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 Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 7:45 pm
Iosef knew he shouldn't be straying outside of pack borders, not now; it was unsafe there, with the attack on the queen and that unknown male still lurking about...but he couldn't help himself. Indeed, with each passing day the wolf had begun to feel a pressing desire to stay as far from the females as he could: not because he didn't like their company, but because he felt himself to be dangerous to them. Since he had come back to Antianeira, every litter born to the Sisters here had been dominated by males...useless, weak, worthless males...and he couldn't help but wonder if perhaps that had somehow been his fault, a punishment laid against his pack for his own transgressions. So with that guilt weighing heavily in his mind, Iosef slipped through shadows, heading to neutral ground so he could think about his next move.
If indeed Iosef's weakness was catching in his pack, then he was surely to blame for the course Tui had taken - a long, endless, westward arc from the woods of his origin to here, now. Half-awake to the smells of other wolves marked sparingly along his path, he kept his pace - a dragging trot, or a lurching walk - enough movement and exhaustion to hold his mind somewhere empty. The vague ache in his legs and the heat of his breath against his face and neck had mesmerized him, until - something caught at him, ******** up his rhythm, brought him awkwardly to a walk. Was that...was that Someone? Oh, god, were they close?
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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 7:47 pm
Iosef's ears flicked, brow furrowing; he was certain he had caught the scent of another, and a thrill of fear shivered down his spine. Was it him? The assassin? Oh gods he hoped not...Iosef had never been much of a fighter. Indeed, his weakness had been present when his mother and his first mistress were slaughtered before him and he could do nothing but weep.....he shoved the memory forcefully from his mind and bit down on his lower lip, drawing blood to distract himself from his past. "Hello?" He called, uncertain if that was the wisest thing to do, regretting it immediately as he spoke.
Tui went still as a deer at the sound of it, his heart leaping up into his mouth for a few dreadful seconds as the rest of his brain caught up with him. Someone was very close...maybe he wasn't in pack lands, maybe he was all right, maybe he was not two minutes away from getting torn apart. From his excruciating, ringing silence, he slowly pulled an answer from his cottony mouth. "I'm here," he warbled, miserably, tail cricking between his sinewy legs, "I'm alone, and I don't want to hurt anybody."
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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 7:48 pm
Oh, thank the gods, he thought, frozen in his own position, separated from the stranger by undergrowth and trees; he didn't mean him any harm! He crept foreward toward the sound of the voice, breaking through a bush, coming into visibility, and then froze. Isn't that what all killers would have him think, that they meant him no harm? He trembled, but from the looks of the stranger, the other was either an excellent actor, or just as terrified as he. Iosef straightened, with effort, and offered a smile at the other. His pelt was silky and longer than most, marked in gentle calico markings, and he was daintily built. he smelled of females, from living amongst them. "....Hi?"
Though Tui was extremely skilled at becoming frightened, his trips were not triggering at the sight of this small, silky wolf. His eyelids wavered as he flicked a glance into Iosef's face, thrown off by the absence of power there, and shifted on his paws. This wandering wolf seemed to be in the process of running himself into a ghost; though he was somewhat bigger than Iosef, he had all the surplus flesh of a refugee, and his own white fur was thin, and nearly translucent in the more delicate regions of his face and paws. His long nose dipped down to exhale quietly into his pink-white paws as he faltered around for the next move. "I apologize if I've wandered over pack lines...I've been traveling, and I've been careless." Another half-glance up, about to the level of Iosef's legs this time. "Are you in a pack here?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 7:49 pm
"It's okay," he said, looking over the other with curiosity. Iosef was familiar with weak-bodied males, as generally the stronger-willed of the gender left the pack early rather than choose to work within it; still, this wolf looked particularly delicate, and it intrigued him. Iosef regarded him with the same curiosity of a child first seeing his reflection in a mirror. "We are in neutral ground here. My name is Iosef, and I am a slave for the sisterhood of Antianeira." he tilted his head, indicating the pack lands.
Tui held his gaze on the ground between them, little sparks of fear and horror trembling down his ribs and up his elbows. Slaves? He knew a lot about some messed up situations, but he wasn't sure where to put this one. But still...this was good, really, a lucky break. He was on neutral grounds, and he had met...Iosef, who could not possibly do him any harm. Right? Another cautious glance, this time a little slower, and he licked his lips and made some attempt and a smile. "Okay, um." His voice as gaunt and faint as his body. "I'm Tui. I've been, just...traveling, for a long time." A gap of silence grew, as he wavered on what, really, he expected to come next. He had gotten somewhere foreign. He had run himself into somewhere completely alien, and now that he had stopped, he wasn't optimistic about getting himself up to a run again; his legs felt, he realized, like they were made of hollow reeds, and he wobbled slightly at the idea.
