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Post by riccarda on May 21, 2011 16:04:45 GMT -5
(ooc; I never got around to planning the actual hows and whys and whens of Rica leaving the Mafia, so I'm going to just start a thread and see how it goes. If all else fails I can get staff to bring the creature account in and knock Rica out and take her to its nest somewhere and have Rica fight her way out and realise she can't find her way back to the Jungle. But that would be strictly as a last resort.) [atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=width,422,true] | [bg=499c49]Riccarda, as she tracked her way through the jungle, was not chasing butterflies or merely wandering aimlessly. She was not, like so many cubs her age would have been doing, playing some mindless game involving epic battles between evil robbers and brilliant heroes- and besides, Rica, unlike most other cubs her age, knew that brilliant heroes didn't actually exist. She wasn't bored either. She wasn't even looking for her parents.
In fact Riccarda was not doing, and had never done, any of the things most cubs her age did. Most cubs her age were not brought up in the Hellion Mafia, after all. And even if she hadn't been, Riccarda still had added difficulties that came of being a hybrid.
Food! Food! yelled the extremely stupid squirrels to each other, and tunnel tunnel tunnel tunnel tunnel tunnel tunnel tunnel grumbled the even stupider moles, and updraft now tiiiiiilt and MOUSE! swoop keep balanced keep balanced NO MISSED MISSED MISSED NO NO NO! chattered the birds to themselves. Birds were weird. They were very clever to do all that flying stuff and all, but in their own way they were just as stupid as the squirrels. When you could talk to animals you could tell such things.
The insects, of course, were the worst. They didn't really have a language at all in Riccarda's interpretation of the word, they just had a few little words and things that said things like food is this way and, uh, that was about it. Until other tribes of ants or bees or whatever attacked, and then all Rica could hear was chants of attack attack attack attack attack until the stupid idiot things went away.
Even if she had been inclined to play childish games, Riccarda had other things on her mind. Recently she had started playing a game with herself. She thought it was probably like philosophy, but she wasn't sure because she was only a very little cub.
Mostly it involved thinking about things, which Rica had become very good at seeing as being as small and weak and young as she was, she didn't have lots else to do, apart from play childish games, and she wasn't that stupid.
Like, recently she had worked out that she couldn't have contradicting beliefs. She couldn't think grass was green and that it was red.
And then, she had started playing around with all the things she thought, and she had come up with some very disturbing thoughts. She called it her Very Clever And Slightly Strange Moment, and when she had had it she had come out here to have some peace, or at least as much peace as a Myou x Sennyo could have with animals constantly yelling at each other through the jungle.
Basically, it had come to this. She ate other wolves all the time, yes? And she had had a horrible thought- that she would hate it if one day somebody ate her. But if it was not okay to eat her, why was it okay to eat other wolves?
And then she had started questioning everything she'd been raised to believe. If it was okay to lie, and kill and, and things, why was she not okay if wolves did it to her?
It took some thinking about, but Riccarda was determined to thrash it out. And one thing she was sure about; she didn't think she would trust her parents again. Or even the Hellion Mafia, maybe. But then, what was she to do?
The Mafia and the Jungle, the pack full of cruelty, the area full of animals and all their noise, was the whole world.
Or was it?
Was there other things out there?
Rica was determined to find out. |  |
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Post by ~Ebony on May 22, 2011 20:16:33 GMT -5
(OOC: If I May Join)
Ebony lay in her cave, still recovering from her wounds from her encounter with Brightness and Moonrose. She had been in there for over a month and was quite surprised to find out that no one had noticed her there, she probably smelled like the mafia after being in their territory for so long. She opened her emerald eyes from her evening nap and lifted her heads to clean her pelt. She licked each of her wounds now mere scars.
She continued to clean her pelt, eyes not on her fur but on the view outside. She could see the red sun setting behind a few palms and its light poured through the cave opening, making her jet black fur glow. She yawned her white teeth glinting. Her looks were extremely feminine and suggested nothing of her panther nature or that she was a hybrid, she looked kind and sweet and could fool anyone, which she is extremely good at. She pricked her ears, she could her someone coming and smell the strong, undisguised scent of the Mafia.
She quickly jumped to her feet and walked to the entrance of the cave and looked around, she could see a chocolate brown wolf in the distance, she walked out of the cave and trotted towards the other wolf, masking all emotions. She had no intentions of another fight, she had promised herslef to get to know other species of wolves and try to like them nd convince herself that not all species were like the yagi she had grown up with.
