stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to

[narrow width=700]@Amaranth 

Kye takes up the assignment of learning all the nooks and crannies surrounding the lake with almost boundless energy. It combines at least two of her favorite activities — exploring and making things her business — so it's to be expected she would take so quickly to scouting and committing everything to a mental map until she knew it like the back of her paw.

... But first, a nap.

The sun has set by the time she awakens, beneath the inconsistent shade of some dry-rotted branches strewn across the bank. She unfurls herself in lazy stages, rolling shoulders and dipping her front half down to a classic yoga pose until she's satisfied that all her muscles are loosened and ready to go. Off she goes with a purposeful shake of her pelt to dispel the sand; tonight, she'll find that waterfall.

Not that it's going to great lengths to hide itself or anything (on the contrary, it's always distantly thrumming) but her previous efforts to pinpoint the sound ended with her giving up because it turns out it's much farther than she initially anticipated. Probably not too safe to go wandering alone, but that hasn't stopped her before. However, Valeska's scolding might, so she hopes to run into at least one of her family on the way that she can rope into the expedition.[/narrow]
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Another day passed, and the gilded woman had spent the sunlit hours slowly perusing the edge of the river, seeking the treasures that this new purgatory offered them. The Respite had delivered a relative haven to the Elysium wolves ... and for that, the tired lot was certainly thankful. But there was one thing that had not been rescued in the transition from the boneyard to this oasis, and that was her precious collection. Amaranth could not say that she was not ... disappointed in her loss. It had been a tedious, arduous process to collect her treasures, and each piece had held special meaning. Specifically some certain feathers from some certain, devilish sea-bird cretins.

The woman paraded herself slowly around the lake, gently noticing the flora that blossomed here, from cottongrass to vanilla orchids. But these herbal treasures were not her goal today, no ... for in her jaws she gently clasped a piece of pointed, white crystal. Her first prize, a rare and exotic piece that had likely spent some time in the basin of this lake before washing up upon the shore to be blanched by the sun's harsh light. It had called to her, and she had answered ... gently scooping the quartz up in her jaws before continuing her persistent circle around the small lake. The sun was setting, already hidden behind the steep edge of the cliff that rose to the west ... casting the valley below in a cold shadow.

Form the edge of her eye, she spotted the brown, flowing fur of a familiar, younger figure. Excitement tickled the edges of her skin, causing her golden fur to stand on end. Auric ears pressed forward, a muffled wuff escaping her jaws from betwixt the edges of the pointed stone she carried - calling out to her ... her precious gull-hunter. Buckeye.

She knew that the younger woman had survived, but she'd yet to reconvene with her younger counterpart ... and perhaps there was an adventure to be had tonight. She would have smiled wider, had her maw not been so preoccupied.

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[narrow width=700]She bounces to a stop, then, when the soft voice reaches her. Ask and ye shall receive!

Amara rounds the bend of the lake, and though she's not quite close enough yet for her to identify it, Kye can tell from the way her jaws are misaligned that the golden woman has collected something and was bringing it back to... wherever she's keeping her things nowadays. It makes her wonder what became of all those treasures she'd gathered back in the temple, which churns up more memories of loose sand and flurries of white feathers. 

Coppery blood and brittle bones. A conversation about a stranger. 

Kye never did learn Amara's connection to that man — but that was a story from another world.

Right now there's a waterfall to be found and only so much nighttime left in which to do it. She turns to meet her friend halfway, bi-colored tail waving like a banner in her wake. "Amara! What'd you find?" What she can see of it as she draws closer refracts the ambient light of the lake in a jagged way, so she relegates it to some kind of rock that she's certain Amara is drawn to or she wouldn't have considered bringing it home.

[/narrow]

@Amaranth
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It did not take long for Buckeye’s slender features to light up with recognition. Warm, glowing eyes shimmered in the early evening, reflecting the dying rays of the sun as it settled down behind the horizon. Amaranth enjoyed basking in that ethereal glow, that distant familiarity washing over her body and easing her frail mind. Deep lavender pools burned, a warm and devouring hue of purple that brightened the otherwise shadow-kissed features of her gilded face. She was fire, and shadow, and melted gold. 

