Ravenshook Cliffs you've made a fool of everyone
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Ooc — Talamasca
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#1
Open, but tagging @Redshank. Also tagging @Rokig for reference (in case you wanna drop him in too since they're sort-of travelling together) and @Towhee (because of the reference to X). If you want anything changed, let me know!


For a time he followed the gray wolf, and together they roamed from the palm trees to the endless sand of the beach, and beyond. There were frequent stops. The stranger did not move quickly unless there was something they desired sitting before them; it was a carrot-and-horse situation for many hours, with Rokig offering whatever they could and spurring the stranger onwards. When the pair decided to finally take a breath — having climbed along a ridge of jagged stone, where the slightest lick of wind threatened to push Screech's body down — it was somehow decided that they would rest.

The night had descended at some point. Screech's body had become a coiled pile beneath the shaded overhang of the cliffside, where it rested, but the stranger was awake. They listened as Rokig settled nearby but some time later, they must have gotten up for one reason or another — to urinate, to eat, to investigate, maybe to have a break from the useless creature that they had somehow become a caretaker to — and in the moments that followed, the stranger found their memory shifting; memory of their meeting with the seaside wolf was somehow purged.

He had forgotten Rokig. He had forgotten, too, that Screech's body was exhausted; it struggled to get up, and began to roam again. The sky was so dark — but the moon was full and bright, casting an eerie illumination across the ridge. He thought he saw movement in his peripheral vision caught in a moonbeam, but was not mindful enough to follow it — the hawk was soundless as it observed from above, and veered inland soon enough.



on my teeth
220 Posts
Ooc — Laur
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#2
*finally throws up a reply!*

He had finally made it to the ocean, but the sense of accomplishment was fleeting. No relief came to his weary bones - instead the boy was filled with only dread. What now? Redshank hadn't really had a plan beyond this. He had been so focused on getting to the Sequoia Coast but gave no thought as to what he would do once there. All he knew was the shoreline was safe - familiar - and, like all things, he supposed he would just continue to make it up as he went.

Darkness soon cloaked the area, the cries and screeching of the sea birds that called the cliff home quieting and giving way to the dull roar of the ocean. Redshank trailed along the ridge, head bowed and staring at the crashing waves below. He aimed for the summit, hoping the brightness of the full moon would be enough to give him a clear view of the area so he could plan his next move.

But it appeared someone had beaten him there. Redshank peered at the scraggly figure in the darkness, hackles bristling as he slowly realised who this was. He appeared to be in as bad a shape as himself (if not worse) but that garnered the other boy no sympathy from his former friend. He lurched towards Screech with a jarringly sudden movement, teeth flashing as he let out a thundering, "hey, you fuckhead!"

He didn't even stop to think why the Redhawk boy was so far from the Plateau.
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Ooc — Talamasca
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#3
Short and mobile post sorry!


The only reaction to be expected when assailed by the booming voice and shrinking space was to face the oncoming threat, duck his already slouching head, and do his best to contort this contraption of a body to meet the teeth the creature bears; the stranger does not recognize this dark figure, but sees how fleet of foot they are, how adeptly they move across the weathered stone, and is temporarily envious as the body's singular eye locks upon them.

The stranger can do nothing in the face of this attack; he breathes a deep snarl and snaps at the dark figure, but Redshank is already invading his space - and the body reacts with an instinctive lurch. He is but an animal, exhausted and desperate, faced with an unidentified foe.
on my teeth
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Ooc — Laur
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#4
Never be sorry! Your posts are beaut <3 (also feel free to do some minor PP!)

For a moment, Redshank wondered if he had mistook someone else for Screech by some trick of the moonlight. His growl faltered slightly as the other boy shrank but still turned to face him. However, when he saw the single, fevered eye staring out from the angular monochrome face, all doubts were chased from his mind. This was Screech, and Redshank wanted answers.

