ANOTHER PATH - open; joining

[MATUAH]

[align=center][div style="0px; width:450px; height:auto; text-align: justify; font-size: 8pt; line-height:13px; color:whitesmoke;"]He had been prepared to rest. To close his eyes in happiness and live his life as the one who had given the ultimate sacrifice. He'd been at peace and she had been there beside him as he had wanted her to be for a very long time. He had his throne in another plane where he could just be and perhaps rule as the king he had one day aspired to be before he understood that he never had a life to begin with. That before he was even born it had been ordained for him perish at the behest of everyone else's well being. That had been his life. To live so that he could die for others and the pain and suffering he went through was to better himself and to force him to understand that his choice would either make or destroy the world he had called his home. He hadn't been ready, and he had to learn how to walk tall. How to be a king and yet it still wasn't easy even when he had made his peace with the fact that death had come for him and was going to be a friend of his to the bitter end. Watching them around the fire it had been so hard that he would have to leave this world behind. Yet, he knew that he was so tired of the pain, the constant conflict and and death that he put everything aside to stop it. To stop them.

Yet even though he had been so ready his world had cracked. Something had changed and now at this very moment he was falling. Falling through time and space partially conscious of the fate that was being bestowed upon him. His spirit sped through the cosmos moving at such a speed that it was detectable by powerless eyes. He sped across many places before his form seemed to find something worth holding a being of such power. His soul, his spirit, slammed into a body that almost immediately began to cough and strain against the pain of being alive again. His jaw clenched before he coughed again, reflexively curling his hands, no paws against the ground. A bitterness set in for a moment before his blackish blue eyes widened open a shock finally slammed into him. He noticed the paws then, curved with thick black claws curving into the air. "W-what...what is this...?" His voice felt rough, as if dragging sandpaper across his throat and he swallowed, pain flaring up before he pushed himself to try and stand up. But he found it a difficult task and fell onto his ass with a huff. What was going on? He looked down at his limbs and lifted a paw, gaze neutral and yet his mind was working.

He was some kind of animal and he could see silver spotting the inky surface of his fur. Ears twitched and he had to take a deep breath to calm himself. As far as he could see he was alone which was fine. Or maybe not. He had no idea where he had ended up or even why and he felt a little sick to his stomach. "Tch.. Guess I need to move and find out." Slowly he attempted to move, legs shaking a bit and that same pain welling up again but he didn't stop as he stood and looked around his form. Wherever he had ended up it seemed like some type of swamp like land he guessed and taking a step forward sloshed water against his forelegs but it didn't seem to bother the young male. "Hey, anyone around!?"

[cavalrychoir]

[align=center][div style="border-width:0px; width: 60%; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 140%;word-spacing:-1px;"]The headache had only gotten more intense. Now instead of the occasional uncommon strong pulse turned into a constant throbbing. Focusing on anything before was a challenge but now it was almost impossible. Everything was suddenly too bright, too loud... His whiskers quivered from the vibrations of fluttering wings. Sharp claws were now constantly unsheathed as the demon roamed, tightly gripping the earth beneath him to prevent himself from doubling over in pain or just losing his balance. The world around him was so vivid and terribly loud - painfully loud. Maybe losing Delilah had more of an effect that he thought. Since he joined, the pastel feline had never been too far from him and without knowing it, he must have grew to depend on her. So much so, her absence affected his health. Was that possible? Is that a thing that could happen? Or was he actually ill and needed medical treatment? Delilah's still needed for either one of those options regardless since she is the medic. Lifting his front paws, he placed them over his eyes to block out the world, pointed ears flattened against his skull in attempt to hear a little less. It helped a little bit, but what really gave him relief was leaving camp and the busy hum that congregated there. Leaning against a tree, his broad shoulders were tense as his short tail twitched anxiously. The pain started to migrate downwards, leaving a numb feeling in its wake unlike the agonizing pain in his head. As time progressed, he started to think it wouldn't be a bad idea to bang his head against a rock in the hopes of either knocking himself unconscious or adding more pain to override the one he already feels. Neither was a good plan, but he was growing desperate.

Just when he thought he's suffered enough, a loud voice sliced through the air before suddenly going quiet as if they lowered it to a whisper mid-sentence. Ren flinched in response, squeezing his eyes shut as paws reflexively removed themselves from his face. He bit down hard on the inside of his mouth to stop himself from snapping at them, scared his own voice may cause his ears to bleed and his headache worsen. Even the low growl that rumbled in his throat buzzed loudly in his ears. Inhaling slowly, the large feline slowly rose to his paws and stalked towards the voice that unbeknownst to him, was merely a casual call and not an overbearing shout like he perceived it to be. Extended claws dug into the soft undergrowth as stoic dark red eyes blinked every so often in attempt to steady his vision and hopefully reduce the brightness; was the sun always this bright? It didn't take long before his eyes were locked onto the individual who announced his presence. Drawing in a shaky breath, Ren closed the distance between them as he kept his body language professional- dominating too, but that was accidental. A habit he was trying to break out of. "You are on Tanglewood t-" a surge of pain shot through his skull like electricity, forcing the demon to stop for a second. Quickly regaining control of himself, he continued. "-territory. What is your name and business with us?" He finished, his heavily scarred form reverting to a sitting position. That last surge of pain took all his strength to remain upright and he was feeling quite drained.

