Word Count - 441 :: Set in a shop in the Lunenburg District.
Ever since his first shift, the golden prince had explored the territory of his home as if he’d never seen any of it before. Really, he hadn’t thought about how being on two legs would change his perspective on the world. He’d always known that he could do more stuff, certainly, but not that he’d be able to see so much more!
His boyish body was somewhere around six feet tall and growing every time he shifted, it seemed. He might not be tower over everyone some in his family, but he would by no means be small. And this new height allowed him to peek into windows and over tables without having to fuss about being picked up by a nearby adult. He’d been too big to pick up lately, too.
But the main advantage his optime form granted him in exploration was a pair of hands. He found himself giggling as he jiggled doorknobs open and even threw a rock at an old window. It had taken a few pack mates to get him down from a tree after he’d hauled himself up into it, and sometimes he dreamed of opening and shutting all the doors in his house and climbing on the roof. Like a little human, he enjoyed clambering over everything.
Today, some of the shops in Lunenburg were his intended target. He grinned up at some of the signs, pushing his unruly blonde mane out of his face and clumsily sounding out the words. “Sssss… Sattlurrr Stay-sty-styned Gl… Glass Stud-ee-oo.” The jumble of letters was meaningless to him, other than “glass,” but that didn’t matter. He would explore this building and all the others in this row of studios along the street until he reached the harbor.
The last human to walk out of the Sattler Stained Glass Studio had remembered to lock the door, but age had weakened the wood enough that a few blows caused the door to creak open. Rubbing his sore shoulder, the boy stepped inside and looked around at the tables and some unfinished paintings on display. He walked forward to look at them and found himself in a pool of colored light, trickling in from a stained glass window on the other side of the building. He stared in awe at the colors dancing over his body and realized that the paintings laid out on the table were really glass. Chips of the different colors were laid out in incomplete mosaics, and he took some of the pieces in his hand and held them up to the light, giggling as he changed his face from green to pink to blue.
He just thought he was crazy having heard some noises in the port town, so the male easily dismissed the thought. Walking through the tourist location gazing at the shops and studios as moved. Noticing the last studio he was about to walk by, the Catori stopped, wrinkling a brow in confusion. He had seen these buildings so many times that he could clearly remember every last detail about them. What struck him as out of place was the glass studio’s door, it had been shut and untouched as of the day before, but now was wide open. Not thinking twice Kable’s curiosity propelled him toward the building to survey it. Not like it really mattered, they were all abandoned buildings from the time of humans, had they been structurally dangerous he would hold some concern for the safety of others. Approaching the building he caught onto the scent of a member of his family. Grasping the frame of the door he leaned over enough to peek inside without making a noise. He saw someone playing with the pieces of stained glass. It certainly had been a member of his family, his little half brother Skoll. What surprised him was that he was shifted into Optime form, he didn’t know that he could shift, this must have been a recent change of events for the prince.
Steady and fluid the older son of Ayita moved through the door trying not to make a sound. Worry entered his mind as he inched closer to the boy, these floors were so old and untouched that any spot he stepped was bound to creak. He thought to himself that it was a miracle he had gotten as close to the distracted boy as he had without making a sound. Only a couple feet away from, his mouth was wide open, he thought he was going to surprise young prince. Taking another step the floor creaked loudly underneath his foot. Dammit, game over.
The shifted boy was amazed at all the colored pieces, and he soon began to hold up more than one at a time to see what they made together. He remembered the d’Artisans and their tree and the veve painted on his then-little body, and it made him smile slightly. He liked this art kind of stuff, though he wasn’t sure if he would be good at it like them. He liked other things more, like storybooks and horses and chasing things, but maybe with help he could make something out of all these glass bits.
He was curiously regarding the almost-completed panels of stained glass when a loud creak caused him to whirl around. He dropped a glass square from his hand and watched it shatter in red fragments on the floorboards. Startled, he looked in the dim light of the shop, but his eyes and nose quickly told him the source of the noise—Kable.
