I can't believe we'll never meet again.

Day 2 of her being away from Shiroshika! If not taken in a few days I will set it to read only and archive~

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The world felt as if it stood still. Sleep didn't come easy, every day just blended with the last and the push and pull of the world's tide simply let the little woman float through its tides, on its breeze as legs carried her aimlessly through the snow.

There was no denying her feelings toward @Quicksilver, especially now that they had come out into the light. No longer pushed down and kept secret after his previous declaration. The Pandora's box was open and there was no way of putting the shadows back within their confines. Even if Tobias would be home, waiting for her to return with open arms, could she see him the same knowing very well someone else tugged at the back of her mind?

Could she ever ignore the guilt that ate away at her?

Even with the tears dried up, the bags under her eyes had begun to show. Perhaps of the lack of food, water, and sleep - but it all was eating away at her from the inside out. A poison in her veins that she didn't know the remedy to. A sight that she didn't want the pack to see and so she delayed returning back home a little longer. But how long until she could stride in with a smile and not let anyone worry for her wellbeing? There was only so long she could be away before the pack would crumble... especially since she said nothing before leaving.

With an exhausted sigh she sat on the edge of the semi-frozen ground. How could she find that bliss once more?

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The land north of the mountains was naught but ice, stretching far into the north, though she knew mountains were there. Ynness didn't venture here often — she would claim that it was due to the lack of prey and therefore interest in the land, but it was really because she had slipped once. But it was on the trail to more fertile grounds in the north, lands that could free themselves from the grip of ice for most of the year, so she often passed by its borders, careful to move away when she felt a paw slide from under her.

She was not expecting another wolf to be here, even less for them to be laying down. Ynness slowed her hobbling pace, approaching the prone form even as she realized that they were alive and very much female. “What are you doing here?”
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The silence of the frozen grounds was soothing. A breeze gently blew the dusted snow across its sleek top, bringing al the scent of different locations to her attention - none of which held any of her interest. This feeling in her belly felt so deep and hollow was it even possible for it to ever feel whole again?

The sound of another approaching caught her senses, twisting the pale ears back to catch the odd rhythm in their steps. It reminded her of @Gyrfalcon and for a moment she thought the three legged woman had come all the way out here to find her! But as she turned around to greet them, the Empress' head fell to the ground again. Gently resting on her paws with half-interest to the stranger.

“Nothing.” She wasn't lying. The woman wasn't doing anything but laying here looking into the vast beyond of the empty frozen plains.

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Something like excitement crossed the woman's face as she turned to see her. Perhaps she had mistaken her for someone else.

Ynness' eyes rolled. “No shit,” she scoffed. “You'll die out here if you stay for too long,” She doesn't know why she bothers saying so. Perhaps that was what the woman intended all along. She wouldn't — couldn't — conceive of ending her life in such a way, but the wolf below her looked too frail, too wraith-like to ever be considered for Valhalla.
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“You'll die out here if you stay for too long,” the woman said and would be met with a quirk of Reiko's head. Tilting to one side with wide innocent eyes, glassy in their lack of care in the moment as anything that was left was only an empty, broken husk.

Would it be so bad if she did? Watch as the snow covered her from head to toe and letting the frost take her back to a long, long sleep similar to that of which she had woken up from just earlier this year? A part of her was comforted by the end. To no longer feel this pain that clutched her chest again, and again, and again.

But what about Hotaru? Her light. The little glitter of hope that had come in such a dark time before, could she leave her daughter just as how her mother had for Reiko in a previous generation? How could she think of such a thing...

With the reminder of what was important, it brought life back into her heart. A beat or two, some warmth to go on and mend what was aching just like any wound. “I will not be out for much longer, and my fur is thick and warm. Thank you for your concerns.” Finally she would reply, earnestly after the internal debate had abated. “Would you like to join me? It is quite relaxing. Quiet.”

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She'd never seen eyes such as hers. She didn't mean so in any poetic, romanticized way that spoke of love at first sight. No...when she looked at this woman she was met with a void. A breathing, staring void held together by the body's continued desire for survival, but not the mind's. It unnerved her, and Ynness' eyes darted away from the woman's own, staring somewhere else on her face, anywhere else but her eyes.

Despite everything, the woman invited her to stay. And despite herself, she felt herself agreeing. “Sure.” The words were spoken curtly, a quick puff of vapor in the air. She sat back on her haunches, her aching muscles sighing in relief in the chill. “Where are you from?” The words came out unbidden, from a pocket of gregariousness that Ynness hadn't opened in forever.
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It wouldn't matter either way if the stranger had chosen to take up the offer for her to join Reiko on this little downtime. To keep the little depressed woman company and... do what? Talk? She supposed that's where it would go. She had nothing to say, however. Nothing came to mind other than just the sadness she felt.

A question was asked, drawing her attention back to the woman who had laid down next to her now. She was a strong-looking woman. Even with only three legs, she seemed sturdy, powerful in both mind and body with the presence she brought. “I have had a lot of homes.” She'd open up. Thinking back to the pack she was born in, to the packs she had joined and watch fall along her travels. The one she had built just for it too to fall in time not long after the birth of her children.

“My most recent is East of here, past the first set of mountains and far into the next in a set of peaks we called Tsukiishi.” A place where she should return to very soon before they worry. “You?”

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For once, she felt something like normalcy. A conversation, flavored with sadness as it was, that was not based entirely on Ynness being annoyed or angry. Instead, she felt something like sympathy. Something like curiosity. So she kept her eyes on the other — not on her own eyes — and listened. She hummed, indicating that she felt the same. Perhaps not in terms of number, but the restlessness there. “Suki-she,” she aped. The word, words? were entirely foreign to her, spoken by the woman with an ease that indicated fluency. She frowned with concentration. “I am from south of here. Northfall.” The name didn't fill her with the same pride as it did before. But that wasn't important.
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Even if the woman's pronunciation wasn't perfect, by any means, Reiko would smile emptily at the attempt. Mustering up as much of a smile as she could despite how broken she felt and wanting nothing more than to stop holding herself together but to let the pieces scatter to the wind.

“Northfall...” She'd whisper back as if trying to think of the name if she had heard of it before. “Is it a new pack?” The lack of pride in the woman's voice was evident, she too had her own demons from the look of it, the sound of it - perhaps that is what drew the two of them together here in this moment.

“We have established ourselves this summer.” As if to say she wasn't here to judge any new packs for they too were still young in their forming. Still making their own mark in this new world they found themselves in. Perhaps a good distraction from this emptiness she felt would be knowing there were others nearby, perhaps those who had been here longer if she was lucky - individuals she could speak to for knowledge of this place.

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