Posts by Charlotte A.

Charlotte had been around, or she had tried to be. She had focused on her family, had tried to make it clear that she was available to them, had tried to be steady and loving presence, albeit a background one. But things inevitably were missed when you weren't part of the public life of the Clan, which was why she'd returned to the fray (that and the fact that indefinite retirement had not agreed with her restless spirit). She had been kept apprised of the events in her childrens' lives, but it was certainly different than having been at their sides to experience them. She regretted it, or at least she regretted what it had wrought. Her intentions, she knew, had been as good as they came.

Of course, intentions didn't much matter, did they?

The Aeternum watched as Junebug melted the ice and promptly fell through it, and she instantaneously lunged forward, jaws reaching for the scruff of his neck - but she fell back as he rescued himself, feeling a pang of relief that he was okay but also sorrow at the reminder of his age. He was grown, now, with a warrior name and a lover to call his own, with children and the rank of second-in-command. He could handle a bit of cold creek-water, so Charlie sank back onto her haunches and watched as it steamed off his face. "Fire elementals coming in handy yet again. I wasn't looking forward to breaking the ice with brute force." she offered, attempting to change the subject from the rather undignified predicament he had just found himself in - though she was not able to keep herself from snorting in amusement at Kapkan's playful antagonizaton.

Spiritline's anxiety at the prospect of Ver's arrival was ... understandable, and all the more so when she arrived in all her fiery glory, horns and wings and flaming eyes. Charlotte leaned against her girlfriend, trying to calm her temper to some degree, keeping silent. Her role in this, she suspected, was to keep her mouth shut and focus on preventing her lover from eating this poor fox for breakfast. She was not sure what, exactly, he was hoping to achieve - if Ver had a reason for why, it would likely do nothing to bring peace to Spiritline's heart, and it felt more likely that she would reaction to the inquiry with as much ire as she had reacted to his presence.

The Reverend's attention was drawn by the appearance of Kiyoshi, who observed in his typical silence - she winced as the boy's demeanor took on a fearful cast, reasonable given how frightening the ex-Shadowkeeper was being. "Kiyoshi." her voice was soft as she stepped away from her girlfriend, casting her a single, imploring look: don't kill him in front of these kids. "Hey. You okay? Why don't you and Toulouse-Anne and I go do something? Ver can handle this - it's political stuff anyway. Not anything you two need to worry about."

Alastor was right: she did have stories to tell, and though she wasn't always much for chatting, she was certainly willing to share. Particularly now that she had been assigned to do so by the demonic deer. The beige-and-sable dog found a dry patch of land in the middle of camp, her ears folded back against her head as she called out: "Would anyone here like to hear the true story of the monster in the sky and the endless darkness?" by her reckoning, only one person here would remember what she was referring to - Kapkan had been around for the eternal Shade Hour, but unless her memory was failing her, no one else had been. Then again ... her memory had failed her before. In my defense, I have a lot to remember. she mused, reclining on her haunches and waiting for anyone to approach her. Hopefully someone would be interested in the stories of an old woman.

It was raining. A nice change from the blizzard, she supposed, but it was a cold, driving rain that soaked right through her soft pelt. The Reverend sat beneath the overhang where she typically slept, inky ears folded against her head, her snout poking out from under the rock as she stared out at the wet, gray weather. "Not great." Charlie said after a pause, as if having deliberated extensively over her assessment. "Not at all."

Ver Million

The child - who had just introduced herself as Edo - seemed nervous. Charlie wondered if it was because of her size - she did rather tower over the kittens, being a shepherd and all. Moving slowly, she laid down so as to be closer to level with them, resting her head on her forepaws. "I like the name Edo. It's a pretty name." the Reverend said with a wag of her tail. "What do you think of your adventure outside so far, littlie?" she inquired, head tipping as she listened to Toulouse-Anne correct her sister - and reference how oh-so comfortable she was with the cold. Though her external appearance didn't change, internally she felt a ripple of suspicion. This pretty cinnamon kitten with her oh-so darling bow ... was it mean-spirited to say she didn't trust her?

"No one's holding any funerals, silly." Charlie attempted to comfort Edo, a sympathetic look in her dark eyes at the child's nervousness. "We're all safe here, eh? No need to worry!"

The permanent nosebleeds of Kyoto bewildered and worried her, but seeing as the boy was not her son and thus not her problem, there was little she could do about it. She was not a healer, and it wasn't really her place to try and find cures or ways to alleviate his "anemia", whatever that meant. The best she could do, she supposed, was to offer him her company in a vaguely maternal capacity. She could hardly shake the parenting instinct off, after all, even if the Enjolras-Kira children had two loving parents. She couldn't keep herself from watching and worrying to some small degree, if only for the well-being of the future of the Veil.

