Lost Memories (Closed)

[Lucia VanHelsing]

She simply sighed, shrugged, and then whistled for the frightened kittens to come back to her.

"I don't exactly know why.. all I know is that when it happens, there's usually some sort of flashback that comes with it. Basically, it's a memory for a price. It's gotten to be a more frequent occurance though. Usually it's about one a week. This.. this is the second time in days." she said while grimacing at the thought of the first time this week it'd happened.

She ran her fingers through her messy hair then looked back up at the girl with a sad, exhausted looking smile.

"Don't worry, I don't believe in unnecessary violence." she said before taking a glance up at the still bright sky. She sighed and flicked her hand in the direction they'd walked from.
"You should head back to the kitchens now. They'll be wondering where you've wandered off to. Also, as your first assignment, watch after these two while I'm gone. They shouldn't be too much trouble, though, they seem to have taken a liking to you." she said while handing the girl her gloves. Savvy and Fiori slowly walked over to Strix, looking up at Lucia with a sad expression on their tiny faces.

Taking a few steps back, she shifted into her white tiger form. She walked over and licked the tops of the kittens' heads, then nudged the back of Strix's legs before taking off in the other direction.

[Strix]

Strix watched impassively, her heart beating faster than it ever had. in the time she was here. Who was this strange, strange woman? Why did she not beat Strix? Why wasn't she dead? And why the hell would anyone leave their animals with a Dek unless they were dead? She genuinely considered eating the kittens for a moment, but decided against it - that woman would either kill her or have her killed. Sighing, she turned back to the kitchens. Twenty chimes later, she was back at work and getting more and more dangerous looks. This is what I get for opening my mouth, she chided herself. Hunkering down for the day, she carried on with her work and drove thoughts of the woman out of her mind. If she ever finished this ridiculous job, she might take that woman up on her offer. Then again, it's almost impossible to find an owl when they don't want to be caught.

Secret :

You can either submit the thread for grading (for whatever xp it's worth :/) or just keep posting if you want. Up to you.

[Lucia VanHelsing]

12 chimes after the 9th bell

She limped into the kitchens growling, still in tiger form, hauling an ox, two deer, and a fox in with her. She jumped onto the table, dropped the carcasses, and jumped back down. Her white and black striped fur was coated in blood.

"Woah, what a bloody mess you are. What happened to you?" she turned around, an Endal was looking curiously at the blood dripping from both her fur and mouth. She shifted back into her human-like form and stood slowly.

"The ox put up a fight, nothing special. Not like it hasn't happened before."

When he tried to grab her she dodged it and pushed him back into the table.
"I don't need your help, I can take care of myself." she said and snarled at him, showing her long canines and the slits of her eyes narrowed and widened again.

Slowly she trudged over to Strix, holding her bleeding arm, and stopped short in front of her. She gave a wide, toothy grin in an attempt to ease the unnerved looks on the faces of her two kittens and the girl. The kittens mewled and jumped on her. She caught them in her arms, licked the top of Savvy's head, and rubbed her nose against Fiori's. She nodded to Strix in appreciation for taking care of the two. She was sure that if she'd taken them with her they may have gotten mauled by either the ox or deer.

[Strix]

Strix barely looked up from her job until Lucia pushed an Endal into a table. Starting, she stared at the Endal, who promptly gave her a look that said I'll beat you if you look any longer. Turning to Lucia quickly, she nodded impassively as the kittens ran over to her and tried to nuzzle her. Mostly they wound up headbutting her feebly. "They stole a few entrails, but they would've eaten that much for their daily ration anyway. Just don't feed them tonight. Or do, you're an Avora. You can do these things," Strix reasoned, "Is there anything else you want done, m'lady?" She continued gutting the fox on the table in front of her, but quietly she hoped she would be given some kind of chore that was less of a grind than this. She'd seen Deks be forced to do things other than sweeping out halls, activities that were comparatively leisurely. Anything was better than gutting wild animals for three days.

[Lucia VanHelsing]

She hushed the noisy kittens who basked in her return and looked back up at Strix. She hadn't really needed much done but, from the tone of the girl's voice, she'd been hopeful for an excuse to leave. The kittens mewled, pleading for her to take Strix with her. It'd seemed they'd thought fondly of her. After looking from Strix to the two kittens, she sighed inwardly, knowing she couldn't deny them their fun. She was a sucker for the bundles of fluff that lay in her arms.

