Akina Mateo's Story

Today was a relatively quiet day, well deserved from the long nights of scratching and screeching beyond the gates, reminding them all of the ever looming threat of what lies beyond them. The city was hardly the same as they were over a century ago, the concrete was bumpy with cobblestone and the several of the buildings, especially shops, were more closer to glorified wood huts and cabins, the city limits were abruptly cut off by massive wooden walls, reinforced with steel bracers.

The citizens carried about their activities, trying to keep some semblance of civilization alive by commerce and communion. The air filled with the sweet scent of baked goods such as bread and pies. This sweet scent was not just attractive to the citizens however, but also a calling card to a clever little interloper...

"That's mine ya lil' shit!" a voice roared over the chatter of the populous. Various items are flung down the street, including a trash can that dents itself against a street sign, as a certain medium-sized stripe-tailed bandit came scurrying out, dodging each piece of trash and stone. In her middle set of claws, held tightly against her, was a kind of small meat pie. Behind her, flying out like a bat out of hell, was the source of the roaring voice, chief hunter Anselm Ermengilde, with white hair flailing wildly in the and the eyes of a madman. People scatter out of the way as the mutant raccoon, who has come to be named Skitters by the children for... obvious reasons, scurries up the side of a watch tower, utilizing some level of parkour to use her running momentum to flip herself onto the highest part of the roof, then look down at Anselm. "Drop it or beef isn't the only thing goin' in th' next one."

Despite his threat, he earned only a short hoarse cackle from the creature. Skitters sat down and teasingly pokes one of her hand-like claws into the crust, and then held it up to her mouth under the handkerchief mask, audibly licks it, looking satisfied with herself. This cheeky toying only lasted a moment, until the pie's flavoring hit her, tail bristling up before gagging and choking up with a snort. With a loud yelp, she kicked the pie away and holding all her claws over her mouth as it falls off the tower roof. With quick reflexes, Anselm dives in and recovers his lunch before it splatters on the road.

"Wha's the matter? Dun like the gumbo? Fine wit' me," he says with a smirk, dusting off himself and the pie. Not amused, the animal huffs, casting him a glare before vaulting over the edge and rolling across another roof, quickly getting out of sight. Anselm chuckled fiendishly at the critter's discomfort, quickly dismissing it for his lunch, now cooled some thanks to the rush. "Whatever, bon appetit," he muttered, digging out a chunk of the pie and turning around, only to be met with a peace officer, in shoddy uniform, fidgeting nervously with a piece of paper, actually afraid to get on Anselm's bad side. Looking over behind the man, Anselm eyes the damages his short rampage has done. "Ehhhh... I'll fix it later," he says with a dismissive shrug, shouldering through the man.

It was an eerily quiet day, the calm before the storm. Ein had learned the hard way that the Wilds were never truly quiet, only prowling in hopes prey would wander into it. She stabbed the fork into her salad, swirling it around the bowl to catch the vinegar and oil mixed at the bottom. Kids ran past, cackling and yelling about Skitters latest heist. She gave them a wry look, finishing the last bit of her lunch and dropping the fork into the bowl.

The elderly shopkeeper rushed from across the empty shop, in uneven hurried steps, to take her bowl and set it in an empty sink. Ein smiled as she left, "Thank you Gina, lovely meal as always. See you tomorrow." Gina nodded as Ein left, but didn't say anything. That's why Ein liked her shop, it was quiet and efficient.

Most of Crow's Wallow, however, was not quiet. With monsters lurking outside the front door, too many people crammed into a small space, mutants servings as lifelines, and being one of the last cities to still stand, how could it be? When the noises outside the city went quiet, it would thrum with the activity of its people. It was a unique sound, one that Ein's Father would often sit and listen to her with until late in the night, back when he was alive. It was one of few sounds she'd grown to love, and it almost made the chaos afterwards worth it.

Anselm voice echoed throughout the city, and there was an uproar of children cheering for their impromptu mascot, Skitters. Normally she would be upset about the mutant taking up residence in her town, but the children loved it and if it kept them away from her... Well then maybe he was a necessary evil. After all, it kept Anselm on his toes, which was more than she could do.

