the compass lies. joining

[HEARTEYES]

[div style="width: 45%; margin: auto; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 11px; line-height: 110%; text-align: justify"]Head true east.

Clancy's lungs burns electric white, like lightning, like a bishop's smile. He's far away from the trench now, out of Dema's clutches, but it still feels like he's being followed, shadows reaching out for him with fingers like knives. He hasn't stopped running since the banditos lead him out of their camp and into the valley, and that had been days ago.

The territory he had escaped to was nothing like the city he had been trapped in. It's covered in snow, strange weather for the summer season. This was the place he was supposed to be, if the compass he was carrying was correct. The compass he had stolen from the bishops had led him this way, and the banditos instructed that he head true east until he reached the fugitive camp a few days journey outside of Dema. They did not mention that the territory the fugitive camp was situated in was so cold. The place sends baby blue, sunflower yellow across his eyes, like a breath of fresh air, safety in the scent of golden flowers.

The tom doesn't realize he had passed the border until a small village comes into view, the small cottages so different from the tomb-like buildings of his old home. It was never home, it was just a slot. These buildings are brown like melting chocolate, something that says home, here to stay, here to hide. The buildings in Dema had felt more like prisons, the rooms the bishops assigned to them like cells. The whole city had been tombstone grey, like summer thunderstorms and losing hope. Clancy knows there must be a reason that the banditos sent him here, in this winter town that felt so much like new beginnings, covered in a glowing blanket of sunlight yellow.

He's quiet as he makes his way through the streets of Snowbound, the crunch of the snow harsh against the silence surrounding him. It reminds him of the Annual Assemblage of Glorified, with the moon hanging above his head and the town completely silent, watcher's eyes glinting coldly in the shadows. The tabby hugs his jacket closer to himself, shaking away the memory with a pained hiss. This isn't Dema. He escaped. There has to be better people around here.

Clancy stops in the middle of the silent town, snow falling gently around him. Fear twists inside of his chest, scarlet red like the head of a vulture, the bloodied face of a caught bandito. He swallows hard, shuddering against the cold, amber eyes closing against the sudden force of his anxiety. He can do this. There is no one around to drag him back to the trench.

• "Hello? I'm Clancy, I was sent here by the Banditos. I need a place to stay."
  

The bandito that had sent him off into the valley had told him that the group he was heading to would know of his situation, and would help him with the next step. They had told him to head true east, to trust in his instincts, but he had used the compass for help. The compass needle didn't lie; things from Dema didn't lie, not including the bishops. This had to be the right place. The compass did not lie. 

[TSUYU.]

TSUYU ASUI

✯ — MY HEAD HURTS, BUT ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT IS YOU!

space

Like a springing frog, Tsuyu bounded over almost immediately at the sound of someone calling. A joiner? She'd have to see who it was. A soft, confused croak left her throat as she arrived, long back legs adjusting as her frog-like tongue hung from her mouth, her head tilting to the side.

"Banditos, ribbit?" Asked the girl curiously, tilting her head to the other side. Didn't that mean bandits in spanish, or something? Sounded like it. Carefully, charcoal eyes moved up to look at Clancy, smiling cheerfully. "Welcome, then. My name is Asui Tsuyu, welcome to Snowbound. Ribbit." She meowed-ribbited out, her kind face welcoming the joiner.

space

✯ — HERMAPHRODITE. SNOWBOUND. SHE/HER. REF. TAGS. — ✯

#psychosocial.

[MirrorEdge]

[align=center]

"Banditos?" Gwen was next to arrive, the grey kitsune watching in curiousity, sticking close to the other Snowbounder, eyes flitting towards Tsuyu in curiousity before back towards the stranger. "But it's n-nice to meet you, uh, Clancy."

Both Tsuyu and Clancy were new people to her, as the fellow Snowbounder was somebody Gwen had yet to meet until now, and Clancy, well, they were a joiner. It was slowly becoming more natural for Gwen to stick closer to the Snowbounders, not that it was Clancy or any other joiners' faults. More, she felt comfortable around them.

[ATBASH CIPHER.]

ATBASH CIPHER

i know i should stop believing
i know there's no retrieving

An unfamiliar voice in the town is what brought Atbash to the scene, and the leader did not look particularly happy about Clancy being here. She wasn't angry per say, but she didn't look pleased by him in their camp. The last time somebody had done this was Feliks, and she honestly should have chased the guy out for being so rude to her tribemates. Luckily, though, this Clancy person seemed civil and Atbash calmed herself down by the time she finally reached the small group forming in the middle of the town. "Welcome to Snowbound, Clancy." Atbash said, deciding not to bring up the whole 'Banditos' thing since Tsuyu and Gwen already had. "My name is Atbash Cipher. I'm the Hailcaller here."

bio | female | hailcaller [leader] of snowbound

© madi

[arcy]

Oh. Yet another person to just ... appear in their camp out of the blue. Wonderful. .. Izuku, like Atbash, is a little put off and annoyed. But that's it. I mean, it's a joiner, but it does make him nervous. If it was so easy for Clancy to slip past, how hard would it be for somebody else to? Everybody got into enough trouble as it was. .. Oh well. The dragon's ears twitch as he settles next to Gwen. She seemed nervous, so of course he did. He did tend towards the people that seemed more stressed out, honestly.
"Um. Okay. Welcome to Snowbound!" The dragon chirrups, a little grin spreading over his maw. .. He hopes the newcomer, Clancy, is already. Banditos and with how nervous he was, things didn't seem. Great. But Izuku didn't know how to ask, so whatever. "I'm Izuku, the Frosthealer. Do ... Do you want hot chocolate?" It takes him a second to remember, but when he does, he conjures a flask of the stuff to hold out in offering. His tail thumps against the ground softly as he does, like some sort of dog. But his body language had always been more like a dog's than the cat he .. had been, so, anyways.