When it came to his older siblings, the young Haskel did not know a lot. He’d played with Liam a lot, but with other things distracting his brother, their amount of playtime waxed and waned. He spent almost all his waking hours not getting into trouble alone by getting into trouble with Hati and Lottie. His half-siblings were nothing like that, however; Amaranth had gone away with her mate and had a son, and Kable and Skoll simply hadn’t interacted much. Maybe it was because Kable lived out here.
Skoll pushed some of his blonde mane out of his face, grinning sheepishly at his half-brother. “Hi, Kable!” he yipped, making a move to lean on the table he’d snatched the glass from. His tail wagged at a steady pace behind him, one that soon grew faster and more enthusiastic. “Whatcha doin’? Have you seen this place before? There’s so many colors here!”
He really wanted to sneak up and surprise him, but he failed, a creak in the weakening floor gave him away. It would probably be better that he hadn’t scared the poor boy. If he had been handling any glass with sharp edges he may have cut himself, some older half brother that would have made him. Sounding very enthusiastic the young prince greeted him. To Kable it sounded as though his younger half-brother were getting excited, hearing the boy’s tail swish from side to side. Having asked a couple questions and making a statement about the colors, it sounded like a single sentence with no breaths in between. Hahaha. Whoa Skoll, slow down buddy. The elder Catori reached out to fluff the boy’s hair.
Remembering the questions and statement he thought about it. All these shops and studios he saw on nearly a daily basis, but he had a tendency to leave them alone. The most he had ever done was rub the dust off windows to look inside, if the door had been locked he never entered them. I was passing by when I noticed the door to this studio was open; I came to investigate it because I clearly remember it being closed and locked. He hadn’t been in this glass studio or many of the other buildings either, because they were locked, and that was just how he left them, untouched. Nope, can’t say I’ve been in here. You’re a tad bit braver than I am.
Moving beside Skoll, the Husky-Malamute mix picked up a handful of glass pieces, watching the different illuminate from the sun’s light pouring in from a window. He didn’t find the glass itself very fascinating, but he imagined the pieces as part of something. Skoll… What could we do with all this glass? Tilting his hand vertically he let the glass fall onto the table. It’s pretty isn’t it?
Fluffing his mess of blonde hair, the older wolfdog reminded him to slow down, and Skoll huffed although he took the time for a deep breath. As much as he assured everyone that he was a big boy now, almost fully grown in body, his easily excitable nature betrayed how childish he still was. It would likely take him some time to for his mind to catch up to his body when it came to maturity.
He grinned slightly as Kable mentioned the studio usually being closed, and his pale chest puffed slightly with pride at being called brave. “You don’t wanna know what’s inside all these buildings?” he asked, wrinkling his snout at his half-brother. It would make sense if he’d already explored all of them, but if not, wasn’t he the least bit curious about it? There could be cool human stuff in here! This was only the Haskel’s first stop, in Lunenburg at least, and he knew that it would take weeks or months or years before he’d stuck his nose in the corner of every house and shop and alleyway.
The coal-colored malamute stepped past him to grab some of the glass, and Skoll wagged his tail as he watched him investigate the colors. “It’s really pretty,” he agreed breathlessly, and he quickly went to the table, beginning to shove some of the colors around. “You can make a rainbow!” he said, rearranging the pieces so that they followed, more or less, the right order of colors. He blinked suddenly, staring at the shards under his claws, and he pushed a few here and there again. “Or maybe make pictures,” he whispered, staring intently at his work. “Where do you think all this glass came from? And where’d it get all colorful?” He found a pretty shade of red and tried to make Lottie from the glass fragments.
WC:: 389 OOC:: Not a problem, we all have lives 8)
Mmmm. The male digested the boys question about the urge to know what lies in these buildings. I wouldn’t say that I don’t want to know what’s inside. Honestly the male really had been curious, not ever going inside always left him imagining. I like surprises, think of it as keeping them a surprise Skoll. He smiled at his little half brother; he was young, anxious and full of wonder. The things these humans did and what they left behind are something to think about.
