[open] without bringing me dreams; any

[ghaul]

GHAUL

i can take you there, but baby, you won't make it back

He stretches, cat-like with his talons dragging down the length of an old paperbark maple. He likes the way strips of it coming twirling off in response. The year in the north had been interesting, to say the least, but his time in the ashen lair has come to an end. Ghaul walks now to savor the freedom without the concern of being followed by any displeased women demanding he return. Of course, he does not know that leaves change with this season, but he likes the musk of decaying leaves that crackle beneath his steps. His wings lay slack across his back to drag through the piles of dried sticks or naked shrubs.
 
A slow sigh leaves his lungs as he enjoys the sounds of the world around him. There are no sheep or ptarmigan to terrorize here, but he likes the chittering of aggravated squirrels or the songbirds of the temperate forests. He can even smell the small deer that have marked the trees with their temporary antlers. A calm smile bleeds across his face as he begins to relax more and more with each long stride.
 
Up ahead, the river is coursing its same ancient path and he ducks under a low hanging branch to reach it. He wonders what he will eat first when he returns home to Pangea as he drinks from the cold waters. Eventually his thoughts drift to Clarissa as he finally dares to think of how long they have been apart. That had been the hardest part he thinks – falling asleep without an angel curled against him in their nest.
 
He shifts his weight and lifts his head to examine his surroundings for a while. There is a quiet hunger building in his chest for the hunt, whether it be for food or for coupling. The only certain thing for now is the gnawing emptiness in him that pleads for fulfillment. But it is quiet enough for now that he can push it aside and move forward, to Pangea and the Cove that awaits him.

[kota]

The ghost watches in silence. She’s surely not hidden among the browns and greens of the moss and trees. The wind sweeps her long smoky-black hair across her painted face, drifting across her long porcelain nose and icy eyes. He is a peculiar looking beast, but nothing surprises her anymore, not here in these woods, in this land. Horror and delight, they both wander freely here. He’s clearly not able to see from a pair of eyes like hers, but she has little doubt that the stranger’s senses have not found her yet.

As comes back up from a drink, she goes down for one. She inches to the crumbling edge, stepping into the shallow water, the pebble bottom grinding beneath her feet as she bends to take in some of the cold mountain water. Kota has always taken to wandering, aimless travel and investigation. Lately she’s been unlike herself, staying in the same places, keeping fairly close to the same faces – mostly her father’s, or her daughter and granddaughter, but even that is more than the ghoulish recluse is usually willing to give into.

She draws her head back up, water dribbling down her pink chin, she watches him in silence. Unless the rest of his senses are as broken as his horned eye-sockets, she’s sure he’s aware of her presence across the narrow piece of river. He on one side, her on the other, and between them is a deep, black rushing vein of riverwater. If he is carnivorous and on the hunt it will surely carry him away, and if he were to take flight it wouldn’t be easy in these trees. She would likely escape an attack if he were to try one. She’s good at quickly disappearing – a ghost between the trees.

Kota

those great whites,

they have big teeth

@[ghaul]
i cant even tell you why i put her here
she wanted to, i guess
XD