Lost Memories (Closed)

[Lucia VanHelsing]

Day 67, Fall of 511 AV
28 chimes after the 4th bell
Thunder Bay, Wind Reach

After bells of hunting around in the mud flats, Lucia sat down in the grass by her bounty, breathing heavily. So much shifting time had exhausted her. She closed her eyes and leaned against the tree, sweat trickling down at a fast pace. She ran her fingers through her dirty, matted hair and cringed when they got stuck.

I'm so washing this as soon as I get home!

She pried her fingers from her snow white, unkempt hair and slowly pulled her legs up to her chest. She looked up at the recently darkened sky and realized the only source of light left was from the moon. She reached up, grabbing the branch above her to help pull her to her feet. She stretched, making sure to include every muscle in her body which ached when she moved. She crouched down and tied the legs from the animal carcasses together. She grabbed the other end of the rope, and stood up again. The blisters on her rough hands made having using the rope even more difficult. She took a few steps forward and tugged at the rope. She struggled with the carcasses for about another 20 chimes before collapsing from exhaustion. She had pushed her limit today. Trying to impress the other Endals and Avoras, Lucia had done 5 more hours than required. She'd killed 3 foxes and 4 rabbits. She lay on the ground, unconscious, with her kills of the day laying beside her.

She sat on the rocks near the river, her hair flying up in front of her,waving in the wind as she watched the fish swimming in the water. Their tails splashing water against her legs and made ripples in her reflection. Leaning over, she counted the intervals of moments the fish spent swimming under her face and when they would not. Once she was sure of her timing, she dipped her face in the water and caught a fish between her teeth, quickly pulling back out of the water again. She ran through the forrest of trees, carrying her little prize in her mouth, until she reached a small cottage. She forcefully pushed open the doors and spit the fish onto the table and cringed, sticking her tongue out. The salty, repugnant taste of raw fish lingering in her mouth. The fish jumped and flopped wildly on the table in front of her. She took a knife from the counter and slammed it down into the fish's eye, causing it to stop moving. This was her 7th fish that day.

"I got a fish, I got a fish! I killed it all on my own without messing up the meat this time!" she yelled happily. She had tried twice before but failed both attempts. It had not occured to her that she should stake the head with a knife instead of crushing it entirely in her mouth or smashing it with her hands.

She smiled wide and her large grey eyes shone with enthusiasm. A man, who looked to be about 23 and stood at least 6 inches taller than she, walked into the room. He looked at the table and smiled before turning back to her and ruffling her hair. He pulled the knife from the fish's eye and cut off the head and tail. Shaking his head, he turned back to her.

"It never ceases to amaze me how a girl of your age is able to learn to hunt without training and catch this many fish in a day."

"I just watched the birds do it.. except, they use their feet!" she said, holding up her hands and making them look like talons, opening and closing them in such a way a bird would.

He simply patted her head and shoo'ed her from the room so that he could start preparing their meal.

She bolted upright, sweat now streaming down her face. A sudden sharp pain crept up her spine to her her head, causing it to have the same feeling of being hit repeatedly with a hammer. She clutched her head, letting out one of those screams you only hear in a horror movie. Her nails dug into her skull and she gritted her teeth trying not to scream. She toppled over, laying there reduced to nothing more than tears and whimpers. After laying on the cold hard ground for what seemed to be about 20 chimes, she went silent, laying there for another good 10 chimes before getting up again. She decided to use a new method of getting her kills back into Wind Reach. She shifted back into her white tiger form and picked up the rope again and bounded back with the carcasses so the Deks could get set to work.

[Strix]

Strix watched the perfect figure of another Avora wander through the door into the communal kitchens, dumping several carcasses onto a table and leaving without a word to her. Naturally, she's supposed to prepare everything. She'd only arrived two days ago, and yet still she was made to clean, cook and do... other things, just for a simple meal every day. She wasn't expected to fight back against abuse or defend her possessions from stealing by higher classes, and the only reason this was so was because she was too small to hunt. The injustice of the world would have made another rage, and yet she couldn't really blame them. They were just trying to survive in the face of encroaching winter, and she was another mouth they couldn't afford to feed. That didn't stop her from taking what she needed, though. She nonchalantly ghosted a kidney into her mouth when no one was looking; it won her a few hateful looks from the drudges, but they risked a beating as much as she did if they drew attention to themselves by drawing attention to her. The inability of people to stick their necks out was what had kept her fed - barely - for so long, and she hoped that wasn't about to change because if it did, she wouldn't survive the fall, let alone the winter. Another Avora came in, but not an Inarta. This one was pale, and white-haired. She cast her eyes over the room, her energetic air obvious in her face. On immediate examination, she looked rather like a Konti, but her eyes suggested otherwise; they were catlike slits. She made to leave her kills on the table, but before she could leave she suddenly looked at Strix, the eye contact stabbing her like a knife. Despite bowing her head as fast as she could and getting on with gutting the rabbit in front of her, the Kelvic made her way across the room towards Strix, who could only prepare for the worst.

