Roux perches on an ethereally twisted, emerald-hued tree branch, one hand holding onto a vine. She stares out in awe at an expansive, emerald tinted sea beyond.
"...Thorn-boughs, talk abou' feelin' small," she breathes out in a mutter to the air.
Beneath her, before long, a feline of deepest indigo lazily drifts along the rich grass, more floating than pacing. Each movement is a slow stretch, haughty relaxation emanating form the cat like an aura.
Roux detecting movment below, pulls her gaze from the primordial sea, angling herself to peer downward at the cat-beast. For her, it is hard to tell whether the entity is a druid or elsewise. She ends up half hanging off the branch to stare and watch.
The cat places itself overlooking the sea, and keeps to stretching in a constant state of unwinding. When a paw is extended too far, it seems to change shape, gaining hints of a hairless humanoid hand. But as soon as it untenses to come back to its position, it's all paw.
Roux 's ears twitch as she watches. She mimics the movement, stretching her hand out far as it might go. Arm all wiry, taut muscle. Nothing changes, no hint of the nineteen year old girl inside the worgen body. She flexes her fingers one more time--still nothing. A grunt, then she looks down again. She swings to hang off the branch upside down, her effort in hiding minimal.
The cat smacks its mouth idly. And then, a waft of something less familiar. It sniffs. Peers left, right, follows the smell (a mix of sea salt, hawthorn, and earth), head craning back. Looks. Canine hanging from a branch. It merely blinks for two second at the figure.
Roux hangs there, unabashedly staring. The lights of the ethereal dimension reflect green in her wolfish eyes. She cranes her head curiously. Ears perked.
The cat snarls for a half second before looking back out at the sea. Though the head doesn't move even in the slightest way, it does say.
"Huh. More and more of you lot showing up in here."
Roux idly swings to and fro. Then a small 'hup' and she is up again to idly swing and scurry down the branch, then the trunk.
"Tha' a bad fing?" She mildly retorts with a snort out of her wet nose.
The cat stares out, unmoving.
"The green flight was near-terrified when we started coming here, we're terrified with you and now trolls coming here more and more often - and you too will be terrified when gnomes of fel-races eventually also find their way in. This is natural. I do not know if this is good."
“Pft, I were already terrified comein' 'ere m'self. An' 'oo's we? Ain' ye th' ones teachin' us?” Roux loosely crouches on the root, eyeing the cat.
“Lessons. Yes. Is there a lesson to be learned here, today?”
Roux tilts her head.
"I fink some'un needs t' learn wot's 'is own fear 'n wot's no'."
“To be too unafraid or too afraid are both wrong, yes? As with all things, one must have balance in one's fear, yes?”
Roux blinks. Then snorts.
"Yer changin' th' subjec'. Battin' fings aroun' like a cat." Bored with the feline's musings, she hops off the root and trots away on all fours.
“I have only one fear.”
Roux huffs out of her nose, pausing briefly to peer back to the cat. Not very impressed.
The cat licks its paw casually, eyes still on the water.
Roux rolls her eyes muttering something about being thankful there's not a prissy cat Ancient. With no elaboration at the moment, she impatiently makes her way on.
The cat, after a few beats, follows her.
“Wolfkin. It is the fear of losing the Dream. I should be afraid for my kin. I should be afraid of the world my body sleeps in. I should be afraid of ignorance and I should be afraid of injustice. But I am not. I only fear for the Dream. The Dream you're scared to be in.”
Roux hops from one stone structure to the next. She pauses to peer to him again. She stares at him, one hand slightly lifted.
"...Tha' makes sense." She states curtly, not really enchanted by his diatribe. She perches, peering at him.
The cat goes on, as it paces.
"So teach me then. That's why your here. How I can begin to fear again. For worldly things."
Roux watches him every step he takes. Her fur bristles just slightly as he nears.
"Tch. When'd ye stop fearin'?"
“Mrrrr- three steps. Seeing how shallow that world was. Then seeing how beautiful and pure and more real though ethereal this one is. And then seeing that world go worse. And worse. And worse."
Roux peers at him. One ear lifted, one ear skewed.
"...Hrmph. Ye one'f th' ones been Dreamin' 'ere mos' 'f 'is life?"
The cat shrugs.
"I'm young. For our kind. I've been sleeping, a but under half my life actually. But time wasn't the factor. I knew the moment I came in that this was home." Its eyes shine golden even in the feline shape.
