Rules and Plot~ <3

[Catti Saionji]

Rules go here~

 

[Catti Saionji]

Plot [ Though not fully completed yet. ]

Other RPers come in with Ahiru and Wren when they leave Wren's Cave. <3

Setting:
An area with rolling hills that slope up into a slightly mountainous region above and a flattish oblong valley slightly below, with a winding road cutting into the edge, following the direction if the hills. There's lots of rocky outcroppings that look like granite boulders rising from the grass that grows think in the area, and many of the boulders have worn areas with dirt collected in the crags, in which moss and grass grows. There's a lot of deciduous trees and oak trees, but because it's spring, they're all green and growing, some with little blossoms still giving the air a sweet scent. The grass is tall and short, varying in many areas, and is also dotted with small flowers. The road is thin, a dirt path, and in areas there are ditches and mounds that it runs along, or cuts through.

Story:
Wren was padding through the trees this mid-morning in spring, having already eaten her fill of rabbit in the early hours of the morning. Her paws made very little noise as she wended her way to the edge of the trees and climbed a large boulder with ease, to survey her terrain. Her ears flicked a couple times, and she scented the area, noting that the birds's raucous songs had seemed to lull for a bit. There was something new, but she wasn't sure yet if it was bad or not. Perhaps something had just disturbed the birds. Another predator, perhaps? A low growl crept from Wren's throat, but she dismissed that idea-as a cougar, she could protect her territory, although if it was a bear, then it'd be quite a contest...Wren bounded from the boulder to lope down the hill and come to stand on another good vantage point. Nearing the bottom of the hilly area, she could see the dirt road the humans had created. It formed a nice boundary, and it was rarely used, in any case. However, this time there was something different-the birds became ever more silent nearer the road, although they hadn't left their trees. They were watching something. Time to investigate, Wren decided, as she made her way onto a pillar-like boulder. What surprised her when she saw the form in the ditch by the road was not that there was something there, but what that something was. A human? More than that, a female human, by the looks of the body and hair...why was she there? Who was she? Wren leaped down from the boulder and padded her way over, checking out the scene as she got closer. There was no one else there, so she walked right up to the girl-she was unconscious, and it was clear she wasn't in the best of shape, so she had no qualms about going right up to her and nudging her leg. The worst that could happen was she might wake and scream, but she looked to be too injured for that... Even so, a shock could be pretty bad for this girl-it would be best to change. Wren sat back and threw her cougar head back, feeling a painless shudder course her body as she morphed into her human form, her gray tabby fur flowing smoothly into a woven garb that allowed easy motion. Untying an extra band of cloth from her belt, Wren knelt next to the girl and checked her for injuries, deeming that while nothing was serious, or broken, she was still in bad shape. Wren tied the cloth around the girl's head, where a painful looking lump had bled a bit-she figured that was what had knocked her out. However, without a way to carry the girl, she couldn't bring her to the cave again...so she shifted again, this time back into a mountain lion, and gingerly she eased the girl over her back, trying to be as gentle as possible. When the girl was as secure as possible, she slowly made her way up the hilly land again, heading towards the protected cave on the southern hill. When she reached the cave after 15 minutes of shifting the girl's weight to keep her supported, she eased her onto her own bed, a straw and grass stuffing covered by a soft blanket of leather, and then she shifted from her natural form back into the human shape, and worked busily to create a poultice for the girl's head. Ahiru groaned only faintly when she moved, not awaking to anything. Her chest was covered in blood, a small hole in her chest. Hearing the sound form the girl, Wren walked over, kneeling beside her. She began to clean the girl, since there was lots of blood, and noticed the wound in her chest, directly over her heart. Knowing it could be fatal if not treated, she immediately began to work on a bandage, even though there was no longer any blood seeping from the wound...using the poultice on her head, as well as her chest, Wren bandaged the girl, noticing that she was very beautiful, and also very sad looking, which made her wonder what had caused the injuries, and what had left her by the road. After she was done bandaging the girl's wounds, she covered her with a blanket and went outside the cave with the girl's clothes, walking around another small hill until she reached a pool of water-the reason she had once chosen this cave as her home a few years back. She worked efficiently, rinsing the blood-soaked clothes in the small run-off stream, and then she laid them out in the warm grass right outside the cave, and walked back in, glancing at the girl's form to check her briefly. However, Ahiru wasn't in the lain bed. So the girl found it empty. Ahiru had awoken at the touch of medicine, something she disliked. She was against the wall, far from the bed. Her eyes were a soft ember shade. She touched where her heart was meant to be, "He'll pay..." She muttered softly in a different tongue, unable to trust no one now. Ahiru stood straightly, tall for a woman. "What are you.." she said to the girl who came in, adding, "Who are you.." Wren stopped and stood still when she saw the girl awake and against the cave wall, with her hand over her heart. She had said something, but Wren didn't understand her... the girl spoke in a tongue she did not recognize. However, she did understand that questions were being asked, so she carefully answered in english, hoping that the girl would understand, "My name is Wren. I found you by the road, and I'm taking care of you-I don't have much, but what I have, you may use." She held still, wondering what the girl would do next. Ahiru didn't reply, just went in a search of metal, "How much metal do you have here?" She looked back to the girl, still not given out her name yet. Wren tilted her head at the strange request, glad that the mysterious girl knew english as well as whatever language she had used before. "The only metal I have here is in sword form...I don't know if that's what you need though." She went to one of the shelf like rock formations, which she had used as storage, and took down a bundle with 3 swords, unwrapping the leather around them and displaying them on the floor. Kneeling beside the blades in their scabbards, she picked up one and ran her fingers lightly along it's hilt, which was built as if for her hand-it was more of a dirk than an actual sword, and when she pulled it from it's scabbard