BURN
BRIGHT

Honestly, Ninazu took the Sunhaven situation much less seriously than the male lion. After all, the merchants took all of their strikes completely lying down – at least the Rosebloods gave her some return punches and personal motivation to keep bashing their brains in. But the beachside town proved to take every attack lying down; even their rescue raid fell flat to her, with all the Sunhaven members fighting pathetically against superior Pitt opponents. Pathetic, that’s what she thought of the seaside town.

But she could use an easy target, a distraction. Reigning as ardent with an active war occupied most of her time. But Stryker liked one of her joking ideas for warfare; how could she turn down an opportunity to spend time chasing chaos with him? Especially when she suggested the idea – even if he took her joke more seriously than anticipated. So here she was, settled beside him with a coffee and hemp-soaked bandanna covering her muzzle. Damn, she hadn’t anticipated the fucking stank of this shit. Maybe she should have suggested pelting the merchants with something less annoying to sit next to.

© MADI

placeholder for this bc want to reply to other threads before finishing this

{ add beginning w/ Jiyu }


The peaceful moment shattered when Rosemary heard Goldie’s voice; a pair of eyes immediately slid towards the young bengal. Yet Rosemary otherwise froze, sinking into the sand. Still believing the narrative that she betrayed the Typhoon with her choices – despite never giving intelligence to the Rosebloods, besides one healing lesson with poor attendance – the ocelot sunk into shame. Family meant everything to the young woman. Yet, even Rosemary knew this betrayal meant the second time she let selfish feelings guide her actions.

“Goldie, I’m sorry – ” she began to say, before cutting herself off and breaking their gaze. But she could not live in her self-loathing bubble. “Jiyu, that won’t help. I’m from here. I turned my back when I should’ve dug my heels in; I should live with the consequences of my poor decisions.” Admitting her mistakes came easier when she looked at the dragoness, perhaps because it felt less like an apology to Goldie. Maybe because she bonded with Jiyu deeper than she’d ever done with anyone. With all the emotions churning around, the witch couldn’t make sense of them all.

But she knew she felt sorry for leaving; the healer regretted the decision almost daily. The decay of her magic and health in the desert only further reinforced that truth; the water witch belonged with her ocean, and the Typhoon provided the shore.

{ intro; Vale into a new group? }

A crow--out of place in the jungle, really--landed on one of the outermost trees baring the Pitt's markers. Ze landed on a low branch, pecked at an unripe papaya still on the tree, and screamed. Damned fruit, always either unripe or too ripe. Never as it should be.

The crow screamed again. Ze beat its wings, screaming and kicking the fruit, and then descended to the ground. In less than ten meter fall down, the crow shapeshifted into a sleek jaguar. Even so, ze landed in perfect poise on all four paws.

The melanistic feline's ears flicked back against zir head. Why come here? Ze needed a place to rest and chatter amongst sentient creatures. It'd been a hot minute. Ze had not touched civilization in months—if not a year—depending on whether the brief stay in Elysium counted. All of that searching turned up nothing, and Vale would’ve preferred to call such endless traveling wandering for the sake of wandering.

Because it was too painful to think on personal failure. Zir refused to see the truth; ignorance clouded zir present as much as the past, and what a terrible road ze walked down.

This road, in particular, was scorching hot. Even in the shade of the jungle trees, the humidity settled over fur like an unwelcome second layer. Flopping against a tree, ze hissed and scratched the back of zir head against the bark, arching zir spine and getting the mother of all backscratches. Might be worth sticking with this bloody group, simply for access to their heavenly trees.

But it was still too hot. With a lash of zir tail, Vale’s body shivered from nose to tail-tip. The melanistic pattern shook itself out, replaced almost instantaneously with a leucistic coloration. Vale gritted zir teeth, dreading the next burst until--pop. Bat wings tore out of zir back, covered in goop and fresh joints crackling. The additional limbs formed the ticket, and the knot of nausea deep in Vale's stomach unclenched.

Finally, Vale started cooling down. Even after all this time as an animal, the temperature regulation problem fucked zir over. Too used to sweat. How stupid ze'd been, taking sweating for granted. Stay hydrated and you can walk forever! Not at all the same in animal bodies, even using an avian form.

"Is someone going to greet me with water already?" Vale called out. Zir tongue stuck to the rough of zir mouth, and ze grimaced. "I am tired and thirsty."

{ in progress; vale blooding }

After seven days in the desert, Vale returned from the desert’s depths the same way Vale joined—as a crow. Traveling at night, after learning the hard way how the desert heat drained energy, the crow nevertheless needed to announce zir arrival back home. Ze completed the blooding ritual, and tradition demanded celebration!

“WAKE UP, SINGLE SKINS! I REQUIRE AN AUDIENCE TO WITNESS MY GLORY!” Vale cawed sarcastically, flying around the central plaza once, twice, thrice. “NEVER BEFORE HAVE YOU WITNESSED A PITTIAN SO EASILY PASS YOUR TRIALS. HA. HAHAHAHA. DUMBASSES."

Vale landed on one of the many statues in the area, hooking zir claws around the chipped ear of a worn jackal. Ze balanced the delicate snake skull atop the jackal’s head, poking it until satisfied it would stay. Vale hadn’t killed the snake, but nobody needed to know that, did they?

The crow’s feathers looked glossier than before ze’d left. Vale's beak shined, too, and the crow's red eyes looked sharp.

BURN
BRIGHT

Honestly, Ninazu took the Sunhaven situation much less seriously than the male lion. After all, the merchants took all of their strikes completely lying down – at least the Rosebloods gave her some return punches and personal motivation to keep bashing their brains in. But the beachside town proved to take every attack lying down; even their rescue raid fell flat to her, with all the Sunhaven members fighting pathetically against superior Pitt opponents. Pathetic, that’s what she thought of the seaside town.

But she could use an easy target, a distraction. Reigning as ardent with an active war occupied most of her time. But Stryker liked one of her joking ideas for warfare; how could she turn down an opportunity to spend time chasing chaos with him? Especially when she suggested the idea – even if he took her joke more seriously than anticipated. So here she was, settled beside him with a coffee and hemp-soaked bandanna covering her muzzle. Damn, she hadn’t anticipated the fucking stank of this shit. Maybe she should have suggested pelting the merchants with something less annoying to sit next to.

© MADI

BURN
BRIGHT

Honestly, Ninazu took the Sunhaven situation much less seriously than the male lion. After all, the merchants took all of their strikes completely lying down – at least the Rosebloods gave her some return punches and personal motivation to keep bashing their brains in. But the beachside town proved to take every attack lying down; even their rescue raid fell flat to her, with all the Sunhaven members fighting pathetically against superior Pitt opponents. Pathetic, that’s what she thought of the seaside town.

But she could use an easy target, a distraction. Reigning as ardent with an active war occupied most of her time. But Stryker liked one of her joking ideas for warfare; how could she turn down an opportunity to spend time chasing chaos with him? Especially when she suggested the idea – even if he took her joke more seriously than anticipated. So here she was, settled beside him with a coffee and hemp-soaked bandanna covering her muzzle. Damn, she hadn’t anticipated the fucking stank of this shit. Maybe she should have suggested pelting the merchants with something less annoying to sit next to.

© MADI