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 Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 3:45 pm
 Today she had the afternoon off, the females were off at training and Patroclus was busy with his father. It was nice to get some time off, but she did miss the company of all the pups. Later today she would go for her training as well, something the Queen requested of her when Seraphin joined the pack. The fighting wasn't exactly the highlight of her day but if it meant she got to stay within the pack and tend to the pups then she would endure the training as best she could. For now though she decided to wander a bit, but certainly would not leave the packs territory. Perhaps she could find something of interest to show the pups later. Perhaps she might run into that nice slave as well.
Seraphin's paws came to a stop. It felt a bit odd thinking of Iosef, and yet at the same time she did enjoy his company very much. He may be of lower rank due to pack beliefs but Seraphin didn't like to think of his as slave - even if he did seem to enjoy that role very much. Padding forward once more Seraphin thought about the last time she had seen Iosef. It was back when Patroclus fell into that hole and Iosef had been so calm during the whole thing, which she had been a bundle of nerves. His quick thinking had been quite impressive give that males were said to be the weaker of the genders, not worthy of a high rank. But the ingenuity that Iosef showed that day proved that perhaps the sisters were wrong, though she would never voice that opinion to them.
Giving her head a shake Seraphin tried to clear her thoughts of Iosef. But he seemed to pop into her mind more often than anything else. Best to find something to distract herself with, so with eyes pointed towards the ground she continued onward, looking for something of interest to bring back for the pups to look at or play with.
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Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 4:04 pm
 Iosef was troubled.
To be fair, that wasn't exactly a new state of affairs in the male's mind; he tended to spend most of his time worrying, unless he had something to focus his attentions on instead. Still, recently, the nature of the thoughts that clouded his mind had changed somewhat.
The sudden influx of pups around him -- those in his pack, and his sister's children -- had been working a kind of feverish magic on his thoughts. Playing with his nephews, teaching the younger slaves, rescuing poor Patroclus...the more time he spent with them, the more he felt it in his heart, that desperate ache for a family of his own.
He tried to push it away...tried to move his mind to other things...but whatever he did, it always returned to him, unshakable like an unseen pursuer, like one of those dark ghosts from his dreams.
When he wandered, then, into Seraphin's path, he was perhaps a bit more distracted than he normally was, and was quite unaware of her presence, so busy in his own thoughts.
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Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 4:16 pm
With her eyes glued to the ground in front of her and her thoughts proving to be very distracting Seraphin didn't notice that Iosef had walked in front of her. Well at least she didn't notice until she walked right into him. Suddenly she found herself fully well aware of her surroundings, and quickly backed up. "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't see you there Iosef." She gave him a weak smile, embarrassed that hadn't seen him earlier. Blasted thoughts could get her in trouble, thankfully she didn't run into anything bad. How funny was it that the wolf who was most on her thoughts was the one who she runs into way out here.
Speaking of which what was he doing out here? Probably doing some duty for the pack. "I hope I didn't interrupt your work." She said softly, still a bit distracted.
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Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 4:33 pm
He jerked in surprise, backing away from her, looking at her for a moment with bleary eyes, almost as though being woken from a dream -- but then, moments later, his eyes snapped to focus, and a slow smile creased his maw. "Oh...no," he said, and looked a little shy. "I'm, actually...well, there's not much to be done, to tell you the truth."
He glanced around himself, actually slightly bothered by the lack of work to be done.
When he glanced back at Seraphin, there was a slight mischievous glint in his eyes. "But don't let Thealia or her daughter hear me say that, or I'll be counting beetles or something all night."
His smile softened. He liked Seraphin; she was unlike any other female he had met. Not a hardened warrior like the others, but...soft, like him. Vulnerable. "How are you, madame Seraphin? No more emergencies, I hope?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 4:45 pm
Her smile turned a bit wider as he spoke. He always seemed so timid even around her and she found it somewhat amusing. So he didn't have any work to do, she was in the same situation until later in the day. "Looks like we both have nothing to do for a while. The pups are off with training, well Patroclus is with his father. So I have no work to be done until mid afternoon."