reverently, the base of the dark blade had a green gem set into it on one side. "This one is Oak, the blade I have used in the past, when a blade was needed. It's endowed with earth powers. These other two may interest you, if a sword is what you seek, or if you know a way to use the metal for something else, then you may use them however you wish." She stood and backed away, so that the girl could come forward, and slid Oak back into it's scabbard. "What may I call you?" "Duck.." Ahiru said softly, not giving her name due to what would come of it. She went to the other two, not the Oak, "You keep that one.. " She took out one, running it along her hand. The metal burned, as it burned, she forged the other to it to make a cresent blade of mixed metals. She looked to the girl, "Try not to remember me, less you want hurt.." "Duck?" Wren remembered something about that, that slipped around the edges of her mind, but she was unable to grasp it, so she left it at that. She watched curiously at the warping metal, and eyed the new blade appreciatively. "Try not to remember you? I'm not sure I could ever do that. I don't bring injured girls into my cave, then forget them...besides, I don't think you're well enough to go very far today, if you mean to leave...I need to hunt, but I can easily get enough food for a meal for the two of us, and then if you feel you need to leave, you can go in the morning, with supplies." She wondered what this girls story was, and how she could get to know her better. She wasn't afraid of getting hurt, since her shape shifting abilities offered protection against many things, but she was intensely curious. That's ironic, she thought, considering my true form is a cat. I wonder how to tell her? She knew that some people who had found out her abilities had considered her a demon, while others had tried to take advantage of it, so she never knew how people would react, although for some reason she didn't truly expect this girl to be surprised by much. "No, you stay here and begin water.. I'll go hunt.." Ahiru stood, looking around. She grabbed a pair of gloves then the blade before she went to the door, "I'll be back soon." She had excellent experience for hunting, fighting in general. She would tell the girl soon enough, just not any time soon. Ahiru climbed a tree, night fallen across the lands. Her eyes shifted in color as she watched around, taking the blade from it's hilt slowly, silently. As soon as a figment moved that was big enough, she tossed the blade swiftly, silently, to the creature, killing it. At this time, she would dash to the animal before anything else came to her prey. Ahiru took the blade from the animal's chest, taking the buck on her shoulders, where a few large rabbits were as well. She went back to the cave slowly, her eyes changing back before anything else happened. She placed the food down. "Where's the castle from here?" she asked the girl, named Wren. Wren had a skin of water with some roots and potatoes bubbling lightly over the fire, and when the girl came back with the spoils of her hunt, she used a hand held knife to skin and process the meat, creating even tongues of meat for drying, as well as cutting some of the meat into the stew. She had considered using her runes to learn more about the girl, but had decided against it- Duck, if that was truly her name, would tell whatever she wished to say on her own. As she worked, she looked up at over to the girl. "Castle? Do you mean the dark spires? It is a few days away by foot, in a north eastern direction. If you would like specific directions, I can ask my runes." After a little while of stirring the soup, it thickened a bit, as the roots bubbled down and released their juices into the meat. Taking scoops out of the skin, she offered a bowl to Duck, and drank the hot stew right out of the bowl before it had even begun to cool. "Duck, what do you need to go to the castle for? Are they the ones who did all this to you?" She gestured at her injuries. "I do not think I found you by chance-fate has some reason for placing you in my path, and me in yours." "Tomorrow, you will take me there.. " Ahiru said, mainly avoiding the question of what went on in the past. She cleaned her hands a bit up, "Tell me, what can live without a heart?" Wren's senses perked at the mention of being involved in this curious adventure. Noticing the avoidance, she decided to let it sit at that. Duck's next question brought her to full alert, though. "Without a heart? Nothing, unless there is magic, very strong magic, involved." She wondered about the wound she'd seen in the girl's chest, and narrowed her eyes slightly, considering. Could it be..? She thought, but then she decided that it was time to trust this girl, and maybe she would trust in return. "I would like to tell you something about myself. I may be of use to you in whatever it is that you seek to do, because I am not truly human. I am a shape shifter, and my original form is that of a mountain lion." With this, she threw back her head and shuddered as energy coursed through her, and then she lowered her head and looked at Duck through her golden feline eyes. Giving a distinctly comfortable purr of satisfaction at being in her true form again, she spoke again, "I can still speak in whatever form I take, although there are limitations on my power. I cannot become anything that has once been dead, nor can I become an ethereal spirit. I can however, become most creatures, mythological included." With this she threw back her head again and suddenly unfurled wings of golden feathers, her new green gryphon eyes glinting in the light of the hearth fire. She didn't expect Duck to be very surprised, but she watched carefully for whatever response was going to be given. Ahiru seemed to laugh, slightly deep for a woman. She stood, walking over to Wren, "You do not seem very educated in what can live without a heart and what cannot.. You see, there are special beings on this world who can live without their hearts for quite some time. These beings are known as pure beings. And if one can keep their heart long enough, they really become an angel. But if their heart is taken, the hunt is on to then find the being, both light and dark forces.. For without a heart, the being, after time, would have to choose a force." She coughed a bit, "I am one who lost their heart, and in this given world.. The last being as such. So I need to get my heart back.." Her voice finished quietly, once known about the pure being, she was sure Wren could figure her identity out. "My name is Ahiru.. It means Duck so I give my name as such.. Yes, I am the priestess warrior over the castle. But more importantly, it use to belong to my family til they were slaughtered by darkness for greed. I cannot normally trust anyone outside the castle walls so you understant then, why I had to do so and why I slit my hand without bleeding?" she asked her, figuring she may as well explain herself to this shape-shifter rather than having false ideas over her being. She went to the dead prey she caught earlier, skinning them with her hands then dividing them into sections of meat.