Raven's Watch the ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face
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Ooc — Miryam
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#1
All Welcome 
the ravens were noisy, but they were smart. he liked to watch them and would like it much more if he could drown out the sound of them. they didn't trust him, but that was okay. just further testament to their intelligence. what self-respecting bird would befriend a set of teeth like his?

poultry was much too gamey for his taste, anyway, so he was content to rest his chin on his paws and stare like a junkie in the void. 

much to look at here. the crystalline lake, the far-off waves, and the corvids. cortez was satisfied with his choices but was still running from thoughts of oh wouldn't calder just love this

and when did the nostalgia end? when did the homesickness end?

he'd never had a home, really, but his brother had been a home and without calder, he was indisputably homeless. olive was a lean-to in the shantytown of elysium; perhaps someday it would grow to be more. . .

the ravens. watch the ravens. 

he wondered, idly, if this place was home to them — or just a stop along a perpetual path to nowhere. the same road he seemed to be following. 

cortez blew a puff of air at the nearest bird. it squawked and flapped its wings, walking away with an irritated glint to its beady black eyes.
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436 Posts
Ooc — thalia
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#2

she'd didn't hunt ravens on principle. she'd spent so long in Blackfeather that their cawing had started to sound like conversation, their beady eyes piercing. here they existed in multitude, different, somehow, than the blackfeather breed. menacing all the same in the way they swooped low over her spine and called out on gravel voices, but lacking the threatening edge. 

she found the wolf among the rocks, greeting a wandering raven not with a snap of teeth but with a puff of air. it was this interaction that had her approach, chuff of greeting leaving her maw as she approached, pausing a short distance away to see how her prescence would be recieved.
That is not dead which can eternal lie. 
And with strange aeons even death may die.

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Ooc — Brownie
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#3
The raven has long been associated with death and dark omens, but the real bird is somewhat of a mystery. Gazing in transfixed as a few of these creatures swooped down close to the loner’s presence, she let out a playful bark as they flew away. Hanako was nearby the overlook of the snowy mountain’s edge. She was laying down comfortably by a snowy thicket, keeping her presence away. A loner and a drifter from wandering one place to another with no destination in mind. During cold times when everything is scarce and gloomy, there isn’t much to do but survive through the harshness of winter. Especially from a lone varg’s view.


Hanako soon caught sight of two other wolvens far across from the crystallized lake. Her hazel hues gazed upon them as she scrutinizes their actions from her distance. One of them appears to be a brute of grayish brown and white pelt, letting out a puff of air to a raven and goes away shortly. Another was a purely dark fae with speckles of white, making her approach to the brute. Hanako sighed softly as she got up and stood upon all fours, leaving from where she was hidden and padding along on the snowy terrain floor towards the lake to get a drink to refresh herself.
73 Posts
Ooc — Miryam
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#4
the dark girl took him by surprise, but she didn't look particularly fearsome, if one looked past the scars. still, everyone had scars, here and there. this one more than others—can't judge a book by its cover, though. it just meant she was tough, right? she could punch back when life took a swing at her.

no, cortez didn't get nervous until the second wolf arrived, and then he lurched, a little unsteadily, to his feet, mind still a little abstracted by the ravens. they didn't smell like each other, which meant this probably wasn't an ambush. or maybe it was, and he was well and truly fucked, now. he didn't come out here to fight. he had just come to watch some goddamn birds. couldn't a fella birdwatch in peace?

hey, ladies, the shakti greeted casually, tossing them each a crooked smile before shifting on his paws. wasn't expecting a party here; sorry to crash it. he chuckled, the sound wry and nervous, his eyes shifting. god, for someone who made a habit of listening and absorbing others' stories, he was really, truly horrible at talking.
12 Posts
Ooc — Brownie
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#5
The lone fae took a drink from the cold water and slowly pulls herself away and pads along around the lake’s snowy end, soon enough she was coming up near the two other wolves. She bowed her head in greeting to the other loners from her distance. The brute appeared startled as she was at their close of distance. The tone from his greeting had Hanako rolled her hazel hues around and smirked softly. He was looking uneasy.


“Take a breather, brute.” She jokingly added, swaying her grayish thick tail back and forth behind her lean form. Hanako noticed more of ravens flying pass over them. She fixed her gaze on them momentarily before playfully barking at them to scare off. “There sure is plenty of them...maybe one of is tasty enough to eat.” The thought of bird catching for lunch seemed to excite her.
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Ooc — thalia
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#6

her ears flicked at the arrival of another; though her attention remained on the male for the time being. she picked up easily enough on his unease; perhaps he knew the second woman. finding him to be harmless, her gaze found instead the woman, her words making her doubt her initial sentiment. when she spoke again, did she finally break her silence. "try it and I'll have your hide." she wasn't generally one to enforce her beliefs on others, but in this instance, either the slight tug of tension of the thought of the woman killing one of the birds in what appeared to be their home offended her. it was a poor introduction to the both of them, however, and perhaps in an attempt to salvage it, she shifted her gaze from the woman, eyeing instead the man. something shifted and clicked, and a vague feeling of recognition grew, the irritating kind she could not pin down. "do I know you?" 
That is not dead which can eternal lie. 
And with strange aeons even death may die.

