so take care of your freedom.
#1
[html]
http://sleepyglow.net/rp/rurik/rurik_top.jpg); background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:fixed; padding-top:200px; padding-left:25px; padding-right:25px; padding-bottom:10px;">
Ohay, I r slow. D: Sorries. <3 P.S., is it OK if we post-date this to October 7th? Only because I did start another Ruru thread tonight. <3





    Rurik meandered along through the hills, cheerfully whistling as he walked. It was a strange thing to do, and a thing few Luperci could master due to their oddly shaped lips. Rurik himself simply curled his tongue in an odd way against the roof of his mouth and directed his exhaling breath through that; his brother Schlast had taught him that particular trick when they were both young. Rurik smiled at the memory of his scattered and distant family, thinking of his pale brother Thorn. It had been some years since they'd last encountered one another, and Rurik missed his cooking and his presence more than anything.



    The sun was brightly shining, as it was very early in the morning. Rurik was not generally an early riser, but rarely he woke with the first whisper of dawn, blazing with energy and ready to go. These days were growing fewer in number as he aged, though he was certainly still within the prime of his extended Luperci life. There were many scents of wolves in the air, and the clothed werewolf at once headed for them, knowing he was coming to the first of the packs. He had not wandered north or along the coast, otherwise he certainly would have run into any of the three that were closer. He had headed inland and to the west, missing Cour des Miracles and heading right for the hills, and now he found himself on an unknown border.



    The wolf hesitated for a moment, his bright blue eyes blinking in the sunlight. It was still rather early in the day, though by now the dew had dried and the sun was out in full force. Perhaps there was no one awake yet, and he was wasting his time here? Besides, what were the chances anyone had heard of his lost sons? Frowning, the Russian settled to his rear, crossing his legs to sit indian-style, hunching down to prop his elbows on his knees and wait a while. If no one came, no one came—it was alright with him. At least now he knew where this place was, and he could return at a more convenient time.

[/html]
#2
[html]
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v515/ ... rtable.jpg); background-color:#E6F9C9; background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; padding-top:348px; padding-left:15px; padding-right:15px; padding-bottom:15px;">
Sie table for Sie thread! Big Grin I is slow too, so it's ok <3 And yeah that's fine! 300+



   For some reason or another, the young Marino had woken quite early today. She couldn't say why, nothing had caused her to wake up that she could tell. No loud noises or movements to disrupt her slumber. It didn't feel like it had been disrupted in the least either, she felt completely rested and ready for the day. Sea green eyes scanned the room with all her family inside. Everyone else was still asleep not surprisingly. The little chocolate tail wagged as she rose to her feet and walked around the room, giving a soft touch to her momma, dadda, brother, and sister. Cambria didn't want to wake them up, but she didn't want to leave without giving them some sort of greeting, even if it wasn't something they would remember. With one last glance to her family and the mason jar holding her cocooned cat-pill she trotted out of the room and down the stairs to head out into the new day.



   The air was getting chillier and she really didn't know what to make of that. She liked the warmth. Being warm was much better than being cold in her opinion. It wasn't really cold yet thankfully, though her fur did puff out and she shook to keep herself comfortable. Bird songs were beginning to fill the air and the pup looked around with bright and happy eyes. She liked the sounds of nature, of the birds and the bugs. If she had known that most of these sounds would be going away in only a couple months it would have made her very sad. Thankfully Cambi was blissfully ignorant of this fact. A large butterfly that she hadn't noticed perched momentarily on her ear and then fluttered in front of her face and away. A giggle bubbled up in her chest and she bounded after her favorite insect without a thought in the world.



   The Petty Officer hadn't paid any attention to how far or long she had followed the butterfly, she never did. She was so focused on the floating insect that she didn't see the sitting shape of another wolf nearby. The pup only bounced closer and closer to the stranger. By the time she did notice him she was practically about to hop up into his lap. Her eyes grew wide and she stopped so fast that she nearly fell onto her face. Ears fell to her skull and her tail tucked as she lowered herself to the ground, but her gaze stayed locked on the unknown adult, too afraid to do anything else.

[/html]
#3
[html]
http://sleepyglow.net/rp/rurik/rurik_tropic.jpg); background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:fixed; padding-top:230px; padding-left:25px; padding-right:25px; padding-bottom:25px;">
XTREME SLOWNESS D:



    As Rurik waited, his mind drifted quite a bit, thinking of his children. Since arriving, they'd branched out some, though they generally slept the same hours and rose the same hours. Silas and Lily were adults now, and they could do as they pleased. Rurik had long ago relinquished his hyper-protectiveness of them. They had turned out alright, it seemed, and the Russian was quite pleased to have such a stable relationship with this batch of children, though he certainly still thought of the older ones. They were why he'd come all the damn way over here again, anyway—beyond them, what attachment had he here?



