SpicyMeatball

Olympus Academy // A School for Demigods and Demigoddesses

@Altered Tundra I'll snag the slot for daughter of Hermes, if you will.

Steelbird Landing: A Roleplay After The End of it All [18+, 6 player limit!]

Sparrow

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Sparrow had almost forgotten about the nasty gash on her forehead until she went to brush the hair from her face and the pain caused her to visibly wince and clench her jaw. She put down the knife she’d been using to clean the meat before looking to the little girl, Pixie. Sparrow may have been cold and merciless in battle but when she was here in her home, the huntress was patient and kind. She listened to the child’s every word, watching with her calm grey eyes, normally stormy. Sparrow knelt down to Pixie’s level before speaking to her in a warm and reassuring voice. “I will do my best to find her, young one. I know what Milk means to you. Hopefully she’s found Twix, I’d hate to see anything bad happen to either of them and Twix certainly has her way of getting into trouble.”

Sparrow rose from her knees and rolled her shoulders before looking to one of the women who stood before her. “Cinder my dear, could you help me patch this up?” Sparrow motioned to her head before Cinder went to retrieve her supplies with a nod.

“Yes Sparrow, it is the least I can do for you.”

Many painful moments later, Cinder tied off the last stitch in Sparrow’s forehead and carefully cleaned away the dried blood around the wound. Sparrow opened her eyes, trying her hardest to hide the searing pain. She nodded gently to Cinder before rolling on her side and standing from where she had once laid. “Thank you…” Sparrow spoke, before going to retrieve her bow from the corner where she’d left it. Then, she reattached her waist-mounted quiver to her belt, making sure that there were enough arrows left to properly make use of.

Sparrow emerged from the shack she called home and squinted as the sun hit her unadjusted eyes. She took in her surroundings and watched as Alcohol and his men entered Twice’s place. Not something Sparrow wanted to get involved with. She had a decent standing with the guard and she wasn’t gonna screw that up for the sake of her own curiosity. Instead, she began her walk in the direction of Hemlock’s place. Clearly Milk had already spoken with Alcohol if he was now out here.

As she made her way into the forest, Sparrow drew her bow from its place and took an arrow from her quiver. It was not one of her normal arrows however. This one was tied to a long length of rope that hung from her pack and had a weight for its tip. She aimed the arrow up into the branches and let it fly, watching as it flew up and over a think extension of the tree trunk before falling back to the forest floor. Now she had her way up.

Sparrow carefully followed the path she’d stalked Hemlock along in the past, except this time she follow from the safety of the trees. It wasn’t long before she came upon the little construction that was Hemlock’s home and sure enough, there stood the fiery redhead that was her sister. Now? Now Sparrow watched from the tree, her hands loosely holding the bow, an arrow already nocked on its string. If Hemlock tried anything on Milk, her suffering would be short and her death swift. It wasn’t something Sparrow wanted to do, but she would if it was necessary.

Steelbird Landing: A Roleplay After The End of it All [18+, 6 player limit!]

Sparrow

You should’ve let him die… Sparrow thought to herself, her eyes glaring daggers into Avenue’s back. He hadn’t changed one bit since the night he ran off with Milk’s child. Still a coward, still heartless. From now on she would do no more for him. “Really? After I saved you from these beasts, that’s what you have to say? I risk my own life so that you and your people may continue to live yours, but you disallow me to sustain my own life and feed my family? Let me remind you, I had little choice but to follow you because you and your men prevented me from gathering food.”

Sparrow reached down and grabbed the meat-filled leather pouch before she sheathed her blade, watching as Avenue walked into the church. She shook her head before pulling up her hood and running back into the forest, her feet making little noise as she carefully placed each step. The still bloody ape pelt was draped over her entire back, fur side in as to not soak her clothing anymore. The young woman was headed back towards the Mother’s hunting grounds which were just north of Steelbird Landing. She’d wanted to check a few snares that she’d laid in the days before. Maybe, just maybe Milk could have something other than rice or ape meat this evening.

She didn’t even have to stop her jog to see that the first snare was empty, but fortunately the second and third gave better results. Two rabbits, rather plump ones nonetheless, were caught in the wire she’d laid down. With a quick motion, she snapped their necks and hung them from her pack. Sparrow would skin and clean them when she arrived home.

Not long after, Steelbird landing finally came into view. Home at last. With a nod to the few guards standing by the gate, Sparrow entered into the fine city that she called home. She’d walked this route a thousand times; A left here, walk past the man she bought her daggers from, a quick right and then left again, and finally Milk’s place appeared from amongst the endless rows of homes.

