Lost Creek Hollow familiar faces

@Mordecai ?!

It felt strange, being in this familiar—yet, unfamiliar—place. Each step that brought him closer to his former home caused a pain in his heart that would not cease. For some reason, Viggo had thought that getting away from the place where she had died would fix things. Nothing had been fixed by leaving, though something had been gained in his time outside the Teekon Wilds. Twilight Fjord had brought him a son, they had bonded, and Murray had eventually taken his last name (albeit hyphenated with his mother's). At least Murray's mother had done well for herself. Viggo could not say the same about his own life.

Something about this place was more familiar than he had expected, though. True, he had expected some things to be the same. The landscape, perhaps a few of the wolves, and maybe the season. But this was not a visual familiarity. This was a scent. Mordecai. His uncle, or some such relative. They had grown up together in Sedona, and it seemed they were destined to cross paths yet again. Perhaps this was the break he needed from his sorrows. Viggo lifted his chin and called out for whoever might greet him.

 LAWL NOPE

Harlyn could not have been more pleased with the little band's progress.  They were still in the process of claiming their territory, and yet already they had begun to grow in number.  Harlyn's heart was full with the joy of their accomplishments, and though she knew her mind was better set to work on the task at hand, she could not help but think on what came next.  In her mind, she saw herself and Mordecai settling into a den together, and that soon enough lead to the imagine of little brown and black puppies with golden eyes running at her feet.

The druid smiled to herself, but bit her lip and instructed her heart to settle.  She was definitely getting ahead of herself now, and so she went back to focusing on marking and committing pieces of her new territory to memory.  Soon enough her focus was disrupted again, but this time not by the wanderings of her own imagination but by a call upon the air from a voice she did not recognize.  Intrigued and hopeful that it might be yet another looking for a family, Harlyn changed her direction and cantered off as swiftly as she could in the direction of the stranger.

She came upon him after a short while, waiting quietly.  It seemed she was the first to arrive, which caused a flicker of a wry smile to pass her muzzle as she realized she usually came upon these situations and found Luke had beaten her to them.  Harlyn didn't recognize the man at all, but there was something oddly familiar about him... Perhaps the line of his jaw or the build of his body... She couldn't quite place it, but nonchalantly brushed it off.  With a low chuff and a wag of her tail, she approached with all the confidence of an alpha, but little of the wary mistrust that was so often intermingled.

holy crap last night knocked me out so bad that i've been up for two hours and i still don't feel awake. it's like i'm stoned. do not want, i need awarenesssss.

He had been tossing the consideration to bed down somewhere and rest when a call rose up off in the distance. He listened to its melody linger through the humid summer air, but did not at first pinpoint the familiarity that resided in its tone. Still, with the prospect that someone was either hanging around inquiring after them or otherwise had some other intent, Mordecai would not waste time in going to meet them.

And when he stumbled across where they were, the familiarity he had not been able to place revealed itself for him. "Viggo," he said, honestly surprised. Even if had only been a good solid year since he had last seen his nephew (who really was more of a brother than anything, honestly), Mordecai had not expected their paths to cross again. This alone was just enough to stir faint memories of the Spine, but they were passing at best. He would not dwell on what had transpired now. "It's been a long time, how have you been?" His tail whipped strongly through the air behind him; Viggo's surprise turn in was certainly a happy one.

Her scent on the wind told him much of what he needed to know. The rest was implied by her posture. "You’re Mordecai’s girl," Viggo replied. His brother-uncle had done well for himself, it seemed, and for a second, Viggo thought about turning away and forgetting the whole thing. He was happy for his fellow Ostrega, without a doubt, but it still hurt to think that Mordecai's love was alive and well. Viggo swallowed, remembering that he had to face his past instead of hiding from it any longer.

Before he could explain further, Mordecai appeared, greeting him as any brother would. "I’ve been worse," Viggo replied with a dry smile. "Discovered I have a few kids in the world. Got to meet one of them. He seemed like a decent chap." Viggo let the words hang in the air for a little longer than he should have before asking, "So you’re settling down here?" He had no desire to linger on the past. The whole reason he had come here was to face it, yes, but that did not mean he wanted to wax poetic about what was done.

It seemed though she was the first on the scene, it was not long-lived that she be the only one.  No sooner had Harlyn's face burst into a coy, but quite pleased smile at being referred to as "Mordecai's girl", the Ostrega himself arrived and stole the spotlight.  The druid didn't mind though, but instead was thrilled as the pair greeted each other with familiarity and warmth.

Harlyn took a couple of steps to come nearer, but otherwise let her presence fade into the background as they spoke to each other.  The name 'Viggo' resounded in her mind, and after puzzling over it for a moment, she remembered - this was Mordecai's nephew, the one who had been a part of the Spine before Harlyn had arrived.  Another bit of excitement touched her heart, but she held her tongue patiently, leaving it to Mordecai to introduce her when he found the moment.

gd u stevie we totally shadowposted each other and i'm not even gonna fix my first post LOL, WE'LL JUST FIX IT HERE OR SOMETHING IDK.

