dear_mun | Canon is Changeling: the Lost. Dunno why I did this.

I don't mean to be rude but, that was talking nicely?

Considering I lost most of my soft edges and coddling decades ago, it's about the best I can do. Can't afford to spend time with hand-holding the kid. [No patience for it, sadly. She does peer curiously at Korey.] ...you got a name, kid?

Y-yeah my name is Korey.

[She wasn't as used to such extreme personalities but she wasn't put-off by it like some people might be.]

My mun says that if I was in your world I would of probably been in your position. Whatever that is.

[Ah hell. That actually makes Ildi turn white.]

Holy Mary and all the angels, you serious? -What'm I saying, of bloody course you are. The Hedge ain't kind. And sure as shit that the Fae don't have mercy for kids like you. You stay where you are. You stay in that world without holes in it.

Yes my mun says it's because I love nature so much.

[Then she looked worried and said the only thing she thought would detract from the situation.]

In my world I get killed.

They'd probably make you into one of those Elementals, then. Fae've got a sense for the horribly ironic.

[That... doesn't get much of a reaction. Just a soft snort.] Better'n a Durance in Arcadia, believe me.

[Well she tried.]

An Elemental? I would say that doesn't sound bad but my mundane is saying that you're right and it would be worse than dying.

[Honey, Ildi spent what seemed like decades as a foot-soldier for a cruel Faerie. Death seems like a blessing.]

They're pretty nifty, though, the Elementals. Like they got put through the wringer and came out the other side unbuilt. Raw. Reborn. -Can't say as much to the one in my Court, but you know how it goes. Got an image to uphold.

I guess that makes sense.

[She suddenly has a cold shiver down her spine.]

I really don't like the ideas he's starting to come up with.

Here, kid. Let me give this a shot. [Ahem.] Hey! You! Leave the poor kid outta this mess! Fae ain't got pity, but you better damn well have some.

-How's that? Think he got the message?

[Well that cheered her up a bit at least.]

I think it kinda did. His ideas even made him uncomfortable anyway.

[Hair ruffle? Yup. Deal with it.]

Heh. Ain't right inflicting that kind of suffering on anyone. Stick with me, kid. You and me? We got this. -And the name's Ildi.

[Deal with it? She leans into it a little.]

O-okay. Nice to meet you Ildi

[Very few people get their hair ruffled. Consider it a sign of friendship.]

[Well she certainly enjoys the affection however slight it may be.]

Ah, hello!

[ a sweet smile, and a puzzled head tilt ]

Why are you so cross? Perhaps it is because you are so far from home? [ kindly, if also a bit pityingly ] There's no need to be angry: you're liable to break someone on accident. [ Doing so on purpose is nicer by far. ]

[Oh fuck. A Fairest. Ildi scowls.]

They break, it's their damned fault. I know how to handle my own strength, thank you. [And it might be a trick of the light, but she seems to get thinner.] "Home"...? Christ, you mean Ar- the other place.

[ She's a little too perfect-graceful-strange to be anything but Fairest, it's true. But peeking out from beneath the hedgespun skirts are lamb's feet. An odd touch, but it suits her. (Of course it does.) ]

Your sort always say that, about your strength. But it's okay -- I like your bloody dances.

[ then, genuinely puzzled: ] What else could I mean, though, about some other place than this, than Arcadia?

Earth would be a good start you disgusting witch.

[Yeah Karl is already none to happy with you, knowing what you are.]

Or whatever SHE decides to call home. Not a place where she's forced to be under the servitude of some vile, bore immortal with nothing better to do than to take her away and have her replaced.

[There might be a purple glow under those goggles.]

[ She gives a short laugh, but her expression clouds, like she's not sure whether to be entertained or angered. ]

I'm not disgusting at all. [ said with careful mildness, as though merely offering a correction ] You are not a nice man, to say such things.

[ and then she is angry and glorious: lamb-white hair, so fair it almost glows, sharp-slanted eyes like blue glass, inky words flitting over her arms and pooling at her fingertips ]

The Queen is kind and beautiful! She is the only mother I have ever known -- I won't hear your lies!

-What he said. [Unimpressed Wizened is completely unimpressed and kind of pitying. Have you got Stockholm Syndrome but good. Ildi shakes her head and laughs quietly.]

We showing off now, honey? Fine. You showed yours. Only fair I do the same. [She seems to almost collapse in on herself now. Rail-thin instead of simply skinny. Bright orange eyes. Grey, scarred skin. Hello, Fairest.]

