Sun Mote Copse I'd rather be divisive than indecisive, drop the niceties!

Special thing for @Maia - I'd like for it to be a little backdated, maybe before her current thread with Bronco? keepin vague

It was spectacular. The elegance - the absolute grace of her very being. It was like the hill had caught fire, the flames traveling down it like a mother lapping at her newborn's head. Oh, it was movie-worthy the way Nellie had stumbled and tripped and how she was now crashing down the hill in a mess of fiery limbs, snow and - if it continued for any longer - maybe even some puke. The world was shaking, her head was shaking. It would've been a pathetic death, but Nellie wasn't done living and would survive the fall with only her pride broken. Never again would she attempt sledding while standing and she prayed to any kind of God she knew that no one was watching.

No one was, at first.  Maia had no clue how Nellie had gotten into the predicament she did, but she very much did know, when she saw her, that she probably should help.  Right!?

HOHMYGAH! Maia hollered and, without really thinking about it, broke into a run to intercept.  Unfortunately she hadn't really considered the fact that, when the collision inevitably happened, it might even be worse than letting her stop herself.  Definitely worse for her.

This thought dawned on her... right as she was charging up the hill to meet Nellie.  Unfortunately, as she skidded to a stop, her own paws lost traction..... and she was suddenly unable to move out of the way.

Was that the voice of God? He sounded pathetic for an almighty being. Her vision was restricted, having her eyes closed for the most part so the snow wouldn't get in them, opening them briefly every nown and again to see if she had stopped moving. All she could see was her own sunny limbs and the distant copse that never stopped doing cartwheels.

She wasn't slowing down, not even as Maia intercepted. Her body crashed into her, slowing her down just enough for gravity to curve her path and stop them both a distance away from where the collision had taken place. She was sprawled in a clean patch of snow - face down, breathing heavily despite this.

This was such a bad idea was the last coherent thought Maia had before Nellie was crashing into her.  She was immediately slammed off her feet and sent into a headlong tumble next to her.... even with her size, Maia was no match for a hill-tossed jaggernaut.

The one good side effect was that hitting a wall tended to at least slow a projectile down.  They only rolled a ways, but Maia was winded and bruised by the time she landed, on her side, with a whoomp.  Hhhhhhhh owww she wheezed as she rolled over, then pushed herself up.  She was lucky she wasn't hurt, the limp was already there.  

The golden bowling ball? Less sure.  Oh my holy jeeze are YOU OKAY?! She asked, voice escalating in volume as she staggered over to where Nellie was sprawled face down.  Oh please don't be hurt or anything, Maia had zero chill in a crisis, we'd established this.

She believed she blacked out for a moment, catching only the last part of whoever was talking to her right now. Her body ached, but the snow was cold enough to numb the pain a bit. She counted her limbs, face still buried - one, two, three... four. Pheww. Her neck felt fine, her tail? She wiggled it slightly. Still attached. Head? It throbbed with adrenaline and a slight concussion, but yep, that part was still attached to.

Now, back to the question. Was she Okay? No - I'm Nellie. She responded confidently, lifting her head carefully. Dizziness hit her like a truck and for a moment there were two saviors there. She blinked until everything aligned again, looking into the distance with a blank stare.

Maia was mortified when she didn't respond right off the bat, so when Nellie finally did reply, it took her a second.  No, I mean.... oh, jeeze.  She let out a single, jarring laugh, then put a lid on it.  One of those 'wait what just came out of my mouth?' Laughs.

I'm Maia.  Are you sure you're okay? I'm not really a healer or anything, but... I can bring someone?  She hovered uncertainly.

Was that laughter? It dawned on her then what the question had actually meant, and Nellie tried her best to keep in a chuckle but to no avail. She burst out into a fit of chortles and hiccups, tears welling in the corners of her eyes. She wished she could've seen herself roll off the hill, it must've looked fantastic. And the crash! Surely she had scored a perfect 10/10 on the amusing disasters scale.

I-I'm sorry - hihimmn - so sorry! She tried to apologize through her laughter that was probably also the result of the fading adrenaline and shock of the event. She took a few deep breaths, calmed herself, the responded with a somewhat more steady tone; Yeah - yes, I think I'm okay - what about you?

Oh, me?  Totally fine!! No problemo!  Maia blinked, then actually took a good look at Nellie.  Now that she knew she wasn't hurt too bad, she had a moment to appreciate how flippin... not like her this girl was.  Svelte, golden, long legged.  Hooo jealousy.

But she also.... Hey! You look super familiar?  Did they meet before?  She didn't think so, but she could've sworn she'd seen this girl.  She recognized that total feeling of inadequacy.

What a strangely jolly wolf - seemed like a really cool mom or something. She lifted herself up in a sitting position and shook off some snow. She felt the cold didn't go with it, it stuck with her and seemed to seep into her skin.

Huh? She responded, a little confused, but then it hit her (not the ground this time). OH! You've prolly seen my mom around, we look alike ALOT - y'know, Niamh. She explained with a bashful smile.

OH!!  Wow, yeah! Okay.  She was the spitting image of the golden wolf, though Maia hadn't known her super well.  She was super gorgeous too, she recalled, and sighed internally.  She looked a lot like her dad, which was totally cool!! But sometimes she wished she'd gotten a little more of Osprey in the mix.

So you're like... new, yeah?  I just got back too, was with family wayyyy out west.  My brother and sister and everyone have a pack out there, and it's really cool, but here is pretty great.  And Wraen is even greater.  Where'd you go to?  If her mom was here, but she was newish, that meant she had spent some time away.

Hell yeah their family was super gorgeous, even Bronco was growing up into a strapping young man. But, like, how could they not be pretty? They were related to Niamh and Colt for crying out loud.

