Strauss Hunters.

Her lungs were burning both from the new air here and the amount she had ran from the borders of Bosco after landing. Her family had ears and eyes everywhere yet she had not expected Bosco to be a place they would flourish but as it stood, apart from the other gangs who wanted her for what she was enforcers from her father had come to hunt her. So she ran, she avoided cities she ate precious little, she left as few signs of her existence as possible and so here she stood in Fiore with precious little to her name, not even a single jewel left and her body worn from her travel. Malnutrition was a worry but as it stood despite her starved look she felt she could continue on as she hit the nearby camp.

Upon hitting the assumed camp she soon realized after a few chats with the villagers that this was in fact a hunting village, they simply used tents and the like in case they needed to move to new hunting grounds. She smiled of course at this but a part of her hoped the hunting was simply for survival, senseless hunting for sport and wasting the meat was abhorrent to her mind. Yet as she moved it was obvious something was wrong with her, her hair once so sleek and silver was now an utter terrible mess with no hint she ever came from civilization while her torn and barely useful clothes hung to whatever curve they could find to stay on. Her skin was dry and cracked as her shoes now gone left her feet open to the elements with obvious spots where the skin had been torn and some areas looking dangerously infected. How she managed to reach where she did like this was a miracle of perseverance but a small dot of information tugged at her hope whenever she wanted to just lay down and die, that Fiore could save her.

Fluffy was a carnivorous predator who stole or some other way obtained the bodies of dead sinful humans to devour in turn sending their souls to hell. Being on the prowl was not an abnormal thing for her, she often hunted for mortal prey. However, right now she was not stalking and looking out for some random bite to eat, tonight she was attentively searching out the next hapless victim whom she would recruit into Savage Skull before they could think twice. If the feline had developed one thing lately? It was a silver tongue as she kept growing her currently small army for purposes her brain was still developing to, a buzzing running in the back of her head, unknowingly being influenced by the voices of numerous bad energies she had taken in since becoming the cat creature she now was.

Silver hair gleamed in the moonlight and it was not hard to pick the girl from the crowd, nah the chick stood out even if you weren't looking for her. The human named Nyx who she had once been had been lucky when she left home that her mother funded her exploits until she joined the Ghost Hunting group she died within, but she had easily learned the signs of someone away from home who not ended up so luckily. Those sorts of individuals? Often became easy targets for her, the drifters who had no idea where their next meal would come from and were desperate for some sense of stability within their fragile life. "You look hungry. I'm Fluffy, who are you? Come on, you can come eat with me." the feline walked forward, twin tails flicking as the foot tall creature looked up at the female with red eyes.

First she had to open communication and make the black clothed girl comfortable, than she could go in for the metaphorical kill after a while. However, the confident feline knew she had the unknown new member of Savage Skull already, from the first series of words, she always got what she wanted, after-all that's what cats did. "You can eat fish right? I could ask for something else for you if not though." she nodded her head towards one of the huts it appeared the village let mages who were doing work for the village stay. Earlier in the day? She had helped them with their hunting, in order to earn the night to secretly scout for a new member. It was her lucky night, at least in her brain.

Her attention turned rather quickly if not for the spund of someone addressing her than for the fact that someone was offering a kindness. Yet as she looked around she found naught but a single person looking at her yet when the same voice spoke again she noticed who, and what had spoken. A cat with two tails had offered her a meal a strange occurence on it's own but considering first the villagers were accepting this as happening she had to take a moment in her head to figure this out. First she called on the Maiden who resided in her magic, a manifestion of the colective souls contained in the black waters. Typically of course only she could see the maiden herself as in most cases the maiden disallowed others from seeing her the only sign of her being there was a puddle and trail of water wherever she stepped. As her form tore from Sylvias chest she quickly turned, her apearance that of a shrine maiden with black soaked which went past her feet and dragged behind her, "You call on us despite starving us, have you come to let us watch you die?" Her question was something she was used to, they wanted her dead so attemting to make her commit suicide was a constant request from them. Shaking her head she would point to the cat who had spoken, "Is this another of your tricks to get me to eat something deadly?" A question like this of course would make her seem crazy to those around her who see nothing, but the maiden was tricky, a far too dangerous entity contained unwillingly inside her and it had done many things in it's attempt to kill.

