GREEK TRAGEDY — RENDOZVOUS

[AMUNET]

— The typhoon was much different than he remembered it.

The last time he had been apart of such a big herd of creatures beyond his pack; had been at this salt-baked shore. Aching and hollow; looking for the haunts that had once been his kingdom, left to guard it’s bones in a desperate sort of hope that his family- his pack would return to him. That his sisters would find their way back to him-them. Ament, unshackled, un-chained, unbound from the one who had stolen him in what felt like eons ago- he had outlived it. Had gnawed on the creature’s bones to prove this to himself. He had conquered his own failure, yet the victory felt hollow. Without his marrowtone-starbound-void mother-pack everything felt null.

He had left, as quietly as he came. He put the collar back on and ran from his birthright. Left it for the herd that hailed from it because they- if no one else; would defend what was theirs. Where The venadi fell, where ament; lost volatile thing, could not live to the name of his pack. Could not truly commit to being the only venadi.

The venadi was the name of them, what was a venadi of one?

It was always three.

Ament, in all his wrath-anger-vengance purged of static with tooth and claw and plucking and chains. Did not, could not- live up to the leadership of starbound. Could not hunt as marrowtone, could not fly as void mother. He was not as them. He was only a beast of wrath, grasping at nothing but sands.

The first day being home, being venadi again; was the first time ament stopped to preen himself. He was careful, around the scars. Fluffing the plumage around his neck to cover the bare, balding spots where iron rubbed raw and burned-itched-bled at times- and for once, he allowed it to heal. Ament, taking one look at luciferus in the sky a day ago had turned and dropped the collar, had welcomed the shadow of the elderitch-crooning-frigid chill that spelled death for anyone else- anyone else but the venadi- and welcomed it. Joined it, and together- found his sisters. Found venadi, found once again their home.

Luciferus had found them; but he didn’t find all of them.

Ament had taken the first day in the typhoon, in his kingdom, ruin-ruble-ashes that it were to him; them, and licked his wounds, had let them all rest, collectively. Ament was the omega, and he was never their leader, but there was one voice that would listen to him, and they-venandi listened in turn.

Ament went to void-mother, and told him there was one more.

It was that second day, in the salt-caked sands, in the jugnle thrush and his sister’s slumbering purrs and luciferuss rolling thunder of a snooze- that ament left once again. Care not for the venandi that was not whole. What was venadi, without each other, without each sinful-deviant-divine part?

Ament knew where to look, and the travel was less harrowing than it had ever been. The knowledge, the dead-set determination-need for unity, was priority. He made no attempts to hide his travels, he didn’t hunt for himself while he traveled, letting the determination rule him, burning the engine of wrathwrathwrath until he stumbled towards the border of a non-forgotten swamp.

Ament knew the traps, knew the crocs, the river mutations and the dangers of this place like home. The herd here was a little more sloppy, but just as much a herd; aurum’s herd. Ament’s-Aurum’s  herd, and out of respect of the final venadi, ament didn’t trespass the lands. Didn’t walk further in; instead the raptor tucked his legs under him, and let out a loud, billowing call.

[member=6881]aurum.[/member] / I'll wait for your response before i add the other's in ^^

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[wormwood.]

The angel couldn't remember when exactly Ament had been lost. Lost not from him, no, because that simply wasn't possible. Aurum, perhaps more than anyone else in the world, had a habit of remembering. Remembering every little detail about a person, every speck of information that he learned. He could remember the sound of their voices, the fall of their footsteps, the distinctive scent they carried with them as they moved along. Each person who touched his life would never be forgotten, whether friend or foe, because Aurum would always be around to remember them, even long after he left this mortal coil. So Ament had never been lost from him, but the raptor had been lost from Tanglewood. The lion couldn't remember the exact morning when he had woken up and realized his friend was gone, but he could remember that it was a harrowing one. The weight on his shoulders had felt as if it was a thousand tons, dragging him down, down, down into the very depths of the swamp. It had felt nearly as bad as when he had lost Moth, because just as Moth had been, Aurum had considered Ament family. Strange, different family that some hadn't understood, but family nonetheless. Hell, the raptor was where he had gotten his name from, when he had finally decided to abandon the horrible bindings that the name Wormwood had represented.

As time had passed, Ament had certainly not been forgotten, but he resided in Aurum's mind less often. The former proxy had so much to worry about, and take care of, and it was easy to lose track of all that he missed. This didn't mean, however, that there weren't times when he missed the other with all of his heart. There were plenty of times when he found himself pondering where Ament could be, or how he was faring after his disappearance. For a brief time, the lion had desperately hoped he would find the other within the Typhoon, where the raptor had last been seen. However, no visits ever satisfied his hopes, and often they just left him feeling hollow. He had lost family, and had no way of knowing whether he would ever get him back. Unfortunately, that seemed to be a running them in the lion's life, especially combined with the disappearance of Poetking, and the recent death of Moth. He could only hope that the rest of his family – his children – would fare better.

