Sea Lion Shores Por you, for you
What wicked little twist of fate placed you here upon my plate? Here where no one hears your cries?
176 Posts
Ooc — Gryff
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#1

The ocean had been a haven for him once.

He thought.

It was all so blurry.

Not in a tragic — I cannot remember my past, o woe is me! — sort of way. He simply did not care. His brain failed to connect personal, emotional memories to the places he had been, most of the wolves he had fed from. This was another coast, another place for him to hunt.

He knew that wolves tended to gather on the coasts of Teekon Wilds however. His previous hunch had proven true, for he smelled a pack faintly on the breeze. However, the scent was hard to pinpoint, given the mass of blubber that gathered on one part of the shore, barking loudly.

Athan hadn't tasted sea lion blood before. He tended away from aquatic beings, favoring the familar warm red of terrestrial mammals and birds (never lizards). He did not know if their blood ran just as true as their cousins who favored land above all. Like his aversion for reptiles, he tended away from aquatic beings — fish and crustaceans and whatever else lurking in the depths too alien for his tastes. But these beings did live on land.

He stared at them from a lengths away, puzzling in his mind whether or not it would be worth it to take one down. Prea mare... he murmured to himself.
WARNING! this boy thinks hes a vampire. regardless of the validity of this, he does get a weird kick out of biting wolves and drinking their blood and just blood in general... He considers most wolves his potential prey, and is liable to attack at random if he believes he can take down a wolf.
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Ooc — Sɪᴛʜ’ᴀʀɪ
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#2

 
It is already too late to swim when the water reaches your lips.

Akira had wandered a bit from home, attempting to map out the area well enough to understand where she resided a bit more. It seemed she wanted to make more of a home of the foreign land, so she would no longer be a foreigner. The Swan had to impress Ford atleast somehow, other than her knowledge and customs. She could train her skills as much as she could...

Yet something, some small and child-like voice in her cried how little it mattered, how in the end, it meant naught to the behemoth. Some wicked and condemning whisper only furthered her depression, pushing the yearling into an emotional spiral down. And it gleefully pulled her clouds apart, bled her sky into red rain, and stained her easygoing manner into a downcast of woe. Now little did she know, it was her hormones attempting to adjust and spurt her into a heat, a short and near useless one, but the Hong was uneducated on such circumstance. She knew only of battle, of politics, of training. Akira did not know the delicacies of mortality until fangs were at her throat, or a correction pointed how swift her life could have been snatched from her.

The wind whipped hard in some places, and one of those places seemed to be the coast. It pushed hatefully against her lithe body, and momentarily she wondered if this fight was worth fighting...if mapping out the area today was needed, dire, and worth her effort. Another batter shook the young Empress from her question, almost forcing her to reconsider. But her stubborn need to better herself surged her painstakingly onwards. The coast lay before her, dark blobs being the sea lions, scattered in their various formations upon the beach. But watching them was a single streamline of ivory, one so close to her own shade, yet their ears were not dipped in sapphire tinged ink, nor did cream tarnish in places where her own fur witnessed. They held a perfect strip upon their snout, and though she could not see where it led from this angle, it was clear they had no ebony blue cape of their own as she did. They seemed pure, holy, and as trustable. Though she was naive in personal matters, the youth knew she could not trust by looks, alone.

Nearing, tipped ears flayed back as she offered a gentle bow. Chimes in a seafome breeze blew her voice to the male, and she made herself acquainted as politely as she could. Perhaps he would be a friend of the pack? Or even just to her- 
She hadn't seen Posie around. "Greetings- my name is Akira." It was basic, but sometimes that was all one needed to begin a friendship. It wasn't until she rose from her bow that she had noticed his eyes. They were a forbidden hue of lavender, darkened by various shards of darker crystals, within. They glittered, yet were as smooth as freshly groomed silken fur. Sapphires were taken to be a color revered in her family, her legacy based off of blue herald- was he of royal bloodlines too, to have such breathtaking shades about him?

Her thought process was lost as she attempted to deduce this man. Thus she said no more.





 
Not all birds have been taught to fly. Some simply fall until they either learn, or perish.
 
 

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What wicked little twist of fate placed you here upon my plate? Here where no one hears your cries?
176 Posts
Ooc — Gryff
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#3
The wind was strong around here. It was the one caveat about the sea — there were no natural barriers protecting you. One often had to create one, or pray that some Sound or Bay was formed naturall by the weathering of the ocean. He had no such luck.

He made an initial effort to get up and leave, but as soon as his body turned to lope away he saw a pale form in the distance heading his way. He was right. There were wolves here. 

