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All welcome, one only please! Please do not take it if you're not going to post consistently. Thanks. ^^; 300+ words.
######The pack's birthday celebration had long since passed, but she still could not help but think about that day's realization. Though she was proud to call Crimson Dreams her home, how many of its members did she really know? Most at the celebration had been completely unfamiliar faces to her, and that was simply not okay. She was usually considered the social butterfly of her brother-sister pair, but evidently, she had not been living up to that title. Only a few faces had been known to her at the celebration, and one was not someone she was on particularly good terms with. It still bothered her that she and Mati were obviously not friends, and probably never would be. Princess really liked Haven, enough that she thought that he was someone she might eventually come to love, but she was afraid that her negative relationship with his sister might hinder their budding relationship.
######Sitting on the couch in the common room of the manner, Princess absent mindedly chewed on her lip as she thought about these thing. Her legs were curled beneath her, arms hugging her knees in a relaxed manner. The rain that had been pouring the day Haven had come to pick her up was gone now, and she could see the sunlight shining through the windows, but she was content to stay inside. Her blue dress had dried since then, a little more than two weeks passed now, so she had found herself putting that on in the morning. It was nice to be wearing it, the material soft and worn now from how frequently she had worn it after finding it. It had been her day-to-day dress for some time, now, but she was feeling the itch to find something new to wear. The dresses in her closet and in her dresses just were not enough anymore, and soon, she would have to make another journey to the city to find more clothing.
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dated to today! 300+
As Cambria had gotten up that morning she had found the room empty aside from herself. She was kind of glad though, this meant that she could practice in her optime form and not have anyone around to watch her fumble and trip over herself. The girl closed her eyes and focused on the change, letting her body start the process. It was seeming to get easier each time she did it and this go around it even seemed to go faster. It still took a good span of minutes of course, but it was faster than the time before. She had noticed that the adults could all shift fairly quickly, much quicker than she could. It must come with practice. Hopefully someday soon she would be just as comfortable in this form as she was in her natural one. Opening her optics Cambria shakily stood up and carefully walked around the room. Wow, she was much better today! She didn't even feel all that wobbly. This sudden confidence boost made an idea come to her: she should try walking down the stairs like this.
The Marino opened the door and exited her room and came to the top of the staircase leading down the main level of the large house. Now that she was here they looked a little daunting, like they had when she had first seen them. No, she wasn't going to let herself chicken out of this. Cambria took a deep breath and steeled her mind. She took the first step down. That wasn't so bad. Then another. Easier still. The smile came back to her face as she made her way all the way down. She looked back behind her, up where she had come from, and felt very accomplished. Her gaze then shifted to the large room she was now in and she saw someone sitting on the couch. There it was, that overwhelming feeling of self consciousness. Eyes became downcast to the floor. Had she been spotted by the older wolf?
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<3! 300+ words.
######Though she was not completely lost in thought, it still took her a moment to notice the young girl's presence at the base of the stairs. She had never actually seen this girl, let alone met her, but Princess was proud to realize that she had a vague sense of who this was. When she had joined, Savina had given descriptions of her children, and she had already met Amata and had seen Gotham at the meeting. Even if she had not been given a short description of the way that they looked, this girl seemed to be the same age, and had a very similar scent to the Commander. Though neither Amata nor Gotham had been shifted at the time, and she knew that Amata had not been able to yet, she was glad to see this one was standing on two legs. That would make this very easy! Princess was still interested in giving some of her older clothing to Savina's girls, and now that she knew this one could shift, it made it all the easier.
######Shifting her weight on the couch so that she was more appropriately facing the girl, Princess smiled, noting that the girl did not seem confident in the least. In fact, she almost was worried that Cambria would turn and go back upstairs if she didn't say anything soon. "Hi! You're Cambria, right? Your mom told me about you and your brother and sister a while ago," she added as an explanation, incase Cambria was alarmed by the fact that she knew her name. It was a valid reason, at least. It was very plausible that a mother would introduce her pack members to, at the very least, the names of her children. Princess just happened to have been given descriptions, as well as the process of elimination, so she did not expect any awkward moments with the girl correcting her about her name. It simply had to be right. "I'm Princess Chance, by the way." She supposed that, considering the shyness (or what she perceived as shyness) of the girl, giving her name would be a good idea in helping Cambria feel comfortable.
