There's fear in letting go

Mandatory pack meeting, future dated to 6/7, late afternoon.

If Nash had pushed a hard pace going down the mountain, their return bordered on brutal. He was just as silent back as there, allowing only minimal sleep to keep from harming themselves. He needed to be home, needed to be with his wife. He deeply regretted the trip, and he'd finally come to a decision, but it was not one he could make on his own.

This could fracture the pack. This could fracture his family. It's why he'd waited so long, and that indecision had cost so much. He could not afford to continue to be so

He would face the consequences as they came.

He passed over the borders without pausing, turning his paws toward the main den and announcing his return alongside a firm summons. Assemble. Now.

She felt numb. It wasn’t a new feeling, the emptiness that crawled inside of her. She’d felt it after Aleister’s passing… she’d felt it at Sephrina’s death… she had felt it after each of her children had disappeared on after another and as those who remained turned almost unrecognizable to her. She floated as a shell, a worrisome shell who attempted to keep her daughter safe. That was all she could do. Eat, sleep, watch Jessamy, repeat.

It was minimal, and she had no doubt the pack noticed… but she didn’t care.

She’d spent her entire life caring, and she wasn’t certain she had anything left in her anymore to keep on. Moon was gone, Oksana gone. She was surrounded by the constant reminders of what the mountain had taken from her. Aleister was gone, Chan was gone… it took and it took until there was nothing left.

Nash was gone… and yet even his return did little to creep into the hollow shell she felt herself becoming. Instead, she silently nudged her daughter out of the den towards her father’s call, her eyes scanning the skies. Whether or not it was for hawks or the thin hope that Sari would be returned, she did not know.

Sari was gone, Kateri was gone.

Whether it was because they had all left the mountain or died on it… there was one common cause. The damned blasted mountain.

Her grandchildren were gone. Archer was gone, infected by the mountain the moment he had met Kateri, leaving Ally an orphan with a wolves Aquene hardly trusted. And they hardly trusted her. She’d allowed the feeling to become mutual after Eros’s visit, with the loss of Sari, and the loss of Magg’s first few.

There was too much pain all around, surrounding her and suffocating her. Even as she arrived she’d have a distant and empty look in her eye that Nash wouldn’t have seen since Aleister’s death. And even then she’d been better at hiding it.

If she were more alert, perhaps she might have been terrified by it. By the lack of attention she’d given the pack since Nash left for the Falls on a mission, taking Matos with him. A part of her wished they hadn’t come back, as if it would save them from whatever horrors the Cove was meant to endure next.

The pace back was the same pace there, faster even if that was at all possible. The two year old was tired and knew his father was too, he had been more short and snappy with him than he ever had before. He wanted to rest, but there wasn't a moment to waste. As soon as the den came into sight his father called out to announce their return and for them to all gather. Rest would have to come later. "Go get your sister." is all the heads up he got. A quick nod of his head was all the response given as he turned towards @Magg's den.

The dark shadow didn't let the protest of his bones or muscles slow him down. Pushing himself in the same manner that he had been doing for the past 10 days. Maty slowed as that small clearing came into view, getting his breathing under control enough to speak. He tentatively approached the den and gently called in "Magg? Dad wants everyone to meet at the den." He waited for her response.

WHEN THERE'S NOTHING LEFT TO BURN

Magg was constantly shifting back and forth between being incredibly overprotective of her children, and feeling a deeply cavernous (and completely defensive) apathy toward them. Unfortunately for the rest of her family, specifically poor Matos, today she fell into the former mood. She raised her head at the sound of his voice, the twins fussing with one another at her flank. For no truly good reason, his request pissed her right off. She'd heard the howl, knew this was a pack meeting, so everyone else was going to be there, weren't they? What point would it be in Matos staying behind just so Magg could show up? Like her opinion as lowest was worth anything to them, or as if she could have any other use to anyone other than funneling sustenance into two identical goblins and having panic attacks over when their last breath would be. Her skin was already crawling, her heart hammering in her chest. "Fuck off, Mat!" she shot out past grinding teeth before curling around her pups tightly, back to the den's entrance. "I'm not going." They could relay the information to her individually, as usual. It wasn't like they didn't visit her anyways.

YOU HAVE TO SET YOURSELF ON FIRE

(This post was last modified: Jun 08, 2024, 04:56 AM by Magg.)

His voice had been gentle and coaxing, but that is not the manner of response he received back. Dark audits pressed forward as he waited his littermate's response. The fussing of his nieces filled the silence for a moment before Magg's own venomous response. The bite in her voice took him aback. His ears instantly fell back and his hackles raised. The exhaustion of the last ten days threw itself into his reaction. Brows furrowed and his tail lashed twice behind him in a feline manner. He was too tired to deal with this. He'd come back later. "Fine." he bit out in a growl/grumble before turning away from the entrance. Dual colored gaze scanned the clearing, tree line and sky quickly for any possible danger. Seeing none, Matos made his way back to where his father had summoned them.

In the time it took him to go to Magg his mother arrived with his youngest sister. A pang of pain washed over him at the sight of the tiniest Eastfall-Slayer...there should be two. Amber and emerald moved from Jessamy to his mother, noting the distance in her gaze. No longer a child who missed the subtle changes after a tragedy. Ears fell once more atop of his skull as he moved to greet her, giving an affectionate kiss to her cheek. Next was little Sam, he greeted her with a kiss to her crown before moving to sit only a pace away from them both. Looking to his father, who had expected him to arrive with his sister. "She wouldn't come." Was all he said deciding to leave out the rudely part. The eldest Eastfall-Slayer wanted nothing more than to go grab a long drink from the lake then take a looong nap. But he would wait patiently, rest would come later.

