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 Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 10:55 pm
Too Meet a Seer Kealdrana Sasaiuni She was at it again, sticking her nose in places it really didn't belong. Pestering things as she went. Rabits, deer, linxes, whatever she could get her little paws upon to drive absolutely out of their minds. Not to mention all the sticks she'd conquered. Granted, they were much less prolific than she remembered, and certainly less exciting, but they were still her arch enemy in a world of nice children.
There were far to many stupid, kind wolves, that should have been scarfed up a far long time ago by the random oddities that ventured about these crazy lands. It was a detestable place, certainly. It fit Noyama quite well, if she thought so herself. Presently she had her fatty pink nose shoved completely down into the earth, her tail swinging from side to side with the intention to give whatever ventured too close a nice thwak on the face. She, of course, was busy terrorizing the home of a few ground squirrels. They were chattering away at her, throwing what they had in reach, and braving a few sharp bites to her fur now and then.
She wouldn't leave, not until she'd gotten her prize. A few more sharp digs into the eart, and there they were. Pink, naked, writhing little bodies, all screaming in protest at the light. She barked with glee and jumped at one, which wiggled under the small hook of her front claws. Then she nipped it just enough on its frail skin, letting the sweet taste of its blood dab her tongue.
Torturing sufficient, she continued to drag the creature's one by one away from the nest of the protective parents. They babies squealed as they were seperated from the warmth of their siblings. Screams of terror Noyama more than enjoyed. She went about hiding them places, making sure they were well alive. Sometimes she'd cover them with things, just to make sure getting back to their home was harder. Then she tiptoed only a short distance away to watch the fray that would arise within the community, a puppy smirk smacked lovingly on her jaw. Furekatsu Anjiru 
It seemed everyday that more and more things were born that shouldn't be meddled with. The beauty of such affairs was that Meskeet could dip into them without getting any dirt on her nose. And no one would even know.
As of late, however, the business she was most interested in was the future. Which she'd begun to map out based on secrets she knew, and the secrets' of others.
One of her more lengthy investments was her son. Her only son, she stated firmly. Dorian. He was the future of her pack. Her chance at revenge should she meet a similar end as Phantom recieved.
Dorian was perfect, in her eyes. Little could convince her otherwise. Because of this she felt assured that she needn't pester him every moment of the day. He was more than smart enough to learn things on his own. Never the less he was constantly on her mind.
Even when she killed things or was in the process of considering killing things. At the moment her target was possible lunch. As her yellow eyes focused on the form of an adolescent her lip curled back malignantly. Pink. This girl was definately worth eating.
Stepping up behind the youth Meskeet loomed down at Noyama. She'd already looked through her, and despite some of her more interesting aquaintances, the seer still believed she'd make a suitable meal.Kealdrana Sasaiuni Noyama, for the time being, was content with what she had done in front of her. The scene was of complete turmoil. Screaming mothers, their babies trapped in dirt mounds, logs, and they seemed to raise an even louder ruckus for no reason at all. Which made Noyama stop and wonder. She hadn't bothered to keep her senses about her, but as the little creatures began their protest, she decided it was time to sniff the air, and a none too friendly scent caught her nose.
She wrinkled it, it had the stench of someone who hadn't showered in ages, and was ungainly ugly. The only thing which would possibly change her mind would be if a nice pretty pink male was standing above her. At the moment, she really had no mind to think it was, for her mind didn't think of such things.
So instead of hopping up to greet the newcommer, Noyama waited, and waited some more. She could feel the warm presence of another body looming over her, and then the hot breath of an open maw. How strange, it was not kind to drool over her, no matter how beautiful a specimen she was.
A glare on her face she snapped her head up, with the intent to grap the other's bottom jaw and pull the wolf down onto the ground by simply snapping her own head in the earthword direction. She'd seen a red wolf do it once before, in a fight, long ago. . .. Kara was her name? Ah. . it didn't matter, she just wanted to see if the trick worked on the groveling peasant. . . or soon to be. Furekatsu Anjiru And a clever trick it was. Meskeet would have surely fallen to the ground head first and become enraged had she not had the sense to move backwards at the first mental hint of movement in the pink wolf.
Watching the adolescent in an unkind manner Meskeet stood back a few paces and snarled. A kid wasn't going to get the better of her.
"You hold high standards Noya. Too bad you didn't loosen up and find someone to protect you. It's much needed in this neck of the woods." She sneered. "You never know who's going to find a kid like you."
Her social skills weren't perfect either, but she didn't care. She was getting hungry, and she hadn't eaten another wolf in a while. Kealdrana Sasaiuni No sooner had she enacted the move, than she was on her feet, ready to face whatever drooler that was slobbing its way about. She wasn't surprised to see an ugly brown wolf glaring at her with half sealed eyes. In fact, she appeared to have a familiar appearance to a stick. In any other situation, Noyama might have treated her as one, but her little trick wasn't successful, and she was rather perterbed the other wolf wasn't already writhing beneath her feet.
Then her ears perked as she heard her name. Well, well, well. A seer, then was it? This was certainly a redeeming feature for the other. She could read her mind, and for that, Noyama gave bonus points. In fact, the other might have already upgraded her status just by having the miraculous quality. She already liked this wolf, and her tail wagging showed it.
"I do have protection," she sneered, dragging her tongue across sharp white teeth. "Its just not canid." Her eyes narrowed with a twitch of playfulness. Did this seer want to play her game. "Feel free to read my mind, I have nothing to hide."
Which, in fact, she didn't, for she firmly spoke whatever first came to her mind, and the fear that struck others as to privacy was something she didn't know. Perhaps that's why others loathed her so. She acclaimed it to jealously. She was pink, afterall.
"You say neck? Yet you were just breathing down my own." Furekatsu Anjiru That was slightly bothersome. Meskeet absolutely hated it when other wolves liked her. There was a very small number of wolves that she liked, and even then she didn't require them to like her back. The number being, well, one, Dorian, of course.
"We all have to eat sometime."
She could play this game, however. "You're referring to the cougar I pressume? If he's your only protection you should atleast stick closer to him."
Yisoka, the only thing Meskeet found that made her somewhat hesitant to eat this wolf. She found the cougar to be particularly interesing. Shame he developed attachments to canines.
Kealdrana Sasaiuni "Indeed," Noyama gave her a glare. "Your just lucky I don't eat you. Peasant that you are." She gave her a sharp wolf grin, her eyes glittering with the taste of aggravating the other wolf. She was winning bit by bit, but of course she was, it ran with the pink as the river with the earth.
"You know the answer to that one." For you can just read my mind.
In fact, I wonder why I even bother talking to you at all? It seems a waste of tongue when we can simply chat, here, through thoughts. I've heard you can project things. Images, fear, reocurrances? Not just reading minds. What a gift. No doubt you use it often.
But enough about me, my dear. Certainly you wouldn't find much interest, I'm too far above in your class. Tell me about you. Her tail swished the air, the sound of the small creatures dying behind her. Furekatsu Anjiru Meskeet laughed. She hated kids. Noyama practically was one in her eyes. But none the less she would tolerate the youth. Someone was bound to teach her respect sooner or later. But it didn't have to be her.
I wouldn't say peasant. No. I rank far higher than that. Higher than you'll ever get I can see. But what does that matter to me? She was still hungry. If she wasn't going to eat this pesky wolf then she supposed she'd have to find something else before she went back to organize her pack.
Unfortunately the only reason you don't interest me is because you're primitive. But that's to be expected I suppose.
Meskeet didn't like talking about herself, in general she didn't even like talking. Thinking was a bit better, but still annoyed her to some degree. Worse though than this girl. She did have a pack with puppies after all. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Noyama merely quirked a brow at the laughing. The seer decided that she was far higher than a peasant, and Noyama knew nothing in her mind could change that. The wolf before her was stubborn, and she had a right to be. She was a seer, and she should flaunt that power, to a point. One day, when she became a seer, she could look coldly upon the other and laugh, but in time a bit of respect should be given, just enough, what a seer was worthy of, even if her coloring was distasteful. At least she wasn't blue.
I don't know, egoface. If I were you, I wouldn't waste my time talking to something of such lower rank. Clearly a stupid wolf who didn't respect her position as a seer. She had lot to learn, yet, even with reading all those other minds. They must have befuddled her brains.
Primitive? Eh. . . suit yourself. I'm not the one cannabalizing and boring myself with insulting lower ranks. It was true enough. In fact, it was so close to the truth it was almost funny. Noyama thought she might laugh. So she did, quite bitterly.
At least you don't flaunt your life story. It was more of a thought to herself, but she was sure the other wolf would hear it. The seers knew everything and she had nothing to hide. Pity. It was fun to see things squirm when the seers entered their minds. Furekatsu Anjiru Meskeet smirked. Silly girl. I had hoped you'd draw your cougar friend in. But I suppose Yisoka is busy elsewhere.
Craning her neck to listen to the squirrels for a moment she lazily turned her attention back to the younger wolf. You should meet my son.
It wasn't that she thought they'd get along, or even have anything in common. But she would help to build up any doubts Dorian could possibly have. If Dorian could manipulate her enough to have pleasant conversations then she'd have no doubts he would be able to do the various things she intended him for.
Not Lestat. Lestat wasn't her son. She noted bitterly that Noyama had actually encountered him already. That memory she left alone. She didn't feel the itch to know anything about him. She didn't care. He was Arguin's son. Not hers.
No, Dorian was the prize. Not a drop of blue on him either. Kealdrana Sasaiuni He's a cougar. He's above all of us. Least of all he has time for you.
She yawned a bit, this seer thought she was getting somewhere. Ultimately, she was boring. Then she said the little bit about her son. Males intrigued Noyama. She didn't meet any, and if there was any pink on the boy, perhaps he'd be worthy of talking to. Pink paid off in the end. If there was any blue, well she hoped the seer wouldn't take that risk. Noyama had a thing for the taste of blue.
"What makes you think I'd want to meet a slimey product of your prostitution?" she used the words with acid, a thick grin sliding over her maw. Oh yes, she'd very much like to meet this wolf's son, if only to compare the two.
She wondered if he, too, was a seer. If not, well, she'd at least give him credit for being the son of one. Furekatsu Anjiru Blue. The seer was very aware of Noya's dislike of blue, and frankly couldn't agree more. She believed, though, that they were a love hate kind of color. Of all the blue wolves she'd met she'd either totally adored them, and that was only one, or absolutely hated them, enter Arguin.
Because you've already met one. And tolerated him. The other is far better. Not an ounce of blue, no worries. And unlike all the other goody two shoe wolves you see running around these days he won't hesitate to torcher another creature.
But conversations with the arrogent could only last so long, and the desire to maim something was growing again.
But it doesn't matter at the moment. Ta ta deary, don't get your blood all over that pretty pink coat of yours. And with a swish of her tail she faded away into the shadowy trees once more to find something and drag it through hell and back.
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 12:04 pm
Talking to Spirits Kealdrana Sasaiuni Dead. Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, and dead. Those little words were rolling right around in Pavati’s mind over and over again. She was dead. Oh yeah, dead. Finally she stopped thinking it, and started living it. She began to pretend she was dead, lying on the ground, breathing heavily. At first it had been shocking to see it, but the memory was now so distant Pavati found her spirits had brightened and now she wanted to relive what it was like.
She found a river and pretended Kara was in it. “Kara!” she’d say, running up to it, and practice her healing skills. As if some way, saying her name would make Pavati a shaman and then Thinks Like Fire would live again and be whole. Alas, there was nothing there but the shuffling of water against the rocks.
“Thinks Like Fire?” she called, looking into the river. “Are you there?” She believed that the wolf could become a part of the world when it died. Kara would become part of the trees, she was sure of it. There was no answer from the river. Simply a slight trickle as it oozed down, oh so gently. It was nothing like the place she had found the red alpha. This would not do. She would need some place a little more important to perform her séance. GlacialWolf Deeper into the unknown land, far past anything he had ever known. There wasn't a way to go back, and finally it had faded so far that he didn't really want to. Always an option, ways to move on, start over. A new beginning with creatures who had no understanding of the being underneath the logic. It would be easier this time, Fierj was certain. Better to hide things from those who weren't family, so he wouldn't be cast out again and feel the same loss. He smiled, pleased with his revalation and his beginning to accomodate to this new situation. And it would be easy, too, if the others were anything like that first red wolf. She had been strange, that was certain. On some level Fierj felt bad for just letting her run away in that kind of state, but the theory was that one with that personality could take care of herself. Right? A small voice broke his thoughts, and Fierj's sight focused on where it had come from. Inwardly he scolded himself for not being more attentive, again. Even the sound of the river hadn't quite broken through until just now. He tracked the sound, and the scent, finding it not long before he came close to a blue puppy. Ears swiveled awkwardly, Fierj tried to make himself as non-imposing as possible before responding to the call, "Who thinks like fire, little blue?" Kealdrana Sasaiuni Pavati was so busy looking for Kara’s spirit she didn’t even hear the other wolf come quietly padding behind her. She did a triple flip in the hair, and came down facing the oddly colored wolf with a shocked expression. She instantly furrowed her brows together, and wiggled her bum to calm herself down. It was a stranger, and a nice looking one at that, be polite, that’s what mother had always told her.
“Thinks Like Fire, thinks like fire,” she told him, as though it were extremely important information. Which of course, it was, if you knew who Thinks Like Fire was. “But you like like fire,” she added, sounding even more obvious than her previous statement. “So your name is Fire.” And that would be what she called him to the end of his life.
Everyone had a name, a purpose in the world. This particular one, had the name of Fire, and his purpose was to help her find Thinks Like Fire’s spirit, even if he didn’t know that yet. GlacialWolf Fierj jumped a little in response to the startled movement, quickly made the wolf smile of apology, and brought his eyes level with the puppy's. His tail wagged just a little. The little ones were always interesting, beyond the loss that many older wolves experienced. At least that was how it usually happened. "Yes, I do look like the flame I imagine." He was attempting not to chuckle at the obviousness of the puppy's statements. Though her name for him was close enough to his own that it wasn't worth correcting. Curious though, that his question hadn't been answered in the least. He did not know who Thinks Like Fire was, and he certainly wasn't aware that this puppy was looking for the spirit of the one wolf he had met on these lands. For the time being, that lack of knowledge was for the better. "Of course one with the name would have that reason for it. But little blue, who is it you are looking for? Are you lost?" Suddenly the thought of being wandered upon by the mother, him being a stranger and possibly a threat, was none too pleasant. Fierj glanced about, scanning the air with all his senses that would do so for anyone nearby. Finding none, though it wasn't to be deemed completely accurate, he relaxed more. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Pavati stopped to consider for a moment. Was she really looking for anyone in particular? Not alive anyway. So she couldn’t rightfully answer the question that way. But was a dead wolf still a who, or did it become a thing? She certainly wasn’t lost. She knew right where she was. By this river, and that was good enough for her. She’d eaten yesterday, so she wasn’t yet hungry, and the little bugs that were roaming around gave her plenty enough sustenance to keep her mood in high spirits.
“Fire is odd to ask such questions.” She wagged her tail from side to side, trotting over the calm water’s edge to dip her feet. “Blue wolf is looking for nothing more than this river, right here.” For the river was Kara, she was sure of it. And everything in that river was Kara’s. If anyone were to spit in it, she might have to be sad over that.
Now, death was a good thing. In fact, if Kara had suddenly appeared before her, she might have been distraught, for she liked thinking that Kara was in the river, watching over her like the legends told.
“Is Fire lost? Looking for someone?” GlacialWolf Ears swiveled confused again. Him, odd? Not all the time. Certainly not odd to ask if a little one was lost and looking for someone, it was only proper. At least, that was what he had been taught. Fierj crept down to the river after her, but chose not to place his own toes in. One swim to wash the mud of a rain off in recent days was enough, and the last thing he needed was a chill. Being on his own, he would have to hunt for himself.. for now. Fierj wished he could understand what the puppy was talking about, though. Few went searching for a river unless thirsty or dirty, and this one seemed to be neither. He stared into his rippling reflection, contemplating her question. Yes, I have been lost for a long time. "I can't find my way home." I hated them, and I miss them. "But it'll be alright, I think." He touched his nose to the water, and sighed. Had not he just put this circle of thoughts to rest? Interesting what a simple question could create in the mind of the asked. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Pavati gave a wag of approval as he touched his nose to the water. Thinks Like Fire would watch over him, now, too. Pavati was sure of it. It was not right, for an adult wolf to not be able to find his way home. It disturbed Pavati greatly, so much in fact, she didn’t second guess what she said next.
“Fire is welcome to have a stay with Blue Wolf,” she piped up. “Blue Wolf’s home is Fire’s home.” She turned her small head towards him, her light blue eyes glittering with warmth. It felt good to help others. Especially those that did not have a home. GlacialWolf Well. That was rather unexpected. Very unexpected. The immediate response was, "I don't think that I could," as his gaze broke away from the rippling river. Quite honestly he wasn't sure if he was ready to call another place home just yet, and that in itself was distressing. Not sure, not sure. And he was the logical one, the one who knew, the hunter. Fierj sighed heavily and looked at the kindness in little blue's eyes. It wouldn't hurt to have adequate shelter for one night in his search. If she was so kind, surely those in her home would be. Hopefully. "But maybe," I have an odd feeling I may regret this. "just for a little while. If its alright with the adults." Kealdrana Sasaiuni Pavati wagged her tail until she feared it might fall of from overuse, at which point she simply ceased all the wagging. She closed her eyes in content for a moment, giving the river a quick splash with her paws. “You must watch over him Thinks Like Fire,” she told the water and spun on her heels. She would have stayed to talk with herself longer, but the other wolf had to be taken to his new home, for she had decided he was staying forever. Her little heart would be broken when he left, but at the moment, she was too far into her youth to much care.
“Follow Blue Wolf,” she said kindly, bobbing out of the river and up some unseen trail, nose stuck to the ground sniffing. Her trail was extremely easy to follow. Home was not very far away. A good day was all, if Fire moved fast enough, and he could scramble. GlacialWolf Fierj shifted in mild discomfort at being watched over by someone or something he didn't even know, and now was being led off in the direction of presumably a den. To top it off, in a place he hardly knew, with a puppy he just knew, who possibly had family that may not be all that inviting to a stranger. Best not to speculate on the unknown though. He got to his senses and loped after the little blue, reminding himself that it could be a place to stay. She was easy to track, after all he was the hunter. Fierj took a leaping bound to finally catch up and keep an easy pace with the pup, letting the wind of the jump ruffle his fur. It felt excellent to at least know that he was going somewhere.
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 7:56 pm
A Proposition Kealdrana Sasaiuni The moon’s rays struck against the lapping shores of the river. Rocks glinted dangerously in the light, overrun from time to time by the constant beating of the river. The crystalline surface was calm for now, not telling of the rages it had in days prior. Still, the water didn’t hesitate to sap-suck the life of every living creature that ventured into its wake. Even if that creature had owed the river so much and held it in the highest of esteems. For the body of liquid felt no emotion, and saw no pain. It only took what those gave it, and gave only to those that knew how to steal in return.
The moonlight shifted, flashing its ambience out of the water as a figure stirred. There was at first only a slight moaning, but soon the flailing of feet could be made out in the fading light. Then, there was complete silence, that stretched over heaven and hell. Nothing move, or dared to speak, for fear of breaking the tranquility. And in that moment, the red alpha opened her eyes to the heaven’s above.
“It’s awake,” the small fox said to himself, as much as too the wolf lying near dead before him. Her ribs had been completely crushed inwards on one side, a result of some unknown tumble with the spirit of the river. “Such pretty eyes, pretty face. Pity.” There was a stirring un the ground. “It musn’t move.” The wolf seemed to hear the foxes demands, and stayed put, though the haunting blue eyes still continued to sift about.
“Wha-” the wolf’s voice was caught of violently by a gasping from her lungs. Blood and water spewed out from her gut as she emptied her last meal onto the sand.
“Musn’t talk either,” explained the vermin before her, and scampered off somewhere into the night.
Damn. Pukio  It hurt to move, hurt to walk with the blood crusted over his foreleg and the punctures in his shoulder, tugging and tearing at his fur and at the wounds themselves. It made the breath in his lugs catch with each uneven, lumbering stride forward, rolling along awkwardly. Limp, hiss, limp, hiss. Voodoo kept his head down and focused on the ratcheting movement of his wounded shoulder, cursing under his breath.
The small wolf wasn't one to look elsewhere in times of pain. Internalize it, instinct whispered sweet and low; remember it so you can give this back, just the same and worse. Oh, and one day he would - that b*****d and Raja both. One day.
But for now he sought the river. Had to clean himself off, break the trail o his scent to buy himself some time. If he walked in the shallows for a time he might just lose whoever might be persuing him from the smell of his own blood. He could smell it - the mettalic tang of his own blood heavy in his mouth and nose, intermingling with the softer smell of the river somewhere ahead.
