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 Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 7:46 pm
The first time he had ever occupied this space, he and his brother were free for the first time. On the run from their mother, the idea of their father, and the fear of death, the, then pups, had stopped for only a night to rest, and it had been in this place.
It was here that he and his brother, Rend, had met the pretty pup, Calixte. The brothers had agreed to follow her to her home pack. Maim wondered if Rend still stayed there.
There had been a terrible fight between them, Maim remembered not the context of it, but the brothers both bore scars from the ordeal. Had it been the girl? They had grown up together for a while, and Maim remembered that they both fancied her. Maybe it was the girl.
The big male had no regrets. His brother had stayed with that pack and they had taught him how to hunt, to be a real wolf. Maim had the instinct required, but Rend... Rend had only ever been a burden to the bigger, more confident brother.
Breaking from his reverie, Maim stood and shook his coat out. He felt it was as good a night as any, and with one last glance at the rising moon, the wolf took the last few steps to the crest of the boulder and lept into free air, falling not-so-gracefully into the water below.
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Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 8:12 pm
Her voice had long since lost its usefulness. She had lost track of all semblances of time, having barely noticed the sunrise or sunset of any particular day. She had little idea of when she had last seen another creature, let alone had a meaningful conversation with one. She had been on the run for so long, she'd forgotten what it was like to stand still. Her throat burned with the dryness of thirst, her cracked nose searching for a nearby source of something that might continue to keep the wandering soul alive for just a few more days. She'd been tracking the scent of a rather large body of water for quite some time now, and somehow her paws had managed to lead her to it. Having been alone for so long, she had become fairly skilled at finding water and food when the need was dire.
Finally, after silent, agonizing eternities of mechanical, painful movement of joint and muscle, the trees began to thin, bushes becoming interspersed with the trunks of the leviathans. Through the clearing skyline, she could make out the undeniable shimmer of the thing she most desired. A sticky tongue rolled over an all but decaying nose at the sight of it, a dull set of eyes catching the slightest glimmer in the moonlight. Cautiously, the seemingly old soul pressed her ears as high as they could go, swiveling like a frightened doe atop her head, searching for signs of danger. There were none. A small sigh of relief was the only sign that there was still a personality behind the bony face. Slowly she emerged from the woods, the moon casting light upon her tiny frame. The dim light would have accentuated each rib beneath the scraggly coat, had it not been such a deep shade of black. She scented the air again before stepping daintily toward the pool, her front toes flirting with the liquid as she dipped her head.
As the refreshing water taunted her, she reached out to it with a sandpapery tongue, anxious to have a taste. Eyes as hungry as her meager body, she broke the surface, taking in the tiniest bit of soothing liquid. Just then, a crash alerted her to the presence of another. Jumping back as quickly as she had approached the water, her head raised in high alert. Had this just been her imagination playing tricks on her, or was someone else there? She stared for a moment, watching the water droplets settle back into their source, the ripples stretching like fingers out towards her. It became evident that whatever had made this explosion was big... bigger than she, even. She waited, frozen there alongside the shore, eyes wide with a cowardly fear. If it weren't for her intense thirst, she would have bolted, but her need for quenching planted her feet firmly and, though her legs trembled, she would have little choice but to face whatever it might be once it emerged from beneath the cobalt waves.
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Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 8:41 pm
The big male gasped as he sunk into the water, no longer warmed by the day's hot sun. The chill shocked him from his toes up to the crown of his skull, and suddenly he was ensconced in the wonderful feeling of weightlessness. This was amazing. He hadn't jumped into the water all those years ago, when he was just a small thing - he had been too afraid of making noise that his mother just might hear.
But that was done now, and he had found her and tried to make amends. She would be nowhere near here, and his father, whoever that had been, would be dead by now. There was no one looking for him for negative purposes now, and he liked it that way.
After a few blissful moments of holding his breath, the wolf opened his eyes and lazily let himself float to the surface. The crickets droned in his ears, becoming more real as he broke the barrier between the world below, and the endless sky. A satisfied grin sat square on the male's face as he stared once again up at the moon. It was gorgeous tonight.
He shook his head gently and began to paddle around, amusing himself with watching the ripples he was leaving behind.
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Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 9:16 pm
Tawny eyes searched the water for what seemed like a frightened eternity, hunting for some sign that perhaps the menace would surface and devour her at any moment. She was genuinely startled when he re-emerged and she could see what he was, exactly... at least from the muzzle up. A wolf, no doubt. She scented the air nervously, but even with the water strengthening his odor she only caught a slight whiff--enough to know he was male. What little instinct she had left in her said she best turn tail and run, but she'd long since forgotten how to properly interact with her own kind, and for a moment she just stared, rediscovering the emotion of disbelief.
