Dawn came, and so with it a spark. A pulse of life shot through once empty veins. A breath of humid air taken in previously unused lungs. From ash a phoenix arose.

-------Falling in on itself, the being heaved for air. With each desperate cough a rain of ash revealed brilliant feathers of many colors, the striking red color of life being the most noticeable of all. As the wretching died down to mere heavy breathing vibrant green eyes alit to a land it had once known so well.

-------'Paradis' the pain had migrated from its lungs to its heart. Volcanic rock held firm against the aves' unsteady talons as it beheld the Paradis Archipelago from atop it's volcano. So this is where Cyprian had died, where he had died. A real, true blood sacrifice. Someone he loved. Someone he knew loved him. At least, that's what he'd thought.

-------Cyprian brought up a wing, feeling across his downy chest for a wound which was no longer there. At least not physically. For raw nerve endings and a recently traumatized soul told him there was still a gaping hole where his heart had been taken.

-------'No more.' He wished, eyes flinched closed. Heart racing, the bird willed it to stop. Forever, was wishful thinking. Not at all healthy thinking, neither was it what he needed. The life that plagued him would not stop for a mere wish. Not his own, not others, only that cosmic mother whoms will was unknown.

-------This awakening like many others was abrupt and traumatic. Through the years Cyprian had learned to deal with such situations. Usually with ample stillness and thought. Thus his eyes remained shut, his body incrementally relaxed, and he settled. Reminiscing, praying, planning.

The feeling of being ripped back into a body, of being ripped into a body itself, was a feeling the siren had only felt once. He didn't like to think on it, to think of the painful breaking of strands within the heart. If he looked close enough in the dark, he thought he could still see the screaming wights on the ocean. He could still feel the timbers of the faithful ship creaking and snapping, the cruel smiles of his captor.

This sun cycle was much the same as any day before it. The sun ran across the sky, in its wake illuminating the day of immortal and mortal. He was another unsuspecting creature, caught in the affairs of the living. Today, his blue gaze was bound skyward, watching the gulls overhead with a sense of reverence. What he wouldn't give to take flight like those avians, to cut through the sea of clouds. Alas he was a land bound flightless beast but oh, how he ached to fly. Bound to the sea as he was, the sky was put a sea he would not sail.

Quiet steps brought the siren about, out and around to investigate the territory, the lands, anything but the sea that mocked him even as he took rasping breaths. His gills fluttered faintly as he took a gulping breath, head down as he walked. Deaf was the part-fish-mostly-wolf creature, his mind as much adrift as he was physically. He hadn't noticed the change in land or the temperature, the only thing that caught his attention was motion far above. He couldn't make out the phoenix's shape or anything about the other, only that something theoretically alive moved so far above on the volcano's side. Stilling, the blond creature stood there like a silent statue, ears perked as he stared up at the other, wondering if they would move again. Was this a threat? Or was this a friend? Was the volcano sputtering? He didn't know.

He supposed he could stick around to find out.

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Something in the air shifted causing Cyprian to stir. Keen eyes lit upon incongruous movement down the mountain. Metallic blue scales shimmered in the morning sun, crystalline blue eyes scanning the area and ears pert. They knew something, someone was here.

-------A part of Cyprian panicked at the arrival of another living being. A myriad of thoughts and emotions went by. Suspicious, afraid, most of all, curious. The aves had questions that need answered. The biggest being: how long had he been dead for? The most anxious: what if this person was here to keep him dead? Cyprian didn't dwell on that one, letting curiousity rule.

-------Slowly spreading his wings Cyprian made a few hops down the mountainside before taking off in a smooth soar. The movement so ingrained that though his muscles strained in their newness the flight was elegant and practiced. He landed himself a good distance from the dogfish. Wolffish. Fishpup. Gilled one. Stranger.

