the divines gave you a nose for a reason,

whoever joins can decide the exact location! also pls forgive as i figure out phyn ty ily

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once again —

he gasped, legs locked outward like tendrils that reached for nothing but darkness. if he had been fit to remember such days it might have reminded him of his first birth.

although this time it was lonely —

or was it? no father with concerned disappointment, no mother to cry.

perhaps this was better than his first entrance. perhaps it was more forgiving.

neither. the ground was cold beneath frail bones and poor coat. he was to be met with the same rejection each birth, a testament to how he should not be. too early for every place he had been placed.

if his own blood had not seen him fit to love, why would the earth? the cosmos?

they did not.

there was not a wisp in existence — in this plane or the next — that would cradle the useless babe.

that would nurture him and fill his belly with milk to help him grow into all the should'ves his first parents had spoken of.

so heavy lids were ripped back to expose seafoam, owlish gaze rimmed with his panic of rebirth. he did not cry as he did the first, he only struggled to set a steady stream of oxygen from air to lungs. rasped with stuttered breaths.

there were no wonderful things to gaze upon, to soothe his frazzled nerves. only a wide expansive darkness in a cold, harsh climate.

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Setting location just to the east of the Frozen Ground territory :)

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Alduin will try his luck at leaving the castle once more. Not that he doesn’t want to be there, but he needs to leave in search for other, more specific things. So he chances his way over the frozen ocean, sure it wouldn’t be the last time. He hasn’t felt the sickness that comes with leaving Banesteppe yet, but he’s sure it will come. When? He’s not sure. But he is sure that it will.

So with snow coating his lusciously dusky pelt he moves onward through the barren land before him. Eyes scan the horizon, seeing nothing until just a second later he does. A spec of black in the distance — it’s moving and at first he thinks it could be a potential meal. When he takes the time to close in on it, he realizes that it is none other than a wolf — which still could also be a meal for him, he’s not terribly picky. The blood would coat the snow beautifully, but first he would see just what this stranger is on about.

The other would see Alduin’s monstrous form approach, all muscle and raw power as he trudges effortlessly through the snow towards him. His face pulled into that natural scowl of his, eyes dead and emotionless as he stops a comfortable distance from the other. Blood red eyes rake over the male’s heaving form and somehow Alduin knows what happened to him. Or he assumes anyway. And he wouldn’t be wrong to assume, he’s met at least four others who had magically showed up in this shitshow of a land without any memory.

So The Cursed would tilt his chin up and regard him evenly. “How did you get here? You do not remember do you?” He hums mystically, the deep baritone of his voice strong and unwavering.
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no, he had been wrong.

here was a man, darker than the midnight sky, haunted with ghoulish crimson eyes. a behemoth. his father, he thought, would look down upon his curled up form like that. maybe this would be his first birth.

"n-no. no." the second sterner, more certain of himself. pushed himself up on willow limbs but even as he stood, the man was a mountain. phyn but a tree in his shade.

the dark of the midnight hour did not help.

"who are you?"

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The curled up wolf looks at him cautiously, perhaps there’s also fear there, and Alduin wants to shake his head. So weak, so frightened. If Alduin were a lesser man he might’ve been scared when he’d first came here with no memory. But he’s not a lesser man and all that slipped through him was red hot, boiling anger.

It seems the other isn’t frightened enough not to speak and he even gets out a stronger no there at the end. Good for him. This doesn’t impress the brute though, so he tilts his chin up to him as he stands and throws a question in his direction.

”Alduin Deagon-Sandraudiga of Banesteppe.”He hums the long title strongly, but evenly. “I am merely a man who saw you writhing about in the snow and came to have a curious look.”

And allows a moment of silence to pass. His face stern and scowling as he contemplates asking the man if he actually needs help. It’s not his thing, but maybe Dove would like to test on him or whatever she likes to do.

