scudding fireflies on background of blueblack confirmed for teya that she must follow. glow of moonlight on shuddering pelt that tasted of redroam rust from the underhang of a faucet.
"she won't, she won't, she won't," teya mumbled as she leapt and pirouetted after the glimmering little bodies, ignoring the heavy scent of wolves as she stumbled breathlessly toward their border.
RE is currently full but we have a member who is planning to leave soon, let's see if this can be timed properly lmao
She couldn't just lay there all day every day. Getting up from the den and departing from her children was always a tough choice, but it had to be done. The Empress' legs were wobbly at first, trying to stand again like a newborn fawn and yawning while trying to shake off the still lingering sleep. Could childbirth cause such an affliction she wondered? Everlasting fatigue, or was she just lazy?
With a long stretch, she began to walk, to shake off the groggy legs and see if she could bring the energy back to do anything around the pack - but in her stride, she stopped. The sight of a stranger gallivanting beyond the borders caused a moment of fright, though they didn't look threatening, the pale woman was still apprehensive with all the children around.
With a sharp bark, she announced her presence to the stranger while approaching softly, cautiously she cast a glance at their direction.
Excuse me-
Vocals felt hoarse and rusty; with a quick clearing of her throat she tried again.
Did you know you are trespassing?
She took a look around to see if anyone else was approaching to apprehend the trespasser other than the Empress herself.
no worries! i figured but wanted to get this up anyway for posterity; we can draw it out as long as necessary :D
teeth clicked and clacked. teya stepped, dancing, twirling, until the firm voice of another cut through her waltz and stopped the greygrouse short.
"won't," came the uneasy chunner in her throat. the frantic water-stare poured over the stranger — beauty beauty, archfall of new snow. teya backed away, wilting visibly beneath the fairspark gaze. mouth clamped shut, at last; tailtip wriggled from where she had clutched plume between her thighs.
something sickly sweet on the wind. blink blink. "please."
Please?
She questioned, the way this woman acted didn't seem like her being here was purposeful but instead a mistake. An honest accident. Letting her own plume flicker behind her in an attempt to ease the stranger, she didn't want to come off hostile after all. Is everything alright? You're okay here, we are friendly.
A smile, even if she was tired Reiko had to try her best to keep a certain air about her - friendly, welcoming, try to understand rather than immediately get upset.
My name is Reiko, and you?
beautysnow, speaking gently. a name offered, a title. teya tipped her head, glancing at the stranger's lips and then to her watchful face. reiko. no attachment to it now, a bisyllabic sound that the asylum-seeker sidestepped with a shake of her rotpumpkin muzzle.
"teya ishtar," clear, poignant, separate, distinct as its wearer was not herself. teya ishtar teya ishtar, ground into her skull over and over by voices that she no longer recognized as emerging from faces.
"reiko." a breath.
Something didn't seem quite normal about this one - perhaps it was a language barrier, but whatever it was, Reiko could not put her paws on it. Nothing felt dangerous however, that alone was important enough for the naive Empress. Well, Teya,
this woman didn't talk much at all, but again, the thought of a language barrier was quite possible.
This is the Reneian Empire, my home, my pack.
Gesturing around her with a tip of her head, a little twist of her body as if to move out of Teya's way to see the vale. Pack, home, maybe those two words could clue in the woman of what she walked into. Are you looking for a home?
reneian empire. home. pack. home.
a skittering twist of her lips, a rapidfire breath. "reiko. home." only those sounds were of sense to the fjord-dweller. a lick of her lips, the haunt of her stillcurrent stare floating far up and up and up the forbidding mountains, until their highest teeth were engulfed in cloud.
"home." and finally her flanks were quelled, and even a half-heart stir of her thigh-tucked plume accompanied the second repetition, as if the pretty one had handed her the words to a spell.
It had to be a language barrier. As Teya seemed to cling onto a few words here and there, Reiko could see that they excited her somehow. Yes, home.
She parroted to confirm with the young lady. Come, I'll show you around~
With a tilt of her head toward the heart of the lands, a sway in the plush plume behind her, she would try to use as much body language as possible to try and communicate Teya from here on out.
With how afraid the woman seemed to be at first, Reiko chose that now was not the time to question her on her abilities, or what she wanted to get from joining the pack. Perhaps with some time to ease in somewhere 'safe' (all things considered with recent events), Teya will be more communicative and comfortable with sharing anything about her.
reiko. snowstar; maiden. teya's lashes fluttered wildly in rapidfire blinks she could not control; the girl pulled her tic to a halt only when she looked away from the other toward the forbidding expanse of jagged stone teeth that encircled the vale.
"home," was all she mumbled, before, wilted, the girl crept shyly to reiko's side and allowed herself to be whisked into the heart of the ethereal gem still pulsating with elven leylines and the presence of gods.