Ein checked her twin-blade, making a minor adjustment so it sat comfortably but was also still seamless to draw. She adjusted her collar and started heading in the direction of Anselm's voice. Hopefully he's not terrorizing the people again. Though I suppose with all those scars... The thought elicited a smile from her and she hummed to herself as her boot-heels clicked along the uneven pavement.

The streets were a mess, things strewn about, signs dented and people clamoring to each other. Anselm stood in the middle of all it, speaking to a peace officer. To the poor man's credit he was trying his best to deliver the ticket, but it wasn't wise to upset a Hunter. Anselm shouldered through the man, ignoring him almost entirely. Ein frowned, clicking her tongue as she walked over to address Anselm. "Skitters again? You know you cause more damages than he does. It would probably be easier on your wallet to just start buying the thing lunch." Her lips turned up at the corners, unsuccessfully trying not to smile while she teased Anselm.

It was late in the afternoon before Akina woke up. He heard the commotion of the other children and he looked out his window to see Skitters running away with some sort of food in his hands again. He put on a pair of shorts before running outside to see if he could get a better view of what was going on. The walls surrounding Crow's Wallow were a great place to get a view of the city so he ran for the nearest one. He climbed the wall as if it were covered with hand and foot holds invisible to all but him, but in reality it was the work of his claws and nothing else. The wall was his sanctuary, the place he came to get away from it all. The other children didn't take to his mutation the way they had taken to Skitters. Because of this he wasn't allowed to attend school with the other children and was taught by his parents at home.

As Akina stood on the huge wall, he watched as Skitters climbed up the tower before running off out of sight and the angry man on the street who had caused a lot of damage while chasing her.

"People are strange." He muttered as he walked along the wall. He looked over both sides of the wall, the small city inside the walls and the vast unending sea of green that spread out on the other side. He'd been out there a few times, though never very far, for hunting. It seemed hunting was the only reason some of the purists in the city even tolerated him. The wilds seemed to call to him. He often wondered what things were like on the other side, apart from the monsters that lurked.

The sun was beginning to lower ever closer to the horizon as Akina wandered along the wall. No one seemed to notice he was even up there and Akina was fine with that. As he got to the north west corner of the wall he looked out to the swamp and marsh lands that lay just outside the perimeter of the city. He had been there before and knew well the strange creatures that lurked just beneath the surface of the stagnant water. There were gators, mosquitoes the size of birds, and other strange things that shouldn't draw a young boy's attention, but did.

Akina felt more at ease hunting outside the walls of Crow's Wallow than he ever did inside. The moment he was on the other side he felt something calling to him, deep inside, begging him to become one with the eternal green on the other side. He strained his eyes for any sign of the source of this feeling, and he saw nothing. He turned to jump down and go home when he heard screaming and splashing coming from the swamp.

He strained his eyes once more to see a strange figure in a hood doing battle with a gator. In the fight, Akina noticed the figure had a tail, a tail like his own. He was able to get a glimpse into the hood at one point too and saw a feline face. This was enough to distract him from the the other creature in the swamp as he jumped down from the wall and started to run to the swamp. He didn't see the way the other creature took care of the gator nor did he know what was going on, but he felt a strong need to meet the only other feline-like person he had ever seen.

He arrived at the edge of the swamp just as the other creature was extending her hand to help the feline up. As he noticed her he tried to stop, only to slide to a muddy stop in the muck of the swamp. He picked himself up and looked over at the two of them, curiosity reflecting in his big eyes. He smiled, a little embarrassed at the entrance he had just made.

"Ah... Hi. I thought you might need some help, but it looks like you got it covered." He said nervously.

Kaza hissed at the gator as he saw the ripples around him change in the water, barely even noticing the transformation of the swamp creature take place. His teeth were still bared as the giant mound of flesh came crashing down on the ill fated alligator. Kaza was coated by the various contents of the swamp, including what seemed to be rodneys stubby little arm and an entrail or two. Even his teeth were finely coated with the grime and muck of the swamp. Instinctively Kaza began to wipe furiously at his mouth and spit out the muck from his mouth, wiping the parts of rodney clinging to him off. He muttered to himself: "Dumb sumbitch, I told you you was dead." He said, looking down to the stumpy little leg. He did his best to shake more of the mud off of himself, and wrung out his tail as he suddenly remembered the creature in front of him, looking up to see her creepy gaze set upon him.

