reaching respite

@Harper @Valeska

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The duo trekked along the edges of the pains, paws treading northbound as the sun slowly set to their left. Another evening would soon take them ... but as the day had faded, the clouds had begun to roll in. A heavy wind kicked down from the apex of the mountains as the large, firey star stealthily disappeared behind the foggy peaks. There was no brilliant toll of orange and red, no, just an impending mist that deliberately began to creep down the sides of the jagged boundaries of the gargantuan structures. The breeze chilled slightly, nipping at her skin, no longer friendly and warmed by the daylight.

Gaze shifted toward Harper, discontent present in her deep purple eyes as they finally stumbled upon the base of the mountains ... and there it stood before them, a beautiful azure lake. The dying edges of the sunlight reflected on the glassy surface, and even from a distance, there was an unfathomable beauty in the stillness. It seemed to reflect everything, and it almost appeared as though a second sky lived within the boundless depths. The wind seemed to die down, the air seemed to warm slightly - perhaps the heat of the day still lingered upon the surface of the water. Sparse trees decorated the landscape as the plains rolled away into a world that held more character. Grass became rock. Flat, empty terrain became hilly and populated by evergreen trees.

Slowing her pace, the golden woman neared the edge of the water, noting the unfiltered reflection that stared back up at her. She stared into the reflection of her own, hazy purple gaze ... admiring the clarity and wondering, perhaps, if this was her staring back from another life. From the other side of the world. But she dared not shift any closer, the edges of her golden hair standing further and further on edge the longer she bore down into the mirror. Harper could bathe all she wanted, but Amaranth would be caught dead entering this pool ... no matter how alluring it would seem.

Besides, her paws were clean enough from the walk.

+1 Discovery Points

---

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North.

The two girlfriends walked side by side to the north as the light of day crept away and the darkness of night rolled forward. Clouds rumbled ahead and above, threatening the fall of rain with a gentle mist and a cooled breeze. The skies grew dark with a mix of evening and the impending storm that was idling just above them, as if waiting for the perfect moment to strike. A dull roar of thunder, too, could be heard in the distance and the silence. It reminded Harper of the roar of hunger; soft at first, until it grew more violent; more demanding.

The last sights of sunlight littered itself in the reflection of the enchanting azure lake that looked (at least to Harper) more like an evening getaway; an oasis, or even a romantic vacation. The edges of the lake were littered with Clematis Taiga, which climbed the base of nearby trees, though only half way, as if the vines chose not to steal the life from the few remaining trees in which they climbed on. Creeping Rosemary, too, at the base of the rocks, though mostly hidden, but Harper had an eye for these things; she was an arborist, after all, and knew that the Rosemary would keep the evening bugs away, making this spot almost perfect.

The temptation to throw her tour guide into the lake was nagging at her, though she knew from the oddly clear reflection alone, that the golden woman would have seen her assault coming, and therefore, Harper regretfully abandoned the notion to do so - at least for now - as she entered the lake and immediately sunk and let out a gentle sigh of relief. The feeling of entering the lake was magnificent; like a cool wave that washed over every part of her. She would swim in circles, and then back and force, minding her own business, enjoying the silence that would soon be broken by the clash of thunder or the roar of rainfall.

+1 Discovery Points

---

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[narrow width=700]There was no designated meeting-place; they hadn't seen each other in days, actually, nor had they communicated but for a few distant howls requesting to gather at the foot of the mountain range known to the locals as Fate's Summit. Amaranth had sounded... different, somehow. Excited, or as close to excited as she could come given her languid, dreamy persona. She floated through life more than she walked.

Regardless, Valeska would heed the call, and slowly made her way to the designated place. The wind blew strongly Eastward, taking with it whatever scent-trail she might have otherwise been able to pick up - she would have to trust her eyes to spot her faithful, flighty shaman here. As she approached, the trees parted as if in ceremony, and the little wolf gasped audibly.