Sparrow walked inside and glanced around the room, greeting the women that were present with a calm voice. “Good afternoon ladies, I come to bring you fresh meat from the jungle. Where might I find Milk?” She nodded as a few of them responded, before letting her pack and the leather pouch fall from her shoulder. “Ape and rabbit today, no deer unfortunately. You have Avenue to thank for that.” And with that remark, Sparrow went about cleaning and preparing the raw meat so that it could be cooked later.

Steelbird Landing: A Roleplay After The End of it All [18+, 6 player limit!]

AVENUE AND SPARROW

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A collaboration between @Strange Rodent and @SpicyMeatball

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This trip was a mistake. Sparrow had never ventured past the small cliff that marked the edge of what she referred to as the Earth Mother’s hunting ground because she knew that the apes lived not far past it. They were an entirely different beast compared to hunting a jaguar or deer. Normally, Sparrow may have even taken the chance of running into an ape because the likelihood of them spotting her was slim to none.

But this? This chaos that ran its course in front of her very eyes? These were not the odds she’d wanted. Following Avenue and his goons had been a mistake from the start. They were anything but stealthy. Sparrow would’ve bet her entire shop and inventory that the apes had been aware of their presence the moment they’d stepped foot in the jungle. The only reason that the apes had seen her was because she’d had to intervene so that it wasn’t a damn massacre. Sure, Avenue and company had held their own for a bit, but the apes didn’t show any sign of stopping. It would go against her moral compass to stay back and watch.

Now, Sparrow sat in the trees and launched arrow after broadhead-tipped arrow at the gigantic beasts, the cries of Avenue’s men echoing through the forest. The practiced archer was fluid in her movements, the arrows barely making a whisper as the traditional wooden recurve bow whipped them through the air. In fact, had she not called out to Avenue she still may have sat hidden in the tree.

It was not to last.

Sparrow let out a cry as the ape dropped down onto her. The beast hit her across the head only once before she reacted, spots briefly flying across her vision. With reflexes like lightning, she grabbed one of the blades strapped under her arm and balanced on the think tree branch carefully. She held out the blade in front of her, keeping the ape at a distance while she planned her next move. Sparrow could feel the small gash on her forehead where the ape had hit her, but though it stung, the huntress had to focus on the matter at hand.

“You doin’ alright Avenue?!” she called out, her eyes never leaving the beast in front of her.

Avenue gnawed at his left hand, tapping the ground with the warm branding iron in his right. From his throat spills a rumbling keening sound that resounds in the gut and pierces the eardrums. The wounded cultists around him rally to the sound of Tum Tum, swarming over the ape facing Avenue like small children over their mother. It dropped the rock, focusing on picking the pests off.

He heard Sparrow, pausing his keening to reply. ”Yesss, Sparrow. Bow Bird. Birdyyy Bird biiiiiii-”. Halfway through saying bird for the last time, he turned it into the worming drone from before.

This wasn’t the first time Avenue and his cult had fought these apes. They guarded the precious moss which was used in the production of Dap, the stimulant which the cult seemed to be so fond of. Never had they seen them so vicious or in such a great number, though. A good thing Sparrow showed up.

Apparently they still had it in them. The ferocious creature had fallen to the scrubs, and with a last, deafening roar, it bit a leg off one of the cultists, and hurled it straight at Avenue, who spread his arms in an embrace. They went down in a shower of blood from the stump. Moments later, the cultist was scrambling across the jungle floor, foaming blood at the mouth, but determined to reach the next ape.

When Avenue hit the ground, his vision swam. His back arched, his chest heaved, and his hands clenched, but in the face of this, he stood. Step by shaky step, he walked towards Sparrow. His knee buckled, and he fell. His shoulder slammed into something hard. He looked up: the chapel.

Sparrow threw herself at the ape in a dive, planting the blade of her dagger into its chest. The ape let out a deafening roar before it clawed at her back, but Sparrow was pushed tight against the beast, her legs wrapped around it’s waist as she stabbed the ape over and over. Her heart pounded against the walls of her chest as the beast finally lay still beneath her. The young woman stood on the branch and grabbed her bow before she dropped to the forest floor.

With a practiced hand, Sparrow drew an arrow and launched it from her recurve bow in one swift movement, letting out a whispered prayer to the Earth Mother as she did “Forgive me mother, for the slaughter of your spawn. Know I only do this for my own preservation.” The arrow flew true and impaled itself into the leg of one of the apes just as it was about to tackle a cultist. With a cry, the ape fell to the jungle floor and Sparrow left no time for it to recover.

