Jacquez Trouillefou met the buffeting evening winds with a dour expression, his black eyes unreadable. Things were changing, changing all around him. Why? He did not like it. Ruri -- why was she growing up? Why was she spending more time with Heath than with him...? Jontae -- what was he supposed to think of the little brat that had shown up on his doorstep? Why had Rogue not at least given him the courtesy of coming along and raising the furball herself, instead of dumping it on him? He certainly wouldn't have kept it, if he'd been given any choice in the matter. He had zero desire of becoming a father, and he thought he'd made that very clear to the women he consorted with. It was all fun to him, pleasure and leisure and certainly, nothing to do with wanting a family!
The troubled king stalked up the shady cliffside, craving the refreshing sea salt in the cool breeze. Even the damn weather kept changing, making everything cold and unpleasant. The wind tugged his dark mane free from its ties, letting his long fur whip about in his face. Something was just... off. His roving gaze fell from the undulating waters of the ocean, searching the grassy knoll. There was something fluttering atop a rock near the edge, something like parchment... Furrowing his brows, the tall Optime reached out his one arm, snagging the letter. Someone had left it here on purpose, but no amount of squinting could teach him how to read. He was about to turn away when it dawned on him what the letter had been secured underneath.
An unfamiliar chill settled in the pit of his stomach as his claws closed around the battered leather collar that Svara had been sporting so shamelessly. Even when he tore it from her neck, he knew she had searched it out after he left. She refused to take it off herself. Why... His obsidian eyes glittered intensely, fingers nearly crushing the paper in his hand as he whirled to look over the cliff's edge. He could see nothing below in the darkness. Where the hell was she?! Why would she do such a thing? An inexplicable fury rose in him, a furious denial drowning out any signs of empathy. What had she done?! She had only just returned home to him, and with such purpose, too, as if she... knew what... she was doing...
Jacquez snarled wordlessly at the collar, tail lashing with agitation. He hated when things changed, hated when he could not understand why -- he had not been this angry since the night Ruri met Haku. The fear of losing her had enraged him, and now, whether he wanted to believe it or not, he had lost a packmate, one he was more fond of than he wanted to admit. He had lost friends before, plenty of them, but Svara had been like him. Was he doomed to throw himself off a cliff one day as well? Hadn't she been better than that? The monarch tipped back his muzzle and roared, a commanding howl that demanded someone, anyone to come here and read this blasted letter aloud. He needed a reason. A reason why he had been left behind. And it damn well better be a good one.