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 Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 6:44 pm
The wolf surfaced as her new friend was just hitting the water. She giggled gleefully and splashed around, lapping at the cool waters and gently batting the surface with her forepaws. She watched as her little black and white counterpart swam to the surface, noticing that she seemed to have a bit of a problem swimming, but deciding not to say anything.
After Kaya seemed to settle under the rock, Shiva made her way towards her, and the shore. The rock itself was opposite where the lake filtered out to the ocean by way of a lazy river, but they had time to tour what little part of the world Shiva knew about.
"That was a blast!" she exclaimed, shaking herself off at a respectable distance before approaching where Kaya now rested. She was ready to move around the lake and on to the river as soon as Kaya said the word, but she had the feeling that the female would have questions, if her shared vision of the ocean had got through at all.
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Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 7:02 pm
She nodded happily in agreement with Shiva. "That was a blast." A pause foreshadowed the inevitable. "But I'm curious... I saw something along our way here, as you spoke of this place. Flashes. Blurry pictures. But I know I haven't been here before. At least I don't think I have. And if I ever was, it must've been before I could even open my eyes!" How had that happened? It was so peculiar. Did she... Did Shiva share her thoughts with her somehow? No, that was impossible... That would be too much for a pup like Kaya to dream of. She'd promised mama she wouldn't let her imagination flail like her brother's, and just look at her now... Total face-palm moment.
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Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 7:13 pm
Shiva slowly lowered herself to her haunches, neatly tucking her tail around her left hip. She listened carefully, and attempted to keep the small frown from creeping over her maw. Ghede would be very upset with her when he learned she had been irresponsible with her power. She had acted without being completely certain she could deal with the consequences, and now the choice to lie or tell the truth was battled at the forefront of her young mind.
As she warred inside her own head, faint thoughts of Kaya's mother and brother invaded, and troubled her more so than she had been before. She didn't want Kaya to think she couldn't trust her, to think she was merely rooting around in her thoughts and memories for fun. She tried her best always to stay respectfully out of the business of other wolves.
"It was supposed to be the ocean, but I've never seen it myself." she answered truthfully. She couldn't make herself lie, not even if life depended on it. It just wasn't her way. "I only have what I accidentally caught from another wolf, who had seen it..." she trailed off, hoping that Kaya wouldn't react poorly to this news, or worse... think Shiva was crazy.
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Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 7:24 pm
It was unsettling not knowing what to think of the situation. Should she believe that Shiva really knew exactly what she was thinking? Or could somehow mimic, or catch as she spoke of, thoughts? Or anything similar for that matter? How was a pup supposed to respond to something like this? Deliberation took its toll on Kaya. She tried not to frown herself, noticing the other wolf do the same. Of course, she didn't want to be disrespectful to Shiva, or to make her new friend think she thought poorly of her. "I see." I see? Kaya, what are you thinking. Wait a second. Are you even safe in your own mind? That is, if what she says is real. "I... don't know whether to believe you, to be honest. But please don't take that to heart in a negative way. I mean well. Just..." For the first time in her life, the black and white female was having trouble explaining herself.
She turned over and flopped down to her side, giving a nice long stretch. It was beginning to become close to nap time. Or at least time for a small rest. Yawning, she continued to ponder the circumstance. If it really was true, then maybe Shiva had heard her very own thoughts before. All of them. From moment one. Even though, in reality, they had only known each other for not even a few hours. It was a small world out there, running into all sorts of people and things. Recent history had already been unkind enough to her. She hoped the fate of this relationship would not be the same. But she really didn't think it would be.
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Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 7:57 pm
She watched Kaya carefully, gauging her reactions. She could feel the wolf's struggle in her own mind, as emotions flowed in strongly. For the first time, she wished she knew how to block these things, or to simply not listen.
"I don't do it on purpose, it just..." they were talking at the same time now. She paused and allowed Kaya to finish before she added "I don't blame you if you don't believe me... it's hard to believe." she figured that if Kaya got to meet Ghede, she would have no choice but to believe. But it wasn't her place to force belief on another, and she would do her best to stay out of Kaya's thoughts from now on.
