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RainbowMagicMarker
Vice Captain

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Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 8:28 am

Early January, 109

WoodWhisp was careful to swish is tail behind him, doing what he could to hide the paw prints in the snow. Calla would come searching for him, he knew it, but she would be hard pressed to find him. He was doing his best to hide is trail, he kept his thoughts from her, and it wouldn’t take too long now before he was out of range anyway. It wasn’t long before he could see the walls of New Eve’s sister fort through the trees. He stuck to the edge of the forest, scanning to make sure no one was around, before darting out and into the shadows of the trees and into the shadows of the wall. He moved around the edge of the fort, sticking close to the wall and hating his white and orange fur, they made camouflage difficult. Searching for someone in particular……AH! He was lucky for once, she must have been close to the wall as he’d been hoping.

“Twilight?” He asked, hoping not to startle her, “You busy?” WoodWhisp still wasn’t 100% sure why he was here, probably to apologize for Calla’s behavior towards the female’s rider the other day, or possibly to fulfill his promise of telling her the story of throwing Calla into a wall. Or even possibly to show her his quite comfortable lake. In all honesty he really wasn’t sure why he was here but he knew Calla would be mad and Twilight probably wouldn’t come with him. Ah well, it was worth the effort, he wished to sit down in the snow but feared leaving a mark that could be traced, he felt like a pup sneaking out of the den while his mother was asleep. Which in a way he was, sneaking out of his nap while Calla was busy. If she knew what he was doing she would skin him alive and use his fur a coat, she was probably already checking his favorite sleeping places, and probably every roof of Fort in search of him. He chuckled wolfishly at this thought, then quickly closed his mouth hoping no one heard him. He’d like to be able to talk to her face to face, but he knew a New Eve wolf waltzing riderless into White Shadow would draw attention, not to mention Alister would be there and he didn’t really feel like dealing with the irritating man right now.

Calla slipped off the unfamiliar wolf, smiling up at his rider in an inconspicuous and friendly manner.
“Thank you so much for going out of your way like this. I can’t find that lazy bag of bones that calls himself a wolf and this message is very important.” Calla lied smoothly. The Private seemed only slightly disgruntled at having to bring her here, but he did nod before turning and heading back into the trees. Calla smirked to herself, she had only slightly lied. It was true that she couldn’t find WoodWhisp, it was true he was a lazy bag of bones, it was also true that this was important at least to her, but it wasn’t a message at all. If anything she was simply bored and needed to do something. And whenever she needed to do something and had nothing to do she found herself at White Shadow, ready to drag Alister away by force if necessary. This was certainly an odd relationship, Calla smirked to herself as she waltzed through the gates to White Shadow, she had never really bothered to hide her presence. She wandered through the Fort unopposed, looking like she knew what she was doing, as she searched all of Alister’s usual locations. She couldn’t help but double check the location of her pistol, as much as the man had his uses he was still a pain and he needed to be kept in line.

A lazy yawn escaped the dark wolf as she stretched back arching and tail swaying slowly. Alister was in one of his moods again, and that meant she was staying as far away from him as possible. The thought made her snort softly as the brief memory of the man sulking off toward the back of the fort with his violin crossed her mind.

It was snowing so Alister and his moods could be accepted, if only vaguely so. Still that didn't stop the somewhat annoyed words that came to mind. "Men..." Heaving a sigh as she slunk along the outer wall Twilight almost didn't hear the soft male voice calling out to her the first time. The second time however her ears pricked forward and she tilted her head to one side glancing toward the wall before a small almost mischievous grin crossed her maw.

"If avoiding a moody rider is what you call busy..." She said shrugging lightly. If there was one thing Twilight never was, it was busy.

Twilight had gotten snippy with him when she'd seen him packing his violin and heading out. Of course the wolf always got snippy with him these days when she saw him with the instrument. Dismissing the behavior as a natural case of feminine hormones he'd simply shrugged and went his way while Twilight had went hers

Now seated under a tree he'd claimed as his, Alister stretched before setting the violin against his shoulder and began to play completely unaware of the fact that he was being hunted. Of course hunted or not he always kept his pistol on him just in case any...unexpected...visits happened.

"That makes two of us. Calla's bored and that's never a good thing for me." WoodWhisp's tone was light and playful, "But isn't that man always moody?" He pointed out. From the little bit he'd seen of Alister he had deduced it was nearly impossible to find him in a good mood. Whisp shook his head, removing the thought from his mind before turning his attention back to Twilight.
"Well since we both have people to avoid, I happen to know a very good avoidance spot if you care to join me?" WoodWhisp ask, part of him hoping she would for some unexplainable reason, part of him realizing it was just as likely she would shoot him down. Either way it was better than being stuck hanging around a bored Calla, bad things always seemed to happen when Calla was bored. And anyway he needed to apologize on behalf of his rider for her actions the other day, and now was a good time for he really didn’t feel like taking a nap, in all honesty he just felt like hanging out. Moving closer to where he estimated her location to actually be her swished his tail behind him to clear away as much of his footprints as he possibly could. Yes this was a bit slow going but he really didn’t want Calla to find him, or to be spotted by others in the Fort.

Calla charged about the fort, she didn’t bother to stop and ask if anyone had seen him, she would only do that after checking one last spot. There was tree, it was towards the back of the fort and she had found him there only once or twice but it was still a possible frequent. As she got closer to the tree, a soft sound began drifting to her ears. The woman stopped, listening intently she picked up the sound of a violin, and a well played one at that. She moved forward slowly, quietly, the sound got louder. Beneath the earthen brown bangs Calla’s brow furrowed in curiosity. Could that be Alister? There was no frigging way, he didn’t have the heart to play music.
Calla continued her painfully slow, silent trek to the tree, pausing at the edge of a building she crouched down, ignoring the snow, and peeked around the corner. Sure enough there was the cold, heartless man sitting in the snow, instrument in hand. For awhile Calla just sat and listened, she didn’t think the man had it in him to play music; music was never good unless heart and emotion was put into it, but this was surprisingly well played. But eventually, as beautiful as the music was, curiosity and impatience won out and she stood up. Moving around the corner and crossing the empty space between them she stopped and stared down at him.
“I didn’t know you played violin. Very well if I do say so myself.” For once in her life Calla spoke quietly, still half listening to the music before he had a chance to respond to her, and probably get angry.

Giving a soft snort Twilight shook herself, tail fanning out behind her as she shook her head in one fluid motion. "You'd be surprised. Alister can actually be quite....human should the mood strike him." Letting out a hearty laugh at the thought the femme quieted watching WoodWhisp for a moment as he moved closer hiding his tracks as he went. A chance to slip out of the fort for a while without having to alert her rider of where she was going...such a lovely thought but it made her nervous all the same. Mentally berating herself, the darker wolf huffed before giving a light grin. "If its a chance to escape this place and our riders for a while then I'd love to." She said carefully treading closer to the wall. "I know an easier way than that to get us out of here. Anything to get out of the stuffy fort before she went mad. If it wasn't Alister and his moods it was someone else. A little annoyed scowl crossed her maw for a moment before she tossed it away. Males called females moody as if they had yet to take a good hard look at themselves. That, was a point she was going to make sure to knock into Alister's head when she got back. Maybe the man would actually get it this time.

Pressing her side against the wall lightly she began to trek along its length heading toward the entrance. A wonderful little trick she'd learned in her years of staying here. "Follow exactly where I walk, so if anyone happens to come checking...they won't think anything of just one wolf leaving the fort." Ears pricked forward Twilight paused on ocassion to listen for any sound of an approaching wolf or human before continuing on. It would be slow going but it would get them out of the fort.