[Lucia VanHelsing]

Quickly, she made her way into the communal kitchens. She sat her bounty down on the table and scanned the room. Nothing much was very unusual. The Deks, as usual, were preparing the carcasses for the higher in ranks. Lucia felt a small sense of pity for them seeing as they would most likely not get much of it to eat for themselves, though they had prepared it. This small pity, however, did not deter her from eating every last bit of what was given to her. She knew it was a hard place to survive in and she would take what she could get. Looking over once more, her eyes stopped on one person in particular, one she hadn't seen around before.

New comer.

As soon as the girl saw her looking, she bowed her head and continued on with her work. Lucia sent one of the Deks to fetch a set of clothes she'd left here for when she got back and slowly made her way over to the girl, her hair swaying gently behind her. She looked at her once over. She was short and her hair did not have the trademark flame kissed color. She was either one of those rare non-red headded Inarta or some other race.

"Lift your head." Lucia told the girl. The Dek looked up at her nervously, seemingly unaware of what to do next. Lucia looked at her eyes, she was definitely not Inarta. She was another Kelvic, much to Lucia's suprise. She had large eyes with large that much resembled many owls she'd seen flying around on her daily walks she took around night time.There had only been one other Kelvic in Wind Reach as far as she knew, she was happy to see her race increasing in the area. Lucia then realized she had been staring at the girl for quite some time now and the girl's eyes were filled with worry. She smiled warmly at the girl in an attempt to set her at ease. Suddenly, two small kittens appeared by her feet, nuzzling her legs. Lucia picked them up and placed them on her head.

"Ready to go?" she asked the two cats. The meowed in response and, knowing how much formalities with lesser ranks were frowned upon, Lucia gave one last nod to the girl before heading to the exit.

"Um.." Lucia turned around. The Dek had returned with her clothes. She'd completely forgotten she was naked, as it was practically natural for her to be. She nodded to the Dek and changed into her clothes before leaving again.

[Strix]

Strix stared at the back of the strange Avora, wondering why exactly she had kittens when Kelvic babies usually kept human form in childhood. Despite this, she had work to do and returning some white Kelvic's clothes didn't exempt her from her punishment for being forced into this accursed city. Inwardly sighing, she turned back to her table and continued gutting the strange array of kills that littered the table. The beast she was preparing resembled an ox, though she had no idea how anyone or anything could haul an ox in the Thunder Bay fall storms all the way back to Wind Reach. Her clothes, too, had been unusual - a pair of gloves with claws of some kind of metal. Strix had considered pocketing those, but decided they would be missed. Likely more useful as climbing tools than as weapons, she seriously doubted the pale girl knew how to use them. In a brawl, blades are almost useless when confronted with a man three times one's size. Quietly popping another kidney in her mouth, she almost heard the thud of it hitting the bottom of her almost-empty stomach. "Lift your head". The nerve. And she'd have to put up with it or be killed. Strix added this woman to the long list of people in Wind Reach who didn't qualify as civilized people.

[Lucia VanHelsing]

69th day of Fall, 511 AV
20 chimes after the 2nd bell
Wind Reach

Lucia walked into the communal kitchens accompanied by her two pet kittens, as she usually was, and took a seat next to the entrance. She looked down at the two kittens who were playfully tugging at the hem of her bryda. She smiled and picked them up. They curled up in her arms and she sat back against the wall. Usually she would have shifted to play with them but she was too interested in other matters to play the role of a mother cat the two kittens often thought of her as. She looked around the room for the other Kelvic she'd encountered a few days previous. After a few chimes of showing her affection for the kittens and feeling the vibrations of their purs echoing from them to her chest, she the two cats on the ground, she leaned forward, resting her arm on her thigh and tapped the cold steel blade of her clawed gloves on her chin.

