[Salem]

Oooo, pretty...

That was the first thing that Salem thought when she first stepped into the tunnel system of the Therian Sanctuary. It was an amazing underground village, each tunnel had a whole series of doors built in them, all leading to rooms and all these tunnels led to the central area, a spacious area where the Alpha Shifter's office was and this was where she was hanging out...well outside on the irresistible benches, drinking her first of six cartons of milk. Ah yes, the simple pleasures in life...especially when...

Hey wait a minute...why is my hearing so... she patted her head and found two protrusions, "Fiddlesticks..." She muttered for a very good reason, ever since she realized just what she was, her cat side would show in the most embarrassing ways all the time. The black-furred ears were the least of it.

Shrugging it off as something she could not take care of now, they always vanished anyways, and thus she went back to her milk, purring contently. She sighed as she suddenly wished that she could have brought her laptop with her. Anyhow, there was nothing she could do about it, meowing as she yawned, she stood up and walked toward a random tunnel.

"Time to do some exploring," she whispered with a smirk.

[Alexavier]

((Yay, I can post ))

Lexi looked about in awe. This place was amazing. And it was surprisingly light considering it was underground. He ran his fingers over the smooth walls, smiling. The walls wore lined with doors, leading to the rooms of fellow 'shifters. He smiled at the thought. A whole world of people just like him, all living underground. People who wake up in the middle of the night with cramp in their leg and realise they actually have a huge cat's foot...or maybe that was just him. They wore all shifters though and that was what mattered to him. And to think, he came across this place by accident.

Lexi hadn't actually shifted yet, he was quite scaired about what would happen. Not that he would tell anyone that. Despite the fact he hadn't shifted, it doesn't mean random parts of him can't shift when he least expects it. He jumped about six feet in the air as he felt something in his trouserleg and cursed as he realised he'd grown a stupid tail. He looked about quickly, checking no-one saw him freak out. Good, no-one about.

He thought he'd better go and explore, see what was down here and see if he could get something to eat. He hadn't eaten since this yesterday and he was getting really hungry. ''To breakfast'' he said to himself and started down the corridor.

[Sanura]

