The Sentinels ageless beauty

looking for some Stormrift bois & girls

Well, this place was sad as fuck.

But perhaps it was just as well. A shitty place for a shitty guy. Maybe he ought to settle here for good. Zamael's travels had given him nothing but further depression, and with tail between his legs, he had returned to the Teekon Wilds, looking for. . .well, he didn't really know.

Alarian, maybe. Had his brother forgiven him for his abrupt departure? He wasn't sure if he could face him, yet. But apart from Alarian--oh, Eris, too; he felt a pang as he realized he'd forgotten about her. God, what a piece of shit he was--all other things he sought were existential, intrinsic. He didn't really give a fuck about anyone here, outside his siblings.

And he hoped they didn't give a fuck about him.

The gray wolf, his fur raggedy from a lapse in grooming habits and constant, sea-battered travel, settled down next to a charred stump, fiery eyes flashing around the place. Yeah, it would do for now. At least until he figured out what he was doing next.

dunno if she's stormrift yet but i couldn't resist! let me know if this isn't okay <3

she's not sure what she hopes to gain by wandering so frequently, but there's a strange static-y feeling in her chest that whispers it is the only answer. she doesn't know the question yet, but perhaps her travels will tell her. perhaps the question is the answer — or there is no answer, and the question itself is all she has to gain. it's all so confusing!
dizzied suddenly by her tempestuous thoughts, she halts her aimless walking, swaying just slightly where she stands. as her head slows its spinning and the deafening roar in her ears quiets to the faintest of breaths, she notices something — a familiar scent. her heart clenches and goes cold and she turns sharply, ignoring everything in her that screams to run the other way and never look back. it doesn't take her long to find him, settled against a stump like a sack of shit. z-zamael? it slips from her quietly and she hates how broken it sounds, she hates how her legs tremble, she hates him —
but she doesn't. not really. she hardly knows him. he's just not athris, and that is a crime she can't forgive.

He hadn't heard his name from a stranger in a long time, nor less spoken in that broken kind of tone, and he turned, dreading who he'd find. A woman, so maybe Eris? No, he knew her voice. One of the Sanctuary people? Oh, shitfuck, what had happened--

He couldn't have predicted in a million years that he'd be staring down a wolf he'd hoped not to see again.

Fan-fucking-tastic. One of the double Keils. One of Runion's creepy Oedipal crew.

Ashari, Zamael croaked, rising unsteadily to his feet. What're you doing here? Did Shaara come with? Athris? What the fuck? It was some sort of fever dream. He had caught something along the coast and now he was dying, and hallucinating ghosts of his past. Jesus. That meant Alarian must be right around the corner.

It wasn't that he despised her, just what she was. What she symbolized. His disgusting brother, and the desire he couldn't rein in. She shouldn't have been born, poor thing. Yet here she was.

the expression on his face when he sees her — ha. she should have expected it, but she hadn't, and the stab of hurt that unexpectedly arcs through her quickly turns to white-hot anger. his questioning is only fuel to the flame. she snaps almost before the last word leaves his mouth: they're gone, gone just like you wanted to be. her expression hardens. the tribes are gone and they're gone — not that i expect you to care.

the sentinels hold power, and she's become acquainted with the spirits here.  they whisper to her.  she spends almost as much time here as she does in the bay that she and her siblings are claiming.  there is something about this place that makes her feel like she can touch her mother, just as the bay makes her feel close to her father.  

she slips quietly through the trees 'til she can hear their reunion, and she skids to a halt, for now just listening.

Gone? How were the tribes just. . .gone? There were so fucking many of them, like cockroaches! Impossible to stamp out. Zamael stared blankly at her for a long moment, her last words taking a little while to resonate with him. Of course, he laughed when they finally did, a sound without humor.

Yeah, no, I don't give a shit, the elder Keil shot back, chuckling. But, like. . .what the fuck? What do you mean gone? That's impossible. It simply wasn't possible. She was either lying to him to solicit attention or comfort, or completely out of her mind.

He thought he heard pawsteps in the brush, but paid them no mind, instead fixing his wildfire gaze on his sister (niece? both? what the fuck?), waiting for her response.

his words cut into her, but knowing they're meant to lessens the sting somewhat. her hackles prickle, lifting slowly. don't believe me, then, she announces, tail flicking decisively to one side as if to dismiss his idiocy. i'm the one who is going to finish your job anyway. well, not really, but it might be fun to keep him guessing. she has her own plan for when she finds the missing keil siblings, eventually — a plan that will make sure the tribes never come back, surely. assuming she ever finds them. she's not exactly actively looking.

the wind favors her.  she is nimble enough to remain hidden, and she is late to realize that she does not want anything to do with whatever familial feud that the two are having.  there is something about a tribe that is no more, and two individuals who are doing a poor job at pretending not to care.  it's all so trivial and petty; perhaps if she had known that these two would eventually find their way to the bay she'd feel differently.  

instead of attempting to diffuse the situation or remain hidden, she'd saunter on by as if she were traveling back towards the bay and so long as she was not stopped, that is where she'd be found.

Finish the job? What the fuck are you talking about, Ashari? Zamael asked sourly, ears flattening to his skull. Maybe he had just been out here for too long, but nothing she was saying was making sense. The tribe gone? Finishing the job? This was the inbreeding talking, he was sure of it. Nobody with a pedigree like that could make any sense. It had just taken this long for her to go bonkers.

Well, but perhaps she was speaking of his attempt to find the missing Keil siblings and bring them back. That got a big literal LOL from Zamael, honestly. Have fun with that.

He rolled his eyes, beginning to pad away. He doubted she'd try to stop him, but who really even knew, at this point. Good luck with your mission, kid. Rooting for you. Alarian and Eris would be just as averse to seeing her as he was, he thought. And they both could run really fast.

there are many things about her family that do not startle her anymore; she's come to expect a certain callousness, a certain lack of regard for the basic rules everyone is meant to abide by. still, her brother manages to surprise her. it strikes her then that he truly doesn't care — it'd been obvious even with the tribes, though, hadn't it? she just hadn't wanted to think so.
alright, well — fuck you too! she yells after him, immediately a little irritated with herself for stooping to his level. her brother's harsh way of speaking might not faze her anymore, but to allow herself to mimic it! — no, she can't do that. not again. she can think it, though. and she does just that as she turns away, fighting back angry tears at this fresh proof that her entire family is a huge mistake.