Wheeling Gull Isle razor sharp and ready to cut

they are gone. this discovery does not necessarily bring with it surprise for arturo remembers everything that had transpired during witchdoctor's second debut — though he has yet to discern whether he should be alarmed or relieved by this unwelcoming fact and thus is eager to brush it beneath the rug to never examine — and knows that hemlock and the kids had moved on from this place and that, for some reason or another, witchdoctor had decided not to follow. with his mother's death he disbanded quicksilver hollow ( for he was freshly recovered and in no state to lead though they had looked to him for it nevertheless ) and set off for teekons again. it is a place of much heartbreak for him, of open and festering wounds and regrets ...but it had brought him lotte. it had brought him hemlock. it had brought him his children with the two women. it wasn't all bad, he supposes, as he wanders the abandoned beach of the isle. as a man that seeks absolute control over everything he can exert it upon the utter loss of control in his life has driven him to extremes and even now makes him horribly uneasy and weary. the fearghal monarch needs control. he needs structure to fall back into. chaos and lawlessness has always been a poor bedfellow to arturo and he feels the frustration at his current situation ( though largely his own fault ) nag at him.

he isn't so sure that he truly wishes to find hemlock. he's embarrassed by witchdoctor and horrified that she had endured it. the consideration that they are better off without him does not elude the fallen gangster. doors had closed and those paths are no longer available to him and even if they are he decides in the here and now that he shall not attempt to re-open them. somethings are better left to move on. sometimes fresh starts are what is best for everyone. he is stuck on the isle until the broken sandbar rises as the tide recedes — he could swim but does not wish to risk the frigid sea water in eagerness to return to the mainland but he knows that his next stop will be his late wife's grave in the strath, saving what will be the hardest thing to move on from for last.

his nightingale was inarguably the love of his life and his world was so much darker without her light orbiting it. he refuses to forget her — for she must live in his memories — but fully and consciously accepting her death is a storm that he knows he can no longer continue to evade. arturo stares vacantly out to sea, the mainland looming in the distance as he waits for the sandbar to rise through the surf.

He didn't know why he had bothered to cross the sandbar in the first place. Perhaps the fact that the last time he was here, Coelacanth had been there seemingly helping run a pack and he had been presented with the option that he really never had to go back to Olive. Maybe it was simply to get away from the mainland where almost every inch of the teekons had some sort of memory to it. Either way he had crossed and been on the island for about a day now.

The first thing that struck him right off the bat was that everyone seemed to be gone. There was no fresh scents or any of the familiar scents anywhere that he had searched. This caused a sliver of concern to wedge itself into his mind for Coelacanth. After mulling over said concern he decided to hope that she was alive and somewhere back in the mainland. 


Growing tired of wandering this place he made his way back to the beach, coming out of the trees and immediately staring at the back of a pelt that should have been familiar and was in a way, but in that moment he couldn't place the name. Deciding to be civil he gave a low chuff before moving out of the trees completely and slightly down the shore line to sit, where he continued to eye the male.

the chuff, the distinctive tones of masculinity that he would be content to never hear again in his life but nevertheless breach the quiet ( or as quiet as the shore is ever going to get which is to say not entirely ) causes arturo to glimpse over his svelte shoulder to confirm the immediate suspicion. he finds himself glimpsing at the familiar ebony form of the once-teaghlaigh's most wanted. a heavy sense of weariness settles over arturo then and he glimpses back to the shore, staring wordlessly out to sea as he debates internally. a few seconds later he turns and faces the other man in full. the star-crossed couple that had caused him and his so much trouble had been doled their due punishment and grudges are hardly worth keeping when teaghlaigh was buried with lotte. arturo is tired of holding grudges. it did him no good in the end. he's a man that lost his mind twice: one to incident and once to a compile of grief that he could not ( or perhaps had not was more accurate ) wanted to deal with. his kingdom has fallen to ruin and he has little left in life. he has his children, scattered to the four winds, and he supposes he has hemlock but he does not seek to try to fix what witchdoctor broke. it is better that the past stay past, he assumes; and that is on all things. dakarai and olive's mess included. "i am surprised to find you here, dakarai." arturo admits, breaking his previously held silence as his gaze, of a fiery setting sun lingers upon the other man. arturo is not aware that this place holds memories for him as well. "how do you and olive fare in moonspear?" he inquires in idle conversation if they were not once the bane of one another's existences. arturo doesn't necessarily detect any discernible pack scent upon dakarai's coat but the salt could have very easily washed it off.