He moved from the trees, picking his way awkwardly down to the bank and the stones lining it, clambering over the rocks and wading into the shallows. He lowered his foot, mangled and torn, into the cold water and shivered. Voodoo grumbled under his breath. "******** b*****d," he growled, glancing impatiently up the length of the remember.
The corpse - it had to be a corpse - caught his eye immediately. Voodoo's ears flicked forward and his head came up a touch. He smelled the air warily, easing a little further up the river against the current and toward the body.Kealdrana Sasaiuni Time etched by slowly, the moon coming and going. Always there, but sometimes hidden, making her feel as though she were to die. For that was a fate she was sure was hers. She’d wished this, her death, but she had never expected to live out the agony of death by exposure. The rains would come, and torrent her body. She would waste away, becoming nothing but bone as the months wore by, eating from her own muscle to stay alive. The water, it was right there, and she could stick out a swollen tongue and catch precious beads. Other than these necessary things to stay a vegetable on the shore of her great river, nothing could be done or said. She was as good as dead.
A hiss escaped her throat, even that was painful. Wincing she bit down hard onto her tongue, keeping the pain isolated and away from her chest. If she punctured a lung, there was no hope. Kara was completely finished, and she couldn’t be dead just yet, not until she’d settled matters. Then she’d go to hell and kick Phantom’s a** all she wanted.
A deep, shuddering breath caught her attention, and her nose wrinkled as she caught a fowl scent. It wasn’t sweet like she remembered it, in fact the smell of blood made her want to wretch. Kara’s stomach had already been emptied of all its contents, so no such thing occurred. Instead she growled, finishing it off with a yelp of pain.
It was some diseased creature, looking to pick the flesh off her bones. She wasn’t dead, yet, and she wasn’t going to sit here and watch them do it. “Back of b***h!” she snapped, whining in pain as she tried to shift, face whatever came slinking her way in the dark. Too much ache, too many places. She tried to rise, but it wasn’t only her ribs that prevented her. Her back legs, at least one, was broken, and the fire that shot through her limb numbed her brain. Her body nearly went slack, but she just managed to hang on. She was no corpse. She would not be preyed upon. Pukio So it was alive. Voodoo limped closer, letting the river wash the smell of this dying thing under him and away, taking the smell of his own betrayal and his own hurt with it. He stopped to stand over the rotting body of this wolf, blocking whatever light that the moon would have illuminated both himself and this strange, death-stricken female with.
"It's a good thing," Voodoo remarked darkly, lip curling slightly and tail swinging impassively back and forth. "I don't eat wolf, of you'd be top on my list sweetheart. You got a pack somewhere? Food hidden?"
He wasn't the type to save any wolf, but if this girl had something hidden for him to live off or a pack whose good graces he could get into by reporting the sad fate of one of their own... -- well, he wasn't above prying secrets from a dying b***h. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Kara eyed him, he smelled familiar, like something she’d known before. Memories washed all over her mind, clouding her for a moment. She said nothing, could think of nothing. Then at last it clicked. That something was that this scent had been left all over Kaho, and therefore they’d been associated, sometime, somewhere. Her ears pinned for a moment. That b*****d. Trying to protect Phantom and then depressing over his death. May he rot in hell.
She opened her eyes again, able to concentrate, feeding off the hate that welled within her bones. She needed something else now that this other wolf wasn’t going to eat her. “Yes,” she growled to his questions. What little choice did she have but to answer. “Sad state for an alpha now.” Her eyes grew dark. Kiros was probably gallivanting about, ruining everything and poisoning the water with the blood of his own children.
“No use-” she started to choke out before she felt a lung try and snag. She stilled her body, trying to control the coughing convulsions that came with the pain.
“A fox,” was all she could answer him regarding the food. Not that she’d eat a fox, but they found things. If only she could find out where the thing had gone. They were tricky devil’s, but they could be convinced to do things for favors. “Get lost,” she snapped. “Let a wolf die in peace.” That’s what Kaho had said. Let a dead wolf stay dead. Well, it was his own damn problem. Sky had died long ago, and it was Kaho who had been trying to bring him back. Oh how she’d hurt him. She blamed it all on him, as though any of this were his fault.
But that’s not who she wanted the blood of. No, it was Kiros if he’d gone anywhere near the packlands. She’d find the heart to taste his iron, one way or another. Pukio Grunting, Voodoo frowned down at her. Fox, how disgusting. "Bullshit, b***h. You've got to have food lying around here somewhere." He hesitated, grinning suddenly with all his teeth. It was a dark, tangled expression, untrustworthy but the only offering he'd give; the only smile she was going to get. "If you tell me, I might just bring you a few scraps." He eyed her frame, taking into account the wasted state. "You're stomach's got to be eating a hole right through your belly, hasn't it? I can practically smell the hunger on you."
Manipulating a dying wolf? Totally not against any of that if it meant getting him a step up on his own game. "Cooperate and just maybe I'll do you a few favors." For her sake, he hoped she had a stash of food lying around somewhere.
Not that anything he did would earn her any longer on this green earth that she'd already got, but he imagined a little charity in the face of death was all the female could ask for. -Not like there were too many wolves waiting around to ease another's passing into the afterlife. Kealdrana Sasaiuni About that time the forementioned fox came trotting up. It had taken him most of the night, but he’d managed to get a small rabbit. It was enough for the dying wolf, but he’d still have to hunt for himself, and it was an impossibility to feed both him and overly large female collapsed useless on the edge of the river.
He seemed almost not to see Voodoo making dangerous retorts at a defenseless wolf. Instead he whisked right under the black wolf’s legs, plopping the rabbit down next to the alpha and mumbling to himself. “Little pretty, hit her head. Yes. She’s got some damage. Yes. Yes.”
It was about that time that his quivering little nose caught smell of the newcomer and he gave a vixen hop to the other side of the corpse of a canine. “You sneak quietly, me be thinking,” Glinrock noted of the larger thing. “Wolf nose is sharper than fox nose.” The little fox came slinking out from behind Kara, his large puffy tail swishing as he eyed Voodoo.
“Its no use,” the red spat, glaring at the fox, obviously not happy for his company. “The b*****d can’t hunt. Begging for scraps.” The little fox looked to her, then back to the scrawny, mistreated Voodoo in front of him. He was smart enough to realize that he was dead if he pissed of the larger canid, but not so frightened as to not be conniving.
“Things are scared of foxes, yes. Large things, run right into small wolf’s mouth, no? Help fox find big game, fox lead food to wolf mouth, no?” He grinned at his master plan, his tail swooshing as it always did, making the nice silence fade away into nothing. “I share.” Pukio Voodoo frowned, but this irritable snarl had slid off his features - clearly considering. He glanced warily over his shoulder, into the trees bordering the river. No fox and some bone bag of a wolf was going to protet him from that male though, not from that spawn of Phantom either. Voodoo forced his hackles to smooth, glancing back to the pair. It would buy him time though; time to find a pack to protect himself, time to figure things out and plot a proper course of action. "Fine," he said at length. "I'll help you two suckers out." Kealdrana Sasaiuni Time went by slowly yet again as her only two companions seemed to have disappeared. The moon was slowly sinking, and she knew, in not too long, another day would dawn. What she really needed was a Shaman, just enough to heal these ribs and get her back to her feet. In the mean time, she might have use of Voodoo, for one solid task. He seemed rather interested in a pack, and that she could provide.
Finally the light sounds of footfalls and bickers reached her ears. The pair was returning and they were either arguing about the lack of food, or had been successful. Kara had cleaned off most of the rabit. What she couldn’t reach was still left untouched, and it was enough for the fox, perhaps.
“Corpse wolf should see what we brought it!” the fox piped, bounding towards her with a small vole in its mouth. “A treat!” it exclaimed. “For me! A good hunt!” He was making looping circles, apparently overjoyed at what they had found and killed. “It’s big! Ugly wolf is dragging it! Back there.” The fox pointed with its twitching nose; swooping its tale about as it jagged back and forth between the two animals.
“Wolf should drag faster! So slow!” the foxed intimidated, apparently having lost every bit of his fear. “Black canine is a good snapper of necks. Me thinks he practices on things.” The fox had no idea what these things were, but he kept clear distance, not wanting his own jugular to meet the same fate. Pukio It was a deer, a little skinny yearling with long legs and the awkward mottling along the back of it's coat as it had begun to loose its spots, the soft baby down half shed and replaced with the sleeker coat of a grown deer. Voodoo gripped it by the neck, dragging it through the underbrush and over the stones, gripping the shredded and bloodied throat. He pulled it over the rocks to the river's edge and the half dead wolf waiting there, leaving a slick trail of blood in his wake.
Voodoo dumped the animal's corpse in reach of the female and rocked back, grinning with a mouth full of teeth and blood in a distinct sense of triumph before falling to the yearling's stomach and tearing into the gut. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Kara watched in disgust as the wolf gorged himself. He clearly hadn’t eaten a decent meal in a while, or he was simply a voracious eater. In any case, it left a foul taste in her mouth to see. Then again, she probably looked much worse herself, being half dead and all.
“When you're done,” she growled, much more energetic now that her stomach was full. “I have a proposition for you.”
So she waited. Letting the sun rise behind her and illuminate the sky with its light. She’d been collecting how to say it, she had to be careful.
“I have a pack, far up the mountain. Hard to get there. Find the blue wolf, Jori. Tell her I sent you. She’ll give you food, water, whatever you want. Keep me updated, that’s all.” She was getting out of this, alive, there was nothing to it. Then she’d have more things for this rat to do. Regardless of how much she already despised him, he had been willing to help her out, and she knew that someday she’d have to do the same for him. Pukio Voodoo straightened slowly, jaws stained with the yearlings blood and flecks of the gore he'd inflicted on what was left of the young animal. He watched her, this dying wolf, eyes narrowed and jaws gaping in some visceral show of hunger and want, almost literally chomping at the bit with an eagerness over the b***h's 'proposition.'
Food, whatever. Protection. And all for a little yearling.
He grinned.
"Deal."
He glanced toward the fox, licking his chops. "And this one? What about the rat?" Kealdrana Sasaiuni Kara flicked her gaze towards the mentioned 'rat'. It was hard to see the fox, but she could just make out his hazy figure.
The rat wiggled in discomfort. It was clear the fox didn't like being talked about. But it had food in its soft underbelly, and was less inclined to run that it would have previous.
"That's up to the rat," she told him.
"Rat will take food and go," it sad, digging its own muzzle into the deer and skittering away. It was all it wanted, really. The fox had been lonely, and he had hoped the dead wolf would talk to him, but it seemed with the crazy small wolf hanging around it wouldn't be good company to keep.
"Find a shaman," she added. "And I'll make your life like a dream." It made her disgusted to make such a deal, but it needed to be done. The ribs wouldn't heal on their own. She doubted even a shaman could bring her back to her full potential, but all she needed was to be able to walk.
"Now get out of my sight, whatever your name is." Pukio "Voodoo," he said, his lips rolling back over his teeth, grin narrowing just enough to be considered more creepy than before rather than less. "And maybe I just will find you that shaman you're looking for. Try not to get picked off my buzzards." Chuckling, Voodoo snapped his teeth and stepped over the yearling's corpse and the female wolf too, brushing over the 'rat' with an air of inconsideration.
Far up the mountain, he chanted inwardly. Wolf named Jori. Oh, he could do all that and more. Maybe so, so much more. Voodoo grinned to himself as he limped into the trees. A full belly, the promise of more food and protection.
Life, Voodoo realized with a warm tingly feeling in his belly -- and he was really hoping that wasn't his stomach acting weird to his recent meal --, was looking up.
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Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 12:06 pm
Practice Makes Perfect Kealdrana Sasaiuni Aphrodite pursed her lips as she looked into the pale reflection that stared so darkly back at her. Blue eyes had never been her favorite, but she had them all the same, cold and unwavering. Yet, as she curled her lips to show a frame of perfectly modeled teeth, there was a glint within them that lit her face up. Her own expression warmed at the sight of the face that had won over so many, men and women alike. It didn't matter to her, who fell, with such beauty came a price. There was little whom one could depend upon, and friends in the true were so rare to come by.
No matter, she felt quite at home by misleading these very few, and taking whatever pleasures out of life she wished. Perhaps she'd venture to the sea today, find out what wolves lay there. Adventure was such a wonderous thing, and she took as much of it as she could, for she was not granted the immortality of the goddess she was named after.
A small sigh whispered out of her maw, tickling the placid waters reaching out just below her head. She cooed lightly to them, before turning her head away. There was nothing to be gained by daydreaming in the wake of your own reflection. No, she thought - as the sun rose, sending its orange glow across the landscape - it was time to start walking.
Aphrodite never walked far, or fast. She held herself in enough composure to seem proud, but not threatening or stuck fast to her position. She had no qualms in stooping down towards omega status if necessary, but she found she never had to. Varius playful thoughts lingered on her mind as she set out, tail swaying softly in the crisp morning air. Remove 
Chip was resting, as he had done alot lately. His meeting with Amelie had made him curious about her and how she got in his mind. After not being able to think so clearly for such a long time most she said flew over his head. He had managed one thing. He got rid of the voices.
His eys were tightly shut and a squirrel with colouring not all that different to his own laid beside him fast asleep. A wolf and a squirrel fast asleep. It may havebeen an odd sight for some but they suited each other perfectly. He had met the squirrel or had he made him up? Chip would never be sure but then he wouldn't worry about it either.
The squirrel awoke before the wolf and was quickly climbing up a large tree to be on look out for when her companion awoke. Chip woke not long after and stood up slowly, stretching, yaning and making alot of noise in doing so. He looked up and nodded at the Squirrel before heading to water, it was a normal routine that he did, wake, find water, see if he could attack the squirrels mind and then continue onwards. The squirrel was however safe, Chip hadn't succeded once. So as usual, they headed to water.Kealdrana Sasaiuni Aphrodite spent much of her time pausing to 'sniff the flowers' one might say. She had all the time in the world to get where she was going, and therefore did not worry about rushes and all that nansy pansy nonsense. In fact, she found a glorious world opened up to those who took time out of their ever so busy schedules to uproot a log, rock, or simply take a taste of whatever scattered the ground. Certainly the female was not that of royal minagurie. Those wolves might find her actions greusome, while she simply noted it as another wonder in her stretching life.
With all this sniffing about, she was bound to catch the presence of another, and so she did. It was male; she'd mastered the art of gender determination by smell ages ago. This could, perchance, prove to be of some interest to her, but then again, who knew for sure?
Most of the time the wolves confronted her, and Aphrodite had long ago learned not to head up to the face of another. Most wolves liked to make the approach themselves, or simply remain undisturbed. She could most certainly work with that. There was no need to go prying when she didn't need to. So, she decided not to go investigate, for the wolf seemed to be heading her direction.
Instead, she played the sleeping beauty card, and layed down in the soft forest loam for a feined rest. Perhaps he'd come stumbling, and not for the fact of being a little unbalanced. Remove If the odd male had come across her and been on his own he would have walked past her and left her to her sleeping however now he had something that was like an alter-ego and seemed to be inquisitive.
The wolf did stumble across her, he wasn't bothered about being presentable or looking good and most of the time he stumbled or fell. He never walked properly, always draggins his paws along the ground or shuffling a little.
He looked down at the body of the female and then into the trees where his friend looked down at him impatiently. He sighed and looked back at the females body.
"Excuse me?" He looked up again briefly and could feel the eagerness of his friend so he tried. Looking back at the female he tried what he had been trying alot recently, to do what Amelie had to him, to get in anothers mind. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Aphrodite lazily poked one eye open at the wolf. He had shown up, but a rather odd companion came with him. It wasn't that Aphrodite hadn't seen a squirrel before, it was just a bit odd to see one traveling about with a wolf. Squirrels seemed to have a natural fear of the canine breed, she'd noticed, but obviously this was not the case in regards to this particular mammal.
She thumped her tail against the ground a few times at the sight of him, stretching out her front legs to relieve what stiffness there would have been if she'd been sleeping for a time. Letting out a yawn and lightly popping her jaw, Aphrodite rose to her feet. From there she proceeded to give her body a shake and eye the male with scrutiny. He was many gorgeous colors, but he seemed a bit off all the way around.
"Yes?" she answered, tilting her head to the side with interest. As a general rule, Aphrodite tried to stay from seers. She didn't hate them, persay, but the majority were absolutely nasciating. There was something about their presence in her mind that made her ill. Granted, only those that were inexperienced could actually be detected, but this one, was, at that, and the headache was so strong and sudden, only coming when this other wolf came, she thought it could be caused only by a seer, but she'd been wrong before. "I really have nothing against you reading my mind," she smiled faintly. "Provided you first ask." Remove He looked up so suddenly as she said about reading her mind. He looked up at the tree and the squirrel looked back rather blankly.
"You mean... You felt me trying to get in there? I..Im sorry.. I didnt mean to.. well I did but." He paused and swallowed, a growing excitment and sickness was growing inside of him.
"I didn't expect to even touch your mind." He smiled sheepishly and looked up at the squirrel who was far too curious to stay in the tree and scampered down. She climbed onto Chips back and tried to see the other wolf over Chips head.
"Sorry." Chip did feel bad, Amelie had said you couldn't enter without permission but he didn't realise that. The squirrel on his back wasn't sorry, she was curious to whether Chip could break through into her mind. Maybe it was weak and that was why Chip reached it? That or Chip has just gone from being weird to being a freak. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Aphrodite nodded, no need to play the fool here. This male, he was obviously learning, he needed all the experience he could get, and knowing what seerdom was like to others was certainly a big step. "Mhmm," she said softly. "Just a headache. Experienced seers can only be detected by other seers, or so I've been told." She grinned broadly, her vibrant white teeth flashing in the coming sun.
"Practice," she affirmed to him, "is the key to perfection." No doubt he had heard that more than a hundred times over. Still, she couldn't help but repeat it to him, some hadn't, especially the youth.
"No matter," she said dismissively. "No harm done. You may practice, if you'd like?" She gave him a slight wink. Normally she was abuzz with thoughts, to the point of attempting to befuddle a seers mind, but in this case she could feel calm and empty most of her thoughts and emotions and think clearly of only certain things. Perhaps practice with him?
It was clear on how he was acting, for the most part, he had little interest in her at all. Which, felt strangely wonderful. The prospect for a friendship warmed her soul. Remove He looked at her and listened. Practice. He would definatly practice and he knew on whom as well. The squirrels security and safety came with a small price.
"Oh I don't want to hurt you again though. I can practice on Squi here because well... I dont want to hurt you." The thought of hurting another by poking around in their head seemed somewhat uninteresting now, especially if it hurt another.
Chip got a sharp kick in the neck from Squi. She wanted him to poke in the females head so then she could get Chip inside hers and wouldn't need to keep kicking him to tell him to do things and just think it instead.
He sighed and looked at the female, "If you are really sure...?" Kealdrana Sasaiuni "Oh!" came her reply, accompanied by the sweet sing of sparkling laughter as she threw her head back to let it all come out. "A headache is hardly enough to do damage." The smile was back again, just enough to reveal a few small teeth and give her a sweet aura.
She looked calmly to the squirrel, and back at him again. The little creature sure did know how to boss around the larger mammiliad.
"Of course," she confirmed with a bow of her head. This might take a while. Taking all expression from her face she settled down onto her haunches, focusing on the humming that came from the back of her mind.
There she thought of one thing, and only one thing. Her name, Aphrodite. Nothing else mattered exept for the constant drone of repitition of that very name. If she thought of anything else it might prove distracting. Remove Chip gulped and nodded. "Ok."
He closed his eyes and let his own mind clear so that he could try and reach hers again. He felt odd as suddenly he seemed to not be himself anymore and it was without doubt giving him the worst headache he had felt in a long time.
He felt as if he was going down into water, below the depths where creatures live that should never be found. He felt odd, he felt wrong. He was invading someones place, the only place that truely belonged to someone.
However he kept pushing. Through the pain he wanted to see if he could find what she was thinking but he didn't get there, he withdrew. The pain in his head felt as if there were a million hearts beating up there all at once.
"Sorry... it hurts." Kealdrana Sasaiuni Aphrodite waited, and waited some more. Nothing came, then it all hit in a sudden burst. An extreme amount of pain, and she realized that something wasn't going right. In a flash it had faded, her concentration, too, had broke, and his voice cleared the air.
Frowning, she shook her head free, trying to drive away the pressure that had built in her ears. "No matter," she smiled, wacking her tail lightly upon the ground. "You have time." According to her, everyone had all the time in the world. Still, there were only so many hours in the day, and these expiriments had taken up most of the morning.
