Agrona was annoyed and annoyance usually led to anger with her, she staked away from the pack unwilling to confront anyone and into the woods. She had seen her mother with that male again, she wanted to hurt him, make him hurt the way she did...inside. She thought of her brother who was gone probably forever, and of the way her mother had let her go. She had wanted to protect her family, except she didn't have one all she had was Piper and Lilith the two females who had told her to be strong and stand up for herself.
She had dedicated her life to protecting Piper serving as a bodyguard of sorts to the alpha. Yet at times like these when she wasn't needed and the loneliness sank in...it made her see red. She threw herself down with an angry huff staring into a stream as it trickled past her. Her eyes gleamed in the wavering reflection and she lifted her lips in a small snarl.
Gradually the sound of a tenor toned voice drifted down the river. The water shaman was, as he always did, following his constant companion where she led him, heeding her warnings of danger where he needed to, sleeping under an open sky most nights, trusting that she was watching his back, so to say. Besides, with his control over water now being near it was the safest thing for him. He was no fighter, really, but mainly because he had focused on honing his skills instead. Maybe someday he'd become better at fighting, but for now he had all the protection he needed.
"Are you sure you don't wind this way twice...? Okay! Just teasing!" The voice laughed, answering an unseen other person as he came within view. Suddenly the tall figure stopped. "What? There's a girl ahead?"
Agrona frowned at her reflection and swiped her paw at the ribbon that dangled from her ear. She had found it and taken a fancy to it, it was childish perhaps but she he kept it. Unable to quite make a pretty bow she had simply hung it from her ear. Her ears perked suddenly as she caught the sound of a voice and she lept to her paws. A soft growl escaped her but she clamped her throat closed trying to stay quiet. She wondered who was nearby and what they wanted.
She slunk down alongside the river her ears pinned back and eyes glowing and narrowed ahead. It sounded like whoever it was had company and she wasn't about to be ambushed. The idea of a friendly stranger didn't even occur to her.
"Um, whose there? Hope I'm not tresspassing or anything." He called ahead tentatively, moving further along the river slowly, hoping no one was going to jump out at him. Accidentally drowning a wolf, soaking a friend, or scaring the fur off some poor guard was not at the top of his list of things to do with a knee-jerk, panic enduced reaction.
No other wolf was in view as he came within Agrona's line of sight, but he kept murmuring.
"Crap... I should probably consider paying more attention to scents as I'm going."
Who in the world was that he was talking to, she slipped forward and then frowned. "Who are you talking to?" She asked harshly her voice a growl as usual. She might have simply attacked, but there was no one here to defend. Besides she really was curious if this male was inside or if he had a companion she couldn't see. Her gaze even flicked upwards trying to spot a bird in the trees. What's distracting your attention, she wondered.
Rio was startled by the harshness of her tone, but it wasn't the first time he'd been mistaken for insane and wouldn't likely be the last for a while. He offered a placating, sheepish grin and lowered his head, ears tucking against his head as well, embarrased.
"S-Sorry, I didn't realize you were so close! I was just talking to my traveling companion here."
He didn't hesitate in swinging a paw over to motion to the stream, watching her cautiously. She was definitely not happy to see him, he might have to run for his life, but... he hoped not.
"I'm Rio."
"What traveling companion?!" She growled with a frown and advanced on him her head turning as she tried to find where this mysterious wolf was. Was this wolf completely insane or were her senses failing her?
She slowly rose out of her crouch and looked towards where he was motioning. "Your reflection?" She asked skeptically a brow raising. "Rio hmm? I'm Agrona..."
His eyes widened a little at her outburst, not really shocked, but worried he had pushed her further without intending to. He felt a back paw take a step back on instinct, but he held his ground.
"N-Not the reflection!" He answered, sounding nervously amused. "I'm a shaman, water shaman! I, uh, I hear the water's voice in my mind."
She sat down and looked at him curiously still not looking convinced. "A shaman? A Water Shaman? Do you really think I'm going to believe that?" She scowled and looked around again. "Alright...prove it." She was still wary that another wolf was about to jump out and bushwhack her.
In truth though she had a feeling that Rio wasn't lying, infact he looked somewhat nervous. It was like he was...scared of her of something. She knew she could be intimidating but this male was large and had somekind of companion.
For a moment Rio just stared, but then his eyes drifted back to the water, half whispering.
"I know, but she wants to see. I don't want her to think I'm crazy." He muttered as quietly as he could, flashing her another nervous, tooth grin after.
