Character Name:
Merilin Ethuil
Character Birthdate (including year):
November 13, 2008
Whether s/he is a regular wolf or a Luperci:
regular
Species:
Canis Latrans
Gender:
Female
A secondary form of contact (AIM, MSN, Y!M):
cutieyuhoo@hotmail.com (msnm)
How you found 'Souls:
I found ‘Souls from Requiem, who is my twin
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The waxing moon hung low in the sky, the stars twinkling nearby, as if protectively. It was an unusually cool night. The breeze rustled the leaves, adding a new part to the symphony of the waves of the bay. The dark waters lapped at the sands, always hungry. It was strangely quiet, here on the beach, and the earth seemed to sigh with anticipation. As the waves continued to bring and sweep the sands away, further sculpting the shoreline, something much heavier than water or sand brushed the shore until it was finally spit up. A dark mound lay there, and the moon, curious, shed some light onto the thing.
It was wet, unmoving. Even in the silvery light of the moon, the russet tones of the creature’s fur could be seen, shimmering with moisture. The body was lithe, smaller than a wolf, though it seemed to resemble one. It was hard to tell what it was exactly, for even beneath the light of the waxing moon, the thing was still just a slightly colorful pile of fur. And it seemed that it was dead, for it lay there for such a long time…
Suddenly, there was a shudder. Water sputtered from a maw filled with sharp, shining teeth. The thing struggled for a moment as it attempted to stand. With minimal stumbling, it finally rose to its feet, in its stance its weariness apparent. The thing was now identified as a coyote, still somewhat young, a female. She tried to shake the water from her fur, but her energy was scarce and she could hardly complete the action. For now, she would have to be cold; hopefully the son would come for her soon. Brilliant blue eyes, dulled by fatigue gazed up at the moon apologetically, for although beautiful, it was at the moment of no help to the creature. The coyote exhaled, a wet and heavy sound. Slowly, and with great effort, those small paws lifted and began to drag itself away from the waters from which she had come.
The moonlight caught a new color, more brilliant and disturbing than the others. The deep crimson hues of blood. It trickled down the coyote’s head from some would obscured by fur. She seemed unaware. The blue eyes stared, unseeing, as the coyote moved through some miraculous effort. For a while, she wandered about aimlessly, seeing nothing, smelling nothing, hearing nothing. This continued until her eyes suddenly became aware and the feet suddenly ceased to move. She was staring straight at a pole.
The weary coyote cocked it’s head, confused, then gazed up, following the pole up, up, up until it came to its end at the base of a canine skull. The bright eyes widened, staring both curiously and blankly at the white bone glimmering in the moonlight. Soon, as is common with those who gaze up for too long a time, the coyote became dizzy. She swayed to and fro, too stupid to look down and collect herself, and fell. The contact extracted a small squeak from her and her eyes darkened, closing as she finally fainted. Her mouth was slightly open, her tongue rolling out to rest on the dry ground. A final sigh escaped as she fell into unconsciousness.
[html] http://digital-bonsai.com/katew/rp/kae/kae_disorder.jpg); background-position: bottom center; background-repeat:no-repeat;"> Hey there!  I love your style.
It was night. The shadows stretched deep and dark over everything, obscuring and melting away all detail in the world, leaving behind just the fuzziest gray and black shadow over everything. The coyote woman did not attempt sleep yet. Kaena kept a rather nocturnal schedule; she preferred to be awake at night and asleep for the better part of the day, though some might regard such a habit as particularly lazy. The grizzled woman was anything but, however; she might not have been active during the day, but she roamed the borders often at night. Most of her comrades were already tucked away, fast asleep and recharging for the next day's activity.
The silvery hybrid was coming close to ending her rounds, however. Nothing new, and nothing interesting. The ancient woman was almost relieved; she never minded drawing new blood into the clan, but there was just something tedious and repetitive about greeting wanderers at the borders. It was just her luck that she came across a scent, soggy and wet. Wrinkling her nose, the cloud-colored canine meandered forth, following that unfamiliar, moist scent. It hadn't rained in a few days, though the clouds were omnipresent and ever-threatening to downpour. A wet canine made no sense to the scarred woman; if there had been no rain, there was no water to douse this stranger.
