Stone Circle lift with your knees atlas

it shouldn't have came to cyron as any sort of surprise that mawk was the first to answer his call; yet seeing the familiar presence of his father emerge from within the depths of easthollow surprised him nevertheless. given the abrupt and unspoken nature of his departure he isn't ( wasn't? ) sure how he'd be received. by his family. by easthollow. does he deserve another chance? probably not. he isn't so sure he'd give it, if the tables were turned. hadn't didn't he hold a grudge against his mother? or was it past tense? he isn't sure. he can never put to rest the plague that has consumed his mind. the visions of wolfskull cave. the echoing pain of hunger though it has been a long time since he's know hunger. he'd been emancipated when his mother'd found him territories between here and his captives, cheeks sunken and shallow, ribs showing — but now he's filled out. strong muscled with the proper amount of weight on his frame.

cyron swallows thickly, drawing in a ragged breath that gets caught on the lump that's formed and risen in his throat as his father whispers his name. hey dad, cyron speaks, tone thick with emotion. it threatens to become too much for him. sometimes they were good and sometimes they were bad. sometimes they were triggers. so, cyron focuses on each one he feels and dissects them for clinical study to refocus himself.

joy. it's unbridled and it's the strongest emotion brewing within him. he's joyed to see his father, to see that he's well; perhaps aged a bit ( but haven't they both? ) but otherwise appears healthy.

guilt. ah, there it was. guilt for leaving. guilt for suffering. there was no use in being guilty for the latter, he knows. he doesn't have to — and more importantly he won't — apologize for the aftermath, for what's been made of him. the struggle, the traumatic stress was the marks of survivor.

congratulations, you have survived the war. now live with the trauma.

hesitation. still there. that hesitation that he feels: would the leaders and other wolves of easthollow be as welcoming? the hesitation he sees in his father as the older saefyn reaches for him. understandable, given cyron's strict rules on physical contact. he still isn't sure he wants to allow it but doesn't move and doesn't tense up should his father seek to push his nose into his fur.

how're things? cyron asks generally, wondering if he should broach upon the fact that he doesn't scent his mother or sister on easthollow's borders or if he should avoid the subject all together. abruptly, he decides not to assuming that it will come up in conversation at some point or another.

i typed 'eastwood' instead of 'easthollow' more times than i'd care to admit, lmao.