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Post by riccarda on May 30, 2011 15:24:40 GMT -5
| [atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=width,422,true] | [bg=499c49]Riccarda stopped suddenly, confronted by another wolf. She almost panicked straight away, but her fear was tinted with a hint of triumph. I was right! she thought. This wolf doesn't smell anything like the Mafia.
Her natural curiosity chose that moment to burst forth in the shape of a stream of questions, tumbling over one another in their haste to hurry out of the young hybrid's mouth. "Who are you? Where do you come from? What are you doing here? Did you come from outside the Mafia? How did you get in without being attacked? Are you from another pack? Do other packs really exist? What's it like outside the Jungle?"
All those questions managed to bubble out of her before she clamped her mouth shut, determined not to scare the other wolf off.
Quieter and less frantically, she asked, "Ummm.... okay. Sorry about that. What's your name?"
Riccarda's inquisitive nature would probably get her killed one day, so wanting to know all the personal details of a complete stranger who also happened to be much bigger than her was probably a good way to start. Though she did look kind, and sweet. Riccarda's natural impulse was to trust such people, but she'd just given herself a lesson in trust and was more wary than usual this morning.
She decided to offer some information of her own to get the other wolf to trust her. She shouldn't really, but she had met a non-Mafia wolf for the first time and she was dying for more information.
"I'm Riccarda. I'm a pup from the Hellion Mafia, and I'm a hybrid. I can talk to animals," she added importantly. "I'm only little. But I'm not scared of you!" she boasted childishly. While Riccarda had grown up too fast to indulge in childish games, she was still very much immature enough to retain the competitive boasts that young cubs often make. | |
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Post by ~Ebony on May 31, 2011 17:58:13 GMT -5
Ebony giggled to herself, this hybrid was something, yes she was a hybrid and she was quite nice, nicer than Brightness had been when they first had met. She decided to take it easy on the pup, she was a hybrid like her so she had a bit of a soft spot for her. Woah, Whoah, slow down there little one, all those questions will be annswered in good time. I will answer a few now if you want." She smiled, her sweet, soft voice had a bit of a purr in it and her green slitted eyes glowed in the dimming light, her black fur shining.
"Here I will start, My name is Ebony, I am a hybrid aswell and a loner, I am here because I wish to be and needed a place to stay for I do not usually fit in with others,so yes i do come from outside the mafia and none of your packmates have noticed me here so i have stayed, other packs do exist and their are many and every one of them has a different set of land but that is a story to long to tell at the moment dear Rica." she finished with another nod and a smile.
"Thats quite a skill Riccarda and their is no need to be afraid of me" she giggled to herself and continued "I am also a hybrid so I have a special ability aswell" she smiled at Rica and then closed her eyes opening the next second to a different form, the form of a panther. She made a nod and changed back not wanting to scare the pup. "Now tell me, what are you doing out alone, dear Rica?"
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Post by riccarda on Jun 3, 2011 9:51:16 GMT -5
| [atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=width,422,true] | [bg=499c49]Riccarda felt a touch of nervousness creep into her as she heard the wolf's voice with its soft growl. She was speaking kindly and sweetly but her words had a kind of rumbling in them and Riccarda could only relate the sound to a growl or snarl of aggression. She took a step back, tensing slightly. She might have been a cub but growing up in the Hellion Mafia had made her hyperaware of danger.
She could not help being interested and excited as the other wolf spoke of other packs. "I knew it! I knew I was right!" she exclaimed happily. "I've never been outside the Jungle, so I've never seen. Will you...." No, Riccarda berated herself for the thought that had been forming on her tongue. That would be too much to ask of a wolf I have only just met.
When the wolf turned into a panther and back Riccarda gave a sharp squeal, quickly stifled as Ebony turned back into a wolf and Rica started imagining what her pack would do if they found her here with this wolf.
"What am I doing?..." Riccarda paused at the thought, then murmured, "I am not sure."
Then she thought for a moment and lifted her head.
"I... I don't know. Not really. I'm not even really sure who I am. I guess... maybe I want to get out of here, get out of this place, leave all this behind. Maybe a part of me that I don't even want to acknowledge exists is too cowardly, but I've been thinking, and I... I want to leave the Mafia. Because it's too brutal and horrible and I don't like it. And partly so I'll be remembered forever after I die- wolves will tell stories for years of any wolf who succeeds in leaving the Mafia. Maybe I want to leave because who knows, maybe they'll kill me if I keep thinking like I'm thinking and I stay here. And that scares me, because what comes after?
Maybe I don't even want to succeed, maybe I just want to stay myself when I get out, like I could never do if I stayed... Keep my honour, my dignity and my ethics. If I do die, I want to die an honourable death.
