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 Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 5:46 am
 Denzel wasn't quite malnourished as he was downcast that evening after a long, long and fruitful nap in the shade, and his stomach whined. The air was cooler here for some reason, he was happy to note: perhaps due to the large maws of the mountains? Maybe they gulped down the oppressive heat from above before it reached the land below. He forgot that Nature was as forgiving as it was . . . well, unforgiving.
He hadn't spoken to Windy in quite some time - or rather, Windy hadn't conversed with him. Denzel had rather missed her company, and the sound of that familiar rush through his fur was a comfort he didn't know how much he had longed for. Not that Blithra wasn't a great love either, no, the adolescent loved his adoptive mother dearly. Actually, it was because of Blithra that he was even scouting beyond the den at all, wanting to find a good pack for them both to settle in; it was the least he could do for her after taking him in that cold February snowfall, nearly on his last leg.
And here it was that Windy would come to help! Grunting softly, Denzel obliged the rather playful breeze today and stood up, stretching as he gaze about him. The wind was blowing west, following the thin stretch of river into the distance. This, he followed once his limbs were completely awakened, unwittingly passing close by what was known to the Aves Pack as the First Watchpost, the metal tongue clinking every few steps against his ankle.
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Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 5:43 pm
  Sati lolloped through the grass in her usual careless manner, scooting back and forth as something or other caught her attention. She'd spend barely a moment on whatever it was before finding something else to investigate - like a pup, it was as though the world was new to her.
In a way, it was. Although she'd been in this territory for a while now, she hadn't really explored much of it and was trying to map, in her mind, how each area looked in each season, what grew where and places at which she could spend time in the good weather.
As she did this, though, she kept glancing back to her companion - a black and white patched wolf on whom she gazed with adoration. She didn't disturb him, and let him go at his own, slower pace.
However, when she spotted another wolf, she didn't hesitate to trot forward and shout a greeting. "Hiiiiiiiiii!"
Quin was enjoying the walk - the longest since his accident - and was following behind Saturne at a more sedate pace. She had been assigned to mind him, though it really seemed the other way around, at times. She was teaching him a lot but it was very much interspersed with bouts of randomness, gaiety and startling questioning.
Since he had come to them, Saturne had tended to him, taken care of his every need and followed him around as though he was a puppy. He was grateful of her care and to the pack for letting him stay even though they had young at the den. They had accepted him, to some extent, but he knew more would be expected of him if he was to join them fully.
In his reverie, Quin didn't notice the other wolf until he heard Sati's high pitched voice call out. Unlike her, he had experience of other wolves not being so friendly and his body tensed as he pushed himself forward to her side.
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Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 8:25 am
He should have known that this beautiful territory was someone else's, the scents of others making their way to his nose. When a cheery voice broke his quiet musings, the young wolf's ears flattened; immediately Denzel assumed a submissive position, lowering his head and tail as he turned towards the source of the sound: two adults, both white with splotches on various parts of their body were approaching him. Regardless of one of the wolves' cheery manner, he took one step backwards, staring at their feet. Would they punish him for invading on accident? So far his experience with pack borders had been safe, but that couldn't possibly stay, could it? But he couldn't afford to get hurt while still with Blithra . . .
"Sorry," Denzel murmured to them, as if a single-worded apology would be able to absolve him of his supposed crime.
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Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 8:35 am
Sati was surprised by the submissive posturing - it wasn't something she was much used to seeing in the Aves pack except in pups. This male did look young but not that young.
"Don't be silly!" she exclaimed, bounding closer, tail wagging "what's there to be sorry about?!" her smile evinced only friendliness and outright honesty. She wasn't one for ploys or tricks and really didn't understand pack boundaries that well - something she'd picked up from Kalain, perhaps or something she'd just never learned.
Quin almost felt sorry for the male - he'd been on the receiving end of Sati's enthusiastic mood for the last few weeks and, whilst it wasn't un-enjoyable, he wondered if she was all there, sometimes.
As he followed Sati he could see the male was a littler younger and he, unlike Sati, noted the submissiveness and its usual social meanings - this wolf would not harm them, or try to.
"Hello, stranger, I am Quin and this is Sati" he said, his accent tingeing his voice, his language a little stilted. "This land is Aves land, they are a good pack, nice wolves, do not worry for your safety here." an effort, to get all of that correct, but worth it. He owed the Aves pack a lot - his life - and he wanted to represent them well to others, even if he was not technically yet one of them himself.
