[elliott.]

。。。。。

name;; kireina tori

name meaning;; beautiful bird in japanese

gender;; female

story;;

a warm breeze blew throughout the forest, silence hanging over the air like a dense fog. the comfortable, peacefulness of the atmosphere was ruined when a couple Viscets raced out into a small opening, yelling at some birds. the birds flew away, causing the animals to laugh. "ya know, Al, it gets boring playing pranks on birds." one of the Viscets sighed to the other. it had a soft voice, immediately being identified as a female. "yeah. hey, how about those upwalkers that recently came camping in our territory?" the male, known as Al or Almandine, chuckled. "come on, Kireina!" the female Viscet nodded, "Okay. Lemme put on my mask." she disappeared into a bush, before returning. a falcon-based mask lay across her face, hiding her features. it was for any time she did something devious, like stealing or pranking, things she did daily. "let's find them humans, eh?" Kireina chuckled deeply, turning to race into the forest, "race ya!"

as the two close friends arrived at the small camping area of the upwalkers, or humans, kireina observed the area. four white tents were set up in a circle, a large campfire in the middle. two stakes were pinned on either side of the fire, a long stick balancing between them and holding a pot. the upwalkers were busy inside one tent, talking, before they soon spread out around the fire. four chairs were also around the fire, just a few feet away. the men sat in the chairs with a drink in their hand, talking loudly and laughing horridly, like they were choking.

"okay, here's the plan. we'll race in and growl loudly, starting to rip apart their tents. then we will knock over their pot and jump over their fire. basically just cause a lot of ruckus." Almandine chuckled, swiveling his ears and looking at Kireina, who was studying the four creatures in front of her. "pft, ruckus is my middle name." she scoffed playfully, nudging him with her shoulder. "Kireina Ruckus Tori? that's a weird name." he teased, causing her to glare. "go." she mumbled, letting out a loud growl as she bursted into the camping area of the upwalkers. they started to yell, throwing plastic bottles at them, but Kireina dodged and snarled back at them as Almandine ripped at a tent with his teeth. one upwalker had already raced away and one was trying to, but Kireina tripped it with her tail, causing the two Viscets to laugh. one stubborn upwalker refused to leave though, causing Almandine to dive at his feet and make him fall. Kireina went up close to the humans' frightened face, the tip of her falcon mask brushing against his chin, causing him to widen his eyes. "boo." she grinned as the human scampered away and turned to Almandine.

"nice job, dude!" she nudged his head with hers playfully. "I'm bored again." Almandine chuckled, touching her with his muzzle, "your it!" he then scampered away, causing her to race after him, laughing. They soon settled in a place that meant most to them. It was a secluded place in the woods, behind large pecans and oaks. A large lake spread out in front of them, large stones lining the shore and then a bit of sand and grass, then more undergrowth and trees. They leaned against some fallen logs, dreaming and chatting about the past. Kireina laughed.

"Remember the time we met? When you literally were scared of me?" Almandine whined, "Don't you dare bring that up!" But Kire was remembering the time.

crunching sounded in the thick fir forest, a Viscet racing through. Kireina raced through, but it was a younger version of her. her mane flew as she ran, her peregrine falcon mask tight on her face, covering up her features. she raced through before hearing something that wasn't her. her ears slowing rising, she went to see it, her head tilting ever so slowly, before a large head popped in front of her. a large scream pierced the air, causing Kire to flinch. "Get away!" she turned and saw a Viscet rolling in the dust, trying to get away. Kireina laughed, removing her mask, "It's just me. I'm not that frightening, geez." the Viscet raced up, dust littering his pelt.

"pft, I wasn't scared!" he puffed out his chest confidently, but slight fear still traced his eyes. she laughed, "sure!" he tackled her, "the mighty almandine is never scared!" he playfully growled. she giggled.

"that was a great day." Kire chuckled. Almandine didn't even complain, he just nodded.

[Medd-Lee]

Username;; Meddled.
Name;; Alice Lisette - better known as "that crazy collector over there"
Gender;; Female, though personally prefers male pronouns when being intimidating
Story;;
Flight.