Wake up, girlie. Fae ain't kind. Never will be.

[He glares at that.]

Who would kidnap people and make them part of their armies? Make them work endlessly for nothing? Replace them and change them so that even if they do find their way out they can never go back?

The way fae operate is disgusting.

[ She glances at Ildi when she sheds her Mask, fully pitying now. ] Small thing, strong thing. Always so angry. But you'll learn. Pain is kindness too, when they love you. I am surprised one like you wouldn't realize it. [ And she does sound surprised, and disappointed. ]

[ She turns to Karl then -- a quarter turn on a cloven foot. ] Kidnap? [ She puzzles over the word. ]

[ then, softer -- wistful, almost ] It's just a dream, after all. There is another dream I have, where I am small, and a man is lighting candles, and his kindness is different from the Queen's.

But this dream is as nice of one as any.

[He sighs and sounds sympathetic.]

Pain is never love.

[Unless it's BDSM but he's not getting into that.]

That man's kindness is true kindness. It wasn't a dream it was a memory of when you were human. A memory of the celebration of your birth.

[No need for Masks here. Her eyes take on a bright gleam, like flames in the distance.] Pain is not kindness. Pain is an unending war, wounds that never heal right, weapons that shatter in your hands. Pain is what that monster did to me!

[Her voice cracks. She swallows hard against the rage building in her throat.] We all remember things like that. I remember my father ruffling my hair before he left for work. Before- [Another crack.] Before the Hedge.

(( ALSO, my friend and I are in the process of setting up a CtL durance-based game over at

indurance, with our character planning post available at the mod account,

thekeepers. We're not ready to open yet, but... /nudges it, casual-like ))

Pain is love, and the ecstasy of touch, and love is knowing your Keeper loves you enough to give you both, together.

...My sister, she says things like that too, about memories. She says that I remember a celebration, about a miracle, and she says that I have forgotten very much. [ an elegant shrug ] But she dreams more than I do, and I am so- [ her voice catches for a moment as she hunts for a word, the one she settles on quite clearly insufficient to her meaning ] -happy here.

((... /makes grabby hands at game))

They don't love. No one who loves you would make you fight over some tiny scrap of cliffside with nothing but your fingernails and a broken sword. So don't you dare talk to me about love.

[It's pointless. You can't wake up someone who refuses to open their eyes. But the Keepers did this. This is one more strike against them. Ildi takes a step forward, face blank.] Look around you. You ain't in Arcadia any more. No Keepers. No Durance. You and me? We're free.

(( /stops waiting for karl-mun ))
(( yes yes come to us >:3 ))

But... [ she seems confused, almost frightened -- this is unfamiliar territory in more ways than one ] ...I don't know what to be, other than Hers.

There wasn't anything outside Her, except Them, forever and ever dreaming. So you...fight, because that means They want you. Or you...inspire.

[ then, dawning on her, a kittenish eager curiosity ] Here, though, it could be a different dream? That would mean... I could do... anything I like. Anything I like at all.

Bingo. You got it. [Ildi smirks, her Mask already covering up her Mien. Grey skin turns peach, wispy hair becomes short and full, even the military fatigues turn back to normal.] You find yourself some others. There's plenty of us out here, y'know.

Plenty of others've beat feet back to the world They took us from. You find them, you've got yourself people to watch your back. [She holds out a hand. A welcoming gesture. An overture of friendship.] Ain't too fond of Fairest, but... well, everybody starts somewhere, right?

You got a name?

[ But of course, they're both Changelings, and only so much can be hidden between two of a kind. There's still the grey skin and the scars flickering into her vision, depending on how she tilts her head.
Her own Mask is subtler (as, for Fairest, it so often is). Her hair is towheaded blonde, rather than white; her skin, too, has a more natural flush; her eyes and feet are human. But, again, it depends how Ildi looks. ]

I'm Catlamb. [ She takes Ildi's hand gingerly, as if uncertain of the gesture. ] Candle Belle -- that's my sister -- says it is something else, but I don't remember. [ As always, she seems unbothered by this. ] She takes care of me, though.

...I could really do anything at all? Inspire whoever I like, not just who the Queen says?

[She looks like she might be twelve or so. She doesn't speak like it.]

None of them seem to understand efficiency. Then again, I wouldn't expect them to, whiling away their hours playing at fantasies. Not unlike Them, really. [She utters the word with anger and loathing.]

[Lookit the little Fairest twerp. Kasnort.]

