Wait, what?

1-6-2014 - Light Snow - Negative two degrees {F} - 10:00PM

Aeolus continued his ventures for food on the pack lands to little or no avail. His eyes were troubled and his mind started to draw into a blank page. The tawny man gazed around the forest as if he was lost or confused. This was simply because he had suddenly forgotten what he had been doing! Aeo was trying to be calm and focused, but everything just slipped away. Damnit! He told himself as he set a new task for him to complete. He decided he would run the borders once more and figured that was what he was doing all along. It troubled him that he had forgotten, but that was probably because he was thinking about his brother, Phineas. He couldn't decide, after their last meeting, if his impressions of the eldest Argyris brother were wrong or not.

The Argyris man was thinking as he patrolled. He was thinking about the events leading up to the leaving of Phineas and he thought hard about how they may have affected his brother. Finding out that 'his children' were really Thorne's children would have come as a shock and perhaps the first instinct was to run from the problems. But at the same time, Aeolus disagreed. His brother and himself were very different and therefore Aeo needed to understand his brother in order to understand the man's point of views. It would be a very long border patrol indeed. Aeolus contemplated what his brother had said about not being fit for leadership of the pack. If he wasn't meant to be leader of a pack then, what changed? He seems to be quite fine leading a pack now. The arguing between his mind and his reason would go on for hours. Border patrols were mindless and routine unless a scent of a loner was caught. A perfect excuse to think.

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Naia was on her way home from the lagoon, her favorite territory just outside the Cut Rock River Border. Most wolves would probably avoid squelching through the funny-smelling swamp, but the tawny lady had discovered that the air was heavier there—probably due to low altitude—and as a result it felt warmer in the lagoon when the rest of Relic was experiencing bone-chilling temperatures. She had enjoyed her relaxing morning in the lagoon, but as a new member of Cut Rock River she was feeling that familiar tug on her heart to return to her pack’s territory. As she climbed higher up out of the lagoon and into the cedarwoods she now called home, she felt the chill creeping its way back, seeping through her sleek fur. The air was moving faster higher up on the ridge, and she thought she caught a whiff of something—someone—familiar as the winds shifted slightly. She looked to the top of the ridge just in time to see the fleeting form of an old packmate. Judging from his scent, he was a new packmate too.

”Aeolus!” she called up to him, excited that he had made it to Cut Rock River as well. He had disappeared from her range of vision, and she quickly climbed the rest of the distance to the top of the ridge. ”Aeolus?” she called louder, peering through the thick arrangement of cedar trees at the top of the ridge. Had he not heard her the first time? Not seen her down below the ridge? Running a border patrol distracted might as well be the same thing as not running a border patrol at all—Aeolus knew better than that.

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OOC|| I've edited this slightly since when I posted this, to account for Naia just being accepted into CRR. I hope that doesn't pose a problem, but I figured it would be alright since there's no Aeolus reply yet. ||

(This post was last modified: Jan 07, 2014, 07:00 PM by Naia.)

Look Out!

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

His own name drew him out of his daze. The voice, he recognized it yet it sounded unfamiliar at the same time. He turned to see the woman he had met when Pitch Pine Trail disbanded officially. She had been there with Silver, Penny and himself. Her name, he tried to remember it, was it Nina? No, he was pretty sure it was Naia. "Oh, uh, hi!! You are Naia right? From what use to be Pitch Pine Trail like me?" He said to the fae rather awkwardly. His eyes had held a bit of uncertainty in them. Aeolus took a whiff of the air and he caught a scent. Bear, it was fast fading and so Aeo calmed a bit. There was another scent behind it.

The scent of a kill, deer, was about it as well. "Follow me." He urged as he took off towards the scent. A smile was on his muzzle as he had limited time to think. Aeolus knew his packmate would soon be with him, but that did not really matter to him. All that mattered was that he had this down pat. "Its deer, I think we could eat some off it; but the rest ought to go to the cache. I've never seen a winter this harsh and with my age, that is saying something." He told her with a hearty chuckle as he tore off a rib and started to eat it. "I see you made it over the mountain in time as well." He told her, referring to the fact that the high peaks passage towards the east was blocked by mountains of snow.