With that in mind she took to her feet and bid him good day. "I wish you luck." Then she left, back down the trail she had been going before she'd picked up his scent. Remove Chip had got hit on the neck pretty hard when he had apologized but he didn't care. He was hurting so she must have been.
He nodded, he did have time though how much he wasn't sure, his friend was impatient and Chip wasn't the strongest willed wolf in the world, infact he was easily broken which could be one reason why he was being led around by a squirrel.
"Thank You." He nodded again as she turned to leave. "Time to go Squi." He spoke quietly, his head still hurting, he needed to find something to drink. He turned slowly and made his way towards water and a refreshing drink.
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Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 4:21 pm
Practice Makes Perfect Kealdrana Sasaiuni Aphrodite was busy recollecting the days events of recent. There was little she liked to dwell on, but a look into the past now and then wasn't a problem for her. There was the male she'd run across, the one approaching seerdom. He was a strange individual, of that she was certain. No wolf she had ever seen took orders from a squirrel, and certainly not a female one at that.
Yet, the memory brought a faint smile to her lips, for it was an event she rarely grasped. Beauty kept her entrapped in a circle of men and women dropping at her feet, doing her bidding. Not that she wanted them to, but still, a play with the tongue now and then did get her places. She supposed it was the price for carrying such a stunning coat.
She wasn't afraid to use it, much like the goddess she was named after. She wondered if perhaps her mother knew about this in some way or form. If, upon her birth, they saw she was of such exquisite beauty and prowess she would fit no other name - or if it was simply a wild and propostrous humor, and they had no anticipation of their only daughter to grow into something of such stature.
It did not much matter to her, she took life the way life took her. Just another piece in the puzzle in this neverending stretch of time. She had thought about her mortality often, wondering why she was placed on this earth. In her adolescence it was all she contemplated, trying to find a reason for everything. Now, that curiousity had faded into something more distant. The vague sensation of the buz that meant existing in another time and place no longer hit her as frequently. She couldn't determine whether she missed such experiences, or was glad of their absence.
That was not her purpose today, however. The wind carefully reminded her of that, playing lightly with her soul, catching on her fur and carrying her this way and that. Like the alpha of the pack she often mingled with, Aphrodite followed an element. She chose invariably to go where the wind told her to. It wasn't as though the breeze spoke things to her, but it did, indeed seem to give her some sort of drawing. Whenever she felt its presence she wanted to move, as she had done so on this day.
The urge had brought her to the sea, the setting sun dancing lavishly on the surface of the placid waters. It had been closer than she had previously thought, and so she had spent the afternoon walking among its rich shores. For now her crestfallen eyes gazed out from a clifftop. There had been a small opening in the thick forest surrounding the gorgeous body of water, and she couldn't help but to investigate. The sight had been breathtaking, and so she had stayed for a time, waiting for the sun to go down - as it was doing now; its light setting her face aglow with an allure many could not resist. Werewolf  The setting sun was a sight he had now gotten used to, but there had been a time when it too struck a certain sense of smallness into the old king. In his homeland, the sun drooped below the mountains and bled the sky red and orange, but never did it get huge and brilliant like it did against the ocean. It was unobscured by terrain, and it mirrored itself a thousand times on the constantly thrusting waters.
But now, like many things, he’d taken it for granted and it served only as the final remaining light on a lazy stroll.
He didn’t mean to take things for granted. And maybe sometimes he half knew it too. Phib couldn’t fathom himself doing anything subconsciously- and therefore, didn’t it mean then that he rejected such things consciously? That was a question for a wiser wolf- and quite consciously, he pushed it aside into apathy.
As he walked- careful to skirt his feet from the flow of the water, he became faintly aware of another’s scent on the salty air. Sometimes it could be hard to smell anyone above the brine- but those who hadn’t been around the sea for long tended to smell lighter and like grass. And the fact that half his mind was far too trained to pick up a female’s scent. It hadn’t gone inactive just because he’d settled down.
He continued the lazily patrol until she came in sight. At first the white pelt almost had him mistake her for Anya- but after a snort he detected it was someone else. Gruffly he made a noise in a throat, before calling up. "Well, hello there." Kealdrana Sasaiuni Aphrodite had always been an observant wolf. She prided herself in taking careful note of her surroundings, but the beauty of the sun sinking behind the ocean had distracted her mind. The call of the male that came from behind her almost startled her out of wits; but she was far too sharp for that. Years of practice made her ready for whatever came tiptoeing her way. If it was wolf, she knew just what to do. Any other animal, and she found it easier to slink away.
Her automatic response was to turn, but the voice sounded deep, it came from a large wolf. These big creatures often found it alarming to be confronted with sudden movements. It was best to take it slow, and make your voice silky and calm. Otherwise you might startle their overwhelmingly small minds. She took a whiff of the air through her nostrils. Its scent lingered on her tongue, tasting a bit foul and sticky. She wouldn't want to live in this place, for it made her fur itch, but it was certainly pretty.
Letting her lips curl lightly, she turned to face him, her head raised to the coming breeze. He was a large wolf, and jet black. Not necessarily handsome, but he would surely pass on his genes many generations. There was something . . . robust about his figure. A tinkle of laughter reached the end of her snout at the sight of him.
"Hello," she answered softly, flicking her eyes about his pelt and back to his face again. "I'm afraid I've been busy. . . looking." Her smile widened into a grin, then vanished completely. "How rude. I'm Aphrodite." The smile returned again, her eyes flashing in the fading sunlight. Werewolf “Ah, well-“ Phib started, “-looking does indeed take some thought.” Like many things he sometimes said- it was hard to tell if he was being condescending or not. But he smiled. Barbed or not, he meant well. Or at least, he usually meant well.
He seemed a bit complimented by her polite greeting, and he dropped the placid look for a gentle bob of his head.
“I am Phib.” The wolf responded. He had a deep voice, and at times, it sounded perhaps more villainous then welcoming. It was prone to drawling and taking careful and slow articulation. He was not shy about speaking, and despite his looks, he’d fought most of his battles with that rough voice of his. “It is nice to meet you, my dear. Tell me then- are you looking for something in particular?” He repaired, perhaps trying to make up for how he’d sounded at first. “I can’t say you’ll find much past the sea, but I suppose that depends entirely upon what it is you are looking for.”
As he spoke, he twined, catching a better look at her. He did love women, despite whatever chuvanism he might have carried. And she certainly was not hard on the eyes. Faintly, he chuckled and waved the end of his tail. There were times he wondered about what Amelie must gleam from that head of his. He would have loved for her to accuse him sometime- but maybe she knew that. And of course; then he was struck by how precarious her devotion actually was, and felt a bit guilty. She really never had to say anything at all.
Kealdrana Sasaiuni Aphrodite resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Such a cheap skate, then again, she was guilty of much the same things. Of course, what she wanted out of the deal was often something completely different from what everyone else had in mind.
"Phib," she practiced, letting it slide of her tongue like water from a leaf. "Short, and to the point." She lowered her head for a moment, looking up to him with mischevious eyes. "I tend to like things longer and more drawn out." She laughed somewhat nervously, her eyes shifting about for anything. Sometimes people seemed a bit too friendly.
"Please to be of your acquaintance myself," she played. "No." This was followed by a heavy sigh as she turned her head to the now dissapated sun. There was still enough light to set an eerie glow, but not much else. "Just came for myself."
She wasn't looking for much of anything. "I can't say your much interested in what I'm looking for, hmm?" She tilted her head to the side, watching him in anticipation. What was he like? Everyone else, most probably. Werewolf He chuckled in amusement, and looked to the ocean. “The more syllables one needs to feel important, I imagine.” He commented, but then, smoothed: “My father thought it sounded like a lie.” Hrothmund had been a long name, that was for sure. “He had about fifty kids, by the time it got to the thirty-second son, he wasn’t too keen on long names.” The male finally quirked. He found he could smile about his father now, even though it was always a hesitant one. The thought his final days was still somewhat haunting. Death didn’t scare him- but senility did. By the end, Phib doubted his father remembered who he was.
“I don’t believe so. Not unless you’re looking for some peace and quiet. But then, that’s not a two person kind of venture.” His tail shifted in amusement. Ah! It pained him to be gentlemanly. But he’d had his day of less then noble ventures. “But don’t let it bother you. I’m afraid life is allergic to giving me any. Always things to do...” he started, his mind floating elsewhere for a moment.
He cleared his throat to break his thoughts, and peered back upwards. “Aphrodite." He repeated, as if he had only just then had time to recognize the name. "My, now that is a troublesome name, isn't it?" He teased lightly. "Probably hard to get much peace and quiet yourself."
Kealdrana Sasaiuni Aphrodite was shocked at first, but then she chuckled. "Fifty? I don't suppose its your dream to have so many." That was just the sons, she marveled, wondering just how many daughters were cast away in the wind.
She was going to answer him, 'sometimes all you need is a little peace and quiet to feel wanted', but his words silenced her. He was such a strange folk compared to what she was used to. She did note a bit of strain in his voice, as though he didn't like speaking with her. It made her shift uncomfortably. That was certainly not what she had been going for.
She didn't know what it was like to have things to do, but with the way he talked, it sounded dreadful. She frowned slightly, shifting her jaw to the left and watching him with interest. He liked to change subjects. No matter. Two could play at that game.
"Ah yes," she said, shaking her head and glancing towards the ground. "It speaks me too true, I should say." Her head rose again, but this time not too look at him, but behind him. Her sights lost in the memory of something in her past. The look vanished quickly, now was not the time to dwell. "But sometimes, even the lovely need their rest in a sinners world." Werewolf Phib couldn’t help but wince to his own chagrin. “Ah...I’ve had plenty of kids myself. I can't say I'm so much unlike my father.” He dismissed. Not fifty but- more then ten, and he’d leave it at that. Unlike Hrothmund’s children however- his own progeny seemed deemed to destruction. He had convinced himself it had nothing to do with his parenting- but privately, he knew better. “Grandchildren, now-“ he started with a smirk, but it faded away with another frown. Not that Gareth was intent on giving him any. “But I suppose that’s not my own choice.”
His head drifted lazily back upwards to look at her, giving a pleased thump of his tail. He’d said peace and quiet- but perhaps he had neglected to mention how much he did appreciate female company. They made him feel less bitter about things, even if they were bitter themselves. “Ah! It is, isn’t it?” He pursed. He certainly was a sinner, that was for sure. He'd been teasing before, but he did tilt his head to the side seriously and steady his expression. "What tires the lady?" Kealdrana Sasaiuni Aphrodite thought there was little wrong with having many children, in fact, she was for it, to a certain extent. Perhaps she would have one. Yes, that seemed like a good number. She could handle one bit of heartbreak in her life. Only problem was, with the way she dealt her cards, she was sure hundreds were her destiny. Luckily, she didn't think it was possible, so maybe twenty. The number still seemed abnormally high. It made her shudder.
"No," she confirmed. "It isn't." No one should wish for grandchildren. There was no justification in it. She didn't think she could handle one child, let alone a monotony of grandsons that might come pounding on her doorstep. Whatever would they think of her, all old?
"Hmm. . . " It was an interesting question. One she wasn't sure she had the answer for. In fact, she'd asked herself thus quite recently, but never had another deliberately stated it. "Misleading, I suppose." It had been a long time since she'd been so outright honest. "I have a habit of, let's say, tweaking words to let one think one thing, when I most certainly mean another. Oh, they get what they want in the end, but I most certainly benifit by it. Doesn't make for good lifelong companions, you see?" Werewolf The roll of the ocean tickled his ear, and he docked it lazily against the crown of his large head. Despite the proximity of the sun, it was getting colder as it fell. Cold enough that he had encouraged Cassidy and her pups to perhaps move shop to one of the more secure dens, rather then the somewhat disheveled one she’d made. He’d humored her long enough for it, but really, it was time to pick a better one. Which had made her make a rather biting remark at his own- which a blind wolf had dug, and ah, things had gone down from there. He chuckled somewhat to himself and shook his head. His niece was troubling, at best.
But the female’s words crossed an odd look across his face- perhaps one he might have used towards Cassidy. On one hand, he played no games with admitting the fact that he had [and had indulged] the fact that he had a weakness towards women. But while it was perfectly fine for him to be careless, and downright heartless at times, he was felt a certain sad concern. But perhaps all too knowingly, he nodded his head and looked back at her from the corner of his eye.
“Oh, I can imagine.” The black wolf spoke. He doubted there was much to be said- she knew the game. “Not perhaps the best way to go about looking for a life mate.” It sometimes made him wonder if his mother was ever like this. Surely it was what she made a living off of- but whenever he saw her, he was always somewhat disgusted that there were males who actually would be willing to fall to that level. "Do you do it for amusement or nessesity?" He asked questioning, almost even a tad suspicious. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Aphrodite felt her stomach churn within her body. What he asked, well, she had had indeed started it, but it didn't make her feel any less guilty.
"I suppose some of both," she said, not daring to meet his eyes.
"Its hard, when they come when their tongues lolling and that look in their eyes. I want to give them what they want, but at the same time, I can't steep so low. Mostly, its just to play with their minds. A woman has to feel above somehow." She stopped to consider a moment, letting the silence draw between them for as long as necessary.
"It brings joy to their eyes," she said, that same faint smile coming back, though less assured now. "They seem so happy, and it makes me feel good, too, but someday I will find someone not so interested in me."
She rose to her feet. They told their friends, too. There would never be rest for her. "Well, I suppose if you want any more sons you know where to turn," her laugh was dry and acrid, but it still held some seriousness. "I wish you luck on those grandchildren, Phib." There was a clear sorrow in her eyes that she had not touched upon for a time. But it would soon be gone, and she would return to her chuckling and joyous self. Werewolf He chuckled lowly, and shook his head. “One day. I might have. But I care not for sons anymore, or really, the attentions of more then the woman I’m already shackled to.” To think he’d ever say that! “I’ll give you some advice though. Don’t buy the looks, men aren’t always so foolish. I know I never thought a woman's pretty eyes would last.” Was his mother ever like that? Enjoying the flirting looks and the attention? He furrowed his brow as if to look closer. He’d known probably hundreds of women like her, and yet he’d never actually related them to his own Nadia before. Something about her... his ear flicked, and he looked away.
"I hope you find what it is you are looking for," He spoke softly, and bowed his head. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Had she said that? That she actually bought the looks? She enjoyed seeing them happy, yes, but she'd much rather have them rot for the thoughts that she knew drifted in their minds. Men. Disgusting, but needed. Then again, she knew she probably had let something slip. Whether she thought it or not, it was subconsiously there, and therefore a part of her.
The thought made her back crawl. It was time to go, before she found out too much more about herself.
"Ahh Phib. Thank You." Perhaps another friend? She was getting good luck afterall. With that, she left, brushing past him as she did.
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Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 12:09 am
Bringing the News Kealdrana Sasaiuni Kiros was busy sticking his nose in places it didn't belong. Quite literally. For he was gratefully slurping up the water of Kara's packlands. He needed to quench his thirst and it had been the closest water source that he'd known of. Not that he could have actually entered the realm of the red; he'd forgotten the way in. Besides, the wolf had told him to stay far, far away. Out of desperation to see his pups again, Kiros had listened. He had been so thirsty; he didn't think any harm could come from one drink, even if it was so very near.
"Half of Me shouldn't be here."
The voice made him jump and stumble backwards, his ears rotating for the source of the sound. A pair of two sharp blue eyes glared at him from an even brighter body. A sigh of relief washed over his face, or perhaps that was the water flowing over his head?
"Oh Pavati," he shook his head, closing his eyes in humiliation. Wait. What was she doing outside of the packlands! What if she were to be hurt!?
"Half of Me doesn't have to worry," Pavati said, then the pup glanced at the river. "Well maybe, but Blue Wolf doesn't think the river is going to swallow you like Thinks Like Fire would." She gave him a grin and pounced on him, tugging lightly at his ear. One of those rare moments of puphood that she showed on occasion.
"What do you mean?" Unless the river swallowed him? Had she fallen on her head?
"Thinks Like Fire is part of the River now. I found her, in it, all not-moving-like," she wagged her tail slowly, showing her sorrow, but also joy in having the river watch over her. "Mother has been worried, she'll be glad to know."
Kiros frowned. It felt disturbing to not have Pavati fretting over the death of their alpha, but he also knew that the pup showed more brains than most wolves he had come across, even if it wasn't apparent in the way she spoke.
"Lead, then."
So Kiros followed Pavati back into the lands of the wolf that was now a part of the earth in its entirety. There was a sorrow over him, but mostly a joy, that he could finally be with Jori once and for all. Ronove   Jori was more than worried, she was downright despairing. Sure, Kara had tossed herself into the sweeping river current, but that was in the past. Nothing could be done about that. Right now, however, Pavati was missing, and Jori didn't intend to stand idly by while her daughter dissapeared. Sade stumbled along in his mother's wake, ears flat in shame.
His mother glanced back once and gave an exasperated sigh, but nudged her son along lovingly all the same. "It's not your fault, Sade, and we both know it. Pavati likes to take off on her own." Despite any threats or pleading on my part.
Sade didn't look mollified. A whine, high pitched and sorrowful, escaped his muzzle.
Everything had gone to pieces since Kara left. Since she had chosen to leave... Jori wouldn't admit to herself that the alpha was dead. Instead she opted to live in the hopes that Kara had simply abandoned them; that she had planned out her escape. The fall was simply it's enactment. She knew the currents, the river - it ran deep and strong where they had been. And who could survive it? Certainly not you.
Behind her the green and grey pup struggled vailantly to keep pace with his longer-legged mother. Pink tongue lolling, legs pumping, he uttered no more complaints and trotted gamely along. A swelling of pride left Jori almost breathless - and would have made her happy if it weren't for her lost daughter.
"Pavati?" She raised her nose and tested the air, catching the pup's scent on the wind. And something else...
"Kiros!" He must have found Pavati, and would be brining her back! With a joy that hadn't been felt for a long time, Jori lept forwards in a run to meet them.Kealdrana Sasaiuni Jori was almost correct. Yes, Kiros was coming back, and with Pavati, but the blue pup was more leading him than anything else. The pitter patter of their paws on the silent earth was comforting. He liked it when it was quiet, when red wolves weren't lurking for his flesh.
Pavati seemed to be in bright spirits. Kiros entitled to it her finally returning home. She'd told him it had been a night or two since she'd last seen mother. The thought of how worried Jori must be made Kiros' stomach sink. He'd wanted to scold Pavati, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to hold a harsh tone to her.
The shout that echoed across the thickly misted valley brought him to his senses. His head jerked up, ears perked towards the sound in alertness. "JORI!" he flat out screamed, though it was rather deep, him being a man and all. Pavati shook her head, for she had been right next to him at the time, and it had made her eardrums ring.
"Half of Me shouldn't shout so loud," she scolded him, but her tail was wagging profusely. She was glad to see the family together again.
However, when mother rounded the corner, she was the first to bring forth the sorrow. "Kara is dead, mama." It was the second time she'd actually used the alpha's name, but this time the red female wasn't around to hear it.
Kiros looked sorrowfully towards Pavati, not because Kara was in fact, joining the damn river, but that his daughter seemed a bit distraught even now. Still, it wasn't enough that it kept him from licking Jori on the nose as she came running, and giving Sade a slight push with his snout.
"Jori. . . " it was much calmer now, his eyes warming at the sight of her. Her coat was bright and obnoxious, just like he remembered, and he so loved. "The fates have turned." Ronove Immediatly on the heels of joy, so close in fact that it was inseperable, came anger. Directed at her daughter, who stood there with her tail wagging, looking for all the world as though she had meant for this to happen. Gathering herself, Jori turned reluctantly from Kiros and glared sternly at her blue pup.
Sade took Kiros' nuzzle with a grin and a wag of his tail, but his buisness was with Pavati. He trotted up to her and gave her a put-upon look, making certain she knew that he was siding with mother this time. He'd seen Kara fall, and he knew he would have been dead if he'd fallen, so he wasn't suprise at the news. Jori bowled right over Pavati's statement, uncaring - or unwilling - to hear what her daughter said.
"Pavati, you can't keep running off! One day, no one is going to be there to rescue you. You'll end up -- " The lecture was cut short as Pavati's words sank in. Jori gaped at her daughter, eyes wide.
"Kara's... dead?" Shock pulled the gamma to a stop. Her ears flickered and she lifted her nose to the air, almost as though death were something she could hear or smell. "Pavati..." Grief choked the words from her throat. It was all she could do to keep herself together.
Deep breath. Pavati is smart, but she's still young. Maybe she didn't understand. "Pavati, honey, Kara fell. None of us saw her die, so there's still a chance... " She swallowed. "Still a chance she's alright." It would be so much easier to live this way, with Kiros together, but at such a cost! At the same time, it was the most difficult thing Jori had faced. Leaving unloved family behind was one thing... but watching a loved one die?
