Lost Lake I think I'm sick, I think I'm sick

don't worry. <3

you do not know who is your friend or who is your enemy until the   ICE breaks. This was the female he knew - the witty, cheeky girl who acted like a lady but fought like a ninja, the witch who practiced necromancy on flowers and sacrificed paladins to the Demon Lord, Voxyos. The light in her eyes was back, and it was the light that was so achingly familiar and precious to him, like the flames of her soul, the strength of presence, trying to claw its way into the world through her irises. For a moment he allowed his own glacial eyes to meet hers, carrying no tension nor judgment in them, just the desire to briefly have their gazes locked; in all things, they were equals, the upper hand flowing like water between them depending on the moment. Who was dominant when playing? Who was when comforting? It shifted, ever moving, but Ice did not mind it at all. It gave him comfort to know that they had all the care of pups, romping and mock-fighting, the hierarchy ever shifting. He smiled, grinned, a relieved laugh escaping him; somehow, it was so hard to fathom that it was over, their hardships - the reality of solving the public relations between their packs remained, but it didn't feel as overpowering and draining as it had before his straying paws carried him up the mountain. It could be done. Rhysis and Naira were gone, and Ava, with the fierce Athena, would manage just fine - just as Ice would, somehow, manage just fine, and convince his pack that Poison Path was no longer a threat. Had the wound on Corinna's heart healed, the anger in Triell gone cold and still? Marsh - would he understand, that things could change, that once bad didn't mean always bad? Questions for later, head buried against fur, blocking them out. Enjoy the moment. Warm sunlight played across his body as he sat there, a muffled laugh escaping him. "No," he agreed, pulling back with a smile to watch her again. In the corner of his eye, the lake still blazed with light. Many of these scents made him remember his home, and last summer, when he had lived in this range. It smelled like it had back then, too - rocks, water, fresh and clear and cold. If Swift River ever found cause to move, he'd sure as hell drag them all up in the mountains. "I was just interested in having you back. I hope you passed on my regards to Voxyos while you were there?" Surely the demon lord would not have forgotten about the paladin who had been sacrificed in his name, the paladin which had been rescued by the light, slipped from his dark, slimy grip and once more roamed the world, saving damsels and doing good deeds... No, surely he'd not forgotten. Voxyos, weak and greedy as he was, felt like the type to carry grudges. Struck by a sudden impulse, Ice gave her a grin and waggled his 'brows comically before falling over backwards, landing on his back with a thud and keeping his chin tucked to his chest - he didn't want to bash his brains out, after all! Once upon his back, Ice stretched out his large paws towards the hot sun, groaning in pleasure as tension bled out of his system. "Ah, much better," he mumbled and snuggled into the ground, front paws crossed over his chest and hind ones at whichever angle seemed the most comfortable. When faced directly with the sky, he let his eyes drift shut. Light filtered in through the crack, making his world red slashed through with white. Today, he decided, was a good day, after all. Ava seemed okay now, he knew her name, the sun was shining and it was warm... He cracked one eye open. The ground wasn't the most comfortable, too many little rocks biting through the padding of his thick fur. "Hey, you don't have any decent sun-bathing rocks around here, do you?" Surely they had - the forest of the Sacred Grove filtered most light and made it impossible to sun bathe properly, but up here? It was only them and the sky, and if they had any nice, smooth and dark slabs of stone lying around... They'd be hot and nice on a day like this, and he could think of a great deal many things less pleasurable than lazing around in the sun with Ava. Such as, asking about potentially dead friends, or making the trek back home. He gave a mock shudder, mostly for his own benefit, and peered up at her. When faced with the sun so directly he was squinting, but in this angle, it gave her a halo of pure light. Perhaps, he mused silently, the sun had taken up residence within her soul. ( If she has any rocks in her back pocket, feel free to PP him getting up and tagging along to them. ^^ ) .ice aesir

let the stars above shine in your soul

<blockquote>A smile permeated the barrier once held across her face with an ease she almost never had imagined. That liquid silver stare she had met so many times, but now she caught the gleam in his stare and how it reflected his every emotion. They seemed to shine as a laugh escaped from his parted jaws, and for once it felt real. Every reverberation in his chest she felt in her bones and it was <i>freer</i> than flying - who would have ever imagined?

"<b>I did, actually,</b>" the dark-furred female retorted cheekily while Ice made himself... er... comfortable? on the rock-studded stone that made up the mountainside. Looking up at the ground as though trying to recall the exchange accurately she added, "<b>He hissed something quite coldly and then disappeared, leaving a trail of black flames while murmuring your name all the way back to his slime-covered cave...</b>" The creation in her mind continued quite vividly, littering the ground of Hell with Voxyos' victims' bones and their moans echoed through his haunt and made the slime vibrate like the very song of death. Of course, such a wild fantasy was probably not the best thing to unload on his ear after a break in their relationships...