[toboggan]

Perhaps not everything in the world required a coherent reason behind it.

There wasn’t a coherent reason for the Tanglers to dwell in their ghoul-ridden turf any longer. There wasn’t a coherent reason behind the hound joining these misfits in the first place. And, all the more so than the rest, there was no coherent reason behind throwing yourself into this lot like the stranger here, especially in this day and age. The swamp dwellers were a dying breed, it’s former glory lost to disappearances, deaths, a lack of joiners, and captures by the Pitt, the group ever-so-deserving of a good backhand to its hypothetical cheek. Days of boredom had even been going by unusually fast, inflicting a realization upon Leroy’s simple mind - he was watching his remaining days on this fucked up planet whir past, and sat idly while doing so, the thought of deserting the swamp not even crossing his mind until this very moment. Out there, beyond the gloomy trees, was action, greater things; then again, everything seemed so much greater when you existed in such an isolated area. The recent changes imposed by Morgan were nice, although they had no effect on a concept the mongrel has moulded in the fabrics of his mind, a concept suggesting that is was high time for a territory change. Face it, calling a swamp your home was a challenge in itself, that challenge only amplified once you brought these fearsome spectres into account. Perhaps a nice valley, or even a comfy mountain; yes, those sounded delightfully delightful indeed.

"What’s bringing you here?" the unusually tall canine inquired as his steps followed those of Ren, the chilly blood in his veins cannonading his figure with a series of furious shiver. ”Ya look like ya can handle yerself, I like that,” Leroy narrated to himself, scanning the panther’s frame for signs of practical use, ”’m Leroy, but you’ll have t’tell us your name if ya wanna go further- and your business, I’d guess.”

[MATUAH]

[align=center][div style="0px; width:450px; height:auto; text-align: justify; font-size: 8pt; line-height:13px; color:whitesmoke;"]By the time someone had come to approach him he had been walking around his surroundings a little ways. Not to far from his initial call point but to gain a bit of information about his surroundings. It was just to see what the area looked around him and as far as he could tell it was mostly swamp lands till further along and it seemed the land rose up to a hill that was much drier. But he could also smell something off about the place, something that should have been hard for him to detect beforehand if he had been his normal self. But for some reason his senses were heightened which was the only way in which he could explain it to himself. He could smell decay in the air, a rot that didn't belong in the swamp lands and the air was tinged heavily with the smell of blood and bile. His muzzle curled on instinct as if to try and block it from reaching his nostrils anymore but the scent was all around him and he flicked his mix colored tongue out to attempt to swipe it over his muzzle for a moment as he shook his head a little bit. Though he didn't have to travel that far before he turned around and at the sound of water sloshing and pushing against something else. It was so odd to be able to hear this well and it sort of freaked him out, causing him to recede into himself as he debated over the circumstances as to how these things came to be.

His attention focused more on the individual that had come forth and twisted all the way around, stumbling a bit as he attempted to get a hang of his legs. It was harder than he had thought to actively walk on four legs but he was a quick learner and that much was easily seen as he got his stride well. But his gaze held a muted surprise at the fact that the creature that came to approach him was another animal and that he could in fact understand that animal. This world...was very much different and he had to force himself to remain calm for as long as he could manage. Instead he focused solely on the pain that radiated from his body and though he knew that he was sound he kept feeling it. Like a pulsing thud that came from all over and he lowered his head as he sat down, jaws clenching for a short moment before he sighed briefly before trying to figure out what this guy wanted. As words spilled forth he became distracted considering the name of the place had been dropped. Tanglewood. This was another confirmation that he wasn't in familiar territory and he sighed a bit dully, eyes closing as he felt the exhaustion now. Though before he could utter a word someone else came forward.

"I...business...?" He hadn't had any business. He was just here, thrown against his will for that matter and frankly he just wanted to sleep. It sounded so good right now and he allowed his jaws to part before he opened his blackish blue gaze and located the both of them. First thing was first they wanted his name because he was on their territory. Right, animals were like that about their homes and he could partially understand that. People got that way sometimes too and he knew that first hand. "Name's Noctis. I don't have any business all things considered. I'm just...here. Do you have any empty space, I'm beat." He really was though the second was correct in thinking he could take care of himself but not when he felt like the energy had been sucked out of him and this mystery pain was hammering into his body like it was. Man, he could probably sleep forever and truthfully he was sort of pissed about his eternal rest being ruined as it had been.

[Morgan]

No matter how many times Tanglers seemed to die or disappear, Morgan refused to stop searching for joiners near the borders. He came upon the scene just as the newcomer mentioned his lack of business and desire for 'space'. It seemed the samoyed's fellow Tanglers were already doing a good job of greeting and questioning the outlander. Stopping right behind Leroy, the General took a step to the side to make himself known.

"Well, Noctis, we do have a lot of free land here in Tanglewood if you're looking to join."

He walked forward a little more, adding,

"It is a bit dangerous around here now, but things'll get better soon enough."

At first he almost laughed at himself for such wishful thinking, but a part of him still felt like he could be right.

"Really, though, we're just a group, or a kind of family, and we live out here near the swamp. If you need rest, we can help you with that if you join us."

With nothing more to say, Morgan wagged his tail and flashed a brief samoyed smile.