Her mental questions were soon answered as she came across a sodden, small body. It was a young coyote, and it was not moving. Her muzzle knotted with curiosity, and she nudged the youth's shoulder hard, checking for signs of life. Now that she could smell the salt, it made sense. Of course—this canine had washed up on the beach, and that was why she was all wet and probably dead. There was no pity in the woman's heart, but the coyote's relatively young age made her a far better candidate for receiving a rare burst of sympathy from the grizzled coyote hybrid. "Hey. You alive?" she asked, wondering what tragedy had befallen one so young to land her on Inferni's borders, soaked the bone and dying or dead.
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ooc- thank you! ^^
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The dreams were dark, reminders of what she had just recently fled. It was all incomprehensible, just images, memories flashing about incoherently. Yet, these images were far more disconcerting to the young female coyote than the complete story. These were the emphasized terrors. A dark mass. A flash of claws. A set of dark, unintelligent eyes. Fear. The still body of her mother… She knew that she was not awake, but she desperately wanted to be. It was easier to forget that way, when the unconscious mind was trying to remind you always. Yet, she could not wake herself up. She struggled to pull herself out of unconsciousness, but to no avail. She tried to run, but the images kept following. Suddenly, she felt herself jerked away, felt her material body combine with her astral. She struggled to open her eyes, for if she could not, then she would be drawn back once again into the dark images of her past.
The young coyote slowly opened her bright blue eyes. It felt like she was trying to pull them open while some other force was trying to keep them closed. She was still not yet fully aware of her surroundings; blurs everywhere. Finally, after much struggling, she was able to keep her eyes open, blinking a couple times. A couple squeaks and grunts were emitted. What had roused her? The young creature looked about her, completely confused, and in pain. The throb in her head was new… And now she could smell something strange; the young coyote had smelt it before, yes… in the small rodents she had killed. Blood? It smelled so familiar, though, like her own scent after a long night’s sleep. Maybe she was bleeding. The blue eyes gazed upward until they met in the center, unable to catch sight of the blood which covered her head. Nothing.
And then, the young female was suddenly aware that she was no alone. The scent hit her like a bug. Her head twitched as she tried to see who was near, her eyes momentarily filled with fear until she finally settled on the face of a coyote. Here was an old female; did she know her? She stared blankly for a moment, trying to understand. Her eyes slowly moved down the form. Shock.
What was this creature? The young coyote gasped in her small way. The face looked like a coyote, reminded her of her mother, even. But the body! What was that? Her body began to tremble. “What are you?” she asked aloud. Her voice was still young, bright like a songbird. Suddenly, the young coyote felt as if she were being rude. She had never been taught to act well around others… but somehow she new.
She looked down, unable to meet the gaze of the old female, suddenly feeling self-conscious. “I’m a coyote. My name is Merilin.” The small thing sniffed, the inside of her nose still wet and uncomfortable.
[html] | http://digital-bonsai.com/katew/rp/kae/kae_jaws.jpg); background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:fixed; padding-top:221px; padding-left:25px; padding-right:25px; padding-bottom:10px;"> The coyote woman was not so perplexed by this situation. She had been alive a long time and seen many things stranger than canines washing ashore; after all, many canines had opposable thumbs and they were quite capable of using boats to cross the oceans as the humans did. Maybe some of them were dumped overboard, either accidentally or with a malicious intent. There was a twitch and breath from the young coyote, so Kaena knew she was still alive. The breathing was faint and ragged, though, and the woman was not absolutely certain. She smelled the blood now, though she still could not differentiate that dark, wet mass on the coyote's forehead from the rest of her fur and she did not know how badly the young woman was hurt.
There was slight noise and movement, and Kaena took a step back, lest the woman was still frightened from her unconsciousness. She didn't want to end up unnecessarily nailed on the face, especially when such a wound was preventable. The woman's solo golden eye watched as two brilliantly blue ones opened, more of a pale turquoise. The woman was a bit taken by those eyes, her own golden gaze meeting them unabashedly. The young adult had slight, tapering coyote features. A familiar slender muzzle, large ears. There didn't seem to be any hybrid blood in her whatsoever, though it was surely difficult to tell with her fur dampened and pressed down as it was. At first, the girl seemed to register Kaena as a friendly, but as her eyes roved over the elder's two-legged form, surprise and fear set in, those sky blue orbs widening. A tiny gasp escaped the woman's lips, along with a shocked question. "So am I. A luperci, a shape-changer," she added. The word flowed off of her tongue naturally, related to those ancient words her father had taught to her. Luperci, ortus, verto. If the girl didn't seem so frail, Kaena would have shifted to her halfling form to illustrate the point.
