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 Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2010 11:51 am
 The season was growing warmer, and Kailani found himself thinking that, perhaps, he should pick up the pace a bit in his journey to meet with Verdauga.
The Kai of today was a bit different from the Kai just a few moons back. He had begun to adjust to this strange new world, and the softness had begun to fade from him; he could hunt for himself now, if not particularly well -- at least he could reasonably catch a rabbit or squirrel when he was hungry, and that supplemented the fish and, at times, the nuts and berries and roots. He had grown a bit more lean, and a bit more ragged, and overall the look suited him.
At the moment, though, he was quite sore, and the pain in his haunches had put him into a sour mood. He was eager to resume travel, but he was hesitant, as well; one run-in with the wrong pack's territory had left him lucky to be alive, and the still-fresh wounds on both flanks were a stinging testament to the dangers of wandering where he did not belong.
He was grateful for his companion, at least; if Mon had not been there, he likely would have died of shock in his sleep. But now, a few days after, Kai was out of danger of death and he was finding more and more reason to wander from her -- afraid, perhaps, that his presence would wear on her and she'd abandon him outright.
Thoughts weighing heavily on the blue wolf's mind, he limped his way through the trees of an area he was becoming rather familiar with, wishing -- despite himself, as he hated himself because of it -- that he was back home, with a slave to attend to him and the lovely warm seaside sun beating down on his back.
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Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2010 8:39 pm
 There was a human hunting party returning through woods, which meant Shagufta had found her lunch. They held nothing else of interest for her, though she'd checked. No particularly shiny trinkets or anything else fascinating looking. Just deer, two of them, but Shagufta hadn't gone after the deer. They had dried fat in their pouches, a substance she didn't know was called pemmican, and it was that she had stolen and eaten, from a man who had his hands full already and wasn't fast enough to defend himself against a wolf who tore at his belt until it can loose.
She had thought about bringing the belt and pouch with her, but they really weren't her style. She liked shiny things, and it never entered her head that such a device could be useful.
Now she smelled blood again, and what fun it would be to steal another meal and bring it back to her family! She hurried through the woods toward the scent, only to find it belonged to a wolf; a wolf with gashes down his thighs.
"Oh, look at you!" she said, as soon as she could see Kai clearly. She was one to say what she thought, as soon as she thought it. "You're hurt all over. What is that from?"
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Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2010 10:51 pm
Kailani jumped, and winced immediately as the reaction tore at the tender healing flesh of his haunch. He was getting better at recognizing the approach of others, but was by no means a master at it, and she seemed to have come from nowhere.
How, precisely, a wolf so brilliantly-colored could have snuck up on him was a mystery. Kai rebuked himself immediately for not paying better attention.
"A little wrong place, wrong time situation," he said, wryly, muscles tensed as he eyeballed her. It was very unlike Kai to be hesitant with a stranger -- especially a female stranger -- but as of late, he found he couldn't be too careful. He glanced over his shoulder, wondering where Mon was and if she was within a howl's distance if he needed her, and immediately chastised himself. Caution was one thing. But paranoia was something else entirely, and especially when one's recourse was to hide behind a female companion.
He turned his eyes back to the green female and offered a winning smile. "My name is Kai," he said, then, because it seemed the right thing to do.
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Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2010 6:08 pm
"Times and places don't hurt things -- unless -- you fall on one of them. Did you fall down?" She didn't realize it was probably insulting to accuse a full-grown male wolf of tripping and tearing open his flank. That sort of accident was just the thing she herself would end up doing -- though she wouldn't try to cover it up with an excuse. She was too young to have truly been hurt by anything, and even her errors and failings had humor to them.
"Oh, hello, Kai," she continued, as though now that he introduced himself she were noticing him as a wolf for the first time. "I'm Shagufta. Have you eaten? I just ate. I thought maybe you were something else to eat, because I smelled the blood, but you're a wolf, and I don't eat other wolves." Did any wolves? She wasn't sure.
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Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2010 10:43 pm
His ears flicked back, and he regarded her uncertainly, not quite sure if he should smile or not. Was she joking? It was hard to tell with these strange wolves out in the world here...
