Proserpina It had been quite the swim to get to the island. But as paws touched the sand, she could tell nobody had been here recently, if at all. She smelled no borders. No markers that anyone had been here, ever. The island was uninhabited, and it wasn't hard to tell that at a glance. Her companions went ahead and scouted ahead of her, breaking away from her side and across the sand as they headed towards the dense vegetation. She shook the water from her coat as much as she could. Pale blue gaze surveyed the land before she too made her course inland. It was refreshing to be somewhere else other than her normal routine sitting around at home. Granted, she chose to be on her own more often than not, but being alone on an island with just her and her solitude was significantly different than the usual. As she traipsed along on her own, she couldn't help but yawn and realized she felt more tired than she thought after the swim here. Her body suddenly felt bogged down, her coat still damp from her swim. She found a nicely shaded spot that still allowed some sun to shine through and once she settled down, she had quickly fallen into a nap. By the time she awoke, night had fallen. She woke slowly, eyelids fluttered open slowly as she yawned and as she became more aware of her surroundings, she noticed something strange about the island. The flora was glowing...much like it had in the Estuary, and when she quietly got to her paws, she noticed the water that lapped at the shore was glowing, too. Wisps had appeared, floating with no direction over the beach, and even the moon had taken on that pale blue glow again, more noticeable as its glow reached across the waters...what on earth was going on with the world? "Speech"||Thought||"You"

thinking "speech" "others" What exactly was he doing here? Who was to say, really. The auburn furred godling tended to be drawn by whim, and today he was quite far from home. It didn't bother him a great deal, he would head back eventually, but lately he'd been nipped by some kind of wanderlust bug. Perhaps it was the strange occurrences that seemed to be cropping up all over the place, stealing his attention away from the important duties of his pack and towards the mystery afoot. Regardless, he found himself shaking sand out of his fur and seawater from his ears as he wandered the pale beaches of a decidedly deserted island. The blue glow of the moonlight had turned the pale sands glittering in such a way that he wondered if he was actually walking over snow- and suddenly lacking all sensation from the pads of his paws. Particularly sensitive to the cold, he would have noticed right away if he was trudging through snow right now. Tropical plants filled the space between the palm trees that littered the far end of the beach. As he drew closer, and began to cast the edges of a shadow over their brightly coloured foliage, he realized it was not the moonlight that was lighting them up in strange shades of blue and purple. In fact, some of them were glowing entirely of their own will, the unique patterns of some thick ferns and succulent leaves highlighted with the eerie luminescence of the wisps that floated all around. They made no sound to indicate life, but the way they bobbed gently as though stirred by the breeze led him to believe they were hardly figments of his own imagination. Movement in his periphery caught the phoenix's attention, and he found himself watching the slow, ethereal movements of a cream and cinnamon coated dame. "Evening- er... Good night?" he called out hesitantly, cerulean optics tracing the careful way she picked a path along the beach. I GOT LIES TO TELL YOUR CHILDREN, WHEN MY SMILE PIERCES THROUGH YOUR BONES

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Proserpina She was hyper focused on her surroundings. Particularly the blue wisps and glowing flora that surrounded one side of her. On the other, the water and sand that also had that eerie touch. Her companions were likely still out investigating the island, and it seemed they weren't alone. Someone else was walking on the beach, an unfamiliar to her and his voice even more so. He seemed unsure as to how to greet her. Whether it be evening or night, she wasn't entirely sure either at the moment considering the moon was doing strange things along with everything else, it was hard to feel like things were normal this season. "Evening to you as well, I suppose." She replied as she came to a stop. The breeze brought to her the smell of the male. Armada. Her fur prickled slightly but she quickly smoothed it down and replaced her misgivings with a cool and collected facade. As far as she was aware, Aerie and Armada weren't on the best of terms. But she wasn't worried herself. After all, their supposed Warlord had forfeited to her when he sought to bring a raid to their doorstep. And while Aerie hadn't won that raid, she was still satisfied with the knowledge that the Armada alpha had chosen to run from her when she challenged him. "Out for an evening stroll to see the...strange sights out here?" "Speech"||Thought||"You"

