"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
Her short time in the Meadow clears her head of trouble.
She meets a young boy who distracts her long enough that she is able to shrug off the shawl of sadness shading her shoulders. She forgets that she is truly alone, for a time, and it is enough to spur her forward. Of course, where she is going is still a mystery. The old kingdoms are gone and she feels no pull towards Taiga, the place that had harbored her little clan before. The world is open to her, open for the taking, and she will not let the possibility of it fall away from her grasp again.
The tiger stands from her once-prone position in the tallgrass. Fresh blood stains her paws and her mouth – remnants of the kill she’d been inspired by Halcyon to take part in. But there is no time to waste in cleaning up; she has places to be. So she moves out into the unknown with a full belly but hungry, searching eyes.
Titanya takes her time roaming about Beqanna. Days pass into weeks as she journeys seemingly from one end of Beqanna to the other. She hadn’t done this before. She hadn’t sniffed around enough corners to find a suitable home the last time. Before, her brother had found her before she had the chance, and who was she to deny him? They were meant to be together, she was made to protect him – and now that he’s gone she is free.
Standing on a new shoreline, finally, the tigress inhales a familiar scent. She raises her nose to the sky to take it in. When she is certain, she wades into the warm, tropical waters. Swimming in her feline skin is one of the greatest pleasures in her life, she’s discovered. There is nothing that compares to the fluid grace of a tiger in the water on the move. She’s having so much fun, Titanya is almost sorry to see the island coming closer into sight with each stroke of her paws.
By the time she feels her buoyed weight sink into the sand underneath her, her energy is happily spent. The big cat drags herself out of the surf and throws herself down onto the sun-warmed beach. Her yellow eyes are luminous, but she assesses the island she has landed on with only mild interest, her eyelids fluttering and dragging her dangerously closer to sleep.
what you gon' do when there's blood in the water?
ooc: @[Halcyon]: I figured we could start a new thread since you took him over if you'd like!
Halcyon's company had left the Meadow so abruptly, so unexpectedly, that he hadn't had a chance to ask where to find her to continue their conversation later on. And, as much as he wracked his mind, the yearling couldn't remember if he'd told her what territory he called home, either. He had left the Meadow feeling a little dejected, his paws sliding heavily against the earth until the time came that he was able to reassure himself that she had most likely left him for something important.
And then he'd forgotten about it.
Until now, as her scent reaches his feline nostrils. Halcyon lifts his head up swiftly, his feline pupils narrowing against the vibrant green that surrounds him, and starts in the direction from where Titanya's scent permeates.
He thinks as he walks that maybe she will enjoy a game, so he takes special care to set his paws silently against the sandy earth and remains downwind of the shore upon which she has alighted. Halycon stalks through the tropical forest of inner Ischia, giving himself to the predatory nature of his anatomy as he comes just to the edge of the greenery. Peering from between overlapping leaves, his orange cat eyes find Titanya sprawled against the warm sandy shore. Grinning, the yearling utters one low growl before turning on his haunches and launching himself back into the forest.
If she wants to find him, it's time for her to give chase.
She’s dozing, peacefully, when the sudden sound in the jungle rouses her.
Squawk!
The tigress is loath to come to full consciousness, as warm and cozy as she is, so she doesn’t. There will be plenty of time and opportunity to catch an obnoxious parrot or two later. Later, much later perhaps, when she’s had her fill of the sun’s full splendor. For now, she blanks her mind of anything but the sound of the shore being kissed by the teasing waves that crash along it. She allows her troubles to be carried out to sea, one-by-one, on each receding wave until there is nothing left to worry about.
There is only the press of her body into the sand, a gentle acceptance that she’s found a soft place to land - at least for now.
Titanya stays like this until there is another sound that pulls her attention towards the jungle. This one is undeniable. And though she’d been unmovable before, now the low, feline growl has her scrambling to her feet in haste. The chase is on.
