Aurora Heights i just wanna say how i love you with your hair down

She came back for reasons that existed beyond her. Maybe tragedy had not been the only thing left behind when they had departed from the mountains. She had not forgot that friends had been left behind too. She recalled with great ease the scarred face of @Magg and the vibrant eyes of Di. The way they had roved as a trio, that they had made the best of a difficult place. Did they think that the Cove was too harsh a place to be? Maybe family obligations kept them so closely rooted still. Unlike Adora, who roved far and wide now. Beyond the call of her family. Even when they might have needed her most now. The wilds had whispered into her ear and she had answered. Now she was rewarded with a view. The coloring of the dark night sky seemed brilliant here. Dancing shades like spring fields given heavenly life. She could not stop the way she sprinted along an open clearing, as if she chased the night sky endlessly. ”Speech"

yellowicous-stock @DA, iMouritsa @DA, Moonglowlilly @DA & elysgraphic @DA

Things had gone so well, but so briefly. It must mean things would get good again one day, but what would it then cost them? When would it be Matos that left or died? Galen?

Magg was feeling exceptionally moody again, with less drive to keep her emotions in check than when she were a child (even chameleons struggle with adolescence). She brooded with these sour thoughts of hers instead, taking advantage of the relative solitude that border patrols afforded her. Every day 'guardian' seemed more futile of a role to take on, and yet she continued the motions of following in @Nash's pawprints all the same as though still enthusiastic about the prospect. Sometimes though, she wandered. Just a little. Just enough to take some guesses at what had lured so many away.

Her gloomy stomping took her away from the pack and out of the valley, and just as the young wolf was thinking of how she missed wintry days chasing after Di and Dora, the wind seemed to mimic her memories. Magg paused, lifted her head and focused on taking in the air around her. It was faint, but couldn't be shaken as just imagination. Her brown eyes lit up, and she began to run, against the summer night's breeze. Crossing through stretches of sparse vegetation and over sheets of shale, flying across the ground until it fell away from the horizon and she skidded to a stop at a sheer cliff.

Panting, she used the vantage to search her surroundings, and from there it was easy to spot further below the soft glow of Adora's pale pelt as the other teen raced. Soaring as though on wings instead of legs. She watched a moment, an unknown thrill causing her heart to quicken, but couldn't stand to wait any longer than that. This was a rare, good moment, and Magg was determined to seize it.

"Adoooraa!"

Shouted, gleeful, echoing across the field beneath her and the precipice she stood upon.

(This post was last modified: Jun 25, 2023, 03:55 AM by Magg.)

The world seemed endless here, as if the mountains reached forever and the sky danced until the end of time. She danced with it, long legs devoured the earth below with each quickened stride. She had loved the mountains, some part of her perhaps still did. Yet it was the lake that had been so dangerous and the Cove could not bend from there. No amount of love for anything could tame it. Yet somewhere in the swirl of dancing lights above, she heard a voice call over the wind. Loud and strong, but not mean. Oh no. Far from it! She skidded sharply and with her heft of weight it had been easy to reach a quick halt. Enough to look around. First in a side to side manner. Then her head craned to look upward, as if the sky itself had called to her. Only she spotted that familiar figure on the way up. How Magg now stood tall and thin, yet whittled with muscle from adventures and patrols. The scars that rippled her face looked handsomely in place among the face of a young adult. Somehow, despite how grown she thought Magg looked, Adora feared that herself looked childish. Baby fat she would never shed with thick legs and her large paws. Yet the moment gave her strength to be bold and whimsical. ”M-UH-AAAAGG!" Her voice rang with every force she could muster in her lungs. ”Speech"

yellowicous-stock @DA, iMouritsa @DA, Moonglowlilly @DA & elysgraphic @DA

ᴠᴏɪᴄᴇ || ᴛʜᴇᴍᴇ

Her friend responded promptly, swift deceleration visible from Magg's height. For a moment the girl held her breath, wondering if maybe Adora might treat her differently now. She didn't. Her scarred features burst into a smile, wide and shaking with laughter, while her tailed whipped back and forth joyfully.

