here be monsters

[Nocht]

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we launch ourselves into the bright::in character She needed pants, Nocht had decided. Pants were useful for a multitude of things. They had pockets sometimes, which she liked to use to carry things, as novel an idea as that was. They looked snazzy, which was always a good thing. Sometimes they helped to keep her warm if it was really cold. Mostly though, she was rather shallow and thought they looked cool. So now she had a checklist to keep in mind while she searched for a pair of trousers. Or shorts, she wasn't too picky, as long as they looked good and had pockets. She had had a pair of trousers she was particularly fond of, and a belt too, but they were loose and on the boat the spare material had snagged and caught on things until she consigned them to storage until they landed. Then the stupid boat had sank without trace with all her things on it. However, Nocht knew intimately that human settlements always contained useful and interesting articles like clothes and fishing rods and books, other things she needed to replace or simply just wanted. She wasn't academic, but sometimes it was nice to lose yourself in a book and so she planned to find an interesting one while on her little jaunt. There were human settlements everywhere, inevitably, and so Nocht had just poked around until she found it. It was almost further away from Storm than anywhere else she had been so far except the beach and, while she didn't know the beach intimately, it didn't hold the alien allure the houses and shops did. The first dead giveaway as she had travelled nearer had been the smattering of houses she found, way out and lonesome from the rest of humanity. She followed broken and buckled roads until she found herself surrounded by houses on both sides. They peered at her with empty, broken windows for eyes, following her in the cold winter sun. It hadn't snowed yet today, but here was a cold breeze ruffling her fur and the smattering of snow from the night before. As the houses grew closer together she nodded, sure she'd find what she was looking for soon.

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[Valentine Valiant]

Sorry about the wait, but nice post!

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He had finally adjusted to the cold, partially because he knew it wasn't going to be so apt to go away at the first start of spring, and partially because no one else seemed to have a problem with it. The blistering wind was one thing, but the plain cold air and the snow had been what got to him initially. The city didn't really provide a shelter from the elements, though one may have thought that. With the towering buildings in places, and the nice little cookie-cutter houses, it seemed rather cosy in that run down, jaded way. But in between each and every pass that the wind could gust through, it naturally would.



He walked idly along with no real direction, gold-eyes taking in what familiar things he had associated himself with. The houses that he had looted things out of, to the small corner stores that popped up at random here and there between subdivisions. It was his turn out of one of those subdivisions and another step closer to downtown that he caught sight of someone else. Even as well travelled as the area always seemed to be, this was really the first figure he had ever seen coming his way. With a flimsy little wave in her direction, the dark-haired male called out to her. “Hey, what're you hunting up out this way?” It was natural to think that she was probably hunting up something, because he hadn't met anyone who went to the city to explore… yet.

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[Nocht]

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we launch ourselves into the bright::in character She stopped short as another wolf rounded a corner, a black male, golden eyes catching her attention even from afar, as he called out to her and gave a sad little wave. She took a moment to herself and tilted her head almost imperceptibly to the side, all the better to look him up and down with eyebrow raised curiously. Once she had satisfied herself with inspecting him she raised a hand and waved back and smiled slightly, her lips curling up at the edges, but it barely reached her eyes. Nocht wasn't unhappy to meet another wanderer, as such, but she still didn't quite know what to make of this new, foreign land and was trying to be respectably cautious. It wouldn't do to make a fool of herself, rushing in now. She took a few steps nearer, keeping her posture relaxed, shoulders back, chin up, acutely aware of the piercing through her nose, which always seemed to draw attention. She couldn't imagine why, she thought to herself wryly. "Jus' huntin' up a few essentials." The grey furred wolf replied pleasantly once she was nearer, smiling benignly at the stranger. She noted that he was quite a bit taller than her as she let her eyes wander and take in the few more obvious details at the nearer point, but what was new there? She was more often than not shorter than those around her, most specifically the males. It didn't bother her much. She focussed her attention on his face again. "Ah, y'know, some clothes, a fishing rod if I can find it, maybe a book." She ticked the items off on her fingers as she named them and then shrugged, smiling self depreciatingly. "Or whatever I come across, really." She tilted her head to the side, waiting for him to reply and letting it be known, but a more sincere smile graced defined features this time, to take the edge of demand off her request.

