Whitefish River Old Friends, New Tragedies

@Rosencrantz ;-;

While his group was resting, Connor too the obligation to scout by himself just to double-check one more time if there were any strange wolves. But while he was at it, he took the time to get to know the scenery better and get introduced to the old territory of Kaistleoki, this was his new home. A home where he can share it with Ira and his new packmates since the Herald promised that he was a dedicated member and someone to call a friend. Speaking of friends, as he was padding through the recent fauna that had sprouted coming the new season, the titan took the time to think to himself about his previous encounters with other wolves. This was because his mind just wanted to think of them so he started with Lokie, his partner, how could he forget his clumsy but lovable personality since he was the first wolf to call a friend at Teekon.

Then, they met Rhaella, a star pelted woman that Connor called his little sister figure, this would be common with the cinnamon man, and the three would join together to try and form Aristos. Along the way, they meet other personalities, all of them unique in their own way, and all of them had a story to tell. He remembered Rosencrantz, the introverted man who had an ice gaze but a warm heart on the inside and an unfortunate fallout with Rhaella. Connor wondered what happened to everyone with him craning his head up to the clouds and bobbing to his motion as he continued to make his way. He knew Lokie went back home, but what about the rest? Perhaps Rhaella went back with Deagon? Did Rosencrantz take Connor's advice and tried to find his own way? Who knows.

The titan tilted his muzzle down and lazily slid his eyes around to check his surroundings for he knew he shouldn't have his noggen up in the clouds and he should focus on his task. The man slowed his pace to a slouched walk with his head at an equal level of his shoulders and his ears flicking to every new sound that came singing into his ears.

@Monty i swear this is the last of his little confusing route away from Monty

How long had he wandered now? Days? It was merely hours, maybe about a day now since his meeting with the wolves in the blur of the adrenaline. He hated them all, their blind eye to his pain, to his agony and chasing the paladin away at his time of need. 

With a nose filled with blood he wanderd across a border that was not there before, blind by the acrid scent of his own blood, Rosencrantz would soon find himself in a new predicament as he continued to weave his confusing web to the cannibal who may still be lingering in his shadow. 

Thankully now, maybe, this encounter would be more of a friend than a foe. As he wandered, he was blind to the sight of the familiar figure that lurked near by, blinded by nose and on the side of the face Connor lingered in - the spectre just wanted to continue on his convoluted path toward Rusalka, toward his long awaited heaven.

With his shoulder blades rising and falling with the rhythm he decided to shake his coat as he slowly dragged his paws around, but perhaps he should rest for a little bit then he could either continue his patrol, or he heads back to find Emrik. The titan stretched out his jaw into a large and slow yawn, he had been working for a while, but he would persevere even though his paws might fall off. However, the scent of another would fill his nostrils which woke him up real quick with a jerk of his head and blinking eyes. Connor could easily be hostile towards new faces since some wolves had done the same to him but he knew that two wrongs didn't make a right. So his muzzle leads the way as his ears were perked and he picked up the pace into a much faster walk towards the stranger.

But this stranger was Rosencrantz.

The cinnamon titan almost tripped over his paws as he tried to stop himself and realize that this wolf was indeed Rosencrantz and that familiar scent came arousing in his nose. His coal tipped ears swiveled towards the back of his head but not in a hostile way as a look of shock and confusion molded his expression as his emerald gaze was glued onto Rosencrantz's deformed face. "Gosharoony..." He whispered in disbelief, "Rosencrantz? Is that you?" The male raised his brows and left his jaws part open slightly as his old acquaintance left him in awe which was starting to mold into slight concern.

"What the hell happened?" His voice almost cracked in distress as he started to look at him all over as he stepped a little closer but went no further. 

Another approached, at first he didn't recognize the cinnamon man and only felt defensive. With hackles raised and letting the gore on his face speak for itself, he turned to watch him with his good eye. Void of emotion other than hatred, at least his vision was more clear now, both his head and eye less in a blur from the surger of adrenalin that coursed through his veins over the last while to keep him moving. Keep him alive. 

