[Kita]

OOC: Open to one. Open to anyone that knows Kita well historically or to any of the visting puppies. Feel free to liquid time and set any time post Emissary challenge to present to suit. Short posts are fine!

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"Such a beautiful pale colour... Trillium?"

"Really? Don't you think it's a bit... syllable heavy?"

"Tsk. You would shorten their names to grunts if you could."

"Can't I? It's not a bad idea... Less effort to yell at them that way~"

"Blaise!"

"I'm kidding! Trillium it is... Trill for short~"

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"Trillium..." Kita twirled the stem of pale three-petalled flower between her toes, watching it spin. She had been walking when she saw the flower and it had stopped her in her tracks. She didn't know why, perhaps it was the patch of sunlight that illuminated the little clump so perfectly, or perhaps it was because... She grasped for the thought that seemed so close but it danced away, leaving her her staring at an empty palm. A shot of anger coursed through her suddenly. She knew this! She knew this. It was important.

But she didn't know it.

Frustrated she crushed the delicate petals in her paw, crumpling them, and let out out a small growl. It was a sound so foreign to her mouth, a mouth that was used to tenderness in all its forms, that it startled even her and she froze, breath catching. She looked down at her still clenched paw, suprised to see it there and let out her breath, releasing her hold at the same time. "No, no, no." She whispered, seeing the destruction, no matter how small, she had caused. The crumpled petals fell one by one to the ground. "I'm sorry. I-I should know you." She apologised as the wind blew away the pieces and she sat staring after them, brown eyes wet with tears that couldn't quite fall. 

She wished those pieces would come back.

[Angus]

As soon as they'd arrived in Inaria and grouped and met their chaperones, they were off. Angus had done his best to contain his excitement as he watched the groups collectively disperse, his own self ready to explore these bright new lands. Green eyes were wide with wonderment as he wandered a little before bounding for the trees. He was on cloud nine in every sense of the word as his tiny body bounded relentlessly through the lavender and indigo trees of Inaria; his brain working overtime to catalogue and remember each and every place he went. He had until at LEAST sundown before he had to check back in and boy was he ready for an adventure. Gemini was great, don't get him wrong, but this- this was something entirely new. It was a different world. It was, if he'd stopped long enough to think through his journey thus far, going to be his first home (he'd been traveling in the direction of Inaria for some time before being intercepted twice and finding his way to Gemini) or at least it would have been a place he'd come to visit on his journey to find his parents.

For awhile, the adventure was exciting and new, but as he ran ever onward the appeal was beginning to slowly lose it's shine. It wasn't that it wasn't great- it was- but he'd been in Inaria almost two hours and he'd not even met a single Inarian! So far as he could tell, he'd only seen his pack mates from Gemini let loose and that was it. The pup slowed his bound to a trot as he began to look around for any signs of life. Surely he couldn't have gone in a direction where no one else was. It was always possible, but Angus found himself trying very hard to see how accurate that outcome could have been.

He didn't have to wonder for long though, as the faint sounds of a voice trickled in to his ears. He stopped, head snapping in the direction of the sound before trotting off to find it. What he found was a field clearing, and another wolf staring at some flowers. The pup brightened up instantly as he plodded forward, his tail wagging feverishly behind him.

"Hello!" he called out as he got close, smiling widely at the wolf in front of him. Finally, he thought- a new friend for an adventure.

[Kita]

"Hello!"

"Oh," Kita was suprised by the little apparition but not startled, she smiled warmly back at the child's friendly smile and avid tail wagging. "Why, hello to you too." She bowed her head politely as if she was meeting some great lord or lady. She loved children, to her they represent the very best of life, they were product of love and they were to be nurtured and protected. They were blank canvases of innocence and goodness and she wanted them to stay that way as long as possible, not to allow the trails of life to dim their shine, though inevitably it always did.

The browns and creams of his coat seemed somehow familiar and the rings round his eyes too seemed to remind her of... She stared at the child for a little longer than was normal, her smile fixed and frozen as something whirred in the back of her brain, hinting, suggesting... It shuffled through blurred images like a stack of old photographs, never focusing on one or another or settling on anything. The markings... A child of hers might look something like... But she didn't have any children. It was just longing, an old ache or pain like any other. She always wanted a family of her own, she thought she would have been a good mother; there would bedtime stories and hide and seek, soft kisses on the forehead goodnight, lulabies and love, always love. But she had never met anyone for that to...

But then who was Blaise? Her mind handed her the name, just the name and nothing more, a tantalising hint at... She didn't know what. She closed her eyes for a second, willing her mind to stop, stop, stop, whatever it was doing. "You okay, Mum?" She saw a pup looking up at her, brow creased in corncern, he was chocolatey brown, with a couple of lighter patches spotted along his back and around his teal eyes the markings were so like...

She oppened her eyes and stared at the pup before her again. He was not the same one she had just glimpsed, she hadn't known that child just like she didn't know this one. But then why... Mum? "I'm so sorry, please forgive me, I'm feeling a little... Unusual." She murmured, eyes drifting down to one of the crushed petals that had fallen at her feet. Trillium...

