[PRP] Night Walkers (Risti and Terra Stryker)

[Baby Pandah]

The knife bounced against her chest, strung onto her beads and clanging against them as she ran. It was safely tucked away, there was no need for it at the moment. In fact, there had never really been a moment when it was necessary. Mostly it was for her own peace of mind, for her own protection in case whatever darkness that appeared in her visions decided to physically materialize and attack her. But most of the time it was useless. All the same it hung at her neck as she ran, foreshadowing danger and revelations to come.

Risti slowed to a walk and examined the world around her, enveloped in darkness and bathed in a faint glow from the half moon. She stuck out more than the stars in the sky, her yellow pelt screamed "I'm here!" to the world. But she didn't mind. She liked seeing new faces if they were curious enough to meet her. There was nothing in her past experiences to warn her not to speak with strangers.

So she stepped forward with an eager bounce in her step, using caution only to avoid breaking herself. Even as she carefully and swiftly moved, she saw cracks form in her flesh and she winced every time it happened. She was used to it by now and it caused no pain, but every fissure in her skin reminded her that she was odd, cursed...twisted.  

[tefla]

The night might have been a hindrance to Risti but it cloaked another figure almost completely. Terra Stryker had been circling above the yellow pelted mare almost in a lazy fashion. She'd bathed the stranger multiple times with her echolocation and she was intrigued about what can back to her each time. However she wasn't going to blow her cover immediately. The shock factor would have been amusing but Terra wanted more time to observe. She'd gone a far distance in the short time that she had abandoned her daughter. The thought of the state that she had left Lethe in brought no remorse into her thoughts. She had taken the action to effectively shake loose the bonds of parenthood. If her daughter could not survive the harsh lesson than it was not meant to be.

Terra's attention returned to the present. The yellow pelted mare seemed to be on the move again. With a gentle sweep of her wings Terra dipped lower into the sky and flew even closer towards the mare. She had already decided on her next course of action. She would attempt to incapacitate the mare with a sudden blow if it was possible. Perhaps aiming for one of those cracks she'd seen earlier would have some sort of effect. So much for waiting and studying her prey.

Terra tucked in her wings and began her descent ... aiming for the largest crack she had witnessed - the one on the mare's back.
 

[Baby Pandah]

She stopped for a moment, feeling a little odd. The cracking in her legs had accelerated to an alarming rate. Oh now she had done it. She hadn't been careful enough. She stood there frowning at the breaking which was now reaching her chest and quickly crackling up her neck. She was unaware of the skies above, unaware of a potential threat.

The collision came silently, without warning and without mercy. The first thing she heard was a loud crack that sent abnormal shivers throughout her entire body. Her already weak legs shook under the pressure and the cracks in her sides grew larger with splitting determination. She saw a large piece knocked off of her from her back first. As she spun around to see what had attacked, the knife around her neck twirling through the air, she watched herself shatter into a million pieces and cascade towards the ground. And then there was nothing...

The knife lay upon a heap of crumbled yellow pieces, glimmering in the soft moonlight and staring up at the bat accusingly. It was angry that it had not been used, how it would have loved to taste the blood of the bat above. It lay there helplessly just like its owner which was now a pile of porcelain upon the ground. It had warned her. It had beaten against her chest with great force in hopes that she would use it to her advantage. But now here she lay, her naivety had gotten the best of her and her innocence was spewed upon the earth for the world to see. The knife glinted in the moonlight, tisking pitifully at the broken mare beneath it.

tefla

 

[tefla]

Terra gave a little squeak of surprise as the mare suddenly crumpled into hundreds of yellow-hued pieces. The batwalker was stunned. Surely this was not her doing. The bat cocked her head to the side before lifting herself off the pile of debris. Her wings provided her flight and she banked away from the mess. A moment passed before the bat disappeared and a mare stood in its place. Terra edged closer to the the pile and nosed a few of the pieces before sneezing. What sort of creature was this? Terra had known of a few strange creatures from her time in the carnival but this experience took the title of strange to the extreme. Edging her claws forward Terra made a move to grasp the knife that lay unattended.