Sparrow grabbed an arrow from her quiver and retrieved a small vial from her belt, quickly pouring a portion of its contents onto the arrow’s point. Then, she nocked the projectile onto the bowstring and took aim at the downed ape. “Mother, guide my arrow and let this beast suffer no more.” She drew the string back to full draw and let the arrow fly, watching as it buried itself into the apes neck. Sparrow whispered a gentle thank you and closed her eyes for a single moment.

Another mistake.

Sparrow felt the wind leave her lungs as she was thrown from her feet, the full powered swing of an ape landing square in her side. She crashed against the trunk of a huge tree and slumped against the ground. The next moments were oddly silent. Her heartbeat was deafening and yet silent at the same time in her ears. Her vision was blurry as she slowly came back from the brief blackout. Pain was surging through her back. Why did she ever follow Avenue out here?

The thick sandstone wall was cold against Avenue’s flank. He rubbed his eyes to rid them of spots. He took a moment to survey how the fight was going: two apes were left. There was the one that Sparrow had shot in the leg, and the one who had just launched her. The remaining five functional cultists were surging towards the second ape, ready to pull it down. Three others were lying motionless, and another two were scrambling across the ground with injuries that would incapacitate most people. They didn’t have much longer left.

Avenue pushed off the wall. Taking a moment to get some air in his lungs was a good idea. He staggered over to the ape who had been shot in the leg, dragging his branding iron along the ground behind him. The iron was not like other irons: long and wickedly sharp, with a vicious hook on the end. This is what he raised into the air, and brought down into the hamstrings of the ape. Fists flew and the beast squirmed. Fatigue and pain had marred the ape’s judgement though, and evading them was easy.

The ape that had knocked Sparrow to the ground had just noticed the cultists, and, deeming them the bigger threat, charged straight into their group, sending a few flying. A roar, a laugh. Something sprayed blood over the ground. One of the cultists slammed into the ground a few meters from Sparrow. Blood was spurting from a wound in their shoulder. Bone was poking through cloth. But they got back up, and ran back into the fray. The ape was not going down by the cultists’ hands any time soon.

Avenue started keening again. It was higher pitched this time, cutting right through the cacophony of battle. When the beast had settled again, Avenue took another swing, this time at its deltoid. The sharp, heavy steel easily settled into flesh. Avenue’s keening grew higher in pitch, and he was walking around with a visible bounce in his step. He cut through the back muscles and the bicep, and then there was only one arm left that could move. So next, Avenue cut that up, arm rising and falling, iron spraying blood, beast howling, and Avenue keening. He walked over to the head of the ape. ”My sweet beastie, oh how you make good fun.”, he cooed, looking the ape in its desperate eyes. It strained and flexed, but it couldn’t move to get the object of its hate. He touched the ape on either side of the head, speaking softly to it.

Sparrow gave a quiet groan as she pushed herself up from the ground. The young woman took deep breaths as she watched the cultists try (insert fail) to kill the remaining two apes, still recovering from having the wind knocked from her lungs. As she went to stand, Sparrow grabbed her bow from the blood covered forest floor and wiped the sweat from her forehead. She looked over to see Avenue strike one of the apes numerous times, each hit causing Sparrow to flinch. Enough was enough. She paced quietly around the scene, nocking an arrow to her bow’s string before drawing it back. As she let it fly, Sparrow whispered a few words.

“To end your suffering.”

The arrow impaled itself directly into the apes carotid artery, causing a large squirt of blood to fly out as the life faded from the beast’s eyes. Sparrow took in a breath and lowered her bow, slipping it over her torso to free her hands. Though it may have been a battle, a huntress like herself could not let this meat go to waste. Sparrow pulled one of her daggers from its sheath on her torso before approaching one of the fallen apes. As she began to cut into its flesh, she looked to Avenue and spoke with a stern voice.

“Though they are our opponents, they need not suffer. The animals only act in defense. Your men are reckless and should not have entered this jungle. Why are you here?”

The spurt of blood hit Avenue square in the face. He looked up at Sparrow, and frowned, sorrow drawing lines on his face. "O little Bird. You know nothing. To suffer is- to suffer is to grow. And... well, what is a life without- without growth?" he asked. He felt the warm blood trickle to the corner of his eye, but didn't stop staring at Sparrow to wipe it away.

“Me? Why I’m here?” he chuckled, “Well. Fact- as a matter of fact, these lands are belong- belonging to Hope, and she has given us leave to wander them as we choose. My mind wound wonder why a Bird like you: frail and delicate, would be here. Be here. Be here,” he stuttered. His blinking became faster and harder as he talked, apparently finding words to be difficult. “Not that we’re complaining. You may not be of Hope, but we can’t deny that you were of service to her- her cause today.”

