let it sing now . aurum - Printable Version

— the sun alights the bog in it's golden light ; ament's reaction is to flinch away . its instinctive , and he doesn't dwell on it as his eyes adjust to the sudden influx of light , the slow rise of the sun means little when one arises from their covered den of moss and roots , of the stench of rot and death to only notice the sun and the fresh contrast in the air ; it is breath taking - choking.

Ament settles along a raised root to preen himself , the chitter of his feathers between his teeth : a focus primarily along his chest and wings . he is drowsy , one of the few nights the venadi had slept through the night instead of hunting or patrolling his tanglewood . preening is a good way to wake up , even without his sisters , without his usual softness , ament is prideful , he is vain of his brown feathers . he keeps to a routine, if only to keep what little stability e can have in a place bursting with activity ; with different things happening during the day , ament must look his best ; or at least get the blood of his last prey out of his feathers .

without his sisters ; without his mother - ament is still venadi , still raptor . without a pack a raptor will surely die , but in this age there are little to compete with unless he were to take on one of the clans or another raptor , and even then - ament will survive ; he survived the lygari , he has survived past having his head cleaved in two , and he still sits next to a clan ; next to curiosities that could do the same thing lygari had : fill his mind , break him - collar him : ament would bend , but he will break free and he would kill them : ament would survive , or he would not . there is no between .

There is no fear in a creature like him ; there is pain that could be wrought : there is anger that could be spurred ; there is wraith ; but ament does not fear death ; he feared speration , he feared living without his pack , but his pack is gone , is no more and still he remains . it is odd , to live past the fear of something crippleing to him , to life after it - it makes him stronger , makes him stronger and yet weaker : without them there is no pack ; no communication . Only him and the curiosities , only him and the clan . The clan that does not understand him and one he does not try to leave either ; he is at an impasse .

a still beast , is a dead beast

so he moves , quick rapid and fluid, he slips from the outer territory the clan claims as theirs and closer towards the center - never too close ; never to encroach enough to gather attention unless someone is out hunting or looking for him ; but no one looks for him - it is time to explore ; to hunt ; to observe his clan again . maybe he will learn something new today

[member=6881]wormwood.[/member]

[glow=#000,1,400]MY MAMA SAID THAT I'M NOT LIVING RIGHT. YOU RAISED A LION, MAMA, I AIN'T LYING, MAMA — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

Contrary to Ament, Wormwood – now known frequently in the raptor's mind as none other than Aurum – had never truly feared losing those that had been part of his pride, the equivalent to the raptor's pack. This was mainly because Worm's pride had never been like a pack. It had never been a group that sought to protect each other and work together all the time, at least not for the oldest prince of the pride. Sure, they had actually protected and loved each other, but Wormwood had always been the foreign entity in that equation. He was never the one being protected, or the one being loved. That was why he had never felt a sense of fear when he had imagined the pride finally falling apart while he was there. In fact, he had actually felt a sense of hope whenever he had imagined no longer being held in the oppressive claws of a group that hated him, and a family that ignored him. However, now that he was actually left without those of his past, like Poetking and his Mother, he felt a bit different. Despite everything that she had done during his life, he still felt sorrow over his Mother's death, and a great deal of confusion and conflicting feelings when it came to Poetking's disappearance. For all he knew, the only family member that he had left was his father, and he didn't even know if that was right, since he hadn't seen his father in person since he had left the pride a while ago.

As a way to comfort himself in these testing times, he had decided to instead focus on the new family that he did have in Tanglewood. His new family actually cared about him, and had a great deal of different personalities that made him feel interested, and like he was constantly learning new things about his clanmates that he had never been expecting. Hell, some of them had even become somewhat like actual family to him, with Rhea being like his niece and Roy being like a surrogate sort of son to him. When it came to Ament, he had very mixed feelings about the almost entirely feral raptor. For one thing, Ament had scared him at first because of his attack on Delilah, but since then Worm had learned more about the raptor, and had actually come to like him somewhat. Maybe it was just because of his usual positive disposition towards feral or mostly feral group members, but honestly Ament seemed really interesting to him, and he found that he liked hanging out with Ament, even though the raptor never said much of anything and seemed vaguely always on the edge of atracking.

The large lion had been out for a walk through the territory with his head full of jumbled thoughts when the scent of Ament reached his nose, and the male known to the raptor as Aurum lifted his head, looking around with curiosity. It took a few minutes for him to reach where the raptor was sniffing around, but when he did, he couldn't help the soft smile that tugged at the corners of his muzzle. Slowly moving over, he flicked his tail in greeting to Ament before rumbling in a welcome tone, accompanied by a soft chuff, [glow=#165042,1,400]"Hey, Ament. Are you out for a walk today? I've seen you out a couple of times just kinda wandering around I do that sometimes too, mainly when I need to exercise my legs... I was wondering if anybody had ever showed you in detail around Tanglewood's territory? It seems like most people around here don't know you well, and I think it isn't very fair for you to not know about the place that is your home now."[/glow] Truth be told, he wasn't sure if Ament could understand his soft words in the slightest, but it seemed like most of the time the raptor could at least understand the general feeling of what he was attempting to communicate, and he hoped that at least his tone of voice and the shrug of his head to the side could show what he was trying to offer.