"She could still be out there." Jori buried her face in Kiros's neck. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Kiros watched the events unfold before him, but he could do nothing to stop them. Everyone had turned on Pavati, it seemed. They both were strong enough to do what he could not. It made him choke on his own saliva, hacking and weezing while they snapped at her with words and those sharp looks.
Pavati, however, was having a much better time with it than him. In fact, she almost seemed to be gaining up an anger of her own. "SHE WAS GONE!" the pupped shouted over the yells of her mother. "I WENT TO FIND HER!" Kiros was stunning yet again. His daughter had never raised her voice, and he was about to scold her for it, when Jori went into a breakdown.
He looked from mate to offspring, both seemed to be holding the news in entirely different ways. "She was lying there," Pavati continued, her ears pinned, as if she was unsure. "Not moving, all alone." Kiros watched with quivering eyes, leaning against Jori as he felt her warm head against his fur.
"Shhh. . . " he told her. It was all he could say, there was nothing else he could do. So desperately he'd wanted her to celebrate the joy of finally getting rid of that alpha, but she clearly did not feel the same as he did. Then again, he wasn't the one who had lost a friend.
She was out there.
"Dead."
Pavati whimpered at the sight of her mother and scurried close to Sade. He'd know what to do, he always knew what to do. "B.E.," she whimpered, following mother's suit and also digging into her brother's fur with her head.
"Come," Kiros managed after a length of silence. "We all need some rest." Ronove She wouldn't believe it. It couldn't be true. If she just shut her eyes and refused to listen then she could still live in a world where Kara wasn't dead. Where she herself hadn't allowed Kara to die...
The warmth of Pavati's body was an anchor to Sade, who felt lost in the sudden outbursts. What did it matter? Kara was nice, but she was also gone. She would come back, or she wouldn't. Family was what mattered. Blue was what mattered.
But he was curious... He nuzzled his sister and thumped his tail. "Pavati, did you really see her?" He'd never seen something dead before, other than the animals Momma brought home. Motion caught the corner of his eye and he jerked, but it was only his mother. He frowned, ears flicking uncertainly, as she padded up to her two pups.
"Pavati." Jori nudged her daugher gently with her nose. She glanced apologetically towards Kiros. She knew he wanted to forget the alpha. "Sweetie, can you show me where you found her?" She needed to see. Needed to say goodbye, and tell Kara what she should have said when she still had a chance.
Poor Pavati... so little, to have seen all this.
Sade could almost feel her confusion. So he stood steady, lending her his warmth and presence as comfort in this hard time. Both his mother and his sister were adrift, so he would have to hold them together. Orange eyes flicked towards his father; but he wouldn't ask for help. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Kiros looked away for a brief moment, trying to concetrate on something else. He didn't want to go anywhere near that dead body, unless it was to spit on it. Why did Jori have to go see it? It wasn't right!
Pavati looked at her brother and nodded. She had definately really seen her. All lifeless, with the sunken in side that just barely. . . rose and fell. She froze over and grew all tense. Didn't things breathe when they were alive? She gulped hard. Kara had still been living. She shook her head. They also couldn't continue living with their ribs crushed in. They just couldn't.
She hung her head, she hadn't lied to them. Thinks Like Fire was dead. "How can you be so careless!" she suddenly shouted, angry at herself, and angry at him. Mother's demeanor shone forth in the hour of pain. "She cared for us you ingrate!" Puppy sobs came from her throat as she took for the cave. She didn't care if mother wanted to see Kara's dead body.
The red had told her once. "Let a dead wolf stay dead!" she wailed, tearing the earth up with her frantic footsteps. In horror Kiros followed, but he was amazed at just how quickly the pup moved.
"Pavati!" he called as he ran, giving Jori an unsure glance.
When he stumbled into their safe haven after her, Pavati was curled, feining sleep on the ground. Kiros looked around him, a bit unsure, but finally decided to lay down next to her, inviting Jori to do the same. "Maybe tomorrow. . . " he told her. It was said softly, but there was a firmness in his voice that clearly begged her not to push the issue. Ronove Sade jerked back as though stung. His ears were pressed flat again his skull, tail tucked low as he watched his sister flee towards their den. How... how could she say these things? Mother was sad, he could taste her sorrow in the air, smell it on her fur.
But he must have done something horribly wrong, for Pavati to hate him like this. Sade didn't know what it was but he supposed it didn't matter now. Determination stole over his features, but it was laced with more than a little sadness. He would guard her, and he wouldn't let her down again.
Solemnly he potitioned himself at the den entrance. He would guard them all, if that was what was required.
Jori stood silently, staring at the spot her daughter had vacated. Pavati's wails rang in her ears, as condemning as any of her own thoughts had been. She didn't notice Kiros' gaze, or her son's silent anguish.
She could only see Kara, falling backwards. There might have been a moment when she could have snatched a leg, a chunk of fur... enough to stop the alpha from slipping. There was a time when she could have warned Kara of the bank...
In a daze Jori slunk back to the den. Pavati was curled tightly on the ground, but her breathing was too quick, too loud; she wasn't asleep. Her heart ached at her daughter's pain. I was so determined to raise them without sorrow... Grief clogged her throat and choked her on her own words.
Pavati was so small. She would be cold, sleeping alone.
Silently Jori took Kiros' invitation and curled protectively around her pup. Sade's sillouette was still against the sky, solemn and tiny against such a large world. Jori wrapped her tail around her daughters small form and prayed that they would both find a happy life.
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Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 4:20 pm
Coming Together Kealdrana Sasaiuni 
"Hmm. . . " came the soft whispery voice of a nearly all white female. She sat poised on the edge of a cliff, looking down to the bottom. "I can't say I'd want to fall off of that." She slinked over to it warily, poking her black nose over its precarious end.
"Where the HELL are they?"
The snapping growls of another wolf caused Aphrodite to jump a bit. She flicked her gaze behind her to look over a very dark colored wolf with bright blue tears streaming down her cheeks. Of course, it was more likely to be the beta crying, out of sheer hilarity of Iriana's stupidity.
"They'll get here when they do," she answered, turning from her vantage point and flashing the black wolf a sweet smile.
"Don't try your tricks, Aphrodite!" she growled, her ears pinned to the back of her head. "You know they don't work!" All the black and blue received was a slow chuckle from the beta, which aggravated her even further.
"If they don't move their sorry asses, I'm shoving them off that cliff!" she continued to bicker.
The pink and white shook her head thoughtfully, a distinct smile came to her lips. "They have to be here for that, love."
"Don't say that!"
"What?" Aphrodite teased, giving Iriana another of her alluring grins. "Love?"
"I'm not your whore, b***h!" Iriana retorted, and slunk over to a outcropping of rocks to curl at its base. Aphrodite was such a prudent pain in the a**!Noyama 
I'm not your whore, b***h!
Dakolin rolled his eyes and quickened his pace. He was mildy surprised they hadn't attacked each other yet. Certain advisors were certainly taking a long time getting here, weren't they?
"I found them," he said as he stopped near the females. "Both of them."
"Sosay's gotten sooo big," Wren added with a sly grin. She'd actually seen almost the entire pack. The alpha, oh, she was something. "I'm going to take one of those puppies," she announced to no one in particularly, a wheezing laugh following.
Dakolin knocked into her, and in turn she snapped at him.
"Keep your damn mind focused for once, you crazy a** thief," Dakolin hissed.
"You're just angry you couldn't take out Sosay." Dakolin wasn't all that much fun, in Wren's opinion. He killed stuff, he moved around, that was about the most interesting thing about him.
Occasionally, she enjoyed some fun with another certain female, though.
"Oh, Iriana, you should have seen all the females around there. I bet almost all of them would be over Dakolin in a second. Isn't that nice?"Kealdrana Sasaiuni Aphrodite watched the pair as they approached. "Dakolin," she sneered. "You look just as deadly as I last saw you." She glanced over at Wren. "Hmm. . . " was all she said to the pink. She wasn't quite sure what to think of Wren, yet. Suffered from Attention Deficit Disorder, she thought.
"Both of them!?" Iriana exclaimed in disbelief as she bounded on her feet, suddenly overjoyed now that a certain someone was here.
But it was the flash in Wren's voice that caught Aphrodite's attention. "Puppies?" she said, oddly intrigued. "Really now?" A chuckle came to her lips. This was certainly something indeed. "They didn't see you?" she asked, the obvious question that had to be presented at each one of their meetings.
"Of course they didn't see!" Iriana defended. Oh how valiant she was. Aphrodite snorted; Iriana scowled.
Iriana cuaght Ren's eye. Her hackles instantly raised on the back of her neck. That stupid, slimy, good for nothing. "SHUTUP!" she growled at Wren, her left eye twitching from aggravation and gritted her teeth together. "Dakolin's not that stupid. It would make our plan go to ruin!" But it was distinctly clear that Wren had very much gotten under Iriana's skin, and the gamma might as well have been fuming at the mouth.
"Anything else interesting?" Aphrodite played, interrupting the angry Iriana and getting another scary look. "Oh now, you'll get wrinkles." Noyama "It's in the eyes, I suppose, red is generally a threatening color," Dakolin commented and shrugged half-way. Like her with Wren, when it came to Aphrodite, Dakolin didn't really harbor a strong opinion one way or the other. She did her job. Good enough for him. "Yes, both of them, and many other wolves..."
Wren sat down and shot a grin toward Iriana. Her work there was done. The gamma was too easy to piss off. She nodded her head in the Ahprodite's direction. "That's right. In fact, there was eight of them that I saw."
Eight whole puppies. Just waiting like treasures. Ooh, but which to take? Decisions, decisions.
"Let her get wrinkles," Wren continued. "She looks like an old lady anyway."
"Will you two stop bickering? Honestly," Dakolin barked. His voice lowered back to normal volume and he snorted. "It's true, they didn't see us. The alpha there is blind, but I know for a fact she was the one who led the group that killed Phantom, so she's not exactly someone I'd want to poke and prod at."
"Phantom," Wren whined fakely. "I'm so sad I never met him. He sounded so wonderful."
"You can meet his daughter," Dakolin deadpanned. His feelings toward both Phantom, and now Tekka, had always been nothing but obvious. "More importantly, how exactly are we going to work this? There's so many wolves around them both constantly."
"Sosay's YOUR job," Wren pointed out, adding, "Backstabbing b*****d. You don't think Retsu's turned on us, too, do you? A few of those pretty little puppies belonged to him." Kealdrana Sasaiuni Aphrodite had quite expected the response. Dakolin had never been one to charm. Many other wolves. . . it sounded like such a dream. So many, waiting all in one place. She could weave words around their ears.
"Eight!" Aphrodite exclaimed in suprise, but still kept her comosure. "Well now. . . . this could get interesting." Eight puppies was something to shout about, if she ever shouted. She herself wouldn't want to deal to heavily with the brats. No, if they did steal away one of those precious things, it would most definately be Iriana taking care of their sorry souls.
"Phantom didn't get killed," Iriana sneered at Wren. "He was a stupid angsting wolf who plum out killed himself. Jumping off a cliff, I'm told." A deep gutteral growl emitted from the back of her throat, directed most certainly at the pink wolf.
It was an interesting question, with all these wolves running about. "******** bastards," Iriana snapped from behind them. "This would be a whole lot easier if those two would hurry up. Do they think we're they're pets!?" Her eyes were scanning everything, knowing that those two formentioned troublemakers liked to be ungodly late, and it irked her, because it made Dakolin scowl.
"Well," Aphrodite began again, getting into one of her 'I have a story for you' modes. "A Retsu pup would keep his loyalty tied down, wouldn't it?" A slimely grin came to her face. "The males shouldn't prove much of a problem."
Then something shocking poked out of Iriana's mouth. "Starve the bastards." Aphrodite flicked her head around, jaw half open, and snapped it shut in shock. She'd actually said something moderately useable. Noyama
"It's true he jumped, but if he hadn't, that red alpha would have taken him down. The b*****d just didn't want to give them the satisfaction of killing him themselves," Dakolin explained. Sky, Phantom. Whatever name he was going by, he deserved whatever he got and worse.
"I think 'interesting' may be putting it lightly," Wren grinned. She'd never remembered laughing at anything Iriana said, but at the suggesting of starvation, she did cackle. "Looks like some little messanger is almost worthy to play with the big bads, after all." Wren had thought 'messanger' was the lamest job any one in their twisted group could be given.
"I hope you aren't suggesting that about my children," the voice came. The group turned toward the large rock that Retsu now stood on, bright yellow eyes peering angrily down at them.
"I haven't forgotten about any of you," he told them immediatly. "Or what I was doing, but don't dare touch any of my pups."
"Calm down," Dakolin smoothly demanded. "As long as you're doing your job I won't touch them."
Retsu growled at him.Kealdrana Sasaiuni Iriana gave herself a pat on the back, not literally, but she was beaming with pride. She knew something Wren hadn't, or so she thought.
"I try to put most things lightly," Aphrodite drummed. She, too, chuckled when Wren did. Iriana was known as the worthless one. The small, bickering thing that mudane tasks could be shoved upon. She was loud, couldn't hunt worth a bean, and she loved to pick fights that she couldn't win. However, she could run farther and faster than any of them, and she was loyal to Dakolin. Meaning she wouldn't open her mouth and spew no matter what, and that was why she was trusted with their most valuable communications. As much as Aphrodite would like to have seen Wren tear her to pieces, Iriana was valuable.
At the sound of the blue she quickly rose to her feet. She fled scenes when necessary, and around here, wolves seemed to appear at the worst of moments. "Retsu," she called to him softly. "What ever gave you that idea?" she gave him a slow wag of the tail, her ears twisting at the sound of Dakolin's voice.
Iriana, meanwhile was smacking her head against a rock. Apparently she thought it helped her think. No one else shared her opinion. "They live in the woods," she mutttered. "Thick, dark, fugly woods." Her tail was tucked low under her body, but at last she came up with it. "There's enough of us. We'll just trap them in. Water, let them have, but the prey can't be good." She was grinning as she came forth, a slight amount of blood trickling from her forhead.
It was only then she noticed Retsu and her smile faded. "Retsu." Noyama Indeed, all of them had their strengths, and Dakolin had mused it over many a time. He wouldn't admit he trusted Iriana, and he might not, but he did distrust her less. She was a good messanger, very fast.
Aphrodite was certainly no friend of his, but she had the looks and the charm, and she used them the best she could.
Then there was Wren. He knew, and they all knew, without hesitation she'd backstab them all in a second if it was to benefit her. That was the reason why, he assumed, their currently missing 'advisors' always made it so life couldn't be any better.
Lacking loyalty and not a very nice conversationlist made Wren an unpleasent member of their group, but she could swipe something from under anyone's nose and live to the tale. From food to other wolves, especially puppies, and when she said she'd be taking one from that pack... Dakolin didn't doubt it.
Then there was himself, Sosay and Retsu out here...
The dark omega leered at them all. "I'm assuming you are all unaware of the status that pack holds. First off, Raja is potentially one of the most dangerous alpha we've ever encountered, sight or no. Secondly, they have a seer and a shaman."
Wren's ears pricked. "Really? Are any of the puppies theirs? I've never taken from a seer before." Kealdrana Sasaiuni Aphrodite was not particularily keen on being leered at. Stealing was one thing, but trying to contain a seer would take severe discipline, and maybe even a seer on your side. They had no seers, and certainly no shamans.
"Aside from Dakolin and his plans, we're not out to kill them persay," Aphrodite scrutinized. She wasn't overly fond of swiping everything she came across into the ditch.
"What we need," Aphrodite said as a smile came to her lips. "Is a seer who has absolutely no idea what he's doing." She'd met one, just the other day, but convincing him would be a whole different matter. "Or just a stupid wolf. Iriana?" she asked, with a chuckle.
"Shut the hell up!" the blue growled, but that was all she said.
"Wait," she had it. "One of us could go, but they couldn't know anything that was going on. It would put them at severe risk, but it could be done." It was probably best to leave Sosay out of this for now. The more people knew, the less likely they were to succeed with a seer hanging about. Curses to those individuals.
"Oh get over yourself!" Iriana snapped at Wren, making a loop to lay on the ground again. She was upset they weren't listening to her idea, but focus seemed to be on Retsu and how to get by the seer now. Noyama "If one of us went, the seer in the pack would definately figure it out," Retsu snapped. It annoyed him to no end, these wolves. Not that he was really fond of most of the ones in Raja's company, either.
Since the Hayley thing, Kaho had made sure to keep tabs on everyones mind, including Raja's. The alpha didn't seem to care if it ensured her safety and that of Solan's, too. She said whatever she thought anyway so it didn't matter to her.
"Oh, yes, splendid, let's get a SEER!" declared Wren with false cheerfulness. "That's a GREAT idea! Let's have someone who can read our thoughts constantly around! How about no? Why don't you stay to your work, b***h, and stop making plans like you're running this show."
Dakolin growled fiercely. "ENOUGH!" When things had quieted, he continued, "All we want is Sosay. That's it. I was ordered to take him out and that's all we need. There's no reason for us to slaughter a bunch of wolves senselessly."
No way he'd be like Phantom.
"Retsu, does he know about you?"
"Most likely," Retsu answered. "I'm not sure he knows what to do about it, though."
"Fine. The seer and the shaman..." Dakolin's voice trailed off thoughtfully. "We don't have a choice. We have to kill them both."
"They both have puppies," Retsu added. "The seer has a son and a daughter, and the shaman has two daughters and one son."
Kealdrana Sasaiuni Aphrodite frowned. Iriana beamed. She loved it when others got hammered for being brainless idiots.
Iriana was perfectly content with slaughtering wolves. Especially wolves like Wren. Who couldn't get their filthy paws off anything and always had some sort of demanding opinion.
Well s**t.
How on earth were you to kill a seer, when the seer knew you were going to kill them? "We could just lead them away. . . " she muttered to herself, knowing it wasn't going to work.
"Screw the puppies," Iriana growled. "Let's pop the shaman and the seer. Dakolin can take care of Sosay." She gave them all cold, hard looks, as though she expected them to take her seriously for once.
"I'm tired of talking," she continued. "Its your job to do stuff. So do it! I'll be around. Dakolin knows where to find me." With her ears pinned, she left, pausing to n** sharply at Wren's tail and give her a solid curse.
"Hmm. . . " Aphrodite said as she watched the blue leave. "So. . . " Noyama Wren watched the other wolf leave, sighing heavily. "I was worried this might happen..." Her voice became unusually peppy. "That's why I took the liberty of taking one of the puppies I knew was Retsu's in advance."
Dakolin looked her way, his expression neutral. The bright eyes of Retsu, though, were wide and shaking. He snarled and clawed at the ground. "Excuse me?!"
"That's right," Wren cooed. "I saw you lumbering around that ugly a** little patch b***h of yours, and it was too easy to tell which were yours. I noticed you only had one daughter, so I took that one. Bring Sosay here or I'll kill her."
The snarling became louder.
"Ah, ah, ah," taunted Wren. "You'd better get a move on, or else." When the omega hurried off, Dakolin turned to her and gave her a look of dissaproval.
"You never stole any puppy," he said without question.
"No, I didn't," Wren agreed, grinning. "But the catch is... I move faster than him." In the same direction Retsu had left, Wren hurried off.
How annoying...
"I'm going to find Tekka," Dakolin stated simply, and then he was gone as well.
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Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 1:07 pm
Coming Together Kealdrana Sasaiuni Never, ever return to the scene of the crime; or so she'd been told by all the other members of their little 'group'. Iriana never committed any crimes, so she ventured where she pleased. Often times she'd fein being like them, trying to steal kills like Wren, whom she hated, but greatly admired the skills of. Perhaps trying to seduce some man, but when things got intense she laughed nervously and fled with her tail between her legs. No, all she was good for was running, and delivering. Run, run, little b***h run!
Oh she could sprint, too, far fast, forever if necessary. It was her only pride, and at a distance it allowed her to shout whatever she wished at whomever she wished. Even Wren with her thieving speed could never quite catch her. The thought made her beam. But basically, she was worthless, and if she was injured - an easy task when running over rough terrain - she was done for. She doubted any of their group would wait for her, even Dakolin. If that happened, she was useless.
So she had to be careful, very careful. She couldn't pick fights, and her footing always had to be perfect. One wrong move and she was dead. No wolf would dare take a small, angry little wolf like her in.
"That stupid good for nothing, two-faced, backstabbbing, whore of a b***h!" she shouted to no one in particular. She was, of course, referring to Wren. Oh how she'd like to see Dakolin just snap his jaws around her pretty neck. Wouldn't that be nice? Her ears were pinned against her head, eyes darting about into the echoing forrest ahead, just waiting for the female to pop out and throw her one. If Aphrodite had been here she would have laughed, and told her cursing was bad for her image. Aphrodite never cursed. Blasted wolf. To Iriana they were just words. Words that other wolves hated, and so she loved to use them. Reityn  "Almost at the edge of the forest now." She mumbled to herself, sick of seeing nothing but trees. Polveroso growled angrily and ruffled her fur. She was definately one of a kind, the dusty, gray gamma, known to run quite a temper most of the time, and when she was mad. Well, that wasn't too nice.
