This is an archived version of FeralFront. While you can surf through all the content that was ever created on FeralFront, no new content can be created.
-
"No. No that won't do." A voice, growled and rasping. Not because the one it belonged to was a particularly grumpy or ill-tempered individual. No, her voice had simply never truly healed. She was, admittedly, somewhat annoyed, but it took conscious effort to speak without sounding like her words had the consistency of stone scraping on metal. Grave was hard at work in her room attempting to draw a rough outline of Cinnabar Lake. It was just one part of a multi-stage plan on trying to consolidate as much information about that tainted place as she could into one, organise and coordinated set of details. As it was, she wasn't having much luck. A scrunched up piece of paper was thrown through the doorway of her room, tumbling off the edge of the spiralled stairs within the Gaia and falling to the bottom floor with a gentle thud.
"That. That information is incorrect. The roots extend to here not there." The inside of said room was no better. Grave liked things neat, tidy and explained, and her room usually reflected this. A small collection of what little belongings she had here, a pile of blankets and pillows there. Today though, it looked as if somebody had ripped apart a notebook and scattered the pages all over the floor. A lamp rested on the ground beside her, its dim orange light flooding her room and casting strange shadows over the walls. Night was just starting to creep over The Sanctuary, and with some of it's members on an earlier sleep rotation already heading to bed, a few faces she didn't recognise had looked inside and had given her a hard stare of "I'm going to sleep please stop making so much bloody noise" but Grave was far too wrapped up in her important business to take notice.
The papers themselves had a mix of content. One over in that corner there had a few hastily sketched drawings of the creature that had attacked Fireghost. Said drawings looked like angry scribbles with frowny faces and lines which were meant to represent chains, but looked more like a long string of connected bubbles perhaps. Another piece of discarded paper near the door had some scribbled notes with theories of as to why the lake was so corrupted in the first place. In the centre of the page was the word "Magic???" in large, highlighted letters with several question marks and a rather frustrated atmosphere to it all.
The Lupurca was writing as neatly as she could on some lined paper, trying to make what looked like a to-do list of her current goals. The list itself was growing much longer than she would have liked it to be, and with a sigh escaping her she let the pencil drop from her grasp and rolled onto her back, a look of defeat clearly written across her face. Hazy amber eyes stared up into the ceiling. Gah, nobody told her that having this new rank would be so stressful. How did Fireghost manage? How had Dethroned managed? And there she goes again thinking about that damn snow leopard. "You know. I think I really need a hobby. She muttered to nobody in particular, the tone of her voice reflecting her appearance perfectly.
Fear is a reasonable response to Life // Honor of The Sanctuary // Tags
HEAVENSDOOR
-
How long had it been since she had just stopped to look at the sky? With everything that had happened recently, time just seemed to go so fast and there were never enough hours in the day to get everything done, and stress over the safety of her clanmates. The Sanctuary was meant to be a peaceful place, and yet her thoughts were always clouded with worries. Concerns about Fireghost and if he was healing well, worries about Felix or Dog doing something stupid. No, Felix and Dog doing something stupid. The Lupurca hadn't spent much time around the latter of those two, but already she was anxious about one of them coming up with something that'd sound great at the time but in hindsight...ah, and not to mention the vortex which had just sort of opened in the middle of the lake, the vortex she still didn't know whether was safe or not.
So perhaps with all of this troubling her, you could understand Grave's reaction when she spotted Losteyes sitting there and staring up into the sky. Her eyes darted back and forth between the feline and the clouds, expecting him to suddenly cry out that he had spotted some horrible thing falling towards them, when oh yes she remembered that his name was a very strong give away that he couldn't see very well. A long, weary sigh escaped her, and with a gentle shake of her head Grave made her way over, offering him a small greeting nod even if it would go unnoticed. There was no reason not to be polite, after all.
