Iridescent Lagoon Just keep kicking as you go down

For @Eros and mention for @Ally

Archer Valle

Come morning, it would be two weeks since Andy's death and nearly a month since Kateri's. Every time he thought of his beloved there was the sting of abandonment - he'd given up his family for her, and she'd left him. Just like his ma left them. Their child had been sick and she'd left and he'd died and if she'd been here, if they'd both been taking care of Andy, then he would still be here. They could have pulled him through this if only she'd been here.

He had to shake it off, every time. I won't be him, I won't be him," he chanted to himself. He wouldn't let his beloved's disappearance crack him, and he wouldn't let the grief of losing his child break him. Not like Viorel had. Archer was going to be an adult now. He was going to take care of his surviving child.

Archer chose to believe Kateri had gone to look for medicine. She hadn't told him because she hadn't been planning on being gone long. If she was close, he would have found her. Maybe she went up the mountain to see her mom, to get advice. Then why hadn't she come back, or told him where she was going? She would have taken their children with her at the very least, or told Archer she would be gone. Maybe she'd been in a hurry and couldn't find him? But why hadn't she come back? Something probably happened to her. She was hurt and couldn't come back.

So, Archer would go to her. It was the only place he could think that she would have gone. It wasn't close, and it would be a hard journey for Ally, but she was going to have to grow stronger anyway. A life without a pack was going to be a hard one. They both needed to grow stronger, and they'd stayed here long enough. It was time to leave the grief behind them and go in search of Kateri.

"Ally," Archer called softly, not far from their den. He wasn't sure where she was, but hopefully she wasn't far. "It's time to go."

[size=x-small]Archer is very haggard and thin; it is obvious he is not doing well.

Eros felt like he was running out of places to look. Each time he took days away from the Backwater to try and find his brother's trail, and came up completely empty, he felt panic building, threatening to breach the dams of his willpower. He asked himself repeatedly, dreamt of finding Archer and practically shouting it at him, 'why aren't you with the Cove?' Had they thought Kateri's family would react just the same? Why not at least try? Where else was there to go?

Maybe he missed something, missed them completely. Maybe they had managed to leave this region altogether before Kat gave birth. Maybe... he'd actually never see his littermate again.

This time, he set out for the Lagoon. It was a trip, but of course he thought of the Backwater's other banished member- perhaps Archer had as well, finding comfort where their Aunt Modesto once had. Still, his hope was dying. Part of him didn't actually expect to find anything, especially as his paws touched sand and his senses still told him the area was empty. Eros walked the shore determinedly, not having come all this way to not check every nook and cranny manageable.

The wind was against him, and he heard that familiar voice without any accompanying scent. Eros halted, blinking, wondering if maybe he'd just hallucinated. Ally. Where would his mind get that from, though?

"Shit," he hissed under breath, trying to rapidly backpedal into the forest beyond the lagoon's shores. He wanted to know where Archer was; he did not want the other Valle knowing Eros was checking up on him. His paw came down on a fallen branch and it snapped loudly beneath his weight.

{M} for swearing

Archer Valle

Usually his daughter was quick to respond to him. She usually didn't go far from him - not these past two weeks. Or perhaps it was Archer himself who didn't go far from her, and she simply didn't ask him for space. He was just worried. His first foray into parenthood had not gone the way he'd expected, and Viorel's words, "when you fail" seemed stuck in his mind. The certainty that the young man would fail as a father still stung, still added fire to the anger that seared him when he thought of his birthplace.

So he didn't. He turned his mind back to Ally. Perhaps she wasn't coming because she wasn't ready to leave. His ears pricked when he heard a twig crack. They hadn't had trouble here, nor visitors, so Archer assumed it must be her.

He wandered toward the shore, rounding the foliage and froze.

Archer blinked, hard. He had to be imagining things. That was not his littermate standing before him, here at the lake, days away from the Backwater where they'd said... well, Eros hadn't really said goodbye, had he? His final screamed, Fuck you! still rang in Archer's ears. Why was he here? Had Viorel sent him to take Ally from him? Out of those with whom he shared blood, Eros was the one he wanted to fight the least. Maybe that's why Viorel had chosen him.

A thousand cutting words rose to Archer's tongue, a thousand angry things to hurl at his littermate, even though there was nothing he could say that would hurt him as badly as Archer himself was hurting. He wanted to rage, he wanted to fight, but... but he didn't.

So Archer stood frozen in place, legs stiff and fur half-raised in indecision and worry, ready to scream for Ally to run and leap into her defense or simply fall into a defensive stance, and stared at Eros with wide eyes as he waited for him to make the first move.

(This post was last modified: Jul 12, 2023, 11:33 PM by Archer.)

[size=x-small]Archer is very haggard and thin; it is obvious he is not doing well.

Eros gritted his fangs and tried to go faster but then Archer was in view and their eyes locked and it was definitely too late now. Part of him wanted to just turn and run, but what struck him most was that his brother looked, well... like shit. Worn, and thinner than he'd ever been in the Backwater. Eros' tawny ears swept back and his legs stilled, peach gaze never breaking away from Archer's silver.

What now? For a stretch, silence, as they each expected the other to speak first. Then he relented into going first, and what came out was that question which had been weighing so heavily on him. His own fur bristled as he asked it, voice nowhere near as hard as he himself expected it to be but still with a level of accusation.

"Why aren't you at the Cove?"