There was one thing Alister had learned at a very early age, and that peace could never last forever. That almost painful lesson was making itself true again as his moment of silence and solitude was broken first by footsteps in the snow and then a voice. A voice that he knew too well from other days of torment. The New Eve Private had turned up, which wasn't a good thing as far as he was concerned. Letting his body go through the motions of a song he'd played countless times, two mismatched eyes opened and settled on Calla for a moment before a slight smirk of amusement tugged at his lips. "There are plenty of things about me you don't know. Plenty of things..." The song's tempo increased for a several long moments as he kept his unwavering brown and green gaze on the woman. "..I don't plan on telling you about." Slowly, ever so slowly the song began to slow until it finally faded leaving nothing but silence. Lowering the violin he settled it back in the mahogny box at his feet. Finished with that task he leveled his full attention on Calla.

WoodWhisp grinned, "I guess that's one of those things I'd have to see to believe." He replied, making no attempt to hide the sarcasm, he was pretty sure Twilight would understand that he was simply joking and not be offended. WoodWhisp followed easily in her prints, though his larger paws did slightly changed the shape and size as he did so.
"Out always seems so much easier than in." WoodWhisp said with a mock sigh, "Reminds me of when I was pup, that one time I tried to sneak into the sunlight." He said chuckling, he and his brother had gotten chewed out over that one and his mom had kept an eye on him for a week. Not that it had been necessary; he'd spent most of his time as a pup asleep. Calla had called him Narcoleptic, though at first he hadn't really been sure what that meant. Shaking the tangent from his head he returned his attention to the female in front of him, “Hypothetically speaking if I asked how old you are would I make it out of that situation alive and uninjured? Hypothetically speaking of course.” He asked, though he knew she was smart enough to see through his trick and would probably hurt him anyway, he felt the need to ask though. Of course he would respond with his own age, but that never seemed to bother guys as much as it did with women.

Calla sat down cross-legged, ignoring the snow. Temperature never really bothered Calla, she never really stopped long enough to feel cold or hot, never stopped to notice. It had gotten her in trouble plenty of times, borderline hypothermia, a fever of 105 that she hadn’t noticed, nearly gotten her killed. She watched silently as he finished the song, the borderline peaceful feeling she’d been getting from him before quickly changed when he’d noticed her there. There was a vague irritation and a sarcastic amusement that she picked up now, not that it bothered her she simply felt the need to note these things.
“I would say the same, but I don’t have anything to tell.” Calla responded as he put the instrument away, the icing of sarcasm hiding the truth baked beneath. “But the fact of the matter is you’re a terribly secretive person. Not that I particularly care.” Calla added, deciding the change the subject, he was a terribly observatory person and would probably notice the half-true sarcasm.
“Anyway, I’m bored and you’ve got the short end of the stick this time.”

Chuckling her tail swayed as she poked her head around the bend in the wall before continuing on. No one out and about, everyone was probably lazying about inside to stay warm. Something she would have been doing if it wasn't for that fact that she had been doing that for the past few weeks. True the downtime was good but she needed to move...it was in her nature and during the winter especially Alister wasn't too inclined to accommodate her nature. "If you're around when Alister strikes up with his music again I'll be sure to drag you over to hear." Now that would no doubt be and interesting time, the black wolf mused crossing the snowy expanse between the gates and heading toward the forest.

One ear flicked back toward WoodWhisp and Twilight gave a faint but amused huff. "You never ask a lady her age." flicking her tail at his muzzle she flashed a lazy but amused grin over her shoulder at him. "However since you asked so nicely...I'll humor you. Its been ten winters as of this one." Saying it now, she realized that it had been a long time since she'd been bonded. A very long time since she'd had the urge to throw herself headfirst into a snow drift just for the sake of soaking her rider.

Good times but she'd been younger then...much younger.. Shaking her head she let out a puff of air from her lungs. "You've made me realize just how old I am now." Giving a soft laugh she stretched. "No wonder the younger wolves try to stay on my good side. Amusing but sad at the same time. Then again, age wasn't determined by how long one lived but more by how one felt. Fluffing her tail as she pushed those mildly depressing thoughts from her head, she settled her gaze on WoodWhisp, she gave a faint smile. "So...where's this hidey-hole of yours?"

Little lies and half truths, Calla's words were filled with them but he wasn't too pressed to persue that particular topic. The mention of boredom was more than enough to put him on edge though he kept his calm but amused appearance in place. The last thing he needed was for this woman to pick up on any...apprehension. "Terribly sorry to hear that..but what do you expect me to do about it?" Quirking an eyebrow at her, Alister reached up to tuck a lock of red tipped blond hair behind one ear, his attention still focused on Calla.

WoodWhisp chuckled, “I’d like to see that actually, you’ll have to give me a heads up.” He said, noticeably less sarcasm in his voice this time around. He was glad to be out of the fort as they rounded the corner and quickly bounded into the woods, pausing at the edge of the trees to make sure Twilight was still with him. When he was sure she was he went a bit deeper in and waited for her to catch up.
“You think you’re old? I myself am ten, going on eleven here pretty soon as Calla keeps reminding me.” WoodWhisp explained keeping up his fair end of the deal. He smiled as he picked up the pace a bit, glad to be out and moving in the woods. It might be hard to get him to wake up, but once he was he simply didn’t know how to take things slow, there was no grey area between Sleep and being On The Go for him. He wove through the trees with ease as if he’d been through this part of the forest a thousand times before.
“It’s just a bit north of here actually. Very comfortable for being a frozen lake.” WoodWhisp explained as he moved, glad Twilight did actually seem interested in hanging out with him and not just trying to get away from her rider. As he spoke though he realized he was going the wrong direction, “Heheh which is, y’know, that way.” He said, mildly embarrassed at the error before changing direction and moving towards where the lake was.

Calla smirked, picking up on the edgey feeling her words had given him. She tried not to laugh, so as not to give away the empathy she was constantly hiding from others. Coming off as being sensitive to that sort of thing would completely ruin her image as the dominating, boy-looking, violent private that she was. She watched intently as he brushed aside his hair, letting the question hang in the air a moment. After a satisfactory second or two she grinned almost maliciously and stared him sternly in the eye.
“Tell me Alister, what do you think I want you to do about it.” She asked her tone hushed and serious, almost ominous.

Dipping her muzzle to hide the amused grin and laugh as she followed WoodWhisp and his change of direction. Twilight's ears pricked forward swiveling this way and that. She knew it was winter and there was no reason to worry about the centipedes but that didn't stop her from being on her guard. "You have such a wonderful sense of direction." she said chuckling being more playful than anything else.

Tail swaying happily, she tilted her head to one side, eying tracks in the snow heading in the opposite direction. A rabbit, no doubt, a small rabbit. Any other day she might have followed those tracks just for the sake of giving the poor creature a scare and nothing more but today she was more interested in seeing this...'comfortable' frozen lake. "I find it hard to believe...a frozen lake is comfortable you know."

Those...were the words he had seriously been hoping he didn't hear coming out of the woman's mouth. The very same words that had his hand inching closer to his pistol, also had him turning several shades paler...which to any passing innocent bystander would have him looking very close to the color of the falling snow. "You did not come all the way from New Eve, bored or not just to torment my soul with...that now did you?" he was hopeful...but that hope was quickly fading with each passing moment and he was more so looking for a route of escape than anything else. Calla was bored...and he was cornered, mentally he groaned why did he feel that this wouldn't turn out well?

Woodwhisp trotted on determined after his little blunder."Hey now! My sense of direction is flawless!” WoodWhisp spoke up in his defense, but his tone was still joking, “I just don’t happen to know the area as well as SOME.” He pointed out, pausing for just a moment to make sure he was still going in the right direction. Satisfied that he was he picked up his pace again, looking over his shoulder to make sure Twilight was still with him.
“Y’know. I thought the same thing too at first. But I figured it was comfortable enough during the summer and I was out of hiding places so.” WoodWhisp shrugged as he spoke, “I figured she’d never think I’d go there in the winter and discovered it to actually be pretty comfy with the right amount of snow.” WoodWhisp explained cheerfully. To be perfectly honest part of him was in disbelief that he could take anyone to his and Calla’s private spot, the place they relaxed and calmed down after a round of Centipedes. That place was secret, special, and he especially couldn’t belief he was taking a White Shadow wolf there. If Calla found out she’d be wearing his fur as a coat.

