welcome to your new hell, Welcome to the Menagerie. Or as we like to call it, Dome Sweet Dome! We are an eight-year strong futuristic shapeshifter and sci-fi creature roleplay, dedicated to bringing you a world unlike any other; a world in which your character has become an experiment and must fight for survival in a domed city, cut off from the rest of the world. Choose to be any animal in your fight for survival in an artificial world built by the Keepers as they subject you to experiments beyond your control. Choose to wander the world inside the walls alone, as a Rogue, or find safety in numbers in one of the groups known as Rings. How will you survive?
60 - 65 ºF
blustery with scattered showers spotty sunshine
YEAR 2309
shift bans.
» Cougars (aka Puma, Mountain Lion, Panther)
» All Tiger Species
» All Lion Species
» All Wolf Species
» African Leopards
group bans.
none.
encouraged !
FEMALE CHARACTERS! create a RETRO or ANTHRO and get 250 CP + a free skill! read me for more info!
last updated: april 19th, 2016
Click on each Ring or Retro group image to view their ranks!
GROUP UPDATES
CARNARING
Jocelyn Edelwolfe is the new Alpha! Seija Mulviene is the new Beta, and Grey is the new Delta. Lead Hunter is now Boone Haywood, Head of Border Patrol is now Noelle Ndango!
FALLENRING
-
FULSIRING
Fulsi has a standing treaty with the Nakoma, granting limited access to their fresh water.
NAKOMA TRIBE
-
ANALOYA PRIDE
a while back, the Analoya suffered a suspicious poisoning of their river, luckily with few casualties; the Bellator are suspected of having taken part in it, and there are whispers that Pride leader Wanderer is talking alliance with the Nilda for access to their clean water.
BELLATOR HERD
As new leader of the Bellator, Loril has instituted some rank changes. See this thread for more information!
LAWAII FLOCK
no updates!
NILDA PACK
no updates!
CARNARING QUICK STATS
ALPHA -- Jocelyn Edelwolfe, Clouded Leopard, played by IronChild
BETA -- Seija Mulviene, Spotted Hyena, played by Seija-chan
DELTA --Grey, Mackenzie Valley Wolf, played by Kriss
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Ray wasn't really listening. He was on his knees, heaving for breath--or not even breath, now, as his body convulsed and he retched again. God, his throat felt so raw, and all he could smell was the booze. "Ughhhhh."
"He's fine." Chloe replied, taking a drag off a cigarette, before nudging Ray with her foot. "He just had a little too much to drink." Ray couldn't catch his breath, and his heart felt weird--it was like a rabbit in his chest, trying to run from something, thump, thump, thumping out of control.
"He's breathing too fast," Levi said. He leaned forward to run his hand over Ray's shoulders. Did he sound--Ray puked in the bushes, his entire body shuddering. "What the hell did you give him, Chloe?" Ray thought he heard her laugh, but the whole world was spinning. He was strangely aware of the grass though, in front of him, where he had turned his face to look away from the mess he had made. It was so, so green.
"Nothing!" Chloe replied, defensively. Ray still stared at the grass. Then she mumbled something Ray couldn't hear.
"Aw, shit. Ray, buddy, keep puking, okay? You probably should'ta taken that pill, dude." Ray's vision swam again. The world was tipping, and all he could hear was the party, the music, the sound of his own frantic heart beat--"Shit, shit! Chloe, he's shaking so bad! What do we do? Shit! Call--"
His mouth tasted like pennies. That's what he thought before he opened his eyes and saw nothing but yellow grass. The side of his face was pressed into it, and all he could smell was the earthy scent of it, and all he could feel was the way that the damp ground was soaking into his clothes. That, and he was sore. Christ, the last time he'd felt so bad was when he'd gotten into that fistfight with--
Where was he? East drew himself into a sitting position, his head pounding--it felt like someone was taking a meat hammer to his brain, again and again and again. The pain distracted him long enough that he didn't notice where he was immediately--and then his eyes settled on the rusted swing set, and he thought that at least he wasn't in Carna territory.
