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Thread Title: 「 Can’t Help Falling in Love 」 

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A common flurry of snow is not enough to deter you from pursuing your daily agenda, be it hunting, patrolling, or traveling. It’s gentle, peppering your coat in a way that you don’t even realize the subtle accumulation clinging to you. Then a particularly large flake hits your ears, causing it to flick. It happens again. And again. Was it hailing? Why did the snow suddenly feel heavy? Just as you look up, the winter flurries turn into falling petals. Where were they coming from?

Thread Participants

OOC partner: Tasha
Character 1: Persephone
Alignment: Lawful Good
Desired skills: N/A
No triggers listed

OOC partner: Tskani
Character 2: Amaris
Alignment: Chaotic good
Desired skills: N/A
No triggers listed

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Skill: tunnel of love badge

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Amaris could not describe what it was that led him astray, what incorporeal feeling that now guided his paws and swept him away. But he wandered as if the wind were his compass and the horizon were his home. His citrine gaze that rivaled the hanging sun cast out like a line across the winter-kissed sky as a collection of soft-touched snow danced across his peripherals, marring his back in a blanket of white as he moved.

He had not noticed them, had not cared. Not until the largest of snowflakes hit him square in the face, dragging one of his tufted ears to a lonesome droop as he instinctually twitched to rid himself of the sensation.

But then he blinked, and the world that had once been obscured by the sheets of dancing snow now transformed into the delicate rain of…petals?

He stared, an incredulous look given to the softness of his features as lines were drawn across his brow. This…wasn’t snow? These were…flowers in the softest and brightest shades of pink and red…raining as if they were snow accumulated from the clouds.

Odd..?

A subtle, frowning line dipped across his lips as he hurried forward, forcing his body into a determined run as the snow beneath his feet turned to grass, and the pelting rain of pink-toned petals became the only thing he could see.

SKILL : - - - ( 1 / 5 )

The excitement brought by the Celebration and tourney had gone, leaving Northfall in its normally quiet state. Persephone had enjoyed the infusion of life that surged into her adopted mountain, but now she was left alone with her thoughts and had nothing to funnel her energy into.

A quiet, willful voice in the back of her mind reminded her that she could carve out a moment and space for just herself. She did not have to pour every fiber of her being into Northfall and its restoration; if she continued as she was, she'd burn and burn until nothing was left. It had never been within the plans for her to make it her home so soon, but with an empathetic heart to the plight of its people - her people, she made the decision to forego what was intended.

But such changes came with growing pains and they ached beneath her new responsibilities and burdens she was not yet prepared for.

Each step away from Northfall's peaks was the lifting of a weight from her narrow, young shoulders. She could breathe a little easier, the air tasted a little sweeter - the invitation to stretch her legs was far too seductive for her to ignore it. Her strides quickened, long legs gathering into a free-hearted run as she sped across the alpine grounds without a single destination or motive in mind.

Snow streaked past her, collecting in her bright-colored coat, and she paid it little mind until the flakes seemed to grow and the cold ground softened, long grass whispering around her ankles. It suddenly felt like she was being pummeled by strangely large flakes of snow and she dawdled to a pause to shake out her fur and clear her vision of the soft shades of the petals.

All around her were trees full of blooms which scattered like rain to the earth below. The young goddess turned in circles as she tried to see it all, bi-colored eyes stretched wide in wonder at the scene. It was winter, but somehow... she had stepped into a springtime wonderland without even knowing it.

There was a thick and cloying scent in the air that was warm, tinged deeply with the fragrant flora and deepened by something so close to cinnamon. It was heady, but the queen found she quite enjoyed it as it seemed to fizzed within her veins.

Her muzzle split into a euphoric grin as she pranced with reckless abandon through the accumulated petals, purposely sending them flying and fluttering through the air in pink clouds as she danced. Persephone had not yet realized another had been lured to the same place, too enthralled by her newfound game.