But then again, how was it possible for a gamma to be one of a kind, when they were only really mediocre? The female huffed in her annoyance, glancing about, trying to find the way out of these damned trees. That's why Polveroso had left the pack she'd lived in with her parents anyways. Or so she told everyone else. The real story was that she'd attacked and killed one of the smaller, male hunters for not allowing her to hunt with them once. Banished, just like that.
Polveroso snorted again and then let out an angered howl. "********, these trees are such a pain in the a**." She growled, rolling her teal eyes and then shoving through some bushes that were blocking her path. At least cursing made the female feel a little better. She would have shouted out again had the very loud voice of another that sounded equally as angry as herself also cussed just a few seconds later. "What the hell?" She said, stopping in her tracks and glancing about in all directions.
"I must be getting close to the edge of this stupid forest, that sounded like it came from outside the trees." The dusty-furred female determined, growling again and then continuing on, glad she was almost finally out of the dark forest. Not that she didn't like the dark, but it would be nice to get out in the open for some hunting.Kealdrana Sasaiuni Iriana snapped her head into alert mode, her eyes narrowing as she peered through the forest. That had most certainly not been the voice of anyone that she knew, and she didn't particularily want any company at the moment. She was stewing on how stupid everyone was, she didn't need a wolf to mosy on up and try and prove it to her.
"Wolves," she bickered, glaring heatedly after the noise that bounced from the foliage. It seemed that this one liked to cuss as well. That was her job, and other wolves weren't supposed to like it. It made her cluck, snapping her tongue against the roof of a ridged mouth. "b***h," she muttered, and curled into a tighter ball.
She would fein sleep, until she could no longer smell or hear the sounds of the other wolf. In this way she wouldn't have to deal with it, and her peaceful spot would be left alone. There was no way she was talking to a fat, grumpy old wolf that was lumbering through the forest so loudly. For that was what she must be, making all that racket. None of her friends were so noisy, if you could call them that. Reityn Of course, the only reason the gray she-wolf was being so loud at this moment in time was that she'd been stuck in the acursed forest for the last three hours, and saw no point in being quiet any longer. She snarled again as she tripped over a root, nearly running head first into a rather hard-looking tree trunk. "Damnit." She growled, tail stiff as a sign of her annoyance.
She stalked around the tree and then smiled a little as she was finally able to see the light at the edge of the forest. "Finally. God damn, that forest is way too big." She grumbled, going back to her silent stalking asd she approached the brightness of whatever was on the other side of this forest, just in case there were something out there, be it other wolves, or prey.
Polveroso leapt over a small, fallen log, then concealed herself within a bush, peering between two branches, her teal eyes scanned the outside, immediately spotting and locking onto another wolf. She inhaled deeply, trying to find it's scent. Female...gamma as well...she's alone. The dusty wolf shook her head and then snorted softly, though soft enough not to be heard. "She's the one that was cursing as well." She determined with a small laugh. "Oi!" She called, "Where the hell am I?" Polveroso demanded, ruffling up all of her fur and then coming out of her hiding place, stalking slowly towards the other wolf, whom seemed to be ignoring her. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Apparently the other wolf wasn't getting the point of a wolf feining sleep. Iriana's docile ears flattened against her head once more, her tail curled underneath her, even now. Most would have thought her omega, except for the fact she went out demanding things, and most of the time got them. She didn't eat enough for anyone to care, and it was an impossiblity for her to win over any position, so they simply let her bicker where she pleased.
Iriana didn't stir when the other gave out the first call to alertness. In fact, she pretended she was dead, not moving a single inch of her body. The other wolf persisted, making more noises from that oversized mouth of hers. Iriana grumbled and rolled over, looking up at the sky for a moment through squinted eyes.
She completed the roll and rose to her feet, shaking dirt every way she pleased. Her eyes watched the newcomer with a haughty defiance.
"How the hell should I know?" she snapped, going around to the other side of her protective rock to look at something more interesting. Damn. Damn. Damn.
"Go back to your packlands, pansy." Reityn "Last time I assume someone I run into is smart." Polveroso noted to herself, rolling her eyes and then reclining to her haunches, getting the feeling that somehow this other female was all talk. She snorted and then flicked her ears forth, tail swishing somewhat patiently behind her.
"Packlands? What ******** packlands?" She laughed coldly, "I don't need a pack. They're useless...giving pups false hope and security." Polveroso snorted, fluffing her chest a small amount more and then standing again, finding the half-dirt half-snow a rather uncomfortable sitting spot.
"I'm alone, I live alone, I hunt alone. Make sense, pretty girl?" The dusty wolf snarled, lips pulled back and brow furled. She bristled her tail and then tensed her muscles, glaring at the other, who had wandered away mid conversation to examine something else. "Hiding behind a rock isn't helping anything." Polveroso rolled her eyes. Juvenile. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Iriana winced. Yes, she was stupid, but it wasn't her fault. It wasn't like she didn't try, just like everybody else. Stupid. Then the other wolf said it, how she didn't need a pack. Oh, did that make her happy. This one was alone, while she had a huge group of thieves and assassins lurking right under her nose. To be called forth with simply an ample excuse of how this grey might ruin their plans.
Suddenly her mood was much better. Hiding her grin behind spread fangs and pinned ears, Iriana slunk out from behind her rock. "Die alone?" she finished, settling onto her haunches just in front of her rock. She'd like to see the other wolf beat her in a running match. If she remained this far, she was perfectly safe.
"What is your name, lives by herself?" Her left eye twitched as it often did in great anger, excitement, or if she was thinking too hard. Reityn Polveroso flicked her ears. Something didn't seem right. She was coming out from behind the rock now? She snorted. This female has something up her sleeve, I'm sure of it, the dusty female thought to herself. "Maybe not die alone...that doesn't sound too grand." She huffed.
"Anyways...I'm not such a fool. What are you up to?" She inquired, lifting her chin slightly and then narrowing her eyes at the black and blue female. "No wolf should ever have a reason to be so nonchalant." Polveroso added, flicking her tail and then reclining to her haunches as well, staring at the other female coldly. The dusty gray she-wolf shook her head and then glanced about for only a brief moment. There was a lingering scent of other wolves. This female had a pack...that must be it. And of course, I told her I was alone. Fantastic. Way to go DUMBASS. Polveroso beat herself mentally for divulging even such information.
Shaking her head again, Polveroso tensed her muscles fully, preparing herself to either defy boldly, run, or attack, if such things were required. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Yes, Iriana didn't think that sounded to grad. But, with the way this wolf was going, it was most certainly true. The grin on her maw was widening, she was winning, and she never won.
Consequently, she decided she liked this wolf. "Hmph," she said blandly, copying Aphrodite's strange habits of not saying words. Still, she wasn't one to lose the battle so early, so she decided to stop while she was ahead. She didn't really have anything for this wolf, not that she'd tell her if she did anyway.
"Just watch and wait!" she said, cackling, and taking to her feet. In one fluid motion she swept passed the grey, nipping her tail and tearing off back into the forest. She knew where she was alright, exactly where she was, but Iriana wasn't about to tell the other wolf that.
Besides, why would she dare follow into the dark forest, especially when she had seemed in such a hurry to get out of it. Not that she could match Iriana's speed, anyway.
It felt good to win, she noted as the wind blew sharply in her face. In fact, it was exhalting. Reityn Polveroso raised her brows as the other female failed to speak, though she looked rather pleased with herself. Oh yes, something was definately up. The gray wolf just felt it, saw it coming.
It was no surprise when the other wolfess sped past her, and she snarled as her teeth found her own tail, though it was only a n**, still, an annoyance. "Puh. You think I'm going in there after you, you're ******** insane!" She bellowed after the other, staying firmly seated in her place.
"I guess I'm alone again." She laughed. "I'll just sit here and see if she comes back, if not, big deal." She huffed, relaxing a little and shaking herself slightly, though leaving her fur ruffled.
Though something inside Polveroso wanted her to chase after the other wolf. She didn't seem so bad now that they'd sat, staring at each other for a few moments. "Hmmmm." The dusty female pondered, standing and looking back into the trees, still able to see a small amount of the bright blue fur the other female sported. "Nah." She decided, plopping back down and then giving a small barking noise, watching the female, until she disappeared. "She'll come back...or someone else will."
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Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 4:24 pm
Sneaky, Sneaky Kealdrana Sasaiuni Oh, where are you my love?
A rush of wind blew past her face, tickling the whiskers on her nose, whispering secrets in her ear.
Here.
The water rushes by, sending echoes of past times rushing through the skies. The aurora. Pinks, reds, greens, yellows, all swirling together with the step of the earth.
Don't be so long absent.
The smell of fire is pungent. It crackles and laughs, swirling around the great and mighty pine, bringing it down in so short a time. What took hundreds of years to grow. And a single tear falls from the light of the moon as the screams echo. . .
I am forever gone.
There is a flash, and then darkness once again folds around the eyes of the beautiful.
- - - - -
Aphrodite woke with a start, her ears forward and a deep growl coming from the back of her throat. Her head ached. It was just a dream. Closing her eyes in relief she allowed a much needed sigh to release the pain. The speakings of the soul, as she called them, were so vivid and so dark, it changed her in every way. Normally calm, quiet, recourseful, and most importantly, seductive, they brought forth an anger, sadness, and heartbreak she could never feel in life. Her white body quivered, sending sparkles of light where the moon's gaze didn't belong.
It had been a long day, she mused. It was time to start another long night, and an equally distant morning. Using her front feet, she slid up onto her haunches, pale eyes searching the area for any disturbance. No sound echoed in the woods. Silence, which she often love, now left a wanton ache upon her heart.
Still, she couldn't ponder the past, it was time to face this side of her, and begin her journey. Often she took these walks at night, letting the trees and the wind whisper their secrets gently in her ear. She could feel alone, yet so very apart of the world. It was how she liked it, a feeling of immortality.
The shuffling sounds of feet echoed lightly on the trees as she rose from the forest loam. Her ears rotated about for anything that disturbed the peace, nose sniffing lightly. Aphrodite would never be caught unprepared. Despite the dream, a small smile furled lightly on her lips. It was a good night, indeed. With the moon full in the sky, radiating down on her, joy was sure to ensue.
A small laugh managed to escape her lips as she started forwards. Walking, always moving. There were always things to do, and besides, Dakolin and the others had their little plots to weave. She simply did her part, trapped in this world of self-remembrance. As she committed her sins, she felt no regrets, but every night she walked. Walked the road to hell. . . Ronove  Hell wasn't really any of Dak's concern. You did what you had to in life, took care of those you loved... and those you hated. The Source knew what was what, and would take care of him in the end as well.
Revenge wasn't really revenge, after all, if it was justice.
The black lone was hunting, like usual. But he kept one eye out for Wren's return. While he didn't trust her he did hope she would keep her word; everything would run much smoother. Paws sped silently along the forest loam, skimming through high grasses and soft leaf beds. He avoided the snow and mud without thought, prefering to keep his tracks to a minimum
Pale eyes flickered and watched for movement in the trees - there! A clearing, where an old doe stood, head bowed. He eyed her thoughtfully. She almost seemed to be waiting to die...
Well, he could take care of that. With careful steps he stalked forwards, joy rising with adrenaline in his system -
The doe's head shot up, eyes wide. Her nostrils flaired; with a bleat she took off.
"s**t!"
Glaring, Dak turned to search for whatever idiot had scared away his lunch. His eyes fell on the pale female and narrowed. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Aphrodite didn't even know hell existed, but she did believe in justice, and she had an idea of what sin was, in her own mind. She knew after she died, she would be frowned upon, which is why she intended to convince everything that there was no afterlife. If no one believed, how could it exist?
Iriana had told her once, 'The afterlife is a place for people who need s**t. I don't need a ******** thing, so I could die right now and feel complete.' Aprhodite couldn't say she enjoyed the interspersed profanity, but the words had held some wisdom, even if it was only those of a fool.
Aphrodite had been watching the deer as she walked. She had not been hungry, having eaten earlier that day, and it was nice to see something living, instead of stuck in between someone's jaws. The thought made her stomach churn, ever so slightly.
Still, in a flash, her companion had vanished. A faint smile lingered on her lips as she watched it go. She wished the doe a long and healthy life, with many children. Turning, head low and tail swaying, she came face to face with a rather angry looking individual, whom she'd already known was there. There was nothing like feining stupidy. Men liked that.
"Oh!" she exclaimed softly, falling back onto her haunches. "I didn't see you there." She gave him a beaming smile, her white teeth glowing in the moonlight. He was so dark. Hardly handsome, the scars prevented hat.
"Lose many battles?" she asked, a frown of concern crossing her face. It was completely fake, but as of yet, no one had been able to tell, even that Phib boy. He was completely caught of guard. She'd told him truths and lies, and exhaggerated things, making her seem like a lost and sweet soul. Hardly. Ronove What was it with these females and scars? They happened when you lived a hard life. He eyed the newcomer with suspision uncharacteristic of him. Was she related to Wren in some way? He wouldn't play games.
"If I'd lost them I wouldn't be here." He grinned - a mere baring of fangs to match her own. She was lovely, he would admit that. But he'd met so many pretty girls, and none were a match for the one he'd lost. This one wouldn't be any different.
He wanted wits, not flair. Fiery, strong, independent.
And, strangely enough, he wanted a good one. He would leave, forget the past, settle down far away from these killing games...
Of course, this was assuming the past would forget (and forgive) him. He stood still for a moment longer, then turned and stalked away in the direction the doe had dissapeared. Kealdrana Sasaiuni She merely cocked a brow at him, showing she really couldn't care if he had won or lost. In her experience losing simply meant you didn't get whatever you were after. It didn't mean you died. In which case, "You pick stupid fights." It must have been true. Anyone with any experience would surely not have so many marks, and be proud enough to stay on top. She'd seen those with some scars, but not decorating their body in such a fashion. He must have angered easily, she considered.
He seemed to watch her for a time, assessing. She let her smile fade away. Let him look, want, and leave.
Which is exactly what he did, and it brought the smile back once more. He'd gone off to get that deer. Little fool. With the smile still there, she hurried off into the woods in the opposite direction.
- - - -
She was back in the spot where she had originally met the male. He was probably still out trying to find his doe. Aphrodite didn't doubt he was having a hard time. The deer, if had any brains, would have long left the neihborhood, and certainly be more alert than it had been.
These rabbits, she thought with a glance down at her feet, were not so smart. There they lay. One white and one black, blood coating their necks. They had been an easy kill, their brains stupified with the same hormones she won over many men with. All that she needed to do now was wait. He'd return, grumpy and aggravated, without a catch and here she'd have a rabbit for him. Whether she would actually share or not, she didn't yet know, but for now she was content to look at the still eyes of her two prize objects. Ronove As it happened, Dak did return to the same area, but not in search of a meal. The deer might have escaped but he had figured as much; instead he'd returned to the old carcass he'd shared with Wren. When he came back, it was because he was waiting and he didn't want to stray too far. There was a nice hollow nearby too, perfect for naps and hard to spot.
That was where the lone was headed when he caught the female's scent. Irritation stirred, but it was overrun by stronger curiosity. Why was she sticking around here anyway?
The scent of blood, not fresh but not too old, mingled with hers. Rabbit blood. He sneered, but sauntered up to her anyways.
"What are you still doing here, girl?" His tone was neutral, his mouth open in an easy grin. He eyed the meat but didn't say anything. Wry laughter bubbled up as he remembered his words to the lone previously - fresh meat certainly did taste better than old s**t.
But he wouldn't beg. Eyebrow raised, he waited. Kealdrana Sasaiuni She didn't have to wait as long as she had figured. She could smell him moving, and at first he went far past her, but she was patient. Her eyes narrowed at the empty night. What was he doing? There was no smell of deer, he had not met his catch, as predicted, but he was muddling around.
She took a stronger wiff as he got closer. Wren. She didn't let the shock show on her face. It was a small wooded world, completely common that she might have run into him. She didn't like it, though, Wren being up to things.
"Hmm. . . " she said as he approached, flashing a grin in his direction. That's right, beg. He didn't, but he was laughing, about something.
"Something funny?" she asked him, completely ignoring the question from before. It wasn't worth answering. "Maybe that this place smells so sweetly of you?" She dropped it, sooner than she did most times, but she wanted to know just what was going on, and a slight bit of impatience itched her fur.
It was true, the wolves scent littered everything. It was a wonder any prey existed here at all. "Looking for something?" Her eyes narrowed, looking him over with scrutinity. "I only play certain kinds of games, lone." She wouldn't give him her name if she could help it. The less people knew about her and the rest of them, the better off everyone was. Ronove Her line brought another bark of laughter.
"Because I smell so sweet." Like blood and death. The laughter died and his expression darkened. "I don't know what kind of males you're used to, but I'm not a fool for a pretty woman."
He sat back on his haunches and let out a yawn, partly to show her just how bored he was with her attentions. Partly, too because he was tired. He was always tired lately. And he really wanted that nap. He flicked an ear, only half-listening to what she was saying.
"Even if I was looking for something," he replied, "I wouldn't tell you what it was."
He could smell a snake if he saw one, even if it did look like a wolf. He met her gaze and the grin returned. Games? "I'm not playing any." The grin widened.
Maybe this girl wasn't quite as foolish as he'd thought. Kealdrana Sasaiuni "Oh?" she answered, that dark laughter of hers ringing through the forest. "But you are!" The laughing continued, as she pushed the white hare towards his feet.
"Here," she whispered. "I got it for you, anyway." She turned her head to look into the dark woods, the moon seeping through the trees in various places. His next statement brought the onset of a sneer, but it was one tinged with allure. Chuckling she leaned closer to whisper in his ear, "Oh, I think you would." She drew her head back and winked at him. Interested or not, the proud loved to spill.
"Don't taunt me, little boy." Her gaze had slipped to his back, and down to his legs, following the contours of his body, her neck arched in a subervial fashion.
"Not bad," she noted. "A bit raggedy, but not distasteful." She turned her head and tilted it, surveying him with one eye. "Tsk," she said, giving no reason for her discontenting voice. Ronove Dak didn't reply. He could have liked this female, if she didn't make her attempts at seduction so obvious. But it was more interesting than hunting, that was for sure. And he got a free snack to boot.
He accepted the hare but didn't eat at first. He had a feeling this girl was from around here. While he thought Wren's caution last night was a little outrageous, she must have learned a lesson somewhere. From someone. With a delicate touch he turned the rabbit over and sniffed at the meat. Nothing. He tore off a chunk - much better than that rotting deer.
"I'm not interested in the games you're playing." He commented bluntly around the rabbit. His expression was blank. He didn't give a rat's a** what she thought of him. In fact...
"If you don't tell me what you want, I'll leave and you'll never know."
There. Now maybe he could eat in peace, and then get that nap he'd been craving. If she wanted information she'd have to ask for it. He would appreciate a night with a pretty woman, but he certainly didn't need it like she seemed to think. Kealdrana Sasaiuni She didn't seem to care if he was interested or not. It was what she was good at, and she'd flaunt it to the end of her career.
"Suit yourself," she grinned, avidly dropping the subject and turning her attention to her rabbit. She was eating now, and bedamned if he said anything to upset the balance. He said something, and she merely flicked an ear, chewing at her kill in a dainty manner. She took her sweet time in consuming the object, savoring the meat and humming lightly to herself. If he wanted answers, he'd just have to wait until she was done. Nearing the finish of her meal, she went slower, perhaps he'd leave and she wouldn't have to worry about him, but if she'd stay close enough downwind to smell him, and see if he stayed here. From her experience lones never stayed in one spot, and all she wanted to know was whether or not he was doing something out of the ordinary. She didn't care what it was, Retsu was good for that.
"Well then, I guess you better start walking then," she told him as she finished, curling up onto the ground, clearly intent on staying just where she was.
Of course, she would be leaving quite soon. She had no actual plans of sleeping here on the dingy earth. Rock suited her much better, but the male certainly didn't know that, as clever as he may be. Ronove This had turned into something of a contest of wills, and it only served to harden Dak's determination. He tore off another bite and chewed thoughfully, not especially hungry. For a moment he wished this girl was more open.
They might have worked well together. Mentally shaking the thought away, he swallowed and got to his feet. A grin ghosted across his face and he bowed politely. "Thanks for the meal, lass." He spoke with suprising sincerety, but the mocking smile still played about his mouth.
If that was how she wanted it... Dak shrugged, left the half-finished rabbit carcass, and walked away.