And she was happy to see her friend.

“Amara! What’d you find?” Kye’s gaze drifted toward the prize that was clutched betwixt gentle fangs. Teeth and stone twinkled in the rising moonlight. Amaranth lowered her head, slowly, releasing the crystal from her grasp and placing it upon the rocky terrain at her feet. Her eyes danced curiously as she beheld her prize - awe and fascination printed across her features. The glimmering rock seemed to reflect in her purple gaze as she exhaled softly and smiled. “A piece of stardust,” she mused, ears flicking forward as her head and gaze lifted, the full intensity of that purple fire now focused upon Buckeye.

“There are many treasures here,” she continued, gently using a paw to slide the quartz beneath a nearby stone. A mental note was engraved in her mind as to where this precious, magical piece would be left, and she would come back for it later ... to bring it to ... well, wherever she ended up deciding to make her den. There were quite a few pieces that needed to be gathered and put on display.

But that was for another time. For there was far more to explore.
And she certainly couldn’t talk to Buckeye with a piece of stardust in her mouth.

“What of you? Have you found anything ... interesting?” The smiled expanded across her face, dark lips twisting upward as she examined Buckeye curiously. Her golden plume waved gently behind her, anticipation building and gathering in her chest with a rather chaotic burst of energy. 

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[narrow width=700]By now she was standing directly before the gold-pelted mystic, her eyes following as Amara gently lets go of the rock so that it rests right between them, glimmering in the moonlight. "Stardust, huh. It's pretty," Which was really all you needed, and she imagines the woman could go into what sort of magic it held when they didn't have more pressing matters to attend to. 

"Yes! Well, sorta. Actually, there's something I want to find," Excitement lends a sharpened edge to Kye's already keen gaze, narrowed as she finds the lavender eyes of Amara to measure how up to it the woman may be. "You can hear that, right?" She angles an ear off in the rumbling's direction, offering it a brief glance as she continues, "That waterfall. Have you been there?"

At some point she must have sat down, but now she's back on all fours again, posture tense with anticipation to start off running as soon as she gets the answer she's looking for.

"I'm gonna go there tonight — with you, if you wanna." 

Because it would be interesting and maybe weird and right up Amara's alley.

@Amaranth[/narrow]
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Pretty; yes. That was precisely the reason the gilded lady had decided to scoop the stone up between her jaws and carry it around. And perhaps, underneath the beauty, there was unseen energy that would gift her some semblance of subtle power. A power that perhaps arose from the very stars from which this dust had fallen from ... careening through space to land spack in the middle of their lake. Waiting for the right eyes, the right paws, upon which to bestow their majestic influence.

But perhaps that was wishful thinking.

A smile played at the edges of her dark lips as she mused over Kye, slowly blinking those deep purple eyes as the younger lady careened onward with her curiosities and plans for endeavors. "That waterfall. Have you been there?" Amaranth's ears perked, turning slowly atop her golden skull as she listened for the low rumble of the lazy waterfall. Hidden, somewhere, betwixt the granite jaws of the mountain. There was likely endless bounty there, at the waterfall's basin. She shook her head slowly, indicating that she'd not yet been to the waterfall, but the playful glimmer in her eyes indicated her eagerness to explore. Curiosity sent a wave of energy over her frame, causing her tail to wave expectantly behind her and her toes to numb with energy and static.

"I'm gonna go there tonight — with you, if you wanna."

"I thought you'd ever ask," she sang happily, taking a sudden and energetic surge forward to brush lightly past Kye and move toward the foothills of the mountain from where the sound was emerging. After a few steps, she slowed, her slender muzzle peeking over the edge of her shoulder. Golden fur stood on end as the electricity surged across the surface of her body - an eccentric and eerie light twinkling beneath her storming eyes. The smile widened. "Let's find the beast." Tail waved in a steady fashion, a methodical metronome keeping her weaving frame slightly more balanced.

She wondered, then, what may await them. Perhaps it would simply be a waterfall ... but perhaps there was something more mysterious about these lands than that. For they were, remember, blessed by stardust.

