<style type="text/css">
.sladetracks b {font-weight:bold; color:#010101; letter-spacing:1px; }
.sladetracksooc { font-style:italic; padding:0px; font-family:verdana, sans-serif; font-size:10px;}
.sladetracks p {text-indent:10px;padding:10px 10px 0px 10px;margin:0px;}
.sladetracks {width:403px;border:1px solid #303032;background-image:url(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/K ... /slade.png);background-position:bottom center;background-repeat:no-repeat;padding-bottom:260px;background-color:#f5fade;text-align:justify;margin:10px;font-family:georgia, serif;font-size:11px;line-height:12px;color:#303032;}
</style>
Table by Jennaphaeus. / WC: 490
Just when Slade thought that he had finally settled his mind down, he heard a familiar voice from beyond the trees. He froze instantly, as if he had heard a terrified scream. His heart was thumping loudly and he was almost certain that the other could hear it. He recognized who was speaking just a moment before he could pick up the scent.
What? How did...? Where has...? Why...? The voice came from behind him but he almost didn't dare to look. There was something different about it. The breeze carried her scent to his nose and he found that there also happened to be another strange animal nearby, a bird of some sort that he didn't recognize. He almost found that he was trying to convince himself that he was mistaken and that the bird's scent was only messing with his nose, that she wasn't here... but then there was that voice again. Deirdre.
Half of him wanted to run forward and start sputtering, overflowing with questions and stories and everything else he wanted to say. The other half didn't want to even turn around, and was urging him to walk along like there was nothing there. The common sense in him said that he'd probably have a heart attack or something along those lines if his sense of smell was right and Deirdre didn't look like he remembered her. Still, curiosity clawed at his mind until it overtook him and he spun around.
His nose hadn't wronged him at all. As soon as he saw her he wanted to look away, look at the clear blue sky, look at the trees, look at the ground, look at his paws... he wanted to look at anything that was familiar. In the few months that he had been gone, everything had changed... everything, including the wolf who had become his best friend, who he had even bothered to talk to in the first place because she was like him and couldn't stand upright... it wasn't familiar, it wasn't the same. Slade didn't like so much change.
She was so much taller than him now. There seemed to be some odd markings on her wrist and below her eye but he didn't take notice. He dared to look at her face for only a second before he had to look away again, studying her from the ground up. She looked much more slender in this form, and could now boast a light brown mane that looked so similar to the hairs of those Slade had seen before. He didn't understand how this wolf, this Optime, could be Deirdre.
There was no more denying it. Slade's gaze stayed on the ground and he didn't dare meet her eyes. He wasn't sure if he would burst into a furious rage or fall apart in front of her. At long last, he sighed and spoke quietly. “Deirdre. You've... changed since I last saw you.”