Information Post/Application

[roses_in_winter]

( CHARACTER ★ INFORMATION )

NAME & AGE: Kara Beckworth, age 13
CANON & CANON POINT: Mercy Thompson Book Series (by Patricia Briggs), canon point: post- Roses in Winter short story (found in the Shifting Shadows book)

CANON INFORMATION:

As an only child living in northern Virginia, near Washington D.C., Kara was savaged by a rogue werewolf at the age of ten. A lone werewolf in the area, Josef Riddleback, killed that rogue werewolf, saving Kara, and brought her back to her parents after she survived the change from human to werewolf. As it was unprecedented for one so young to survive the Change, Josef instructed Kara's parents to not bring Kara to the local werewolf pack, uncertain that she would survive in such an environment as all unmated female werewolves belonged to the Alpha.

Kara's father built a cage in their basement, and for three years, he would chain Kara in the cage during the full moon while she changed into wolf form. Without anyone to guide her, she learned no control over her wolf and began to think she was a monster. She attempted to commit suicide once, using a knife to cut her wrists, but the wounds would heal too quickly. Eventually, Kara grew strong enough that she could break the chain attached to her collar and gouge the cement. Her mother left because she became too scared of Kara.

With Kara's strength and feralness increasing, her father contacted Josef about her. The lone wolf determined that Kara was growing too strong, her wolf was too in control, and she needed help from an alpha or she would become a danger to her family. He passed on the name of Mercedes Thompson and the alpha, Adam Hauptman. Her father's search for help lead to Kara and her father moving from Virginia to Aspen Creek, Montana, to where the leader of the North American werewolves, the Marrock, resided. Becoming part of the Marrock's pack, he began to teach her how to control her wolf.

With the approach of the October moon, those that wished to be Changed into werewolves met at Aspen Creek to learn about being werewolves. During that time, Kara still had not learned to control her wolf, so the Marrock forced her into wolf form and told her to come back in her human skin. Miserable, she went to the home of Asil, an old wolf in the pack, and was able to change back with his help. This process of being forced to change by the Marrock and then having Asil help her change back was hard on her. She quickly was able to control her wolf while in wolf form, but she still couldn't change of her own free will, always needing help.

The Marrock had a law that newly changed werewolves had one year to learn to control their wolf, including changing at free will, or they would be killed to protect the werewolves' existence as a whole and to keep needless deaths from happening when an out of control werewolf rampaged. The fact that Kara had been changed for three years without control violated that law and put the Marrock in a tenuous political position by another alpha looking to take his position. That alpha ordered some of his pack that was in Aspen Creek to hunt Kara on the Marrock's land, which was a violation of the Marrock's territory and pack, to force the issue at a werewolf meeting.

With Kara put in the position where she had no choice but to change on her own in front of her pack and a lot of strangers or be killed, she had to find her inner balance. With a little non-magical encouragement and a calming song sung by Asil, she managed to change and accept her wolf as a part of her.

PERSONALITY:

Kara is a strange puzzle in the world of werewolves, being the youngest ever to survive the Change and not brought properly into a pack at the beginning. This has made unearthing what makes Kara tick from beneath the fear of herself a difficult task, for Kara has spent three years of her life believing she was a monster, locked in a cage every full moon while her wolf raged. Just like any wild animal, Kara's wolf hated being in that cage, being chained down, and tried to break free. The rage from her wolf scared her, causing her to build walls between it and her human side that would have never existed if she'd been properly eased into her new existence with the help of a pack. She didn't want to be a werewolf, words she expressly stated once to Asil after yet another failed attempt to change that had her frustrated and scared. She was well aware that her parents were afraid of her, so much that her mother had left and her father was angry with her mother for leaving. Once, she had even tried to kill herself, not wanting to be a monster anymore, but didn't have the proper knowledge of how to go about it.

When her father sought out aid for Kara, bringing her to the Marrock and his pack, she learned that it was possible to control the wolf. Being as that was something she'd never known possible, it began to loosen the hold her fear had upon her, letting more aspects of her personality be seen. Kara was a thoughtful girl that didn't engage in idle chatter, preferring to keep to herself and stay quiet unless she either had something she wanted to talk about or a question. When Asil had first found Kara hiding inside his greenhouse, he put her to work on his roses. She stayed quiet and worked dutifully on the task at hand, something she had learned from her mother, and only really spoke to ask him why he had so many roses when there were so many other flower options out there. She'd ascertained that the roses were important to him somehow and wanted to know why.

”Why roses?” Kara asked.

“Why not?” he said lightly as he mixed potting soil with his favorit concoction of rose food.