The sea lions all but ignored their presence — perhaps being so large made you feel invincible, it seemed. He would have to stalk them for a long time until he would find one suitably weak enough to even try attacking. But he was still curious as to what they tasted like, reassessing his previous aversions just to try it.

He gave little attention to the woman's presence until she came right up to him. She bowed and gave her name. She did not seem to be defensive or protective as she settled back. He looked her over, appraising every inch of her. She looked almost like him — instead of a stripe she had a saddle of black over her pale fur, and instead of dark lavender her eyes were sapphire — but she looked strong as well. And he did not know how close her pack was, or if anyone was around. Things were not always as easy as the pale woman in the swamps, he knew. He dipped his head and gave his name. Athan.
WARNING! this boy thinks hes a vampire. regardless of the validity of this, he does get a weird kick out of biting wolves and drinking their blood and just blood in general... He considers most wolves his potential prey, and is liable to attack at random if he believes he can take down a wolf.
61 Posts
Ooc — Sɪᴛʜ’ᴀʀɪ
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#4

It is already too late to swim when the water reaches your lips.


"It is a pleasure to meet you, Athan," she offered in her demure way. Though it lacked the majority of shyness, her open face spoke of her lack of fear, and thus her lack of judgement of new individuals. She had come from a place where everyone did not hide daggers behind their cloaks, where poisons in cups were replaced with open challenges for a throne. Where no snakes lie, and where letters held no hidden threats nor warnings. Honesty was her principle, and her naive nature had not been culled by this land, yet. A lotus in first bloom upon the calm waters of a grove's hidden pond.

She brought a slender sight to the blubber blobs before them, watching with a bit more interest than a voracious predator. She was a scholar first, a killer second, and an Empress third. "I do not know what those are," she blew forth, wistfully. She only knew of birds, and with that, the only ones from her homeland. Several were unrecognized to her in this continent. "I saw you study them...but from what I feel, you are far from home here, too," she added with an empathetic feel in her sapphires. He was not as the rest of the timbers or mackenzies here. He was something else, entirely. But she would not ask, nor pester- Should he desire to reveal his homelands, it would be upon his own choice. But she had no problem talking about where she was from. "I am from a place very far from here, where tree trunks are narrow and green, having forests of them with many leaves. There are ground birds with beautiful feathers called Emperor's Pheasants, and massive bears who do not dine one them, but of the forest wood, instead," the Swan began with a dampened lilt to the charm she held before. Though she had been sent here to try and establish another branch of her home here, it was far too different to attempt anything like that. Especially on her own. "But this is not like home."

Well, obviously. Yet the bird did not catch the creeping sorrow that began to pulse through her with each palpitation of her small heart. Being in a place such as this, a place without the harmony of a togethered people...It was a wounded plane. A place where drama and infighting, outfighting, wars...Bloodshed was unnecessary and often in a place like this. She had seen enough and understood it well from Ford and his stories. 

Her heart, fragile and unbroken, was not upheld by a community here. 
She did not feel unified, even as she was protected by mates who knew nothing of her. 

She brought a sigh forth to refirm her mind, wishing already she had not dwelled on memory of China, as with it came the avalanche of her memoir. Yet it was too late- Akira had felt like she had spoken too much enough as it was. 


Not all birds have been taught to fly. Some simply fall until they either learn, or perish.
 
 

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What wicked little twist of fate placed you here upon my plate? Here where no one hears your cries?
176 Posts
Ooc — Gryff
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#5
They are seals. Or sea lions. I cannot remember the difference between the two. He had heard both terms defining the moving piles of blubber that he sometimes saw on the coasts. He had not stared at the creatures long enough to define what was what, or even if the terms referred to the same species or two very similar ones. It did not matter much to him in the long run — they conjured to mind a vague, amorphous, marine shape, and that was all. He did not even have a word for it in the strigoi tongue.

Home. He did not know if there had ever been such a thing for him. For all intents and purposes he would have been accepted in his birth pack — he was no more depraved than they were. But he had always been outcasted — his fur ivory instead of ebony, a mark of his mother — far before he had come into his true calling and was summarily ousted. Hm, he grunted, the noise more guttural than what he usually uttered. 

She began to ramble. Clearly she had wanted an outlet to pour out into, whether she had been actively searching for it before he made it into her crosshairs, or she was simply holding in such thoughts and longings. Athan watched her as she spoke of a place he could scarcely imagine, and would probably never see. You seem a sad individual, He moved in close to her, crowding her in an instant, wondering how she would respond.
WARNING! this boy thinks hes a vampire. regardless of the validity of this, he does get a weird kick out of biting wolves and drinking their blood and just blood in general... He considers most wolves his potential prey, and is liable to attack at random if he believes he can take down a wolf.
61 Posts
Ooc — Sɪᴛʜ’ᴀʀɪ
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#6

It is already too late to swim when the water reaches your lips.


