Sequoia Coast rationalization isn't just a river in egypt

Vague post is vague?

A limp forms from her right shoulder as the adrenaline begins to wear off. Her ear stings and she’s a little sore all over but she doesn’t hate the pain. She doesn’t have the satisfaction of ripping Arrille apart but they’re scared now. He’ll always be looking over his shoulder and if ever leaves the safety confines of the sound, she’ll know and she’ll be there.

All she’s left with is anger and frustration, eating away at the corners of her mind and gathering in the center. The more she walks in silence, her mind turning into the sound of a fork in a garbage disposal, and she has to stop. At first, her legs don’t move anymore and she stares ahead at the long way they still have to go. Why aren’t they running? “What’s next?” she blurts as a weight lands heavy in her chest as she turns to @Blixen and @Artaax. Her mind goes quiet for the first time and she may have well forgotten everything she knows, but they have to do something. Arrille is still out there, no doubt in the safety of his new pack, and betrayal still lingers between her teeth.

also vague!

Artaax felt exhilarated as they walked away from the scene. The Grimnismal wolves were still a bunch of assholes, and if he ran into those two boys again, he wouldn't hesitate to re-engage. But for now, he was content with the damage that had been done. They had made their point, and since he gave zero fucks about Arrille (or Prince for that matter), he was good.

Good, but curious.

His eyes passed between Blixen and Furi as they walked, who had both been almost eerily quiet about the whole thing. Why exactly had they been so angry at Arrille? He had never stood out much to Artaax, so the only real impression he had of him was the cowardly, snivelling piece of crap they'd been fighting over. Drageda was better off losing something useless like that, so then why all the drama? He paused as Furi stopped and turned to them with a question on her lips. What's next. What's next? Why did there even have to be a next?

"Why are you so angry with the coward?" he asked, answering a question with a question. Artaax was down for a fight any day, even moreso now that he'd found so much enjoyment from it, but what exactly had the point been?

distracted as she'd been by her struggle to keep ingram occupied, she'd let arrille slip away unnoticed (and prince, although if the gona had even registered the other drageda wolf present is unclear). she's sore but anger and frustration keep her from paying attention as she stalks next to furi, tail lashing. and fuck those other guys while we're at it -- all they had to do was hand that measly little coward over and everyone could have been on their merry way. ugh. boys!

it takes blixen a minute to process furi's question, long enough for artaax to get his question in. "he's a traitor!" she snaps, surprised her brother even has to ask. "he should be ours to punish." and, yeah, maybe she's even more upset on furi's behalf than drageda's, somehow, and, yeah, maybe ours in this case means less "drageda" and more "furi and i, specifically", but she doesn't bother to make that clear. instead she huffs, shifting to look toward the direction they'd all come from. the sound. "artaax, you go tell nomi what happened," blixen decides, "and then -- should we just go get him?"

Of course Artaax doesn’t get it. He doesn’t even offer anything for them to do next and for a brief moment, maybe she’s overreacting. Maybe this isn’t how it’s supposed to go but Arrille left Drageda and moved, literally, next door. If that isn’t a betrayal, what is? And it’s clearly filled with stupid boys. Blixen defends her, though, and feels the same reason she does. She even goes as far as giving instruction again and Furi only shakes her head.
 
“He probably went back to his new pack,” she says in disgust, wondering how long it’ll be before Drageda does something about them. They had to, right? And the two of them weren’t going to get him back by themselves, either, not with how quickly so many wolves came to his aid when he’d been out in the open. She had more questions than she did answers, and holes to fill in that she finds herself unable, and only shifts her weight uncomfortably to account for the soreness.

Artaax merely blinked at Blixen when she snapped at him. He apparently wasn't as vindictive as his sister and her girlfriend because a wolf just up and leaving Drageda still didn't seem to warrant the energy they were wasting right now. He had long ago decided that those that joined Drageda's ranks weren't worth shit for the first few months of their tenure there. Too many had come and gone for him to bother with them. That was why he'd paid little attention even to Furi until more recently, and why he didn't care at all that Prince was missing. If he were to insist on hunting down each and every worthless wolf that had up and left Drageda, he would basically have been MIA since the time he was three months old. Blixen really needed to learn to reel her anger issues in..

...as well as her tendency to give commands to someone who had no appreciation for them.

