Stardust had just sat and watched as the clouds changed from a beautiful array of oranges, pinks, and purples to the more muted colors of dusk. She sighs softly as the sky changes, her cyan eyes flickering downward. She had slept many nights here now, and was not transported back home. The star-touched woman found the weight of the situation absolutely crushing. Everyone she knew was just...gone, and everywhere she looked was a new, foreign place. A place she didn't belong. But was she forced to belong at this point?

Stardust looks down at her legs touched with slight scars. They were healing up, and she figured they would mostly disappear over time. At least she hoped. She desperately wanted to keep some sanity and control in her life, and her looks were once a thing she could control. Yet this place had already tried to take her beauty, and she was not going to allow that to happen.

The stars in the sky were starting to sparkle in the darker part of the sky, and she smiled slightly at the sight of it. It reminded her of her father and his star-marks, marks that she shared with the white flecks found on her fur. If this is a dream, then why can she not have some more control of it? She felt some sort of desire, some sort of drive she did not understand in this moment. She lifts her tall form, and looks back at the trees of the Howling River. She had the desire to cleanse her paws and front legs, in an attempt to keep her healing scars cleaned.

She walks with an ethereal grace towards a calm section of the river. She is night on the earth itself as twilight takes over, fitting her aesthetic perfectly. The woman comes to the river, her eyes gazing down at the water. She lays upon her belly and places her two front paws in the chilled water. Gently she begins to wash them. Deep inside, she is happy that it is getting dark and she cannot see them in detail. Her eyes do not wish to gaze on the imperfection from the badger attack. For now, she can pretend it isn't there. She hums gently as she continues, catching glimpses of light on the rocks in the water. What could this shimmers of light be? The moon coming out? Fireflies? She was unsure in this moment...

I would highly advise against that.

It stood tall over the wolf, though its gaze was not focused on her. It was turned out, past her paws, to the sickly, shimmering surface of the river. Here. It was here. Another affliction, another plague. Different from the last, but sparking the same irresistible pull, the same twisted desire.

It wanted to walk, and keep walking, until its head disappeared beneath the water and never resurface again. It wanted to drink the river dry. It would die, it knew, but it wanted to. Wanted to succumb. Wanted to learn. Its eyes twinkled with the temptation of it, as it tore its gaze from the acidic river to the wolf cooling her toes in it. It'll kill you if you linger.

Rune Discovery : 「 Failure 」

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Two souls, each unaware of the history that both created this world and was gradually destroying it, too. The Dream Visitor’s connection was limited, lacking familiarity with the two that loitered beside the cursed waters of acid and poison. As their attention focused on one another and the evident danger they were lingering beside, they lacked the awareness for any potential runes nearby.

Just as their eyes met the murky river, from behind them, there was a faint, blue glow. Too weak to be noticed by those unaware of what to seek, it quickly faded, unnoticed. Perhaps it was nothing more than a trick of the light, a stray sunbeam glinting off a particularly glossy rock. Whatever it was, it now lacked any trace of light, falling back into the facade of ordinary landscaping.

This theoretical rune will go unfound, but perhaps another time fate will guide you to success.

She felt a presence over herself, something that perhaps snuck up on her in her concentration while she worked on washing her paws. The lady of night hears a voice, and she feels her body freeze up a bit. It took a moment for her mind to absorb what it was saying, and right as she did it spoke again that it would kill her if she lingered.

Her dark ears flung back. She backs her paws out of the water with haste, and her nose wrinkles in disgust and displeasure. ”You have got to be fucking kidding me… she says halfway under her breath, her voice touched with the frustration that is this world. It increased with volume with each word in her next sentence. ”Even the WATER is messed up in this worl…..d” she says as she lifts her body a bit, eyes turning as she now SEES what spoke to her.

Her body froze again in a sitting position, one front paw slightly off the ground. Cyan eyes absorb the form before her and her mouth opens slightly. It is dark, so it is a bit difficult to see the creature in full glory, but there is enough light for her to get a sense of awe. It was much larger, and she had never seen anything like it. She had seen, very briefly amongst the tall trees, pumas before…and although this creature looked similar, it was also very much NOT the pumas of Taviora. It was glorious. Beautiful. She was stunned and also a hint of terrified.

”You are…familiar with this place? And the water…killing? You know, I am not too pleased with being torn from my home and now I can’t even trust WATER, the thing that keeps us all alive, ya know? I assume that is true for your kind too, yes, it must? Your kind, of which I know not the name of, is very beautiful, might I add, from what I can tell, anyway, in this lighting and all,” she rambled unknowingly, her voice perhaps touched with nervousness in that she is speaking slightly faster than normal, but it was still rather naturally confident. Her body did not move yet, some instinctive side of herself telling her NOT to make any fast movements in front of such a creature. If only that part of her applied to her own mouth…but it does not.

The wolf spoke, and the corner of its lip twitched upward in a thin smile that did not reach its eyes. Yes, it supposed it could see how that would be frustrating. Not that it could much relate.

A tiger, it clarified, perking up almost imperceptibly at the prospect of a teaching moment. It was clear from the way she looked at it, if not the hesitance in her tone, that she had likely never seen one. A big cat native to a number of diverse habitats, though their historic range and wild population is but a fraction of what it once was. It flicked its tail. They are not usually this color.

As for the water, it seems there is a plague on this land. I have found but one other affliction, in the mountains south of here, and there may very well be more. Its gaze began to sparkle with interest — with desire — as it leaned forward and bent its head until its nose hovered just above the surface of the water. The smell alone burned its lungs and stung its eyes, and it took every ounce of its willpower not to take a sip. It's quite fascinating, is it not?

It takes a moment, but she begins to feel a tingling feeling on her front paws. She looks down, but can’t make out enough detail to see if anything was happening to them. This creature must be right. There IS something wrong with the water. ”What the hell!” she shakes her paws, not pleased.

It mentions that it is a tiger, and Stardust committed this newly gained information to memory.

”A tiger…” she says gently, eyes flicking back up. The tingling on her paws was somewhat concerning, but it wasn’t painful enough yet. She listens as the tiger explains its kind, and she couldn’t help but wonder why she had never seen one before. And color? ”Color? What is the normal color?” she asked curiously.

As it spoke of the water though, Stardust felt great concern. Plague? Afflictions? This place was just getting worse and worse. The wolf of night huffed with displeasure. ”What do you mean this land is plagued?” she asked, noticing that the foliage and such of the area was…perhaps not well. She hadn’t noticed due to the twilight nature of when she arrived, but she felt more uneasy. The tiger was then hovering’s face over the water, and Stardust gasped.

”Yo, what are you,” she dashes to the tiger’s side, attempting to shove her face into it’s shoulder to try and push it away from the water. ”You just said it is KILLER PLAGUE water! What are you doing?” she said desperately, feeling the tingle still remaining on her paws. ”You were RIGHT I feel it on my paws! You have a death wish for yourself???”