Around the bones of old life

[Parzival]

There's magic in our bones - A north star in our soul - That remembers our way home 

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OOC: 348

The desperate prey of winter had been given Parzival an easy time as of late when it came to securing meals for his home. How others lions might use the cold months where their fur grew out warm to stockpile on their food or go for smaller prey to avoid clashing with other hungry predators, such method was not the way Parzival was going around. He didn't need to stash his food away, instead carry it back to the Cavalier pack where it was certain to go to good use without the risk of any thieves. It meant he could aim for the larger prey; the elk so commonly found down around Casa's lands, training himself from so many routine hunts to the point where the feline was confident in catching them on his own. He wasn't a pack hunter as a job, but it was one of Parzival's main focuses outside of guarding the pack, given in his position he couldn't do much else. 

There was little luck in finding elk today however, exploring up north towards the base of the always loaming mountains found Parzival nothing, except a small town. Covered in snow and worn down, it looked like very little life had passed by the place in the last few years, perhaps a bit like the old towns around Casa that hadn't been invested in quite as much as Wolfville had. To Parzival, buildings were just weird shaped trees or rocks, places luperci lived in and places he could go in should he feel welcome and it was warm enough. But for shelter? He could just find a cave or a large tree. 

But given hunting wasn't giving Parzival much, he chose to scavenge, observe any canine abandoned object he could poke around and ignore, maybe tell someone in Casa about who was much more interested than the feline. What he found, or rather heard, were voices however deeper into the small valley. Canine voices, prompting Parzival to wonder if perhaps this place wasn't quite so abandoned. 

[Antheia Hybanthus]

WC: 416

"Careful now!" Antheia called as she watched in awe and slight horror as Iva climbed higher and higher into a large pine tree in order to harvest pinecones for their sap. She was leaning precariously out onto a branch reaching for the pinecones and Antheia was below ready to gather them up. "I really wish there was an easier, safer way to do this..." She huffed up at the partially blind healer. "Hush, I need to concentrate or I really will fall." The golden pelted woman said, scooting furher out onto the branch on her belly.

The scene really was quite amusing to watch, but for Antheia, her friend was putting her life on the line doing this and that made her nervous. She would have volunteered for the task herself, but she was too heavy to be supported by the branches. They would definitely snap if she tried climbing out onto them like Iva was. With a mall whine, Antheia paced anxiously below, carving a rut through the fresh snow from the night before.

"How many more do we need?" She called up to the healer and stepped back out of the way as Iva began to knock another shower of cones down upon her. "This should be the last of 'em for now!" The Morningstone woman responded and then began to shimmy backwards towards the trunk of the tree. Nodding, Antheia began to gather up the fallen cones in a basket looped over her arm. Blowing the hair out of her bi-colored eyes, she just happened to glance up just in time to spy a very large wild cat appearing from the undergrowth and watching them from his distant spot.

Startling with a yip, Antheia scrambled backwards. "Woah!" She exclaimed, standing to her full height and trying to look even bigger than she was. "Iva, you may wanna stay up there, there's a huge mountain lion down here..." The witch warned her coven sister with a slight wary edge to her tone. "What?! Iva exclaimed and Antheia could hear her scrambling faster down the tree trunk above. Antheia kept herself facing the cat. "Yeah, he's just ...watching us..." Antheia raised a brow at the animal. "Hello there... May we help you?" She tried addressing the big cat, unsure if he could understand her high speech or not. But she had a feeling he could. The bandana on his neck and the sparkling intelligence in his eyes denoted a certain level of sophistication and domestication.

[Parzival]

There's magic in our bones - A north star in our soul - That remembers our way home 

---

OOC: 351

Parzival was always careful when approaching canine. Curious as he was, confident in his own abilities, he knew his life had a value back in Casa that he couldn't just disregard. And he'd been caught in a trap before, despite knowing he'd never let it happen again, taking steps in being careful to not get tripped up would be his safest bet. In a fight, Parz knew he could win or run, but in a trap he was far less open to be defensive, especially so far from home. But... what he came across in this abandoned town were two female canine, one very much dog and the other a more golden wolf. The latter was just climbing down a tree as Parzival approached, with the woman on the ground noticing him in time to warn her companion. They were wary but not fearful or aggressive, so Parzival continued his slow strut towards them, flicking his tail in interest. 

They were watching him, like two canine who knew enough about mountain lions to not look away, until eventually one of them spoke to Parzival directly. He was close enough now to be within around ten feet, so from there the large cat stopped and sat himself down, curling his large tail around his legs. "No need for help." He purred, then looking up towards the tree, no doubt the cause of the noise he'd heard on his approach earlier. "I've come here a few times now but it's usually dead quiet... hearing noises and voices made me curious." Parzival announced. 

"Are you planning on living in this little place? Or... up in that tree?" He eyed the tree again, along with the she-wolf climbing down it. "Don't see many canine making a climb up a tree, then again when you cheat with hands I suppose you can do anything can't you? Not as good as me though." A bit of a tease, a brag, for what else was Parzival around for other than to make sure everyone knew how amazing he was. 

[Antheia Hybanthus]

WC: 386

As the large cat sat at a distance and curled his tail about himself, Antheia relaxed a little. Her instincts were correct that this cat knew high speech and was more domesticated than the average lion. Iva still scrambled down the tree trunk and once her paws hit solid ground, she shook the pine needles and snow from her pelt, an armful of pine cones in her one arm and came to stand beside her companion. She stared wide eyes in awe at the big cat. He was very handsome. She'd never seen one this up close before.

"My you're a handsome fella ain't you." She commented and frowned at Antheia. "You had me worried that were were gonna be ambushed for a second there." She told the dog woman who shook her head. "Sorry, I was startled by his sudden appearance is all, didn't mean to rush you Iva." She said sheepishly, ears splaying. Iva waved her free hand in dismissal. "Not a problem, I'm back safely on the ground, so no harm done." She wagged her tail and then looked back to their feline guest as she added her armful of pinecones to the basket Antheia held.

"We actually sorta just moved in here. We saw it was pretty deserted ourselves and thought it a good place to settle for the time being. Good to know we're pretty secluded like we thought." Antheia said, acknowledging the cat's words and smiling a little at his bragging. "We claimed one of the abandoned homes just back that way." She gestured behind them to the cluster of buildings just viewable through the trees and snow. "Iva was up the tree collecting pine cones for some rituals and kindling." She explained to the feline with a small chuckle.

"Ah, where are our manners anyhow..." Iva nudged the larger dog woman's side with an elbow. "Welcome to our abode! As you may have guessed, I'm Iva, this is Antheia. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." The golden wolf said dipping her muzzle to the big cat. "I couldn't help but notice the bandana you're' wearing. Does it signify anything?" She asked, curious. Antheia's ears perked at the question, she too had been pondering the same thing. It wasn't every day you came across a mountain lion in purple.