V: Corax - Tumblr Posts
V: Corax (World of Darkness AU) - Senja is a variation of were-corvid, taken in by humans as an infant who thought she was a baby bird. She is, unfortunately, mostly unaware of the other creatures lurking in the wider world. It’s only recently that she encountered another Corax who has filled her in on several aspects of what she is.
“Calm down, I’m not the one who put you in there!” (but consider, for extra spice: senja's wod verse/byan's vtm verse :3c u know i always gotta lmao)
Imprisoned Monster Starters || Accepting!
Calming down wasn’t quite an option right now. Senja didn’t care that her wings were on display, complete with black talons and gold eyes– eyes currently shining with panic as her hands cinched around the bars of her “cage”. She only cared that someone else was there, someone who didn’t seem to be with the hunters who’d thrown her in there. She sucked in a shaky breath, feathers ruffled and fluffed up.
“Yeah I KNOW you’re not the one who put me in here! What matters is if you can get me out??” she hiss-whispered. “I’ll find something to pay you back, can you get the door open??”
She didn’t do well in confined spaces.
Verse Notes!
Not so much headcanons as differences between her main and World of Darkness werecorvid verses!
She doesn’t have hypnotic singing in this verse, but she does have abilities linked to fire & sunlight, and she can gain different memories from a corpse depending on whether she eats the left or right eye.
She is much more easily distracted by shiny and sparkly things, to the point it can be a genuine struggle to ignore one that she sees (and it is something hunters will use against her kind).
She's not weak to olive trees in this verse, but gold will hurt her as badly as silver will hurt a werewolf.
The amused snort came as a bit of a surprise. They said they weren’t laughing at her, but what was so funny about birdwatching and sitting in the sun? … Maybe they just didn’t see the enjoyment in it? She shook her head.
“Nah, not just that! Uhhh let’s see, origami, I work in a coffee shop, I have a fish tank to take care of, sometimes I’ll go hunting,” she rattled off. “What about you?”
cont from here with @bluefeathrs
Coyote snorted out loud at her mellow response. That was the most normal response they could've expected yet it felt so alien. That likely said a lot about them as well as the type of company they keep. "Sorry, I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing at something vaguely related."
"Is it just the bird watching? And basking in the sun? In total?" That had been such a mild answer. It didn't match up with whatever they had been picking up on. So why the hell were the vibes they got from her absolutely atrocious?
A Corax's Crinos form– their “war” form– wasn't big and brutish like a Garou. They were fast, but not necessarily strong. That was the only reason she was still in there. Even so she was fortunate that her weakness to a particular metal would render most hunters broke before they could gather enough to do her any real harm.
Had Senja been raised among Corax, she'd have a much better grasp on… everything about her. Hell, it was only thanks to another Corax coming across her that she knew ANY of this… Her more advanced abilities, for example, such as full control of the Helios-given light and fire magic her kind was able to do– or the ability to sense the inherent Wyrm taint in the creature working at the lock of her cage.
But she wasn't. She wasn't that in tune, so to her, they were just a stranger who'd been poking around just at the right time.
Her eyes had been scanning the shadows and corridors, looking for any glimmer of movement that would give away the approach of one of the hunters. Yeah, she owed them. If they got her out, they'd have likely saved her life, and that was something she'd pay back. But then… they asked how she got caught. She pursed her lips and drew a frustrated breath.
“... They used the right bait and got me on the ground,” she muttered. “Wings and talons can't do much if you're suddenly trapped under a net and shot with a tranquilizer dart.”
@bluefeathrsㅤㅤ(x)
ㅤso many questions gnawed at their mind as they stood there staring at the being inside the cage. maybe it shouldn't have come as a surprise, to have proof handed to them that there were still creatures out there they didn't know about, but something about seeing one for themself was inherently startling when, thus far, the only others they'd interacted with were fellow kindred. they knew more existed, knew that things like werewolves and such were equally as real and non fictional as vampires, but sneaking into a hunters' lair wasn't the time or place they expected to make such a discovery.
ㅤ—in hindsight, that was kind of naïve of them. this was arguably perhaps the most sensical place to find such a thing.
questions begged to be asked, but even byan was aware this wasn't the place for them. with a vaguely wary glance cast toward the entrance, they stepped closer to the cell with a nod and a wave of their hand.
