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+--- Thread: AW So treat every day like it's a holiday (/showthread.php?tid=11499)
So treat every day like it's a holiday - Wendigo - 5/6/2026
Wandering, exploring, enjoying the quiet -- Wendi very nearly didn't want to go back home. It didn't compare to the tundra he'd lived in for most of his life, but it was less busy here than the crowded cabin in the pine forest. It was peaceful, even. It would've been all too easy to get lost and never even bother to care. Sure, eventually they had to figure out where Wisp was holed up in the Howff, but Wendigo didn't particularly think it'd be all that difficult once they went south. Somewhere had to smell familiar, and worst case scenario, Selkie could perhaps ask if anyone knew of the Highwaymen and could point them in the right direction.
He didn't really like that plan. He didn't really approve of Selkie talking to strangers!
Salt caught his attention, and he'd been headed closer. If he could find the sea, perhaps he could figure which way to go. Or... it'd just be a nice little place to see. Whichever.
They skirted the mountain. Wendigo could smell others, so many it must've been another pack -- not one whose scent he recognized, either. The Howff had gotten plenty of visitors, but he had no reason to believe these people could point them there. Still, they couldn't keep him and his brother from walking to the sea! He was far, far from any borders.
Yet still, the breeze offered him a reason to pay closer attention. A scent that was familiar. That stuck out like a sore thumb.
The fur along his spine prickled with unease as Wendigo paced the foothills, considering. If he didn't have Selkie, he'd forge right the fuck in and go find Grim, to hell with the pack. That was his brother. His family. What was he doing here, alone? How was Wendi supposed to get to him?
He didn't. The thought occurred to him after a while, ears pinning hard, tail lashing.
His head tipped back, and a deep howl rang from the Wendigo as he summoned Grim.
Perhaps if he was lucky, his brother would hear him and be close enough to make his way here first. Then they could just.... go.
RE: So treat every day like it's a holiday - Carnifex - 5/6/2026
The tiger was prowling the borders, he was always prowling the borders, when he saw the wolf howl a..further distance away from the borders than he was used to guests howling.
Odd, but whatever.
The sentry stood in the trees and just...watched. Waited.
He was visible enough now that the snow was melted, a bright white (and now faintly glowing with scars) beacon within the tree line. Tail lightly flicking at the top as he stared.
RE: So treat every day like it's a holiday - Journey - 5/7/2026
It was a call not for her. Not for any of Northfall, actually, despite where they were. It was a visitor of theirs, separated from their family and so spending time getting to know her own for the time being. Journey came nonetheless, for it was her duty to address visitors.
The first to draw her attention was the eldest. He was colored like dusk with eyes like dawn. A beautiful young man, though there was a dangerousness in his eyes. A darkness there that perhaps had not yet been revealed to others. Yet Journey saw that wildness there and it caused her a quiver, despite how curiosity compelled her forward.
There, at his side, a young boy. Colored beautifully too. This one's torso is like tidal waves, lost in silence in the great deep. Powerful, endless movements.
She could see Carnifex down the treeline. Not far. She felt a warmth of protection from the great, stunning beast being near. Not that the valkyrie particularly felt she needed it.
Grim is here. Safe.She states to the pair as she turns back to them.
Are you family come to retrieve him?
RE: So treat every day like it's a holiday - Selkie. - 5/8/2026
They wandered for a long while.
It was very different from how it had been at home. Selkie remembered being let out only a few times and even when they had the cold had been bitter, sharp as a knife. It wasn't wintercold or even the welcoming cool of the sea.
The wind now was warm and the sky blue and clear. This was what they had done and the wolves who had killed had tried to stop.
Selkie chased little insects- living, not the crunchy dead things in the corner of the den!- and snow in the wind. There were many things to see, things he shouldn't have names for but did when he thought Long enough. Brathair hunted. He tried but did not have the legs for it yet.
He missed the water. He did not know if he would be good at water anymore, but the salt-scent thrilled him each day. Someday he would come close enough to see!
He missed máthair and vater and siblings, but knew they would be okay. He was not sure he missed home so much any longer. He liked being free to run and liked the comfort of Wendi's watchful eye. He felt safe with bráthair now, even if he still did not understand what he had done.
Máthair would know! Selkie would ask. He hoped she was not worried for him.
But now on the wind, in the lengthening evening, Selkie smelled someone familiar. Rotting wood and pinesap and ever-present seasalt. It clung to his fur too, and Wendi's, but with a herbal edge he associated more with Grim. Bráthair did not like it, and stopped their travel to pace the hills. Selkie followed on his heels. What was he doing here? Selkie hadn't seen him in the cavern, or when they had been freed and the snow had melted all around them.
Wendi howled. Not a song like Jaskier, but a summoning howl. Selkie watched warily as the hills came to life- a glowing spot in the trees he would have eagerly explored if he knew Wendi did not get bristly and protective when someone strange was nearby, and then a wolf Selkie did not recognize.
Stranger. He was not sure he liked that. His tail flicked along his hind legs, but Selkie did not shrink, only stared with dark unblinking eyes, tongue curling against the back of his teeth- until she mentioned the name.
He nodded. He knew he would have to do talking because Wendi would not, and Selkie did not want him to have to. "Family." A quick look to Wendi. "Maybe th' ghost took him here!" It did not occur to him she might not know what he meant!
It was very different from how it had been at home. Selkie remembered being let out only a few times and even when they had the cold had been bitter, sharp as a knife. It wasn't wintercold or even the welcoming cool of the sea.
The wind now was warm and the sky blue and clear. This was what they had done and the wolves who had killed had tried to stop.
Selkie chased little insects- living, not the crunchy dead things in the corner of the den!- and snow in the wind. There were many things to see, things he shouldn't have names for but did when he thought Long enough. Brathair hunted. He tried but did not have the legs for it yet.
He missed the water. He did not know if he would be good at water anymore, but the salt-scent thrilled him each day. Someday he would come close enough to see!
He missed máthair and vater and siblings, but knew they would be okay. He was not sure he missed home so much any longer. He liked being free to run and liked the comfort of Wendi's watchful eye. He felt safe with bráthair now, even if he still did not understand what he had done.
Máthair would know! Selkie would ask. He hoped she was not worried for him.
But now on the wind, in the lengthening evening, Selkie smelled someone familiar. Rotting wood and pinesap and ever-present seasalt. It clung to his fur too, and Wendi's, but with a herbal edge he associated more with Grim. Bráthair did not like it, and stopped their travel to pace the hills. Selkie followed on his heels. What was he doing here? Selkie hadn't seen him in the cavern, or when they had been freed and the snow had melted all around them.
Wendi howled. Not a song like Jaskier, but a summoning howl. Selkie watched warily as the hills came to life- a glowing spot in the trees he would have eagerly explored if he knew Wendi did not get bristly and protective when someone strange was nearby, and then a wolf Selkie did not recognize.
Stranger. He was not sure he liked that. His tail flicked along his hind legs, but Selkie did not shrink, only stared with dark unblinking eyes, tongue curling against the back of his teeth- until she mentioned the name.
He nodded. He knew he would have to do talking because Wendi would not, and Selkie did not want him to have to. "Family." A quick look to Wendi. "Maybe th' ghost took him here!" It did not occur to him she might not know what he meant!