my statue, sinking

POSTED: Sun Dec 16, 2018 9:24 pm

Set somewhere within Gaspesia. Pardon my rambling; I'm still getting a feel for him!

A small stream burbled a few paces from their camp. The banks were brittle with frost; meltwater slicked the surface ice in the form of liquid sheets and glimmering beads; and the water wound gently through the shallows where the freeze was thinnest.

In the early hours of the morning, the clouds had receded, revealing the sun's wan face. It had shone clean and clear in the lean season, and the earth had gone to mud and sank slightly underfoot. Cerdo’s hooves were coated in a thin layer of grime. She was tethered to the skeleton of what had once -- presumably -- been a tree, on a rope long enough to allow her to access to the water’s edge. Perhaps further. This gave him little cause for concern; the nag had scarcely the intelligence to feed without instruction. Her dependence upon him was irksome at turns, but he had learned to see the value in it.

She was a foolish creature -- by canine standards, at least -- but a useful one; worth the troubles he had undergone to "acquire" her.

Fool men were a dangerous sort; it was perhaps the most evident of truths.

Fool animals were alike in this, with a single caveat; their volatility manifested in tangible forms that could be boiled down and manipulated, molded by the hands of man. Ferocity might be channeled. Swiftness leashed.

It was not her kind that kept him on his heels.

Oleastro was not one to dwell on such things, but of late he'd had precious else to occupy his mind. The night was grave-quiet, and the slim moon was the slit of a milky eye beneath its drooping lid, blind to the woes of those who shivered beneath it.

Bitter cold and celestial apathy. The former, at least, he could combat.

A hide pelt blanketed his shoulders, and a fire smoldered between him and where his mare dozed, outlined ominously against stripped bark.

The dancing flame cast artificial shadows and emphasized what was otherwise overlooked -- invisible in the light of day. A hare roasted over the fire, crisping slightly around the edges, just as he preferred. In a twist of fortune, he had been scouting ahead in four-legged form when the rodent had made the fatal error of dashing through the bush and directly into his path.

Luck was a fickle thing, but when it worked in his favor, life was much sweeter for it.

The dog reclined on his elbows, humming in a low baritone, strong and sweet; incongruous for its vulgarity, curling smugly around vowels and thrumming over consonants. A seafarer's shanty, adopted from a sailor he had encountered in a port eons ago. The sound reverberated through the night air; where it touched, the silence retreated.

His thoughts did not.

(Somehow, this amused him; he could never hold onto melancholy for very long.)

POSTED: Thu Dec 20, 2018 5:26 pm

Lupus | Gaspesia; night | NPC: Thanos (+493)

You’re fine! I love your writing style! <333 Sorry that I didn’t get to this sooner! Dx

It was not often that the silver wolfdog ventured out into the night. Being a Loner now, and without much in the way of Luperci companions, meant a more cautious lifestyle, particularly during the harsher, leaner months of winter. She had no one to help her if she found trouble, and the dark hour often brought out shadier individuals whose actions were emboldened by the thought of their actions going unnoticed. Thankfully though, Asura was not completely alone, though, her mother’s owl companion, Thanos, could hardly be considered ample back up should things go awry.

Asura had wanted to increase her food storage though, and, while what she caught during the daylight hours was more or less enough for her liking, she had been eager to see what prey could be caught more efficiently when the moon was out and the temperatures were frigid. And, so, being the only one that could expertly navigate the moonlit darkness, Thanos had accompanied her.

The great horned owl flew silently through the barren, twisting limbs of trees, sometimes lingering behind her, at others, sweeping out ahead. The pair had yet to come across anything that would have been more than a mere snack—a sleeping squirrel and chipmunk, a rat that was unfortunate enough to become Thanos’ meal—for the Luperci. Eventually though, the tantalizing scent of cooking meat reached Asura’s nostrils, and, being the meat-eater that she was, she shifted course to find the source of the smell.

She eventually came upon a small camp, where the scent of a horse, a doggish hybrid male, and a burning wood greeted her and mixed with the smell of the meat. The Luperci was of a striking coloration, though, she wasn’t sure if it was the lack of ample light or not. He had a smoky hue to him that blanketed over the darker markings that ran along his underbelly. She had never seen anything quite like it, to have lighter hues on top and darker on bottom. He hummed a tune unfamiliar to her, and looked almost relaxed despite the cold that the fur blanket shielded him from.

