Hoot hoo- what the?!

[Zoey King]

It had taken quite some time for Zoey to get used to the fairly simple pleasure of preening her feathers. Her Owl form cleanliness seemed to be reflected by her human form, so if she'd recently showered, she'd be clean and shiny feathered. But still, this was something you'd never think of doing as a human. Licking and nibbling yourself to achieve a level of cleanliness.

She supposed that other animals shifters might understand. Especially those like canine shifters, scratching themselves all the time. She looked up for a moment, thinking she noticed movement, seeing a student moving through the hallway at the other end. Though... She could have sworn she'd seen something a little closer than that.

She tended to enjoy watching students, especially at night, often she'd do if from a branch outside, but sometimes it was fun inside too. Except when people tried to pet her. The last idiot who'd tried that had gotten nipped. She wasn't a house pet god dammit. After all, how many people actually kept owls as pets? Some students were just dense.

She was keeping her eye out for students coming up to her, she kept thinking she heard something, but then didn't see anybody. She wasn't the paranoid type. Neither was she the type to instinctively think of something smaller than a person. She looked around from her high bookshelf, curious.

[Humphries]

Patrolling the halls at night gave Humphries some small comfort. Perhaps it was the whole idea of being some sort of shepherd watching over the flock. Or perhaps it was that he did seem to catch more students breaking rule during the witching hours, as it were. Already Humphries had caught a pair of students canoodling in a corner, along with at least one who had been apparently smoking cannibis (where were they getting it?). The cat was feeling pretty pleased with himself as he tramped down the hall, his tail erect and his footfalls almost merry.

It was as he rounded a corner in the college dorms that he caught a rather unusual scent. He did know that there used to be a pet owl owned by a student at one time, but he had thought that something had happened to it. So... why was he smelling it now? His tail flicked and he stopped, sniffing the air, turning himself.

Ah, there, a bookshelf. Quite strange. Humphries looked up at it and offered up a meow, wanting to test and see. The reaction would let him know if he were dealing with an extremely lost bird (or a pet), or a student in an owl form, for whatever reason.

[Zoey King]

Zoey's wide, piercing eyes wandered the area, for signs of the movement she thought she'd caught wind of. A sound caused her head to sharply rotate towards the source, it was unmistakable as the sound of a cat. She'd had several cats growing up in her parents household. They thought it would teach her responsibility. She could almost snort at the idea looking back now. Cat's didn't need much looking after, they were more independent than she was at the time.

The owl's eyes studied that cat curiously. She had learned to be a little wary of cats, particularly ones that meowed at her when she was perched somewhere high. Quite a few dumb ones had actually tried to eat her. That didn't tend to work out terribly well for them. She turned her body slightly, her head rotating almost 90 degrees, it was almost involuntary by this point, she did it when studying things in the environment almost without realising.

She looked curiously for a collar around the cats neck. Was it a pet, or a student? If it was a student it probably would ignore her, or was being silly and trying to talk to her. Shifters didn't tend to wear collars in her experience... Unless they were into that sort of thing. She let out a small hoot. Eyes trained on the creature's movements.

[Humphries]

Did owls mean to show off when they rotated their heads like that? Sometimes Humphries truly wondered. He certainly took advantage of his own animal advantages to demonstrate his skill and draw attention to himself. Of course, he also happened to have a more advanced intelligence behind his actions. Still, he couldn't help but wonder, particularly as this one looked right down at him as he meowed. There was an almost curiosity there.

And a hoot. Humphries moved into a seated position, paws pulled in front of him, bottom half touching the floor. he craned his head up to look, blinking as he studied the owl. He could feel this feline urge in him to try and pounce, and knew it made his tail flick. Again: definitely not something he wanted to do, and not simply because of his suspicions of humanity or some connection. An owl would not be gentle with a cat that attempted to take it down.

So Humphries shifted. He made certain he was looking right at the owl. Then he let out another long, plaintive meow, before swiping at the air a few times with a paw, attempting to encourage the other to come down, possibly even to take their natural form.