It must have been fate that her claws could not grasp the hilt of the weapon. Terra scowled darkly at the item before giving a loud screech. This game had ended too soon. It was no fun if her prey went to pieces on the first hit. The batwalker walked around the pile before giving a disdain-filled look towards it. Her fun had abated over the shock. Terra gave the pile one more look before turning her back. The mare spread her wings and reared before landing with a heavy thud. She would not stick around any longer than necessary.

Baby Pandah

 

[Baby Pandah]

The pieces began to shake on the ground and quiver with life. The farthest ones zoomed towards the pile, joining with others and forming bigger pieces, all the while shaking upon the earth. Even the tiniest crumbs found partners and rearranged themselves into neat little lines to be formed together again. The world slowly began to come back into fuzzy focus in Risti's reforming mind as the pieces merged and fused back together.

She felt herself breathing again before she experienced any thoughts of panic, felt the heaviness of her lungs and the weight of her heart that was slowly beginning to beat again. Her first thought was that she was being reborn, that she would soon be placed in a basket and would have to go through childhood all over again. She thought for a moment that her entire life up to this point had been nothing but an odd dream, and that she would soon be reborn a normal, healthy, and curse-free foal.

But as the crumbled pieces formed into long legs and an adult body, her mind began to form more rational and adult thoughts. The last piece formed with a loud tinkling noise at the end of her tail. She laid upon the ground, feeling naked and exposed, feeling weak and vulnerable. The knife around her now reformed chest bounced against her chest as she rose to prop herself up on the ground, and she slowly untied it from its place on her beads, gingerly grasping it in her mouth. It was doubtful that it would be of any use now, but she held it just the same. "Who...who is there?" she asked, squinting into the foggy darkness, still unaware of what had really happened.

tefla

 

[tefla]

Terra's ears caught the sound of movement behind her just as she was ready to leave the area. The long appendages twitched back and forth at the strange noises and she turned around. Surprise and shock graced her expression as she took in the pieces of the mare slowly flow back together. The batwalker was stymied. Never in her life had she seen something of the like. What was this creature that she could go to pieces so easily and yet reform herself after? The mare waited until the stranger rose to her feet before realizing that even though the knife was now in play ... the other mare still seemed confused.

Taking caution and throwing it to the wind the batwalker circled around this disoriented stranger ... a thoughtful look coming into her eyes. It wasn't even remotely possible that this mare could be of use to her so why was her attention still riveted.

"You need not worry about who I am. I'd be more concerned about your rather fragile appearance. I could shatter you once more and you'd not be able to do anything about it. What are you?"

Baby Pandah

 

[Baby Pandah]

Her vision was piecing together just as her body had and she blinked furiously in an attempt to speed up the process. The response to her question immediately told her that she was not in the company of a pleasant being. The more she blinked, the more she could see the outlines of large wings and ears. Risti felt a pang of relation to the size of the ears, but she knew the other would not feel so excited about any similarities they might have had. "What are you?" she asked, ignoring the other's question.

Even if she could explain what she was, she could tell the other didn't care. Still, she couldn't help hoping that the other mare was like her somehow, that she would have answers for Risti. The more she blinked, the more her attacker came into view. She looked like...a bat. Yes that was it. She wondered if it was the bat mare who had broken her, or if perhaps she had a bat friend. She looked up at the sky, keeping the other mare in her field of vision as she did so, the knife now clamped tightly in her mouth. She wasn't afraid of her appearance, but the way she was circling was an obvious sign of danger that Risti could not ignore. Her eyes darted back down to the mare, looking at her curiously but cautiously.

tefla

 

[tefla]

Terra remained silent as she continued to circle the strange mare. Her gaze took in every feature of this stranger and noted that even though she had seemingly pulled herself back together ... the evidence of cracks still remained. If she were to attack and hit one of those cracks again would she continue to shatter this fragile creature? The batwalker stopped her motions and stood silently in front of Risti. Her keen gaze scanned her surrounding before shifting her vision. Red eyes locked onto the knife that the mare held clamped between her teeth.

"You can stop looking towards the sky. I was the one that caused your unfortunate accident moments ago."

As she uttered that phrase she spread her wings up and out, displaying her powerful wingspan.