With a squint, he listened to the cinnamon titan and then it all clicked. Aristos, one of Rhaella's followers, Connor. The man was kind the last time they met, they even had a heart to heart - but was he still loyal to that bitch. A growl formed in his throat, warning the man to not approach any further unless he wanted some kind of unpleasantry. Even with his nose clogged of mucus and blood, he tried to sniff at the air. He could be nose blind, but he couldn't smell Raella on him.

Raella, are you still loyal? After speaking, he snorted, substance oozing from his nose as he tried to clear it from the stuffy sensation that clogged it just enough to be bothersome. A mixture of clear and red ran down his nose - it didn't help with his sense of smell.

He wanted to be certain first, certain that if they spoke she would not appear again.

Rosencrantz gave a warning growl to Connor to not come any closer, the titan obeyed and he stood at the distance Rosen wanted him to be at with a concerned face. His scared friend dodged his question by asking him another, was he loyal to Rhaella? "No," he answered more quickly than he anticipated, "my loyalties lie with Kaistleoki now, I am one of their Heralds and I have a responsibility." The cinnamon man gave a more casual look to Rosencrantz so he wouldn't feel threatened with what he was going to say next, "in fact, I am helping the pack relocate back here and set up the claim."

The smell of fresh blood was strong with the white paladin which made Connor heartbroken at the sight of Rosencrantz, "Rosen..." He said with a more worried voice and expression, "tell me... What happened to you?" Connor's sympathetic nature was urging him to support Rosencrantz on whatever happened to him, he knew the man was still hurting from what happened with Aristos based on the query he asked.

The deformed paladin relaxed a little further at Connor's swift answer. Connor was swift to also find a new pack to join, either Aristos had failed or Rhaella ran off with Daegon somewhere, leaving the bunch of them on their own. Is she here with you? he had to know, had had to know if she still lingered, somewhere close too. Uncertain of how he felt about it all, he was certain of one thing at least... he wanted nothing to do with the harlot. I'm trespassing, aren't I? Slowly he was able to piece together what Connor was saying.

The lands were being re-claimed by his wolves, so he was lucky he had been found out by a previous packmate than the others who might have been more hostile. For once Rosencrantz would count his blessings for coming across the one face who would recognize him in a friendly manner in this land. 

The face? A lot had happened since Connor and he had spoken, but he took a wild guess and supposed the cinnamon giant was talking about the lack there of of what was left of his once was packmate. He could still feel how fresh and gooey that side was, so he was certain that Connor could piece together that it was fairly recent. There's a cannibal running around, took my ear and lips.

Rosen wouldn't give up on Rhaella which was something the titan worried about since he asked if she was still with him, "nope," he shook his head, "probably ran off with Deagon," he trailed off and rolled his eyes. Connor didn't hate Rhaella as Rosencrantz did, but he was honestly just disappointed in her, "Lokie is gone too, he went back home," his ears flattened a bit as his tone was a bit more somber and his eyes fluttered down to his paws. He really did miss his best friend/traveling buddy. Rosen calculated that he was trespassing, "ehhh...?" The cinnamon man raised his brow and raised his lip a bit, "not really? We haven't established our borders quite yet, but we are working on it," he shrugged as rose to his paws and padded over to a rock and proceeded to rub his scent on it. 

He wanted Rosen to stay so he could talk to him.

His emerald eyes almost popped out of his skull once he mentioned that the current state of his face was due to a cannibal, he couldn't believe what he heard. "What?" His ears shot forward and his face morphed into a disgusted expression, but his heart ached for his broken friend, "oh Rosen..." his ears dropped and his eyebrows arched up. Knowing Rosencrantz, he would try to hide the fact that he was hurting, the man slowly walked back to where he was initially sitting and stared at him with a sympathetic gaze. "So what will you do about it?" he asked softly, but he figured the man would brush off the question, but he wouldn't let the paladin walk away from him with a shattered soul.

Ah, figures. That was at least one of his predictions. Not only had she abandoned him, but everyone else who had chosen to follow her blindly to the island. A selfish woman through and through. Perhaps it was for the best how things happened. It seemed many turned their backs and went their separate ways, Connor finding himself without his heterosexual companion and now wandering on his own in his new pack just as Rosencrantz did with Rusalka. 