Maybe I want a chance to find out who I am without my pack breathing down my neck. Maybe if I discover I'm as brutal as I'm meant to be I'll try and come back, but I hope not. I want to know who I am. Who I am really. Not just Riccarda, the Mafia pup who was probably just a mistake on the part of her parents. I don't think they wanted me, you know.
Maybe I want to find a reason to live, although why I'd find that here I don't know. A purpose.
I don't know. I want to discover who I am, but I can't do that by quietly sitting and thinking, because I tried that. I need an adventure, something to do, and then maybe I will know what path to take for certain, because I'm sick and tired of doubt."
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Post by ~Ebony on Jun 22, 2011 14:37:44 GMT -5
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Ebony sat down as she listened to Rica's answer, it was a long one at that at quite deep and well thought out for someone of her age. She let out a deep sigh and thought to herself. What could she do to help this pup. Usually she didnt help others in fear of their judgement or in dislike of their species. But this hybrid, this pup right here seemed like her, always misunderstood and had no idea what she wanted to do with her life. She looked back to Rica and narrowed her eyes to slits making sure that she was up to what she was going to do.
"Here, I'll tell you what, I will help you leave the Mafia and accompany you wherever you are going to keep you safe, if, you keep my prescence here remain hidden and tell no one, i mean no one that you know me. Deal?" It would be good for her to move on but why not stay with this pup and keep mafia members away. But if she was to go with Rica she would need to teach her some decent hunting and fighting skills. "And if you are going to join me in leaving this territory, you are going to need to learn some decent hunting and fighting skills, I can make you the strongest in youre litter in less than two weeks if you come here every day for the whole day or half. Will you accept this offer?" she curled her somewhat longer grey tipped tail around her midnight black front paws and stared at Rica, waiting for her answer.
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OOC: So sorry for the month long late reply |
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Post by riccarda on Jun 22, 2011 15:09:45 GMT -5
| [atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=width,422,true] | [bg=499c49]Riccarda leapt up with excitement at the wolf's words, paws tingling. What the wolf was offering her was amazing. A chance to train herself, become a good fighter even when she was the runt of the litter and with her limp, and then to leave the Mafia, under the wing of a wolf bigger and stronger and more experienced than her, who could train her and look after her and protect her until she was ready to step out into the world for herself.
She was about to accept when she paused, and then the pause turned into true hesitation.
It came down to this.
Riccarda did not like accepting help. She was perfectly aware that she was a runt and walked with a limp and wasn't particularly strong or fast or anything.
She was even more aware that this made her no worse than anybody else. She had always been determined to make it on her own; to be able to do everything bigger, stronger wolves did, without help, and without dropping behind or struggling.
If she accepted this wolf's help and then made it in the world, she would not have achieved her goal. The entire point of her life was to prove to everybody that it didn't matter if she was a bit useless physically, she could still do stuff.
If she let Ebony help her, then part of her success would always be owed to the dark hybrid. She would never be able to say, "I made it, all on my own," because if she accepted now, then the very phrase she'd always dreamed of saying would be a lie.
Her hesitation turned into doubt, and then suddenly she made her decision.
"I thank you for your offer," Riccarda replied politely, "and it's definitely tempting. But if I'm going to be the best I can be, I want to take the journey by myself. But thank you. I hope we can be friends."
She had made up her mind; she would perhaps see her father one more time, and then she would leave the Mafia. She would leave alone, and then she would see.
Then she would see.
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Post by ~Ebony on Jun 22, 2011 17:13:06 GMT -5
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Ebony looked to the sky, the sun had disappeared now and stars were starting to glitter overhead. She looked back to Rica as she declined her first offer of kindness. Her eyes narrowed and turned to ice. A deep growl rumbled deep in her throat as she held back her temper. "Very well, you had youre chance, you will leave alone and you will not find my help along the way. she snarled then turned her head away to look behind her "This is what I get for helping" she snarled at herself, then turned back to Rica. She gave a shake and as she shook her form changed from lupine to feline. She stopped shaking to reveal herself and let out a hiss.
She flicked her tail then walked up to Rica and whispered in her ear "Fear me, for I am youre worst nightmare..." as she brushed against Rica's coat she disappeared into the shadows, not to be seen by anyone, for she was the shadow. She had discovered this gift not only a few days ago and had practiced it until she could travel through them for metres at a time. But now even in the shadows her anger was not hidden, the first time she had ever tried to help someone had been a mess and she stormed off, her emerald green eyes blazing with hatred. It looks like her attempts at change were useless.
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