Moving over to one of the walls, he studied the windows. Something had been blocking the light from coming into the studio; he tapped on the blind, it was flimsy and frail. He noticed a string and a plastic rod at the end of the window frame. Grabbing the plastic piece he wiggled and jiggled it, apparently it twisted allowing more light into the room. Pulling on the string he watched the shades rush upward with excitement in his eyes. The young Haskel agreed with him and commented about the glass pieces being pretty. The growing prince stated he could make a rainbow. Watching Skoll he could see the wheels in his head turn over and over in silence.
Noticing that the table had drawers Kable pulled each one out looking inside them. What he found was an almost see through tan colored bag amongst some other trinkets and doo-dads. Taking the bag he grabbed a few handfuls of glass and loaded up the bag with them. Pulling the drawstring on the bag he kept the pieces from going everywhere. He went back over to the window where the sun flooded in and held the bag against the window. The sun’s light hit the mass of assorted colors and splintered the rays of colored light all over the room. Kable heard the boy’s about where the glass came from and the origin of its colors. Looking at the glass pieces he couldn’t help but think that they weren’t natural. He wasn’t sure how, but he was starting to wonder if the humans had been responsible. I think humans had some way to make glass. Do you think they could have given it color too? Holding the bag in front of his face he scowled at the glass before returning his gaze to the prince.
The golden boy snorted at his brother’s insistence that the closed doors and hidden treasures were only surprises. How could Kable sound so calm and wise when he lived around so much cool stuff? “It’s not really a surprise if you never open ’em up to be surprised,” he pointed out petulantly, then shrugged. “Maybe they’re mysteries, I guess, but I like to solve mysteries.” It was obvious that he was more of an act-er than a thinker. As buried as his nose might be in books sometimes, at least the people in the books were doing something!
Light came into the room suddenly, and Skoll shielded his green eyes with a hand momentarily before flashing the grey wolfdog a grin. He went back to work on the picture of his sister, knocking together some reds and blues and yellows clumsily. None of the pieces were quite the right shape and size, but he did what he could, and nodded lightly at his own work. Meanwhile, Kable was collecting some of the glass, holding it up to the light in its only slightly opaque bag. All the colors everywhere were almost overwhelming for Skoll; he had the puppyish urge to go chasing them all, dance in them, everything!
“I know you can make paint and dyes and stuff,” the young Haskel said uncertainly as his brother mused about the glass. “I dunno, the humans made lotsa stuff that’s weird. But maybe they dyed it?” He inspected the glass; it was too smooth to be covered in paint as sloppy and thick as what the d’Artisan girl had painted on him. He knew dye was lighter, stayed in fur easier, so the glass wouldn’t lose its color in the rain.
Kable only briefly explained his reason for not going into the buildings. Occasionally his mind would wonder what was inside these buildings, the problem was that he saw them so often that he tended to lose interest in them. The young prince easily insisted that they weren’t surprises unless he opened them. He wasn’t wrong, but he didn’t quite understand the way Kable personally thought of them. Had the elder male Catori been a bit younger he probably would have raided them all by now but he hadn’t. The Haskel termed the buildings as mysteries, and went on to say that enjoyed solving mysteries.
The light from the sun splintered the colors from the glass with in the bag he held all over the room, hitting some rays hitting Skoll and himself. It was a pretty sight to see in the kind of musty room. The Husky-Malamute looked out the window at the back of the studio, there was a long deck with a railing overlooking the water that spanned the length of the building. The door to the deck was actually unlocked, turning the handle he let himself out. Hey buddy, come on! He called into the doorway behind him. The male could see much of the body of water, a warm moist breeze made its way past. Placing his hands on his hip he took a deep breath through his nose and exhaled heavily. This is nice. Looking at the sea he felt the urge to build a boat and go sailing.
Hey Skoll, want to go break into the other buildings and snoop around? He could be fun and playful, but lately it seemed really hard for the male to unwind and relax but he was trying. Maybe he was just being too serious and letting his thoughts cloud his better judgment.