“These lands, all lands, belong to the Earth Mother. She gives us food and water, in return we respect her creations. We do not let them suffer, suffering is misery and nothing more. Suffering is not growth, it is not good.” Sparrow continued to cut away slabs of meat, stuffing them into the leather pouch that hung from her shoulder. “What happened here, this was unnecessary. I will kill your men before I see them start another slaughter like this. This accomplished nothing.” Her words were cold and venomous towards him.

Sparrow moved and began to skin the hide from the ape’s body, the black shiny pelt coming free from the muscle below it effortlessly. Her practiced hand moved without thought like she’d done hundreds of times before. Sparing only one other moment for Avenue, she looked to him once more and spoke coldly “You ventured through my hunting grounds as you walked. Your men scared everything away. That, and only that, is why I followed you. Tread lightly on these grounds or this little bird will put an arrow in your back without hesitation.” She finished skinning the one ape before standing right up to Avenue, her tiny frame dwarfed by his.

“You can call me delicate all you like. The only reason you’re still standing here is because of me.”

Palm Beach Royals: Senior Year

As they walked inside of the transparent tents that were set up outside, April couldn’t help but be at least a little bit impressed. Despite the circumstances surrounding this homecoming, so far April had little to complain about. Even the partner that was forced upon her was turning out to be not-so-bad afterall. Kavi was surprisingly easy to be with ever since they’d argued in the cafeteria.

There was just one problem. That tiny voice inside of her head still told her something was wrong. Something was wrong with her.

April shook the thought from her head as she sat down next to Kavi at a free table. She glanced over him with her warm brown eyes as Kavi scrolled through his phone, drinking in his rather handsome exterior while he was occupied. Even as she enjoyed the view, April could tell something was up with Kavi. A few thoughts went through her head, but the only obvious thing that could be an issue would have had to be something to do with the police chase. How they could possibly be arrested.

A moment later she realised Kavi was talking to her and managed only to miss a few words.

“...don’t be the hero and say you were the one driving. One, they’d never believe you because I’ll say I was and two, well actually there’s only one thing. And another thing, how are you feeling?”

The brunette stifled a laugh, shaking her head gently before she tucked her hair behind her one ear. “You expect too much of me, I get enough attention from the cops when I drive on my own!” She shot him a grin in an attempt to lighten the mood before she listened to the rest of what he had to say. “I’m feeling a lot better. I’m sure it was nothing.” April couldn’t help but feel like that was more of an attempt to convince herself than Kavi. Regardless, tonight would show it for sure. She glanced to her purse, but resisted the temptation to give in to the temptation just yet.

She turned to Kavi in an attempt to move her mind from the subject. “Would you care for a dance, my dear partner? It only makes sense, plus it would help you blend in…” April batted her eyelashes at him, her playful brown eyes sparkling in the dim light of the tent. Tonight would be interesting before anything else, that was guaranteed.

Steelbird Landing: A Roleplay After The End of it All [18+, 6 player limit!]

Sparrow, the Stalker

Sparrow

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What Do You See?

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¤ Age, approximately.
Late twenties.

¤ What Are You?
The Stalker

I am a hunter by trade. I wait silently amongst the trees for my prey to appear and strike without hesitation. Most believe that jaguars are the apex predator of the jungle. I am what the jaguars fear.

¤ What defines you?
COOL: Sparrow is icy cold under pressure and hard to rile. You are the very definition of a smooth operator. But of course, cold means distant…

Let Go of Your Past

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¤ Who are you?
I am Sparrow. I go where others can’t. I was born in the chaotic streets of the city once known as Rio, used by the people around me to scavenge in places few others could fit. I was born in blood, the offspring of bandits fighting over anything and everything that remained. I was born in violence, punished for every failure. I was born, but I did not live. I was taught that nothing mattered but doing anything to get food. They spoke nothing of beliefs, the Gods did not want them in their mind.

They called themselves the Forsaken. They claimed that they had been abandoned by the Gods and that their ruthlessness and merciless killings were a result of it. I was taught no differently. I learned to kill without hesitation and without remorse. My elders always said I was good for nothing, that I was a runt among the children and that I would never be as strong. I was determined to prove them wrong. If they couldn’t see that I was strong, I was going to show them. In the Forsaken, you were judged for how good you were at scavenging and killing. So I scavenged and killed.