Wip

[SilverSamurai]

2 day warning

[iBrevity]

Username;;
iBrevity

Name;;
Muninn
[mew-nin]
[a Norse name meaning 'memory' or 'mind']
[a name shared by one of the ravens who served Odin in old Norse myth alongside a second raven named Huginn, a word meaning 'thought'. both were considered an extension of his mind and each morning would fly around the world to canvas the people for news]

Gender;;
female

Theme Song;;
Glory and Gore by Lorde
[YouTube link here]

Cast;;
Muninn;; a small, thin-boned viscet of indeterminable years. She lives alone in a patch of woods in the Yukon where the cold settles in your veins and slows the very mechanisms of your heart. She is accompanied by an enormous crow with sharp, calculating eyes. Due to her smaller size and forced independence she spends the majority of her time moving in the trees to safeguard herself from the predators of the woods and also frequently hunts from the branches. This would be more difficult for a viset of normal size, who would have trouble heaving themselves into the tree tops.

Huginn;; the aforementioned crow. He has been Muninn's constant companion for near on three years. He aids her on hunts by leading her to prey or alerting her when it is no longer safe and in turn she shares her food and warmth with him. They have come closer in the past few years with only the other as company and he is almost always found somewhere on her person; nestled into the tangle of her mane, pressed beneath a foreleg to keep warm, curled up on her back. Muninn inherited Huginn from her mother, although that is another story altogether.

Abrax;; a surprisingly large Viscet who is part of Mnemosyne's pack. He is rather intimidating in girth but he is a gentle giant; he doesn't have an aggressive bone in his body. He is better suited to the cold thanks to his sheer size and the thickness of his coat and mane. He was dispatched into Muninn's territory in an effort to find suitable hunting grounds for the pack, who are situated in a nearby patch of woods that Muninn herself has never actually visited. Abrax often wears a gold faceplate but chose not to wear it, fearing the cold would negatively affect the bindings.
[character page here]




Story;;
Muninn breathes through her nose and watches a deer move below her. It's winter; frost has slicked the branch beneath her paws to such an extent that she must balance carefully with the aid of her claws. Her hind legs are gathered up behind her, the muscles bunched; there is an ache starting low in her spine from the continued wait. The deer shifts a little closer to her, scratching idly in the snow in search of a patch of grass. The shadow of the tree lays over the stag's back as though a grey shawl and she waits still, her eyes only half open, the weight of her faceplate a comfort in the cold.

The stag lifts his head after a moment and sniffs. The sharp lines of his shoulders relax; his ears twitch a little, though he is unperturbed by the wood's silence. At Muninn's shoulder Huginn tightens his toes and she turns her head a few inches to see him and he nods a little, a bob of his dark beak, and she nods back. He edges off her shoulder, creeps down between her legs to avoid the explosion of muscle when she leaps forward and then she is off, propelling herself straight down atop the deer, the momentary freefall making a smile curl up under the lip of her mask.

Before she can pounce there is another sound, a twig breaking perhaps some feet away, and the stag twists out from beneath her shadow with a panicked burst of speed. She lands hard on one foreleg, feels a shifting in her ankle and rolls when the coil of her body falls hard after her. She lays in the snow for a moment, panting through an open mouth; Huginn flings himself off the branch and lands beside her, hopping closer, twisting his head this way and that. Huginn is a large old crow and when he leaps onto her chest his weight is noticeable; she snorts heavily through her nose and makes to roll onto her side so he'll move. He hops about as she rises hesitantly to her feet, lifting her right foreleg upon the first tingle of pain. She rises so her weight is pivoted to her back legs and stares into the woods while Huginn jumps to sit on her toes. It keeps his own from the snow, and his presence is less of a bother and more a comfort.

She breathes through her mouth for a moment, wisps of heat wreathing her face. When she speaks her voice is hoarse and thick in her throat, as though the words themselves are reluctant to the brave the cold. "Is there someone there?" She asks. The cold has pulled noises taffy-thin and her words seem to carry farther than intended, echoing out among the barren trees. Huginn makes a small sound at her feet and she looks down at him but there is a second sound, a shifting of weight in the snow, and her eyes snap back up to the treeline.

