King Elk Forest pretty (ugly before)

for @Gracious perhaps? all welcome tho/keepin it vague for now!

from the sweep he returns, once again fruitful, once again not complaining. winter has been good to them thus far and delight is pleased to see tindome growing once again - he can only hope the trend will continue. as reluctant as he'd be to leave the forest part of him does still wonder if mato's right, if they should relocate once it's warmer... but he puts it out of his mind for now. there's still plenty for them here. they need to work to cultivate what they have - delight needs to put together the story of their founding and begin to share it. and... there's whatever thing is growing between him and mato, too. but he puts that out of his mind for now, too, and sighs, glancing over his shoulder as he steps back into tindómë's territory with an almost normal looking smile. "this is it."

Aha, thanks for starting, I'm going to wrap up our last thread C:

As she walked along with Delight, Gracious let her mind wander for the trip, often thinking about unusual things that made her wonder about the world she lived in. She would think of the stars up above, the little ants the crawled down below, the leaves that swayed in the sunlight- everything, basically. Perhaps she was getting a little too wrapped up in her own head, Gracious nearly lost her footing a couple of times due to some tree roots and her lack of paying attention. She chose to actually focus for the remainder of the trip.

When they reached what looked to be the forest, Gracious took in the sight, her mouth agape just by a bit in awe. She turned to look at Delight, returning his smile with her bright voice. "It's beautiful," she said in amazement, hardly able to wait to walk in.

no prob!

he's a bit cheered by how enamored she seems to be immediately. the tides have turned in their favor but delight still worries, still wonders if their new crop of núro will fade into the night like the old batch. part of him thinks, well - as long as he's got mato around it wouldn't be so bad, but - mato is tied to tindómë too, and the nénar wonders how quickly he'd lose the prince without a home to tether him to.

"it's special," the androgyne agrees readily, a rare smile brightening his face. "were you traveling alone for long?" he asks, tail swishing against his hocks as he takes her past the borders, deeper into the heart of the king elk's forest.

[size=11.6667px%%]If Gracious could read minds, she would have comforted the smaller man's worries about her willingness to be bound to this pack rather than leaving when she felt the need to. Gracious was a rather loyal being and she didn't intend on leaving her first official home in years anytime soon. She had just arrived, any ideas of leaving would most likely never come later. 

She kept pace with him as they crossed the border, hearing the question and attempting to think of an answer. Just exactly how long had she been a vagabond? It had to have been at least over a year or so, she was kicked out nearly before she was a yearling. She didn't want to dampen her mood when she thought of her past, so Gracious instead let her thoughts be pushed to the back of her head, for now, she could deal with her feelings later. "Perhaps 3 years if I'm correct." she said in a humorous tone, "I've been on my own for quite some time."

One could understand how desperate Gracious was for a home and thus why she was so excited to come back with Delight. It wasn't the resources that drew her in, but rather the opportunity to socialize with others. She had been so alone and almost afraid to talk to others, some she dared to exchange words with blatantly shot her down or even tried to attack her. Her luck had dried up in the wilds.  "I was... removed from my home right before I was a yearling, I've been on my own ever since,"  she said gently.[/size]

sorry for the long wait! i was in la over the weekend :p

three years is a long time to be alone, delight thinks. he'd been lucky, really lucky, that mato and brienne had found him so quickly. that fate had led him to their path, and maybe that's why it was okay for what happened to have happened. how much can happen in a single season, he thinks.

more surprising - or interesting - is gracious' admission that she left around the same age as delight. they really are funny mirrors of each other: androgynous in their own sex's way, light and dark, cast out as youths but on different paths. he makes a small noise in sympathy. "me too," delight tells her, "though i'd only been on my own for a season or so when mato - morwinyon - found me. that was before tindómë actually formed." and they haven't been formed that long, though it feels like an eternity to the nénar. perhaps thats why everything is still hard-fought and precarious. it takes time to get settled, right?

no worries! hope you had fun :D

3 years felt longer than one could ever imagine. On the sleepless nights with only the moon to guide her, the spirit would walk herself into the woods, over the hills, through the meadows- but she was in search of nothing. It was the drive that there was something out there, something great and amazing that she would discover for herself. Perhaps she had already found it, perhaps she was still just on a hiatus. Her travels could wait. For now, she was happy to just be speaking to another and even more so being let into a pack to call her family.

While being cast out as a yearling was almost an awful experience for her, it made Gracious realize something-- she had to grow up, and fast too. Although she did daydream when she could and sang herself songs and poems, she couldn't let herself be this carefree child anymore. She needed to be the adult that would keep herself alive, she needed to be her own mother, father, and mentor. "It hurt to have left when I was so young,"  she spoke gently, almost in a whisper,  "but you learn to grow and mature quicker than imaginable." In a sense, Gracious could thank her parents for kicking her out, perhaps she would have never matured had she not left. Who knows what her future may have been if she stayed with her original pack. 

