there is something strange with the mist. usually, it disappears after a few hours; it's of no worry to the large population of lions here save for the paranoid and superstitious. but this is different. unusual in its thickness and color that úlla is keen to not leave her den. so far, it's relatively thinner in the cove, but she and her members cannot strand themselves in their own homes for too long. @Evangeline has left, but soon her voice calls out for úlla just as she's out walking the lands too. by the time úlla arrives, she notices several lions - including @Roan - desperately pulling away from the mist just as she sees a young lion disappear. the mist is everywhere here, soaking up even the blackness of the ground with its off-white color. move to higher land! úlla calls, though she's unsure of how many lions there are. from the voices, it seems like some are missing. she herself cannot go to them for fear of being swallowed by the mist itself.

table by ferus

He had watched the mist roll in on a walk to gently warm up his damaged muscles. He walked through the fringes of it where he could feel the tendrils leave damp trails where it dragged against his shadowy hide. This seemed peculiar for the season and for the sea in general. Was Vellen angry or something else? Why would such a thick fog hang onto the nearby beaches like this? A familiar voice commands whichever bodies are nearby to find a higher vantage point. It prompts Kvi to clamber up the rocky side of the shore to look for @Úlla. Is this Vellen? He would ask her as he picked her shape from the lighter foggy area and approached.

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Not only was his heart breaking at the disappearance of his son, but also in seeing the guilt that washed over his wife. Roan turned to face @Faelyn, minty greens searching earnestly to look directly into her cerulean gaze. "Fae. This is not your fault," the Hodari insisted. Children wander. It was good to give Jai the breadth to explore. He was under supervision even if he didn't know it. There was no way they could have known the mist would swipe him up before they even knew what was happening. Roan would attempt to wrap his foreleg around his wife's shoulders, wanting to pull her close for comfort as they backed away from the mist.

The king looked to @Evangeline as she questioned their experience with the mist. Fae was quick to answer, giving the same answer Roan would have given himself. "It was only a barrier the last time. You couldn't get past it," the mauve lion expanded on their knowledge of the mist. "But lions weren't disappearing into it." The masked man then paused, gaze turning back to the wall of white clouds that taunted them all. He had yet to hear anything come out of the fog. Just deafening silence accented with their own voices, but nothing that sounded like his son.

When @Giselle offered her assistance before asking for a description of their son, Roan couldn't help but snap out of his own frustration. "He's white," the king practically growled. "He's a white cub lost in a fricken mess of white mist." The father's anger was poorly directed, already feeling the hopelessness in trying to find Jai among the mist. It was like trying to find a very specific needle in a needle stack. This wasn't even a haystack, people! As quickly as the anger had risen within him, though, the Hodari realized his own tone. "I'm sorry," he sighed with a shake of his head, defeat already seeping into his words as he looked to Giselle for forgiveness. "It's just..." but the father couldn't finish the explanation, allowing his voice to fall flat. The Obsidian king's gaze fell to his paws until he heard @Ulla's voice. Head lifted to find the ashen woman before looking back to his wife. "She's right," the Hodari relented. "If we stay too close, we'll just get lost as well." And then who would find Jai? Reluctantly, Roan started to move towards the rocky edge of the shoreline, pausing to make sure Fae was coming with him before moving any further away from the mist.

Table & Ref by Amanda | Background | Base

He said it wasn't her fault, and she wanted to believe him, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. Though, she would admit there was no way she could have known this was going to happen. So far as she had known it was safe to let him explore. This was just one of those tragic accidents. She just wished it didn't have to be like this.

Roan put an arm over her and she leaned into him, unable to completely stifle the sob that escaped her as she finally gave in to the fact that she wasn't going to be able to find her son. Whatever the mist had done to him, he was now beyond her reach.

She wasn't really listening to anyone around her anymore, and so the conversation going on around her went over her head. She knew the others were talking, but if you asked she wouldn't know what had been said. Not until Roan commented that they might get lost as well. That wouldn't be good. She couldn't handle Roan disappearing as well, and she supposed neither could he were the situation reversed.

"We'll have to come back and look for signs of him when the fog clears," she said rather distantly, still staring at the mist as though he might waltz out of it.

