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 Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2009 12:23 pm
Early January, 109
WoodWhisp was careful to swish is tail behind him, doing what he could to hide the paw prints in the snow. Calla would come searching for him, he knew it, but she would be hard pressed to find him. He was doing his best to hide is trail, he kept his thoughts from her, and it wouldn’t take too long now before he was out of range anyway. It wasn’t long before he could see the walls of New Eve’s sister fort through the trees. He stuck to the edge of the forest, scanning to make sure no one was around, before darting out and into the shadows of the trees and into the shadows of the wall. He moved around the edge of the fort, sticking close to the wall and hating his white and orange fur, they made camouflage difficult. Searching for someone in particular……AH! He was lucky for once, she must have been close to the wall as he’d been hoping.
“Twilight?” He asked, hoping not to startle her, “You busy?” WoodWhisp still wasn’t 100% sure why he was here, probably to apologize for Calla’s behavior towards the female’s rider the other day, or possibly to fulfill his promise of telling her the story of throwing Calla into a wall. Or even possibly to show her his quite comfortable lake. In all honesty he really wasn’t sure why he was here but he knew Calla would be mad and Twilight probably wouldn’t come with him. Ah well, it was worth the effort, he wished to sit down in the snow but feared leaving a mark that could be traced, he felt like a pup sneaking out of the den while his mother was asleep. Which in a way he was, sneaking out of his nap while Calla was busy. If she knew what he was doing she would skin him alive and use his fur a coat, she was probably already checking his favorite sleeping places, and probably every roof of Fort in search of him. He chuckled wolfishly at this thought, then quickly closed his mouth hoping no one heard him. He’d like to be able to talk to her face to face, but he knew a New Eve wolf waltzing riderless into White Shadow would draw attention, not to mention Alister would be there and he didn’t really feel like dealing with the irritating man right now.
Calla slipped off the unfamiliar wolf, smiling up at his rider in an inconspicuous and friendly manner.
“Thank you so much for going out of your way like this. I can’t find that lazy bag of bones that calls himself a wolf and this message is very important.” Calla lied smoothly. The Private seemed only slightly disgruntled at having to bring her here, but he did nod before turning and heading back into the trees. Calla smirked to herself, she had only slightly lied. It was true that she couldn’t find WoodWhisp, it was true he was a lazy bag of bones, it was also true that this was important at least to her, but it wasn’t a message at all. If anything she was simply bored and needed to do something. And whenever she needed to do something and had nothing to do she found herself at White Shadow, ready to drag Alister away by force if necessary. This was certainly an odd relationship, Calla smirked to herself as she waltzed through the gates to White Shadow, she had never really bothered to hide her presence. She wandered through the Fort unopposed, looking like she knew what she was doing, as she searched all of Alister’s usual locations. She couldn’t help but double check the location of her pistol, as much as the man had his uses he was still a pain and he needed to be kept in line.
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Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 12:39 pm
A lazy yawn escaped the dark wolf as she stretched back arching and tail swaying slowly. Alister was in one of his moods again, and that meant she was staying as far away from him as possible. The thought made her snort softly as the brief memory of the man sulking off toward the back of the fort with his violin crossed her mind.
It was snowing so Alister and his moods could be accepted, if only vaguely so. Still that didn't stop the somewhat annoyed words that came to mind. "Men..." Heaving a sigh as she slunk along the outer wall Twilight almost didn't hear the soft male voice calling out to her the first time. The second time however her ears pricked forward and she tilted her head to one side glancing toward the wall before a small almost mischievous grin crossed her maw.
"If avoiding a moody rider is what you call busy..." She said shrugging lightly. If there was one thing Twilight never was, it was busy.
Twilight had gotten snippy with him when she'd seen him packing his violin and heading out. Of course the wolf always got snippy with him these days when she saw him with the instrument. Dismissing the behavior as a natural case of feminine hormones he'd simply shrugged and went his way while Twilight had went hers
Now seated under a tree he'd claimed as his, Alister stretched before setting the violin against his shoulder and began to play completely unaware of the fact that he was being hunted. Of course hunted or not he always kept his pistol on him just in case any...unexpected...visits happened.
