I AM NOT A GOOD THING
[color=white](i am barely a thing at all)

Two years. Her breath caught in her throat, reeling from before, from Mimosa and Amren proudly announcing their parents' names. Sola and Cain.. she didn't want to be around them right now, she didn't want to go to Roseblood and run into either of them. Her next guess is to find Finn where she always found them- and where she lost them.

Two years of desperation, anxiety, fear that another pack got ahold of Finn, that another hound god got to them, or, Mythal forbid, Roy. Two years of feeling that vague tug, the vague sense of familiarity and pack tethers dulled and pulled so thin she thought she'd lost them for good. To hear their name again, in a current form, spoken with pride and an eagerness to please, rather than nostalgia, sadness, grief that she so heard from the others. It makes her heart pound, her breath stolen from thinning lungs.

Malkyn had had no way to track Finn down, unable to go far enough in the Ocean, battling tooth and claw for an upperhand on the rough seas, fighting the cold that seeped into her bones at just the slightest glimpse that they were okay. It was all she needed, the okay that they were.. healthy. It didn't matter if they wanted to stay where they were, it didn't matter if they wanted to stay with Cain or get as far from Malkyn as possible.

(She doesn't blame them, after what they'd all been through with Roy as a pack, just because they were involved with her platonicly or romantically. She partly expects someone to approach her and demand she take the Darkness from them, desperate to get away from the trauma she carries around like a target on her back.)

The Alpha just wanted to know they were okay.

The partially paralyzed hound clicks loudly as the sounds of splashing and the ocean grow louder in her ears, using both her clicking and the sound of the ocean to figure out where things were and if she was going to walk into the water or not. Malkyn feels cold water brush against her feet, the smell of salt and open air on her tongue as she turns her head to the sun and slows until she's stopped completely.

She likes to think she's back home. Not in Tanglewood, no. That's not home. But back home at the small fort, stationing herself outside the gates as a guard dog to keep herself occupied, to keep her trauma demons at bay. She likes to think she's back home before all the shit happened, the smell of the sea surrounding her, the feeling of warmth and security that used to move over her. Before everything turned to shit and the trauma took over the pleasant feelings, turned them into anger, anger, anger.

[ i said this was gonna be a shitpost but instead its angst and if that doesnt speak Volumes about me idk what does; she's a little bit from the land bridge on the mainland cause shes a blind thot ]

MALKYN RHODES — ALPHA HELLHOUND — TANGLEWOOD CHASER — TAGS

[MY BABY]

"Time heals all wounds." Wasn't that how the saying went? Beatrice tried to recount it, word for word. It was something her mother and father would whisper in the early morning hours whenever a tragedy would befall their family, their friends, their village. She had never believed the little saying, even as a child. Now that she was older, she knew that was even less true.

Time didn't heal anything. It just made one more bitter and angry and sad. It had been too many weeks and too many months to remember how long it had been since she was transformed back into an animal by Adelaide. At some point, she had just stopped counting. It didn't matter anymore anyway. Time was irrelevant in her case.

She tried to allow her mind to relax for once as she moved towards the ancient steam train. She had heard various herbs grew around the area, and she figured she should start up her Sage duties. Herb gathering appeared simple enough. Before Beatrice could even gather a single plant, clicking filled her ears. Her bluebirds sang back, responding to Malkyn's vocalizations. Confusion clouded her gaze for a split second, but once she heard Bakugou speak, she realized the hellhound must be a joiner.

Beatrice really needed to familiarize herself with who was in the Typhoon and who wasn't considering she thought Malkyn was already a resident...

The cattle dog moved to stand next to the hot-headed ragdoll, and she gave a once over to the newcomer. "I'm Beatrice." Short. Simple. Bakugou had already asked the important question.

Time does not heal, time makes the pain of the wounds; the hate- the anger- the grief, bearable . only if you let it, only if you allow yourself to rage, to cry, to release it. Bottled up emotions are bound to fester, unaction will always turn quickly into action. It's... easy to let emotions get the better of them. For argus tragedy has always been at the tip of their tongue. They did not have parents to tell them wrong or right- just a clan. A bloody ruthless clan that forced them to grow- to evolve. It was there that argus found morals were optional, justice was the same thing as revenge and clans valued children but never the childishness.

For the longest time argus had lived just a step left from a monster, and felt it bubbling against their fur- bleeding into their veins with power and whispering without mercy. five years of uncontrolled hatrid, that a clan imprinted on- their little monster. Five years and still argus could feel it, the anger- the hate the loneliness etched into her skin carving it's way worse than any claw mark ever could. With time it had only made that monster closer to the surface. Made it easier to step over that line.

It was one of the reasons argus took refuge here, at first. Here they could get away with anything. With letting that monster out at night and not be penalized for it. But that was moons ago, and argus has not changed but they have eased into peace. It did not dull their claws or their relfexes just... allowed them to take a few more steps back. Made the impulses to feast- to hurt and maim quieter.

Argus did not make it much to the border; but they did fly outside it. Often enough they could be caught outside the border- and it was from a trip outside the border that the quartermaster spotted the small group. Recognizing beatrice and backugo but the hellhound was new. Was this a joining, then? It wasn't uncommon for someone to intercept joiners before they got to the border- but this was even before the land bridge. they landed nearby, wings silent but steady until they were tucked away behind them. Red eyes focused on the stranger. For the moment- they kept quiet.