broken record - [???]

[Romulus]

And like that, the curtains closed. The show had ended. The reign of the Malus founders had finished. Their sudden and tragic endings had thrown everyone into a loop, mystery and rage filling the minds of many. The children of Stryker and Ninazu were thrown aside and left to fend for themselves. One left to ascend to the throne, while another seethed in silence: Romulus Malus.

As the world raged on and life moved on, the lion found himself stuck. The intellectual beast had remained inside for the majority of his days, perusing through books and drowning away the thoughts that ascended. Even so, the problem remained. The grief was still there. No matter how many times he read through a passage, he would always stop to think mid-way and get engulfed in the darkness in his head, only to continue moments later while suppressing whatever came his way. It was an unhealthy habit. But it never stopped.

Word after word, passage after passage, Romulus was entrapped in his readings. An universe of his own manifested in his head to cope with what was left, only to indulge in his deepest desires. The shining light of hope reigned in his makeshift world... but like all stories, the darkness began to seep in. The once happy-go-lucky novella was exchanged for conflicting themes. Darker tones. Deeper meanings. Horror and clashing characters. The lion was spiraling low for once, taking a dive into the world his parents oddly embraced.

Romulus felt himself falling. He felt himself succumbing to the hell within his head, only to catch himself before he went too deep. After weeks in a state of disillusion, he finally broke free. Even so, he felt lost upon awakening from his self-induced trance. His head pounded. Eyes strained. Perhaps even ready to keel over. Who was once entrapped in a quiet world was now succumbing to the loud, stressful life around him. Reality, in short, was hell.

A groan escaped his maw as he rolled over onto his paws and carefully pushed himself to his feet. Weary, periwinkle hues breached through the opening of his small cave and locked with the grey clouds in the sky. His vision blurred, but he pushed himself into the light. Harsh heat plummeted downwards onto his multicolored pelt and he closed his eyes momentarily, taking a breath as he did so. The warmth of the early thaw was pleasing, but so was the sound of the crows on the trees above and the whispers that sounded from afar. Despite ignoring the Coalition of the Condemned and his own struggles for so long, it felt nice to get back into things.

With that in mind, he set off into the distance towards the soft ranting of a male. Paws sunk into the melting snow as he walked along and his ears remained perked, following the voice of a fellow wanderer. As he grew close, the voice stopped. Silence. Nothing. His eyes shot around to the treetops and the underbrush, finding not a soul. Romulus's gaze shot to the floor. The lack of pawprints in the snow unnerved him, causing his teeth to grind together. With a crane of his head, the lion looked out into the distance one last time, only to let out a soft huff. "Preposterous."

tl;dr the last paragraph states where he is now. your character will find romulus in the middle of the territory, seeming frustrated and confused. as for the rest, it merely explains his mentality and short disappearance during his grief. as for what this plot entails, i will not say

[Byriath]

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SOMEONE TO HEAR YOUR PRAYERS

Byriath did not know grief. What essence of it he felt was fuel for the seething anger that kept him alive, made him who he was. He was the god of violence, anything less that that would be nothing, he would be nothing. It would most likely fuck him up beyond what he could comprehend.

He had oddly taken to a more medicinal route within the Coalition, not quite a Guru but using what medical knowledge he could recall to help his fellow wanderers when they did stupid, mindless things. It was this reason he had been out around the cold territory in the first place, searching for some scraggly herbs he could use and presumably keep alive in the Greenhouse. And it was there that he heard Romulus. Indeed, many things were preposterous. A great many things. Pushing snow from his paws he started for the Malus boy. Such a hard life him and his sister had lived, and would most likely continue to live.

"Romulus, correct? I have a bad habit of forgetting the faces of the many names I've seen." He rumbled, approaching the lion. His cloak seemed to be gone, revealing a scarred body and scorched brandings of strange symbols on his legs. "How have you been faring, with everything that had plagued this group?""Speech"

BYRIATH-COALITION-FALLEN GOD OF VIOLENCE, CRUELTY, AND MALICE

[sup]© tikki[/sup]

[APHRA CIPHER .]

