Post by Connor on Dec 22, 2009 20:51:55 GMT -8
{See Who I Am}
. Connor .
. Connor .
{ reach for my hand
.the basics
Name: Connor
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Birthday: February 15th, during the Snow Moon
Species: Shifter - Werewolf
Affinity: Mammalian
Abilities: Catlike Grace
Artifact: A leather bracelet that he wears around his left wrist in his human form, which transfers to his left front paw in his wolf form. It’s a level 2 artifact, and contains the ability Light as a Feather.
Role: Urchin, Hunter
Alignment: Chaotic neutral with good tendencies
{ free your mind and find a way
.appearance
In his human form, Connor has shaggy brown hair and brown eyes with flecks of gold and green throughout them. He looks his age, none of this looking older or younger stuff, which still makes for a very youthful appearance. He’s not very tall, standing at about 5’5”. He has a slim, athletic body which is obviously built more for speed not strength. He has a more wild appearance about him, which is probably do to the fact that he prefers to spend his time in the forest. His skin is tanned from spending so much time outside. He wears simple clothing, finding a cloak when it’s cold, and generally the boy is found without shoes. Over all, he’s actually quite attractive with his wild, youthful features.
In his wolf form, he is rust-colored, thanks to the streaks of brown and red that go through his fur. The tip of his tail is black. Unlike his fur, which doesn’t resemble his hair very much, his eyes are the same from human to wolf form; it is one of the ways to tell that it is him. Like in his human form, his wolf form is a little smaller than your average wolf. His body is lithe and muscled, again obviously made for speed over strength.
{ and shout out that we can
.personality
Generally, he's outgoing and friendly, unless you catch him (or put him) in a bad mood. Sometimes he can seem a bit on the bi-polar side to some people. Connor is a very loyal person; once he's deemed you to be a friend of his, he'll trust you completely, so he is also easily deceived in this way. He will also never put his needs above yours. If a friend of his in trouble, he will do all that he can to help them. The wolf keeps his promises and repays his debts if its within his power. He doesn't like to be lied too, and so he will rarely lie to anyone, though it does happen occasionally (usually when he's lying to protect someone else, though he is human and does lie to protect himself sometimes). If someone spites his help or deceives him, he will remember it. Once you've hurt him, it'll be hard to gain back his trust because he holds grudges, which definitely shows his youth. He hates being told what to do, since he's considered stubborn, so he clashes with controlling Alpha types. At the same time, however, the boy would prefer to not be a leader; Connor knows that he wouldn't be able to make the tough decisions that would put others in harm's way, considering he'd rather throw himself into the fray than put someone else there. He is claustrophobic and will begin to pace like a caged animal if he's stuck in a small, enclosed space; eventually, after enough time of staying in the small space, he's very liable to completely freak out.
Likes:
- Animals, wolves specifically
- Sunlight
- Warmth
- Food
- Nature
- Strawberry
Dislikes:
- Following orders
- Being the leader
- Death
- Goodbyes
- Small, enclosed spaces
{ the world is in our hands this is not the end
.history
Eight Years Old
"I'm gonna go outside and play, alright? Bye!" The young shifter boy waved in the general direction of his mother before turning and trotting toward the door. Said mother, however, had different ideas, hurrying out from kitchen and catching her son by the nape of the neck, startling a yelp out of him. "Oh no you're not, Connor! You have to help me gather the rest of the harvest from the garden before you even think about going anywhere!"
The wolf pouted, tilting his head back to look up at his mother.
"But I - ! Why!?"
"Don't argue! Now go get that pail for the peas!"
She released him from her iron grip (who knew just a slight girl could be so strong?) and swatted him lightly on the head, a playful gesture that was accompanied by a laugh. Connor, however, wasn't in the mood to play. He simply grumbled under his breath, folded his arms over his chest, and pouted for a few moments before giving in and retrieving the pail.
