Firefly Glen I'm not bullying, I'm just giving them a mean, negative compliment :)

@ the southern border! backdated to like, the earliest point that doesn't ruin timelines.  after bears

 

On his back he carried the young body of Primrose. Dried blood had made its way down Caerus' sides now too, but he hadn't bothered to clean himself, only trying to clean Primrose each time they had stopped during their journey. There had been little time to waste; every rest stop had been only sleep or food-gathering. Firefly Glen was the nearest pack he knew; he assumed Primrose must be theirs, and brought his body here. At the borders he lowered his head, letting the sleeping beauty slip off gently into the snow. Caerus couldn't look at his face anymore, boxing up his tender heart by avoiding all the things that could prick it. He threw back his head to call for @Osiris .

His heart twisted to hear some unknown voice call for his brother. Antares would go see, though he was not who the caller sought and in the midst of his own wicked grief, this didn't feel particularly wise. But, for Osiris...

Antares was quick to appear, and prickled up already the second he realized half the gist of what this was. This was one of those Neverwinter brats, plus quite a few more months. However he didn't recognize that body and his nostrils flared, suddenly on edge--looking for signs of bears on either of these wolves. Osiris won't be answering, he introduced as he strode closer. Uncharacteristically rankled by his own recent dealings with death, he turned a sharp blue stare on the mottled juvenile. What are you doing here, and what in the hell happened? he firmly asked, and at least managed not to sound too impatient.

A random guy not half as handsome as Osiris showed up, and Caerus' nose wrinkled. To his clipped words, the boy muttered that's unfortunate, without bothering to hide his attitude. As he glanced up to him, Caerus considered that he looked familiar- but then again, a lot of one-color wolves looked pretty alike. He wasn't sure if it was the guy he'd encountered before, and moved on. But the man's rude address bothered him and Caerus huffed in annoyance, as if he didn't have a kid's body at his feet. aren't they yours? Caerus wondered without gesturing to Primrose. i found them dead. i was trying to bring them home, He continued, voice growing quieter as he spoke.

He didn't have a lot of patience to spare. On a good day, this may be a lengthier consideration, but today, the juvenile only got a further narrowed look at his muttering--he didn't know the half of why Osiris wouldn't come, so any remark on how unfortunate that was only irritated the grieving Ostrega. Antares felt like barbing his tongue, but the dead, bloodied body was more worth the attention; he sniffed more pointedly, glancing the form over again. At least he didn't smell bear.

No. Not ours. he supplied, feeling grim. They had gathered too many of their own dead already, but this was not one of them. This was someone else's boy. Might belong to Redhawk Caldera. They're south, the Ostrega added, and normally he could have summoned Bronco or Meerkat to give more say on that plausibility (which he realized then they could be related to this dead wolf, if this were the case), but with everything going on lately, they had flown from the Glen yet to return. Something else he had yet to deal with. Where did you find them?

Not theirs. Caerus released a heavy sigh. More carrying their body... and here he thought he'd be free of the burden today. But at least the guy gave him directions, kinda. He began to gently nudge the body back up with his snout, slipping it down over his neck onto his back again. So delicate. He still didn't want to look. oh, um, south-west of here, kinda. near the mountains...

Antares knew that wasn't the answer he wanted, and needing to be the bearer of bad news wasn't what he needed either. But here he was. Awful. Sorry, he said, sort of flat, though for his standards it was just alright as he watched the Neverwinter wolf begin to gather the fallen. His ears had splayed, and he took a deep breath. In light of everything lately, he felt he owed anyone a vague warning at least--especially when he was just out here trying to take a corpse home.  There's been a bear. Maybe bears, in the area. I don't know. Just watch out in case.. And hadn't Redhawk been howling about cougars or something before? Fuck he'd nearly buried all of that beneath the snow, the bear, the blood..

All the more reason that he really needed to regroup with them, on behalf of the Glen (at least what was left of it) and go make sure Bronco was still alive in the meantime. It was well past the point of news he could just casually send.

To the warning, Caerus glanced back. bears? He'd never seen them, and was fairly sure he'd only heard about them in kid's stories. Real monsters seemed... well, he sure didn't want to encounter them. thanks, i'll keep an eye out. The boy answered with a firm nod, which sunk into a small bow of gratitude, before he turned away. If there was nothing more to be asked of him, he saw no reason to delay bringing Primrose home any sooner, and would be on his way.

The dark Ostrega dipped his nose. It was at least one bear. He didn't know about the one that had turned up in the Caldera's area yet, so unknowingly, his bears mention was not exactly wrong. In this instance, he didn't think overshooting his warning would really hurt anyone. One bear or two, a wolf is in trouble.

Unfortunately he did not find he had much else to add. Times were terrible for so many, it seemed. Safe travels, he bid the younger wolf with a curt nod, then watched him go on his way with a weird feeling left behind. He was.. tired, and really hoping that was not one of Bronco's siblings taken too soon.