ㅤㅤ" yeah, yeah, i can getcha out, chill. "ㅤawfully nonchalant for such dire circumstances in which their own hide was at risk if any hunters came through that door, a brightly coloured set of lockpicks was plucked from the pocket of their pants as they moved for the cage's lock. bending over, they began examining the keyhole, fingers shuffling through their tools.
ㅤㅤ" gonna hold ya to that though; you owe me. "ㅤgaze flitting to the other, the fledgling eyed her wings and talons for a long moment, terribly intrigued. opting still to keep their myriad of questions about them to themself for the time being, however, they got to work, inserting one of the picks into the lock and feeling it out.ㅤ" how'd you even get caught, huh? woulda thought wings would make it way easier to avoid these fuckers. "
"I'll do you one better and get really paranoid with you!" //They'd think she's really cute if they weren't unsettled by her on a visceral level.//
Type Bingo || Accepting!
"Even better! An endless feedback loop of "can't have your back to a door"!"
Senja shook her head.
“I never set more snares than I can keep an eye on, and I don't leave them out of sight. Anything I catch, I kill as quick as I can. And once I catch enough to eat, I disarm the ones still untripped.”
She wasn't some human who killed for trophies or killed more than her share, after all. As for how she killed them…
“Knife. Or breaking the neck.”
"You really don't use a gun? Setting up traps is kinda a hassle and that doesn't mean the animal's gonna die quickly. Especially how much they thrash when they're trapped." Unless she was taking them out in an objectively worse and less ethical way which could explain the bad vibes.
Coyote was overcome with morbid curious. "If you're not shooting them, what're you doing? I mean how are you gonna put 'em out of their misery?"
Senja pursed her lips at the “shiny” comment but let the topic move on. They didn't need to know that that was… exactly how they'd gotten her within trapping range. Her eyes moved back and forth, scanning the confines that she could see past the bars.
“They've done their homework, all right. The cage bars are too narrow for my bird form to get out of. And this form is no wolf, I can't tear this thing open like one of them could. And I think there's something g– s-something in the lock or on the lock. It practically burned me the last time I tried to touch it.”
“I've heard others talk about hunters with… powers. Abilities that can hurt anything not human, or force them to reveal themselves. I don't know if there's any of them here, but I think I'd be in much more trouble if there was.”
“So yeah, you coming along was a big brush of luck. I don't know whether they'd use me for information or bait and I don't want to know,” she said, ruffling her feathers. “How's the lock going?”
ㅤㅤ" the right bait? what's'at? bird feed? somethin' shiny? "ㅤsnickering to themself at the joke, byan slid a tension wrench into the lock's cylinder to join their pick. most likely, it was a joke in poor taste. under the impression that the actual bait would have been something more substantial, it made it that much funnier to imagine a giant crow beast being as distractible by something bright and sparkly as a magpie was. fortunately for her, it also made it easy for them to move on from, the question's nature far from serious. it was something they could broach again more earnestly once they were both out of danger.
ㅤㅤ" fair 'nough, guess that would be pretty tough t' get outta. "ㅤalthough some smug amusement remained on their face, most of it was replaced with focus as they began applying pressure one by one to each pin of the lock. tongue tip coming to perch between their lips in concentration, their eyes closed over to better maintain the mental image of the lock's mechanisms while they worked.
ㅤㅤ" guess it's lucky i happened t' be in the area. "ㅤand that they were far too snoopy for their own good, to an incredibly reckless degree considering there were hunters involved. ...garrett would probably give them some shit if he heard about this, now that they thought about it.ㅤ" y'know, 'fore they could— ...do whatever they were gonna do with ya, i guess. 'cause if they were just gonna kill ya, they prob'ly wouldn't've bothered with the tranquilizer. "
👀 // :V
Send 👀 to find out how much my muse would like to _____ yours. || Accepting!
Get to know: NEVER! | I'd rather not | Convince me! | Sure why not? | Yes please! | ALWAYS! Befriend: NEVER! | I'd rather not | Convince me! | Sure why not? | Yes please! | ALWAYS! Date: NEVER! | I'd rather not | Convince me! | Sure why not? | Yes please! | ALWAYS! Make love with: NEVER! | I'd rather not | Convince me! | Sure why not? | Yes please! | ALWAYS! Hook up with: NEVER! | I'd rather not | Convince me! | Sure why not? | Yes please! | ALWAYS! Protect: NEVER! | I'd rather not | Convince me! | Sure why not? | Yes please! | ALWAYS! Help: NEVER! | I'd rather not | Convince me! | Sure why not? | Yes please! | ALWAYS! Stop: NEVER! | I'd rather not | Convince me! | Sure why not? | Yes please! | ALWAYS! Kill: NEVER! | I'd rather not | Convince me! | Sure why not? | Yes please! | ALWAYS!
