Dragoncrest Cliffs umbrella

Forward dated to 5/24

As heavy as the rain has been, there’s been no sense properly marking the borders, and Thuringwethil doesn’t spend as much time there as the others. They are still checked and properly guarded no matter how heavy the rain gets and, until told otherwise, will remain. The rain has so far shown no signs of letting up any time soon. It comes and goes, bursts of heavy wind and rain to remind them what it is capable of but it only has a steady increase over the days.

The sky remains dark and gloomy and illuminated enough to acknowledge it is daylight. The roar of waves beat against the cliffs to the point she cannot safely assume what is high or low tide. It has been a week since Hush had seen the guardians and with the rain since, is it some bad omen after all? Her nose wrinkles, brushing away the thought. It is only rain, she reminds herself. She does not forget the danger it can bring but it certainly can’t rain forever.

Thuringwethil remains near the cliff, watching the ocean continue to spread its anger. Lightning touches down where the sky meets the earth, several times over, and she drops her ears as it follows a loud crack of thunder.

here have a mopey eske. :0

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A storm had came upon Drageda and though Eske knows it has nothing to do with her mood but she likes to feel like it is an apparition of her grief. Losing Kendra still hurts and the Cheka cannot help but fear that the pain may never vanish. She doesn’t know who to talk to about it. She does not know who else has lost someone they loved so dearly before. She knows Gyda lost Ragnar but her mother is many, many miles away and Eske has no desire to leave Drageda. So, she does what she knows: turns her grief into aggression and aims it towards her duties as Cheka. She would fight the world if she could but she knows that no matter how many fights she throws herself into that none of them will bring Kendra miraculously back to her. Eske has never expected to fall in love but cannot help but feel quite bitter about the fact that when she begun to live for someone other than herself that life stole her away. Eske is indifferent to the storm, unbothered and numb against the rain that pelts her. She does not even flinch as thunder cracks through the sky like an electric whip — according to her mother it was Thor’s wrath, the sparks from his mighty anvil as he strikes it against his forge. Eske does not readily believe in her mother’s deities but she feels like she understands Thor’s fury. She can relate to it. Perhaps her mother cursed her when she named her spear of the gods; perhaps as her namesake suggests it does not make her strong but instead has pushed her down a path that is meant for the lonely. She is a warrior and perhaps battle can be her only love.

Ears slick back to rest against her skull as her steps pause and slow to an eventual stop near Heda; though she does not break her silence. She assumes the Commander knows she is there without needing to announce her presence. She is always near, after all. Not always seen, but she is never far, ready to give to fight, ready to give her life for her Commander if that is what is necessary.

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into the storm portia escaped. drageda hadn't seen a good storm in months-- not since that thunder snow-- and if you thought that portia's inner-naturalist was going to miss it you were damn wrong. she wanted to get close, since the caverns were covered and the area around the lake was covered in trees. maybe not dangerously close, since she knew that the nearby ocean posed a threat with a storm like this, but she wanted to really experience dat good storm stuff.

along the way, mixed with the rain, portia found the scent of thuringwethil... and eske. she sought them out, wondering what they were doing out of safety. it made sense that they were together, but dio had talked about the heavy rain and border patrolling once of twice-- surely they both followed the same logic.

she came to a cliff where she saw the dark heda and just behind her trusted cheka. she chuffed, but it was lost in the heavy rain and howling wind, so opted just to pad up beside the pair, bracing herself to the stronger winds. the ocean below looked angrier than she'd thought, but it was good to note. glancing to the two beside her, portia said-- rather loudly and necessarily considering how obvious it was-- "this is a bad one."

The only acknowledgment Eske’s arrival receives is a flicker of one ear angling backward for something other than her usual silence. Her closeness this time feels weighted and she turns her head for a sideways glance to the Cheka. Thuringwethil does not have time to analyze the girl’s features before Portia catches the corner of her eye. Heda turns to fully greet the healer easily, keeping Eske to the side should she not wish to participate in the conversation. Eske’s presence has been comforting enough for her to blend casually in the background and know she’s there even if she doesn’t involve her.

