Quaking Vale You All Say I've Crossed a Line

Set 5/28 for @Sahalie
No rush I just wanted to do the thing

Larkspur had days where he looked much better than he had that morning. He was especially dirty, his fur especially ragged, and his stomach loud and grumbling. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had a meal, except for the easy parting meal he and @Kuwindwa had shared so many weeks ago. He was dragging by now, clearly tired, clearly exhausted, but above all, clearly happy to be home.

It was early and as he traversed Umbra Copse, he could feel the creamish boy shivering in his grasp. He thought to stop and attempt to sooth him back to sleep, but they were too close to Quaking Vale's borders. His jaw was tired and he felt that if he stopped then, he might sleep the day away. He couldn't afford for another one of his packmates to find him, or for the boy to run off again. He was trying to be patient, if only because there was little more you could do with puppies, and after a few days of fighting with a homesick boy, Larkspur's patience was growing thin. The mist eventually cleared and the large quaking aspens loomed above them. The boy didn't seem to like the new scenery — he hadn't liked any of the new places he'd seen — and Larkspur quickly shushed him before he could draw attention to both of them.

When he saw her sleeping form, Larkspur made a beeline for the little leader. He was relieved to find Alastor gone (patrolling, maybe), and when he approached, dropped the child beside her. He wished that would have given his jaw a little relief, but it still ached. The pup whined and curled up against Sahalie's side and Larkspur watched him for a moment. He had never thought it did any good to spend time regretting things, and because of that Larkspur rarely did things that he felt bad for for too long. The boy, though, he already felt a burning hatred for.

Suppressing a growl, Larkspur put his nose against Sahalie's cheek and gave her one firm, hard shove.

(This post was last modified: Jun 08, 2017, 12:17 AM by Larkspur.)

Neha's boy was already a week old. When they had settled down here months ago, the girl was satisfied with her decision—convinced that getting knocked up was not the next step for her—and while she was not the least bit wistful there was an overwhelming happiness that accompanied the unexpected situation with Draven and Neha. The boy was a nice surprise. There had been so much to do before Neha's cub, so much to build on to reach the lofty idea of a shelter, but new life brought about a new purpose and it seemed like her pack mates could feel this to. They were all happy to have Sachiel with them.

The one thing she was not quite happy with was the physical effect the kid, that Neha had on her. Heat had been one thing—a horrible, hormonal cliff-jump—and not a single part of her missed it. She had done nothing to get pregnant so...why then, why did her stomach—which had never clung tightly to her ribcage—suddenly feel so heavy, so weird. Sometimes she could not even approach Sachiel's den because the boy's cries would produce the oddest sensation of pins and needles. One time she had even woken up to find the ground beneath her was damp. It hadn't rained. Sahalie was producing milk for no particular purpose and, quite frankly, the girl was beyond embarrassed. Draven and Neha both had medical training, but god how was she supposed to approach them? Sachiel would be there and she was afraid that if he made a single peep the dam would blow and everyone would see it happen.

Nope. She was just going to have to hope this problem went away. Heat went away and so did this. Cubs only nursed for... a few months, right?

The girl was very furiously attempting to nap through the discomfort when she felt the light vibrations of paws coming near. Sahalie hoped that if she curled tighter, whoever it was might go away. Her nose was buried in her tail, and she wasn't particular interested in finding out who it was anyway.

But when she felt the small body wiggle up beside her, looking for warmth, her head shot straight up and she nearly screamed. Part of her assumed that Draven or someone had brought Sachiel to her to babysit or something. Fine, maybe, if they had asked before— but instead, the wolf standing in front of her was a very ragged looking Larkspur. He looked, shockingly, so similar to the wild, hungry man she met almost a year ago. Very slowly, hardly believing what she would see, the girl's head turned down towards the bundle worrying at her stomach. Larkspur nudged her face.

"You're....sure this one's yours?" Her voice came out slowly, rattling in her throat, and her eyes never left the pale boy. "This isn't just like. 'Hey Sahalie here's the grandchild you never gave me'....Right?"

Was this how Spieden felt?

(This post was last modified: Jun 09, 2017, 12:19 AM by Sahalie.)

He wasn't sure how Sahalie would react. But Relic Lore was filled with bundles of unforeseeable circumstances. When he'd been young, he had not imagined that he'd be ruling beside his brother, or that one day he wouldn't. He hadn't considered that one day he'd be chased out, or that he'd ever meet the small dark girl. And here he was, having murdered his new son's mother, ready to tell @Sahalie the story he'd rehearsed on his trek back home.

For a brief moment he imagined a world where he was truthful with the girl. He tried to imagine her face when he said things like murder or poisoned. Would she come up for an excuse for him then? Sahalie had a breaking point, just like everyone else, but he wasn't exactly sure where that was.

Larkspur snapped back to reality, the one where he'd brought home his motherless son to a girl that didn't believe in love. Or... whatever that was.

The pale man slowly slid to sit down, his legs pulsing in pain and relief. "He's mine," he said, deciding to forego a smart remark. Unlike Sahalie, Lark was just watching her. If he was truthful, he'd say he didn't care what happened to the kid. He had no idea who Neha was, or that she had a child, and had no idea what was going on with Sahalie. The original plan had not been to come back with a crying, wriggling pup. It had been to come back with no pup. He'd killed before, and up until he saw the crying, shivering boy, Larkspur was confident he could have done it again.

