paint the picture of the p e r f e c t place

[Knight]

Abraham took Isaac's hand and led him to the lonesome hill.
While his daughter hid and watched,
She dare not breathe. She was so still.
Just as an angel cried for the slaughter,
Abraham's daughter raised her voice.

The ruined town was spread out beneath the huntress like a map. The cliff that jutted into the air far above that town lent her a vantage point that let her see the world. It was all tiny from this height, but she could point out each house and name who lived there. Few were inhabited by now; the demons living in the forest beyond the town had scared enough away that the town was nearly empty. Fortunately, the demonic creatures rarely made forages into the town, and a mountain lion shifter such as herself could handle anything that the forest threw her way. And luckily, she had backup. So Demala wasn't too worried about it. That was why she had stuck around even when families deserted their homes in droves after the demons stalked their streets in the night.

The werecat exhaled softly, rising smoothly to her feet as she turned away from the empty town. The branches stirred, moved by an unfelt wind, but Demala barely batted an eyelash. Such strange occurrences weren't exactly unfamiliar. Nor were the glittering eyes that she saw from the corner of her gaze. But the demons that wandered during the day were weak and wouldn't dare approach two werecreatures. So Demala just tuned them out, shifting her weight on her feet as she glanced around for her hunting companion. "Denali, are you ready?" She called out smoothly, grabbing her bag.

It took a moment for an answer to come, but when it did, it came in the lumbering form of a large black bear lumbering up to Demala. It eyed her and snorted loudly. Rolling her eyes, Demala, turned away from the bear and waited as a series of cracks and snaps echoed in the air before she turned back to be greeted by her hunting partner. They weren't exactly . . . friends, but they came fairly close to it.

Finally, a smooth voice echoed in the air. "Yeah, I'm ready. Didn't catch anything but we need to be leaving soon." Denali shrugged slightly, running one hand through her black hair. With warm brown eyes and a rather muscular build, she was a fairly average girl. Her curves were slightly lacking, but she had had a few suitors in her time. Most had been turned away by her personality, which wasn't the most pleasant, but Denali didn't mind it, in all honesty.

Demala, on the other hand, with blond hair and bright green eyes and a more curvy build than her bulky friend, looked very different from her companion. They were almost polar opposites in terms of appearance and they weren't too similar in personality either. If it hadn't been for the circumstances that threw them together, they might not have ever been friends. But Demala shook those thoughts off after a moment and blinked curiously. "Need me to share? I have plenty, honestly." She offered with a slight smile on her features.

Narrowing her eyes slightly, Denali tossed her head haughtily. "I'm fine." She snapped irritably. She could take care of herself, thank you very much. And with that, she started to walk down the trail. Demala chased after her within moments, and they left the demon infested forest behind as they made their way back into town.

Then the angel asked her what her name was,
She said, "I have none."
Then he asked, "How can this be?"
"My father never gave me one."

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denali - serious, can't take a joke, doesn't hesitate to speak her mind, doesn't sugarcoat things, doesn't mind using violence to get her point across, has a nasty temper but gets past her anger quickly

bear shifter

demala - tends to go with the flow, playful, can be flirty, rarely gets mad or displays strong emotions, a bit of a prankster, very friendly, curious, talks a lot

mountain lion shifter

[Matsi]

Faelan was young. Merely a young man that had just left his mentor. Yet, he was special. Gifted, you could say. The young man had been orphaned as a child, and taken up by the monks of his old home. The could see potential in the child, spirital potential. So they raised him, to be a great monk of his age. But, that didn't explain why he was wandering towards a dying town, did it? Oh, of course it did! What better way to practice your skills as a monk than on an almost dead town? Sure there wouldn't be many people, which meant a small payment, but If he succeeded... Well, lets just say the rewards would come in waves.