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300+
She didn't know why she was so incredibly self conscious about the way she looked when she was shifted. Conor had said she was pretty, and of course her daddy wouldn't ever thing she was anything but pretty. Cambria guessed it was just one of those irrational things that for the moment she couldn't shake. She had always been nervous about or afraid of things when she didn't really have any reason for it. It was like when she had run into Rurik on the borders and had instantly been afraid that he was going to kidnap her and take her away. Nothing of the sort had ever happened to her or anyone that she knew, and yet in that moment she had been terrified and almost convinced that that was what was about to happen to her. It was when it came to those oddities in her thoughts and personality that made her wonder if there was something off about her. She didn't think her siblings had such fears, so why did she? It was a mystery to the girl and she wished she could solve it.
Sea green eyes continued to stare at the floor as her fingers twiddling idly in front of her. Her mouth was closed like a trap and even if she had been able to think of something to say she doubted it would have actually come out. Ears caught the noise of shifting movement on the couch, but she didn't looked up until her own name was spoken. The Marino child looked up, surprise written on her delicate features. How had she known her name? Well, it was quickly explained that her mother had told the older girl who she was. Oh, that made sense. "Hi...yeah I'm Cambria." Part of her wanted to ask what it was her mother had said about her, but she pushed the notion away as silly. She knew that her momma would never say anything but the best things about her. "It's nice to meet you Princess. You have a pretty name," she said, a soft smile coming to her face. She knew about princesses, but had never met anyone named that before. She must feel special having such a nice name.
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Sorry for the wait. :c 300+ words.
######Intimidating was something she had never considered herself to be, so Princess could only assume that Cambria was a shy individual normally. Savina had not given her any hints about the personalities of her children, and she had not discussed Cambria or Gotham with Amata on the day they had met, so she was left to only her assumptions and the girl's actions. At that age, she had been the same smart-mouthed and outgoing girl she was now, although she liked to think she was a little less abrasive than she had been. That was, of course, the nicer way of saying hat she had been a very large brat, through no fault of her own. Despite the roles of mother and daughter, Princess believed herself to be more mature than Tokyo. It was the way that her mother had raised her, if it could even be said that she actually did raise her, that had made her the way she was, but she did believe that she was getting better about it and the way others perceived her.
######Smiling at the compliment, Princess was glad to know that both of Savina's daughters were nice and polite. "Thanks. Your name is pretty, too. It's really unique. I've never heard it before, and it's cool," she added. For a brief period of time when she was younger, she had wished to have a more unique name, something that did not cause others to scoff when they heard it, or something that sounded a little less conceited. Over time, however, she had realized just how fitting her name actually was, even if it was not something she would have picked for herself. In any event, she did not think she could ever change her name. It was simply who she was. It didn't matter much to her anymore if anyone thought she was prissy because of her name. "I asked your mom about it when I met her, but I was wondering, I have some dresses that don't fit me anymore, and if you want, you could try them on and stuff. It might be fun," she suggested, turning her train of thought back to Cambria. even if Amata was not around for it, it could still be a lot of fun for the younger girl.
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s'ok! 300+
Some said that flattery was cheap, but to the shy girl it was like a priceless jewel. Especially when it came from people she wasn't related to and didn't know. Her smile grew and she could feel her cheeks burn a little at the compliment. She didn't think anyone had complimented her on her name before. It had been a little troublesome to say when she was younger, but she had always liked it. "Thank you. I didn't know it was so different." "Different" didn't always have a positive connotation in her mind, but the way Princess had said her name was different was definitely positive. It was true, she had never met or heard of any other Cambria's, but she hadn't thought that it was anything too special, because she didn't think that anything about her was too special. Having a special name made her feel nice, just like being able to speak another language did. Princess' words instantly made her warm up to the girl and she knew that this encounter would go more smoothly now.
