When Crimson Freezes, Hearts Stop Beating

It would seem his journeys had brought him further north, rust colored pelt flapping in the breeze. It had been awhile since he'd seen Sinister, wondering what she'd been up to. The thoughts of her tainted his brain and consumed him so much that the titan nearly tripped. Why? There was nothing special about her…Except tightness. He shook his skull to fling the thoughts out his head, shaking the pelt on his head until it fell off.

His paws stopped and he would look down to the white and black pelt at his feet. There she was…. His sweet sister who'd been with him since the day he became a beast of blood. "What would you do with me, today?" The tones in his voice held little sorrow as he stared into the empty sockets and wrinkled muzzle.

It had been awhile since he conversed with the dead, jaw parting as he let a yawn roll out of his throat. The ivory bone shimmering in the evening sun, as he returned the pelt back to his skull. It would never leave his sight willingly. She was as much a part of him as his soul was to himself. "Don't fall again." A final chuckle twisted its way from his muzzle as he continued on his journey.
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The snow brushed woods kept bringing her back. Tall evergreens with snow dusting their needles - it was becoming more beautiful with each passing day she would come to view them now that the day of her re-awakening here was becoming more of a thing in the past than a fresh wound.

The snow here was abnormally soft, almost always seemingly a fresh blanket with each visitation - except for the one path with which she followed so curiously. Following the footsteps as she bounced along trying to match their longer gait.

What she found at the end of the trail had sent her blood cold to the sight. Standing still as her pale eyes looked at the pelt hung over the shoulder of another wolf - such a grizzly sight she could not understand. 

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The silence was more peaceful than ever here. Evergreens and their branches cracked and shifted under the weight of white powder. It was remarkable how the substance worked. It could support no weight packed so loosely on the ground, yet it weighted enough to shatter branches. The single pink orb partially shrouded by the bone mask examined every branch.

Beautiful.

A single word came into his head as he looked around, flattening the snow below his body. The iris shimmered as it darted around looking from tree to tree, shrub to shrub. -Pink. It was faint. Yet, there it was. Back in the direction he had just come from, hidden amongst the green needles. "Is… there a reason you hide from me?

Naturally forgetting his looks the man shrouded in the skull of another wolf, as well as the pelt of his own kind. Exhaled. Then immediately inhaled. To his knowledge his breath didn't stink, unless he came scent deaf. That would happen if he wore the mask too long, all he'd smell is himself. "Is the entirety of your skin just slightly lighter than the color of a freshly bred salmon? Or… simply. Is it just around your eyes?"

While he was a rather rude man… this time the sounds of curiosity spread through his throat. His single eye gazing up at her as he stood still, if she didn't answer or ran away…. Well this would be rather awkward.
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Not being noticed yet, she still felt like a deer in headlights. Seeing the pelt draped along his back was a frightening sight that just held her right in place. As if should she stay very still, he would simply not notice her at all. As if the snow around them would just swallow her up and let it allow her to be nothing but a terrified fly on the wall.

But it would not be so. As the man questioned why she was hiding - apparently not well enough - her voice felt stolen from her. Choked out by the grim sight and only imagining her own skin across his back.
 
“I — Uh...” Voice shaking, she could feel her throat tightening even as he simply asked a rather innocent question, even his follow up one didn't sound like anything other than just conversation out of curiosity. Quickly swallowing the hard lump in her throat, she spoke. “I believe it is mostly everywhere... other than my nose and toes.”

Shyly she spoke, like a child too afraid to make anyone upset by speaking. Wanting to ask about the skin across his back, why it was there.... who it was, she chose to keep that for another time... she had to make sure he was friendlier than he seemed.

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This girl before him had a blemish under her left eye, a tiny black spot that seemed like a spec of ash amongst endless white. She spoke as if she had something caught in her throat, struggling to get the words to form. It was odd really that she wasn't in a talkative mood- wondering why she would follow him if she had no intentions of speaking to him.