Faelan did not look much like a Monk, to the naked eye that is. He was garbed in simple journeyman's clothes, with nothing but a small bag on his back and a silver cross on a throng around his neck. His hair was black, but held a purple tint to it in the outdoors lighting. His eyes were vibrant in color, with purples and periwinkles swirled in the iris'. Despite a few small things, he really did not stand out, and really wasn't much of a monk to the gaze. Still, he had his training, and he could feel the different things around him.

Demons, all along the trails and in the trees, He thought to himself as he stopped, just outside of the town and looked around. He could see nothing moving, not yet, but he could feel them. He knew not all demons were horrible, but seeing as these ones held a dark feel to them, he did not get his hopes up in finding an ally. So he simply continued on.

A few people looked at him as he wandered, trying to find the elder's house. He had heard in the last town that the elder of this one was still alive and well, despite the events of the past. It was he that Faelan was going to talk to first. He would set up spirit bounds around the town, to prevent any demons from entering the area. Yes. That would be good, wouldn't it? Then, of course, would come the payment. Hmm. He wondered what they would pay him with. Scrolls of stories past? Food? Money? Women? Ohhh, how he hoped for a little bit of it all!

Faelan's face brightened a bit as he walked, the thoughts lifting his mood more and more.
"How can that fool smile here? In a time like this?" A voice hissed at him as he passed. Faelan simply stopped and looked at the older man and smiled.
"My good sir! I simply smile because I know your future is bright!" He purred out, yet the man only looked offended and glared at him. More people started to gather around. Faelan could see the wonder on their faces. Alright, so he wasn't your typical Monk, so he couldn't blame them for being curious.
"Oh? And how do you suppose that, loner?" The older man growled back to Fae, regaining his attention.

"Sir, I am a Monk from the norther reigons. I have heard of this town's problem, and I have to offer my services," His voice still held the purr and his purple eyes glinted.

An older, more like ANCENT, man wandered out from between some buildings, towards Faelan and the man he was talking to. Faelan watched him out of the corner of his eye for a moment, before turning to look at him.
"Lad, I am the elder of this town. I am guessing it is I that you seek. Yet, I, like Jern there, cannot believe that you are a monk. You are so young and dress so... commoner," The Elder's voice was calm and respectful, which made Faelan smile and bow his head in respect.

"Sir. My name is Faelan. I am a trained monk. I have the spirital training. Please, let me prove to you," She hummed and purred as he stood tall and allowed a glow to graze over his form. It was a ability that he had learned from his training. Sure, there were those he were born to shift, but they did not have the spiritual power that the monks did. So he wanted to prove that to these people. To prove that they could trust him with their women.

The light intensifyed and cracking sounded as his body started to take on a new form. The shift was painless and quick to him now, and before too long, the light faded, exposing his new body.

He was now a tall, long legged cat. Unlike one seen on this land, but one that was seen in pictures from over the seas. His body was lean and aerodynamic, with a small, yet square and strong set head and a long slender tail. His body was dark, swirled with blacks, purples and periwinkle colors, while spots of white covered him from head to tail. His muzzle tip was white, with a black stripe coming from the corner of his eyes to the side of his mouth. A cheetah, to those who knew their animals. But he was not a natural colored one, a sign of his spiritual teachings. He was colored with the color of his own spirit.

Faelan looked please, well, as pleased as a cheetah could look, as people gasped and murmered to themselves. The elder smiled and nodded.
"Very well. I am busy at the moment, but come to my home for dinner and a good nights rest at sundown, Monk" The elder started to walk away.

Faelan purred and allowed the light to take over him once more. He did not want to stay in his gifted form. He did not want to startle the ladies!

[Knight]

The commotion in this nearly empty town was hard to miss. Demala and Denali were drawn to it, adjusting their path accordingly with barely a glance at each other. The village's elder conversing with a strange young man was an . . . interesting sight, to say the least. He was quite respectful of the young man; even from this distance that was impossible to miss. So they wandered closer curiously, joining the crowd of people that had thronged around this stranger.