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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 7:51 pm
"Are you hungry?" He asked. It was in his nature to be nurturing -- one was not born and raised a slave without engendering a desire to care for others, even strangers. And besides, Iosef knew quite well the weakness of males and their inability to fend for themselves...he had been trained to believe it. "I can find you something to eat, if you'd like?"
Tui was having a difficult time really committing to being helped. His intentions had never really fleshed out past the getting very, very far away, and he found himself fumbling at this next step. Iosef made it hard to demur, though. He looked like the cosiest doormat Tui had ever laid eyes on. So, feeling moderately ashamed but quite used to that, he nodded, smiling ruefully and managing to keep a full few seconds of eye contact. "That would be wonderful, actually. If it isn't any trouble."
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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 7:52 pm
"None at all," he said, relieved to have something to do. He tried to remember if he had any food stored back at the dens, and decided it would be too much of a risk to try it if he did. Instead, he lifted his maw to the air, scenting it, brow furrowing. Iosef wasn't much of a hunter of large game, but he was a master of killing vermin, and when he caught the scent of a hare lurking in the underbrush, he took after it with speed and grace.
Tui flushed with embarrassment at the notion of this effeminate little wolf hunting for him; that was something a wolf should do for himself, and he certainly would have if he'd know Iosef didn't have a spare groundhog laying around. His insides twisted uncomfortably, and Tui swallowed a rush of saliva as his nerves inspired his stomach to revolt. Sick and trembly and fantasizing about humiliation, sorry Tui slunk after his little helper.
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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 7:53 pm
If there was one thing Iosef was adept at, it was retrieving small game for someone of higher rank -- and in Iosef's eyes, pretty much everyone fit into that category. he was especially adept at it now that he had been charged with retrieving favors for Taiyou whenever the mood struck her, and he was terrified to keep her waiting. He caught up with the hare and pounced, in an easy fluid motion, killing it with a single jerk of the maw. He left it at his paws and looked up at the stranger, smiling for all the world like a pup hoping to be praised for his kill.
Tui smiled, rather feebly but in earnest, and cricked his tail upward in approval. He had made himself feel completely ill, but that was definitely, definitely, a better hunt than he could manage. "You're really fast," he complimented, coming to stop several feet away; he wasn't sure he could tear into a rabbit without retching immediately. "You must do this a lot."
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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 7:55 pm
He smiled. "I know the land well, is all," he said, looking down, embarrassed by the compliment. He clearly mis-read the expression on the other's face, as he was quick to add, "Given enough time here, I'm sure you'd do just as well, if not better. The hares here are more sluggish than elsewhere, I think."
Tui meted out a shaky breath, carefully orchestrating his bony limbs to collapse into a sit. Despite his nausea-causing anxiety and anxiety-causing nausea, he was dimly aware of a sort of absence in his impression of Iosef; the burning sting of shame and anger never seemed to p***k when the calico's eyes swept over his scrawny body - such a new occurrance that Tui found himself slightly mesmerized by it. Weirdly lulled, and stalling his meal, he found himself quietly, timidly, chatting. "Oh...I don't know, I can never get myself quite together enough to hunt well. You have to know what to do instantaneously, and I just freeze like a rabbit." His gaze wandered to the warm, dead hare, and skipped away. "Is it a big pack?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 7:56 pm
He nodded, lowering to his own hanches, the silky fur of his haunch falling over his hindpaws and obstructing them. "We're growing in size again," he said, thoughtfully, counting members in his head. "The Sisters are returning, slowly, but not many of the slaves have chosen that life for themselves again. Keeps me busy, I suppose, so that is a blessing at least."
Tui furrowed his brow in vague, uncertain disapproval, making sure to aim his expression harmlessly into the earth. "I'm sorry, but...I don't think I understand your pack." His nausea subsided to make room for the common anxiety of stepping on toes, and he pursed his lips uncomfortably. "Can you, um. Do you think you could explain how this works? I've never heard of slaves in a pack."
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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 7:57 pm
"Oh! I'm sorry." Iosef looked at his own paws, and the pair of them must have looked pretty pathetic; a squirrel was likely getting a good laugh at the pair of them. "I've known nothing else in my life, and forget that it may be strange to foreigners." He drew himself up with pride, and it flashed in his violet eyes as well; if he was brainwashed, it was done immaculately. "They are called the Antianeira, and they are a pack of female warriors that celebrate the strength of their Sisterhood." He paused, glancing around, perhaps afraid they would be interrupted by one of his superiors who would tell him he was explaining all wrong. "The males born in the pack are given the choice to leave and find their own path, or to stay and help maintain order and do the chores too tedious for the warriors. We are slaves in name, but..." he shrugged, and trailed off, in that uncomfortable position of being ashamed yet proud.
Tui nodded, rather anxious to be reassuring; besides that, he had a knack for being impressionable, and it seemed that 'slave' was predominately just a bad word choice. He turned his head back to Iosef and gave his little want-to-be-loved smile. "Well, that doesn't sound so bad." But a cloud of something dark made his expression grim, and he felt his skin shudder and his hackles tingle, at the thought of being among wolves again.
