ACotC - Eager Young Demon Hunter [Nathalia]

[Jenn]

The quiet buzz of lazy summer insects and the low hum of the city night beyond the high stone walls prickled at Elisibeta's senses as she paced the church gardens, weaving between bushes and hopping over benches in a winding route that eventually led her back to where she'd started. Sighing melodramatically, she flopped her whole body on the ground, but heaved herself up the next moment and resumed her restless wandering. Small paws - but not too small, as she'd just begun to blossom into an adolescent young canine - made little sound on the grass and carefully placed cobbles of the walkways.

These gardens acted as her refuge on nights where she couldn't contain her boredom and restiveness. Still safe within the Church's confines, they offered some measure of 'outdoors' to soothe the agitated spirit of a pup who wanted to be out doing things. Soon she would be old enough to accompany him on hunts, her father had said several days ago, but not yet. She still had more growing to do before she could face a demon in battle.

Talk of the future brought her little relief in the present. She couldn't leave Church grounds except in the company of her parents, not counting that one precious night she had snuck out with Jukaestus. It had been enough fun that she was almost tempted to do it again, but she doubted no one would notice when she had been so obviously bored all day. Some others in the congregation knew that could mean trouble and usually kept a keen eye on her at such times. No, that wouldn't work at all.

Then what could she do? Go inside and play with her brothers? They were both busy...and besides, on a night like this, that just wasn't enough to entertain her. No, she wanted excitement.

Her father was out hunting demons tonight with several other members of the congregation, so maybe she could just pretend she was out with them. It wouldn't be nearly as satisfying as actually being there, she was sure, but it would be better than just walking around until her paws were sore. Maybe if she got in enough practice, Kaerjius would be more willing to take her out on the next hunt?

Mind made up, she dropped her body close to the ground and stalked quietly closer to the garden wall, using its shadowed side as concealment. She stared intently at the imaginary demon. It strongly resembled the green monster she had encountered in the park a little while ago, its eyes as black as the deepest hellish abyss and its fangs yellowed, coated with a nasty slime. Such a disgusting creature! It would be her prey on this hunt. Fangs gleaming a dull while, Eli bared her teeth and began creeping ever closer to the unsuspecting bush that represented her enemy.

Elisibeta 10/15

[Nathalia]

The wind whipped through his slick fur, ears pressed flat to his head, he pulled his wings in tightly and rolled to catch a higher thermal. He moved in complete silence, years spent studying owls and their flight patterns had given the Chiroptae a nearly inexplicable ability to move anywhere without being heard...unless he wanted to be heard.



He soared over the landscape, watching for opportunities. If there was one thing that the gracious Lady had taught him, it was that there was opportunity everywhere you looked, some worth more than others, some only appearing to be worth more than others.

He chuckled softly to himself as he flew; tonight he had decided to fly over some areas less familiar to him than the Euclides areas. He had chosen to flit around the church areas. Oh, certainly, he had flown over the churches of the Amuni before, but never with intent...

Ja'Kaefurl was searching for any Amuni who were out...alone... Anyone that he could talk to, and perhaps learn from. He grinned, eyes flickering lazily from side to side as he listened to the rantings of Varyn and the scathing retorts of Magog. He closed his eyes for a few moments, letting the wind carry him.

Murdon bless, but it was good to fly...

He gazed down at one church yard in particular, dark and with a lovely garden. He watched somewhat blurrily, eyes twitching, as he circled lazily. Someone was down there. A small blue someone.

Furl made one last circle, watching the young Amuni, hackles raised; go in for the kill of a rather menacing looking bush. The voices in his mind pushed at him, urging him on.

Opportunities...

Furl flew lower, silent as the grave, until he had alighted about twenty feet from the child. Moving slowly and surely, he crept up behind her. Smiling he listened to her movements, watching her playful stalkings...and observing how...not playful her intentions were.

Pulling his pipe out from between his teeth, he tapped the bulb against a wall as an announcement, then leaned against it.

He smiled in a slow, disarming manner. Then slowly spreading his dark wings, he made a quick bow and returned his pipe to his mouth.

"Greetings, my dear. Who might you be?"

[Jenn]

Fully intent upon her chosen target, Eli circled 'round until she was 'behind' it and froze. She wiggled her hips in anticipation, eyes staring unblinkingly at her target, until suddenly - pounce!

