Aurielle Adravendi

She’d found her paws leading her to this place again. It was the dead of night when she finally found herself stepping out into the courtyard. It was another rough moment—a time where the control over that bottled pain in her chest slipped. She figured that perhaps it was the onset of her fourth year, and thus her season and all its attributed symptoms with it, that led to the lessened control. It was frigid up here, but as she passed into the deep black of the temple, seeking the peace, she slid into the fountain and sank to the bottom, up to her ears as she rested her chin on the stone ledge. The water was as glacial as the air outside, but she remained submerged, fur spread in a glowing miasma around her, lifted by the water. She never had managed to figure out any connection to what had started the mutation, though she wondered if it was the glowing lake in the north. Her eyes closed, ears taking over as she sought to work through the searing grief and irrational anger in her chest, fighting the storm back to its bottle. Wordcount: 195 (Just in case it turns into a seasonal thread) Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

DOMINUS PRAETOR

Dominus loved these caves, having dwelled within them his whole life and still found new twists and turns in the cavern that took him to new places. Some were dangerous, and he'd done his best to mark each tunnel and turn. It was a rare occurrence that he would stumble across a turn he had not taken before, but tonight seemed to be a night of discovery.

There were many points of the cavern that lead to the peak that were too tight, he had to squeeze his shoulders through to the point where he worried he would dislocate one, yet he somehow managed to get past the narrower passageways and it was an easy walk from there. He could hear the unidentifiable sounds of a bird's chirping echoing down the tunnel walls. It was repetitive, but not so high pitched that it annoyed him - he used the sound to gauge how long he had left before he reached the end.

By the time he left the cave and entered the courtyard clearing made on the peak, he was rejuvenated with newfound energy inspired by his curiosity to discover what was left here. He wondered if his father had ever lain eyes on the black temple before him, or if this place had truly gone undiscovered even while Ruina reigned beneath it. His eyes were big, lightened by the moon as he cautiously stepped forward. He was a massive wolf, yet, somehow... even in his maturity, he kept the look of a boy just by how big and bright those blue eyes were. His fur, although thickly grown in together, was still short.. much like a yearling.

Really, it was just the result of an unkempt grub living on his own in his youth. A lost boy.

He silently crept toward the temple, curious as to who he might disturb and who it belonged to. He could smell a woman, undoubtedly, but nothing else lingered as far as signs of life went. Just her strong fragrance and the chirping of what he could see now to be a robin resting at the top of the fountain. He mistook the glow coming from the water at first for moonlight reflecting on its surface, but as he drew nearer that light became more and more.. surreal.

By the time he realized that it was her and her glow, he abandoned all of what he previously knew about wolves and their genetics. His skin prickled involuntarily by the overwhelming, eerie feeling that he got from looking at what he could only assume was the work of a demon. Was this black temple their home? And what.. was this woman to them?

He could say nothing audible, he couldn't move, he was simply locked in place at the edge of the fountain staring at the flowing fur of the woman bathing before him. Someone should have told him staring was impolite, but, they did not.

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Aurielle Adravendi

The robin had started chirruping about an hour after her arrival, confused by the sudden light source. No doubt it was among those birds that would soon begin its long flight south to warmer regions, until the seasons turned and Spring came again. She was tuning the little creature out, not unsympathetically—it wasn’t the bird’s fault she glowed like a drop of moonlight. However, heavy paw-steps brought sapphire and sky-blue eyes open to find the young mand standing gawp-mouthed in front of her, staring as if he’d seen a ghost. Fitting, she supposed, given her status’ title. Patiently, she waited for him to say or do something, but as the silence drew on, save for the blithe chirrup-chirrip of the robin, she lifted her head and tilted it, firmly wrapping a tight cord of control around her emotions and letting the mask slip into place. “Can I help you?” Her accent was deeply similar to her father’s, but with a warm femininity Regulus certainly didn’t possess as she studied the male. Her father had described the encounter thoroughly, letting no detail escape, and as she studied the man, she felt some pieces click into place, triggering a possible recognition of who might be in front of her, but didn’t allude to the mental contemplations as she rose to sit, a Queen in all her magnificence, regardless of a water-plastered coat. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think

DOMINUS PRAETOR

The angel's words were powerful enough to knock back his ears a bit as he listened, immediately recognizing that same accent as another he had heard recently. Her question was hardly given the attention it deserved, and instead the beast continued to stare at her in confusion as he witnessed the obscure sight of her glowing fur. Was she even aware she resembled a living moon? Did she live up here in this out of reach place?

His bright blue eyes widened, reflecting the light of her glow quite intensely while he took in the peculiarity of her on his own time, without any haste regarding the answer she might expect based off of her question. After what seemed like ages, he finally rested himself to his haunches and inspected the fountain. Had someone been keeping up with it? It was in wonderful, beautiful shape for a fountain. He understood why she had been confident enough to take a swim in it, he was half tempted to as well.

He couldn't quite make out her scent but judging from her oddity and that of Regulus, he assumed their similar accents meant they were more than likely related. Why was he running into their family all over Boreas all of a sudden? It seemed royal bloodlines were crossing paths with him all too common recently, what purpose did fate have in mind for that?

"No, probably not. I appreciate the offer, though." He thought of apologizing for watching her for so long and being awkward, but he really wasn't. She was interesting to observe and he couldn't help himself.

"What are you?" It just sort of blurted out of him, which shocked him but after a moment he lifted his square muzzle confidently as he awaited her answer to the question. Surely she wasn't mortal, was she? What mortal was luminescent?

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Aurielle Adravendi

Her lips twitched slightly as he took her in—she didn’t really blame him. Before she’d encountered Ignatius, she’d never met a wolf that glowed, and she herself outdid Ignatius by a long shot. Add the mane, the tail, the teeth, and the shimmer… She was a sight. She maintained her spot in the water, watching him as he did her, wondering what features were her aunt’s. The coloring, maybe? The eyes? She gave a neutral shrug at his response to her query, and as he made a blurted one of his own, a slight, lopsided smile lit her features with faint, rueful amusement. “A wolf who was born a little differently. And if I’m correct in my guess, your cousin. Zuriel Adravendi was my aunt.” Finally, she rose fully with a trickle and slosh of water from her sodden coat. The robin continued its midnight song above as she stepped from the water and to the floor of the temple, dual-blue gaze studying him contemplatively. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Dominus Praetor

Disappointment set in with the very first two words of her statement. This place, this temple, the mountain's sheer importance to him and his kind - it was the perfect set up for something other than just another wolf to be awaiting him.

She could detect his scent, but he had not been able to detect hers due to the water - it left him feeling odd when she admitted their relation and named his mother. Just a few seconds prior, he had been admiring her beautiful oddity - a sort of shame came over him now that he realized that beautiful oddity was actually his cousin. All former attraction had turned into slight disgust with himself and the fact that he did find her beautiful.

How many women in Boreas would he run into this problem with? It seemed everyone he stumbled across was related to him somehow. Next he would find out that Altair was his cousin, Poem was his sister, or something else equally unfathomable.

His ears twitched in slight annoyance as he recomposed himself and took a step back, acknowledging her statement.

"Interesting. Do you know my name, too? Is there a point to even introducing myself?" The man's tone was less than enthusiastic as he watched the water roll off her form. He tried his best to push aside his disappointment and instead focused on who her own parents might be. If she was his cousin, and Zuriel was her aunt, that might make her a daughter of Regulus - the red wolf he'd met in the East who had admitted to being his uncle. It was hard to tell for certain, and he didn't want to risk being wrong but he had a growing hunch.

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