Sex: MaleEros had drifted from @Achille again, near enough to call and be called for, but far enough to have his privacy as depression's tide swelled once more. It pulled him down dark and deep, its saltwater forcing its way into his lungs and seeping into his heart, filling veins, permeating every part of him. His legs kept moving, navigating terrain clumsily but steadily, but he wasn't present. He didn't feel the breeze moving through his fur, or hear the geese chattering overhead, or smell the mountain flowers woven amongst the grasses he walked through. All he was truly perceiving were his own thoughts. Currently, they were focused on the matter of each and every step being a choice of his. He really could just... stop walking, or even simply turn in another direction. Eros didn't have to return as quickly as possible, or... even at all. How much worse could everyone really feel? Wouldn't it be easier, wasn't he... wasn't he an extension of Archer anyways? Shouldn't he be gone too? |
Note that this is technically before Nori joins SC
Another day had passed and Nori still halfway felt like she was being smothered under grief and under obligation both. She didn't feel the same level of miserable as before, given the physical wounds were helping take her mind off of things. The tug of semi-fresh teeth marks in her shoulder and her ear were welcome distractions for what she had been feeling inside. They itched as they healed, stitching themselves together and opening back up over and over again while she looked for Eclypse.
And she was back on the damned mountain. It wasn't as frightening as she imagined it would be, but she had plenty to keep herself distracted with. It was sort of a blessing and a curse.
She'd been walking somewhat aimlessly, circling around the territory, when she caught sight of a regrettably familiar face. He looked to be lost himself, dragging his feet and skulking along, and Nori felt a stab of regret lance through her chest once more. Had he gone to find Archer's grave? Had he been successful?
Cautiously, Nori padded toward him, trying not to be too tense but unsure of how to approach. He looked so... miserable. It was understandable, given the circumstances, and she wasn't sure how her intervention would do anything to help, but...
"Hey," she greeted, ears pressing back in concern. She was probably one of the last wolves he'd want to see right now, but she was available and felt some sense of responsibility for the situation. But she wasn't sure what else to say - wasn't sure if there was anything she could do to make anything any better. "You look like you need to sit down." It could be dangerous to navigate the mountain like that, and he looked about ready to keel over. She didn't know the guy, but she didn't want him falling off a cliff or something.
A voice caught him off guard, for it wasn't Achille. Not necessarily unrecognizable, either, though he didn't know who until his eyes settled on her. Conflicting emotions attempted to rise and vie for his attention, but they simply could not compete. He blinked dully at her, not even having it in him to scoff at her observation. His lackluster eyes glanced to the side at the ground, before returning to the other wolf. Who gave a shit about rest? His thoughts were now vortexed around how she'd spoken as though she'd been there, with Archer while he'd died. Snakebite. A suffering death. Eros' lips parted, then closed. He had stopped walking without realizing, paws together while his mind churned and he tried to get himself to talk, but it really was as though he'd been filled with seawater. Impossible to get anything out, to even take that starting breath. His legs started to shake and chest was tightening while his eyes burned with a new bout of tears. |
Her own eyes burned but she willed the tears away. It was a sympathetic reaction at the sight of him tearing up, at what he must be feeling.
She wished she were better at this. Wished that she could comfort, somehow - wished that there was something she could say or do to help in any way. Her brows creased and her face twisted in shame when she came up with nothing. No amount of I'm sorrys or we trieds or what can I do?s would fix this.
"Can't talk?" she asked instead, offering a sympathetic half-smile that probably looked more like a grimace. Panic could do that sometimes - tie your tongue and muddle your mind. She took a cautious step forward, testing the waters. "Can you try and take a couple deeper breaths?" She was the worst wolf for this job, but it seemed she was the only one around, and after everything, the least she could do was try.
Eros mostly expected for her to leave him be. Why she didn't, he couldn't be sure. Were he less numbed, he would have quickly become irritated with the way she spoke to him. Like he was a child that needed help calming down from a fit. His brows knit and his eyes closed briefly, lips separating to utter nothing at all yet again. The movement of his eyelids pushed tears from his eyes, and they rolled over his cheeks unevenly. There was probably a lot he should have been saying, especially given how infrequently he traversed these mountains. The most recent few times, he'd been so sure it'd be the final visit. The last chance to see any of the faces who lived amongst the Cove. By all reason, this could be his final time interacting with the girl. Shouldn't he be saying an apology or showing some kind of gratitude? They might have never known, might have searched for Archer for years... Eros opened his eyes again, took a deep breath in, and let it out. Not 'cause she told him to, or anything. "I wanted you to be lying." |
I wanted you to be lying.
