Larkcall Lowlands and straight on til morning

@Lorcan <3 Set between this and this

Maybe it was fate, maybe she was just a reincarnated bloodhound, or maybe it was just dumb luck, but Everly had managed to rarely go longer than a few days without some new lead. It was making her think that her chosen role of teacher was all wrong, and when she got back home she was already preparing the speech to give to her parents about it. Tracking, she would say, is clearly my destiny. My nose is keen, my ears are open and my eyes miss nothing! He's been gone for months and I've still managed to tail him all the way to this faraway place! Or maybe scouting was more appropriate? Or diplomat? After all, it wasn't really her nose which she was following, because he'd run away so long ago that his scent was long faded, and weren't trackers all about the natural signs? She'd been following word-of-mouth, the pungent stink of his presence left behind stronger than any scent marker. Like a foul-mood-cloud that he just couldn't help but fart out wherever he went, one which her nose was quite familiar with.

Composure collapsing as a helpless round of giggles shook her shoulders, Everly trotted on, eyes watering from amusement even as she tried to concentrate on where she was going. But this place was so vast and open and featureless that she had to keep checking the sun to make sure she wasn't walking in circles, and she was beginning to think it was misleading her... and that was when she was able to fully concentrate, which wasn't that easily when thinking about her brother and his grumpy flatulence.

She squinted at a weird shape on the horizon, something which looked like someone had dropped a rock out in the middle of this empty nowhere land, but paid it little more mind, because it wasn't relevant to her search. West, west, west... If she died out here in this sea of snowy tundra, she promised she would finish the job and find her useless brother and haunt him for the rest of his sorry life, and then he'd regret this little tantrum, wouldn't he!

(This post was last modified: Jan 16, 2017, 02:09 PM by Everly.)

@Everly

Lorcan sat at the very edge of the monadnock and cast his golden gaze down onto the snow laden tundra below. His black tipped tail flicked behind him, tapping the frost covered stone of the plateau in interest, as he observed the same small tawny brown figure of the female he had spotted hours earlier. His white frown raised and a small smile tugged at one corner of his charcoal lips as he recalled her travelling in the same direction the last time she had wandered past, though that time she had not come so close to the Whitestone territory. Was she just going around in a one big circle? Chuffing with amusement, the agouti male pushed his lean figure up onto his paws and immediately turned to traipse down the old goat track which led down to the lowlands.

Breaking into a comfortable trot, Lorcan’s black nostrils flared as he headed in the rough direction that he had last spotted her at, whilst using her scent to more accurately pin-point her location. It took him a while to finally spot her again, but her dark earthy coat against the stark white snow made the task a little easier. Although he did not yet perceive her to be a threat, he kept his guard up just in case she turned out to be one of their friendly neighbours. Approaching her with a neutral posture, he made sure to move towards her from head on so that she was fully aware of his presence as he tentatively closed the distance between them.

Pausing a few metres between them Lorcan’s tail swayed in friendly greeting and he chuffed loudly towards her to get her attention before speaking directly to the lone female. “Excuse me miss, are you lost?” He began, brows furrowing in genuine concern. “I’ve been watching you from up there—” He gestured back towards the great monadnock with his muzzle. “—and I believe that you may have been going around in circles..” He became silent then and waited patiently for the female to explain her actions. If she was indeed a lone female like he suspected, then there would be no problem, but if it turned out that she was a Wild Rye wolf, well then, she’d have some more serious questions to answer.

(This post was last modified: Jan 15, 2017, 10:04 AM by Lorcan.)

# P O R C A N

sometimes, two people have to fall apart to realise

how much they need to fall back together

@Lorcan <3

The shape on the horizon had grown much larger as she walked, but the wolf had been so busy with her task that she'd barely noticed. The common sense lurking in her subconscious had led her paws to naturally veer away from it once her nose had warned her there was a pack territory near to it, but in all other ways, her mind was utterly preoccupied. Her lips moved silently as she practiced opening speech after opening speech, all for the moment she would finally find her wayward brother - and as they tended to reflect her mood, and her mood was souring with her rising impatience, each speech was a little more harsh than the last.

This was supposed to be the final leg, the last hurdle, he was around here nearby! But she felt like she'd been walking for days and days, and even though she was right at the end, every extra sunrise was just another eternity between herself and getting back to normalcy. Everly was not a wolf made for this loner lifestyle, it didn't suit her at all.

