+10 Study the landscape of an area (Double XP)
+10 Practice covering your tracks (Double XP)
+10 Practice disguising your appearance (Double XP)

After another fateful trip to the Bog, Fallon finds herself covered in muck and grime, the sensation of the slimy mess squishing between her toes a delightful one. She has yet to frighten Fálki out of his mind with her swampy disguise though this time, the Salem figurine seeks to build further on the playbook. In the dirt of the plains, Fallon rolls her muddied body about -- the lighter hue of the dirt providing her with a lighter disguise.

She then travels for miles, wading through a vast emptiness that leaves her rather bored. There is nothing to see nor entertain herself with until she reaches what appears to be a graveyard.

With her interest piqued, Fallon begins to wander through the Boneyard, bright fuchsia gaze studying the remains of a vast array of animals that lay before her. She uses the broken fragment of bones as her stepping stone, lithe paws aiming to leave no trail of her whereabouts as she leaps to and fro, settling only by the skull of what she assumes was an elephant before its death.

@Khal

table by ferus, art by argenticide

+10 Study the landscape of an area ( x2 exp ) (1/2) +20 Discuss the features of a territory with someone ( x2 exp ) (1/2) +20 Find a notable landmark in a territory ( x2 exp ) (1/2) Khal has never been here before or really even anywhere near here. He hadn't known there was any place in Maua's lands that was so desolate, so entirely devoid of life. Or at least he thought at first this was the case. All he seemed to pass were skeletons, some in more recent states of decay than others. The way an eerie fog seemed to cling to the earth here almost had him turning back, too reminiscent of the same Mist that held him captive for so long. Until he noticed movement in the distance. He came nearer the figure, noticing the same large landmark she had already paused near. He looked over the lion with obvious confusion as first, as they were entirely coated in mud and muck to the point Khal could find no discernable scent or hint at their identity. Especially as vibrant fuschia eyes were turned away at the moment. "A fitting look for a dreary place, I suppose," he said with a brow raised, wondering how the stranger (@Fallon) would take to company.

+10 Study the landscape of an area (Double XP)
+10 Practice covering your tracks (Double XP)
+10 Practice disguising your appearance (Double XP)

She wonders how and why the elephant might have ended up in such an unremarkable location for its death. If she were to die, she would certainly not think of dragging herself here so that she may take her last breath. She draws closer still, dancing on the broken remains to draw nearer so as not to leave a trace of her presence. She rather enjoys being invisible -- Fallon noting how her now dusty figurine melted with the thick fog that settles across the Boneyard.

But another figure looms in the distance and joins her by the elephant skull, Fallon's bright pink gaze appraising the figure and realising that she knew the male. "Where's your costume, @Khal?" she asks, as if he has missed the fancy dress memo, hoping that he might recognise her from her voice. She does glance about her then, soaking in the dreary location as so succinctly described by her counterpart. "It sends chills down my spine," she admits aloud, knowing that so many had moved on at this very location was a rather daunting thought.

table by ferus, art by argenticide

+10 Study the landscape of an area ( x2 exp ) (2/2) +20 Discuss the features of a territory with someone ( x2 exp ) (2/2) +20 Find a notable landmark in a territory ( x2 exp ) (2/2) "Where's your costume, Khal?" He looks more fully as the mud-cloaked creature when she speaks, seeing those bright pink eyes fully now and after a moment recognizes the voice to go with them. "Gods, Fallon. I didn't even recognize you," he says with a bit of impressed appreciation in his voice. Beneath the grime was no stranger at all but someone he hoped to call a friend one day. A good disguise indeed. "I wonder if it was always like this," he mused, "It's hard for me to imagine Maua creating this place." Then again there were many things he couldn't have imagined Maua allowing to happen. But they all the had, down to his very worst nightmares. Shaking himself physically as if he could shake of the eerie chill he deigned to try and lighten the atmosphere in defiance. A crocodile skull also lay near the elephant's remains and Khal would move to stoop behind it before poking his head into the opening. "How's this?" he asked @Fallon from between the skeletal jaws full of teeth.

There is simple delight in the fact that @Khal has not recognised her though he had drawn close enough to smell and to identify her appearance. She cackles then, forgetting all about her previous attempts at leaving no trace of her presence -- leaping forward right in front of her counterpart's nose, as if to surprise him though now her play was up. "That was the plan," she exclaims with delight, smirk playing on her leather lips.

