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 Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 3:33 pm
 Kai was feeling pretty good about himself. He'd lost track of the days that had passed since his departure from his ancestral lands, but it was quite a few now -- not quite a new lunar cycle, but at least enough time had elapsed that he was reasonably sure he wouldn't die of starvation out in the world, and that was an achievement to be proud of. He'd even managed to make a friend, and that was rather validating for this whole experience.
Nevertheless, Kai still had his share of weaknesses -- or, as he preferred to think of them, learning opportunities. The most eminent among these so far was his somewhat umbilical connection to the river; he had clung to it, following it slowly up the shore from his home lands, afraid to deviate too far from its path. Once a water-wolf, always a water-wolf, and the idea of forsaking the river completely for dry ground still made him tremble with a shame-inducing fear.
And so he continued to follow it, even though the smell of other wolves was dense in the air; he suspected he was coming upon another wolf's territory, and the thought thrilled him and terrified him in turn. He had never had much direct contact with other packs when he had been an heir....and, now that he was no one, he worried that perhaps he would be greeted with hostility.
But there was nothing for it now; he'd just have to try his luck, until the river swept away from this place.
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Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 4:39 pm
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Said river was not only host to fish at the time neither. An almost incarnate beam of sunrays put into corporeal form was busy being ratehr lazy, bobbing gently upon her back as she let the current take her where it would. Naiad never strayed far from home, and it was only because she was in the water that she allowed herself to be swept away. Normally the teen liked to assign herself as patroller of the rivers, the guardian of her pack's waters that no beast would get past! . . . Well alright, there was that one three-legged guy, but come on. He had three legs. And he was adamant about being quiet about his business, and dang the fact that her pack had a reputation to keep up as one of the nicest around! But no-one could say Naiad was impolite to the cloaked stranger, thank you kindly.
After several days of high alert after that incident (she was sure he must have been tailed by some unknown enemy, but this turned out to be groundless), the bright-colored adolescent decided to allow herself one afternoon off just to goof off. Then it'd be back to hunting, cleaning up, checking the borders - all the adult stuff! She couldn't wait to grow up honestly. Wrapped in thoughts of what she could become, Naiad turned about back onto her stomach, lifted her head above the water, and yawned. Maybe if she found a nice warm rock she could sunbathe again . . .
Ahnowait! Blinking awake with the blur of bright blue ahead, Naiad shook off any thoughts of possibly napping in the sun. Maybe it was because of the way the sun hit the water, but it was hard to look at him currently. Normally Naiad wouldn't just go up and bother strangers, but . . . he smelled of . . . Oh hell.
"Fish!" she exclaimed, and scrabbled to find the ground again as silver darts in the deeper water fled. "You!"
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Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 5:10 pm
Kai yelped, scrambling backwards on his paws, taken thoroughly off-guard by her sudden presence. He was going to get himself killed one of these days with his inattentiveness, a small voice in his head chastised him -- but it was quickly silenced by the more pressing matter at hand. "Ayyy!" He said, holding up a paw in an attempt to ward off this clearly troubled young female. "What?"
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Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 5:46 pm
"Fish!" Naiad yelled again, blue eyes narrowed as she managed to eventually find a muddy bottom to tromp through. Wading out without bothering to shake herself, she padded straight to the startled male with the air of a haughty princess. "Were you eating fish out of my river?" she asked, ears tilted back. "How dare you! What did the fish ever do to you? Did it come out of the water and snag one of your brothers or sisters in the middle of the day to eat on? I wouldn't think so! They're harmless creatures who can't even defend themselves, and yet here you are slaughtering them in my domain!"
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Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 6:03 pm
He stared at her, his jaw working a moment in complete inability to form speech. That's it, he decided; females in the Outside World were all completely insane. A haughty princess, an angry amazon, and now...a fish-rights activist?
"Your river?" He asked, feebly, his eyes darting to the river and back to the wolf. For all he knew, this was her river. "Forgive me, madam....I was unaware that this river was the property of another."
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Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 7:14 pm
Naiad huffed, glad to see that he was not posing up resistance. Sensible male! Her fur flattened after a few moments, and she took a deep breath to calm herself. "Good, good, fine . . . Though I'm sure you've been scenting wolves up 'till now, yes? The river's not ours nor anyone's really, but you're taking our fish population, sir, for being so close," she said. "My family likes to fish, but we can't overfish them or they'll all go away and we'll have nothing at all. Personally I don't to fish, but you heard most of that shpiel anyway. But yeah, you're getting close to my pack, sir, so business says I should ask you who you are and what you're looking for."
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Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 7:27 pm
"Apologies again, madam," he said, nodding respectfully to the younger wolf. "I admit I have been fishing in these waters, although further downstream and only what I need." He smiled, a bit self-depreciatingly. "I hail from a seafaring pack, and have not yet mastered the art of hunting on land, so I do what I must."
He swept his eyes over the wolf before him, curiously taking her in, before continuing.