Not towards the sleeping hollow, of course. Not yet. Instead he stalked futher into the dark woods. He was determined not to give her any information, and she certainly wouldn't learn where he slept.
Or that he was hanging around here, waiting for something. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Aphrodite watched him go, noting how he left, not as stupid as she thought he was. It didn't matter to her, as soon as he was out of smelling range she was going to find Wren. Even if he wouldn't tell her anything, she could say whatever she wanted to the female, and she had definately caught Wren's scent fresh on his fur.
Finally, she felt it safe enough and she rose to her feet, her eyes scanning the area for anything that might have been off.
Nothing.
Nodding to herself she shook herself and hopped over the two corpses. She'd just leave them there. He'd probably come back for them, besides. It was time to continue her walk.
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Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 1:04 pm
Shaoilin Soap Opera Kealdrana Sasaiuni Another day began with the suns rays hitting the earth. Kara groaned, the first sound she'd made in ages. Her nose wrinkled to the smell that surrounded her. Months of lying near-dead, ribs crushed in, had left the world around her smelling rotten. The river had washed away most of the waste, but there was still some that stained her body, and left a sickening smell. Fortunately, most of the rotting meals she had managed to come by had been dragged away by scavengers.
The only memory she had of another wolf was Voodoo when she had last seen him. He'd struck a deal with her. She had received food and information on her pack, and he, in turn, was able to live under that pack. She hadn't seen him since, and whether he was simply waiting for the right moment to slip away, or had simply vanished, she didn't know. If he had stayed with the pack, she knew she owed the wolf her life, regardless of how caniving he might have been.
Kara was tired of waiting here. The passing of time was no longer relevant. All she knew was that she could not move, and though the pain in her ribs had long since subsided to a dull throb, her back legs had been crushed, or at least they felt so. She wondered, was she even lucky to be alive? To slowly waste away. . . Noyama 
But she was still thankful. Being small even for a runt, the health of her offspring had been concern for those in the pack. Even Raja had ordered everyone to keep a closer eye on her. Of course, this she claimed was only because she was worried for 'their' shaman, not for Ran personally. If this was true or not, well...
The puppies had been fine, albiet a bit small in size, much like one would except. Her lovely two daughters and her at first impassive son. He was a strange creature, and even stranger than that was the fact at first, Ran had found herself mildly afraid of him.
Luckily, overtime, his vapid, pupiless eyes gleamed michevously and that voice of his was finally getting some use. Perhaps too much use.
"Mama! Mama! MAMA!"
The puppy bounded from the copse and to his parent, who was sticking her head in an abandoned rabbit hole. Ran could never hunt, but she had no problem pretended like she was with future plans to teach her offspring. She hoped eventually one of her packmates would offer. Ekundu was hardly a suitable teacher either.
"Ran is trying to focus, Thable."
"But Mama, I found a wolf over there! It's squished!"
The shaman pulled her head back and gazed at him questioningly. "Squished? Show Ran where." And seconds later, her stunned and painful voice was calling, "KARA!"Kealdrana Sasaiuni Her ears followed the movements of the runt of a pup that was bounding around. She glared at it, but it didn't seem to notice. That might have been entitled to the fact she couldn't move her head to catch its eye. The fox hadn't showed in days, and she was hungry. There was no chance of eating the pup, but even small rodents could catch things.
"Hey," she tried to say, but was soon coughing. Not that it would have mattered anyway, seeing as the pup was already bounding away, screaming words as though it were the end of the world. She squeezed her eyes shut and sneezed, wincing as pain once more shot through her chest. Damn ribs.
Her ears couldn't catch anything, the two were much too far away, and her good ear was planted firmly against the earth. She ground her teeth together in agitation just long enough to miss the scent of the pup's mother.
Oh no.
Not Ran. Anybody but her. She swallowed the knot in her throat and tried to pretend she didn't exist, but of course, there would be no convincing Ran of that one. Especially with a puppy screaming about a squished wolf.
"Ran," she stated firmly, trying to flick her head to see the other. No use. "Sorry I'm not in better shape." It was a bad ploy at humor. Kara had never been a humorous wolf to begin with, and the fact she felt like fading away wasn't helping much of anything. "I thought I'd visit Tahara," she grinned, starting the hacking convulsions all over again. Noyama Tahara...
Ran winced at the name. Amazingly, it still physically hurt her just to hear it. A minor pain in the very bottom of her stomach. Emotionally, it ached much worse. She missed him, still.
He had betrayed her countless times, turned her over to Phantom. Made her go crazy and attack not just anyone, but her own sister. Any way you looked at it, she should hate him, and she had pretended she did. But at the end of the day, Ran was Ran. And Ran just seemed to go with a tacked on 'and Tahara'.
Where the spirit was, she had no idea. Suddenly he'd become very reticent, and it was a concern for multiple reasons that was eating away at her. He hadn't passed on, she could still feel him here. Laying low, waiting.
At this moment, she desperately wished more than ever before he was still fluttering along behind her.
"Kara, Kara," Ran whined loudly, hurrying to the other female and gazing her over. She knocked Thable away gently with her back foot when he tried to approach. "Ran will fix you!" And after that, she had a full intention of asking what the hell had happened here.
The butterflies now were no longer pink, nor were they their own being. They were minor devices created by Ran, varying in colors and mostly transparent. Weak creatures in comparison to Tahara, but there were many.
They settled gently on Kara's ribs, the place Ran had decided needed the most work immediatly. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Kara couldn't figure out if she was glad Ran had winced at Tahara's name, or if it saddened her she'd even thought to say such a thing. She knew the story. Kaho had told her how distraught Ran had been when Tahara had been gone. None the less, they were only stories.
Kara wondered about Ran's follower. There was no registration in her mind that perhaps it might have been the femme's offspring. Her own mind wouldn't and couldn't accept it. Just as she hadn't believed Phantom when he told her Ran was dead. This time, however, there was no lying blue wolves. Only her conscience refusing to admit the inevitable.
She watched Ran work. Slowly and carefully, those butterflies seemed to lift the pain from her very body. But Kara doubted that even a Shaman could fully heal her. She would bear some scars forever.
Still, did she want this healing? Could she bear to face Ran after the fact? Kaho had told her no. And she'd listened. If only he was here now, to guide her and show. But she'd heard the stories. Kaho was a bit busy under Raja's pack. With what, she did not know, but certainly anything that kept the male 'busy' was nothing she wanted to hear.
Could she tell Ran that she had jumped because she couldn't bear to face another day with these raging thoughts in her head?
Finally she could breath again, Ran's magic had worked well. She took in one full sharp breath. She could live again. But, she guessed, there would still be a need for a healing process. It had been quite the fall and a battle, but in the end, the river always refused her.
"You're good at that," she complimented, trying to shift onto her stomach. Her muscles burned from lack of use, but the severe sharpness in her chest was gone. Noyama Ran smiled gently. The second Kara was breathing, inhaling without sturggling, there was relief with the shaman. Her own muscles relaxed and she felt as if she could breath properly again, too. Her heart had been beating much too quickly upon the gruesome discovery.
"Mama-"
"You are indeed amazing."
Ran whipped around, and as she did so Thable stumbled behind her. He was an image of his father, not of her. It wasn't difficult to deny who's he was. He was also still too young to realize how weak his mother was, only aware she'd brought him into this world and would protect him from it, from the wolves that posed a threat.
Wolves like Dakolin.
Ran didn't know him. She hadn't seen him before. There was just something about his voice and those eyes that made her fur stand on end and the snarl come without her even willing it to.
"So harsh," Dakolin whined fakely. "These woods are fool of such devils, and you're such a pretty little thing, too." It was clear he saw the runt as no threat, because her exsistance no longer mattered when his attention was focused on Kara. "You're still here, are you? Kara?" Kealdrana Sasaiuni Kara pinned her ears. Did that little sun of a b*****d just call Ran mother? There was no way.
But before Kara got a chance to act, a sudden appearance racked her brain. Her eyes widened in fear as she caught the gaze of two very red eyes with their sights locked on her. She gulped, and for whatever reason, growled. Something about him left her ill at ease, and the first thing she knew was to protect Ran. Whether Ran's heart belonged to her ever or not, she would forever stand in front of anyone who dared threaten her.
Her breathing came heavier, eyes narrowed as she slowly brought her back feet up beneath her. They were numb, and she could barely feel them, but she'd had legs all her life, so she knew they must be there. It felt so dreary, to be so weak. When you'd been sleeping in starvation for so long your body began to eat away at your own muscle.
"Don't talk to Ran like that!" she snapped, her ears going farther back on her skull.
Then her ears shot forward in suprise, her mouth agape. "How do you know my name?" she half growled, the fear reawakaning within her heart. Noyama "Funny story, actually," Dakolin said casually, as if speaking to a group of old friends. The story was not funny, and these wolves were not his friends, so his seemingly friendly stature was nothing more than a taunt. Normally he was more for the dry sort of sarcastic humor, but this was too amusing. "You'd be surprised what your little seer friend will babble when we've got a puppy for a hostage. Amusingly enough, it's not even his kid."
"Selly?!" Thable yipped. He didn't fully grasp this situation. What he did know was that puppy, the crazy one with acted like an alpha in their games, was gone.
"Smart boy you've got there, Shaman." Dakolin's approbation fell on ears not interested. He sighed, just as acted out as the whine. "Dear, dear. Such hostility! I can't believe you lot were enemies with Phantom and not his friends. Are you in with his daughter, then? I was under the impression we'd be allies." Kealdrana Sasaiuni Her eyes flicked from Dakolin to Ran. If Kaho had babbled, what else had he told? Her eyes glazed over. Damn him. He talked, he always talked. No longer could she trust him. For a puppy, not even his own, not that he would wish to save his own, besides.
"I'll have his head," she growled, distinct hate for Kaho flashing in her eyes. A seer, she could understand, but to leak out information that she trusted him with? That was stepping to far. It seems she shouldn't have been in such a hurry to make friends afteral.
"He has a daughter?" she asked, obviously knew to the information, but she quickly shook her head. It was a rhetorical question. If the wolf before her said it, she believed it, and she knew Phantom was fully capable of having offspring. After all, there was China Blue.
"Allegiance is something you have to earn," she spat and gingerly rose to her feet, her body shaking from lack of energy. Still, she managed to slink her way next to Ran.
"You look like him, you know," she said, her eyes hot with anger. "Besides, I can't trust you."
Laughter echoed from behind her, and she managed to whip her head around. "I don't think you have much of a choice!" It came from a rather small wolf - actually only a bit larger than Ran - with Ice blue tears running down her cheeks, and a rather vicious smile. Noyama Iriana... She was stupid. Too loyal in Dakolin's mind, but he wasn't about to complain. "He has a few daughters, is my understanding. But this one, Tekka, she's something. She looks exactly like him. It's as if nature itself is willing her to die."
He grinned at the messangers words. "Exactly," Dakolin agreed. "I wasn't asking." For more reasons than one he again laughed, and it sounded so much like that of Phantom's Ran whined by instinct and cowered back, nearly stepping on her offspring who hurriedly backed up as well.
"Then maybe you should learn some manners, you b*****d."
Dakolin barely had time to blink before the spotted beta barreled into him and pinned him to the ground, fangs sinking into his shoulder.
"Sosay!" the shaman called worriedly, but didn't dare wander even an inch away from Thable or Kara, for her sake and for theirs. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Had Noyama been there, she would have cheered ten times for Dakolin, and then spat at him for being blue. However, the pink troublemaker was no where to be seen, not that she would have interfered besides. Blue wolves against all other colors? We all know who won that battle.
Kara was definately not holding that mindset. There were two of them now, forcing their deviance upon her, and she didn't like it. Kara didn't cower back at his laugh, in fact, she stepped forwards. She wasn't about to bow down.
"Ran," she muttered under her breath. "Take the pup and run." She deliberately avoided saying your pup. Telling herself there was still a chance. Oh Kaho, what would you think now?
Iriana was shocked into silence by the sudden arrival of Sosay, but there was nothing that could stop her fury when it came to Dakolin. "KEEP YOUR ******** WHORISH TEETH OF HIM YOU b*****d!" she screamed at Sosay and was off in a flash, hurtling her full body force into Sosay and snapping and biting at whatever she could find. No one messed with Dakolin and got away with it.
Unfortunately for her, she was rather light, and all she managed to do was sprawl over his back and fall flat on the other side, wheeling around for a counter attack. "Enough!" Kara yelled, her hackles raised as she looked at the rest of them.
"I'll listen." Noyama As any wolf would be, Sosay was distracted by Iriana's body hurling toward him. He grunted in disgust as she missed and instead went over him. Then, he yelped as the much larger male roughly tossed him to the side, knocking him into the gamma.
Sosay recovered quickly and moved away from Iriana, barking and snarling at her even after Kara had yelled.
"If there's going to be any listening, it's going to be to me." Another voice was around them, but this time more than one wolf appeared. Raja stood, eerily calm, where as Audi looked ready to slaughter the nearest living thing--friend or foe.
"Dakolin," she acknowledged. "I wasn't aware your stupid little group was still in tact. Obviously you weren't aware of the bond between our seer and our shaman. She's been talking with him this entire time. We wouldn't have just found you randomly, you know. Sosay, back off."
The beta leered at her, but listened, backing up to stand by Audi's side. Dakolin watched like a hawk, but when he spoke, it was clearly to Raja. "You'd do well being on our side in this. Me and Iriana heard it. Those females are coming back here, all three of them. That spawn of Phantom's isn't going to be alone anymore. Or did you even know she exsisted?"
"She knows I exsist more than you'd think," Tekka hissed, peering out from behind the alpha. "And you're too late." Kealdrana Sasaiuni Tell her Kaho. Tell her. Tell her because I can't, and its killing me.
Kara thought it over and over again. She couldn't bear to face Ran, and she had the distinct need to get out of here. There were too many wolves, all around. She could only hope Kaho was listening.
"Raja," she spoke allowed at the sight of the alpha. They were coming in drones, to make her life complicated. And every single one of them could know. Still, it was amazing to hear that Kaho and Ran were communicating. She knew little of the magical race, and it was certainly a thought that hadn't occured to her. You learned something knew every day.
"Oh great," Iriana growled. "We're all here. Let's have a party." She scowled at Raja, clearly on bad terms with the Alpha. She shuddered at the thought of the females. If only she were stronger, and better at fighting, or sneaking around, she could snap each one of their throats.
At the sight of Tekka, Kara nearly feinted. "How come no one's killed her yet?" she scowled at the small pup. She was simply to tiny to be of any formidable danger. "And what do you mean, too late?" Noyama "I don't believe I was talking to you," Tekka snapped at Kara. It was actually quite obvious when one thought about it, exactly what Dakolin was to late for. Not just him, but that female with him, and the other wolves in that 'group'.
She'd gotten to Raja first, she was on her side. Dakolin was too late, and Dakolin was right. Tekka was, obviously, no longer alone.
"I'm more in the mood for a bloodbath than a party. Maybe I'll start with you." If Raja had eyes, they would be fiercely narrowed on Iriana. For some reason, she found that female immediatly and immensely annoying. "And let them come. I'm not afraid."
"I'd be afraid," Dakolin told her darkly. "They took your eyes, I hardly see taking your life as much more of a challenge." He casted a last glance at Sosay. "You better keep a good eye on that female of yours, little spy. You don't want to know what I'd do if I got ahold of her. Come on, Iriana, we're going." Kealdrana Sasaiuni Kara sneered at Tekka. She was here, and she had every right to respond to whatever the blue said. But there was something dark in her heart, and she felt it towards Raja.
Iriana pinned her ears at the alpha, and tucked her tail low. She wasn't in the mood for her little threats. With a huff, she followed Dakolin, giving the female a harsh glare as she skirted past. She would always be able to outrun them.
"I'm on your side," Kara said flatly to Iriana as she fled. All her life the red had hated Phantom, and how he'd threatened Ran. Nothing good could come with his offspring, and if it meant following in the footsteps of treacherous wolves, so be it.
"Goodbye Ran," she said, and clearly meant it. As much as she was thankful for the Shaman's help, she'd never see her again at all costs. Her conscience had finally clicked over, and her heart ached. She wouldn't risk feeling hatred towards the one person she'd ever loved. "Ask Kaho," were the solemn words gave as she, too, turned tail to follow Dakolin and Iriana away.
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Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 1:09 pm
What do you mean, love? Ronove  Rem trotted along the edge of a sheer cliff. Below him the forest stretched away like so much moss, small and insignificant from his lofty perspective.
...alright. So maybe it wasn't quite that high. But the white wolf was filled with a certain rebellious glee as he stalked precariously along the crumbling edge. The ground was, without a doubt, far enough away that any sudden unforseen meeting would result in death.
And, for some strange reason this knowledge filled Rem with undeniable joy.
Maybe it was the fact that he knew he held everything he'd ever known in his paws. He could dash it away in one implusive second. Or stick around and watch things unfold. Have some fun before being called back to wherever he came from.
It was all so useless. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Aphrodite was busy trapsing around the upper part of the world. She knew Sosay and Retsu were spies, and she herself had always dreamed of getting in the middle of the enemy and learning their secret ways. She wasn't meant for it, though. Especially in packs with seers. There she would meet her undeniable end, no matter what the cause. She knew too much, and she was far too pretty. Plus, when faced with an attacker she'd turn or spill, whichever came first. Save your hide at all costs. It was a motto everyone seemed to live by in their group except Iriana. Her loyalty was only to Dakolin anyhow. Crazy messenger.
Still, she'd managed to desert them all for a time. Just long enough to have a moment to herself anyway. There was nothing for her to do at the moment. No secret plans for her to weave, or men for her to coax. It was a rather boring day, really, until she caught the smell of someone of a certain gender.
A grin spread to her lips, her ears rotating towards whence the scent came. It was time for some fun. Picking herself together, she trotted out, along rocky terrain, but was quickly faced with a dilema. She had an innate fear of heights. Aphrodite didn't show it, but it was there all the same, looming over her head. She avoided cliffs as much as possible, or at least the edges of them.
Seeing that particular male walking on its edge set her fur unrest and she felt a lump in her throat. Nevermind if he falls, she had to tell herself, he isn't you. Taking careful caution not to slide to close to that waiting drop, she followed the boy for a time. Keeping with his step. He seemed graceful enough, but she woudln't risk it.
Finally, she stopped. "You'll meet your death testing fate like that," she called to him, settling on her haunches a good deal away. Ronove Rem stopped, one paw raised, and balanced on the edge. If that gravel under his right back leg gave way...
"Does it really matter?" Although his mouth was split wide in a grin, the lone's eyes were cold. The mood was shot, dead, and buried. He wasn't alone, a single witness to the loss of a single soul.
"Would you miss me?" All four paws firmly on the ground again, the male spun around and started back towards the female. Oh, she was pretty. He would've spent a night with her, no questions asked. With one last (bitter) look at the cliff and all it's affirmations, the pale wolf turned away and traced a safer path towards the white female.
He smelled the fear on her and grinned.
"Afraid of heights, love?" He pricked tufted ears. "Or... something else?" Kealdrana Sasaiuni "Of course it matters!" she exclaimed, feining interest in the ordeal. "I have a life, which I very much intent to experience in the fullest!" In other words, why waste such a gift. If the end is so much better, she didn't mind waiting a bit. It would make it seem that much more beautiful when she got there. That is, if she believed in such things. People died. That was that.
"I think," she said, not moving from her position. "I would miss you now that I've met you." She gave him a soft smile as he came her way, her tail brushing lightly on the ground.
"Terrified," she admitted, quite candidly. She searched around for a bit, seeing nothing that she could possibly be afraid of. What else should she be?
"Afraid of what?" she asked him, still peering about. It was part act, and part second nature. When wolves around here asked questions, they normally meant something by it. That in itself was something quite alarming.
"You obviously aren't. Or you hide it well," she noted, giving him a look over. Ronove "... nothing." Still the strange, exhilarating - painful mood hung over him, like a pall. But he felt it drifting away, and was saddened by it. Something told him it was the closest he would come to any revelations. About life, or about himself.
But then again, he knew who he was, didn't he?
The male recognized the look over for what it was and quirked a brow. Without attempting to hide it, he gazed at her with an appraising eye and had to admit he liked what he saw. Rem's tail wagged in return, blue/red eyes meeting sky blue ones.
"I don't really think it does, lady." He sat down and cocked his head. "Sure, I'll live life to the fullest, for as long as I want to. But when I'm bored...?" He raised one shoulder in a shrug. "What's the point?"
Not that he was bored any longer...
"But enough of life and death." He inched closer, pretending to settle into a more comfortable position. That just happened to be a position brushing shoulder with her. "What's your stand on love?" Kealdrana Sasaiuni "Well," she said, with a very dissaproving voice. "If you are bored, then you are obviously not trying hard enough at life!" She rolled her eyes at him lightly and got to her feet, shaking her coat down to fluff it out.