“Why?”
The cat seems to ponder on this. The answer does come decisively though.
"Nobody had fucked it up yet."
Roux peers at him flatly. Not impressed. She shrugs.
"So ye prefer i' 'cause 's simple? No messes t' clean up?”
The cat's eyes narrow in what might be slight offense.
"Why were you afraid to come here?"
Roux grins at his expression.
"Didn' wanna lose m'self. Lose m'self t' jus'...bein'. T' easy. Childish. 'Idin' in th' womb, afraid t' be expunged int' th' bloody world. By th' look on yer face, 'm righ'. I go' a friend tha' does tha'. 'Cept wif books. 'Ides."
The cat blinks, tensed in consideration, as if deciding whether to run or confront the words in the air.
Roux, meanwhile, lets out a long yawn, maw opening, then snapping shut.
The cat turns, all a feline swagger as he begins to descend back down.
"You're evidently all to insightful to be taught much."
“Oooh, ye runnin' away now? Seen tha' afore. Typical cat.”
The cat pops down after another moment of tensed shoulders.
"I guess we can't teach each other much, can we now?"
“No' if ye swagger off, naw. Bu' tha's yer choice.” Roux tosses an errant seed that had landed on the stone structure at the cat, challengingly.
The cat begins to muse a question as it slowly begins to paces.
"Too versed in fear, what ever could we have learned abo-" Then suddenly he's pelted with the seedling. He growls back.
"Sharpshooting?"
Roux laughs to herself.
"I dunno, I though th' kitten wan'ed somefin' t' play wif!" Roux slinks off the stone, inching forward. She bats at his whipping tail.
The stops in its tracks. Tail is batted. It slowly turns, stare sharply narrowed, amber glow brighter.
Roux grins, all a-fanged. She then darts around, all awkward arms and legs. She bats at his tail again, then darts off, circling.
At that, the cat suddenly pounces to a side along her incoming trajectory for a rough tackle.
Roux bounds out of the way! Then hops back and forth as she faces him, cackling.
“Too slow, kitteh!”
The cat seems well annoyed as it leaps up into the air. It seems to dematerialize into raw vital energy and careen on an unnatural trajectory away and back towards Roux, materializing right while landing towards her.
Roux widens her gaze slightly, startled. She moves right when starts to glow, lucky enough to be out of the way. She then digs in, watching him, fur bristling. She circles to the side briefly, then charges to leap over him, hands pressing to his spine.
The cat just quickly rolls onto its back and tries to catch the worgen coming in and use the momentum to roll up into pinning her down with the spin.
Roux rolls out of the way awkwardly, long legs a-tangle. She eventually rights herself to crouching on her long legs, knees bent. A warm, teasing laugh. Then, fingers clawed, she brings her hands together, fingers locking. Roots erupt to pin him in turn, mimicing her fingers.
“ 'Avin' fun?”
The cat is held up and tight, rather helplessly by the thorns. He seems in total disbelief. The creatures explodes into vital energy once more, parts in two to go around her and materializes behind the worgen to grab at her, arms trying to get securely around her waist.
Roux knows by now to just -move- when the cat dematerializes. She dives forward through the energies, landing on all fours. She turns to face whatever it reforms into. Unnervingly, the figure is familiar; a tall, haughty, indigo-haired prince of kal'dorei society, his usually bored languor is at present replaced by challenging fury. She blinks slowly, going very still. Her gaze narrows, but not in hostility.
"...Ye."
The elf jolts forward for another tackle on all fours, body half-way between kal'dorei and feline as he bursts so.
And Roux's pause in disbelief is her undoing as she is pinned.
He uses his weight to hold her shoulders down, face close to hers, golden eyes still with feline pupils.
"You're a playful pup, aren't you?"
Roux peers at him, however she's pinned. She grins, then laughs quietly. She snorts in his face, head more or less leaned away since it's so long. She eyes him sidelong.
"I dunno. Yer sulky little prince, aincha? Now, can I ge' up, 'r do I gotta shove ye off?"
He smirks for a half second.
"You have to shove me off, evidently. Royalty is not known to reasonably yield."
Roux snorts again. She pulls her legs up, hands going to his shoulders. She aims to kick into his gut and shove him at the same time. Long legs might be good for something.
He winces in pain and makes a rough note of
"That'll do", as he simply rolls off, dropping to her side.
