Willow Ridge I've made up my mind

AW but attn @Quil

Her eyes scoured the lands before her, intrigue sparkling in the amber depths of her gaze. It had been far too long now since she had been within these lands, and the only embittered thought she held now was that she never should have left. Still, her paws had swiftly carried her to Cedarwood Forest first, where she had trailed the length of the borders. But before one could come and question her, she had fled, unable to rejoin the only father she had known: Maksim Baranski.

Instead, she explored closer to the heart of the lands, further than she had been before. She had been such a tender age when she had left that winter.. fled from the memories of her missing family, now.. Now, all she depended upon was herself.

But somewhere along the lines of her travel, a rather distinct scent had caught her attention – one she could discern anywhere. Quil. With a flash of her teeth, the youth had prowled after the trail, her pelt bristling dangerously before she came upon the stronger scent of pack wolves – her sister’s scent got lost amongst the rest, and scrunching her nose, she pulled her lissome figure back, wondering what to do next.

Scathingly, the slender she-wolf swiped her tongue across her teeth before tilting her muzzle back, requesting the presence of the once Darkwater Rapids princess -- come out, come out wherever you are, Quil, she prompted, her lips writhing in her own angry injustice of the disappearing act her sister had given her when she had all but depended on her so very long ago.

(This post was last modified: Oct 22, 2014, 11:24 AM by Cinder.)

like a black widow, baby

It was a sound she'd heard before, though long ago. She'd heard it against the bellowing of the rapids, echoing through the ancient trunks of the frosted cedar trees, and now she heard it as it resonated through the wispy branches of the willows. She knew it well; like she knew the sound of silence, like she knew the touch of the wind and the taste of saltwater, like she knew the feeling of the earth beneath her paws. Quil knew her sister's song, but she couldn't believe for a second that it was real.

First, a chill crept up her spine, settling like ice between the blades of her shoulders. Then her heart began to race within the walls of her chest, which rose and fell ever so slowly now. Her mouth went dry. Her stomach twisted. And lastly, her eyes saw the immediate world around her with so much clarity that the crashing waves of emotion inside just ceased to lap. If Cinder's call was not a figment of her imagination, then why did the possibility of her being here seem so distant? Quil rose from her perch, a grassy knoll untouched by the sun and hidden away deep within the heart of the Ridge. Had she drifted off and dreamed of her sable furred litter mate? She blinked her golden eyes and considered the fact that the last thing she would do is let herself hope that it was a dream, because she knew it would be the easiest thing. Because in believing that it were, she might as well believe that Cinder was dead.

Slinking through the hills to the stretch of border she knew best, the silvered girl's eyes swept intricately over each and every crest, patch of grass, puddle of water and in the shade of every tree for a sign of anything that could be more concrete than a voice. But it was not her eyes to affirm what she wanted and feared most, but her nose. It hit her like a star fallen from the sky, or like a fall from cliff; it made her sick, and her jaws clenched together as she breathed all of it in as deeply as she could, her slender muzzle inclined to meet the wind...Cinder was here. She was alive. And the last time they had seen each other, the winter had never felt so cold.

Quil ran as fast as she could, sucking up the ground with long, hard strides. She didn't think of how much it hurt to have lost her, she didn't think about the sorrow that pooled in Cinder's beautiful eyes the last time she'd looked into them...She didn't think about the days she spent scouring an unknown wilderness, the nights on the sand as the moon bathed her and her loneliness in a pale glow, the way they used to laugh or the sound of their mother's voice. In her head, there was only a stark, white silence and the sound of each and every breath that propelled her forward. And, in what felt like another time in another place, there she was.

Her run trickled to a few mindlessly placed steps until she stood there before her sister and but a few lengths way, her sides rising and falling as her ears flicked forward to embrace the sound of this moment. This was what she had been longing for, but she was no longer the girl who had yearned for it. It felt foreign. The syllables escaped her mouth in a breath.

"Cinder?"

(This post was last modified: Oct 07, 2014, 08:20 PM by Quil.)

Quil was suddenly there -- her appearance was almost ethereal in a way, a twisted fantasy that Cinder had so long yearned for. Now, with her sister before her, she could not decide if she wanted to further close the gap between them to embrace her.. or to sink her fangs in to her neck.

