salvaged
#1
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ooc: dated to early morning of the 24th!

She didn't find him. She had searched that night that Honrin and Adrian came out to help her find the stragglers, and she couldn't find Taliesin. The wind had buffeted her, and the rain had obscured her vision, and trees had fallen and branches had flown and she didn't find him. The excuses floated in her head, but she could not rid herself of the guilt - she hadn't found him that night.

But she would now.

Where she had to return to the rest of the pack before to help them, now nothing would hold her back. She knew there was no excuse for not finding Taliesin, and she would not forgive herself for that failed night.. but she would not go back now, no matter how much Jerome or Thomas had plead. She would not go back without Taliesin. If anything, the hurricane had worsened, but she did not care. She would not fail a second time. She trudged slowly but surely to Taliesin's house, now simply a pile of wood and stone and broken and crumpled furniture..

"Taliesin," she rasped, coughing as cold wind entered her mouth. She looked at the broken house and neared it closer, attempting to move some rubble aside to look for her friend, for any sign of white fur of the Rhiannon. "Taliesin!" she called, louder this time. She scanned the area with her eyes, her nose and ears useless in the storm, and her vision severely impaired.

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#2
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Word Count :: 000 yay!


He still heard to storm raging. Nailing boards over his window seemed a foolish act, with said windows laying in pieces. He wasn't wet, but nearby he could hear water dripping. He was dry, and he was hoarse from howling. His throat hurt, his body ached. The mattress on top of him protected him from taking the weight of any of the timbers or stones that had fallen. He was lucky one of the stones the exterior of his house was made of hadn't fallen and crushed his skull. Knowing this didn't make it any better that he was trapped. He could stretch, but he was trapped on his belly in the rubble of his house.

He whined softly. How long had it been? Had Myrddin made it safely to where Skye had been calling them? Kenna, Hotaru? Were the others okay? And beyond D'Arte... was his mother okay? Noah, Fayne, Zalen? Sky, Cody, Lena. Gemma. At the thought of his white furred angel, he whined again, a stricken fearful whine. She was closer to him than the others, was she okay? He shuddered as he closed his eyes, hoping to sleep, hoping to escape this nightmare for a little while.

A voice? Great, he was hearing things. He opened his eyes though, drawing in a deep breath and listening. And again... had he heard his name? He wasn't sure, still. But if it was...

He released his breath in a hoarse howl. If that was Skye, and he was almost certain it had been, she would be listening for him. He hoped it was, that he wasn't deluding himself into hearing things to give himself false hope. His voice cracked and fell silent as he coughed. His throat was raw from the other days and nights of calling for help. How long had he been down here? He shuddered again, hoping to hear a voice. Hoping to be rescued from under the shattered pieces of his house.


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#3
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The rain stung her skin and flying debris ripped at her fur, but she did not stop or falter; she frantically dug through the rubble, calling out Taliesin's name. It was a mess, truly - some of the support beams were still standing, holding up precarious sections of the house, while piles of wood and stone dominated other corners of the formerly cozy home.

The creamy female froze as she thought she could hear something faint, barely perceptible, beyond the howling and whistling of the wind.. almost like a fearful, high-pitched whine. Trying to locate the sound, she dug deeper into the rubble, nearing where Taliesin's bed room used to have been. Again, she heard a whine, and then a howl. It was hoarse, broken almost, but Skye could hear it, and could tell whose it was.

"Taliesin!" she cried, digging underneath the fallen roof of the home, just above another pile of rubble. She tugged aside a large piece of wood, pulling it hard - her petite form struggled against the strong plank, but with much effort, she finally pulled it away, revealing a mattress with some more stones pinning it down. She gritted her teeth, straining to pull away the stones just enough to pull up the mattress.

Finally, she could see him - the elements were open to him now, buffeting against his fur, and she moved to protect him from the wind. Her eyes widened at the sight of him, and it wasn't until she truly saw him again that she realized how much she had feared she had lost him.