"Losteyes." The ashen wolf started, taking a seat a respectful distance away. Although she knew he had trouble making out some shapes, Grave was confident that her large, dark grey form and her pained distinctive voice would be enough to alert him as to who had just approached. "It has been a while since we last spoke. Everything has been so busy lately. Are you adapting well to living here again?" A part of her still wished to question the ivory feline about what it was like long before her time here, but that would have to wait. Perhaps after everything calmed down.
Fear is a reasonable response to Life // Honor of The Sanctuary // Tags
-
Ah. Stopped at the first hurdle. In hindsight, Grave probably should have considered this might be a fairly common question. Looking at flowers wasn't really something she did very regularly, and even then learning their names was a task she really didn't have the time for. Sure she knew like, one or two flowers? Maybe? But certainly not enough to answer Adeline's question with confidence. On the other hand though, isn't that why they were all here? To learn? If she already knew all of the answers, then she wouldn't need this training. It was just that Grave very much disliked that feeling of being helpless or not understanding, and testing her knowledge on a topic she knew very little about was absolutely going to make her uncomfortable until all the answers were presented to her. This was something she unfortunately had trouble hiding, and a few moments later the ashen wolf found herself shuffling on the spot, a minor look of apprehension on her features. At least Felix had an answer. Well, one way of learning was through trial and error, right? "Is. Is that Lilac?" She eventually asked, head tilted sideways somewhat.
Fear is a reasonable response to Life // Honor of The Sanctuary // Tags
-
Although she very much tried to hide it, Grave couldn't help but let out a small sigh of relief she didn't know had been building when the familiar face of Adeline entered. The Lupurca had been worried that everyone had already planned the meeting elsewhere and they hadn't told her. Or worse, they had let her know but she had completely forgotten. That would have ended her career right then on the spot. As Heavensdoor followed the grizzly bear in soon after, her worries of making some sort of administrative blunder were washed away, and she began to start gathering what confidence she could.
In hindsight, maybe she should have tried a little harder to find somewhere bigger. Even with the five of them in here now, Grave was beginning to see that things might get awkward space wise. Perhaps that could be an item for her to bring up in just a minute? Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. The room itself looked rather organised, her few personal possessions neatly collected in one corner, a tidy pile of blankets and pillows in the other. A small notebook and a well used pencil lay before her, and on it a few half scribbled notes of what she wanted to cover today were hastily jotted down.
"Okay. Well, thank you for coming." She started, her voice wavering for a moment but gathering strength as she continued. "I've never had to do one of these before, so lets just start now and anybody else who turns up can join in after they pick up on what we're discussing." Taking the notebook, Grave turned a few pages and pushed it into the middle of the group. A crudely drawn map of what she thought Cinnabar Lake looked like from above was displayed across a double page spread, the lake itself labelled just to get the point across. No doubt her terrible artistic skills would offend Heavensdoor. "I don't know how often we might have to hold meetings like this, but uh, maybe next time we could try and find a bigger room somewhere. For now, I was hoping we could start by discussing the issues with Cinnabar Lake, and then any potential solutions."
Grave could feel it now - starting had been the worst part, but now she had kicked things off the wolf felt like this was a lot less scary than she had anticipated. Straightening herself up slightly, she tried to look at least a little more official and imposing before carrying on. Presentation was important, after all. "The creature Fireghost encountered seems to be one of a kind. So far, we haven't received any additional reports or sightings of anything similar. That's not to say I don't believe there could be more, but it may have just been an isolated incident. Regardless, I think we should still maintain a high degree of caution just in case." She paused for a second to let her words sink in before continuing. "And then of course we have the vortex. Currently, it's unclear as to what sort of threat the portal represents. It's possible that it may have been responsible for the creature, or that it's a completely separate anomaly that just happened to appear at the same time. Regardless, I think it'd be worth investigating it further. As...crude as it sounds, I'd like to try throwing some small items at it to see what happens." Another quiet pause. "What do you think? Anything to add? Any ideas?"
