their mind was filled with restless thoughts and a growing sense of unease and despair, their heart aching in their chest, causing their throat to constrict. they had their family to look after, their daughter to care for and a group to lead. these stresses were not making it any easier, but they were a stubborn creature, they didn't bow their head without reason. inhaling deeply, the golden dragon made their way through the foreign grounds of the neutral area, their head slowly moving, taking in certain scents. if they tried, they could trace faint scents of some that they knew, and traces of others that were new to them. the sweetest scent among them was that of tender cherry blossoms, overlaying any other scent that they could clarify.

for quite some time now, they had been subconsciously following this sweet and tender trail, half expecting to find a tree sporting the pink blossoms. they hadn't found anything yet, the blind being moving with confidence through what they could only tell as eternal darkness. the calico pattern of day and night could not penetrate the blindness clouding their eyes, leaving them forever in a world as bleak and dark as they felt their hopes and heart were. as they trundled through the area, they let go a soft deep rumble in their throat that traveled through their whole body. it was helplessly empty out here.

jaws spread to drink in scents that their whiskers failed to alert them to. they caught the cherry blossom scent again, curling in their mouth and enticing pleasant memories of a life so long ago and distant, far from the life that they led now. a deep sound escaped them as their right front foot sank into a mushy bank, water sweeping over their talons. they crooned at the cool liquid sweeping around their feet, bringing their body out into the river with a contented breath, the cold water lapping at hot and angry bloody markings upon their legs, soothing the buzzing pain. their daughter didn't know any medicine and nor did they - perhaps that was why they traveled here, searching without hope for someone, for something to ease the pain. the bandits were not letting go of them even now, the memories of the brutal discovery tormenting their mind. exhaling, the golden serpentine dragon laid down in the rushing water, enjoying this quiet moment of peace and relief from their pain.

[member=1277]DELILAH.[/member] //

tags - penned by [member=1260]ryuu-tan[/member]

precious was the delicate scent of the femme, her presence stirring something in the beast as they lifted their head. jaw's spread the slightest, they inhaled her scent, tanglewood's swampy scent rolling over their tongue. they had never met this woman before but something about her seemed so familiar. the taste of war crept like a sludge through their mind in greasy dark waves, bringing with it the sweet burst of cherry blossoms like a bright light in a dark room. that's where the scent was familiar from ... no. further back. way back, when a certain lion had been leading a fallen group. a slow breath escaped them, trying to pinpoint where they knew her from. her voice was as gentle as leaves on wind, or perhaps they were so lonely and wishing to hear another's voice.

her soft croons had reached them first, then her voice. they rolled slowly in the water to better hear her, their blind eyes somehow finding her area of presence. the dragoness' name flowed into their subconscious, dragging it's way up like a burning injury. delilah. they gave an exhale of breath, tentatively speaking, "the deceased delilah? and here i thought that the ghosts wouldn't find me. i can get out of the water my dear, no problem there. it is pleasantly cold." they would speak, mulling through their memories as they moved.

arching their spine into a stretch, they padded from the water to settle on the ground, aware of the strange feeling of warm ichor seeping from their cuts. the blood itself was a strange sight, a shimmering metallic silver, glistening where scales had been pulled or torn away in combat. "you don't need to tend to these scratches, my dear, time will mend them. although, i am honored to be mended by your paw, my lady. i do hope you would forgive me for not greeting you properly but i do not have my sight. my name is bai shi, and i am the kingpin of a small group known only as alithís evgenis." they confide softly, settling to let her approach and do her work.

tags - penned by [member=1260]ryuu-tan[/member]

her voice gentle unto their ears, they let their eyes partially close, relaxing there in her presence and under her touch. remaining still as she did her work, they exhaled softly, letting their senses relax. "brought back?", they breathed, lost in the intricacies of her scent, mixed with a tender touch to her cherry blossom perfume, a mother's scent mingled ever so faintly that they could not tell it apart. they were unknowing of her pregnancy, but even they could tell that she was gentle and careful with her own movements as she laid down near their vicinity.

their own tail twitching the slightest at her joking, they gave a casual grin, "no ghost? you who are as like a ghost, moving so quietly, are definitely not such a finite existence, held to this world by your own ties and bonds.", they chuckle. holding their head still as they sensed her attention move, they rumbled at a low volume, warm and curious of her. she intrigued them in ways that no other had for some time.

"i am no easy existence to remember. i am best suited for swimming in the waves of time long gone. but you remember me. i would hope i had left a unique impression. a feline, now given a body of brimstone and sulfur.", they mused softly, "i for one, am glad of your gifted return, if for the company and the gifted touch you possess. i have left the pitt, yes, my mind found no peace in that bloodied stretch of sand. the few i had thought comrades were double coated and backed by spineless lies.", they would murmur, voice soft as they let themself drift back into a time when they had been younger and foolish to this world.

a gentle breath of wind would ripple through the area surrounding the two dragons, bringing a fresh burst of her scent to them, their own foreign scent lingering upon their scales. how strange to be comforted by the swampy hints under her cherry blossom fragrance, bringing with it a pleasant feeling that had long gone dormant in their chest. she asked of their wounds, how they had obtained them and in order, an unspoken question of how they had wandered to this point.

amusement sparked deep in their unseeing eyes, "a bloody tale lays behind these wounds upon this body of mine. it starts some time ago when i fell ill and thought myself to be dying, life leaving my bones in a way that bore nothing good for those i would leave behind. i recovered over many months, but i returned to the land i had called home, had been invaded by the enemy. my daughter returned not long after me, but she is young ... and i am blind. her claws and teeth are meant to feed and to take down prey, not to defend her home and nest, not while so tender and young. i have been surveying parts of my land, driving out the enemy where i find them. i am only one giant walking a land of slumbering creatures, and as the giants before me, i too am susceptible to a single stone.", they rumble, the faintest of growls hilting their voice.