I wonder when she got here, or even how considering how dangerously close to the winter season it is.

She sat there, pondering about the girl. Watching her movements, Lucia turned to face another direction just before the girl looked up. She looked down at the two kittens, who were innocently rolling around and biting each other's ears and tail. She bellowed out a loud, sudden laugh that shook her entire body and caused her to fall out of her chair and onto the ground, clutching her stomach, earning her a few stares. Fiori, the smallest and youngest of the two kittens, used the pad of her paw to swat the nose of the slightly older cat Savvy, who then leaped back and cowered behind her paws. The two kittens scurried over to her and began to lick her face.

"Alright, that's enough out of you two!" she giggled.

She rubbed her nose against both cats before getting back to her feet and sat again in the chair. Looking over, she noticed the Kelvic staring and locked her gaze with hers momentarilly before looking away. She simply chuckled at shook her head at the reason she had even come back so soon. A cat's curiosity is never satisfied.

[Strix]

Strix tried to work quietly, without reacting to the upper-class huntress who had seemed to have taken a shine to taunting Strix. Quietly, she ripped open another corpse. Quietly, she packed the strips of meat away in barrels of salt or vinegar, the sickening odor almost making her retch. Quietly, she decided against eating another kidney while this Avora was watching her. And besides, she thought, maybe not everyone hates Deks. Maybe I've made a friend just by sharing races with an outsider. She wondered at the size of the task she had been set that she would still be working at it after two days. Still, supplies must be prepared for the coming winter. She continued in her apparently never-ending task, the smell of fresh-killed rabbit taunting her as she prepared the next kill. Such was the nature of existence in this mountain fortress that she got no food even as she was surrounded by it. The Drudge Meal will come soon enough, she assured herself. I'll try to keep going until then. Finally, she could take no more. She turned and stared, as neutrally as she could, at the Avora, just as she looked away. Giggling at her kittens, Strix almost burst to watch the airhead blatantly enjoying herself so freely while surrounded with so much obvious misery. "All right, that's enough out of you two!" she giggled in perfectly enunciated common, infuriatingly. Strix almost disemboweled the woman on the spot with her filleting knife, but decided against committing murder - barely. Before she could look down, though, the Kelvic looked back up at her and chuckled. Strix could take no more. "Are ya havin' a nice time, m'lady?" she enquired with all the blatant sarcasm and insolence she could pour into one sentence. She immediately regretted the act - a flogging would soon follow, she imagined. Wincing inwardly, she prepared for the worst; the stupid ones were always the most vengeful, and the amused looks she got from the other Deks didn't bode well either.

[Lucia VanHelsing]

A smile still on her face, Lucia arched an eyebrow at the Dek, purely out of both shock and amusement. Surely she knew her punishment would be most likely severe? Her so called "gaurd cats" started hissing and ran over to the girl, head-butting her legs. She forced the smile from her face and strolled over to the girl. She bent down and picked up the two kittens by the scruff of their necks and hissed at the two of them.

"Fiori, Savvy, not now. You two will be dealt with when we're home, have I made myself clear?" she scolded, trying as hard as she could not to smirk.

The two kittens' ears flattened back against their heads as they mewled in response. She looked around, knowing she would have to at least scold the girl for her arrogant remark, before looking back at the girl with a nonchalant expression.

"Come with me. Now." she said.

She led her away from the kitchens, walking for a good 10 chimes before coming to an abrupt halt and turned to face the girl. Her frustration clearly showing on her face.

"You idiot! Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you'd have gotten yourself in had you made that remark to anyone else? Like, you know, someone less lenient?"

The girl nodded slowly, most likely out of confusion from her words. She sighed and pointed a finger at the girl.

"Consider yourself lucky. I have a 'punishment' that will probably annoy you as well as satisfy my curiosity. For now, you will answer only when spoken to and you're to come with me every day after you've finished your work at the kitchens to do a few chores. They're not big ones so be happy I don't do much besides hunting and looking after these two. Am I clear?"

She nodded again. Satisfied with how things turned out, Lucia's eyes had a sudden spark of amusement and curiosity. She sat the kittens atop her head and motioned for the girl to follow again. After about 5 more chimes of walking, she realized she'd not introduced herself or asked the other girl's name.

"My name is Lucia Vanhelsing, and these two," she said motioning to the kittens still sitting proudly on her head, "are Savvy and Fiori. Your turn."