Fear is a reasonable response to Life // Honor of The Sanctuary // Tags
-
Did she want to talk about it? Nobody had asked her that question before. Perhaps it was because she wasn't really close with anybody here? Sure, she had lots of acquaintances, but no close friends. Her life was kind of lonely like that, now that she thought about it. Friends were meant to hang out and do stuff. Sure, she met up with familiar faces here and there, but they never really did anything together. Those seven simple words made her thoughts short circuit for a minute, and instead of replying her mouth opened and closed a few times as if she were trying to find something to say, but couldn't.
"No. No I don't want to talk about it." Finally a sentence tumbled from her, but as it left her mouth that anger which had been temporarily doused began to spark deep within her chest again. Stupid ideas driven by emotion rather than logic began to make a whole lot of sense, and with a shake of her head to emphasise that point Grave stood once more and resumed pacing back and forth. "I don't need anything from Adeline. What I need is just, just something, anything to do that'll help me take my mind off of things, something that isn't totally pointless. Like this stupid fu-"
Grave stopped herself. She almost swore then. She had only let that word slip once, and she had been completely drunk at the time. A long, drawn out sigh escaped her as the pacing slowed, and after a minute of recollection the wolf spoke again. "I. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you like that." An awkward moment passed. "What I need. Is something to do. To burn out this, this frustration." Perhaps. Perhaps Erdrick wouldn't mind sparring with her? He certainly looked like the type who could fight well, his broad shouldered and stocky figure giving the appearance of a formidable fighter even without the sword.
Fear is a reasonable response to Life // Honor of The Sanctuary // Tags
-
With all of them here together she felt a lot more confident about heading out, especially with Adeline at her side. The Harbinger was a welcome addition to the party, not just because of her medical knowledge, but also because Grave had no doubt that if it came down to it she'd absolutely throw down against any strange half-dead lake creatures. Having a fully grown grizzly bear on your side opened a lot of doors. And any doors which remained closed could then easily be torn down by said grizzly bear. Turning her attention to Heavensdoor as he quietly made the decision to join them, Grave made sure to give the feline a sympathetic smile. "Perhaps it might be worth taking an accurate sketch of the vortex? In case it changes shape or size overtime." Yes, she knew it probably wouldn't be much consolation, but maybe at the very least it would allow him to quietly spend a while doing what he did best.
"Be careful, Felix." She says the words without really thinking about them - even after now with the winged serval only just leaving it's obvious to anybody looking that Grave is checking to make sure they're not about to be jumped at by any horrible lake monsters. Her mind has been so troubled recently with everything that has happened, the wolf found it difficult not to get overly anxious about these sorts of things, even if she was feeling a lot more confident with their increased numbers. In the unlikely event that things did get bad, she trusted the others would know what to do if anything dangerous happened. Right? Even if she wasn't very good at fighting. Being a giant wolf had to count for something.
Fear is a reasonable response to Life // Honor of The Sanctuary // Tags
-
Ah, this was interesting. An individual she did not recognise? Hazy amber eyes slowly turned to face the stranger. A blink, once, twice. Now that she thought about it his appearance was somewhat familiar. They had never met before, of that she was certain, but the Honor had heard of him about the Gaia here and there. Dipping her head in polite greeting towards Roman, the ashen wolf took a moment to look the fox up and down. Equal attention was given to all parts of him - she spent no longer taking in the shade of his fur as she did over his missing limb. The Sanctuary was meant to be a peaceful place, just filled with strange individuals. "Ah, I do not think we have met before." Came her reply a moment or two later, attempting to keep any unintentional growls from her damaged and torn voice. "My name is Grave. It is a pleasure."
