[ deadman on vacation ] - open

[LUMIA CIPHER.]

The Coalition of the Condemned. It wasn't a group that Lumia knew a great deal about, except for what she had learned through secondhand information. While traveling with her father, she had often been told about the group by loners, with most of them warning her to stay far, far away. It hadn't been lost on her that, every time the group was brought up, Caesar seemed to grimace or growl, obviously annoyed by the mention of them. Mia never bothered asking Caesar more about the subject, not wanting him to get aggravated and end up lashing out at her. Alongside the warnings and her father's general disapproval, the young Cipher had eventually been able to properly identify the scent of the Coalition, and she was glad for that fact. Made it easier to avoid them, after all. Not only that, but none other than her sister, Aphra, had bore the scent upon her pelt when she had shown up on the border, looking for Vayne. That had been the final nail in the coffin for Lumia, who had sworn afterwards that she would never trust anyone who had come from the Coalition. At least, not without a lot of interrogation beforehand. Any place that was willing to take her sister in was a bad one, at least in Lumia's opinion. After all, Aphra's reputation was nearly as bad as her father's, and that was really saying something.

She knew that the group was a sore subject throughout The Typhoon, and the threat of an attack hung over all their heads quite often. It was part of the reason why she wanted to become a better fighter – so that she could help to protect her new home. While her fighting skills weren't absolutely stellar just yet, she still made a habit of patrolling around the territory, making sure to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. She had been out on one of these patrols when she reached near the railroad, recoiling slightly when the scent of death reached her. Yet, she couldn't see any kind of body in sight. This, along with the smell of Danny, was enough to set Lumia on edge, her heart pounding a bit too quickly in her chest. Was Danny alright? Had something happened to him? Had Caesar come back to finish the job that he had failed last time? That thought alone was enough to fill her with rage, her jaw clenching and her short tail lashing as she urgently glanced around her. Thankfully, the scent of the canine didn't seem to linger solely around the railroad. Instead, it seemed to be moving away, a fact that filled Mia with no small amount of relief. She quickly turned, heading off after Danny's scent – although it didn't help that the smell of death still remained intertwined with said scent.

Eventually, Lumia found where the other was sitting by the bay, a sigh of relief leaving her as she saw that Danny seemed to be alright. Or well, he at least wasn't dead. Whether he was alright or not remained to be seen, considering how he seemed to be frozen in place, staring down at a necklace. The smell of death still seemed to be clinging to the bag nearby, and Mia no effort to hide the slight disgust and worry on her face as she approached, staring down at it momentarily. She then looked towards Danny, muttering out a soft question, "Danny...? Where did you get this bag? You had me so worried. I thought that somebody was... dead." It still seemed as though someone had died, but evidently no one all that important. Or perhaps it was somebody important, and that's why Danny seemed so incredibly out of it. Had he lost another member of his family? That didn't seem all that likely, considering the wolf hadn't mentioned anyone besides his mother, at least to Lumia's knowledge. Perhaps Vayne knew more than she did – that wouldn't exactly surprise her, considering how close the pair were.

Sitting down in the sand near Danny's side, Lumia lowered her head a little so that she could look at the necklace more closely. Her green gaze seemed to gleam as she looked down at the little carvings, although they didn't bring anything out in her. They didn't fill her with the same cold chill that they seemed to fill Danny with. Instead, it just looked like a pretty necklace to her – nothing worry of such close inspection. Tilting her head to one side, the wheat colored feline questioned softly, "Are you... okay? The necklace seems pretty, but... you look like you've seen a ghost, or something." It was almost funny how close she had gotten to the truth, even while only half-joking around.

☆ — something's going on underneath your skin