|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 12:33 pm
 He had expected it to feel more uncomfortable than it did. Or, rather: he knew that coming back was grotesquely awkward, but he had enough of a sense of himself and of his surroundings to keep his head in the clouds that Lungaia had put him in, to replace all thought of his inglorious return with the starry-eyed image of the crazy she-wolf whose gaze had lanced straight through him, whose words had grabbed him at the nape of the neck as if he were small again. His wide eyes blinked, and he crept through the early morning light, and vowed again to be a good Slave.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 9:44 pm
 Lungaia was not a wolf prone to introspection. Which was probably for the best, as if she took a good, solid look at her life right now, it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense.
As little as she thought about her actions, she did come to rely heavily on her intuition, and this all felt right. This pack, this strange white wolf...this felt like where she was supposed to be. If there were some great cosmic force guiding her life, it had landed her here.
Not that Lungaia believed in cosmic forces. She didn't believe in anything.
She glanced back at him, curiously. She hadn't really asked about the full history of his membership and subsequent abandonment of the pack, but now that they were back she wondered if she should have pried. Bringing him here had taken much less effort on her part than she'd expected, but then, she suspected he would do anything for her. That in itself was frightening, and a little fascinating.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 9:57 pm
Tui looked up, and you could almost make out a literal shine of adoration in his eyes, a love as pure and desperate and squalling as a newborn pup's. Just thinking about it made his paws clumsy, and he tripped over himself a little and ducked his head, embarrassed. Okay, even if he allowed himself to think exclusively of his new savior, there were certain...certain implications that needed to be dealt with. He had a fleeting image of a seafoam-colored female that soured his gut with great efficacy, and found he couldn't raise his head. Surely, surely this was a fairytale.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 10:25 pm
She glanced at him as they crossed over the threshhold into the pack proper. "You ready for this?" Lungaia asked in a low, slightly gutteral tone -- the voice of one who was accustomed to growling more than speaking. She could keep him hidden away in the woods if he wanted her to, but she wouldn't do it unless he asked. She wouldn't let anything hurt him, and she suspected he knew that. Then again, if he needed her to prove that, she would.  Tui may have been on cloud nine, but Iosef was lurking around somewhere just above purgatory. His children were a nightmare. Well, no, that wasn't totally true. Isobel was everything he could possibly want in a warrior, and Perdicas was a fine slave. But Najara was flirting with a dangerous path...and Romir hardly had any of his paws in reality...and Chimera was just a train wreck. He loved them all dearly, and would give them up...but often, he wondered if it all had been worth it. This life wasn't what he had expected it to be. He had always assumed that if he could find a nice, understanding female and have a large family that he would feel whole and complete.
So why didn't he? Why was there still that gnawing hole in his gut?
He hadn't realized just how much time had elapsed since things had fallen apart with Tui -- it all still seemed astonishingly fresh. So fresh, in fact, that he could swear he could still smell him sometimes.
No...wait. He could smell him.
Looking up from his work, he cast a desperate look around, wondering if he was hallucinating. He was just about to give up on the search when -- ah! -- there. That was undoubtedly Tui. And he looked....radiant. That more than anything took his breath away. If he had expected anything of Tui, it was certainly not to see him looking not just happy, but...elated.
It took a moment for his eyes to recognize that there was someone else beside him. A female...a warrior. The new warrior Varia had recruited. Iosef had never met her, but he knew that she existed; word had traveled fast that she was the first wolf in a long while to be a true equal to Varia in battle prowess.
...So why was she standing next to Tui, and why did they both look so happy?
His jaw literally dropped and he stared, openly and confusedly, at the two of them, as though perhaps they were a mirage.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 11:24 pm
Well, Tui certainly felt like some kind of mirage. At her call, he raised his eyes to hers, all that naked love and need beaming out from them; "I think so." He managed a long moment of bashful eyegazing before he found himself overwhelmed and turned his head...and upon turning it, saw the last wolf he could have wanted to see just now, or really, at any possible point in the present or future. The fact that he was openly gaping didn't seem to help things. He felt his body stiffen, but he thought it was more from awkwardness than hurt, as impossible as that should have been. And anyway, why did he feel like he'd been caught at something? He'd been called under the wing of a strong wolf, and that was something Iosef was intimately familiar with. Any...any implications brought up by being under that wing would be no new ground for them, either. So he took the easy route, sliding his gaze back to Lungaia's legs and shoulders, sliding into the formal passiveness that made much of life in Antianeira so easy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2011 11:38 am
Iosef, completely flabbergasted, tried to pull himself together. There was a warrior here! He couldn't fall apart now! "...Lady," he choked out, and bowed to her. "Is...is there any service I might offer you?"
