one foot in the sea & one on shore voluspa had been venturing across the expanse of the gardens when the storm had hit — violent and raging — in a swirl of angry dust and debris. she had never seen something appear out of thin air like that, but it consumed her body completely in the flash of an eye, hardly giving the woman time to react, let alone think. one moment she had been minding her own business, and the next she had become a victim to the dust storm, wincing as it pounded against her flanks and stung at narrowed eyes. all the while, her mind called out instinctively for khal — but, of course, voluspa did not want him succumbing to the same fate as her. and so, instead, her lips would remain shut and the valkyrie would trudge blindly through the anomaly, chest racketing with coughs after every step, until she finally - finally - found security behind the protection of a large boulder. and it was there that she would curl, hunkering down behind the feeble refuge that it offered as she tucked her face close to the plush of her chest, and simply waited for it to pass. it could have been minutes or hours, but finally, it did. voluspa was apprehensive to move at first, but when she did she noted that her pelt had been covered in a blanket of debris, making her otherwise abyss pelt appear brown. slowly, and careful, unwinding herself from her position, she sputtered out a cough in the hopes of relieving some of the dust from her lungs. and though the sigrun would not yet move from her position, she hoped that she would have enough time between that storm and the next to travel further north. @Eskel

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It had come nowhere, and suddenly the dust was whipping around him, casting grit into his eyes. It stung. Debris battered his body, and he had bolted, like a scared cub- seeking shelter. It was a hollow between two rocks, where he took safety, his head burrowed down into his mane, paws up to cover his ears.

The wind roared, it was so loud.

It wasn’t often that the male was terrified, but as the dirt and wind tore a around him, and buffeted his fur. He remained as safe as he could.

As soon as it came, it seemed to pass, and he stood up slowly, shaking his massive body to rid himself of some of the dust. His eyes stung, and he blinked them furiously. He moved, carefully forward, and squinted so that he could sort of see where he was going. He blundered forward, wanting to go further away, into rocks or trees or some kind of cave, or something... anything.

Of course he had been in a prairie.

He groaned and stumbled forward, loosening his body up from the cramped position, when he thought he spied another out of his squinted eyes. He sniffed the air, and there was just a very slight scent of a lioness, and with a sneeze, he spoke. Are you okay? His voice is nothing more than a dry rumble, as he turned his head to peer towards them.

@Voluspa

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one foot in the sea & one on shore to be quite frank, the woman felt as though she had just been through hell and back. coughing once more, she found that a ragged sort of dryness had spurred in her throat - like sandpaper, almost -, which forced her to hold back a wince at the pain that flared there next. her luck seemed to be so few and far between that she was truly starting to believe that she was a magnet for chaos — but it was the voice of another, a stranger, that eventually drew voluspa’s attention away from her own thoughts, neck craning to try and catch a glimpse of the other figure that stood amongst the storm’s aftermath. "i — i think so." she replied out into the settling dust, finding that her words sounded more hoarse than she had been expecting. nonetheless, it was with an idle roll of her shoulders that she would finally prop herself back up onto her elbows, sparing a quick glance towards the retreating anomaly before her eyes fell back towards direction of the other rogue. "have you ever seen anything like that before?" the valkyrie asked with a small scowl, her expression soured as she began carefully sweeping the dust from her pelt — albeit the fact that her eyes remained craned poignantly in @Eskel's direction.

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The grit and dust in his eyes sting, and causes them to water, and he rubs at his face with his paws. Truly, that only makes things worse- but he had never experienced anything quite like this... how would he ever feel like he could properly see again. He shook himself again, and then turned his attention onto the stranger he had approached.

‘I think so.’ The voice said almost uncertainly. He frowned slightly cursing his current crappy vision for not being able to see her- to ensure she was indeed okay. ‘Have you ever seen anything like that before?’

“I haven’t. That was...” He paused. “Terrifying.” He adds, unashamed to admit that it was quite terrifying to him. “I don’t think that I’ll ever be clean again.” He grumbled, as he shook himself- yet again.

“My name’s Es-Rabbit.” He almost messed up and gave the stranger his actual name, not the name he’d chosen to go by. “Rabbit.” He adds more sure of himself when he speaks.

@Voluspa

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one foot in the sea & one on shore as the stranger’s voice reached out towards her again, voluspa took it upon herself to begin the process of unfurling from her hiding spot. the sigrun’s bones creaked in protest as she twisted and arched, slowly but surely propping herself up into a full, seated position — which also meant that she now had a better, and proper, view of who was in her company. "i have seen a lot of strange things, but that is definitely amongst the strangest." because, of course, the mist would always reign supreme in that department — that horrible, taunting cloud of fog that had ripped her life in two for the better part of two months. she was dragged from these thoughts, however, by @Eskel's final comment, which warranted a small scoff of agreement from voluspa, as she kept her eyes teetered in his direction. "you’re telling me." she hummed with a brief scowl, swiping a paw along her flank and expelling a plume of brown dust and dirt from the surface of her pelt. awful. the woman’s attention becomes ensnared, however, by the introduction that comes next. except it was not a simple introduction, but rather one strung together with a moment of pause and of uncertainty. it was enough for voluspa to quirk her brow, but not enough for her to pry into business that was not her own. "rabbit," she echoed the name as if testing it out for herself, opting to ignore the brief flutter, perhaps for both of their sakes. "that’s an interesting name for a big guy like you, isn't it?" voluspa added on after a moment more, grinning faintly now as the teasing words slipped from between her lips. of course, perhaps that was intentional, but she felt inclined to ask about it, anyways.

