RP:The Last of the Swiftclaw Tribe
Summary: While Futsuka searches the alleys of Frostmaw for a lead on Emilia's disappearance, she encounters another member of her fallen tribe that has been in hiding for nearly six months.
FeeFighFeauxFum Alley
Futsuka pulls the worn leather cloak she wears around her body for warmth, the light layer of fur on her skin not enough to combat the cold of Frostmaw, even in the mid-spring. Her breath raises around her like a fog as scarlet eyes peer beneath white lashes, her feline eyes reading the words scrawled here on the walls. "Sanmichel and Valkor were here." Cities were such odd places for the reclusive woman, and much more so were the people that inhabited them. What was the Sanmichel and Valkor and why was its presence here so significant that it must be recorded in that annals of history? Well, current history anyway. A tiny smirk of satisfaction grew on Futsuka's face, imagining how eventually this place would be returned to nature and everyone would forget about the Sanmichel and Valkor, as it should be. Discovering that there was nowhere to go but back the way she came, Futsuka turns around, her long fingers idly plucking at the string connected to the bow hung snuggly around her shoulders. Where would she go now? There was no Ice Genasi here nor any trace of her. This lead, quite literally, was a dead end.
Karasu sits perched upon the frame of a window long gone from one of the buildings bordering the alleyway. Behind a featureless black mask, irises stained with an unnatural pink color follow the traveler intently. The traveler stops and picks at something beneath her cloak, seemingly looking for something. From the angle above, Karasu cannot discern any features, but it is surely another spy sent from the Mage's Guild. That wretched traitorous father of hers, even now he dared to send scouts to report on their activities? Drawing the hood of her own woolen coat around her head, she slips down from the window while the stranger's back is turned. Once settled on a stack of debris that she is confident is stable, she reaches for the hilt of her weapon drawn at her side. Her free hand traces an insignia at her side, which briefly illuminates the shape of the Xalious tree on her mask. From beneath the mask, a magically altered voice calls out, "Who sent you, spy?"
Futsuka is quick to spin to meet the gaze of this mysterious person, her pupils dilating slightly as her claws flexed at her sides. "Spy?" hisses the feline, her nose wrinkling in disgust. "As if I would ever do the dirty work for some noble." The ranger crouches low, ready for an attack from this masked threat. Futsuka could sense bad juju all over them. "I am here looking for the Ice Genasi, Leader of Healers." A low growl began to build in her throat, her stance switching from defensive to aggressive. "If you had anything to do with the kidnapping you better cooperate with me. I have no patience for knaves."
Karasu scoffs, not bothering to return the threatened stance. Her hand remains unmoved from the hilt of her sword, however, as she recalls her memory of the leader she speaks of. Was that not the person she had traveled with her first mentor to rescue on her entrance exam? Given that Dyraxdiin had gone over her own father's head to get her into the Guild, it was unlikely anything relating to the ice woman could have been orchestrated by the Guild. Still, her Father could have foreseen that and used it as a cover story for the next spy to use. Conspiracy after conspiracy swirled around her head, allowing the paranoia to take over the nagging feeling that this stranger's face was a familiar one. "I have not had business with the Genasi in well over a year. Surely, the Provost would have suited you up with a better lie than that. You still have a choice to tell me the truth before I shred the tendons in your ankles. Perhaps if you do, you can run back to Xalious and tell Kaaname that his daughters are happy and healthy." A complete lie on both parts; she has no intention of letting the informant walk away.
Futsuka was silently sizing this stranger up as they spoke. Even with the mask concealing their face and the magic concealing their voice, the empathetic catfolk cold sense how distracted they were. A person with too many enemies to focus on the one in front of her. Futsuka was thinking about ways to incapacitate them- perhaps she could leap upon the wall and draw her bow? No, this foe would have magic- she need to close the gap. The weapon on their side was an issue but Futsuka was dexterous enough to avoid a blade, that wouldn't be too big of a problem. It wasn't until Karasu spoke the name did Futsuka lose her cool. "Kaaname??" The feline's face contorts in anger. "If I ever see that slimy, two-faced, milk-drinker outside of his tower I'll make sure he's never seen again." The woman clenches her fists, her claws unintentionally cutting into the flesh of her hands. "I warned Ynntrasu- I warned everyone, and now they're gone... And if you-" Futsuka was going to sweep low to kick up enough snow to obscure her from the spellcaster low enough to draw her bow, but now she hesitates. "Kaaname's... daughters?" Futsuka doesn't know what to do for a second, shocked my the news of her niece. "What have you done with Karasu?" she asks in a tone, serious tone. "Is she safe? If she's alive then that makes her the last little bit of family I have left."
