In Plain Sight. [Alkaos]

[carme]

[atrb=width,450,true][atrb=border,0,true][bg=ffffff] This was ridiculous. Did she really have to be in here? Carme sighed and glanced up at the sky, the crafted illusion she knew the keepers had made for them. It just wasn’t fair! She’d spent her whole life forcing the keepers to pamper her, and now they threw her in here just like any other shifter! An unsettling growl escaped her throat, not a noise you’d expect to hear from such a person, as she felt the burning stab of betrayal. Those keepers had lied to her all along! She was foolish to think she’d been special. Sighing, Carme continued her stroll through the park. The Menagerie hadn’t looked so huge when it was being displayed on all those little screens in the labs… How was she ever supposed to find her parents like this? She’d been in this wretched place for two days already— she was tired and hungry, her white heels were dirty, her long, curly, dark hair frazzled. They expected her to live like this? Icy blue eyes darted around the park for some Keeper to order around, but found no one. Her heart sank just a bit, and a looming sense of despair began to creep over her. There was no one around to get her what she wanted! No one at all to pay attention to her. For the first time in her life, Carme felt alone. Deciding that it was a good time to take a break from her endless walking, Carme meandered over towards the playground up ahead. She stepped out of her not-so-pristine white heels and walked through the sand towards the swing, as if she could keep the things from getting dirty. It was obviously too late for that, but Carme was finding it hard to break her habits of cleanliness. Now standing at 6’1”, an astounding height for a woman, Carme took a seat on the old, rusty swings, which in her heels might have been shorter than she was. “What am I going to do now?” She groaned, reaching to her neck and opening the silver locket the Keepers had given her. Carme gently brushed her fingers over the small images of her parents, noting her mother’s intense beauty, something she tried to emulate, and her father’s strength and ferocity , evident just from the picture. She longed so badly to find them! Carme could already see so much of them in herself that she had no doubt the keepers had told her the truth about them. They were her real family, and she could be with them now if she could only find them. “I’ll never find them,” She hissed, snapping the locket closed. Carme quickly smoothed out her hair, then turned her attention to her shoes again, and began to wipe away the dirt with her sleeve. Just because she was locked up didn’t mean she had to look like an animal!

[/blockquote][/td][/tr][tr][td][/td][/tr][/table][/center]

[alkaos]

THE POWER OF BLOOD
A L K A O S
THE TRIUMPH OF STEEL

Pain tore at his innards, the savage grip of hunger gnawing at his stomach, clawing at his mind and driving him insane. Exhaustion plagued his footsteps and it was exhausting simply to lift each leg, and continue with his slow, plodding pace. Long, muscled legs stumbled to a halt and he leaned against a ramshackle building, feeling the aged support groan in protest against his weight. A soft shuffling behind him brought a soft smile to his hardened, sharp featured face and his golden eyes flickered to the small animal that had come to stand beside him. The giant of a man looked down upon the wispy-furred goat, a surprising companion for the man who seemed to have no soft side. "Goat," He mumbled, leaning down to pat the long-horned beast with obvious fondness, grinning almost sheepishly as the goat bleated a happy reply and trotted gleefully ahead, leading the way to greener pastures, as it was.

Alkaos lumbered behind him, following the animal's acute sense of smell toward the freshest greens. He'd been driven from his conquest-acquired home and suffered from brutal injuries, his head still sporting a vicious gash and brutal bruise. His energy was sapped but at the sight of the vegetation thriving just beneath the shelter of the snow-laden trees, his pace picked up and his hunger intensified till it was again unbearable, running full tilt till his body shifted swiftly and succinctly into the massive, powerful beast that made Alkaos one of the most feared men in the Menagerie: the African elephant. Long, ivory tusks glinted dangerously in the overcast light, his dark, leathery hide sticking out almost violently from the bright snow. The man didn't care - ahead of him was food! Delicious and green! He thundered to a halt, long trunk wrapping around the succulent stems hiding beneath the snow and ripping them savagely from the ground, munching heartily, happily alongside his small, rotund companion, Goat.

