Meeting new Friends [NR][Demi, Flynn, or Invite]

Niala had been enjoying her time since she arrived on the small island. The beaches were more then lovely, and it was cool enough to be very pleasant feeling. But, the beaches didn't hold her attention for long, and soon enough she found herself venturing off of the local, well used, paths and into the forest itself. She wasn't that worried about getting lost; after all, if she did she could always jump time and get out of the forest without worry.

She hummed softly as she ventured in, thinking over all of the people she had met while in Edge City, including a vampire of all people. The female had been nice enough; though she came off as more than just a little crazy, not that that was a bad thing of course. Heck, she had accidentally touched the female and learned very quickly that the two were destined to be friends; and it wasn't something she was going to fight.

In fact, Demitria was the reason she was here, wandering along through the forest. She had told her to come visit, and she had, and she expected the female to find her rather easily.

Demitria had just been wandering her way along the mountains path when she sensed something familiar; her new friend was nearby, and as the wind changed direction the scent upon it only helped verify what she had already known. Giggling suddenly she grinned. "Aha! Niala's arrived!"

Without further word she took off, bobbing and weaving her way through the many trees and launching herself over the many shrubs that littered the mountain's low sloping path. She wasn't going as fast as she could have, not wanting to startle the girl or anything, but fast enough to where had she hit something it would've hurt.

In a matter of moments she came to a stop about eight feet from Niala, in front of her. "Niala! You made it! I knew you'd find this place easy enough." Demi was grinning, and rather happily at that. It had happened again, one of those odd rare moments where she bonded with someone; Niala was her friend for life now, so she'd always be excited to see her, just as she always was with Destiny.

She was practically jumping in place as she waited for a response, throwing her senses out for a moment to ensure that Naila had arrived without being followed; she didn't trust many people on this island, and Niala was still a very young girl.

The old tiger wasn't sure how he felt about this; people in general where a major turn off for him (damn humans smelled horrible); but he knew well enough now to realize when Demi had found someone that she wasn't letting go of; so he knew he was going to spending a fair amount of time around this new person. Well... Demi had yet to introduce him to someone he didn't end up liking; so he was approaching this with far less agitation then he could have brought. Why his tiger form would have been preferable (can't expect an animal to engage in conversations and all that); his willingness to give Demi's friends a chance had him in his 'human' form; tail wrapped around his waist like a belt and ears laying low against his hair. He seemed human enough like that; less intimidating and easier to blend.

For now he followed behind his mate; not rushing, but not limping along either. There was no rush; but he still moved over the terrain like with the grace of a cat. He was maybe a minute behind her in arriving; offering nothing more then a blank expression and a nod of the head to the young woman; that was about all you expect at first from him.

Niala had been staring upwards, watching a bird hop its way along the tree branch it had landed on when her hearing picked up Demi's arrival. She slowly lowered her gaze back down from the tree and blinked at Demi a few times before smiling. Her humming came to an end almost at once.

"Hello, Demi. Nice to see you again." She couldn't help but giggle at how happy and hyper Demi seemed to be about their new friendship; not that she was complaining, she'd take friendship where she could get it, and Demi seemed like a good loyal friend to have. She then was slightly distracted by arrival of the male, her gaze flickering over to him for a moment.

She offered a polite enough smile, slipping her hands into her pockets. She wasn't going to risk a handshake, not if she could help it. Touching people or objects brought up a whole bunch past, present, and future 'memories' and she wasn't going to risk that, especially because she felt everything they did while doing it, which meant if it was agonizing and painful she was going to hurt. "Hello there. I'm Niala."

Demi smiled, noticing Niala put her hands into her pockets the way she did. She knew what the girl was capable of, had experienced it when she'd accidentally touched the girls hand and caused her to drop. She looked over to Flynn and moved over closer, leaning her shoulder lightly against him.

"Niala, this is Flynn. Flynn, this is my new friend Niala. Don't mind her.. she has a special ability to where when she touches people she sees their past, present, and future...so, she keeps her hands in her pockets a lot." Demi paused, thinking for a moment, and then looked to Niala. "I should make you some special gloves. But, first! You told me I could poke around in your head when you came to visit."

