together we'll sleep devoured by life

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 Sometime in between roaming Bleakwood and scouring the nearby mountains and hills for others to meet, Crux had found himself quite far from home. The wind was icy here, chill attempting and failing to dig into the wolf's thick coat. What he found on these mountains was something far different from what he expected. Some strange structures, flags of vibrant colour hanging limply from cord. Crux peered up at the strange fabric, head tilting in curiosity. The strange noises all around, too, were interesting. Nothing like the relative silence of the forest, where only nature's calls filled the air.

 A more familiar noise caught his attention and he turned to see another wolf, blonde and tall, running blindly through the grounds before collapsing on the ground.

 Instantly alert, the speckled hound leaped to action, running towards the stranger. “H-Hey!” he barked in alarm, placing himself where the wolf had come from and spinning to face the direction he'd run, scanning for any pursuers. Nobody was found, so he turned back to the other wolf and slowly circled around to face him. “Hey, mister, are you okay?” His face and voice were full of concern for this stranger who had passed out on the rock.

+1 Discovery Points

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A bark and words of alarm sounded faintly at the edge of his consciousness, and Saturn stirred. The pins and needles in his chest were gradually fading, and the fog that was clouding his perception was beginning to clear. He risked opening his eyes and expected to see himself lying in a pool of blood, but once again, he was dry and unscathed. A pale, bear-like wolf with a splash of the night sky across his mantle loomed above him. Even if he had not been at the mercy of oxygen-starved synapses firing willy-nilly, he would have found the stranger pleasing to the eye.

It was a loaded question, and Saturn blinked rapidly. “I... I'm not really sure,” he said slowly, pausing to recover his breath. “I'm fairly certain I just died. But this isn't where I was five minutes ago.” Perhaps now he was physically intact, but mentally? That still remained to be seen.

Saturn tried to stand, but almost immediately the white stars returned, and he fell roughly back down to his haunches. He winced and wondered if he was about to be judged, and if this handsome beast was some kind of cosmic deity. He had never been the religious type, but he was at a loss to explain it otherwise.
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 The star-speckled male tilted his head down at the stranger, listening to the short tale. It made sense from what he'd heard from others and experienced himself. “It's been happening to a lot of wolves,” he commented, “In fact, everyone I've met has suddenly shown up without any idea of how they got here. Not a lot of them said they died though.” Some had given indications that their past held some secrets but he'd never bothered prying.

 If they wanted to share, it was up to them.

 When the other tried to stand and started to fall, Crux leaped into action, attempting to assist by crouching and using his shoulder to try to catch the other. “Whoa, careful there. Take it easy, clearly you didn't have an easy Waking.” He glanced back the way the wolf had come running from, then back at the blonde man before him. “Whatever got you, I think it's long gone.” Hopefully whatever it was wouldn't show up here and start hunting this stranger down again.

 “I'm Crux, do you remember your name?” It was perfectly normal if he didn't - there were at least a few he'd met who had no recollections of names or their past whatsoever. Then there were others like him who had fragments of memory of Before waking here. Any fear of judgement from Crux that Saturn had was in vain.

 After all, they were all in the same boat.

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Apparently he was not the first one to have appeared in a state of confusion, though he was among the few that remembered dying. Well, that was perfectly confusing. Saturn listened along and filed away the stranger's words as best he could, but it was somewhat difficult in his current state. “That's... bizarre,” he admitted, leaning up against the fiery-eyed wolf for a moment until he was confident that he would not stumble again. The stranger's presence and scent was vaguely grounding, and his pulse gradually slowed back to normal. “It was another wolf, and on a very different looking mountain than this one.” That one had been cloaked in lush trees, but this one just looked dry and dusty, and there were those odd coloured scraps of fabric fluttering around.

Did he remember his name? What a strange question. But even as he considered how absurd it was, Saturn found himself grasping at straws for a moment before finally reaching the answer. He chalked it off to oxygen deprivation. “It's Saturn, but the rest of it seems to be a bit of a blur at the moment.” The Endore glanced around as if the answers were sprinkled around the mountainside for him to collect. “So are you the resident greeter for all these wayward wolves, then, Crux?” he asked, flashing a tired but toothy grin. And for that matter, what were they all doing now? Was this place just full of lost, formerly dead wolves wandering around aimlessly?

+1 Discovery Points

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 Yes, it was bizarre. The whole situation was bizarre and Crux had no way to rectify the tiny little fact that they had all been thrown into a totally new land with likely no way to go home. Granted, The speckled male would never want to go back - his old life was full of hardship and so far, this new life was turning out great. Knock on wood.

