Description
www.youtube.com/watch?v=egsm2e…
Opal's like: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6THteo…
The spirits have recognized your Tokota's worth - unfortunately, this includes the darker spirits as well as the benevolent. Will your Tokota be tempted by the call of dark forces, or spurn them for the light. Autumn brought hunters to the valleys and surrounding woods. Opal knew that. And unfortunately, she had made it her job to foil their efforts to take down the deer in response.
She'd seen it too many times. The bloody gunshot wounds, gasping mouths. These were her friends. In a rage, she had resorted to all types of reasoning with the locals. Pleading, aggression, trickery--none of it worked. Her friends still died. Their bodies hit the ground and she could do nothing but watch human hands flay their skin and empty their bodies onto the ground. Her nose curled. She couldn't handle this every year. If she couldn't protect them, how could she protect Yuka? Or anything else. Being soft, being gentle. It only got you killed.
It had been days since Opal last returned home. Yuka had searched her usual places high and low. No prints, no tuft of winter gray fur on a limb. The dire was gone. But where? She was always somewhere close by. She had to be. It was a couple days longer before she began to hear rumors from hunters. There was a demon in the trees of Verinant Valley.
This was a fun one that I just knew I needed to do with Opal.
As an inherently good character, Opal has never had to battle inner turmoil or even recognize that darkness can travel inside someone. In the presence of strong pain or anger, I think Opal could be consumed by it.