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 Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 8:21 am
Calandra pushed herself as she smelled the borders of the pack. Should she call ahead? Warn Rage she was coming?
She almost couldn't make the effort.
It had been a bone-wearying pace Calandra had put herself to. Instead of the week it usually took to reach Outriders from Akiiki, Calandra had made the trip in four days. She was hungry, tired, but relieved she was finally back. Evadne and Indeygo had only crossed her mind once on the trip home, but by the time she left Akiiki they would have been long-gone from the YMCA anyway. That meant she had a clear path home and she didn't think Possum would recover soon enough to follow her back. If he followed her at all.
It had taken weeks for Calandra to realize that she loved Possum. Loved him, but not in the right way. Not like a mate. He was sweet, attentive, clearly fixated on her, but though she loved being near him it was the love of a friend, the love of a good time. Well, Possum had certainly shown her a good time.
Calandra frowned. That was almost a self-deprecating thought. Not appropriate. The irritation with herself gave her a spike of energy that she used to tilt her head back and call ahead to give Rage warning, before she continued on to her den.
Calandra returns.
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Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 8:29 am
He loved water, loved to be by it, in it. He'd been for a dip earlier and was using the excuse of drying off to laze in the sun. It wasn't as though he had anything better to do. There was noone to take care of or feed except himself, noone to worry about, either. No responsibilities, but... no friends, companions. Others.
Now, what had it been which had caught his attention. A wolf nearby making a fair bit of noise. Not too unusual - there were a good number of wolves in the nearby pack and most were friendly, kind, nothing to worry about. So why was his brain trying to pull his attention to that particular...
Cali? His head came up quickly, suddenly he was all alert. Calandra was nearby, had come back?
The welcoming howl, when it came back, was not from one of her packmates but an old friend.
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Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 8:40 am
The return howl wasn't from the direction of the dens. It wasn't even from Rage.
Calandra stopped dead, frozen in place, as she recognized Ouranos's howl. Her head turned in that direction. The Glen had dissolved. Why had she not thought about where he might end up? Ouranos didn't seem like the type to just travel. Of course he would stay close. She wasn't sure if she could face him this tired and so soon after arriving home.
Part of her, the part that needed pack, whined. She wanted comfort, and from anyone she could think of she would want it most from her friend, but the thought of him discovering so soon that she had been... well. She wasn't mated to anyone, so it wasn't unfaithful, but... Well it wasn't dirty. She and Possum had just been unfortunate. Or fertile. Something.
Pregnancy apparently made her lose her head.
Calandra turned in his direction without thinking and gave a short, questioning howl back. If she positioned herself downwind, he shouldn't notice. It was too soon to show, yet. Despite her assurances to herself and her planning, her stomach flipped. She'd tried very hard not to think about how to explain this to him on her trip home. Thankfully, she'd been so focused on moving as fast as possible that she hadn't had much time to. Now she kind of wished she had thought of something to say.
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Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 8:48 am
Ouranos moved quickly, splashing across the stream to the other bank and heading towards the Outrider's territory. It took him a little while to catch up to where Cali had come from - the ground here was scuffed too much to see the tracks of one particular wolf and she must have been sitting downwind from him as he couldn't catch the scent of her to follow either.
Heading towards where her den had once been, having heard her call in that direction, he finally came upon her. "Calandra, you're back!" he grinned, feeling a lot more alive than he had done in some time. It was so good to see a familiar face - ever since the Glen pack's horrific dispersal he'd mostly kept to himself, not trusting to make a journey away, waiting to see if anyone came back. None had, not from his pack, but here was Cali!
"It's good to see you" he smiled, "though you look a little tired - I'm sorry, I didn't mean to keep you from your den. I could come see you after you've had a rest if you want? Let you have a bit of peace?" he would have held no ill will if she'd decided to do so rather than chatting to him, no matter how keen he was to talk and see someone he knew. She was back, there'd be plenty of time to catch up when she wasn't exhausted, he could wait a few more hours.
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Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 8:56 am
If she hadn't already been home, Calandra would have thought the tightness in her chest when she saw Ouranos was homesickness. It probably still was. The thought that Oura meant home was strange, since he wasn't a member of the Outriders (as far as she knew, anyway), but he'd helped her teach Evadne and Indeygo to hunt. She had spent a fair bit of time with him, considering he was from another pack. It made some kind of sense that in some way he would be part of her concept of home.
She smiled broadly in spite of herself and resisted the urge to go over and nudge him. "Oura. It's good to see you." She knew she looked as tired as she felt, so it wasn't surprising that he commented on it. Here was concern with no motive behind it, no clinging. Sometimes too much attentiveness made her hackles stand on end, but this.. This was easy. The concern of a friend to a friend and nothing more. This was something she was familiar with and could handle. No confusion or trying to figure out the right way to approach things. With Ouranos, she rarely had to think about giving more than one kind of answer.
