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 Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 12:31 am
It always felt as if time were running out. But time was an illusion...could illusions run out? He didn't think so, but perhaps he was wrong. Perhaps time was an illusion which would never stay sane...like himself.
On that aspect, how old was he? Two? Seven? Fourteen? Maybe they were timeless creatures... Maybe they never really existed at all, shadows wandering the grounds in search of companionship and shelter.
Chronos was a wandering soul. That he was sure of -- and that was the only thing he was sure of. He had no memory of his past; was he ever a puppy? Did he have a mother and siblings and did they love him? Was he ever loved? Or was he just dumped here?
The lanky wolf weighed in just under 60 pounds, making him a small version of the breed. His winter coat was finally falling out to make way for a thinner blond pelt. Across his back were the markings of clockwork and around his neck was a delicate golden hourglass hung on a black string and his paws had been dipped in rust.
Emerald eyes surveyed the small wooden path he'd taken a nap on. As he stood, the bangle bracelets on his forepaws jingled lightly and one ear was weighed down just a bit from a pair of hoops.
Things like these made him wonder why he was so different. It wasn't the things themselves...but why he had them and never remembered it.
And so he lumbered down the path, tail tucked low and paws padding the dirt easily.
Time was an illusion. The sun and moon only helped achieve that fact.
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Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:43 am
Tae once again found herself alone. Which was not normally unusual but lately she had been seeking the company of other wolves, something in her ingrained natured desired it and she had no strength to deny it any longer. Usually she wondered alone and after such a long time doing so she was more than capable of caring for herself. Time meant nothing to her as she wondered alone.
She set a slow lumbering pace, she was never in a rush, she was her own wolf and thus didn't run by anyone else's schedule. She was fit and could keep a fast pace over many miles while hunting, but right now her stomach was full and she wasn't rushing for any other need.
Tae had a great love for water and without the warmth of another wolf besides her at night, with time her coat had adapted to suit her habits. It was thick most of the year around, soft short strands of fur made up the majority of it and this was covered by a thin layer of long sleek hairs and well oiled. The oiled top layer of her coat also made the blue hues in her pelt all the more lustrous shimmering from rich midnight blues to pitch black . Her coat rippled in tune with the fluid motions of her body, the circular markings on her legs almost seeming like bubbles rippling up her legs.
Her head was in a relaxed position, neither raised nor lowered, yet faintly she caught the scent of another, it was a strange scent, not in the sense that it was a strange wolf but the that she couldn't figure it out. Thus she slowed her pace to a slow creeping sort of walk and approached with caution.
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Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 11:03 am
Maroon-lined ears swiveled constantly, picking up any sounds that were around him. Although he was always in a daze, he knew his sounds. The little crickets and the treefrogs and the snapping of bush twigs....
Wait!
Bush twigs?
His front paws stopped before the rest of him, sending him into a hunchbacked state. His breathing paused for several seconds as he listened closely.
There was the soft sound of pawpads on forest floor. He took a breath, tested the air. Not rabbit. Not deer. Once more he sniffed and this time, his nostrils twitched.
Female...? Wolf, perhaps...?
He couldn't bring himself to smile, couldn't let the spark start in his heart before it ignited into full-blown hope. Another wolf? No. It wasn't... He shouldn't get close, if it was.
So he ducked his head and continued on, hurrying a bit faster though that only made him more audible as the golden jewelry, while beautiful, glinted in the dappling sunlight and made a bunch of noise.
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Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 1:04 pm
The pace Tae had set was slow enough that she could pick up far more faint sounds than if she was running. She listened carefully for noises made from the wolf she was approaching, she walked carefully and not to hastily as not to alarm the other but also to make a little noise as not to surprise it either. But after a few moments and as she neared the other, she heard a faint clicking sound, like metal upon metal. This alarmed her slightly, yet intrigued her also as the other wolves scent was becoming more faint.
She didn't want to alarm the other wolf by pursing him, yes it must be a male by the scent, so she slowed to a halt and stood for a moment listening to the sounds of the metal, click, click, click. It was getting fainter but she waited patiently as was her nature. She sat on her haunches, her blue fur not blending well into the surrounding lush green forest but she was at ease, the breeze brought no scent to her nose she needed to fear. Would he come to her?
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Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 2:57 pm
The sound of the clinking annoyed him and his ears flattened against his skull. He didn't want to be followed!
