Pack Bonds and Shared Emotions

[tsukikoko]

The wealthy, contemporary neighborhood along one of the Lake Sommut shores were mercifully quiet and relatively untouched from some of the... less savoury events plaguing Wathais and the wider world of late. A byproduct of one particular resident's presence, Tsu was sure.

The very same resident he had tracked here.

With one last turn of his muzzle to the wind, bathed in a wonderful shaft of soothing moonlight, the battered werewolf limped his way towards a lakehouse he knew so well, by now. The scruffy, wild-looking wolf, with only 3 remaining legs, was completely out of place in such a well manicured estate and he took extra care to stay low, keep to the shadows when there was a risk he might be seen, his ears pricked and keen for any hint of activity. But the night was silent, with only an owl's shape overhead to momentarily disturb it.

He knew he'd said to Telmore that he would check in officially and he would, he would; but first, now that he'd checked on the agent who had also lost his beloved, the old werewolf needed this. He needed pack, companionship, to see and hear and feel that someone in his family was here and whole. Something to ground and soothe the tattered state of his soul and the aching hole Rhys had left behind, or he feared he might fall apart worse than any physical wound could inflict.

With a haggard breath and a final stumble up to the back door as his canine form slipped away, leaving a similarly ragged man behind, Tsu raised his remaining hand to the door. He didn't wish to set off any wards or security, that may have been installed in his absence, by just letting himself in and so rapped his knuckles against the glass.

The clink of his ring - a ring he'd had to move at the loss of his arm - against that hard surface, the shine of its reflection in what light the moon offered, near wrenched his chest in twain.

A moment later, he rested his head against the glass with a soft whine, wondering idly if the blood and dirt smear he'd leave behind would be an issue. 

[Marshmallow]

It was late, beyond late. Nocturnal or not, Malthiel knew he needed to sleep. Gabriel and Moana had both been adamant that he had to stop and rest. That if he kept pushing himself like he was, he would be no good to Rhys at all. He knew that, he did. But he still hadn't fully processed it, internalised it. He'd promised them he would try, but then...

There he was, still sat in his home office at some abysmal hour between midnight and dawn. Awake well past the 36-hour mark despite their nagging, barely holding on to his human form while he pored over what bare few scraps of data had been gleaned from his joint operation with the WDSA.

Between the sleep deprivation and the missed meals, and a few too many cups of bitter coffee he hadn't had the energy to sweeten, he almost didn't hear it. The sound of something rapping against glass. It summoned to mind briefly the image of someone tapping the side of an aquarium, trying to startle the dazed fish inside while they swam about in mind-numbing circles.
He clicked off his tablet screen and groaned into his hands. He'd long since lost count of how many circles he'd run.

The sound registered, sluggishly, the second time.

Malthiel sat bolt upright in his office chair and cast a wary glance around. The... back door? But who would come calling so late? I wouldn't be one of his own, the Syndicate already had its tasks delegated.

He cast his senses out into the darkness, probing, searching. And what he found outside gave him such a jolt that he was on his feet and half-way down the stairs before he'd realized he was moving.


Outside, the silence stretched for dreadful moments, broken only by the gentle lapping of the lake waters at the dock beyond the darkened back yard. Just when it seemed that the scarred wolf's knocking would go unanswered, a man's shape appeared on the other side of the glass. One which was less battered perhaps, but no less weary, silver eyes darkened by shadows and skin that was pallid and wan.


The door was thrown open, and slender arms made weak from fatigue threw themselves around Tsu's battered, bloodied shoulders with all the strength they could muster.
"Tsu-!" Malthiel smothered the cry against the big man's chest as he hugged him, heedless of the crusted filth and blood. He was too tired, too worn, too desperately relieved to care about the stains. Though as he drew back, his relief morphed into worry and fear. Tsu was wounded, and badly so, and the shadows shivered with his anxiety.

"Where have..? What- what happened to you?!" he asked as he ushered the werewolf inside. "Get inside, sit down. I'll... I'll get the kit. You'll be alright, you'll be fine." He wasn't sure who he was trying to comfort, Tsu or himself.

[tsukikoko]

The moment Malthiel was out the door, Tsu's arm snaked around his back as his face buried into the other man's hair. He inhaled deep of that familiar scent. A shuddering sob threatened as bone deep relief welled up inside, but the expelling sigh was warm with affection as it ghosted across Malthiel's skin.
"Hello sweets..."

