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 Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 8:24 am
Mila Farrell
It was dusk ...
Castaway enjoyed being out at this time of day. It was easiest to remain solid then, and the less transparent she was, the better. Some days - and nights - she thought she might fade away to nothing ... in the beginning, she had fretted about it constantly, but her condition did not appear to be worsening. So that thought had been laid to rest, at least.
Dozens more had not. She was always restless, rarely ever tired, and she could go without eating, sleeping, or feeling. She wondered where the damned shaman had gone, he who had gotten her in this condition. She wondered bleakly about what her past had been like; if it had been a good one or a bad one, or worse, not much of one at all. She tried to think about what she should do next, or where to go, but ... she simply didn't know. So she moved from place to place, hunting occasionally for the comfort of normality it brought.
The ghost-wolf was only slightly transparent now as she made her way among the trees next to a riverbank. She pauses to sniff at some otter bones left on the shore - something had killed here recently - wrinkling her nose as it goes right through the skull. Careless. In disgust, Castaway rears her head, shaking it indignantly as icy, pupil-less blue eyes stare at the remains.
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Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 8:25 am
 Venda had wandered days and nights, away from the humans. Far away from those who had wrapped her eyes and given her a name, far away from those who had covered the unsightly reminder that she was sightless. Her heart was heavy for although she had not enjoyed life leashed to a pile, there had been food, and the ocassional gentle pat. Now she did not know how she would find food without her eyes, how she could survive in the wild.
Her mind often wandered back to that fateful moment on the beach. Her sight had not always worked for her, but she had never been completely without it. She stumbled and forced her mind to concentrate, using her nose and ears had come to her quickly as her new way of 'seeing' but only when she was concentrating.
She might have walked right past the spectre like wolf had she not caught the sweet sound of the river and turned to find and drink from it.
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Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 9:47 am
Mila Farrell Still frozen, Castaway watches the other with anxiety and some puzzlement. There'ssomethign wrong with the other wolf's eyes ... or lack of them? Why else would she have that ... thing around her face? She's uncertain whether she should feel pity or relief, and so is unsurprised when she feels a bit of both. More relief, though, and she instantly feels ashamed. But if the other cannot see, then perhaps she won't judge, and the ghost-wolf won't have to be worried about what the green wolf might think of Castaway's odd ... appearance.
"Hello?" She questions tentatively, ears swiveling up as she takes one pawstep forward. "Excuse me ... " She solidifies more, so that her paws crunch audibly against the snow.
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Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 9:48 am
Venda froze in place startled by the sound of another's voice, she had not smelled any wolf nearby. She focused again her ears perking as she swung her head in the direction the voice had come from trying to make it appear as if she 'saw' the wolf. Yet she couldn't fool herself or anyone else for that matter, you needed eyes to see and Venda lacked both of hers. She was grateful for the dark green cloth that covered the scarred empty places she could only imagine how bad it would look otherwise.
She took a tentative step forward "Yes?" She hoped this wolf was not cruel or that she had not wandered into some packs territory without taking note.
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Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 10:40 am
Mila Farrell Feeling slightly foolish, Castaway smiles, then realizes that it won't help; a conundrum. Wolves use body gestures as much as vocalization; this wolf must be even more handicapped than she had originally thought. How does she hunt? Or was she, like Castaway, possessed of other powers ... ? That might explain some things.
"I haven't seen another wolf in awhile," she murmurs, in some confusion. "You just took me by ... surprise, I suppose. Sorry if I startled you." He tail swishes in apology, and she rather hopes the other can hear that. "My name is Castaway; I'm a rogue wolf in these parts."
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Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 10:42 am
Venda nodded softly at the others words she tried to make herself seem as normal as possible, though she knew she was abnormal as could be. At times she wondered why she hadn't remained on the beach that day and let the other wolf tend to her, and then she remembered the lynx and the cruel almost crazed wolfs in that area. She never wanted to smell the salt air again, never wanted to feel the sand beneath her paws, never.
"I haven't seen any other wolfs either...of course not...I can't...I mean I haven't come across any." She felt very foolish before this other female who must have been able to see just fine. "I just didn't smell or hear you coming, you must be very fleet of foot."
Venda smiled softly at the sound of the others tail swaying, a friendly female good. Venda still wasn't sure what she was going to do or how she would ever manage to survive like this, but she was determined to try. She had managed to 'hunt' a bit she would lay silent and clamp her jaws on the infant creatures that dwelled in burrows, but her stomach had been more empty then full for all her attempts. Water was easy enough for her to locate she thought wryly of how she had fallen into a river for her foolishness. It was hard trying to navigate and not think, or think and be unable to navigate, but it would come to her...she hoped.
