06-20-2009, 05:15 AM
[html]
[/html]Conor's table is so pretty. :O. 529 words.
A light breeze drifted across the land, teasing Ares' already somewhat mussed up fur. He was trotting along a somewhat worn trail near the northern border, but a particular scent carried in the wind stopped the youth dead in his tracks. It was the scent of the pack his mother belonged to. A terrified handful of milliseconds determined that no, it was not her (she wasn't allowed here anyway, forbidden from the land, he was safe, safe). A hopeful few more also eliminated his sister, Princess. No, it was a stranger. A stranger.. from his mother's pack. Goosebumps tickled his skin as he crept slowly, slowly towards the scent. Was he allowed to chase strangers off? I mean, it made sense that the leaders could, but did Ares wasn't one, he was a Basic Officer. And while he wasn't sure precisely where in the ranks that stood, he figured by his age and tenure that it wasn't very high.
Well, maybe he'd question the stranger. If he didn't have a good reason for being here, then he was just a dirty trespasser, and Ares would probably not get in trouble for asking him to make him leave. Because honestly his presence made him sorta uncomfortable. Of course because it dredged up memories of Tokyo. But most importantly, at the moment, his discomfort came from recalled feelings of shame, disgust, and self-loathing when he had had to turn away, when he was too scared to cross over into those lands and find his mother.
The stranger came into sight. Oh. Weird. It was just a kid - smaller than Ares himself. When did Ares grow so big? He didn't ever remember anyone being smaller than him. Even Princess had been bigger, if only slightly (and probably then because she was perpetually better fed). The fierce questions he had been planning slipped out of his mental grasp, and he was forced to quickly re-evaluate the situation. "You're from the same pack as my mother, I don't know what it's called, but you smell like it." Bluntly, matter-of-fact. The other boy was brown. Ares didn't remember what Tokyo's thoughts on that color were, so he wasn't sure if his mother would have been nice to him or not. If it turned out the stranger knew her..
Oh God, what if word got back to her that her son was living in these lands? What if she came to get him? The thought was terrifying, and he regretted his admission of belonging to the blood of a woman from that strange pack. How big was the pack? Would the kid be able to figure it out by process of elimination? Well, Ares wouldn't give away his last name. Wouldn't name his mother. He'd be okay. He'd be safe. Tokyo wasn't allowed here. "Except I'm not going to tell you who my mother is, I don't want her to know I'm here." Just to make things clear. To head off the inevitable follow-up question. Ares hoped the stranger would at least fill him in on the name of his mother's pack, so he could have a more clear and direct process of thoughts about that area.