Lost Creek Hollow and i'll take my armour off

Nunataq lived in the wilds but did not wish to join them, it seemed. For now it was only @Indra, @Lucas, @Tadec and @Marten living together. Laurel had wanted to go to the coast to create her siren pack with her sister but now everything was different. Now she was bringing children into the world and she wanted to make sure that they had a place to grow up in. She would not be able to head a pack easily, not a new pack that yet needed to grow, in this state. She needed a pack to stay in. However much Laurel loathed crawling back to Lost Creek Hollow and @Terance, she also felt that it might be their best bet for now.

Laurel was hoping that they'd at least be able to find @Merrick here, in lack of Nunataq, and maybe reunite with Mona. Laurel was not entirely sure what she was doing but she would make due somehow. Already she felt a strong connection to her growing children and although she was afraid they would remind her of their father too much, she also could not imagine allowing them to die. They were still her blood and her family; her babies.

Laurel had told that whoever wanted to could come while she went to talk to the leaders of the Hollow. Once there, she lifted her nose and called for them, waiting at the western borders patiently though nervously. Her pregnancy didn't show yet, but she knew because all the symptoms from last year's pregnancy were vividly present.

even as terance was on his sabbatical, he patrolled the woods. it was still his job, and it would always be his job. terance looked like a true father this time around, too. seabreeze had already been so gentle-natured and home-bodied that when she had kids, terance felt less helpful when he'd come home to visit. with treason, somehow, terance felt like he was serving a purpose... doing more than just bringing home food and then staring from a distance. but it also meant he was a bit tired looking, a little shaggy and unkempt. he probably could've taken the time to clean up, but there was work to be done -- and terance already felt guilty about stepping down for the time being... but rannoch had done this before, hadn't he? or... at least... liffey had. 

either way. as he patrolled, a little scruffy looking and smelling strongly of puppies and warm milk, laurel was the last wolf he thought he'd come across. terance blinked, a little surprised as her figure materialized, and the man chuffed gently. his appearance, though rough, was amiable enough, though the ill feelings he harbored towards laurel festered deep below the surface. 

he also noted ___ was also there. he had a reaction that was ___. fill in blank later) 

"laurel," he said, also regarding anyone else if they were there, "i'm glad to see you're well." and he meant it.

the closer they traveled to the hollow, the more on edge indra became. she wished more than anything to see merrick, and her steps took on a hushed urgency that betrayed her anticipation to reunite with her son. she would often have to slow down, or stop, to give her company time to catch up to her -- it was all she could do as the hollow crested into view to prevent herself from breaking into a run ahead of laurel.

she refrained, but her skin crawled as she waited alongside her family, hopefully peering in. when terrance came upon them her gaze lit with warmth, but just as soon dissipated as she saw the haggardness of his pelt, and the tired way his sights landed upon each of them. he appeared weary; indra could not help but blurt "terance!" as she saw him, her nub of a tail swaying as he came close. she stilled as caught wind of his scent -- treason, puppies, milk -- with both the borders and terrance suspiciously absent of merrick's presence. "merrick?" indra's voice was timid, close to cracking -- her mournful mahogany eyes resting solemnly upon him.

The lack of Merrick's scent didn't even go noticed to Laurel at first. It was Terance who showed up first. His greeting was surprisingly warm. Laurel held her head low in respect for him, knowing it would do her no good to be snarky at him now; when she was looking for Merrick at best and a home at worst. Terance, she greeted with a smile. They might not have parted in the best of ways, but now she had Lucas back and it seemed Terance, too, realised she had acted upon emotion that day they left.

We found my son Lucas, she shared. Indra uttered a single word, one that was much more important than anything else. Laurel looked at Terance before she would plead her case, as whether Merrick lived here mattered in it.

He'd followed his mother, aunt and the rest of their party from Bearclaw Valley to here, wondering if this was the fabled Lost Creek Hollow. It certainly looked the part, with towering trees over airy trails. Mona was allegedly here with her children, a fact that put a shake in Lucas' tail as he stooped behind Laurel. He remained quiet as Terance arrived and the two women conversed with him, taking his time in appraising the man, but really, Lucas wasn't one to base too much on looks. If he was, he'd be fairly intimidated.

His heart still stung from Nunataq's harsh rejection, clouding his expression more than usual. Indra mentioned his cousin and Luccouldn't help wondering if he would get a similar reception from him. Merrick had been only a little boy when he left, but then, so had Lucas. He remembered Merrick, but maybe the red-saddled boy wouldn't remember him, or would want him to get away. The thought gnawed at the edges of his heart.

But he swallowed it all down when his name was brought up. Hi, he offered unabashedly from the back, grinning brightly at the scarred man.

One post cameo, please skip going forward!

pping marten doing something stupid in the background

upon seeing indra's excitement, terance felt only warmth. warmth that only faded as she uttered a single word following. she knew -- and terance could tell. he took in a heavy breath, nose lowering, as he shook his head solemnly. "your daughter left as well," he said gently, his ears flicking backwards in an apologetic manner. indra's son, larger now than he'd been when they left, moved to press himself against his mother, his own ears pressed to his skull. terance's gaze flicked between the crowd before falling on lucas, who was a bit brighter than the rest of the group.

