when the moon is full - open; thinking

It was almost like a dream. Setting up the search patrol, following Moth and trying to find him. Walking deeper and deeper into that graveyard. The place where death resided only for them to be met with a horrible scene. One that was seared into her mind. The cries of others as they found their Luminary with his beloved dead and mangled on the ground. Blood having spilled everywhere. Almost like a dream. She wished it had been. Then she could just wake up from this nightmare. But this was not something she could run away from. This was reality and it stared back at her. Yet she was afraid. Afraid of what would happen next. Where Tanglewood would go and she hadn't even thought of the fact that she was the new Luminary yet. A thought so far from her mind as she just kept seeing his dead body on the ground. She had never been close to Aurum, never got to really know him. And now he was just gone.

The next day had brought with it a stillness to the town. Quiet and solemn. The lioness was focused on a small flower she had been clutching between her paws, spinning it back and forth. There was no true direction today, just aimless wanting and she was just thinking the same things over and over again. Trying not to shed any more tears. Her tail curled against her body as she dropped her chin against her paws, letting out a deep sigh. What were they going to do? It felt much too early to be talking about a funeral. People needed time and so she merely watched others as they walked about.

Every step felt leaden, every thought drowned in water. She was so young. Ana was so young and she was stupid and look where that got her. She wasn't strong. Wasn't like Elsweyr who could at least be quiet while Ana had screamed. Every step even wobblier than before, unable to place her paws right. She felt wrong, she felt different, she felt dead.

She hadn't realized she ended up sitting next to Elsweyr. Little grey body trembled with the reality of it all. Much like Ares the poor girl took her wings up and shielded herself from the world, eyes wide and dull and lost. Quiet the breath drawn in, eyes focused on the ground before her.

ANA THERVOS - TANGLEWOOD - PENNED BY ASTRAL

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Death was hard for everybody, but it seemed to hit Tanglewood particularly hard. It made sense, given that Aurum was the Luminary and as far as Atbash knew, a very well-respected and known member of the group before she came around. Vigenere spoke fondly of him, she knew that much. Atbash was, obviously, no stranger to death, with the whole reasoning of her being in Tanglewood was to make amends for her brother. "Hey guys." The savannah chirped quietly as she approached, frowning at the way Ana seemed to tremble next to Elsweyr. "You doing okay?" The least she could do was check up on her clanmates, considering she wasn't that close to Aurum. Just respected him. Of course, she had been hit by his sudden death as well, but it did not affect her as much as it did others.

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The overwhelming stillness in the town didn’t surprise her, after all, the Luminary had just been nearly turned inside out. It hadn’t been a very pretty sight, and surely would leave a sting for some time to come, with the transition feeling more somber than something to raise a glass too. But it wasn’t new, none of this was new. Arrow had figured at some point between then and now that if someone was going to keep their head up and push this fuckin’ gang of swamp dwellers through the brutal stroke of gorey bad luck, it would be her. Not because she felt she was good for the role or everyone would be lost without her, that was ridiculous at best and narcissistic at worst. Nah, nah, it was just because this wasn’t her first rodeo, and her emotional state had yet to take it’s strange nosedive much later than the thing that was to set her off in the first place. Delayed reaction, one could say. Besides, if she laid down and gave into the misery, she sure as hell wasn’t getting back up.

”Morning darlin’, Attie and kiddo.” Arrow greeted with a chipper tone that seemed severely out of place, albeit clearly strained. Her eyes trailed up the statue, one of them subtly twitching. It was quick, blink and you’d miss it, but boy oh boy was it there. Bloody thing, mocking her. She’d fight a statue, she didn’t give a fuck.

Shaking her shoulders, Arrow strolled over and past the kitten and savannah to plop her ass down beside the lioness as well, wiggling her skinny body around trying to drape it over Elsweyr’s back, smacking her tail against the ground a few times with seemingly no rhyme or reason. ”It’ll be alright, ladies. Shit’s just a little complicated is all.” Her sentence ended with a tiny laugh and snort, but it wasn’t really a fun laugh.

The trembling shape that came to rest beside her she wanted to comfort and so she did. She gently draped her tail over the child's back and lowered her muzzle gently to try and brush her muzzle against the side of her face. It would be okay, they all just needed time. Things would get better and they all had to believe that. Death was not something that they should let stop them. But they were all allowed to grieve in their own ways. As Atbash came forward the lioness lifted her head and she gave a small pained smile. It dropped almost immediately at the question. "She would say...as best as they can be doing right now. She hopes that Atbash is doing the same." Ana being a child it may be worse for her but the lioness had seen death time and time again. She breathed out sharply before her eyes flicked up to the sound flow her dearest coming.

"Good morning..." The woman began before the king cheetah draped her long and slender form over her back. A soft chuff left her throat as she wiggled a bit to make room enjoying the other's presence and taking comfort in it. "She knows. Its just...it will be a bit strange to not have him here. To not have them here. She feels sort of lost...and she is sure others do as well." When would things go back to normal? She had no answer for that but she hoped everyone kept their fond memories.

It seemed like Arrow was keeping an upbeat attitude, though Atbash did sense the strain in her voice. It was hard to remain positive, especially after just discovering Aurum's body, but somebody had to do it, right? "I'm doing fine, thanks." Atbash responded to Elsweyr's question, giving the cheetah a small nod before giving a small, albeit forced chuckle at Arrow's attempt to lighten things up. "We'll get through it. It's gonna... be rough, but we'll do it."