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Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 2:39 pm
"That makes two of us. Calla's bored and that's never a good thing for me." WoodWhisp's tone was light and playful, "But isn't that man always moody?" He pointed out. From the little bit he'd seen of Alister he had deduced it was nearly impossible to find him in a good mood. Whisp shook his head, removing the thought from his mind before turning his attention back to Twilight.
"Well since we both have people to avoid, I happen to know a very good avoidance spot if you care to join me?" WoodWhisp ask, part of him hoping she would for some unexplainable reason, part of him realizing it was just as likely she would shoot him down. Either way it was better than being stuck hanging around a bored Calla, bad things always seemed to happen when Calla was bored. And anyway he needed to apologize on behalf of his rider for her actions the other day, and now was a good time for he really didn’t feel like taking a nap, in all honesty he just felt like hanging out. Moving closer to where he estimated her location to actually be her swished his tail behind him to clear away as much of his footprints as he possibly could. Yes this was a bit slow going but he really didn’t want Calla to find him, or to be spotted by others in the Fort.
Calla charged about the fort, she didn’t bother to stop and ask if anyone had seen him, she would only do that after checking one last spot. There was tree, it was towards the back of the fort and she had found him there only once or twice but it was still a possible frequent. As she got closer to the tree, a soft sound began drifting to her ears. The woman stopped, listening intently she picked up the sound of a violin, and a well played one at that. She moved forward slowly, quietly, the sound got louder. Beneath the earthen brown bangs Calla’s brow furrowed in curiosity. Could that be Alister? There was no frigging way, he didn’t have the heart to play music.
Calla continued her painfully slow, silent trek to the tree, pausing at the edge of a building she crouched down, ignoring the snow, and peeked around the corner. Sure enough there was the cold, heartless man sitting in the snow, instrument in hand. For awhile Calla just sat and listened, she didn’t think the man had it in him to play music; music was never good unless heart and emotion was put into it, but this was surprisingly well played. But eventually, as beautiful as the music was, curiosity and impatience won out and she stood up. Moving around the corner and crossing the empty space between them she stopped and stared down at him.
“I didn’t know you played violin. Very well if I do say so myself.” For once in her life Calla spoke quietly, still half listening to the music before he had a chance to respond to her, and probably get angry.
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Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 6:21 pm
Giving a soft snort Twilight shook herself, tail fanning out behind her as she shook her head in one fluid motion. "You'd be surprised. Alister can actually be quite....human should the mood strike him." Letting out a hearty laugh at the thought the femme quieted watching WoodWhisp for a moment as he moved closer hiding his tracks as he went. A chance to slip out of the fort for a while without having to alert her rider of where she was going...such a lovely thought but it made her nervous all the same. Mentally berating herself, the darker wolf huffed before giving a light grin. "If its a chance to escape this place and our riders for a while then I'd love to." She said carefully treading closer to the wall. "I know an easier way than that to get us out of here. Anything to get out of the stuffy fort before she went mad. If it wasn't Alister and his moods it was someone else. A little annoyed scowl crossed her maw for a moment before she tossed it away. Males called females moody as if they had yet to take a good hard look at themselves. That, was a point she was going to make sure to knock into Alister's head when she got back. Maybe the man would actually get it this time.
Pressing her side against the wall lightly she began to trek along its length heading toward the entrance. A wonderful little trick she'd learned in her years of staying here. "Follow exactly where I walk, so if anyone happens to come checking...they won't think anything of just one wolf leaving the fort." Ears pricked forward Twilight paused on ocassion to listen for any sound of an approaching wolf or human before continuing on. It would be slow going but it would get them out of the fort.
