Whisper Marsh backwards world

Tomen uses TMI :P

He was too absorbed in his own awkwardness to notice the negative effect his poor choice of words had on Niq'x. Oblivious to her particular cause for concern, he wasn't sure how to interpret her slightly changed demeanour, thinking it was (rightly) something he'd said.

An ear held out to the side in growing discomfort as Niq'x explained her situation, Tomen slowly and subconsciously flinched away from her obviously frustration, especially when it was revealed that she'd already met the leaders he'd described as 'okay', and in a less-than-optimum setting. Was it a good thing he hadn't sung their praises, since she obviously wouldn't agree, or did that just make her impression of them worse? It wasn't like Tomen disliked Veho or Oula, they didn't deserve that...

"Ummm." Of course she had to ask that. "It's not that, um, they're bad, I just..." The boy was struck between two very conflicting compulsions; one was to mitigate the damage by explaining that Veho and Oula were just fine, they were respectable and kind and did their jobs well. It wasn't a lie. A more wicked part of him, though, wanted to really get into just why he'd hesitated at describing them, at how he had ended up with the weak 'okay', because Niq'x was a stranger outside of it all, and if anything she had no reason to defend them! And even if she might end up joining the pack... well, Tomen would only speak the truth as he knew it, it wasn't his fault if that made it weird for anyone else.

"It's just that my parents used to be the rulers, were for ages, they inherited the pack from my grandparents," he explained, taking the darker path, his posture becoming a little stronger as he motivated himself with the belief that he was totally in the right to share it. Share it all. "And they were great, but now my mum's just gone and my dad, well, he's kinda close with the new male leader, but also the female one, and I think they're close too, so it's this weird triangle thing which I think is partly why mother left, but Oula wasn't here then, so it was just dad and Veho I guess? Both my parents went to look for my aunt, but dad came back afterwards, so mum could have as well. But I don't blame her, really... it makes me uncomfortable too.

"And a bunch of my friends have just... gone, so that's why I was out here messing around, just, um... trying to forget about it all for a bit."




She had unintentionally gotten the boy to open up, but what he had to say were things the sea otter needed to know if she and her family were going to join the Hollow pack in order to be with their sister. The boy’s honesty was appreciated and she would be careful to make sure he did not get in trouble for confiding in her. If they were to be future packmates she wanted to be on his good side. It had been their fault for the sour response from the leaders — Blitz had trespassed, allowing his rage and determination to blind him — but even the foreign sea princess had gotten a strange vibe from the lead pair.

So the boy’s father had been the leader but stepped down for the male they had encountered in the forest? She blinked, confused by the smudge’s explanation. And his father was close with both the female and male leader… OH. Slapped with sudden realization she furrowed her brows as her companion further explained the ‘weird triangle thing’, announcing that the situation made him uncomfortable. No doubt, she thought to herself, perplexed by the whole love triangle ordeal. Was that why the female — Oula — been so off when they had arrived? A frown creased her maw as the smudge continued his speech, going on to say that his friends had disappeared. She knew that feeling all too well…

“Sounds like a big mess,” she finally responded with a soft laugh in a feeble attempt to lighten the mood. “If it makes you feel any better I lost a bunch o’my friends too, so I guess that makes us friends now, huh?” She added with lazy smile, her mismatched gaze fixated on the younger boy.

“Do you think Grizzly Hollow is safe for us and my sister?” The question rolled off her tongue suddenly and she regretted it immediately. She did not want the boy to think that she thought poorly of the pack, she was just concerned for her family with all the drama that seemed to go on within the cedars.

It was only after he'd finished that it occurred to Tomen that he had neglected to use the stupid fake names for all involved parties. Niq'x had mentioned a run-in with Oula and Veho and didn't look too perplexed by his usage of their real names (but it was hard to tell when she did look a little perplexed by his answer in general) so maybe she hadn't noticed, or names were never exchanged? Whatever the case, he didn't really care; as far as Tomen was concerned, the entire second-name business was ridiculous, and he did not feel guilty to neglect using it. Titan and Kat and mum were all gone and their names and knowledge too, and they just told any new joiner the whole situation and handed out another name, so what did it really help, what was it protecting?

Would Veho and Oula's children get fake names? Hmph.

