Lost Creek Hollow i came looking for you

hoping for an @Indra? :D (And Chan, if you feel any of this doesn't represent how Wyatt is well, please let me know so i can make changes. :) )

Life hadn't been all that great in Lost Creek Hollow. @Wyatt was being a little bratt around every corner. He was always acting out, running off, and generally not listening to her. Laurel had been patient enough when she still had Piper and Lucas to balance that out, but now that she had lost both -- and, not having been informed by Piper, she had no idea there were odds of ever seeing either again -- dealing with Wyatt's moods was just all the more frustrating to her.

Right now she was trying to get him to pay attention and learn something about hunting, a vital skill, but he just wouldn't focus. "So Wyatt, you put your nose to the ground and try to sniff out — Wyatt!" Instead, he was gnawing on the practise stick. "Leave that stick alone, we're well beyond that. We have to learn to hunt real prey, now." Her voice was snarky as she just couldn't find the patience to deal with her immature child which should be growing up and learning valuable life skills. Wyatt just stared at her defiantly and then continued gnawing on his stick, knowing full well that his mother didn't like it, but used to the abuse and unwilling to grant her the satisfaction of controlling him.

indra could have been helping laurel -- but admittedly, she too was burnt out on dealing with uncooperative puppies as of late, and she watched laurel's lack of progress with wyatt in a rather endearingly amused way. of course, she was sympathetic for her sister -- the redleaf line as a whole was devastatingly bullheaded, and wrestling with fiendish children had a way of sapping the energy from you.

she wondered if merrick would grow in the same way; she could see some similarities between their brood, and even as defiant as wyatt or merrick could be, indra would always love them with a devout fire that could not be extinguished. it didn't matter to indra that wyatt was slowly growing to share more and more of a resemblance with reek (a fact that, while indra had accepted it, she knew would likely bother laurel) -- as long as wyatt didn't show the same propensity to leave his daughters (and wives!) behind..

she supposed it was time to help laurel - or at least, spare wyatt the honors of dealing with her sister's inimitable wrath. "hey," indra called, slipping off the exposed beam of a felled tree she had been resting on: "i was going to go check out the borders, if you wanted to come along.." silently indra hoped laurel would readily accompany her, for it had been some time since the two of them had been alone to talk and think amongst themselves.

Lucas had been the perfect child, which made dealing with Wyatt all the more frustrating. When Indra approached and asked her to join at the borders, Laurel was happy enough to take the offer. Go practise some more, she instructed the child and though she doubted he'd get any better because it was not his hunting skills but his attention span and willingness to be a good boy that was lacking, she joined Indra.

Without looking back Laurel started making her way to the border, Indra likely in tow. Some days she just wished she could run away... Maybe we should go out to look for Piper, Laurel suggested. She'd looked a little bit but it had taken most of her energy to keep Wyatt in line and get the hang of the new territory and new pack really.

as frustrating as parenting (and child-caring) could be, indra watched with fondness as wyatt rose -- he looked as if he would do his bother's bidding, but indra somehow knew he also might not. he was, after all, a willful thing -- as any child his age would be.

laurel had already ventured past and demurely the redleaf followed her. she was happy to be like this again; her and her sister, walking in a shapeless world only vaguely familiar. throughout all of it there was always laurel. and would always be laurel, indra reminded herself tiredly.

she hoped that laurel had no regrets about moving here. stigmata's spitting words still circled vehement as frenzied sharks in indra's mind: oh god, had she been that selfish?

her gaze flickered to laurel as if looking quietly for validation -- but somehow being next to her stronger sister, indra forgot she even needed any. stigmata and his thorned words, which had buried themselves deep in her tender sides, suddenly dematerialized. her demons, for the day at least, had fled.

she didn't mind the suggestion to look for piper - truth be told, it had worried indra that they had yet to hear from tadec. while the two of them were inarguably safer than just one of them alone, indra felt troubled by the silence on the line. when were they coming home?

few times now she had doubled to bearclaw to cleanly and clearly reinvest in the scent trail she had left (and also to check if they had returned) -- but bearclaw had been as empty as they had left it, that long distant month ago.

"i worry for them," she murmured, knowing laurel did too: "but i went to bearclaw twice and left some obvious markers in case they returned."