It was only when he shifted that Demala bit back a giggle. "He's very . . . pretty." She whispered to her friend through a barely stifled laugh. "Sparkly. Very sparkly." And that was enough to make her shoulders shake with barely contained laughter. She was far too amused by the development of a man who shifted into a sparkly, glittery creature. She wasn't sure what type of creature it was, though it seemed to bare a vague resemblance to her mountain lion form. But the sparkly wings and such were enough that Demala was struggling not to laugh.

Meanwhile, Denali just shook her head at her friend. "I don't see what's funny. All monks can shift into animals like that." Unlike Demala and the other villagers, she was distinctly unimpressed by this development. He wouldn't have claimed to be a monk if he couldn't have proved it, after all. Maybe he was here to rid the forest of demons and maybe he wasn't. There was no need to jump to conclusions, which Denali suspected that they were doing.

Still grinning, Demala elbowed Denali in the side lightly. "What do you say we give him a tour of the town. He needs to kill time until sunset, after all." And Demala was a little too amused by the sparkly creature that he shifted into. It was . . . very unmanly. To say the least. And hilarious. Even if the far too serious Denali didn't see it.

Denali heaved a sigh, rolling her eyes heavenwards. "Oh, all right." She muttered in exasperation. "We all know you'll do it with or without me. And I need to keep an eye on you." Demala had a fondness for getting into trouble, and as Denali's only hunting partner, she kind of needed to not get hurt. Otherwise Denali would be out of luck when it came to hunting. Sure, the demons were hesitant to attack two werecreatures. But one? They would swallow her whole and then go back into town for more. So it fell on Denali to keep Demala out of trouble.

"YES!" Demala jumped into the air, grinning happily. A few of the townspeople turned to look at her, but by now, most were used to her antics. Sure, they were a little less impressed when, with Denali in tow, she shoved her way to the front and spoke cheerfully. "Hey mister monk!" Demala called out happily, "Denali and I would like to offer you a tour around town!" And it was done. Demala turned to smirk at Denali, looking far too pleased with herself.

Exhaling heavily, Denali groaned internally. This was going to be a long day, wasn't it?

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[Matsi]

Faelan smiled and sighed as people finally started to leave him. He glanced at the man he had been originally chatting to and smiled more. He liked being right, to be quite frank.
"sir, I hope you have no hard feelings." he stated as he offered the man a calmer, more friendly smile. The man only grunted, waved him off, and wandered away.
"Can't say I can blame him for the sour mood," Fae muttered as he ran his hands through his dark hair. His purple gaze shifted around for a moment, only to land on the first young women he had seen. He allowed a smile to form on his features again and straightened himself more.

"Please, call me Faelan." He looked at both of the girls, grinning. Hmm. They were both quite pretty, irresistable almost. Oh, Faelan knew what he wanted for his payment now. One of these ladies would be perfect. But, he would only be able to get one of them. So what was the solution? Oh. He had the perfect idea. He could... Be friends... With one of them until the job was done. Then the other would be his!

Now the next question... Which would he choose first? He looked from girl to girl as the one spoke.
The quiet one would have to be first. Indeed.

"With two lovely ladies giving the tour, how could I reject?" he stated with a glint in his eyes.
"And who are the lovelies giving me this tour? I caught that youre Denali, beautiful, but what about you, Darling?"

[Knight]

Faelan, hmm? Demala grinned at Denali, who rolled her eyes impatiently. Demala exhaled, shaking her slightly as the silent communication came to a close. "Hmm. But I like mister monk too, Faelan." Demala said consideringly, frowning slightly. Her expression cleared up within moments before she started talking again, nodding absently to herself as she did so. "But I think Faelan will do. A pretty name for a pretty boy." Well it actually wasn't that pretty... But Demala was having her fun and she wasn't about to let something as silly as logic get in the way of her fun.

