The Moors

Diitzy: Giving second chances, was something Rayuu was really good at, but what about the little phoenix of this forest? Who would ever understand the lonely feeling a phoenix feels? Especially since she was never truly alone, two people had her feathers. Such a magical contract between the phoenix and the beholder. It always felt like she gave a piece of herself to Aleksey and Suka, but ever since she was reborn in ash, there was this hole in her chest, like there was a piece missing from her. The memories were scattered, at least she didn't go on overdrive to remember the dripping memories. The ragged and torn tux, the loose bowtie, the ash of two different realms colliding one from death and one from life. The white light pierced and every other memory was like flickering images on a silent movie shuttering through her mind. It had been two full moon cycles since her rebirth, perhaps more. The moon didn't phase fast enough for her, every night she waited to hear the howl, and yet, not even crickets sang to the moon. The sun came by faster each day, from providing healing teas to friends to healing a complete wounded warrior that wandered in the forest of the dragon. Rayuu started feeling well, empty with that one piece that felt heavily miss placed. Of course, it wasn't easy to notice. Anytime someone was around, the natural phoenix instinct was to drown them with warmful healing energy. In return, she would heal just a little bit at the moment as well, but like most happy moments it never lasted forever. Soon people would have to leave, lives get busy like that and everyone is the main character in their story, except for Rayuu. At least that's how she saw it. She only wanted to give everyone else the greatest chapters to their lifespan. She knew her own lifespan would cycle through and she would be given another life. Though some things in her current life were precious and meaningful, one being in a dragon, Aleksey. If the moment called, she'd exchange her life a thousand times over for him. Their bond was close, but it became closer when they exchanged a death for life. After that, it was endless memories of each other building a home neither of them excepted to create. One was never far from the other and the feather always closed the gap if they were too far apart. Though days were getting longer, and the last time she saw Aleksey, he was surrounded by so many people. It's really hard not to love the gentle dragon of the forest with a soul like that. With him came so many faces, one, in particular, being Mila. Who was truthfully kind to the phoenix and that simply doesn't go unnoticed. She knew that the two were becoming close, the energy always shifted when one was close to the other, and to be honest, Rayuu would want nothing but everlasting happiness for her dearest brother-dragon. Last she remembered, he asked if she felt the energy of the newcomer in his forest and she ended up healing the wounded soul and giving him a chance at a new life. Though, those phoenix tears hit a little different for the firebird that never asked for anything in return. The tears were heavy, and straight from her heart. What did Rayuu selfishly want? She looked back at the edge where the cavern was hidden, knowing the only hut she called home was Aleksey's. Even then it seemed like she always placed herself in his home, not that he minded he always welcomed her with open arms. Something they both shared was affection for those they cared about. Though she took a long hard gaze at every creature she met in this coven and she wondered. Is it really worth it to stay? She already endured three deaths, and the first one burned the whole beautiful forest down. The second one was to bring back her dearest companion from a fate he truly did not deserve and the last one... was because fear was louder than knowing who she was. The original son of the first phoenix, Jiore was right, she didn't belong here. 'Do you think I would be replaced?' she turned to the den of the dragon in this forest and saw he was just heading to bed, and it seemed not alone. Her memories of that last conversation always would hold a special place in her heart as she hoped and knew he meant every word. He wouldn't replace her but they surely would. She inhaled and picked up her chicken with the bowtie. "I think they don't need a storyteller anymore, Spike" the chicken tilts its head upside down and back to normal. "Bawk?" She nods. "Aleksey just needs to call me, I'll always be right there. He knows that." Her wings fluttered in soft embers as the lightning bugs flickered through the night." They slowly lifted off from the ground and the chicken moved trying to get free in her arms. "You're right. He's out there somewhere and I swore I'd find him. " She sighed and looked down. "Bawk,bawk." The phoenix nodded. "You're right, it's never truly goodbye." She smiled down at her little pet. "Let's go." She burst into the air. "BAAWWWWWWWWWWKKKKKKKK". The chicken let out a cry as shot across the sky like a shooting star. "Come What May, Alek." The voice pulsed with the feather in his pocket.