"I suppose I'm a rogue as well, I came back from a period with the two leggers. My name is Venda."
She could not recall her original name, the running and days of pain and agony must have wiped it from her memory. It was the two leggers who had called her 'Venda' as they tied the cloth around her eyes and pat her head and hung thick chain around her neck. The chains and loving pats were gone, but the blindfold remained and at times she wondered if her choice to return to her natural home was the right one.
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Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 11:56 am
Mila Farrell The white wolf winces at the not-so-subtle reminder, and berates herself for the unintentional rudeness. "Erm ... yes," she says, slightly dryly, and makes a mental note to make her paws stay on the ground, not hovering off of it. Without her eyesight, this Venda would probably be keen of hearing. "I've gotten used to being that way ... hunting on your own and all, you know. You're pretty quiet yourself."
Two leggers? Castaway can only gape. She's only seen a two-legger from a distance, and it was the closest she ever wanted to get to one of them. "And the two-leggers didn't kill you?" She marveled at that; her mother had told her that they killed wolves, and used their fur for it's fur. And it sounds as if this Venda had spent some time there. "And however did you get away from them?"
It was nice to know she wasn't invading territory, though. She settles back onto her haunches, less anxious now, and tentatively gives a bit about her own past. "I was with a shaman up until quite ... recently. Now I'm on my own. Used to be in a pack, though." She wonders how much to tell the other wolf, or if she'd even be believed. She wouldn't have believed the story if she hadn't lived it herself, she decided glumly, and left it at that.
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Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 11:57 am
"I'm better at being quiet when I get my bearings, otherwise I'm afraid I'm clumsy and make a racket." She nodded softly and listened to the other female, she knew it had surprised her too that the two leggers hadn't killed her. As she heard the other sit or lay down, she was unsure which, she slowly sat down and lowered her head.
"With a shaman? That must have been interesting. I wasn't in any pack." Hope I can find one though...or how will I... She let her worried thoughts fade. Venda had too many worries and for the moment it was nicer to just relax and speak a while with Castaway. The female was interesting for her scent was almost nonexistant and some sounds seemed stronger than others.
"The humans kept me tied up and pet me and fed me until I was better, I think they wanted me to do something, but I can't recall now...I ran away as soon as I slipped the metal from my neck. I wanted to be free in the place I knew, but maybe it would have been smarter to stay with them. I'm not sure I can survive out here...but I can try." She gave a firm nod determined to attempt to live life the way she had once long ago when she cursed her vision for fading in and out and giving her headaches, now she wished she could have back her vision as strange as it was at times.
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Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:50 pm
Mila Farrell This is a wolf that's better suited for a pack, a territory, then. Castaway's silent for a moment. Did Venda just get away from the two-leggers, and is searching for a pack? Or can she not get one? A blind wolf might well be a liability many packs weren't willing to take on. It'd be just an extra mouth to feed, unless Venda had another talent she could use. "Mm .. it was rather interesting," she remarks dryly. Interesting, and dangerous, and something she'd not want to ever go through again.
"Ahh," She nodded slightly, trying to sound as if she understood, but really she didn't. If humans were predators, why did they keep the wolf? You didn't keep a caribou alive to wait for later to eat it, it might escape and you'd have an empty belly. And it was stupid to think that the caribou was going to do anything in return for you.
Castaway feels pity for the female, but tries not to show it. The wild isn't going to pity Venda, and she'd be a fool to make that situation any worse than it is. "How - how did that happen, if I may ask? Your eyes."
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Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 2:00 pm
The blinded wolf nodded softly she could only imagine what travel with a shaman or even a seer would be like. Often she had questions her eyesight and confusion wondering if Seer abilities were manifesting, oh well if they had been they were long gone by now. All that remained were the thrumming headaches at times.
"I think the two leggers wanted to keep me as...like the way some wolves have familiars in the forest." She added trying to clarify uncertain herself why she was not simply killed. She knew they killed for she had smelled death and an odd acrid odor and heard the loud banging noises and cries of terror from prey.
She snapped back to attention at Castaways question, no one had ever asked her because she hadn't met anyone who could. Now the question startled her, as often as she herself relived the moment she had to scramble for the words to explain it to another. "I was on the cliffs near a pack, or in a pack...I'm not sure. There was a wolf there being...tortured by a lynx. I wanted to help him and the closer I got the more it smelled like blood and decay, and then my vision started to blur. It used to do it sometimes and my head would hurt and I would see things that weren't there. Then a lynx came and she was so, evil, I could smell her ill intent. The next thing I know it seemed they were both going to attack me and I backed up but I was against the cliffs. The wolf or the lynx I don't know how but they clawed...and...I fell into the water." She kept her head down and shuddered.
