Silverlight Terrace a lifetime i was alone, so many years without my home

@Basil <3 referencing the recent rockslide at SLT!

arcturus was not far from moonspear's keep when a roar sounded from below, and then a second, far more distressing noise sounded from above. he had spent his entire life on a mountain, and he knew the sound of rock parting from earth -- yet this noise was not a noise he had heard in moonspear's grim keep -- it was the noise of reckoning, and the rock that was miles and miles away sounded just as loud and as cruel as if it had happened right before him.

ears pinned, arcturus was still until the reverberations of the earth stopped. in that silence, he thought his hammering heart sounded nearly just as loud as the tonnes of landscape that had collapsed to their graves.. only, he was alone, and not sure what to make of the sudden, eerie silence. his ears were still ringing from the collapse, but thankfully he had been close to moonspear when it had happened.. otherwise, he might have been turned to a grease-spot on the terrance's doorstep.

@Arcturus Sorry for not noticing sooner, I wasn’t sure if it was our thread. XD I hope its okay that I made it nighttime.

 
Basil’s journey has lead him slowly towards the west, he had made a stop at the smaller lake that was following the river but had ultimately decided to continue exploring this area. At first the hunter wanted to stay near drinkable water but gave up after a while since the river didn’t continue on. If he wanted to find a new home here, he would have to explore more and get the lay of the land and the conflicts of the packs living on it. As far as Basil is able to tell, there are a few packs and a lot of lone wolves living in this land so problems are programmed to happen. The young lad will have to know who he can trust and who he should avoid. Basil does not have a lot of experience with that, in his home land there was mostly just his own pack. Meeting other, unknown, wolves was rather rare. Trust in the pack came naturally to him because it was the only home he had, not like here. His old pack was the only safe place he could call home whereas here are tons of packs he might be able to join. So getting to know his surroundings for now would do him good, he just had to be careful not to step on anyone’s toes. Basil didn’t like conflict and usually tried to avoid it but his youth and mouth sometimes got him in trouble.
 
His path has lead him towards an open area with a field of silver covering it. The peace did not last long however. A booming sound shook the air and the ground and Basil’s body was knocked sideways from the vibrations traveling up his limbs. A startled yelp escaped his maw as he tried to keep low to the ground and keep his bearings before the booming stopped. It was quite for a second but Basil could not even release a relived sigh before another crack sounded and his head turned towards the sound. It was a giant boulder that started it’s descend into the valley that he was just about to enter. Everything was loud and Basil began to panic. With a jump he stood up only to be shaken up again by the strength of the rockslide. But the young hunter did not stop to get his bearings again, the fox colored youth scrambled back the way he came from to avoid this disaster.
 
Basil managed to hide near some bushes at the entrance of the terrace and collapsed in a heap. All his adrenaline left and he was made to watch the outcome of the rockslide he just witnessed. The gods must have blessed him since if he would have stepped into this area any earlier and he might have been caught by the rockslide. Like this he was just shaken to core, lying in the silver tinted grass near the entrance.

the colossal wreck had brought more than trees to their death; somewhere, located in the silvery embrace of tussocks, a wolf huddled. 


arcturus’ gaze fell upon the cowered animal; at first he believed basil to be piper, and grimaced. it was bad enough a landslide had just happened — now he had to deal with the rake of piper’s sharp tongue as well? realizing at length it was not his old adversary (with some sigh of relief) the moonspearian drew alongside the stranger and regarded him warily. you alright?

After a couple of minutes of taking deep and calming breaths, the youth noticed how close he had been to death. Something like this has never happened to him before his homeland wasn’t known to have a lot of natural disasters, if any at all. So seeing nature decide to turn on them was terrifying. Basil might have been lucky this time but others that were further in the valley, be it prey or other predators, were not and were merely smears along the ground now, buried under a hill of boulders.
 
