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 Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2011 5:33 pm
Today was another day in a line of days which stretched long past. It was a warm one, at least, and there had been too few of those lately. Spring, perhaps, was beginning to show its face around these parts. Wherever these parts were.
With a dull interest she looked about her - just forest. More forest. Much like the forest she'd left, and the forest she'd travelled through, with few exceptions, where her mate may-he-writhe-in-eternal-torment had sent her from in disgrace. Even her epithets these days lacked real vehemence. Something was fading inside the she-wolf. The inner warmth and light was being hardened over - developing hard callouses like those now on her paws and slowly dwindling, like her will to go on even another step.
She stopped, exhausted, and rested her rear down on a sun-warmed patch where a beech had fallen and cleared the canopy. Her milky blue eyes closed over and she let a long sigh shudder out of her. She slept little these days, and rested little when she did - fitful dreams of a barren life stretching before her into eternity.
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 1:21 pm
 Balios was out wandering, as he often was lately. Sometimes he would take one of his siblings or cousins out on these excursions -- or, in the case of Anatto, they would come along uninvited -- but at the moment he was alone. At least, he was fairly certain he was alone, as he hadn't caught scent of the orange-dappled young wolf who so often trailed him. Not that it was anything particularly unheard of. Half his age, Anatto was already a substantially better tracker than he was, and truth be told Balios was a little jealous.
Still, that wasn't his main priority. Other wolves could be better hunters or fighters than he. His particular skill lay in arts of inter-relations, and in that he was still quite sure he held no rival.
He was a big-hearted wolf, a wolf with a lot of love to give, and surprisingly few places to give it. Oh, he loved his family and his pack, but somehow that wasn't enough. He still longed, deeply and perhaps absurdly, for something he could really care for -- a project, if you will, but he didn't like to think of it that way as it cheapened his very real emotions on the topic.
He was distracted from his reverie, however, and paused, brow furrowing. He'd heard someone, or smelled someone, or both, and he sought out the source of the interruption. Ah! There, a female -- older than him, by the looks of it, but not so old perhaps as the likes of Thrush and Adonai -- lying in repose in a patch of sun. He lingered, a moment, now that he had seen her, and stared openly. There was something about her that seemed...sad. Maybe that wasn't the word. But he felt it, somehow, some radiance of melancholy in the way she handled herself, and it tugged at him. Tugged, especially, because it was a female...and Balios was unaccustomed to any sort of weakness in females.
Well, aside from Arii. But that was different.
Intrigued and good-naturedly concerned, the dappled wolf closed the gap between them, pausing a few feet away. He hesitated, uncertain if it would be rude to inquire as to her well-being, but decided it would be the best thing in case she was suffering in some way. He would rather suffer a rebuke than possibly walk away from a wolf in some sort of pain. "Pardon me, madame," he said, gently, in his nearly-pompous formality that had defined his speech since childhood. "I apologize for the intrusion -- but are you quite alright?"
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Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2011 3:57 am
For a moment she thought she was imagining voices - taking a slow descent into madness brought on by her tiredness and weariness. She opened her eyes, looked about her almost guiltily as if worried that she'd not find someone, and when her eyes finally alighted on the patterned male she jumped, just a tiny bit, in her skin - a shiver of delight and surprise and thankfulness that she wasn't going mad just yet.
"Well!" she croaked, with a voice all to unused to being used these days "you darn near scared the life outta me honey". Her words masked a flood of emotion as she looked at the young male. Another wolf - someone to talk to! It didn't really occur to her he might be mean, or had come to move her on or throw her out... and even if he was he'd have to talk to her to do so, hah. She craved contact - she'd always been a wolf who loved to be around and care for others so being lonesome was killing her soul as much as her body.
"That there is some pretty coat you got - all a-whirls and patterns! Why you look just like a forest floor in the summer." Words spilled from her, a stream of conscience almost as she got to her feet, stretching still-sore limbs, and walked in a friendly manner towards the younger wolf.
"And ain't you just a little gentleman, callin' me madame. My name's Aya, child, what's yours?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 12:10 pm
He gaped at her, a little. Everything about her seemed very strange -- her mannerisms, certainly not what he had come to expect from females. His knowledge of females was admittedly limited; his mother and Guinevere, the hardened warriors...Chivosi, strong in her way...and Merrill and her pups, all of them with their strange quirks. But nothing quite like this. Her speech pattern, too, caught him off-guard, and he recognized immediately that here was a wolf from another part of the world, from another world entirely, and that thought thrilled him perhaps more than it should. A little shiver ran down his spine.
He demurred at her compliment and was about to say something in response, but then she called him 'child' and that ruffled him a bit. He was young, certainly, but he thought himself very much grown up in many ways. Still, Balios rarely ever took offense to anyone or anything, and so he allowed it to roll off of him. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Aya," he said, dipping his maw in greeting. "My name is Balios. I live here, in the YMCA pack. Have you traveled very far?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 4:01 am
"Oh honey, you sure speak with the tongue of an angel!" she smiled, delighted at his speech. She could see that he had been peaked by calling him a boy, though it was really just a habit of hers to call anyone who wasn't grey at the muzzle a boy, when the mood took her.