Slowly, purposely dragging his feet across the floor and the pail behind him, the eight-year-old made his way through the kitchen and out the back door, pausing on the threshold to gaze out over their little garden. Different vegetables grew in different parts of the little plot, and his mother had already made her way over to the peas where she sat on her knees, gently plucking the pods from the plants. Connor lifted the pail and picked his way passed various plants to his mother, careful not to crush any of the delicate vegetables on the way over; his mother would flip out if he did. Gently, he set the pail down next to her. She looked up and grinned at him. "Good boy. Now, pick those peas over there for me, eh?"
So, for the next hour, they picked peas.
When they were done, the boy sighed with relief and stood, stretching his cramped muscles before eagerly looking toward his mother, who was wiping her hands on her apron. "Can I go now?" he asked, and she looked at him. She placed a hand on her chin, pretending to think about it. "Well..."
"Please!"
A small laugh was his answer. "Fine, fine! Shoo! Go have fun! But please be careful, dear. Some of the mortals don't much like us shifters..."
Connor was already trotting toward the back door, hopping over vegetable plants as he did so, and waving over his head toward his mother. She watched him disappear into the house, then shook her head and picked up the pail, following after him.
Slipping out the front door, Connor dodged around caravans and carts pulled by horses, heading toward the local hang out for kids his age. If he was lucky, some of his friends would be there, most of his friends being other shifters like himself; usually the mortal children played separate from the shifters. However, when he got there, he was dismayed to find that there were no other shifter children there, though there were some mortal children, all boys who were bigger and older than him by a year or two. He started to turn to leave (because, from experience, Connor had found that mortal children didn't like him much) when one of the boys called out to him.
"Hey, hey! You're a shifter, right?"
Connor stopped and glanced back at him, blinking in confusion before he slowly nodded. "Yeah," he answered.
The boy who had addressed him, a redhead, grinned at the younger male. "Well, come over here and play with us!" Immediately, Connor brightened, glancing from face to face before he nodded happily. "Alright!" Trotting up to them, he stopped in the little group they had formed and grinned, tilting his head at the redhead who was obviously the leader. "What are we gonna play?"
"Well, actually, we wanted to see you shift."
Connor blinked, folding his hands behind his back. His mother and father had told me to be careful about who he shifted in front of, since not all mortals were happy about them living there in the city. He chewed on his lower lip, glancing up sheepishly at the redhead. "But, uh... I dunno if I'm allowed to..."
The leader frowned.
"C'mon! No one's here to see it!"
"But I..."
"Shift already, you stupid shifter!" Without warning, the redhead suddenly stepped forward and shoved Connor back, surprising the werewolf though he still managed to catch himself; his balance had always been very good, ever since his father had given him the leather bracelet he always wore. "Hey! Why'd you - !?" He didn't get a chance to answer when one of the other boys stepped forward and grabbed hold of his arm, jerking him forward. Another boy grabbed his other arm when he lashed out in an attempt to free himself. "I know a way to get him to shift! Let's lock him in that carpenter's shed! He always keeps the padlock unlocked!"
"Yeah, yeah!"
"No! Let go of me!" the wolf shouted, twisting around and snapping his jaws at one of the boys, catching him on the shoulder and easily tearing through his shirt and the first layer of skin with his sharp teeth. Suddenly, something hard collided with his chin, and the wolf was stunned into submission for a few moments, long enough for the boys to drag him over to the shed and get the door open. About the time they tried to shove him in was when he came to and began to fight, his voice slipping from growls and snarls to yelps and whimpers and back again, with him occasionally shouting at them to let him go.
It was all in vain.
They were all bigger and stronger than him, and there were more of them, and they eventually managed to throw him in the shed.
Immediately, Connor stood and darted back toward the door, but they closed it in his face. Panicking, the young boy began to beat his fists again the door. "Let me out! Let me out now!"
The others laughed.
The voice of the redhead reached him, "If you shift, we'll let you out." And then, suddenly, "Crap! Guards! C'mon, we gotta get out of here!", which was followed by the sound of feet scurrying across the ground. "Wait! Don't leave me in here!" He pounded against the door, but the boys didn't come back. And Connor didn't hear any guards come toward the shed, so it must have been a false alarm.