The beach quickly gives way to thick jungle just beyond, and the tiger ducks her head against the wide leaves that form a weak blockade between the two spaces. Once through, she sees a flash of orange and black ahead of her for a moment before the jungle swallows her quarry. She takes just a moment to look around admiringly, in no true hurry to catch up to Halcyon right away. It is a game, after all. Tropical trees fat with humidity and rich soil box her in tightly, blocking out much of the light that filters down weakly from above. It smells dark and heavy and earthy, her whiskers twitch frantically as she breathes it all in. The tiger approves mightily of the place she’s landed.
With a content whuff, Titanya moves out again. The ground hardens the further away from the ocean she gets, and it becomes easier to propel herself forward through the trees. She pays no mind to the underbrush as it batters against her striped sides, sticking burrs and thorns to her in equal measure. Halcyon is just ahead of her, she thinks, or tells herself anyway, motivating her movements. But the tiger isn’t built for prolonged fits of high speed. She follows his scent trail for as long as she can at her breakneck pace, but her swim across the channel catches up to her after a while.
Slowing down, she pads over the littered forest floor, trying for the element of surprise instead. Is he behind this mossy, fallen log? Her tail twitches in anticipation behind her. She tenses her muscles, preparing to launch herself over it and onto her prey.
She is swift on her paws in response to Halcyon's low, timbered growl, forcing the young boy to respond in kind ─ he is quick to pivot, to extend his strides and flex his rippling muscles, and to disappear into the thick jungle foliage. He uses their game as a practice in stealth, balancing speed and silence, searching for the paths that will be tricky to follow but not discouraging.
For a time, he wonders if he has lost her ─ there is an absence of sound behind him, and the gentle breeze that is able to rifle through the tree boughs brings him naught but the scents of the forest ─ and so, he grows lax. Halcyon circles a smaller clearing, rubbing his tri-colored feline body against a variety of gnarled tree trunks before trying his best to climb one, digging his large claws into the wooden skin of the arbor.
The effort is a failed one, and as he falls to the earth he catches a whiff of Titanya on the breeze. She is close, and growing closer.
He crouches closer to the soil and crawls methodically to hide behind the curve of a large fallen tree; with bated breath and twitching ears, the young tiger waits for any indication of the woman ─ suddenly, though, she is above him, her pounce successful, and Halcyon is snarling in faux-fury as the barrel roll into the clearing.
He swipes at Titanya, his claws safely remaining within his paw, and then rights himself, coming to face her on all fours. A wide, toothy grin breaks across his face at the woman. "Welcome to Ischia," he tells her breathily through his grin, "I was not expecting to see you again."
As she arcs gracefully up and over the log, Titanya is thinking only of her quarry waiting below. She is utterly, wholly lost in the moment just before a successful hunt - the absolute certainty that one has done one’s best and that they will be rewarded for it in short order. She is brimming with a killer’s confidence. It rushes through her veins, this confidence, fueling limbs that have long languished without purpose. Of course, there will be no blood-soaked meal waiting for her on the ground. This time the chase itself will have to suffice to sate her appetite for violence.
The bodies connect and tussle around the log and into the clearing. The cub paws at her and lands a blow to her right cheek. Fortunately, he has sheathed his claws, but the hit is enough to garner her attention. She roars in retaliation and leaps off of him. The raw instinct of the tiger floods her mind, it tells her to press her advantage and resume her attack. But Titanya-the-mare has long ago reigned in the wilder side of herself. As her roar fades into the faraway papaya trees, she straightens and accesses the younger male.
“Is that how you welcome all of your guests, Halcyon?” She grins right back at him. “I’d have joined a kingdom and been a productive member of society years ago if that’s what I’ve been missing.” It’s not true, of course. She has always been far too brash and autonomous to live like that, to be caged like that. Why bother with niceties when the direct message quivers on the tip of your tongue? Why roam hundreds of acres when there are millions without borders?