thinking "speech" "others" She returned his greeting, though perhaps with a greater degree of wariness. It couldn't be helped, he supposed. The circumstances were unusual at best, and they were strangers on a deserted beach. The cinnamon dusted fae seemed amiable enough though, to pass the time pleasantly. "Out for an evening stroll to see the...strange sights out here?" she asked, and he couldn't help the amused smile that crept onto his face. A slight nod of his head, coupled with a few sweeps of his tail along his hocks. "Indeed," he replied, glancing back over to the strange patterns on the leaves he'd been examining. Their gentle glow took up unique stripes, whorls, and zigzags on what few of them he could see from here. "I'll admit I've been spending more time on the matter than I expected." the phoenix chuckled softly, trailing off into silence once more. Long legs carried him with slow, sauntering strides along the edge of the treeline now. He was slowly closing the distance between himself and the strange fae, whose features tickled the fringes of a memory somewhere in his brain. He could swear he'd seen her before, but where? "Mephistopheles Abraxas, but you can call me Meph." he introduced himself with a slight incline of his chiseled skull as he got a few steps closer. Then his cerulean eyes cut away, drawn by the movement of something in the sands. Keen eyes narrowed, taking a scant few moments to place the creature scuttling through the pale sands a few feet to their left. Oh, it was a crab. To be honest, he couldn't tell much about it, the glow of the sands compounded by the brilliant light of the moon. Perhaps it was a mutant, perhaps not, there was no certainty from this distance. Snorting dismissively, he looked back to the cream furred dame before him. "What do you think it means?" he asked with a small tilt of his head, the hint of a wry smile toying at his inky lips. He couldn't help but be curious- after all, something had drawn her out here. I GOT LIES TO TELL YOUR CHILDREN, WHEN MY SMILE PIERCES THROUGH YOUR BONES

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Proserpina "Indeed. I'll admit I've been spending more time on the matter than I expected." She nodded as she watched him, though she remained aware of the things occurring around her. She had come her for a different kind of solitude, only to find more phenomena out here just like everywhere else. The plants had varying patterns, different strengths of glowing...some dimmer, while others were brighter. "As have I. It's a strange occurrence, though I'll admit we've had some strange things happen in the lands before." Like when Eli suddenly grew taller, horns shot out of his head, and his markings seemingly changed and glowed. Meanwhile, her life seemed stagnant. The only thing she had was the family she remained with, and her God. No kids. Though she desperately wished for it to happen someday. When the male gave his name, she fought the urge to perk her ears. Instead, she kept her emotionless facade as she studied him. An Abraxas...he certainly wasn't from Aerie, not that she could tell. He was part of Armada. And she knew there was a branch of Abraxas that had broken off a long time ago since he had a different idea about their religion or some such. Was this man part of that branch? Or from another one entirely? "Ghost...Abraxas..." She responded, curious to see his reaction. She chose to play it safe and keep her true name from him, but then again she did that with all strangers. She hadn't even told Viv her true name yet. As for what the rest of it meant? She glanced in the direction he was looking to find a little glowing crab scuttling across the sand. Everything on the island seemed surreal. Like it didn't belong on their plane. Though like she said to Viv...she believed the Abraxas God had something to do with it. "I don't know for sure, but I like to think The Fallen God may have something to do with it. That's what I believe, anyway. How else do you explain it?" She questioned as her gaze found the sky. The moon looked heavy in a sense, the stars unnatural as they blended and seemed to move of their own accord.. "Speech"||Thought||"You"

thinking "speech" "others" It appeared he wasn't alone in spending these impossibly long nights on the hunt, drawn to the strangeness of the latest creations of an unknowable force. "As have I. It's a strange occurrence, though I'll admit we've had some strange things happen in the lands before." she replied, reminding him of the few instances that he had briefly witnessed while he'd passed back through his native lands while he and his sire tracked his errant mother. He nodded in wordless agreement, letting the lull in their conversation stretch for a few beats. Then, she was offering up her own introductions. "Ghost...Abraxas..." she uttered, instantly stealing his full attention. Russet auds shoved forward as the phoenix regarded her anew, calculating gaze drinking in her ivory features. That must be why he thought he'd recognized her initially. They were related- likely crossing paths at some point in their shared history. Dark nostrils flared to drink in the scent she wore mingled with her own perfumes, and noticed the distinct scent of the first pack he'd visited upon his return. That had been Abraxas wolves he'd smelled around the borders. Why hadn't they answered his call? Before he could bombard her with questions of her parentage, their conversation returned to the matter at hand. The bizarre nights of the progressing winter. "I don't know for sure, but I like to think The Fallen God may have something to do with it. That's what I believe, anyway. How else do you explain it?" Ghost offered up her own thoughts, and he found himself nodding in mute agreement once more. It did follow as the best explanation for the strange changes that had come over the continents. "I would certainly like to believe that He has orchestrated at least some of this, as I can't imagine this was a purely natural development. Only some kind of vengeful deity could craft something that extends beyond the heavens- have you noticed the odd behaviour of the animals that have been affected by the moonlight?" he questioned with a tip of his skull, brows pinched ever so slightly to match the curious glint in his bright eyes. I GOT LIES TO TELL YOUR CHILDREN, WHEN MY SMILE PIERCES THROUGH YOUR BONES

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Proserpina

You feel an unmistakable sense of dread. You also find 3 crystals. Maybe these are worth keeping…

Mephistopheles

You feel the presence of someone else here. You also find 3 mushrooms. Maybe these are worth keeping…