Priestess, Princess, Cannibal {Open | Intro}

Cold winds whipped across the face of the hungry girl as she came nearer and nearer to the summit of Mt. Hakobe. Snow pelted her, painting her ragged sweater, its once-vibrant shade of pink now worn down to a dull rose shade, and now being peppered with speckles of white snow. Her thick hair seemed to be a favorite place for the snow that began to slowly fall, and she wondered how amusing it looked, the white flakes of falling snow covering her hair. Perhaps by the time she arrived at her destination, it would be entirely coated in white, and she would look some years older. She giggled at the thought. To think that a member of the affluent Velkhomme family would now be reduced to a travelling, hungry beggar marching her way to hopefully find a new home. She shivered at the cruelty that had become upon her. Even if it had been some time, she still remembered how the courts judged those who murdered her father "not guilty." How they dictated the fates of others by the money that would be handed to them. It angered her. Perhaps the heat from her rage would warm her up?

Such foolish thoughts were Valkyria's best way to cope with everything that transpired the past few months. She lived in the wilderness for those months, the girl who once was fed and provided for, all on the silver spoon of nobility, now being reduced to a savage. Yet Kyra could not say she did not enjoy the life. The thrill of the chase was much more exciting than the mundane life Father had appointed for her, where she would be wed for the sake of alliances and cash, no regard for who she was. That was why this "Errings Rising" appealed to her so. From what she heard from the rumors, it was somewhere that someone could be free. Someone could live their lives and make their own destinies. Kyra wanted that. She had desired that from the moment Father told her that she was to be wed to some fat noble older than Father was. Despite the rumors that swirled, this was enough for her to accept.

Perhaps they would accept her curse? This strange lacrima she had encountered while on the run, that led her to such efficient savagery and a taste for human flesh, would they accept it nonetheless? It was her ticket to true freedom, even if it made her an outlaw by the world's standards. While it was an accursed magic, it was one that was accepted by her nonetheless. One that she could use to bolster her power and thrust her into a life of freedom...a life worth living. She was tired of it all. The jeering faces of those who found her "lesser" because she did not have magic, while all her siblings and cousins and every single relative bore such a gift. The disdainful scowls of those who called her "filth" while she was on the run. The hunters who called her a monster as she wandered the wilderness. It was all something that she had caused, all things that were her fault, and the providence of the cruel world that she had to accept. She obtained freedom from genericity only to be scorned for being different. Perhaps she would die in this unfortunate hike? It would not be an unwelcome thought, but one that Kyra still fought against, out of the purest survival instincts.

A rumble roared in her stomach. She had not eaten before making the trek from the wildernesses around Shirotsume to Errings Rising, eating along the journey briefly. Upon reaching Mt. Hakobe, she did not eat, resolving herself only to feast upon what the guild would certainly have in store. It would be painful, sure, but something she would accept for the sake of a greater, tastier reward in future. Her body refused with her mind as she reached a village. A man was unfortunate to catch her alone at night, and he would fall victim to the cannibalistic urges the lacrima gave her. A quick bludgeon to the head marked his end, and soon enough, his corpse became mangled from the ripping of flesh and gnawing of bone. Kyra left soon after, where she now lay on her journey, hungry, cold, and lonely.

She finally caught sight of the grand castle of Errings Rising. It was a majestic building, the grey spires piercing the heavens just as Kyra would imagine in her storybooks she so loved to read.  She came upon the doors, slowly pressing them open and feeling a warm, refreshing haze of heat blast across her face. This was a kind of homey warmth she had not felt since Father's death, and she welcomed it. Inns and taverns ran afoul of her in short fashion, whether for lack of funds or for sheerly mocking Kyra, and the times she would still manage to bore her way into a storage room, there was a damp air that clung to the roof of her mouth, and an aggravating feel of out of placeness, this princess of the wealthy now having been brought in as a remnant of her former self and forced to lay behind barrels and on shelves for comfort. The days in the wilderness provided less respite than that, only relying on leaves or coping with the stench of recently killed prey. This place felt so much nicer.

