Adam: o3o *watches intently the strange flight of two birds in the air, like one was chasing the other and the other . . . sometimes let it draw close, but then went away at the last second so that they didn't collide. Why would birds even do that? Weird. Of course Adam had no clue what mating was for birds (let alone wolves!), s oto him it looked like they were trying to dart and fly about like they were half-blind. But . . . it was really funny to watch!*

Venda: Pain, hot searing pain, she saw...but of course she didn't really see at all. The image was in her mind though the burning mixture of colors and the shape of a wolf. Was this one around then, a new enemy, or friend? Friends...ha, ha, laughable, her only friend had been Stryder, before she had lost her precious vision. She felt terrible guilt for having told him what she saw for his daughter, but hadn't it helped? Perhaps because he knew he could try and protect her from her fate, and in the end she had seen a happy reunion. For her own future though she saw nothing, good or bad and often at night where she would lay down her stomach growling and the cold pressing in on her she wondered if it wasn't that she wasn't supposed to have any future at all.

Adam: *Look, there it swooped! And hte other followed, like some sort of echoed dance they twirled and gyred and dove and soared and OWOWOWOWOW. The adolescent suddenly felt searing pain from nowhere and nearly crumpled under the invisible weight of it, for a moment wildly thinking that the lynx was coming back to tear a new hole in him, or that his old wounds were suddenly flaring up again. Neither were true, though, for the pain lasted only a second before it was gone, like some horrible hallucination . . . that left a vague "trail"? If it could so be called, like the afterimage of a paw if yo ustared at it for too long and hten closed your eyes, some odd negative still floating behind the lids. A normal wolf (if seers could even be classified as such) would not follow after the source of pain, but it had been so uncalled for and abrupt that Adam could not help himself; and thus he sent his mind to follow that faint trail to its source*

Venda: *She moves her paws in sweeping motions for she still relied heavily on touch and sound and scent to move around, a blind seer...pathetic. She stopped and leaned against a tree her head down, she tried not to give into moments of self loathing, but it was hard. Everyday she moved aimlessly just surviving instead of living and for what?*

Adam: *It was like the more he moved after the afterimage, the more paranoid of pain he got, and at times he wondered why he was botheri- Aha! He sensed someone, drawn in by a strangely dark aura he was not used to* 'Heeeeeello?' *the voice he used was what he took would be the same of a wolf his age would have*

Venda: *'Hello' She jerked up and frowned, was she hearing voices now? It was not a sound with direction, rather one within. Her head turned and her ears pricked trying to catch sound. Slowly she stood trying to look menacing, but of course the blindfold around her eyes was a dead giveaway that she was defenseless.*

Adam: *He attempted to get a feel for where she was, but . . . it was only blackness? Strange, he had always managed to get at least a semblance of where the mind was located even if he wasn't the best with directions. Maybe he was doing something wrong?* 'I can feel all these gray clouds and blackness on you. Something wrong?'

Venda: *He could speak in minds the way she had learned to, she frowned uncertain if this was good or bad.* 'Who are you? What do you want?' *She felt her lips raise in a half snarl.*

Adam: *He could feel the hostility as easily as if she were literally standing before him* 'H-Hey, I'm not a bad guy! I think. Peace, peace, you can call me Adam.' *An image of himself as he saw it in the reflection of the river was passed on, though it wasn't completely in color; in fact, the only true color seen was the red upon his face and paw pads: the rest were in color-less browns, greys, and blacks*

Venda: *The wolf from her vision moments before...and cause of her pain...though it was no fault of his. Pain was a sad constant in her life, she sighed and moved forward slowly.* 'Adam then...' *She reflected back the picture of him from her vision, it was solid and fully in color.*

Adam: o3o *She had a neato thing over her eyes! And, and a tattered cape like some sort of wandering hero! A masked hero! And because she had such a dark pelt, her markings were easier to make out, like naturally applied tattoos. He'd like a tattoo too . . .* 'Pretty! But you aren't smiling, stranger. How come?' *Did it have somethign to do with that somber aura around her?*

Venda: *Pretty...pretty pathetic, but at least this young pup thought something of her. No, not a pup, he was obviously on the cusp of adulthood, and he sounded...happy. He probably had a nice life somewhere, maybe a pack, some sweetheart, no experience yet with violence, hunger, and cruelty...but even as she thought it she cringed as a vision swept her off her feet leaving her panting on the ground and writhing in pain with the intensity of it. She felt his hunger as a pup gnaw at her, felt the painful lynx attack and relived her own, and finally saw the shape of Kalama taking him and helping him. She recovered slowly gasping and cursing herself, so much for assumptions.* "I have no reason to smile..." *She finally bit out.*

Adam: *retreats back in horror at the recollection, himself re-experiencing the memories with her though reciving only again that echo of pain that jumped from their link and straight into her mind; his physical body locked up after a great shudder* 'What . . . wh-what was that . . . ?' *He had to find her! No-one could be suffering from these pain spasms, no-one /should/ be! He forced his muscles to stop tensing, shakily beginning to step forward. This was the first time he was communicating via the mind while moving at all* 'Where are you? I'll come find you!'