His body was still shaking slightly from the adrenaline rush but his breathing returned to normal. It would be a little before he would be able to step away from the carnage before him. While gathering his bearings his sensible ears picked up steps and the rustling sounds of a body moving through the long grass. His head turned towards the other with a slightly apprehensive look painted on his face. If the other was ill willed towards him, Basil wasn’t sure if he would currently be able to defend himself probably.
 
To the other’s question however, his gaze softened again. The other was not here to hurt him; he actually was concerned for him, the black colored wolf obviously having watched the land slide. “Yeah, just shaken….I was lucky but the ones further in however…” he spoke with a small tremor, his gaze switching back to the valley. His brain and body were still trying to fully understand what had happened and refused to do anything else. The fox colored male had been so close to death.

the copper male for a moment seemed filled with instinctual terror -- arcturus kept his posture soft in response. the landslide had caused his heart-rate to rise as well, though he had seen many already and somehow, the novelty had long worn off.

mostly because in arcturus' eyes, these were grim omens indeed.

he leveled a smile; terse but not unwelcoming. indeed, the ones further in the territory were likely one with the earth now, as gently as arcturus could put it. "hopefully there were none within." came the male's usual laconic reply, though it was followed by something a little more accusatory: "what is that around your neck?"

With a deep sigh the last of his adrenaline seemed to leave him and left his body bone tired but this was not a place to rest and spend the night. So Basil leveled himself up and faced the other for real so it would not seem as if the youth was being disrespectful on purpose. His body released one last shudder, making his fur stand fully up before sagging back down again. Okay, I think I am finally normal again. This was…..an experience for sure. I hope it won’t happen again. At least not when I am around. the fox colored male thought for a second before really focusing on the other.
 
“My name is Basil. I am new around here. I didn’t know that these kind of things were happening is that a usual occurrence?” he asked, kind of apprehensive of the answer. The few weeks he had been in this land seemed hard but manageable but if he was faced with even more unknown things, be it new predators or natural disasters, made him question if he was actually really prepared to survive for long. The youth might actually have to try and join a pack soon; else he would for sure wither at some point.
 
With blinking eyes he was a bit stunned at the other’s question. Neck? Oh right, he has that weird device from the pale faces on him. It bothered him a bit that the spoken tone of the question was accusing. As if Basil wanted to have that thing constantly hanging around his neck. But to not provoke an angry reaction, he decided to answer truthfully instead of a snarky reply. “I am not sure. It’s been there after the pale faces abducted me. It doesn’t seem to do anything though.” and shifted his eyes around to maybe search for an escape route if the other decided that he was not to be trusted for whatever reason. He’d rather not get attacked right now. Not like he was the best fighter anyway, he was agile and fast but lacked a bit in the strength department.

arcturus allowed the male space as he rose, keeping his posture neutral. the fox-maned canid still seemed on edge -- which to the beta was not particularly surprising.

not every day that a mountain tries to kill you. "no, it is not common." he offered little else, for he knew not what to give. the world had turned in on itself, it seemed -- and all within it.

while basil busied himself with steadying his quivering limbs arcturus found himself studying the contraption that poked between tufts of brilliant red fur. it did not look like stone nor plant -- his eyes narrowed in distrust. pale faces -- what did that mean?

"who are the pale faces?" the moonspearian queried, eyes still resting on the strange band that wrapped itself around basil's neck. he did not like not being in the know -- particularly if this was a hostile race of wolves that might mark and follow those they captured. it seemed a strange practice to arcturus, but perhaps it was meant to serve as a brand or a reminder.. of what, he didn't know.

At the other’s admission that the natural disasters are not really common, his body sagged in relief. So that meant at least, that Basil wouldn’t necessarily have to be careful about every step he took. He would just have to be careful right now. Maybe he should try holing himself up somewhere? Somewhere safe and not leave the area? Then nothing could happen right? But whoever was he kidding, he would have to feed himself and Basil had noticed that the last few days any possible prey was simply not around. Most of the time he fed on small prey anyway since he wasn’t able to take down big prey alone but even the rabbits seemed to have vanished. It worried Basil a bit. Was it because of the disasters? Possible. It would make surviving even harder though, if he will not be able to find food.
 