Calla had already noticed the hand moving towards the gun, she also noticed the change in skin tone and the felt the fear and small amount of hoping coming from him. But all these things Calla ignored, she knew that with Alister you could never believe what you saw on the surface. The violin today was just another piece of evidence to that fact. Calla reached forward and rested her hand on Alister’s shoulder, her darker skin standing out against the white of his uniform.
“Of course Alister, why else would I come all this way? You know I can’t stand to sit around doing nothing. Unless, there is something else you can think of?” Calla smirked as she said this, her tone still ominous. Alister was a smart, cunning man and she had just tossed him a bone, he could get out of this. If he wanted to. It all deepened on how much he wanted to work.

"Of course it is~ All males have a flawless sense of direction, remember?" A slight flash of a wolfish grin and the femme shook some of the falling snow from her back, making sure to keep pace with WoodWhisp which...wasn't too hard for the moment."The world is full of surprises it seems then." Stepping lightly and briskly, Twilight was careful to skirt the deeper parts of the snow, not wanting to find out of there was ice beneath them or not.

Heaven knew her last run in with not-so stable ice had almost been the end of both her and her rider. Of course almost drowning would have made anyone wary of a lake frozen or not, but not her. There was a stubbornness, a will to prove that she wasn't afraid to venture back to the place that had almost been her grave. Alister now...he was another story. He wouldn't go near the lake without a reason...a very very good reason to be perfectly honest. Shaking her head with a soft sigh, she flexed her claws in the snow forcing down the depressing memories. Multiple near death incidents often made one wiser...dwelling on those memories often made one insane.

"You know...you never did tell me what happened when you tossed Calla into a wall." Lifting her head she set mismatched gold and green eyes on the orange and white wolf in front of her.

"I'm sure you can find someone else to amuse you...carnal or otherwise." Dropping his shoulder and scooting away from Calla. The more space he put between himself and that woman the better. Especially with just where her attentions seemed to be focused. "Besides that...I'm sure you can find something better to do." He'd recognized his way of escape but of course...that way of escape still meant dealing with Calla, and it by no means was a sure one that the woman wouldn't still attempt to pursue her original interest when it was all said and done.

“Precisely my point!” WoodWhisp exclaimed, playfully ignoring the fact that it was supposed to be a joke. Her turned back over his shoulder and grinned at Twilight goofily. As he turned back around to make sure he was still heading in the right direction pain coarsed through his nose and he stumbled back a few paces and fell into the snow, blinking confusedly. In his failure to see where he was going, being more intent on Twilight, he found himself stumbling face first into a tree. In an attempt to hide his laughter at himself he stuck his nose into the snow to dull the pain.
“Ow, Totally meant to do that by the way.” WoodWhisp pointed out in mild sarcasm shaking his head before pulling himself together and standing back up. Shaking off the snow he was vaguely reminded of time he’d charged straight through a snow drift he’d through was a hill and came out the other side face first into a rock. But for now that was a story he was going to keep to himself.
“Tossed Calla into a wall?” He asked vaguely, pulling himself out of his memories and turning back towards Twilight, “OH! YES! The wall!” The memory came flooding back to him as he began to move again, this time determined to keep his eyes on where he was going.
“Well you see I was only about a year and a half old at the time, Calla had just started actually riding me and that severely damaged my napping time.” WoodWhisp pointed out, pushing through a bush and into a clearing. Now all that stood between them and the lake was a small straggle of trees. Fortunately with the snow you couldn’t see the final destination until you were right up on it. “So anyway Calla found me in the middle of nap, she told me there would be food in it if we went back to camp but I could tell she was lieing. Can’t lie to someone you can read your mind. I played along though, let her climb on. But then I saw my chance, took off running. Charged about the forests for awhile to give a taste, but then it was getting dark so I headed back to the fort. Came charging in but I didn’t know the layout really well just yet so I had to stop short before running into the side of one of the offices. Calla unfortunately wasn’t holding on so as I stopped she kinda went flying over my head and into the wall.” WoodWhisp laughed at the memory as he trotted through the open space, getting ever closer to the secret spot. “Calla broke her nose, her left arm, and I think even cracked a rib. Not to mention her Patron was FURIOUS with me, hilarious to watch him rant and rave.” As he finished the story he stopped short.
From here he could see the glittering surface of the solid, snow covered lake. He was, as always, mesmerized by the way the sun played on the patches of snow and ice reflecting the world around them. Turning back towards Twilight he sat down and grinned at her expectantly. “Ladies first.”

Calla sighed, on the verge of being over-dramatic but her eyes completely serious.
“If only I did, it seems all my usual duties are going to the young bloods.” She sounded almost forlorn as she said this, though it nicely covered up the fact that it was a total lie. Indeed even WoodWhisp had pointed out she seemed to be shoving off more and more of her duties to the newer privates of the fort. And though she was sure WoodWhisp knew why she liked to pretend he didn’t. “And here you are, ignoring the efforts of a young honest woman’s attempts to lie and deceive all just to see you.” Calla stared down at the snow sadly as she spoke, her tone softer and quieter, though in the back of her mind she simply couldn’t stop laughing at the whole act. So the man had indeed turned down her escape offer, which meant he didn’t want her completely gone after all.

Tilting her head forward she didn't even bother to hide the rich laughter at both the story and the fact that WoodWhisp had just run into a tree, of course part of her felt guilty for that but that didn't stop her amusement. A bit sadistic? Maybe. Chuckling as she slowly began to sober up, Twilight's eyes gleamed as she moved to stand next to WoodWhisp head tilted with her eyes half lidded. "If I was her Patron I'd probably be doing the same." Keeping her voice low, the female wolf chuckled again. "Most of my adventures with Alister when we'd just bonded aren't nearly as lovely as yours I'm sure." Staring to flow past the orange and white wolf, Twilight gave a half hearted smile trying in vain to hide the sudden wave of sorrow. "After all we were prone more to disaster than adventures." Disasters indeed.

Whatever grief ridden thoughts that had started to slip into her mind, were gone as she took the glittering spectacle before her. The feeble rays of winter sun light were bouncing off the surface of the ice creating little glittering ice diamond clusters and rainbows here and there. "Beautiful..." she breathed not looking back at WoodWhisp just yet. The lake was beautiful...and as she began to pad closer, keeping her footsteps light...and deadly. She'd learned just how deadly ice and freezing water could be, the scar on her stomach was testament enough to that. Still...padding down to the edge of the ice she lowered her muzzle to the frozen surface to stare at her reflection. Two mismatched eyes stared back.

Green and gold, green being the eye she shared with a human. A human who, at the moment from the panicked direction of his thoughts was under assault from Calla. A wolfish grin crossed her maw as she lifted her head and turned to stare at WoodWhisp. "Wonderful little hidey-hole this is...and so very beautiful." One ear flicked before the grin spread. "I don't think we have to worry about our riders either...Alister's having a fit at the moment and the fact that I can still hear most of his thoughts...Well I'm sure you can guess where Calla is."

Ah, if only he had had a heart to feel for the woman he might have...but as it stood...Alister didn't. That and something wasn't adding up with this story. It was either that or he was just paranoid, which could or could not be a good thing. Eyes narrowing both at the woman's words and the slight wind that picked up, kicking up flurries of snow Alister clucked his tongue and crossed his arms content with the distance between him and the other for the moment. "Why do I find that hard to believe?" Honest attempts his a**. Acts like this were one of the reasons why Alister kept a barrier of ice and gods knew what else up around his mind and heart, it had saved him many a time already. This time would be no different...and if all else failed..he could always retreat to his room and lock Calla out.