Judge: Axis' ride through the tunnel without Rayuu was a swarm of memories that Marcus had suppressed from him. He relived, almost in real time, a balanced amount of great memories with horrible ones. But the most important memories were the ones of Axis forsaking his kin in the hunt for phoenixes to save a fellow warrior and promising to protect his family. Betrayed by his own kin, his punishment for his transgression of sparing the phoenixes, was to die by stoning. He awoke in purgatory and wandered for ages before being collared as a hellhound and having his already faded memories taken from him. Then she came. But Axis knew the feelings he felt for her were not because of the promise he made so long ago but because she had been crafted for him and his chain of events had been specifically to bring them together. Like a shooting star, Axis crossed a dark night sky, burned through the thick branches of old trees and cratered into the earth of a living realm. The air was different here, fresh and green, light in a summer evening. Groaning, the hellhound slowly moved his aching body out of the crater and was met with a lot of tiny, blinking, curious eyes and fluttering wings. The voices around him were tittering quickly speculating as to what he was. A collective gasp weathered through the crowd as he crawled out of the crater and the creatures scattered leaving him in the shining dark of what he could only call an enchanted forest. Axis' sense of time was completely warped coming from purgatory, watching the sun rise and set had stolen his attention for several days while he got his barrings. When the pain started to go down and his bones no longer ached, the sunrises and sets brought him back to the memories of the phoenix. Never had the feather left his hand, not throughout his crash or his several days of wandering around this forest and watching the other creatures run from him. He held it between his fingers, and sometimes between his lips, constantly caressing it. Feeling acquainted with his surroundings now, the hound ventured out for days on end watching the horizon for the fierce burn of living fire. Each time he returned, his determination only mounted. From the feel of the feather he kept constantly against his skin, he knew they finally shared the same reality and he would find her eventually.

Diitzy: The phoenix might of wandered too far, this place was nothing she saw before. Just when she thought the forest was nature's true beauty, then came the enchanted forest. Rayuu was tired and hungry, but she didn't consume food like most creatures. She fueled off the warmness in comfort, whether that be emotional, physical, or even mental connections. She could feel her wings sparking out from the distance she traveled. The little bow-tied chicken was now more comfortable with his new personal flight. She stopped periodically to tend to her flightless friend. Though every night was the same, she turned to the moon and waited for the sound of the howl. With no call, she moved on. There is a reason why a phoenix should never be alone. Sure, it was a harmless bird and easy to kill but it's like the light from within starts to dim the longer it stays alone. "Okay, one more stretch, Spike. We can take shelter on that mountain." She pointed to the horizon and the chicken didn't make a noise. He must have been just as tired as she, but most likely not, her wings were barely lit, and when she tried to fly it was only so fast. The phoenix collected her chicken and lifted up barely getting off the ground, the sun was setting, and the moon was awakening. Night was now. She shook her head. "Keep going" She commanded herself and fluttered forward, across a big opening gap between the forest and the mountain. It was too much for her, soon she dropped dead in the air spiraling down as her wings vanished with the wind.

Judge: Axis' paws padded silently along the earth as he moved up along moss covered side of the rock face. Throughout his hunt over the past two moons, the feather he kept so close to him had never once even flickered and he could hardly feel the warmth from it he had when he had taken it from her. But today, as the sun began to sink, he felt the feather shimmer against his skin under the ash fur he wore over his wolf-shaped body. As he crested the rock face, Axis, for the first time since his exit from purgatory, lifted his muzzle to the moon. The moon was hung large and round in the darkening sky. Axis' howl was long, calling. The feather shimmered again, growing warm against his skin as if drawing his attention toward the dimly flickering light off in the distance. "You." Axis bounded off the rock, leaping down to the ground and racing across the varied plains with his eyes to the sky. Skidding to the a halt, the hound spread his shoulder and braced to feel the small body topple from the sky into his fur. Wobbling, he tried to keep her from rolling off his back. BAWK. Something sharp pinched his skin through the fur and he felt rough feathers flapping rapidly against his back. Yelping, Axis shifted his weight through his paws fighting the urge to buck since had Rayuu on his back but what the hell else was there.

