[SRP] Nightmares' End (Alienore + Perdita de Helcegaear)

[elfstar89]

Solo RP between my Soqs Alienore and Perdita de Helcegaear. Please do not post. Alienore posts in Light Blue, Perdita posts in Cadet Blue.


Snow lightly fell in the twilit forest, piling up silently on the cold forest floor. A warm breath sent the falling flakes dancing through the air as they melted away in the presence of a living creature moving amongst them. They were falling lightly now, but would likely pile up faster by the time the weak late autumn sun rose.

Hooves crunched softly through the mast, and golden bells jingled as Alienore made her way as quietly as she could. She'd been following the form of what she strongly suspected was a Catwalker for the last week, carrying a bright turquoise Charm in a small pouch. It had taken her much of the year to track down her father's cousin, Ziya al-Suhail, and to ask him for a Charm. He had also heard the stories of what a Charm could do for Skinwalkers, but hadn't tried it himself. Then the trouble had come of trying to find a Skinwalker to Charm.

The periodic sobbing and cries emanating from this forest had caught her attention, as had the bright, snowy fur of the green-and-blue striped cat with massive fangs who prowled these forests. Alienore had been keeping an eye on the cat for half a moon before she'd realized it was the Catwalker itself that cried, often in the early hours of the morning, as a general rule when it had been hunting and came to a sudden and confused stop. Blood seemed to trigger the tears and confusion.

Of all the stories of Skinwalkers she'd ever heard, this seemed the most bizarre. A Skinwalker who cried at the sight of blood? How did they survive if they couldn't stand the sight of blood? Alienore had decided as she observed this cat, who seemed to spend a great deal of time up in the trees, would be the first recipient of a Charm from Ali.

A soft thump ahead caught her attention, and a pile of white fur appeared on the ground a few lengths away, golden eyes on black sclera blinking in confusion.

Ali froze, not wanting to startle the Catwalker. Carefully, she lowered her head, trying not to intimidate the unpredictable creature.

"Are you all right?" she asked, hoping that she'd gotten lucky, and the Catwalker was in the emotional phase that involved tears. Tears, Ali could deal with, as a mother. The wild, mindless bloodlust exhibited when the cat wasn't weeping...not so much. Not in a forest this dense.


White paws made their way across the evergreen boughs as golden eyes watched for anything small that crossed their path. Snow fell, and little would be found up here. Birds that didn't nest in hollows had flown south for the winter, and the smaller rodents were beginning to hibernate. Any reptiles or amphibians that had made a home in the summer would likely die soon, and frankly the only messy death the creature could accomplish at this juncture was a sleeping squirrel, which wasn't really a challenge, and probably wouldn't scream.

If Perdita was aware of these lines of thought, she would have been in tears. She could deal with fish and other small animals that crossed her path, ideally anything small enough to swallow in a minimum of bites. Especially if she could remember having taken those bites.

The creature, however, didn't care about much of anything, except screams of fear, things fleeing its claws and fangs, and bright blood spattered in profusion. Neither aware of the other, the one living in terror of the gaps in memory constituting the other, the other being a largely mindless collection of vicious, violent impulses.

The creature leaped to the next branch, slipped, and found itself hurtling toward the forest floor. A painful thump followed, and Perdita opened her eyes, blinking in confusion.

Again?

She had been in her little hollow this morning, next thing she knew, it was evening, and she hurt. Looking around, this definitely wasn't her hollow, Perdita had probably fallen off a high branch again.

Tears began to well in her dark golden eyes. Lost and hurt again. And hungry, too, judging by the gnawing pit in her stomach.

Her eyes then focused on the star-spangled Soquili in front of her, head lowered, sunny golden eyes radiating concern.

Fear gripped Perdita. Not of strangers, inherently, but an anxiety born of just knowing that if this mare didn't leave soon, Perdita was going to wake up the next morning with this mare dead at her feet, fur smothered in blood, no memory of what had occurred the night before.

"'m okay," she said softly, with a tinge of fear. "You need to go away, now, or I won't remember what comes next before you get hurt."

As threats went, it was probably the most confusing threat ever rendered. But that didn't make it any less true a threat.  

[elfstar89]

Tears. While reflective of painful emotions, no emotional response was more welcome to Alienore at this moment. The threat, too, was a welcome sign of sorts in its own right. The tearful Catwalker had no ill intentions, just fear. While only a fool would think themselves wholly out of the woods, this was still a far better response than an assault.

"You have holes in your memory, right? I've seen you confused in the middle of a hunt often, if you'll pardon my saying so," Ali said cautiously, watching the frightened Catwalker and trying to make herself as unintimidating as possible. "If there was a possibility of waking up tomorrow morning without harm coming to either one of us, would you take it?"

Perdita stared in increasing confusion. The mare wasn't running away. This was bad. Very bad. Didn't she understand that she could die if she stayed?

Then she stiffened. The stranger had watched her? Did the stranger know what happened during the gaps in her memory? More baffling still, what was the strange mare talking about? A way to wake up safely tomorrow morning, without anybody having to die?

