The Eve Of Darkness: The Wolf Girl?

[EmilyHuene]

West Aeres
~ @EmilyHuene ; @Kori Buor ~​

It was a beautiful summer day in the port town of West Aeres. The wind was just right for a cool breeze without it being too overbearing against the warm sunlight. The water was even warm, but there wasn't much room for swimming. The harbor was full of freight ships coming and going as this was one of the more busier ports this side of the countryland. Each vessel a grand example of craftsmanship and labor. White sails billowed against the wind giving each boat a certain majestic look and feel to it.

One such ship was busy unloading it's cargo by a rather noticeable crew. The men were distinctly hairy. And not just beards and long hair. It seemed to even crawl up their arms and shoulders. To an average looker by one might think they were just brawly sort of men. But to a more trained eye, they'd see them as werewolves. Now there were three known kinds of werewolves. The first being the most notable, albeit the more rare. Most considered it even a myth, even to their other brethren. This was the classic story of a man who would uncontrollably turn into the beast when the moon was full. While there were no proven cases that such a race existed, it was possible for the lupus virus to be so strong that it overtook the man and made him turn in such a way.

The second was the most popular of the species, and they were the ones Man did not know about. Or rather, the secret was closely guarded. There was a pack who called themselves lous garous. They were skin walkers. Most of their kind could take on the shape of a mountainous beast such as a bear, a boar, a horse, etc. Or in their case...a wolf. With a single thought they would become the wolf. They were no bigger than ordinary wolves and typically hunted during the full moon. This is where the prior myth came from of man turning to beast. But these skin walkers kept to themselves and hid in plain sight, disguising themselves from man and his kind. They didn't trust other species either for that matter. Elves especially. Their eyes could see through the disguise and ruin any attempt at keeping their secret. So they tended to live in cities where Elves and other species were unwelcome. Others simply kept to the wilderness and avoided society altogether.

The last of the wolf species was what these men were. They were not men who became wolves but the opposite. They were born as wolf cubs and as they grew took on more human traits like being able to stand on their hind legs. These wolves could swap skins just as easily as the Lous Garous, going from wolf, to true human form, to a half hybrid shape that would stand at ten feet tall. The tallest ever recorded was actually fourteen feet in height. Naturally he was a pack Alpha the time he lived.

But there was one such person in their midst who was different by far, and not just because she was human. She was a lady first off, the only one in sight of this part of the bay. Long black hair with trimmed bangs lined her face. A red bow tied gently above her ear. Her outfit though was the most peculiar as she wore all black making it appear she was in mourning. She must have been dying in this summer heat though she made no motion to show it. She had a long sleeve dress that covered every inch of her frame from her neck down. Even her hands were gloves in silk and lace. She had a corset on her stomach which kept her frame looking prim and proper.

Once the majority of the crates were unloaded the men began to split up. One of the nicer groomed ones came to the girl's side and walked her down the gangplank with her hands nestled in the nook of his arm. He escorted her away from the ship and towards the more lived in side of towns, the opposite way to the marketplace. The wolves would head to bars and the like or shop for themselves before getting lost in their drinks. They were the kind to be loud and messy, which is why the female wanted nothing more than to head to a private residence and get some well earned quiet time.

 

[Kori Buor]

Breathing in the fresh, summer air that blew in off the ocean, a young man in deep cobalt blue robes smiled refreshingly. The breeze blew against his dark locks, causing them to shift gently; the skirt of his tunic fluttered as well, kept in place by the series of leather belts that were bound together at his waist. A hand came up to scratch at the days worth of stubble on his face. He hated beards, or at least how scratchy they got. Ice blue eyes scanned the market he was in. A dozen vendors shouted and called out to the small crowd, each one trying to out do the others with their advertising. Most of the vendors seemed to be doing rather well for themselves as they were already halfway out of their goods.

The thumping sound of propellers caused his gaze to shift to the sky above, and a large white zephyr passed by, its props thudding with rhythmic consistency. The magic required to power such a thing must be great indeed, the young man thought to himself. One day he would learn the litany of spells required to enchant such a thing, one day he would learn the ancient techniques that allowed power to be channeled from lodestones into constructs which in turn energized them and allowed them to move on their own. The world was a great and wondrous place filled with all sorts of strange and intriguing magics, but for now, he would settle for the basic stuff.

It had been three weeks since the young man left the quiet, reclusive confines of the temple, striking out to learn what he couldn't in the stacks of books in the library. He had been over hill and under hill, across valleys and streams, and even through a couple of dense forests and shady towns. Now he was here in West Aeres, a bustling and busy port city which was larger and more filled with people than any place he had been in before. The amount of people did make him slightly nervous, but it wasn't anything he wouldn't be able to handle; if anything he would just keep his distance a bit more until he felt comfortable mingling. After all, the last thing he wanted was to get complacent and have some of his important materials get stolen, like his spell book or his component pouch or his coin purse!

