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 Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 3:51 pm
 Verse had no idea how he'd ended up in this strange land - it smelled nothing like his home range and there were no comforting landmarks around to guide him back to the familiar. His mother - if he ever saw her again would thump him but good when he returned, although for the life of him he couldn't figure out just how he'd been parted from her to begin with. He'd never been the kind to wander.
Shaking his head a little bit to clear the fog of his un-recalled morning - or had it been longer? He couldn't tell and frankly he didn't thnk it mattered much, he was alone now and that was all he was focused on. Sniffling a bit at this fact and quite miserable Verse lifted his muzzle and howled a sad puppy howl. Before sitting forlornly by a tree with drooped sad ears and quivering lips.
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Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 4:19 pm
 She kenw it! She had known it all along that there was a bear near the border! Thank the spirits it hadn't done any damage yet or caused the pups harm - or worse, the pups could have run into it. Spirits know what Aleu and Derecho would do after the initial meeting. Merrill disliked bears intensely due to past experiences back in the mountains; there, bears were an unforgiving kind, fighting tooth and nail to keep their dens instead of losing it to the wolves - no-one believed in communal homes there, not with so precious little caves suited to house the normally large specimens far above sea level.
Thus Merrill had gone out of her way that morning to get up and move about as fast as she could, tracking those pawprints like a hawk follows prey. If it dared step one more damn claw closer into YMCA territory . . . And then the beta stiffened at the sound of a lonely wail, ears pinned as she crouched instantly into a defensive pose. when no bear snarls accompanied the pitiable sound, she crept carefully towards the small copse of trees . . .
A pup? Merrill released a bit of tension out of her muscles but remained suspicious. "Why do you cry out, little one?" she spoke with neither preamble nor introduction.
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Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 4:36 pm
Verse looked over as a brightly colored figure suddenly entered his field of vision. It was a much larger wolf and he cowered down for a moment until she spoke and he realized she didn't mean him any harm. Giving her a solemn look and blinking his big green eyes Verse drew himself up and recited.
"Like the lone wolf who howls at the moon..
I am alone.
Like the single leaf that fell to soon..
I am alone"
Now Verse didn't always speak in well..Verse but in emotional or trying situations he often found that the best way to get his thoughts across and he rather hoped this female would get his point - he'd made it pretty clear he thought.But you could never really tell with poetry, some wolves got it other's didn't
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Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 5:09 pm
Blinking, she tilted her head a bit. What a peculiar way to answer! As per usual, Merrill was not in favor of answers to questions that didn't need a roundabout response, so she simply walked forward, assuming this was not a rather dangeruos situation. A quick lookover also told her that the pup didn't bear any scars, so the bear must not have passed through here. "Well, lone wolf, it's not the moon you're howling away at," she replied as-a-matter-of-factly, "but the sun. And autumn has since passed in favor for winter's white fur. Also, you might note that you are no longer alone, and I'll have to ask what you were doing up until then. Making noises like that might attract something more dangerous than I."
Of course, Merrill had to deconstruct the poem at its face value. Poetry . . . wasn't her strong point.
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Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 11:00 am
Verse tipped his head slightly as the other spoke, she was a very thick purple coat - thicker even then your average winter pelt and that made it a curious sight to Verse. He wondered if it was as soft as it looked. His mothers coat he recalled had been very soft and that thought brought a soft whimper from him. "I don't remember what I was doing" He told her honestly in a soft voice. " I recall listening to my mother speaking softly - telling a grand and epic story..and then nothing" He continued mournfully. "I do not know this place or how I got here" He concluded with a frightful look about.
His paws shifted slightly as he blinked up at her "My name is Verse"
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Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2010 2:29 pm
"You don't remember?" she repeated with a slight raise of the brow. Amnesia or just not wanting to tell her? Merrill eyed the little one for a while. "Well . . . I suppose if you truly are alone, I'll have to take you with me, little one," she said at length, and sighed reluctantly. Curse it, she had just found fresh bear prints too! Spirits, you must be mocking me now . . . "I am Merrill, a beta of the YMCA pack not far from here. Come, tell me what you do remember then as I carry you there," she told Verse, leaning forward and picking him up by the scruff of his neck and returning the opposite way on her path.