Shouting and hollering, the wolf pounded on the door for at least an hour until his hand was red and he'd managed to get a few splinters from the door. Only then did the boy sink against the door, whimpering softly in terror and beginning to cry; he was only eight, after all, and the shed was cramped and dark and he was alone.
He didn't know how long he was in there, but it was long enough that, when the door finally opened, Connor's muscles were cramped and he was hungry and it was dark outside. Sniffling, the boy looked up as the door slid open, staring up at the shocked face of the carpenter who owned it.
"What're you doing in here? How long have you been here!?"
"I-I dunno... Some other boys locked me in here and I...!"
"Alright, alright. Let's get you home. Your parents are probably worried sick about you..."
Twelve Years Old
Throwing the ball high into the air, the wolf stared up at it, watching as it fell quickly toward the ground; it passed his head and continued toward the ground, and it seemed as if Connor was just going to let it fall…
Until, suddenly, his hand shot forward and caught it a second before it hit the ground.
Grinning, the wolf lifted up out of his crouched position (he had been standing and had had to crouch down in order to catch the ball) and threw the ball up and caught it again. Lifting his hands into the air, the young shifter stretched and yawned before stuffing the ball into the pocket of his pants. He turned toward his house and had barely taken a single step when, of course, that voice that grated on his nerves sounded from behind him.
“Hey, dog breath, you playing fetch with yourself?”
Growling under his breath, Connor turned, glaring at the group of four boys, all of them bigger and older than him. The one in the front was a redhead, and it was the same boy that had assisted in locking him in the shed four years ago. Since then, Connor had learned that his name was Jacob and that he was two years older than him, making him currently fourteen.
Also, since then, Connor had gotten them back for the shed incident.
Who knew they were all stupid enough to drink water that had come from the outhouse?
With the group of boys was a half mutt half she-wolf, who yipped at Connor and wagged her tail. Hello, Two-Legs-Who-Walks-On-Four.
The shifter smiled at the she-wolf.
“Hey, Shiva, how’re you?”
Jacob wrinkled his nose, tugging on Shiva’s leash. She made a low sound in the back of her throat at the pressure he applied, refusing to budge. “You’re always talking to dogs. No wonder you play with their toys and smell so much like them!” The boys behind him snickered, and Jacob smirked, a smug look on his face.
He wanted to punch it off.
But Connor simply folded his arms over his chest and tilted his head to the side. “If my choices are talk to you or talk to your dog, I’d rather talk to Shiva. She at least can hold an intelligent conversation with me.” Again, the boys behind Jacob laughed, but they were quickly silenced by an angry look from their leader. Shiva barked. The shifter grinned and crouched down, patting his hands against his thighs.
“C’mon Shiva! C’mere girl!”
Compelled by the mammalian magic that flowed through him, the she-wolf suddenly jerked forward, loosing the hold Jacob had on her leash, and trotted up to Connor who simply laughed and began to pet her.
Jacob was not amused.
“Hey! That’s my dog!”
“Well, she obviously doesn’t like you very much if she was so willing to come to me!” Which was very much true; had Shiva been attached to Jacob like a pet and master should be, Connor would not have been able to control her.
The redhead’s hands clenched and his face colored with anger, matching the tone of his hair.
“The bitch is stupid anyways! You keep her; you need the company!”
Then Jacob turned and stomped passed his posse, who hesitated in the streets for a moment before slowly following after their leader. Connor grinned, running his hand over Shiva’s coat as she looked toward where Jacob had disappeared, her head cocked to the side in confusion. She, of course, could not understand the human language, even when Connor was speaking to her in it.
Removing the leash and collar from her neck, Connor stood and began to walk home with Shiva following behind him, compelled by urges of, “C’mon Shiva! Let’s go home! C’mon!”. Going around back and stepping in the door, the wolf allowed Shiva to come into the house.