Her attention was drawn back towards the white feline beside her as he spoke next, and after meeting his gaze offered him another small nod. "That's good to hear. With things being as they are at the moment, I've been having trouble keeping track of everyone." The official description of the Honor rank was someone that acted as a guardian to the clan. Making sure that everyone was okay and looked after was part of her new responsibilities. Although that yes, Grave understood that keeping track of literally everybody at once was impossible, the fact that she hadn't really kept up with how Losteyes had been doing weighed heavily upon her. "I...unfortunately, I can't spend too much time here, but I suppose five minutes or so won't hurt." She replied with a gentle smile a few moments later.
Fear is a reasonable response to Life // Honor of The Sanctuary // Tags
-
Did Grave have time for a weekly task? She had forgotten to complete her last one, and yet here she was. With everything happening at the moment, maybe having something else to do would help take her mind off things for a little while, and instead she could focus on something fun. Well, she hoped fun would be the word to describe it. Or interesting. She'd take either. "Um. Me too, please." The wolf eventually spoke as she took her place towards the back of the slowly forming group.
Fear is a reasonable response to Life // Honor of The Sanctuary // Tags
-
Working in an office was an... interesting experience. More so than Grave had initially considered it to be. It was strange, she had seen all of the stereo types of what it should be like, but now she was here acting as a supervisor in training Grave spent a lot of her time just sort of watching the chaos which seemed to unfold here on a regular basis. Today's big event: the printer had jammed. Thankfully Dee had managed to make her way over before Matt could, the words of 'want me to go take a look at it' being enough to make her rise out of her seat for a second. She knew he meant well, but as Hev said, they couldn't really afford to order in another printer.
It was bad timing as well - Grave had some reports to print off that needed to be filled in manually, scanned in then emailed back. A process that was entirely unnecessary. Seriously, was it that hard just to licence a copy of Adobe Acrobat Pro DC and make the form fillable? It really wasn't, but some people enjoyed doing things the old and painful way because they found technology scary or something. The very same people that didn't understand the difference between internet speed and how full the wifi bar is on their laptop, just because the wifi bar is full that doesn't mean your internet isn't still utter garbage. Maybe she was just getting stressed. Maybe she just needed more coffee. Standing up to her full, almost alarming height, she awkwardly shuffled around the myriad of scattered desks. They were out of milk again. But that was fine, because Grave liked her coffee like she liked her men; dark and strong.
"Hey, I think we're out of milk again." She cast her voice into the room to nobody in particular, head stuck in the fridge as she searched for any spare bottles. On second thought, did she really want to find any long forgotten bottles back here? Ever since their boss went through that cheese and shrimp phase, their fridge had never truly recovered. Rest in pieces, you poor abused thing. "I'll head down the shop at lunch and pick something up I guess." Soon her face reappeared, a donut half shoved in her mouth. Somebody had put it there but she didn't see a label or a name so that meant it was free game. "If anybody else wants anything you let me know before I go, don't text me when I'm half way back to the office please?"
Fear is a reasonable response to Life // Honor of The Sanctuary // Tags
-
Ah, now this was a little awkward. On one hand, yes, Grave absolutely wanted to learn how to fight more effectively in battle. On the other, compared to her clanmates she was still pretty big. Matching up with somebody her size was going to be difficult. Quietly approaching the group and taking her place a small distance away from Losteyes, her attention slowly drifted around the assembled Sancturians. Perhaps instead she could just observe what was going on and try to memorise some good tactics? Then again, if she did happen to meet anybody her size in combat, Grave was pretty certain in the heat of the moment she'd just charge at them with teeth bared. At one point during a previous sparring exercise, she had made use of kicking loose dirt up from the ground to block line of sight, and then had tried using a branch as a weapon. It had been somewhat effective. Maybe if she could learn how to utilise the environment to her advantage like that, things would go better for her? Something to consider for any future events, perhaps.