Straightening, he began to focus, just a bit, until he could feel the familiar flow of energy. The once calm stream suddenly came to life, water splashing up onto the ground and winding a new, shallow path through the grass before looping back into the stream again. It began to surge stronger gradually until it looked as if it had always been there, a natural deveation and rejoining.
"... I'd rather if not a lot of others know, though. I just don't want you to think I'm some insane, compulsive liar, seniorita."
It was only a small source, so there wasn't a lot that he could think to do with it as a simple demonstration
Her eyes narrowed as he started muttering to some invisible companion, was he trying to prove he wasn't crazy by talking to the water? His grin only made her scowl deepen as she watched him warily waiting for an attack of somekind. Then the water splashed up and her frown was replaced by a look of awe. Her mouth opened slightly and her eyes widened in glowing appreciation as the water formed a new path and then reconnected itself to the stream.
She looked back at Rio and blinked shaking her head and looking back at the water. She wanted to tell him it was incredible, that she had never seen anything like it...but instead she sat down and cocked her head.
"I guess you weren't lying..." She was impressed she just didn't know how to express much besides...anger.
"Well I know how to keep my mouth shut I won't tell anyone if thats what you want. Seniorita? Whats that?" Her gaze narrowed a bit as if trying to figure out if she had just been insulted in some shaman tongue.
He caught the look on her face as she watched the water move, which was good enough for him. He didn't need boundless praise to see that she was indeed impressed, and it gave him a good feeling not to be feared or shunned.
"It's just a term for female... you know, like lady? It's nothing offensive, I promise!" He winked. "I would appreciate that, it gets kind of hard to get privacy if too many people know you've got special abilities."
"Oh..." She looked at him mildly surprised, she was hardly thought of as a lady. Infact most of the time she was treated with the same attitude one would a dangerous junkyard dog. She didn't mind the fear so much, at least others left her alone. Overwhelming emotions like sadness couldn't touch her if she was busy being angry.
"Your not THAT special...but I get not wanting to be intruded on. Next thing you know they'll be wanting you to redirect inconvenient rivers..." She snorted and shook her head.
Anyone else might have had their ego popped at that statement, but Rio just laughed. Maybe to her he really wasn't, for all he knew she knew of other shamans and he was just one of many these days. He didn't really care, he lived life and was....... mostly happy, if not riddled with regrets.
"Exactly. Or predict the weather."
It was mainly thanks to his energy being tied to his element, though. Even as a younger wolf he'd always had a "feeling" about when it was going to rain or storm. He'd put that power to the best use he could for the Outriders before he disbanded from the pack. Without the others "with" him it just hadn't been the same.
"So, my name is Rio, by the way. What does the beautiful lady go by?"
"You can do that?" She looked at him trying to figure out if he was toying with her or not. Of course he had already proven to her he could do something more impressive then predict the weather. She had never met a seer or a shaman and to realize any wolf had such abilities was a surprise, but her face gave little clue to her inner reactions.
She felt her face heat and almost looked away at being called beautiful. No one had ever called her that, or a lady, still she kept her head high her gaze fixed on his. "I'm Agrona..." She normally didn't find herself at such a loss, she could normally be angry with another wolf or ignore them. Rio however was trying to have somekind of friendly conversation with her, which left her at a bit of a loss.
"That's a lovely name, it's nice to meet you, Agrona." He replied easily, grinning again. "I can just kind of feel it when rain is about to fall. It's just a gut feeling that it's close by. Snow too." He didn't claim to really get how his power worked, but just as Sol-un was able to follow the journies of the wind, so too could Elphaba follow the happenings of the forest through the trees, and Rio himself through the travels of the rivers and streams, oceans, lakes, and ponds as the water told it's story.
He was enjoying talking to her, resisting the overwhelming instinct to whine happily as a content feeling settled in the pit of his stomach and built up in his chest all at once.
He stayed quiet though, tail thumping softly on the ground instead.
Her tail gave a slight waver as he called her name lovely before it halted. He was being so...nice, it wasn't something she was exactly used to. Compliments and speaking on such friendly terms it was new to her and as much as she liked it, it made her wary. Still she was fascinated by his explanation. He really could predict bits of weather then, things like rain and snow.
"So..what brings you this way...Rio?" His named rolled off her tongue easily enough. She was curious what he was doing around, he was fairly close to the pack after all. However she didn't actually want to threaten him away, he was the first wolf who actually saw her as more then a...violent meatshield.
She really wasn't budging much for smiles, which was unfortunate, but just made him more determined. To see anyone so easily resist smiling, especially a female, was a travesty in his eyes.