-------"Stranger-" he struggled to find his voice, "-good day. My name is Cyprian", a slight wheeze to his strained voice that carried an accent long lost. Whilst introducing himself the avian elongated one wing, bowing in greeting, gaze never leaving the canine. Better to be courteous than a meal. If he showed trust in this being it may be more likely to indulge his curiosity. He worried it may have been too long since he'd died. That maybe Paradis' language had changed. It would be difficult conveying meaning between such different species. The look the gilled one was giving him didn't leave him with much hope.

The flap of wings stirred something in him, the creature freezing where he stood as he watched the ave approach. Pointed ears swiveled back in a stressed motion, limbs trembling beneath him as he fought the instinct to crouch. It was a curious sensation to be afraid of something up in the sky, something that he currently identified as a threat based on his instincts. Lips curling back to reveal ivory teeth, teeth meant for crushing bone in the way meat eaters were, in place of thin small teeth. He couldn't filter fish like his whale cousins, not that they were much related.

Breath caught in his throat as the bird came closer, his legs moving and bringing him to pace side to side as the Phoenix approached, his ears shivering as they perked upright once more, issuing a raspy bark in the bird's direction. Hopping back as his hackles rose, he kept his crystal-like eyes fixated on the hued bird of flame, lowering his head and showing him his teeth. He was nervous of Cyprian, frightened by the new creature, yet envious. He wanted to fly like that, to swim through the clouds.

Slowly as he observed the other, sniffing the air and jolting away and back at any movement the other displayed, he would slowly lower his hackles and hide away his teeth. Scales glittered beside his eyes and on his cheeks as he cautiously sniffed the Phoenix again. His scent smelt of soot, befuddling him. Why soot? Is it the flame this creature adorns?, he found himself thinking.

Lowering his head as he watched the others beak and tongue move. It was speaking, not singing like most of the birds he'd observed. Sitting himself down onto the sandy ground beneath his paws, he tipped his head as he faced Cyprian. It was incredibly hard to make words out from a mouth that he couldn't study the smallest movements from, leaving him rather stumped. Tipping his head in the other direction, looking quite as confused as he felt, he lifted a back-paw to his ear and scratched at it, shaking his head after. Sating the sudden itch with a loll of his tongue to show his content with his situation, he raised a forepaw and tapped at his ears and muzzle with a curt shake of his head. He hoped that this would be enough to inform the other that whatever words he said, he wasn't able to understand or hear them.

What was it my teachers taught me? Manners are important, and I don't speak very well. I think ... I need to introduce myself? Came the thoughts as he stopped panting with a lolling tongue, lip caught on his lower teeth for a moment as he glanced around. Finding a few sticks, the siren got to his paws and trotted over, bringing them back and laying them down to spell out his name in shorthand, 'Vic'. Drawing a hazardous arrow in the sand, he pointed it towards himself and set about wagging his tail, a playful gruff escaping him as he looked on, quite proud of himself. He was an adult but the means of communication still seemed so mature to him, and many another would have mistaken him for an immature feral creature without sentience. It was a work in progress, and he much preferred when people who could speak into his mind spoke with images. Sometimes the words they said didn't make sense and he was left to make sticks and stones of them.

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Though the being may have been fishlike, it certainly didn't have fish teeth. That would have looked a bit funny anyhow on the canine. Glistening ivories were bared to Cyprian as he approached, barking and shuffling. It wasn't everyday a giant bird came flying for you, the aggression was warranted. Figuring that there wasn't much difference between being killed immediately after his rebirth or having a civil conversation the ave landed and began communications.

-------Nerves settled as soon after the phoenix spoke, his counterpart having relaxed. Unconsciously Cyprian's own wings slackened, tail feathers giving a quick wave. It seemed that though the creature may not have understood him, it did understand that he wasn't an overt threat. The casual lolling of it's tongue, the scratch of an itch, what a change in countenance. Cyprian appreciated the being's ability to express itself so openly. Even if Cyprian had wanted to, he could never express himself so effortlessly. Wings and beaks had great purpose, but they didn't tie easily with self-expression.

