remember when you wanted my last name (m)

Random Event: There is an active change in the Northern Lights! The sky lights up in greens, blues, and even shades of purple.
All welcome! Mature content; drug use.

It certainly wasn't because he didn't trust Aquene, but Chan possessed some stores of his own. Among them included a small collection of sun-dried psilocybin, their psychedelic effects a desired reprieve for the stand-in leader. There was much going through his mind, stressors that normal means couldn't chase away. Thus, the Eastfall decided that tonight was the night to play hooky and get out of the pack's territory, to for just a handful of hours pretend he didn't have responsibilities and could do what he wanted without worrying about who could need him at any given moment.

He carried with him more than enough of the months-old fungi and stole away, going as far as to leave the Lake's encircling valley walls altogether. Chan traversed Riddle Heights until he found a high point which offered an uncluttered, 360-degree view of the Lore and it's forests. The earth itself, sprawled all around, seemed smaller by multitudes in comparison to the star-studded sky. Already the lights had started, ribbons of green ebbing, undulating. Chan settled in, and began to nibble on his treats while watching the show unfold.

(This post was last modified: Dec 27, 2021, 02:20 AM by Woya.)

The mountains had loomed in the distance for some time. She had woke up and seen them every day for weeks. Months? She couldn’t be certain, but today she faced them head on. Except by the time she made real progress the darkness had emerged once more and the dazzling lights had emerged again. They held so much more oomph up here than they had in the forest.

She thought of Scully, wondered what he’d make of these. Maybe she ought to climb down the other side and find those willows he talked about…

Although she ran into somebody else first. An older male who seemed to be snacking away on something — and the sight alone made her stomach rumble in hushed tones. She would need a break if she wanted to make it to the willows.

”Hi.” She called out meekly as her gaze fluttered between the lights and the man.

”Can I join you?”

They didn't keep him waiting for long. Vibrations under his skin, a heaviness to his muscles, and the dilation of his eyes were clear indicators that the effects were kicking in. The sky above churned vibrantly, displaying a new depth of color that was actually quite real - he'd been gifted with a particularly gorgeous aurora borealis, that would likely be fully attributed to the ingested fungus the next day.

Hi - were these incredibly potent, or had someone followed him? Chan's head snapped to view the wolf that had greeted him, barely catching the rest of her words. A halo glared around her face, as though the silver of her fur were shards of reflective metal. Stranger or illusion?

"... sure," he answered, moon-eyes narrowed against the harshness of the imagined light. A tawny-topped paw pushed a few dried shrooms her way, tail thumping the snowy ground in welcome. The view, the trip, or even just body heat to protect from the frigid air, he didn't mind sharing - girl or ghost.

Mature for (unknowing) drug use

lift me up above this

the flames & the ashes

He seemed...relaxed and for a moment there was a flare up of some envy in her chest. How did he seem so mellow? Then she realized it was silly to be so jealous of it, especially when she had been welcomed to join him. He even offered some of his snack. And she could only smile softly in oblivious bliss to what had really been pushed her way.

She hadn't ever really considered eating something like a mushroom for food and so she, thankfully, took her time with one. Nibbled on it as her tail slowly tapped behind her. It certainly was an acquired taste but she was in no place to say no to any type of snack that she could get her hands on. A small creature she was and even smaller she had become on her wayward travels.

Admittedly she forgot her manners in her state of partaking in his shared treat. Forgot to say thank yous or proper greetings, as she found herself slowly reclining into a bow that ended with her lying on the ground near his side. Time and movement felt different as the seconds ticked on. She might have even wondered if she was actually awake if not for the banner of lights that she was positive she hadn't dreamed. It wasn't often she had the same dream twice.

Finally, she felt inclined to speak. Although her head turned and she looked at her company with eyes far different than how they had been when she'd first arrived.

"It's pretty." She mumbled as her tail still swayed and tapped. Granted the pace of her tail had certainly slowed.

Chan watched her briefly, before his eyes were drawn back upward. The undulations of the magic above their heads pulled on the electricity inside of him, and he was fully mesmerized by its power. His nose lifted, then his chest, forelimbs reaching higher as he sat back on haunches alone. Limp paws swiped at the air as though he could touch the phenomenon. The effort was fruitless, and eventually they came back to the ground.

Pretty, the word echoed alone inside of his skull, and he turned his enlarged pupils back to the blinding features of the stranger at his side. She was still glowing, but the effect had dimmed in comparison to the celestial display and he could more clearly see her actual face. Young, doe-eyed - very much so due to the psilocybin.

His maw cracked apart with a smile.

"They say it's a river of spirits," he told her, in a hushed voice.

"If it touches the mountain, they'll walk among us."

lift me up above this

the flames & the ashes

A river of spirits.

