Dragoncrest Cliffs kòlè

mireille stalked through sapphique. to anyone watching it was obvious that she was angry, and hunting for the intended target of that annoyance.
she decided that she would start with @Loko, too angered even to consider speaking with sobo at the moment. her wild brother was grounded to the cliffs for now; it wouldn't be so hard to find him.

along came mireille, strident and carrying with her gloomy clouds. loko shifted from his favored perch which overlooked ankyra.

if he was the source of her outrage, he was ready. his shoulders rounded self-consciously as he waited for the storm to break.

"ou evite papa njord." it was both an observation and an accusation. "mwen konnen sobo fache tou."
"what i do not be understandin' is why. i be home, loko. i be well an' unhurt. but you be punishin' him, an' for what?"
her deep emerald eyes were bright with annoyance, annoyance and love. she adored loko. she wanted to understand.

directness. a blessing in most families, a bane to loko who felt cornered by that astute gaze. his eyes narrowed defensively.

mssllp the boy said, air sucking through his teeth in a gesture akin to a deflated shrug. you be lumpin' me with sobo. i be avoidin' everyone. his gaze cut in wary side-eye to the girl that was growing now into something beyond a sister to tease and torment. advocate. leader.

those bright emerald eyes would someday peer down upon him from a throne. da be busy all de time with dat woman. i be busy bein' locked down like a child. and you be busy, up in my business. his tone teased, but a roughness lingered along the edges of his voice.

"you be here so maman knows you are safe!" yes she knew the story of the scarred white wolf. and with a start she remembered that she had met the woman out upon the tundra.
her eyes skirted over the sea and then back to loko. "he be busy all day wit her because she is going to be his wife, i believe! an' she will have babies too i bet! what do you t'ink of dat, loko?"
she let out her breath and shook her scarlet ruff. "i will always be in your business, loko. you be my bro'ter an' i love you."

what did loko think?

his gaze followed mireille's, to the sea. so glittery blue. so roiling and chaotic and seemingly of a world of its own. he sighed. i be tryin' not to t'ink at all, den you come and pester me wit' questions. loko straightened. a teasing smile on his lips, his voice a girlish pitch: o loko! da be all up in some prit-tee lady's arms! o! dey will have prit-tee bebes and prit-tee songs and i will be their prit-tee little aunt!!

loko's jaws clapped shut with a snap. i be t'inkin' you be t'inkin' too much. he didn't want to think of his da porking some lady. he barely wanted to think of his da's involvement with his mothers, both of whom he loved very much. and he certainly didn't want to think of all the changes he'd have to confront soon. come, he rose with a playful nip to her shoulder. i found a place.

mireille's mouth fell open with a gasp. she stamped her paw. "stop it, loko! i do not be soundin' like dat!" she bristled with indignation and would have set him straight with an impromptu wrestling match had her brother not redirected her sisterly ire.
"i will come," mireille decided, pushing past loko with an inflammatory look. "but if it not be a cool place, i will fight you." her teeth flashed playfully toward his own nape and she prepared herself to keep pace with whatever gait loko would set them both.

encouraged by mireille's show of outrage, loko grinned. you right. he informed her with a flick of his tail. you be sounding a bit like dis his voice rose in a successive pitch, girlish with giggles.

quick to spring away (because mirelle could certainly beat him if she so wished), loko hastened towards his favored spot by the cliffs. nearby was a tunnel, hidden by rubble and collapsed scree. the boy had first noticed the tiny mouth of darkness while he had been on house-arrest; after idly digging around its entrance, loko had discovered something wonderful within.

mireille huffed and brought a ruddy paw up as if she truly were about to cuff loko for his continued antagonization of her. yet in the next she only shoved her brother roughly once she had caught up with him, before her brilliant gaze sought whatever sights he meant for her eyes. 
it was a tunnel. the half-grown sea-children were no stranger to them; they had grown up with the hidden entryway to the beachfront, and had sheltered there as well.
a memory of swallowing water, of gasping, choking; it poured over mireille and she shuddered tangibly. "what did you fin'?" she asked quickly, hoping that loko would not ask after her.

see for yourself. loko stepped away from the awning of the hole, motioning mireille to investigate.

he missed the shudder that wracked her frame. he was too engrossed in the tunnel; there was the chill sound of rushing wind, of stale cave air — distantly, of brine.

several feet down this tunnel, the road abruptly stopped. the bottom caved at some point into a massive cavern. here, they had a birds eye view of a sprawling cave beneath them. there were archways and columns of flow stone; there were paths worn by feet, and at the center sat a glistening pool whose blue surface returned their stare as if a glittering, omniscient eye.

whether or not loko knew it, mireille had faith in his discoveries. she would never admit this, and only tease him instead. she still felt the elder, despite the fact that they had been born at the same time. perhaps it was coraline's absence, perhaps it was the fact she would one day be a woman of sapphique, but whatever it —
her mind moved immediately to the sights that loko had found. 
mireille did not want to go inside, but she wanted less for her brother to know that she was afraid in any way. the girl tossed her vermillion head and entered first, eyes adjusting as heart pounded into her throat.
she moved until the trail began to curve, then looked around for loko, wanting to make sure she was not alone.

look dat way. loko motioned as mireille brushed past. the stale heat of trapped air within the cave rose along the tunnel, teasing his fur.

he had no awareness of the complexity of his sister's thoughts. his mind was solely upon the opening mere feet from them, where some twenty feet below the grotto sat like a lurking predator.

the sound of the sea could be heard like a drumbeat. loko held his breath, eyes bright in anticipation.