-------Watching, the phoenix saw as the blonde purposefully motioned to its ears, giving a shake of it's head. It took but a moment to process, 'Oh, they're... deaf?,' this was problematic. Surely the stranger wouldn't be able to sense what Cyprian was saying. There weren't too many civilized birds flying about trying to speak with deaf canines. Just as the phoenix started think of ways for them to communicate the scaled hound took off. Cyprian watched as he left, starting to think he'd been dismissed until the creature returned with a few sticks in its maw. Puzzled, the bird cocked its head as it's counterpart arranged their sticks into shapes. Shapes that soon turned to recognizable letters.

-------'Vic.'

-------Eyes dilating, flashing in realization the phoenix released it's own chirp of excitement. Their alphabet was the same. Cyprian wasn't too far out of time. There was hope.

-------Hopping over to the layed out sticks Cyprian glanced to the canine before rearranging them to suit his needs. Adding a few to make it work.

-------'Cyps'

------- Shorthand, just as Vic's name had been. Cyprian extended a wig to the letters, then gestured to himself. With a fluff of his feathers, a flutter of wings, and a wag of tail feathers the ave expressed its contentment in having been able to communicate with Vic.

-------It was far too complex to continue with the general spiel regarding Cyprian's existence in what he presumed to be Vic's home. Thus, he took to stick language once more and made the general shape of a sailboat. Then moving his attention back to the canine he tilted his head in question.

-------Though he could fly from the archipelago just fine, he'd prefer to see what was left of the old Paradis culture of seafaring. It wasn't as though he had urgent matters to attend to. No responsibilities, likely no one looking for him. Perhaps someone from his own time still existed, but there seemed no point in searching for them. If fate allowed, they'd find each other.

Against all odds, as different as they were to one another, Vic found himself drawn in by the other. Sure they didn't really have any other option to speak with out here, but he was in some way glad that the other had disrupted the small silence that he existed in. He didn't get up to all that many exciting things after all, and the most exciting thing this last week was the giant bird flying down at him. Not that he minded now.

The connection through communication seemed to be exciting for the other, his own eyes narrowing for a moment as he judged his reaction. Blinking in delight at the physical show of a reaction, an easy smile claiming his maw, blue eyes twinkling with satisfaction. Writing was a hassle for one such as him with paws too clumsy for fine writing, but it was useful at times. Using sticks to form words was ... time consuming to say the least and would require the island's worth just to make a few sentences. Issuing a soft woof of delight as Cyprian spelled out his own name. Staring at the word, he tipped his head left to right, testing the word on his tongue without vocalizing. He didn't quite know how to say his name, unable to hear him for known reasons. "S ... Sips?", the siren tried quietly. He'd been deaf for so long but he held some knowledge of the past. It had been ... a strange time when he'd learned how to talk. He didn't like to think back on it.

Shaking his fur out with a huff, running his tongue over the back sides of his teeth, frowning. Was that the right manner of syllables? He didn't know. Shrugging he watched as Cyprian made the shale of a sailboat. His countenance encountered a small change then.

Sailboat.

He had one of those, though his was in sore need of repair. Teeth sticking to his upper lip for a moment as he considered his answer, he looked quite odd as he frowned and tapped at the ground in thought. Sitting back on his haunches, he wobbled precariously with his balance, pointing a paw to himself then to the boat's image. Next he pointed to the sky and moved his paw in a jagged motion back down to the ground and slapped it to the ground. A storm had destroyed his boat so he didn't have one to share with the avian, but he was quite sure that he might be able to find enough supplies to make a rough raft if the other needed it. Otherwise he could offer the phoenix a ride across the water on his back or via some sort of flotation device if he was too tired.

He was excited by the thought of a new friend, a relationship he had sorely needed since he arrived. Sure, his answer might not be that of what Cyprian was desiring, but he knew the people of this land did like their boats.

Maybe he should take the ave to the Captain or some other shipbuilder so he could get himself one?

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