She's not sure why-- not yet-- but whatever reason Coyote seems to be skittish for, it's making HER uneasy. It's literally two creatures feeding off eachother's nervous energy and it won't lead anywhere smooth until these two get a better idea of what the other is. For the moment, Senja will settle on being mildly suspicious of them, until something happens to swing her in one direction or the other.
Senja's head tilted ever so slightly at the remark. She supposed going for the neck with a knife (or her claws) WAS a bit “cold blooded”... but then many efficient predators were just that, weren't they?
“I don't do it for fun,” she shook her head. “I live off the land where I can. We lived in the woods out in the middle of nowhere so it's just what I'm used to.”
Enough about her, though.
“You grew up on a ranch? All that open space and sky must've been nice. Did you just raise chickens? Or other animals, too?”
"Damn, girl! Cold-blooded! I dig it!" They did not dig it, it just unsettled them further. "Grew up on a ranch, actually. Had to slaughter chickens, get the feathers off, and clean 'em out. . ." Pausing. The image was an old one, but it was still unpleasant. They cried every time for the first dozen slaughters or so before being able to push their emotions aside.
"So are you the live off the land type? Just against factory farming? Or just like doin' it that way for fun?" Coyote asked.
Senja's eyes practically sparkled with interest as they explained a bit about the ranch. She was familiar with off-the-grid living, only her version sounded like it had a lot more trees and mountains (and a lot more domesticated animals). At the mention of Don Franco, she pulled out her phone and punched in a quick search.
“That's such a beautiful color!” she grinned, finding herself slightly sidetracked. “Ever heard the song Strawberry Roan by Marty Robbins? I didn't know they came in blue until just now!”
Despite the shift to the rough parts of ranch life, her eyes brightened further. “What kinds of creepy shit? We'd hear all kinds of things in the woods after sundown. Finding out a fox call sounds like a woman screaming? It's SUPER unsettling when you can't see a thing past that one pane of glass in your window.”
"Yeah, it was nice when the weather wasn't miserable. Mostly off-the-grid Arizona. Big ol' house, chickens, a few cows, a few goats, and horses." The memory of their cousin Marisol introducing them to the horses made them smile. They'd looked on in wonder as they'd never seen such an immense creature. A little scared as a child would be but utterly fascinated. "Don Franco, this old blue roan mustang. All stubborn and skittish. He was the most beautiful thing ever. And he didn't seem to mind us all that much." They'd never been allowed to ride him or any of the others.
That was where the nice things they had to say ran out, "It was rough though. Hot sun, heavy liftin', no neighbors, and not much to do if there's no work'." Nowhere to run unless you're okay with potentially dying of exposure, "Using an outhouse! Used to see some creepy shit in the desert at night. Made havin' to go to the bathroom at night a little adventure."
"First thing I noticed about you is that your vibes are fucking terrifying. Which is funny as hell because you're just hanging out."
what’s the first thing your muse noticed about mine? || Accepting!
"I'm literally just hanging out. I'd love to figure out what you find so terrifying about me so maybe I can? I dunno, adjust what I'm doing when you're around?"
Hopefully Big Iron wasn't going to get stuck in her head now. It was especially annoying when only a couple lines repeated like a skipping record. Fortunately the carried-on conversation would probably help.
“We used to deal with mountain lions and rattlesnakes, too. Bears, moose, wolves, wolverines. Plenty of things that could mess up your day if you caught one in a bad mood,” she said, then gave a faint shudder at the mentioned “dead lady”.
“No dead lady, but every summer like clockwork, you could watch a procession of men in old timey clothing and travel gear walk through the trees just past the backyard,” she said. “Oh, and there was the– well we're… not supposed to say it's name… or even really talk about it… um… I'll leave it at this: if you're living somewhere isolated, always make sure you have enough food to get you and your family through the winter.”
"He was gorgeous. It's how he made up for being such an ass of a horse. He was supposed to be a workhorse but he spooked too easy. He'd already been gelded so they couldn't use him for breeding. Still, everybody loved him so much they kept him around." After all these years, they were still convinced that he would've let them ride him if only they'd been allowed. It still made them huff after all these years. "Guy who sings Big Iron, right? Nah, that kinda music's not my jam."
