Rise from Destruction

[Manna Beast]

The air was dry. Drier than normal.

Earth cracked beneath their feet parched from the lack of rain in the last month, the over cast skies above threatened the reprieve but appeared to be needing motivation to get up even the energy to do so. She didn't mind, it was nice to be spared from the hot sun even for a day, though that wasn't to say the idea of fresh cool droplets of bliss wouldn't be welcomed.

Sparse plants littered the small oasis of the desert, rustling and scrounging was a common scene to watch. Like animals; they dug and rooted up whatever they could knowing that the next time they were able to come across the pale foliage may not been for weeks. Take what you could now instead of asking yourself later why you didn't.

Cautious to look up under her brows curious to know what possibly the few other's might have found, brushing fingers stopped their dusting of dirt watching the tall once portly now thin man move around with the canteens strapped all over his body, milling through the crouched bodies asking soft questions she could not hear, a touch of an appreciating hand there and she gave a faint smile to the scene. The sun had aged his skin terribly making him look older than he really was, wrinkles creased his eyes and forehead but that was to be expected. He had become a leader to a bunch of wanderers and it all just seemed to increase every month.

What had originally just been her and him had blossomed into a family of three and then a young pair of twins that were at least five years younger than her. Seven became ten and ten became thirteen. And she knew them all by name and where they had come from, where they were when the lights went out and who they lost along the way.

A soft touch her head and she carefully lifted her gaze upwards looking to the retracting palm of her father, him offering her a drink. His once lively brown eyes looked ragged, withdrawn but there was still love and compassion behind there... otherwise they wouldn't have had this little family. "Watering time. Next one won't be for a few hours."

He crouched down with a curse to his old bones that cracked and creaked, her ginger fingers took up the smooth yet battered canteen from him. "I think there are some fairy dusters around here." a plant that she had learnt stored water inside itself but unlike cactus, weren't poisonous to humans. His thick gray brow's rose.

"Can you point them out to Katherine? She has one of the empty canteens." she nodded softly, "I wonder if there is water underground then?" he was musing now to himself, eyes scrolling over the parched pond bed that did hold water once for the oasis. Again she nodded. "There'd have to be. With these many plants growing.... yes but-"

She took a small sip just too wet her tongue before screwing the lid back on and handing it back to him. Woodenly he took it as he was lost in his own thoughts wondering if they could possibly dig in the pond bed to find the water but without tools it was a harsh go.

 

[Kaisaan]

The metallic tang of blood filled his nose, his own, and he looked down to his side. He'd attempted to wrap it, but he knew it was infected by this point and he was feverish. He needed water to clean the wound, medication or herbs to help the infection and more bandages. Cauterization might work, too, but not until the infection was gone. He needed shade and sleep. He needed food and to be hydrated. It really sucked to know everything he needed, everything he'd recommend to anyone else in his situation and know that none of those resources were available to him. It's own brand of torture, as if the universe hadn't screwed him over enough as it was.

His clawed feet stumbled once more and his long tail moved outward to try and compensate for the weight shift, but it wasn't enough. Or maybe his movements were just extremely sluggish at the moment. Either way, he found himself catching his fall on his hands, sending a jolting of agony streaking through his abdomen. Dammit. Fangs gritted as he brought his clawed hand around to rest over the bandaged injury under his shirt, wishing he could soothe it with touch alone.

His fingers came away darkened with red and he growled, working his way back to his feet slowly. Silver eyes flickered around under his hood, the world slightly hazy, wavering and the worst part was that he didn't know if it was because of the severe dehydration, the fever or just his own mind going insane. He thought maybe he could see shapes in the distance, but the wastelands were deceiving just like the desert. Or at least he thought he was in the wastelands.

After running from the last Changers he'd encountered, he didn't know anymore.

 

[Manna Beast]

Finding what they could use and carrying what they could; the small troupe of bodies left the oasis for the time though her father had pulled out the ratty old piece of cloth with his charcoal to scribble on where the oasis was possibly. He certainly was no map maker but it saved them a time or two, or luck was generous that day. Whichever she didn't overly care to dwell upon.

The small cart that was easily the richest part of their little community was carrying the smallest child of Katherine's, riding with freshly pulled plants and whatever makeshift supplies they had. They were no way fearsome in the least, but they were tight as a group of strangers could be. Well within reason.