The rain slashed the ground around him, throwing up mud onto his already soaked coat. Something was behind him. Something big. Horns glittered in the lightning's flash and its eyes were blood red. Chronos whipped around, lips raised as he galloped towards the beast, who had stopped.
Tae herself had also stopped, patient, but in his mind, he only saw the beast. He gave a roar, his muzzle opening wide to offer a threatening display of teeth. The distance between himself and the blue-hued femme was closing quickly.
Then, as quickly as he'd been torn into this tormenting memory, he was pulled back out. Chronos felt the earth dry beneath his paws and as the mud disappeared from his mind, he could smell her.
The she-wolf he was aimed directly at!
His green eyes lost their glaze as he threw himself to the ground, skidding along on his side before falling to rest a few feet past her, motionless except for trembles. Waiting for the punishment of failure.
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Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 12:02 pm
Tae sat perfectly still for a moment or two and then slowly raised herself to stand facing away from the male. Gradually she turned to look upon him. He was lying on his side, trembling, she couldn’t puzzle out why though. Small for a male, yet still larger than herself, she approached with caution. In a steady voice she cooed softly, trying to calm him.
‘I mean you no harm my friend.’
She took three paces towards him and slowly bent her head and nuzzled her cold nose into the thick fur of his neck, a sign of affection and gently pulled away from him. She took a pace back and once again sat on her haunches and waited for a response.
Tae was a patient creature and she got the sense that this male was rather scatty for whatever reason and thus did everything in her power not to agitate him further. She focused her thoughts on her favourite places, by the water on a dying evening and a sense of calm solitude washed over her, hoping she emitted that calm from her and that he was sensing it.
She watched him from the corner of her eye, she didn’t want to focus directly on him as not to present any form of confrontation. Storm grey eyes flickered over him and noted his strange markings and the metal bangles around his forelegs, there was also a strange ornament hanging from his neck. He interested her immensely, thus she did everything in her power not to scare him off again.
She waited.
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Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 5:15 pm
Deep breaths. Deep breaths, he told himself. Perhaps she was a loner herself. Perhaps she wouldn't pass judgement on him so harshly, although bitches usually went more haywire than the males, he'd found.
He forced himself to stay still, stay silent, as she padded towards him. Her words tinkled like soft music in his ears. Her muzzle touched his neck, and there was a rush of warmth through Chronos's body.
And then it was gone.
He waited for her to return, but the touch was never regiven. So he opened his eyes and perked up his ears, just a little.
She wouldn't attack?
So he raised his head and swung around to look at her, green eyes cautious.
"But...I nearly attacked you."
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Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 1:26 pm
She watched from the corner of her eye as the male swung around to look at her, at that point she met his emerald green eyes with her storm grey. She held the gaze for a moment before replying and then slowly answered him.
'That may be so, but you didn't did you.'
She calmly sat there holding the male's gaze, confident yet not confrontation. His eyes displayed his unease, yet the rich green eyes looked stunning framed by a deep red, she couldn't help but stare into them. Blinking she returned to herself and added,
'I'm sorry if I intruded upon you, or I have wondered on to your territory, I mean no offence. It has been so long since I ventured to more populated lands. If I have please forgive me and I shall be on my way.'
She had passed no scent marks but she was just trying to puzzle out why she had startled him so much. She broke her gaze on him for a moment and looked around herself, more as a display that she was planning to head off, then again fixed her grey eyes to his.
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Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 5:06 pm
"I am sorry..."
Her eyes were beautiful - the color of a stormy sky... He half expected lightning bolts to flash through them, but it was too ludicrous.
It was true. He didn't. But he could almost taste her flesh and the musty cinnamon of her fur.
He gave a cough-laugh and stood as well, slowly, his eyes never leaving hers. "I own no land. I am looking for a pack, but haven't come upon one who will take my...quirks...with a grain of salt."
He took two steps towards her, then inched his nose into her fur. The scent of another wolf was comforting, welcoming. His body shuddered with relief.
"I'm called Chronos. At one time, I ruled Father Time with an iron paw... But now, I'm just another wolf." He paused. "And you?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 12:10 pm
She stood silently as the male drove his nose into the thick fur of her neck and inhaled her scent. She felt a strange rapidly growing affection for the male with such a simple gesture, it had been a long time since she'd had much attention from another wolf, other than a passing conversation. She relished it. With her soft calming sounding voice she answered him.
'Chronos, it's a pleasure. You may call me Tae.'
