become the grass

[Ƨatƴr.]

S A T Y R !!

His breathing was steady as he stared out at the putrid wasteland, his unusually keen sense of smell bringing in every old smell. He rested his paw on the femur and closed his eyes as he sniffed, but even for him the scent had long washed away from rains and rotting. Only the smell of maggots at work greeted him as his olive eyes swept across the wasteland. He could also detect the stench of bloated wolves festering in the sun, those too weak to travel, coming to a place of death to die. They must not have had packs to bury them, and now they lay open to the scavengers of the sky and whatever starving creature turned desperately to them. Perhaps it was a bit morbid for him to find it peaceful here, as many excuses his mind would turn up. But there was no one alive here, and as his element was not ghost, there was no one dead to bother him either.

Presently, his mind was a mill of confusion and a sense of loss. Satyr stared at his paler paws now with a whine caught in his throat. He didn’t want to be around others—no, that was not right. He should not be around others. He was a danger to them. He’d hurt so many. Those who knew his condition would see this as a moment of clarity, but underneath his sense of danger there was still confusion as to why he was such a threat. He would not turn his fangs on anyone who did not attack him first, as that was not the way of a wolf so attuned to the earth. He smiled slightly and tilted his head, his goat horns scything through the air.

A sprout rose up from underneath the bone and curled, the green tendril wrapping around his paws and climbing up his leg as if it was a tree trunk. His breath grew ragged, and he urged the plant to grow as it curled around his chest and neck. Flowers opened up before a heavy wind whipped the petals onto his coat. Shaking his green head, he twisted and broke through the tendril, wincing momentarily at the loss of life. Another scent rose to his nostrils, and his eyes darkened in color. Who else would be in such a horrible place as this? Someone lost, someone seeking peace? Or maybe someone was coming here to die.

In a blink of his eyes, Satyr forgot the danger that he was. He walked toward the smell of the other wolf with a lazy grin, sprouts rising where his paws touched, reaching toward him, tiny leaves curling as they tried to trap his legs, wilting and falling like a defeated soul whose lover had left them. He continued to wear his grin, as the dead around him became the grass.

[ooc; this came out creepier than i intended. o-O; lol. satyr is not a serial killer, i swear <3 he just wants to not be lonely?]

[Í c á r ï !]

I C A R I ;

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Ícárï approached slowly, a profound quiet possessing her and pushing her forwards without any apparent reason at all. Why Ícárï had felt compelled to come to this place of death, a place sure to infuse severe depression, she did not know. But something had brought her here; something that she had concluded to blame on her element. It was more a burden than a benefit; to have the thoughts of others heavy on her mind... Ícárï almost considered herself something of a savior. Perhaps not to such an intense degree, but Ícárï had the ability to fix so much. As a healer, she could save the physical lives of so many with her knowledge and skill. As one possessing the psychic element, she could save the emotional and social lives of so many with her ability to know the truth. She almost wished she could withdraw from this, from both aspects, but it was an improbable situation. An improbability; reliance on her she felt was heavy. But that didn't mean she couldn't keep her element as concealed as possible. No one needed to know she had these abilities.

The dead seemed to have fallen around her. It was a dismal sight, namely to a healer... she leaned in closer to several bodies she thought that could have been saved with her expertise. Her mood was plummeting, and plummeting fast. This was all depressing, a severely saddening experience. Which brought her back to the question: why was she--? 'Green.' Suddenly, a vibrant green had caught her eye. It was as if the decomposition process had been drastically increased in pace; the dead were becoming fertilizer at an alarmingly high rate. This caught only mean that there was another source. Her eyes traveled until she found that exact source: a wolf of course. But this male she had spotted was not what had been expected... horns, that which would belong upon the head of a goat, were instead mounted upon his crown. And his fur was tinted with green, ran through with a hue that matched his element.

