Ouroboros Spine coalbreath

have decided chick would be visiting between brech and moonglow regularly, please give me drama <3

@Antigone?
chickadee set down a carryskin of bright raspberries and fish skin. kukutux had promised to teach her how the creation of a certain wrapped dish. but the scent of the blood-masked boy on the borders had startled her.
weeks ago she had informed @Kivaluk she would make these forays, at least until it seemed like her siblings were older. now she sniffed at the mark left by the wolf with whom she had traveled, and something burnt the inside of her gut.

The red-hooded boy had waited. He had kept to himself. The Moonwoman offered him hospitality that he had not seen before. In return, Antigone worked his body weary with hunting. When he slept at night, it was a sound sleep. The only image that danced in his mind was that of a pair of green eyes. 

When her scent became apparent to him, Antigone hastened. The lean figure of yearling crossed to where he could trace her. He followed and followed until… 

Sorcha… 

Dark eyes hungered for that taste of spring green.

harsh intake of breath, to see his masked face again, to see the darksea simmer of his eyes. "antigone! y-you're here!" chickadee said nonsensically, then blushed to the gills to hear him utter her name. one of them. it didn't feel false, well it hadn't. not until she'd tried to cut herself off from brecheliant with it.
something she could never tell mama or dwin.
"it's good to see you," she said with feeling. "what happened? where did —" her voice fell away, just into a soft smile that said none of it mattered.

It was curious to feel his relief clutch at his throat in that way. Sorcha did not seem to be mad at him. She fumbled through a few words before cutting herself off, bashful in her expression, smiling softly. The boy with the bloody head felt his gut twist. He did not want her to think that it had been by choice that they had separated. He did not want her to believe that he had not searched…

I looked for you.

The dark blue of his eyes fixed to her face. Antigone had looked for Sorcha until his paws had bled. A trail of bloody prints had marked the land until the rains had washed them away.

I met the Moonwoman. She told me that you live here now…

guilt then, lancing through chickadee and her heart, her eyes. he'd searched for her while she could only fill her stomach with food and sleep in those first few days, and then she'd set about making herself useful.
the privilege of a girl who had always had her family close.
tears filled her eyes. "i'm s-sorry, antigone. i —"
but what was there to say?
"she gave me a home. i had to repay her." her cheeks felt stupidly wet.

He’d made a mistake. Flushed, Antigone flattened his ears to his head. His eyes shifted to her feet. 

Don’t. 

Curse the feeling in his chest! The young wolf felt as though he was drowning. He did not know how to apologize without sounding like a wet brown bag. The hurt on her features was a knife twisting in his belly. 

Don’t be sorry. Don’t be sorry. 

The boy with the bloody head lifted his dark eyes. 

We found each other again. That’s- That’s all that matters.

the girl had the sinking feeling that if she were to say anything about kivaluk, it could destroy something about antigone that for now had no name.
"yes." she stepped closer. "you're here and i'm here, and now we — well. we wanted a home, right?"
it wasn't as far from brecheliant as chickadee had initially wanted. but she no longer wished to be so far from her family.

Antigone nodded his head.

He did not know how to say to her that he wasn't certain. Had he been looking for a new home, or had he only been seeking to escape the one he already had? In truth, anywhere seemed better than Epoch. If he did not have to look at Meadow. If he did not have to watch her with that giant pathetic man…

Will you show me where you stay here?

Epoch was behind him. Antigone would not think of it again.

oh. yikes well. "i stay with a guy named kivaluk. he's cool, he's the one who found me. he's um, like the first hunter or something around here. teaches the kids, that sort of thing."
was she jovial? was she managing?
"do you — want to get set up near by?" chickadee asked, voice stirring with hope and hope more, that he would not be insulted; her heart took to fluttering when she glanced into antigone's stoic face once more.

The jealousy that chewed through him was surprising.

She stayed with a man called Kivaluk. He was the first hunter to the Moonwoman's pack. Antigone did not care about his rank or his skills. He thought of Reyson and Meadow. In doing so, Sorcha's colors shifted to Meadow's autumnal hues. The unknown Kivaluk bore the same hideous scars as Reyson.

She wanted to know if he would like setup nearby.

Antigone's jaw tightened. He did not believe that he could watch another girl fall into the arms of someone else. The boy had always been inclined to heal and treat those who needed it. For the first time in his young life, he understood that he also wished to kill.

Yes. Show me this place where you sleep.

Dark eyes fixed to her soft gaze.

fade and have another? <3

chickadee would have given anything to know what antigone was thinking in that moment, but she didn't ask. couldn't find the words. her eyes were sheepish on him, and then she tried to offer a weak grin.
"it's nice here. there's lots to do." her steps picked the way toward the densite she shared with kivaluk, thinking he would be out at least for another few hours.
"i'm glad you're back." a bite to worry her lip, another, easier smile, and chickadee was off again, chattering about something or another.

She did not deny him and Antigone took this with warmth that pooled in his belly. Almost as though they had never separated, Sorcha began to talk to him about her home. She spoke of the many things she had found to do in Moonglow. It did not sound so different from Epoch. He wondered why that left a sour taste on his tongue. 

She said that she was glad he had returned. Antigone wondered if she would want to remain in Moonglow. He didn’t ask the question. Instead, the boy allowed his shoulder to touch her own. The pricking of his skin made his hairs rise. 

I am happy to have found you again.

If this was happiness, anyway.