It's a fool who plays it cool

[foolsmakeitcolder]

WHO: Jude & OPEN
WHAT: Arrival & settling
WHEN: Early Justinian
WHERE: First the Vimmark Mountains, then the Gallows
NOTES: Warning for giant ass wolf, giant wolf ass, nudity, violence.



Starters to come.

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[foolsmakeitcolder]

[Fenris walks like the sentries. Light on his feet, aware of his surroundings. He's met wolves like this. Wolves that climbed trees, wolves that could sneak up behind you and be breathing on your neck before you knew that they were there.

They'd be terrifying if they weren't friends, weren't pack, weren't putting those loyal teeth and claws towards the protection of their vulnerable.

Jude's sentinel reaches down and into the stone beneath their feet, straining through the filth and misery of the city to feel the story in these streets, corridors, alleyways. It's muted, being that it's all human. It's only the faintest of impressions, things that he could be getting just from the people around them. Fear, hunger, excitement, hearth and home. This city is many things, and its shadows hold even more. He wishes he could read them. It's like flying blind.

Jude follows Fenris on silent padding feet, staying close and keeping his head low, his nose sharp. The roads he's walked as a human are not kind to wolves -- nor to elves, he's coming to realize.

How strange.

For the first time he wonders if he's making a mistake, letting Fenris trust what he thinks he is. Will his other shape be shaped like something that hurt him?

Jude pauses in the doorway as they go through, letting Fenris go ahead of him, sniffing at the floor, the air. She is here- and this close, he's confused. She smells like a wild wolf rather than a shifter, but with a layer of something else, something that smells like the rifts. One step to the side of reality.

The fact that she doesn't awaken at an intruder in her territory gives Jude pause. Though he doesn't interfere when Fenris shuts the door, he parks himself where he's visible to Ataashi, if she decides to join them.

... and oh, this place.

This place smells of misery, chased with wisps of joy and safety. Fenris is building something worthwhile on top of a burial ground.

(Though the dust makes him sneeze.)

Politely he waits for Fenris to set the plate down, ears pricking as he catches the scent- it's not blood-hot, but it's good, and he clears the plate in a few precise mouthfuls, teeth flashing before he draws his tongue over it, licking up the blood.

And then, he decides that this cannot go on.

Getting to his feet, he bumps his nose against Fenris's hand, pushes his head up under his palm, giving him a light lick. Then, delicately, remembering the way Mobius reacted, he stands to slip behind a nearby bit of furniture.

He's concealed from sight, but the shadows cast by the fire catch him, and perhaps that is worse in some ways, along with the cracking noises.]