Fear is a reasonable response to Life // Honor of The Sanctuary // Tags
-
Grave did not know how to ballroom dance. Grave had never seen anybody ballroom dancing before. Grave wanted to know what ballroom dancing actually was. And so now here she stood, a little distance away from Erdrick and offering him that same small polite nod. Although she had been distracted as of late, worrying about 'what if this' and 'but maybe that', spending time with the others cloud watching had brought the Lupurca a sort of peaceful solace she didn't realise she had needed, and although Grave still had plenty to worry about, she was trying to look at how sunny the world was right now, rather than focusing on all the dark parts.
"I uh, I won't say anything stupid." Grave eventually replied after she realised she had been quiet for just a bit too long. "And only if you want to teach me. Us, I mean. Because I've never seen ballroom dancing before, so you know." Her voice trailed off. She was rambling. Why was she rambling? Although the wolf occasionally let words slip from her mouth before she was ready, talking nonsense was not something she did, and in that moment staring at the winged lion Grave suddenly found herself feeling rather awkward. Clouded amber eyes drifted away from him, and instead found that the ground below her was super interesting all of a sudden! Maybe she ought to just stare at the floor for a while and nobody else until they got started. That sounded like a great plan.
Fear is a reasonable response to Life // Honor of The Sanctuary // Tags
-
A familiar voice echoed into her room. Of course, the one individual to find her terrible drawings was Heavensdoor. A little part of her wondered whether he had come here to accuse her for crimes against art or something. Rolling over in a rather undignified manner that didn't at all suit her, Grave shuffled herself up into a half sitting position before giving him a little nod. "Yes, that's mine. Feel free to burn it or something." Came a rather dejected response, and immediately she regretted it. Just because she was having a bad time didn't mean she needed to be grumpy with him. "I apologise. I'm just having some trouble planning things out at the moment." She continued after a little sigh, shaking her head and making some space in case he wanted to take a seat.
"It reached the bottom of the stairs? I must have thrown it pretty far." The expression on his face was clear to her - the room was a mess, and for that she had no excuse. Turning her attention away from him for a moment, Grave began the slow task of collecting all of her junk into a pile. With this much stuff scattered about the place, it would not be a quick task to complete. "Unfortunately, I've been having some trouble trying to keep all the relevant information about our current situation together in one place. I made the foolish mistake of thinking that compiling it down into one nice neat notebook would be easy." Taking up one of the many scraps which littered the floor, a small frown took over her features for a moment as she tried to decide whether these few scrawled notes belonged on the 'To Keep' pile, or in the 'I'm going to destroy this later' collection. It was a tough choice.
It was at this moment when she seemed to remember that there was in fact a visitor in her room, and after blinking a few times, Grave cast the note behind her with a little 'tch' of disgust and looked towards Hev again. "I've also been trying to draw a decent map of Cinnabar Lake, as you may or may not be able to tell by the squiggles on that page over there." She pointed an idle paw at one piece of paper in particular that lay separately to the others, partly held down by the lit lamp in her room. The drawing was a complete mess, and the expression she carried was enough to let him know she was aware of this. "Who knew drawing circles would be so difficult."
Fear is a reasonable response to Life // Honor of The Sanctuary // Tags
-
That was a strange thing to say. "You're fine, Grave." That's what he said. Three words, fourteen letters. Grave opened her mouth to reply, and then shut it again. Three words, fourteen letters and she couldn't think of anything to say back? As Erdrick shuffled closer, the ashen wolf found herself leaning backwards slightly, her face slowly twisting into an expression she was unfamiliar with. Since her awakening all that time ago, nobody had really spoken with her like this before. A quiet voice, a soft tone. Not just a few words of encouragement thrown at her in the heat of the moment, but did he really mean it?
As the winged lion continued she blinked a few times and shook her head slightly. What an idiotic thing to think about. It was just, just these stupid emotions messing with her head. A shrug, a suggestion to spar. Yes, this was what she had been hoping for since the start. Whatever strange look she had started to give Erdrick quickly vanished, and after taking a few steps backwards to stand at her full height Grave offered him a defiant nod. "Good. I accept your offer to spar. No powers, no, n-no stupid fire or teleportation or anything, just you and me." She paced backwards, giving the winged lion enough room to stand and take position. Her stance was aggressive, unbalanced but focused. She had lost once before, but she was not going to lose now.
