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 Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2009 9:16 pm
It was a quiet, fresh day. A calm one, in Scarlet's opinion. Newly fallen autumn leaves crunched underpaw as the pale angel padded softly through the underbrush. It was late in the evening-- the sun dipped low to the horizon, casting the Oasis in an orange glow. She made her way over to a stream, looking warily down the bank before lowering her muzzle to lap at the water's surface. A drop of blood rolled off her halo and dripped onto her muzzle in the process. The suspicious characters on the reserve, such as the one that stole her little brother, or the one that attacked her and her mother, had always made her feel cautious going anywhere alone ever since she was a pup. It was because of these fears that she didn't stray too far from her parent's den when it was time for her to grow up and leave home. She wish she could be braver, like her brother, who already had a family of his own. It didn't help that even stranger things were going on this Halloween, though the three new strangers that showed up didn't seem like they were out to get anyone... yet. Albeit the things they were giving out were a little odd, if not unhealthy.
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Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2009 9:38 pm
Keiran had been in a good mood, until he'd come across a poster warning of troublesome folk encroaching into the Oasis. It was enough to make him once again wish for the days when he'd been born, where it was a nice respectable place. Now all these unworthy, evil ones were moving in. He didn't like it at all. After discovering the posters, he'd stomped off to attempt to calm himself down. Only it didn't seem to be working a whole heck of a lot. His general avoidance of otters had now turned into wanting to ferret out the good ones, the ones worthy of living in the Oasis, that he didn't have to be suspicious of. Not that he wanted to socialize, he was much too good for that. It was with that mindset he stumbled upon the white otter with a blood red halo dripping blood onto her sublime unblemished pelt. He went rigid. What kind of otter was she? His eyes narrowed, jaw muscles taut as he purposely slammed his tail into a pile of leaves in hopes of alerting her to his presence. "What are you?" he growled out, low and slightly dangerous. Not that he wanted to fight but he didn't trust anyone anymore. Halos and wings did not make someone good or worthy of his friendship. Nor did it make them worthy of his wisdom, if he had any redeeming trait it was his wise old mind.
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Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2009 10:54 pm
Crimson-tipped wings folded smoothly at her sides. Lifting her head from the stream, Scarlet didn't seem to realize the drip from her halo was a warning of someone's approach until too late, when a startling smack to a pile of leave nearly made her jump out of her fur. The pale angel spun around to see a dark, teal-eyed male, larger than her. She blinked, taken aback as she took a moment to register his remark. What did he mean, 'what was she'? Her bloody halo and dark, white-less eyes were... admittedly an eerie contrast against her ghost-white fur. But that didn't make her look less like an otter. Her eyes and the blood were actually a common trait in her family. But most other otters didn't see her or her family for their haunting appearances... or so she thought.
Maybe this male wasn't like most otters. She had never seen an otter with his type of designs before. Perhaps he was new... or one of those older otters that was around far before her generation. Even still, she didn't look that different in comparison to him, despite her wings. But there were several other angelics on the reserve! She didn't look like that much of a freak... did she?
"W-what do you mean....?" she stammered, fretfully glancing backward in hopes to back away, but the stream behind her prevented her from doing so. "I'm an otter.... like you."
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Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2009 11:15 pm
He furrowed his brows at her response, taken aback by her eyes so much like puddles of blood, wondering if he'd be unlucky enough to run into someone without sense. He huffed, sniffing the chill autumn air and catching the hint of metallic bitterness that made him sneeze. Curious, was her halo bleeding? His eyes focused on the drip drops on her alabaster fur wondering what that was all about before deciding that was not important.
"No wonder the Oasis is going to pot," he muttered to himself. He shook his head, eyes closing briefly to regain his composure so that he didn't trounce off to rant about the baddins lurking through his home. "I can see your an otter. I can see your one of those angelics. What I can't see is whether you're good or not. Can you answer that?" his voice was exasperated with a biting tone underneath. Sometimes he honestly felt like he was talking to a bunch of clams, clams without manners or intelligence or the hint of common sense!