Her father walked beside her, favoring one foot over the other knowing that he had formed a blister on his heel that was making it uncomfortable, but he did not complain. He would not. Perhaps that was one of the many reasons they all followed him. As old as he was, he was resilient in his ways and in turn it brought a sort of old worldly charm to the others. A relief even.

"What... what is that?" she heard her father mutter beneath his breath, his old brown eyes peering hard out into the hazy distance.

Fresh curiosity bloomed in her only seen eye turning the way that he was looking with a quirk of her head as well. It would seem they were not the only ones as there began the rise of soft mumbling and nervous chatter. One was never too sure what was out in the open spaces. Too many times there had been the rise of the Peculiar. It wasn't a pleasant name but they could not be described any differently, at least that was what her father said. Beings once made from human flesh much like their own, gone mad and feral and rumoured to look like mutated beasts crossed with humans. She had never seen one, but she heard enough stories to know to fear them. They were faster, stronger, smarter than a human was and they were the prey to those Peculiars.

The group was nervous as they were not sure what was ahead... could it be a friend or a foe. A human or a peculiar. It made them hesitant like skittish cattle to move and it was her father's job to either urge them forward to move them around and back to pick a different route. Thin bony fingers stroked his chin in thought, eyes darting backwards to consider the rest seemingly thinking long and hard about their choices before he returned his stern gaze forward. He said nothing to state what they were doing. No, theses cattle that they were would follow him until he fell. Only then they would run and hide and scream and cry.

Swallowing hard herself, playing with her fingers out of sheer nervous twitching habit; they continued forward coming closer to the shape in the distance. It only seemed to grow the anxiety inside the herd as they came nearer, the shape turning into a figure from what they all could see and it was there that she felt the chatter of the group die hard. They would save their breathes for screaming rather than talking.

Then came a thing familiar and unfamiliar all at once.

His hand came up to signal them to stop, her father stepped forward boldly with a good fifteen feet between -possibly more- them and this cloaked figure. "Be you friend or foe!" he bellowed cautiously.

 

[Kaisaan]

He'd stopped moving as soon as the shapes had started to grow more distinguishable. Humans. A small group of humans. The wild side of his mind, a part he was more inclined to loath than listen to, grew very interested in this development, instantly seeing meat. The other side of himself, a bit more of a dormant part now, but still strongly vocal when the time called for it, was appalled at the very thought and his body...well, it was torn. He'd eaten human flesh before. In his lowest, darkest moments when the feral side had grown too strong and the circumstances far too tempting, he'd gone that far. It was not something he was proud of in the least, but he'd come to accept that it had happened.

And that he had to be far more careful about such things, especially after a fight.

His stomach growled and then at the same time threatened a revolt. Two warring natures was not a great deal of fun and if he ever got a hold of the person or people who'd done this to him, to others - he didn't care if it was Fate herself - he'd wring their necks. Maybe eat them for good measure.

He must have faded out of true consciousness for a moment because next thing he knew, he was being addressed by an older man, asking if he was friend or foe. The Changer nearly smiled in wry amusement and his tail twitched, but he held it close to him, coiled in loops behind his back and the rest of him hidden beneath the cloak he wore. His silver eyes slitted for a moment, taking in the entire group and then rounded out again as he called back.

"That depends on what you are to me, but if I had my choice, then friend!"

Unfortunately it didn't always seem to be his choice. Whether it was his own betraying feral nature or the rejection and hostility of others, it had been a very long time since he'd had anything but foes.

 

[Manna Beast]

She watched as her father took an indigent look back, tipping his chin forward as the voice beneath the cloak was male and seemed rather... cranky. But she couldn't fault that, joy was a hard thing to find now.

Mumbling began again, the group watching as they did not like the interaction remotely but they weren't so apt to make it extremely vocal.

Scrolling her single gaze up and down taking a bit of a note that the figure seemed... hunched? Blocky, almost curled into itself. Her father seemed to be taking a similar note, "Well if you be friend as you want to proclaim..." his gaze took a quick almost lightning quick glance back to them before holding tight to the cloaked figure, "Might you answer were you came from? We are looking for cities to wander through in hopes of old supplies."

