{SCE}The Thrill Of The Hunt

[Demi Smith]

Huh, Demi had figured that Devyn would have gotten off her at this point. Apparently that shadow form could handle a bit more, or the mutant inside it had a little more willpower than Demi had figured. Demi was well braced and knew she'd be darn hard for the other to get out easily enough.

The little dirt gnome had to bark out a laugh as the wolf leaned forward with her mouth open. "Wow, you didn't think that one through," she said, before rolling forward. She gestured with her head, launching all the dirt and debris and whatnot that she'd gathered in an upward fashion, effectively creating a dirt, rock, and forest debris fountain that shot up through a headbutt: all aimed directly at those wide open jaws.

[Devyn Solway]

Devyn was the stubborn type, especially in this form. With pain just came more determination to crush your opponent, the one causing you pain. Everyone should have known an injured animal was far more dangerous than one that was perfectly healthy. Not that Devyn was severely injured or anything, just a little bruised up. She would be feeling this later, but that all was still not enough to get her to just give up yet. Her blood was pumping, rushing through her veins, which had both a good and negative side effect to it.

Since her power generally slowed down all aspects of her actual body, the burst of energy within her real body was going to cause her to be that much hungrier and possible end up sick on her stomach if she kept it up. The good thing about it was that it just spurred her to try even harder, to ignore what was being done and just go for it. That was why she went ahead and went to try and grab a hold of Demi with her jaws. In hindsight, it was very foolish, but Devyn didn't want to give up without getting a good hold on the younger girl.

Having a whole bunch of dirt and the like rushing into your mouth, was not a very good feeling, and what made it far enough in her mouth, went down her throat, and thus ended up landing on Devyn inside the beast. It was enough to get Devyn to back down, but her backing down only meant that she moved back to try and grab a hold of Demi elsewhere. She figured that perhaps because the girl had been focused on shoving dirt up from near her head, she would not be as focused about using it to protect her center.

That and well Devyn was not thinking straight, she just wanted to grab a hold of the girl in her jaws, just grab a hold of her in some way. Not having thumbs really was frustrating at times like these. She could still take more, her shadows were her armor after all, and while having dirt inside with her was not pleasant, she could still hold out. She was not done yet.

[Demi Smith]

Yes, score! Demi felt her heart leap and she grinned as she saw the hit working, the wolf backing up. She also noticed the wolf going down a little further. Man, was Devyn determined to make sure to start biting on Demi. The girl threw her hands down, using the spare seconds she had to get at least some dirt between her and the jaws.

No doubt: this was gonna hurt. Like, a lot. But Demi also had been paying attention: the dirt she'd shot down the throat hadn't come up anywhere. Which meant that it was somewhere inside Devyn. Which meant that Demi could literally move something underneath the shadows.

So while Devyn worked on pulling Demi close, the terrakinetic jerked her head, pulling at the dirt and debris that had fallen within, starting to drag and swirl it all around those tender inside bits.

[Devyn Solway]

Devyn was pleased that she had been able to get her jaws a hold of Demi, but it came with the price of ending up with more dirt within her. She had to admit that this girl was pretty good, well better than good. Devyn already knew that this battle was not in her favor but she still had the goal of getting the girl in her jaws. There was dirt still there, but she had managed to still grab a hold of Demi. She did prevent herself from biting down too hard on the girl, not wanting to end up with bits of Demi in her teeth. That would suck.

What Devyn did not catch onto was that Demi was fully paying attention to where her dirt was ending up. The girl was indeed smart. So as Devyn pulled her up, she could feel the pain of dirt and the like moving against her actual skin. It always hurt a lot more when her actual body was hurt when she was in her other form. It would have been downright unbearable if Demi had managed to hurt both her outside body and the inside at the same time, but the pain was focused on the inside for now; enough to cause Devyn to let Demi go and move away.

She was quick to cause her form to break down to get the dirt that was on the inside out, and started to revert back to her old form. "Ouch...you win." Devyn said as soon as her head was free of shadows. Dev was moving quick to try and get the dirt off of her body, ready to strip down if she needed to in order to get rid of the agitating and slightly painful feeling and dirt and forest matter roughly moving along her body.

[Demi Smith]

Moving the dirt she couldn't see took a lot out of Demi, though she'd certainly trained enough for it. She'd also been more focused on moving a small amount: you could do a lot with small rocks on human skin. That had practically been Demi's first lesson, after all. If she needed to, she would have started attacking the shadow form too. It might have taken some kicking or thrashing or something to get at it, but she was so ready.

Instead, she ended up stopping. Demi had backed up, ready to move into the next phase of attack, only to find the shadows parting. The Inherited let out a little laugh as Devyn said she won, before turning to spit out some of the dirt and rock. She brought her arm up to wipe it away, nodding.

