white flag [kal]

[Deleted]

Kal continued his happy expression as Astrid spoke in agreement with him of how their vacation would more than likely end up. Adding that they would possibly find other things to distract the two of them. “Aye, a change of scenery would be nice. It’s lovely here at times but I think the Nundu is only mildly killing the mood.” Kal explained with a mild laugh. As if the Nundu was nothing but some small nuisance for a moment. Not the incredible danger that it was. “Still I’d like to see the swimsuit part. So some sort of swimming would be a welcomed inclusion.” Granted he had seen much less than those articles of clothing on this beautiful woman before. He couldn’t imagine a swimsuit being any less striking on here. It was more just a sight he wished to add to views he had seen so far.

The smallest of tugs on his hand from the beauty it was connected to was enough to pull his attention back toward Astrid. She led his gaze toward the target of their search. The Nundu hadn’t noticed them. It appeared to be too preoccupied with a tribe of monkeys. This was always a hard part to Kal whenever it came to observing creatures in their natural habitat. He loved just about any creature. There wasn’t one he could claim he outright disliked. So when it came down to a creature hunting he was torn. He couldn’t just stop a creature on their hunt as they too needed to eat. Yet that also meant he had to view another die. There lied a bit of hypocrisy in Kal that even he knew about himself. He disliked watching creatures die but he still ate meat. Even if his diet did include more fruits and veggies than most. Meat was still very much part of it. Many in his field had become nonmeat eaters but Kal wasn’t one of their numbers.

Still, this matter wasn’t about stopping a creature from hunting. It was about capturing an extremely dangerous creature before it hurt a neighboring village. Raising both their wands, Astrid and Kal fired the strongest stunning spells they could. Both landed clearing upon the side of the Nundu’s head. Kal held his breath at that moment as the Nundu didn’t do much but sway before collapsing. Glad but also genuinely surprised it had gone down.

Astrid was the first to move, in an attempt to rush over to the creature. His own body was more delayed, watching the sight of the monkeys the Nundu had been hunting swing away. She stopped herself to speak to himself. “Yeah, possibly the stories were a little over-embellished. Granted I’m sure it's still not an easy beast to stun, looks as if we still got the job done.” Kal explained feeling much of the sentiment of confusion. Training his wand in the creature, they made their wait closer to check it out. It did appear to be unconscious, small twitches here and there but all it appeared to be in a deep sleep. He was hesitant but still, eventually, let out the smallest sigh of relief. “It’s a rather majestic sight once you get past being worried it might try to hunt us down.”

ASTRID ALVA ABRAHAMSSON

[ASTRID ALVA ABRAHAMSSON]

They walked in relative silence, and Astrid had to stifle a giggle at Kal's observation. "Right, only mildly," she replied with a smirk. The pair hadn't had much chance to holiday together, given that they had both been so busy with work. At long last, Astrid and Kal spotted the dozing beast. They paused together, before Astrid drew her wand and took a few tentative steps closer. Kal followed her dutifully, speaking in a low voice.

It was as if a trigger went off. One golden eye cracked open, and trained on Astrid with her wand. The nundu didn't bother to raise its head, as if it didn't consider the pair of them a threat at all. Very odd behaviour from a beast as terrifying as this one. It kept Astrid in its sights, and huffed out a breath, the whiskers on its face twitching. Astrid found herself lowering her wand when the beast made no movement, and took another step forward despite herself. Both eyes were on her now, though they were more wary than violent. Astrid sank to a knee so that she was at eye level with the beast, though still a good few meters away. The nundu shifted, its nose twitching furiously, but no sound came from deep within its throat. Instead, it blinked once at Astrid, and in a rush of understanding, Astrid knew that this nundu was not actually the problem. It stretched, more like a big cat than anything, and shook its head as if to rid itself of fatigue. With one last piercing look, the nundu trotted off.

Astrid rose after a few minutes of frozen disbelief. "What just happened?" she asked, still staring at the spot where the creature had disappeared. The memory of the beasts molten gaze was fresh, but fading quickly from her mind as if by magic. "Did it just... not attack us?" she asked, glancing back at Kal. She realised she was sweating, and swiped her forehead with the back of her hand. The interaction had shaken her, but not instilled any fear. More... curiosity. "I think we have more research to provide regarding nundus. Maybe they're not as menacing and blood thirsty as we thought." Astrid tightened her ponytail, and smiled at Kal.

"You were saying something about swimming?"

[end Astrid]
@kalju