[ouija]

She never thought that screams could drive her mad. She was already mad. No, her mother sighed, not mad, just gone. There isn't a difference, mother, don't you see? Ouija isn't sure if she's dreaming or not. Sometimes it's so hard to tell the difference. Sometimes she can feel her legs, sometimes she can't. She can't, now - picking her legs up awkwardly and stepping so carefully, watching those unfeeling pieces stuck onto her like a deformity. But they are her paws - pale things dipped in ink, vanishing into powdery snow as she moves forward. She has footprints, as well, and those are not a dream. Most likely. She is following the glow - dim, bright, glowing orange and red and yellow and blue and it taunts her just out of sight. It bugs her - real or not real? - and she's abandoned her watchers. That is what they are, watchers, not blood, just distant distant distant and they are not her mother because her mother is dead. Sweet love, you are not your blood. "that's why I'm here, mother," she responds to the ghost. "i am his blood, and he is mine, and he will hoard me forever." She has not inherited her mothers hatred of their own breed - just the implicit understanding that it is why she is alive. There are more now, but she follows the original, the one. It leads her true through the unexplored, and after miles and miles of thoughtful pondering of dreams and blood and her mothers ghost following her footsteps, she comes across a tower. No, not a tower - after all, Ouija has no word for such a thing, so naive and poor in her knowledge of the world. And she truly thinks it's a dream now, this sprawling ruin spread before her like some divine image plucked from the brain of a god. No god Ouija knows, and there is no name for this place. She looks around the small ruin and immediately declares it is hers. So when the fireflies, hell beasts that have plagued the valley and will continue to plague it turn on her and scream, Ouija screams back. Vipers hiss and writhe from her throat and she bares her young little teeth as their little bodies glow yellow and they flee. Feeling floods her body and she bolts across the landscape, howling at the fireflies, snapping her teeth at their wings and chasing them off. Her cry is a terrible thing - a screeching banshee, a wailing ghoul, rising up through the valley in the dark of night like some otherworldly thing. When (if) someone arrives, she will turn on them, too, eyes glowing bright in the dim, and she plants her feet and screams. DISCOVERY! Location: Castle Ruins & the Lone Tower In the southeastern forest, there is a ruin of an old castle surrounded by thick, dead woods. it's hardly recognizable - just pieces of wall, lone archways, stairs leading to nowhere. and in the center of it all, still standing, a lone tower. there is no door, no way in, just stone upon stone till the top, where a lone window faces the north. sometimes, when the dark storms blow through, some claim to see a light in the window, flickering in the wind. In other words, welcome to Ouija's creepy haunted playground. Have fun!

[Verstanden]

BJØRN

The rough environment didn't stop him from pressing forward into unknown areas and he pushed aside vegetation to clear the way. He had proclaimed himself as police officer and was very satisfied with the role. He would mold it into something of his own and one day take charge of it when he had proven himself worthy of it - not that power was a part of his game, it mattered little to him whatever or not he was in charge, but it felt good to dream and have goals. If he didn't reach them so be it, he wasn't power hungry or even aiming that high.

The screeching nearby caught him off guard and he lifted his head in wonder. He began trotting forward in a faster pace, not too fast as his large weight made it hard for him to run fast, he wasn't exactly light on his paws or elegant to watch, but he made it forward and was met by a sight of a young girl, snapping at fireflies. He watched the strange behavior, for there was no doubt she was behind the screaming. It bothered him like a a fly buzzing at his ear and he came closer to the girl, which seemed to set her off.

She turned toward him and screamed again. He watched her with distaste, her pretty fur glimmering in the dim light, and it rubbed him off so horribly, he hated the look of her, disliked the way she was the right palette of colors to match everything about her and he came up walking toward her and tried to give her a hard reprimanding smack across her maw with a large paw. The movement was rather harsh, and he would stare down tat the girl with a cold expression. His smack would hardly hurt or even harm her but was a cold way of telling her to shut the fuck up.

Fucking beauty princess screaming like a mad girl.

"Quiet. You are disturbing the peace." She might scream more but he wouldn't tolerate it and she would have trouble making him stand by while she screamed more, so he kept a watchful eye on her. He took a look around and first now noticed the large stonebuilding towering above them (too busy with a screaming child) and watched it from bottom to top. Odd construction, but he seemed to remember something like this, a marking of sort where news were distributed. He wondered if it would still hold?

He took a glance at the girl again and the thoughts began streaming back into his mind. Taste her, fill your mouth with it, just a little lick, BITE and disrupt the beauty - DESTROY THE BEAUTIFUL.

He looked away.

