dancers to a discordant system

Helios D'Angelo · 05-25-2011, 05:20 PM

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Once again, sorry for the delay. O_x

After settling into Anathema with his long lost elder sister Naniko, his blood sister with who appeared to be more of a stranger than actual family provided him the means to be settled in Anathema's underground system. For siblings who had never held opportunity to meet one another nor have any significant trust, Naniko was willing to build a relationship with her younger brother she never knew. Strangely enough, while Helios was greatly cautioned by taking an offer of refuge to a place he didn't believe he was suited to be, at the same time he let destiny do what it wanted to him. The D'Angelo finally dawned upon the fate of his litter sibling, which perished in the underground of Anathema months before. It was the reason of his travels, and since his journey came to a close with the discovery, figured this would be his time to settle and make a name for himself somewhere.

Naniko gave him a shoddy map of Halifax, apparently a ruined human metropolis not far from Anathema's borders. With promise of useful tools and objects to haul back into his new den site underground, Helios took to the city of Halifax to scavenge what he could find as useful. Naniko ushered him off into the early morning to depart, for she noted it was easier in the daylight to navigate about the city and find tools easier in the light. Once arriving, Helios spent several hours wandering in and out of deceased establishments of residents, shops, gas stations, and even a public library. Gathering some books and writing tools into the leather bound pack that was slung on his shoulder, there was a particular shop at the end of a ruined street that had half a roof to it. The sunlight beamed down harshly upon what contents were still inside and exposed to the skies, mainly composed of rusted instruments of clarinets, flutes, and saxophones that didn't have use to them anymore.

A music shop. Much of the materials that were unprotected by what roofing was left was either rusted, tarnished, torn, or suffered extreme amount of water damage. There was a shelf, however, on the opposite side of the shop that housed several books that were still yellow and worn, but in somewhat better condition than the damaged ones on the other side. Acoustic guitar lessons, tab sheets to ancient ballads, and even a very acoustic guitar nearly broke in the corner, the strings frayed and the fretboard nearly snapped. Rummaging through what could be deemed useful to bring back, Helios was tinkering with the broken guitar. While it was in no shape to be played here and then, Helios hummed gently to himself as he inspected it more. Definitely something that could use some fixing, and could actually be played again with enough fine tuning and maintenance.

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Caspa Al-Fateh · 05-26-2011, 08:44 AM

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It seemed dangerous to her, a ridiculous idea. The immense structures of stone, steel and other unflinching substances, utterly entrenched in their surroundings - how could the humans not have seen that eventually they would fall and there would be no easy way to replace them, the rubble all but impossible to discard or re-use. They must have had such supreme confidence in their abilities and the eternality of their resources and tools, that they thought they would forever be able to maintain the city to a solid and livable level. It was so no longer. Some held their shape more than others, but there were some that Caspa would not even go near, the cracks and loose, tumbledown components obviously ready to collapse. She thought of the way she had been taught to build, a way inherited from nomads who understood change and adaptability. The beautiful, simple tents were made from soft and transportable materials, easy to alter at a moment's notice, and if abandoned, ready to fade away into nature's landscape, or even take root and become part of it themselves. Caspa didn't understand why anybody would wish to live any other way, desire it enough to spend centuries on building the decadent metropolis. Confined in their own prison of false security, no wonder the humans had easily succumbed to the end of the world.

Caspa could read, and most of the things she read as she patrolled the empty streets lent her only confusion. She felt uncertain about entering most of the buildings, fearful of what might crash down on her head. When she noticed a building missing its roof, she aimed for it, only halting when a tuneful humming reached her ears. Midday sunlight gleamed on Caspa like snow as she stood in indecision, wondering whether to interrupt or steal away while still unnoticed. The music held her though, her aquiline face almost soft as she nodded her head gently. A piece of paper on the ground drew her attention and she scooped it up. Most was unintelligible straight lines with patterns of dots and strokes running along them, but there were words above and below the patterns that she could read. Aloud, she spoke some, forgetting her dilemma for the moment. "We've got to hold on to what we've got, cause it doesn't make a difference if we make it or not..." The wolf-hound's words tailed off; she was struck by the way the words fitted the desolation she saw all around her. The heading at the top of the page read 'Latest Hits! Arranged For Piano and Guitar' but that didn't mean anything to Caspa either.

Helios D'Angelo · 06-05-2011, 07:31 PM

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Holding the acoustic at the neck of the fret board and on the bottom of the body, his grasp spun the acoustic around three hundred sixty degrees for a panoramic observation. The more Helios sought out minuscule faults that the acoustic encompassed, the more he concluded it was nothing simple fine tuning couldn't fix with the dexterity he had as an Optime. Plucking what strings were still assembled, there was an off tune note screeching from the frayed chords. Determining this was one object he simply couldn't leave behind, the acoustic light enough for him to carry it by the base of its fret's neck on the journey back to Anathema. Somewhat pleased with his newfound plaything, Helios was about to rummage about more until a blackened ear flicked, catching a voice that wasn't too far from earshot from his coordinates and possibly not too far from eyesight as well.

Inclining his head toward the source of the voice (in which the words seemed lyrical enough to not be addressing Helios directly), Helios' towering frame easily strode in several steps to the origin, to where the D'Angelo was met with a lanky and sinewy figure of a long haired Luperci, nearly as leggy as himself. Her pelt was longer than the typical wolf genes provided, hinting at a mixture of some other canine species that gave her a spindly frame. Wearing a sleeveless leather coat that seemed to draw attention to her height even more, there was a piece of paper held in her grasp, and Helios observed her doubtful manner toward it. Helios kept the grip of the acoustic by his side, keeping his head tilted slightly in curiosity to both herself and the words she repeated from the paper. "For species that drove themselves to extinction, they sounded like a fairly optimistic bunch, even in the end." Helios remarked, a small coquettish grin of amusement to his words resting on his dark maw.

Caspa Al-Fateh · 06-26-2011, 07:40 PM

OOC: Eep! I'm so sorry for the slowness. I haven't got a computer at the moment :| I can be faster from now on though.

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A midnight shape brought her from her noon reverie, the tones a little familiar, enough for her to guess she'd found - been found by - the unseen music maker. "Their optimism lives on in those that hum tunes in ruined buildings," Caspa observed, her words unintentionally taking on something of a lyrical tone themselves. She was in a pensive mood, and he was holding an instrument. It seemed right that they should speak with words more resembling poetry than introduction. "Maybe you should make these words fit your tune, and brighten up my day even more." Her head cocked a little as she said this, soft fine ear fur falling out of the plaits here and there around her face, curious eyes scampering over his face and piercings and zig-zagging straight forelock. Her face felt jutting, laid bare in comparison to his carefully framed features.

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