Turtleback Lake Cleansing of the Soul

ooc: For @Iopah hopefully she's not a devil in disguise, too. :(

 

Paws carried him, looking for a spot. Looking for the perfect spot, although there was almost a sickness bleeding into his mind. He was dying, that was something he was absolutely sure of. Becoming a skeleton, despite his plea for mercy. Such was why there was no missing the thoughts that were scrambling through his mind, and it was why his tongue hung out of his mouth as he walked, imagining that there was a contentment of black, salty tasting oil of dead flesh all but dripping from his tongue.

I am a dead man walking.

But what choice did he have? The demon's tongue, that of Raela with her sensuous curves dressed in a suit of heavenly beauty was enough to suffocate him; he had not been able to dismiss that she had seemed to care. Demons, incestuous immortals, often could make it seem that way. It was why he walked, wishing that @Kjors had saved him - wishing that the male had swooped down and told him his throat was about to be ripped out. Where was the dragon to protect his gold?

Questions with no answers seemed to be swinging around him, and it was not until he found himself looking upon a lake - it was enough to make him stop. For a few moments, he pondered what a beautiful thing that was before him. Well, one could only imagine. Wash thy sins in the waters of the Gods, bleed the demons... His words tumbled, murmuring lightly as his gaze flicked to the sky.

Yes, it was a good day. If he melted in untainted waters, he would be condemned regardless. Sluggishly, he moved himself forward, tongue lolling out of his mouth as those eye's - Gent's eyes - played in his head over and over again. It was a fear, it made him feel incapacitated. Demons, demons he swore! The devil himself embodied, coming to infest the lands with his sins; and Urien had been lured in by his wanton followers! No wonder @Hecate had tried to become him into the lusts of her heavenly bosom - he should have mounted that booty train --

Ears pinned back as he finally neared the water, and oh so carefully circling around the edges, fearful that he would be thrown into a pain that he would never win. It was why his eyes glanced over his shoulder, back in the direction of the boundaries he now belonged to, and he whispered; Let this save me, so that my soul may not burn up in the pits of his demon spawn kingdom, lest my heart burst with the pain in which he's descend upon me through his minions...

(This post was last modified: Aug 08, 2015, 09:21 PM by Urien.)

well... she's not a devil, but I wouldn't call her an angel either... xD

She wanted to know what was beyond this forest. Heat bugs sang to the cream coated wolf as she loped along. Certainly it must have an end, Iopah was no longer young and naive enough to believe her father's wide-eyed insistence that a land could extend without an end. It was no more immortal than her birthplace and silence was no indication of safety. She needed to know what lay beyond the evergreen forest that wrapped northwards around her boundaries.

The sun beat down and the heat-seaking cicadas shrilled in the heat. There was shade under the great pines, but the humidity was no less under the umbrella of the canopy. Besides the warmth and a thriving insect population, it seemed there was nothing else. Her tongue was dry, swiping across a black nose as the woman paused. She cast a golden glance into the still forest and it caught on an opening in the trees ahead. The end, just as she'd fortold, and the scent of water. The woman padded forward with little caution, after all she'd been travelling for hours now without hint of another.

Iopah was not expecting the sight of Urien at the shore and she stopped, tail twitching higher in surprise. Her eyes went around the male, gazing longingly at the lake behind him for a moment. She was thirsty, and it was a big lake. Hopefully, he wouldn't mind company for a moment. If he did mind company, well... Iopah didn't particularly care.

Her pale feet started to trace a large semi-circle around him. The male was already muttering and disoriented. Whatever Urien had, Iopah wasn't particularly keen on catching by getting too close. She glanced from the water to him and back as paws moved carefully under her. Small stones shifted under foot and she quickly looked to him, ready to leap away lest his fragile grasp on sanity slipped.

If the man would have been more religious, perhaps he would have started some obscene dance. Perhaps his paws would have been kicking out, and he would have reenacted all the wars of the forefathers beneath for the Gods', whoever they were, and their courts. It would have been good luck for him to throw a sacrifice in the water, but he was frightened that the devils might have been watching. How easily misunderstood a gift to the Above could become, and thus, his eyes seemed to shime with an aggravation that proved he was slowly losing his mind.

As paws shifted from one side to the other, and he found himself unable to top the pain and the sing-song voices that were humming in his voices that were speaking internally, as his tail swished from one side to the other as he found himself unable to stop the notion of threat. As his paws gripped at the ground, mouth opened wordlessly as paws brought his attention elsewhere, and he jumped - plunging himself forward into the water clumsily before it would be too late, before someone would take him and eat him alive.

