this is not hollywood
Laith
The fine blanket of snow that had seemed to descend upon the continent all at once was a little thinner in the vegetation choked forest. The cosmic titan struggled to navigate the tighter corners of the damp woods, his bulk bogging him down as he sought out some of the fungi that ought to be thriving here. Thus far he had come up dry, save for alfalfa along one of the more well travelled paths near the beginning of the treeline. It had been dormant, stems withered bare in the interest of preserving the remnants of the plant until spring rolled back around. He wasn't looking for anything of its like anyways, so he had walked on by. He scraped one thick tusk against the bark of a tree to his right, loosening some lichen that was accumulating there. Upon further inspection, it was a rather dry texture, not even useful as a sponge. He shook the particulates from his fur and moved on. Perhaps he could find psychoactive mushrooms to trade for some of the more difficult to find flora of the region, and this trip wouldn't be a wash. He'd snapped more than his share of vines as he moved through the choked undergrowth, but when the latest one stretched itself across his chest with the intent of blocking his path, he growled low in his throat. Frustration mounted with each slogging step through the dense foliage. Craning his powerful neck to the extent of his reach, he grabbed hold of the vine blocking his path and bit down. At the very least, he might be able to use them as binding for herbs after a good drying. With a length of taut vine firmly in the grip of his massive jaws, he loosened his stance and began a vigorous game of tug-of-war with the tree that was holding onto the other end. The low growl reignited deep in his chest, muscles straining with the first good strain they'd been offered in some time. He didn't dare whip his head to and fro, lest he tear the vine with his teeth rather than loosening it from the tree above. After a few moments of struggle, there was a groaning from high above his head. With an ear-splitting crack, the branch that had been choked to death by the grip of the vine snapped free, and tumbled to the ground through the canopy. A quick side step, and the celestial giant avoided being clobbered by falling lumber. A grunt of satisfaction reverberated through his chest, and he started winding the impressively sized vine into a manageable arrangement to carry for the rest of his trek through the woods. |
| Art by risketch |
After giving the volcano a wide berth - active or not, he had no intention of getting anywhere close to it - Laith had found himself in a place that he now just wanted to leave. It was wet, smelly, and there was still snow on ground! He just could not escape it. Not to mention he could see fuck all with the vines and dense foliage all around him. Grumbling internally to himself, he slunk his way through the forest, hopping, side-stepping, and leaping to avoid all the squishy things on the ground, and probably looking like some weirdo lunatic in the process. He did not give a shit what others thought about him, but he did have some decency. When a growl met his ears, sounding oddly loud in the eerie silence of the forest, he froze where he stood. Grey ears pricked forward as his head turned on a swivel to pinpoint the location. Whatever it was, it sounded angry. Good thing he was in an irritable mood himself. Cautiously moving forward, Laith followed the growling until he came upon a massive... could he even call it a fucking wolf at that point? It certainly did not look like any wolf he had ever seen, what with the fancy colours on its pelt. Or had he just eaten something that was fucking with his perception of reality? Whatever the case, it seemed to be really into the game of tug of war with a vine. Laith skittered backwards when an ungodly loud crack resounded out and a branch fell right where whatever-the-fuck thing had been standing just moments prior. It was only then he saw the tusks sticking up from its lower jaw. Those looked like they could do some serious damage. Daintily stepping forward, front paws resting on a mound of moss that lifted his front end just a little bit higher into the air than he would normally reach, the grey wolf eyed the massive creature before him. "Having fun there with your little rope toy, hmm?" He drawled out, lips curling up in a shut-eating grin. He could afford to have a little fun today. |
The telltale shush-shush of paws on leaf litter, magnified by the damp slide of those leaves across one another, announced the presence of another only once he was too close to slip away from. The cosmic goliath lifted his massive skull from the ground, where he was carefully winding the vine into a loose coil around one paw. A rather diminutive figure, but that was a common assessment from the bulky male. Swathed in shades of dove grey and marked in charcoal. The eyes stood out, though. Verdant as a pasture in spring. "Having fun there with your little rope toy, hmm?" the younger man said with a grin. Ah, so he was the cocky type. An expression of cool indifference was only marred by the titan lifting one brow, unimpressed by the jab from the smaller male. "I don't want to leave here empty handed," the rich rumbling of his vocals crossed dark lips for the first time in at least a few days, rough with disuse and a thick accent. "and stringing up carcasses might be easier with this." he added, gesturing with the paw not currently encircled with the vines. Amethyst gaze turned to further scrutinizing the younger man, drifting over his form. He'd opted to perch his forepaws on a mound of soil and moss. To gain some king of height advantage? It wouldn't be hard to knock him from his perch, so perhaps this was in the interest of not having to crane his neck just to hold a conversation. This was never something the titan had been forced to deal with, so he was unable to pinpoint the specific motive. "What of you, boy? Enjoying the muck and damp?" he grunted, ducking his head back down to finish up the task of gathering the remaining length into something manageable. He'd likely have an easier time carrying it if he wound it around his neck, despite the inherent danger of crafting your own noose. |
