YOU GET WHAT YOU GRIEVE / open, intro

[madster]

[align=center][div style="width: 400px; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 12px; color: ;;"]Circe was an orphan.

In the thick forest of the marsh, three cats lived; Circe and her two parents. Her mother and father had come from lands distant and escaped to live a peaceful life with their surviving child. Circe didn't ask what happened to her siblings. Every time that was brought up, she had to watch the facial muscles of her mother conform into one of fear, and she didn't like that.

The three were alone and content with their lives. They were simply loners who lived in harmony with their surroundings. Though one day, the forest betrayed them. One day Circe woke up and her parents didn't.

She was only four months old. How was she supposed to live in a world without her parents? She was so young she couldn't deduct the way they had died, but there was no external injuries. Their faces were calm as if they couldn't see their own death coming. With no time to grieve, the child wandered out, unaware of what had truly happened- she was too young to process the concept of death- and stumbled into a mysterious group of animals.

They didn't ask where she came from and lived among them- it had been a few days now. Here, she was fed and watched over and so she enjoyed it, although perhaps she would never understand what had happened to her parents. This morning, sunlight streamed through the leaves and the feline looked up, a bittersweet feeling in her gut. This was home now, so she'd have to accept it.

A lot of the times, she saw animals just yell out their names and they'd get attention, and today Circe was feeling somewhat lonely, and so she joined the bandwagon. "Hey! My name's Circe! I'm kind of new here! Please be nice to me!"

[roman]

it seems as if tanglewood is so full of children that it is bursting at the seams, eh? well, maybe not. fish, for example, is not a child. she looks like a (large) child, behaves like a child, and thinks like a child. but time passes differently for water spirits, and though she may believe that she has been lurking within the swamp for only a year or so, it has actually been several decades since her prenatal demise and subsequent reincarnation. had fish not passed away much too early, had she grown up in a different body and received the name of connie, she would have lived a full live. but she didn’t so now she is here, searching for whatever scrap of entertainment that she can find. life is so boring alone; hence, her decision to lurk within the ranks of the local clan. although she has been aware of their presence for quite some time, it took fish a while to stop curiously watching from the shadows and advance to pretending to be part of the group. no one told her she had to join officially, so fish assumes that no one notices or cares.

the scaly canine emerges from the woods suddenly and silently—on second she is not there and the next a massive creature the size and shape of a full grown wolf seems to melt from the shadows. fish does not actually melt. it’s just a trick played on the eyes by her natural camouflage. just like a chameleon, fish can manipulate the color and hue of her hide to blend into her surroundings. it is very useful for hunting, stalking, and playing pranks on others. or just being creepy. as of now, they are a stunning, iridescent black; like oil on water. ”hello, circe who is new. i am fish who is not new, but people don’t know me either so i guess we are practically the same.” the childlike beast trots over with a friendly smile, comically large ears pearched atop her thick skull.