Hello, everyone! after dealing with real life and the other nonsense of living, panny and i have decided to bring back war of change. give a round of applause. we’ve worked through all of the information and hopefully improved coherency and cohesion; however, tell us if we missed something. eventually, we’ll announce an event to celebrate the re-opening, so look out for information on that. -RAIDNE, THE HEAD ADMIN
From the moonless night, screams of terror and fear resound, spreading across the world and infecting the masses; however, those sleepless nights occurred years ago. A new era began with the fires of war, and with no end in sight, the residents of Selene Isle trudge through life, basking in the momentary peace. Despite their prayers for continued monotony and peace, a storm brews, stirred to life by the continued presence of Rapture and Wraith. And as we set our sights on the seemingly peace laden isle, we must ask: how shall this tale end?
As the years passed, the number of true pairs increased; however, they continued to live in the shadows, catering to the whims of the mundane. Seven Moons kept watch over them all, instructing them and assisting them, but for many, the attitudes and ideals of the organization were smoldering, suffocating. With Seven Moons and the mundanes, they could not grasp the freedom, the power dangling before their eyes. In the beginning, rebellion was a dream, a fantasy, a figment—developed by the repressed and carried forward due to the nature of humanity. No one expected the call to sound, and no one expected the call to be answered. However, it happened.
To be honest, Laney wasn't sure what to expect anymore. Not from Monty, at least, her pet tabby who seemed to have a knack for finding his ways out of the apartment. The one that didn't accept pets, thanks to her luck, but somehow she had yet to get in any real amount of trouble. She would have counted herself lucky for being able to hide him, except it seemed to balance out with how often she'd end up having to adventure outside with a bag of cat treats. Monty was a menace at best, but she hadn't been unable to drag him back yet, and she wasn't about to end her winning streak any time soon.
However, he didn't have any way of being identified. Besides answering to his name -- when he chose to, at least -- there was no collar, definitely no name tag, and unfortunately enough he could have easily been mistaken as a stray. Somehow, she was certain that Marcel had gone out of his way to pick the absolute most troublesome cat, almost as if it were payback for some crime that she didn't know she'd committed. Or, maybe it was a sign that she shouldn't have sneaked the cat in at all. Either way, she loved Monty, and somehow she was completely willing to stay out as long as she had to searching for him.
The first place she thought to check was the park, seeing as how it was the place he'd usually go to after getting out. He liked to sit under the trees, watch the birds from below although he never bothered to try and catch one. Instead, when she caught sight of Monty at the park, she saw him stretching out to sniff someone.
REPLACE IT WITH THE CAR RIDES LATE AT NIGHT WE CAN TALK IT OVER YEAH THE HEART WON'T LET GO
To be honest, he wasn't so sure what he should have been expecting anymore. Every time that he had went to the park, something almost always didn't go according to plan. Falling out of a tree onto some poor unsuspecting victim - don't ask - or just having a completely normal, ordinary time when he had come to the park decked out from head to toe in padding like some kind of knight in shining stupid. If he expected things to be all peachy keen and normal, it never would be for some awful reason. If he tried to even remotely be prepared for the unexpected - well, he supposed it was unexpected for a reason - then nothing would ever happen. Arms lifted high above his head, fingers interlaced. Stretching until there was little more than the satisfying pop of his spine, a soft gasp escaping before the blonde allowed himself to finally relax into the waves of grass beneath him. In the end, he supposed that it couldn't have been helped. Whatever came would come.
Or at least, that was what he would have liked to have said.
He hadn't closed his eyes for more than five minutes before he had heard soft movements in the threads. It wasn't him, so ... but if it was a person, wouldn't they have said something by now? Maybe it was just some kid? No, kids weren't nearly as quiet so it couldn't be that. Unless it was one of those weird quiet kids. Not that quiet kids were weird because everyone was allowed to do what they wanted and whatever. But like. Creepy, stalkerish kid quiet. Maybe it was just some trash. Probably just trash. Bugs weren't that loud, right? Unless it was a real big, honkin' beetle or something ... a shudder rolled down his spine at the thought, stirring the blonde further from his almost slumber. Ugh, he hated bugs. He hated beetles more than anything else, jeez. Heaving his body to roll over onto his side, legs tucking into his chest as he did. Well, if it was a person. They'd just leave him alone after they saw him all curled up like that.