"Told you," she said, before spitting again. "You idiots keep attacking me out here. it's like you want me to beat you up," she had to smile though. After all, Demi loved a good fight, especially when she'd won. She'd gotten banged up, sure, but she wasn't the one calling for the conflict to stop.

Then again, Demi nearly never was.

[Devyn Solway]

Devyn wanted to keep going, but it was just too odd of a feeling to be able to keep focus on her power to maintain her form. It was either struggle to try and keep control and end up losing it, or give in and let the form break down as it would eventually with the lack of concentration. It was one thing to be able to focus with one type of pain, but when you were deal with two types of pain at once, it was damn near impossible. At least now Dev was aware of a weakness that she had even if she was already fully aware of it.

Now she was in the right state of mind to make a note of it instead of being out of control. "Yeah, you did. Thought I had a shot because the woods are my domain as well, but clearly your earth manipulators are superior in this situation." Devyn admitted. She was alright with losing, it sucked but it happened. It allowed her to keep a level head and not think that she was the most powerful thing out there. It also allowed her to come up with different tactics and see what she had to be careful of, which would just only allow her to improve.

"Well if I challenged you to fight in water, we both would have some difficulty. This was about as even fighting grounds as I could think of. Still, you are pretty good for your age with your power and I can tell you put a lot of effort into your training." Devyn said as she causally made sure to get off some dirt free of her clothing and hair. She felt like she needed to take a quick bath in a river or lake to be safe, but that could be dealt with later. "How old are you if you don’t mind me asking?" Devyn asked, since the girl seemed so young, but she wanted to be sure.

[Demi Smith]

Yeah, Demi would definitely have to find a medic or something. She was fairly certain that at least one of the adults knew what to do, and she didn't have any problems going to them if she needed help. Though she definitely wouldn't if she wasn't concerned. In this case though... who knew what was in those shadows?

Still, the younger girl smirked as Devyn called her superior. Demi was tempted to point out that she was superior in all the fighting situations. She'd been training since she got here, even more intense than what she'd gotten before, well, maybe not more, but focused more specifically on her manifested ability. As for fighting in water: that was just stupid.

As was the question, but still. "Fourteen," Demi replied. "I'm small for my age," she said it defiantly, practically daring Devyn to make a comment on it. "I've been training in martial arts for, like, ever, and I know how to use my power better than most of you idiots," She turned and spat at that, dislodging some of the dirt that always seemed to collect in her mouth.

[Devyn Solway]

Devyn could see that Demi was not going to like die from her injuries; unless they got infected, but it would still be for the best that she got them checked out. Devyn was just pleased with herself that she did not end up losing control over herself in her drive to win or else Demi could have been hurt worse. The same could have been said about Devyn as well; just because she didn't have anything bleeding, didn't mean she was not in pain. Nothing she could not deal with of course, but she was going to go sit in some cool water for a little bit to lessen the amount of bruises she was likely to end up with.

"Need any help cleaning that up?" Devyn asked as she pointed to where Demi was bleeding. She didn't have her first aid kit on her but she knew enough how to properly clean a wound and dress it. The offer was there in case the girl wanted it and didn't want to have to deal with the staff asking questions or anything like that. "Oh wow, you are young. Still pretty talented and nothing wrong with being short. You will hit your growth spurt sooner or later." Devyn assured her. Devyn didn't reach her current high until she turned fifteen and she was still growing. Or at least had room to grow up until nineteen or something.

Devyn listened as the younger girl explained how long she had been training and how it was basically before she even came into her power. That explained why the girl moved the way she did and that it was a lot easier for her to control her power. They always said that the earlier you worked on something the better you would get at it a lot faster. "There are a few people who are not so good with the power, but I like to think I'm pretty good with mine. What do you think?" Devyn asked as she finished up getting the last big of dirt she could with just her hands out of her hair.

She then went to just remove her shirt to get the dirt that had slipped down there out, turning her back towards Demi in case the other girl was not okay seeing another girl's chest just out in the open. Dev had a t-shirt on under her shirt, but she pulled that up with her shirt, wanting to get all the little dirt particles off of her, because it would be annoying to have it rubbing against her skin as she moved around, especially the small rocks.

[Demi Smith]

The offer of help had Demi looking up at Devyn, slightly confused. what was there to...? She looked down at her own body. Yeah, there were some wounds and stuff. Demi moved a hand as though brushing, the tips of her fingers just touching the cloth. Dirt and dust sort of bounded away, leaving her with a few light wounds. She considered them, only partially listening to the other girl.

"you're okay," she said again, shrugging slightly. She shifted some of her body around, moving to poke and prod. "though kinda sucky for your age. Like," she looked over at Devyn, "you should totally be able to lash people with shadow tendrils and stuff. You gotta link up with your power better, let it become part of you. Fight with it instead of against it," Demi shrugged. She recognized most of what she said, having essentially parroted quite a bit of what had been told to her throughout her time with her Clan.

