Hushed Willows But everything, it all just feels the same

Since being moved into the Crook, he’d not known what to do with himself. For so long it’d been just him, his siblings, and his mother, so for that to suddenly change had been alarming. The shock of the move had since worn away, but never had the sense of confusion, of not knowing what to do or even what he could do. Within the confusion, however, there existed happiness, which was the only thing preventing him from marching back to the den that he’d crawled out of. The joy stemmed from the fact that, since he was no longer alone with his family, he would no longer need to spend time with his mother. A change had been observed in her previously, but it hadn’t been nearly enough to wipe the slate clean. Someday, he might forget her neglect, but even when that day came his anger would still be left behind, even if he knew not what he was angry about. It would remain and it would be directed towards her, no matter what she might do between then and the present—such were his thoughts at the moment, but how accurate they would be had yet to be realized.

In the early morning, just as the sun was rising, Eros had awoken with a start. What had caused it, he couldn’t tell, and whatever he might have been dreaming about had faded from his mind almost immediately after he’d awoken. It bothered him, the not knowing, but the wraith had managed to look passed it in favour of locating something to do, having quickly discovered that he’d not be able to fall back asleep. Rather than waking another wolf in order to keep him occupied, he’d come up with something else, and thus began his attempt at sneaking away as he tiptoed around any bodies that were to be encountered on his way towards the exit.

He was back in the Keep and everything was much the same, even if Tambourine was a touch more worldly than before. He sought out @Stark right away to let him know he was back (not to mention apologize for disappearing like that), then meandered around the woods. He found comfort in the familiarity of home. Although he could still hear that faint call of the wild in the back of his head, he knew he would never leave Marauder's Keep for good, not for anything less than a very compelling reason anyhow.

Eventually, he meandered to The Crook. He popped his head inside to look around and saw a familiar figure slithering among the sleeping bodies. A smile twitched the corners of his mouth upward when he recognized Eros and he couldn't resist greeting him by saying, "Hell-o."

Tag for reference. :)

The entrance had been in his sight, the light from outside urging him closer. He’d moved around any bodies that were encountered slowly, carefully, whilst hoping not to wake anyone. He’d been on a roll, too, until he’d heard a voice. Eros stopped so suddenly that he had nearly gone tail over teakettle, having only managed to save himself by a hair. Thereafter, he’d stood frozen in place, staring at the older boy with wide eyes. On one hand, he wasn’t the least bit thrilled over the fact that he’d been caught in the act; on the other, at least it hadn’t been his mother catching him. Thinking that he might be in the clear anyways, he’d straightened himself out and took several more steps forward, still mindful of the others but considerably less so than previously.

“Hell,” returned the wraith, ignoring the necessity of the o-ending. He watched the other for a moment or two longer before having decided to try and slip passed him and out into the open. Having never seen Tam converse with his mother in the past, he was hopeful that the woman wouldn’t be summoned in light of his attempted escape.

"You forgot the 'oh,'" Tambourine informed the younger pup, turning as Eros brushed past him and made for the exit. He jauntily strode after him. "Where're you going?" he wondered conversationally as they emerged back into the open air. He blinked a few times as his eyes adjusted to the difference in the light, then peered at the side of Eros's peculiar face. "Do you want to explore? I can go with you, if you want."

With the reminder given, he’d glanced towards the older boy and shook his head. It’d not been that he’d forgotten, but that he simply hadn’t seen the point to adding it—just as he hadn’t seen the point of explaining this, rather than shaking his head. Looking away, he’d continued forward, wanting to explore but also wanting to put some distance between himself and his family. Not knowing where he was going, or even where he wanted to go, he’d ended up shrugging. Only after that had he stopped to think, realizing that he couldn’t very well do anything if he didn’t know his way around.

Spinning around, the wraith stared at Tam before nodding. “I wanna go far,” he’d declared. “Take me?” The offer to walk along with him had been taken as an offer to show him around instead, which Eros liked the sound of. Since the Xi was older than him, then he probably knew his way around the territory. Believing that, the boy wanted to be led around by him so that he could find places to take shelter from Amara in.

Eros wanted to go far, he said. Tambourine took a moment to ponder that. Far as in... across the territory? Or far as in... across the wilderness? He blinked down at the smaller youth, deciding he must mean the former. Eros was too young to stray beyond the borders, he was pretty sure of that.

"We can go to the other side of the Keep," he proposed with a smile. "C'mon." He motioned for Eros to come along, then began walking. "Why do you want to go far?" he questioned, tone still entirely conversational as they walked through the willows.

Truthfully, Eros hadn’t known exactly how far he wanted to go. He’d known that he needed to get away from his mother, but couldn’t come up with an exact distance that would give him what he wanted. So once the other side of the Keep had been brought up, he’d nodded and gone along with it, trusting that that was as far as he’d ever be able to go.

As he followed the older boy, he’d kept his eyes ahead, almost refusing to look back in the direction he’d come from. Only after having been asked a question had he thrown a quick glance over his shoulder, then stumbled over his own feet because of it. Catching himself, he’d tried to ignore what had happened by shaking his head. “Bad mom,” he’d replied. “She doesn’t like me.” And the only solution he’d come up with to free himself from her negativity had been to flee.

