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 Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2010 1:59 pm
 It was midnight again and the pup rolled in a half-sleep, eyes tightened. His dream self grappled with some sort of force that continued to mire his paws like quicksand, inky black and with the consistency of mud that slid like liquid darkness between his toes, that bubbled and frothed and then silently roared in his ears. He reached out his paws, flailing in the darkness and with a racing heart that threatened to break his ribcage in its haste to flee from him. Try as he might, he could not issue so much as a yelp, like his voice had already taken off, and his eyes were pried at by black claws eager to gouge them out. Mother! Father! Someone! He could barely breath, and he thought he could hear above that soundless roar a mirthless laugh, echoing through the void in many volumes that hurt his sensitive ears, rising and falling like waves that tossed him about farther and closer, above and below, side to side, deeper and deeper until the air was forced from him, yet his heart continue to beat louder and louder until he heard a crack -
Neptune sat up with a start at the sound, panting heavily as if he had been running many leagues. A twig had broken beneath his weight. A twig. Just a little twig . . . As the puppy gathered his breath again, he looked about himself as if waiting for that living abyss to grab him once more, teal eyes bright with anxiety he rarely showed to anyone; no blackness was there, just ghostly silver paws that were attached to trembling limbs. Neptune took a deep breath and decided it was best to clear his head first before attempting sleep. Thus he crawled around his parents and siblings as quietly as he could, slipping into the open night until he reached the top of a nearby hill.
The sky wasn't clear like he wanted it to be. Soft clouds were streaked across the sky like some ungodly, ethereal beast had scared the beautiful dark night. He scanned the skies for the moon and found it hidden behind these far-away wounds, a crescent of white light dimmed by gray blood.
He wanted to run to Bryna and just bury himself, but no . . . no, they couldn't know about his nightmares. It was weakness. Bad enough he was colorblind; if he told Mom his sleep was engulfed sometimes by darkness, he'd cause worry - or maybe she'd just tell him to suck it up, Neptune didn't know. Either way, he didn't want to stir anything up just because of a stupid dream. A stupid, scary dream . . .
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Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2010 7:03 pm
 Night was one of those rare times that Athena got to look at the world from a whole new perspective. Not only did the things around the dens change, but even the wolves and other animals changed their behaviors in the twilight. She had taken care to sneak out of the den without waking either her parents or her siblings and now found herself in the cool night air. It was refreshing and exhilarating. A part of her wanted to yelp for joy but she grounded herself, this was a time of studying and learning, not playing puppish games. Besides making too much noise would alert the adults to her whereabouts and would put a damper on this new learning experience.
As she ventured a bit further from the dens she caught site of another off in the distance on top of a hill. The wolf was small much like herself. Another pup out this late at night? Athena just had to investigate this. So padding forward she closed the distance between herself and the other pup, though she stayed a bit back if only to observe him. He looked - well she wasn't exactly sure what he looked like, perhaps sad, maybe a bit uneasy. Tilting her head to the side she tried to determine just why he was out here on his own.
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Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2010 8:20 pm
"Just a dream . . . just a dream . . . just a dream," he told himself, taking another deep breath. Shake it off! The problem was that it was just a tad more vivid than usual, a little too real to be called a dream in his tastes. This was his pack's land, right? Why didn't it bring him solace to be near the trees and woodlands like the others? Here, the rustles of the wind through the leaves was not a sound he liked, but rather the kind that gave him small chills. No, the only sort of whispers he seemed to find soothing were by the water, the murmuring brook telling him its secrets . . .
Movement! Neptune's eyes darted upon the lone figure, small but drawing near. The pup paused a safe distance away, seeming to observe him; he observed right back, stiff as stone. How was he going to explain this? Hopefully the other litter wasn't full of nosy tree-huggers. "H-Hello," he greeted, then cleared his throat to try for a stronger entrance. "Hello. Just watching the moon." Or lack thereof. Neptune found his features smoothing into a nonchalant expression without effort, something he had been trying to practice ironically."You?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2010 5:58 pm
When the other took notice of her Athena padded forward moving closer to the other pup. He was quite intriguing to her. The way he seemed to act, perhaps trying to be older than he was - or was it trying to hide something, she couldn't tell quite yet, but she would in time. Either way he would certainly provide her with good information whether he knew it or not.
Glancing up at the moon Athena lowered herself down on her haunches not far from the pup. It was interesting enough to look at, but Athena was more interesting in learning about other wolves than about the moon right now. "You always come out to watch the moon?" She asked curiously, then proceeded to answer his question. "I am...studying." It wasn't the clearest of answers but it made sense to her.
