give me back my heart attack
#1
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The rain had kept Poe in the city, away from the weak grasp on the lively memories that hung around the grounds that were once, too briefly, Esper Hollow. Its demise had inspired her in some bizarrely morbid way in seemed, opening up her already cracked mind to the world of the dead. She was living in wait for the dead, rising in the day only to daydream of the warm arms that came in the night. This world that she had gluttonously enjoyed before was slipping out of her slackened hands, emptying its attachments and appeals with every slow sway of her arms in stride.


So she walked with her head in the clouds and her feet incrusted with mud, mud that splattered and smudged the white patchworked dress she wore. Her eyes were distant and glassy like a doll’s, lost in a forest that was not the one surrounding her.


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#2
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She was taking a break today, a break from everything back in Crimson Dreams. Since its forming Naniko had spent most of her days within the pack boundaries, doing various tasks or looking after the pups. There was a lot to do there, especially before it started to get even colder. They had to make sure that there was a constant supply of food in the cache in the basement for the puppies to snack on now that they were beginning to try hard food, and feeding four pups was a never ending task.

But today she wasn't going to worry about that. She had given Anu the necklace she'd made for her, and now she was looking for something for Iskata for Midwinter. She had never gotten her adopted mother anything before, so she would try and make up for the last year by finding something really good. The girl was heading North toward the coast so that she could look for some shark's teeth and shells. Those would make an awesome necklace. A glance up at the sun affirmed that it was early afternoon; with any luck she would be able to find something and get back to the pack before it got dark.

She caught sight of something up ahead, a brightness amongst the trees and rocks--something much whiter than the surroundings, and approached cautiously. She was too far away to be able to tell who it was, only that it was wearing something brightly colored. Well...brightly colored in spots. "Hello?" She called, her voice echoing through the dim forest.


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#3
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A distant and familiar voice ricocheted off her withdrawn thoughts, creating a ripple that broke her pensive stare. She blinked two, three times as if to wipe away to fog from her eyes before turning her face to search her surroundings. And through the tall, thin tree trunks she found a tall white figure looking back at her. “Naniko,” Poe said, too quietly to be calling out to her, but not so quietly as to be unheard. Her cousin, perhaps the last blood relation she had in these lands now. Strong, tall and pure, she was striking amongst the faces of other D’Angelos that had once settled on the east coast, almost all of which were dark and very often sullen or crazed. It startled her mildly to note that she was becoming more and more a classic Souls D’Angelo.


“Nani,” she said again, louder this time to call out to her as she began to walk towards the angelic beast. A smile, a little lost, a little drained, but a smile no less, spread across her face as she neared.

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#4
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There wasn't much light here, but she could see well enough. It was surprisingly sunny for a winter day, with a slightly warmer temperature, and a few beams of light filtered down through the trees. She walked through one and looked up into the brightness, blinking. When she stepped back from it she could see small particles floating through it--pieces of seeds, hair, dust. Who knew there was that much stuff in the air.

"Hey there, stranger." She was grinning before she got to the girl, tripping at first as she hastily started forward. Both were in their two-legged forms, and when she reached her older cousin she reached for a light hug. They had the kind of relationship that didn't diminish with time; they had only actually reconnected a few times, but Naniko often thought of her dark relative. "How are you? You're...you're all dirty"


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#5
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The smile grew a little stronger as her cousin opened her arms, and the smaller, older wolf tucked herself into the embrace, locking them there briefly with sturdy, skinny arms. She released not so much to fall short of affection, but to find eye contact and take in the happy face before her. At least until she noted the dirtiness, and Poe’s gaze fell to absorb the full extent of the damage. The dress was long enough to nearly graze the ground, and made of light fabrics that had snagged and dragged on anything above dead flatness, and readily drank up the puddles she had so mindlessly walked through in this broken rain. “Mmm,” Poe hummed while surveying the sad state of the once pretty child’s dress that she had found months before. “I only ever notice how much dirt there is in the world when I wear white. Rainy walks are so much tidier when they blend in to your pelt,” she observed and shrugged dismissively, as if the fault was far more on the shoulders of the dress than her own below.


Returning her gaze to Naniko, briefly wondering how she as a child might have managed a white coat, Poe replied to her first question second, “I’m alive.” Vague as it sounded, it was a very honestly significant answer in Poe’s current state than anyone would be able to guess. “What about you? It’s been a long time.”

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#6
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"I guess I'm kind of an expert of 'messy' now. And dirty. Dirty's kind of my thing too. So I know how you feel" She grinned as they separated, taking a good look at her relative. Poe seemed thin, but...she couldn't remember if she'd always been that way or if that was something new. And at the same time, Naniko couldn't be a fair judge of someone else's body; she was already a very large wolf to begin with, and her recent pregnancy had left her with a fair amount of extra weight.

"The pups mess up everything in the den. All the order...books, blankets, toys. But it's worth it--they're great. My mate, too. I know you don't really settle down anywhere, and you probably wouldn't think of having any of your own..but I think even you would like my little ones." The lighter wolf nodded. "That's mostly what I've been up to--they take up most of my time. Today's my first free day for a while"


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