[PRP] The Nature of the Beast (Alienore, Perdita, & Karloff)

[elfstar89]

Alienore flew low along the snowy ground, golden bells jingling softly in the cool, crisp evening air. As she flew, she kept an eye out for the herd...and an eye out for the Catwalker that followed her on fluffy paws.

It had been a few days since she'd officially parted ways with Perdita de Helcegaear. Or, at least, since Ali had said her good-byes and taken off to return to Karloff's herd. It hadn't taken her long after she passed the edges of the forest to realize the Catwalker had been rather more reluctant to be left behind. She sighed softly, her breath steaming into the briefest of clouds. It wasn't as if Ali disliked the Purewalker's company. Far from it. Perdita was sweet and childlike underneath the horrors of the pelt that had been her destiny since birth, often treating Ali like a mother or an elder sister, and Ali couldn't help but want to take care of the lonely Soquili.

The problem was that the herd the Wind mare was flying back to was a herd that had formed to defend others against Walkers. Even though Perdita seemed to have truly gotten the chance to be something other than an omnicidal monster thanks to the Charm Ali had affixed to her brow, until recently, Perdita had never heard of Charms, and Ali had thought them possibly only a fairy tale. Nowhere in the conversations of the herd had Charms been fielded as a viable option for Walkers. Ali herself wasn't even sure that it truly cured Walkers of their evil natures, rather than merely creating a sort of an option for them by way of giving them access to some part of their mind or personality they didn't seem able to reach without the Charm. Worse for the herd, Charms required the blood or hair or bone of an Angeni to create it, and, to her knowledge, they had yet to attract one to the herd.

Before they reached the herd, Alienore would have to try to send Perdita on her way again, or formulate some kind of coherent argument that Charming was a legitimate way to interact with Walkers that need not unilaterally end in violence and tragedy.

Closing her golden eyes in frustration, she lowered the trajectory of her flight, galloping as she touched down, and finally slowing to a halt in the snow drifts.

Alienore blinked unhappily. Last she remembered, they were already quite near the borders of the herd...and she could already see her bear Seren lumbering up to greet her. Had the herd lands expanded? If so....

She was out of time.

Perdita couldn't be sent away in time.

Alienore would have to negotiate Perdita's safety, and persuade Karloff, a stallion who knew firsthand how dangerous Walkers could be, that the Charm affixed to Perdita's brow was an unlooked for solution, that it wasn't just some silly, naive fairy story, but a real, genuine future.


Perdita found herself bounding along after her savior, paws moving quietly through snows deeper than in her home forest. Not for the first time, she was glad of her fluffy feline coat and her warm, starry scarf. Mommy probably hadn't intended it to give her any kind of comfort, but what little she understood of being a Walker, Walkers didn't really do nice things even for other Walkers in their own families.

She shivered unhappily, focusing on the increasingly comforting weight of the Charm on her forehead. The important thing was that the Wind mare, Alienore, had made the nightmares go away. It had been an unheard-of week and a half since the last gap in her memories that wasn't caused by a simple night's sleep. No blood had been on any part of her body since the Charm had been fused to her, and she had spent an increasing amount of time in the late evenings and early mornings just fishing. It wasn't as filling as...whatever...she'd done for food before, but Perdita far preferred the sensation that she needed to go fishing more often than the fear that came from feeling sated.

All thanks to the Wind mare who'd taken a chance on a story.

Sure, the mare had said she needed to go home, but...frankly...Perdita had no idea what came next for her. Mommy knew where Perdita hunted, and probably wouldn't like that Perdita had stopped hunting. Besides, it was a lonely forest in winter, filled with bad memories and other living things that remembered her...nightmares...more vividly than Perdita ever dreaded doing. It just wasn't home for her anymore. Plus, Alienore had been kind to her, telling her stories before she fell asleep, keeping her company while she fished. Wherever the Wind mare was going, Perdita wanted to go there, too, to see the world beyond her nightmare wood.