Demi would've been bouncing around in her excitement had she not been so close to Flynn an comfortable with staying as still as she was because of that fact. She liked getting to know her new friends; and Niala, had been reluctant to tell her, but had agreed that Demi could poke and prod as she wanted to, so that's what Demi wanted to do.

Politeness helped; not because it stroked his (non-existent) ego or anything; but because he was nobility and politeness was the language he was used to dealing with in strangers. That being said, he gave her a decent once over in that moment when his eyes closed for a blink; a ping sent via his sonar and absorbing all of the information it returned. Nothing outright obvious to worry about then... good. Something was oddly familiar about the way the ping returned; but he wasn't about to dive into that. His ears focused instantly on Demi's voice; processing it and allowing a ghost of a smile onto his face. She was a clairvoyant then? Omnivoyant rather, by the sounds of it. Rare ability, even now.

"Greetings."

Yeah; a single word but a major step forward. More proof he was trying. That, and Demi's excitement was contagious; it was making him a bit more energetic and willing to participate in life.

Niala turned her gaze from Flynn to Demi and she giggled softly. "I did promise. Go ahead. Just..." She squirmed slightly, as if uncomfortable. "It's.. not all very pretty." That of course was an understatement: her father had hated her, left her in the care of others until she could go to boarding school. Then, let her be kidnapped and sold later on. The prettiest part of her life had been recently; a job, a place to live and sleep without worry, and a new friend.

But, if Demi was going to be her friend than she had a right to know, and she'd rather hear it from Demi's lips as she retold it than having to say it for herself; doing so would make it so much more real, compared to her being able to play it off like Demi telling a story if she did it.

She looked between the two and grinned; progress! She then turned her focus on Niala completely when given the go ahead. It was nothing at all, diving into the female's mind, especially given she wasn't blocking her or avoiding it. With all of that open space to explore she poked and prodded around.

Little things were more apparent; favorite color, favorite food, favorite song. But, it was her background she wanted, her 'story' so to speak. She found it soon enough, and began to trace the fiber back, absorbing all of the information like a sponge. Her grin slowly turned into a smile, and then into a frown. Niala had warned her that it wasn't pretty, but this was far worse than what she had imagined; the girl was only thirteen for God's sake, and yet she'd been through more than most adults could dream to handle. The fact that the girl was standing before her was proof of that. However, Demi didn't pull away until she had gone the whole way back, back to her first conscious memory... her father, and an odd thing that he had called her mother. She had never heard of the term before, and figured she would ask Flynn.

As she pulled out of her mind she realized that her cheek was wet, Demi had let loose a single pink tinted tear, and it had slid its way down her face. When was the last time she had cried? She couldn't even remember. But pure sadness had filled her heart; rage would come later, when the rest of her emotions stopped flying around her skull and put themselves in check.

"God, Niala... I had no idea it was that bad."

She turned her form to Flynn, latching on to him as she wrapped her arms around him. It was... easier this way. Easier to turn around and be able to explain everything she saw. "Flynn, I have a question for you about a term.. or word... in her head, something that Niala doesn't know what it means eitehr, but first, let me explain what I saw."

She took a deep breath, breathing in Flynn's familiar scent before starting. "Niala's mother died giving birth to her. Niala was granted power that was supposed to, at least from her father's side, be passed down to the male children. So, her father resented her for both of those acts that he considered a sin... He had maids take care of her until she was old enough to go to boarding school, believing in "Children should be rarely seen, and never heard"."

She paused again, collecting her thoughts and continuing on. "If the maid let her out they were both beaten. Niala was sent to boarding school, and while there her father got into gambling heavily, and his business started to sink. He began borrowing money from powerful people and organizations that he couldn't pay back. Niala here, one day when she was forced home from the school due to an outbreak of some kind, walked in on them beating her father. They snatched her up.. held her hostage. They wanted to use her at leverage to get the money they were owed from her father. But.. her father disappeared, he hated her so much he wouldn't pay them."