"I thought I had died, but the next thing I knew there was a pink female above me pushing something bitter into my mouth and she went away. Then there was a blue storm all around me tossing me, hurting me...I think she was a wolf. I heard voices and then...I felt empty, devoid of pain and everything and I ran. I ran until I collapsed far away and when I woke up the humans were petting me." She slowly lifted her head and sighed.
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 11:20 pm
Mila Farrell The concept stumps Castaway, but only for a moment: a hazy memory flickers in front of her eyes. "Wolves ... can do the same, to other wolves," she says softly, ears curling back against her skull. A horrible thought, to be owned ... but she had been, once, she thinks. It's so difficult to remember it all ... "I think ... I think it gives them power over something when they feel they can control little else in life ... and some just like the power itself, of course." She sounds surprised at her own words, as if she were quoting someone, and they hadn't come from her at all. But whoever could she be quoting? She desperately wracks her soul for answers, and comes up with only a hollow ache. The wolf hangs her head in emotional turmoil, and listens.
At the end, the seer has to wonder if Venda hasn't gone a little crazy from her ordeals ... Castaway is having a hard time following her story. Hard to consider someone insane, though, if you're not sure of your own state of being, and the wolf smiles, although of course the other won't see it. Perhaps that's for the best.
"That all seems so sudden," she says, softly. "It sounds like the two-leggers helped save you, whatever else they may have done. Strange, for carnivores."
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 11:21 pm
Venda gave a soft nod trying to follow Castaway's train of thought, it was difficult since her own seemed so sporadic. She tried to catch again the scent, sound, something to better orient herself around the seer, yet she was unable to manage. It was almost as if the wolf she spoke to was invisible. She gave a soft snort at the foolishness of her thoughts, next thing she knew she would be talking to herself.
"It was sudden, sometimes...I wake up and think it was a nightmare...and then...I can't see. I know what happened was real. The two leggers are omnivores though, were more carnivores then they are. The live strangely, sometimes so calm and gentle, and othertimes...I know they are capable of terrible things. I wanted to come back to the forest, away from them, though I'm grateful for how they helped me."
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Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 7:04 am
Mila Farrell (:hugs on ash: smile )
It's certainly an odd meeting, that's for sure. The Seer that can't remember her past, and the blind who can, neither of them entirely certain of the other.
Her ears perk. Omnivores? She'd not known that. From all the stories, she thought of them as bloodthirsty beasts, more carnivorous than her fellow wolves. Odd, really, how she could remember stories, but not the creatures who had told them to her. She sighed.
"I'm glad you managed to get away, then," she said, head tilting to the side. So hard to believe Venda's story, but Castaway had seen things that she had not thought possible, either ... "They must be intelligent, then, somehow. It's a pity we can't understand them." Again, Castaway has the weird sense that she's merely repeating something she'd been told before.
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 4:13 pm
"They must be smart, if they have trapped our kind and killed them, and the bears, and the deer we hunt. It must be silly to think we're the only intelligent ones in the world, still...how smart can something so bloodthirsty be?" She sighed and lowered her head inhaling again curiously.
"You smell so far away..." Her nose twitched in confusion. Her ears told her that the female was close, yet the air flowed strangely about her.
Venda winced slightly as she felt a familiar dull ache at the back of her skull traveling slowly closer. "Are you familiar with these lands?"
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 4:22 pm
The white wolf tipped her head to the side, considering. She made little sound; even breathing she had to actively think about doing. It appalled her, some days, when she realized she had forgotten to do so. Someday, she may stop altogether, and not know how to start ... the female felt a shiver of panic. She'd been away from her own kind too long.
"That must be their claws, their teeth," she says, softly, thinking about the two-leggers. "Their minds. I have heard they are fairly defenseless, else." She wrinkled her nose in confusion. Wolves were intelligent, certainly; but they did not have the extent of intelligence that the human race had. She wondered why they were different; if a god, or spirit, or whatever you believed in, had given wolves tooth and claw, and humans the power of their thoughts ... it was something interesting to consider, at any rate. And it made an amusing story, she thought, wryly.
Castaway stiffened slightly at the blind wolf's confusion, ears apologetically falling back against her skull, even though the other would not see it. The wince is caught, and the ghost-wolf tilts her head. "You hurt?" At the question, however, she shook her head. Even though Venda can't see it, old habits die hard ... "No. I don't know about most lands ... " She sounded doubtful, even to herself. In truth, she had a nagging suspicion that she should be familiar with some lands ... but which?
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