---

Backdated to Dec 29 2024

Open to Northfall but let Elli and Ezra post first

Also Seer 1/5

It's been nearly a month since the Kinsey trio left on their quest, to tell the surrounding packs and their uncles about the death of their grandfather, weeks since they were able to see their home mountain. Days, since they finally left for their return trip home. The night before they were to arrive, as they settled down to sleep, there had been a rumble.

Cracks.

The telltale sounds of an avalanche, but as far as Vitus was aware no one lived on this side of Northfall, even if his bones were screaming Wrong, wrong. It would be something to investigate when they get back, poke around and make sure it's truly settled. Throughout the night, it almost felt like the mountain was sighing, settling.

The sky looked dreary when they woke, and perhaps that should have been a sign of what was to come. The weather had held well for most of their journey, but that morning the clouds grew thick, threatening worse even as a light snow welcomed the yearlings home.

They were home, and already three crows were flocking to Vitus. Off, off! Go do...whatever you creatures do. As if the black carrion birds would listen, no. Instead, the largest pecked at his ear, before flying off with what he assumed were it's siblings, landing on a branch while the other two flew off.

And it squawked at him.

Whatever it is, i'll look at it later

Squawked again, and again, before flying right back to the seer and settling onto his back.

I think I have a pet now His voice was deadpan, turning to look at Elli and Ezra with an unamused look on his face.

As they continued, Vitus....stopped. Staring off at the hill side, at the two crows that circled in the sky while others flocked on the ground, feasting on whatever poor creature had gotten trapped in the avalanche the night prior. .....May as well go see what it was

Who it was.

The carrion birds scrambled as the wolves approached, save for Vitus' unnamed friend on his back and the two circling in the air that marked the location, the cloud of black feathers filling their view before revealing....

Leviathan.

The half of him that was unburied, at least, uncrushed by snow and trees. Already, the birds had begun their work, for not even their father was safe from nature itself and it's never ending circle.

Vitus stood there, in disbelief, glancing at Ezra first before looking to Elli.

Waiting for the girl to blow up, as he knew she would most likely do.

He really, really needs to trust his gut more.

SKILL : WARRIOR ( 1 / 5 )

It was nice to see other parts of the world not contained within the scope of Northfall's peaks, but Elli was... spent.

Her fortitude had limits, even if she didn't show it. She did not unravel easily within view of others, not even her brothers. Elli's anger, dense and caustic, had given her the willpower to get through their near-month of travel, but even it was beginning to wane as they crept closer to Northfall.

Its peaks reminded her of what she would never find within its embrace. Her grandfather was gone and he was not coming back - they could not even retrieve his body to give him a proper send-off. Instead, they were forced to mourn from afar, to honor something as intangible as a soul. Some might argue there was something poetic in his tomb made of ice and mountain, but the northern summit hadn't been his mountain and his body would now be apart from it, for time immaterial.

All because of some golden bitch who thought she was some sort of deity.

Her thoughts seemed to always circle back to the cause of it all: Freya. It was her fault that any of this happened - if her fragile pride hadn't been so delicate, Ragnar would still be here. Of course, Elli lacked the introspection to recognize she, herself, would not take kindly to a lover moving on, but that was beside the point - she claimed no divinity, but hell, if everyone else was doing it, why not her?

She was quite fond of Loki, after all.

The distant rumble of rocks and snow shifting did not stir Elli, nor strike her as something in need of attention. At most, it was a detail to mention to the pack when they returned, but she largely glossed over it as she curled back into the puddle of her brothers' warm bodies.

After the trio had woken, Elli was quick to get on her feet. She was shaking the night's lingering effects off when the birds descended and she watched with remote amusement as Vitus attempted to dissuade the winged menaces from aggravating him.

Pet? Elli echoed, flashing a devilish grin. I can turn them into breakfast, if you prefer.

Her willingness to jest faded as they progressed on their journey and something ominous settled in her chest. The birds were circling - she was no fool, she knew what that meant. Scavengers circled when they found something to feast upon, and usually it meant that there might be a nearby herd of something or other that had suffered a loss, but this seemed... different.

It was one too many strange things in a long line of oddities.

Wordlessly, she followed Vitus' lead and clenched her jaws against the foreboding that created a film on her tongue.