It wasn’t much further before his voice had come to run scandalously over her ears and sharply through her initial assumption. Auds canting delicately back, the precision of her sharp skull was arched, regal, yet humble as her apology came from pale lips. “Forgive me- I had not meant to be so forthcoming. I am not like this.” She was embarrassed that she had allowed herself to judge another by their appearance, despite having the discipline of not doing such a thing. She knew better! 

In an instant, he grew close. Wrapping around her as a python, yet he did not squeeze. He was merely there. 
In her dismay, she thought it comfort, his words coming forth to pry her persona out of her with acute needlework.

It feels this place has drained me, Athan...it feels as though the world is not as I would have known it, once. As though I do not belong, regardless of my efforts to try.” A furrow came to her brows, and she turned to him, wondering if she had done enough to push him from her- she had spilled her troubles, insulted him- what more wrong could she inflict to grow her dishonor? 



Not all birds have been taught to fly. Some simply fall until they either learn, or perish.
 
 

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What wicked little twist of fate placed you here upon my plate? Here where no one hears your cries?
176 Posts
Ooc — Gryff
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#7
She did not flinch. He expected recoil, disgust, anger — something vile. But instead that she flinched, and stood her ground. There was much more than sadness in her — something foolhardy and almost trusting. He searched her, watching her face as she burdened him with more of her woes. He did not care much for her plight. There was little empathy that he had for her. He was still unsure if he wanted to feed from her, but he could not be rude and be silent. Then leave, he said, matter of factly. Or change.
WARNING! this boy thinks hes a vampire. regardless of the validity of this, he does get a weird kick out of biting wolves and drinking their blood and just blood in general... He considers most wolves his potential prey, and is liable to attack at random if he believes he can take down a wolf.
61 Posts
Ooc — Sɪᴛʜ’ᴀʀɪ
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#8

It is already too late to swim when the water reaches your lips.



The Swan thought to herself how much error this could truly bring. Should she return home unsuccessful, she would surely be disowned, his dishonor swift and possibly be put to death, if not made a slave. However, the Blue Swans would not allow her to sully their image-

She would be killed.

Turning a slender face over acute shoulders, she took her time to gauge Athan, to feel the validity in his words. The short answer had brought so much unsettled drift to her that she wondered whether his advice was heartfelt...or whether it was merely logics. All she had ever known was logistics- perhaps it was more or less a flaw than fortune.
Should she have been ashamed with her upbringing?

What would you have done, Athan? If those who once your family cast you out, for you for grow their legacy amongst those who are not your own? If they bode you farewell and expected you to populate among foreign lands?”

Curiousity drew deep in her sea depth stare. She had no idea who he was, but rather than a monster, she saw a potential friend. She knew nothing about him, but with hopes that he might somehow be as Posie was, or perhaps even as immaculate as Ford, she might be acquainted with a non hostile of this land.

Poor Akira.





Not all birds have been taught to fly. Some simply fall until they either learn, or perish.

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What wicked little twist of fate placed you here upon my plate? Here where no one hears your cries?
176 Posts
Ooc — Gryff
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#9
He wanted to laugh. Her story was very close to his own, except he was pushed out with malice rather than with hope. He wondered what her family truly expected with this. Sending a young woman alone to form her own pack? Stupid.

Is it worth it? He asked. Did they send you out alone? And they expected you to do this by yourself? He chuckled. I say learn what you can here. Enjoy yourself — if you are expected to do this on your own, then take your time. Was he actually giving advice? He was surprised with himself, to be quite honest. But a desire had grown inside him. He wondered if she was sweet. That sudden thought spurred his next choice. 

There are much more pressing things you should worry about. It was cliche, he thought — the killer giving some vague, kind threat before they attacked, but he couldn't help it. It was too sweet, to see her change from somber . He lunged forward, aiming towards her neck. He would put the fear of others into her, if he didn't kill her.
WARNING! this boy thinks hes a vampire. regardless of the validity of this, he does get a weird kick out of biting wolves and drinking their blood and just blood in general... He considers most wolves his potential prey, and is liable to attack at random if he believes he can take down a wolf.
61 Posts
Ooc — Sɪᴛʜ’ᴀʀɪ
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#10

It is already too late to swim when the water reaches your lips.


The asianic woman could near hear the humor in his voice, the ridicule in what sounded like a mixture between exasperation and disbelief. Yet his next words were of console, relief, and she felt as though he might be looking out for her. She had turned to offer her friend a smile, something grateful to show she appreciated the time he had taken to offer her such sage wisdom. Of course she had felt a bit ashamed of using a foreigner to help her own foreign problems, but it felt as though birds of different flocks too could fly together.