Her sister seemed so different, and yet nothing had changed. Cinder had called to her, and ever as doting as before, the she-wolf had come to her beck and call. Her sides heaved with the exertion she had used, and Cinder regarded her almost coldly, despite the warm hue of her eyes. She had missed Quil.. and she had despised her, all in one. Mace, as well, ahd left. Rowan was god knows where with her parents -- the trio of them were faces she no longer remembered, and as each day passed, she realized no longer could she even recall their voices.

She opted for neither of her choices above (at least not yet), and with a stomp of one forepaw, her hackles bristled. "You broke your promise!" Her tone was shrill -- the pitch a screech as it escaped her jaws and in to the quiet air of Willow Ridge. She stood there, her lithe body trembling as she stared at her sister, demanding an explanation. Wanting to know what the hell had happened to forever. As far as she was concerned, family meant nothing now.. the Attaya's played a fabulous magician with their tricks -- it would seem they excelled at the disappearing act.

But Cinder had learned to act as well, and Quil was very justified when she thought her little sister had changed entirely.

(This post was last modified: Oct 12, 2014, 04:12 PM by Cinder.)

like a black widow, baby

This song </3

It seemed so surreal.

Quil's heart was pounding, her golden eyes taking in the sight of her only sister with both awe and disbelief. It was almost as though she were looking at their mother ─ cloaked in black and as beautiful as she remembered, and it was plain to see that Cinder was just as beautiful. In that moment, Quil realized that the look on her sister's face wasn't the one Cinder had worn for so long, a look of unending sorrow and hopelessness born from the ever-sleepless nights and all of the tears she'd seen her cry. All of the tears they had cried together. The hardened look she received now was the last thing she could have expected, and it was like ice. Inside and at all once, Quil felt defeated, unsure, and in some way afraid that this was not going to be the reunion she'd dreamed of. On the outside, however, she was as still as a statue, her brows coming together in a subtle, somber arch as Cinder's shrill reply cut deeply into her.

Quil's golden eyes were wide and glassy as heat filled her cheeks, and all of the words that might have come out to form explanations, or apologies, or tender, loving endearments caught in her throat. All of this time, she'd thought her sister had run off into the winter without her, not the other way around; in fact, Quil had departed Cut Rock River just as soon as she couldn't find a trace of Cinder, but...what if she'd been there all along? What if the snow and ice had covered her scent, or what if Quil had just waited, just a little while longer...Was it true that it had been she who really did break her promise, even if she had thought she had done the right thing? The feeling that it was possibly that she'd abandoned the one person who she vowed she would always keep loomed over her now like a dark and dangerous storm cloud, and she could almost hear its thunder.

"I...Cinder, I couldn't find you..." Her voice, low and calm and threaded with a wretched sort of sadness, was steadier than she thought it would be, her belief that her love for her sibling had gotten her through each and every day grounding her where she could have been lost to the tide of emotion between them. Confusion masked her features now, but love and longing burned in her gaze, locked to Cinder's face. Her litter mate's anger swept across the distance between them in invisible, intense, and humbling waves, and it felt absolutely crushing. Cinder wasn't going to understand. Cinder wasn't going to let this go. Though the thought rubbed her in every wrong way possible, Quil let herself think for a split second that this would be a losing battle; even if she never gave up, her sister may already have. "I'm so sorry..."

She was not ready for this.

Quil seemed silent as Cinder’s accusation fell between them in the air – a boundary that both stilled for, and neither crossed. Her hardened gaze stared at her sister in fired defiance, her chin jutting up a notch as she waited for the challenge of Quil’s words in return. Instead, an apology rolled from her sister – a hidden excuse that fit the both of them equally.. because after all, hadn’t Cinder left her sister as well? Could she not have tried harder to find her? To stay by her side? The winter had swallowed her whole, and even when the spring had melted the snow, and the sun had stirred life about her once more, she remained cold to the world. She wasn’t even sure she would ever truly be alive again.

The deflation she felt clung to her shoulders in that moment, and she sagged beneath the weight of it. Her heart twisted then, and her paws gripped to the earth as she felt like falling forward. Far too many times in her life had she wanted to give up, and yet her nature would never truly let her. She might not have been a princess of Darkwater Rapids any longer, but not once had she ever removed the crown.

“You can come hold me now,” she whispered, her voice cracking with the emotion that weighed on her now. In that very moment, she could not hate her sister – not when she needed so desperately to be comforted after all of these months.