He had continued to sneak glances at the male from the corner of his eyes having the nagging suspicion that he did know this man. And yes..as soon as the male turned around those flaming eyes gave him instant recognition. This was Ceannassach, Arturo, the once alpha he had tried to follow and only ended up causing unintentional grief who then in turn caused Dakarai grief. Surprisingly this revelation only brought a sense of exhausted with it and he slowly turned to face the man. Weary...tired..yes that's how he felt about holding these grudges. Grudges against Blackfeather and against Arturo and most of all against himself. Maybe this reunion would be how he chose to let them go. "I wasn't expecting to see you here Cean...Arturo. I came mostly to check up on the pack I thought was here" he spoke in a calm tone, trying to approach this with caution.

Moonspear was brought up and he realized that the last thing Arturo knew of him and Olive, they were residing in moonspear with Aries and Cassiopeia.So much had happened and so much had been lost since then, the realization brought a fresh wave of pain and he swallowed thickly against the lump that rose in his throat. "None of us remain there. Aries is a Blackfeather, Olive and Cassiopeia are... somewhere hopefully. Me and Olive aren't together she ah...she picked Gods and worship over me." He tried to give the briefest of explanations to the man, assuming that he wouldn't be much interested in the woes of the one he blamed to be the reason for blackfeathers presence at teaghlaigh. Unable to help himself on the other hand he asked "Teaghlaigh? How is everyone?" He voiced the question in a curious manner, trying not to show the regret and actual concern he felt. He had no right to miss the family or feel concerned for their well being. He wondered why Arturo sat here alone though and tried to discreetly breathe in his scent. There was nothing but Arturo, no scent of pack, but just as it had been assumed for him he blamed the sea for that reason.

ceannasach. a title that he no longer bore and one that he did not think he deserved to call himself anyway. the coywolf's ears are poised attentively atop his skull as dakarai speaks, informing him that he had came to check on the pack that had once claimed this very isle. funny, arturo did not remember ever coming into contact with dakarai during his time as witchdoctor but, then again, in teaghlaigh's last months arturo's knowledge of the going-on's had been limited to his own pack and there was no telling how long undersea had been around before hemlock and him had joined. sometime after teaghlaigh's move, he knows ...but none of it matters anymore. undersea is gone and with it so too is hemlock and the children. it comes as a surprise to hear that not a single one of them resided in moonspear, more-so to hear that their own son had joined blackfeather — of all places — and something like genuine pity flickered to life in the fiery and hellish depths of arturo's fierce gaze and then a sorrow that he cemented a reluctant sort of kinship for dakarai. dakarai had made mistakes that had cost teaghlaigh dearly ...but so had arturo. the coywolf was just as much a sinner cast down from the throne of the sacrosanct and therefore he had no right to judge. "that must be rough." arturo speaks on the subject of dakarai's woes, giving a soft clear of his throat. olive had chosen to leave dakarai while lotte had left arturo but not by her choice; somehow he couldn't help but feel that dakarai had it measurably worse. yes, olive was alive and well somewhere but she had made the choice herself.

stoicism is arturo's natural defense to everything, hiding all the turmoil as if it is a masquerade mask one easily and effortlessly slips on. "teaghlaigh is gone. i could not endure carrying it into the future ...not without lotte by my side. she's —" it was hard to speak the words, even now. "she died. i don't know where chusi is. she left us and never returned though she made at least one trip to the hinterlands after she left. hemlock and i brought the children here to undersea but it and they are now gone." he glimpses around with errant dismay. it's no use trying to track them — their trails are long since gone. "i don't know where." he admits, glossing over the part where he lost his mind. it'd been humiliating enough the first time. the second time was just plain insulting and not something he intends to share with the public.

"this is what my pride wrought of me." words are accented with a mirthless, slightly truculent chuckle, but there was a determination to keep going even with everything he once held dear gone and banished from him. arturo fearghal did not give up, did not surrender. he would regain control of his life, he would re-establish himself and he would rise again ( hopefully this time wiser from his failings ).