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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 7:58 pm
"It's much, much better than being alone," he said, with his own shudder. "When the pack disbanded at the death of the queen, I left with my mother and mistress and my two sisters....and lost them along the way..." Pain evident in his eyes, but he continued, "...and was alone, for ages, before the new queen Penthesilea found me. I'd much rather stay amongst the Sisters." And if wolves could blush, he surely would have been, as he had just said entirely too much.
Tui smiled, sadly, as Iosef's hurt forged a connection with his own. "I know the feeling," he said softly, smile pulling down at the corners. "Your pack sounds nice. Well-ordered." And he wondered, should I go with him? If Iosef was a model slave, then Tui could surely fill the role as well - although his hunting was clumsy, very clumsy. But still...it seemed like too much of a coincidence, to be intercepted by someone sweet and kind, and giving. He could not imagine being so lucky if he continued onward. His lips opened and formed a word, but he paused and tried to chart out the ones that would need to come after. "Ah...would it...would it be all right if I came back with you?" His pale eyes jittered up to watch Iosef's, waiting to catch any trepidation, any reason to take it back.
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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 7:59 pm
"If you'd like," he said, warily, not entirely sure how to proceed. Iosef was not precisely in a position to be recruiting members. "...It's not a pack most males would choose to stay in," he said, then, feeling a guilty pang that perhaps he had misrepresented it. "I mean...we are well provided for, and the sisters....well, mostly they treat us well...but here it's acknowledged that we are the inferior gender, and..." he teetered, on the one hand not wanting to come out and say anything negative about his pack, but on the other hand not wanting to lead someone in who would inadvertantly make trouble. "....Our neighbor might be more to your liking. They're a sanctuary, of sorts, where all sorts are welcome and everyone works equally. My sister spent time there....and some of the unwanted males from our beta's litter are there now, too."
Tui listened, watching Iosef carefully, trying to comprehend the situation. This pack's troubling aspects - the weird discrepency between genders, the apparent likelihood of getting Iosef in trouble of some kind - were failing to goad him forward. He had met someone, a representative of a pack that must not be overtly rejecting outsiders, and the thought of having to do so all over again, and with anyone less obliging than Iosef, made him want to sink into the earth and expire. Still, he was in no way willing to force the sweet little wolf into anything that would be unpleasant for him. "I don't think it's bad to be inferior, as long as you're taken care of," he said very quietly, one wounded soul to another. And then eye contact, surprisingly intense, its intent unreadable. "I want to go with you."
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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 8:00 pm
This baffled him extremely, but he smiled uncertainly. "Alright," he said, rising to his paws. "I have no power to accept you, of course...but you can meet with Penthesilea and she can decide...." his violet eyes locked on his "But she is a good queen, and very fair, and I'm sure she'll accept you if you agree to do your duties..." he trailed off, not certain at all of how he had gotten in this position and realizing that the hare he had killed was going quite untouched between them.
Tui realized, too, and was relieved to find the prospect of a meal as palatable, maybe even appetizing. And, perversely, he was tickled at the image of submitting himself to slavery with his face and neck stained with blood. "That sounds fine," he said, with his little smile; "don't worry if I get turned away, though. That would be fine, too." And he stood, feeling actively hungry instead of faint, and made a questioning couple of steps towared the hare. "Is it all right if I eat this?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 8:02 pm
"Of course," he said, blinking at him, wondering what kind of silly question that was -- he'd caught it for him, hadn't he?-- before understanding that he probably meant eat it -now-, and smiled sheepishly. "I'm in no rush to get back, to tell you the truth."
"Okay," he whispered, creaking forward to delicately lift the carcass; his heart thumped, shamelessly, at the momentary closeness between Tui's move forward and Iosef's shifting away. He realized, for the first time, how long it had been since he'd been touched in any way. Backing up and looking at his rabbit, he tried to give Iosef something to talk about. "What happened to the pack, that it disbanded?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 8:03 pm
"The queen died," he said, bowing his head sadly and respectfully. "And as she hadn't left an heir, infighting broke out amongst the sisters as to who would take over. I was still quite young then, not old enough to know the touch of my mistress although she had hoped I would bear her children when I came of age...." he couldn't believe he had said that out loud and pressed forward to hide the emotional turmoil that would follow that statement if he dwelled upon it, "....we left to avoid the fighting."
He nodded; for as much as Iosef believed in the system, it was apparently as tenuous a mode of keeping order as anything else. And his insides twisted again as the calico let slip something personal; he began to pull apart his meal to let them move past it. After jerking open the skin and unleashing its innards (and there is something particularly sad about an emaciated wolf tearing at a very small meal), he glanced up to consider what else to say. "And...your new alpha won. And she's rebuilding the pack."
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