"Let me know when you are ready." A golden light swept over them as the clouds parted. The last, dying gasp of the sun before it truly disappeared. The eve of night approaching rapidly - this would be the final light of the day. Grave waited, claws digging into the sand with anxious anticipation. A gentle breeze rippled across the surface of the lake and brushed some loose fur across her vision for a moment, but she did not blink. He wouldn't back down now, he couldn't, she needed this. "Don't hold back."
Fear is a reasonable response to Life // Honor of The Sanctuary // Tags
-
So much talk of chickens and eggs, so much talk of things which seemed as if they held no purpose. Feelings, emotional responses. Those things and more, even now, still fell into that ever expanding category of concepts Grave did not quite fully understand. Her awakening beneath the earth had been sudden, without warning. The spark of life had been kindled within her chest, and with desperate, torn and bloodied claws she had dragged her way to the surface. Back then, she had not felt anything. The desire to reach the surface was simply so she could breathe. Fear, joy, relief, they had been beyond her. Slowly, with time and help from her clanmates, the cold husk of her body had found a soul again, and now she could shift her tone, laugh, smile, and recently, cry.
Really, it was all just a way of her trying to cope with the world again. Grave would never admit to this, but there was still so much which she did not understand. Even her clanmates seemed to do things she couldn't comprehend. Fireghost and their antics only annoyed her when she didn't understand why they acted that way. The stickers they had handed out were symbols of their appreciation. A reward for a task completed, and so she treasured them. Before it had been simple, but now with her new position Grave found thoughts and feelings that were previously inconceivable to her flooding through her head, and although it scared her, she'd still try her best anyway. Because at the end of everything, she never would have become who she was today if it weren't for her friends. They meant so much more to her than any of them could ever possibly realise, and she would do anything to protect them.
They were all deep in conversation, but that was fine. Grave had no intention of interrupting the group. Instead, the Lupurca found herself quietly moving up beside Heavensdoor. Today, she did not offer him a nod. Her gaze didn't even travel down to the feline - instead, she offered him a gesture that perhaps would seem a lot more meaningful: she gently brushed up against his side, and then lay down beside him. In that moment, Grave closed her eyes. Tomorrow, she would over worry everyone. Today, she'd just enjoy their company.
Fear is a reasonable response to Life // Honor of The Sanctuary // Tags
-
Ah, mathematics! Now this was something Grave somewhat understood. Reading was still a little difficult for her at times, but symbols and equations were no problem. She had learnt a little after struggling through the awkward process of going into the library, collecting a few books, and then leaving without knocking anything over. That place had definitely not been constructed with a creature of her size in mind. Still, knowledge was power, and she intended to become strong enough to take care of this threat as quickly as possible. Hence all the notes.
"I see, so like..." The wolf started, looking around for a moment to try and find some paper she had not yet ruined. Upon discovering that there were no blank sheets within range, she took a piece from the 'I'm going to destroy this later' collection and flipped the sheet onto the other side. With a somewhat uneasy grip, the plus sign came quickly and neatly, but the circle itself was still a little odd. Straight lines posed no challenge to her artistic skills it seemed. "...like this?"
At Hev's offer to assist her with finishing the map, Grave allowed herself to give him a small smile. The wolf inside her though let out a little howl of triumph - she had convinced him to join her worthy cause. Temporarily, at least. Having somebody far more skilled than her drawing maps of the territory, sketching important locations and points - it was everything she could of hoped for. Not that it showed on her face. Well, maybe it did a little. Maybe Grave was just happy to spend some time with somebody she considered a friend. "Perhaps if I could find a blank sheet and just start the map again, but with your assistance?"