It was beautiful. The overcast skies lent a silver sheen to the lake's surface, giving it an ethereal reflection that rivaled the pale moon's glow in summer. Even shaded in grey skies, the grass was vivid green, the trees themselves reaching up high enough to touch the clouds; she had never seen anything so vibrant and full of magic as this place. She wanted to move, she wanted to run, to race herself to the water's edge and-

Amaranth! She could distantly spy a golden fleck on the opposite side of the lake, her pelt reflecting the surface in a shimmering halo around her. Valeska set off at a brisk trot, tail wagging gleefully - was this what she wanted to show her?

And then she saw the water ripple, something big and dark splashing about in its depths. Had she brought someone? Amara was known to collect... things, and creatures too, so it wouldn't be all that unusual.

As the silver wolf neared, she could make out more detail - dark brown fur, laced with ribbons of black and grey - amethyst eyes - amethyst eyes-

Smoke and vanilla.

Valeska screamed, closed the distance between them in approximately five leaps, and flew into the water like a furry cannonball right on top of her sister.

Boink!

Like a pebble against a boulder, she flung herself at Harper again.

Boink!

And again.

Boink!

Finally, she settled for splashing noisily over and clambering on top of the dark female's back, breathing heavily as she wrapped her arms around Harper's neck in a tight, loving chokehold.

"Я думал что больше никогда тебя не увижу," — "I thought I would never see you again" she whispered through quiet tears. "I thought you gone from me. My heart, my soul. How did... how did Amara find you?"[/narrow]

+1 Discovery Points

---

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Harper brushed gruffly past the golden lady, not hesitating for a moment as she waltzed straight into the crystalline lake; unabashed, unafraid of the depths and what mystery or danger they held. The surface heaved, disrupting as Harper's gargantuan form broke the peaceful stagnation. Ripples erupted from every side of her, tiny waves crashing forward onto the small, beachy edge of the water. The azure waves lapped at Amaranth's toes, and she took a casual backstep to spare herself from the hungry edge. A single paw lifted, shaking free a rogue droplet that managed to touch the edge of her toes. There was apathy edged on her features, deep amethyst gaze peeling themselves away from the water and deciding instead to gaze about the beauty of their new surroundings.

It was almost ethereal here. There was a soft silence laced in the air and a tenderness about the breeze that touched her cheek. It felt ... lucid, somehow ... as if the wind could speak to her and the trees would dance with her. She could sense the energy that flooded this place ... and she knew, in that instant, that they had found something unusual and amazing here. She wanted nothing more than to explore, her hungry gaze now roving over the edges of the landscape ... conifers sprouted from small ledges of rock that teetered over the lake; pines, spruces, and larches. They were quiet, for now, but she knew that deep within their needled fingers, there were secrets.

Soft blinks passed the time as Harper bathed. But it was not long before the silence would be disrupted by a familiar, small snowball of a creature. Down the slope she rolled, faster and faster as her momentum spiraled out of control. As if on cue, Amaranth drifted to the side, just in time for Valeska to launch her sturdy, compact form into the lake ... a small boulder that landed directly atop Harper's far more hulking frame.

The splashing that persued persisted for a few moments before Valeska's glistening eyes were once again visible. The two swam together in a perfect sort of disconnected harmony ... twisting around one another in the water, circling in an emotional reunion. Amaranth was silent, an invisible golden shadow. A dull heat rose from her chest and rested in the base of her throat as she quietly watched the sisters, flooded unexpectedly by an emotion that she could not place. It burned her chest and stung her eyes; it was almost physically uncomfortable. Heavy and dark, like an unlit, moonless evening; and she had to swallow - hard - to erase the uncomfortable weight that it brought. 

She wanted to speak, to tell Valeska that she'd made good on her promise. 
'I found her. I found her for you.'

But she said nothing.

Instead, she swallowed again, finding respite in the fact that the heat was slowly draining from her chest ... her vision once again clearing.

