A flight long in the running...

[homeless_pard]

Who: Khem and a new world!
When: Start of canon smash here!
What: Terrified kitty arrives in the vague area of St. Louis.

Tired. She was so bone weary that had someone told her that she'd die but it would be in a bed, she might honestly accept that trade at this point. The pads of her feet were leaving red marks along the rough stone she scrambled and clawed haphazardly upward, ever upward, ever away, through so many terrains they all blurred together in a haze of color and snatched hunts.

She should have lost him. Should have, and there had been times over the past turns where she had almost believed him gone. Finally shaken from her trail and naught more than a shadow left in her mind to spur her onward. Any hunter would eventually give up on game when coursing it had run to long...

...surely?

Ah, but she'd little experience with hunters, those near the abbey were more farmers with the occasional lord's man, and even had they needed care it was likelier that they would seek tending from their own ladies. AN isolated abbey was not easy to seek out when ill.

Still, it had seemed logical that he'd stop. At the Wastes perhaps.

At the Falls.

At the turn of blasted scree to strange, new lands past where tales she knew ended...

...and yet here she was, his shadow practically nipping at her heels. She was flagging and he hadn't stopped. This hunt was soon to end, as any chased thing knew in time, escape simply wasn't going to happen. Mayhap it would kinder, cleaner, to miss a jump. To tumble and not reach for ledges as she went down.

Kinder...but she shrank from it none the less. A little further...

...a little further...

...until there was naught left but sheer walls and a deep, dark crack between. A cave, not a passage. No exit. A tomb for one hard worn girl who had thought, foolishly, that finding fur had granted her freedom. And so it was to end.

If he hounded her even here, his bootsteps harsh on the stones behind her, then she was determined he would know who he was to slay. Not some cat that had teased him, not some furred prize, but as a woman. If he was to slay her, let him slay a woman and be haunted by her face. An unkindness perhaps, but she was far past ability to feel for him.

To wonder if she could explain, or beg her safety somehow.

No, let him have a flickering pang of conscience as he did his fell deeds. And so as the mouth of the cave darkened she set her back to the stone, fingers rather than claws lifted to shade her face, skin covered in long, dark hair and gooseflesh that gave some semblance of proper depth to her too-thin frame.

Let him slay a woman.

And yet, as she watched the dull, metallic sheen of a dart gun rising, it wasn't pain she felt burn through her chest but warmth where her single item, the amber stone on a string about her neck graced to her by Gunnora, flickered like sunlight and the wall at her back faded to naught so that she was falling...

...falling...

...falling...

...there was a brief scream, she couldn't help it, as her shoulders struck beaten grass and tree roots, shock making the sound choke off as abruptly as it had started. A heartbeat, two, as she stared up at tangled tree limbs and dappled light she shouldn't be seeing then she was sitting up with a gasp, trying to espy the Hunter.

And he was not there. Somehow, somehow...he was not there, and she sat in a wood far younger than the one before the stones she'd climbed, hands and feet still bleeding harshly from the abuse she'd pounded into them over the many moons of travel. She was alone and she was...naked. The stone upon her breast cooling from it's earlier warmth. She'd give thanks somehow, later. For now she shivered back into fur in a blur of mist and achingly, carefully, hauled herself up into a tree to try to determine where she might be.

A how would take much longer no doubt, but...

...rest seemed a blessing, and she was still so very, very tired.

With luck there would be no fresh, strange beasts to contest her claiming the crook of a tree, there to watch, or likelier pass into blessed unconsciousness.

Comments

[homeless_pard]

"...corrupt creatures, those that choose destruction and defilement," she blinked. "It is a choice all living beings make in their lives, and it effects the lands around them. It is easiest to scent in fur, but any with sensitivity knows when they are near such?" That was normal for her?

"You do not scent of such though, it is like that those you choose to spend time near do not walk such paths."

[jasonpschuyler]

He chewed his lower lip for a quiet moment. "I don't think I'd describe it quite like that. People can be evil assholes; vamps can be evil assholes. Just being a vampire doesn't make someone evil to me. Just like shapeshifting doesn't make someone evil."

He let out a breath. "Look, I live with vampires. I swear it's as safe a place as I can take you, but if you're not comfortable with that I can call around, maybe find someone else who can help. But most everyone I know deals with the vampires in some way."