She stretched out as well, but didn't lay down fully. She kept alert, and stared out over the water in the direction of her river. Ghede would be creating the red blossom now - he had called it fire - and cooking his dinner. He had offered the cooked meat to her a few times, but she couldn't bring herself to eat it, and always maintained her own meals by hunting for herself.
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Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 2:33 pm
The young female took a moment to calm herself down. Her racing thoughts had overreacted, she figured. "It's okay Shiva." She nudged her new pal in attempt at consolement. It was refreshing to meet somebody else with a lot of various things going on in their own life. Their own dilemmas, and not ones that would make themselves a home in her too. "I believe you. I'm not sure how, but, I believe you..." she finished, nearly cutting the spotted one off but just missing doing so.
It was the time of day when the sun would strike down dead any living creature stupid enough to last so long in it. Luckily the shade overcast was just cool enough to keep it from being blistering. Being a long-coated mammal, Kaya knew this basking would have to come to an end soon. Albeit lovely, it wouldn't suit for her health. A brisk run, however, was a good thought right about now. "Why don't you tell me more about what's going on in your world? I'd like to get to know more about you. Really." She smiled and motioned forward for Shiva to follow as she lifted herself up in the direction of the coastline to the waters.
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Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 2:47 pm
Shiva smiled at the nudge, and rose to all fours once more. It was hot out, and she wished to be back home where the sun rarely shone through the thick mangroves that surrounded the den. "I thank you." she added sincerely, wishing to concrete the belief in Kaya's mind by sharing more of her gifts, but once again not feeling up to taking responsibility for her actions. As such, she decided to keep it to herself if she could.
"In my world?" she gave a soft laugh. It really was like a world of its own, she realized. She wasn't nearly as secretive as one would assume, given her strange difference from other wolves. "My parents disappeared in the night when I was just a small pup." she shared, slowly. She had felt that same homelessness rolling off Kaya, and didn't want to set off any negativity in her new friend. "But I have someone to watch over me, where we live in a Mangrove forest." she smiled fondly at the memory of her 'world', so dark green that it was almost black, with muddy brown waters that moved lazily out to the ends of the earth, where there was nothing but water.
She couldn't wait to show these things to Kaya, for they were the ultimate nature of her happiness, and the reason her heart beat day after day. She moved with the black and white femme, running beside her for the moment as they moved towards where the lake bottlenecked to the river.
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Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 2:56 pm
The she-pup kept her pace, increasingly it only slight portions at a time until they were both in a brisk, steady stride. The wind played against her face and sent her fur flying backwards. It felt wonderful to let yourself go. To embrace nature and allow yourself to be carried away to whatever may come to you. Or whatever you may come to. She listened carefully and nodded at Shiva as she had finished. "I'm so sorry." she apologized. "That's so awful. But I'm glad you're alright, and that you have someone taking care of you." A one second pause. "Whom is taking care of you, if I may inquire?" Shiva had already divulged so much, but Kaya hoped to know so much more...
The shoreline spread thick, then thinner, then thinner still, until finally it would let out into the ocean. Pouring its weight into the endless bounds of lush liquids ahead of it. This is where they'd land in but a moment, but Kaya, for now, sought only the answers of her simple curiosities, and less of the intricate details of nature and its mystical ways. A whimsical story? There was time for that later.
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Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 3:15 pm
"Don't be!" she pup insisted, enjoying the feeling of the wind in her fur. She knew that someday she would run into her parents again, and find out where they had gone in the first place. She could hear bugs buzzing against the wind, and their paws splashed in the shallow water every now and then as she flirted with the water, edging in and out of it playfully.
"The river!" she announced moments later, as the majesty of the thing rose over the horizon, growing bigger as the closed in on it. The lake got enough rainfall to steadily feed the river without dropping below a normal level, and the river did its part by steadily flowing out into the ocean all day and night.
Three-quarters of the way from lake to ocean was where Shiva and Ghede made their home. "It'll take a bit to get home," she explained as the got ever closer to the mouth of the river. "I've been away for at least half a sun, and last moon." As she spoke, she wondered how to explain to Kaya that it was a human that took care of her. "He's a friend of the wolf," she smiled fondly, "His name is Ghede."
