Magnolia Glen i just can't make things right

@Arion

The two-year-old had finally found its way through the darkness of the Vale of Secrets and into a small valley that had opened up the sky to her. She told herself she was doing the usual 'searching-for-her-brother' actions, but the truth was that it had been weeks since he had left, and each day got harder and harder to harbour hope of finding him when she was only able to search within a day or two radius of Broken Timber Pines. She felt like she was on auto-pilot nowadays, searching in places she had already searched - places she knew she wasn't going to find her brother. But she couldn't accept defeat, not actively anyway. While she had combed the Red Fern Forest before, this place was new to her. After all, she was only one small wolf, she would never be able to conquer the terrain all by herself. Pink flower buds were beginning to bloom with the spring, the magnolias bountiful and bright. The distant sky held promise of patchy showers, but for now she was at ease with the serenity that these hills were providing her - especially in a time when her mind had not felt settled in so long.

The thicket that she lay in now next to the quiet creek was cool in the dark afternoon sun, the rock beneath her paws smooth. Her nose lay on her forefeet as she her beryl-lime eyes gazed forward at the water running past her nose. It was picturesque here, the twittering bird songs a delightful cherry on top. She wished she could appreciate it more; she wished everyone in her family could appreciate it more. Did they not deserve such a thing after running for so long after their father? The four of them were together, and they even had @Maeve (though she desired not to think that way most times). The only thing keeping her from sleep on the warm rock was the worried ticking in her head that was timing out with each passing day that her brother didn't appear. But even with that logic, she could not be persuaded to keep her eyes open after she lay there for longer; at first, listening to her surroundings, though soon slumber dulled the sounds and her senses quieted.

i meant to respond sooner, so sorry @Zeta <3

Despite the sunny weather things were rather dreary for the smudge. The absence of his father had not affected the boy in any way — he had been so long when Inkheart disappeared that the only impact the wolf left on his son was the inky pelt they both possessed. He did not pine after the shadow like his mother had. Arion had accepted that his father was never coming back and, if he was being honest, did not want him to return. The smudge was much better off without his lacklustre father; his absence had actually made him into a better wolf so, for that, he was thankful.

It was the permanent absence (see also: death) of his mother that left him in shambles. Aside from the twins and Nalda, she had been the only staple in his life; his only constant. Without warning she had been ripped away from him with no reason given, just the result of cruel, unforgiving fate. What really shook the boy was that she had just returned after her own brief departure and they were on the track of mending their relationship; strengthening it. Now there was no relationship… there was nothing. Only a hole in his heart the size of his mother.

In order to distract himself from his recent loss, Arion busied himself with frequent adventures. The more he moved the less time he had to wallow in his grief. Keeping himself distracted was crucial, for he did not want his own sadness to rub off on those he encountered. He did not want their sympathy either. No half-hearted apologies or knowing glances. Until he was ready to seek comfort from another Arion was content in dealing with his grief on his own. It wasn’t by any means healthy, but for now it was working. Sort of.

He meandered through the glen as the sun reached its highest point, his oversized paws dragging lazily over the grass. With his mind so immersed in his thoughts he did not notice the silver wolf until he nearly tripped over the rock she was sprawled across. His sea-green eyes widened in alarm, but to his relief the girl was out like a light. Scrambling away from her, as he did not want to disturb her, he attempted to be as quiet as he could. Until, of course, a loud crack! came from between his toes. A twig, just his luck. His eyes snapped over to his packmate, waiting for some sort of response while praying there wouldn’t be one.

Fret not. Also, once Erebos dies, I think Z and Arion will have lots to mope about together.

The startle of a regular twig crunch was typically very low; a regular occurrence when trotting through the Red Fern Forest. Though this particular twig crunch happened to be right in Zeta's ear, right in the middle of a dream, and definitely not done by her paw. The dream of family and bliss ripped away from her with a clack! and whined and yelped to them not to go, resulting in minor whimpering as she was thrust back into the real world. Her mismatched eyes shot open and her paws splayed out in front of her, braced for impact. She quickly noticed the giant peppered being standing over her, snarling and ready to strike -- at least that is what she perceived immediately out of sleep-land -- and a scream emitted from her maw in terror as she gaped at the wolf of death that had come for her. Halfway through her scream, control of movement returned to her legs and she shot up from her sleeping rock and staggered back clumsily. What was happening!? 

Her irrational reaction was fuelled by adrenaline and confusion and blurred sleepy vision; unable to correctly register what was truly happening. Her eyes were white in fear as the jamboree unfolded. Who was this crazed creature that had come for her? Why did it have to end this way? She wasn't ready!

the rabbit

Adopt my twin!

