[PRP] Decay Away [Leech/Last Night]

[Amorpheous]

The dappled sunlight coming through the canopy lent warmth to the otherwise cool swamp. Last Night walked through the shadows with quiet steps, followed by none. Sometimes she walked with companions and other times she walked alone. Her wanderings brought her to strange, isolated corners of the swamp where few kin tread. She tended towards solitude, though not for disliking company but rather simply because she did not mind being alone. To be alone was a different state from loneliness. Last Night was too separate, too free to feel lonely. Even here in this quiet area of the swamp with only the buzzing song of cicadas accompanying her, she did not feel a sense of loneliness. She was without gravity and duty.

She pushed through a dense wall of growth getting a long, dead trail of growth caught in her antlers. It cascaded down her neck and onto the ground. Between one step and the next, she shook it free; it slid down with a whisper and she moved on. A few more steps and she found the deep shadow of the gnarled trunk of a tall tree. She stopped, listening and stilling in the containment of the hunt. The tell-tale rustle of feathers had alerted her to the location of a nearby bird. She did not enjoy the hunt nor did she resent it. There was no sorrow or guilt in the hunt and kill. It simply began in stillness and ended there as well.

The hunt started with a slow quiet stalk which resulted in a flurry of feathers as the bird took flight and finished with a large bird gored on Last Night’s antlers, blood trickling down to her gentle face.

0- Menma -0

Thank you so much for agreeing to rp with me! I'm so excited for them to meet!

 

[Mennykins]

He never thought he'd be a part of something bigger than himself. A year ago if you would have told him that he'd be a scout in a flourishing tribe, he would've laughed in your face. Now, here he was, slowly and meticulously walking the border between tribe lands and wild swamp. He had something to protect now- his 'sisters'. Though they weren't blood related, they still meant more to him than any family he'd ever had.

The annoying whine of a mosquito is his ear had him shaking his head, slightly damp black locks falling int his eyes. His tail swayed back and forth behind him like a bored feline as he continued, steps quiet through the shallow waters. A sudden flurry of activity from the trees had him snapping his head in that direction as a flock of birds took off. His gaze narrowed, moving forward to investigate.

It wouldn't be his first time encountering danger- a scouts work was never done. He entered the tight cluster of trees, snorting as the scent of a doe wafted through the air. An intruder. He emerged from the shadows, his scarred face drawn up in a permanent snarl, eyes narrowed. "You're not supposed to be here." He growled, pawing at the dirt as if readying to charge.

Amorpheous

I don't know why, but I imagine Leech having Kovu's voice lol.

 

[Amorpheous]

When she swung her head around, the bird swayed with the movement of her head, wings flapping in a morbid imitation of life. She took him with her silent gaze, no sense of measuring in them, only quietude and impartiality. She did not seem to see him as a threat, though she hardly ever perceived anything to be a threat. The Swamp was as it was meant to be, to live and to die, to fight and to flee, it meant little to her which was meant for her. Even if he did charge, she would have had the protection and the weapon of her antlers, sharp tines deadly when used for violence. As it was though, she only nodded low and soft, the bird drooping forward and lending droplets to the red facade of rivulets already running down her face. Blinking blood away from her eyes, she bent her head back to shift the feathers away from her mouth before speaking.

Her voice was like night, cool, distant, full of mystery while revealing everything, "I apologize for the intrusion. I did not realize that this land had been claimed."

She was no one to claim territory or find herself rooted to one spot, hemmed in by any arbitrary boundaries. She was as ever free, but she did not begrudge others their territory. She tilted her head, her violent crown shifting to follow and her gaze flickered away, back whence she came. She nodded her head, gesturing to an area to his side and presumably the way out of his territory given that it was the direction she came from before saying, "I will leave you then."

0- Menma -0

Hehe, so protective, Leech! ♥

 

[Mennykins]

Leech quietly judged her, posture stiff and muscles rippling beneath his bruise-colored coat. He snorted softly, easing up a bit on the intimidating presence, but he was still wary.

