Fisher's Split they will chop you down just to count your rings

Loach had soaked himself in frigid water. Even if it may have been very ill advised this time of year. It had been enough to take him out of the weird emotional thumping in his mind and heart.

What on earth had compelled @Llinnea of all faces to act like that?

And poor Clouse had been basically sent off the moment he had arrived.

So he figured he had to go to the heart of this whole thing. Even if he did not want to. Mainly because it seemed like an emotional minefield waiting to blow. Not to mention that little Llinnea had not come out on her own yet, so he had no choice but to go find her. Maybe he'd get lucky and she'd already be talking about this with somebody else...

Harsh, maybe?

(This post was last modified: Jan 29, 2023, 06:58 PM by Loach.)

Note to self: Backdated to 1/18 after this thread

A short huff left pouting lips, a soft whine escaping with it. Llinnea had thought about retreating to her snow den, but she didn't want to be found. Instead, when Clouse left, she'd slunk off to find a sheltered spot along the river. She'd managed to find a spindly bush bowed over under the weight of the snow, creating a shelf that offered some cover. It was her she'd laid for however long it had been, thinking about her Mor and Asmund and trying not to remember the gravelly voice asking her to take him to her Mor, and then the flash of his teeth when...

Loach had not been harsh with his words when he'd scolded her for snarling at Clouse, but Llinnea still felt as though she'd been kicked. She didn't feel like she was in the wrong for her reaction. He was dark, he spoke her words, and he seemed friendly... but that was the problem. She couldn't do that again.

Her ears twitched as the sound of pawsteps crunching on snow rose over the burbling of the river. Her eyes turned up to look, though she didn't lift her head. Maybe Loach would pass by without seeing her and she could sit in place and continue moping.

Currently traveling with Loach and Claw

Lana wanted to give the girl some space, but she also didn't want her to go too long thinking there was no one who would to listen to her after what had happened. Loach, her guardian of sorts, was off cooling his head in the river of all places. So after a few minutes the tricolor woman followed after Llinnea, stopping not far from where she'd holed up along the bank. She sat among the rocks, dusted with a sparse coating of snow and listened to the river babbling by. Had she overstepped herself, made everything worse somehow? She shook her head to loosen such thoughts hold on her.

For some time she did not go any closer or try to break the quiet, figuring that Llinnea had crawled up under that frozen-over shrub for her own good reasons and would emerge again in her own time. But when Loach eventually came walking back dripping along the shore in their direction, she made her way towards them both.

"Maybe we're ready to talk now?" she asked of Loach, and the snowy bush. It was a question, not a directive, and she tried to imply as much by keeping her tone gentle.

Currently traveling with Loach, Llinnea, Clouse and Claw.

It seemed like he had walked into an intervention. Maybe he was overstepping and ought to let Lana talk to Llinnea. They seemed to somehow get along much better now than they had when Lana had first arrived. Which he was grateful for, but it certainly left him...fumbling. Felt like he couldn't give Llinnea whatever it was she surely needed.

Maybe it was a selfish sore spot in himself.

I'd like to...if you're ready, o' course, Llinnea... His posture sagged a little, more readily deferring to the both of them than trying to hold any claim here. It wasn't the place and it wasn't who he was.

It was not to be. As much as she wanted to be alone, Llinnea couldn't refuse both her somewhat-trusted companions. Loach was bad enough, but Lantana arriving synched it and with a put-upon sigh the pup slowly crawled out of her hiding place and sat, pouting, and not looking at either of them. "Okay," she said flatly. Whatever scolding she was going to get for lashing out, she could take. It wouldn't be any worse than what she'd already faced. I couldn't be worse than the venom @Asmund had spewed upon her leaving, telling her she'd killed their mor. She knew it, of course, but to have him even imply...

Her shoulders hunched further and she prepared for whatever Loach and Lantana had for her.

Currently traveling with Loach and Claw

With Llinnea's appearance from under the shrub, Lana's mood sank. The girl's voice was flat and her gaze evasive. Loach's tail and frame were sagging too. Lana did not know how to navigate this situation, finding herself in uncharted waters both with the emotions of a yearling and the dynamics of their makeshift group. But clearly something needed to be said.