Niq'x was gracious about the info-dump, for he hadn't really needed to go into that much personal detail - it had been largely selfishly motivated. Just felt good to say out loud to someone who wasn't a feathered puffball. Her reaction was empathic, and he smiled shyly at it, the confidence which had carried him through the rant ebbing away as his frustration about it ebbed. The whole point of being out here was to escape it, after all, not just get caught up in the big mess some more. I guess that makes us friends now, huh? she said, and his tail wagged lazily behind him as he beamed at her, very pleased with that conclusion. Not that it was happy that she'd lost friends too, that part sucked, but as a new friend, it was his job to be understanding, and he could do that much.

So when she asked her question, he didn't think it rude or presumptuous or mistrustful; it made sense, given the rather ill picture he had just painted with his own bitterness. But ultimately he didn't have to think long and hard to answer this one; prejudices aside, there was little doubt to the real answer. "Yes. The leaders are good at their job, they keep the pack together and fed and safe. They're fair. My, uh... other, uhhh, personal opinions don't affect that. Your sister is well taken care of, I promise." Wait, had she said 'us'? "Are you - will you and the others, um, are you thinking about joining too? I'm sure they'll forgive whatever, um, whatever happened if it was just a misunderstanding."




The boy was pleased about the comment she had made about them being friends — hopefully their integration into Grizzly Hollow wouldn’t be all that bad if Tomen was there (if they even got accepted). She did not want to join the tree-huggers — she would have preferred to stay closer to the lagoon or by the river — but she was slowly beginning to realize that joining their sister was the best way to convince her to leave these stranger lands. Pip was fairing quite well considering their peculiar situation; the sea princess could not deny being a little envious of her sister. How had she been so fortunate while the rest of her family struggled to understand their predicament? Perhaps it was due to her mutism and her reliance on others that caused Pip to adapt almost immediately to the unsuspected change. Whatever it is, it worried the pirate; she wanted to go home some day (soon, hopefully), but would Pip? Could she return to Bella Coola without her sister at her side?

A slow wag of her tail dismissed her thoughts as the smudge began to speak, responding to her previous question. She gave a sharp nod to indicate she understood what the boy meant. “That is good to hear,” she commented with a lazy smile, her mismatched gaze focused on the younger boy. “We are thinking about it, yes. My cousin and I are both unsure of staying here — we miss the ocean far too much — but my brother is more persistent on staying with Pip.” She sighed through her nose, brows narrowed in annoyance at her brother’s reluctance to leave just yet. “It depends if my brother can suck up to your leaders for the misunderstanding.” She knew her bother could grovel when necessary; she just hoped that, for their sister’s sake, he wold put his arrogance behind him when it came to the leaders of Grizzly Hollow.

Had this turned into a recruitment session or something? Tomen had never convinced anyone to join the pack before... true, Niq'x had prior motivation because her sister was already with the Hollow, but this still counted, right? He'd spent so much of his younger (but independent) months happily tucked away inside pack territory that he'd so rarely even bumped into loners, let alone had the opportunity to wax lyrical about how great home was. And now that he spent more time outside of the borders... well, he wasn't doing such a great job at the waxing lyrical bit. If Niq'x and her family joined the pack it would be in spite of the problems Tomen had shared, although he had tried to impress that they were good leaders, objectively and impersonally speaking. Veho had certainly proven to be a good stand-in for his dad, although he was less a placeholder and more a full replacement at this point.

Veho and Oula didn't deserve to have their reputations smeared because of his own family issues.

Tomen watched Niq'x as she spoke, ears perked forwards politely, though they twitched with curiosity at a specific and unfamiliar word. Of course Tomen had no idea if Niq'x brother would be able to make amends, he didn't know the man, so from here it was all up to her family to deal with it. Hopefully they'd just come into the pack with a little awareness of what was going on. "I hope you can work it out," he chirped, but couldn't help fixating on that foreign word. "I'm sure it'll be okay if he apologises. Um, if you don't mind, I - what's the ocean?"




“I’m sure he can,” she chuckled in response, a crooked grin unfolding across her maw as she studied the smudge. “He can be quite good at grovelling when he puts his ego aside.” Her brother was a proud wolf and did not like being wrong, which made for very haughty encounters. And occasionally putting on his big boy paws and knowing when to apologize — or just keep his mouth shut.

