Cedarwood Forest we never are what we intend

@ anyone, pretty much! he's at GH borders, of course, not CRR as he assumes.

From the grassy plains emerged the cedar trees, gathering all at once and increasing in density until he knew he was in the right place. A place where his father had hailed. A place where @Maksim had sheltered the remains of his family. A place that held, above all, the answers Rowan had always wanted but always balked to seek. The shadow-faced male continued forward, his strides wide with purpose. The rabbit-heart he harbored in his chest during his younger years were cast aside; courage, he told himself.

The scents of the border became dense in the air but he did not slow to examine them until he was practically barging on to Cut Rock River's doorstep. Planting his dark toes firmly in the soft summer soil, he stood to beckon forward the male who had dropped by Willow Ridge too long ago - only to inhale and hesitate. Confusion worked its way into his dark mask. The River king's scent was not present anywhere - but something very Attaya was.

A smile did not grace his blackened maw but a scowl, disbelieving. The grown boy was no longer bound by useless hopes; his heart did not skip to inhale the scent of what could be his family. He'd been burned by wishful thinking too many times to believe someone sharing his blood could be here until he saw the gold of their eyes to be sure.

Raising his muzzle to the sky Rowan beckoned forward the ghosts. Let them come, he decided and set his gaze of tarnished gold solemnly on the treeline - waiting for them to materialize.

(This post was last modified: Jul 24, 2015, 10:19 PM by Rowan.)

adopt thea?

After spending most of his waking hours of the day spying on Tomen, watching the boy both relax and play on his own, Rook had been called to the borders out of habit. While he would have liked spending some time with Veho, he knew better than to hang around with the aspiring healer; it was a bit... serious... this little affair of theirs, and he had a mind to keep it secret and low-key. He also did not want to bother him in case he had come across an idea that could possibly heal Borden's mental illness once and for all. With nothing apart from the happy thoughts of his loved ones in mind, his paws found the borders where the rest of the pack, his age-mates mostly, had walked some time before him.

As was customary, he pressed his forepaws in the places where he thought his father might have placed them on the scratched up trees and conspicuous spots on sizable boulders and fallen cedars. He had just finished lifting a leg on a small sapling when a call came at a respectable distance away. Whether or not this identity had accidentally crossed over the invisible lines or not had yet to be seen, but at least the brute had the decency to call first. The Lyall scampered as quickly as he could until a trace of something familiar struck his nose. He shook his head as his pace slowed, certain that he had probably rushed passed a tree that either Cinder or Quil had recently marked.

What had come into view some steps later was large, burly man. One who, if Rook let his imagination run amok, could have looked like a very grown-up Tomen - black coat, dark face mask, golden eyes and all. It was with a wary eye that he sized up the dark-furred stranger. "Yes?" he questioned, his tone firm and obviously not pleased that he had been disturbed. "Can I help you?"

Chances are I have a BEN WHISHAW gif for that.

Not long after his call the tell-tale signs of arrival began to appear; paws in the leaves, a scent on the air. The Attaya remained statuesque for the wait, keeping his hopes at a minimal expectation so the let down could not be so severe. Every other inhale confirmed or denied the presence of his own in these woods, as if he couldn't tell apart the sap of a young cedar or @Cinder. He gripped at the earth, denying his anticipation. It did him no good to entertain his anxiety. Answers were just around the corner - or wherever the pack was.

From the treeline emerged a River wolf, more compact of stature than himself but no less confident in a cloak of contrasting agouti pattern. Rowan met the male's gaze - a peculiar, mismatched pair of eyes that peered from a dark brown mask - and paused. There was something about his scent that he didn't quite like. Perhaps it was something all too familiar to @Quil. Perhaps it was just that it did not belong to the Baranski.

The steel of this male's voice was not lost on Rowan though he didn't allow it to show in his expression. He angled his chin toward the wolf, his gaze level and rivaling the other male's severity. He chose to forgo whatever manners he might've expressed in the past. After all, a situation so urgently close to his heart could do without. "I was told Maksim resides in this forest," he said. "He knows my family."