His mother and father were sitting at the kitchen table.
Connor’s mother’s name was Phoebe and his father’s name was Henry.
Phoebe was the one who saw Shiva first, and she immediately stood and hurried over to the she-wolf, running her hands over her excitedly. “What a pretty doggie! Where’d you get her Connor?”
“She was Jacob’s dog. He gave her to me.”
“Jacob? That redhead?” his father asked, frowning. Connor cringed slightly before nodding, expecting to be reprimanded; he had been clearly told to not speak to Jacob as the boy just caused problems. His mother pretended to not notice, deciding to let her husband take care of it, as she continued to play with Shiva, who barked excitedly. Henry stared his son down until the boy was forced to look down, showing submission at last; only then did the man turn and walk into the next room.
Slowly, Connor followed like he knew he was supposed to.
For several moments they stood in the front room, Henry’s back to Connor and Connor staring at the floor with his hands crossed behind his back. The silence was almost unbearable to the young wolf, but he wasn’t about to break it. After five minutes, the older shifter finally stirred.
“Have you forgiven him?”
Connor jumped at the sudden break of silence, blinking at his father’s back. He felt his anger rising at even the suggestion of forgiving that bastard of a boy for what he had done four years ago (along with the retaliations for Connor’s revenge, as the two had been doing this back and forth since then). “No! Why should I!?”
Henry sighed.
“A year left until you’re considered an adult, and you still haven’t learn to let go of your grudges. That’s hardly the attitude of a man.” Connor winced, dismayed by his father’s words. He felt, against his will, tears forming at the corner of his eyes, and he lifted a hand to quickly wipe the tears away before his father could see. When he looked up, he was surprised to see that Henry had moved and was standing in front of him. The man reached forward, placing his hands on his son’s shoulders.
“Listen well, son. We are very much alone in this, for neither the fae nor the mortals trust us. Even so, you must learn to trust them. Give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and you will be a better person because of it. Learn to let go of these qualms toward Jacob, and anyone else, and you will be a better person because of it. Keep your promises and repay your debts. Protect those that you care for, and those that you don’t, and you will be a man sooner than you think.”
Connor glanced down, thinking over the words.
Finally, the boy looked up and nodded. “I’ll try. I promise.”
That was the best he could do; try. And he would do just that.
Fifteen Years Old
He stood a good fifteen feet away from the wall, staring up over it at the tops of the trees. Recently, Connor had found himself thinking more and more about what lay behind the wall, sparked by the trip he had taken with his father a few months ago. Henry was a hunter, and he had the papers that allowed him to leave the city and go into the forest whenever he pleased, for Connor’s father hunted only for their needs. A few months back, Henry had decided, seemingly out of the blue, that Connor should go with him.
The experience… it had been wonderful.
Everything in the forest was so much more alive and interesting than the city! He wanted to explore every nook and cranny until he knew every secret the forest had to tell him, and even then he would want to know more. However, Henry would not let him stray off the path he always followed when hunting prey, saying things like, “The forest is dangerous if you don’t understand it,” and “Some secrets are best left alone, to stay secrets. Remember that.”
Phooie.
The wolf lived in a small rundown shack not too far away from his parents’ house, and he had lived there ever since he was thirteen and considered old enough to take care of himself.
That didn’t stop Phoebe and Henry from helping him often, however.
In fact, the young shifter spent more time back at his old home than he did in his new one.
They all lived in the poor district of the city, and it wasn’t really because they were poor. According to Phoebe, his mother, this was one of the only houses they had been offered when they first moved behind the wall, and they had been content with it. Many of the shifters lived back here, actually.
It was out behind his parents’ house that he stood.
Sighing, Connor turned and walked back into the house through the back door, finding that Shiva had been waiting for him in the kitchen. She barked when she saw him, and the shifter smiled at her, petting her head before walking passed her into the living area. Phoebe sat in the middle of the floor, working furiously as she sewed up a dress of hers that had snagged in the doorframe earlier. She looked up when Connor entered and smiled.
