return [★] ECHO

[suvi.]

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— s͢uv̷i͡ ̷k̛iir͜a ó f͞a҉olá҉in | t̢àn̢glewo̧o̷̢d̷͢ | sawbone —

She may have snuck in the middle of the night.  Under the stars her alabaster and white fur flashed in the dark, disappearing through the swamp with the ease of familiarity.  No desire to linger at the border.  No desire to quietly mumble her name or announce her arrival.

Snowy white paws, shimmering in-between physical and non-corporal, carried her quickly and quietly through the town.  The library.  Unmatched hues danced in dim surroundings, singed red with exhaustion.  She found a quiet place, surrounded by books, to rest her head.

The salt of the sea clung to her fur more than the desert and jungle of the Pitt.  The Typhoon took care of her well enough, but she felt inclined to show her face among both homes as soon as possible.  She missed Tanglewood.

As night wore on her eyes drooped, until she fell into a fitful sleep.  When the sun rose, the petite vixen bit the inside of her cheek and popped her head outside of the library, hesitantly.  There she remained, watching silently the hustle-and-bustle of daily life begin.  Like nothing changed.

But everything changes.

— T͏O̴G͠ETH͏ER̕ ÁT̴ ̸T̕H̶E ST͏ART̶ O͏F̀ ̵TI̡M͏E —

[Vathmos]

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VATHMOS

INFORMATION ROLEPLAYER MISC.

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Vathmos was one of the things that had changed. The Hyena was rarely awake in the morning hours. She tended to fall asleep before, or around dawn. Vathmos' routine consisted of waking up around dusk, grabbing a bite, then going out for the hunt. She could spend minutes to an hour chasing after one meal, depending on what it was. Bigger creatures like deer, she would wait out, then proceed to eat them while they were too exhausted to run away. She imagined Tanglewood would be utter disgusted by her if they knew what she did alone. These things didn't bother her- they were facts of life.
She had heard about Sam's capture and weary mentions of Kiira's. It sounded like she had been gone for a while and Vathmos and assumed it wasn't her business to deal with yet. She figured Crow would want to do something eventually, so she chose to wait.
Vathmos was walking back into the camp, a mostly eaten raccoon in her jaws, hanging limp as its blood dripped onto the ground. The hyena's maw was red with the fresh blood, as Vathmos was taking what was left of the creature back to her own home. She figured there wasn't enough left of it to share with the clan, so she would keep it for herself.
That's when she saw the creature, sticking its head out of the library. She didn't recognize it, meeting its gaze with black, beady eyes, which narrowed in thought as Vathmos tried to match a name with the face. Her nose was too preoccupied by the smell of blood to pick out the stranger's scent. She tilted her head as that little, hideous laugh came from her throat. Vathmos straightened herself and began to approach the stranger, stopping by the door, only stopping to put down the raccoon, then looking the cat up and down.

━ [b]MY SKIN IS A STORY┆LONELY. CLINGY. HATEFUL. ━

[wormwood.]

[glow=#000,1,400]BUT NOW I UNDERSTAND YOU, AND I WILL NOT BE PART OF YOUR DESIGNS — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

Wormwood had heard Kiira's name once or twice since he had joined, lumped in with the others that had ended up kidnapped by the Pitt. Her name was usually mumbled softly, almost like a prayer, as if those that had the mind to to mention her were desperate for her return. And, from everything that he had heard, they had reason to be. She had been gone for ages, and most weren't even sure if she was still alive. Wormwood had never gotten a chance to meet her before she had been taken away, but despite this, he had still been desperately hoping with the others that she would be returned to them safely, or they managed to get her back themselves.

Now, he had heard what Kiira looked like from a few NPCs after he had gone asking around in case they had ever ended up actually raiding the place, and he needed to grab her very quickly. Because of this, when he saw somebody with her exact described appearance peeking out of the library, his heart began to beat considerably faster. Moving off of the porch he had been laying on, he slowly moved up beside Vathmos, lowering his head down a little so that he didn't come off as too terribly intimidating to the child in front of him, [glow=#793B29,1,400]"Hey there, little one... you're Kiira, right? My name is Wormwood, and that's Vathmos. We're relatively new members of Tanglewood... I've heard a lot about you. Are you safe? I mean, obviously you're safe here, but do you need any medical help? Or some food?"[/glow] He didn't want to overwhelm her, but he also wanted to make sure that she wasn't suffering, hiding in the library like this.

[suvi.]

