Willow Ridge death at a funeral

I know this was a long time coming, so this is a bit back dated... a day or two after April 15th which was when the pack meeting occurred.

 

She snorted, her silver eyes narrowed on the land before her as she trudged through the lands with a heavy footing and a thick sway of not only rounded hips, but a very rounded stomach. She had hoped @Morganna was quickly on her way, having roused her from the pack den in order for her daughter and newly Second under her to join her on a look out for any clues which may lead to Xetor or Castiel's disappearance. It was so uncharacteristic for her son to leave, though Xetor might have assumed to have left by trailing behind Sorya on her journey back to Torbine. If anything, the mother and daughter could enjoy some time with one another (perhaps finding some well herbs on the way) before Elettra herself was bogged down and den ridden to yet another litter. After all, most of her children had wondered off for a life on their own and with Greer so distant and Skoll on her shit-list, Morganna was really the only one up for these kind of ventures.

Silently trailing on with a daughter in tow, Elettra meant to perhaps start up some sort of conversation before a certain something stopped her... This part of her territory looked particularly familiar and she paused in wonder, taking a moment to recall. A frown pressed to her features at the realization that this was the same location, the same tree, which Skana had laid to rest... She was buried where she fell and not far off after that was Guiness sent to join her after protecting her and her last litter's lives. This certain spot was turning into quite the graveyard and she sat, pondering it, toying with the dirt...

(This post was last modified: May 08, 2015, 02:36 AM by Elettra.)

don't need reason

Morganna Archer

don't need rhyme

She was quick to rise at her mothers bidding, a nudge to @Renier conveying all was well before she left the den on the pregnant leaders heels. There was the same excitement as last year, more siblings on the way but her daydreaming had ceased this time around. They would probably all be boys, just like last year and she had no intention of raising her own hopes imagining that even one might be a tiny sister for her to dote on. The revelation of Piety’s pregnancy still had her in a foul mood, laced more than once with whispers of what if. She knew her time would come, in the natural order - but following her mother now, watching her flanks twitch through no movement of her own she was more than comfortable with her decision.

She turned her attention back to her surroundings heart sinking as she recognised where they had come. It was a graveyard of sorts, the hard earth turned more than once to give their members a final resting place. Her eyes fell on her mothers paw and the way the earth shifted underfoot, causing a frown to mark Morganna’s silver and ginger ticked face. Rain and weight of snow should have left the earth hard packed, her own paw dragging over the ground behind her mother and making little impression under her blunt claws. “That’s not right…” she commented quietly, staring pointedly at her own feet for comparison.

The earth had been disturbed since the snow melt, and it was with a growing sense of dread she moved forward to paw at the ground, the stale scent of death filling the air as she dug faster, chanting in her head over and over to the beat of her racing heart Not Cas, not Cas, not Cas… With any luck it would simply be a badly placed cache - after all, some of the newer members clearly might not know the significance of this particular tree.

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There was a smile over the woman's lips as they had walked together, favoring the bit of time she had with her daughter. Morganna had grown to be a wondrous sort as herself when she was young, expanding over the far reaches of Torbine before returning home to the core their home. Had it not been for that certain, horrible event which gave her a further reason to leave, she wondered if her curiosity alone would have pushed her far enough to Relic Lore to stake claim in this land she loved now. She hoped Morganna would stay with her, more so now that she knew she was the only one left in the pack lands fitting as her heir. Greer was a shadow, a scout befitting with many qualities, though certainly the lime-light of leadership was not his thing and Skoll had long ago lost his graces and trust with Elettra. That, and Renier and Morganna were both lawful and respectful enough to keep it in their pants until it was the right time.

Looking to her daughter now, her ears perked to Morganna's wonderment as those pale peachy eyes of hers turned over the mounds of dirt. With a murmur of words, Morganna came close to Elettra's side, toying with the earth. Though it had been a month or so since someone had been buried here, the ground was much more ruffled then all of that around it, not quite right granted the ice and snows from winter prior. Last it should have been toyed with was when Guiness was buried last year, yet perhaps someone had not known this was 'no man's lands' and had toyed with it?