He sat down hard on the ground, paws flexing into the chill dirt as he watched the small angelic. His tail curled around his front paws, hiding the claws he exposed and dug into the ground to calm his irritation. She couldn't be that old, so there was no reason to blame her yet. Although he supposed he could've asked her name first but if she was one of those bad ones, he didn't want to know it.
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Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2009 11:44 pm
Scarlet frowned at his degrading tone, not pleased by the fact that he was speaking down to her like she was a clueless pup, fresh out of the clam. Though she remained silent about her displeasure. "Generally otters don't ask another's alignment when they first meet them..." she murmured. 'Unless you're shallow enough not to be able to determine that for yourself', was what she should have said next, but the pale angel couldn't bring herself to say something that belittling. She just didn't have the heart to say such things.
"Besides what's good or bad is different from each person's point of view," her soft voice spoke again. Her halo dripped nervously. He didn't seem like someone who posed a threat, but that didn't stop her from being wary of him. "I don't attack otters for blood or steal their young, if that's what you're asking..." she pointed out. Her family had actually been victims to those sort of things. Her dislike of the topic was evident in her eyes, though she didn't bring it up, not feeling comfortable in sharing that sort of information with a stranger.
She swallowed timidly, feeling a little more relaxed when he sat down, but her wings still flitted anxiously.
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Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2009 12:15 am
"Perhaps not generally, but these are hardly times to be prone to propriety's rigid guidelines," he retorted. He wondered if she'd seen the posters warning them, if she had any idea about what type of creatures were invading the Oasis, his home. There was little doubt that it would never be the same, there was too much happening, with beings playing so hard to overrun those who had good hearts.
That was an elementary answer, sufficient for the idea of lessons such as shallowness or greed, but it hardly was truthful when it came to the here and now. "Perhaps good and bad were terms too lenient for my questions. Though it's reassuring to know you aren't one of them." It came out as a hiss and he had to roll his shoulders to stop the fur along his spine from ruffling up.
"Don't you know what's going on around you?" Now was as good a time as any to bring it up, especially if she was being honest. He was taking everything with a grain of salt but he didn't sense any lies mixed in her words, no inflection to promote innocence, just simplicity. And he was thankful for that at least.
Then he cleared his throat, deciding that perhaps as a show of limited faith he should at least do the otter the service of showing the manners he liked so well. "My name is Keiran. And you are?" he asked, bowing his head just so.
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Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2009 1:00 am
'Clearly, even an otter of evil intentions wouldn't reveal the likes of his or herself just upon a mere question. Why go through the trouble of asking?'
Scarlet looked at him warily, wondering if he was paranoid about the posters of the strangers and the mischief they had brought into the reserve. In all honesty, she was still more fearful of the residents who had come before them. The ones that made mothers fear for their young. The ones that made you lose your ability to trust another otter. She saw this whole ordeal with the three new strangers as a whole different situation. Had these been better times, otters might be less afraid of the festive antics that these newcomers brought. Not to say she didn't trust the idea of what these "ingredients" that they were handing out could potentially do to you. But the warnings posted around only added to the current fear lingering in the residents' hearts.
Although she tried to figure out what these recent arrivals were up to, at the same time she didn't want to associate them with anyone that had been here before.
Scarlet blinked at the vague term of 'they'. That could have been a number of people... She would have asked him to clarify, but his tone and stance was that of an otter who reprimanded you for asking foolish questions, even the ones of innocent intentions.
"Yes," she murmured softly, her quiet voice sounding quite grim. "I've been living through it." She didn't want to recall the hell that her family had been through, nor did she need anyone to drive the suppositions of this month's happenings to make her feel more paranoid than need be. She could make her own decisions in where to put her trust. Her timid nature just... prevented her from being upfront about it.
The angel looked at the dark male quizzically as he introduced himself. "Keiran...?" She might have taken a more kind or thoughtful approach to the offering of his name had he been less harsh when first happening across her, but she looked at him cautiously before timidly dipping her head in return. "I'm... Scarlet."