"Traveling, just following the river here!" He always stuck by the water, though it sometimes got him into trouble, and sometimes he had to go without, but after five years, being anywhere but near the water's edge was terribly lonely. God help him if he ever had to move. He'd need company just to make the trip without going insane.
"You must like being near the water feeling safe and secure...in your element. Yet I must warn you there is a pack nearby their the territory blocks the paths to the ocean, if thats your destination you'll have to go around." She felt it only fair to keep him from getting into trouble, not that it mattered since she would be the enforcer. It was her usual job to keep others from getting too far into the territory.
"Si, I do. I should be careful to avoid them then? Are they hostile to outsiders?" He tilted his head a bit, but seemed perfectly relaxed, smiling. Hey, she was worried enough about a stranger to offer a friendly warning, it was progress from before, right? From thinking he was a threat at least.
"I'm the hostile one...I suppose I could escort you through and make sure you don't cause any trouble. At least make sure that you get to the ocean, that must be your goal? The pack isn't exactly welcoming but we don't kill strangers passing by. I just tend to be the one who stops any outsiders from cutting through our land, it's a bad habit." She snapped her teeth in mild annoyance before looking at him and frowning.
"Sorry...no offense, I simply tend to...react poorly to company." Still this was the longest she had managed to converse with someone without growling or attacking. Her ears fell back as she sighed, no wonder she was so isolated.
"I wouldn't have guessed it." He answered truthfully, laughing a bit, but grinned after, wuffing softly. "You seem perfectly friendly to me. Guess that's saying something for your pack then, I guess? Don't worry about it." His tail wagged more noticeably now,
He meant it, too, she seemed friendly to him. He thought he sensed a kind heart under the perceived aggression. Besides, wasn't it in their nature to be aggressive as a species? Sure, not everyone acted on it, but--
He may seem like a crazy dolt on the outside, but he was actually quite intelligent and skilled at reading others, at least those that he could likely relate to.
"I'm...surprised as well to be honest...maybe your just...soothing." She wrinkled her nose and eyed him again before the corner of her mouth twitched slightly. It was as close as she had gotten to a smile in a very long time.
"So your a loner...that must be...lonely." She frowned realizing how foolish that sounded. Hey she was in a pack and she felt fairly lonely at times as well. Still she didn't quite understand the idea of living alone.
For all that she thought she sounded silly, Rio couldn't help but laugh, even if just a little. It wasn't ill-intended, and he was glad to hear she found his presence to be comfortable.
"It is when there's no water around... She's usually happy to keep me company, so to speak. I used to have a pack. There was the one I was born into, but I, um..." A flash of memory, his best friend and first love, flitted across his mind's eye. He felt the gentle brush of the water grounding him again as his paw was resting near the stream still. "I outgrew it." There was more to it, actually, but he didn't think it was appropriate first time conversation material. "I used to be a channeler for the Outriders after that, had a mate and kids... A pack right on the shore of the ocean, actually, but I guess I outgrew that too. I was still new to my abilities then. I had barely learned how to do anything before I'd joined, so really the extent of my tasks were to give the alphas advice about the weather and heal the ocassional injury if it was serious enough. I'm kind of avoiding the southern sea for now, in either case." He flashed a small, sheepish grin by means of hiding the pain his collective past brought with it. He didn't want her to feel like she had to feel sorry for him, he had ghosts in his past, but not really any different than anyone else. "But hey, everyone's got problems, right?"
Agrona looked at him mildly surprised wondering at his words. She glanced at the stream and tilted her head. She had never thought of the water as female, but Rio obviously did. She frowned and looked at him surprised to hear he had a family. Her heart suddenly felt tight in her chest and she turned her head with a soft lifting of lips. She almost growled but somehow she managed to control her voice and while it was still harsh it wasn't a snarl.
"Did you leave your mate and pups? Did you outgrow them and just move on?" Her voice trembled as the pain of never knowing her own father surfaced. She looked at Rio her eyes gleaming, she wanted to know what made males leave their families.
Had he thought about his wording? Not really, he usually just spoke from the heart, unless he needed to choose his words more wisely than usual. So when she reacted, rather than bristling or backpeddling he looked back at her calmly through brown eyes and softly shook his head.
"No. We raised them together. Two boys and two girls, Marco, Angelo, Elda, and Avita. Those boys always got into so much trouble." He tried to laugh it off despite her unease, shaking his head a bit at the memory, especially when he remembered how Marco used to follow him around everywhere. "They're all probably wandering around somewhere. Their mother and I parted on good terms and all, no broken hearts or anything, I just feel like the place isn't home anymore since things have changed so much. I'm not the kind of wolf that walks out on responsibility." He murmured the last part.