He was... swimming. He was swimming and enjoying the experience. For a moment, the cognitive gears in her head ground to a halt as she tried to remember exactly if she'd ever had the leisure to go swimming. The answer was a resounding no, and in her current state of fitness, she doubted she'd float if she tried. She watched silently as he paddled around, off in his own little world. Maybe, just maybe, she could slip down to the water's edge undetected and snap up the drink she so desired. Slowly, she put one paw in front of the other, her eyes still on him. He was still a decent distance away from her, and soon her toes were wet once again with the resonating ripples of his playtime. She dipped her head and watched him with an uneasy paranoia as her tongue slipped out, breaking the tension of the surface repeatedly in quiet laps. The icy sensation was wonderful against the dryness of her throat, and soon she was feeling revitalized. She only hoped he wouldn't hear, smell, or see her as she drank. She doubted she'd be so lucky as she listened to each little lick, echoing like a shattering panel of glass in her ears.
Ah, if only she could be immersed in her own silence again, devoid of thought and simply living off of every little sense she sensed. But seeing this other had awakened her own social thoughts, and they began to chatter in her head once more, incessantly urging her to feel and fear. She watched as each tap to the water created a new ripple and held her breath, waiting to be seized at the shoreline.
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Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 4:58 pm
After dipping his head a few times, tossing water playfully in the air and letting it hit the top of his head, Maim realized he was being watched. His spine prickled with the feeling, and he slowly scanned the area, keeping up the illusion that he was still just having fun.
He dunked himself under the water again, and turned a bit before coming back up. This would allow him to scan more of the area without looking completely obvious. When he surfaced once again, he saw the offending creature - who wasn't very offensive at all. He bit back the urge to gasp as he realized that the wolf was extremely thin, and looked like hell. He was almost reminded of his brother, a slight creature who needed constant care. But this was no brother. This watchful creature was female.
He had no idea what to do now, unsure of himself and afraid to scare her off. How did normal wolves handle these confrontations? He just wanted to say hello, maybe have a conversation? He swam closer, slowly, clearing his throat. "Hello, er.. miss?" he smiled as he paddled lazily, keeping himself afloat but not attempting to move closer in case the female spooked and ran.
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Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 6:00 pm
Sip after sip was stolen from the pond as she watched, her heart thumping against her chest as she observed with wide-eyed fear. She knew he would see her. There was no way he couldn't, especially now as he resurfaced for a final time even closer than the other times. She left her head low to the water, retracting her tongue and taking the care to gently moisten her otherwise dry nose once more. He had made her now, and had begun to swim closer. If she turned now, she might be quick enough to bolt out of sight before his paws could hit the sandy shoreline. However, his approach threw her off guard. Normally, she'd have expected a menacing charge to take place, but here he was paddling along at leisure, stretching his body beneath the blue barrier casually. He did not cover distance quickly, nor did he snarl out to her. She tilted her head ever so slightly to one side, feeling the familiar taste of curiosity on her tongue. She kept her tail low so as not to appear threatening. Finally, flopped ears pinned forward to catch a slow, melodic sort of tone.
It was unfamiliar to her ears at first, and she stared almost as if she didn't speak the same wolven tongue of her comrade. She began to wonder if perhaps as she began to interact with the other, the memories of her past might resurface as well. It had been so long since she'd had a civilized thought, but now she was beginning to process his words. After what seemed like an eternity in her head, she slowly licked her jowls and parted her lips, her tongue hunting for the proper groove of speech. "I..." she started, but it came out as little more than a hoarse rasp. She stopped, clearing her throat cautiously before continuing, "I'm... sorry... I didn't.... I didn't mean to.... " she paused for a moment, her eyes going blank before she found the vocabulary she was searching for, "....interrupt." A small sigh of relief escaped her as she leapt the first hurdle of communication. She was glad wolves were smart creatures, otherwise she may have never been able to respond.
Taking a small step back, she lifted her head from the water's edge after catching a particularly startling blow to the nose from one of his offending ripples. She watched him as he hovered away from the shore. He'd used an awfully polite tone of voice with her... she couldn't help but wonder why. She glanced up at the moon momentarily before beginning to shift her weight uneasily. "I'll.... leave you be." She said, almost under her breath in a low mutter. With a quick pivot, she turned her body halfway around and glanced out into the woods before looking back. Although her mouth had said she'd leave, her eyes screamed of the intense inner craving to stay and become wolf once again. Being a lost soul had it's perks.... at least to some... but she was never meant to be a mere fragment of a whole. Though she'd buried this feeling of hope deep within her, the embers still glowed.