"Huh? What?" Kaza said in relation to her first question. "Nah, oh nah. Ol' Rodney was an asshole. But he knows some real funny jokes.. Hah! Like, like this one!" He said raising his finger, southern drawl however caused to trail off by her continuing. He slowly lowered his finger as she spoke. He had to agree. Her manners weren't the best, but then again, neither were rodneys, or in fact his. Watching as he was offered her hand, and an ominous "I don't bite... much." Kaza seemed to get it. "Oh right!" he said, with a laugh, much less phased than a person should be who just met a shapeshifting swamp creature.

He took her hand and gave it a kiss, leaving a sloppy muddy faceprint on her hand. "Well nice ta meetcha." he said with a grin, before adding "I don't bite much either, that costs extra and people is finickey with they money." he said with a laugh, releasing her hand and looking over towards the wreckage of his raft. Looks like he was a bit stranded, not exactly sure what to do next. "Well, uh. This has been fun'n all, but I..." he was cut off by some rustling, looking over to eyeball a cat man like he who had just popped out of the bushes. He blinked in confusion, this youngun was obviously from the city, but he could have sworn they were far, far out into the swamp. He thought on this to himself, before offering up a sentence. "Eh, I think we do there, fella. I was just takin' my leave, and I believe our fine lady friend was just about to take a bite outta someone." He looked back to her smirking. "Guess its you now, and not me." he said chuckling, before shooting a glance back to Bella.

Bella giggled softly as the cat man took her hand and kissed it, absolutely unbothered by the muddy mark left behind. It amused her some, to be the recipient of such a chivalrous gesture, especially after witnessing some of her nature. He was obviously a bit of an odd fellow, but curiosities like that are only more fun to such an old creature.

"Ah, so soon, cher? We haven't even properly introduced," she says with a sigh, placing a hand on her cheek, pretending to pout. With a courtesy, she tried to deliver a better ladylike manner. "Perhaps in parting, s'pose. Beau Geste Bellatroix, but, just Bella is nice too. It was a pleasure to meet you, cher. Perhaps... another fun'un sometime?"

She then noticed that another has joined into their gathering, and looking over she saw what appeared to be a feline child. She smiled and tilted her head. "Ah, 'lo there, honeychile, a bit far from home ain't ya?" she says softly, placing her hands on her knees and kneeling down slightly. "Y'do have a home, 'ight?"

Akina watched Bella introduce herself to the other feline. She then tilted her head to talk to him.

"Ah, 'lo there, honeychile, a bit far from home ain't ya?" It was then that the gravity of how far he had traveled in a few minutes hit him. He had barely been able to see the swamp, which meant it had to be at least ten miles away from the city, but he was able to run at incredible speeds and he thought the other feline was in danger.

"Yeah I guess I am." Akina replied looking around and realizing that he hadn't paid attention as he ran here and just set off in a straight line to the swamp and now he didn't even know which way the city was.

"My home is about ten miles ... um ...the way I came. If you can really call it a home. They treat me like a freak just because I don't look like them. " He said with a bit of a frown. Maybe it was because of that he was feeling drawn out to the wilds.

Astrid nodded plaintively, thinking about the city, her family, the home she lost there. Now she was feral, living in the wilds and communicating only with what beasts didn't try her patience. This Dryad was one of the more sensible things she'd found in the Wilds, something that wasn't instinctively trying to steal her food. "Yeah... Human Settlements. I come from Crow's Wallow, but... after the incident... I had to leave... It's just as well. Better suited to life out here anyhow!"

She bit her lip while looking the Dryad over. It was, a magnificent thing to say the least. Tall, proud, and powerful looking. Almost terrible to behold, but Astrid herself was quite a terrible specimen, so she couldn't really say. The beasts around here seemed as willing to eat Astrid as they were wary of her. She smiled back at the Dryad, "I wasn't aware much of anything was friendly in the Wilds. I try to keep to myself when I can, hiding among the tree-tops far from the beasts that prowl on the ground. My name's Astrid.

"You can't fully control your powers can you?"

