Nocturne Summit the faces staring back at me look like somebody else

"i have the day." and then germanicus must return to crowfeather at nightfall. the stirrings of something larger quested through him now. 

"the stone face is fierce. but is the low lands that soothes a heart." a small bit of foolishness from the bards that had come through editum. 

smoothly he stood, wondering if two would bury the rabbit or bring it along.

He was certainly well spoken. He had the day, he said, and she nodded, looking at the rabbit at her paws. It was fresh meat, but the idea of something larger made her stomach rumble greedily.

After a moment’s thought, she scooped up the rabbit, scraping a shallow hole underneath the wide, low branches of a nearby bush, pushing the dirt back over the carcass.

There. Nephele turned her eyes back to Germanicus.

You want to lead the way this time?

a nod, and he moved to take up the hunting leadership. they would go into the lower meadows between here and the lake. "a yearling deer," he suggested, setting a faster pace for them.

"in that direction is redhawk caldera. seek the regent by the name of ruenna if you seek a fair place." two did not seem worried over her current status, but summer's end was swift. 

germanicus set himself to looking upon each green hill layered with softgrass, where their intended had not been disturbed from their grazing.

Nephele pressed her lips together. Ruenna of Redhawk Caldera. She filed it away, she of all people knew how harsh winter’s breath could get.

Thanks, Germanicus. I’ll..drop by. With fall came winter, and packs were good places to hole up when it got cold. Pretend you were someone worth the cost it would take to feed you, and book it come spring.

She lapsed into a silence. Aquamarine swept the landscape, even as she chewed on her cheek to try and think about her next move.

two was silent again. "where have you gone in your head?" germanicus wondered aloud, choosing this well-placed moment to question directly. through the small pieces she had told him, the tactician had written some words in a chapter, but not more than that.

he paused, and gestured with his muzzle toward a limping silhouette, high upon a hill. it would take a crouching sort of climb to reach the animal. the yellow-coin eyes sought that of two.

Nephele flashed a rueful smile as she tuned back in, ears swiveling back in a silent apology.

Thinking. Of what I’m going to do next. She answered, pressing her toes into the ground for a moment, before her eyes flicked back to Germanicus, lowering her body as needed.

It would be..nice to have a home again. Even as everything in her screamed for freedom, one part was still hooked on the age old idea of the perfect life. Pack, family, little Nepheles running around. But enough of that impossibility. It was hunting time.

two was searching for a path forward. germanicus quieted, following the fall of her own figure. "how long have you been alone?" his voice was low. the eagle found the footholds quietly, slinking up the rise of the hill.

in his experience, women were most drawn to the life of a pack wolf for the protection of their young. germanicus, with none of these and none planned, had no interest in belonging to ranks.

he bent himself to hunting.

A year. 

She was quiet, then, her eyes on her paws. She’d been truly alone for a year, but even before that, she was alone. In the caste system of her birth, in the way Pidáo’s affection alienated her from jealous peers. Nephele closed her eyes, taking a quiet breath.

I’ve travelled by myself for a year.

Maybe there was another part of her that wasn’t crying for freedom. She’d have to think about that.

a year. "it is a long time to be on your own."

his comment was empty. how long had the ranger himself hunted with only himself for company? above them, the figure of the deer limped leftward, and the eagle followed.

he thought of crowfeather once more, unable to keep his mind far from the young cohort and the tasks he had been set for the day.

Like a shadow, she ranged at Germanicus’s side, ears tipping back to press lightly against the top of her head.

Im used to it by now, really. She didn’t actually know if she was or not. Maybe she’d just come to know the feeling of loneliness so intimately that she couldn’t figure out if her soul was ranging for freedom or crying for companionship.

That sure was a question alright.

germanicus had no comment for two.

in the light, the hardness of his figure swept up, and up again, forcing the injured yearling deer across uneven ground.

the rush of adrenaline would be a good balm for the hurt feelings of their earlier discourse.

he turned himself willingly toward the hunt.

Nephele charged after her companion, allowing instinct and her hindbrain to take over the running while the rest of her dropped to a singular point.

She’d never been good for much besides war and crime. Who was she without it? The thought unsettled her and soothed her in equal measures. Nephele didn’t even know who she was without a criminal background.

Maybe it was time to shed it and try something new.

upward and forward.

germanicus drove the struggling hind sideways with a clip of his teeth. he hoped to force it into the path of two. they would wear it down until the injury gave way.

for now, he was committed only to the thump of his own heart, the way that the ancient zeal rose in his veins.

