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 Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 8:38 am
- will make this all nice while on her dad's computer -
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Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 9:23 am
- just to keep track of rps temporarily -
Several days had passed since Hedda had run into the wolves Phib and Beckett, and the storm, and Hedda was, quite distinctly, bored.
Oh, there had been light drizzles after the storm had passed, and Hedda didn't mind those. The hunting had been decent, with creatures not wanting to spend time in damp burrows or other homes, and Hedda definitely didn't mind that. But there had been no one to interact with, as hard as that was usually for her, and Hedda minded that. It hadn't been all that long ago that she'd had daily interaction with other wolves, with her pack, but ever since..
Well, let's just say she didn't have that luxury anymore.
This being the case, the strikingly marked female surveyed her current surroundings of woods... woods... and woods.. dully.
Talasi couldn't say that she honestly liked the forest. It was cramped, crowded, and overall, filthy. True, the pads of her paws were black anyway- the dirt and soil that she'd been tredding in blended in fine. But that wasn't the point. Even if other's didn't notice if- she it was there, and that bothered her. Quite some bit. The females' nostrils flared unhappy, and she raised her with pride, as if to belittle the dirt that surrounded her.
Deciding a change of scenery would do her some good, Talasi made the decision to seek out a body of water. A pond, a lake, a stream, a goddamn puddle would've suited her at this point. Just as the firey wolf was about to shift gears into a calm, lesuirely trot, she noticed something violently purple in her peripheral vision. Raising a slender eyebrow, the female paused, perking her head to the side. Her ears flopped a bit, and she took it upon herself to approach, (without any caution, of course. Talasi had never been very apprehensive.) and even speak to the unfamiliar creature.
"Hello?" she spoke rather lamely, realizing she should've come up with something more clever only after she spoke. Her voice was suprisingly low- almost mellow and soothing.
It was a very good thing that Hedda's self-trained ability to notice just about anything was very good, or the wolf would have just kept looking around even if Talasi had been screaming in her...
Well, she couldn't exactly scream in Hedda's ears, because she had none. But you get the picture.
As soon as the firey wolf crossed the line of Hedda's peripheral vision, the poison-marked female brought her head around to make the studying of the stranger that much easier. Hedda herself was just about as dirty as Talasi was, but she, in contrast, paid no mind to it. She'd washed off the unbearable filth that the past few days had deposited on her yesterday evening, and she wasn't about to complain about a little dirt on her paws.
"Who are you?" She responded boldy to the hello, having read the greeting on the other female's mouth. Her own voice was low, like Talasi's, but unlike hers, was encumbered by a thick, harsh accent that was partially because of where she had come from, but mostly because her mouth had never really learned how to speak right.
Despite the way she sounded, Hedda exhibited no signs of hostility, merely interest. It was about damn time someone showed up to talk with her.
Talasi studied the other wolf curiously. It was within the first five seconds of looking over the violet female that she noticed a very strange, and likely very uncommon abnormality. This girl had no ears.
Talasi didn't know whether to laugh or feel awkward around this seemingly deaf wolf. Lowering her quirked eyebrow, Talasi assumed a position of greeting. She didn't want to come off vicious to this creature- and she assumed that it was going to be difficult to exlain her introduction without actually speaking. How was she supposed to hold up a conversation with this wolf?
The wolf felt extremely naive. "Talasi." she responded dully, blinking twice after she'd finished speaking. Why had she even bothered? The other wolf couldn't hear her anyway!... Unless, of course, she's got ears inside her head. the female thought with a crude smirk. It didn't seem as though she were a very passionate, kind wolf... Though it was hard to tell for sure unless you'd actually gotten into a deep conversation with her.
Which at the present, Talasi didn't think was even possible with this earless wonder.
Earless wonder, Hedda knew herself to be. It had been made quite painfully obvious throughout her life, as nearly all the wolves she met made a point of treating her in some sort of special way because they thought she needed it.