There was one thing Alister had learned at a very early age, and that peace could never last forever. That almost painful lesson was making itself true again as his moment of silence and solitude was broken first by footsteps in the snow and then a voice. A voice that he knew too well from other days of torment. The New Eve Private had turned up, which wasn't a good thing as far as he was concerned. Letting his body go through the motions of a song he'd played countless times, two mismatched eyes opened and settled on Calla for a moment before a slight smirk of amusement tugged at his lips. "There are plenty of things about me you don't know. Plenty of things..." The song's tempo increased for a several long moments as he kept his unwavering brown and green gaze on the woman. "..I don't plan on telling you about." Slowly, ever so slowly the song began to slow until it finally faded leaving nothing but silence. Lowering the violin he settled it back in the mahogny box at his feet. Finished with that task he leveled his full attention on Calla.
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Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 2:39 pm
WoodWhisp grinned, "I guess that's one of those things I'd have to see to believe." He replied, making no attempt to hide the sarcasm, he was pretty sure Twilight would understand that he was simply joking and not be offended. WoodWhisp followed easily in her prints, though his larger paws did slightly changed the shape and size as he did so.
"Out always seems so much easier than in." WoodWhisp said with a mock sigh, "Reminds me of when I was pup, that one time I tried to sneak into the sunlight." He said chuckling, he and his brother had gotten chewed out over that one and his mom had kept an eye on him for a week. Not that it had been necessary; he'd spent most of his time as a pup asleep. Calla had called him Narcoleptic, though at first he hadn't really been sure what that meant. Shaking the tangent from his head he returned his attention to the female in front of him, “Hypothetically speaking if I asked how old you are would I make it out of that situation alive and uninjured? Hypothetically speaking of course.” He asked, though he knew she was smart enough to see through his trick and would probably hurt him anyway, he felt the need to ask though. Of course he would respond with his own age, but that never seemed to bother guys as much as it did with women.
Calla sat down cross-legged, ignoring the snow. Temperature never really bothered Calla, she never really stopped long enough to feel cold or hot, never stopped to notice. It had gotten her in trouble plenty of times, borderline hypothermia, a fever of 105 that she hadn’t noticed, nearly gotten her killed. She watched silently as he finished the song, the borderline peaceful feeling she’d been getting from him before quickly changed when he’d noticed her there. There was a vague irritation and a sarcastic amusement that she picked up now, not that it bothered her she simply felt the need to note these things.
“I would say the same, but I don’t have anything to tell.” Calla responded as he put the instrument away, the icing of sarcasm hiding the truth baked beneath. “But the fact of the matter is you’re a terribly secretive person. Not that I particularly care.” Calla added, deciding the change the subject, he was a terribly observatory person and would probably notice the half-true sarcasm.
“Anyway, I’m bored and you’ve got the short end of the stick this time.”
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Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2009 12:34 pm
Chuckling her tail swayed as she poked her head around the bend in the wall before continuing on. No one out and about, everyone was probably lazying about inside to stay warm. Something she would have been doing if it wasn't for that fact that she had been doing that for the past few weeks. True the downtime was good but she needed to move...it was in her nature and during the winter especially Alister wasn't too inclined to accommodate her nature. "If you're around when Alister strikes up with his music again I'll be sure to drag you over to hear." Now that would no doubt be and interesting time, the black wolf mused crossing the snowy expanse between the gates and heading toward the forest.
One ear flicked back toward WoodWhisp and Twilight gave a faint but amused huff. "You never ask a lady her age." flicking her tail at his muzzle she flashed a lazy but amused grin over her shoulder at him. "However since you asked so nicely...I'll humor you. Its been ten winters as of this one." Saying it now, she realized that it had been a long time since she'd been bonded. A very long time since she'd had the urge to throw herself headfirst into a snow drift just for the sake of soaking her rider.
Good times but she'd been younger then...much younger.. Shaking her head she let out a puff of air from her lungs. "You've made me realize just how old I am now." Giving a soft laugh she stretched. "No wonder the younger wolves try to stay on my good side. Amusing but sad at the same time. Then again, age wasn't determined by how long one lived but more by how one felt. Fluffing her tail as she pushed those mildly depressing thoughts from her head, she settled her gaze on WoodWhisp, she gave a faint smile. "So...where's this hidey-hole of yours?"