Making his way down the city streets, the young man kept his eyes open, a hand on the strap of his rucksack, and his ears alert for any talk that might perk his attention. Ostensibly, the man had come to West Aeres looking for transport to another part of the world, but he also heard that this port town had a decent library where he might study. He would just have to get access to it, which was starting to sound a little more difficult than normal. Apparently, one had to have enough money to buy a membership to the library, and even then, they didn't let just anyone in to read their materials. They were very selective, it seemed, and what more, if one was interested in the more particular stuff like he was, than you needed a voucher and an escort to ensure you didn't misuse the knowledge. It sounded like a serious headache, and he was seriously considering just slipping in one night and stealing a bunch of interesting things. He'd return them later, of course. Well, most of them, anyways.

But for now, an inn of sorts would be nice. This way he could sit down and read some of the books he had on him and relax after his long day of travel, maybe even take a nice bath. The first thing he would have to do though, is find some place that was affordable, and considering that he didn't have a whole lot of money left, he was going to have to look around a bit more than he wanted, he suspected. Maybe he would get lucky and run into somebody nice, but he wasn't going to go that far and hope on anything crazy happening.

 

[EmilyHuene]

Walking away from the busy port meant two things. One, less people. Two, the air would stop smelling like fish. Such a rotten smell. She could eat fish all day long, and she had for the past three months. But the way they smelled after being pulled from the water was just so gross. It made Eve want to gag. That's why she wasn't a cook. At home, in her own kitchen, she could survive. Though rarely ever did she find herself actually getting hungry. The crew of the boat they were on always had three meals a day prepared so maybe that was why she didn't want for more.

Traveling West from the harbor took them the long way around the marketplace and would cross between the residential area that they were heading. There would be a few inns around here and there, the more expensive ones being further from the main square. But just as they began to get cheaper, they'd suddenly get extra expensive again for the first homes right outside of the busy streets were actual homes. This is where Eve and her escort were heading. It's why they came here to this town rather than two islands away where they could sell some....less legal effects they'd been hoarding. Evelyn was in need of a reminder that she didn't have to live on the ocean.

"How long do you think it will take for them to notice we're gone, Sid?" Evelyn would ask the tall blond suitor.

Looking back behind him, Sid would shrug and then return his gaze to Eve, "At the rate they drink I'd say we have until tomorrow morning."

"Oh goodie!" the girl replied with a childish glee. "That means I won't have to worry about anyone interrupting my ritual! The last time they got in they tore her to pieces. Do you remember all the blood? It stained everything!"

It was not something one might say in the general public, but Evelyn wasn't the type of girl to filter what she said. It got her into trouble around her over-bearing mother, but she was far from home now. One might call this her rebellious teenager years, but Eve hadn't been a teenager in ten years. That was odd for her given that her stature and appearance really did seem younger than she actually was. To the average person, they might see the two of them walking and think the girl was actually this man's daughter. Either that or his young betrothed since society didn't exactly have prudish standards as some more religious cults might want to impose.

 

[Kori Buor]

Spoiler: OOC

Sorry this is so late, I just wanted to make this good, and took my time to make sure it wasn't crap!

As he made his way down the city streets the young man was astounded by the sights and spectacles he had never seen before in his cloistered existence at the academy and inside its high walls. "Yes, this was a good idea..." he muttered quietly to himself as he watched a street performer blow fire out of his mouth. Nearby, a man sang a ballad while playing a lute, however, beside him a flute hovered in the air next to a harp, both playing of heir own accord. That was something he hadn't seen before, though the magic wasn't beyond him, he'd have never thought about such a simple application to create a band.

Making his way out of the markets, he headed west towards the nicer section of town. He had heard that the library and repository where in that district of the city, so he figured that finding an inn over in that part of the town would be a good place to start; less walking for him and more time for reading. As he wandered through the city streets looking for a reasonably priced inn that looked like it was well-maintained, quiet, and wouldn't take advantage of him, he found himself lost. Looking around, he began to panic for a moment, and as he started to retrace his steps, he found that he couldn't remember what turns he had taken. "Uh oh..."

Without much else to do, the man took one long look around him and picked a direction, swiftly walking and hoping he came to a main road that he could use to re-orientate himself. Now he was really lost as he tried to find a road that looked halfway familiar, or at least wide enough to be an important thoroughfare.