“Sha,” she says, her knee jerk reaction to user her native tongue. She does not fear that some cannot understand her as most have come to know it easily enough for the basics. “I don’t know if it will stop any time soon,” she says, turning her nose to point to the lake which has risen significantly since the rains began. “We’ve been replenished, at least.” If it has risen this fast in a short span of time, if it does not stop soon, she’s certain the damage to come will not be a pleasant experience for any of them.

portia eyed eske, who remained quiet. she weighed giving her some sort of comfort, but opted against it so close to heda. she did not know eske well but, from what she did know, she did not think that eske would want to appear weak before her commander. portia still felt some sort of guilt on her own shoulders after the kendra incident-- but she would not bring it up here.

her attention turned to thuringwethil again, and the feline gave her a soft smile. at least the lake was replenishing, that was true. in her own, nonnative tongue, portia replied a quick, "sha." it was not a hard word, though her dragedasleng had become rusty after so many months cooped up with two pups and a dio. she hadn't had anyone to backboard conversations off of, and neither dio nor wildfire knew anymore than she did. oh well.

"do you think that the storm affect our caverns?" portia asked, eyeing the commander. she knew plenty about storms, but the territory here was odd, and even if the lake didn't affect the caverns, the ocean might.

Eske does not get involved in the conversation and Thuringwethil does not invite her. She knows her pain is still great but she hopes it does not impact her duty more than it has already. Portia has no problem acclimating to the conversation, either, and she listens as he continues her concern about the cavern. It is close to the opening and there’s a portion that drips inside for fresh water but, since they’ve been here, it has been controlled. In a way, it has already, but not enough to force them out. If the rain doesn’t stop any time soon, perhaps they may be in a different position.

“It might,” she says. “If it fills enough, it might could flood the opening.” She turns away from the cliffs to look across the clearing where the lake sits. It has brimming on all sides, threatening to spill over and claim the foliage that has lived nearby. She then looks skyward to have rain fall upon her face, but a sigh escapes anyway. “It is fine for now but we just need to keep an eye on it. We can’t go out the back, either, but if the time comes, there is an outlet to the sound,” she says, thinking to the day Eske and Arlo had come to her about an escape route should they need it.

portia pursed her lips, mind straying towards her and wifi's children immediately. she kept silent for a few moments, thinking, before vocalizing this concern to her leader. "i might talk to wildfire about moving the children," she shared, giving thuringwethil and curious stare to gauge her opinions on the subject. while she didn't think they were unsafe in the care of the entirety of the pack in the cavern, they were smaller and far easier to lose in all the dark tunnels. if an emergency were to occur, portia would never forgive herself for giving nature the benefit of the doubt. it was a beautiful thing, but oh-so cruel.

"are there any caves higher on the cliffs? perhaps that would work," she thought aloud. if they managed to find enough holes, perhaps the entirety of the pack could seek refuge in there-- just for safety sake.

Moving the children might be the best idea for what they could possibly endure. She hates to uproot them just as they moved to one of the safest places in the territory, only to determine it isn’t as safe as they anticipated. It is hard to find safety against the weather and she knows she can’t win ever battle she faces. For now, she simple has to keep her feet firm on the ground. They won’t be so easily spooked this time. “I think there are some to the south, near the sound,” she muses. She didn’t like the idea being so far from the center but if they are safer, temporarily, she’d rather keep everyone safe.

portia squinted as she looked to where thuringwethil spoke about-- through the rain and steam as the rain hit the warm cliffs it was hard to see much of anything too far off, but she looked nonetheless. her nose scrunched in accordance with her heda's own thoughts, the sound was not so close to the center of the territory and therefore less safe. portia loathed the idea of forcing her children out away from the safety of hougeda, but she supposed some things could not help. 

"whatever you think is best," she offered, for as much as she hated the idea, she would regret losing her precious babies (and wildfire's babies) to a flooded den. and besides, she trusted her commander. 

with one last look out into the ocean, she bowed her head. "i think we should head back inside-- i'd rather you not catch pneumonia," she told her, though it was the same about herself. summer was beginning and her childrens were finally growing old enough for her to leave them on their own-- why ruin that blessing by getting sick and being holed up all day? she watched as thuringwethil looked out over the sea a little longer before following her back down the cliffs and into the caverns, where portia found a good corner to shake shake shake shake all the water off of her speckled pelt.