Dragoncrest Cliffs i'm circling the drain, i'm washing out

for whenever u have the time! i know ur traveling at the time of writing this but i wanted them to meet <3

@Val.
A leader, now, the only man among the high rankings of Sapphique. To say curiosity plagued Maleah would have been an understatement. She had seen him, yes, many times, but could not recall holding his attention for very long, nor he hers. He held Mireille's children and laughed with them as if they were his own. Was that what made him trustworthy?
She approaches the roja den with a freshly caught bluegill ensnared between her jaws. An offering, of some kind, she thought; why did this make her nervous? Warmth blooms within her chest and she cannot seem to keep her feet still. When was the last time she had spoken, directly, to a man — a man her own age, no less? A man who did not seek carnage?

more mothers this year, mireille had commented some weeks back. as maleah came to view with a fish held between her jaws, val wondered of her future here.

he wished for sapphique to grow and grow. the thought of his old bones resting against the stones while his grand children and great grandchildren established their legacy here filled him with a warmth sunlight could only hope to emulate.

hello, maleah. val called, setting aside the shells he'd seen left by miette outside the den. good hunting today?

I'm kind of a shitty hunter, but I figured it was something, a bleat comes from her chest that formed the abstract shape of a laugh. She glances at the little ribbed shells near Val's feet and cannot help but notice the two eggshell-dipped digits. The same as Miette; how odd. I could've brought you, like, flowers, or something.
She settles down beside him in a practiced sit and exhales sharply, timidly scooching the little fish closer to him with the nudge of a paw. Has your promotion been kind to you? I'm sure it's exciting. She thought then of her own path within Sapphique; whether she, one day, would be among the rosada. Whether she would bring Sapphique children come the turn of the season.
Chacal had mentioned it, once.
But with who?

shitty hunters rarely ate. val smiled to himself at her joke, sectioning the offered fish into two segments as he had done with svalinn. he offered maleah one end, taking the other between his teeth. thank you.

sapphique was fortunate to have capable hands -- and val fortunate to have his belly filled with fare he did not catch himself. a few satisfying crunches, and his stomach was full. maleah set besides him, a sigh shared between them that val did not yet realize was a sharp exhale.

it has been very kind. unexpected, maybe -- but kind. how long do you think before chacal and mireille realize their mistake?

What makes you say that? Val generously offers her the other half, and while she hadn't planned to eat any of it herself, she takes it anyway. It's a good thing, isn't it? That they trust you. I'd imagine that's a hard thing to come by here when you're... y'know.
Maleah herself had not been born of this land; fresh blood for a sheltered group. While she thought her assimilation had come along nicely, she still stuck out a bit like a sore thumb — she spoke not the language, had not known the history, had never met Rosalyn nor Erzulie. And Val — well.
Perhaps they had more in common than Maleah previously thought.
Can I ask you something? gnawing at a pectoral fin, she stops short, bringing her gaze upward to meet that of Val's. Were you, um, were you born here?

i'm not leadership material, val wanted to say. he wasn't hungry for power. he wasn't very brave. he wasn't always smart. he couldn't even swim. he had gotten a little pudgy. a little uninspiring.

i don't know. i'm not the best candidate. maybe he was the only one.

he shrugged, pausing to chew thoughtfully on the meal maleah provided. he hadn't anticipated being asked such a question. technically, no. i was born in ankyra sound. he wondered if his being born there was the tether that always pulled him back. i was -- it was a long story; was she ready? raised by rosalyn and erzulie, but they weren't my real mother. my real mother was raleska. she died to a bear.

for a moment, val reflected on his life. it was heavy stuff and he was suddenly self conscious of the burden he'd put on maleah. what about you? what brought you to sapphique?

not born of sapphique, but raised. integrated. maleah found herself intrigued, hanging on the corner of his story as he passively tells the tale. he had been — orphaned.
i'm sorry about your mom, it seemed as though dead mothers had become a common thing here in sapphique. for a moment, a morbid worry for mireille passed through her thoughts. i, um, well. i came here because my first two packs... went downhill, i guess. and chacal was kind enough to offer me a home here. her lips twist upward into a fond smile.
i was a healer for a couple different warchiefs. i don't know how i ended up dealing with more than one, but i'm glad i got out of that. and ended up here.

i'm sorry about your mom. val offered a noncommittal shrug of his shoulders. it was the past - and the past could not be reclaimed. he could only move forward in life.

packs going downhill. val knew a thing or two about that; a memory of the bear in the cave -- of aventus.

indra.

he hid the sorry smile that threatened to break his composure. he wondered what horrors maleah had seen as a warchief's aide. some memories, he supposed, were better off buried and undisturbed.

i'm glad you found your way here. it's funny how life works, isn't it?

yeah, it is.
her gaze shifts downward to the set of her paws upon the ground. she is thinking of something and it shows in the way her eyebrows twitch.
do you think i fit in okay, here, val? she asks, a solemn note to her voice. i mean, i try, but i'm so... i've never been strong, or independent. like chacal and mireille. i kind of feel like i just... drift around, wherever the wind takes me. i just am. like there's nothing too special about me, y'know?
there goes that awkward laugh again. following it is a soft sigh. i feel like i'm too boring for this place sometimes.

val's gaze fell alongside maleah's, tracing the invisible kingdom that held her attention. he could tell by how her brows knit together that she was trying to string something coherent together. he'd been there many times.

he had not anticipated a question about her compatibility here. an understanding -- and somewhat sorrowed -- smile graced his dark muzzle, there for a second before dying off. that is how i feel, always. you fit in better than me. certainly, she shared the one defining factor that united her among the sisterhood: her gender. he motioned for her to sit next to him and peer down at the cliffside where ankyra's cathedral stacks brooded in the blackwater. any pack would be horribly boring if everyone was the same. we need people of different upbringings and different mindsets and different beliefs, to challenge our own perspectives and help us grow.  if everyone was the same, we'd be a cult.

you know, this wasn't always sapphique. a long time ago, all of this was rusalka - the birthplace of my mother, who shared no biological relation with erzulie or rosalyn. and before that, it was a pack called grimnismal. while the cliff and the faces in it have changed, the blood is strong here. that would die out if nobody new ever came along. you are special, and you are not too boring. don't discredit your place here among your sisters, maleah. they need you, and adore you very much.

he finished with a soft smile, inviting maleah to stroll among the glintwater with him.