When Ament's call had first filled the air, Aurum had thought for a moment that perhaps he was imagining things. The other's call was familiar, of course it was, but... it had been so long. It seemed almost impossible that the raptor had finally returned. However, the angel also knew that crazier things had happened in the past, such as Leroy and Arrow returning from the dead. With his heart fluttering in his throat, the lion was quick to push himself up to his paws, long strides leading him quickly towards the border. As he grew closer, a comforting and familiar scent filled his maw, causing a grin to break across his face, and drive him to move even faster. Aurum was forced to skid to a halt when he finally reached the border, his heart pumping fast as he saw the raptor before him, so familiar and comforting, even after so many months. Slightly breathless from his running, Aurum took a moment to gather himself before he stepped forward, one blue eye gleaming as he rumbled, "...Ament. Ament, you're here. You're home. I... I can't even begin to tell you how much I missed you." As their relationship had always been, the angel had little idea of how much of his message was really getting across to Ament, but he hoped that his warm and loving tone could communicate how happy he was to see the other, as well as the fact that he pressed in close. Not quite touching, not wanting to scare or anger the other, but close enough.

[glow=black,2,300]— ✘ —[/glow]

[AMUNET]

— Something horrid crawls along ament's spine. darker than simple savagery could describe. it ached his teeth and bleed venom under his skin. swelling with taught muscles. It was with his maw open, the call's taste still fresh on it did ament feel it crush him with the same feeling of  s t a t i c . It made him restless and defensive, the first time ament took off that thing that he allowed onto himself- feeling raw and open, bleeding sluggishly out- vulnerable - alone

To his sisters, there were only three venadi, the truth was something ament didn't know the consequences of, But it;s affects strangled him in the remnants while he waited a response. In where his siblings became something more through their time alone, ament found more; found something to patch the open raw bleeding wound where they left him. where they didn't return. it broke ament in a way that he hadn't had time to process. In a way that ament couldn't process. couldn't fathom where blame placed the abandoment; at his feet, or thiers.

It was him- he was stolen from them. Taken in a way that couldn't be helped. But the raw jagged empty part of him that once buzzed dully in tandem to his wrath-anger-fury-pain that still lingered- was him.

and through the trees, aurum burst through, the strange lion-herd animal was babbling in the nonsense tongue of his that ament felt only exasperation. His own exasperation cut swiftly by the joy-reverence, pride at seeing the other living; thriving beyond him. He let out his own babble, the low sound just on the edgeof the other's hearing range. rumbles that marched along his throat in akindance to the herd's own stolen-language.

gold-sun-safe-content? ament's own lolling purr rose in the question, aurum's apprach reciprocated until the slightly smaller thing tucked himself under the other's wing. sharp savage teeth- meant for tearing and maiming came to preen softly at them. tugging the lions wing open as the pack-beast cleaned the other. Sitting down with a humm. content for the moment and refusing to allow his thoughts to wonder.

he didn't cross the border, didn't go near the edge of it beyond in is path towards aurum.

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[wormwood.]

As always, Aurum found it difficult to understand anything that left Ament's mouth at his arrival. He knew that there was something to the low rumbles that Ament let out in response to his arrival, especially since his own name came from that language, but beyond that? He had no hope of beginning to translate it, especially since he couldn't even properly hear half of it. Despite this, he felt the grin on his muzzle curl wider as Ament responded in turn, and he let out a pleased chuff, more primal and obviously pleased in a way that Ament could hopefully understand without issue. Despite the myriad of barriers between the two of them, Aurum had never felt much difficulty in communicating with Ament. No matter how differently the two of them saw the world and thought about family, the fact was that the two of them were family. Even if Aurum didn't fall apart as severely as his raptor companion did at being comprised of his whole, the angel had still felt some sense of hollowness without Ament there. It was as if a missing piece had been returned to him, and it was joyous.

