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 Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 1:10 am
Well, now, this was a bit of a pickle.
Perhaps it should have occurred to Yakone that she didn’t know a thing about anatomy. She didn’t know what the leg bone of anything looked like in comparison to its other parts, and honestly, she hadn’t given it much thought before; but now, she had these pieces, these… well, they were hardly more than fragments, really, but to what? She was certain that they were bones, at least, after having confirmed that the other day while exploring her most favourite cave, tenderly nicknamed The Mouth, with her sister, and Mahuika was usually right about those sorts of things. They looked like bones, sure enough, but they smelled only like dirty cave water and were shaped like nothing she’d seen before.
Of course, she smelled like dirty cave water, too, and probably looked the part of a cave-swallowed little spirit-to-be, the way algae and cave ick clung to her fur. All morning, all morning, she’d been dragging bits of bone from the Mouth’s stomach and laying them out in the sun where she hoped she’d be able to see them better, and therefore understand what they were. All. Morning. She’d rearranged them several times, placing what she thought were ribs where ribs normally should go, pushing the only long bone she’d managed to find into various configurations with hopes of learning if it were a front or a back leg, frowning deeply at a bone that honestly wasn’t a shape she was familiar with at all…
Her final trip down The Mouth’s throat had rewarded her with the final existing puzzle piece, but for Yakone, it was even worse than the rest; she was sure it was a jawbone, but it was such a strange shape - very squat, obviously belonging to something with a flat sort of face - and the teeth made no sense in the least. Both meat-gnashers and grindy bits? Perhaps it was a monster! That could explain why it only made weird crying sounds, and didn't speak like normal dead things did.
If that was the case, Yakone wasn’t certain she should be messing with its remains. A breeze lifted in her little copse and, from behind her, she heard a familiar sort of sighing… “You could help, you know,” Yakone grumbled loudly, not even bothering to look back to the cave. “I’m sure you know what it is. You ate it, anyways. Right?”
Of course, The Mouth didn't offer her any help. It never did. She just figured it to be rude that way, and plopping her bottom amidst the bits and pieces, she continued staring studiously at the jaw. "And why are you being so mum? After all that noise, you choose to be quiet now? That's very rude."
Humph.
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Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 7:03 pm
 Things had been going swimmingly that day - literally. Nothing did more wonders, Regnad thought, than a dip in the cold river during the hot summer days of Telk. True, their pack was one that lived in shadows and forest gloom, but even thus the air could be stuffy and, at times, oppressive. It was good to be moving every once in a while, and that made on hot. And that made one find water as soon as possible.
Slaking her thirst and content to let the water cool off on its own on her fur, Regnad decided maybe she would allow herself a small nap in her den. The heat made her lazy, she found, and if she stayed too long in the sun her golden accessories would begin to burn painfully. It was a shame, really - she loved those things, just as much as she hated them.
Maybe it was the heat-laziness talking that she didn't remove the jewelry.
The adolescent gave a small yawn as she trotted lightly back towards the center of the den, but her ears twitched towards a sound much different than the rustles of leaves.
A voice? It was as if the cave was . . . talking.
Which she knew was not the case, mostly because she smelled a wolf and saw the blanching pieces of bone arranged on the ground. There it was that Regnad saw the ponderous pup, and thought for a moment it was Mahuika again - but no, this one had far more blue and markings she was not familiar. Her sister.
Regnad blinked, unsure of how to proceed, and simply stood there, blinking at the youth and her collection.
"Did . . . Where did you get those?"
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Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 11:18 pm
Oh, Well, that certainly wasn’t the cave’s voice. That wasn’t any voice she knew at all!
Yakone was hardly expecting to have her little copse discovered by anyone other than her sister, but still, she wasn’t very surprised to find herself being addressed by a particularly green wolf. She did, however, believe at first that she was Mahuika, come again to poke fun at Yakone’s choice of treasures; or to remind her that they had better things to do besides piece together old musty skeletons, things like training and pack responsibilities. When her eyes did skip up to meet the intruder, however, any sideways, snide sort of comment she may have had planned was utterly thwarted. She didn’t know this wolf at all! “Do you mean my treasures?” she very politely asked, smiling sweetly as a particularly gooey bit of algae dripped from one of her ears. “They were deep within my cave, where the river ends and the spirits like to gather. The poor things, they were underwater for a very long time before the cave decided to give them to me.”
At least this new wolf was obviously a member of the pack. No stranger dared enter Tomkin lands, at least not those cognizant enough to know that it was nearly drowning in top-notch assassins, and Yakone had full faith in the bones beneath her that if danger really had decided to show its face in her copse, some spirit or another would at least give her a fair warning. Now there was a thought… Perhaps a spirit had been riled by her conversation with The Mouth, and had though to send an aid to tell her how the puzzle worked!
Hmm. That was unlikely. But praises be to them if they had sent this wolf to alleviate some of Yakone’s frustrations, at least. If anything, perhaps she could offer a nice distraction. “I’ve never met you before,” she continued, pushing the jawbone about with one precise black toe. “What brings you this way? You're all wet~”
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Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 4:14 pm
What an observation.
