Stavanger Bay i'm broken, do you hear me?

a slightly less whiney aria! open for anyone <3

aria could not linger in the ruins of donnelaith. she'd shared it's story-- which was her own-- and now she needed to leave. it was a grieving process, and though she was far from the finish-line, she was making progress to healing. she moved to where blackrock depths had demanded they stake their claim of land. it of course had been right beside her own kingdom, but the borders had not been marked in what appeared to be moons. it was a curious thing, for they'd seemed like such a strong pack, but aria had a long history with mysterious happenings. she crossed where the borders used to be, remembering it so vividly, and moved deeper into the territory.

it was not so damaged here, it seemed the flames did not come as far. but the black on her coat was a silent reminder of the more unfortunate fate that donnelaith had been served. she looked less disheveled, no longer sobbing uncontrollably and breathing at a steady rate, but her gaze still remained dull and apathetic. when the moon was high above the ocean, she reached the bay's shore.

this was floki's birthplace, and what she could only assume was a good place to start. she stared out over the horizon, the waves shimmering like tiny crystals as they danced in the moonlight. it was gorgeous, but she was too tired to admire it. instead, the pale sylph stepped into the salty ocean-- belly deep-- and waited for the waves to wash away the soot from her pelt, and the burden from her chest.

Whatever was the name of the trade that included traveling around and making new acquaintances, Birk had decided to give it a try. It had been few months since had wandered anywhere extensively and in the beginning, when he had already moved beyond the borders of the grounds he usually explored, it had felt a little weird and there had been a certain amount of unwillingness to leaving his home so far behind. But as the distance he covered increased, so did the excitement about heading out into the unknown. 

The coast, when he had reached it, was different from what he remembered it to be during the winter. Snow had melted, the ice cap had thawed and the winds were much milder than they had been in the coldest months. It was a different sight to behold and pleasant one too. Therefore the northerner spent a moment to simply gaze at the magnificent sight before him. 

It was then that he noticed another lonely wanderer not too far off and feeling that this time was good as any other to have a company, he headed towards the maiden that was standing in the water, her face turned towards the horizont. "Good evening!" he called out.

a voice pulled her from her cleansing and back into reality. aria's head turned, a few salted droplets falling from her chin and cheeks as she looked to see another pale wolf. he'd called out a friendly greeting, and seemed such, and he'd certainly grabbed her attention. she turned more fully to see him, taking a few steps closer to shore, and eyed the man.

"hello," she returned, her nose twitching. she didn't recognize him, so she only assumed it was a friendly stranger, but she was still alert to any of his approaches. her last encounter with a stranger had been pleasant enough, but she never forgot ferahgo and his maiden. "how are you?" she decided to ask, pulling herself to engage in a conversation that wasn't purely about herself or her losses-- this seemed like a good start.

There are moments in one's life, when time stops, and such happened to Birk, when the girl turned to face him and returned his greeting. She was beautiful in a way that struck him to his very core and left him speechless - and that says a lot about, how a man, who had never had to look for words or things to say in his pockets, felt.  He had seen and met many pretty girls in his life, some he had liked better than others, but not a single one had struck him the way this one had. She was a remarkable creature, making the rest of his former peers and crushes seem bleak and insignificant. 

"Ahhh... I am... " he tried to find the right words to tell everything he felt and eventually sticking with a miserable, "... awe-stricken."

he stood silently for a while, confusing aria a bit. he'd seemed so friendly and chirpy a few moments before, she was unsure why he was so quiet now. concerned, she almost almost asked if he was okay, but then he spoke, and her ears fell. she was unsure how to respond. she knew what he was referring to, it had not been the first time anyone had said that to her... but it felt so empty coming from this man. he was not casmir, or lasher, or constantine, or floki-- a selfishly large number of men that she had dreamed of being admired by. but she stared for a few moments more before responding, "it is a lovely view, i agree." she didn't have much else to say to that, and wasn't sure she wanted to say anything else.