She eyed him as he came closer, not flinching as she should. Let him come. As if to comply, she herself settled down into a lying position. After all, why spoil the fun by walking away.
She felt like mocking him for his statement, but the need quickly passed as his shoulder touched hers. Her blue eyes flashed for a moment, almost as if in warning, but she let it subside just as quickly.
"Love?" she said, shocked, though that, too, was an act. One brow was cocked and the other furrowed. It was an interesting question. One that Phib had asked her indirectly.
"Love is for fools," she said, her laughter rining into the trees. "Fools and friends." She turned her head back towards him once more.
"Now pleasure on the other hand. . . " she let her voice drip off into a whisper. "And you, what do you think of love?" Ronove Her answer suprised a laugh out of him. Women were always so absorbed in love, in romance and heroes. In everything noble that he wouldn't - couldn't - ever be. How refreshing to meet one who wasn't
He didn't turn to watch her as she stood, but he noticed the change in her eyes and grinned faintly. He could play games too, if it came down to it. A for love...
"It is a weakness." In this case, he shared the same view with that b*****d Haplo. "It is the trap that holds you for the hunter."
He'd know more than one male to foolishly risk his life - indeed, to give it - in an attempt to save a female. He wouldn't be caught in that net. Better to seek pleasure in a world as harsh as this than to put your heart out for the bears. The chill that prevaded his soul was nothing in comparision to the pain of losing something you loved.
He wouldn't do it again. Rem's face gave away nothing of his thoughts. Instead, a not-unpleasant smile cracked his maw.
"Pleasure, on the other hand... everything in the world is based on the pursuit of it. " He lay down next to the pale female, allowing his side to come into full contact with her. He faked fascination with his bandaged leg and watched her from the corner of one pale blue eye. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Aphrodite nodded her head at him. His view was quite alright, but she enjoyed proving people wrong, and so she would. "I do not consider love a weakness, hmm. . . " she couldn't come up with his name. Be it that he hadn't told her yet. She looked at him expectantly, but continued with her story. "A strength, actually, if one knows how to use it." She had seen love to horrible and wonderful things to those who had it. It drove some to insanity, and for others, it granted great strength. Temporary, but there to cause pain, none the less.
She enjoyed it when the men smiled, it was a sign that she was winning, for most certainly she was. He gave her more little tidbits to use in every word he spoke than most would give in hundreds of years. Words said so much about a person. But that wasn't her job to decide. It was that of their advisors.
"Ah yes," she agreed, her own eyes distancing to some unknown places. Perhaps remembering, even she herself did not know.
"But say," she said as he leaned against her. "This place is far too close to death. Let's go somewhere more comfortable," she chided, rising to her feet, making sure as much of her body brushed up against him as possible during the process.
She started forwards, into the waiting foliage that rested not too far from that deadly edge. Her head swiveled back to look at him. "Coming?" she teased, but waited. Ronove He was faintly suprised when she didn't flinch away from his touch. The smile widened and stayed fixed in place throughout her own explination of love. At the end he shrugged, his curiosity piqued not by the conversation but by the strangeness of the white wolf herself.
"Define it however you wish, but I want no part in it." He ignored the image of the puppy, Selly, that flashed into his mind. She was back in the packlands, taking "lessons" with Leu. That wasn't love... it was the upkeep of valuble goods.
Rem didn't move when the female stood, but at her touch a thrill of excitement raced up his spine. Whether it was indeed the presence of the opposite sex, or something darker, he wasn't sure. But did it matter? He wasn't bored, that was for sure.
"It's Rem."
A good enough reply. He followed her wordlessly into the cool depths, casting only one look back at the pale, hot cliff side. He rather liked that spot - it had potential.
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Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 8:25 pm
Don't Be Rude Kealdrana Sasaiuni The sun was high in the air, the world was filled with its jubilant rays, and Shore was perfectly happy. His dark tongue was lolling gayly out of his mouth as he pattered this way and that in that strange way which he held himself. One ear forwards and the other slighltly turned to the right. Not to mention his head was always at a slight angle, making him seem no more than a teenager with perfectly bad intentions.
For the most part Shore did have good intentions, or at least he'd like to think. Stick up for the little man, like himself. Besides, he was a successful hunter, and even if he'd run with his tail tucked from any fight, he could always pay someone to stab them back later. Then again, why resort to such measures when Crane could do it for you. Of course, Shore was to kind a man to go through with any of these expeditions, and he'd never met a wolf with whom he'd wished to quarrel, besides.
That wasn't to say he didn't get into trouble. Oh no, he was perhaps the prince of such events, for Crane was surely the king. It was a title Shore held to the greatest of heights, no other could match him in mayhem and fun. The whole word was full of these funny paraodies and crazy ideals. Why shouldn't he seek out them for what they were worth?
But by far the most heartening thing that Shore could possibly experience was something not of the mind, but of physcial motives.
Women.
His lust for such things was unmatched by all, except perhaps Crane, but Shore tended to limit himself to unpartnered wolves.
All thoughts aside, it was at this time that he caught sight of this formentioned like, and with that cocky grin and carefree nature, sauntered her direction. He kept his tail at an even height, his head cocked just perfectly, and his maw possessing that warm grin all the while.
He stopped only when he was near next to her, and began to talk in a thick, deep voice that was little more than a strong whisper. A voice that most tended to listen to, no matter the subject. "I couldn't help but noticing your perfectly formed thighs," he said, that crazy grin broadening on his face. "Care to share?" RonsoStryder 
Jaylin's head ached after recognizing her newfound abilities and "opening" both her mind and her eyes to a new potential. Xach's had shown here that there was much more entailed in the journey to become a Seer and aside from the strange dream that left its confusing wakes within her very train of thought, Jay was searching for the one place, Rakuen was it called?, of Paradise where there were greater secrets in wait for those who could ever stumble upon it.
It still was a bit puzzling, yet Jaylin yearned to find a place where she could better understand herself and draw from her powers.
What time was it?
Looking upwards towards the heavens above, Jaylin squinted her eyes and wrinkled her muzzle. From the looks of it, it seemed like a late morning and the suns rays were dousing the ground and causing the fresh powder to sparkle and shimmer with some elusive and elegant appearance. Furrowing her brows as she continued to aimble within the snow and drift into the unknown region, the young adult frowned slightly.
"I don't remember any of this," she muttered, musing slightly as her curly tail swayed behind her. "Is this the same place?"
Even with the storm thundering through the land with its heavy snowfall and bellowing winds Jay couldn't even find a familiar scent in the air or a landmark of some sort. Everything seemed like a blur and there was no sense in returning back to ask the old Seer since she had wandered at least several miles away from the small den site.
Confused, frustrated yet still relatively non-chalant and calm, Jaylin padded upon a small pathway where the snow was light and scarce. Glancing towards the left through the withered trees, the unfamiliar scent of other wolves lurking about caught hold of her senses. Stalling in mid step, Jaylin took several steps closer but kept a comfortable distance from them. As the last thing she wanted was to stumble uninvited and have a brawl break loose.
That wasn't on her agenda.
But she was lost. And she needed help finding directions.
Biting her lower lip, Jaylin slowly padded towards them. "Excuse me," she called out softly, her ears folding slightly back while her tail dropped behind her, "do you know where the mountains are from here? I'm looking for a place called "Seer's Cliffside." Sound familiar?"
Relaxed and letting her cerulean blue orbs calmly gaze upon them, Jaylin kept her mind open and ready if there was an opportunit to listen to the secret thoughts of the mind or any other opportunity that presented itself. She wouldn't force it, oh no, but she needed to be weary and especially because she was the outsider of these lands and there were rumors that there were penalties for such intrusions and that was something Jaylin couldn't afford.Kealdrana Sasaiuni Now before you jump at Shore as a crazy whore-faced wolf, let us give you the scenario:
The wolf in front of him was none other than Kara, and even has Shore succeeded in wooing her, the lesbian's heart was owed to another. Besides, another factor kept his tongue at hand, for there, at the red alpha's feet was most definately the finest poultry than any wolf had ever layed eyes upon and the red wolf was munching away upon it.
Not only was Shore attracted to her stunning beauty, but deragoatory comments were his speciatly. If she was smart, she'd catch the hint, and if not, well, he could feign innocence of any bad intentions. He waited for that response. The red wolf stared at him.
"Here," she said, rolling her eyes and ripping off some of that tender meat. Shore beamed and took up the prize in his mouth. "Now go away, beggar."
The purple wolf frowned, but it was clear it was only acted, for his tail was still going a hundred miles a minute. He opened his mouth to speak when another fine young woman came prancing up to their side. He seemed taken aback for a moment, but quickly the devious smile returned as he faced the necommer.
"Why yes!" Shore exclaimed, his voice chiruping against the sky. He stood up as though to get a better view and looked around him. "There's one there," he said stretching his head out towards a distant blue peak in the horizon. "And one of over there." Again he motioned, then finally turned around. "And one there, too." His attention once more came back to the lady. "Which one is it that I'm to help you find?"
The red alpha persisted to glare at him, hording her prize between her paws like it was some magical item that everyone was after. "I'm not terribly fond of mountains myself," Shore continued, his mind wandering. "I like vallies better, don't you?"
"You sick freak!" Kara snapped at him, growling a little.
"Oh!" Shore said, with his own roll of the eyes. "Someone is in their time of month." Dead silence followed. The look the red gave him would have made most jump out of their shoes. Shore didn't seem much to notice. He gave her a strange look for a moment and then twisted his head back towards the female. "I'm sorry, my friend is rude, as you were saying?" RonsoStryder This was...strange.
Jaylin gave a forced smile as she shook her head slightly, whisping her tattered, crimson bangs to the right of her eye and bit her lower lip. Of all the wolves she could have asked, it just had to be a male and one that though it had a clever sense of humor none the less. The young adolescent pursed her lips slightly as her tail swished behind her.
"The one's farthest away from the region. They say it's where mankind is commonly seen and there's a passage to some hidden-" She slowly eased herself from speaking too much, ears folding back slightly as she gritted her teeth and slumped her shoulders.
"The ones in the distance, the farthest ones."
The young Seer in training seemed to take a step back, looking from both the strange purple hued wolf and the fiery wolfess. She was somewhat at a loss for words and the idea to forget the whole thing was pleasing her motives as an easy get away. Maybe she could enlist someone elses help? But she had already inclined if they knew the way and to turn her back and run would be a disgrace.
Certainly Cellen, her own punk wolf father, had taught her better manners than that!
Flicking her ears forwards, Jaylin sheepishly smiled. "Oh, I'm just looking to find the right path out of here." Shifting her weight from forepaw to forepaw, the young Seer took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. This seemed to be more than she bargined for but she could handle it.
Right?
"Where exactly am I?" Kealdrana Sasaiuni Shore's face hardened, his gleeful complexity gone. "Go away Kara," he said a bit bitterly.
She opened her eyes wide in shock and stared at the purple wolf. He cocked a brow at her. "How do you know my name?" she said, a snarl coming to her lips once more.
Shore winced, she was so touchy. "I know a lot of things," he said mysteriously and then after a long pause, "Dakolin and Iriana sent me here to get you, but it seems I have pressing matters. Don't go where I can't find you." That was all it took for the red to be gone. She picked up her meal and fled in the direction of the forests, Shore watching her go all the while.
"Where were we?" he asked turning back to the female. "Ah, that's right. This is the point where you won't tell me the oh so top secret thing you are doing." He smiled at her, knowing he was right on target. She changed her story so quickly how could it be otherwise? There was a very long pause as he thought things over, his eyes narrowing and body almost motionless. One wouldn't think he was capable of such thought, but alas, it was there.
"No, you're looking for the Seer Mountains," he reminded her, staring at her sharply. "Now I'm not a seer, and I really don't think it matters in the slightest whether I know of your little 'secret', but there's no way I can take you anywhere unless to tell me exactly what's in your pretty little head. So I suggest you do that, because there isn't anyone around here that won't take advantage of a pretty little girl like you." He gave her a hard stare, trying to push his point across with every bit of seriousness as he could muster. RonsoStryder Jaylin's eyes widened slightly as small hackles seemed to sound from deep within her throat. Who was this wolf? A sense of uneasiness seemed to rest upon her as her softened, cerulean eyes narrowed upon the male. Behind her, her curly tail swept upwards and bristled as her body tensed.
"My destination and what tasks are before me do NOT concern a barmy, manky wolf who think's he's got a hit for six before him," she growled; white fangs flashing as her own innocent appearance faded quickly to one that was rugged and unruly.
Yes, she was a girl, but she was a pure tom boy at heart. She learned everything from good ol' Dad and from her brother, Valen. Jaylin wasn't nieve or helpless; She was the flesh and blood of a great wolf whose countenance wasn't afraid to shed blood if necessary.
Hearing the male speak with his sickly, stomach knotting tone made her cringe and make the fur upon her back bristle, standing on end, as he whole body seemed to hold a sensation to being consumed by such a stange feeling...such a foreign sensation yet, somehow, it was pleasing although eerie and dark. Those who had passed on had warned her that such powers could be used for both good and evil and little did Jaylin know that the darker portions of her abilities were on the brink of manifesting the truth to such feared behaviors.
"You think you're so hot to trot? ******** off. If you even lay one paw on me, you'll be losing more than your motives."
Men.
There were males she coud tolerate, those she love to have be around her, but those who thought they could walk all over her and take advantage after seeing a pretty face made her aggro. Her posture stiffened as she flattened her ears against her skull and hackled deeply.
She wasn't going to go down without a fight. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Shore took a few steps back, if it was one thing he didn't like, it was angry woman. His crazy grin came sharply back however, as he saw the humor in it all.
"It was you who asked where you were, and where to you wished to go, not I," he distinctly reminded her. "I took time out of my busy schedule to make room for your request. Let me remind you of something," his voice was harsh now, he didn't appreciate being belittled by those who didn't understand. "You use words of anger, which remain on bloodshed. The rest of the wolves in the woods are just like you. Good luck finding help."
He narrowed his eyes and sat down to watch her for a moment.
"I really would like to ******** off, but you certainly won't give me an opportunity. I suppose one of us has to be the better woman." He smirked, stood up, and trotted off in the direction of Kara. He hoped he didn't have to see a young face such as hers dead in this world, but it might be the case if she went around talking to strangers like that.
Besides, slinking away was the right thing to do. Crane wouldn't want anyone threating him, and goodness knows where that would go. Big egos made for bad messes. Best not to say anything.
Now where did that Kara go off to?
Seconds later his body was pinned to the ground, the vicious snarls of the red in his ear. "Oh you crazy purple b***h. I know your type. No sneaking up on me!" Shore couldn't help but to yelp, wiggling unhappily beneath the others paws. Where had his good day gone?
"I don't go around assaulting people as their walking!" he retorted, sighing heavily as he weighted for her to get up. RonsoStryder Why did men have to hold a sense of arrogancey? Jaylin furrowed her brows and snarled slightly. Why didn't she just forget the whole thing and wander elsewhere? Oh, that's right...she wanted to be proper. But all that got her was a male who was looking for pleasure than the mountain range that she needed to journey towards.
"Time? Request? Maybe if you acted a bit more serious than it'd be a bit easier than making everything into bloody hell!" What didn't she understand? Maybe prodding his mind could unwravel this disaster? She didn't see the humor in any of it and nor was she looking for humor either; Jaylin was trying to get herself back on track and be one step closer on her journey.
But if he knew where to go-
Watching as he trotted off elsewhere, perhaps in pursuit of the fiery female, Jaylin sighed and trailed him from a distance. Oh, she didn't want to have anything more to do with the strange purple male but she needed to know how to get out of the woods.
A small smirk curled upon her maw as the female had him pinned underneath her, the male yelping and waiting for an opportunity to free himself. Jaylin settled a distance away from them and onlooked the situation with no intention in providing aid.
"Can you please tell me where I'm suppose to head to find Seers Cliffside?" She spoke, her voice trailing with a calm, relaxed tone. There wasn't any use for hostility and she doubted she'd get anywhere with it.
"I just need to find the path or just point me in the right direction." Kealdrana Sasaiuni Kara could distinctly see the smirk, and wasn't pleased herself. She didn't want this crazy b***h taking enjoyment for something she'd done. As if to spite her she let the purple wolf up.
Shore was on his feet in a flash, shaking himself off and primping his fur, in a very odd fashion. It wasn't as though he wanted to look good, but he just went through the necessary rituals to please people.
"I don't think we got off to a very good start," he said, hardly looking at the woman. She made him angry and dissapointed, he didn't want to deal with her. "I'm Shore," he told her nonchalanty.
"The mountains you are referring to are quite a good deal away, and you can't get to them by following the direct route there," he had positioned himself in the fore-mentioned direction, the peak towering in the sky-line. His gaze was serene, as though he wasn't really there, and certainly not extremely overjoyed. "Go east, follow the river, and then back around the mountainside." He turned to give her one last gaze.
"If you don't, you'll fall off a cliff and die. Now go away. I don't appreciate rudeness." He flicked his gaze to Kara, ignoring the fact that Jaylin was there. "So Dakolin was saying. . . ." RonsoStryder Great.
Jaylin rolled her eyes slightly as the gaze of the red wolfess matched hers and, with pure spite, let the purple male up from his helpless position. What was next?
Her ears perked forwards as he spoke, hardly adressing her as or even making eye contact with her. And he was suppose to be some sort of charmer and a likeable sort?
"Jaylin," she spoke softly, her curly tail swaying in a slightly irritated manner behind her. "A pleasure, Shore." Throwing her head to the side, the tapered, crimson bangs of the wolfess swayed to the right once again and covered her eye as she sat there, listening and awaiting any directions the male would throw at her.
And- he was?
For a manky wolf, Shore at least had a good sense about him whether Jay would admit it or not.
No direct route? Maybe this was a bit more than she hoped for.
"East, follow the river, and back around the mountainside," she softly repeated, memorizing the specific instructions with detail. This was her only way of getting there and messing up this simple memorization could toll heavy. Nodding her head, she looked up towards the purple male with a much warmer smile.
"Sorry for the trouble, Shore," she commented, not having intentionally become defensive but being somewhat uncertain. "Thank you."
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Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:00 pm
Follow Me Kealdrana Sasaiuni Plop. Hop. Plop. Hop.
The small footpads of a blue puppy resounded in the silent air. The day was cool, scattered clouds blocking out the sun in most places, but it was not thick enough to make the air bite. Half of Me was lazing somewhere nearby, his eyes keeping watch over his small child.
They had taken an adventure outside of the packlands - Jori permitting, of course - and Pavati had insisted that they stop at several spots along the way. This one had particularily intrigued the vibrant youth. It was far away from the towering pines she was used to, and surrounded by insane amounts of golden colored strands that swayed in the skyline.
Half of me called it. . . grass. But she liked to think it was so much more. The very soul of the wind. So consequently she called it, Strands of Winter. For, of course, winter meant breeze, which also meant cold and as the wind picked up it was very much a bitter world.
There was no wind at the moment, however, and so she jumped to the next placid pool of water, forever disturbing the quiet in the air. o0 Nel Zelpher 0o  Brown ears flicked as a tawny wolf crouched into the grass, blue eyes seeking out the source of the sudden splash that had disturbed the quiet. Anoki was no craven, but he was prudent. It made more sense to see what had made the noise before confronting it, to gauge if it was a threat and if so, move on with little bloodshed neccessary. It wasn't hard to pick out the bright blue she-pup, nor the adult nearby. Blue didn't blend in very well, after all. Cautiously rising to his feet, he moved forward slowly. "Hello..." Kealdrana Sasaiuni Pavati was the first to catch the scent of the wolf, much to Kiros' dismay. He wanted to be the father, the one who protected his offspring, not the other way around.
Still, the blue pup had always been the more observant of the two of them. Her ears perked up, and she'd wiggled next to her father's side as was customary. The wolf that came waltzing in was very strange indeed.
In fact, if Pavati looked just closely enough he appeared to be made of. . .dirt. "Mud," she told him firmly, completing the naming ritual.
Kiros sighed and picked Pavati up by the scruff of the neck, replacing her beside him as he rose to his feet. He eyed the newcommer warily, keeping his tail submissed, but his head high. No one dared to touch his pups.
"What do you want?" he asked. It wasn't unkind, but there was clear protection lingering on his throat. o0 Nel Zelpher 0o Anoki quirked a brow at the pup, and chuckled, not unkindly. "Just passing through, I believe...but if these are your pack's lands, I'll make sure to take note of that." He nodded, his posture relaxed and unthreatening. Sooner or later a pack would allow him to stay in their lands. If this one wouldn't, he'd find another. "She yours?" he asked, tilting his head curiously. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Pavati was perfectly contented to hear the drones of the voices above her. It was such a calming sensation, to hear men speak. She thought she would grow up to be like mother. Living in Kara's pack, next to the river, and having a nice kind male to tell her stories all the time. He would go on adventures and she'd raise the children at home.