Fear is a reasonable response to Life // Honor of The Sanctuary // Tags
-
Just one day. Grave had made a brief note of the winged serval's absence, but it had only been a day. That's all. Yet, it had taken less time for a certain snow leopard she once called a friend to be murdered. The sound of concerned voices, the trace of a scent she did not recognise. He had been gone for a day, and a day was too damn long. Her pace steadily increased as these thoughts started to roll around in the back of her mind, and soon Grave found that oh-so familiar frown on her face again. Something to cover up the expression of utter panic and self-loathing she would have been wearing, because she had messed up again.
The sound of heavy paws hitting the earth gave away her approach long before Grave reached the small group, and as she skidded to a halt those burnished gold eyes darted back and forth between Felix's injured form and Dog as he hurried past her, no doubt looking for their resident healer. Grave trusted that between Roman and Losteyes, the two would have asked for at least some information as to what had happened. Instead of joining them with her own questions, the iron-coloured canine remained silent, that worried gaze shifting away and peering hard into the undergrowth around them as if she expected this to be some sort of ambush or carefully laid trap.
Fear is a reasonable response to Life // Honor of The Sanctuary // Tags
-
Ah, excellent. The group had set off, Heavensdoor seemed happy enough to take another sketch of the vortex, and Adeline had made the smart move of asking Dog to watch out for her. Although she was not leading them, the wolf made sure to pick up her pace and fall in towards the front of their patrol. No matter how reassured she had been before, it seemed that her fears of something bad happening were well founded as the lake came into view. The air seemed to still, birds quietening as they approached. The sound of their collective paws hitting the dirt with gentle thuds permeating the silence, and then came that scent.
A horrible chill ran down her spine as an icy dread refused to let her body move for a moment. That, that thing. It matched the description of what Fireghost had given. She blinked. Once, twice. And suddenly, that feeling of cold terror was washed away with a rush of burning anger. Whatever this putrid, rotten thing was, it was responsible for hurting their leader and the cause of all their problems at the moment. Maybe this is what had killed Dethroned? Maybe it caused the portal to open in the first place? Maybe it was to do with everything, maybe nothing, but Grave didn't care.
Dashing forwards, her fangs found easy purchase around it's neck, her huge size dwarfing the smaller canine. With her jaws firmly locked, Grave shook it back and forth as she savaged the creature, a foul tasting blood filling her mouth as she tore through rotting flesh and sinew. Standing to her full height the Lupurca raised her head as high as she could before throwing it from her maw and slamming it to the ground with a horrible crunch. It wasn't entirely dead, but she hadn't been aiming to outright kill it, just severely cripple it. Taking a step backwards, a look of abject horror slowly overcame that fierce determination she had once held as Grave stared down. Even with all those injuries she had just caused, the dog tried to crawl towards her, two legs not moving and another twisted at a horrible angle. "Wh, w-what-" She stammered unable to process how it could still be acting like that and not writhing in pain.
Fear is a reasonable response to Life // Honor of The Sanctuary // Tags
-
As of late, sleep was something that had eluded Grave quite a few times now. Not to say she had any insomniac tendencies, but with everything that was going on at the moment it shouldn't be hard to understand why getting some rest would be difficult for her. Thoughts of those horrible things crawling up from the lake, moving silently through the night and entering the Gaia. Images of herself and her clanmates being attacked while they slept, one slowly entering her room, jaws open, dripping with tainted blood and rotting flesh, moving closer until it was mere inches away. As the wolf struggled around in her nightmare, a voice pierced the veil of her dark dreams. "Help."
Golden eyes snapped awake, and in a panicked rush Grave stumbled to her paws, looking around for some phantom creature ready to jump out at her. She knew it had been a dream, just some fabrication of her stressed mind, and yet that voice she had heard felt almost too real. Had it been an actual call for help? Were they being attacked after all and it had been a last desperate cry? Looking out of her room into the rest of the Gaia, the vague shape of Roman illuminated in the soft glow of the moon caught her attention. For a moment though, Grave was prepared to pass off these thoughts as rampant paranoia and try to get some more sleep, when suddenly traces of that horribly familiar scent washed over her senses yet again. Cinnabar Lake. Blood and decaying flesh.