With a sigh she gave a single, gentle wave of her tail. "Thanks for coming out," it was a start, if nothing else. Her gaze slid over to Loach. Maybe he knew better than her?

Moving to seat herself, she tried to tread carefully with her next words. The last thing she wanted was for this to become an interrogation, or beratement of the yearling. Lana didn't feel Llinnea had done anything worth scolding. In her own time as a loner and even before, she had come to treat others with caution as a means of survival, and she understood that instinct. Llinnea had certainly been, wary, of Lana at first, if that was the word. But back there had been something else entirely.

"You don't have to say anything you don't want to," she began, supposing that was a good foundation. "But I'm trying understand what happened," she preferred to state her position rather than start asking pointed questions.

Currently traveling with Loach, Llinnea, Clouse and Claw.

Well, she came out. Not that she said a whole lot despite agreeing to talk. It rankled him in a certain way, but he had never done these fatherly things before. He hadn't even been a very good brother back home. How could any expect him to know how to handle this? At least Lana seemed to make more sense of these things than he did.

Yeah... His voice came out a bit hoarse, caught in his throat. It's, um, hard, y'know? When you're feelin' things but I...dun know what's wrong an' I can't help. Y'know?

His toes nervously clenched at the mucky riverbed beneath them.

They were kind. So, incredibly kind that it hurt. Llinnea didn't know what to do with that kindness - not anymore. She didn't feel like she deserved it. Not after what she done, both at home and now here. Loach had said he would never bring someone bad home. She never thought she would either, didn't realize there were bad wolves out there, but she'd led the monster right to her mor and shown him where they lived. She still didn't understand what he'd wanted with them.

Treacherous tears filled her eyes as she stared at her paws, blinking furiously and quickly losing the battle. "I did not mean to," she said, trying to swallow the lump in her throat. She didn't want to cry; she didn't want to cry! "I did not know. He said he was my mor's friend." he'd said he was a friend and he'd lied.

She sniffed without looking up but the sobs were really beginning to come now and she hunched her shoulders against the shaking. "He came and spoke my words and... and... loy. And I took him to Mor, and... Alt er min feil!" (...lied. ...It's all my fault!)

Currently traveling with Loach and Claw

At first, she thought the girl was speaking just about the recent events with Clouse. But with her next words, it became clear that she meant something else, and Lana's ears fell.

Llinnea went on, as she did the woman's heart sank. She didn't understand all of it, not even close, but she had the sickening feeling that this had to do with why the girl was relatively on her own when they'd met and that it was a terrible oversight to not have noticed sooner that something terrible might have happened. It didn't seem as if Loach was anymore clued in that she was. She could start to guess, now, though, and she didn't like the murky picture that was being painted.

Was that why Llinnea had reacted that way when Clouse arrived and, spoke her words as she said? She feared he might be like whoever had used that against her before, feared that they might let a foe claiming to be a friend join them?

As the sobs began to shake the girl's frame, Lantana moved to sit beside her, where Llinnea could lean for support if she wished to. She wished she knew the right things to say, to do, but she had always been a crappy big sister at best and her own family had hardly set any better examples of an empathetic or protective figure. She wanted to assure the girl that whatever happened, it couldn't have been her fault. But she did not know how to assure her about events she could only guess at.

Letting out a slow breath. "And you're scared it'll happen again?" she glanced at Loach. Was this just an issue of needing to help her learn healthy boundaries as a lone wolf, or was there still someone they really needed to worry about lurking around?

Currently traveling with Loach, Llinnea, Clouse and Claw.

S for swears because when is he isn't

Awe, fuck.

A gloom settled heavily over his features. The kind that a man earned after a grand battle or a hard life choice. Suddenly he felt like both might await him. Awkwardly he shuffled a bit closer. Prepared to sit on the other side of her for support as well. Still he worried about overwhelming her. Still he worried she might bolt if it all became too much.

And he would never blame her one bit.

A glance shared between the adults as his brows knitted softly. Then he returned his attention back to their youngest.

He was prepared to offer violence to gut the bastard for whatever had happened and yet he had enough sense to know better. It would be better if she declared what she needed first before he went on any kind of warpath.