This place – though beautiful – is still a kingdom of sorts. Ischia, he calls it. She can’t know that this is the place her family founded after the Reckoning. It is an impossible coincidence that the boy she’d talked with in the meadow had lived here, more impossible that she’d found and followed his scent months later. But here they are.
“I wasn’t looking for you,” she starts, more sharp than she means it. The tigress digs her claws idly into the soft soil, leaving gouges in her wake. She’s been alone so long that it might seem like it to an outsider. Perhaps a small part of her had been looking, in fact. “I’m not sure what I’m looking for actually,” she says, softer this time. She glances to the side as if an answer will appear from between the trees. When she turns back to the growing cub, her eyes are brighter, her moment of hesitancy forgotten. “Will you show me around?”
Pleased that he had been able to land a swipe on the more experienced predator's cheek, Halycon echoes Titanya's roar with his own quieter one. It falls short, pressed into silence by the grin across his feline face and the deep inhales of his flared nostrils. The tiger adjusts himself to sit comfortably upon his muscled hindquarters and raises a front paw to rub at his ear as the woman grins back at him. He snorts his amusement at her question before shrugging his shoulders noncommittally.
"Yes, but usually they don't fight back," he says in jest, his lopsided grin widening, "That's why it's so quiet around these parts." He thinks on their first conversation ─ on his innocent surprise when the woman had mentioned his ability to kill things ─ and the memory draws some combination of excitement and dread to roil in the depths of his stomach.
He is distracted, though, by the harshness of Titanya's voice. He hadn't expected her to be searching for him, and though he wants to correct her by elaborating on his statement, the young tiger simply allows his grin to falter and his feline eyes to dart away from the woman sheepishly.
His embarrassment at the misunderstanding is short-lived. Her voice has softened, and it coaxes his feline eyes to return to the tigress. He watches as her eyes explore their surroundings until finally they come back to him, accompanied by a request that he is happy to provide.
"Of course," he says enthusiastically, his grin returning. He has been gone from Ischia for far too long, only just returning after a year in Loess with his family, and showing Titanya the lay of the land will allow him the opportunity to learn it again himself.
"Ready?" he asks as he stands once more, before bounding further into the jungle at a comfortable lope. He chooses paths that will allow them to run side-by-side, but hangs back in those areas that narrow to allow her to pass through in front of him. He leads her into the thick of the tropical flora, where vines intertwine and make for fun climbing, and maneuvers his tri-colored body through a tangle of them to reveal a hidden basin of water on the other side. "This is my favorite spot," he tells her candidly before offering a mischievous smile as he wades into the crystalline pond, "I don't think anyone else knows it's here. Sometimes, if I'm lucky, I can catch fish ─" his sentence is cut short as he turns his feline eyes to the rippling water in search for fish below the surface.
He is more animated after she asks him to show her around, the young tiger’s face brightening again after her blunt admission. She should feel remorse for her strong tone, perhaps, but she has always been unapologetic for both her actions and words. This at least cheers him considerably. Titanya has never been fond enough of a place to imagine herself a willing and eager tour guide, but she knows the deep devotion that can be chiseled into one’s bones for their homes. She wonders what nurtures such strong attachments in some while it withers and dies in others. Others such as herself who never stay still long enough for roots to dig into the soil.
Ready?“Born ready,” she says without a trace of self-consciousness. Her yellow eyes track the direction of Halcyon’s gaze deeper into the jungle. She bunches her haunches in preparation for another run and then bounds gamely after him.
Unsurprisingly, he’s a gracious and knowledgeable host despite his young age. He finds all the widest paths for the pair of them to traverse shoulder-to-shoulder. It is strange, though; she’s unaccustomed to running alongside another. When she hunts, there is nothing but the woods encasing her, tunneling her vision to the prey that lies ahead. Now, she feels the magnetic push and pull of another predator beside her. She feels the need to assert herself - and also to acquiesce to his presence – all at once. The tigress grapples with emotions she doesn’t fully understand at first, but soon the jungle draws her focus instead.