Making a soft motion to hold tight, she came forward slowly like an inch worm to creep up behind her father and lean out so that she could look to him as he looked to her. Exchanging looks, she cleared her throat, making a slight tip of her head towards the cloaked being. A sigh came from her father, "My daughter is curious to know if you are well, you seem to be hunched. Is there peculiars out the way you came?"

 

[Kaisaan]

A city?

When was the last time he'd passed through a city. He closed his eyes, vision swimming, and tried to think, to picture where he'd been. It came to him slowly and he was about to speak when the next question came and silver eyes flickered to the young woman behind the older man, taking note of her before he looked away again. Just another human and his sights were far too blurry to really get a good look at her anyway.

Was he well? Peculiars? Was that what they called them in these parts? Interesting. He'd heard a lot of names, but that one was new.

He snorted under his breath, wondering how to answer. Wouldn't do him much good to lie. Wouldn't do him much good to tell the truth either. He was pretty much screwed either way. And dead. He was going to be very dead soon, too. Kind of ironic if he thought about it; the army doctor who couldn't treat his own wound. His father would be proud...well, no, he'd probably slap some alcohol on the wound and then berate him for being so stupid. That sounded more likely. A tough man his father. A good man.

Wait.

Right, he needed to answer the prey- HUMANS!

Giving his head a barely perceptible shake, the Changer finally spoke, wavering on his feet and finding it took way too much effort to think up clever lies right now. "I'm not sure where I came from. Got lost. I think there's a city to the west, some rumors of people making a community there." His hand found his side again then, feeling the wet blood soaking through the wrappings. "Whole pack of 'em, 'bout three days back. One got my side with his teeth."

 

[Manna Beast]

And there came the calamity!

Like chickens with a fox in the pen, the group behind her father started to panic and squawk loudly.

"Three days back, they were close. Too close!" One cried, "We are all doomed!"

"There guna eat us!" another and her father made an hard impatient sigh.

"Kyrie," he motioned to her, "Grab some gut if you have any left, and your needles." he turned to the wavering boy on his feet, "We don't have much mind you, but you answered my questions." her father turned around holding up his hands, "Alright everyone just calm yourselves down, it's like a hen house out here!" he bellowed walking back which had her snerking somewhat softly to herself. Hen house. Yeah that was pretty much them.

Oh wait, she was suppose too- that's right.

"Um..." the whispering soft velvet came out from her lips, pulling her shoulders up in a timid motion that had her cringing back just out of pure nervous butterflies in her stomach. She never did well with new people, and that had her instinctively making damn sure half her face was covered. "Can... can you walk alright or... or s-should I bring." Kyrie would have disappeared if it was possible, "Should I bring my supplies here?" her tone remained low, docile, unthreatening and perfectly and expectantly gentle.

"Walking meat!" someone wailed running around literally like a hen with its head cut off.

 

[Kaisaan]

Hen house.

That was the most apt description of human beings he'd ever heard since the Blackout. Though, turkeys came to mind too. And damn, now he was hungry again...and their running around wasn't helping matters, only enticing the urge to pounce in him. He was exasperated by his own feral mind in that moment. Right, no problem that he could barely walk anymore. Pouncing didn't require a great deal of precision or coordination, right? Piece of cake. Stupid instincts.

Jerking his slitted silver eyes to the small female from the spectacle that was the running dinner - humans! Dammit, h.u.m.a.n.s! - Kade caught her words rather clearly, whispered as they were. She was a timid thing by all appearances, like a wide-eyed fawn just waiting for the wolves' fangs. Right. Great description there. Her question made him frown and the Changer looked to the other humans, still in a panic over what he'd told them. And that was just knowing a pack was three days off. How much chaos would ensue if they realized that there was a Peculiar not fifteen feet from them?

He didn't want them to know. He was finally being offered some help, help he badly needed. But it wasn't like they were going to give it to him if they knew he was what they feared so very much. He couldn't well have the female - Kyrie, her father had said - come closer, notice what he was and start screaming or freaking out. Not only did he value his eardrums, but he valued his life, too and he'd been shot at far too many times to want to play that particular game of dodge ball again.

So there was really one option and Kade gave a growl of seething anger for the unfairness of it all - he couldn't win no matter what he chose - and he slowly pushed his hood back, letting his curved horns know the sun and his tail uncurled from behind him, a live snake that coiled and twitched its way about on the barren ground and hot air. He finally gave that bitter, condescending grin.

"It would probably please your father more if you didn't come close at all."