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Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2009 11:54 am
He was jaded and while if she had voiced her thoughts about the new strangers not being the same, he might have told her that he was more concerned with the current bad ones. He was suspicious about the three newcomers but he was more concerned about what they might help create. Obviously their treats weren't something to be taken lightly and at least the unsavory occupants tended to be more straight forward, in a lying, roundabout, can't trust a word they said type of way. Unless one was lucky to find one so cocky they'd spill everything- idiots.
He was beginning to find himself lost in thought and he shook his head lightly when she spoke. As much as he wanted to find fault in simply living through it, he couldn't since he was pretty much doing the same. He might be bitter about it, he might be angry occasionally, he might even be tempted to fight or outsmart those he disliked being around but for the time being he didn't feel he had enough information to act.
"Scarlet? A fitting and lovely name." It was as close to a compliment as she'd get from him for now. And then it was back to what weighed on his mind. "Have you met any of the new strangers?" he was curious to find out about their ingredients, about them. Though really they were just the current mysterious cloud over the Oasis, but he thought he'd have an easier time finding out what they were up to. And he wouldn't be stepping his paws close to them without some intel.
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Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2010 10:06 pm
Crimson-tipped wings flicked timidly out of habit as Scarlet was a bit taken aback by the male's sudden form of kindness -- or at least it seemed like kindness compared to his degrading tone before. That didn't mean the pure white angelic didn't still feel a bit edgy. Regardless, she still glanced away at his compliment and shuffled her paws shyly. "Thank... you..." she murmured so softly, it was almost a whisper.
Scarlet glanced back to the older male when he inquired about the strangers. She had met one, in fact. And while he was a strange and sort of whimsical character, the angelic wasn't entirely sure she could label him of evil intentions. "I... met a bobcat... wearing a top-hat. There were others gathered around him too, also curious to know what he was up to.... I suppose." She paused for a moment, only because she felt awkward when it came to being vocal. "I didn't get anything.... odd from him. Just a moon blossom." In fact, she was rather fond of the small, white flower.
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Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2010 10:53 pm
He opened his mouth to make some sharp retort about common sense, accepting things from strangers, and then promptly choked on his words. A flower? Well that wasn't at all what he was expecting, didn't mean he doubted his instincts, but he would've expected something a bit more- well just more. He sighed, apparently these strangers weren't going to be easy to figure out. Which would make it all the more hard to get anyone to listen to him. Not that anyone would anyways, what with his current hiding away not talking to anyone hermit-esque lifestyle.
He managed to murmur a well-known fact, "One shouldn't take things from strangers." For once his advice didn't come out as biting, mainly because he was occupied with his thoughts. What in the world would a flower be used for? He might have to find one, much as he despised the idea of doing so. How else could he find out what it was supposed to do? "I wouldn't trust anything they give out. Perhaps a flower, for once, is just a flower and you can enjoy it's beauty. Though I doubt it," he shrugged-optimism never really did work out for him.
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Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 5:27 pm
Scarlet's ears flicked back and she glanced away in a sort of crest-fallen manner as her hopeful musings over the white flower that she received from Mr. Jack were swatted away by Keiran's pessimistic response. Though his reminder of not to take things from strangers was, admittedly, something she could agree on with him. "I... know I should be careful with accepting things from otters and predators I don't know..." she murmured softly in defense. Though, she still didn't see any harm in a mere blossom. At least it wasn't like blood or graveyard dirt... or any other eerie item that she heard about other otters receiving. "...But aren't you the least bit curious to know what they're doing here? Why they're giving these things out?" she asked, looking back up at the dark male.
The angel fidgeted a bit anxiously. "I-I mean... why give out things like flowers and feathers with things like... bones and fangs?" Her nose scrunched up at the thought. Now that was something she could probably never accept from a stranger. "I'm not saying I want to be apart of what this is leading up to... but it's not something I want to be left in the dark about..." she concluded thoughtfully, taking a moment to catch her breath. Even though all she said was a few sentences, it was still alot for someone who hardly talked at all. And to someone she just met, no less.
