Chimera Fields you expose the film in me

for @Mirabelle. around 9/27-9/28. <3 woops i wrote you a novel

we're drawing rings around the world

Thus far the second scouting trip has been uneventful. Étoille supposes this is a good thing insofar as avoiding conflict, and he had not anticipated news this early into their journey anyway. It is strange to be retracing his steps so soon after committing them to the earth the first time. It is odd to think that only a matter of weeks ago he was making this journey in reverse, ambling his way towards Drageda's borders with no sense of purpose. And to think how much he's changed in such short time - still not a man of ambition, but he carries responsibility well. He thinks of Furi back home (and what a strange thing, to have a home), safe with her caretaker.

The purpose of their journey is heavy enough Étoille does not give himself room for idle fancy. He is their guide and he is confident in his leading thus far, but it occupies much of his thoughts. That said he cannot help but think of Mirabelle in passing moments. Perhaps it is odd to be hung up on someone he's known so briefly but there was something about the woman that stuck out to him. The urgency of her presence, maybe, the intensity of her past, so strongly constrated against his own lacksadaisical existence. 

Well. There is no use dwelling. It is early when the titan slips from their party - not far, merely taking the opportunity for a bit of solitude. He likes Drageda and its inhabitants, but he is still not a social man by any standards. That is the rub for being put in this mission, still wet behind the ears as Kru, though he would never find it in him to complain about such a thing. 

On his way north he'd passed through these fields but briefly. (He'd left rather quickly after his encounter with the woman in the quarry, an awkward thing with the overt affections of women and men). Now he takes the opportunity to linger and enjoy the rising sun, admiring the way the light touches the field, bathing the wildflowers in a warm glow. The division of the field is striking but Étoille sticks close to the eastern half, letting himself appreciate a moment amongst the flowers.

For my reference — Mirabelle has been injured falling down into Morningside.  Injuries sustain include a garish wound on her left hip, various cuts and scrapes on her legs. Additionally, being vague about the Morningside thread..

 

Mirabelle found Morningside to be suffocating.  The girl had done what she could (that will be established in a backdated thread probably) to contribute to the pack that mended her back to health but with the near constant aching in her thihg, she had managed quite little.  And although she had always been a pack wolf and so missed her family, she had fallen upon Morningside in a time of need and therefore felt that her very existence was an intrusion on their lives... no matter how hospitable they were.

Early in the morning before the sun dare rise, when the thoughts in her mind refused to cease, she parted herself from the pack that took her in (poor, pitiful girl!) without notice or warning and walked into the wilds before her.  She did not intend on being gone long yet it seemed that the more she walked, the less her mind cleared.

Who was she in Morningside?  She had not spoken with Grayday about becoming one of them and she didn't know what she was worth to them. 

But solitude did not suit her.  She had clung to the first wolf she met — and how kind he had been, too! — and then immediately stumbled into yet another pack after the titan's departure.  When she was alone she was scared, and the life of a lone wolf was decidedly not something she wanted to continue.

As the sun begins its steady rise over the horizon, a the scent of the man she'd just been thinking of cuts through the wildflowers of home, a stray breeze carrying it over from wherever-he-was.  She seeks him out.

Two ghosts in a field, he is difficult to miss.  She greets him wordlessly — this time he shall be the first to speak.

It is not often the object of one's thoughts appears like a specter, and yet he is confronted by the sight of her. 

For a moment the titan wonders if he is daydreaming, but he is not that fanciful. Silently he steps towards her, holding his tongue, just admiring the way she looks in the pink toned morning light. Étoille has never been a romantic, nor would he necessarily describe his feeling for her as such. But somehow, she is important.

"Mirabelle," he greets, finally. She smells slightly different, but he's sure he does as well. She smells mostly the same and he feels warm, until he drinks in the details. "You're hurt," he murmurs, stepping close enough to brush her shoulder with his nose. A rare gesture of physical intimacy but an opportunity to examine the wounds closer. He has, until this point, put the locus of his attachment on his promise to protect her, and here is evidence that he has not. "Désolé," the titan says mournfully, pulling away to study her face intently.

Oh!

He lumbers towards her, silhouetted by the pastel halo of sunrise.  Mirabelle is both surprised and relieved that she had not been hallucinating the man of her memory.

Etoille, she counters, turning the seeping flesh of her hip away from his prying gaze, I am fine.  She leans into his muzzle before he turns away and she studies the lilting tones of his native tongue, remiss that she could not understand.

I fell, she explained, I was scaling over the Wall during a light rain and lost my footing.  I am fine, really.  Mirabelle takes the time to smell him and notices the changes.

Did you find someone? A pack?

*phone posts in bed*

An irrational part of him eases when she returns his name. Their encounter had been short - he would not have blamed her for not remembering, but hearing it nonetheless soothes him. Her voice is lovely as he recalls, but he is still concerned by the gouge on her hip. That it comes from her actions and not the assault of another is something reassuring, but he still feels a twinge of guilt for not being there to catch her. 

"Oui," he answers her question, blinking. "There is a pack to the north, along the cliffs above the shore. They are Drageda." Étoille is reminded of his mission, his near black gaze drawn toward the direction he knows their makeshift camp lies. "I am accompanying a scouting party," he explains. "One of their number has been missing for some time. She was traveling to a pack south of here that I know of, so I am guiding us there." Explaining aloud it sounds wilder than in his head - so brief since their last encounter that he is in this position. Still:

"What of you?" He asks curiously. A small part of him imagines her joining Drageda with him, and likes it. But Étoille has never been the sort to worry himself with the actions of others. As long as Mirabelle is happy where she ends up - and as long as Étoille may visit - he will be satisfied.

What a ride!  It was not too long ago they had met each other on the shores, and here he was leading (in her head) accompanying a scouting party for a pack.  It pleased her that he had been keeping himself busy, and that he had found what he was looking for.  Presumably.

Me?  Her brows raise as her ears slick back, wondering how to describe her emotional predicament.  I'm not sure.  I have been looked over by the Morningside crew.  I guess I kind of fell into their land, they settled right underneath the cliff.

She hums briefly. I appreciate what they've done for me.  I just feel like a bother, so I went on a morning stroll.  But I don't know, I kind of like them.

She lifts her nose to the air again.  Although she cannot smell his Drageda she wonders that if the way the wind is blowing, if they can smell her.  Are you enjoying yourself?

At the mention of Morningside Étoille feels a strange mix: he knows where they claim, and it is not too far from his new home - but Eske had not gotten along with their alpha, and while Étoille's own opinion on the man is mostly ambivalent, he knows Wanlida's grudge will carry weight in pack politics. "I know of Morningside," he tells her instead. "I briefly encountered Grayday during our previous mission."

Grayday had seemed to him as a man with a lot on his plate. But if they treated Mirabelle with kindness.. his opinion of the sad man rises. Just slightly. "I am glad." he rumbles, encouraged. "I am sure you are not a bother, but I am glad to see you, Mirabelle." Étoille does not quite smile, but his voice is genuine and affectionate. At her question, he hums. "It is quite a responsibility," he admits. "But they are.." Large. "Respectable. I feel at ease with them." He is looking forward to the opportunity to settle more fully within their borders once this trip concludes. Spend time with Furi in particular, but perhaps even get to know his kru more.