Little lies and half truths, Calla's words were filled with them but he wasn't too pressed to persue that particular topic. The mention of boredom was more than enough to put him on edge though he kept his calm but amused appearance in place. The last thing he needed was for this woman to pick up on any...apprehension. "Terribly sorry to hear that..but what do you expect me to do about it?" Quirking an eyebrow at her, Alister reached up to tuck a lock of red tipped blond hair behind one ear, his attention still focused on Calla.
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Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2009 1:22 pm
WoodWhisp chuckled, “I’d like to see that actually, you’ll have to give me a heads up.” He said, noticeably less sarcasm in his voice this time around. He was glad to be out of the fort as they rounded the corner and quickly bounded into the woods, pausing at the edge of the trees to make sure Twilight was still with him. When he was sure she was he went a bit deeper in and waited for her to catch up.
“You think you’re old? I myself am ten, going on eleven here pretty soon as Calla keeps reminding me.” WoodWhisp explained keeping up his fair end of the deal. He smiled as he picked up the pace a bit, glad to be out and moving in the woods. It might be hard to get him to wake up, but once he was he simply didn’t know how to take things slow, there was no grey area between Sleep and being On The Go for him. He wove through the trees with ease as if he’d been through this part of the forest a thousand times before.
“It’s just a bit north of here actually. Very comfortable for being a frozen lake.” WoodWhisp explained as he moved, glad Twilight did actually seem interested in hanging out with him and not just trying to get away from her rider. As he spoke though he realized he was going the wrong direction, “Heheh which is, y’know, that way.” He said, mildly embarrassed at the error before changing direction and moving towards where the lake was.
Calla smirked, picking up on the edgey feeling her words had given him. She tried not to laugh, so as not to give away the empathy she was constantly hiding from others. Coming off as being sensitive to that sort of thing would completely ruin her image as the dominating, boy-looking, violent private that she was. She watched intently as he brushed aside his hair, letting the question hang in the air a moment. After a satisfactory second or two she grinned almost maliciously and stared him sternly in the eye.
“Tell me Alister, what do you think I want you to do about it.” She asked her tone hushed and serious, almost ominous.
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Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 6:26 pm
Dipping her muzzle to hide the amused grin and laugh as she followed WoodWhisp and his change of direction. Twilight's ears pricked forward swiveling this way and that. She knew it was winter and there was no reason to worry about the centipedes but that didn't stop her from being on her guard. "You have such a wonderful sense of direction." she said chuckling being more playful than anything else.
Tail swaying happily, she tilted her head to one side, eying tracks in the snow heading in the opposite direction. A rabbit, no doubt, a small rabbit. Any other day she might have followed those tracks just for the sake of giving the poor creature a scare and nothing more but today she was more interested in seeing this...'comfortable' frozen lake. "I find it hard to believe...a frozen lake is comfortable you know."
Those...were the words he had seriously been hoping he didn't hear coming out of the woman's mouth. The very same words that had his hand inching closer to his pistol, also had him turning several shades paler...which to any passing innocent bystander would have him looking very close to the color of the falling snow. "You did not come all the way from New Eve, bored or not just to torment my soul with...that now did you?" he was hopeful...but that hope was quickly fading with each passing moment and he was more so looking for a route of escape than anything else. Calla was bored...and he was cornered, mentally he groaned why did he feel that this wouldn't turn out well?
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 4:32 pm
Woodwhisp trotted on determined after his little blunder."Hey now! My sense of direction is flawless!” WoodWhisp spoke up in his defense, but his tone was still joking, “I just don’t happen to know the area as well as SOME.” He pointed out, pausing for just a moment to make sure he was still going in the right direction. Satisfied that he was he picked up his pace again, looking over his shoulder to make sure Twilight was still with him.
“Y’know. I thought the same thing too at first. But I figured it was comfortable enough during the summer and I was out of hiding places so.” WoodWhisp shrugged as he spoke, “I figured she’d never think I’d go there in the winter and discovered it to actually be pretty comfy with the right amount of snow.” WoodWhisp explained cheerfully. To be perfectly honest part of him was in disbelief that he could take anyone to his and Calla’s private spot, the place they relaxed and calmed down after a round of Centipedes. That place was secret, special, and he especially couldn’t belief he was taking a White Shadow wolf there. If Calla found out she’d be wearing his fur as a coat.