A snarl clawed its way out from his throat with renewed fervour as the Redhawk met his challenge with a guttural noise of his own. He guessed it was expected the boy wouldn't be pleased to see him; Screech had sided with the enemy after all. His offer to join them from all those weeks ago had been torn up and thrown aside and, naively, Redshank still believed this to be the same traitor he had left on the Plateau. With a snap of his jaws, the Cairn aimed to ram straight into the other boy, hoping to knock him to the rocky ground in order to pin him.
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Ooc — Talamasca
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#5


It would not take much to overpower the useless thing that used to be Screech Redhawk. The boy's old friend came straight at the body and within moments, the stranger met the dirt. He snarled and fought against the hold, but there was nothing he could do — so he slumped, releasing whatever claim he'd laid upon the body for the time being, and as this moment took place there was a glossiness to the singular eye, perhaps indicating that the body was once again vacant. The puppeteer had withdrawn, for now.
on my teeth
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Ooc — Laur
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#6
He gave way with an odd sense of ease beneath Redshank's weight, fighting for only a moment before slumping, as if whatever energy he had left had been expelled in those few seconds. The Cairn was off-put for a moment - Screech wasn't one to simply give up even during mock fights. Still, the boy leaned closer as he stood over the pathetic, crumpled form, trying to catch the other's sole eye. Something felt off about him, but Redshank ignored the sensation almost out of pure spite. "How's bein' with y'shitty family, huh?" he spat indignantly before realising. "Y'a long way from home; what, they already sick of y'shit too?"
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#7


The creature had the body pinned, and the stranger had retreated, leaving nothing but a husk. It would take the brunt of the assault if there was to be any further retaliation; certainly it absorbed the words that the dark wolf was shouting, and while the stranger would not have understood, some part of Screech must have.

There was an abrupt change, again. This time his glazed, glassy expression took on a sharpness, a clarity, and for a second or two his gaze lingered on Redshank as if to study that familiar face — as if perhaps, there was recognition — but the expression melted in to something akin to panic, and he opened his mouth as if to protest or to plead — but as the first hesitating sounds came from him, everything stopped.

Screech had been there — so close to breaking through, fiendishly afraid of something or someone, fighting to regain control — but then, just as swift as it began, the glazed expression returned and the body slumped beneath the weight of his old friend.

The stranger remained, and it seemed as if the battle for the body had concluded swiftly.
on my teeth
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Ooc — Laur
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#8
He may as well have been shouting at a rock, for the creature beneath him did little to indicate he heard anything Redshank said. It twisted away, it's sole, glassy eye fixed on some point in the mid-distance before...wait. There was a brief flash of lucidity, and the Cairn's expression lit up for a split second, a smile that revealed a momentary relief that flashed across his features. He was still there. Their gazes locked, Redshank's own searching his former friend's for recognition. Answers. Anything.

Just as quick as it had come, however, it was gone. There had been a brief, tense moment where Screech looked as if he was about to say something — his jaws parted, the barest of sounds escaping, before life retreated from his broken form once more. Redshank's ears thrust forward as far as they could go, facing the Redhawk boy as he stood over him, a mixture of confusion and anger forcing his features into an ugly, twisted scowl. He waited, only the sounds of the roaring ocean below and the cries of sea birds filling in the dead silence.

"Speak!" His demand cut through the clamour of the coast, breaking at its highest note and betraying the boy's need for his friend to come back. Please.
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Ooc — Talamasca
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#9


The wolf demanded things of him that were impossible; no matter how much the stranger wished to take full control of this body and puppet it to their whim, parts were still held out of reach. Speech was one of those things. Perhaps Screech was afraid of what may transpire if the creature were to fully consume him — perhaps it was the one aspect of the boy that could never, and would never, be given freely. But the looming figure that was Screech's friend would not get what he desired this day. The stranger reacted to the harsh noise of the command with the baring of teeth, a ferocious snapping, and an unrelenting, forceful lunge that bespoke a savagery that should not have been possible in his exhausted state; it was like the body was exhausted while the mind, the stranger, did not care — he would escape from this interrogation even if it meant his host body was lost.
on my teeth
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Ooc — Laur
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#10
Even before his cry echoed down the cliffs towards the chaos of the sea and the racket of the birds that roosted there, Redshank knew his demand was in vain. This was not Screech anymore. He was gone, replaced with some shell of a wolf who had buried their former self deep, deep down. Perhaps even forever. Any further efforts would be wasted, and the boy felt hot, angry tears begin to prick at the corners of his eyes. Desperation turned into resentment, which then turned into fury as suddenly this stranger lunged at him.

They met with a clash of jaws, but where the other was a reckless show of distress, Redshank aimed only to deflect the snapping teeth. For all his fury, he didn't want to hurt him. He backed away just as quickly, feeling blood well from a sudden cut on his lip. "Fuck you," he spat back at the wolf who had stolen away his friend, continuing to back-peddal lest the stranger dive for him again. "I hope someone throws you off this cliff for all I care."