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 Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2010 10:05 pm
His tail wagging in excitement, he followed after her, coming to an abrupt stop when she did. His eyes widened, nearly as wide as the creature before him, and a slow, easy grin spread over his maw. Oh, his sisters would never believe this. He laughed a little, as the tarsier scampered away into the trees, although his laugh was uncharacteristically soft for a pup, a whispering sort of chuckle beneath his breath. "Blue headed lizards and...that." He shook his head, in disbelief. "I'd like to see Dere top that one," he said, mostly to himself, and then stepped forward to investigate the tree.
Trees were of immense interest to Novacaine. One day, he'd like to learn how to climb one. For now, he was mostly quite satisfied with the little clubhouse he had made for himself in the roots of one.
He considered, for a moment, leading her back there to look at his favorite secret hideaway, but he hesitated. He would take her there, certainly...but he decided he'd wait til he knew her better. Some things were best if kept secret for a little while.
"Do you know how to climb trees?" He asked, glancing over his shoulder at her, his enthusiasm for the adventuring outweighing his general demeanor of quiet shyness.
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Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2010 11:41 pm
"Certain Kinds." she admitted sheepishly. "Those with thick and rough bark, and those with low branches above high rocks. It's hard and takes a lot of leg muscle and determination... and it tends to hurt... but the view is generally worth it." she admitted, nodding.
The way she spoke made it seem like it was nothing strange to her that she was able to climb, or that a wolf would be able to climb any old tree, but when she looked at him and gave him a bright, content smile, it was obvious that she was sincere.
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Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2010 12:01 am
"You should teach me," he said, earnestly, looking between her and the tree -- which, now he looked at it, was seeming pretty quite enormous and a little imposing. "I bet, if we climbed all the way up there, we could see...that big-eyed thing. I bet it lives up there." Excitement crept into his usually calm voice -- although it was quite subtle.
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Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2010 12:38 pm
She looked at him and nodded. "I can, yeah... but this tree isn't a good one to start on..." she paused, thinking about the special tree that she had claimed as hers. It had low branches and lots of rocks beneath it. It was the first one she had climbed. Not that her father knew, or anyone else...well, except her grandmother, and she was rather certain she wasn't telling anyone. The tree would be good for teaching, but it was her special place... maybe she could share it with her first friend though... "Come on Nova... there's a special place I'll teach you. Not this tree, okay?"
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Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 11:12 am
"Okay," he said, and gave his tail a slow wag. A special place, huh? Well...perhaps he would return the favor.
But only after he'd learned how to climb!
Excited -- or at least, as excited as the monotone-speaking wolf ever got -- he followed behind her, his bright green eyes curiously peering around as to what she could possibly show him next. He was quickly coming to the conclusion that this Stormkeeper was one of the smartest wolves he had ever met.
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Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 8:08 pm
She smiled and lead him to an old tree bowed with age. It had clearly been through some storms, in time it's bowing branches had grown and dipped until they were close to the ground, close enough for a young pup to hop onto when he or she was just learning to climb. The bark on the tree was thick, soft enough to dig claws into but sturdy enough to support the weight of the clawed animal. She nodded at the tree. "This is where I will teach you." and she took a running start and leaped at the tree, engaging the bark with her hind claws while her front paws sought purchase on the tree branch. "Coming?" she asked, pointing at the lowest branch.
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Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 1:19 am
He stared at the tree for a long, uncomfortable while, lagging behind her as he soaked it all in. He was silent for a time, even as she climbed the limb and invited her to follow, but a grin broke out over his maw. His green eyes glittered interestedly. "This is awesome," he said, and took a few steps forward, tentatively testing out the tree branch the way he had seen her do it.
Could his sisters climb trees? Oh no, they certainly could not! he thought, and the idea made him delighted.
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Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 1:45 pm
Looking back at him she watched. He was doing rather well for his first time. The first time she had tried she'd fallen and returned home with a bleeding belly to show for it. She got to a particularly thick branch with a fairly flat surface and she sat down to wait for him.
