Neverwinter Forest On the Doorstep

For @Okeanos!

He'd been relieved that Ibis had taken that other woman with her and left.  It removed some of the problems that had obviously been brought up.  Assuming she came back, he'd probably have thought up something to say to really make sure that she understood that this was all his and if she couldn't act respectful towards him, then maybe she didn't belong here.  Everyone left, after all, so it wasn't gonna be particularly surprising if she stayed gone to begin with.  It'd be less drama.

But right then, Okeanos seemed to be gone too.  Mal kept flipping back on forth on whether that was coincidence or conspiracy -- was he with Ibis or had he just been gone by chance?  Cam had gone too, so maybe he'd found a trail to that kid... In all honestly he probably would have stewed himself into a quite a conflagration if the earth itself hadn't interrupted.

Shall we say that Mal was very shaken by it all?  Some other obvious pun?  Even after the rumbling stopped, he continued feeling anxious, flitting about the territory for some kind of answer.  He looked more like a wild creature, slightly unkempt, certainly shifty, his eyes flicking quickly from thing to thing that moved in the distance.  Mal came to the borders, looking out to the distance, then quickly under a tree into the shadowed lower branches that drooped close to the ground and he looked out from between the needles.

srry i missed this!! assuming its before he heads out to elysium

getting around the rockslide takes longer than he'd like, but his journey back to neverwinter is uninterrupted otherwise. there comes no more ominous shaking, despite the tension that coils in his muscles, some deep, primal part of him screaming FLEE, NOT SAFE HERE, FLEE. (he pretends he does not notice the small prey animals doing exactly that, focused on finding his sister and his friend.)

the earth spasms once again as he nears their border; okeanos darts forward, afraid of being crushed under a tree or rock. he seizes upon mal in the near distance and barrels toward him, stumbling a bit as he does, and nearly wraps around the tree mal is closest to in the instabilty, demanding, "are you okay?"

No prob!  I realized I didn't make it clear to start with on this one. XD Probably should have just sent you the link, heh.

It probably wasn't as big as the big one but it was enough to freak him out again.  His fur stood on end for those few moments, the branches rattled, and a dark blur dragged his attention.  For a moment he was prepared to attack whatever it was, but then his brain caught up and that feral ferocity toned back to just slightly wild instead.

He paced slightly, shifting uneasily as he stood.  Could you really call him ok? The world's gone crazy-- he hissed, looking around with more uncertainty as if he expected it all to start up again.  Is it trying to kill us?  By now all the loose branches had been shook loose so it was unlikely it really could... But he was at a loss for an explanation, and there were just far too many questions that he certainly didn't have answers to.  He didn't have many answers to begin with, but this was complete chaos in his mind.

well, he doesn't look hurt, just scared like okeanos feels. for now the earth holds still--nervously he presses close against the ground, feeling the scrape of the forest floor against his belly. it isn't as reassuring as he wishes it was. "i don't know," he says, eyeing a fallen branch. if that keeps happening, the trees will fall, won't they? 

"on my way back i saw a rockslide off the mountain," okeanos says somberly, "i don't know what's happening but it's not just here, it's everywhere." his instinct to find somewhere safe is countered: what if nowhere is safe? at least here he's with mal and -- "where's ibis?"

What was the world doing to them all?  None of it made sense.  It chewed at his nerves and probably would have made things even worse if Ibis & Co were still lurking about here.  Add an extra dose of irrationality to his already bizarre-at-times behavior.  That'd surely keep things interesting.

His words were quick paced and almost ran together -- he was still pretty rattled, I dunno.  Like she'd tell me, she hates me -- she brought some chick back and then when I tried to figure out who that woman was, Ibis was all gonna just dismiss me and stuff, and oh how that rankled him, but at least right now he wasn't pausing there very long, -- And she's gone too.  Both gone.  Maybe they left together?  At least right now Mal felt better with them both gone.  Ibis had pretty well torched whatever flimsy bit of trust there had been between them.  It was too much like Elysium and this was supposed to be the pack he was running--!  He wasn't gonna guess Ibis's logic.

"she doesn't hate you," he says automatically, and then pauses. "what?

he wheels towards mal, drawing to his full height in alarm. "she's gone? what girl?" ibis--no, this is not good at all--he needs to know where she is, needs to know she's safe, surely she didn't leave him without saying anything? or did she think he left?  he takes a few steps back, expression wavering between fear and hurt, though his eyes don't leave mal's face -- yet.

Okay yup, that did seem to send Okeanos into a panic.  But Mal had tried, and he responded somewhat defensively, Oh yeah she does.  It's just like I said!  She shows up with this chick, she's all, 'This is Mal, this is Ereshgul, she's gonna live with us, bye,' and then got all pissed when I tried to like.. Stop them and do my job to figure out who the hell Ereshkigle was! He had only heard once or so, and it was weird enough it hadn't entirely stuck.  Like, I'm supposed to protect the pack and stuff, how'm I supposed to do that if she just wants to skip me? All I got out of her was that she could hunt and maybe like.. teach you some healing stuff, so I let her stay for that.  He frowned, then added, I dunno if I would totally trust her -- she acted a little weird, not like too nice kind of thing but just... Weird? Wanting me to like her?  He didn't have the vocabulary to express what her final words to him seemed like -- he'd been on full alarm mode anyway, so he could have been reading it wrong and it certainly hadn't worked the way Ereshkigal had been wanting.  Though Mal himself might not give a hoot about Ibis sticking around or not, he'd tried to at least sort of protect her from bringing in a homicidal maniac or something, if only for Okeanos' sake.

But that wasn't too comforting, was it? I thought I would be able to corner her in a day or so without Ibis -- or maybe when she was gonna be less pissed.  But I don't think they stayed very long. I couldn't find them when I went looking.  What was he supposed to do when they were revolting under him over something that seemed so reasonable?