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Sept 21, 2013 12:19:35 GMT -5
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Post by Caitylin Roe on Feb 3, 2013 15:54:28 GMT -5
Cat followed the new human's movements carefully with her keen ears. The urge to run surged at every pause of his steps. But her human mind held her in place. He was looking for something. He was looking for her. Her hackles rose. She counted the possibilities in her head. None of them seemed good. It could be another guard or even a passing knight coming to help hunt down the animal. Running would almost certainly mean discovery and death.
As the human drew closer, she shrunk towards the safety of the wall. The alley wasn't very long, but maybe, if the darkness was deep enough, he wouldn't see her? After all, humans had horrible night vision. All hope of remaining hidden dissapeared when he poked his head around the corner and his eyes went straight to her as if he'd already known exactly where she was. It sent a shiver up her spine and the fur on her tail prickled.
The scent of shock and confusion as he laid eyes on her was almost palpable. She tensed, unsure of what he would do.
He was young and he didn't seem to be a guard or a knight. In fact, he looked too clumsy to be much of anything, but his presence was overwhelming. The way he looked at her, it was almost like he knew. But how could he? She whined, flattening her ears. With each step he took forward, she took two back. Her gait was stiff, almost limping. Her eyes didn't leave his face for a second.
When her tail brushed the back wall of the alley, panic flared up inside her, her fox self forcing its way back to the surface in preparation for fight or flight.
His slow, careful movements reminded her of the way someone might approach a flighty horse. It was confusing. Surely he wasn't actually trying to comfort her? He was human and more than that, he lived in Camelot. That made him a threat to her in every way. If he knew what she really was, he'd call the guards back in an instant. With that thought solidifying in her mind, her muscled coiled and she pressed as close to the wall and as far away from him as possible.
But the boy didn't push her any further. Instead, he crouched down. She watched his hands as he pressed them to the ground and her eyes flickered back up to his face. What was he doing? What did he want? Was he after her fur to earn some coin or simply the sport of her death? How long would it be before he figured out a way to grab her without being bitten?
His greeting pounded her consciousness without sinking in. The sound of his voice was more like shrieking than a whisper to her fox imagination and she growled. Of course, her growl was more like that of a yappy, little, lap dog than a wild animal. She sincerely hoped she didn't look as pathetically outmatched as she felt.
Cat started to calculate her chances of running past him when his voice reached into her mind and grabbed the human part of her, tethering it back to the forefront.
Her ears flicked forward and her eyes widened. He...he was like her! She was so shocked at first that she forgot to answer. Did he live here too or was he just passing through? Surely it was the latter. She couldnt imagine anyone else being stupid enough to live that close to the chopping block.
Her father had said that all magic users were evil, but, for the first time she noticed the kind way he was looking at her. He didnt seem like he meant her any harm and really what choice did she have but to trust him? He was kind of in the way of her escape. Still, she was nervous. He was using magic in Camelot. What possible good could he be doing? Magic users were cunning, deceitful creatures, or so she'd been told. She should probably tell someone about him when she got her body back.
On a more immediate note, it was impossible to ignore how big and scary he was to her fox self.
Suddenly, Cat realized just how long she'd been staring at him without giving an answer to his question. Grabbing ahold of the rope holding her in control, she reached deep into the fog of her mind and mustered up the conviction for a reply. Hopefully she didn't sound as frightened as she was.
"Who are you?"
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Sept 21, 2013 12:19:35 GMT -5
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Post by Caitylin Roe on Feb 3, 2013 11:24:23 GMT -5
Hmmm how about you start the one with Brynn and I'll start the one for Robyn.
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Sept 21, 2013 12:19:35 GMT -5
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Post by Caitylin Roe on Feb 3, 2013 10:44:11 GMT -5
Continue on to different threads on the same line. Morock is the main stallion from the stable she works at in the city. Not the royal stables exactly, but renowned for having excellent horses.