WoodWhisp followed close behind her, staring down at the ice himself.
“Calla and I found this, we got separated from the rest after driving off some centipedes. We’d both been injured and needed to rest.” WoodWhisp explained as he boldly padded out onto the ice, knowing it was thick enough to hold him without so much as cracking from the pressure, “It’s been our secret little place ever since.” He almost whispered the last bit, as if sharing the secret with her. He turned around and winked, swishing his tail to beckon her forth onto the lakes surface. Careful where he stepped, not wanting his paw prints to mare the snowy bits of the surface, he made his way to the center of the lake.
“Danger prone? Share some time.” He called back over his shoulder. He was glad to see that his nest was still in perfect condition as he’d left it yesterday and cheerfully flopped down in it. “C’mon out. The ice won’t break, I promise. It’s always been hit by the freeze really hard.” WoodWhisp insisted, sitting down in his nest and looking at her expectantly.
In all actuality he hadn’t really been paying Calla and mind, he’d been much to preoccupied with a very different female. Though now that Twilight said something her thoughts and words were very prominent in his mind. Oh, she had plans, ones he would rather not know. Shaking his head in an almost violent manner he shoved her thoughts aside again. He had dragged Twilight from her cozy fort all the way out to his middle-of-no-where frozen lake, the least he could do now was to give her his full and devoted attention. Though that wasn’t hard, as he stared across the ice at her it struck him that this was indeed the only female to ever really catch his eye.
“Hey Twilight, odd question but have you ever met anyone?” Even WoodWhisp was slightly shocked by the bold question, though part of him immediately got hopeful that she would say no. That would mean he had a shot, even if she was a White Shadow wolf no one had ever caught his interest like this before.

Calla laughed, completely dropping the innocent girl act. She hadn’t actually thought it would work, Alister was a tricky one, this would certainly require a more charismatic approach.
“All right then. Complete honesty it is.” Calla nodded decisively, as if this had been her plan all along. In all actuality she hadn’t really had a plan other than just showing up, she just hoped it would all fall into place from there. Yes, she was bored, and yes she could admit Alister was attractive, but there was something else about him that had drawn her here.
“The truth is that, buddy you’re a challenge. And I haven’t had a challenge in a good long while, not since the Academy anyway.” Calla spoke evenly, not really thinking about what she was saying until after it had been said. Though as she thought about it she realized it was truth, she liked to be Challenged and Alister was the biggest challenge she’d had to face yet. “I mean, I could always go for Rayan but that would simply be to easy.” Calla sighed nonchalant, leaning back on her hands, ignoring the chill of the snow on her bare skin. Her dark brown eye’s gazed out at Alister in a stern manner, hiding in them not a twinkle of trickery of a smidgen of sarcasm.

Hesitantly Twilight settled one paw on the snow covered ice before another and then another. "I was two when me and Alister had our first run with the patrol and even though we'd managed to cross the bigger lake south of here the first time, our part of the patrol got stuck on the ice on the way back. Needless to say...we didn't realize just how thin the ice was until it was too late. If it had just been two wolves and their riders or even three the ice would've held up...but five wolves and their riders was too much for the ice...and started breaking up." Slowly padding across the ice and toward where WoodWhisp was Twilight kept her gaze down on the ice feeling more than a little paranoid as she continued her trek and story.

"Three of the other riders were close enough to bank to get back up there before the ice broke up too badly but we got stuck in near the middle with the other pair...naturally the ice looked sound enough to hop across and get back to dry land without getting wet much. So that's what we did...or tried to do. The third section of ice we got to broke up almost as soon as we'd landed on it. Getting dumped into a frozen lake isn't something anyone in their right mind plans on doing...and honestly given the choice I wouldn't have done it either...but it was that or get skewered on the ice.

I was a stronger swimmer than that other wolf and bigger...he tried to force his rider off so that if one of them died it would be him and not the human...didn't work..in the end they did die. The water was too cold and he got tired too quickly. As for me...I barely managed to crawl onto shore, got dragged back to the fort, half dead, and half frozen." Sitting down next to WoodWhisp she tilted her head back staring up at the clouds that passed all the while her throat working. This was the first time she'd ever thought of telling anyone about this..it had been a private tragedy reserved just for her and Alister...but now that she thought about it...leaving it between just them had been foolish.

"I almost died...so did Alister...but that was from his own stubbornness. Refused to let the doctors check him over and make sure he wasn't about to freeze to death until he was sure that I was taken care of. Damned foolish of him...I know. But gods I'd never seen him that scared before...or since. If I'd died I know he wouldn't have survived, and it would have been the same for me."

Turning to stare at WoodWhisp she forced herself to focus on his next question and not her personal sorrow before shaking her head. "No...I haven't taken to anyone...in years. Why?"

"So...I'm to be a personal conquest for you then?" The question was a soft one..almost too soft. The usual thread of annoyance was there but there was a sliver of something else...something much much more dangerous. There was a fine line between what kinds of games he played and which he did not...and this fell to the latter side. True he carried out his own conquests...and Twilight would call him a downright hypocrite if she ever found out but, this wasn't about what he did to others who fell for his honeyed words.

But why...why did his blood boil slightly at the thought? Calla was just another woman he'd pass through his life...another minor...amusement that would be tossed away like a rejected child's toy once he grew bored of her. So why, did he feel all too offended?

The answer was an easy one...and he could almost see Twilight's amused gaze as the words flashed through his mind. "You, Alister Shields...are too proud and too easily riled...despite what you think. Pride and ice are never enough to shield anyone." Pride then...pride and possibly a bruised ego.

WoodWhisp shuddered at the story, the thought of never being able to meet this female scared him for some unfathomable reason. He watched her carefully as she spoke, spending too much time with Calla had shown him how to read others a little bit better. At this point it was slightly useful, it was obvious Twilight had never shared this story with anyone, and he was rather touched she chose to tell him.
“I’m sorry to hear you lost a colleague so early on, that’s always very hard on a pack.” WoodWhisp agreed, lowering his head briefly in honor of the unknown wolf and their rider. He remembered the first casualty from his younger days. It hadn’t been an ice flow, it had been in the battle. The rider struck by a stray bullet, the wolf was never seen or heard again. It had been hard for Calla to realize this, she was such an optimistic person it had been hard for her to admit at first, and even WoodWhisp had slowed down at the death of his pack mate. WoodWhisp nuzzled the black females shoulder, conveying his comforts and sympathy.
“I can see why Alister was worried. To lose you would be devastating to anyone.” WoodWhisp agreed, surprised he could at all be sympathizing with that man. And yet here was completely understanding how Alister felt at the concept of losing Twilight. He was crazy, he’d only known her for a few days and he was already mesmerized by her. Just as he sat here, staring at her and wondering what she was thinking, he must be crazy.
“I was, I dunno, just curious I guess.” WoodWhisp pretended to shrug it off but inside he was oddly cheered by this fact. Like it was some really important detail in some plan his subconscious was forming without him. Come to think about it, he had only ever gone with anyone once or twice, and those occasions had never really meant anything to him more than a primal desire. In fact, they had contacted him first. Twilight on the other hand intrigued him.

Calla laughed at his words, almost bitterly.
“Yes Alister. You are a challenge, a conquest as you put it.” Calla agreed, her tone had the same fierce, stern tone as her eyes. She examined Alister closely, making a mental note of his mixed reaction to this realization. “But you’re not entirely just another conquest of mine.” Calla added, but she didn’t bother to elaborate. No, she would let him think what he wanted on that because even she couldn’t answer that question right now. Even she wasn’t really sure why she was here in the end. Instead she distracted herself with analyzing the reactions she’d made note of before. The annoyance that was always there, a flare of mild anger, and something else. A much more subtle hint of what seemed to be indignation she picked up in his eyes, and that’s when the whole plan fell into place in her head. That would be what she would play on, this would end in her favor in the end after all.
“But I guess if you can’t handle me I can always find someone else. Maybe I will hit up Rayan after all.” She said with a sigh, leaking bitter disappointment in her words, “And here I’d believed I’d found someone who could.” She sat up straighter and brushed herself off, moving to get up. Yes, she would play on his ego, on his pride.

Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 8:29 am

A slight twitch of the tail was the only reaction that came from the black wolf as she felt the slight nuzzle on her shoulder. It wasn't to say, she'd turned cold, it was more the fact that she was pushing back the rest of those memories, and the last big battle that had shredded most of White Shadow's pack. A battle that had left her with the scars on her maw. She'd escaped with her life, for which she counted herself lucky. The wolves and riders that had ridden out in their section of the patrol all hadn't been that lucky.

"After that...I don't think Alister would go near that lake even if you bribed him. As for me...Well." She shrugged tapping the ice under her paws with her claws before giving a soft bark of laughter. "I like to tempt fate."

"I thought curiosity was reserved for felines~" Giving a slight ghost of a smile at some private joke Twilight simply let out a soft yawn and stretched. True the memories were depressing but she was determined not to let even those ruin the occasion...The real question was...what occasion was it?Perhaps she was going crazy in her old age, the thought made her snort softly. Old age, heh, she was certainly wiser than she had been six years ago but that didn't mean she felt the weight of those years just yet.

"Dangerous little games you play Calla." Alister's voice retained the low almost whisper like quality it had taken on. Dangerous games normally amused him, but not now. Especially not now. Whatever slivers of mild amusement that had lingered from earlier were gone, leaving a very very clear window to his true nature. There were only so many blows his pride and ego could take before he snapped. As things stood that point was getting closer.

"You, aren't even worth the effort Calla." Straightening he dusted the snow from his violin case and then his clothes before rising and slipping the case strap over his shoulder. Without a word he turned heading back toward the fort, to lick his wounds so to speak and put as much distance between himself and the woman before he carried through with the urge to simply shoot her.

“Hmmmm. Fate.” WoodWhisp whispered the words thoughtfully, “I’ve never put much stock in fate, things happen and one merely has to sink or swim.” WoodWhisp said casually, smiling over at Twilight as she was lost in thought. He could feel something more to her than the words she chose to share with him, but he wouldn’t press. Not now anyway. This would be so much easier on him if he could read her like he could read Calla. Not that reading Calla was much like reading any other woman, considering even she would sometimes mentally refer to herself as a ‘Guy with boobs and PMS’ on occasion. Granted he knew full well this stemmed back to Calla’s first conquest, so far her first and only failure. Though right now Alister seemed to be proving difficult from the snippets of thoughts leaking into his mind. WoodWhisp shook his head slightly to remove his riders thoughts and emotions from his mind and returning his eyes to Twilight.
Even WoodWhisp had to laugh at the joke slash insult the cunning female had just thrown at him. Part of him couldn’t believe someone of his size and ferocity had just been compared to such a small, harmless animal.
“Ah but there is a difference.” WoodWhisp began, dramatically, “You see I haven’t been killed just yet, my dear.” The words were out before he could stop them. WoodWhisp quickly bit his tongue and hoped Twilight wouldn’t catch his little slip of the tongue. Who was he kidding he’d only known the female for barely a day there was no way she could feel like that about him. He had no right to call her that, she was Alister’s and no one else's. And Alister would never even begin to consider accepting WoodWhisp. He had no right to drag her away like this.
WoodWhisp shook his head, slightly more violently this time, what was he thinking! He’d only brought her here to fulfill the promise he’d made the day they had met to show her his lake some time. Yeah, she was certainly pretty and there was just something about her that he couldn’t resist, but come on they were from two very different forts! And had only met just a few days ago at that! There was no chance.

“I don’t play games Alister. I win them.” Calla whispered her voice so low she doubted he even heard her. Though she didn’t particularly mind if he didn’t, she was more talking to herself as she spoke anyway. Her determination redoubled as he spoke again and then turned to walk away. She would never let this end like it had in the Academy, she would not allow another mark of failure on her already long running record. Calla stood and dusted the white sprinkling of snow from her dark red uniform, the spots where it had settled and melted were obvious but she simply ignored them, nothing she could do about it right now anyway.
“So you aren’t the man you lead people on to believe.” Calla said, her voice just loud enough for him to still be able to hear her, “Certainly a bitter disappointment. Ah well I guess I'll have to go to someone better around this place, since I'm already here.” With a sigh Calla turned. She had already made a note of his shortening patience, and had structured the final blow to make it seem as if he were the least of her goals here in White Shadow, and that she had many others she could go to. She was sure Alister’s ego would cause him to turn around at this insult, he seemed to be a very prideful man and there was no doubt that this move was a retreat before she could cause more harm.

"You might not have been killed yet but~ I think you're just as harmless as one." Bouncing to her feet with a playful grin, Twilight stretched before bumping the other wolf lightly. She'd picked up on the slight addition but let it slide as a slip of the tongue. That was all it was...a mere slip of the tongue and nothing more. But what if it was? The thought almost made her hopeful before she quietly and sadly squashed it. There was no way, the other wolf would even entertain such thoughts. True he was an amusing companion but nothing more than that. Heaven's knew she didn't need to get her hopes up. It was never worth it. A hard lesson she'd learned over the years but a lesson nonetheless.

"Unless of course you can prove me wrong?" A playful challenge from the black femme as she shook the snow from her back, tail wagging and swaying behind her. This would be a test to her theory. If WoodWhisp was like most of the males she knew...he'd jump at that invitation to a challenge, after all...that was how the male brain worked...or at least all the males she knew. Like Alister for instance...she could feel the annoyance and near homicidal nature of his thoughts but she calmly pushed them away. When she got back to the fort...she'd deal with picking up the pieces of the poor soul that managed to annoy the man. For now...her gold and green eyes fixed on WoodWhisp..she was going to have her a bit of fun.

There was a slight twitch of his shoulder as he drew to stop, Calla's words running through his head once, and then twice. There was no warning for the next motion as he slipped the pistol from its holster, a turn on the heel before the tree near Calla met a bullet from his gun. A warning shot, a very very clear warning that he was at the end of his patience with the woman. There wasn't a need for words to be honest. The woman had purposely insulted him..over and over so a reaction was only expected. A response like this...was left up for debate of course.

"You might not have been killed yet but~ I think you're just as harmless as one." Bouncing to her feet with a playful grin, Twilight stretched before bumping the other wolf lightly. She'd picked up on the slight addition but let it slide as a slip of the tongue. That was all it was...a mere slip of the tongue and nothing more. But what if it was? The thought almost made her hopeful before she quietly and sadly squashed it. There was no way, the other wolf would even entertain such thoughts. True he was an amusing companion but nothing more than that. Heaven's knew she didn't need to get her hopes up. It was never worth it. A hard lesson she'd learned over the years but a lesson nonetheless.

"Unless of course you can prove me wrong?" A playful challenge from the black femme as she shook the snow from her back, tail wagging and swaying behind her. This would be a test to her theory. If WoodWhisp was like most of the males she knew...he'd jump at that invitation to a challenge, after all...that was how the male brain worked...or at least all the males she knew. Like Alister for instance...she could feel the annoyance and near homicidal nature of his thoughts but she calmly pushed them away. When she got back to the fort...she'd deal with picking up the pieces of the poor soul that managed to annoy the man. For now...her gold and green eyes fixed on WoodWhisp..she was going to have her a bit of fun.

There was a slight twitch of his shoulder as he drew to stop, Calla's words running through his head once, and then twice. There was no warning for the next motion as he slipped the pistol from its holster, a turn on the heel before the tree near Calla met a bullet from his gun. A warning shot, a very very clear warning that he was at the end of his patience with the woman. There wasn't a need for words to be honest. The woman had purposely insulted him..over and over so a reaction was only expected. A response like this...was left up for debate of course.

