Winter 44, 124
Fluffy sat still on the ground leaning against the tree for a long time while the mud penetrated into her clothes. She was both embarrassed and irritated. She was blushing and her eyes were red and swollen. Finally, she was able to stand up and as the feeling came back into her legs she shivered slightly.
She kept her head down with her eyes on the ground in front of her. She was not going to give up, and would do anything to impress Kage. At long last after what appeared to be hours… she found a stream. There was so much scouting she needed to do so she could report on anything of interest to Kage.
Not even those people who lived along the trail would be able to see her there. She took off her garments, cleaned her skin and hair as quickly as she could, in an attempt to wash off the mud. Recalling that now she felt a little hungry Fluffy thought it would be better to go hunting soon. She was hungry and she was accustomed to the plentiful food available back home.
She couldn't remember the last time she had to hunt just to survive. There was bird singing very shrill inside the trees and the leaves were swaying up and down in the wind. Fluffy was standing there with bow and arrow already cocked. She had no choice if she wanted to get to eat today she had to make the shot. She blew out and the arrow was released to the sky… but this was not a clean shot. The arrow flew past the bird and stuck into the ground a couple of feet away.
Then, she looked up and saw something in the distance. Was that a cave? She approached and noticed that it was actually a mine, which had something outside of it that looked like a large pile of some sort of wreckage with people surrounding it. It was not a problem for Fluffy to reach. Fluffy had enough time to pass by to avoid being seen.
"Can't eat them," she thought, realizing just how many people there were. She would have to continue along the trail for now. When she went back to the trail, she noticed someone was following her. She hoped they didn't mean her any harm and she kept her bow ready just in case. As the figure got closer, Fluffy realized it was a young man in a tattered cloak. He looked exhausted, as if he had been walking for days.
"Who are you? Why are you here?" she asked.
"I'm just a wanderer looking for a place to rest. It looked like you knew where you were going so I followed…"
Fluffy was hesitant, but she sympathized with the man and offered him directions. The man gratefully accepted and tailed behind Fluffy. Fluffy never really trusted him to begin with, so she wasn't all that surprised when he decided to start chasing her.
The snow made it difficult for both the person trying to escape and the person trying to give chase - the snowfall obscured visibility and made the terrain slippery, making it difficult to gain traction and move quickly.
The snow also created a layer of insulation, making it harder to hear exactly where footsteps were coming from. What was more, Fluffy was afraid of making too big of a commotion and dragging other dangers into the mix. She knew that using too much of her power would probably hurt her. So, she decided she was going to have to be smart about this.
At first, this was a difficult task. She was constantly confronted with a foes that could easily overpower her in physical combat in her base form. But as the chase went on, she found new ways to overcome her enemy. She shifted into the form of a large spider, somewhere between the size of a horse and an elephant.
She used her spider legs to climb up a nearby tree. When she got about ten feet up she turned around and looked down. The world looked different when you had a million eyes. She saw movement – it was the man who had chased her. He had caught up, but he was standing still. He looked very uneasy about taking her on, for good reason. It made little sense to go up against a big spider unless he had some kind of fighting ability.
Fluffy almost thought her eyes were deceiving her. She watched as the man started to take on the appearance of someone else entirely, altering his skin tones and facial features. With that done, he would circle to the right and say, "so I was right, you're like me. You'll have to excuse me, but I was merely hunting, much like I assume you were."
Fluffy clicked her mouth and was able to make out some words. "What now? Must we fight?"
"No, I wouldn't see harm to one of my own kind outside of the battlefield." The man sighed and shook his head. "This war has gotten everyone to be so tense. I'll leave you be." He smiled at her, then his form shifted into that of a bird. He flew off in a blur that Fluffy couldn't even see. Had he actually gone? She supposed she wouldn't be able to tell.
Fluffy shifted back into her normal form and took another look around. It did appear that he had gone. That, or he was hiding and intending on following her. She shrugged and started back towards the camp. Along the way, she noticed more suspicious movement. Was it the same guy from before? She narrowed her eyes and did her best to follow. Her suspicions were confirmed as she saw him change shapes again.
He made a point of acting like he was a scrambling sentry trying to make it back to his armaments for an upcoming fight. He really sold the look of surprise and confusion, hopefully making any passersby think he was just one of their own. At the same time Fluffy heard shouts in the distance. Attackers? She was so confused.
Given the more real and present danger of the actual attackers, now wouldn't be the time to question the identity of a single, nameless soldier in a camp. The man pulled out a knife and started attacking. Then, all hell broke loose. Such was life in Jian. Fluffy wouldn't be going back to that camp… she would have to find yet another group. Perhaps she could disguise herself as part of the winner's forces…
-1 expert saol cast to transform into a CR4 spider
-1 novice saol cast to transform into her base form