Ahead of her, the Catwalker saw the Wind land and interact with...a bear? Did Alienore know that creature? Even if it was on the small side, the bear was at least as large as Perdita was in her feline form, and even if it was one of the ones that didn't bother anybody else, she was anxious. Bears were something to give a wide berth, even if you were a Walker.

Perdita paused and crouched down in the snow behind Alienore, trying to not be noticed by anything that might attack her, and laid back her rounded ears nervously, waiting to see what would happen next.  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

The sun was sinking below the horizon, casting a purple light over the land. Everywhere the shades of purple were deepening as the shadows lengthened. The air was cooling rapidly as Karloff paused on his path to look out over the land.

His eyes glowed blood red as he scanned the land which he watched over. The Watch had grown in the past year and a half. The basis on which it was founded had been expanded. At first the goal had been a thin line to guard against the horrors that terrorized the Kawanii lands, but now it had expanded to a group that on occassions went to protect a herd or village and on rare occasions even to hunt those who preyed on the weak.

For most of this time, they had been focused on Walkers as the main threat.against soquili. The-

A sudden movement arrested his eye. For a moment, he felt a smile creep across his face when he saw Ailenore in the air. Even from here he could hear the dainty sound of her bells as they tinkled when she landed. He had not realized how much he had missed his friend when she had went off on her quest.

His lips pulled back over his teeth when he saw the hunkered figure of the a catwalker in the high grasses just beyond the clearing of the Watch. His eyes were good at a distance which allowed him to see the layed back ears of the catwalker. He became acutely aware of the claws wrapped on his legs, the claws that had helped serve as weapons for all these years.

He moved slowly toward Ailenore, cautious not to give away that he'd seen the catwalker stalking behind her. "Ailenore! I wondered when you'd return old friend."  

[elfstar89]

As Seren reached her, Alienore quickly touched muzzles with her ursine friend, before turning her attention to her more equine friend also walking slowly up to greet her.

"I'm sorry my business away from the herd took so long. I wasn't anticipating being gone a year," she replied quietly. She didn't have to look back to know that Perdita was trying to blend in with the snows and grasses of early winter. Yes, it was probably Walker instinct, especially Catwalker, but it was also the instinct of creatures prone to fear responses, as Perdita seemed to be.

"How has the herd been? It seems like the territory has expanded in the last year." She swished her long, pale tail, trying to fluff it out behind her better in the vain hope of preventing Karloff from quite understandably freaking out before she had a chance to get in a word edgewise.

If only she could now figure out how to broach a topic this big and complicated before her herd leader could do anything hostile to the shy and anxious Catwalker behind her.

Perdita huddled more tightly into her patch of snow as the unfamiliar stallion approached. The scars. The bits of Catwalker pelt tied around his head and forelegs. The solid red eyes. The canine teeth that rivaled any Catwalker's.

She shivered as anxiety filled her golden eyes. This stallion, who seemed to be Alienore's friend, looked like the sort of person who would kill a Walker as soon as look at it. Worse, Perdita couldn't blame him, based on what she knew of her own kind. Even if she herself was apparently free of the nightmares.

If he attacked Perdita, Perdita was leaving. She knew consciously that she could probably defend herself, might even win, but the Catwalker knew she couldn't remember how to fight. That had been the monster's purview, not hers. Much better to flee up the nearest tree, and there were some she might climb into before the ominous-looking stallion could get to her.

Unconsciously, Perdita's muscles tensed to flee as her feline face assumed the expression of a snow leopard trying to decide when to flee.

Nyx Queen of Darkness

*Hugs Karloff* You're not scary, you only look terrifying from the perspective of an extremely shy Catwalker.

 

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

Karloff smiled at his friend. "It truly has been far too long." His eyes monitored the walker slinking behind Ailenore into a crouch. His pupil-less eyes made it easy to follow something or someone without their noticing.

He kept his eye on the threat as he spoke, "We have grown. More have come to help those who are defenseles." Though, it was a noble cause he had not expeted the response to be as it had. There were many in the Kawani who has suffered as he had or worse. It'd made it easier to attract good, solid soquili who were willing to guard against the terrors that came--walker or otherwise.

