King Elk Forest around my wandering feet

maybe a lady-wolf or two or? @Anatha @Queenie @Jomyo @Gracious @Malice

mona had no words for the feeling that had been engendered in her. in no span of memory had she ever recalled feeling such a way, even down the melted-chocolate feeling in her belly when she so much as thought of him. like now. mona pulled herself from her den with an irritated sigh and glanced skyward, the collar rasping uncomfortably around her slender throat.
she tried not to think of it these days, but between the rochester and this goddamn stupid fuckin' thing, the yearling had a lot on her mental plate. with a harsh pang, mona recalled the face of her mother, the hurt in rowan's silver eyes, and despite herself, the girl's mouth trembled. 
sniffing back tears, desperately homesick, and filled with a heart-deep longing for her mother, mona plodded aimlessly through the territory, going nowhere in particular. and regardless of her best efforts, saltwater soon traced bitter paths along her silent crimson features.

Gracious had returned home after doing more late night stargazing outside of the woods. She rather enjoyed the company she had, though, she missed her own pack back at home base. She didn't hesitate to trot over the border and deeper into the neck of the woods, aimlessly. For a little bit, when she stepped over the invisible line, she thought of Nathaniel, just for a split second. Handsome male to say the least, but he seemed married to his work rather than to another wolf. Maybe that'd change, who knows, all she knew was that she needed to not think about him. The last thing she wanted to turn into was a squealing yearling with raging hormones.

What regained Gracious' attention was the fae in front of her. She looked to be a bit smaller than the lofty woman, quite familiar she thinks too. Ah, now she remembered where she had seen that face. Mona, was it? She was at the pack meeting where they got to witness the amazing event with the moon and share stories. Thinking back a bit to the fond moment, Gracious didn't even notice the waterworks quite yet. Not until she started to make her way closer to Mona after calling out a gentle "hey."

By then her calm facial features twisted into a concerned expression. "Are you alright, Mona?" she asked her softly, head tilting a little as she walked closer to the girl.

so focused she was on not sobbing aloud that mona did not at first hear her packmate. and then the settling fragrance of rainwashed air surrounded her, and the soft voice of gracious murmured nearby, curled with gentle concern. the girl halted and drew in a breath before turning her tearstained muzzle to the gunmetal-toned woman with a wan smile.
"oh, you know, just like .... missing my mom, haha," mona muttered, sniffling and grinning and not quite accomplishing her goal of nonchalance, hard to do when you're wet with saltwater and clearly less than all right.
"god, just ... when does life slow down?" mona growled sharply, directing the tone away from gracious and up at the unappealing but innocent skies.

"She could only nod at the girl's remarks, missing a mother's soft embrace and presence was something many still fought to overcome. For some it was easy, for others, it's a problem that may take longer to settle with.  "Everyone misses someone special to them at one point or another. It's hard." Gracious was gone through plenty of hard times of missing her family to know that getting over it is a difficult journey, it took quite long for her to just accept the fact that she wouldn't see them soon. But once you're over the hill, everything gets a little bit easier from that point onward.

On the note that time flies, Gracious offered a reassuring smile, chalked full of an understanding aura. She nearly backed up at the harsh voice, though realizing that it wasn't directed towards her, the woman remained rooted. Time, it was something wolves always have yet just never had enough of. "In the prettiest and ugliest moments of our life is when time slows down," she thought aloud, "then it all goes away way too fast."

"It's hard learning to deal with it. Do you..." she began slowly, "want to talk about it? What's bothering you?" Maybe a small therapy session would help, venting sometimes is the only way we can let things go and just accept them.

gracious' voice was perfectly pitched to soothe the emotional girl; gradually she calmed and turned her muzzle toward the friendly woman cloaked in softy greyscale robes. for a long moment mona said nothing, wondering if she should take the wolfess up on her offer. why not? the witch-child felt it was quite possible she could burst with the frustration of holding everything inside herself.
"i found out not very long ago that the man i thought was my father wasn't — he's my brother. and my dad is dead. and i never got to know him, and i ran ... ran away," mona admitted with a sigh, lowering her haunches to the snowy ground, "from them before they could tell me anything else. i've been looking for information about him myself .. and then this stupid thing on my neck, and ... ugh."
the nuro trailed off inelegantly, out of words and with her eyes fixed on the powder between her forepaws.

She taped her mouth shut as she listened to the flamed girl go on, ears perked forward tentatively as she listened. She took this moment to settle down on her haunches, seeing the Mona do the same. Sometimes standing too long was just uncomfortable, and with a topic like this, it would be best to be comfortable because it may take some time to finish talking. Gracious felt her heart go out to Mona, the problems she faced really hit home with her. Having mixed identities for family members, running away, being left confused and frustrated -- and adding some sort of necklace on her neck too? She had to have been feeling just miserable.

