Post by pyrrhus on Dec 31, 2008 20:19:08 GMT -7
The Handler
Name: Pyrrhus
Nickname: Pyro (pronounced PIH-ro)
Classification: Nekomata
Gender: Male
Age & Birthday: 13 years as a cat (91 human), 199 as a nekomata meaning he feels he’s 290 years old but is actually 212. Appears to be in his early to mid twenties.
Born March 20.
Appearance:
He has two appearances: The first is similar to a domestic Maine Coon. Bodily he is 5 feet long and almost 175 pounds. His fur is long and silky, orange-red in color with classical tabby stripes, a white underbelly, mouth and nose. His eyes are golden and carry a weight with them. His tails for he has two are almost as long as his body. Pyro’s face is blunted with a tucked in chin and long, gently curved whiskers. In this form, he can be found walking on all fours or on his back two feet and can speak though his voice will have a gentle purr.
The second is his human form. In this form, he is 6’2” and weighs 160 pounds, making his human body much thinner and lither than his cat form. His hair is bright red and very long while his skin is dramatically pale making most people think he’s ill. His back is laced with old whip scars after a run in with a cranky bosun. He is muscular but not bulky with calloused feet and fingers. He has a somewhat overhanging brow, shadowing golden cat-like eyes. Pyro has a straight bridged nose with an end that turns up giving him a slightly snubby appearance.
At times, when he’s not concentrating hard enough, Pyro will have two tails along with cat ears and clawed furry hands. When he’s not around humans but doesn’t feel entirely comfortable being a cat, he takes this form. He has retractable claws in all forms, even human.
Attire:
Generally Pyro goes around in cat form which means he’s naked as the day is long. In fact, he prefers nudity but as it is generally not acceptable, he’s usually found in medieval style pants of a soft leather and laced up in front. He chooses long sleeved shirts, loose and flowing in a variety of colors but in the style of a simple Civil War era military issue shirt. It is usually worn tucked in but without the buttons done. If he absolutely must wear shoes, the unique look is finished with black Civil War styled riding boots that reach just above his ankle and in black leather. Generally, he does not wear jewelry and you will never catch him wearing a collar.
When he goes to war, he generally dawns leather archer armor with a chain undershirt. It is styled to be easily shed should he need to shift to cat form at any time. He wears a hip slung quiver with Elvin arrows and bow which he is a master at using.
The Creation
Name: Destroy Of All That Breathes (this is more of a taunt than a serious name. Because he is generally a big kitty cat, those who’ve never seen him fight don’t take him very seriously.)
Power List:
Ghost Fire
Dream Manipulation
Shapeshifting
Detailed Power:
Ghost Fire: After a fire dies, its light enters the spirit world. The nekomata and its lesser forms are capable of making ghostly fireballs that are said to haunt houses. That’s the myth part. The true part is that those fireballs can harm. They burn just like real fire though it’s a cold sensation and colored a strange blue. Pyro launches these fireballs just like one might be throwing a baseball. He can manipulate how fast they travel to use them to light up a pathway or to harm and can control up to six fireballs of baseball size at one time. They can only form as big as a soccer ball.
Dream Manipulation: Like all his ilk, he is capable of manipulating the dreams of sleepers, turning good dreams into nightmares and making nightmares worse. He doesn’t have to be anywhere near the sleeper but he does have to know the name that they go by everyday of his target and where they are located when they are sleeping so generally he is somewhere close enough to obtain this information though he doesn’t have to be. While perhaps he could make dreams better, he has never attempted it and doesn’t care to so all his knowledge is in creating nightmares.
Shapeshifter: Pyro has limited shapeshifting. His true form is that of a very large cat and he can take the form of a young human male. He can maintain both forms for as long as he wishes, can change whenever he wishes and maintain a slightly altered form. There is no in-between of a bloody great cat-beast walking on two legs like a werewolf might obtain.
The Potential
Alignment/Occupation: Nauda’s Army
Weapons: Bow and arrows
Personality:
He is an extreme believer in being who you are and not caving to anyone’s ideals. He’s passionate in his beliefs and will stop at nothing to see them to fruition which means he is stubborn beyond belief. Pyro can be a terrible flirt with pretty much anything that moves but as far as anyone can tell, that’s as far as it’s ever gone.
