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Along the beach scuttled a young hermit crab, utterly undisturbed. Morning had peaked into afternoon and still it was not bothered, and went about its life in quite a normal fashion, scooping who-knew-what into its small and busily working mouth as it moved slowly and ponderously across the sun-warmed sand, caring naught for anything but itself. One large claw dragged along, identifying he was male, and he was a king in his world. His shell was the most beautiful of them all. His was big and impressive and unmatched by any other hermit crab on the beach.
Sharing it with him was a cub, though she was spectacularly growing and quite older than it seemed. She was slender and built finely, with thin and delicate bones and a fair figure, despite being not even half a year old. She could only walk on all fours yet, not having yet had her first transition, which she had been prepared for by her mother but still wasn't certain what to expect. She was always there, if not needed anywhere else. The hermit crab was a familiar resident who she recognised, if not only for that spot of coconut brown on his pearly white shell. Hello, she greeted him softly, with a touch of ebullient youthfulness, not at all expecting an answer from the creature that more or less ignored her and continued on with his boring, insignificant existence.
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With the heat of the day rising, Jael found himself on the shoreline, eyeing the cool ocean waters longingly. Paws sunk into the soft mud of the sand the tide had already washed across--waves inching again toward him to erase the path he'd walked thus far. Briney water engulfed his paws and the boy found himself running into the sea, leaping across the waves as they crashed onto the beach. Puppyish, he snapped at the salty sea, splashing and playing as though he wasn't locked into a perpetual state of indifference and annoyance. One wave knocked him off his feet and Jael vanished beneath the foamy surface, only to emerge moments later sopping wet and sneezing. Shaking his head free of water, he made his way back to the shore and shook off, sending droplets spraying in every direction. Salt clung to his coat and dripped in liquid form from every inch of his body, but at least he was cooler. Moving away from the tide, he flopped onto the sand and lay in the sun, allowing it to dry his snowy coat. Sleep crept across him as the warmth caused a content, lazy feeling to wash over his senses, broken by a young voice that barely registered. Lifting his head, Jael was nearly dry now--the sun in a different location in the sky than he remembered. Fiery eyes searching for the source, he located the young girl playfully regarding a small hermit crab. He pushed himself into a sitting position, then rising and walking a few steps toward the smaller creature. "I don't think he'll answer," Jael spoke out, again finding himself in the sand and rolling onto his side, watching the girl from a skewed angle.[/html]
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mall-caps;">don't let me stop you from doing what you wanna do you don't wanna stick, trust me, it's cool
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The cub started at the voice that drifted across the space between them, and her head whipped suddenly in the direction of the prone white hybrid. She had no concept yet of the differences between wolf and coyote and hybrid, but she was used to seeing differing individuals in Inferni at times. Jael looked nothing like the rest of them, but she was not afraid of him. She was not afraid of anybody yet, having never been given a reason to fear outsiders, nor to dislike wolves. They seemed decent. Haven had been, anyway, and always would be a friend. I didn't think he would, she assured the man with the unusual eyes (from where she sat on the sand, they looked startlingly yellow and bright) before turning her eyes back to the small creature scuttling awkwardly along. But it's okay to be nice anyway, right?
Or maybe it wasn't. Maybe he was trying to tell her that greeting something so much smaller than she, something with a life that was probably less important (to her all life was important, and she believed childishly that all creatures were equals, no matter their differences), was a waste of her time or was treasonous.
Maybe he was just going to toy with her. She had no way of knowing and nothing to go off of. After all, everybody else had been kind thus far.
