Gypsy

Crocuses.

She half hated to see them, pushing up through the ground where the snow had melted away to show the old, dying leaves from the season before and the bits of grass which had begun to grow again. In one sense, it meant the end of an age of starvation and cold, and that prey would return same as the flowers were beginning to do...But it did not mean that her son would return, and instead of giving her hope, it reminded her of how long he and Aponi had been gone. Time had stretched on and the season of winter had finished, now Spring had come and was beginning to bless the land with colour and health again. But it meant little to Sagacity, who had now begun to mourn for her son as she might've mourned had she found his body. She knew, too, at some point, that if she scouted enough she would find some trace of him, now that the snow was nearly all gone- and that she would not want to find him like that.

She had been patrolling the borders almost endlessly, as she'd begun to sense that Naira preferred to stay in the den and had been avoiding her own duties. This irked Sagacity for two reasons; first, that Naira wasn't doing her job, and second, that she was pregnant. With her son missing, Sagacity couldn't stomach the thought of having children ever again if this was the heartbreak they brought- but there was Naira, who was only just beginning to show, who wasn't even in need of rest and relaxation, but who was taking it anyway and in doing so, avoiding her duties. Sagacity was tired, moody and heartbroken- and knew she would be of much better use to the pack if she spent her time patrolling the borders and searching for food.

Avatars by Arla!

The newness felt raw, and surreal but the scent was strong upon his pelt and it felt...right. So many weeks, months, years he had traveled across distant lands in search of something, or rather someone, who could quell his desire to wander and Sagacity had been the one to reel him in. She was a special woman, so confident and rugged in her ways that Couth could not refuse her request to stay with her, or had it been him begging her to let him stay, he could no longer remember but the Hollow felt right. What mattered even more was that he had a duty, his purpose in the pack went beyond his ability to hunt, track and kill and this pleased him, finally he could put his healing skills to good use no matter how mediocre they may be. It was a secret he would keep with him until he learned how to navigate these lands and recall the plethora of plants he'd learned those many years back. No one, not even Sagacity, could know of this, he could sense their lack of trust in him and he could not afford them to suspect him to be incompetent by any means--he had every intention on remastering his skill before the first day of Summer.

He had been particularly busy with finding roots, herbs to add to his stockpile so much so that he had neglected to find his partner in crime for some days now--the thought of her made him stop in his tracks. He had promised her that he would help her find her son, and that promise had died the moment his acceptance into the Keep was accepted, and was replaced with his constant need to find herbs for his duty; it was not intentional in the slightest. Dismissing his duties, for there were plenty of days still to add to his stockpile, he sought out his friend and followed her fragrant scent toward the border where he saw her, seemingly busy with her own tasks. He wanted to ask her about Mercy, whether any more news had been found, but he would avoid the topic and allow her the opportunity to voice her concern; he would not be the one to reopen that wound. "How has my favorite girl been?" he asked, feeling his tail brush against his rump as a whine of excitement left his jaws, "you look particularly well rested and beautiful as always." he felt the need to give a compliment in case she were well...grumpier than usual, although he could tell that sleep had been the least of her concerns, "how has your morning been? Busy?" and he paused for breath finally, allowing his ears to pull back in his head. He only hoped that she'd forgotten his promise--he hadn't meant to forget to help her find Mercy.

(This post was last modified: Apr 28, 2014, 08:14 AM by Couth.)

There is a deer that was killed by a lynx nearby. +10 Health

While she was pleased to see Couth, the look on his face was enough to make her feel even more sour. He had no idea what it was like to lose a child, so he couldn't empathize with what she was going through. And in his typical nature, he approached her with that silly swagger, that crooked grin, that happy tone of voice. She liked Couth quite a bit, but she couldn't stand how chipper he was right now, nor could she accept or even enjoy his flattery in the slightest. Instead of drinking in the praise, her ears fell back against her head and she gave him a stare, one to tell him right away that she wasn't in the mood to be flattered. And she was fully aware that she didn't look pretty at all; she was tired, grumpy, frustrated and she didn't care of it showed on her face. She felt jabbed by his comment about her looking well-rested, and took the rest of his compliments to be false as well. She bared her teeth silently at him for a moment before she hunched her shoulders and continued walking, though she gestured soon thereafter for him to follow alongside her.

"No sign of him." Was all she said at first. And she turned her icy amber stare to him once again, hoping he felt bad that he'd offended her. She looked him up and down and turned her head away. He'd promised that he'd help her find her son, but what looking had he done? He'd been busy doing whatever the leaders had wanted him to do, and while she knew that he was expected to fulfil his pack duties before he did anything for other wolves, she felt somewhat cheated. She wanted him to help her find her son. She needed someone who could help her, and while she knew others were looking and searching as well, she still felt alone and overworked.

There is a rabbit's nest nearby. +1 Health

Her gaze spoke volumes and instantly the male found his smile had faded from his face and ears pulled themselves defensively on his skull as he bowed in her presence, too afraid of her wrath to speak any further until he was spoken too. Only when the ashen woman nudged him to follow at her side did he return to his full height and release the breath he had been holding for a little more than 15 seconds--what came next was of no surprise.