Venda: *She realized then she had spoken at loud as well as into his mind and sighed softly forcing herself back to her feet. She had been alone too long is seemed her voice felt weak.* 'You should remember your own life, it was simply a memory...' *A memory the way she should be, he wanted to find her? What for?* 'You should go back where you belong...' *She stood unsteadily for a long moment trying to orient herself*

Adam: 'No no no! Mom always said to help others in need. If you won't tell me, then I'll find you, so don't move.' *Right, now how to go about that . . . Well, he could use the aura like a marker, so he started to move forward, struggling between keeping half the attention on where he stepped and half still on her* 'You saw my . . . s-so that means you're a seer too?'

Venda: *She sighed at the conviction in his voice, she didn't NEED him or anyone...though the ache for company was strong in her chest. What did she want some young male around for, so what if he shared some of her oddness?* 'Follow the trail...' *She finally gave in and took a step forward wincing as she bumped into the tree she had leaned against before, oh damn it!*'A seer?' *Yes she supposed that was what she was, laughable* 'Yes...'*She didn't want to admit she was blind, that she 'saw' nothing but the images in her mind.*

Adam: 'Path, right . . . Whoa, trippy rock.' *But a seer! Haha, another seer at last! Despite her wry tone, he couldn't be happier. Keeping the secret was like a game, sure, but even some games could grow tiring - and maybe she'd get some of his problems like with easily-made headaches and random insights into others' minds that weren't needed and strange dreams and . . . God, a seer!* 'So what's your name, awesome blind-folded stranger?'

Venda: *She slowly moved away from the tree and started to walk towards him following the 'path' she had spoken of a strange tug that usually led her to others minds and undoubtedly their physical bodies as well. Of course this path did not overlay well with the real world and she tripped along wincing and avoiding obstacles as best she could.*'Venda...'*She replied curtly*

Adam: 'Venda! ^^ Okay straight here, little wavy ROCK OWOW STUBBED A TOE.' *His eyes watered for a moment, limping along determinedly. It wasn't his fault rocks sometimes blended in with the ground! Crazy cloaked buggers. At length he saw a black dot against the bright of hte sky and let out a bark - well, a mental one at least, followed by a re-sending of what he saw to her* 'Hey hey, I see you! If you can't see me, just stay right there and I'll be over in a sec.' *Hurting toe be darned!*

Venda: *Was he as blind as she? She wondered and headed towards him now feeling the strength of his thoughts. She stopped though halfway to him uncertainly and sat down.*'I can't see you...'*She admitted unhappily*

Adam: 'Well that's okay, because I can see you-ish and we only need to make sure one of us sees the other.' *It only just /then/ hit him that the cloth about her eyes probably meant she was fully blind . . . Though even /she/ could send full color! Lucky. He trotted over and stopped before her* 'And now I can definitely see you. ^^ I'm right here.' *He slowly reached out a paw to touch her*

Venda: *She gave a startled jolt, it had been so long since she had touched another wolf. She tried to calm down and nodded softly.* "Well now you can hear me as well so don't bother giving yourself a headache projecting."

Adam: 'Nah, that's okay. It's more comfortable to talk like this for me, even if it /does/ give me headaches every once in a while. But you can talk normally if you want.' *retracts his paw, blinking at her jolt; guess not even warning was enough for some* 'So, um . . . um . . . I've never met another seer before. Well I did once, but I haven't seen Romulus in a while. So, um . . . What's it like for you?'

Venda:"It's a curse..." *She sighed softly and growled.* "And a blessing...at times...I'm lucky I guess." *She gave a bitter laugh* "If it werent for this...ability I'd have been dead long ago..."

Adam: o3o;; 'R-Really?' *Did wolves really kill you over that sort of stuff? Then maybe it was best that he did keep it secret for as long as possible. But . . . but he wanted to use it to help others, and how could he do that without letting them know?* 'How c-come?'

Venda: "I'm blind...blind wolves don't live long in the world, we can't hunt, we can't defend ourselves, we're totally useless..." *Her voice was filled with anger now, an deep inner loathing.* "With this...so called sight I can at least usually manage to feed myself and keep away from others..."*Until she could find a way, some tool for revenge.*

Adam: *To this extent he understood and empathized . . . The fire, the meeting that night with his mother, his brother's constant teasing, the invalid treatment he was given; like he was less than a wolf for being half-blind and mute. Ears tilt down with a small nod* 'I know what you mean, believe me. I don't think we're totally useless, though. And I mean, we both got this gift now, so that's something, right?'