The youth's gaze went downward, and Kaena cocked her head. It was possible that this woman had never met a shifter before. Kaena had heard of such things, isolated pockets of canines which had not been infected with the shifter trait, further separating themselves from their Ortus and Verto cousins. They were a separate species now, Kaena supposed, and if the luperci nonissi were able to withstand the test of time and keep themselves pure of the shifter infection, they would eventually bifurcate into different species entirely. "Kaena Lykoi. This is Inferni, a clan for coyotes," she stated, very simply. The woman seemed fresh to the world itself, and it seemed unlikely to Kaena that she even realized she stood on the clan's borders. No matter. She hadn't trespassed, and in her sorry state, even if she had, the silvery canid would have shown mercy.
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“You are?” Now only curiosity remained in Merilin’s voice. That was strange; she had never seen a coyote that looked like this before. She continued to gaze at the old female’s body, although it was somewhat difficult to take in a great amount of detail due to the fact that it was nighttime. Her blue eyes gazed up inquisitively at the older female. “Luperci…” she murmured to herself. She turned that word over on her tongue silently. What a strange word. “What are ‘shape-shifters’?” she asked suddenly, the question genuine. She had never come across these words. But she was not greatly surprised at these new things, for she did not even know where she was anymore. The lands here smelled so strange and unfamiliar. She inhaled deeply; so many scents filled her and she had to set her nose back on the ground, exhaling sharply. Dirt blew about in response to the changes in the air. Merilin sneezed and shook her head.
Wearily, the young coyote lifted herself onto her feet. This took a great amount of effort and she found that she was still quite tired. Strangely colored stars obscured her vision momentarily, and she shook her head to try to get the effects to wear off. It did not really help. Being unconscious for even a little bit did allow her to gain some more energy, however, and she found that she was able to shake some moisture from her fur. Her body felt nicer already with the water having been discarded. She realized that she must have sprayed the other old female. “Sorry,” she apologized immediately.
“Merilin Ethuil is glad to meet Kaena Lykoi,” she said awkwardly, nodding her head as if to agree with herself. Yes. Very pleased to meet her. It was good to know that she would not be alone, maybe. “Inferni? A pack for coyotes?” Excitement began to creep into her voice. She knew that she had no family anymore, and she knew, too, that she could not waste time pining away for their loss forever, however devastated she was. Her mother had been her friend, after all, really the only other coyote she ever came to know. Whatever life she had or was going to have was gone. Now she had to move on. This was her chance.
“Can I come with the Inferni, too? I don’t have a family anymore…” The last part was said with great sadness. The head of the russet toned coyote fell once more as she gazed at the ground, seeing only the face of her mother. Tears welled up in her bright blue eyes, but she kept them from falling. “I won’t be any trouble!” she promised, trying to persuade this strange… luperci to take her with her. Suddenly, she felt light headed again and had to sit down. The coyote fell back on her haunches, her forepaws pawing the ground to keep her footing.
“I know how to hunt! I could bring food…” Such was her next point of persuation. She had no idea, in reality, what a clan was, but she figured that it was something like a family… it had the same ring to it. And wherever there were other coyotes, she wanted to be. She had never liked being left alone; it got too quite that way. “Please,” she pleaded, looking up at Kaena. “I have nowhere else to go.”
[html] | http://digital-bonsai.com/katew/rp/kae/kae_jaws.jpg); background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:fixed; padding-top:221px; padding-left:25px; padding-right:25px; padding-bottom:10px;"> It was easy to be malicious to wolves that came to their borders. Inferni was not interested in wolves unless they were of relation or the lover of someone currently in the clan. But hybrids and coyotes were a different story entirely; even if they smelled of pack, Kaena would have wandered up to a coyote hybrid in much the same fashion, reserved and friendly, receptive and open to their story. If it turned out they weren't seeking to defect from their pack, surely, a wolf-hybrid would be turned away just as quickly as his purebred brethren, but Inferni was not exactly in the position to be cold and callous to turn away coyotes who showed up at their doorstep.