"Well, you're no threat, so..." He mumbled, turning his body to face the path she was walking. "As a Scout of the Mothborn, it's my duty to safely escort you around the territory. It's clear you're not here to disturb the peace, so...C'mon. Move it." The harsh tone was a little less, though still stern. He began walking, alert for danger and making sure she wouldn't stray from the path.

Amorpheous

 

[Amorpheous]

She did not say anything to disagree with him, merely nodded her head serenely. He did not need her to say otherwise, to pose philosophy in the form of hypothetical, nor did he likely want her to express an opposing opinion. Some kin needed that even if they did not like it, others liked it, but didn't need it. He was neither so chose not to say anything, not to say that all kin could be threats if perceived so, that his perception created a reality for him only. For despite her gentle mannerisms, she could be equal parts kindness and violence, though she was never cruel, and therein lay the truth of what kind of threat she could be.

She moved past him, steps quiet and movements a type of controlled grace. The bleeding of the bird was slowing and with movement, the blood on her face was drying dark against her pelt. She considered removing it from her antlers and holding it in her mouth, but that would hinder her ability to respond to the buck should he seek an answer from her. As she walked, following the general direction and path that had lead her to her spot originally. She did not ask about his tribe, this land that they had claimed, for it was not her nature to seek companionship, a family. Tribes were as unnecessary to her as territory, as foreign as the desert. She did not mind his gruffness though; he looked at the world differently from her and that shaped his actions just as it shaped hers. Let him live his life as he chose to live, protecting a land that would inevitably belong to all and few at once, lost and gained in the cycle of the Swamp.

0- Menma -0

I don't know why, but she just doesn't feel like talking...

 

[Mennykins]

Leech didn't mind the quiet. In fact, he preferred it. Chatty does were never his forte- and to be quite honest they intimidated him a little bit. He glanced over at her, walking at his side. He wondered if she was wondering about his face, wondered if she had anything to say at all. A look at her eyes, though, told the whole story. She was there, but not all there, lost in her musings. There was life in her eyes, but laid calm under a blanket of blankness that would probably drive most crazy.

In that moment he realized it.

"You remind me of our tribe leader. She says many things, yet nothing at all, all at once." He spoke, voice quiet enough to keep between them as he led her through the swamp.

Amorpheous

Leech doesn't mind one bit~

 

[Amorpheous]

She was so very close, but also very distant. That was her way of life, her form of freedom that suited her well, though she knew that it suited others ill. Just like he did not mind the quiet, she did not mind it either, not because she enjoyed it, but because it was simple. Similarly, she would not have minded if he preferred to talk. As it was, she let him have his silence, allowing it to settle around her comfortably as she always did.

Turning, she looked at him even as she continued to walk. She focused her eyes for a brief moment, but mostly, she preferred to see the whole rather than individual features as a means of acknowledgement. To look at somekin was to create existence, to be perceived was to be. By seeing his tribe leader in her, he was constructing a version of her that was also a version of reality, no less true than her own version, built that way because it was natural to think relatively. She breathes quietly for a moment rather than answering right away, walking along by his side, "Some things need to be said, other things are strong enough in intention to be understood without saying."

0- Menma -0

Haha, Last Night might not care one way or another, but it's nice to see her being compared to the lovely Rot. o w o

 

[Mennykins]

He snorted softly, not in a condescending or rude manner, just because he was very much amused at how similar this doe and his tribe leader actually were. "You even talk like her too."

He cleared his throat, feeling a little dumb for not knowing what to do in this sort of situation. "Bird looks heavy." He remarked gruffly, glancing to her antlers were the bird was speared. "Can carry it for you if you want." He added. Rot would've given a look for not offering, he could already see it in his mind.

Amorpheous

<333 Rot would probably invite Last Night to become a Wind Walker for the tribe if she wanted :3c I can see them getting along very well just by sitting together and enjoying the swamp.

 

[Amorpheous]

Last Night tilted her head, bird falling to the side, smiling softly at the comparison. There was a vague sense of being flattered by proxy given his obvious respect for his tribe leader. She tried to see others individual, to compare very little, but even she had her own perspective, her own life experience that shaped how she viewed the world.

