this life - joiner

[zora.]

It was a cold and miserable day. Though Zora could hardly feel the chill through her fiery pelt, it was more the lazy mood the weather brought about. The solitude wasn’t helping, either. It pressed insistently in her mind and refused to leave her. It stayed after she went through her box of belongings, reminiscing on the past. It remained even after she told herself that Isaac would be around soon. He was never away for too long. Despite this comforting thought, the oppressing loneliness lingered, and the fairy could not do much to fight it.

Unless she could.

She didn’t have to be alone. Isaac had mentioned before how she could join Tanglewood. Though she’d initially worried over the safety aspects, he reassured her. Besides that, it would be nice to live with him. He wouldn’t leave me anymore! And there was the fact of other people. She could make friends, so she could be around people even when he was busy.

The idea of it was appealing.

It did not take her long to make up her mind once she gave it serious thought. Nothing like a cloudy day to motivate someone. Zora packed up her few belongings- gifts from people long dead- and started off. The travel was not hard, and walking was something she was very used to. And it gave her time to think. How would Isaac react? Would he be pleased? Surprised? Angry? Please don’t let him be angry.

Gradually, the scent grew more familiar. It was something she had come to expect along with Isaac’s floral smell. She paused where the scent grew the strongest, craning her neck to scan the trees and ground and sky for a glimpse of familiar feathers, or perhaps a flash of white from that dreaded mask he wore. Not seeing him immediately, the fennec fox sat and shook out her glowing pelt. She could wait.

[wormwood.]

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AURUM

DO NO HARM BUT TAKE NO SHIT !

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Solitude was something that had proved itself to be almost toxic to Aurum. He was a naturally social creature, and whenever he found himself to be too overwhelmingly alone, it started to become a plague on his mental health. For the most part he had been able to avoid that lately, since he lived in the same house with not only Roy, but Kaito now as well. Moth's kidnapping had taken a toll on him, however, and he had begun to isolate himself. That was thankfully over, but shaking off the after shocks of it was difficult, especially with all of the tension thanks to Leroy's new rule, and Sam's subsequent leaving. For the most part, the angel was just trying his best to hold it all together, and start to get outside more. He had been neglecting his duties as the proxy, and that was never something that he wanted to do. Patrolling had become more difficult as of late, given the lack of wings on the form he was currently trapped in, along with the strange sickness that he seemed to have, but that didn't mean he was going to ignore it entirely. He would just push through, and pray to all that was holy above that he didn't end up puking on some poor unsuspecting joiner who was just trying to have a good day.

Aurum was unaware of Isaac really having anybody that cared about him, or anyone that he could truly be considered close to, honestly. He had never interacted much with the other, so his clanmate was sort of an enigma. All he really knew was that the other wore that strange mask, and seemed to be good with his paws. Beyond that? Nothing. It didn't even begin to occur to him that Zora could be someone related to the other as he padded up to her, the lean muscles of his tigon body rippling more prominently thanks to the strong female frame. He was so used to layers upon layers of shaggy mane covering everything. He still found himself wanting to shake it out, at times. At the moment, however, his focus was not on his own pelt. Rather, it was on the strangely glowing one of this newcomer. Raising an eyebrow in curiosity, the angel sat back on his haunches before he spoke, "Hey there, miss. You're on the territory of Tanglewood, so could I have your name and business here?" He offered Zora a soft smile after he finished, trying to reassure the female that she wasn't in trouble or anything. It wasn't really needed, however, considering his tone no longer carried that deep, threatening rumble by default.

━ I'M GONNA WIN.┆PROUD. WARM. PROTECTIVE. ━

[charactercemetary.]

[glow=#000,1,400]WE'VE BECOMES ECHOES BUT ECHOES, THEY FADE AWAY — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

Kaito appears, out of the blue, it seems. The magician was going to do his whole cool guy act, but he's not in costume. However, he won't be a jerk, either. The smoke Angora looks at the fennec fox. And he thought he was show-offy. He flicks his ears as he approaches, offering a small smile as Aurum asked the questions. "And is there anything we can help you with?" The gentleman... er, cat, asked.

[isaac.]

