Umbra Copse The Plan Is There Is No Plan

Larkspur had always firmly believed that it was his surroundings, and not him, that was the issue. Even with only so many years (or maybe even months) left, he had not learned that it was not only circumstances that could be changed. But he was a man of action, and at least feeling in control of his life brought him comfort. He had originally thought that Quaking Vale would be the end game, and maybe after pledging his allegiance to Sahalie and Alastor, things would fall into place. They hadn't. This, of course, had nothing to do with Larkspur himself, but his circumstances. It didn't take him long to figure out what the problem was. The hard part would be coming up with a solution that would be good for everyone.

And by everyone, that really meant just him.

Snow had fallen that morning, which he'd thought was a little odd with it being spring and all. After doing a small, mostly-pointless border patrol, Lark decided to do a little bit of exploring. He had entered Relic Lore through the Umbra Copse, which is where he'd met Sahalie. Back then, he would not have imagined that he'd be where he was right now. Although Larkspur hadn't really known what he was going to do when he'd started his trek north, he would have definitively said that he wouldn't stop some stupid girl start her own pack. In the end, it all would work out.

The southeastern part of Relic Lore was more of less what he'd remembered of it. Easy to get lost in, if you weren't really sure where you were going. He didn't plan to stray far, at least not until the next month, but before he really knew it, he'd been turned around. He thought of the boy he'd meaninglessly attacked, and how he'd probably just been afraid and confused. Lark was sort of in the same situation, except maybe a little less frightened and more frustrated.

LITTLE STALE but I haven't done a starter in forever haha @Kuwindwa

Oh, no worries! It's a perfectly good post. ;) If it makes you feel better I'm coming back to RP after a three-year hiatus. xD Thanks for starting us off!

More snow. Wasn't it spring? She supposed going north might have something to do with the lingering snow. And then there was the perpetual mist she seemed to encounter everywhere she went – first on that rise and then here. Kuwindwa padded like a ghost through the fog, weaving through the dense underbrush with a well-trained step. She made little noise but for the whisper of branches at her passing and the crunch of snow underpaw.

When she was a puppy, she remembered romping in the white stuff with other children. She remembered one year when the snow piled so high she could barely pad through it without her parents' help and the cool chill had tickled her belly when she moved. As an adult, the frozen earth told her hardship was coming... but a new season of life would follow. It used to be so easy for her to remember there would be a new season. Now, she looked at the thin layer of white beneath her paws and thought dismally how the new season wasn't necessarily a better one. The woman heaved a soft sigh, her breath coiling in misty tendrils around her pale muzzle. Her glistening eyes shifted, silently taking stock of her environs. She had been padding through these woods for a while now and they didn't seem to be ending any time soon. They felt constricting.

Maybe she should turn back on her trail, go south again. Not just back out of these woods, but far away, back to her heart. Kuwindwa knew that wasn't an option: she could never go back. She could never go home. Pressing as that feeling was, it was not her present concern: she wasn't sure where she had come from.

Not that it made much difference to her if she was lost. Could someone even be lost with no where to go? A sad little voice in her head told her, Yes, yes you can be, but that was a different sort of lost altogether. She had nowhere and no one in particular to go back to, and she didn't think she was looking for anything specific... if she was looking for anything, it wasn't something physical. She wanted home. She hungered and thirsted for it, but knew she could never have it again and, not for the first time in her life, she reflected how lost she was. Kuwindwa had been lost before, but it was different then. She knew now what she hadn't then: she had never been alone when her parents died. Now she was. A lone wolf. A weakened warrior. Her breath hitched bitterly in her throat as she determined to press forward. She needed to think about today and surviving. Not yesterday. Not the never-again-days and never-can-be-days. So she stalked forward, until she thought she heard a twig snap somewhere in the distance. The woman froze, head swinging up as she listened. Was someone out there?

He hadn't made any attempt to be stealthy. This was his neck of the woods now, which meant there was no need to slink around and try to blend into the background. It was an odd, but also very nice, feeling. Quaking Vale was his new home, and one of the last stepping stones to... to whatever he was looking for. He had never been sure, not even now, but some things you could feel with your heart more than your eyes. He had known the feeling of security, he'd known what it was like to feel welcome and loved and in a generally good position. He was almost there, so close he could taste it. Just one thing was in the way, and in a month or so, Lark could take the steps to move that thing out of the way.

