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 Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 8:24 pm
Apate was a curious pup, and not prone to listening to her elders. Which is why she found herself wandering the northern forest alone at an age where she should have still been wandering near the den.
Her ears swiveled constantly, taking in every sound as her eyes drank in all the sights of the forest. Birds danced in the trees overhead, watching her passage. She fancied that they were talking about her as they sang their songs back and forth, and she wagged her tail, enjoying the freedom that disobeying brought to her.
The pup's paws were huge but silent on the forest floor, her instincts keeping her quiet even though she lacked the experience of a hunter. Even so, large game(large to her anyway), still bounded away at her approach. The rabbits and deer made her mouth water, and she smiled, knowing that some day, they would feel her bloodlust on the hunt.
Stopping in a small clearing made by a herd of deer, she sat and lifted her nose to the sky, tongue lolling as she happily panted, unaware of anyone approaching her.
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Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 9:46 pm
 Other wolves would've been worried.
They would've possibly fretted over their sister's safety or where she may have gone, with eyes sweeping over the forest and examining every rock and tree branch as a possible suspect to her disappearance. Someone could've taken her! What if she was in trouble? Obviously, these thoughts were the farthest from the male's mind. He knew if anything the one he should be worried for was who Cringe met, who she caused trouble for.
Still he searched for her. Why? Because it was his job. It had always been his job and Quake expected nothing other from life than to follow her. To protect her. Watch over her. Without this being accomplished, the large male found himself tracking her just so he could resume it.
He didn't dwell on the inner workings of this philosophy. He simply walked. He didn't bother to think of his own safety, he didn't need to. His mother had given him the stealth necessary to survive, his unknown father the physical heft and strength to keep his family safe. An ear twitched and a silver gaze turned, and not long walking towards the noise he found a young pup lolling in a clearing.
"Where are you parents?" Quake's deep voice rumbled, though his tone was calm. As a pup, a large part of his education had been exploration of the lands. But he was never without his mother near, and Agua Azul was expansive enough he never actually passed the packlands. But he knew this was not the case with most families, and with a quick nose's twitch he wasn't certain whether he had passed any pack boundaries coming upon the female.
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Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 11:13 pm
The pup startled, looking over her shoulder at the big black wolf that had appeared from no where. She spun around and bared her puppy teeth, her entire body quivering, whether from excitement or fear, she didn't know.
"My mother is out hunting, my father is somewhere being crazy. Why are you on my packlands?" she snarled, not knowing it was a comical gesture from so young a pup. But Apate had a habit of acting older than she truly was.
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Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2010 12:55 am
Quake remained motionless and unphased by the action. How could he not? The little female came up to his knees, perhaps a bit higher. He didn't find it comical in the least, though he didn't really have much of a funny bone, just. . . he didn't have an exact word for it. Pitying didn't sit right and foolish, though possibly apt, didn't sum it all up.
The word he was looking for was endearing. He found her aggressive display endearing.
His head tilted slightly, silver eyes looking the pup over before responding. "Looking for someone." Quake answered, having one of his questions answered. "Whose lands do I stand on, other than 'yours'?" He responded quickly after, changing the subject. He was never good at lying, though this departure and mission was not a thing he believed others needed to necessarily worry about.
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Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2010 1:14 am
Affronted that he didn't seem phased by her actions, she stalked towards him with her little tail held high, ruff bristling in indignation. If she had been taller, she would have been nose to nose with him, but as it was, she stood stiff-legged in front of him and barely came up to the bottom of his chest.
"Acropolis, the mightiest pack in these parts. We rule on the edge of the world." Nodding her head proudly, she started to walk around him, sniffing him out and eying him up and down. Someday, she would probably find him quite attractive. But now she didn't even know about such things.
"Looking for who?" she asked shortly after, mint green eyes glinting. He had changed the subject too quickly, and it intrigued her. She knew all about adults changing subjects; it happened to her often enough when she asked Dione about her father.
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Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2010 11:59 pm
"My family. Though you have not seen them. I would've smelled them on you."
Quake replied, having to crane his neck downward to look upon the feisty pup, though permitted her to move about him long enough to sniff then began to nudge her back with a paw. The male was certain he would've stepped on her otherwise.
"Is there no-one out here watching you?" He asked, ears twitching as he glanced about. He couldn't smell or hear anyone in the proximity, though an introduction of a stranger in the pack lands would've certainly been enough to alert them to come from hiding. "Or are you lost in your own backyard?" A hint of a smile twitched at his lips, though the likelihood of it was slim. The pup understood it was within its own lands, so it must know where it was.
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Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 4:13 pm
Apate bristled slightly, puffing out her chest. "I'm not lost!" she snapped, glancing around non-the-less to make sure she wasn't lying. But no, she knew her surroundings and the direction she would need to take to get back home.
"I don't need a baby-sitter," she added, her expression turning haughty. She grinned up at him, her elongated little fangs glinting. "I'm quite independent," the little pup spouted, her head held high, tail aloft. She pranced around him like a little princess.
"You must be lost....If you're searching for your family in a land owned by mine. Clearly you don't know where you're going."
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Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 7:40 pm
Cute.
It wasn't a word that passed his mind often.
Most cases Quake wouldn't even consider it as an actual word, at least not one he needed at all. Nothing in his life was that 'cute': squirrels and baby bunnies were delicious, wolves other than his family were practically non-existent (in the case he did find them they were not as enthralling as the quick femme) and flowers and butterflies just served as background to his life.