Calla had already noticed the hand moving towards the gun, she also noticed the change in skin tone and the felt the fear and small amount of hoping coming from him. But all these things Calla ignored, she knew that with Alister you could never believe what you saw on the surface. The violin today was just another piece of evidence to that fact. Calla reached forward and rested her hand on Alister’s shoulder, her darker skin standing out against the white of his uniform.
“Of course Alister, why else would I come all this way? You know I can’t stand to sit around doing nothing. Unless, there is something else you can think of?” Calla smirked as she said this, her tone still ominous. Alister was a smart, cunning man and she had just tossed him a bone, he could get out of this. If he wanted to. It all deepened on how much he wanted to work.
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 5:47 pm
"Of course it is~ All males have a flawless sense of direction, remember?" A slight flash of a wolfish grin and the femme shook some of the falling snow from her back, making sure to keep pace with WoodWhisp which...wasn't too hard for the moment."The world is full of surprises it seems then." Stepping lightly and briskly, Twilight was careful to skirt the deeper parts of the snow, not wanting to find out of there was ice beneath them or not.
Heaven knew her last run in with not-so stable ice had almost been the end of both her and her rider. Of course almost drowning would have made anyone wary of a lake frozen or not, but not her. There was a stubbornness, a will to prove that she wasn't afraid to venture back to the place that had almost been her grave. Alister now...he was another story. He wouldn't go near the lake without a reason...a very very good reason to be perfectly honest. Shaking her head with a soft sigh, she flexed her claws in the snow forcing down the depressing memories. Multiple near death incidents often made one wiser...dwelling on those memories often made one insane.
"You know...you never did tell me what happened when you tossed Calla into a wall." Lifting her head she set mismatched gold and green eyes on the orange and white wolf in front of her.
"I'm sure you can find someone else to amuse you...carnal or otherwise." Dropping his shoulder and scooting away from Calla. The more space he put between himself and that woman the better. Especially with just where her attentions seemed to be focused. "Besides that...I'm sure you can find something better to do." He'd recognized his way of escape but of course...that way of escape still meant dealing with Calla, and it by no means was a sure one that the woman wouldn't still attempt to pursue her original interest when it was all said and done.
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 7:20 pm
“Precisely my point!” WoodWhisp exclaimed, playfully ignoring the fact that it was supposed to be a joke. Her turned back over his shoulder and grinned at Twilight goofily. As he turned back around to make sure he was still heading in the right direction pain coarsed through his nose and he stumbled back a few paces and fell into the snow, blinking confusedly. In his failure to see where he was going, being more intent on Twilight, he found himself stumbling face first into a tree. In an attempt to hide his laughter at himself he stuck his nose into the snow to dull the pain.
“Ow, Totally meant to do that by the way.” WoodWhisp pointed out in mild sarcasm shaking his head before pulling himself together and standing back up. Shaking off the snow he was vaguely reminded of time he’d charged straight through a snow drift he’d through was a hill and came out the other side face first into a rock. But for now that was a story he was going to keep to himself.
“Tossed Calla into a wall?” He asked vaguely, pulling himself out of his memories and turning back towards Twilight, “OH! YES! The wall!” The memory came flooding back to him as he began to move again, this time determined to keep his eyes on where he was going.
“Well you see I was only about a year and a half old at the time, Calla had just started actually riding me and that severely damaged my napping time.” WoodWhisp pointed out, pushing through a bush and into a clearing. Now all that stood between them and the lake was a small straggle of trees. Fortunately with the snow you couldn’t see the final destination until you were right up on it. “So anyway Calla found me in the middle of nap, she told me there would be food in it if we went back to camp but I could tell she was lieing. Can’t lie to someone you can read your mind. I played along though, let her climb on. But then I saw my chance, took off running. Charged about the forests for awhile to give a taste, but then it was getting dark so I headed back to the fort. Came charging in but I didn’t know the layout really well just yet so I had to stop short before running into the side of one of the offices. Calla unfortunately wasn’t holding on so as I stopped she kinda went flying over my head and into the wall.” WoodWhisp laughed at the memory as he trotted through the open space, getting ever closer to the secret spot. “Calla broke her nose, her left arm, and I think even cracked a rib. Not to mention her Patron was FURIOUS with me, hilarious to watch him rant and rave.” As he finished the story he stopped short.