 

[Manna Beast]

Clamping her hands over her ears as a pitch of a scream rose up, or was it many? All she knew was her ears hurt from the screams that ensued and the sound of feet scrambling to go running in all directions. "Peculiar! Peculiar!" the chant went up alarming the rest of them, her father whipping his attention back and forth as the group of men, women and children went fleeing. Well other than maybe one or two that simply went dumb and froze right up falling over like petrified logs of wood.

Pushing his weight to his foot turning his body around to see what in the sam hell was all the commotion for, her father's eyes bulged in alarm. "Kyrie!" he cried out for her but did not move a muscle. He froze on his feet, a sweat of fright blooming on his forehead as she blinked and tilted her head slowly upwards - careful how far as not to let her covering hair move- her brown eye went wide at the man.

Massive curled horns rested close to his forehead, multi coloured as the heavy tail came slopping out of his cloak. Fear grabbed tight to her chest threatening to smother her out entirely, her body leaning instinctively away as if that would save her; Kyrie blinked at him. Well as much as she could. He... this was a peculiar okay she got that. But... he was warning her as well not to come closer?

She blinked again, hearing her father's insisting pleas for her to come to him. Lifting her thumb to chew on the tip, Kyrie turned in a hurried fluster to go towards the cart hearing her father let out a sigh of relief only to gasp when she pulled out the small bag of supplies that held her bone needle and gut. "What are-"

A single iris looked to her father, "He is hurt."

"Kyrie he is not a pet! He'll kill you!" now her father panicked, "Kyrie!"

Oh she was aware of that, and terrified of that too but... but she couldn't just let him bleed to death if his words were true. But she couldn't, wouldn't in good conscious just let him suffer. Monster or not, human or not, or something in-between, that was asking her to do something that just could not be done.

Holding the worn ratty looking bag up to her chest as if it would fend him off, the scared gaze looked up to him nervously side glancing. "You're hurt... you said." Kyrie spoke softly, "Please... I can help."

"Kyrie, please get away from the peculiar! He'll tear you up!"

 

[Kaisaan]

He could smell the cloying fear, but it wasn't nearly as powerful as the screams in his ears had been and Kade worked his jaw subtly, trying to relieve the ringing. Damn, that had hurt. Screams, fainting, staring. Every single time. Could he perhaps have a more original reaction one of these days?

Silver eyes glared down into the brown one that watched him, neither he nor she moving and then Kade growled slightly as she scampered away, watching her go with a familiar feeling curling in his gut. Typical. He was half-tempted in that moment to simply terrify the rest of them simply because he couldn't do anything else even when he didn't try to elicit fear, but those three simple words made his head come back up, confusion spreading across his face. Wait she...was going to help him?

The father's words barely registered - he'd heard them so many times before that they hardly made sense to him anymore; they were something he could recite by heart now - as Kade looked down at Kyrie, a bit bolder than he'd pinned her for. She wanted to help him. The first question that begged through his mind was a resounding why? Her father was right, he wasn't a pet. She'd gain no loyalty from him for her actions. What was her angle here?

He could hardly believe that there was actually someone still in this world that simply had a heart.

Still, no matter her goal...he did need the help. Desperately. It was either risk what she offered, for whatever reason, or be guaranteed to die. Kade frowned and abruptly looked up, his voice a barking half-roar. "Shut up, human! If was going to tear into anyone it would be your screaming flock if only to make them be quiet!" He growled low in his throat, looking back down at the small woman, giving her a calculating, slit-eyed look before he slowly moved the cloak back and then lifted his shirt. His skin was stained red around he bandages, the wrapping bright and slightly yellowish-green itself and wet, and Kade's voice was slightly softer this time.

"It's infected."

He didn't know what she could do about that, but better to say it now.

 

[Manna Beast]

She cringed, that couldn't be helped as the peculiar snapped and barked at her father, Kyrie chewed on her bottom lip torn with what she should do, what she should say and what she was doing. She wanted to ask the peculiar to be patient, her father to give trust and let her continue on what she set out to do. This world was already dark and unforgiving as it was, it did not help when the humans and the peculiars were at the throats of another.

At least her mind held those thoughts carefully.

"Please.... don't hurt them. They... they are just afraid of what they don't understand. I know it's a terrible excuse but it's the only one they have." Kyrie dared a cautious pleading eye to him momentarily until soft surprise registered in the brown stare only to drop her focus to him moving his cloak.