It is breathtaking in its vibrancy and the fullness of life it exudes. There is a constant energy to Ischia that greatly appeals to the woman who is made for motion. Leaves of every size and shape are constantly swinging to and fro in the tropical breeze. Parrots take flight in and out of the upper canopies in a flurry of reds, blues, and greens. Her quick, predatory eyes even spot the tiniest movements of the insects scurrying between her paws as she passes over them.
Halcyon leads her to a maze of vines that hangs like a curtain down to the dirt. He nimbly passes through, and ducking her head, she is soon to follow. The sight that greets her beyond is lush and inviting. A small body of water gleams in the light of paradise. She’s already grinning before she meets his gaze. This is my favorite spot, he says. Before he can say anything else, Titanya leaps into the water gracelessly. She misses what Halcyon says until she’s already partially submerged, the part about catching fish and the likely need for a quiet entrance in order to catch said fish.
“Oops.” She frowns in jest before swiping a paw across the water’s surface, hoping to splash the younger tiger. If it is fish he wants, then a hunting they will go. “I’m sure there’s more than one way to skin a cat, pardon the phrase.” Titanya goes stock still then, slowing her breathing. They will have to let the fish become accustomed to their presence again if they have any hopes of success. “Were you born here, Halcyon?” She whispers slowly, so as not to disturb their quarry any further. Might as well get to know each other while they are waiting.
Gallivanting around the island with Cormorant, though he loves his younger brother, has nothing on this experience with a fellow tiger-shifter. Plunging through the tropical forest of Ischia with Titanya is invigorating. Their strides, bounding and powerful, fall into sync with each other, and for the first time Halcyon wonders how it would feel to hunt beside the tigress.
A grin finds his lips and remains there as they venture further and further into the jungle ─ it's all familiar to him, but his excitement knows no bounds as he shares his tropical home with new eyes. He hopes that she can appreciate it in the same way that he does. Basking in their surroundings and in his companionship, the pubescent boy is breathy upon their arrival to the small jungle clearing. They grin at each other as he proclaims its importance to him.
Into the basin he steps carefully, but Titanya has another idea and the idle ripple of the water is destroyed by her leap and landing. He laughs aloud, the sound startled out of him by her unexpected playfulness, and shakes the water from his face and ears. More laughter falls from him as he opens his feline eyes and receives another face full of water, this time sprayed by Titanya's sweeping paw. He growls low, the sound ticking in his throat, as he grins mischievously and swipes a paw back in her direction.
He debates tackling her into the water, but the thought is short-lived as she turns her attention to the tumultuous surface of the small pond. It settles slowly, and he, too, peers into the rippling surface for any indication of the gleaming, silver-scaled fish he often finds spending their days in the shallows here.
"I was," he whispers gruffly in response to her unexpected question. Halcyon chances a quick glance at the woman, curious about her but not quit daring to ask her anything that might seem too personal. He decides to expand on himself, first, until he could work up the courage to ask her. "I spent my first year here, my second in Loess, and now I'm finally home..." The tiger trails off and his tail twitches behind him as something shiny beneath the water catches his eye.
It disappears just as swiftly. "Where were you born?" he asks finally, before holding his breath in the hope that she will be in a mood to share.
The water from his retaliatory swipe lands its mark, and she’s soon shaking her own head to clear the splash of it. The droplets gleam like sparks even in the light filtered through the dense forest around. In her old life, she would have never appreciated the simple beauties of the place she has found herself in. She cared solely for the next step ahead, never the bigger picture. She orbited her life around what she could get out of the world, not what the world could get from her. She lived for herself, only, and those few she guarded fiercely and with everything she had. It had all boiled down her little clan. It had been a small life, she’s realized since.
Death, once her final enemy, has given her new life.
This is easier than it ever would have been in that first life. This tentative (on her end) step towards friendship between the two tigers is far more momentous than Halcyon likely realizes. Of course, it can be no friendship without some spilled blood and violence - at least in Titanya’s opinion. What better way to gain a rapport than to kill something together?