    Syemv was long gone, and its members had scattered to the wind just as it had. The ship was gone, sunken off the burned coasts somewhere. Kiska was longer gone than the rest of them, disappeared to some far-away corner of the globe. The Russian wolf sighed rather heavily as he thought of these things, growing a little depressed as he waited on these pack borders, though after a few minutes the unmistakable sounds of a light, comfortable approach reached his ears. He lifted his coal-dipped ears, perking them up and watching a young wolf bounce and frolic toward him, completely unaware of his presence. The Russian watched for a moment, mesmerized by her energy. He was not particularly fond of any children but his own, but he had grown more accustomed to them since raising Lily, Ant, and Silas.



    When she drew quite near, she noticed him and froze, shrinking and becoming a rather frightened-looking creature in an instant. "Aww, no fear, little one," he said softly, holding up his big paws in a gesture of peace. "I'm Rurik Russo," he said, introducing himself cautiously, waiting for the youth to lose her tension before continuing any. He remained rather still, refraining from sudden movements to scare her further and keeping his friendly smile right on his muzzle. He hoped she wouldn't go running off telling someone there was a scary pirate at the door; he sure didn't need a whole pack of angry wolves chasing him back to the Halifax.

[/html]
#4
[html]
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v515/ ... rtable.jpg); background-color:#E6F9C9; background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; padding-top:348px; padding-left:15px; padding-right:15px; padding-bottom:15px;">
DITTO 300+



   A small, involuntary shake went through her as she realized how close she had come to bumping into a stranger without realizing it. Things were much better right now though. If he wanted to he could grab her or hurt her in and instant and there was nothing she could do about it. Of course she would cry out and scream but he could probably take her away before anyone in the pack could reach her. It was a terrifying thought for the little Marino pup and she could feel the tears begin to build up in her eyes because of it. She didn't want to be taken away. Never ever. This male looked much more rugged and rough than any she had seen before and the to naive girl that spelled trouble and made the horrible scenario even more plausible. She nearly started to weep right then and there.



   Then he spoke, and he told her not to be afraid and held up his hands. Cambria wasn't sure what that meant, but if they were up there then they weren't going to grab her. He seemed sincere, but the pup was a cautious creature and would still be on edge for a while longer. She sniffled and blinked her eyes as she looked up at the strange man. "You's not going to take me away, is you?" She knew that he could lie and say he wouldn't and do it anyway, but she was going to give him the benefit of the doubt and this chance to be honest and truthful with her. Rurik Russo was his name. Russo sounded kind of familiar to her, but she couldn't say why exactly. "I'm Cambria. Cambria Marino." She was slowly growing out of her puppy-speech and talking more and more like an adult. Her voice was still soft and hesitant though and her feet still glued to the ground. Hopefully things would not be as bad as she feared.

[/html]
#5
[html]
http://sleepyglow.net/rp/rurik/rurik_angel.jpg); background-position:bottom center; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:fixed; padding-top:10px; padding-left:12px; padding-right:12px; padding-bottom:286px;">
moooar fail D:



    The little girl was quite frightened of him, it seemed, and the Russian did not like this much, though he did not frown for fear that an expression of displeasure would only serve to scare her more. He kept as still as he could, trying not to startle her any more. She had a rather striking appearance, cinnamon-auburn fur and brilliant mint-green eyes. Rurik had never seen anything quite like her coloration, though he delighted in uniqueness. Again offering a smile, he could not help but chuckle at her question. "Oh no," he said, his pallid eyes twinkling. "This is where you belong," he surmised, smelling the pack's scent on her fur. He had no idea what to call this place, but she smelled similar to the border he was sitting on. "And anyway, I got mine own kids to care for at home," he added, still grinning.



    The russet youth introduced herself, which Rurik took as a very good sign. "Good to meet you," he said genuinely, glad to have someone stumble on him here. It was better than twiddling his thumbs by his lonesome, that was for sure. The silvery wolf had settled his hands back into his lap, where he kept them, still trying to remain as innocuous as possible. He didn't think he'd done anything wrong, but the last darn thing he needed was the whole pack descending on him for scaring one of their youths. That would not be a good way to start out with the packs here. "So, what's this place called?" he asked cautiously, wondering if he was pressing for information too soon. He had come here with a purpose, after all—though he didn't think this youngster here was quite old enough to have known his elder sons, it was a possibility. Maybe she had information for him, and if not maybe she knew someone who did.

