I will search the world
#1
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Whee~! Set in Shiloh Hills, hope you don't mind!WC: 405


Nothing but sunshine greeted her as she made her way outside the Manor, provisions bouncing at her waist with every step. Everything seemed rather quiet among her home, and the outside simply called out to the girl during these wonderful days, bursting at the seams full of light and life. Her trusted companion was with her, like always, and together they made off to the north, in search of more worldly beauty that the Lictor seemed to crave after the winter months.

As the hills drew ever closer into view, a light wind whipped her dark hair about, tongues of fire lapping about her perfectly white shoulders. She breathed in deeply the rich smells of the earth, wind, and sky, hugging the strap of her satchel. Giselle descended the hilltop only to rise to another, taking in the wonderful green sight about her. The last time the snow white princess was among these parts, she had come across the golden prince of the north. As she made a trek towards a shady tree, she paused in step, and the stoat wiggled in her satchel as if feeling her discomfort. The pale female went back to that day, then, remembering when Ezekiel had pulled out his bow, ready to shoot at her brave little friend who only intended to help her. But a smile flitted across her face all the same; had they not had their encounter, fearful though it was, they would have possibly never met; even then at the Winter Festival.

She shook her head of the thought, but by the time she had stopped under the lush tree, Tux had wriggled himself of her bookbag and taken to her shoulder. Her nose came into contact with his own, smaller one as she giggled. "There's nothing to worry about, my brave knight," she said reassuringly into his beady black eyes. "I know you'll always be here to protect me." Before she could rest comfortably, though, the auburn haired female couldn't help but look over her shoulder just once, just to be sure there was no large-eared male with a bow aimed in her general direction. In such an open area, she was rather vulnerable, but there was no one within sight or scent distance of the pair. Giselle took a seat daintily on the grass, her back again the tree trunk and smoothing out her dress as she began to sort through her books.

image © alecperkins @ flickr ; table by lin
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#2
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Word Count → 555 :: Excited for this; I'm sure they'll get along. xD


After a lot of practice simply sitting on her back as she walked and eventually riding her around the pasture, Skoll had gotten the confidence to saddle up his gift mare and head into the neutral territories. He had traveled into the hills before in his large secui shape, finding the lost puppy there, but it seemed even safer to be atop a horse. It made him feel like a knight, even if he had no weapons and the bay sabino only moved at a leisurely walk, but it was one step toward galloping valiantly throughout the lands, right?

He shifted in the saddle, looking out at the lovely scenery of spring. Soon he and Terra would go explore the entire region, meeting all the different packs and finding treasure and probably causing a whole host of trouble, but he was content to be by himself just a little ways away from the Kingdom for now. He didn’t really need to trick bears or meet the strange packs of the north if he had an entire expanse of hills to ride across.

Gingerly, he tapped his heels in their stirrups against the mare’s flanks. Hwin picked up her pace, and he accommodated for the new gait before kicking her again. He crouched low, his fingers tangled in the reins and in her dark hair as they began to race through the green fields. Eventually, he whooped and lifted his hands in exhilaration, but she leaped a ditch and he was nearly jarred from his seat.

As he clutched her, reduced to a clumsy boy once more, she slowed down to a trot and began to munch at the fresh grass. He tugged at her reins, but he was afraid of hurting her, and her stubbornness only revealed itself more and more each time they butted heads.

“Fine,” the young Haskel relented, sure to spit the word crossly, but his hand was gentle as he patted her shoulder and dismounted—dropping from the saddle and landing on his butt. Hwin blinked at him then went back to grazing, and he managed to fight her head to get the bridle off and the bit out of her mouth so it wouldn’t bother her. He’d learned a trick to hobble her so she wouldn’t wander too far, being very, very cautious in tying rope around her ankles, but she didn’t fuss.

That danger over, he sighed and pushed his blonde mane out of his face before scanning the area. Maybe he could shift and catch some rabbits—but there was a big tree not too far. His tongue lolled as he grinned, and with a merry farewell to his horse, he loped toward the tree.