[glow=grey,1,400]LOVE ME, HATE ME ! — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

Aphra had yet to experience true grief; she had not had a family member die, or at the least, she didn't have anyone that was close to her die. She may have faked grief once or twice, but she had yet to know what it was like to truly grieve and lose someone. The she-cat was lingering nearby Romulus and Byriath, her ears pricked as she listened in on their conversation, though she didn't approach them nor say anything; instead, she would be pretending like she was hunting something.[glow=COLOR,1,400] ━ ✧*:･ﾟ[/glow]

[Romulus]

As he shuffled in place, a voice rang out nearby and his monochrome mane swayed towards the wanderer. Periwinkle hues traced Bryiath momentarily. No. That wasn't what he heard. Catching himself, the lion merely nodded with the god's words. "Romulus, indeed," he reiterated back deeply. "I have been fairing..." His voice traveled off. Lost for words and without any idea on how to continue, canines gritted together. His tail whipped out of sheer annoyance. "I'm content," came his final murmur.

The subtle sounds of a passerby caught his attention once again. His gaze shot into the distance, catching on a white feline amongst the thaw. His pupils narrowed. "May I inquire what you're doing?" he rasped. He wanted to hear her voice. To experience her movement. To see if she was what he heard.

[rhosmari]

The woman hadn't thought about her brother. Doing too many things and being lost in her own head. Watching the vivid hallucinations and listening to the voices in her head. Walking a road that was progressingly getting darker and darker, the Void wrapping hands around her throat and dragging her in and what was worse was that she enjoyed it. She enjoyed the insanity that she didn't even realize was happening to her. She was embracing it and dancing with her demons. She wanted to. There was nothing else for her to do but this. She was what she was meant to be after all. It was a good thing she was kept slightly on her path by those she considered somewhat important in her life or maybe a Wanderer might find themselves a victim of her destroyed sanity. As she treaded through the woods that was laden heavy with snow the woman paused as she saw the small group. A small gathering and she looked from her distance, eyes glazed over not really there. But she understood the figures she was witnessing. Byr, Aphra, and...her brother. Her brother.

Slowly she moved forward, graceful as the snow parted for her and moved out of her way. She eyes her brother almost coldly for a moment before she snorted and shook her head. As if to clear the haze she would decide to ask the most pressing of questions. "Where the hell have you been? You just disappeared." She almost sounded whiny and upset as she sat down, wrapping her tail around her paws.

[APHRA CIPHER .]

[glow=grey,1,400]LOVE ME, HATE ME ! — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

//Retro pregnancy announcement

Shit. Aphra's body tensed up as Romulus spotted her, his voice calling out to her making her stop in her 'hunt'. She raised her head and looked over, trying to fake surprise. "Me?" She asked in an innocent voice, turning around and walking over now. "I was just hunting, why?" Her words were almost cut off as Sojourn approached, speaking in such a whiny voice that made Aphra flatten her ears.[glow=COLOR,1,400] ━ ✧*:･ﾟ[/glow]

[Romulus]

The familiar snort of his close-minded sister caused his head to turn away from Aphra. His expression remained dull, but he couldn't help to be internally annoyed. So much for a greeting. Paws sunk further into the snow. Heat radiated from his body. Flames momentarily flicked on the tips of his horns, only to disappear in the strong wind. A subtle, forced grin began to run up his maw. "Where I usually am," came his deep, reverberating tone. "In my cave." Usually surrounded by a book or a few dozen too. She should know that though, shouldn't she? Apparently not.

The lion's head craned. "You would know that if you had checked though," he bluntly responded. "Andru, Diego, and you never bothered to visit." While he understood they had their own struggles, he had provided for them and tried to be there when possible, only to be met with none when he fell into his own rut. Sometimes he wondered if he should stop caring and provide for himself instead. Romulus wouldn't hold them to it though. Sojourn's aggressive questioning had merely set him off.

His head shook as he turned to look at Aphra once again. "Just heard someone. Must have been you." At least he assumed so. It seemed logical that the white female would blend in with the snow-laden environment anyways.