From here he could see the glittering surface of the solid, snow covered lake. He was, as always, mesmerized by the way the sun played on the patches of snow and ice reflecting the world around them. Turning back towards Twilight he sat down and grinned at her expectantly. “Ladies first.”
Calla sighed, on the verge of being over-dramatic but her eyes completely serious.
“If only I did, it seems all my usual duties are going to the young bloods.” She sounded almost forlorn as she said this, though it nicely covered up the fact that it was a total lie. Indeed even WoodWhisp had pointed out she seemed to be shoving off more and more of her duties to the newer privates of the fort. And though she was sure WoodWhisp knew why she liked to pretend he didn’t. “And here you are, ignoring the efforts of a young honest woman’s attempts to lie and deceive all just to see you.” Calla stared down at the snow sadly as she spoke, her tone softer and quieter, though in the back of her mind she simply couldn’t stop laughing at the whole act. So the man had indeed turned down her escape offer, which meant he didn’t want her completely gone after all.
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Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 6:10 pm
Tilting her head forward she didn't even bother to hide the rich laughter at both the story and the fact that WoodWhisp had just run into a tree, of course part of her felt guilty for that but that didn't stop her amusement. A bit sadistic? Maybe. Chuckling as she slowly began to sober up, Twilight's eyes gleamed as she moved to stand next to WoodWhisp head tilted with her eyes half lidded. "If I was her Patron I'd probably be doing the same." Keeping her voice low, the female wolf chuckled again. "Most of my adventures with Alister when we'd just bonded aren't nearly as lovely as yours I'm sure." Staring to flow past the orange and white wolf, Twilight gave a half hearted smile trying in vain to hide the sudden wave of sorrow. "After all we were prone more to disaster than adventures." Disasters indeed.
Whatever grief ridden thoughts that had started to slip into her mind, were gone as she took the glittering spectacle before her. The feeble rays of winter sun light were bouncing off the surface of the ice creating little glittering ice diamond clusters and rainbows here and there. "Beautiful..." she breathed not looking back at WoodWhisp just yet. The lake was beautiful...and as she began to pad closer, keeping her footsteps light...and deadly. She'd learned just how deadly ice and freezing water could be, the scar on her stomach was testament enough to that. Still...padding down to the edge of the ice she lowered her muzzle to the frozen surface to stare at her reflection. Two mismatched eyes stared back.
Green and gold, green being the eye she shared with a human. A human who, at the moment from the panicked direction of his thoughts was under assault from Calla. A wolfish grin crossed her maw as she lifted her head and turned to stare at WoodWhisp. "Wonderful little hidey-hole this is...and so very beautiful." One ear flicked before the grin spread. "I don't think we have to worry about our riders either...Alister's having a fit at the moment and the fact that I can still hear most of his thoughts...Well I'm sure you can guess where Calla is."
Ah, if only he had had a heart to feel for the woman he might have...but as it stood...Alister didn't. That and something wasn't adding up with this story. It was either that or he was just paranoid, which could or could not be a good thing. Eyes narrowing both at the woman's words and the slight wind that picked up, kicking up flurries of snow Alister clucked his tongue and crossed his arms content with the distance between him and the other for the moment. "Why do I find that hard to believe?" Honest attempts his a**. Acts like this were one of the reasons why Alister kept a barrier of ice and gods knew what else up around his mind and heart, it had saved him many a time already. This time would be no different...and if all else failed..he could always retreat to his room and lock Calla out.
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Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 6:40 pm
WoodWhisp followed close behind her, staring down at the ice himself.