Once the Maiden confirmed that the cat was mot her doing Sylvia removed her apparition containing it again as the spirit turned to water and the ground soaked. Looking at the cat she would lean down and smile, "Yes please that would be great, Fish is quite good for the body in fact so I will take some too!" Now was the final test she had to make sure of, was this cat working for the Strauss family.

Sometimes it got a bit annoying how people did not instantly realize where she was at, that she was the one speaking. Even if she was only one foot tall in this form? One should easily notice a speaking feline, or did they have no survival instincts. The worlds lack of ability to sense danger was always an advantage to her though, even if it served as an annoyance sometimes. Fluffy had a secondary form within this body, one that was six feet tall and much heavier, far easier noticed. However, that form was associated with having committed massacres at the side of two coming storms, thus it ruled itself out of use in most situations. With consideration, she simply had to deal with the fact sometimes her smaller foot tall form was harder for people to bring their gaze unto, but it did serve well in allowing her to 'pounce' on people with her speech before they were ready to defend from anything.

Crimson optics watched as this slightly bloodied woman tore from her nameless target, and out of habit glanced around to see if anyone else could see the manifestation. For once? It appeared she was seeing something no one else could, an instance that had not taken place since she was human and possessed her spiritual sensitivity. Considering she now lacked her prior powers? As the buzz in her head exploded for a brief moment she made the noise die once more by assuming she simply now had an increased ability to see magical or demonic creatures that wished to hide themselves. However, for the brief moment before she came up with that explanation? The cats head had hurt ever so bad, for those moments it felt as if someone was trying to split her head wide opened with a hammer from the inside.

Once she received the agreement that was required? Fluffy lead them both into the rather nice pelt made tent, moving so Slyvia could sit in a part much less visible than anywhere else within the small enclosure. The sense of things that the feline had obtained so far, lead her to believe the girl was on the run from something, so she chose to subtly leave open paths that the silvernette could take in order to feel more safe. In the pinch of experience she had, when someone on the run could remain hidden they felt more comfortable and thus opened up more, became more susceptible to her kind of veiled snakes tongue. "Fish is indeed delicious but of course I'm a demon cat, so of course I think its tasty." in spite of the fact it did nothing for her nutrition wise, it didn't make her sick and it tasted very good.

Once she was within the hut, Fluffy realized the bin containing her fish had already been placed within the hut, so she bounded over to it, leaping up to knock the lid off and stand on its rim. "Would you like your's cooked?" the feline asked the question as she picked up one of the fish with her jaws and leaped back down with it, chewing at it while she waited for the other girl to express how she wished her fish to be cooked.

The nature of the hut they entered told her they were quite skilled, pelts fine and perfectly skinned and the smell of fish caught her nose as her stomach rumbled. It was when the feline took her ro a more covered portion of the tent that her mind raced, questions rang in her mind, why would they take me to this spot? Were they trying to gain trust? These questions rang from the many times members of her familys organization hid from her and used her naivety to their advantage. As these questions finished their rounds in her mind a familiar voice rang in her ears, "If you do not trust them why not kill then and be done?" It was a whisper to be sure but she told it off in her head, no killing.

It was when the cat asked her preference for the fish that her thoughts returned to reality, "I would prefer mine cooked yes please." She smiled and while she had little reason to distrust this cat of all things, she could not trust her instincts in these cases. It was then a thought came upon her, if she wished to test if she needed to fight, gamble. So as her food would come to her she would look at the fox and speak, "Have you ever heard of the drug, Sins Tears?" If the cat was from her family they should have a reaction based on faking their reaction, that split second moment where they try and think a response. Speaking again, "My family made me the source of it."

