I'll always remember us this way.

@Izumi plz

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Quicksilver, eager to help his beloved heal from the stresses of whelping of their litter, ventured down into the lowlands in search of some very particular plants. Having stocked up only on herbs necessary for pre-natal care, he'd been so distracted with life that he'd been unable to gather everything he'd needed before the cubs' arrival. So, as Dawn broke, the silverwhite bid @Reiko a loving farewell to accompany the promise of his swift return.

He hadn't expected such sunny weather, and the midday sun beat relentlessly onto his back. Quicksilver trailed on, panting and feeling as though he might melt, yet the brutal heat would not stop his search for stinging nettle.

The snowflower had shared its properties with him during Ira's first pregnancy, and he remembered how it was safe for mothers who'd already whelped. He recalled seeing it grow in wet soil, so assumed the watering hole would be the best spot for fertile plants.


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  The watering hole had been a point of interest for Izumi as of late -- It was a prime source of water for her to either cool off or bathe in whenever her coat got particularly messy that day. Although it was not a camping spot she'd considered safe based on how many wolves frequented the area for a drink, it still didn't stop her from visiting every now and then from occasional resting spots. Today, it was never the cranebird's intention to go in this direction again, but it couldn't have been more convenient right now.

  On her way back from the northern parts of the plains she had caught quite the steal -- a groundhog. A nice, plump adult who was seen in the wrong place at the wrong time, and Izu was quick to take advantage of it. Though the thought of practicing a hunt on something larger sounded pleasant, she didn't mind snacking on smaller prey throughout the day either.

  When she'd reached the shore of the lake it did not surprise her to know there was company nearby, so Izumi would make sure to sit herself a comfortable distance away while she went to work cleaning. Started with her food -- using her maw to hold the limp mammal underwater to drain away as much blood and dirt as she could've. Next was the woman's face, and using a paw she'd scrub away any dried blood that had gotten caught in her cheek fur while hunting earlier.

  After the crane had finished cleaning it was time to head back westward -- standing up to shake her pelt, the girl's head pivoted forward to seek the path she'd be leaving in with her prey in mouth...only to catch sight of the bystander she took notice of earlier.

  --Izumi could've sworn she felt her stomach flip over in realization. Was that...Quicksilver?

  Black ears splayed against her ivory crown, and suddenly it felt as if the woman was going to have a panic attack. Hoping to sneak away before the silver druid actually noticed her, the girl's steps became softer against the ground as she looked left to right for a place to hide...

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His mouth felt dry, and uselessly he swept his tongue over parched lips. Quicksilver had the stinging nettle at the forefront of his mind, but his body yearned for fluid. The silverwhite veered off toward the vast lake, eager to quench his thirst before resuming the search. Getting to the water's edge felt like he walked for miles, and his powder blue eyes were so fixed on the shimmering surface that he barely noticed the long-legged figure already there.

The druid plunged his muzzle into the shallows and drank deep. When at last he was satisfied, he licked the droplets from his chin and lifted his head to regard the stranger who lingered close by - except, she wasn't a stranger at all.

Quicksilver blinked, struck dumb by the sight of Izumi. His heart clenched and his stomach flopped; it'd been several weeks since the crane had dispersed from Shiroshika, and he hadn't been able to forgive himself for that. The silverwhite blamed himself fully for the breakdown of she and Reiko's friendship, and even if it wasn't wholly true he was unwilling to accept that he was not responsible for something.

“Izumi,” he said softly, after a long moment. She looked well despite her life on the road as a loner, and regardless of all the awkwardness and any sour feeling she harboured for his choices, he was glad to see her.


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  Her footsteps were not quite enough, or perhaps the crane was simply not fast enough to escape in time -- inevitably, the silverwhite's attention was now towards her. Izumi could not will herself to look into those gentle blue eyes, lest she be taken back in time to a place that had allowed her soul to feel vulnerable in love's name; and Izu would not be gullible enough to make that mistake again. She merely froze, stood ridged with her back turned to the man. Her own name escaped his voice in the softest of whisp, and the crane's jaws clenched -- crushing bones of the carcass she held within her jaws.

  Izumi and Quicksilver had not spoken in a long time after what happened between the three of them; and even her attempts to rekindle whatever freindship she'd developed with him before all this transpired had only caused her grief to worsen -- after which, the crane desired to cut him out the corners of her mind completely. To forget it all in order to find her happiness elsewhere despite her closing her heart from the idea of love.

  She turned to him, finally, though not with the look of warmth she used to welcome him with, nor a look of spite nor anger nor sadness. It was simply a glance of indifference -- the one she always wore upon the mask. The one that never changed or showed how she truly felt. Placing the groundhog to her feet, the tale weaver's lips parted to speak with a ghostly calm to her words. "You stray some distance away from your home in the mountains," The crane heeded softly;

  "Wouldn't it be wise not to traverse alone with enemies on the loose?"