WoodWhisp bumped her back, his shoulder twitching at the contact, but WoodWhisp quickly shot down the hopeful thoughts running through his mind. No, he didn’t want to scare her away; he didn’t want to make her hate him. That would completely ruin his chances after all. Instead he forced his eyes away from her, turning his attention to the glittering ice crystals beneath his paws. He didn’t know how much long he could go without saying something stupid and driving her away, he really didn’t want to do that. Lost in his meandering thoughts he barely heard the playful insult Twilight threw at him, busy trying to figure out he could get out of this situation before he humiliated himself. He managed to bring himself back in time to hear the challenge though.
“For a beautiful femme like yourself Twilight? Anything.” WoodWhisp said, the words coming out before he really had a chance to think of what he was saying. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. There went his pride, he could feel it slipping away from him, mocking him as it went. He could feel the impending humiliation, the most likely anger that she would unleash upon him. There went his chances of ever being close to her, learning more about her, laughing as it went. WoodWhisp immediately looked away, as if something in the trees on the other side of the lake had caught his attention, “Err, I mean…” If a wolf could blush he'd be as red as a tomato and he knew it. But he couldn’t think of a way to take back what he had said without flat out lying, and he could never lie to Twilight.

Calla laughed as the bullet struck the tree beside her. Oh yes, the cards were beginning to play in her favor indeed. Barely a second had passed before she had her own two pistols out, pointed evenly at Alister. Calla was more proud of her pistols then she was of anything else in her possession, other than WoodWhisp. Though technically she didn’t own the wolf. They were both recently cleaned and always fully loaded. The one in her right hand had a sun and moon etched into it and was obviously newer than the other, Simile had been good to her but she hadn’t had him as long as her other. The one in her left hand was clean and shinning, though obviously more worn and used. Etched into it was a rose and a feather, Metaphor was her reliable companion.
“So it’s a firefight you want boy?” She said, her tone was mocking, goading his damaged ego further, “Then let’s dance.” Along with her words she squeezed the trigger of each gun, the bullets whizzing past on either side of Alister’s head, a warning shot of her own. Her baby’s weren’t just for show, though she had paid a lot to have them engraved.

The threads of amused playfulnes that had danced through her slipped for a moment as she stared at the other wolf confusion lancing through her mismatched eyes. Had he just...? The question lingered in her mind as she stood there with nothing better to do than stare. No, her ears had to be deceiving her...right? Dipping her muzzle slighty, her ears pricked forward catching the attempt by WoodWhisp to try and take back what he'd said. The moment her brain fully processed the information though her ears drooped, maybe this had been a bad idea after all. Maybe if she'd stayed back at the fort and dealt with Alister and his moodswings she wouldn't be standing here on the edge of a chasm that could very well shatter her completely.

There was irritation, a steady seething irritation that was quickly turning into a biting sort of anger. Though he bit back most of the urge to pull the trigger again shoot the woman in her leg or shoulder, at least then he wouldn't be staring down the shafts of two guns. There was no helping the irritation, but he'd be damned if he got shot. "Don't start something you can't finish." Keeping his voice low, he gave a slightly lazy, almost feline roll of his shoulders as he began to circle slowly. Did he doubt that she would shoot him given the incentive? No he didn't but that didn't mean he wouldn't retaliate.

WoodWhisp felt a ping of pain as Twilight’s ears drooped, and he hated himself for causing that. WoodWhisp stuck his nose in the snow sadly, what had he gone and done? Of course she didn’t feel like that about him? How could he even say that! Now he’d gone and caused her distress, what kind of male was he!
“Oh Twilight! Now look what I’ve gone and done!” He said, orange eye’s looking up at her sadly, that last mild shred of hope that she might like him dissolved, “I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. It was far to bold of me.” He said, shaking his head, despite his best efforts a slight taint of bitterness entered his voice. “But I just can’t lie to you Twilight.” He added on quietly, realizing again that this was far to bold of a statement. Twilight would probably storm away from him in anger or fear, she would hate him for this. She was probably regretting even coming with him now that he had made such a thoughtless comment! Why couldn’t he ever keep his emotions in check! They were from completely different forts, they had barely known each other, what had he been thinking!
He hadn’t, that was the problem. He’d let his emotions rule over his logic and look at where it had gotten him. The only femme he had ever really liked now probably hated him and regretted even meeting him! Oh gods he hoped Calla would never find out about this, she would mock him mercilessly for being shot down by his own stupidity.

Calla kept her guns pointed squarely at Alister, turning easily in place as he moved around her.
“You should take your own advice Alister. You may have started this but I really don’t want to finish it.” Calla said evenly, her tone giving away nothing, her eyes staring directly into Alister’s, giving nothing away as to her next move. True Centipedes weren’t as smart as humans, but Alister was enraged at this point, it wouldn’t be a hard fight if that’s what it came to. Though her chances might increase if it did come to a fight she really didn’t want to have to actually harm the man, it was never as much fun with the injured. And the way Alister was moving, it would be very much fun indeed, all she had to do was to play her cards right from here and everything would end in her favor.
“Ali, Ali, Ali. Turning a loaded weapon on an innocent woman isn’t very nice. I mean it’s hardly my fault you can’t act as big as you talk.” She said nonchalant, disappointment carefully nestled into her tone.

Shaking her head rapidly the black female gave a brief distressed cry slipping to the ground and slipping her paws over her muzzle. No, no, no. This couldn't be happening, she was hearing one thing but her mind was telling her something completely different. Flee little wolf...run away and hide with your human, you're useless anyway. A distant memory, a memory she'd rather keep buried, just like the wolf that had taunted her with the words. Dead, buried and gone not plaguing her like this.

Whimpering, she shook her head before dragging herself to her feet eyes downcast. "I-it's not you..." Swallowing she began to back away slowly, tail down. "I-I just need to...to go.." Shaking she stumbled backward heading back toward the shore intent on fleeing and heading back to the fort to hide. No...not the fort, at least not where Alister could find her. He was annoyed enough as it was from what she could sense. Somewhere else then, somewhere no one would find her at least not until she wanted them to.

"An innocent woman? I'm pretty sure I'm not looking at one." Eyes narrowing there was a dangerous cast to his voice and gaze as he settled himself in front of Calla "I don't suppose there's anyone left in New Eve that would even dream of dealing with you is there? Demanding, insulting and still expecting one to bend to your will...all for a romp. If it weren't for something I did I might actually be tempted to shoot you, or rather more tempted." Annoyed but not stupid.

WoodWhisp’s calm exterior collapsed around him as Twilight said she should leave.
“Twilight! Please no, please don’t go just yet!” He pleaded hopelessness and humiliation much more evident in his voice now, “I can keep myself in check, I promise!” He said quietly, his head low as he looked pleading up at Twilight. Damn it why was he so stupid! Why had he said that! Now he really had let her slip away. He had gone and scared her off already without having a chance to say anything more than Hi! A soft whimper escaped his throat as he forced himself to bring his head up and look Twilight in the eye.
“I can’t let us part like this Twilight. You probably hate me now.” WoodWhisp said, shaking his head, “Of course you wouldn’t feel like that, I don’t know what I was thinking.” He said, angry and irritated at himself now for driving her away like this, “Stupid, Stupid, Stupid!” He hissed at himself, knocking his nose against the ice with each word. He couldn’t believe he’d already gone and driven off the only femme to ever truly catch his attention! What had gotten in to him! Why had he said something as stupid and foolish and overly bold as that!
‘Because you barely know her and you already love her.’ One of the voices whispered in the back of his head, pointing out the obvious. WoodWhisp hissed at it mentally before turning back to Twilight.
“Please.” A half whispered, half whimpered final plead for her to stay.