[glow=black,2,300]I WONT BE HERE LONG AT ALL ☀[/glow]

[HEARTEYES]

[div style="width: 45%; margin: auto; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 11px; line-height: 110%; text-align: justify"]Clancy feels relief flood through his veins at the sight of another cat, no matter how unusual her appearance was. Her voice is swamp green, and he's so surprised by the color that he almost misses her words. No one had a green voice, not in Dema, not even the Banditos. The tabby studies the girl for a moment, taking in the soft green of her fur, the croak in her voice. They had warned Clancy that the people he met outside of Dema would be like no one he had ever met, but this was beyond his expectations. He tries to concentrate on what Tsuyu is saying, but now that he has finally stopped moving, the bruise purple soreness in his limbs fills his veins with exhaustion. He's silent for a moment, amber eyes catching the form of more animals approaching him.

• "What did you say this place was called? Snowbound?"
  

He questions, breaking his own silence. Was this where he was supposed to be? No one had said the name of the fugitive camp. His attention goes to the kitsune standing beside Tsuyu, her confusion sending a wave of dread through him, pink like the flesh of smeared palms, the flash of gums in a sharp smile. She didn't know who the Banditos were. He shouldn't have been as surprised as he was - barely anyone inside of Dema knew who the Banditos were. This group was connected to the rebel group, though, weren't they? Maybe not. No one is supposed to know. If they know, the bishops know. The Banditos were an extremely secretive group, and they had to be. Clancy could not start doubting them now.

He takes in a slow breath, watching the teal of Gwen's voice fade into the air when her sentence stopped. Teal, not stone grey, not the cold and hopeless voices of the citizens of Dema, not the bloody red of his own voice. Maybe this was the correct place to be. The people here had voices like he had never heard, or, well - seen. Clancy dips his head in greeting to the girl, careful not to show much of his throat. If this wasn't the right place, he didn't want to risk being Smeared. He couldn't be dragged back to that hellhole just yet. He had just escaped.

• "Hello. Sorry about - about the confusion over the Banditos. They were the group I came from."
  

He meows, cringing as he says it out-loud. He was not used to speaking about the rebellion so openly. Really, he was not used to speaking about anything openly. The bishops only liked to hear what they wanted to hear. When he turns to see Atbash's displeased expression, he freezes, eyes widening a fraction. He had done something wrong, they were going to tell the bishops, they were going to kill him - He snaps out of it when he hears the Hailcaller's voice, orange a shade so close to the flowers outside of the walls of Dema that it felt like he was looking into a field of them. He sucks in a breath, stunned by the contrast of Atbash's voice and her body language. She was welcoming him to her home, though, and that was enough. She seemed to be an important person, too, by the way that she had introduced herself by her title.

• "Atbash. Hailcaller. What is that?"
  

Clancy has to physically stop himself from apologizing to the molly. He wasn't aware of what he had done wrong, didn't have the concept of intruding, but - he knew that he had done something wrong. At the sight of Izuku, his eyes widen, taken by surprise at the appearance of the dragon. The bishops might seem like the hounds of hell, but they were nothing but a bunch of old wolves - seeing a creature out of a fictional book was truly astonishing. He takes a moment to listen to the male's voice, surprised by the soft emerald green of it. Two greens, an orange, and a blue. This town certainly held warm individuals. He chances a smile at the Frosthealer, though it seems a bit wobbly.

• "Hello, Izuku. What's a Frosthealer? Is it like a doctor? And, um, yes. I would like some - hot chocolate."
  

The words tasted unfamiliar on his tongue. Clancy never got to request anything, didn't get to question the positions of the bishops, or their decisions. Testing out his freedom here felt like walking on new legs. When was the last time he had some hot chocolate? He couldn't remember. He couldn't seem to remember much these days.

[MirrorEdge]

[align=center]

"O-oh. And uh, yeah. This is Snowbound." She desperately wanted to answer the questions of what the Frosthealer and Hailcaller were as well, but kept her mouth shut, for now. "Uh, are you a j-joiner? Or a visitor, or something?" Were the Banditos another one of those new groups that kept popping up? Was he a representative for them or something?

[ATBASH CIPHER.]

ATBASH CIPHER

i know i should stop believing
i know there's no retrieving

"The leader, essentially." Atbash replied, though she didn't seemed bothered at all by the question. Although she was somewhat modest in the sense of having such a position, she definitely didn't look the type to hold such a title. She didn't mind explaining it either, since 'Hailcaller' didn't exactly scream 'leader' like Chief had done. But to her, it was strange to keep the leader name as Chief whenever the rest of the ranks had prefixes and suffixes. Atbash tilted her head in regards to the aforementioned group Clancy mentioned and her short tail flicked in interest. "Why did you leave them, might I ask?" And what would make him stay here, if he so willingly left another group. That was a bit concerning to the she-cat, so she wanted to see what his answer was.

bio | female | hailcaller [leader] of snowbound

© madi