Demi closed her eyes, resting her head against him. "So... they sold her off, and she was..." She couldn't, or wouldn't go into detail about what happened to her then. "She poisoned them an escaped, and now apparently she's working for Dez's father.." She paused in her story telling, rage beginning to build slowly as her sadness was forced back. "But there's one thing I don't understand... it was a term that Niala's father called her mother; Biskmatar. Do you know what that is?"

Well... sudden rage was sudden; ears and tail revealing themselves in that classic angry cat way: ears lifted high and tail straight up (out?) with fur fluffed as much as possible. To treat a child as such; that philosophy... it countered EVERYTHING that Flynn believe; everything his instincts told him; all his culture and race practiced. Children where to be cherished; not thrown away and hated. To hit a child without cause was as good as destroying a future in his mind; you did not physically strike a youngling. There where better ways; natural ways. The rest was just icing on the enrage-the-warrior cake. This child... her sire would die a painful death; Flynn would make sure of it.

And then his brain caught up and it seemed like everything drained from his face and body. Rage, color, strength; all of it.

Biskmatar....

It couldn't be. It was impossible. Outright. There couldn't be. It wasn't. No. No no no. There.... NO.

"Impossible... they where killed... they died out... with the rest of my people... It must be a mistake..."

Nope, she had been wrong in her thinking. It wasn't any better hearing it said from someone else; it was worse in fact. Worse in the way that she couldn't tell Demi to stop, hold back some of the information to make it more easily handled. Nope, there was none of that.

She had watched the pink tear slowly slide its way down Demi's face as she felt her probing around in her mind and it was enough to make her want to run; to run away and not stop. But something, something deep rooted in her kept her there, kept her standing.

At least, until Demi finished retelling Niala's entire life story. By that point she had wandered her way over to a small rocky outcrop and had sat herself down on one of the larger rocks; curling herself up into a ball and bringing her knees up underneath of her rather long dress. She wrapped her arms around her legs and then rested her chin on them, staring at the pair.

She watched Flynn's reaction, and for the moment it wiped away all that she was upset about. He was... freaking out... to put it the only way she knew how, but she didn't ask why, instead she turned her gaze to the ground, eyes tracking a small ant that was climbing its way across a fallen leaf.

Demi lifted her head, blinking at Flynn's reaction and his words. Her head tilted slightly and a look of compassion fell upon her face. "Love, I heard it right... I even saw it as a clear image in my head... he was looking over her death certificate, one of those fancy ones, not like the human's garbage ones. And it was on there as part of the information... along with her age and everything else.", she said softly, her voice soothing in it's tone.

She could guess why he was freaking out, but she wasn't one hundred percent sure, and wouldn't be until he explained. Her gaze flickered over to Niala, noticing the way the girl curled in on herself, as if trying to hide from the world.

"Biskmatar..."

It can't be.

She didn't read normally to his sonar.

Biskmatar.

It's impossible.

BISKMATAR

No. No no nonononononononoNO.

But...

No

But Demi saw it...

NO

Maybe...

DON'T EVEN

Maybe he wasn't alone...

STOPITSTOPITSTOPIT

"Biskmatar. The last addition to my race before we fell... our greatest acheivement; a new race built from nothing, our final triumph. They where all of the best of us. Children for us to lead to greatness... And they... there was no one left to care for them... how could they have survived this long... the Biskmatar alive when it all ended... maybe... MAYBE could have survived to now; elderly and frail and in the twilight of their years... generations... new.... it wasn't.... we had no idea if it was even possible... there was no way to know if they would be able to survive without help. There just hadn't been time... only three generations... the start of a 4th was in the works, a few of the women pregnant and the start of interbreeding between the bloodlines. But... to survive this long... it can't..."

It couldn't be...

And now he was shutting down for a bit; just a bit... to let it sink in.... because he knew it was true but he didn't want to believe that he had spent thousands of years alone when ANY of his people had survived. He needed a moment to deal with that; come to grips with it.

Niala returned her gaze to Flynn as he began to explain. Her head tilted and she laid it back down on her knees, tightening her grip around her legs. She stayed where she was for the time being, the distance helped. Her mind was in enough of an overload without risking adding more to the pile.

