Market Place

Xavier walks among the busy streets of the market, picking up and putting things down as she goes from one vender to another. Many are trying to sell magical relics, food items, and all sorts of trinkets. Eventually she shoves her hands into her coat pockets and bury her face in her white scarf. It's a been lonely time for her, not having found any she could consider family. That was the burden of being the great-granddaughter of Gabrielle. There were many who knew her from the mask she possessed which was handed down to her from her mother's mother's mother. The wolf in her grew restless, needing. She wasn't as in control of the beast inside her as much as anyone would have hoped. There wasn't really a guide book to keep from holding back from turning into a wolf. Her great-grandmother had kept that secret until her grave. As long as she wasn't provoked, Xavier would be safe among the crowd of merchants.

She kicked a pebble and continued to walk until she caught her eye, or err, nose really, on a meat vender. His lot looked anything less than properly sanitized. But she was a wolf; not even rancid meat didn't displease her. She strolled on over, keeping her head low as she gazed at each slab. She could smell what kind of animal each was before the merchant could ask her if he could help her with anything. Deer, boar, bear, cow, chicken, pheasant, all her favorites. There definitely was a selection. Her stomach growled as she wriggled her fingers in her pockets to fish out her bag of coins. She opened it and saw there was just enough to buy less than half a chicken. You would think her family line would have left her a large sum of money, but it had turned out her Gabrielle never had a penny to her name since she was so charitable.

"Damn virtuous woman." She muttered under her breath.
"Can I help you lady? I got other people who can actually buy something here." The vender grunted, clearly annoyed after seeing the shady amount of coins Xavier possessed.

"Ahh..no I'm good." She said and began to walk off, but not without slipping a pheasant under her coat when the butcher turned his back. She walked at a normal pace for a moment before someone mentioned something to the vender and he yelled at her direction. Xavier looked back, her golden eyes gleaming from the sun, and she grinned and broke off into a run. Eventually the wolf took over her body and she was running with the pheasant in her mouth, all four legs beating hard against the cobblestone path until she lost anyone. She hid behind a building in ruins and set the pheasant on the ground.

Her fur was barely anything like Gabrielle's hid. She had a white under tummy and golden yellow eyes like all the Alpha females before her, but that's all that made her resemble her great-grandmother. She had a much more slender, clean cut body and thinner legs because of how much she ran. The mask she held was around her neck. Xavier laid down and began gnawing at the bird she had stolen. Now she had to figure out how to turn back again, which normally just happens on its own.

Nyx squeezed through the crowds. So many people cramped together in such a tiny dirty place made her nose scrunch up. You would think she would be used to it by now, all of it by now. It’s been how many years… She pulls up her scratchy hood, hikes up her pack, and continues to make her way through the crowd of people. She never liked going to the market, but it was a lot easier than making everything from scratch, especially since everything needed to be a lot bigger now. She remembers ages ago, when you could make a basket with a single leaf and have it hold enough to feed you for a week. Now, you need a close to a forest! Not quite, but it did take a lot more material.

She looks to the side and sees a few younger children playing in between some of the vendors. She smiles at them and pauses, watching them play their game with some sticks. She looks around for something to give them, marbles or jacks or a small doll. She spots a large merchant table that has some jacks on it; with many people around it. Should be easy enough to swipe a set. She casually snatches one and glides away from the table towards the kids. She reaches them and kneels down to their level. They are shy, not many adults here have nice things to say to these homeless orphans, she learned that the hard way. When she holds out her hand to reveal her prize, they look up at her with wide, beaming eyes.

“Go ahead,” she smiles sweetly, and extends her hand out further. They anxiously grab the jacks and scurry off to find their own corner, laughing and shouting. She stays crouched there for a moment, watching the children find so much joy in just a few jacks. This world isn't so bad. She stands up and turns to head back, but there is a man in her way, the man from the market table she just swiped the jacks from. He doesn't say anything, but Nyx knows she’s been caught. She quick ducks around him, hoping to flit away into the crowd of people, but he grabs her wrist with his chubby fingers. Immediately pain courses through her wrist and all the way up to her shoulder, slowly creeping farther. She lets out a yelp and bites the inside of her cheek, trying not to scream out again. She glances down at his hand. The ring. He’s wearing a steel ring, which means iron. Which means pain.

“Please,” she begs through gritted teeth, trying to pry her wrist away from the steel ring. “Please, I’m sorry. Please, let go of me.”

“Not this time,” the man barks back and starts dragging her back to his table. She can feel the pain growing out towards her neck like fire through her veins. She can feel tears stinging in the corner of her eyes.

“No, please, you don’t understand! You have to-“

“I don’t have to do anything, sweetie,” he glowers back. We are almost back to his cart where I can see several knives, waiting. The iron in the steel pressed against her skin is excruciating. Five steps away. The pain is almost at her neck, biting her. She looks around frantically; there’s got to be some way out of this. Suddenly, a dog races between them, pulling Nyx out of the vendors grasp. She grabs her wrist and looks after the dog – No, wolf. Wolf? She looks back at the vendor and he is almost reoriented. She quickly melts into the crowd and out towards the forest. She needs to get salve on her wrist, and she needs to get out of that awful city.