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Sept 21, 2013 12:19:35 GMT -5
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Post by Caitylin Roe on Feb 3, 2013 8:44:18 GMT -5
For Brynn she can be out exercising one of the horses, probably the stallion Morock since she's the only one who can ride him.
We can kinda continue that that with Robyn. She either gets thrown from Morock or bandits see him as an excellent horse and try to steal him. Horse chases are the Merlin equivalent to fancy car chases. Heheh
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Sept 21, 2013 12:19:35 GMT -5
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Post by Caitylin Roe on Feb 3, 2013 7:36:41 GMT -5
Ooh, both those ideas sound wonderful, plus the idea of a fox and a goose aides reminds me of this story I heard when I was kid about a fox who was trying to get a goose off her eggs haha.
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Sept 21, 2013 12:19:35 GMT -5
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Post by Caitylin Roe on Feb 2, 2013 16:22:49 GMT -5
Thread time sounds awesome Cat would love....er hate her puppy.
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Sept 21, 2013 12:19:35 GMT -5
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Post by Caitylin Roe on Feb 2, 2013 11:19:10 GMT -5
The morning had been rather uneventful for Cat. She'd mucked out and fed the horses as usual, but none of the mares were foaling today and by the time mid morning rolled around she'd found herself with nothing to do. There was supposedly a knight coming to buy a horse, so she couldn't just take the afternoon off. Amus had been obsessing over it all week. Rumor was that one of the newer knights was getting himself a horse and when Amus had learned he was coming to their stable, he'd ordered everything cleaned and prepared for the knights arrival. Cat had spent her days making sure everything was perfect.
If Amus caught her just standing around, he'd have her head, so she decided to take out the big, black mare, Terra and start brushing her. She was busy working on the horse's mane when she heard hoof steps behind her. Before she could turn around, she heard a man's voice.
She was turning around to tell him that she would get the owner for him when she saw how tall he was. Goodness he was a large man. She'd never seen someone so tall. And he seemed so..un-knightly without any chain mail or the usual red cloak the knights wore. She didn't know they even took those off in public, although it would make sense that they took them off eventually. Nothing about this man screamed average, but still he didn't seem so noble, almost common. and that smile. He was almost reachable...if she stood on Terra's back maybe. Then she would be only a few inches shorter.
Noo-wow. Crud, was she staring?
Blushing, she fell back on her usual habit of curtesing while mumbling a quick, "Excuse me."
Patting the mare beside her, she nodded towards the paddock with the unsold colts. She doubted any of the mares here would be able to carrying this man for long. Terra hadn't had any fillies in a couple years and she was the only draft horse left since Amus had sold the Fresian stallion.
"There are some fine colts in there just of riding age. Freshly broken, but still good horses."
Amus had been circling the barn all morning, he would likely come round to collect any money and try to convince the knight to buy a lesser steed. That man would cheat his own grandmother out of her house if the money was good enough. She was kind of doing this mountain of a man a favor by showing him the better colts. Well, they weren't colts anymore, but she still thought of them as her little foals to care for.
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Sept 21, 2013 12:19:35 GMT -5
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Post by Caitylin Roe on Jan 31, 2013 11:37:57 GMT -5
The day had already been long and it was still morning. She'd mucked out the stalls, cleaned the paddocks, fed and watered all the horses, and already dealt with six people who'd come through looking for new mounts. Mostly she had to let them look, then turn them away because Amus was nowhere to be found and he'd of been mad as pig with a tooth ache if she'd handled any of his money. on top of all that, two mares had decided to drop their foals that morning.
Arm deep in afterbirth, she'd made sure both mares and their new colts were settled before leaving them be. Both new babies would make fine steeds to any rider when they were old enough. One was a dappled gray, sturdy-legged fellow with a white mane and dark face. The second was jet black, with long legs and a huge head. His mother was a Friesian named Terra. His father was Cat's favorite stallion, a white Andalusian named, Morock. One thing was for sure, this colt would be a sweet, strong horse when he grew up.
