[Eveningsdawn]: 317.Vreaming3

Third and final part of Vreaming. Beast's POV. Unfinished. I need to go find the end, since it's apparently not on this computer. Bugger.

Beast.

I saw the glint first, the telltale sign of a mirror in the desert. My first instinct was to look away, for my kind does not trust mirrors because of what they hide, but behind the glint I saw movement –
And I knew that way of moving. No VR persona could change that, and before I realized what I was doing, I had dropped to all fours and stretched out into a run. As I streaked towards the girl kneeling in the sand, I cried out a warning, but she ignored me. There was nothing else for it. I leapt, putting as much power as I could muster into the motion, and let a roar escape me as I flew through the air, hoping she’d be distracted, somehow.
I slammed into her an instant before her fingertips could brush the mirror’s glass, knocking her down with the full force of two hundred solid pounds of muscle, though my current appearance belied it. She gasped, the breath knocked out of her, then struggled to sit up. When she’d regained herself, she stared at me like she’d never seen me before in her life, and got out, “Who…who t’hell are you?”
I reached forward, gripping her upper arms to steady her as I replied in as calm a voice I could manage, “Girl… girl, calm down. It is me. You know me. I look different, I know, but try to see past it; you can always do it in the Vreaming, if you try.”
She looked me up and down, and I could see why she was confused. In the Vreaming, I was tawny with small black spots, and black tear marks running from the corners of my amber eyes to the corners of my mouth, long-legged, slim-bodied, and lean, with one upright ear adorned with three golden hoops. My normal shape was broader, a little shorter, with blue-gray fur and indigo eyes, built for cold, cold weather. A few heartbeats passed, and then she whispered, “…Beast?”
Relief washed through me. “Good girl. I was afraid I’d hit you too hard for a moment there.”
“Why’d’ja hit me ‘tall, then?” she cried, surging upright, her eyes glinting with anger. I was on my feet before she could move away, catching her by her arms again and making her look straight at me. “You were. In danger. You did not listen when I called you; it was my only choice."

TBC.