I was never taught regret. It was never an emotion I was familiar with. That has not changed throughout my entire life. That same night, I killed Leader’s favourite pupil. Slaughtered him in his sleep. I watched the light fade from his eyes as he awoke to his demise. I would not be cast aside any longer. Now that the competition was gone, I would no longer live in his shadow.

But instead of becoming Leader’s favourite, I became the most hated. I was beat until I bled, whipped until I could no longer stand. They cast me out into the wild with nothing but my clothes. Since then, I’ve lived off of the wilderness and the bounties it offered. I became one with the jungle and trusted nothing and no one but myself. I know the jungle better than anything and it now fuels my livelihood.

¤ What do you want?
I want to prove Leader wrong and be the most feared predator of my enemies. I live to sustain myself and I serve no one else. I live to show myself that we don’t need to scavenge to survive.

¤ What do you believe?
I believe that the two most powerful things in the world are patience and time. Nature’s pace is the only one I follow, patience will bring you sustenance if you give it the time it needs. Patience may be bitter, but the fruit it bears is sweet.

¤ What do you follow?
I follow the trails of the animals and the hints they leave behind with my eyes. When no trail is evident, I follow the sounds of their calls with my ears and their patterns of movement with my memory. If nothing else, I follow my need for self-redemption.

¤ A scarcity embodied:
I embody the scarcity of freedom. I am trapped inside my own head, fighting myself to earn the validation of a leader I despise. It is evident to those around me. A few have noted that I punish myself for simple mistakes, mistakes that others may see as nothing.

¤ Basic Instincts:
The pair of knives sheathed under my left arm never leave me, not even while I sleep. Without even thinking, I will landmark escape routes around me. In a conflict, I always keep my distance and let the arrows speak for me.

Spill Your Guts

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¤ What is the worst thing you've ever done to stay alive?
The dead month... There was someone that had followed me from Rio, someone that I eventually considered a friend. For weeks we searched the jungles, waiting to find something to eat. We waited in the trees just like I’d done for years before. And nothing ever crossed our trails. It had been weeks of living off of leaves, mushrooms and the few berries we could find. My hunger got the best of me. As I waited in a tree above, I told him to go down to look for a trail and as he examined the jungle floor I put an arrow in the back of his head. He sustained me for another two weeks until I finally came upon a deer. The memory still haunts me to this day, as does the taste…

¤ Who do you owe?
I owe Pepsi for teaching me of The Ways. I give him a free pound or two of meat from each hunt so that he may continue to enlighten me.

¤ Who owns you? Literally or figuratively.
The jungle owns me, nature owns me. She holds my life in her hands every single day. My life depends on her bounty just as it depends on the tools I use to collect it. I am her apex predator, and she is my controller. She decides if I feed or if I starve, if I climb or if I fall.

¤ Who's intentions do you question?
I question everyone’s intentions. It’s the reason I still live and breathe to this day. Trust no one, question everything and never turn your back to a man with a weapon regardless of standing.

¤ Who or what do you worship?
I worship the Earthen Mother, nature herself. I pray to her each morning before the hunt so that I may live to see another day, so that I may nourish myself in her bountiful jungles and find my way out of them unharmed.

Hear the Whispers...

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It comes to me while I pray. I close my eyes and as I speak, I begin to notice more and more around me. The silence, the smell of the jungle, the gentle touch of the wind and the humidity in the air, it all comes to me. Around me, there is an endless forest filled with life. I see a figure in the distance, just a silhouette in the fog. The Earthen Mother. She paces towards me, her featureless form made merely of mist. As she does, I realise I can no longer move. My eyes are fixated on her as the fog closes in around both of us. It is when she touches me that she begins to speak. A whisper, nothing more. A single word. Normally a location or direction.

Sometimes she remains silent and simply shows me. A gust of wind showing me the way, perhaps a trail invisible to me before. Always guidance, never judgement. The mother is fair in that way. She guides my step and allows me life.

Own What You've Become

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Ah, Sparrow. Maybe they should have named you Falcon or Hawk... Their loss. Let's see what scars run deepest…

¤ You have seen one of the monsters from the western rift. What did it look like? What did it say to you?

It was nearly ten feet tall. Black as the night sky with yellow eyes that pierced through the darkness like arrows. I tried to take it down but my arrows bounced right off of it’s scaly hide. When it saw me, it turned to me and made a sound that almost resembled a laugh. When it spoke it’s four words, it sent a sickening feeling through me, “Your mother will suffer..”

¤ There is someone who wishes you join you on your hunts. Who is it? Why do you keep refusing?

