08-08-2008, 01:50 AM
Short posts ftw? This is long (800 words exactly long), just to get things back up to date. I also have no idea how Marlowe is supposed to act so weoijwefoijwefoij.
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_____Sixteen weeks ago she had been in the thick of a blooming rainforest in what was left of South America's Brazil. Sixteen weeks ago, she come to stand on the shore to take in the rising of the sun when the crow had come walking down the shore. Had she been in any other place in the world, Corona may have shrugged of the sight of such a funny thing. The little bobble in his steps, the wet sand no doubt being very awkward to wander about in. But that little bird had a determined sort of look in his beady eye as he had paced down the shoreline towards her, not wavering despite the fact that she was watching him just as keenly as he was watching her. Marlowe was just as out of place in the world as she was, only he hadn't been living in the fringes of a rainforest. He had seen rage and he had seen fire and he had seen the wolves and coyotes rise out of the ashes and smoke. _____But it was this strange little out of place bird with his queer little stare as he walked right up to her feet, peering up as she peered down, that baffled her so. Of all places, a crow in a tropical climate? She had seen hundreds if not a thousand crows in her lifetime but it was that tame sort of behaviour that got her attention. “You're someone's pet,” she had said with a certain convinced tone; the bird only reacted by pulling at the sandy fur on her foot in an irritating fashion. When she left the coast, he followed, and thus began wondering and relationship between the bird of the Firestarter and the Lady in Gold. _____It wasn't until some time later when Corona had finally begun to understand the bird's babbling and learned of who he was and just who he belonged to. So by the time summer began to take a furious hold on the world, she was fast back on a ship going to the north. She assumed something had to have gone wrong if Gabriel's bird had ended up finding her. Marlowe didn't give details, only tempted her and baited with quips such as “see for yourself,” which no doubt she gave into. All the way back to Nova Scotia, all the way back to where her roots had once been so firmly planted.
_____But all of it was gone when she had gotten there. The trees were bare, the vegetation only beginning to crawl back in some places. Even the air still had a tinge of smoke in it, or so she thought she could smell. Parts of the city remained, but all of it was as bare and desolate as could be. Nary a sound or soul to be seen for miles around. Marlowe instructed her and told her where to go and what to look at it to get a sense of it all. Corona had never felt so disoriented in her life, partially because the landscape was different, but also because the bird couldn't account for everyone. He remembered the places and he remembered the running of those who dared to escape the flames, but he couldn't tell her the names. He said to go over the southern mountains, and so she did. _____Like it's counterpart to the north, the south was not that much different. She could smell the ocean, she could see the same kind of trees that had been in equal prime on the other side, and she could tell that life bustled right along. By then the crow had settled on turning lazy circles in the sky high above her, occasionally making himself seen through the canopy of then-nameless forests that she was wandering through. After a while, smell started to guide her rather than his vague instructions and shortly thereafter, sound. Water. There was blood in the air and as she rose out of a small gorge, was greeted by the borders she knew all too well. _____Adjusting the small pack slung onto her back, the short-statured Lykoi breathed a partial sigh of relief but still had unconfirmed fears and concerns, even after the crow had come to settle on branch above her, not speaking a word but cawing instead. She dawdled for a couple of moments, listening first to make sure no one was going to explode through the scenery around her, and then drew her head skyward to call for Gabriel, as she did not recognise the second male's smell along the borders. Once it was out of the way, Marlowe perched himself on her pack and joined her fully in waiting. |