http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g210/ ... table2.png);background-position:bottom;background-repeat:no-repeat;"> pushitinIt was a lazy dawn, the sun didn't seem in any hurry to rise, the sky was still and inky purple, the light beginning to creep up from the horizon, casting long shadows and bringing the woods to life. All around the trees were full of twittering and tweeting, song birds welcoming the new day, perpetually pleased to see the sun starting to rise it would seem. The moon was beginning to fade, the stretched grin melting away into the sky as it lightened, no doubt you wouldn't be able to see it for too much longer; as the blue tinged morning light would start to illuminate the land. Small animals were beginning to rise, ears twitched and eyes peered out of burrows. Pine needles caked the ground in a thick blanket and they began to rustle as small animals begain to creep about the forest floor, meandering about, looking for some morsel or other to eat as they moved around. pushitinA much larger creature, too, was stirring, dark ears began to twitch as Soran was slowly roused from sleep. She had been in the woods for a time, she was still hiding here, close to Naniko, not too far a walk from her grandson, his mate and his children, she had decided it was a good neutral place to stay and hide while she waited for her thoughts to settle, while she worked out what to do. What could she do, these thoughts had been plaguing her all night, her talk with Lucia had not helped much, unfortunately the whirlwind myriad of her thoughts had proven too difficult to straighten out overnight, she had lain awake, watching the stars, listening to the wind blowing through the trees. Unable to work out what to do, wondering whether or not to join a pack, and if so, which pack, should she side with her former daughter in law, close enough to her heart to be her own child, or with her grandson, or should she look around for her son and other grandchildren? No doubt they would be scattered around here somewhere, in this land, they couldn't all have left. pushitinThe obsidian fae stretched out her lithe limbs, she had slept in her wolven form, finding it much easier and comfortable to do so when she was sleeping outdoors, sometimes she longed for her old house, Syemv's manor where her children had been born, where she had had her own bedroom, with a real, soft feather bed. Now all that was left of it was a charred husk. Oh how she missed it, not only was it a more comfortable bed than the pine needle strewn ground between the large gnarled roots of a tree, but it had been a far more simple time. With a wide yawn that showed the jet fae's pink tongue and sharp white teeth, Soran rose, leaving her leather satchel against the tree root that she had used as a pillow. She padded towards the slow-flowing stream that crossed the forest nearby to where she had slept. She drank in the cool clear water, a jade eye resting on the form of a rabbit bouncing around, oblivious to her presence, just across the stream from where she stood. |
2 game wardens, 7 hunters and a cow...
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07-08-2011, 09:31 PM
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07-08-2011, 10:04 PM
Loni loped easily through the Dampwoods, maw opened wide as she yawned, flashing her oversized fangs. Her left hand drifted up to rub at her yellow eyes-- she wasn't normally awake at this hour, but she'd been awoken by some dreadful, squawking bird and saw no point to going back to sleep if she didn't have a set schedule to follow anyway. Not to mention she was hungry, and it was far easier to catch things in the half-light when they were still dopey with sleep.
She paused, lifting her inky muzzle into the air and sniffing. The smell of wolves wafted through the place, and if wolves lived here then there must be decent prey. She dropped to all fours, snuffling at the ground and moving her head in arcing circles to find every possible scent. There were rabbits in the area, at least. And the fresh scent of just-gone wolf. An... older female. That shouldn't be a problem, especially since Lloni couldn't detect the smell of puppies accompanying the other female. She'd yet to find a lone female who got aggressive for no reason. She stood again, shifting the strap of her back and casting around for a weapon suitable for beating tiny prey animals to death, eventually settling on a hefty stick. She only intended to hit rabbits with it, it didn't need to be fancy. 'Gruff'-ing in satisfaction, she tested the air again, before padding off towards the smell and sound of running water. Most creatures could be found getting a drink at this time of day, and it was the perfect place to find little squeaky things that she could bite. As she approached the stream, she spotted the female that she had smelled before, drinking from the crisp, clear water. Across from the older female was an oblivious rabbit, happily going about its way. Lloni licked her chops, flicking her ears back. Did the other female want it? She didn't look like she wanted it. Maybe she wouldn't mind if Lloni killed it? She took another step towards the stream and something in the leaf litter made a resounding crack, startling the rabbit and sending it running. Lloni winced, watching the rabbit flee before turning her attention to the other female. "...Sorry? I, er. Sorry." She lowered her head and dropped her tail apologetically.
07-09-2011, 11:28 AM
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07-09-2011, 09:58 PM
((OOC: Sorry it's all short...))
"Oh!" Lloni jolted forward without thinking when the older female fell in the water, shuddering when she came up sneezing and laughing, glad that she was okay. She let out a tiny, friendly chirrup, her ears perked up and her tail wagging. She was glad that the older lady wasn't mad with her, and glad that she could laugh it off. She couldn't help but giggle when the other black female shook herself, some of the spray hitting her muzzle and making her laugh louder, semi-curled tail wagging faster and her feet peddling as she wiped her nose of the stray drops. "I'm Lloni! Lloni Auger!" She introduced herself in a high, lilting tone. "Do you live here, Soran? I'm just passing through to get to Anathema territory. I'm thinking of joining up, but I dunno." She shrugged non-chalantly. Her yellow eyes regarded the little female-- no, wait, medium-sized female-- curiously before voicing a question. "Is there a pack here? I didn't think this was claimed territory." She cocked her head to the side, one ear falling inside-out. "Or are you a Loner too?"