The mention of Thealia and her daughter made Seraphin want to shudder. Those two were always up to no good, but there wasn't much she could do as they did outrank her. "Don't worry. You're secret is safe with me." She said with another smile. "They'd probably make me count beetles too if Thealia found out I was doing nothing for the afternoon."
"I am doing well. I was actually just looking for anything of interest that I could either bring back to the pups or show them later. But so far I haven't seen anything." Then she laughed a bit. "No, no more emergencies thankfully. How have you been?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 5:05 pm
He smiled at the thought. He tried to remember the last time any of the sisters had gone out of their way to find an object of beauty or wonder or interest just for the happiness of a pup. Although, perhaps, things had been different for the girls...some of his earliest memories involved being trained among the other slaves, and the experience had not precisely been a game.
Which was not to say he hadn't loved every minute of it.
"I have been well," he said, because it was the appropriate response; he wasn't sure how he actually felt, his head was so spun around.
His head tilted then, thoughtfully. "I could take you on a bit of a tour, if you'd like? To see if you could find anything of interest, I mean." He glanced down, a bit bashfully. "I know the area quite well, is all."
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Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 5:18 pm
It was good to hear that he was doing well. She did sometimes worry about how much work he took on as he always seemed to be doing job after job. The sisters may think otherwise but Seraphin believed that even slaves needed itme to rest and relax.So perhaps it was a good thing that Iosef had no duties to tend to at the moment.
Tail wagged slightly at his suggestion. "I'd love to. Perhaps with two sets of eyes we will be able to spot something for the pups." But in the back of her mind she worried just what might happen if Thealia or her daughter found them wandering the lands together. "Where to first?" She asked, while she had been in the pack for a little while now she was yet to see a good chunk of the territory as the pups generally stayed close to the dens for now.
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Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 5:54 pm
He pondered this a moment, considering if there was anything particularly interesting that he could show her. Suddenly it felt like his duty, a particularly interesting new quest he needed to go on, and he smiled at the thought.
"Here...I think I know just the thing," he said, tail wagging. He must've been out there a hundred times in his youth, with Terreis. It was a place that was special to him...and somehow, the act of sharing it with Seraphin seemed natural.
After all, she'd just be passing it on to the next generation. Iosef had once been just like Patroclus -- the youngest, the only male. Of course, the family had been smaller, but the same principle applied. The world was being reborn, as it always was.
"This way," he said, tail wagging slowly behind him, a bit uncertain, and then headed off to their destination.
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Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 6:19 pm
The fact that he was so quick to think of something didn't surprise her. She had seen how quickly he solved the problem of getting Patroclus out of that hole and not he almost instantly know where to take her to look for things to show to the pups. "Oh good." She stated, tail wagging gently. Seraphin would need to remember the way here just in case there was something she wouldn't be able to bring back.
Falling into step beside Iosef Seraphin tried to mentally map where there were and which trails to follow. But she kept looking over at Iosef, wondering exactly where he was taking her as he seemed to be quite happy to be doing so.
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Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 6:31 pm
He walked in silence for awhile, weaving through the trees toward the rocky outcropping that had been a favorite racing destination for he and Terreis. Just before it, though, he turned sideways, branching out into a path filled with jagged rocks.
"Now, you have to come at this sideways," he said, his voice taking on the tone it had when he had been giving orders during the Patroclus emergency -- a tone that suggested that, had he been born in a different world, Iosef would have been a great leader. "If you try to go up straight, it's faster, but you'll get stuck."
He glanced back at her, to make sure she kept her footing, although it wasn't an extremely difficult walk -- he had navigated it many times as a pup, after all -- but it was a bit rough. "Now, just this way..." a few of the rocks seemed stacked together, as though making a very rough stairwell. He climbed these, and came down on the other side, into a shallow basin of sorts.
They were in a groove carved into the side of the rock face, with a stone overhang above their heads. To one side, the stone ladder kept them well-sheltered; at their backs was the stone of the cliffside itself.
And in front of them, spread out in a tangle, were a large mass of wildflowers. Preeminent among them were a bunch of small red wild roses, all of it growing in the shade of the rock face -- invisible from above, but like a fragrant, private garden from below.