Fortunately, she had the frame of mind to notice someone approach (not that it was easy to sneak up on anyone out here, where were all the trees?!) and, detective skills sensing the opportunity for a fresh lead, she waited for the stranger to come to her, pushing the agitation towards her brother to the back of her mind so that she would be able to talk with yet another local in a suitably polite fashion. She wasn't quite able to push all the clouds out of the way, though, and felt impatience tarnish her normally-sunny demeanour.

Waiting sweetly, her opening smile was dashed as the softly-coloured man spoke, all but confirming her worst fears. "Am I?" she cried, aghast, glancing behind her only to see more open tundra, but that only made her feel worse because as far as she was concerned it all looked the exact same. "I knew it. Why is this place so big and barren? How is anyone supposed to know where they're going?! I'm just trying to find my brother, it's just like him to pick somewhere this - " he'd said he'd been watching her, right? From that big thing? So he probably lived here. With rapid precision, Everly wiped the rest of the irritation from her face and smiled, tail wagging serenely behind her. She wouldn't get anything useful by channelling Askan, now, would she? "Characterful. I'm not from around here, and all this going-in-circles business is doing my head in, forgive my bumbling."

A lynx has left behind the remains of a deer. +5 Health

The smile that greeted him helped to calm any fears that she was in any way involved with the Wild Rye wolves, for surely he would have been met with a more hostile and displeasured greeting otherwise. Lorcan couldn’t help but chuckle out loud as she exclaimed and turned to look about in every direction. Slowly he approached her closer, taking in her form subtly as he did so.

Stopping a respectable distance from her, his russet ears perked up at the flurry of words which left her mouth and the agouti male felt a single white brow raise in amusement in his smile widen. His chin tilted forwards and he lifted both brows in teasing question when she cut her sentence short and held her tongue. “This..what?” He asked, his tone light hearted as he pressed her to continue with her ramblings. Charcoal lips smirked at her chosen descriptor and his black tipped tail flicked once with amusement.

“It’s okay miss, the lowlands are vast so it’s easy to get lost out here.” He replied, trying to reassure her before offering her another polite smile. “Who exactly is your brother? If he lives around here I’m sure to have seen him around.” There wasn’t many days that passed when Lorcan couldn’t be found sitting atop the monadnock and observing the goings-on in the lowlands below.

(This post was last modified: Jan 16, 2017, 09:55 PM by Lorcan.)

# P O R C A N

sometimes, two people have to fall apart to realise

how much they need to fall back together

His playful manner and teasing response was all the confirmation that Everly needed to know that she was in the clear. If he was offended, he was polite enough not to show it, and she knew that she'd be able to quickly make up for any bad first impression with her - well, with her her-ness. She'd encountered so few wolves immune to her honey so as to not be worth her concern.

She smiled and gave a little curtsy-bow as he forgave her for being lost, and knew exactly what was coming next. Another gentleman! Wasn't she fortunate? "I heard he might be living out here, so maybe you have!" she said, taking another few bold steps towards him, tail behind her and wagging in proportion to her rising excitement. It wouldn't have been her first dead-end lead or piece of false misinformation, but she couldn't help get carried away by every fresh possibility anyway. Who knew when one of them might actually be right? "He's all dark-fur and probably spends most of his time looking like this," and she pulled a grim, miserable face for a few heartbeats, jutting her lower jaw out and frowning, before relaxing into a round of helpless giggles. Ahhh he'd have gotten so cross if he'd seen that. She'd make sure to do it again once she found him, it'd probably mirror his expression perfectly! "His name is Askan Selwyn, do you know him?"

Lorcan’s chin tilted down a little in approval and his smile widened at her politeness. His russet perked up when she mentioned that he may have been living out in the lowlands. Immediately his mind flashed up images of all the males in Whitestone and his golden eyes became glazed in deep thought. His golden eyes blinked as his mind returned suddenly to the sweet female as she took a few steps closer and began to describe him. White brows furrowed as his mind suddenly brought up images of Wraith and Greer. He had never heard Wraith mention any siblings and Greer…well, he was Morganna’s sister. Then a single brow rose and the agouti male watched the female put on a facial expression that felt immediately uncomfortably familiar.

