The Sentinels but they can finish them

@Pearl <3 Vague because the other thread technically hasn't ended. (: takes place in Sweetbriar Glade, a territory Lasher and Aria discovered! 

Defeated to a number of degrees, the sky seemed duller than it did most days. The snowy princess had hoped that this downhill rollercoaster to hell would soon begin to rise again- but no such thing had happened. Upon her encounter with James the other day, she hoped maybe it would. He was a nice guy, handsome, flirty.. he helped show her she was still useful and gave pretty decent advice- kind of. But after the attempted pup stealing and then being kidnapped... well, let's just say things weren't looking up.

For now, the pale girl just wandered the territory aimlessly, feeling helpless and alone. She'd probably scared Cas off already, she assumed he wanted nothing to do with her anymore. The younger wolves in the pack were probably influenced by Behati, who was nowhere to be found anymore. She had no friends (really) and no one to talk to. Aria eventually sat at the base of one of the trees, roses littered around her feet. She bent her head to nose at one of them emotionlessly before letting out a long sigh. Why did everything seem so unfair?

Pearl was out exploring the territory again, checking off the warrens she was in the habit of checking. She wasn't fully content in the pack by any means, but she was still grateful for good leaders, a warm den, plentiful food, and at least one good friend, Eilidh. Meeting the new recruits was a must to her, but lately she hadn't been too on top of that. Finding a mate was also up there as well. 

She stumbled upon a beautiful glade of frozen roses, and with it the missing teen, Aria. Her ears perked and she let out a low chuff. Her interest peaked and empathy levels up, she made her way over to the lonely looking Beta.

As she wallowed in self-pity, Aria found the white Delta approaching her. She turned to watch her for a moment before her attention turned back to her feet. "Hey Pearl," she murmured, her ears flicking with unease. Pearl hadn't really ever done anything wrong to her- but she could tell that the other girl probably didn't like her all that much. It probably had to do with Behati- they seemed like close friends. If not that, maybe the fact that she had received the Beta rank bothered her... The pale yearling really didn't know.

Aria looked at her for a moment, then returned her saddened gaze back to her paws. Pearl raised an eyebrow at the apparent unease that was shown with her presence. She had no qualms with her, and to her knowledge hadn't done anything to Aria that would result in dislike. Other than being friends with Behati, of course. Honestly, Pearl was her friend because Behati needed one and to keep her (somewhat) in check. She liked to be on good terms with everyone around her, and wondered what she had done. Nonetheless, she was determined to bring Aria up out of her apparent slump. "What's wrong?" she said softly, seating herself in front of the girl. She lowered her head to intercept the line of sight from Aria's eyes to her feet, then gave a smile.

By now, Aria was so caught up in the dumbass drama that she helped start, she really couldn't tell what others thought about her. To assume that Pearl didn't like her wasn't really a surprise. The girl let out a sigh, avoiding the eye contact of the other via a swift movement of her head upwards. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate the gesture, she just didn't know how to respond without sounding like a total diva- and maybe that's what she was. 

Regardless, the pale fae shrugged. "A lot," she finally replied, letting out another breathe. With a weak smile, she looked to her packmate, "I'm sure you know a good bit of it."

It was a good thing Pearl was experienced when dealing with divas, most specifically Behati. But Aria seemed different, so she wasn't holding any standards. A fresh, but dirty, slate, like the ones you use in grade school and you always got the marker that didn't quite work. A bit like that. 

Pearl had no intention on giving up on her without helping her at least feel better and solve some of the problem going on. "Most of it, yes. What's the other bit?" she asked.

The girl let out a huff. "I know you're friends with Behati but.. I just.." she couldn't quite form her sentences, and she squirmed uncomfortably for a moment before switching her topic to something else. She would come back to it later. Her gaze fell slowly to the wound on her shoulder, one that had become much worse since the other day. She hadn't even bothered tending to it again, it didn't seem worth it. "There's a new pack somewhere down the coast," she muttered softly, her white eyes falling away from the soft green of the others. "I went to visit them- it's kind of part of my job I guess- and..." she paused again, staring forward. Should she even share it? Surely she shouldn't... or maybe she needed to? The male, Ferahgo, didn't seem to want her speaking- or alive for that matter.

"Have you met any of them?" she suddenly asked. Clearly the topic was uncomfortable to her, or maybe she just didn't know how to tell her. She was kidnapped sure, but then what would she say? 'well ya see they drug me to this otha girl and she bathed in my blood'? Yeah, that sounds reasonable. Instead she steered clear for now, not avoiding the question altogether but worming her way around it until she could form an explanation for her sadness.