Nephele herself surged in pursuit, following thousands of years of ancestral tradition in the tread of her footfalls. It was easy to believe her ancestors had done this, maybe in this very spot.

At that idea, she gave a mental snort. She was Two of Cloudmirror Manor, her ancestors were all thieves and lowborns, nothing fitting. She was a product of a thousand years of bullshitting and backhanded deals.

She shook off the thought. Not too long now.

they moved as one, hungering figures that poured forward and consumed the earth from beneath thei quarry. it bent, and then failed in its next step.

germanicus jerked backward from reach of the sharply slashing hooves. he circled, training a gimlet eye on two, wondering what sort of move she might make to their end.

They circled like sharks, the deer’s last efforts exhausted by the chase and a rabbiting, fearful heart. Nephele ran her tongue over her nose, wincing again at the soreness from the rabbit’s kick. The gunmetal silver woman swung her ears back, stilling for a moment, letting the deer’s eyes swing off her form.

Now.

She lunged for the jumping vein in the animal’s neck.

Rest She bade it.

Rest and continue.

they were silver hawks circling a quarry. the fragrance of blood poured metallic into the air. the deer parted its jaws to wail, but there was no sound.

germanicus struck now, clamping his stone teeth over the nose and mouth of the fallen creature.

minutes now to wait, as crimson painted his fallgrey pelt.

The deer’s death throes involved a lot of twitching, ripping Nephele’s teeth further into the elegant neck of the young animal. She squeezed her eyes closed, knowing this was the way of the world.

Something had to die for something else to be fed. Be it plant or animal, something was exchanged. It was the first rule of alchemy, the first rule of nature. The law of the wild, the law of equivalent exchange.

To live, something must die.

And today, it was the deer.

Nephele released the now limp body after its sides had stopped moving and its heart had stopped beating in her mouth, licking sanguine life from her lips and teeth.

Good hunt. She said after she’d caught her breath.

germanicus chuffed delightedly in answer. he saw the flick of two's tongue as she lapped blood from her teeth. it fired his hunger.

the guard began to cut into the side of the hind with his teeth exposing the summerfat. germanicus paused only to see that the huntress joined him before he fell to eating in earnest.

when his belly had been filled, the eagle sat upon weighted haunches, eyes following the trajectory of geese overhead.

The young woman herself waited, watching Germanicus dig in, before her eyes fell upon the carcass.

She waited only a moment, before tucking in herself, tearing teeth through the skin of the abdominal wall and reaching for the inside. It had long been her favorite bits to eat from, the inside rather than out, and she feasted accordingly.

Eventually, however, she pulled her blooded snout back, dragging her tongue across the pad of her nose to clean it again, before moving on to cleaning her face as well. After cleaning herself as best she could, she turned to look at the silver man.

Did I get it all, or is there still blood on my face?

"on the right side of your mouth, there is a smear," germanicus answered. he cleaned gristle from between his teeth and stood. "i will be in this region for a while longer."

he sought her gaze, and held it. "if we meet again, i would enjoy another hunt, two." she had been affable and skilled, a stranger he had enjoyed meeting. and now they were acquainted. germanicus would make mention of her to crowfeather.

Nephele stood herself, swiping her leg across her mouth to try and wipe the smear from the short furs around her lips.

...thanks. She said softly, finding his questing gaze to hold it, committing his face to memory.

Im gonna go look at the Caldera pack you mentioned. If I’m not there...I probably won’t go far. She cast her gaze to the area around her.

I...kinda like it here.

germanicus gave the land a wide and approving look. "it is well watered and has mountains running alongside. choosing this place for a home would not be a mistake."

he backed then, preparing to return to crowfeather. germanicus waited for two's rejoinder, not quite ready to leave the match of her company.

Nephele watched Germanicus, smiling at him after a moment. A quick thing, barely there, flashing across her face for a heartbeat.

Ill consider it. She said after a moment, dipping her head to the taller man.

Thank you for helping me out today, Germanicus. I hope we see each other again. She was halfway between sad to be losing her friend and itching for lonesome thought again.

She might not get that lonesome thought if the Caldera became her home.

<3 thank u for this amazing thread!

he dipped his head. "hail, two."

and then he had turned and was off, a silvershade smudge upon a land that seemed never to end.