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Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 7:32 am
Verse didn't protest as the larger wolf - Merrill as she introduced herself came over to snatch him up. She was a beta - and so to the pups way of thinking must be trustworthy though he had never heard of this YMCA pack before. Hanging limply as he swung along in Merrill's jaws Verse tried to recall exactly what he remembered about his parents disappearance.
"I recall my mother singing me to sleep, someplace else - the trees are different here and the smells are all wrong" The pup mused these facts almost more to himself then to the purple wolf that carried him "And then I woke up here, I don't know how I got here and or where my parents are" He whined after a few moments, it wasn't much to go on and the situation was pretty confusing to the little pup.
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Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 4:28 pm
For a poet, he wasn't of very many words. Merrill assumed all those artistic wolves were talkative and ready to spill when prodded or prompted; guess that showed her. Well, no, the pup was also probably nervous still, as being alone for extended periods of time like that at a young age would. Ai, her thoughts were scattered today! Upon reaching the border several minutes of brisk walking later, she set Verse down and spoke. "A gap in the memory isn't something I can fix, but shelter and food do wonders," Merrill commented, trotting forward and flagging her tail for the pup to follow. "Being a pup, I'll have to watch you twenty-four seven, so don't think about wandering from my side right now. I don't have time to chase you away when I have the alphas' brood to conserve as well.
"For however long you decide to stay, you will also share my den. Si!" the beta suddenly shouted. "Si, oy! I have another live one here who needs to meet you."
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Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2010 2:51 pm
Verse gave himself a shake as Merrill set him down, his fur fluffing out in all directions. He was rather relieved to be on his own four feet again although the walk had certainly gone quicker with him being carried. Short puppy legs did not make for quick walks he knew. "If thats what you'd like, I'll be a good tyke. I won't make you fret..or start to regret, for taking me in" Verse paused for a moment as if in thought and then bounced forward after Merrill's flagging tail as he proclaimed in victory "before I got thin!"
That had been a pretty good little rhyme he thought to himself - there hadn't been time to compose a proper poem of course but that little ditty was sure to get the point across. and he pranced about beside the purple wolf feeling much better now that he was no longer alone.
Chivosi had been wandering the pack lands deep in thought when she heard Merrill shout her name. Giving herself a shake to clear away the thoughts - which mainly consisted of missing Mene she broke into a trot and made a bee line in the direction Merrills voice had come from. Breaking through the brush Chiv let her eyes roam over the area surrounding the purple beta for this wolf she spoke up, but she had to look twice..and down before she spotted the pup. "A pup?" She question in surprise "...alone?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 5:29 pm
Hmm . . . That was a particularly nice ditty; and far more straight-forward! "Alone," Merrill stated in the affirmative with a nod. "Luckily I snagged him before anything snapped him up. He calls himself Verse and has no apparent memory of how he found himself alone." As per usual, the beta's report was to the point and with concrete detail. "My den can accomodate him until he is old enough to make his own decisions, and I shall be his care-taker as well until then."
Funny how easily those words fell out of her mouth. This was the first time Merrill recalled ever wanting to pup-sit anyone, much less wanting to do so for such an extended period of time. But then, had she not played aunt to Chivosi's pups? Being a surrogate mother couldn't possibly be much mroe different or harder. And in a way, the responsibility and ability to call herself such was . . . appealing? Truly her stay at YMCA was beginning to change her.
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Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 11:23 am
"Verse hmm.." Chivosi stated as she set her eyes upon the brown bundle by Merrill - well she couldn't very well turn away a pup now could she. Of course not it was nigh unthinkable, however he had come to be here he was here now and thats all there was to it. Perhaps his memories would return in time although Chiv had a second theory - one she wouldn't discuss openly in front of the little fellow fore it would be slightly unsettling for him to hear. No - she'd tel Merrill later, when they were alone.