After a second, East struggled to his feet, trying to remember something. As he stumbled to the swing set, he recalled vague images, like snapshots. Scouting the border--getting separated from this guy named Jacob, someone who East thought only had half a brain... He collapsed into the nearest swing, his legs too long, so he accommodated by bending them sharply under himself. One limp hand gripped the chain, and the other curled in his lap, his eyes on the dusty ground beneath the swing.
And then? A sharp, stabbing sort of pain--and, and. He raised his hand to rub at his temple. It made sense. He licked his chapped lips. The laboratory again. Lying on a metal table that was far too cold, thinking, I'm dying. The injections that felt like acid in his veins--his body getting ripped apart. That's what it had felt like. He closed his eyes, his body aching. He could remember his own fear. He had been so, so afraid. Despite everything, despite always acting like he didn't give a damn... East didn't want to die. And the Keepers had certainly made him think they were killing him.
He remembered something else. He remembered not being able to fly. Mildly panicked, East jerked to his feet, and as he stumbled forward he shifted into a butter--
A cat.
His paws slid forward before he caught himself, half splayed out. The chair jerked behind him, where his haunch had hit it. He had put too much effort into turning, afraid that he couldn't. His entire body felt disjointed, and with wonder East felt the extension of his tail. He flicked it and straightened himself before looking at his legs. They were spotted. With a glance over his shoulder, he saw one lean flank, and wondered what the hell he was. It sure as hell wasn't some house cat.
Another memory came back to him. A woman holding a vile, and a taskhand approaching her. "Asiatic cheetah DNA," the scientist had said. That was before he felt like his body was burning, before they had injected him with something.
East, bewildered, straightened his body. He took a few steps forward, becoming accustomed to the long, long stride. His tail wasn't quite sure what to do with itself, and it swayed a little awkwardly. Cheetahs were supposed to be fast, weren't they? Impulsively, despite the lingering pain he was in, he picked up his pace--and then it was like flying, a sudden transition between a lope to a full-out sprint, and God, he was going fast, and he was getting used to his legs, and his lungs were burning--the trees blurred by, and as he took a sharp, slightly ungraceful turn to avoid a tree, he slammed into something.
The night had been awful. Sorcha shook with each step she took through the snow, wishing to be back home. The night had been freezing, and only the fact that she had found an old badger whole had saved her from winter's fatal sleep. When the morning came, however she knew she had to move and started out towards home across Delcia Park.
Then again, she couldn't stand being in that hovel with that moron any longer, and would have chosen the same path despite her less than comfortable night. The sun had broken the horizon, and Sorcha was pleased that it was seeming to warm up. Reaching a tree, she put a hand to the bark to steady herself and paused for a break. Maybe ...
SLAM. On pure instinct Sorcha shifted in the air, her feline spine twisting to allow her to land as a small black cat hidden a foot deep in the snow. WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!? She smelled large cat, and her hackles went up and her ears went flat. It was not the first time a big cat had tried to eat her in either form. She huddled in the snow, praying they had assumed she had flown away.
She was not so lucky, and her eyes turned into huge, panicked saucers as a cheetah stuck it's nose in her face and chirped at her. Sorcha did not move, couldn't breath, or think thoroughly petrified.
East didn't know if he felt relieved or not to have slammed face-first into a familiar scent, but the girl just about dissolved into thin air. He regained his bearings, cursing himself for being such an idiot, before his re-caught her scent and shoved his face into the indention she had made into the snow, properly uncovering her hiding place.
He was surprised at the sound he made out of instinct, a sort of chirp that was not so much birdlike as it was catlike, somehow or another, and as soon as the sound was out of him he reared his head back and chuffed. Momentarily sidetracked, East repeated the chirping noise, and resisted the outrageous urge to laugh. This form couldn't accommodate the noise, regardless, but he was practically on the verge of hysterics. How long had he been in the Keeper compound? and what was the chance of running into about one of the only Fulsi he knew?
