Changing of Tide

Sounds of a flute played through the winds softly as the breeze carried gently on like a traveling troop, more or less like a small group. Every bird chirped, as well as sang with the melody of music that came through the air. The sound of the flute rang through the air and circulated about the seldom plant life situated about the pathway to the village. the source of this strange tune, the tune of curiosity and adventure, came from under a tree. A large tree that had in it's shade a figure sitting on the coarse grass with their back to the tree. Pale fingers lifted up and down keying into the instrument of red wood, the fingers were slow to draw the tune longer. The figure was a strange one, a female with animal ears and a tail that curled about her feet. The skirt she wore over the tight dark leggings was slightly frayed and draped over he knees lightly. She had her eyes closed as she played the song. 

Birds flew into the tree and circled about her to listen to the music, the little mouse girl moved her tail to rest some of it on her lap. The frizzed ploof on her tail moved in the wind as she continued to play, once in awhile the mouse would pause for breath and begin to play more. At her hip was the only defense as well as trick she could do, knife throwing. The very knives she stole from her father and two brothers years ago. This morning marked the day she had been rescued from the snow, raised as a traveling entertainer, as well as gaining friend and family for a while. That had been a really good life back then but now she was on her own, she had no family left. Only family she considered herself to have was the animals about her. Even then she felt alone. 

Erik had come to the village while Jessie was sleeping. She was safe right now. He needed to get some paper and things to have something to do. He had a quill but wasn't sure what he wanted to do. Maybe doodle or write something. Hell if he knew. He'd know if and when it came to him. As he was walking he heard very beautiful flute music. He started walking in that direction. Feeling drawn to the music. He followed it until he saw the mouse girl. Standing a few feet away from her.

He had never seen a mouse girl but that isn't what caught his attention. What caught his attention was her loneliness and her sorrow. He felt a kindred spirit which made him halt in his walking. "Hey..." He said in a lifeless voice. It was filled with a tiny bit of curiousity though. "Whats your name?" He asked. Ever since meeting Jessie he felt a tiny bit more social. Not by much though. He was still anti-social but he felt a kindred spirit and knew one when he saw them. He felt her loneliness and wanted to be her family.

He looked at her. "Erik...you?" He asked with a lifeless voice. He hoped she didn't mind he didn't have much if any life left in his soul. His parents had done a good job of figuratively killing him while still leaving him alive. A shell that lived versus a life that flourished. His light was smothered and didn't even show in his eyes. "You need someone to not feel alone? I might not be much but...I want to help you as one kindred spirit to another. I know what its like...not having family you can trust." He said softly without any life still though.

 Swishing of a tail and flexing of toes the girl felt like standing, felt like wandering around as she played but she never did. All the mouse felt was movement in the song, not in her body- though there was a couple other emotions she had as well. Sorrow and loneliness. It as all she felt everyday but thing was the young girl had no family, she ran away from them when her sister was born. Suddenly she was hearing footsteps, not like that stopped the song though. Her tail curled around he ankles and squeezed her legs together, her ears hung low, and her eyes remained shut. The voice would have made her move but something about it stopped the thought of leaving, opening her eyes she made the song reflect curiosity and sorrow.

 Nillie blinked at the male standing before her and continued to play, her eyes looked to the animals who left her and she made a sighed gesture. Looking to the male again she paused playing, her eyes sparkled as she heard him ask for her name. Though she waited as he announced himself before she continued her song, pausing every so often.

~:I am Nillie Leonor, sir.:~

The mouse then stopped playing and put her flute away before uncurling her tail and standing up. She couldn't speak verbally due to only being able to speak in chirps and squeaks. Her mental voice in the male's mind was soft, gentle, held a skill tint of a German heritage. The little mouse flicked her tail and looked to the tree and sighed. Her ears perked up and swiveled as he spoke again and looked down. Every inch of her emotions flattened, her tail was on the ground and her ears against her head. Fiddling her toes she spoke back into his mind an stared. 

~:I don't know... I have been on my own for years. I have no family, I wanted one... One that cared for a being so different.:~

She fiddled with her tail between her palms.

~:You are the first who ever offered me anything like this...:~

Erik looked at her. Hearing her voice in his head. He didn't smile but then again due to his past he never learned how to smile. It wasn't a concept he ever had a chance to learn. "Good to meet you." He said in his flat and lifeless voice. Watching her stop playing and put her flute away. He didn't move in case he might frighten her. In a way he cared but in a way he didn't. It just wasn't respectful to scare a lady. "I have no family...not that you could call family. I grew up with monsters." He said simply. He wouldn't go into more details. "You can come stay with me and Jessie. She won't judge you." He shook his head. "I don't see a being who is different. I see a kindred spirit." He said. His voice never changing or gaining any life. What life was there for it to gain.

"Jessie is a girl I'm sticking with. I protect her." He said simply. He shrugged a bit. "Kindred spirits should stick together. You look like you need family. I am not much due to being a shell but one who understands you is better than no one....right?" He said. He was still going to stick with Jessie. He just needed to get some things then get back to her. Nellie just looked like she needed people who wouldn't judge her. He wouldn't and he knew Jessie wouldn't. From what he knew of Jessie she would be the young woman's friend.

She insisted they were friends and he didn't argue it with her. He was just trying to figure out why she even wanted to be his friend. Why she was always so positive towards him. It was different and confusing. He wouldn't blame Nellie if she didn't want to come with him. He was just a lifeless shell after all.