(This post was last modified: Jun 09, 2024, 06:06 PM by Matos.)

Jessamy was growing... restless, suffice to say. She wanted to go out and explore, she wanted to see things! She was beginning to understand that Sari wasn't coming back, that something bad had happened to her. Their mother had... changed, after Sari disappeared. So had their father. Something was wrong but Jessamy didn't understand beyond that.

But now she would just have to explore the world for the both of them.

When mother slipped from the den in response to father's call Sam was all to happy to follow, bounding over to her dad to enthusiastically greet him. It didn't take long for her brother to join them too. The pup sat back, eager to hear what her dad had to say.

Galen had been down by the lake's edge for a refreshing drink when ebony ears pricked at the sudden summons from Nash and one that left little to no room for one to ignore. Thus one final lap was taken, droplets of water dribbling off the edge of his chin before his frame shifted to begin the trek toward the place of summons. Molten gold eyes surveyed the those already gathered, spotting his inky counterparts in the form of Matos and Aquene first before his attention shifted to the much smaller silhouette of Sam who had bounded with such glee in her expression toward the towering frame of her father.

Magg was unaccounted for.

He simply nodded in greeting to the others, but opted to remain silent before shifting himself to take a seated position and focus his attention on Nash.

So sorry for the delay on this, especially after I was pestering all you guys about it >.< Next round will be on 7/2

Nash surveyed his pack as they arrived, raising an eyebrow as Matos returned alone. He sighed but shrugged. "I'll talk to her after." She was the only exception he would tolerate right now, given recent events. He greeted his wife with a gentle kiss on the cheek, and a similar one to the top of his youngest daughter's head as she bounded over to him. Oh, to be so young and carefree again. To go back two years, when things were... well, maybe not good, even then, but better. If he knew then what he knew now... so much would be different.

Galen joined them, and Nash frowned as he waited. "Were are Leo and Eclypse?" he asked, and realized then he could not smell them on the borders. His brow furrowed and he howled again, calling the two of them by name, and waited a few minutes more. His hackles raised slightly in annoyance, but he could not afford to wait for them any longer. "Fine," he said sharply, mostly to himself, before addressing the small assembly around him. "The last couple years have been hard, and continue to get harder. It was suggested to me some time ago that the mountain may be cursed, and I didn't want to believe it. I refused to uproot our pack, leave our home, because of a rough summer. But now I can deny it no longer; the time has come to consider leaving. I think he was right, but this is not a decision I can make on my own." As much as he wanted to take his children and his wife and flee, he could not in good conscience make the choice for everyone. "You were all born here," he looked to Aquene, "Or chose to make your family here. I want to know what you think."

He turned and spoke now directly to Galen, his voice softening. "I have never once tried to replace Aleistor," he said, "but I do think of you and your brother as my sons." And he did not want to leave a single one of them behind.

Aquene remained silent, aware and unaware at the same time of all who entered. Aware as the bodies made themselves known, unaware enough to not keep track of the presence involved lest it was Jessamy, and even then it was to ensure she was right by her side and not swept up by a hawk. She was aware of Nash’s kiss, a gentle move to reciprocate it that died almost as it started, as if she were simply going through a motion, light never reaching her eyes from the smile that briefly flashed her features.

It was not until he began addressing the entire group that she focused in on what even her husband said. Her eyes glassed over with pain as she looked to him… perhaps he had been right, to say the place was cursed… and as he spoke of input, of thoughts on moving the pack, she had only one thing to say.

“Let us get off this mountain before we die here too.” Her voice was hoarse and scratchy from a general lack of use since Sari’s death and Nash had left to talk to the Falls, seldom few words spoken… and that was all she said before turning her attention to Jessamy, craning to look over her fur and groom her despite the unnecessary nature.

Aquene Slayer

The time ticked on and no others joined those gathered, ebony ears momentarily sweeping off to the side at the questioning of where his older brother and Eclypse were before a summons by name specifically was howled into the air. In truth Galen hadn't the slightest idea where either were, having become rather distant in the past few weeks with all that had gone on. The birth of new generations, the birth of his children unbeknownst to anyone aside from Magg and himself. A secret he would have to keep flush to his chest for the foreseeable future.

Did he want the twins to experience the same heartache, same thick sadness that choked the very air from their lungs while on this mountain side?

He hadn't much time to dwell on an answer before Nash's gaze fell solely onto himself, ears splaying back at the mention of his late father's name that never failed to cause his chest to give a dull thrum in a phantom pain he doubted would ever truly go away. Before daring to speak he took a slow glance around the faces of those gathered from the gleeful Sam yet to be robbed of her innocence by this cursed mountain to Aquene who had seemingly become a lifeless version of the woman he knew. This was not what a home should feel like.

"I'm forever appreciative of the care you have extended to my siblings and I and yes this mountain may be where I was born, but it has given us blessings as well as sorrows more than one can count. Yet this place doesn't..feel..like home anymore."

He didn't elaborate further, leaving his verdict as such on the matter.

Wherever they went, wherever his family went. That was home for him.