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The sand was warm against his body and oh-so-comfortable. Paws splayed, allowing the granules between his toes and savored the feelings of being alive. For once, he honestly felt content, and allowed this to show in the doggish expression of his tongue lolling between his dark lips. He was still young and the world had yet to beat him into submission, no longer allowing hope or happiness to bloom through. Perhaps it was this little girl's perceived innocence, coupled with the beauty of the world that lifted his spirits. So far she didn't regard him with distrust or hatred, and this elated him. Perhaps there was still good in the world, until she grew up and became tainted by the cruelties, lies, and hatred that surrounded them all. But until them, depending on who she was kept around, this girl could grow up differently than so many others. "Yes, it is," he replied, an honest smile showing on his features. Jael knew he couldn't be more than a few months older than this little girl, but the contrast between him and his siblings with her was like white and black. Vitium had attempted to fill them with so much hatred, and yet here this child was talking to a crab for no reason other than simple, childish kindness. It was funny how something so stupid and insignificant could make him think so much. "I'm Jael," he added, rolling over onto his belly and lifting his head to properly look at the younger hybrid. "You?" the pale wolf asked, following along with her theme of polite, proper conversation and introducing himself.[/html]
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mall-caps;">don't let me stop you from doing what you wanna do you don't wanna stick, trust me, it's cool
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She smiled back at the crab that had made considerable progress by now, carrying his oh-so magnificent and kingly shell away with him, before she stood up and moved closer to the pallid wolf-coyote-thing that didn't look like anybody she had ever met. As she got closer, his eyes got more and more orange, until she was at a distance where they sang of flames and she was left perplexed. I'm Valkree, she said affirmatively, as if there was no way her name could be… Well, anything else. You can say Val if you wanna. Then she was drawn back to those unusual eyes (hers did not look like those of either of her parents, but she had no idea of heredity yet, and probably wouldn't for quite some time) he sported, where her imagination ran away with her. Maybe he had caught the sun in them. Maybe that was why it was behind a cloud at present, and not shining brightly in the sky; Jael had temporarily borrowed its light. Your eyes are cool, she told him, up front and blunt and straightforward, with a little wave of her tail. Can you show me that trick? Where they change colour?
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She watched the little crab a few moments further before rising and moving closer, staring in an obviously curious manner at his eyes. By now in life, he had realized he had strange eyes, so striking and brilliant like flames burning against a snowy background. They changed in the light, from a sharp-lemon yellow hue to the color of orange hellfire, shot with hints of vermilion. And they seemed to fascinate the little girl in the way she kept her own eyes on them, following suit after Jael and introducing herself. Finally, she did comment on what her attention had obviously been stolen by, remarking on his sun-colored eyes. "I don't know how," he said softly, almost disappointed he couldn't give the little puppy something she apparently desired. "I'm just made that way. But yours are pretty too, even if they don't change color," the boy added, waving his tail a few times in good show. In some strange way, he almost wanted to protect this little girl and her innocence. Even look out for her as though she was his own sibling-his own flesh and blood. Technically, she was a cousin of sorts to him, as nearly all of Inferni was related, but it wouldn't of mattered to Jael even if she wasn't. Blood didn't mean everything, the same as he didn't feel breed did either. But if he could keep someone from having to endure a life they shouldn't, rather than the carefree existence of a child, then he would feel he had at least done something worthwhile with his own life.[/html]
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mall-caps;">don't let me stop you from doing what you wanna do you don't wanna stick, trust me, it's cool
[/html] Thanks, she said bashfully, looking to the sand on the ground briefly. Her tail coiled absent-mindedly as she sought out something that was as impressive as the escaped crab but, finding nothing, resigned herself to being all but useless. Zana went around doing morbid things that sometimes made Val cringe, and everybody else had something to occupy their time with. She couldn't even walk on two feet yet. Do you know how to walk on two feet? she asked him suddenly, unperturbed by his inability to show her the trick to the eyes. Maybe, if he couldn't show her that, he could explain shifting and how it worked, and when she should expect to accomplish it, if at all. Did they have a special mark saying who would and who wouldn't? It was something she yearned to do, despite the seeming awkwardness of it, and she was yet upset she couldn't.
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(396) After his comment the girl became momentarily shy, looking around as though to find something to distract herself from the awkward situation. He looked away too, sensing the perceived tenseness in the air that had developed between them and gazing off into the distance toward the sea. But she spoke again, breaking the silence quite suddenly to ask him about shifting. Jael turned back to her, smiling faintly. "Yeah," he replied. Was she asking him as just something to ask, or had she not yet been fully educated in the ways of shifting? Jael had been able to change for a little while now, but he didn't do it often. It was awkward and strange, having just gotten used to his four-legged body and suddenly finding himself in a strange new form, able to be attained at will. And will usually kept him safely on all four paws. "That I can show you.. I think," the pale wolf continued, waving his tail once again in an overt effort at friendliness. While he himself had grasped the basics, he wasn't completely sure he could pass it on to another. And you had to be a certain age before you could shift—six moons being the exact number that allowed you to morph. Jael could guess the girl was a few months old, but the exact number he couldn't tell from just looking. He himself looked younger than he was, thinner and less developed than he should be at this point. Regarding the puppy for a moment longer, he rose and stepped away from her, saying as he did so: "See.." And here he began to focus intently on the change. After a few seconds of attempting to grasp it, reaching and reaching for something just out of range, it finally came. It was quick now, like running down a hill and allowing gravity to take you, body shifting and bones moving, enlarging the boy to new heights. Eyes closed, allowing it to wash over him and transform him into something else. Fore-legs became more mobile and agile, allowing paws to stretch into hands. Hind-legs elongated and torso widened, making him look more like a skeleton than his usual form. Finally, blinking back the pale mane that now fell into his eyes, he lowered himself onto his belly before Valkyrie and grinned meekly, almost sheepishly at what he'd done.
