Wapun Meadow botchlings

as busy and fulfilled as the current residents of diaspora kept him, stigmata could not help when his thoughts would turn to piper, and a forsaken pining would set deep in his chest to know that she was alright. he could not fathom his emotions for her, perhaps because he had only ever had sons and never a daughter, but it was only a matter of time before the thought of her absence would drive him from the mountains (briefly) in search of a trace of her.

his search would start and end in the meadow, he decided en route. the snowbarren flats were close enough to bearclaw valley - which he presently refused to venture near or inside - that he could find any recent passing of her if she had been there. the smoke-furred wraith presumed through logic - and partially through hope - that she might be lamenting the loss of her birthplace's claim either there or nearby. but after sifting through the plains for several hours and turning up nothing but stale deer tracks, the wolf was prepared that cold, darkening evening to abandon his search and return home.

@Sarah

Lately Sarah had begun to think, what if she did not return to the Lost Creek hollow. She was grateful for Terance's kindness offering her shelter and place among his people, but it would take very little time for them to realize that she was far from well, that she was struggling to socialize and blend in and really did not wish to do so. Pain needed to be felt, they said, you have to go to the very bottom to rise up again, they reassured. Except it never occurred to anyone that just maybe she preferred to float in the dark depths of the ocean never to see light again. If she were to stay with them, make hollow her home, she would have to deal with her issues. And her pride, that was still standing among the ruins of what her life had once been, did not allow it to happen. Sarah had always been tough and she would not let herself be a victim to her weakness now.

She was drawn out of her thoughts, when she spotted a dark-pelted figure moving in the paling light of the day. Mistaking it for her brother, she moved towards him and called out: "Terance!"

terance!

stigmata turned alertly, and drew himself up so that the approaching wolf might realize their mistake. his tail lashed, befouling his normally tempered demeanor in favor of irritation. not because he had been mistaken for someone else, but because he recognized that name. the wolf indra had run to, instead of him. the stranger had unwittingly re-opened up a very large wound for the iron general, and it took him longer than a moment to settle tersely into acceptance.

"no. stigmata," he informed nearing figure, feeling no need to correct her mistake further or reveal yet that he was aware of who he'd been mistaken for. "who are you?" he returned, narrowing his gaze as her features came fully into view.

Sarah realized her mistake soon enough and Stigmata confirmed it readily. She shrunk back, ears drawn to her skull and fear flashed in her eyes. This was not a good place to meet a stranger that seemed to her more hostile than he really was. He was in advantage here - he probably knew the surroundings here, he had more confidence in his stride - she had happened to be in his way, unprepared for anything.

"His sister," she replied quietly, looking down at her feet, feeling defeated, without having put a fight, which was a new low for her. Proud Sarah cowed like a weakling. "I am sorry."

without sympathy he looked over the shrinking she-wolf, his smokey frown ironing out to a dispassionate sneer as he noted long legs, greys and silvers, and burn marks - something he had only seen once before in his life and just as it had then, the sight left him with a distant despair for the devastation he knew to be fire. the wolf he had known with such injuries had been much worse off, however. stigmata thought her lucky, if nothing else; a withdrawn creature with potentially understandable reasons, but lucky nonetheless.

"you must not be a very close sister, mistaking me for him," he accused her airily with a now typical level of annoyance. the fact that she was of lost creek hollow almost didn't register to him, and the information that she was so closely related to the wolf she had mistaken him for only made him sigh. stigmata only thought about that place when it was brought up to him, like now, and otherwise they didn't exist in his purview. he had no ill-thoughts of them, or thoughts of them at all really, he only knew that he hadn't wanted to be injected into their dynamic without cause, and they kept showing up anyway.

"He is the only family I have got," Sarah replied without any confidence in her voice. True - Terance was by blood and he had been sympathetic and understanding, when he had heard her story, but that had been weeks ago now. He had not sought her out, nor had she tried to find him and talk. Hadn't she told everything already? And she did not wish to either face him or pick up the subject again, fearing that he resented her for her failures. She would understand, if he did, she hated herself for them every day, yet it would hurt even more to hear someone else say out loud, what she knew to be true. 

"The rest perished in a forest fire," she added, though it did not mean she stopped hoping that she was wrong. That somehow, someway the rest had made it to the safety. "Were you looking for someone?" she asked then, recalling her last conversation with a different stranger a day before.

the tactician studied the hollow resident, wondering what about the she-wolf could be useful - could be formed. more than this he couldn't quite decipher what it was about her that made him linger and made him listen. if he dared to reflect on it then it would have to be the burns, and his insatiable desire to find something proverbially edible beneath the charring. there was nothing he thought he could have possible said to assuage the gravity of her losses, so the general opted to remain quiet, inclining his head in a single bow of acknowledgement, as well as condolence. he imagined it wasn't a subject she wanted to expound on.

"i was," he admitted freely. "a young wolf by the name of piper. i thought she might be near here, heading towards your pack." no need to keep playing games then.

Sarah was glad that Stigmata did not push further on the matter of her family and moved on to a topic that was entirely unrelated to her and therefore easier for her to work on. She took two more steps backwards to from from him, shook her coat to rid of the earlier tension and with this done looked the man in the eyes, as she listened to his reasons of being out here. 

Yet another problem that she could not be useful for, but she tried her best by asking: "What does she look like? Maybe I can tell Lost Creek hollow inhabitants to look out for her."

as she began to pry for information about piper, stigmata curled his lip. "you are thoughtful, but that is not your concern, my lady," he said coolly - borderline frostbitten. "we are not familiar. and i will not put more eyes out for a wolf that may not even want to be found, let alone recognized by complete strangers." a nicer wolf might've tacked on a "if you can understand," but he wasn't nice and he didn't care whether she understood or not. she didn't need to.