She didn't understand the comment about Father Time, but it was Tae's nature not to question things and just to let things simply be, to wash over her like the tide lapping the shore. He would explain in time if he felt he must and she would listen.
'A pack, such life doesn't suit me much I have grown use to living by myself. We all have our quirks anyway, someone will accept you for who you are.'
She felt him easing, his caution towards her slowly ebbing away. It was true though, she had spent many a year a lone now and had only longed for company once or twice, this time though her deep engrained nature of a pack animal had taken over and she had succumbed to it, how long until it had its fill, she did not know.
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Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 12:00 am
"Tae..." The name flitted over his tongue easily, like lapping water from a cool river after a run... Water fit her... Tae. Tae. It fit her well...
He'd never expected much luck from a pack. He wasn't the kind to lead, but he'd never be one to bow under any one ruler. He'd broken from Fenrir's Paw too long ago...
"I've not met a clan that's so loose to allow me to be myself. I won't be a pawn in someone's game of chance... You have a good lifestyle... Don't give it up. It just gets lonesome."
That was the only reason he wanted a pack. He wasn't suited for a lonely life. That, and the fact that his time would run out someday and he, like any other male wolf, wanted puppies to carry on his lines when that happened.
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Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 1:12 pm
Tae listened to his words and with little thought replied.
'I don't find it lonesome, I have the free will to do as I please and when I desire the company of others wolves it generally doesn't take me long to find it and I find my hunger for it is quickly filled and then I am free again.'
She looked upon him for a moment and pondered upon the idea of life within a pack. It didn't suit her, no matter how she looked at it. She flowed like the water and made her own paths in life. But as she had grown older she had developed a strange desire to raise a litter of her own, but she seemed to be able to quickly quell those feelings. She had had a mate once before and no other could fill that gap in her heart and it was only he who she had ever desired mating with. But he was dead and she was left to roam by herself.
She returned her attentions to the male in front of her and politely asked.
'May I travel with you for a bit. I have no desire to be any place right now and I'd enjoy the company.'
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Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 10:51 am
'When I desire the company of other wolves, it generally doesn't take me long to find it and I find my hunger for it is quickly filled...'
Chronos was slightly confused. Weren't wolves supposed to be social, pack animals? Lones were rogues and rogues went crazy in time... Crazy due to aloneness, lack of being with another.
He, for sure, would die without someone. There was just a spot in his heart that ached to have someone to sleep with, to curl up with, safety within the other lupine. Even now, talking with this striking female...
But everyone had their own opinion. Hers was that company was easily disregarded after enough of it. His was that company was needed.
That was why he was surprised at her question.
Chronos looked up at her, puzzled. "I...I'm not going anywhere inparticular, but... I'd like that... But why me?"
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Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 9:49 am
Tae rarely showed any outward emotions but now she smiled slightly, the corner of her mouth twitching upwards. She could sense his puzzlement and it amused her.
'Why not?' she reversed the question.
Tae was a loner, it was true and lately she had met a few other wolves, one or two questioning how she could remain alone so long and not turn bitter or strange when again in the company of others. She did not know why herself, she just didn't. She was just content to wonder alone, to simply be and flow where life took her.
She rose slowly and walked towards the slightly larger male, hardened pads gently caressing the hard packed earthen path, small puffs of dry earth billowing around her paws. She inhaled deeply and took in his scent, she came to stand to next to him and turned her head slightly over her shoulder to look at him. Her eyes where a grey, like that off full clouds just before rain.
'Shall we roam together for a while then. You must tell me how you came by your collection of adornments.'
Tae didn't like to speak much, not at any length and she had mastered avoiding to do so by promoting others to do it instead. Thus she presented the male with the question, one that wasn't just a way to make conversation but also one that did genuinely intrigue her.
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Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 11:22 am
Why not him? He smiled, dropping his head slightly so that perhaps she would miss the fact that he was surprised.
He no longer flinched when she neared him but instead stood, ears pricked. It had been longer than he could remember when he had another wolf at his side. It made him feel whole -- it should've made any wolf feel whole.
"I'd like that, Tae," he said finally, eyes closing for a brief moment as he breathed the air. "But I'm afraid I can't tell you about these..."
He raised a paw, nosing the cuff to spin it around, the fur underneath slightly damp from sweat. "I would, if I could remember. I think...someone gave them to me at one time. A long time ago. But I can't remember who or where... I only remember waking up walking."
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