"H-hello?" she shyly asked into the air, seeing no one around. Even if there was someone around, there was little chance they could hear due to the timidity in her voice, speaking little louder than a tepid whisper. "W-Well...I guess I could...just..." She took this as an invitation to bask in the warmth and, before she knew it, she was laying on the ground, soaking in the warm hearths and dotted candles filling the halls. The stone, though cold, still felt warmer than the usual dirt and mud she would have to sleep in otherwise, and all of it was a welcome escape from the snowy, blizzarding hellscape behind her. Even if she in particular was not cold, she would wake up shivering from sleeping in such cold locales, even she knew. Despite the strangeness of the situation, with this mysterious, strange girl napping on the floor of a castle, Kyra felt it much more hospitable than the world had been to her, and she smiled.

To think that, the first time she had entered a proper building in months, the first action that Kyra thought of was to take a nap right then and there on the floor. The cold of the outdoors was especially biting. Perhaps if Kyra knew that the halls of Errings Rising were atop such a high peak, she may have reconsidered her actions in favor of a warmer place. Though, if it were too warm, that would have been an issue as well, so she merely accepted the invitation of the relatively warm ground, snuggling up in her sweater as if it were a blanket. One of the best parts about sweaters, she found. The warmth and comfort they provided. A smile rose upon her face, which marked the realization that she had fully fallen asleep. She rose up, rubbing the weariness from her eyes, coming upon a blonde, under-dressed woman sitting in front of her. "Good morning!" Kyra said, in as chipper a manner as her tired voice would let her.  She would blink a few times to fully exhume the tiredness from her mind before coming to yet another realization. "W-wait! A-are you one of the residents here? Ooooohh, I'm sorry about just walking in here and-"

She stumbled to her feet, looking back down upon the woman. She waited in silence for a second before lowering her head slightly. "I'm sorry, I-I'll just leave. I... I didn't mean to intrude on you." She mumbled, turning to leave. She pushed the door open just a slight bit, and she was blasted once more by the cold air bellowing in. She closed the door once more, a well of resolve flushing across her face quicker than her blushing. "N-no! It's too cold out!" she said to herself quietly, psyching herself up. She turned once more to the woman. "S-sorry to intrude, again, b-but... is this where Errings Rising is? I-I've been looking for them for a f-few months now, s-so..." Each word of her speaking grew gradually softer and softer, the minuscule confidence she had drifting away quicker than the blizzard outside. Once more, a small burst of confidence rose to her. "I-If this is actually Errings Rising, d-do you mind if I j-join? I-is there an application I have to fill out o-or..."

Once more, her voice faded away. She was never used to deciding things for herself without it being for the bare need of survival, and even those survival instincts rose up in the months since getting her lacrima. Kyra was never going to inherit Father's company. She was the youngest of eight, and a daughter as well. She was just that - a woman to be wed to someone else. She wanted to defy that, but considering her actions now, she was contemplating if that was the place she belonged: just as a bargaining chip.

"N-no... of course there's no application. This is a wizard guild, not a restaurant. S-sorry to bother you with such a stupid question. I-I should just..." She began to turn around once more, making more spins than a top, but she resolved confidence in herself once more. Surely this was a strange sight for the woman in front of her, but she did not care. She finally had a chance to prove her worth! Even if it was something as simple as introducing herself, she found confidence in hopefully being able to do at least that. "S-sorry. I should stop being so indecisive. I-I'll stay. I already traveled this far up to get here, right?" She hoped joking with herself could help dissipate her tension. It did not. "I-I guess I sh-should start with an introduction. M-My name's-" as she said her name, it became unintelligibly quiet. A blush had already painted her face, she just knew it. She welled confidence in herself once more, before "shouting", "M-my name is Valkyria Velkhomme!" though the shout was no louder than someone asking a family member to pass the salt when they're a few chairs away. Going to a return to her quietness, she quietly mumbled, "B-but you can c-call me Kyra."