She started off with mentioning Behati, to which Pearl wasn't surprised in the slightest to hear. Pearl attempted to give a half answer. "Not close, but yes..." she said, trailing off when recognizing a subject switch. She followed the other's gaze to the wound given to her by the intruders, and wondered briefly what had happened that it was not looking any better. She proceeded to give a broken explanation that didn't accomplish much, except raise Pearl's concern. "No, I have not. What happened? What did they do to you?" she said with an edge.

Aria sat silent for a moment after hearing Pearls response. Her ears flicked once or twice as if there was some sort of element bothering them. She let out a gentle sigh. "I'm not really sure..." She replied uneasily, her shoulders slumping forward slightly. "The male... I guess the alpha, Ferahgo, seemed fine at first but when I didn't follow him further into his territory he grabbed me and dragged me with him..." came the beginning of the explaination- but none followed. With a wary expression pressed her her face she stared down again. She'd wait to see what Pearl thought of this before she continued with more. 

Pearl's focus was fully on Aria, intent on this problem. Her ears were pricked forward more than normal, and only gave a quick eye shift to the movement of Aria's ears. When she launched into her half-explination and left her hanging, Pearl was unknowingly leaning forward in anticipation and had her hackles absentmindedly raised slightly. "And?" she said, a small amount of fury building up already for this alpha Ferahgo. Close friend or not, she was fiercely protective, even if it didn't seem like it. She stared at Aria with a look that said 'are you going on or not I must hear this.'

The older woman wanted to know more, and with an uncomfortable breath of air Aria continued. "He brought me to some woman. She was older but looked kind of liked me. I... I don't really know what she did. At first I thought he was taking me to be.. I dunno raped or something because they both seemed so intrigued with my virginity- but then she just tore open my wound and... Sucked the blood from it..." 

She stopped and sat, dumbfounded. The situation was so strange- but replaying it sounded even stranger. Aria just let out another breath, her shoulders stuff with anxiety. "She was.. Kind of nice after that.. But the male advised her to kill me... I think.." Her final statement came as hushed, perhaps even hard to hear. She was still wrapping her mind around the situation- why was this so hard for her? 

She listened, intrigued and concerned by the odd but dangerous situation. But these wolves, hurting her packmate and friend? Oh hellllllll no. What kind of messed up wolf was this woman who would bathe in virgin's blood? Or rather more vampiric, but still...the idea shivered her. What kind of mind would you have to have to even think of that? (*cough* totally calling out Ebony here *cough*) She knew of the dangers and the many, many, messed up wolves out there, and how to deal with most of them. Getting revenge on these violent weirdos would be more difficult. 

She wasn't too sure of how to respond to this. Even to Aria, it seemed surreal and almost made-up. Pearl believed her, nonetheless. She still sat, letting Aria gather her thoughts before interjecting her own thoughts on the matter.

The other white girl didn't speak right away, and Aria gave an uneasy shrug. "I just don't know what to think of that. How do I tell Lasher that? Do I even tell Lasher that?" came her mutter, eyes positioned on the ground still. Her posture changed, and she rolled her shoulders back a few times. "And... I just want Casmir and myself to work out," she added quietly. Maybe she could answer that. Her heart sunk as she thought about the situation. It wasn't really all that complicated- kind of. There was just too much miscommunication and two bitchy girls that rubbed each other the wrong way. She figured Pearl could at least understand where she was coming from, even if she thought that Behati was better suited for the Mayfair boy. 

Finally, the questions came that she could help with...but they were ones she couldn't easily do anything about. She would give it her best shot, though. "Well, I think you should at least tell Lasher that they kidnapped you, and that you weren't seriously hurt. It is important that he know they are dangerous, and a potential threat. I wouldn't be surprised if our intruders came from there," she said, the last part more of her own thoughts. 

Now to help out with the ever-looming issue this pack seemed to have: the three way drama. First it was Cas-Behati-Regulus, now Cas-Behati-Aria. Funny how most problems were just lack of miscommunication. She sighed lightly and relaxed her posture, pocketing away the fury reserved for the pirates. "Give it, and him, time. I don't think you two should make him choose, because he probably can't." she said, considering telling her about her and Lasher's conversation.

