Jasper Rocks oh, oh, should have known better

RE: Rook, you stumble across a cairn. Who built it and why?

July 19th; Late afternoon; Fog; 53 ° F, 12 ° C.

Rook had not been present when Ophelia had gone. He hadn't even had the chance to see Felix off on his grand adventure. He also didn't realize when Joan had left until it was much too late and the pack was spending their resources - their numbers, their stored energy for the winter - searching for her. All three Macieo-Whitebark cubs: gone. Just like that. They would never see their step-siblings grow up, one would never return, Rook could now never fully claim to be their Papa. He had missed too much and, in turn, he had missed out on any second chance to be there for them. He had failed. Being a 'third' parent, most especially in his case, proved to be just as efficient as there being only two. What was worse was that he had thought everything was going to be all right. He, alone, had raised Tomen (then, later, Veho had taken over); surely, having three parental figures could have raised three cubs.

Wrong.

For the third time this week, the Lyall strayed from the borders of Grizzly Hollow, vowing to be gone for only a few hours. The pack meeting hadn't gone too terribly, but, a small part of him had sorely hoped that Tomen, Joan, Felix, and Ophelia had been there. He should have learned his lesson by now - that it was almost stupid to hope. But, wasn't that what Grizzly Hollow was all about? Hope?

The Lyall leaned against a tree for a moment, partially marking it and using it as a brace to hold himself up on all four limbs. It was with a heavy heart that he forged onward through the mist, wondering if the summer humidity would give Relic Lore a break and spare them the fog in lieu of a good thunderstorm. He had to visit with his brothers; they always seemed to know how to make him feel better. Along the banks of Jasper Rocks, he sought out the gravesite of Theo and Prosper only to notice a few rocks and branches that he had not noticed there before. There, beside the boulders and the two trees that served as the previous Lyalls' headstones, was a decent-sized cairn.

A lump formed in his throat and he thought back to when he had heard the news of Ophelia's passing. Was this... Was this her? He cursed at himself for not helping out. He might have been an absent parent but he did love her fiercely, like one of his very own - and she probably didn't know.

He sulked into a sitting position in the shadow of the evergreen trees and the built-up place where the stones now rested. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm sorry..."

She was very much a recluse now. Oisin had had no real ties to Ophelia but the sight of the girl and merely knowing she couldn't have done enough left her shaken. It was often of her to nap in the medic den when alone or to escape the territory for solitude. A bad habit of licking her lips out of pure nerves had appeared. She felt guilty and selfish. There were others who were likely taking this a million times harder than her, perhaps could have even used her knowledge to help and find a natural relaxation source with some more fragrance purposed plants, and yet she had pulled away to hide in her own guilt. What good was she to the Hollow if she became more ghost and less wolf? Maybe she needed to find Veho sometime and pull him aside. Surely he could offer him some advice or have something she could do to become useful again.

The small female moved through the fog, body slumped as if her thoughts had manifested themselves into a physical weight. She had no real destination in mind as she moved along the water's rocky edge. Evening would be upon them soon and she would need to circle back to Grizzly Hollow but for now she could pretend to be useful out here if even for a few hours longer.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

Her ears raised slightly, the voice was the faintest bit familiar and caused her to draw closer to the source of them. She did her best to use the fog, rocks and trees to hide herself. Oisin wasn't fully ready to joyingly mingle but she could at least compose small check-ups on others.

Oisin

Cross my heart and hope for better days

To Rook, the cairn looked too small, too ordinary for such a vibrant individual as his (adopted) daughter; which brought up the idea that, perhaps Ophelia had not been laid to rest there. He sniffled. Maybe there was something to the Cedarwood that Rook had not anticipated, something that crept in once its inhabitants had become comfortable and safe. Maybe his father had been right in thinking that the place was no longer safe, that it had such a profound effect on the wolves that called the Hollow home as to take from every living thing until there was nothing left.