"There were the known threats: javelina, rattlers, scorpions, mountain lions, flash floods. They'd warned us kids about jaguars but we never saw any." Though they knew they were likely out there somewhere, "Used to see a 'dead lady' outside our bedroom window late at night. Some of us saw weird lights out there too. You ever saw anything like that out in the woods?"
It'd been a while since they'd thought of their cousins. They wondered how things had gone for them. Coyote simply hoped they were out there living conventional lives, getting past the things they dealt with together. "
Senja grimaced.
“YEAH you don't want to run into a wolverine. They're bad tempered bastards and they'll chew you up and spit you out for so much as crossing their path. And moose are just as bad. They're bigger than people think they are and they'll run you down and trample you just because they're horny and can't do anything about it. It's about as bad a situation as finding yourself between a mama bear and her cubs.”
She shrugged. “I always assumed they were ghosts. We'd watch from the house but I was never allowed to go get a closer look. They never approached the house, never strayed from that path through the woods. It's like they're just going through the motions.”
It was good to hear her experience wasn't the only one, though. Whether they were soldiers or ill-fated travelers, there were spectral wanderers all throughout the world, according to what happened to Coyote's uncle. She tilted her head.
“What are duendes?”
"Wolverines, huh? The kinda animal you imagine being cat-sized but they're not, right? Those guys'll fuck you up. Moose too, I can imagine." They grimaced a bit, recalling some grisly tales of frightened moose. At least they hadn't had to deal with that sort of thing. Even if the memory of javelina ravaging prickly pears while they were just a few feet away on the porch swing stirred up old childhood fright.
It didn't take much to infer what Senja was talking about and grimaced. While they were descended from the Nahua, they still respected the rules of peoples. "Don't worry. You don't gotta say more. I know what you mean"
"A procession of men, huh? Of the ghost type or...?" Coyote was curious about whether or not she believed in ghosts, "That reminds me of our uncle who worked the barley fields in Mexico. He would walk home every night and one time he said he saw a line of figures out in the distance. All of them holdin' candles and walkin' in a straight line across the road. Once he got closer, they started to fade away... Mexico has a lot of spooky shit goin' on. Our grandma said her brother was almost stolen by duendes."
Now it was Senja's turn to laugh. “Thank you!! You build a house in the wilderness of any sort and then you're surprised to find the wildlife hasn't gone anywhere?” Bears were something they dealt with occasionally when she was still living with her parents. The general rule was to stay inside with the doors locked and they'd leave eventually. Hopefully.
They were right, though– it was probably for the best she'd never gotten a closer look on the chance it WAS a bunch of men. “Oh! I've seen a show like that, it explored a couple different spooky locations in a given area, like the Caribbean or some big city in the US.”
Her eyebrows rose at the revelation of what Duendes were, but it rang a familiar bell. “I know if I heard that story as a kid, I'd be terrified to leave my toenails unclipped. I have enough of a problem with mice in the walls, I'd hate to have something like that running around,” she shook her head. “When I was a kid, I misunderstood the concept of the tooth fairy. I thought she came around to steal your teeth if you were bad, and I'd wake up in a panic in the middle of the night and check my teeth to make sure she hadn't gotten me.”
Cackling, Coyote rubbed their cheek, "Can always count on somebody to make it everybody's problem that they can't get laid. Jesus Christ. Bears though. You know there are more bears in the Los Angeles hills than you'd think. Rich people will flip their shit about bears being in their backyards. Bitch? You're in the bear's backyard."
"Maybe it was for the best that you never got a closer look. Best scenario, it's a bunch of ghosts. Worst scenario, it's a bunch of men. Still, it's kinda fun to speculate, isn't it? There was this tabloid show called El Extremo. There was this segment about a 'witch' shooting 'fireballs' at people. That sort of thing scared the fuck out of us but we were always curious." Though reality had proven to be stranger than that so far. They wondered if many Masquerade breaches had been broadcasted on shows like that.
"Duendes are lil' gnome dudes. They kinda vary region to region. Some stories are kinda your run-of-the-mill fairy type stuff. They come around to steal kids. Other versions go that they live in the walls of houses and trim the toenails of children who don't clip their own often enough. Sometimes accidentally cutting their toes off. That spin's probably to scare the kids into clipping their toenails."