Diitzy: In Rayuu's gaze, she saw the night sky. All the stars shining bright across the bubble globe to this universe. She swore she saw a shooting star. Do you believe in making a wish on a shooting star? A phoenix knows the truth behind the wish that makes it come true for you, but what about them? It's simple, they have to believe they are worth the wish to come true. As for this little firebird, the moment the moon glossed over her sun-stone eyes that were losing their burning flame she wished. The long howl call trailed through the night, and as far as Rayuu was concerned that would be a memory for lifetimes. Her eyes fluttered shut and gravity pulled her down. "You", that voice, she could never forget that voice. "You.." The feather around his neck burned hard with the voice whispering in each pulse. "Axis..-I" The voice broke and she landed on his back. The warmth slithered around them as the phoenix's body pulled in his warmth. Just enough for her to roll to her stomach on his back embracing his neck. While the bow-tied chicken became loose, plucking away as it shook its tail feathers and darted off to the closest seed bed.

Judge: Something plump and covered in feathers hopped off his back and clucked away. Axis could see it out of the corner of his eye as he tried to look back over his shoulder to make sure what he caught in his fur was really Rayuu but as she rolled over and wrapped her small arms around his neck, he knew. A contented rumbled came from his chest and out of his muzzle as he trotted off through the soft patches of grass behind what he was to find out was a chicken wearing his tie. Axis went under a long, limbed willow tree and laid down, resting his head on his paws. The energy coming from the phoenix was not at its highest and he was content to have found her, safe and alive, and be her comfort while she rested. Giddy at the prospect of having found her, he wanted to shift, mostly so he could speak, but he could way. The feather against his skin had burned brightly in order to help reconnect the two but now it hummed quietly, color slowly coming back to its edges. The faint breeze of the night rustled through his shedding fur and his body would have been warm beneath her.

Diitzy: The phoenix wanted to shake her body awake, she thought missing someone was a hard feeling, but wondering if they even existed. That's another meaning to the word, "I missed you". The words dripped into her mind, and if Axis wanted to, he could hear her thoughts. He'd be the first to hear the actual thoughts from the phoenix, not just simply pushing them to his mind. She didn't have the energy for that ability. Her hands flinched against his fur, moving to run her fingers over his shoulder blade. The phoenix's body started to arm up and her eyes opened wide. "I searched all over for you, is this real? or the final death." The phoenix slid down the hellhound's side and pressed her palms together. The fire manifested into a small phoenix gliding around her cupped hands. "I am alive...which means." Her head turned to gaze into his and she squeezed his neck again. "You made it back to the living."

Judge: 'I missed you too.' The words were automatic in his mind. He couldn't answer her question out loud in this from but immediately thought, 'This is real.' Feeling her slide off of him, he started to lift up on his front paws when he caught sight of her making fire in her hands then she threw her arms around his neck again. He stood with the phoenix hanging from his neck and shifted into his human like form, his arms immediately wrapping around her and holding her up off the floor against his body. Axis squeezed Rayuu to him, inhaling her scent with a sigh of relief. "It means, I'm actually here and so are you." He squeezed her again, wiggling her a little from side to side, feeling her little legs dangling as he buried his face into her shoulder.

Diitzy: The phoenix was lifted from her feet as she squeezed him just as tightly back, the warmness poured into him and she received energy in return. Rayuu started feeling normal again, she swung from side to side with his turns as she nuzzled into his jawline. He looked the same from what she could remember. Just missing the tux outfit and the bowtie. She looked to the side of them with the chicken nesting with the bowtie around its neck. The phoenix pulled back as her skin coated a small glow. "You howled for me." For the first time, a phoenix felt her cheeks flush a slight pink against her sun-ash skin, and her bright orange-sunstone eyes glossed over with tears. Tears that splashed to the ground blossomed all sorts of flowers. Just the memory of hearing his howl, brought her wings to expand open as she swung back in to hug him, but this time with a twirl and a lift from the ground. They were in the living now, she had better energy control in the living. The phoenix had hundreds of questions, but the first one she asked was simply this. "Do you remember your name?"