He saw @Kuwindwa before she saw him, and for a moment he watched her. The woman stood tall, and not in the I demand respect sort of way; she was just literally taller than him, and in general larger. "Behind you," he called to the woman, knowing she might appreciate knowing where exactly her company was. Larkspur approached her, an odd feeling washing over him. It wasn't an unfamiliar feeling, but something he hadn't felt in a while: inferiority. Although there were many wolves that could tower over Larkspur (he was neither too large nor too small, and thought himself more of a middle man), it was often more than just looks that made him feel that way.

Something about her, and something beyond even his comprehension, was familiar. As a man who had nothing good to do with things that were familiar to him, he instantly decided he didn't like the girl.

Lark was a pack wolf now though, and without the pleasure of snapping and chasing off any wolf he chose, needed to play nice. Plus what would a little company hurt? She was probably about as lost as him, and maybe figuring out why he disliked her wouldn't hurt. Not directly approaching her, Lark opted for keeping a safe distance away from her. He pretended to mostly ignore her, and instead inspected a tree. "Easy to get lost out here," he mused, moving onto a second tree to inspect. His skin felt itchy as he pushed the want to dart off and/or chase this girl off down.

"Unless you know where you're going," at his implied question, Larkspur's gaze finally turned to the bonze-eyed woman.

Behind you.

Kuwindwa's head whipped around in a most leporine fashion, her body following suit in a fluid movement from nose-to-tail. Instinct and training both kept her guarded: she stood with paws squared – a stance as natural to her as if she had been born doing it. She didn't move again immediately but for the flick of one ear. Who was he? What did he want? Did she know him? Was he from the Pack? She didn't recognize the orange-eyed man, but what was to stop her pursuers from using others to their own ends? Her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

His pale coat blended him into the fog almost as well as hers did, and his mannerisms were doing nothing to ease her mind as he skirted her position, his eyes everywhere but where she stood – the very opposite of Kuwindwa's direct stare. Her head followed him until his eyes snapped to her at last. She almost flinched. Still, she managed to stay stone-still except for the slightest angling of her head. As far as she could tell, she was in no immediate danger. However, he wasn't exactly friendly... not that it mattered. Not really. She didn't require friendliness from others, nor kindness, but that didn't mean she was going to entertain even the smallest risk of harm to her being.

Her head lowered slightly as she shook it, inwardly chuckling. She wanted to to tell him she wasn't lost, but she was in a strange mood and realized the answers to any of his implied questions would only confirm how adrift she truly was.

Hmming softly, Kuwindwa regarded him contemplatively before replying, "And if I were lost, stranger?" Her tone was carefully guarded, yet earnest as she looked on. What kind of wolf was he? How would he answer? Not that she could glean much from a question like that, but she liked to think she may be able to ease some of her tension if his answer was kind.

(This post was last modified: Apr 16, 2017, 11:17 PM by Kuwindwa.)

Really though, Larkspur was trying. This was his friendly, and it was rarer to bring this sort of attitude out even to those he considered his allies. Some wolves were used to the overzealous (and lightly obnoxious) friendliness more akin to Sahalie's. Lark, on the other hand, considered himself being friendly if he didn't show his teeth or growl at you. He had done neither of those things just yet, but their meeting had just begun.

And if I were lost, stranger?

With her reply, the answer to his most pressing question at the moment was suddenly very, very clear. He knew exactly why he didn't like this pale woman and the realization of it made his heart hurt — he wasn't sure why, maybe because he pitied the poor thing.  He looked up to the sky to find the sun, which barely filtered through the trees above them. Doing so made him feel a little less lost, but he doubted anything he said could really help the woman before him. If only because he'd realized she was a little bit too much like him.

And of that long list of things that Larkspur hated, number one was typically Larkspur.

"I could show you the way. As much as I know, anyways," he looked back at @Kuwindwa and offered a shrug. Every ounce of him wished she knew what he knew, and he even wondered if she was aware of the strange connection that they'd shared. Probably not. He had not been himself, and in that sense, he had not been truthful (though it was rare of Larkspur to ever be truthful). It was also very possible that he was coming to strange conclusions all up on his own, but also felt that his own intuition was strong and right.

Lark smiled at the girl, true and genuine. He could not help himself, and as a wolf that was typically out for his own self, it was doubtful that he could help the stranger. Could he try? Would it be worth it? He could feel his stomach doing a weird flip-flop, so he sat up a little bit taller and concentrated on the pale woman before him. "The type of lost that you are is most important. It's easy to find your way out of a forest, even one you can barely see in. Here the trees clear eventually, you just pick a direction and go it."

He thought of Oak Tree Bend north of here, and how he'd even made it to the edge of Relic Lore before turning back. Had that been wise? Even today he wasn't sure.