She blinked and looked at him for a long moment before frowning and looking down. "Oh...I'm sorry...my own father...well I don't even know who he was." She shrugged and stood looking uncertain suddenly, she had shared something at she suddenly felt vulnerable.
"I shouldn't have been so...accusing ." She finally managed to murmur. "I'm...sorry." She included her ears falling back a bit, she wasn't used to apologizing to anyone for anything. Instead she usually just attacked someone or something.
"Anyone would relate their own situation, it's natural. Don't worry about it, no harm done."
He did get up though, as she did, watching her with concern.
"I'm sorry to hear about your own father though. If it's not too forward of me, he has no idea what he missed out on. Sons may pass on our legacies, but a daughter is any male's true pride and joy."
At least, he felt that way. He loved all his children equally, but he had a natural soft spot for his little girls, he always would.
"Come on, seniorita bonita, won't you smile for me before I'm on my way?"
"I'm still sorry, but thank you for being so...understanding. I've never...really shared how I felt with anyone." Maybe because she was so busy lashing out in anger instead. Still she had found it easier to speak with Rio, was it because he wasn't part of the pack? Or was it simply because she felt something different near him, she felt a sense of trust.
Her eyes suddenly stung with tears but she shoved them back violently. "Yes well...his loss..." But her words were painfully strained, her voice catching. The truth was it had been her loss, the loss of not only a father, but a brother, and then her mother and siblings. Everything she had tried to hold dear to had been taken from her.
She looked up suddenly her glowing eyes meeting his brown ones.
"What if...I don't want you to leave?"
Rio took a step closer when she spoke, smiling a little, despite the memories her question stirred. He was glad to take things slow with her, because with Naib things had started off so explosive and amazing, but then it had fizzled shortly after the pups had grown up, and now look at them. That wasn't to say he felt love sparks right now, but maybe that was because he was older and had more experience. He'd had his heart broken once already, and a hell of a lot of other stuff after along the way here to where he was now.
"I'm not ready to join another pack yet, but if you want me to stay, I can hang around outside of your pack's borders for a while, as long as I'm welcomed..." He offered, watching her for her reaction to the offer. She probably just needed a friendly face, who was he to say no to that?
"Id like that...a friend. You don't need to remain in the pack, or even near here if you don't want to. I'd just like it if we could see each other again?" Her chest was tight even as she asked, she was allowing herself to be weak. She didn't want to ask for anyone to stay, but Rio was someone she wanted to trust. Maybe if she could learn to trust someone she wouldn't feel so isolated.
"Of course," Rio stepped back enough to incline his head in a bow, grinning softly up at her from the ducked position. "I hope you know what you're getting into, mi amigo, I'm practically impossible to get rid of once you invite me." He "warned" playfully, giving her a brighter smile, hoping to assure her that he would stick to his promise.
She slowly smiled her eyes gleaming with undisguised pleasure as she tipped her head. "Consider yourself invited then Rio, I look forward to seeing you again." She stood and let her eyes sweep over him again this time with newfound appreciation, not just for his charm and kindness but also for his good looks. How odd for her to look upon a male in such a way, was this lust then? She hoped not, lust seemed so destructive and dangerous.
"I'll be around then. You need only call for me. I know it sounds kind of crazy--" He laughed at himself, but went on anyway. "--but just call for me near this stream or any connecting waters if you need me. It'll get to me. Or... you know, I guess you could just howl, but, uh, if you don't want the rest of your pack to wonder where you're getting off to or something, yeah.... Heh heh..." Grin.
He seemed sheepish, but not all that embarrased. He seemed damned happy. Hey, he'd just made friends with a very lovely girl, from what he could tell, both inside and out. What wasn't there to be optimsistic about?
"It does sound crazy...but only to someone who doesn't know...I'll use the water call." She glanced down at the stream curiously before nodding. "Until we meet again Rio..." She stood and shook off turning to leave. She paused and glanced over her shoulder at him, she hadn't wanted him to leave...she wanted to be the one to walk away, but she found it impossible not to look back at him.
He laughed again at her reply. Fair enough. "True enough." The brown wolf agreed, staying where he was for the moment as he watched her rise and turn. When she looked back his tail was wagging softly as he prepared to bid her farewell too.
"See you again soon, Agrona. It's been a pleasure." He called after her scincerely, winking as she looked back.
Then, and only then, did he turn to follow the stream back towards someplace where he could hopefully do some fishing, but he snuck in a glance back while he was at it too.
