To say Gloom had ever recovered from Audra's death would have been a lie. As time had gone on she'd continued to deteriorate and eventually had even slipped away from the Hallows. At some point she'd decided to try and find Spirit, try and find the only wolf in the world left she thought could help her but even that seemed too hard for the woman. As the sky had darkened, going red, she'd been too afraid to go back to Boreas. Instead cowering wherever she could find shelter without being disturbed.

She did not know what brought her to these shores, but Gloom stood staring out past the sea. Looking like shit and feeling worse. Where once she may have been eager to explore the strange blue lights that swirled at her ankles now she felt numb to it all. She didn't even know where she was.

"Speech"

Image by Madandcat

It was a blessing (and maybe a curse, who knew yet!) that Makara had found her way to Auster by the time the next wave of phenomena happened. There had been whispers of more strange landscaping appearing off the coast of the Shimmering Shores, just a ways inland, but it was hard to rip her gaze away from the beautiful lights. Phytoplankton caused the reaction, she knew, but that didn't make it less beautiful. Her gaze snagged on an older, small woman cowering just off the shoreline, and she adjusted her goggles and picked her way across the sands towards her. "Hello, hello!" she called, boisterous as always, even though the stranger's mood seemed somber. "I've heard talk that the lands here have begun to change again, possibly in relation to this strange light - or, lack thereof - " she waved a paw to emphasize the blank, starless sky. "Care to come inland with me and investigate? Two sets of eyes are always better than one!"

speech

Maybe the biggest sign of Gloom's state was how understated her reaction to another's presence was. As the chipper greeting went up where Gloom in the past would have dropped to her stomach and tried to make herself as small as possible instead now she simply startled. Eyes growing wide in uncontrollable panic and tail tucking instantly between her legs. So yeah she still wasn't good with strangers, still felt uncontrollable fear around them but she didn't even have the energy to panic the way she used to.

Dual-toned eyes turned towards the younger wolf, the fear evident as she watched silently, unable to find words to respond with beyond the terrified expression. The last time things had started to get strange she'd had Audra there to help with the physical damage she'd recieved... And the time before that had been how they'd met. Her heart twisted painfully. The heartache overpowering her fear for once, she didn't want to be alone with weirdness and her gaze lost some of the panic, though replaced with her pain. Gloom gave the young woman a nod and turned to let herself be led away. Her eyes hitching over the strangely disturbed terrain. Even for someone who'd never been here before she could see it was wrong, like something had disturbed the surface of the earth here.

"Speech"

Image by Madandcat

Makara had always been good at reading landscapes and uncovering archeological secrets, but she had never developed the finer points of her social skills. Even though Gloom shrunk from her introduction, she looked at her with the same placid, bright-eyed gaze she had for everyone. She didn't alter her behavior much to accommodate the smaller, older female, but she slowed her step so that they were more nearly matched. Gloom's silent agreement to follow her didn't stop Makara from talking her ear off.

"It's always better to have another set of eyes," she continued, more to herself than to Gloom, "I'm an experienced researcher, but there is something to be said for a different perspective! Everyone has something to bring to the table, no matter where they come from. It's all about your history, yes? The sum of your experiences? Your life has taught you certain things that mine has not, and vice versa." Mak could talk the ear off a stone wall, and poor Gloom was no different. "Have you spent much time in Auster?" she continued, this time pausing long enough for her to answer. Makara's eyes were cast down, focusing on the soil ahead of them. The way the earth was disturbed further inland was truly strange. It was as if a great serpent was winding its way beneath the surface, creating small ridges and valleys.

speech

If there was an upshot to someone who talked a lot it was that it didn't leave Gloom feeling pressured to respond much at all. Honestly she liked that better than someone who expected her to contribute a lot. Something she'd never had the ability to do, even before she'd fallen to the cloud of grief. The biggest problem now as that, frankly, Gloom would have rather just followed behind the younger woman but clearly she was making an attempt not to get too far ahead. All things considered she was even listening to and absorbing what the bigger woman said. As they moved Gloom found her attention moving slightly downwards, feeling the uneven distribution of sand beneath her paws. It didn't feel like the sort of natural distribution of terrain you'd get from paws moving across it. Something wasn't quite... Right.

