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Post by Vyn on May 9, 2008 13:32:26 GMT -5
With a mid-afternoon sun trying desperately to stretch its rays through the thick canopy above, Imre and his siblings were outside attending to the chores Vren had assigned them. It was a nice day, everything seemed to be going smoothly, and, to Imre's unspoken surprise, he found himself in a pleasant mood as he moved about to check bander feeders and other such things. As Imre went about his chores, a small noise reached the edge of his hearing and caused the young crow to perk his attention. He glanced around briefly, finding Poe preoccupied and Parzifal momentarily out of sight. There was no one to verify the sound or to dissuade his curiosity with a dose of proper paranoia. So, like any young male would, Imre shifted over to investigate. It didn't take him long to slowly pinpoint the sounds or find the source of them. Two figures occupied the clearing Imre had found, one being the body of what appeared to be a recently deceased man from a neighboring region and the other had his back to him but was, to Imre's dismay, alive...if only somewhat so. It only took Imre a second to know what to do: back up, get out of there, and don't stick around to see if this stranger was 'friendly' or 'safe'. His head was too full of awful memories to just stick around. If you found a man just staring at a corpse, you got the hell away from them before they got you too. Yet, before Imre couldn't make his great escape, he heard the shuffle of Poe's feet and was haulted by the sound of her soft voice calling to him. "Imre? What did you find?"She stepped up behind him then and Imre watched in horror as the color drained from her face below her dark feathers. Oh no. There was no getting out of this unnoticed, not now. |
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Post by The Jenn on May 9, 2008 15:42:05 GMT -5
Lior's breath rasped harshly, almost seeming to rattle around in his lungs. He stared down at the dead man in front of him, not seeing anything but his state of being. Ribs stuck out prominently beneath a large, black-winged cloak and his tongue felt like sandpaper against the roof of his mouth. He was trembling, barely able to stand now that he was slowly coming back to himself. Where... was he? How did he get here? Who was this person, a Torquehelm canine male with froth around its lips and gums? Why were they dead? The aura of dread that hung around the pale-furred feline made Parzifal freeze in his tracks, having come up behind Imre with their sister and opened his beak to ask a very similar question. Now the words stuck in his throat and he could hardly move. What was this man? As the lowest-ranked of his siblings, the aura hit him the worst and his legs trembled slightly in fear. Was this... death? The feline slowly turned his head, gold eyes sunken and hollow. They were also filled with confusion. "W-wh-" He coughed, the sound harsh, and tried to wet his mouth to try again. It didn't work, however. There was nothing to moisten his tongue. He drew a sharp breath, the wave of hunger and dizziness overpowering him, and slowly crumpled to the ground. |
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Post by Vyn on May 10, 2008 16:09:51 GMT -5
Poe couldn't help but let out a choked sound of fear, shaking her head slowly from side to side as she began to pull away as quickly as she could. This, of course, wasn't very quickly as she was ever reduced to her shuffling gate less she kill herself on her own bindings and o! by the heavens above she did not want to die like that.
Not now. Not in front of her siblings, they didn't need another death.
But that's what that creature was, wasn't it? Death... Another note of fear escaped her but this time she simply surrendered and buried her head against Parzi.
Imre, on the other hand, stood firm and perplexed. The dread washed over him and the sounds of concern radiating from his siblings was unmistakable, but there was also a morbid curiosity which connected to it all and which drew the mixed corvid forward.
The feline had collapsed to his knees and, for all the dread he oozed of, he didn't seem all to threatening. Besides, death couldn't die and this 'Reaper' appeared quite close to just that. "You're in the Tugley Wood. I'm Imre, my siblings are Parzifal and Poe." His brows knitted as he tried to think of anything else that could have started with that 'wh' sound. Who, what, when, where, why? ...Well, he couldn't answer a great deal of those. "You look hungry, you should come inside."
How strange and yet how fitting: the one person that didn't unnerve Imre was a half-dead oddity that stalked corpses.
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Post by The Jenn on May 12, 2008 21:18:31 GMT -5
Parzifal felt frozen, staring at this slowly crumpling thing that didn't seem entirely human but was far too tangible to be a specter. He was jolted out of his frightened passivity when he felt his sister shuffle against his side and bury her face in the feathers of his neck and shoulders. He shook himself slightly, one wing extending to curl around her and tuck her close, the gesture distinctly protective. It also helped that he was in turn comforted by her warm weight against his side, but that was more a subconscious thing.
"It's alright, Poe," he whispered, turning his beak so that he could say it right next to where her ear was hidden. He wasn't all that certain of his words, but he had to believe them enough to say them with conviction for her sake, and for his family he could do a lot. Even sound as though this horror in front of them wasn't going to be inflicting harm on any of their persons.
Lior's head slowly raised as his unspoken question was answered, the action feeling as though it took hours to complete. He felt weighed down and lightheaded at the same time, dizzy and hungry and thirsty and exhausted. What... what had happened? What couldn't he remember now? It was all so frustrating. He stared helplessly at the young bird, and then days spent awake finally took their toll and he collapsed in a dead faint next to the very dead body.
The young raven stared, perplexed. He still felt menaced, even asleep, but it was an irrational feeling and he didn't understand it at all. "We should... tell Vren about this," he said slowly, having to work not to slur his words beyond recognition. The dread still bubbled around in the back of his mind, impossible to ignore.
