Wild Rye Fields don't make me beg

Risaela's fever, their still-healing injuries, the coyote infestation; there were plenty of reasons that they laid low until now. It was the first in that list, however, that gave Cancer the final push to cease his moping and make a move - for her sake. They came to the lowlands, because she said she knew these wolves and had stayed with them a time, even though the openness of the tundra gave him reason to shiver. The gold melded horizon was nothing short of terrifying to a wolf that took great comfort in the forest, a wolf that had only lived in such a large, santuaryless expanse once before in his life. His dull claws gripped the rocky earth as they peered from the shadows of the treeline into that vastness.

Well, where else did he have to go?

Bitterness was not far from his mind, but the heat radiating from the girl at his side was a constant reminder that his issues weren't the most pressing. She wasn't gravely ill, but there was nothing saying her health wouldn't take a dip if they didn't find something stable soon.

Tilting back his crown, he called out for the leadership of the Rye.

@Laike @Jessie

(This post was last modified: Jun 06, 2018, 04:55 AM by Cancer.)

The two of them had been lying low for the past few weeks after leaving Shallow’s Edge. Ris hadn’t minded the slowness. She was sore and aching, and she knew Cancer was as well. Even though Pietro had seen to their wounds and sent them off with a satchel of herbs, it hadn’t really been enough to speed the healing process exponentially.

And of course, with her luck, she had also gotten sick. It had probably been thanks to some type of infection in a wound, but she was dizzy and tired of walking, and she just wanted to lay down somewhere that she and Cancer weren’t going to get eaten by coyotes.

Wild Rye Fields was perfect.

In fact, it felt like she was going home.

Ris let Cancer do most of the howling, but she did lift her head and call for @Jessie in particular, wanting to let her surrogate mother know she was coming to stay, if that was at all okay with her.

The younger wolf sat down beside Cancer and leaned heavily against his shoulder as they waited, completely exhausfed though her tail was thumping on the ground behind her.

guardian dem 1/3

He had placed a kiss on the heads of his children and to Adelayde as well. A call was summoning him and while he hated to leave his growing family behind, it needed to be done. There was also a familiar tone. It had called for Jessie but beckoned him as well.

His strides were long and as swift as the thick male could move. Orange eyes soaked in the scene before him. He could recognize both figures but one was more familiar than the other. While his stance would usually be strong and demanding, it was a bit softer now. For the duo looked rather rough.

"What brings you to the Rye, Risaela and...?" His deep voice trailed off softly as he glanced between them. Weren't they apart of a pack? Had they hung around the north even after the issue in Kingsfall? It may have bittered his mood to think they would do such a thing but it did not dampen the concern he felt.

(This post was last modified: Oct 24, 2018, 08:25 PM by Laike.)

have you checked out my player preferences?

Jessie, too, was no fan off the open fields. It offered the Rye wolves no protection and certainly no shelter during the hot summer months nor the cold winter season. When she had made the trip over with Drestig, everything had been worth it, because he had been so happy - eyes glowing and a smile on his face. Something she hadn't seen him truly due since the death of Silver. With his death, came the lack of joy the Tainn felt with being in the fields. It had crossed her mind once or twice since her mate's death to move the pack to a more secluded area, perhaps even back where Swift River once resided. The thought was fleeting. To do so would have been a dishonor to Drestig's memory, cowardise and weak on her part. The members of Wild Rye Fields had come here for a reason, because they had felt hope in this place even during it's darkest times. Just because she felt like shit didn't mean she had the right to take that all away from them. The Rye Queen was returning a vole to the pack cache when a call from the borders demanded her attention. Burying her catch, the mother turned and hurried in the direction that the stranger's voice had come from, her pace only increasing when an all too familiar one rose up to join it. Eyebrows increasing, the pepper-and-salt colored woman arrived at the borders, her co-lead already at the scene. Jessie stoof at his shoulder, tail waving behind her, a smile on her lips as she looked at Ris. Concern blossomed in her heart as she looked at the child - even if she was much bigger than Jessie at this point, she still viewed her as such - that she had taken in. It was the most tired she had seen her, normally so filled with energy. Having heard Laike's inquiry, Jessie turned her hardened emerald gaze to the stranger.

foxstox @DA & Dawnthieves.de

Normally he would have shied away from her touch, and his skin did still crawl, but Cancer did not pull back this time as Risaela leaned against him. Right now, she needed him, and as much as that both frustrated and terrified him, he wasn't about to let her down, not when it was his fault that she was in this position at all.

Cancer wasn't surprised when those familiar orange eyes found them, but he had to wonder what thoughts were brewing behind them as the other man looked the duo over. Would it bode well for them that they had fought together, or were suspicions being born that the two seemed to be magnets for trouble when together?

"Cancer," he filled in without any decoration or even inflection in his voice. Another joined them, a woman who the youth could only assume was the queen to Laike's deck. She looked at Risaela with warm recognition, but as per usual the stranger's eyes hardened as they took in the rougher orphan's figure.

He gave nothing more; it would be better for Risaela to fill them in.