There was an entire flock of birds converged onto the site, squabbling over whatever unfortunate soul they had found. Her muzzle scrunched at the carrion-eaters, but her expression dissolved when the black birds scattered and she saw what they had been fighting over.

It was their father.

She wasn't sure if the world had gone silent or she had become deaf, but everything fell away. Two-toned eyes stared, but they did not see, not really. Elli knew she was looking at her father, but she felt so distant as to be entirely removed from the scene; panic drive her to dissociate for a few long moments, entirely unaware that her brother's blue eyes were trained upon her.

How

Many

More

Did

She

Have

To

Lose?

All at once, the crushing pain she had warded away came crashing down, nearly sundering her to her belly as her expression pleated into one of distress and a sheen of tears threatened landfall.

In true Elli fashion, however, she bypassed the deeper well of white-hot pain and vulnerability and reached for the anger that lived closer to the surface these days.

The birds... how dare they pick at his body? As if they had any right, any claim over their father's body? He wasn't some piece of prey thrown out into the elements without care - he was Leviathan.

A thunderous snarl was all the warning the assembled wild birds received before she lunged forward. Birds that had been slower to leave their prize were clamped between powerful jaws. Each crunch of bone and dying screech were fuel for the tempest's fire, their feathered bodies thrown aside to pursue the next until none of the beasts lingered.

Those with more intelligence than hunger escaped harm, but several avians dotted the snow-covered earth by the time Elli collapsed onto her haunches next to Leviathan's body. The fire within her had burned out - it left her scorched, a hollowed husk. She trembled, her heart pounding in her chest and her breathing labored from the exertion, panic, and the raw emotion that possessed her. Tears had finally fallen, blazing hot trails down her muzzle as she ran out of anger she could angle at anyone.

There were no more birds she could execute and she was nothing against forces of nature.

It was good to be home, at least, he thought so. Having been born here, he had developed a natural connection to the northern coastal mountains. However, it seemed to hold a weight more and more he couldn't shake. One of his first thoughts went to raiding Jasmine's herbal storage - oh yeah. When they lost their King they had apparently lost their Queen too. Maybe the only real good Jasmine had done for the pack was birthing it's next leader.

The trio continued their path, Ezra smirking before jumping up and snapping his jaws at one of the curling crows around his Slendermam tall brother. Had they been ravens, he might have wondered of Thought and Memory, here to spy for Odin now that their grandfather was no longer here to taunt. Ezra believed in the gods but also, fuck the gods.

While one bird settled on their's brother's shoulder and others, many others, circled in the distance, Ezra began to quicken his pace, caught in a half charge until the carcass they were feasting on was revealed as - their father. Now, he was just as stiffened as his sister and brother, unable to comprehend in those first moments exactly what they were seeing.

Their grandfather had died and now their father too and longest reigning sentry they had at that. Who would train him now!? Their mother had died, or, at least Ezra would rather suspect that then her having abandoned them. Yet unlike her father and grandfather, no body had been found as any proof and from what Ezra learned from around here, you had to have hard proof someone was dead before you were free to move on without consequences.

Once (and still sometimes) Ezra had thought to dismiss his Kinsey name and now? Well, he wasnt a child of the OG king and his uncles were the litter's closest relates now...You can't change your name every time someone dies on you, Ezra. Sometimes the boy struggled to decide who he was, where he fit... Maybe he would sport both instead.

It was odd that these were the thoughts that swirled through his head. Not how this would effect the pack. Not how they had very quickly become orphans. He was stark stiff as he watched his sister's fit of rage, ripping apart every bird she could get her jaws on. No, he only thought now how this effected him and what he might do because of it. Death for him so very quickly became common song for him. Before he knew it, the siblings at his side would be dead too. His one and only sister. His one and only brother, ever now, it seemed.

We need to get him out of there. He finally rumbled as he began moving towards the slumped form of his sister. Leviathan's body was buried deep in snow, ice and debris from his shoulders down hard packed. He touched his muzzle to Elli's ear and then began to dig.

Yeah there she goes, as predicted.

He could feel the crow on his back press closer down into his fur, as if Vitus was the thing sparing it from her fury (he was). Once Elli was done with her murder of the murder, Vitus stepped forward as Ezra did, moving with him to their sister's side and while the other boy went to start digging their father out Vitus leaned into Elli.

