Drooping Willows what if i fallout

Hagar is calling for everyone who is still in the area to address the disappearances, so heads up to the Drooping Willows group- @Nineve @Daegal @Niamh @Deirdre @Kaeruka. @Mouseling is welcome to join as well if wanted!

He was not prepared for this. Everything was falling apart and he'd always thought that every step of the way, no matter how bad things got, @Avella would be here with him through it all. There was no contingency plan for a life without her.

On the third night without her return, Hagar had begun to worry and search. Now, the sixth day was closing and he had not found a single sign. It was not conceivable to him that Avella would just abandon them, especially not their remaining children. If she had gone to find Iseldir, she would have told him as much, wouldn't she? What if she was hurt somewhere, hoping for help and he just wasn't looking in the right places? Where else was left that she could have gotten to in such short time?

It wasn't just her, even. Ra had not been seen either, Clouse obviously distressed by the fact and quick to demand Hagar take action for her as well. He tried, hoped maybe they were together, but why wouldn't they be home by now then? And if poor Ra was alone out there... her brother was very valid in his concerns.

Panic was building in his chest, and as he returned back to the old Ridge den from a day of scouring to an empty cavern, he climbed back out and began to pace. They needed to act together, like a pack even if their chances of truly being one dwindled every day. Hagar lifted his head and howled, loud and strong, asking with clear urgency for every wolf still with them to meet him here.

Clouse had been gone from the territory the first half of this near-week absence, and come home to find no one was quite sure where his sister was. To say he'd been pissed was an understatement, and he'd only been able to hold back about a day before lashing out at Hagar for it. Even though deep down, he was disgusted with himself for not being at Ra's side like he should have been.

Like their would-be leader, he searched tirelessly for his sibling, but so far had come up completely empty-pawed. He'd been on his way in for rest when he heard Hagar's summons, something of a sigh leaving his chest at the sound of it. Finally. He promptly changed course, and appeared swiftly where the other wolf had called them to. He was quiet as he approached, reclining onto his haunches and settling cold, hardened eyes upon Hagar.

Mouseling had followed Clouse from the Lagoon to the wolf's territory with little issue. His nervousness had melted away during the trip, but now it was back in full force. The wolves in Clouses's group all appeared on edge when they had arrived. Clouse had an air of anger around him now that made Mouseling want to shrink back.

He jumped at the howl that rang out. When Clouse turned to answer the call, he followed once more. He sat just behind the other wolf, eyeing his new surroundings. Mouseling swiveled his ears forward to listen to what was happening. The tense silence made his fur raise with discomfort.

A gathering was called and the moppy little Archer followed through to it. She would pass her gaze over her cousin, fuming at her father and Eve could guess the reason well. Then to her father and looked to and... a new wolf? Eve was surprised to see someone new, honestly. She didn't expect much of them, though.

Time and time again others had joined them, only to simply melt away as though they were never there. This would be another. Growing up, only blood were constant presence in her life. Now, even they were missing. First her brother Iseldir. Now mother. Her blind cousin, Ra. She had felt her chest tightening when she realized it, her breathe heavy as she felt her little world here crumbling apart. But it had been for some time now, hadn't it?

Spirits low, Eve settled down on the grass into a sit silently, waiting for the others- if there were still others.

Post-partum proved hard enough. Her small frame exhausted even by only one child. Yet clearly her body must be strong enough with how well their daughter grew.

Yet now she found herself with an undercurrent of new anxieties, ones that did not crop from her own body or her daughter's well being.

Ra had not been seen in some days. So Niamh prayed softly each morning and night that the winds carried her swiftly, back home or to where she was called. She refused to think that she had been abandoned. The woman was like blood in the way of magic and they had been bonded further by the day of her daughter's birth.

Still she wished to see the pale healer here again, selfish as it may be to keep the priestess from her walk of life.

The absence of Avella though? Why, it only confused here and quietly she wondered if it was her fault. So she prayed for peace in the heart of that woman too, wherever she wandered.

Then she prayed for the peace of her husband, who toiled endlessly for each and every body here. A man who was a leader in all ways even if he carried no official title. For even now he rallied them all. So she rounded their daughter, encouraging her to be swift in their movement to see him.

Faces familiar and new collected.

She silently drifted near her husband's large frame.

adopt my brother!

note: mentions of fortune telling and magic are purely a belief system.