She landed on the bush at the same moment an unexpected tapping sounded behind her. Struggling to get free of the tangled branches, she pushed herself out of its leaves and turned to see who had come to check up on her this time. What met her eyes went beyond her wildest imaginings.

An Euclides. Here. In her father's garden.

The very thought of it sent her hackles right back up and she watched him bow, the gesture extraordinarily ironic and disrespectful in her eyes. Fur the red of blood intertwined with sooty brimstone markings and, as he rose from the pose, she could see an enormous maggot wriggling inside one of his shredded ears. He was horrific, the most disgusting example of his kind that she had ever encountered next to the other red-and-black monster she met in the park. Perhaps those colors signified a greater sense of evil and decay? She would have to ask her father, who was sadly away at the moment. She would have loved to see the flesh seared from its bones before they, too, turned to ash in the heat of his holy, cleansing fire. The sight would have delighted her beyond reason.

Though she was out all alone in front of this monster, no one beside her, she buried all traces of fear and stood with her legs planted stiffly. "Demon," she growled, the word rumbling off into a longer sound of menace. "You dare trespass on holy ground? Here? In the middle of the greatest Church in the city? What right have you to ask my name when yours should by all rights be smeared from the history books and burned to ash along with your body at this infraction?! As if you didn't already have enough sin weighing down on your soul."

Though she tried hard not to stare at anything but his eyes - why did they have color to them? - the wriggling of the maggot kept drawing her attention. Soon she realized there were more and her skin crawled, thoroughly revolted.

Elisibeta 12/15

[Nathalia]

Furl watched as she launched herself into the bush before jumping at the sound of his pipe tapping. He grinned, watching her turn, expecting one of her own kind.

The way her eyes widened when she saw him instead of one of her comrades was like wine for his soul.

Then she opened her mouth.

"We came out here to talk to this? What an abhorrent little stain on existence..."

"Kill her, Furl!! Kill her, kill her, kill her!"

"For the love of Dark, Siche, will you just shut up?? Find out who she is first, maybe we can carry her off, I've always wanted a pet..."

"Wouldn't happen, Varyn..." The Chiroptae muttered inside of his own head, listening to the inverse echoes that his own mind made in there. "If I know Amuni the way I think I do, then she'd kill herself and just make a bloody mess. We're better off talking to the foul-mouthed little hooligan..."

In this time, Furl appeared to freeze; face locked in a genial smile, for about six seconds, in total silence, his eyes twitching back and forth continuously. He then focused on the girl, for about two full seconds, and breathed out a puff of smoke.

"What a brave little one you are, a wondrous upstanding member of this church, I'll wager..." He moved a little nearer to her, face still in an expression of harmless happiness.

"It's certainly a shame that you don't even wish to know my name, for I very much wish to know yours...or are you embarrassed to give it...? Do you lack a father? I know that is quite a reason for many Amuni to not wish to give anyone their accursed name..."

He continued to smile disarmingly...enemies hated it when you smiled, that much he knew...

"What am I doing on holy ground?" He asked, face suddenly somewhat mournful. "Well, it's a sad thing...I only wish to know what it is about this holiness that makes so wonderful...perhaps I wish to become holy myself..."

"Ahahaha! I can't believe you actually said that to her!"

"Good heavens, she's going to kick your tail for that one..."

"Oh God! Look at her face!!"

Furl listened to the cackling voices in his head, and turned his eyes back on the girl. Face set in a serious attempt at sadness. "Ah, if only I could be forgiven and accepted in life anew...the life of a demon's no fun miss... You know, we didn't ask to be born as what we are..."

[Jenn]

The blank, frozen smile seemed stuck on the chiroptae's face and it sent a small chill down Eli's spine. If he didn't know what he was doing here, then maybe he was touched in the head? Many of their kind sported the scars of insanity, or so she'd been told, which allowed them to do things far too evil for a pious young girl like her to understand. So she'd been told.

Smoke rose from the creature's foul mouth, equally foul words fell from his poisonous tongue. He moved closer while insulting her family, smiling all the while, and she wished more strongly in that instant than she ever had before that she could call down a blazing column of fire like her father to consume this winged horror of Yuukuj. He deserved to die. That thought, one of the unshakable tenets of her Church, burned clearly in her mind like the guiding flame of a candle. Raised to hate Euclide all her life, she now believed that she understood a part of why their Lord Amunuku so hated the vile creatures.