“Why not orchids or daisies or geraniums?” Her voice was thoughtful. “My mother had a greenhouse, and she grows all sorts of flowers.”

“I have many different flowers here,” he told her. “And I grow vegetables.”

“Most of the greenhouse – all of this room and half of the other one are all roses,” she said.

When Asil agreed to tell her why, letting her know it was a secret of his, she wanted to know what would happen if she made a mistake and told someone else. Kara was aware that, when restless or upset, she was just as rebellious a teenager as any, only with the added edge of being a werewolf. If Asil's secret had truly been an important one that needed to be kept, her concern about herself may have kept her from wanting to know about it.

Another instance of Kara being thoughtful and pushing past her fear was when the Marrock called both her and Asil into his study to discuss her inability to shift and what it meant. When he asked how she felt and what she thought on the matter, Kara took her time responding as she carefully chose her words.

Bran raised and eyebrow and looked at Kara. “What do you think?”

She swallowed, ducking her head under the weight of the Marrock's gaze, but her voice was strong. “I think I'm better. I can take charge almost as soon as we are out of sight of the house. I can't manage it right when I change to a wolf yet – but until this week I couldn't do it at all. I can't change back on my own. But yesterday I think I figured out how to do it. How it -should- feel to start the change on my own.”

She admitted that she still couldn't shift on her own but thought that she finally figured out how it was supposed to feel to start the shift, showing progress. Even with the fear of going on First Hunt where she would be in danger hanging over her, she was able to take the time to properly express herself and be honest about it. Lying was not something Kara was accustomed to – rare in a young teenager.

Along with being thoughtful, Kara is inquisitive. There was so much about being a werewolf that she didn't know, that she took to her lessons with the Marrock well. He taught her to use her nose, so when she picked up on things that she never did before, she was either pleased with herself or astonished with what she discovered. The first time Kara met Sage, another female werewolf, Sage had come to Asil's to pick Kara up. Asil has a very strong attraction to Sage and Kara was witness to the two of them mildly flirting.

”Well, kitten,” she said to Kara, who was watching them openmouthed. “When I told him I was headed up to the big house tonight, Bran asked if I'd minded picking you up and save his Nobleness a trip.”

“Sure,” said Kara.

He closed the door behind them and put his forehead against it. His keen ears picked up a conversation he was not meant to overhear.

“He really likes you,” Kara said. “Really, really.”

“Well,” Sage's voice was dry. “That's not news, sugar.”

Kara spent the entire exchange with her mouth hanging open as her thirteen year old mind that had only recently hit puberty was knowledgeable enough to see the signs of attraction. And smell them, too. Once Sage and Kara had left Asil's, Kara couldn't help but blurt out to Sage what she'd discovered. Sometimes she would be both pleased and astonished, like when Asil told her about his deceased mate.

”I am very old, and once I had a mate,” he told her. “She was everything to me. I would have filled her arms with jewels or gold if I could have. I would have destroyed the world for her – I was young and dramatic, you understand.”

Kara's eyes widened. “You meant that. That you would have destroyed the world for her – it wasn't just exaggeration. The Marrock is teaching me to smell when people lie or tell the truth.”

Kara could barely believe what her nose was telling her, that Asil was telling the truth; he really would have destroyed the world for her. Asil imparted the lesson that being young and dramatic – as he had been back then – did not mean there wasn't truth in those actions.

Despite being thoughtful and inquisitive, Kara is still a teenager, prone to being stubborn, obstinate and defiant. She is also a dominant wolf, so at times strong emotions of failure, frustration and anger amplify that. When she'd been warned to stay away from Asil, because he was dangerous, she chose to hide in his greenhouse instead of go to school with the full moon so close. She'd expressly disobeyed the Marrock's words because she assumed no one would look for her there. She also liked greenhouses and being there was helping her deal with the feel of the near-full moon that had been making her more agitated. She didn't want to be sent away, so she refused to tell Asil who he should call to tell them where she was, and her own tone was aggressive.

Being a young dominant wolf, she pushed to see where her boundaries were from time to time. After a particularly unsuccessful day attempting to complete the change herself, she was angry at her own failures, upset that the deadline for her to change or end up going on First Hunt, she lashed out at Asil.

She wouldn't talk to him on the way home. “It'll happen,” he said.

“Don't pat me on the head,” she snapped. “You don't know anything!”

“Don't,” he said softly.

Jaw jutting out, she turned her head away from him, while he fought his wolf hard enough to break into a sweat.

