Darkness.

It's all he can see or remember. Hells, that's happened more than once now, hasn't it? One moment, he's tucked away with Cricket and a few of their yearlings, hunkering down for sleep. Next moment, he's blinking up at a blood-red sky. The first time it happened, they had been taken moved away from Insomnia to land unknown to him. Now... he was back in Boreas? Ruby eyes that nearly match the sun above blink rapidly, fear encircling them as he looks around. Cricket and the pups are nowhere to be seen.

A growl rumbles in his throat as he slowly comes to stand on all four paws. His shortened deer-like tail swishes behind him, almost anxiously flicking back and forth. This place felt like home, but he had never seen such a sight before. Dirt beneath him is soft, pliable, loose as he walks slowly. Begging his heart slow so that his mind can work, he doesn't fear approaching the spire. Looking up first toward the top, Ghoul notices how they go into a point, but do they point in a specific direction? A quick glance says no.

Suddenly, where one moment there appeared to be no wind at all, it is picking up and brushing against him. Winding through the holes in the tall metal features to create a cacophony of noise. Wails almost as ghostly as his nightmares send shivers down his spine and his fur bristling. Were they making this noise for a reason? His attention turns closer to them until he notices the etched carvings closer to the bases. Had he been brought back here during this time for a reason? It was much too similar to the other occurrences for him to ignore...

GHOUL

table coding by bunni ♥

Fuck, no shortage of the kids had wandered north after the trembling night and with little thought, her steps trailed after them over the borders, a face pulled at the red sky overhead, and the strange darkness that seemed to cling in the atmosphere. It all seemed to match her mood perfectly, if she was honest.

As she got closer to the cavern, familiar scents criss-crossed over the land. It seemed many had been drawn to the area to try and figure out just what was happening, and one of those scents stood out over the others. It took a lot to drag a smirk to her lips these days, but this tipped her over the threshold... Perhaps she wasn't a wraith quite yet.

As the strange... rocks? cenotaphs? jutted from the ground, she took a moment to consider the strange etchings at their feet... the effigies carved into their faces far from peaceful. A brow quirked as she considered, drawn from her pondering by movement up ahead.

Mindless of the tension those that might still give a fuck might harbor, she closed the distance and nipped at a pale hip in familiar greeting, noting the way the earth softened under her paws. Odd.

"speech"

His eyes are drawn upward and then back down toward the ground. Something about the carving, the one with a terrified expression, felt familiar, but he couldn’t place a toe upon it. As he looked closer to the ground, something else seems to be there.

Before he can lift a paw to scratch at the dirt, a nip to his flank sends his fur bristling and ears flattening. Whirling his head around quickly with teeth bared, he’s prepared to strike when a familiar figure dissuades his temperament.

“Just as beautiful as I last saw you,” Ghoul’s silky deep tone rumbles, his nose reaching out to touch her cheek. There was something off about her though, but he couldn’t quite place it either.

“Any idea about this or are you lost too?” He questions though it has more meaning than she probably realizes. Where was everyone else that he knew? Why now? Why Deluge? Why any these spires and the carvings on them? Too many questions and not enough answers.

The whip of his head had her stance widening, she thought she even almost felt her heart move, but that would imply there was anything of it left. A reckless smile made its way to her face, softening when recognition passed his ruby gaze.

She scoffs when he calls her beautiful, she had always been a bit too rough around the edges to consider herself such, but she allows herself to lean into his touch to her cheek. She wondered if things might have been different, had she made other choices, but what was done, was done, and now all she could do was pick up the pieces.

Ghoul's question struck a chord within her and she chuckled, a little bitterly. "Sometimes I wonder if I've ever been anythin' but lost..." Her head tipped, "but I never been 'ere before..."

She looked at the stone spires more closely, trying to discern the markings, what they might mean. The soft soil seems to relate directly to the position of the stones and she turns her eyes upwards, trying to recall the position of the stars in this part of the land.... "No stars last night... no light." It won't come to her, the familiar map of the skies, no matter how hard she tries to recall it. It almost seems as if this is a place... between places.

"Do y'reckon there's something ter eat under 'ere?" The only similar sight she had seen was a bear cache, where the giant beast had buried what was left of a moose. This wasn't as big, but it didn't stop her digging with a little more enthusiasm than was probably wise. Everyone kept telling her she needed to eat more...

"speech"