Bramblepoint The Battle of Evermore

Thread for @Vallkyrie and @Antares. All others for reference- just wrapping up this section of the search so we can begin sorting out Firefly Glen's state :) Meant to be a fairly quick thread just to get caught up.

Vallkyrie had caught the scent first- and after checking out the area along the Altair of Twilight carefully, they were able to pick out Antares' scent amongst several others. Some little scraps left behind from food, some little traces left behind by herbs, making Bronco believe that they were tending to him. 

He howled for @Melaine, to let her know that he and Vallkyrie would track Antares down. His hope for her was that she might roam toward Ouroboros Spine, to let @Meerkat and @Keyni know that they'd found him, but might be delayed a few days in finding him, but that they had their first sign that he was alive. He called out for his little sister, hoping to reach her ears and assure her as well, but he was a bit far out to be sure. He hoped, then, that Melaine would deliver the message in the meantime. 

They followed the group of scents, noting that the group moved slowly as they guided Antares along. They'd headed North, toward Bramblepoint and when he began to be able to smell Antares on the air, he lifted his head and began to cast a glance around. There was a chance that the other wolves who had found him might be protective of him, so he howled out first- hoping Antares might hear, and reassure his new companions. He and Vallkyrie continued on- until he could spot their dark leader in the distance.

Antares was tired. It was a culmination of everything, one that finally came crashing down on him so viciously as this. When he reached some sense of cover in the trees of Bramblepoint, guided vaguely by the first wolf to have found him, he had nothing left.

He slept for a time once there, thankfully dreamless, tucked away as best as he was able to be--and as long as he didn't have to see the landslides anymore, he tried to drift off to elsewhere instead. Even when he did stir again, he was never around for long, or to any whole capacity to any unfortunate soul who had to witness him. Maybe he could be coaxed into a few small bites of something to eat, or any real tending, and a drink was usually his most rewarding venture. Antares just.. couldn’t. Shell-shocked, withdrawn, everything felt like a bruise, and his life was devastated in this great loss. He didn't keep track of the hours or the days they made, or anything really; didn't want to.

Yet, pulverized as he was left to feel as the dust had since begun to settle, he lived. He kept waking up, and the nightmares of this loss remained with him, haunting every breath of his, how his ribs hurt, how he thought of what had once been their mountainside rendezvous--all a reminder to what was gone now, while he was not. The strange songs in the distance, if he had really heard them, seemed to drive this point home--though he couldn't decipher their full meaning through his own fog. He thought he felt it, at least.

Now, though, sitting deep in a small thicket he had found, he was hovering on the line between regrettably awake and dozing off. In his increasing awareness, he was starting to feel guilty about the glen he had not returned to since everything, but the thought remained half-formed--answered for by the grimace he felt take shape about it. None of it felt right to him. He tried to distract himself by chewing at his toes, but it was Bronco's howl from relatively near that truly got him out of it. There were a few reactions to sort through, Antares found. He listened carefully, mostly to be sure that he was not dreaming first, before he hefted himself up to his feet. Stifling the groan and shaky at first, he glanced around to see if anyone was immediately near--but the pull to find the Blackthorn that he owed so much swiftly outweighed the urge to explain himself.

His going was slow, but steady, and in time, Antares saw motion making its way through the woods towards him. His heart leapt, relieved--finally, though he doubted his strength to show it, now of all times, too. Still, every step was one more and all he wanted was a familiar face.

a few very vague mentions of folks being sorta aroundish after ibis lead him back here, lol, holler if not okay though!

Their journey was not an easy one. Though they did not travel far, their efforts wore on them, their minds and bodies growing weak. By now, Vallkyrie was quite a dirty woman though by the black of her fur one might not tell it, yet the stark white river from her throat to underbelly was gray with grim and soot. Her legs were sore from digging, her paw pads beginning to crack and bleed. She refused to stop, even if Bronco would suggest it. So far they had not much luck in their endeavors...

And then, finally she had found something. Another Firefly wolf, one not of the found group. One which Bronco quickly allowed her to know was Antares. Whilst Bronco called out to the survivors, Kyr kept the trail, moving along in long, fluid steps towards the Bramblepoint.