Head cocked slightly to the side at the suggestion. Dresses? Cambria had heard of dresses, but she didn't think she had ever really seen one. Well, aside from the one that Princess was currently wearing. Her mother didn't wear any clothes, and her daddy only wore pants when he was shifted, so the human garments were mostly a mystery to her and not one that she had taken all that much interest in. Still, it was nice of the older girl to want to share her things and so there was no way that she was going to refuse such a generous offer. "Sure! That's very nice of you. I might need help putting them on though, I've never worn anything before aside from this necklace my daddy just gave me," she said, her fingers touching the butterfly charms that lay against her chest.
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300+ words.
######Princess smiled broadly, glad that she could make the younger girl happy with the compliment. Cambria was polite, far more so than she had ever been, something that she assumed could be attributed to Savina raising her children in a more proper way than Tokyo ever had. Since the day she had spoken to Savina about her mother's wrong teachings, she had almost considered herself to be jealous of the Commander's children, as they were being raised by someone who so obviously understood what it meant to raise children. Even at her young age, she had known that her mother's early treatment of Ares had been wrong. Cambria, Amata, and their brother were lucky in that respect, being raised properly and to be polite. "You're welcome," she said, standing from her place on the couch as she spoke, walking closer to Cambria a bit. As far as she could tell, they were getting along wonderfully, and even though she was obviously a nervous girl, Princess hoped she wouldn't scare her by being closer.
######Cambria's warmth to her suggestion only served to widen her grin, glad to know that she'd had a good idea when thinking about giving her old clothes to Savina's daughters. She did not really have anything for Gotham, but she supposed that didn't matter, since he wouldn't want to wear dresses, anyway. Playing dress-up with Cambria would be fun! "Your necklace is really pretty!" she exclaimed in an almost whisper, looking at it closely despite the distance between them. Princess wished her own father would have given her something, but then, he was good for nothing all around, so she certainly could not expect much. "I don't mind helping you put them on, and I bet they'll look really pretty, too," she added, walking towards the stairs. "My room is upstairs, so come with me," she instructed kindly, heading in the direction of her room for Cambria to follow.
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This...is crap -_-; 300+
Cambria had never been a very opinionated or rebellious wolf and she doubted she ever would be. She was very concerned with people being nice to her and liking her and so being polite was the obvious way for her to act. Though she probably had also picked it up from her parents. Both her mother and father were very polite and proper and nice and so the girl had most likely mimicked their behavior to an extent. One of her goals was to make sure her parents were always happy and proud of her and so she always made sure to be a good girl and never give them any reason to be upset with her. So far it had worked and so she felt no need to change her behavior in that sense. Of course she always wished that she were a little less shy and more outgoing than she was, but at least her parents loved her.
Princess walking over towards her didn't bother her at all. Her nervousness had dissipated and so she didn't care that the other girl was close to her. Princess' smile was infectious and Cambria couldn't help but gain her own wide one. As her necklace was complimented she could feel herself blush again and her tail wagged happily. "Thank you. I really like it. I really like butterflies." She didn't know if that were a fact the older girl really needed to hear, but she thought it was a good explanation of why the necklace fit her so well. It proved how well her daddy knew her. Princess just kept getting nicer and nicer! Already she was saying that the dresses would look pretty on her. The Marino girl couldn't help but doubt it, she always felt a little awkward, but she was more than willing to give it a try. "Okay." Pretty competently she followed Princess up the stairs and towards her room. She had never really been in anyone else's room before. Would it look much different than the room she shared with her family?
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I liked it. <3 Now this post. . . ugh. -.-; 300+ words.