He knew that she knew of his promise, it was hard to forget considering how urgent and important it was to bring back one of the Hollowheart Keep members safely, but not only just a pack member but her son, her flesh and blood, and he bite his lip from his failure. Having become so wrapped in his duties he had forgotten about his deed to those who needed him most, he had dismissed the responsibility he had for Sagacity and now her son; a wolf who had become a beacon of hope.

"I'm sorry, I..." he trailed off, knowing an apology meant nothing to her considering the fact that her son was still outside of the pack with no stable protection, "I'll help you search all day if you want..." it would be a start. Though he had thoughts of building up his stock pile and foraging for more herbs to assist him in his duties as a medic, he knew that Sagacity needed him much more, it was the least he could do considering how much he had begun to withdraw from her. "have you any leads? anything?" he started, following her speed as he loped at her side. For today, he was all hers without interruption.

She felt some satisfaction when she felt the energy drain from her companion. She reveled in the fact that he felt guilty and when his face turned ashen with horror. Now he remembered. He'd never had any sense of direction and she'd wondered sometimes if his moral compass hadn't been a bit askew as well. He tried to apologize but she didn't even turn an ear to listen, as nothing he could have said would have pacified her contempt. He'd promised to help her. And it wasn't that he'd promised to help her find herbs, or to go on border patrols with her, or even to help her hunt- he'd promised that he would try and help her find her son. But he'd been too busy with his plants to take notice of the fact that she'd been off on her own day after day searching for the two lost pups. If he'd really cared, she thought, he would've remembered.

She stopped suddenly and turned sharply at him, snarling. She snapped at him as she might snap at a pesky fly that had been bothering her ears, even though she'd invited him to walk with her. "I know how to track, Couth," She spat, and considered snapping at him again simply because he was there and she was angry. The idea tempted her and for a moment she looked ready to strike. She did her best to temper her ire on her own. "If I'd had any trace of him I would've found him by now." She said. She gave him another moment, as she glared at him, before she flattened her ears and began moving again, speechless as though to challenge him to come up with something that would please her.

I really have to get quicker on my response time...sorry about this...

Sagacity was a firecracker, it was partially the reason he found her so interesting to be around, she carried with her a sense of boldness that Couth could not seem bring out of himself and this in itself was the reason he followed behind her so closely; perhaps this boldness would eventually roll onto him. It was also of no surprise that her anger frightened him, which often forced his submission as he had no desire to feel the sharpness of her teeth, not when anger boiled so bright in her vibrant gaze, and he had many more months yet to prove himself to the pack. Since she had been his ticket into Hollowheart he would not let her down, not when her own reputation and his own were at stake with the pack.

The pack had been his primary focus since his acceptance, he was foraging for the pack, and storing the few herbs that spring provided deep within the earth for future retrieval, as a backup for a worse case scenario but he was far less prepared for his duty then he let on. In truth he was partially afraid for when a real emergency appeared, there was no telling how his medical skills would pull through during desperate times but these secrets would remain locked with him, not even his closest girl would gain this knowledge--instead, he would rather her assume him competent in his job, just like everyone else he encountered.

So wrapped in his own thoughts, having gone quiet the moment his question left his mouth, he had forgotten the fierceness of Saga's temper and found himself bowing when she grew too near, a whine of defeat flowed from his mouth. He did not want trouble, and he definitely did not want to pick a fight with Sagacity, not here and not now. "You're right, you're right..." he trailed off, feeling his press ears against his skull when she turned to him a second time, this time reassuring him that if she knew where her son was she would have already found him. "I apologize Saga, look I..." am new to this whole pack thing, he considered adding but decided against it, he knew that she was fully aware of his situation, "do you know if maybe he mentioned something a while back of some location, destination, anything? Maybe his sense of direction is just as crappy as mine and he's trying to find his way back and just havent been lucky?" his last statement he mumbled, more so a side thought then directed at her and he was silent once more.

(This post was last modified: May 24, 2014, 02:49 AM by Couth.)

Wrapping this up because it's soooo old- but we should have a new one, since the whole Mercy-lost thing has been settled :D

Damn straight she was right. She continued to walk at a fast pace for someone who walked on fairly stiff legs. She rolled her shoulders trying to loosen the knots and release the tension and relaxed a bit once Couth stepped beside her. He began to try to appease her by asking questions, but she shook her head. "He got lost. There was a hunt, and we got into conflict with another pack. We went separate ways, but the weather got bad. He didn't intend to wander off." She said, and her voice took on a more defeated tone. She almost wished he'd left on purpose- at least that way she'd know where he was going, and would know that he hadn't been killed out of spite by a rival pack. Having lost him so soon after that conflict, it was certainly a possibility that he'd been killed by wolves from one of the other packs. All wolves had gone home hungry- and killing a wolf from a rival pack would have both meant vengeance and a meal, had they been so desperate and angry.

Her temper slowly deflated as they walked, though she continued to grit her teeth together. Finally she broke the silence, with a quiet voice. "Let's go home. I'm tired." She turned and made a beeline for the communal den where they shared a nook together. Though her heart still ached for her lost son, it had helped to take a bit of her anger out on Couth, even though it wasn't right for her to do so. She was lucky to have someone who could and would withstand her whiplash aggression, and he kept her from feeling completely isolated.