Laurel had no idea what'd happened to Piper and she feared for the worst. Perhaps both of them were lost forever, now; Laurel had already given up on Lucas even though she wanted to find him. It was tough to think of him as dead, but it was even tougher to think he may yet be alive and out there without his mommy, somewhere. She wanted nothing more than to find Lucas again and be able to laugh and play with him, hold him close and make him feel safe. She had a fleeting thought that maybe she and Indra should leave this pack and go looking for them together. She told herself that they would return after they'd found them -- of course they would -- but a part of her yearned to simply leave Wyatt and Xan here and start anew.

Stigmata was probably farthest from Laurel's mind. She didn't really care much for him and his stupid words and thoughts. He was a fool, and she would remind him of it should he ever return to her life. Had Laurel realised that Indra's thoughts were so preoccupied with him she would have swiftly reassured her sister of Stigmata's utter stupidity and lack of importance to their lives. He was nothing but a traitor.

Yet her thoughts were preoccupied with Piper and Lucas -- and leaving, so much with leaving -- and she nodded at Indra's words. That was all well and good, but they needed to find them. they couldn't just give up. Laurel said: "I've been thinking of leaving lately. Of just going to look for them, and not return here 'til we find them." They'd pick the pups up later, or whatever -- but living here like nothing had happened seemed awfully wrong to Laurel.

she had known this day would come -- she felt it, same as laurel -- that old and snaring restlessness that sat deep in her gut and immobilized her bones. churning.

she wanted much the same things as laurel: the repair of her fractured family, the reunion of their lost blood.. and yet...

she felt something new here, too. something that cautioned her against making any impulsive moves, and thread care into her every action.

good god, was she growing old?

indra's gaze swept laurel's proud features, pained with conflict. if we go, we are doing to wyatt, nuna, merrick and marten that our parents did to us. we wouldn't be breaking the wheel... we'd just be more of the same. her voice was layered with thousands of emotions, each tumulting for their own voice -- yet no tone seemed so loud as the strain that laced her words as she stood before her sister in near-defiance.

Laurel didn't like to be compared to her parents. She didn't like it at all. If it were any other wolf than Indra she would have shouted at them, maybe struck out at them in anger. The fur in her neck pricked up which was an indication of her irritation but other than that she looked calm -- almost eerily so, a calm before the storm -- as Indra said what she did. How dare she. How dare she think that Laurel'd do that to her own child.

"That's not what I'm saying at all," Laurel said, her voice impatient and laced with frustration. "We'd be returning here, duh. Or we could take them, but you tell me which is more dangerous in winter time." There was a snippy tone there, as obviously her question was rhetorical: Taking them wasn't a real option, or at least not one that she thought the pups would stand a chance surviving. Heck, Laurel wasn't even too sure she and Indra'd survive outside, but she just had to get out of here, and she just had to find Lucas and Piper back.

laurel’s hair stood on end, betraying what her stoic face did not. indra felt pained to cause such a reaction, and yet when she lifted her mahogany gaze to briefly inspect the coldness of her sister’s features, that conviction remained.

she believed that even if they came back they would do a disservice to their children. even if they came back, their offspring would have been permanently changed or hurt by their departure. and indra knew better than anyone about the cold nights spent alone — long, dawnless nights she herself had only just barely survived.

it’s only time.. they’re not so far from their first year. wouldn’t it be better if we waited, and then we all went?

Laurel didn't think that it was better at all to stay in this stupid hell hole and wait until they were older. But she did suppose it was winter, and cold, and all that. Still, it felt like a ticking time bomb as all her children went off one by one, and she would have no more of it. How long until she lost Wyatt too? How long until Merrick was plucked from Indra's breast? They needed to find the lost ones and reunite, instead of keep struggling like this. And maybe partly, Laurel was just not that good at staying in one place for a long time...

"Whatever, we'll wait," said Laurel, though clearly not that convinced. "I guess we'll see in spring." If they're still alive at all, she bit back, because she knew none of this was Indra's fault even though she was miffed at Indra's apathetic attitude. "I'm going for a hunt. See ya later." Laurel gave Indra a brief boop to the cheek with her nose to show they were still cool, even if Indra was being a stagnant poophead, and then she was off to see if she could catch the family some fresh kill.