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Post by Vyn on May 13, 2008 7:41:11 GMT -5
Poe trembled, clinging to her brother in the best way she could. She could hear Imre's soft voice from a bit further ahead and she knew, even though she didn't want to, that he was talking to that thing.
"Y-Yes, let's." She pulled herself back from Parzifal just enough to see and found herself staring at the unconscious feline and her brother, leaning over the bodies spread on the forest floor. "Imre... Imre come with us, Vren will help..."
Imre trembled as the male collapsed, his brows knitting again and his expression beneath the mask growing into one of concern. His heart felt cold with dread, but he was curious too.
Poe's words caught him off guard, but he slowly looked up and blinked a little at his sister. "We shouldn't just leave him like this, he'll get attacked by the things that come to eat the dead man. You two go ahead to Vren, I'll stay here and keep an eye on him."
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Post by The Jenn on May 14, 2008 13:04:39 GMT -5
Parzi didn't like the idea of leaving his brother alone with the two prone forms, not at all, especially after he noted that things would be coming swiftly once the scent of a corpse reached them through the forest. What would Imre do to protect the gruesome feline?
Nevertheless, he needed to get Poe out of there and his brother seemed more comfortable with the downed man than either of them, so he nodded once, slowly. "Alright. We'll hurry. Please be careful and stay out of sight. Maybe fly up into a tree and keep lookout from there?" He knew the limitations of the other mix's peripheral vision and would feel much better if he were in a tree, far safer than he would be on the ground. He would leave with their sister as soon as he had reassurance.
Lior remained dead to the world, his breathing no longer ragged and rasping. It had fallen into a pattern of normalcy, no longer affected by the death around him.
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Post by Vyn on May 14, 2008 13:44:17 GMT -5
Imre made a small face in response to his siblings' worry, but he was quick to relent. If he argued with them over whether or not he was safe, he'd only end up prolonging the time it would take to fetch Vren.
"Alright."
Abruptly he spread his wings, pushing off the ground and darting upward into the trees where he could nestle among the leaves and branches and keep himself out of sight.
Poe made a small noise in the back of her throat once Imre spoke up, surprised by his subtle defiance. He'd...rather stay outside with that dreadful stranger than come inside where it was safe? Parzi luckily added a bit of rational to his refusal and Imre soon lifted up to vanish among the tree branches.
"L-Let's go, Parzi... I don't want Imre to be alone with him for too long." Not with the monsters that would eventually show up, nor with the stranger.
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Post by The Jenn on May 14, 2008 18:11:28 GMT -5
Without his brother's agreement to play it safe, Parzifal would not have left him to the mercy of the Wood at night, alone, and next to a very fresh corpse. As it was, he didn't feel entirely comfortable with the situation, but it was better than nothing. Without his sister to care for, he would have taken wing and gotten back to the tower as quickly as he could. Instead, he kept one wing outstretched to comfort his sister and nodded. "Yes, let's go. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can come back for him."
The crow headed back to the tower, sister in tow, to inform their master of the strange events and even stranger Outsider.
Without interference, Lior remained in his unconscious pile, cloak settled around him like a heap of small birds. No predators had appeared as of yet, but it was only a matter of time with the number of nocturnal predators there were in the Wood.
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Post by Vyn on May 14, 2008 20:40:50 GMT -5
Poe let out a heavy sigh of relief, shuffling along with her brother as quickly as she could. It felt so irresponsible to leave her little brother alone in the woods with that stranger. He was so weird, so...wrong. She couldn't bare to leave Imre with him for any longer than she possibly had to.
Imre remained on his branch, staring down into the darkening world below. Time was running out with every ticking second and Imre was forced to watch in silent anticipation. He had promised to stay up in the three, but if something were to happen... Well, he wouldn't be able to linger up there.
He'd have to do something.
As Poe reached the tower, she trembled again and nudged open the door. "How did an outsider manage to wander..." She shook her head, trying to brush off the anxiety she felt. There was no use asking 'how'. All that mattered was getting back to Imre.
"S-Should I wait here?" As much as she honestly hated to admit it, Poe was a burden when it came to speed. Parzi would be able to reach Vren and be back again far more quickly than she could.
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Post by The Jenn on May 15, 2008 22:16:15 GMT -5
As soon as they arrived back at the tower, Parzifal pulled his wing away from his sister and carefully nudged her with the tip of his beak. "You'll be alright just inside the door, and it should only take me a minute to fly up to his floor and let him know what's been going on. Wait just a moment and I'll be back, alright? I want him out of there just as badly..." With another rub of his beak, the crow opened the tower door for his sister and took wing, flying up several stories and heading in an upper window.
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Something slowly slunk along the forest floor, something dark and spiny, about as large as a cat. It blended well with the underbrush, its spiny fur an inky green. Carefully, it approached the two prone forms and began to sniff, nose first towards the deceased man and then towards Lior. Apparently the feline smelled more promising than the man with foam stuck to the fur around his mouth and the creature began to move forward.
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Vren and Parzifal came down the stairs only about two minutes after the crow had disappeared. The human mage looked interested, any irritation at being disturbed having been dispelled by the young man's urgent summons. "Well then, let's go," he said briskly, motioning for the two birds to follow him as he opened the front door and went out into the night. He would expect them to lead him where he needed to go.
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