If the shadows hadn't given it away, the other man's tone and scent - a sharp, acrid tang - certainly would have done. He knew it was his absence, the injuries, but the old werewolf wasn't concerned for himself, despite his bodily state, he worried instead for his packmate. The weakness, more than only sleep-deprived fatigue, had been obvious the moment Malthiel hugged him. As he was ushered inside and fretted over, Tsu gathered the slender man against himself with his remaining arm and murmured soothingly,
"I'm alright, I'm alright. I'm healing."
Then, with an easy, near casual, strength present even with the wounds and fatigue, Hemming lifted Malthiel from the floor as though to save him the effort of even walking.

The scarred man took only a few steps before he crumpled, more from the weight and desperate need of his emotions than his strength giving out. Sinking to his knees on the floor, he curled himself around Malthiel, tucking the other man against his chest. What had previously been stubble was now a full salt-and-pepper beard, which brushed against far softer skin as the werewolf pressed and rubbed his face against him, as a canine might, before leaning his forehead gently against Malthiel's own. With his eyes closed and body quivering, he spoke in a trembling undertone so unlike his usual self,
"God you're here, you're alright- you're alright. I never should have left, I'm sorry- I'm sorry. God I'm so glad to see you." His arm squeezed Malthiel just a touch tighter as Tsu hunched further over and his head fell into the other man's shoulder. Utter, dejected misery filled his voice, but so too did an undercurrent of primal anger.

"I couldn't get her back."

[Marshmallow]

With an ease which belied the severity of his wounds, the werewolf swept Mal off his feet entirely. All fretting and fussing were put on hold as Tsu carried him inside, only to sink to the floor moments later with the shapeshifter held tight to his chest. Malthiel didn't object. He'd needed the contact just as desperately.

Questions could wait. The medical kit could wait. Right now, all either of them wanted - needed - was the comfort and reassurance that at least some small part of their family was still present and intact. That the bonds of the pack still held, that they weren't left drifting in this crumbling world utterly alone.

"I'm here, I'm fine. I'm fine," Malthiel soothed as the werewolf huddled him close. "I'm not going anywhere." He stroked Tsu's scruffy beard as he spoke, and smoothed back a few fly-away locks of hair.


I couldn't get her back.


The pure agony in the big man's voice was almost unbearable. The misery, the grief...
Malthiel put both arms around Tsu and hugged him fiercely. "It'll be okay..." he whispered. It felt almost like a lie; neither of them was anything even approaching 'okay'. But he couldn't think of anything else to say, so he said nothing and let his presence and contact speak for him.

[tsukikoko]

For a few moments, Tsu could only hold on to Malthiel, his chest heaving with the threat of sobs that never quite surfaced. Without warning, however, as memories of Rhys came and went, as the werewolf thought on those who'd already been taken or killed while he'd not been there to defend them, a sound tore from his throat. A dreadful, pained sound, both wolf howl and man's scream. It began low and quiet, but soon built into a terrible and loud crescendo as the injured man poured out all of his grief, anger and agony since his mate's disappearance.

If it weren't for the shoggoth's closeness, the press of his body in Tsukiko's grip, the old werewolf might have been liable to lose himself to the rage, in that moment. It swelled within him, fuelled by desperate grief and a vicious need to spill Atol's blood.

Instead, the ancient beast beneath his skin was soothed, at least enough, by the scent of his remaining family.

The terrible scream Tsu had been unleashing slowly began to fade, until he merely quivered against Malthiel. There were a few beats of silence before, in a low voice that rumbled with how close his wolf still swam to the surface, he murmured,
"You need to eat and rest more, sweets."

[Marshmallow]

In the wake of such a soul-shattering howl, which overflowed with grief and barely-held rage, such a plain and simple statement felt so absurdly out of place that Malthiel could only laugh. The sound was short and raw and had no mirth behind it. Almost a sob, it was a helpless half-bark of a laugh borne from exhaustion and near hysteria.

He realized as an afterthought that at some point he'd started shaking, and couldn't manage to stop. It felt like a breakdown in waiting. The shadows all around them hummed and shivered with his emotions.


Malthiel rested one slender hand over Tsu's where the big man held him and cocked a weary smile. "I'll rest when you do, big guy. I've suffered worse," he said gently, and paused to consider if he might be lying. He couldn't quiet recall the last time he'd run himself so ragged, but didn't take more than a moment to think on it before setting the thoughts aside.

"Let's get you cleaned up. I'll order us some supper, and then I'll think about sleeping. Deal?"