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[narrow width=700]Kye's certain of Amara's answer well before she receives it — she can't imagine a scenario where her friend would not want to explore regions unknown, at the very least because of the chance to add to her hoard. Kye hopes for a different kind of bounty; something magical to report back with, a portion of their home that only serves to make it all the more unique to it and the wolves that live here.

I thought you'd never ask. Amara brushes past the younger wolf and Kye's ears perk high on her head as she falls into step, such that she's but a couple of steps behind a fellow explorer. The grin on the golden woman's face is met in kind, toothy and wide across her own narrow features and yellow eyes slit like slivers of the moon, peeking out of the clouds overhead. 

It would serve well as a light on their journey... though Kye figures they would be just as successful by sound alone. Perhaps she's just more attuned to it at the moment, but she swears the roar seems to grow steadily louder the longer they stand here — as if it's impatient.

"Better not keep it waiting!"

She bounds past Amara, long limbs reaching effortlessly across the uneven terrain that heralds the shift from lakeside into forest, though she can only keep up a sprint for so long before it dissolves into a slower (but pointed) gait; as if she has places to be. She assumes Amara is not far behind or right with her, so she keeps her attention mostly forward with ears straining for that continuous rumble.

It does up the ante, for real this time, the closer they get to the mountains.

@Amaranth [/narrow]
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The two women moved forward with the effortless grace that such naive travelers should have. Curious, eager, and blissfully unaware that any danger could possibly be lurking; hungry eyes watching from the peering shadows. It was easy, moving forward through the early evening with Buckeye at her side, their silence enveloping them comfortably as their golden bodies moved together against the deepening indigo twilight. Shimmering and swerving with etheral grace and hungry eyes that scoured the horizon ... tilted ears that hungered for the sound of the beast's mighty roar. They dipped and wove around the lake, leaping from rock to rock as they trapezed along the new landscape with wide eyes and eager souls.

The sound drew them ever nearer to the foothills of the mighty mountain, willing them forth from the safety of the peaceful lake with that roaring siren-like call.

And as they neared, Amaranth slowed, dazed amethyst gaze widening as she beheld the mighty wonder. Buckeye's shorter, stockier frame barreled forward with blissful ignorance, charging toward the waterfall as Amaranth's gate slowed to a steady and solemn walk. And she took a moment to look at everything as they came upon the mighty creature. The air became crisp and chilled around them, mist spraying and a cold fog enveloping them as that mountainous water overflowed ... it barreled over a sheer cliff that decorated the side of Fate's Summit, splashing into a more hollow basin that lingered below. Greenery flourished at the edges of the basin, which seemed to have a tributary that slithered through the earth, leading toward their lake. Amaranth realized then that the mountain ambrosia was feeding their lake ... and it was what gave Elysium life. The water from the very top of the sky itself.

Amaranth neared Buckeye then, picking up her pace for a moment as they scouted the surrounding terrain. Her eyes flashed, glancing toward Kye as her voice lifted ... louder than usual so as to be heard over the churning motions of the cacophonous granite gargoyle. "Water from the sky. From Valeska's gods, perhaps," she half-mused, half-shouted, flashing Buckeye a toothy (but somehow still ominous) grin.

The woman peeled forward, walking slowly and approaching the base of the waterfall. Cold droplets of mist surged into the air, dappling her face ... and that was when she saw the small path that veered off behind the waterfall and into the very bitter darkness. Into the very innards of the mountain itself. Cold air surged forth, kissed with that freezing touch of ice that chilled her to the very bone ... and yet, somehow, it fueled a very dangerous fire within her. Slender golden muzzle peered over her shoulder, intent laced in every fire shimmer that lighted beneath her eyes. "The beast," she barked, nearly screaming now over the thunder of the monster. Her body language said it all, now: 'Shall we?'

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[narrow width=700]The journey seems to end a lot more abruptly, and Buckeye chalks this up to having company to keep her on track. No sooner do they set out does their quarry stand mighty before them — and she isn't aware that Amara has hung back as she bounds forward, limbs splayed and her tail arching slightly just above her ankles as she gazes up the dizzying height of the wall of water. She's in awe of its terrifying beauty, but the surroundings are not to be ignored either; after all, they are here to scout the territory and all the wonders accompanying it.