He saw that he had honestly terrified her from her posture, and after a second East withdrew, settling a little awkwardly on his haunches as he adjusted his weight. He sat more like a dog than a cat, and after a second of fumbling he fell into a more natural position. "Sorcha," East said, conversationally, so she knew he wasn't about to eat her. And then, on impulse, he continued, "Just got out of hell again, y'know? Fresh from the Keeper compounds a second time!" He didn't sound hysterical so much as mocking, a little put off by the memories of needles and white coats... and pain. It was easier if he didn't take things too seriously, right? "How about you? You look like shit."
He would have had more tact if he wasn't trembling, his body exhausted. Yeah, so. Running had not been a good idea.
The terror pulsing through the little black cat did not subside until the cheetah had sat back, the fear receding even further when he said her name. Cautiously her head peeked above the snow, her ears remaining flat and her eyes glaring and suspicious. How did he know her name?
As he began talking about ‘hell’, her nose did in fact catch the scent of the Compound, and his voice seemed very familiar. It was only after another second of hesitation that the familiar smell of a certain cocky and mischievous Fulsi male trickled into her nose and before she could stop herself she launched from the hole like a canon and wrapped her paws around him in a strange kitty-kung-fu embrace.
Almost immediately she dropped to the snow, her features perked and tail twitching in a mix of pleasure and irritation. Never had she expected to be so happy to see this particular Fulsi, but somehow she was.
”East!” she beamed. ”Oh praise all that is divine that I stumbled across an intelligent creature,” she said dramatically as she pressed the top of her head against his leg with a purr. It was strange behavior for Sorcha, but the last twenty-four hours had been her own version of torture and she was happy to find another Fulsi member, and one she had already been acquainted with. She even let the jab about her looking like shit fly.
”What kind of inferno have you been in? You look in comparable condition!” she said with chagrin, as in their last encounter they had spoken about that very thing. Her eyes took him in, noticing he was not quite steady on his feet, and a bit off balance.
His first thought was, quite simply, I'm tripping.
As in, he-had-just-been-overdosed-on-Keeper-medicine, and the side-effects included this, whatever this was, because East was fairly certain that Sorcha, in her right mind, would never embrace him as she just had. He looked stunned but recovered quickly, shaking his head. "I think you just complimented me." It was mere reflex that had him commenting at all, because East was still shaky and uncertain. If he had been in his human form, he was fairly certain that his face would be completely devoid of color, and as it was, his voice was still a little off.
"Only the second circle, m'dear. There are worst things than to be among Cleopatra and Achilles, especially considering the nature of their--our--sins." He had the nerve to wink, and found himself slowly falling back into his normal resolve. East was... mentally a steel fort. There was not much that could shake him visibly, and now that he had an audience to impress, he was pulling out all the stops. Even as his stomach churned with nausea, and his head pounded, he chirped at her in that felinesque fashion, managing to make it sound cheeky despite himself.
I could have died, he thought again, and the thought brought out another shudder in him. He was trembling uncontrollably, either from lack of food or lack of sleep or sheer stress. The memory kept coming back to him, of feeling as though his body was being shredded by something, torn apart and then sewn together with all his nerves horribly, sensitively intact. At one point, he can remember seeing nothing but black, and thinking, am I blind?
It had been cold terror, and it still showed in the still shock of his eyes.
Without visible alarm Sorcha’s attention fixated on his demeanor and movements, dismissing his words as the fluff that they were. Without warning she shifted into her human form, her long dark hair draped over her slight shoulders and her bottom lip caught between her teeth in concentration. Her hands went to his feline face without fear, peeling his eyelids apart one at a time and positioning his head where the light would catch his retina. Her gaze narrowed, the ocean blue-green color of her irises richer from her own state of paleness. Withdrawing, she grasped the cheetah’s chin gently but firmly and extended her arm back, holding a finger up and moving it side to side between them.