But the non-intrusive woman was just fairly passive looking, but her aura - or perhaps simply the energy around her radiated something he could not explain. As his jaw dropped open, he was struck with awe - startled by the sudden urge to crawl over to her and quietly submissive and pee all over himself in a show of his beautiful talents. That would be so appropriate for the meeting of a stranger, would it not? Such was why his ears rolled against his head, and he started another silent prayer. Even as his jaws opened, he whispered, Far away from home, the devils only roam - they want your flesh; should you not be safe? Should you not be curled up with those who are yours?

Concern leaked into his voice, and he walked through the water's edge, fancying himself kingly - although he was bent low, his eyes widened, and his tail lashing as he almost such her praised without even getting words out of her yet. Perhaps she was a siren, come to drown him. Perhaps she was - more desirable - a succubi ready to ride him into the next universe. Lost in that thought for a few moments, he whispered, I am ready...

She started as the male plunged into the water. He spun around to look at her and Iopah stood there, foot dangled over the rocky shore, and stared right back at him. That was not at all the reaction she expected and she wasn't sure exactly what had caused it. Her weight shifted back, forepaw lowering to rest against the damp stone underneath. She could feel the humidity in the air, despite the dryness in her mouth. Gold eyes darted to the water and back quickly. Dark lips lifted in a quiet warning and her weight shifted again.

The woman took only a handful of steps, each trained on Urien, before being halted once again. Gray-stroked ears swept back, then forward sharply. What? Such opulent and rhetorical speech had never come from her mouth, and she wasn't quite sure what to make of it. She shifted at the tone of it, eyes narrowing at keywords. Even not being religious, the mention of flesh-eating devils was enough for her to take notice. Did he mean to accuse or warn? "What?" She asked, a blunt and inelegant query that neatly summed up their differences.

He stepped closer, passing through water that sloshed teasingly against his ankles. A dry tongue ran along her teeth, debating whether to drive him away or wait this out. She stayed her ground at his lowered posture; at least the two wolves were able to communicate in that simplest of means. Such submission and ingratiation lowered her guard, and allowed the male to approach. When he spoke again the pale ears flicked back and held.

The submissive nature was not enough to douse the irritation in her voice. "I'm not a devil and I'm not going to eat your flesh." Though, that did not mean she was not dangerous. The male came closer, finally standing directly before her in the water. The water she wanted to drink from. The dark lips pulled briefly from teeth and the woman stepped to the side. Gray-edged tail was stiff above her spine, both dominant and warning in bearing. "I'm Iopah and I may be far from home, but I don't believe in devils." Pagan she might be, the woman did not believe in such extremes. There was a devil and danger in every wolf. The woman stalked around Urien now, ears pinned back as she offered that danger if he moved to intercept her.

(This post was last modified: Aug 24, 2015, 04:40 AM by Iopah.)

 

The wolf watched, standing in the water as he drifted toward her - wanting her comfort. Heart in his chest, he questioned if perhaps he had failed along the way; but this woman had to be right. Her assertion was calm, and it soothed him. He was, in fact, behaviourally very off; as she tensed to communicate with him his own muscles became languid with ease. Contentment as he looked at the woman with her normal eyes, and finally his smile graced his features.

"It warms my heart to hear the woman take heed against the dark." Honesty whispered, and he looked along his back, offering a shudder. He moved away from her, headed deeper into the water as the emotion grappled with him. "This man, he was close; spittle on my back still tells, the elongated fangs sought to rip me open... I met him, the One; the devil - I don't know his name, he poises himself in an all black coat... his minion, I think she's poisoned see;" Eyes tracked back to look at the woman, anxious.

If she was a queen, would she be concerned with his news of the devils afoot? If she was strong, would she conquer them? His eyes suddenly grew blurry, and not from dunking his head, but the wolf's voice wobbled. "They deceived me, Iopah. They took the weak man with the value of gold, Urien, and they played their games..." Voice cracked, lachrymose nature showing that he was easily turned back to the emotion that he wished to succumb to.

Tail tucking, his head turned aside for his gaze to run over the waters, his voice tremulously wedging toward some sort of morbid agony; "Don't even the pathetic deserve a chance? This question! It irks the soul, it woes me..." The sing-song on his voice was hopeless, and then he threw himself promptly into the water, splashing about as took himself to the depths.

WARNING: references to suicidal thoughts!

A strange speaker he might be, Urien had no trouble understanding her unspoken message. Ears unpinned themselves, falling into a natural position and the woman continued her advance towards the lake. He spoke back to her and she looked sidelong, pale limbs shifted casually under. Her eyes met his smile and she offered her own, albeit hesitant, one back.