<i>Hey,</i> Ice's interjection broke her (twisted) daydream and she swung her amber gaze back to him. Decent sun-bathing rocks? Why, if he only knew! An excitement grew in her grin and she leapt to her four with a stunning theatricality, chest puffed out and nose in the air like it were her compass. "<b>Absolutely I do,</b>" she asserted. Sunning rocks were her freaking <i>thing</i> just as much as being sassy and hunting and Poison Path. She made little waste in heading out, providing only a brief glance to make sure that Ice would indeed roll over and follow suit.

It felt like defying gravity; the weight of her very existence no longer pulled her closer to the stone surface upon which she tred. Now her steps were light, bouncing along the familiar paths surrounded by the love of her pack and her friend. Was it just the lack of depression, or was she actually just bouncing around with the sheer light of a life anew? Either way it took half as long as Ava expected it to find one of her sun-bathing haunts. The ground evened out and the trees and rocks seemed to break away for a dramatic reveal.

There she beheld the perch for two with a nostalgic shine to her amber stare. It wasn’t her rock in Riddle Heights which had been the center piece for a surprisingly amount of a lot of her experiences on the mountain side, but it certainly provided a more elegant view. Here the sparse spruces that extended into the blue sky were easy to see, trailing down the valley and toward the hidden poison path that lead her home. The boulder was large and grey and at a decent height with a surface smoothed by some form of weather long before she ever graced it.

Regardless of what created its loveliness, Ava was there to take full advantage. With a push of her powerful back legs she launched herself to the top. Reclining along the sun-warmed surface Ava gave a gentle sigh, bringing her head down between her outstretched forelegs to feel the stone against her cheek. Her stare reached thousands of yards beyond the view, looking into everything and nothing at the same time but without a heart devoid of emotion.

“<b>So what happens now?</b>” Ava mused almost rhetorically. There was so much to do now, wasn't there? So many paths to walk, if she only knew where to place her paws.
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you do not know who is your friend or who is your enemy until the   ICE breaks. Black flames and slime-covered caves? It sure sounded like the perfect habitat for a snail overlord, and Ice gave a gruff laugh at her description. Spot-on, come to think of it. He himself, being a creature of the Light, of course spent little time considering where his arch enemy lived, but now that he did, it sounded about right. Dark, terrifying, depressing - no wonder Ava had jumped right back up to the surface! Because honestly, who wanted to live in such a dreary place? All alone, with his slime? Never to bask in the glory of the sun... So, okay, perhaps Voxyos was just a misunderstood bastard, who, because no one understood him, had isolated himself and taken up residence in that lifeless place. Or maybe he just was rotten anyway - though Ice had a hard time imagining anyone being genetically cruel for no reason at all. If you tried to make yourself too large a pack it always fell apart. You needed a core, a strong core. Power was like smoke; the more you tried to catch it, the more it fled. So world dominion... well, maybe Voxyos had tried and failed? That sort of greed was, perhaps, the only genuinely evil thing Ice could think of. Even Rhysis and Naira, despicable as their deeds were to him, had had a sort of reasoning - restricted love, no future together in their current pack. He hated them viciously for the pain they had caused Corinna, but he could understand their reasons. Everything had reasons. And like Ava had pointed out, abandoning Swift River hadn't been an intrinsic evil action. It was all about perspective. He hadn't expected her to do anything but leap to her feet, and with a grin Ice rolled over. When she moved off it was definitely with a lot more bounce in her step than when she'd come to him just a few minutes ago. Had it not been longer? It felt like hours - time was such a funny thing. He shrugged. Minutes, he supposed. Long minutes. Lots of words. All laughs now. With his tail swaying behind him and a small grin on his face, Ice followed the black shadow of a wolf. Ava. A name. A fitting name. Her name. No more stranger girl. Ava. It had been a whim to reveal his own identity, but he didn't regret it. Sure-footed he followed her along winding, unknown paths. A break in the trees, a lessening of their intensity, the valley sloping down from their vantage point. A few shadows were cast here and there, but none directly across the deep gray slab of stone, carelessly cast upon the sloping ground. His tail gave a few swishes of approval, watching her leap onto it with a stunning effortlessness. Of course, she had probably been here several times before. Ice trotted up in her steps, then paused, gauging the distance for a moment. Being heavy and thick of build, he wasn't the most elegant and agile creatures around - after all, he had a good deal many pounds to drag around, especially when launching himself into the air. Oh, well. He had certainly jumped higher than this at several points in his life. Putting a little extra into the leap, he leaned back on his haunches before springing off the ground, easily clearing the rim and landing on top of the warm surface. The view was good, too. For a moment he merely stood there, kneading the sun-warm rock with his paws and enjoying the glittering lake, the sloping sides of the valley; then, he yawned and stretched, before flopping over on the rock. He lay on his side, facing Ava, eyes drifting half-way shut. She went out of focus, crisscrossed by his dark lashes, and with a content sigh he listened to her voice. Behind him, his tail thudded lazily against their perch. "I don't know. We miraculously make things good between our packs? I'll feel like a traitor coming home, but I'll do what I can." He snorted. Either they'd accept his words - after all, he was a loyal member, no? - or they'd flay him and chase him off the lands. He didn't want to imagine what this would do to the peace he had with Marsh... "Other than that? I 'unno. I really wish I could help Triell out. Losing Kinis has been really hard on him. He's like a storm cloud these days, dark and brooding." It could also have something to do with not seeing his girlfriend that much, but it felt more like Kinis. He'd not been brooding since Volkan left, which was earlier, in the winter - this had come over the summer, after Ruiko had come with the news of his disappearance. Ice sighed again, gave another small shrug, before thinking that maybe he should think about something happier right now and stop rambling about his other black-furred friend. After all, the rock was warm, the sun was warm, Ava was happy and there beside him... But he was a caring wolf - it was hard to ignore Triell's hardships, or somehow quench the desire to help him. .ice aesir