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She watched, intrigued, as the pale man stood up and stepped back from her. For a slight moment, a pang of panic shot through her breast and told her to follow him, in case he was leaving her there by herself without a warning, but he didn't go far before his dazzling eyes shut and something started to happen. It moved through him like a shiver at first, and suddenly things were changing. It started with the fur along the back of his neck; she watched with amazement as it suddenly got longer, longer, and longer, falling over his closed eyes and hiding them from view. His neck changed, as did his chest, as his arms suddenly became longer, his paws changed shape, and his body slowly tilted back so he was standing on his back legs. They looked different now, too, and his paws were larger and flatter, as if to allow his balance to remain.
He stayed like that only momentarily, and then flopped back onto the sand with a grin that seemed to her to translate into embarrassment. She, however, had little to no concept with why any of that would be humiliating, and her eyes (the size of saucers, most likely) were fully on him and his hair and his now-open eyes as her large ears fell back and her slack jaw slowly closed with a click of little teeth. Woaaaaah, she finally breathed, leaning back on her hind feet as she stared at him. That was so cool? That was really weird? She didn't really know what else to say, but as she stared quizzically at him, it was plainly evident in every part of her that it was absolutely amazing. It was also very obvious that Val couldn't wait to be able to do it herself.
But all she could manage to say was, Does it hurt? in her utter disbelief.
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(411) Though still small and underdeveloped, Jael held a sort of frail elegance he'd gained from his mother's blood. His features were wolfish, yet they just faintly held something of the coyote in them, leading them to be narrower than they should be. His coat and mane were an almost flawless white, marred only by the faintest shadow of palest silver on the tips of the hair along his neck, back, and shoulders. If a word could be used to describe him in a complimentary manner it would of been closest to beautiful, rather than handsome or any such phrase, as he'd yet to grow into any sort of masculinity. Maybe he never would, and would always remain an effeminate creature until he grew old and faded away. His shifted form accentuated this image, leaving him with a willowy, elegant frame and a long mane down his back that seemed unnaturally free of snags and tangles. Jael had never been a show-off, confidence marred by his upbringing and the hatred brought on him by his siblings. He felt like he was holding his head too high, showing this little girl what he could do--that she probably could do in a few months or weeks when her time finally came. Jael didn't feel he was a creature worthy of leading others, or even teaching and educating another. His nature said different, but self-worth had been shattered by the ignorance of others. Thus, he put on a sheepish face to the little girl, awkward that she was looking at him with awed, wide-eyes as though he were honestly a creature of value. "Not really," he said in response to her question. "It's a weird feeling, but you get used to it." Valkyrie was utterly fascinated by shifting, and Jael had been too when he was younger. It was a part of them, and a part of growing up, becoming a part of a world beyond the normal wolf. While he didn't embrace the change as readily as others, he still did revel in it and the fact this gift was allowed to him. "When you're six months old you'll be able to do it too. If you want, I can try and show you then," he said with the faintest smile, quietly doubting himself as he always did, but not voicing such. Honestly, he wanted to do something worthwhile with his life, and helping this child in any way may be his only opportunity.
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don't let me stop you from doing what you wanna do you don't wanna stick, trust me, it's cool
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As he explained it in some small detail, Valkyrie found all she could do was listen. His voice was incredibly soothing to her despite his fiery eyes and the fur that shone almost too-bright in the sunlight, things that made him stand out and completely contradicted his seeming personality. Eventually, she would be able to do it as well: this he told her with a certain amount of wavering certainty. She smiled, pleased that this was the case, even though she couldn't yet tell there was anything special about her.
Finding she was almost staring, the de le Poer looked away bashfully, though without bringing any amount of awkwardness into the situation. I'd like that, she admitted, a little hesitantly, before looking back up at him with admiration still in her youthful eyes. But how do you know I'll be able to do it too?
