It was one of those days that she stayed behind to watch after her three chrysali. They lay behind her, partially hidden from view by her golden pelt and partially hidden by the fog. It had taken some getting used to but the fog was a blessing for certain aspects, like the way it hid herself and her growing charges from the view of hostiles. She had to rely more on scent than vision but that was fine with her, it was always easy enough to scent things.

Laying on a great root where the she-cat and her chrysali sat was a half-eaten cave deer carcass. It was draped across the Divine's limb like some sort of macabre tinsel while the lioness herself lay her head across a foreleg. Blue eyes were unfocused as she focused partially in her mind, thinking about things past. Day by day she was growing more used to the constant pain of not having a family or friends to speak to or just to keep her company. Being the lady of the swamp was a quiet and peaceful job, it helped to calm her heart but never heal it. Would she ever be completely healed? Probably not but it helped to have moments like this where she could live in relative calm. For now the rule she tried to implement of looking forward and never back was completely thrown out the window as her mind danced about in times gone by, in particular, the time of her wedding.

Oh Leon...

Her heart yearned for him but he was nowhere to be found. He was probably dead and the alternative she could think of heart her even more... It was better to think that he was dead and not...

She sighed, closing out the memory and focused herself back to the present as she listened to the screeching Hallowed Callers and blanked her mind of everything but those foreboding sounds.

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words| 324
tagged| @Alexander
ooc|
muse| 6/10

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...

Alexander couldn’t remember if he had ever been here. The name of this place either wasn’t in his memory, or it was slipping through his paws at the moment. This mist covering his vision went perfectly with his current emotional state. Of course… he’d been feeling the same way for many, many cycles now. He couldn’t even remember what it was like to feel anything other than… nothing. Feeling nothing kept him alive. He had allowed his instincts to rule his life for nine cycles now. And ever since coming into contact with other Gembounds recently, his strictly instinctual, survivalist behavior was at war with the higher parts of himself.

A long time ago, he had been training to be a knight. A long time ago he had been a Prince. A long time ago, he’d had a father. Now he was nothing, he was no better than the stone beneath his feet. He may as well be a lesser Gembound from the way he had snapped at that creature — the first who had spoken to him in so long that he’d forgotten what words sounded like. He only knew hunting now, hunting, fighting, shitting, sleeping. That was it. That was all that was left.

Except… that wasn’t entirely true. He had the vaguest of memories about what it meant to be a Knight, to be a Prince. It meant having honor, it meant caring for oneself and caring for others. Always. Did he still have that capability? Did he have the mental and emotional capacity to pick himself back up, dust his disgusting, unwashed pelt off, and start over? He wasn’t sure. He had no idea. And he was out of time to think alone, because up ahead, he smelled another. He was still not used to speaking, so the words came out in a scratchy, rough tone. “Who’s there?” The sound echoed eerily in the fog.

Words: 318 @Makyna

Her thoughts --or lack thereof-- were indeed to be interrupted by a stranger walking in the bog. The heavy fog concealed whomever it was and despite all of the squinting in the world there was not even an apparition for her to cling on to. Those blue eyes stared even as she knew nothing would be forthcoming so instead, her nose lifted into the air and began to detect what her sight could not. The scent that came back to her was distinctly feline and so like her own. Unsure if she should be happy or annoyed that another lion might be through the mists she said nothing, only allowing a thoughtful rumble to bubble in her throat. What to do about this situation?

"Who's there?" A scratchy voice called through the fog. Was that a voice rough from disuse? Could be, it again reminded her of herself and that was what lead her to call out for an answer. "I have no name to offer and will just say that I am a lion like yourself, I think." Her own voice was not rough, no, she'd gotten plenty of use for it with the random creatures that bumped into her in the fog. However, there was a sort of weariness that seemed to permeate it. Her tone was tired as if she'd been dealt many bad hands in her life and could barely find the strength to keep going and yet, she did. For the new life growing behind her and for the old that would run into her. She had to educate the others, had to keep going and teach what she could until she no longer had breath left in her lungs.

She wondered if the other would keep going or if he would come closer to see her. Would he be hostile? The lioness would not be surprised, this cave was full of evils and if she found another one... Well, it would just be her luck.

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words| 331
tagged| @Alexander
ooc|
muse| 6/10

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...