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  • 📅 February and March 2024 are YE 46.2 in the RP.

RP Aside - Poking the Cat

SageShooter

🎨 Media Gallery
RP Date
YE-40
RP Location
S6S-Anvil
Section 6
The Anvil
1400 Ship time


The ship's park. A soft clunk resounded as Koroleva's head lowered from one of the vents above the large room. It seemed empty, people were out and about doing their own thing. The masked Neko tilted her own head as she watched the entire scene. Before something suddenly caught her attention. Slowly letting go, the Nekovalkyrja suddenly divebombed towards the surface. Crashing down into one of the bushes.

Harmony was relaxed back in the park, eyes shut and limbs spread out wide as she simply let herself bask in the bit of nature that had been placed within the ship almost at the behest of Voxphine herself. The smells of the wood and grass, the bushes, even the noise of the small creatures that ran around her was just... It felt like home. Admittedly she never even saw Koroleva crash into the bushes but she certainly heard her as Harmony was shaken from her relaxation.

She looked to the side wide-eyed as she quickly found her feet, crouched down and ready to strike as her hands popped and snapped and shifted into a more paw like appearance with claws that dug into the dirt. She slowly moved forward to investigate.

The rustling in the bushes died down, though it was obvious they were disturbed by something trashing. Though there was a moment of silence. Then the softest of cracks, a gentle snap. As if a small twig was suddenly broken. A soft growling emerged from the shrubbery just seconds later. A warning for Harmony, or something else?

Harmony blinked as she heard the growl and tilted her head a bit. She couldn't remember seeing anything in the park that could be considered predatory, or at least anything big enough to produce that sound. She sat back on a knee a foot or so from the bush and called out.

"He-hey there. You can come out, I won't hurt you." She offered aloud as her hand shifted back through a few seconds of pops from under the skin. She held her shifted hand out towards the bush with her palm up as if offering to help.

A soft, mayhaps more agressive growl followed Harmony spoke. Before an all too familiar head popped out of the brush. A Nekovalkyrja, with silverine hair. Though stuck in her mouth was a small, lifeless critter. Blood trickling down from her lips.

The Neko didn't say anything. Just watched. Though from the little of her eyes that was visible, she seemed not at all pleased with the Lorath. A soft squint as her platina brow furrowed slowly

"Ohhhh. I see, well I'll let you eat, congrats on the kill!" Harmony said as she smiled and backed away quiet a few feet. She knew better then to get in between a kill.

"Gi ahead and eat, and when you're maybe we can talk?"

A tilt of her head as more words came from the being. A sigh of relief, then those more words she couldn't possibly comprehend. Though she understood Harmony's body language. And it was obvious enough the woman didn't seem at all intent to disturb her. Though then she spoke again.

Koroleva let out a soft, rumbling purr from her chest, before flinging the rodent's lifeless carcass up in the air. Her mouth suddenly became far wider. Cheeks splitting open. Her chin doing much the same open to catch the kill again. Glimmering, razor-sharp teeth lining the insides of the three-piece mouth. Fitting it in entirely before the disgusting maw closed again. A loud and sickening crunching resounded, before Koroleva swallowed. After that, the Nekovalkyrja began to look at Harmony with the same curiosity again.

Harmony watched with wonder at the sudden change in the standard Nekovalkyrja anatomy she knew. The split open maw was amazing in her eyes, a sign of an apex predator that could be used to aid in quick meal consumption to make sure she wasn't attacked while eating.

It took all her willpower not to nearly latch to the girl before her and start poking and prodding, though Koroleva would certainly see her intense interest and excitement at such a chance to finally speak with her.

"Hi! We met before but you were a little busy trying to escape. I'm Harmony." Again she held her hand out this time with her knuckles toward Koroleva and fingers dangling. It was like when you got a new dog used to you.

Licking her lips clean from the blood that remained there. Koroleva watched Harmony with the same curiosity. Up until she held up her hand and flicked her fingers back and forth. Which caused her eyes to widen with fascination. Her head remained extremely still, though she prepared herself momentarily. Before suddenly charging up and pouncing on top of Harmony, aiming to knock her down and settle on her hips.

Harmony could usually take care of herself and even attempted to do so as she tried to get out of the way, but alas she was to slow. And the grass just a little too loose. With a yelp and a grunt, Harmony was on her back as she looked up at the Neko.

"You're pretty damn quick you know that? Usually, I can duck and dodge my siblings but you took me down pretty easily."