His warning had crossed her as strange, yet it settled on very aware ears. Where Akira was daft in ways of companionship, but her skills as a warrioress were frightening, and if necessary, lethal. But her confusion prevented her from countering, and instead her instincts unioned with training, shifting her into a clean dodge away. Hinds of lithe and lean muscle pulled her clear from the immediate vicinity, freeing her by a hair’s breadth from the crisp ivories of her company. 

Where Akira had been raised, surprise ambushes and sudden spars were so regular that it nearly became routine- Akira simply listed this as another one of them. But for it to come from someone who was not of her land- 
did they train as a warrior, too? 

You are swift Athan.” The Swan Heiress brought endless sapphires to gaze within the emblazed amethysts of her company. Her slender form was primed, yet at ease for someone so young- as though she fell naturally into the rhythm of battle. She had- that was the blood which ran through her veins; rich in the heat of battle, spiced as cider from royal legacy, yet refined and aged unlike that of typical youth. It was a wine of the most decadent degree, an unforgettable savor, and her training would not allow her sparring mate to take a single drop of it. 
Not unless he had bested her speed, agility, and discipline.

And you are wise.” The bird stepped lightly, the majority of her weight seeming to vanish as she strode almost cat-like in a semicircle to the ivory prince. Her compliment was true- he was both quick and smart. 
But now, she was ready.


Not all birds have been taught to fly. Some simply fall until they either learn, or perish.
 
 

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What wicked little twist of fate placed you here upon my plate? Here where no one hears your cries?
176 Posts
Ooc — Gryff
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#11
Ah, he said in honest surprise. He wasn't expecting her to be so calm and easy about this. Dodging? Sure, he could deal with that — it had happened to him before. He was no master fighter, falling back on surprise more than anything, hunting those he perceived as weaker than him. And she was not so, at least as it seemed right now. She lacked the fear that he wanted, making him wonder just how dangerous her life had really been. Perhaps he had been wrong about her?

He laughed, backing away from her as they shifted into a sparring circle. He had lost his element of surprise, so he accepted the fight. It had been a long time since he had a fair fight anyway. He had been half-hearted about the kill anyway — or at least that's how he explained away his sudden shift in intention.

Athan rushed forward, aiming for her legs.
WARNING! this boy thinks hes a vampire. regardless of the validity of this, he does get a weird kick out of biting wolves and drinking their blood and just blood in general... He considers most wolves his potential prey, and is liable to attack at random if he believes he can take down a wolf.
61 Posts
Ooc — Sɪᴛʜ’ᴀʀɪ
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#12

It is already too late to swim when the water reaches your lips.



The essence of her battle technique lie in the art of remaining untouched- but it would seem her greatest weakness would be when she needed to launch her own attacks. This led to her evasion being impeccable, accuracy perfect, but her defense and attack were awful. 

Another attack was thrown against her, and as graceful as her first dodge had been, she was lifted up and away from his ivory trap. Rather than waiting, however, she used the momentum to lash her own jaws at him. Yes, it was a brief moment where she was endangering herself, but if she was quick enough, a bleak nip would be grazed over a lean shoulder of her spar partner. Her own shoulder and much more right side of her body was exposed due to this assault.



Not all birds have been taught to fly. Some simply fall until they either learn, or perish.

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What wicked little twist of fate placed you here upon my plate? Here where no one hears your cries?
176 Posts
Ooc — Gryff
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#13
Athan could sense the opening of his body too late, ignoring it in favor of attacking once more, aiming at the opening he saw on his target. He acted mostly on instinct rather than honed martial techniques — a feeling rather than tactic. He had been trained briefly as a child, but those few lessons flew out of favor in the face of reality. He wanted to overwhelm, ignoring the attacks lobbed at him in favor of exhausting his sparring partner — he was a persistence hunter if anything; waiting, waiting for his prey to exhaust themselves before he went in for the kill. It had helped him in the past; there was no reason why he could apply this to fighting.

And she was truly a partner now, an equal. He could sense that she was at the very least knowledgeable in battle tactics, based on her graceful, almost beautiful dodging — more knowledgeable than he, if anything. Though that was not saying much. But how could you continue dodging multiple, back-to-back attacks? He bore the nip on his shoulder, focused entirely on launching another attack at the junction between her shoulder and neck. A few scars would mean nothing in the face of victory, he told himself.
WARNING! this boy thinks hes a vampire. regardless of the validity of this, he does get a weird kick out of biting wolves and drinking their blood and just blood in general... He considers most wolves his potential prey, and is liable to attack at random if he believes he can take down a wolf.