His voice was soft, if somewhat meneacing, "Is there a reason a cat walker shadows you?" He kept the hackles on his back from rising even though it was difficult. His response was to be wary and protect, to hold the line.

The rest of their talk could be picked up later. He waited for Ailenore to speak.  

[elfstar89]

Alienore could barely keep herself from flinching guiltily. She hadn't told him, hadn't figured out what to say, of course he would feel concern at the presence of a Walker behind her--

No. She had nothing to feel guilty for. The Catwalker was Charmed. She wasn't like the others of her kind anymore. Ali had helped Perdita find a future of her own choosing.

And it was Alienore's responsibility to ensure that others didn't continue to treat Perdita with fear and anger.

The starry Wind took a deep breath.

Time to face the music.

"It's good that others have joined." She paused, inhaling carefully again, sorting through her words. "The Catwalker's presence...is rather a long story. It has to do with my errand. What I can start with is that she is no threat to the herd, or to anyone else who does not attack her first."

Breathe.

"You see the blue gem on her forehead? It's something I've heard of in stories. A Charm made by an Angeni. They're real, and they work. I don't...I don't know that they can turn a Walker good, but this Catwalker has made no attempt to attack me since I affixed the Charm to her."

Her sunny golden eyes searched the Karloff's pure scarlet ones, wishing she could read them. Would he trust her? He had little enough reason to, Alienore should have had little enough reason to, but this was something she had proven, something she needed to advocate.

Please let him believe her.

Perdita flinched behind the kind Wind. Even if the stallion's hackles weren't raised, she could still feel an increased tension in the air that made her more anxious than she was before.

Nervously, she backed up quietly, wrapping her tail tightly around her.

At Alienore's mention of the Charm on her brow, Perdita peeked out from behind her savior, as the dying light caught in its rich sky blue depths. Her mineral gold eyes turned anxiously to the featureless scarlet.

Did this stallion believe her savior? Would he listen? Would he give her a chance?

Within the tight curl, the tip of her tail twitched anxiously.

Nyx Queen of Darkness

Short response on Perdita, her response for the next little while is going to be "HRNGH, FEAR, ANXIETY, PLEASE DON'T MAUL ME, INTIMIDATING DUDE." crying

 

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

Karloff had not heard the rumors of these angeni charms, but the thought brought about a thousand possibilities, he'd never even thought of. Could it be true? Could a walker be good underneath that curse? Could some be beasts trapped to do terrible things against their better nature? Could he help prevent the things that happened to him from happening to someone else? They were terrible things--memories and feelings, he wished on no one, but they had shaped him into this--into a stallion who could make a choice.

He weighed his words carefully, "Sometimes we hear thing or want things to be true that are not. We want them so badly, we manifest them." He examined his friend carefully, "I do believe you Alienore and I do trust you. You have made me realize that sometimes things that seem to good to be true, can be true with a little faith." He regarded the catwalker carefully. "Your..,friend seems to radiate a calm, and", he paused a moment. "A sense of fear that I have not seen in walkers before. I would give her a chance for your sake alone. But I can see that there is hope here. She is welcome as long as she obeys the rules of this place, just like all others. We do not harm others, except in self- defense or defense of those who cannot defend themselves." He evened out hsi voice, trying to let it seem less frightening. "I hope for all our sakes that this is true. What is your name, friend of Alienore?  

[elfstar89]

Alienore's breath caught with Karloff's first words, and her heart sank. He didn't believe her. It was too much to ask, a fairy tale, after all, one that she must have visibly wanted to believe in--

The next words caught those thoughts off-guard. Karloff did believe her, after all. She nodded, almost not daring to speak, not wanting to disrupt the moment that seemed to be about to happen between the Shifter and the herd leader whose life had been marked, so often for the worse, by Shifters.

As Perdita slowly padded out from behind the Wind to introduce herself, Ali found her thoughts beginning to wander. If she had helped one Shifter, if Karloff accepted this possible future for Shifters as a better and kinder alternative to killing them in self defense, if Karloff was willing to permit her to try helping other Shifters, if others in the herd were willing to have word spread that someone in the herd was willing to help Charm Shifters, to give them a better future...could this whole episode with Perdita become the springboard to change the nature of the relationship between Shifters and non-Shifters?

