deercountry | (no subject)

[The memory is a short one, but likely more than a bit odd to those who haven't met Robyn or know her circumstances. At first she seems to just sleep fitfully, but then there's a glimpse into her mind as she sleeps--she dreams of being in the woods, apparently going to meet a wolf. This doesn't seem too out of the ordinary for a dream...but then she and the wolf have apparently switched places.

She finds herself awake again, but this time, everything is different; not only can she smell things more strongly, but she can see scents as well. However, this soon leads to the discovery that she's not only a wolf, but completely separate from her sleeping body. And it doesn't take long for her father, who's been tasked with hunting wolves, to be woken up by the noise above him...]

[~~god the art is gorgeous~~ mob glances around when he opens his eyes, the area unfamiliar. a bird in a cage, a girl asleep? and a wolf. it's easy for him to read something right away- the wolf and the girl are one and the same. they have the same aura somehow, though he isn't sure entirely yet what that means.]

Are you okay? [he offers the wolf, because... it's a spirit of some sort, isn't it? not just a normal, wild wolf. he thinks. he isn't sure, everything here is different, just off a little from what he's used to.

of course someone is waking up downstairs, and his attention goes to the ladder. the crossbow he can see downstairs just barely makes him a little nervous, if he's honest.]

[Unfortunately, the wolf seems too preoccupied to notice Mob, especially when the curtains are thrown open to reveal her father, whose eyes widen in shock.]

...Wolf! Wolf! Robyn, wake up!

[Robyn rushes to him, trying to ask him for help, but he doesn't seem to understand her, falling from the ladder in shock at this seemingly strange wolf getting so close. He immediately reaches for the crossbow on the wall, and Robyn tries in vain to get through to him.]

No, no, Father, it's me! Father--

[An arrow from her father's crossbow narrowly misses her, burying itself just above her sleeping human body. Frightened and not knowing what else to do, the wolf heads for the window, pushing it open and heading out into the night, awkwardly jumping across the rooftops.

This sure is a thing to wake up to.]

[oh, this is- mob is pretty sure everyone is confused here. he's confused, which is normal really, but none of them seem to get that girl and the wolf are the same. he can see it clearly but he supposes they can't. unfortunate.

he opens his mouth to try and help again but hm, things escalate. he moves to follow the wolf but he doesn't really have to, he finds, the memory tugs him along relentlessly after her. which is a good thing, he'd be even worse at sudden roof parkour.

frankly he wishes he could help though, especially when the guards notice her. talk about a night for one girl just trying to get some shut eye.]

[Thankfully Robyn is able to slip through the gates quickly enough that the guards can't catch her. The only thing on her mind is heading towards the woods; if she stays in the town long enough for anyone to notice her, she knows she'll be killed if she isn't captured first.

As she runs through the woods, new sights and smells invade her senses; unfortunately, she can't appreciate any of it, since she's still unused to her new form to the point that she trips and falls. For a moment, she's disoriented...but then she spots a familiar shape, someone who may in fact be responsible for what she's become.]

Mebh! [Robyn chases after the other wolf, following the new scent through a wall of vines to a cave behind a waterfall. She collides with the other wolf, and they fall into the darkness of the cave behind them.

The memory ends there, but Mob may hear a voice now--one that sounds as though it belongs to whoever this memory focused on.] Er...hello? Are you alright?

[everything moves very fast until it doesn't, the girl (wolf?) running into another wolf. or girl? frankly he's just glad to see she made it out of the town safely, though he isn't sure if she can be hurt like this or not. was she solid? was this her soul? spirits did usually end up looking a bit different one way or another.

he stands at the entrance to the cave, puzzled until he hears another voice, familiar at that. he turns to try to find it.] I'm okay.

... you're the wolf. Or the girl? [both?? that's the voice though.] Is... this your memory?

...they're both me. [That should probably be enough of an answer.]

That was the first time I left me body while asleep. It was...

[Strange, and more than a little bit frightening at the time. But she's since gotten used to it.]

How were you able to see that, anyway?

[he nods to that, clearly expecting it.] So like astral projecting? I've never seen someone's soul be a wolf before.

[kind of cool? honestly? though he imagines alarming give, you know. everything he just saw.]

I'm not sure. I think the Trench is doing something weird. [when isn't it.] I'm kind of new, but everyone says sometimes you wake up to weird things.

I suppose. [Robyn has never actually heard the term "astral projecting" before and doesn't know what it means, so she'll just go with that.] I'm a Wolfwalker, so I'm a wolf when I sleep.

[She's still getting used to being more open about what she is to other people here, but since Mob saw her memory of the first night she left her body behind, she doesn't have much choice but to tell him.]

I haven't been here very long, either, but that's what everybody's told me, too. I didn't know you could see other people's memories, though.

