The Sentinels I'm a vegetarian and I ain't fucking scared of him

Set after her visit at Blackrock Depths! @Deirdre @Ingram @Lotte @Muses and anyone else! XD Being vague about her time at Blackrock for now :p

She moved further along the coast, wanting to visit Donnelaith specifically. While she had never truly felt home there, it had still been it, and she wanted to see how everything was going there. Perhaps she could visit her old den, see how much she had grown compared to it. Or maybe new wolves had joined that she could meet. She sure hoped so - she loved meeting new friends. Especially boys- but that was slightly beside the point.

When she reached its borders, she threw her head back once again, letting out her summoning call - mostly for her sister, Lotte. If Ingram was here, perhaps he would recognize her voice... She really had to get him out of her head before it turned into some weird obsession.

The normally ebullient bard had been unnaturally subdued as of late, and today was no exception. Her conversation with Dagfinn had left her with a great deal to think about, and much of this thinking was done on the move — preferably wandering through the weald or climbing mountains. Lotte had only just reached the borders of Donnelaith after one such excursion when a familiar summoning howl rose above the sanctuary of sequoias, immediately capturing her attention. The voice had deepened slightly and rounded out as Chusi had matured, but the chord it struck within Lotte’s heartstrings was unmistakable. Soot-stockinged legs snapped into a headlong sprint, black-masked face breaking into a smile, and a joyous cry erupted from her:

“Ai, minun päiväperhonen on palannut!”

The girl had grown considerably, and though Lotte had expected as much given her age, it came as a bit of a shock. Spindly, gangly legs had lengthened and were nearly as strong and sturdy as Lotte’s own; pride and confidence colored the girl’s lean, muscular physique; and in the ocher eyes Lotte remembered so well was a wider understanding of the world. “Arturo is making a warrior of you, pikkusisko,” the smoke-and-shadow rogue said fondly. “I have missed you very much, Chusi! How are you? How fares Teaghlaigh?” Out of habit, she aimed to nuzzle the girl’s cheek with the wet of her nose in a playful kiss, though if Chusi was averse to such affection she would give the youth some space.

Donnelaith's newest churlish recruit had been rifling through a deep band of dark soil when a call filtered through the lonely forest: while Ingram did not immediately connect the voice with Chusi's, he felt it was familiar, which troubled him. With a shift of uprooted earth the slender boy rose to his feet and headed in the direction of where he thought the call had come.

As the dark shadow of his form flittered through the punctuated spires of sequoia and woodbeam, it occurred to him he knew the summoner: Chusi. He slowed his pace, reluctant to appear too eager to meet her. His expression soured subtly as he saw another wolf was present -- and he was surprised by the fickle jealousy that unwantedly snaked in his gut. He barely knew Chusi, and he certainly did not know the female that greeted her, but he had no intention of being part of a small gathering.

Damn -- he regretted walking into their line of vision almost immediately. It was too late for him to turn around, so awkwardly he halted -- his limbs strung haphazardly like a suspended marionette left unattended by its director.

Unlike with Blackrock, a wolf that she knew well came to her almost immediately - and a wide grin appeared on the matured girl's face. Her sister! Oh, how she had missed Lotte, even if she knew not her real name for it had been never told. Chusi ignored the border, finding that her second home could easily accept her in to cuddle with her big sister just a few seconds sooner. Of the foreign words her sister called out, only one could the not-so-little-anymore girl recognize; the word she had taught Ingram. Indeed the butterfly had returned, bigger and better.

Isosisko! Chusi called out as they could finally touch. Chusi was surprised she did not have to look up at her, for they were roughly the same size now, and that felt a little new. Hell, it was new, but not in a bad way. Chusi wagged her fluffy tail as she gave the other time to take in how much she had grown, smiling proudly. Indeed her father was making a warrior of her - and she couldn't be happier. I'm doin' amazin'! 'n Teaghlaigh is well - Arturo too! She chipped happily. He adopted meh, I'm a Fearghal now! I'm Teaghlaigh's Oidhre, 'n- 'n everyone's so nice, 'n - As she was happily announcing all the things that had happened, she noticed a dark shape in the distance. She gasped, the cold, wet nuzzle of her sister not getting through to her as she watched the other from afar.

Ingram?! She called out after a few seconds of awkward silence. Her mouth was agape, and she looked shocked to see him to say the least. 

She was content to pad about, patrolling Donnelaith for any interesting events, as usual. She could hear wolves chattering not too far off, and casually adjusted her path so that she might be able to walk by them. It was curiosity and nothing more that led her to find a trio of wolves - one of which included her own, not so little, Ingram. The youth was immediately recognized by one of the wolves who had named him, seeming somewhat shocked, but not unfriendly. With a low chuckle, the young wolf approached from Ingram's rear, gently shifting her left shoulder so that she could gently nudge him forward as she went by. "Having a friend over today, Ingram?" She teased, an impish - but not unkind - smile curling her lips. Her gaze shifted from the boy, to the girl that was around his age, and then to Lotte, who she had not had a chance to talk to much. Her grin turned into a brilliant smile that she turned to Chusi, before nodding amicably to her packmate.

