Cedarwood Forest ain't no hill nor mountain

@Zeta

It was the only clue their mother had given them, and even such had been unwittingly. She had been so wounded by Erebos' abandonment, Zane had seen it clearly just as he had seen how restless it had made his sister in turn. This was the last thing Delia had wanted for them, and yet here they were. In Relic Lore. He hadn't agreed with this decision, but Zeta's very heart depended on it, and Zne had known well before he'd known anything else that he would do whatever it took to keep his sibling happy. Every step of the way he'd been there, determined to defend her from the dangers that surely existed in this foreign world, refusing to allow her to venture on her own. When rumors had reached them about a nearby pack, he hadn't wanted her to approach them without better knowledge on the situation they were approaching, and so the boy had convinced her to stow away within an abandoned hibernation den (feat only the masked boy was capable of, surely) while he scouted ahead. Upon returning to her, he had slipped in next to her, securing himself around her and proving to himself several times over that she was still very much intact before speaking. "They're pretty moderate in size, and a lot closer than we thought. What do you wanna do, Rabbit?" he asked her with use of his new favorite endearment. She very much was his white rabbit, having dragged him down the winding hole into this dangerously mysterious wonderland. "Maybe... we should stay with them for a bit. Rest a little, you know?" Zane Argyris Set fire to the third bar

Ayelie-stock @DA

 

(This post was last modified: Sep 14, 2015, 09:40 PM by Zane.)

Zeta could barely manage to keep herself at a quick walk; she was so excited to be off on their expedition, she could have run through these trees for days without end if she thought Zane could keep up that long. And, okay, realistically she would get farther if she took it easy and stopped here and there to eat or sleep. They couldn't exactly show up wherever Erebos was looking like they were starving to death, could they?

That didn't stop her from being irritated when Zane first suggested she wait in this abandoned den while he went to see whether or not the pack that supposedly lived here actually existed. She wanted to go with him; how was it fair - or any fun - if Zane found something new and exciting before she got the chance? And besides, weren't they supposed to stay together?

But Zane was impossible to argue with for very long, especially when it was over anything less important than finding their father, so in the end Zeta had grudgingly settled down in the old den and somehow managed to nap while she waited for Zane to come back. When she awoke a little while later, she told herself the nap was necessary and not because she was really that tired.

Zane popped up again a little bit after that, bearing news that he had found the pack after all - and then suggesting the worst idea imaginable. Join a pack? Was he nuts?!

"But, Zane,"  she said, using her best persuasive tone of voice on him, "If we stay put, dad might get farther away still. We don't know whether dad's staying put or if he's moving around. If we stay, anything could happen to him."

the rabbit

Adopt my twin!

Of course, she rejected the idea immediately. Zane's ears steadily made the slow descent to resting securely against his skull, hammered down with each word. The boy attempted not to look quite so dejected as his eyes left hers, seeking the halo of light that peered at them through the den's entrance. It was hard to admit to himself, much less speak allowed to her, that he was already exhausted of this venture. The further they traveled, the more it seemed that this was nothing greater than an amphigory detailed exhaustively within her imaginative head. For all they knew, their father had found himself trapped in that eternal sleep, forever more outside of their reach no matter how far they ran. Yet her hope was not only infectious, but so intricately woven within her being that he feared what would become of her if this journey truly did prove fruitless. Zeta needed this closure, and she needed him to help ensure that she found it. Zane knew down to the core of his bones that he would never let her down, and so he accepted her words as though he, too, wanted dearly to find Erebos.

It couldn't be avoided, though, that resentment was only festering deeply behind the barricade of his ribcage. It used to be indifference that he regarded the memory of their father with, but now that he had seen the full extent of the damaging toll it had taken on his sister, now that it had ripped them both from their home with not even a whisper of good bye, surely spitting in their pack's face and completing the break in their mother's heart, a bitterness was finding its home within him. This wasn't right, not any of them. Zeta was right about one thing; Erebos should have stayed, and they did deserve an answer as to why he didn't. He should've been a good father, at least have been present. They should be home right now, curled up against their doting mother @Delia, yet they weren't and since he couldn't numb the anger any longer, he chose to direct it solely upon the Argyris man. Never forgive him for what he's done, his mind solemnly swore. He's the guilty one.

"Well what're we gonna do, Zeta? Run our whole lives after him? What if he never stops moving?" he asked her, unable to help but voice even this small portion of his many collective doubts. He wanted to believe that they could catch up to him, and fast, but rationale had always been dominant within his mind and now would be now exception, no matter how magnetic his sister's enthusiasm proved to be. It wasn't just that he didn't want to waste so much time on something so fickle as their father; he worried for their safety and the growing distance between themselves and their mother. He would support Zeta, yes; until his dying breath. But he had to be her mitigation, controlling the damage that always seemed to come from her decisions, for so determined was the paladin brother that he would be a shield for her even from herself.

There are several fresh rabbit tracks in the mud. Hunt Opportunity

Zeta rolled her eyes and danced irritably about on her front paws. For somebody as smart and level-headed as Zane generally seemed to be, sometimes her favorite brother could be so frustratingly thick. "Of course we aren't just gonna chase him around forever, Zane," she explained, still maintaining a careful, steady tone of voice - as though she was talking to a somewhat slow child. "I just think it's a little bit on the early side for us to be stopping and putting down roots. If there's a pack here, there must be other wolves and other packs further in, right? Why don't we just move on a bit more, not much longer, just - just a week or so? And then if we still haven't found him by then, we can find a pack to join and hang out for a little while until we're ready to move out again. Okay?"

It sounded like an infallible plan to her, a good little compromise between what she wanted - which was obviously to find Erebos - and what Zane apparently wanted, which was to settle down as soon as they could and pretend nothing bad had happened to them or their little family and everything was all hunky-dory and super. If something sounded good to her, though, she knew that probably meant that Zane would need a lot more convincing, so she bumped her head against his shoulder playfully and put on her very sweetest little smile for him. Time to play <span title="the sweet little girl">la petite fille douce</span> as best as she knew how.

"I'm trying to think logically, here," she told him, a faint teasing tone to her voice. "We're tough enough to keep going for a few days more. We both know how to hunt and find shelter to rest, and we obviously aren't alone out here, so we're better protected against anything dangerous we come across. Why stop if we don't need to stop, right, <span title="brother mine">mine de frère?"</span> She hopped away from him again and did a quick play bow, her tail wagging behind her as she let her tongue loll out in a wide grin. "Beside, there's no harm in a little exploring, right? It's educational. Momma and Poppa would both be happy to know we took an opportunity to learn about as much of this place as we could."

Well, at least she was pretty sure Delia would be proud of them for learning while they were out wandering around. And she really, really wanted to think that @Erebos would be at least pretty happy about it. She couldn't fathom that he had left because he didn't like... or want... or love her or Zane anymore. Surely it had been something else. Maybe something really, really important - and when they found him, they could ask him up front and finally know for certain why he'd gone away. If only Zane would stop being so boring and stubborn, they might be able to catch up to their father before the week was even over, and then this whole argument would be completely pointless and Zane would feel pretty dumb for worrying at all.

the rabbit

Adopt my twin!