 “The place I knew before this place was also very different.” Full of creatures he hadn't yet encountered here. While it was true that many were more likely to be in plains than mountains, surely he would have come across a sabre at least once. He'd decided that likely, they weren't here, but there was more testing to be done. He peered up at the pieces of faded cloth, wondering about them. Had there ever been material like that where he'd come from? Surely, the two-legged ones wore cloth but never so bright.

 The newly-woken introduced himself and Crux gave a tip of his head in greeting, accepting the name.

 When Saturn asked about his occupation, the starry male couldn't help but laugh. “No, though I might as well be! I actually live off-mountain, that way,” he indicated towards the way he'd come. It was quite a distance, but he wanted to know more about his surroundings, for the safety of his pack. “I'm checking out the surroundings to make sure my pack's safe and came across you by total chance.” Perhaps Saturn was lucky that Crux had arrived, just in time to explain what little they all knew about what had happened.

 At least Saturn wasn't alone for his first steps in this new land.

+1 Discovery Points

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Crux vaguely indicated that he too was not originally from the area, and Saturn took that as a cue that the wolf did not wish to elaborate. It wasn't any of his business anyway, and the less he tried to cram into his overstimulated brain, the better. It had served a purpose in assuring him that he was not alone in having come from somewhere different.

He was somewhat surprised to hear that the starry wolf had a pack of his own, and imagined that Crux must have been there for some time to have established himself a following. The thought that he would have to seek out a new home hadn't even occurred to Saturn until that point, who was still reeling from having his throat torn out and subsequently waking up without a scratch. “Your pack,” he thought out loud. “I don't suppose you would have room for a messenger or scout, once I've, uh, sorted some things out.” Saturn definitely needed some time to... process. He'd also need some time to try to get used to this thin mountain air if he was to be any use as a travelling diplomat.

It sounded like Crux's claim was a fair distance from where they stood, anyway, and Saturn looked out to where his company had gestured. Great distance would not be a challenge for the fleet-footed Endore, but he would need some direction when the time came to seek out the pale wolf's pack, provided that there was even a place for him.
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 He breathed in the crisp air, watching as the wolf before him processed what was going on. There was.... a lot and waking up here after your death had to rattle the brain more than a little. Crux himself couldn't remember the moments before waking, but he was pretty sure he hadn't had his throat torn out, or fallen off a cliff, or anything like that.

 He hadn't even burned, though they had tried.

 “Oh, absolutely!” Flame eyes peered at Saturn again, tail waving slightly more than the wind would do on its own. They didn't have much in the line of diplomatic ranks, but he figured it was absolutely one that he wanted to introduce, even if it was to be a portion of the nobility instead of a common rank. While Saturn looked back the way that Crux had come, he puzzled over this but quickly snapped out of it.

 Yes, the forest was far. He picked up on the unspoken question and decided to go about answering it, “My pack's called Event Horizon, we live in a forest that looks as if it's caught in autumn - Ichorwood.” He looked back the way he came and considered it for a moment. “It's a, uh, a couple days walk southwest, with the setting sun to your right shoulder. If you reach the tundra or the cliffs that cut away to the sea, you're too far north. If you reach a sort of... plain-lands area before the sea, you're too far south.” Man, directions were hard. “If you want to visit or join, either really, - staying on the western edge of this mountain range should lead you right to it.”

 He figured that there was no real rush to the man's joining, if he so wished to. Crux hoped he would but he was also very aware of the need to self-actualize before deciding to settle down. He'd just happened to wake up in a place he wanted to stay in. This mountaintop place, with colorful cloth floating about as if it was born there, was beautiful but it was not a place he could call home, himself.

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Saturn's name would fit so well in the space theme :D

+2 Formation Points

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Yee, I've been eyeing it for him. I just need to hammer out an actual personality for him. XD

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Saturn was pleasantly surprised by Crux's open invitation, though perhaps it shouldn't have been too much of a revelation in light of how open and friendly the starry wolf had been thus far. He had visited many packs in his time, some more inviting than others, and with a not-insignificant number of them being downright hostile. It was somewhat grounding to know that he hadn't woken in the middle of a war zone, anyway, where strangers were met with instant distrust.

A forest in perpetual autumn was strangely captivating to the Endore, who was at heart a somewhat superficial creature that favoured the beautiful things of the world, be them other beings or landscapes. “Thank you very much for the offer and information,” he replied graciously. “I should have no problem finding Ichorwood with those excellent directions.” Flattery came naturally to Saturn, though in his case it was almost always genuine unless he was trying to swindle his way out of a tight spot.