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She paused, and turned her gaze upon him. Quicksilver automatically offered a timid little smile and a sweep of his feathered tail, but the frost of Izumi's stare stilled its movement and defaulted his expression. He blinked and splayed his ears, the offer of leaving her be on the tip of his tongue, but beneath her sharp eyes he did not feel comfortable breathing another word - not until she offered her own voice. When she did, her tone was flat. The druid swallowed the lump that swelled in his throat and lifted his head.

It was difficult to see her after all this time, and to be reminded of the trauma that was of his own doing. He could only imagine how it pained her heart to look upon him, he who could not love her back. How very different things would've been if he'd entertained what flicker of emotion he'd felt for Izumi, if he'd let his obsession for Reiko go and allowed himself to nurture that affection instead. Quicksilver had chosen Reiko because, regardless of their flaws, destiny had willed them to be together. He loved her with every fibre of his being and she was the mate of his soul; he had no regrets, yet he ached to know how he'd affected the crane.

“I could ask the same of you,” he responded gingerly. Shiroshika's enemies were his by default, having wed the Empress and assumed joint reign of her pack, but they did not know his face. Izumi, however, had been present during the war for the Everfrost where he had not been - she would be recognisable. “You seem to have fared well, though.” He paused, and dared another smile. “It is good to see you.”


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  There are times where Izumi, too, wished things could've been different. Even to dream of a place and time or even an alternate universe where she'd be able to call Quicksilver her's without repercussions – yet unfortunately, by the will of fate, there was. Reiko was her beloved friend, and to put the dove's happiness above the union of her and Quicksilver was not one Izumi regretted doing; it meant that Rei could live in happiness knowing Izumi was no longer getting between them. This was the cranebird's decision the day she decided to break things off with Quicksilver. Especially in realizing that her feelings were never requited in the first place…

  On contrary to whatever Quicksilver's own beliefs were – it is not the union of him and Reiko that upsets her; it is the deeply rooted trauma welded into her heart caused by those events. To feel used and thrown away by someone she allowed herself to feel vulnerable around was the worst feeling in the world, and to this day the crane still hasn't fully healed from everything that happened. That is the reason why she wished never to look back into the past and busy herself instead with thoughts of the present and future. That is why seeing Quicksilver stand before her after avoiding him for so long…..

  Well…..it annoyed her, to put it bluntly.

  Had Izumi's past truly come to taunt her during a time where she dared feeling the slightest bit of content in solitude?

  "I've fared fine on my own before. I can do it again." Izu assured the druid, her words soft; airbrushed yet firm in her own beliefs. She did not want nor need the worry of others as she traversed alone – she already knew the risk, but did not fear the consequences of her actions. If she got hurt, that was her own business. She was no longer the responsibility of another pack.

  An ear would flicker at the sound of Quicksilver's voice again, and with him telling her that it was good to see her again, she could help but hum and tilt her head to the side in skepticism – yeah, sure. It did not take a microscope to notice how uncomfortable the man was based upon his body language, they had not seen each other in months, afterall. "You look like you've seen a ghost, Quicksilver." – and Izumi did not bother hiding her skepticism from the man, either.

  This encounter was not an intentional one, it was accidental – it made the siamese curious as to why he forced himself to stand before her right now….so she waited to see what he would say next.

  Or if he would say anything else, at all...

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Quicksilver had not intended to offend Izumi with his comment that compared his trailing to her own, and her response made him sweep his ears back. It was difficult for him to decipher what it might be that the crane wished from him right then and there. She was a mystery, one who'd hardened herself to the world considerably since the collapse of the very awkward, unexpected love triangle they'd all suffered from - Izumi more so than he and Reiko.

He wished she would have stayed, that they could've found friendship following the heartache as had been the original intention. Quicksilver understood why there'd been distance placed between them, however, and had been too afraid to disrespect any boundaries that the crane had placed to protect herself. The druid looked quietly upon Izumi's blank face, a glimmer of sorrow in the pallid blue-grey of his own irises. He so longed to share the news of Shiroshika's newest arrivals with her, of the light that entered their lives, but knew his joy would deepen her pain.

He'd done enough of that to last a lifetime.

The silverwhite swallowed. “No, it's just-” he licked his lips, “I know you are hurting, Izumi. I know it is my fault.” He wouldn't allow her dismissal of it for he'd long accepted the part he played in it, and he'd tormented himself every day since. “I never meant to, but I did. And you have every right to resent me for it.”


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  Ah....There it was.

  An emotion, one that she couldn't exactly define, flickered through her still-doll features just then like a strike of lightning -- though only briefly would the sun's warmth heat the ice age within her eyes. Here the silver druid stood before Izumi, assuming responsibility for everything that had transpired between them. Maybe sometime within the past would the crane bird find relief in this; within the fact that Quicksilver could come to her and speak his mind despite how awkward things had become. Yet it had been so long, and the fire had long since seared burns within her heart that would now take more time to heal.