07-11-2011, 12:12 PM
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07-11-2011, 08:57 PM
((OOC: Oh dear! Are you better now?))
Lloni listened intently to all that Soran had to say, tail swishing absent mindedly and one hand drifting up to pop her ear the right way again. Soran seemed nice enough, but there was something about her, as though she was plagued by worries and troubles. But then again, most people seemed to be haunted by something-- Lloni was lucky in her unblemished innocence, having grown up with only her parents, and the little she'd had to do with strange wolves had been amiable. She was pretty glad that she hadn't met anyone nasty yet, not because she couldn't handle it, but because she'd rather float through life as pleasantly as possible for as long as was possible. "Oh, cool." Lloni replied when Soran explained what she was doing here. "I've never really done that since leaving home. I'm always on the move, I never stay anywhere longer than a day or two." She shrugged her massive shoulders. "After all, there's been so much to see. I was convinced I'd miss out on so much if I stopped for too long. It's sad, really. We've got all the intelligence of the humans that used to live here, but only a fraction of the life span. Isn't that sad? They got to study every inch of this world..." She trailed off, a faraway look in her eyes before she snapped back into reality. "Which is why I'm always reading the notes they left behind! " Her tail wagged a little and she gestured vaguely at her back pack. "Anathema seems like my best option, unless I wanna hover for a year or two waiting for new packs to spring up. And their cooky-spooky customs kinda appeal to me. I mean, I don't believe any of the spiritual stuff, but it's a fascinating culture!" Her yellow eyes sparkled with delight and curiosity-- curiosity may have killed the cat, but it was also what kept the giant wolfdog going. Her spirits dampened a little when Soran described her relationship with Naniko, and her tail dropped a touch. She nodded slowly, one hand running through her mane. "Yeah, that makes sense. She's your ex-daughter-by-mate, and you care for her. Makes perfect sense." She paused for a moment, head tilting to the side again. "...Grandkids, eh? Wooh! I dunno if I'll ever even have kids, let alone grandkids." "Uh-- yeah! 'S the only reason I'm awake. I'm more of a night owl than an early bird, if you catch my drift." She chuckled. "Hang on, I'll help out." She tossed her stick away, shucked off her back pack, and began to shift. Her body seemed to collapse in on itself, her limbs shrinking, joints popping. Her hips changed to be better suited to walking on all-fours, her mane shrunk and all but disappeared. There were uncomfortable cracking noises as her hind legs changed shape, until eventually she was in Lupus form. Still giant, but-- less so. It all took about three minutes-- Lloni was fairly well-practiced. "Right-o." Lloni shook out her pelt. "Easier to catch things like this, after all." She wagged her tail. "So! We gonna go kill squeaky prey things?"
07-14-2011, 08:49 AM
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07-17-2011, 07:30 AM
((OOC: I'm glad you're better! Sorry I took so long, my 'net was down too. And hey, I try to think like a wolf when I write! 'Squeaky prey things' seemed like a wolfy way to say it~!))
Lloni nodded slowly, listening to Soran talk about the pack that used to inhabit the North, and book-swapping. "Oh yeah, I heard the stories. My parents lived up near where Winnipeg was at, and even we got the news, eventually. I mean, jeez, that was a damn awful fire." She shook herself in an involuntary shiver. She perked her ears up at the mention of books, though. "Ooh, yeah! I gots fiction 'n' non-fiction, but nothin' in a series. I try not to read series', in case I can't find the connected books, y'know? I hate not know how stories end!" She let out a bark of laughter. "Woah, if there's one thing I know, it's to never diss someone else's religion or other such beliefs. Y'know the humans had terrible wars over religion? Yeah, I'm not about to piss anyone off over them believing something I don't. Ican smile and nod as much as the next tactful athiest." She tilted her head when Soran asked her to send Naniko her love, should she join Anathema. "Of course, Soran. I'll pass that along when I see her. I probably will, at some point." She smiled a little, voice so full of conviction and honesty that it was obvious that there was no way in hell that Naniko wouldn't get the message. She would've carried the message even if she didn't join Anathema. Even if she'd never gone near their territory, she would've made sure the message got to Naniko. She liked running cute little errands like that. She nodded enthusiastically when Soran talked about her motherhood and grandchildren-- even great-grandchildren, which was amazing. She like kids, sure, but she just couldn't slow down to think of family life. "I love puppies and all, but I've got so much to do! So far to go! I can't stop for a mate, let alone puppies. But hey, if I ever start to slow down then maybe. Or if I find a way to stay on the go. It'd be nice to have a kid to share my curiosity and follow in my footsteps, though. I guarantee, anyone descended from me will be too damn clever, and too damn curious for their own good." She chuckled a little, tail making soft swish sounds as it wagged. Lloni made a loud snorting sound, pretending to be offended. "Pshaw, if it runs and squeaks, then it's a squeaky prey thing. I don't care what species it is." She shook out her coat and flashed a devilish grin. "Ooh! Did you know that the hare, a close relative of the rabbit, has a skull with sliding bone-plates to absorb the impact when another hare punches it in the face? Pretty awesome, huh?" She giggled. "Right-o!" Lloni followed close behind Soran, nose twitching.
