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TOW - Strength wanes... — Description

Season: Spring 2024
Location: Grotto camp

Prompt: 'Don't worry, I'm here.'

Summary:

"Tío? Tíooo?!" Weston called out as he stomped noisily through the muddy grounds of camp Grotto, completely unbothered by the disturbance he was causing. "TÍO!"

His scream echoed against the Grotto's walls, causing a flock of crows to fly away in panic and many of the camp dwellers to groan in frustration. One of them raised their head and snarled at the teen.

"Shut up, brat!" The dark-furred wolf, whom Wes had come to know as Crowsong, yelled. "There's no Dio or Theo in this camp!"

Weston swirled around to face the Namünen's icy glare.

"No, you shut up! Or I'll biff your nose, punk!" He growled back venomously and then trotted away in search of his uncle, leaving poor Crowsong to stew in their anger.

At that moment, Weston didn't care what most or all of Grotto thought of his insolence. Wes had done his part in trying to keep the camp fed, but the rains seemed unending and the flood was showing no sign of abating. Being confined to the same boring territory day after day, dealing with his monotonous tasks and the overall gloomy weather was driving him insane. Wes was pent up with rage and its was getting increasingly difficult to reign it in. Sometimes, he genuinely wanted to headbutt someone on the jaw and having so many potential targets around made things worse.

Presently, the youngster was trying to distract himself by looking for his uncle. The last time Weston had seen Eigel, the Barbarian looked sickly and was mumbling something to himself while half-asleep. What if he had fallen into a sinkhole in his delirium or something?

~~~

When Weston finally found his uncle, the Barbarian was... running around a tree? Eigel was also holding a vine in his maw and wrapping it about the trunk, his eyes appeared wild and manic. As Weston cautiously took a few steps closer, he could hear the Tephen muttering something.

"Bring Taegan back to me!" Eigel whispered as he skidded to a stop and then pressed his forehead against the tree trunk. "Please, bring back to me what I've lost..."

The Barbarian looked so broken and defeated that Weston felt his rage fade. For a minute, he stood where he was, feeling conflicted about the sight. It was disheartening to see his uncle reduced to such a miserable state. Why did the deities have to be so cruel?

"Tío...?" Wes called as he approached the grown-up.

Eigel's ears flickered in surprised and he turned to look at Weston with tear-stained eyes. The Barbarian then rubbed his face with a muddy paw and quickly composed himself.

"What were you doing?" The youngster asked.

"It's... I wanted to do a discovery spell... to find my mate," Eigel answered in a hopeless tone as he stared up at the tree, "But I can't remember the words... or the right tree... and there's no seaweed here... I tried to use vines, but..." his words trailed off, as if he was embarrassed. Eventually, the brown wolf shook his head and stepped away from the tree with a dejected look. "Never mind... it was foolish."

Weston felt his anger brewing at those words, "It is foolish. A tree and some stupid vines aren't gonna help you find your mate... but I will!" He said with a huff.

Eigel stared at Wes as if the boy had grown an extra head, but Weston was unimpressed and ready to shrug off any lectures. He was just talking plainly; these rituals felt like false hope to him. Many times, Wes had prayed for something and then received nothing or worse in return. It seemed that his uncle was too exhausted for any argument, however.

"It was... I just..." But words failed the Barbarian and he sighed. Of course, it wouldn't work, he hadn't even used the right items.

Weston sat beside his uncle and looked at the vine-wrapped tree as if he found the whole matter disgusting. Only, it wasn't disgusting, not really.

Pathetic? Yes. Ridiculous? Yes. But disgusting? No... Wes knew it was a desperate act done out of genuine love.

"My parents wouldn't have done this spell to find me." Weston said dryly, though the months of anguish and loneliness showed clear as day on his face. "They wouldn't even say I was theirs." He added bitterly.

The memory of his mother passing him off as her 'baby brother' was still fresh in his mind. Had she been embarrassed to call him her son? But why? Had he been such a horrible puppy? Sure, he was a piece of shit right now, but what had he done back then? Everything had felt like a mistake, but he had never understood what he had done that was so wrong.

Weston hadn't even realized that he was tearing up until a paw was placed on his shoulder and he blinked in surprise.

"Well, I found you," Eigel said softly and pulled the youngster into a side hug. "And I know you'll help me find your tía... Right?"

Weston sniffled sharply and then wiped his nose with a muddy paw as casually as he could. "Hey, I said I would!"

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Character(s) featured:

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Previous: TOW - Dream's Embrace [Collab]

Next: TOW - A glimmer of hope

I feel like Eigel's desperation to find Taegan would reach its peak after 'dreamwalking' their reunion. This picture also has some elements that callback to this RP between me and Golden: TOW - Echoes of Memory , which was the very first canonical Taegel interaction <3

Note: Tío and tía mean 'uncle' and 'aunt' in Spanish ^^

Taegan (mentioned) - GoldenheartForever55

Crowsong (mentioned) - Ratby

Eigel, Weston - Perencreste
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