Wiping herself clean with a rag, she walked outside for a moment's breath. For now, things were quiet. No other mares were due anywhere near today (although Terra had been early), so she expected a moment of rest before Morock got himself into trouble.
What she got was was a knight calling to her the second she got out of the barn. The horse behind him was clearly very unhappy. He seemed to having trouble even getting the animal to move. Typical. The knights liked to profess themselves experts at everything, including horses, but few knew the front end from the back, let alone how to handle such a powerful animal.
Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Cat forced a smile onto her face and strode up to the knight and his horse.
"Certainly. Let's just get him inside first."
She took the reins from him and set her shoulders in a way that allowed no argument. The one good thing that turning into a fox at night had brought her was an understanding of how animals spoke to one another. Body language was I portent, so even though she couldn't actually speak a word of horse, she was telling this one to move.
He put his head down and hobbled after her without complaint. She smiled to herself. Score one for her, zero for the horse and his master.
Wiping the smug off her face, she tied the horse to a pole on the outside of the barn and smiled pleasantly at the knight.
"if you'll just wait here, I'll be right back with the blacksmith."
And with that she disappeared around back. Hopefully she'd be able to find Amus too.
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Post by Caitylin Roe on Jan 30, 2013 21:59:08 GMT -5
A quickly fading line of orange light rested on the horizon when Caitylin opened her eyes. A shiver ran up the length of her spine while she pulled her dress up over her head. A second layer of clothing peeled away from her flesh and then a third until she was completely naked. The night wasn't particularly cold and she was under a blanket, but still her body trembled.
Pain ripped through her back and into her hips. Everywhere sockets were popping and bones were crunching. Her face lengthened into a muzzle while a tail pushed out just above her butt. Her ears traveled to the top of her head as her teeth grew pointed and her fingers shortened. Claws forced their way out where her nails had once been and her pupils shrank to slits, then expanded back to almost perfect circles. Everything about her was shrinking, squishing into itself until she was barely larger than a housecat.
All of this was extremely painful, but by far the worst was the rapid growth of golden-orange fur over every inch of her body. The burn was excruciating, yet Cat made no sound. Twenty-two years of this transformation every night had long since accustomed her to the pain. Though it didn't hurt any less.
Squirming out from under her thick, wool blanket, the little vixen stood and listened. The city was an explosion of scent and sound to her newly heightened senses. It was almost as if she'd been under water all day and had finally burst into the frigid, night air. Absolutely electric.
Each night at the dissapearance of the last ray of the sun, Caitylin changed from an inconspicuous stable maid into a cunning red fox. It was a curse passed down to her from her mother and her mother's father before her. Being the fox was like being buried inside your own body: aware of everything that was happening, but unable to reach out or speak to anyone. In a sense, she was trapped, held down by the weight of her animal instincts.
Without hesitation, she slid over the matress in the corner and slipped through a small piece of cloth tacked over a fox-sized hole in the back wall. Cat had long ago stopped trying to contain her fox self at night. Nothing worked. First she'd gone through a window and when she blocked those off, she chewed a hole in the wall. She covered that hole and then just chewed another. That second hole was where her fireplace now stood. The first, was her fox door, an easy way to slip in and out of the den during the night.
Squeezing past the stack of firewood she'd piled to hide her exit, the fox burst into the night with a little hop. Where did this shapeshifting vixen live, you ask? Why she lived in probably the dumbest place she possibly could, the city of Camelot. It was the world's most anti-magic zone. If her secret was discovered, she would be dead by morning.
The girl in a fox's skin passed through the barn down a line of snorting horses and hurried to the streets of Camelot. She stuck to the shadows, following the wall back to her chosen destination. As she neared it, she slowed, slinking low to the ground. It hadn't taken her long at all to get to the local farmer's house.
