Cedarwood Forest so i bare my skin and count my sins

RE: You walk under a ladder fallen tree propped against another tree. One day of bad luck!
For @Rook <3 ;; Sunny, 38F, mid-afternoon.

The sun, sparkly and delightful as it seemed on a crisp autumn afternoon, proved to be a wee bit of a liar. While it had warmed some since peeking up over the horizon and stretching its rays across the forests of Relic Lore, the overall temperature could still be described as nippy or brisk. That there was a bit of a breeze nibbling at his black nose, sending chills rippling down his spine as he broke into a jog – it was a race he couldn’t win, and all the same, Veho had yet to accept that Mother Nature had bested him once more. Perhaps if he’d erected a barricade before the porcupine attack, his cache wouldn’t have been demolished in mere moments. If the animal had never come, though, would he have constructed a barrier at all? If it wasn’t a nosy rodent, perhaps it would be the Cut Rock River flooding up well past its banks, or—

Well, there were plenty of ‘what ifs’, but the problems the medic was currently faced with stood. There were a scarce few items left in his cache. Some hellebore, a bit of hyssop, some lilac. All useful things, no doubt, but he’d been able to treat a much wider variety of ailments and illnesses on a few weeks ago – and a few weeks ago, Veho also had the ability to depart from Grizzly Hollow and seek out any medication his supply currently lacked. Now, a week or so after the season’s first snow, there was little left to the earth that wasn’t already brown or dying. What remained, he had plenty of: his favorite mushrooms.

The male cringed a bit at the thought, remembering vividly how desperately he sought the disorienting embrace only a few days beforehand. Rook had found him there, near the brink of tears – how this year had changed him. Only this spring, he was a lone vagrant allowing the wind to guide his feet and the Ancestors his mind. There was little thought dedicated to his own wants and needs, outside of maintaining health and healing abilities, and the itch to keep moving from one place to the next was constant. Guilt had been conquered, for a time, laid to rest by acts of kidness.

And then he met Rook Lyall, and the whole world changed. It was like spending your whole life looking at the world in shades of grey – then he walks in, and color blooms from his heart, washing across your world like an array of watercolors painted only by the most talented of artists. Everything looked different now. Pack life was nothing he’d expected, was nothing he thought he wanted, and here he’d found a place to build, a place to heal, and even friends among his packmates. @Titan had proven to be a particularly able young man, and he could only hope to further their partnership as they rode out winter – once, he feared they might begin a rivalry, sharing one role and medical den. Thankfully, the opposite was true. @Piety sprung to mind next, the delicate dove he so wished to protect, and not long after came @Tomen, the prince so loved by all his people.

It was good, here. But Veho was different, and while his latest discussion with his lover had laid rest to some of his demons, it was difficult to put them all to bed when old terrors kept rising up from their graves. You could have saved Neha, they used to sing. You should have saved Borden, they whispered to him now, prying happily at his guilt. And while it was probably true there was little he could have done to help the man, it hurt Rook, and the pack, all the same – and so on this sunny, cheerful day, it drove the wolf from his den anyways, searching through the forest and under fallen trees, unaware of his surroundings as he sought out anything he could possibly use. Anything to prove his worth. Doesn’t cost me to be nice, but nothing gets you nothing, he thought, tail swirling behind him as he trotted on. To have his place, he would earn it. Nothing done would get him nothing in return. He was worth more than nothing.

VEHO MACIEO

& all I see is him and me forever and forever

Never mind what song the lyrics come from with this table/thread ("Stitches" by Shawn Mendes). x( I found it today and Rook just liked it...

As always, it had felt much too long since he had last seen Veho. Today, when the sun shone on Relic Lore despite the nose-biting chill, seemed like the perfect day to roam the forest beyond the markers he and the family had laid down. Here and there he swept his nose over the places he thought the carpet of pine needles had been disturbed. It had taken a few attempts but, eventually, he stumbled upon his life partner's trail. Ducking under branches and stepping past randomly placed boulders, he followed on Veho's trail - at least, only until he realized that he had stepped beneath the strange triangular formation made by two trees, one propped up against the other.

"Merlin?" he called out, observing protocol and using Veho's alias now that they were well-beyond Grizzly Hollow. His tail, while still high in the air, wagged in hopes of a quick response. He stepped past the two trees, his mismatched eyes scanning the gaps in the forest for a flash of light gray fur. "Merlin, where are you?" There was an eager whine that he almost succeeded in biting back. He couldn't help it; since their talk at the sunset-tinted Lagoon, his mindset had shifted and, suddenly, everything in his mind revolved around the Medic. The Macieo might as well have been the sun, the warmth that Rook thrived off of. In comparison, Quil could have very well been his moon, the silvery light he relished in within the confines of night; Tomen was a star, that brilliant point in the sky in which he was determined to follow...

The anticipation was almost too much to handle; the lingering bit of grief, meanwhile, had been put aside for now. There was much to worry over with the first snowfall having already come and gone. When Winter, a time for rest and relaxation, finally came, he knew there would be a day for him to finally shed the last of his initial heartache.

Ivory paws, which had only just been cleaned after a quick trot through the icy creek on the northern part of pack territory, were muddied when he decided to break into a curious trot through the snow and slush. His ears and neck were extended forward, peering out from behind each and every tree as he near-aimlessly followed his lover's steps. By now, his winter coat had fully come in - gone was the mottled patterns on his side and a dark dorsal stripe now accented his back. For the most part, it made him look a little like his father now that his mask had darkened across his face and muzzle. The way he moved through the forest easily cast him in contrast to the old Lyall, though, and he smiled to himself at the idea of finding Veho hard at work. Perhaps he could help out, like last time with the mushrooms...

