Tʜᴇ Rᴏᴀᴅ Lᴇss Tʀᴀᴠᴇʟʟᴇᴅ Bʏ {literate ; closed}

[videlicet]

(Brilliant! I say we get started, then! c: )

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A R I ⊝ I N G V A R ⊝ S V E R R I R

The air was frigid, a sharp wind slicing easily through Ari's furs, worming beneath his skin, and chilling him to the marrow of his bones. Wrapping his arms tighter around himself, he scanned the desolate landscape ahead of them; hard packed snow stretching with little variation for as far as the eye could see. Above, the sky was a steely grey, light cloud cover blocking any feeble sunlight. Frankly, at the moment, Ari would have settled for even the meanest glimmer of light -because with it would come warmth, and he was freezing.
Turning around, the short teenager surveyed the motley band standing around in variations of his position. None of them stood all too near each other, being strangers still, and wary of company. Or, that was how Ari felt, at least (it was likely he was merely projecting his own emotions onto those around him). Sucking his bottom lip in between his teeth, he urged the muscles in his back to relax –tenseness now would only serve for aches and pains later, when they were even more unwanted. His stomach did a flip at the thought of later, and Ari clenched his fists even tighter against his furs. And then, as soon as the wave of nauseating anxiety had come, it dissipated, leaving a chuckle to bubble up in its place. Ari suppressed it; now was not the most appropriate situation for laughter. But, still, it was funny. Here he was, worrying about starvation and being hunted by dangerous animals and fighting and freezing to death, and only half an hour into the Passage! Gods, he hadn’t even moved yet.
Speaking of which -when were they going to start out? Ari scrutinized his companions more closely, still standing at a safe distance. He hadn't spoken to a single one of them yet, timidity stilling his tongue, and keeping his feet locked to their place on the hard-packed snow. Waiting for someone else to take the initiative was his socialization technique, and, whilst not the most fruitful by any means, it kept him safe. He'd sustained one too many injuries from unfriendly peers when he was younger to have the courage (or stupidity, as it was) to ever approach someone himself. That was practically akin to offering himself up as a free, easy-access punching bag.
So he stood alone in the cold, sealskin bag tugging on his shoulders, hood drawn up over his head, falling so low it almost obscured his vision, waiting for someone to come to speak to him, stomach lurching uneasily as he tried to keep his thoughts from straying to the months ahead.
The Passage had begun.

(Not the best beginning, but I'm sort of short for time -I'm heading out for swimming in precisely 5 minutes, and reckoned I'd better start 'er up beforehand! :p)

[dogface]

ooc; oo yay I shall post when i get back from sf later XD

[Speak]

I have to go to an appointment but I'll be back!}}

[Keriae]

korbin evenwood
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How long had there just been standing here, reluctant to even move and actually get their Passage underway? It wasn't a good idea to just stay still when the weather was like this. Besides, it wasn't natural for their people to just stand still. They were constant movers, not stopping unless they had to. Yet, here they were, standing apart from each other as if they were frozen like the landscape around them. Well, I refuse to act like a kid that's been caught stealing.

Pushing off the freezing bark that his back had been resting against, the teen pulled his hood over his dark, long hair and brushed his messy fridge backwards out of his face. Slowly, his almost black optics drifted over the group, spotting one figure with a stiff back and a worried expression cast in shadow. Walking over with an almost predatory gait, Korbin gave a crisp nod in greeting and stuck out his hand. "Korbin, at your service."

[Leviathan007]

{Quick question: What is the setting? Like, the time period, are we somewhere in the cavemen or native american era, or possibly this is modern and they are just isolated folk who don't interact with civilization, so their technology is undeveloped?}

[Odin Arrow]

Alachai Fentrago

- Alachai looked around, surveying the faces clustered around him. Squinting his eyes, he slowly counted out six, not including himself. His eyes traveled around the vast white, looking for a landmark to remember this place by, and perhaps a good place to set up shelter for the night. His eyes caught a large black boulder, a sparse sprinkling of skeletal trees to their backs, but that was about it. He hated standing still, but for some reason, the group seemed to be frozen awkwardly in time, everyone looking from face-to-face, seeing who would be the first to dare to break the ice.
- Alk watched as the raggedy headed boy stepped towards a small boy. Alk chuckled, watching for a moment. Then with a lazy movement moved forward himself, toward the other two, standing beside the long haired boy. He gave a small smile and nodded towards both of them in greeting. He glanced up, watching as specks of the sky lazily drifted down onto them. His eyes widened as realization suddenly hit him. "It's starting to snow."

