word count: 345
Form: Optime
Time of Day: approx 4PM
If I need to change this, Kitty, just lemme know!

He’d been here before, and he didn’t like it. Everything about this land screamed at him to turn and walk away, but he was hell bent on pushing through the uncertainty that had plagued him for months. The gray brute moved slowly, but with a purpose. While eager to find out the truth he was in no hurry to have his high hopes handed back to him. He felt at war with himself as he got closer to Anathema’s borders. The familiar stink of many pack wolves flooded his nostrils and his instincts begged for him to leave. He wasn’t an idiot; he knew he didn’t stand a chance against an entire pack of wannabe fighters. Chishio was strong, but strength in numbers usually won in the end.

Despite this knowledge he pressed forward, shoving all reason aside. The sun burned brightly in the sky, and as he looked up at it he wondered if he truly was as stupid as his mind was telling him he was. It was broad daylight, and he had the gall to stroll up to the massive pack’s borders without an invitation. But then he chuckled as he remembered that he didn’t care. He was here for one thing, and if he didn’t get it, he would leave—simple as that.

So it was with an unshakeable determination that he made his final steps to the border of Anathema and began to pace, his bright eyes keeping watch for anything that moved or breathed. He did not speak; he did not cry out for his intended. He would merely wait, and hope for the one he’d met so long ago. He recalled the way the beast looked, and how he held himself; how he spoke, and how he acted. It had been like he was looking into a mirror, and he cursed himself for not looking into the matter sooner. He knew he was likely to be denied his closure, but he was stubborn enough to look down every avenue he had available to him to make it so.

Word count: 484 // I knows a bit o’ Japanese so I hope Chi knows some so I can put it to use xD I noticed that Alaki sometimes spouts things out in the language so I figure it would be a good opener. If not, slap me across the face and tell me I’m wrong!
Translation for other readers: “Nii-sama” is a very respectful way to address your “older brother”.

His pacing had come to a stop after a few minutes, having become sick of walking at the edge of the pack lands. The male adopted a sitting position instead, his eyes trained on the shadows of the trees. The scene was familiar, and fresh in his mind: him with his pathetic excuse for a son, and the disapproving leader that he had treated poorly. Chishio regretted many things in his life, but none more so than the day he’d exchanged words with the strangely familiar wolf. He would blame his actions on the drugs, however, and merely aim to redeem himself—at least in his own eyes.

So when he caught sight of his intended emerging from the safety of the shadows, he stood. For a moment, his ears flicked backward and his tail hung low, but with a quick motion they came to rest at attention. His stance was solid, though he promised no threat to the other. Being prepared wasn’t a crime, and he wouldn’t leave himself without his own defenses in this foreign land. As the man before him spoke, he took a moment to analyze his voice and commit it to memory. After what was a few seconds too long, Chishio finally responded.

“I have personal business here,” he stated clearly, biting back the slew of insults he could have voiced. “I’m not leaving till I have what I came for.”

His arms crossed over his chest in a display of stubbornness that could rival even the best of mules. He would keep true to his word, though. The encounter would probably earn him a few extra scars, but it was a risk he was willing to take.

As certain as he felt about his decision to return, Chishio still fought the thoughts that begged him to leave and told him he was wrong. The mental battle put a physical strain on the wolf, and the torment was beginning to show in his tired eyes. If he was right, he would gain what he had lost so many years ago. He would no longer belong to himself, and the very thought of such a thing made him tremble in delight. But if he was wrong… Everything would proceed as normal, and the lone soldier would move on until he found solace in an honorable death. So long as he lived, however, he would search to the ends of the earth for the only thing he ever held dear to his heart.

“Nii-sama?” he called, unable to hold back the nervous crack in his voice.

To any other, his words would have been strange and nothing more than the gibberish of a worn traveler. For the right person, however, they would mean so much more. It was only one test, and certainly not the most telling; but it would at least point the desperate man in the right direction.