"I wouldn't expect Nivia to be so showy," She yells in reply to compete with the ever-roaring falls, eyes following the mystic as she slowly approaches the base. Kye follows, searching the rockface until the passage reveals itself; Amara is already approaching it, and while she can hardly hear what the woman is saying, she makes out enough to nod her head with finality. 

"Let's go."

The path is tricky with slick wet rocks, and the cavern that greets them at the end yawns menacingly, if only because they don't know what secrets it holds. Mist soaks her pelt from the continuous curtain pouring down behind them, and the rumbling mutes her voice even if it's been reduced to background noise as her ears adjusted. "... Think anything's in there?" She stares into the abyss, her words perhaps softer than they should be as she's drawn into the darkness.

@Amaranth [/narrow]
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The two moved together towards the mouth of the yawning cavern, beholding the expanding darkness ahead of them. The sheer black enveloped everything, exhaling with a heaviness that outweighed even that of the continual mist that hung in the air around them. The cavern seemed to breathe as if life unseen existed within the walls. The air was unable to hold still, varying temperatures shifting vibrantly across the granite surfaces, twining around the stalagmites and stalactites that dripped from the walls. Growing forth, coiling. Cold and heat that mingled in an oddly electrifying way against her skin.

The sheer mystery of this place ignited her very senses.

"... Think anything's in there?"

Shoulders gently rolled in ambiguity, as if to say 'there's only one way to find out.' The gilded woman blinked her eyes once. Twice. Three times. And her patience waned thin as she willed her eyesight to adjust to the overwhelming shadow so that she could see something, anything. Golden fur stood on end, ears swiveling forward as she listened ... paw steps strode with a slow fearlessness a few steps deeper. The roar of the waterfall seemed to disappear almost instantly, and the silence hung with a hot heaviness around her head. It was then that she heard a low chattering sound ... and she wasn't sure in those first few moments if she was imagining it. Her skin was crawling. She needed to know more.

It was infinitely quiet. And ...
... and so, without warning, a striking bark escaped her lips, piercing through the silence like an unsheathed dagger.

And then the cavern exploded. Sound. Wind. Air. Hot. Cold.

Thousands of tiny pairs of eyes opened, as hot and white as an ember as they screamed in response to her gentle bark. Their wings pounded against the air in a tumultuous, thundering explosion. Amaranth's ears instinctively pressed backward against her head, her body backpedaling a few paces until she practically collided with Buckeye. The bats screamed, taking flight for what felt like infinity. But to Amaranth, whose senses had not yet understood what was happening, it seemed like some sort of demonic summoning. A god, an angel of death, erupting from the bowels of hell to swallow them whole. Perhaps this was purgatory after all, and they had found the gate into hell.

Her mind was roaring, racing, screaming. Her imagination was on fire just as her very senses screamed with sensation. "Argus Panoptes. A demon, a giant with thousands of eyes," she whispered to herself, turning her head against the onslaught of pummeling wings. She pressed her body closer into Buckeye's, not for reassurance, but to protect her from being stolen away into hell. Golden neck arched over Buckeye's shorter frame as the two braced against the impact. And all they could do was wait for the onslaught to end.

To steal them to hell ... or perhaps, if they were lucky, they would escape death once more.
Perhaps Valeska's gods would spare their souls tonight.

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[narrow width=700]Amaranth's stoic fearlessness bolsters Kye's own confidence. They may be facing the gaping jaws of a dark, damp, and boundlessly eerie cavern behind a wall of water, but at least if it pulls her in and swallows her whole she won't be alone in a second death... or, perhaps, one of them will live to tell the tale and the other could live on in stories as The Wolf Devoured By The Cave. Hm. Doesn't quite flow off the tongue — maybe it'll eat Kye first and leave Elysium's mystic to conjure a dramatic recount of her demise. That'd be cool.