Koroleva pinned the woman down by her shoulders. Her third arm moving up to press an index finger on the Lorath's mouth as she spoke. Letting out a soft murmur under her breath, before she leaned back. Her knees juxtaposed along Harmony's body. "Quick-.... Hunter..." The woman grunted. Obviously straining to speak. Though she could only make out partially what Harmony had said, after all. "Koroleva-..."

"Koroleva? Nice to meet you." She said around the finger on her lips with a grin as she continued. "You are quick! Just like my old buddy Peace. He was a big cat and loved hunting and he was super curious all the time." Harmony didn't seem to struggle in her current situation. There was no point, after all, the Neko was stronger after all.

"Talk... Lots-..." She murmured with a hint of annoyance to her tone. Letting out a soft hum under her breath as she sat back and lifted the finger from Harmony's lips. Letting go of her shoulders, with a soft grunt under her breath. She brought her hands up to her head instead, pressing them against her ears. "So-... Much... Words."

"That bothers you?" Harmony asked as she sat up now to rest back on her .

"How do you usually talk?" She asked the Neko.

"Hrmm~..." The Neko murmured, her eyes sliding shut as she rocked back and forth on top of Harmony. "-... Not," she retorted with a deep breath. Her throat obviously strained as she spoke. Only to add to the obviousness, she coughed deeply.

"Telepathically?" Harmony asked after a second and frowned at the discomfort. "Can you talk that way?"

Koroleva tilted her head. Frowning still, though remaining silent. It took her a bit to figure out what Harmony asked, before she raised a hand, her human one, before resting it against her cheek.

It was at that moment, Harmony would feel it. The voices seeping in, the screaming, the madness, the pure and unadulterated, uninterrupted agony. The screaming of thousands, if not millions in a broken, shattered cacaphony. It died down as Koroleva's touch left Harmony again. Though there was mention of the 'Great One'. Again and again and again.

Koroleva would feel the Lorath girl twist in agony underneath her as oddly enough, a feminine roar ripped from her throat. Her facial features contorted and twisted into something more feral, arms and legs and hands and feet even morphing into something different, or at least they started to. Even her ribs felt wider and sturdier before the touch was broken and Harmony regained control. It was an abrupt stop of the shifting and one that made Harmony cry out anew in pain.

Koroleva would hear the pops and snaps of her shifts again as a bit of blood came from the side of her mouth.

"Ok then... No telepathy..." She said with a wince of pain as she held her side. "What happened to you...?"

The Nekovalkyrja just let Harmony write and squirm underneath her. It wasn't the first time someone did. It wasn't the last either. Though when she pulled her hand back, the girl's squirming seemed to cease. Though the girl cried out again, the last time. She looked at the trickle of blood and frowned. Pushing herself up. Holding one of her hands on Harmony's shoulder, to keep her down. Resting her ear against the woman's chest for a heartbeat. Before her human hand moved over to touch against Harmony's forehead, to check for a fever.

Koroleva glanced back at Harmony, before grinning. "Freedom."

"Freedom...? How is that freedom?" Harmony asked as she sat all the way up and rubbed her head with a shaky hand. While her heartbeat would be erratic it was there and she felt fine fever wise, just a little scared.

"Who did this to you?"

Lowering her hand again, Koroleva sat up slightly. Pushing a hand into her cloak, into a pouch. Pulling out a dried, purple leaf. Holding it up while opening her mouth normally and pointing under her tongue, before pushing it into Harmony's hand. A tilt of her head. Before she just nodded in agreement. That was freedom.

Harmony wasn't afraid to show her apprehension of the leaf as she watched Koroleva put the leaf under her tongue. Sure she had experimented with drugs during college, they were fairly legal on Lor and Nyll, but something that could induce that sort of psychological issue...

But she wanted to learn, she wanted to understand, her scientific mind pushed her on to take the leaf. With little ceremony and before she could mentally talk herself out of it, she placed the leaf under her tongue and waited for the reaction.

Koroleva watched as Harmony went on to take the dried leaf, pushing herself up straight now. It was relaxing. So breezy and gentle, like any and all cares in the world had disappeared. The voices, the agonised screaming, the great one. It seemed all so distant now. Koroleva moved up to slowly pick Harmony up, holding her close as she glanced around. It didn't seem like no one was present still.

So she went to put the Lorath back on the bench she was originally seated on, this time, laying her down. While she herself dropped into a seated position in front. Waiting, guarding, Harmony.

Harmony felt herself relax, felt herself let go of the voices, the pain, her struggle to get away and it felt good. She could distantly feel herself guided along and directed though she didn't know where. She tried to understand the sensation but eventually just gave up and enjoyed it. It wouldn't be that long thankfully before she came down.