"No, no, it's fine." Her tail wagged behind her, showing she wasn't just saying that for show. "I was heading back, but I'm sure Rage will give me time to settle in before she comes to see how the journey went. You could walk with me back, if you wanted? I would like a chance to see how much cleaning I'm going to have to do to make my den livable again before I take a nap that will last for a week." Her tired but easy smile invited him to share in the joke.
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Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 9:33 am
Ouranos grinned at the resumption of their easy friendly dialogue. The world felt a little brighter now that she was back - a friend, a kind one, willing to put up with him. "Oh, I'm sure it's not all that bad... I mean I'm sure the first badger who decided to move in kept out the rest" his smile was gently mischievous.
"If you want I'm a fair hand at keeping a den tidy" it wasn't pushy, just offered with his usual easy helpfulness. "And I'd be happy to walk back with you" he added.
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Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 9:45 am
"Thank you," she replied. "Well." She tipped her head in the direction of the den and led the way. The breeze was coming mostly from behind them, so it should blow her scent the other way. Besides, it would seem odd if she asked him to lead the way to her den when he'd only been there once, if that.
"I'm not sure I can take advantage of such a nice offer. I used to have Eva and Indy help me, but I think this cleaning is one I'll have to do on my own. I can't intrude on you like that."
She glanced over and slightly back at where he was following her. One time she had compared her meeting with him to that of meeting Possum. She'd remembered then that Possum had acted more restricted, more mature than Ouranos. That wasn't really accurate. They were nothing alike, and although Ouranos lacked the usual self-serving gene that came with adults, he was certainly no thoughtless pup. Just eager to help those he thought of as needing help.
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Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 3:47 pm
Oura followed at an easy pace, his long stride tempered so as not to end up out ahead of his companion. "If you don't want me there I won't intrude but I honestly can't say I have anything much better to do" he said with a soft, self-deprecating smile.
"How are Eva and Indy, they're not with you?" he asked. He had hesitated to ask before, not wishing to poke at any sore spots... but now she'd brought them up he felt free to ask. "Seems like only yesterday we were taking them through their paces, teaching them to hunt. They grow up so fast". His tone was soft, slightly rambling, inviting her to talk if she wanted.
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Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 4:00 pm
Calandra felt a stab of embarrassment. She hadn't meant to remind him of the Glen like that. Truth be told she wasn't sure exactly what had happened for them to disband, but obviously any wolf was going to be sorry or even touchy over their pack dissolving and leaving them homeless. She was more than happy to let him steer the conversation back to her children, although that did remind her she was keeping secrets.
"They did grow up quickly, didn't they. I let them go on ahead. We ran into an old friend of mine. Between his insistence and Evadne--" She shared a smile with Oura, "-- I didn't have much choice but choose to stay a while at Akiiki. I have no doubt Evadne and Indeygo have long since moved on. I..." She swallowed and looked up as if she was checking the time to cover her pause. "I thought it would be better to come back than to try to chase them down. They wanted to do this on their own anyway. I keep telling myself they'll be fine."
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Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 4:20 pm
Oura nodded, understanding. He'd lost children himself and whether to the wilds, death or simply adulthood drawing them away it was never a thing a parent could ever truly get over. There was always that niggling feeling that they should still be underfoot, still need to be looked after and that the world would surely treat them cruelly.
He didn't like to dwell on such thoughts, though, they took him to the dark place he'd been only just able to claw himself out of. He didn't want to utter false platitudes, though, so he switched the topic again.
"It's been a while since I've been to the seaside. Maybe once you're settled back in we could have a wander that way - I don't like to walk through Outriders' territory alone and the nearest beach otherwise is a bit more of a walk than I'd usually bother with otherwise. Did you miss it, when you went inland?"
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Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 4:28 pm
Calandra knew she would need a few days sleep, but she hadn't seen Ouranos in months. She wanted to spend time with him.
... Well, the last time hadn't turned out exactly as she'd planned but she was going to learn to stop regretting that. Oura was different, anyway. Closer to her age. He understood life a little better and their relationship was just.. different. Well, he also wouldn't think of her the way Possum had.
"I did miss it, a little. I think I've gotten more used to the sea than I ever did to being inland." She smiled and did a little skipping step that allowed her to fall back from her leading position and brought her perfectly alongside him. The den wasn't far now. "I think a trip to sea would be perfect. Give me a night to rest and I'll be happy to go with you."
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