The thought was tempting. It was also lofty, and probably more of a pipe dream than anything else, but...as she watched the conversation progress...she found a small part of her heart wanting to see this possible future. Even if Ali never got much credit, even if it didn't turn out to have as big effects as she was hoping...it was still a dream worth having.

A dream that there could be a brighter future for Shifters and non-Shifters in the Kawani. One that involved considerably less bloodshed. One that involved considerably fewer hurt and lonely souls. One that involved the possibility of peace and happiness, even if the Charm could promise no more than the option to choose whether evil was perpetrated or avoided.

Today's conversation might be small, but it might also be a start.

Perdita was prepared for rejection. She was prepared to be attacked. She was prepared to need to try to run as fast as possible to get away from this encounter.

What she was not prepared for was being asked her name, in a rather more calm voice than she'd been anticipating.

Slowly, cautiously, the Catshifter stood up, uncurling her tail a little, and shyly slunk forward, sitting neatly before the stallion. Despite his change in demeanor and his apparent willingness to trust the Wind, it was all Perdita could do to not hyperventilate a little bit.

"I am called Perdita de Helcegaear," she replied softly, nervously casting her mineral gold eyes to the ground to study the stallion's snowy white hooves, rather than his sharp fangs and pure and bloody eyes. "If it pleases you to know, I'm just happy that I can wake up from my nightmares without being in a strange place, covered in blood. I promise I only eat fish, and try to make sure they're the kind of fish that don't try to talk to you." His gaze, while probably softened, was doing little for her nerves. "I promise I'll be good, I won't hurt anybody, if anyone else likes fish, I'm sure I can catch extra fish for anyone who wants some fish," she added anxiously. If she could sweeten the deal, maybe she'd have a place here, of sorts. Maybe she'd never be entirely trusted by the adults, but maybe any future foals would grow up willing to be more openminded about Shifters, to be willing to give the Charmed ones like her the benefit of the doubt--

Perdita paused at that train of thought. Was she really considering staying in this herd that might have been formed to fight Shifters? Was she intending to stay and try to make a difference here? The ideas shocked the Shifter a little bit with both their naïve innocence, to think she'd be welcomed and accepted, and the temerity, to believe she could help future foals find a reason to treat Charmed Shifters as though they were not inherently monsters. But, then again, with the Charm on her brow, was she inherently a monster? Did she deserve that kind of treatment? Sure, Perdita may have deserved that before meeting Alienore and being Charmed, but did Perdita, as she was now, deserve to be treated as a monster?

Unconsciously, Perdita sat a little straighter, slowly lifting her gaze to the stallion's featureless crimson eyes. "Please, sir. If I can be good, can I stay here? I don't know anybody else, or the ways of this herd, but...I think...I think I would like to try staying here, to prove that Charmed Shifters can be different." Despite the resolve and confidence stiffening her spine, she could still feel the anxiety and hope swirling in her gold-on-midnight eyes, outwardly intimidating, but still radiating a kind of nervous desire to do good in any way she could.

Please, let this stallion believe his friend. Please, let this stallion give Perdita a chance to prove herself. Please, let this evening be the first step forward into a brighter future.

Nyx Queen of Darkness

I think one more post, either total, or from each of us, should wrap this RP up nicely!

(WC: 854 words, total)  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

elfstar89

DONE

it was Alienore who had first given him the hope to turn the Knight's Watch into something that could actually work. It had been alright to plan, to conceive the idea but to put it into action had required more than that. Alienore had the passion, the drive, and the utter belief in their friendship that had made this all possible. Even if it was only for Alienore's loyalty and devotion as a friend, he would owe her to try this. But she made him believe. After all, he was seeing something he had thought could only occurr as a miracle.

This was the beginning of something new. A new path forward, a new hope--possiby a new everything if it all worked out. Of course, a part of him had to remain cynical until it was proven. Hope was one thing and idiocy another. He had to think of the ones they were protecing first and foremost without caushing fear of prejudice against what could be a huge game changer with the shifters.

