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 Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2020 8:18 pm
 (backlogged to their first meeting in adolescence)
(Total WC: 4296 [DeD: 2553] [Medi: 1743])
It was dawn and above him the sky was awash with color as the sun crept up the horizon. He had chosen this time of morning to strategically make his escape. Maybe, he thought, he could somehow blend in with the colors of the fleeing night around him. As if he could somehow blend in with the sky.
He couldn’t say exactly what it was that made him sneak out from the watchful eye of his mother. Maybe he wanted to see if her stories of the outside world were true. Maybe he wanted confirmation that the little realm in which he was raised was truly the one and only shining beacon of the world.
Or maybe some part of him realized that he wasn't a pup anymore and to be held in one place by an overbearing mother was more akin to imprisonment than motherly care.
If there was a part of him that truly believed that, it was buried somewhere deep, deep within him. For all intense and purposes this little scouting mission was solely in order for Hausos to sate his curiosity. So, quiet and ears pinned, the young wolf crept through the underbrush through the supposedly terrifying and unwelcoming outside world…
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Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2020 8:37 pm
 Darkness and what lurked inside it scared many living creatures for good reason, but Hecate thought herself a young master already. While she couldn't always control the process--sometimes it was too slow for her liking, or else she melted away and found it was harder to turn it off--those times weren't always under someone's watch. Her father was distracted with other things anyway, and she had no mother to pick up the slack.
Mostly, she enjoyed how easily it let her sneak around and see what lied beyond their den.
Father wasn't picky about her outings so long as she returned unscathed and before he woke up: two criteria which were easy for Hecate to fulfill. She was a cautious adolescent anyway, even as curiosity drove her to investigate every little thing. More than cautious, really: Father had all but given her seeds of paranoia from his own personal garden, waiting to take root. She tried not to let them as a matter of pride as any girl growing rebellious of her parent might, but...The dark things he spoke of lingered with her. She had seen things herself, the bones of which stayed in the graveyard they kept.
But enough of that. She shook her head and dove into the shadows like a fish, feeling the absolute freedom from form as she melted into the twilight. For a time, Hecate caroused her usual paths, but when a new scent caught her attention, she stopped her routine and froze. It smelled like an ethereal...Sometimes those came by to visit Father, but they kept to themselves mostly. And they definitely didn't come at night as far as she knew.
After some tracking and a lucky turn, she saw him: an unfamiliar flash of color amidst the glowing mushroom colonies. Hecate held her breath and crept forward without thinking. Nobody was ever her age...He looked small enough for that, right?
She didn't realize that as much as her stalking was on point, she had leaked out of the shadows by losing concentration.
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Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2020 8:58 pm
For a few blissful moments in his wandering, Hausos found himself distracted. He noticed each new and unfamiliar flower. Each little insect that he hadn't seen before. He had spent so much time in his mother's domain that he probably had every type of flora and fauna that was native there. First his attention was drawn by a flower that seemed to be glowing with the rising of the sun. He sat motionless, simply watching it. Then he found his attention drawn by a small creature crawling away from him.
He watched the insect as it moved, first down the stem of the flower and across the dirt towards him. Hausos tried to memorize each color and spot along its back as he inched his paws closer to his body so he wasn't in its path. His eyes continued to follow it along and towards the left in the direction that he had come from...
Then he froze.
He hadn't noticed her there. He hadn't seen her, nor smelled her. Had he been distracted, or was he just that unobservant?
It took every inch of his composure to keep from yelping as he shrunk back away from her. His mother had spoken of the foul monsters that lived outside her little realm. Had this been one of them, stalking him through the morning shadows? Or maybe a watchful eye of his mother come to punish him for sneaking away.
"I'm sorry!" he quietly pled, his lanky body shrinking back to be as small as he could make it. "I… I didn't m-mean it!"
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Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2020 9:04 pm
Outwardly, Hecate blinked and stood up like a startled peryton, but nothing more. Her pink-blue eyes stared into him like he was the most fascinating thing she had ever seen—and something that was prey.
Inwardly, Hecate screamed at herself for the mistake. But Father had taught her well. Show nothing to strangers except that you were in control, or flee if you couldn’t. And Hecate was stubbornly refusing the latter.
“Who are you?” she asked as imperiously as she could, taking a step closer. “What are you doing here? Father’s still asleep if you’re looking for him.”
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Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2020 9:13 pm
As the stranger moved towards her, Hausos did everything he could to shrink back. To become small and safe. His heart was beating in his ears and every inch of him was screaming for him to run back. To run home to his mother. To apologize for ever doubting any of the tales she had told. To never leave the safety of her domain ever again.
But he couldn't. He was frozen still, helpless as the wolf moved towards him. Then he heard her speak. Her voice wasn't that of some monster, some tremendous creature with eyes that pulled your soul from your heart and a gaping maw that could swallow you in one bite.
No she was… she was something else. She had a voice just like any other. She had a pelt that seemed to almost fade into the shadows that were being quickly cast off by the morning sun. She looked like a warm and velvety summer night and had eyes the color of a hardbitten winter flower.