She listened to his tale at first with disinterest, they were merely sounds and words that made up the backdrop as she finally reached the water. It was clearly her priority, golden eyes remained fixed on the smoothly undulating surface. Finally, cream hued paws slipped into the lake. Ripples spread from the simple movement, radiating out of sight and bumping up against the now-distraught Urien. His tale of a wolf was morphing into a warning of the Devil himself. She remained unimpressed, giving nothing more than a polite ear flick at his description. Did the man know how little that would narrow it down? Someone had scared him very badly, but beyond that it was gibberish from his mouth.

It was when he made for deeper water, that something sparked within her. It looked like he was.... Could he be...? She flailed out towards him, a chaotic spray of water in her wake. "Wait!"

Perhaps another wolf would have stood by. Perhaps even another Barberi wolf (if one still existed) would have stood by and let it happen. Iopah remembered the feel of the water and the siren call of escape. But, it wouldn't be the sort of escape he wanted. "Wait!" She cried out again, drawing close enough to come alongside him. "Everyone gets a chance," After all, didn't the pathetic lead the same life of a wolf as the rest? "It's the pathetic that throw it away."

ooc: Being nice to Urien is bad. xD

 

Urien found himself knowing that there was ways to keep it, and his head seemed to twist awkwardly as the eyes drifted along the rippling waters. The frantic matter of it all was something that could not be dismissed, and he wondered it there was something wrong about attempting to dip and be polite on the issue. Perhaps he should have said goodbye to the woman; was that not how strangers properly allowed to go about things?

But then she was calling out, and he halted; gaze turned back over to her, questioning bluntly; Why would you say that? His words were crisp, sharp on the tongue as the longing soaked into his voice. I have not seen @Kjors, and the dragon's gold is being dulled! The promise leaks, drooling onto the earth and spitting it out - chased by the unsightly, the damned! The agony in his voice shook, and he found his tail shifting to tuck between his legs with the pull that was on his features.

Sinking toward the water, as if it might have been easier to just go out for a swim. It was why there was no approval in his eyes, and his lips twisted. His eyes danced as in a spot of weakness, the emptiness came pouring out of him; Then the woman, she danced! She cooed about the safety of the trees and the hold of those who needed paws to support - Raela! The demon, Gent, sputtered and spat and snarled! He wanted to consume he, screeching of the demons that would be sucked out of his features! Then be damned, he holds hostages of young who he declared I was but a burden and a scare to, but I have never harmed a young - never!"

It just seemed like he was losing the battle without much attempt, and the distress was dancing in his eyes. The pathetic threw their life away, did they! Well so be it, for his need to be dipped in the holds of those who would give him all he ever wished for faltered; choking for a few moments, he hissed at the water and dipped his muzzle in it. Woes are the fools, the fools who just want a master...

bad and mostly confusing for Iopah, his words are too fancy for her xD

She stopped suddenly at Urien's blunt question. Water dripped from her ears and the edge of her nose. Had she misunderstood the situation? Was Urien misunderstanding her attempt now? A water-stained ear flicked back and she gazed bewilderingly at him. The waves lapped at her sides in the turbulence she had caused only seconds ago. "I thought you were—"

Her explanation was cut short as Urien powered on. The bewilderment grew, brows beginning to raise at his intensity. There was nothing to do but listen to the tommyrot... and that's certainly what is was. Both ears pinned back at mention of Kjors and she let the wolf speak of drool and fictitious creatures with narrowed eyes. This time, when Urien lowered himself to the water, she simply watched. If this wolf was an ally of Kjors then he deserved whatever guilt ripped at him now. In her eyes it was a deserved guilt.

With a self-given sense of righteous she listened, watching as Urien shifted about in the water. She was now beginning to question how much of this had actually happened. The man believed himself to have seen a dragon, how could she believe anything that came from his lips? It seemed he was talking about witches and demons now, it was more fairy tale than real life warning. @Raela could have existed only in his mind, but Gent's familiar name caught her attention and she remembered his raving of a black male. The @Gent she remembered from years ago colored the rest of Urien's frantic retelling. Coldly, she replied: "I don't believe you.

"If Gent did that he had a good reason." The full irony and story was lost on her. She sided with Gent from what she knew of him, being unaware of the antipathy had grown. "You must be a fool and pathetic then," she hissed. He would get no sympathy from her, an enemy of Gent's and acquaintance of Kjors would get nothing from her. Not even her tolerance. Underneath her legs tensed and tongue ran the length of her teeth, wondering just how fast he could run.