"It's a pleasure to meet you too, young man" she said, deliberately adding the appellation she thought would be more to his liking. It would never have occurred to her not to - she liked to see others happy and if she could accommodate that with such each she surely would.
"Oh dear, I sure have travelled. I feel like I've travelled from one end of the earth to the other, darlin'!" she said with a sigh "these old feet of mine are tired from scratchin' their way across the land, truth be told and I'd sure be grateful to be able to rest a while if your pack wouldn't mind it - just to let me get myself together once again."
She didn't really want to move again ever, truth be told, she could probably have died happily in this warm, sunny, spot if she knew she'd never have to walk another step. She was just so damned tired of it all.
The conversation, though, and the bright young gentleman, had perked her up greatly - she would make the most of this opportunity to talk the ear off another wolf - it might be the last friendly one she'd see for a good long time.
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 9:39 am
He hesitated, once more, at the compliment. Balios was not a wolf accustomed to such things. Actually, now that he thought on it, he wasn't sure he had ever actually been complimented. Praised sometimes, yes, for his merits...but never for the simple act of being himself, which very often earned him snide commentary instead. It made him a bit uncomfortable, but in an oddly good way.
"Oh," he said, suddenly finding himself speechless -- another first for the dappled wolf. "...Well, you are welcome to stay here as long as you like, provided you mean us no harm -- which, I daresay, you clearly don't." He smiled, proudly. He had a very high opinion of his pack, which he considered to be the kindest and fairest imaginable. "Although when you get to feeling a bit more rested, I should introduce you to my grandmother Chivosi. She's the alpha and would like to know who's coming and going through the pack."
He nodded and reclined back upon his haunches, curling his tail about his paws to look her over again, curiously, wondering where she had come from and why she had left and how far she had walked and whether everyone in her world spoke the way she did. He was intensely curious but suddenly too shy to ask.
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 2:38 pm
Aya was blown away by what, to Balios, probably seemed a very simple easy thing to say. Her own people were fairly welcoming, but to invite indefinitely into their packlands someone they'd only just met? It called for a mindset she'd just never encountered before. Her eyes widened and gained a tad of dampness to them as she moved closer, as if to see whether he was some apparition which was trying to trick her into madness by giving and then taking away that one thing she had so desired.
"Truly, you mean it? I could stay?!" at this point she'd have met death his own self in the flesh if it meant she could find a place to rest. "Oh honey you don't know how much that'd mean to me. Are there very many of you here? Do you have brothers and sisters? Are there any little ones around? Do you need someone as does things? I ain't afraid of workin' hard for my keep!"
Her accent became more noticeable as she burbled out this stream of thoughts - not having Balios' shyness regarding questions at all.
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 9:38 pm
"You may come, always," he mumbled, looking a little put-off by her enthusiasm. Balios wasn't used to being taken seriously. He twirled his forepaw bashfully in the dirt. "That's what the letters stand for, I mean. For our pack. YMCA." His ears folded back and he shot her a tentative glance before looking back at his paws. Not very diplomatic now, was he!
"We are a....sanctuary...for travelers," he said, then, because it seemed important to continue explaining this. "Everyone's welcome, if they pull their weight. And I'm sure that'll be no problem for you...Aya," he said, testing her name out again. He decided he liked it quite a bit.
But boy, she talked a lot! He wasn't used to that, either. For the most part, Balios talked more than anyone he knew. He didn't mind at all -- in fact, he found it relieving -- but it was very strange. He wondered how long she'd been all by herself. "I have four brothers," he said, "and an adopted sister. I've also got three little cousins, and some more on the way from my aunt Aleu, and then our beta Merrill has one son and a bunch of daughters who are all my age, more or less."
Two things occurred to him at that point. One, that if he ever encountered a spy for some reason that his pack would be destroyed in seconds. Two, that his family was enormous.
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Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2011 12:21 am
Seeing the young male's slight discomfort Aya tried to reign her babbling in a little - she knew she was being a little more verbose than usual due to just being so damned glad to talk to someone.
"Well, ain't that something. You May Come Always. What a sweet name" she smiled, trying to be slower in her speech, if nothing else. "And, well, if you have the confidence that I can do it then I surely can't let you down" she added, in a somewhat mischievous tone.
Listening to his long list of relatives Aya felt a twinge of pain - she had no brothers or sisters, had lost her parents at a young age and knew of no cousins. Certainly, she had no children... The thought that another here had adopted did give her some cause for hope, though - she wasn't alone in loving to care for little ones! If she'd known Balios' mother she might not have come so easily to the conclusion that this was from a great maternal love but that sad realisation would not mar this meeting.
"Well, that sure is a big family you have and goodness, pups on the way? Oh I do love little ones runnin' around" even though it had long distressed her that she thought herself incapable of bearing pups, she could never feel truly jealous at the luck of others in birthing their own - rather her nature inclined her to pander to anyone's young if and when she could - and it had been a long time since she'd be able to do even that.
