the outsider / birthday + pack gifts

[EXODUS--]

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// for christmas feel free to respond before other pack members
[member=1827]AMENT .[/member] [member=232]LUCIFER GRIMM.[/member] [member=2864]ADARA[/member] [member=1684]VIRGO[/member]

it has been a year. a year since she's marched from the crammed prison walls of an opulescent shell egg, bringing death and all the ancient fury of a lineage of monsters behind her. an entire year for lethal power to root itself deep within her primal genes and take hold; to extend itself into the nature of her growing skin. she is the burbling, churning lava within a mold of rotten rock; the fire that never stops growing.

a fire that never stops burning for her kin.

it has grown cold; colder than her body has ever known, yet the machinations of her network of flesh still sing as bright as any furnace; a maelstrom of natural heat. winter was no opponent to her. she had come into this world fully equipped, befeathered. the changing climate was naught but a mere joke for the barbaric princess.

and still, the weather wasn't the only thing changing.

weeks edged on since the encounter with the spectre from mountainous times long past. an effigy of history; a testimony to the might of the utahraptors. it had happened so long ago, yet the youth's mind had lingered upon it, refusing to depart; the phantom imprints of a beast that she was destined to be; a revenant that had opened her eyes to power and what she believed to be destiny. it was to be an encounter that reshaped the very foundation of the world for her. it had shattered reality, and she still found her head reeling with the knowledge of what she had witnessed alone, and suddenly breathing felt anew.

ever since then, she has noticed the dynamic between her sister, life long and marrow-deep spinning into a lethal fragility. a twine resigned to snap at any given moment. jealousy was an abstract yet resolute concept that thundered harshly into her veins, thundering against hetr ribs and pounding fitfully into the dinosaur's skull. every waking day she awoke, saw what she had, and thought,

this is not enough.

and she wanted more. she thought of the dreamy, lilting tilt of sunrise-yellow to her sister's crest, so bright and attention getting. imagined if she has feathers just as bright and pristine and overwhelmingly beautiful.

and she shoved those thoughts aside. and allowed them to simmer.

exodus stalked back towards the nest with limbs longer than when she had first been graced with by birth. something confident and honed echoed in her steps, gifted with experience in the sinuous moves rocking in a web of sinews and tendons.

she had been. watching, observing the typhooners. the girl had grown used to their presence, but their bizarre and un-tactical behavior never ceased to amaze and disgust her. the jovialty in the air was something new, unprecedented, and it hung heavy and thick in the air, choking. these creatures seemed to be in a good mood for whatever reason. fluorescent lights hung from their huts like strings of webs, luminescence huskily drawing against shadowed sands in all vivid colors of the rainbow.

it did not take exodus long to notice that they were exchanging possessions between each other. it was not difficult for her to perceive, for as unorthodox as the concept, exodus was intimate with their nature. gifts were something precious and warm and filled with bright thoughts and sunlight love-- not something that belonged to sharp-toothed beasts and their maws chock-full with blood ready to shred shred shred. but exodus had given gifts before-- corpses for the ethereal mother, and rose red hearts carved especially for her alpha. this would be no different.

it was birthed from impulse, but impulse and instinct are the deities of her little savage world, if nothing else, and they prickle insistently across her nerves, sending a cascade of irrational desires and responses to ripple their headless dance across her mind.

irrational such as this. as impractical as a primal beast could get.

it had taken days of careful harvesting and burying to ensure all of her offerings were preserved and well hidden.

when dawn awoke and stretched it's harsh, veiny limbs over the prideful shores, exodus dragged her gifts to the family nest.

the entrails from a tapir, warmed and baked by the heated sand a day prior as good as akin to a candy upon the tongue. a pearlescent string of jewels and precious, iridescent pearls too pleasing to the eye like sweet honey. a jaguar corpse; a beast that had been no fight, really. the creature old and as tired as dust, death already upon it's doorstep, and just as feral as she. the creature had lacked the wick of flame; the glimmer of intelligence behind shuttered irises. the life has been easy to steal, and she had taken it with much glee.

and the next present-- far more unorthodox. a simple thing to behold to the intellectual eye, but far more of bewildering beauty to the bestial creature. a mirror of gilded frame was hardly a thing worth a second glance to the passing gaze, but exodus was entranced by it's gleaming surface-- a reflectivness to rival a pool of water, and trapped in a sleleton of gold, curling pattern equipped with a handle to boot.

heated mouth, parting to let loose a tribble of greeting. the big girl wanted them to see what she had brought for them.

