the moon and i

Vesper · 12-04-2011, 02:16 AM

[html]

Word Count → 465

Vesper could understand caution when it came to speaking of the past—and she would not ask what she was not willing to answer herself. Then again, her closet had very few skeletons, and none of her family was held in especially high regard. There was no one in her past that she wanted to protect; it was the present that she needed to worry about.

She nodded as he explained what Vorrakess was, then continued to listen with sharp curiosity as he went on to explain the war that it had with a kingdom of rogues. Inter-pack conflicts did not seem very uncommon in the wilderness, where luperci intelligence and expansion caused conflict over prey, but Vesper had taken great pains to avoid these battle sites and therefore knew of almost none of them. Therefore, she wasn’t very surprised that she hadn’t heard of Vorrakess or Zheynche before. As such, there was no emotional attachment so much as a keen interest for something that she didn’t know about. It might not help her out, but she did want to know more about her clan mate.

“How did the war begin? Did the Zheynche steal from you?” Her tone was light as it had before, not prompting him to answer if he didn’t want to.

And then Vesper frowned when they came to an awkward misunderstanding, both jumping around topics they were worried bothered the other. It was strange to think that Wolfgang had been raised to be expressionless and emotionless, but since she often smoothed her face over to hide weakness, she could somewhat understand. She forced an easygoing smirk and reassured him, “No, it’s just a question I’m not used to. I wouldn’t worry about it; it isn’t your fault you aren’t familiar with them. Expressions vary wildly from canine to canine, anyway, and sometimes a smile can mean very different things.” She reasoned that he might at least understand body language in order to understand something about what others were thinking; while a culture could understandably do away with emotions to keep secrets and composure, removing silent communication was slightly more difficult.

There was no great pause of breath before his final answer, and Vesper lowered her ears at the thought of him offering himself as bait; her strong self-preservation instincts from her loner origin were at odds with self-sacrifice. She reminded herself that it was his kingdom, his family, and nodded slightly to convey understanding. She nodded once more, smiling, at his last comment. “I am familiar with restlessness.” Her eyes trailed over his bandaged leg, and she sighed. “Perhaps I can help you walk back to wherever you are staying when you feel tired, if that wouldn’t offend you. We can’t have our new members collapsing out in the woods.”

Login




Remember me Lost Password?