PRETTY BUiLDiNGS. [OPEN]

[mantra]

A SiGH ESCAPED HER LUNGS

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as she ignored the distant, blotchy outline of the sun bleeding out slowly into the horizon. From that vantage point it was quite the sight, if you intended to watch. Rather, Mantra wandered along a flatter, more narrow section of Key Cliffs, bicolored eyes flickering over the floor of the path as if she was searching for something she'd lost. Her pace was jaunty and happy, one indicating she didn't have a care in the world but what she was doing at that moment. Her actions were questionable, and yet nothing could have stopped her - that is, except for the end of the road.

Petite wings fluttered, holding her in balance as she teetered momentarily on the edge. It was not too far a fall; she had not trekked that far up the cliff to begin with, only a short distance from the earth. There were other cliffs and peaks standing ridged in the faintest of pink lining the sky, pretty buildings with their concrete windows; they weren't like this one. Her heart hammered in her chest and she stepped back, smiling with the torrent of emotion and thought. If only she could soar, throw her small frame from the ledge and catch herself in the wind like a bird. It was something she wanted to do before she died, but chances were minimal that it would happen. She still valued what little of life she had left.. so perhaps she'd save flying for last. The last adrenaline rush, last blurry portrait she would see of the world. It was one of the more pleasant ways to go, one that intrigued her creative capacity.
Dying.. what was it like?

Death, a bitter machine, it would destroy her and rob her of her skin, withering her down to bone to become an unrecognizable face. She wondered if someone would care. If someone would walk across her skeleton and not even acknowledge that it was her. Mantra. The optimistic Myou who'd plunged into the shallows of the writhing sea.

It was then when she realized she wanted the someone that cared and remembered. What was life even worth if you were virtually non-existent..? Turning, she trotted back down the incline, deciding what it was - who it was - that she was looking for. She hoped to find them soon.
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[Capricorn and Hanahara]

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[atrb=background,http://i35.tinypic.com/6gkljs.jpg] Cappy didn't care much for trespassing. In his world, territory was non-existent, the lines between what belonged to someone or group of someone's was thin and not something to be concerned about, and he could go where he wished with only the mildest of fears. Of course, his fears were different from most. Bounding along, his short purple fur, so dark it was almost black, ruffling in the wind, his bright blue eyes shining, Capricorn the jackalope (or, as he liked to call himself, Capricorn the Great) hummed a tune to himself. He was dimly aware that he was trespassing on a pack territory, and that did make him fear for his life a bit, but not so much as he wouldn't continue to do so. He sprung up onto his hind legs for a moment, boxing with the air. He wanted to keep himself in top condition, awaiting the day he was going to need all of these skills to fend off other males from his mate. He was determined, but somewhere inside, that little voice born with his odd colors told him it was hopeless. He was a freak, with his odd colors and funny way of speaking and acting. No one would love him, and he'd die alone. It happened, he knew, but he didn't like it. Sighing, he dropped to the ground and continued along his leisurely way. He sniffed a blade of grass, then commenced to nibble it. That task completed, he continued on, halting as a scent hit him. Wolf! He quailed, casting about for a shadow to hide in, finally dodging into a nearby bush. He went to squirm further in, but his antlers were caught. He gave a squeal of frustration, a jackalope swear word that, had his mother heard, would have earned him a good reprimanding. He wriggled in the bush, hopping to get his purple butt out of the air before the wolf saw. I'm not gonna die today! he thought, No way, no way!

[Grimmeth]

It seemed today had a reoccurring theme. Death. For Garreth Grimm also thought of death as he and his brother picked their way over the moss covered rocks by the sea edge. Grimm's claws dug into the soft moss, trying to find purchase so he would not stumble into the cold, merciless ocean that beat restlessly against the rocks at their side. Axel was having no problems at all navigating the treacherous rocks.. He glided across them with ease. He left no paw prints. Made no sound.

Axel's body was probably decayed by now. His body little more then a pile of pecked-at bones, blindingly white in the gray forest that had been his home. Grimm had that image in his head, as he eyed his brother's youthful face, his shaggy fur completely still in the fierce wind coming off the ocean. His brother was a ghost. Grimm could still not get over that. He just looked so alive...

Through his brother's death, Grimm had learned to appreciate life. His brother had been sticking up for him one minute and the next, laying, disemboweled in a pool of his own blood. Life was fleeting, he saw that. And now he didn't only need to live for himself, but for his brother too.