The twitch grew and awkwardly spread across half his muzzle. Awkward because of large wolf it was on it was not seen as innocent as it was, but seedy.
"I concede that one to you pup." The male nodded, dipping his head in mock defeat to her. "I don't know where I'm going." He paused for a moment. There was certainly a deeper meaning behind that one, but it wasn't his problem to contemplate it.
"You said Acropolis was on 'the edge of the world'?" For a moment he almost believed her, and it would've been a lot easier on his part to have ruled out past these lands. But there was no edge of the world, and it was still a young one saying it.
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Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2010 6:35 pm
She beamed at being right, and nodded her head once. "That's right. The edge of the world. It is the most beautiful thing, and would make even a big brute like you seem small. I can show you," she added quickly, a sly smile spreading her maw.
Oh how badly she wanted to prove to him the truth of her words, that her packlands were the most glorious of them all. Because really, how many could gloat that they touched the clouds?
True, here amongst the trees, the banks of cottony white were torn to shreds rather quickly, but out in the field, they danced just above the ground, sometimes brushing the tall grasses. It was the most amazing feeling, to run through a cloud; it usually left her fur misted with dew, turning her white coat into a sea of glittering droplets.
She bounced around him and pushed against his back leg, basically headbutting him. "C'mon! Or are you afraid?"
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Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2010 6:50 pm
He considered for a moment. He certainly had better things to do, more miles to put on his heavy paws in search of his dear Cringe. But the persistence and cheerfulness of the pup amused him in ways he scarcely experienced. Granted, he wasn't out much but it was refreshing, if just for a bit.
The brute comment didn't pass by him so easily, though he assumed the pup meant no ill word by it. It was an apt description, he assumed.
Was he scared? No. The male had never been scared. Fear had been, well, scared out of him as a pup. Fear was a mind-killing thing, and wits were always needed about oneself. Apprehension and distrust, caution even? Those were necessary for survival. Fear is only what prey felt.
"Go on, pup." He nodded after she knocked her tiny head against his leg, pushing her off with a nudge of his own head. "Show me your edge of the world."
There were edges, Quake knew. Agua Azul ended in jarring cliffs that dropped off into the ocean, in other spots slowly flowing from sandy beaches out. That was the edge of the land, but the sea still went on. He had little belief in a true edge of the world.
"But keep clear of your packmembers." He cautioned to her. The less knew he was about, the better his situation. Strange wolves were scarcely welcomed in others lands without a certain amount of pomp and circumstance. And that sort of thing only irritated him.
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Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2010 7:12 pm
Wagging her little tail, the pup dashed off immediately, rather quick for her small size, but her legs were clearly long for her age; she would be a leggy creature when she got older, a runner that would rival them all.
She never looked back, confident that he would follow her as she led him towards the plateau. The pup heeded his words however, taking him in a wide arc around the pack dens. When they broke from the tree line, she opened her maw in a wide grin.
Yes! The clouds were here today, gliding low over the plains. She looked back, wondering if he had ever seen such a thing. It had confused her the first time she'd seen them, until her grandmother Dione had explained that the elevation of the lands allowed such things to happen, and that on the mountains to the north, the land usually rose higher than even the clouds.
She didn't dwell long, running without any sign of tiring until she heard the roar of the river that marked the eastern border of their lands. This, she followed south until suddenly the roar grew into a near deafening cacophany as the river plunged over the plateau that made up the southern border of Acropolis.
To a pup, it was truly the edge of the earth; hundreds of feet below them, the southern forests stretched on endlessly into the horizon, the clouds that danced along the plains of the packlands drifting lazily over the edge of the plateau to continue their journey into the distance.
"See, I told you," she said with pride, her head and tail held high, tongue lolling from their run.
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Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 10:40 am
Head up, quickly checking his surroundings he followed the pup at a gentle lope, keeping one eye on the multi-coloured pup and the other on the surrounding vegetation. He paused only for a moment to sniff the wind several times before starting off again, easily keeping with the pup.
Even if he didn't encounter any of the members, he would do well to be able to find his way back in any case.
Quake didn't assume the pup would leave him, but it was still good to be sure. A good wolf never left his back uncovered.
He followed her unwaveringly, and as she broke across to the plains he slowed. Indeed it took him by surprise.
The air smelled wet with the clouds swept low, and it puzzled his perspective to indeed see them this close. Yet it was no trick.
With the soft sound of thudding paws the male tore his eyes away from the sight before him(he wasn't even certain how to explain it) and followed her again till they reached the 'edge'. His ears were ringing on account of the waterfall and it took a moment for the fur on the ridge of his neck to lay flat. He surveyed the scene quietly for a moment.
"You say Acropolis rules the edge of the world but there is land down there. Does no-one claim them?" He gestured with a short nudge of his nose. As spectacular a sight it was, he seemed to be more preoccupied with the reality of it.
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Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 11:38 am
Apate cocked her head to one side, thinking. She had noticed the land below, but had truly never thought anything of it. She wrinkled her nose as she thought.
"Well....I know that we rule from this edge here to the foot of the mountains to the North. From the river there, to the middle of the forest that's to the west. I'm not sure who, if anyone, rules down there," she said, laying down with her head hanging over the edge, ears pricked far forward.
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