Skoll was rapt with the pieces of glass his fingers slid into place, but the creak of the door caused his gingery ears to snap up and his head to turn. A briny wind snuck into the building and toyed with a strand of his mane, which he ran his hand through as he faced his half-brother. When he licked his lips, he tasted salt, and he wagged his tail as he followed the malamute mix outside. The colored glass was all but forgotten, spared only one last glance before he raced to the edge of the deck and leaned over to look at the water.
“What d’ya think is over there?” the boy asked, waving one arm vaguely out to sea. He’d discussed the question with Terra, but not many others. She’d known but little about the lands beyond, while he knew that there existed some strange lands, although he didn’t know their size or location. He wasn’t even old enough to tromp around Nova Scotia yet.
Kable’s suggestion made him grin. “Finally you say something smart,” he teased, running past the Catori with a bump of his shoulder to show him he was just kidding.
“Come on!” he yipped, and didn’t wait to run around out into the street and look for an interesting building to get into.
The mix was staring out across the water when the young prince’s question hit him. The male wasn’t exactly certain what laid over, more so he had no idea. Honestly Skoll, probably a whole other world; a different way of life, different rules and laws. In his mind he could only begin to wonder as he looked back to the boy who was young, brave and very inquisitive. The Catori foresaw the boy being a traveler, explorer or something of the sorts, for where they lived couldn’t possibly keep him content forever. Kable had left the court with his father Leroy, he didn’t have to, he made the decision to do so. He was kind of sad to not see his mother and the place he was born every day, but it gave him the opportunity to learn and experience different things.
To Kable’s suggestion about basically causing trouble his younger half brother made teasing remark concerning his intelligence. He figured Skoll was just joking around; confirming his thoughts the cream colored boy bumped him on his way by. The Haskel was quick to get off the deck and onto a street. Chasing after him Kable ran around the corner to find Skoll almost out of sight. Wow he’s fast!Hey slow down kiddo… Coming to a sudden halt Kable tilted his head and stared at the front of the building. Waterfront Charms? Hmmmm. He wondered what kind of charms the shop name intended. Skoll… Come check this out. The older Catori moved to the shop’s door and gave it a try. It was locked but wiggled around a lot. Growling Kable pulled on the handle real hard; breaking it off the door creaked part way open. Pushing it open all the way he entered the abandoned shop, it was hard to take in what he was seeing given it was dark inside.
Word Count - 252 :: *sighhh* Poke me if you need more to reply to. >_> Semester is ending, and I'm having a hard time forcing out posts. xD
Kable described what lay beyond the sea: a world far different from theirs. It was something the boy couldn’t even begin to imagine, since he already heard tales of packs with strange names and customs even in the same region. Maybe he’d be able to sail a ship over to one of these new world and explore for himself, but while wanderlust bred in his heart, he had no desire to abandon his family forever. He would always come home.
Regardless, it wasn’t something that he should worry about for a long time. He was still a bit too young to travel that far, especially across the great ocean. He smiled, pleased by the description nonetheless, and laughed when he heard his half-brother pleading for him to slow down. He was always overeager, whether it came to speech or getting from Point A to Point B, and often stumbled over his feet and words.
The older male read the front of a shop, and the golden boy’s ears pricked as he wondered what waterfront charms even were. He followed his sibling as he broke the door handle and shoved the thing open. Pupils dilated as his green eyes tried to adjust to the light, but he bumped into a counter with a soft yelp, and his hand brushed something wooden. Claws felt the edge of the carving, and he managed to make out a little boat through the dimness. He grinned and started to look through the rest of the little store.
The male squinted, trying to help his eyes adjust to the dimly lit room. As he looked about he struggled to make sense of what he was taking in. It was a pretty small building, almost like a shack. There were numerous tables, desks and shelves lining the walls and some in the center of the room. God it’s musty in here. Snorting Kable began to shuffle through the drawers and desks. There were tons of miscellaneous items everywhere, a doodad here, watcha-ma-callit there, and gizmo’s over yonder. He didn’t know what to call half of what he’d come across. Essentially everything was a toy or a trinket, lots of them had been attached to a metal chain and ring. The Catori had noticed a trend here, much of what he could see seemed to be unfinished, like it had been abandoned in some kind of hurry.
