Hushed Willows but there's nowhere to go

*is vague*

His father and sister had yet to return. Silas, too tired from hunting and worrying, found himself sprawling out his lanky body in defeat somewhere along the western borderlands around the willows with a frustrated sigh. He didn't want to return to the Crook, not even feeling like taking one massive nap, and didn't want anything to do with milling through the trees like he could usually enjoy. Constantly, he kept his eyes sharp and aimed in the direction of beyond, willing sight of his dad and Larkspur (and maybe even Pippin too if he was to be honest) to appear from the nothingness.

Yet minutes ticked by and his eyelids threatened him with heaviness. He fought it off. Nothing, and no one, appeared.

Things were not improving. Now three of the five Ostregas were missing and Stark was planning to go out and try and collect them all. He couldn't be the hero for everyone, he'd never have the answers needed to solve all problems, but that didn't mean that he wasn't going to try. His attempts to find Octavia had been just as fruitful as trying to find Pippin, Mordecai, and Larkspur. The Beta didn't know how long to continue on in this capacity - how long should he wait before assuming the mantle of Alpha Male and doing what he felt was best for the pack? 

His thoughts swirled uneasily as he crossed through the packlands, only stopping for a moment as he spotted Silas up ahead. He let out a little chuff not wanting to startle the boy. Stark could understand if his thoughts were a million miles away. 

He was determined to maintain his watch for as long as he could. It may have been a wasted effort, though, and he was beginning to understand this possibility more and more as the seconds ticked by. In the meantime, the boy was simply miserable.

So focused he was on glaring out into the nowhere spaces, he didn't hear Stark until he chuffed. Silas tried not to visibly flinch, but it probably happened anyway to a keen enough eye. He turned his head towards the dark leader (maybe even alpha? Silas didn't know, but could recognize him as one of the few authority figures up and functioning here) and apologetically splayed his ears. This was no behavior before a wolf he did respect.. especially one of the rare few beyond his little family constellation.

His thoughts searched for a greeting but when he opened his mouth, only this sad little groan came out. Vaguely horrified, but too tired to fight it, he scrunched it up into a small whine before he looked away from Stark back out past the willows.

I'm just sad.

He didn't need to say a word. Neither of them did. Both their thoughts were far from their willows, focused on the missing parts of Sikas' family. Stark frowned when the boy let out a small whine - it was so hard to remember the fact Silas was still so young. He'd already endured so much, seen so much, and Stark closed the distance between them to gently nudge the boys shoulder. If he wanted comfort, the dark male could provide that at least. 

It was unfair and it was worrying, as much as he had wanted to bring back Pippin now there were even more of the Ostrega clan out running through the wilds. He couldn't fathom what might be keeping them - even when Mordecai had gone off it had been check ins, short jaunts out and then back. This felt different. It was more worrying. Stark would push to get them back together. He owed that much to them - they deserved some happiness after everything they had been through. 

"Kekeke!" Tambourine shouted as he gamboled through the willow wood, cheery as ever despite the various faces missing from the Keep, his mother's included. The boy was simply too young to know what a prolonged absence meant and the remaining adults in the pack saw to it that he didn't want for the basic necessities of life in Tavi's absence.

He came 'round a copse of willows growing particularly close together, then at the last minute decided to dart at the long, weeping boughs. Tambourine wound up tangled, which he thought was a riot, of course. He rolled onto his back, giggling and babbling another, "Kekeke!" He was oblivious to Stark and Silas some twenty feet away, his loud mouth disrupting their moment of comfort and companionship.

For a moment, he felt his heart race at the thought of more unknown, but Stark eased him into a comfortable silence with a small nudge. No reprimands came, and nothing was even said to make him feel pressured in any way. Silas moved a bit more to prop himself up better, although he still couldn't muster up any words of his own. Far too many came to mind in one big, rushing jumble that there was no way he could articulate it properly. He sighed, thankful for the company that while unspoken, seemed to understand that he just needed something somewhat good for a minute.

"I.." he eventually started to say once he began to feel bad about hogging up any piece of Stark's (presumably important) time and doing basically nothing with it, but noise distracted him to the point of pulling his ears down. When he realized it was Tambourine's voice coming muffled through the trees, he cringed. Silas now could feel his stomach dropping; the last thing he wanted to deal with was his noise. He shot Stark a wary look and licked his lips nervously. If not for the leader's steadfast presence, he would be slipping away quietly by now so not to draw the youth's attention.