| Art by risketch |
Damn, he was hoping to get a rise out of the colourful brute, or maybe he was lucky the other seemed in a more forgiving mood. He eyed the tusks again. Yea no, he did not want to be on the receiving end of those. Laith scoffed softly at the mention of stringing up a carcass. Why do that when it could just be buried? He could just imagine the amount of birds that would eat away at the strung-up meal while it hung there. It was easy to keep other floor-bound scavengers from stealing buried food, but birds? Not so much. Laith barked out a laugh when the brute asked if he was enjoying being in this place. He was no madman, this place was gross and he could not wait to be long gone. "The fuck do you think? It sucks here. I'm just tryna find my way out!" His tail swished behind him agitatedly. Anyone who enjoyed being in this wet and foggy place clearly had a screw loose... possibly even several. "You live around here or something?" He asked with a scrunch of his nose, showing his distaste at even just the thought of living close to the forest. It seemed the brute was doing some type of foraging and had a use for the vine he was coiling, whether it be used to string up a meal or something else. But usually creatures did not stray too far from home to collect resources and whatnot. Maybe he could use this creature's knowledge of the forest to his advantage to escape. |
The behemoth elected to ignore the indignant scoff of the dove man at the notion of stringing up a carcass. Evidently he wasn't much of a craftsman, which couldn't be helped for some. He kept his head down, worked away at the task at hand. The sooner it was done, the sooner he could walk away and pretend the little man was a fly buzzing in his ear to be swatted away. The response to his poor attempt at teasing was met with barely contained fury "The fuck do you think? It sucks here. I'm just tryna find my way out!" the grey male spat. "You live around here or something?" he all but demanded, the notes of disbelief and aggression still very much prevalent. With his vine coiled up to his satisfaction, he lifted one edge of the loop until he could slid it over his muzzle. From there, it was a quick upward tilt of his skull to slide it into place around his thick neck. From there, he blinked down at the smaller male. "Hardly," he grunted. "I am nomadic as of late." the admission rolled easily off his tongue, accompanied by a halfhearted shrug. Just like that, he'd lost interest in holding this conversation. the titan turned on his heel and began to amble off into the undergrowth. A steady, lumbering gait that allowed him to cut through the thick foliage with little contest from the tangled thickets. They scratched relentlessly at his chest and flanks, but couldn't hold him in place for all their struggle. He was simply too large, and once he began moving it was difficult for most things to halt the giant in his tracks. Rippling musculature pulled him through the thick muck, turned gelatinous by the lowered temperatures. His gaze roved along the edges of his path, still searching for any herbs that he could make use of. The deeper into the forest he got, the more he regretted not collecting some of that alfalfa. At least then he would have something more concretely useful than a vine that he could use if he could potentially be bothered to haul a carcass off the ground to be cleaned and taken apart. |
| Art by risketch |
The brute all but ignored him, instead choosing to fiddle with his coiled vine until it rested upon the back of his neck. He was finally granted a response, a much more lackluster and disinterested response than he had been expecting. Lath cocked his head to the side, but before he could even say anything the brute turned and walked away with no farewell, leaving him standing on his little moss mound alone. "Hey!" He called out indignantly, fur ruffled at basically being completely fucking ignored. That did not sit well with him. He scrambled off his mound after the brute, annoyed at being left behind, chasing after him as fast as he could slip between the rugged and thick undergrowth, still not wanting to step in any of the icky bits. The other guy, well, he seemed to not give two shits about where he walked or how, going by how he simply marched ever forward without breaking so much as a sweat. Laith finally managed to catch up to him, huffing slightly. "Well, where ya going then? I can... I dunno, help you or something?" It was probably not his best idea to irritate this beast, but he was unbelievably lost, and so decided he could be just a little less of an asshole until he got out. |