[/html]
#6
[html]
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v515/ ... rtable.jpg); background-color:#E6F9C9; background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; padding-top:348px; padding-left:15px; padding-right:15px; padding-bottom:15px;">
Psh, 2 days is not fail, silly Sie! 300+



   Her ears perked up at his chuckle. In a situation like this, she surmised a chuckle to be a good thing. It meant that her fears were probably unfounded and he did not mean to do anything bad to her like taking her away from her home. Little body relaxed some and she actually managed to ease back to sit on her haunches. Her tail gave a little wag as he stated that this was where she belonged. The pup liked to hear him say that. His kind nature was already doing wonders at melting away her fear and hesitance. Though what helped even more was hearing that he had kids. Ears were now fully back in the upright position and she looked at Rurik curiously. "You're a dad? How old is your kids?" Cambria didn't know many other wolves that were close to her age outside of her siblings. There was her cousin Conor and friend Noir, but that was about it.



   A small smile managed to crack its way onto her face. "Nice to meets you too." The shy Marino girl didn't meet new people all that often and it was always a bit of a nerve-wracking experience for her, so when things went well it was a huge relief. Now that she had spent a few minutes in his presence, Rurik seemed like an honest wolf and she trusted what he said. Of course she wasn't about to go anywhere alone with him, but she wasn't afraid anymore. "This is Crimson Dreams, my momma's the leader here." She said that last part mostly because she was just proud of her mother, but also it was good for him to know that he would be in big trouble if he tried to do anything bad. She didn't think he would anymore, but it was still good for him to know. "Where do you live?" He didn't smell like Dahlia de Mai or AniWaya, but she knew there were other packs out there.

[/html]
#7
[html]
http://sleepyglow.net/rp/rurik/rurik_angel.jpg); background-position:bottom center; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:fixed; padding-top:10px; padding-left:12px; padding-right:12px; padding-bottom:286px;">
I feel like I am super-lagging everywhere. D:



    Though Rurik had taken to fatherly duties with his second batch of children. the silvery Russian still did not completely understand children and their actions all the time. He had gotten better since seeing Liliya, Anatoliy, Silas, and Elizaveta growing up, but some of their behavior still confused him. Verusha found it rather amusing that Rurik simply didn't get some aspects of parenting, though she was just as often exasperated by his ineptitude. He wondered why the little one was afraid of being taken away; he supposed it was a natural fear upon seeing a stranger, but what had made her so afraid of that in particular? Surely it would be worse for a stranger to actually hurt her, though even as he thought that he wished he could retract it. Nobody should go around hurting kids, and Rurik would set anybody who thought otherwise straight. Yeah, they were small and sometimes they could be annoying, but they were innocent and most of them were downright sweet. This one in particular seemed to be interested in his children, so he smiled, thinking of it as a good jump-off for the topic of his elder sons.



    "Aye. Mine children are a year old—Silas and Liliya. Their brother Anatoliy stay with his mother," the Russian explained, smiling. "I have older sons, but I have not seen them in a long time." He paused, looking to the cinnamon-furred youth, tilting his head. "I came here to look for them, actually," he ventured, hoping beyond reasonable hope she might know something of them. It was a wild, blind hope—but even if she didn't know them personally, maybe her parents did? Maybe someone else in the pack had heard of them?



    The wolf grinned again at the younger canine, liking her manners. "Seems like a nice place for a pup to grow up strong," he said, peering around at the greenery surrounding them. It was a serene and peaceful place, to be sure. "Well, I am from Russia—this is a place across the ocean. For right now, I live in the city with mine children," he said, thinking fondly of the little place they'd taken to calling their own. Human ruins, yes—but they were quite comfortable there, and their location on the edge of the city secluded them from the rest of the world, safe from any dangers the open wilderness posed.

[/html]
#8
[html]
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v515/ ... rtable.jpg); background-color:#E6F9C9; background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; padding-top:348px; padding-left:15px; padding-right:15px; padding-bottom:15px;">
Me too ;.; 300+



   She had worried about him hurting her, but the fear of being taken away had become the most prevalent. Even if she were hurt, if she were still here then her family would take care of her and make her better just as they had when she had had her accident. But if he took her away then all of her sense of security would be taken from her as well. Not all pups were so needy for safety, but Cambria certainly was. She was not confident and she was not brave, and so having a place where she felt safe was immensely important to her. It was something that she needed almost as much as food and water and the thought of it being taken away was quite horrifying. Thankfully those fears had blown away and now she was just having a conversation with the nice man.



   Oh, it seemed that Rurik's children were not actually all that close in age to her. They were actually a whole half a year older than she was. They probably wouldn't want to play with someone so young as her. It seemed odd to her that their whole family did not live together though. Cambria had her mother and father and siblings all together, not to mention a good amount of her extended family as well. "I see. Does it make you sad, having your family all split up likes that?" It would make her sad. "What's their names? I don't think I'd know them thoughs. I don't leave the pack ever." Maybe she did though. The name Russo had sounded familiar after all, so there was a chance that she would at least recognize one of the names of his sons. As she thought over it she seemed to remember she had heard that name from her mother. Maybe her mom would know his sons.