Spade has been eyeing my place since I first started. He’s asked me countless times to show him how to hunt and to allow him to hunt on my grounds. I don’t trust him. He doesn’t take to the ways of the Earthen Mother, nor do I believe that he truly wants to be my partner in this. When we first met I caught him trying to steal a cut of meat from me. I won’t let him on the Mother’s hunting grounds.

¤ Who is your best customer? Your worst? Who wants to take control of your business? Names only, please.
The best? Pepsi. The worst? Shank.

Wants to take control? Spade.

Relationships Can Prove Fatal...

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¤You had some kind of relationship with one of the other characters that is no longer the case. Who? And what was the relationship?

Avenue. We used to speak. He was the father of Milk's child. I respected him once, when he first introduced me to Hope. Avenue made me believe there was more than just violence, slaughter and mayhem in the world. And then he destroyed that image. That coward ran off with my sister's child in the night. I couldn't run fast enough to catch him and I will forever feel guilt for that. There is nothing between us now. He is a coward, nothing will change that in my eyes.

¤There is one character who you think could hear the voice of the Earth Mother if you could only teach them. Who?

Hemlock. I watch her harvest the plants without regard or care for the one who makes them. I watch her from the trees while she remains unaware. It would be dishonest of me to say that I haven't thought about ending her life while she defiled the Mother's grounds. I had gotten as far as drawing my bow before the Mother corrected my way. She spoke to me that night in my prayers, the same night I caught a glimpse of Hemlock spying on me through the trees. The Mother had shown me a sign. Hemlock can be taught of the ways of the Earth Mother.

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Sparrow’s Song

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Steelbird Landing: A Roleplay After The End of it All [18+, 6 player limit!]

Sparrow

Sparrow

¤ Age, approximately.
Late twenties.

¤ What Are You?
The Stalker

I am a hunter by trade. I wait silently amongst the trees for my prey to appear and strike without hesitation. Most believe that jaguars are the apex predator of the jungle. I am what the jaguars fear.

¤ What defines you?
COOL: Sparrow is icy cold under pressure and hard to rile. You are the very definition of a smooth operator. But of course, cold means distant…

¤ Who are you?
I am Sparrow. I go where others can’t. I was born in the chaotic streets of the city once known as Rio, used by the people around me to scavenge in places few others could fit. I was born in blood, the offspring of bandits fighting over anything and everything that remained. I was born in violence, punished for every failure. I was born, but I did not live. I was taught that nothing mattered but doing anything to get food. They spoke nothing of beliefs, the Gods did not want them in their mind.

They called themselves the Forsaken. They claimed that they had been abandoned by the Gods and that their ruthlessness and merciless killings were a result of it. I was taught no differently. I learned to kill without hesitation and without remorse. My elders always said I was good for nothing, that I was a runt among the children and that I would never be as strong. I was determined to prove them wrong. If they couldn’t see that I was strong, I was going to show them. In the Forsaken, you were judged for how good you were at scavenging and killing. So I scavenged and killed.

I was never taught regret. It was never an emotion I was familiar with. That has not changed throughout my entire life. That same night, I killed Leader’s favourite pupil. Slaughtered him in his sleep. I watched the light fade from his eyes as he awoke to his demise. I would not be cast aside any longer. Now that the competition was gone, I would no longer live in his shadow.

But instead of becoming Leader’s favourite, I became the most hated. I was beat until I bled, whipped until I could no longer stand. They cast me out into the wild with nothing but my clothes. Since then, I’ve lived off of the wilderness and the bounties it offered. I became one with the jungle and trusted nothing and no one but myself. I know the jungle better than anything and it now fuels my livelihood.

¤ What do you want?
I want to prove Leader wrong and be the most feared predator of my enemies. I live to sustain myself and I serve no one else. I live to show myself that we don’t need to scavenge to survive.

¤ What do you believe?
I believe that the two most powerful things in the world are patience and time. Nature’s pace is the only one I follow, patience will bring you sustenance if you give it the time it needs. Patience may be bitter, but the fruit it bears is sweet.

¤ What do you follow?
I follow the trails of the animals and the hints they leave behind with my eyes. When no trail is evident, I follow the sounds of their calls with my ears and their patterns of movement with my memory. If nothing else, I follow my need for self-redemption.

¤ A scarcity embodied:
I embody the scarcity of freedom. I am trapped inside my own head, fighting myself to earn the validation of a leader I despise. It is evident to those around me. A few have noted that I punish myself for simple mistakes, mistakes that others may see as nothing.

¤ Basic Instincts:
The pair of knives sheathed under my left arm never leave me, not even while I sleep. Without even thinking, I will landmark escape routes around me. In a conflict, I always keep my distance and let the arrows speak for me.