Venda: "You?" She sniffed at him curiously, but one could not smell or heard blindness, and he had said he saw her, then she remembered the image of himself it was wavy and without much color. She remembered the vision she had of him and projected it into his mind, what he really looked like a solid image in full color like the one of herself.*

Adam: *The image sent to him was . . . God, what /was/ it? He stood unrecognizable in unadulterated color, and the intensity upon eyes that were used to flickers of color like lights against the night narrowed - even though the image was only in his mind.* 'That's . . . me?' *He was dressed in colors he could never have imagined were possible! There was absolutely no way to . . . no, he couldn't possible be that strange in appearance! He wrested his own perspective of himself and lifted it against what Venda sent him to compare, oggling* 'That's amazing, Venda! You're blind, but you can see in color!*

Venda: "I don't SEE anything...but yes Adam...thats you, I had a vision of you earlier" *She nodded softly slightly glad she could show him a better image of himself. It helped sometimes to ease her own pain when she used this half gift half curse.*

Adam: 'A vision, huh?' *smiles* 'That's pretty neat. I didn't know seers got visions. I mean, so far I've been kinda skimming minds, and even them sometimes it's like I don't do it on purpose and it happens anyway. And then there's headaches and . . . oh, strange dreams! But I haven't had any in a while. You get those sort of things too?'

Venda: "You have no visions of the past? the present? the fu-" *She cut herself off, at times she didn't even like to think she saw the future, though it was quite common, and how she normally managed to hunt.* "That pain is...constant...for me" *She said unhappily trying not to remember how it felt, a fiery explosion in her brain almost every time*

Adam: *frowns in thought* 'Um . . . Not really. I think? I scan minds sorta and get glimpses of stuff. Some of the hunting Kalama does, though I think she stopped just so that /I'd/ have to do it on my own or starve to death; those alphas, always so stern.' *Said as a joke, and he chuckles mentally*

Venda: "Kalama? She's the red wolf who helped you as a pup? I think she cares about you more then you would think, her future is...somehow oddly linked to yours...and many many others...it hurts to think about her." *She frowned and shook away Kalama's image before the pain could bring her back to the ground.

Adam: 'You think so?' *But why would he be determining anyone else fate like that? The male blinks, pondering this for a moment* 'Huh . . . well if that's so, I'll just hope I can handle it when it comes. ^^ But what about you, Venda? Where'd you get the cool cape? You look like someone out of a fairytale.'

Venda: "More like a nightmare..." *She muttered unhappily before swallowing* "The two leggers bound my eyes...and gave me this cloak, it's helped during the cold seasons."*She didn't comment further on his future, what right was it of hers to interfere, the time would come and she couldn't do anything to change it, so why bother?*

Adam: 'Two-leggers?' *Memories of the two types his mother told him of surfaced* 'The good kind or the invaders? Were you captured, or was it an accident you saw them, or what?' *He loved stories; it was what passed the time for most of his days as a young pup*

Venda: "I was captured, but they helped me, they helped ease the pain, and fed me...or I'd be dead...and then I left..." *Why had she left? She asked herself that everyday, the two leggers would have taken care of her, so why had she left and come back here to be alone and miserable?*

Adam: 'They took care of you?' *he found that hard to believe, but then he would have never imagined he coudl read minds either! So maybe anything was possible* 'Maybe when you were given the gift, you were given luck too. I still think you're rocking a superhero look: The Blind Seer!'

Venda: *She growled softly at his enthusiasm* "Luck? Ha! There are no heros in the world, only villains, you had better learn that..."

Adam: *shakes his head a bit* 'Why should there only be villains? Not everyone is bad and not everyone is good. Saying it's only one way or the other is just wrong, I think. Kinda like how you sound really, really bitter about things, but on the inside I bet you're happy I'm here.' *A huge stretch, but then Adam tended to talk without thinking*

Venda: "I guess your company isn't a bad thing." *She admitted, though she didn't want to say how happy she was to talk to someone, anyone. Perhaps this was why she had really come back out here despite knowing the misery she would face, because she wanted to be with her own kind, to feel normal though she was far from it.*

Adam: ^^ 'Seeee? Wolves are social creatures. We make packs and families and things liek that because that's how we're born. That's what Mom told me anyway, but we didn't ever live in a pack. It was just the six of us and Home. What about you?'

Venda: "I've been alone most of my life...and when I tried to make a friend...find a pack...it ended badly...and I've been alone since" *She didn't want to explain how her eyes had been gouged out by a wolf she tried to help, how she had almost died, how the visions started and she lived for seasons in agony.