[AMUNET]

the beserker / the quiet one — Smoke cools in the air, crystals form; melt at the will of the sun’s idlings. Ament’s own idles bring nothing but wraith; the perfect after image of his curiosity, it settles into his mind the same way, but the feelings are different. One binds him,bleeds, seethes, it is killing him softly and making him feel alive. Rot blossoms in his heart and starts the slow nullification of his heart, his loyalty. One breathes against his feathers, it is the curl of warmth despite the cold, the shudder of excitement after a hunt- the thrill- the awakening. Like he has been in a daze and only now opened his eyes.

He was born with both of these, gifts from the mighty ancestors, that show his divinity- his place among them. Remembers it was curiosity that drew him away from his first meal despite his hunger, it was his rage that killed that rat ruthlessly under mother’s gaping shadow. He has little idea what his pack thinks of this; rage; curiosity. Such simple attributes have over taken his life in a precarious state of sanity and control.

But loyalty remains, kindness- may evaporate but never truly die in him, something only showed to his pack mates. He will always be there for him, some primal thing that feels like the warm grains of the beach in the afternoon of winter. Warm despite the cold, Nature’s mercy. Despite this rage, this curiosity that both push him away, he is stubborn, resolute in his need to dig his feet-claws-teeth into this. This love, this home. It keeps him tethered. It keeps him merciful despite the rage of the world around them all.

Clumsy still, whatever honed edges ament has were not used for walking skillfully. He practices his stalking, his knowledge, and his battle prowess. Little else bothers him anymore, and he can confidently walk into clan camp where he because an aspect to inspect from his curiosities. They watch each other equally now, ament marvels at their smarts and they marvel at his mindless-ruthlessness. Even if he stumbles from time to time, these creatures know better than to trust his clumsy exterior, they have all seen what he has done, what he could do.

He know of christmas, a gift giving ceremony that tends to everyone- where your friends are giving platitudes and strangers are greeted with niceness. A time of merriment and festivities that makes wonder bloom in his eyes. A sea churning under his skin flash in his eyes, his interest is caught and his own life is put into question, what kind of things can he give his sisters?

It does not take him long to think of things, less time to find and give what they want.

For exodus a large bucket filled to the brim of fish bait, stolen from the shores of fishers who long given up home to catch him. Large worms and non-poisonous caterpillars squirm and writhe in a slight sparkle of soil from the underbrush to keep them alive. He knows his sibling prefers to dig than to hunt, though she thoughtfully satisfies both needs of herself and her family. A small amount of consideration for the pack is to be rewarded.

For his first hatched, his alpha is benevolent and silver tongue. Nobel colors of her crest and eyes make the perfect gift for her easy. Something pleasing to the eye, something flashy and enough to give even the most dimwitted of animals attention. Thick golden chains are shipped and shaped, thick enough to wrap around her neck and show her regal status.

Soft goose plumage has been plucked and set in a cloth- meant to later spill into the nest of their home and make for softer- warmer bedding for his home. A gift to himself as much as the others.

Adara is tricky to find for. Something that is unique liker her personality is hard to search for, harder to secure. But he does amend this quickly, scouring another punch of feathers as brilliant as hers. Golden, blue, green. Soft and chi-ched until soft enough to make a fine bedding around her own art of the nest, stuffed inside the same cloth of pure white dowry.

Mother has given them everything they are- who they became was because of the void-god’s guiding light. A beacon in benevolence that ament will never be able to comprehend - to grasp with anyone but pack. Rage settles too deeply, too keenly. But something must be given something will be sacrificed to this divinity that guides them into their own light. He drowns it first. Freezes it neck- and carefully carves. Brutal and unkind and ruthless is he, but each action is made gentle: of love. WHen he is done he is proud of his accomplishment.

An inch of ice encases the meat, forever suspended if kept cool enough. Cold and brittle, the heart is clear to see in the ice. Clear despite the scratches that skitter the edges of each side. A heart encased in ice, a fresh snack given meaning. Here ament gives his love the only way he truly knows how- providing for.

He turns slowly to face his sister, a bright purr of contentment as he bounds closer. No time to play- today is a gift- an occasion. They grow older but together, and he has something to to show her. In Between jaws is the clasp of iron as he sets down a bucket at his feet. The rest of his presents at his feet. Waiting for his family to gather and take what is theirs.

© LEXASPERATED