"No...I didn't fall," he said, in the tone of someone talking to someone they suspect isn't entirely 'there', but reluctant also -- in case the person he was talking to was. "What I mean is...I had a spot of misfortune, and went into a territory where I was unwelcome. And was rather...forcibly...expelled."
He chuckled a little nervously. "Glad to hear you don't intend to eat me, though. It's a pleasure, Shagufta." His brow furrowed, head tilting as he caught the odor of the pemmican on her breath. "...I don't mean any rudeness," he said, uneasily but suspecting that the flamboyant wolf in front of him would not be particularly bothered by a breach of politeness, "But you have the most intriguing food-smell clinging to you, and I'm curious...what is it, precisely?"
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Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 10:42 am
"Oh you mean by a pack?" she asked. That was the only context in which she ever heard of territory; she supposed she and her family had a "territory," if you counted a hillside as a territory, but they'd never attack someone wandering by unless they tried to take the family's food or den. (Even then, she had a sneaking suspicion her mother would just up and move instead of dealing with other wolves.) "That's because packs are... well, packs can be mean and stuff." Her mother hated packs, but after meeting Verdauga... and Verdauga wanted to start his own pack, and he wasn't mean. But maybe that's because he was young.
It wouldn't have occurred to her that another wolf was being rude, even if they were trying. Words hit her pelt and rolled off like water; just getting her to listen was an accomplishment. Getting her to understand the meaning was another thing altogether. "Oh, it's this stuff the humans make. It's like, they take all this meat? And they wrap it up in a ball, with some other stuff, and they let it sit and it gets all dry but instead of getting gross it actually tastes pretty good. And they don't really guard it very well so you can steal it easy."
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Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 11:00 pm
"Packs are indeed troublesome," he said, with slight amusement. He was in a hurry to change the subject, being rather embarrassed about his His brow furrowed, considering the notion of this human-made concoction.
"How very odd," he mused, giving another hearty sniff. It sounded terribly unappealing, but it smelled so good! "Do you steal from humans often?" He asked, curious. "I've never actually met one, personally, but I've heard stories...they sound very unpleasant."
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Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 9:55 am
Shagufta laughed. Other wolves often didn't like people, or worse, were afraid of them. People were nothing, just makers of great stuff wolves could take. Sure you shouldn't let them see you but they were SO blind.
"Oh, yeah. My mom taught me how to steal from them. That's how she lived until she met my da, 'cause my da..." She looked down at her coat. "Well he looks more like me, and he's awful at stealing stuff." Even if she WAS bright green she was still a lot better at being sneaky than her dad. But that's because he would go into a mood suddenly and just wander away, and you couldn't do that while you were trying to hide. "They're not bad, humans. I mean, they don't LIKE it when you steal from them, but I wouldn't like it if they stole from me, I guess."
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Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2010 11:13 am
"Fascinating!" He said, tilting his head and trying to assimilate this information into what he already knew about the world. "Can you show me?" He asked, then, with bright eyes. If his run-in with RoT had taught him anything, it certainly hadn't taught him to exert more caution in these situations! "I'd love to see a human up close. Even steal something off him."
Verdauga would appreciate that, he thought. Give him a bit more credibility for their meet-up.
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Posted: Sun Oct 24, 2010 5:36 pm
"Uhh..." She tilted her head to one side, an unconscious mimicry of his own actions. She'd never taught anyone to steal before, and wasn't sure she could -- her mother had taught mostly by example, dragging her daughters along on every raid she went to, sometimes even taking them to different human settlements without a goal in mind, just to teach them the way humans worked. All these lessons had been absorbed by Shagufta, recalled in body memory as needed, but as for passing them on to someone else?
"Sure!" she said, wagging her tail. After all, how hard could it be? "We shouldn't use the people I just took from, though, 'cause they'll be suspicious now. Sorry, that's my fault." She lifted her nose and sniffed. "I guess we'll have to look for someone else."
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Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2010 1:20 am
"That's quite all right with me," he said, politely, enthusiasm shining in his golden eyes. Kai, never having been burdened with an overabundance of sense, failed to recognize that anything could possibly go wrong in this situation -- and besides, he was far too excited at the very prospect. "Besides, I'm sure it will be beneficial to learn to track humans, too."
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