Adam: 'Oh . . . Well hey, making friends is like taking a first bite of berries. Soem of them look good, but they taste nasty. And some look really bad but they taste great. But you'll go hungry if you don't try to eat them at all. Not that wolves eat berries, but it was the first thign that came to mind and . . . yeah. You get what I mean, right?' ^^;

Venda: *Gives a wry smile and nods* "Yes I guess I do...but I'm afraid I don't like hanging around the berry bush."

Adam: 'Well it doesn't have to be the berry bush. There are apples and pears and pumpkins and squash and fish bushes too you know.' *big grin*

Venda: *She let out a half laugh before sighing* "I'm glad your so optimistic but the world isn't just a garden to roam in. Unlike you I am fully blind Adam if another attacked me or took my food I would be in a bad situation...so it's best to be a little isolated."

Adam: 'But isn't being isolated worse? Then there'd be no-one around to help you if you /do/ get attacked.' *blinks* 'The world might not be a garden, but there's plenty of life in it to be one, and a looooootta trees to bump into. If you know others, then they can help you and talk with you and not make you feel so alone.'

Venda: *snorts* "I know about bumping into trees...I guess your right...a friend wouldn't...hurt" *Maybe, but the only fiends she had such nice lives she didn't want to intrude on them. Besides what kind of a friend was she? She was useless!*

Adam: 'No you're not.' *unwittingly catches that last tidbit, frowning slightly* 'Everyone is different. Look at you and me even! But that doesn't mean we're useless. How many wolves have visions or can read minds?'

Venda: "Adam...could you always read minds?"*She asked softly, curious*

Adam: *shakes head* 'I couldn't always half-see either; that came weeks after I was born. I went and visited a tree because it was really pretty in the moonlight, and somehow I got pulled into this group of adults and this one guy was there that I'm not sure was a seer or a shaman or both, but he spoke in my mind and made me remember my family and . . . And then said I could be something more if I tried but that it wouldn't be easy. And then he did something funny that made me feel warm and told me to go out and learn to control these powers.'

Venda: "Then how do you know someday these powers won't all go away?" *She frowned.*

Adam: 'I don't.' *tiny shrug* 'If they do go away, then I guess I go back to charades. Buuuut there's no point in worry if it's gonna happen or not, methinks, 'cause then it'd be a waste of having them right now. I told the magical tree guy that I'd use them to help others, so that's what I'm gonna do 'til the day they go away. Well, /if/ they go away.' 8D;

Venda: *sighs at the male before smiling softly and shaking her head* Ever the optimist...well I wish you luck in using your ability to aid others. Thank you...for your company, I must say I've enjoyed it.

Adam: *tailwags* 'Same! You should totally come back with me. That way, you won't have to be alone anymore. I don't think Mama Kalama would mind you either . . . Wait, was it white or black that she liked more?' *muses to self with a little frown, then shrugs it off with a goofy grin* 'Oh well, I'm used to her calling me ugly, so you'll probably look better in comparison.'

Venda: Perhaps some other time...we could meet again and travel a while together. I'm not certain about being too close to others just yet. I see so many things and it still hurts...often I'm rather...useless. *she frowned*

Adam: *crestfallen* 'I don't think you're useless. I mean, at least you see things. I don't get any visions right now. Maybe we could both find someone to teach us better together!' *He was pleading at this point, wanting to have some sort of friend that could understand the life of a seer and not be miles away; sure, reading minds eliminated any problems distance had, but it wasn't the same as knowing you could see and smell and hear that wolf with you*

Venda: I'll be nearby don't fret...and once I feel a bit better I'll travel with you. *She didn't want to be a burden on anyone. Still it was obvious that even this young male needed companionship. He had the same gift that she did, it would be cruel to deny him friendship.* I promise... *she added softly with a nod*

Adam: 'Soon, okay? You promise me soon.' *wouldn't budge on her word until she agreed, because words were a binding contract yes?*

Venda: *Sighs and smiles before nodding, amused at his youthful persistence.* Yes soon, and you always know how to reach me...anyway. *She would need to take some time alone to rest before trying to shield her mind so she could travel with the young male and his companion.*

Adam: 'Good!' *Grinning once more, he nudged her gently with his snout and stepped back* 'I better get back to Mama Kalama, she'll probably go on without me . . . Upyeah, she's on the move.' 8D; 'Keep your promise, Venda: soon!' *turns and begins to try and bound along forward to eat up the distance between himself and the alpha, stumbling a few times*

Venda: *Listens to the stumbling and tries to focus a moment getting a flickering image of the young male loping away. She sighed and let the image fade her temples throbbing a bit before she turned and slunk away.*