Blacktail Deer Plateau I could use a day or two

let me know if I need to adjust anything!  Set whenever is convenient after they met, as per usual

AW

As @Nieve led her to the plateau where they'd made their new home, Rosalyn trailed behind.  The trip and her travels had been hard on her, and as eager as she was, she was oddly nervous too.  

Would Erzulie resent her, for being gone so unexpectedly long, and at such a terrible time?  She'd felt it in herself, these past few weeks.

As she created the plateau, she paused, and stopped to close her eyes and take a deep breath.  Then she lifted her muzzle and howled, a message for @Erzulie, for Reyes, for @Raleska or, unbeknownst to her, @Clementine or @Scarab (if he was still indeed home).

Finally, she was home.

a foolhardy mission, to come here. to bring her children here. gentle rain began to course the plateau as erzulie wandered its empty edges, her gaze compelled toward the sea. she hated it, and yet she could not keep her eyes from it, the vast darkened expanse that had overflowed its shores and swallowed that which she held dear.
there was little hope in her heart for rusalka; each day she considered bringing her brood to the neighboring pack, begging entry into a larger group, if only to save what resources there were. and she was not above paying for such things. in times of calamity, men always turned to the distraction of pleasure.
a voice.
the harlot paused, one small paw lifted, trembling above the cold ground.
rosalyn's voice, pouring over the snowy trees.
shaking, erzulie closed her eyes, breath coming harder. the sound of a ghost, she decided. not her wife returned, not her —
the sable fur, the sharp muzzle. erzulie stared in disbelief at nieve's golden frame, followed by the lanky figure of the wayward pirate.
rosalyn.
a sob, throat clenched save for a whine; she cast herself into a run and down and down and down!
the harlot fled into rosalyn's presence, then her embrace, mintglow eyes astream with tears, lips quivering wordlessly; it was all she could do to touch and to stare and to weep the stifled sobs of a desperate relief.

Any and all reservations crumpled to dust at her feet the instant she laid eyes upon Erzulie.  She loosed a small, semi-strangled cry as she too raced forward.  Any others that might still be around were instantly forgotten.

For a few long minutes Rosalyn just stood with her, meeting and touching and convincing herself that she was here and safe and whole.  I'm so sorry, she finally murmured.  It didn't matter that she'd done nothing wrong; she didn't need to be at fault to regret being gone.  I saw the shore, and I thought... the worst, her thoughts trailed, but she didn't voice it.

Her hind legs buckled beneath her and she sat, drawing her wife close as she could into an embrace. Children or no; she would not leave again.  Not unless they left as one.

ani is skip-able; hangin’ back for now

Nature’s song was sliced clean through by the voice of another, drawing up from the pit of his stomach some semblance of familiarity; she who sung her song, a wayward soul returned instead of stolen by the sea, resonated with the young leader. Something akin to joy started as a mere spark, only to morph into a fully-fledged wildfire within his veins. Warmth did fill him then, fueled by the realisation that not all were lost—the ocean had not claimed another.

That he was not standing in the same place as moments ago was the first indicator he was given, followed by a lingering burn in his legs as they moved at a speed not previously reached. Someone was returned to them, someone the sea had not stolen the life of. It was not Caiaphas—would it ever be her?—but Rosalyn instead, a woman whose respect he had once hoped to earn. By the time he was close enough to see her, he also saw that she was not alone: trailing in front was the tawny Nieve and before them both, and then colliding with, was the masked woman.

And the sight that unfolded before him was enough to bring the boy to a stop, legs locking up and his distance maintained. Social cues were a weak point for him, more often than not, but something held him back. An inkling of a thought, or perhaps a feeling, rooted him to the ground, distance lengthy enough so as not to impose.

"li pa enpòtan," erzulie whispered fiercely, leaning into the scarce-bound embrace of her wife. "ou isit la kounye a."
scarab, reyes, nieve, marisol, clementine — how many would be lost? how many might return?
she began to weep then, openly, brokenly, as she had not before her little ones before. the dam stemming all that she had felt and forced herself to hold was shattering, pouring from her eyes in hot salt that laced through the fur of the pirate's shoulder.

Just a cameo unless addressed via tag!

If Nieve was bothered at all by the hesitance she perceived in the way Rosalyn lagged behind, she made no mention of it. How could she blame her pirate motuer for hesitating? Nieve knew what awaited them on the plateau, which siblings were away and which remained, the condition of mama and the condition of the pack, but Rosalyn did not. Not knowing with absolute certainty must have been frightening.

So the golden juvenile didn't push their pace, but took things nice and easy until they got to the top of the plateau. She parted her lips to speak but Rosalyn beat her to the punch, summoning those familiar with her to this location. Ocean-eyed Nieve stood aside, tail swaying comfortably at her hocks, and waited.

It wasn't long before Erzulie arrived. Nieve was quick to take her leave after that. There was just something a little grody about watching your parents engaged in the wolf equivalent of making out, and besides, this time was for Rosalyn and Erzulie. They would find her at the pack's rendezvous if they wanted to meet up later. She passed Aningan on the way and shot him a curious look, a phantom of a thought of her own streaming across her mind at the sight of him staring, but didn't stop to chat.

She didn't notice Nieve leaving, but did see Aninigan.  For a long while, though, she simply held Erzulie as she let out the grief of the past few weeks, recalling starkly how the situations had been reversed last time they'd parted and reunited.  For a while, she didn't speak, but instead pressed her non-scarred cheek gently to her wife's.

Finally, she looked up.  Her gaze caught Aninigan and she realized suddenly that he was likely still in charge here, somehow.  She hadn't expected him to make the lead for so long, but with the pack scattered, perhaps none had sought to displace him.  She didn't consider he might have held it on merit.

Her look turned to an invitation.  She didn't move from her place, but she would hear what he had to say.

at length she became aware of nieve's departure, smirking lowly as she considered the embarassment of the scene that had suddenly unfolded before their daughter. any comment was stifled as erzulie followed rosalyn's expression toward aningan, who stood some paces off.
he was another male leader of rusalka, and for that alone the harlot did not trust him. but she remained unobtrusive, welcoming in her own way. perhaps he had words to speak.

When Nieve passed him by, he glanced her way and watched her go; when she was beyond his peripheral line of sight, he turned his attention back to the adults, however, his gaze remained relatively averted. Staring felt awkward, especially when tears began to fall. He wondered if he was overstepping boundaries by remaining there and began shifting his weight restlessly, teetering back and forth between staying and going. Stealing another look at the reunited couple, he was visibly surprised to find Rosalyn looking back. Drawing in a breath, he approached them, tail wagging unconsciously—nervously, perhaps, too.

“You’re back,” he stated, anxiety fading into relief. “Are you okay? Kâk—hungry?” Perhaps he was overcompensating for his lack of efforts following Erzulie’s former return but his concern was very much real; born from the respect he had for her, he worried for any wear and tear experienced.

His first words to her struck her as odd, for she presumed the still leader of this place.  Concern could have waited, and she eyed him intently.  Yes - he was intruding.  But with his words she could at least infer what was important.  He would not stop her from rejoining her family here.

She was hungry and exhausted.  I'm fine.  But in a while, maybe.  Right now she wanted nothing more than to curl up at Erzulie's side and sleep these last terrible weeks away.  Thank you.  She didn't recall their last conversation as clearly as she did, but she got a sense of what he was doing.  He meant well.

erz is a biatch im sorry

what did this boy-king need with them now? erzulie soured a bit beneath aningan's approach, but reminded herself she was being inhospitable to their alpha. she did not know aningan, she supposed; perhaps that was the problem. but he was male, another in a riotous line of them who had taken up the mantle and broken it. rusalka had no head. rusalka needed no head, let alone a half-grown child.
but she was silent.

Claiming to be fine, he nodded; he suddenly felt awkward standing there, wondering if he should have taken his leave just the same as Nieve had. But he wanted to greet her, to welcome Rosalyn back—he wondered before of her whereabouts, wondering if she might find her way back to the pack. But now that she had, he couldn’t come up with any words to share—and he got the feeling that, perhaps, he wasn’t quite needed there. Glancing between the two older women, he eventually looked back to the returned pirate and said, “AteKai. Welcome home.”

With nothing more to say—and wanting to intrude on their reunion no longer—Aningan offered a small smile before dismissing himself and escaping the unsettling atmosphere (and breathing easier, away from the pair—the oddity of staying and staring, to begin with, finally realised).

It didn't matter how far from leadership Rosalyn was at any given point.  She would never cease to be unfairly critical, and unfortunately for poor Aninigan, she was only thinking of all the things he should have done to solidify himself in this situation.  If he was to interrup then, then he should have done so with conviction and with the clear intention that she rejoined with his blessing.  It might have risked annoying her, but now it felt as though she were an agent of her own autonomy within this territory.  If she could come and go as she pleased, she hardly needed to look to him for much.

She nodded, then turned back to Erzulie and gave him no more glances m as he disappeared.  She'd come back to it over the next while, maybe seek him out, but likely not. 

Show me? she asked, softly.  She'd follow, as right now all she wanted was to rest and share time with her.  Later she would need to find Nieve, to close properly with her daughter and thank her for leading her home.  That thought, as all of them, shoved to be dealt with another time.

last from me; sorry D;

anigan's gentle smile momentarily caught erzulie off guard. she had spent such a great deal of time resenting the boy that she had not noticed how softly he had always treated her. briefly chagrined, the harlot arranged her features into a more amiable expression and nodded as the pale beast padded away.
they were such bitches, but at least now they could be bitches together.
"come wid me," the jezebel murmured, sweeping to the side as she prepared to lead her pirate off to the temporary cove. "i hope you enjoy bone marrow," she joked with a wry twist of her lips. "dat is about all rusalka has in dese caches."

There were shortages everywhere, then.  She nodded, smiling mutely, though inwardly she felt anxiety tense.  They had children now.

Rest and eat what she needed to keep on her feet.  It was all she could do, and hopefully as winter waned the prey returned.  As she followed she would lightly press for how Erzulie was, how the children were, and what she had missed.