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+--- Thread: Cerulean Cape you'll love her til it all goes dark; you'll love her even after that (/showthread.php?tid=32675)
you'll love her til it all goes dark; you'll love her even after that - Tadec - February 04, 2019
The crow had followed Piper for many miles before he had noticed her attempts to lose his presence. He had not been discouraged by this, of course. His promise to @Indra had been that he would have kept an eye on the young girl while she searched for her brother. Still, he had not prepared himself for the extent of what his journey would grant him. He had not known just how good the youthful wildfire had gotten at getting her way. Late in the night, when he had believed her to be resting, she had woken early and ventured out beyond his line of sight. The morning after had brought a heavy rain, followed by the trickling of snow in brilliant flurries of endless white. And he had lost her.
Tadec had been unable to return to the fiery woman after having failed to follow Piper. He did not believe that he had the strength to tell Indra that he had made a mistake and he was to blame for whatever would happen to her niece. Instead, he had attempted to scout ahead and find her – surely, she could not have wandered far in the time he had been resting. As most things were, the young Redleaf girl had indeed ventured out beyond his reach. The wiry moonlighter had been left to search nearby territories until his limbs were quaking and he lacked all the strength to move forward.
Time had worn heavy on him. Without the knowledge that Piper was safe, his searches had grown into frantic pleas with the spirits above to return the girl to him. Little did he know that fate had a peculiar means of working. When he had passed upon a rolling river, the crow had believed that he was sound enough to cross. The water had latched tightly to his weary legs and whisked his footing from underneath him. In it, he was carried from the rocky shores of where he had attempted to cross... until his thin frame had crashed into the sea. It was there that the dark coyote raced over his head and called to him. He was begging Tadec to return home.
But the spindly creature did not heed this call. Instead, he was washed ashore on a distant beach where his weak frame was left to be found by some innocent passerby. The great sleep had dug its claws deep into his mind. Tadec did not stir, not even when the waters had pushed him against the soft sands of the shore. His copper-tinged cloak was bedraggled and soaked to his lean frame. His eyes were closed tightly on the world outside of his sun-soaked dreams of summer. In such cruel weather, he did not have very much time there. The cold gnawed at his frame like a wild hound, and it waited until his breathing would grow softer.
Above, the callous cry of seagulls sounded like sirens.
RE: you'll love her til it all goes dark; you'll love her even after that - Indra - February 06, 2019
indra had thought she would love the beach - its exhilarating scent, its myriad and bountiful coast, and its gorgeously roaring waters -- but the longer she spent near the strand, the colder the ocean left her heart. it was windy, loud, inescapable. there were thousands of birds to hound her for kills, many sharp things in which to step upon, and the heavy scent of brine made scenting nearly impossible.
still, she stuck it out for laurel -- coming up and down the beach, calling, searching, looking for any sign of laurel's kids. the last thing she believe she would find was a washed up, sodden thing -- her ears flipped forward in surprise and she froze, scenting the air carefully.
nothing but salt and sand.
the figure was prone, waterlogged, and ratted. advancing on careful limbs, indra was about to venture a call-out to rouse the strange figure, when she caught the familiar band of rich bronze along her friend's body. with a wild cry, she abandoned any rational line of thinking (tadec, here? how?!) and rushed towards him, seizing his scruff and pulling him well away from the icily nipping swell.
RE: you'll love her til it all goes dark; you'll love her even after that - Tadec - February 10, 2019
Fate had a peculiar way of working. In any normal scenario, the russet Redleaf woman should not have found him there. His drowned figure was much too far away from where she had sought to make a home. It was mere happenstance that she was so close to the edge of the world. It was happenstance, or it was only the hands of destiny pushing against him and her until they collided. Still, it was not the happy reunion that he had wished for. Instead, it was the meeting of a half-dead thief and a desperate woman.
She had rushed forward and latched her teeth to his scruff to pull him free from the grip that the ocean had on his frigid frame. Tadec did not fight against her touch, for he did not feel it. His mind was still washed in sunlight and warmth; he had vanished into a daydream of something that was not his present reality. The dark crow had sought to go to the only place that he believed he had ever been happy. His mind had ventured to the dark caverns beneath the world where he had shown Indra the light of the caves. While that meeting might have created a great deal of turmoil for the red-cloaked woman, it was not in their shared moment of intimacy that he found his happiness.
He had found it in the glimmering of her eyes, and the doleful sound of her voice.
The cries of the birds overhead were nothing more than a warning sound. They did not reach his ears. Before long, the gulls had vanished from sight and had sought to pick at something further up the beach. Tadec was dragged through the sand until he was free of the water, but he did not wake.
RE: you'll love her til it all goes dark; you'll love her even after that - Indra - February 17, 2019
in desperation she wrenched him, hauling his frame back from the cold kiss of the stormy waves. still he did not wake; his form was limp between her jaws, his skin taunt as a threadbare tent pitched against makeshift twigs, and his form gaunt as a wolf that had endured through impossible hardship.
he was clear of the water now and as he lay limp in the sand indra stepped back and noticed, perhaps for the first time, how impossibly fragile and slight his figure seemed, cloaked in nothing but his own sodden fur, the skin and fur over his skull a staring, lusterless hue and his eyes sunken.
"tadec," the redleaf urged, stirred in that moment by irreparable panic. she nudged his cheek, his shoulders, his flank -- each brief touch more insistent than the last. "please, wake up."
but whether he was breathing or gone to that listless sleep of the dead, she could not tell -- and in her heart, a mounting sense of grief and panic bloomed raw and as virile as an atomic aftershock.
