GROUNDED FOR A MONTH // Lost

[CLEMENTINE P.]

————- Prior to Clementine ending up in a totally different group's territory, her day had gone fairly normal. That is, she had been stuck  in side, utterly bored to death on account of her father's wishes that she not push herself. But the summer weather was intoxicating, warm, and welcoming to a young girl who had little else to occupy herself with than the same books, toys, and idle conversations with her father. Playing with the other children was out of the question, and the opportunities to go walking on her own were slim to none. Even though her father had dared to leave her for a time, and they being recently reunited with one another, it had not stopped her dearest father from quickly returning to his old over-bearing ways.

Of course, Clementine loved him and knew no difference.

Yet that did not stop her from leaving Snowbourn and heading out on her own. It was with no malicious intent- truly, she meant to stray no further than a few steps, just to happen upon some flowers. But a few steps turned into a few gleeful leaps, and as she strayed further and further, and her fears disappated, she found herself readily farther away from home than she ever intended. By the time she realized just how far she had gone, she had no idea which direction to turn back.

So she walked. And walked; and rested, when her lungs began to suffer the strenuous hike away. What had been an early morning adventure had now turned into an early-evening disaster. The familiar stretches of land that she called her home soon turned into a wide field of plains and open area she had no idea how to navigate. But the tall grasses soon turned into a field dotted with flowers, which despite the comforting and pretty sight did little to ease her now bundle of nerves that had knotted her chest; more so than her horrid wheezing. Her paws slightly shaking, she kept on, her wide green eyes staring helplessly as the little scrap of a serval, more baby than child in appearance, stopped, finally too exhausted to carry on. Each of her breaths rattled in her chest, squeaking with a wheeze as she struggled for a full breath. But there were others around; the scent of them was more prevalent now than it had been ages ago. The question was - where was she?

"H-hello?" she called out faintly between a gasp. "I-is anyone there?"

❀

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[GORDON CIPHER.]

Gordon's ears pricked as she heard the sound of somebody calling out, and the little she-cat tried to follow the voice as closely as she possibility could as she came close to where Clementine was. Luckily, the Snowbounder wasn't hard to miss, and her scent was really strong in the area Gordon was near, so she eventually found Clementine. "Ah, hi!" Gordon squeaked out, blinking at Clementine. Oh, it was a kitten! "Wh-what are you doing here?" She asked in concern, realizing how young the Snowbounder was. "Are-are you lost? Where are your groupmates?" Did they even know she was gone?

★ i am a lion born from things you cannot be ! ━

[Roy Mustang]

Roy knew for a fact if Aaliyah went around exploring, without him or someone else coming along with her, Roy would surely panic. All the worst kind of thoughts would run through Roy Mustang's mind- what if she was hurt somewhere? Lost? Captured, or even worse, dead? He would be pissed beyond belief that she would go out on her own when it's clear that Roy doesn't want her to be. He'd frantically search for her, and if and when he finds her, he'd bring her straight home. She certainly wouldn't like the anger that would be radiating off of the melanistic bobcat, hopefully she won't ever run off on him and give him the biggest scare of his life. Roy was padding through the territory, heading down a familiar path, when the scent of Snowbound hit his nostrils.

Roy came to a pause as he took the scent in, ears pricking up wide. He listened closely to the young voice, it sounded like she was taking pauses to gasp for breath. Why would a Snowbounder who sounds so young be out here alone? The Flame Alchemist thought to himself, as he looked in the direction, picking up Gordon's voice as well. A sigh escaping his lips, Roy began to pad over, changing whatever plans he had with his patrol. The Lunar Lieutenant came in after Gordon, glancing briefly at his clanmate before fixing his gaze on the serval kitten. A kitten? This kitten is surely a lot older than his little Aaliyah, she's proven she can speak and manage to make it all the way here by herself. He couldn't help it but wonder why she was here. He was sure a kitten wouldn't be delivering messages or invites, no no- she's far too young to be out on her own. She's lucky she didn't run into trouble along the way here. "Most importantly, why are you by yourself?" Roy questioned as his ears flattened to his skull, unable to pick up any other scents of a Snowbounder that would be lurking behind. It really seemed like she was all alone. He made no other comments, awaiting for answers.

