((Liquid timing to right after the challenge.))

He'd done his best to ensure Widow had been taken care of, though had left the others to help her back to the former pack lands. He would have been less than useless in that regard. Crux leaned into Riya's form as they walked, feeling the weight of what had happened as if it was his mantle to carry. The forest felt colder than it ever had and be shivered, beelining towards the mound that they'd made their den in. Riya waited beyond the mouth of the den as Crux pushed his way in. "Triss?" He called hesitantly, there had been a part of him glad to see she hadn't come to the challenge but the news he now had to break felt like telling her the world had ended. Crux looked solemnly around, they hadn't been here long but the den had already started to feel like home. It was where they'd gotten engaged. Would they have to start all over again? Crux wasn't sure how anyone else felt about it but he knew that for himself at least... He needed the security and community of a pack, had to rely on them even as much as he wished he didn't... What would that mean for him and Triss if her family didn't want to go elsewhere? "Crux" & "Triss

Base by Resin, coloured by Lolaf

Triss had been on the outskirts of the challenge. Not too close, because she was the alphas daughter and she was a liability. She wasn't a fighter, which just made her a target for something as important as the challenge. She wouldn't let anyone use her against her mother or the pack, and besides Widow would handle this just fine. Like she was did, she was invincible like that.


Right up until the moment she didn't. When the pack was ripped from her paws, and suddenly a family, a group, a pack of wolves became homeless. They had lost everything, so fast, So easily to the whim of another. She wasn't proud of the fact, but she fled. She ran from the challenge and she didn't stop until she was home. Panting and heating and trying not to inflame her throat as she lay there quivering.


She heard his voice and knew he had found her. She tried to dash her tears, and look in the direction of her fiancé's voice. “I know. I saw it.” She said, voice weak and soft.

Crux probably should have assumed Triss would have been there, but he normally had such a bead on her that he failed to account for his own stress making him much less observant than he'd care to admit. Hard to fault him really, he'd uprooted so much of his life to join Hellborn, hard for him not to feel invested in its continued existence... Especially with an impending wedding and the promise he'd made to Tris: that they'd have a family together, one way or the other. Hard to blame him for having tunnel vision. Still it did mean her words partially surprised him. Crux sighed. He doubted she needed a lecture on how dangerous it had been for her to be there, and it certainly wouldn't help matters at this point anyways. Crux stepped gingerly towards Cryptis, settling next to her and gently fishing a foreleg out to scoop her close. "C'mere." His voice was soft but didn't waver. She'd been his strength more than a few times now, it was his turn to be her rock. "Your mother was tended to. Left her in the care of Stolas once I made sure she was all taken care of." He was trying to reassure her, even if he still felt some guilt having left the woman with him. The man was more capable at getting her home sure but it didn't mean he was blind to the optics of having left, even if it was in search of the former princess. "We're free to go so I figure there will probably be a lot of talk about what we're doing next once your mother has had some time to rest. But I want to make sure we know what we want before that." He paused briefly, wanting to let her have a chance to consider. And definitely not because what he was about to say next made him nervous at all. "I also want your opinion on pushing the date of our wedding up." He did his best not to sound too excited by the idea, his mouth barely twitching into the hint of a smile. There was a lot of reasons, many of them logical or rooted in wanting to try and lift the mood in the long term... But maybe it was also just that recent events were making him feel like there was little reason to wait at this point. He didn't want to regret taking too long... "Crux" & "Triss

Base by Resin, coloured by Lolaf

Triss sniffed, but scooted into Crux’s arms when he settled in beside her. She instantly buried her head into his fur, finding stability and comfort in his grip. Here was home. She had to believe that, right? No matter what happened from here, or where this took them. She still had a home. In Crux’s arms, wherever they might be. Crux had more on his mind than just comfort, and she understood that, too. He needed to know what the plan was, but the truth was she wasn’t ready to confront that just yet. She whipped her nose in his chest fur and sighed… before his next words derailed her, and she squeaked! “You… what?” she tried to focus, she wanted to marry him, obviously. Tie him to her in every way. But what about the pack and her mother? “I’d… be okay with that, but we have to talk to mum, and what if she doesn't want to talk about it right now? And I don’t know what I want. I want to not lose Hellborn.” her lip trembled. "Crux" & "Triss

Base by Resin, coloured by Lolaf

Crux tipped his head back slightly so Tris couldn't see his grimace. Mentally berating himself. Of course he was pushing too far too fast. He took a breath to recenter himself before he dropped his head back, even reaching down to nose at Cryptis lovingly. "You're right." He said softly, gently squeezing her closer for a moment before he released slightly, lowering himself onto his stomach so he could be closer to her eye level. "I can't return Hellborn to you. What I can promise is that I'm not going anywhere. For as long as it's within my power I'll be here for you, as long as you'll have me." He couldn't give her her kingdom back, but Crux could make sure she knew she still had a place to go. "I can't speak for what it meant to you but Hellborn to me hasn't ever really been the pack. It was your family. It was a safe place to go when I could no longer go back to my old home. It was you. Hellborn to me is still you. It's the family I want to become a part of. The family I want to have with you." He sighed. He knew he sometimes tried too hard to fix things for her and he couldn't help but feel maybe that was the case now but he still meant what he said. "I can't give you Hellborn the pack back. But Hellborn doesn't have to be gone. We're here, together. Your mom and your siblings, they're all still here." Crux sighed, looking beyond Tris for a moment as he slowly formulated his thoughts into words. "We don't need to decide anything right now. I think I just got swept up in feeling like things could change so quickly and I didn't want to give life any more chances to do so. But what matters is we're here. We're all safe. I don't need more than that." She was the one really hurting here between the pair of them and he needed to do his best to remind himself he couldn't just solve all her problems. Sometimes time just had to pass, frustrating as it was to not be able to just make everything right... For her.  "Crux" & "Triss

Base by Resin, coloured by Lolaf