Taliesin Maelstrom Vortexus

He couldn’t say that this was the prettiest place he’d ever found… The muck that coated his legs, belly, chest, and even his tail, was pretty convincing of that. He’s traveled a good many places in his last year, never staying in one area for long, unless he’d found something new to learn; like the ever growing list of languages he’d avidly soaked up from various lands and communities. Thanks to his intuitive grasp for learning, and watching body language, he picked things up quickly, and his charismatic personality made it exceptionally easy for him to integrate into most any community or tribe he ran across. This, however… This wasn’t so pleasant. It was cold, even if it wasn’t snowing, and it was mucky. He wasn’t looking forward to licking this stuff from his coat. As far as he could divine, he was on the southern edge of a large continent; he’d come across a land bridge from a large continent to the south. That land bridge had to have been one of his favorite sights, with its sparkling sands shimmering all kinds of rainbowesque colors. It had been a relatively long walk from Auster to this land. From there, he’s decided to walk the coast, heading eastward, and then he’d detoured north into this swamp… He’d had some experience with swamps, and so he kept his eyes peeled for any signs of large predators, like the huge reptiles; crocodiles, or alligators. Not the friendliest of chaps, those. And despite being forty inches at the shoulder, Maelstrom was still a nice sized snack for one of those scaly, armored beasts. He slogged through the muck and water, and finally came across a patch of solid land, a tiny hillock. Clambering onto it, he gave his lean frame a solid shake, sending mud and muck flinging in all directions from his fluffy coat. It was a good chance to take stock of his surroundings, get his bearings, and plan out his next course of action. Amethyst eyes swept around the murky swampland, as he tried to map out his next path. He knew he wanted to go north, maybe northwest. He thought he could hear the distant hush of a river straight north from here; a sign he was nearly out of the swamp? Thus far, in his arrival to this continent, he hadn’t encountered more than a few stray loners, one or two had given him startled looks and hurried away as fast as they could. Kind of a shame, since he did enjoy meeting new wolves and making friends. Of course, with his looks… He was based in the deepest of blacks, which wasn’t that unusual in itself. However, it was his markings that made some stop and stare. His face carried ornate swirls of cyan blue, on his muzzle, flowing from his eyes toward his temples, and on his brow points. As it that weren’t enough to make him unique, a thick swirl of the color encompassed the whole of his left foreleg, starting from the paw and stopping at the elbow. The lower half of his tail was dipped in the color, as well. That would have been enough to make any wolf stop and stare, only the heart of each marking was cored with an ice white center, and with how the cyan tended to fade out at the edges, it gave a rather convincing optical illusion that his markings were glowing. He rather liked his markings. His family all had variations of them, in their own respective colors and hues, but each unique. And he cared about his family. How were they, he wondered? How were his newest siblings, that he was sure would have come this autumn. His parents had no intentions of skipping years, wanting to be surrounded with children. Pups were a soft spot for the midnight male. The sweet innocence and boundless energy was endearing. He didn’t even mind their needle point puppy teeth pricking his ears when he had the chance to sprawl out into a horde of them. It was a definite in his future that he wanted his own someday. But maybe that was looking too far ahead. Better to focus on the more nearby future. Like where was he going to stop for the night, and what was he going to track down to eat. The sun was already sinking lower and lower toward the western horizon, and the already dingy surroundings were taking on that shadowy feel. He didn't like the idea of bedding down in a place where the wildlife was big enough to eat someone his size, so he angled himself northward and a bit toward the falling sun and slogged back out into the mud and murky water. He'd be lucky to get out before full dark. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

The girl could be found picking her way south from the Rio Grande. She'd made a short trip towards the river a day or so ago to see the river and test how cold it was a bit more north from Celestial. It got her out of her packs lands for a little bit, as she couldn't resist the urge to travel, and she'd been hoping to catch any glimpses of a loner or two to perhaps meet. Alas she'd seen no one on her travels and it seemed she was going home empty handed. On her way there she'd taken a longer route to avoid the swamp, but today Faite wanted to hurry home so she was hoping to make it through the swamp before nightfall. She was fearless as she tread through the murky waters. She was naturally suspicious of any log looking thing as she was aware dangerous predators frequented the area. Last thing she needed was to get cocky and not pay attention to her surroundings and then get eaten by an alligator. Then of course there was the quick sand she needed to be mindful of. She of course was wary of those things, but it was the getting dirty she didn't fear. She had no problem rolling in mud and getting absolutely disgusting in her travels. Already she was quite gross as muck stuck to all her legs, her stomach, and even flecked up her sides. She'd be needing the bath of the century by the time she got home. Bi-colored gaze would shift towards the sun as she noticed that the sun was slowly dipping below the trees. So much for making it through the swamp before it got dark. Oh well. She continued at her pace as she picked her way through the murky waters. She wasn't keeping an eye out for other wolves, just predators, so she was mildly surprised when she spotted the hint of blue against the darker background. At first she thought she was seeing things but as her eyes focused and adjusted she realized it was a wolf with those colors. Curiosity drew her closer and as she approached she realized that he was the darkest of blacks and the blue coated his pelt in such a way that it appeared almost glowing. She blinked slowly in surprise as she studied his large form, a mere few inches shorter than her brother, with complete surprise. Not only had she found someone else out here with her, but he was so much different than a good population of Boreas. Not wanting to be rude and make it seem like she was staring she quickly got a hold of herself and smiled brightly at him. "Hi! What brings you out here this time of the day?" She asked curiously, inviting him in to a conversation. It hardly ever occurred to her that there wolves who weren't friendly. She held such a happy and relaxed demeanor most of the time that she just sort of expected everyone else to be the same. Besides how could such a large and glowy-looking wolf be bad? Besides she was surprised she wasn't alone in this place. She certainly hadn't expected to have company in a swamp of all places. Walk, "Talk" Think

Taliesin Maelstrom Vortexus

Maelstrom’s eyes shifted away from the murky surroundings as he caught the sounds of another wolf squelching through the mud. His head turned and he laid eyes on a female. She was made of earthen russets, and marked with silver to white… or that’s what he was guessing… Right now, like him, she was caked in mud, so she could have had more markings under that slop. She hadn’t noticed him yet, which gave him the chance to observe her more. Her eyes were mismatched, blue and gold. And then those eyes looked up, clearly caught by something in his direction. Oh, right. His blue markings. She looked rather… startled – something he was used to – so he threw on his usual genuine easy smile, wagging his tail slowly trying to assure her that he was friendly. Either it worked, or she sensed no threat from him… or she was just a friendly wolf in general, because she stopped staring and smiled, chirping out a greeting, and enquiring as to his reason for being out here when evening was falling. A nice voice, and a pretty girl, and he smiled more, chuckling, before he answered smoothly, educated accent and deep voice as easy as his smile, and as friendly as her own voice had been, if less chirpy. “Trying to get out of this swamp before night fall. I’ve just arrived recently on this continent from the southern land, Auster. What about you? I’m Taliesin, but most call me Maelstrom.” Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think