the tree and relax himself, made her relax a little more. She tried to take a more relaxed posture herself, but there wasn’t anything to lean on near her. She shifted her weight onto her back leg and put her hands in her jean pockets.

Regan listened intently as the man spoke to her about his powers. Her heart went out to him; she understood so well how he felt. To lose control of the human, to give in to the beast, to let go and just let the simple mind take you away. It seemed so simple to do, to just live carefree, without consequence, to let nature take over. But with a human mind and heart, there was the guilt and worry of hurting someone, and it was so painful to think about.

“Trust me; I know exactly how you feel.” Regan had always been a mutant, from her first memories as a child, she had been a cat. She didn’t know much about herself. Where she was from, how old she was, it was all a mystery to her. She knew she was roughly 20 years old, but it could be give or take in either direction. “It is good to practice though.” She smiled softly at the man, “I need to practice too.”

>> “Trust me; I know exactly how you feel.”

Vicente smirked. He had no doubt about that. Just one look at the very pretty werecat/woman and he was fairly certain that she had something more feral about her. One couldn’t look the way she did, have the mutation she did, and get away from it unscathed. That just didn’t make sense when compared to the mutants that he had run into lately. There seemed to be a commonality between certain powers, at least that he noticed.

But, he smiled knowingly at her. It was not easy for those with mutations on the more…animal side of things. At least that was one thing the two could connect on.

Ouch, though. The soreness in the back of his head; what was that all about? Shaking his grizzly head around, he tried to refocus on the woman. But the pain was growing just a tad more intense.

>> “It is good to practice though…I need to practice too.”

He smirked, nodded, and tried to stay in the conversation. Quickly, though, he was failing at it. Looking just a tad sick, Vicente pressed his back against the tree and slowly began to move down until he was sitting again. A small growl escaping his lips, he held his head, running his fingers through the short fur.

“Ugh, man, hurts…” he muttered. What was happening?

SNAP!

He hissed as he felt something in his head crack and snap. It was a sound he knew but he didn’t try to force it, so why was it happening? CRACK! He growled again as he held his head. It was happening…he was shifting back. Bones popped and reshaped themselves in front of his new friend. His skull visibly began to reshape itself, his muzzle disappearing, the fur sinking back into his pores. It must have been a disturbing sight for anyone unprepared.

Before long, after a painful and disgusting sounding shift, a human head was in place where a bear head once was. Dark, tan skin, deep brown eyes, and a closely shaven head was Vicente’s true human guise. He could only hope that he didn’t freak the woman out.

Blinking, and touching his own face, he was sighed. It was tender.

He once against raised his gaze to the woman.

“S-Sorry…”

Regan was really starting to enjoy this conversation. To be able to talk to someone who knew how she felt when the beast took over her mind was like a breath of fresh air. It made her feel just a little less alone in the world. She smiled at him and brushed another pesky strand of vibrant red hair out of her face. Not having human ears to tuck it behind made it a constant issue.

The bear smiled back at her before shaking his head and smirking again. He was starting to look a little off and she wondered if he was alright. She was just about to ask him when he backed into the tree and slid down it holding his head. Her dark green eyes filled with concern and she bit her lower lip as he spoke about the pain he was feeling.

Suddenly she heard the popping and snapping. She knew what was happening and she could see it was very painful. She ran over as he started to growl out in pain. Kneeling in front of him, she reached out to touch him, but pulled her hand back. As the fur started to recede and the muzzle disappeared, she placed her hand on his knee. She gave it a soft squeeze, she didn’t change this violently, but her body reformed itself as well and it was very uncomfortable. She wanted to be there for him.

Regan sat silently by her new friend’s side. She watched as the bear vanished and the human head appeared before her very eyes. Part of her was jealous that he could be human, but her concern was greater. She thought he was quite handsome, ok she thought he was very handsome, and that made her quite shy. She looked at the ground a moment until she heard him apologize.

Her dark green eyes locked with his deep brown ones and she smiled softly at him. “Shhhh, don’t be sorry. It’s ok, I’m here.”

Regan gave his knee another reassuring squeeze; her eyes still filled with concern. “Are you alright? Do you need anything?” she searched his face for answers as she spoke, her voice was soft and comforting.