Shallows Edge coming home

OOC: Lae has been missing for over a month??? ? She went missing December 26 in this thread and is returning today @Askan

a dream within a dream

Lae wasn't even sure she would have considered herself lost, as much as she was on winter vacation. Her arctic wolf blood thrived in the cold winter air, freezing her snotty nose and droopy wet eyes. She looked dead already. Any weight she had gained since joining the edge had been lost once more along her travels. Things had not been horrible for her per say. She had caught a slight cold, her ribs were exposed, but her spirits were high. She was fatigued and confused, sometimes scared, but always happy. Lae was nothing if not an optimist.

Despite being lost for an entire month, she had never gone farther than the red fern forest. Surprisingly, no one had come looking for her, or even bumped into her. She did not blame them. She had walked in circles for days. At one point, she had planned to follow her paw prints in the snow to remember where she had been, but a short snow squall had erased any sign of her. She had been bewildered, but it never brought her down. She had eaten one rabbit and an already decaying squirrel since leaving, nothing less, nothing more. She had taken a liking to eating snow to fill her belly. Habitually she would spend hours munching icicles off tree branches and eating mouthfuls of fallen snow. Learning from trial and error, she had decided trying to catch the snow from the sky was impossible. Eating piles from the ground was much more pleasurable.

She sneezed aggressively, her head twitching from the act. A glob of snot ran down her chest, dripping from her bright pink nostrils. "Askan!" She screamed, her voice shrill and dry. She didn't think to howl for him at the border, or even to bark. Instead she hollered his name. She took a deep inhale through her nose, the boogers gurgling. She swore she could taste them, but it didn't matter. She could smell home. She was finally home. Excitement filled her, her body shaking from the energy of her wagging tail. "Askan," she screeched. He was the first person she thought to call for. He was the world to her. She loved him, admired him, missed him. She had dreamed about his handsome yellow eyes the entire month she had been gone. She knew this day would come. "I'm home!"

(This post was last modified: Jan 28, 2019, 08:06 PM by Lae.)

Oooof I love her. Don't make me make a silver fox for her.

Lae was confusing. She didn't act how old ladies should, all prim, proper and dignified; yet Askan found himself somewhat fond of her eccentric ways. Or at least that had been the case when she'd been around. Angels above, he had no idea what was happening, how things had gotten this... crumbly. Bit by bit, piece by piece Shallows Edge was eroding away. In the end would he be the only one left? Probably. The thought didn't even make him angry, he just simmered on the thought as he daintly crossed his front paws. He was atop his rocky throne, staring down at the frozen over Shallows with lukewarm interest. At least he had been till an ungodly wail met his ears. Sound didn't tend to carry too well in these woods, the trees had a way of muffling out noise like a bed of moss. But that sound there was no hiding it, Askan new his name when he heard it.

Pushing himself to his feet he shook out his coat and grimaced as he was called for yet again. Insistent much? Not being the sort to dilly-dally, he broke out into a gallop as he rushed through the trees but soon slowed when a dishevelled white form came into view. Not quite a sight for sore eyes but...Askan's bright yellow gaze roamed over her form, taking note of the protruding ribs and snotty nose. Askan cringed, his expression strung tight with obvious repulsion but he remained where he was, his toes curling into the snow.

"You're not dead." Was his opening statement.

a dream within a dream

"Not yet," she admitted cheerfully, her single brown eye glistening in the sun. It had not been meant as a sarcastic comment, Lae was not witty. Instead, it was genuinely excited. She knew her own morality and was not afraid, each day was a gift. The elder had such a hard time picking up on social cues. Askan's shortness was a breath of fresh air, warming her sore old heart. She had quite the month. Nothing felt better than the sharpness of his tone and dryness of his response. For Lae, it was just as rewarding as a kiss to the head. Her tail only wagged harder when he appeared, despite his disgust.

Askan could have torn her throat out and she'd be happy. Nothing the grumpy leader did seem to damper her mood and respect. Her loyalty and affection was undying, even through the cold, harsh winter. "I missed you," she sang, waddling forward towards him. A look of embarrassment crossed her features, and for a moment she lowered her head almost in shame. "I forgot how to get home."

Askan barely bit back the urge to snort. It wasn't much of a compliment coming from a woman who could scarcely remember her own name but it was a sweet, if not a little weird, sentiment. And maybe, just maybe, it was hard to for him to sweep her affection aside like it meant nothing to him. She wasn't the most important but she counted, she was there for him when others were not. Shame riddled her features as she ducked her head down, her tail curling a little as Askan raised his brow. Ah, that made sense. How could he forget? Maybe he was going senile too, maybe he could make it a group activity, a bonding moment.

"It happens." He shrugged. Anyone else he would have been a little harder on but he'd known what he'd gotten into when he'd dragged her to the Shallows. To blame her for something she couldn't really help was....it'd be a massive dick move honestly. Askan was bad but he prided himself in being better than that. "That aside, are you okay?"

From here on out he'd keep her on a shorter leesh, not let her roam as far. He doubted she'd argue, it was for her own good anyway.

a dream within a dream

"I am now," she admitted softly, offering her leader a small sneeze. She wasn't in great condition, but he had eyes. Surely he could put it together. It wasn't like her to dwell on the bad. Sure, she wasn't feeling the best physically- but mentally? She was on cloud nine. Her body was frail, she had a bit of a cold. It was nothing a bit of sleep couldn't fix. His comfort was all she needed. As stoic as Askan could be, Lae didn't need much affection. Even the littlest gesture, the shrug of his shoulders, calmness of his tone, was comfort to her. She had learned to love him just the way he was.

The old lady gave a deep inhale through her mouth. Her nose was too congested to comfortably breathe through long-term. She seemed to consider something for a second, tilting her head and narrowing her brown eye. "Are you okay?" There was no reason to suspect he wasn't. Physically, he was as strong as ever, just the way she remembered. She didn't have the best vision, but things seemed okay. She knew that a month was a long time though, things could have changed since she left. She had been gone for such a long time.