Judge: Axis exhaled deeply to feel her soft face nuzzling against his jaw, the warmth of her energy was something he hadn't experienced before. In purgatory she'd been a hollow version of herself, her warmth a mere suggestion of greatness. When she looked to the chicken so did he, her body slipped out of his embrace and his fingers grazed her side with the reflect to pull her back to him. His dark ruby eyes shifted back to her when she spoke, watching the tears fall from her eyes. He nodded to her statement. Since the moment he returned to the world of the living, and realized a true moon hung over his head, and the days changed to night and the landscape changed the further he walked, each howl had been for her. Stepping closer, his ash made hand reached up to brush those tears off her cheeks. The reviving liquid turned his hand from a form of ash to that of olive colored skin with dirty nails and thick veins and scars. The magic run up his arm to his elbow but as the tear dried his skin returned to black. The hellhound hand been slightly mesmesorized by the sight of his skin returning to his long forgotton human form when she dove into his arms again. Letting out a small, "Oof." His attention was immeditately returned to her, holding her close to his body as her wings spread from her back, vibrant colors of sun rising. The grass under his bare feet came away, and he felt his toes dropping down as they hovered over the earth. "My name is Axis, Rayuu."

Diitzy: The phoenix watched the moment the hellhound's skin shifted to the long-forgotten image it once had, it inked back to the undead black she knew so well, and honestly, she preferred the way she first met him. By the look in his gaze of astonishment, maybe he wished to be human again. If that so was what he wished, she'd granted it for him. She knew she had the ability to do so, but knowing the feeling that was drawing her into him. He would never let her exchange her life in the living cycle just so he could be human. The phoenix lowered them to the earth's surface and she smiled. "Knowing your name has power, I'd hold on to it." Hearing him speak to her was comforting, something long overdue it made her heart flutter to even hear his name. Something like this was unfamiliar to her and he could feel it by the feather along his neck. He had a good indicator of what she was feeling by that feather. No one made her feel that way. She reached over and placed her palm at the center of his chest, he truly was real. "I've searched for you. I was starting to think this was a dream I was never going to reach." The flicker of his human skin painted across his skin for a moment before it returned to ash. "Where have you been all this time?"

Judge: No longer in the fog of purgatory or under the power of Marcus, Axis could really hold onto his name. He was a collarless hellhound now. The only one that could command him would have been Death itself and yet he knew that the small phoenix in front of him could ask anything of him and and he wouldn't be able to resist her call. So, hold onto it he would but more importantly he had held onto her name and her feather. Both pieces of his search that had brought him back to her and he was happy to be there. By the happy fluttering, like a coy heart, of the feather agains this chest, he was content to know she felt something similar if not the same. Where her hand rested on his chest, his skin had repelled back to that olive color once more, covered in small and large pale pink scars. When the inky ash burned its way back under her hand, he was still marred with four raw looking claw marks and the mark of the damned directly under her hand. They returned to the ground as if they had never left. Not far off the chicken clucked curiously. "Since the moment I woke here, I have been looking for you. There is nothing else in this world that matters to me than you." The words left him before he had time to process his heart speaking things it had yet to discuss with his brain. Clearing his throat of the awkward explusion or words, Axis shifted topics, following her lead. He looked around them. They were in a thickly wooded area painted in the silver light of the moon, with the soft sound of rushing water off in the distance. "I've been here... mostly. I would leave to search then return. It's a very... warm place."