Her gaze then flickered to Demi, wondering what her response was going to be. Niala still felt confused, but at least it was far less than it had been. "Hnnn..."

She kept herself silent while he explained. She'd seen breakdowns of many shapes and forms; had caused a good deal many in her life, and that seemed to be what was happening to Flynn. She figured no manner of words were going to comfort him, but perhaps just continuing to be there for him would. So she rested her head against him again, letting him feel her closeness while giving him a chance to come to terms with what it all meant.

She knew poor Niala was probably a mental wreck to, in fact she could feel it, hear it, sense it. Had it been anyone else her inner Malkavian would have came out to play, but it was Niala, so she didn't. She didn't want to cause the girl any more harm than had already been done to her.

Turning her focus back to Flynn she whispered. "My love...", as she wrapped her arms around him again, just holding him and keeping herself close.

Stopitstopitstopitstopitdontthinkaboutititstoomuchitcantbetrue

"I am... I will be alright. Just... stun." And then he was half melting into her; arm and tail curling around her smaller form like she was an anchor; his anchor to sanity and reality and everything he thought he knew.

"Child... Niala." Yes, her name, use it. She deserves that much. "If this is true... if you are a decedent of the Biskmatar... you are far more then anything the rest of the world can understand. Biskmatar are... where..." Are. Where. Make up your mind old man. She was living proof they existed still, in some form. FOCUS. "You have more potential then you can imagine. The powers of the Biskmatar are... limitless. Only the mind of the being can decide what can and cannot be done. You have powers unknown to the world for ages. We have... much to discuss; you and I. I can give you the information of your people that no one else ever could; I was there at the beginning. I was one of the warrior caste selected to contribute to the pool from which the race was created..."

In other words; she and he could possibly be related in a weird, convoluted way.

Her gaze moved back to Flynn as he spoke to her, and she lifted her head up and off of her knees slightly, listening carefully. His words brought her out of her despair, out of the sadness associated with her past. She still had it as her life goal to see her father dead in some manner or another, but perhaps now she'd have even more to focus on. Learning about herself, about the person her mother had been? Yes please, sign me up! She loved learning in itself, but to learn about such an important topic, one that had been kept from her for what felt like far too long? She'd never forget such a kindness.

A smile slowly formed across her face and she lifted her head more, uncurling herself from the little ball she'd been in, legs poking out from her dress once more. "Really? That'd.. that'd be awesome!", even excited her voice continued to remain soft, and a grin spread across her face as she finished speaking, pure happiness flooding through her for the time being.

Demi kept herself near Flynn, nodding as he spoke. She didn't blame him, such a long past and for it to suddenly show up and bite you on the ass? Yeah, that was probably some serious mind fuckery going on. She flipped her gaze between the pair, smiling gently as she remained by Flynn's side.

She could feel Niala begin to radiate the happiness and it was infectious. Demi's own smile returned, though always in the back of her mind she plotted several ways to find and hunt down every single person that was involved in Niala's horrible past; they would all suffer.

To Flynn she said softly, "Did I forget to mention Niala enjoys learning... everything."

"That is a trait we should all be blessed to have..." His voice was still empty; but he was calming; tail beginning to swish slowly and ears returning to a more normal position. There was a slow draining of the stress and confusion from his form; calming and finding something else to focus on until he had the time and energy to work over the insanity that had smacked him in the face.

"I can teach you the roots of your people; even some of the early history... but what happened after... and until now... I have nothing for you. If you had asked me a day ago if I believed I would find a biskmatar again... I would have laughed. But now... just... I don't know what to say, honestly. Shocked and such."

Niala took a moment to think and then remembered something from before she'd been sent to the boarding school. "Hnn... If... I could go back to my dad's house and find where he hid..."

She scratched her head a moment, thinking. "My father had a small wooden chest of my mother's old things. My ability isn't stopped by time, no matter how old of something it is I can still see... everything that happened surrounding the object. That's why he kept them from me... he said I didn't deserve to know her because I had killed her."

It was a shot in the dark; but it was a workable one. She had touched old, ancient things, before and had seen what had happened surrounding the object. But, she would have to go back to her old house and she didn't know if she had the strength to face that challenge yet, at least not alone.