There was silence for a moment and Gloom realized with a start that she'd been asked a question. She searched her mind frantically before she remembered what had been asked. To which Gloom nodded, then realized too late that the stranger wasn't looking at her to see the answer. When Gloom spoke her voice croaked with disuse as she managed a soft. "N-not really..." Sure it had probably been over a year since she'd returned to Boreas for any substantial time but she didn't consider Auster her home, that would be Abaven, which by extension meant Boreas. She just... Didn't really have anything, place or one to go back to. "Y- You?" She managed back, wanting to just go back to trying to puzzle out what it was about the terrain that felt off, silently praying the younger woman would start rambling again.


"Speech"

Image by Madandcat

Gloom didn't have to wait long for Makara to fill the silence again. Really, it was what she was best at. She made a soft noise of confirmation at having heard her speak, but her eyes were still trained intently on the furrows in the ground. Mak was lost in thought until her companion's hoarse voice returned her own question, and she peered up back at her through the fogged lenses of her glasses. "Well, no, I can't say that I have. An unfortunate by-product of being a lover of ancient objects is that you become sort of a... vagabond. There isn't any place I've stayed that has satisfied my curiosity enough to stay once I've rifled through all I've wanted... but it seems these strange happenings have called me back to these lands." Her tail swished decisively and Makara bent down again, studying the ground for a time. The silence chafed at her, and she felt her skin crawl.

"I was a pack wolf once, belonging to the Armada," she mused. Flashes of her father's disappointment and her mother's growing disinterest as they aged flashed in her head, aching like a phantom limb she'd lost in some long ago war. Hm. She hadn't thought about any of that in quite some time. But there was some small light, wasn't there? Races with Levi. Moving north for the first time and realizing her allergies weren't quite so bad in the frigid air, although the ground was too hard to excavate most of the year.  "But I was always more interested in what might be lying beyond pack borders, like this - these furrows in the ground almost look naturally formed, the kinds of tracks I'd see from some sort of tunneling animal beneath the ground, but never quite like this. Almost looks snakelike, and I don't know of any subterranean snakes, although I suppose that doesn't mean they don't exist..." Man, it felt good to have a captive audience.

speech

Gloom was glad for the silence to be filled once more. She almost envied the younger woman. Gloom had always felt at her best when she'd been out exploring, beyond the eyes of the strangers who shared her name but little else. Well, at least until she'd met Audra. That short time had been probably the best of her life. Sure she'd been away from her mother and brother, whom she'd still missed dearly but for a moment she'd felt a true connection to someone who wasn't them... Had felt... Joy.

Now not even exploring could bring a shred of happiness. She was simply existing. Couldn't even call it living. If she'd been younger, if she hadn't been beaten down by losing two of the most important wolves in her life in quick succession, she could almost imagine a world were she and the younger woman could have been friends, travel buddies. Ignoring she'd never not been afraid of strangers. The name of the pack the stranger spoke aloud was one she was vaguely familiar with, had heard it in passing a few times. Knew they'd shared a bit of a relationship with her last home. "I was in the Hallows for a bit, until recently." She really hoped that it would be left at that. Gloom was pretty sure if she had to explain what had happened to her she'd just break down right then and there.

Luckily something else caught her attention. The other woman was right, the furrows did look like something subterranean was moving about under there. Gloom frowned and lowered her head to listen. Was something... Making noise down there? Almost on instinct, as if something was telling her to do so Gloom dug her paws into the sand, scraping away the top layer, and then digging deeper. What she was looking for she didn't know, maybe whatever was moving around or maybe nothing at all. But it was the only action that made sense to her.

"Speech"

Image by Madandcat

Makara made a sound of recognition at Gloom's mention of the Hallows and busied herself with continuing to inspect the ground. "Ah yes, the Hallows! Famous for their Carpathian steel. I've heard that their walls have never been breached - " and on and on she droned, her voice taking on a distant, professorial tone. It was comforting to recite facts and figures in the face of the unknown. She kept half an eye on Gloom and the other portion of her attention on the ground beneath her.

She noticed Gloom react before she heard that strange noise herself. Makara turned to study the smaller woman, curious what had gotten her attention, but Gloom was already digging with abandon. "Ah! Is this it? Have we come upon a eureka moment?" she chirped, then quickly followed suit and began to dig furiously beside her new companion.

speech