[he's never heard wolfwalker either, ah different worlds. it still seems simple enough to him, a little nod.] You were a cool looking wolf.

[that's the important thing to impart here.] It seemed pretty stressful though. [that too.]

I don't really understand it either. No one seems to find any of it that strange though.

Oh, well...I suppose I'm alright. Me friend's mother is as big as an ox when she's a wolf. [Moll is big enough to ride on, even, which Robyn has experienced firsthand.]

Most people are afraid of wolves where I'm from. If you're a wolf in a town, you're as good as dead. But it wasn't so bad once Mebh helped me get used to it.

Oh, was that other wolf a wolfwalker too? [that explained a lot, if so.

the bit about the town makes him nod though, a touch solemn when he says,] People really don't like things they don't understand sometimes. It's the same in my world. [and probably the trench for that matter.] I don't really see what's wrong with being a wolf sometimes though.

Yes, that was Mebh. She's been one for longer than I have. [And Robyn only became one at all because Mebh bit her by accident.]

They don't, do they? I kept tryin' to tell Father that we could let the wolves leave without havin' to kill them, but he wouldn't listen. A lot of adults are like that.

I hope she was able to help. [boy does he know how being alone with power you don't fully get kind of stinks.

and boy does he also agree with that, nodding quickly.] I think when people are scared they lash out. I guess when you're an adult it's harder to just say you're scared and don't know what to do.

She was. She showed me a lot.

[There's a lot to being a wolf that Robyn has mostly gotten used to by now, though it's thanks to Mebh that she was able to learn how to do it at all.]

...he did tell me he was afraid. [It was during a rather tense moment between them, but it was still surprising for her to hear that her father really was afraid of losing her. Too bad his way of dealing with it only made her feel trapped and miserable.]

But even if you are afraid, you can't just stand by and let things happen.

I'm glad. [quite genuinely, really.] You shouldn't have to be afraid of something that's part of you.

[not that he's going to self-reflect much on that.]

No, definitely not. I don't think it's good for the person lashing out either. They can't learn to change to be better if you don't stand up. [a pause] That must have been really hard to do if it was your father.

He just wanted to keep me safe. I know he did. But soon he wouldn't let me do anythin' because he was afraid I wouldn't be safe, and, well...it made me feel trapped.

[Thankfully her father learned just how stifling his behavior had been, but it was still a long time coming.]

If we both just kept doin' what we were told because we were too scared to do anythin' else, neither of us would be happy.

Did you talk to him about it? [the past tense here is a hopeful one at least. though daunting, imagining having to have that sort of conversation with a parent.]

My brother can be kind of protective like that. Not the same way, but I think the same idea. He gets really worried about things that can happen, things he imagines happening. It sounds like your dad was the same.

We did, for a little while. But a lot was happenin' all at once, and...

[It wasn't until tensions were at their highest when they both realized what they needed to do to make things right.]

Well, things did turn out alright in the end. But it was hard. [Especially with a whole army out for your blood.]

Did you talk to your brother about that?

[boy, he kind of understands the feeling of everything getting way worse before it manages to get better. it makes him nod.] I'm sorry it couldn't be easier, especially when you're dealing with something so new like this. Um, the powers I mean. That was confusing enough.

Oh, well... a bit. [a glance to his hand.] Things have been a lot better than they were at least. [another pause and he looks up to ask,] Did something make your dad protective like that?

I wish it could have been easier, but at least we were both able to make things right.

[And ultimately, she and her father were both able to help Mebh in the end, which was what she'd promised Mebh earlier.]

...before Mother died, Father promised her he'd keep me safe. And after we had to move, he was scared of either of us bein' put in the stocks.

[Even with the threat of being arrested over their heads, though, she still couldn't live that kind of life.]

[ah, that really did explain a lot. he nods, though-]

Would... you have been in trouble for having this power? [that made sense too in a depressing way.]

Father's a hunter, and the Lord Protector hired him to kill wolves. That's why we had to move to Ireland, because they wanted to get rid of the wolves there. I wanted to help him at first, but, well...things changed.

[Especially after she ran into Mebh and Mebh bit her by accident.]

Everybody in town was afraid of wolves. They caught Mebh's mother, and they wanted to kill her, too. Father almost did it, but I had to stop him.

[honestly part of him is just glad to hear 'ireland,' that's a name he's familiar with, from a world that makes a lot more sense to him than the trench. but he tries to focus with a very faint frown.]

I don't understand, what did the wolves do? [he supposes a wolf is kind of scary if you run into one in the forest, but this seems pretty extreme to him.]

They were attackin' the woodcutters and the sheep. But that's because the woods they live in were bein' cut down for more farmland.

[Farmland meant to feed the English who came over, not that Robyn really knows this.]

I wanted to help Mebh and the wolves leave the woods for somewhere safe before it was all cut down. I thought Father could help too, but he wouldn't listen.