The Sentinels a' caoineadh

@Bonario! <3

tall trees on trees on trees. lestan had never seen this place before — had he?
a voice, whispering. he whirled with shuddering breath, wide honeyblue eyes searching each stark slanted shadow.
whispering, ah, ah;
witch. witch.
"blossom?" lestan managed; next a warning, growled, teeth clicking;
just a witch. just yourself.
what?
head down, the mayfair began to quickly stalk in one direction but — witch. we see you.
the heart, suddenly knowing.

PTERODACTYL NOISES?!

The scent of salt took him up northwest. He followed it up the flatlands for a good time. Lost track of time. Didn't care much about time, or the fact that things moved incredibly slow for him. Meanwhile, the rest of them could zip by in a fast life. And leave him out of it. 

One-tracked mind, navigating through the thicket of chatter and racing stories he didn't have time for. Maybe had too much time for. Keep moving. Just keep moving. The salt-scent came forward, and mindless, he went on. Too many trees. Too much going on. Kept walking. Kept pace. He was stopped short by a voice breaking through his ear, and he was sure his mind played tricks on him. Blossom? 

A whistle of trees, and a deja-vu hit him that had been from many moons ago. Bonnie stopped in place. "Not me." He could've sworn he'd seen him before. "Looking for someone?" Bonnie himself was insane then, as he flicked his ear to dismiss the rest of the noise to focus. 

lestan's own gaze pinned with intrigue and surprise, and fear. it had been a long while since had been around other wolves, evidenced by the glossiness of his coat and the hard mistrust in his soft blue eyes.
he had seen this man before, awareness skittering over the tripwire mind.
he had told this man to leave the creek behind, and this man had hardly registered him as a threat. 
something like humour glimmered in his eyes, followed by awareness, followed by a deep, searching pain. "blossom?" it was all the mayfair could think to say.

The loudmouth he had dealt with before was rough, and he was sure that would have been the most of his troubles. Instead, this time, he stared at a man whose fur was scrambled. His eyes were awake in the worst of ways, and when he moved, he moved as if the sky itself tried to crash upon him. A million words in his eyes that unsettled his own stomach, and in his voice, a horrid cracking.

Wasn't his business. Don't get involved. Especially not again. Not right now. There was something dire then eating at the back of his skull, the longer he stayed. He was certainly not very helpful, and yet continuing to walk felt no better. No better.

He had been here before.

When had he been here before?

"No," fell his ears, and the anxiety started to reflect into himself. "Still not me. Sorry. You look pretty roughed up right now." And they were near a packs borders. If this man approached a wolf like this, they'd think he was insane. Maybe he wasn't. But others thought that of him pretty quickly, so- "Where are you headed?"

"to find blossom," lestan murmured thoughtfully, as if the thought had just occurred to him. he searched the tall man with near-frantic gaze, decided the stranger would probably know nothing about his daughter, and felt despair set in where there had been a momentary hope.
but where was that? she hadn't been on the coast, she was not in the bay, and she was not here. 
that left —
maybe she is one also. you would not know ... witch.
guilt chewed a hole in his gut, and at last lestan sat down hard. "i-i s-saw you. outside the c-creek. so l-long ago. is akavir still there? a-and arric?" names! bombardment! places! illusion! he started to hold his breath.

"Oh." Familiar. Familiar. Familiar. Bonnie did not like when he could not piece together that strange feeling eating away at him. That he walked through what was now a dream, as things moved incredibly fast, and incredibly slow, but that he had walked this path before. Or perhaps he watched another walk his own.

"Hey!" Recognition between two as the match was struck. "I know you! You're that guy from the creek!" Oh, and as that same acknowledgement finally hit him, so did it the other man.

If only he knew a Blossom. He knew a handful of names, but Blossom wasn't on the list. For the time he had been in Kvarsheim, he'd never seen the dude again, and damn, that would make sense as to why his throat wasn't torn out yet. A lump formed up in his throat that he swallowed down.

"Akavir? As far as I know, he's still kicking. Arric showed around a bit ago. The valley is a ways away from here. Somewhere back that way." He motioned with his head behind him. "Its been days or weeks by now since I've been that way."

akavir was there. arric was there. the creek was there.
but the man did not know blossom, which to lestan meant his daughter was not there.
he shut his eyes, and inhaled, and tried to find whatever core of strength inside himself. "i have t-to make it t-there. eventually."
his heart raced; he ached; he thrummed with sickening energy and coursing weakness. "i'm" 

— subject #977

"— l-lestan. what's y-your name? d-don't think y-you ever g-gave it?" the mayfair offered in a parody of hunour.

"Lestan?" Lestan stuttered frantically. At least, Bonnie was pretty sure it as frantically, and yet the way his voice ebbed and flowed with change made him question it. Either way, he wasn't sure if Lestan could stop if he tried. Wasn't hurting nobody anyways. Just different.

"Names Bonnie." Bonnie didnt remember excluding it, but if he considered way back then? "Well, I probably didn't give it to you then, if I'm being honest." He probably really shouldn't have given it now, but he wasn't even sure the creek wolves knew his name. At any rate, what was he hiding from? With so little left to lose.

"You need help getting back there, or somethin' to eat?" He still wasn't sure of a..Blossom.

"bonnie." it fit. it didn't. it fit. 
hunger cramped the wanderer's belly, but he shook his head for both. "c-can find it. n-need to k-keep going."
with history fractured, any ill-will between them had dissipated. "c-can stay w-with me. going t-to island, s-soon."
he stumbled up, then veered back onto course.

<3

"Sure."

He had said a lot worse responses in his life. 'K' being the one he was recently trying not to spew out so eagerly. For whatever reason, that one pissed everyone off, and while pissing people off was a bit of his shtick, that didn't feel appropriate here.

"What's on the menu? Your pick. I ain't fussy, but personally?" Snorting, he reared his head. "Can't stand rodents. Ass in a bowl." Whatever Lestan picked, Bonnie would be sure to bring to the table tonight.

<33

"i-i'll s-show you," lestan muttered, leading the man bonnie out into the nearest sweep of beach. with no preamble the mayfair began to dig in the sand, unlodging several clams and displacing a group of crabs.
he piled the first and pounced among the latter, yelping a bit at their pinches but managing to crack two open despite their retaliatory fighting.
as lestan squabbled in the sand, he rather lost track of bonnie, or of the ocean, or of any surroundings, really.