"My father," she said slowly, each word formal, carefully enunciated, and full of venom, "is Pope Kaerjius the First, upon whose territory you have cast your vile shadow. One such as you can never know the grace of God, your soul dipped in the tar of your people and stained black with evil. He would never have you. By his word, which is law, you are to be hunted like the monstrous demons you are and your taint is to be cleansed from this world. If you do not leave this garden right now, you will know the embrace of your maker far sooner than you might otherwise."

Much of this she had taken from both of her parents, the eloquent speech and denunciation of his wickedness flowing easily off of her tongue from years of constant exposure. Probably more revolting to the Euclides, she meant every single hateful word she spoke.

Elisibeta 13/15

[Nathalia]

Furl watched as the girl's eyes narrowed to slits...perhaps now she was angry enough to inform him of where he was? Her hackles had risen again, how adorable...too bad he really didn't prefer children. Too tiny, too noisy, too full of themselves.

He watched as she glared him down, something which, he laughed mentally, would have frightened the blazes out of old Mulsej... He listened as she began her tirade.

"Kaerjius? The Pope Kaerjius?"

"So that’s where we are? Goodness...Furl, we should leave..."

"Wait until she starts getting cocky, then we'll know to fly."

"With that Pope it would be far too late to fly by then, chat with her Furl this is his daughter.....I simply must know more about her...we'll leave soon I promise but, until then..."

Furl nodded, then looked directly at the girl; his eyes stopped moving, his face slowly creeping back into the carefree smile. The words had frightened him somewhat...not because it was she who spoke them, or because of what they could entail, but because it spoke volumes about her parents...and the church they had here. Good one at setting the tone, this girl...

"A good speech, that one..." The Carrion murmured, smiling as he tapped more ash out of his pipe. "Good to know that you've rehearsed it well, your dad would be proud of you." He returned the stem of his pipe to his mouth and gazed around the courtyard, taking in the sights, memorizing the place.

"It's a shame that you don't have your dad's power though. Or at least...his rumored power... Tell me, is he just a dried up old fraud? What can he possibly hope to do against the Euclides? Yell at them?"

The Chiroptae laughed softly, goading her on...waiting. Was this Kaerijius really blessed with supernatural powers? He had heard rumor...but not if it were true...

He watched the Pope's daughter, delighting in her anger.

[Jenn]

More of that blank staring, and wasn't that a creepy trick, with his bug-eyes twitching this way and that in seemingly spastic movements. She watched him very carefully as he seemed to come back to himself and spoke. The nerve...maybe he really was insane, to be so bold on the Church's territory. Whatever he was, she had had enough.

Kaerjius wasn't home, but this creature certainly didn't know that.

"Since you seem so keen on staying, why don't you find out?" So saying, she let loose a piercing shriek of distress that could probably be heard by everyone inside. The high-pitched voice of youth served her well in this instance. "Help, a demon's in the garden!" she called out, staring straight at him with stormy gray eyes that flashed angrily.

From inside the building, the pounding of feet and hooves could be heard as members of the congregation dropped what they were doing to aid one of their own. From the sound of it, quite a few members were home. Andrija and Gabryjel were the furst to burst into the courtyard, their cervine forms allowing them a good amount of speed, followed very closely by Aoibhin. Others still were on their way.

Elisibeta 15/15

[Nathalia]

Furl watched with interest as the child practically spat hatred at him, then resorted to shrieking for assistance. He smiled benignly, and tapped the bulb of his pipe on the wall once more to free it of excess ash.

"What a motley crew." He said, returning the pipe to his mouth and spreading his wings in greeting. "Tell me, what is it I have done to warrant such terrible hospitality?"

Without waiting for an answer he threw himself upward and clapped his wings hard, soaring upward in an arc to land on the roof. He then leaned against the protrusion of a window frame and puffed at his pipe.

He watched them mill about down below, all with such expressions of dislike on their features…he had no idea what it was their God saw in any of them…aside from the pretty colors, he had met Euclides more kind and agreeable than they. He shook his head and suppressed his laughter.

"You all certainly aren't doing much to uphold the loving and caring legends of your kind, what say we all just have a bite to eat, shall we?" He laughed; head tossed back, eyes flicking in every direction as the voices in his mind laughed with him.

