Delilah raced home, hooves padding loudly on the hot summer asphalt. Even though she had done this run thousands of times in the summer, it felt foreign to her. For one, her perspective was smaller, her point of view shorter, and her vision more narrow. Instead of the familiar sound of her own breath coming fast in her chest, she heard a mixture of snorts and deep gasps coming from her snout. Details she had previously taken for granted or hadn't seen came into focus: the fact that the first step of Mrs. Yardley's porch had some wood rot, the underside of a red fire hydrant was all faded and peeling with paint. She could even see that the grass on her own front lawn seemed to be slightly overgrown.

When she got to her house, she saw the front door was slightly ajar. Mom's car was parked out front, the driver's side door open, the car still running.

This ground-level point of view still took some getting used to. Delilah ran as fast as she could. And the run seemed so long with these stumpy legs.

Delilah slowed enough to catch her breath. The car's exhaust pooled around the driveway; choking all of the air. She moved to her front door for a fresh breath and to understand what was going on. Why was the car running? And why was the front door open? Something was very wrong.

"Reee Reee! Oink Reeeeeeee!"

Delilah ran into the house, hooves sliding on the floor. It was slick and wet and the entire hallway smelled with the bitter tang of metallic pennies. The family portrait on the wall was crooked, hanging off to one side.

Her hooves slid around awkwardly as she tried to maintain both speed and balance, the floor wet with what looked like crimson blood.

Delilah Rolls a Reflexive Dexterity Roll (Just Dexterity)

05:45, Today: Delilah - Pig Form failed (no successes) using 2d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((6,4)).

The scent of fresh blood overpowered her nostrils and tripped up her steps. The floor was slick in some spots; sticky in others. Delilah stumbled and fell. The hair along her back rose and bristled, all of it that wasn't matted down under a reddish stain.

"SSRKEEEEEEEE!"

Delilah pushed across the hall, slipping and sliding and falling down. Into the kitchen, the sound of a phone beeping off of the dial. It was the harvest gold-colored, kitchen phone and it was dangling, the cord attached to the receiver swinging back and forth.

But Mom wasn't there. She wasn't in the kitchen. She wasn't upstairs in the bathroom.

What was supposed to be a homecoming became a mystery and a nightmare. Delilah couldn't find any of her family members.

Then that's when she heard a scratching and snorting sound. It was coming from the back yard. Normally she might not know what it was, but something about being and pig made her recognize pig sounds...

Delilah had stepped into a horror movie. She squealed and swung her head from side to side to clear her blurry vision. She couldn't cry now. She had to find Mom and Susan. Something terrible happened here. Like the snow fort. Delilah wanted to believe that her mother and sister fought hard and got away. But she couldn't help but dread stalking down the halls of her home.

The familiar sounds of grunts and rummaging caught her ears. She ran towards the backyard.

"REEE!!! REEE!!!" Mark screamed nearly crashing into Delilah as she passed through the back door outside

Delilah could smell Mark. All pig breath and fear. She rounded on him, as if this horror and confusion were his fault.

"SKREEEEEE! REEEEEEEEEK!"

"REEE!!! **Snort** REEE!!!" Mark screamed loud and snorted with near panic.



"REEE!!!  REEE!!!"

Delilah screeched and stamped her feet.

"RREEE! RREEEEE! REEE!"

She turned in a circle and her snout snuffled near the ground.

"Snff Oink!"

"REEE!!! Mark screamed a loud warning noise.



"reee... ree..." he said in a slower, cautious tone

Delilah's ears perked up and she nearly bowled Mark over. She had heard "dad" and "out back". That was enough. She ran around the back yatf squealing.

Delilah shuffled past Mark and outside to the backyard towards the familiar weeping willow, its branches and leaves sagging into wisps like a long curtain that almost reached the ground. It didn't seem any longer like the familiar tree that she had climbed so many, many times on a summer day like today.

Instead it seemed like it was weeping. Sad, sagging branches all droopy. Like to was about to share a secret with her. A dark secret.

Delilah...

OOC: Delilah Rolls Dexterity + Stamina with the following results

0 Successes  - Her breath caught in her throat as she tried not to retch at the sight.

1+ Success - She let out a squeal, followed by a loud snorting sound.

Delilah didn't have to search far. She found the tree. She should have listened to Mark.

04:13, Today: Delilah - Pig Form rolled 2 successes using 6d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((5,4,2,1,10(+1),10(+2))).

Dad's face was...was...frozen.

He met Delilah's gaze as she waited for his glazed over eyes to move. They didn't. Dad  just slumped against the base of the tree, bathed in blood. Delilah's eyes wandered down his face and stopped at his throat.

A crimson grin smiled back at her. The slash across Dad's throat seemed to have more life than his listless gaping mouth. And Delilah could see that the slash was jagged and torn, as if done by an animal. She could forever look at this twisted smile but she could never again see Dad's face light up with one.

Delilah felt her throat swallow and slowly began to survey the rest of Dad's body. The blood had cascaded like a waterfall down the front of his body and gathered in a small pool.

His arms and legs were bent at awkward angles as though he was a marionette that had been carelessly dropped. His body was devoid of the grace it once knew.

"REEE!!! Mark screamed behind Delilah.

Delilah's eyes fixed on her father's jagged, torn smile. He was dead. They killed him. Again. Once wasn't enough.

She ran in a circle screeching until she was hoarse. She finally stopped, snorting and out of breath, at the base of the tree. She stood still, but the world seem to spin.

All the noise faded into the background: Mark's plaintive squeals, the running engine out front. All Delilah could think of was the horrid, booming laughter of the Pig Faced Beast.

"REEE!!! Mark snorted louder this time and more direct.

Delilah didn't feel the ground when she sat. She swung her head from side to side trying to clear her blurry vision. She swiped at her nose with one trotter, but the odd motion was useless. She huffed and her breath hitched in her throat.

Mark was saying something, but it didn't make sense. They could run and run forever. But it wouldn't change anything. It wouldn't fix anything. Delilah's head lowered onto her forelegs.

She had finally made it home and she felt more lost than ever..

"Snort!"

"REEE!!!....REEE!!!...REEE!!!..REEE!!!REEE!!!REEE!!! Delilah felt Mark's mouth close around one of her hooves. He was tugging on it, pulling it. Trying to will her away from the fallen body.

It hurt slightly, even though Delilah was much stronger than Mark, and just by simply sitting there, could avoid getting dragged away.

Delilah could feel Mark gnawing at her hoof. She sucked in a breath. She could taste the specks of dirt it carried, but didn't budge. She let out a noise that was something between a snort and a yawn.

"skree reekreek oink"