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 Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 6:26 am
Click, click, click.
Old, aching joints made their way along the edge of an alpine treeline, past the frost of the ground above. Here, much closer to sea level, the first shoots of green were beginning to show on the ground and through the trees. After all, Aion wasn't about to stay up in the frosty plain of his new home forever. The old male had included the bottom of the mountain in his scouting for a reason. Frost had its way of seeping into aching joints even though the time on the cold high peak had given him a thick enough winter coat. That extra fur would probably be there for the rest of his life, an interesting thought. How much longer did he really have? An uncertain question. Not that it mattered, now that he was coming together with a 'family' again. All the old gray ever wanted was to have a territory to protect and friends in it before he died, and the dream was so close. Maybe, Aion thought, once this was all finished he would be revitalized.
It was possible.
The motions of the old wolf took on a mechanical quality as he became more lost in thought with recent developments, a smile coming to the whitened muzzle. Before he knew it he was walking out of the trees and into the meadows outside what he had claimed for his own, basking in the warmth of the early spring sunshine, letting it drain all the chill from his bones. A beautiful day. Bright, clear, with just a few rolling clouds spinning their way across the sky. Aion had his nose to the air looking at it. A strange sight, an old, wise wolf taking a moment to watch the clouds as though dreaming.
It was at the far edge of the clearing that Aion stopped and sprawled out on a granite ledge, probably a rock that had cascaded down the mountain some time ago, and continued his cloud watching. Little attention was given to much else, the old wolf didn't expect to find anyone here.
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Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 5:50 pm
A shiver passed through a pile of leaves, too uniform and unnatural a movement to be caused the movement of wind through the clearing or the skittering of small bugs going about their work. There was a brief still, and then another quiver rustled the reddish-brown, decaying leaves. A white snout poked its way out of the damp leaves, snuffled experimentally, and then snorted loudly as it inhaled the damp and mold of the leaves.
Tippa hauled herself out from under the leaves slowly, ears laid flat in unhappiness. The young pup had slept through the night, and was now waking to the uncomfortable chill of her bones and a pile of old leaves from the previous fall deposited on top of her. She shivered one last time, dislodging the leaves from her coat, and pushed herself up into a sitting motion.
She was miserable, to put it bluntly. Flicking her ears up a little, she tried to find enough in her surroundings to take her mind off of her current less than pleasant situation. She missed her mother terribly though, to a point that nothing could distract her from that empty longing. She needed her mother’s warm presence, the softness of her fur, and the milky scent of her siblings on either side. She had not felt that warmth or comfort for… she could not remember how long it had been, now.
With a small, lost sigh, Tippa glanced up from her oversized paws, which were covered with dirt and splayed out against the clearing floor. She was about to look back down, to go back to her self-pitying and misery, when an unexpected sight flooded her sight.
Almost directly across the clearing, perched on a rock that she had not seen in the darkness while she stumbled around the previous, was a large grey wolf. He was old, but still majestic, his thick winter fur still very much present. He seemed to be cloud-gazing, utterly unaware of his surroundings and lost in his own thoughts.
Tippa bit back a yelp that was a mixture of surprise and joy, swallowing it as a second wave of suspicion followed quick on the heals of her initial elation. She would have liked to jump up onto all four paws and scamper across the clearing, to trust this older wolf and to hope that he would take care of her - but her instincts were telling her to be more wary of such a complete stranger.
She was so sick of being on her own though, so desperately in need of company and for the burden of her own care to be taken off of her, that she ignored this instinct. Scrabbling clumsily onto her paws, she skittered her way across the clearing and to the base of the granite rock. Gazing upwards, she gave a small yip to get the attention of the grey wolf. A small pang of embarrassment at her helplessness crept through her, but she suppressed it - she needed a grown wolf more than she needed her pride right now, if she was honest with herself.
“Please… can you help me?”
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:08 am
The sky was like a reflecting pool. Not so much because of the reflection, but the effect it caused. High winds rolled the clouds as Aion watched, the puffs of white moving and changing like the lives of the creatures of the earth, until they dissapated into nothing. It was beautiful, some of the shapes they took, and at the same time a little depressing knowing they wouldn't be there forever. The sun coming between the clouds in sheets made the old wolf smile though. That was like a new hope.
It was there, at that moment and with that thought in the aged male's mind that a little yip struck his still sharp ears. White tipped ear turned to meet the sound, muzzle following through the turn to let deep gray eyes fall on the lone puppy. Aion looked as though he were still in a daze, looking at her, the plea for help falling on his mind without understanding for a moment. There it was, a speckled little raincloud on the ground, but of course it was a puppy. The smell of leaves and earth clung to the little one. Strange, watching a little splotched pup with no smell of a mother on her, a little cloud on the ground asking for help.
Slowly, Aion woke out of his daydream and blinked at the pup at the base of the gray rock. If her spots had been smaller, she would have been invisible against the surface of the stone. His dark gray orbs focused on her, the tiny plea coming to the surface of his mind again. Didn't she have a guardian of some sort to care for her? The little female looked so helpless, and only adding to that was the tiny yip and the humble question. Aion realized that it had been a few moments since she'd spoken, and he ought to respond.
"Are you lost, little one?" he questioned, his voice soft and a little rough with age. If she were lost, he supposed that he could help. The old Alpha may not have been able to run, but he could still track as well as any. Not like his son, who could fly across the earth on long legs with no heed to anything and none to catch him.
Aion smiled down at the black and white pup, and got almost spryly to his feet. The sun and the heat of the rock had warmed him, shaking the chill of the mountain from him and making the Alpha feel like walking again. "If you're lost, I can help you find your way." His body rustled with thick fur as Aion got to his feet, the timepiece around his neck dragging slightly against the granite surface before he got to his paws. With a lupine smile and a more brisk step than usual, the gray came down the rock to stand near his small companion expectantly. It felt good to him to suddenly feel so useful. Occam took care of most of the confrontation as of late, he was younger and faster than Aion, which did put a bit of a sour taste in the gray's mouth. He'd told himself though, that he would save his energy for more pressing or worthy causes, and what better one than a lost little pup.
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