A small thopter flew overhead, it's artificial wings beating against the air and the young mage looked up in wonder. That was another thing he had read about and heard stories of but had never seen in person. His mouth dropped open in awe as he stared at the flying machine that passed by a few hundred feet in the sky. It looked like a massive dragonfly, its wings thrumming loudly as it flew. There was a crew aboard that ship, which fascinated the man, as he tried to imagine what it would be like to ride aboard such a machine, the only thing keeping it in the air was the self-sustaining power of the magical lodestones placed at its heart.

As he tried to follow the thopter with his eyes as it moved out of his eyesight, the man didn't see the approaching sailor coming from an intersecting street, bumping headlong into him and causing him to spill the soup he was eating all over his chest. Stumbling backwards, the mage's eyes went wide with panic. "Oh! I'm so sorry! I can help with that, if you'd just let me..." he started to say as he began to wave his right hand in the air.

"You lil' twat! I'm going to make you pay for that!" The man growled before the young mage could even finish the proper gesture to finish his cleaning spell. Immediately, the man, who appeared to be some sort of muscular guard swung at the mage with a closed fist. The mage ducked underneath the swing almost instinctively, glad that he had learned the basics of fighting at the academy, but fearing that he was still woefully unprepared for getting into a fist fight with such a massive brute of a man. Dodging backwards as a second wild hay-maker came, the mage bumped into another large man, this one seemed to be escorting a young female of some; the mage didn't have a chance to really look as he quickly apologized to the burly man before having to roll to the side.

"Please stop, I don't want any trouble! Just let me clean you up and give you a few silvers to pay for new food!" The mage begged as he quickly backpedaled away, his hands drawing a circle in the air in front of him which suddenly glowed to life with arcane power. Snapping his fingers together, the circle extended outwards and hit the brute in the chest, paralyzing him for a moment.

"Urg... wha-what the... what sort of sorcery is this?" The brute asked as he tried, but failed, to break out of the spells hold. Taking a deep breath, the mage began the hand gestures for the cleaning spell again.

"It's a holding spell. Real magic. Again, sorry about all this, but you seemed fairly intent on injuring me..." the mage replied, muttering a few words of power and extending his right hand. Suddenly, the brute's shirt was cleaned of the food he had spilled on it. Glancing at the other burly man he had bumped into, the mage shot him an apologetic look. "I didn't hurt you, did I?" His blue eyes shifted to the girl standing beside him. Daughter perhaps? Or ward? He couldn't tell. "What about you, miss? I trust you weren't hurt because of my ineptitude?"

 

[EmilyHuene]

The man who was escorting the black haired girl stopped suddenly in his tracks as the scene unfolded in front of him. Unlike the other members of the crew, he was probably the least burly of them all. In fact he was kind of slender. He was still as tall as the others, just not as hairy looking. It also helped that he was dressed head to toe in a very fancy and expensive looking tailored suit. He looked about as human as they came.

The man's nose twitched and his hands came to Evelyn's shoulders to gently push her back so he'd be in front of her lest the mage run into her on accident. His hands then stopped the mage from backing up into them as he frantically evaded the sailor. He was about to then stop the man of his own accord but Eve's hand on his arm stopped him. He looked back at her in confusion and followed her gaze to watch this stranger drawing magic runes in the air.

"Please stop, I don't want any trouble! Just let me clean you up and give you a few silvers to pay for new food!"

The two watched as the spell activated and then froze the sailor where he stood. They both gasped, each feeling their own thoughts about the matter. The escort: thinking this wizard was a threat and needed then to protect his beloved friend. Evelyn: a curious excitement of meeting someone with arcane abilities. She started moving forward when her escort held her back.

"Evelyn, stay back."

"But Sid I want to see!" she complained.

The mage was preparing another spell which neither Evelyn nor Sid would know what it did, hence his reason for holding her back. As far as he knew the man was now planning on attacking them and he was not going to let that happen. Thankfully the spell worked quickly and Sid did not need to act upon his actions.

"It's a holding spell. Real magic. Again, sorry about all this, but you seemed fairly intent on injuring me...I didn't hurt you, did I? What about you, miss? I trust you weren't hurt because of my ineptitude?"

"See?" Evelyn asked as she slapped Sid's arm. "He's harmless. He was cleaning the man's shirt."

Evelyn ignored the mage and moved away from Sid and over to the frozen sailor who was still very much in a panic. She began poking his shirt and giggling wildly. Sid would give her a testing look, one might see from a father to his rowdy child, but she didn't seem to see it. He then turned his attention to the mage.

"We are both fine. Thank you. My name is Sid Alacor. This is Evelyn Tenebris."

"Sid look! He can't move. Look how silly he looks!"

Evelyn was now pinching the man's cheeks and wiggling them back and forth since the sailor was incapable of stopping her. Sid moved over to her and pulled her away from him with a very annoyed and stern look still on his face.