   Cambria nodded her head somewhat vigorously at Rurik's comment of her home. "Yes! It's a very nice place. I love living here." Sea colored eyes brightened as he said that he was from across the sea. It was not the same place as her family was from, but it was still over there! "My momma is from across the ocean! My uncle and aunt too! They're from Italy! I can speak Italian too, but I was born here. Does Russia have its own language too?" This was exciting! She had never met anyone else that came from across the ocean. In her excitement she even missed the fact that he and his kids were living in the city.

[/html]
#9
[html]
http://sleepyglow.net/rp/rurik/rurik_tide.jpg);">
Waugh, slowsie.



    The auburn-furred girl was delicate, reminding Rurik very much of young Lizaveta. They were hardly the same in appearance; Liz had always been a tiny and frail child, and she had not lived long enough to grow to be as big as Cambria. But there was that same reservation in her, the closeness with her family and automatic distrust of outsiders. Lily was much the same now that she was older, but as a child she'd been light-hearted and carefree. With her teenage years, though, her personality had shifted, and now that she was an adult, it did not seem she would open up anymore. Still, she was hardly full grown, and there was still room for change.



    The Russian was rather impressed with the girl's speech; she was not given to many puppyish traits in it, and her words were clear and well-enunciated. A wistful smile crossed the silvery wolf's muzzle, and he nodded slowly. "Oh yes. I does miss them. Zaets, Zorish, and Vladimir... they all have mine last name, Russo," he responded, frowning. Rurik would have given anything to know just a little bit about his elder sons and their whereabouts. What were they like? What did they do? Did they still hate him for what he'd done? It wouldn't have surprised him.



    Rurik had been enjoying the scenery quite a bit before the youngster happened upon him here, and it was still tranquil. The rolling hills expanded around them for as far as he could see, though there was the faintest salty smell from the ocean wafting in over the breeze, letting him know he was none too far from the coast. "Italy, hm? I have passed through this place. Rome is beautiful," he said with a grin, remembering the bustle of the marketplace there. It was a gritty, crowded city like any other, but there were ancient structures preceeding the Luperci by many centuries. "We speak Russian there. It sounds like this." he said, demonstrating his Russian speech for the girl. "Would you say something in Italian for me?" he asked, ever-curious about the many different languages of the world. He had heard it spoken before, but he had never sat down with it and tried to absorb it. Languages generally came easily to the Russian, and he expected it would be much the same for this Romance language.

[/html]
#10
[html]
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v515/ ... rtable.jpg); background-color:#E6F9C9; background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; padding-top:348px; padding-left:15px; padding-right:15px; padding-bottom:15px;">
300+



   Cambria had always been a very cautious and shy wolf. She couldn't really pinpoint why she was, just that that was the way she had always been. Of course the accident with the drugs hadn't helped her any, it had made her question the safety of her own home and if she could even trust the other members of the pack to look out for her. It had been their own leader at the time who had hurt her. Thankfully though she had more or less healed from that trauma and was once again comfortable in her home and trusted that nothing like that would happen again while she was here. Out there, well, you could never be certain, but in Crimson Dreams she was safe.



   The girl nodded in sympathy as Rurik said that he did miss his family that wasn't with him. She couldn't even imagine not having her family around her and the very thought of it made her chest hurt. How awful it must be for the poor man to be missing some of his kin. The pup listened closely to the names that were given, rolling them around in her memory and searching every nook and cranny for a hint of a clue that she had heard anything about them. This process took a few minutes, but unfortunately she came up empty handed. She had never heard those names before this moment. Cambria's face turned sad and apologetic. "I'm sorries, I've never heard those names before..." She had really hoped that she would have been able to help Rurik or point him in the right direction.



   She perked back up though when Rurik said that he had been to the land her family had come from. How amazing! Cambria wished badly to go and see where her mother had come from, but apparently it was a long ways off and going there could be quite dangerous. "My momma's told me about Rome! About the really big human stuff from a long, long time ago! She saw it when she was little like me, she said. She didn't live there though." It made sense that Russia would have its own language like Italy did and calling it Russian also made sense. When he spoke it her ears twitched with interest. It sounded so different from Italian! It was very interesting though. Then he asked her to speak Italian and Cambria felt very proud and unique for being able to fulfill such a request. "Sure! L'italiano sembra più bello di fa." She hadn't been sure what to say, so she had just said the first thing it pop into her head.