“Calla and I found this, we got separated from the rest after driving off some centipedes. We’d both been injured and needed to rest.” WoodWhisp explained as he boldly padded out onto the ice, knowing it was thick enough to hold him without so much as cracking from the pressure, “It’s been our secret little place ever since.” He almost whispered the last bit, as if sharing the secret with her. He turned around and winked, swishing his tail to beckon her forth onto the lakes surface. Careful where he stepped, not wanting his paw prints to mare the snowy bits of the surface, he made his way to the center of the lake.
“Danger prone? Share some time.” He called back over his shoulder. He was glad to see that his nest was still in perfect condition as he’d left it yesterday and cheerfully flopped down in it. “C’mon out. The ice won’t break, I promise. It’s always been hit by the freeze really hard.” WoodWhisp insisted, sitting down in his nest and looking at her expectantly.
In all actuality he hadn’t really been paying Calla and mind, he’d been much to preoccupied with a very different female. Though now that Twilight said something her thoughts and words were very prominent in his mind. Oh, she had plans, ones he would rather not know. Shaking his head in an almost violent manner he shoved her thoughts aside again. He had dragged Twilight from her cozy fort all the way out to his middle-of-no-where frozen lake, the least he could do now was to give her his full and devoted attention. Though that wasn’t hard, as he stared across the ice at her it struck him that this was indeed the only female to ever really catch his eye.
“Hey Twilight, odd question but have you ever met anyone?” Even WoodWhisp was slightly shocked by the bold question, though part of him immediately got hopeful that she would say no. That would mean he had a shot, even if she was a White Shadow wolf no one had ever caught his interest like this before.
Calla laughed, completely dropping the innocent girl act. She hadn’t actually thought it would work, Alister was a tricky one, this would certainly require a more charismatic approach.
“All right then. Complete honesty it is.” Calla nodded decisively, as if this had been her plan all along. In all actuality she hadn’t really had a plan other than just showing up, she just hoped it would all fall into place from there. Yes, she was bored, and yes she could admit Alister was attractive, but there was something else about him that had drawn her here.
“The truth is that, buddy you’re a challenge. And I haven’t had a challenge in a good long while, not since the Academy anyway.” Calla spoke evenly, not really thinking about what she was saying until after it had been said. Though as she thought about it she realized it was truth, she liked to be Challenged and Alister was the biggest challenge she’d had to face yet. “I mean, I could always go for Rayan but that would simply be to easy.” Calla sighed nonchalant, leaning back on her hands, ignoring the chill of the snow on her bare skin. Her dark brown eye’s gazed out at Alister in a stern manner, hiding in them not a twinkle of trickery of a smidgen of sarcasm.
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Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 7:51 pm
Hesitantly Twilight settled one paw on the snow covered ice before another and then another. "I was two when me and Alister had our first run with the patrol and even though we'd managed to cross the bigger lake south of here the first time, our part of the patrol got stuck on the ice on the way back. Needless to say...we didn't realize just how thin the ice was until it was too late. If it had just been two wolves and their riders or even three the ice would've held up...but five wolves and their riders was too much for the ice...and started breaking up." Slowly padding across the ice and toward where WoodWhisp was Twilight kept her gaze down on the ice feeling more than a little paranoid as she continued her trek and story.
"Three of the other riders were close enough to bank to get back up there before the ice broke up too badly but we got stuck in near the middle with the other pair...naturally the ice looked sound enough to hop across and get back to dry land without getting wet much. So that's what we did...or tried to do. The third section of ice we got to broke up almost as soon as we'd landed on it. Getting dumped into a frozen lake isn't something anyone in their right mind plans on doing...and honestly given the choice I wouldn't have done it either...but it was that or get skewered on the ice.
I was a stronger swimmer than that other wolf and bigger...he tried to force his rider off so that if one of them died it would be him and not the human...didn't work..in the end they did die. The water was too cold and he got tired too quickly. As for me...I barely managed to crawl onto shore, got dragged back to the fort, half dead, and half frozen." Sitting down next to WoodWhisp she tilted her head back staring up at the clouds that passed all the while her throat working. This was the first time she'd ever thought of telling anyone about this..it had been a private tragedy reserved just for her and Alister...but now that she thought about it...leaving it between just them had been foolish.