######"Your daddy must love you a lot," she said, keeping her tone even and the envy from her voice, but she qucikly changed the subject. "Have you ever gotten close to a butterfly? I've never been able to, because they always fly away before I can." Princess didn't want to spoil their day by dwelling on thoughts of her own useless father (or for that matter, mother, as well), but Cambria could talk about hers, if she wanted. Even though she was secretly jealous of the young girl's obviously well-rounded family, Princess could not be annoyed by anything the girl said about it. Having a good family was a great thing, even if she didn't have one. Whether she wanted to or not, she knew she could not begrudge Cambria's happy family. Growing up in a broken home had been horrible, and Princess would not wish that on anyone. She and Ares had enough problems because of it to spare.
######Pushing the door to her room open, Princess practically pranced in, excited about what they were going to do. Again, it was a shame Amata wasn't there as well, but there would certainly be other times for them to play. For a moment, she considered where to begin when it came to the clothing she had grown out of, but it seemed only logical to start with her favorite one. The red and white spotted dress had been the first one she had found and, even though she had owned quite a few others, she had worn it the most out of all them. She rummaged through the closet quickly, triumphantly pulling it from a back with a grin. Turning, she held it up for Cambria, her spare hand holding it from the side of the skirt and holding it out to display it properly. "This was the first dress I found, the day I learned how to shift. Do you want to try this one on? Anything you like that you try on, you can keep, too," she added. After all, that was part of the point of this. She got to meet the girls (or girl, as it stood now), and get rid of her old clothing.
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Naaaah, is good <3 300+
"Yes, he does," she said, unable to hide the elated smile. Cambria loved her father very much. Even though she had problems with her self image, around him she always felt special and beautiful. He didn't even have to say anything, his mere presence was enough to set her spirit higher. The change of subject was sudden, but she didn't think much of it. "A few times, yeah. Once when I was really little with my sister. She caught it and...we didn't know that touching them would hurt them. It was sad, and we felt really bad about it." Her ears dipped at that memory, still feeling hints of guilt for the fate of the poor insect. "Another time my friend Noir showed me this flower patch with a bunch of butterflies and they flew away at first but then they came back. The last was Leafy." At first she was just going to leave it at that, but the it occurred to her that Princess probably didn't know who Leafy was. "Leafy was a caterpillar I took care of until he turned into a butterfly and then I let him go." She still missed having something to take care of and she missed Leafy. Setting him free had been the right thing, but a part of her had not wanted to let him go and to keep him forever.
As Princess opened the door to her room and excitably entered Cambria couldn't help but get excited too. She'd never done anything like this before and the older girl was being so nice that she wasn't all that nervous about it. Absently she looked around the room, taking in its layout as Princess searched, but her gaze snapped back to the other as she presented the dress. "Wow!" It was so bright and pretty! It reminded her a little bit of a ladybug. "Sure I would." The Marino wasn't one to refuse any offer of kindness. "That's so nice of you Princess, thank you!" She didn't think she'd ever met someone so willing to share and even give away their possessions. It was quite generous.
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598 words.
###Despite her own jealousy at Cambria's relationship with her father, Princess truly was glad for the girl. It had been difficult growing up as it was, and though she did not know if it would have been any easier having a father, she suspected that it may have been so. At the very least, perhaps Raphael could have kept Tokyo in line a bit, if he had been around and not a useless wolf, as he had always been described. Without ever having met him, Princess hated him, but no more than she hated her mother. Perhaps she even hated him less, since he had never done anything terrible to her or Ares. In fact, he had never done anything for them, good or bad, but Tokyo had done horrible things. Life might have been easier for the Chance siblings if he had been around, either alone or with their mother. Still, she could not begrudge Cambria's good fortune, so she simply smiled in response, glad for the girl.