Instantly the human girl grimaced, came closer to start chewing on her bottom lip again. It was certainly bad enough, and she knew what could be on the borders if it wasn't treated soon. Moving slowly making it very evident she wasn't going to try anything that might hurt the peculiar. They both knew even in his state, he could easily overpower her and she had no dying wish today.

Bending slowly at her knees to set down the bag she held fumbling through, anxious hands came around the small pouch of contents musing some before she nodded softly to herself. She turned but didn't rise yet as she held up the small vial of clear fluid. "Andrographis, it should help with the infection." Kyrie stopped and knitted her brows together. She thought for a moment, reaching in the bag yet again to retrieve her supplies for sewing finally putting her feet beneath her frame, she made one motion forward to stop. "Can... can you remove the bandage so.... so I c-can address it?" her head turned to look back to her father. "I need a canteen please dad. He needs water... oh and can we spare some of the remaining jerky?" Her father merely was watching, eyes firm to that of the peculiar moving robotically to pull off a canteen to toss it towards her that it landed with a thud on the ground. His eyes never moving.

Dipping down to pick up the dented metal container, Kyrie shakily held it out for the peculiar. "This should h-help revive you or at least help in a general thought." A hard swallow and she closed her eyes tight. "Okay... can I tend to your wound?" she could hear her father rustling through the cart to find the smaller bag of assorted dried jerkies and fruits.

 

[Kaisaan]

Yes, it was a terrible excuse and he wasn't going to make any promises, not even for her doe-eyed look. Still, he didn't roar at the other humans again and merely watched her, fully prepared to spring back at any sign of foul play and then strike again in revenge for it. He didn't trust her or her father, none of them anymore than they trusted him. Still, it was almost nice - was that he right word? - to have someone speaking softly toward him for a change, even if it was only in a fearful kind of whisper. He'd take it. Better than screaming any day. What were these people? Part banshee? And they wanted to call him peculiar.

Well...true, but whatever...

Andrographis. He narrowed his eyes a bit, thinking back on what he knew about that. Andrographis was used for digestive complaints like diarrhea, constipation, intestinal gas, colic and stomach pain. And...damn it was hard to think...and for things like enlarged liver, jaundice and liver damage due to medications. Not helpful, what else? Ah, right, for infections...for too many for him to want to name right now, but his mind was already on its tandem and just kept going. It treated things like leprosy, pneumonia, tuberculosis, gonorrhea, syphilis, malaria, cholera, rabies and skin conditions including wounds, ulcers and itchiness. It was also a painkiller, bacteria killing agent and fever reducer. That would be helpful.

Oh gods, he was a walking medical dictionary.

Shaking his head just slightly to try and shut his feverish mind up, he blinked, focusing back down on the human so near to him. She wanted him to...oh. Right. His clawed hand moved to the bandages and Kade simply cut through them before pulling them away. The blood ran more freely then past the green and the pus and he simply frowned at it, almost exasperated by the sight before the thud made his head jerk up, a growl in his throat. He'd not really caught Kyrie's words to her father, his mind fading in and out, but he caught her instruction and he looked at her for a moment, eyes narrowed before he took the water, careful not to let his hand touch her own. Last thing they needed was to waste water because she dropped it in fright. He drank then, but only two small swallows at first, knowing very well that he'd gone without it for so long that to take too much at once would simply make him throw it up. He didn't care how much his body begged like a whiny child, he wasn't wasting water that way.

At the next question, he raised a brow at her. "I would assume that's what comes next, yes."

Oh, if his mother could hear him now she'd smack him silly for his tongue. But she wasn't and Kade was too far gone to care at the moment.

 

[Manna Beast]

She wilted effectively further at his statement of obviousness, but she wanted to make sure which implied why she asked. They were on hostile ground with one another and she was not unfamiliar with such emotions.

Blinking back the flutter of tears that wanted to flourish across her lashes, Kyrie nodded weakly and began to tend and dress and clean as well as she could. She worked fast yet steadily, meticulously yet fearful that he might just snap at a point. What the hell's was wrong with her? Everyone else seemed to know there was something not quite right with her and now apparently it was showing itself in this moment that she decided to show an extension of courteous nature to even that of a peculiar.