He was helpless. There was nothing they could do to go in and get Jai. It made matters worse that Roan felt like his son was just on the other side of this fog and yet he couldn't reach his little prince. The mauve man could do nothing but hold his wife tighter as they resigned themselves for the moment. The only thing that gave the Hodari any hope about this ordeal was that the mist seemed to move this time around. It wasn't stagnant like before. @Faelyn was right and they would just have to come back when the fog had cleared. Maybe they would find some footprints or a scent, anything that might lead them to finding their son. "You're right," he murmured against her ear as Roan continued to hold her close. "We'll just.... We'll have to come back. When it's clear. We'll find him." There was a firmer assurance in his last statement. "Let's just get away from the mist for now." Defeat was evident in the king's voice, unwilling to turn his back on his son, but that was all they could do for now. With that, the mauve man would begin to turn away from the shore, hopeful that his wife would follow and they could regroup before searching again.

exit

Table & Ref by Amanda | Background | Base

She also didn't want to leave, but there wasn't anything to do about it now. She forced herself to look to those who had gathered around them and nodded slightly. "Thank you. For trying," she said before turning and beginning to follow Roan. She kept glancing back over her shoulder as though Jai might suddenly appear there, running towards them. Even when the beach was no longer in sight she kept looking, but it wasn't with any real hope. They had to be able to find him eventually though, right? Where could he possibly have gone? She wasn't sure, but she hoped wherever he was that he wasn't hurt, and that he knew they were looking for him.

-exit faelyn-

He watched the mists from the vantage point. They were thick and nearly blotted out the sea. With Ulla busy, the injured Sigrun hobbled down the rocks once more to explore the beach. The tendrils of mist swirled around him but did not stick. It left a damp feeling on his hide. He could hear voices somewhere near about someone being lost. But he could not see them. He padded along the beach in the mists in an attempt to gather information. Could it be Vellen? Or some other phenomena? He would probably have to seek out the rest of his family to ask.

-exit

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As the others looked about frantically from the sands, Evangeline kept her eyes and ears peeled from the safety of her perch. Squinting as the male describes how this must was once a harmless barrier that did not devour. It really didn't help much in figuring out what was going on.
Another, darker, lion arrived. He asked Ulla what she herself had been wondering. Was this the doing of their God? But the black male seemed more interested in exploring the mist. Evangeline watched with a stiff posture, waiting for him to disappear as well. But he simply slipped from sight as one might expect.
As Roan and Faelyn packed it up, Evangeline moved toward @Úlla. Before the boy vanished there was a woman that disappeared as well. A large dark brown lioness. With white above her tail and white over her left eye. No one here had mentioned her so Eva must have been the only one to see her seemingly evaporate.

It all happened so fast. One moment she was picturing them in her head, the white cub with the scars, and nodding profusely at the distraught mother. A man, perhaps the father of the lost child, snapped at her in the throes of desperation. She watched as the anger flashed and ebbed in his eyes, her heart breaking for him. “I understand. But you can’t lose hope yet!” Giselle’s brow was furrowed in a mixture of determination and worry, the mist a constant presence seen from the corner of her eye. That wall could hide all sorts of things. All cub-snatching, lion-eating sort of things. “We just have to look har-” There came a shout to move to higher ground, and so she did, regaining her place beside the small grey lioness. And when she finally had her wits about her again, the parents decided to retire. Giselle opened her mouth, wanting to say some courageous words that would lift their spirits once again. She was so sure they just had to look a little closer. After all, it was just mist! It had to be…right? She smiled feebly at the white woman as she thanked them, feeling like she’d done nothing at all. The truth was, she had done nothing. And it made her feel like she had a cold rock in her stomach. Giselle turned her attention to the two women who remained. “Y-yes, I saw a woman too.” Another pang of guilt hit her, hit her hard. How could she have forgotten…and PERRY! Oh, how could she have forgotten about him. He must be so far away by now. What if whatever was in the mist had gotten him too? “Have any of you seen my pet seagull? He’s really fat and he has a limp.” @Evangeline @Úlla "Speech!" I've been dreaming of a true love's kiss