He froze when he thought he heard something scutter through the forest debris with a hurried gait, his gaze immediately turning to where he had heard the movement somewhere to his left. While he barely believed in dark or ethereal creatures like the barghest or the Yeth Hound, he still took a moment to consider just far he had ended up from home. He was well aware of his distance from Whisper Marsh, but the name slipped from his lips, anyway. His throat burned, "Dad, stop it. No use protesting now, should've told me your opinion before when I first told you about him."

All too soon that familiar pain that clenched around his heart and set his lungs on fire started to flare up in his chest. His nose twitched as he sniffed, suddenly not liking the idea of being outside his domain on his own. Now he definitely needed to see Veho...

ROOK LYALL

got a feeling that I'm going under but I know that I'll make it out alive

Chances are I have a BEN WHISHAW gif for that.

There is a moose carcass that has been scavenged by coyotes nearby. +15 Health

As Rook called, the older male remained oblivious, too far away and too involved in his self-assigned chore. That it was a futile attempt meant little to him. The world wasn’t completely frozen over yet, nor had the snow stuck to the earth, and there was a slim possibility that something green still clung to life somewhere within the realm of Relic Lore. If it were in any corner of this forest, the medic was certain he would find it – he had to find it, anything to repair the damage that wretched porcupine had wrecked on Grizzly Hollow’s medical caches right before the autumn was ushered out by winter’s cruel grip.

The second time the alpha spoke, he was much closer to his partner than he realized. This time, rounded ears caught the voice, and while they could not make out the words, he certainly recognized the tone. Cupping his auds forward, he glanced up from his task, nose wriggling as he tried to scent for his favorite packmate. Offering a soft chuff, he abandoned the brushed he was rooting around to approach the younger wolf, not paying much attention to the world around him.

In fact, he did not see the large, fallen limb right before him, and as he opened his mouth to greet his lover, he found himself tripping over the stick instead. Veho stumbled, unable to gain his footing on the floor of dead leaves, and ended up landing chest first, forelimbs tangled beneath his weight as he crashed, not unlike a beached whale in that particular moment. The male narrowly escaped biting his tongue, though his legs had certainly felt better.

Picking himself up slowly, he tossed his head towards the other male. “Hello, love,” he rumbled, pausing to try to fling the mud from his belly. “What are you doing out here? Plants aren’t usually your thing.”

VEHO MACIEO

& all I see is him and me forever and forever

Uuuuugh sorry that took so long. x ___ x;; Veho just...burrowed away from me for a bit?

Iz okies (really don't blame 'im if the 'streak' of bad luck is out to get 'im). c:  lol, def' gonna be bracing myself for all the awk, i suppose. Maybe Rook will save me/us/him...

Something of a decent weight fell with a thud to the forest floor and the Leader's attention instantaneously went to where the sound had come from. Around a tree, he stumbled upon what he had expected to find: his Merlin, seemingly reduced to a heap of gray fur. Rook's tail waved in both relief and much needed gladness that the distance and time between them had been remedied. He stood in his place, watching as Veho, again, lost his footing. A small chuckle bubbled in his chest as his partner proceeded with caution at a third attempt to stand up properly. "Hello," he smiled back, shying his head away only briefly as the Medic shook out his coat.

The dread that had been summoned from his assumed encounter with his father's "spirit" or some spooked creature had been forgotten now, easily replaced by an expression of pride and jest. "They could be," he simpered, "I used to help my Aunt Aniu before I left to come here, you know..." He paused to look over Veho, questioning to himself if anything ought to be done for a bit of mud - perhaps, he wouldn't say anything, it was actually a good sort of different to see the Medic in this sort of light.

"I just thought I'd see what you were up to," he divulged, keeping in his place. "I was getting a bit... lonely is all. You can't expect me to 'hold down the fort' at all hours of the day." The bridge of his muzzle wrinkled along the left side in a humored grin, "What were you doing on the ground anyway?"

ROOK LYALL

got a feeling that I'm going under but I know that I'll make it out alive

Chances are I have a BEN WHISHAW gif for that.

Some childish part of the medicine man was immediately disappointed he did not manage to sling a single drop of mud on his lover – were he feeling more devious, he might have slithered forth in an attempt to smudge some of the dirt on Rook’s pristine fur. As it were, the alpha was safe from the worst of the mess, for the grey wolf didn’t really suffered far too much lassitude to lick himself clean, much less cause mischief.

“Oh, is that so?” Veho rumbled in reply, one sienna brow arching upwards. “Curious as I am to see your healing skills, my dear, I think your talents best lie elsewhere. Two medics should be enough to keep any pack healthy and happy.” Titan was a good man, and a good healer, if his efforts with Veho’s nose and the terrible porcupine incident were any indication. They would be an excellent team, should they both keep on the path they currently walked upon.

All the same, he slunk up to the younger male’s side, pressing the bridge of his muzzle underneath the alpha’s jaw in an affection, mudless gesture. Unable to help himself, his tongue flashed out in a few gentle kisses before Rook brought up the unfortunate fall. Of course the other wolf would refuse to let that embarrassing display of clumsiness go.

“I tripped,” he grumbled, butting his head into the leader’s shoulder gently. “I heard you, and I didn’t see the log…and down I went, I suppose. I thought I’d come out here to salvage whatever greens were left for the den, though it doesn’t seem the frost has left much for me, has it?” Peering up through the alpha’s thick ruff, he hazarded, “Would you like to help me?”

VEHO MACIEO

& all I see is him and me forever and forever

Maybe if we get a few more posts in, we can win a ribbon? * _ *