Sleepy Fox Hollow [bwp] zerreißen

@Takiyok @Ketzia @Nyx @Kazimir @Stag @Monarch @Mesa @Trench @Julien @Antha

he had returned home to find blodreina dead, praimfaya gone, ingram to follow. the silence in diaspora was deafening, but moreso, the trembling had worsened. and now the very mountains began to shatter, cascading in cold expanses of dust and shale from their perches.
one such dawn, the general called firmly to his wolves. we must depart! he cried into the cold air, as he strode through falling snow, roaming about to find their faces, to locate the children. the hollow scouted by diasporans would do for now; even with dire rockfalls, the center of it could remain safe until he found a place across the stone faces.
now! he commanded, and the crash of crumbling monoliths confirmed for him his words. 
longing for diaspora, angered that they must leave behind stigmata's grave, mahler nevertheless set out with those who followed, and made for the valley toward the sunspire's end.
slow going, dangerous — he suffered a contusion as rocks showered down suddenly upon the caravan, but merely noted the tearing upon his shoulder and pressed on, on, onward into the wide mouth of the hollow and its untouched sheltering trees beyond.
the earth continued to growl and heave.

The world seemed to be ending, the ground shaking and groaning and the flora and animals upon its terrain dying. It terrified Kazimir to her very core and she had fought the terror the only way she knew, through mind numbing work. She was out every day, patrolling the mountains and keeping an eye on what happened around them. She had begun to notice a while back the prey leaving and the damage to the land, thus leaving her unsurprised when Mahler called for them to leave, an urgent command following only to be followed by the last deadly warning of earth crumbling. She gasped and stood up, running as steadily as she could toward the borders and just behind the General, earning herself a few cuts and some good bruises as she clumsily tried to navigate the falling rocks. All the while she said not a word, face a mask of steeled determination. They would be able to survive past this and as soon as it was deemed safely possible, they could do what was best for Diaspora.

Sleep had not set upon him as it usually did, so when the mountain began to protest in greater amounts he was awake, livid, and trying to find his remaining family. The instabilities of the mountainside were terrifying and it further cemented Mesa's belief that the mountain itself had awakened, that it was trying to devour each wolf, and when it could not get its offering in time it had decided to destroy them all. Perhaps it was paranoia that had kept him awake — or some sense of wrongness, anticipating the events as they unfolded. Either way Mesa had run amok across the areas he could reach; many were already cut off from him, or did not feel stable enough for his perusal. He needed to find Stag and Monarch, Takiyok, and even thought of Praimfaya — but the pugnacious little girl had long since abandoned them.

He tried to scout for others; Mahler had been off on a trip somewhere and so his mind did not immediately go to the general, but there came a shout, and Mesa shifted his route to sweep nearby where he'd thought it originated. It was here that he glimpsed the dark man, and called out, Have you seen my mother? Surely if he could just find Takiyok, the others would be nearby. Mesa did not notice the hobbled figure of Kazimir until after, and even though he did not trust the woman nor see any reason why the mountain couldn't take her and be calmed, he ran to her side and tried to aid her escape.

She didn't want to leave the lake yet; it held the bodies of Tahani and Stigmata, and she couldn't bear the thought of abandoning them while her grief was still so fresh. But as the rumbles grew lounder and the quaking stronger, the mountains began to crumble around them, and Taki couldn't allow her children or the pack to remain in danger any longer. As if Mahler were reading her thoughts, his call came then, urging them all to leave their home and find somewhere safer. Monarch woke from where she slept nearby, scared enough lately by the rumbling to seek her out for comfort. Her face wrinkled in fear, and Taki moved to her side to help her up. Come on, we need to go, she pressed with urgency. And her normally obstinate daughter quietly moved to her side and began to follow, too scared by the quaking to argue. 

She heard Mesa's question as she joined the group, moving over to where he was helping Kazimir flee. She looked around, hoping to see Stag. Her heart dropped when she realized he wasn't there. You and Monarch go with Kazimir and Mahler. I'll be there as soon as I find your brother. She wouldn't leave until she knew he was safe too. A long rumble, followed by a loud crack sounded as dirt and rocks rained down on them. Pieces of the mountain began to tumble down around them. Go, she demanded. She needed to be sure they were safe before she went looking for her son. Her gaze sought Kazimir's then. Her normally cold features now held fear and a plea to help her children safely from the lake.

One by one the wolves of the mountain fell. Stigmata, Takiyok’s sister and then Blodreina. It was with a hardened vigilance that the mother kept watch upon her brood, ensuring the trio remained close to her as the mountain trembled with its wrath.

Ketzia, for all the things she had witnessed in life, was still not set to cast her belief in the divine, and yet she found her eyes trailing to the sky, considering the shatter of rocks as the mountain felt as if it would crumble below them. She was certain Stigmata’s death had set this off—the desire to stake claim upon an entire mountain and lay such a grand and greedy legacy that now fell beneath their very paws.

It was a warning if she had ever heard one.

Mahler called to them, urging them onward, and hollowly, the she-wolf clipped a short response to their General, her eyes falling upon the direction where her fallen lover rested.

She herded her children toward the dispersing wolves—gentle nips cast to each child that dare stray from the small group of adults, her jaded eyes unreadable as she focused solely upon the survival of her children, and throughly ignoring the breaking of her heart as Stigmata was fully left behind by them all.

Blodreina was gone, having faced a miserable fate that drove Ingram far from her once more. She'd considered following him, briefly, so eager she was to cling to that one sliver of familiarity in her life.

Ultimately, she chose to remain. It was that budding fondness for Mahler, for Ketzia and her children, to feel like she might belong, that kept the Ostrega wolfess rooted to Diaspora's mountains. She was not to know, but it seemed they may come to need her just as she needed them.

Beneath her paws, the earth shifted again. It was something Nyx had tried to prepare herself for, considering how regularly the trembles came. Still, the movement surprised her and she hurried along her way, veering only when Mahler's voice rose to rally what was left of his pack.

She followed his voice, already aware of the trail she'd only recently taken with Blodreina toward their chosen destination and, hopefully, far enough away to leave their fear of the mountains behind.

closing this the end of the week <3

they came, they attended, they ran. the sunspire fell round them as they descended to the hollow, and mahler's heart tore within him to know that the promise of their return was a weak one indeed.
auf wiedersehen, bruder, came the pained cadence of his spirit.