After all, if she couldn't tell, was there some sort of way he was able to identify her as a Luperci? Perhaps it was all some weird game, and everybody could, but maybe not. She hadn't seen any other creatures, like the crab, up and walking around like they did. She had to admit it was possible those who did not have the power of shifting existed.
A sudden urge to give them the same gift that Jael had — that he said she also had — overcame her, and in the back of her mind, a cog clicked into place.
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There were ways to tell whether one would be a shifter or not. Jael was not yet able to tell simply through scent, for he was not worldly and experienced enough for that. Normal wolves and luperci had other differences as well, such as life-span and general health and development. Luperci always fared better than the average wolf for they were naturally more powerful, and they seemed to grow up faster from puppyhood. But obviously the boy hadn't known the girl enough to be able to determine such with her, if she was different than a simple coyote. "Well.. if your mother or father can shift, then you can too," he replied, remembering the virus, the curse, the ability was passed through blood and birth, allowing even a non-luperci to become one if they so chose. But Jael had been born with the ability, and so thus never needed to learn how to acquire it--simply be aware how he was able to pass it. "Do you know if either of them can?" he asked, aware she might not even know, if say, she had never met either parent, or it had been hidden from her. He'd rather get to other ways second if the first failed, for birth was the easiest and simplest way in his eyes to have the curse acquired.
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This man seemed to have the answer to everything. If he could not necessarily teach her, it was acceptable, but he at least knew something of it. She wished she was so useful as to be able to offer an explanation for simple things such as living and being able to shift, things that in time she would know and understand with such certainty as he did, but for now, she was at a loss for much of anything of the sort. For now, she could only listen.
When the question became airborne, her tail patted the ground softly before she even considered answering. She knew next to nothing about her father other than the fact that he existed and was in the clan; he had not ever considered visiting her, and she had never gone to him out of fear of who she may find. Her mother was clearly not the man's biggest fan, either. But after this moment of contemplation, Val nodded to Jael and said, my momma can.
This stated, she fell silent once more, watching him expectantly but not certain what it was she was expecting.
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The girl confirmed her mother had the ability to shift, meaning she herself would be able to when the time came. She wouldn't have to have the ability transferred to her in some other, less pleasant way. "Good," he nodded. "That means you'll be able to as well, then." Of course, strange circumstances and deceit could have twisted the truth, but Jael pushed these thoughts aside, knowing he was thinking far too much on the issue. Lowering his head to the sand, he quickly shifted into a crouch, eyeing the child in a playful manner. Even though he was shifted, his mannerisms were still relayed as though he were simply a wolf, bowing to the girl to encourage her to join him in a game--serious conversation momentarily disregarded for amusement. Tongue lolling between his lips, Jael lunged on all fours, pressing his dark nose into her shoulder before leaping back out of reach, invoking a game of tag between the two youths. Tail lifted high above his back like a banner, fiery eyes glinting with mischief, Jael attempted stay out of range, growling playfully at the child.
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OOC: I'm gonna fade this. Thanks for the thread, and I'm sorry for my absence right in the midst of it!
She bobbed her head willingly at his confirmation, a smile unfurling across her inky lips for only a moment. Sweet seduction could someday rest there, or maybe something less malevolent — she was an open book, the world a library unseen by eyes, and soon they would be let in to weave their persuasive magics upon her — but it was of yet undetermined. She was but a child placed in a world of hate, and she would make the most of it.
It wasn't unusual at all that Jael, still an Optime, took on a wolfish play bow. Perhaps to a full-blooded coyote it would've been odd-seeming, but Valkyrie was a hybrid, and some calling in her responded to the invitation with a positive rush to her head. She felt herself declining forward upon the sand more than she consciously knew it was happening, her legs splayed outward before her and her wheat tail, with its chocolatey tip of eternity, swaying above her black-stripped back.
A playful growl rumbled through the girl's beige throat, cutesy in comparison with his own manly and rugged tone, as her nose connected with her shoulder. She made a grab at it with a thick puppy paw, missing by mere inches as he pulled away and held himself at a range she could not reach without moving.
Her golden eyes flashed and she threw herself after him, unable to keep a childish giggle out of her girlish growls as they played until both of them were breathing hard with exhaustion and excitement, and they parted (at least on her side of things) quite reluctantly.
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