In order to do just that, they have to be quiet. She stops her uncharacteristic tomfoolery and hones in on the dark shapes gliding beneath them. As a cat, she finds her senses greatly enhanced to whatever is the focus of her attention. However, fish are not her primary prey when she chooses to wear this skin. She much prefers land pursuits of rabbits and deer and the occasional bird. Fishing is a rare test of her limited hunting abilities in the water. Titanya looks warily over to her companion, knowing that he is probably better at this than she is and hating that fact. She tries to distract him with questions and returns her gaze to the task at hand.
“Loess…” she repeats, the name strange on her tongue. The new kingdoms all had ridiculous names. Kingdoms before the Reckoning were much easier to remember if she’d ever cared to at all. Back then, she also wouldn’t have cared to ask her next question. Now, curiosity gets the better of her. “Why the back and forth? Mom can’t make up her mind or something?” A fish darts just below the surface then and she reacts instinctively, pulling her paw up and closing her claws around –
nothing but water.
“Damn,” she swears, growling her displeasure. If this kid gets a fish before me so help me. Titanya looks over discreetly but his mouth is still as empty as hers’. She shifts her buoyed weight, sliding a little in the mud underfoot. I just need to concentrate more and talk less, she thinks, just as Halcyon turns the question back on her. Or not. “I was born in the Dale.” She lets that truth settle around them as slowly as the water had settled before. That mountain land hasn’t crossed her mind in years, but somehow it is still painful to think about all this time later. Would it ever not be?
“I lived and died and now I’m back again.” She rolls her shoulders in a shrug, easing some of the tension that had built only moments before. “Young again,” she adds as an afterthought. Why she’s come back is still a mystery. Why she’s come back instead of her brother even more so. "I guess I get a second chance."
a tight-pressed line keeping a wildfire on the inside
As they both stare into the rippling waters of the hidden jungle pond, the light breeze that would generally rustle the verdant boughs and vines around the feline pair had all but disappeared as if holding its breath in the same way they were. A silver fish, flashy and braver than its kin, momentarily comes to investigate and then a slight shift of his weight underwater sends the slippery thing into hiding once more. Halcyon exhales in frustration, but stays focused as best he can, what with his interest in Titanya growing.
A brief grin pulls back his lips at the woman's inquiry ─ he interprets her tone as a joke, though perhaps it had not been such a thing. “Nothing like that,” he says quietly, bright eyes still glued onto the gentle rocking of the azure liquid beneath them, “Her closest friend invited us to visit her and her son in Loess, and then while we were there ─” he pauses for a moment, breathless as another silver fish braves the space between their striped legs. Titanya makes a move for it, and catches nothing but water. Halcyon can't help the small smirk that twitches at the corner of his mouth at her exclamation. “─ my brother and the woman's son went missing. Stolen away, by one of the other kingdoms. So we stayed until they were returned.”
Halcyon shares the story so matter-of-factly, as if those weeks without Cormorant and months without Alcinder hadn't been the most tumultuous he had experienced in his young life. But it's easy to talk about now that he and Cormorant are in Ischia, safely, with Aquaria.
He's surprised when Titanya decides to share her past, then confused when she mentions a land whose name he had never heard before. And surprised, again, as she confides in him a death and a rebirth. Halcyon loses all concentration for the task at hand as his rounded feline ears perk up and his eyes turn to look at his feline companion. “I didn't know that was even possible,” he whispers incredulously as he continues to gaze with his bright green eyes, “How... how old are you... in this lifetime?”
Movement catches his eyes and he reverts them to the water, just as a collection of fish dart into the area that divides Halcyon and Titanya ─ his front paw jabs for one and catches it loosely, so when he pulls his claws from the water the fish comes with it, but not securely ─ and all of a sudden it is airborne between them, flopping frantically, laughter falling from Halcyon's ajar mouth.