“Do you need help?” Comes his burly voice, slow and steady. His tone doesn’t heighten in question, rather it stays intimidatingly even and monotone. It’s a question that demands the truth or else.
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exhausted, pls excuse quality

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alduin deagon-sandraudiga of banesteppe.

sour notes in his flattened ears. did any of it hold weight to the wisp of a man? not in particular, he simply acknowledged that this man held...something. power or presumption he did not know. regardless it simmered in its bitters of his mood.

did anyone enjoy waking to someone who bore more than them?

maybe, in cruel fate's kiss, he had been born again under the scowl of his sire.

even the words loomed with the threat that seemed akin to his father's words — as if it were more of a dare than an offer. as if the wrong answer would be only slightly worse than the right one.

"why bother? what are you expecting out of it?"

nothing without a price.

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Alduin can feel the distrust radiating from the boy. He’s at least a bit smart then. If one saw Alduin and immediately trusted, he might just be worried. Considering his own looks and all. A large brute, red, expressionless eyes, scowling face, and booming voice.

Why bother? what are you expecting out of it?

Alduin huffs out a steaming breath through his nose. It’s a noise that could be considered a laugh as his usually dead eyes express a tint of devilish humor.

“Nothing. You are the one who assumes I want something.” Alduin hums with a small, boneless shrug. “It’s because of my looks, no?” He suggests with a raised brow.
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facial features, even in the dead of night, could be read by any who looked down upon him.

they twisted like snakes, lips dripped down as if they might melt off his masked face. he wished to vanish — maybe sucked back into a dark void — but he was stuck. faced with the behemoth.

"nobody helps a stranger in the dead of night." a fact with strength even if his seapearls for eyes looked away from the beast. "but you really want to help? point me to somewhere hospitable."

this place was not it; not for runted phyn.

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Nobody helps a stranger in the dead of night. He says and Alduin has to agree. He’s not wrong, Alduin could just snap his neck and just gobble him up. Yet, he continues to listen, watching as his eyes drift away from Alduin’s — a clear sign of submission among many he’s displaying. That is way he doesn’t eat him. It is clear to both of them who might have the upper hand here and for that subtle realization, Alduin decides to take mercy upon him.

So Alduin look around the desolate and snowy wasteland, feigning cluelessness, before meeting the others eye.

“I know little of this area except the castle I hail from.” He admits truthfully, voice even and unbothered.

And speaking of Banesteppe, Alduin has begun to feel that familiar tug in his mind and body to head back. Banesteppe has let him have his fun and now it’s telling him that it’s time to return home. That ache in his head has begun and the curling of his unsettled stomach is tickling his throat with what soon will be blood and bile.

So Alduin clears his throat and swallows heavily. Eyes blinking slowly in an attempt to quell the nasty feeling within him. “I do have two healers there, but it is your choice to make.” He offers indifferently.

But hopefully Banesteppe won’t let him. He says mentally but not aloud. Or maybe Banesteppe desires only Alduin and the others are free to leave if they wish. But not him, never fucking him. Always forced to go back no matter how far he gets.

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+1 Discovery Points

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if you'd like, you can pp him following and wrap up with ur reply!

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the man — nay, behemoth, offered help once more.

and phyn's gut clenched, churned and threatened to spill forth from him like an acidic waterfall.

he despised this behemoth for no more childish a reason than he was reminded of his father.

"i will follow." he swore to himself it would be for no more than a sunset or two. just enough to learn how to live again. then, he hoped, he might make it out alive from the claim of a behemoth.

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He watches thoughts churn in the other’s head. Of what? Alduin doesn’t know or care. All he knows is that he gets an answer a second later — a confirmation to follow.

Alduin doesn’t react strongly only hums lowly as an acknowledgment that he’s heard him. “Then do so carefully. The ice is thin where we will cross.”

With that, he’s turning around and heading towards his reverent Banesteppe. The churning in his stomach only gets stronger and because of this, he picks up an long legged and purposeful stride across the snow. He’s feeling queasy. Banesteppe is rather impatient today. He didn’t get nearly as far as he did a few days ago and this worries him. It spreads that undying hatred that naturally flows through his blood at a much more rapid pace. His heart thumps wildly with that boiling rage that’s so horribly blinded with the feeling of being to hopelessly enraptured with something — Banesteppe — that he wants to vomit.

Hopefully it doesn’t show on his face as they make it back.
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