time had slithered by as unabashedly as ever since tundra had pledged her life to the grinning, mettlesome sea. a great deal of difficulty had accompanied such a transition and being a creature of such solitary nature, she had opted to linger in what shadows she could find in this undressed land for the duration of adjustment. whether it take the form of restless paws dancing along the border or equally wired eyes glaring daggers at the sneering roll of water giggling back; it took a long time to get used to feeling so naked. but just under a moon had passed and the days were no longer accompanied by such fitful itches as she strode across the shivering moors.
she recognised the woman despite their lack of familiarity but rusalka was a relatively small pack and so it was no difficult task to discover who exactly held the power here. especially considering that she had rosencrantz for help, the briefest hints of a smile pass across charcoal lips as she inhales the sharp breeze; ignoring the way it hugged tightly at her curves with no trees to hinder its sharp progression. she knew too that this woman had had pups shortly after her arrival yet being nothing above a stranger, tundra had suspected it would be better that she wouldn't poke around and well....she had no wish to. even now she felt that twist in her gut, her mind hissing at this invisible enemy as anxiety lifted its curious head. growing fond of rowan had helped her somewhat battle the trepidation that crooned cruel whispers into her ears at the thought of pups but he'd disappeared and she'd done nothing- she swallows hastily against the wave, forcing it back as features remain delightfully impassive whilst she steps towards the sunkissed woman. tenebrous eyes cast off across the moors as she murmurs a quiet "i'm sorry i hope i'm not disturbing you" acknowledging her rather relaxed demeanour amongst the protective clutch of heather.
"and i'm tundra" she lilts back to the newly acquainted erzulie. she does not move to roam any further into personal space, aware of the understandingly vigilant press to noteworthy eyes. a gaze of the sun casting gentle rays across the glitter of verdant scenery, such a contrast to the shadows that writhed within her own shaded look. if tundra was the beauty of harsh winters and long, striking nights where the starlight departed from the sky to dance and shimmer along snow coats, twisting with the curious shadows; then this woman was the enthralling embrace of dappled light dancing along warm, whispering summer breezes. fitting really that she should come across her adorned in the gossamer dust of the earth's most delightful colours.
surprise sparks across otherwise placid features at the question to catch the air. blinking slowly, she tears away from the rusalkan to catch a glimpse of the distant sea. the telltale glint of the light roving across her energetic surface was hard to miss as she pondered quietly. it would be easy to shrug it off, state that it was a magnificent force of brazen power but...tearing her gaze away from the waggish frolicking of the elements feeding off of the buzz such barely contained power held, she gazed steadily at her new packmate before murmuring honestly. "if am to be honest with you, it...unnerves me." in a bird like manner, her head cocks to the side as she continues "no doubting that it's wondrously beautiful both when it's a serene wash of pastel blue and when it's enraged, thrashing grey and the air, the sharpness to it makes me feel more awake than ever but..." she slides inky pools off to look upon the distant sparkle grinning between spindly trees. "i don't trust it, it's like a constant reminder that we are such small blips of life in this vast place and...something with that kind of power has no true allegiance. the first time i came across it was during the earth's anger, when the ground shook and broke...and the sea...it was eating away at the very world as if it were no more than a rabbit carcass. i find it difficult to lie within its reach, relying on it remaining sated for my own safety." she frowns a little, was that it? not much different from telling maegi she could never settle for the idea of god's pulling the strings of their fate. from the earliest days she remembered she had been her own means of survival, relying on anything else was...she couldn't.
shaking herself from the murky dwam, lips tilted up a little sheepishly at the corners as she blinked back to the woman. "i mean no offence, i hope it doesn't sound like i am criticizing your home" it made her think of aiolos and she wondered how he was doing, had he ever found his way back to the sea that crooned and called his name so consistently? rolling her shoulders, the soldier leaned back onto pale haunches.
a shiver at the touch of such a zealous declaration, drawn in by the predatory tilt to charcoal lips as ink pressed eyes pool across her tanned figure. hungered by budding curiosity growing stronger with each unique syllable to spill from her jaws. it is, in fact, envy that takes a stab within as she admires the fervent queen before her. the words indeed make stark sense and yet tundra shies from them, letting eyes be captured by the distant lustre of the sea's sprightly surface once more. of course it is marvelous and awe lingers for her brazen sovereignty, like the moon and the sun she is eternal and untouchable. just the smell of air feeding off of her power is euphoric and so yes, tundra understands the trilling tug of her humming voice. the want to reside at her doorstep to marvel and feed on her potency.
yet tundra remains unsettled, on edge at the fact that they are but as substantial as a thinly veined leaf to that superior body of force. "she is indeed magnificent" she agrees, gaze flashing back to the beta as a mused sigh huffs fort with a small shake of her head "and yet still i find myself unable to wholly indulge in that wonder. perhaps it is cowardly of me, a lack of trust for what cannot be controlled when we ourselves are so delicate" tracing a paw idly through twisting blades of wispy grass, she does add with a smile "but yes, i can share that drive, that aspiration"
there is an unorthodox lilt to her company that is so strangely enrapturing and tundra is wholly convinced that this woman could mutter the blandest of tales about different types of fish and she'd be as enthralled as if she held the earth's deepest, most infinite secrets. there is no yearn to butt in with her own words of wonder, she is content to simply reside and listen; let the giggle of the breeze deliver the dryad's trilled yarn. and oh how desperately she suddenly wants to see through that lustrous look of sun kissed hues, look upon the sea she revered so fervently and see exactly what she saw. would it be any different? could the mind in fact, alter what exactly the eyes took in. warp and toy with the image in that infinitesimal space of time between where you capture the sight and it is delivered to your conscience. she blinks to the rolling waves, the potent scream and rally of her riveting form, silent for a long few moments of tireless pondering. perhaps she is correct, why must the soldier's mindset leap straight to suspicion? why decide that they are irrelevant in the eyes of such eternal beings? what exactly has engraved such a thought process within, perhaps they look out for them. perhaps they protect these fragile vessels from the many varieties of hellish behemoths that could exist elsewhere.
"you can be very convincing, erzulie" lips quirk upwards in a mused grin, scintillating look skipping back to her relaxed figure. "maybe it is me that needs to just...relax. the more i think about it the more it seems i've an awful habit of choosing suspicion over trust, and what good can that really do in the end except lead one down a trail of shadowed unease" stretching her neck to allow the sprightly air to gain access to what lay beneath such thick hair, the wraith would finally hum "i've had three homes since coming here, and yet i feel my heart yearns for the protective embrace of forested lands. yet perhaps that is only habit? maybe i need to force myself to stop retreating into the shadows and see if i can come to love what is different"