The next moment she was off, racing along that ledge she'd found herself upon until she could descend. The slope was steep but smooth, and she almost tumbled a few times on the way down. Totally worth the risk of neck-breakage. When the ground leveled out she only seemed to pick up momentum, until finally able to launch herself right into the friend she'd missed so.

Adora may have been larger in plenty of ways, but she still struggled to find her grace sometimes.

One of those times seemed to be now, as her adored mountain friend launched into her. Down Adora went, painted upon the ground with giggles and squealing with Magg (presumably) on top of her.

"You're here! You're here!!"

Her voice rang loud into the cold mountain air that still waved with its proud colors above. Her thick tail slapped the ground beneath them as she beamed brilliantly with her glee.

The whole world seemed to melt away in these moments. Adora hardly recalled the family left behind, the new baby at her mother's side, or the way her father's affections might move on.

Nothing mattered but this moment of bliss.

ᴠᴏɪᴄᴇ || ᴛʜᴇᴍᴇ

Magg hit her mark and the girls toppled. She wriggled with glee, poking playfully with her paws while stealing nibbles at the fur about Adora's cheeks here and there, enthusiastically greeting her almost as though they were still children. She certainly missed when everything was simple, when they could all just be and only worry about what kind of fun to get up to.

With a happy sigh, she settled in where she lay, her friend's larger frame serving as her pillow.

"I didn't think I'd see you again," she admitted into the fellow teen's paler fur, brown eyes closing. After all, what was there to come back for, really? Magg couldn't blame Adora for leaving.

In a moment that felt like nothing but joy, it had become a sad realization.

Yet perhaps Adora had become too accustomed to a revolving door type of life. The chasm had been left apart and her family seemed to drift to and fro, the Cove had never felt fully like home even if she had adored the mountains. Now her mother brought in more life and Adora had come all the way back here.

She had never stopped to consider that it wasn't normal for everyone.

That others thought walking away was more of a forever than a later.

Her cheeks burned hot and she sought to grapple Magg a bit closer.

"You think you could get rid of me that easy, huh?" Teasing humor felt kinder than dragging them both down with melancholy and memories.

(This post was last modified: Jul 24, 2023, 03:45 AM by Adora.)

ᴠᴏɪᴄᴇ || ᴛʜᴇᴍᴇ

Magg giggled and squirmed inside of the other's embrace, snuggling into it rather than resisting. She had missed her, missed this; simply being. @Galen allowed her similar moments, but his face was also always a reminder. Just as hers likely was for him... With Adora, she was just a normal teenager, and all that tragedy that kept pummeling the Cove was guiltlessly pushed from her mind.

Her tail continued to thump the lush ground happily.

"Thought you'd be on to bigger and better things by now," she teased back, voice light. Magg thought of Adora as quite the adventurer, and had imagined her covering ground quickly, crossing into foreign terrain, discovering marvelous things. The mountain was just the same as it always had been in her almond-shell eyes; lackluster.

"What brought you back?"

She had thought so too.

Yet she had loved cozy moments like this too, even if she had adapted well to the wandering and constant change of scenery.

"I don't know. I guess maybe it was just...the mountain or something. I never did get to explore it as much as I wanted to." Her own tail thumped against the soft ground.

For a moment, she turned her gaze outward to the lights that shimmered above. How it seemed so peaceful here and like maybe, just maybe, tragedy couldn't touch her. Only she had known far too many places that betrayed their looks by now.

"Like these lights. Glad you're here to see them with me."

ᴠᴏɪᴄᴇ || ᴛʜᴇᴍᴇ

Magg had wanted her friend to say 'you.' She knew it the moment something different came out of Adora's mouth, but she pushed down her disappointment, told herself she was being unrealistic. As much as she wanted to be, it was impossible for her to be everyone's favorite... right?

'Like these lights.'

The words brought her own eyes skyward, the colors causing another smile to curl her dark lips. They certainly were breathtaking here, perhaps even the best she'd ever seen. Magg sighed happily.

"Well... I've still got lots I could show you..."

Even new spots she'd discovered since Adora had gone! There was no shortage of adventure-date locations along the range of Serpent's Pass, that was for sure. If the other girl wanted, of course.