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Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 2:06 pm
"Aves." He tasted the foreign word on his tongue hesitantly, for even though neither one of them showed even remote signs of hostility, Denzel forced himself to remain detatched from being too caught up in their kind mannerisms. "Sati." He nodded to the femme. "Quin." Another nod to the male.
This Sati wolf appeared terribly friendly nonetheless, and the adolescent relaxed a tad in her presence. He had soft spots for females after being cared for so long by Blithra and, on the flip side of that same situation, was also as wary of males at the same time. Quite a conundrum to be met with both at once; he was far more used to one-on-one encounters. "Good . . . wolves?" Denzel repeated, interest piqued. He had been searching for a land for his surrogate mother for some time now; the least he could do was see if perhaps this was the place to bring her. "Good. But good how?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 10:04 am
Quin pondered the question for a moment. "They take me in, look after me" he paused a moment, scrunching his nose "have taken?" he shook his head "they are also teaching me your tongue better, forgive me if I still get some words not right". He was getting a little flustered now - making mistakes.
Deep breath. Pause. Ok. "They do not hurt strangers or make them go away" that really was the message he had been trying to convey and he might as well say it simply. He wasn't good enough at their language to play with it.
"Of course we don't!" Sati chimed in "we love visitors and those who walk on the earth are all children of Toghelac!" that last bit sounded a little 'from rote' but Sati really did believe it.
Every critter on this earth had been created by the same being, birthed into life and would die. How could anyone worry about proprieties and the like when you thought of life that way? Not that she actually thought this - just intuited it.
"You're welcome to our land and to hunt here, to rest and stay with us" she said, formally, and with a seriousness that seemed out of character with the rest of her attitude. She'd been taught this formal introduction, though, and with her sister scolding her to take on more responsibility...
"and it'd be cool if you could tell us more about what you've seen outside!" she added, back to her more gleeful self; indicating the land beyond the pack's territory.
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Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 3:37 pm
He pondered their words without expression, a trait of the poor adolescent's; he didn't have good control of his affect, and it tended to be flat more than anything else. But Denzel was far from being disinterested: if their words were true, then maybe just maybe, he could convince his mother to come here and be safe. So far Sati and Quin seemed very affable, but then again . . . Ah, the doubts. Blithra was a character that sometimes needed patience, her grizzled appearance and prickly nature to most something like a deterrant for company. But he had to try for her sake, right?
So Denzel nodded his thanks. "I come then," he told them, feeling more comfortable once he learned that he wasn't the only one there with speech impediments. "Blithra maybe. Mother of 'nother blood. Needs home. I needs home. But . . . Tog . . . Togeh . . ." What a strange word! "Toh-geh-luh . . . lac . . . Toh-geh-lack? Who. Is. Toh-geh-lack?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 11:17 am
"'Toe-hell-ack' is easier to say" Quin tried to help the youth. The odd glottal sound the Aves seemed to use for some words was something he found hard to say, too. "And it is the name they use for the uhm... spirit? soul? of the earth" he wasn't too sure on it himself, yet, only what he had picked up and he turned to Sati for confirmation.
The young female nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, he is the one in who protects the land and shelters us, gives us a palce to call our land. He is the one who brings the deer and the rabbits to live with us!" her smile was wide, her passion for the subject obvious.
"You have your mother nearby too?" Quin asked, finally picking apart what he'd said. "And you have not said your name?"
"Oh! If your mother is nearby she can come too!"
Quin wondered what Sati's sister would think of her bringing strangers in so easily - and this young one, perhaps his mother too, needed a home. It might be a bit difficult to bring strangers in when Mu'sha still had such little pups around but, then, he was a stranger and he'd seen them so... Sati was, perhaps, naive, but her heart was in the right place.
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Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 4:21 pm
"Toe-hell-ack," Denzel echoed back, blinking quizzically at the strange sounds that made his mouth widen a little more than he was used to. If things were always named as oddly, his mouth might earn a workout. But this was very weird: why hadn't Windy ever told him of such a spirit? Then again, Windy barely spoke to him anymore as it was . . . This Quin fellow, however, the tone wasn't right, then way he said "your name". Slow-minded as Denzel was, he disliked it when others rushed him should other trains of thought take him elsewhere than the immediate questions needed to be answered. It was almost an insinuation that he wanted to push the outsider onward at his pace rather than Denzel's. This, he didn't like.
