TALES OF THE WIND | joining

[alaire]

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X e n i z a t i o n . n.
A haunting echo follows him.  The cackle and roar of flames as they swiftly rose into an early morning sky.  Spreading and growing as a living creature, bringing down the foundations of a small family cottage.  A voice, repeating unusually sharply for his mother, a simple command; Vole!

The world around him became a blur.  Obedient son, he flew.  He kept flying, with no other direction, for hours.  He kept flying, sure one day he'd catch the sound of other wings on the breeze, lifted by the air.  Instead, as he grew tired and traded talons and feathers for paws and fur, Alaire discovered his mistake.  Undeterred, he attempted to backtrack.

Despite his usually accurate sense of direction, the youth failed to recall the path he took correctly.  How long, how far, how fast had he flown away?  His mother told him to fly.  Had she not followed him someway?  Scrambled out of the burning house before it all crumbled?  His father?  Aine?  Surely his father blew out the flames in time with his wind manipulation.  Right?  Then they must be seeking him out because he flew too far, right?

For the first time in his life, Alaire discovered himself to be alone.  Alone in a strange land, a stranger.  While the concept of adventure had always excited him and his sister, he thought the event would be more fun with her at his side.  Together, taking on the world beyond their little home, just as they always wanted to.  Just as they always played pretend.

As a gentle rain drifted down from an otherwise blue sky (his father's favorite weather to paint), Alaire found some dense undergrowth to settle beneath and watch.  Given enough time the ground would become muddy and he could play.  The prospect sounded entertaining but missed the important aspect of his sister's secret giggles as they conducted their clever plan to sneak into the rain.

Alaire held the sky to his memory as stray droplets hit him on the nose.  A pretty picture, if he could find the correct materials.  All the while, he sat unaware of his rain-cover sitting on the other side of someone's new border.

[breena]

[align=center]— breena | halls of hiraeth rouge | druid —

Rain.  Light rain, at least.  A gentle fall shower.  The petite badger imagined, in the moons to come, the precipitation may become a biting cold, accompanying graying skies.  This rain reminded her of spring.  A gentle reminder warmer days would return again, as they always.

Storms kept the druid inside.  The lightning made her fur prickle.  Her chest squeeze.  The gentle droplets of water running down her dark pelt came without aggression.  No sharp flashes of light.  Breena could hardly mind such a kindly offering of water, replenishing the grass and trees before they went dormant for the winter.

The youthful rogue decided to enjoy the kind shower with a quick patrol of the Halls' outskirts.  More curious than defensive.  She wandered often, offering the trees, flowers and bushes her quiet company. 

But underneath the overgrowth, her dark hues caught a splash of black and red.  A little fox.  Watching the rain, she realized.  Oh.  Well.  She couldn't accuse someone seeking shelter from the rain of trespassing.  Much less someone as young looking as this fox.

Quietly, Breena crept a little closer, stepping into the open a fox length away so he could see her clearly.  "Hello there," she smiled softly, dark hues warm and curious.  What brought a child, alone in the rain, here?  "What's your name?" While not entirely indifferent to the fact she was spending extra time getting wet, the druid decided she didn't mind and sat down in the wet grass.

— I WILL TRY TO BE THE BRIGHTEST —

[redvox.]

REDVOX "VINNY" ABRAMO - cis male - goat-bat hybrid - harbinger

Fire. Vinny fucking hated fire, despised it with every fiber of his being, and was terrified by it. He had been ever since the flames that had claimed the first home of the Halls. He could still remember the smoke filling his lungs, the flames filling his eyes, and the terrified screams going on around him. He remember pushing his entire body into overdrive, bolting through the department store that had once been home, desperately seeking out every one of his clanmates to get them the hell out. As time had gone on, he had felt the way that his body had weakened, his lungs had wheezed, and his legs had threatened to collapse inward. Eventually, after shoving the last child he had found still within the building out, Vox had just let his body collapse, his eyes falling shut just as the rapidly growing flames had enveloped what remained of the building, pulling him down into darkness and death. Fire had been what had killed him once, and he was determined to let it never claim anybody or anything else he loved ever again. Hell, that had been why he had stood so protectively over Auggie when the Pitt had been raided, the other groups with their flame powered warriors coming to kill them all... not that he loved August, or anything. He just wanted to protect his new friend, of course.