— Ament has always tested the bounds of his own mortality by taunting dangerous things ; it is an expected behavior when finally under the shadow of a protective restrictive mother like his was . As a child cocky and sure has settled into a confidence of knowing that ament could . Could live without pack and without mother - with only his teeth and his claws he was still feared and respected ; in this clan without either presence ament has made a name for himself .

It was liberating in a way , but this exsistance was lonely , no one to seek out no one to seek him out . to be known only to this clan as a savage , it is obvious that he was not understood , there was no one to hunt with him, to preen with there was no pack here - only this clan . it made him angry , it made him desperate to get home but fear kept him from looking , fear that - well ;

the heavy footfalls of another so close to ament was enough to snap his attention of the situation , deep blue eyes narrowing between a suit colored features of the predator. even at the familiar taste to the scent did little to settle to his nerves ; the fact that he was caught unaware was a lethal mistake .

The sight of the lion keeps ament from springing into action ; letting all of his anger lash from his body - rid himself of this static with the taste of blood and fear on his tongue . Aurum earned his name n his aid of ament , even through pity or some sort of want to help the helpless; ament finds value in the golden statue of the lion that garnered his affection , and trust easily .

Aurum , golden - as it translates to ; Ament takes a moment to let the other's voice sap him of his anger ; there is nothing to attack, and the tension bleeds from his form as his feathers resettle themselves . Uncoiling from his pensive state he puffs up , letting his muscles relax and feathers settle back down ; ament takes attention to the creature in front of him , watching them quietly with no real understanding flickering between sea-deep eyes.

he gets closer , the large utharaptor cutting between the bog in strides - ament is just the size of Aurum , his crest the only thing seeming to give him more height . he does not let the other keep a distance if anything , pressing his face into his space and letting out a light chuff in response to the silence- a throaty purr in greeting to let the other know he was welcome ; not a threat to ament and seen more as an ally than anything .

Ament cannot allow himself to be sot ; not anymore . without pact and with this aching emptiness inside him all he can ever be now is lethal ; but that does not mean Aurum is the ignition to his anger , his wraith or the static to his bones . He is the steady bloodflow of a hunt successful ; the golden warmth on his pelt on a shore long lost to him .

[glow=#000,1,400]MY MAMA SAID THAT I'M NOT LIVING RIGHT. YOU RAISED A LION, MAMA, I AIN'T LYING, MAMA — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

Wormwood didn't flinch away as Ament got closer, as he had seen many of their other clanmates do when the raptor decided he wanted to get into their space, instead just smiling evenly. He can hear the hearty purr that Ament gives him in greeting, and he returns it in a soft and warm chuff that is the closest that he can give to a returning purr. Unfortunately for the warm and friendly male, lions weren't able to return the greeting purrs that so many of his other clanmates made at him, so he had to just respond with the calm and slightly odd sounding chuffs that his vocal chords were able to produce. Thankfully, Ament was somewhat in the same boat as him, since the raptor seemed able to both produce the chuff sound and understand it. Seeing that there was seemingly no understanding of his offer in Ament's eyes, the lion just chuckled and rumbled as his tail flicked from side to side, [glow=#165042,1,400]"Ah, it's good to see you too, Ament. I'm glad to see that you're in a good mood."[/glow] He knew that the raptor couldn't understand the exact words that he was saying, but he hoped that his friendly tone could communicate that he was pleased with Ament.

He then let his tail flick gently against Ament's shoulder as a signal for the slightly taller creature to pay attention, gesturing over his shoulder for the raptor to follow. He moved slowly, making sure that Ament was actually following him before he led the raptor along towards the town, knowing that or was the time of the day where most people were either inside or out on patrols, so there would be no one around to annoy Ament and make him become hostile. He led the feral beast along until they reached his small home, the first destination on Wormwood's tour to try and get Ament a bit more used to the clan that really was his new home, even if the utahraptor didn't see it that way yet. Stopping in front of his porch, he punctuated each word he let out with a gesture to hopefully help Ament understand what he was trying to get across, [glow=#165042,1,400]"This is where you can find me if you ever need me for something. It's my home, and where I am most of the time when I'm not out hunting or something. Unfortunately I can't leave it too much lately cause of my injuries."[/glow] He motioned between himself and his home to show that it was his, before making a bit of an unhappy face and raising up his injured leg when he explained he couldn't leave a lot.

Trying to communicate in a more baseline primal and easily digestible way was an interesting challenge for Wormwood, but he actually found that he enjoyed taking it on. After his experiences with Draekon – and even before then – Worm had come to see feral or mostly feral creatures as more of just an alternative way of existing, rather than an inferior way like most others did. Sure, maybe Ament was a bit more quick to attack than most of them, and maybe he didn't speak in full sentences – or even words in general – but that didn't mean he wasn't a member of their group, and because of that Worm found that he liked being friends with Ament, and with the other feral members of their group, like Roy. All that it actually meant was that you had to adapt to communicate with them, like learning a new language, and Worm had always loved learning about others.