til we're stripped down to our skeletons again A ghost drifted into view, melancholy in appearance against a background of cloudy skies. Coal cloaked paws skimmed over the wilted corpses of wildflowers. Moonstone eyes scanned over the sea below, flinging itself at the cliffside in outrage at some perceived slight. This was not a day for swimming, nor a locale. Storm season was upon the East, something she remembered vaguely from her childhood. Lately, she'd been spending time in the Northern regions, where her inherited traits were of best use. For some reason, she returned here. Perhaps she was subconsciously seeking out her brother, or she just wanted a little taste of her childhood. A train of thought best left alone, regardless. Haunches would lower to the earth, a soft sigh escaping parted lips. She'd been drifting across the continent for some time, never really staying anywhere. What was there to do, now? Perhaps she could join a pack, but they didn't seem to have the best track record lately. She'd come across numerous sites, abandoned by large groups with no viable reason. It seemed best to remain in solitude for now. Dark clouds loomed on the far horizon, threatening rain later in the day. A biting chill travelled on the breeze, trying to dig it's claws into her skin. "there's a jet black crow going on and on and on" til we're saints just swimming in our sins again

Mortar still hadn't managed to find any trace of any old Donostrean members. Even with asking help from anyone else he'd found no trace of them and the boy finally came to the conclusion that everyone was gone. Voltage, Glacier, Anais, Ray... he'd never see them again it seemed. Rather than sulk over it and starve himself and worry about them he'd finally, albeit miserably, accepted defeat in the matter. He was a yearling now and twice he'd lost everyone he cared about. First his real family and now his adopted family. He wanted to stay positive on the matter and try and move on but it hurt. He missed them, but he also knew there wasn't anything he could do anymore. All scents had gone stale and even returning to the plains wasn't a help. All scents of Donostrea was gone and all it smelled like now was loner lands. Foreign scents that meant absolutely nothing to him. Now he wasn't sure what to do with himself. He'd intended on training with Voltage to learn to fight and with Terrae to learn healing but that wasn't happening anymore. He barely knew how to feed himself, much less protect himself if he needed to, and more than anything he felt completely and utterly lost. Instead of trying to figure out where he was supposed to go or what he needed to do next he tried to distract himself. Of course where he'd ended up didn't improve his mood any. He came across a sea of dying wild flowers and he trampled over them with his large frame with little to no interest. The cold was already killing them off so what did it matter if he crushed a few more. A sigh left him as he traveled with his head down with eyes focused on the ground. He didn't realize he was coming to the edge of a cliff up until the point his paws almost went over it. Surprised he came out of his daze and looked around. It was at that point he realized he had company. He eyed the white and charcoal marked wolf with slight curiosity; but, as much as he tried to make his mouth move to say something he couldn't bring himself to say anything. So he just stood there looking very much like an idiot gaping at the other wolf. Walk, "Talk" Think

the brightest things fade the fastest The ambiance of the roaring waves below and the whistling breeze was disturbed. Someone was approaching, and they weren't being subtle about it. A wolf appeared, unknown to her, and oblivious. A male. Young, by the look of him. He stomped about without a care in the world, clearing a path through the field like a tank. To which, there was no surprise. The boy was bigger than even the ghost herself, by a little bit at the very least. Built much broader than she, and he held himself without poise. So a loner, young, and lacking in training and self discipline, she deduced. He nearly tumbled straight over the cliff, to focused on the stomping of his own feet to notice the sudden drop off. A soft snort shuddered from her nostrils, be it of mirth, or disdain, it was hard to tell. He turned around, gaping at his surroundings like they offended him with their threat of death, as though it were unheard of for such a thing to occur to him. He finally laid eyes on her, and it seemed like he was trying to say something, but his brain wasn't connected to his mouth. "Something amiss, dear?" The phantom enquired softly, accented lyrics tumbling from inky lips with a simple quirk of the brow. Something was clearly the matter, or he should have noticed a cliff directly under his nose. "you know I found the dust to be resilient" we can never come back to earth