with a bottle full of rain // rejoining

[radeken]

So. Leaving out if the blue? No surprise there. Never should’ve been. ‘Transient’ was practically her middle name at this point, though...well. Radeken didn’t bother to acknowledge it, but that wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Especially when she, so much like an insidious disease, like the ailments she could cure if it pleased her, was never gone for long. Just long enough. But, hey. She counted herself lucky in this instance. Community life moves fast and she had a pretty good feeling that by now, hers would be a fresh new face to at least the staggering majority of those she might meet upon returning. Nobody to call her out for her habitual hiatuses, nobody to boohoo about her irresponsibility in regards to that short-lived healer job. What was that role called, again? Ah, well. It’d been so long it might’ve even changed by now. She wanted to be funny and add a little, Just like me! at the end of that inner tangent but, Radeken didn’t change. Never would. That was how it was, damn it.

Radeken sighed and her exhale didn’t plume steamy around her muzzle as it had been doing earlier in the day, so at least she had that going for her. Maybe it was this colder season that drove her back to a home. It certainly wasn’t nostalgia. But, it is nice to live somewhere you know you’ll be guaranteed a meal. And if transient was her middle name, freeloader was her last. This wasn’t dependence. It was just her best option. It was just tactically sound. Etcetera.

Another crisp autumn breath later yielded the scent of the border markers. Her bag was dropped to her side, old and bursting with supplies. Glass bottles that clinked against one another, carefully repaired books that aided her research, journals on her findings. Somewhere in there was her old pendant, that all-seeing eye she had sported boastfully. She didn’t wear it now purely because she wanted to see if she could swindle another dope necklace out of these chumps. Radeken licked her lips.

“Hello?” She called out over the howl of wind around her, almost perturbed by the sound of her own voice. She never did an awful lot of talking on her little excursions if she didn’t have to. Needless to say, it had been a while. She worked her jaw, moving spit around in her mouth, and sat down so as to appear more at peace. Friendlier. Hopefully her good behavior would nudge some kind of cosmic roulette wheel in her favor and she’d be taken in by someone who wanted this over and done with as quickly as she did. “[color=#cd7f32]My name is Radeken, I’m here to join.”

[BABY —]

[table][tr][td]

[/td][td]

YOU'RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME

YEAH, YOU KNOW YOU CAN'T GO BACK, IT'S TOO LATE TO SAY IT'S TOO LATE. YOU CAN'T TAKE BACK THAT YOU SAID NOTHING. HOW COULD YOU DO NOTHING?

[/td][/tr][/table]

Titan was not one to wander. He had only ever belonged to two groups in his whole life -- his birth-pride and now the Ascendants. He carried a strong sense of loyalty and devotion with him wherever he went, and had the flames not engulfed the vast grasses that he called home, he would have still been living there.

The lion arrived, gazing a little ways down at the she-wolf before him. He carefully analyzed her appearance and tried to quickly make judgement on how she presented herself, as if to gauge if she was a friend or a foe. It seemed for now that she was falling into the former category, which was good.

"Radeken," He echoed, feeling the name out on his tongue. It was certainly a unique name, one that he had not heard of before. Then again, he had come from a place in which every lion was named after some planet or constellation. "Where do you come from?" Asked the Lunar Lieutenant, his gaze still holding neutral although his tone wasn't exactly rigid or unfriendly. The other seemed peaceful and non-threatening so far, so he had no reason to engage her in a hostile manner. And, while she had stated that she was here to join, he wanted to make sure that she wasn't from anywhere that they considerd enemy territory.

[radeken]

Where do you come from was a new one. A new one that almost pulled a grimace and a command for him to mind his own business, please and thank you. "[color=#cd7f32]Nowhere that would make me a threat." She informed him in a clipped voice. That was the purpose of asking, wasn't it? Why else bother? Radeken shifted, her irritation putting cracks in that flimsy 'good behavior' routine. She dearly hoped her lack of clarity was no cause for alarm. The only thing keeping the small wolf from divulging that she had been here before was her reluctance to crack open the 'why did you leave' line of questioning. To which the answer was, because that's what I do, and that sort of thing would win her no rewards. She decided that the question was an unnecessary holdup and thus punishable by this stranger being the object of a couple of seconds of intense hatred because how dare she be asked a question. Who gave this bozo the right? "[color=#cd7f32]Is that all?"

[agathe.]

[align=center][div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 11px; color;"]"So vague," Agathe's own, clipped voice rang, "We've been having some outside issues so I implore you to answer the question." She had been nothing but a shadow seconds before, engulfed by the darkness of a lone tree's foliage before the unmistakable sound of Titan's voice mingling with one she was not familiar with caught her attention. Admittedly, it had taken all of her willpower to leave her place on that tree branch, but she could not deny her responsibility so she stood and leapt, red cloak billowing around her as she landed gracefully on all fours. Now, Agathe was simply staring at Radeken with a hard-to-read gaze, a frown twisting her lips.