Annnnd there was that rage again. Pure. Unstoppable. Even her beast was pissed off; evident by the way the tattoo began to move on her bare back and her form began to vibrate. It wanted out, it wanted to rip everything and anything to shreds that had hurt the child... but there was nothing around that had.

Demi gritted her teeth, the softest of hisses escaping her as she closed her eyes for the moment, forcing the beast back into its proverbial cage. If it got out... well, God only knew what was going to happen, and Niala had been through enough hell, she didn't need to see such a thing up close, personal, and hungry for death and slaughter.

"Omnivoyant. Touch based; the strongest kind. Everything we touch is left with a shadow memory, it's one of the ways that we are able to access the true history of the world; along with genetic memories and true racial histories. I knew someone once; a dear friend, nearly a brother, with a similar ability. A true precognitive clairvoyant; his ability to see the future was unrivaled within our people. Another, our closest friend... he was a much like you in that he could see the past with clarity. His skills, combined with our people's ability to access genetic memories; it allowed us to compile a near perfect history of the world; back into the misty shadows of the earliest days; what we called the Age of Dreams. Before the rise of civilizations proper; when the eldest of the first race progenitors walked the world."

He held onto Demi tighter; managing to work up a soothing purr to help her maintain herself. "I... if there are memories that can be useful tied to that place... I would be grateful beyond words to be allowed access to them. I can offer me services toward... ending, the nightmare your sire caused you..." A sharp edge, feral and enforcing his words. He wanted a piece of the bastard; almost as much as the idea of filling in the pieces of how a Biskmatar could possibly still exist.

Niala listened carefully, absorbing everything that he said like a sponge, saving every last word of it for memory. She had no problem in sharing the memories, if she could get her hands on them, with him. She also knew that she would much rather have someone coming with her than going there alone. So, the fact that he wanted to come with wasn't a problem either.

She then flicked her attention towards Demi, who was... vibrating. She had seen that before, through the memories she had received when she had touched her in Edge. It normally meant that her big giant beast of a curse was at the surface, clawing and biting to break loose. But, she hadn't changed, and that was nice... she really didn't feel like being eaten.

She looked back towards Flynn and smiled. "Okay. I think it'd be easier... to face that place... and not be alone." Now the only question was when they'd be going. She was torn in wanting to go and wanting to wait. She wanted to finally get to know her mother, badly. But, she also feared that place, and therefore it caused some part of her to be hesitant.

Between Flynn holding her tightly, his purring, and his voice, the vibrating slowly began to fade away as she regained control over the raging beast inside of her. She'd let it loose soon enough; but now was not the proper time or place. A small smile formed back on her face; it seemed both her and Flynn wanted a piece of the bastard; whoever Niala's father was was in for a very very painful death.

But, as the thought fluttered across Niala's mind as to the when, she tilted her head, voicing the same question out loud. "I guess we just need to figure out when we want to go...." And hunt the bastard down, but she didn't voice it out loud. Niala seemed to be in a far better mood than she'd been moments ago, and she wasn't going to taint the idea of her getting her mother's memories by throwing a big old red pile of blood on it.

"When is not an issue. We can go as soon as everyone is calmed enough to handle it, yes?" He was.... not in a rush, nor was he his normal 'I don't care, I have all the time in the world' lazy. There was a hint of urgency to his tone and his eyes; but that was sheer excitement; nothing more. It could be hard to excite him over anything beyond the creature comforts; a good hunt, a better meal, time alone with Demi. That had been his world for a while; a chance to find something of his previous, the one he was born into and even now meant something to him... appealing.

Niala giggled softly. "And how we're all going to get there.... my method of traveling doesn't seem to be something everyone can do." She smiled brightly. "I jump through time and space to get where I need to go." She was probably about as calm as she was going to be over the subject; nervous and excited, but it wasn't over flowing like it would probably be when they got close enough to her home.

"It's across the sea... " She pointed off in the distance in the generalized direction; she was good with direction given her ability, made getting lost almost impossible. "Over there."