Sanura stepped daintily around a few fallen stones, gray paws barely even noticed by her. Up until she had begun using her lynx form more often, each time she did use it, she was frightened by the strangeness of it. Her primary form had always been that of a black cat or kitten, so seeing the ashen gray paws had seemed so alien. She had been away again recently, visiting her parents and her sister in their new home in Italy, and had often stolen into the night using one of her various forms. For practice, she had often chosen her lynx form, or her newly acquired form, that of a panther. Her panther form was much more taxing than any of her other forms, however, and much more dangerous. Being on earth and being a panther generally led people to fear you, or worse. Many humans on earth hunted large felines. A sob broke in her throat at the thought of her family in Italy and what had commenced during her visit there. Her sister, Keesa, was the one at the heart of the problem. Only fourteen years old, nearly fifteen, Keesa was growing much too big for her own body, in Sanura's opinion. She was out partying, getting into fights, and disrespecting those older than her. We were always so close, too. . . How could she go so far down in such a short time? Sanura sighed, though how a sigh came from a lynx was different than a sigh that came from someone with the body-build of a human. I still can't believe I did that. . . Her thoughts flashed back to one night in the back alleys of Italy, when Keesa had been with her "friends," wearing a few articles of clothing that belonged to Sanura - leather too tight for a fourteen year old - and alcohol on her breath. Sanura had gone out looking for her sister at three in the morning, knowing her parents were asleep and would not have approved of Keesa's sneaking out. Well, of course they wouldn't approve of it. . . What parent approved of their kid sneaking out to party with their friends? Sanura had thought to go find her herself, just to save her from her parents, thinking she could possibly talk to Keesa about her new habits. However, when Sanura had found her, she had found her in the arms of someone who looked older than Sanura. There were other guys around, as well as a couple of girls, but Keesa looked unsure, frightened even. Immediately jumping to her instincts, Sanura had thought the worst. Stepping gingerly into the mouth of the alley, she had growled, the tone animalistic coming from a human body, and leapt towards the man holding her baby sister. Without thinking, Sanura had willed her body to change form, her body lengthening, muscles growing in her arms and legs. Her ears had spruted, rounding over on the top. Her teeth grew, large and menacing, in a mouth lined with thick black lips. Her fingers lengthened, widened, claws growing in place of her nails. Black fur had sprouted over her body, a long black tail growing from the tip of her tail bone. The people in the area were screaming, scarmbling in their drunken states for thew opening of the alley. Keesa dove away from the man holding her, just in time to roll away and see her sister, large black panther form snarling, standing over the male. The rest was a blur, seeing her sister yelling for her. Realizing what she had done, Sanura had shrunk back into the shadows, emerging as a tiny black kitten that went unnoticed as Keesa began to convince the man what he had seen was just an illusion, that her sister was nothing but a freak that tried to scare Keesa's friends. After that, Sanura had gone home, leaving a note for her parents, and left for Elysia again, scooping up Socks and Mystery on the way out the door. I can't go back, she thought sadly, now roaming the caverns that were the therian sanctuary. And I couldn't be feeling any lower. All of the friends she had had in Elysia. . . What had become of them? She knew that Aithe was gone, though where to, she didn't know. But what had happened to the others? Were any of them still here? These thoughts halted as Sanura saw a male walking towards her. Looking him over, she figured he was a feline therian as well, and very likely just a cub. She mewed, wondering if they'd be able to tell if she was a lynx or a shifter. If he couldn't, then she might just have to "freak him out" a bit. . . Or just follow him for a bit to see his reaction. Now that she and her sister were completely seperated, her sense of humor was a bit different. [[Table by me]] [[cat images]]

[[ooc- I hope no one minds my joining. I need to get back into role playing Sanura. ^^;; If it's a problem, just let me know and I'll have it deleted.]]

[Salem]

What the heck is a panth....oh wait...'shifter sanctuary.

The unwanted and useless thought ran through Salem's mind as she picked out a grey creature slink after a young boy, he seemed to be in her situation, as in, no control over their shifting abilities what-so-ever. It was odd how she picked the other out, all she noticed was a slight movement in the passage way and then, as if her nose was being told what to look out for, she smelt a strange scent. It was a good thing she had seen panthers before and unknowingly picked up their scents.

Now what to do?

Since it seemed like the panther was just following the kid, Salem decided not to do anything about, accept to say hi to the poor kid at least.

"Hey there," she greeted as she ran up to him and offered her hand to shake. "Pleasure to meet ya, I'm Salem." She grinned, catching a glimpse of the panther behind him, and nodded discreetly to it. It was a good thing she hid it through her grabbing another two cartons of milk from her bag and offering him one, "You want some milk? It's not really food, but it helps with the hunger."

[Official NPC]

The tunnels seemed to be pretty quiet at the moment.

The serene silence was broken by two young 'shifters who chattered incessantly to each other, a male and a female. "Ugh, you don't really think that people have been abducted, do you?" asked the female with a raised eyebrow and folded arms.
"Things like this aren't just made up," returned the male, stopping for a moment in his strides to lean against the wall. "Those humans must be up to something. They have like, secret labs and stuff, where they disect Elysians to see what genes they have." Of course, this part wasn't particularly true, but the female thought it was, for she gasped and put a hand over her mouth, a Chinese habit she'd never quite got rid of.

"You don't.... you don't know that for sure, though..... right?" she said, letting her hand drop back down.
The male sniggered, and spoke once more. "Well, you can't count on the fact that it's not happening. True, Earth has been open-minded for quite awhile, but that doesn't mean that they can't have secrets. For all we know, people we know could be-"
"Okay, okay! Enough already... let's go now.." was the answer, and on their way they continued.