"nice to meet you, lucas," he returned, returning the warm smile despite feeling guilty. he'd promised indra he'd watch her children, and here he was, telling her that no one else was left. 

he cleared his throat, again. "mona is here," he said, nose twitching, "with a son. his name is ashlar."

he was not here. indra’s countenance fell — terance need not even say merrick had moved on. it was painfully plain across his features.

that old hurt, one she had so painstakingly tucked between her ribs and knitted closed just by scraping by — it spring open and she felt like the steel ends of a bear trap; raw and laid bare for the world to see.

nunataq she had known about, so her departure hurt a little less — but her sweet princeling boy..

she needed to sit down; and she did, staggered and breathless as marten pressed against her. gone? indra whispered hopelessly, an old despair flooding her mahogany gaze. everyone in that moment was forgotten — laurel, marten, lucas — the only wolf in front of her was terance, and even he seemed to swim in her vision as reality faded away.

When Terance said that both Merrick and Nunataq had gone Laurel felt a flash of cold anger towards him. How dare he not watch over the children like he had promised?! There was a brief bristle of her hackles but Laurel calmed herself, swallowing her anger so that she could first ask about their place in the pack.

We want to come home. It wasn't the entire truth. Laurel didn't want to come home, or rather, she didn't think of Lost Creek Hollow as her home -- she just wanted to have a safe place for her pups. Laurel's gaze flicked briefly to Indra before she looked back at Terance and admitted: I am with child. Laurel didn't consider that the pack might not agree raising her children here; honestly, she felt that they owed her and Indra at least this after getting Nuna and Merrick lost.

coughs

only more guilt flooded terance the longer this conversation went on. he had no good news for them. not a single word of it. 

his head dropped, only a little, and it shook slowly back and forth. i'm sorry, he said, teeth gritted, we just... don't have the space for anymore pups. treason most certainly wouldn't allow it -- not after last years fiasco. what with the starvation and all that -- it just wouldn't fly. you can stay a few days if you need to, but we can't house another litter. 

his gaze flicked to indra, now, brows furrowed. i'm so sorry, guys, he murmured, more to indra than laurel -- he half figured that laurel expected something bad from him. somehow they had bad blood, but terance wouldn't wish anything bad upon indra... and he couldn't believe he had to drop such a harsh truth upon them.

the girls were used to harsh truths -- the news there was no room for any further puppies was but a glance when it came to the blow that merrick was gone. a hitch rose in indra's throat and she looked away, refusing to let terance see the water that had sprung to her eyes.

"let's go." indra suggested to her sister, her tone defeated. it didn't matter anymore that they didn't have room -- none of it mattered. the only thing indra could ever count on was her sister... and never had that harsh truth been more painfully poignant.

For Indra perhaps it was expected and but a glancing blow, but Laurel was flustered when she was told that they had no space. After they'd made Merrick and Nunataq leave, now they did this to them too? Laurel could barely believe it. Her face was cold and only the frown on her face betrayed how very angry she was for a good ten seconds as she stood there and stared at Terance. Her blood boiled and she tried to control herself but it was just so hard in the face of this idiot who would stab them where it hurt once more. It seemed to be his hobby, or whatever.

It didn't help that the circumstances were so trying. That she never wanted this, but now it was happening and she had to figure out how they'd survive this -- how they'd make her children survive this. Indra's words fell to deaf ears. How dare you, she hissed darkly at Terance as she stepped forward. For a moment it seemed as if she would attack Terance physically, but then she just stood there shaking and staring at him coldly. You must be really proud of yourself. May all of your children fall ill and die painful deaths, Terance, for sentencing mine to a similar fate. Then she turned away, fully intending to stroll out of there while gritting her teeth in frustration at the unfairness of their lives.

i owe you nothing, laurel, terance said through a steady voice, you left the safety of my woods, i am sorry you regret it now. but we have no space, and you cannot insult me on my own borders. leave now. even so, as he finished speaking she was already turning to go. guilt settled in the pit of his stomach as he watched indra go, but this was not his battle to be fought. he watched to make sure they'd truly leave before turning to go himself. he'd send @Joss out later to doublecheck, but there was no trace of them.

indra had already turned her back to the small procession when she heard the harsh tone in terance’s words. he believed he owed them nothing. indra’s ears pinned by the blowback of that severing statement.

owed laurel nothing? but what about indra? they were supposed to be friends.. was that how friends treated each other?

that expression, that statement that washed clean the hands of red guilt — it struck her cold and hard. it earned terance a rueful, hurt stare from the redleaf — is that how it was, then? terance joining the legion of men that had already let them down? were these his true colors, and was he just another man that walked on the unlucky heads of others to stay on top?

indra shook her head in disappointment. any other time she would have fired some fast riposte — but this was terance, an alleged friend — to be so plainly thrown aside like raggedy refuse came as a dull shock to the gradually unraveling redleaf. she sucked in a breath and accepted that terance too, was just another selfish man. if anything, it only hammered home the belief that laurel was the only wolf that cared about her  further.

indra let her cold stare on terance linger a little longer, but then she too was gone from the woods. she hoped he could live with himself for what he did, and bitterly, wished never to see him again.

It looked for a moment as if Laurel would attack Terance after he spoke. She gritted her teeth as blood ran through her head violently. She wanted nothing more than to rip his smug, arrogant head off his rump. But then her tail dropped and she turned around. She looked at the disappointment on Indra's face and nosed her sister's face.

She turned her head to look at Terance once more. When the day comes that your children lay dead at your feet, you will have no one to cry for you and your heart of stone, she hissed in another threat. She hoped this would come some day, and, if she would have to face the fate of her children dying herself, she might just return here to see that fate met. Right now, it felt like that was the only way the family was headed..

We'll get him some day. All men are dirt, Laurel reminded her sister quietly as they walked off, turning their back on Terance and his pack.