Kye finds herself fixated, staying close enough to her friend that their fur touches; at least, until Amara takes a couple of steps forward. The movement breaks Kye from her trance a couple of moments late, such that she's lagging behind in her efforts to follow, her breath suspended in her lungs as every strand of hair on her body seems to stand on end. They don't get far before Amara's voice reverberates suddenly through the walls, and Kye practically leaps out of her skin. "I d-"

But it's too late. The beast awakens in a terrifying conglomerate of bright dots, shuddering and screaming and beating them with the sharp tips of leathery wings. Kye has seen bats before but not in such unreasonable numbers, and she doesn't register them as such as they come pouring out of the cave en masse. Her eyes squeeze shut and she presses herself against Amara, gritting her teeth. She wants to yell but can't find her voice - not like she'd be able to even hear herself over the cacaphony. 

.... And then, it's over.

All she hears is the muffled rumble of water somewhere at their backs, and her eyes slowly peel open again to find that they're both still standing right where they had been before. She doesn't leave Amara's side, but her ears do dare to prick as much as they can from where the woman has her neck draped across her. It's then that she finds her lungs are working again, a breath forced from them and coasting on three words, soft but still echoing in the now deafening silence.

"What the fuck."

@Amaranth [/narrow]
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"What the fuck."

Amaranth's eyes blinked fervently against the quieting swell of darkness that followed in the wake of Argus Panoptes (the many eyed demon, of course). The air, which was previously heaving around them in frantic disarray, seemed to slow and steady. Inhale. Exhale. Until finally there was nothing left but the huff of their own breath and the stutter of Amaranth's teeth fangs against one another. She swallowed, the tension in her shoulders slowly unwinding as breath pressed between her thinly pressed lips. Neck unraveled form the larger frame of Buckeye, sensing now that the danger had — at least for the moment — passed.

"What the fuck, indeed," she whispered, the swear feeling hard and uncharacteristic on her tongue. But she glimmered playfully, tail now waving behind her lithe frame. Her purple gaze turned toward Buckeye, that relative confusion and fear mutating into something of a sick sort of excitement. Curiosity tingled at the edges of her skin, swirling like a deep enigma behind her cool, misted gaze. Such a land of mysteries, waiting with every breath to be unraveled. She could only wonder if Argus Panoptes would return to wreak vengeance upon their poor, mortal bodies ... or if perhaps they had usurped him of his home. And she wondered, briefly, why he had spared their lives.

Did he want them here?
Or would he be back to torment them again tomorrow?

"We should tell the others. Perhaps we can exorcise the demon and use this cavern for ourselves." Her gaze fell from Buckeye to glance around the deserted grotto. She wouldn't dare, at least not yet, to venture deeper into the caverns. Not until they had more bodies to back them up. The thousand-eyed demon certainly would not hold them in good favor for very long. Certainly, those thousands of sets of immeasurable eyeballs were preparing their next move.

The low rumble of the waterfall called to her against a backdrop of dim light from the outside world, reminding her of the exit. Of the world that awaited them outside of this strange, yawning cavern. A glimmer of teeth flashed against the darkness as she swiveled her head again toward her young companion. "If nothing else, we certainly have a good story." Lips pulled upward almost invisibly against the darkness as her body turned toward the exit, bounding forward with a few graceful leaps. "Come," she crooned over her shoulder, moving with a renewed sense of energy as adrenaline continued to circulate within her veins.

---

Amaranth exits unless stopped.

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[narrow width=700]Amara uncoils from her, acting as a sort of bookend to the fearsome thing they had both just witnessed. Her eyes flick to the mystic as she echoes her sentiments, and Kye finds that her lips are beginning to raise in a very uncertain, elated grin. We survived. Her heart is abuzz with a different sort of energy now — the excitement of the hunt, perhaps. Now that they'd seen this beast, and knew where it resided... 

"It is a nice cave, if you ignore the demon," She agrees with a second appraising look into the darkness, though much like her friend she makes no moves to take a single step further in right now. No, they'd definitely need to come back with the rest of the pack, or a few at the very least. Two wolves were not enough, no matter how much they might fancy themselves demon-slayers.

As Amara moves to depart, Kye lingers for just a couple of seconds more, her tail curling and uncurling about her ankles before she returns to reality and bounds away to join her companion. "Wait up!"
 

[Exit Buckeye] [/narrow]

 

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