"I almost died...so did Alister...but that was from his own stubbornness. Refused to let the doctors check him over and make sure he wasn't about to freeze to death until he was sure that I was taken care of. Damned foolish of him...I know. But gods I'd never seen him that scared before...or since. If I'd died I know he wouldn't have survived, and it would have been the same for me."
Turning to stare at WoodWhisp she forced herself to focus on his next question and not her personal sorrow before shaking her head. "No...I haven't taken to anyone...in years. Why?"
"So...I'm to be a personal conquest for you then?" The question was a soft one..almost too soft. The usual thread of annoyance was there but there was a sliver of something else...something much much more dangerous. There was a fine line between what kinds of games he played and which he did not...and this fell to the latter side. True he carried out his own conquests...and Twilight would call him a downright hypocrite if she ever found out but, this wasn't about what he did to others who fell for his honeyed words.
But why...why did his blood boil slightly at the thought? Calla was just another woman he'd pass through his life...another minor...amusement that would be tossed away like a rejected child's toy once he grew bored of her. So why, did he feel all too offended?
The answer was an easy one...and he could almost see Twilight's amused gaze as the words flashed through his mind. "You, Alister Shields...are too proud and too easily riled...despite what you think. Pride and ice are never enough to shield anyone." Pride then...pride and possibly a bruised ego.
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Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 8:37 pm
WoodWhisp shuddered at the story, the thought of never being able to meet this female scared him for some unfathomable reason. He watched her carefully as she spoke, spending too much time with Calla had shown him how to read others a little bit better. At this point it was slightly useful, it was obvious Twilight had never shared this story with anyone, and he was rather touched she chose to tell him.
“I’m sorry to hear you lost a colleague so early on, that’s always very hard on a pack.” WoodWhisp agreed, lowering his head briefly in honor of the unknown wolf and their rider. He remembered the first casualty from his younger days. It hadn’t been an ice flow, it had been in the battle. The rider struck by a stray bullet, the wolf was never seen or heard again. It had been hard for Calla to realize this, she was such an optimistic person it had been hard for her to admit at first, and even WoodWhisp had slowed down at the death of his pack mate. WoodWhisp nuzzled the black females shoulder, conveying his comforts and sympathy.
“I can see why Alister was worried. To lose you would be devastating to anyone.” WoodWhisp agreed, surprised he could at all be sympathizing with that man. And yet here was completely understanding how Alister felt at the concept of losing Twilight. He was crazy, he’d only known her for a few days and he was already mesmerized by her. Just as he sat here, staring at her and wondering what she was thinking, he must be crazy.
“I was, I dunno, just curious I guess.” WoodWhisp pretended to shrug it off but inside he was oddly cheered by this fact. Like it was some really important detail in some plan his subconscious was forming without him. Come to think about it, he had only ever gone with anyone once or twice, and those occasions had never really meant anything to him more than a primal desire. In fact, they had contacted him first. Twilight on the other hand intrigued him.
Calla laughed at his words, almost bitterly.
“Yes Alister. You are a challenge, a conquest as you put it.” Calla agreed, her tone had the same fierce, stern tone as her eyes. She examined Alister closely, making a mental note of his mixed reaction to this realization. “But you’re not entirely just another conquest of mine.” Calla added, but she didn’t bother to elaborate. No, she would let him think what he wanted on that because even she couldn’t answer that question right now. Even she wasn’t really sure why she was here in the end. Instead she distracted herself with analyzing the reactions she’d made note of before. The annoyance that was always there, a flare of mild anger, and something else. A much more subtle hint of what seemed to be indignation she picked up in his eyes, and that’s when the whole plan fell into place in her head. That would be what she would play on, this would end in her favor in the end after all.
“But I guess if you can’t handle me I can always find someone else. Maybe I will hit up Rayan after all.” She said with a sigh, leaking bitter disappointment in her words, “And here I’d believed I’d found someone who could.” She sat up straighter and brushed herself off, moving to get up. Yes, she would play on his ego, on his pride.
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