"As for what I am ... is it not obvious? I wear the pelt of another creature upon my back."

Baby Pandah

 

[Baby Pandah]

She had never seen one...a skinwalker. She had only heard stories about their pure evil and cursed nature. In her travels she had not been particularly weary of them, she had never felt fear for them or the dark stories they featured in. The only feeling she had about them was curiosity. They intrigued her, made her wonder how one could be irredeemably evil. They could not feel regret or remorse over anything but the loss of a meal at best. They could not feel love or warmth. They could not feel happiness in anything but killing and blood. She wondered if her family was that way. She knew they needed blood...did they find joy in the hunt as skinwalkers did?

As the walker raised her wings, Risti caught a flash of red on her chest. She couldn't make out the shape, though it interested her greatly. The more she was in the presence of the walker, the more her feelings of empathy and relation began to fade away as she came to realize the reality of the situation.. She began to accept the fact that there was no bond between them, no need to question the bat walker about her own strange appearance. After realizing that the walker had been responsible for the horrendous breaking of her body, a small bit of fear began to stir in her heart, but she tried to hide that fact from the walker. She was more afraid of what would happen if she tried to break her and it didn't work. It was one thing being broken and then unconscious and experiencing no pain, but she didn't want to know what would happen while she was conscious and feeling.

She stood up now, her legs shaking but holding nonetheless. She looked up at the walker, her knife glinting protectively. She hadn't had a reason to use it yet, but she was sure she would need it now. As she looked the other mare up and down, her vision clear now, her eyes caught on the bit of red on her chest again. She could see now that it was in the shape of a moon. "Would you mind telling me what that is before you attack me?" she asked, indicating towards the marking and letting the other know that she was fully aware of the situation.

tefla

 

[tefla]

Terra could scent the smell of fear beginning to waft from the strange mare before her. It was a heady combination that she drank in eagerly before checking her actions. The knife that she had failed to pick up before now looked like it was held quite with ease in the stranger's mouth. How very ... interesting. The silence between herself and this stranger was total for a few minutes. It seemed as if the other mare was contemplating something. Whatever it was seemed to increase the scent of intoxicating fear that the batwalker sensed. She was ready to charge when the stranger spoke a single question.

Terra paused and glanced down at her chest. The red crescent moon taunted her as she stared at it before her red gaze locked on the stranger. "Why is it of any consequence to you? This mark is part of a time of my life I wish to forget."

Terra narrowed her gaze as she took in the mare's appearance again. An interesting thought formed as she recalled a conversation from her travels. A stranger had told her of children being born of a abandoned ride left behind by the carnival. Before she could halt it from forming the statement had left her mouth, "although perhaps it looks like you've been victimized by this too. How ... amusing. This mark possibly connects you and I together."

Baby Pandah

Sorry for the delay Pandah.

 

[Baby Pandah]

"In what way? What do you mean?" Risti asked, her voice strong and demanding now. She knew she had perked the interest of the walker, but the moment was fleeting. Any information from this creature had to be extracted quickly before Risti's life was once again in danger.

The knife was poised, ready to taste blood. It was light enough to be fast and deadly...if used properly. She hadn't had much practice with it on anything other than phony targets plastered lazily on tree bark. But she was ready now, she had to be. For now she waited, hoping to get further information from the walker. She was still nervous for the fight that was sure to come, but she clung onto their small connection for comfort, hoping that the walker would be interested enough to inform her of this bond. How could she make it worth while? It was too important to her, she knew the skinwalker would take pleasure in keeping the information from her. She had to make it worthwhile...

"I'll do anything you want...except lie down and let you kill me," she said carefully, "If you tell me what I want to know and the information is credible...I'll do whatever you request." She winced, knowing this was probably not the best of ideas. Who knew what a purely evil being could want? It could be anything. But if she escaped perhaps she could get away with not carrying out the walker's request....She knew that wasn't fair. But were these beings really fair? She had heard about her kind, she knew there was no mercy, no kindness, no fairness about them. But no, she would not stoop to her level. She would carry out the request if she got meaningful information.

tefla

No worries. :3 I hope you feel better!