At his musings about the Boneyard, Fallon turns her gaze to the graveyard, her mind turning to whether any Gods would want to create such a depressing location. "Do you think this place is reserved for those who do not deserve a proper burial?" she muses, wondering just how spiritual Khal might be. Did his Gods have standards that had to be met for the living?

But Khal entertains her -- as he had done at the Freeze, the lithe figurine watching with vivacious delight as he pokes his head through a crocodile skull. "You don't make a convincing reptile," Fallon remarks, stepping back onto her hind limbs as if to study him carefully. She takes a step towards the remnants of an antelope skull, the dome a perfect shape to rest on top of someone's head.

"Come here," she beckons to the male, picking up the heavy headdress with her jowls.

table by ferus, art by argenticide

The monochrome woman was always so full of joie de vivre that Khal could almost call it a bit overwhelming compared to how subdued he had been lately. Especially any time he was forced to spent apart from Voluspa. But he also knew that if they intended to become essentially homeless sometime soon then he needed to learn his birthplace top to bottom. Really it was just luck that he had found a friendly face amongst this depressing ruin of a place. She asked his about his opinion on why this place might exist and he suddenly regretted mentioning the gods at all when he realized he had to once more face his feelings on the matter. Even if only for a moment. "Maybe. I used to think Maua was all-forgiving but I don't know if I know anything of the gods anymore, honestly." He says this through the jaws of the dead crocodile, but she doesn't seem to approve of his choice. He shrugs as she beckons him over, watching as she picks up the remnants of another skull, this one with horns on it. Assuming what she wanted to do with it and content to play along, he bent his head down to accept his apparently better costume from @Fallon's jaws.

There is something curious about the way @Khal speaks of his belief in the Gods in past tense. Fallon's inner sleuth pricks its ears as she pries: "But you used to think you knew," she presses, wondering what might have changed his opinion. What had happened to Khal that he questioned all that he once knew? Thankfully, the male consents to dress-up, ambling over to where she stood with a shrug. Gingerly, the grey figurine places the skull on top of his head, antlers sticking straight out of the top of her counterpart's head. "You'd make a handsome antelope though," she muses with a devilish gleam in her bright pink eyes.

table by ferus, art by argenticide

The fact that Khal was so compliant to the idea of being Fallon's dress up doll probably had something to do with Khal being the One of only two brothers amongst a small army of sisters. Fallon was perceptive though it would seem and he smirked slightly as she placed the new headdress atop his own skull. But you used to think you knew. It was a statement but she had guessed correctly anyway but he still deflected it momentarily, "Flattering to steal my secrets are we?" He asked while keeping the antlers balanced on his head. "You're not wrong. This might sound a little... pretentious, but my conception was divine. For some reason I thought the god that stitched me and my littermates from the love of two lionesses... Well, I thought maybe that meant I had some sort of divine protection. Foolish." He shook his head before looking back at the mud-caked @Fallon, wondering if she would even believe him.

"Never," she responds in faux shock, as if the idea of bribing @Khal with kind words was an affront to her character. Truly, it wasn't. She was a creature that craved information about the world and those that inhabited it. To her, information was power and this was what kept her practising her disguise so that she may go about unnoticed by the general public, be able to study strangers without them being alerted to her presence. She listens with a small tilt of her head, pink gaze studying her company all the while as he explains his conception and his preconceived notion of protection.

There was admittedly a fair bit to unpack from his explanation -- firstly, he was born to two mothers. Interesting. Had she not previously spoken to someone who had spoken about her and her wife being blessed by the gods with children of their own? But what really draws intrigue is his final line -- "What happened to you?" she asks, wondering what protection he had sought from his gods that he had not received.

table by ferus, art by argenticide

Fallon is quick to deny her sleuthing ability but Khal keeps the information tucked away just in case he needs a good sleuth one day. He was getting fairly good at being invisible and covering his tracks when he needed to be, but frankly he was just too stubbornly honest to get any good information out of anyway, even after he'd grown out of his youthful shyness. The antlers on his head didn't exactly fit the somber expression that had taken over his patched face, but keeping them balanced kept him from reminiscing too hard on his words, "Well... a Great Mist used to protect this place from outsiders, but a few years ago Maua's passage opened up and the Mist cleared to allow them roam of the valley. Or at least that's the story my mother told me. This year the Mist returned but it was... different. Sinister. A lot of lions got pulled into it, I guess. Myself included. Some of them were found fairly quickly, I hear..." he trailed off, waiting to see if @Fallon wanted the rest of the story or if she was content with that.