A sigh threatened to come up but she swallowed it back when she tied off the gut neat and clean, removing the bone needle to keep her head down from provoking any final looks, Kyrie took a step back and watched the ground as if it was the most interesting thing ever. As if it might open her thoughts or even do a trick to appease her.

Her father snatched up her shoulders, heaving her back with a force that put Kyrie behind him. "To the cart Kyrie, to the cart. You've done more than anyone else ever would have." his dark tired eyes narrowed, him not stepping back as the gaggle of their group were at least a good twenty more feet away. "Leave us be, peculiar. We have nothing you need nor want." Mason spoke clearly, stepping backwards keeping his eyes forward until he bumped into the cart that Kyrie was trying to bring back to its wheels. Like a teeter-totter, she jumped and grasped wildly to miss the high arms of the wagon to pull it with, a struggle of grunting and her father stood there waiting. Uncertain and them all extremely afraid of the peculiar's next move.

 

[Kaisaan]

Kade tried to ignore the flutter of guilt that came from his more dormant side but it refused to shut up. As the female worked on his side, it berated his more wild side. She was helping him, when by all rights she should not be, and he was being a class A a**hole. Why in the world did he expect people to treat him like he was human if he couldn't even act it for twenty bloody minutes? She was not only trying to ensure he didn't get sick or bleed out, but she'd also given him water, had offered food and her hands were gentle, patient, not rushed and rough with the desire to just get it over with and leave.

And when she was done, she didn't flee like a little mouse.

The Changer looked down at his side then, at her work and he lowered his shirt before looking up again in time to catch her father pulling her back and behind him as if Kade had tried to lunge for her or had made any move at all. He watched the group for a long moment, extremely tempted to just leave. A wolf in the hen house was only going to give the chickens a heart attack and while BBQ did sound good right now, even he couldn't eat that much. It would be logical to just leave. He wasn't wanted, that was more than clear, it always was, but for some reason his eyes wouldn't leave Kyrie and when Kade moved, it was to her alone.

His tail flicked out toward her father more for entertainment value than actual threat and he ignored completely the reactions the crowd of chicken-banshees might give as his hand reached forward and he simply stabilized the cart. Silver eyes met that one visible brown one then and he held out the canteen she'd forgotten to take. "Thank you." Two simple words. So very human words and he moved away from her, giving a scathing look to her father. His daughter was extraordinary. He was not.

"My name is Kade. Nice of you to ask."

He was wrong. They had something he both needed and wanted; food, water and acceptance. But it had been made more than clear he would not receive it.

 

[Manna Beast]

Her sights were brought up in pure question when she could see the flutter of movement of the group in the distance, them squirming and rushing all over the place but they did not call out to warn her. No that would be their tactics, to let them be destroyed if need be. Or her, she didn't know nor wanted too.

It was her father making a yelp that brought her attention sideways before she looked up to the cart and then back towards that of the held out canteen. A crimson heat took quick and readily to the seen part of her face. Palming her cheek as she rocked back on her heels momentarily, Kyrie nodded to his grateful words. "It was nothing. Everyone needs help sometimes... I was glad to be of use." she turned a bit darker to her own words. Taking the canteen from him, Kyrie was watching beneath her brow and her hair as her father made an impossible shooing gesture as if he was chasing kids out of the garden. It was not wise to provoke the peculiar... no he said his name was Kade. It was not wise to provoke Kade any further.

A look down to the canteen again, to her father who seemed to be watching the wheels in her meek mind work, his chin began to shake in firm distaste for what she might have in mind. She did always have a thing for wanting to take care and make sure that the wounded were tended too. Sure... this Kade was the very things they all feared but... it wasn't right to lay judgement of many on the head of one.

"Don't you-"

"Excuse me... Mister Kade." Kyrie came forward a bit, shuffling her feet. "You should keep this," she offered out the canteen again, "I mean, we have a few more we can use and you don't seem to have any. I'd be worried that you'd die out in the wasteland without it." there was no hint of even a lie in her sweet soft spoken tongue, there was no room for it.