But the presence of another didn't go away. It didn't just disappear. So, topaz hues opened only to come into contact with the wide, curious slits of a cat. Though, he hadn't quite registered it himself. Probably explained the loud, girlish screaming that soon followed after his awakening. He wasn't quite sure what to expect these days when he went to the park. Things always had a bad habit of going south when he went whether he prepared for them or not. Maybe it would have just been in his best interests to stop going there in the first place. He was going to get a heart attack sooner than later if things like this kept happening.
It definitely was a strange sight that greeted her, when Laney saw just what her cat seemed to be up to. Monty always had a knack for finding something or someone to bother, and it looked like today wasn't going to be an exception to the rule. Instead, the cat had managed to squeeze his way onto a bench, and was staring a poor boy in the face. Maybe she would have felt worse about it if the boy hadn't picked, well, a bench to lay his head down -- though the thought of him being quite possibly homeless hadn't even occurred to her. Or, maybe she would have felt bad had the situation not been exactly what she could have deemed as the opposite. Instead, she thought it was cute, how Monty had his ears perked and was curiously leaning forward to sniff his new-found friend, and it was a rather funny thought to think of how he'd react to waking up to cat breath.
Unless she was able to scoop Monty up and be out without much of a word to the sleeping boy. That was what she would have preferred to happen, and in fact, she was already prepared to sneak on over and tuck the tabby under her arm, or until there was a sudden shrill screech that pierced the air. For a moment, Laney was stunned, rooted to the spot as she wondered if any poor birds were chased away by the noise, before she realized that it came from the exact person who was asleep on the bench. In fact, had she not looked back over to see the boy sitting bolt upright, staring down at the cat who seemed to be completely and utterly unaffected by the noise entirely. Monty instead sat down, delicately wrapping his tail around his paws and letting out a meow to Nicoli, as if he was trying to replicate the same noise.
A problem seemed to have arisen. With the boy awake, Laney was left with no way to quickly dart in, grab her cat, and go. Worst of all, she wasn't even sure if the same person lived in the same apartment complex as her. If he recognized her along with her cat, then there was going to be trouble later, and really Laney would have preferred to avoid trouble.
But, at the same time, she couldn't just stand there and stare at him, because that was rather rude. She did not want her first impression to be rude.
So she clenched her fists, took a deep breath, and did what any sane pet owner would have done -- she walked over to retrieve her cat. Putting on her best stern face, Laney frowned at the arm of the bench, hands on her hips. "Monty! You know better than to wake up people!" Then, she looked over to the boy with an apologetic frown.
"I'm so sorry for my cat, he doesn't usually bother people." Except he usually did, because that was Monty. The demon-cat that just loved to terrorize people, was an escape artist, and a food enthusiast.
REPLACE IT WITH THE CAR RIDES LATE AT NIGHT WE CAN TALK IT OVER YEAH THE HEART WON'T LET GO
If he could have kept himself from screaming, there was no doubt in his mind that he would have at least attempted the endeavor because the high pitch in his voice was not only irritating to all his fellow inhabitants of the park but humiliating to himself as well. After all, it wasn't the kind of thing he was supposed to be proud of no matter how you looked at it. But the shout drew to a close, the blonde faced with a disinterested cat who had little more to tell him besides a mocking meow that he was almost certain was meant to mimic his cries. He was quiet for a moment, his hands resting in his lap as he merely watched the feline curl up. His tail curling about his paws, a mere stretching of his spine before growing silent once more. It was only when the other's eyes flicked from him to somewhere else that it had completely registered in his head that this was a cat. This was a cat that seemed to find quite some fondness for causing other people trouble.
