Limestone Bluff walk your truth alone

The man seemed content with her presence, for the time being, and Asha didn't mind tagging along. Socialization was important in wolves, and the colorless woman understood that every day she went without contact with others of her species was detrimental to her health. Not to mention that she didn't detest Eskil's company in the slightest - the man was pleasant, as far as strangers went. Though he had startled her at firs, he hadn't had ill intentions, and his kindness didn't go unnoticed.

She dipped her head in acquiescence to his claim, and instead of directly replying to the statement, decided to go for a more... encouraging response? "I am certain we can find a way around the cliffs. They can't possibly go on forever." She moved to walk alongside him, far enough that their pelts wouldn't be in danger of touching but hopefully not too far that he'd think she was being rude.

His claim about having not seen his sister for years came as some surprise, and she pricked her ears in his direction, blue eyes meeting evergreen. She supposed that made sense. The man was older than she was - certainly old enough to have been looking for his sister while Ash was just a pup - but he wasn't that much older.

Oddly enough, another encouragement fell from her lips when he mentioned his sister might not even want to see him. "Family should always want to see one another, and if you care for her enough to look for her this long, then you must share a strong bond." Her lips quirked up in a more genuine, tiny smile. "I'm sure she'd be very glad to see you."

 Eskil bobbed his head at her comment, trying to see the bright side of it. She was right, there had to be a way around these bluffs sooner or later. 

"We used to be close. That was a long time ago though. A lot happened, a lot's changed, I'm sure we're both different wolves than we used to be." There was no bitterness in his voice, only an observation. Eskil laughed, a deep rumble. "I'd like to think she'd be happy to see me." Walking side-by-side, he simply enjoyed the presence of another. It made him double guess turning down Kerberos' offer to stay with his pack for a few days. He was really starved for companionship.

"Ah!" Eskil barked suddenly, his grey brows lifting as he spied a break in the cliffside ahead. A jumbled scree of broken white limestone could be seen sloping down from the bluffs. He picked up the pace, his uneven stride bringing him to the base of the incline, his tail swishing hopefully behind him. 

"Think we could make it up this way?" He asked, turning his head towards Asha n with a single ear cocked to the side. "Looks a little slick... we could try further down." He hummed, debating.

She nodded her head slowly, keeping pace with him and frowning slightly when she noticed his pawsteps were a bit off. Like he was favoring one of his feet, actually. She wondered if he'd hurt it. But, instead of focusing on that, she tipped her head at his observations. "I'd expect she'd be glad that you were alive. If one of my family were to spend years looking for me, I would be ecstatic. But we weren't the type of family to care overmuch about one another." It was rare of her to speak about herself, and the snippet was not shared subconsciously. She'd meticulously picked the statement, understanding that it was talking about her past, but also understanding that it might help her new companion to be more at ease. "Certainly none of us would ever go on a journey like you have just to see if another was alive." Because, in the opinion of her family and pack, love was weakness and would not be tolerated. It made you weaker.

But Asha didn't think that was the case with Eskil.

She startled badly when he barked and picked up the pace, and hesitated before trotting in order to keep up with him. Her brows knitted in a frown as she studied his limp. That would make the trek up the limestone more difficult, for certain. It was definitely a cause for concern.

She studied the scree, silver-blue eyes scanning up and down and then flicking to the paw Eskil had been favoring. "I believe I can, but would you be alright? It seems you've hurt your foot." A tiny flicker of something akin to concern bloomed in the monochromatic girl.

(This post was last modified: Feb 27, 2017, 03:34 AM by Asha.)

@Asha

Eskil ducked his head down bashfully. He'd like to claim he had been searching for his sister for years, as flattering as the misconception was. As much as he wanted Asha to have a good impression of him, he couldn't mislead her. He'd go for extraordinary lengths for Oula, but not quite that extraordinary. "Not quite so, been looking for a few months at most. Came across her scent in autumn and had nothing else holding me back at the time." He said with an amused snuff. "But that's a story for another time." A lot of boring, gory, and less than flattering details to give someone who was a complete stranger mere hours ago. 

Standing at the base of the slope, Eskil's brown ears folded down in thought as she mentioned his foot. Apparently he hadn't been hiding his lame paw as well as he thought he'd been. "Ahh," He hesitated, remembering sliding down the riverbank back at Heartleaf Creek. That hadn't been so bad, but the bluffs were much higher and there was more at stake if he slipped. And Asha didn't deserve to see him tumbling to his demise. He looked at her with a crooked smile. "Perhaps you're right. Let's keep going, I'm not really in the mood to play Humpty Dumpty today." He said.

Oh. Well, it didn't matter either way to the colorless creature whether he had been looking for years or for a few months or even days. "The point is that you care enough to look for her for a reason other than to harm her. I do not know anyone else who would do something like that. I respect you for it." And she did, in her own way. It was more as though she wished she could be like him; that she wished she felt like she had the freedom to feel so strongly about another wolf.

She never would, though. She was broken.

He made a form of a joke, referencing the man who fell off the wall and couldn't be put together again. It drew a tiny smile from the girl, and she flicked her tail in acknowledgement. "I'd go behind you so you wouldn't fall," she assured, but instead weaved around him to lead them both to an easier way to climb up the bluffs. She took a moment every now and then to make sure her companion was following and, satisfied he was, took the two of them along the safest path around the cliffs.

{ fade }