"Taliesin," she breathed, relief and another strange, tender emotion in her voice; the wind howled louder and harsher, however, and she snapped out of her strange daze. "Are you hurt? Let me help you up." Still propping up the mattress, she held out a hand for him to grasp - together, with some effort, they could pull his body out from underneath the remaining rubble.

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#4
For a moment, he was certain that the voice he'd heard had been in his head. A noise like a shifting of the rubble came to him, and he flinched, expecting that he was going to be crushed. The weight on him became lighter rather than heavier, though, and he was able to get to his knees to look up at the leader. For a moment, the rain pelted his face and he flinched, but she shifted her weight to place herself as a barrier between he and the storm. A giggle rose in his throat as he knelt there looking up at her. It was like he was proposing. He giggled again, his eyes wild and almost frantic. "My hero. Marry me." His voice was rusty and hoarse,and probably went unheard above the storm.  He giggled again as he climbed to his feet, taking her outstretched hand as he slipped.

His legs were weak. Fear and lack of food and activity made him weak. He closed his eyes, shuddering as he could vividly recall the loss of mobility, the crushing terror of being trapped, of never being found and dying where he was, entombed in what had once been his private paradise.   The clinical, detached part of his mind told him he was simply in shock. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't listen.  Though he hadn't eaten the morning of the collapse (or since then obviously,) he suddenly felt nauseated. He glanced helplessly at his rescuer before slipping to his knees to hang his head and retch a few times. Nothing came out, but as he wiped his mouth and stood again, he felt better. 

Shelter. She wouldn't be here if the rest of the pack wasn't safe. She wouldn't be here if Myrddin wasn't safe.  He took her hand again, wordlessly placing his trust and his life in her hands, accepting her presence and her guidance.  Skye would get him to safety. She had risked her life to find him. (He would later chastise her for putting her life at risk, running the frightening chance of orphaning her puppies.)
#5
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OOC: a bit of pp, tell me if it's not alright! <3 also, my 666th post :O haha!

Taliesin's visage and reaction frightened Skye somewhat, as he giggled and looked up at her without focus in his eyes. He was stunned, shocked, she knew that much - she wondered with dread how long he had been trapped there, with no food, no water, no light.. she shook her head free of such thoughts, focusing on the matter at hand. Taliesin giggled once more and spoke, and Skye rolled her eyes despite herself while clasping onto his hand.

"Maybe later," she muttered, pulling him to his feet. He slipped a bit, however, and after a moment of hesitance, he leaned forward and emptied the contents of his stomach - or at least, he attempted to. Nothing came out. He stood once more, and Skye grabbed his hand firmly, resolving not to let go until they were both safely in the shop.

"Come with me - don't let go," she said sternly, all thoughts out of her mind except for getting the white Councilman to safety. She slowly began to lead him out of the rubble and debris, attempting to shield him from the wind and rain as much as she could while she did so.

A few times they stumbled on the slippery floor, but the eventually escaped from the horrific maze of rubble soon enough - however, the trek was far from over, and they still had the flooded half of Thornbury to traverse before they would reach the shop. She looked at the town square, her face grim at its flooded ground.

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#6
((awww, Skye shot him down. Lol. And hooray for evil amount of posts? Lol))

She took his hand, and he clung to it. He wasn't broken forever. A warm meal and sound sleep would cure what ailed him, though the emotional scars would remain a long time. He followed her lead as they walked. Every now and then something familiar would catch his eye. The couch he frequently napped on, the cover torn and matted with mud. A picture that had been gifted to him, the canvas torn, the oil paint washed away from it.  His life had fallen down around him. Literally. 

Was this how Rhiannon chose to punish him? Guilt flooded him, guilt over Liam, over Sky, over Gemma. Was this storm sent to teach him... Teach him what? The anguished thought slipped away as a familiar calico cat poked her head out and yowled plaintively. He tugged lightly at Skye's hand, pointing to Sheba. In seconds he had scooped up the protesting feline and held her to his chest. Her kittens were two months old, hopefully Esther had kept them safe whoever the old Luperci and her cats had taken refuge.  Tal reached out again for the leader as she finished guiding him through the rubble of his home.