When he saw the smaller boy stumble, Tambourine prepared to swoop in and steady him but Eros managed to stay upright. The Xi smiled at him, though his lips twisted into a frown at Eros's words. He could have refuted them but, well, Tambourine sort of agreed. Amara never seemed to be around and when she was present, she was pretty weird.

"I'm sure she loves you," Tambourine said after a beat, "but maybe she has a funny way of showing it." He shrugged, sighed quietly and then perked up in the next instant. "I like you, if it makes you feel better." He waved his gray tail, hoping it did make a difference.

Just in case it didn't, there was something else Tambourine could do: distract him. "Hey, Eros," he said, suddenly leaping ahead, only to swivel around and drop into a playful bow right in front of the younger pup. "Do you like playing? Do you like snow? Do you like—" Wait for it... "—playing in the snow?" he crowed even as he used an over-sized paw to lob a loose snowball at Eros's face.

For as far back as he could remember, his mother had hated him. She’d never given him the affection that he both desired and deserved, having instead chosen to always push him away. Yet, a moment or two had still been taken to think about the older boy’s words and whether or not they held any truth to them—which they didn’t, he’d decided. “She doesn’t,” he said again, but this time with a scrunched up face. It was the one thing in life that he was absolutely certain of, given what he’d experienced. With yet another shake of his head, he’d tried to look passed that, attention captivated by what he’d been told: someone liked him. That gave him an idea. “Be my mom,” proposed the whelp, unable to see what was wrong with that. “Take me from her.” It’s not like Amara would care anyways, right? Definitely not. She had other things to worry about, such as what babies she could punt across a field and what babies she could not.

As Tambourine moved ahead of him and bowed down, the wraith froze in place. Rarely had he played with his siblings, which made the entire concept of play rather foreign to him. With his brows pinched together in confusion, he’d tried to answer the questions—having assumed that he was supposed to—but stopped dead in his tracks as a snowball smacked into his face. He’d not been able to move away quick enough, nor had he even thought to do so given his lack of experience with snow and how it could be molded. Pouting, Eros then proclaimed, “You don’t like me!” and proceeded to fight back the tears that pricked the corners of his eyes. Because Eros is a total wuss.

The paw full of snow smacked Eros right in the face. Tambourine grinned, though his happy expression died a quick death when the smaller boy began to cry. "Did I hurt you?" he gasped, abandoning his playful posture and crowding closer to Eros, inspecting his face. Eros's wail gave him an answer. He hadn't physically hurt him but evidently lobbing the snowball at him had wounded the pup emotionally.

"I do!" the Xi quickly reassured his little buddy, seating himself beside Eros and draping a foreleg across his shoulders. "I promise I do! I didn't mean to upset you. I'm sorry," Tambourine blathered, tentatively nudging Eros's cheek in a comforting gesture. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "I shouldn't have done that. I was just tryin' to get your mind off things..."

He hadn't missed Eros's plaintive request earlier. Tambourine couldn't replace the boy's mother, though he knew that blood parents weren't the only option for family. He shared a very special bond with Stark, for instance, and they weren't technically related at all. "I could be like your big brother if you want," he offered, wide eyes peering at Eros's face in the hope that it would help console him.

Sniffling, Eros pointed his nose towards the ground and away from the older boy. He was definitely overreacting, but his hurt outweighed his ability to reason. Playing in the snow and throwing it around wasn’t something that he had ever done before, nor did he understand the fun side of it. All he understood was that someone had thrown something at him, and it’d stung. The lingering sting served as a reminder, making it more difficult for him to forgive Tambourine, but not by much. It’d hurt him, but the second he’d heard the word promise that pain had started to fade away; maybe he was gullible, or perhaps he unconsciously recognized the insignificant of being slapped in the face with a snowball. “Are you sure you like me?” he asked, needing to be sure. He didn’t want to think he had a friend, and then end up with an Amara 2.0 in his life.

Looking back at Tam, he thought about his offer, combined with the promise that he liked Eros. Though it was a new mother that he wanted the most, he could accept having a brother instead. He began nodding, then paused and asked, “Are big brothers always nice?” Having no older siblings (that he knew about, at least), the whelp wasn’t entirely sure what all they did—he hoped that they were better than moms.

Hope it's cool if I nudge this toward a fade!

"Absitively posolutely!" Tambourine replied without missing a beat, unaware that he'd mixed up the words a bit there. "You and your brother and sister—you're my buddies!" he added, wanting to make sure he included all of Amara's neglected offspring. "I'll look out for you," he promised.

His lips curled into a bit of a grin at Eros's question. "Mostly," he said perhaps a bit too innocently, "but other times, they throw snow in your face and give you noogies and stuff." Tambourine didn't have an older brother of his own but he did have Stark, which was where he based his conclusions. "Big brothers have to beat up on little brothers a bit to make sure they grow up strong," he quipped, winking very emphatically so Eros understood he was only (mostly) kidding.

"C'mon," the older pup said in the next moment, "you said you wanted to go far. Let's race to the edge of the woods!" Tambourine gave Eros's shoulder a companionable pat before breaking into a trot. He would wait for the youngster to catch up and overtake him—a good big brother let his lil' bro win from time to time, he was pretty sure—and then dash after him.