ZINNIA

[sixtrillionyears]

Zinnia is a feral, cursed child, cursed by the old gods for lacking a tribute she didn't know about. As a result, she is half-monster, bearing ears and tail and fur and claws. She is feral, raised by monsters in the wild, able to use their techniques to survive. The one person who showed her kindness, the one person who saw her as a human, is now the only one in the world who matters to her, and she will follow that girl to the ends of the earth.

Zinnia is:
- A half-monster. Her sclera are black, her eyes are red, her hair is black and turns red at the tips. She has animal ears, a tail, and when agitated, gains more monstrous traits, usually her right arm becoming a beast's, long and large enough to drag on the ground, with wicked, sharp claws. She can also shapeshift out other monstrous traits, but it is borderline-uncontrollable.
- Cursed by old gods. In addition to her monstrous appearance, she is also prone to berserker fits, and brings misfortune to those around her, as though her mere presence invites bad luck.
- Loyal. Her chief trait, her greatest strength, is her infallible, absolute loyalty to those who have given her kindness.
- Feral. She doesn't understand most human social structures. She's trying her best, but she still has a way of thinking close to monsters, that anything should be done to survive, and that hunting and killing are a necessary way to live. That said, she will also never allow killing or harming others that isn't done to survive.
- Human. No matter her body, her heart is human.

Zinnia is not:
- Cruel. She is feral, but not cruel. She accepts killing, even other humans, if it must be done to live. But killing without purpose is something she will not accept. She can be prickly, especially to people she doesn't know, but she will never hurt others willingly, though her berserker fits can sometimes cause problems.
- Stupid. She has trouble with understanding human norms, true, but she is still sharp. She learns quickly.
- A monster. Judge her at your own risk.

Prompts:
Assumed CR, AUs, setting transplants, suddenly you're in a jamjar, anything goes. You can make up your own! Otherwise...

You may run into her into a town, where a woman covered by a cloak is walking. And if you accidentally bump into her... Well, you can see her freaky eyes, big animal ears, and what is definitely blood around her mouth. Maybe you should do something?

Comments

[magender]

[Honestly, how did these two of all people get tasked with getting supplies? Well, that's what happens when you switch off tasks like this. Mage isn't... really into it.

Mage isn't really into most things, though, so maybe that isn't surprising.]

...So if we ditched and did something else, how long do you think it'd take before they all noticed?

[Listen, Mage is definitely less ridiculous than the rest of this party, but. Don't mistake that for being responsible.

Do as they say, not as they do.]

[sixtrillionyears]

[Zinnia is loyal. When Aster asks something of her, she will do it. No matter what, she will do it. If she got the impression Mage was wanting to skip out, she'd probably get angry.

But she's also prone to taking things at face value. "If", means Mage isn't thinking about doing it, obviously? So, just as a thought experiment...

Her hood covers her face, but even so, she lifts her head, cocking it to the side, ears twitching a bit.]

... Likely, they would notice as soon as they became hungry.

[magender]

[Oh, yes, definitely just a silly little hypothetical. Don't even worry about it. Also don't worry about the way Mage keeps glancing around, to see if there's anything more interesting catching their eye.]

So soon, then. [Drat.] I guess we should hurry along, then.

[...]

But, you know, we do only have so much money. We shouldn't just spend it on the first thing we see.

[sixtrillionyears]

[Well. That gets her to pause, a crack in her confidence. She looks to Mage...]

As long as it fulfills what we need, why not?

[magender]

Well, what if we could get something better for the same amount of money? Or someone else is charging less?

It's important to shop responsibly.

[sixtrillionyears]

... It... would be bad, to waste Aster's resources...

[She growls to herself, thinking.]

Then, what should we do? Take what we need?

[magender]

Oh, like stealing?

[You know, this is now going in a direction they hadn't anticipated. And if Mage had any morals to speak of, they might be horrified at the suggestion. Or even just, if they had a proper sense of self preservation?

But they don't have either of those, so they just thoughtfully hum to themself for a moment.]

Well. We certainly could do that. I don't really object.

But if we got caught I don't think we could come to this town anymore.

[sixtrillionyears]

... Stealing?

[she seems... to not quite be aware of the concept...]

We would. Keep more. Gain more. But...

[magender]

...

[gods give them strength]

Stealing is when you take something that belongs to someone without their permission. It is generally frowned upon.

Mostly by the law.

[sixtrillionyears]

[... ?]

Stealing to survive is... normal. All life does it.

[magender]

Ah, but see... People like to pretend they're "better" than such things, even though they're actually much worse. They're great at pretending that way.

[sixtrillionyears]

[That gets... it's not quote a laugh. It's more like a bitter snort, or perhaps a huff.]

If I... took off my hood, we would see... just how 'better' they are.

[magender]

Hm, indeed.

[It doesn't get a smile out of Mage, but it does get a smirk and for them that's close enough.]

I'm not so averse to stealing myself, as a concept - I've done it plenty of times myself - but if anyone saw it would be this whole thing... Most likely, guards would get involved. That would be exhausting.

[terrytheterrible]

[It's the middle of the night and Terry and Zinnia can stop pretending to be human. That means it's time to hunt. It's a lot easier to hunt when there's two of you. Zinnia chases the prey into the open so Terry can shoot it. Then they can dress the kill together.

Terry's got blood up to his elbows from the dead elk between them.]

Nice to unwind like this after dealing with humans all day.

[sixtrillionyears]

Mm.

[Zinnia is helping to bleed it... by way of her arm transforming, into something like a needle, and impaling the elk, draining all the blood. A monster's skill, Vampire, learned from bats or undead... and being turned to very mundane applications.]

Do you... not like humans?

[terrytheterrible]

Sure I do. Some of my best friends are human!

[While she did that, Terry cut out the internal organs for later use. And also some of the muscles because humans liked that stuff.]

But they're so squeamish and awkward. You can't put up with that ALL the time or you'll go mad.

[sixtrillionyears]

Mm.

[where is all that blood going? it's hard to say. but it's just, gone now, as Zinnia's hand transforms back to normal.]

... True. Aster... does not like seeing this. Our kills.

[terrytheterrible]

Ha, no she does not.

[Terry bit into a kidney while holding out the other one for Zinnia, if she wanted it. They don't get much fresher than this.

He kept talking while he chewed.]

Maybe it's because they never got good at cleaning blood off of their clothes...

[sixtrillionyears]

[She shakes her head. She's going to pick up the pile of muscles they've carved off, instead. Rather than eating the organs fresh...

... They are tempting, though. And she used to just do exactly what he does, tearing into the kill to eat it as soon as it was dead... But she stops herself, instead just gathering everything they intend to keep.]

... We should. Hurry back. The others will be waiting for their food.

[terrytheterrible]

[Suit yourself. Terry tossed the extra kidney in the bag and kept taking bites out of his treat as they turned back towards the campsite.]

What would they do without us? Live on jerky, probably. Or plants.

[sixtrillionyears]

... Without us, they probably. Would not have left their homes. Would not have these.

[She lifts up her hand, to show the mark...]

[terrytheterrible]

Ah, if it wasn't us it'd be someone else. Saving the world was for whatever body happened to fill the right place at the right time. It happened to be us.

[sixtrillionyears]

...

Does that not... bother you?

[terrytheterrible]

Why would it? I'm having fun.

[sixtrillionyears]

That it... could be anyone. That it. May not be us. May not need to be us.

[Now she's glancing back at that elk.]

... If not us. Then who?