Timidity was not a natural thing for her but she was timid if she was with strangers, she hated interacting with people. She was so different, abnormal. If the male had even moved she wouldn't have cared, just moved away herself. But yet, Nillie would keep close by. Though the little mouse girl looked down and wiggled her toes as she fiddled with her tail, bending it and twisting it nervously. The male then said he was glad to meet her, Nillie sure hoped so. It had been a few years since she had anyone to "talk" to other than the animals. Though thing was she let out a squeaked yelp when she twisted her tail too much, she did it in reaction to the fact he called his family monsters. Rubbing the twist in her tail she looked up at him with a little chirp.

~:Family never liked me either..:~

Never had she heard anyone call family monsters before, honestly she could relate though. Her father would smack her, her brothers did worse things, only her mother cared... that was until that baby came. She never met her sister, never would. Nillie lifted her tail and played with the ploof on her tail before tickling it under her own nose and giggling. Eli was soon telling her of a girl, a girl who won't care what she looked like, or what she was. Dropping her tail it went behind her and curled in an "s". She clasped her hands behind her, then twirled herself back and forth as she stood there, "Chir`papa Squee?" Nillie squeaked before she nodded and smiled up at the taller man.

~:You may have only a shell... but I wouldn't care... I just want someone who I could call family- especially growing up as the ugly one....:~

Erik might have grown up with monsters but they were what made him who he was. What made him how he was. Yet they were also why he swore he would never be anything like them. He would never be a monster like they were. He would never put anyone down. He would never hit anyone. He would never treat them violently on any level. So in a way that was the only good thing about his life...he learned what he would never ever be or become. He also learned he wasn't meant to learn to be like most people. To have emotions. To know how to smile. To have life. To be more than what he was now. They made sure of that each and every day. Six months old...why did they grow to hate him just because he became independent? It just got worse over the years but why? What had he ever done to them? He would never know because he wasn't going back to confront them.

He watched her wiggling her toes and fiddling with her tail. He was wondering if she realized she was possibly going to hurt herself. He understood her on a different level than he understood others. She was a kindred spirit. While he had no emotions she needed him and he her. Not as anything more than family but exactly that...as family. They were meant as kindred spirits to be there for someone who knew what it was like to be different. To be unwanted and hated. He saw her squeak out a yelp and looked a bit concerned. He hoped she was okay. "From what I've seen of family...the ones who are supposed to be there for us never are." He said lifelessly.

He tilted his head while she played with the ploof of her tail. It was cute in a way. He didn't see anything wrong with how she was. So she had mouse ears and tail. So what? He watched her and nodded his head. He only partily understood what she had squeaked. He could learn to understand it. "If you teach me what you are saying when you speak with your mouth I could learn to talk to you like you can talk." He offered lightly. Hoping that would make her feel a bit happier. Least others could feel that. He didn't even know what happiness felt like. Maybe it was how he felt right now and when around Jessie.

He tilted his head to the side as she spoke into his head. Her words brought a fleeting feeling of something he didn't understand to his heart. On a mental level it made him feel slightly better about himself. Maybe that was close to the reason why Jessie stuck to him and convinced him to stick with her. He hoped she got the note he left her. He nodded his head and then shook it at her last statement. "Then you can call me family. I think I'm at least a year older than you. I'll be your big brother. I won't ever do anything to hurt you." He reached forward and touched the top of her head. It was an action meant to be gentle and kind. "You aren't ugly. I am or so I was told every day since I was not even a year old." He said softly. "You aren't ugly Nellie just different. Different doesn't make you ugly. I've heard that there are other people who have animal ears and tails that people can see all the time."

He had heard it. In fact in his journey's he had met a man named Leon who had wolf or dog ears and tail. "I met one such male before. So you are unique but not ugly or a freak or any other such things. You are just you." Not once did his voice gain life but was filled with dead kindness and possibly a hint of warmth.

In all honesty if the girl had actually noticed how she had been fiddling with her tail harshly she would have stopped, but what he said shocked her. His concern made her feel good; feel good that he cared. It was rare for her to find someone who cared. She looked up as her hair fell before her eyes and smiled at him. Nillie was proud to know him, he related to her well and it made her glad she had someone who understood her. Though how he described family and such made her ears purse to her head an her tail droop, rubbing her arm as she let out a whimper. Memories she could never forget went through her mind. Memories of her father smacking her around, hitting her for just no reason at all some of the time.

~:Family should never hurt their child... Or each other...:~

Every thing she verbally spoke was part of a language she was born with, it usually consisted of few words though. Squee, chir, chir`papa, squill, or chii. Those five words were all she needed and depending on how it was said it meant something entirely different. It would be hard for her to teach him, but it was worth trying right? Nillie would be glad to try an teach him, least someone would be able to talk to her in mouse speak. She nodded to that comment and listened further to him as she began to play with the ploof again.

The mouse let go of her tail and hugged him tight with a happy whine, "Chii!" she said joyfully, it was as if she wished to convey the fact she was happy he was her brother. The first male who would never hit her, kick her, or even threaten to throw into some place that would get her serious injuries. She nuzzled him before backing up with a smile. Nillie close her eyes with a chirp as she was patted on the head and let her ears flatten. Erik seemed to think she wasn't ugly at all, her tail lifted and curled around one of his hand. Though she looked up and tilted her head as she was told he was ugly; she didn't need to move her ees to look him up and down, to her he wasn't ugly. The group she had been with had men ranging from burned flesh to severe scars, even some who were like the male before her and she shook her head.

~:I see a normal guy, I grew up with a performance group of rejects... I don't see you as ugly becuase they weren't... I just feel outcat becuase I am a mouse girl... I just feel rejected- because of how my father and brothers acted to me... I wish I could have known if my sister would have loved me...:~

Nillie sounded sad and her tail let go of it's gentle grip, her eyes downcast as she went and sat under the tree. When her sister had been born, her family forgot her.