SPECIAL DELIVERY | joining

[raz]

[div style="margin: 0 auto; width: 55%; font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;"]Mourning Star was no fool. She knew she had long since left her regular territory, but the facts, as they stood, left her little choice. The cold was absolutely consuming, and for such a little thing like a mouse, it really took its toll. She finally reached what looked to be a huge wooden structure, and Mourn gladly took shelter in a little crevice beneath it. She was shivering like a shitting dog, honestly, and if she had had her species' classic brown fur and black eyes, she would have been invisible. But no.

Mourn had albinism, and that was partially the reason she was out there. The other part was that in her family's area, a hawk nest had just fledged, but they all seemed disillusioned with leaving - so instead of two hawks that they could all keep watch of, there were upwards of four. This would have been easily dealt with, but Mourn's white fur and red eyes made her stick out like a sore thumb, and she made her family easy pickings for the hawks. So, of course, like any selfless animal, she left, bringing her story to a nice circular finish right here, shivering underneath a cabin. Poking a twitching nose out as her coldness reached a bearable minimum, Mourn was suddenly very aware of the powerful smells of animals and... Urine. Great.

[cortexx]

You know, it kind of disturbed Mark that his first instinct upon seeing a mouse, even one quivering under one of the buildings of the place he had only recently joined, was to think he could eat it. That rat, the one that had pledged him that he would be protected, the one who seemed to struggle with the language they spoke, was different somehow - maybe it was all the gold he wore that jingled every step he took, or maybe it was the fact that he had spoken before Mark had a chance to really think about it. But this tiny thing, shaking under the cold of Snowbound, it didn't trigger any sort of thoughts of intelligence. It just looked like food. He could control himself, though. He was no beast. And so he flapped over, leaning a bit to his right, with his left wing looking a little shorter than the other, and craning his neck downwards to examine the small rodent. He hoped he didn't scare the poor thing, were it to be a truly living mouse, since he was sort of getting in its face, shoving the side of his head down to her so he could see properly. "You seem a bit cold there - you wouldn't happen to be, er, smart, would you?" He asked, trying to sound like a friendly old codger, and not a menacing thing. Well, unless she was a beast. Then he didn't really care.

tags - "speech"

[ATBASH CIPHER.]

ATBASH CIPHER

i should've said what i hear
i should have let myself fear

It was so strange how prey had somehow stumbled across Snowbound, almost en-masse. Atbash wasn't complaining by any means, but it almost made her worry about how many prey she was eating that had a consciousness and was able to speak. The she-cat turned around as she heard Mark speak to something, and made her way over to stand next to him, looking down at the mouse. God, another one? Atbash wasn't going to complain, of course, just in case they were a potential joiner but man, did the recent amount of prey-type creatures joining made her worry.

bio | female | hailcaller [leader] of snowbound

© madi

[raz]

[div style="margin: 0 auto; width: 55%; font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;"]As Mourn saw the shadow flit across the snow, her head snapped back underneath the wood, trembling as the bird landed. She was about to make a break for it when she heard it.. Talk? To her?

What kind of a question was that? Mourn poked out of the building just a little, so Mark could see her front paws. "I'M PROBABLY SMARTER THAN YOU, BIRD-BRAIN." She signed back up at the bird, insulted. As a cat, yet another predator, approached toward her, Mourn retreated back beneath the building. "DON'T EAT ME." She signed to the cat and the bird frantically.

[cortexx]

The rapid paw movements were enough to assure him that this mouse was not to be his next dinner, though that made him even guiltier about his instincts. Although, he still couldn't understand the poor thing. Was that sign language? Oh, was she mute? A mute albino mouse on this hell of an earth - not a good life to live, especially since she was stuck down in the cold. "Can't understand her, to be honest - do you speak sign language?" he asked Atbash, turning his head slightly to address her more properly. To him, the leader was the best bet for knowing sign language, besides maybe that healer fellow - the one in charge was probably going to have the most experience in communication. Made sense to him, you know, even if it probably wasn't true here. More important things to think about than justifying your own questions, though, such as dealing with this poor shivering mouse. Poor thing probably wasn't equipped for the cold. "I'll go to get you something warm, dear. I'm sure I have a blanket lying about." And so the raven took flight, off to his little cabin to help the not-prey animal.

tags - "speech"

[ATBASH CIPHER.]

ATBASH CIPHER

i should've said what i hear
i should have let myself fear

Atbash looked quite shocked at the sudden movements that the mouse made, but at least that confirmed that they understood her. The she-cat blinked at Mourning Star - who's name she didn't know, of course - and shook her head at Mark's question. "I-I don't, unfortunately." She replied to him before he took off. If the mouse was mute, that mean there was no way to communicate, and Atbash didn't have telepathy to try and contact her through her mind. But what did she have? Conjuration! "Can you write?" The Hailcaller asked, conjuring up a small piece of paper and a tiny pencil, one that should be about the right size for a mouse.

bio | female | hailcaller [leader] of snowbound

© madi

[raz]

[div style="margin: 0 auto; width: 55%; font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;"]Neither of these predators understood sign - that was no surprise in Mourn's mind, she'd always through predators were less intelligent than prey. Still, it was enough intelligence to understand that she was deathly cold, and for that she was grateful.

Mourn couldn't help but flinch as the pen and paper appeared from nowhere, watching it carefully. Could she write? No, but she could try and draw what she wanted to say. She took the little pen and drew a simplistic image of a mouse being eaten, and then put a classic circle and cross around and through it - that was as simply as she could put "Don't eat me." She then below drew a grave and a star - that was the closest she could draw of her name. To get her point across, she looked up at Atbash, indicated to the grave and star, and pointed to herself.

[ATBASH CIPHER.]

ATBASH CIPHER

i should've said what i hear
i should have let myself fear

Atbash watched Mourning Star carefully, her head tilted as she watched the mouse draw on the paper she gave her. So she couldn't write, but she could draw. That was at least something. The first thing that caught the leader's eye was, of course, the DON'T EAT ME drawing and Atbash gave a nod to show she understood that. "We won't eat you, I promise." She replied in a gentle voice. "There's actually another rodent that lives with us." A rat rather than a mouse, but still the same thing, right? Now Mourning Star's next drawing confused her a bit. "Death... Star?" Atbash said slowly, her voice and face showing her confusion. "Is that your name?" The coffin could have multiple meanings, but at least the star part was obvious, right?

bio | female | hailcaller [leader] of snowbound

© madi

[raz]

[div style="margin: 0 auto; width: 55%; font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;"]Another rodent? Excellent, so if the predators suddenly turned on them, she could use the other rodent as a distraction while she fled. Oh, maybe that was a dark train of thought, but when you were a prey animal with the same genetic disadvantages as Mourn, you learned to think strategically, mind whirring all the time. Anyway.

Mourn shook her head aggressively at Atbash's guess, before drawing in squished little mice crying over the grave onto the piece of paper. She tapped violently at the mice rather than the grave, looking up at the cat expectantly. Surely an apex predator was smart enough to understand pictionary, for life's sake - Mourning Star wasn't sure she could live in a world knowing that everything that was a threat to her was less intelligent than her.

mourn's super mean i'm sorry

[ATBASH CIPHER.]

ATBASH CIPHER

i should've said what i hear
i should have let myself fear

Atbash was taken aback by Mourning Star's sudden 'outburst', blinking at the drawings once more as she tried to connect the dots. Crying... upset... grieving... Oh! Grieving made sense, but the name 'Grieving Star' didn't really make as much sense. But there was one synonym that did. "Mourning Star?" The she-cat asked now, looking at her.

bio | female | hailcaller [leader] of snowbound

© madi