"Nobody ever comes by here," he said, his voice low, as though the nature of the place drew him to whisper. "It's kind of out of the way. But I like it, especially in the summer when everything's in bloom. I was glad to see it's still here."
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Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 6:56 pm
The path they took was an easy enough one to remember, it was well worn for the most part but she could tell that it wasn't traveled very much nowadays. As they skirted around the rock outcropping Seraphin looked up, it wasn't too high but certainly didn't look that easy to climb. But then Iosef spoke up, pointing out that there was an easy way up from the side and soon enough she say the easier path.
She climbed slowly behind him, making sure to have her paws place firmly before taking another step. It was best to err on the side of caution as it was hard to tell if one of the smaller would slip if weight was applied to it. It wasn't too hard of a climb as long as you paid attention to where you placed your paws, but soon enough she made it to the top.
When she looked out she did not expect to see such a beautiful sight. Wildflowers spread out for some distance from the outcropping. From the base you could not have seen the field of flowers or would she have imagined to find such a treasure. The sight took her breath away. For the longest time she just stood there, wide smile crossed her maw. "It's beautiful." Seraphin finally managed to say, finally tearing her eyes away from the flowers to look at Iosef. The fact that he had brought her here, to share this special place with her - even if they were looking for things to show the pups - really meant a lot to her. "I can see why you like to come here."
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Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 8:26 pm
He settled himself to his haunches; there was just enough room here for two wolves to have a little bit of room -- three would be overcrowded. He lifted his maw to the air, inhaling the scent of the flowers, his smile quietly fixed upon his maw. "When it rains, sometimes there's a little waterfall that comes over the lip of the rock face," he said, nodding up at the 'ceiling' above them. "And there's a rainbow you can see through it. Sometimes, anyway."
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Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 8:37 pm
Slowly Seraphin sat down as well, eyes glued to the field of flowers in front of her she didn't realize just how close she was sitting to Iosef - not that there wasn't a lot of room up here to begin with. The sweet scent of flowers filled her, and her tail wagged happily behind her. When she looked over at Iosef she suddenly realized just how close she was to him, her nose nearly touched his cheek and she quickly looked back at the flowers.
"It seems like the perfect place to come and relax." She said softly, with a smile. Seraphin could spend all day here, but knew that was not possible. Glancing once more at Iosef from the corner of her eyes she spoke again. "How did you find such a beautiful place?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 8:46 pm
He stiffened a little, recognizing her nearness, feeling the warmth of her breath against the soft fur of her cheek. "I found it as a pup," he said. "Or maybe it was Terreis. Anyway -- one of us found it, and we would come here, sometimes. Shouldn't be too bad of a climb...and there's probably just enough room for the pups to all squeeze together up here."
He glanced sidelong at her, feeling suddenly nervous at her nearness. She was new here, and he wasn't sure how to read her just yet. He had put himself in a vulnerable position -- he would be at her mercy if she turned on him, although he didn't see her attacking anyone. Still, there was no escaping the tight quarters unless she went down first, and Iosef was not generally a wolf to invite such uncertainty into his life.
"So...before Antianeira...what was your life like?" He asked, because it felt prudent to say something, and because he was curious about other sorts of life. "You lived alone, you told me?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 9:00 pm
Seraphin nodded slowly as he spoke. Indeed the pups could likely all fit up here at once if they were careful. Just making sure they got up and down safely as long as behaved while at the top. But then a small part of her didn't want to show the pups, for fear that this place would no longer be a well guarded secret and then it could easily be destroyed.
At his question she glanced at him, but made sure to only turn her head slightly so as to not invade his personal space. "Well, I lived with my family for a long time. It was just myself, my parents and my sister. I have older siblings as well but they didn't stay around for long. They would come and visit when they could but my parents liked to wander a lot so sometimes it would be months before they would find us once more." She paused talking a deep breath, to enjoy the scent of the flowers once more. "Eventually I parted ways with them, after my sister did the same. From then on I wandered for quite some time. I ran across many wolves and many packs. Some where nice, others were far from it." She shifted her front paws slightly before speaking again. "Eventually I came across this place, and here I am."
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