Larksong Grotto Let's play catch-up!

Emory had gotten a rare chance of roaming land without her brother by her side—it wasn't that she didn't want him there, but once joining a pack it was safe to say they'd always be in close proximity and wouldn't need to be side-by-side constantly as territories were much safer than the wild. She had been searching for her friend, @Reek, who she happened to come across by pure coincidence, which she still almost couldn't believe. This had to be a some sort dream.  It was even rarer for an opportunity like this to come up in her life than seeing her without Charley. It had only been a couple hours since she was accepted into...what was the packs name again? She hadn't been told yet, oh well. 

Her trot was light agaisnt the grotto's ground, following the scent of her, now, Alpha. The fae was hoping to uncover all that she had missed in the year or so of Reek's absence from her life, and soon enough she spotted the unkempt looking male in the distance. Her usual seductive facade was away for now, she didn't need it around him, he already knew most of her without the con. "Reek!" She barked, quickening her pace until closing whatever space lied between them. "I was hoping to speak with you," her eyes trailed over his body, discovering subtle differences here and there. He was now accompanied by multiple scars, and a torn ear, "if you have the time that is." She wasn't sure how often his leadership would consume the brute's time, and hoped it not the be too much. The biggest reason she even decided to take home here was to spend more time with him, and if that wasn't to happen her choice didn't seem very bright.

Having returned to the grotto with old friends in tow only hours prior, Reek separated himself from his companions for a brief moment (after showing them around the territory to get them acquainted, of course), so he could settle in beside one of the caches and quell the hungry rumbling in his belly. He was in no condition to hunt, so all the time he spent on the road, he went without food. His condition certainly made searching for Tavi difficult. From here on out, Reek figured he would wait until he was fully healed before he resumed his search.

All that remained of the cache was upturned earth and bones: Reek had had his fill. He settled down to his stomach and shut his eyes to allow himself the first afternoon nap he had had in months -- but as soon as his eye lids shut, Emory's voice caught his attention. Reek's ears perked and turned in the direction of her voice. Pushing up with his forepaws, Reek settled into a seated position. "I've got time," he spoke from behind a thin smile. "What's up Em?"

His smile wasn't what it used to be, and this pained Emory. She almost felt guilt for not being there for her friend when he was going through whatever caused his light to grow so dim. She shamed herself even more because she knew she was capable of being there for him, if she just weren't so selfish as to continue having her no-rule life instead of stay by her friends side. She lowered to haunches in order to sit beside Reek, showing a rather faint smile herself. "Tell me, from the start of your departure, all that has happened," of course she didn't expect him to explain every single thing, and believed he understood that. 

She noticed he had been laying down, perhaps to rest, but the fae didn't care if he desired to sleep, for she desired to speak with him even more. Hopefully, he felt that a nap would be worth less than her presence in conversation. "What gained you these scars, and such a faded spark?" Emory decided to point out how his happy-go-lucky personality seemed diminished, even in the small time they were together. His voice was subdued of it's charm, his energy seemed dwindling—maybe that was only age, but still she craved to know.

If there was anyone who could see through Reek's broken smile, it would be either of the Pryor twins. After traveling together for the span of nine months, they would have known the wolf Reek used to be like one knows themselves. Perhaps even more. It was easy to see how much he'd changed -- how far he'd fallen. His youthful spark and zest for life that had once characterized Reek had been been snuffed out like a dying candle and Emory was quick to notice and say something about it.

She settled in to lay beside him and Reek leaned in for the comfort of an old friend. He rested his head in the crux of where her neck met shoulder and muttered. "It's a lot Em," he said, unsure if she even had the time to listen to everything that had happened in the past year. "Are you sure you want to hear it? My life has sort of unraveled in the last couple of months or so, but I can start at the beginning if you want." The whole story, Reek felt was necessary to the narrative, and if that's what Emory wanted, she would need to clear up her schedule for the rest of the day.

His touch sent a glow throughout her body, it was rare for the girl to receive much contact from anyone beside her brother, and even then it seemed so little. Reek questioned if she truly wanted to hear it all, "That's what I said isn't it?" She said, keeping the conversation light for the time being, assuming it to go downhill in a matter of time. "From the start." Emory didn't mind how long it would take, she had nowhere else to be anyway, her only other option was to be out tricking brutes to fall head over heals. Of course, she could instead be getting to know her new pack mates, but this suited her much more. 