"My name is Kai," he said, and with now only the slightest hesitation, "And I am nothing more than a wanderer, making my way upstream to see what I find. To whom do I owe the pleasure?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2010 9:47 am
What a formal way of speech! She frowned curiously at him, wondering if perhaps she had just engaged in some form of a noble wolf; if there was such a thing. Akiiki Chibale had no royalty what so ever, just the alphas, their loyal betas, their children, and all the other wolves that had taken up residence. Royalty must be something only very rigid packs could work with, and probably not something AC would ever consider - theirs was a more loose pack than most. "Well, Kai, call me Naiad," she introduced herself. "I like to stay by the water too, but more to have fun than anything else. If you keep going the way you are, you'll head into my pack Akiiki Chibale. We're a pretty nice bunch honest, but I like to check out closeby wanderers if they're starting to get close. Sorry, er, 'bout that . . ."
Naiad had a habit of coming off too strong, but that was what you got for being an opinionated female. "So, haven't mastered hunting on the land yet either? I'm trying it out, but I don't have it in me, I think. Unless it's something bad like a bear or deer that needs more than one wolf to go down. Solo things . . . . not for me. But my family's being pretty understanding about it, I think; or at least they're not forcing me to eat meat all the time."
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Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2010 11:47 am
"I will try to make my presence light," he said, with a smile. "One can never be too careful with strangers, but I do truly appreciate the hospitality."
"It gladdens my heart to hear I'm not the only wolf in these lands with such difficulties." He tilted his head, brow furrowing, his attentions suddenly quite engaged by something the sunny-furred female had said. "Forcing you to eat meat....?" He questioned. "...What else do you eat, then?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 9:37 am
"Well, mostly nuts and fruits," Naiad answered with a tiny shrug. "They're actually good if you find the right kinds. Some herbs too, but those're harder to get a taste for. I mean, sometimes I eat the occasional squirrel sure, but meat's not big with me for some reason." She then realized how stupid she must look, fur matted down and soaked, random bits of whatever was in the water at the time clinging to her pelt. Rather than shaking herself dry and getting the stranger wet, Naiad waded back into the water, though she turned to him even once she was once more floating.
"But my story's not that interesting. Mind if I ask about yours? I haven't heard anyone speak like you do before, so I'll hazard a guess and say you're not from around here." The closest was Kazemaru, but the blazing wolf sounded nothing at all like Kai; Kazemaru sounded more . . . cold. Devious.
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Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 11:47 am
"Nuts and fruits," he echoed, now feeling extremely foolish -- but excited, too. Why hadn't he thought of that? "You'll have to teach me your secret. It would solve many a difficulty for me."
He padded to the riverbank, dipping his paw in the cool water, a smile rising to his maw; as far as he traveled from home, some things would always speak to his heart. "You guess correctly that I am a visitor to these lands, although I fear I will disappoint you with my story, as it is not particularly thrilling." He considered for a moment what to tell her. "I come from a pack that lives in a rather sheltered cove, further down the coast. I disagreed with the way it ran its business, and left to make my fortune elsewhere...and, so far, have come here."
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Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 6:11 pm
She was actually expecting some sort of stupid retort about how wolves were carnivores despite the first impression that this guy actually seemed polite, so Naiad had actually braced herself while Kai spoke. When no snide comment came, she actually seemed a tad surprised - tough as she looked, Naiad was quite sensitive about her choice of lifestyle; it wasn't easy defending your opinion when one of the beliefs was "fish rights". "O-Oh . . . Well, sorry to hear you had to leave. As far as nuts and fruits, it's really not a secret," the teen replied sheepishly. "You just have to learn how to forage like other animals. Sometimes I still don't get it right, and I eat something that gives me a bad stomach ache or worse; but nuts and fruits are actually pretty tasty.
"Wait, I've said that already. Um. Er . . . Yeah. I learned from watching squirrels personally."
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Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 6:21 pm
"It was a choice I made, and am glad of it," he said, with a dismissive paw-wave. "But...your diet...it's genius!" He said, and meant it; he ducked his head following this outburst, his ears flattening in shame. He was swiftly losing his dignity, out in the wild. "...I nearly came to starvation, wandering the forests looking for a river, and it never occurred to me to look to the squirrels for guidance." His brow furrowed. "And it's enough? You never go hungry?"
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Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 5:13 pm
"Nope! No-one ever goes hungry in my pack. We might have a lot of wolves, but we always look out for each other," Naiad explained with a proud smile. "Family is important here, that's why. I met a kid once who said he was proud to be the alpha's son even though his mother mated with a different male than her intended one; what sort of life is that, I ask you!" She wasn't quite sure why she decided to go down that line of thought; probably babbling from the compliment Kai gave her. G-Genius? That was a new one . . . "Butumyeah. It wouldn't be hard for you to learn how to hunt like a normal wolf, but . . . I'm not a good teacher on that. Sorry." And she sounded genuine about that. "Best I do is chat with wish, watch squirrels, and forage like my teeth and claws and sense of smell are useless."
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Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2010 10:29 am
It sounded so utterly backwards and strange, but looking at her she seemed plenty happy and healthy, and he was thoroughly intrigued. "It's good to hear that your pack provides for its members properly," he said, and there was just a hint of bitterness in his voice, that jaded undercurrent that crept into his voice whenever he considered pack life. "Not often that happens, in these times." He lay at the riverside, submerging his paw into the cool water, and his expression was quietly elated. "If I might ask, m'lady, why do you choose affinity with the weaker animals -- fish, and squirrels, and the like?" He winced slightly as he asked, afraid of being reprimanded for a possibly insulting inquiry.
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