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+--- Thread: The Tangle The night was heavy and the air was alive (/showthread.php?tid=31138)
The night was heavy and the air was alive - Ibis (Ghost) - December 03, 2018
She ran, and ran, and ran, and for a while the poor girl was too emotional to know where she was going. Once her running became too exhausting she was forced to stop and rest. The ground had become boggy and gross; but there were chunks of frozen earth among the soupiness of the marsh and she clung to those with a renewed desperation. Ibis had run from the nice man and his questions (Gundham), and she had run from her mean liar of an aunt (Wraen).
Ibis was learning that running wasn't always the best plan. There was no way to tell how long she'd been out here on her own either — that aspect to her misadventure was the most frightening thing of all. She had been hungry for a while but now the hunger was gone, and she still hadn't eaten anything. Her energy levels were dwindling and it was getting colder every day. The little girl continued on because she couldn't just sit there and fail, her drive to see her father had been a strong pull for a while — now, she was relying less on her emotional conviction and more on a feral need to survive, something that went beyond her years by far.
When the criss-crossing shadows of a forest began to dapple her coat with deeper grey tones, Ibis didn't notice. She'd slogged her way through the marsh and was too cold, tired, and despondent to realize the shelter when it came up around her; then again, once she was surrounded by trees and cloaked in shadows, she felt the cold of the dark as a much more virulent thing and seemed to wake up again. Come back to herself. It was in the Tangle that she finally collapsed; wide awake but so tired, shivering from the cold, and filled with dread when she realized just how much she'd messed up.
RE: The night was heavy and the air was alive - Tux - December 03, 2018
Still determined to prove himself as a competent and capable rauna, Tux continues to spend the days away from home. As always he returns by nightfall, though he's become more secretive about how much attention he draws to the sky as soon as the stars come out. Vercingetorix was right, at least in part — stars weren't dumb, and neither was trying to tell the weather... but he was (at least for now) making it a point to keep his public focus upon scouting, and keep the rest for himself.
He does not expect to smell anyone so close to home. There was that black-masked stranger in the Sound, but so far that's the only stranger he's come across. Interest piqued, he follows the scent, which zig-zags haphazardly through the Tangle. Unable to find its source, he tips his head back and emits not a full howl, but a series of staccato barks, to try to find her.
RE: The night was heavy and the air was alive - Ibis (Ghost) - December 03, 2018
The poor girl is covered almost entirely in the gunk found in the marsh. Being so small was a hindrance out here; any puddle she encountered turned out to be bigger than her, or at least deeper than she was tall, and she was so tired that her route had taken her through a myriad of them. Now that she was in the dark of the woods she felt the shadows creeping over her, and the winter air sighing across her damp little figure, which only made matters worse. She was slumped against a pile of snow when she first heard the calls between the trees, but she was also so very tired that Ibis was tempted to fall asleep where she lay and forget all about the potential dangers waiting for her.
She rolled to her feet, cleansing at least part of her pale coat of some grime, and looked around groggily for — well, she wasn't sure. The sound seemed to be getting closer now. The more she focused on it the more awake she felt, and her adrenaline began to bring her back from whatever stupor had affected her. The sounds were spooky. There was no way for her to tell where they came from with any precision, so she tilted her chin up and sang a few high notes as a reply — which were surprisingly on-key.
RE: The night was heavy and the air was alive - Tux - December 03, 2018
His call is returned with full, elegant notes, and he blinks. He's never heard anything quite so pretty; had he ever even heard someone sing? His thoughts don't linger upon it for too long, because soon enough he's able to find her. He doesn't know that the pair is like a younger version of their mother and father — he, the dark and handsome soldier, and she the soft and solemn version of her mother, who had also once been lost and scared all alone in the wilds.
With how dirty she is, he can barely tell what colour she is, and since she's been gone from home so long she barely smells like it anymore. But he can tell that her eyes are brilliant and her voice is clear, and that she's been on her own too long to be a scout like him.
Who are you?he queries, first in Trigedasleng (because he's forever hopeful) and then again in common.
Are you lost?
RE: The night was heavy and the air was alive - Ibis (Ghost) - December 03, 2018
The figure that emerges is, at first, just an abstraction. The living embodiment of the cold winter and its layers of shadow. She is too tired to be nervous but there is a fundamental thrill that creeps down her spine all the same, and her eyes are glossing over with a thin layer of tears caused by the cold. As she blinks these away his form becomes more concrete, and she can make out that its just a boy — dark like Lily, but younger than her, closer to Ibis' own age maybe.