While the feline was very skilled in many arts by now, two of them being hunting and processing the result? This hut was simply offered to her for the night by the village folk who were grateful that she had helped them hunt down a few large beasts in return for fish worth far less than the beasts she had aided in taking down. Honestly, it was no loss for the Kasha because she did not actually need to eat any of the animals she had collected for their food stocks, in fact keeping them alive was like this was akin to a farmer caring for cattle. She had her eye on one of the villagers for a future meal, and the longer that person lived, at the moment it was ensured they would commit more sins, it was like marinating a chicken honestly at this point.

However tonight was not about her next meal, it was about her next member which she was already considering an amazing find. The night could have ended as a blood bath, and Fluffy didn't even know, to be fair Slyvia didn't know either, but if anyone was to attack the feline with the intent to kill, she would return the favor, it was the way of her god, you fought, you offered skulls or blood and fought honorably or you were useless. Murdering one's attempted killer was certainly honorable, but that wouldn't be relevant for the two tonight. Fluffy simply padded to one corner, picking up one of the skewers within the hut, likely actually used for hunting, but they would work for cooking the fish. How a cat knew to stab the skewer through the fish, was foreign, but hey it was a magical world.

"Can you hold this while I cook it?" she was a fire mage so there was no need to start any actual fire within the tent, which made it look abandon now that that the flap to it was no longer opened for some reason. Of course it was not hard to exit or enter still, as a flap was just a flap. Crimson optics blinked as the feline glanced up at the girl who was speaking something about sin tears. So this was someone familiar with drugs, please say she did not find some druggie. Fluffy needed someone who could actually do some sort of drug, not stay strung out high all day. "I probably should have considering the circles I keep tabs on for my own guild master purposes" ya know the purposes of being a dark guild master trying to purge the world of evil? "but that's one I haven't heard of yet." She would have to do some additional research, stop this drug, because she did not want any new drugs brought into fiore, it was a wreck she had to clean it up before she cleaned the world up.  

Source, this girl was the source of a new drug?! Great she could do a public service by making sure this girls family never got her back to distribute the drug anymore, and get a new member at the same time. Two birds with one stones, what could be better. Wait Source... Nyx flashed back to dreams she had not understood as a child, how she truly knew her brother, the sibling her father had screwed over to all hell and back. Nyx could remember astral projecting as he slept after being experimented on, she knew he had been made into a lab rat, had lacrima's put into him the whole nine yards. Instead of the normal response Slyvia would be used to, she would get a haunted one from the feline after it sunk in. "What" she spoke "Did" only a "They" single word "Do" at "To" a time "You!" ending in a statement that sounded angered by whatever idea the feline had in her head about what they had done to the silver haired girl in front of her, flames licking at her front paws showing she was not only a feline but a mage.

Thr flames and anger caused an instinctive recoil from her as she dropped the skewer before collecting her nerves, "My family..." She sighed and parted the bangs from her right eye, yellow and with a pupil like three L's evenly attached she put her hair back down. She spoke softly as it was obvious from the feline mages reaction they were not from the Strauss Syndicate, "The Sin Water or as it was more commonly known Black Water is a drug using powerful hallucinagenic water which my body through magic produces... Or more likevthe source was planted in me at birth." Her eyes grew solemn as she spoke an almost sad look growing with time as she spoke, "I heard stories from my maids, most girls who had the source put in them never survived past ten, some died from the magic source killing them, others commited suicide..." She placed her hand on he table as a ball of black water formed, "This is what the Strauss family moved to the borders of Sin for, and the only reason they lept me alive after they put it in me."

Finishing her explanation she would get up and walk over to the corner and begin coughing as she clenched her hand and looked back with s smile before returning to her seat. Holding out her hand once more it the palm was covered in scratch marks as if nails had raked her skin, "Day in and Day out they had me make their drug, until one day I saw an openimg and ran." Pointing her fingers to the feline she would smile, "I heard while on my way out of Pergrande that Fiore had some strong guilds! So I came here toblearn how to better control my magic as do far all I have done is remove the drug like properties from it... At least now if they catch me and kill me, no other girls will be forced to make the drug..." She laughed though she was afraid, she had no clue why she gave all this info to the feline but at this point she had needed to vent, Fiore was her last bastion and if her family caught her now she was as good as dead.