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Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 3:22 pm
Ghede. Well now that was a funny name. Funny as in odd. But not perhaps in such a bad way. "Alright, then. I don't mind making a long trip. Let's meet this 'Ghede'!" she giggled slightly, splashing some water up at Shiva's face as she finished. Back and forth, in and out she watched the other young femme weave through the water tips and land alike. She was thankful no drama had ensued back there. Nipped it in the bud, she had. For this she was eternally grateful. "Tag! You're it!" she squeeled, then stormed off in a blaze of water splashing and dirt flinging from behind her paw-steps. She was fast, but she playfully wondered if Shiva could keep up.
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Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 3:29 pm
Shiva was instantly happy that Kaya seemed to want to meet Ghede. She was also curious to see what lay south of her home, to see this Ocean for the first time herself.
She gasped and giggled as she watched Kaya tag her and run off. She had never played like this before, but instantly took a liking to it. The gist of the game seemed simple, and she rushed off, flinging water and dirt up herself as she gave chase.
"Awroooo!" she howled as best a pup could as she ran, feeling as the free varg should always feel. She passed Kaya after a bit, forking a lazy left turn to head down the bank of the river. "Tag!" she yelled back, grinning madly.
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Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 3:35 pm
"Oh yeah!?" she called, slowly but surely edging her pace up even moreso, enough to outlast the strides Shiva was giving. Before long she caught up, but not before grabbing a stick with her mouth along the way. As soon as she reached the other four-legger, she tapped her lightly then grinned. "Tag!" she said, but kept right alongside her. For she couldn't really go much faster than this. It was as if she was in hunting mode, only playfully. Too much would be too tiring, and too little was never enough. "So how long to get back then?" She finally let the stick drop from her mouth. "A day? Two days? What would you like to do while we wait?"
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Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 4:00 pm
The trees were thickening, even the little way into the forest that they had traveled. They would soon turn from the pines and oaks into the land of the Mangrove and the poisonous Blinding Tree. The Blinding Tree was what made the river undrinkable, and Ghede and Shiva were lucky that there was a small lake nearby that hadn't been affected by the poisons in the trees around it.
Shiva jumped a bit at the tap, but slowed her pace. "We should drink now, while the river is still clean." she said, remembering about the Blinding Tree. "More south there are trees that poison the water, and we can't drink it." she confirmed, nodding. She slowed to a stop, waiting for Kaya to do the same before lowering her head to the water and drinking deeply. It was clean and clear here, and revitalizing.
"I took a slow path to get here originally." she answered, after having her fill of the water. "I didn't follow the river, and took a lot of time exploring. We should hit home by moonrise." she panted a bit, calming herself from their run. They could walk the rest of the river and make it home before the moon rose to its highest peak in the sky.
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Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 4:07 pm
Like a pup being dragged away from a fun-field day of playful exercise, Kaya was no exception to the rule of not knowing when enough was enough. By the time she turned around and realized Shiva had stopped, she herself was leaps and bounds ahead. Sighing, she stopped, turned round, then headed back towards the thirsty one. She wasn't particularly thirsty after their run, which had much rejuvenated her, but water was a good idea all the same.
She listened whenever the pup told her of the poisonous trees. Poisonous trees? That would almost seem like nonsense, had it not been for her previous experience with astronomical occurances. A poisonous tree paled in comparison to a witch's brew on the scale of oddities, after all. "I see, I see. Well that's a good idea then." Taking many laps of water, she filled herself up then motioned onward, this time taking a more pleasing, walking pace. "There's no time to lose then." she added, not waiting for Shiva one way or the other. She wanted to keep moving. Her new mission was at hand. Meet this one 'Ghede.' See how a pup finds a home around here.
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Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 4:32 pm
Shiva could sense the impatience rolling off her friend, and she smiled inwardly to herself. She knew the importance of drinking now though, and was relieved when Kaya took her fill of the water as well. She only smiled more when the pup started off without her - she would get quite the surprise if she made it to the den without Shiva there to lead her in!
Catching up, the spotted pup let her tail flag lazily behind her, as she easily maintained the speed that Kaya seemed to prefer. "The journey is half the fun of the destination." she grinned, nipping playfully at her friend's ear.
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