Come, escort me out, I want to go home anyway. We can talk along the way. After Connor was done rubbing his scent on a nearby rock, Rose began padding his way toward where he assumed a border would be, where Rusalka would be waiting for him. Now that he was more level headed, the adrenalin faded, though still tired, he managed to find that elegance he held while walking before the attack. Despite his disfigurement and wounds, he managed to keep face. 

What will he do about it? Survive. Warn the others about his presence. What else was there to do? What else can I do?

Rosencrantz expressed that he wanted to go home and they could talk on the way, the titan figured that the paladin was uncomfortable being in a marked claim so he respected his wishes. As the two started to walk, Connor's ears shot up like he had forgotten something, "one second," he darted towards a tree that was at the very edge of the border and rubbed his body on it like a cat. After he was done, he shook his coat and bounded back to Rosen's side, "okay, we can go now," he smiled as he let the scarred man lead the way back to his home.

The white male answered his question by saying that he would just go around and tell people about the cannibal and told Connor what else could he do. He slid his emerald orbs to gaze at Rosencrantz, "well, of course, that is one of the best things that you can do, but I mean..." He lifted his muzzle to the sky, pondering how he would phrase this next statement, "I mean..." he looked at Rosen with a solemn look, "how do you view yourself mentally? I know a lot as happened to you as far as I know with, well, you know who." The large man turned his whole head at Rosencrantz with his coal-tipped ears completely towards the paladin, "I don't mean to get sappy, and I don't know everything about you, but has this event scarred you more than physically?" He asked carefully, he knew better than to jump the gun on things but his little knowledge on Rosencrantz only led him to pinpoint that the man wouldn't take this new situation well.

As Connor went on, the paladin thought about his answer - if he had an answer. How would I know? How would he know? I feel like myself. Somewhat, he couldn't tell if he was any different than he was from before. He took every day one day at a time, every event at the moment, surely they all had a part to play int he grand scheme of things when it came to the great book of Rosencrantz's life - but he wasn't aware of what played a bigger part the other.

Surely this would be the exception. Maybe it was denial. Perhaps he didn't want to think about what kind of other scars it had left upon him this whole ordeal - the new distrust he had in others in a time of need. 

It happened, there's nothing I can do if it did have an impact on my psyche. They continued on their path toward the borders, every now and then if Connor continued to try and mark the lands, Rose would wait and walk on once the cinnamon man was ready. Every step brought him closer to home. Although, I can't help but wonder what they would think of me when I return. What would the pack think of him, his new face once they see it? Would they shriek in terror like the others?

What Rosen said about feeling like himself even though his face was morphed made Connot feel at ease, at least he didn't loathe himself for looking the way he was. The titan offered him a smile, "well at least we are at the point where you accept the way that you are now, I'd say that is the hardest part when it comes to things like this." The cinnamon male continued to beam at the wounded paladin until his head jerked up like he had forgotten something, "one second." The man quickly bounded over to a tree and smothered it with his body to mark the scent.

Once that job was done, he leaped back to Rosen's side with a grin. The scarred man went on about how he was worried about what the others might think of him, Connor knew that this line of thinking was typical amoung people who experience this change. The muscular man gave him a sympathetic smile, "they are your packmates Rosen, this is the wild, things like this happen all the time," he gave an encouraging chuckle. Connor then leaned his head forward close to Rose with a cheeky smile, "I bet there is someone in your pack who has deep scars as well~" he playfully sang then whipped his head back at equilibrium with his body. The cinnamon man really didn't know the paladin's packmembers at all, but going off by experience, there was always either one or two wolves with catastrophic wounds on them.

Slight PP okayed by Kaiju to finish thread here!

He had nothing left to offer in that conversation, though it felt like the right thing to do, just to now simmer on it and think of what was said. Learn from the conversation and grow. Speaking of packmates with deep scars too, luckily Connor was right. Rosalyn was also riddled in her own scars, facial and others, some deeper and more ingrained than what meets the eye as well.

Finally, a breach in the borders from what he could tell, the smell of Connor's people faded more so here. I suppose, this is where we part. Thank you Connor. With a dip of his head, he felt a little dizzy, still feeling the struggle of the wound across his face and ear - better than before but the feeling still lingered. 

The two men gave a nod of appreciation, said their parting words. While Connor turned to head back deeper into Whitefish's lands, Rosencrantz continued onto his path home back to the plateau.