Earth, of course. His element was earth. That was clear not only from his ability but Ícárï heard it in his mind. He loved his element, wouldn't want it to be any other way. Earth was his, and he embraced it far more than Ícárï embraced her element. There was no danger here, so Ícárï's tensed muscles relaxed slightly. He was at peace, home here. He did not belong of course, for he was living, but maybe he felt otherwise. A grim reality settled upon the femme's mind... one more small burden to bear among the bundle of truths she'd never reveal. "Hello,"[/color] her voice was small but strong, a stark contrast that could only be imagined if heard. Her goal was to appear friendly and confident. She wanted him to tell to her exactly what she had found from exploring his mind.

It was the one way Ícárï had found that would make her feel less guilty about her element... if what she knew was revealed to her, it didn't mattered that she cheated and read ahead. It didn't matter that she'd picked a book up off the shelf and read the last two pages, knowing how it ended, and went back to the beginning to read through. She had cheated but in essence, she would have known anyways. At least, it was a philosophy she could live with. "The element of earth," she said with soft confidence. "I've only ever met one wolf before with that element... and he wasn't so powerful." It was the one who'd taught her of her healing abilities. He who'd known everything there was to know about herbs and healing had known little about his earth element. Realizing suddenly what she'd said, she chuckled lightly. "I'm not trying to... oh well. I'm not lying." Her tongue had slipped, and now this she must deal with.
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[Ƨatƴr.]

S A T Y R !!

A female, he could smell, of that pack of smart lupines who lived in that beautiful territory with the valley. As he picked up on her scent, he wondered why she was out here. Most girls were skittish of gross and creepy places. Most, but not necessarily all. He paused in his thoughts as he rolled over a skull and could tell from the teeth that this one had been young and strong. He did not need to be of the ghost element to tell a lot about the dead. A small flower bloomed lovingly from the eye socket, leaves curling through the gaping jaws. Some wolves saw the beauty in the darkness, in the cruelness of nature. They relished it in the way some wolves roll over the grass when they find a smell that they really liked. He breathed steadily, musing that even if he had gone blind, he could build a pretty good picture with his nose.

Soon, the green wolf saw her and appraised her average build and mottled coat. He was appreciative of the sight of a female, but not so much so to be creepy. At the moment. She had indeed been lucky that he wasn’t in one of his flirtatious moods. His was more…musing. His thoughts were scattered as he wondered at her rank in the pack and her purpose to be here, all while tendrils of growth crawled through his fur again, like snakes. His grin was very distant as he nodded back at her when she said hello in a quiet, but not weak, voice.

He nodded as she mentioned his element, though his mind was wandering back to the bones of the wolf he had seen before. He could not begin to guess at hers, since she had no defining trait and was not flashing it around like a lot of wolves did. They were arrogant, while he could be seen as showing off. Usually he was only half in control of his power and the plants that reached up and caressed him, whimpering to them in voices no one could understand. He clawed at the putrid dirt under his feet and looked up at her again when she finished speaking.

The earth element was indeed weaker than many others, and he laughed patiently at her apology, shaking his head to show he didn’t take any offense. Satyr sat back and looked at her brown eyes, focusing his attention there as he said lazily, “Earth does not have many advantages. I can smell a wolf and tell a lot about them before I see them, and control what grows, but that is all.” As he spoke, a hint of arrogance had at last sparked in him. The emotion was faint and given up for curiosity at how well she had known this other elemental.

“Not very useful,” the green-furred male said again, but at the same time the plants that slithered around his paws grew sharp thorns, and deadly wolfsbane blossomed as its stem curved around one of his goat horns.

[Í c á r ï !]

I C A R I ;

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Ícárï stood her ground, solid in resolve as the 'mutant' wolf approached. Her head titled very slightly to the left, contemplating. Was he a mutant? No, maybe not. If you forgot the horns, he was just a regular wolf with an unnaturally profuse amount of green in his coat. With the horns... yeah, a bit of a mutant. But a barely detectable smile graced her lips. Different was good... different was, well, normal in fact. What was normal? She barely had a moment to consider this before the male began to speak. He did not give his name, but instead a brief sort of explanation as to why the healer had not offended him. She sighed slowly, for he had interpreted in wrong. In fact, he had made it out to be so simply true. Earth wasn't awfully strong. At least he hadn't thought she was sucking up, as she thought he would.

