Serpent Lake look toward your golden towers
12 Posts
Ooc —
Offline
#1
All Welcome 
tag for reference! :-)

as the morning sun begins its ascension in the distant horizon, the early morning sky morphs into colors of candyfloss blue, pink and purple, tinted with candied citrine orange; and while hadrian isn't infallibly certain he thinks he has finally reached his destination: teekon wilds spoken about often and reverently by both his father and the emperor himself. an abandoned legacy just waiting to be claimed, the place were his dearest sister @Saarthal presumably still haunts, a not-so mythological place of untold adventures. still, there remains a part of hadrian that refuses to settle, that seethes and festers like a wound that refuses to heal. unfettered worry for aeneas taints hadrian's satisfaction at finally making it to the wilds. word alone was unfortunately not enough assurance that aeneas — fool that he was ( fool that hadrian loves ) — would not do something suicidal and stupid again over reyna.

not that there wasn't plenty of women ready to fawn and throw themselves at aeneas or anything, but the way aeneas had acted one would think that reyna was his only option.

hadrian puts thoughts of saarthal and aeneas out of his mind, for now. instead, he focuses on the path before him, shying away from the bank of the twisting serpentine lake he follows as he notes the gleaming scales of a black garden snake as it lays coiled on the flat stone of the lake bank soaking up the warming rays of the morning sun, considering his next course of action now that he's finally made it to the teekon wilds.
THIS WHOLE WORLD IS ENDING, A NEW ONE BEGINS
326 Posts
Ooc — siv
Offline
#2
Her legs carried her far. Far enough to see the sky twist from blackness to colors. Blue, purple, orange (her mind wanders to Maegi) and pink. Brilliant shades that made her look drab in the morning light. She could not blend in here. A dark blemish against the lake's edge.

So was someone else.

Although where she had been a dark blemish, they were stark. Grays that dared to highlight the colors of the morning. She had to contemplate if it's right to disturb them, so early in the day. They seemed awake though. Standing there with perhaps morning grogginess? She couldn't tell from this distance. Her legs carried her closer. Enough to perhaps be spotted as well by the stranger. If they did not spot her well she'd announce her presence. A weak whuff slipping out from her jaws.
12 Posts
Ooc —
Offline
#3
hadrian's steps are slow, cautious and calculating as he considers where he's entered the teekon wilds and what direction he has to take to reach noctisardor bypass — the birthplace of his father and where the emperor had raised and then left his legacy of the wilds. the senior hadrian — shadow, as the wolves of these wilds had known him — spoke often of it and hadrian junior had taken the stories greedily, soaking them up like a sponge.

the sound of footfalls draws his immediate attention, ears cupping forth atop the proud crown of his head and frostbound gaze falling upon the woman. at quick glimpse hadrian isn't sure that he saw her but she, draped in a pelage of living shadows, is hard to miss in the glow of the early morning sun and the weak noise of greeting she emits confirms that she is more than shadow.

for a moment, hadrian does not engage, weighing his options. he really should try to find saarthal even if it was just to check in on her ...make sure was was ok for his own peace of mind; yet, how did he expect to find her when he had no idea where she was? he could run into her by chance, sure but the odds of that happening likely weren't that great. admittedly, the legionnaire wasn't, perhaps, the most friendliest of the three musketeers. he had a nasty habit of looking down upon others: years spent being praised, getting what he wanted out of his instructors and the favor of the emperor himself has given hadrian an unshakeable impression of himself.

and yet, how many diplomatic missions had he gone on? plenty ...and he prides himself on his diplomatic skills. hello. he eventually greets the shadowed woman cooly.
THIS WHOLE WORLD IS ENDING, A NEW ONE BEGINS
326 Posts
Ooc — siv
Offline
#4
Her ears pushed forward with his spoken word. One she had grown familiar with as she lingered in these lands. It would be rude to not return the gesture. Greetings were key, she found. Announce one’s arrival and lay down the foundation of purpose. Hello. Her word almost a wisp but surely loud enough for him to still hear.

She was always left at a social stand still once greetings passed. Where to go from here? How did one read into a simple exchange of hellos? The inside of her chest felt like it burned with anticipation and it urged her to speak more, to learn more of her company. Help? A creature of habit she was and she could not stop herself from questioning if he needed assistance.
12 Posts
Ooc —
Offline
#5
the shadow hued woman parrots his greeting in a will-o-wisp tone giving hadrian the impression that it's not timidity as much as it is her regular speaking voice. though he does not know anything about her: he finds it befitting to her based upon appearance alone. a small lull slithers betwixt them and the legionnaire is content to let frostbound silver gaze dance over her again, deigning not to linger too long on one feature or another. help? she breaks the silence, an ear twitching forward to catch her soft voice.

could she help? possibly. these wilds were largely foreign to him and though he knew about them in the stories told by his father and the emperor, hearing stories is not quite the same as knowing the lands as they have. but where should he start? saarthal? noctisardor bypass? perhaps, hadrian surmises. i'm looking for my sister, saarthal and a specific territory called noctisardor bypass. though what, pe se, he plans to do when he finds the territory is not known. largely it depended upon whether it was claimed by someone or not. hadrian would cross that bridge when he got to it.

currently, he is intent to give his rapt attention to the shadowed woman and whether she could be of help to him, as she has offered.
THIS WHOLE WORLD IS ENDING, A NEW ONE BEGINS
326 Posts
Ooc — siv
Offline
#6
Keywords were what the Morta focused on when others spoke. Following each word for things that seemed important. Although he provided a bundle of information, it was not overwhelming her more primal-set mind. Sister, Saarthal. Territory, Noctisardor Bypass. She fell silent as she thought over his words. Her mind dug for those names in her memories. Ebony lips twitched downward briefly before her head shook. Not know. Was all she could offer before her body shifted to point towards the northeast. Mountain. She breathed before a brow quirked softly. Could his desired bypass be there? She had only ever gone along the edges of the mountain with little idea of what laid within its walls.

He did not smell familiar in any way she knew. Not the scent of northern neighbors (she briefly recalled the earthen toned scout, a pang of discomfort in her chest) nor the scent of her own. He was uniquely himself. The shadowy woman’s head titled slightly as her lips parted once more. Where from?
12 Posts
Ooc —
Offline
#7
while hadrian hadn't expected her to know: one wolf in a proverbial sea of many? unlikely; and for all he knew saarthal hadn't lingered in the wilds. much time had passed since she first left, after all. still, the roman struggles for a moment to conceal his disappointment, for while he doesn't expect anyone to know saarthal a part of him still holds out hope. he looks towards the mountain that the shadow draped woman gestures to, peering at it for a long moment before his attention shifts back to her. it was as good a start as any and at least gave him a direction beyond aimless wandering.

where from? hadrian's left ear flicks forward, towards her as her question takes him by surprise. though he is woefully prideful he hasn't expected that he would be asked that, if only because noctem vagus isn't very relevant to the wolves of the wild. it exists in the far north outside their wilds and poses them no threat and he doubts that anything resides of the emperor's legacy here. the far north. he gestures in the general direction. far beyond the reach of these wilds. in other words: a loner.