[align=center]

    And to think speaking of the devil would actually summon him. A fond yet subtle smile drew across an exposed beak as he caught glimpse of the fairy's shining pelt. Surprise failed the doctor as he glided from his oak perch, knowing full well just how much his visits meant to Zora. Traveling to the outer lands expended time and energy, although she made such a trip worthy of a little fatigue afterward. Especially when a pleasurable afterglow was involved.

    But that was beside the point.

    He ignored the others who already approached, feathers fluffing contentedly. Isaac pressed against her warmth, a wing draping over her back in an attempted hug. "I see you've finally decided to follow me," the doctor mused, his words monotone as always and yet less cold, less distant. He clicked his beak, pulling away from the fennec fox and looking her over. "Have you had anything to eat recently?" While he still hadn't quite accomplished the craft of hunting with talons and wings, nobody would notice if he snagged her a meal from the swamp's supplies.

    Swiveling his head to face those behind him, he studied them with pale eyes, tipping his wide-brimmed hat up slightly to view the pair without shade. "This is Zora. She's here to live with me. I'm sure you won't mind." If they did, then, well... he would find himself adding the anatomical diagrams of both species to his notes.

[zora.]

Two whole people already! How exciting! Zora felt the joy at finally, finally being able to interact with people without persecution exhilarating. Freeing. Still, neither of them were who she really wanted to see. Her gaze shifted briefly overhead, trying again to see if Isaac might appear, but she did not see him.

She gave a brief, almost imperceptible sigh before brightening. The fairy didn’t need him to hold her hand- paw. She could do this on her own. “Hello! I’m- oh, Isaac!” Before she could even finish her greeting, her previous sentiment had been thrown out the window. She leaned briefly into the soft feathers of his wing before he pulled it away, disappointment at the cease of contact evident in the way an ear flicked back.

“I decided it didn’t make much sense for us to live so far apart anymore,” she replied, blinking up at him softly. The fairy found his expression of concern for her wellbeing more than a tad endearing, so her shallow discontent from just a few moments earlier quickly dissipated. “I haven’t eaten in a little while,” she said truthfully, leaning closer to him. “I wanted to get here as quickly as possible so I could see you.”

As his head pivoted around, she pressed silently into his side and peaked at the pair. “Who might you two be? I’m sure we’ll get to be friends.” Very few, if any, of her numerous relationships in the past had been anything nearing platonic in nature. It was safe to say that Zora was knee deep in unfamiliar territory. The joining was beginning to feel a bit like an adventure.

[wormwood.]

☆ HUNG PICTURES OF PATRON SAINTS UP ON MY WALL TO REMIND ME THAT I AM A FOOL. TELL ME WHERE I CAME FROM, WHAT I WILL ALWAYS BE: JUST A SPOILED LITTLE KID WHO WENT TO CATHOLIC SCHOOL —

In all honesty, it sort of surprised Aurum that Isaac seemingly had a... partner? Companion? Friend? No matter what she was, the way she and the owl pressed together startled him somewhat, if only because of how awful his first impression of the male had been. Zora was seemingly a rather nice woman, and she was certainly making a much better first impression on the proxy than her male counterpart, which was why it just seemed so utterly baffling to him. Despite this, the tigon managed to bite his tongue, just offering Zora a small smile as she and Isaac seemingly reunited. When the plague doctor turned to him, Aurum took a slight pause to process before he chuckled, "Ah... no, there should be no issues with her joining, as far as I'm concerned, anyways." His acceptance of Isaac's words was not because the silent threat hidden beneath the other's tone, but simply because he had no true reason to turn Zora away. She seemed nice, had no stench of the Pitt on her that she would need to explain, and was about as usual as everyone else they had already let in, so he was sure she would be fine.

It was after this that Zora decided to focus her attention on he and Kaito, and Aurum found himself returning her excitement and curiosity with a little crooked grin of his own before he answered, "My name is Aurum. I'm the proxy, or second in command, here in Tanglewood. You can feel free to come to me at any time if you have any questions or requests that need answering. It's always a pleasure to meet someone new." He glanced at Kaito once he was done speaking, waiting for the younger thief to introduce himself as well. Aurum had been tempted to introduce the boy who was like a son to him in the same breath as his own name, but had refrained, figuring Kaito would've liked to introduce himself with his own flourish.

[div style="text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase; text-shadow: 0px 0px 2px #722227; font-size: 24px;"][color=#c16f78]— AURUM

#psychosocial.