the cat's shadow

Lain · Sep 3, 2018

Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

Frozen. That was all she was capable of feeling. Amia Hart found herself backed against an alley wall, her heart feeling as if it was ready to burst out of her chest at any second. The reason? A total of three men had cornered her. Tall as she was, these people were equally tall if not taller, and with a muscle far outmatching her own. She had run into them on accident during her distracted wandering, and they had proceeded to hassle and shove her until she was where she was now.

"Are you scared, little girl?"

The question felt like a dagger through the heart. Not only did she despise being referred to as a girl, but she was indeed scared. Very scared. A little voice within her kept urging her to just use her damned ability, but no. She was too worked up for that now. Her ears and tail had changed to that of a mouse's, a jumpy and frightened creature, and it seemed she had entirely lost of control of where they could go next.

A gale of disgusting laughter shook from her attackers. Step by step they were closing in, and she was running out of options. In desperation she tried to inch off to the side, clenching her fists, but it was no use. Her fate seemed sealed, and as their faces came ever closer a single, whispered plea escaped her pale lips.

"Please, someone, help me.

@Saber

Saber · Sep 3, 2018

James Logan

James would emerge from darkness, his teleport ability had become stronger, now having greater range, with his other abilities having also gone through some changes. He'd glance around, he was standing on a building in the city, he'd been through this way once or twice, bring able to teleport farther was proving very useful.

Then his sharp ears picked something up, walking over to the edge he'd look down, his eyes narrowing at what he saw. A girl getting mugged by a group of lowlifes. He'd pull out his phone, about the call the police when one of said lowlifes grabbed the girl and was about to hit her.

Cursing he'd shove his phone into his pocked and jump over the side, no time to call, he had to stop this now. Using his enhanced agility he'd bounce between the two walls to slow his decent before finally landing on the ground. His shadow tentacles would lash out, breaking the guy's hold on the girl and knocking the entire group back.

One of the guys stepped forward as if he was going to try and fight, James would quickly knock his legs out from under him with a tentacle. The group then proceeded to turn and run, giving up on the situation.

Sighing, his tentacles would vanish, he'd turn to the victim, "you ok?" he'd ask, crouching and offering her a hand to help her up, "anything hurting?"

@user

Lain · Sep 3, 2018

Shaking as if she was in freezing cold weather, Amia was absolutely sure she was done for. That is, until something entirely unexpected happened. In the distance, a man appeared to be charging the men in front of her from... above? Was he bouncing off the walls? Before she had any time to ponder this he had landed, and unleashed what looked like a dark tentacle. She couldn't help but let out a shriek under the circumstances. At last though, he fought off the men and she saw them run in the opposite direction.

Paranoid as she was, Amia could not comprehend why this person would want to do such a thing. Was he another attacker? Would she have to fend off only one person now? Panicking, she attempted to force her emotions under control so she could handle her ability once more. Unfortunately, it was to no avail. Needless to say she was incredibly confused when whoever it was knelt down and offered her his hand. It took her a decent while to register that he wanted her to take it and stand up, and that he was asking if she was alright.

Once she finally realized all this, the relief that washed over her was so immense that she forgot herself for a moment. Gingerly taking his hand, she got to her feet and started to speak.

"Yeah! I'm okay! I - who - you..."

And then she froze. All at once she was coming to her senses, as something hit her: this person was completely new to her. A stranger in every possible way. Who was he? What did he want? What was he like? What would he think of her animal features? Questions popped into her mind like wildfire, and before she knew it, gone was happy energetic Amia. In her place was someone new - someone quiet and extremely shy. As a matter of fact, she was starting to blur with the protector alter in her system (Josiah) as a defense mechanism.

"...Thanks..."

The word came out extremely soft and muffled, as her eyes went to her shoes and her hands clenched at her sides. What now?

@Saber

Saber · Sep 3, 2018

James Logan

James would emerge from darkness, his teleport ability had become stronger, now having greater range, with his other abilities having also gone through some changes. He'd glance around, he was standing on a building in the city, he'd been through this way once or twice, bring able to teleport farther was proving very useful.

Then his sharp ears picked something up, walking over to the edge he'd look down, his eyes narrowing at what he saw. A girl getting mugged by a group of lowlifes. He'd pull out his phone, about the call the police when one of said lowlifes grabbed the girl and was about to hit her.

He'd sigh a little, relieved she was ok, he did quickly look her over though, checking her over for any injuries just in case. "Well, at least you're not hurt," he didn't have any healing abilities to help if she was.

James would glance around, "uh, I'm James, we should probably get out of here, maybe call the cops," he'd gently touch her arm. "Hey, it's ok," he'd give her a smile, "they're gone."

Glancing out of the alley he'd look back to her, "you want to sit down? I can call the cops, they'll get this sorted out." He had a thing about the cops from his old life, but he knew the ones here weren't like that.

@user

Lain · Sep 5, 2018

She couldn't help herself - Amia jumped significantly upon being touched, even if it was gentle, and took a step back. All at once she could feel it: anger. It was boiling up under her skin in response to touch, and she tried desperately to subdue it in order to keep things peaceful. Just stay calm. Please stay calm. Already her features were threatening to slide into that of a lion's, Josiah's signature form. Breathing heavily, she attempted to focus on what the other person was saying.

