Cold on the inside, cold on the inside, Poser is a bat out of hell.  All of him is lost and all of him is cold.  There is literally nothing anyone can do for him, not tonight.  Not right now. The old demons are raging inside him.  They are pulling on him, trying to bring him back.  Trying to take him home.  Home was a lonely place when it hadn't existed in many years.  When it hadn't in such a long time it destroyed him.  Fuck, he was destroying himself.  Poser would do nothing more than destroy himself over and over and oer again until someone reached out and stopped him from it.  That was the worst part.  This was the worst part.   He was out of meds.  The shadow tore through the snowy night, a dark smudge on a stark background of white.  The air in his lungs is faded and fleeting, stings every time he takes it in.  Raw, dry air, stinging with cold.  Everything is cold.  He's so cold.  He's so fucking cold.  Everything in him has been shaken to the skin.  Terrible.  Poser feels terrible.  It's a psychological code that's set so deeply inside him, it may as well be real. Wraith's Woods, and maybe he'd be the wraith. He'd explore after all. A shadow.  That's what he is.  A shadow, immense and dark.  The shadow of a man.  The shadow of the man he used to be.  Poser is strong and there's nothing to change that.  Not yet.  No, tonight he is ripping through the darkness.  He will still hurt, but that's fine.   your charged touch poser breathy way of saying my name

Cream colored mitts trod on after she'd swum from the mainland of Boreas to this area. A place her paw's had never before set a single print upon. But her curiosity always got the best of her even if she weren't actively searching and scouring the land. But as she came upon a forest she felt a chill run through her. For it looked ominous, each and every gnarled bent tree brought to mind the horror stories of her youth. Tales that probably weren't true, but then they could be.

With a huff she took a step betwixt a pair of overhanging branches at the start of a little path. Not wanting to get lost should she be unable to espy the stars during the day or not see them at all through the top of the trees she moved to first one of them and lifted herself up onto her hind-legs. She stretched her forepaws up and then dragged them down the bark of the tree - to leave her own scent that eked out of the pads of her paws.

Perhaps, she thought, she might yet find some herb here if anything were still growing in a place still filled with warmth. If nothing were to dry nor too drowned, wilted, withered, or otherwise. Not that she herself was sick, but she decided a supply of something helpful was a good idea to stock up on just in case.

Once she'd marked a few more trees she wandered further and further into the maze like labyrinth of trees and lowered her dark snout to shift through the grass. Searching for something, anything, but had a feeling she'd have to wait until the warmer season had arrived and was in full swing.

There's a girl out here. Poser doesn't know where, only that she exists. Only that she is out here. He's still pacing the length of the woods, searching, exploring. A marked tree here, and one there as well. Poser tracks his way through, looking at them all. He slows from his breakneck pace, instead a lope. Three beats, body long against the fading light. Yes, there is warmth here, but he feels none of it. Literally none of it. Poser is suspended animation as he makes his way through the wood, head shaking as he moves. Everything about him is beautiful, glorious. Lean to the point of cocaine chic. Lithe, gorgeous. Everything about him is... well, who knows. Razor thin and more graceful than he can really put to use. It's hard to put your grace to use when there's so many things echoing in his head. "Who's there?" He finally calls out, head canting to the side as he moves. Graceful, careful, making his way over the ground as he searches. Wandering. Looking through the trees, following where they're marked. Russian accent, not even short of breath for as much as he's been running. It's so easy for Poser. No effort necessary, after all. Never any effort necessary. He doesn't slow, continuing to look for the source of the scent. your charged touch poser breathy way of saying my name

Along the grass, most of it brittle from heat she found the root of one of the great trees with just a bit of moss growing along it and two great mushrooms in the shadiest of spots, still damp enough to sustain just a tiny bit of growth. But they weren't fully developed she thought and wasn't yet sure if they were the edible sort or the potentially dangerous ones that could kill a creature if consumed, or somewhere in between. The mushrooms hadn't been what she sought though she kept the memory of where to find mushrooms and test them out another time, if need be. With her snout to the ground she hadn't picked up the scent of the other wolf, no, not a wolf, but something akin to one within the forest for she scented the soil, the grass, the moss and the roots.

