Eyes opened like a dusty trapdoor. The scene of the swarm engulfed the male's senses as consciousness lit up one piece at a time. He was alive. What a cruel twist of fate that was! Who was he to blame, he wondered, as he regained a good part of what he was before the 'incident'. Shadows seemed hungry here, beckoning and yet it did not phase him. His choked body moved gracefully and careful in his navigation of the swamp. To the naive eyes, the swamp would be draped in monotony, but the three year old knew far better. It was an isolated place, and as he knew, those areas of isolation often harboured some of the most intriguing stories and ghouls. His eyes flickered from crevice to crevice, from vine to vine and from tree to tree. The temperature was not lacking; the heat created a blanket of comfort. Laurier's memory, although intact, was frayed as if aged a thousand years.



Bugs scattered as he stepped upon a fallen tree. His legs were laced with mud and other features of the swamp, and he steadied himself upon the tree. Finally, he laid down, resting his legs even if a bit perilously. With a glance upwards, he saw the cloudy grey sky. Heat had been reflecting off the clouds, trapped. He himself was no longer trapped, no, but he did not linger on that thought for long as it had proved dangerous in the past. He placed his head onto his long legs, listening carefully to the surroundings and closing his eyes once again. It was peaceful alongside the buzz of insects and the slight shifting of entangled flora, and so he indulged in it for now.

OOC: short but crappy first post. all welcome, the aw thing didn't work for some reason. o.o

jupiter illidais "jupiter speech" ? "mercury speech" her venture into the swamp had not lasted long before she had come upon the behemoth cloaked in a swath of earth and pitch, though it was difficult to discern if most of the coloring was his pelt or the muck that spider-webbed its way across his form. his bodice was splayed in a relaxed position upon his relatively dry perch, and for a moment she herself was almost a little envious of his dry realm. the lass glanced down at her own muddied paws and forelegs, and though the rest of her brilliant, fiery colors remained unscathed, a dry place to settled upon her haunches and socialize for a bit. it was then that she smirked, silently stifling a chuckle and then looking a little ways behind her. already he could hear his under-the-breath grumblings and vehement complaints as the vicious ball of obsidian-hued fluff waddled his way after her. the tasmanian devil finally glanced up as he found himself at his friend's side, having apparently not realized that she had stopped, and also discovered the resting presence several yards off. he suddenly began to charge forward, fur standing on end as he began to hop awkwardly forward through the mud, starting to cross the ten-or-so yard distance at a pace surprising for a little fur ball. a look of determination was set deeply into his disdainfully-contorted features, and just from that expression jupiter knew this was going to end in disaster. before she could stop him he started a series of his terrible, ear-grating hisses and spits. "hey, you little bitch, that's about to be my fucking log, y'hear?" he snarled as he advanced. jupiter quickly lunged forward after her, but by the time she reached him he was already trying to haul his disproportional body upon on the log with next to no success. she snickered at his failure and then looked apologetically up at the male, amusement still heavy in her features. "i'm sorry about that," she laughed, regarding her companion with an almost pitying look before returning her violet eyes to her newfound quarry. "he gets a little... ahead of himself sometimes. feel free to give him a good whack. might knock some sense into him. even while jupiter was talking right next to the volatile animal, he thoroughly ignored her as he clawed at the log, still screaming insults and challenges at the terra-pelted brute. he began to cross jupiter's path to get to the side of the fallen tree that was sunken into the muck, but she stopped him with a halting paw and foreleg before he could even hope to reach the target area, not even looking down to do so. he struggled against her, darting back and forth to try and get around her but being blocked every time, before finally giving up and plopping down into the mud. "mind making some room for a fellow wolf looking for a dry spot?" she inquired in a friendly manner, a smile turning the corners of her lips upward. the celestial wolf chuckled as she continued to say, "don't worry, he won't bite too hard." keeping her path of sight trained upon the stranger, she also took this time to introduce herself. "jupiter illiadis, at your service." ? 544 words ? [ o o c ; ] haha, hope you don't mind if I jump in! <3

The practise of carefulness could mean life and death in any terrain, however, there was always a certain allure to that of swamps. If one were to linger too far within the face of naivety, or if it was merely lady luck playing her games again, one could find themselves consumed. He found the imagery of vines curling around bodies over time interesting, unrealistic thought but a thought no less as he toyed with the idea of staying on the likes of this decaying tree before he too was made one with the surroundings. It was a much more refreshing path of thought than his...circumstances which remained blurry whenever he would attempt to focus on the details. No, they were there ? however, the details remained hovering in the peripherals of his mind. He would unlock them, time was unforgiving but he was persistent. It had gotten him this far, had it not: persistence? No, it wasn't purely persistence...he would be damned if it was.