Kuwindwa could not know from looking at him what it was he felt – an invisible connection. The truth of him was masked to her. His answer struck a certain chord, and for the moment the woman eased. A subtle tightness released her shoulders and chest, allowing her head to dip just a little lower, and the softest breath wisped around her white maw. Was she... relieved? His offer of help, however round-about it may have begun, was not an insult or challenge. It was not a threat, or a fight. He continued speaking, however, and the woman's head raised again, her gaze as solid as it had ever been, but her tongue. Ah, her tongue held fast as she felt him prying and, though a wan smile appeared to mimic his own larger one, her gaze held the same guarded glimmer.

He was thought he was digging at something deeper and she, such as she was, did not typically seek to burden strangers with her troubles. He did seem curious. And almost genuine... except he was so shifty when he first announced himself. It was a harsh reminder to the woman. She did not know him and a wolf's intentions could be deceiving... she had learned the hard way how the ambition of others could end lives and destroy hope. Kuwindwa had been so innocent, naive, blind. She couldn't afford to be so stupid again.

"Thank you for your advice, sir," she answered clearly as her weight shifted, her eyes finally relinquishing their grip on him to observe the foggy woodlands. It was tight, claustrophobic. There was no room for her thoughts to breathe, and maybe that was why she responded rather more ambiguously to his implied metaphors, "I am. Quite lost, I mean. If it really would not trouble you, I would appreciate your help." She was just lonely, she told herself. Isolated. She was finding more and more that company didn't necessarily remove that feeling so much as strengthen the sense of loneliness. Still, she was stubborn enough to insist company would feel better than silence and loneliness and the secrets in her own head. "My name is Kuwindwa."

(This post was last modified: Apr 17, 2017, 01:17 AM by Kuwindwa.)

All of this was going... well. Maybe Sahalie was rubbing off on him, or it could be that he was finally mellowing out with age. Could he keep it all up? He wanted to. Desperately, he wanted the chaos of his life to settle. It had taken a long time, but finally things were starting to clear. More importantly, he was starting to behave. As silly as it seemed, he sort of wished someone were there to acknowledge his good behavior. He'd have to settle with patting himself on the back. @Kuwindwa gave her name and social norms insisted he give his. "Larkspur," he looked around again, contemplating where to start.

"My own pack is a little south of here, Quaking Vale. It clears up into an aspen forest. We're a small bunch, at least for now. If you need a home there, I'm certain they'd all appreciate a new face," he felt a little hypocritical, especially after telling @Sahalie how skeptical he felt of bringing just strangers into their pack. But it was how she'd wanted it, she'd wanted her pack to be a sanctuary. Specifically she'd said a place to heal, though Lark often had a hard time thinking of anything past the physical standpoint.

"North is Oak Tree Bend. Mostly foggy there too," he had little to say on his ex pack, if only because he had done a whole lot of nothing. "They recently got a new alpha, but they were alright when I'd last visited," he shrugged. "But really, if you just want to head out of the copse, I can show you the way. It's not so hard, if you don't get turned around too much."

Larkspur.

Kuwindwa blinked owlishly at him. He was named after a flower. A potentially poisonous one, but...

A flower. It had bloomed widely, far south of this place, near lands she'd known as home. It didn't belong to the man with the scars on his muzzle; it seemed like too fragile a name when she envisioned the swaying blues so far away from here. Her gut wrenched unexpectedly, part of her heart breaking – she thought she was finished with that feeling. She was numb. That feeling wasn't supposed to happen. She was past that part of the ache. Had to be. She almost blanked out his next words:

"My own pack is a little south of here, Quaking Vale..."

Larkspur's words snapped her back to proper attention. She had roamed steeped in betrayal and fear. It left the stink of suspicion in the air all around her, a feeling she felt so keenly she attributed it readily to any stranger she met. He was no exception: her heart beat rapidly as he first mentioned those wolves he lived with. She felt fear, and a steel gate closing down. She was alone. She wanted – needed – a pack. But the possibility of endangering her packmates if she was truly followed... that crushed her spirit quickly. They would not be so appreciative of a new face if the wolf it was attached to brought danger into their midst. Yet she had wandered nearly a year now, and she was as safe as a lone wolf could ever be. Maybe... maybe they had given up.