When he’s happy, most people know it. He’ll literally have a bounce in his step. Pyro is pretty physical and likes to touch people. If a person does not like being touched, he will become unreasonably angry and ignore that person otherwise. He is tremendously loyal to his friends though he has very few and will become dreadfully violent if they come into harm. It’s almost a lust for violence that he can’t stop and must be forcibly held back.
He holds himself with a great confidence. When irritated, he growls and snaps at everyone even at those who don’t deserve his temper. He has very little patience for stupidity but does not easily admit to his own ignorance. “Oh right, I knew that” is sometimes frequently repeated in conversation. That is the clue that he didn’t know ‘that’ at all, most of the time.
Pyro is vicious to his enemies, believing that a quick death is the best way to get rid of the problem. He is not above scratching someone’s eyes out or ripping out their throat if he has to. Only the blood does stain something awful. He greatly enjoys torture though anything having to do with fingernails or feet makes him nauseous and he absolutely adores tormenting humans. He is generally lazy and enjoys a good lounge in the sun but gets everything he needs to get done finished. He respects his peers but really doesn’t think of them as people – more like tools for learning.
He is horribly vain and feels he has every reason to be. If someone tries to insult his appearance, he will find a way to turn it into a compliment and could spend all day sitting in front of a mirror if he didn’t think some witch might decide to put a Narcissus style spell on him. That would not be pleasant. Pyro can spend hours braiding and unbraiding his hair, just because it’s so soft and silky to the touch.
Skills:
Pyro is a fierce fighter in a brawling style though he’s learning hand-to-hand. He’s a talented acrobat which he learned by, you know, being a cat. He’s an excellent tracker and a born mouser – I mean hunter and a master with a bow and arrow. He speaks English, French, Spanish and Cat. He’s a fair gardener though he mostly just grows catnip. Pyro’s an expert at climbing trees and a fair swimmer and sailor. He can repair his own clothing.
Strengths:
High Stamina: Pyro is extremely energetic when he wants to be. He can run a few miles and jog many more without really hurting. If need be, he can go a few days without sleep and be almost continuously active although like anyone his mental fitness will suffer with longer sleep deprivation.
Everybody Wants To Be A Cat: Having been born a cat, he is a very good acrobat with enhanced jumping, reflexes and flexibility. It has often been said that he may have a rubber spine. He has enhanced senses and a bit of enhanced strength. It’s not enough to lift a car but he can lift a normal human male by the throat to be menacing.
The Little Things: He has a rapport with kittens but adult cats seem to be annoyed by him. Kittens idolize him and like to camp out on his shoulders and lap. He usually has at least one kitten with him at all times if in a relaxed situation. He has the awesome ability to find the warmest place in an area and take it up entirely with no room to share. Pyro is a very good at complimenting out his arse and flirting like crazy.
Weaknesses:
Unlike Some: Most shapeshifters have some sort of healing factor. He does not beyond a normal humanoid healing ability. While he doesn’t age and never seems to get sick, he is just as mortal as anyone else out there. He can be wounded, gutted, shot, stabbed and whatever else someone could possibly think of.
Phobia Lord: Pyro has many phobias that could get him in quite a bit of death if badly timed. He’s terrified of canines, lepers and other deformities though certain types of blindness, deafness and similar disabilities don’t factor in. He fears horses, flying, growing old physically and being afraid. To each of these things, he has a completely irrational reaction of pure terror which in turn makes him lose control and thus even more afraid... It’s a vicious cycle.
The Immortal Realms: Having spent so much time amongst the mortals, it is true that he believes he understands the way they work. But that has meant that he has not spent much time within the realm of the Mythics so he doesn’t quite understand their politics or inner workings but he’s learning.
General Weaknesses: Well, besides his all encompassing vanity, he has a bit of dyspepsia when he’s feeling nervous or overworked. In essence he becomes nauseous, sweaty and dizzy. He takes herbal tonics to combat it but they don’t always work. He doesn’t like to do things where he has to think a lot so reading and studying things are quite beyond him.
The Story
History:
Once upon a time, there was a small litter of Maine Coon kittens born in 1796. Napoleon was still merely a general and there were only 15 states in America where our story begins. It was a fine time for America. George Washington was still in office and the nation was new and beautiful. The owner of these sweet kittens was the wife of a governor in the territory of Tennessee (soon to be state). They were raised to be sturdy farm cats though they lived in luxury and earned their keep by freeing the house of rats and mice. It was a fantastic life for cats.