"I suppose I could use a bit of help with bandaging my wounds.. Despite the vast amount of blood it'd seem I've lost, it's mostly theirs." She nodded in the direction of the carcasses she'd hunted smiling. "Once you're done with that one, you can follow me back. Oh and would you mind bringing my clothes? Thanks."

Strix nodded, not really having a choice, and headed off to find the set of clothes Lucia had left. She sat the kittens down to play and leaned back against the wall. The warm liquid that was still oozing out of her arms, legs, and stomach made her feel awkward. She grunted in frustration and grabbed something to clean the blood from her body when Strix came back, handing her her clothes, gloves on top.

"Thank you, now hurry along so we can get out of here."

She simply threw her clothes over her shoulder, not wanting to get them bloody, and leaned against the wall again. She ran her fingers through her hair and watched the kittens chase each other in circles.

[Strix]

Strix gathered up the comparatively small amount of clothes - Kelvics weren't renowned for their avid following of fashion. Unusually, she seemed to have found some kind of a patron amongst the Avoras. She'd have to watch her back - Deks weren't well known for egging each other on. "Yes, m'lady," she replied, trying to sound grudging. The kittens annoyed her; they were like small children, the kind that constantly asked her why her eyes were so big and her hair so wild. Never letting up, they stared at her constantly and kept kneading at her lontev - the only one she had. Still, this was easier than kitchen work and may well find her some extra food somewhere. Handing Lucia her clothes, she followed Lucia out of the kitchen to dirty looks and muttered promises of equalization from the other Deks. She'd have to watch her back - her limited experience in bar fights may well not serve her against as many as five or ten angry Inartas who'd spent their lives in manual labour.

[Lucia VanHelsing]

Bored of watching her work and sick of the smell of rotting carcass, Lucia pulled Strix away from her kitchen duties.

"We're leaving now. You," she said pointing to another of the Deks "finish her work after you've done yours. Lets go Strix, I'm tired of waiting."

She led the way out with Strix following behind. She ignored the displeased grunts and the theoretical daggers in her back from the looks she was sure she was getting from the other Deks. Her home was a whole 50 chimes away. She'd barely walked 30 chimes before getting dizzy. 40 chimes into their walk, her vision became blurred. Noticing her irregular gait, the kittens began whining as they hurriedly ran to her side.

"I'm fine, we don't have much farther a walk."

Soon, she was winded and had to stop to catch her breath. She sat and stared at the ground in an attempt to clear her vision while Fiori nuzzled her leg. She simply petted the kitten who then climbed up to her shoulder. She sniffed the air, smelling the scent of another animal in the area, a few feet behind them. She could tell it was a small animal, probably a rabbit, by the pitter patter it's feet made as it ran. She smirked and held a finger to her lips so that Strix or the kittens wouldn't make any noise. As soon as the hesitant animal ran past, she snatched the hurrying hare by the ears, it's feet still moving as it squirmed in her hands.

"Looks like we have extra, yeah?" she said before letting out a hearty laugh.

She stood again and began walking. The squirming hare, in an attempt to get free, bit her hand and she dropped it. Muttering a swear under her breath, she got on all fours and ran, quickly catching up to the hare and slamming the blade of her gloves into it's head. She picked it up and walked back to the others.

"Stupid rabbit." she said sighing. "He'll make a nice dinner now, won't he?"

She shook her head and started walking again, quickly arriving at her small home, and throwing the rabbit on the table as she walked in.

"First assignment: Making dinner out of a rabbit. I still have left overs, you take the rabbit and.. oh right, the kittens already ate. Feel free to help yourself, just make sure no one hears about it or that's the last of my generosity, got it? I make sure to keep a stash hidden around here so I don't go hungry. I'm gonna go wash up so watch Savvy and Fiori while I'm gone."

She then headed off to wash the blood from her body. Lucia didn't particularly love the way the Deks were treated but, it helped her survive. Yeah so it wasn't fair for her to treat the girl with such generosity when the other Deks get such cruelty but if the Inarta treat their own with such horridness, she didn't want to see what could happen to an outsider. Quickly washing away the wave of guilt, she began thinking of questions to ask the girl when she got back.