"you could at least offer your name before asking me to confide in you," the wraith scowled, looking at the burned wolf with unabashed expectancy; feeling no need to treat her any gentler than the next soft-bellied creature that skittered along his path. most were too afraid to remain; too intimidated by his manners to ever get past the prickly exterior he intentionally presented to most submissive strangers. because he had no time for the fearful, and he always wanted to identify as quickly as possible. was terence's sister a weakling? she couldn't be. she had survived a fire, where all others were presumed perished. she still existed after all that tragedy, and managed to fill her belly day to day through her sorrow...

but did that make her strong enough?

Hate raised it's ugly head from the dark corner of her brain, where it had been sleeping soundly, opened it's firey red eyes and hissed. Something in the manner Stigmata had spoken to her put Sarah off and made her reach for that figurative knife in order to point it at him threatiningly and ask him to change his tone. For a flash of a moment, the hatred shone through the broken she-wolf's broken shell and her muzzle twitched lightly, as if she was suppressing a will to growl. 

She found it surprising that, while she was beaten in the ground, she did not yet consider herself dirt that someone else could tread on. "Sounds fair," she replied, swallowing all the snarky remarks that hate was shoving her way. "Sarah."

there - the twitch of a lip; a modicum of distaste - a show of her self-worth. stigmata's tail began to wag slowly as she replied, a satisfied expression creasing his muzzle as he relaxed somewhat. without a need to chase her off, he also felt no need to stand so rigidly or watch her so intently. the wolf glanced away, having discovered all her needed for the moment, and confident she didn't have the temperament for a sneak-attack. "have i offended you, sarah, sister of terance?" he asked casually, perhaps not done trying to push her buttons, or perhaps interested in something other than her appearance now. it was difficult to tell.

Sarah did not reply to Stigmata's question, because it made no sense to her. First they were bussiness-like, now he was doing what - teasing her? She furrowed her brow and eyed him curiously for a moment, then let it all go with a sigh. There was a person missing and they were diverting from the subject. After all he had promised to give more details (that's, what she had understood) and despite his earlier claims that the girl probably did not want to be found, he was searching for her still. Therefore she was important, finding her was important as well.

"That girl, who you were looking for - is she someone I should look out for too or you don't want any help with that," she asked, to have some clarity on the matter and have the subject closed.

stigmata stiffened, annoyance rankling him as he thought they had gotten past this bit already. hadn't he already explained to her that she was a stranger he had no intention of setting after his girl? had providing her name suddenly made them familiar to one another? or did she think he had implied her name would suffice for him trusting her? the wolf cocked his head and snorted. she wanted to look out for piper that badly? "you have her name," he said with finality. do with that what you will. "if you are so desperate to be useful, i can think of a hundred other things i would rather have you do for me."

Is it really so that every time I refresh Wolf, Stigmata's avatar looks different?

Names do not describe people, Sarah thought, but did not say it out loud. Maybe finding that Piper-girl was not that important for him after all. He probably did not care too much, which was a good thing in a way. Otherwise he would be a walking shell like her. Or he would not. Stigmata was hard to decipher and the more time she spent in his company, the less likely it seemed to understand him. 

Though he frustrated her and that hate within her was hissing and spitting venom, she did not leave right away. He was a problem for her mind to solve and, while the gears kept going, the darkness was kept at bay. So far she had come to a conclusion that he was a peculiar individual with an impressive vanity. In order to see, how far would he go on looking down at her, she canted her head and replied to his sugestion with a question: "Like what?" Curiousity was genuine.

yeah, it's supposed to do something like that! the same thing happens with DA's forum header too :) also since i've let this get wildly out-of-date, we'll call this an ending and hope for a future thread <3

the brooding male looked her up and down, silently contemplative as his tail swayed idly and his tarnished gaze raked her with naked scrutiny. "there are mouths to feed, herds to maintain and follow, threats to uproot... endless needs, and even more wants. you seem hale enough, but my pursuits are not for the small-minded." wanting to settle down in a single place and raise pups 'til death? that was small-minded to stigmata. he did not think lesser of those wolves - because nurturing a family was an honorable reason to exist, in his opinion -  but the wolf also understood that he and wolves of that mindset lived intrinsically different lives. so if it was her intent to find a permanent station in familiar woods, of the like, then they could not cohabit.

"the mountains - that entire range," stigmata drawled, gesturing towards the near-distant sunspires; "is never short of work. certainly enough of it to keep generations of us busy, and so i intend to spend my life there, hopefully with wolves who find value in a life that does not come easy."

he turned to aim his forehalf in that direction, though kept his peripheral on sarah, particularly on her scars. "i have detoured long enough, and though i am not keen on visitors, if you were so inclined: catch a fox and bring it to me as a sign of good faith. your troubles will be rewarded, and i would a pledge myself to offering you more than a provincial life. i can be found at the lake, this side of the mountains, for a time; my offer has no expiration, but i cannot say for how long we, the diaspora, will occupy that claim."

he began a steady lope in the direction of home then, not pausing to hear a response or regard her expression for genuine interest. she would either find him too offensive and pushy, or she would be enticed - he had already let himself become distracted, and he found no reason to linger any longer on all the what ifs of today. he would either see sarah again or he wouldn't, and it would be under the terms provided... or something else entirely. honestly, he'd be surprised if he ever saw the fire-touched she-wolf again, but that wasn't to say he didn't look forward to its possibility.