Hope bubbled up in her chest, and the tears began to fall. "There's no way!" she wailed, trying to make the hope go away, so something so bright and wonderful couldn't hurt her when it didn't happen. "It always happens this way! I wake up, and s-something is d-d-dead, a-and I c-can't s-s-stop it, a-a-and there's blood everywhere, and you n-need to go right now o-or you're going to get h-hurt--"

Perdita curled up into a feline ball of misery and fear, weeping openly.

It wasn't possible. Nightmares were just part of life. There was no way to end it, no way to wake up without blood everywhere, and that wouldn't end until her Mommy said it was over, and Mommy wasn't going to say it was over until the world was a river of blood.  

[elfstar89]

Golden bells rang softly as Alienore gently stepped up to the sobbing cat and nosed at her. "Have you ever heard of an Angeni Charm? Would you like to try one?"

Perdita felt the mare's muzzle brush her fur, but made no move to accept or deny it. She sniffled. "N-no. What's 'n Angeni Charm?" Whatever it was, it probably wouldn't help.

"It's an object made by an Angeni of part of themselves," Ali explained quietly. "Being made of their blood, the stories say its purifying effects can clear a Skinwalker's mind. If you took the one I have with me, it would forever be part of you. Would you like to see if it can help you?"

Perdita wanted to believe it. She wanted to believe it so much. Could it help as much as the mare said it would? The Angeni were so pure that she'd never been able to be anywhere near one.

But what if it didn't work? Worse, what if it backfired, and Perdita lost what little mind she had? The nice, misguided mare would die. And Perdita would go on drowning in blood and nightmares.

"If you put it on me...could you promise to spend the rest of the night outside of the forest? Please? I don't want to wake up with my claws covered in your blood," she asked softly, nervously.  

[elfstar89]

Alienore blinked, then nodded. It was a reasonable request. This Catwalker had no real self-control, and since they were gambling on an artifact that was straight out of a fairy tale, it would be exceedingly foolish to spend the night in the forest.

"I promise," she said firmly, reaching for the bright turquoise gem she'd carefully tucked away so she wouldn't lose it.

"Hold very still," the Wind mare commanded, placing the Charm against the Cat's forehead. The gleam of the Charm seemed to intensify for a moment as it sealed itself to the pure white fur, sparkling and shining softly with the purification lent by the Angeni of Starlight.

Perdita did as she was told, anxiety filling her as she waited for this Charm to be placed upon her.

A bolt of something seemed to fizzle through her, mind and body, as cleansing as both an icy waterfall and a hot forest fire at the same time. She whimpered softly at the sensation, tail twitching as the sensation ripped through.

And then it was over, save for the subtle feel of something attached to her brow. Not heavy, just...present. Not painful, either. The nice mare had left, and she was all alone again.

Shifting into her more equine shape, Perdita made her way toward a stream near her hollow that wouldn't be frozen over, at least not yet. Looking down into the running water, she spotted the new object fused to her forehead. Bright turquoise, like the sky, softly glittering, like the stars.

A fish darted below the surface, and Perdita deftly caught it in her teeth, swallowing quickly, both to alleviate her hunger, and to stave off whatever would come in the night to resume the nightmare. Either the Charm hadn't worked, or it had a delayed effect, or--

"Or" was just too much to hope for.

Perdita curled up in her hollow, snuggled up among the tree roots, and waited for sleep to take her.

She'd know in the morning.  

[elfstar89]

Alienore had left as soon as she saw the Charm safely fused to the Catwalker. She had promised, after all, trotting off through the undergrowth for the nearest edge of the forest.

In retrospect, it was good that it had taken so long to find the Catwalker. She now knew the edges, places that she might better access than the Catwalker. Hence why she had moved into a gallop and kicked off into the air as soon as she was free of the trees, flying to a small, wooded mesa on the borders of the forest. Too difficult to climb to, regardless of shape.

That said, Ali had difficulty sleeping that night. She spent most of it listening for cries, for the sound of a nearly silent predator below, unsure whether the Charm would work the way it was intended. What if the mindless creature was the mind that survived? What if it failed? Surely they'd both know by morning.

Dawn came slowly to the bleary-eyed Wind mare. The snow had piled up in low drifts during the night, and crunched as Ali stiffly got to her feet. Shaking the snow free from her back and wings, she charged at the cliff edge, kicking off but using the wings more as a way to gently glide down to the nearest clearing to where she'd left the Catwalker the night before.

Time to find out if the rumors were true.

Perdita's night was at least accompanied by sleep, albeit born of exhaustion and a little hunger. The fish had not been enough of a meal to sate her appetite. At least she had been adequately sheltered from the cold, between the pelt and her snug little hollow.

Morning came at last, with a soft blanket of snow. Perdita blinked her eyes, yawning tiredly. As was her wont when regaining any kind of consciousness, she checked her paws and surroundings, checking her mind for memories of what she could last remember.