“To be honest with you Alister,” Calla said, refusing to fall into his trap like that, “No one I haven’t grown bored with.” She said with a sigh, “And no one quite as…attractive as you, for lack of a better name for it.” She added, her gaze never moving from his eyes. Ah ha, this was certainly an entertaining challenge. It was much easier to keep an even gaze on him when he had stopped moving, much easier to keep her voice even when she wasn’t moving. Oh how much effort it was taking to try and keep from bursting out laughing. In Calla’s eyes this whole show-down wasn’t just about her own fun anymore, it was a game. And when it came to games Calla got very, very competitive, she was going to go to any lengths to end this nice little show down, no matter what cards she would have to play. Flattery, Anger, Jealousy, every card was in her deck, just waiting for the right moment to strike the killing blow.

Another step backward and she swallowed something in her felt like it was breaking...steadily falling to pieces but then...something else felt like the pieces were slidding together, fragile and shaky but whole. The whole thing made her feel helpless, so very helpless... But his words...they made her stop in her retreat for few moments. He was pleading with her..pleading with her to stay but even so...she wanted to trust him...she really did, something in her was stopping her though, stopping her from trusting someone other than her generally demented rider.

"I don't...I don't hate you." Voice soft, ears still drooping the black wolf let out a shuddering breath and shook her head. "I...don't think I could ever hate you to be honest..." a risky statement but a true one. She didn't know if she had the heart to hate the male unless he managed to do something that truely pissed her off. Even then, she didn't think she'd be able to hate him.

A bitter chuckle that soon blossomed into a humorless little laugh. This was all a game, a dangerous dangerous little game that they would both tire of quickly. Another conquest for Calla and a brief amount of amusement for him and all things considered it would no doubt turn out to be a dull little game that he'd regretting going through with in the long run. "Don't play with me Calla...and most of all don't even try to flatter me...it won't get you anywhere." A petty dangerous little game that wouldn't benefit either of them.

WoodWhisp froze in his angry tirade against himself as he heard Twilights quiet, whispered words.
“Y-you don’t hate me?” He asked, his ears pricking up at this thought, after what he had said, after what he had implied, after he had terrified her like that! And she didn’t hate him! WoodWhisp moved to nuzzle her, but stopped himself. No, he didn’t want to startle her any further than he already had, and a movement like that would probably scare her away for good. That was the last thing he wanted. After all! She didn’t hate him! She didn’t hate him and he still had a chance! Instead he settled for smiling at her gently, orange eyes locking with her amber and green ones. And something inside him slipped out of his control.
“I’m so glad you don’t hate me Twilight. And I must say you are very beautiful, no one could deny that.” He said, his tone still soft and gentle, though his façade had shattered and he still felt exposed. What are you doing you idiot! You’re going to scare her away again! Get control of yourself.
But WoodWhisp couldn’t stop himself, the words came out of his mouth before he had a chance to stop them, something in the beautiful female’s eyes had made him lose all control over his mouth it seemed. “I love…” NO! NO YOU’LL RUIN IT! YOU’LL SCARE HER AWAY! He screamed in his head, but he couldn’t stop himself his mouth seemed to have developed a mind of its own suddenly. “I mean, I think I love you Twilight.”
YOU WORTHLESS RETARD! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING! HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT!
Because I can’t lie to her.
YOU’RE GOING TO SCARE HER AWAY!
I can’t lie to her; I can’t hide things from her.
IS THAT WORTH LOSING HER!
Maybe….maybe she’ll understand…
WoodWhisp battled with himself mentally, switching between defending himself and yelling at himself for screwing this up.
What had he done?
Why hadn’t he been able to keep himself under control as he had promised her?

Calla snorted as he laughed still calm and steady.
“It’s not flattery Alister. Flattery is lying and I don’t lie.” Calla said evenly. It was true, Calla had a hard time lying to people, though it was only part true that she considered Flattery to lying. In all it really depended on what was being complimented and she hadn’t been lying to Alister. “I simply chose that word because I cannot think of the word that explains what about you has brought me here.” She explained, still keeping her brown eyes evenly trained on his. Her guns didn’t move at all, she would keep herself well defended until she was sure that he had been properly disarmed. After all, once a man had been disarmed once it was much, much easier to do so again in the future. It was only the first little game that was the most difficult to win. And especially with Alister, this was turning into quite the competition. Vaguely Calla wondered how long it would take for the gunshots to attract the attention of someone, then realized that was very unlikely. This was a WolfRider’s fort and gunshots were most likely very normal.

A quiet shake of the head as the black female gave a slight, hesitant smile and her tail swayed with the faint hints of a wag. "How can I hate you...when you're so nice to me even though we just met?" Just met in a fairly true sense considering they'd barely known each other for more than a few days. The streaks of happiness that the topic had begun to shift slightly were gone at the male's next words to which she merely gave a bitter laugh lifting her head to stare at WoodWhisp.

"Don't say things you don't mean after all...how can you love someone you barely know?" Bitter words, spoken softly, far too softly for even the femme when she was in this state. "You could have any wolf you want...you don't need some...thing...like me." Stepping lightly she began to pace a short circuit in the snow. "A dark little thing like me...last to bond, first to have a brush with death...eternal stuck with White Shadow's possibly most hated rider. Oh no...you don't need someone like me at all." The words were flowing unchecked and uncaring even as a small little voice told her that WoodWhisp didn't deserve this that he was faultless.

Oh no...her dual colored gaze darkened as she swung around. There was no such thing as a faultless creature. No one was faultless, human or wolf, but that didn't matter did it? No...only the level of the fault mattered. And her's seemed to be of the highest order. The only streak of darkness among the light, the only one who had been willing to even spare Alister more than a passing glance. Darkness called to darkness...always had and always would.

"The basis of lying and flattery are two completely different things but they're the same if one cares to think hard enough about it." Keeping his back to the wall, he let out a breath seeing it rise before him in a cloud of vapor. How many people had he lured into little games such as this one? A few honeyed words, a slight allowance for misplaced trust and weeks, days or even hours later when his amusement waned a few well aimed warning shots ended that game. It was always the same and even now he knew better than to even think it'd get old. Humans were trusting things, emotional things which was why he'd removed himself from that altogether, kept his emotions in check and never trusted anymore besides his wolf. All for the amusement of a little game, and all for the amusement of seeing others flee at the realization that he truly was as heartless as everyone thought. "There's no need to find a word to describe anything. You needed a romp and a source of amusement as well as a challenge and you came back to add me to your list of amusements. Its as simple as that."

WoodWhisp’s smiled warmly as Twilight seemed to cheer up. But all of that promptly changed as her harsh words began. WoodWhisp’s felt horribly, he had angered her, he had caused her to remember things she had not wished too. He had brought her grief, confusion, anger, all in the brief course of their meeting here. What had he been thinking? He should never had suggested this! He was a horrible male and a horrible wolf!
“Twilight! Twilight please don’t speak of yourself like that!” He whispered, his body was close to the ground, his tail hung low and limp, his orange eye’s looked up at Twilight pleadingly. “Twilight I say exactly what I mean. I love you.” He whispered, so long as the words were already out there he might as well stand by them. Should he try to take that back it would obviously be lying, and he couldn’t lie to her. “None of that, none of it means anything to me.” His tone was firm as he said this, “I myself was the last to bond, stumbling out of the cave only after my mother came back in when she noticed I was missing.” WoodWhisp argued determinedly, “Calla isn’t exactly loved, the way she shoots at her packmates and bosses people about. In my ten years I’ve been demoted to Omega more times than I can count.” Another point down, determined to counteract her he continued. “Twilight these kinds of things happen to everyone. The point is I want to be there for them. I want to protect you from them the best I can. It’s not that I don’t need you Twilight, It’s that I need no one but you.” WoodWhisp finished, forcing himself to look Twilight in the eye as warmly, as gently as he could.
This was his vow, should Twilight deny him this he knew there would be no female after him to sooth the wound. Twilight would be the last attempt he would ever make, the only attempt he had ever truly been compelled to make.