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Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 8:10 pm
His head ticked gently to the side as the female apologetically turned to go. She hadn't interrupted him - he hadn't stopped doing what he was doing to seek her out on the edge of the placid water. He could multitask.
He smiled at her as she looked back over her shoulder. She wanted to stay. "No, please." he sidled down the bank, intent on exiting the water without coming closer to her. Maim was still unsure of her behavior, and mostly, did not wish to spook her away. "Stay, talk with me. Watch the sun rise in a few hours." he grinned. Asking her to share his favorite time of day with him was a huge leap, but it was something. It could help soothe the both of them, in time?
He eased himself into sitting, neatly and carefully wrapping his soggy tail around his haunches. He would normally sprawl, but felt that it was best to attempt proper seating etiquette in the company of strange ladies.
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Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 8:34 pm
Just as she had turned herself reluctantly away again, she caught glimpse that he was headed for the shore. Perhaps showing her weak side to him was not the wisest of decisions she'd made, but something told her she'd have been dead by now had he really wanted it so, or if he had spoken under false pretenses. Part of her didn't really care at this point. Unpleasantries flowed in and out of her minds eye as she planted her paws squarely, one lackadaisical ear tilting back towards the sound of his voice. He had offered her the invitation she had secretly been longing for. Turning back slowly, her expression instantly gained a degree of interest. Her face spoke of mild shock at his invitation to say.
Turning back to face him, she turned her head slightly to the side. He had taken a gentlemanly seat by the waterside. He did not approach her, nor did he threaten. Finally, she abandoned the idea of his attacks completely. He was nothing more than a curious wolf who wanted a little company. Didn't they all long for a little company these days? She'd been walking for so long she could feel the weary ache in her legs even as she stood still, a quiet searing running up her shins. It would be nice to sit... to rest. Something about the big male's energy coaxed her quietly forward, as if a warm tongue was lapping at a cold ear in the winter. "Well," she started, taking a single step forward as she thought, "I... don't have anything else to do..." her voice was somewhat distant, as if in a trance and she came forward step after step, bridging the gap between the two of them.
Up close, he was even bigger than she had approximated from afar. Involuntarily she quivered, though from instinctual fright that stemmed from being a small, frail female more than actual sensical fear. Slowly, painfully, she rested her rump on the ground, facing him and glancing momentarily over his shoulder and out into the moon. "The sunrise?" This was something that caught her attention. While she had long since forgotten any particular moment in any particular day, something about the promise of a new start to a new day enticed her. She almost smiled, but her eyes shone with the little excitement she couldn't voice on her own. Snapping back to the present more fully, her eyes settled on his finally (quite a feat for her). "Are you a lonely, wandering soul as well?" She asked quietly, tilting her head again slightly. Her tail remained flat out behind her, allowing her to feel the gravity of the relief of rest. Her body, though frail, seemed to feel like a thousand pounds.
This would be good for her, after all. "Where do you come from?" She added, hoping to find an answer that would satisfy her own lack of a memorable past. He must have some story... something to pass the hours before the sky would reignite into the flames of day.
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Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 9:17 pm
Maim sat neatly, peering at the female through half-lidded eyes, a demure smile on his maw. "My story?" he spoke after she was settled and had found the courage to make eye contact. He enjoyed that for what it was, a mutual respect, in this case. Sure, sometimes it meant a challenge, but he doubted very much that this was such the case.
"Well." he started, re-situating himself so that he was seated beside her and they could both watch the moon. "I was born very close to here, actually." He wasn't sure if he should share the whole grizzly story, but felt that maybe it would be the best start. The truth.
"My mother was forced into birthing us, raped by a terrible wolf who wanted to raise an army to fight for him. To cleanse the area of anything not of his blood. He only wanted males. Three of my sisters were killed at my mother's jaws in those first few weeks, leaving only myself and my brother, Rend.
Mother taught us to fight and be tough, ever watchful of the night that Father would come back, wanting to see the job she had done for him. If she hadn't trained us well enough, he had threatened to kill her and us, and find a more worthy female to bear his offspring.
As soon as we were old enough, we ran." he recounted, forcing his mind back to those days. It wasn't hard now, he had just been thinking of it all before he had made contact with the water.
"We stopped here to rest, at this very lake. I sat on that very rock as a pup and watched my very first sunrise as my brother slept." He turned his head to her and smiled very softly, aloof with the newness of telling someone his story.