The Dryad's words were true enough, her left hand went numb and the fingers began to twitch ever so slightly, a sign of shot nerves. It was never good to show weakness in the Wilds. "It's not so much that I can't control them, as they are disorienting. Everything starts swimming, I get memories from lives I've never lived and I start to think like someone else. I'm fully in control, but I'm not fully me... If that makes sense." Her smile turned to a crooked frown as she thought about the last few years in the Wilds, living like a wild animal almost.

Astrid laughed, slightly wistfully as if the joke were in poor taste. "I guess I'm not entirely sure how long I've been out here, time seems to blur together. I'm rambling.... Not many chances to talk out here, haha... Your name? Her hackles began to raise, whatever was making noise in the Swamplands was suddenly more numerous. The Fight or Flight reflex was strongly kicking in, and her left hand clenched tightly together, blood seeping at the bandage that covered it.

"Take a bite outta someone."

"'lo there, honeychile..... far from home ain't ya?"

"My home....ten miles.... can really call it a home."

Bits of conversation floated from out of the swamp, the last voice sounded young, no more than a child. "D-Do you hear that...?" She rose to her feet, taking a few tentative steps towards the noise. There was a child out, this deep in the Wilds, so close to nightfall. She called out to the voices a bit louder.

"H-Hello!?"

The mental image of Skitters and Anselm sitting down to a romantic candlelit dinner under the night's sky was enough to make Ein chuckle, covering her mouth with a gloved hand to poorly hide the fact. Anselm's opinion on being careful around inhumans was more than a little ironic, Ein mused over the thought as she evaluated the damages Anselm had just caused on his chase. "Aren't us Hunters smart and not human? Perhaps you've not noticed, since you're not quite smart."

She bit her lip, looking uncertain as she continued. "They worry though... I've heard the way some of the town talk about us, we aren't human to them. I saw Akina being made fun of by a group of children a few days ago, he was on the verge of tears. This isn't an unusual occurrence." Ein leaned against a nearby ramshackle wall, sighing about the state of the world in general.

"To be an alpha among predators, one must also become a beast, after all." She mused while eyeing Anselm, unimpressed, he was more bestial than Akina but also more or less a stable adult. Not like Akina, he was young, wild, and a tiger could take the average human's head off with a lazy swipe. Akina was practically a time bomb waiting to happen.

The Chief Hunter brought her back to her senses by addressing the unnaturally quiet Wilds. "Ah, but of course, the calm before the storm." A free hand instinctively touched the guard of her saber, ensuring it was there and ready to be drawn, a calming motion.

"Also, I'm preeeetty sure that cat dun jumped da fence."

"WHAT!?" This was bad, a veritable publicity mess. Not only was a citizen alone in the Wilds, but it was a very impressionable hormone-addled teenage Hunter. Ein wasn't sure who to be most fearful for; Akina, or anyone in the Wilds he might come across while startled. "Finish your meal, then, Chief. We're going to get him, there are a thousand good reasons he shan't stay out there." Without waiting for an answer, she marched to the Northern Gate, boot-heels clicking determinedly as she marched with her hands held behind her back.

Akina nodded to the other feline, listening to his plight and the location of his heretofore mentioned place of residence. It had been a good long while since he had seen another beast creature, his main trapping customers being human and the like. Most of his company walked on four legs out here, or swam. To find two such interesting characters on the same day in the middle of the wilds was simply a treat to Kaza, chuckling as he asked the young cat a question.


"Well lord boyo, sure can run a while cantcha!? I dunno if I'm even gonna be gettin to my abode without wadin through a little mud." He said with a snort, pulling out a bag of tobacco from his splattered and dirty jacket, rolling himself a cigarette with surprising dexterity. He picked out a ziplock bag of strike anywhere matches, striking it against his leather strap of his satchel and lighting it up.

With his raft now sunken and finding himself in more pleasant company than gators, he looked from one to the other, before finally puffing out a big plume of smoke and went over to give Akina a rough pat on the back. "Ah, the swamp judges no one kid. Screw your town! Ain't never done me no good. Which one is it? Maconville, Dupree? " He trailed off as he took another drag, walking around. "Oh god, you ain't from Dooperville, are ya? God help ya if you in that skin and you're from Dooperville." he said with a laugh. "They hate us kin to the wild round them parts." He looked back to Bella to see what her reaction to all of this was.