+1 Discovery Points

---

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For Harper, swimming had always been a way to relax. Of course, she had not learned of the wonders of swimming until after Dimas had exiled them. Their mother had tried to teach Harper about acceptance and forgiveness and how there was always some sort of silver lining. Her love for nature and swimming would likely never have been discovered, since it was far too cold for both swimming and all things nature.

The two acquaintances were enjoying - or rather, Harper had assumed that Amaranth was also enjoying the silence between them when the clash of thunder of the impending storm seemed to erupt behind them. It was loud, an oddly canine sounding. It took all Harper all of a moment to realize that it was not the clash of thunder, just as the silver bullet that was headed straight towards her was not actually a grounded lightning bolt with her name on it.

Why.. Harper had never seen her sister run so fast! Or perhaps it was that Valeska darling was so far away, it looked like she was running fast? Harper tilted her head in wonder, while also watching Amaranth as she seemed to not enjoy the water, and how the golden guardian miraculously moved out of the way at just the perfect time. Interestingly, also, how that grounded lightning bolt of a sister was not seeming to appear as though she was going to slow down.

Oh.

Oh no.

No, fact, Harper watched with great horror as Valeska leapt to join her. Immediately, the emotionally detached, hardened woman felt a wave of emotions as she was repeatedly boinked until finally, Valeska climbed aboard her vessel of a sister as she looked helplessly at Amaranth. “You are missing all of the fun, lovely.”

‘I thought I would never see you again,’ Valeska would speak in their mother tongue, causing Harper to swivel her head to glance at her passenger-sister. “Я не знаю, что случилось, или мы настолько мертвы, как думает Амарант, но пока на небе есть звезды, я обещаю тебе, что я всегда найду дорогу к тебе” — I do not know what happened, or if we are as dead as Amaranth thinks, but so long as there are stars in the sky, I promise you that I will always find my way back to you.", Harper would respond, though nodding towards the golden guardian with arched brows. “Mover Earv not vink Harper as yum yum as Amara do.” A direct quote, Harper would swim the two of them towards Amara. “Be almost one wiv ground and Mover Earv ven Amara came to rescue. Am vankful to be saved by Amara, but sad Amara no join in reunion swims.”

@Valeska
@Amaranth

+1 Discovery Points

---

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[narrow width=700]Like a tiny seafarer on a small ship, Valeska thumped her tail in the water like a rudder, moving as if she could use it to steer her sister about. Water didn't bother her in particular, nor was she unusually fond of it; Harper was the fish of the family and took great pride in her swimming ability, her legs moving in confident, powerful strokes as she bobbed steadily over the surface. By comparison, the pale sibling could do enough to paddle and keep herself afloat, but she tired quickly and found that the drying off process was much more hassle than it was worth.

In this instance, however, she didn't care.

But someone did.

So caught up in the heat of the moment, she had not paid immediate attention to Amaranth - the one who had worked so hard to bring the sisters back together, who had found this incredible mountain oasis, and who for some reason remained doggedly loyal to her silver friend through all of the trials life had thrown at them thus far.

Valeska could say she was like a sister, too, but she... wasn't. She smelled too good to be a sister. She was something else that couldn't quite be placed yet, but she was as close to her heart as the gruff Harper was; soft and golden, mist and lavender. The look on her face was almost imperceptible, but Amara displayed so few emotions on a daily basis that Valeska could see it flicker across her expression for just a moment in time.

Was she lonely?

Paddling her tail-rudder, Harper was already turning as if on cue. “Amara - do you not swim? You are welcome to join! Am already miserable and wet, will take ten thousand years to dry. Amara - Amara...” she said gently, trailing off. “You are also our heart. And if you do not come to us, we will come to you - uff! - come, Harper, let us CUDDLE.” Swinging a hind leg over her sister, pain shot up her flank as she suddenly remembered her still-healing wounds, and with her nose scrunched in pain she let out an odd sort of strangled sound. Nevertheless, she slid into the water with a 'plop!' and gave Harper a peck on the cheek as she paddled diligently back to shore toward her friend, and still soaking wet, craned her head and wrapped her neck about the golden wolf in a loving embrace.
“Thank you,” she whispered.

