Spem Semper Habemus [open]

[Eλπiδiα]

Elpidia waltzed upon the dreamer’s realm. Smoke played with water. Lavish beauty eclipsed slavish thoughts. She was an animal here, her instincts primed, her nature begging for a hunt. Kaleidoscope of silhouettes, deer and ox and soaring fish crossed her path in orchestrated streams. In the realm of thought, the prey ran together. They then scattered—mere thoughts, and uncondensed, the prey became the fleeting wind. She mused over the sight of them, coming together, coming apart. She was playing in the shadows of the mind. Gleaming eyes shone like lanterns in the thoughtdark. Sounds like the desert belied a sight like the ocean. She shook her head.

Passing bird and passing fish let her glimpse the true nature of the world. It ebbed and flowed above her like water. And she gave a tired groan. She had willingly decided to leave her pups behind—already the novelty of their existence wore off and her patience had started to wane. Perhaps she was worried for them. The future was truly uncertain for every Harbinger. She wanted the best for them, really, but she was also bored of them. Elpidia could only think that every Harbinger ended up the same after thousands of years. She didn’t want her pups to be like this, and she had to remind herself and so, quietly said, “Etiam si vita plena malorum est, spem semper habemus.” She smiled as she said that. Even if life is full of bad things, we always have hope.

She gave a sigh and lay down as the sky and land switched places. She lay on the moon and it glowed silver and set her bright turquoise fur aflame in glory. Finally, she turned onto her side, feet stretched out, eyes shut, and thinking of nothing more than the forever agos where she had her pups, saw them grow, watched them die. It was all the same business. She had it down to a formula now. She was quiet now, due to the strain of motherhood, subdued.

With eternity, it becomes more and more evident that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Then again, “Tempus fugit.” And she mentally shrugged as she gently shut her eyes in peace. Time is fleeting…

[odessa]

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[atrb=background,http://i48.tinypic.com/dlneq8.png] Pup hood is strange for Harbingers. One might choose to be old and decrepit, yet to know nothing more about the world than a day old Blind Serpent knows about a Griffin. It was this way for Odessa. There were only a few things she knew. Her mother was gone, and she wanted to find her. Odessa could not tell you why she wished to find a female that seemingly cared so little for her, perhaps some old instinct? She knew not. Odessa had chosen a form that was decidedly feminine. This was...natural. Ruby red fur that glistened like jewels, and eyes that sparkled brightly. Yes, this felt natural...but not right. Odessa did not know why, but when ever she thought of the brothers that she had never known she felt a deep surge of jealousy. Why? Odessa sighed, it was nothing she wished to think on now. Life still felt like a game to her. As she pranced through the realm of dreams, all was beautiful, all was bright and lovely. After a brief moment (but what is time to one who operates outside of it?) Odessa lifted her head. Another Harbinger? Oh yes, oh yes it was... Approaching it Odessa smiled almost sentimentally, this wolf doubtlessly held the knowledge that she did not. "Quis enim ego tam inexpertus rerum tibi omne sapientiori?" Who am I? So inexperienced in all things, to you who are wiser in every way? Odessa stifled a gasp. She did not know what this strange language was, and why it had rolled off her tongue so easily. She did not like it, so she swiftly switched to English. "Greetings wanderer. I am Odessa, who are you?" Ooc// Bleh, I hope I did that right! >.< ----------------------------------- Table & Images By Spigot Manip -----------------------------------

[Eλπiδiα]

“Nonne, Latinam dices?” You’re speaking Latin, aren’t you? Elpie’s smile split her mouth and gave her a rather sinister, but proud light. She didn’t know why her daughter suddenly spouted Latin, but, then again, the young learned quickly. A Harbinger usually had trouble detecting the age of its brethren simply because one can choose her appearance quite readily. Elpie nodded and then gave a saucy look to her daughter as she switched between languages as easily as one downs a rabbit, “Then again… Quidquid Latine dictum sit, altum viditur.” Everything sounds profound stated in Latin.

She however did note that her own daughter considered the mother a stranger. Perhaps it was because she was wearing an appearance that gave her the guise as a wonderer. Elpidia softened her electric appearance. Her bright pelt melted from her and faded into the sky underfoot. She was a bit duller, a bit gentler in appearance, not as sharp or snipey. Her bright eyes dimmed slightly and she brought upon herself a look of an innocent mother instead of an illustrious mistress.

“Mea filia,” She noticed that her daughter had used English. “Don’t you recognize me? Sum tua mater.” She smiled gently, and with soft eyes looked over her daughter’s feminine body with a sense of pride and with a touch of nonchalance.

Daughter? Pffffh. Maybe in a few hundred years.