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Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2010 6:08 pm
"Studying?" He pondered over the connotations of the word, but there were still fuzzy parts to his head that didn't offer him much. Studying what? Not the sky apparently, no, she was looking more at him than anything else. From what little Neptune had seen of this litter, she was the particularly observant one who liked to stick close to the forests, though this probably could have been a trait shared by all three. "Always, no. Sometimes. When I feel like." The pup gave succinct answers, not liking to be some thing to be examined, like a problem that could be solved (why was that the first to pop into his head?) or a plant to be identified and classified.
"Not a very good night tonight. Too many clouds. Too little moon. You study what?" Neptune asked, trying to direct the subject matter away from him being the center.
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Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2010 6:26 pm
Glancing up at the moon once more Athena took in the silver sliver and the clouds that dotted the midnight sky. Well it certainly wasn't the best night to look at the moon, but it didn't mean that one couldn't enjoy what little was there. "Seeing the moon on a night like this can make you appreciate it more on clear nights when all the moon is there." She said as her gaze returned to the darker pup.
"I study what I see." She explained and after a short pause decided to expand on that just a bit more. "Other wolves, creatures in the forest, the trees, even the moon. I study everything." Though honestly right now her focus was on learning more about this pup, sure he said he was moon watching but why would a pup come out to watch the moon when he could be curled up in a nice warm den with his siblings and parents right now. There was much more to this that he was telling her and Athena would do her best to figure that out.
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Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2010 6:47 pm
Huh, so she just liked to stare at everything and learn. Guess that was one way to go about things. Neptune wasn't as critical an observer due to his colorblindness, relying more on scents and sounds than anything else, neither of which could help him in this conversation yet. Wolves just didn't spend time sniffing each other for social visits after all, or put their ears to each other's hearts. Though maybe if he paid attention to tone more . . . She seemed to be the type to like explaining things? He could try appeasing that. "Must be interesting what you see," Neptune commented thoughtfully. "Me, it's not as good to see the moon like this; no point. S'all or nothing. What d'you see now?" he asked her, blinking. "Night is different then day."
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Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 8:56 am
Athena let her head nod slowly. "Most is interesting." She agreed, and deep down she knew that even things that did not seem interesting would one day help her somehow. That was why she studied just about everything her eyes fell upon, so that she would know as much about it as she could. At his question Athena took a deep breath, she wasn't as good as describing what she saw or studied than she was sitting there and observing it, but she would give it a shot.
"Night changes everything. Everyone acts differently, some seem to adapt better than others. Some who are not out in the day can only be seen and studied at night." Her eyes moved to the trees, where owls were often spotted after dark, but she didn't see any right now. "I haven't watched the night enough to know very much." She admitted somewhat shyly, Athena hated to admit when she didn't know about something.
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Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 2:45 pm
Neptune nodded slightly as she spoke, having seen for himself how night seemed to change behaviors. For instance, he was not quite this willing to chat in the day for some reason, but catch him at night and, though reserved still, he'd allow for conversation without feeling judged for some reason. Night had this odd effect on him, like it had given him something to hide behind: darkness that acted like a blanket and swaddled him and his opinions without voicing opinion, that under its cover he could reveal things and not feel as if his words were wasted. More energy was needed to see and understand at night for individuals who normally slept and would be forced to expend their tired bodies to work as the sun waned, whereas he, well, he was up all night sometimes and rarely seen in the day if that were so.
But these were erratic and straying thoughts, certainly not ones that even Neptune would uncover for a girl he had only just met. Though he saw no need to be stiff in conversation as he normally might be, nor as lock-jawed. "Mmm . . . Mom says some of us are 'nocturnal'," the pup offered, "sleeping in the day and coming out at night when most of us dream. Sometimes I can't sleep, so I come out and just watch the skies." Only because going to the river was too far from the den . . . "I think the moon is what does it. Are you going to watch night things now? I could help if you are." It wasn't as if he was eager to get back to sleep.
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Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 6:21 pm
Athena considered the other pups words carefully. So he sometimes came out to watch the night, that was interesting, not all of the pups in the pack would do such a thing. Some preferred to stay in the dens where they were safe and warm, but this one didn't seem frightened by the darkness. Perhaps his knowledge of things in the night could help her, as she was always craving to know more about everything.