Naturally things took a turn for the worst. He had unintentionally startled the tawny wolf, causing her to nearly jump out of her skin. Her frightened response had caused him to jump into the air as well. “S-sorry!” The smudge blurted once he got his bearings, his chest heaving as he stood, bowlegged and wide-eyed. He was struggling to compose himself, for he did not do so well with being scared. It had also been the first real emotion he had shown since his mother’s death, which was why it was taking him even longer to recuperate.

“I didn’t mean to startle you,” he added once his breathing had fully slowed. Arion observed the green eyed girl with a curious expression, a single brow raised. She was a newer member of the pack, but he had not gotten a chance to get properly acquainted with her. Arion had been avoiding everyone since his mother’s passing — he had even been avoiding the twins and Nalda. A frown tugged at his lips at the thought. He did not like spending time away from his friends, but Arion found it difficult to feign happiness. The girls knew him better than anyone in the pack — perhaps better than his own mother had — and he did not want to lie to them. Which was precisely why he was avoiding them. At least, for the time being. Stumbling upon the young girl had been an accident and he was hoping to vacate the premises as quickly as possible. 

Her dream fog faded slowly, the automagical mist lifting once she heard an equally frightened apology, and she realized her misjudgement for the situation. Her tunnel vision expanded, and the wolf of death shrank back to size of a spooked yearling. Her white eyes switched from pure fright to confusion and worry. Her eyes flicked around all the corners of his body, and then her surroundings, placing the puzzle pieces back to their original spots. Whoa. That had elicited a lot of emotion in a small frame of time, and she was unable to gain movement of her limbs until her heart rate slowed down considerably. 

As her muscles lost their tension, she slowly began to raise up to her normal height. It seemed that they were both recovering from that first impression. His voice clambered to reassure her again of his lack of ill-will, and this time it registered in her ears. "It's.. it's okay, you didn't scare me," she said sighing, though immediately snapped her maw shut in surprise at her own words. He hadn't scared her? Of course he had! But it had stemmed from guilt and not wanting to see the boy worried. An automatic response to hopefully still his concern, however untrue it was. She tried to continue on, hoping to distract him from her obvious misstep, "You're uh, you're Arion, right?" She asked, though was fairly certain she knew, now that her nose had begun working once more. She pushed on her forelegs, backing her weight onto her haunches so that she was sitting, and offered a shy smile in his direction, hoping he would allow her embarrassment to go unacknowledged.

the rabbit

Adopt my twin!

The silver girl was lying but he didn’t mind. Truthfully, the smudge would have preferred it if the girl had completely ignored his presence, but he wasn’t so lucky. A brief frown flitted across his snout as he studied his current companion. While he thought things would get easier, they weren’t — they were getting harder. It was becoming difficult readjusting after discovering his mother’s broken body. He did not know whether to isolate himself or reintegrate himself, and it was tearing him apart.

“That’s me,” he answered with a meek smile and a slow wag of his tail. “And you’re Zeta?” The smudge had heard her name in passing and hoped that he wasn’t just throwing out names that didn’t belong to anyone. Arion felt guilty for not spending much time in the Pines, especially with Ember and Nalda going through similar situations. He wanted to be there for his friends but he did not want them to feel sorry for him. The smudge was happy riding the pity train alone and was not interested in his friends comforting him. Despite them claiming to understand what he was going through, they wouldn’t. Nobody understood.

“Did you, uh, wanna be alone? I can leave if you, um, want?” The words stumbled out of his mouth awkwardly as he shifted his paws in the dirt, his sea-green gaze fixated on her silver frame. A ghost of a smile fell onto his lips as he recalled the other silver packmate he had encountered, who had offered to do the same when they had crossed paths at the rapids. As much as he wanted to leave the girl to whatever it was she was doing, he was not opposed to a brief distraction. Even if he desperately wanted to be alone. 

Awkward goodbyes and silent thankfulness for being alone to get us to 10, then archive? :)

As Zeta's system returned itself back to its normal, her demeanour also returned to her warmer one. While she had been happily moping alone here, it was kind of nice to see another Pine wolf after the smoke had cleared. Sometimes she felt that she could nap forever, her endless worry and searches tiring her out more than she knew. When she had been searching for her father with her brother, it had not seemed entirely hopeless because at least she had someone. Now, she had her father, but not her brother.. but this time she searched alone. The adventures weren't fun or exciting anymore. Every time she came up empty handed, another piece of her slipped away. She fought the numbness and apathy that promised to take her pain away if she allowed them, forcibly holding onto hope much longer than perhaps any normal wolf would have. It was the unknown that pained her the most; the lack of closure. A definitive answer either way would have been better than this up-in-the-air debacle that she was trying to work with currently.