As for rain? Vinny found that he liked rain. He liked the smells that it brought with it, along with the faint pitter patter of water droplets bouncing off the leaves all around. What he probably liked most, however, was the way that the sky darkened. It reminded the nocturnal creature of nighttime, and made it easier for him to be out and about even when his body was telling him he should be the hell in bed. That was why the harbinger had been out for a walk around the territory, more out of leisure than responsibility this time. Ever since stepping up once again as the leader of the group, his life had been nothing but nonstop organizing patrols, mapping the territory, and keeping track of how people weee doing – both for personal and promotional reasons. It was nice to just have some time off for a little while, and he found a sharp little grin gracing his face as he slipped underneath the trees, his wings and hooves carrying him forward as faint droplets showered down on him. His peace was broken by the soft sound of Breena's voice, along with an unfamiliar scent reaching his nose, and he found himself glancing around in surprise, eventually finding where the badger and the child were huddled down. Vinny hesitated for a moment, not wanting to interrupt the peaceful exchange, before he settled a few feet away, mumbling softly, "Er... 'ey kid." His greeting was awkward and more than a little forced, but he just didn't wanna scare the kid off – besides, Breena had this, right?

[alaire]

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H i r a e t h. n.
There is no startled fear, only a spark of immediate curiosity.  In the endless days of wandering, lost and entirely by himself, Alaire had found none interested in speaking to him.  None addressed him, or lifted their voices in gentle inquiries. Despite a firm remembrance of 'stranger danger', the fox promptly sat up straighter, intently focused on the badger.

Could he shift into a badger?  Of course I can.  Alaire simply preferred his birth form, splattered with red, black and silver.  A copy of his father with his mother's amber eyes.  In that way, his sister presented the opposite meld of their parents.  None of them changed their shapes as of yet, and for that the boy trusted them to stay the same as he last saw them before the flames.

He wrinkled his nose a little as another stray drop landed bull's eye.  A stray smile splits his face, entirely amused by the rain.  Neither the badger or the strange creature appearing beside her seemed to mind the water, even as it spilled onto them from the sky.  What is he? Aine's chastising voice to remain polite halted a number of questions.  Only a memory of her, but powerful enough to return his molten gaze onto the badger.

"Salut," the greeting felt wrong.  The others offered their words in the common language, but his mother's French prevailed in his mind, guiding the formation of words on his tongue.  "Je m'appelle Alaire." Black paws pressed thoughtfully down.  "What's your name?" A simple echo of the correct phrasing.

[redvox.]

REDVOX "VINNY" ABRAMO - cis male - goat-bat hybrid - harbinger

What are you? Was a question that Vox had become very used to over the months since he had become stuck in his current hybrid form, and at this point he didn't even care anymoee when it came up. It had been more annoying back when the form had been new, and he hadn't quite known all the ins and outs of his new body, and therefore couldn't really explain, but now he knew every part of goat and bat that had been clashed together in his body, the strange mixture of DNA producing his current strange habits and mannerisms. Speaking of mannerisms... Vinny was struck with a strange sense of familiarity when Alaire first spoke up, the foreign language sounding strange to his ears but also reminding him of the strange words Aine and her extended family had a habit of exchanging, just... different. It made him think that perhaps this new boy was a member of that constantly expanding family there seemed to be no end to, but he also didn't want to assume anything, figuring that it was probably just some kind of coincidence. Had to be, right? After all, he had just left the group where Aine and Gael lived, and now having a relative show up at the Halls's front door? It seemed so damn surreal.

Despite not understanding most of the strange words that left the fox's mouth, Vinny could understand that the other had introduced himself as Alaire. It was a nice name, even if it seemed a bit too elegant for an excited little kid like he currently was. The hybrid wasn't quite sure if Alaire's question had been directed at him or at Breena, but he decided to answer it anyways, dipping his head to the child and saying softly, "Uh, nice ta meet ya, lil Alaire. M'name's Redvox, but y'can call me Vox if ya want, or Vinny." Lowering himself further down to be level with the small boy, Vinny settled and stretched out a bit, saying as he glanced over Alaire's head, wondering where the male had come from, "Hey, could ya answer some questions, Alaire? Like, uh, where'd ya come from? And... do ya know where yer parents are? D'you know if they're still, like, uhm... alive?" He didn't mean to sound so blunt about it, but if the kid had family, Vox wanted to be able to reunite them, and if not? The Halls would gladly take him in, and give him a home.