Then it occurred to her that she hadn't yet told this pup her name, nor had she been given his. Time to fix that then move on to the task at hand - learning about the night. "I'm Athena by the way. What's your name?" Though she was certain that one of her parents had told her the names of the other pups within the pack for the life of her she just couldn't remember this ones name. "You would teach me about night things?" She asked somewhat eagerly. As much as Athena wanted to know about the night she had to admit that she also needed her sleep as well.
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Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 3:43 pm
"It's Neptune. Teach? Er, no . . . I don't know enough yet at least," he replied, blinking. "Too many things at night going on to know well. Many sounds, many things moving. I can't know them all yet." Yet there sat this so intent Athena, looking so willingly at him for this information . . . He docked his ears and murmured a quick apology under his breath, then continued as if that hadn't happened. "But yeah, I can observe with you. At least till I feel tired, which I don't think'll be for a while. Maybe bird watching?" the pup suggested. "I hear owls are pretty nocturnal, and that they're really quiet flyers. M'not sure if they eat pups, though . . . I know they catch rats and things like that."
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Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 10:49 am
Neptune, ah yes why couldn't she remember that name. Her parents had definitely mentioned his name before as well as his siblings name, but the excitement of learning new things must have affected her memory for that moment. Though she certainly perked up when he agreed to share what little knowledge of the night he did have. Athena listened to his words carefully. Owls sounded pretty interesting, if only she could speak with one, surely they would know lots about the night and how it changes things.
"Have you seen an owl?" She asked curiously, surely if he came out at night quite often he had to at least seen one. "They would have to be pretty big to eat pups I would think." While she wasn't the largest pup in the pack she certainly couldn't imagine seeing a bird large enough to carry her or another pup away. "I should like to see an owl."
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Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 3:02 pm
He shook his head, though Neptune did wish he could see one. They were miraculously quiet creatures, hardly ever seen unless they deigned to stay in place long enough to give a hoot or two - enough to know that there indeed was a predator on the prowl, which was sometimes worse than not knowing at all; worse still that it had the gift of silent flight and could merely swoop in at the perfect opportunity and then silence you forever. "Assuming they eat pups at all," he murmured, accidentally continuing the thought process aloud rather than in his head. Then the pup blinked. "Oh. Er. See one, right? We could go look for one, but I bet they'll be very hard to find. Maybe they have feathers that help them blend into the night. Maybe they steal the stars and force them into their wings so that even on bright nights you can't just look up into the sky and see them.
"Not tonight, though. Still too many clouds. Maybe they don't hunt then since they can't hide as well," Neptune pondered. "Maybe they're more vulnerable. But they can still fly, so if we go looking for them we need to be careful."
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Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 11:17 am
Athena's tail wagged a bit at the prospect of looking for one of these elusive owls. "Best keep our eyes open then." She said as she stretched out her muscles and looked at him in that eager let's go fashion. Turning she began to pad off slowly, glancing over her shoulder to make sure that he was going to follow. The idea of finding this night creature that possibly ate puppies and stole stars form the sky to blend into the night sky was quite exciting. "I wonder if they would go to the water to drink at night." She stated as a half question. Surely owls needed to drink like any other creature did so perhaps the best place to find one would be near water.
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Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 3:18 pm
Neptune mused over this, though his heart leapt at the idea of going to the water, owl or no owl. The cooling sensations of water flowing past his paws was always a catharsis; why, he hadn't a clue. It was just his thing, just like Athena's group liked trees (or so he assumed from her dad) and one of his brothers loved storms. Just things. Unfortunately one of the other things had to be nightmares - and just his luck, he bet no-one else suffered from them as much as he did.
"Unique doesn't always mean better," he mumbled under his breath darkly as he followed Athena. In a louder, less bitter voice he added, "I know where the river is closest; let's check there." Neptune sped up a little to get to the front, turning them a little until they passed by certain trees he had marked with several distinct scratches - like an x with a line diving it nearly perfectly down the middle. Neptune wasn't good with directions and could easily get himself lost in the forest at this age, so he always looked for these markers when heading to the river for some alone time.
Sure enough the sounds of a babbling brook reached them, and unconsciously the blue pup's gait hastened towards it, not minding that he stumbled a little; and normally such lack of grace would be cause for internal chides from the ever critical Neptune! But tonight he was easier on himself, and he quietly waded into the shallow end of the water, the warm air and cold current an enjoyale contrast. Remembering the reason they had left at all, Neptune began to try and scan the skies, as much as it did him well with his colorblindness, eyes narrowing against the clouded darkness. "Can't smell anything . . . Then again, don't know what an owl smells like. Any luck?" he whispered above the sounds of rushing water.
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