Find anything interesting skoll? Rounding a table the mixed canine pulled on a table top noting that it opened upward. Inside the table was lots of paper, it had been stained with age and the print on it nearly illegible. The male could read, but the text on the paper was so small and compact that his vision strained trying to read it. Giving up on trying deciphering the language of humans he put the paper back and closed the table. He didn’t find anything that fascinating; bored he leaned on a table and looked over to Skoll.
The boy flicked his ear at his brother’s complaint, rifling through some papers and sneezing as he unleashed a dust storm around him. “It’s musty in all the buildings,” he mumbled, although the cloying stench of this place was worse than the last one. He drew a claw back along the side of the wooden boat, noting that it was the only one of its kind on the table, and went to explore some of the other desks and stands.
He found a funny stand, one that turned when he pushed it, and his green eyes found the trinkets as he swung it around. He grabbed one of the keychains and grinned at his half-sibling. “Like my eaaaarrriiinng, Kable?” he called, holding the keychain up to his ear. Maybe that was what they were, although some of them might be heavy for ears. He tossed it aside and bounced along after the grownup, noting his bored posture and grinning slightly.
“Maaaybe we should call it a day?” he suggested, shrugging his broadening shoulders. “But dude, we need to hang out more and do stuff like this a lot and hoard a ton of treasure in one of the buildings, and we’d be the kings of the treasure.” His eyes gleamed. “Or you can be a prince, I can be king, ’cause I’m tired of being a prince forever.”
Kable watched the young prince hold a keychain up to his ear and ask him if he liked it. Haha, unfortunately I don’t think it suits you. He was funny at least, but the ear ring idea just didn’t strike him. This tiny little shop just hadn’t intrigued nor impressed the mix and he was sure that is eyes or face wouldn’t betray his inner thoughts and feelings. The lightly colored male questioningly suggested they might call it a day. As much as the husky-malamute would love to cause chaos and discord with his little half brother, calling it quits sounded like a good idea.
The older male listened to the boy talk about hanging out more, hoarding treasure in a building and being a prince and king. The boy’s ideas just seemed to come out of his mouth so quickly. You want treasure, and to be king? I got to tell you Skoll, I’m not cut out for royalty. He smiled, giving him an understanding look. The Catori admired the young man’s ambition. A little bit at time Skoll. We’ll find our treasure first, if you can stay kind and tenacious, you’ll be a king someday. You won’t stay a prince forever, I promise. Walking by the male went to put a hand on the growing boy’s shoulder. Let’s get out of here; we’ll go on an adventure sometime, you and me. Escaping the charm shop he breathed deeply appreciating the fresh air.
Word Count - 273 :: Go ahead and call this done I guess? I can't formulate a better reply >>;
The boy pretended to pout when his brother remarked about the earring, but a smile appeared on his lips afterward. He didn’t understand much about jewelry or clothing at his age, anyway, although it often looked good on others. Wearing a bunch of clothes or necklaces or whatever would only get in the way with running and shifting and hunting, after all! He didn’t think that wearing pants in lupus form would work out. If I ever get decorations, it’ll be like paint, he thought, but paint wore off pretty quickly. He considered this for a moment until his half-sibling answered his stream of speech.
Skoll nodded uncertainly, although he knew that Kable wasn’t his full brother anyway; his father wasn’t the King, but someone else. Would he feel different if he were Vigilante’s son? Then again, Liam was, and he didn’t really strike the boy as royalty. Maybe it did rest in the mind more than the blood anyway.
He nodded at the reassurance that he could be a king someday. He knew that, now he was of shifting age, it wouldn’t be much longer before he moved out of the puppy rank—but still the title of prince would remain until he accomplished something great. He didn’t want to take over the Court, necessarily, as that meant his father wouldn’t lead anymore, but… I’ll find a way, he decided, smiling and walking after Kable with a youthful swagger.
The sunlight fell on his face, and he sighed at the scents of the sea and spring. “Definitely,” he replied, butting his brother on the shoulder with his wild-maned head and grinning affectionately.