The shifter seemed outright scared of him, terriefied. She moved forward cautiously enough, but he thought he saw her shaking or makybe it was just the feeling he got. She introduced herself more by looking at her feet or his than any faces. She-- Perdita de Helcegaear seemed too terrified to meet his eye. When she talked about waking up in blood and forgotten memories, something ancient stirred in him or at least it felt ancient. That morning, he woke up with blood everywhere, his mother dead, his life over as he knew it....Where there seemed to be only one path, a path that seemed more than a choice. It had felt inevitable. It had felt like doom. Somehow, he'd walked away from that. Why couldn't she? Why not, indeed?


Her offer at helping to fish for the herd made him smile some. She seemed to be in earnest, even adding on that she tried not to eat any sentient fish. It wasn't a thought that most fish eaters even thought about.

It was when she looked at him, with such hopeful longing that he first fully realized the chance they had. She was asking to stay, to help. In part likely, probably trying to redeem herself or maybe save someone she now knew she loved. To live among strangers, for the chance at a regular life. She wanted to offer them fish.


PYou do not know us, but you believe in us already as we hope in you." He actually smiled at her, it was fleeting. "As long as your intentions are pure, let this be your home. Contribute when and how you can. We ask nothing of you that you cannot give freely Perdita de Helcegaear. We are glad to welcome you, to offer you a home." He paused for a moment, "It's your first isn't it? Home, I mean." He couldn't imagine that she had had much before this, let alone a home or anywhere she was fond of and he saw the truth in her eyes. "Welcome home then."  

[elfstar89]

Alienore smiled happily at the results. Better than she could've hoped for. Beside her, she felt Seren nosing at her wings, and the Wind turned to smile at her ursine friend. Seren was smiling back, clearly understanding how much this moment meant for Alienore personally. For a Soquili who'd once been terrorized to choose to try to help those selfsame monsters to find a better life...it was kindness. It was compassion. It was...courage.

The thought stopped her in her tracks. Courage. Something Blake had said Ali didn't have very much of. He'd seen her compassion as weakness, as vulnerability. But she'd had the courage to try to change the lives of the Shifters for the better.

What if Blake had been wrong all these years? What if compassion was instead strength and courage, all the things Blake believed she'd lacked? What if Blake had been blind to who she really was, and what it all really meant?

It staggered her. Blake had been wrong, so incredibly wrong, about her, about Shifters, and it wasn't really Alienore's fault Blake had left her. Blake had been blind to who he was walking away from, and he'd probably refused to see it. While it broke her heart a little to realize that it had never been her fault Blake left her, Ali felt a great weight lift off her shoulders.

And then she saw Perdita turn around and smile at her, and joy and hope began to suffuse her. Blake had been wrong. She could sort out what all that meant later. Shifters could, with compassion and faith and some Angeni magic mediated by a helping hoof, find a better future. Alienore had already helped her first one. Hopefully, this would be the first of many.

Ali returned the smile, nodded to Perdita and Seren, and began to lead both into the herd's territory, and whatever future lay ahead for everyone involved.

Perdita blinked mineral gold eyes in shock. She could stay. Not only that, but she also had a home. The first time she had been able to connect that idea to herself. No more waking up in unfamiliar places. No more distrust of the sentient life around her. The softest and shyest of smiles began to bud and then blossom across her feline features.

"It is. My first home, I mean," she added shyly. "Thank you so much, sir, I will do everything I can to make sure you won't regret making this offer, sir." And she meant it, as she turned to smile at her benefactor, the Soquili who'd utterly changed her life, who had been willing to risk so much on a fairy tale that might be able to offer hope to one of this world's great monsters.

Perdita hoped the starry Wind understood the gravity of this moment, as she followed the Wind and her bear further into her herd's territory.

Nyx Queen of Darkness

And I think this not only capstones the RP, but it also capstones Alienore's RP arc! NEXT STOP, ELDER ATTEMPT~