Archer Valle

The silence stretched on as each boy did nothing, the sound of Archer's heart beating slowly growing louder. His mind raced. The air was still today; maybe that was why he hadn't scented his brother approaching. He was focused on preparing to leave, and that was why he hadn't heard the paw steps despite the quiet. So many things. Why was he here? How did he find him? Archer steeled himself against whatever poison was going to be laid upon him now, all but flinching when Eros opened his mouth, only for it to be a question. An accusing question, but a question that took Archer off guard.

He blinked again, his posture slowly relaxing despite himself. "They killed our sister," he said, voice hard but like his brother, not as aggressive as he'd been going for. A dozen questions danced on his tongue, and a dozen more accusations of his own to hurl. He kept them locked behind his teeth - for now.

[size=x-small]Archer is very haggard and thin; it is obvious he is not doing well.

Eros was expecting his brother's response to center around his girlfriend. 'Kateri thought...' or 'Kateri wanted...' Instead, Archer surprised him. He considered his sibling a moment, found himself wondering about the stray Vuesain daughter- did she blame her family too? He couldn't fault Archer for not wanting his kids to rely on the pack who had failed them so miserably, though Eros suspected that Aleister's grandchildren would have been afforded far more protection than unrelated guests.

He looked past Archer then, at the lagoon and its familiar, tinted waters.

"So you guys set up here instead?" Or had he just happened to run into them between locations?

Eros' fur was starting to settle, the fact that Archer had yet to shout at or insult him almost making him want to relax. He was no longer a child, though- there was no naive hope that all could be so easily forgotten between them.

Archer Valle

Things were brittle, but they were... calm. As Eros relaxed, so did Archer, his fur finally starting to lie flat. He no longer felt he needed to be prepared to run, but he did keep one ear cocked back to listen for his daughter. If Eros was going to be... cordial, at least, then Archer might be comfortable introducing @Ally to her uncle.

Eros's gaze slid past him and Archer glanced back, wondering if his daughter had arrived at his thoughts, but all he could see were the gentle waters. He looked back at his brother and shrugged. "She was pregnant. We needed someplace fast, and it's sheltered, has food, and close access to water." All were good reasons to stay... but there was just too much heartache here. Archer hesitated, gaze flashing to the small mount not far from where they stood where Andy lay. He didn't owe Eros any answers, didn't owe him anything, and he briefly considered turning away and ending the conversation there, or demanding answers of his own, but this seemed to be a truce and as angry as he was... Archer missed his brother.

He missed him. They'd talked about leaving the Backwater and starting their own pack, once. Archer hadn't wanted to, but he would have followed his older littermate anywhere. How times changed... and it hurt. So Archer would let this interaction continue as long as Eros continued playing nice. "...How did you know we weren't at the Cove?" he asked, voice perhaps a touch cautious but not angry or accusing.

[size=x-small]Archer is very haggard and thin; it is obvious he is not doing well.

Archer confirmed it, and he supposed that if they really didn't want to be with a pack, this was the best they could have done. Still... what about their Archer relatives in the Ridge? There had been options, he and Viorel hadn't forced Archer and Kat to choose the one where they were alone and without any kind of a security net. ... right? Or... had his brother really felt this was the only place left in the world for him?

Eros wasn't sure what to ask next, and before he could decide, his sibling proposed his own query. His ears had started to push forward again, but now they fell back once more. He still wanted it kept close to his vest just how concerned he'd been all this time.

"I ran into Leo, he asked after Kateri," the answer was a touch dismissive in tone, as though it had all been a random happenstance and certainly nothing intentional.

"... so..." his jaw set, gaze drifting again, "how's... it going?"

(This post was last modified: Jul 13, 2023, 06:21 PM by Eros.)

Archer Valle

Archer was trying not to stare at his brother. He didn't want set him off, and each time he felt their gaze might meet for more than a moment the younger boy's gaze flicked away again. He was just keeping an eye out for his daughter, just watching to see if someone else from the Backwater was sneaking up on him - and then Archer felt guilty for his suspicion, his excuses. Eros wouldn't do that to him, right? Already they were walking on ice - Eros would lure him into a trap and distract him while somebody else snatched Ally from him and ruin any chance of reconciliation, would he?

Archer knew he'd burned the bridges with Viorel. There was no repairing that, and he didn't want to. But Eros? Archer was still confused about where his littermate's wrath had come from. And, as he'd been so focused on... he missed his brother.

Archer's eyes narrowed at the flippant response, swallowing back back a biting, who doesn't care now? But it wouldn't do anything to help. It would only set fire to this already dry situation. He thought about lying, he thought about not answering, he thought about falling back on that same biting remark... but he couldn't. Even though the last time he'd gone to his brother for support, for affection, for reassurance, for something, he'd been yelled and cussed at instead...

His shoulders slumped, the weight of his grief winning out over his defenses. Ally wasn't here to see, and Archer never really could say no to Eros anyway. "Kateri is gone, and my son is dead."

[size=x-small]Archer is very haggard and thin; it is obvious he is not doing well.

There was a moment of hesitation that drew his attention. Again, Eros expected something different than what came; for Archer to insist that he had everything handled and they were all doing great regardless of whether or not it was the truth. What wolf would want to swallow the pride to admit otherwise?

It was more than hunger and a lack of sleep, though. Gone. Dead.

Eros blinked back at his brother, the news holding far more gravity than his mind had been prepared to comprehend.

Gone. Dead. Gone. Dead.

"What?"

It felt like he was in a tunnel, and everything including Archer and his own voice were at the far end of it, elsewhere. How was she gone? Was he talking about stillbirth, or... or...

What the fuck happened to his brother?