"Kyrie, that is quite enough!" Mason snapped. "I said it once, I'll say it again. He is not one of your little wounded pets, he is a monster-"

She looked to him and frowned softly, marring her face. But she said nothing to reproach her father, rather she slowly brought her focus back to him. "You should rest Mister Kade as well... and eat... will..." Now her father was shaking his head frantically, waving his hands in the air as if to slice it in half. Kyrie pressed her lips, "You can stay and recoup if you wish. We would be or rather, I can share whatever food I have with you." she gave the faintest of smiles, "Just doesn't seem right to be so cruel when the world is enough like that."

 

[Kaisaan]

His ears were growing for more in tune with her voice and at the first sign of it, as well as his name, he stopped and turned his head, his body following suit just slightly at her offer. The hybrid looked from the canteen up to her face, listening to her words with a wary expression, but there was no lie in her eye, in her voice. And yet he didn't understand her. He didn't understand why she was doing this and he had to admit that the more she did, the more curious he grew as to her motives or lack thereof. She was a strange little thing, like no one he'd met since the Blackout. He didn't reach for the water quite yet as her father spoke his harsh words once more.

Kade's eyes narrowed, slitted again and his tail lashed behind him, a disgruntled cat as a snarl developed in his chest, ready to be released along with any action that might take his fancy at the moment.

He hated that word. He woke to that word in the morning and fell asleep to it at night. He couldn't escape it, couldn't fight it, but that didn't mean his feral nature didn't want to try, to tear out voice boxes in the hopes that one day the voices would stop.

It was Kyrie who saved her father from such a fate in that moment as her words snapped his eyes back to her and the more human side of him regained marginal control again, telling him to calm. Only a monster would kill the father of the woman who'd helped him. Kade let the growl die back down slowly and the tiniest hints of amusement touched his expression as he looked between Kyrie and her father, two very separate ends of this spectrum of desires. Her last words elicited a deep, rumbling, if short chuckle and Kade shook his head, giving her a truly puzzled look.

"You, Kyrie, are not human but something far better. Don't ever be ashamed of that fact." he finally told her very bluntly before he looked out at the wasteland, the end of his tail making looking circles in thought. He looked back at the group then and in the end back down to Kyrie. "I will stay the night. Nothing more."

He was pretty sure her father was going to lay a cow-sized egg at this point anyway. Better not give him reason to suddenly figure out how to hatch a gun out of said egg.

 

[Manna Beast]

They looked like nervous caged animals. Huddling close together, big eyes of plenty watching like owls waiting for the slightest twitch of a finger or a tail so they could go running in all and every direction imaginable.

It was like an uneasy truce that really wasn't one at all. No they all knew that Kade merely had to react and they would be nothing but on his menu. None of them stood a chance against him and they were not equipped too either.

The flicker of the firelight was welcomed though as they burned the stained and old clothes that they had that were beyond repair, Kyrie sat off by herself watching the entire thing. She wasn't really welcome anywhere and honestly it was okay. It was normal.

Her father sat with the group trying to calm frayed nerves that just would not settle especially due to his own anxiety. But what were they suppose to expect, things like this... just didn't happen. Playing with the tattered ends of her scarf sitting by the cart in the pale light from the flame, she had went without food this night as she said she would. Content to give it to someone else who needed it and she made sure that Kade got it too. No one else would though she wasn't so sure that she wasn't afraid either, but she wasn't about to condemn the man either.

Using her finger she drew tic tac toe in the dirt, playing the game with herself trying to ponder on life's bigger mysterious questions that had no answers she could divulge. The night had cleared and opened revealing the navy blanket of velvet speckled with the silver glinting stars and quarter moon. It was moments like this that could make someone forget how wrong and how destroyed their world was. Almost.

 

[Kaisaan]

And he'd wanted company.

He'd been a crazy, feverish idiot.

Moronic.

Downright crazy.

Wait, not that was how he felt being stared at so hard. Crazy uncomfortable and almost itchy, as if their eyes were touching his skin with their intensity and Kade's wings shifted a bit half-beneath his cloak - the rest of them most people just assumed were part of the cloak until they looked closer - restless like the rest of him. He refused to look back at them and instead had eaten, drank and then gone still, quiet while he studiously ignored them and they watched.

Gawkers.

His silver eyes were drawn to Kyrie more often than not. How could they not be? She was the reason he was here - well, that and food - and she was something very different, very strange...and that was coming from him. He knew she was scared of him. That was obvious and expected, but she was also kind...fair. It was a puzzle he couldn't quite figure out and he knew that by morning he'd have lost the chance to truly unravel the mystery. A bit of a disappointing thought, but oh well. Life was full of such these days. A destroyed world, a horrible, dangerous-

Danger.