[Suiteheart]

[align=center][div style=" background-color: transparent; border: 0px solid black; width: 530px; min-height: 9px; font-family:; line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; padding: 20px"]It was the scent of Snowbound that drew her near. She was pulled to that place as if she were a magnet. The snow often found its way into her dreams as a promise of home, but she knew better than to heed its call. Nothing would ever be quite like her previous place of residence. Nothing would ever be able to replace it. As much as she wished she lived in Snowbound, she knew, in her heart of hearts, that it would not fill up the hole in her soul.

"Gordon? Roy? What's Snowbound want?" The pair had been blocking her view of the tiny serval, but when she came to stand beside Roy, her eyes widened a bit. Suite, having been a mother to two litters, knew full and well that children tended to wander. She didn't blame them - even if it constantly scared the shit out of her. She also knew that at Clementine's age, she was constantly on the move, never pleased to remain rooted to one place.

"Are you feeling alright, sweetie?" she asked, concern dotting her gaze. The heavy breathing the young girl was exhibiting was worrying to say the least. "My name is Suiteheart. That's Gordon and that's Roy. Don't you worry, okay? We're gonna help you." Her tone of voice was soft and gentle and as motherly as ever. She offered Clementine a kind smile. "Can you tell us your name?"

[PIERCE]

PANICKIN G DAD TRACK

[★ HAZEL]

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[align=center]hazel elise caelum . eight months . the ascendants . golden girl . tags

Hazel knew the scent of Tanglewood by now; she mostly associated the swampy tang with Nayru’s sweet personality, knowing the medic would be with Chadwick and have a whole new bundle of medical concepts for Hazel to learn. She enjoyed meeting with Nayru — it made her feel useful again. Learning the names of herbs and their purposes made her feel like she could finally be good at something, too. Suite was teaching her as well, and it was currently one of the only things keeping her out of bed.

This, however, was not the scent of Tanglewood. It was something else — something that caught Hazel’s dragging attention long enough to draw her out to the border, where she discovered Roy, Suite, Gordon, and...someone unfamiliar. Steadying herself against the impending wave of sleep, the girl peered at the Snowbounder. She was young, and reminded Hazel of Aaliyah. Brows knit with deep concern; she was a far cry from being old enough to travel like this.

“Poor thing must’ve gotten lost,” Hazel murmured, the obvious feeling like a detective’s conclusion in her sleepy state. “Do we have any coltsfoot?” She asked, glancing at Suiteheart. “Or juniper berries?” She recalled Suite telling her both helped with shortness of breath, and this little girl looked like she was struggling with oxygen.

[sup]c) miithers[/sup]

[BASTILLEPAW]

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SING, GODDESS, OF THE RAGE OF ACHILLES

Bastille was there a few moments later, trailing after Hazel like an invisible cord was linking them together. He supposed that wasn't too far from the truth, though he'd describe that cord as more golden, shining with radiance as it latched itself to his heart and yanked hard any time she left the Observatory or got too far away. It was... more or less something he'd just accepted. The bond felt warmer and lighter the closer she was, and he had a sneaking suspicion he would never be too content to have her far away. Whatever. He was dealing just fine.

Particularly since she seemed to have holed up in her room lately, her side of the bond going muted and quiet. Bast wasn't sure what to do about it. He wanted to go to her, to tell her Gen was fucking full of shit, that she meant something to them all, but he had no idea how to go about it, how to avoid making shit worse. So he kept his mouth shut and tended to find himself by her side when she did emerge from her room.

Now, his gaze passed over her briefly before locking on this stranger, a crooked half-smile appearing. "Hi," he greeted, considering her curiously. She was a little thing, definitely not into her training yet, but close. Bast had a feeling she could likely handle herself, but Hazel had a point: her breathing was funky. Wordlessly, the yellow-gold flowers that sprouted in his pawsteps stirred, and the herbs she requested blossomed in front of Hazel.

[b]BASTILLEPRISONER AURELIUS — ASTRAL SERAPH — THE ASCENDANTS — TAGS