The misty figure let her snowy eyes rest on Delight softly. "You must be very close to him, no?" She asked him, curious about his answer as they continued to walk.

he nods, made curious by her phrasing. "did you leave by choice?" delight never would have left if - yada yada, the tragedy. he was a pretty complacent kid. not for the first time he wonders if any of them managed to survive - if there's someone from his past life making their own way out there. he'll never find them if they are. that's just.. that.

her question takes him off guard - perceptive! - and he blushes hard underneath dark pelage, averting his gaze. "y-you could say that," the nénar mumbles. the worst kept "secret" in tindómë's history -- but he's still not about to go prancing about telling everyone who asks. yeah i'm in love with him, no he probably doesn't feel the same way, it's complicated, especially now that his ex is back... "we ... lost a few of our founding members," delight explains instead, "but i stuck, i guess." he glances at his feet and back up, shrugging a little helplessly, sure it's written all over his face. "i'm grateful for him," he finishes, and leaves it at that.

Though she preferred to keep her past under wraps, Gracious had to talk about it sooner or later. She would never be able to change her past and change what happened to her, but at least she had the peace in mind that she was able to change her future for the better from her tragedy. "No," she responds, "My family's history was intertwined with theft and cunningness-- I felt like it wasn't who I was, who I wanted to be."  Gracious felt her gaze fall to her paws as she moved, a little bit embarrassed. "So I was forced out for not being like them." Was she opening up a bit too much too quickly? Before she could even think of stopping what she was saying, Gracious blurted our a question similar, "did you have to leave too?"

She decided to leave the topic be, seeing that she had said too much. She did, however, pay attention to Delight's response to her question beforehand. It was no wonder he seemed so close to the leader, the morwinyon was it? Considering he was one of the original members, of course, he would be close to the original leader! It made sense no doubt to the misty woman. "I'm sure he's grateful for you as well, to have a loyal member stick with him even when others leave," Gracious said in a honey voice, "many leaders would die for such a wolf." She wasn't trying to butter him up by any means, more or less she was just trying to be polite. Loyalty was something scarce she came across, but to see it flourish in an individual was a breath of fresh air to the lady. She hoped to see more of it in the other members she came to meet.

ah, ouch. he feels for the snowy woman (and he definitely cannot imagine her among a den of thieves). she turns the question back on him, unsurprisingly, but he holds his breath for a minute, still feeling shy - and can't help the tiny snort that escapes him at her surely meant to be comforting words. die for him? mato is - single-minded, to put it nicely. he knows the silvery prince values his company (or he would not have earned his place as nénar) and there was a moment between them that.. he can't quite parse, but knowing the morwinyon, knowing how quick he was to cut his losses with brienne -- delight knows better than that.

but, oh, a part of him aches. "maybe," he mumbles, flushed. "to answer your question - it wasn't really a choice, no. the side of the mountain we were homed against collapsed -- i was far enough away to avoid being crushed, but, well, there wasn't much for me to stick around for after that." he winces a little, but every time it gets a bit easier to talk about. "anyway, enough about that, yeah?" the androgyne asks, trying for levity - and failing, but the effort is there. "i hope you like it here."

ooc: phone post, formatting later. Sorry for the hold up, my final exams just finished!

She could feel the atmosphere grow heavy when she asked about the past of Delight. His story weighed down on her heart like a stone, she wished someone would never have to go through something awful like that. Being turned away was one thing, but being loved and losing them in a split second— that was a horrible living nightmare. Her heart went out to Delight. Although she would like to talk to him about it more and maybe make the air a little lighter, Graciois decides to pan out of the topic. That was enough chit chat about their history for one day.

Instead she thought of the place the two were in. The forest was truly elegant around them and she could feel herself almost sink into the ground (no, not because of her weight on top of the snow), by she felt comfortable here. There was a nice, sheltered feeling surrounding the forest.

”I love it here already” she replied to Delight cheerfully, her fluffy plume swaying behind her in a faster manner than before. “Where are some of your favorite spots in this forest?” She asked, wondering where she could go explore first.

no worries! wanna wrap up?

he can see the flash of sympathy in her eyes and his skin crawls, automatic, but thankfully she doesn't say anything. it's not that delight doesn't appreciate that sort of thing but - he doesn't know what to do with it. he doesn't know what to do with any of it. (maybe that's why he likes mato - the prince's own... well, to be blunt, ego, keeps him from being too kindly. delight wouldn't know what to do if mato was overly kind to him). 

the nénar is pleased by her reaction, and grins for a split second, eyes moving over the lines of the trees. "it's all pretty good, but here," he says, and moves to lead her deeper into the forest, toward the dens and the place the king elk likes to hang.

Sure! Thanks for the thread!

She couldn't sense his discomfort about her sympathy, but perhaps it was best that she didn't. The conversation the two had had plenty of ups and downs and didn't really need anything else added to it. She was content to have shared words with Delight, to her, he was just a polite young man in the same boat she was. She'd enjoy to get to know him more later, but for now she followed the smaller wolf like a dog would its' master.