Her response broke the ice and Birk's old-self emerged to take a big gulp of fresh air. He took her words as some sort of a joke and he chuckled amusedly at his own silliness. Weirdness had not gone anywhere, but within the fog it cast around him, he was free to act and talk again. So he did. 

"You probably hear that often, don't you?" he asked her and then looked up at the sky, where the moon was peeking through the clouds. "And the moonlight does not help either, I guess. If I act silly or talk nonesense... write it down to that magical force up there," he beckoned to the cosmic body and smile sincerely.

he lightened up, and-- relieved-- aria let out a soft sigh and a small smile. "not in a while," she replied, giving a small shake of her pelt as she stepped closer to shore again. her pale gaze found the moon, reflecting it's craters in her own luminous orbs. she stared quietly for a moment before glancing back to him. "the moon always does crazy things to wolves," she agreed with a wave of her tail and a slight smile, "i'll blame it on the moon." 

"i'm aria january," she added with a slight bob of her head. she expected a name in return, so she didn't ask for one, but her eyes focused on him as she waited. though he still seemed friendly enough and his movement away from her looks left her anxiety at ease, she was still on edge, ready to bolt away at any given moment.

"And I am Birk, but you are allowed to call me Brick or just Br... in case we run in each other in the near future and I fail to remember your name. Knowing, how bad I am with names... that is bound to happen. Be warned!" Birk would have said more on the matter, but he stopped himself. He had weirded out people by his verbal tsunamis before, he did not want to scare Aria away.

To make her feel a bit more comfortable, he lied on his belly and outstretched his paws, enjoying the pleasant feeling of the sand against his skin. "Don't fear that I am going to eat you, when I ask - how did you end up here all on your own?"

his rambling made her smile, ironically. it reminded her a bit of pearl, and maybe even casmir-- if he'd muttered a bit more. "birk," she repeated, emphasizing that she would remember. as she healed and roamed, she would begin to recognize names and faces again, this was the beginning. he asked where she'd come from, why she was here alone, and aria-- though still cautious-- moved closer to shore again to answer at a more comfortable volume. "i am looking for someone," she told him with a slight movement of her ears. "have you met a constantine? or a floki?" she then asked, hoping he had some sort of information.

she remembered he'd said he wasn't good with names, and became a bit discouraged before he'd even answered, but she knew it was worth a shot to ask.

"Can't say I have," Birk replied, feeling genuinely sorry that he was of no help to Aria. During his travels he had not met many male wolves and, though he did not remember any of their names, he was pretty sure that there hadn't been a "constantine" or a "floki" among them. 

"Were they friends, relatives, pack mates?" he inquired about the two, thinking that there could be a chance of being useful another way.

damn, but she wasn't surprised. his next question caused a gentle tip of her head and a rock of her shoulders in thought-- up and down. "might of well have been family," she replied with a small smile, a weak one. "they disappeared a while ago... i wouldn't worry much about it, i am sure they've gone far from here by now," she added with a shrug. shifting the topic away from her mopey self, aria tilted her head to the other side.

"do you live around here?" she asked, stepping forward again.

"Nah... there is some day or more's worth of walk here. Depends, of course, which path you take and the weather," Birk explained, while trying to count, how much days had passed, since he had left the Caldera. Not that much, really, but he could not say that he had been there yesterday either. 

"Do you have a home at all?" he asked then, wondering, if the sadness he could sense was caused by losing a beloved place to live and friends too.

"oh," aria replied, wondering what he was doing down here. scouting, maybe, she could understand that.

"my home is with my friends," she then said, another weak smile gracing her features. donnelaith was once her home, but when wolves began to leave she began to feel less at home. moonspear was almost home. floki and constantine and eilidh made it home. when they disappeared, she was left with nowhere. "i will find it when i find them," she then told him, a gentle dip of her head.

