Pookastone Scowle Trouble’s knockin’ at your door

just watch your back and hold your own

Deluge Archer-Lyall

It was night, and a shadow slunk through the woods of the motherland.

She had never trod here before but the way the energy of the earth greeted her as she buried her toes in the loamy soil beneath the snow spoke of home. The scent of salt on the air was not to be ignored and so the young woman followed her nose, just as she always had in the coastal lands she had been raised in. Away from this place.

A lagoon stretched out before her and without hesitation the girl stepped forward, breaking through a thin crust of ice and sinking up to her elbows in the frigid water. There was movement beneath the surface and a smile stretched across her face, adjusting her paws for better balance as the sturgeon moved to swim between her legs. “’Ello beastie.”

Night cloaked her pale form as the scent of water spurred her on. She was far from home, from the Backwater, but with the promise of spring resting at the edges of her consciousness, Vanadis couldn't help but sate the itch in her paws. In a few months time trips like these wouldn't be possible.

She had thought to bring Viorel along, and maybe she should have, but she really hadn't planned on going so far. The scent of another escaped her notice for longer than it should have, but once the woman's perfume entered her nose, Vanadis slowed. The former Archer new well enough to be cautious with strangers, but caution never stopped her curiosity before.

The woman's form might have escaped her notice, camouflaged in darkness had it not been for her voice. "Find a lake monster?" She flashed a playful smile and tilted her crown, curious what the stranger was referring to as 'beastie'.

just watch your back and hold your own

Deluge Archer-Lyall

A wide smile was pasted on the girls face, if this was the sturgeon, then she had found the lagoon, and this was the place. It was a rush to think that perhaps she was standing where her forbearers once stood, that maybe this was the place where her mother was born… Not that she had many memories of the monochrome shadow, but her Nonna always spoke fondly of her, of the fire in her veins, that coursed through her own veins too.

Deluge certainly hadn’t expected company. She thought the place would still be abandoned. Just as well she was interrupted though, her toes were going numb.

Her tail rose to rest level with her spine, the smile slipping off her face to resemble more of a smirk. “More like a legend,” she offered, moving to step out of the icy lagoon. “Yer live round ‘ere then?” She questioned the stranger with a tilt of her head, after all, why wouldn’t she?

Vanadis watched the stranger's body language change, took note of the tail rising to neutral. She allowed her own smile to mirror the woman's as intrigue lit her gaze. "Ooh, I hope it's a scary story then." Something like the pooka that her mother had told her about, or the monster fish in the lagoon.

There was something familiar in the stranger's voice, something that Vana couldn't quite place. Was it the voice itself?  The speech pattern? "Nah, I'm a bit of a ways away from home." That ways being more than a day worth of travel away. "What about you, you live around here?" Vanadis wondered how much information the woman was willing to disclose given that she seemed to be alone, seemed being the key word because Vana very well could have missed the scent of another on the stranger's path.

(This post was last modified: Jan 08, 2022, 05:40 AM by Vanadis.)

the stars don’t shine they burn

Deluge Archer-Lyall

The girl openly snickered when she was asked if it was a scary story, “‘Parently one o’ Nonna’s boyfriends was tryna’ teach ‘er how ter fish, an’ she bit this beastie instead o’ th’ catfish she was aimin’ fer an’ ‘e chased ‘er outta th’ lagoon. So she came back an’ set up a pack on th’ banks but wouldn’ go in th’ water fer th’ longest time in case ‘e tried ter eat ‘er back.” By the end of the telling the girl couldn’t contain the snort of laughter that bubbled from her belly.

The water barely touched more than her legs but she gave a shake for good measure anyway. “I’m jus’ checkin’ on fairytales. Come from a long way off, down by th’ sea.” She may, or may not have hoped somewhere in the back of her mind that she might find her mother here, that blurry blob of pale grey she hardly remembered enough to put a face to. “Name’s Deluge, family’re Archer-Lyall’s I guess, though most o’ us drop th’ second ‘alf fer simplicity sake. Whatsyername?” being polite was fucking exhausting and her face scrunched momentarily as she struggled to keep up the facade, bowing down in a stretch. Her stomach was telling her it was dinner time, but she doubted there would be anything left worth scrounging further into the territory.

There was a familiarity to her story, one that Vanadis couldn't just sweep away. Well, that, combined with the accent, and the eye color, and the snort. Hadn't she been told the same sort of stories? Thoughts of pookas, and catfish, and wishing stones filled Vana's mind as she allowed the yearling to speak, quickly putting the pieces together in her mind.

When the stranger finally named herself, confirming her identity, Vana had figured out enough to not be surprised. "Vanadis Archer-Valle, or I guess it used to be Argyris-Archer" And now it was just Valle, but Deluge didn't need to know that. "If you're chasing fairytales here, I think you're going to be disappointed. I was." But there were a few Archer-Lyalls, and the way that Archers kept their last names made it difficult to place who this girl belonged to, so she had to ask, "Who are your parents?"

the stars don’t shine they burn

Deluge Archer-Lyall

Deluge was losing interest until her own surname made an appearance. Her tail gave a wave and a low grumble of familiar greeting was offered, the urge to play bow and bump chests sneaking up on her rather quickly. “Ah, me nonna is Morganna, Sedna is me mum. I was actually kinda hopin’ ter bump inter her. She took off when we were young, but lookin’ around I doubt she’d be inclined ter return.”The understanding was there, there were no fairy tales to be found here, only dust and ghosts. “Doesn’ mean we can’t make out own fun though…” She teased with a smirk, no concrete plans, because she had never been one for planning. They were inclined to take what they decided was theirs however, and perhaps if her sisters and brother came along, they would align their interests. Maybe.