Dead Empress Backwater Hard Knock Life

@Rochus

It was a busy morning for the Valle woman as she worked to finish her duties. A smile crossed her face as she finished up with the very last thing she had to do. Bury the prey she'd caught earlier. Then it was off to pull a fresh skin into her den. It was very soft and she felt it would give her den a little extra comfort and warmth.

Once it was in place inside she stepped back to admire her work for a moment. Then when that was done she stuck her head back inside and pulled out the bone she'd save for just such an occasion. Laying down in the snow just outside her den she began to chew on her bone.

She preferred enjoying the time she had outside despite the chill in the air. It helped her to know what was going on in the pack and be available to anyone that might want to talk to her.

A skinny hare swung from his jaws as he walked back to the heart of the territory, intent on eating it himself rather than storing it away in one of the many food caches. Was it selfish? Absolutely. But he wasn't here to play nice when it didn't benefit him, and he'd already spent the last few days catching some food for the caches. He had a right to eat the food he caught, and eat it he would.

Rochus passed by a wolf laying outside what appeared to be a den, doing a double take upon recognising who it was. Had he been a more emotional wolf his tail might have wagged and he would've smiled around the hare in his mouth, but he wasn't, and so he simply turned to move closer to her with ears that perked forward. He hadn't had a chance to speak with his daughter yet, and what better time was now than when he had a meal to eat and she a bone to gnaw on.

Dropping the hare at his paws he looked down on her larger form, only taller than her at that moment due to her laying down. "Sharlee," he said in the warmest tone he could muster, knowing she was a bit more delicate than her brother and as such needed a bit more emotiveness in their conversation. "How have you been?" Rochus could only assume Vayko would have told her he was here, and so completely bypassed the 'I'm so glad I found you' part of the conversation, having already painstakingly gone through that with his son.

The Valle woman was enjoying the time that she had to herself. Sometimes it was good to just sit and watch the day go by especially after such a busy morning. It was her little reward to herself for the hard work she'd done that morning. It was nice to be able to lazily gnaw on her bone and try to forget everything that had happened with Modesto for a little while at least.

She was still very angry with the older woman. The things that she'd said not only to her but to Vi as well and the things that she'd said about the backwater. The word selfish kept running through her mind. She didn't believe it to be true about herself but maybe she was wrong, maybe she was and she just didn't see it because she wanted to believe that it wasn't true. Sharlee huffed, so much for not trying to think about it.

The tawny woman went back to her bone purposefully pushing those thoughts from her head. She needed to stop letting Modesto get inside it. Finally she was peacefully chewing on her bone when she heard her name. Looking up she found her father standing there with a Hare at his feet. For a moment she eye'd him, though she knew that he'd found them, Vayko had told her as much, she wasn't sure what she was feeling just then.

"Father," she said cooly, "So you finally found your way to us." The Valle woman stood and picked her bone up to place back in her den before turning to face her father once more. He was one of the old ones like Modesto. Did he feel the same as she did, would he betray them just as she had. Sharlee remembered that he'd asked her how she'd been. "I've been well. Life for me is good here. How have you been?" She returned the question since she wasn't really sure where to take the conversation next. It had been so long since she'd seen him.

Her unemotional response had minimal effect on him as he sat back onto his haunches, simply watching as she turned to hide away her bone in the den. He resisted the urge to scoff; it wasn't as if he was about to steal it, or make her hand it over to him, but he decided to make no comment on the action. That wasn't what he was here for, after all.

"After a very long time of searching," he said, hoping the good intentions indicated by his words would make up for the somewhat lackluster tone. There was only so far he could push his fake warmth, especially for everyday conversations. And what he said was technically the truth, even if it hadn't been because he missed them.

Rochus was pleased to hear things were going well for her, meaning that at the very least Viorel was able to sufficiently take care of those in his charge, even if he did somewhat despise the boy. He could only hope the time Sharlee had spent around Viorel hadn't dampened her strong sense of self. If he had turned her into a pushover then he was going to be very disappointed.

He moved the hare so it was between his two front paws, using that time to mull over what he wanted to say in response to her question. "It's good to be back around family," he finally said, but made sure to add just a hint of somberness into his tone. "I just wish your mother was here, so we could all be together again." Amondi had always been closer to their children, and he was hoping that by bringing her up he could get Sharlee's defenses down just enough to really figure out what was going on in her mind. She had always been a bit more uptight and secretive than Vayko, but he also had a spot of admiration for her because of that.

After putting her bone back in its safe place she turned back to her father. The time that had passed since the last time she'd seen him seemed so far away. So much had changed for her that in all honesty she didn't know how to relate to him anymore. The fiasco with Modesto didn't help matters and then there was what Vayko had said. Keeping her guard up seemed the only reasonable thing to do. The last thing she wanted was another situation like they had with her aunt.

"Where'd they drop you off?" She asked after he expressed that he'd been searching for a long time. There was a lot that could be gotten from his answer. "How long?" She wondered how long he'd been in the lore. While she'd figured out how they'd gotten to this place. She still didn't understand the why or how of it all. She didn't understand why they didn't just leave them all in the same place. Though she'd put all of that behind her deciding to just live her life her father brought it back to the forefront of her mind.

Her thoughts returned to him when he spoke of it being good to be around family. She tilted her head in response to that but then her brought up her mother. The long lost Valle who Sharlee didn't expect to see again in her life. At this point it made no matter to her either way. [B)"Vayko said you were with her but then you were separated? What happened that you would lose her?"[/b] She wanted to know why he hadn't taken better care of Amondi. They all knew the kind of wolf she was and leaving her out on her own wasn't a good idea.