Stark offered a small smile as he looked at Silas, realizing now how little Silas seemed but at the same time Stark was realizing he wouldn't be a child much longer. It wasn't like Tambourine, full of innocence and youth and the benefit of the eternal sunshine in the boy. He'd barely cried for his mother - a few sleepy whines, sure, but they'd hunkered down just fine together. With Silas he didn't have that benefit - he was grown enough to realize and recognize things. Before the boy had a chance to say a word - well, more than a word -there was Tambourine's shrieking sounds and he saw Silas wince. Clearly the boy was uncomfortable around Tambourine, and wouldn't he be? No doubt Harlyn had been honest with the boy and he would probably be uneasy by the thought of Tambourine being around. "Give me just a minute to see if he's alright, okay? His mom is missing too." He said quietly. He gave Silas' another nudge on the shoulder, breathing out slowly against the puppy's coat. 

Finally he pulled back from the young boy to turn and follow the sounds of Tambourine, spotting the bubbly puppy caught in some roots. Stark rolled his eyes, licking Tambourine's cheek before he focused on freeing the little boy. "Tam, if you want to come visit with Silas you can - but we have to be quiet." He said gently. "He misses his family - like you miss your Mama." He explained. 

When Stark magically appeared above him, the puppy stilled, tongue lolling from his mouth as he grinned up at the Beta male. "Hi Stark!" he greeted cheerfully, cackling as the adult struggled to free him from the willow's draping foliage. As soon as he could, Tambourine bounced to his feet, head cocking when Stark mentioned Silas, then told him to be quiet. Evidently, Silas missed his family, just like Tambourine missed his mother.

"Mum!" Tambourine chirped, as he always did when Tavi was mentioned. His tail wagged and he looked around as if hoping to spot her before his blue eyes eventually lifted back to Stark's face. "Where's mum?" he wanted to know, though his tone wasn't worried. If he missed her, it wasn't a conscientious thing. For that matter, "Where's Silas?" He hadn't spotted the older boy in his quick sweep either.

Thinking that perhaps they might be hidden beneath one of the other willows, Tambourine suddenly darted to the neighboring tree, bursting beneath its fringed boughs and yelling, "Mum! Silas! Mum! Silas!"

He sat painfully still except for a microscopic nod when Stark explained his plans to go check on the pup. That was fine, he thought, and hoped Tambourine would simply bounce off to elsewhere after a quick check in. What he had said about his mom being missing too was noted, because often, Silas had no idea on Tavi's status. Sometimes she was here, sometimes not. Even when she was, he wasn't usually quick to notice anyway, so it barely mattered in his day to day.

Since he knew how awful it was to be missing a parent (or anyone close for that matter), he wanted to feel sympathetic towards the younger male but it was just not coming naturally to him at all. As relatively mild-mannered in bearing and temperament alike, his distaste towards him didn't always feel quite right beyond the fact that he was very different from Silas and his family. He was a bit obnoxious and Tavi could seem to be strange about him sometimes, but it rarely concerned the Ostrega immediately. He did often wonder what it was exactly that had driven Pippin to go after him, though. Something had surely set him off, yet as far as he knew, he had only been helping her after the fall.

Silas was reminded why he preferred to stay away from the younger pup when Tam's voice came loudly through the trees, and this time chanting his name alongside mum. The dark Ostrega groaned and wilted, readying himself against something he'd really rather not deal with. He made no move to be found any sooner than necessary. Hopefully, Stark's company could serve as a buffer, but Silas found it hard to be too optimistic.

Stark winced as Tambourine didn't manage to lower the decibel level of his cries, the puppy not even waiting for him to answer the questions he'd screeched before taking off and bellowing repeatedly. Stark gave a very adult huff as he tore off after the puppy, quickly stepping up beside him. "Tambourine," He repeated the puppy's name, putting a careful paw in front of the boy to deter him. "Quiet, remember?" He asked, blue eyes meeting the puppy's gaze. It still seemed to transition, sometimes he saw the blue, sometimes he saw hints of other shades. He wondered how the boy's eyes would turn out - he wondered a lot about how things would turn out too. 

"If you're good, we'll go for a special walk okay? Maybe even somewhere out of the pack. Maybe Banner will want to go too." He offered. "But we've got to be good and be helpful. Right now I think Silas might like a bit of company, but, quiet company. You can do that, right?" He asked, hoping that the boy might be be able to just tone it down a bit so that Silas wasn't utterly overwhelmed. Either way it seemed like he'd be torn between the two - either he catered to Tambourine and neglected Silas' state or he focused on Silas and neglected Tambourine's. The only positive of that situation was Tam was highly unlikely to actually hold a grudge after all. 

"Let's go see if Silas wants to talk." He suggested, giving a little nudge to Tambourine's shoulder before slowly heading back towards the older puppy. 

Stark almost immediately stepped in front of him, cutting off his path and reminding him to be quiet. Tambourine fidgeted as the adult just kept talking and talking. Boy he liked to talk! He even liked to talk about talking! Finally, he said they could resume their search for Silas. Much of the rest of the message had gone in one ear and out the other.

