Shifters

chapter one

Chapter one

Rosemary slammed her fist against the garbage can right in front of her, thinking of the man who killed her parents, leaving nobody but her sister who she was now trained to care for and protect. The trash can was dented in some places, due to her punching it so often and so hard her hands bled moments after. Her sister Amber never appreciated her work in protecting her, but that was her sister, trying to look on the bright side of nothing according to Rosemary. She never saw the good in anyone, especially humans, god, they couldn't get anything right, they either destroy things they don't understand or kill whatever they find threatening, hell, they kill for sport sometimes. She didn't know why Amber trusted them so much. But deep inside, she felt the same way sometimes, that she was just as human as those monsters. But that wasn't important right now, what was important was practice.

Rosemary slammed her fist against the garbage can right in front of her, hard sharp edges made her fists bleed, but she was too focused for that right this moment. She was more focused on practice, practice on protecting her sister, Amber, despite hating her charismatic personality, and getting revenge on the men who killed her parents. She didn't know their names by any means, but she was still determined to find them -- somehow, even if it meant  searching all of Nautilus. 

  "You know what you did!" She yelled, slamming her hand against the dented trash can. Slam! Her fists were smeared with blood, which she smeared on her cheek, only to realize, her sister was right behind her, she wore her messy copper-brown overalls, and her hair familiarly was in a messy ponytail. She held some gripping tape in her hands, running up to Rosemary as if she was murdered. "Rosemary? Rosemary! Are you alright?" She asked frantically. She loved how much her sister cared about her, but not at this very moment. But, she smiled warmly, as Amber wrapped her hand in gripping tape. "I guess I got carried away with my bloodlust, thank you." She sighed. "You do that quite a bit, I know you hate Gideon Blackheart, but cure your blood-thirst, not everyone is trying to hurt me, Rosemary," Amber says, trying to calm her anger, she knew her anger led to her beastly form, so she always wanted to keep Rosemary's anger to a minimum.

"You say that a lot," Rosemary grumbled.    

Amber suddenly hugged her tightly, she felt warmer, but still angered she had lost focus. "Because I love you, and don't want your anger to control you, Rosemary." Amber said softly, she hugged her tightly, "We are not always in a life or death situation, Rose." She continued, Rosemary teared up, her hazel wolf-like eyes gazing up at her sister, her heartfelt warmth, everything stressing her suddenly disappeared. "I know, Amber." She said softly, she smiled softly, as her sister ruffled her hair, she smiled at her sister. She was always so honest about her feelings, and she was always so protective of her. 

In a way, she was almost like their own mother. Amber hugged Rosemary tighter, "I just don't want you to turn into the monster you fear, you know what it leads to. " She says softly, sweetly, she hated how much Amber mentioned her uncontrollable wolf form, she knew she could control her wolf form at will, although treating herself as a monster. Rosemary did as well, "Amber, I don't fear my other form, I never did." She said softly, she knew it was a lie, she hated herself as well, but it was the first thing that came to her mind, but she was supposed to be calm right now, wasn't she? Her anger comes into everything, which is something she hated about herself, and wanted to get rid of, but couldn't. 

It almost felt like her anger was an animal she couldn't tame. Like she wasn't her own person, like a shadow, a demon, took over her brain, almost like the corruption took over people. As it always did. She wished she had the self esteem of her sister, hell, the motivation of her sister. But, her mind always got in the way, just thinking of what would happen if she let her guard down for a second. But she was supposed to be happy right now! She was supposed to calm down at her sisters warmth. But none of that, of course, happened.  It never did happen, it never will happen. Her anxiety got worse after her parents death, she felt pressured to protect her sister from everything. Even her happiest moments were in ruin because of that wretched animal of a man. God knows how she wanted to punch something right now at the expense of her sisters warmth, but, she knew what that would lead to, or at least according to her sister.