 As she looked over the flooded square, he glanced back at the ruins of his house.  Anguish welled up in him. His herbs, his poultices, his tinctures... His books. All gone. His sketch book, his journal. Gone. After a moment, he turned forward. At least his giggles had stopped. 
#7
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OOC: she did say maybe later .. Wink

It was heartbreaking to Skye to see how Taliesin looked about his ruined home, looking at all the things that even just yesterday he had been enjoying, been using.. his journal, his medicines, all gone. Things that had meant something to him. He bent to pick something up - a small cat, who, miraculously, had survived the wreckage and had stayed behind for Taliesin. They moved on.

As she stared ahead at the flooded square, she turned back to see Taliesin looking in desolation at his ruined home. The winds were still howling, and she was still being pelted with rain, but she put her hand on his shoulder, her eyes telling him how sorry she was. A moment passed, and a branch flew towards her, nicking her on the shoulder and causing her to yelp out in surprise. Embarrassed by her surprise, she gently tugged Taliesin's hand and continued on into the square.

The water was at first only deep enough to reach the middle of her feet - soon, however, it became ankle deep, and then the water level came up to their shins. It was not still - the hurricane swirled the water around, throwing it up at their faces, all the while pelting them with debris and wood and even stones. Skye attempted to shield Taliesin from the harsh winds and debris, but she couldn't stop it all. She slipped a few times, but always held on tight to Taliesin's hand, knowing how weak he was; she was determined, now.

Eventually they reached the shops, and she breathed a quiet sigh of relief as she saw the third shop - the one where the rest of the pack was staying in refuge. She walked forward, a bit faster now, reaching out to open the door.

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#8
He clung to the leader, and to the cat. Myrddin would be pleased to see that Sheba had made it, though the boy would worry about Sheba's kittens, wherever they might be. He wondered if the boy had worried about him. Of course Myrddin had worried about him. The question was, who had comforted Myrddin while he worried about his father?

Tal felt relief as they reached the door the leader opened for him. The swirling air eddies curled around them, an unnatural stillness falling over them as she forced the door shut. Sheba nuzzled his face, meowing plaintively. The heady scent of D'Arte filled the shop, but the male couldn't muster the energy to look up from his kneeling position. The walls pressed in on him, and he shuddered. Two bodies pressed against him, and he thought he heard the murmur of voices.

As he felt himself being lifted by Jerome and Thomas and then being set down by the fire, a voice cut through his foggy thoughts. "Poppa!" When had little Myrddin grown up? Tal opened his eyes to see the fullgrown boy hurtle at his father, his once boyish yelp an adults bass. Tal welcomed his son's embrace, holding the boy as tightly as the boy clung to him. Sheba wound her way around the two, her purr loud enough to be heard across the room.

A thought occurred to him, and he lifted his head to look for the leader. "Skye..."
#9
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She yanked the door open with some effort, the wind fighting to close it once more. Thankfully, however, Jerome and Thomas were waiting on the other side, and they helped her force the door open and hastily get the duo - as well as Sheba, Taliesin's cat - inside the warm, safe stone shop.

The door shut with an audible bang once they were safely inside. Taliesin could barely stand now, let alone walk, and the two more muscular men supported him to the fire, where Myrddin greeted him, happy to see the white man safe and alive. Skye couldn't say that she didn't feel the same - she felt the warmth of the fire seep into her fur, and closed her eyes for a moment, taking it in. It had been a harrowing ordeal, and now that it was over, she felt nothing but relief.

Jerome had left to meet with the rest of the pack, and Thomas handed her a cup of water before leaving the room as well. Skye sat down beside Taliesin, handing him the water before she herself drank - she knew that he, alone and cold for days, needed it more than she herself did. She held it out to him as he said her name.

"I'm glad you're okay," she said softly, her eyes betraying the enormous relief that she felt, and allowing him to say what he needed to say. A weight had been lifted from her - and Taliesin as well, in the literal sense.

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