Still in her hollow.

No blood on her paw--

Wait.

No blood?

No smell of blood, either.

And she was where she'd fallen asleep. No signs whatsoever of nocturnal wanderings for more food.

Thinking of which, her belly grumbled angrily, reminding her of how little she'd eaten the previous day, and how long since she'd eaten.

Padding through the snow, she made her way to the stream, and snatched herself a fish. As she ate, Perdita pondered the implications.

Whenever she'd been that hungry when she went to bed before, she'd always woken up to the smell and sight of blood. Always. Sometimes in a random location.

No blood this morning. No random location.

It couldn't be.

Could it?

Had the Wind mare's miracle cure worked? Was the nightmare over? Was Perdita finally free of the blood and the tears and the fear?

She gazed in the water at her face, focusing on the Charm fused to her forehead.

Such a simple thing, but so powerful, and it had done this. Surely no easy trinket to get. And yet, this total stranger had done this for her. Why?  

[elfstar89]

Alienore moved cautiously through the snow, listening for any sound. A brief splash from a nearby stream caught her attention, and she moved in that direction. The Catwalker? Was it awake?

She came around a copse of trees across the stream, and saw the Catwalker staring in the stream at her own reflection, seemingly mesmerized. Not an openly hostile action, by any definition, but....

Could Ali allow herself to hope that the rumors were true, and the Angeni Charms could stabilize a Skinwalker's mind?

She pawed the snow a little, letting her golden bells ring a little more clearly in the snowy forest.

The ringing of bells caught Perdita's attention, and she looked up in surprise to see her savior watching her warily.

"Why? You didn't have to do this for me. I'm a stranger, and a monster," Perdita whispered. "You made the nightmares go away. Why?"

The voice of the innocent child in the Skinwalker. Not the mad beast. The mad beast only seemed to giggle and childishly mock its prey. It had never, in her observations, ever asked questions like this, and it didn't seem to prefer deception as a hunting method.

Alienore released a nearly invisible sigh of relief.

"Because I wanted to see if there was another way for Skinwalkers to be, another way for the rest of us to live around Skinwalkers. Because I wanted to see if it was possible to give families who'd had one of their own become cursed back the one they'd lost. Because I don't think the only good Skinwalker is a dead Skinwalker," Ali said softly. "I'm sorry, I didn't say it more clearly yesterday, but I honestly had no idea if this Charm would work, and I had to know."

She gazed into the eyes of the Catwalker. "Can you forgive me for not adequately warning you that I had no idea this would work?"

She hadn't known?

All this effort, to help a total stranger, and the Wind mare had had no idea if this Charm would work?

Perdita almost couldn't process it.

"You...you really didn't know?" she asked wonderingly. "All this to make the nightmares go away, for someone you didn't know, and you didn't know if it would work?"

She blinked, still trying to comprehend the kind of person who would just do that for a total stranger when they had no idea if it worked or not. Foolish? Probably. Generous beyond all belief? Without a doubt.

A small part of her wanted to be angry that this mare had gambled so much on a legend.

The rest of her, however spoke softly, muffled by the sheer amazement.

"Thank you."  

[elfstar89]

Ali shook her head in response to the Catwalker's surprised question. "I did not know, at all, but since it seems to have helped you, I can honestly say that you are most sincerely welcome."

A smile began to bud on her lips. "My name is Alienore. What's yours? How are you feeling?" she added, a small icicle of anxiety that it might be too soon to know for sure yet if the results were real. "Do you need anything else before I move on?"

Alienore. A pretty name for a pretty and kind mare. Perdita shyly smiled back. "Mommy named me Perdita de Helcegaear. It's nice to meet you." She paused, considering the answer to the next question. "I feel...good. Hungry, and still sleepy, but I can't remember ever waking up hungry to clean paws ever since before I can remember."

The smile widened.

"This is the best morning I can remember. Even feeling this hungry feels good. I think I'm going to be okay now, but if you wanna stay another week, make sure the nightmares are really gone, I think I would like that. Promise you'll run away if I tell you to run away though?" Perdita asked, concern rising. Even if the nightmares hadn't stained this morning, she'd need another week to be sure. She'd never had more than a full day without the nightmares. If Perdita could go a week without waking up with bloody paws, surely the nightmares were over, right?

Alienore nodded, smiling more widely. "A week. I can do that." It was a moon until the winter solstice. She could afford a week. Karloff was mostly recruiting for the herd, so she'd been able to spend much of the year away. Another week to verify the Angeni Charms could offer another future for Skinwalkers was worth taking.

The week passed slowly, but peacefully. The Charm held. Perdita was free of the nightmares, and had begun to spend more and more of her time fishing in the stream, or simply exploring alongside Alienore, asking for stories of the wider world around them. It was with regret that they parted, but with hope for a brighter future.

All because of an Angeni Charm, the purest of hopes, and the seeming impossibility that a fairy tale could, in point of fact, save the world.