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Skill: —

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Uncertainty was a weighted force against his muscles as tension lined his shoulders, marred his features, and furrowed his brow. He ventured forward, quietly and hesitantly, as each paw step brought him further and further away from what he had known to be the North. No longer were snow-cropped hills in his peripherals, but rather blossoming trees with petals, unlike any others he had ever seen. No longer were the snow-capped mountains at the height of his horizon, but rather rolling fields spackled with the various colors of blooming flowers.

He stood perplexed for a moment as twisting vines of thoughts caused his heart to stutter in his chest and his feet to root themselves in their place. He stood atop a hill, certainly not one he had remembered venturing towards before, yet there he stood. The warmth of the air was unnaturally comforting, like a breath hoisted from weary lungs that whispered its gentle promise.

Calm down, it had seemed to say, Enjoy.

And yet Amaris could not stop thinking of the Five, of the festival, and of his…extracurricular activities that he had participated in. While the world was not on fire like before, this…reality was not one he knew of either. Was this another punishment? Cloaked with the honeyed scent of summer and warmer weather—was it meant to unnerve him? Or keep him docile?

Was…this a dream?

He blinked along his churning thoughts, his anxious nerves fraying in retaliation to the comfort and warmth that pressed against his flanks. What would happen…if he chose to succumb to the world that now sat before him? Enjoyed himself…in a different way than he had done so before…?

Would the Five still be angry?

He would’ve mulled over his choices for perhaps as long as the dream-like reality existed had it not been for the flash of red that spurred across his vision. The Moon blinked in rapid thought as the dancing of a silhouette dawned before him, and the fluttering of various petals washed across the stranger’s features.

Who…was that?

Amaris’ legs had moved in their volition, and before he had consciously considered what he was doing, he descended the hill toward the stranger below. Hey! He called out as curiosity lured his anxiety away, and that comforting warmth once more spun like silk across his chest.

His tail rose to a place above him, and once more, without those constant anxious thoughts, he trotted over to the woman with a hesitant smile wrapped around his lips. Do you know where we are?

Perhaps, he was dreaming.

SKILL : - - - ( 1 / 5 )

Worries melted away, layer by layer, as the young goddess lost herself in the warmth of false spring. Though she distantly acknowledged this was one of many mirages wrought by this world, she did not spurn it - instead, she embraced it, almost defiantly.

Her slender frame darted between heaps of gathered flowers, leaping at times to capture one on its slow procession toward the ground. She had not expected anyone to be party to her very-unqueenly behavior, but it was unlikely that knowing she had an audience would have inspired any sense of self-consciousness.

Through the woven notes of bird song, the unlikely happened and a voice reached Persephone as she waltz among the pools of petals.

Her paws stilled in their motion, her chest heaving with the exertion of her play, as she turned to address the newcomer - though, expecting a stranger, she was surprised to find a face she knew.

It was one of the entrants from the tournament. He had done well, she recalled - he had even bested Elli despite her best efforts. Persephone suspected it likely did the violent girl a solid to be put in her place for once, but she was similarly certain it wouldn't have been perceived that way.

Elli took things personally, that much the queen had noticed from their sparing interactions and proximity.

Not at all, Persephone returned blissfully, not a single particle of disappointment to be found. Her singular pricked ear cupped forward, its half-folded mate attempting to follow suit with poor results. Her eyes softened, a conspiratorial curl rising to both her dark lips and her voice as she added, But doesn't that make it better?

It was a welcome change of pace to just be - she was somewhere entirely unknown and unexpected, not a singular soul knew where she was save for the boy hewn from moon rays.

She angled her body toward him and took a handful of steps to bridge their distance, making no effort to dismiss the flowers that stuck to her from her forays. You were in the tournament - Amaris, was it? she hummed. You fought well.

It had not been ideal to oversee the fights, but she found some virtue in admiring the strong bodies that vied for a win. The battlefield could be an art form after all, it would seem.