“Staring at the forest again?”
A sheepish look appeared on his face, and he nodded slowly, one hand lifting to scratch at the back of his head. “Well, yeah, kinda…” the wolf stated, laughing lightly. She laughed too.
“I’d listen to your father. The two of us can survive easily out there because we’ve done it before, but you’ve never been in the forest for long periods of time.” Phoebe was 98 since three days ago, and Henry was 103. They both still looked like a couple in their early thirties, though, as was the shifter’s aging process.
Connor sniffed resentfully.
“I could survive out there pretty well!”
She sighed, looking at him with a smile on her face. “Fine, dear, you could survive out there. Just don’t try and prove it, alright? I’d like to still have a son. And grandkids. Lots and lots of grandkids.”
“Mom!”
---Xx—
The wolf lay curled up in his bed upstairs, having decided to stay at his parents’ house tonight again. His arms were wrapped around a pillow, his blanket only half-covering him. Connor wasn’t even close to going to sleep yet. The forest was calling to his mind, and he wanted so badly to answer the call by entering it.
He sighed.
Maybe sometime tomorrow he could – wait… what was that noise?
Immediately, the wolf sat up and stared at his bedroom door. Shiva had heard it too, and she had jumped up from her sleeping spot next to Connor’s bed and stood growling at the door, her hackles raised. His breath caught in his throat.
Something was wrong.
Something was very, very wrong.
Silently, he slipped out of bed and crept toward the door, reaching for it slowly, his hand trembling, when it was suddenly pushed open and Connor jumped back, yelping in surprise and lifting his hands to cover his face, expecting an attack. When it didn’t come, he looked at his supposed assailant and gasped in pain.
It was his mother, covered in blood and breathing harshly, her hand pressed against one of two dagger wounds while the other held her up against the door. “C-Connor…” she breathed out, her voice hoarse. She took a step forward and stumbled, and the young shifter caught her and lowered her to the ground, staring at her with wild eyes. “Mom! What happened? Why’re you - !?”
“You’ve… you’ve got to run… Connor… run…”
“Wait, what? No way! I’ll get help, Mom, just st - !”
“Run!”
Terrified, the wolf stood and sprinted down the steps with Shiva in tow, calling over his shoulder, “I’ll go get help! Just hang on!” However, when he reached the end of the stairs, Connor stopped dead in his tracks to stare with wide eyes at the scene in front of him. Henry dodged out of the way of the incoming dagger swipe, turning and snapping his teeth at his assailant, a man dressed oddly and in all black. “Father!” the wolf called, catching Henry’s attention.
He shouldn’t have said anything.
The dagger of the other man sank neatly into Henry’s stomach the moment he looked away, and the man in black laughed hideously. “You should have paid attention to the fight,” the man said to the shifter, who growled at him painfully. Pulling the dagger out, he stabbed Henry again. “We told you to not get involved. This is what happens when you don’t listen to us. Say goodbye, shifter…” The man in black released Henry, who fell to the floor, blood spilling from his mouth and the wounds.
He should have ran.
He should have attacked.
He should have done something.
Instead, Connor just stared at his dead father, his mouth opened wide. He was in shock, and he found that he couldn’t move. He could barely glance toward the man in black when he spoke to him, that hideous laugh sounding again. “So you’re the little whelp of his, eh? Well, that’s unfortunate. Now I’ve got to dispose of you too; can’t have any witnesses. No hard feelings kid.” The man raised a hand crossbow at Connor, his finger on the trigger. And the young shifter could do nothing but stare at him, the pain and fear evident on his face. Tears began to form in his eyes, falling down his cheeks as the realization that he was going to die hit him.
I’m going to die… Mother… Father…
He closed his eyes and heard the twang of the crossbow string releasing the bolt it was holding. A moment later, he heard a pained yelp that he thought came from him. Connor honestly wasn’t sure at this point. But he felt no pain, and he didn’t feel his life slipping away. Slowly opening his eyes, his first sight was the man in black staring angrily at something at Connor's feet and cursing at the thing. Slowly, numbly, his eyes followed the man’s.