She blinked a few times and gathered herself, eyes searching the sky for a few moments before eventually, she sat up. She searched out Koroleva with her gaze and held her there for a few seconds before she spoke.

"Is that what it's always like for you?"

The Nekovalkyjra didn't flinch, or even turn to look at Harmony. Dead silent, as if she hadn't heard the woman .Though several seconds later, she pushed herself up with a soft sigh. Just standing there, in complete and utter silence still. Not even the sound of her breath audible.

She didn't understand, at all. She didn't catch a word of what Harmony said. At this point, she was just another voice asking something between the thousands screeching at her currently.

Without even sparing the Lorath a second glance, the Nekovalkyrja began to saunter off slowly.

"Wa-wait!" Harmony shouted as she scrambled to her feet, a hand reaching out for the girl. She would stop a few inches from Koroleva's arm and hold there for a second before she spoke.

"I want to help you, I want to learn about the voices, about this... Great one." Harmony was religious by nature, a devout follower of Voxphine and Ifmir, the two gods of the Lorath people. She wanted to understand about what was going on in the Neko's head, what had made her this way.

Koroleva spun around on her feet as the woman scrambled behind her. Before tilting her head at the question. It was then that the mention of the great one fell. Every single voice was silenced. Not one even uttered a word or took a breath. She could hear her own throbbing heartbeat, her own breathing.

And the same for Harmony's.

For a minute, it seemed Koroleva would attack. With the jolts of electricity that surrounded her body. A great sense of anger, foreboding danger - impending doom. An earsplitting screech came from the Nekovalkyrja all of a sudden as she began to claw at her own face, dropping on the floor in a hysterical fit.

"Nonononononono" The sudden screech that had shocked her out of the seemingly supernatural silence spurred the girl into action. She knew it was probably a fools task, but she couldn't just sit there and let her keep hurting herself. Augmenting her body with strength by shifting her muscle mass and growing it, Harmony threw herself onto the girl and hugged her around the waist. She hoped that maybe a body there could help to anchor her mind and emotions. She was scared to attempt at grabbing an arm, but after a momentary mental argument, went for the arm as well to try and pin at least one down.

The silence was overbearing, deafening and sickening. It was hateful, it was disgusting. "Talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk," she screeched repeatedly, her jaw splitting again and again. Then, the sheen of a crude, glass shiv was visible. Though her movements were stopped as Harmony grasped at her, pinning the brandishing arm down. Though the Nekovalkyrja kicked and trashed desperately. Though calming down after a while. Whether she was getting tired, entering a stress-induced shock or just coming to peace with it. In any way, Koroleva stopped resisting. Ceasing each and every movement, just letting Harmony do as she pleased.

Harmony had somehow mounted the girl in the thrashing and fighting, holding her down like Koroleva had once done to her. She panted from the exhertion of the struggle and looked at her new friend with concern. Shiv in hand, angry red lines down her face and the sudden relaxation, Harmony shook the Neko a bit.

"He-hey! Hey are you ok? Look at me...."

Koroleva's eyes drifted up lazily towards Harmony. As if nothing had happened. Though she still held a white-knuckled grip on the weapon. Baring her teeth slowly as the clarity in her eyes dissipated again. Replaced by anger, hostility and worst of all, the same madness she portrays constantly. A soft swallow, before she hissed yet again.

Harmony knew better, she knew the Neko could probably throw her about like a ragdoll. It was for that reason she scrambled off Koroleva and attempted to put at least a little distance between her and the shiv wielding girl.

"Listen... You were hurting yourself, I didn't want you to keep doing that so I stopped you ok? Do you feel better... Are they back?" Harmony asked. She hadn't realized the look of clarity for what it was.

A soft growl came from the feral being as Harmony spoke again. Koroleva scattered to her feet as she pushed herself up slowly. Feeling the trickle of blue, radiant blood down her temple. Where her own fingers had dug in. A soft grunt as she stepped back from the Lorath. Before turning on her feet. Intent on padding off. She had no further interest in this woman. She was dangerous, discomforting.

"Koroleva! Wait come on I want to talk!" Harmony got to her feet fully then and trotted to catch up to the girl a few steps away.

"I want to help, I want to understand what those voices are. I want to help you to get them under control, maybe start talking a little better? Do you...want help with them?" Harmony asked as she was a bit concerned that maybe the girl didn't want the help.

