"You don't have to go with me on this, Oct. I'd rather you stay behind and watch our things, anyways." Loviere nudged his raccoon friend playfully, in the direction they had come. He was setting out from the pack for the first time since he'd been accepted and the surrounding lands were strange to him. He would not be able to bear it if something happened to Octavian.
"Right, Vi. Hungry anyway. Later, brother." The raccoon understood the stress that his Luperci friend was under. Life was changing rapidly for Loviere. In a matter of days, he had gone from being the sole wolf in his life to being just one of many. It only made sense that he might like some time on his own. The masked companion scurried off through the forest. From his neck dangled a wooden pendant that Loviere had given him, so that others might know that the raccoon was not just some prey animal.
Loviere took a moment of concentration and took on his Optime form. It was rare that he used the humanlike shape. But now that he was finally alone, he reached for the pouch that was strung around his waist, taking out the beginning shape of a wooden sculpture and his preferred stone shaping tool that sometimes doubled as a knife. He cast his soft gold eyes around the forest meditatively. Its beauty had astounded him the first time he had come through, before he had stumbled upon Cercatori d'Arte. His leg now required a bit of rest, and so he whittled carefully at the piece of wood, drinking in the sights of the forest every now and then.
<style type="text/css">
.loviere-01 b {font-weight:bold; color:#6faba9; letter-spacing:1px; text-shadow: 0.1em 0.1em 0.2em #2e5857; }
.loviere-01 p {text-indent:0px; padding:5px 16px; margin:0px;}
.loviere-01 {margin:0 auto; width:420px; background-color:#699190; background-image:url(http://i55.tinypic.com/33xghe0.png); background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; border:1px solid #0b052c; padding: 240px 0px 7px 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size:12px; color:#a2c4c3; text-shadow: 0.1em 0.1em 0.2em #; letter-spacing:.6px; word-spacing:.9x; line-height:13.3px; text-align:justify;}
.loviere-01 p b:before { content: open-quote; }
.loviere-01 p b:after {content: close-quote; }
</style>
[/html]