Skoll was surprised to see someone already occupying the shade, though. He slowed down, pricking his ears. It was a lady in a dress, with snowy-white fur and mahogany hair. He wasn’t yet at the age where he truly noticed girls, but he categorized her as pretty well enough.

“Hello, ma’am,” the sun prince greeted as he came a little closer, remembering his courtesies. The last time he’d made an effort to be polite, Cercatori d’Arte had given him a horse. He grinned slightly and offered a gallant little bow, knowing that some of his pack mates would whack him for being over-the-top.



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#3
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Fffffff I don't know how many times I tried to start this reply :c WC: 488


Though she had only brought a few books, it was hard for the pale female to choose between them all. At some point in her decision making, her stoat had curled up into her lap and closed his eyes. Giselle gently held the tale of Sleeping Beauty in her hands, the book Silvano had gifted to her, but today seemed to want a different story. Gingerly placing the Sleeping Beauty book back inside her satchel, she felt around inside and drew another book, a single claw running across the film of dust that the cover had collected. It was a collection of stories from several authors, one she had briefly glanced at and decided to borrow from the Dreamer's library. The young woman seemed to already find herself lost in her own world, for she did not hear the trotting of hooves nearby, nor the proximity of someone else until he had spoken.

"Oh!" Her form toppled over in the soft grass, bracing herself with her free arm. In seconds, the chocolate stoat awoke and had jumped onto Giselle's shoulder as she fell, shrilling at the top of his lungs. Hair flew into her face, and she only had time to brush it away before twisting back to catch an already-leaping stoat. He struggled in her cream-colored grasp, and Giselle was firm but gentle. “Tux, that is no way to welcome someone!” Though she squeaked at him in low speech, the tone was assuredly reprimanding. The mahogany haired girl caught herself as he dropped his tail, and began to coo at her companion. “I'm so very sorry. He--” she paused and shook her head. “We get a little jumpy around strangers.” As she stood, it was then she truly caught the male's scent, and the familiarity brought a bright smile onto her powdered face. “Oh! You're from the Court, aren't you?” She recognized the scent only by coincidence, when she had traveled to their lands seeking help on the night of the raid. While it was an unpleasant thought, those of the court were very kind even then. The Dreamer decided then to make more of an effort to visit her neighbors.

“I'm Giselle, from Crimson Dreams. You've already met my dear friend.. I'm sorry if he startled you.” Her hands continued to pet the soft fur on the stoat's back, though she briefly glanced down at him in mention. The femme felt a soft breeze caress her face as she beamed a genuine smile up into lime green eyes of the other, hoping to meet his acquaintance. Before she allowed an answer, though, powder blue eyes drifted towards the horse in the distance and her eyes grew wide with wonder. “Oh, is that your horse there~? It's beautiful.” Though Giselle had seen a few horses since coming to these lands, any creature was unique, marvelous and beautiful in her eyes.

image © alecperkins @ flickr ; table by lin
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#4
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Word Count → 309


The wolfdog’s tail wagged behind him as he noticed the book in the woman’s slender hands. He was wondering about what wonderful tales those pages hid when the white lady noticed him, falling back while a weasel of some sort leaped up, indignant sounds leaving its toothy mouth. Having never been challenged by something smaller than him, the prince blinked and scrambled backwards a few steps with his ears falling back into his mess of mane. He opened his mouth to apologize before the woman scolded the little critter then went ahead and apologized to him first.

“Oh,” Skoll was startled into answering, and then he laughed. It was deeper than it used to be, but still a boyish sound. “It’s okay; I’m sorry for um, startling you and stuff.” He grinned broadly at this courtesy, and the expression only broadened at her bright smile and words about his home. He nodded hurriedly and pricked his ears as she gave her name. “It’s good to meet you, Giselle,” he replied warmly, and gave the stoat a little glance, muttering, “And you too, I guess.”

He was about to introduce himself when she cooed over his horse, grazing obliviously on the hill. He glanced over his shoulder at the mare and nodded. “Pretty silly, you mean,” he said, giggling. “But thanks! Her name is Hwin; she was a gift from Cercatori d’Arte.” He thought the bay sabino was kind of plain, just like the name she’d had in her old pack—Brownhorse—but he supposed she could be seen as pretty. She was a Court horse now, after all, and the steed of royalty. That reminded him that he’d yet to give a proper introduction, and he puffed his strong white chest proudly.