"I… I'm Hausos," he said, despite himself. His head shrunk down, but he didn't flee. Instead, he seemed to inch forward to inspect her. "I… I'm just…" he glanced back up the ridge. If he told the truth of what he was doing—that he was disobeying his mother's wishes and exploring the world, would he get in trouble. "I'm just looking. Not… Not for you father. I don't know who that is. I'm j-just. Just looking at the flowers."
His ears still pressed flat to his head, Hausos swallowed hard. Conjuring up every inch of courage he might have, he pressed forward. This might be his only chance to meet the outside world, after all. "Who are you?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2020 11:52 am
Just looking? Hecate tilted her head and peered at him. Bright as sunlight, dotted in stars, spotted like some animals she had seen once...And bunching into himself. Well, clearly he wasn't trying to threaten anything looking like that...Unless that was a trick, something in the back of her mind hissed in her father's voice. She bristled at it. No, she was in control here, not Father.
"You'll get lost if you get too close to those," Hecate told him, deflecting his question away with a motion of her head towards the mushrooms. "Their spores make you confused. It's a defense mechanism. If you're going to look around, you'll need a guide." A chaperone, really.
He had taken a step forward. She matched it. "Things die here if they aren't careful," she added somberly.
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Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2020 12:05 pm
"…o-oh…" Hausos wrinkled his nose and looked towards the mushroom that she spoke of, inching away from it nervously. He glanced to the other side, realizing that in trying to move away from the strange fungus, he had moved towards another patch. Suddenly desperate to get away from them, he nervously scrambled forwards towards her. He was closer when she spoke again.
'things die here if they aren't careful'
Was his mother right, then? Was the world really a hostile place? Did he not belong here? Should he go back?
The adolescent glanced over his shoulder up the ridge. He should probably go back. He should flee this strange place.
Hausos looked back to her. She didn't seem afraid of this place. This place where things died. She seemed to blend into the world here, like a shadow in the night. But… but more than that, too. Not just a shadow that disappeared into darkness, but like those glowing fireflies that thrived in the darkness. Like the ones that shone the way when he got lost in the dark.
"Well…" he continued, not seeming to notice that she hadn't really answered his question. "Will you… will you guide me?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2020 12:15 pm
Hecate struggled with the question. On the one paw, if Father woke up and saw her with a stranger, he'd be furious and punish her after chasing off Hausos. Or worse. On the other paw, screw him, this was the most interesting thing to happen to her in a long while. Stay in control.
"For your safety, I will," she answered with a magnanimous nod. "Follow me." She brushed past him, shuddering slightly even at such a casual touch. Closeness wasn't something she was used to. Father said it minimized the risks of their curse, but...Hausos was a stranger. Why should she care? Assuming the stupid curse even existed.
"We don't have many flowers here," Hecate explained, leading him away from the mushroom colonies and closer to the flowers he had started to inspect, a different patch that was further away. "The ground isn't that fertile most places. Things take root in the dead or on stone more often. We try to cultivate when we can, though." She nosed at one of the flowers. "Father calls these Rictus Grins. See how the petals are curved like a smile? They're not deadly or anything," she added. "They just like growing on corpse grounds."
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Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2020 12:33 pm
It felt as though his heart was threatening to beat out of his chest. Hausos felt like a bundle of excitement and terror and wonder and fear. When the stranger answered that she would be his guide, he beamed. Never having been one capable of masking his emotions, the delight was apparent on his features. The adolescent didn't seem phased as she brushed past. He was used to physicality in his home, both from his mother and her helpers. Nightly he would fall asleep tucked into the comfortable warmth of a bundle of jackalopes, and would wake to the affectionate nudges of his companions.
Happily and obediently, the adolescent wolf bounded behind her. Whatever trepidation he held earlier seemed to wash away with each step. His ears swiveled as she spoke and his nose wrinkled in confusion. "You talk about a lot of… uh… dead stuff" he started, poking his nose into the flower that she was describing. As he watched it curiously, he curved his mouth into a smile to mimic those of the petals. As Hausos looked towards his new friend, the mimicking look was still on his face.
"Are there… uh… a lot of them? …corpses?" The smile faded into a look of befuddlement. "Momma says we're blessed to have so much life in her domain. Flowers grow there all the time. And I don't think we ever see any… uh… corpses."
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Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2020 1:17 pm
Hecate passed him a sidelong look. How quickly Hausos changed his tune...She wasn't sure how she felt about his verve, having been around nothing but overly serious, silent, and mournful things so far in her young life. But a pang of something did hit her when he spoke about his home, and her ears twitched as if to swat it away.
"Dunno," she said casually with a shrug as they moved on. "Dad makes it sound like everything here used to be dead. But rocks can't die, and obviously stuff is growing, and we're here. So." It was probably one of Father's weird, morbid fairy tales to scare her into submission.
"What flowers grow where you live?" She tried not to sound too curious.