Pushing the bonemask over her head, Koroleva glanced over her shoulder. She seemed intent on continuing. On not letting it rest and prod and poke her further. Normal scare tactics didn't seem to work. Turning on her feet, one hand moved into the green robes. Pulling out several papers. Tossing them on the ground between herself and Harmony.

"Watch." She pointed at the papers.

If Harmony had one bad trait, it was that she never knew when to give up. She stood a few steps away from the strips of paper and watched between Koroleva and the paper to see what she was going to do.

"Watch," she repeated again. Once again, gesturing at the pile she had thrown on the ground.

Harmony blinked and focused on the paper instead now, watching to see just what was going to happen.

A soft grunt came from Koroleva from annoyance, she stepped forward, scooting the papers closer to Harmony with her foot, before stepping back again. "Watch!" She hissed again.

Harmony by this point was focused solely on the papers, confused about what was going to happen. She wanted to understand more about this Neko and apparently she had something to show her.

Koroleva started to get frustrated. Whether it was due to Harmony not doing what she asked, or due to the language barrier between the two, the Neko walked forward and picked them up again. Holding the papers out to them. "Watch-..." She hissed again.

Harmony blinked and took the papers from Koroleva, holding them now and looking first to Koroleva, then to the papers. "What am I watching for?" The poor Lorath girl was confused.

Koroleva let out a soft, rumbling hum under her breath. Though Harmony's glance at the paper was enough to give a good idea of what Koroleva wanted to show her. It was gore, nothing short of. Massacres, pictures, sketches. Of corpses strewn about, some hung by their own intestines, others charred and crackling with blue energy. All places in a ritualistic fashion. Effigies forged from bones and viscera.

It was rather obvious what the Neko wanted to tell. Was she worth saving?

Harmony felt her stomach twist into a knot for a moment. She was no stranger to gore, she had seen her fair share as a hunter, but this was different. This was deliberate, not for the hunt but for sort of image or ritual. Harmony blinked as she looked between the papers and the Neko before her. Before she could think about what she was going to say, she blurted it out.

"Do you want to be saved?" She asked, staring hard at the Neko.

It was numerous, no picture was the same. Nor was no corpse from the same kill. She had accumulated quite a bit. She took the stack of papers back. Holding it in her hand as it was consumed by a bright blue fire. Crumpled to ash and blue embers. She tilted her head, before shrugging. "Can?"

Harmony struggled with her thoughts at that moment. There was a moment where she wasn't sure until her father's words came back to her.

"The Goddess Voxphine will never turn away those seeking redemption. Anyone can be saved if they want to be." She told the Neko, smiling to her. Harmony watched the Neko, eyes a bit full of sadness as she watched the pictures crumble to nothing.

"If you want to, I'll help you. However you need it... No one should be hurting inside like you."

Names, more words she just couldn't grasp. There was a soft breath from the Nekovalkyrja. And a simple question. But answering it would be far more difficult. "How."

"I... I don't know. But I want to help. Do you want to be saved? Do you want this to end?" Harmony asked as she searched the girl's eyes.

Koroleva shrugged slowly. Before snorting. Though she was now intruiged. Leaning back, before she thumped down on her butt. "Help... Then."

Harmony offered the girl a smile and nodded, sitting on the ground with her, Harmony began to think over just what could help. It was difficult, just what she could do then, but something that always helped her out was simple meditation. It helped to quiet herself when she began to think to much.

"Have you ever tried meditation? Uh... Listening inside?" Harmony asked as she touched her own chest for a moment. "Sometimes it helps me quiet my own voices." She explained to the Neko.

"Listening-... Inside," she tilted her head, before snorting. "Inside-... Screaming-... Deafening." She described, a frown behind the mask. Which Koroleva had at least the decency of taking off. Drawing her knees up to her chest. She waited, regarding Harmony with a curious tilt of her head. She seemed to mull something over, before exhaling a soft breath. "Neko-... Machine. Machine broken," she swallowed thickly. "Never-... Worked from start."

"Have you ever tried to listen? Ever tried to understand what they were screaming?" Harmony asked. As she heard the comment of being broken, Harmony's eyes searched the girl up and down. She didn't know a lot about the creation of the Nekovalkyrja as a whole, just that most were born in tubes, batches of them at a time. As a Llamnel the idea had always felt off to her, but she nodded a little.

"Broken? Your... Uh... Machine, what created you?"

"Pain-... Only scream pain. Agony." Koroleva retorted. Even though she barely understood what Harmony asked, the words she could make out were enough for her to play on the gamble. She shook her head, though. It didn't seem she got through.

Pressing a soft hand to her chest. She took a deep breath. "Machine." A thick gulp. "Never worked-... From start. Defective."