”Follow my finger,” she ordered calmly, her tone set against any protests he might make as she restrained his head from movement. Sorcha was in doctor mode, and as his feline hues followed the digit decently, she abandoned the exercise promptly and scooted closer, raising a lip back from his teeth and pressing on the insipid flesh with her thumb. His gums were too light, the blood reluctant replenish the white area.
Squatting down as she was, East was as easily as tall as she – their stature practically even but oddly, Sorcha did not seem nervous in the least. A hand snaked back between his shoulder blades and, taking a handful of skin and fur lifted a fold and released it. His golden spotted pelt crimped in place and slowly flattened to its proper canvas, instead of snapping back as it was supposed to.
Sitting back on her heels, she took a deep breath and sighed. They were both in rough shape. They needed food, water, warmth and rest. The last was always hard in the Menagerie, not that the others were all that easy. Letting your guard down long enough to actually relax was a rare treat. Still, she managed in her sanctuary, and her eyebrow lifted to stare at East in calculation.
”Well, we seem to both be in quite a state,” she started then plunged into the rest. ”You’re extremely dehydrated, weak, and I won’t even start about how skinny you are. We can go back to my place, but I swear I will hang you up by your tail if you either compromise my safety by alerting anyone to your presence, or divulge its location. Is that clear?”
Her tone was cool but determined. East was putting up a stiff upper lip, but if he passed out on the way back North it would not surprise her. Not to mention there was no way for her to carry him. She neither blinked, or flinched as she stared at the cheetah eye-to-eye, willing the agreement from him so she wouldn’t have to leave him here.
He watched her demeanor change a little apprehensively, because she was not doing just what he didn't want, touching and jostling and checking his eyes, as though there were something wrong with him. For one instant, East almost felt defensive, but then she came to a conclusion. "Dehydration..."
Lovely. Not surprising, but absolutely lovely. With a thin-shouldered shrug, East nodded, the motion almost strange for a big cat. Regardless, he met her eyes with his own, the color of them the same dark, dark brown of his human form. "Very clear. I'm the best secret keeper there is." He showed his teeth, his own version of a cheetah's smile, before standing. "Lead the way, Ms. Depplamere."
He was not so apprehensive as he was tired. It was a sort of bone-deep exhaustion, made worse by his headache, something that he thought (now) might have been brought on by his apparent dehydration. It made sense, though. He could not remember being given food or water during his time in the compound, aside from the occasional IV as they tore his body apart. He was, however, not so hurt as to lack curiosity of Sorcha's home.
Sorcha crossed her arms with a raised eyebrow and issued a skeptical gaze. It did not last long and she rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Come on then," she said with a tolerant tone and began walking north back home. Her ears sharpened to whether or not he could keep up with her pace, and when the report of the hushed crunching of his padded feet following her through the snow reached her ears she smiled slightly. The girl fervently hoped she would not regret this.
The morning passed without much notice as Sorcha and her cheetah companion walked. Sometimes she paused, allowing them a break as they both seemed less than up to their best. Once they stopped by a chill creek and she insisted he drink his fill and they continued on.
Luckily it warmed up a bit, and Sorcha peeled a few layers. More because they were soaking than keeping her warm and she stuffed them in her pack as they walked. Reaching the edge of the city, she hooked around back towards the path they had crossed a few days before.
Her light eyes fell on the spot where they had warmed up after the dip in the river and she shook her head ruefully. Topping the hill, she shifted into a small black cat again and paused in a field of tall dead grass and auto parts. She eyed East, noting that he was sensible enough to follow her lead ad crouch low and keep quiet.
It took him effort, he was running out of steam. Frankly she was impressed he'd lasted this long. Then again, it's not like I set a hard pace, she thought unforgivably. Still. she remained there a long moment - assessing the block and making sure that no one was around. It would be harder to sneak into her place with a spotted golden cheetah lumbering after her. Her eyes narrowed, cursing herself for the first time for bringing him here.
Somehow, she felt a slight responsibility for him which irritated her beyond her wanting to even consider the reason. After a few minutes, she began their slow path into the city to her hide-out ... careful to hide behind large enough objects that he could be shielded as well. It was not an easy operation.
