Bones and All

Rotten Luck

       How does one know if they are the predator or the prey?

Wolf and lamb; what's the difference?

By definition, a wolf is a carnivorous mammal that falls under the Canis lupus subspecies. Complex, highly intelligent animals that are devoted to family. A predator to many.

Though in folklore wolves often represent one side of a coin. Frequently they're labeled as deceitful creatures with a lust for sin and cruelty. But what about the other, more honorable, aspects to them? Wolves can be brave, courageous, and loyal too. Why discourage the good qualities?

The life of a lamb is already doomed before it has even begun. They're mammals typically raised to be livestock. Their flesh and wool used for man-kinds benefit. In stories passed down generations, lambs depict the helplessness of the innocent.

A sacrificial symbol telling the audience, "if you do not change your ways, the consequences of your actions will consume you like the wolf to the lamb."

Why are the two mammals so different? Couldn't you say the lamb is just as brave as the wolf for bringing life into a world where only misery exists? One would go to say that's just as honorable.

What if the roles were reversed? Imagine a world where wolves were the ones raised to the slaughter and it is the lamb playing the game of hunt or be hunted.

If sheep weren't born for the sole purpose of being someone's next meal then perhaps they would be recognized for all the same qualities as a wolf.

So where do you draw the thin, wavering line between what makes a predator and what makes its prey?

It all comes down to perspective; whose side you're on and what role you play in the grand scheme of things.

Take Luke Castellan for example. A Demigod on Kronos' side. Someone with the need to destroy coursing through his veins. A guy like that must be a guy, right? But once upon a time he was just like the next person. Doing work for the Gods with no appreciation or recognition. And so he took matters into his own hands and became the wolf; having been sick of playing an underdog. The son of Hermes is a prime example of what it means to change the unfortunate circumstances you're born in.

Though James Elliot didn't stand with Luke anymore, she did admire the bravery it took to go against the Gods.

So what did that make James? She wasn't like Luke: easily angered. Apollo's daughter saw the best in everyone. She chipped away all their flaws until all that remained was a heart. Everyone's heart beats the same. Of course some beat faster and others slower but nonetheless, the same.

Surely her naive nature would make her prey. Lambs are weak and foolish. But why should she be called naive when Luke is just as senseless for his view on the world.

James struggled with finding her place in the world. Good V. Evil. How could two sides be simplified to just two sides of a coin when there's so many factors playing into each one? Who was to decide what side they fell on?

Was it the Gods? The Titans? The Fates?

The Elliot girl didn't want to be raised for a doomed life. She wanted peace and balance. Was that so wrong of her? James wasn't a mere skipping stone in the grand scheme of things. She had a future ahead of her. She had a family, friends, people she wanted to waste away with, and lives she wanted to help. She was so much more than a pawn in someone else's game.

She wasn't going to have Godly entities tell her that her sole purpose was to be a lamb to the slaughter.

James Elliot wasn't sure where she was. The environment unfamiliar and the scene playing before her a mystery.