As much as he wanted to, this was not the time or place. The time to taste blood would have to wait. He instead howled a careful calling howl (as opposed to the screaming) to call anyone nearby over, to tell people of the tower, to show it off and let it be known a landmark had been uncovered from the destruction path.

BLOOD

Not now. Later

Always later.

[Hades]

The cold shifts within and she can feel herself drift off into the land of nothingness, of warm delight as her body wastes away in the coming month. The fish she gobbled up just in time felt heavy within her stomach — like a weight dragging behind her and threatening to leave her into the vast valley of snow. She would die out here, Hades wishing she had just burrowed deep into the Earth and let slumber take her. The fear of her being unprepared though forced her out a day later than expected, the exhaustion of removing rubble had taken it's final toll.

The screaming was buzzing in her ears at first — her eyes rimmed with exhaustion and felt like hot desert sand. The beardog stood then, head held high and nose wiggling to make some sense of it. The putrid smell of death washed over her, orange-amber eyes widening as if a force propelled her to wake up and sense the danger. Lights danced in some range of motion in the distance, a fluttering of wings against the moon. Before she knew it, Hades was walking faster until she loped forward through the snow, large paws helping her through the terrain. The ice was her element, her home and the hellion would not tolerate anything that threatened Bacchus and it's people.

(Not that she would ever admit this.)

Her jouney took her through ruins, some of which she's never seen before. The cobbles of some foreign species felt alien to her, but her mind was not of the castle built long ago by humans, it was the buzzing and screaming of insects and a child. The beardog paused for a moment, her nose leading her to the source of that acidic rot where a child furiously snapped at the glowing insects of death. She knew not of these creatures, of where they came from or why they came to be, only that they seemed dangerous to a child and the man before her did nothing. At least until he became irritated enough to raise a paw against the small whelp, aiming to smack her in the head. That was when Hades lunged, her top-heavy body surging fast through the snow as if it wasn't even there, muscles pumping with vigor.

Hades would aim to grab his leg, the one he lifted and pull back, attempting to send him into the snow. If she succeeded, she would roar while jumping to his other side, facing him as she swung her body toward the child, standing over her protectively. Bulbus head would open wide with teeth and saliva, giving another roar in warning — vocals much like the beast she was born to. Even if Bjorn didn't find himself in the snow, he would definitely find himself before an angry bear protecting a child. Hades would roar once more — a third time — this time so loud it echoed through the valley. A call for their King. It was only then she would pause and stand at full height, the girl between her massive paws in a protective stance.

"If I ever catch you trying to hit another child, I'll tear every last paw off your body."

✦ ✦ Speech Text ✦ ✦

[Rainer]

Screaming in the distance was normal here - the song of the Fair Folk. You got used to it after awhile. This screaming was different though, its calls rising up and up and up and taking on a specific sound that woke Rainer out of his deep thought - his eyes scoured the few who might have been resting up in the communal den. He searched for the children, spotting one specific missing. He knew he recognized her voice.

Up he went, taking a deep breath of the slightly-warmer air before leaping out into the cold, racing as the snow met him in pillows of white, rising up to greet him and wrapping around his paws, spraying behind him. He couldn't help but laugh unconsciously - he loved the snow so very much. But his laughter sank, his smile fell, as he raced on to the sound of others rising into the air. That small voice among the screams silenced - a careful howl - a roar that could only be from one individual.

What he didn't hear was Bjørn's careful order, didn't see the slap the officer gave one of their few children.

He ran on, wanting to see her. He flew over a hill, the tower rising up into the sky like one great, twisted fang sunk into the earth. It took his breath away and he looked at it for a moment before -

If I ever catch you trying to hit another child, I'll tear every last paw off your body.
Violence down below. Hades - a Broodmother - and Bjørn - a Police Officer - at odds. Ouija nearby, clearly a point of interest. The king charged forward, toward the two while ever conscious of the loud buzzing and the glow that swept from above - did the Fair Folk have a city within this tower? A nest within its great windows? He was halfway to them - a good hundred meters or so - when Hades' third roar met his ears. Five-toed paws carried him closer and he slowed upon his approach, so as to not spray them with snow and to not make a fool of himself if there was any unseen ice. He met with Ouija first, checking her over very quickly and exhaling hot breath into her shoulder and neck, I am here, child - do not fear, and then he turned and leaped between the two adults. If he had to physically force himself between them - that is, if their fighting escalated before he reached them - he would.

Vhat is the meaning of zhis? he asked, eyeing the pair carefully. Hades had not been present in the Old World, where they had battled daily yet only as training for a real war that came and toppled their weakened troops. They were both employed individuals, so he hoped that the battle had not been one that crossed any lines.

♕