The meager winter harvest was not enough to sustain him for long, but at last his hunger seemed satiated. The slight protest of rusted metal caught his attention, and his massive head swung round to observe the lonely little girl sitting on the swing, small golden eyes focusing intently on her face. In his shift, his vision was not superb - when he shifted back, he took a few steps closer to observe her better, his tanned brown drawn in furious concentration. Her eyes! Her nose! The hair, the face...but it was...impossible!"Daughter..." He murmured, his eyes sparking with recognition and reminiscence. Laney's beautiful eyes glittering when she held his children cradled in her arms, those beautiful blue eyes passed blessedly onto the twins. His daughters dark, already curling hair. "Carme!" he cried, his voice nearly cracking. His brother had murdered her. Killed her savagely, brutally. "You are...you are alive!" He approached her slowly, still in disbelief but sure that this was indeed his daughter. "But how? Your mother, she said..." Golden eyes searched hers, and now he was only a foot from her, reaching out a thick, enormous hand to grasp her own. "Carme," He smiled, his harsh features surprisingly soft.

The Menagerie seemed to have changed him, if only slightly.

[carme]

[atrb=width,450,true][atrb=border,0,true][bg=ffffff] Carme’s gaze snapped up when she heard her name, noticing a gigantic man approaching. She let out a growl, ready to attack if he turned out to be dangerous. But then, her eyes traced his features in return, and when recognition finally clicked, Carme scrambled for the locket around her neck as if she could hardly believe it, throwing aside her defensive stance to reach for her answer. She opened it up and there he was— Alkaos’s file picture was in there, identical to the man she saw in front of her. “Papa!” She gasped, slipping her heels back on and jumping out of the swing. Carme realized just how tall she really was then, standing only a few inches shorter than the tower of a man. There was something different about him, though… Her cold blue gaze falling onto the gash and bruise on his face. Her nose wrinkled in disgust, never having seen anyone injured as badly in her life. The keepers had taken good care of her growing up, though she now realized it was just so she would live long enough to be dumped back into this hell-hole. Still, she hadn’t expected her mighty father to have been injured by anyone in this place… wasn’t he the most powerful creature here? “..What happened to your face?” She questioned, sounding a little unimpressed with what she was seeing. Carme paused, remembering that this was the man he had wanted to meet for most of her life, and her expression suddenly switched from disinterest to amazement. This was her father, after all! The tall, lean girl threw her arms around the bulky man, pulling herself to his chest, listening to the powerful heart that beat in his chest, pumping his blood throughout his body— the strong blood that she shared. “Oh, papa! The keepers saved me after…” Her voice trailed off, muscles tensing as an intense, serpentine gaze flashed into her mind, nearly paralyzing her with fear. “…They brought me back,” She finished, not wanting to re-live her death. Although she had been only weeks old, she remembered glimpses of the event, aided by the video footage captured by the keepers. “I’m so happy I found you,” She sighed, tense muscles slowly relaxing in her father’s presence. He wouldn’t be able to get her with Alkaos around…right?

[/td][/tr][tr][td][/td][/tr][/table][/center][/blockquote]

[alkaos]

THE POWER OF BLOOD
A L K A O S
THE TRIUMPH OF STEEL

Alkaos grinned at how tall his daughter was - even if it was because of the heels, there was so decent height their already - and wrapped his brutish arms easily around her lean body, pulling her close. It was not often he showed signs of such affection - and never in his life had he hugged one of his children. Not even the blond one, Adolf. The one that failed him once again and had deserted his family and gone to live in the Carna under the accursed rule of his stubborn brother who simply refused to die and stay dead. He felt the familiar rage broiling just beneath he surface and he felt his skin grow hot at the mere thought of how that bastard was still alive and had given him the gash aside his head.

He saw and heard the disappointment in his daughters voice and pulled back, glaring hard into the icy eyes, his own golden ones narrowed with slight shock, but undoubtedly anger. How dare she think herself so high that she should judge him? His lips drew down in a slight frown but he managed to smother it, not wishing to ruin this opportune moment to gain another weapon in his stockpile. He was getting a bit tired of all these females - first that german girl, and Laney - though he did have a great affection for her beauty and cunning, - and now his daughter. He needed some honest to goodness men on his side who could actually beat in some heads. A sigh, and he drew his daughter in close again, eyes drifting off to the snow-laden horizon. "The very Keepers who saved you. They who did it." He reached up and gingerly touched the tender area, wincing. "They tried to take your mother in for test." He grinned wolfishly and turned and began strolling, his arm wrapped around Carme's shoulders. "I guess you could say 'should see other guy'." He heard the soft crunch of Goat's footfalls behind them, a steady plodding. Silence drifted over them for a few moments before he found himself smiling softly. "Do you know who you are named after?"

ooc; short D: *shot*