He really didn't want her to ask to get out of his car, but he also didn't want to make trouble for bringing her to a vampires' resting place if she hated vampires.

[homeless_pard]

She...blinked? "I didst not say all were, lord," she pointed out gently. "Just that many in the tales I knew fell to such a path. There are tales of those who did not, and if they may think at all it is a choice each makes." Hard to escape some choices, and at times a creature that needed blood from others may take the easier paths to power, but, not unavoidably.

"And I didst say that you have no such taint about you, and as such like are not friendly with those who wouldst. If you have been near these people at all recent then you would scent of darkness were they dark"

[jasonpschuyler]

He nodded, listening. "Ok. I just...I needed to make sure you knew we were going to a place with vampires and that you were ok with it. There's a lot of people who...aren't."

Which was an understatement.

He was quiet for a moment, and a small, bemused smile quirked at the corner of his mouth. "I don't 'scent as such' then?"

[homeless_pard]

"I passed much strange and powerful in teh wastes," she noted quietly. "I can no more decry that place entire as I could any creature, so I've no reason to start now," she admitted.

Though she might be willing to bend that assertion for Cars. Cars were terrible.

"I'd not have stayed at all near you when first you called out if you had. To me the left scents of festering wounds, things I cannot treat."

[jasonpschuyler]

He shuddered noticeably.
He didn't like festering...anythings.

"Well I'm glad for that," he said quietly. He tried for another smile, but it was shaky on his lips. "You don't smell bad, either."

The lights on the road were becoming more frequent, with larger buildings and a glimpse of a city skyline peeping through the trees.

[homeless_pard]

"...you've crossed the Lefthand walkers..." she surmised softly at that shudder. "My sympathy to your shadows." She had not wished to make him remember ill things.

The windows were starting to be distracting again and that was...yeah, no, squinching her eyes shut it was. She hadn't eaten in a few days, how could she be nauseous?!

[jasonpschuyler]

He didn't respond right away, the smile gently fading as he stared at the road. "...thanks..."

When she went quiet, he glanced over and saw her with her eyes closed tight, looking pale. "Hey," he said suddenly, "You ok? You look like you're gonna be sick."

[homeless_pard]

"I...am uncertain. I have never moved at such speeds I believe, it is making me feel ill...I've no cause for such," but that was just fact for the moment.

"If it will not offend I believe Ill keep my eyes closed until such time as we arrive..."

[jasonpschuyler]

He bared his teeth slightly. "Yeah, some people get carsick. It's not far to the Circus, but if you feel like you need me to pull over, let me know and I can. You want your window open?"

He wouldn't make her feel bad about it, but if she got sick in the car he just knew he'd follow suit: it was a hard scent to block out for humans, let alone a werewolf.

[homeless_pard]

She risked a brief glance at him, "It opens?!" She couldn't decide if that was a good idea or a bad idea honestly, but...air might help? "Please?"

[jasonpschuyler]

He chuckled slightly and hit a button on his door, and her window began to slide down. Warm, early evening air blew into the car from her window, and he made sure to only open it slightly as they were still driving pretty fast.

"Better?" he asked.

It didn't take long for the car to start slowing as they entered the city limits. It was just past rush hour, but there were still plenty of cars on the road, and there'd be even more in the vicinity of the Circus.

[homeless_pard]

Warm, early evening and...oh dear Powers there were some rather harsh scents in this world weren't there? Still, she'd take the sneezing fit over the nausea..."I...cheee..."

Try again...

"m-maybe?" CHU.

Poor girl from another world.

[jasonpschuyler]

He was trying not to laugh; she seemed like she had been through so much.

"You'll acclimate to the smells, I swear. I'm guessing you don't have cities like this?"

Which got him back to wondering where the hell she had come from.

[homeless_pard]

"N-no," she admitted after another false start for a sneeze. Gleh. Well, she had little dignity to lose given she was terrified in clothing that threatened to slip from her shoulders. "Mayhap over seas? The land of the Witches? But even a gre-" yeah, that was a real sneeze.

"...great keep does not hold so much..."

[jasonpschuyler]

He hit the button, closing the window again. "Here, let's try this instead." He reached forward to the dashboard and pushed another button. Pleasantly cool air began to blow out of the vents in the dashboard.

"The AC is filtered air, so it should be a little better."

