Dragoncrest Cliffs kouri sou

set whenever! <3

restored, mireille left chacal's side and sought out their brother @Sobo, eager for his fierce words that she was sure would be leveled against the freshwater man.
the stranger's rudeness had made mireille wonder if she should truly turn away from the sea, or only go down the coastline. her fear over the event had abated; in fact, she had become more resolute.
wind stirred in the blackpine. she stopped to listen, pleased.

When Sobo was not carrying medicines or food to Quennell and Swordfish, he was away from the cliffs.

Perhaps it was his curse to forever wander the coast, unfulfilled and lonesome. Springtime only made everything worse. It brought into sharp focus that he was a man, that his entire family therefore looked down on him (even if they pretended they did not), and that his destiny and future were not his to decide.

Today was a rare instance where he was home and unburdened by duties. He prowled the edge of Blackpine, straightening with a quiet sound in his throat when he ran into Mireille up ahead.

sobo. mireille rushed to him with a sigh and a look. "oh!" and her eyes filled with angry tears she dashed away. "some man came to de borders. he swore at me! he followed chacal!" she was so infuriated she could hardly speak, tail lashing at her heels.
maybe she had not noticed his absence so much. she went to hug him, for the sturdy comfort he had always given her. he smelled of things beyond sapphique, she noticed then, and with a clench of her stomach she wondered if he was always going to come home.

Oh.

Well, he didn't really know what she wanted him to say about that. Wasn't that the sort of trouble you invited by using living beings as tools with no regard for their feelings or dreams? Sobo thought so but would not say it out loud. There was no telling if it was a man Chacal had enticed or a man simply following the winding scent of fertility, anyway.

I trust dat you showed him what Sapphique be about, den, Sobo said, draping his broad muzzle across her shoulder and swiping his tongue soothingly over the fur there. He was angry on her behalf, no matter his personal thoughts. Whoever the man was, he was certainly arrogant to follow any woman much less swear at one, and Sobo had no love for arrogant men. Or women, really.

It be a real fool dat t'inks dey can speak dat way to you.

mireille preened under his touch, winding to nip at him gently with sheathed mouth. "we did! rhaegal an' maman erzulie an' i. i told him never to come back an' he said he would not." she was proud of that. "an' chacal be sayin' she hatin' him too, so he loses!" she crowed.
and then she was sober again, reflective, pulling away from him just a little to ground herself in the night air. "i have to go out t'ere, sobo. sometime, i not be knowin' when. do what chacal did. an' maman did."
sensibly she did not mention meerkat.
her emerald eyes moved toward him. "heda feels de same."

Good, said Sobo with a snort to punctuate. If he comes back, it be his funeral. He would keep an eye out for any men skulking about the borders of Sapphique, or lurking along the coastline during his travels.

Mireille shared her fears then. Sobo, of course, couldn't relate. However his eyes softened a little as he misunderstood her meaning and reminded her, you do not need to do anyt'ing you not be wantin', Mireille.

A name he did not recall. Who?

"i want to," mireille insisted, but she felt she should think about it. an inhale escaped her. she did not want to talk about it now. ironically she felt that her brother could be the only one to understand. "heda. she was wid us for de caribou hunt. she lives on de islan' out t'ere now."
the memory of njord following meerkat, crowding her; mireille's jaw tensed. "she be wantin' children of her own, like me."
curiosity lit her eyes. "are you goin' out t'ere, sobo?" she asked, plainly, for she did want to know.

Oh, said Sobo, who had forgotten the names of both of Druid’s sisters. At the time, he had been an insecure boy hopeful for friends and spurned by the tendency for women to hate all men without cause. It was a uniquely Sapphique thing to do, and yet, those three had been dismissive of him from the very start and brought into sharp clarity the fact that he would always be seen as less than. That Heda and Witch had technically done nothing wrong was lost to the haze of memory.

So on the subject of Heda, he had nothing much to say. Sobo didn’t care what she wanted, where she was living, or what she was doing. He didn’t even know her, and Mireille knew how he felt about her old friends. He had not kept it a secret. He let her speak it without interruption, though, sensing she only wanted to voice her nerves aloud.

Until she asked if he was going out there. To de islands? he asked, frowning. No. I do be goin’ down de coast to... Get away, I suppose, but I have not been to de islands.

<3 ;;

sobo didn't get it, so mireille let it go. after all, she didn't really want to discuss that part of her future with her brother.
"to get away?" the young obsidian asked then, eyes vying for his face. of course she understood on some level, but she hoped he meant only from the pack.
not from her.
from them.
"quen say he be leavin'. to — fix himself." mireille sighed and looked toward sobo, wondering what his wisdom would have to say on the matter.

Sobo pulled a slow breath in through his nostrils. He knew how he felt on the inside, but explaining it aloud felt like a taboo. If anyone could understand, it was Mireille, and yet she was woman and born with the silver spoon of Sapphique womanhood. He could not shake the fear that she would not understand after all, and would find it disdainful in the same breath.

There would come a day where Sobo would stand at a crossroads, and the opinions of his sister might sway his steps one way or the other.

I be wantin' a family of my own, he shared. I do not t'ink dat be a possibility here. So I do be wanderin', gettin' away, seein'... What else be out dere, in case dat turns out to be true. Sobo was too proud to bend his neck beneath the rule of a wolf not born of Sapphique, and so it would have to be something of his own making, something he thought about but did not feel ready to reach for. He did not want to ever leave Sapphique, but his dreams could not take flight here as they might elsewhere, and he knew it.

Keen to change the subject lest Mireille take issue with his confession, he turned his thoughts to Quennell with a frown. Why does he be t'inkin' he needs to fix himself? The thing with the bear had certainly been frightening, but he didn't know Quennell was that deeply shaken. The boy had always been bold.

that sobo wanted a family of his own surprised mireille, only because she could not comprehend how it would work. she tried to imagine her stoic, firm brother married like their da, with his own den where he lived with wife and children.
the idea of her brothers being married unsettled mireille. it reminded her they would become men.
for a long time she said nothing. and then she reached toward sobo with a soft look. "i t'ink you would be a good da." for it was true, despite her initial misgivings. "you be raisin' dem here." how could anyone disapprove? but she would not say the decision was her own, she only meant to encourage him.
now to quen; she sighed and closed her eyes. "blame, i t'ink."