Wild Cherry Orchard mess with my head like it's some kind of fetish

This is posted with Pinn's permission. Vanadis has passed away peacefully on September 12th 2024. This is open to whoever would like to post, but this thread will be archived on September 26th.
Early morning, overcast, 45F/7C

It was early, so early that it would be hours before the sun began to lighten the sky behind the blanket of clouds. Which meant that it was deep and dark out as the Valle man wrapped around his mate, preening behind her ears and murmuring soft comforts to her. He wasn’t sure why it had happened, all he knew was that over the last week or so Vanadis’ health had begun to decline rather rapidly. She went from a spritely young woman to a wisp of the wolf she once had been, appearing frail and sickly.

When she had asked him to walk with her to the Cherry Orchard, the spot where everything had begun for them, it had felt like goodbye. They had spoken sparingly as the journey seemed to take much of the energy that she had left and when they did it was often just reassuring each other of their affection. They had come far, and been through a lot, and it felt fitting that their story would end where it had started.

The woman’s final breath came out like a long sigh, and Viorel felt the tears begin to fall. Oh his beautiful Vanadis. He laid cradling her body for a long time before he began the sorrowful call to alert that his mate had fallen.

Eros' only post, tw: suicidal ideation.

It was like some kind of cancer or parasite was thriving amongst them, one host at a time. It was growing stronger, moving quicker. Upon his mother, and wasting her away before any of them could even really grasp what was happening. He'd tried, every one of them had, and as before their efforts held no power. Now his father's voice was blanketing the sky, announcing another death.

Eros' legs crumpled beneath him and his jaw hit the forest floor with a sharp clack of his teeth. His eyes couldn't muster tears but they burned all the same, dry sobs shaking his body. All remaining strength both physical and mental had fled him, and it would be a very long time before he would be able to pull himself back up and make the prolonged trudge to where his parents lay.

Without expression, without a voice, without any hope left he would help Viorel to put Vanadis to rest in whatever way his father saw fit. Wherever her grave, whoever else remained, Eros would be there, motionless and unresponsive upon the ground like a second corpse. Wishing the transition could really be so easy.

As a note, Ozark is still at 'camp' but hears the call.

Death. Death surrounded the Backwater wolves. It circled them like vultures, picking them off by one, by two, three.. again and again.

Her expression was almost flat as she heard the call, yo hear of yet another made endless-rested corpse of one of their own. Already she had seen it so much, she was used to it more then she would have enjoyed. No, wrong word- more then was acceptable...usual?

Her teeth gritted, frustrated with her own thoughts. Their leader would suffer the loss of his mate. Their other leader would suffer the loss of his mother. Returned, only to he snuffed from their lives.

Ozark sighs deeply, her orange gaze cast upon the morning sky. She wondered of her sister. She wondered of her mother, with the likelihood that she too, given her age, mat have been dead by now. Ozark could only lift her head and howl, a mournful one for them all.

I guess it goes to show, does it not?

THAT WE'VE NO IDEA WHAT WE'VE GOT UNTIL WE LOSE IT

Ally heard her grandfather call and followed after Eros, trailing behind until they reached where her grandmother had chosen to rest. It was strange, looking at her lying so peacefully even with all her scars. Ally felt numb. She wondered if her dad had looked like this at the end, finally at rest.

The pup crept forward to offer the press of her side to her grandfather, then looked up at Eros, her expression mostly blank. She didn't know how to feel. It didn't seem fair that she hadn't gotten to know her grandmother, and her mind cast briefly to her family on the mountain, the grandmother there that she probably wouldn't get to know either. Just like she hadn't truly gotten to know her father, taken from her as young as he was.

It seemed a theme, that she wouldn't get the chance to get to know so much of her family. She kept to herself so much, really only interacting with Viorel and Eros these days. She really ought to be better.

For now she would sit with them and help them with whatever they needed to do to put Grandma Vana to rest.

There had been a heavy weight on his parents' shoulders, one that he could see but not understand. It seemed to be coming to a head, the choking grief that dragged at the pack's heels closing in on them. He hadn't understood his father's call at first. Only upon seeing her had reality dawned on him.

Atlas stared for a long time at the unmoving form of his mother. She was so unnaturally still that it scared him. The body in front of him seemed little more than an empty shell, one that filled him with guilt every time he dared to look at it. He understood death in the vaguest sense when he ate. Animals died to feed them. This felt so different, so wholly wrong to see a wolf dead in front of him. He hadn't considered for a moment that she even could die. How could something like this happen?

He pressed his nose to her shoulder and whined low in his throat, tears welling and falling down his cheeks. Her fur was so cold. When he finally withdrew from Vanadis, he clung to his father's side. The orchard seemed stuck in a chokehold of silence as the others observed. What were they going to do without her? Would his sister be okay? Would his father be okay?

(This post was last modified: Sep 17, 2024, 09:51 PM by Atlas.)

Wolves gathered silently around the couple who were curled up, the quiet felt deafening to the leader. It genuinely felt like the world had come to a full stop. How could this have happened? How could the earth continue to take and take from him? He had just gotten her back and all he could think of was how foolish he was for pushing her away when Vanadis had come home. If he had known how little time they had left he would have swallowed his pride and forgiven her sooner.

It was a long time before he moved, glancing up desperately towards Eros. He knew it was too late and no amount of medicine could do anything but he wanted her back so badly. His breath was ragged, tears had grown dry but eyes swollen and sore, throat torn open and tight. Eventually he got to his feet, struggling to try and duck under Vanadis’ body attempting to carry her on his back. He wasn’t sure who eventually assisted him in shifting her weight onto his frame, but once she was secure he began the walk back towards the Backwater.

Vanadis would be home, where she belonged.

FADE