He slowed the car to a stop at a red light. "What's a keep?"

[homeless_pard]

She leaned forward to the extent the belt allowed, near pressing her forehead to the vent, leading to...well, AC playing through a lot of dark hair? Yup. Better to a degree yes, at least the scents were limited...if odd. "Metal...and summat else? But at least fewer," she agreed softly.

"A keep is....a high lord's abode and the village about such? Walled, usually, for safety as villages are not?"

[jasonpschuyler]

He couldn't help but watch the wisps of dark hair dancing back as she leaned into the vent. So much so that he nearly missed the light turning green and quietly reprimanded himself.

"Oh, like a...castle? Or those walled cities around the castles." He paused. "Yeah, you are definitely not in Kansas anymore," he said more to himself than to her.

He pulled off the road, stopping the car in an empty space amidst other cars of different shapes and sizes. He turned to look at her. "Do you want me to carry you again? There're stairs inside."

[homeless_pard]

"Walled keeps, some may have towers, some are akin to castles...my mother's was I'm told..." she sighed, easier to talk with the airflow. "...I am not late of Kansas." What?

Oh, they were stopping properly now. Thank the Powers! She looked up, swallowing, then finally nodded. Her feet had gone a touch ominously numb since she'd been sitting.

[jasonpschuyler]

"Your mom had a castle?!" He seemed genuinely impressed.

He slid out of the car and opened her car door, crouching beside her on the balls of his feet and offering his arms again. "I've got some first aid supplies in my room. We can get you fixed up before the vampires wake for the night."

[homeless_pard]

"Once I was told. The Kolder shattered many such in the war, and she had but a horse, my father dying upon the saddlebow, and me upon her back when she came to the abbey," she admitted, much like anyone reciting rote. This was fact, she was no person of consequence now.

Ah, "a basin of water, some vervain, and clean cloth? I was...was a stillmistress."

[jasonpschuyler]

He closed his eyes. "I'm sorry about your father. And your mom losing her home."

He lifted her easily and kicked the door closed. The door to the building opened at his approach, and when he entered there was only a brief greeting of, "Jason" by the guard sitting at the small desk. If it was strange for Jason to be walking in carrying a strange woman, the guard certainly didn't show it.

Jason in turn nodded and started down the oddly spaced stairs. It was a long stair, ending in a large gate. "Can I set you down here," he asked, "I have to unlock the gate."

[homeless_pard]

The guard got a glance, but as she was not asked to justify her monopoloy of Jason she stated silent. Oddly she was comforted by the stairs, they were common in most stone buildings in the Dales. Spaced awkwardly and unpredictably was a simple defense mechanism in case of invasion! "Of course lord Jason," she nodded easily. Night Walkers were vulnerable in daylight hours, of course things would be secure.

"Are they like to take my presence amiss by coming when they were...at rest?"

[jasonpschuyler]

He unlocked the gate and shook his head. "Not if you're with me. Jean Claude is the master vampire here, and I'm his...well, I feed him. I'm not about to let someone in who is going to do harm to his people."

He walked slowly, letting her ease her damaged feet into following him down a corridor to a spacious room. Flicking on the light revealed a large bed that took up a good portion of the room, but there was also a small armchair with a lamp perched on a mini fridge just beside it. He gestured for her to enter. "This one's mine. You can sit in that chair and I'll grab what I have."

He disappeared through a door beside the bed, with light spilling out from the room once he entered. Whatever he was grabbing must not have been difficult to get to, as he was back quickly with a plastic tub of warm water, a towel, and a small box tucked under his arm. "I don't know what that stuff you asked for was, but I have gauze, tape, and some antibiotic ointment. It might be a little old because I don't really need it, but it should still be good."

[homeless_pard]

If the stairs had been a touch or normality for her the corridor was more so honestly. It was more spacious than that she'd grown with but thick walls and muffling stone meant safety!

"And so he is your liege lord? And Hogh lord of this keep?" She mused, trying to place dynamics into things she knew. A chair was quite welcome, the water more so! She hissed as she set her feet in it, knowing any scabbing would need to soften. "Ah, if you've no stillroom of your own in these walls then herbs shouldst be lacking. I did not think, my apologies lord."

Though..." ointments and ungents might spoil in time, if you'll let me sample from the jar I might tell you if it shouldst be disposed?"