A broad head leans around the shelter of a naked trunk. "Yes," the slender creature says. "I'm here."

Muninn stares at them. It has been months--no, she thinks, years now--since she has seen another viscet. When her mother passed the woods became hers alone, and yet here stands another, their bright grey eyes widened in surprise. Apparently she had not been expected either; that somehow settles her more, and she leans forward to rest one foreleg in the snow. It lowers her center of gravity, gives her a better chance in a fight if one ensures. Muninn's mother always told her to never trust someone who smiles.

"This place is mine," Muninn says, her words brittle in the cold. "I'd ask you to leave."

The viscet nods. "I understand," he says, and he moves a little farther out from behind the tree, revealing wide shoulders and surprising height. Muninn is far smaller than him; she recognized she was rather nimble but with another to compare herself too it's obvious she's woefully petite. "I'm only looking for more prey for my pack."

Her face hardens. Huginn flaps up around her head in a tight spiral then lands on her shoulder, cawing at the male. His bright eyes are rather obviously angry, his beak parted in agitation. Muninn repeats, "This place is mine."

The viscet frowns and looks over his shoulder as though seeking aid. Muninn can see nor smell no others, though if one managed to sneak up on her she would not discredit the rest of his so-called 'pack'. "I'm Abrax," he says suddenly, drawing her attention back to his face. "I'm only here to look for food, I swear. I didn't know anyone else lived here."

"Anyone else?" She repeats disdainfully. "I am the only one."

Abrax is clearly surprised. He asks, "You live here alone?" before he can think to curb the question.

Muninn's expression closes off. Huginn petulantly caws and fluffs up as if in dismissal. It seems Muninn is of one mind with her bird because she says shortly, "You may go home now. I would not care to share my territory with an entire pack." She rolls her weight onto her back legs, rises unsteadily; the ankle she hurt in the fall throbs incessantly now and she needs only glance down to see it's swelling. Clearly she has hurt something, a wound that will make hunting all the more difficult. Still, she does not deign to ask this fellow for him, and upon stating her piece half-turns to go.

Abrax hesitates and so she stops as well. There is a challenge in her voice when she asks, "Do you not intend to leave?"

He draws back and quickly shakes his head. "Sorry," he said, "Of course. My apologies once more."

She watches him move carefully through the snow, seeking the thickest ice crust that might support his weight, and turns to go home. Huginn clutches more securely at the meat on her shoulder and she sighs, the breath trembling out of her as a gust of fog. "Mother would never have wanted us to share," she says.

Huginn nods.

"And we did not know if he even had a pack," she adds, warming to the idea of a trick. "He could have wanted only to drive me off."

The crow nods once more and seeks under a wing for a misplaced feather. They move into the woods together, Muninn's belly unpleasantly tight; but there is nothing to be done for her hunger, and she needs to rest. By the time they make it to the small mountainous hole she considers home it is nearly dark and the air has grown colder still. It rattles in her chest now with each breath, eases ice into the very marrow of her bones. She lays down in the small cave and lifts a foreleg for Huginn to tuck in next to her chest, pulls him close to her and goes to sleep. It is eerily quiet the whole night; even the birds are cowed by the cold and the other predators have no urge to disrupt the silence.

When she wakes the sun has not yet risen and the chill has settled into the earth. It's encouraged a fierce ache in her injured foreleg and this is what roused her; she tentatively stretches the leg, careful not to overdo it or jostle Huginn. There is a sharp pain when she tries to straighten the joint, enough of a punishment that she hurriedly retracts it. She sleeps poorly until the sun is creeping finger by finger over the tree line and then she wakes both of them.

They go about their business, Muninn tying a scrap of cloth about her leg and setting her mask onto her face. With precise movements of her snout she wiggles the necklace her mother gave her over her head and lets it rest comfortably against her collar bone. When she finishes Huginn stops preening and leaps onto her shoulder with a single flap, hunkering down against her warmth. She crawls three-legged out of the cave then rises onto her hind legs, cautiously positioning the hurt limb against the curve of her body. She knows if she jostles it again it might break or take even longer to heal from the muscle damage and so she does not intend to use it at all today. She will have to hunt from the ground, a feat better imagined than accomplished.