Somehow it made him less of the bad guy to let the pup suffer. He could have gone hungry, or gotten sick on the way to Quaking Vale, or literally anything. Even now he still wanted the puppy to croak. Instead, he got to pretend he was the good guy, a savior. In the end, it was just something to build the character he'd made for himself, something to make Sahalie's job of coming up with excuses for him a little bit easier.

Story time. Sahalie would ask sooner or later, and probably right after the shock of him dropping a mini-himself beside her wore off. "She, uh, didn't want him," he finally said, the uncertainty making his stomach twist. Or it could have been the hunger. "I... she just... left him." Larkspur thought of her bright orange eyes looking up at him as she sank to the bottom of the warm springs. His throat was dry. "Said she didn't want anything to do with a kid," he tried to be careful to give Sahalie the right amount of details. Maybe she'd pity him, or maybe she'd pity the almost-orphan. "I don't know what to do, Sahalie." Larkspur did his best to look like he should, had the story been true: a sad, helpless dad. All things considered, Lark thought he was doing a pretty good job.

There is a deer that was killed by a lynx nearby. +10 Health

pp'ing laurel because i own u tell me if it not ok. this is so awful.

All cubs were more or less born looking the same way: muddy brown. If there eyes were open, they were blue. But when Larkspur declared this one to be his, suddenly she could see it. There appeared to be a faint pattern along the boy's back. Perhaps she was just imagining the dark, jagged line that saddled the pale man's pack, but she thought she could see it. This one was surely the old man's son, weak from journeying with a wolf that couldn't feed him. He was not of weaning age, this boy.

And of course that was why he latched onto her with a startling ferocity.

"Looks like you've found me out," she mumbled nervously. The sensation, so new and unasked, was definitely not pleasant. Was it different, the girl wondered, when the child was yours? Spieden's uncertain, uncomfortable face was all she could imagine, along with her childhood memories that were so old they did not come with words—only guilt and hunger. Sahalie just wanted to be fed and to be loved. Things turned out alright, but as a cub she had been overwhelmed by the naked emotions that occupied the den with her brother Drift.

Even though it was an old, ordinary story it broke her heart to hear that there was yet another unwanted cub in Relic Lore. But how could she be surprised when Larkspur and this mystery woman had met only for a night? Sahalie still assumed the cub's mother was a loner. A wolf without a pack would know that her chances of raising a cub were slim. Even so, the mother could have followed Larkspur back here and taken responsibility for her actions as the boy's father was doing. There were other ways, other options. Instead, the boy's mom would join a very long list: Nayeli, Piety, and all the rest she still didn't know—Amelie, Naira, Rosealia, Borlla, Kite, Quil, Nova, Hecate....

"Well," she sighed, her tail curling around the boy, "Even if I said I didn't want cubs my body apparently has other plans for me." It felt weird to be betrayed like this, by her own body. "I'm... I'm not saying I know what to do either but. Uhm. I can't... I can't just like detach him from me. He's uhm," she stammered sheepishly.

"I've got milk?"

Awful! I'll show u awful!!
also ngl if u just took larkspur and started rping him I wouldnt even care

Ordinary stories were easy to digest. No one had to think too much past oh, not another one. @Sahalie didn't bat an eye and, honestly, who was he to expect any differently? After spending so many months together, he'd given the girl little inkling as to what he was past a grouchy, crotchety old man with a little bit of a dark humor. He hadn't necessarily done anything bad in his time in Relic Lore, and if anything being here must have proved something. Maybe that deep down Larkspur was a Good man.

Mentally he sighed. Keeping up a lie was exhausting. And he, the epitome of that's my story and I'm sticking to it, knew it better than most wolves.

The child was suckling and happily squeaking, which was followed by Sahalie's I've got milk? He could have laughed. Of course she did. God forbid something go right. God forbid the child just die. Larkspur looked at the small brownish blob and wished that something could be killed by hate alone. Hate might have been a little harsh, especially for something that could barely walk and talk, but Larkspur felt what he felt. And he felt hate.

Having never been a man for details, he didn't ask for details. She could feed the boy until he could eat on his own. And then what? They could raise him? Like a big, happy family? The mere thought was enough to make him ill. He tried to figure the correct way to say the words, and for once nothing sounded quite right when he said them in his head.

"I don't want him." They sounded worse out loud. "I can't..." he couldn't what? He could raise the boy, he could be there, but would it be enough? He'd never had a broken family. Larkspur's jaw clenched shut as he stared at the girl, wishing he could somehow make her understand. Or, well, make her understand while still being the not-good-but-not-necessarily-bad-guy. "I'm too old for this," maybe he wasn't that old, but he felt like it. He was washed up, an ex-alpha settling in a pack that had one of the few wolves that would take him for who he was. He was tired, and exhausted even thinking about the boy, but a little bit older, running around and screaming his head off.

"I want," he struggled with his own words. This was all awful. He hated that nameless child. He wished it would die. Larkspur choked out the words, "--you to raise him."

And then, because he could pretend that this wasn't about him not wanting to raise another child, "I think he would be happier if he had someone who could love him more than I can."

(This post was last modified: Jun 11, 2017, 01:24 AM by Larkspur.)