Ahead was a stark black man, tall and wiry, with a thick ruff of furs along his nape and shoulders. And a sharp dark blue gaze would turn to her own, that of paled ice. Her heart flutters, her gut drops. So much he looked like Hydra and the lingering moment caused her to pause. But only a moment. The huntress pulled forward, his name on her breath as though reunited with a long lost friend. Finally, they had found someone alive.

He wasn't alone- but that meant that he had found help. Antares looked about how Bronco had begun to feel- tired and worn- but both of them brightened up once their eyes met. With Vallkyrie, he closed the distance between them and greeted his alpha with a grateful bow of his head and a low, deep rumble. He touched the crown of his head gently against Antares' chest...As though to pass the crown he'd temporarily bourne back to its rightful owner. 

"We found you, finally. Vallkyrie did, actually," He said, as he stepped back to lean slightly against Vallkyrie's side. She was an excellent hunter after all- and in finding the trace of Antares' scent in the Altair of Twilight, she made it possible for them to begin pulling their pack back together. "We'll get you...Home," He said. "The others are gathered at Ouroboros Spine. We'll get you there." Bronco assured him.

He blinked, just to be sure. It was easy to doubt it after everything else but there had been one prevailing thought somewhere in the dark, and it was that he had to trust Bronco. Just.. whatever it was, trust Bronco. Antares tried to do his part but in the end, it was just wasted time. He was sort of surprised to see the Neverwinter hunter, but that was an entire aside he was not in any shape to touch right now. She fell underneath that arch of trust Bronco so that made her a very good sign to the worn Ostrega. 

Finally, as they came together, Antares exhaled so heavily it hurt him but he wouldn't care. Still measured in his other motions, but able to lean back into the gestures, and do his part to accept what he could. His ears were splayed out, tail waving slow. I owe you, he rumbled, voice fried and tired, trying to make a soft nip before Bronco could fully withdraw from his bow. Antares wouldn't follow through hard, but familiar in this moment, he felt.. better. A tiny shard of almost-warmth but, he had lost almost everything. Almost. Both of you. he sighed. A lot of others now too, thinking of those that had come to his side before.

He settled some and situated his weight carefully--necessary in taking in this news now, too. Antares did muster a nod. Ouroboros Spine. Others. Home. One thing at a time. Who are the others? he asked as quickly as he could, there were some howls he heard after all but he wanted whole clarity. He knew some fireflies were fine, but refugees from the mountain were ones he was not sure he could gather. Antares rightfully feared Moonspear had taken almost every Ostrega on it. Hope was faint after what he had seen.

Which led him to the explanation he knew he owed after his own howls had silenced days ago. I.. couldn't find anyone there. Only trails that led to... he stopped, but that was enough for him to say. He swallowed. His parents. His siblings, uncle.. cousins. Even others. Even the graves they had only just made. For several of them he did not have whole confirmation, necessarily, but he had found their freshly laid tracks, and knew where many rested their heads. He drew his conclusions from there. Then I fell, trying to track them. The mountain's a mess... I thought I heard my younger siblings call out but, I never got a lead, he explained quietly, easier to say so lower. Memories got hazy after that, covered in ash and smoke and rock. The blood of his family's home. Antares sighed and squeezed shut his eyes then. Others from some pack south of here found me when I had to get away. I've been.. resting here since. Pretending he was dead most of the hours of the day, honestly.

Her tail waves low behind her, her head turning to the side and down by her shoulder in a bashful manner to Bronco's words, though a smirk may toy to her features momentarily. Her ears turn then, touching to her skull and her muzzle dipping at his gesture of thanks for having searched, for having not given up. However in knowing that he had been the first and only they had yet to find, it made the situation still grim for her. Though a handful of Glen wolves were still alive and well, what all of Moonspear? Kyr heard Kukutux and her daughter (whoever that was) were alive but was that all? Two wolves out of an entire pack? The huntress kept her mouth shut when he mentioned who the others might be.