He was so preoccupied with this thought, that he didn't see the weeping figure before him. Grimm eyes widened, and he reached out to help the crying wolf before him. The wolf turned to him, and he saw that half the wolf's face was eaten away, the pearly white skull looking extra clean next to the rotting flesh that still half encompassed it. Empty, bottomless eyes sockets stared right into his, a garish grin upon his lipless maw. Grimm stumbled back in surprise, and swallowed the bile that rose in his throat. A glance at the wolf's feet confirmed that it was just a ghost. The remains of a few cracked bones could be seen resting between the green rocks. He shuddered. Would he ever get used to this?

Later, when he had made his way to the top of the cliff, he still thought of the dead wolf he had left far below. How did he die? Did he have a family who missed him? How long ago did he die? These questions always swam around in Grimm's head after seeing a ghost, and it always made him sick. So when Axel informed him that a purple Jackalope had rushed across his path, he did not even attempt to chase after it.
Then the meaning of the words caught up to him.
"A purple jackalope?!" He said in astonishment, and was quick enough to see the flash of purple that disappeared under a bush. He was all to eager to turn his mind from morbid things, and decided to investigate. He focused for a second and turned his wolfy scent into that of a jackalope, to calm the creature....hopefully.
"Hello Mr. Jackalope?!" He called, binding down next to the bush that housed the elusive little animal.

"Uh..." Axel said next to him, staring in front of him.
"What?" He said to the ghost, and straightened to follow his eyes. He found what Axel was staring at immediately, and blushed. He hadn't noticed the female before. He thought he was looking at a beautiful sennyo. But her beauty was not enough to keep him from noticing the dozen or so hazy ghosts that surround her form. Some were torn open and smeared with blood, but others appeared like Axel; Whole, and looking very alive. But all of them seemed to fade in and out. Their motions were slow, and sloppy. Grimm cocked his head to the side, wondering why there were so many, and what they were doing around her. He also wondered why they were so fuzzy. But these questions would go unanswered, for he couldn't just start talking to them in front of the female.
He blinked his purple eyes, realizing that he was just staring at the sennyo-looking wolf. How long had he been staring? He hadn't been looking at her, but she didn't know that. She must think him a creep.
"Uh..." He muttered, dropping his eyes to his paws. "Uh, Hello. I was not aware that someone else was here...."
Beside him, Axel laughed.

[mantra]

COLORFUL CREATURES ARE INTRiGUiNG.

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While it startled her that one whisked into the brush growing pathetically on the cliff side, it also grabbed her attention. She didn't quite see what it was, having been a fair distance away, but she'd caught the abnormal hue. It darted like a violet bullet into the leafy refuge, but unlike copper-coated lead, it managed to get itself stuck on grappling branches and began to shriek. Mantra wanted to help, really she did. She had a fondness for critters, particularly the ones that were the foremost thing on the average wolf's mind. She wanted to protect and nurture them, but even the smallest advance scared them in the past. This purple creature wouldn't be different, unless his dauntlessness was as concrete as steel; the fae absently decided it was worth a try. Befriending anything and anyone wasn't first on her list of priorities, but like she, it appeared to need someone.

Just as the ebony Myou began to approach, another wolf made their appearance just down the rock slant, examining what she heard to be a jackalope that attempted to scuttle into the brush under his unsuspecting nose. He did not hesitate to voice his surprise toward the oddity of the creature, and at this she giggled. When his pallid eyes turned on her, she silenced herself and offered a smile. He seemed.. troubled. Distant pale purple orbs were unfocused and he almost appeared to be staring at something beyond her, but she was fine with that. When he said something, there was no one else there to be addressed. Perhaps it was just the height of the cliff making him weary.

Gradually, she made her way toward them, black canvas of a coat stretching smoothly over slight muscle and bone. One foot in front of the other, she was determined to meet these strangers without giving way to her previous melancholy thoughts.
"Yeah, no one usually wanders up here," she said softly, her tail close to her hindquarters in such a manner that would indicate harmlessness.
"Forgive me if I scared you."

She stood before Grimm, coaxing her own head to the side, her bicolored eyes seeming to glow with the intensity of small, secretive embers as her smile broadened. His own eyes had long since averted from hers, scouring his lime-tipped paws in a way that Mantra thought to be adorable. As he was preoccupied staring at the floor, she absently reached over and gathered the jackalope's scruff in her jaws, unhooking him from the mass of twigs and reeling him out of the bush.
"Are you all right, hun..?" she murmured while she set the creature down between her and the male, plucking excess leaves from its near-black fur.