Thus, with trepidation and flattened ears, he said, "Name is Denzel. You be . . . patient." Getting that out of the way, the adolescent turned to Sati and nodded his head. "Live in den very south. Alone, but together. She needs pack, I needs pack. You have room, Sati?" he asked hopefully, already liking her much better than her companion. "Also have other friend. Maybe. Not know if she like, though."
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Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 5:00 pm
Patience? Quin would have blushed if he could. He wasn't trying to be pushy - just trying to find out who this young male was and what he was doing here... Oddly protective feelings welled up in him and a tinge of indignation, but he tried to push it down. He had been new once, had not been able to make himself well-understood...
"I uh that is..." he stammered weakly, but Sati had already begun to talk over him.
"Of course!" she said, smiling. She liked the male - even if his 'accent' was a little odd to her, she was always happy to meet a new friend and her sister had told her to look for others to help within the pack, right? Win-win, as far as she could see.
"I would have to check with my teacher, Kalain*, but I know he would love to meet you and would probably let you stay in the place we teach, like Quin does!"
Maybe he should have given her more credit - she'd easily settled on a course of action which meant she got approval from her elders and that this male and his mother, if they came, would not be near the main den where they might be a risk to the pups.
He settled on staying quiet for now - he still had a lot to learn, it seemed, about his new home...
*(pronounced Kai-ann)
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Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 4:25 pm
"Mmm. Kai-ann. Must be very nice," Denzel commented with a nod, "if having you as student. Kai-ann. Sati. Quin. Denzel. Blithra. Cai." Another nod with some satisfaction after listing the current and possible members. But . . . surely there were more? He needed to find out just how large thei pack was, and how big the territory, and what was in it. So far, it was pretty; very, very pretty. But did the pretty come with a price? "Where is whole pack?" Denzel asked them curiously. "Number big? Much prey? 'Nother blood mother not always patient. The lands are big?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 6:34 am
"Yes, Kalain is nice!" Sati smiled. "The rest of the pack is a lot further up the canyon" she gestured vaguely north-east "We're getting bigger by the day" she grinned, eyes twinkling. She loved the pups, loved them sooo much! Such fun little things, her nieces and nephews - so tiny and cute and full of life. She'd been helping Kalain take care of them whilst Mu'sha and the others hunted.
"We're not very big, really, but there seems to be lots of things to eat here, no other packs close by... and it gets closed off during winter sometimes by snow, so we have the whole place to ourselves!"
Closed over in winter? He hadn't known that, but he should have guessed - the higher peaks around here were touched by snow even in summer.
From what he had seen, the land was huge and the prey relatively plentiful for the region. It was well defended - a fortress almost, with its high sided walls - but he'd only been here a few weeks, maybe a month and a half. He'd not seen how harsh it would be in winter.
"Cai?" he asked.
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Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 6:06 pm
"Cai," Denzel repeated back, but did not explain because Quin did not ask. "Not very big" sounded nice to him; he was a wolf who enjoyed his alone time, and too many wolves at once would mean that the quiet giant would end up squirming with social anxiety. He had lived a very sheltered life and, coupled with the gaping hole in his childhood memory and speech impediments, Denzel was at best an awkward wolf to speak to most of the time, much less relate to. Yet Sati's cheery attitude was lightening his mood if nothing else, and that made all the difference.
"We come . . . before winter. Then." Denzel nodded, following the femme's indications with his eyes and sweeping them over the gaping canyon beyond the plains. It seemed to yawn like a great mouth, yet in its gullet laid life; how strange, yet how very safe at the same time it sounded. "I come with two. Maybe. Hope." He returned his gaze to the two, and he bowed his head. "Will come soon with them. Maybe. Hope. Good . . . bye?" This was when he said it, right? He had the intention to leave and find the two girls and everything.
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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 9:33 am
Sati smiled, pleased with herself. Her big sister had wanted to expand the numbers of the pack and here she was helping to do just that. She wasn't even being helped by Kalain this time. The patchy-rumped female's tail swished cheerily. "Hope to see you back soon then, Denzel. Take care!"
Quin was unsure what to think. He was going so soon? would he come back? He'd have to mention to Kalain - maybe tell them to have someone keep an eye out for these wolves coming back. The Aves pack were warm, kind, open - but it didn't do to be unprepared.
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