¤ Spill Your Guts

¤ What is the worst thing you've ever done to stay alive?
The dead month... There was someone that had followed me from Rio, someone that I eventually considered a friend. For weeks we searched the jungles, waiting to find something to eat. We waited in the trees just like I’d done for years before. And nothing ever crossed our trails. It had been weeks of living off of leaves, mushrooms and the few berries we could find. My hunger got the best of me. As I waited in a tree above, I told him to go down to look for a trail and as he examined the jungle floor I put an arrow in the back of his head. He sustained me for another two weeks until I finally came upon a deer. The memory still haunts me to this day, as does the taste…

¤ Who do you owe?
I owe Pepsi for teaching me of The Ways. I give him a free pound or two of meat from each hunt so that he may continue to enlighten me.

¤ Who owns you? Literally or figuratively.
The jungle owns me, nature owns me. She holds my life in her hands every single day. My life depends on her bounty just as it depends on the tools I use to collect it. I am her apex predator, and she is my controller. She decides if I feed or if I starve, if I climb or if I fall.

¤ Who's intentions do you question?
I question everyone’s intentions. It’s the reason I still live and breathe to this day. Trust no one, question everything and never turn your back to a man with a weapon regardless of standing.

¤ Who or what do you worship?
I worship the Earthen Mother, nature herself. I pray to her each morning before the hunt so that I may live to see another day, so that I may nourish myself in her bountiful jungles and find my way out of them unharmed.

Hear the Whispers...

It comes to me while I pray. I close my eyes and as I speak, I begin to notice more and more around me. The silence, the smell of the jungle, the gentle touch of the wind and the humidity in the air, it all comes to me. Around me, there is an endless forest filled with life. I see a figure in the distance, just a silhouette in the fog. The Earthen Mother. She paces towards me, her featureless form made merely of mist. As she does, I realise I can no longer move. My eyes are fixated on her as the fog closes in around both of us. It is when she touches me that she begins to speak. A whisper, nothing more. A single word. Normally a location or direction.

Sometimes she remains silent and simply shows me. A gust of wind showing me the way, perhaps a trail invisible to me before. Always guidance, never judgement. The mother is fair in that way. She guides my step and allows me life.

Own What You've Become

Ah, Sparrow. Maybe they should have named you Falcon or Hawk... Their loss. Let's see what scars run deepest…

¤ You have seen one of the monsters from the western rift. What did it look like? What did it say to you?

It was nearly ten feet tall. Black as the night sky with yellow eyes that pierced through the darkness like arrows. I tried to take it down but my arrows bounced right off of it’s scaly hide. When it saw me, it turned to me and made a sound that almost resembled a laugh. When it spoke it’s four words, it sent a sickening feeling through me, “Your mother will suffer..”

¤ There is someone who wishes you join you on your hunts. Who is it? Why do you keep refusing?

Spade has been eyeing my place since I first started. He’s asked me countless times to show him how to hunt and to allow him to hunt on my grounds. I don’t trust him. He doesn’t take to the ways of the Earthen Mother, nor do I believe that he truly wants to be my partner in this. When we first met I caught him trying to steal a cut of meat from me. I won’t let him on the Mother’s hunting grounds.

¤ Who is your best customer? Your worst? Who wants to take control of your business? Names only, please.
The best? Pepsi. The worst? Shank.

Wants to take control? Spade.

¤Sparrow’s Song

Steelbird Landing Interest Check [18+, 6 players ONLY]

Definitely intrigued, I'll get on writing a character.

Palm Beach Royals: Senior Year

Truthfully, April hadn’t been feeling amazing today. She’d woken up with a wicked headache that put most of her previous hangovers to shame, then after she’d finally had her coffee her dad dragged her out the door to pick up her dress before she’d even had a chance to eat. Only after she’d practically begged her dad to stop at the closest McDonald’s did she finally satisfy her need for food. Between the headache, her father’s insufferable dad jokes and the nonstop driving around Palm Beach, her day hadn’t been great so far.

Following the chaos that was making the final adjustments to her homecoming dress--apparently something to do with incorrect waistline measurements--things finally calmed down a bit. April had insisted on driving herself to the hairdresser and so after being dropped off at home, she hopped in her Maserati and took off towards Fort Lauderdale. It wasn’t a terribly long drive. The shocking lack of police presence today meant that she could easily bypass the speed limit and finished the roughly fifty mile drive in just under thirty minutes. A stupid grin was plastered across her face as she pulled into the parking lot. Something about going 160 km/h (100 mph) down the highway and the sound of the Maserati’s engine always made her day.