let the stars above shine in your soul

<blockquote>From her curled perch she watched Ice's grand haul, an amused little smile ghosted across her dark lips. What a gargantuan difference there was in the atmosphere between now and some odd hour ago. Seeing her giant white friend throwing his weight to make it on top of the rock seemed like such a trivial thing - just quick occurance, a small smile at the silliness of it, before the moment flitted away. Insignificant. And yet the fact that she could find joy in something so "meaningless" made all the difference. It was <i>normal</i> to feel that way - to find some quick moment small and funny - to enjoy life as it happened, everything included. Whether he knew it or not, Ava would be forever indebted to the Guardian for pulling her from the riptide.

Or for everything, really. Laying in the comfort of his company she had a moment to consider something quite wild - What if it hadn't been him? What if, on that frosty night beneath the Willows, she had come across anyone besides Ice? Would they have released her frustrations? Would they have exchanged riddles with her? Would they have played with her? Would they have made anywhere near the difference in her life that he had? She did not have to consider it long - in fact, she did not consider it at all. The answer was clear; no. No one could have made the difference her pale-armored knight had. This life that she lead was not possible without him. After all, where would she be had he not made sense of her anxiety? Would she have become the warrior Rhysis wanted? Would she have turned tail and abandoned her commitment? And would those possibilities - those lives that she could have lived - been any better than this one?

<i>Of course not.</i>

It wasn't that she knew where she was headed with the path she'd chose, or anything like that. No, Ava merely felt so strangely at peace with the uncertainty; as if the only thing that mattered was laying against the sun-warmed stone for as long as she pleased. Somehow the content of their lives was sprawled haphazardly across the sunning stone and yet the clutter was not overwhelming. If there was anyone she could hash it out with, it was Ice.

"<b>You are not a traitor,</b>" she snorted giving her shoulders a shake. "<b>The lines are crossed over and blurred and it's pretty clear nothing is making sense so we definitely don't have to make any damn sense either.</b>" And then she grinned, something unhinged but in a good way. Let his Swift River scent douse her, see if she cared any more. She still loved her Poisoned family, whatever shards were left when it broke apart, but nothing good could come of pretending she didn't love others as well.

If anyone deserved to feel loved it was Ice - further proved when he mentioned Triell's plight. To be able to care for so many with such sincerity was more award-worthy and impressive than any feat. "<b>I'm sure you are helping. Just being there. It will make it even the smallest bit easier, than that.</b>" Ava didn't gather much about his woes - in fact, she knew nothing at all about them. But she knew Ice and that was enough to back up her statements. The black-coated female would not deny the slight discomfort she felt as the name dropped from Ice's jaws as a reason for Triell's misfortune - <i>Kinis</i>.