And she wasn't going to take it from a goddamn stranger. Even if she was glad of company for now.
"Talasi. Do not think that I cannot understand you, when I have no ears." It was her turn to raise a brow. "I've learned to read mouths and body language well enough to understand wolves." A fact that, if one spoke with her long enough, became apparent. Hedda looked at virtually nothing else when a wolf was speaking to her, her eyes flickering constantly from their bodies to their mouths and back.
"And by the way, my name is Hedda."
Talasi was suprised, to say the least. She stared shamelessly, watching as Hedda spoke very clearly, and very much in response to both what Talasi had said- and what she was thinking. Her jaw gaped just a bit, and though the wolf had been working on concealing her reactions, (something she'd always hated doing so liberally) it was apparent that she was helpless to show her genuine shock at Hedda's response to her.
"Oh." was all she could muster, and it was obvious that she was, even if it was just a little bit, embaressed. Shaking it off, though- both mentally and physically, (a little flick of her head indicated she was trying to get over it,) she spoke again.
"Hedda. It's a..." Pleasure? Well, sort of. Talasi wasn't exactly entertained before she'd met up with this other wolf, but she couldn't say that she was estatic to make the acquantince. Although... That had never stopped her from lying before. "Pleasure." She finished idly, her firey tail flicking absent mindedly behind her.
"Are you doing anything in particular this deep in the forest?" she asked- and for once, her curiousity was genuine.
Hedda allowed a humored smile to cross her muzzle at the sight of the surprise- and embarrassment- of the other wolf. It had not been hard to discern that Talasi had been easing herself into the 'don't offend the earless one- she can't understand what I'm saying' mode that all but a handful of wolves had assumed in her life. The shift in the way she held her body and how she looked at her had been giveaway enough. It involved no reading of minds.
When Talasi dismissed her embarrasement, though, so too did Hedda dismiss what had just happened with a simple flick of her tail.
"I'm sure." A bland tone, not showing if Hedda believed that it was an actual pleasure or not.
"I have no particular purpose here. It's simply a place to be. You, I assume, have some sort of destination in mind?"
Talasi continued to study Hedda. Her body relaxed a bit, and it seemed as though she was no longer giving Hedda the benefit of the doubt... Whatever that may've been in this case. It was most likely due to the fashion of which Hedda was responding to her now. Curt. Short. Talasi, on the inside, admired that, and allowed herself to slide into a soft, bare smirk.
Externally, however, apart from the smirk, she barely changed a muscle. Allowing her tail to sway freely at her hindquarters, occasionally flicking against her leg, she listened intently as Hedda spoke.
"I wouldn't call it a destination. It's more of something to entertain myself with. I've been wandering around these woods for days, and I'm afraid I might start talking to myself unless I start doing something... Worthwile." she chose her words carefully, watching Hedda with an unblinking stare. "I decided to go out looking for a lake. Maybe a pond. Apart from the swimming, I'd like to try my hand at fishing," she explained clearly, raising an eyebrow, moreso to herself rather then to the other wolf.
It couldn't possibly be obvious to anyone- seeing as Talasi herself didn't recognize it... But she had an awful, impuslive habit. Of lying.
If Hedda noticed whatever falsehood Talasi spoke- and it was likely that she did not, unless she began meeting with Talasi fairly regularly, and noticed some sort of physical giveaway of a lie.
"I know that feeling." She remarked, in response to Talasi's 'worthwhile' comment. Had she not been feeling the same way only recently?
"I know where there is a lake. It is not very far. I was forced to clean myself in it not long ago." And had decided to hang around for a few days, for no other reason than that she had nothing better to do.
It wasn't a smile- but then again, it wasn't an indifferent smirk either. It was, instead, somewhere of a median between the two. Talasi raised her head a bit; curious. "Well then, I hope it wouldn't be too much to ask if you would lead the way, Hedda." she suggested hopefully, her dark, crimson eyes giving away a bit of that hope that was laced within her voice. Not that Hedda would've been able to hear it, Talasi thought apathetically, still watching Hedda, blinking very rarely. What a strange stare she had.
