Lone Star Mountain skittering goblets of bile

aw, hes looking for avicus

@Avicus had left ursus before and come back,
but she had been on a crusade before, his powerfully tormented red-girl — she had been driven out this time by bruin-jaw helming the dwindling pack of bear-worshippers that had now lost their eldest daughter. and he had allowed it to happen
he came to the mountain and stood on it, wreathed in fog. merrick shouted powerfully for his daughter, uncaring of who or what might hear.
his ravenqueen, her mother, gone off in the family way, swelling with the new seeds of ursus.
he called her again, and this time his voice broke, and a rare spate of angry tears gripped the single eye.

It pained him to listen to it all. Not emotionally. It simply hurt his ears each time that call rang with such ferocity. Although it finally broke. Literally. He wondered if the strange had screamed themselves raw from it.

Finally he found it fitting to emerge from his place below. Slowly inclined up the level the stranger was on. Last time this had gone horrible and he half expected it to go that way again.

Why do you call?

One eye looked to one eye.

Almost a mirror of men.

and merrick stared back haggardly, incensed that the one who answered his call was not avicus, but a scarfaced brush of soft ashrose over a hard frame. the prettiness of the stranger only hardened his one-lantern stare. 
"my child."
a father's failure uttered aloud; the iniquity of allowing his family to crumble and his sense of bearkissed structure to fade.
"are you searching too"
blackhoney burble; dangerous; dangerous, i'll eat your heart

It was not an answer he would have expected. He is reminded of that fat woman, though. Surely ready to burst with children as well. A bitter taste blossomed in his mouth.

I suppose so. For what, was the question that loomed in his mind often — but not often enough to bother him.

When did he flee? He asked with the only knowledge of fathers to sons. Not familiar with any other way in his own background.

"she went away because i was not a good father." anger racheting between his ribs. but the stranger was not to blame; only merrick was to blame, merrick and his stupid foolish insistence on bear's choice and bears's hierarchy until he had forgotten what had been given to him.
"you don't strike me as a parent." stranger things have happened, but the coywolf preferred to proclaim himself omnipotent, especially on land so close to his own.

Vesta being ever loyal :> smack me if I need to delete pls! <3

 


The fire-nape had witnessed the aftermath of the siblings brawl and the departure of the Bloodfur. Solaria had seen the sadness in Merrick's eye, the yearning in his form at the absence of his daughter. 

Thus at his leave, Vesta didn't hesitate to follow. She understood that @Astara might kill her for returning with Her Man and nobody else with them, but she'd take the beating first if it meant that the shadow-wraith would eventually understand that nothing happened. 

Just as she was loyal to Merrick, she was equally so to the Bearqueen and their son.

Thus...as the Bear king howled for Avicus as he had many times prior, the Fire-nape didn't miss a beat as they were joined by another. Curiously to her, he too only had one eye...

The muted warrior stood by Merrick's flank, scarlet eyes pinned and watchful on their new company.

He had heard of such before. Children fleeing because they thought they knew best. It had crossed his mind once or twice as a child, but he had never acted upon it.

He had not heard of a father with a daughter before. Briefly, silently, he wondered if that was why she had fled. Not necessarily because he was a bad parent, but because daughters were meant for mothers. Perhaps she had gone off to find hers.

I am not. He agreed solidly. Nor did he have the (current) desire to father. Then there was a woman by his side and Ephermeris was overcome with the dread that accompanied being out numbered.

I should leave you two to search. He declared, ready to act on it if not stopped.

the man wanted to fade, but merrick was against this. vesta was with him, and the silent watchfulness of her presence buoyed him fully. "red as blood, her coat," he told the other, seeking to pin this loner with the weight of his own single eye. "she answers to no one save herself."
a toss of his head in the direction of ursus. "i won't keep you," smilingly, but the warmth did not meet his eyes.
"come back if you see her."
if she leaves you alive

Vesta sensed Merrick's bolstered confidence at her presence, but her scarlet gaze stayed upon the other man, who seemed keen on leaving. His dread was glimpsed, but Solaria didn't move to attack. 

Not yet at least. 

What would Merrick do? How did he want this to go?

posting to keep this moving!

merrick turned away from the man, motioning to vesta. he would continue his search; they would continue, and he hoped his words of the red girl might bring the man back if he so wished.
onward, the bear-king stepping, looking toward vesta to see if she might add anything in her silent way.

Probably appropriate to wrap this up here or after a couple more posts? I'm game either way <3

 


One last glance to the stranger, then. At Merrick's motion, Solaria followed at his flank, meeting his Cyclops gaze with her own and an inquisitive tilt of her head. 

Where to now? 

sounds good!

"that way," he said, jerking his muzzle lazily toward the west. he set off, and presently began to tell vesta about their long war with easthollow, one that ended with the fall of their enemy and the conception of their new litter upon the crushing stones.