Having been without much Luperci interaction in recent weeks, Asura decided to chance socializing with the man. Thanos clacked his beak in disapproval somewhere above, but, she ignored him for now.

“Good evening,” she greeted kindly, parting from the shadowed woodland beyond the fire’s glow. “I don’t often find other Loners out in these woods anymore.” The winter season often drove them to find shelter in caves, abandoned cabins, or other human dwellings much closer to the old towns. Asura offered the younger male a smile and a friendly tail wag to indicate that she did not mean any trouble with her presence at his camp. “Nor do I usually find one in as good of spirits as you appear to be,” she chuckled, referring to his previously lax posture and humming.

Asura Creo

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POSTED: Tue Dec 25, 2018 12:41 pm


Above the soft crackle of the fire, the shadowed wood to their camp's rear murmured of a disturbance. Whilst he was quite weary and thus inclined to ignore it, Oleastro's ears pricked instinctually at the sound -- moreso as whatever produced it drew closer. Upwind of the forest, his nose muddled by the scents of smoke and meat besides, it was impossible to discern what, or who, was come to disrupt his night.

Cerdo whinnied uncertainly, but he saw scarcely the mare's shadow: a blip in his periphery. He had twisted to regard the bush beyond; and now, half-sprawled across the earth, watched with rapt interest as a figure parted from the trees, glinting silver in the moonlight. At first, she struck him almost as a spectre, but her form solidified as she came nearer the fire, the illusion dashed by its buttery glow.

The dog cocked a wry grin, and his throat ceased its residual hum. "Only on the outside, chica." Which was not a complete untruth, he noted with grim satisfaction. "'m not surprised. Can't see nothin' but nothin' out here. Just mud and trees." The significance of "anymore" did not escape his attention. He wondered about the stranger's familiarity with their surroundings; whether they whispered to her of something Before. "...and water that'll freeze yer toes off. Can't forget about that," he drawled, chuckling to himself -- as though sharing in some private joke. When his dark eyes flashed in the firelight, they were full of merriment.

For all his griping, Oleastro had been born with a wanderer's feet, a gypsy's heart, and a traveler's bones. No destinations loomed on his horizon. No half-imagined places called out to his soul. Only the road: that boundless stretch of promise which glittered like a mirage in the heat of day or cast long shadows in the evening as the sun sank to the bottom of a soupy-honey sky.

He made his bed of mud and trees and frozen river-water and woke each dawn refreshed and itching to brave new frontiers.

"Cold? Hungry? It's mighty lonely out here." He gestured at his perch in invitation and, out of some half-buried sense of chivalry, to the log conveniently positioned his opposite.

"We can seem happy together," the loner added, smiling lazily.

He was not pining for company, per say, but he had not had the pleasure of exchanging words with a non-equine being for some time. (Though exchanging was not quite the right word, in that case.)

POSTED: Wed Jan 02, 2019 1:56 am

NPC: Thanos (+345)

The doggish male seemed pleasant enough. His face split in a grin as he spoke and jested, a welcoming sight and one that told that he didn’t immediately suspect her of anything nefarious. It was fortunate for her, as meant that the meeting would not be as tension-strung as she might have feared for approaching someone during the moonlit hours of the night. She chuckled at his joke, Definitely can’t forget that. It’s an essential part of the experience.”

Winter had been harsh enough within a pack setting, and she could only imagine how bad it could get now that she was a Loner herself. Luckily for her, she’d made a home of sorts before the season had begun, and her knowledge and experience of the territory gave her an advantage over a wandering Loner in the area.

She was surprised when, next, the male offered to share his campfire with her. Another might have demanded her intentions or chased the wolfdog off back into the shadows from which she had come. Her astonished expression morphed into a warm and grateful smile and then into a grin of her own. “You sound like you must be very lonely, good sir,” she laughed.

Asura padded forward, choosing to sit on the ground next to him. It was close enough to be comfortable with a stranger, though, not so close that it was friendly. The fire’s heat brushed over her silver fur, warming her chilled limbs and muscles. “I suppose I could warm up a bit before heading back out though,” she said, verbally accepting his invitation to join him in a roundabout way. “Thank you.”

Taking in his unique coloration, Asura decided to find out more about this friendly Loner. “I’m Asura Creo, by the way. What brings you out to this part of the woods? Family? Friends? Trying to find your calling in life?” She hoped that he wasn’t looking for one of the remaining packs. Otherwise, she’d have to disappoint him with his current heading.

Asura Creo

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Meant to fly
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