... Harper was still in the lake.

“Harper, this group hug. Get out of water, fishy-wolf.”[/narrow]
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A gentle backpedal took her from the splash-zone as the two sisters tumbled in joyous reunion. It was a good deed she had done, this chaotic wolf; and yet she could not realize it. For good and evil, light and dark ... they were but two sisters as well. You could not have one without the other; could not have joy without pain, could not have love without suffering. Valeska and Harper were perhaps two wolves that very much embodied that sentiment - and it would have been foolish for Amaranth, this sulking agent of chaos, to deny the world their sacred union.

And she'd grown quickly comfortable being ignored, instead mesmerized by the way the light and dark danced together in the water. Blending, merging, and shifting. Their energies were uncontrollable as they coiled and collided (or rather, boinked, as Valeska would say), entwining until finally, they slowed into a steady surge of gentle breathing. The ripples quelled for a moment, as they shared some sentiment in a language that Amaranth did not comprehend.

And then, like little piranhas, their eyes turned toward her ... did they look at her at the same time?? How did they --

“You are missing all of the fun, lovely ... sad Amara no join in reunion swims.”
“Amara - do you not swim?"

They were converging on her, their soggy bodies rising from the lake like sopping zombies. Of course, she didn't swim, wasn't that obvious? She loathed the water, in fact ... in fact, she wasn't sure she could even swim, if she were being truthful (which she wouldn't be, of course). Valeska found her first, her dripping frame colliding into her like a small (but somehow welcomed) boulder.

At first, the shock of the water on her skin instinctively urged her to recoil - the dampness reminding her of a distant time of panic and fear and death. But she could feel the underlying heat of Valeska's skin pulling her, instead, forward. Held breath exhaled gently through tight lips as the muscles of her body unwound, softening easily into Valeska's embrace. Something told her to run - to spit in her ear like she had Kishi's, to turn away from her and forget everything. It was easy to lure them in, to use others for temporary gain ... to revel in the chaos of their life, and to learn their story and then toss them away. And that was what Amaranth did ... she preferred to be alone, to watch the chaos unravel in her wake rather than stand in it. Because feeling happiness inevitably meant feeling pain ... 

... but she did not move away.

Her muzzle coiled around Valeska's neck as the woman exhaled words meant only for her ears: "Thank you."

She pushed away her instincts to run. Swallowing it.
For once ... she wanted ... she wanted to stay.

"Anything for you," she purred gently, unable to stop herself from uttering the words before hoping that she wouldn't regret saying them. Her body concentrated on the gentle breathing of the other, a wave of something new falling over her amidst the tumultuous chaos that often encapsulated her mind. An abbreviated moment of solace; peace. And then ...

“Harper, this group hug. Get out of water, fishy-wolf.”

And then she awaited impact.

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Come, Harper, let us CUDDLE.

 “начало объятий..” — Initiating cuddling.. Harper cooed gently in a sing- song voice, attempting to nuzzle into her sister’s quick peck of affection as Harper, former Devil Wolf now dubbed Fishy-Wolf, leapt from the lake, following the grounded silver bullet.

 “Sabe vome Amaranthhh fer meeee..” Harper cooed and nagged, grinning over towards them as Harper would come to coil around the semi-damp golden woman. As much as she had wanted to jump and sit on them all very affectionately, Harper was worried that she was much too big to do so without injury. The odd sound her sister made caused her to question if something was amiss, but now was not the time to bring up such a matter. She would come to attack Amarath’s face in very slobbery kisses with no intentions of stopping.