Lotte listened eagerly as Chusi rattled off a series of updates, amusement and pride limning the bard’s moonbright eyes. “Oidhre” meant little to the smoke-and-shadow rogue — but then again, so did her own title of “Labhandair”. She supposed it was simply the way of the Teekon Wilds wolves: to keep all wolves, subordinate and otherwise, numbered in a specific pecking order with special titles referring to flowers, pelagic land masses, and ships. Unnatural in the grand scheme of things, but generally easy to follow, remember, and adhere to. These thoughts were pushed aside as Lotte warmly praised, “Congratulations, pikkusisko,” for whatever “Oidhre” was, it appeared to be a point of pride for the ocher-eyed wolf. “So, Uncle Turo became your isä after all,” she playfully teased, recalling a conversation she’d had with a much younger Chusi. “Perhaps I am a seer of the future like the päivänvalo uneksija of my home,” she mused, speaking in jest.

The approach of two other wolves — packmates, from the smell of them, though Lotte had not met either of them face to face — did not trouble the soot-stockinged rogue. The first, a dark and prickly specimen, was cast in a series of gangly lines and angles and a sullen expression, and his name was made known to Lotte by the seraph who soon followed. “Ingram,” she had called him, her pale eyes similar to Lotte’s own but for the subtle tint of lavender and periwinkle. She was a study of winter-washed hues, a cloak of pale peach wine bisected by a wider line of rust-colored fur that ran down her spine and accented with swaths of delicate silver. “You are beautiful, talvikukinta,” she said without hesitation, bowing to the woman and her young, silver-spined friend. “My name is Lotte Ansbjørn. Ingram,” she demanded in the same breath, using the name Muses had dropped, typically impulsive and somewhat apathetic about the boy’s level of embarrassment, “hasn’t our Chusi become a beautiful young woman?” It was phrased as a question — one that a doting aunt or grandmother might employ when boasting about her niece or granddaughter — and although it was sure to embarrass both awkward teenagers, Lotte really didn’t care because the answer was obviously “yes!” paid little mind to their level of comfort.

He didn't have long enough to turn around before his presence was noted: like a swing with its descent halted, the male hung tentatively on the balance of neither standing nor moving, his eyes shifty and unwilling to meet Chusi's gaze. She was surprised to see him -- and she should have been -- for a moment the boy wished he were a hermit crab on the beach that could scuttle into its shell and hide.

Muses was a welcome distraction, and Ingram focused on her approach with unusual interest. He positioned himself alongside her silently, though he felt a blush run through his cheeks as she asked him about his friend. His gaze shot to Chusi ruefully and he looked away quickly: there was that hermit feeling again. "No," he mumbled to the ground, trailing a small line in the sand with a claw: "she just got here."

He didn't really have anything else to say and would have quietly slunk away then and there were it not for the grey woman who addressed him. Her language was well lost upon him, but the query was not -- once more he felt a hot spear of embarassment flood him. "Uhm." He cleared his throat, his long ears pulled to each side like an uncertain mule. "I haven't noticed." His voice croaked: it was a lie -- he had noticed. Damn if he could not be that hermit crab right now.

Lotte was right - maybe she had future vision. How else could she just predict that Arturo would give her his last name and a place in his home. It still felt a little new, having never had a stable family before. She smiled goofy at the other female, giving her a playful nudge if she would let her. Chusi didn't know what a päivänvalo uneksija was, but she would not ask with Ingram so close by. She had acted as if she had known almost everything, and she would keep up that shield. I still wonder where ya came fr'm... She wondered aloud when a rather pale female entered the scene.

Lotte was right again; she was beautiful. Young, too, if Chusi was not mistaken. A shot of jealousy shot through her body seeing how friendly she was with her Ingram. She was so sickeningly sweet with that smile of hers that it was hard to control her facial expression. Still, she managed to smile and nod in her direction. Ingram was feeling uncomfortable, that much she could see.

Her ears perked up when she heard her name being called. Oh God. Why Lotte felt the need to say she was becoming beautiful too was both a compliment and a curse. What was she trying to do? Was it so obvious that she found Ingram handsome? Her ears drooped down a bit when Ingram answered. Had he really not noticed? Fine - she'd make him more uncomfortable. 'n wha' about Ingram? He's one mighty nice-lookin' fella, hm? She forced a giggle after, so that it was uncertain whether she was joking or not.

Last from me! Feel free to archive. ♥

“You are a bad liar,” Lotte said cheerfully and frankly to the bluffing urchin. “You do not believe your story, and so you give others no reason to believe it.” If there was one thing Lotte was well versed in, it was lying — and although that wasn’t the best thing to be proud of, her silver tongue had meant the difference between life and death on many occasions. “I will tell you stories of my home someday soon, pikkusisko,” she promised blithely. “For now, there is something I must ask of my enchanting pack sister.” Casting a meaningful gaze at Muses over Ingram’s head — “let’s leave the two lovebirds alone,” — Lotte led the woman with the twinkling periwinkle gaze away, leaving Ingram and Chusi to say whatever they wished to one another without the embarrassing pressure of doting eyes.