When the other asked who the so called ‘pale faces’ were, Basil had to stop short for a minute. He had not seen any structures or influence on this land from them so maybe the wolves here didn’t even know what they are. This made it hard to explain. “Ehm they are….walking on two feet and don’t have a lot of fur. They also leave traps out to hurt and kill wolves. They also have these sticks that can kill you without them even being near you.” the young hunter spoke, his honey colored eyes shifting for a minutes to a distant place, as if remembering. His gaze snapped back when he noticed what he implied. A great foe that seemed surreal to fight and survive if a mere stick can kill you without being near it. “Oh but, I haven’t seen any of them around here. I am not sure why they dropped me in this land and what this thing does but….they seemed to have given up after that. I am sure they won’t be a problem here.” the younger spoke, a bit of hesitation able to be heard in his voice. Basil wasn’t sure if they would never arrive here, given that they must have had a purpose for dropping him here but for now it looked like they would not. It’s better to be positive he guessed.

the scarlet male divulged on the nature of the pale faces, leaving arcturus to ponder these riddles in silence. he found his gaze tracing along basil’s skull, wondering perhaps if a rock or some other hefty detritus had knocked the sense right out of him. 

walking on two legs, carrying sticks that could hit you from afar? the male was speaking positive nonsense; arcturus felt his hackles riffle uncomfortably. that does not make sense. charon’s son countered obstinately, assured that this man was crazy or worse... but even if basil was off of his gourd, how had he gotten that strange attachment around his neck..?

Getting stared at made Basil jittery. And currently Arcturus was staring really hard, as if trying to figure something out. Maybe if he was telling the truth? But…..even if it sounded farfetched, it was the truth! He wouldn’t randomly imagine his pack mates getting killed out of the blue. Just a loud bang and they would keel over. Or stepping into those weird teeth traps that did not let you go and instead dug even deeper into your flesh if you tried to fight them. It might sound weird to a wolf that has never seen them before but that was Basil’s history and it was the truth!
 
So when the other immediately denied any such beings Basil was both, angry at being called a liar in a roundabout way and also frustrated since he knows that these stories may sound weird to wolves that have never experienced the humans’ doings. “It may make no sense but I am telling the true. I would not have this….THING on me otherwise. It doesn’t bother me as much but I’d prefer if it was gone either way.” the young hunter stated, his fur puffing up slightly in his anger. His paw lifted towards the collar and started scratching at it again, trying to pry it off. Great, first he was scared out of his mind because of the land slide and now he was livid that this damn collar made him seem like an idiot or lunatic to Arcturus.
 
While trying to pry it off, he released low growls and actually started trying to rip it off with force and the necessary movements. But…just like before it was too tough and Basil didn’t even get close to dispatching it from around his neck. If anything, it made him look even more like a lunatic.....or someone really frustrated with his current lot in life.

while no soothsayer, arcturus was intrepid enough to catch the glint of resentment in basil's eyes. liars might feign affront when their lies were called to the table, but very infrequently in arcturus' life had he seen resentment authentically replicated. while he did not -- could not -- take basil's words at face value (how terrifying it all sounded!) he softened somewhat, resigning himself to the possibility maybe the male was confused..

and then basil tried to remove the band. arcturus watched with a sense of quiet helplessness -- he didn't want to extend his aid out of the irrational fear that band might latch onto him too -- but he also felt guilty peering at this hapless soul and offering no solution. "it doesn't hurt?" he interjected suddenly, a frown returning to his dark features.

in the end, arcturus did not extend his aid to the man -- but he departed from basil with a new fear blossoming in his heart. a fear of the unknown -- he had learned something this day, something he wished he had gone his entire life without knowing.