"...Eh?

Was he comforting her? Did that mean... he wasn't here to hurt her? Or was he putting up a facade? The answer should have been obvious, but in her state of mind Amia was incapable of telling the difference. However, it did calm her looming rage somewhat to hear a calming voice emerging from the other. After a moment of consideration she chose to heed his words and sit down, nodding in response to his words. The idea of the police made her nervous as well - she'd grown up learning to avoid them. However, this was Manta Carlos, not the land she grew up in. Perhaps they would be more trustworthy.

Once sitting down, she stared at her shoes again and attempted to steady her emotions, as they tumbled on top of each other in a fury. Anger, curiosity, fear, relief, all of them collided with each other like angry bulls. Eventually, though, she was able to focus her mind in on that of her usual curiosity. Who was this new man? Where did he come from? What were those things coming out of his back? A million questions came to mind, but in the end she could only choke out one, uncharacteristically.

"Who are you?"

Saber · Sep 5, 2018

James Logan

He'd tilt his head, keeping a calm expression, not wanting to scare her, he saw the partial shifting but said nothing on it. "Hey, it's ok," he'd say, couching as she sat so he could properly talk to her, "I know you're scared, but they're gone and I won't hurt you."

"I'm James," he'd say, giving her a calm, friendly smile, "I was passing by, saw what happened, couldn't just sit back...so thought I'd help." He'd sit a little aways from her as she spoke, "I'm sorry if I scared you...I had to move fast," his powers weren't the most nice looking ones.

James would look around, "look, we should call the cops or leave, this isn't a nice area of the city." He'd stand and slowly offer her his hand to help her up.

@user

Lain · Sep 8, 2018

Hearing such an explanation for the man's actions did calm Amia down some. There was still a sneaking suspicion in the back of her mind that he could still be lying or attempting to trick her, but overall he exuded a very calm and friendly demeanor. After a moment she decided to take a deep breath to calm herself down, and listened better to what he was saying.

"It... It's okay."

She couldn't lie, his sudden appearance had definitely scared her. But, she was settling down now, even though she was still startled. As if to indicate this, her features had shifted from that of a mouse to that of a rabbit. She was twitching and shaking in accordance with the change, as her gaze continued to focus on her shoes. As he offered his hand, she stared at it intensely before deciding perhaps it was safe to take, stretching her own out very slowly before pulling to her feet.

Y-Yeah. Let's go.

In truth, she had absolutely no idea where she had wandered off to, so it hadn't occurred to her that this was a dangerous place to be. With no clue as to how to get out, she simply waited for him to take the lead and would follow where he went.

Saber · Sep 9, 2018

James Logan

He'd leader her out of the alley, away from it and the bad memory it now held, he'd considered teleporting them away, but had a feeling she'd react poorly to stepping into a portal made of darkness. "You hungry? Thirsty?" he'd ask as they walked, approaching a few shops, "I can grab you something."

In truth he wasn't sure what to do, so he'd stay with her for now, make sure she was ok. "This section of the city is much safer," he'd gestured to the new area they entered, "it's away from all that, should try to stick to the better sections of the city." He hoped she wouldn't wander back into there again."

He'd go ahead and buy tow bottles of water for them, offering her one if she wanted it, "this city is pretty safe, but even it has some bad neighborhoods."

@user

Lain · Sep 14, 2018

Following behind him with her hands twitching and her head still pointed downward, Amia merely shook her head in response to his question. As of now, she felt as if eating anything would just make her feel sick. Massively wound up due to interacting with a stranger, her body and rabbit features continued to twitch with anxiety as they walked along. At the very least, she was relieved to get put of that place.

"I... I didn't know."

That much was true enough. Amia had a repetitive tendency of getting herself completely and utterly lost, and today had been no exception. The fact that she'd managed to wander into one of the nastier parts of the city seemed to be sheer bad luck, and not unsurprising either. As he offered her a bottle of water, she hesitated a moment before choosing to take it, realizing that she really was thirsty and it would be a wise decision to eat.

After a moment of silence, Amia began opening and closing her mouth in desperation. In truth, she desperately wanted to say something, to be her normal inquisitive self. She had so many questions - where did he come from? What was that ability? Did it have a name? Did he often rescue people like that? However, the fact that she did not know him continued to impede her processing and her speech. She was immensely afraid of being annoying in her questions, and couldn't seem to settle on one thing to say. However, after a while she managed to once again choke something out, stumbling over her words.

"Th-Thank you. How did you do that? That black stuff?"

Saber · Sep 14, 2018

James Logan

"Oh, I'm a shadow mage," he'd say, taking a sip of his water, "so, I can use magic to create and manipulate darkness." It was slightly more complicated than that, Shadow was currently reminding him of the source of the magic, but that wasn't a story to tell right now.

Holding out his hand, he'd form a small shadow tentacle to show her, "it can be useful, but yeah, I get that it can be a bit unsettling to those not used to strange forms of magic."

James didn't save people like that often, the possibility of doing it had crossed his mind, perhaps something he'd start doing when out and about.

@user

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