After she’d returned, it was approaching four o’clock. Plenty of time to get ready. She quickly ate a small dinner and then made her way to her room. With the dress already laid out on her bed, April went to work on her makeup. April spared no effort in applying it while keeping her look more reserved. There was no point if the end result made her look like a clown.

With the finishing touches down, it was now time for the dress. She continued to question how the measurements had been taken wrong. It had only been two or three weeks since she’d gone in for the initial fitting. April pulled out her phone and brought up the photo she’d had her father take of her those few weeks ago, before she pulled on her dress.

April started at the mirror, her eyes glancing over every single inch of the dress. Every time she looked however, her eyes were always drawn back to the waistline. Something wasn’t right. Her heart sped up as she ran her hand down from her chest to her waist and then looked back to her phone, the pieces coming together in her brain.

”Fuck!” April exclaimed, albeit a little louder than intended.

“Everything alright sweety?” Her dad inquired.

”Everything’s fine! Just… … ... knocked something over!” April called out nervously, her heart pounding against the walls of her chest.

Palm Beach Royals: Senior Year

Normally April would’ve been excited for homecoming, let alone her final homecoming in King’s Academy. But this year was different. This year she had no idea if she was even wanting to go. Ever since the events in Santiago’s bedroom back at the party six weeks ago, she’d been thinking all too much about Santi and what she really meant to him. It hadn’t exactly been radio silence between the two since that fateful night. Santi had sent a few texts to her, only some of which April actually responded to. Most ended in one of them not responding to the other, with only one occasion of the conversation lasting more than a few minutes.

But one text. One single text from Santiago flipped her world upside down.

Look stop ignoring me sorry I slept with Xixi

When she saw that text, something snapped inside of her. April’s mind raced faster than she drove, a mix of resentment and sadness building inside of her. That was it. If Santi could do whatever--or rather whoever-- he wanted to, whenever he wanted to, then as far as April was concerned she was no longer his little Tiger Lily. Enough with the games, it was time to move on. It was time to stop thinking with her heart and to start thinking with her head.

“Hello Seniors!” Mrs. Sanders’ irritating voice brought her back to reality. “As you all know, our school’s Homecoming dance is scheduled to take place next Saturday evening. I’m sure you all have your little outfits picked out and all of that, maybe even have an idea of who you’d like to attend with… … ... But we’re actually changing things up a little this year.” Uh oh, that didn’t sound good. What the hell did this sociopath have planned this time? April narrowed her eyes in suspicion, glancing to Chanel and Julie to see their reactions. “What is she up to this time?” If Mrs. Sanders even considered ruining homecoming in her final year, April might have run her down in the parking lot.

As Sanders droned on and on, spewing the bullshit facade into their faces like they were young children, April sat on the edge of her seat in anticipation. Her mind raced as she tried to figure out what could possibly be going on here. “Oh wait.... No...she wouldn’t--” April’s self-talk was interrupted by Mrs. Sanders once again,“So for this homecoming dance, I’ll be in charge of deciding who attends the dance with who, with a little help from these bowls here.”

“What the fuck!” April exclaimed a little more loudly than she had intended, drawing a few eyes from the crowd and a stern glare from Mrs. Sanders before the speech continued. April gritted her teeth and looked to her partners in crime for something...anything. “She can’t do this, can she?”

“Mr. Salvador, you are paired with Ms. Foster.”

Salvador? The name rang a bell somewhere in the deep recesses of her brain, but she just couldn’t place a face to it.

Oh. Right. Kavi Salvador, the only person on the planet who could properly piss of Santiago. The one person that Santi would absolute hate to have partnered with her. April looked back to Santiago himself, sending him a smug look that just screamed *This is what you get* before returning her gaze to the front. This was too perfect. The person Santi couldn’t stop hating partnered with the one he was closest with. The fact that he was easy on the eyes was just bonus points now. This homecoming would certainly be the most interesting one yet.

As the assembly came to a close, she said a quick goodbye to Chanel and Julie before turning and following Kavi out. She stayed back for a bit so that it wasn’t super obvious, but then sped up as they got closer and closer to the cafeteria. Upon arrival, April went about her own business and grabbed a few items for her lunch, timing it so she’d be right behind Kavi when he got in line. It almost felt like she was on the hunt. Hunting for prey that was already hers for the taking. In a...happy, not blood shedding way though. As she walked up, April carefully balanced her tray on one hand while she quickly tucked her hair to the side with the other.

With a stupid grin plastered across her face, she walked up behind Kavi “Cute butt, is it free for the taking?”