They proceed into the woods. The winter silence lingers here; there are a few distant bird calls, a sharp sound of a broken branch, a quiet susurrus of water whispering against its iced surface. Huginn leaves her to scout ahead, his black feathers contrasting with the sun-rimmed clouds and Muninn continues on alone, conscious of the ache in her leg.

When she finds Abrax ten minutes later she nearly stumbles on him so late is she in recognizing what the mound beneath the snow is. She wheels back, takes a step to maintain her balance, and says shrilly, "What in the world are you doing?"

Abrax rouses. He has slept beneath a tree that shielded him little from the elements and there is a few inches of snow built up on his pelt like a shawl. He has to shake his head to clear his eyes and then he blinks up at Muninn in obvious surprise, a pleased smile easing over his mouth. "Good morning."

Muninn regards him suspiciously. "What are you doing here still?" She asks, levering her weight down onto her good foreleg so that she may inspect him closer. Privately she's impressed he doesn't have frostbite, and she watches as he stands and shakes the snow off of his shoulders and back. He seems no worse for wear, though he must suppress a sneeze before he can answer her.

"I'm not very good at geography," he says.

Muninn stares at him. Huginn has noticed that she is no longer following him and returns to her in a flurry of feathers, swooping low over Abrax's head with a loud noise. He sets angrily between her ears and glares at Abrax, turning his head this way and that, always keeping the other in his sights.

Abrax says, rather sheepishly, "I got lost."

"I thought you said your pack was only in the nearby woods," she says frowning, and Abrax nods before she can formulate a new suspicion.

"Yes they are, but unfortunately I'm no longer sure which direction our territory is in."

Muninn glances at the sky. It looks as though it is going to snow again today, judging by the weight and color of the clouds. There are few animals and she knows that she is the only viscet in these woods so it is not as though someone else might lend a hand. She thinks of her mother, dead for some years, of her friendly face and her frequent laughter. She would have helped this Abax, Muninn knows. She was always saving wounded animals or abandoned babies, bringing them into their den to share in their warmth. If her mother was present Muninn would have no doubt spent the night previous walking him home.

"Fine," she says with a deep-chested sigh. "Tell me what your woods look like."

Mostly deciduous, he says. There is a wide river that runs through it, though he cannot confirm which direction it flows. He says he would recognize the edge of their territory because he himself inflicted the scrapes in the trees that denote it as theirs. Muninn has never done that herself and finds the pride with which he says it odd. Perhaps because they rarely had viscet visitors her mother and her never bothered with it.

"I believe your woods are to the south," she says decisively, "And I think I know the river of which you speak. You could follow it back."

Abrax looks worriedly at the trees around him, as though he expects to get lost the moment he takes another step. Muninn eyes him. He should be a bother but she finds the whole situation mildly amusing; and perhaps if she brought him home he would reward her with a meal. She tilts her head to look at Huginn, who meets her eyes and nods. Muninn nods as well and turns back to Abrax.

"We will accompany you," she says.

Abrax's smile is immediate and authentic. "That's wonderful," he replies. "Would you mind giving me your names? I find it's difficult to make friends when you don't know someone's name."

Muninn ignores his comment on friends (how strange, she thinks, that he wants to be friends at all) and says instead, "I am Muninn and this is Huginn."

Abrax's smile widens. "Thank you for helping me," he says, sounding genuinely grateful.

"Yes," Muninn says, beginning to walk, Abrax falling into step beside her. "Now tell me of this pack of yours."

[Wolves of Rain]

Does this end on the 11th or the 13th?

[SilverSamurai]

Does this end on the 11th or the 13th?

2 days from the 11th (today) is the 13th. This will end at 10pm on the 13th (est)
or check this rad countdown clock I figured out how to make

[Wolves of Rain]

Thank you!

[SilverSamurai]

ends at midnight!

[~IceFang~]

Omg thank u I just needed five more minites

[SilverSamurai]

closed for judging!