Diitzy: The phoenix lost her words at that moment. Aside from the bond she had with Alek, she never felt one way or another about being placed in this world. Just the in-between and from Rayuu's experience, being the one to accept other's fate for others, especially in death. The words he spoke of sunk in and she knew, he truly did mean it. Others felt like it was an obsession, the way she searched high and low for him. From their point of view, she couldn't say they were wrong. She didn't know what obsession meant. Though she knew this feeling and from his words, he too understood. "Do you not like the warmth?" She rubbed her knuckles together, a phoenix is in tune with Fire, hell it was one of the main components they are constructed of. The chicken grazed away picking at whatever it could find near them. "Maybe I should have left sooner. I felt like they needed me, but I guess I was wrong." The feather dropped to a heavyweight. The phoenix's mind crossed over to the thought of the forest and its residents. Her brother, the dragon, whom was too far to feel through the beholder's connection in her feather. She wondered if he had forgotten about her now. The girl she saw him with was probably what he needed for his new chapter without her in it. What if he missed her? There was a soft firey ember dripping from the phoenix as guilt was expressed. Though the moment her mind zoomed into the now and she saw Axis just before her in flesh, even undead. It all melted away as she reached to lace her hand. A howl was what she wanted to hear, but he was something more she desired and for once she was going to stop thinking about what everyone else wanted. "So this is your home?"

Judge: "Warm as in.. welcoming." Even though in that moment there were small spirites, forest spirits and pixies buzzing in the distance with nervous even fearful curiousity. He was not like the other creatures in this wood. He was made of dark energy and came from a place that edged so close to hell that it might as well have been dark as well. However, there was a bigger energy in the forest that seemed to sway the creature to keep a welcoming distance for him. Though he was almost sure the smaller creatures were mildly uncomfortable with his presence, he didn't feel the need to leave only allow them to come to him when they were ready. Seeing him in close quarters with a phoenix, one of th softest creatures there could be, changed the nervous welcoming air around him to something closer to just pure curiousity. It mirrored his own as he heard Rayuu speak. He had no context for the people she spoke of, the ones that didn't need her. "Where have you been? Who are these people you're speaking of?" Against his chest the feather that held such a close knit to her emotions felt like cold stone and shivered through his body, chilling his own heart against these faceless, ungrateful patrons. Reaching for her face, Axis gently cupped her chin between his fingers and looked her over. "Guilt doesn't suit you though it doesn't make you any less beautiful." His hand dropped into to catch her own, long fingers interwined over her small hand. He lowered to the trunk of the willow and guided her to join him as he looked around then up at the moon. "That depends," he said thoughtfully, to her question of his home, "will you stay here with me?"

Diitzy: The phoenix wrapped herself into his arm before he guided her beneath the willow tree, when he lowered so did she but she curled into his side. Craving the affection as a phoenix would, more so with the feelings, she had for the hellhound just pouring over her. The feeling was not just pouring over her but onto the nature around them as the grass grew patchy, the tree's branches dangled to reach the phoenix and the rest of the flowers bloomed from their nightly slumber. Rayuu always admired nature when it was called to her, but she was gazing at the stars as she spoke, like she could draw lines to each star to paint her story, hell the energy from within where her phoenix laid, seeped the small glowing dust that formed the story and by her feather he could see it as her beloved beholder. "I called it the Forest of the Dragon. I burned it down once when I was reborn into the new life of a phoenix. I did regrow it and bring it back to it's original state, even beyond that but I think only the dragon himself knew it." A human-like shadow formed with catching the feather of her first core memory. "I asked if I could stay, and he offered me a hand. Something terrible happened to him, death came too soon by ignorance of another and I saved him. Life believed he was a life worth saving and I agreed. His name is Alek and he is my brother. He is popular, so many creatures adore him. I found out I wasn't the only phoenix, but perhaps I'm the last phoenix. I can't compare to an original born to the first phoenix. There was trouble though, but if it wasn't for being told the truth about my previous life I would of never found you." She reached to run her knuckles against his jawline. Remembering what Jiore felt, when he gave his feather to bring her back to normality from breaking the laws of nature. "Last I remember Alek was with someone and I felt the lift in his heart when they were together. I assumed, I no longer belonged." She watched as his eyes moved to the moon as she took that moment to sink in his peaceful thoughtful face to memory. "Home is you. I never want to lose you again. Once was enough."