She could feel the air stir as Kiros shook his head above her. "No, the pack lands are farther north of here. We're just out for a bit." He seemed a little more relaxed now, but he kept his body firmly planted between the male and Pavati. If anything happened to their brood, well, Jori would kill him.
"Aye," he answered to the question, just in time for Pavati to pipe up again.
"Blue wolf thinks Mud has a story," and Pavati wanted to hear why he was there. o0 Nel Zelpher 0o Anoki chuckled again, his steel blue eyes warming. The pup was smart. It was nice to speak with one who was more inquisitive than they were wary. "The pack I grew up in had...difficulties. Being an adult, though young, I decided to strike out on my own, and see if I could not find better elsewhere. Better to hunt soley for oneself than go hungry more often than not." Especially as more became weak, with hunger, wounds, and disease. A blighted pack. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Pavati listened with interest, scratching lightly at a bug that had settled behind the scruff of her neck. Never once did her pale blue eyes leave his, though her body was clearly centered around several other things.
What the male said was true, it was always good to eat. "Blue wolf never goes hungry," she told him from behind her father's protective figure. "There is always plenty to eat in our pack." Normally she would simply have flung out a request for him to stay, but Kiros had gotten mad last time she'd brought someone home. Apparently their home wasn't open to everyone like she had thought.
Kiros nodded solemnly at the two of them, his own mind wandering to Jori and nothing more. Pavati found him simple, and a bit of a whimp, but mother told her stories. Crazy, wild stories that Pavati most certainly didn't believe.
"Speaking of," Kiros said, eyeing Pavati with a smile. "Mother will get worried if we are gone for too long." o0 Nel Zelpher 0o "That's good," Anoki commented. The pup did indeed look well fed. He fought off a twinge of envy. "I'm guessing you're not in need of an able hunter, are you?" Kealdrana Sasaiuni Pavati looked from father to brown wolf, to father again. They seemed to be having some sort of astranged 'business' deal going on, and Pavati really couldn't understand.
It was many minutes before Kiros spoke again. He must have known something that Pavati didn't. "Actually. . . " he said, his voice trailing off. If Pavati had been a seer she would have known Kiros was having doubts about bringing someone in without permission from the red. Then again, the red was dead, and he wasn't even supposed to be in the packlands, so it did not matter, no?
A soft smile came to her father's lips then, and Pavati could have been sure it was the grin of revenge.
"We have room, follow if you wish." The nudge in her side that followed told her it was time to go. She led the way, hearing the footfalls of father close behind. o0 Nel Zelpher 0o Anoki nodded, though the smile he was given made him faintly uneasy. He suspected his acceptance was for reasons other than what he himself had given, but really...did it matter? As long as he didn't wake up with fangs in his hide, he didn't care. Much. Though it would be an interesting thing to ponder. He padded after the male quietly.
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Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:07 pm
Dumbass Kealdrana Sasaiuni What a day, what a day, what a day!
Yes, everyday was that perfect time in which the purple and yellow wolf was beaming from ear to ear. One was cocked back and the other fowards, taking in the lavish scenery. He paused at a tree to give is a merry smile and then proceeded on his way.
Over the hills, across the river, he really had no care for where he was going, so as long as he got there.
Life, but of course, was grand. He was a bit lonely, however, and if the stars were lined right in the sky, the world would grant him a little bit of company, he so decided.
Naturally, Shore wasn't about to wait for a young maiden to fall on his head. He'd have to go out searching for one, but there was nothing wrong with that. A bit of exercise was good for his plump figure. He wondered if perhaps he ate too much at times. Pukio  Something stank like rotted fish. Which, given the givens, wasn't exactly a stretch. Gero was, after all, hanging out on the banks of the river. She'd found a place where the riverbed stretched wide and gaping like the belly of a fat deer, the shoal and bits of debris building up into a flat that made it comfortable to cross the river on foot. And a good place to find dying fish, stranded in the shallows and flapping around just begging to be caught and stripped from their bones.
Gero knew, instinctively, she'd grow tired of fish eventually; that her luck would run out and she'd need to move on to some other place to catch something bigger, something new tasting. The animals would get wary if she stayed in one place too long, but for now camping out on the edge of the ford was advantageous for one, comfortable for another.
She expected to get chased off any day now, those pack bastards. She could smell wolves all over this area of the woods. Old scents, to be sure, none of them fresher than a few days or so, but that didn't mean she wasn't squatting on some pack's territory. They'd come around eventually, they always did.Kealdrana Sasaiuni That thick and putrid scent came quickly to his nose. It seemed like a perfect spot for thieves and vagabonds. Truly, a nice spot for himself, if he didn't pick his meals so perfectly. Still, it was worth an investigation, as all strange scents were, and he was rather sure there was something much sweeter in the air as he padded his way forwards.
It didn't take long for that other smell to overpower the dead fish. It was a strong, sweet arouma that he knew so well. So intoxicating. As was the womanflesh it wafted from. His grin became a little less troublesome and a little more drunkenly laxed.
He very carefully strode his way towards her, making sure to hold himself in an agreeable manner. He wouldn't want to chase her away with a hostile posture, no would he?
He at last came up beside her, giving her a small smile and he watched her pick up the flapping items. He had never been big on seafood himself. The rich loin of a deer was far better.
"Surely a lavish young woman such as yourself isn't degraded to trash food?" Pukio Gero snapped at the fish, teeth breaking through it's slippery surface like hooks - and sliding right back out again as she snarled suddenly, snapping around to the new smell and the new face. Her jaws unhinged, the fish thrashed out of her hold, out of it's previous trap of shallow water and was swept, dying, downriver by the current. Startled, Gero started after it in a flush of motion until common sense snapped into place.
The fish was definitely out of reach.
Upper lip curling, the dark female turned her attention bitterly toward the eyesore of a stranger. "What the ******** do you want?" she demanded, the inquiry used as vehicle for her to show off her teeth given the extremely strong possibility that if the other wolf didn't back the hell off, they'd be snapping at his throat in a few minutes. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Shore was used to let downs, but this one was harsh. He frowned, but other than that he seemed to take it as no more than a simple joke that the world had played on him. He had wanted company, he hadn't requested that it necessarily be nice.
He gave her another smile, clearly not detered by the snapping, snarling wolf before him. In fact, it seemed more like he thought she was greeting him with a warm lick than anything else. He took in one deep breath and then took another step foreward.
"I don't believe we've met," he cooed warmly, clearly ignoring her hostile nature. "I'm Shore." He smiled once more and focused his eyes on her own. Pukio Gero narrowed her eyes. What the hell did this guy think he was doing? Clearly he didn't realize how moronic he looked, much less sounded with that sickly sweet simpering, charm-your-socks-off attitude. "Shore," she bit out, snapping at the end of the name in some twisted idea punctuation. "I'm going to tear out your goddamned throat if you don't take about four steps backwards, nice to meet you."
Except for the fact that it totally wasn't anywhere near nice. He'd made her lose her snack and was definitely digging her deeper into the Worst Mood Ever, obviously indicated by the raised hackles and the curled back expression, the female's ears pinned so far back they almost didn't exist anymore. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Shore did take a step or two back, because those teeth did look a bit formidabble. His gaze, however, lingered directly onto hers and that attitude of his was certainly not going anywhere.
"Ah," he said, as if in sudden realization of something. "I don't get a name." He changed his sights to the river now, looking directly to where her lunch had flopped down the river.
"You seem to have lost your meal. That would be my fault." He looked back towards her again, his ears swiveling in all directions - if he moved them enough, perhaps hers would losen? "Let me be so kind as to get you another one." And with that he precariously trodded out into the river, with grace that probably shouldn't have accompanied such a lowly wolf.
In a few minutes there were two fresh fish flopping on the floor. He had no intention of eating either one, but he seemed to be stranded on the rock he was on. Of course, that was an act.
"Oh my," he noted in that crazy fasion. "The current seems to have risen." And he stood there on his rock, his prize on shore next to the female who could surely leave any moment. Pukio After a moment's hesitation - seriously, what the ******** was up with this guy? - Gero trailed after him along the bank, hackles still fluttering up and down as she rode the proverbial rollercoaster of irritability and curiosity. Moron, she thought at Shore's back. What an idiot. Senseless. Annoying. Clearly stubborn and pathetic and -- but if he was going to catch her a new meal, she'd put up with it as long as she had to.
So, with more than a little trepidation concerning the matter, Gero planted herself on the river bank and the other wolf waded out to a rock and caught her fresh fish. Harrumph.
Admittedly, she was a little surprised over Shore's ability to flip a couple of fish out the water. He was more than he looked, if nothing else. Then again, he was a little fat around the belly... Gero snapped at the fish greedily, taking big chunks out of the both of them before simply picking both of them off the ground and holding them in her mouth. She looked back at Shore and the rock he was, ahem, shored up on.
Gero flicked an ear at him impassively. If he thought she was going to set off on a 'daring' rescue mission through four inches of water, he was kidding himself; yeah ********' right, buddy. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Shore was glad that she was pleased with the meal he had caught her. This may work just yet. If he played his cards perfectly - he seemed to be missing them, which was odd - he would come out on top, so to speak.
She watched him, most obviously sizing him up. Surely he would get something for that record fish catching time? If there was any records he was sure to have beaten every single one of them.
He waited, but she didn't come. She merely flicked an ear at him, yet he could see her watching, to see what he would do.
So he stared at her and waited.
And Waited.
Stare. Wait. Stare. Stare. Wait. Wait.
Any minute now. . . Pukio Gero chewed over her options.
Literally.
Hmm, kind of tasty.
At length, she lowered her head and let the mauled fish corpses down into the short, yellowed grass and looked expectantly back at the male 'stranded' on the outcropping of rock.
"You're kidding me, right?" she asked, sharp unamused tone carrying clearly over the stretch of water. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Shore considered his options.
Yes.
Well in that case, have fun on your rock buddy, I'm hitting the highway. If you slip and fall, sorry. I really don't give a ******** is no way I'm coming over to that rock. Stupid boy. Goodbye.
Or Maybe.
Another waiting match.
He dipped one foot into the water in front of him.
"I'm going to jump now," he told her quietly. "Make sure I don't die."
And with that he took a crazy plunge into the frigid water, trusting her to grab the scruff of his next with her jaws. He wasn't a huge wolf, she should be able to keep him from drowning.
Not that he was going to anyway. The river wasn't really that dangerous. He didn't think. Pukio Scrambling back from the resulting spray of water, Gero squawked indignantly and did a little wheedling about and worrying over the way her fish lay on the ground after the splash. He was just lucky she was already wet up to her belly from trolling around the shallows, that rat b*****d. Didn't stop her from growling as she advanced on the river after him, though.
Granted, she stopped short with just her front feet in the water, her hind end stubbornly situated on the ground rather than in the river. In a fit of irritability and self-righteous 'I'm saving you so I can give you a good hard shake,' Gero snapped at the scruff of Shore's neck as he skimmed slowly (so so slowly, the river moved like a snail here) past her, teeth closing in over a mouthful of fur and wrenching him up onto shore. Just as quickly, just as ruthlessly, Gero slammed a forepaw down on the wolf's shoulder, wrenched him over belly up and made threatening motions with her teeth at his throat.
"Dumbass." Kealdrana Sasaiuni Shore was worried she wouldn't do anything for a whole of four seconds, then he felt his scruff ripped up and his body drug rather violently towards the edge of the river.
Case in Point.
He grinned at her, his tail thumping lightly against the ground as her teeth were so venemously near to his nick.
"Yes, a bit foolish," he admitted, that grin never vanishing.
"Thank you. . . uh?" he stopped, knowing full well that he hadn't yet gotten her name, but wanting to feign surprise. Pukio Oh, ******** that. Gero growled and snapped down, sharp and angry and definitely not a love bite, on Shore's foreleg, wrenching him around a little angrily. "Screw you, buddy," she snapped once she'd released him, whirling around and stalking back toward her meal which she promptly snatched back off the ground, lunging back off downriver back to where she'd originally run into the male.
Pompous jackass. Moron. Idiot. Huff, spit, hiss. Gero worked her teeth into the fish as she carried them, scuttling along with her hackles up and her pale eyes flashing angrily.
Maybe it wasn't some jackass pack member, but this was definitely more than enough excuse to relocate her temporary homestead. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Oh son of a b***h!
He yelped in pain as her teeth met his leg, grinding in a sound that was most certainly not pleasant. He'd gotten her a meal and even let her rescue him. What had he done wrong. He let her leave and then stumbled onto his feet, lifting up his injured leg and staring longingly after the figure.
The gorgeous ones were always untouchable.
All he'd wanted was a name.
"I'll call you b***h!" he called after her, clearly putting seriousness into the name. Sighing lightly he limped back towards the river to soak his foot. He'd talk to her again sometime, and hopefully get a better response. She clearly needed a man.
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Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 6:24 pm
Power Kealdrana Sasaiuni The forest was long behind her, its dark green halo just visible aboce the swaying of gold. Her eyes focused on that far away place for just a moment before she tunred her head back to the task at hand and began her walking once again.
The sun was high in the sky abovie her, but it wasn't a hot day. There was a certain pleasnant cool about that only occured on the dry, open plains during late spring. Soft white puffs dotted the sky, from time to time blocking out the warming presence of the glowing orb in the neverending void above the black wolf with such vibrant tears of strain.
Iriana was getting away from it all. Lately her messenger services had died down. Dakolin hadn't needed her as much as she'd liked, so there had been no excuse to wait around. Besides that, there was no Shore or Crane yet present and as much as she found them nearly repulsive, they kept everyone on task and together. They certainly outranked Wren in many ways, and she'd always suffer Shore's comments if just to see Wren's face turn that wonderful color of sick.
So she had taken her thoughts out into the open. Away from the busy buzz of the trees and into the chilling air of the plains. The grass swayed to and fro, brushing up against her fur lightly. She wound her body around the largest of these bunches, keeping to where she could see enough of the path in front of her not to be lost. There were cliffs around here, Aphrodite had told her. She planned to stay far away from these as well. azumi Some ways beyond and ahead of where ever another wolf could be, a pup played contently with herself on a little hill. Teal and ice hued body trotted and loped around in the shorter, finer grasses surrounded by the much taller and denser vegetation; like a tiny island surrounded by ocean.
Soft shrills and whines floated into the air as the young one pounced with forepaws into random tussocks. The sudden actions caused grasshoppers and crickets to flee into the open for their very lives, and while it was no laughing matter to the insects, it only fed the energy of the teal pup and made her trill even more.
Everything was peaceful... well, maybe not for the buggies, but other than that Nuenen was able to be her playful self for the time being. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Iriana paled for a moment, swearing she had caught the scent of Wren on the hills. She didn't want hide nor hair to do with anyone, but it was wafted away as quickly as it had come, and so she let it pass as only a figment of the imagination that so often played upon her weak head. She let the quick rush of air fill her throat to whipe away those daymeres, and slid under the coolness of the high grass once more.
The fates, however, were against her today. The wind whipped past yet again, bringing more strange scents, and ones which she wanted to stay far from. Not to mention, it drove her to walk with her back to it, turned slightly from the direction she had planned on heading.
A rolling spike in the grass loomed over in the sky ahead. It was no doubt a small hill, and from it, soft movements that went against the threads of the blowing air. Iriana stopped for a moment and cocked her head, watching intently to make sure her mind had not once again fooled her.
No. It hadn't. There really was something there, waiting in the brush. Flickers of memories whisked in her mind. The thoughts of eating a warm meal began to make her stomach rumble. She clenched her teeth together. It wasn't though she was starving, but she'd travelled a good distance, and there was no other side waiting for her with food. It was the knowledge she may not eat something for a time that made the panes start up now.
Furrowing her brows together she snuck up carefully on those moving stalks. Slowly. Iriana was a horrible hunter, and she couldn't risk scaring it away. She was so very close when the wind shifted again, and she caught scent of what it really was. Iriana didn't want to believe it. A distaste in her mouth she crept fowards and peered over the break in the grass.
Puppy.
A damn, ********, good for nothing, teal wretch.
This just wasn't her day. azumi The wind changed again. The teal pup suddenly stopped her play and lifted her head in an manner of alertness.
Pale audites twitched and turned, their sensitive inner hairs catching only the sound of rustling grass and leaves, and even paler lanterns quickly darted to their corners. The area seemed...different. Silent despite the wind and what she was technically hearing.
This odd and sudden change in the atmosphere whipped itself at Nen's nervous system and the pup lowered herself to the ground. Ears remained perked, but everything else remained still as stone. Danger could be about and the play zone she had picked wasn't at all ideal for hiding. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Iriana stared at the puppy for a few moments, turned her head to get a better view and watched it again. She narrowed her eyes at it, as if it might just go away the longer she watched it.
There was no such luck.
It shrinked from her small wolf figure. Never in her life had Iriana known anything to shy from her, and she lavished in the feeling of power that rushed through her bones. She kind of liked this pup, in a non-motherly, crazy messenger, power-hungry sort of passion.
Then a dangerous thought struck her mind. Perhaps this pup had a reason to worry! Wren was always snatching little vermins from other wolf's caverns, this one was right here, just wanting to be picked up and used as bait! It would take no effort just to grab it and take it back to Dakolin. They would be amazed she'd snuck such a small thing out from under the nose of an unkown wolf pack. Plus, they'd never have to know the truth. The plan was perfect, and the look on Wren's face? Priceless.
Grinning she slunk over to the small, cowering figure.
"Don't worry," she said in a sickly-sweet voice that was uncharacteristic for her. "I'm not going to hurt you." She decided to try her luck at this and so carefully reached her head down to try and pick up the pup by the scruff on the neck in her mouth. She dearly hoped it wasn't vicious. azumi At the spoken words, the pup's heart flitted for a second in hopes that this strange wolf was indeed nice...however all thoughts that had been conjured in those short seconds were booted out when she felt sticky breath on her neck. Nen had never been carried before; no one had ever attempted it, not even her mother (as far as she remembered). This sudden and unknown action from the other caused signals of "MOVE" and "GO" to flow from her brain and into her body.
With belly still barely touching the ground, crouched limbs scooted her body backwards. Ears were pinned as close to her skull as possible and eyes grew large with pupils las big as saucers. Muscles spazzed and shook the pup's body in the form of shivers, while fur stuck straight up around her shoulders.
No way was this Other touching her. Kealdrana Sasaiuni Iriana watched as her little puppy prize scittered down and away. She unhinged her lower jaw and cocked it to the side, clearly not impressed with this display. She normally would have persisited, but this thing was so pathetic she didn't think there was much use for it anway. It would probably grow up to live some normal life, and as much as Iriana wanted to ruin in it, she refrained from any further proddings. Besides, it could end up in her nose being bitten, and she didn't want that.
"Sneaky little puppy," she growled at it, grinning. "You best keep running," she told it, that nasty grin never leaving her face. "Because little cannibal Phantom is going to eat your brains!"
She chuckled loudly, clearly not liking the sight of small creatures out in front of her. Whatever she could do to be rid of it, she would do, and then probably curl up on the top of the hill for a rest, claiming her position.
She loved power, even if it did come from the smallest creature around. It apparently didn't occur to her that someday this pup might grow up and remember her. Then again, maybe she thought she had no reason to worry. azumi Nuenen's shaking only intensified (if that was possible) at the large female's venomous words and acidic voice. The pup didn't know what else to do. her vocals were frozen, her limbs were numb, flesh was covered in goosebumps and her mind was fogging. Instinct told her to run, to run hard...but her limbs...they wouldn't move. What was happening? Kealdrana Sasaiuni Iriana watched the shaking with an inflamed interest. Keep shaking little puppy. Learn to fear me. She soaked up all this great with a thirst had could never be quenched.
But she received no snarls of anger, or scared yelps, and her prey was beginning to seem boring. There was nothing to be gained from a small pile of fluffy shivering mass. In fact, it seemed little more than pathetic. Not worth her time. She'd come here for peace, right?
She gave one sharp snarl to the quivering figure and then began her walk again, down the other side of the hill and once more into the thick grass. azumi Wide eyes watched as the other wolf moved off. Blinking, she let her ears move up and slide forward a little and hackles began to flatten themselves. Was that female really leaving? Nen couldn't answer that...but she was silently praying that she would be alone once more.
Large breaths where inhaled and then exhaled in an attempt to calm her heart that was sill buzzing and banging against her ribcage. Toes tingled and the sensation soon made the pup slowly lift her body from the ground.
For a few minutes, Nuenen just stood there in a stupid and confused daze. But a second later, muscles snapped and short pillars carried her quickly back through the tall grasses and to where she hoped would be safety.
Who said being a coward wouldn't save your life?
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