Sorta new? 'Spent some time at the Frosthawks after, y'know, yeah... She still couldn't say it out loud; "oh hey, my dad died!". She missed him so much and she simply knew no one could ever replace him. Niamh didn't seem all that choked up about it anymore, she was more worried about making sure her meek, little daughter didn't cross the borders and make her think she died again - sadface.

Maia looked at her, a little puzzled for a second.  Frosthawks after... I don't .... Oh, right.  She clipped the sentence she'd been about to say off, and nodded, a little uncomfortably.  Yeah.  She hadn't been around much when Colt was here, and he'd died right before she left.  She hadn't been in a great place at the time.  She remembered having a pretty big crush on the dude, though.... and definitely one hundred percent knowing he was off limits.  And older. And way too cool for her.

She blew out a breath.  Frosthawks sound cool?  I feel like everyone else has visited.  I don't know like anyone either, but I guess my mom's family is a big part of it or something.  We are Towhee's like.... second cousins or third or something.  I don't even know!  Realizing she was rambling, she laughed.  Sorry.  Is it worth checking out?

Way to make shit awkward, Nel. Maybe she shouldn't have brought it up, but around here she had no one to cry to about her dead dad. Even at the Frosthawks, the support had been lackluster, but she did eventually get over it - at least a little. No day had passed where she hadn't thought of him, briefly or a little longer, and she hoped that - wherever he was now - he could feel her still thinking about him. Maybe it gave him the equivalent of the warmth you got from a big hug.

Yeah, it's fecking cool there! She answered, her frown slowly becoming a little, excited smile. They took great care of me too - not that I think y'all wouldn't have done the same but - yeah - 'dunno, it was cool. She chuckled nervously as her sentence trailed off to nowhere, scratching an itch at her shoulder and immediately feeling the pain in her muscles from tumbling down the hill.

It was kind of funny - because Maia's thoughts had gone to her own dad then, and how much she missed him. It wasn't the same, since she'd already long since lost home, but she still fairly regularly struggled with thoughts of how proud he'd be of something, only to then realize that no, he'd never get to know, because she'd never be able to tell him.  It was a bonding opportunity, but one she'd definitely miss because she didn't want to push sad conversation.  Maia preferred to stick to the shallows when possible.

Oooooooh, cool! Okay!  Add that to the list of places she should totally go and swap stories sometime.  Maybe she could even get some about her mom? Though probably anyone who would know those was long gone by now.  Another important question - any cute guys that way? She asked, grinning.  Even though she was currently swooning over a few here, they were all pretty young.  And she was a girl who liked to have a variety to choose from, no matter how awkwardly she might approach each one.

Nellie chuckled, mostly because they were using the word 'cool' so much, but was quickly stopped by pain shooting through her chest. She thought she'd been fine after her tumble, but only now was the pain really settling in. Feck man, my head. She commented, accompanied by another chuckle but a more pained expression.

She shrugged at the question with a smirk. They're alright - I called dibs on Fig tho. She stuck out a little bit of her tongue in a teasing matter. He was the only guy that had gone back home around the same time as her, and she thought they'd developed quite a friendship - especially after the bush incident.

Oh, um... Maia felt herself grow a little heated with the suggestion.  Was dibs even a thing?  She thought of the boy she'd run into near the river.  He'd been cute, and a little stoic, which honestly was Maia's type.  She liked making boys like him laugh.

It probably didn't even matter though.  Who would go after her when they could have Nellie?

I meant the Frosthawks, not here, she said with a small laugh.  Are you sure you don't want to go see Eljay or something?  This second bit held a little concern.  She was sure wincing a lot for someone who said she was okay.

If she'd known about Maia's slight crush on him, or even about her insecurities regarding her appearance, Nellie would've probably never even brought Fig up - nor the whole dibs thing (Gee, she wasn't that heartless). But, seeing as she didn't know either, she played right along thinking all was well.

Well, he was there for a bit - It counts. She responded with a chuckle, then shook her pained head. The shaking wasn't helping the headache whatsoever. Nah - Nah, I think I'm fine. Just gotta sleep it off or whatevs. Little did she know, the pain would haunt her for at least a week or two.

Well, that conversation was a dead end, Maia thought.  Seemed like Fig was the only one Nellie wanted to talk about and, for reasons, she wasn't really keen to dwell there.  There really weren't any other ones in the Frosthawks at all?  

Alright, suit yourself, she replied  with a shrug.  She wasn't going to, like, force her to go see Eljay or whoever.  Suddenly she just really, really wanted to hang out with Wraen.

I'm going to go see what my sister is up to, she said cheerfully.  But it was nice to meet you.  She wasn't sure where the awkward urge to go back to her comfort zone came from, but she didn't want to wear out her welcome here anyway.  She'd let Nellie take care of whatever she needed to do after... yknow... crashing into her.

Feel free to archive or post the last reply :D

Yeah, Nellie wasn't known for keeping up conversations much - especially not during her time with the Frosthawks. That was also why she didn't know of all the men there, she'd been traumatized by the death of her father and hadn't spoken to many others at all. Nellie mimicked a shrug too, lifting herself up, hiding the dizziness that that brought her.

Yeah - I hope we don't 'run into each other' again next time. She joked, trying to casually stroll in an opposite direction, but tripping on her way over. Tell Wraen I said 'hi'! She called, then added a last Bye!

She giggled as she left at the joke, and nodded a cheerful farewell. Then she began walking back in the direction she'd gone.  What was wrong with her?  This had been a good chance to make a friend and she was bailing as soon as the conversation got started.  Just because she called dibs on some guy?

No, it was more than that.  But she didn't read too much into it as she began to jog, and then awkwardly run, in the direction she figured her sister waited.