Only when she heard a voice calling out and asking a question did her dark head rise from where it was scanning the ground. Turning herself about she gazed in the direction the voice had reached from. She wondered if she should answer at all, for she knew not who spoke, whether they might be friend or foe, but as yet they were neither, only a stranger.

Then it dawned on her to speak and act. To see how others might respond to her need of a game, silly though it might be. "A goddess of the night. Cloaked in the pelt of the dark skies when narry a star can be seen. I now walk the lands as a wolf this life and soon my memories of my true self will flee. Luna Fyrewind is by rights my name this time. And you?" She gazed into the dark of the forest through her bi-colored eyes. One pink and the other moon yellow.

She knew not what the would make of that, but she didn't know them so felt it best not to make herself too vulnerable.

There's something about this creature, something that brings Poser's furious run to a halt. It's graceful, he kicks up no dust as he does. Leave no trace, see no evil. He's largely and longly been this way. It will not change. He will not stop, will not falter. The young god fixes the black creature with a look, a pink and a yellow eye fixed on his own. She was a goddess, and he sets his jaw. "Do you walk with the young gods or the old?" He'd forsaken the old gods, promised to destroy them. It was his hope that he wouldn't have to force this girl into an early... end. End to her reign, as the young gods would take over soon enough. She was a bit gaudy, but that was fine. Poser is too. The shadow takes a graceful step forward, head low, brilliant sapphire gaze fixed on the young woman. Right. He would just look. "Young god of mischief, king of trickery, illusion, smoke and mirrors. Lesser, of the union of men, of unrequited love. Poser, by the common tongue." Yes, he's made his alliance clear. The young gods would overtake the old, would take control. They were everything. They would become everything. If she stood with him, he would make her everything too. your charged touch poser breathy way of saying my name

She gazed at him without so much as a blink despite all the thoughts running rampant through her head. "I have ever walked alone, but still I do no walk with the old and therefore am closer to the young."

Her ears flickered forward when he spoke again. Interesting. She had not expected to hear such a proclamation. She wondered if it were real or simply a delusion, or even a trick. One surely could not know the truth. And surely even when gods took mortal form they could bleed and die and their souls; she wondered where they'd go.

"Poser, your dominion is a wondrous thing. And for you perhaps the best of all. For me it is the moon and the night, the shadows of the dark and the dreams and nightmares who sleep beneath the twilight. The future-sight however has long been lost to me." A soft sigh escaped her ebon lips as she glanced down at the ground before lifting her gaze back to his.

"What plan have you to use your dominion, Lord Trickster?"

Poser is all smoke and mirrors. That's who he is, that's the way he plays himself off. His head is high and his gaze is wild, and such a thing does him well. It always has, it always will. He's gentle, but he plays. The shadow always plays. He is strong in the way he stands, in the way he carries himself over his knees. Supple. Strong. Cut from pure shadows themselves, with an elegantly chiseled head and glimmering sapphire eyes. Intelligent, to a fault even. Stark and strong and responsive. "I'm a nightmare and a daydream, thankfully. I do what I wish and go where I will, and it's become really a good look for me." He grins, wide and wolfish. The arch to his back is elegant and well sprung. Oh how lovely he stands in the darkness. Oh how gorgeous he can be in his own right. There is no doubting that the trickster king is a god among men. Strange and beautiful, beautiful and strange. Always. His tail wags softly. Poser can pitch his club, here and now, to a woman who could help him. "I've begun forming a club. The young god's club, and we will rule as hedonists and lovers and I'll surround myself by a court of my peers and mortals looking to become my peers." He winks. Poser outright winks at the woman, eyes alight. Bold as ever, he can't help himself. "Oh how beautiful it will be." Breathless as ever, all is well. your charged touch poser breathy way of saying my name

She gazed at the male, amused. He was a bit of eye-candy, but then she had her own particular tastes. Preferred too the personality to the exterior. To get to know others before making an informed decision if it were to ever go so much further than friendship. Somehow though she didn't think this male to be all that interested in the ladies. Not when he'd spoken of his sponsorship of the union between males.