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 3:06 am
His tail gave a slow thud. "I like having a big family. The whole pack feels like family, too. Not just the ones I'm actually related to."
His brow furrowed. Maybe that was why he was unable to look at females in his pack -- because they all felt like his sisters. Not that the girls from Antianeira were any better. For all he knew, they were also his cousins, either that or they were probably crazy, or both. And, while young Balios would never admit it aloud, part of the reason he spent so much time wandering away from home was to practice diplomacy....on females.
Just because he was painstakingly polite didn't mean he wasn't male!
"Hey. Is there anything I can get you?" He asked, suddenly, realizing that in all of his distraction he had neglected to offer his hospitality. Oddly, he hadn't even considered looking at Aya in an interested fashion (as anything more than a very intriguing stranger, at least); oh, she was quite lovely, but she was clearly too old for him, too worldly. Out of his league. So far out that he didn't even think, at that moment, to remember that she was female...anymore than he knew that his mother and his grandmother were female. "Food, or anything?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 10:04 am
"That sounds wonderful, darlin' - I can't say I don't like the sound of that greatly" she smiled, wondering what it would have been like to grow up in such a kind and caring environment. How wonderful to have been loved and to love so freely - an idealised form filled her travel-sore mind and she resolved that this definitely must be the superior way for pack life to be!
"Anything you can get me? Oh no, honey, I'm sure I can manage to get by unless there are some rules I need to know? I sure don't want to put anyone out! " she said, quickly. After a moment, though, she realised there was one thing that might help... "if you could show me where there's some water I'm parched! I ain't been able to find any for a few days that's been more than a puddle" her smile was now self-deprecating. Truly, she hadn't really been of a mood to try looking, but now that she thought on it she truly had a thirst in her for some nice, sweet, clear water.
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Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2011 11:15 pm
"Not really," he said, in response to her rules question. "We ask only that everyone pull their weight, according to their abilities." His words had the edge to them that suggested they were a direct quote. Not surprising, given Balios's near-encyclopediac knowledge for such things. "I'll introduce you to my grandmother, when you're ready. She's the alpha."
He rose up to his paws and shook himself. "But first, water. Absolutely. Come on, I'll take you up to the river. It runs all the way from our allies up north, maybe further, and if you go across there's another pack but I've never gone there to visit."
If Balios had been shy at at any point, he was certainly warming up now.
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Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 1:07 pm
Aya was amused at the 'wrote' tone to his words. It was rather cute when the young did that, she had always thought. Especially when there was a gaggle of them, repeating after... she cut that thaught off. No maundering over babies right now, it wasn't the time, silly wolf.
With a smile she rose alongside Balios and smiled. "There are a lot of packs 'round here then?" she asked, glad she'd run into this one rather than possibly having run afoul of the others and wanting to keep the young wolf chatting. It really was SO darned nice to be chatting, to feel she was going to be part of something, even if she might only be able to stay a while.
If they were all like Balios, they couldn't be bad. Even to have brought him up as he was spoke well of his family and pack. The older female smiled as she walked alongside her new found friend.
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 9:53 pm
"Not that many," he said, waiting for her to get to her paws before starting slowly toward the river that cut through the southern boundary of the pack. "Just us, Antianeira to the north, and Draug Faroth to the south. I think that's what they're called. Funny name." His nose wrinkled, but he didn't stop for long. Now that he'd warmed up -- had realized that he really could get by with talking without reprobate -- words tumbled out of him like a waterfall.
"Antianeira is filled with female warriors. My mom used to be from there, but she left and she fell in love with my dad so she decided to stay here instead. I've got an uncle who lives up there though and some more cousins. The boys are slaves. Can you imagine? Slaves!" It wasn't anger in his tone, but amusement -- the 'aw, how quaint' tone of a tourist watching the strange customs of a faraway place.
"I think if you follow the mountain range up north there's another pack up there that's got some kind of religion. I heard somebody talk about them. don't know what they're called, though."
If the diplomat thing didn't work out, he could always try for tour guide.
"How 'bout you? Where did you come from?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2011 3:37 am
Aya followed along beside him, her eyes wandering, watching, remembering where they walked so that if she needed to she could find her way back here, or to water. She was listening, though, and her step faltered when he spoke of Antianeira. "They... they keep males as slaves?" her voice was aghast. "Little ones too? Why in the world would they do that... you don't seem much bothered by it, neither?". she was surprised - was this the price of such an open and friendly group - were they debauched and sold others into slavery for some gain? Her eyes showed her anguish, her sadness.
"If your own momma came from there..." she left the rest unsaid, biting her lip. It wasn't her place to question other folks situations - not everyone had a choice in how they had to live. She'd known that feeling in her own pack, had known her own status was reliant on her mates. It wasn't slavery, but it had sometimes felt a lot like it.
She looked away when she spoke about her own pack, thinking her eyes might give away the lie. "My pack is... was a bit south-east from here. There's nothing left there any more" it was true, for her, but she knew there was a lie by omission and it made her feel guilty.
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