[alaire]

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A b i e n c e . n.
On a swivel almost, the boy's attention returns to the stranger creature as he speaks.  A number of increasingly uncomfortable and difficult questions, relieved only by the fact Alaire possessed little true understanding of death.  The finality of a life had never been explained to the child, who could, in theory, live forever.

Beginning simply, a point of origin represented a curious predicament.  Ardis sang as the name of home and country, but Alaire had known only the countryside of the great Faerie nation.  Almost on auto-pilot the fox's eyes simply move in the direction he came from.  Regardless, he realized the answer must suffice.  Doubt however, clouded his mind, certain the name may be unfamiliar in these equally unfamiliar lands.  "Je viens d'ardis. Ardis."

"Mes parents?" They must be somewhere, deductively.  Only Alaire failed to recall if they possessed a safe meeting place -- a rendezvous for trouble.  They never suspected someone to light their home on fire. "Non.  I... Don't know," he admitted perfectly calmly with a passive blink of his eyes.  "Mais je ne comprend pas."

Still alive?  Nothing else presented itself as a possibility in his mind.  The opposite of still alive simply did not exist.  "Oui.  Still alive."  Quickly, Alaire's mind began moving.  Simple plans and easy-to-follow logic.  His parents and Aine, less capable of changing shape, must have traveled much slower.  They must play catch up, as in a game of tag or chase.

"Les avez-vous vu?" He pressed suddenly, remaining relatively incomprehensive of any possible language barriers.  Collectively his family spoke three languages rather regularly. "Puis-je attendre ici- Can I wait here? For them? S'il vous plaît?"

[redvox.]

REDVOX "VINNY" ABRAMO - cis male - goat-bat hybrid - harbinger

The language barrier when speaking to Alaire was a but rough, but Vinny was able to mainly translate just through context clues, and what little bit of the language he did actually possess knowledge of. The kid was from... Ardis. Vox had never heard of such a place, but that hardly meant that it didn't exist, it just meant that the hybrid wouldn't be able to take him back there, at least not unless one of the others present within the group knew of it. Seeing as he couldn't pinpoint the location, Vinny just dipped his head to Alaire in acknowledgement, listening to the rest. The little fox didn't know where his parents were, and... something else. Ne comprend? It reminded him of comprehend, so it didn't seem the kid understood one of his questions. It was then quickly followed up with a reassurance that Alaire's parents were still alive, even if Vox found himself slightly doubting. The kid didn't seem to know where his parents were, and didn't even know what death was... the Harbinger just couldn't help but assume that the worst had happened somehow, and Alaire simply didn't realize it. The only thing the gat could really do was hope like hell that wasn't the case, and that he'd be able to reunite Alaire with his family somehow.

It was then that Alaire seemed to remember that there could be some sort of language barrier between them, and Vox felt a soft sigh of relief leave him at the realization that he wouldn't have to use his very limited French to continue translating. Alaire then asked if he could stay to wait for them, a question that immediately softened Vox's already soft edges, an immediate sense of protectiveness coming over him for the boy. Dipping his head, Vox mumbled to Alaire with a reassuring grin, his wings shifting to dig his claws a bit into the ground below him, just to even himself out, "Yeah, of course y'can stay 'ere, kid. Y'said your name's Alaire, right? Well, Alaire, y'can stay here until your parents show up, alright? Or any of y'family does, really... just think of it as an extended sleepover." He tried to put it in terms that the child could understand, wanting to make sure that Alaire was alright – even though he seemed incredibly calm at the moment, given the circumstances. Glancing towards Breena, Vox then gestured a wing back towards the large building known as the fortress, mumbling, "Y'wanna get outta this rain, Alaire? We've got a nice big buildin' that's warm 'n' comfortable. Y'can even get ta know Breena 'ere, and the others." He wasn't sure how long the fox had been out in the rain so far, but he didn't particularly want any of them staying out much longer and getting hypothermia.