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Since being in this land, this was the weirdest thing he had ever experienced here. He had no other tool to measure this against, so when he thought that this had felt like hell- it was the truest definition he could give it.

Focusing on himself, in this moment didn’t seem polite so she focused on the lioness who uncurled herself from her hiding place. He cannot help the snort of amusement as she paws at herself and dust falls to the earth, and he laughs softly, as he looks at himself. “Looks like we both could use a swim.” He said with a grin.

Ahh, his alias was causing problems. He had stumbled over his name, and inwardly he cursed at himself. “Rabbit.” He confirmed, this time far surer. She mentioned that as an odd name for a big guy like him, and so he shot her, what he hoped was a winning smile. “My mother had an odd sense of humor, what can I say?” He said. At least that part was true, his mother had had a wicked sense of humor.

“What is your name?” He asks, politely, but curiously.

@Voluspa

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one foot in the sea & one on shore unfurling further, voluspa continued to occasionally wipe at the excess dust that coated her pelt, withholding the urge to scrunch her nose and scowl at the plumes of debris that lifted from her in the process. there was, however, a sliver of awareness that remained, which was denoted in the way that her gaze occasionally flickered back on to the retreating clouds — making sure that they were in fact moving away, and did not intend to make another appearance. "the watering hole is not too far away ~" she mused in reply to his commentary, voice trailing off at the end of the sentence as she gave a light, inquisitive perch of her brow. she was not opposed to the idea, should @Eskel be privy to it — but knew that she would have to clean herself off with or without his company, regardless. so the choice would ultimately be up to him. and though she remained quizzical to this entire name fiasco, voluspa continued to choose not to pry — particularly when he reassured her, again, that his name was on fact rabbit. so be it. they all has more important things to worry about, anyways. "it appears that way. lucky for you i’m a sucker for some irony." the words fell easily from her tongue as the woman pulled herself into a standing position, neck craning as she cast a wayward glance over her shoulder and at the wasteland that now surrounded them. she only refocused her attention when the man’s voice reached out to her again, garnering the twisting of her eyes and the slight tilt of her ears. "voluspa sigrun; though there’s no puns associated with it, i’m afraid."

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Eskel was a creature of opportunity, because when one spent all their time spying and relaying information- one rarely had a chance to plan anything. So a swim with a beautiful lioness? He couldn’t turn that down. It was funny that he called her beautiful- when she was covered in debris. If she looked this appealing that way, he imagined that he would find her rather stunning all cleaned up. “I’m good to take a swim if you are?” he would offer politely.

He can’t help the soft chuckle that left him at her comment on his name. Ah, his mother had been a witty creature… it was too bad that his name wasn’t something that she had been witty about.

The dame introduced herself as Voluspa Sigruin and his interest was instantly peaked. He had stumbled upon someone from the family he was looking for- the family he was starting to believe a myth. “What a unique and beautiful name, @Voluspa . It is a pleasure to meet you.” He offers the words without hesitation.

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one foot in the sea & one on shore "the pleasure’s mine," she echoed the sentiment politely, proper in all the ways that she had been taught. flattery, however, was a vague concept to the woman who had only ever had eyes for one — but such was the way of men, and she knew at least that much. if nothing else, she found this stranger to be quite curious, and interesting in a way that she could not quite put her finger on, albeit how hard she tried. in this way, voluspa supposed that she could thank the blasphemous weather for this interesting encounter — and maybe, with a stroke of luck, she would be able to peel back that hidden layer that he had almost and accidentally set free. for, surely, there had to be more to the story of this rabbit and his irony. "after you?" she inquired finally, rolling her shoulders as she tossed @Eskel a final glance. at the same time, a single plush paw would rise from the earth, flippantly gesturing out across the plains with the intention of allowing him to start the journey towards the watering hole. because the sooner she got clean, the better.

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As a trained spy, Eskel couldn’t believe that he’d almost let his cover slipped. He rarely made such idiotic errors. He kind of wished he could bang his head against a rock for a moment, but that surely would imply that something was wrong.

When @Voluspa speaks, he offers her a smile, and nods, stepping forward to direct their path towards the water. “I think I’ve got enough dirt on me for a healer to plant seeds.” He grouses in a good natured sort of way, offering a soft chuckle at the end of his jest. “I wonder if they could plant something that actually tastes good.” He adds, as they presumably walk towards the water to clean off.

-exit-

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