Karasu willed herself not to shrink back at the curious rage towards that name. "You are not of the southern tribe." She said as though it were fact, her own blood beginning to boil at that claim. "The plague took every member save for me. You think because you appear to be catlike that this would fool me? Succido." A blue flash of magic illuminates the alley, followed by a pile of debris crashing down directly behind Futsuka. Using what hopefully provided enough distraction, she unsheaths her weapon. From the hilt comes what appears to be segments of a katana re-forged and split into multiple pieces, held together with chains that appeared to be reinforced with runic carvings that enabled it to collapse from a whip to a longsword at a moment's notice. Karasu leapt to the side, thrusting the sword-whip out, aiming to encircle the feline's legs with the sharp blades.
Futsuka ears twitch back, taking in the sound of the crashing debris behind her as she eyes stayed locked on the person who certainly knew something about her niece. The feline dashes and dodges out of the way of the crashing ruin, coming to a somersault before springing onto the wall where Sanmichel and Valkor once were. Well out of reach of the extending blades that swept for her ankles below, the ranger draws her bow and nocks three arrows simultaneously before leveling them at the attacking spell blade. "I am Futsuka Swiftclaw, last of the Xailous tribe!" She declares. "We were all wiped out except for one- the one they cast out. You say a plague killed them? Yes, child, the plague of magic. The Mages killed my family, not some disease. I could feel the taint still lingering to this day." Futsuka increases the tension on her bow. "Now- One last chance, tell me where my niece is or I will pin you to the ground and make you tell me."
Karasu curses to herself as the stranger does not avert her gaze at the distraction. When the metal clanks against the frozen cobblestone, she yanks her arm up to draw the whip in. A drawback to her weapon is that she must wait a moment for its complete return to her side before moving again, and that second is all that is needed for one of the three arrows to embed itself into the featureless mask that shielded her face. With a grunt, she reaches up and tears off the mask. The spell-blade's face is slightly shadowed from hunger, and dark circles rest under her eyes from months of sleepless nights. "You suddenly care for a niece you didn't know existed? How touching. I am Karasu Tsuji, Arcane Stewardess, and sole survivor of the Swiftclaw tribe's plague. Ynntrasu had no siblings." She regretted admitting that once she said it, as this information she only knew from what her father had told her. “Any records and documents held by the tribe were burned by the Mage's Guild to eliminate any trace of the disease that had taken the tribe's lives.” Or so she had believed this was the reason. Hesitantly, she lowers her sword. "My mother had a sister?" She then raises her sword again. "Prove you are of Swiftclaw blood." Karasu declared, though she hadn't the faintest idea of how Futsuka was supposed to do this.
Futsuka felt a terrible pain in her chest. They burned everything? All trace of her heritage had been lost? "Burned?" Futsuka's arms became limp like noodles as she slunk down on the wall. "I remember you-" Futsuka claims, hopping down from her high ground. "You were young when they cast me out, but you should remember me. You must have been eight or nine, at least." The feline strained to remember, "Look, my markings." Futsuka ripped the cloak from her shoulders and tore away the leather of her armor, ruining it in the process as she reveled the fur on her arm. "Our tribe was the Iriomote- leopard cats. We are unique." Even the albino's markings could be seen this close up. "What has taken place that your history has been robed from you?" The hole in Futsuka's heart swelled in size, knowing deep down who was responsible. "Kaaname." she said coolly, answering her own question. "He will regret not dealing with me too..."
Karasu drops her sword as a faint memory returns to her. The elder of the tribe once again scolds her mother for sneaking Karasu out of Xalious despite her father's wishes, citing that she risked a human discovering their village, and Karasu sitting outside, waiting patiently. Grubby hands fumble around the dirt, trying to keep a lizard from running away to try to cast a levitation spell on it; the child was still too small to understand that magic was unwelcome in grandmother’s town. A curious albino only some ten or so years older offers the halfling a dew pod, showing Karasu how to puncture the clear skin of it with her fangs to drink the water. "I was six. You were fifteen. You were in turn to get yelled at by the elder because you broke your bow." She quietly corrects her, lowering the sword. "Father would not have known about you." The realization is finally spoken. "You are family too?"
