[Sekirei]

Akutan jolted awake. Looking outside his newest temporary den, he saw the blood moon was out. For some reason, he felt an overwhelming feeling of sadness and melancholy. Well, that had been his default emotion since he ran away from home but this...this was different. Getting to his paws, Akutan stepped outside and studied the moon. His face was settled into a neutral thoughtfulness. His ancestral pack had numerous legends about the wind but he wondered if there was some legend about a blood moon. He looked at his healed leg. Scars, matching the claws of a bear, marked his left leg. His just reward and permanent reminder of all his mistakes. Things he didn't have a prayer of making up for or getting forgiveness. He paid a hefty price and his pack knew it.

Looking back up at the moon, the dark wolf felt a gentle almost hesitant breeze. Lowering his head, Akutan took a deep breath. His mother was there. He could imagine, almost see her, walking towards him. "What's wrong with me, Mom?" he mentally wondered. The breeze flowed through his fur, intensifying the odd feeling deep in his heart that something somewhere was happening. Was something going on at home? Agitation swelled up but just as quickly, it vanished. Sighing roughly, Akutan's rump hit the grass. He closed his eyes and steadied his breathing. He needed to meditate. Was this feeling a sign it was time to go home? He didn't think so. He didn't feel quite safe yet.

Falling deep within himself, but not so deep that he wasn't aware of his surroundings, Akutan didn't realize that tears were falling from his eyes. The moon bathed him in its red light, making him and those tears easy to see.

[Montauk]

Something was wrong with the night...

The night was red.

In fact, this had been such a strange night that even the dire wolf found himself stirred awake and staring up at the large, typically pale orb in the sky with wonderment and confusion. Montauk had never before heard of such a thing as a blood red moon, but the entirety of it had intrigued him so much that he set off to find the nearest bird in the hopes that he would be able to pick its brain about just what was happening. He knew of many a lore that included blood moons in rituals, or in bad omens, but it was something he had honestly not believed until he found himself witnessing it for his own self. What Montauk hadn't expected to find, was another wolf staring up at the sky. The dire's ears perked as he watched the other begin to unconsciously fold in on himself at the sight of it. Interesting.

"Hello, friend," came the low baritone of the male's voice as he approached from behind, gaze holding the back of Akutan's head before returning it to the sky above them, "this is an odd night, isn't it? How strange, that we find ourselves in the midst of such an occasion."


He wasn't sure of protocol when meeting others- usually they found him and started conversations. Yet the dire couldn't help but fall to his rump next to the stranger, eyes plastered to the sky. As silence fell between the two of them, Montauk couldn't help but smirk as he swung his head towards the other male.

"Fate is a marvelous thin--" he began, pausing only to notice the other crying. Why was he crying? Was the sight of this moon that much for this other fellow? Or was it something more...deeply personal.

[Sekirei]

Fate was really a funny thing. Akutan came out of himself when he felt someone approaching. He looked to see a dire coming his way. "Hello, friend, this is an odd night, isn't it? How strange, that we find ourselves in the midst of such an occasion." the other male said. Akutan just sighed to indicate agreement. He hadn't talked in so long, he was starting to forget how he sounded. "Fate is a marvelous thin--" his new companion said before stopping short. Akutan looked over at him with an odd look. That's when he felt it. Raising a paw to his face, Akutan pulled it back to see moisture. "Huh." he thought. So this was happening. 

His face was still thoughtful but he looked at his companion and shrugged. He had no idea what was up so they were in the same boat. He cleared his face and sneezed. He was presented with another conundrum. His companion was going to ask for his name eventually. He didn't have a way to convey it. Rivian had given him a nickname. Odds are this stranger would have to call him something. Far as the loners and rogues were concerned, Akutan was a nameless nobody.

He looked back up at the moon. He wondered what connection it had to this strange feeling deep inside. Previous nights had come and gone without him waking up for no apparent reason. Taking a deep breath, Akutan scratched behind his ear. He wondered if his companion thought him rude or if he figured out he wasn't speaking at all. Looking at the dire again, Akutan made a show of pointing at his throat and shaking his head. Universal language.