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[narrow width=700]Amaranth’s reluctance was not lost on her, and she could feel her muscles coil and tense like a snake ready to lunge, to flee, to slither away back into darkness where she felt safe and unnoticed. Valeska’s response was to hold her ever tighter, gently but firmly, pleading through the gentle pressure of her face buried in the golden wolf’s neck - please, don’t leave. She knew her friend was not one for public displays of affection in this way, but it meant a great deal to her, and she didn’t know another way to communicate her feelings but through touch.

’Anything for you.’

The words were so soft, she almost didn’t catch them. Her eyes welled with tears as she crammed her face further into the woman’s shoulder, inhaling her scent and letting the lavender fill her senses like one drunk on a heavy wine. Amara was still a mystery, but Valeska was always grateful whenever she allowed one of her puzzles to be solved. Everyone - even a wolf as distant and dreaming as she - was made to be loved.

Harper emerged at last, parting a patch of bulrush that made its home in the lake as she strode forward and unceremoniously began peppering their friend with kisses, forcing Valeska to laugh as she only imagined Amara’s displeasure. Everyone wanted to be loved, but perhaps not in the same way.

“So we make our Elysium again?” she said at last, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks. “Just like before.”

She looked up as a flock of geese flew overhead, honking very unromantically but formed in a perfect V-shape. They were going home, it seemed.

Valeska sniffled. “Home is wherever I am,” she began, nuzzling them both. “... with you.”
[/narrow]
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this is literally a post i shat out after my work-of-art of 3 hours was deleted ... so I'm so sorry. i'm an upsetti spaghetti.

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Amaranth retreated into the silken, frosted depths of Valeska's frost-kissed fur; the scent of pine enveloping her. Overwhelming her. Holding her. Taunting her. Valeska tested deeper the waters, pressing and surging into the protective barrier that Amaranth had so carefully woven around herself. And it was not a physical barrier, no, for Amaranth welcomed many within that realm. Instead, it was the emotional barrier that Valeska tested. It was a place that many did not dare to venture, for it was but an endless chasm of emptiness that coiled around her thorned heart. Shadows embraced her at her core, making it near impossible to stick. Even Kishi, with his fangs of fire and iron, could not keep his grip. And yet ... here stood Valeska, pressed against her. Urging her closer.

A bittersweet symphony.
This potent little woman with her coarse fur and her delicious little plume of a tail.

Amaranth softened, wearing her thinly-veiled emotions on her sleeve.
A soft exhale brushed past her pursed lips, escaping gently ... gentle as silk against Valeska's skin.

Silver and gold. “With you...”

And then Harper collided, her gargantuan frame colliding with them and pummeling Amaranth with damp kisses. The force of impact peeled Amaranth from her embrace with the smaller, stockier frame of her counterpart, but the onslaught of excited kisses did not cause her to snarl angrily ... instead she smiled, a soft exhale of happy giggles on her lips that she quickly realized and swallowed. The trio mingled together there and then, perfectly imperfect. They were family, they were trust, they were abnormal, they were ethereal. They were Elysium.

“So we make our Elysium again? Just like before?”

"Yes," Amaranth replied easily, her head now pulled away from the comfort of Valeska's bosom. Her deep lavender eyes looked upon the two. "Yes." The repetitive nature of the word solidified the idea within her mind. Our Elysium. Ours. Ours. Mine. A glint sparked, deep within those cavernous lavender pools, swirling deeply with an unnatural sense of emotion. They were hard to read, yes, but there was something so easily discernable about them now. She would protect these two wolves - she would cherish them. For they were a part of her being, a part of her soul that she did not dare to give up so easily. They had been collected. And Amaranth guarded her protection ... perhaps with her life (her second life?), if needed.

"Come, then," she said suddenly, flicking her golden tail and casting one final ... long ... glance ... at Valeska as she turned her lanky body toward the Respite. "We should go explore this new kingdom together," she concluded. And without looking back over that slender gold shoulder, she moved away, moving toward the shadows of the yawning mountain and tracing the edges of the lazy lake that expanded before them. This would be their home, together, in this second life and for always.

---

Amaranth Exits

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