No! she screamed from inside her head. This is such a bad idea. I'm going to get caught. Go home. Go raid someone's garbage. Anything but this. The farmer has gotten wise. But her fox mind paid no heed to her warning. The prize she was after was far better than garbage. Her insides tightened with a mixture of excitement and dread as she skirted towards the chicken coop.
A mother pig grunted at her on her way by and she gave the sow and her piglets a wide berth. The pig had grown careful since the last time Cat had snatched up one of the little hams.
When she reached the coop, her shoulders slumped for just a moment. The whole thing was sealed up tight, the windows boarded, the door bolted shut. The set up could've kept out of one of the infamous knights of Camelot. Obviously the farmer thought one of the locals was stealing his chickens. It would take a clever trick to get in, but it wasn't enough to fool this fox. She was as good getting into places as she was getting out.
A moment later, she was sniffing round the hen house, poking her nose into every crack and inhaling the damp, dusty smell of chicken. It went straight to her head and fogged up her mind. She found the largest hole and started scraping her teeth against the wood. A few chickens roused inside and began clucking their disapproval. The more she worked, the louder they got until their frightened chortles rang in her ears.
Hurry up you stupid fox! Get out of there.
Made anxious by the noise, she started furiously scratching away at the earth. She was halfway through digging her way in when she felt an explosion of pain in her side and went sailing backwards. Screeching, she flipped over on her side and twisted in midair from the force of the blow. Above her stood the farmer, a shovel in his hand.
He looked as shocked to see her as she was to see him. After all, she could easily fit through the grate in and out of the city, but what animal would be stupid enough to come to a place so infested with humans? His shock didn't halt him for long, though. Face furrowing with rage, the farmer swung his shovel again.
Run! Run! Run! And for once her fox self didn't need to be told twice.
She bolted, just barely dodging another blow. As she ran, she heard him calling out for the guards. She had only a moment to think how silly it was to rile them over such a small animal before two of them materialized from around the corner.
The larger one pulled out his sword and the other followed. They charged her and Cat jumped into the leader's face, screaming up a storm. She barely even scratched him, but the baby tumbled backwards, hollering like she'd spit acid in his face. The other one hesitated for only a second before he went for her too.
This time, she turned and ran, ducking under carts in an effort to slow them down. She easily got ahead of them and turned down a side alley. The two guards from before and three more ran past while she crouched in the comfort of the wall's shadow.
God, I'm so stupid. How could I let this happen?
She was just about to head back to the safety of her den when she heard the cautious footsteps of another human. The scent of herbs, soap, and leather reached her nostrils and she tensed, watery blue eyes searching for the source of the scent.
Timeline: Season Two-Post Lady in the Lake Time: Early Nighttime Tag: Merlin Notes: If you want to hear what a fox scream sounds like, www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxLHUxzEoRU skip ahead to 1:11 ...turn your sound down. XD
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Sept 21, 2013 12:19:35 GMT -5
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Post by Caitylin Roe on Jan 30, 2013 11:51:03 GMT -5
Hello everyone! I'm Cat and I'm super excited to be here. My little vixen Caitylin needs some interaction.
She's a...um magic user. Yah we'll call her that for now. She's really bad at magic though and only knows one spell. I interestingly enough, she also spends her nights as a fox and not by choice. The victim of a cross generational curse, she is doomed to spend her life between one way and another. She has trouble making friends because of this and the thought of ever falling in love terrifies her because she will pass on the curse to any children. Poor little dear also lives in Camelot, so she can get a bit paranoid. Since her father's death, however, she has been completely alone and is more open to making friends.