73 Posts
Ooc — Miryam
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#7
at the woman's sarcasm, cortez blew another puff of air in her direction, nothing to indicate he was joking in his long, solemn face. her barb had already not endeared her to him, and her esteem plummeted further when she spoke of killing the birds; cortez felt a twinge of gratitude when the other stepped in with a threat of her own. cortez was not one for violence, but sometimes even mentioning it was effective and justified.

and then a question for him—do i know you? now he let the smile return to his face and peered at her, head cocked slightly before shaking it, his slender shoulders rising in a shrug. if you do, it's news to me, cortez remarked. i've certainly never met you before—and i've got a pretty good memory for faces.

there was nothing—no deja vu, nor the awkwardness that prickled at you when you saw someone and you knew them from somewhere but. . .where? and you tried and tried to get the name to surface and sometimes it did, but many times it didn't. so you stood there looking like a slack-jawed fool, perhaps offering a weak, "hey, pal." but it was never adequate. not graceful, either.

i'm cortez shakti, he offered, immediately wondering why he'd offered the surname. for all it was the only thing in this world he really owned, he rarely used it, especially in conversations with strangers. but here it was, out in the open.
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436 Posts
Ooc — thalia
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#8

his lack of recognition was enough for her to drop the notion that she'd known him once; there was something familiar in the planes of his face but not enough for her to stake her claim resolutely. she dipped her muzzle a fraction in acceptance of this, but his next words had her blink. ah, there it was. she had a source now with which to compare the man's features, saw the likeness and wondered at their relation. "olive is my mother." she offered; unsure of his own relation to her and the initial spark of realization slowly fading. he may be family; but she's learned well enough now that blood ties mean very, very little. it's a lesson learned over and over, made true by the fact that of her family, ony her mother has her love.
That is not dead which can eternal lie. 
And with strange aeons even death may die.

73 Posts
Ooc — Miryam
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#9
well, shit, suppose his surname was worth something every once in awhile. at the woman's admission, his easy smile grew even wider. i'll be damned, cortez remarked, cocking his head slightly as he looked at her. guess that makes me your uncle, then. i'm your mom's brother. she didn't look overly enthused to find more family. who'd've ruined that for her? certainly not olive?

why aren't you with her at elysium? he asked, flicking his ears. the other woman was completely forgotten; she might have walked away altogether and he wouldn't have noticed, staring as he was with such fascination at his niece. not to say you ain't got your own life elsewhere, just. . .wow, come here and out of the blue, i'm finding an entire family.

the man laughed at the thought. as if it was fate's way of replacing the hole in his life left by calder's absence by his side. maybe whatever puppetmaster of the universe there was didn't think he was capable of really being alone. and who could blame god, really?
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Ooc — thalia
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#10
their relation was confirmed, and she accpeted his words with a nod. she was tempted towards saying something considered slightly more friendly by the fact that he was a Shakiti and not a Svartell; if she found another of the later she did not think she'd be able to rein her irritation. "it's not my place," she offered in simplest terms, trying not to dwelve into the fact that she'd killed one of her mother's earlier lovers and thus did not think her prescence well recieved at Elysium. welcome, certainly, but she would not infringe on her mother's new happiness. 

she nodded then and offered her sentiment. "my mother's family are good people." she hoped he'd take the hint and not go looking for any more family, namely, Aries. "you are with her there?" it seems to be implied, and he's certainly close, but she wants to be sure before she asks of Olive.
That is not dead which can eternal lie. 
And with strange aeons even death may die.

73 Posts
Ooc — Miryam
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#11
the answer was cryptic, but that was fine; unlike some people, cortez wasn't keen to dig into things that weren't surface level. he didn't need to know every sordid detail of her past to understand that what she said was true. he left it alone, hoping olive was okay with the arrangement. he couldn't imagine his sister being pleased with her children being astray, but then, cassiopeia was an adult, and olive might have changed, over the years.

i'm inclined to agree, though i'm pretty biased, cortez responded, looking cheeky. he laughed a little, then fell back into a genuine, almost somber mien. yes, i'm at elysium. thinking i'll stay for a while, though i do like to wander around. it's been so long since i've seen olive; we've got a lot of catching up to do.

he tilted his chin slightly, looking at her. you've got a place of your own, then? he asked, not finding anything concrete in the scents that overlaid her ebony pelt. maybe she'd inherited the wandering heart, too. in that case, he certainly wasn't going to push the issue of staying at elysium.
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Ooc — thalia
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#12
as did she, she admitted. she had not seen her mother since sunspire, and it was not as if she did not know where she lived. it was wrong of her, perhaps, but perhaps it was better, too, to stay away. still, the guilty though had been soundly embedded in her conscience. "no. I wander."  she told him honestly. a raven, cawing, flutters close overhead, and cuts a clear line in the direction of the sea. her gaze follows it a moment, two, and then she looks back to the man. 

"I ought to visit her soon." she admits, though she has a new direction in mind, now. she does not care for the stone and mountains anymore, and her paws already begin to itch. "perhaps I will see you again, then."  its a clear indication she meant to take her leave. she doesn't fancy standing and talking much, especially when the conversation probes at guilt. with that, she moves past him, eager to hear again the crash of the waves. she pauses, once. "thanks." it's vague, but she's glad for the news of her mother, and to know she's safe and content.
That is not dead which can eternal lie. 
And with strange aeons even death may die.