Down She Goes [Open]

Riku took in a deep breath and pushed herself up onto her feet. A deep look of pain had set on her face. She took one step back the way she came and then her ankle gave out with and audible pop. She sank to the ground on one knee and gritted her teeth. Push through the pain, she told herself and took a deep breath. Then the sound of something large moving within the forest was getting closer. She looked up, to her left, to her right and then in front of her. A large, not fully grown but near fully grown, tiger was walking toward her. She froze, her heart racing and mind telling her to get up, run for her life or scream. But she focused her brown eyes on the dangerous creature. No tigers lived in the forest let alone in the wild here. The one in front of her was a Skin-Walker because that was the only thing that made sense. Now she just had to figure out whether she would hurt her. "Are you going to hurt me?" She asked not sure whether an actual answer would be provided or not.

The simple head shake of a no was something Riku was all to common with. Then the beautiful shape of the tiger nudged her arm. With a gentle hand she scratched Lucy's head unsure of the meaning of her nudge was. So she went with what she knew her cat's nudging meant and that was to be petted or scratched. Carefully she pushed herself up on her feet, winced in pain and shifted her weight to her stable ankle. Standing on her feet for a short time might make her ankle strong enough to walk on. She didn't care if she didn't even make it home by walking, just as long as she made it to town.

Riku's arm was pushed up by the tiger and she finally understood the meaning that it merely wanted to help. Although she wasn't sure how strong this Skin-Walker was and whether their strength even counted when they shifted or it they gained the pure strength of the animal they shifted into. So timidly she placed half her weight on Lucy and kept the other half for her own walking abilities. If only she could ask questions that didn't require a yes or no answer because she could gain so much knowledge of who this was and information about the way of a Skin-Walkers life. This was her first known encounter with a Skin-Walker and she was thrilled about it. If only you would shift back to being a human, I'd like to know more about you, she thought sadly to herself.

Slowly the tedious task of walking back to town started and Riku grimaced every time she set her left foot down on the ground. She clenched her teeth and pushed on through the pain. Though after awhile of walking she let go of Lucy's tiger form and let herself drop to the ground. She tucked herself into an upright ball and pressed her forehead against her knees. "I can't do this anymore." She mumbled ashamed of her own words and the sign of weakness she was showing.

Nudge. Nudge, nudge. The nudging on Riku's back was annoying as she rocked forward each time. She was tempted to turn around and just punch Lucy but she didn't. Slowly she straightened out and looked at the tiger. Why couldn't the Skin-Walker just leave her alone? She knew the way back to town, just follow the trail and she'd get home. With a gentle hand Riku rubbed her twisted, sprained ankle and sighed. Then slowly she pushed herself back to her feet and started to limp down the trail.

Riku stopped every once in awhile and listened to see if she was being hunted. It was a sick feeling in her stomach as she hobbled about. Maybe the Skin-Walker had lied about not wanting to hurt her. Nervously she glanced over both shoulders every couple of steps. Then she pushed the thought of her pain away and broke into a run. It was an awkward unstable run and full of pain. She could see the outskirts of the town before she dropped down on a medium sized boulder. She looked around for any sort of movement that this Skin-Walker would be making.