Lungaia's brows raised. Her ears flicked. She glanced back at Tui, who had pulled close like a nervous pup, and then down at the cowering calico wolf at her paws. "...You're Iosef. Varia's brother." She said, finally. She remembered him -- he had been present, if only briefly, at her induction to the pack. He had seemed obedient then, but not so terrified. She wondered what, precisely, had changed. "I require nothing, thank you." And then, because she may as well do the thing right, she added, "I have my own slave."
She jerked her head toward Tui. In reality, she had no intention of forcing Tui to do any menial tasks for her at all -- honestly, what wolf couldn't clean up after themselves, no matter how hard they trained? -- but she had a suspicion that claiming him as her private slave might keep the others off her back about receiving their help. It should also keep other Sisters from laying their grubby paws on him. She would be damned if she brought him back to the pack to be abused, especially considering she hardly knew him...despite whatever odd feeling in her heart suggested otherwise.
Iosef's eyes widened a bit in full-on shock. "Y-yes. Of course," he managed. He needed to get out of this. He needed to get away from here before he did something exceptionally foolish.
And yet....
He lingered, seeking out Tui's eyes, trying to fit every possible emotion -- apology, affection, remorse, gratitude, relief -- into one meaningful gaze. His legs trembled.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 10:05 pm
Tui felt a shiver tremble down his spine - she meant it, he swore, he could hear it in her voice - he was hers. She was going to take care of him. It was enough to nearly bring him to his knees. He watched her with the awe of a wolf who has been saved by a miracle, a look not so different from the ones he used to beam at Iosef. Only here, there was less shyness, less sweetness, even, and more straight-up awe. It was enough to overshadow his old boyfriend.
It did hit him that Iosef was lingering, though. He tried a careful glance, which quickly bounced away when it caught the weight of Iosef's stare; he would not do that here, absolutely not. He had left their relationship in conflagration, and he was not about to chance any of the myriad sparks swirling in the air over the other male taking light in this new shelter that he had. He blinked, hard, and ignored the trembling legs. He didn't have to say anything.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 1:16 am
It occurred to Lungaia that Tui had not spoken since this exchange started, and she cast a hard, inquiring look at Iosef. She wished she could bore into his mind. Lungaia often found herself jealous of her mother's abilities as a seer, and this was one of those moments. She wanted very badly to climb into his thoughts, to wear him like a mask for a little while, and see what he was seeing.
But she couldn't. Not really. And that frustrated her.
Not that one needed to be psychic to understand what was going on here. It was obvious enough: the calico wolf was clearly in love. She wondered if any of the sisters had ever noticed this, and decided it was unlikely; wolves of high rank tended to become rather near-sighted and self-absorbed. That was one of many inherent risks in pack life.
She wasn't jealous. That was unfathomable. Are gods jealous of their faithful believers when they had mortal romances?
But she was intrigued, and moderately concerned. She remained silent.
Iosef's legs were trembling so hard he felt like they might collapse under his weight. He needed to talk to someone about this before it ate him up from the inside. But...who? Who could he possibly go to? Seraphin? As much as he cared for her...as dear of a friend as she was...as much as he loved the family they had made together.....it was unfathomable.
An inarticulate noise caught in his throat and he bowed away from them both. The green eyes of the warrior bore into him and he felt his insides begin to boil and churn. So many emotions ran through him at once that he couldn't name them, couldn't parse them or identify them.
"....W-will you be n-needing your old den?" He asked, as bravely as he could manage, talking in the general direction of Tui's shoulder. He had used up all of his nerve on that one look and didn't think he could ever look at him ever again. "I'll go start cleaning it."