[/html]
#11
[html]
http://sleepyglow.net/rp/rurik/rurik_angel.jpg); background-position:bottom center; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:fixed; padding-top:10px; padding-left:12px; padding-right:12px; padding-bottom:286px;">
    Rurik wasn't really surprised by the youth's admission that she hadn't heard of his sons, so he shrugged his broad shoulders and offered a wide smile. "No worries, dyevooshka. I am sure I will see them again," the silvery wolf said. Besides, Zaets, Zorish, and Vladimir were almost four years old—they were born in the spring of 2005, and so come June the 21st, they would be four. That really blew the Russian's mind, and put into stark perspective his own age. His own birthday had been just weeks ago, and he was now seven years old, officially an old man.



    Still, he'd seen a lot of the world, lived a long, good life—and certainly, there was more to come. He was not yet dead; he still walked and he still could experience quite a bit of life. The Russos were generally long-lived canines; Rurik had known his great-grandmother for the first year of his life, and she'd lived to the ripe old age of sixteen. Both pairs of his paternal and maternal grandparents were alive; he'd seen each of them recently in Sobirat'sya, along with his three littermates, Malenkij, Skromnyj, and Strannik, as well as his younger brother, Ivan, and his younger sister Fayina. Thorn and Maruska were the only two siblings gone missing entirely from Rurik's life; he had even seen Zharkj and her two children, Arkadiy and Makariy, when he had taken a brief jaunt to Amsterdam over the past summer. They lived there, far from the cold of their home in Arkhangel'sk, yet they kept communication with the family, unlike Thorn and Maruska. Family was a strange thing.



    Rurik tilted his head to the side; he thought this young Cambria's mother was a lucky woman indeed, if she had seen the ancient stone and structure of Rome itself. "The things there are very, very old—much older than you and me, more than we can probably even imagine," he said, still marveling at the memory of the Coliseum. The Italian was intriguing; he recognized bello and Italiano but little else; still, it was a rather pretty language, flowing neatly from the young woman's mouth. "Lovely," he exlaimed, grinning broadly. "I know some languages, but not this one... if you would like to, would you teach me some of it?" the Russian asked, forever fascinated by language and eager to learn new ones. "I will teach you some of what I know? French or Spanish would be easier for you since you know their sister language, Italian," the Russian explained, grinning. He'd never had much formal education, but when someone began speaking about language, it piqued his attention, and over the years he'd managed to gather a somewhat impressive knowledge of common languages.

[/html]
#12
[html]
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v515/ ... rtable.jpg); background-color:#E6F9C9; background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; padding-top:348px; padding-left:15px; padding-right:15px; padding-bottom:15px;">
Cambi is excited lyke whoa XD 300+



   Her face brightened back up when she saw that Rurik wasn't too disappointed in the fact that she hadn't heard of his sons. He probably understood that she was little and young and didn't know much of the world and wolves outside of her pack yet. Still, she knew she had heard the name Russo before at some point and it bugged her. She would need to ask her momma at some point. Maybe her momma knew another relative of Rurik's, even if it wasn't his sons, and she could tell him about that. That would be nice. The pup giggled happily when he called her something in his language. It sounded cute and made her tail wag. "I'm sure you will too! If I hear anything I will be sure to let you know!" She very much doubted she would, she still didn't have the desire to leave the comfort of her home lands, but maybe news would come to her instead. She would like to be able to help bring a family back together.



   Ocean colored orbs grew wide in awe while the older wolf explained how old the things in Rome were. It was hard for her imagine anything so old. She knew there were many, many things older than her, but they were even older than Rurik could imagine. Momma had told her that the things there were old, even older than the mansion they lived in, but it was still amazing every time she thought of it. What would it be like to see things that were so old? "That's amazing!" It was true, and honestly she didn't know how else to respond. It all seemed too big for her. Cambria beamed when he complimented the language of her mother. The girl didn't get many opportunities outside of family interactions to speak it, and so this was fun for her. He wanted her to teach him Italian? Oh wow! She felt so important! The pup yipped happily, bouncing up on her paws for a moment. "Sure I will! I don't know how good of a teacher I ams, but I'll try!" This was all so very exciting! "French sounds nice! I didn't know languages had sisters." What a funny idea.



   Hmmm, where should she start? "The way we say 'hello' is ciao, and 'goodbye' is arrivederci." Those two words seemed like they would be a good thing to start with. Simple yet important.

[/html]
#13
[html]
http://sleepyglow.net/rp/rurik/erin_ruriktable.jpg); background-position: top center; background-repeat: no-repeat;">
Sloooowsie.