He says some strange things; sounds she's never heard, and it takes some time for the girl to find her voice. In the mean time she watches him, and as he comes closer she can see the gold that frames his cheeks and the white that contrasts his underside. She wants to say yes, but doesn't. Instead, she drifts closer to him and without a care to his personal space, presses against him for warmth. His scent is a strong one, and an unfamiliar one, but for a split second she's comforted by his presence and his warmth and her manners fly out the window.
RE: The night was heavy and the air was alive - Tux - December 03, 2018
For a girl capable of producing such clear-sounding notes, her voice is slow to come. His eyes narrow as he studies her, face flattening into something scrutinizing and perhaps intimidating to someone who didn't know him well. It doesn't seem to deter her, however; she flattens herself against him, and he has to fight the urge to step back and away.
He wonders if this is what nomi felt when she came home. She's so small, and that's how heda makes him feel.
Do you talk?he says, less demanding with this question than he was the last.
I can help you.He doesn't know how, but he's got to try. Right?
RE: The night was heavy and the air was alive - Ibis (Ghost) - December 03, 2018
She sniffled and pulled away from the stranger, and would've been embarrassed for her behavior had she been mindful enough. It was rude. She didn't even know him! But he was warm and Ibis needed to be comforted; he didn't appear aggressive anyways so there was no danger, in her little mind.
He asked her if she could talk — his tone was almost serious, and the words accented slightly. Ibis liked the sound of his voice and listened dreamily, and when he mentioned he could help her, she seemed to come back to herself. At least enough to nod at him. She swallowed a dry lump in her throat and in a voice worn soft with worry she said,
Ibis, my name is Ibis.
RE: The night was heavy and the air was alive - Tux - December 03, 2018
If he knew what an Ibis was, or that they'd both been named for little birds, he might be more interested in her name. As it stands he doesn't really know shit about shit, even though he likes to do a lot of pretending that he does.
I'm Tux,he says as she pulls away, still staggered by her proximity. She's an outsider, he knows, and obviously she does not live in a pack as hale as Drageda, for she is so small that Tux thinks she's been malnourished (which might not be far from the truth).
He doesn't really know that she's lost, but he knows that something is up.
Come,he says, as if he's made up his mind and will not take "no" for an answer.
My pack is up there, on the cliffs.He could get her cleaned up and then maybe with the help of someone like nomi (who he knows has traveled much) or Vercingetorix, who seems capable, he can figure out what is up with her.
Do you know where you are?
RE: The night was heavy and the air was alive - Ibis (Ghost) - December 03, 2018
She needs help, and he seems to be ready to give it. Maybe the forest is his home - it appears to provide ample shelter, not that the girl has any concept of such things. When he indicates that he can bring her to the cliffs she looks in the direction he indicates and murmurs,
That's the wrong way,except that she does need food and rest and she can't really say no.
I...she starts to explain what she means but, thinking of her failed effort to find her dad, how far away her mom must be, how worried -- she loses that spark that gives Ibis the desire to speak.
She's dwarfed by the older boy, which would've intimidated her had she not been so pleased with the company. He was bigger so he exuded more warmth, and he was as welcoming as the forest considering all she'd been through. If he was offering her help, she'd take it - so she pressed herself against him again and murmured,
I am l-lost, I... I need...
But before she could finish the thought, her tiny body sagged softly to the dirt beside him. Little Ibis had passed out.
RE: The night was heavy and the air was alive - Tux - December 03, 2018
She tells him that he's going the wrong way, and assumes she has at least some bearing of the world around her. He begins to plan out the next steps — bring her to the cliffs, summon Blixen and nomi — and then she's pressing herself against him again and his mind goes fuzzy. He's still too young to really know the difference between boys and girls, and what he feels isn't really close to that anyway, but he knows that if Sequoia were here she'd tease him about it and it makes him frustrated and sad at the same time.
I am lost — and then she's crumpled to the ground like some broken thing. He's never seen an animal look so helpless. He breathes out in exclamation, then tries to decide what to do. Oh, she must be hungry, but he doesn't want to leave her alone when she wakes up and he might not even be successful. The cliffs aren't too far, maybe he could just ...
He tips his head back to call for @Blixen and @Antumbra (but mostly anyone who will listen), and then he sticks his nose beneath her warm but pitifully thin waist and the ground in an attempt to slide her onto his back. If their size difference were any less dramatic it wouldn't work, but he is extraordinarily large, and she is extraordinarily small.