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Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2020 1:37 pm
"….oh…" His voice was soft as he responded to her description of where she lived. It sounded… sad. A place where everything was dead? Why would anyone live in a place like that? But it seemed rude to express his troubled concern about that reality, and ruder still to question it, so he just didn't respond to it at all.
Instead, he let his ears perk as she asked about his home. "Oh, all sorts!" Hausos replied, quiet but excited. Conspiratorial. "All sorts of shapes and colors. Some come out during the day. Some only like to come out at night. Some blend in with all the grass like they're shy, but other's like to be the brightest and most glowy. Momma says they're showoffs."
Talking about the plants seemed to really get his excitement going. Even with all the other kinds of life that came to his mother's home, he seemed to bond best with the flowers. They were quiet and patient and always listened. Hausos liked to think of them as his friends.
"Maybe you can come visit! I can be your guide there." He looked at her, his eyes bright and hopeful. He could return the favor. It hadn't occurred to him that his mother might not be too keen on the idea. No, his mind was too busy thinking of all the possibilities—all the things he could show her—to reflect on that truth.
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Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2020 2:09 pm
The way Hausos described them...Hecate knew there were more types of plants out there than she could possibly fathom. Things that didn't consume the dead or have weird names or try to kill you if you got too close. And the pang she had tried to push away earlier came back again, stronger. Hausos's home...It sounded like it had the same color and light that he did. Maybe he had absorbed it the way she and Father had taken to the shadows. Maybe that was why he was so effortlessly happy. That wasn't fair.
Instead of being pleased with his offer, Hecate grew sullen and ignored it. Not like it mattered. He'd be gone soon, forgetting this dead place while he flitted off like a butterfly to better places that the light reached. Why entertain the idea when it wasn't a promise either of them could fulfill?
Hells, why did she ask such a stupid question to begin with?
"These grow specifically on jackalope and peryton bodies," Hecate said, her voice reflecting her dark mood. She pointed out something that looked like either a fluffy-stemmed flower, or else something growing atop and around one. "We ate a jackie and buried its bones here after we prayed. The antlers still stick up out of the ground a little, and the mold grows around it. They like the taste of bones, I guess."
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Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2020 2:18 pm
Hausos seemed to notice the shift in her mood and his ears pressed once again to the side of his head. Had he said something wrong? Did she not like the way his home sounded? He did like it there. It was calm and pretty and… nice. Sure, it was boring, but he wanted to be able to share it. It was nice to see different places, right? Even though this place, with its strange plants that feasted on the dead, wasn't really up his alley, he still appreciated being shown it.
The wolf looked at the plant that she had indicated, though he didn't get close to it like he had the one before. The idea of it made him want to shiver.
Had he been rude? Had he seemed too off-put by what she had shown him? Maybe he was being too insulting.
Hausos glanced back up the ridge. The sun was getting higher, now. His mother would be waking, soon. Had she noticed that he was gone, yet? Was she searching for him? If he got home quickly enough he might be able to hide the fact that he was ever gone, as long as one of the jackalopes didn't tell on him. Which they would, the chattery little things.
"Will…" he looked back towards her. His ears were still flat. While still looking cheerful, his expression seemed to take on a hint of something else. Concern, maybe? Worry? Silly as it might seem, Hausos seemed almost afraid that he'd insulted his new friend. This stranger whose name he didn't even know. "Will you come visit? It's… it's been nice of you to show me around. It would be nice. I promise."
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Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2020 2:30 pm
Hecate pawed at the ground around the moldy antler idly, not looking at him for a few moments. Had it been nice for Hausos? He seemed to be happy, but...She didn't know if she could trust that. If she did, it would mean accepting that someone else was far happier than she had ever known, which meant that her life was actually miserable and that her make-do attitude had been a farce. And yet.
"You don't even know me," she said after a pause. "Why would you promise that? Maybe my father's actually a killer on the run, and this is our newest hideout. Maybe he's training me to be his successor." She glanced at him. "You still want me to come over even if I smell like death?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2020 2:44 pm
Hausos was caught aback, and he didn't hide it very well. His brows raised and his eyes grew wide. Part of him thought that he should high-tail it out of there immediately. That this was just even more confirmation of everything that his mother had warned. How much more evidence did he need? The world was full of death and terror and he should just stay home.
But some part of him didn't want to believe that. That there was no way that the only light in the world existed in his mother's domain.
And even if that were true, it seemed wrong to just squirrel away everything that was good. He should share it, right? Should try to bring a little bit of that light out into the world?
"Well…" he said, his voice soft and subdued. Even if he was optimistic, he wasn't particularly brave about it. "Well I know that you're nice enough to show me around. And to warn me about the mushrooms. And if you were being trained to be a k-killer then… then you wouldn't have been kind like that."
Did he honestly believe that, or was he just telling himself that this interaction had been going better than he had thought? As it to reassure himself, he continued, his voice quiet and small and under his breath. "You… you seem nice, is all. I wanted to return your kindness."
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