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— s͢uv̷i͡ ̷k̛iir͜a ó f͞a҉olá҉in | t̢àn̢glewo̧o̷̢d̷͢ | sawbone —

Oh stars.  The arctic fox ducked away almost the second her eyes caught someone else's.  She had not intended to draw attention to herself, only to quietly exist back in a place she called home.  As such, she scrambled backwards when the hyena got closer.  The last time a stranger had gotten so close...

Her breath flutters harshly out of her chest.  She's semi-aware her ears lost corporality for the moment but can't focus enough to will them back.  Does it matter?

The hyena smelled like Tanglewood, though at the moment she was covered in blood too, the metallic scent near overpowering.  Not a comfort.  She just came back from hunting, dummy.  Her eyes flash away, briefly scanning for any nearby familiar faces. Th́ęy͝ dón't ca͏r͜e͝.

A lion approaches instead.  Another stranger.  Her teeth catch the inside of her cheek again.  He speaks however, and her ears flick, finally physical again.  Wormwood.  Vathmos.  Both new, since her time away.  Where was Beck?  Anubis?  Crow?

Kiira.  Suvi.  Does it matter?  She nods slowly, shuffling her paws.  Gradually her heart slows as her breathing becomes something controlled and stable.  She's controlled.  Stable.  Her eyes sharpen abruptly, still wary of those unknown to her.  She lacked that sense before, but never again.

"N-no.  'm fine."  Well.  Certainly Kiira knew she looked on the underfed side.  The Pitt fed her little, and she'd only been back for a little now.  She knew better to rush into eating regularly however.  It would be better to start light, and with strengthening herbs.  Caraway.  Lamb's ear.  Lotus.  Ragweed... If we have any.  "Th-thank you," she added hastily, unwilling to sound impolite, especially since he was being nice.

"I-it's nice to meet... Both of you."

— T͏O̴G͠ETH͏ER̕ ÁT̴ ̸T̕H̶E ST͏ART̶ O͏F̀ ̵TI̡M͏E —

[toboggan]

Four months.

Four months prior, Tanglewood's sole medic vanished whilst her comrades slumbered. What happened to the vixen could only be discussed theoretically, for only two pieces of knowledge were only known for certain. A faint scent trail of swampy origin had been discovered leading outside of the group's forest border - and the rank scent of Pittian hung heavy in the trail's vicinity. The notion of the warbound tribe playing a part in her disappearance came as more than feasible, though without concrete evidence, no further action would be taken. Assuming that they were guilty in a sense, however, Kiira's seizure only came as one of many abductions perpetrated on the jungler dwellers' behalf. Time was the singular factor which halted the revenge process; when the time was absolutely right, Crow would give the go-ahead, and then their age-old enemies would finally get a taste of their own vile medicine.

Ideas about an upcoming raid were tossed around between him and the general with every interaction they had. If things all went to plan, the hound would end up nabbing Kiira and Sam as the rest of his group attacked from the front. He'd made his way into a Pittian camp before, so why not again?

-

Actually, change of plan.

As it turns out, the fatigued femme stood languidly within the bog's boundaries once again. Huge surges of relief were pumped by Leroy's heart, which had ached for Kiira's safety for the whole duration of her absence. He approaches the small formation of tribemates armed with a toothy grin. Sam had to be safe if Kiira had lasted that long. "You're safe now, Kiira," he softly adds, echoing an excerpt from Wormwood's dialogue. The child's malfunctioning speech reverberates around his skull, sending a multitude of Kiira-involved memories before she had gotten snatched.

Snatched. What else had they done to her?

"You're lookin' a li'l worse for wear," Leroy coos, taking her gaunt form into account, "how bad did they ya up?"

[RED]

[align=center][div style="text-align:justify;width:55%;font-family:verdana;"]Kiira had been the talk of the town for quite a while, now - four months, apparently, but if Red knew it had been that long he'd probably snap Crow's neck. The girl gives off a shuddering, nervous energy that betrays her polite expression. It's fearful, pulling its shivering tendrils back the more Kiira is closed in by newcomers, but at the same time it flickers in and out of sight. Like a glitch, he thinks, or perhaps the trauma she'd experienced was shutting her down from the inside out. He hangs back only because she probably wouldn't benefit from his towering stature looming among the other unfamiliar faces.

"Hey." He waves, half a smile crooking the corner of his mouth. It's a feeble attempt at saying, Sorry you were stuck in the Pitt for an absurd length of time and nobody came to save you. Or maybe he's just bad at making new friends. He jerks a thumb towards the bloodied hyena, staring from a distance. "I'm Red, that's... Vathmos. Heard a lot about you."