It had taken Grizzly Hollow's first-born sons (the biological and the adopted), stolen away its daughters and scattered its subsequent sons to the wilderness. It had robbed Rook of his family, spiriting them away or urging them far and away from Relic Lore. Ophelia was another name to add to the list. If the Lyall had been smart, he might have tried to trick Borden into believing some different place was the Old Bear Den instead of bringing him back to the very place where the Lyalls had placed their frail, stubborn roots. He wondered now if his life could have been different if he chose to establish Renegades Reach - as "Renegades Stand" - within Relic Lore. Maybe his wife and child would have remained. All of the regret, he realized some minutes later, led to a life that did not include Veho or Amaryllis or Oula or Merida or Mouse. He had to be grateful; he had to hope. There was no turning back unless he chose to uproot the pack, but it wasn't his place to suggest such a thing when this was what he had wanted even before Borden had come along from the north.

He stared upon the pile of stones, absolutely lost in his pool of thoughts when he felt that prickle at the back of his spine. His own ears rose up and he shivered in the mist. To no one in particular, he remained as he was and uttered, "I know... I know you're there."

Chances are I have a BEN WHISHAW gif for that.

She lingered behind a tree's base with dirty yellow eyes peering out from her scarred face. Oisin felt confident she wouldn't be spotted by the fellow Hollow wolf. After a few more moments, just to make sure he was okay, she could slip back to the medical den for a nap or just a break of sorts. Even with all the confidence she had in her spot the Lyall male called out to her.

Gently she moved from her position into the foggy open. Her eyes shifted from his larger form to the pile of stones. It was something she had never noticed before but then again her nose had always been close to the earth in search of plants or food. "What is it?" Her voice was barely above a whisper. Perhaps he would know, especially if he was the one lingering around it. Did it mean something? Had he built it or knew the creature who had?

The small female's eyes drifted to look back at Rook. A small part wondered if she should offer some kind of shoulder or even ask about how he was. He seemed to be the source of the sorries unless some other wolf was lurking about. Oisin bit her tongue for now. If he was willing to even have her around for conversation then maybe she would try to dig just slightly to make sure he was going to be fine.

Oisin

Cross my heart and hope for better days

Just a little something as they've finally made contact, I hope it's enough to fully up a conversation. Let me know, if I could/should add anything~

A hushed, inquisitive voice answered him, but Rook did not turn around. While familiar from their two full encounters with one another, Rook had yet to fully recognize that it was Oisin who had emerged from the mist. "I don't know," he replied, sensing now that she was drawing closer to him and the headstones of his brothers. For a moment, he sat in silence, letting the fog condense into droplets in his fur and allowing the forest to take over.

To anyone, it might have seemed like he had simply fallen silent, without any other musing as to what the cairn truly was or who had built it or where it had come from. However, the Lyall had been listening. To what, though, he couldn't say. All he had to go off on were hunches and, maybe - just maybe - whatever sounds the forest around them offered up. "My brothers won't say," he scowled long enough for his brows to fully knit together before fully turning to see the prospective medic close by. "That, or they don't know either." His voice grew quieter,"It's definitely new though. I have my suspicions as to who might be inside, but I'm not quite sure..."

(This post was last modified: Aug 11, 2017, 07:52 PM by Rook.)

Chances are I have a BEN WHISHAW gif for that.

Oh. Rook didn't seem to know what it was and that left a frown digging a bit deeper into her features. Yet it seemed the masked Hollow wolf wouldn't leave her in the dark on this mysterious cairn forever. Her ears raised to catch his words, soaking in the knowledge of what he spoke. Brothers, more unknowing, suspicions. It was quite the conversation she was having but in no way was it one she was excited to have.

"Your brothers?" Her head turned from side to side to look around. They were alone as far as she knew. The medic-in-training had no idea that her pack mate even had brothers. Had she missed some faces in Grizzly Hollow? Were they from a neighboring pack or even loners? Despite her a million and one questions about Rook's brother she had more questions about his suspicions.