"We stayed for days, fearing going any farther and fearing Mother finding us. Soon someone did find us, but she was only a pup. We accompanied her back to her family's pack. I think I loved her, at one point. Rend loved her too, and we fought like brothers should never fight. I abandoned him to that pack, to that girl. I wandered south, to find the pack I had heard rumors about.
Until now, I've lived on the edge of that pack, with my clearing and my small den. The pack is home to every last scrap of family I have, discounting my mother and father, and my brother. I'm sure there are others wandering, but this is a home base for them all. I... have never crossed the border or alerted a scout. They know not that I even exist."
He feared telling her his reasons, for they were strong and harsh. He was afraid of bringing a bad name to his family. He was a product of rape, and meant to be a killer. They should never know he existed, though he played daily with the idea that he could join the pack as a stranger.
Instead, Maim had wandered away, and something had brought him back to this spot, to meet this wolf. "I couldn't tell you why I'm back here, now." he looked up at the moon, then, and flicked his ear to fend off an annoying bug.
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Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2010 6:15 pm
His subtle pleasantries allowed her to put her mind at ease, even just a bit more, and settle into the silence of sitting still more fully. For a moment, she closed her eyes and let out a long breath as if she'd been waiting to for an eternity. The air exiting her lungs filled her with a half-aware sort of relaxation. She couldn't explain precisely why, but something about the big male wolf had allowed her to instantly calm. A faint echo of a memory flitted through her mind, if only for a moment, reminding her that this instant calming sensation had been experienced in the past, though she may never be able to pin down exactly when or who. As he resettled himself to face the moon alongside her, she shivered involuntarily, the fine hair on her back standing up for a few moments before flattening back out.
His story painted a vivid image in her mind, although she had some trouble imagining him as a puppy. It had been so long since she'd seen one so young, it just didn't translate well in her mind's eye. Every word that escaped his lips seemed to linger in her ears for a few seconds, almost like an echo. The tale in its entirety was one of pain and hardship. The wolf that sat before her had been the result of a terrible tyrant--a powerful one, at that--who represented nothing but his fathers mission to create (and, in the process, destroy). He was his father's vision, she was sure, judging by his sheer size and apparent strength. While the entire tale hit close to home with her, what bothered her most deeply was the fact that this wolf had been so close to home for so long... yet nobody had ever found him, and he had never seen them again either. She wondered what, exactly, made him hesitate when it came to a reunion, but she could only imagine he had his terrible reasons. A family created under such pretenses was hardly a family to pine for. She held the question back from her tongue, instead feeling the sharp points of her canines as she ran it across them discretely.
After a long while of simply staring down at her own paws and listening, envisioning the ordeal, she glanced up to him. His eyes were now fixated on the moon, somewhat absentmindedly. For a moment, she wondered what he was pondering, but she let that be as well. In time, she found words, and though she had no story to offer up, she wanted to offer some condolence for his suffering. "Well," she started, her eyes dropping to her paws, then up to the moon, "maybe good things happen for you here." It was a simple insight, but still it had to be said.
"I'm Varicelle." She added quietly, her eyes ticking to his figure for a mere moment before allowing them to settle once again in the slowly descending ball of light. It was a small consolation for his entire life story, but it was the one piece of herself that she'd managed not to lose out here on her own. Sitting here in the night, she was slowly regaining the feeling of wolven normalcy, and although it had been unpleasant and frightening initially, she was beginning to once again become comfortable with the fact that she was a part of his species--and perhaps now a part of his world.
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Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 10:36 am
The big male waited as his companion took in his story, wondering what she thought of him now. He focussed softly on the moon, shifting his paws a bit after a while, itching for a run, or even just a slow wandering walk. He wondered about her history, how she came to be so thin and why she seemed so flighty. These were questions for another time, though. Dragging sensitive issues out to light was not the way to begin with new acquaintances.
As she spoke, he turned his eyes back to her, as transfixed by her features as he ever was by a sunrise, or sunset. "I believe good things are already happening." he gave a small wink, forever a flirt.
He winced as she gave her name, knowing that he would now have to reveal his, and it wasn't in him to lie. His name back his history, gave truth to what he was meant to become. A killer.
"Varicelle... it's a pretty name." he remarked, stalling for the moment, though he felt it very rude to take her name and not give his own. "I am... Maim." He said it softly, trying to take some of the malice out of it. His brother was Rend, though, and there really wasn't much you could do to make either names sound friendly.
As they both stared back at the descending white, he wondered what his sisters might have been called, had they survived his mother's wrath at birthing weak females.
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