The Glen Leader spoke of his trials, how it had only lead to death and disappointment. It was one thing when it was pack or allies, but even still worse when it was his very blood- his mother, father, siblings, cousins... She quivered by just the thought of how the man must be feeling now and she was sure she could not even touch his true feelings. Perhaps to distant and restrained to show any delicate emotion or perhaps unknowing how to comfort the stranger, Vallkyrie could only look to him softly, a sorrow still found in her pale eyes where words could not describe.

In such situations, he didn't believe that an act of service qualified him for a debt, so he simply shook his head, and would not hear of Antares owing him anything. Searching for friends and family was simply something that had to be done and finding Antares was the reward. 

As tired as he was, Antares' concern for his packmates, and finding out who was left, was wholly apparent as his first question of who had been gathered together. "Melaine, Keyni and Meerkat," He said. It wasn't everybody- and that didn't even begin to detail the losses from Moonspear. "Kukutux and Sialuk are at the Spine, but I don't know who else is with them," He said, and he knew that that might not come as good news to Antares. There were many more names that he knew Antares would want to hear- but Bronco had not seen or heard anything from the rest of his family since the landslide. 

It obviously pained him to speak of what he'd been through, and Bronco wondered if he had found hard evidence that some of his family members, and the members of Moonspear, had been found deceased...But he wasn't about to ask. If Antares knew anything regarding their well-being, he would have mentioned it. They were all clinging to what little good news they could, right now. "As soon as you're ready, we'll head to the Spine. I'm glad these guys found you, though," He said, referring to the Southerners who had been taking care of him in the meantime.

His next breath was a slow exhale, him thinking it through, and hanging onto each name he heard carefully. The list of others was awfully short. But, while it did not contain near as many as he hoped, it was something. Still.. he couldn't help but feel his eyes sting, looking away pointedly for a beat before he pulled it back to the present. The nod was slow, but that was all he was going to say about that for now apparently.

As for those that had found him, he didn't suspect any of them were loitering all too near right now.. not that he had been at the top of his capabilities lately. Maybe his watch was lacking. Yeah.. I think they were looking for others still too, he mentioned quietly, leaving the rest of it all unsaid. They had not found any others either that he had managed to hear about. Only him.

 As for the only piece of what the Blackthorn proposed, Antares was already steeling himself for what needed done. I can be ready.. if you are. I want to get back to everyone soon, he murmured, but he didn't want to worry his first rescuers too badly--he'd have to try to let them know once things were moving... The prospect of traveling further than a short walk made him a little nauseous but he tried to stay determined in front of the pair. We have to.. figure this all out somehow, I guess. This time he lingered on Bronco a little extra. Just.. slow. he warned, cringing inwardly worse than he did outside. And I don't think they're around right now, I haven't seen anyone in a few... but help me tell the first group I'm going. It hurts to howl, the dark Ostrega sighed, feeling strangely small while he was mustering all of himself for the trip away from this. All the dust, smoke, and calling on his own, plus his side ached, he was just.. hearing the pitiful attempt would just make him feel worse, too. It was a small request he was pretty sure he could shamelessly unpack onto Bronco and Vallkyrie, after everything they had already done for him.

Short little ending from me.

She remained silent, watching the conversation between the Glen wolves with a pale and icy watch. When their broken leader was ready and gritted his teeth through the pain, the leggy huntress situated herself along side the man. Close, she pressed until the length of her slender body touched to his own. She didnt know him no more then by a name but Kyr cared for both Bronco and Hydra and as such, offered an extension of her care onto Antares. She would wait until Bronco called out then to allow the wolves who had found Antares that he had now been claimed by his people. Then they would move out to the north each aching step.

He wanted to tell Antares he could rest longer- but he could see that the male was perhaps more intent on getting home to Ouroboros Spine, so that he could rest there. He would do what he could to thank the wolves who had been taking care of Antares, and would keep it a small plan in the back of his mind to see if he could repay them somehow for their act of kindness. The road home would be long and slow, but they would make it there together, finally reunited after what was hopefully the last tragedy.