[gripes]

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[atrb=background,http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/9601/gripesbg.png] Gripes wandered the beautiful beach, glad that this day was not rainy. On the winter days that it rained, the Cael grew bored and restless. Why do I tire of my native land so easily? she had asked herself countless times as she watched the little droplets pound the sea. But it was sunny today. Beautiful, almost perfect! What on earth could go wrong? Morgripesoran danced along on the pale sand, howling a childhood tune softly. Her song ended abruptly as she tripped and fell on her purple face, but the fall could hardly dent her good spirits. After standing again, Gripes was about to resume her song when she thought a strange thought. “Then again… Quidquid Latine dictum sit, altum viditur.” Where did that come from? Huh? Gripes cocked her head. Just an insane moment, Morgripesoran. Nothing more. she told herself after thinking intently for a few seconds. “I don’t want to have an insane moment!” Gripes griped to herself. Then she had another thought, How the hell did I ever think of that? I don’t even know what it means! Damnit. Why did she have to think that? Now she couldn’t just walk away, brush it off like the sand on her nose. “Sum tua mater.” she heard, or thought or whatever it was that explained the words. I don’t like it. I don’t know what sum tah mayter or whatever means.

[odessa]

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[atrb=background,http://i48.tinypic.com/dlneq8.png] Odessa widened her eyes in wonder as she recognized the She-wolf she had been conversing with. Elpidia had spoken more in the strange language, Latin, but Odessa had not payed attention, her eyes were only for the form she now saw as hers. "Mater." She murmured in wonder, noticing again that she spouted Latin with out thinking. Well, of course she did. This was her mother. Her mother spoke Latin. Odessa flashed a grin. "I was hoping to find you!" Odessa smiled benignly at her mother for a few more moments until something else distracted her attention. A real wolf, well, real in the most trivial of ways, pranced upon the shore. "Why look at that Elpidia." To Odessa, it did not seem right to call her mother 'mother', "A real wolf." She tossed her head at the word to show her disdain. ----------------------------------- Table & Images By Spigot Manip -----------------------------------

[Eλπiδiα]

Elpidia nodded her head quietly. Her young daughter seemed to pick up Latin so quickly; she could even dare to say she had a sense of pride about it. The Harbinger gave a mental chortle, which, all at once, had her turning that wheel again of a mind inside a mind. She wondered if Harbingers had Harbingers had Harbingers. She knew that to the corporeal wolves, Harbingers were so rare that they might as well be a thought run astray. But what if those wolves were Harbingers of another mind? Gah, always stuck on the same stupid turnabout. She might as well drop it before she gets so occupied over something she had worn down smooth that she forgets that she’s talking to her daughter…

“A real wolf.”

Her daughter’s words caused her mother to snort. “What makes us not real?” She said this tartly, and with fiery eyes. Her glowing yellow eyes turned a different shade—something of an orange and a bit of green in it as well. Elpidia wisped like smoke, her movements undefined by gravity… or any sort of physics for that matter. She merely floated toward her daughter with the grace of a windy cloud. Her electric blue pelt dazzled and then shimmered, iridescent and changing into green and royal hues with a turn of her body. She settled next to her daughter, so close. Her voice was louder now, but not because she was closer, because she was louder.

“Who made this world!” It wasn’t a question. She screamed it into the mind of the wolf. The presence of the Cael made the world sparkle with new delight. It focused the world. Instead of a menagerie of earth and sky, random-placed around, there was some sort of order. There was wind and then, there was gravity.

Elpidia slowly floated to the ground, which was the ground now. The world was shapen just as the Cael imagined it. Straightforward. This was not a crazy wolf. This was not a wolf who envisioned the land as something else. Like a full pack, or a new utopia. This was simply a wolf on the beach. However, the sand in her nose made the land feel more rough, more harsh, but then, that too was gone. Personally, Elpidia loved it when there was some substance to her world. When there was something to go by. Instead of a collective dreamscape. She loved the fact that this Cael wolf seemed to drop in at the perfect time. And she was hoping that this wolf was the religious type. But those were few and far between. She missed being a goddess to these wolves.

Then again, what if we are the wolves?
And they the gods?

She shook the thought from her head, “Non es insana.” A smile curled on Elpidia’s lips. She looked to the sky in the wolf’s mind, “Just over-thinking it.”

Elpidia turned to her daughter, her words soft and low, and sometimes resorted to Latin when it was comfortable, “It always pays to play to comfort the wolf. Non dices cum lupo quod non est Harbinger. If you attempt it, they shut you out. Besides, they can’t hear us unless they are listening. You have to make them believe, at first, that they are talking to themselves, in their head.” You cannot speak with the wolf because it is not a Harbinger.

The mother looked up, “It’s still a good day, is it not?” She directly addressed the Cael wolf.