She looked at him when he offered, smiling, grateful, but she shook her head. “Thank you, but it is unnecessary. It is not too heavy and if I had you carry it, you would not be able to speak.”

She walked on for a moment, quiet, before saying, “Tell me about your tribe. Mothborn, a beautiful name.”

Her gaze was soft as she watched the play of light through the trees. She asked because it seemed a thing of fondness for him. It was something she would not mind hearing about though it wasn’t her way of life because his feelings about the topic would imbue it with interest, a type of beauty.

0- Menma -0

I wish! <333 She's not the type to join a tribe, even as a wandering member. It wouldn't feel right to her since it wouldn't be her home and she'd feel like she was lying to the tribe. She'd appreciate the offer though if he wants to offer. She also doesn't mind visiting just to chat, but her way is to wander and wander, to see and live.

 

[Mennykins]

Leech was a little shocked at the request, but he obliged her without missing a beat. It was...surprising to find himself enjoying a conversation with someone that wasn't from his little family.

A moment of silence while he gathered his words, the song of a bird drifting through the canopy. "The marshes that were ahead of you...they were once a burial ground for kin. Rains flooded the lands, unsettled the bones. Kin came through to search for treasures, taking what was not theirs. There is a heavy feeling over the land, and the spirits are restless."

"It is not so much our land, as it is something we wish to protect. There is so much history there, so much that the swamp provides- and yet it is taken advantage of by kin who don't know any better. The Mothborn believe in protecting the cycle of life. Death is not to be disturbed or sullied, and life is to be celebrated and enjoyed. The Motherfather gives to us, and in turn we must give to her."

He paused for a moment to lead Last Night around a fallen log.

"Above all else, though, it gives a place to those who are lost. Children, the elderly, those who feel they don't fit anywhere else...Rot takes them all in, and loves them all as her own. I have...never met a doe so selfless." He said softly, fondness there, but it was clear the memories of his past were bitter. He quickly hid that away, however, continuing. "There are trees that reach all the way to the sky, and caves so deep they would take years to memorize...beautiful moths in all shapes and colors make their home there. That's why we are called the Mothborn. We see them as guides for the spirits and the swamp."

Amorpheous

I totally understand~! I was a little hesitant about Rot starting her own tribe, but in the end even though she could be strange and distant, she also has a lot of patience and love inside of her as well. ;u; They should totally meet one day~!

 

[Amorpheous]

She did not push while he gathered his words, pulling them deep from the feelings that must have grown deep into his bones. Silence was hardly something to fear, it was as natural as music, noise, and breathing. She listened to his words, but even more closely to how he says them, turning inflection into emotion, and those emotions into understanding, and with that came an appreciation for the beauty that he saw, felt his surge of protectiveness, saw the injustice of the actions of the living. "Life to life, we all return one day to the Swamp, to be claimed once more for the MotherFather."

She paused, following him with sure steps that speak of an inborn grace, careless but careful, practiced but not unnatural. For her, death took away one's claim to one's body. All living creatures were reborn again in one form or the next, a plant can become a kin, and kin the birthplace for plants. Even so, she could understand how to disturb a kin's grave could be seen as the greatest disrespect. "All deaths serve the purpose of the MotherFather, a final journey into solitude and peace, a final deserved rest, a matching gift for the gift of life."

It is then that a moth fluttered out from out of the deep shade, looking hazy in the sunlight where it would have been defined and sharp in the moonlight that its natural time gave it. She follows it with her eyes, admiring its beauty until it tucks itself away to wait for the night, to guide the spirits that lay in this buck's marshland, seen because he was of the frame of mind to see.

0- Menma -0

They should! I would really love that actually! Maybe when Last Night comes for a visit, Leech could introduce them? I think I would definitely set it later in Last Night's timeline since she doesn't revisit places at such quick intervals. Some kin she drifts into every once in a while because they both wander, but since Leech and Rot are more confined to a geographic area, she would have to consciously seek Leech out or come across it again with her random wandering (which would take a while).