"Is it right?" Birk asked without giving a second thought. "I mean... home should not abandon you, it should be a place to return to," perhaps they were very dear people to her, though he had not experienced a devoted relationship of such depth himself, he had seen it with other people.

"I don't know them and I might be wrong, but is it worth looking for people, who... who are not here and probably don't care, if they haven't come t look for you?"

aria almost grew angry, her face heated in disbelief that he would suggest such a thing. her brow furrowed, her jaws parted ready to retort something... but she felt quiet, and her maw slowly closed. her gaze averted, she stared at the water as it lapped at her ankles, silence consuming her. it took a few moments-- long moments, before she found the words to speak again.

"i have to put faith in something," she finally said, quietly.

"I guess you are right," Birk replied, realizing that he had stepped over the line and probably had insulted not only her absent friends, but the girl too. Made her faith seem of lesser value. Silly even. 

"I am sorry, it's none of my business anyway," he said quietly. "It just hurts to see you being sad and knowing that there are people out there, who caused it, but there is no way of making them realize that."

he apologized, and she shook her head with a small smile. "it's fine-- you're right. it's not really fair," she agreed, the realization a bit of a knock to the head. but, it was deeper than that. she wasn't looking for everyone. she'd given up on casmir a long time ago. she left her, he didn't fight for them. she didn't give him much choice, maybe, but still. constantine had left, but his scent trailed to donnelaith. she assumed he'd burned in the fire, and merely came to see if she could find anything that could be his remains. and floki... floki was the real mystery. he'd gone scouting-- and just never returned.

"if i don't find them, i'll find something," she said, a slow wag of her tail. maybe a new home, a new family-- but not yet. something felt unsettled, and she needed to satisfy that flame before she did anything else.

"Do you have any idea, what that something might be?" Birk asked, feeling curious now about the girl's aspirations and dreams, expectations from the future, if there were any yet - all of this guided by the willingness of being useful. He had met many sad people and yet none of them had ever evoked this kind of need to change something about the situation. To make them happy. He had known from the beginning that she was special and with every passing moment that realization set in deeper.

she shook her head. "no, not yet," she replied with a small smile. she wasn't sure what this journey would bring her. she wasn't really happy, and she certainly wasn't herself, but so far she'd met two wolves who were kinder than many she'd met her whole life. indie, the inky performer in the woods, and birk, the kind, forgetful soul at the bay. she'd remember them. she was healing, and though it was a process, they really helped the process.

"maybe a new constantine," she shared, bravely. constantine was her right hand, her best friend, and maybe something more. or maybe not, maybe another almost was exactly what aria didn't need.

"Perhaps instead of looking for an old thing in somebody not yet known," Birk began to express a rather complicated thought, which he soon found to be rather tricky to finish and therefore fell silent. A bit embarrassing, when you have tried to be the wise one and can't even bring a sentence to a conclusion. He, however, brushed the momentary shame away, smiled at her sincerely and said eventually: "Tu put it simply - keep your mind open to opportunities. Don't attempt to stick to the old."

aria stared at her newfound acquaintance for a moment, tail hanging at her legs. the past was all she knew. if she let go of it she'd have nothing, not even hope, and she didn't know how she'd cope with that. she offered a gentle "maybe you're right," and then turned to face the sea, lying right to his face. aria was not one to let go, even if it was good for her. she was stubborn and held on to romanticized dreams that could never be reality-- but she hoped that if she believed in it enough they would become realities. she had never stopped being naive in that manner.

"i should go," she said to him, ears cupping forward, "i'll remember you, birk."

Birk sighed in defeat, seeing now that this girl was not going to listen to the advice of a stranger, even if it was for her own good. On the other hand... it was conceited to consider that he might know better, what decisions she would want to make about her life. 

"See you then... whenever that happens," he said with a smile, feeling a bit sad that their conversation was over too soon and that - perhaps - had he not tried to convince her about the wrong choices in life, he would have had a chance to talk a little longer with her. Oh well... something to remember for the next time. 

He gave her one last glance and went away.