The Wildwood dancing with your ghost

I put the record on
Wait 'til I hear our song
Every night I’m dancing with your ghost.
- Sasha Sloan, “Dancing With Your Ghost”

November 3rd, late night.

The air was getting chillier and the winds were getting colder. It reminded Niles of that one fateful day when he and Tikhon were endlessly patrolling the Vale while his love Castel was silently dying. He hated this time of year. It signaled the end of the autumn and heralded the beginning of the death of most things.

Even after talking to {Bertie}, he still didn’t feel okay. There was no comfort in talking to others anymore. They weren’t his Castel. Others, no matter how bright or charming or warm, could never compare to her. They were but distant stars to a sun. He had resigned to the darkness, left wondering if and when a new moon would ever show her face or even wax in this lifetime.

Chimera was already asleep, and as Niles enjoyed the wintry night, he couldn’t help but miss her all over again. Just like he did the year before, when he and the scrawny yearling that was Chimera had gone off into the wilds to find themselves new lives without loss.

Without even thinking, he let out a haunting song. A single tone with two notes, a high pitch sliding into a more melancholy low one. His chest hurt, but he forced himself to keep breathing, to keep walking. All he could do was pretend that she was there alongside him, just for a little while. Just long enough to savor one last ghostly dance, a small romp, with his departed lover...

Since meeting Atsila, Mouse had put it in his mind that the world wasn't as large as it seemed. He had come this far and he had found an aunt, his own blood, to tag along with. That had been when the world was cold though, earlier in the year at the end of his second winter. Time had set Mouse's feet aflame and wanderlust brought him further in the Wildwood. If he hadn't set off on his own, he would have been content to stay with her but he was starting to miss his parents and was second-guessing leaving the safety of his Salamander Swamp. It would have already been brilliant with red and gold leaves; and, in the late afternoon, the bog was black but clear in the shadows. Prime salamander hunting time.

A howl came up and Mouse, almost immediately answered with a hymn of his own. He, too, was lonely, and the other entity in the dark was prone to picking up on it.

Muddied paws picked their way through the dark as wide yellow eyes scanned the woods before him. "Hello?" he called out, bear-ish ears tall and facing full forward. "Hello? Are you close?"

images of broken light,
which dance before me like a million eyes...

A warren of rabbits is hidden under a nearby tree. +3 Health

Niles' ears fell back and he came to a slow stop as he craned his skull downward. It seemed that he and Chimera had come here for nothing. It felt like there was nothing left. Nothing to come home to, nothing left to find... Nothing but empty lands and silent skies, except- The Lyall's head came up nearly as soon as he had bowed his head. There was someone out there after all.

His lips and whiskers twitched as he heard the youth's voice now. "Hello?" the male's voice came from the shadowy depths. "Hello? Are you close?"

The heart in Niles' chest started thumping. Maybe they had hit the honeypot at last. Here, at the heart of Relic Lore, was where the others had set up their home base. "Over here," he offered, reorienting himself to face in the direction of the distant footsteps. His voice grew louder, just in case the rogue did not hear him at first, "This way. Are you alone?"

we can say goodbye, just head home, but if we're going to be alone
Chimera is currently traveling with Niles and may hop into this IC thread!

"Over here."

Whines starting coming unbidden from his muzzle. It had been so long since he had had a proper conversation with someone. It excited him to think that maybe he would have even more luck in finding a familiar face or name. Dad and Papa did tell him that their family had roots in Relic Lore after all. Atsila was proof of that... kinda... sorta...

Tail wagging at full speed and head ducked as he wove his way through the blackened trees, he emerged from the underbrush to come face to face with the stranger. Perhaps a little too close for his taste. Mouse backpedaled, his body instantly crumpling into a submissive stance as soon as he saw and felt just how large the other was. Even with its waning crescent phase, the moon was not shy. What was illuminated before Mouse was a beast of a man as dark as the night with eyes as pale as the moon itself. The younger Lyall swallowed as he crouched down with his tail tucked in apology.

"Eeeeesssorry," he murmured, only half-looking at his newfound companion's face. "I didn't mean to, like, you know, bump into you." There was a small chuckle given in the form of a nervous, "Hehhhh..." He grinned now, bottlebrush tail awkwardly wagging between his heels. "I, um... It's nice to, er, find a friendly face?" What a weird choice of words. Mouse probably shouldn't have voiced it like a question; but, if the guy had not wanted company, he wouldn't have revealed his actual location, right?

images of broken light,
which dance before me like a million eyes...

What manifested before him - right from around the nearest tree, actually - was a gangly young adult, barrel-chested and perhaps a little too skinny than he ought to be. There was something familiar he got a whiff of in his wake but his mind did not even have time to comprehend why. Niles gave a start, the instinctive twitch of his shoulder giving his whole being a shock, an evasive move at best but, in reality, just an abrupt flinch. As far as he knew, Niles himself was a sight to behold, as stocky and as tall as wolves come. He had his father to thank for that, for his stance alone seemed to have set the younger male on edge.

There was an apology and a string of nervous statements. Niles easily shrugged it off; he had been through something like this before with Chimera when they had first met. It was old and it made Niles tired.

"Sure," he rumbled though inside he still lamented. He scanned the woods at the younger wolf's back; so far it seemed it was just him for now. "What's yer name?"

we can say goodbye, just head home, but if we're going to be alone
Chimera is currently traveling with Niles and may hop into this IC thread!