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[Valentine Valiant]

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Up close, she was quite an interesting werewolf to have come across, he decided. The piercing was very interesting to Valentine, though it wasn't the first time he had seen such a thing. In the nose now, that was of the utmost difference he had seen in comparison to anyone else. And if it weren't for her deep, dark blue eyes, he almost would have assumed she was monochromatic with black eyes. But they did have something in common—looking for something. “A fishing rod, huh. I think I saw a place down the way that's chock full of 'em. It might have some of the other stuff you're looking for too, but I didn't peek around long.” The only thing that had really caught his attention had been the assortment of critter heads mounted on the wall. “I could show you where it is, if you want? And oh, I'm Valentine, from Jaded Shadows.”

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[Nocht]

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out of character::black engulfs the dying light Ah, I am so sorry about the wait for this. Life has been incredibly hectic lately. we launch ourselves into the bright::in character She grinned widely at him and drew herself up to her full height, still much shorter than Valentine, of course, in excitement at his words. "Aye, that would be quite wonderful, methinks." She replied. "I'm Nocht, by the way." She added, punctuating her addendum with a sort of little nod, as if to emphasize the truth of the statement. Force of habit, she'd carried over from home. "From Storm." She added once more, addressing her current place of residence. She knew there were other packs than Storm and one by one she was begin to amass the names of them. Inferni she'd already been warned about, Jaded Shadows was added to her mental list now too. It was lucky she'd met him, Nocht thought. She hadn't expected her journey of discovery to end so quickly; she'd spent barely any time wandering around blindly. She shrugged and gestured aimlessly in the air with her hands. "Feel free to lead the way." She offered, opening up the road to him to show her where to go. She wasn't completely stupid though; she kept alert, an eye and an ear out for danger, just in case. She didn't feel at risk. Valentine had been nothing but polite to her so far, at the very least. But the new surroundings and the new acquinatance still kept her slightly ill ay ease, despite her curiousity. Shockingly enough to some, she didn't particularly like change or new experiences all that much when she was actually experiencing them, even if she did enjoy them afterwards, once she had settled down and had time to reflect on memories. She pushed her anxiety down however, forcing herself to relax as she followed Valentine.

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[Valentine Valiant]

Don't sweat it. I've had some stuff going on too. ^^;
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It was nice to meet someone from Storm. That was just another pack embedded in his history… well, maybe his parents more than his. But he had heard the stories of the place, and the wolves associated with it. None of them were ever very happy stories, but it was amazing what parents would do to deter their children from making choices. Offering Nocht a warm smile, Valentine nodded graciously and easily took the lead without another word, wandering down the crossroad that they had come to. As they walked along, he kept track of the sounds they were hearing, while his keen gold eyes were sharp on searching for anything that looked like a place worthy of finding the needed materials. “So how long have you been with Storm?”

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[Nocht]

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we launch ourselves into the bright::in character Off his friendly smile Nocht found herself having to put significantly less effort into relaxing. "Not very long." She replied, giving a little crooked smile. "Came over on a boat a couple weeks ago and shipwrecked." She explained succinctly, her shoulder rising in a half shrug as she gazed around herself curiously, peering at the empty shop fronts and houses they passed. "Storm was the first place I came upon and Phoenix was gracious enough to extend me an invitation to stay and join." Her head dipped a little, nodding to herself again. "So I stayed. An' you?" Her tipped to the side curiously, watching Valentine. "What's Jaded Shadows like then?" His eyes really were curious, she thought, especially set against his deep, dark coat. She tried not to stare, thinking it rude, but couldn't stop herself from glancing at his face. They drew her gaze, attractive, magnetic. She forced herself to look away and kept an eye about their persons in case of danger instead.

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[Valentine Valiant]

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“I was born here a couple of years ago, in a pack called Syemv. It's not around any more though, coyotes took over the land that used to be ours. But before that, when I wasn't very old, my folks went away from here to raise me anyway.” His disjointed tale was just about like everyone else when it came to the place they were residing in, though. “So some odd few weeks ago I decided to come back up here and have since been filling in the pieces of all that's happened.” He peered absently through another dusty, cracked window but moved on relatively quickly, not seeing anything of interest or of use to either one of them inside. “What was sailing like? I've always wanted to try it, but I get seasick.”

