Willow Ridge undone

He was back here. In a place, an area, he had once lived, but he had never quite thought of as home. Alarick was not sure if he wanted to be here, or if he was here simply because he had nowhere else to go. There had been no sign, no trace, of anyone back in his homelands. He'd searched, but found nothing.

The former hunter was now not even that. He had nothing. He was nothing. After all this time, even his memories of them were fading; their faces and voices were all but gone. He would never see them again.

He had intended to come back here, ready to grovel and beg, to try and win over the good graces of whoever was in charge, even though he felt he’d left on good terms. But even they were gone, too.

A part of him wasn’t particularly surprised. The way Avella had been going about things had been all wrong. You’re one to talk, he thought. It wasn’t as if his situation was much better - even though he’d tried all his life to be good, it hadn't mattered.

”I am still here, though. They are not,” He spoke aloud, dismissing his thoughts as he wandered through the place, and explored the dens the pack had once called home. Alarick almost enjoyed it, taking pleasure in their apparent misfortune in a dark way. From the scents, it didn’t seem like anyone had been here for a while.

He wondered how long it’d taken, what series of events had been their undoing. He supposed he’d never know.

She had not seen here before. A haunting place with its peaceful charm. There were signs that something may have been here once long ago. Dens that seemed worn down by time, the way some paths seemed to being grown over but the grooves still remained. She wondered who, or what, had been here before.

Where had they gone? What had happened to them?

There seemed to be one scent. Fresh but not embedded into the earth. While she had not hunted it down, so to speak, she had eventually come upon it. A man who seemed settled into his prime from what she could tell. Hello, She called out warm. Do you know this place?

ᴠᴏɪᴄᴇ || ᴛʜᴇᴍᴇ

He was not entirely alone here, it seemed. Her scent gave her away before she spoke, though to the young woman’s credit, it was only by a few seconds. Her lighter figure was.. unfamiliar to Alarick, though he briefly wondered if she had lived here, too. Could this be one of Avella’s children, grown?

The age would be about right. Her inquiry answered his quickly though, and while her greeting was warm, Al did not acknowledge it beyond a subtle dip of his muzzle. While at one point in his life he’d have been ashamed of himself for a lack of manners, or interest at all, he couldn’t bring himself to care.

”..I do,” he answered her inquiry after a pause. ”About two years ago, a pack was founded here. I was among them, for a time.”

It felt like that’d happened both an instant, and an eternity ago. The passage of time was truly a strange thing.

Oh.

She looked around. The beauty of the place was not lost on her. It would explain the old worn grooves in the earth. Yet he hardly sounded attached, or maybe she misread. He said for a time as if it was only a drop in a bucket.

Do you know what happened to them then?

She had seen so much failure that Adora wondered if it all ended the same. Surely not, right? She could not help but wonder if she could morph all of her hardships into something...stable. She was not naive enough to think that she would never see hardships in any home she made but maybe she would know what to do when faced with them.

Not naive, but maybe idealistic.

ᴠᴏɪᴄᴇ || ᴛʜᴇᴍᴇ

The younger wolf seemed content with that answer, though Alarick prepared himself for the almost inevitable follow-up. He doubted that she would leave it be at that. What happened to them?

Finally he turned his attention to her fully, studying the other with a mixture of curiosity and bemusement. What’s it matter to you? He thought, and a part of him wanted to ask, but held back. She was curious, and Al couldn’t fault her that.

”Our leader allowed hubris to cloud her judgement. She lost the respect of those closest to her, and things unraveled from there.” He answered matter-of-factly, the lie falling from him easily. In truth, he had no idea if the same series of events that had caused him to lose respect for Avella had also led their undoing.

But he didn’t imagine it had helped anything. Besides, selfishly, it was the narrative he liked the most, so he would go with it.

Adora wished she had been surprised by such an answer. Yet she, sadly, thought of Sanguine Cove. How tragedy struck them again and again at the hands of the mountain but they remained. They seemed to not even be willing to try to live somewhere kinder.

It was not her place to speak on such things though.

That would be enough to drive anyone logical away, Agreement in the form of a diplomatic response. Have you come back to look for those logical ones? There was something humorous in her gaze. She hardly imagined why someone would want to come back to a place that had not boasted a well placed leader.

She might have asked why this man had not decided to overthrow if this was how he felt, but she knew things were hardly ever black and white.

ᴠᴏɪᴄᴇ || ᴛʜᴇᴍᴇ

The kid's followup comment to his answer was.. unexpected, to say the least. Enough to finally draw both Alarick's attention and interest. She had more sense than some wolves he had met previously, it appeared. Impressive, given her age. "Or anyone with a modicum of self respect," he agreed with a small nod, cracking a rare wry smile at the following question and note of humor within it.

"Unfortunately, no. I came back because I had no where else to go." He shrugged dispassionately. But it was pathetic, really. He was. To be closing in on six years with nothing to show for all of those years hurt deeply, in ways he couldn't begin to quantify with words. Alarick wondered if he'd have been better off staying, if he would've been able to change things for the ridge - but he couldn't go back.

Pride had clouded his judgement and gotten the better of him, too.

She had not meant to, but her own lips lifted softly. As if they now held a hidden joke between the two of them. Adora did not tend to enjoy in downfalls or shortcomings, but she figured that those who might have left this group would have done well. Just as this man seemed to have.

Only his next words had gears shift and turn within her head softly. Admittedly the mountain, while she had her occasional company, was not meant to be lived upon alone. Adora had not yet figured out what her next chapter in life was but... company would be nice. Older, wiser company. She did not dare say he was like an advisor already but she imagined there were things she could learn from him.

Oh, but it all depended on him, not what she thought.

Are you looking for somewhere to go? By the tone of her voice, she hoped it was clear she would not pressure him. In fact she would hardly fault him if he still felt soured from the things that had happened here.

ᴠᴏɪᴄᴇ || ᴛʜᴇᴍᴇ

Post his confession, it felt almost as if there was a transition in where they stood. If nowhere else, then at least in Alarick’s mind. This young adult was already bigger and stronger than he’d ever been. Now it almost seemed that she was better put together intellectually as well. It felt like she was the older one, and he the inexperienced youth.

Being asked questions about his future, where he wanted to go. Were it not for the subtle aches his body presented now and the years of memories, he might’ve believed it.

”I… possibly,” he admitted carefully, his guard and mental shields coming back up post that brief shared moment of humor. Al wouldn’t immediately turn down anything of the sort. Some kind of companionship or existence somewhere would be preferable to dying alone any day.

But it was more than that. ”I want to make an impact. To have my life mean something, somehow, beyond just existing.” He wanted to be remembered, whether for good or.. something less than good, now, it didn’t really matter. Most of his life had been lived trying to be good; to follow the straight and narrow path. And now he hadn’t a damn thing to show for it.

(This post was last modified: Apr 16, 2024, 07:30 PM by Alarick.)

Don't we all? Her voice seemed small and fragile for a moment. Hardly mocking, instead she found she agreed with him again. Although she had not been on this earth as long as he had, she wondered what she had. Family scattered to the wind and no home to affix like a title to her name.

When she looked back to him again, she saw potential. For both of them.

It would be nice to have someone wise around. Genuine with a faint smile on her face. I've been lingering up on the mountain. If you can stand to be on them, it would be nice to have someone dependable around.

ᴠᴏɪᴄᴇ || ᴛʜᴇᴍᴇ