Cordite: Within the dense, dark canopies of weeping willows and magnolias a buzzing essence seems to trickle over the land. Golden essences seem to pack within the air, moving over the follicles of vegetation and growths within the area. A dim-lit sphere of gold seems to compress, as the scattered essence gathers in ine singular location. The sphere then seems to expand, growing exponentially in size until it ceases its expansion having a diameter of exactly six feet all around. This dense ball releases surge of what appears to be gold lightening. The cracklings of lightening swirling about the sphere to cook the vegitation within a meter of this enigmatic sphere. It then slams down to the soil, exploding with exponential power radiating through the forest. It sounded like thunder, as a bolt of lightning shot upward into the sky rather than down at the earth. The sphere slowly dissipated, and a brown skinned man crouched, slender, muscular snd naked seems to be within the meter deep crator. Slowly standing upright, his brown skinned arms span and stretch out as mystical fabrics seems to bound to the body of the man and dress him. At first glance he appears human, his dreaded locks billowing in the breeze. Whst gives away his inhumanity is the seemingly electrical, neon gold glow within his irises. His eyes glancing through the night as his ancestral charm manifests about his neck, the same color as his eyes. Golden lions engraved onto the coin-like face of his charm. As soon as his boots mysteriously woven to his feet, he steps out of the crator, and silently glances into the horizon. "The night seems to claim the sky." He mutters to himself, not really aware if his surrounding or where he has wandered.

Judge: Listening to her story of her life after and before purgatory, Axis watched the profile of her face as she gazed at the stares. It all sounded like a whirl-wind and hellhound wasn't sure he wanted to be wrapped up in so many people. For the most part the creatures of this particular forest had left him to his own devices and it was nice to be on his own, answering only to his own needs and impulses after being a slave for so long. Of course, this forest didn't give him a very good idea of how much time had passed in the world of the living since he had died but he wasn't much interested in the outside world or the world of man. Axis watched the form of the humaniod dragon form when she spoke of him. In his life he had never met a dragon. In fact, his life had been a world of humans prior to the hunting of phoenixes, so this idea of a dragon, the feel of the forest buzzing with magical life, was new to him. The creatures of the purgatory were hienous for the most part, or so delicately human. Having never met this dragon, Axis already had a feeling for the creature. He had died due the ignorance of others as well. A low, contented growl left him as her knuckles brushed his jaw. "If he is truly your brother, there should always be room in his life for you." He said quietly. Lowering his gaze from the sky, Axis' ruby eyes wandered to the distance where golden light was dancing in the forest. "Then our home can be anywhere." His words were rocked by the thundering of the golden orb to the earth. Brow furrowed, Axis rose to his feet, drawing Rayuu with him, his arm locked around her as he watched the body of a man emerge from the crater. He seemed to speak to no one in particular and didn't look fully aware of their presence. "Hmmm." The hellhound hummed in thought.

Diitzy: If Axis were ever to meet Alek? The phoenix believed they would find quite a friendship between them both. She felt her cheeks burn into a pinkish hue when he said their home could be anywhere. Rayuu didn't mind anywhere as long as she could for once be one of the main characters. She leaned up and brushed her lips under his chin, lightly kissing against his growl, and nodded. "Maybe someday our stars will cross again and you could meet my brother-dragon, but for now something tells me I belong here with you." Nature notices change before we do. The shift in the wind brought her gaze to the horizon and the branches of the trees dangled away from the sphere of light that danced across the sky. Axis coiled his arms around her tightly and the phoenix could see a figure coming from the crater. She knew not all things are human, even if they looked like one. The phoenix was a prime example as she tilt her head at the newcomer as he drew to distance. The vibrations below where they sat rippled around her, she couldn't understand the energy, but Axis lifted to his feet with her in his arms as she cleared her thoughts, and opened her lips to have her voice emerge. "Hello there."

