Dragoncrest Cliffs i can't help this awful energy

i don't even know what this post is. xD

[table width=85%][tr][td]

Eske woke, a little disoriented by the tangy scent of sea that filled her black, leathery nostrils. As she became more and more aware, shaking off the heavy sleep that made her sluggish she stretched within the spacious confines of her den, warming her muscles. She missed Sleeping Dragon, but it was just land. She was born to the dragon that slumbered beneath the earth but as she thought about it more and more she missed the familiarity that had been her life there. She missed her parents, she missed her siblings. Dragoncrest Cliffs was absent of them, but she supposed the longer she thought about it that it was all inevitable anyway. One day, they were going to leave and life as she’d known it as a child would have always ceased to be the same. Even she was not the same. She had shed Lodbrok for Drakru: a big statement in and of itself. She had earned her mercenary trade and been promoted from Goufa to Gona. These were accomplishments she was proud of, though she wished that she had someone to share them with. She was far from alone and yet Eske realized just how much she had taken advantage of their presence in her life. Now that they were gone from her, off on their own paths of life the loneliness set in.

Her own desire for independence (and her natural aggression) had seen that she had no friends. She had a mentor in Wildfire but as the flame kissed Bandrona was occupied by her heat cycle (a topic that Eske really didn’t want to touch with a ten foot pole, thanks) Eske didn’t want to bother her with lessons. So she worked on her deplorable fishing skill, and hunted small things as she could, and she ran her patrols. Every now and then she would get a inkling to explore but stifled it because she believed Drageda needed her within the territory.

She tuned out her thoughts and shrugged out of her den, stretching again without the fear of bumping something against a wall or the ceiling of her den. For a moment she stared at the trees around her blankly, contemplating what she wanted to do: did she hunt for some breakfast or just go for the patrol? Or did she seek out some company? Instead of those options she ventured for a water source and when she found one focused on the simple task of drinking around the ice that thinly covered it, lapping the icy water as it sated her thirst.

[/td][/tr][/table]

eske was not a wolf that portia had ever come in contact with-- by accident or choice. she'd had a known fondness for hvitserk, and freyja, as (it seemed) most wolves in drageda did. but both had left, and the skayona was rather put off by their disappearance. she assumed they were fine, but was heartbroken that they hadn't said a word of goodbye. she felt she had done much to help and mentor them, and perhaps even felt like a sort of aunt-- a cool aunt-- but they had just left. perhaps she wasn't worth it, though she tried to not think about that.

when she saw eske on the ice, however, she felt obligated to talk to her. maybe she'd find a new apprentice... or maybe just a new child to love up on. she loved children, and it did break her heart a little bit to be without one to share her plants with. she stood off a bit, careful not too spook her, a bundle of moss in her jaws. she waited for the child to turn, curious if she'd pay her any attention.

thank you for joining! <3

[table width=85%][tr][td]

There were few that Eske was close with in Drageda, something that the Drakru had begun to realize as a flaw rather than a merit of her independence. What good did her “independence” do her now? She had Heda …and she supposed that now she had Wildfire but both had been closer to her siblings than to her though this distance had been largely of Eske’s own making. Now…now the warrior princess realized the importance of Clan and though she wasn’t very good at socializing she sought to remedy her past failure. It wasn’t too late …and she was all that remained of Gyda and Gavriel’s legacy in Drageda. Yet, even now Freyja’s presence loomed over her. Freyja had been the golden child, the one that all adored and loved. It was hard to step out of the shadow that her golden painted sister had left her in. Eske wasn’t Freyja. She was never going to be eloquent with words or soft and dainty. Eske was Eske. She was razor sharp and aggressive. She did not charm. She cut.

She inhaled deeply and let it out in a heavy sigh, the scent of another: Portia caught the Gona’s attention and she turned abruptly to face the uniquely marked woman with surprise in her sea blue-green gaze. Eske tried to temper it an effort to avoid accidentally offending the older woman, Eske’s tail giving a soft wag against her hocks. “Uh, hey,” Eske greeted her, eyeing the green moss that hung from betwixt the other woman’s jaws for a moment. Manners Eske. “Is there anything I can help you with, Portia?” Inquired the Gona a bit awkwardly.

[/td][/tr][/table]

<3

portia was quite the opposite, actually preferring to make nice with every wolf in the pack and bug them for hours upon hours with her affection and absurd knowledge of plants. but to each their own, she supposed. she was hardly offended by eske's apparent shocked, truthfully not offended at all. little offended the freckled skayona, and this was not one of those times. "hey, hun!" she replied with a few wags of her own tail. eske asked if there was anything she needed, and truthfully there was not, but she somehow felt the warrior princess was not one for light chit-chat. she set the large bundle of moss on the ground and tilted her head to the side, just slightly. "i actually just gathered some moss and was bringing it back to the cavern," she explained with a sweet smile, "i was gonna have to make a second trip, but you'd save me some time if you would collect a good mouthful." it was phrased as a comment, like a general statement, but it was clear that the botanist was requesting that eske would help her out.

[table width=85%][tr][td]

Portia called her hun and for a moment she let the strange term of endearment hang awkwardly in the air as she struggled how to take it. Though Eske much preferred Trigedasleng to the Common she knew both fluently and understood terms of endearment when they were used even if this was the first time (that she could recall) anyone had ever called her “hun”. She couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps Portia used it because she didn’t know her name — understandable if she didn’t if only because Eske was an independent, lone type. After a few more seconds of dissecting the simple word Eske accepted it without any fuss or much of any reaction at all. Her ears cupped forth, attentive, when Portia made mention of the moss bundle she had dropped at her paws — Eske’s sea green-blue gaze flickered down to the bundle before she blinked back up at Portia — and rose her brow ever so slightly when the woman mentioned that it would save her a trip if Eske took a “good mouthful”. For a moment, Eske’s teeth grinder as she wondered if that was a command instead of a question. In truth, when Eske had asked if Portia needed anything it had just been a formality. She wasn’t a mule after all — and before those childish thoughts could be made into words she gave a quick bob of her head in a nod, cutting off any retort that had been brewing. “Sure.” She responded in affirmation to her nod. She had asked and there was no reason for her not to assist Portia. It was a “team player” thing to do and beyond that Eske was pretty sure (as far as she believed, anyway) she was probably already seen as enough of a bitch without actually putting fact to it (even though she could be from time to time).

[/td][/tr][/table]

eske was clearly reluctant, but she agreed and portia kept the sweet, toothless smile on her muzzle as she motioned for the gona to follow her. it was just a small ways back to the patch she had collected from. she began forward, assuming the child was following her, her own bundle of moss secured tightly in her jaws. "so, eske," the woman began through her mouthful, green eyes sliding to view the other, "how do you like the new territory?" the question was simple, and though it was clearly said to fill a silent walk, portia was genuinely curious. "i actually quite like it, i prefer the coverage to the cliffs," she pinned on at the end, giving a quick little shrug.