"You've gotten the easy part down... now the hard part. Climbing down. There are a few ways to do this, jump to lower branches, a little dangerous, especially if you land wrong or miss... then there's sliding down. If you do it right you won't scrape your belly. It's better if your claws are sharper for that method however." she explained softly.
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Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 10:17 pm
Climbing down? Oh dear, that part hadn't occurred to him. He heaved himself up to the branch beneath her, crouching close to the tree trunk. His limbs shook slightly as he tried to maintain his balance, but overall, he was feeling pretty --
CRACK!
The limb he had chosen to perch upon wasn't sturdy enough to bear weight, and though it didn't break completely, it did shift beneath his weight, bending at a harsh angle. Having no idea what to do, the pink pup let out a bit of a yelp and fell to a lower limb.
Scrambling with his paws, he tried to grab hold, managed to get a grip on a lower limb, and then it too bent beneath his weight and he dropped to the ground with an audible 'oomph!'
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Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2010 2:03 pm
Dropping with practiced skill to the branch he had caused to bend she walked down the length of the branch and hopped from there to the ground beside him. "Well, that's one way to get down. Are you Alright?" she asked, sniffing around him to be sure he hadn't been seriously hurt.
"It takes a lot of Practice." she reassured him. "Like Howling. You practice and practice and when you finally can do it it comes as a second nature thing, almost as easy as breathing."
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Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2010 11:31 pm
He lay on his back, paws in the air, his green eyes wearing a rather dazed expression. For a moment he just stared in slight confusion at the tree, not quite comprehending what just happened.
At length, he looked over at Stormkeeper and blinked, once, twice, slowly. "The tree kicked me out," he said, quite seriously.
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Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 1:18 am
"Kirin does that from time to time. We must have woken him." she said in just a serious a tone, no hint of joking in her expression. "We should come back later when he's in a better mood." she said, listening to the groan of the tree as the wind blew past. "He's not in the mood for learners today.We should come back tomorrow." she said, turning away from the tree.
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Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 1:57 pm
"Kirin?" He asked, wide-eyed, rolling to his paws. He winced a little. His whole body was sore, although not badly -- plasticity of the body was a unique benefit of youth. "...The tree has a name?"
He blinked, hearing the groan of wind and branches, and grinned. "It talks, too?!" Oh wait until his sisters heard about this! So it wasn't just them that saw the trees move -- he could even hear them talk!
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Posted: Sat Aug 14, 2010 8:39 pm
"Trees, flowers, even the grass you walk on, all of it is alive Nova. They all breathe and feel, and all of them have voices, you just have to listen and you have to want to hear them..." she explained with a soft smile.
She sat, looking up at the tree with patient eyes and she listened intently. The wing blew and the tree's leaves and branched swayed and for a moment it seemed like the tree inhaled as she exhaled, the two seemed in sync and harmonious. She closed her eyes and poised her ears forward, and she smiled, as the leaves rattled and the breeze blew against her a whisper found her ears. "Everything has a spirit, everything grows and ages... and everything cries and bleeds." she told him, speaking the words that came to her in the tree's whisper.
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Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2010 1:46 am
He tilted his head, ears cocked to listen to the subtle whisperings of the creaking branches, the wind, the call of birds and the scuttling of beetles, and as he listened a wide grin spread across his maw, green eyes gleaming with delight. "Yeah...I think I see what you mean," he said, tail thumping against the ground.
He liked Stormkeeper quite a lot, he decided. She showed him things he hadn't seen before -- and, unlike the things that Dere and Illu experienced, he could share.
He gave another of his long, signature pauses, and gave a long thoughtful glance over his shoulder, as though looking at something very interesting. Then, seeming to snap out of it, he glanced back to the other pup and smiled. "I think I should get going," he said, a little hesitantly. "Dad might be back from hunting now and he'll be worrying if I'm not there, I think. But...if you want...we can meet here again tomorrow, and play some more?" His tail thumped.
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