  How long had it been since she'd waited for her and Quicksilver to speak again? Like this? That day when they said their final goodbyes to each other, when she'd tried so hard to grip onto their turned estranged bond and even the several other times they'd cross paths after that -- it felt as if it was only her that made an effort to revive their friendship after the fire, but to no avail. Not a single appearance of him since that day despite his scent lingering every now and then within Shiroshika's borders, which caused the crane to view their friendship as long blown by the wind...

  ...and gave up.

  It was not space she needed in those last tender moments, it was confirmation that he did not hate her -- that their bond still meant something to him -- even if it could not be a romantic one. Even after everything...

  "Hurting".....for a woman who was skilled at hiding her own feelings, something akin to feral anger began to bubble within her at the thought that he might've seen through the cracks of her armor already.

  "So you feel guilty, is that it?" her feather-soft tone did not change to match the hurricane which stirred within her chest just then "If it provides you any relief, I am in no need of pity after what happened between us. Our union was simply a gullible mistake we've fixed with our separation months ago -- that is all."  Such bllizardous frost within her words -- a side of herself she'd never thought she would show to such a soft, kindred spirit like Quicksilver. 

  Her cat-like gaze averted just then, away from his rounded crystallines to focus instead on something in the distance. "I am fine, an I do not grudge you -- that is just the way things come to be sometimes." and perhaps within that lie was Izumi's own wish, that she truly wasn't hurting from all this. That the scars within her caged soul had already closed up and healed...

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Izumi. Pure, gentle, innocent Izumi. How she had suffered. He thought he could see it, in the hardened contours of her face where he wished to see the softness of her smile again, though knew he did not deserve her warmth. Quicksilver averted his pale gaze and curled his tail nervously about a slim hock, teeth clenched as he awaited whatever sharpened words she wished to spit his way.

Guilt, she said. Did he feel guilty? Of course he did. So much so that he didn't know how to deal with it. He'd apologised and would continue to offer that if it pleased her, if it was what she needed in order to be happy. It did not seem necessary to Izumi, however, as she announced rather matter-of-factly that she was fine, she did not need his pity nor had their "union" been... anything more than a gullible mistake? The druid blinked then, ears pricking in surprise s he dared to peek up past his lashes at the lilac of her pointed stare; had she thought them to be lovers?

She had committed more of herself that he had to what could've bloomed between them, obviously, but they had never been partners - certainly not from his perspective. Quicksilver thought he understood a little better then, but it didn't make him feel any less awful for the part he'd played in letting her believe that. Swallowing the thickness in his throat, he tried to conjure up something to say only to find that words had failed him.

It'd be easier if they just... parted ways, he supposed.

“I...” he wanted to be kind to her, because he absolutely one hundred percent did not believe her when she said she did not grudge him. It certainly didn't sound that way! “I am sorry.” Quicksilver gave the crane one last lingering, solemn glance before he turned from her, figuring the best thing he could ever do for her was leave her entirely alone.


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  There he goes again...looking at her with those sad, large eyes -- as if she was some forlorn creature within their bubble of woe. Izumi was unaware of Quicksilver's move to Shiroshika, nor the marriage or even the arrival of pups between him and the Empress -- she assumed he'd still lived within Vanderfell among Ira and the rest. The only reason he'd stood before her now and spoke was within some obligation of moral righteousness, right? Because if it weren't for them bumping into each other by chance today, he wouldn't have bothered to remember she existed.

  Did he truly believe her world constantly revolved around what could've been between them? He didn't even question why she'd left, simply assumed the reason on a basis of how he viewed her -- pitiful. She was over them. Over the past. Already looking ahead to what her future could've been without the weight or possible pain a lover would've brought into her life. Had he not reminded her of it, everything would've been just fine.

  Just fine!

  He apologized, after she'd already done explained how she didn't want or need it. From that moment, the crane nearly felt as though she would've snapped. That she would've released all of the bottled-up frustration and anger she kept hidden away from the dove and druid for so long...but she wasn't going to. Deep down the princess already knew it was childish to do such a thing, and was unwilling to let herself crumble to such a level in front of another.

  So she was silent instead.

  As he turned, as he walked away. Just like that day in Elsewhen.

  -- “Sayonara.” — Goodbye. -- the crane said, the tightening within her chest feeling almost suffocating as she held back all the things she really wanted to say other than goodbye. "Why did it take you so long to talk to me?" "Why couldn't we make up?"

  "Why did you make me believe that we would ever happen? Knowing you weren't ready?"

  Izumi felt sick. She wanted to leave.

  -- and as the girl picked her kill back up to turn and leave herself, her masked expression of indifference turned into that of emotional exhaustion. Tiredness; as if she'd been on the verge of tears.

  As she turned to leave this place, and leave Quicksilver...she truly did look pitiful...

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