The events of the last season weighed heavily on Selkie's mind. On her mind, in her chest. Dad was unwell, though he tried his best to hide it. If she hadn't seen what he'd hacked up with her own eyes, Selkie would have been in denial too. She had. She did. It was burned in behind her eyelids in ways she couldn't articulate to anyone else, in ways that no one else could know.
Masking stress and anxiety is hard, especially for such a little pup. Reclusive, even more so, with all the things hanging around her head. Selkie doesn't know how to explain it, only that she needs to be left alone. She needs to be left alone, but she doesn't want to be. It's like she's being hunted, but by what?
There wasn't even anyone she could ask to take her adventuring, not here. She's not a princess anymore, so she doesn't even have that bargaining chip in her pocket. Homesickness had settled thickly over the little creature. Her older siblings had departed too, leaving them behind in Elysium.
That's it. Maybe she'll hunt Quill, pinning her hopes on him for comfort... certainly a choice. Didn't matter. Not in her mind. Doing her best to track him, with her faithful dog on her heels, Selkie sets out to follow what she only hopes is a fresh enough trail to lead to her older brother.
Napping. Quill was really good at napping. It was one of his top skills. It was as though the gods had played a joke on him and made him a wolf instead of a lion. Everyone knew that lions were nappers. Now with this big ass mane that had grown around his neck, it was even more of a joke. Well... if he was supposed to be a lion, then he'd sleep like a lion.
The sun was warm overhead and it soaked into the darker parts of Quill's clouded frame. The brutes tail thumped lazily on the earth. He didn't have a care in the world. Ashen had fallen and his family had scattered. Not that he was particularly close to any of them, right? He was back on his own once more, just like he'd been for the majority of his life. No big deal.
With a yawn, Quill rolled over, giving his thick mane a shake before closing mismatched eyes once more. He lay near the edge of the cliff, but not so near that he was able to be pushed off. Just out in the open enough to soak up the full sun. Maybe once his nap was over, he'd find a bite to eat.
Anguish and salt running thick and clear in her system, Selkie’s tracking is messy. Messy, inefficient, stumbling. Torn between actually tracking and crying, tears coming thick and stinging before she can stop them. By the time she finally reaches Quill, she’s nearly completely fallen apart. Hiccuping, though she’s not quite as teary. Bloodshot eyes, chest aching from the sobs. Fuck, man.
”Quill, Quill wake up,” she stumbles forward, whimpering. Voice shaking as she makes her way to the man, as she picks her way carefully over the rocky ground. Uncomfortably close to the edge of the cliff, at least for her taste, but she needs… she doesn’t know what she needs. She needs to cry and she needs to yell, and she needs to be sad about it.
Quill had just begun to fall back asleep when a voice pulled him straight from slumber like a fish on a hook. Blue and pink eyes shot open and the marbled giant rolled onto his belly. He blinked against the bright light of the sun a few times until Selkie came into view. "What?" he asked, still groggy. "What's wrong?"
Forepaws pushed against the earth, bringing the maned brute to a sitting position. He gave his coat a shake and blinked again, focusing on his younger sister's face. She was crying. Ugh, what did he do about that? What could possibly have happened? "Uh..." One big paw moved out to scoop the girl in close to his chest in an awkward embrace. "Tell me what's wrong."He wasn't good at this sort of thing but he was trying.
Selkie's tears and screeching have drawn him from sleep, and she's not sorry. Leaning heavily on the larger man, collapsing down against his shoulder and chest. It's undignified, but there's too much hurt to go around, at least in her head. There's too many feelings and they're all terrible.
Words coming in a torrent, the girl can't stop them. "Daddy is sick, like sick-sick, and he says I can't tell anyone but who do I even tell when there's not even anyone around, because the north is cold and dark and stupid and a wasteland." Strung together, slurred through her tears, spoken against Quill's shoulder as she sniffles. A hiccup, a sniffle.
"It's our third home this year and by far the worst." Her voice quivering, Selkie leans even more heavily into him. She's looking for stability in all the wrong places, don't hold it against her. Clinging to Quill is the best she's got.
Ahhh, this was so strange. Quill almost felt a little panicky inside. He didn't know how to comfort. That wasn't his thing. He'd never had anyone comfort him, so how was he supposed to know these things? The brute awkwardly patted his little sisters back as she cried into his fur. Gods, he hoped she wasn't getting snot all over him...
Selkie cried and spoke of their father being sick. Like "Sick sick" is the way that she worded it. Quill's ears shifted forward and his brow furrowed in concern. He wasn't close with his father, but he didn't hate him. How would he feel if Chimera died? It was a strange thought. It would be sad, but would it really make a difference in his life? Quill was used to being alone. He was used to being the black sheep. Perhaps it would have been different if he was part of the pack like Selkie, but he just couldn't be. Too many new faces. Too mush risk of his demeanor rubbing others the wrong way.
The small girl spoke again, talking about how the move was horrible and how she hated it there. Quill understood. There were places that he hadn't like and there were places that got boring after a while. When that was the case, he just picked up and moved on. Selkie couldn't do that. She was stuck in Elysium with all of the other displaced wolves of Ashen.
Again he patted her back, trying to be supportive. He was kind of panicking again, thinking of ways to make the girl feel better., If she didn't want to be there, maybe she didn't have to be? "If, uh... If you get permission from mom and dad, maybe you could travel with me?" Where had that come from? As soon as he said it aloud, Quill regretted it. He didn't know how to take care of anyone else and Selkie was small and vulnerable. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! "I mean, dad has almost died before. I'm sure he'll be fine if you want to stay there. Maybe he'll move the family back south at some point." Damage control, but was it too late?
Selkie had been attached to her parents, the sickly thing hoarded away for fear she'd get worse. For fear she wouldn't make it, though those days seemed to be farther and farther behind them. It's likely that attachment that leaves her this distraught, this worked up over all of it. Stability is a hot commodity, yet another piece in her foundation shaking, with Chimera getting worse.
His suggestion catches her by surprise, Selkie's head coming up from his shoulder. Eyes red-ringed from crying, but they go wide. Would they let her? Maybe if she... asked really nicely? Like, really really nicely. Just maybe they'd let her go with him. For the first time since settling, the sobs have quieted. "Y-you think they'd let me?" Excited, hopeful, for a moment. "We can go back south, and see the ocean, and go somewhere warm?"
But as he backpedals, Selkie wilts. A heavy, shaky sigh, accompanied by a bit of a whimper. Ears flattening back against her head, chin settling glumly against his shoulder. "I... the way they talk..." Selkie shook her head as she trailed off. She'd been a sickly kid, she knows how to read the healers, and hell she knows what to look for. Too bright a girl for her own good, this time. Going looking for information that will hurt her, and then being surprised when it does? Something like that.
For a moment he feels bad for having gotten the girls hopes up. Quill is a bastard and he knows it, but... does he have emotions in there somewhere? Was that the feeling of guilt? White and charcoal ears tip backwards for a moment as Selkie's expression goes from one of hope back to one of despair. Ugh, he's such a fuckface...
"You could ask," he mumbled to the girl. Quill had no idea what their parents might say, but if they allowed Selkie to travel with him, then... Then what? He couldn't be her damned father. That was Chimera's job. It would be a weird thing to become accustomed to.
The brutes tail thumped on the ground as Selkie spoke of 'the way they talk.' Quill knew how they talked. He'd heard those words himself once. "Father will be fine," he assured her again. "He's strong. Nothing can kill him." A lie, but Quill smiled down at he girl as though he believed it.