Each attempt at an interaction Kyra had with this woman surely made her look worse and worse and even more incompetent than she could have ever liked. Kyra was flubbing everything. She struggled to even open a door, she barely managed to stumble through an introduction of herself, even with so many breaks in speaking. And now, she was sure she looked redder than a tomato, the blood rushing to her cheeks in a bright red blush. She slowly began to tuck her head into her sweater, as if to attempt to hide from the world as she had done so many times. Surely she looked like a mess right now, the unbalanced footing, the fidgeting hands, the head trying to retreat into the sweater like an ostrich hiding its head in the sand, and what was shown of her face was a nervous, blushing mess. The rumors said that Errings Rising took part in... criminal acts, of any kind. If Kyra could not manage to even introduce herself to someone who seemed friendly enough, how could she manage to survive and thrive in a guild like this?

"S-sorry if it seems a bit forward..." she muttered quietly, the already quiet voice muffled by the collar of her sweater, "b-but can I a-ask your name? A-and if this really is Errings Rising. I-If it isn't I-I'll just go. S-sorry to bother you."

Beira, the woman called herself. Kyra wondered how she could be so underdressed, especially in a cold environment like this. Nonetheless, figuring it would cause more trouble if she failed to listen, she followed after her as the two came towards the dining hall. Beira took the first seat, and Kyra followed shortly after. The entire time, she had her head still tucked into her sweater, looking towards the ground, attempting to avert her eyes to the much more competent woman than her. When the servant came by from the shadows, Kyra could not help but jump a little bit. She had not been expecting such a thing, and the quick yelp of fear caused her face to grow yet redder, if it were even possible. She had fully warmed up by this point, now growing to the risk of overheating from her blushing face of embarrassment.

She mumbled quietly to herself a request for food, so quiet it would not have been heard even without her sweater muffling her voice further. That, and she did not really say anything, just "Whatever is fine." Of course, the only one that could hear this was herself, and even then it was barely more than the quietest of whispers. An urge ran bubbling in her stomach. The same urge that had filled her body each time she partook in the taboo feast. She wished to quell it, but she knew it was inevitable that the desires would overcome her, no matter what she herself truly wanted. "I-If you wouldn't m-mind, c-can I get some t-tea?" The servant nodded in approval before asking the food preference. "I-I guess I'll have s-some meat?" she finally said, tilting her eyes up ever so slightly before they retreated once more. The waiter, as she feared, asked what kind. "A-anything's f-fine." The demon within roared. "B-but..." she whimpered, her voice strained. Even though she knew it was impossible, she struggled against the calling beast. "...i-if you h-have some h....h-human.... th-that'd b-be j-just fine..."

A rush of emotions flashed across her entire body. Fear. Sadness. Embarrassment. She was flooded with the negative emotions she had grown so used to. "S-sorry, I k-know it's illegal, b-but..." she fidgeted in her chair. "I-I bet you don't want s-someone like me w-"

The servant cut her off, insisting that she stay, and that they would be willing to oblige. Kyra could not just decline such insistence, so she gave in and stayed, returning to a seated position. "Y-you want to know wh-why I want to join th-this guild of yours?" She at least smirked slightly underneath her sweater at Beira's joke about the reading club. "Th-there's a f-few reasons. M-mainly...I just wanted to be f-free from... well, everything. Th-the rumors I heard about this place s-said that Errings R-Rising doesn't really c-care for laws, a-and that means y-you've got a lot of f-freedom, right?" She sighed, sinking further into her chair as her mouth continued to hide beneath a layer of fluffy sweater. "I...I n-never really got to decide a-anything for myself. I-I just had to listen to F-Father a-and... whatever h-he said, I did. B-before everything happened, I-I was supposed to marry s-some f-fat b-b-b-bas..." she whimpered slightly, unable to bring herself to the word. "I was supposed to marry some rich m-man from S-Seven once he got s-some big deal taken c-care of. S-so...I wanted to be free..."

She mumbled to herself a little more before speaking aloud again. She did not know why she was opening up so easily to this strange woman. Perhaps it was because she finally had the option to make her own decision? Perhaps she was proud of such a mundane feat, and being able to explain it to the first person who seemed willing to listen to her wrapped Kyra's heart in confidence.