"I wouldn't say earth is weak. It's a matter of manipulation, I think, that makes an element strong or powerless."[/color] She considered her words carefully this time, filtered them through and through. She paused, her mouth slightly open, gaze focused on some distant thing perhaps she only saw. 'He... wonders what my element is. Why I hinted at knowing more than I'll say. Huh.' Rarely did she see such curiosity in another wolf regarding herself. Immediately, though, this was forgotten as she tasted bitter disgust. Using her element again. Repulsive. Who was she to intrude on the thoughts of another, the inner workings of the mind meant to be concealed to all but the beholder?

She meant to speak, her mouth opened to prepare for the action, but suddenly wolfsbane was growing. Instinct forced her to take four steps back, precise, sharp, and long strides. Once she had witnessed a poisoning, something that old healer had done... he had put a young female out of her misery after she suffered a bear mauling. Her pain was excruciating, and it was all she could do to control the spasms of immense pain that rocked her body. The old healer had forced the wolfsbane upon her, and death had approached swiftly. Her death was imminent; it had just come easier that way. To witness the situation, though, was damaging. The effect the wolfsbane had had... it ended her, and she had seen it herself. It rocked her in ways she didn't understand.

"I'm a healer,"[/color] she announced with a softness to her voice. "Wolfsbane... it's as good as poison. Too effective to be real, and I've seen it at work..." Her voice trailed off, her eyes focused on the plant that now adorned the male's horn. She saw nothing in his mind, however, that indicated the reason for the appearance of this plant. It was suddenly frustrating to lack answers. How hypocritical Ícárï was, to one moment resent her element and the next crave it. "Psychic," she said suddenly with a slow breath out. It was an element many resented as this healer of Goranzo did... how could they not? She could uncover each of their secrets without having to do so much as trigger a small part of a memory.

"I have the psychic element, I can read minds and create small shields, and all that jazz."[/color] She smiled lightly, a barely audible chuckle escaping her slightly parted lips. "More than half the time I wish it could be anything else... to have the constant intrusion of other's thoughts, the inability to push what you shouldn't know out, it sucks. A lot, at times. I fear it, my own element. I would never want to encounter someone with my own element."[/color] She wondered what it would be like, one day... when she could read the mind of the one she had chosen to love, or her kids if she ever had any... the possibilities horrified her.
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[Ƨatƴr.]

S A T Y R !!

The curiosity on her scent made his nose wrinkle up briefly, just slightly, before his lips creased in a lazily amused smile. He was not a mind reader by any means, but it was easy to see that flash of interest in other wolves’ eyes when they sized him up. Back where he had come from, his appearance would have been considered very normal. In Nevermore, he had seen a few wolves with faint streaks of color in their pelts, but usually the spectrum was the neutral tones of silvers and browns. Horns, however, he had not yet seen here. His own tipped slightly as he regarded this. The territories were so vast; from his old home he had seen wolves that bore antlers and twisting antelope horns. Here, he was more amazed when he gazed upon her naked tawny forehead.

The female jumped to correct herself, though his wide and lazy grin did not fade. Was she meaning to defend herself, as if she thought he’d take offense, or was it just natural for her to want to fix what others assumed? He was thinking quite deeply, in this nonchalant mood, so different from his energetic and bloodthirsty one the night before—a night he could not remember at all now, that only rose as a prickle of irony in the back of his mind. “That’s true,” he growled as he tenderly watched a thorn-studded vine slither around one green forepaw. “The manipulator makes the element weak or strong…good or evil.” His olive eyes flashed up to hers.

Her sudden backwards scramble made him perk up his ears, as the petals from the nightshade hung slightly into his face. He adjusted the bloom and scratched at the earth lightly, confusion emanating from him if not a little concern as well. When she explained herself briskly, he stared at her. A healer, one who used the power of plants as well—just to help instead of to harm, as he was forced to before. This thought remained when she said she’d seen wolfsbane work, and the quiet smile danced on his features once again as he replied silkily, “I have too.”