She did not mean to cause the other girl enough fear to recoil, which was why she had remained in her smaller body for these interactions, as the six foot tall version seemed to be a bit naturally intimidating. Though make no mistake, a good dosage of fear was likely required because she was actually not someone safe to be around. Honestly, Slyvia did not fit into the puzzle pieces beside her, the innocent grown up should have fled by now, but she was good at hiding how dangerous she actually was. Plus, unlike other 'safer' existences so long as she was in her right mind and thinking about how she worshiped chaoris, Fluffy had a strong sense of honor, of not attacking someone while they were down and being the helpful sort. If the demon cat and the human girl she had once been held anything in common it was a will power to help the side they deemed correct.

From everything that was being said, the female suspected this was indeed something similar to how her brother's fate had been forced on him by their father. At the moment, Nyx remembered when she had first discovered her ability to astral project back when she had been human, barely a toddler she began projecting past the locked door into the lab beside their house. In those moment's? She had met another child who was being isolated from the household. Back than, she had been too young to understand what was going on, she had no idea the dark haired boy was her older brother and that her father was experimenting on him. The first time she understood what had been happening, the fact she actually knew the bother she was told about? Was when the group she once traveled with explained the fact she had strong spiritual abilities and most of the time when she fell asleep she projected her soul else where. However, to her belief those powers died with her human self.

"They won't kill you." her voice was low, and her gaze seemed to be somewhere else for a few minutes before a intense inferno of determination filled them. She had done nothing for her own brother when he needed her most, right now she was standing in front of someone she could help, this human was coming to savage skull if she liked it or not. "Those powerful guild's you heard about?" the female walked forward picking up the skewer in her jaws, coming to stand right in front of the other girl, a large ball of flame forming behind her and narrowing out into a stream or whip sort shape. Slowly? The flame crept around running over each fish on the skewer on its own, so carefully, so precisely in spite of the elements wild nature. This was where she would make her move.

"I'm the master of one called Savage Skull." the female spoke as her flame finished cooking the fish and retreated to behind her, where she had it take a few shapes before vanishing. Briefly, the feline moved to offer the skewer back to Slyvia, before taking a few steps back to sit down. "The location sometimes leaves to be desired as we reside next to a graveyard." it was really good for stashing bones until she could give the skulls to Chaoris in worship. "And some of the member's are rough around the edges." oh you know, rough, rough like the god of blood and skulls, or a death goddess, or a zombie. "But it would be a safe place for you, they'd never touch you again so long as I'm alive." because so long as she was alive, anyone who came after Slyvia was going to end up burned to ash, not even six feet under, she would just consume their existence!

With this statement the tiny feline let flames consume her body, shifting to her six foot tall form, a sort of gesture that proved the strength she possessed, laying down in front of Slyvia.

It was that moment, that instant that the reality of who she had come upon caused emotion to well up. It was the collective of every near momemt to capture, every moment she spent on the verge pf death in her escape and every dark whisper from the maiden, and it was the black tears she cried that allowed her to understand her decision. Under normal circumstance she would not bother someone, she would sooner live alone and isolated than bother others with her troubles but this time she was desperate and needed the help. So she wiped the tears amd watched the fluffy cat cook the fish, a dance of flames with control she wished she held over the water she could create. And it was from there that she smiled and jumped back almost suddenly as the once small cat raged into an inferno and became larger in an instant. "So you are a lot bigger then!" She was surprised as it were, most fire mages she met with her family wete sparks, and explosions they were meant for demolition, but this cat was much better and more skilled than she could have ever hoped to be.

Taking a moment to get up from the floor after jumping back she would give a true and soft smile, "I can't do very much myself, I can cook and havd been studying nutrition but so far the only thing I can make properly without burning it or worse undercooking is Soup." With her voice meek and soft she would lean in and hug the cat amd tear up a bit, "Thank you so much, I can't even express how much gratitude I have for taking a useless girl like me in..." She was a bit gard on herself as she spoke but as it stood she was happy, forbthe first time in a long time and she had the chance for something new.