Big Salmon Lake My Shores Were Pretty

SETTING:
Weather: overcase
cool
early morning
TERRITORY: Bramble Point/Salmon Lake

TAGS: N/A

Eyes set to the ground before him, the small boy wanders aimlessly across the newly claimed land with a sunken appearance. His paws, once carrying a pep in his step—now graze against the earth in languid movements, toying with the soil and making marks. These new lands did not feel like home to him; Did not make him happy.

It was baren, near dead, and The Caldera had a weird smell to it hidden deep deep beneath the autumn breeze.—Almost as if it was covering up a secret.

Even the place he reached now was dark and odd. Brambles poked out of every surface, covering the trees and earth in its deadly thorns. Primrose had already pricked himself on a few in his short time here, learning well to stay clear of them. But he kept pursuing onwards, sniffing curiously at the air in search for a water source.

Caerus did not enjoy having to squeeze his way around Firefly Glen to go past it, not that he ever went beyond it much. Osiris was a nice, handsome guy, but he was too close. Neverwinter and Moonspear had always had that neutral ground between them; why didn't he just stay on his damn mountain? 

Whatever. He made his way past the glen. Exploring was his thing lately- he had spent a lot of time at home mourning, and now- he felt Cupid's spirit heavy on his soul there. He would not abandon him, but sometimes he needed a break from that weight. 

It was during his walk that he caught sight of a warm pale girl who seemed to be searching for something as she sniffed the air, almost as willowy as Caerus was in his half-starved state. She was small, around his age- and pretty. That thought shocked him, had he ever thought of someone as pretty before? He thought of Miriam- but even with her elegance, she did not cause butterflies to dance in his stomach like this stranger did. Caerus gazed at her with wide ruby eyes, too far to realize her true gender, and too shy to boldly approach. All the scrawny boy could do was stop and stare.

Sooner or later the boy knew he would be brought to a halt within the forest, he just didn't expect it so soon.

Staring upwards, Primrose gazed at the tall tower of thick brambles overhead, their vines too large and too sharp to pass even with his tiny frame. "Aw Geeze..." he breathed, ducking his head in an attempt to peer through the small holes. He poked and prodded with the tips of his nails, hoping some of it would give over time, and when that wasn't enough he would step back and look around.

Not intending for another to be there, Primrose jolted at such a sight, the poor boy was scared right out of his skin at the presence of another watching him. Flattening his ears, the firebird sat down within the dead grass, his body barely covered as he stared right ahead with curiosity.

Should he run home? Should he approach them? His mother warned to be careful in the new lands...

In anguish, Leta stole away from the Glen for a moments respite. She knew that she could speak with Osiris about all things, but she was not ready to yet. Not ready to accept the news provided. Not ready to think about it, or talk about it... which she would have to do. She knew she had to. 

But first—first to act as though she had not heard the news at all. To try to go back to before she knew, when things had looked up. Deny, deny, deny—Clay was alright, Clay had just run away, it was not Clay they had found, oh, no, absolutely not—

One would think that she would have seen the wolf truly right in front of her, especially given their coloring. But teary eyed, she nearly collided right into the sitting Primrose. Just before that, though, she managed to avoid it. Not without a cost, though—she tripped over a jutting root and fell to the earth with a ooof! 

And she could not stop herself from the crying, then.

The girl's ears flattened when they made eye contact, and Caerus blushed when he realized he'd been caught staring. He quickly averted his gaze, feeling awkward- and nearly thought to clear his throat to call at her, or maybe come closer so he could greet her at a normal volume. He wanted to meet her. But while he was looking down, a loud OOF and a cry caused him to glance back up suddenly, finding ahead a woman who had fallen beside the pretty girl.

The noise of her crying caused his fur to stand uncomfortably on end. Luckily, Caerus had a new solution for uncomfortable situations- like the one with Revui and Kukutux- and that was called getting the hell out of there. He wasn't sure how to comfort some random crying stranger, and felt no connection to her, only the beautiful girl beside her- whose image and memory he would clutch in his heart as he ran off, headed home, stunned by the glowing light he had sighted in a dark world.

Primroses world went upside down.

Spooked by an unknown other, the boy's world swam as he dived down under with a yell at the perpetrator, scared to be hurt or trampled. Thankfully though, no harm came to the boy, and after a deaf silence he cracked an eye open and popped his head up to look at the stranger.

Primrose had expected a monster, perhaps something fierce and scary. He had not expected to find a woman splayed on the ground and sobbing.

Gingerly getting up, he sniffed at her from a distance before raising a paw to lightly poke at her, his ears flat and tail tucked below his legs. "Hi ma'am, are... you okay?" He questioned, voice soft and empathetic.

The other left, and Leta simply lay there, defeated. 

For a minute she determined to believe that her mishap had not been seen. Of course it had been though, because Primrose (and an unknown other) had been right there. Humiliated, Leta simply lay there in defeat and self pity for as long as she could. Which was not for very long, because Primrose poked at her shoulder and then she had to get up. 

Pushing herself to a slumped sit, she looked at him with quite the sorry expression. His soft voice was inviting, but she did not want the weight of the news to weigh heavy on him, too. Leta lifted a foreleg and swiped at where tears threatened to break through again with her wrist, sniffling. Nuh-uh, she answered, not wanting to lie. I... I found out something awful, she murmured, but you don't need to worry about all of that, she sniffled with a shake of her head. I'm Leta, her eyes shifted from the earth to him. 

And then she saw what Caerus did. The prettiest boy she had ever seen. Not handsome, like her (oh, not hers, no) Osiris, but pretty. She was dazzled by his sweet appearance, and endeared to him instantly.

He had waited patiently for her to get up, his gaze locked and body rigid in case he needed to flee at a moment's notice. For a while, he may have thought the girl was dead with her limp and unmoving state, but the shifting of her paw ever so lightly quickly dulled that thought away.

Not dead, he thought in relief.

"Oh...Awful things fade with time!" He chirped in earnest. "My mama told me that...." Often when he stubbed his paw or found out that the prey was gone. He wondered what it could be that made her weep and tumble. Had she stubbed her paw too?

"I'm Primrose. It's a pleasure to meet you Leta—I like that name by the way. Leta. It's pretty! Are you, uh... from around here?"