Talasi wasn't at all concious of the little lies she told. Most of the time, they were very small, insigifnicant, and pointless. Things such as what she'd done earlier that day, if she was hungry or not, and something as simple as how she was feeling. Why lie about such trivial things? This was unknown, even to the wolf herself. After all, she hardly noticed when she spoke poorly of the truth. As a matter of fact, she never noticed at all.
If Hedda was unable to catch the hope that spiked Talasi's voice, she was able to see it lurk in her eyes- even when she was staring so strangely at Hedda, as if she daren't look away or the purple female would do something fantastic.
Or, she could be just as easily gawking at the insane face that nature had painted onto Hedda's chest. Either way.
"Come, then."
And Hedda was off, turning and making for the lake at a comfortable, ground eating lope that wouldn't steal her energy as easily as it stole distance. She left it to Talasi to follow her.
Perhaps this wolf wasn't as bad as Talasi had made her out to be. True, they'd only just met, but Hedda had just earned herself a point in Talasi's mentality. The gait at which Hedda had taken off at just happened to be one of the wolf's favorites. Sprinting at a gallop was just grand, but it drained a lot of energy from you. Trotting was something you did when you were bored and wanted to get somewhere without much drive. But in that space in between a full fledged gallop and a trot, there was a lope.
It seemed silly, to feel so strongly for something so small- a simple way of moving, but Talasi loved the feeling in her body when it came. It was almost like a musical, rythmic sensation, and the wolf basked in it.
Wasting no time, Talasi pulled her body into gear and she trailed just a foot or so behind Hedda. Her legs moved fluently, and her firey short mane and tail whipped behind her, floating up and down with the movements of her body.
Oblivious of her rise in the ranks of the acceptable in Talasi's mind, Hedda simply concentrated on getting to the lake. She had wandered after taking a dip in it, and didn't know a straight shot to it from here. But her sense of direction was good, and it wouldn't take all that long to get there...
Thus, no reason to gallop. One galloped when one's mate or pups were in danger. One galloped when one was running from an enraged bear with no backup. One did not gallop to simply reach a lake. And trotting was simply not done by Hedda- she saw no reason in it in almost any situation.
It was not an unbearably long time before the two females reached the lake, and Hedda slowed accordingly. "There it is. It's the biggest lake I've seen since coming to these free lands." Now that she'd reached her destination, she turned her head so as to keep an eye on Talasi out of habit.
Talasi, appropriately, came to a graceful pause, her paws digging lightly into the earth to allow her a short, curt stop in her gait. She raised her head a bit, and her nostrils flared. The refreshing scent of fertile soil and cool water seemed to entice her, and she approached the lake eagerly, lowering her nape quickly and lapping up the water thirstily.
Her golden red mane fell to one side of her neck as she drank, though it didn't seem as though the minor shift bothered the wolf. Her tail swayed very lowly at her hind legs, showing her relaxed, calm composure. Talasi often lowered her guard, regardless of the situation. Right now, she assumed she was safe, but even had there been a wolf eating monster in the bushes, if Talasi hasn't known, she'd be as vunderable as ever.
Finishing idly, the wolf raised her head once more, turning to face Hedda curiously. It seemed as though if Talasi was one thing- consistant was not among them. "Do you swim?" she asked bluntly, watching the purple wolf with interest.
She watched Talasi briefly, before pacing up to join the she-wolf at the edge of the lake and take a drink of her own, enjoying the feel of the cool liquid sliding down her throat.
Lifting her head when Talasi raised hers, Hedda allowed herself an amused smirk at the innocent question. "Yes." Her only, and just as blunt, reply. "But usually not without reason." No reason to get wet without cause. It'd just make her shiver if her fur didn't dry completely by sundown.