A wolfish hug. Comfort she could pull away from if she wanted.

We're going to need help getting him out of there his voice was quiet, holding back his own grief to be a rock to hold onto, before he stepped away so he wouldn't be howling right in his sister's ear.

He took a few steps towards the mountain, before throwing his head back and howling. Calling for Arvid, for Northfall, for help.

TW for slightly graphic / gorey description. Summary: Raum coming up the mountain with Jasmine's body slung over his back.

The mountain loomed above him, its jagged peaks dusted in fresh snow, the cold biting into the wounds that marred his frame. Raum moved with measured steps, each one deliberate, his body protesting against the steep incline. The bear had left its mark, though he had fared better than she had.

Her weight dragged at him, uneven and heavy, shifting with each step. What remained of her clung to his back like a grotesque fur coat, her broken body slung across his spine, limbs dangling, head lolling with the motion of his stride. The scent of blood clung thick to his fur, sour and unshakable, seeping into him like a stain that would never lift. It had been an effort to place her there, to maneuver what little was left into something he could carry. But she had been his responsibility, and so she was his burden now.

A fresh flurry of snowfall drifted down from the slate sky, settling in the grooves of his fur. The world was silent but for the whisper of the wind and the slow crunch of his steps against ice and stone. The mountain would claim her soon—he had seen the truth in the way the earth drank greedily of her blood, in the silence that followed once the bear had gone.

It should have been him.

The thought pressed against his ribs, unwanted. Raum pushed it aside. It hadn’t been him, and so he was here. He had a task to complete, and he was not one to leave loose ends. Jasmine’s family would know what had become of her. The weight of that knowledge was his to bear, just as he bore her now.

Then, the howl.

It cut through the quiet, distant but clear, carried on the wind from somewhere above. His ears swiveled, and he stilled, breath misting in the cold. Someone else was here. Someone who had yet to see what lay across his back.

Raum resumed his climb, this time toward the sound. The snowfall thickened slightly, a gentle veil that blurred the world around him, but he pressed on. His muscles burned beneath the weight, but he did not slow. There was little room for hesitation, little point in bracing himself for what awaited him at the summit.

He had already seen the worst of it.

---

arriving next round or maybe the one after, haven't decided yet

Skill 1/5: Heartbroken

It was a month ago now that Northfall’s Watcher, Elli, appointed by Ragnar himself, had been sent to inform the entire world of Ragnar’s death in ways she saw fit. With her, she was to take two others of her choice, and she had chosen her two brothers, Vitus and Erza.

An admirable choice, Arvid had thought; though he tried to ignore the pain of jealousy he felt, in not having that same level of companionship with his surviving sisters. He’d thought not once, not twice, but thrice upon a time to track down his own kin - to show up upon their doorstep with an offering, or something, but they’d had all this time to do the same and had not. And that was the reason why none of his siblings from the Forsaken Bloodline had been invited. So the young Konungr had kept to his side of the Alpines, which usually did not mean this side of Northfall’s mountain.

But something was wrong - the trio would not request help like this, in this manner, for nothing, and upon Arvid’s arrival, a murder of crows were fleeing, with Erza digging something, and Elli laying on something, and Vitus staying nearby them, but off to the side - what was so important that they’d risk an avalanche?

As he approached closer, however, he saw the dead crows at Elli’s feet, and then he saw just who she was laying on, and who it was that Erza was digging out. It was not a something, but a who.

God damn it. It was Leviathan.

Their father.

They haven’t even gotten a chance to bury Arvid’s own father, because they couldn’t, not really - and he never wanted to share the burden of a dead father, nor dead parent with anyone. Was it better to have someone to blame?

Freya had taken Ragnar, but Mother Nature - assumingly - had taken Levi.

He took a sharp inhale, and made his way towards them, though there was nothing he could say to right this. Nothing he could do. They wanted their father dug out, but it would be easier to let the mountain have him - what would Arvid have done, if that had been his own dad? He didn’t know.