This fog... it was just one of many days she'd travelled encompassed in it. The damp and cold wasn't exactly favorable. Deciding to at least have a more conversational distance between them, Kuwindwa took a few steps closer, her head leveling with her shoulders as she moved. "Is it always foggy like this here? I don't care for it..." The woman scoffed, but for just a moment she smiled and shook her muzzle, a certain wryness flavoring her words as well. She couldn't dodge the subject of a pack with two mentioned, but she couldn't find words to express what she wanted and fear she could never have again. The woman's brow furrowed. It wasn't as if she weren't pack material. She'd probably work well wherever she ended up. I don't think I'm ready for a pack but... "I'm not very familiar with the wolves of this land," she said instead, hoping the slight hesitation would go unnoticed. Damn her need to be around others.

(This post was last modified: Apr 17, 2017, 02:55 AM by Kuwindwa.)

Lark offered her a crooked smirk, "Family tradition. We all were named after flowers or trees or plants of some sort," he had kept up the tradition with his own children, and they had kept it up with their children. He had liked it, and after heading north to Relic Lore, it was odd to find more wolves without names like Hibiscus or Ivy, named that even like Kuwindwa's, flowed a little differently off the tongue. Not to say that he didn't like it, but it hadn't been what he'd spent most of his life around. He still missed it all, even if he often insisted that he didn't. Lark didn't speak of them often, but when he did, it was always fondly. Which was very different than what he actually thought of his birthpack.

Something was suddenly off about the woman, but he wasn't entirely sure what. It was like @Kuwindwa suddenly wasn't there, but then quickly forced herself back. Knowing full well that wasn't a thing you didn't typically bring attention to, he went on as if nothing had happened and as if he hadn't noticed a thing. They were just two wolves having a conversation, he trying to be helpful to a weary traveler.

Lark stayed put as she moved, going so far as to make himself comfortable and sit down for a moment. "I think today the fog is particularly thick. I didn't like it much either when we first arrived, but there's... patches, I guess, of sun," he had yet to find his own sunny spot to lie his head down. He had intended to do something like that today, but ended up finding this woman instead. Which could have been fate, or maybe the work of some of the gods that he chose not to believe in.

Larkspur noticed her hesitation. He may not have seemed it, but he was paying the woman very close attention.

He offered her a sympathetic look and nodded. "I know, it's hard being a loner" he had been in her place. After months of treading carefully, and of stepping correctly, he'd ended up with secure footing. He'd even managed to gain Alastor's trust, which had been slow, uphill battle. "I've been in your place. Lived my whole life out of Relic Lore, had to leave home and find someplace new. Hard to trust new faces when you don't know who's good or bad, or who's a liar and who's not," or when you felt like your dead brother was after you.

"I still have a hard time with it," talking as if they were good friends and offering Kuwindwa some of his own perspective could get her to open up, but at this point who knew where it all could go. "My own pack's just a bunch of kids. Well, kids to me, I guess," he had grandchildren older than all of them by now. "But they're good. And as for other wolves around here, I haven't met anyone too rough around the edges.

I know it doesn't help much, but all I've got to give you is my word."

It probably hadn't been pleasant to have her staring at him like that. Oops. He didn't seem offended, so Kuwindwa could let it slide at least. Hell, he kept talking and she almost felt like he could understand, at least in part, where she was in life. Even so, her worries also tended to take into consideration the fact that the current season meant packs had pregnant mothers-to-be wandering around. Kuwindwa wasn't sure how that would go. Puppies... could make or break what remained of her. Or maybe that was what she needed. She didn't break them. It wasn't her fault. But good luck getting that through her head after wandering with it for a year. If she had been willing to talk about it she would openly admit she had been framed, but she still had a wicked growl saying if she just hadn't looked away...

He almost had her convinced. The familiar manner he spoke with, so different from her own reserved, quiet nature. It was good to know there was another person who had stood where she was right now. It was a thread of understanding that could bind them together. But the thread frayed as she remembered loss, and bitterness, and grief, and unfairness. She remembered her failure. She owed too much. He was not like her. How could he be?

When he finished, Kuwindwa had that curious tilt to her head again, but her eyes wouldn't look up at the man. If she did, he might see the embers of a dying fire. No one wanted to see that. If what he said was true about the wolves here, then she had all the more reason to stay the hell away... but why couldn't her heart just listen to her head? She stopped as he seated himself, considered doing the same for a moment before deciding she preferred standing. She was not like him.

"Surely... you do not look so old as that," she commented. Maybe it was her age, but young wolves looked young and old wolves looked... well. Not old. It was hard for her to see herself as middle-aged. She could almost laugh at the thought. But she wasn't young anymore, she thought instead. She'd spent her betters years running. So here she was, an aging hunter and warrior, wandering some twisted woodland... sure, her life was tough already, she didn't need to have a mid-life crisis too. That thought nearly snapped something in her. "I am not afraid of them. I am afraid for them."