last of the real ones . water practice . open

[VASS .]

Darkness swells past midnight. The sea’s call a siren’s wail simple melody from alluring to haunting, childish bitterness kept Vaas away. Kept the tiger from the edges of his own boardwalk. It hurt to look out towards the sea, and he was busy. There was little time for gazing anymore. Little time for allowhim himself to reminess, when winter was it’s coldest, Vaas found little time beyond hunting scant prey, tending to the withering gardens. Without someone to look to, to teach him, he only had the remnants of what was inside his cage. The soil and carefully tended to rot making for good beds for the more resilient herbs, but it was too cold to grow anything more than bare essentials.

Poppy, maringold, catnip.

His patrol now included the careful watch of known spiders. Collecting the empty and vacant ones as the spiders crawled off due to the chill. Spider silk was strong, and much more renewable in comparison to cloth- which the medicine cat had very few of.

It was only during the night, between worrying and hunting that Vaas found himself back towards the waters edge.

The rotted wood no longer creaked, ice making the wood slippery- but sturdy again. Claws sinking into it, even under the strain of his heavy frame he felt no concern. Instead his eyes was towards the water.

Power. It felt like a curse. In tandem with responsibility, with healing. They were parts of him now, in ways he never knew he could become. He still had a ways of controlling it, better in the calm learn before his own tightly controlled temper snapped and he became something dangerous- not unlike Quasar but: Where Quasar was a kid, the Medicine cat didn’t have the excuse. He needed to control it, he was raised alongside other’s who had the abilities of elementals. At least he knew the stepping stones for this sort of control.

He stepped off the boardwalk, walking along the sands for sparse moments before he walked into the icy waters. Salt infused waters and sea-foam. Up to his ankles he wade deeper still. Until he was shivering from the cold all the way up to his chest. He breathed: not warm- but calm.

He breathed with the waves. Let them sway him in their waves. Carefully he reached out, and created a small swirl in the water. Rose the next wave just inches higher. He focused on small amounts of control. On not commanding the water but asking. Working alongside it, the sea was a ruthless, and the cold would remain all night, even in the depths of their winter- yet Vaas stood inside the water, even at it’s cold, biting.

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"take me into your heart , accept me as your savior nail me to the fucking cross and let me be reborn" — an antagonist with a silver tongue , a pirate with nothing to loose and everything to gain .  vaas montenegro ; he who lives to fight demons should be weary he himself does not become one ." it's not like i am fucking crazy — "

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[RHINESTONE.]

LEADER ❝ RHINE ❞ PALMCLAN

Power was something that Rhinestone had, in a sense. After all, he was the leader of the entire clan, and that gave him more power than most. However, in a more literal sense, he had very little actual power. He was just a simple feline, with no elementals or any of the other fancy things that his clanmates were beginning to discover. While some looked at their powers like a curse, or some kind of rot from the inside out, Rhinestone never saw it that way. He thought they were not only fascinating, but useful as well. How could something that could provide for your entire clan be a curse? Of course, he never verbalized this to those that expressed their displeasure. At least, not since the incident with Medusa. He felt awful about where the two of them had been at before she passed away, and he wished he could've gone back, and taken every stupid word that he had said to her and shove it all back down inside. However, he couldn't, and he'd never be able to right that wrong, would he...?

Ultimately, it was actually Medusa that had driven Rhinestone out to the boardwalk, despite the sickness that currently had him in a death grip. Remaining within camp with nothing on his mind had become difficult since her passing, and he found that he wanted to be near the sea. At least if he was near the waves, he wouldn't feel as reminded of her, considering her hatred of them in the end. Unfortunately, the tom's sickness did leave him dizzy and lightheaded at times, so as soon as his paws hit ice covered wood, he found himself falling. His jaw connected with the boardwalk below, and he let out a pained grunt, waiting for the pain that was radiating through him to go away. When he finally opened his pale eyes again, he was surprised to see Vaas out in the water, the tiger's back turned to him. It took a moment before Rhine felt steady enough to stand again, this time immediately making his way to the water. He felt more in his element there, even with his stuffed up head and bleary eyes. However, the waves felt... manipulated, somehow. They tugged at his fur, causing him to put effort into staying in place.

When Rhinestone reached the front of Vaas, he finally realized why he felt the waves pulling at him, a soft oh leaving his muzzle. He just watched what the medicine cat did for a moment before he spoke, pale gaze still trained on the swirling waters, "That really is impressive, you know..." He then felt a sudden burst of embarrassment spread through him, his face faintly heating up beneath his fur. He wasn't sure if it was because of the vaguely awed tone he had put on, or because of Vaas's previous displeasure, but it was probably a mix of both. Either way, Rhine sunk down a bit before adding on, "I... I know you're not a fan. Of all of it... but at least you've got control. It could also end up being a big help, for herbs and stuff..." He hated how awkward he sounded, wishing he was still curled up in his den. Perhaps he should've just stayed in camp.

NEVER OPENED MYSELF THIS WAY
LIFE IS OURS, WE LIVE IT OUR WAY

— Reggan

[number nine.]

One would think that, after years of experience with powers and how they worked, Number Nine would no longer be impressed with anything they could do. However, this simply wasn't the truth. Even thought the jaguar had undeniably grown used to seeing powers around, he still found himself vaguely stunned upon seeing them in action. He wasn't sure anybody could truly be completely stoic, when they saw someone throw forth a ball of fire, or create a miniature tornado. Even when he had come to possess this body, with the wings and the flora that wrapped freely around him, he had found himself taking a while to process it all. He sort of relished in that feeling, that he would never grow completely used to all of the things that living in the beyond ended up involving. He didn't want to grow use to them, because he didn't want life to grow stale. He wanted to believe that things were still a challenge, and he didn't want to be some showoff yawning off an elemental attack. He knew that, ultimately, that could easily be your downfall. Grow too used to something, and end up too cocky... you'd end up flat on your back.

This was what drew the warrior over as he had been flying overhead, spotting the striped form of Vaas down in the waves, along with the faintly bobbing head of Rhine as well. He drifted downwards until he could land on the edge of the boardwalk, having no desire to go splashing down into the sea just yet. Even if Rhinestone felt confident that nothing would happen, Number Nine couldn't claim that he felt the same. There was nothing to say that Vaas couldn't somehow lose track of things, and end up producing a wave that was just too big, swallowing everyone around him up in its force. The thought of it caused a shiver to go down Nine's spine, and the bounty hunter briefly shook his head before clearing his throat. His words were clear as he spoke, a simple chuckle leaving him, "Hey Vaas, hey Rhine... finally beginning to get a handle on the small things, I see?" He tilted his head to one side as he inspected the swirling waters, almost wanting to reach out and dip his paw in the little whirlpool. Deep down, Nine knew that he still had powers of his own, but he hadn't really bothered trying to access them. He hadn't really needed them, before now.

HELLBENT ON MAKING YOU LOVE ME TOO