 

[Kori Buor]

"Sid? Hello, Sid, I'm Cael, well, that's what people call me anyways. Cael Ouros." The young mage said holding out his hand to the tall fellow. Now that he got a good look at him, Cael could see that he wasn't burly so much as just tall. In the excitement of things, he must have misperceived his size and considered him to the sailor he had just placed a holding spell on. Whether or not Sid took Cael's hand, he would still smile politely, "It's nice to make your acquaintance, though I do apologize again for the circumstances and any inconveniences it might have caused you."

Glancing at the dark-haired girl, Cael wondered what she was up to. It didn't really bother him that she had ignored his previous question about her well-being, to be honest, he barely even noticed, he was used to people ignoring him. On the streets and in the academy, Cael tended to blend in like a wallflower most of the time, people only realizing he was there when he quite literally bumped into them. For now, at the very least, the young woman, or perhaps teenage girl, Cael couldn't quite tell which it was as she seemed to look somewhere in between, seemed fine. In fact, she seemed more interested in the magically held sailor than worrying about her own safety, taking a delightfully youthful interest in how he looked.

Cael chuckled lightly and smiled as the girl began pinching the man's cheeks. Evelyn, that is what Sid said her name was... Evelyn. That's a nice name. Don't hear it in these parts too often, wonder if she's foreign. The young mage thought to himself as the female continued to play with the poor sailor's face.

After a few more seconds, Sid, with a rather annoyed look on his face moved up and pulled the dark-haired girl off of the sailor, much to her own disappointment, Cael was sure. Laughing under his breath, the mage approached the sailor. "Now, I really do apologize for this... you see, it's not something I generally like to do, but if I just leave or let you go you'll come after me... or at the very least you and your pals will want to have some strong words with me the next time we run into each other... and I can't be looking over my shoulder while I'm here... so I really am sorry for what I'm about to do..."

Muttering a few unintelligible arcane words, and swinging his right hand in a circle while his fingers curled into a few different positions, then suddenly a dark purple close emanated from the man's eyes for a second, quickly fading. Watching him carefully, the young mage could see that the spell had taken effect. "Good," he whispered, waving his hand through the air again and ending the holding spell that he had cast on him.

Turning back to Sid and Evelyn, Cael offered an apologetic smile, "Again, I'm sorry. If there's anything I can do to make up for this inconvenience, please let me know. Are you two going to be in town for long? Perhaps I can buy you both a meal? I don't have much in the way of coin, but I have enough to thank you for your patience with me!"

 

[EmilyHuene]

"Sid? Hello, Sid, I'm Cael, well, that's what people call me anyways. Cael Ouros."

He'd reply in kind as well as shake the man's hand, but his eyes were distracted elswhere by Eve, "A pleasure."

"It's nice to make your acquaintance, though I do apologize again for the circumstances and any inconveniences it might have caused you."

"Uh-huh. Yeah."

Pulling Eve away she would groan and now complain, "Siiiiiiid! Come on! He's all helpless-like! Let me play with him!"

"That man is a person. Not a toy."

Eve merely pouted and crossed her arms. She then watched the mage move over to the sailor and wondered what he was going to do next. Obviously he was going to set him free, much to her disappointment. But there was still that playful side to her that really wished he'd turn the man into a tadpole.

"Now, I really do apologize for this... you see, it's not something I generally like to do, but if I just leave or let you go you'll come after me... or at the very least you and your pals will want to have some strong words with me the next time we run into each other... and I can't be looking over my shoulder while I'm here... so I really am sorry for what I'm about to do..."

It was unclear to them both what spell Cael had just performed. They both just kind of stood there waiting for it to take effect. But nothing other than the initial purple light occurred. Sid then looked back to the mage and was about to ask what exactly had just happened.

"Again, I'm sorry. If there's anything I can do to make up for this inconvenience, please let me know. Are you two going to be in town for long? Perhaps I can buy you both a meal? I don't have much in the way of coin, but I have enough to thank you for your patience with me!"

"Well actually-"

"Absolutely not!"

Sid was taken back by Eve's sudden outburst. He also was about to decline the man's offer but he'd never thought Evelyn would be so quick to respond the same. Least not until what she said next.

Moving over to the mage just as quickly she wrapped her arms around his own and began to pull him in the way they'd been walking, "You're eating with us tonight! I want to know all about your magics and spells and potions and- Do magicians all wear pointed hats? Like I've heard stories that they all do. And what about monocles? That's crucial to being a wizard isn't it! I must know it all. Tell me tell me tell me!!"

Groaning, Sid put his head in his hands. Evelyn....she was going to be the death of him. He rubbed his eyes and then straightened his shirt. Looking to the sailor who was now coming back to his senses, Sid moved past and started after Eve and Cael who was still being dragged away by Eve's childish demeanor.