[Strix]

"Come with me. Now," she ordered. Ten chimes later, Strix wasn't dead. She stared for a moment at the Avora walking ahead of her. Two years of beating at the hands of men, and this Kelvic has the nerve to call her lucky just because she wasn't? She kept her frustration in. It would only get her killed. "Strix." She barely stopped herself from saying, "And you can call me that, and not Dek." Still walking, her injured arm brushed against a wall and she winced, quietly. "Y'know, my kitchen duties last me well into the night. I watch people like you go to sleep and wake up again in the time it takes me to finish half m'load, and then it is redoubled under the efforts of a legion of refreshed hunters who can actually afford sleep. Yesterday and the day before I didn't sleep at all. How am I supposed to work in your house, if I have no time? Time is not made for folk such as me." She shut her mouth then, having pushed her luck far enough. She should have been grateful for the time this woman afforded her to lick her hands clean, but she refused to - as much as the scent of the blood called to her, she would not swallow her pride, even as small as the loss of face would be to another Kelvic. Instead, she focused her unblinking eyes on the kittens and tried to decide how she could wipe the smug looks off their somehow expressionless faces. The voracious spark of life in their and their mistress' eyes annoyed her.

[Lucia VanHelsing]

Lucia turned around quickly, causing Strix to bump into her. She pushed the Dek back, knocking her into the tree behind her. She growled and the slits of her eyes narrowed.

"Look, quit your complaining until we're out of the open and further off, okay? Im sorry your life here is difficult, especially when you just got here and I know Its probably infuriating to see another of your kind that's also higher in rank but I don't think I can remember a single person here who's claimed to have woken up next to a stream with bleeding wounds and broken bones and no recollection of how it happened or anything before it. Be glad for the things you still have. I wasn't born here, I was new once, just like you. Furthermore-"

Just as she opened her mouth to speak again, she fell to the ground in a fit. She began to flail uncontrollably as a white substance began emerging from her mouth. As her eyes rolled back, her mind went blank.

She hit the ground hard with a loud thud. She looked up at the man through her wattery eyes as she strugled not to cry.

"Why the hell are you on the ground? Get up." he said.

She was being punished for not being able to catch any deer in the 3 bells she'd been hunting. It was the winter season and there weren't many deer out this early. She rubbed her eyes and got back up. Grabbing her clawed gloves, she went back into the woodland area. She laid in the snow and rubbed the cold snow on her bleeding arms, legs, and back. She sighed and watched the puff of cold air leave her mouth. Her ear twitched at the sound of crunching in the snow. Quickly, she got up and silently climbed to the top of a nearby tree. She watched the little family of deer helplessly walk right under the tree she was in. She was so happy she could have did a little dance. She leapt from the tree and slammed the blades of her gloves in the head of one deer before ramming them into the side of another, ripping through it's side as it tried to run away. She quickly shifted into her tiger form and chased after the other deer. She ran as fast as she could, nipping at the deer's ankles. It kicked it's leg back and missed her face just by a few meters. She leapt into the air and, in mid jump, she awakened.

She screamed and her eyes popped open. She suddenly stopped convulsing but was frozen in place in shock. She looked up to see both kittens cowering behind Strix's legs. She sat up and wiped her mouth. She was still breathing heavily and sat there, staring at the ground until her breathing steadied. Still trembling, she looked up at the girl.

"How long was I gone for?" she asked. Even though she tried her hardest to keep her voice calm, it was as shaky as the rest of her.

[Strix]

Strix stared at the Avora, still expecting somehow to be punished for whatever the hell just happened. "Two chimes," she murmured, like a schoolgirl who'd been caught behind the playground wall, afraid of getting caught doing something she didn't do. Shaken up after the spastic display she had just witnessed, she helped the Kelvic to her feet and stood awkwardly, wondering what she could say that wouldn't overstep her boundaries after such an obviously awkward moment. "...Why did you do that, if I may ask?" she enquired, as politely as she dared. She'd lived for two and a half years and never once seen anyone do anything like that without being beaten severely first. Maybe she'd found some crazy person. Maybe she should run away now. Then again, this Kelvic was feline. If she was anything like the huntress she seemed to be, she could kill Strix in these enclosed spaces with nary a thought. Deciding against it, she stood stalk still, staring at her hands and trying to look as humble as possible until this strange girl hit her and got it over with. At least the kittens weren't laughing anymore, if they ever were.