Northstar Vale chasing moments

Late under the cover and still of the night, she went threading back into the confines of the Vale. Her miles were many, she had circled down, then back around, only to drift back by the claim on occasion. Since moving to here, central upon the range like this and the onset of spring's best attempts so far, she found plenty of places to rove.

High winds the last two days had made travel pretty miserable--so the Jomyo who arrived today was a bit ruffled and worn, but she was bright-eyed all the same. She slowed up along the borders, and loitered there with her nose low to try to catch up on the week's happenings here.

It seemed as tranquil as ever but not that she was helping, often out with her feet running elsewhere. She moved on, but very slowly, through the dark on her quietest of pawsteps.

It had been a while since Queenie had gotten a chance to speak with Jomyo, and although they weren’t particularly close, it saddened her to think that they were drifting. It was good to have friends, girl friends, and Jomyo was the closest thing that she’d ever had. To lose a friend, to let her roam from right beneath her nose, Queenie dreaded the thought. 

That feeling might have been due to hormones (either residual or new, it didn’t matter), but it still felt just as real as day. Thus, when the elusive scout appeared during rounds, she was quick to approach with a friendly bark. 

Jomyo! she called with an uncharacteristically large smile, Where have you been?

Picking along at their fringes with a quiet mosey, she mentally checked off a few of the most important scents around (meaning the faces she knew the best and those that had stayed with them for the length of her tenure namely)--and along the way, found nothing glaringly abnormal to raise any immediate cause for concern. Still, she had not gone very far through the nightscape before Queenie's unsurprising approach brought her nose up from the ground.  At the sight of her, big smile and all, she set to sweeping a slow rhythm with her tail against her hocks before she greeted her back with a low, appreciative chuff and duck of her head. 

She knew she had not kept the best track of time while out prowling. It was easy not to when the weather was good enough to not worry. Had it been that long? Probably. "South, all over the mountains down that way," she answered, swinging her muzzle roughly towards the way she had come from. South was the easiest way to put a label on her winding, wandering path that traced the range and its edges as she could find the trails to carry her. She had been tempted to go find out where Valette's Easthollow was, but that was a trip for another time. "I think I might have found about where that third pack that tried to claim the hairless thing come from," which had been the goal, despite never exactly nailing it down. Perhaps they were a more elusive lot than anticipated. "All good here?" she asked.

It was good that they were narrowing in on possible locations; if the pack was to have an enemy, they ought to know from where to expect an attack. For a moment, Queenie thought back to her justification of actions with Delight and figured that maybe, in one way or another, he had been right. They'd only just moved to the mountains and it had been Queenie's (irresponsible) decision to put their fresh claim at risk. Maybe Delight was right; maybe she wasn't cut out to lead.

You see, the above inner dialogue is a direct result of hormonal changes and all of that good stuff. Normally, Queenie would have been able to supress and ignore, but today (and presumably for a bunch of days to come), that seemed to be too much to ask. Yeah, she said to Jomyo, voice cracking quietly, We're great! Following this partially fictitious declaration, Queenie began to blubber unrecognizably and fell back onto her hindquarters in a desparate cry for help.

While her main motivation to wander would always remain rooted in something somewhat selfish, she had learned well to hone her craft into what could be useful, potentially, in exchange for her absence at their homebase. From where they could hunt and who to look out for, these served as just the guidelines on what to look for. Her interests may lie beyond, but she could still recognize the importance of security at home, so searched Queenie's expression as she answered.

Jomyo's tail waved along at the words, and stopped abruptly as the real extent of the confusion set it and clicked with her. Verbally, that meant yeah, all good but with the presentation of it concluded like that, she knew that couldn't mean anything all good. Suspicion was quick to rile in her; there was a lot that it could be, or mean, or could have happened in the meantime. Her ears splayed and she worriedly eyed the mottled warrior because like hell if she knew how to console anyone, especially without any real.. definition here. "Wait.. what?" she asked, whining very softly in the next breath since she couldn't decide what else to do as she stepped a pace closer, unsure. "No really, what does that mean?"