Hana finished off her rancid snack. She hasn't had any luck hunting anything lately with all the travelers coming and going through the forests to this city. She gets up and stretches her animal bones and muscles. She licks her muzzle. That will not be enough to keep her full for the rest of the day. As she begins to trot along the ruins of old buildings she spots a woman moving quickly out toward the forest. She can smell the fear coming off the stranger. With curiosity coming over Xavier, she moves with ease along the shadows, trailing the scent of the woman in motion. She follows her, hoping that where ever she goes, there will be a prize waiting for Hana to snatch up.

When Nyx reaches the edge of the forest she rests back against the tree. Her wrist is still pulsing with pain, but it is receding back to the source. She peels her hand off the wound and takes a quick peak at it. It's pretty bad. There's a hollowed burn mark where the ring touched her flesh and black veins creep outward. She is thankful that she was in this form, if she had been in her fae form, the iron would have not only burned her, but poisoned her. It was too dangerous to be in her fae form in this realm. She pulls her pack around and sets it on the ground, kneeling beside it to fish around for a piece of bandage to cover it up with. No use risking infection on top of it. She shoves her good arm in the bag and moves the baskets around she just bought. A few berries and nuts, baskets and a mask falls out of the bag.


"Dammit" Nyx mumbles under her breath. Of course she had to pack it at the bottom. Of course that would be the most convenient place to reach in case of injury. idiot She finally finds the cloth and wraps it around the wound, wincing as she ties it tight. She has to be more careful next time. if i ever go back to that stupid place. She packs up her bag again, throwing things in a little too forcefully, hooks it onto her back and starts again to the forest She can feel eyes on her, and is pretty sure she hears padding behind her. She shakes off the feeling and continues home where there is salve, food, and no smelly merchants. Pain takes a lot of a person.

Curled up behind a tree, Hana watches the woman pull things from her bag. The closer she had gotten to the woman, the more she could smell that she wasn't a mere human at all. She had never smelt someone like her before, so she wasn't very sure as to who or what she was. Magical beings had only started to appear more frequently now that the wars were over. She saw the berries and nuts fall out of the pack and her stomach jumped as she quickly picked up her head from her paws. Fruit wasn't the first things she would have eaten when she was younger, but anything would do now. She got up and began to creep up on the stranger. Hana stopped and got down low to the ground when the woman got up and began to the forest once more. The she-wolf trotted behind her at a distance, as to not scare the woman.

Someone, or something was following her. Nyx was sure of it. The woods were a dangerous place for a tiny woman like herself. She is not afraid of the forest itself, all the nature within it. This is where she felt most home. It was the bandits in the forest that scared her. They are more ruthless than any wild animal she had ever met. She could still here the padding behind her. It sounded like an animal, but she could swear she felt the presence of a person. She decided she would just take a peek behind her. If someone was following her, she could probably lose them in the forest anyway. If was something, well, she and animals usually get along pretty well. She took a quick peek behind her and her hair stood up on the back of her neck. It was the wolf, from the market. She shouldn't have felt nervous around it, it was just a wolf, she has met dozens of wolves before. Some she became quite fond of. She stopped walking and turned slowly towards the wolf. She slowly got down low to the ground, careful not to look the wolf in the eye and cause some dominance struggle. She slowly extended her hand, showing the animal that she didn't plan to hurt it. Nyx's breaths were shaky; she wasn't stupid, a wolf is a dangerous creature.

Hana stopped in her track when the woman turned around. She kept her tail down and her ears flat against her head. If this woman would come after her, she already was planning her escape or attack. It surprised her when the woman bent down and put out her hand. Not many took kind to wolves, since they were deemed to be vicious creatures after her great grandmother had passed. Not to mention, she did not posses the pure white coat of her legacy that had once had. She looked like any other wild creature, other than the fact she was much larger than a regular wolf.

Xavier notices that the woman will not look directly at her and suddenly she does not feel threatened. She felt much more in control of the situation. She was an alpha wolf, and any power and control she could have, she took advantage of. Her eyes perked up, alert and curious. Then she trotted over to the woman and laid on her back playfully, and wriggled around. She licked the hand to show she was not a threat and barked.

"You're a good girl, aren't ya? Ooh yeah," Nyx speaks to the animal that's come up to hear. She scratches behind the wolves ear and under her chin. "Yeah, you're not gonna hurt lil ol' me are ya?" Nyx laughs as the wolf wiggles beneath her hand. Animals are much more friendly than other things, and make much better company.

"Now what's your name , huh? I believe that everything should have a name. There's power in a name you know. How about.... Gnosis! No that's not right. Hmmm, what about Aerie? That's closer but not quite right. I wish I knew the name for you in my language, but I left when I was very young. Hm. We will just go with Aerie for know. Aerie, my name is Nyx. Nice to meet you. She scratches the top of the wolfs head and stands up slowly, as to not spook the animal. We'll want to come to my humble abode? I think I've got a few rabbits or squirrels that I trapped. Huh? You hungry, Aerie?" Nyx starts to walk into the forest and waits to see if the wolf will follow.