Family & Fear:
Vikta sat with her family and a few other Changelings whose names Vikta can no longer recall, around a small fire in the middle of woods. . Bron Pear, her father was in town with another changeling trying to get supplies. All of them at this makeshift camp huddled close together for warmth. Grei’la Pear, her mother singing a soft song about the change of the seasons running a hand over Vikta’s hair whilst feeding Dayvrn Pear, the youngest of the Pear family. Tel Pear, Vikta's older brother tended the fire silent and stoic as he was. Hours passed and Bron came tumbling into the campsite, “Quickly, we must move! A mob comes this way!” The changelings moved quickly dousing the fire and grabbing their things, Vikta’s family ended up separated from the others in the chaos, fleeing away from them. As it happened this would be the last time the Pear family would see those other changelings.
Family & Loss:
When Vikta turned around having seen something and wishing to share it with their mother, the whole family was gone. Vikta spent the day in a panic searching all over for their family unable to find them. Vikta came up with a plan...not one they liked but the family would come looking for them, wouldn’t they? They’d always said to go to the nearest orphanage and to adopt a mask. Get taken care of there… and wait. That is what Vikta did, only her family never showed up to get her. Eventually, she decided to figure out a way to survive on their own heartbroken and scared Vikta out iron in their spine and kept moving forward--when you lose everything, you have to rely on yourself to survive.
Thinking Ahead:
Vikta posing as Kami, had gotten out of bed in the orphanage and crept down the stairs to listen in on discussions of the adults who ran the poorest orphanage in the city, The-Mother's-Arms. Vikta hated this place but as Kami she acted like it was the best thing ever. Two meals a day? Strangers coming in to look at her to possibly adopt? Kami was ecstatic at all times. However, Vikta wanted out, she could shift into older children now--possibly even make a plausible teen now.
The pair in the office talked on and on about things Vikta didn’t care for. They crept along the halls to the kitchen to sneak some more food if possible, then once she had an extra couple of rolls they snuck to the back stairs and slipped in the secret entrance under them that all had forgotten about. Creeping down the stairs to a secret chamber within. They’d discovered it when deciding she needed a back-up plan. In case this Orphanage wasn’t safe. Vikta had stashed her stuffed horse here, along with a satchel of stolen clothing. Always be prepared. Always be ready to leave one mask for another--that was the way one stayed alive. It was in these shadows hidden that she dropped the mask and stretched her body out. Then they ate the roll before stashing the socks she’d taken from a few of the other children into the pack. Vikta also stashed two pairs of glasses within having taken them from passersby in the street a day or so back.
Fire and Change:
Vikta had known that being prepared to run would come in handy. One night they had snuck again with stolen food into their secret hideaway when smoke started trailing in. Feeling the door they had come in at, they felt the heat of a roaring fire. She didn’t know what started the fire but they did know they needed to get out. Luckily, there was a sewer hatch that was unlocked within this hidden chamber.
Quickly, Vikta changed into a different outfit, this time picking a noble boy’s physical appearance that she’d acquired somewhere. She dubbed the mask Bat, then they dressed in the boys' rags, they’d stolen off the clothesline over the last few months. Placing a set of classes on their nose, and taking charcoal and dirt from a small pouch in their pack they dirtied themselves up before heading into the sewer holding their breath until they’d made about a block or two away. Careful, Vikta managed to find an alley exit that no one was near and climbed out. Then found a small crowd of concerned street rats and other slum livers to travel near the orphanage to see what was going on--the place was all up in flames.
Vikta saw that the Cook, Van'tal-Nor had made it out as had the Mistress of the Orphanage, Miss-Anne-Nor--but only a handful of children. Both were doing their best to appear sullen and distraught. But Vikta swore they saw relief in the pair. Years later, Vikta would realize that the pair had likely set the Orphanage aflame to get money out of the crown. session-43 Vikta realizes that maybe some other kids made it out. Upon seeing someone who looks like Blanket one of the other kids who disappeared during or just before the fire.
Jay’s “Death”:
Vikta had been wearing the mask Jay for a bit, getting in with a rough crowd. One night they infiltrated a local guild’s warehouses to take something for a noble known as Lord Virion Faelor. It was a three-person team Jay (Vikta), Petekas “Pete” Zinqen, and Wyn Zinqen a pair of cousins. The team got caught only on their way out-- they managed to sneak away to another part of the warehouses and barricade themselves in, but the guild was looking room to room. Pete and Wyn headed up to another room leaving Vikta to keep watch. They heard movement down the hall and thought perhaps they had a plan. But too much time passed and Vikta was getting a little light-headed from the blood loss and poison. Vikta could hear approaching footsteps and headed to the backroom only to find the pair gone. Having left Vikta for dead.
Vikta quickly assessed how they’d left the room and climbed out the window and onto the roof. This roof was close enough to the guild’s thick walls and she was barely able to make the jump across. Vikta quickly ducked into the shadows and climbed down the other side. Using alleyways to slip away from the guards both the town guards and the guild’s hired hands...however, at one point when trying to jump across a canal, they slipped--and fell into the icy water. The city was a portside city--and the canal ran all the way to the ocean.
It might have been fine if it had been a summer night--but it was the dead of winter and Vikta was swept all the way out to sea. Dying of the deadly combination of the cold, poison, and the wounds they’d suffered in the battle of their discovery. Vikta was desperate. With luck, they managed to grab onto the ship near the exit of the canal into the sea. But unable to pull themselves up nor able to yell for help of distant sailors on the docks, Vikta felt the sensation of death creep more swiftly into them.
“Please . . . anyone . . . I don’t want . . . to die. . . I’ll do. . . anything.” Vikta wanted to live, wanted to pay Pete and Wyn in kind for their abandonment that had lead to this moment. She wanted vengeance and to live. At any cost.
Darkness and the cold of death consumed their mind as they slipped back into the water for a moment. Before a strange (insert color representing patron here) glow filled their vision and a disembodied voice echoed in their head. Accepted--anything for continued life and vengeance. This was how Sazz Tam got his undead claws into the changeling.