RE: you'll love her til it all goes dark; you'll love her even after that - Tadec - February 25, 2019
Something broke through the beautiful fantasy in his mind. For a moment, it rattled him. The winds that carried the warm air through his dark cloak and wrapped his frame in a comforting embrace had suddenly turned chilly. The sound of the weather through the trees carried the hint of his name with it, but when he turned his head... there was nothing. The sun still shone down on him and the birds still sang their joyous songs in the leafy boughs of the wood. In spite of the pleasantries of his imagination, there was something that had shattered it.
'Please, wake up...'
The voice was not familiar to him, at first. It took several long moments before he found himself recalling the singsong sound of his mother's tone of voice. It wasn't hers, he knew this. Instead, his mind slipped away from the lean figure of his closest parent to the deep russet hues of another. There – in the sunshine and the summer winds – was Indra. Tadec smiled in the familiar thin-lipped way that he always did. The lantern glow of his gaze was latched to her figure with joy.
It did not take long for him to recall what he had done. It took little time at all for the dark crow to remember that he had lost Piper and he had failed in his promise to her. The smile faded from his features as dark clouds began to fill the blue skies. Almost at once, the world shifted away from the sweet smells of summer to a tumultuous and wicked storm. He felt fear strike him as Indra began to fade away from his field of vision. Tadec tried to chase her, but his limbs could not move the way he needed them to. Before long, the darkness had swallowed her up and left him alone.
Eyelids fluttered open to the sound of crashing waves and the scent of someone familiar but changed. The ravaged little figure of the man seemed to quiver against the touch of the cold air on his soaked frame. Tadec inhaled quickly and found that water had drowned his lungs. Without warning, he hacked the remains of the sea onto the shore and closed his eyes so firmly that he felt pain erupt in his skull.
RE: you'll love her til it all goes dark; you'll love her even after that - Indra - February 26, 2019
all indra's life, she had been distant from those she loved. if not in miles, it was emotionally -- and as tadec's subconscious whirled and struggled with a spark to come back to life, indra remained blithely unaware -- her sole attention focused instead on his physical presence, which was at present paper-thin and precarious.
and then, his waspish figure rose - instinctively, tadec lurched forward and expelled what remained of the sea inside of him. indra watched, wide-eyed and disbelieving, her features overcome with joy to see tadec rise, albeit shakily. "tadec!" indra blurted, rushing to his side but just out of the splash radius of any future puke-rockets. "oh thank god you're okay."
RE: you'll love her til it all goes dark; you'll love her even after that - Tadec - March 12, 2019
Well, he was far from being okay. The spindly creature was not even in the same realm. He had been washed away from all that he knew and pulled from the grip of the reaper’s water with only minutes to spare. He had been pulled out by the one face that he cared for more than any other. As his eyes fluttered open to latch onto her ruddy features, he was surprised at the sadness that he saw there. It had been a great many months since Tadec had seen Indra, and though he carried the image of her around with him like a dirty secret… well, she seemed to have changed since their last meeting.
“I-Indra,” his waterlogged voice was released in a strangled sputtering. “Tadec is…” but he retched instead of speaking. His gut tossed all of the sea water that it had held inside. His head seemed to swim wildly, as though it alone was still out there; paddling. Darkness scratched at the edges of his vision until it had all but swallowed the image of Indra’s face before him. The crow held fast to his consciousness so that he might have a few moments more with the red woman – she who was touched by Frith. Those moments seemed to be so precious to him. He wanted to hold onto them so that he might be able to pull from them later on, as memories.
“Tadec is… so s-sorry,” he breathed quietly to her, slumping back into the sandy shore and resting his head against the damp granules. The sound of the waves was calming to him, in spite of the trauma that had been caused by their turbulent expelling of his wiry frame. He shuddered from the chilling touch of wind that graced his back, trailing along his jutting spine. No, Tadec was not okay. He felt a weighty grief inside of him that he could not rid himself of. He had lost Piper, and he had failed Indra.
But, he was alive.
RE: you'll love her til it all goes dark; you'll love her even after that - Indra - March 16, 2019
at last the spindly form labored, as if clawing its way back into the world. tadec heaved with a splutter, and his voice strangled and waterlogged came towards her - tadec is sorry--.
desperate to keep tadec's energies calm and knowing the flame that held him alive was flickering to an all-consuming low, indra's face contorted into one of conflicted joy. "no -- don't be sorry," she tried to keep her voice firm and commanding -- but a waver of emotion rolled through her tone. "it's okay. we found her; she is alright."
looking around them, indra wasn't sure what to do. she was no medic, and tadec was in sorrier shape than she had ever been. the winds were picking up and she worried if they stood here for too long, he might get windchill on top of all of his troubles. @Laurel might know what to do -- indra tipped back her head in a brief howl and then begun to haul him. her movements were ginger at first, but as the squall roared overhead her motions became quicker and more desperate.
RE: you'll love her til it all goes dark; you'll love her even after that - Laurel - March 17, 2019
As she heard the summons, Laurel lifted her head alertly. She heard the note of urgency in Indra's voice, and so was quick to get into motion. She lifted her nose to inform Indra she was coming, but that she was a ways off -- and then headed that way, hoping that whatever it was, she was in time.
I'm on holiday, but feel free to continue without me and I'll throw Laurel in for realz after the holiday.
RE: you'll love her til it all goes dark; you'll love her even after that - Indra - March 30, 2019
laurel would be here soon, indra recited -- soon, it's okay, it's okay.
it's okay.
she looked to her bedragged crow - so fragile and small; had he always been so haggard?
holding him tight, indra pulled and dragged until they were far from the lap of the beach. tadec looked hardly more hale than a limp dove, his dark form spilling across the ground in sharp juts and raised points. indra worried the bottom of her lip -- and for the first time in her life, the she-wolf prayed to whatever indifferent gods were out there that tadec would wake up.