"I..." she began, turning her attention elsewhere and lowering her head. Archer's panicked, drooling, sick face was burned into her mind. She could see it every time she closed her eyes for too long. "I'm sorry I wasn't. I'm sorry you had to find out the way you did." Her eyes watered again and she studied the swimming ground at her paws. "I know it doesn't mean anything - doesn't change anything. Just..." She took another steadying breath. "I'm just sorry."
Eros wished that she had a more difficult personality, too. It made it all the harder, hearing the emotion in her voice, seeing that she too was fighting with her tears, the way she just kept apologizing. The younger wolf grit his fangs and hunched his shoulders as his gaze dropped too, doing his best to avoid losing his composure in front of the stranger. If it was this difficult to broach the subject with her, how was he going to manage talking about it with family? Eros knew the answer instantly; he wouldn't. There was no use in trying to force himself to verbalize any of it, now or any other time, because it would come down to the same thing it always did. Someone would shut down, or someone would lose it, first. He lifted his head, gaze darting around their surroundings, eyes blinking repeatedly to try and chase away the burning moisture. "I'm sorry for things too." Succinct, vague, whatever she wanted. He didn't have the energy to go through it all, probably couldn't even manage it in a day. He was sorry for everything at this point. It felt like there was nothing right and certainly nothing he could do to make any of it better. "The Cove knows, then? You'd said you'd visited them, but I hadn't asked if they'd sent you." |
She wanted to tell him not to be sorry - it wasn't like their actions had been unwarranted, that day at the border. A stranger coming in and telling them one of their own was dead was reason enough for anyone to be hostile, and with the way Nori had handled it... well, she didn't think she could've done it worse. She'd be a real piece of shit to hold it against them.
Still, she didn't want to prevent him from apologizing. Even if it was just to make himself feel better, that was okay. No amount of I'm sorrys would fix this situation, but it had made her feel slightly less heavy to be able to apologize to his face. It didn't alleviate the guilt entirely, but she was less on the verge of tears. Perhaps because he'd also stopped actively crying.
The conversation turned to the Cove, then, and Nori's ears perked a little.
"They know, yeah," she replied, tilting her head to the side. "But they didn't send me. I'm not part of the pack - I just passed by there on my way to the Backwater." They hadn't had anything to do with the situation - had she been received at the borders with the assumption that she was a Cove member? Archer had had a negative reaction to her last name - maybe there was some sort of tension between their packs that she didn't know about.
Studying him through tired, halfway-watery eyes, she voiced, "Why do you ask?"
They knew, but hadn't sent her. That was something he could latch onto, now wasn't it? He would have, but the kindling was waterlogged and wouldn't catch. Eros could only wonder why. Had they been afraid to deliver that kind of news again? Somehow, it surprised him that they wouldn't at least want Ally to know. For her to not be waiting on a father that could never come home. Ah, there a spark caught. Nori asked, and Eros answered without much thought. His gaze had stopped wandering, now fixed upon the ground beneath them. Huddling up to that lone wisp of warmth amongst the frigid cold of loss. "Figured they'd have told us." He remembered @Leo, recalled asking why it hadn't been him instead, and felt that pain again. Eros hated that he wished he was here now too, in this woman's place. Good or bad, he always ended up hoping for the Vuesain heir to be the one who showed up. As though there were any way he could make something this awful any better. "Do they even know we've been informed?" Maybe, hopefully, he'd just missed the official messenger. |
Do they even know we've been informed?
Nori shook her head. "They know I was going to tell you, but I haven't had the chance to tell them yet." She had so much to tell Nash once he returned, and none of it good news.
Speaking of...
"I should warn you," she began, choosing her words carefully, "on your trip down, you should be careful. One of the Cove wolves was recently attacked in the forest - I was told that it was the same one who has hurt another of the members in the past." It was the best description she could offer, but he and whoever he was with needed to know of the dangers on their way home.