She hated her werewolf instincts, because it was yet another part of her she felt pressured to fix. It killed their mother for gods sake!  How could she not hate her other, inhuman form? It felt natural to her,  as if she was made to hate to hate this other part of her. It never felt like it was truly apart of her self. That it was some monster, it was the enemy to her. It always was the enemy to her. It always will. She gave her sister a small nudge in the stomach, a slight reminder she was done with her affection, which Amber never took as a surprise, despite wanting to help, Rosemary believed she was, a lost case. She loved her sister, but she always feared she would be killed, or worse, put in a circus freak show or some shit.  That, her affection would suddenly lead to their discovery, despite hiding for two and a half years in the most isolated parts of Nautilus.

"Oh, sorry, I'l, I'l move rosemary."  Amber said frantically, losing her sisters sudden dark thoughts. Rosemary never loved affection, especially from her, but she had to keep her sister stable somehow, even if it means getting nudged in the stomach. "Do you wanna see something, I know you're in a bad mood, but I think you might love it." She said suddenly, rosemary got up, she was glad her comment, despite it being unnecessary brought her out of her dark miserable thoughts. She always loved that about her sister, how sometimes she could bring her out of her darker places, despite her wanting to protect her sister. (her darker thoughts being obviously apart of that.) "Why not Amber." She scoffs, "anything to bring me out my despair, I guess." Rosemary loved her sisters inventions, they were wonderful, despite some of them looking like bombs, hell, some of em were bombs. Magical bombs of color. (She was a  Technomancer after all, she loved the fusing of magic and technology, peculiar, even for her.) 

"Wonderful!" Amber replied grabbing Rosemary's hand with a firm grip, she ran to her upstairs bedroom, which was filled to the brim with pieces of metal and spare gears. There lay a small raven-like blacksmithing mask on her bed, perfectly sized to fit her sisters head. She smiled happily, as she held her sister hand.  "Oh! Sorry if the room smells like motor oil." She giggles, it always did, even when she wasn't inventing, the room smelled of oil. It really fit her passion, the way the room smelled. Oil was one of Rose's favorite scents, its musty oder delighted her. It reminded her of her sister, but also reminded her of her mother, who used to tinker with inventions with Amber, who picked up a jolly chimp, a classic invention of hers. 

She winded it up, and as usual, colorful sparks of red, purple, and green came out  with each crash! As it played with delight. Amber clapped along with it. "Isn't it wonderful rosemary?" She asked. She didn't understand why she made so many of these things, Rosemary always found them quite horrifying, but amber found delightful. She started clapping along with her, it was kinda delightful the way it sparked with color, especially when it covered that creepy face of its.  "Yeah, certainly, wonderful." She said sarcastically. 

Amber laughed gleefully, "I knew you would love it!" She smiled, amber always looked happy and gleeful, but never as gleeful as she did when she was inventing. It was an anchor to her sister Amber, a way she could forget about the world around her. It was a way to forget what happened to their parents, despite Amber moving on years ago. Plus, she only really knew them until she was three years old. 

Amber delightfully smiled at her peculiar invention, as it slowly came to a stop, the sparks died down a bit, picking back up every few seconds before it came to a complete stop. It's face looking creepy as usual. That nightmare of a face, which always looked like it was silently plotting to murder her and her sister. "Do you want me to wind it up again?" She asks, she could never read Rosemarys sarcasm, in her peculiar mind, she loved the creepy monkey, despite her tone being obviously sarcastic. But she replied anyway with a "why not, that was wonderful Amber." She  kneeled down and winded it up once more. The second time was better than the first, the sparks looked bigger and brighter, with each one popping with color like a firecracker with each crash of the monkeys symbols. 

It was like a light show. It was wonderful, despite what she said earlier. She starts clapping to the rhythm of the Jolly Chimp, its face still staring at her, plotting her demise. Amber clapped louder, and louder, as the chimp, grew louder than it was before. Her brain suddenly traveled into the darkness again with each crash. The invention that was once wonderful, yet so creepy to her, suddenly faded into a horror, as it slowly came to a stop once again, memories of her parents death played in her mind.