This stranger was fascinating, so much so that the Lunar Lieutenant failed to get a good reading on her. Frustrating. "Now if that's a problem..." Agathe trailed off, reminding herself almost shamefully in that moment that punishment by execution was no longer on her list of options, "I'm sorry, but safety first." Goddess above, those words felt like poison on her tongue. Safety! Safety! She was going soft, so incredibly soft, but at least she was doing her damned job.

[radeken]

Ugh! Ugh! "[color=#cd7f32]Uh-huh." She drawled. "[color=#cd7f32]Don't you think that if I had come here meaning to, I don't know, wreak havoc, sow destruction, split your babies open across their soft bellies and slurp up the insides, so on and so forth," Radeken paused there smugly so that they could drink in that visual before continuing, "[color=#cd7f32]I'd come with a better story?" She wouldn't, probably, but that wasn't the point. Spilling the beans, Radeken supposed, would get this over with quicker than trying to talk Red Riding Hood and Bozo around in circles. Though she wasn't usually one for strong emotion, meeting a hang-up when she had anticipated easy access always prompted a brief flare of all-consuming rage. Fortunately, that sort of thing died quickly. At the end of the day, if they rejected her, she could just find somewhere else to freeload. There was no shortage of suckers in the world.

"[color=#cd7f32]Fine. I'm from here. I suppose it would've been more suitable to say hello, I'm Radeken, I'm back but I figured that wouldn't mean anything to any of you, so I nixed it. Safe enough?" She was standing now, ready to either be let in or booted. It occurred to her that providing her pendant as proof might actually expedite this process in an enormous way and so it was promptly dug out of her bulging bag, all thoughts of swindling abandoned. If she wanted a new one so badly, she could just steal it. The eye swung from her jaws as she pulled it free, bottles shifting in the process. She had considered trading it for things numerous times, or just finding some place to abandon it, but it was just too damn nifty. "[color=#cd7f32]Are you all still doing these, even?" She asked, letting it drop to the ground. Radeken supposed she couldn't blame them if they weren't. She never was one for tradition, but she could really get behind free things, or else she probably wouldn't've opted to partake.

[MOONMADE]

[size=9pt]Are you all still going these things, even?  "Not really, no." Comes Moon's voice, butting in as he always does. Slow, lumbering, the lion makes his way towards the border. Another joining, which is usually so fucking boring it makes Moon want to find the nearest supply of deathberries and off himself with them. Personality and individuality was few and far between when it came to those who turned up at their borders, lately.

But this one-- this one was different. This one had some attitude, at least. Thank God. "Bast started that shit. Kinda' died off when he left me for the Bahamas. Got more important shit to worry about than jewelery, lately." It's true. Moon didn't know about anyone else but, for him, figuring out the murderer in their ranks came before handing out pendants. No good decorating necks if they're all slit.

He's got some semblance of regret for letting the tradition go, though. He watches the pendants fall to the ground and feels guilty, for some inexplicable reason, so he dips down and pick it back up in his mouth. Jerking his head towards Radeken, he holds it out for her. His voice is muffled by pursed lips when he speaks. "Handy you still got yours on you, though. Means I can let you in without quarantining your defensive ass for a week. Welcome back, old-timer."

[radeken]

“[color=#cd7f32]Figures.” Radeken wanted to lean in when more important shit was mentioned, press for answers because the way it was said had her thinking that it probably wasn’t wedding planning and birthday bashes that had them all so occupied and that was fascinating to her. She held off though, twitching an ear over the news of Bast leaving. What did that little shit think he was doing? Who was she going to pump full of risky concoctions now? Radeken sniffed and said nothing. It was fine. She’d get what she wanted from somebody else. Radeken always got what she wanted. “[color=#cd7f32]That’s unfortunate.”

Radeken took her trinket back, masking the twinge of disgust she felt at having something of hers touched by somebody else. She got it around her neck again quickly. Since they hadn’t been doing it lately, that made hers extra special and oh so cool. The vanity oozing off of her was nigh palpable.

“[color=#cd7f32]Quarantine?” The tone she used was very ‘I’d like to see you fucking try’ but that particular part remained unsaid. “[color=#cd7f32]Yikes. Knew it’d come in handy again.” Radeken went on to try and joke despite knowing damn well that she hadn’t considered the things usefulness when weighing the pros and cons of keeping it. Just that it was cool and looked good on her. She strutted forward a few paces, ‘passing’ the vague scent boundary of the border and wondering if it was too much to hope for that her room hadn’t been touched. “[color=#cd7f32]If there’s nothing else I should know, I can take things from here.”