Otatso Wetlands and oh man, if you ever lose your way
you're going to keep my soul,
it was yours to have long ago
567 Posts
Ooc — lauren
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#1
All Welcome 
AW but maybe @Chusi ?

he had never stopped looking for wardruna.

the days had spanned into weeks, into months, and still imrathil kept a weather eye out for his friend - sometimes feeling hope to see a grey wolf, sometimes feeling solitude wrap around him. he had worried until his form was lean and his mind tired, for the winter's mounting cruelty was inescapable, and imrathil feared the worse.

he was lucky he had found cyclone -- or, cyclone had found him -- and as he prowled the wetlands in search of food, he wondered what might become of their small coterie. they were all relatively healthy - truth be told, he was the weakest link - but he was determined not to be dead weight as he scrounged for food in the lowlands.

this time of year most small prey animals were burrowed deep in the earth, protected from the cold -- but birds could not dig, and imrathil scouted for the familiar sound of woodgrouse or wood duck, his ears cupped attentively forward as the varied sounds of the wetlands rushed to meet him.
i'm gonna hold a pen
while you drag my arm across the page.
I'm a Ghost of a Girl that I want to be Most
653 Posts
Ooc — Meebee
Ranger
Away
#2
Chusi hadn't had much time to mourn her coastal crush. As far as the Creek knew, Ingram was dead. And perhaps he really was dead after all. She almost felt guilty that she hadn't thought about him all that much, but the Creek was such a busy place and she had her daughter to care for as well as do border walking and hunting and scouting which she did mostly all alone. She felt rather isolated in her pack, especially around this season. While she hadn't gone into heat yet, she knew it was coming and now also knew the consequences that came with satisfying the "itch". They wouldn't let her have kids again, would they? God she needed to get over herself.

She crossed the borders and went into the wetlands for a change. She usually hunted where the ground was a little more solid and where she wouldn't get her paws all muddy and wet, but she knew here is where treasures were found - if one was keen on getting feathers stuck in their mouth. She stalked through the territory when she saw a shadow move, one that looked oddly familiar but she couldn't place why. Hello? She called out, just in case someone really was around and she wasn't going mad from spending so much time alone.
I'm a Shell of a Girl that I used to know Well
**Join THE VELINGAR!**
you're going to keep my soul,
it was yours to have long ago
567 Posts
Ooc — lauren
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#3
a voice pealed over the humdrum of marsh-land life, and imrathil lifted his snout from the snow, searching for the author of that delicate voice. he had seen, met, and touched chusi a thousand times -- but as he padded lightly towards her, it was if he was seeing her for the first time.

and for imrathil, it was his first time witnessing the she-wolf; he met the soft gaze of her ochre eyes with a polite interest, his tail wagging tentatively behind him. he had not expected to meet a stranger in so poor conditions, and so, kept his body neutral but friendly, and his gaze from prying.

"oh, hello." he answered, wondering if she was here to hunt as well.
i'm gonna hold a pen
while you drag my arm across the page.
I'm a Ghost of a Girl that I want to be Most
653 Posts
Ooc — Meebee
Ranger
Away
#4
Her ochre eyes grew wide with disbelief. Those electric eyes that she had been lost in so many times. That ruffled fur and handsome face - the silver hackles much like her own grey ones... Was she dead? Was he dead? She paused for a long time, his voice even familiar to her ears and she had to sit down. With a plop did her behind go splat in the mud, eyes still fixed upon the young man that didn't even seem to recognize her.

It can't be ya... She breathed in a hazy voice. Ingram? She asked, knowing it was a ridiculous question. Her coastal boyfriend was dead. He was slaughtered and eaten by a bear moons ago. This wasn't Ingram.
I'm a Shell of a Girl that I used to know Well
**Join THE VELINGAR!**
you're going to keep my soul,
it was yours to have long ago
567 Posts
Ooc — lauren
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#5
imrathil remained silent as chusi paused, patiently enduring the unnatural pause with a polite look of interest across his features. at last she spoke -- her accent dredged no memories from his fractured mind, but the way she spoke elicited a frown in the male. did she know him?

he sucked in a breath, tormented by his own uncertainty and unwilling to see his hopes dashed again. "do you know me?" he at last ventured, his voice quiet and clearly conveying the shaky uncertainty he felt to be standing before her.

why was his heart hammering?
i'm gonna hold a pen
while you drag my arm across the page.
I'm a Ghost of a Girl that I want to be Most
653 Posts
Ooc — Meebee
Ranger
Away
#6
Sorry for the wait! Crazy busy

Those eyes. They looked at her unknowingly, not recognizing her even one bit. She remembered them staring intensely at her or dreamily flirt over her body ever so lovingly. Her frown was deepened, clear hurt in her usual lively ocher orbs. This wasn't the Ingram she remembered. This wasn't the man she had fallen for.

'Think I did. She answered quietly, avoiding his questioning gaze. She had thought all feelings for  him had disappeared as soon as he was presumed dead. But no - this hurt. This hurt much greater than his assumed death. We all thought ya were dead- 'n now ya're here...
I'm a Shell of a Girl that I used to know Well
**Join THE VELINGAR!**
you're going to keep my soul,
it was yours to have long ago
567 Posts
Ooc — lauren
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#7
imrathil was troubled by the new expression that overcame the lively features of his acquaintence - her ocher eyes went from wondering but confused, to a dark shade of hurt -- had he caused that?

his own expression fell, and an uncertainty took over him - especially when she looked away, refusing to look upon him. his throat felt dry and a sharpness hit his chest -- if this was some fragment of his past, why could he not remember her? and if she was someone he knew, was the new him similar in any way, was he somehow better off, if he discovered who he had been? or was he better now, newly shaped and remodeled -- with no pain or hurt or joy to recall?