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[Capricorn and Hanahara]

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[atrb=background,http://i35.tinypic.com/6gkljs.jpg] He heard one of the wolves saying something about a purple jackalope, some new comer he couldn't see but could smell. He began wriggling harder, hoping to escape. His little tail wriggled with him, but to no avail. He could hear the wolves speaking to one another, but jackalope, purple, and dinner were the extent of his knowledge of their language. He couldn't understand another word they spoke. Soon enough, one of the wolves pulled him from the bush. He gave a small whimper. "This is the end..." he moaned in the tongue of jackalopes, "This is the end of Cappy!" However, he was placed down gently, and the wolf began to pull leaves from his coat. He sat there, frozen. What was this?! What was it doing?! Making him clean before the meal? Most wolves weren't so picky. He crouched, quivering, on the ground, looking between the two wolves, his eyes wide. Life seemed all to confusing for him at the moment. His heart thudded painfully in his chest, and he squirmed a little, but didn't dare move. Better not incite them, better not make them too hungry... He listened to the conversation rolling over his head. He wished he understood more wolf, but he didn't quite get anything that wasn't repeated to him several times. He soon began to relax a bit, sighing in a resigned way and laying down, stretching his legs out and hoping he didn't knock his antlers on the wolf who'd freed him. He eyed the other wolf uncertainly. That one had an air Cappy didn't like, and he smelled.... He smelled like death. Shivering, he edged between the paws of the wolf who was picking leaves from him. He decided to call her Leaf Picker, and the other one Death Sniffer. He always named things by description, and these names seemed to fit well.

[Grimmeth]

Grimmeth tried hard to disregard his brother Axel; he was always very distracting when he was trying to walk to wolves...who were actually alive. "Wow, shes a pretty one. Almost makes me sorry I'm dead." Axel said seriously, then cracked up from the look his brother gave him. Grimm always felt guilty whenever Axel talked about his death, for it was his fault that he is dead. Axel had been protecting him, standing up for his weak brother like always. And someone took it the wrong way and slaughtered him. "Its okay brother, I don't blame you." Axel said, with a smile.

But Grimm couldn't help but to feel that sometimes, he did.

Grimmeth shook his head, focusing back on the female in front of him, trying to remember the last thing she had said to him. But as he was trying to remember, she reached for the poor little Jakcalope. He flinched, expecting blood to spurt all over the pretty royal purple pelt and ground, but nothing like that happened. The female only lifted the jackalope up, and started to groom it. Grimm eyes widened in surprise, and for a few moments he just gaped at the female.

He couldn't think of anything to say, but he finally remembered what she had last said to him. "Uh, yes, I know." He replied, but then realized that a lot of time had gone by since she made the comment about there being few wolves who come up here. So he hastily added, "That's why I like to come up here, to be alone."

He mentally berated himself for being so stupid. Now she will think him slow, or mentally ill or something. Axel laughed again. For a brother who died for protecting him, he sure was an ass. "Just introduce yourself, Casanova." He said. "And don't forget to change your scent to that of a wolf...do you remember you went a full week smelling like a deer, and a wolf was actually hunting you?"

Crap. Grimmeth still smelled like a jackolope. He quickly changed his scent to his own. He did remember that fiasco. The wolf had been furious, but the memory brought a smile to his lips. He looked over the female's shoulder as he addressed her.

"My name is..." He then was momentarily distracted by an apparition behind Mantra. He squinted his eyes, and tilted his head, trying to get a a better look at the fuzzy wolf. This wolf was bloody, and half eaten. Eaten? Why would he be half eaten? And what had the wolf mouthed as he faded back and forth? Grimm didn't know.

"Oh! Um!" Grimm's eyes widened, and he fixed his eyes on Mantra's before swiftly dropping them to the ground. "Sorry, my name is Gareth Grimm, but no one calls me that. I go by Grimmeth, or just Grimm." He moved his eyes from his paws, and found the little jackaolope. It had scooted away from him. Why? "Uh, don't worry, I wont eat you." He doubted that the little creature understood, but he said it anyway, and hoped the meaning of the words reached the jackalope.

Well this was certainly going well. The female probably thought him a easily frighten, and mentally challenged wolf who made friends with the prey.