The young coyote seemed rather mystified by the notion of Luperci, so Kaena wordlessly began the shift, falling forward onto her outstretched arms as the shift took over. Her spine realigned, lining up with her skull so she was far more suited to walk on four legs. Her fingers grew larger and stubbier, fusing together to become paws. She bypassed her secondary form and went straight to lupus, becoming just slightly larger than the full-blooded coyote. Her hybrid blood gave her longer limbs and a taller stature in general. As she had shifted, the woman had begun to pull herself together, standing up after a long moment. A fine mist landed on Kaena, but it was hardly enough to make or break the adolescent's chances. She only offered a slight shrug and a halfway amused grin at the other canine.
"Bet you are. You don't look like you're in great shape," she said, though it was certainly not intended as a derisive remark to the russet coyote. "Yes, coyotes and hybrids," she added. She had declined to mention her own muddled blood; if it wasn't obvious already to the other canine it needn't be mentioned. It hadn't perturbed her that the yearling had referred to Inferni as a pack; if she hadn't been able to draw that parallel between the clan and the pack Kae would have done so herself. It was the easiest way to convey what Inferni was, anyway.
The blue-eyed coyote continued, and the grizzled woman listened, keeping her face carefully neutral. She had no right to pass judgment on this newcomer; that alone fell to Gabriel and Ryan. But she could make their lives easier, and she was certain, anyway, that her son and her son's cousin would trust her judgement. She'd been doing the meet-and-greet long enough, anyhow. She promised she wouldn't be trouble, and Kaena grinned. Certainly not, or she'd find herself right back out on her butt the way she'd come in. That is, if she was lucky and her offense wasn't so severe as to warrant a different sort of punishment from the Aquila of the clan.
"Many coyotes can do these things, not to say such things are without purpose. Can you do anything unique?" the woman wondered, knowing Gabriel might ask such a question. It would save him some time, anyway. "Unfortunately, I can't decide if you can stay here or not. That's up to Gabriel. He is my son and our leader." There was a certain hint of pride to her tone, naturally. "I will call him, but Merilin," she said, her voice growing grave. She leaned down a bit, her single golden eye gazing into the light blue one. "You plan on staying here for good?" Kaena doubted Gabriel would be interested in housing her if she was just looking for a place to crash while she recuperated, so it was quite a necessary evil to ask her such a thing.
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The young coyote watched in awe and fear, also, as Kaena Lykoi shifted. It was a strange process, even stranger to watch. How could such a thing exist? She did not know of that could change their forms. That just could not happen… right? But then again, there were caterpillars. Maybe they were like moths. Moth’s never began as something winged and funny; they always began as weird scary worm things. Yes, this must be it. These coyotes were like moths. Strange. Coyoths? Mothyotes? She didn’t know what she wanted to call them, but she knew they called themselves luperci. This was all very interesting to Merilin. What a strange new world life had pushed her into.
She gazed in awe at the still large form of Kaena. She had to be taller than her mother… even her father. She wondered why she was so tall. Maybe she and her family had all just been short. But there was also something strange and different about the over all appearance of Kaena. It did not seem entirely coyote. Maybe it was just the night’s darkness. Suddenly, she was aware of all of Kaena’s features. The old female became quite frightening; she wondered how she had not seen it before. They were such obvious features. Only one golden eye; Merilin wondered where the other eye had gone, and suppressed a shudder when she caught sight of the empty hole. And then there were the scars on her face. And then the missing part of the ear. This looked like some sort of wolf that had died. Suddenly the fear within the young coyote went away. Perhaps she was not so different from her; she had died, in a sort of way, she felt.
Merilin hoped that they would take her in. She needed a place where she would never be alone again. And the idea of a clan or a pack, well, that was simply delightful. She had never really experienced a family, but she knew that she loved the feeling she got when she and her mother would spend time together. She wanted to feel that way again: accepted, loved, wanted. She felt that if any place could offer it, this place could. The Inferni. And according to the old female, both coyotes and hybrids were a part of it. She wasn’t sure what a hybrid was exactly, but it must be something different, like the luperci. She was learning a lot of new words.
Her ears fell and her gaze went with them. She shook her head sadly and slowly. “Yes, I guess you are right,” she said quietly. “And I am not unique.” She felt so devastated. She was nothing special. Just a young coyote without a family. She could not fight, could not even defend her mother. She looked up at Kaena. “I can be a friend,” she offered, convinced that this attribute was one that was shared among many as well. Her hopes fell once more. Sadness…
Her ears perked up suddenly while she listened, and her posture seemed more hopefully. Perhaps she still had a chance. “Oh yes!” she exclaimed excitedly. “I want t stay here forever!” She was so excited, so hopeful. Maybe she could make up for her mundane personality with loyalty… maybe. She wondered if this would make this Gabriel leader want her to stay. She hoped so. So terribly. Yes. She would do anything to get Gabriel to want to keep her.