She brushed herself again, noticing Devyn's look in the process. Demi rolled her eyes and ran her own hand in a strange motion as if wiping. Much of the dirt and debris on Devyn, save for some of the twigs and leaves, began sliding off as though suddenly turned to water. "There," Demi said, shrugging and looking herself over again, "but yeah, I think I'm fine."

[Devyn Solway]

Devyn was not sure why she received a confused look from the younger girl when she offered her help. Perhaps the younger girl was not used to it or didn't think that she really needed it; at any rate Devyn didn't say much more about it. The girl was not bleeding badly and while it looked like it might have stung it was nothing serious, but Dev had been trying to be nice and wanting to also ensure the girl would not get an infection from just the general wound and if she left it unclean and covered with dirt.

Dev chuckled slightly when Demi confirmed that she was alright in terms of her power, at least that was what Dev assumed. It seemed she assumed correctly by the follow up words leaving the younger girl's mouth. Dev was well aware that she could do much more with her power, likely make her fur actually extend from her body instead of standing up. Perhaps years down the road she could, but for now she was pretty well damn pleased with herself with being able to control her power as much as she could already now.

People didn't seem to understand the work it took to basically take on a whole other form with the use of shadow as basically a 'living' armor. Oh well. "Heh, thanks. I'll keep that in mind. Yet, this time I was trying to fight against it so I didn't hurt you. If I give in all the way then well I could have ended up swallowing more than just dirt." Devyn pointed out. Most of the time she didn't fight against her power, she would happily go with it.

Yet, she did have to be careful because when she went with it, it allowed that other side of her to have a higher chance of taking over. "Thanks." Devyn said as she could not help but to grin when the younger girl pulled the dirt off of her. While it involved moving dirt, it was still partly with her mind and Dev could not help but to like those kinds of powers. "You sure? We could at least both walk to a stream or something to get cleaned up." Devyn suggested.

[Demi Smith]

Yeah, she'd better keep it in mind. Devyn's followup comment had Demi chuckling dryly again. "Tell yourself that," she smirked as she finished. Even if this girl had fully bonded with the shadow wolf she wouldn't have ended up "swallowing" much of Demi, if anything. Maybe some more rocks or forest debris or crap like that.

No reason to rub dirt into the wounds. Demi pulled it of, got them mostly clean, and used a bit of the roughness to knock some of the loose bits off herself as well. The comment about a stream had her wrinkling her nose in disgust. "No thanks," she said, raising a hand up in a dismissive gesture. "Water makes me feel weird," supposedly she'd be able to use it to her advantage, move the mud in it or something. Right now though, it just didn't quite work as well for Demi as it should.

She really needed another trainer to help get the bugs out.

Demi turned and spat again before looking back up. "You got anything else? 'cuz I think we're done. Less you really want me to kick your butt some more," and the smirk was back.

[Devyn Solway]

Devyn bit her tongue to keep herself from getting defensive with someone younger than her, but it was hard. She was alright with some level of being put in her place when someone did beat her, but she was still an alpha. She could only tolerate it so much when she had not gone all out. She honestly just wanted to see how good the girl was and got the shown to her. Yet, she could do without the whole thinking she was better and sort of rubbing it in. She just had to remind herself that Demi was a kid so had a big head. So she didn't say anything and just rolled her shoulders, thankful for the dirt being removed.

She offered to help Demi out as well, but the younger girl still didn't seem to want any part of it. So with that out of the way, Devyn didn't really have any more reason to stick around and bother the younger girl. She gave a confused look on the water comment for a moment but figured it had to do something with Demi's power. Soil and water didn't really mix well after all, so she could understand that. "Alright, no problem." Devyn said as she already started to take a few steps backwards so she could leave. Devyn shook her head no, again holding back from saying anything when the girl brought up butt kicking again.

Dev did wonder if she could win in a fight if she went all out. She likely would at least be able to do some damage but she probably would not win. Nor did she think she would lose. It was kind of hard to lose when your form didn't break down until you were completely exhausted or you made it. When Dev lost control, her form remained after all, so it was hard to say who won in that case since Dev was technically still able to fight. "See you, kid." Devyn said with a wave as she just chuckled and headed off to do her own thing.

[Demi Smith]

Something about the other girl told Demi that a real fight, a drag out, knees to the ground brawl, would've ended much differently. Well, maybe not much, but they would've both had trouble walking away from it. Part of Demi wanted to attack, to get that fight, to feel what it would be like to dance that close to the edge. She could feel the desire bubbling up, but she barely suppressed it.

Barely.

The older girl was heading off. Demi watched for a few moments, then turned and spat. The great glob of dirt landed not far away; she looked at it for a few moments, then back at the other girl. Be real interesting to see what happened next time. "But I got hunting to do," Demi said to herself. She added another nod, waited a moment more, still looking at the retreating back, then turned to go, already pulling more dirt and dust up her body, even through the dull throb.