The question that hung between them caused her eyes to widen in surprise. He had never heard of the ocean before?! She blinked, dumbfounded, by his lack of knowledge. But of course, he had been born here: as far as she knew, the ocean was nowhere near this place. The corners of her lips dipped as she realized how far away from home she was, but she quickly composed herself when she realized that she an opportunity to talk about her homeland. The frown was immediately replaced by a wide smile once more, her tail swaying softly behind her. “The ocean is amazing,” she started with a quick, sharp nod. “It’s this massive body of water — prolly bigger than ALL of this Relic Lore place — and it’s got tons of fun critters. It’s weird water, though — it doesn’t taste like rivers or lakes. It’s, uh, salty? Kinda fishy. Kinda not. It’s hard to explain.” She stopped, her brows knitted together as she exhaled up to her nose through her bottom lip. “It kinda tastes like how I smell,” she added with a snort, her ears flopping to the side as she focused her attention on the younger boy.

“We lived mostly on the beach by the ocean. Sometimes we would sleep in the caves or up the river.” The more she talked about her home the more she missed it and wished she could wake up from this horrible dream. She did not want to join the Hollow wolves but she knew in order to keep her family together she would have to make this (hopefully temporary) exception. “The ocean has tons of different fish and other yummy food — like clams! Shit, I miss clams…” her voice trailed off as she could feel the salvia begin to form in her mouth at the thought. “We sorta shared a lot of food with the bears. Sometimes we’d even fish at the same spots.” After all, she did live in the Great Bear Rainforest — even though it should’ve been called the Great Wolf Rainforest. 

We could fade with her telling him all about the ocean/stories/etc? :D I'd love an up-to-date one since they're both in GH. Thanks for this adorable thread <33

Clearly it was a silly question. His ears drooped slightly in bashfulness, and he was about to drop his gaze to his feet and apologise for his ignorance when he saw her beaming. Encouraged, his tail struck up a slow rhythm behind him to subconscious match hers, and he waited with patient eagerness to hear what had caused her to smile so much. Clearly whatever it was, she loved it dearly.

She painted the picture with broad strokes, trying to cover everything, but the more he heard about the strange water and caves and bears, the more he wanted to know. He smacked his mouth slightly at her description of the saltiness, tasting it, his ears fully forward and eyes open as he heard about this amazing-sounding place that was so incredibly different to the home he knew. He could smell it, too, if she was right in saying that her pelt carried its scent, and it all helped to build up an increasingly vivid mental picture. But he wanted more.

"What's a beach? And there are bears there, too? What kind? We have big brown ones and small black ones here! My pack is named after the grizzlies! What are clams?" Her enthusiasm helped him to not be shy about the words he didn't know, for surely there was a cool description behind each one. Tomen would edge closer to the otter as he listened, enthralled, before reaching a comfortable spot and sitting down right there in the mud to better take it all in (and all that without consciously thinking about it, too rapt by her descriptions).

Making that initial careless jump had turned out pretty well, in the end.

@Tomen yes please! an updated thread is defo needed <3 archived & time to claim LP! thank you for thread :D am excited for more!




While the sea princess was utterly devastated at the fact that the smudge before he did not know what the ocean — or beaches for orcas sake! — she was also overcome with glee. It gave her the opportunity to talk more about her homeland. The more she talked about the less likely she was to forget about where she came for. I would never forget, she thought bitterly to herself, dismissing the previous thought with a flick of her tail. Unfortunately, the longer she remained in these lands meant she was one day further from returning home. Getting home would always be her first priority — aside from reuniting her family.

Questions flung from his mouth, filling the empty space between them. She could practically feel the curiosity oozing out of his pores. It was infectious. A smile widened across her creamy cheeks while she studied the boy and thought of how to respond to his flurry of questions. ‘What are clams’ — that was her favourite question so far. How was she supposed to describe clams to someone who had never seen them before? Her forehead creased at the thought. Niq’x would have to do her best to ensure the picture was painted perfectly. There was no room for mistakes.

“Wha’s a beach? Oh boy.” Her grin widened. “You’re lucky I like talkin’. A beach is easy, you kinda have 'em here. They’re just not as nice…” Her voice filled the air as she did her best to describe her home perfectly for her student (with room for questions, of course).