she looked.
at first mireille did not understand what she saw. but then her breath sucked into her throat. the room was gigantic.
"how did you even find dis place?" she asked incredulously of her brother, eyes widening as she descended. the ground was odd. the scent was new. they were below the earth. and yet it seemed impossible, its very own world.

careful. loko intoned, skirting the rubble. while the tunnel held true, at any moment the floor could collapse out under them -- and they very likely would end up speared by the stalagmites below. such risk excited the boy, who peered down at the room below.

i found it when maman grounded me. loko grinned from ear to ear. it be a big room, but i haven't found a way down.

mireille froze when loko spoke, then started to pick her way gingerly across the floor again. she too glanced down at the rock jaws waiting to chew she and her brother to bits.
"of course," she said with a teasing roll of her eyes. "maman forbids you from de cliffs for your own safety, an' you fin' an even more dangerous place."
but mireille was laughing as she glanced around at the finer details. "what have you tried so far?"

she was right, loko knew. he grinned doggedly.

i been plunkin' stones down. loko motioned to a small collection of pebbles just at the opening's edging -- while little could be seen of his work below, the round blue eye of the pool stared back at them unblinking.

until a stone was loosened into its unseeing eye.

loko dropped a small pebble, ears craned for the kerPLUNK that ensued; a well of bioluminescent blue radiance rose as the stone destroyed the smooth surface of the pool and sunk into the depths below. therapeutic, non?

it did look like an eye. mireille watched as it was momentarily blinded by loko's contribution. she shivered deliciously and chuckled in spite of how far they were below the earth in this odd, unknowable place. 
her own paw inched out. she moved a pebble some centimeters and then truly swatted it as loko had. her own piece assailed the unsettled water. how far it had fallen seemed impossible.
"oui," she conceded with a grin. sitting here and throwing stones into the pool seemed specifically suited to him. "have you tried to t'row any'ting else down t'ere?"

at first mireille seemed reserved. loko was not so intuitive to discern the reason why, but his tail wagged and he grinned as he saw her slowly lift a pebble and then properly chuck it into the abyss.

he craned his neck and peered down, watching the pebble plunk into the water and send a wave of blue radiating angrily out. the sound was secondary to the visuals in loko's estimation -- when anything touched the water it shivered as if cold had been lanced down its spine.

no, only rocks. loko confided, thrilled to share his special little place with the sibling he loved. i be t'inkin, dat big hole down in de sound... it might be leadin' to this place. may'b we be sittin' on top of it.

mireille pondered this, tapping a paw against her chin. "well if we cannot get down here, we would have to go to de soun'." she lifted her muzzle a bit. "but i do not want to get into trouble too, loko." she teased him with a flash of a grin and a gentle tug to his ear.
"tell me about de soun'. you know i have not explored it like you. is it haunted?" she had grown a bit breathless, and now mireille lapsed quiet again and glanced down toward the water once more.

mireille was right. to access the inviting new caves he'd discovered, he'd have to go against his maman's wishes and visit the sound. loko pursed his lips, heavily considering the pros and cons of disappointing his mothers yet again.

de sound be.. hmm. loko was not sure he believed in ghosts. he wanted to, desperately -- but the practical side of his brain overpowered the side which wished to embrace his family's traditions. a place of great power. maman says dere be a witch down there. loko pointed to the glowing water. perhaps dat is why de water glows. perhaps she put a hex on you and your big nose. here loko's features split into a warm, loving grin.

a place of great power with a resident witch! mireille had not expected such an answer, and so openly goggled at her brother for half a moment before she refocused her attention. of course she had heard about the sea hag caiaphas from erzulie, but hearing it from loko was altogether different.
she wanted to talk about blackwater suddenly, but the sibling-barb made her snort a laugh. "my big nose, hm?" she shot back. "maybe de witch be puttin' a curse on your fat head an' dat is why you not be havin' sense." 
she stuck her tongue out at him with incredible maturity.

loko liked the idea of a witch putting a hex on his fat head — but really, the reason for his eternal lapse in judgment was a mix of poor critical thinking and routine falling off of cliffs.

mireille’s tongue poked out in return, causing a brilliant grin to bloom across loko’s features. may’b. or may’b you can use your big nose to sniff out her fat hex hmmm?? loko stood from the precipice, aware suddenly of the inane urge to jump down into the pool. yet senseless as he was, he knew even from this height he’d likely die. how long you think this cavern has been here?

mireille chuckled and shoved him. she wanted to joke more but it was clear he wanted her to be serious. "well. perhaps as long as de cliffs demselves, oui?" she suggested. "very old. but maybe it was not always so large."
or so deep!
loko was always vibrating with some fel energy. now was no different. "what will you be callin' it, hm?" it was clearly her brother's treasure. she wanted him to name it.

the boy had little in the way of creative energies. his eyes roamed the cave, its dark edges, the way his sister's face glinted in the blueish gloom.

he thought a while. "glowlight cavern.." but he did not like it. he lacked the confidence to stand by his creativity. "no! cave. no.." his brow furrowed as he raked his mind for synonyms. "it be too old for me to give it one name. it must have had many in its lifetime. de cliffs too." he looked then to his sister, wondering if she had a name on the tip of her tongue that was better.

"glowlight cavern be a nice name," she said to her brother, nudging him with a good natured show of sisterly approval. "it can still be ageless."
she peered below them. "one day we will go down t'ere."
with a sigh she whirled and nipped him. "i know you be hungry. come on. let me feed you, smoot'-head."