Speaking of Merrill...Chiv had to give her a somewhat surprised but knowing look as the purple beta claimed the pup for her own safeguarding. Perhaps spending so much time around her own litter had started to soften the mountain wolf. Could it be that Merrill might actually want pups of her own?Chiv knew better then to voice this question however and merely flagged her tail and dipped her head in agreement. "It seems like a suitable course of action to me"
Verse took a few steps back as the alpha came into view she wasn't exactly a giant wolf but but she carried herself like one and Verse for some reason or another found himself a bit intimidated by anything labeled alpha. Something from his home perhaps? No time to think on it now because the she wolf was speaking and Verse realized that Merrill had already introduced him, and not only that offered herself up as caregiver. Tipping his head back he looked at Merrill for a few moments before wagging his tail. He liked the purple wolf and this alpha..alpha though she may be did not seem like a mean creature. She had agreed to take him in after all. "Th-thank you" seemed like the only appropriate thing to say at the moment.
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Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 5:57 pm
"No thanks needed," Merrill told him, ironically followed by her tipping her muzzle to Chivosi with a greatful nod and a, "Thank you, Si." She wondered what sort of stir her decision was causing within the alpha's mind, and again the beta mused over developing her wolf-facial-reading skills; they had been a poor ally in Ovian's case, but then the male barely showed emotion at all. She nudged the pup gently, giving him a rare smile. "Are you tired, little one? If not, I can show you our lands." Or nap. Nap sounded good too. Either worked honestly. By now the bear had been completely forgotten.
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Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 9:09 am
"I'll leave you two to have some time alone then - get to know one another a bit better" Chiv replied after a few moments of watching them. Merrill had always been great with Derecho and Aleu she had to admit and while that would seem to indicate she would be great with Verse as well it still struck Chiv as just a little odd to see her playing the part of mother. My how things were evolving around here she thought to herself with a slight smile as she turned about and disappeared back into the woods, off to continue doing well whatever she had been doing before Merrill had called for her.
Verse watched as the Alpha disappeared again before looking to Merrill - who he supposed was now his warden such as it went within this pack
"I have slept away the cold dark night,
To sleep again just wouldn't be right,
I would like to know these lands of yours,
From towering trees to riverside shores!"
He told her with a slight wag of his tail. If Merrill was hoping to nap as per usual it seemed the pup had other plans, sleeping the daylight away within a dark den was surely not one of them.
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Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 11:37 am
The beta nodded to Chivosi as she left, noting her pause and thinking little of it. She stretched as she listened to his little composition, giving a small yawn that she did not mean to do; the timing was ill-chosen, for she was not the least bored by his strange form of speech. Merrill smiled down at him and indicated for them to move east, padding along. "Then to the river first, one of our more prominent features. If you followed it south, you would come across a native village; but of course, you won't stray so far," she told Verse in her brisk tone that left no room for doubt, "as we do not bother two-legs. Bears have also been sighted about recently, so security measures will be upped until their scents grow old. I have set us up a night watch, Ovian, so do not let it trouble your sleep too much. I was actually on bear patrol when I found you, little one."
Not sure whether the pup was shy or easily frightened, Merrill decided to leave out the part that she had been hot on one's trail.
"Our lands are secluded from others in these meadows and forest, but travellers sometimes pass through. You will treat them with respect, whether they stay a day or a week. YMCA is built on the belief that wolves are all allowed asylum so long as they return our hospitality with a little work effort: hunting, patrolling, and the like. I will help you find a job suitable to your skills when you are older. Any questions so far?"
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Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 1:30 pm
Verse trotted along in Merrills wake, had she yawned at his poem because it was bad? He didn't think it was so very terrible. Not his best work sure...but not awful either! Maybe she was just tired...Verse nodded slightly to himself as he trotted along - yes this is what he would choose to believe...and he would work harder on his next poem. His attention focused back on Merrill just as she spoke of the river. Verse liked rivers well enough - their babbling tunes and sweeping currents often made good fodder for his poems. "Of course..of course" He told the purple beta in a reassuring tone, no he wouldn't be running off to look for any two-leggers and he definitely had no desire to find a bear.
"Ovian? He is another wolf in the pack?" He questioned though this was a rather obvious thing to assume. Verse asked anyways - it was important to know those you lived with. He stopped for a second at her last statement, pondering it over for a few moments before hurrying to catch up to Merrill once more "My talent is poetry! I already have a job" He told her hen he did.
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