###She could relate to Cambria's sadness about hurting the butterfly. Though Tokyo had never shown her that it was wrong to hurt someone or something, the girl still felt remorse about the idea of possibly causing someone physical pain to someone else. Emotional pain, she could not say anything about, as her sharp tongue had been her downfall more than olnce and she hardly ever realized that her words could hurt someone until it was far too late. It was simply the way she had been raised, knowing that Tokyo's own habit of speaking hurtful things had likely rubbed off on her. The idea of taking care of a caterpillar was interesting, though, and Princess wondered whether it was something that happened frequently. Was it like taking care of puppies, or different? "That's cool! What's it like to take care of a caterpillar?" she asked, very glad that the young Marino had clarified what a Leafy was. She had never had a pet or anything, having focused on keeping herself and her brother alive for so long, but it was a curious idea. Maybe she could look into something similar, so she could see what it was like to take care of something else. Princess had no clear role model for this, so she would eventually need to learn. The best way to learn seemed to be to learn by doing, whether by eventually having puppies (a big eventually!), or taking in something like a Leafy.
###Beaming, Princess was very glad to know that Cambria seemed to be as excited as she was. She held the spotted dress out for Cambria to take, trying to decide how she was going to go about showing Cambria how to dress in the clothing. "To put it on, you basically unzip the back, like this," she said, picking up a stray dress from her floor that also had a zipper and demonstrating the motion. "Then, you step into it, like this," she instructed, stepping her feet into the dress she was using to explain with. Instead of pulling it up, however, she let it fall around her feet, as she was already wearing one. "Then you just pull it up, put your arms through the holes on each side, and zip the back up again! If you want, I can do that part for you," she added, clasping her hands together excitedly. She knew that zipping the dress behind herself had been difficult at first, and Cambria was not used to human clothes, so she was more than willing to help her.
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SoSuWriMo 523
Cambria couldn’t imagine where she would be if she didn’t have her mother and father. She would be a lot worse off than she already was, as far as her self confidence and shyness were concerned. Even with their loving support it was hard for her to trust people she didn’t know. Though that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, easily trusting strangers wasn’t a very good quality to have. It was however hard for the girl to even talk to them unless upfront they showed her that they were nice and meant her no harm. After having such a good experience with Rurik one would have thought that she might be more willing to give people she didn’t know the benefit of the doubt right off the bat, but it wasn’t the case. Rurik had been nice, but that didn’t mean the next stranger would be as well. Hopefully as she grew she would be more open to such things, but for now this was just how she was.
Hurting things was never something she wanted to do. The Marino was a tender heart and she respected every living creature. Even if she accidentally trampled a plant she would feel bad about it. Some bugs she wasn’t so compassionate towards, like spiders. Spiders were very scary creatures. So were the bugs with lots and lots of legs. They gave her the creeps. Even then though she was too scared to do anything about them herself and had to search for someone’s help to either shoo the creatures away from her or to squash them. She preferred the shooing option, but sometimes the other was a sad necessity. “It’s pretty easy. I kept Leafy in a jar and put some sticks in it so he could crawl around. Everyday I’d bring him fresh leaves and grass to eat and some water. Then he went into his cocoon and he didn’t eat anything. When he came out as a butterfly I watched as his wings opened up and then I took his jar outside and let him fly away.” It had been pretty easy, aside from the letting go part. She wanted something else to take care of now, she just didn’t know what.
The pretty dress was offered up to her and Cambria gently took it, looking it over and rubbing her fingers over the fabric. The first thing she wondered was how it would feel on. It would certainly be a weird sensation. She couldn’t think about that too much though as Princess began to instruct her as to how to put the garment on. As Princess demonstrated with the spare dress Cambria followed the motions, unzipping the back and placing it on the floor while stepping into it. Carefully she pulled the dress up, feeling it tug against her fur. With some effort she finally got her arms through the holes. One arm stretched behind her to feel for the zipper, but she knew that she wouldn’t be able to get it on her own. “Yeah, I need help with the zipper thing,” she said as she turned her back to Princess.
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625 words.