Judge: After finding Rayuu, Axis found himself always keeping her within his line of sight. Days had gone by and each day, the distance he allowed between them widened by only a fraction. Fortunately, the wooded area that he had landed in seemed like a peaceful place. They were hardly ever encountered by other creatures and neither of them seemed to require sustenance like other creatures in the realm, so they disturbed nothing, and it seemed like the bright, spritely spirits around eased around him now that Rayuu was around. This particular day, the hellhound sat at the edge of the grassy bank watching the water lap at the shore by his feet. There were creatures in the water that were brightly colored and flashed with soft auras around them. If he squinted, he could see that they were small, flicking little things with fish-like tails and fae-like upper bodies and when they leapt out of the water, their wings were gossamer drops of water. Admittedly, he was completely fascinated with the creatures in this forest. This was nothing like his vague memories of life before purgatory and nothing like purgatory proper. It was light, and airy and constantly tinkling with the sounds of small things giggling as they rustled through the bush around him. Blinking, Axis turned his head to look back at the willow tree where he and Rayuu slept amongst the roots. "Why are you so far away?"

Diitzy: Lost in a slumber, perhaps the longest she had ever been peacefully asleep without the hyper alert vibrations against her chest. This was the first that she ever slept beside someone who didn't need her to aid his story. Slowly, she was falling into the main role of this untold story before you dear reader. Rayuu wondered what it was like to dream. So many stories come from dreams. Maybe living was simply a dream, if that were true then she hoped that the phoenix would never wake from this moment in her life. The sun was racing above to the sky, and the sun-kissed shimmering female slowly rolled over to feel the emptiness of the hound that usually was by her side. Her eyes flashed open as her arm stretched to the rustle of leaves under her finger tips. "Axis" The chime in her voice trailed with the breeze that shifted around him. The fire-bird relaxed to the voice carrying back to her as she crawled to her feet. "Never too far from you." The feather around his neck flickered in a bright glow as she walked to him pressing her forehead against his back where he sat and wrapping her arms around him in a small embrace. "I didn't know I could sleep. I've never felt safe till you." Rayuu found herself a spot beside him and watched the soft ripples of the shoreline. "How long have I been asleep?"

Judge: His back warmed, shoulders pulling back a bit when Rayuu pressed her forehead against him. His eyes returned to the water, thinking back on her words and their conversations of the creatures she'd met while living in a cave with a dragon but he said nothing. As she shifted around, he lifted his arm and took her under his wing, pulling her in against his side as she settled alongside him. "You've been asleep for a while. I laid still for a while." When the hellhound rested, he never really felt that turning off of his mind and the peaceful darkness he recalled sleep was. It felt as though, even though he was now technically alive, he still didn't require certain things a more humanoid creature did in order to function. The arm wrapped around her came to rest with his hand on her upper arm, rubbing up and down slowly. "I think maybe we should find a better place to sleep. Maybe something more enclosed?"

Diitzy: He always provided the most warmth to the phoenix, the moment his skin grazed upon hers the energy poured through out her veins. His arm wrapped around her and she felt her sigil beat to the rhythm of her heart and the feeling she had for him. That heart beat jumped at the thought of finding a better place more enclosed. "I would like that, a place we could call home." She rested her head against him. "Why not here? By the willow tree." There was something about the willow tree she liked, maybe it's because a willow tree always carried the oldest stories with its branches. A phoenix knows there are deeper stories then words could carry. Though, as she looked over her shoulder at the tree, she remembered. It wasn't too long ago where they found each other finally after all this time. From a howl she longed for every moon, to a willow tree where they held each other for the first time. Something that felt more like a place to call home. She leaned to his jawline and pressed her lips gently against him. "Let's see what we can find." She brushed her fingers along his cheek and picked up to her feet.

Judge: Ruby colored eyes watched her face as she spoke of a home for them, shifting to look down at the top of her head as she laid her head along his. His head lay against hers for a moment, thoughts moving along the same train as her own. The willow tree, like many thing in this forest, seemed to pulse with an energy that was both more and less than life and held secrets it was willing to share if asked nicely enough. When Rayuu looked over her shoulder, he looked as well, watching the thing branches of the old tree in the morning breeze. Her mouth on his jaw sent a warm jolt through him and he rose when she did following her to the tangled roots of the tree. Kneeling in the crest where both their bodies fit, Axis reached out and pressed his hand along the base of the tree. The magic of the forest was a cool tingle against his otherwise warm skin. Mounds of dirt started to fall away under his hand, beams of golden-silver light flashing up toward him. "I think you're right."