She desired to know all that she's missed, and all that she can mend. No longer would she be absent from his problems nor let him dwell on the past. Emory knew he had baggage, it striking rather obvious, and would do what she could to take it away. Now he would have something to go to if ever needed, and part of her hoped vice versa. Yes, Charley was always there for her, but even then she kept her mouth closed on certain subjects, perhaps she could open to Reek.

This is totally going to have to be covered in multiple posts :P

If she wanted the full story -- unabridged -- they were both sure to be stuck here for a while. Before taking the time to recount his entire history, Reek figured it was best to get as comfortable as possible. Reek nestled his head and body in close to his old friend's side, clinging to some sort of warmth to give him the strength to make it through to completion."Alright then," he spoke on the same breath as a winded sigh. "The whole story."

A lot had happened in the span of a year, but Reek knew exactly where to begin.

"After we split, I spent about a month on my own. It was relatively uneventful and most of  the time, I was just searching for my next meal," he began. This had been a simple, yet lonely, time of Reek's life, focused purely on survival. It was neither bad nor good in Reek's eyes, but nowadays, he missed the simplicity of this sort of emotional ambiguity. "Once winter was in decline, I finally made it to the coast— it was as beautiful as I expected it to be, maybe even more." With that, the promise he had made to his mother before her death had been fulfilled.

"I was ecstatic... and in my excitement I made such a commotion that one of the nearby packs came to intercept me on the beach. They called themselves the Sirens." Reek's time with the wolves of Ankyra Sound was brief, but it had left its permanent mark. "They let me stay with them for a while in exchange for my service... I thought that was fair, but apparently my service entailed serving in a war." An unjust war at that: one fought under the pretenses of false information. "The pack was unable to take the strain and it fell apart soon after. After a month of living with them, I was homeless again."

"But, I wasn't alone. I traveled south with someone else from the pack who I had gotten pretty close to, Wynter." The thought of his first mate caused a wave of guilt to travel through him. "We crossed over the mountain range south of here and met an ambitious yearling who was intent on starting a pack of her own. Her name was Saena, and she offered us a home." With nowhere else to go, Reek and Wynter had gladly accepted.

"And so, Redtail Rise was formed." Reek motioned to the charred mountainside that was visible from the grotto. "That was the place. That was home." His memories of Redtail Rise would always be tinted rose with nostalgia, but Reek felt himself to have been truly happy when he resided on the mountain. "Wyn and I, we became a mated pair, and Saena, she made me her beta. For a while, life was perfect."

But, all good things come to an end eventually.

"Saena eventually gave Wyn and I permission to breed. The thought of starting a family was so exciting for me, but I didn't think much about how Wynter felt about it. It scared her... and so, she disappeared without a word and I was heartbroken." The heartbreak, it eventually turned to bitterness and to anger.

"A month later she came back, but I couldn't move past it. That's just one of those things you just don't let go you know?" He felt abandoned. Tossed aside like yesterday's news. "I told her I needed time and I wasn't sure our relationship would take the hit."  In short, it didn't.

He paused, waiting to continue in case Emory had any questions.

While Reek explained his seemingly eventful life without the Pryor's her eyes no longer held lust, but interest. For some reason his story riveted her, and discovering he had a mate forced her to be more inclined to listen.  She began to think of what could have been between her and Reek, would she have become a mother? Or make a mistake just as Wynter had. Knowing herself, it seemed more of the mistake, but she's changed, and so has Reek. "That must have been hard," she couldn't imagine falling in and out of love, having only toyed with attraction.

"Go on," she exclaimed, obviously intrigued by what he's been through.

"It was," he replied, nodding his head slowly in confirmation. Taking a deep breath, Reek prepared himself to continue the re-telling of his tumultuous history in compliance with Emory's request. However, from here on out, Reek would find it much more difficult to put his feelings and the events that had come to pass into words -- the emotional connection was too fresh, too strong, to speak in an apathetic manner on the subject.