Her ears perked at the mention of her name, and immediately felt guilty when she realized her thoughts had drifted off once again -- a common thing that happened to her now. Her focus was pulled constantly away from her day-to-day. Did she want to be alone? His tone did not make it seem like he was entirely interested in staying with her either; the sadness in his eyes gave her an indication that while she may not have given off the most welcoming of parties, there was likely something else behind there that was not her doing. In fact, she knew that look all too well. Not wanting to strain the boy's plans for.. whatever he would rather be doing right now, she returned his tail wag with her own, and a kind smile. "Oh, uh.. Yeah, that's okay, you don't have to stay," she said slowly. She did not want to bother the boy anymore with her inappropriate greetings and lack of willingness to interact. "Sorry for, uh.. this," she said, laughing lightly as she shook her head, not really sure what to call their exchange.

the rabbit

Adopt my twin!

feel free to have poor @Zeta leave awkward sad Arion XD <3

As the air grew think around them and their encounter became almost painfully awkward, Arion began to miss his former ‘happy-go-lucky’ self. He truly despised being miserable. He did not enjoy moping or feeling dreary. The smudge was in his prime when he was happy, an emotion he had not experienced in quite some time. It left a strange, prickly feeling under his fur — as the days went by, he was feeling more and more uncomfortable in his own skin. He no longer felt like Arion; instead, he felt as though a stranger was temporarily inhabiting his body. It didn’t feel right.

His paws shuffled awkwardly as the girl’s words fumbled off her tongue, attempting to form some sort of sentence to fill the space between them. He felt guilty for putting her in such a position. The silver girl was trying to be friendly and Arion was not sure how to interact with others just yet, even his own packmates. His former self would have loved to know where the girl had come from and what she thought of the Pines, but he could not bring himself to ask such questions. They remained at the back of his throat, threanting to lunge forward as the silence returned. “I mean, uh, you can stay if y’want. I can too.” He paused, wincing at his own words as his ears fell back against his head. “We can both stay here and not say anything,” he offered lamely, dropping his head as the words rolled off his tongue. Well done, he thought bitterly to himself, his tail flicking in annoyance. “Sorry Zeta, I swear I’m usually better company.” He shifted his weight distractedly, his sea-green gaze fixated on the silver girl. He wouldn’t be surprised if she decided to leave the blubbering fool to his thoughts. 

One more post from you then archive? :D

While this encounter had certainly been a strange one, Zeta felt herself itching to remove herself from it. That, in itself, was completely out of character for the Argyris. She was a social butterfly; someone who thrived on bringing more cheerfulness into the world around her. But right now, she could just simply not shake her downing feelings. She was not putting her best paw forward right now, and she was also feeling guilty for not helping this situation to grow into a more positive experience. It took two to tango, they said! Whatever the tango was..

Her mismatched eyes met his and held them for a moment. She studied the boy after his offer. It seemed that even he was struggling with making this better. Who was this boy, anyway? She did not know him very well, though she'd like to. He was younger than her, and he always seemed very separated from everyone. Though, she could only imagine that she might seem that way to the wolves these days too, always out looking for her brother. And that wasn't going to change either. She mentally made a note to accept the fact that her social life would have to take a backseat for a bit until Zane showed up one way or another. 

She watched him as he shifted nervously, his sea-green eyes meeting hers. They both seemed like they needed something, but just weren't ready or able to get it from each other. Companionship? A shoulder to lean on? Distraction? Whatever it was, it did not seem like today was that day for them. She smiled thankfully anyway. "That's very kind, Arion," she started, looking away into the ambrosial forest that had brought her here, as though perhaps she had something that she had to be doing. "I think.." How to say this? "I think maybe I do want to be alone today," she admitted with a sad smile. Was it entirely true? Even she could not decipher her own feelings right now. "I'm usually better company, too, actually. Can we be better company for each other in the future, maybe, instead?" She said, stepping one paw in a direction away from him. She did not do so to seem like she was rushing, but more of a scapegoat offering to both of them to go peacefully on their own ways. 

the rabbit

Adopt my twin!

Archived! <3 Thank you for thread @Zeta :3 i can't wait for another one between these two!

As much as he did want to attempt being social and getting to know his new packmate Arion was thankful when she declined his offer to sit in silence together. He liked the idea of crossing paths in the future when they were in much more pleasant moods; his head bobbed in agreement to her suggestion. “Sounds like a plan,” he responded warmly, a soft attempt at a smile rolling onto his short snout. “I can assure you I’ll be in a much better mood next time,” he added as he took a step back in order to give her some space. R felt guilty for their awkward encounter, but he was excited for the next one. While he had heaps of reasons for being as miserable as he was Arion still wanted to get to know the silver wolf.

“See ya around, Zeta.” Without waiting for a response the smudge turned on his heels and headed back into the depths of the forest. He, too, wanted to be alone today. A few more days (or weeks) of wallowing and he should be a little more approachable. Arion did not know if he would ever fully recover from discovering his mother’s broken body, but he also knew that he could not keep everything bundled inside forever. It would begin to tear him apart from the inside out if he did not accept the series of unfortunate events that was his life.