Nightingale had never been raised with any religious beliefs nor had she found any sort of spirituality on her own. Yet, as she watched those colors wave and dance in the starry night sky, his words made perfect sense. Everything made perfect sense.

"Do you think they'll reach?" She asked as she lazily reached up one of her own forelimbs from her position on the ground. Slowly it stretched out to paw at the sky before it fell short. Very, very short of the skies. "Oh, oh..." She trailed off in contented whimsy. "Do the spirits have to be from like...gone wolves? What if it's the spirit of somebody still around? Can I...summon a friend?"

Briefly her mind wandered to a shooting star situation and she knew exactly who she would wish to be here with her on the mountain ridge.

(This post was last modified: Dec 27, 2021, 03:00 AM by Nightingale.)

Do you think they'll reach? The question morphed while on its way from her lips to his mind, and instead of answering he found himself wondering whether or not he wanted them to. It occurred to him then that his father was up there, if they were to be believed, forever running the skies with others. His imagination, fueled by what was in his system, saw Tagg in exhaustion, desperately watching Mount Dire's peak, praying that it would for once pierce the river that contained him and allow him to reunite with the ones he loved.

Chan cleared his throat, and began chewing at another piece, eager to bury the notion. She gave him another track to follow, while his eyes found the marvel that was the glittering diamond dust at his paws, illuminated with all the colors that raged across the atmosphere.

"Let's try," he finally offered, as a fresh bloom of warmth and ease burst inside of him. He got onto his paws once more, and started trekking forward, where the terrain jutted sharply up. He paused to glance back at her, gauging whether or not she was willing to follow.

"We'll find out if we touch it."

lift me up above this

the flames & the ashes

She hadn't expected to get up again so soon and, admittedly, part of her really didn't want to.

Yet she found herself entranced by the allure of the colors shining off the lighter parts of his coat and the idea of being able to summon who she wanted. So she, very quickly, snagged another bite of his treats before she practically toddled after him. Her head bobbed in what would have been simple agreement if it didn't continue to sort of bounce and bob after the first few initial nods.

She felt so light! She felt as though she could reach the spirit river. She could become a little cloud and float right up into them!

"I bet it feels very soft. Like a plush bed of furs." This said for no reason other than it was what she felt and it was what had been in her mind. How easy it was to simply say the things she thought instead of being prim and proper.

Seeing her follow gave him a burst of energy, in a powering-through-quicksand kind of way. It depleted swiftly, until he was walking at a slow and easy pace, not paying attention to where he set each frozen paw pad. His gaze was continuously sky-bound once more, seeking to see shapes and faces among the ribbons of vivid color. Shapes that he was certain he'd never witnessed before formed and dissipated before his eyes, but nothing he could call wolf.

What if it's the spirit of somebody still around? The words floated like mist around him, clinging to his fur and seeping inside of him with every breath, despite having been spoken what felt like ages ago. Their echoes brought other memories to the surface, and a face finally began to form, dark with burning eyes.

The ground beneath them continued to steepen.

A plush bed of furs.

He thought of their fur, their scent - felt as though they were right there beside him. This trip wasn't turning out to be as friendly as he'd hoped, but he no longer could opt out. Chan was effectively buckled in.

"I bet it's wet," he countered conversationally, attempting to focus on the illusion above instead of beside. His mouth wandered lazily after his wild, drug-fueled imagination.

"Rivers run underground too, you know. Maybe, above the air where we walk, the sky is actually blue water, and then dark earth... until it's the surface of another world. And it keeps going, in layers, forever. Earth, sky, water, earth..."

Rambling, essentially, but in the moment it meant everything. He was piecing together the works of the universe.

(This post was last modified: Dec 27, 2021, 04:55 AM by Chan.)

lift me up above this

the flames & the ashes

Oblivious.

She tumbled deeper into her own trip as she trailed after him. The world seemed wide and expansive in a way that was almost unnatural. The air that nipped at her face sent shivers down her spine but it almost seemed as if they didn't stop there. That the shivers plucked at every inch of her skin and caused her to shimmy a bit here and there in her uneven walk.

The colors of the sky seemed to melt into her vision more often, or maybe she was just stealing glances quicker than she could keep up with. It was very hard to tell, even harder to keep track. She may have felt bad for so poorly keeping track of the concept he introduced had she not felt so good. It was as though the spirit river flowed right into her and let something bloom.

How had she never felt this before?

"Iiiiiii bet..." She trailed off as she stared at his back. Realized something seemed off. Like he was missing a chunk of something. His tail almost seemed like it ended too soon. Except that was okay because if she squinted at him, she could almost imagine he was a part of the earth. Maybe the sky river too.

Oh hey, sky river. Weren't they supposed to get that?

"I bet we're getting really close."