[Jenn]

Eli would have given anything in that moment for a pair of wings - not the small, beautiful, ornamental sets that her father and brother sported, but an enormous pair of feathery wings with which to launch herself towards the roof and bite the smile off of his hellish red face. Never mind that they likely wouldn't be mature at her size, or that the others now around her would never let her do such a thing. The desire was still there, burning in the pit of her stomach like a pool of lit oil.

Someday she would make her father proud by killing him and his kind, ripping their evil out of the world with righteous intent. Someday her father would take her with him on hunts, sharing in the chase and singing Amunuku's praises as they cornered others of his kind and drove their tainted spirits back to hell. Someday she would live up to her father's glorious name.

Until then, she stepped back behind Aoibhin and leaned against the long, graceful legs of the doe, who bent down to nuzzle at her comfortingly. So gentle, their Confession.

Gabryjel and Andrija were far more intent on the chiroptae taunting them from above, the former one of their Church's most formidable warriors and the latter his good friend and occasional hunting companion. "The only welcome you shall find here is the cleansing fire of our Pope!" the brown and black cervine called out, his legs held stiffly beneath him and trembling slightly in anger at the audacity of this demon.

The paler patterned Priest spoke up as well. "Kindness and caring are foreign concepts to one such as you," he said in a flat, hard tone. "The only kindness you shall ever know from one of our kind is the moment we put you out of the misery of your existence."



Having only just dropped what she was doing and hearing an unknown voice outside her window, Sibeal stuck her head out to see what was going on and try to get a good look at whatever her Pope's daughter had just screamed about. She was too far up to hear the words clearly, but the distress in the sound had been quite clear. Beside her, Sergej stuck his head out the window, the two of them having been planning their next patrol through the Onyx Park.

Below them, they saw four of their members milling about and staring quite intently at something above, and not too far from their window. She heard the taunt come from above, and also heard the words of the males below. That voice set her ears flat against her skull and her companion let loose a soft, dangerous growl.

She hopped right out the window and onto the lower part of the roof, which was only accessible from three of the highest rooms with windows in the building. It was a slope, but she had climbed it before when a leak presented itself or a bird got caught in their chimney stack. Sergej followed more uncertainly, his balance good but nowhere near her own feline ability. Seeing their quarry above a layer, however, he let loose a full-throated snarl and starting moving faster than was probably wise.

Chiroptae demon! They had ever been his bane of his existence, taunting him with their ability to fly and elude his dogged pursuit via airways that he could never hope to follow. The promise made to another of the breed still burned at the back of the canine's mind, making his chest tighten and his vision haze whenever he thought about it too closely.

[Nathalia]

Some of these jabs actually hurt... Not as much as the Amuni hoped they would...they probably thought he was beyond feeling anyway.

He wasn't above feelings...nor kindness. He had been kind before...damn Amuni and their self righteous attitudes. Did they truly believe they were the only ones who could feel?

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself, there's Amuni coming out the windows!"

Furl glanced down, it was certainly true. The Feline was comming more quickly than the blue one...but. He threw himself from the roof and perched again at the very top, watching the climbers...he felt angry, his chest tight. Things usually didn't bother him, the maggots would laugh it off for him, or he would ignore it...

But the fact that they actually believed that... He hadn't know that they actually thought that every Euclides was nothing but a monster... He gave them more credit than that...

"You speak of monsters yet you fail to look at yourselves. You isolate yourselves more than you know. Even demons can have a soul, Amuni. Even demons can feel, it interests me that you so enjoy lying to yourselves...does it make you feel better when you slaughter children?"

[ferabird]

(I'm tempted to ask if Kaedaj is able to interact, seeing as he's made a rather nice home up in the rotted belltower and would probably love to make a timely ally. Then again- I don't know how much of this is scripted and don't want to interrupt.)