But what cat didn't enjoy doing that sort of thing, right?
Another voice entered the mix, breaking the dead silence between the cat and himself. Startling Nicoli just as much as the presence of the feline had, if not a little less. A silent scream erupted from his lungs, the teen only able to expel air and nothing more in surprise. Muscles tensing before relaxing instinctively upon his realization that it was just a girl. A very pretty girl at that, although; Nick didn't dare tell him that much to protect what little dignity he had left. Which really now that he thought about it, wasn't very much. A slow, awkward laugh bubbled out, Nick inching a little farther away from the side that the girl had leaned on. Topaz lifting to shift between her and this now dubbed Monty cat. "Oh, yeah. No worries, man - I mean, er. Lady. He didn't bother me none, you know how that is ..." Awkward laugh. "... so. How much of that did you hear, huh? You know. The whole screaming thing. 'Course, if you didn't hear it then just pretend I didn't say nothin'."
Ugh, how embarrassing would it have been if she did hear him? Even worse if she actually knew who he was and ... hold the phone. Her face looked familiar. Really familiar actually. Like he had seen her before. No, it wasn't just around town. It couldn't have been because he didn't tend to remember random faces. No, he had seen this one more than once. Way more than once. Even if he had never spoken to her because he definitely would have remembered a pretty face like her's. Hands pressing against the bench, leaning forward before topaz hues widened in surprised and hands clapping to his mouth. "Oo-oooo-h! I'm telling!" And cue accusing point of finger, the blonde pausing before he turned to gesture towards the cat seated so quietly on the back of the bench. "I'm telling! You're not s'posed to have a cat or any pets, oo-ooooo-oh!" Or well, you know. In theory. He wouldn't have actually said it.
A deer, the boy definitely reminded Laney of a deer. There was no misplacing it -- the skittish look in his eyes, the silent scream, it was a perfect deer in the headlights look he had going on. Under separate circumstances, Laney might have felt slightly worse about it, and maybe would have apologized more. Like, for example, how she maybe just sort of shouldn't have sneaked up on him, or how Monty really was a terribly trained cat and no amount of chastising was going to change that. He was going to get out and explore the world to his little kitty heart's content, and who was Laney to stand in the way of that?
The answer was simple: no one. She wasn't going to stand in Monty's way, so long as his little escape trips didn't end up getting her in trouble. So far, she had run into a bout of rare luck, being able to slip him in and out pretty much unseen.
"All of it. But I can pretend I was a few minutes late to the whole cat ordeal." Shooting Nicoli a quick grin, she hoped that he didn't recognize her. Or, worse, already knew her. She hoped deep down that she was going to be able to continue on her rather nicely plump streak of luck. That, maybe -- oh, just maybe -- that big pain-in-the-behind named Chance and his equally as unpleasant sister named Fate weren't going to show her exactly who held the cards in their sick little game anymore.
All thoughts about Fate and Chance and behinds came to a screeching halt when suddenly she heard the universal tone of voice that spread only one thing.
She was in trouble.
Deep, deep trouble.
Whatever bright grin that could have adorned her face in that moment was abandoned, and instead Laney quickly picked Monty up, as if he were a prized possession, and someone was threatening to lock him up for good. Or, alternatively, as if she felt that she truly couldn't live without her stupid cat that truly was more harm than he was worth.
The black cat gave no response to his sudden change of placement, instead looking at Nicoli with the same sneering face. Taunting, even. Then again, he was a cat.
"Please. I know that but- Do you know what they do to orphaned cats? They get thrown in the shelter and forgotten." She wasn't sure if what she was saying was actually true, but it didn't seem like there was anything else that made much more sense, really. "My brother gave him to me before moving here. He's all I have left."
A momentary pause, Laney wondered just what kind of revenge she'd be able to extract on someone she hardly knew. More importantly, she wondered how much begging really worked anyway. At least it was sincere.