"You do." She made it a hybrid statement-question, referencing to a comment Talasi had made in the beginning of their conversation about swimming.
Talasi watched Hedda carefully. She was looking for any signs of flaws, disruptance, a loss of calm... But Hedda was as level-headed and cool speaking as a wolf that Talasi had ever met. If Talasi was impressed, (which she was,) she hid it with perfection.
"I do." she answered in a mirror tone as Hedda had answered. Not that she can hear me, she reminded herself, and relaxed a bit. Her tone was irrelevent. It was the words, very literally, which she spoke, that mattered. Talasi would have to watch herself.
"Do you fish, then?" she asked, still watching the purple wolf for any signs of hesitation. There were none still. Talasi was working her way around something, but she wanted to get her facts straight before she approached the question.
"I do not." In the same tone she had first used, unruffled by the inability and not hesitant to reveal the flaw. It was minor, in her thinking. She had never had to learn how to fish, quite bluntly, and saw no harm in it. She was quite satisfied with hunting the creatures that ran aboveland.
She was, of course, oblivious to having impressed Talasi. A point towards the firey wolf, given Hedda's usually flawless visual deductive skills.
Talasi grinned mildly. It was a very bare, hardly existent expression, but it was there- and it made a drastic difference being displayed on features rather then that horrible smirk she normally wore. A nicer difference.
"I don't want to impose anything on you that you wouldn't be interested in..." Talasi began slowly, already knowing (or thinking, at least,) that Hedda had no interest in learning how to fish. "But perhaps learning something new would both benefit you in the sense that it would cure your boredom- and help you in case you crave... seafood?" she finished mildly, finally allowing herself to blink freely. All this time she'd been watching the purple wolf for some sign of mental pause. There was none. Hedda was extremely well composed, and Talasi couldn't help but to wonder hopefully, even if only for a moment, if she was the same.
Hedda assumed a mildly curious expression. She had nothing better to do..
"I would be interested to experiment with it. I'd have to watch another do it first, however." No way was she going to go in there and have herself coached through the steps of the procedure with no idea what the hell she was doing. She doubted she would develope a craving for fish, but Hedda supposed the skill would be useful in the wintertime, to supplement whatever meals she'd be able to get in the snow.
As for the level of Talasi's composure, she ranked high in that skill, in Hedda's mind. Well, after that first stumble about her ears. But everyone stumbled about that, so it was irrelevant so long as it didn't happen with the same wolf twice.
Talasi eased up a bit. She was unsure whether she was simply more comfortable around Hedda now, or whether she was just getting ready to break the surface of the icy water- in either case, she was a bit more relaxed. "You're in luck," she began almost in a joking manner- the words themselves were serious, but the expression that her face held showed she was easing up into a bit more of a friendly mode. A bit. "I just happen to be able to show you how." she finished lightly. A lie.
Talasi had never fished before in her life.
The wolf approached the water's edge without hesitation. Her black padded paw touched it's surface lightly, before recoiling quickly. The red and orange flamed markings along her calves stuck fast to her fur, though she didn't seem to mind. Exhaling sharply, the wolf entered the water head on. Each fiber of her fur clung like glue to the form of her lanky body as the water trapped it. She entered with skill, as if she'd been doing this for years. Right.
And then all was still. Talasi's tail, which was deliberately shoved into the water as to attract further attention from the fish, swayed slowly, almost as if she were using it as bait.
Surely enough, and to Talasi's relief, (had she been worried about making a liar of herself- which she was not) what looked like a young salmon flitted past her. Wasting no time, Talasi sunk her head into the water, her jaw opening and clamping swiftly onto the tail of the fish. She'd caught it. Narrowly.
Resubmerging her head, she breathed in deeply, holding the writhing fish in her jaw proudly. Somehow, as she stood in the shallow of the lake, a squriming fish trapped in her soaking wet head, she still looked dignified.
Hedda watched Talasi closely, even lowering her head for a moment in order to get a better look at what was happening beneath the water.