Charcoal lips parted to speak, to say the name that sat on the very tip of his tongue, but he held back, hesitant. Surely not? He was unaware of the growing look of both confusion and surprise which claimed his features as he stared at her in a haunting silence.

"His name is Askan Selwyn, do you know him?"

The dark fur along his back bristled at her mention of his name and his fangs flashed, but Lorcan quickly shook his pelt to rid himself of the cold shiver which had crawled down his back and recomposed himself. “Know him?!” He exclaimed, his tone slightly mocking. “I’d be glad to be rid of him!” The words spilled from his mouth before he had a chance to think them over. His cheeks turned an awkward shade of rose and he immediately pressed his russet ears back against his head in shame. “Uhh, sorry, I mean…he’s—” His mind searched desperately for a polite word, but none came to him so he swiftly rephrased his sentence. “—on more than one occasion he has tried his best to provoke confrontation between us.” His top lip flickered, remembered his most recently encounter with the troublesome male.

“Forgive me, Miss Selwyn. Me and your brother, we most certainly have not seen eye to eye for a long time.” His brows furrowed to convey the seriousness of the statement, but his expression soon softened as he looked towards her. “You though...you behave so unlike him!” He exclaimed, black tipped tail swaying in curiosity. “It makes me question if you really are related. Are you sure he is your brother?” He teased, a toothy grin sweeping across his face.

(This post was last modified: Jan 19, 2017, 10:02 AM by Lorcan.)

# P O R C A N

sometimes, two people have to fall apart to realise

how much they need to fall back together

@Lorcan

Everly watched the man's reaction to her brother's name with complete composure, her smile not even faltering a little. Rather than be offended by his clearly strong opinions, she was merely emboldened, for this meant that he definitely knew Askan. It soon got even better, better than any of the other leads so far, when he went on to say things which implied that he'd come across her charming sibling more than once - to be a recurring nuisance, even! But why, that meant only one thing! That he really did live out here somewhere!

The joy in her tail and sunshine in her eyes might have been seen as completely at odds with one's expectation, something that was clear as the gentleman went on to apologise for his conduct, as if it had been rude or at all wrong. She tittered at his final questions, wondering just how many times she'd heard some version of that in the last moon cycle.

"Unfortunately so!" she said, bowing down in teasing mockery of the idea that her newly-realised connection with one of his adversaries made her some kind of celebrity. Comfortable in their dynamic now, and in this wolf's gentle, honest manner, Everly took another step forward with a flick of her tail, as though they were much better acquainted than they really were. Her idea of personal space tended to be smaller than the average, and yet somehow she rarely found anyone called her out on it...

"Please don't apologise, I know exactly what he's like. If I had a mouse for every time I heard that, I'd never need to hunt again! I'm sorry he's such a thorn in your side, he's always had that affect on people. Don't take it personally. So..." She smiled sweet as honey and batted her daffodil eyes, tail waving high in politely contained excitement, "does this mean he lives somewhere nearby?" 

(This post was last modified: Jan 19, 2017, 02:57 PM by Everly.)

Lorcan’s brows raised at her response and couldn’t hold back the smirk which tugged at the corners of his charcoal black lips as he gave a soft Hhmmf!. It seemed she was less fond of her own brother than how one might first assume. Suddenly the agouti male felt all the more comfortable around her, knowing that she had some understanding of how pleasant her brother could be.

The monadnock wolf remained grounded as the Selwyn girl dared a couple of steps closer. Rolling his shoulders back, his black tipped tail flicked in amusement behind him as he observed the smile upon her lips, still baffled as to how she could be so completely different to Askan. Was he starved of their mother’s milk as a pup or was it all just an act? His golden eyes rolled briefly at the idea before he focused back on his delightful sister.

“So he’s like that with everyone, huh?” Lorcan exclaimed, completely surprised. “I don’t know how any of his pack mates can stand to be around him…” He mused out loud, flashing a cheeky grin back over to the female. “He does, unfortunately.” He confirmed, nodding his head. “He’s a member of our neighbouring pack, Wild Rye Fields.” He gestured with his muzzle towards the south-west direction, before returning his gaze towards her. “You’re wishing to track him down, I assume?” He asked, wondering what she would do once she found him.

 

# P O R C A N

sometimes, two people have to fall apart to realise

how much they need to fall back together