[Montauk]

The dire watched as the other lifted a paw to his own face to wipe away the tears. The boy couldn't help but squint a little at it, his own brain churning quickly in his head as he tried to make heads or tails of the situation. Perhaps this one was missing home? Perhaps he was so in awe by the moon that it brought him to tears. Montauk didn't know, but either way, it was all a very curious sight indeed.

"I see something ails you, friend?" he finally spoke after a moment. The dire shifted on his rump, head swinging from Akutan's gaze to the moon and back. There was a small sense of puzzlement about him but the dire thought better to ask questions or to pry in detail. Instead, he'd offer another solution.

"I don't know what it is that plagues your heart so," he rumbled, offering the other male a gentle look, "but perhaps fate is true enough to bring those together who need it. I am in search for the truth- as I am sure you are as well. You needn't speak; your demeanor spells most of it out. You are searching for something, no?" He quirked a brow at the other. This stranger intended not to speak, but there were surely other forms of communication.

"I'm sure if you were searching, you would nod in agreement, no?" he chuckled.

[Sekirei]

"I see something ails you, friend?" Akutan's companion said. The dark wolf just nodded. "I don't know what it is that plagues your heart so but perhaps fate is true enough to bring those together who need it. I am in search for the truth- as I am sure you are as well. You needn't speak; your demeanor spells most of it out. You are searching for something, no? I'm sure if you were searching, you would nod in agreement, no?" the other said. Akutan just nodded again. It felt nice knowing that someone was getting his situation while knowing anything about what brought him here. He wondered what sort of truth his companion was seeking. As for him, it was a way to forgive himself for everything that happened. As well as searching for the hope of being granted forgiveness.

He started doodling in the dust. Always the same symbols. The ones he had drawn out for Reese. Most likely, the symbols and the story they conveyed wouldn't mean anything to his companion but it had a calming effect on him. They helped him internalize his own story so he could keep things straightened out in his head. They also helped him study the events that led to his moment of madness in the hopes of him figuring how to minimize the damage that was coming his way whenever he went home.

He drew out himself, Mercury, Sara, Kyra, and the pups. Sighing again, Akutan looked at the doodles for a moment before looking back at the moon. He wondered if his sudden wakefulness, the unexplained tears, and the blood moon were somehow connected to whatever was happening at home. That is, if something was happening. He just had vague feelings that Kyra was in pain, leading to the conclusion that his pups were being born at that moment. Sure, it was all conjecture but Akutan's mind was so fractured at the moment, it made the most sense.

[Montauk]

Montauk just watched in silence as the wold next to him nodded in agreement to what he had to say. The dire's eyes narrowed slightly as he too nodded in silence. It seemed as though they were both looking for something- perhaps entirely different, but they were set upon the same path never the less.

Yet as the dire swung his head once more to speak, the drawings caught his eye. Gaze fell to the other wolf as he drew in the dirt- figures both large and small. Montauk's ears perked and his head tilted as he watched Akutan look sullenly from the drawings to the moon and then back to the ground. Whatever this was, there was a meaning for it. Something that involved these figures perhaps?

The boy didn't know, yet as he settled in to watch the moon begin to fade further in to darkness, he couldn't help but feel a calmness in the air. It was as if the whole world had gone silent in that moment to watch the sky turn a blood red.

"Perhaps," he began after allowing the silence to grow between them, "perhaps this is a new beginning. For all of us. A time to let go of whatever we once thought to be truth and to move on." At this, he chuckled and shook his head.

"Allow me to elaborate, friend," the dire said with the chuckle still tingling on his lips, "I used to believe that birds held a secret language. Something that needed to be learned- sought after and taught. I believed that I...would find that in them if I pushed hard enough. But in the end, it took a crow to show me the ways in which I was wrong." Again, Montauk shook his head though this time he sighed.

"I did not trust a crow until that day, when he lead me to the understandings that I now know." He huffed and his ears fell atop his head. He had been a fool once, and perhaps this would be enough of a comfort for his new friend to seek a new truth, as he did shortly after meeting his crow friend.