"Then we two are like the moon and the stars. Both above in the skies, visible and yet separate." She thought she might be able to co-exist with him. That it would be interesting to watch as he made his way in the world.

Behind her, her tail sweeps in an arc back and forth like a pendulum upon reviving the wink. Yet the motion is smooth and slow rather than fast and furious. "I do not wish to walk alone any longer. May our paw prints join in the ground if we are to walk together as peers. I would like to see how well you fare and if it is within mine own power, help you achieve the goals you have set for yourself. But do note I tend to wander around for my limbs seem as yet ever restless."

A shadow. A mere slip of a man, and here he is scrutinizing the girl. He's gorgeous, of course, and all he really needs is someone to tell him that. Who doesn't like hearing that they're handsome, that they're perfect, that they're literal perfection personified. Poser, of course, is all of those things. He'll tell you all about it. Personality and a pretty face, Poser could do it all. That was, of course, why he was too good for anyone. At least that was what he kept telling himself. That was why he was always alone. That was the kicker, the loneliness. "Come along then, we can rise like a new day and find those like us. We can breathe life into the new pantheon. We can take over." There's something wild in his eyes. He's always wild, of course, and things are no different where he stands beside this Luna creature. They were not so different, yet they were worlds apart. Poser was worlds away from anything this girl had ever known, and he was the same. So it goes, so it went, so it would be. "I don't plan on having many rules. I would like to sit at the head of a round table, so to speak. Most everyone will be equal, but they will all be under my care. I want to help those that join us locate their true potential, find what they govern. Discover themselves." Ah, yes, he's wild here beneath the light of the moon. The borzoi is all smoke and mirrors. He feels amazing. your charged touch poser breathy way of saying my name

In silence she waited for his words. It appeared he had accepted her and had quite mighty plans. Now she'd get to watch as his pantheon was built and wondered how long then it might last. How long she could be a part of something so interesting before it fell down around her ears. Perhaps it would remain for the remainder of her years of which she had so many yet to live through. And perhaps even beyond that. Only time would tell and she would be there for it all.

She dipped her head to this male whose ideals intrigued her. Wondering what others might think of those who claimed themselves gods and goddesses.

Lifting one paw and the next she went to follow where he might lead. "I assume you've a place picked out already then to claim? As for your rules they seem sound for all that there is so few."

Things are strange inside Poser's head, but they are different. They have always been different, and he will always be different. It was lovely, he's fantastic where he's standing. Pure electricity. It rests in his bones, it's a big combination of feelings and... existing. He feels. Poser always feels. He has made himself exist in a way that he has created. A self made man, if you will. Poser has always been that way. Some things never change, after all. His tail stops wagging for a moment as his face falls, upset at the very thought. "I did, someone with more numbers than just myself moved in. Eventually I'll take it back but there's strength in numbers," a bitter smirk plays on his face, head tilting softly. That's the look-- a part of the shadow wants her to come with him. Poser will let her ask, he'll let her lead. But things are okay. your charged touch poser breathy way of saying my name

One ear flickered at the words he spoke. Others had taken territory he wished to claim as his own. "Then your own numbers must swell and swiftly." She nodded. "Until then, perhaps there is an unclaimed terrain to congregate all those whom you have swayed to your plans." As long as he had others that he could find. As long as there were those interested in following him and his ideology. She would not wander too far from him, leastwise not for long. And she wondered if it were possible to help him in his endeavors. Too bad she knew of no others who might benefit from his plans.

"Until then, why don't we continue on our way. Perhaps we'll run into others who'll join under you, or even something we could consume to keep energies up." She wasn't a leader of course, but she thought she could at least help in some way. Especially now that she thought of herself as a true goddess as he believed he was a god and had taken her word for it.

She did not wish to linger where there were no others to temp to his cause. So it was time to leave for another area.

[Exit]