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Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 10:57 am
He found himself a bit amused by her question regarding curiosity. Hadn't he brought the strangers up in the first place? Still he supposed he might have put her a bit on edge and thus should forgive her lack of sense. Instead he nodded, "I am curious-curious and suspicious. I would very much like to know why but I doubt it's as simple as that." It never was simple really.
The fur along his spine shot up at the uneasy feeling that stirred when she mentioned bones and fangs. That was much more along the lines of what he expected, much more worrying than a flower. "Of course you don't! Any sane being would want to know what they were getting into, whether they were taking part or not," he muttered with a roughness not focused at her. He huffed and took a breath. It wouldn't be any use getting upset, not at her at least.
"And you've only got a flower?" he pondered just what they could find out from that, if anything at all.
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 11:37 am
The angelic shifted a little uneasily at Keiran's bitter retort, not entirely sure whether his frustration was directed at her or not. It was hard to tell what made him so ticked off. She figured it was either this whole ordeal with the strangers giving out odd-ball gifts to people or the fact that he found someone of her generation insufferable to talk to... Both ideas seemed like a likely cause. Maybe he was just naturally irritable...
Scarlet shook herself from her musings as she realized the older otter was speaking to her again, this time asking to see if she had only received a flower. The ivory angel nodded quietly, flicking her black-finned tail before remembering the original reason why she sought out the bobcat. "Ah-- I did find a piece of paper though. One of those small ones scattered all over the place. It had something to do with... blood and fangs being involved with a vampire potion... I think there was a third item as well... only... I couldn't figure out what it was..." she stopped for a moment, frowning to herself as she realized the black otter probably had already seen a piece of paper like this. "W-which is why I went to Mr. Jack -- the bobcat -- to find out what it was. I think he said there was... sparkly dust involved?" she noted, sounding a little confused herself as she said it. What did glitter have to do with vampires?
"I heard others talking about ingredients for an undead potion too... Though... I dunno what's so bad about that... Papa and Az are undead and there's nothing wrong with them..." she murmured softly to herself in thought, unaware of how strange that might sound to someone who didn't know her family.
(Somewhere else in the reserve, a blind otter laying with his mate, Morgana, in her den, and a beat-up-looking angelic perched in a tree both sneezed simultaneously.)
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Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2010 12:06 pm
Keiran's brow kinked, "You wanted to know about a vampire potion? Why?" Truthfully it sounded rather dumb to him. What creature in their right mind, granted that was a very small number to begin with, wanted to be a bloodsucking undead? He shook his head, chin falling to rest on his chest as he sighed. What in the world was the reserve coming to? Apparently he'd had a lot more faith in the predators and otters having sense in their heads.
Although he didn't know what sparkly dust had to do with vampires either. The blood was obvious enough, he thought. And the fang seemed obvious as well. Dust-not so much. He crossed his paws in thought before he was pulled from his theorizing. Not that it much mattered, he certainly didn't want to be anything other than an otter!
"What do you mean, 'Papa and Az are undead'?" he didn't want to jump to conclusions. Still it was a curious thing to say and he couldn't help the slight growl in his throat-simply at the absurdity of it all. Undead was normal? Oh sweet Oasis, what was the reserve coming to?
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Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2010 2:38 pm
Scarlet blinked at Keiran's question before glancing down and pawing shyly at the earth. "I-I just thought knowing what the items in the potion were might give some insight on to why so many vampires have been around lately... I mean, not all of them are bad. I have a sister-in-law who's one... and her brother actually defended me once before..." she murmured in defense. It seemed awkward, sharing this much about herself with someone she just met, but the angel didn't appreciate how some of the different otters in the reserve received bad reputations because of the crimes that their brethren had committed.
Her white-less eyes looked back up to the older male, realizing that her timid nature forced her to advert her gaze away from the other otter every now and then. "My Papa... and my brother, Azrael... they're sorta like... corpses, I suppose.. They don't have a pulse... their wounds never heal..." she fidgeted, wondering if he thought her family and herself would be eerily abnormal because of this. "But they're not like zombies. They still have thoughts... a soul... feelings..." Well, Ketsueki did at least. It was hard to tell with her youngest brother whether or not he had emotions.
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