Cinder had a right to be upset, and after she'd spoken her wholehearted apology the seconds of silence that passed by felt like forever. She didn't know if her sister could forgive her, and if Cinder didn't, Quil would never forgive herself. Her heart thumped slowly in her chest, the anticipation of being hurt by what came out of Cinder's mouth next weighing down on her like the weight of the world.

But what came next was the most beautiful thing.

The words were a whisper in the air, and everything she wanted and ever could have hoped for. "You can come hold me now."

Without hesitation, Quil scurried forward as fast as she could and no sooner than her wide, golden eyes began to fill with tears. Her sights were glued to Cinder and, like the waves of the ocean that she'd watched beneath the moonlight for many lonely nights, she crashed right into her. Quil's tail wagged feverishly behind her as she buried her face in her sister's sable chest, breathing in the scent of her that was just as she remembered, even if the both of them had changed. She poked and prodded every inch of her sibling's face, covering her with the sweetest kisses. In that moment, she felt like the pup who had done the exact same thing many times before on the banks of the river that made Darkwater Rapids their home. Nothing in the world could have felt better than this.

"I love you so much! she cried. "I-I felt like I was dying, I've never missed anyone so much, Cinder...You're everything to me, you know that?" She breathed the subtlest laugh, sucking in a deep breath and taking a step back to take in the sight of the one thing in the world she didn't want to ever be without, the one thing she thought she'd lost forever.

"I'll never leave you again, not ever."

Became a joining thread. @Elettra @Angier

The demand left her lips, and the venomous mask fell from the lissome girl’s face. No sooner did her anger fly out the window did Quil hasten forward to bend to the will of her command – the ever protective sister, just as she had always been when growing up. Cinder rocked forward then, burying her face in the beautiful chocolate and black of Quil’s nape as she inhaled sharply, a sob racking her entire frame then.

It was strange how disconnected she had felt from herself until this very moment – Cinder of coursed had wooed her way in to another pack over the winter.. a means to a meal, and even some entertainment as she grew older and caught the attention of the youthful males. But it was not where she had belonged and the search for her sister had begun. She almost never would have thought to look for her where they had last seen another.

Her heart raced as she took in the scent of her sister. So familiar and it was the warmest welcome home she would ever receive. She compiled herself, a sniffle escaping before she pulled back, Quil’s words running over her like a wave of relief. There was much to say – the agreeance to it all, a threat that Quil couldn’t get rid of her even if she tried.. but nothing summed it up. Nothing except: “I love you, Quil.” She didn’t known if she had ever said it before – something she had regretted. “I want to stay with you.” The words were spoken as she finally stole a glance around the area – this was the pack her sister had settled in? How long had she been here? Why here? Instead, she bent her muzzle down to smooth a stray hair from her limb, attempting to make herself look as appealing as possible – if she wanted to stay with her sister, she would need to learn humility.. and look her best while doing it.

(This post was last modified: Oct 22, 2014, 11:45 AM by Cinder.)

like a black widow, baby

also, this is totally irrelevant to this thread but... vaeta still has a thread up for her brother. :3

sola bona quae honesta

Bow before your Matriarch

Those things only are good which are honest

"You broke your promise!" The voice was shrill, a screech that did not escape the yet still keen ears of Elettra Archer, though at this distance she had been unable to exactly make out what the words said. Though the yelling and in particular to a voice she did not know at the footfalls of her home, had set the woman's fur along her spine standing at attention. She moved towards the location swiftly, ensure to figure out what the problem was and directly place a stop to it. The voice was unknown and should it be a couple of loners, she would see them off. Should it be someone wishing ill against her members, she would do much more then see them off.

It seemed, however, as Elettra finally approached the scene, the situation had more or less settled itself out. Her swiftness slowly, lingering along the edges as she approached slowly long enough to take note of their embrace, how heart felt the situation suddenly had become. The other young woman, darker in hue (unknowingly more so resembling her mother) spoke of her love for Quil and Elettra would then decide by this and this alone, they were ether very close friends or more importantly, family. Elettra takes a deep breath of the cool air, the exit eased out long and deep, making enough sound to surely gather their attention. For the time being, Elettra remains back, yet steps out into clear few of the pair.

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(This post was last modified: Nov 10, 2014, 07:28 AM by Elettra.)