She looked from the small monument back to the mismatched Lyall eyes. "What are your suspicions saying?" Her ears fell back for a brief moment. Now likely wasn't the time to blabber about how Papa had told her to trust her instincts. Suspicions were like instincts, right? Oisin hadn't figured that one out but she had a feeling that they were close enough to both be trusted.

Oisin

Cross my heart and hope for better days

"Your brothers?" she asked. Rook gave a silent nod before turning his head away from her to stare again at the small pile of rocks. She mused further, and the masked man gave a small shrug, a quick roll of his shoulders. "Well," he started, breathing out as his ears swiveled about before settling back into their natural forward-facing position. "I had hoped maybe they would tell me. They were here before me," he subtly gestured with a tilt of his head towards the two sizable boulders in front of him. "And they were still here before me when that showed up here."

"Were--" he faltered, suddenly unable to keep a hold of himself mentally or emotionally. There was a moment where his chest merely heaved, heavy with held back sobs. He had to keep breathing though. At all costs, he had to lest he gave away why he had come to this very spot.

He mustered up enough effort to fill his lungs and keep the air captive there for a while before releasing it. His exhale came in one long and shaky breath. "Were you there when--" his teeth chattered as if he were frozen to the bone, "when sh-she passed?" He stole a glance at Oisin, wondering if she knew just who he was talking about: the daughter that the whole of Grizzly Hollow had lost.

Chances are I have a BEN WHISHAW gif for that.

She listened with the faintest frown dug into her scarred face, brows softly furrowed. When Rook motioned to the structure it slowly settled in that perhaps his brother's weren't really here. That was when she stopped digging into his words. She didn't want to think about loss. Not after the tragedy that had recently happened. Oisin strongly contemplated fading back into the fog until she heard a single word fall from Rook's lips.

"Were--"

Her ears lifted towards the sky in order to catch his words. Not failing to miss the heavy fall and rise of his chest. As a medic, she was keen on picking up body language from others. She had to in case they were too weak to speak or didn't wish to admit what was wrong. While she was no mind reader she could tell when something was off.

The small woman picked up his stuttered words and instantly her ears fell back against her crown. Rook need not say a name. Oisin knew who she was. She had been the talk of Grizzly Hollow if anyone was talking at all. And it seemed that such a topic would not be an exception here. Very slowly her body lowered to the earth and she crawled towards the masked Lyall. A soft whine slipping past before she even spoke. For guilt consumed her over a death she couldn't have stopped even if she had all the experience in the world.

"I was." She whispered softly as her stomach brushed the ground only a foot away from him. "I tried to help." Oisin mustered as she thought about the crumpled girl and Veho's urgent voice.

Oisin

Cross my heart and hope for better days

There is a deer that was killed by a lynx nearby. +10 Health

Oisin had been there. She had done so much more than Rook could have even thought of. She had tried to help. He sniffled, willing himself to keep the sorrow from his chest. He would grieve this once, but in his heart knew that he would atone for this particular failure for a while yet. It didn't matter if Ophelia was not his by blood; he had been her Papa at some point or another, and she had been his responsibility when he had been taken away from Grizzly Hollow. He was at fault just like the rest of them, perhaps even more so.

"Thank you," he murmured, turning to look down upon her reclined figure beside him. "That means a lot."

A wince made itself clear on his dark-furred face and he had to look away. This time he focused on his paws, his head bowed as if in respect to the monuments before him. "Truly. Thank you." Another lengthy pause. His shoulders felt heavy. "I don't understand what happened. First Joan, then Felix... what happened to her? Do you know?" At this point Rook was merely curious, having been nothing but a far-orbiting satellite parent in Ophelia's life, he knew nothing of her whereabouts or interests. He had not even been aware that she had gone off on her own, gotten herself into some trouble...

Chances are I have a BEN WHISHAW gif for that.