"The river looked inviting today," Regnad answered, and self-consciously shook herself a little drier before approaching. This was certainly . . . odd for a pup to be doing by her lonesome - or at all, really. Reggie had never personally known either alphas, and the female one less so, so she had to wonder if any of their spawn had normalcy. Thus far the one that seemed closest to that description was Aysel, the first-born daughter. Come to think of it, Regnad never saw her mother around either . . . And she knew it wasn't the current alphess - too much green for that.
Sometimes she did wonder if there was a small relationship between Wraith's first mate and Regnad's own mother, but . . . Now wasn't the time for such cogitations!
For instance, what was this pup talking about?
"There are spirits here?" Regnad asked with a curious frown as she surveyed the cave by them. True, Tomkin was "land of the dead", but . . . it disturbed her to think of spirits actually communicating with them. Because then it came down to belief: were spirits truly there, or was the wolf simply crazy?
And Regnad shuddered at the word, the very idea of being in such a state.
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Posted: Sun May 29, 2011 8:52 pm
“Oh, I bet the river looked inviting! It is so very hot in this world today.”
Yakone had no mind to realize she was speaking strangely, or doing strange things, and had really given it very little thought; she felt right with these bones, and therefore it wasn’t so odd that she wanted to be with them. She wasn’t even aware that anyone would frown upon a puppy playing with the dead, but then, most of the time she remained very self-centered.
However… She could not pass up the curiosity in the other’s eyes as she spoke of the spirits, and saw only the gateway introduction from her life to another living soul - perhaps someone who would understand better than her sister did, or perhaps someone who didn’t believe but would give an ear to the puppy who had so much to say. “Of course there are spirits here!” Yakone giggled, climbing to her paws and tenderly picking through her treasures to draw a little bit closer to her new audience. “They’re everywhere, I think, but they seem to like caves the best. Not everyone can hear them, but I know they exist because sometimes they talk to me! Like, like…”
Yakone cocked her head to the side, listening. For anything, really, if only to prove her case, but the best she got was a watery sort of sigh… followed by a most familiar quote that she was sure she’d heard some other wolf (perhaps her own father) tell her before. Always gauge emotions through body language and facial movements… they are the best of mind readers and the worst beyrayers of emotion.
It was lazy work, echoing an assassin’s lesson instead of stitching together its own bit of sweet knowledge, but then, what did caves do best?
“You know, they’re telling me that you’ve got some doubt on your mind,” she nodded sagely, big eyes turned up in the most innocent of ways. “Does something confuse you?”
It was less a whisper from the spirits and more an observation of stance and the distance in the wolf’s eyes, but then, she was certain she wouldn’t have known to look for those if she didn’t have The Mouth breathing down her back.
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 9:44 pm
"I . . . uh, yes?"
On the one paw, it was probably easy to see that Regnad was a little confused indeed to see the pup by her lonesome with bones in a cave. Definitely confusion worthy. But on the other paw, what if the spirits were real and knew about her innermost trouble? The pup was speaking with such conviction . . . Reggie had to wonder if there was some grain of truth to it.
The last thing she wanted or needed was to upset those spirits. For if the spirits won't be with you when you die, then it was truly hell.
"I'm more curious to why you can hear them," the adolescent continued. "And why you're digging up a skeleton. Wouldn't the spirits not like their bodies brought back up from their resting places?"
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Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 2:25 pm
Score.
Yakone wiggled a little, rejoicing in her rightness; it didn’t matter what was bothering the other wolf, precisely, so much as that she had made a good guess and had done so without directly quoting the spiritual powers-that-be. They might not be so willing to speak frankly, but at least she felt herself clever enough to know what they meant. Although… she was quite relieved when the other wolf didn’t quiz her any further, as she highly doubted she’d be able to pinpoint exactly what she was so inwardly flustered about. Perhaps the spirits wouldn’t let her peer that far into someone else’s life… or perhaps they would, and she wouldn’t like what she found. She liked to pry, but not that much!
However, if someone else wanted to pry their way into her life? She’d fling open the doors and preach it how it was, an intense sort of interest popping out her ears as the wolf gave questions. ”The spirits talk to me because…” she began, drawling out her last words and chewing on her lip. ”I guess because I like to listen to them. Or I know how to listen for them. I don’t really know, though. But ever since I was little, they’ve been whispering in my ears and telling me all sorts of things!”
Yakone swelled up with pride, and once more she looked at her collection of bones. “You know, I hadn’t even thought about whether or not they’d mind being disturbed, though,” she confided nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders. “I don’t think that one minds so very much, as it wasn’t really properly resting. The currents kept moving it around, so its pieces were all scattered - I think I might be helping it by putting it back together! It was making all sorts of funny moaning sounds, like, owoooooooh, so it obviously wasn’t happy. You wouldn’t know what it is, would you? Cause I‘ve been calling it a monster of sorts, but I think it might take offense to that!”
Which was funny, so she laughed - but it was probably true, and she most certainly didn’t want to offend something that could possibly eat her right up. didn’t sound too smart to do that.
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