Moving with a newly found purpose, her focus honed and sharp as fear fuelled adrenaline from the nightmare coursed through her system, Grave rushed down the spiralling stairs and in her haste to get outside almost tripped over the prone form of Percy. Yet, as she stared down with eyes wide looking at the slowly expanding pool of blood which now stained the earth with a deep red, the faint shine of the moon high above making it glisten in a silvery blue light, the Lupurca found herself carefully stepping around his body and facing away towards the lake. Her burning gaze scanned the shadowy undergrowth as she stood tall, a look of fierce determination clearly written on her features. She could not tend to injuries this severe. She knew Roman had gone to get help. And she would not let anything else hurt him.
Fear is a reasonable response to Life // Honor of The Sanctuary // Tags
-
Right, this time for certain. Grave was going to complete her weekly task, and it was going to be great. She could check it off of her list and say that it was a thing she had accomplished. Maybe Fireghost would give her another sticker? The main issue the Lupurca faced now though, was that she didn't really have a hobby. Of any sort. Unless suffering from stress and paranoia fuelled episodes over territory maps, the recent attack by the lake and the giant glowing portal which she thought hummed ominously sometimes, counted as a hobby. Obviously, those things did not. Thankfully, she had been provided with an alternative - try something new. So that was what Grave planned on doing now. Besides, she had been trying to find more time to just relax and take a moment to appreciate the nicer things in life anyway, so now seemed like a good time to try.
During a visit to the library, the Honor had read about an activity which certainly looked cool, but whether she could replicate what she had seen in the pictures was something else entirely. The wolf had decided that wood carving would be the topic of choice, but already she was presented with two issues; acquiring a decent knife and finding some suitable wood to carve. Finding a good blade was harder than it looked. Apparently she needed something called a whittling knife, but Grave wasn't really sure what that was. A small part of her was tempted to see if Erdrick would let her borrow his sword, but as fun as that'd be she knew it would be massively overkill.
In comparison, getting the wood was surprisingly easy. Turns out living right next to a forest, regardless of how haunted it was, had its perks. And so now here she was, sitting in the middle of a field. To her side lay the knife and the block of wood, to her other the open book borrowed from their library about the basics of wood carving. Apparently she might need an axe as well or something? Not being able to read very well didn't help.
The wooden block had clearly been attacked a few times with the knife - though whatever Grave was attempting to carve was a mystery only known to her. The shape she had cut out so far looked kind of like what could have been a tree, but had morphed into some strange multi-armed creature in the process. That was also on fire. The ashen wolf herself had a very serious look of concentration on her face though, eyes narrowed and focused as she tried to decipher the mystery's of the "How to basic" guide. A very few obvious cuts could be seen on her paws where she had slipped and caught herself with the blade, but she didn't have time to take care of them. Grave was trying to be productive.
Fear is a reasonable response to Life // Honor of The Sanctuary // Tags
-
Grave was similar to Fireghost in that she didn't often find herself this far away from the base of the Great Tree. It was rare that she moved further than Cinnabar Lake these days, but it seemed that today during a little solo hunting patrol she had managed to stumble upon her clanmates greeting this newcomer. Although Grave could be remarkably quiet when she tried, it was pretty difficult to hide a form of her size. Still, the last thing she wanted to do was silently emerge from the undergrowth and scare the stammering feline. Instead, she doubled backed on herself and made sure her approach was in the open and easy to see. "Ah, greetings stranger." Grave started, as was customary with these things, and offered him a polite nod in greeting. "Of course, I'm sure you can stay here for a little while, if that's all you want." She replied, throwing a quick glance toward Fireghost. "My name is Grave. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Fear is a reasonable response to Life // Honor of The Sanctuary // Tags