Dakarai gave a single nod at Arturo's response to his recap of life since teaghlaigh. However he was surprised by the knowledge that teaghlaigh was gone. What about Sirius? That was the first question that popped into his mind, selfish in a way that he didn't feel sympathy at first for Arturo but concern for his own spawn. Then came the news of Lotte's death and he instantly laid his ears back, his eyes darkening. He wasn't sure which was worse to suffer through, the pain of your wife leaving by choice or by death. Either way it was painful and to add onto it Chusi had disappeared as well from Arturo's life. 

He waited until the man finished and then remained silent for a moment longer, studying the man. He blamed pride for his suffering while Dakarai blamed his impulsivity and foolishness. He shook his head slowly "I'm...im sorry for all your loss Arturo." He spoke earnestly, he truly did feel sympathy for him.  "I had originally intended to reside here in Undersea. I have no idea where to go from here, I suppose relocating Cassiopeia and Sirius to check up on them might be the first thing. Do...you have any idea where Sirius is?" He asked with the slightest ounce of hope. He was aware that hemlock had raised the boy as her own pretty much, something that at first stirred jealousy and hurt in him and Olive but all in all was probably a good thing. Hemlock was a good woman and the last he'd seen of Sirius, the child seemed to be growing into a fine young man.

"as i am sorry for yours." the smoky, sympathetic reticence of the gangster's voice is, for whatever it was worth to the ebony pelaged man, genuine. the pair may have never gotten along, never seen eye to eye but in this there is a secondary reluctant kinship. they both gambled — with different things at different times — and they had both lost. the coywolf does not apologize for the punishment but for what had came after, the things outside of arturo's control and influence. at least, arturo attempted to console himself, none of his children ( as far as he is aware ) ran off to be with blackfeather woods. he assumes that ceallach and eirlys remain with hemlock while roarke and mallaidh are presumed dead as they've been for quite some time. they would be near a year old now, he can't help but think with a gut wrenching pain in his heart that he hides behind a thick swallow.

"no, i don't know where sirius is. he ran off a month or so, maybe longer, before teaghlaigh disbanded. hemlock tried to look for him but to no avail. i'm not sure if she caught up with him or not after undersea disbanded —," arturo admits, for if there is one thing that had always been believed to be his redemption ark it was children ( mainly arturo's own but he'd never held the crimes of the parents against the innocents ) and one of them should be able to hold out hope that their missing child(ren) are alive. "— but it's a possibility." he wasn't a firm believer in false hope, no, the gangster was pragmatic to the very marrow of his bones, but still he offers the soliloquy as a tentative peace treaty. their past is their past and while perhaps there is too much bad blood between the fearghal and svartell monarchs to be anything other than acquaintances arturo seeks to abridge the massive rift between them nevertheless. they are the same now. both robbed of everything they once held dear.

The sympathetic response was unexpected to Dakarai. He wasn't quite sure if Arturo held any more grudges for him but the response made him believe or at least hope that the past would be left behind them finally. He gave a small nod of acceptance despite knowing there was nothing to blame but himself for his own losses. His life had always been plagued by his own impulsivity, even before entering teekon when he had allowed himself to fall for Oxsana and mate her despite his old packs laws. Her and his son's lives had been ended because of his disobedience even though he had tried to get her to join him.

The news that Sirius had abandoned teaghlaigh before it even ended shocked him and he gave a long sigh, eyes darkening as he began to worry about where his long lost son had gotten off to. He estimated that Sirius could have been old enough to be able to make small kills himself to eat and survive off of, but he wasn't entirely sure. Yet if Arturo could believe there was a possibility that Sirius was alive then so could he. "I'll.. keep a lookout" he said though how he would do so was beyond him. It had been many months since he'd last seen his son and he didn't have anything to go off of except that memory. 


" For so long I held this twisted sort of bitterness against you...not teaghlaigh but you. I've never been able to see that things are my fault until it's too late, so I blamed you and blackfeather for my family's woes." He began to speak honestly, eyes darting uncomfortably to the floor. He wasn't sure where this was coming from. "But I've began to realize that it was only myself and nobody else that made me go to blackfeather in the first place. I should have came straight to Olive and Teaghlaigh. So for everything... Everything I have caused for you and in turn the other members of the family, I am so sorry. My apology won't magically fix things for anyone but I feel you should know that I believe what you did to me and Olive was actually much less than you could have." He hadn't ever actually thought about it that much, but as he spoke he began to realize things as they were. It was both guilt inducing and relieving at the same for him.