The den had been empty all this time. Not that there was much competition for it...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 9:21 pm
How could it be that he was only a day past quaking in the dirt from the loss of him? Literally, at this time yesterday he had conjured Iosef's face, his voice, his smell, his trembling legs, and it had brought him to the ground again with humiliation and longing. Iosef had been his greatest loss, and here he found himself with a gain that dwarfed all other relationships to date: Lungaia had...acknowledged him. She had pared him open, pointed out his rotted core, and then gently picked him up by his scruff. It was a miracle.
And Iosef had been no miracle. He had made Tui ache, with all his kindness and goodness, but he had never asked Tui anything. Not beyond what they could do, what he would do, and was it normal. Thinking that outright left him suddenly tired, and sad, but he found he could look at Iosef now. "I can clean it, Iosef."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 10:39 pm
Iosef nodded, careful to avoid his eyes. He had thrown every ounce of himself into that look...and now he wasn't sure whether he had been acknowledged. He wanted desperately to throw himself at him, to plead to him to understand, to talk it all out and make sense of the spiralling chaos of their short life together and the endless chasm since.
But he couldn't do it in the shadow of this magnificent she-wolf. Not when she was looming there like a warrior-shaped monolith. Not when he didn't know what had passed between them..."Alright," he choked out. He bowed to Lungaia, shivering all over, and forced himself away with as much dignity as he could manage.
Lungaia watched between them, unsure what to make of all of this but deciding it was best to allow them to work it out amongst themselves.
She waited for the calico wolf to make his exit, quietly watching the dirt some distance from them both. She had difficulty curbing the smile from her maw. It wasn't funny, precisely, but it was....well, she had never run into anything like this in her life, and it was fascinating and adorable and endearing.
After Iosef made his way away from them -- tail tightly curled between his hind legs, legs shaking so hard he could hardly walk -- she looked over to Tui with soft eyes, gently questioning.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 11:03 pm
Iosef's averted stare seemed to underline the fact that they were dealing with something shameful; he didn't watch him make his retreat. Instead he looked to Lungaia, and felt again that disorientation, that vertigo, of being swooped up from a fall and finding yourself in Superman's arms. At her look, he barked out a weird little nervous laugh, dropping his head between his paws. Boy, he wasn't ready for this much acknowledging, no sir. He tried a faltering smile, glancing up, and for a minute his eyes gleamed with a touch of good humor. "He found me out in the wilderness last time," he explained, and then deflated all over again.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 10:01 pm
Lungaia's smile was gentle and indulgent, and she leaned forward to run her tongue along the fur of his scruff -- a gesture both affectionate and maternal. "This happens often, then?"
She remembered a story she'd once heard, from a traveling storyteller: the story of a gift that lay nestled in the forest, where travelers might come upon it from time to time. The gift was so wonderful that it quickly pervaded the senses of the wolf in possession of it, consumed them, overpowered them, drove them to do terrible and great things before destroying them.
She had never heard the end of the story, as Kaeerah had grown bored of it at that moment and eaten the storyteller, but she thought back on it now. What if this wolf were that sort of treasure? What was it about him that drew her to him so? And why did he seem to have the same effect on that patchy wolf?
"Does anyone else know?" She asked, then, because she realized it was important to make sure this was clear. "About the two of you?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 6:05 pm
His flattened ears began to glow a bright pink. Less often than I want. "Lately," he admitted shyly, stealing a glance at her out the corner of his eye.
He had begun to fantasize, in his cautious way, about how the life laid out ahead of them would form: being her servant, being in Antianeira, being protected. He had just begun to foster that buoying sensation of having a clear, good path ahead, when her questions pricked him. He flinched a little, and looked down to his paws. "I...he, he's claimed by one of the Sisters." His stomach soured. "She knows."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 6:31 pm
"I imagine that's quite convenient for him," she said, mildly. What a strange, backwards world she lived in now. She shrugged, withdrawing from the immediate shadow of her little foundling, and smiled the fond smile that one bestows on a precocious child.
"But I suppose it would be best not to say anything?" She clarified, with brows slightly raised. Lungaia hated secrets. In her world, everything was black and white and transparent. If she had the ability, she would bore into the thoughts of everyone around her to see exactly what they were thinking, just to evade the need for all of this slinking.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 6:07 pm
Her smile caused his mind to reel, and he found his feet nearly followed; he seemed to be lost in a dizzy reverie for a few moments before he was able to answer. "I...think you're right," he mumbled, still unable to quite hold Iosef in his head.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
