Secluded Spring the rhyming of the rain

Sometime around May 8th, Light Sleet 40F/4C
@Marianna

The last few weeks had been hell for the raven pelted Leigh. Everything he thought that he had known had been just a facade and now he needed to stand up and take responsibility for what he had done. The only problem was his decisions were no longer just his own and Neha could not seem to decide what their course of action would be. First it was to just visit the Vale and then she decided they should go back and raise the pups in the Cove but now she was unsure. As a small compromise Draven had asked her if she would come with him while he sought out his estranged sister so that she could have more time.

But now standing in the sleet alone nearby where he knew the pack where she had lived was he wished she had just made up her mind. Neha was sleeping within the makeshift den they had found last night so Draven had been able to come alone to find Ari but worried nagged at the back of his mind. She was very pregnant, what if she went into labour and was unprotected or something happened while he was out being selfish? If they had just chosen a pack and been accepted he could at least know she was safe.

Instead now he stood here, his guard hairs soaked from the sleet warring about whether he should abandon this whole thing and go back to her. But, on the other paw this was probably his last completely selfish act he could have until the pups were adults. As horrible as it made him feel, Draven was not willing to give up his last choice of freedom.

Ari had not experienced any of the recent hell her brother had – it was a distinct possibility that she’d never felt anything as deeply as Draven had, or even Kino, for that matter. Emotions were not her forte, though she occasionally made an effort to emphasize with others, it simply wasn’t her strength, nor something she was particularly interested in. With Gent and Lucia no longer with the pack at White Fir Notch (and Ryker showing no effort to interact with her in the slightest), the Leigh woman found herself wandering away from the pack and its springs more and more frequently, further and further away.

It was like she was trying to get herself lost, or something.

And perhaps she was as the rain pelted down, making it hard to see more than a few lengths in front of the woman was she stumbled back towards home and somewhere dry. Or she thought she was, anyways, when a dark shape caught her attention. The tawny female drew to a halt, her tail raising above her back as she prepared to greet her father; but the lone wolf wasn’t her father at all. It was another scent, vaguely familiar, that had the woman’s ears drawing back as she stood her ground.

“What do you want, Draven?”

They hadn’t exactly parted on good terms.

 

A wild dissertation appears!

There are several fresh rabbit tracks in the mud. Hunt Opportunity

Fate made his decision for him. He had not called for her and yet Ari appeared through the rain almost as if their shared blood pulled them together like magnets. Like it had with himself and Alastor at their mother's grave. Maybe fate was named Minka, maybe it was all just a wild coincidence and meant nothing at all. Maybe none of his decisions meant anything at all and life was just some kind of twister that swirled them all around until you couldn't hold on anymore and you fell off. Maybe a lot of things.

Whether it was fate or his mother or a coincidence did not really matter, what mattered was here they stood in the pouring sleet staring at each other for the first time in more than a year. What did he want? What did he want? Oh god, even Draven didn't know. he wanted to be home in the Vale with his brother, he wanted Neha to not be pregnant and if he was being completely honest with himself, he was beginning to think maybe he didn't want the pregnant girl at all.

But that was wrong, he had to take responsibility for what he had done. Sighing he looked over the large form of his sister, Alastor had not been kidding when he had said that Ari had grown to look like a bear. There were a million things he could have said in this moment but what fell from his lips was the unpolished truth, "Honestly? I don't know anymore." What did he want?

(This post was last modified: Jul 12, 2017, 01:32 AM by Draven.)

Ari’s brows shot up. Who was this guy? Not the argumentative little bastard she remembered – and not the cry baby Raela had almost ripped her in half for fighting with, either. The large wolf stood in relative silence for a few moments, forgetting all about the rain as she stared at the dark wolf, expression slowly knitting together as she tried to piece it together. What did that even mean? Was she supposed to feel bad, or…what?

It was so hard to be cross with someone when they weren’t mirroring the emotion.

Her tail fail to half mast as she continued to stare at Draven, waiting for something, anything else to lead her own – but if there was any going forward, it appeared it was going to be on the large yearling’s shoulders. She exhaled heavily. “Well, Kino’s got a pack now, right? Or he’s workin’ on one. You can go there, if you don’t got any better ideas.”

Now, she had no idea where he’d been, that he’d joined up with their sibling at all, or that he had a girl, or that he had a cub on the way. Of all three of them, Draven was the last one she’d have picked for that. “He’s gotta girl, yanno.”

 

A wild dissertation appears!

Ari’s tail fell halfway down, an action that was not missed by Draven. His mossy greens eyes followed the slight movement almost immediately after the words dropped from his mouth. Maybe he should just start going around telling everyone in every conflict that he just didn’t know if it was that effective at disarming wolves. Oh, you should tell Alastor you love him Sahalie, but I don’t know. Sorry I got you pregnant Neha but I don’t know. Sorry I don’t want you around Neha, but I don’t know. Again, the invasive thoughts crawled through his mind unprovoked and the soon to be adult clenched his jaw.

He wanted Neha…

Mostly. He wanted to be a good father and was committed to everything that was going to come along with it. It is what Minka would have wanted. Maybe that was why when Ari brought up Kino and his girl that a snort slipped through his nose before he could stop it. ”Yeah, I’ve been there for the last couple of months. They’re across the mountain on the eastern side.” Draven pressed his lips together as if to force the words building in his throat back into submission and to disappear. But, instead they grew stronger and he gave up the fight, ”And his girl is named Sahalie, but he is the last thing that she wants. She says he is her best friend but that she’s not willing to be in love and sacrifice or something.” And there Sahalie went, thrown down the river, out to the wolves, left in the dust.

Whatever Marianna Leigh was expecting from Draven, the venom-laced truth was not it. Even if she had any self-control over her facial features, the large female would not have been able to hold back her surprise. Whoa, she thought quietly to herself, where did this wolf come from?

She gave her brother’s words some thought, and then threw her head back with a low, barking laugh. “Love is for suckers.” This Sahalie girl was right. Fuck love. The only thing that came out of that was heartbreak – or worse. Her tail swished behind her idly as she shook her head, finally reminded that she was getting soaked in the rain. Kino was better off without, even if he didn’t agree with that notion just now. “You got better directions than that, though? ‘cos Kino told me ‘over the mountain’ and shit if that doesn’t mean much to me. Half the woods is over the mountain. They got a name or something?”

 

A wild dissertation appears!

It was clear that Draven and Ari did not truly know each other. They shared blood yes, but that was as far as any familiarity ran. Just as she had not expected his venom he had not expected her to throw her head back and laugh at what she had said. Blinking in surprise any anger he felt drained away in an instant, it was rougher certainly but something about the sound reminded him of their mother. The heartiness of it, how her whole body laughed instead of just her lungs was identical to how Minka had once done it.

His dark skull tilted to the right as he watched, the stirring of sibling affection beginning to twinge in his gut. Ari probably didn’t need it, but Draven knew if she ever did that he would defend her. Even if she was wrong. Nodding his head he gave her the lowdown, ”They’re called Quaking Vale, they’re in the Umbra Copse.” Then, as an afterthought he added, ”I wouldn’t ask for Kino though, he goes by Alastor and I don’t think anybody would know who you’re talking about.” The man was still getting used to it, but he supposed whatever made his brother happy. Except Sahalie, he probably could never support his one-sided relationship with Sahalie.