SILENCE IS DEAFENING - {OPEN}

[impliedcyanide]

{oh what tangled webs we weave}

It was a fact that Vegas had never thought of himself as someone who relied on others. To him, other creatures were merely there to be used to his convenience, then tossed aside when they had given all they could, or if the situation became compromising. So Vegas never would have guessed that he would be one to hate silence. In fact, the gryphon usually found silence as something of a comfort...Either that, or an indicator that he should be watching his back. But it was usually the former.

So why the hell did he hate it so much right now, walking past empty shells of buildings, only glancing at his surroundings every once and a while out of habit? Right now, Vegas would give anything to hear something other than his own voice, even the snarling of one of those damned scaled beasts they called wyverns. Pausing, he looked up to see a building a bit larger than some of the others, with a cross perched at the top. Much of the stone had crumbled, and the center sported a large, rectangular hole.

Feeling a prick of curiosity, Vegas went through, only to realize that a roof no longer existed. All the better for him, then. If something unfriendly did decide to break the silence, he could take off to the skies. I wonder if one of those freakish lizards could even fit through there... the gryphon thought to himself, glancing back at the entrance. The image of a wyvern attempting to squeeze through caused him to smirk a bit. That is, until he imagined the stone falling apart under the weight of the creature.

Shaking his head a bit to dispel the thought, the gryphon took a few more steps into the building. His talons brushed against some grass that had poked through the floor and begun to grow. There were some odd shapes there, too. Long, dark shapes, scattered all over the place. Some were broken in half, others lying on their sides, and still more sitting perfectly upright, facing a gaping hole in the wall opposite the entrance.

"What could these be?" Vegas thought aloud, approaching one of the upright shapes. To test the weight, he nudged it with his black-tipped beak. It didn't budge. Blinking, Vegas moved around to what he assumed was the front of the object, seeing as it went straight down, but then bent sharply outward before continuing down. It looked quite easy to tip over from here. "Hm..." After a moment's debate, Vegas dipped his head and forcefully brought it up, attempting to knock the object over.

Apparently it wasn't so heavy. The long thing tipped backwards with an alarming crash, causing Vegas to stumble backwards, green eyes wide. Once he realized what had happened, though, he straightened out again, regaining composure. Flicking his cougar tail, Vegas turned and moved towards what he figured must have been the back of the building, fully resolved on forgetting the long objects.

At least it had temporarily made him forget the silence.

{when we practice to deceive}

OOC: Ack, had to rush the end because dinner is waiting. Long things are pews. Also, I keep imagining everything like it's in the Fallout series o3o

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[ c o m e o u t o f y o u r c a v e w a l k i n g o n y o u r h a n d s...]

Shards of tainted glass jutted out from their frames, warping the sunlight into various colours before it reached the floor of the old church. Despite the decay that riddled the the old structures like an infection, and the eerie, living silence that lingered throughout them, the ruins were always full of color and life. Arete flicked the tip of her lengthy tail to and fro, watching the violet light dance over her charcoal feathers, and feeling short strands of grass give to the movement. Was the beauty why she came here? Was it the silence? Or maybe... something else? It was both strange and dangerous for a loner to spend so much time loitering in a schism's territory. There had to be some other reason she was drawn to this place. There had to be something in store for her...from him.

The rouge shifted where she lay on the stones, disturbed by the thought. She didn't have much time to dwell on it, however, before her attention was drawn to a figure in her periphreal vision. Another Gryphon? It seemed so. She observed him, and quickly became confused as the male prodded at a large, irregularly shaped object What is he doing...?

C R A S H!

Quite startled by the sound, the she-gryphon stood abruptly, spine-feathers rising slightly and talons clutching the ground. She flared out her wings and glanced around nervously as vibrations echoed through the hollowed structure before being absorbed by the silence. A crisp crackle then sounded from within the walls as the building shifted. It was righting itself, moving into a position where it could hold it's own weight until it was to weak or disturbed again. By the condition of the stones, Arete doubted it would be to long.

Uncomfortable with the new, unpredictable nature of the building, Arete extended her wings and glided near silently, perching on a pile of rubbble behind the male. His scent drifted up towards her, and she realized suddenly that he was not a Nihil or a rouge, but in fact, a Kinir. It was risky for a stray to enter a foreign territory, but a member of another Schism? "You should really be more careful, you know." She said politely, a tone of warning layered beneath her words. "Especially when you're not in your own territory. There are more ears to hear you and eyes to see you than you may notice." She glanced sceptically at the broken pew. "...Especially when you cause such a disruption."

[...a n d s e e t h e w o r l d h a n g i n g u p s i d e d o w n.]