[Nathalia]

It's fine with me, and I'll bet Jenn would think it was silly... sure <3

~Nathalia

[ferabird]

Like some harbinger of death, he appears. Roused from his rest and mute observation by the appearance of not only another of his kind, but another of his breed.... the royal-blooded chirotae can hardly maintain his idle observation. No more initially than a stirring of shadow, it's from the belltower high above that the fanged demon emerges. Up onto the roof of the delapitated tower he slinks, the talons of wings and toes biting into age-old stones. Up he climbs, muscles honed under the duress of flying stubbornly through even the most fierce of storms slipping fuidly beneath the hide struck with crimson- urging him to his high perch. Oh- he'd not have them see him come out. That would simply ruin the surprise when he used the access granted by his perch to slink through their very halls... Couldn't have them mending that delapitated spiral staircase... The thing was old enough to be a risk even to the lightest of amunuku's followers.

In a fashion meant to claim the attention of the snivvelingly godly beasts below, the now-adult chiroptae rouses onto his hinds. With a resounding shriek of challenge he announces himself, meaning above all else to command their attention long enough for his 'fellow' to take to the air. Great golden-sailed wings unfurl, a half-flap of his considerable wingspan impressing upon those below that he was no small creature- his puppeteer rank only reaffirming that his size was enough to brand him the brawn of a cast. If those were not enough to enrage them, the metallic sheen of the cold metal cross worn inverted on his chest should like enough do it- though it was the notch in one dished ear that should speak to a particular follower amongst the throng.

"You who commit genocide dare to frame us as the murderous ones?!" he roars. "Get yourselves from my rooftops, or I will send you careening to your fellows below!" The latter clearly adresses the feline and canine that awkwardly brace themselves upon the shingles, and the half-vampire's size leaves no doubt as to his ability to follow through on the threat. It'd take no more than a heavy dive and collission of body to send them sprawling, and it was only through trained composure that he levied the threat rather than simply enacting it upon the familiar wolfish figure.

[Nathalia]

Furl startled as the screech rang out behind him. The maggots were even startled, and their eyes were always everywhere. His attention was immediately riveted above on the large Chiroptae, even taller than himself, quite a feat, who was emerging onto the rooftop.

He listened as the other roared out a challenge to the Amuni, and he realized the reason. He took the given opportunity and flung himself soundlessly into space. He gazed down at the assembled Amuni and spat at them. "You call youselves the protectors of the humans! But what is it you really stand to protect? They do nothing for you, I have seen humans attack Amuni, I have seen them kill them! What you do is worthless, you do it out of jealously, vanity, and false beliefs! You will rue your lives, when you see how empty they have become."

His wings beat the air, though they made no noise and he soared away to a tree off of the Churchyard, he alighted on a branch and waited, hoping the other would follow.

He panted as he sat in the branches, eyes flickering madly in their sockets, he wasn't quite sure how to take all of this...he had always thought that the Amuni were a bit uptight...but not stupid. Shivering slightly and soundlessly, he awaited his sudden companion.

[Jenn]

The sight of a familiar dark, winged form perched atop the Church's roof caused Sergej's vision to narrow until all he could see in a hunter's haze was the irreverent chiroptae. No longer a child, he spouted words as fiery as their own that served to inflame the Follower's blood to the boiling point. So long a time had passed since their first and last encounter, where a deadly promise was made on both sides. The inescapable, burning need to make good on his end of the bargain drove all sense of self-preservation from his mind as he bounded across the rooftops far faster than was safe. Still his prey remained too far above, separated by a rise too high and too steep for him to jump even in his frenzied state. But oh, how he wanted to. The name, when he let it roll off his tongue, was growled long and low. "Kaedaj..."

Sibeal watched her partner's sudden headlong advance with a startled expression. Equally startled and worried were the watchers below, their focus diverted from the demons to their suddenly reckless brother. "What is he doing, trying to get himself killed?" Andrija hissed, eyes trained on the scene above. Gabryjel just shook his head, worried at the precarious placement of the two. Aoibhin stood very close to Eli as the pair of them watched the tableau in silence. The taunting words of the Euclides were summarily ignored as blasphemous and not worthy of attention, but would be discussed at a later date.

With one of the taunting creatures in the air and the other soon likely to follow, the feline shook her head and called out. "Leave it, Sergej! We'll catch these creatures later, never fear. I don't want to have to explain to Asima why her husband fell to his death on a loose patch of roofing."

The handsome canine would stay where he was, shaking with rage, until the much-hated figure departed from the rooftop, and then make his awkward and very slow way back to the window.

((Sorry for the rough end and the long wait. <3 I shall now bow out of this so that your lovely bat-boys can make one another's acquaintance.))