Bella looks perplexed as she hears the feline child's plight. Freak? While she found no youngin' offensive to her eyes, this child didn't look terrible at all. She is reminded that she's not in touch with a lot of what is going on in the world, and a tinge of shame from that hits her. Have I been gone too long..?

"A freak, chile?" she asks, her tone genuinely confused by the notion. She reaches over to pat the boy on the head. "Whatever fer? Yer not that weird at all, t'me, chile. Hardly a bogey like me, f'shure. And what of your ma an' pa?"

She looks over at the swamp feline, feeling bad that she still has no proper name to call him by. For that matter, she had no name to call the boy by either! Was she breaching those... personal spaces people talk about again? "Cher, this... this is normal? Neither ya'll look bad."

With her keen ears, she heard something else in the distance, a voice, and with her senses, she felt presences from the direction of the residence she was headed, and... there was something else, far off for now. She didn't concern herself for now, however, unless they came here, it'd be difficult to ascertain intent.

"No, I'm not from any of those places, I'm from Crow's Wallow. My name's Akina by the way." He said before turning back to Bella.

"My parents are ...normal. They care a lot about me, but still I just don't feel like I belong there. The only thing I get to do with other normal looking people is hunt and that's only because of my abilities." He said with a bit of a frown as he looked down at the ground.

"Speaking of which, they other hunters are probably gonna come looking for me soon. I should probably head back before they find me with you guys. They'll probably think you guys are monsters trying to hurt me and fight you if they see you. It was really nice to meet you though." He gave both of them a polite bow before he darted off back in the direction of Crow's Wallow following his own scent from when he left. It would take a little longer to get back with less adrenaline flowing through him and more up-hill running, but he figured he could still make it back before it got too dark out as long as nothing else distracted him.

Anselm watched as Lady Ein took off into the direction of the gate, face still stuffed, chewing slowly. Furrowing his brow, he looks around at the mess in the streets, then at the citizens eyeing him cautiously. Thinking over the choices that were provided to him, he either stay and inevitably be ordered by the "man" to clean up this mess, that wasn't... entirely... his fault, or bring back a lost cat child and hopefully fight something along the way. The choice was obvious. He swallows and rolls his eyes, slumping over in a defeated manner.

"Okay, ffffffffffine!" he says, in a rather childish manner, before taking off after her, catching up eventually as she and he exit the gates. He gets somewhat a chuckle though, at the thought of Ein rushing to aid a child. He grins from ear-to-ear, finding this situation more amusing than he probably should. "Gee, Ein, 'ere I thought ya didn' care much fer kids."

Then, suddenly, he stops grinning. There really was something wrong with the forest today, it felt more active than ever, but sounded quiet, it wasn't normal, not the normal he became accustomed to. Then he felt it, something familiar, like an impression from a bad dream. His hair stands on ends and body tightens, his inhuman pupil dilating. He could feel his mutated flesh crawling, getting worse the deeper they get, the feeling emanating from the direction of the swamp. As if possessed, he picks up speed, his expression now blank, unreadable.

A strange creature walks out of the woods towards the gate. It looked like a woman - or, perhaps, something wearing the skin of a woman. It was rotting, and through the holes some sort of green plant-like fiber could be seen.
"Ni-nice-san? Nice-san? Ni-ni-nicesan?" the creature warbled in an almost child-like questioning voice.

Boot-heels clicked rhythmically as Ein ran, the gate quickly approached. "Gee, Ein, 'ere I thought ya didn' care much fer kids." She shot back an annoyed glance at the Chief Hunter, there was so much more to this than simple worrying about a kid. "I couldn't care less if he died out there, it's what he might rile up that im worrying about. What if another city's caravan finally reaches us and he slaughters them?! Then what!? Or if he leads something back to the city?? I swear Anselm..."

The Wilds were... wild. Ein hated being out here, but when Anselm picked up speed she forgot all about that. A lesser human wouldve been out of breath, but Ein's mutation excelled in cardio. She tore after him, following exactly in his footsteps with inhuman vigor. It was eerily quiet today, something was happening out here. It only ever got this quiet when Alphas were fighting for territory.