I'm open to anything with her, though romance will be difficult for her to handle. Of course we all love to torture our babies, don't we. >
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Post by Caitylin Roe on Jan 26, 2013 12:30:23 GMT -5
| ~ • ~ | Character Basics | ~ • ~ |
.:Name of Character:. Caitylin Roe .:Nick Name:. Cat .:Age:. 22 .:Race:. Druid .:Status:. Citizen/Peasant
| ~ • ~ | Appearance | ~ • ~ |
.:Physical Appearance:. Cat is a small, light boned girl of quiet beauty. Light hair and blue eyes would normally ensure that plenty of men would take a second look at her, but she acts so meek that most don't even notice her existence. It helps that dirt is a common factor for her and she usually has at least some smeared on her face or garments. Her clothes are the usual peasant fare of browns, blues, and grays, though she does have one aqua green dress that she convinced herself to spend money on. She’s yet to actually wear it outside her own apartment behind the stable.
As a fox, Cat is somewhat lighter and yellower than your average red fox, but she doesn’t look that unusual. Like her human form, she is small and light boned, barely bigger than a house cat. Her fur is a golden orange, almost a strawberry blond. The very tips of her feet are dark brown while her muzzle, underbelly, and the end of her tail are white. Just a shadow of brown marks her face. Her eyes, however, are still the same, brilliant, watery blue as her human self. They are the one thing to identify her as a less than normal fox. .:Height:. 5’ 2” .:Portrayed by:. Teresa Palmer
| ~ • ~ | Personality | ~ • ~ |
.:Personality:. Caitylin is a girl of two halves in more ways than one. She is human and fox. She is meek and yet wild. She has a healthy fear of magic, yet is drawn to using it. She is sweet and happy, yet also somewhat withdrawn and depressed. Most see only the quiet, obedient side she shows at the stable. They would never suspect her to have magical abilities or to be a very good thief. They certainly would not expect her to be running the streets at night as a fox. She knows she should move, get out of the city before she is discovered, but fear of the unknown holds her back. She has no knowledge of hunting. What would she do to feed herself? What would she do for work? Steal and end up like her father? No. She couldn’t bear that, couldn’t handle going out some thief like her parents. At the same time, she feels like she has to stay alive to honor their memories.
This is part of the reason why she resents her curse so much. The sneaky, clever way she gets a thrill out of stealing little pieces of people’s lives. It’s kind of sick. She’s terrified of how comfortable she feels as a fox, how she feels like she’s lost a piece of herself in the morning, how right magic feels for her. Her father drilled it into her head that magic is bad, dangerous, that no good can come of it. She feels guilty that she cannot follow his advice, but magic pulls on her too strongly to ignore. So she tries her best to be simple, to blend in.
With all this going on, close friends are almost impossible for Cat, though she is loyal to those who earn the honor. Those who think they know her see a happy, sweet girl who is very polite, if a little forgetful. The ones who look a little closer, however, see the fire inside her. They see the tongue just waiting to lash out with sarcasm, the clever, creative mind that loves to sit in the forest and draw, even the almost fierce concentration behind her blue eyes.
And for love? Pfft. Well that’s out of the question. Her father made sure to remind her often how she would be passing on the curse if she ever were to fall in love, how she would just be hurting the man who dared to court her. Indeed, she has had a few crushes, but she’s painfully shy and quiet. That, combined with her fear of others learning about her magic makes love a bit impossible for her.
.:Strengths:. Limited magic. Fairly intelligent. Pretty good thief when she wants to be.
.:Weaknesses:. Painfully shy. pushes others away. Naïve. Weak with magic. Very insecure. Cursed (no nights out with friends for her). Has no fighting skills as a human whatsoever.
.:Magic Abilities:. *Cursed – As the last child born of a line of thieves who were cursed by a vengeful sorceress, Cat is forced to spend her nights as a fox. In her fox form she is much bolder, but also unable to use spells. Her control over herself is also limited (mostly only enough to keep her fox self in the shadows of the city at night if she escapes her house), though she remembers most, if not all of what has happened during her fox time.