"And despite what we did you kept my boy safe and cared for him. You didn't hold what we did against Sirius, and from the last I saw of him not only did hemlock nurse him back to health but she actually took him as her own. For that I will never cease to be grateful. So thank you, for letting us go so easily and for saving my boy." He finished the awkwardly emotional speech and stared at the ground before speaking again. "The honor and compassion you showed us that day will always leave you as Ceannassach in my mind." He admitted that with much hesitation. It was pretty much his way of saying that even despite their similarities in situations Dakarai still considered the fire eyed man a superior and held respect for him.

you get turo's 600th post!

on the topic of sirius it seems neither man is feeling inclined to speak any further — arturo has no recent information to offer dakarai and the subject drops with dakarai's mention of keeping a lookout. arturo is well versed at reading between the lines and the silence that follows carries with it what the gangster assumes the ebony man leaves unsaid. the teekons are vast, running with the assumption that sirius has survived his time on his lonesome, and the likelihood of the pair catching up — if he was still in the wilds on top of being alive — was about as good as arturo running into hemlock or his children. but he doesn't mention that. he leaves it unsaid, something that he's quite skilled at doing.

it comes to pass that confessions are not finished as dakarai begins to speak once more. to hear that there was ( is? ) resentment against him personally does not come as any sort of surprise to the gangster. he's no stranger to making enemies — it's the nature of the beast in his business. he is not a mobster if he does not make as many enemies as he does allies. yet still, even with the tentative truce and kinship that hangs between the fallen men, arturo will not apologize for the punishment he placed upon the star crossed lovers. they had made mistakes. mistakes that had cost teaghlaigh, that had cost lotte and the lotturos ( for they had been born days earlier than they'd been meant to ) that cost the svartell family as well...all of it irrevocably tied back to dakarai and olive and their choices. their trespasses. claiming or excusing it as ignorance would not do any favors, and so arturo accepts it as begrudgingly as he can without comment aside from, "we all make mistakes, dakarai." the gangster draws thoughtfully, "all we can do is to learn from them and their consequences."

"your children were innocent of you and olive's crimes. i do not blame, nor punish children. i am many things and not many of them good but even i am not that monstrous." a small comfort, he is sure. arturo breaches with a swipe of his tongue across his jowls. "it is a shame about your second boy. aries. i hope he realizes the extent of what he has gotten and devoted himself into." but when he did, perhaps it would be too late. the presumed death of roarke and malliadh was much more comforting to arturo then the consideration that they might also walk among those warmongering wolves with their venomous secrets ( and that sounds bad, even in his own head ). "i hope he realizes it before it's too late." arturo amends himself.

the sea had begun to receded during their conversation and though the sandbar had begun to rise out of the frothy, foaming surf arturo does not move towards it. "thank you dakarai." it is a heavy compliment to hear that dakari respected him to still look to him as cennasach; and truthfully not words he'd ever thought he'd hear. both men had grown, had learned: it was evidenced enough in the fact that they were even having this conversation at all. "for whatever it's worth, i hope you find sirius. i hope that life is kinder to you than it's been within the past year." some of that unkindness being by arturo's own decree, but it had been a necessary evil at the time and arturo is nothing if not a man who stands by his decisions without apology.

with those words, spoken with the intent of being a goodbye arturo begins to head towards the partially destroyed sandbar with the intent of heading back to the mainland and then south to lotte's grave where he must allow himself to mourn and grieve her in a way he had denied himself when witchdoctor had taken over.

He had surely learned his lesson and briefly his mind drifted to Onyx. He thought of her almost daily along with thoughts of Olive and concern for Aries. If they ever met again, he knew for sure that he wouldn't leave her side again. It scared the shit out of him, to think he'd so readily give himself to someone again when he still ached for Olive. He'd come to the conclusion that she would be better without him and him without her, they both could try and start anew but the memories haunted him. Would he be able to give Onyx his all? Realizing he blanked out he caught the end of what was said about Aries and while he knew that Aries would never think of blackfeather as a mistake, he couldn't bear to speak the truth that he had helped bring another woods member into the world. Especially not to Arturo who had been affected and tormented by them so badly too.

Finally the conversation began to teeter off and Arturo wished him well. The sentiment struck him and after a moment he murmured "you as well Arturo. I hope you find a good path again" he said watching the male go. He would remain, thinking about things and pondering where to go from here but he would also cross the sandbar before it vanished again.