Kyle immediately stood, his cloak pooling on the ground behind him as he released the clasp out of habit. His wings flared just slightly, his keen ears and eyes looking out into the darkness. A snarl rumbled in his throat with lethal intent and in that moment it didn't occur to him to speak. He was not normally with people, didn't need to warn anyone but himself and right now he wasn't thinking 'human' anyway, but something much more primitive and wild. Something that only told him to things.

Danger was out there.

And blood was going to spill. A lot of it.

 

[Manna Beast]

A snigger to herself as she wrote a big letter 'C' into her game amongst the dirt, her attention caught like a moth to a flame as the silent fear rose up into audible cries, bodies getting up to start rushing around. Scurrying and scrambling, bumping into another as Kyrie winced back gathering why the troupe was having their anxieties coming out of them in waves and vibrations.

Humans feared what they didn't understand and Kade was certainly making that very obvious. Dropping his cloak revealing the full blood red wings that sprouted from his shoulders, large and wide to hold his weight in flight; Kyrie heard her father daring to call out in warning, irritation and pure fright to the sight of the Peculiar seemingly getting ready for something that none of them were privy too.

Oh she could hear the blame now. See the fingers pointing and deeming her the bringer of murdering peculiar's.

The hair on the back of her neck stood up in a warm breath that felt like imagination getting the better of her, the rise of goosebumps made her instantly jerk away as something that she couldn't even see with her naked eyes went slicing through the entirety of the camp. One moment there bodies of the panicking group she knew and next... next she seen three of the people stopping in mid run and their torsos lopping off sideways from their hips. Cut cleanly in half.

A toppling slop and then began the blood curdling screams that only came from the true blue nightmare that a peculiar could create.

Skittering backwards to thump her head against the base of the cart she sat by, another unseen blur cut through the group, lunging forward to come raining from the sky slamming it's sickle like hands into the body of one of the men, pushing to the ground that only encouraged a messy beheading that had the skull rolling sideways.

Thin creatures that looked like they had legs of antelope, hands that were long - nearly as long as their own bodies- sharp and ready to slice through everything and anything; their stretch out narrow muzzles looked nearly jackalish but certainly a lot more demonish. Their eyes were blindfolded but the massive jutting ears on the top of their crowns allowed them to hear everything around them. Laughter echoed hauntingly around the campsite as four of these speed enhanced demon's of peculiars cackled and grinned like maniac's. "Soups on!" one cried out, her hands came up to clamp over her head biting her bottom lip hard to draw blood as she heard her father screaming out her name. "Run little morsels of delicious flesh! Run run! Give us something to play with!"

"Kyr-" Her eyes jolted open hearing the blood spatter across the ground silencing the final call of her name, his body sliced into fine pieces letting the murderous laughter raise an octave to howl into the night.

"More over there!" Her eyes grew wide as one pointed towards her, one of the very few remaining survivors coming running her direction. "Give chase! Tonight we feast greedily on the bounty of the humans! No one is left alive!" None of them seemed to care or even take notice of Kade. No he was a peculiar like them and as far as they were concerned, hardly worth their effort. Not when there was fresh prey for them.

 

[Kaisaan]

S**t they were fast.

Kade had seen many different Changers in his travels, some more animal than human, but these guys nearly topped the cake on nightmarish. He couldn't have stopped them. They were far faster than he was - and that was saying something - and there were too many humans for the fodder. Too many in too many directions. It happened too quickly to be stopped, too efficiently. And then Kade's eyes were drawn to the cart, to the place he'd last seen Kyrie. Sure enough, she was still there, still alive.

And suddenly he knew he couldn't let her die.

She could have let him and she'd not, and he couldn't save her people, but he could try and save her.

He leaped, wings catching the air, letting him sail to land in front of the young woman and now the other survivor who'd managed to reach her. Kade roared then and the other Changers halted, startled by the challenge, but in all their minds it actually made sense. He wasn't part of their pack and in their minds was now claiming food that was not his. No words were needed for that, no intelligent discussion. Just snarls and ultimately blood.

And blood there was, on both sides as the first two Changers - Kade and the leader - clashed in a flurry of fangs and claws. The prey wouldn't be touched until there was a victor.