"A-and...if y-you don't care about l-laws...then I g-guess you p-probably won't c-care about my... unfortunate habits." For some reason, a deeper blush washed over her face and she blurted out in her version of a loud shout, actually removing her face from her sweater, "I-I swear! I-I'm usually vegetarian! S-sometimes my l-lacrima j-just wants to eat m-meat..." She looked around scaredly, wondering if anyone heard her outburst. She had felt like it was a scream to the world, the loudest noise that anyone could have ever imagined, but it seemed as though the stark reality of her quiet voice and its booming sound of a slightly angry kitten did little more to effect the immediate area than gather a few curious, second-long glances.

"S-sorry... I j-just get a bit l-loud sometimes. I-if you want, I-I'll just..." She sighed, failing to complete her sentence. She knew that, no matter what she tried, it would just lead to the same result of her chickening out on her own or someone telling her to stay. So, she remained, having buried herself in her thick clothing once more, waiting for the people to continue to investigate her in morbid curiosity, as if she were nothing more than a zoo beast.

To say that Kyra found herself shocked at the woman suddenly throwing a knife would be an understatement. At the initial toss, she retreated into her sweater in a panic, flinching once more when the cutlery returned. She seemed to give an expecting look, but Kyra was too stunned to really say anything regarding the matter.  She felt herself quiver ever so slightly, the pause between the knife toss and Beira's order enough to seemingly stop Kyra's heart. The only thing that kept her remaining was when the girl across from her continued speaking. It confirmed she was not hit by the knife, at the very least.

That said, the relief from knowing she was not impaled by flying silverware quickly faded when the threat of using her bones as a hairpin came in. A twinge in the back of the shy redhead's mind told her it was just an example case, but the rest of her being accepted it as a real, honest threat. She was prepared to apologize and leave once more when Beira thankfully made her intention, or rather, lack of intention clear. Kyra did not know whether or not to feel relieved at this point. She settled with terrified. It seemed to be the natural course of action in this entire conversation with the strong-looking blonde.

Then came the talk of responsibility. "O-Oh. R-right. I-I apologize in advance for when I don't do my job right. It's going to happen, I already know it, s-so I might as well warn y-you in advance. A-and don't bother with w-worrying about me. I-I'd just be a burden to you." Her head dipped in sadness. If she did not remind herself of her shortcomings, who would? After all, it was something she knew about more than anyone else. But even with those fears, there was still a flicker, the faintest ember of confidence laying in her being. "P-predetermined roles? The pleasure of a select few? S-sorry for speaking so brusquely, b-but it's kinda dumb, isn't it? S-sorry if I'm insulting your g-guild wh-when I say this, b-but I'm n-not the best for a l-life of crime. S-sorry! I-If that's not what you g-guys d-do, then, sorry! B-but...I h-had to make a ch-choice. S-stay powerless o-or get p-power. I w-wanted to stand up for myself, b-but...i-it made me a freak! An outcast!" Her voice rose to a feverish, conversational pitch. "I didn't want to be like this! I didn't want any of this crap! I just wanted to stand up for the people I care for, to not be a burden, and then I get cast out from the known world because of it! I know what I do when my power gets the best of me is wrong, but those rules and laws that don't permit me to just be a normal person that doesn't need to rely on anyone are crap!" She took a few deep breaths before realizing what had just happened and she once more shrunk back away into the recesses of her sweater. "S-sorry, I-I think I got a bit c-carried away there. I-if you want, I-I'll just go."

She was prepared to leave when the server came by with their food and drink. A piping hot cup of tea, and a grotesque slab of meat. As much as her brain reviled it, her mouth watered and her nose filled with the pleasure of an enticing aroma. She stopped all preparation she had towards moving when Beira spoke once more, asking a strange question. "Wh-what I think of freedom? S-stones and s-smoke?" She pondered aloud as she took a knife and cut away a portion of the strange meat and ate it like one would do with any sort of meal. "W-well...I s-suppose it depends on h-how you think of it. B-both are free, but neither are. S-smoke seems the most free at a glance, b-but...in order for smoke to form, there needs to be fire, right? B-but the smoke itself is free to d-do whatever it wants. It can c-curl and twist, it can be pushed by the wind, or just float into the sky and e-exist on its own. It has free actions, b-but it cannot exist freely. B-but the stone is also a bit free, too. It doesn't need anything to let it exist, b-but, and it's just a p-part of nature. But even still, i-it can't do anything without a-anyone acting on it. I-it exists without anything else, b-but it's not able to do anything by itself..." She sipped on her tea, not even realizing that, since beginning this conversation, she had not even retreated her head into her sweater. "I-if I had to choose one, th-though...I g-guess the smoke. O-once it's out into the w-world, it can d-do whatever it wants. E-even if it needs something to b-bring it that freedom, once it's there, nothing c-can stop it."