"Silas!" he hissed loudly when a few more steps afforded them a view of the older puppy. He looked quite miserable. "What's wrong?" Tambourine wanted to know as he bounced up to him, tail wagging. He then remembered one of the (very many) things Stark had said. "You miss your family? Maybe they're with my mama," he suggested, both breathlessly and mindlessly, "and they're up in a tree! Eating moose pies! And howling at the moon!" Because that made sense.

They came upon him soon enough. His ears angled back first and foremost, yet he fought against pinning them outright. Silas lifted his eyes to Stark first, but Tambourine's question pulled him back down to him. Before he could even huff an appropriate sigh, he was bouncing up to him. "Um, well-" but he stopped short, not having the will to fight against his more exuberant words. He peeped a "Yeah" because indeed, he missed his family. But he had a feeling it'd get lost in the big tangle of all the other stuff Tambourine said. Silas felt his face go blank somewhere in the middle of it all -- but before moose pies. Where was he supposed to even start?

Dragging up against the urge to put his head beneath his paws, or bury it all in a hole somewhere, he straightened somewhat and put on his best I am really trying to be socially acceptable face. "Do you miss your mama?" he asked. Relatable content, somewhat? He tried..

Tambourine was trying and Stark was appreciative of the effort the puppy was putting in. He followed a couple steps behind the boy, his eyes meeting Silas' when they finally came into view of the older puppy. He knew there was bound to be tension, in a way, Tambourine could easily be blamed for Pippin's disappearance. He gave a little sigh of relief when Tambourine started with something almost relatable. It wouldn't be easy by any stretch of the imagination but all Stark would ask was that the boys try. 

And they were.

From a position a couple steps away Stark gave an encouraging smile, nodding as they exchanged their own admissions of their losses. "Maybe they did run into each other." Which was a thought that Stark honestly hadn't had - and it came with two venues. Mordecai wouldn't know about the latest outburst or how Octavia had run off on him, and if they were already on edge with one another perhaps it wouldn't be a good meeting. He couldn't expect it to me. Maybe Mordecai would see Octavia's strange behavior and try and help. It was too much to be hopeful over, and so the male was quiet and just held that thought inside. 

"Hopefully they'll come soon." All of them. 

Last post for me! :)

The smaller youth considered that question. Did he miss his mother? Well, no, he hadn't taken the time to do that. Life kept him busy and with no real way to track time, Tambourine didn't realize he hadn't seen Tavi in at least several days. So he shrugged a shoulder and smiled perhaps a little sheepishly. He could see that Silas was sad and though there was no conscious comparison, Tambourine did not aspire to be in the same mindset as the older boy.

"Maybe! Hopefully!" he chirped in mindless, positive agreement before jumping to his paws again and exclaiming, "I'll find mum!" Tambourine darted off, somewhere in the general direction of The Crook, only to screech to a halt and look back at Stark and Silas. "C'mon!" He didn't wait for either one to react before looking forward and zipping away. He would find Tavi and Silas's family too!

(Tambourine, that precious cinnamon roll, would eventually wind up discovering the still invalid Harlyn sleeping in the den and screaming at the top of his lungs for Stark and Silas to come, only for someone to [im?]patiently explain that she hadn't been among the missing.)

He mulled it over, wondering if they had all met up somewhere. He only wanted them safe and back with him as soon as possible.

Silas could not fathom finding such enthusiasm in himself either, yet Tambourine exuded it practically to the extreme -- so much so that it left him not knowing what to do with it except nodding his head because yeah, maybe! was certainly one way to put it. The dark Ostrega shot Stark a quick look, but really, he had nothing better to do except to c'mon. So he may as well go someplace new, instead of his current spot of wallowing, even without real expectations in mind; maybe a walk would be good. He picked himself up with a soft grumble then plodded after the younger pup -- although let him have the lead by a wide, wide margin.

And at least when they got to Harlyn, he could have the chance to check in on her. While it was not quite the finding he wanted, he deemed it better than nothing, and was grateful for the company to distract him from feeling so crummy for a little while.

i'ma slowpoke so my last too ~

Between the two there was an uneasy sort of peace. Not eagerness to be next to one another, certainly, but, at least they weren't actively squabbling. Stark didn't think that Tambourine was the type to hold a grudge - perhaps not even realize what had happened between the families anyways - and Silas was more mature than to act out. 

Stark offered the older boy a brief smile, silently thanking him for his patience as they made their way to Harlyn. It would be good to see how she was doing and let her know his plan to start spreading out a bit in their search. After a bit of visiting he attempted to round Tambourine off - promising a small trip outside the pack lands to start the search.