Shiva lay at his feet, the bolt meant for him sticking from her chest.
That was when the numbness lifted and everything broke.
Connor fell to the ground, his hands gripping at his dying pet’s body and drawing her forward because she was closest thing there. His body was racked with sobs as he realized just what had happened.
Dead.
They were all dead.
Phoebe, Henry, Shiva…
Gone.
He didn’t notice when the man launched at him, dagger held high and ready to strike. He didn’t notice when the door to his house was busted in and the city guard charged in, tackling and grappling with the assailant. He didn’t notice them examine his father’s body or when they passed him to check on his mother. He did notice when one of the guards gently tried to get him to let go of the dead she-wolf, and it was then that he screamed and lashed out, obviously in hysterics as he screeched that they weren’t dead, they couldn’t be dead.
They couldn’t be dead…
They couldn’t…
---Xx—
Numbly, the wolf walked down the street toward his rundown little shack. He knew they wouldn't let him in his parents' house. Since the attack, his mind had cleared and he had realized many things.
One, Shiva, Phoebe, and Henry weren’t coming back.
Two, the man in black had been an assassin and he had gotten away from the guards that night.
Three, he wanted that man dead.
Permanently dead.
In fact, if he could kill him and then raise him from the dead and kill him again, Connor found that he would gladly do so. And four, the thought that he felt that way made him sick to his stomach. He had to stop on the side of the street and retch before continuing his trek home. It had been a day since the attack, and Connor had only just decided he was okay enough to go home; he had been sobbing uncontrollably in the arms of some random guard for the last few hours, who had dutifully allowed it to happen. Now, he just wanted to go home. He was tired, but he didn’t want to sleep. The wolf was sure that he would have nightmares about this event if he went to sleep.
He was almost there when Jacob’s voice reached him.
“Hey, Connor! It’s really too bad about your parents!”
The tone of the mortal’s voice was the only thing that made him stop. He was being sarcastic, and Connor could practically feel the smirk sitting on those lips and hear the laugh in his voice. The wolf’s fists clenched next to his side.
“I mean, that’s hardly a proper way to go. But what can you really expect from some shifter scum? In fact, they probably deserved the death - !”
Jacob was unable to finish the sentence.
That was it.
That was it.
He had endured Jacob’s taunts for seven years, and they had always been about him. That he could handle. But now… now the mortal had gone way too far and he would pay.
Connor was shifted and upon him in moments, snarling and biting and ripping and clawing. He heard Jacob scream under him, and the wolf was glad. His teeth clamped around the boy’s wrist and applied pressure until blood slid down his throat and he heard the bone crunch under the strength of his jaws. His claws ripped through the other boy’s shirt and trousers quickly, leaving long gashes along his chest, stomach, and legs. One paw shot up and racked his claws down Jacob’s face. The shifter was convinced that he would end up killing Jacob, as his instinct told him to go for the throat, to squeeze the soft flesh between his teeth until he tasted blood and then to shake his head until the spinal cord broke and his prey could do nothing but lay there and die – if he survived the initial onslaught, of course. And that’s what he was heading for, but his teeth clamped around something metal and sharp instead which cut his lips, making him yelp and pull back. The member of the guard that had let Connor sob in his arms earlier now ripped him off the bloody, half-dead and completely terrified mortal.
No.
No, let me kill him.
Let me kill him!
Connor fought harshly, but his claws simply bounced off the armor the guards (for more had shown up) were wearing. Together, the city guard managed to tie his jaws together with a long thick rag and tie his front paws together, then his back. He wanted to shift back, to yell at the guards that Jacob had deserved it, but he was in too much of a rage to focus long enough to return to normal. And so they dragged him off to the jail, where they untied him and threw him in a cell. His shoulder smacked against the bars of the cell the moment it closed and latched, as the wolf had tried to escape the fate of being imprisoned.