Roux pulls herself up to stand, shaking off lose fur and natural detritus. She peers down at him, ears twitching back. Another chuckle, then she pads a step or two away.
“Hrrrm. Don' fink I go' yer name ye'.”
He groans, rolling on in the grass, out of pain or pleasure.
"Telih, learner that pups that bark and play may still bite."
Roux snickers in her wheezy lupine manner.
"Tilly? Kay. Roux Blackwood." Roux pads in a half-circle around him, watching him suffer. Maybe. Who knows.
Telih rolls on, until he's at her feet peering up.
"You've a lot of potential Rux Blackwood."
Roux tilts her head to peer down at him.
"So d' ye."
“Don't ever forget how to play. One can indeed play too much, but. Just never forget.”
"Cheer. I would ask you to put the moon back, but I fear you might weigh it down with your sorrow." The maternal raven spirit flicks the glowing orb to a small, aqua-haired kal'dorei with the tip of her beak. "Go on," she encourages with a warm croak.
“I'd say th' same t' ye. I didn' break noffin' wif m' feet, did I?” Roux gives him an idle kick to the ribs.
Telih smirks, shaking his head.
"We're asleep. Without intent to harm, harm can't come."
Roux stares at him, blankly. She tests that, kicking harder.
Telih narrows his eyes, amused.
"Felt it. But it didn't hurt-hurt anything."
Roux stares blankly still. She suddenly swings her leg back--...then drops it, chuckling lowly. She steps back slightly.
"I bes' no', I ain' one fer 'ealin'."
Telih seems well amused, lazing about the grass, head rested onto a palm as he looks at her.
Roux squints at him.
"Wot?"
Telih shrugs.
"Welcome to your dream, Rux."
“...I don' even know where yer gettin' Rux. Ain' no X in 'ow I say m' name. Roo....An' I been 'ere afore a few times, bu' fanks.” Roux finally relents the display of dominance, standing higher than him. She eases down to sit.
“Glad all that's clarified.” Telih just stares.
Roux stares. One ear shifts up and down.
"...Typical cat, starin' a' noffin'." Without much input from her, like wolf ears do, hers twitch in her white hair to the myriad sounds in the area.
"Wot?" She asks again of his staring.
Telih sits on his knees to level with her, nose an inch from hers.
"Just because a fight is hard doesn't make it more or less important than a fight close to home. But you don't disagree. What is it you actually want to know?"
Roux 's wet nose flares lightly.
"When yer gonna quit wif th' big words an get ou' there." She snorts.
"Lotta fings I wanna know. Ye ain' th' one t' ask, though."
“How do you know I'm not?”
“Ye seem t' go runnin' firs' fing.”
“Oh mrawr. Ask.”
Roux snorts again, the effort of the breath perhaps rustling his bangs as close as he is to her face. She angles her head up slightly to peer around.
"Ye said yer afraid 'f th' Dream bein' d'stroyed, aye?"
“Or, selfishly, my being lost from it.” Telih nods, not backing any at all.
Roux eyes him briefly.
"Wotcha fink we 'n th' trolls'll do t' it? Or d' ye jus' no' wanna share?”
“There's a bit of selfish unsharing too. Perhaps enrich it with diversity, understanding its way. But I can also see some of your kin and their kin feeding the Nightmare, or trying to bridge the imperfect world to this one more than they should be linked...I never said the fear was rational. Just natural.”
Telih smiles tiredly.
Roux peers at the tired smile. A soft snort, then she pulls herself up to stand.
"Wee kitten needs 'is nap, i' seems."
Telih curls up as he mutters
"Pup's mean." The shape again begins to jump ethereally between feline, elven and mixed.
Roux eyes the shape changing. She seems slightly unnerved by it. She grunts, then moves to the bone-like stone structure again to perch.
Telih settles feline and eyes almost closed flit towards her.
"Finhhl'.. quesht'un?"
Roux quirks an ear, then glances over to him. Upon discerning he actually speaks, she answers.
"Go 'n."
Telih drifts asleep as soon as it finishes muttering out ethereally
"Howsh long will...will you give him before...before he has to pick between you...between you and the Light?" He begins purr-snoring.
Roux waits for the question, brow lifting. She blinks in a brief skip of her heart, then covers it with a quiet laugh.
"Tch, only been abou' a monf. Maybe a bi' over." She answers, even though he sleeps.
"Dunno ye'. Jus' seein' wot 'appens. Hrrrm."