“I look forward to seeing it. Though I'd be a fool not to ask... ” He tilted his head slightly to the side, testing the waters with a gentle inflection, “I am not the type for senseless warfare, other than in the name of defense, so I do hope stability's the standard rather than strife for its own sake.” Not necessarily because he was naturally a peacekeeper — though he did dislike conflict as a rule — but because he was rather vain. The concept of conquering more and more territory and absorbing other claims wasn't really his style, and it made for a lot of nasty scars.
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I took your bait then, lol!

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 Truthfully, had Saturn awoken in the land that Crux had come from, he would have met a very different greeting, one of teeth and claws instead of friendly words and true good will.

 Crux's kindness was genuine but also intentional. “I'm glad to hear!” He had worried a bit that his mass of words had done more to confuse the other wolf, but thankfully that wasn't the case. Or at least, Saturn didn't seem to be confused and Crux would be fine with that.

 The smile set on his lips fell, replaced with a sadness, “My birth pack was... horrendously full of strife. I've made it my goal for Event Horizon to be the opposite - we will protect our own but we are not a warmongering people and we don't allow infighting.” There was the case of the possible war that Nightwalkers had brought forth when they had requested aid of sorts. He hoped with his whole heart that it would not come to that, but it was a worry that nibbled at the back of his mind. He hoped that in the case of a war, he would be able to provide healing services rather than simple muscle - he did not want to lose anyone again.

 “My birthplace was burned down because of pointless aggression. I don't want that for any of my wolves,” especially not the poor children. He'd barely been more than a yearling when he had fled on his mentor's heels... a mentor who was just as pointlessly vicious as the rest. He shook away the thought and gave a small, hopeful smile.

 Hopefully the future would be brighter.

+2 Formation Points

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>D

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Saturn was relieved that Crux's pack was to be a neutral one, though the reason for it was sobering, and his face fell slightly at hearing the gentleman's unfortunate tale. It was admirable of him to rise out of the ashes of such an existence in pursuit of something better for himself and his new followers. “A noble pursuit,” he said sombrely. “I was lucky to be raised in a peaceful place, but many of the places I visited and exchanged messages with... well, let's just say some did not respect even the most basic of courtesies.” The concept of parley may as well have been in a foreign language, and there stood a messenger, decidedly shot.

“I'm sold,” Saturn then added with a crooked smile to lighten the mood. He rose to his feet again, and this time there was no fringe of white stars to threaten an imminent collapse. “And it seems that I've finally caught my breath.” The alabaster wolf would have to take it easy for a few days and make a leisurely descent, but at least it no longer burned to inhale. He imagined that Crux would not necessarily have the luxury of such a drawn out departure, however, if he was to continue his scouting — and as it turned out, recruiting.
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 The blonde wolf reacted as Crux hoped: respectfully. He listened to Saturn's own tale with the same quiet reflection, nodding to the point of not respecting courtesies. “I would count my birth pack among those, then.” Had Saturn come across their forest maze, it was more than likely that he would have been dragged in as a slave and roughed up on the way. A pang of hurt rang out in the speckled man's heart as he realized that he would have likely had to have a hand in that.

 Not any longer.

 He returned the smile, glad for the change of mood after such a low topic. He rose also, ready to dive in if Saturn needed the help but it seemed that he had found his footing. “I'm glad to hear!” He peered at the other who was decidedly pretty tired still. “We will be honored to have you. Unfortunately, I have to hurry on and I wouldn't want to rush you, will you be alright on your own?” He gave a kindly tilt of his head, tail flicking in the hint of a cautious wag.

+2 Formation Points

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As Saturn had suspected, Crux was a busy man, and he had certainly not expected the other to wait on him for any longer than was necessary to ensure that he was in good enough shape to be on his own. “Oh yes, do not let me keep you!” he confirmed, stretching out a forelimb experimentally. “I will catch up sooner or later, and hopefully in a bit better shape to be of use to Event Horizon.” Saturn gave a slanted grin and encouraged the leader onward with a swish of his tail. “Cheers, Crux.”

He, on the other hand, was looking forward to a good long nap, and upon finding a dark crevice in the mountainside to slip into, he was lulled into slumber by the distant ringing of chimes. Whether from fatigue and shock, or merely the peaceful aura of the mountain, it was a sleep devoid of nightmares.

+1 Discovery Points

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 Crux smiled and dipped his head. “See you then, Saturn! Stay safe out here!” He'd turn, leaving the blonde wolf to his nap.

 As he walked, he pondered the ringing of bells behind him. What strange things were making sounds like that? He peered up at the prayer flags as he passed under them, pondering idly if he should snag one and bring it home and eventually deciding not to. It felt too... important that those pieces of fabric remain here. Almost as if it would be sacrilege to take them. Soon, he would be able to breathe in more fully.

 Soon, he would be back home in the warm forest that he had claimed.

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Fin!

+1 Discovery Points

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