There was little hesitation on the tawny woman's behalf as the beckoning call from Hagar rung through the wispy boughs of the willows, limbs once sprawled beneath the shady canopy hoisting her frame to once more be set into motion toward the location he desired fit for this meeting it seemed. One by one Ruka had watched as those around her began to disappear since she returned to these parts, unable to shake the nagging thought in the back of her mind that perhaps she had some part to play. First it was Iseldir, whom she had searched for until the pads of her paws ached and cracked, then Avella had become little more than a ghost amongst the willows. Alas, her searches there too remained fruitless, dread taking up a near permanent residency within her chest only to be kept alive by yet another member of their group disappearing.

Now, Ruka wasn't the most superstitious of wolves, but they say if an unfortunate event has already occurred twice, a third unfortunate event is likely to occur. They always came in three and the Ridge was no exception to this rule, she supposed, for the priestess herself soon occupied the remaining slot to complete the trifecta.

It would seem the tawny woman had managed to be the last to arrive as her gaze took a quick survey, noticing those gathered and the new face that stuck out like a sore thumb in a group as small as theirs. The idea of introductions seemed more fitting for a later date, silently opting to take a seat along the outer edge of the group while offering a small nod in greeting to Hagar.

Daegal was confused; confused and scared. His dad had new kids - new kids not with his mom, and he was sick, and Izzy was missing and now mom was too and Daegal didn't know what to do. He wanted to run, he wanted to cry, he wanted to fight something. It was a foreign feeling. He couldn't ever bring himself to leave the relative safety of his home, though. He couldn't leave his sister, not when they'd all promised to stick together forever and one brother had already deserted them. He hoped Izzy was okay.

Hagar's urgent call did nothing to ease his mind, but the pale boy turned and ran for the summons. Somehow so many others beat him there, so rather than immediately demand answers Daegal sought out his sister and sat beside her, pressing against her side both to offer comfort and seek it for himself as he looked at all the wolves around them that he had yet to formally meet. What was happening to his little family?

She had recognised her dad's voice, becoming alert as her whole body shook from the force of her wagging tail. The urgency and pain in his voice was lost on her, as was exhaustion and anxiousness of her mother.

"Where go?" Deirdre needed no extra encouragement to be swift, running alongside her mother to wherever it was they were going with the usual clumsy puppy steps. It was only when they arrived to a group where everyone was silent and tense that she seemed to understand that something was... wrong.

Her ears drooped a bit, and for once she was not the excited ball of fluff, instead silently moving so she was between her parents, blue eyes lifting up to try and look into their faces. She didn't understand why they weren't happy.

They assembled swiftly, and he was grateful for that. Still, he was not donning his typical demeanor. Hagar was clearly tensed and anxious, pacing to help satiate the need for action. He would slow as each arrived, giving more considerate greetings to his wife and children, but otherwise pleasantries were largely forgone. This wasn't the time for frivolous social intricacies, not when the one wolf who held them all together was missing.

He finally ceased moving, taking a moment to catch his breath. That had been harder to do lately, and he chalked it up to over-exertion and stress. In other words, minor in comparison to any of the other issues they were all facing.

"No one knows anything about where Avella and Rashina are?" his green eyes looked around at them all, not accusatorily but searching.

"Who saw them last? What were they doing, or where were they going? Were they together or separate? Did they say anything? Think."

He needed to hammer these details down, as they were clearly the only clues to be had. Even the smallest of detail could lead to a breakthrough. Hagar paused a moment to allow focus, before giving his own contribution first.

"I last saw them six full suns ago, before the moon filled completely. It was the morning, they were both sleeping apart from one another."

That was it. Not a single hint it could be the last time.

no posting order!

(This post was last modified: Aug 05, 2023, 06:04 AM by Hagar.)

Daegal looked at the assembled wolves, briefly eyeing his new little sister - whom he hadn't spent time with yet, in his worry for Izzy - before his dad began to speak. Immediately his attention was on the darker man. He hadn't led with any pleasantries, only a demand for information - information for his mother and their other missing adult. One name was glaringly absent from that question and Daegal hesitated, confused. He glanced at his sister as Hagar continued, trying to jog their memory.

The boy shook his head. Didn't his dad know if he or his sister had information about their mom, they would have shared it by now? Daegal was worried about her of course, but she was a grown up - she was stronger than the last member of the missing, whom his dad had forgotten to mention. "And Izzy too," he said firmly, loud enough that everyone should be able to hear him. "I haven't seen him in ages."

They weren't little anymore, but they weren't really big yet either, not like their parents.