he inhaled, a shaky breath riddled with the rasp of his tongue. "i.." where could he start? even if she knew him, he was a stranger - and she a stranger to him -- if she was important in his past life, would she understand this was not of his own doing? "it hurts." he suddenly finished, sitting down in the snow with his head cradled between his paws, an overwhelming ache piercing his skull. his thoughts were murky and any time he tried to conjure old memories, a bracing pain shot through his head, a dull aching barrier that refused to relent.

breathing into the snow, imrathil looked more defeated than anything. "who are you?"
i'm gonna hold a pen
while you drag my arm across the page.
I'm a Ghost of a Girl that I want to be Most
653 Posts
Ooc — Meebee
Ranger
Away
#8
She could see he wasn't faking it. She had seen his bloodied body, lifeless and limp. Had they left him there to die or had someone brought him back to life? If it hadn't been his time to go yet, and they met again, was this what they called destiny? Her hurt changed to worry, a need to care for the broken soul she thought she knew well. Ingram, or whoever he was now, was hurting and now she felt partially responsible for that.

I'm Chusi - Chusi Fearghal? She said, hoping it would ring any kind of bell. She inched closer. We dated... Hard to imagine now. She wondered if she still had feelings for him or if it was just pity. She didn't want to pity him...
I'm a Shell of a Girl that I used to know Well
**Join THE VELINGAR!**
you're going to keep my soul,
it was yours to have long ago
567 Posts
Ooc — lauren
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#9
imrathil held his head between his paws, his mind swimming. a roll of nausea stormed through him like a bowling ball. for a minute, his breath came in shaky pants and his mouth felt oddly dry but lined with bile; a stinging sensation smartened in the back of his cheeks.

chusi - chusi fearghal. it meant nothing to his clouded mind. as he looked up, he couldn't hold her gaze for long -- her gaze seemed rent with hurt passion.

"i'm sorry." imrathil sighed, attempting to rise so he was sitting rather than prone. his legs shook and he felt his heart pounding - and the more he tried to recall, to think, to remember, the further and further away his thoughts seemed to go.
i'm gonna hold a pen
while you drag my arm across the page.
I'm a Ghost of a Girl that I want to be Most
653 Posts
Ooc — Meebee
Ranger
Away
#10
She hovered over him, concerned for his health. Was she causing him such pain? Would it be okay to stick with him till he was okay again? But "okay" meant something else to her than to him, probably. She wanted him to remember her, their petty fights as kids, their blossoming relationship, the way she abandoned him in the end... everything.

Me too... She returned with a frown, retreating from her hovering position when he seemed just a bit less hurt. I shouldn't've said anythin'. She dragged herself. If this pain is what she caused both of them, perhaps it was better to be apart. The Creek was home now, with or without friends... or him. Sure Eilonwy was gone for now but she would return. Chusi believed in her.

Ingram? Where do ya live now? She asked carefully. Apparently she didn't want to lose him after all.
I'm a Shell of a Girl that I used to know Well
**Join THE VELINGAR!**
you're going to keep my soul,
it was yours to have long ago
567 Posts
Ooc — lauren
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#11
as chusi hovered overhead, worried about the pain she had inadvertently inflicted, imrathil labored below. he remembered nothing - god, why was he so stupid? he rubbed his temples with a frustrated, quiet growl. the mists in his mind seemed to gather forces, clouding everything that might have been a clue to his past life.

and then he realized that the one thing his mind could not corrupt, was the woman before him -- she was real, and she could help him. but she kept saying ingram. was that his real name?

was that who he was?

looking feebly at her, imrathil's brow furrowed. "i'm with a group of wolves not so far from here.." he sucked in a deep breath, feeling shame, frustration, and feebleness overcome him. "can you.. can you tell me everything?"
i'm gonna hold a pen
while you drag my arm across the page.
I'm a Ghost of a Girl that I want to be Most
653 Posts
Ooc — Meebee
Ranger
Away
#12
To not get any details wrong, I decided I would just fade out her explaining the whole story :p

At least he wasn't all on his own, thank the Sea. There were others looking out for him, whether he was Ingram now or not. To her he would stay the spiky neighbor with his electric yellow gaze. Her very first crush. The one wolf she had to work for to get him to like her. Perhaps that's what it had been all along; a challenge because he didn't like her on first sight. Everyone else had; she was pretty and kind on the surface.

She sighed softly. Well...



After the last words left her mouth, she fell silent, looking at him to see if he remembered anything from them meeting on the coast to her showing him around Ravensblood Forest. Their eventually romantic relationship. The trip they took together. Her getting banished and him not leaving with her. and so much more.
I'm a Shell of a Girl that I used to know Well
**Join THE VELINGAR!**
you're going to keep my soul,
it was yours to have long ago
567 Posts
Ooc — lauren
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#13
that sounds good! <3

imrathil's breath was baited, his eyes wide as he listened to chusi. so much of what was collaborated to him seemed otherworldly, as if he had stepped out of his skin and was reliving some strange out of body experience.

in the end he was no closer to discovering who he truly was -- but at least, according to chusi, he was not evil or bad. he sighed in relief to learn this, as it had been a secret fear of his since his memory loss that perhaps it was his mind's way of protecting him from horrible things he had done in the past.

no less lost than he was before (but at least now a bit more clued in) imrathil managed a smile. grateful to chusi's recounting, imrathil then shared all that he recalled of what had happened since the day wardruna found him. in the end, he was loathe to part from chusi' company -- but he had a new life now, a new identity -- maybe someday he would see her again.
i'm gonna hold a pen
while you drag my arm across the page.