Futsuka actually breaks a smile that felt like it had been years since she had last had one, tears beginning to swell in her eyes involuntarily. "Yes!" Futsuka remembered that day, "I didn't start wearing my hair up until I was 19-" She swiftly pulls the ribbons out of her hair to let it fall onto her back. "Back then Father was always yelling at me. I could never live up to the example Ynntrasu set for me... Even if I wasn't cursed... Father hated magic, hated my druidic talent. Said it wasn't any different than the sorcery that they were filling your head with at the tower. He... He cast me out because I stood up for you. You belonged with us, in the valley, not up there with that evil man. He said that magic had tainted my mind and he cast me out- telling me not to return for ten winters." The cold wind of Frostmaw reminded her to pick up her cloak off the ground. "Yes, we are family and no matter what has driven you to be doing... er, whatever it is you are doing here- I will help you. Are you all alone, child? Attacking strangers who you think might hurt you usually leads to a lonely life, like it or not. I know, I was a teenager once too."
Karasu trembles as she listens to her explanation. "The case of whether Ynntrasu should be allowed to continue her visits was decided when I was nine, when a drow bearing the Xalious insignia was caught making reports on their activities. They decided she would be exiled as well. It must have been after you left. Because we were the only ones going to and from the village from outside, no one knew of the plague until it was too late. The next year, my mother was slain by a vampire. A vampire I later found out sired my father that same night. Up until a few months ago, I was an apprentice at the school of magic. The night they appointed me to a Stewardess, I found the truth." Realizing who she had taken her eyes off of, she looked around feverently and climbed the walls to look into a window. From the collapsed floor within was a vantage point to the window of an old tavern, where a visitor who seemed human sang melodies on an unusual instrument. The spell blade breathed a sigh of relief and dropped to the ground. "I am not alone. I have a half-sister. Kaaname's child from his first marriage, the mother of which also died a strange death about three years before mine. It appears my father is quite the black widow."
Futsuka swiftly threw her cloak over her shoulders before following after the half-feline, skillfully scaling the same wall as her. The unhallowed feeling she sensed was stronger up here somehow as her scarlet eyes narrowed in suspicion at the 'human' girl. "So, this is his other child...?" Futsuka pulled herself inside and sat just below the window so passerby's wouldn't see them. There is a long pause as Futsuka glanced between the two of them, considering their situation and what they might be going through. "This truth you discovered... Is that why you are a fugitive now? You and your sister... Are you in danger?" Futsuka's eyes widen in seriousness, "I can divert food and healing supplies from the Healer's Guild if you need them. They trust me enough to use them for people who are in need... I..." The ranger kept glancing back at the strange bard. "Is she... Alright?" There was a strange train around her and Futsuka's sixth sense was telling her.
The halfling pulled her lips into a thin line. "She is very much in danger, even in her current condition, and she has no idea I exist, still. I can't face her. That instrument she plays is bound to her soul. I have no idea why he covets it so much or what power it contains, but he routinely sends spies to report on her whereabouts so he can send assassins. I sought her out after I ran away, but she's ah... developed a taste for humans. She appears to have been touched by the God of Undeath himself, which is for all I know, similar to my own condition." As she says this, she reaches up to scratch at the bandages covering her neck just beneath her cloak. A pause stretches between the two as she adds, "Kanna's not a threat to you if you approach, it seems like she only kills men. Which is understandable." Karasu smirks, which soon falls back into a serious expression. "I don't know who else I can trust. The Mage's Guild has a far reach, and his own personal army has eyes and ears everywhere. He laid out intricate plans to kill my lover and the fugitive he harbored, along with a dragon hatchling I had adopted with another student who turned out to be one of his spies. I fled without a word to any of them, in hopes that he’d see that he would see their confusion and allow them to move on. What did you do when you were on your own?" She asked, a thinly veiled question as to what should happen to the torn sisters now.