Thus when she caught the scent of blood again, she paused but did not leap up in alarm - she recognized the small scarlet-stained figure of Kyoto and approached him carefully, tapered tail swishing behind her. "Another nosebleed, Kyoto?" Charlie asked with a little sigh. "A shame. Those are, err, nice ribbons you have there. Do you mean to get blood on them?" was it an artsy, expressive sort of thing, or was he just oblivious to the blood which was saturating the strips of fabric? And she wondered where he'd gotten them - perhaps from his sister or one of his dads.

Ah - the fellow had arrived. Charlotte remembered Riptide's old body better than this current one, but she felt that this one suited him - the pale coloration felt suitable for him. She did not know him well, but she was happy to see a familiar face leading the Veil. Or, err, co-leading. Calina was an unknown, but ... well, never mind. She was here for a reason. "Hello." she said with a brief wave of her tail. "I wanted to ask you two a few questions." she sank onto her haunches, placing her forepaws neatly in front of her. "First, I'm curious to know if the Ascension Quest and rune carving traditions are still part of Veil society?" she had not implemented either tradition herself, but she had enforced them during her rule, and had expanded somewhat on the latter. It was not for reasons of pride that she wondered if they had been discarded - nostalgia and a genuine fondness for them, mostly. And the fact that she believed in cultural events being beneficial for a society.

One of the Kowalki family children was missing. This was not a state of affairs Charlotte much wanted to allow to stand, particularly as they were so very, very young. The child who had disappeared - whose name was Edo - seemed also to be the smallest, youngest, and most nervous of the bunch, and the Reverend reflected with a twist of her gut how she had fretted over monsters. Thus the shepherd was, again, out looking for her, nose to the ground, tapered tail held aloft behind her. Where could she have gone? a kitten on their own in the wild, wild world ... the odds didn't seem good.

But to her great surprise, she heard a rustling as something moved through the pines and splashed through the snowmelt, and caught the scent of the very girl she sought. "Edo?!" exclaimed Charlie, leaping around a dark-leafed shrub and landing a few paces in front of the child. "Edo, you're back! We've been so worried! Your fathers will be so happy to see you! Are you okay?!"

Today Charlie's blood boiled and her paws itched. Her black-tipped tail lashed behind her and her lips could not keep themselves from curling to reveal her long, sharp white teeth. Today, her grief was manifesting itself as anger, and she wanted to put that anger to good use. "Hey," she called into the depths of the ruins, listening to her voice bounce back at her off the crumbling stones, "does anyone want to spar? No powers. Claws sheathed if you've got them." she, of course, didn't, but many of her Clanmates did. "I won't take more than two opponents, one if there's a significant size disparity. I want a good, hard fight." she hoped someone took her up on her offer, because otherwise she feared she'd have to get a bit vicious with some prey-creature. She wanted blood, sweat, mud, wanted her sides to heave with exhaustion. She knew no other way to achieve this than through battle, which perhaps said something about her - or, perhaps more generally, about Clan life.

A trespasser. Charlotte was disturbed from her patrol by the sound of a weary voice. It was unfamiliar to her, and she allowed the prey she had been stalking to bound deeper into the pines unattended, rising from her predator's crouch to pad in the direction of the nostalgia-laced words. Her beige-and-sable hackles were raised and she was patently on alert, but did not approach with active hostility, a slightly bitter smile on her face. "Missing the old times?" inquired the former Shadowkeeper. "What's your name, stranger? I think you know you're trespassing on our territory, though it seems you may have...connections." she was well-aware this could be a ploy, but she hoped it wasn't. For once she'd stumbled across someone who seemed as nostalgic as she was - she wanted to enjoy that instead of fighting off some wily Exile or Brigadier. Those were their enemies, right?

Volary Flights, Volary Flights ... Charlotte didn't know much of them, honestly. They had been inconsequential during her reign as far as she remembered, and the name of the bird-themed Clan was rarely mentioned in her day-to-day life. Thus she had essentially no emotion as she trotted over, black-tipped tail held aloft behind her and her deep brown eyes turning interestedly over their visitor.

Charlie was in a tree, having jumped onto a low, sturdy pine-branch. "Hi, guys."