I wanna deal with layabouts, I'll go hang out with Spring Court. [Pfft. Busy partying while a Keeper might pop up at any time. Losers.] At least this one ain't as slimy as Them. Or Him in particular. Ugh.

[oh my god will no one take her seriously???? /o\ she is twenty okay, fuck the Lady who thought she was adorable and should be preserved forever like a pressed flower so much. Diplomatic:]

Each Court has its usefulness, I suppose. "Slimy," that is apt. Of course, the Lady was so very particular about having a neat garden. Perhaps I shall call her that when I rend what passes for her soul in two with my sword. These ones, they're harmless, really, but they don't understand nearly as much as they think they do.

[Honey, you might be twenty, but Ildi spent something like 30 hedge-years (fuck timelines) fighting shit. Everyone is "kid" or "squirt" or "twerp" to her. Deal with it.]

You ever find a way to cut one of Them in two, let me know. I'd love to carve the Margrave's heart out and show it to him as he dies. If he even has one. [Huff.] They ain't seen what we have. Hard not to feel pity for the fools once in a while.

Now that's just mean. I could think of a ton of names that would fit these folks just fine, but beasts? That's a little too nasty.

[Have the cutest girl ever examining you. She isn't Lorax-sized but she is certainly shorter than the Once-Ler. She only had one question,]

Did you learn your lesson yet?

[he stares down at her for what feels like a very long time.]

I don't see how it's your business. [- said in a very simply, frank tone. the urge to be blunt and snappish is pretty overwhelming, but he has a thing against yelling at little kids.] Besides, that's a rude thing to ask someone when you don't even know their name. Creepy, too.

[She isn't quite that young though she looks it due to her height. Deciding she needed to make a point she only said five words to him.]

I speak for the animals

If you don't want people's beaks in your business, maaaaaybe you shouldn't take the complaints here.

[There's a giggle, and a ruffling of feathery wing-arms.]

...what're you trying to make work?

Beats the alternative. [Read: violence. Ildi huffs grumpily and folds her arms.]

This. This "mun-muse"... thing. Can't even get the kid to make any Pledges. It's damned frustrating, that's what it is.

Ohhhhhh... yeah, they don't like making promises like that. People get so shifty about pledges.

I'd be suspicious. Shifty anti-pledge people are probably up to something.

Tell me about it. [Snort.]

She keeps talking about how they don't apply across the "fourth wall" or some kind of nonsense like that. Annoying, that.

Oh, huh. You were a fae's tool too?

[Sharply:] Was. Ain't gonna be that any more, that's for damned sure. [She glances over her shoulder at Utena, frowning.] You get away from them, too, then?

He set up his own little...'pricipality' on an island in my world. But I got away. [Or so she thinks]

Damn. Hard to believe one of Them would make the jump across the Hedge like that. Still. Anyone who gets away... [She sticks a hand out. The other one's holding her sheathed sword close.] Ildi.

[Utena grasped it in a firm and generally GAR way.] Utena Tenjou. That's a nice sword.

Nice to meet you, Tenjou. [At the comment, Ildi looks at her weapon and actually smiles.] What, this old thing? This sword and me, we've been through our fair share of scrapes together. You, uh, you a student of the blade, too?

Yeah. Well sometimes not a good one. I usually win just by being aggressive. I've gotta work on my technique more...

Canon is Changeling: the Lost. Dunno why I did this.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Korey is such a sweetheart, I feel bad for being so evil with her :/

She's so adorbs. I want to pinch her cheeks. :)

She is a tree hugger and a vegetarian too, I think we should play these two together sometime x3

Oh Lord yes. XD Gotta find a game that takes OCs, though! Or a dressing room.

Memes also work! Oh by the way do you have an AIM?

AIM is distantamends. Logging on in a sec!

no subject

yesss CtL people /faceclutch

/facesmoosh :3

:D

Hope you don't mind the threadjack

hello hello! yay freakangels!

no subject

\o/ Yay for other fans

of BOTH these canons, because seriously

True xD

<3 for everyone!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

/joins the changeling welcome wagon

/stuffs full of goblin-fruit tarts

om nom nom

aaaw yeah summer court badasses, right here /brofist

no subject

The username kind of gives away her reasoning xD

oh gurrrrl

xP I just saw that movie recently too xD

Gasp! Eee! Another Changeling player!

Eee! :D

I never realized there were so many!

no subject

imperial_saga AU Utena is basically a C:tL character

Oh, poor Utena. ):

consider the game for her btw? i'd be amenable to canon welding

consider it being considered! :) I <3 Utena's canon, btw.

no subject

no subject

no subject