Mum.

"Where are your parents?" She asked suddenly, a little breathlessly, eyes flicking up and searching around the clearing. Her pulse was racing suddenly and she took one step, two steps, back from the child caught between horror and hope at what she might hear next. Longing reared in her chest making her heart ache, her dream and worst nightmare cruelly twisted into one by a mind full of lies and tricks. Could he be... Hers?

[Angus]

"Oh. Why, hello to you too."

The smile on Angus's face spread wider and wider as he beamed at the lady in front of him. His little tail swayed excitedly back and forth as he took a couple of steps forward, but he halted as soon as her expression changed and she stepped back. Confused, he stood there a moment and watched her as she spoke again.

"I'm so sorry, please forgive me, I'm feeling a little... Unusual."

Oh! That was all right, Angus thought as his own face drew in to one of contemplation. Everyone had those days, surely, and even Angus knew that it was okay for her to feel a bit off. He didn't hold it against her! In fact, the pup thought, it might be worth it for them to become friends! Then he could ask her to go on an adventure, and maybe an adventure would be the kind of thing that would take her mind off of whatever it was that had her feeling so off.

As his lips parted to exclaim the thoughts he'd just had, she cut him off once more- though this time he could see there was a look in her eye that he couldn't quite make out. Was it panic? Confusion? Realization?

"Where are your parents?"

The pup stopped in his tracks, his gaze frozen on hers as she asked the question. It was as if a train had come through and slammed right up against his chest taking the wind right out of it. He hadn't thought about his parents in some time- granted though he was still a puppy, the world that he now found himself enveloped in had taken over the urgency to find his family. A sudden pang of guilt swept over him as he stood there with his mouth open for a few moments, allowing the silence to grow between the pair as his brain tried feverishly to remind himself that was the whole point of his trip. He wasn't here to explore; he was here to find his family. Why had he put them so far in the back of his mind?

"I- I- I," he stammered, taking a step back as the guilt grew from the pits of his stomach outward, his ears lowering atop his head as his smile completely faded and was replaced by a sadness he had not known he had, "I've, I've lost them. I mean, I mean, they've lost me. I mean," he continued on, his little limbs shaking a bit as the ultimate realization that he missed his mom and dad set in. Sure, it was fun being in the walls of Gemini with all of his new friends, and sure it was exciting for him to journey to Inaria to make even MORE friends and to learn about other packs; but the thoughts of being homesick had never fully crossed his mind until now.

"I've been, I've been, I'm looking for them- but I, but I, but I can't seem to find them."

This was not how Angus had planned his adventure, and he wasn't sure how he ended up here, but one thing was certain: he wanted his mommy, and he wanted her right now.

[Kita]

OOC: I am so sorry for how long this has taken, time has absolutely flown by while I have been busy with the move and and I didn’t realise it had been as many weeks as it has been. Sorry! I will be quicker next time!

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"I- I- I, I've, I've lost them. I mean, I mean, they've lost me. I mean,"

So he was not hers. The news was a curious mixture of relief and regret, along with self-admonishment for ever having allowed such a wisp of fanciful thought head room. Whitewind relied on her for her reasoned judgement, how would her Alpha react if she knew about this moment of madness? This was not behaviour befitting her rank she chided herself again. But at least she had a solid fact to hold on to now, the world had tilted for a moment there, throwing her off balance, but she was back on her feet again now. I’m okay. I’m okay. She told herself. It sounded like a lie. If something as momentous as a mate and children had happened to her she would remember it she told herself firmly, quashing the unwanted thought decisively. No more of this silliness. 

In front of her puppies ears drooped and his body quivered, shaking with sadness and instantly she regretted her question, her moment of... Missing-ness. She had been so caught up in her own fear and panic for that second that she had asked this child the most indelicate of questions. In doing so she had had hurt him, unintentionally of course, but still, making children cry - What was the matter with her? ”I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I just –" Explainations weren't going to help and how would she explain something she hadn't understood herself anyway? "Where did you lose each other?” If you lost something you should retrace your steps.

"I've been, I've been, I'm looking for them- but I, but I, but I can't seem to find them."

"Oh, little one." Kita said hoarsely, almost whispered. He was a mirror to her loss, though she didn’t know it with her conscious mind, her heart knew it on some level and it cried out with empathy and compassion for this other lost soul. It was through entirely different ways and means, but hadn't they both lost their families? Her to the ravages of a cruel disease, him to misadventure, but it was all the same in the end. They were lost. ”Here,” She said softly, reaching out to envelope the child into a hug that would pull him tight against her chest, tight into warmth and safety. If he allowed it she would hold him there, warm and safe while she murmured to him. The murmur ran lightly off her tongue, familiar, practiced. It was almost a chant, a whispered spell made to sooth the weary, worried or hurt. ”It’s okay, it’s all okay. I’m here. No one’s going to hurt you.” It was like walking through your home in the dark, your feet know the way through such familiar rooms, they know where you are going and how to get you there safely.  ”It’s okay. I’m here. I’m here and I love you, Felix.” Unless someone has moved all the furniture around when you aren't looking of course.