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[Nocht]

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we launch ourselves into the bright::in character He was almost new, like her, she reflected. She wondered if he'd been here, in the human settlement, much since he'd returned, since he seemed to know his way around better. Nocht decided against asking and instead chose to answer his question, shrugging and laughing to herself as she thought back on her recent misadventures on the high-seas. "I got sea-sick too, at first, but I couldn't get off and they wouldn't turn around and let me home so I had to get over it." She shook her head as she recounted the tale, embellishing it a bit as it unfolded. Her sea-sickness had been awful, but she hadn't been too eager to disembark. Sailing had still been new and exciting at the time. Cabin-fever only truly set in once they had nearly run out of the rations they'd taken with them and were living almost solely on a diet of fresh fish and water. By then they were almost at the far shore anyway. Looking back sometimes her journey had seemed awful and sometimes it had seemed wonderful, depending on which memories she chose to recall, much as it had been at the time. Despite the monotony of the sea, each day brought with it a new challenge. Landing had been one of the ones that had eluded them. "I got good at fishing, I 'spose." She grinned and rolled her eyes. "I don't think we were very good though, considering we crashed into the bay. S'why 'm here right now, all my belongings went down with the ship. There were only two experienced sailors in the lot and it took some of us longer than other to learn the ropes." Her expression took on a far away look as she reminisced now. "It was certainly an adventure though. I don't suppose I'll ever see any of them again." She sobered again, turning her attention back to Valentine. "We parted on beach, they went south along the beach and I headed inland. Just glad to be back on dry land again, t'be honest." In her mind the pieces clicked together suddenly. "You said coyotes took over Syemv's pack lands, din't you? That's on the beach, innit? Phoenix warned me about it. Oh." She trailed off and frowned. "Hope they're alright." She whispered to herself.

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[Valentine Valiant]

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“I'm sure they are,” because not all of the coyotes could have been bad, he reckoned. Even if they hadn't been the best crew to sail a ship they certainly probably knew how to handle themselves. Valentine had confidence in that; should he have to come face to face with one of the so-called proclaimed heathens of Hell's Coast, things would be fine. Sometimes no news was truly good news. “Ah! There's the place I remember,” he proclaimed only moments after letting the last errant thought go, gesturing at a slightly crumbled building. “I think that might have some of what you're looking for.”

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[Nocht]

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we launch ourselves into the bright::in character She spotted it a moment after he waved vaguely at it, a dilapidated sign above the door proclaiming it as an "OUTDOORS DEPO." for all to see. There was a large display window below it as well, but it was near impossible to see through, the glass cracked and covered with grime an inch thick. Nocht bounded forwards, towards the door, sporting an excited smile, forgetting about her way-ward colleagues. At first the door resisted, so she put her shoulder into it and shoved, grinning triumphantly when it gave under the force of her sailing-borne muscle, creaking open, inch-by-inch. Once it was open enough to permit her entry she slipping inside, her eyes quickly adjusting to the gloom. What little light filtered in through the window was aided in illuminating the shelves and aisles full of tents, bows, fishing-rods and other various camping or hunting paraphernalia by a hole in the roof, where a skylight had caved in. There was creeping damp, but on the whole most of the good were unharmed. She set herself the task of rummaging through a bin holding fishing-rods, testing them and sorting through them until she found once which satisfied. She turned to smile at Valentine gratefully. "Thanks, if it weren't for you I'd've been wandering around for only God knows how long. Anything in particular you wanna pick up while you're here?" She asked, sweeping her arm out in a gesture which encompassed the whole of the store, offering it to the dark male.

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[Valentine Valiant]

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He took his time in catching up, slipping inside of the door just as easily as she had done but slowing up considerably at that point. Most of what he had seen in places up until then had been scattered things. Shelves overturned and items askew; some broken, others he had no idea what their uses were just for. The things that caught his eyes in particular where the mounted heads on the far wall of the store, the dark, beady glass eyes momentarily left him with a sense of unease. Of course, he may have felt inclined to gaze at them longer if it weren't for years upon years of dusty cobwebs that clung to the ageing fur on their faces. Nocht's words further drew him out of his reverie and he glanced around.



“Mmm, I dunno.” He ventured pasted the cluttered entrance and down one of the long forgotten aisles, faintly picking up the click of his toenails against the cold tile. “There's certainly a lot of stuff in here to choose from. I think I can see why some folks here horde things,” as he had quickly discovered in the cavernous dens of Jaded Shadows. What ones were taken seemed to be doted with little trinkets and keepsakes from what he imagined was the ruined city that loomed nearby. More importantly, the condition of this particular store amazed him. It was slightly less obvious than the run of the mill shopping malls that were scattered about and of course, with the building looking as shabby as it did, perhaps it was all too easy to pass up and imagine it as being looted already. After all, hadn't he passed it up once before? Pausing in front of a glass display with knives, he thought absently of Lucifer.