Akina sped into view, like he was running from something, perhaps from his own defection. Ein drew her twin-sword, pointing the saber at Akina, "Akina! You know how dangerous it can be out here. Why are you running...?" She wasn't exactly being quiet, though she probably should have been. It would be an understatement so say she was on edge, anything close to her that moved suddenly would be slashed at, the swampland was dangerous enough without divided Hunters. Which is why when something began speaking nearby, she drew her dirk and cut her hand open.

It looked sort of human, perhaps a mutated villager, but it had flora sprouting from it. Ein took a defensive posture, saber in one hand, dirk in the other. Her bleeding hand let loose blood that floated around her aimlessly, waiting for direction. "And THIS is why we dont wander off alone, Akina...."

Akina came to a screeching halt, narrowly avoiding Anselm. He banked to the right and jumped against a tree before bounding off to slow his momentum.

"I was running to try to get home before it got too dark out." Akina said matching Ein's intensity, but he didn't quite understand why she was angry.

"I was only out here because I saw someone who looked like they were in danger, don't bite my head off!" He growled.

Akina heard the sound of another mutant trying to speak and saw Ein draw her weapons and institutionally retracted his claws.

"And don't patronize me either. If I hadn't been out here it might have made it to the city before we saw it." Akina snarled as he took a defensive posture waiting to see what the plant creature would do and decipher what else was out there.

"They call me Poison.." Poison told Astrid.

Poison heard the voices but she also felt something... She suddenly took to the air and looked around.

Looking down at Astrid Poison said " have to go and check on something..."

Poison flew off and was soon in a tree overlooking a strange creature... Some type of mix of death and life in a humanoid form. it had an odd aura and for now Poison just watched.

Nissan stopped as she saw two... two hers-but-nots. Things. Her, but not. What were they? She did not know the word.
"Wan-durr-off?" she chirped in her warped voice, saying the words the others did. "Havv two gow ch-ch-check on sum-thin... Ack-keen-nah? Nicesan? Ni-ni-nicesan?"
Of course, these words were complete gibberish to her. She did not know their meaning, but she spoke them anyways, perhaps in an attempt to negotiate with these hers-but-nots.

Dahlia had had a bit of a hectic...well past few months really. Mutation, getting control over her increased strength so she could stop breaking doors every time she tried to open one. Remembering not to scratch those itchy spots without any care because her claws could cut her skin. but the biggest change had been joining the hunters. What a trip, she never would have previously even dreamed of joining...But being able to get away from the judgmental and apprehensive stares made it worth the danger really. Apparently growing an extra pair of ears and clawed fingers was enough to make people you care about quickly change their opinion of you. "Hm?" Her fox ears perked up, turning this way and that. "What's with the ruckus?" She commented mostly to herself. She got up from her seat in the forge where she had been fixing a big dent in her shield from a recent encounter with a very grumpy mutant bear. She set down the hammer and picked up her shield with the dent mostly gone, grabbing it by the edge with a pair of tongs and flipping it face up to pour some cold water on the face and cool it. She then grabbed her helmet, her big hammer and the now cooled shield before heading out to see what all the ruckus was.

As it turned out it was the chief getting in another disagreement with that mutant raccoon. A rather destructive one actually. Dahlia sighed and put her hammer and shield down against a wall before going about clearing the rubble from the street while Anslem concluded his arguement, though as she finished and began to leave the lady hunter with the wierd blood powers - She really needed to ask what her name was- started talking about the Akina the youngest hunter she knew. She heard the bit about him jumping the fence and stopped eavesdropping to head to the gate, Actually being passed by the two on the way there. She picked up her pace and signed out at the gate before following their tracks.

Eventually she came upon the scene right as the plant thing began parroting what the others had said. She raised her shield "What in the seven hells is that...Plant thing?" She thought out loud, easily loud enough for the others to hear though her voice was a tad muffled by her helmet. She glanced at Akina when she saw him in her peripheral vision, feeling a bit of relief when she saw he was alive. Best to try and keep it that way.She turned back to the plant...thing and lowered into an actual stance, if a bit sloppy. She was still a rookie, sue her.