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The Timber lady's ears rose in surprise as her packmate greeted her with a hint of confusion. Did he not remember her? She couldn't help but smile a small, amused grin as he fumbled for her name. ”Yes... that's me.” she reassured him, ”But it's Cut Rock River for both of us now, hmm?” she added in an attempt to make small talk. She waited for the tawny male to answer her, but now he seemed distracted, sniffing and looking around nervously. Naia sniffed the air as well, hoping to discover whatever had put her companion on edge, but Aeolus took off and beckoned her to follow before she good detect anything on her own. She shook her head at his sudden side track, but curiosity compelled her to follow the somewhat scattered fellow.

She caught up with him as he was standing over what appeared to be an old kill. ”It's a deer,” he informed her, and she nodded absently as she studied the carcass. There certainly wasn't much left-- something had gotten a hold of this thing before they showed up. Probably a bear, if she was smelling correctly. ”This was a good find, Aeolus.” She was impressed with his ability to smell the carcass from so far away. Naia nodded at his plan; a few bites now would do them both good, but it was their duty to take the rest to a pack cache. Stripping the sinewy meat from one of the deer's legs, she chewed and swallowed before answering his comment about her recent journey. ”It sure wasn't an easy trip,” she remarked. ”How did your friend fare? The small dark-coated one? She seemed a little frail..” Although she hadn't spoken to Penny, Naia had felt somehow connected to the petite girl, and she had been concerned for the shadowy female's safety.

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(This post was last modified: Jan 09, 2014, 03:23 AM by Naia.)

Aeolus offered a kind smile to her for her compliment on his find. "Probably wouldn't have found it if you hadn't snapped me out of my faze." He said with a small and hearty chuckle. She asked about Penny and he frowned. "We reached the forest and decided out chances might be better if we arrived at different borders at different times. I haven't managed to see or scent her since I joined. But then again my nose isn't what it use to be." He told her, adding a small joke onto the end of it. He couldn't imagine it being an easy trip regardless. He gave a small shake to his pelt before finishing the rib he had torn off. His pelt grew hot; almost like an embarrassing moment or maybe he was just blushing {in a totally masculine way though}.

Aeo offered another smile as he spoke again. "I found no trace of Adsila over the mountains which tells me she is on the other side. However, Karpos is known to be on the mountains in a pack there. I ran into him and Capella on my way over. Karpos was too stubborn and Capella agreed with him that he could stay where he wanted. Ana and Lachesis greeted me with questions and a furious attitude when they found out I didn't have the pups and that Pitch Pine Trail was no more. Other than that there isn't anything that is all that new." He told her as he looked up at her.

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Naia smiled a small, knowing smile as he turned the compliment back on her. She doubted he would have found anything on the border patrol she interrupted, wandering around with his head in the clouds. The smile faded as he delivered the somewhat discouraging news about the swarthy girl he had crossed the Pass with, but he seemed to dislike the downturn in the conversation seeing as he added a little joke on the end. Perceptive as she was, Naia wondered if he laughed off the subject because he was worried about the girl-- perhaps it was a topic he preferred not to dwell on. Nevertheless, she bought into his joke with a small laugh, cuffing him playfully over his ear with her paw. ”You're not as old as you pretend to be, Aeolus!” she chided.

He offered her a smile in response, continuing to deliver news since their departure from Pitch Pine Trail. She nodded along as he discussed the pups. It was unfortunate that they weren't able to keep what was left of Shade's family together, but the final days before Pitch Pine Trail's collapse had been chaotic to say the least. Clearly the pups had chosen their own paths and their own guardians, and in the end all that really mattered was that they were being looked after, right? As he spoke though, it became clear that the other refugees from Pitch Pine Trail didn't see things the same way she did. Her temper rose when she heard of the accusations Aeolus had encountered at the border. ”They had no right to accuse you. None!” The angry words dripped out of her mouth like poison; she was normally an easygoing lady, but it never did sit well with her that the two Arctics had deserted the pack when they needed them most. ”They weren't there! How could they understand what it was like? They abandoned us. And the pups.” It struck Naia as more than a little hypocritical of the pair to blame the wolves of Pitch Pine Trail who stuck it out until the end when in truth they ran out on the pups while the loyal stayed behind to fight for them.