07-21-2011, 07:20 PM
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Sorry for the wait on this!!! I've not had my laptop 'cos it's being fixed so I've been having to borrow my little bro's and he doesn't give it up easy lol. And I just loved the way you put it, made me laugh "squeaky prey things" it's all good Aplogies for the length of this, I have new tables and they seem to have kick-started my muse again The ebony fae listened to Lloni speak, nodding as she said about the fire, the dark lady hadn't realised that news had travelled that far, it had indeed reached her fairly quickly, so she supposed that others had heard about it as well, passed on the news of the homes of many packs suddenly being gone, suddenly burned to the ground, leaving nothing but a charred mess and shattered memories behind it. Soran was especially hurt by the loss of the old lands, it had been her first home, she had first found acceptance there, she had never been accepted by her own pack as a pup, her black fur marking her as evil in their eyes. But when she had arrived in the Bleeding Souls lands she had met many black wolves and discovered that they were indeed decent and normal as she considered herself to be. She had been enveloped into pack life, she had a home, a family, she had been loved, in fact it had been the first place that the obsidian loner had fallen in love, her pups had been born there, her friends were buried there. It had been home, and now it was all gone, she worried that the place was fading from everyone's minds, that it was being forgotten, it would never be in her mind, her heart still resided there, well it was split in two, resting with her family here and her buried family back in the old lands, buried and now hidden under several inches of ash. Although not her children's graves, and not Phasma's, she had cleaned those before she left, she had made sure that their graves could be seen, no-one would forget who lay there when they passed by, no-one would step over their graves unknowingly. "Yes it was awful, we lost everything, our homes, our history, our pasts, although some consider that a good thing. I go there sometimes still, my children are buried there, as are a few of my friends, I go to make sure their graves have not been hidden, I cannot forget them completely after all." Soran said, managing a weak smile although she was talking about something that hurt her heart. The ebony lady nodded in agreement as Lloni spoke again, she could not abide not knowing how a story ended either, she wanted to know what happened. She wanted her happy endings, even if they were happening to some fictional character, if they got theirs, then at least she had hope for her own happy endings. She could see what the larger female meant, it would be awful to not know what happened to characters that you had come to have an affection for, she herself was always hungry to know what happened next. The conversation came back to religion and the dark lady was pleased, it seemed that her new friend had a good amount of tact; she could nod along well although she did not necessarily agree with what was going on, a trait she would need to cultivate in these lands, you never knew who you might encounter, what strange ways they might have, and so many of them did have strange ways, although they were not always bad, just percieved as strange. The larger female's promise seemed so genuine, and instantly the ebony lady found herself liking her even more, she seemed an honest creature who would potentially even go out of her way to make sure a message got to the right person. It warmed the dark fae's heart to see that there were still some wonderful wolves who would behave like that, honour was still alive."Thank you Lloni, like I said I cannot guarentee that it would get you into the pack, but it may help you if you tell my Naniko that you're my friend, I take it we could be considered friends now, hunting partners usually end up that way." Soran said, a little chuckle escaping her lips at the end of the sentence. Lloni then spoke of children, she sounded like the obsidian lady herself when she had been younger, having never planned on ever having children, even having found herself falling in love with a female wolf, which she supposed would have almost guarenteed it. But then Summer had died and she had sought comfort in the arms of Hollow, trusting him had been a terrible mistake, although the result had been Conri, who was her best ever mistake. It was true her red son had done some terrible things, but the truth of it was that he had saved her life numerous times, he had saved her from herself, too many times she had been on a path of self destruction, and he had rescued her, simply by existing. He had given her the hope that things might get better, and although she still carried so much hurt around with her, things were steadily getting better, she could almost see a light flickering at the end of the tunnel now; it was a start at least. The fact that spilled from Lloni's lips made the ebony lady smile, she had not known that, she had never really looked hares up, she found them to be amusing creatures, far more agile than rabbits, but she had never really thought about the damage they might do to one another with their boxing. "I did not know that, although I did know that it is not two males boxing, it's a female fighting off a male's advances usually, to test his strength I suppose." The lady replied, padding across the stream quickly, the water not seeming as deep as when she had fallen into it before, she clambered up onto the bank, lowering herself towards the ground to avoid being seen. "There appears to be a group of them over there, the plumper ones seem to be towards the middle, which way do you want to go? I think we should pen them in, surround them, then we can probably catch a few each."The ebony fae suggesting, nodding to the rabbits up ahead, they could flank them and then catch some each in the ensuing panic. |