When he was three years old (21 in cat years), his siblings decided to play some pranks on the horses. Pyrrhus was enthusiastic about it as well. So the young cats went off to play with the horses. It was a horrible mistake. The horses got spooked and Pyro was the only one of the cats to escape without having had his head smashed in by a hoof. The lady governor was distraught and did her best to make Pyro an indoor cat.
It was a life that Pyro despised. One evening when he was almost seven years old (49 in cat years), he escaped the house. He wandered the near by forest for six nights and days until he met up with a great big cat with two tails. The Great Cat sat down with Pyro and told him a story of the nekomata and the methods of attaining this great honor but noted that he would never achieve it if he did not return to the safety of the house where he could grow in peace. So he bowed to the Great Cat, caught her a squirrel for her supper then turned to return to the house.
For Pyro, it was terribly easy to gain the certain traits that could turn a cat into a bakeneko. He lived for over thirteen years as a cat, weighed over eight pounds (as a Maine Coon male usually weighs between 12 and 18 pounds to begin with) and had the most extraordinary tail of any cat seen in the city. So, one day he awoke with knowledge that he couldn’t explain. He spoke the human tongue for the first time that day, scaring the Hell out of one of the house slaves.
That had been a mistake. They nearly rioted, trying to get to the demon cat their masters had. They wanted to kill him but his mistress spirited him away into the hands of a ship captain on the mighty Mississippi who happened to be her secret lover. He travelled down the river keeping the boat cleared of vermin and experimenting with his new found abilities in the cargo hold. When he got near New Orleans, he disappeared into the city and spread the story of how to gain his power to the idealistic kittens that roamed the streets.
When he first learned to take human form, it disgusted him. The lack of fur was almost sinful. He eventually acclimated to it and began working his way amongst the humans, causing ruination and destruction to anyone who caught his fancy. Men died or lost their fortunes or both. Women were driven insane, miscarried or killed themselves after he finished his torments. It was all too entertaining. Sure, he had no reason to hate humans. They had always been kind to him even when he lived as a ‘stray’ but he was more powerful and far better. Why not play games with them? Humans were merely mice now.
He spent almost 50 years in this way, gaining fortune and property and a long list of kills that couldn’t quite be connected to him. But then the Civil War began and he fled with the last of the merchant ships. He sailed the seas for many years, every ship he was on was blessedly free of vermin and the cats mysteriously disappeared. Of course, like all sailors there was an initiation period and he screwed up enough times to have earned him a few whippings here and there. Pretty standard really but it didn’t give him a good opinion of humans.
He jumped ship in France some years later and wandered the country side, once again leaving havoc in his wake. It seemed to be his trademark really. His life was nothing but havoc and torment from France to Spain and great spans of years in-between events of note. Quite perfectly honestly until he was about 150 years old, nothing else of note happened beyond evading wars and battle and spreading the word of power to kittens who all dreamed the knowledge away for they just didn’t have the attention span needed to remember. He had effectively avoided all involvement in both world wars by living as a cat in the middle of bloody no where.
Now, it was 1946. He found himself back in America, retracing his steps to his first home. The manor house was now a historical site and he took the tours with other humans almost daily. He related stories that the tour guides didn’t know and passed it off as being a historian and deeply interested in the history of Tennessee. People believed him. He was tired of torment now, tired of being the only one of his kind. Pyro spent about a year roaming the Rocky Mountains, searching for the Great Cat that had spoken to him before but was unsuccessful. In that year, his tail split and he gained the status of nekomata though he had no idea what he was. It wasn’t until he snuck away to Japan that he learned anything about what he was beyond how to become it.
He spent 25 years with a small colony of bakenekos and nekomatas hidden away in the mountains of Japan from all over the world. It was educational but hardly any fun. Still, he stayed because it was better than wandering and the ladies sure loved his two tails. And then 1971 hit. Pyro returned to America and spent a few years torturing druggies with nightmares and insane visions but it was all so very boring. After awhile, he took up a residence in a small flat in New York and generally just existed. There was really nothing left for him to do except... Well, he’d never really been a soldier. Only recently did the opportunity arise. He spent several months out in the wilderness, ridding himself of the scent of humans until extremely recently approaching the Elf community as an ‘expert’ on the ‘human infestation’ and offered to help in their eradication.
Humans were boring and while Elf-kind were hardly any better at least there could be a place for cats to be free, to be what they were meant to be – predators. It was a lesson that’d taken many years to learn but he understood that housecats needed a reminder of what they once were. They’d grown too soft since the days where they hunted for their meals.