For a moment or two the pregnant woman keeps her sit and simply watches her daughter dig before a soul feeling turns in her throat, one that could be both of pregnancy and dread. She lifts suddenly, digging quickly at the earth along the side of her daughter's long, powerful limbs which mimicked her own mighty figure. Under the first layers of dirt the soil churned with death, much more recently then a year over. Elettra's throat tightened, holding back the whine that lay there. She kept digging, blood and bits of fur beginning to show through... but what, or better yet, who would they find?

don't need reason

Morganna Archer

don't need rhyme

It was a grizzly find to be sure. As more earth was moved it became evident that there was intention for this particular ‘kill’ to be unearthed. Her lips set in a hard line as she tried to piece together just what they were unearthing. She had hardly encountered Xetor more than once or twice before he seemingly vanished, his scent the only evidence of his existence at all. She had merely considered his scarcity and absence around much of the lands to be little more than a deliberate avoidance of pulling his weight but she never bothered to go out of her way to track down the cause, and now here it was staring her in the face in the form of a twisted half healed leg.

Surely her mother would have mentioned he needed attention had she been aware. The young Archer was thirsty for knowledge and surely such a lesson was not one to be missed. Her movements slowed - pawing with more care to remove the dirt from flank and face - the horrible gaping wound about his blood-soaked throat surely the final blow that ended him, the fur matted into a dense carpet of fur, blood and mud.

She didn’t realise she had been holding her breath until she stepped away, the savage imagery still burned into the back of her brain. “I didn’ know o' his injuries.” It was a statement, merely thinking aloud to herself than anything and while only one name niggled at the back of her mind she refused to acknowledge it. If she hadn’t been tending to Xetor, and @Elettra hadn’t been tending to him either - that only left @Titan. How conveniently he had taken his absence from them… The timing was almost too perfect to be a coincidence.

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(This post was last modified: May 30, 2015, 03:52 AM by Morganna. Edit Reason: taags )

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

A silent shuttered between them savor the rustling of their footing over the dirt of the forest floor, moving at a slower pace as the body of revealed. Elettra could not have been more thankful it was not her son and yet seeing Xetor's corpse staring lifelessly back at her did not ease the nauseous churning in her gut, not clearly not of motherhood but of the scene which she had been faced with. He was the only son of her brother, Xetor, that she knew of and now he was dead. Not only dead, but dead in a manner that he had been hidden away to be forgotten before anyone even had a chance to mourn his death. How could this have happened? Why? Who covered it up? So many questions fluttered through the Leader's mind as she stood silently, her breath heavy. This attack had happened within pack territory, that much was obvious, less Xetor had the power to carry himself here with a torn open neck and bury himself. Had it happened outside of the lands she doubted the victor would have been kind enough to bring him here - specifially to the Willow Ridge resting place. Her members, of ex-members, knew what had happened here and had hid the information from her, this much was certain.

Elettra finally shifts a moment or two after Morganna's words lift through the air. She comes very close to the corpse, hesitantly pressing her muzzle to his blood soaked nape, breathing in deeply the smells of earth, blood, decay, Titan and... Skoll. Her nose shifts within the fur, trying to make certain, roughly lifting up under Xetor's head and around his forelegs to make certain. Pulling away and with a snort and gruff jutting of her muzzle she urges her daughter to do the same, hoping she would prove her mother crazy - that she had not smelt that right and perhaps age was getting the best of her. "Please, tell me I'm wrong." She begs her only daughter.

don't need reason

Morganna Archer

don't need rhyme

Tell me I’m wrong. As much as it wasn’t in her nature to question her mother’s word on any matter she moved forward to nose at the mangled flesh and fur, picking through the scents carefully while her mind worked to deny the evidence at hand. “It could jus’ be a coincidence. Maybe they ‘ad seen each other b’fore?” She suggested desperately, knowing full well it wouldn’t provide an explanation of how the dark wolf came to rest here of all places. Her heart sunk with every word she spoke. She very much doubted @Titan had the mettle to kill someone, hell the boy never even retorted to her verbal jabs and less verbal enforcement of dominance. But @Skoll was her blood.

