Haunted Wood Sailin, Sailin The Winds

Tack felt something off about this wood. It seemed dark, and quiet. He was cautious as he flew through the branches, taking it slow and easy as he perched himself high in the trees. Letting out a quiet chirp, more to check if others were near. And there he waited, for a response. For anyone that may have been nearby, for anyone that may be near to tell the bird where abouts it was right now. 

@Tula @Kai

She'd ventured from @Cry's side, if only momentarily, so that she might explore this place further. The wood was dark, ominous, despite the daylight and filled the wolfdog with dread. She disliked this place and the prickling paranoid emotion it evoked in herself.

You are the stuff of the sea. Act like it.

Elin would not approved of such timidness. It's this that makes her spine straighten with the facade of bravery as she continues through the forest curiously.

tula curled against kai's back, dozing as her head dropped forward. they'd been traveling for some time, their trio, and she was desperately looking forward to the day when they reached their destination. the fisher was eager to sleep in a burrow again rather than wandering the cold wilds of teekon all day long. 

she paid little mind to where kai was going, far more interested in her nap.

Tack gave out another shrill cry into the air, he was feeling a bit scared in these woods. It was still much too quiet, and he felt helpless. He had no real direction, what was he even doing? Going out there alone for his goal, in such a dangerous world? "Hello?! Hello?! Hello?!" Tack calls every now and then.

She startled at the first cry, flinching at the sudden plea in the midst of the spooky forest. 

After her pulse slowed and the initial flush of fear had faded, she realized that the person was probably in trouble. Concern pooled in her ivory gaze as she began to pad cautiously in the direction of the shouts. 

Kai chuffed as she neared, lavender paws - permanently stained - so as not to alert the stranger as she approached. Her glass gaze sweeped the clearing in search of the source of the noise yet she came up empty. Her speckled brow furrowed slightly, confused.

She yipped loudly, calling to the mysterious person she'd heard calling out. 

Hello?

A soft, comforting whine slipped from her jaws.

Come out, I won't hurt you.

she was startled awake by kai's jump, beady black eyes searching as her head turned sharply to and fro in search of danger. 

kai began to follow the noise, leaving the fisher to trill loudly in protest - though this went ignored. 

as they neared the noise-maker, tula hunched close to kai's back - ready to attack with her sharp little beak if any tried to harm her witch.

No matter where he was in his life, the dream returned with even more horrible flourish than what he had the time prior. The reoccurance of the same nightmare, a mold of his fears rampaging in a fluid movie to kill his hope even further. To smother his quest for redemption. The film started from the beginning, leaving Cry as a pup, staring up in wonder at the dark faces about him. Family, surrounded by his aunt, his mother, his uncles, and siblings...all of them staring down at him with identical faces of nothingness. They cared nothing for him, only what he could be. What he could do for them. And just as he opened the tiny jowls of his to ask why they were staring down at him so emptily, they all moved closer and closer together, smashing into one another as space ran out. The inky tar of their colors scalding into a bubbling cesspool of which the tiny pup could only fear, and just as he turned to flee, that cesspool reared forward a massive claw. Turning to see what prepared to snatch him, the same horror filled him as it did every time at this scene, as he watched the mountainous face of his uncle Slade sppear on the mess of darkness. He was enormous, the ebony Nightmare King scaling high enough to nearly contest the bears he fought. And when he met the gaze of the pack's Alpha, those hellish orange irises held him captive while he morphed into the bear, the exact bear which rose to scar the boys back, again, and again. Thick claws had only just smacked across his back when the force of impact woke him from the dreadful dream, and his gasp nearly shook the wolf to his feet. The exhale brought him back to reality, and he wobbled up, drained from fighting off a bear that he never had a chance against in the first place, nor touched, period. With the strange need to feel some speck of comfort, he went to find Kai, and ensure her wellness.

Due to her own desire to remain some semblance of near to him, he didn't have to travel far to where she had made her temporary den space in their trek to Shadewood. In fact, it was only next to the brush of trees on that side of the path. A stretch weaved it's way into his trek, and after finishing the tauntness in his spine, he peered behind the sect of trees the stocky youth called her own.
But she was not there.

Immediately, his body went into a rigid grain, silence blew through his form like that of a snow's first fall. 'Did they find her?' his thoughts ran rampant. The Nightmares could have sought him out and kidnapped her. But as he went to search the area, no signs of struggle could be seen. Her spot was still mildly warm, and she couldn't have been gone for more than an hour. That means she had gotten up and left on her own, and he had atleast 2 to 3 days to find her. Or-
He could let her come back on her own. Maybe she wanted space? Maybe this was her way of telling him he was smothering her? He racked his brain for an explaination to this disappearance. His body urged him to lock onto her trail and follow her, but he didn't want to make her feel even more constricted. Was he too hard on her?

Cry could deduct how long and how much pressure to apply to someone's throat before they collapsed, he could kidnap and murder children, and he could assassinate rival kings, but he couldn't fathom why Kai had left him. Perhaps this wasn't  the life she wanted? Or maybe she had gone out to explore, and gotten herself in trouble.

