Fool's Gold Chasm it could have been us

@Adelard please
Set in the wee hours of the morning on 3/8, set after her thread with Hellhound

Rhaegara felt herself slinking back towards the Chasm’s territory with little shame over what had happened. Perhaps the year before she had felt a twinge of something, but no one had seemed to care about her adventures. No one had gotten fiercely protective like they had of others, at least not that she had noticed. She had never been told otherwise so she assumed she was free to wander and find her own affection once more. Adonis. A name she’d remember. At least this time she had remembered to ask for a name.

She had awoken to him gone, her itch satisfied for the moment though she feared that it might burn again soon… it seemed to always be how things went. With it came an easier time breathing, less irritation burning in her gut and the want and need to return to her daughter and check in on her. She returned to normal, which she had craved from the moment the heat had settled into her spine. He had fled, left, and that was fine by her. She did not need a man questioning her parental decisions, or worse, a man like Huddy for her to grow attached to only for him to abandon her like Huddy had done to Saga.

She was not nearly as trusting of men as she was a year ago, and even less so than two… there were very few who had earned it, because there were very few who had ever stayed.

(This post was last modified: Mar 15, 2022, 03:34 AM by Rhaegara. Edit Reason: Clarifying timeline )

Having napped earlier in the day, Adelard was on his usual midnight patrol. Figments of the possibilities of puppies danced in his head. One by one, they roly-poly'd their way across the forefront of his mind, dark masks and all. More than once he had to shake himself to, knowing all too well that it was only an effect of the season.

Every now and then, he debated in his head if this was the year when he ought to secure an heir for himself. Romance was still an abstract concept to him, though, believed to be unobtainable. After all, he had no sweethearts lined up here. Back at home, he would have been living a different story. He was already a year overdue in being matched with a potential lover.

A scowl formed on his dark mask. He wondered now if Callus Amdir, the friend he had left behind, ever found anyone. In their adolescence, they joked about running off together in rebellion. Two young men at the cusp of adulthood, the beginnings of what could have been assumed as a "bachelor pack." He shrugged and rolled his eyes. It was probably best that he struck out on his own.

If he hadn't come to when he did, he wouldn't have heard or spotted the creeping shadow in the distance. His lips pulled back to bare his teeth and he prowled after it, boldly assuming it was a packmate. A growl thundered from him, "Stop right there."

         

ADELARD

heat stroke, bring the fire black smoke, I take it higher

She had almost made it away free of any confrontation, not that she had been particularly expecting any to begin with. She curled her lip up in a snarl at the booming voice, her eyes narrowing as she bit back a growl. She realized who it was and she huffed softly. “Adelard.” She greeted calmly in return as she took a few calming breaths. “You frightened me.” She answered back, seeing nothing amiss though confusion as to the growl that had brought her to a halt. Was something wrong? Why was he carrying that tone with her?

She knew he normally patrolled around this time, she knew it from the scents because she normally took a patrol around sunrise herself, lately dragging Enera along with her though she had a feeling she’d refrain from doing so this morn. The Chasm had always been a hedonistic band. Despite his betrayal, it was the one thing she had appreciated about Huddy. They travelled and banded together to survive. It was not attributed to the usual pomp and circumstance she had grown up under… anything to avoid whatever reminded her of home.

“What’s with the attitude?” He asked again, figuring he’d realized it was her scent crossing the borders. Had she been suddenly uninvited on pack lands. The irritation came with the soft itch again and she cursed silently. She just wanted to get some sleep was all.

“Adelard. You frightened me.”

He blinked her into focus, edging back the blind rage that had built up in case of a trespassing rogue. Rhaegara. His jaw quivered before his lips sealed shut.

“What’s with the attitude?”

The Leader straightened but the crests of fur on his back did not settle. He snorted once, realizing now that maybe he had thought wrong of the Fools Gold Chasm women. Walrus might have given him her word, but that didn't mean Saga, Woya and Rhaegara did also. He had been stupid to think so. Already, he prepared himself for the worst, still oblivious to the scents that clung to her.

It took every ounce of decorum he presently had to keep his voice level. He wasn't angry yet... "Where are you coming from?"

         

ADELARD

heat stroke, bring the fire black smoke, I take it higher

He seemed to draw it back and for a moment she considered that perhaps he did not know it had been her at first. Had the scents on her pelt really been that apparent? The question came, the formal and rigid soldier he always was. She bit back a snort in her irritation lingering from the snapping bite he had greeted her with. “Out. I felt like I couldn’t breathe.” She responded simply with one word as she turned fully to face him, unabashed by what she had done or aware that it was wrong by any means.