“I,” the young man boasted, “am Prince Skoll Haskel, son of the King of Cour des Miracles.”




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#5
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She loves him already xD WC: 428


Giselle's ears flicked as she heard the boy's voice begin to crack - the sure sign he was changing into a handsome young man. Smiling radiantly, still holding on to her apologetic expression, she listened carefully as he, too, apologized. Giselle shook her head, curls bouncing, but before she could speak he was voicing his courtesies. Giving the stoat one last stroke on the head with her finger, a calming gesture, she settled him into the grass, near her open book, and stood up gingerly. Ivory-gloved fingers began to dust off the grass and dirt that had clung to her dress in the commotion just as the male made mention of his horse.

Another flicker of recognition shone in her sky-blue eyes. "Oh, I know of that pack," she said airily, thinking of Sorin and Micah - the only two she had the pleasure of meeting from the painterly pack. "Well, you're mare is very beautiful~" Giselle repeated again, nodding to confirm it. As the days went on, the auburn woman was growing more fond of the creatures, and made a promise to herself to attempt to learn their form of low speech. Eyes glittered as they found themselves trained at the mare in the fields. "Do you know how to speak horse? I only know how to say hello, but I'd love to learn more.." Her voice seemed distant, but constantly dreamy.

Perhaps it was something in the way the man spoke, just then, that made her turn her head. He introduced himself, in both name and title, and blue eyes grew wide in her pretty little face. "..Oh!" Giselle pulled the sides of her dress and curtsied like a lady, learning it from countless books. "I'm so sorry, I-I had no idea... it's so nice to meet you, Prince Skoll," she announced, bowing her head momentarily. Subtly, Giselle nudged the stoat with her foot, and he too bowed his head, but was quicker to raise it than his caretaker.

It would seem the princes of these lands didn't dress nor act princely, at least from what the Fantasia woman observed. Her mate was technically a prince, too, wasn't he? That made her a princess, though she didn't act the part much less dress like one. A pink blush crept up her powdered cheeks in embarrassment, as if she was supposed to know who the male was. Giselle began to fidget with her fingers, moving strands of hair away from her face when her gaze rose to meet his. "W-what brings you out this far, young prince?"

image © alecperkins @ flickr ; table by lin
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#6
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Skoll Haskel

Sorry for the wait; I haven't had a lot of muse for Skoll lately.

345 words


Skoll nodded in acknowledgment when she mentioned knowing about the artisan pack, glad that he wouldn’t have to explain himself a lot. He smiled over his shoulder in the grazing mare’s direction one last time before her question caught him off guard, and his ears fell into the blonde mess of his hair before he answered awkwardly. “No, not really. I mean, the master of horse in our pack can speak it really, really well, but—I don’t even know how to say hello.” His ears came up again, and a somewhat shy smile formed on his lips. “Could you teach me that?”

The shyness was absent from his introduction, but Skoll almost regretted how boldly he’d spoken when he saw her almost scramble for a courtesy. He liked for others to know who he was, so they didn’t try to step all over him and recognized the authority that was his kingly father, but despite his dominant nature, he had a bad feeling in his stomach at the sight of the white-furred woman submitting so readily to some cocky words.

It took him a second to answer her question, as he was trying to sort out his feelings about the title he commanded. “Just riding,” he said quickly. “I haven’t… I’m not quite old enough to go explore all the lands, but I wanted to come to the hills. They’re very pretty, and Hwin and I don’t get to ride out very much together.” That was the fault of the horse more than anything; if she didn’t want to go, she made it very clear, and he didn’t want to bully her. It was clear that the instinctual grasp of his dominance was becoming clumsier as he aged and learned what it really meant to be a prince.

“What about you?” the golden boy asked, smiling faintly at her. “Do you come out here to read a lot? What books are those?” He became a child again at the mention of books, his green eyes growing eager and his tail wagging enthusiastically behind him.



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