Angrily, Connor clawed at the bars and the floor, barking and snarling at the guards.
They ignored him, letting him rant and rant and rant until he was too tired to rant anymore and simply laid down in the hay that the cell used for bedding, where he whimpered until he fell asleep. Only then did the shifter return to his human form.
---Xx—
It had been two days.
Two days trapped in the small cell.
Connor had paced constantly, staying quiet through the whole two days. He wondered vaguely if they’d have him killed. He had attacked and nearly killed a mortal for seemingly no reason. Connor doubted they’d accept the excuse of, “He was making fun of the death of my parents,” even if it had been true. The guards said nothing to him when they gave him his food, and he said nothing to them in return. It seemed to him that his entire life had been completely turned upside down within the course of a few minutes. How could that happen?
It was evening when one of the guards came to his cell.
That was odd.
It wasn’t meal time.
Curiously, Connor watched the guard open his cell and he was surprised when the guard said, “Alright, step out of the cell. You’re incredibly lucky; you’ve been bailed out.” Bailed out? That didn’t happen very often… And who would bail him out? He did as the guard said and followed him out of the holding area into the sunlight, where the wolf cringed and covered his eyes from the sudden light.
“Here he is, ma’am.”
“I told you! I’m too young to be called “ma’am”! Do I look like a “ma’am” to you?”
The question was directed toward Connor, and he blinked as he glanced toward the source of the voice, which was obviously female. His eyes fell on a woman with short, boyish looking dark hair and dark skin who was dressed completely unfeminine. Her hands were on her hips as she stared at the wolf, expecting an answer. She looked to be about 20-something.
“Uh, no,” Connor answered, his voice hoarse from disuse.
He cleared his throat.
She grinned at him, satisfied, before glancing back toward the guard.
“Alright! The delinquent is in my care, so you can go back to your job. Bye now!” The guard stared at her for a moment before turning and heading back inside.
The moment he was gone, the woman turned on him.
“What the hell were you thinking!? Are you crazy!? You survive an attack like that, which you shouldn't have survived, and then you nearly get sentenced to death because you attack that kid! You’re lucky I was here to bail your rear end out! In fact, you’ll be even luckier if that Jacob kid you nearly killed doesn’t call a blood feud against you and your family!”
Confused, Connor just stared at her.
She glared at him for a few moments longer before looking to the side and sighing, lifting a hand to rub at her temples, then her attention returned to the wolf. A grin formed on her lips, her hand extending toward him. “Congratulations, sunshine! You’re officially free now, thanks to yours truly. I’m Minx.” Blinking, Connor accepted her handshake, surprised by the force she managed to put behind it for such a tiny female.
“I’m Connor.”
“I know. You’re Henry’s kid. Oh, uh… sorry about your parents… really, I am. They were some of my friends too,” she stated, sadness appearing in her eyes as she thought about her old friends, dipping her head to stare at the ground. Connor was surprised and caught her by the shoulders to get her attention. “You knew my parents!?” Minx blinked, reaching up to remove his hands before she grinned, nodding once. “Yup! Sure did! And it’s a good thing I did, too, or you’d be dead in a few days.”
Suddenly, she danced away and began moving down the street.
Connor stared after her before he began to follow, confused by the whole thing.
He jumped when she stopped abruptly and turned toward him, staring up at him for a moment before she spoke. “Here’s the deal; because I knew Henry and Phoebe, I’m taking you under my care from now on. You’re fifteen now, right?” He nodded. “Thought so. Well, if you ever have any trouble, you come find me. I’m a forest-dweller – and speaking of that, we gotta get you familiar with the forest!”
The forest?
He’d get to go into the forest?
She grinned at him, noting the excitement that suddenly blossomed on his face. “You look excited! Alright, kid, let’s go!” Minx took hold of his hand and began to drag him toward the gates.
In a few minutes, his whole life was completely turned upside down.
And, in a few minutes, someone helped him turn the wheel and return it to pretty much normal.
Well... as normal as life can get, that is.
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