He approached them, glancing each over thoroughly, (as best he could) making sure his young cousins were unharmed. I am so, so, sorry. His voice quivered, for he spoke to them as their cousin, not their leader. They had already lost their mother, now their father, too? If he hadn't sent Elli away, would he have found them among the wreckage with their father? We’ll do all that we can do get him out.

He howled for Northfall, and hoped it wouldn’t anger the rest of the snow on Northfall’s peak as he headed towards Levi, and began to dig despite there being a familiar scent in the wind.

He would have to wait.

Skill:

---

Hope I got the details right and she is welcome!

---

She hadn't been doing much when the calls rang out. A beckoning for help, a singular audit perked from her position on the mountain and swiveled towards the place from where it had come. She didn't hesitate and took off towards the place where help was needed.

When she arrived she saw wolves she didn't know and Arvid... The she saw the body buried in the snow...

Shaking her head she slightly hesitated this time before she sprung to action and began to dig at the body with the rest of them. She hoped her help would be welcome and not seen as an intrusion.

Fiadh's been on the way since she heard Vitus' call for help, but it seems she was one of the furthest away, arriving after Arvid and the new woman. As she pelted down the mountain side, she took in the sights, The three of them digging at the body that she can't see ye-oh. Ragnar's eldest boy.

Well, there goes Fiadh's plan of backing Leviathan for the throne.

She slowed down as she approached, wincing at the poor kids. Dammit Levi.... she stopped to look at what was left of him, seeing everyone else digging out the body itself, giving a quick look before moving off to the side to start digging the tree. If we can free the tree, we should be able to pull him out.

Lifting a tree shouldn't be that hard, right? It doesn't look like an old one, though it does look like more than one...

SKILL : HEARTBROKEN ( 2 / 5 )

Ezra's words sounded distant, the nudge of his muzzle against her ear entirely detached from her. It wasn't until Vitus leaned into her that she was drawn back to the moment.

She blinked, almost starting, and her ears wilted as a complicated blend of emotions roiled beneath the surface. Elli hated being vulnerable, but she was unable to haul it back inside herself. Her shoulders drooped as she pressed her side to her brother, resting her tear-and-blood-streaked face against his paler ruff.

He reminded her they would have to free their father from his tomb of rubble and she nodded weakly. At least, this time, they had a body that could be retrieved. They had not been so fortunate with Ragnar.

Vitus pulled away and cold air rushed in where he had once been, and Elli used the chilling breeze to press herself to her paws. She traced her way to Ezra and began to dutifully pick away the rocks that held Leviathan in place.

They were soon joined by, not one, but three packmates who offered their help. Hollow eyes rested first on Arvid, the only acknowledgement of his words he would receive, and then the other two who filtered in. She knew neither of them in great detail, but a small part of her was grateful they had shown up to help.

Leviathan deserved to be honored by many, Elli thought. Though her father had been a distant source of paternal affection, he was still her papa. He was there even when her mother wasn't and then when Ragnar was taken - but now he, too, was gone.

Elli's gaze slid toward Fiadh as she suggested they dismantle the tree to loosen the rock slide and she wordlessly drifted to the woman's side. She began to hook her paws through the mish-mash of earth and packed rocks, attempting to coax the hard-won roots from their perilous claim. The stalwart trunk groaned with their combined effort and she switched tactics, pressing her paws against the base of it as she pushed her weight against it - away from the convergence of wolves. With any luck, a little more coercion from Fiadh or someone else would send it toppling.

Vitus moved to sooth his sister, more so delicately and lovingly then Ezra had, who's affection was subtle. Ezra was already digging through the packed snow and ice, filled with rock, dirt and limbs. He only stopped with the footfalls of someone else arriving crunched over the winter earth. He turns to his age-mate uncle, his new king. Ezra's gaze is one of both pain and anger and he dips his gray chin in the slightest, an acknowledgment to Arvid's condolences and assistance with digging their father out - only to end up being buried somewhere else, as it were.

Then another came. One of the newer members of the pack. An incredibly large viking woman and an actual adult. Ezra would never say it allowed, but it was nice having more adults in the pack again. Someone who could offer them guidance as needed for the pack predominately full of yearling, orphaned, children.

Fiadh was next and the six wolves got to work more or less quietly and when directed by the older viking, Erza took place at Fiadh's other side and began to press his weight into the broken tree trunk.