[mantra]

MANTRA SMiLED

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down at the creature that had wedged its way between her paws, its heart near thrumming out of its small chest. She wasn't quite sure how to calm it down until her acquaintance took care of the task, bothering with formalities in the process. To have gained one's trust within such a short interval of time.. it was a marvelous feeling, to know that he felt comfortable enough to share something as precious as his name. Most didn't even spare a look, and if they had, it wasn't a pleasant one.

The male's gaze pronounced courtesy thus far, but he continued to stare past her, which set a natural concern onto her face; for a brief moment she threw a wary glance over her shoulder, wondering as to what exactly he was watching. Nothing save sky and the sleek edge of rock were to be seen, and her bright eyes returned to his in mild confusion that disappeared the second after. It wasn't any business of hers if the clouds were something he particularly enjoyed staring at; hell, she did it too sometimes. The sky was a soothing entity, a huge one, that didn't reflect any specific emotion. No anger, no resentment. It was just a blank void useful for thought, drifting along. She could understand if it was more of an assuring sight than herself.

"I'm Mantra."
The femme displaced whatever had been her expression before with yet another smile. She was full of them today, handing them out at random like pastries. "The pleasure is mine, Gareth."
Something urged her to address him by his first name, the one he admitted was never used. She covertly liked the way it rolled off the tongue, and hoped he wouldn't take too much offense to her decision.

Both aromas already having intertwined in the same vicinity, it was hard for Mantra to notice the wolf's change in scent. Shifting, she nudged the jackalope (that was actually a jackalope) out from under its living, breathing refuge and back in the middle of the two. "What do you suppose we do with him..?" she queried. Letting it go would be asking to witness a suicide, but keeping it around..

His little woodland friends would poke fun at him forever.

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[Somatra]

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[atrb=background,http://i34.tinypic.com/2eehmp2.png] Hunger's Only Friend Is It's Feeder... And My Only Friends Are Desire and Strength.

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Jester wandered the lands, bored as hell, and needing something he hoped he would find soon. His green eyes grazed the land selfishly, needing and wanting. His selfish needs, his feeding eyes, they were bound to find something. even if they wouldn't, he would improvise something, no doubt.

Soon however, he knew he need not wait. For, two scents filled the sky. Two wolves. And... A third... Well well well, it smelled like lunch! Jester smiled, and trotted to the commotion. He heard a voice in the midst of it all.

What do you suppose we do with it... It asked. And, joy! A female voice. Jester smiled in victory. He wandered into view, and a smurk played his face playfully and it made him look like quiet the man.

Well, what do we do with it? Simple! It is prey, if you haven't noticed. So, let me be the one to show y'al how to get a clean kill! Jester hissed, and slowly, he walked to the small animal.



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[Capricorn and Hanahara]

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[atrb=background,http://i35.tinypic.com/6gkljs.jpg] Capricorn listened to the conversation going on over his head. "Uh, don't worry, I wont eat you." said Sniffer. Cappy scooted further back. All he heard from the wolf's mouth was a garbled mix of sounds, translating into "Warrawaraawr," in his head. He imagined Sniffer asking Picker how best to kill him, and shuddered. "Wawrrawrer," Cappy heard Picker responding to Sniffer, and wished he knew what was happening, "Waawrtteretrer." Suddenly Cappy's lupine shield was gone, and he was between the two wolves again, "Waareerwareraowr?" he heard Picker say. He trembled, considering darting away. To one side was cliffs, to the other, rock, and, of course, there were wolves all around. And then, yet another appeared. It's you're lucky day, Capricorn! said a voice in his head, You've been invited to dinner! Bet you'll never guess what the main course is, you tasty little morsel you! "Warawerer!" hissed this newcomer, and the new wolf approached him. He couldn't help it, a squeal of terror erupted from his tiny muzzle, his eyes popped wide. A damp spot ringed his paws, and a few pellets, soft and brown, tumbled to the earth. He sat, frozen, for several seconds, then leaped, squealing, between the paws of Sniffer. He didn't register who it was for several moments, and when he did, he uttered another small squeal. This just wasn't his day, it just wasn't his damn day! "Please don't let him eat me!" wailed the jackalope in his squeaking language. He didn't care that no one understood his words, he was throwing as much intent into them as he could, they'd get that at least, right?, "Please protect me! Please don't eat me! Please don't make me die!"

[jester]

BUM BUMP BUMP!!

[jester]

Bump....?