Forgive the delay - homework!
The days had begun to melt together again, and Shandom took this as a sign that he would have to return to Cours des Miracles soon. Having lost track of the risings of the sun, he could not quite tell how long it had been since he departed his new home. It had felt so unnatural, so uncomfortable, to be confined within the rules and structure of a pack again, especially one so alien to his native Etienne. The daily life seemed so civilized, so far removed from what he knew as a wolf. To Shandom, it was almost like attempting to interact with a completely alien species. He’d slipped out under the cover of night merely days after joining; his intention, exploration.
It was nice to be reunited with his thoughts and his four paws, though he’d slipped into his optime form a few times to get himself adjusted. As the virus made him just as adept on two legs as he was on four, it wasn’t necessarily difficult to move around. Instead, it was simply strange to see the world from such a different vantage point, to have the ability to use his paws in a different way than he’d been raised. Shandom was a proud wolf, and it was significantly easier for him to adjust to this new world on his own. He did not seek to appear weak in the eyes of others. It would be a horrific blow to his confidence to appear even the slightest bit incompetent.
The days alone gave him ample opportunity for thought, and he felt his mind slipping back to its natural state: thoughts of Lea. He remembered the lazy summer days they’d shared in their youth and the quiet nights spent talking and laughing. He could vividly remember the sound of her rough laugh and her husky tones; sometimes, at night, he could swear he heard them in the background. Shandom’s body ached to be curled into her muscled, sable body, to feel her heavy head perched atop his crown. Being alone and separated from her for so long caused his mind to glorify the Lea he once knew and loved, though the smarter part of him knew she was gone.
He often wondered what she looked like now. The last, terrible time he saw her she was an entirely different wolf. Her beauty was masked by fury and hatred; the gentle gleam in her eye was replaced by deadened madness. Lea’d held herself in a more feral, dangerous pose, and she’d grown bulkier in mass. The once velvety fur that blanketed her body was gone, replaced by coarse hair matted with the litters of the wild. Shandom had still found her beautiful, would still find her incomparably lovely if he saw her tomorrow, but he knew it was just because he’d known her before that horrible, horrible day…
Shandom’s pointless wanderings had brought him deeper into a shaded wood, and he moved like a transparent dream through the trees. His nose caught the scent of an unfamiliar wolf and he followed it absently, weaving his way towards its origin. When he saw the wolf producing the scent, he stopped in his tracks. Illuminated by the rising sun was a midnight female, with fur dark and velvety that reminded him of nights long past… His traitorous heart picked up and began to gallop, and his mouth gaped a bit. “Lea…? he whispered, voice lost in the early morning air before it could reach its destination. But even before he called her name, he knew it was not the woman he so longed to see. This female, though in possession of a similar body, appeared more delicate, and significantly less mad. Shandom could not help but be a little disappointed.
Regardless, he moved closer to her, almost silent in the early dawn. “You remind me of someone I once knew,” he said simply, hopefully catching her attention. “It is truly remarkable… But forgive me, my manners have abandoned me.” He chuckled lightly. ”I am Shandom Qi’Vaex-Nightslayer. I apologize if I have interrupted your work.”