Harmony nodded a little as her eyes searched her lap for understanding. She bit her thumbnail a little as she began to think through what she knew. "Have the voices always been there?" Harmony asked as an idea started to form.

"Since you came out of the machine?"

"Dead," she retorted. Tapping her own chest. "When ripped from vat," she added. Tapping her own skull. "Dead-..." She murmured again. Before shaking her head. Then, she tapped her chest again. "Living... Pulled back."

"You died when you were peulled from your vat? What about the others?" Harmony asked as she tried to process everything. She was starting to push the idea further. Were the voices her tank mates that had died as well? Were they all screaming out in her head in anger over their own lost lives?

"Alone," she retorted. "No others," Koroleva answered. Before shrugging. "Vat not machine," again, she pressed against her chest. "Machine." A soft sigh. "Never worked, defective... From start."

Harmony blinked at the new info. "You're the machine, the broken machine?" She bit her thumbnail again, a nervous tick when she was thinking hard. As far as she knew, the Star Army always either scrapped or repurposed defective Nekovalkyrja.

"You weren't made by the Star Army then? Were you a test?" Harmony was trying to keep her words as simple as she could for Koroleva's sake.

A soft nod. But a shrug added. "Not test-... Birth-ship broken... Salvaged," she frowned, a low hiss starting in her throat. "Psyc...-..." She frowned, before shaking her head. Unable to formulate the name properly. "Attackers-... Departure... Salvage vat."

She was trying to peice together everything as she listened. "So...You were stolen? Incomplete?"

"Attack-... Planet," she murmured. Making gestures. "Depart planet, live there- you!" She pointed at Harmony, before back at herself. "Me-... Also live-... Funeral here," she coughed heavily, before scraping her throat. "Same-... Took me."

"The ones that made us have the funeral? They stole you?" Harmony asked, confused a bit. The events of the attack were a blur for her.

She nodded curtly. Simply so.

"They stole you out of the tank? Or were they doing things to you in it?" Harmony asked again, trying to understand still. She pulled out a small datapad from her pocket and wrote down a few notes.

"Stole," she scraped her throat again. "Then-... Doing things," she glanced at the datapad Harmony pulled up. Her jaw snapping closed.

If she got a look it mostly said "gather data on where Koroleva rescued from. Find data there." Before she looked back to the Neko before her.

"Psycho you said. Is it a longer name?" She asked. She hadn't stayed up to date with many of the bigger organizations and had no clue who this might be.

"Pomp-..." She coughed, before a soft growl rose in her chest. The anger she felt almost palpable. Before a soft breath caused her to relax again. Then, she scowled. An utter look of disgust. "Weiss."

"I see..." Harmony said more to herself then to Koroleva as she made note of the names, both Psychopomp and Weiss. The anger she could see on her face made her think twice about mentioning them.

"I want to help you, maybe... not fix you, but make you happier. I think you are wonderful regardless, but everyone wants to be happy right? Would you be ok with me doing that?" Harmony asked of her, watching her expression.

"Happy?" Koroleva tilted her head slightly, drawing her knees up to her chest and crackling a soft laugh. "Happy!" She exclaimed, letting out a soft, purring rumble. As weird as it was, as complicated as it sounded and as she was, wasn't she already blissfully ignorant?

"You are happy?" Harmony asked, confused by the laughter and purring. "Would you be happy without them? Happier I mean..."

A soft nod came from the Neko as she was questioned. Before a frown. A soft grunt and a scrape of her throat. "They-... Me," she croaked. "Not... Know."

"Well, I want to give you that chance. To be free of them, to try and be happy without them. If you want to."

A soft nod came from Koroleva. She somewhat understood what Harmony was getting at. Another cough, as speaking was becoming extremely strained at this point. "Harm-... Friend?"

Harmony smiled, and while it was probably a bad idea, she leaned in and gave the Neko a hug. "I am a friend." Should nothing terrible ocure to her, Harmony would break the hug and hold her at arm's length.

"You hungry? I'm starving right now. Well, I know you had your snack, but maybe something from the kitchens?"

A shudder went through the Neko. Harmony could feel how Koroleva's spine settled and her entire body stiffened. Though she made no move. Not to harm Harmony, nor to actually hug her back. She looked at the woman as she asked. And whether it was great timing, or dumb coincidence, a soft growl arose from her stomach.

Harmony smiled hearing the growl. "I'll take that as a yes..." As she stood from the ground and pulled Koroleva up by the hand.

"Come on, I'll see if they got a nice steak or something for you. Raw of course..."
 
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