When the former proxy felt Ament dipping down beneath one of his large wings, he laughed heartily, nearly falling backwards from the rush of happiness and rolling purrs from the other. He managed to keep himself upright, however, raising his wing ever so slightly so that it was easier for the raptor to access. As deadly as he knew the other's teeth to be – and he had seen firsthand just how dangerous they had the capacity to be – he also felt no fear in letting Ament preen him. For one thing, he often let his own razor sharp fangs do the job of carefully plucking away bent feathers, and for another thing, he simply trusted Ament more than he did most other creatures. He had been around the smaller male for long enough to see that Ament would protect him, and that the two of them were allies, so he had nothing to worry about. Aurum allowed himself to sit down as well, keeping his wing raised so that Ament was free to do as he pleased. Long tail coming to rest over his broad paws, the angel found himself rumbling from deep un his chest, "It's so good to see you again, Ament. I wasn't sure where you had gone, or if you were even still alive. Are you doing well?" Knowing that the other probably wouldn't understand his words, he cocked his head curiously to one side, hoping that would get the point across just as well.

[glow=black,2,300]— ✘ —[/glow]

[AMUNET]

— joy, unaltered and devine filled ament in troves as aurum had bound forth to him; welcomed him in a way so many would regard the beast with fear. It was such a rare thing for the beast that he shook- quaked. weak in the knees of such a divine, infinite feeling. It made any sense of rage snuff without air, and here simple kindling meant little to the inferno of family-packgolden the light of the sun were upon him and it was a comfort of two sleeping bodies content and fully, a satisfied feeling of acention as ament took hold of his birthright in the jaws and ripped it asunder; down to the ground for him-his-mine. For once the beast felt selfishness curl in the back of his throat, and if felt like joy, felt like something ament could only describe as divine pleasure.

the rumble in ament's voice vibrated his entire form as he carefully striated feathers, lethal, gruesome dangerous teeth near hollow bones; trust-selfish-his. the other-golden fell to the same feeling, a comfort that would make any beast lazy only sharpened the edge of them both. Ament; feral and wrathful, aurum with his benevolence, his anger carefully guise behind it. His aurum spoke more and between feathers ament stayed mostly silent, setting to work at the mistreated parts that his companion couldn't reach well enough on his own.

it felt safe here, warm in the way void-mother's own form couldn't quite take. Between one breath and the next savage blue eyes looked up and saw the lion's own head cocked, his body language open and inviting the other in a game of conversation that ament could understand. could communicate as easily as breathing. between them there was little room, but ament managed, sitting himself he let his own tale raise and hit the ground; slow and concise,- natural as day. Ament was happy, where he was, now and where he would return to.

his scent was one of home; salt and sea-water. Beyond the typhoon there was luciferus, virgo,exodus. and although the angel knew nothing of them he would tell the desticition of sea that still clung to the raptor. Ament would return home later in the day, but now- here ament allowed himself to breathe past the worry, the aches and the fears that had been injected into him.

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[wormwood.]

Seeing Ament so gleeful, satisfied, and loving honestly caused a warmth in Aurum's chest that he couldn't begin to describe. He knew that there were many out there that feared Ament, or would come to fear him, if they ever had the pleasure of meeting him. It was a simple matter of perspective, really. While most would look at Ament and see a feral beast, incapable of doing anything but bring destruction, Aurum looked at the raptor and saw family. In the past few months, the lion had lost so much of his family, from his sister and brother to his mother, and many of those within Tanglewood that he had considered close to him in some way. During a time where he had felt so powerless and alone, having Ament return to him, even if it was only temporary... it was a joy, because it meant that he knew that the other male was safe, and that Aurum wasn't about to lose anyone else. One could practically feel the joy radiating off of the angel as he saw Ament smack the ground with his tail in happiness. That was a clear enough message for the lion, who responded with a grin and excited, fluffed up feathers, "I'm glad to hear that you're doing well, Ament. I missed you, and I was worried something was wrong, or had happened to you... this makes me so happy, though."

The tangy smell of salty seawater on the air was familiar to Aurum, not only because of his past experiences living in The Typhoon, but because of his closeness with so many who were living there. It took him only a few moments to identify the scent with Ament so close, and if it was possible, he found his grin widening even more. He had been wondering where the raptor had taken up residence during his time away – or at least some of his time away – and there was truly no better place in the lion's mind than The Typhoon. It had served as a temporary home for him in the past, and he knew the people there to be kind, guided along by Goldie. Brushing a feathered wing lightly against Ament's side, Aurum let out an approving chuff that he hoped the male would understand, thinking fondly of clear blue seas and golden sands, "The Typhoon... I thought I recognized that smell. You chose a good place to stay, Ament. I'm good friends with Goldie, and many others over there... they'll treat you well." As much as the angel wished that Ament could stay within Tanglewood, it was evident from the start that the raptor had no plans to. He had the scent of another group and of more family on his feathers and scales, and Aurum had no desire to keep his brother away, no matter the weight on his heart.

[glow=black,2,300]— ✘ —[/glow]