Cold Water Creek leaving a trail of breadcrumbs

open to any members of FGC or others in the area :)

Stepping through snow that piled higher every day, Isomne sought out one of the places she'd first visited when she came to these lands. The trees were still and silent, begging for someone to bring some song to this place - she tipped back her head and let out a short note, but her heart wasn't really in it today.

Snow fell from a branch in a dull, wet thump as a response. Woya had let them know that the pack would disband, setting out on a new page of their stories individually. Isomne decided she would see them off, but after that? Honeyed eyes wandered among the winter lands, seeking answers and finding only more questions. What was she doing here, trying to make a home for herself where others did not want to linger? Trying to tell the stories of those who would rather be forgotten? She knew she wasn't ready to leave these lands yet herself, though.

She needed some time to think, perhaps some change of perspective or new focus. She hoped that a walk in the wintery landscape would help clear her head, but it was only serving to stir up all of her lingering thoughts and regrets.

He had finally come to terms with the packs' disbandment. Mostly. With Levi already gone it didn't make him feel as much about it as he thought he would have, though he still had some mixed feelings about it. Wrynn didn't feel like he belonged with Woya and the others; they were like a family unit, and then there was him. The odd one out.

A sad song caught his attention, and for a reason unbeknownst to him he slowly traipsed his way over to whoever had sung it. Him actively seeking someone out? Unheard of.

Wrynn shivered as he entered a small ways into the forest, feeling the fur on the nape of his neck stand on end. The fog made him feel uneasy, not to mention the thick wall of silence that seemed to have enveloped him. Maybe it wasn't worth finding whoever had called into the apparent nothingness of this place.

A soft whine slipped from his maw as he began to step backwards, deciding that this place just wasn't for him. He could go be brave and social another day.

Something caught Isomne's attention, a small vocalization that drew a quick turn of her head. Through the still veils of mist, the snowy woman spied a movement. The earth-toned male she spotted must have been the source of the sound, though even now he was slipping back into the obscurity of the forest. It seemed as if the shadows of the silent trunks would swallow him up any moment.

"Wait," Isomne spoke up, imploring as she took a quick step in his direction. "Please," She hadn't spoken much with him before but his scent and visible features struck her as familiar, another member of the chasm. For whatever it counted, she wanted to speak with him now. The shy lad had come across someone who was a little more determined to be social than he was, it seemed.

Moving closer, she wagged her tail gently. She only hoped that he would not vanish into thin air.

He froze at a voice, trembling like a leaf in the wind, hoping that it wasn't a ghost that spoke. While not a believer in things considered supernatural, in a place like this he could afford to entertain the idea that maybe there was something strange out there. Squinting through the fog, he could just barely make out a snow white form ahead of him. His nose had much better luck at identifying who it was, though in his current state of mind he was unable to recall what her name was. Had he ever even found out?

"What're you doing out here?" Wrynn didn't like this place. Not one bit. But she seemed calm, relaxed even. It boggled his mind that anyone could be anything but terrified of this place.

While he didn't take any further steps back out of the forest, he resolutely planted all four paws onto the snow ground that he couldn't even see beneath the fog. Going further in was not on his agenda for the day.

A voice answered back out of the fog, and the form resolved into clarity as she stepped closer. The younger man was indeed familiar, a member of the chasm apparently unrelated to the others, similar to her. Perhaps he was a loner, or a traveler, before?

Her head tilted to the side, considering his question as she studied him. "Hmm, looking into the past I suppose." she shrugged wistfully and then offered up a smile to the russet man. In truth she didn't really know, but sometimes seeking out a past connection was a good way to find your way forward. She'd been here before, and now she'd run into him here, so she had to admit it had worked. "And you?"

The question was offered lightly, without pressure, but it felt like it rang out through the still air anyway. What would they do, now that their pack no longer bound them. What were any of them doing? She tried to let some warmth show in her smile, as she braced against the winter chill.

She continued to move closer to him, appearing like a ghost in the fog, but at least he no longer had to squint to make her out. Her form was an ivory white, and she stood taller than he did, though the height difference was likely exaggerated due to his partially crouched form. He'd quickly learned the smaller he made himself, the less of a target he was.

Her answer confused him, one ear twitching forward even as his brows furrowed, a thoroughly perplexed expression on his face. He didn't even know where to begin responding to her, feeling just as lost as he had while meeting Ra not too long ago. Though given all that had happened since then, it felt much longer.

Wrynn glanced up at her, his face morphing into a somewhat embarrassed look. "I uh... heard you singing."

Isomne felt she was putting the young man on edge as she stopped a short distance away, enough that they could talk comfortably. She offered him a warm smile, hoping to take the edge off the interaction so to speak. They had been packmates, had they not? Besides, she was not the sort of wolf to try and hurt or intimidate anyone. If anything, she was quite the opposite.

Instead, she reacted to his answer and uneasy look with a light laugh, "Oh? So what did you think?" She gave her own look of embarrassment. "That was not really my best performance, I promise. I'm much better when I know I have an audience," she hoped he'd take that as an invitation to share company for a moment. And to relax, just a bit.

(This post was last modified: Jan 02, 2023, 09:17 PM by Isomne.)

Her response bolstered him a bit, giving him enough internal strength to straighten out his legs, though his head still hung lower than normal. It had sounded nice, if a bit sad, although given the circumstances perhaps sad was alright. As far as he knew only the two of them had stayed behind. Maybe this was a chance to make friends?

"I thought it sounded nice," Wrynn said tentatively, ears wiggling a little apprehensively. He wasn't good at giving compliments, or receiving them for the matter. But he wanted her to know her singing wasn't nearly as bad as she made it out to be.

"Do you have a favourite song?" The words slipped from his mouth before he could stop them, but it was too late to take them back, and so he simply stared at her owlishly, feeling his cheeks warm up a bit in embarrassment.

Isomne smiled, taking his apprehensive compliment to heart. "Thank you, I'm glad,"  it cheered her a bit to know he'd enjoyed hearing it. Songs were best when shared, or so she believed anyway. That's why she was a bard to begin with, to try and share some happiness.

The next question brightened her smile further, it seemed her companion had an interest in music as well. At least he'd taken enough interest to ask further, a subject she was all too happy to indulge. "Too many to count!" she admitted with a laugh, then a more somber and thoughtful frown. "If I had to choose one, it would be All Through the Night," she tried not to let herself wax too nostalgic, thinking of the lullaby her parents had sung for her siblings and her when she was very young.

"But I love learning new songs and tales just as much," blinking the past away in favor of the current conversation, she looked back to Wrynn. "That's why I came to the Lore," her tail swayed for the moment before falling still. She was not exactly sure where she would turn next, and wondered if he might be feeling the same now. Or perhaps, he had some plans, unlike her. "Do you have a tale or song that's meaningful to you?" She asked him instead. Not to put him on the spot, or anything.

She perked up briefly at his question, though her answer had him scrunching his nose in thought. His upbringing had never involved singing, or really any close familial support, and so he didn't actually know any songs, especially ones by name. But it was nice that she did, he supposed.

Wrynn was a bit taken aback at her turning the question onto him, even though logically he should have expected that. A drawn-out "uhhh" left his maw as he tried to give himself a few extra moments to get his thoughts in order before responding.

"I didn't uh, exactly get told stories or have songs uhm... sung to me when I was younger." Was that weird? Or was it weird that she had? He honestly didn't have an answer to that. But now he felt like he made their conversation all weird, and could feel himself begin to physically shrink into himself from embarrassment.