O O C...
...It's k. I got rushed on the last paragraph or two of my post, also. & I must say, yours was quite a nice post ^-^
Also, just for your reference, Arete isn't fully black feathered. I don't really have a ref or appearance description up yet, but she's mostly tawny brown/creme colors with some black at the tip of her tail and spine feathers.

[finaljump]

<<< Raze >>>

As it would seem, to the great distaste of the wyvern, the Schisms had developed a nasty habit of wandering out of their lands, and into the others. Perhaps that was why it had been such a quiet day, with hardly a hair from another being in his own schism.

Deciding to explore the land some more, the obsidian Japanese-mixed dragon coasted along the wind currents. Naturally, it was much easier to move about when using an air current and not flapping about. Any type of bird would know the same.

Down below, he could see the abandoned wreckage of buildings, all looking so frail. Some would surely collapse if he tried to explore them, leaving mere piles of stone or whatever else it was that made them. Most of the wood had rotten away long ago... all but the more peculiar of objects. All musing aside, his blue-green eyes seemed to fixate on a larger, roofless structure, noting that it appeared different from all the rest. Perhaps a closer inspection was in order, to discern why this was. The door appeared too small. Instead of taking it, he landed outside, and gave an inspection of the exterior... hearing a large crash inside. Now who would be inside of this thing? Glancing into the gaping hole across from the unusual objects, his question was answered.

The fur along his cheeks flared as his eyes alighted upon the Kinir and rogue, disdain written across his vicious expression, but he made no move besides watch them wearily. Even for a dragon, two gryphons in a single match were not good odds. Then again, maybe the building would collapse on their stupid asses and he'd just have to watch.

[Serynn]

[bg=d0dd81][atrb=width,570,true][atrb=border,0,true] T

[/color]e z c a c o a t l[/b]
K i n i r | T e a c[/color]


He had first noticed that his Brother was gone only a few minutes ago. Tezca always did his rounds at night, checking on each and every Kinir to make sure that they were safe. He felt an almost fatherly affection toward those in his schism. And then this one had to go and fly away in the middle of the night. Tezca followed him all the way here, silently, to the ruins of some long-ago civilization. In enemy territory, no less. - Does the jackass want to get killed? He's in Nihil territory, for God's sake! -

Tezca watched, gliding in the shadowy sky, as the gryphon casually checked out the other schism's territory. Like he belonged there. The fool. The only reason Tezca didn't rush right in and chew the bastard out was because that particular gryphon seemed to have a thing against dragons. Maybe because they were more powerful than him? A crash below snapped the giant beast out of his thoughts. The fool went and made a racket out of the very foundation of the building he was standing on. -He does have a death wish, doesn't he? -

Tez rolled his eyes in frustration as he swooped down ever lower to the place of shelter. He had to save his Brother's ass... even if he was a fool. "Hey! Idiot! Get the 'ell off that buildin' and get your ass home! You're in the middle of Nihil territory, or haven't yer mentor ever teach ya the boundaries?"[/b] The wyvern called, still in-air. His blue eyes glowed in the moonlight, lit afire with anger. This ass was going to get them both killed, wasn't he?

He spotted the night-black dragon right outside the walls. He was going to get them both killed. "Yeh see?! They be like scavengers. There's already one lookin' right in on you! Fool!"[/b] That's when he noticed the tawny-colored she-gryph that he a met a while ago. That was the time with the fool wolfess... okay, his Brother wasn't that kind of fool.

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notes x. - I'm just assuming they know each other being in the same schism and all. If you wish me to change that, let me know. It's very Fallout-y for me as well... 'cept greener. And don't mind Tezca being harsh. He's a sweety inside. xD
muse x. - Nu-uh.[/size]
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[impliedcyanide]

{oh what tangled webs we weave}

And just like that, the silence shattered again. The female gryphon had startled him a bit, admittedly, but not enough to discern a physical reaction. Vegas turned slowly, a not-quite-trustworthy smirk spreading across his face. "Au contraire, I found this place quite deserted, he stated, "until you came along." It was true that Vegas often felt much less threatened by females, even if it was a wyvern. He supposed he had charmed enough females to know how to play each and every one of them. The fact that this one just happened to be another gryphon didn't hurt his chances too much, either. Just as she could tell he was a Kinir, Vegas learned an interesting fact as well. "Something tells me that you're not supposed to be here, either," he said, expression still sly.

However, the smirk vanished when a familiar, heavily accented voice crashed into his ears, replaced by surprise, annoyance, and perhaps a twinge of fear. Though Tezcacoatl was a wyvern, he was still a Kinir, which helped Vegas fear him a bit less. "Always so polite, Brother," the gryphon answered, just a hint of a sneer in the last word. Though he had to admit that Tez was right. Coming to another schism's territory was a bit of an idiotic move, but the Kinir had little to no ruins to explore. And Vegas had been sure the area was clear, having flown over this particular little place several times before landing.