“Believe what you want Alister. The point is I’m here versus anywhere else.” Calla said with a minor shrug. It was true, she could be on patrol right now, or practicing hand to hand combat. Or even setting aside some time to head into The City, visit a bookstore. That was one of the things she missed greatly about her Academy days, being able to read so much. Aside from Him she had been the quiet girl in the back of the class, nose in a book and very rarely actually paying attention. She was the one who was always caught with a book inside of another. Avoiding homework and losing herself in a fantasy world. She had often spent time fantasizing about her past. But that had changed when she turned eighteen. When He had shot her down. She gave up on the past, gave up on fairytale romances and Happily Ever After. The future was all that mattered; she threw herself into her apprenticeship and forgot everything. She would toy with men, but never anything more than that.
“Look Ali, you get to unleash some stress, I get some amusement. Everybody wins.” Calla said with an almost seductive tone, “Now how about we stop this silly charade?”

A soft snort as the female turned retracing her steps in the snow, a faint track already being driven into the packed snow. Anger and fear rode her at once prickling and poking her with needles until the only thing she could think to do was pace and rage. Pace and rage...pace and rage and try not to lash out at the lighter male.

"Protect me...Dare I ask...can you protect me from yourself or myself for that matter?" Looking at the pleading male she slowed before stopping tail down. There was an uneasy cast to her stance, one that left her swaying in the gentle breeze that danced across the lake. Could anyone protect her from herself? No...she was sure of that much.

There was no humor in the smile that crossed his face as he lowered the gun ever so slightly. There would be no escape from this fate, his attempt at solitude had been ruined and any further attempts would be ruined at least for the day...which left him with one final option considering he wasn't going to shoot the woman no matter how much it tempted him. Take her up on the offer and be done with it.

The offer seemed to be a fair enough trade really, granted he'd already sacrificed a chance at escape which meant he didn't have that much of a choice but to give in now and remain uninjured. "Fine then. After this I do hope I'll be allowed to have my solitude..." A final roll of his shoulders as he slid the pistol back into its holster still keeping an eye on Calla and most importantly those guns. True he'd been shot several times before...but that didn't mean he wanted to get shot right now. A trip to the medic's quarters was not on his list of things to do for the day.

WoodWhisp knew this would get him killed, knew it would anger her even more, but he didn’t know what else to do. WoodWhisp moved forward from his nest. Slowly inching closer to her, keeping the fear of her wrath, of her rejection, out of his expression and out of his tone. Quickly he stood in front of her, doing everything within his power to keep his breathing even, to keep her scent from distracting him. Gently he laid his head on her shoulder and whispered;
“I can try Twilight.” It took every bit of his self restraint not to inhale as deeply as he could, realizing this could easily be the last time he would ever get to be this close to her, “I can do everything within and beyond my power to try. I promise you this.” His voice was beginning to shake slightly as he spoke, but still he forced out his fear. He would not let her see how scared he was that she would hate him for this. He was less worried about his own physical well being than he was about causing her more grief and pain than he already had. He knew this would be his only chance, but he didn’t want to push her, he could only promise her. Anything, everything, he would do his best.

Calla sensed his resignation before she saw it, before she heard it. With a shout of triumph in her mind she slid the guns back into their proper homes. She was already crossing the space between them. She had known she would win, the minute he turned down her offered escape she had won. It had all been a matter of time and patience before he realized it was hopeless. She had even been willing to release him free of damage and he had refused, again after wounding his pride, he had refused. The battle was hers and with a smile she slid her arm around her new toy, despite the difference in height.
“See now Ali, was that really so hard?” She whispered, her voice having lost all the mocking sarcasm it had held only moments before, reverting back to her more normal tone. Which in all actuality wasn’t that different, but she liked to think it was anyway. “Now Ali, since I don’t spend much time around here I’m afraid I don’t know the way. Why don’t you lead?” Though her voice was soft and sweet it was not a question, it wasn’t even a suggestion, it was a command.

Twilight's lithe form tensed and to even the unknowing passerby it was clear the female was set to bolt. The anger was still there, but it was quickly being strangled by fear. A slightly mind numbing fear that had her shaking well after WoodWhisp had finished speaking. A final plea...a pledge...a vow. The depth of it all shook her to the core and it was all she could do to stop herself from sinking to the snow covered ice. How could she have been so oblivious? So...stupid? The fine trembling was taking on a fever pitch, and she whimpered words failing her now. Why hadn't she seen it before it had gotten this far?

There was a slight twitch of annoyance and briefly he seriously contemplated taking his gun and shooting the woman, if only for the brief relief he would have from not having to deal with her attached to him like this. "Why yes it was..and I'd appreciate it if you didn't call me that." Or touch me for that matter. he added mentally not at all liking the look of the situation. Maybe he should have taken that trip to the medic...at least it wouldn't involve him being in such a position as this.

A soft snort was his only reply to the 'request' as he shrugged her arm off and started off into the fort. He was really beginning to regret this course of action already.

WoodWhisp breathed as shallow as he could, patiently waiting. He didn’t move, he barely breathed, but inside him his heart was roaring quick with adrenaline. He did everything he could to keep steady but still he shook slightly. Mentally he pleaded, begged, and whimpered for her to accept, for her take his promise. But he prevented himself from saying a word. No, it was obvious she was trying to think, and he would not interrupt her. He had caused her grief enough already, he would not also push upon her a choice she didn’t want to make. He would wait patiently, head rested lightly on her shoulders, for her decision, for her words. Working with Calla had given him patience, and it took every one of those ten years now not to do something rash, not to act on impulse. That was what had gotten him into this situation, the decision to go to White Shadow, to bring her here, to speak those words. Finally he couldn’t keep quiet anymore;
“Twilight.” The name was barely a whisper, a warm, gentle tone, an attempt to comfort her, to quiet her confused, fearful whimpering. As he had said, he would do everything within and beyond his power to protect her.

Calla didn’t respond at first, sensing his regret. She would just have to change that was all. She was unaffected as he removed her arm and set out. Calla moved quickly, easily keeping pace with him despite her shorter stature. Arms stretched behind her head Calla kept on eye on where she was going and the other on Alister beside her. Why had she come here? She still had that one guy from New Eve, but as of today that was indeed over. There was nothing memorable about him anyway, at least Alister was more of a challenge, and she could tell already that every time after would be almost as difficult and entertaining as today had been. But he would give in, he already had. He had turned away her escape opportunity and was now her new Toy by his own choice. So it was a bit of a trip to get here, it would be entertaining none-the-less.
“I’m not THAT bad.” Calla said after a few moments of considering him. Yes, it would be worth it. She would make it worth it.

"I'm sorry... The words came out as a soft sobbing whisper and Twilight lowered her head, her tail tugging neatly between her legs. What a fool she'd been, a self absorbed, selfish little fool! She should have seen it from before, should have realized something was amiss before she let herself sink into that dark little hole. The wolf that had tainted her thoughts with such lies was long dead, there was no trace of him to be found. Gone, dead, he held no sway over her anymore. Yet even with all that knowledge she'd still fallen into the trap, still let herself sink into despair. "I'm sorry...for snapping at you..." Voice barely above a whisper she couldn't bear to look into the male's eyes. Not after she'd almost ripping him apart because of her own insecurities.

Alister's resignation to his fate had been one born of pure weariness, though right now as he turned the situation over in his head there was nothing but a mixture of brief annoyance, regret and something else. That something else was what was puzzling him, considering he usually knew his own mind well enough, even with the constant intrusions from Twilight. Maybe it was the absence of the wolf's usual prodding that was puzzling him or maybe it was the simple realization that he really hadn't amused himself with anyone in quite a while. A situation which would be remedied quite soon. Fishing the keys for his room out of his pocket he opened the door sparing the woman a brief huff.

"Says you." was his only comment before he took a step back to allow Calla to enter. A brief amusement, nothing more, nothing less.

RainbowMagicMarker
Vice Captain

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RainbowMagicMarker
Vice Captain

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Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 8:30 am