The shrouded one turned his body to face her fully as his pink eye held little signs of emotion. This wasn't annoying by any means. It just made the curiosity within him grow. "“I believe it is mostly everywhere... other than my nose and toes.” She spoke almost silently as if she were going to anger him. The single orb would notice she was staring rather intently at him. It twisted and rolled upwards as he looked at the top of his own skull.

The white and black she pelt sat there idly as his jaw fell slightly. "Ah." A single exhale of air as it all clicked together, chuckling silently to himself as he realized why she was afraid. "Pay it no mind. Simply a loved one I can't bring myself to part with." The tones which flew from his body into the air held no inkling of lies, simply put he wasn't really lying to her. He just… Wasn't fully telling the truth.

" I am Vorehki Nexus Mexsadis."
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Leaning away, she was as ready to run as far and as fast as possible. Poised and prepared to do so should the man decide to make any kind of advances. She looked as if a hard gust of wind had come by and leaned her thin frame with its harsh touch - and yet there was none.

In a moment the man took notice to what was giving her such a fright. He was so casual with the explanation it was hard to not believe that it was simply a strange memento from a passed love one. She supposed... without speaking out loud to insult the man - that some mourned differently than others; and it was not up to her to judge whether it was strange or abnormal just because she couldn't understand it herself.
 
“I see.” She breathed, still having a hard time finding her voice in face of this man - but at least trying to thaw and relax as he introduced himself. “My apologies Voreheki, I have... never seen such a thing. It is... alarming.” For a lack of better words.
 “Reiko Izuka.”

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"I see."

Her voice held ample amounts of fear and regret, possibly realizing her actions to follow his tracks were terribly misjudged. “My apologies Voreheki, I have... never seen such a thing. It is... alarming.” His single eye looked at her as he exhaled slowly. "Hmm." It was not a questionable hum but rather one that agreed with her statement. "Alarming indeed. However, I simply woke up in these lands with it.

This woman before him was clearly on a sheet of thin ice and he saw no reason for shattering it beneath her. So… why not continue the lie? "I don't remember who it was, just that they were close. Yet, I do remember." His words contained no satisfaction within them, just a pure unadulterated bluntness as he continued to speak toward the Fae encased in frost.

"I was raised by a pack of cannibal women, and this… is how they would mourn. So, it also aids in scaring off the monsters." A chuckle followed his statement as the mask of bone shifted upon his skull. His gaze looked up to the clouds above, watching each one roll across the sky. "Reiko Izuka She spoke softly, still as if trying not to insult him.
"Well, Reiko Izuka. I believe you have no reason to fear me. I might be ugly beneath this mask. A soft smile would spread its way across the left side of his muzzle, the only side visible to others really. "But. I don't consider myself overly mean. Unless, I'm hungry" His voice was teasing her… and he was really bad at jokes. "I do believe you'd be delicious" There was no way of knowing if she'd see the clear sarcasm, but either way he was dying on the inside.
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She tried to get comfortable and meet this new man. Try as she might there was just something sitting in her gut that told her 'no'. He spoke casually with a certain air of confidence and yet it only made the scene all the more unsettling and his explanation helped nothing of the sorts.

She wanted to mourn his unknown loss with him - something they could all understand and she was certain in these new lands, they had all lost someone either before or after appearing here. Parting to lips to speak but it hung only lightly ajar as she was at a loss of words when the mention he was raised by cannibals was shared.

The muscle in her chest stopped beating. Throat feeling tight and only worsened as he added on near the end of the sinister word "delicious" after what he had just declared. If it weren't for the fright that send shocks through her body, she would have apologized for disturbing him and walked away - and yet she found no words. No air to push through.

And instead she quickly turned to flee into the woods and away from the man. She would not remain and risk seeing if he was being literal or simply joking.

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attempt to flee! end here if he will not follow~

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