"But I moved on from my one track mind- I opened myself up a bit to this creature I detested. And he showed me a whole new world. I suppose what I'm saying is, perhaps this moon is giving us the gift of rebirth. Starting anew. Finding new paths to walk down in the hopes that we reach our end goal with a new found purpose in life."

The dire's head swung to look at his new friend, a tiny smirk playing on his lips.

"Would that not be wonderful?"

[Sekirei]

Akutan listened as his companion told his tale. All the truth he knew was that he was responsible for his own actions but at the same time, he wasn't responsible for the actions of others that led to his own. That wasn't a truth he could let go of, at least not until things were put to rights if allowed. He had never meant for it all to happen. He couldn't be the only one in his pack to know that. He didn't doubt Mercury's ability to do with him as she must. He wasn't looking to get away with anything he did. He did doubt if she had any concept of mercy. A leader reprimanded as necessary but also forgave tempered that with mercy. Mercury hadn't been alpha for long when things went sideways and he had left before finding out what sort of leader she was.

That was the thing that scared him. Could Mercury read his mood when he came back and respond accordingly? Or would he be jumping from the frying pan into the fire? He supposed that was the truth he was hanging onto. His companion suggested letting go of whatever truths were holding him back. Could he, though? Could he let that go in this moment or would he only let it go when the time was right? "I suppose what I'm saying is, perhaps this moon is giving us the gift of rebirth. Starting anew. Finding new paths to walk down in the hopes that we reach our end goal with a new found purpose in life. Would that not be wonderful?" his companion finished.

Akutan nodded noncommittedly. He wasn't sure what sort of sign this red moon was giving him. He still had this feeling deep down that something was happening at home. Then it felt like he punched in the gut. He almost bolted towards home but the fears he had been carrying rooted him to the ground. His tail curled tightly around his paws, his ears low. He had to stay under control. He was still unwell. He had to figure his sickness out before he could even plan on going home. "Kyra...are they coming? I'm sorry. I should be there with you." he thought. That was when he was hit with another truth. In his own way, he was still in love with Kyra. That, in turn, led to another truth. Even when he went home, there was a pretty good chance they would never be together. This wasn't what he wanted for his pups. For them to grow up knowing their parents imploded because their mother was too much for their damaged father to handle. 

He broke all over again. He had so many failures and not enough successes to balance it out. Lowering his head again, Akutan closed his pale greens and grieved.

[Montauk]

The moon shifted in the sky as it grew only redder and redder until it was fully engulfed. Montauk's tail thumped gently on the ground, his head only swinging to watch as his silent friend rose and began to bolt- only to stop in place and sit back down once more, defeated. The dire's ears perked as he watched, slowly rising to his feet only after the moon began to sprinkle a sliver of it's pale light once more on the earth below. He'd allow the stranger a moment to grieve under the blood red sky, but only as it passed did he approach and look down at the other wolf.

"Breathe," he said in a low voice, golden eyes watching carefully, "you are here. Look up at the sky," Montauk mused, his own head tilting up as the sliver began to steadily grow, his own smile widening as he watched the night sky, "the moon is returning. Everything returns to normal eventually. Whatever it is that plagues you now is gone. Let the darkness that harbors within you, that causes you to grieve so, let it go and behold the fresh face of the moon in all of its glory." He huffed in to the cool air and sat down once more, ears twitching as he settled in again. There was something off about this dark male that left the dire curious to know more. But the other wouldn't speak, so he would do his best to only offer words of condolence in the hopes that the other took them to heart, or at least with a grain of salt and move forward. They were searching for their own paths, true, but that didn't mean there wasn't common ground shared between them.

"You must not blame yourself or others," he said, vaguely hoping he was hitting the mark. He'd noticed a typical depressive behavior amongst pack wolves when they had gone astray- they always put so much weight on things out of everyones control; lest they forget that just like the moon, every tide comes in and goes back out again. Change could be a good thing, could it not?

"The moon is nearly back and full- I believe the birds will soon crow their tales about tonight, just as you and I will one day depart back on our paths and once more cross them in the future." He smirked at the thought of meeting back up with those he'd met along his journey.