Artaax grew still as his sister told him to go to Thur, at once tuning out the rest of the conversation. His eyes narrowed slightly and his voice grew deep and quiet as he responded just after Furi finished speaking. "You do not command me, Blixen," he said darkly, his irritation clear in his tone. She had done the same before the wolves of Grimnismal and he had held his tongue given the situation. But now, when it was just the three of them, he would not stand for her ordering him around when they were equals. He would not be disrespected like this.

blixen's admittedly limited patience has already been worn thin by the boys of the sound, and artaax's attitude is not a welcome addition. "fine," she snaps, "then do whatever you want, but i didn't exactly see you jumping up with any good ideas." it's not like she's trying to command him, it just makes sense that he go tell nomi! furi shouldn't have to do it -- even if it is her fault arrille joined them at all, blix doesn't want her to get in trouble -- and as for her, well, she's tried her nomi's tolerance quite enough for one lifetime. 

with an exaggerated huff she turns toward furi. "so then we wait for him to roam again - he's an idiot, he'll come out eventually and we'll get 'im." like, sure, they can't go rushing in the borders, they don't know how many are there. but they can't just do nothing, either. she steals a glance at her brother, wondering if he has anything to offer them or if he's just gonna stand around sulking.

Despite Blixen engaging with her, the spat between her and Artaax keep her quiet longer than necessary. They’re not going to get anything done if they don’t get along but she can’t take a side and pit one against her too. Furi’s ears drop against her head as she looks between them, shifting a bit more and trying to imply with a few steps that they get moving. All she knows is she needs to get out of the tension between siblings and into clearer air. “We just need to get back now,” she says, whether or not they tag along. Would she and her siblings turned out like these three had she not gotten separated from her family? Why are they incapable of working together? Bobby seems to avoid her these days and for that she’s thankful, uncertain she can handle all three of them together.

Cue eye roll.

Artaax took a deep breath, steadying his own temper as Blixen lashed out at him. She didn't seem to take being challenged very well, and that often got the pair at odds with each other because Artaax was not one to back down. Not from her, anyway. Those ranked above him - yes, they could tell him what to do all day long and the soldier would just hop right to without question. Those ranked equal to him? Nope. Not if they didn't ask nicely. And especially not if they refused to explain what the hell was going on and expected him to just act anyway. What would he even be able to tell the commander at this point that didn't make the two of them appear hot-tempered, reckless and immature?

He disobeyed for them, really. Artaax is just the best.

Cough.

The hompleia frowned as he looked between the girls, listening as they went back and forth about what to do next. Blixen was deadset on taking Arrille back, and he could only assume it was a matter of pride since he was unaware of the backstory with Caiaphas and Blackfeather. It was frustrating, to say the least, and he was officially over it. Maybe he would go back to heda, but only to tell her that Blixen and Furi were starting pointless fights and plotting even more of them so she would put a stop to it. Even though he had willingly participated in the last, he felt that they were taking it too far now. They had smashed the idiots next door. They had made their point. Why the hell were they putting all this effort into a useless piece of crap like Arrille?

For the record, Artaax didn't even know Arrille's name. You'd be a little lost in my narrative though if I didn't use it ;)

"You're both idiots if you think how we proceed is somehow up to us," Artaax informed them bluntly, and just as casually as though he'd commented on the weather, "Those wolves showed us that they are clearly willing to protect the useless coward, and that makes this issue larger than us. Heda will decide how we proceed, and if we make any other move before she commands it, then you risk putting us in far worse trouble than our neighbors ever could."

So, in the end, his suggestion was to go tell Nomi what happened. Cue Blixen's head exploding.

furi doesn't go for her idea and artaax runs his mouth again, even going so far as to cite nomi by title. of course his big idea is to run to nomi -- exactly like she'd told him to do, thank you -- because he's incapable of doing anything without getting her to sign off on it first. jeez, artaax, grow a spine. blix looks between them, gnawing annoyedly, then huffs and looks at the ground. fine! fine. "fine." 

she squares her shoulders and looks up at artaax. "then we can all go talk to nomi, if that works for you," the redhead grinds out. admittedly it hurts a little that furi didn't cotton to her plan, but she's much more likely to follow her gona in crime than her jackass brother at this point. with nothing left to say (in her opinion) she moves towards furi, ready to follow her back to drageda and get nomi's counsel.

Even though she’s turned away, Artaax still goes on but she doesn’t stop. She does stagger a little, considering it, and slows down but she ends up trucking on anyway. The snow is hard to get through and if that’s what she needs to focus on, she will. The arguing siblings won’t get her any closer to home. After a few moments, she hears the heavy, quick footfalls of Blixen getting closer and, if she had to guess, Artaax wouldn’t be too far behind. Or they would. She doesn’t care.

Blixen agreed, but not happily. He quirked a brow at her response, finding it unneccessarily belligerent. But he shrugged it off, setting off wordlessly in their wake. With any luck, the coming conversation with Thur would shed a little more light on what exactly the girls had shoved so far up their asses. Or, he'd be vindicated by her admonishment of their actions and her praise of his in being so heroic in having their backs in the stupid fight they had started and then talking them into making the right decision by coming to her next.

Man. Artaax is just the best.