Quietly, almost as if to herself, she repeated the name. "<b>Kinis.</b>" It didn't feel good to say it. *He hadn't been much better when he'd disappeared, around the same time that Naira and Rhysis had. What a poor medic she was that one of her patients disappeared still weak. If only she had done better - maybe his return would've helped their recovery along? She added, "<b>I hope he comes back.</b>" And she did, truly. To reiterate a point, Ava owed Ice something big for what he'd granted her. If only she could give him back something just as life-saving but with no Kinis, she was at quite a loss. The regret reflected in her amber stare for only a moment before she blinked it away. With such a turbulent present there was no use in worrying about possibilities long past.
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* since the timelines are all crazy and backdated and weird i think we're going with kinis having disappeared around the time that naira/rhysis did, something about a natural disaster, either way sorta kinda simplifies it :P

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that's fine. <3 since this is so old, maybe wrap it up here/in a few rounds? and have a new one... :P

you do not know who is your friend or who is your enemy until the   ICE breaks. "You are not a traitor," she said, and something about it seemed defiant to him; though his own expression remained somber and thoughtful, he looked upon her. Looked at the flash of her eyes, that inner fire which both protected him and was ready to lash out at the world - those eyes that had seemed so dim, listless, a mere hour ago. Framed by dark black, she didn't look the part of a kind wolf - but she was. She was not cut from the same cloth as Rhysis and Naira. She followed a pack of a dark name in a dark place, but she was not dark. A humorless smile drifted across his face. "No," he agreed after a moment's silence. "We don't." Was it selfish of him to fear, anyway? To fear losing what had transpired between him and Marsh? The feeling of their monochrome eyes locking together - and falling into that, disappearing. Dissolving, coming undone; there was no boundary between their bodies anymore, they seemed to seep and flow into one another when close. Quietly he decided to merely stay away longer when he came down the mountain - take a bath in the Lagoon or something equally horrible. He didn't look forward to it, but he just didn't have enough energy to cope with dealing with the Poison Path storm all over again. His eyes drifted shut to the sound of her voice, peace claiming his features bit by bit as the sun's probing fingers worked the tension from his body. Furrowed 'brows, tense shoulders, all bled away against the heat of the rock, melting to fit its surface better. Thick legs lay sprawled in front of him, paws nearly touching her body - but not quite. "Kinis," he echoed, wondering why the name suddenly felt heavy between them. "Stars know where he is..." A small twinge of pain crossed his heart; if it had been Kinis here and Ice himself gone, surely Triell would be better... Ice might mean much to the black wolf, as he meant much to Ice, but they were, after all, not littermates; friends could always be found, but brothers could not be made. He sighed, swallowing the bitter taste in his mouth. Such thoughts were foolish and unworthy - they brought you nothing but misery, slowly shoving you down a dark lane to a harsh, bitter end. Instead, he opened his eyes a fraction. The world was outlined in warm, golden light. "I've had enough of woe," he grunted, feeling too comfortable in the warmth to make it a proper growl. "If I can forget, just for a moment, here.. I will." The words rolled in his mouth, slipping out one by one, muffled by his cheek against the solid rock; his problems would not go away just because he worried at them with his mind. Triell would not become happy just because he wanted him to; Kinis would not return just because he wished for it. So why darken a perfectly blissful moment with things he had no control of? He'd helped Ava - Ava - and should not let the other tasks awaiting him get him down. Instead, he tried to savor the moment, not merely the physical sensation of the sun warming him, but the trickle of heat through his soul as well: the notion that, even though he could not do wonders at his whim, he had been able to help someone who meant a lot to him. .ice aesir

let the stars above shine in your soul

( what no this isn't a 6 month long thread huh who's fault is that not mine totally *cough* )

It seemed that as the sunlight drenched her, a particular laziness did too. The idea of getting up and descending the mountainside was flung from her thoughts every time it was conjured, as though a force field prevented it from lifting above subconscious. Ava did not know how long this peace would last her, and it was only right to enjoy it as fully as she could.

Unlike her pale friend, somehow she was sure it would all fit into place. Poison Path would even out and become the new normal. Kinis would return. Triell would heal. And she and Ice would remain friends until their time ended. The world was a cruel place, she knew, and sure enough her ideals could become nothing more than fairytales. But for now, she felt it in her bones that nothing could prevent good from coming and it was nice to believe in cotton candy dreams while she still could. Whether or not it would come to pass was yet to be seen, so why burden herself with reality when it was so lovely on her sunning rock beside her best friend?

If I can forget, just for a moment, here.. I will. How definitive of him, a spirit she admired. Ava smiled softly, finding it a strain to tug on the corners of her lips not from misery but from relaxation. At some point her eyelids had fallen unbeknownst to herself, but now shut she lacked the desire to open them. What harm could it do remain still for a while and enjoy the oasis they'd made of a rock in the middle of no where? He deserved the tranquility, and Ava was far from cruel to deny it to him.

"Make yourself at home," she invited, her voice barely audible as she lost function to sleepiness. Despite the fact that his home was across a river she'd never be allowed to cross, it felt safe here. Safe, cozy, and welcoming, and if that was not home then what was? And then she meant to say something more - to share a comforting thought, to propose a question, there'd been something on the tip of her tongue.... but it was lost to that same comfort. Without further prompt, she would delve into a delicate slumber beside the pale paladin, happy at last.

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