She continued munching away at her meal, each bite becoming less civilized than the last, a contrast to the always-constant cultured sips of tea. "I-I honestly d-don't know much about freedom. I-I needed Father for me to exist, a-and even then I c-couldn't do anything. I-I was just...an object. I-it's what I deserve though. I-in my whole family - brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, everyone, - I was the only one w-without magic. I-I was a d-disgrace from birth, a-and I kept being a burden until th-then. All that I-I was useful for w-w-was m-m-m-my..." She felt herself becoming more and more reclusive as she spoke. "F-F-Father o-o-only said I-I w-w-was useful f-f-for b-being s-some b-b-b-bimbo-" her voice cracked at quoting her Father. "-t-to marry to s-someone f-for the sake of h-his c-company. Th-the sake of the f-family, h-he said..."

She curled up into a ball on her chair, leaving a small portion of meat and an empty tea cup on the table, having completely lost her appetite. Why was she opening up to this... this stranger? Someone she had not even known for an hour, and had threatened to break her bones for accessorizing, and now Kyra was speaking to her more than she had with anyone else. Perhaps that was the effect of having someone that treated her like a person as opposed to "that magicless Velkhomme daughter" or "the human-eating monster." She felt all sorts of conflicting emotions as she dug her head into her sweater entirely, leaving only her hair to spill over the head hole of the sweater. She did not care how embarrassing it looked, she just wanted to escape from her own words. Of course she would bring this on herself. Beira had not prompted Kyra to speak on her past, Kyra just did. And now, Kyra was in a dark place. That faint ember of confidence had not only been snuffed out, it was extinguished with the might of a thousand firefighters. Perhaps Kyra would have preferred if the dark warmth of her sweater would be the last sensation she would feel before finally fulfilling her only useful purpose and dying. She could dream, but she had a faint glint of fear that such a thing would not happen.

Kyra thought that she was finally getting at least the faintest bit comfortable when another louder, as she put it, "less inhibited" woman entered the dining hall. She would be lying if she did not say that the appearance of the girl set off a few alarms in her head, though she was not sure of exactly which ones. "B-beauties?" Kyra mumbled, tilting her head away from the second under-dressed blonde. "S-sorry, y-you shouldn't think of me th-that way... A-and I c-could never 'kick s-someone's a-a...' Um...I c-could never k-kick someone. Th-they'd just be too b-bothered by me..." Her voice trailed off as Jen kept talking. The slightly muffled air seemed to shut off when the word 'succubus' was heard. Was that why Kyra was feeling this way? Or perhaps...was it something more simple?

She seemed to warm up more quickly to the succubus, though she did not even know why, and was beginning to go back to a normal seated position when the servant who had given her their tea and her food suddenly morphed form. He seemed to know about her and her unfortunate habit. "C-crazed person?" she said at Cirven's mention of the phrase. She curled up into a ball on her chair. "Y-yeah...that's all I am. J-just a crazed person, o-or a wild, starving animal th-that should be p-put down..." She sunk her head back into her sweater, once more leaving a puff of fluffy hair as the only visible part of her body that was not clothes. "M-my l-lacrima? Fr-from what I c-can tell, i-it gives me G-God Slayer p-powers. I-I'm sorry! I-I don't know f-for sure! J-just...w-when I hear p-people t-talk about G-God Slayers, i-it s-sounds like s-something similar t-to what I can d-do. B-black, u-unholy attacks, a b-breath attack..." She whimpered, curling up tighter into a ball inside her sweater and rocking on her chair. "I-I don't know! I-I'm sorry! A-all I k-know is th-that this l-lacrima g-gives me magic a-and makes me w-want to eat th-things!"