Medicine was a perennial weak spot for Charlie, and she had no particular interest in changing this. She had lost count of the number of herb trainings she'd attended, most of those held by Yuuki, and she had not retained any of the information. All of the memorization, the fiddly plants, the necessary deftness of the paws ... she just didn't have it. Still, that didn't mean she couldn't try yet again - maybe she'd pick something up this time, against all past evidence. The beige-and-sable shepherd gamboled over and sat near Calina, flicking her tapered tail over her paws.

Charlotte never understood the behavior of Clans like the Exiles, their proclivities for violent posturing. She remembered 'the Glitterati' and 'the Iron Hull' had left things on their territory, as well, and had accomplished ... what, exactly? Nothing, but the lingering distaste of an old woman, she supposed. The German Shepherd stiffened at the familiar scent of the canyon-dwelling Clan, her black-tipped tail straightening behind her and the hackles along her spine rising. At a brisk clip, she made her way to the source of the scent, noting also the scent of decay and of blood. They must've left us something dead. thought the Aeternum with a weary sigh, padding over the remnants of the snow.

She was right, of course - a head on a wooden stake. The beige-and-sable Reverend stared dispassionately up at it before rearing up onto her hind legs and knocking it over. By no means would she allow one of Kira and Enjolras's kids - or Candypaw or Kiyoshi or any other youth, really - witness this. Seamus's head landed with a soft thump against the needle-softened forest floor and she winced, muttering an apology to the deceased for the disrespect being shown to his remains. Then she began to dig, blunt nails and powerful paws turning up soil, clawing through the newly-unfrozen earth. When an appropriately sized hole had appeared beneath her she rolled the tiger's head in and began covering it back up, watching the gory thing disappear under dark, cold soil.

Her task complete, she grabbed the stake in her teeth and dragged it off the territory before re-crossing the border. My mouth tastes like Exiles. thought Charlie in disgust, running her pink tongue over her teeth. I'm going back to camp to tell the Shadowkeepers and get something to eat. if her stomach could take it, she supposed. She began to head toward the Spire and the ruins which surrounded it, trying not to think about the undoubtedly painful last moments of the man whose head she had just buried.

Calina A.R.K.   RIPTIDE

Charlotte listened to the exchange attentively, her deep brown eyes moving from Freya to Calina and back again. The matter discussed was unfortunate but not entirely surprising - the Exiles were as much of a bother now as they had ever been, and the shepherd resisted the urge to allow a growl to rumble from her throat. Instead she waited til the matter was resolved and addressed the Empress in her quiet, clear voice. "Thank you, Your Majesty. Would you care for anything to eat or drink before you return to the Flights?" it was only polite, after all - the mountain lion had travelled a distance to come here.

The towering Shadowkeeper was hard to miss: Charlie was aware of her presence long before Calina addressed her, and the Reverend felt of a wave of relief at her prompt arrival. "The Exiles left us Seamus's head on a wooden stake." she said it as bluntly as she could, her brown eyes rising to meet the younger canine's. They were eloquent in their expression of sorrow. "I buried it. Didn't want the kids to see it, and ... well, he deserved that much." she paused, her tapered tail swishing. "I didn't see who left it. I'm sure they're long gone. I wanted to let you and Riptide know that they intruded and ... well, about what happened to Seamus, I suppose."

Charlotte had gone by a typical warrior name for a while - Lastbastion, and then, later, Nightstar. She had left both of those names behind, though, in favor of readopting her birth name, and she was quite content with that now. It suited her, she felt, particularly the nickname 'Charlie'. She had always been Charlie in her own head, anyways. But this didn't mean she didn't have a lot of fondness for the standard naming conventions - she did. In fact, lots of her children had been given names like that - Junebug, Ambrosiapaw, Rainkit. It was always a thrilling time when suffixes were lost and new ones gain; the hallmark of growth.

The shepherd had known that Candypaw's birthday was coming up, but so quickly? The passage of time is absurd. thought the Reverend, both bewildered and delighted as she bounded over. A radiant smile was cast in her daughter's direction and Charlie attempted to nuzzle her with her pointy dark snout. "Congratulations, Candyhearts." she murmured with tenderness: it was a beautiful name. "It suits you."

"Setekh." Charlotte's voice held a note of recognition and a rather melancholy smile appeared on her face. "I know your name. Welcome home." her black-tipped tail swished back and forth as she considered her options, opting to ignore Adara's harshness. The girl had been prickly even as a young child - it seemed that that had only worsened in the intervening months. "I'm the Reverend Charlotte Aeternum, but most call me Charlie." one pointy ear flicked and the shepherd pondered what it must feel like to return to the place you had once called your home so long after departing in earnest. "Would you like to be led to our camp? There's food and water and a soft place to sleep, if you care for any of that."