And as it were, beyond the seemingly narrow band of his vision after having spotted Viggo, Harlyn had intercepted him first. The slightest of movements from her drew his attention away briefly, but he could not have said that he was entirely surprised by her arrival there. As it were, she had been on top of things to begin with (oh lord that sounds so wrong out of context), and in some truth the Hollow was quickly becoming more her baby than his. But the division of labor in his mind was just and fair.

But his attention was ultimately left to settle back on Viggo as he spoke. For him it was a surprisingly revelation for Viggo to discover that he had children somewhere in the world — yet then again it perhaps should not have surprised him at all. Their gene pool had done its wandering from time to time, and it seemed to have again. Mordecai nodded at his words, though there may have been a parting thought about whether or not he had ever left behind a family without knowing it. All of this was shoved aside at the mention of what they were doing there, and the desire to linger on a note of the past was easily frittered away elsewhere.

"More or less," he stated with a faint smile. "Harlyn and I here, and a couple of others. Figured we should make good on it before we find ourselves leg deep in snow and all that." His smile solidified at the thought, though he could not help but wonder how far away that snow really was. It was much too hot right now for it, thankfully. "At least that's our plan for now. We could always make use of some more able wolves, though. If you're interested." He wouldn't beat around the bushes, nor reneg on the offer of a home to Viggo. For as much as he would have liked him to remain at the Spine, life had a way of working things out for itself.

An offer to stay with Mordecai was a hard one to pass up, and Viggo did not think that he could say no. "I think," he said, "I’d like that." He had not had any solid plans when he had come back. Meeting back up with Mordecai seemed logical, though, and Viggo figured there were dozens of worse choices he could make. Perhaps, at some point, he could revisit the spine. Now was not the time, though. He still wasn't sure if he was over Ptarmigan, but maybe one day he would be.

"Put me to work however you’d like," Viggo said, giving Mordecai a light-hearted wink. Even through all that had happened, he had not become some kind of robot. Ptarmigan's death was almost a year behind him, now, and finding his son—or rather, his son finding him—had somehow helped him to heal. He had to fight through this one way or another, and what better way than to spend time with his longtime friend and brother.

Harlyn smiled softly when Mordecai referred to her and began to talk about the formation of their pack.  In truth, the onset of Winter had had little to do with her reason for wanting to move on it now.  The gods she followed had spoken to her that day after the meeting at the Plateau, and she could no more deny their will than she could refuse to breathe.

She kept that to herself though, instead listening quietly as the Ostregas spoke.  The druid gave an approving nod when Mordecai extended an invitation to Viggo to join them.  She was quite fond of all the Ostregas she'd met thus far and if Mordecai deemed this one worthy as well, she didn't have an argument against it.  When he asked to be put to work, Harlyn found her entrance to the conversation.  "Well, there are borders to be enforced and caches to be stocked," she suggested, stepping closer to Mordecai, "Or if it's more your speed, there's land around the Hollow that is yet to be explored that we could use more information on - other packs in the area, potential hunting grounds, et cetera."  There was certainly much to be done still, but Harlyn was open to letting her family decide how they wanted to contribute.

i feel like spotify knows i'm posting because it keeps pulling out lovely instrumental tracks from various games and post-rock albums... when i'm playing from my huge ass catalog of saved music. >__>

Harlyn was on point with what all they needed to do, and Mordecai didn't disagree with them. They still had a lot to do before they were properly a pack of sorts, though the way he saw it they may as well have been. Yet time would be the ultimately decider in that — their borders would take time to establish, their caches would take time to build and keep secure. And of course, their ranks would grow as time went on as well, and they would have to adjust to that growth accordingly.

"Of course, you're also welcome to take a breather too," he went on to add, hoping that Viggo would be inclined to explore the woodland before taking off again. It wasn't a ploy to keep him close to home, so to speak, but Mordecai could not help but indirect point at the travel worn nature of his relative. "There's a few surprises here we haven't found, and I think you'd be intrigued to meet another of our kin that's joined us." He had no idea if he knew Andalusia, somehow or someway, let alone if he recalled Dhani at all. For all they had been through, even Mordecai had a hard time recalling every little branch of what their sprawling family tree had become.

Fading!

Viggo was happy with both of their suggestions and followed the pair into the woods.  The allure of another Ostrega in their midst took precedence of the conversation as the trio disappeared beneath the trees.  Harlyn felt for a moment a bit of longing for her own family.  To be reconnected with one of her own kin would be a blessing to the Cinderloch - she hadn't seen a single one of them in many years.  Glancing to Mordecai and Viggo striding alongside her, she had to smile in spite of her herself.  Having spent so much time with them, the Ostregas were more and more seeming to her like family.  So, she really wasn't all too lonesome after all.