When he told her that his wolf wouldn't allow that kind of challenge and that the Marrock wouldn't, Kara pulled into herself, away from Asil, because those words had been true; the Marrock hadn't allowed it. Kara was stuck between having a dominant wolf that pushed for position and yet was too young to even have a chance against adult wolves. Being a child granted her a lot of protection and placed her outside of the normal dominance games, but she was never sure if she liked being treated differently or not, so she pushed when she could.

But the true growth of Kara beyond the fear was that she showed signs of being a protector and possessing compassion. When Kara was attacked by the visiting werewolves, she was unable to stand up against them. She ran and was harried by them, suffering wounds that bled a lot but weren't fatal as hunting her had been part of a bigger plan. Terrified of them, she lead them toward Asil once he'd howled that he was coming for her, wanting to be safe from these strange wolves. Yet, when Asil showed up, still in human form against three wolves, Kara yipped in panic and tried to jump between Asil and the wolves because she thought he was vulnerable as a human and wanted to protect him, never mind that she was scared of the other wolves and unable to stand up to them. Even when her attackers were forced to ride in the back of a pickup truck through a wintery Montana naked, she'd been concerned for their well-being as it was very cold.

Asil made the other wolves sit in the truck bed. If they had really been human, he'd have been risking their lives by making them stay out, naked, in the cold for so long. But werewolves can't be killed by a little cold.

“It isn't that cold,” he told Kara when she whined in concern [as a wolf] while her attackers climbed in. “They are tough. If they are tough enough to pick on little girls” - he looked at them, and they turned their heads away - “then they are tough enough to ride in the back.”

Others wouldn't have cared for their comfort after the attack; Asil certainly hadn't.

Kara possesses backbone and promise once she manages to push through the fear of her own wolf and those more dominant than herself. Control has given her the chance to work past it, and belief that she really isn't a monster opens up the grand possibility of growth into a true dominant wolf with the right protective instincts.



COURT ALLIANCE & REASONING:

Kara falls under the Seelie Court as balance and control are important factors to her very being as a werewolf. Without them, she would become yet another rogue werewolf, like the one that Changed her, and become a danger to everyone. A part of her may always fear being a monster because of her first three years as a werewolf. Even with having control over her wolf, she still has her struggles keeping both human and wolf sides inline and has learned and accepted that the rules the Marrock imposes upon werewolves are for their own protection. Whereas she is occasionally defiant to authority and has her werewolf induced mood swings, she believes in the need for laws, structure and order. Werewolf instinct builds upon the idea that all the differences between pack mates and their personalities serves to strengthen the pack as a whole. Combine that with her beginning emergence as a protector and among the Seelie is where she falls.

ABILITIES:

Werewolf Shifting: As a werewolf, Kara is capable of shifting from human form to wolf form. Werewolves in wolf form are larger than regular wolves with a very dense muscle mass (too dense to be able to swim) and the shoulder articulation of a bear or large cat as opposed to a canine. This allows them to laterally swipe with their claws which normal wolves are incapable of. Her physiology in wolf form includes semi-retractable claws and inch-long fangs. Changing forms can take up to fifteen minutes and is very painful.
Heightened Hearing: Werewolves possess excellent hearing that allows them to easily hear both sides of a cell phone call and other very hard to hear sounds such as the beating of a heart.
Uncanny Sense of Smell: Werewolves can tell if someone is human, werewolf, fae, vampire, witch or other from their scent, though this is mostly learned knowledge as young werewolves learn to match scents with species. They are also capable of tracking via scent, such as when hunting or searching for something once they know what scent they are searching for. Werewolves can also smell emotions of others, from anger to fear to happiness to arousal.
Detecting Lies: Werewolves learn through a combination of scent and smell to tell if someone is willingly lying. Most people learn to not lie to werewolves because they can tell. Kara is still learning to detect lies, so it is still easy to fool her.
Accelerated Healing/Regeneration: Minor wounds heal almost immediately and more severe wounds will heal within a manner or hours up to a couple days unless inflicted by silver. Because of this regeneration ability, werewolves can live for centuries, somewhat considered immortal, if they are not killed through outside means. Shifting forms can increase the rate of regeneration. Werewolves cannot survive decapitation, broken necks, or drowning.
Increased strength, speed and stamina: Werewolves can outrun greyhounds, are stronger than Kodiak bears and capable of surviving freezing weather while naked (in human form) for several hours. As Kara is still very young, she cannot reach those levels yet, but she can already snap metal chains and gouge holes in cement.
Silver Allergy: Werewolves are vulnerable to silver. Contact with silver burns the skin and wounds inflicted by silver slow a wolf's regeneration enough that it is possible to bleed out. Prolonged exposure to silver will increase a werewolf's sensitivity to it. Wounds inflicted by silver will scar.
Pack Bond: Allows Kara to know if any of her packmates are in distress or danger, allows the Alpha to draw her to him, allows her to led her strength to the alpha and grants her great resistance to enthrallment from an outside source . Upon entering Drabwurld, Kara's pack bond will be severed, but this magic could come back into play should she be inducted into a new pack.
Werewolf Magic: As werewolves age, they can gain special abilities. Kara possesses the most minor of werewolf magic inherent to all werewolves. This allows humans that aren't specifically looking at Kara in wolf form to assume she is a large dog. Other minor werewolf magic, such as silence and shadow spells meant to conceal a werewolf's presence have not been taught to her. She is also too young for a Mating Bond.
Moon Called: Werewolves are forced to shift at night on the three days of the full moon whether they want to or not. Shifting is easier and faster during the full moon. During the day, they can maintain human form but are easily irritated.
The Wolf: Almost like a separate entity but not, the wolf is the other side of the werewolf (the human side being the other) and the wolf has its own instincts and it can take the werewolf over if the human side cannot control it. It can also temporarily take control when injured, during the full moon, afraid, challenged, or caught too deeply in a hunt. The wolf is also an internal source of strength and steadying presence as stable werewolves reach a balance between the human and the wolf. Young werewolves are taught that the wolf is a part of them, a series of intense urges they need to control. Kara has only recently learned control with full control still months away.