*Telepathy – Cat has been working on this skill since she was old enough to be allowed outside the castle walls and first heard the voices of other druids. She essentially uses it as a sort of radar for when other druids are around in order to avoid them. However, she's still pretty bad at it. She can receive messages just fine and answer back, but has little filtering capability and often ends up broadcasting her own thoughts by accident (especially when she isn't focusing).
*Cloaking – For the first five years of her life her mother started teaching her how to cloak herself. When her mom died, she continued to work on this skill without her father knowing. However, without any guidance, she can barely manage to fade out for a minute or two.
*Spells and Incantations – Aside from cloaking, Cat has forgotten all the spells her mother taught her as a child. With no teaching, and no way to use magic as a fox, Cat has yet to master any spells, though the potential is there.
.:Special Skills:. *Artist – Cat is a pretty good artist. She’s not perfect, being self-taught and all, and the only one so far whose had the privilege of seeing any of her drawings has been her father, but she does consider herself skillfull. Drawing was a way for her to ignore things that bothered her as a child and still does this for her as an adult. .:Accents:. Light English accent
| ~ • ~ | History | ~ • ~ |
.:Birthplace:. Forests outside Camelot .:Family:. Graiden Solace – Grandfather – Alive Keeda Solace – Grandmother – Druid – Alive Baxton Solace – Uncle – Druid – Alive Trevor Solace – Uncle – Druid – Deceased Leona Solace/Roe – Mother – Druid – Deceased Pyan Roe – Father – Deceased .:Occupation:. Stable hand .:Current Location of Residence:. Camelot .:History:. To understand the story of Caitylin Roe, one must first know that of her not so distant ancestor, Graiden Solace. He was a master thief and took delight in robbing people blind while making them smile. The bigger the stakes, the better. But one day he made the mistake of stealing from a sorceress. At first, nothing happened. He was able to sell of the crystal he stole from her for a hefty price and spent the next night drinking himself into a rather good mood. The next day he met the sorceress on the trail and she gave him the chance to give her property back. When he couldn’t, she cursed him and all who followed his lineage. By day, they were human, by night they were foxes. Always thieving, but never managing more than a simple chicken.
In an effort to break his curse, he befriended a Druid woman. She was unable to help him, but the two of them fell in love and had three children. One of these children was Leona Solace. Leona embraced her fox self more than her two brothers and father. She found that, with the magic her mother taught her, she could steal bigger and better things, even gain near perfect control over her fox mind, and managed to catch the eye of a dashing young thief, named Pyan Roe. Despite her parents’ warnings, she quickly fell in love with him. They married and had one child together, a daughter, named Caitylin. Pyan learned his wife’s secret when their daughter changed to a fox cub a night.
At first, he was horrified. Magic was not something he thought should be trifled with, but he also loved his wife and daughter more than anything in the world. After much deciding, he overcame most of his aversion to magic just for them, though he was never comfortable with the idea of Leona teaching their daughter magic. It was something they fought about quite a lot. Pyan insisted that magic was dangerous while Leona was adamant that their daughter could better protect herself with the use of it.
Pyan got his way, unfortunately, when Cat was only five years old. Leona was killed during the night by a hunter while trying to steal his coin purse. After that, Pyan moved himself and Caitylin into Camelot, where he believed she was certain to never learn magic an even went so far as to lock her in the house for the first few years to prevent her discovery. Unbeknownst to him, Cat continued to work on her magic all her life, though his constant reminding that magic was bad kept her from truly embracing her potential.
He raised her by stealing their daily bread and teaching her to do the same. But when her father was executed for theft, Cat decided that it was time for her to earn an honest living. She took up a job caring for horses at the local stable and did her best to lay low. She still bears her father’s wariness of magic, but it is such a part of her and her life that she cannot avoid it. Aside from the telepathy that came naturally to her, what little she has taught herself has been for the sake of survival and survival alone. If she were discovered in the city, it would mean certain death, so she cloaks herself when in fox form and steals only small things (aside from the time she stole a piglet right out from under the farmer and sow’s noses).
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