The last thought forced the wintry deathness from his stuck limbs, and like that of a phantom, the dark prince was gone. A shadow through the trees, he ran, leapt, and flew over the ground, nares sticking to the scent he held of the brine-perfumed girl. He had to atleast reassure himself that she was alright...or else he didn't know what he would do. Through the entrance of Haunted Woods he made himself fleet, and he continued this journey, following as closely to the trail as he possibly could.

Tack just barely heard something. Someone was near, after all. The bird looked around, trying to find the source of the sound. It had sounded like a yip, and then a whine. Was it a wolf? Upon hos branch he looked around, and eventually he saw just what it was. It was a wolf...and on it's back, a bird. This was just like what he was seeking, if Tack's assumption on this was correct. 

"Wolf! Bird! I am lost, where am I? What is this place?" he asked down to them.

Kai's eyes widened as the voice came from above.

Shocked, spooky orbs lifted to the bird nestled a branch. The naiad watched, dumbfounded, as it continued to talk.

"Uh," she rasped, glancing around. "W-Woods," she stuttered, unable to name the land or even the forest they stood in. Even if she could, Kai couldn't say it.

tula turned a beady eye skyward, locking on the unfamiliar bird warily. it could speak kai's tongue, something tula was incapable of, which led her to be spooked by it. her feathers ruffled and she hunkered low against her witch as if to disappear from sight.

”Haunted Woods” he gently corrected the fae, emerging from the thick growth of underbrush in the ominous forest. That was the name of the forest of which they stood. 

Cry had heard her voice, and luckily in  woods, sounds bounced around quicker than scents. He was capable of latching onto the voice of the youth, and being here to assist should she need it.

He wouldn't question the tan bird on it’s route to either remain or leave; it was a bird, and held both the sky as domain. The more life in woods, the better. But Cry would prefer the bird come with them to their own sect of woods, rather than these unsettling timbres; the tan bird looked horribly out of place, here. “Come with us,” the guardian offered. “We’re going to a safe place.”

Looking towards Kai, he ensured she wasn’t hurt before watching the fauna for it's next move. 

Tack narrowed his eyes down at the wolf. Woods? He could see that, and he puffed his chest out. "Woods? I thought this was a lake!" His question was answered soon after however as another came in, correcting the first wolf. "Thank you, second wolf. Haunted Woods, scary name..."

It sure did explain the scenery here. "Safe place? Tack is not searching for a safe place..." 

The speckled naiad flinched at the voice behind her, her half raised hackles lowering when she realized it was only Cry. Her ears pinned to her skull contritely, tail wagging with welcome. She felt foolish for being so easily startled but some part of her brain still feared that he would return to finish her off. An even larger part was terrified that he would find her with Cry and hurt the raven she had so come to care for. 

"What..search?" The word was hesitant, uncertain as she was that it was the correct one. Being in Cry's proximity made her want to relearn communication but it was an ongoing process. 

Hopefully the bird would understand that she was asking what he was looking for. 

the ebony male, the one known as cry to his kind, soon appeared and tula lifted from her witch's back to settle on his broad back. carefully, she avoided the scars laced across his spine to settle just behind his neck - small, clawed feet clutching the soft fur of his ruff.

she cheeped softly, not liking the way the language of lupines fell from the avian's tongue. it was unnatural, unnerving.

With the disrespect posed to Kai, Cry immediately raised a barrier of ice betwixt them and this bird. Cry narrowed his eyes at the tweeting avian, noting Tula perching between his own blades. “Then try not to get eaten on your own.”

That was how fast he made it broke potential and existing friendships. No one would speak to Kai that way, especially if she was his. Especially not a damn bird. 

Glacials narrowed as he studied this sand sheathed bird. He’d not been against eating birds in his own time, restraining the indulgance because of Kai’s own companion. And had he been able to catch this smart as, it wouldn’t be excluded from the list. It offered him nothing, and in return, he would give nothing. 

He he didn’t know what search Kai had mentioned, but if she meant in the reference of the bird’s travels, Cry brought a frosty yet calm face to the bird. “One that doesn’t concern us, it seems.” 

Tack was glad the wolf asked that question. "Search for partner. Told I would know who partner is when meeting them. Help one another" he explained. Tack was excited to hopefully soon end the long journey he had gone on. And this wolf, seemed to already have a companion, and Tack just noticed this as they made a cheep sound. "You have one already! How exciting, how glad you found a companion."

She glanced between the bird and Cry - who had grown cold - with confusion. Yet, it was the dark titan who held her loyalty and not the unfamiliar avian. With nary a hint of hesitation, the wolfdog turned to follow him. 

Her nose sought his fur, nuzzling him slightly for comfort though she couldn't be sure what caused his anger. Talking to a bird had been confusing enough but something in the conversation seemed to have flown right over her oblivious, speckled little head. 

Cry laid his jaw's underside across the deliciate top of Kai's crown, his silent appreciation for the Sea-Found's comfort. Everyone needed respect should they show it, and this bird, whether it knew it or not, had discarded the grace of the Guardian simply from words directed meagerly at Kai.

"I didn't like how it spoke to you. Was rude, and I won't tolerate that," he explained as he began to lead her from the menacing woods that all too well reminded him of Blackfeather's entrances and exits. He hadn't ventured too far into the terrible place, but his uncle had dwelled there, and he had to meet him several times in the past.

"I apologize if I ruined a potential friendship between Tula and it," he added.