"Grieve for what you have lost, friend, but do not let it hold you here in the middle of a field. If fate and truth has led you here then all is as it is supposed to be. It will all pass in time, and you will find your light again to move on stronger; just like the moon."

[Sekirei]

His companion calmly and gently talked him down. Akutan wondered why a complete stranger was able to do what his own leader couldn't. This guy had no idea what he had been through but he knew how to read the room and did what he could to get him back on track. All things considered, though, Akutan wanted to believe what he was saying but he wasn't in any position to. For the time being, he was just wandering without purpose. Unable to go back or move forward. Add in this crazy feeling that something was going on at home and it was quite the conundrum.

He looked up at the moon when prompted and noticed the red was starting to wash out, returning the moon to its pale light. He was pretty convinced this odd night was a sign of some sort. He slowly started to wrangle himself under control. The pain was still there but it was a bit more manageable after a cry. Taking a deep breath, he looked down at the doodles he had done. Particularly the one representing his cousin. If he was the body, she was the shadow. He had left his shadow behind. He had been an idiot.

[Montauk]

Slowly, the night began to return to normal as more of the moon began to take back its spot in the night sky. A gentle breeze blew past, and Montauk couldn't help but inhale deeply in to it and exhale loudly with its passing, smiling as he did so. It was as if this night brought a new determination to him that he had since lost with talking to the crow. When he had been told that all birds could understand and speak a common tongue with other creatures, and that they refused to talk to Montauk because of his badgering- the boy couldn't begin to wrap his mind around it. He had obsessed for so long over something so trivial that could have been answered so easily. When he found out, he had spiraled in to an unknowing depression, unsure of where to go with the knowledge that he held. Truly, he was still searching for his own truth, but he had lost his way. He wandered off his chosen path and down a winding road that he did not know. It was a scary time; having lost ones purpose in a matter of moments from one single conversation.

But that didn't matter now. The moon and the night were returning to normal and there was a spark of electricity flowing through his veins as he felt himself reinvigorated by its dark and pale light. He rose to all fours, taking a step forward and admiring the night sky; crickets and other nocturnal bugs slowly leaving their hiding spots and becoming active once more. It was as if the whole world had stopped to view this strange phenomenon and now that it had passed- it was time for life to return to normal. And so it would.

The dire swung his head back to look at his new friend, still unsure of how to address the other, but formalities didn't matter anymore, did they? That wasn't the point in companionship...in friendship... what mattered most was giving all you could. The Truth Montauk sought was out there, somewhere in the void of the universe waiting to be discovered, and he would find it.

"Come," he said in a gentle tone, offering the other male a soft smile in the moonlight, "let us walk and find our truth together. It has been some time since I have been accompanied by another, but I believe an adventure is just the thing we both need." He lifted his head, offering a gentle wag of his tail.

"Let us both clear our minds of things that hold us back. I believe it was fate that has brought us together, friend- and I would like to see our journey through; even if it is just for a short while."

[Sekirei]

"Come, let us walk and find our truth together. It has been some time since I have been accompanied by another, but I believe an adventure is just the thing we both need. Let us both clear our minds of things that hold us back. I believe it was fate that has brought us together, friend- and I would like to see our journey through; even if it is just for a short while." Akutan's companion said, inviting him to walk with him. The dark wolf considered the offer thoughtfully before deciding it couldn't hurt. His companion could speak for him if they met others on the road and Akutan knew better than to stay alone for too long.

Pulling himself to his paws, the familiar weight he'd been carrying since he ran away from home settled on his shoulders. He looked at the doodles he had drawn before erasing them from existence. He hesitated for a moment on the doodle of himself, Kyra, and their future pups. He knew deep down that it had been a pipe dream at best and arrogant at worst to think they could've managed each other. He felt bad for their kids more than he did himself. Before they were even born, they were already caught in the middle. He was also afraid of Kyra going with someone else. He didn't know how he could take that.

Closing his pale greens, Akutan rubbed his paw over the doodle and shook out his coat. He then went to follow his companion, his mind still miles away in Nardir.