[gripes]

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[atrb=background,http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/9601/gripesbg.png] Gripes shivered a bit. Not that it was cold, just, well, maybe it was fear. She thought she heard more whispers, to faint and muddled to pick out. Except for one phrase, “A real wolf.” So these thoughts came from creatures… Not real? Or was she just imagining things? The Cael groaned. The perfect day had found a way to ruin itself. Stupid world. Stupid thoughts. Suddenly someone screamed at her, or at least it seemed that they were screaming from far away. The words simply came to her as if it was her mother softly telling her bedtime stories, only much harsher. “Who made this world!” She knew that the something, or the nothing, was not asking her the question, yet Gripes felt obliged to answer. “I don’t know! Did you, did mother? I don’t know. Why do you speak to me like I am talking to myself yet use words I cannot comprehend?” she moaned out loud. Am I really talking to some other being, or am I simply remembering something from my childhood stories? Gripes asked herself again. “It’s still a good day, is it not?” “It was a good day until I tripped and heard voices and you, whatever you are or whatever you aren’t, started talking to me. So no. This is a horrible day.” she growled, but inwardly, she liked the idea of having someone to talk to. Someone to end the years of loneliness she had brought upon herself. If only she could figure out what the hell she was talking to.

[odessa]

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[atrb=background,http://i48.tinypic.com/dlneq8.png] Odessa smiled wryly at her mothers reaction to her use of the word 'real'. Odessa felt the same way. To her the vibrant dream realm around her seemed very real. More real that the drab world the other wolves lived in. Yet to survive she must learn to live it. Odessa sighed. It was a cruel world. Odessa watched as Elpidia spoke to the Cael with practiced ease. She chuckled slightly as the poor Cael was utterly bewildered. Perhaps with time Odessa could learn to take control like that. She nodded diligently as her mother turned to explain what she was doing. Odessa took it all in. She had to learn all of it unless she wanted to fade away, like ashes in the wind. Odessa followed her mother, trying to use as much grace and authority as she spoke, "Greetings my friend." Better to start with something simple, right? ----------------------------------- Table & Images By Spigot Manip -----------------------------------

[Eλπiδiα]

Elpidia gave a long sigh as her daughter directly communicated with the wolf. It was a gamble now. It wasn’t just the wolf doubting herself, but now it was the wolf deciding now, whether or not to let the Harbingers in. Nobody had thoughts that said such odd things, so there was no room for Elpidia to fit this. She looked to her daughter and narrowed her eyes to slits, “Facisne, Odessa?” She let her blue hairs glow gold, but they stayed blue in color, which was a very odd, but lovely effect.

The Harbinger crowded herself into the mind of the Cael, she forced herself and reached out to brush the fur. She stretched herself forward, nose out, as far as it could go. Gently, the Harbinger said, “Am I really just a voice?” She chose English because that was the wolf’s tongue and to hear one speak in your mother tongue was somewhat comforting and welcoming. At least, Elpidia thought that it should be. Still, it was really up to the wolf whether she felt the brush against her shoulder or not.

To leave your whole existence to someone else seemed opposite the point of life. It wasn’t that Harbingers required someone to live. It was just that they required someone to make sure that they in fact were living. If you wandered an empty mind, a dark world, a place with no rules and without a constant physics, it was hard to define yourself.

You can’t say ‘I’ without saying it and you because alone, in a void, there is no way to even know you exist. That is why, without another soul and mind, a Harbinger ‘ceases’ existing.

Yea, they are around. But their bodies are forged by their minds and when a mind is shattered, there is no body. She knew that not many wolves—not even many Harbingers understood this. But understanding this fact alone had made it so that Elpidia was able to survive all these centuries. What better way to know you exist than knowing why you exist?

And here, she was satisfied. She didn’t need this wolf, but Odessa needed a lesson. A command came from the mother. “Disce.” Learn.

[gripes]

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[atrb=background,http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/9601/gripesbg.png] Gripes growled. She had a strange feeling that she was surrounded. A mental barrier. Before she had regarded the feeling as just… Well, she hadn’t paid attention to it. Now her mind felt full. When the words of another thing brushed her consciousness, her lips curled upward and she snapped at the air, trying in vain to bite it. “Stop calling me your friend!” she cried. Then Gripes froze. A rather strange smile crept across her face. Oh great. I’ve gotten an insane idea. Perhaps it might just work. Or give me some satisfaction. The Cael closed her eyes. She imagined the thing that said "Greetings my friend," as a fat ugly, Cael. In her mind she composed herself. Pretty, with vibrant, almost sparkling colors. And in her mind, she lunged at the fat thing, snapping at it’s pudgy body. She imagined it’s blood splattering across the landscape. Gripes frowned, stuck her tongue out, and made retching noises. Her imagination had gone too far to bring blood into the picture. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” she said, feeling like vomiting but not having anything in her stomach to come up. Something brushed against her shoulder, softly, gently. The Cael snapped at the air near her shoulder, but the action had lost it vigor. Now it was only a slow, confused motion. “Am I really just a voice?” the other thing said. “I don’t think so,” she murmured, still watching in horror as more blood oozed across her mind. “Make it go away. Make the blood go away. Make the ugly Cael go away. I don’t want her to be my friend,” Gripes pleaded to the thing, a sort of wolf, she decided. A pretty wolf, much like her mother.