It took a few moments of blubbering tears for Queenie to compose herself, albeit not completely. Although she had managed to qualm her most obvious emotions and put temporary plugs into her eyes, there was the ongoing threat of another outburst. Pregnant Queenie was very different from Non-Pregnant Queenie, and although she hadn't quite figured that out for herself yet, it wouldn't be much longer until she had to face the facts. 

I don't know where that came from, Queenie sighed with a pitiful sniffle, It really has been great around here, it really has. Y'know, aside from the whole we're-gonna-be-parents thing. Was now the right time to mention it? Maybe it was too early, or maybe it just wasn't meant to be. Still, Queenie couldn't help but feel as though she had to tell someone, and Jomyo was here, clearly ready to listen.

After sucking in a deep breath, she decided that if she was going to spill the beans to someone, it ought to be someone who she felt that she could trust. While you were gone, she sighed, me and Delight, we...y'know.

She really didn't know what to do about this, not when she had come prepared to help mop tears and their associated reasons. Still, she gaped quietly, in an expression best summarized as '???'. Hearing it came from nowhere (worrying?), and that it really had been great (confusing??) had Jomyo's head wanting to reel a bit.

While still picking apart this... entire situation, she blinked and had to think about what she had just heard. Dots were connecting, but there were many of them--and the scout sucked in a quick breath as the beginning of something clicked, but it was hesitant and seemed kind of not like it fit. Que more suspicious squinty head tilts from her, and then she asked. "Wait. Y'know? Like... ??" she eyeballed Queenie questioningly for a few more details depending on how far of a conclusion she needed to draw here or if this was all good things, worth congratulating. But, on top of that, Delight?? Kind of unexpected, but maybe not? Again, Jomyo didn't know yet. "Delight? Shit I guess didn't realize it was like that with y'all." Whatever it had entailed exactly, if so. She had never really hung out with them both together though, beyond entire pack sorts of things--she didn't know what sorts and types of bonds they had built together in the meantime (evidently better than she had anticipated), especially since she kept up a fleeting presence at her best. 

After another sniffle and a rough rub to the snout with a mud sloshed paw, Queenie allowed herself to take a deep breath and clarify. All it took was a nod of her head to respond to the first of Jomyo's questions, but the second one would need an answer with a bit more depth. Another wave of tears threatened to rise as her throat became choked, but Queenie was determined to save face as best as she could. 

Needless to say, that didn't last long.

Because it's not! she cried, swaying a bit to the side as she declared her innocence. Oh, innocence! Where had it gone? I mean, I don't think it is, Queenie croaked, words hoarse and thick as she forced them from her throat, It wasn't supposed to happen but it did and now it's probably going to be a thing and I don't want kids, y'know? And neither does he, so I don't know why we did it but we did and now, oh my God.

There was way too much she still didn't fully understand. Queenie's answers kept her squint strong well into the details. So if it wasn't that way... then how had it come to that, and why..? The more she heard, the heavier she realized this was, especially when she mentioned not wanting kids, which clicked into place the full possibility of that in the first place.

Jomyo felt a secondhand wash of horror at the notion to even imagine herself in Queenie's place. The gravity of it was far too much. She shook her head, ears splayed out. "Holy shit...." she murmured, unsure how else to proceed for a moment.  "But no way,  whatever it is, that's just terrifying--the pups part, not Delight.. Is he gonna handle it okay?" She needed to touch base with him soon too. But morwinyon aside there was an even more important matter, and Jomyo was looking right at her. "Are you gonna be okay with it? If you.. don't want... any?" Was the pack going to be okay to raise them? Suddenly she was not so sure. Her upbringing had been a lot of pack interaction--uncles, cousins, others, and comparatively so, their little Vale was awfully desolate at the best of times... she was uneasy on their behalf already.

She tried to be as comforting as she should be, but this was difficult. She would listen, though, and do her best.