[videlicet]

(@Leviathan007, That is a great question! Er, I myself was imagining their level of development to be somewhere at the Native American stage, if you'd like to use that comparison. They share many similarities with the Inuit, except for, of course, their rather more nomadic lifestyle. c: As for the time period as a whole, it's not quite modern yet either, because people on other continents haven't developed the technology to access this place. But, the rest of the world is rather more developed than here.
@Keriae, Am I correct in assuming you're addressing Ari? Otherwise, simply ignore me and allow me to slink off into my corner of ignorance and shame. XD)

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A R I ⊝ I N G V A R ⊝ S V E R R I R

A voice sounded behind him, causing Ari to whirl around with the air of a cornered animal. His eyes were wild for a moment, and the tenseness in his shoulders spread to the rest of his body as it steeled itself to respond with either a confrontation or flight. But, then Ari caught sight of a hand extended in a gesture of cordiality, and his mind caught up enough to process the greeting -an introduction. This tall, dark-haired boy (though he looked more a man, with his stubble, long hair, and strong stature) was initiating social contact. Oh.
Ari's mouth gaped for a moment, giving him an appearance vaguely reminiscent of a goldfish as he tried to remember the appropriate response. Right. He stuck out his own hand to meet Korbin's, shaking it weakly and for the shortest possible length of time. It was more of a hand-touch than any sort of shake. "I'm, uh, Ari. Nice to meet you!" A smile turned up the corners of his mouth, the right more so than the left, and it was genuine. Ari was truly pleased that someone had decided to approach him, nerve-wracking as the encounter was. It was a nice feeling, being noticed. It sat warm in the stomach, like his mother's stew, and made his spine straighten with a short-lived infusion of importance.
Now to continue the conversation -that was the difficult part. Ari hadn't quite mastered yet, or really even gained mediocrity; but, then again, he hadn't had all too much opportunity to practice, and didn't have any sort of natural penchant for it anyways. Should he wait for Korbin to speak, or try something himself? What if the other boy was waiting for him to take the initiative?
Suddenly, Ari became aware of the fact that he was just standing there, gloved fingers fiddling absently with the second-last button on his coat as he stared into space. He leapt head-first into conversation, trying to banish the awkward moment with stumbling words. "So, um, are you excited for the Passage?" he asked, tossing the first thing that came to mind out into the air.
Just as the words had left his mouth, another boy sauntered up to them, a small smile etched onto his light skin. Dark red hair framed his face, and it bobbed slightly as he nodded in greeting. He spoke, and Ari felt his eyes widen, looking up to feel the cool, white flakes melting on his skin and coat.

[Speak]

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ｓｅｒｅｎｉｔｙ
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With every breath Serenity took she could feel her lungs freeze. She'd been standing there trying to work up the nerve to try and speak, it wasn't an easy thing to do at least for her. Moving her gaze across the barren landscape Serenity felt small, insignificant, even smaller than normal. The Passage was an important part of becoming an adult but, if this was what the Passage was then maybe she’d rather stay a kid. But her grandmother had insisted that she join the others on the passage, in fact she was the only one who’d said goodbye and good luck when she left. That morning her grandmother had given her a charm, something that would hopefully prevent nightmares and capture dreams so she could keep them a while longer. The moment she’d received it Serenity had placed it underneath her shirt so that it wouldn’t get lost during the Passage.
Walking a bit closer to the group Serenity blinked as the first few snowflakes fell, some landing on her face the moisture from her breath turning her eyebrows the same color as her silvery-grey eyes. Moving her gaze from the boy who had introduced himself as Korbin, to the shorter boy (although he was still taller than her) and finally to the boy who commented on the snow. Still on the edge of the group of three Serenity sought words, any words but nothing was coming up. Why was it so hard? She talked to her grandmother and she used to be able to talk to Holly but now? Now she couldn’t even think of something to say.



Sorry my muse has been on the fritz lately ^^” I’ll post for Cuan when it comes back…}}

[-Starchild.Keith-]

(So, since my wolf has no human partner... What should I do? Like, when the other start meeting their guides and stuff...?)

[Keriae]

korbin evenwood
_______________________________

As he awaited a reply from the stout boy before him (although the difference was only four inches), he noticed out of the corner of his eye that another lad, darkly haired and about the same height as himself, wondering over. He let Ari shake his hand for as long as he wanted, which turned out to not be very long, and then he stared into space before he suddenly started a conversation. He was asking about the Passage? "Yes and no. My brother died during his, so I want to prove to Mother and Father that I can do this. They almost stopped me." He would show them, everyone, just what he could do. Years had passed since he had taken down the fawn, and he knew he could get something bigger if they ever needed it.

The other boy was talking. Snow? You don't say? Shrugging his broad shoulders to get his pack secured on his back better, he turned to face the lad and nodded. "I say it's best to get going, don't you? We don't want to end up frozen." Cocking an eyebrow, he gave a half-smile, half-smirk and started to stride of in the direction they had been told to go.