Aria nodded quietly, shrugging a bit. "I guess I could do that," she smiled dryly, her response quiet. "You think? I didn't really scent either of the wolves when I was in the territory- but I guess I was a little busy," the girl then added, biting at her lip in frustrated thought. When Pearl turned then to the conversation about Casmir, and the whole issues, she sort of found herself lost for words again.

"I told him he didn't have to," she muttered, her gaze faltering. "But I don't know how to share with someone who didn't even pretend to have respect for me- the first day we met she was completely irrational," Aria revealed, angrily glaring down at her feet. Maybe that was another miscommunication, but somehow the whole thing seemed completely bias against her.

"Maybe, those lot tend to stick together." she said with a shrug. When the not at all startling reveal of the meet came, Pearl had to give a snort of laughter. "I'm sorry, that's just how she is. She wasn't really raised with manners or friends, so that puts a damper on most relationships she's in." she explained. It wasn't her business to tell, but it was needed to understand the sugar girl. Honestly, she didn't know how Cas fell for Behati, but it was a good match on some levels, and Aria on others.

Aria gave a girlish giggle at the others response, her ears perking with interest. "Really?" she questioned, looking up at her curiously. "It makes sense I guess," she then said, shrugging. "She doesn't seem to be very good at making nice with others," the girl then paused. "With me, at least," she then added. Somehow, the pale fae felt a little better. With a gentle wag of her tail she glanced past Pearl, looking over the glade feeling a bit more at ease. "Maybe I don't need him to like me," she murmured, her gaze falling back to her paws. "I dunno, maybe it's too early to think about that... ya know?"

Pearl was glad she got at least a giggle out of Aria. "Yeah, she was raised by her traveling father. She seemed alright with me, but then again I'm older. Don't worry about it, I'm pretty sure she'll come around. Eventually." Maybe. Possibly. She really didn't know. 

Pearl smiled gently at the girl. There was the spark of maturity. "That's for you to decide, and it happens whenever. Or you could end up like me, still fabulously single." she said with a head flip and a laugh.

"Unless she left again," Aria reminded her quickly. The dessert-looking girl had disappeared once again, and this time the pale yearling wasn't sure if she'd come back- or if that was a good or bad thing. At Pearl's next comment, Aria found her ears perking with interest. Pearl? Single? Surely not... the girl studied her newfound friend for a moment before shaking her head. "I don't believe that," she replied, a smile lacing her lips. "And even so you're doing marvelously well," she added, winking playfully at the girl.

Behati hadn't been at the den as of late, so it was a possibility that she could have struck out again. She only shrugged to this. She was flattered by Aria's disbelief, and so continued the facade of the drama queen. Pearl smiled and pretended to inspect her nails. "Thank you, darling, but there is a shortage of suitable men out there." she said with an accent.

Aria smiled with mischief, her tail thumping behind her a bit. "Oh please," she rolled her eyes, gently playing into the facade- it did however come more naturally to her, as she did tend to think like this. "I met a male just the other day- James. Dare I say that he was quite handsome," she added, lifting a paw daintily as she spoke. "You just need to broaden your horizons!" 

tbh I'm kinda eyeing Goldhawk for Pearl

 

"Ahh, you should have tried your luck with him, dearest!' she smile, nearly dissolving with laughter where she sat. "Broaden my horizons, love, they can be broadened no further!" she said, looking back and forth, tail wagging with joy. She was grateful she could have some fun with Aria after all this.

ooo look there

With a bright smile, Aria pawed playfully at the other pale fae. Her heart rose again from the bottom of her chest, forgetting momentarily of her problems. "Please!" she cried dramatically, leaning her head back and holding a paw up as if to feign the damsel in distress image. "I don't need men!" she exclaimed, mock exasperation coating her soft voice. " And now that I'm thinking about it, I should scarcely say that you do either!" 

I love how our threads are opposites rn

Pearl grinned, happy to see Aria playing along quite well. "Ah, no! We are far better off without them! What can they possibly contribute?" she exclaimed, her smile not able to leave her lips. She drew her tail up and pretended to use it as a fan, all the while failing miserably at looking pouty and dainty.

hahaha aaron is an asshole omg. i'm glad he has a new asshole friend :D

"Pups!!" Aria snorted, although the idea of having children fueled her entire being. "What would we even do with children?" she woofed sarcastically. Once again though, if she was unable to have pups she'd probably just die right now. All part of the act- everyone needed a little pretend every know and then. "Otherwise!" she exclaimed, "Nothing you and I couldn't do on our own!"