Upon learning that he was being watched, however, Vegas immediately turned his attention to his surroundings. Nothing in plain sight, of course. He would have noticed something like that, and he doubted the other gryphon was that unobservant. So that meant something had to be outside the ruined building, with its strange long objects and colored windows. "You sure you're not just seeing things?" Vegas called out to his fellow Kinir, becoming uneasy. He usually would have taken to the skies by now, but there was a chance this observer was a wyvern, and didn't want to provoke a chase in the sky. If the lizard breathed fire, it would be over for him.

Realizing that he had forgetting the she-gryphon's existence for a few moments, he turned back towards her, though his expression remained serious, alert. "Did you see anything?" Vegas asked her, green eyes flicking around suspiciously. He had no doubts that Tez wanted him to take off flying right then and there, but...Images of burning feathers, flashing teeth, and wicked claws tearing at flesh flashed through Vegas's mind, and he just barely repressed a shudder. He felt like a rabbit under the gaze of a fox, and hated it.

And to think the observer could be anything else, it was just this damned fear that kept him rooted to the spot. Maybe the silence really was better.

{when we practice to deceive}

OOC: Herpaderp, Vegas is a coward and thinks Tez is rude. I kind of like him, though 8'D
Moosic: THIS SONG ON REPEAT.

[|gray|]

[ c o m e o u t o f y o u r c a v e w a l k i n g o n y o u r h a n d s...]

"Something tells me that you're not supposed to be here, either,"

"Mmmm." The Gryphess hummed, amused by the Kinir. She hopped off the pile of debris and glided over to him, landing only a few feet away. "That may be true, but I'm just a harmless rouge. You're a member of an enemy clan." She said, over-emphasizing her words to the point where it was obvious. "A spy, for all they know."She added, a small grin curling up the edges of her beak. Arete let her silvery gaze linger on him for a few moments before a movement snagged her attention. A black silhouette wheeled in the sky, descending in their direction. Crap, thought the she- gryph, expanding her wings in preparation to take flight. Adrenaline jolted through her body, but something kept her from flying off. It was the male; he hadn't even moved yet. Surely he had the sense to fear the Wyverns and their fire-breath? Confused, she glanced down at him, then back up at the approaching dragon. It was then that she saw the familiar emerald hue of his scales, and recognized him from their previous encounter with the Viriun leader and the air headed brown wolf."Tezcscoatl" She thought aloud. Any doubts she would have had were cleared when he started to speak, his rich accent cascading down on them from the air.

"Hey! Idiot! Get the 'ell off that buildin' and get your ass home! You're in the middle of Nihil territory, or haven't yer mentor ever teach ya the boundaries?"

[/s]

It seemed that the dragon was here to retrieve his brother. Arete relaxed a little, knowing this. She could care less why he was here, as long as he wasn't a Nihil. But the tawny she-gryph's releif was short lived indeed.

"Yeh see?! They be like scavengers. There's already one lookin' right in on you! Fool!

So apparently the group had been noticed. Nervous, Arete angled her ears slightly as to better hear her surroundings and glanced about the place. She saw nothing, and heard nothing, apart from a small rustle outside the building. It could've been a rodent, but then again... there was an equally high chance it was something else.

"I haven't seen anything, no. It is likely, however, that there are, in fact, Nihils, on Nihil territory." Answered the She-Gryphon, sarcasm tinting her voice. "But we shouldn't take chances. If your Brother is right, we should leave now-- before whoever saw us informs the rest of the clan."
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[...a n d s e e t h e w o r l d h a n g i n g u p s i d e d o w n.]

O O C...
Sorry I kept you all waiting ^-^' I've been a little busy the past few days.

[finaljump]

<<< Raze >>>

The black creature tensed as the silhouette of another scaled, winged beast formed upon the world's dome. They did not attack, however, and his words suggested his reluctance to do so. A slow, amused smile formed on the wyvern's lips as the green wyvern pointed out his existence. That, and the reaction of the male gryphon inside. Was it fear, painted in a conservative color, yet so very alive? Or was it the ignorance of one whom would trespass upon enemy territory? No. It was both, he figured.

Stepping from his position against the outer wall of the ancient church, his head once more peered through the gaping hole at the front, directly across from the entrance. This gaping wound on the hollow shell of a building wasn't big enough for him to enter, but it was more than enough to allow them to see his face. "You should heed the warnings, as you have so conveniently ignored the common sense to stay out." His cold eyes narrowed, a growl humming in his chest, loud and clear. "You will not receive a second warning from me." If he saw him once more within the Nihil's territory, he would most certainly devise a plan to kill him. There was no such thing as a 'three strikes rule' here, and no forgiveness.

Sorry |C I fear that I am stuck in a sort of time warp, where I don't realize how many days pass by.