"I was completely despondent," he continued. "Even though she had come back to the rise, Wynter was distant emotionally." The two had hardly spoken to each other after their reunion on the borders of Redtail Rise. That, Reek felt, is what had set him on a collision course for infidelity. "I was angry; bitter to the fact that it seemed she just carry on like everything was okay when it clearly wasn't. I spiraled out of control... but Saena -- she caught me before I could fall too far." She had been the one to set Reek's life back on track. She had made him feel wanted -- made him feel loved.

"There was a spark between us," he said, referring to Saena. "But, it never went realized until we came together one night. I broke my vow with Wynter and claimed Saena for my own. Maybe we were both trying to find some sort of escape from our lonely lives, but I realized then that I couldn't carry on with my broken mateship if I wanted to be happy." After everything, Reek had felt it to be his only choice. "So then, I broke things off with Wynter."

"The relationship that followed with Saena was something of a whirlwind. We claimed this little cave carved into the side of a waterfall for our own, and she made me the Alpha Male of Redtail Rise." A thin, wistful smile played across Reek's face, but it quickly faltered as the memory faded. "The next two weeks were some of the happiest of my life." But, once again, the universe corrected its course, because for some reason, Reek was not allowed to be happy.

He pulled his face away from the scruff of Emory's neck and shifted his gaze flame-kissed mountaintop in the distance -- still mangled and charred with black soot. Deep lines settled into Reek's face and his voice grew tired and strained. "There was a fire that summer," he said. "It wiped everything out and we lost our home." Even after so much time, the memory of losing Redtail Rise was still painful and had a profound effect on Reek emotionally.

Her eyes followed along to the mountaintop Reek spoke of, her head tilted to the side, deciding in the moment she would travel there and see all that had become of it, but when noticing the uneasiness in Reek's voice her thoughts quickly shifted to comfort him. Emory nuzzled her head against his fur, hoping to ease whatever painful memories loomed in his mind. Part of her felt uncomfortable, unsure if she could wholly fix his now desolate personality. More often than not if she caught someone depressed she would use their dismal mood to her advantage – but no, she was now doing the opposite, and though strange it came with its pros. 

"You don't have to continue if you don't wish too," she hoped he didn't feel obliged to relive whatever pain he had already endured just so she could hear what he's been through.

It was obvious to see that Emory could sense the growing emotional burden placed upon Reek through recounting -- and mentally re-living -- his roller coaster life. She released him from his saddening task, but Reek shook his head. "No," he said. "I have to." While talking about his history hurt here and now, Reek was sure he needed to get it all out somehow. He had no one else to talk to (save Jhala) and Emory, having known her so well in the time before Reek's maddening stint in the Teekon Wilds, was the only one he'd trust with his full history.

"We traveled east in search of a new home," he continued, motioning in the direction of the Phoenix Maplewood. "One day, Saena broke off from the traveling party and found a beautiful maplewood just beyond the hill where we had made our camp. Naturally, I followed her." Reek's eyes shot downward and his expression quickly bore the lines of sadness.

"I didn't find her alone..." his voice trailed off, breaking with emotional strain. It was strange, how even after so much time, the moment he found Saena under Luke at the discovery of the maplewood had effected him deeply and permanantly. "She was under another man. It was just so... I dunno, intimate. It broke me Emory -- I felt so small." Reek could only imagine that was how Saena had felt when she found him and Tavi... perhaps even moreso sinse they had actually been physical. "I flipped my shit, but she insisted nothing was going on between them: that he was just a friend, but I still had my suspicions. She introduced me to her friend as her mate and the issue was settled." At least, Reek felt the issue should have been settled there, but the insecurity spurred by the presence of the bluenosed wolf would always burn within Reek's stomach.

"We claimed that maplewood for our own," he continued, lifting his gaze from the ground. "But, for me, life was never as smooth there as it was in Redtail Rise." They both had their tribulations, but Reek viewed his time back in the Rise with rose tented glasses. His view, permanantly affected by nostalgia. "There were bears, coogars... Saena lost her tail completely, but we survived." It was their tenacity -- the will to endure -- that Reek attributed to the longevity of Phoenix Maplewood.