Naia sighed, her temper flare subsiding a little. ”You know.. I bet they were just mad at themselves. Sometimes guilt does ugly things to us.” The conversation had soured her stomach and her appetite had all but vanished. She stood up, stepping over to the male to nudge him under his chin in a friendly way. ”Don't let guilt get to you too, Aeolus. It's not your fault.” She offered him a weak smile.

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Aeolus offered a small laugh to her laugh. Now as old as he thought? Nope, he was pretty sure he was as old as he thought! She objected to them accusing him and he shook his head. Sure they had left but they had a blessing from the leaders. They did not abandon. They simply sought out their own ways in the world. Both of which were with this alpha male he had yet to meet and Astra, the beauty of a gal he had met on the borders. He frowned when she said they had no right to accuse him because they did have reasons. They had very good reasons and they were right; it was his fault. He looked at the meat and plopped his butt on the ground.

"It is my fault Naia; don't tell me it isn't." He told her in a sad but stern voice. "I could have looked for them; I should have found them. I should have brought them with me so I could make sure they were safe. I didn't though; I left after my own endevors. Ana and Lachesis left because it was no longer their home without Shade there. That was all and it was a good reason. A lot of things chance with a leadership transition. I can attest to that." He explained; the last part in a bitter voice as he thought about the transition from Phineas to Thorne. That had been an awful leadership and while he missed his birth pack; he was glad it did not have to suffer anymore.

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She tucked her tail as the older wolf chided her. Her fierce sense of loyalty and the pain she still felt over the Shade's death clouded her judgment, she realized, and perhaps that had fueled her unreasonable bitterness toward the wolves that departed from Pitch Pine Trail before she did. Aeolus's words silenced her verbal expression of the feeling, but she was still a long way from forgiving the wolves that had bade them farewell when the pack needed them most. Despite their standing in her former leader's eyes, Naia's opinion was that they were still in the wrong. Much more so than Aelous, though he vehemently rejected this particular opinion of hers. ”It was no one's home anymore without Shade there,” she replied in a subdued tone, ears flattening as she turned away from Aeolus. Her reply was not an argument, but it held a slight dissenting tone-- she wasn't going to challenge his views further, but she was a long way from agreeing with him.

Her jaws closed around the stripped legbone of the deer and she easily lifted the mangled carcass out of the snow. Her relief at the light weight of the kill was short lived-- the ravaged deer was certainly more easily transported than a fresh carcass, but of course that also meant less meat to add to the pack's cache. As she started off toward the center of the packlands, she looked back at Aeolus, curiosity sparked by his last comment. Whaft pack dift you comf from before Pift Pine Trail?” she asked, her voice slightly muffled by the deer in her mouth.

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Aeolus was told it was no wolfs home without Shade but that wasn't true. "It was my home. My time was after Shade and I loved the Trails. Sometimes I can close my eyes and imagine I'm still there with Karpos and Adsila running around. But... that never really happened. When I got there the pups weren't happy. No one was happy to be there except for me it seemed." He said in distress to the girl as she had told him that. Then she tried to dig into his life deeper than what she already knew about Pitch Pine Trail. The controversial leave from his birth pack before he reached the Trail. "Asphodel Meadows. My birth pack until it fell apart a few months ago." He whispered sadly.

The pack that had caused him so much pain reentered his mind. He had grown to wonder about if his brother leaving had truly been a bad thing. Aeolus proposed to himself that perhaps he was only mad because he didn't take Aeo with him or even because he never said goodbye to his brothers. Perhaps if Phin had just told him that he were leaving than Aeo would not have sought him out with a vengeance. But if he had never done that then Aeo would have never found Pitch Pine Trail or Cut Rock River. He would have never seen his brother again. He would have never met Ana and Ace. He would have never met Naia or Penny.

Perhaps it wasn't bad at all.