Futsuka frowned. All this talk about magic and souls and God's of Undeath, it was all- "Bad Juju," she remarked. "Your sister is cursed, and I feel remorse for her, I do, but there is nothing I can do to help her." A quiet sigh escaped her lips. What would she do if Ynntrasu had been turned in a vampire instead of being given the mercy of death? "Mage's Guild," Futsuka scoffed, "Fat, old men who have allowed warlocks and vampires into their ranks. Even that monster that stalks the Dark Forest is given respect there... I see why you must hide out this way." With sincerity Futsuka turned back to Karasu, a forced smile upturning her lips. "I survived." She states flatly. "I had claws and keen senses, so I used them. When there was a beast or monster that threatened my camp turned up, I packed and left... But once I found that I could not run, that I had to fight, I did not hesitate. Claws that had been used to hunt were now used to fight. My keen eyes now aided my arrows in finding their targets. I grew, evolved, and kept moving. If you want to survive, Karasu, you'll have to learn how to beat what you are running from or you'll be hiding forever." Futsuka looked behind her, solemnly. "It isn't easy on own..." Karasu gives a deep sigh at the grim news. "I figured not. Only the god himself would know how to undo this. Or, at least, some kind of expert. I have ears to the ground. You're searching for someone, right? People who frequent deserted alleyways always seem to have useful information." As she enjoys the company, it finally begins to dawn on her that her father's reach is not as far as she might have believed it to once be. The spies exterminated thus far were all failed spellcasters or drunkards looking to make easy gold. "I might not have to run much longer. I just fear the moment I look away, she'll be gone again." Karasu reaches over and takes the hand of the aunt she never knew of. "I think fate finally shone down on us today, Futsuka."
Futsuka gripped Karasu's hand in return. It felt nice, nice enough that the feline silently remarked to herself that it had been literally years since another person had touched her in this way. "I agree," Futsuka said with a smile, a real one this time, "It was fate that I found you, little niece. Fate, or the will of some godly force I cannot comprehend." The alibino's hand moved up to join the others, "If you need me for anything- Anything. Do not hesitate to search for me in Cenril. I hang around the paladin's troop though I have not yet made myself known to them. If you find them, I will find you."
Karasu nods, thinking for a moment. "I may need to visit Cenril soon. There was a tribe of felines I had been avoiding, given how close they are with the Guild, but I should observe them and see if they have any link to him. I'll have to find some kind of flyer for that one to find." She says, motioning to the tavern, where Kanna can be seen flirting with some handsome and very drunken stranger. "Already picking her next meal. What a life.Though, is being a puppet to your hunger much worse than being a puppet to a megalomaniac?" She muses half-heartedly.
Futsuka nodded to the younger Swiftclaw. "I am wary myself. City felines are different than our tribe was but I do not think that the Mages are out there. Cenril is big- disconnected. Crime runs rampant. You can disappear in the darkness of the salty alleyways and-" Futsuka grimaced when she finally noticed what Karasu meant by Kanna's activity. "There will never be a shortage of pray for her there... Ugh, I am not interested in such hunts myself, however." Watching Kanna flirt made the flesh of Futsuka's cheek burn red with embarrassment, and she averted her eyes to mitigate her discomfort. "You were able to cut your strings, though." Futsuka also mused, "You refused to be a puppet. You escape your father... But for your sister... Can she escape this fate?"
Karasu picks up a fallen piece of cobblestone roofing from the ground, weighing it out in her hand. "I hope so. Protecting her while she's in this state is my only redemption for allowing her to live this life up until now." She watches as the pair go out into the alleyway, where she ascend a wooden stairase up to the guest room. A moment passes once the door is shut before it opens again, and the man, already too weak to scream, falls out onto the walkway of the stairs, and is dragged back inside by the bardess, now smiling cruelly. A passing family walks along the sidewalks of the town, straight on a collision course to where the bard drags her prey to the upstairs rooms of the tavern. "If it makes our ancestors feel any better, I'm not completely reliant on magic." She says, flinging the rock across the square. It dislodges a piece of roofing on the tavern, sending a snow bank crashing onto the sidewalk and creating a commotion as it blocks off the entrance to the tavern. Such was the strange routine, new family member included and all.
Futsuka watched Karasu curiously, a smirk brought to her lips when she noticed the way the younger woman handled the situation with her sister. "Others would not be so kind," the albino reminded her, crossing her arms with pride for her niece. "You are a good person- a good sister. Ynntrasu would be proud of you." An unpleasant thought reminded her of what Karasu had to protect though- a cursed woman with the taste for flesh. Was allowing her to murder men, as awful as they were, alright to do? What was the alterative? Wistfully, Futsuka gazed up where she thought Kanna might be with the fresh corpse. "People are going to find out eventually. This type of thing- Bad juju- It attracts them like moths to fire."
Karasu stayed silent for a few moments. "I wonder which of us are the moths about to be burned."