Welcome to Gaia! ::

The sun shone down on the scarred black and copper pelt of the vagabond. His coat soaked up the warmth, spreading it around to his entire body. Scrawny legs trotted down the path, his tail swaying low behind him. Rend moved fluidly, easily, like a wolf without troubles. It was because he had only a few.

One being the fact that he was undoubtedly in love -- at least, he considered it being in love, another might consider it obsessed -- with a wolfess who was several years younger than him and not even a year old yet! He couldn't help it; it was a strange feeling he had for the granddaughter of Agua Azul's alpha.

But he couldn't have picked a worse wolf to love. He didn't even know if she liked him back. And he was too cowardly to ask and have his hopes dashed. That and the fact that her father scared him? Yeah. He was better off alone...

As a pup, he and his brother, Maim, had been separated from their mother. The pups had come upon a neighboring pack with a motherly alphess, but they hadn't stayed long enough to learn anything. Upon becoming teens, the brothers got into a fight; a fight that scarred them both physically, their pelts now littered with pale marks.

They had split up after that. Rend was alone. He had hated it. He'd scoured the earth for the wolf that had sired him, his father, and had nearly starved to death in his search. No one had taught him how to hunt.

Until Bipolar... Wonderful Bipolar...

His head tilted upwards as another male's scent caught his nostrils. He froze, wondering which way to escape to. A run in with another male was not a nice idea; that's the last thing he needed was more scars on his poor body.

Rend's eyes widened as he crept around the bush and saw a scrawny young wolf perched on top of a gray rock. He tested the air again. Male. Definitely male, no room for second guesses. He was thin, with his ribs showing a little, his pelt a teal blue and green. His nose twitched again.

Slowly, he slunk out from behind the bush. Slowly, so maybe the other wouldn't see him. There was only maybe a few feet til the next bush and the other wolf had his head turned...Maybe he could get away...

Then the other wolf spoke. Rend's ears picked up worry, unease, fear. His own ears lay flat and slowly, with a deep breath, he made his way over and sat down uncomfortably in front of the rock. "He-Hello."

Rend listened to him stammer and remembered back to a time when he, too, was jittery around everywolf. Now it was just important wolves that made him jittery. True, he was still -nervous- about everywolf, but it had calmed down alot with the raising of the puppies.

He looked Sprite up and down, wondering if he would attack but feeling rather confident that he would not. His ears pricked up as the other male's stomach growled. It made him jump slightly, but he quickly calmed once more.

"Nomads. I was a nomad once," he said sagely, tilting his head to one side. "I...found a family. Well, a female and her mate who took me in. If you'd believe it, I never learned how to hunt before her!"

Rend smiled, a brave smile on such a small wolf. Sure he was filling out from the frequent meals, but he was still skinny as a rail and under the sheen of a newly-growing coat, you could lightly make out ribs.

His tail brushed the earth as he listened to the teal male's story. "So your sister is the hunter... Does that mean you don't like to? Hunt, I mean?" Or maybe he was like Rend; unable to hunt.

"A mouse? Not likely. They aren't very bright. The key is to run them into a tree! They freeze up and you can pounce," he said brightly, prancing to his paws and doing a small, easy circle around the rock.

"I didn't know how to hunt until this year, in all honesty. I was a starving wolf until I met an omega named Bipolar; she took me under her paw and taught me the ropes...If you want...I could teach you what she taught me? You know...pass it on?" he offered.

Rend smiled, glad to be of help to someone for once. After all, if it hadn't been for BP, he'd probably be skin and bones and ratty fur with scabs from being malnurished. Instead, he was full of life once again, like when he'd been a puppy!

He turned and watched Sprite follow him and he raised a paw, standing. He thought of everything Bipolar had taught him. "First off, you need to learn how to move right. Okay, watch me."

He took off across the ground, making his body look jumpy and nervous, his strides short and choppy. "See this? This is how you walk. And this..." He moved into a more fluid trots, his paws dancing over the dirt as he floated. He sat down in front of Sprite. "This is how you need to walk. Now, I want you to close your eyes and pretend you're water. Just liquid, perfect and flowing. Focus on each pawstep and hold your tail out for balance."