###Cambria was a sweet girl, Princess had come to realize, just as her sister had been. Amata had been more outgoing than Cambria seemed to be, but Princess was very pleased to know that Savina and her mate had raised their children properly. She had never had a good role model, but if she had to pick one now, she had to say it would probably be her Commander. Savina had taken her in, even after both her mother and her brother had been violent with one of her puppies. She had given Princess the benefit of the doubt when the rest of the Chance family had done things that should have made Savina hate anyone related to them. The Commander was a good woman, and Princess was glad to know that her children were taking after her. She had never met Savina’s mate, but she could only guess that he was as good as she was, because she could not imagine Savina settling for anyone who was not as good hearted and intelligent and caring as she was, just as she could never imagine her own mother being with anyone that was considered a good person. Tokyo was too horrible for someone so good.
###It made sense that it would be easy to take care of a caterpillar, especially if it was confined to a jar. They didn’t eat much—in fact, she hadn’t known that they even ate anything—and they probably couldn’t move very fast. They were small, and could easily get lost, but if he had a little home to live in, there wouldn’t be that many difficulties. “Was it hard to let him go?” Princess imagined that it might be similar to taking care of puppies, and she was sure that the younger girl must have gotten attached to Leafy, in the same sense that most parents would be attached to their puppies. For her mother, though, she did not expect that it was hard for her to say good bye to her children. For all it was worth, maybe Tokyo had been sad to see Princess go, but she doubted it. The older Chance woman was not exactly a prime role model, though, so she could not expect her mother to be an example of how anyone else might feel in a similar situation. Even so young, Cambria seemed like she would eventually be a much better mother than Tokyo ever had been. It was unfortunate that she could tell that a puppy would eventually be a better mother, because it certainly did not say much for her own mother. She could only hope she could continue to distance herself from Tokyo and that she would never be anything like her again.
###As expected, Cambria wasn’t able to zip it onto herself, but Princess merely smiled and moved behind the girl to zip it for her gently, careful not to catch the girl’s fur in the metal bits. She knew from experience that it could be incredibly painful when her fur got caught in a zipper, so she was trying to be very careful not to let it happen to Cambria. When she finished, she circled around Cambria to look at her from the front, a smile blossoming over her muzzle as she clasped her hands in front of her chest happily. “That looks so pretty on you!” The red complimented her tawny brown fur nicely, and the dress was fitted and seemed like it was meant for younger girls. It had been her favorite when she had been younger, but now she was glad to let Cambria keep it, if she wanted, and she could try on any of the others that Princess had in her closet, too.
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SoSuWriMo 420
Cambria had no idea what she would do or where she would be now if she hadn't had the amazing parents that she did. Even with them she was tragically low on self confidence and image and horribly shy around people that she wasn't acquainted with. If she didn't have the supportive mother and father that she did things could be so much worse for her. She wondered if she would have ever gotten out of the deep depression that her accident with the drugs had spiraled her into if she had had neglectful or bad parents. Probably not. She probably would have just let herself wither away into nothing for that's exactly what she had wanted to do in that dark time.
The girl nodded in affirmation to Princess' question. "Yes, it was very hard. I spent so much time taking care of him that I didn't want to have him leave. But I knew that it wouldn't have been right to keep him. That would have been wrong of me." To keep something cooped up that had the gift of flight was a horrible offense. Cambria was a homebody and liked sticking around the mansion and the lands of Crimson Dreams, but she knew that was not true of most creatures. Most creatures wanted to be free and to deny them that would be cruel. Even she would not have liked having to be confined to a single room or other small space. She enjoyed whatever little freedom she exercise and she would have been a selfish person to deny Leafy that.
Princess moved closer to her and slowly zipped up the back of the dress. Cambi felt the fabric compress tightly around her body and she wasn't sure she really liked the confining feeling. Though the last thing she wanted to do was to have Princess think her ungrateful and so she decided to wear it for a while at least and see if once she got used to it she wouldn't mind it so much. The older girl walked around in front of her to look at the smile that came to her face made one come to Cambria's too. The compliment made her blush and her ears slightly dipped back. "Thank you," she replied shyly. She trusted the other's opinion, but wanted to see for herself how she looked in the garment. "Do you have a mirror or something? So I could see myself?" She really had no idea how she looked in the dress.
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