A rose by any other name...[Vemiank, Gyfenah]

[Kryss]

It was a fine night, a fine night indeed. Lakaej walked underneath an arbor, on which climbing roses were expertly trained, the perfume of them saturating his senses. Even a creature such as himself could not fail to appreciate such inherent beauty. The drought puppeteer himself did not need to drink, but those life forms that depended upon it never failed to fascinate him. How frail they were, he thought, lowering his head to inspect a newly opened rose of a pale yellow hue. He shifted to his anthromorphic form, and plucked the rose, pricking himself on the thorns. Cursing softly, he reflected that this weakness did not make them defenseless, far from it.

He dropped the rose dismissively, and continued on his way, dropping back to all fours. After all, flower-picking was not going to fill the void in his belly. He shook his head to clear the rich heady scent – it was overpowering enough to addle his thinking. He would have to leave this area if he wanted to get on with fulfilling the demands of his flesh. As he turned to leave though, his ears twitched, catching the faintest of sounds from the direction he had just come from.

[vemiank]

J’Kael’s eyes and nose caught things in the air. Different things, they were, from many places. He imagined the world appearing before him from the infinity of fascinating smells and lights out there. J’Kael allowed his feet to carry him, and soon, he felt his paws touching the soft, rich earth of the Onyx Park. Truly, this was a beautiful place. A small voice in the euclides’ mind whispered of the way he should go, and he listened. The voices of the Mind Infinite speak through strange means, he thought.

As he walked past the roses, he remembered something deep and ancient, which he was sure did not appear in him for many months. True joy at seeing something that was alive. The part of J’Kael that could see past the beauty, however, calmly analyzed the place for anything threatening or unusual. He noticed one of the stems was broken, the flower removed. Walking a little further, he saw the rose, it’s yellow hue still alive. Then, a little farther off, something was moving—another euclides. This one looked…dry. J’Kael wondered what a Drought could be doing, picking flowers, making a small ‘Mmmmm’ sound, picking up the rose with his newly made hands. Every night, he made his hands, and every night, he made them into claws. There was a point to it, he saw, as he walked over to the other, a smile growing on his muzzle.

“Good evening. Did you know that Rose, a now-forgotten product of the Sogdian tongue’s ‘ward’, which over time became ‘rhodon’, is considered a symbol of dying love if of a yellow color? Hmm…Ward and rose…perhaps, roses were once wards? Or is a rose only a word?…Never mind. I believe you dropped this?” J’Kael’s expression became slightly more sinister as he bowed slightly, and offered the flower back to the one who picked it. “I lost my sanity and found this rose, as Rumi, a Persian poet once said…”

[Kryss]

As he whirled to investigate the sound's source, Lakaej found himself face to face with an exquisitely marked bone euclides, a handsome creature, by any account. It's flanks were lean and knotted with muscle, and it's coat had the rich gloss only health brought out. Yet again, Lakaej cursed, but this time mentally - how could he have been so careless as to let a mere scent, and an unimportant one at that, overtake his caution.

He as taken quite aback by this stranger, with his strange manner of speech. A puzzled look clouded the drought's features at the other's eccentric and extravagant speech. Just what was he going on about - it seemed to consist at least in part of vocalized monologue only the creature itself could follow. Bone euclides were indeed queer beasts, he reflected. He had never encountered one before this very moment, but he had heard of their strangeness, a reputation that far preceded the creatures themselves.

This one, however, did not constitute a threat, at least not yet. There was nothing to be gained in lacking manners and making himself an enemy - there were enough of those to be had without conscious effort. Perhaps he could even aid him in bringing down a meal tonight...

Lakaej shook his head slightly to clear away these musings, and addressed the other: "Good evening as well. I know not of these things you speak, unless you count my interest in them dying like the rose you speak of. I am readying to hunt, you may accompany me, if you so wish - together, we could bring down bigger prey than either of us alone." He said this last bit with his glance lingering on the other's prime physical condition.

[Gyfenah]

Ah, but what a night it was. There were so many things one could do, so many places one could go, but here was as good as any. Though the perfume of the flowers might hang heavily in the air, this female mustalid didn't mind it so much. No, it was the perfect place for one to relax if they wanted, but relaxing was definitely not on Biseai's mind. Far from it really, considering her thoughts were more focused on food... and perhaps playing around a bit. She stalked through the grass, leaping playfully at the moths that flit about trying to escape her snapping jaws. They were nothing but toys to her, though she was fast losing interest in them, leaping one last time at the small winged creature as it got too close to her. But her landing was more of an awkward one that sent her tumbling a short distance...that short distance that happened to land her near two other euclides that were nearby.

[vemiank]

J'Kael couldn't follow the Drought's thinking, but he was sure that the creature before him had little appreciation for poetry or Bone thinking. In fact, he found the simile that this one used to be in poor taste, and felt that once again, his eloquence has been wasted. It was not a big loss, of course, as J'Kael was sure that eventually his point would sink in. At the mention of hunting, J'Kael politely bowed his head, his thoughts fleeing into the deeper, primordial forests of his mind, allowing him to see for a moment his past. And, what a past it had been! A world upon world...but he still hadn't replied, or introduced himself!

"Oh, I do not mind joining you, but I seem to have forgotten something important!" J'Kael's speech altered to a more formal tone, becoming almost too much to bear with the insane smile on his face. "J'Kael at your service. I hope to provide, and partake..." he never got to finish, as at that moment, another euclides appeared from seemingly out of thin air.

“Well, who might you be?” the beautiful markings and the unusual writing of this one instantly marked her, for it was indeed a female, J’Kael decided, as a Marionette and an Idea. But, what was she doing here, with two others? Could it be some sort of Fate?…