Stepping back to take one last look at the corpse that was once her displeasurable cousin she began to roll dirt back into the hole. Not to deny the discovery but simply to cover some of the stench of rot that had her stomach rolling. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how it might be affecting her mother. “I’ll find out wha’ I can.” She promised, the dots already connecting in her mind, from Skolls pretty new scars right down to the coincidence of their appearance and Xetor’s disappearance. It all fit too well. “We’ll figure it out. This won’ go unpunished.” She promised her mother as she continued to work. Goddamit Skoll! she wanted to growl. How on earth was she going to cover for him this time? And did she even want to?

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Elettra's nod in response was small, curt, though for the time being she said nothing. It was true that both Skoll and Titan (who somehow had found himself not far behind him many times) could have run into Xetor not long before his demise here. Though had he been injured when they found him and not treated him, leaving him to die? Or had Xetor been attacked after that... but why did he not hold any other scents? Not of a strange wolf, not of cougar nor coyote. Still, who had buried him then? It was very odd that one would cover the body as though to cover something up then having just informed the pack they had found him dead. Surely whoever was a part of this did not want others to know about what had gone wrong here. Another nod, but silence. As her daughter began shifting the dirt back over the body Elettra began doing the same. If someone did not want Xetor to be found then Elettra would pretend as though he had not. If anything, her and Morganna's scent could be mistaken for having just wondered into the area on a scout or to talk. Ether way, Elettra would do her best to deny until things got further settled. "Go then.. I'll stay here and do what I can to make sure this looks like it was not found. I will inform Angier and your aunt and uncle - no one else." There is a lump in her throat as she takes to thinking how she was going to go about telling her mate and her siblings. Xetor was certainly a snarky little wolf though there was no reasoning for him to be murdered, especially by those of his very pack - by his blood! She hides the quivers that her thoughts create, going back to Skoll's wrinkled up, scarred mug as he spat back in her face. She had murdered her family, why was he any different? Elettra had been protecting her own life that day... Sure, Xetor and Skoll did not get along, but she had much doubt Xetor had it in him to try and kill Skoll first.

So sorry! 1 more each and we're done @Elettra

don't need reason

Morganna Archer

don't need rhyme

Her mouth was set in a grim line as her mother spoke, wishing silently the pregnant matriarch would step back and let her daughter do the heavy lifting. Whether or not her nod was perceived through the bobbing of her body as her paws worked faster, trying to lessen the load on her mother without being obnoxious, she couldn’t be sure but she didn’t need her movement acknowledged (although she did expect some quip about her mother being pregnant not invalid to slice at her ears at any moment).

As the final clod rolled back into place, she lifted her head to look around, a fallen branch would be too obvious beneath the willow boughs and there wasn’t much else she could thing of to conceal the disturbed earth except to kick a few loose leaves in her wake. Her eyes fell to her muddied paws with a frown as she mentally prepared a list of odd jobs to be done before she set out. Renier would need to be informed, she would need to grab a bite to eat, toothbrush, deodorant, clean underwear…

The lands she had traversed were mapped out clearly in her minds eye. “I’ll start at the Caverns.” she told her mother, her voice heavy with the weight of her task. After all, she was best off starting with the more demure Titan before tackling her more volatile sibling.

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She did not say a word as her daughter insisted on helping out with digging, or better yet, pushing the dirt back into it's proper place, though her body was tense and a nauseous welled in her stomach as she covered back up the body of her nephew - a sickness only heightened by her pregnant state. She sits there after, taking a moment to rest and with a hope the feeling would go away, though know it would not. Another nod was offered to her daughter, feeling that talking to their allies was probably the best bet and if Titan was involved it was likely he would be around that area for questioning... After another few moments was spent, Elettra lifted and went off after a farewell to her daughter... She would make sure to clean herself up before going off looking for anyone just in case her violent child, Skoll, came about her with questions of what she had been up to. Of course, a simple 'readjusting the birthing den' could have worked.  Once making it to the pack den, Elettra sought out the comfort of @Angier Lyall, to which she would confess what her and their daughter had just witnessed. Alas, she would still be left to tell her brother and sister, @Nicolò and @Adele, of Xetor's untimely death, though any suspicion of Skoll playing a part would be left in the dark. Elettra had no intention of allowing anyone to harm her son, murderer or not.