Satyr shooed the deadly plant away, so it wilted down his shoulders and crumpled on the ground, a shriveled mess. He involuntarily took the few paces forward to recover the distance between them once again. In the back of his mind he was troubled by the thought of her running away. Many wolves ran away from him—why, he could not recall, but it was depressing. To see her go would only make that feeling become much more real. But when she mentioned her element, his thoughts shifted in reaction to wrap around that concept, half to muse about the mindreading and half to guard his former thoughts.

As she chuckled, he shook his head lightly at her. “It would seem that it’d keep you safe,” the green wolf told her lightly, as if admonishing a cub. “Most emotions, if not all, are safer if they are known. Wouldn’t you like to know if someone’s sad even if they’re trying to smile, or know if someone wanted to harm you? If you revoke your element, you will obviously lose its protection. And it could be useful in the most unpredictable times.” He smiled slyly when she mentioned she’d be afraid of seeing another like her. “Ah, but at least you would know they could read your thoughts. If they found something out, you would know. Until then, the secrets and feelings of other can only help you.”

Surprised at the speech that slipped from his tongue, he cut off the monologue and padded closer to her. His emotions were still relaxed as he swayed his tail along his heels and stood at her side, close enough to reach out and touch her. He grinned faintly. “What is your name? I am Satyr, if you did not already know,” he teased.

[Í c á r ï !]

I C A R I ;

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Ícárï watched him warily, a constant guarding about her. Something did not seem right. He was kind, yes, but in a strikingly off-hand sort of way... it quite frightened her. But a smile remained plastered upon her face, although its reason for being had changed. Now she was simply thankful that she could read his thoughts, and he couldn't read hers. If he knew she was so vulnerable, so weak not just physically but emotionally also... surely he would take advantage of her or injure her in some way. It was the essence of why she feared others possessing her element: they could so easily act against her. But in said situations, this male was correct --- her element could be quite useful. She had encountered another wolf possessing the psychic element once, and through choosing her thoughts carefully the other wolf was not able to tell her element. Careful observation of strange wolves such as this, this green horned male before her, were how she had come to know such control. She practiced it and had gotten quite good. Not only did it help her, but it allowed her to indicate when another wolf hid their own thoughts.

Her smile broadened a bit as Satyr did just that. She looked down at the wolfsbane, crumpled upon the earth. "Not the most pleasant of plants... I avoid it all costs, natural or otherwise."[/color] She smiled lightly, implying that even though she appeared to trust him, she would never trust anyone who possessed wolfsbane. 'Not that I trust him anyway.' Why was she so wary of him? What was it open him, his air, that made her want to wince and back away? This same feeling about him that drew her in, made her not want to leave? It left a disturbing aftertaste, one she wanted to retch out. But I'm stronger. I have this element, he said it himself. It give me power over him.' She hoped.

"Not really. I mean, it could keep me safe. But..."[/color] Stupid! A little voice in the back of her head was screeching, telling her to shut up, to stop announcing tools to hurt her. "If someone planned to hurt. If someone planned something ahead of time, but if in a moment's decision... I wouldn't stand a chance. My mind is strong but my body, not so much."[/color] She giggled, though in a fight her prognosis would be grim. "And there are ways, many ways to escape me. My element's not incredibly advanced. I stand able to read what's present in your mind but not what you're not thinking about at this moment. I can't read into your background. My element's not one hundred percent there yet, I guess. And I'm not sure it ever will be, not until I get over this fear anyways."[/color] She stopped, now she was rambling. Not only did she look stupid at this point, but she was talking about her element more than she should.

"Ícárï, that's my name. Pleased to meet you, Satyr. So, Satyr, why are you hiding your thoughts from me?"[/color] Her smile was very playful yet challenging, and she was clearly amused. "I have no intentions of going anywhere. Nothing better to do, to be honest."[/color] She laughed; her mood had shifted considerably over the past few moments.
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