“Why do you ask? Is it a new protocol to ask about comings and goings that I was not aware of?” She could not help but ask with the retort, her eyes staying narrowed. Why did it matter where she had come from? It felt like he was questioning her abilities to keep herself safe, and it settled poorly in her stomach. When they met, he might have spoken of being her guardian but he was not her keeper and she would not let him question her as such. She had grown past the idea of ever needing another wolf for her own survival. "Where have you been?" She shot back with some manner of haste after her previous question.

Okay, well, just wanting to get off Chasm territory for a bit of peace was fine. “Why do you ask?" she prompted him now. "Is it a new protocol to ask about comings and goings that I was not aware of?"

Here, he recoiled, defensive, "No." He wanted to say that there was. If he had wanted to put the women on lockdown, he should have opened his mouth and told them all. His eyes narrowed for a second, before blinking fully open, taken aback by her once more.

"I've been here," his answer was curt and blunt, but he wanted it to sting. "Waiting for you." Curse his bleeding heart.

         

ADELARD

heat stroke, bring the fire black smoke, I take it higher

She stared him down as he recoiled and his eyes narrowed. What right did he have? If nothing was amiss then what right did he have to scare her and then judge her? She couldn’t help but scowl at the words, her eyes narrowing further to meet his as his words cut at her heart.

They just didn’t hit like they might have once. “I was done waiting, for anyone.” She stated back, matching the curt and blunt nature that he had adopted with his own tone. Her teeth gritted lightly. “Spit it out.” Clearly she had done something to offend him in her absence, she just didn’t know what.

Even when it came down to a matter of details, these wolves hardly knew her. They didn’t know the secrets she’d carried from the moment she left home. What right was there to judge a wolf they didn’t even know because no one had bothered to ask?

(This post was last modified: Mar 15, 2022, 04:39 AM by Rhaegara.)

She had been done waiting. For anyone. "Spit it out."

Adelard squared himself, moving to shift his weight on one side and then the other. Now she had done it. If she wanted it, then she would have it. "I-I..." Damn it, he stammered. Where the pointedness of his words has eased, a sort of venom had coated his tongue against his will. He caught wind of the foreign cologne of a stranger on her coat.

"I was going to ask you," his muzzle bunched up, but he would not let himself be wounded. "But, it seems, you must have already found someone." He scoffed, "Who is he?"

         

ADELARD

heat stroke, bring the fire black smoke, I take it higher

He stammered and for a moment she found herself proud, catching him off guard. She’d never seen it happen before. His muscles bunched and he admitted that he had been seeking her out, and she scoffed. She didn’t believe that for a moment. She was never the first choice of men, only strangers seeking to get their fill. It had been proven.

The question came and she drew up her lips for a moment before closing her eyes and drawing in a deep breath, releasing it before answering, shutting down everything and tucking in neatly into a box. “Too little, too late.” She stated simply. “You’ve had over a year to ask, Adelard. If I thought for even a moment you might be interested. If you had given even the slightest indication…” She trailed off, finding herself frustrated with him, with the situation, with everything.

“Who am I?” She posed back challengingly. “I’m as much a stranger as he is, aren’t I? If you think I'd wait around for you to bat your eyes so I might swoon at your feet? No, that's not me. That's never been me and you've known me the longest here.” The bitterness was hard to keep from her tongue.

Adelard thought he had the fates on his side. That he was going to be able to put Rhaegara right where he wanted her. He wanted to open her eyes, but she was well-armed.

“Too little, too late.”

His shoulders bristled. The prickling heat crawling under his coat and across his skin threatened to burn him alive. His ears felt scorched. The front of his nose smelled of smoke and flame.

“You’ve had over a year to ask, Adelard."

The pressure in his chest was sending his heart rate up to the sky. He had expected the flick of a pebble, but Rhaegara sent down a landslide. Adelard had been stupid to think he could have hooked his traveling partner from the start.

Initially wordless, he held his tongue, gauging everything about her. She was right. How he had missed it all and assumed what he had about her, he wasn't quite sure anymore. Maybe he had been truly a different man all those seasons ago. He sniffed, still staring her down. He dared to flash his teeth, brows raising as he mustered up what authority he thought he had left, "So, what? You going to disappear too? Like the rest of them?" Like Hudson, Aubine, like Riven, Aweho... The brothers Hrun and Maugrim had been with them once upon a time, but they were always skipped over. Adelard did not know them as he did the others.

         

ADELARD

heat stroke, bring the fire black smoke, I take it higher