    Rurik's love of language extended back into his childhood. He had been among the first of his siblings, babbling in broken and babyish Russian first. By the time he was two, he'd learned French and Spanish, almost one after another. He'd started to pick up English during his journey to London, picking up different and random canines to stock his ship along the way. He remembered them fondly; Empathy, London, Myrthe, Thorn, Crymson., and of course his lovely Kiska. They were seven, but they'd actually been eight without knowing it—young Claret had stowed away on their ship and they were halfway across the Atlantic by the time they found her. A crueler captain might have pitched the young werewolf overboard, but certainly not Rurik.



    The youth promised to keep an eye out, something which immediately warmed the Russian's heart. It showed in his face, and he smiled, appreciating the gesture. "Thank you," he said kindly, quite willing to leave his sons at that. It was a depressing subject, and he surely didn't want to drag down the bright young child's demeanor with his own problems. So he smiled, and continued forward, always living in the present and thinking for the future. He knew he'd see them again someday.



    The silver werewolf grinned broadly, appreciating the auburn-furred canine's enthusiasm. He liked to see this in others; he believed language was a wonderful thing to be spread and shared, and though he was certainly not a poet in any of the languages he knew, he could communicate with canines he shared a language with, and that was key. "I am sure you will do just fine," the wolf reassured her, nodding his large head as if to punctuate the statement. He didn't intend to master Italian today, anyway. There was nothing wrong with getting a bit of a head start, however. He listened to her, repeating the words over in his head: ciao and arrivederci. Both sounded familiar, and the silver wolf was certain he'd heard them somewhere before. "French, Spanish, and Italian all came from the same old language," he attempted to explain. It was a strange concept, to be sure—but Latin was like their parent language, and as they were all descendant of that, they were sort-of like siblings.



    "To say ciao in French, you say bonjour. And for arrivederci, you say au revoir. Hello—ciao, bonjour. Goodbye—arrivederci, au revoir." He repeated the words in all three of their "shared" languages, knowing that equating the unfamiliar French with two familiar languages might make it easier on the young woman. Not to mention, it certainly made it easier for Rurik to throw these Italian words in with ones he already knew. This was quite fun for the linguist Russian, and the enjoyment showed clearly in the silver wolf's broad smile and gently wavering tail.

[/html]
#14
[html]
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v515/ ... rtable.jpg); background-color:#E6F9C9; background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; padding-top:348px; padding-left:15px; padding-right:15px; padding-bottom:15px;">
<3 500+



   She saw the warmth on his face from her offer to look out for news of his sons and it made her feel good, like her lack of knowledge on the subject wasn't a complete loss. "You're welcome!" she said cheerfully, tail wagging. The girl found herself already hoping that she would hear some news of his lost family so she could help reunite them. Wouldn't that just be the best thing? Cambria couldn't think of anything that would be more fulfilling than helping to bring a family back together, to see the look on their happy faces at seeing each other again. She was unaware that Rurik's eldest sons might not be incredibly happy to see him, so the picture in her mind remained a joyous one and she hoped that it would come about, with or without her assistance.



   The Marino pup and her siblings had been raised bilingually. Despite the fact that they lived far away from Italy and no one outside of the family here spoke the language, Savina had wanted to pass it on to her children. For Cambria, it had always given her the sense of having something she knew be special. She didn't often feel special, usually average or below, and so having that beautiful language that she knew and could recite perfectly made her feel good. It gave her a sense of uniqueness that she might not have had at all otherwise. Now that someone was recognizing the special talent in her she was ecstatic and filled with energy. She was completely transformed from the nervous, scared, and shy girl that Rurik had first encountered. Now she had a sense of confidence and worth. It turned her into a different wolf.



   When he explained that the three languages all came from the same even older language the concept of sisterhood became much clearer to the girl. "Oooooh, I see! That makes sense. What was the old language's name?" She doubted she would recognize it or that it would make any difference really, but it wouldn't be a bad thing to know. Until this moment she had just assumed that languages had all developed more or less separate from one another. There were some words that sounded similar in both Italian and English, but she had just chalked it up to coincidence. To know that some languages actually had similar roots was quite interesting.



   As Rurik began to instruct Cambria sat and listened attentively, the perfect apt pupil. Her ears caught the new words like a net and took them to her memory and storing them alongside the words in the companion language. The way that the older wolf was teaching was a very good way, saying the words in the different languages all together, from the very start their meanings were cemented in her head. Ciao, bonjour. Arrivederci, au revoir." She found the flow of the French words similar to Italian, but still different. Despite being related they each had their own unique feel. "Thank you is ringraziarla. You're welcome is lei è benvenuto." This was so fun! She couldn't wait to show off her new words to her siblings and parents!

