Arrow Lake thuis

she really, truly, hadn't meant to be gone so long.

but there was only so much sitting around in a den she could handle. the babying, the medicine.

she had thought that if she just...got up and brought something home, they could all carry on. pretend she hadn't been mauled across the face by a coyote. the goal had been so simple.

she'd find something kickass to tell or bring to @Tierra and life would go on. instead she had overestimated her capability with a sudden half-lack of sight. not to mention the conditions of winter alone. god, how had she become so fucking stupid.

but the snowing had ceased long enough for her to make good pace and now the snowy edges of a lake welcomed her. which...hey, that was familiar. like she had been here, seen here. she looked around, familiar slopes.

FUCK! YES!

a barking cry of relief.

she wasn't done yet, but this sure was close.

Like, she was totally going to follow Germanicus. And still would. But he kind of fucked off to do his own thing and she couldn’t, like… not follow up on the fact that she caught Minne’s trail.

It had been AGES. She figured her friend had kinda just… peaced out? The way everyone seemed to. She wasn’t, like, mad or anything. That’d be pretty lame, if she couldn’t handle people having lives or whatever. But she hadn’t really gotten a great goodbye, and it was weird? That she was gone so long?

Not anymore!

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS UPPPP, OH MY GODDDDDDDD!!!! Tierra yelled at the top of her lungs, breaking into a run the instant she spotted who she hoped was Minne. Because if it wasn’t, shit was about to get real awkward for some rando when she essentially tackled them in a hug.

for the record, she was easily tackled. the little over a month of roving had done some trimming on whatever fat she had bulked up on in mereo.

OH MY GOD! TIERRA!

she had no care if they sounded like a pack of coyotes in these greeting moments. she hugged tierra with all the force she could muster in those stunned moments.

holy shit! i am so sorry. seriously.

Tierra laughed as she hugged her friend, and was quick to notice how freakin skinny she’d gotten while she was gone. Like, jeeze!!! Did she get sick and throw her guts up too?

It’s not even a big deal! Unless, are you okay and everything?!! Because ohmygawd, stuff is crazy here. Tierra stepped back so she could get a better look at her (and her reaction to the news).

Mereo’s, like, gone now! Germanicus totally skipped out, and so did the rest of my family, but they left without even, like, saying goodbye. It’s so weird!! He said something about wanting to explore or something. I think he’s having a crisis. Probably getting old and realizing he was boring and destined to die boring if he stuck around. Made sense to her.

But yeah, everyone peaced out and we’re all just packless and shit now. It’s wild. She shook her head, then waited to see what Minne had to say to that!! And also about why she was gone and all too. Just because she missed a ton didn’t mean she didn’t have, like, her own shit to share!

she had been gone for like...a month.

what the actual fuck was happening! whatever, she guessed!? truthfully she was just glad she had even managed to catch tierra if mereo was dissolved into nothing.

oh my god.

it was all she could really say as she gawked for a moment.

yeah, well, nothing nearly as riveting happened to me. which, you're gonna laugh but...i left to find you something cool. i got tired of sitting around and just...being cooped up to heal. so i figured 'okay, go find tierra something super cool, then come home' and life would be normal again!

her excitement to be reunited overshadowed any embarrassment she may have once felt at admitting it.

BUT HEY! what are you going to do now? no mereo, no rules.

and a whole wild world made for two.

RIGHT!? She was glad Minne at least had a normal reaction because everyone else was acting like all of this was either normal or the end of the world. It wasn’t either of those things. It was just crazy!

Wait, seriously!? That was actually, like… really cool of her. Totally weird, yeah, and she would have definitely come if she’d asked, but it was still cool. Did you find anything? Because either way, that’s… cool. The word didn’t sound right but whatever!! Really awesome! You totally should have told me to come though, I could have helped and we could find something cool for both of us. Actually, Germanicus asked if I wanted to follow him. Since he’s all crisis and all I thought it’d be funny, but I dunno. No rules, right?

If Minne was going somewhere, then Tierra was probably going that way too. Things were always a solid ten when she was around, and she was over the whole soldier thing anyway. It was fun while it lasted… but mainly because the more rules there were, the more fun breaking them.

seriously! she barked this with a laugh.

even if she felt that trickle of embarrassment at knowing she had failed horribly — and that she should have brought tierra along. even if the whole goal had been some stupid 'proving herself' moment.

god, what a foolish thing she'd gone and done. ugh.

but, hey! here was something also really wild —

are you going to? follow him? what if he gets like...weepy about mereo or something? wouldn't that just be the weirdest shit to have to hang around for?

what did rigid soldiers consider a crisis?! sleeping in?!

Tierra shrugged and laughed too. I was, but it wasn’t like I had anywhere else to be. But if you want to ditch on him I’m totally down. It’s whatever.

He hadn’t really waited around for her anyway, and Minne was more fun to hang with than a mopey Imperator.

I think my sister like, already ditched on him, which is totes awkward anyway too. Like, not because I know why or anything. But it’s weird, especially if he cries about that. She had no clue what was going on there. And yeah, she absolutely wanted to! But she wasn’t sure she wanted to handle an actual crying Germanicus any more than Minne did.

Did you… like, have any ideas? I have these grandmas or something on the coast, but they’re super intense. So it’d probably be like Mereo all over again. Ugh. Why was no one just chill?