"No words could make up for what you've had to go through, I'm so sorry to hear about this,"  Gracious spoke with sincerity sprinkled into every word, "but at least you're getting it off your chest so it doesn't just dwell inside."

"The situation with your brother, even if he wasn't your father you believed him to be, think about the moments you had with him. Think about the good times and your relationship. He might not be the one you were looking for, but he wasn't just someone random wolf, he was someone apart of your family who stepped up to fill in the spot you weren't going to have." It was a matter of remembering good things about what has happened in the past rather than just focusing on the bad things that have happened now. If Mona could hold onto those little moments she loved, she could get past this. "It's hard, it really is hard to accept and move on, but sometimes, it's less painful to let go than it is to hold on."

some stubborn part of mona wanted to resist what gracious was saying, toss it away with a scoff. what did the ashgrey woman know about being in the girl's own skin? but the nuro knew the woman was right; she listened till her tears subsided and the nodding began. a sigh escaped mona; she crossed her forepaws on the snow, then crossed them the other way.
"i guess they didn't mean anything by it. i guess ... they did what they thought was best." her throat clenched then and the girl paused, unable to go on. another breath; she glanced up at gracious with a wry half-smile. "are you a counselor? you should be —you're very good at this." there was nothing more to say, or perhaps nothing more she wanted to say, except 
mona held words on her tongue until she couldn't; she released them into gracious' inviting ears. "why is love so ... hard?"

when the two finally reached their point of understanding one another, the process of talking became easier. gracious let the girl talk and then talked back to offer advice, though it seems a bit mechanical and almost fake at first. what would gracious know about having misconceptions and overall deeply buried lies revealed? not one thing about it, but she could at least try to walk a mile or two in mona's skin, seeing through her eyes and feeling with her heart.

on the talk of becoming a counselor, the older woman beamed. "I aim to help others, it would be a job I'd love to have," she commented lightly before quieting down once mona spoke again. the phoenix talked about love and it's difficulty, why must it be this way? truly, this question stumped gracious. she was dumb at romantic love and perhaps a bit... shallow in the knowledge of family love and ties and all of that. but perhaps she could at least try to shed some light on the situation.

"because it's something precious to us, and without it, we think we'll fall apart," gracious licked her lips anxiously as she tried to piece together a coherent answer, "love isn't perfect. love won't always be this cloud-nine feeling. love is as unperfect as we are."

"love is a matter of facing those dark moments to have those good ones. it teaches us loyalty and respect in the cruelest way possible. and it teaches us to move on."

mona held fast to every word gracious spoke — the wisdom from the cloud-grey wolfess was something rich and valuable. love was an imperfect thing that brought with it lessons and the reward of others; pain accompanied love, but the feeling was necessary all the same. mona let out her breath in a long sigh, glancing between gracious and the ground.
but when she lifted her crimson features back to the woman, there was a smile on her lips. "thank you," mona whispered. her spirits had been lifted, at least for now; gracious' time and kind words had been the catalyst to tug the mayfair from her slough of despair. straightening, the girl lifted a hindpaw and scratched awkwardly beneath the edge of the collar, a frustrated huff escaping her muzzle. "it doesn't hurt," she explained of the thing, "but it's not convienient at all."
her eyes brightened. "how long have you been in tindome?" was her next inquiry, as the mayfair realized she knew next to nothing about her packmate.

a quiet hum left her dark lips in response to the fiery girl's thanks. she was glad she was able to provide at least some assistance to her problems, it was always her aim to help others whenever she could. her eyes drifted towards the collar on the young girl, making the older ghost quirk a brow on confusion. how did she even get that thing on her neck to begin with?

although the girl assured gracious that it wasn't painful, she still believed that it was probably uncomfortable and inconvenient. before she was even able to think of anything else, the question of her seniority at tindome made the woman ponder for a little. "to be honest, i'm not exactly sure. but i've been here for a while now, long enough to have been here when numbers were smaller. how about you?"

wrap up with another round? <3 we need a new one!

gracious was not exactly sure, and mona felt this was the measure of a wolf who had been devoted to a pack for quite some time. smiling at the grey-hued woman, mona gave a soft chuckle. "not long at all. but i've settled in well; i think i will be here for a while."
her mood much improved, mona stretched and shook out her crimson ruff, offering her companion a smile. "do you want to hunt with me?" the mayfair murmured, her murkwater eyes bright with interest.