[html] http://digital-bonsai.com/katew/rp/kae/kae_jaws.jpg); background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:fixed; padding-top:221px; padding-left:25px; padding-right:25px; padding-bottom:10px;"> Sorry, we had such a nice rhythm going. D: Alrighty, Kiri went ahead and OOCly accepted you, and I'm going to play this as if Kaena just hears Gabriel call back and be like "up to you" or whatever, so after this, you're free to go and RP! We'll probably end this thread here, but we can have another right afterward where Kae shows her around Inferni a bit.
The gray coyote had been born with the ability to shift her form, though it hadn't been realized as an ability until she was nearly an adult, as with all luperci ortus. It seemed strange to her not to shift, though it was not entirely unheard to the silver woman. She had been alive a very long time, and she had seen much in her lifetime. It wasn't so strange to her that the younger woman—who was just barely an adult herself—didn't know of Luperci and the ability to shape-shift. There were no instincts associated with it, either. If a luperci was unaware of his or her status, they would not shift until they realized they could.
The light increased ever so slightly, allowing Kaena the same insight into the younger woman's features. She noticed the splatter of blood across her skull, matted and almost the color of rust. The wound had mostly stopped bleeding, but there was still the slightest trickle in the center of it. After a moment, Merilin's fear faded, and there seemed to be some kind of acceptance of Kaena's appearance. The tips of her yellowed canines just showed; there was kinship between the pair, some strange, filmy bond that existed despite their just meeting each other, despite the years that stretched between them. Kaena took a closer look at the wound on the woman's head. It was serious, but if she was walking and moving now, she would probably be alright. Still, it would do to get someone with some medicinal talent to take a gander at the wound.
The younger coyote spoke, and she seemed to look down on herself with the statement, though Kae surely hadn't intended it that way. "Don't fret," she began, that mothering tone creeping into her voice. By Inferni standards, the adolescent was certainly an adult, and she would surely receive the Tirones rank, not the Tirones Minor rank. Still, she was young and she seemed rather sweet and innocent, awakening the instinctive love for the young within Kaena she had cultivated through her many litters. There was the ghost of a smile lifting at her lips for a moment, and she shook her head. "You're still young, though. You got years of potential," the coyote said, speaking from experience. She hadn't been any use to anyone until she was about two years old, even. Her eagerness pleased the Lykoi matron, and it showed in a fierce smile, though there was no animosity attached to it. It was simply the scars and the way her face knotted up with them that made her appear so wild.
Kaena's grin didn't fade as she stepped back, throwing her head back and calling in three high-pitched yowls to Gabriel or Ryan, beckoning either of them to pass judgment on this coyote. She had been the recipient of such calls not too long ago. Part of Kaena was rather glad she no longer had to attend to the more mundane business of clan life, and she knew for certain that she was not meant for leadership. She was too unstable and unpredictable, liable to disappear off the face of the earth or fly off the handle at a moment's notice. "I don't think they would turn you away," the woman ventured. It was true, at this very moment, Merilin could certainly use Inferni more than Inferni could use her, but as Kaena had mentioned aloud, she was still young. For that alone, she had great potential. The gray hybrid could no more predict the future than she change the past, and you simply never knew what someone had in store.
It was not too long before the coyote received a response, though it was not in the expected form. There was simply a short call back, "not coming," it seemed to say. It gave the grizzled woman pause for a moment, and she cocked her head, wondering what had kept Gabriel from attending to the borders. It was possible that he simply trusted her judgment enough to allow her to make her own decision. Kaena could not see how Gabe would have wanted the young adult turned away, so the gray woman turned back to the newcomer, nodding at her. "I suppose that'll do," she said, laughter ringing on her last words. "Gabriel will rank you Tirones for now, it is the standard subordinate rank of the clan," she said. "If you'd like, I will show you to the caves. You can rest there," the hybrid ventured, smiling again at her new clan-mate. When the woman gained her strength back, the Lykoi woman would explain more of the clan life to her. For now, it would probably do to get her some much needed sleep and food.
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