Denali snorted, shaking her head slightly. "Hello, Faelan." She sounded significantly less impressed than her friend was. He was a monk, nothing special. And a young one at that. Was he really going to rid the village of what had been plaguing them for so long? But this could be interesting. Maybe. And hopefully he would actually do his job so that Denali could go hunting in peace and quiet.

But meanwhile, Demala was grinning, looking quite pleased with herself. "Well, we were hoping you wouldn't." Demala said with a smirk.

"We is a bit of a strong word." Denali muttered under her breath irritably, shooting Demala an irritated look.

But that was quickly overshadowed by Demala's excited answer. "I'm Demala!" She proclaimed proudly, "But you can call me whatever you want." There was a playful edge to her voice, one that was almost . . . fllirty. But she was mostly controlling herself around this strange monk. Still, Demala wasn't one to turn up fun. And he didn't seem too bad, for all that he was young.

Denali's irritated noise was hard to miss, but the werebear exhaled and rolled eyes. She was used to this. But it was kind of annoying. It got on her last nerve sometimes. This was why they were more hunting partners than friends, people who had bonded out of necessity rather than any sort of friendship. "Let's go." Denali groaned, glancing around the town. There wasn't much to show off, in all honesty. So maybe she'd let Demala have her fun and leave. Or maybe she'd stick around to see what had happened.

"Yeah, come on!" Demala grinned happily, waving her hand happily in Faelan's direction. This was going to be fun!

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[Matsi]

Faelan smiled smoothly. He could sense... irritation?...displeasure?... what ever it was.... coming from Denali. Off feelings always made the going more interesting. A challenge? Yes, it usually was, but it also made the prize that much more wonderful. Like having to wait for a peach to ripen in the sunlight. The only trick was, that he had two peaches this time. Sweet sweet rewards.

Fae brought himself back to the present and looked at both of the young ladies with a look of amusement. They were so different. So seperated by personality. Yet, they were so much alike in other, small ways that he could pick out. Then again, when you spent so much time with a person, you slowly became like eachother in small ways. Faelan wasn't surprised if that was their case, for they were stuck in such a small town.

When the two ladies started to walk, he happily followed. Key word...Followed....behind....
The Monk wasn't about to admit his reasoning for walking so slowly, but he kept to his own, steady but slightly slow pace with a relaxed look on his features. He looked innocent enough, right? So he WAS innocent, right? He hoped that was good enough reasoning. He was a monk afterall. Just about as innocent as they came! So he told himself, that is.

"You both are such eyecatchers! I am surprised to not see men nipping at your heels!" He purred out as he rolled the sleeves of his shirt up slightly.
"Hmm. You both would look better with me under sheets," He muttered, more to himself, but not exactly in a inauditable tone. He gleamed to himself slightly as he fixed various other parts of his clothing.

[Knight]

Eye catchers, huh? Demala smirked slightly, looking rather amused by the monk's comment. For someone who was supposed to be holy, he sure did seem a little worldly. And focused on the flesh. Still, she wasn't too perturbed by this development. Instead Demala shrugged slightly and tossed a glance over her shoulder at the monk who followed behind them. "Well, if anyone nipped at Denali, she'd bite back and twice as hard." Demala said with a slight laugh, earning her a nasty look from her companion.

Shaking her head slightly, Denali tossed her head. "I do not bite people." She responded irritably, glowering slightly in Demala's direction. The fact that Demala was not, in fact, being serious entirely escaped Denali. She took everything at face value and at times like this, that was very clear. "But anyways. There are few enough men in this town that they are too busy taking care of the things that need to be done to pursue frivolous things like women." Denali said smoothly. And this, perhaps, was true. But it was also true that Demala had had plenty of men chasing after her, even as people began to flood out of the town .It was simply Denali, with her offputting ways and nasty temper that tended to keep others at bay. After all, boys would be boys. Even in the darkest of times.