Briefly, the area between Hedda's eyes furrowed in confusion. Using one's own body to attract the attention of your prey. What an odd way to hunt, when normally, one had to conceal herself in order to catch what she wanted to eat.
But, fish were different from land prey... perhaps they required a different tactic of hunting. And Talasi did produce a fish.
"And this is how fishing is done?" She had no reason to not believe Talasi, but..
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Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2006 6:33 pm
- just to keep track of rps temporarily -
It seemed today- and why today of all days, she didn't know- that Talasi was in an exceptionally pleasent mood. Perhaps it was because the way that the sun had set today- brilliant in a blinding, neon orange fashion. Or maybe it was because she'd spent a good majority of the day swimming in a waterfallen ridden lake that seemed to have no bottom? The source, however, to this cheery mood, was irrelevent to Talasi. All she knew was that she was content- and she wasn't about to do anything that might risk this state of mind she was in.
Trotting with a sort of wolfish, calm grin cast in stone on her muzzle, the female continued through the forest. Darkness had not yet engulfed the woods- it was too early in the evening. Dusk, however, was making itself quite comfortable. The sun may've disappeared beyond the horizon, but curiously enough, it was not dark. Pleased by this, Talasi's already happy mood was taken to another level. It seemed that nothing could spoil this evening!
Nothing, of course, except Talasi realizing she hadn't the slightest clue where she was.
Most of the time, the wolf was able to make her way back to the soft 'nest' of sorts that she'd created by the waterfall lake. She was very comfortable there- it was almost like a home to her. Each night she would find her way back to retire and eventually fall into a calm, subdued sleep. Talasi did not like change. And sleeping in a new spot meant only one thing: change.
Letting a small, hardly noticeable snarl begin to pull at the corners of her muzzle, the female tried to remain calm. It's not that big of a deal, she reminded herself sternly, actually physically jerking her head a bit, as if to snap herself out of this mood. You'll find your way back. Relax.
Night was coming and Riley loved it! She had always been out a night in her former home and well...old habits died hard. The only things he disliked was that nights here were so cold! Days were cold too, compared to where she used to live, but not unbearably so. Evenings chilled her often and she either curled up somewhere warm or went of running.
Today it seemed to be the later. She had sniffed out a hare and had-what else?-started chasing it. The thing was damn fast! But Riley was thrilled to have a chase and darted after it with great enthusiasm. The only thing was she kept stumbling and getting farther and farther behind among the trees. She wasn't used to there being so many road blocks, after all. Finally she had completely lost track of it.
"Ahhh, that sucks," She grumbled discontentedly as she looked around. Her ears perked slightly as she heard someone, her old folded ear looking odd with her other one being so straight. Ooo, looks like someone was around after all.
It's just a silly sleeping spot. Stop being ridiculous. Stop it. Talasi's pursuasive skills were miserable. She couldn't even convince herself of anything. Yet somehow, the wolf seemed to have a knack for being dishonest. It was all subconcious, though. The poor thing hadn't any control over it. Besides- this wasn't about lying, it was about overracting with her lack of ability to find her little 'nest'.
And then, as if a gift from the gods, Talasi heard something. Both her ears perked up sharply, and her crimson eyes surveyed the steadily darkening forest. Ever alert, she was able to find the source of the rustle within a few moments. If it was brighter out, it was likely she would've found Riley even sooner- but with Talasi's paranoia and distress, it was understandable why she was a bit out of it.
Wasting no time, the wolf approached the other hastily, her eyes darting around quickly. Do not let the moon come, she thought frantically. Do not let the darkness come before I'm home!
"Hello-" she began slowly. If there was any trace of hesitance in her voice, Talasi hid it splendidly. "W-ho," No, wrong question. "What're you doing out here? I haven't seen anyone else all the day. I didn't think this area was very popular," she began slowly, approaching Riley face on now.
"I'm Talasi."
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