OOC - Cade I LOVE THIS TABLE

Ris appreciated her companion not leaning away from her, and let her tail thump on the ground a couple of times in a nonverbal thank you. In her time with him - jeez, how long had they been friends now? - she had found that he was averse to physical contact, whereas Risaela needed it like she needed air or water. Can was not always willing to offer it to her, so it was like a special treat whenever he did.

Ears angled forward when Laike and Jessie approached, and Ris let out an inadvertent whine at the sight of her foster mother - the only thing in this world that kept her from being completely orphaned. And she missed her desperately - the thought of possibly being able to stay with her forever was overwhelming.

"W-we want to... um... could we st-stay?" she asked, ears lowering a bit and silver eyes casting down to the ground. "We l-left A-Askan's pack, 'n we n-need somewhere t'go... I don' feel g-good right now, but wh-when I feel better, I c-can work harder. C-Cancer's good - he's my b-best friend, an' he'd w-work hard too. He's g-good," she repeated, closing her eyes and leaning her head against the darker wolf's shoulder. "I lo-love him. Please do-don't b-be mean to him."

(This post was last modified: Jul 03, 2018, 02:16 AM by Risaela.)

guardian dem 2/3

LAIKE ARTEMIEVA

His brow raised softly at the youngest one's words. Laike already knew that he wasn't turning her away. As far as he was concerned, she was family. "No one's going to be mean to him." For heaven's sake the blue-eyed boy hadn't even done anything. Politely showing up on their doorstep wasn't exactly what anyone should get mean over. "I'm not going to turn either one of you away." He said as he looked over to Jessie, ears flicking in what almost might be considered an apologetic manner. "I know they're both good fighters." And one was family nonetheless. "Helped me out when I ran into coyotes once." Laike wasn't typically the one to vouch for others but these two he could do that for.

He fell silent then, more than ready to let his co-lead have the last say on this.

art by kydnt

(This post was last modified: Oct 24, 2018, 08:25 PM by Laike.)

have you checked out my player preferences?

If Jessie would have known how similar Laike's thoughts were to her own, she might have laughed. A geniune one, the first since her mate's death. Risaela had good reason to be concerned. If Jessie were in a bad mood she might had very well interrogated the young man right on the spot. I love him. What kind of love was yet to be determined but her foster daughter meant quite a great deal to Jessie and she did not want anything or anyone to hurt her. Just as the Rye Queen's jaws parted, Laike stepped in. Emerald eyes shot in the direction of her co-lead, more in curiosity than anger. Usually, her partner left border interactions to her if they were both at the scene. One gray ear cupped towards him at attention. The Tainn also had no intentions of turning them away, though something Risaela said stuck out to her, something Jessie needed to know the details of. The monochrome woman gave a grateful nod to the man, turning her gaze back to the duo on the Rye borders. Worried eyes settled on Ris. When she spoke, her voice was soft, "Of course you can stay, you're family. One of our members, @Alvar, knows a bit about herbs, so he can help you out," she paused for a moment looking between the two, her lips pressed together, "But I need to know why you left Shallows Edge." She would accept them either way, but the Rye had an alliance with their neighboring pack. If they left with ill blood between them, she needed to know.

foxstox @DA & Dawnthieves.de

(This post was last modified: Jul 09, 2018, 03:21 AM by Jessie.)

Cancer hoped dearly that no one could see by his expression that his heart had completely stopped within his chest. Best friend had been hard enough to hear, had pierced him with a spear of guilt and anxiety, but then she added to it. She loved him, or claimed to anyways, and it didn't matter how platonic she might mean the words. The last person that had loved him had been killed because of him. He tried to stand firm, to remain present in this conversation, but his mind was reeling.

He had to get out, as soon as it wouldn't completely wreck the Tainn to do so. For her sake.

Had he not gone completely numb, however, Cancer would have been grateful for Laike's endorsement, glad that at least someone thought well of the pair for what they had done, even if he hadn't intended on playing hero that day. And when Jessie's approval came so easily, he had to remind himself that this meant him too and he wasn't just dropping Risaela off here, as easier as that would be than what actually needed to be done.

Cancer prided himself on being selfish, but he knew he'd rather be a mess twenty-four-seven than abandon the yearling outright, here and now.

"Well..." he spoke up, thinking he should at least help out here, "when we got back from the coyote incident, Askan jumped down our throats the moment we walked in. Accused us of hiding shit from him and being ungrateful and told us we could leave. So..."

His blue eyes swerved toward Ris's sterling silver, knowing she would end the story far better than he could, as the next words out of his mouth would otherwise simply be 'we did.'

They weren't going to be turned away, and nobody was going to be mean to Cancer. Good. That was all Ris wanted, really. She would be better here - Matheo had been wrong. She didn't just leave whenever she wanted, and she wouldn't be gone forever if she did leave. She was going to be loyal and brave and strong and do everything she could to be the best wolf for the Rye wolves that she could be.

To be the best wolf for Cancer that she could be.

Fortunately for her, the dark wolf had explained most of what had happened to the two alphas. But it seemed she was expected to speak as well. "I d-don't know why he was... was so angry," she murmured, dipping her head. "I... I was m-mean too. But not b-before him." She sighed softly. "He s-said to leave, s-so we did..."