A loud snort escaped Demala when the monk spoke again. She glanced at Denali, who was fighting back a smile herself, and then Demala tossed another glance over her shoulder. "Both of us at the same time, mister monk?" Demala asked curiously, raising a brow. It seemed her impression had been correct; he was indeed focused very much on the flesh for a monk who was supposed to be holy and pious. But in truth, that amused Demala. As did his complete lack of a filter on his mouth (or so it seemed to her).

Though Denali was less amused, she kept her gaze studiously focused ahead, not slowing or stopping and refusing to show her reaction to the monk's words to him. It was funny, which was rare for Denali to think, but she was less than impressed by him. He was supposed to be a holy man, and here he was, making such remarks in the middle of town without a care in the world about who heard him. Perhaps he wouldn't be the one to solve their town's problems after all. She couldn't imagine that one as foolish as him would really be able to save their town from being overrun by demons.

"This is the village elder's house." Denali said at last, gesturing at the building that stood before them. It looked to be in good shape for a house as old as it was, and its age was clear. Still, the outside was clean and freshly painted. It had windows, and was one of the houses inside the town to have them, for they were too expensive for most to be able to afford. The inside, from what Denali could see, was neat and sparse, with little furniture decorating the rooms. This was a man who didn't live in luxury. Maybe their monk could learn a thing or two from him. Though Denali was probably being a bit unfair in her judgments there. She knew nothing of how the monk lived, after all.

[Matsi]

Faelan was in a happy place. Then again, It wasn't hard to put him there, especially when one was used to venturing alone. Now that he was in a town, he was in a better mood... now that he was with two women....He was in an excellent mood! Yet, he'd be damned if he thought that a good mood could go unpunished.

His face went blank when Demala asked her question with a raised brow. How awkward this situation was. Had he really spoken that aloud? Or was she some type of witch that could read his mind? Slight shock and horror crept onto his face as he let out a nervous chuckle.
"Oh...uh. you heard that did you?" He chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head, unknowing of what to say.

Quick. He had to change the subject. He had to now!
His eyes looked at the little house and he smiled, trying to cover up his awkward nervousness.
"Hmmm Looks like the lil' home I left behind," He hummed with some lost feelings. His eyes didn't stay on the small building for long, though. He was soon looking up at a hill that overlooked the town.
"Where is it that most of the problems come from or occure?" He asked as he frowned. He watched a figure on the hillside for a moment, before it vanished into the brush.



Kier was slightly desprate, though he wouldn't have admitted it. He had just been banished from his family group, for he was of that age. In fact, he was past the age of male banishment. The northern coyote clan was a small clan, and typically exhiled their males once they hit sixteen years old. Since Kier was the only male of the clan though, since their last male had died in that freak illness, he had been left alone and stayed with the clan as a young leader. Of course, there were few females in that little clan that he could take as his partner, but why worry when there were loner females they could take in? But his happy-place was ruined when the lead female took a new partner. That male wouldn't let the blood-line male stay, thus he had been banished to join another pack or create his own.

That was what brought him here. He smelled the food, for the lone coyote demon was a horrible hunter, and wanted some of it. Though, when he finally found the source of the food scent, all he could see was the small little human town... and not to mention a shitton of pests. He didn't like the quaint little demons that tormented this lil town. These types of demons were nothing but ticks on his back. They didn't even taste good! Which was his task at the moment.

He was so hungry, he killed one of the pest demons, one that resembled a large rat-snake, and was slowly picking at it, trying to find if any part of it tasted good. When he failed to find any part that was even a slight bit edible, he stood up and did what any other Coyote Demon would do when they disliked or were leaving something... Yep, he peed on it.

Pleased with himself, Kier pushed his brunette hair out of his face, stretched, and wandered onto the hillside for a moment. He looked into the town as he took in the scents. His clothes, which were made of old pelts, blew slightly in the breeze. His hazel eyes were focused though, and didn't seem to notice the moving wind. Then, pleased that nothing was going on, he moved back into the brush to wait for darkness.