INVENTORY: Nothing!

( WRITING ★ SAMPLES )

NETWORK SAMPLE:

[Kara was over by the huge wall surrounding Caer Gleam with the open locket in one hand while her other lightly touched one of the roses blooming on the vines.]

I don't think Asil has this one. I don't remember seeing any of these in his greenhouse, but he has so many that I might have just missed it. I didn't know roses could grow on vines. Good thing they don't seem like they're strong enough to climb. No one better try! They'd just get ripped off the wall.

[She looked over at the locket and gave a thoughtful frown.]

How come there's no giant garden here? Fairy tale books with big giant castles always have huge gardens in them. I know this place is big, but I couldn't have missed it. [She furrowed her brow a little.] Unless I did. 'Cause then I'll just feel really stupid...


LOG SAMPLE:

Everything smelled weird - the woods, the fae, and everyone that wasn't human or wolf. It scared Kara to be in such an unfamiliar place, but not quite as much as the smell of old blood she picked up sometimes. It wasn't the kind of old blood smell that she'd been taught clung to witches, but the same smell that lingered in the pole barn for weeks after the Marrock had made the new wolves.

She wasn't sure she could call it the scent of death or not. Other than fresh kills on hunts, Kara had never directly smelled a dead body; she had been sent away from the Big House when it was time for the inductees to be Changed. She knew a lot of those humans had died, though.

Maybe this old blood smell wasn't what death smelled like, but what needless death smelled like. Those were Asil's words popping into her mind: needless death. He had always been careful in expressing some of his opinions to her, but when they'd worked in his greenhouse on that day and she asked him if he was going to go help with the new wolves, Asil had said something about his wolf not reacting well to needless death. It had only served to remind her of how unique they all claimed she was, having survived the Change when she was ten. There had been men four times her age that had not survived what little Kara Beckworth had.

And here she smelled it again. Though she was not in wolf form, she couldn't help but shy from the path just as wolf wanted to do. Her wolf didn't want to put her paws upon that ground. Forcing herself to stop, Kara let her wolf peer through her eyes, their color going from brown to a bright gold. This was the way they needed to go and it was old blood, not new blood. Whatever had shed it was long gone.

Probably. Maybe. Hopefully.

She and her wolf needed to come to an agreement before proceeding.

...good thing that rabbit hopped into the path, unconcerned about the predator before it right then.

With the sight of unsuspecting prey before them, that old blood smell wasn't quite as scary. If there had been a danger, the rabbit would have been long gone, and Kara's two sides agreed on one thing. They were hungry. Licking her lips, Kara coiled her muscles and then lunged at the rabbit. It took her a couple tries, chasing the rabbit through the underbrush as it zigzagged about, but she eventually caught it, holding the squirming thing in her hands before she instinctively broke its neck.

Hoisting her prey up triumphantly, Kara gave a little wiggle dance before suddenly stopping to look at the rabbit in her hands. She was in her human skin; her teeth weren't made for eating rabbit like this. And, to be honest, the idea of eating a freshly killed rabbit like that turned her stomach a bit. Whining a bit, she set her kill down and looked around warily. Her wolf would be happy to gobble the rabbit up, but if someone saw her changing... she'd be so embarrassed. Why didn't the change let their clothes come with them?