There seemed to be another lingering, noise and scent carrying to him on lazily drifting Eyes opened, he wondered if he had achieved rest for long, he peered at the female who had stopped by him. Then, came an eruption of various noises from what seemed to be the wolf's companion. An interesting welcoming committee. "hey, you little bitch, that's about to be my fucking log, y'hear?" Laurier hardly moved an centimetre as the creature attempted to climb upon the log, as he wasn't very confidant the tasmanian devil would be successful in its endeavor, however, Hargreaves felt no ownership of the tree, losing it was not much of a threat to him. "i'm sorry about that," vision focusing onto the other wolf - brightly coloured along with a way of holding herself, seemingly amused by the entire situation - "he gets a little... ahead of himself sometimes. feel free to give him a good whack. might knock some sense into him." Ah, he had no such quarrel with the creature - it was a quite desirable location indeed amongst the "muck". More and more threats, insults and challenges rang out - which to some would become merely muffled and smudged noise but he listened carefully for a few moments.



"mind making some room for a fellow wolf looking for a dry spot? don't worry, he won't bite too hard." Shifting upwards, the terrestrial noble from afar decided to indeed share places, as it wasn't his to begin with. The tree creaked, however was far from ancient - the swamp too over matter rather quickly, as moss crept upwards. Being light and serpentine, and bred in such a way, his weight was far from straining for his perch. "jupiter illiadis, at your service." Jupiter, intriguing name. He bowed his head slightly, something that was commonplace with him. "Of course, you're welcome to join me, miss Illiadis. I'm Alexander Fort?, or you may call me Hargreaves," foreign and aristocratic vocals hummed, "what brings you here?" Beyond the swirling scent, noise, and general activity of the swamp, he had picked up on the scents she had carried with her here. She was certainly in a pack, and the quality of the coat symbolized a high possibility of holding a rather high rank in it. This did not taint his view or behaviour at all, if it did, it was minimal. Upon further observation, scars, rather subtle and aged, could be seen alongside a damaged ear. It was not unusual, typically, but indeed something to note. On the other hand, Laurier did not bear many scars himself - no, he was not much to get himself into a battle. His eyes fell upon her companion, "you too."

jupiter illidais "jupiter speech" ? "mercury speech" the level of nonchalance that the earthen male showed toward her feisty companion was quite appealing to jupiter, and reminded her very much of her own attitude toward his shenanigans. it was humorous to see a trait it had taken her far too long to develop appear almost instantly in this mysterious male. throughout mercury's irritating vulgarities, he maintained a calm visage and an affable attitude, and it piqued the girl's interest considerably. is he in a pack? came a curious whisper in the back of her mind, momentarily creeping forth to plant the seeds of possibility in her conscience, though they were quickly something she dug up and tossed away. the alpha needed more than just members in her pack; in all reality, she needed some sort of companionship--male, female, anything--for a friend. gerhardt was wonderful and mercury, when not with others, was a joy, but it didn't seem like quite enough to her at times. as he shuffled up the sloping planes of the fallen behemoth she took note of his slim posture, ear flicking to acknowledge his words and the politeness that they held. had she herself lacked manners, she would ask him if he were sickly, but his voice and pelt seemed to hold considerable health. in her observations she nearly forgot to reply, but words nearly habitually slipped from her ebony lips as she answered a question she was accustomed to hearing. "a brief relief from routine," she responded as she took her place where he had been, glancing at mercury as he still struggled to try and reach it despite the fact that there was an easier way up. even as this 'hargreaves' individual welcomed him up, his stubbornness refused to budge. "i don't need your charity, y'cunt!" jupiter flinched--he was particularly volatile today. "i'll get up here and push you and your calm self off that goddamn log!" the sol took to ignoring him, idly hoping that her new acquaintance would take to doing the same. "it's a pleasure, hargreaves." what an odd deviation from the first name he had given her--she idly wondered what meaning lay behind it. the thought of being fed a false identity crossed her thoughts, but shrugged it off, for the prospect didn't bother her at the slightest. she'd been guilty of such before, and had no room to judge or say anything about it. "and yourself?" came her affable inquiry. she brought her celestial eyes to seek his, ears forward and expression attentive to project that she was listening. ? 422 words ? [ o o c ; ] sorry for the wait!