Exploration was necessary for Richard these days. He had no home, he had no reliable place to lay his head and he had no steady source of food. This had sent him roving far from his old stomping grounds, and so it was that he had found the abandoned remains of the university.
Richard had paused on its edge, bearing an ancient wariness of buildings, but he had continued. Perhaps nothing else dwelt here. Perhaps...
The mountain lion padded across the hollow campus and, out of curiosity, nosed his way into one of the buildings. It was close and dark in here, and his fur bristled reflexively in discomfort. There was sunlight streaming through an open door, the panel that had closed it long since rotted from the hinges.
What was this?
Le Roy cautiously made his way around the edge of the empty lecture hall. Part of the ceiling had fallen in, and creeping plants hung down from the ragged edge of roof. Sunlight streamed in the vegetation-clouded windows, golden tinged with earthy green.
"Now what is this that chances before mine eyes?" he breathed, then raised his voice a little. "What ground tread I where stands such an edifice?"
No one responded, but the resonance of this chamber was beautiful. His tail flicked rapidly in thought. There were things to do, yes, there were, but there was something less important as well. This was something he wanted to do.
Richard stalked low, to the bottom of this dipped room where his voice would carry the best. He wanted to hear himself. He thought quickly, mind racing. A verse, he needed a verse, something beautiful...
"This den of men doth lie entombed
beneath a shell of verdancy,
That mountain cat may stand aloof
And speak as boldly as he please.
This chamber rings with fullest proof
That those who made it lie as bones
'Pon the stone beneath the earth
Where all dead soon lay down to rest
A cat shall run where man did walk
On stony corpse of ancient reign
And wag his tongue in sheer delight
Of this old villain's fell'd domain."
Richard listened to his words die, and laughed. Oh this was a lovely room. He'd enjoy speaking here, if he could claim it for his. But he would need to find if this territory would be able to support him...
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HOI THAR, hope you don't mind a pregnant Halo? :O
She wasn’t comfortable wandering so far from home, but there were certain objects she desired that she had been too dull to realize that she needed before she had become large and heavy. Canine pregnancies, with the exceptions of the cases with large litters, were easier than human ones, and Halo didn’t suffer much from her maturing pregnancy. Her body was in marvellous shape and protected her from back pains and exhaustion that often tagged along with pregnant to-be mothers. In truth, she felt great, but this also had to do with attitude, where hers was up and beyond the clouds. She was excited.
The city of Halifax was known to be populated by loners and visitors alike, and the woman thought that it would be a wiser choice to take her short journey to a less popular territory south-east for her home of ash and salty shores. Perhaps she could scavenge from the empty, abandoned university? It wasn’t very easy to find what one desired any longer, as for every passing year, there was less abandoned luxury to choose between. She did have pillows and covers and a high number of soft, worked pelts, but it was as if she was going to be a mother for the first time, so she wanted more, more, more to ensure that everything would be perfect when it was time to give birth.
She had quickly been sidetracked by what could possibly have been a human lab in the past. The woman had elegantly stepped around shattered glass and other obstacles, and gotten her hand on a fine flask with clear liquid that had proved to own ridiculously strong essence of some sort of fresh herb. Perhaps peppermint? The woman knew nothing of such things and didn’t ponder on the name of the ingredient, but rubbed her burning nose and loathed the temporary loss of scent. She moved on, though quickly stopped as she heard the echo of a deep voice.
The katana was with her, so she didn’t worry at once, though her nerves seemed to come short more and more these days. But curiosity would always be a powerful thing in Halo, so she quietly wandered through the halls; wandering in the direction of the voice she had heard. She naturally assumed it was another wolf, though her nose could have enlightened her if it hadn’t been disabled by peppermint.
Le Roy had managed to get caught up in the sound of his voice again. This was something of a recurring problem, and he really should have known better. Despite this, Le Roy took to pacing in an oval around the orator's podium, looking about as he did.
"I will confess that this design is lovely for the use of speech, but forsooth it lacks the things that I must order of my den," he mused. "This space rings for 'tis full of air, and such air can kill a cat. His foes need nothing save eyes for to catch him while he doth dream." It was regrettable that this hadn't yielded him a den, but Richard supposed that it was a good find anyway. He could return here at his leisure, if he found a place nearby. There was no other scent of mountain lion about so this was looking promising.
"No house to me this place shall be.
But nothing ugly should come to me,
if I call it part my territ'ry," he decided, at the same time enjoying the way the rhyme bounced on his jaw and the sound came back to him, shaped by the walls of the chamber. It was going to be hard for him to pull himself away and back to more normal (and useful) pursuits. Richard had found a new toy and was as enthralled with it as a cub less than a quarter of his age would have been.
Oh well. At least there was no one here to see him making an enormous fool of himse-
Footsteps? One round, dark-backed ear turned at the sound of motion outside. Richard bristled warily. Unlike the canids that dominated this land, he was a solitary creature by nature as well as species. Anything that showed up could pose a threat to him.
"Halt, creature! I hear thee in that outer passage!" he yowled. "Encroach no further, unknown ghoul, and speak thy purpose at once!"
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!
The voice sounded still; a deep masculine sound, magnified by the hollow skeleton of a hall. The hybrid brushed her hair fully back from her face, doubtful about her plan of approach. Wouldn’t it be simpler for both parts of they didn’t interact? The canine was still undiscovered at this point, though her long ponder was what would lead to a minor setback in a few moments. It was rare for her to be able to spew out niceties to strangers – heck, even to fellow clan-members – so there was no reason for her whatsoever to put herself in possible threat unless she had a solid reason she could lean against.
But perhaps the close to soundless clicks of sharp optime claws accompanying her footsteps was enough to rise an alarm in the other room. Enlarged coyote ears slammed back against shiny auburn locks at the voice instructed her at what to do. Only Ezekiel had the right to control her actions, and even he had to struggle if he wished to see her completely obedient. She bowed to no stranger, and certainly not those who seemed to expect it. Lips pulled back in a distasteful frown, and though she did not approach further along the hall, fingers reached for the deadly katana. Just in case.