[scruffy]

OOC// I hope it's okay if I post. Kiet suggested I do. She said it would be cool for Gripes to be surrounded. So I hope it's okay. If it's not I'll delete the post. Just tell me, and just a side note. "Scuffy" is actually named Erredor. It says so on his bio. I prefer Erredor better. Lol. Scruffy, as everyone calls him, is just a nickname. Sorry if it's short. Still trying to learn seeing as I just got him. I'm totally jealous of Odessa's table. I wish the pups were adults now! Lol.

Erredor; Elpidia's second pup

Erredor had begun to get a little stronger everyday. Despite the way he was born. Though of course he never would fully recover. He searched the dream realm. Today he chose his typical form. His small, dull Grey, skinny, smoky frame. He felt today was going to be a good day. However he didn't understand why. Really a Harbinger pup merely understands anything. Especially why others' always tell him that they need a 'host.' He will soon enough learn the lessons of this world, the dream realm. He was young. But he wasn't too young to understand. He was very intelligent. He knew that. He wanted to be the first of his siblings to take hold of a mind. Simply because he wanted his parents to be proud of him. Other then that the only time he wished to occupy a mind was when he wanted something to do. A companion he could trust, someone he could perhaps boss around, someone he could influence into believing he were real so they wouldn't run away as soon as they heard him trying to communicate with them. He tried to make his imaginative form taller as he began to feel proud. He scanned the lands of the dream realm. Nothing in sight. He sensed nothing at all.

He moved further into the land. He got very far until he finally began to hear voices as his form slid across the ground ever so easily. 'Sum tua mater'. He wondered, 'mother? my mother?' He had been searching for her. He had never truly known his parents, or his siblings. He longed for their contact. At least then he'd have someone to talk to. He approached the two Harbingers. "Abyssus." He froze. What was that? He had never heard that. Fear began to set up in his small smoky frame. He quickly tried to change his tongue. "H-Hello. I am Erredor." He felt a bit more relaxed now. He felt more proud, which was very unusual for him. Then he stopped. He noticed what was happening. He had noticed the Cael. What was this, some sort of lesson? A imaginary grin came onto his maw. He needed a lesson. He yearned to learn, to understand. He waited for them to say anything as he listened, patiently. He looked down at the Cael again. She seemed so helpless. He wished he could help her. But he knew he was learn. He hesitated twice then stayed in his dreamy smoke-like spot. He looked over what he believed to be his mother. He examined her. She was beautiful. Well, from his point of view. He looked at what he believed to be his sister. She had many qualities as the other Harbinger. They must be related. He then thought about himself. He wasn't sure how he seemed to them. Though he hoped me had so many gorgeous qualities as they had. Well he could make himself irresistibly like them if he had wanted to. But he sadly decided against it. He thought that he better stay with the form he had when he was born if he had any chance of them recognizing him. He smiled as he stared.

[odessa]

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[atrb=background,http://i48.tinypic.com/dlneq8.png] Odessa was appropriately abashed as her mother sighed. She had a lot to learn about the world. Learn. Her mother commanded her. Odessa nodded, slowly, her beacon-like eyes fixed upon her mother. She tried to hold everything she had learned in her mind. Or perhaps she could box it up in some corner of the brilliant world she lived in, to revisit when she needed it. The wolf they had chosen was not pleased with the arrival of two unknown voices, but the wolf did not resist. She seemed perfectly willing to accept their existence. Odessa wanted to say something, to comfort the wolf, but she looked to her mother first. She would wait for permission to speak lest she should mess up again. Odessa was just about to open her mouth, to ask her mother what the next prudent move would be, when she heard another voice "Abyssus." Odessa recognized that voice, though she had never heard it. It did not take her long to put two and two together. This was one of the elusive brothers. She backed up, the world around her seemed to spin. The jewel like colors that had fallen to neatly into trees and sky and ground ran together, causing a blinding swirl in her minds eye. A searing wave of jealousy washed through her. Why? Followed by a pang of shyness, again, why? "H-Hello. I am Erredor." Odessa's brother changed his tongue as easily as she had. Funny. It must be the same with all four of her siblings. Odessa nodded, her ruby neck bending gracefully, "You know me? Try and guess. We spent much time together." Odessa's voice was low, so low she wasn't even sure that it reached the ears of her brother. She wasn't even sure she wanted it to. ----------------------------------- Table & Images By Spigot Manip -----------------------------------