[/html]
#15
[html]
http://sleepyglow.net/rp/rurik/rurik_angel.jpg); background-position:bottom center; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:fixed; padding-top:10px; padding-left:12px; padding-right:12px; padding-bottom:286px;">
    Woohoo. I think I can catch up with everything tonight... maybe. XD



    Both out of necessity and trying to share parts of himself with his children, Rurik had started educating them in English from a young age. Verusha could not speak it, though she often listened in on his lessons to the children. They were not incredibly proficient, as Rurik was surely not the best teacher—but Lily and Silas seemed to be learning even more now that they were immersed in an English-speaking world, where few shared their mother tongue and fewer still would cater to them if they were not able to effectively communicate. Rurik missed Anatoliy quite a bit; his palest-furred son was often a prominent figure in his thoughts.



    Rurik had to think a moment on that one. It was a very old language, and effectively dead—no one spoke it, but it had once dominated the very region young Cambria's family called home. Rurik's finger twirled the dark, longer hair on his chin and he appeared quite thoughtful, quirking one dark brow and looking to the sky above them. "Latin. It was once the language of Italy," Rurik explained, smiling and hoping the Marino girl would appreciate that little factoid. True, he did not know a word of it and he didn't know anything beyond what he'd shared, but it still held potential to be interesting.



    Rurik didn't find he often enjoyed interaction with children other than his own, but this one was different. She was bright and eager to learn, and her personality was quite merry and kindly, considering the way she was sharing her own language with Rurik. This was a rather big deal to him; he'd never learned something concrete from a child before, though raising his own had taught him plenty of lessons. "Ringraziala!" the Russian repeated with gusto, the Russian roll of his "r" quite appropriate for the Italian language. "Lei è benvenuto?" he repeated, less certain and bungling the pronunciation of the last word a bit.



    "Thank you is merci, you're welcome is de rien." he prompted. "Thank you, ringraziala, merci,. You're welcome, lei è benvenuto, de rien," he repeated, coming a bit closer on the pronunciation of benvenuto but still having some difficulty with it.

[/html]
#16
[html]
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v515/ ... rtable.jpg); background-color:#E6F9C9; background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; padding-top:348px; padding-left:15px; padding-right:15px; padding-bottom:15px;">
300+



   The name of this deceased language was obviously obscure knowledge as it was taking Rurik some pondering to find it. Cambria's mind still worked in some of those simple, puppish ways, so the fact that the older wolf knew so many languages obviously meant that he was quite smart and had a wealth of knowledge at his disposal. Not only that but he had seen many different places in the world and it only made sense that he would know more than someone that stayed in the same place their whole life. He was a very interesting person and the girl was glad that she was getting the opportunity to know him. Finally he found the name and even an extra little fact about the language. "Oh wow! That's neat! Latin...I'll have to ask my momma about it." She had never mentioned it, but if it had once been the language of Italy maybe she did know something about it.



   The pup never would have guessed that the Russian wasn't the best with children and didn't necessarily enjoy interacting with them. It took a certain person to get her out of her shell and the mere fact that he had accomplished that and was now teaching her something and making her feel smart was amazing to her. She assumed that he was just as skilled dealing with all young ones, especially since he had kids of his own. Cambria yipped happily as he repeated the Italian for "thank you" so enthusiastically. "Perfect!" she complimented. "Lei è benvenuto," she repeated slowly and carefully to help him pick up on the pronunciation. It was harder than the other things she had taught him thus far.



   Ringraziala, merci. Lei è benvenuto, de rien." She particularly like merci, it was a fun word to say. "Merci!" she said again, for the fun of it, but also as a thank you to Rurik. To say 'how are you?', you say come lei è? To say 'I am well', you say Sono bene."

[/html]
#17
[html]

http://sleepyglow.net/rp/rurik/rurik_bottledrage.jpg); background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; border:1px solid #000000; padding: 245px 0px 0px 0px; font-family: georgia, sans-serif; font-size:12px; color:#000000; line-height:16px; letter-spacing:.5px; text-align:justify;">

EPIC Siefail.


Rurik had always been fascinated by language; his family spoke Russian almost exclusively, but Sobirat'sya was often visited by canines from places other than Russia, and from the moment he'd heard exotic, different languages he'd been almost hooked. Some were certainly harder than others—English, for example, was especially hard for Rurik to learn, and he was still not exceptionally good at reading languages unless they were written in his familiar Cyrillic alphabet. Perhaps the transition between alphabets was too much for him, but either way, he could still only fluently read Russian. English took a while longer to break down.