[Strix]

Strix had a problem. It wasn't a very big one, but it decided if she ate tonight and so she was focusing on it. Mainly, it was that she had never cooked before. Somehow, she had managed to get someone else to do it or had simply eaten it raw. Still, how hard could it be to boil rabbit until the meat went sweet? It puzzled her that a fellow Kelvic would want a cooked meal, though. Her people were animals first and foremost and almost always ate raw meat - it saved time and thinking. Taking a knife that was sitting on the table, in the absence of her new... patron... she began carefully gutting the rabbit and slicing the filleted meat into chunks. Slowly, having no experience, she tried to think of what her father had done. Concluding that that was too hard, she instead simply grabbed some herbs that smelled nice and went to fetch some water. Boiled rabbit would work as well as anything. When she came back, nothing much had changed except that one of the kittens had found its way to the rabbit and was in the process of attempting to reach it. Brushing the appetizing, furry creature aside, she ate a few chunks of the rabbit raw and then left it in the water with the herbs. In a few chimes she had started a fire and the water was heating. She sat back in a chair and realized that this gave her time. Time to not do anything. Time for herself. For want of anything else to do, and without the instinct of a chef to attend to the meal she was making, she promptly fell asleep. Better to make up for lost time, she thought.

[Lucia VanHelsing]

Making her way back inside, Lucia quickly changed into her clothes and went to check on Strix and the kittens. Her eyes widened and she hurried over and picked up the kitten by the scruff of her neck before she could get closer to the fire. She glared at the kitten who's ears flattened against her head and hissed at her. She then turned to Strix who, just before she could get out a word, began snoring. Lucia glared at the girl, deciding she'd yell at her after she'd gotten some rest. She snuffed and nuzzled the kitten, kissing all over her furry head and hugging her.

"You stupid cat, you could've gotten yourself hurt!"

The kitten simply licked her nose and curled it's tiny tail around her finger. She shook her head and sat Savvy down beside Fiori, who was peacefully sleeping beside Strix's feet. She took the rabbit out of the water and placed it on a plate. Sniffing one of the chunks, she decided that the girl had accepted her hospitality and not tried to poison her. She nibbled a little of the rabbit chunk before tossing it in the air and catching it in her mouth. Satisfied, she glided her tongue over the smooth surface of her canines. She grabbed some bandages and began wrapping them around her arms, legs, and finally her midsection. Yawning, Lucia curled up in a ball on the ground, her hair falling in her face as she stared at the wall in front of her until she fell asleep.

Lucia sat against the tree with her legs pulled to her chest. Her sniffling and whimpers were very much audible and probably scared any animals who would have ventured near the area away. Suddenly, she heard a small meow in front of her. She looked up and hissed at the tiny animals from behind her hair.

"Go away!" she hissed. They walked closer to her. "I could just kill you and eat you now if you'd prefer that. Leave me be."

She wiped the tears from her eyes. She'd been stuck out there for weeks and it was nearing the winter season. She sighed when the oblivious kittens moved closer to her. Such strange cats. she thought. Upon further examination, she realized that the kittens couldn't have been more than a week old. They were cold and lost and had no place else to go, just like her. She sighed.

"Fine. You can stay with me, but just until I can find a place for you, got it?"

They curled up in her arms and she sighed. She looked down at them and thought of names to give them in case they got away from her too soon. She looked at the black cat with white paws and green eyes decided her name would be Savvy. She decided the white cat with the one black spot on her side she would name Fiori. She fell asleep with them cuddled in her arms.

[Strix]

Strix started awake and stared around the room. She quietly noted the sleeping Kelvic, her kittens, who were staring at Strix, and the cold rabbit on the table. Deciding she had risked enough, she grabbed a fistful of rabbit and ran out the door as silently as she was able - which was silent enough not to wake up the Kelvic, despite her animal senses. Wiping her brow, she thanked whoever had looked out for her to have allowed her that moment of food and of rest. Maybe she would last another day, but until that day she had to get back to the kitchens. If she had time, she'd return tomorrow.

Secret :

Sorry about the short post, but I'm out of time for today. Shall we end it here?