(This post was last modified: Jul 27, 2015, 12:54 AM by Rowan.)

adopt thea?

Rook is transitioning between two "rank challenges" and I know the result will end up with him becoming Leader but the threads are not done yet, so... :/  awkward, for now... I think.

The answer was short and concise, something which Rook wholly appreciated. The utterance of Maksim's name, however, came on a sour note to his ears; but, there was something in the mention of family that begged him to at least hear him out. According to what he had been told, as far as he dared to assume, three families - the Lyall's, the Attaya's, and Baranski's -  were the only ones to have ever claimed the Cedarwood Forest as their own. It was highly probable that Rook could find use in this age-mate of a man. What those benefits were, however, had yet to come clear. What was clear was how tense Rook had become; half of him wanting so much to initiate the man into his ranks just to build up the pack, the other half wanting to every reason to deny him entry (if that was what he sought) for his own sake in regards to already living a double-life with both Quil and Veho.

"Indeed, he does," he answered, still very much unaware that the wolves of Cut Rock River had left their river bank of a kingdom, "but not in these parts." Here, he was going to continue on with what @Cinder had asked him to do.

Fix it.

"The wolves of Grizzly Hollow reside here now." The words came with a sense of confidence but not enough to clearly state his role or rank. Perhaps if his tail was a little higher and his stance was a bit more grounded, he could have very well been mistaken as its Leader rather than some sort of unofficial Guardian. "Maksim knew my family, too," he divulged. "But they were nothing but ghosts to him... stories of a soon forgotten legacy and, later, a bunch of renegades."

The next question to come to him lifted off his tongue on a softer note, to convey that he was simply curious. "Why are you looking for him?"

Chances are I have a BEN WHISHAW gif for that.

Aaahh I see /casually doesn't mention it

Indeed he does, said the wolf, drawing Rowan's ears slightly more forward as though to catch the snapping of a twig beneath the River king's paws as he came forward to receive the wayward boy. But not in these parts. Something struck him in the chest to hear it, perhaps annoyance or disappointment. Who's doorstep was he knocking at then? And why were there two packs within the same forest? These were questions Rowan kept behind his teeth, knowing that if he remained silent the answers might seep from the others' own sharp set. And they did.

Grizzly Hollow.

It was a story Rowan once knew. Kade had told his children of the Hollow wolves - they were, after all, ancestors of Darkwater Rapids - but so much had happened since he last heard one of his father's tales that the name of this place that allowed the existence his entire family fell upon deaf ears. It meant little to him (in fact, nearly nothing at all) and only served to confuse the Attaya as the wolf with mismatched eyes made some cryptic comments. There was the feeling in his chest again. He was somewhat irritated to have his time wasted with someone else's family drama (oh if only he knew their relation)... but perhaps also curious as well.

Ghosts. Forgotten. Renegades. Rowan gave a wry smiled to think on it, wiping his expression clean in one blink's time. The Attayas were no legacy, no renegades, but they certainly did haunt the shadows of his mind. "My family is only ghosts as well," he muttered after a moment of pause. It didn't matter much what he said to this wolf; he'd be on his way shortly. "Drowned a long time ago. I thought Maksim could tell me what it was that happened to them." And how it was they came back alive. And where they were now. And if they missed him. And if they wanted to see him. And if they had heard anything from Kade or Ava in the nearly two years it had been.

Enough. He was letting himself think too much. Pulling his mind from the foggy memories it had entrapped he fixed the male with a clear stare. "I don't mean to intrude any longer," he said quickly. Daylight was wasting. And you don't have what I'm looking for. "If you meet a wolf by the name of Attaya, tell 'em Rowan's looking for them." The command was half-hearted; not certain that he'd have any favors done for him by a wolf of a random pack's allegiance - but he couldn't leave without saying it. The male pulled his shoulder away from the encounter, turning to leave. He could scour the woods for another border before sundown.

adopt thea?

A familiar chord had been struck; and, while Rook would have liked to reveled in this little feat, he said and did nothing else apart from listen to the other man. This Tomen-look-alike's family were also ghosts... Drowned. Upon first impression all Rook could think of at the forefront of his mind was a tragic scene of a whole wolf pack sinking to the bottom of a lake or being pulled beneath the waves of an ocean - a large body of water he had never seen in his life thus far - whose currents reached towards and stretched beyond an infinite stormy gray sky. He had heard of similar stories and tragedies, like the one with Fenru of Swift River; it just would have never occurred to him that the brute before him could have been related to Quil and Cinder, an Attaya by name, who had witnessed and survived the flooding of Darkwater Rapids in the east. At least, not until the stranger continued further.

The Grizzly Hollow wolf shook his head to pardon whatever foul had been done for this brief intrusion, a small smile on his masked features at last. It did not last, washed away by shock and a twinge of guilt for wanting so much to fawn over those dark-furred traits that belonged only to those of Kade and Ava's bloodline. Then, in an instant, Quil and Cinder's brother was going to leave and, immediately, the Lyall had pursued him, step-for-step.

"Wait!" he practically cried out. "Row-Rowan? I know you." He would never forgive himself if he so willingly let Rowan or Mace Attaya come here and then leave without even a word to his sisters. His tongue stuck out to dampen his nose and his lips and his stocky limbs moved so that he stood before the other; his two-toned eyes wide as if he were expecting something of Rowan. "We've been looking for you."

"I've both your sisters with me. @Cinder... and @Quil. I've brought them here in hopes that maybe you'd have a place to come home to. Please. Please stay." His shoulders tensed and his paws dug themselves into the pine needles. He was not going to let his son's uncle or his little family's long-lost relative go back into the Relic Lore wilderness without a fight or a means of persuading him to stay with the pack he now looked after in his parents' stead.

(This post was last modified: Aug 11, 2015, 07:25 PM by Rook.)

Chances are I have a BEN WHISHAW gif for that.

Wait was the demand and the wolf continued after him, disturbing Rowan's meaningful gait - but it was the direct interception that brought the dark-furred male to a sudden halt. To hear his name from the wolf's tongue, along with the proclamation to suggest the Attaya was familiar certainly stumped him. He'd made no friends of which to remark, so who was this masked man?

We was a word which cast a frown over his dark features - who, in addition to him, had been looking for someone like Rowan? For a moment the furrow of his brow let up, a vague notion in his heart sparking up his dull gold eyes and allowing them to find the male's two-toned gaze. Was his family, somehow, looking for him of all places here? Their names were sacred to him, words which his ear would always find when they were murmured even quietly nearby. The Attaya practically dared this wolf to speak them now.

But he was stunned when he did. Cinder and Quil were here, this place of towering trees, a welcome home for him. Rowan balked long enough to let his facade dissipate into the still air, uncertainty curving his spine and weighing down on his ears. Wasn't family, home, all he ever wanted? Please stay, he said, and Please let me, he wanted to reply. It was their scents in the soil, after all, he should have known.

Celebration nearly reached his eyes, a half-broken smile disappearing quickly as it came. As desperately as he wanted to accept this wolf's offer, he had yet to connect the dots. His voice no longer reflected the same steel of his eyes, but asked genuinely for answers he could accept, so that he could see them once more. "My sisters were with Elettra and the Ridge Wolves. Why are they here now?" Why are you? the question could easily be flipped. Perhaps more importantly, there was a matter of address Rowan needed to settle in spite of the fantasy that could await him just several steps inland here. "Who are you?"

adopt thea?

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

It was clear that the information that Rook had supplied was nothing sort of a massacre, that the event that had occurred on Willow Ridge's borders was something that had yet to be told or widely acknowledged by all families involved. Rowan needed the facts - the why, the how, the who, and maybe even when and why. The Lyall dared to plant his feet into the ground, lest his intentions of following Rowan be mistaken or misunderstood. The direct question of "Who are you?" easily made him remember his place and who he was - not just to himself but to those who had known Rowan and the pack he now protected. "My name is Rook Lyall," he was going to skip over the oh-so-mysterious alias and moniker nonsense. Any Attaya, at this point, was considered family and he had vowed to his dearest Quil that he would do anything he could to reunite her with them. In his own mind, Cinder had only been the first and the addition of Tomen was something like a perk in the middle of this quest.

"Quil was apart of Willow Ridge when I met her, fell in love with her... I wanted to give her a better life, one that didn't involve her staying with Elettra. I was foolish enough to try and steal her away; the wolves of Willow Ridge, they're-" he couldn't help but frown, the hair at his nape rising in frustration from the memory of it all. Even the place where Skoll was mere inches from severing his throat uncomfortably throbbed in imagined and remembered pain. "They're savage and monstrous. I wouldn't even dare to imagine what she might have been subject to with Elettra's devil of a son, Skoll, prowling around."

"I couldn't leave her there when I was ready to bring Grizzly Hollow back. When Cinder came forward, I knew I couldn't leave her there either. Elettra allowed them to leave because Skoll openly attacked me; they wanted nothing to do with us when I proposed to renew the alliance between Grizzly Hollow and Willow Ridge." His gaze briefly dropped to Rowan's shoulder before coming back to his face and those vivid yellow eyes, "We've never needed them though; clearly Lyalls and Attayas manage fine on their own."

He took a moment to consider what he had said, finding that he nearly skipped over the point he had wanted to make, "You're welcome to stay with us, Rowan. Goodness knows that your sisters have been longing to see you." A nervous twitch fell upon the hopeful smile that had taken to his face, "I'm sure your nephew wouldn't mind having his uncle around either."

Chances are I have a BEN WHISHAW gif for that.

And so it began that Rook Lyall (a familiar familial name which would only make the coming story more tangled) laid out the history which Rowan had missed by being no where less important than here. He listened intently, needing to know what had transpired to lead them all to this point. Rook obliged, starting from the moment he met and fell in love with his sister, Quil.

Had he been Mace, perhaps, he might have reared his head and interrupted Rook, desperate to judge if this boy was good enough a match for his sister. But the second-born Attaya prince held her in high enough regard that her choices weren't questioned, and instead a part of the veil on this wolf began to lift. This was Rook Lyall, mate to Quil, integral wolf to the new Grizzly Hollow.

From there the story took a curious twist by the savage and monstrous wolves of Willow Ridge. Rowan frowned, dissent like a hard stone in his belly. Elettra had been nothing short of kind to him. She spoke of her admiration to their father without hesitation. His initial reaction was not to believe that under Elettra's roof was a dangerous place for them. But the Lyall's visceral reaction, the fur along his neck prickling like porcupine quills to recall some transaction that had gone awry, prolonged his judgement.

There was the hindrance - the devil son, Skoll. Rowan had preferred Asriel of them all; he might have even considered the eldest son a friend. When Asriel had been there, Skoll hadn't seemed like much of a problem. Perhaps a little dark, but nothing so sinister. The eldest sons' disappearance had perhaps coincided with Skoll's increased presence - a few tense interactions surfaced and caused his lips to purse. No, he certainly hadn't liked the son of Elettra. Always demanding, always defiant. Rowan didn't know the monster who had grown of the lanky yearling - but observing Rook now, he knew it had to be true.

It came to a close that Willow Ridge, a place which had once been a home to Rowan, was no longer safe for them. It was a thought that twisted a frown across his darkened muzzle. He simply didn't want it to be true, though it was. "But a Lyall leads in Willow Ridge," he insisted. "Something has to be done." The sentiment was not strong in his voice. Rowan was no diplomat and he had no solutions.

So he hushed as Rook extended again his welcome, which by now the Attaya male could not contemplate - he needed to be here. But the final remark took him by surprise - evident in the widening of his golden gaze. He had a nephew? This fledgling pack of Hollow wolves had taken more root than he had imagined, but if there was room for his he insisted to put them down. "Couldn't turn me away if you tried," he rumbled, a smile developing amidst his thoughts. "brother."

(This post was last modified: Aug 13, 2015, 03:07 PM by Rowan.)

adopt thea?