He grinned at the younger canine's statement, and nodded his head. Perhaps her mother could tell her more, if she was familiar with the language and history of her birthplace. Some places' histories were ill-preserved; Rurik was thankful Russian heritage had not disappeared completely. Even he carried traditions stretching back many centuries—his Slavic-based beliefs, for example. Worship of the Vodyanye and Stribog, both ancient types of spirits and gods. The silver-furred werewolf listened carefully as Cambria spoke again, slower and easier for him to pick out the pronunciation of lei è benvenuto. "Lei è benvenuto," he tried again, and this time it worked.


The Russian wolf grinned down at the smaller canine as she repeated his words. "Ça va? Come lei è? How are you!" he said, emphasizing the English at the end. The French was particularly easy, but the pronunciation, as with all French, was a little difficult for him as a transition from Russian. "Je vais bien, sono bene, I am well," he said with a grin. "Ça va?" he asked Cambria, tilting his head to the side and looking for the auburn-furred canine's response.



<style type="text/css">
.rurik-bottledrage b{font-weight:bold; color:#BC2B26; letter-spacing:1px; font-family:trebuchet ms, sans-serif; font-size:13px;}
.rurik-bottledrage p{text-indent:35px; padding:0px 15px 15px 15px; margin:0px;}
</style>
[/html]
#18
[html]
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v515/ ... rtable.jpg); background-color:#E6F9C9; background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; padding-top:348px; padding-left:15px; padding-right:15px; padding-bottom:15px;">
One more post from you or we can close it, just let me know :3 300+



   She really didn't know how much Italian history her mother knew. Mostly she knew a lot of stories from the mythology of the Roman Empire, but beyond that Cambria wasn't sure. Latin had never been mentioned before. Maybe it was something even her mother didn't know about. That was a very hard concept for the young girl to grasp. How could her mother not know something? It seemed impossible to her young mind. Silently she decided that surely her mother would know all about Latin, she just had to. To her, her parents were still the source of all knowledge and knew about anything and everything. Soon that childish idea would fade, but for now it still held strong.



   "There! Great!" she complimented as Rurik was able to grasp the pronunciation of the Italian words. He was quite talented and it was clear he had a natural knack for languages, even if they were quite different from his native tongue. Cambria couldn't say if she had a similar talent but it would be pretty neat if she did. As he instructed her in the new French words she liked the way they rang in her ears. It was a subtler sound than Italian, smooth and soft. The restatement of the French for how are you caught her off guard for a moment, but then she beamed back up at her tutor. "Je vais bien!" Oh, this was just so much fun! "Come lei è?" she asked, mimicking his new tactic.



   The pup would be happy exchanging the languages as they were until sleep began to tug at her eyelids and the sky began to darken. How much would she be able to learn by then? Hopefully a lot! She wanted to learn as much as she could, and maybe they could even continue their lessons later on! That would be wonderful.

[/html]
#19
[html]

CHEEESY ENDING OMG XD


Though Rurik hadn't gained any information that he'd been looking for, he was enjoying this meeting anyway, and he was gaining some unexpected knowledge. Certainly this was different from reading a dictionary between languages or learning in the traditional sense—at least, they were doing so in a much slower pace to allow one another to keep up. It was fun nonetheless for Rurik, and he made sure to commit these new words in a different language to memory, ready to use if the need arose.


The auburn-furred child complimented his pronunciation and he grinned, happy to make her proud. It was something of a native language for her, after all—apparently, she'd been raised in a bilingual environment, which was excellent as far as Rurik was concerned. Children learned language the easiest, and he'd given each of his children the ability to at least say very basic things in the most common of the languages remaining in the world. There were many dead languages and many more Rurik did not know, but at least they would be able to say hello and goodbye in most places of Europe. Now he had to cajole and plead with Liliya to even speak English sometimes, something which bothered Rurik quite a bit. She lived in an English-speaking world; it was to her benefit to be able to fully communicate with the canines living here.


The silver-furred werewolf grinned and answered her question confidently, his rumbling Russian accent giving the words a rather interesting tilt: "Sono bene!" he responded, punctuating the words with a laugh. For a while longer, the pair of Luperci remained on the edge of the territory, trading a few more phrases in their respective languages with each other before parting, each with a little bit of vocabulary in a brand new language.


<style>
.rurik-angel {width:400px; background-color:#E1E3D8; border:1px solid #000000; background-image:url(http://sleepyglow.net/rp/rurik/rurik_angel.jpg); background-position:bottom center; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:fixed; padding-top:10px; padding-bottom:286px; font-family:verdana, sans-serif; font-size:11px; color:#000000; letter-spacing:.2px; word-spacing:1px; line-height:13px; text-align:justify;}
.rurik-angel b {color:#2A5784;}
.rurik-angel strong {color:#0A3966;}
.rurik-angel p {text-indent:40px; padding:0px 12px 0px 12px; margin:1px 0px 10px 0px; }
</style>
[/html]


Forum Jump: