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 Posted: Mon May 10, 2010 8:13 pm
Kai was feeling particularly adventurous now; indeed, each step he made was driving him further from the riverbank and -- in both a literal and metaphorical sense -- further from everything he had ever known. Wolves among the Kapu'Moana had always feared dry ground, believing that the protection of the great Sea Goddess would be revoked once all water was out of sight, and Kai, as the most well-protected wolf in the pack, had never actually been out of earshot of rushing water. He paused, ears twitching, hearing neither the current of a river or the gently crashing waves, and despite himself a small shudder ran through him. Anything was possible now, and with that in mind, the brightly-colored wolf ducked his head and pressed through trees and underbrush, wandering with careful footsteps into the heart of the forest.
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Posted: Mon May 10, 2010 8:23 pm
The odor of another caught Kai's nose, and he smiled, sighing a little in relief although he was ashamed to admit it; he hated the feeling of beling alone, especially in these alien lands. He pushed through the undergrowth, coming into the other wolf's line of sight, and smiled a greeting. "Oh, hello," he called, good-naturedly; an easy smile graced his maw, as it often did. "...Are you a vegetarian, too?" He asked, gesturing to the plants she was apparently cultivating with great care.
Her head whipped around at the sound of his voice, and she paused, eyes focused on him; a deer in lights looks. Well, how did he get here without her hearing him? True enough, she did get caught up in her gathering, but missing a whole wolf? That was just... Mon took a breath and shook her head at his question. She put the leaves in a pile between her front two paws after adjusting herself to face him from the front instead of the side. "No. I collect them to use for medicinal purposes. Some kill pain, some help you sleep, some help with colds." Her voice was rich and young sounding, much like she looked. Clearly the white and orange female couldn't be too much older; a 'new adult' she'd been called a few times.
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Posted: Mon May 10, 2010 8:46 pm
"Oh." His brow furrowed, examining her piles, having no idea what any of them were. "I've heard of that...we had healiers, in my old pack...but I never got to see how they did their job." He sounded a little saddned by the fact. "Oh! My name's Kai, by the way."
She heard the sadness in his voice and it made her ears quirk. Monaeka wasn't a pack wolf, so she had no idea what having one was like. She'd been on her own since her mother died when she was a teenager and her father left her. "Monaeka. .....You.. can observer if you want." Of course she didn't have problems with it, as long as they didn't interfere too much.
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Posted: Mon May 10, 2010 8:54 pm
"A pleasure, m'lady," he said, nodding courteously to her; he may be a homeless vagabond now, but he would continue to be a polite one. He settled himself to his haunches, curiously looking over everything she had assembled. He was learning something new every day! First Naiad teaching him how to find edible plants, and then hunting lessons, and now this...oh but he was a lucky wolf. "So...ah...what is it you're doing right now, exactly?" He asked, afriad as always of sounding like an idiot. "....if I can ask."
"You can ask. I am gathering herbs to help me sleep at night and keep me asleep. I suffer from insomnia sometimes. It keeps me up for up to four days and I fall asleep for two days after that. It gets very annoying." She was a very level headed wolfess that didn't get angry easily. But when Mon lost sleep, she got irritable.
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Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 11:51 am
He tilted his head, considering this; Kai had never lost a night of sleep in his life until he had started wandering, and he had quickly become acquainted with how bothersome it could be to miss sleep...uncomfortable rocks and pine needles jabbing into his side, or the unfamiliar sounds of night birds and the rustling of would-be enemies in the shadows....he shuddered, imagining what it must be like to go through that constantly, and smiled in a sympathetic way. "It's good that it works for you," he said, looking curiously at the herbs, hoping perhaps he could file away this knowledge for future use. "What is it that keeps you awake? I know I've had a difficult time with the owls....we don't have owls, where I come from, just the gulls, and their cries are always muted by the sea...." he fell silent, contemplating that.
She listened to him while keeping to her job. So he stayed up because of trivial things. It was so odd. Mon turned her gaze to him once more and sighed softly. If only her troubles were that shallow. "Dreams," she said, voice thick with rough emotions. "Vivid... dreams of death, destruction. Pup napping and human's dogs destroying a pack I had seen a while ago. It's forever burned into my brain. The screams of those puppies being taken away from their mothers. My guilt for now helping them. I turned tail and ran instead of trying to save them. Now they're probably dead. I've blood upon my paws I see no matter what I do." Now her face was blank and her eyes glazed with the memories. She didn't want these dreams anymore.
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Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 11:53 am
His ears folded back to his skull, head dipping, a shudder running through him. He couldn't even imagine such a thing. "Oh," he said, feeling a certain hollowness, an inability to find a correct response. "That's...that's terrible." He bit his lower lip, shifting his weight uneasily from paw to paw, but chanced a sidelong glance at her. "But...it wasn't your fault. You can't blame yourself for....something like that."
"They all say that." That's all she said before gathering her herbs into a pile and moving along the path to find more. Mon knew it wasn't her fault, not really, but she just always felt like it was. It hurt her so much to see that and not do anything about it. "I... know it's not. I just stil feel guilty and like I did something wrong; not helping any of them. I could have brought help, if nothing else. But I didn't." She looked to him and gave a sad sort of look before smiling briefly. "You don't have to worry about cheering me up. This is why I do not sleep at night. None of your concern."
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Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 11:58 am
He nodded, considering this, wondering how he would have felt in the same situation, but it was beyond his comprehension. He wondered why anyone would do such a thing, what the cause would be for such wanton slaughter, but he thought it best not to press the issue. Instead, he asked, "So you live here alone?"
"You're the first I've run into in a while." As if that answered his question, she sighed and hung her head a little. She missed contact of other wolves, but at the same time... Mon felt as though they saw the innocent blood she didn't save on her paws. She felt as if they scorned her for her dicision of running instead of helping. Any other lone would have done the same, but there was the rare one who'd have jumped in to help. "Others... don't understand me. They see something wrong with me. They don't talk to me or come near me. If they see me, they give me wide birth as I walk, as if I'm dirty."
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Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 12:04 pm
He tilted his head, settling to his haunches. "I don't feel that way about you," he replied, quite honestly. In truth, he thought she seemed to be quite attractive and very wise and knowledgeable -- certainly nothing like what she said. He shrugged. "But then, I'm new to these lands and don't understand all of the social graces of normal wolves."
That was the most backwards compliment she'd ever heard. "So, if you knew the social graces, you'd feel that way about me." Not a question, but a statement. And it stung, for some odd reason. Why should she care that she was an outcast to everyone but this male who didn't know anything about social graces? Monaeke wasn't lucky today. Her gut was telling her she wouldn't get a friend out of this wolf and to just give up on him. But she was lonely, craved company. "I'm not.... offended. I've just met you. I'd only get offended if you were my mate or friend. One of which you aren't. And I don't know about the friend with our brief meeting." Logic. Cold and calculated.
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Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 12:12 pm
He blinked. When she stated it that way, he could kind of see why she looked so offended, but it definitely had not been his intent. "See what I mean?" He said, with an uncertain, self-deprecating smile. "I don't know a thing about how to get along with others...I can't even pay a nice lady a compliment." He looked at his paws, feeling that this was not going at all the way he intended.
She saw how down he looked and felt bad. Of course he didn't mean offense. Moving towards him, she raised his head with her nose and gave a soft, apologetic noise. "Sorry. I.... know you didn't mean anything by your words. My mind is logic until I get scared." Instead of backing up away from him, to give him room, she brushed against his side in a comforting way. She knew how to interact, sometimes.
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Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 12:19 pm
It occurred to him that he had not had any physical contact -- not really -- since he had left his pack, and it felt oddly alien to him. He leaned against her touch almost reflexively, and it was obvious in that moment how young he was, how newly-adult and frightened. He sought out something to say, but his mind was quite blank, and for a moment -- although her concerns were clearly more pressing than his own -- her moment of sympathy nearly threw him head-first into self pity. But he pushed the emotion down, forcefully, and said, "It's all right. I have much to learn." He met her eyes, briefly, before looking away from respect. "Do you like it? Being alone, I mean."
"It isn't bad. But it does have the days where you crave contact and a mate. Someone to share the time with," she said quietly, pulling back when he met her eyes. Mon could tell he was young, but it'd been so long since a male talked to her. She knew better than to fall in love upon first meeting, but she wouldn't mind him keeping her company. If only as a friend, that would be perfectly fine with her. Mon would probably never have a mate. Because a male that understood her would be a very rare thing; that's what she thought. "A friend, even."
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Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 12:40 pm
He nodded, more comfortable with her nearness than he would have expected himself to be. "I thought being a loner would be a really great thing, when I first left my pack. But it gets lonelier than I ever would have imagined..." how could he have ever fathomed what it would be like? He who had always had everything provided to him, who had the choice of any female in the pack and a limitless supply of food...but he had turned it all away, and his decision still meant something to him. "But I didn't want to go back to pack life. The hierarchy, the bowing and scraping and inequality and rigidity and all the rules..." he paused, not sure why he was asking, but he felt an odd connection with this lone wolf and wanted to see her happy, because he was certain there was happiness lurking in her heart somewhere....he paused, uncertain if he should continue with his offer.
She listened silently, plucking leaves and even some bitter grasses before piling them all up as well. Getting them to her 'den' wouldn't be so hard. When his voice trailed, she looked over to Kai with a questioning look. What was he suggesting? She hadn't the slightest clue what it was, but she waited patiently for him to continue. "Hm? But?"
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Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 3:49 pm
"Well...I met someone, another wanderer like myself, and we came upon a good idea. A band of wanderers, free to travel as they wish, all of them equal, but able to share each other's company...and to help others when we came upon them in need." He winced a little at how cheesy this was sounding; Verdauga had made it all sound so much more enticing. "Well, anyway. We agreed on a meeting place, where I would come after thinking over his offer, if I still wanted to be part of it. And....well, that's where I'm heading. i think."
She sighed a little bit at his description and shook her head. She froze up in the heat of one disaster, wouldn't it be safe to say Mon would do it again. Her eyes looked to anywhere but him for a long, silent time before she got to all fours again and swallowed. "I... I wish you luck.... It's.. a shame you won't be around here much, then..."
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Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 3:50 pm
"Well that's what I was thinking," he said, quite certain that he wasn't explaining himself very well at all. "I mean...if you wanted to come with me, for awhile...maybe talk to Verdauga, see if you wanted to stay...." He wasn't sure why he was inviting her along, only that she seemed so....sad? lonely?
She looked to her pile of herbs then back at him and gave a bit of a nod. It wouldn't kill her, after all, to wonder some more. "It.... would be quite an intersting turn of events," Mon said with a little voice. She tossed her head for a minute and then pushed all the herbs into one big leaf and put it in her mouth, looking at him expectantly. "Where.... too?"
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Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 3:54 pm
His tail waved, thoroughly surprised that she would accept. "Well," he said, looking around, as though a glowing path would light up before him, "I've been following the river mostly, as of late. Verdauga said the meeting place would be further inland, amongst the neutral territory....after the next waning moon I think, to give him time to get his affairs in order." He glanced over his shoulder, back to the where he had abandoned the sound of the river. "So...that way?" He wished he sounded a bit more confident.
She hesitated in following him for just a moment, but soon she did. She didn't know there were any neutral territories left. Mon didn't know where packs lay, or the geography of anything but this small area where she gathered herbs. So, she stayed quiet for his question and followed the strangely patterned wolf. She couldn't begin to fathom life in a pack, but ....maybe it would ease her troubled mind. Maybe help her get the confidence back she once had and maybe. Just maybe she'd feel like she had something of a heart.
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