“You findin’ everything you need?”

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[Nocht]

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we launch ourselves into the bright::in character Grasping her chosen fishing rod Nocht moved away to search for a bow, her eyes flicking over the heads mounted on the far wall. She paid them little mind, picking through debris and crossing the floor to a display stand holding a few promising looking bows. She had seen similar exhibits a handful of times in stately homes her family had spent time in at home. While unpleasant, she had only found them truly horrifying the first time she had stumbled upon them as a pup. Exploring a manor they had taken up residence in she walked blindly into a room filled with stuffed and mounted animals both exotic and native, their dead eyes staring at her so accusingly she had run and hid and it had taken her father hours to coax her out and calm her down. After that she had come to accept them as a necessary evil to be lived with when they were staying in certain places. Both fishing rod and bow would need to be re-strung, but she felt up to that challenge. She fingered a wooden bow and finding a crack from damp and age she discarded it, instead choosing to investigate the more resilient carbon fibre and aluminium bows. Eventually she chose a bow to join her fishing rod, sturdy enough to let a powerful shot fly, yet compact enough so as not to hinder travel. She smiled at Valentine's question. "Yeah, I think so. I think I'll have to look elsewhere for clothes though." She said and laughed a little, gesturing at the sparse collection of garments left on the hangers. What was left wouldn't fit and the outdoor clothes, water-proof, shiny fabric and warm, absorbent fleece weren't exactly what she had in mind. She then spied out the last thing on her mini-list, something to read. Setting the rod and bow on the counter as she passed, leaving her hands free to flip through the few books left on the shelves beside and behind the counter. Maps and book with pictures of landscapes and monuments, all written in English, a language she was familiar enough with and comfortable when it came to speaking, but less in terms of reading. "And my book. I can wait though." She added, setting down the book she held, but choosing a slim map which documented the immediate area. She recognised the shape of the beach.

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[Valentine Valiant]

Wanna fade this to black? *totally too tired and lazy to use blockquote*

[html]Extending an arm out, he opened the door of the case and ran a finger or two across the cold, textured handle of one of the blades and plucked it from its resting place. “Well, I don't imagine that either one of those are far off from here,” he responded idly, letting his hand fall limp to test the weight of the knife. “If you don't mind my company, I reckon we could look for those too. No telling what we might uncover there.” Even though Jaded Shadows had quite the extensive library, Valentine always wanted something more. Something that he could claim was his, at least. He had come back to his ‘home’ of sorts with not much more than a small pack of things. With Syemv gone, he didn't even really have a room in the house to his name. He couldn't lay any claim to it at all if he wanted to. He closed the display case and peered through the musty darkness of the store, finding Nocht's well-built figure and smiling again. “What say you?”[/html]

[Nocht]

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out of character::black engulfs the dying light Fade to black would be perfect, I think. we launch ourselves into the bright::in character She half turned and grinned back slightly at him, nodding. "Might even go so far 's to say I enjoy your company." Nocht replied. She moved back over to the counter, placing the map beside her bow and fishing rod, and then went to grab a spool of the clear cord used for stringing fishing rods; she'd re-string the bow herself later on. All in all, it had been a productive day so far, and apparently it was still far from over. Returning to the counter she slung the bow over her shoulder and grabbed up the fishing rod and the map in her free hand, along with the fishing line. She frowned a little, seeing as her hands were already nearly full. Those pockets really would come in useful, even if she didn‘t find what she deemed a suitable book. Turning to move towards the door she grinned cheekily back at Valentine. "You near ready yet?" His company was most certainly growing on her and she’d even go so far as to hazard that she was anticipating looking for the rest of the items on her list.

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[Valentine Valiant]

[html]“Oh, only about as ready as I'll ever be,” he chuckled, then turning his attention away from his companion and towards the door that they had forced open. Surely nothing else could go wrong in what was turning out to be quite an eventful day, especially in the looting department. As the pair headed towards the door and back out onto the crumbling city streets, their direction changed and turned towards finding a library. Or at the very least, a bookstore of some sort that wasn't in total shambles. Sooner than later, they disappeared through the urban haze and well out of sight for a mindful, watching observer to follow and listen in on their conversation, and the day moved along as it always did.[/html]