And this fire will guide you home...

Aneira Rampant · 04-21-2010, 09:48 PM

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I modeled their sleeping position on my dog. XD When she sleeps in my bed she curls up against my back or right next to my hip, depending on how I'm sleeping. A note to everyone else, the angsty nightmare was also scripted occ. Yes it is Sue-ish, but I'm sadistic.

Word count: 452

Leah nodded politely, and a little akwardly, at Yumiko's thanks. She then inched a little closer to Anne and sprawled out on her side. Anne moved to curl up against the small of Leah's back. In a few short moments, she was asleep.

The scents of herbs permeated her sleep, but they weren't anything Yumiko would have on hand. Wolfsbane, Nightshade, Foxglove, Hemlock, Yew, Deathcap...

****Sometime before Midnight****

The sun tore across the clearing and plucked mischievously at the flowers. She was in the Lupus form, but she swore it was smaller than when she fell asleep. She was up to her chest in the tall grass. The collar around her neck jingled when she moved. In the shade of the trees, the covered wagons echoed emptily the cry of the wind.

You can’t escape us, Laelia.

Suddenly she stood in her optime, beside a river frothing madly with the spring rains. On the far side was a mirror image of herself, but delicate in the way long illness marks those so afflicted. He carried himself with an arrogance and fire, like a king dealing with an unruly servant. Behind him a pack of wolves paced restlessly, indistinct as mist.

“Curly?” Her throat closed up. He glanced for a moment at her hands, but she couldn’t tear her gaze away from his.

He tilted his head to the side coyly, mockingly. “Tell me, Laelia…” His flesh began to bloat and swell like a drowned corpse. The almost-wolves milled madly behind him.

“Tell me…” The fleshless bones fixed her with their eternal grin.

“How does it feel to be a murderer?”
She looked down at her hands… and began to scream.

***

A piercing scream rent the darkness. Anne dragged herself out of sleep and focused on the source of the sound.

”I can’t get it off… I can’t get it off!”

For a moment Anne was stunned beyond reaction. Leah was in her optime form, pressed against the opposite wall and scrubbing at her hands with drunken movements. Her claws were unsheathed, and the flesh shredded easily under the frantic pressure. Blood ran scarlet rivulets down her arms and dripped off her elbows to puddle at her feet.

“I can’t -”
Anne shifted faster than she shuld have; she felt a sharp flash of pain shoot through her skull. She grabbed the other girl’s wrists, drawing out an anguished cry – she wasn’t sure whose. Leah stared blankly at her, halted... for the moment.

"Anne?"

Leah whimpered, burying her face in Anne's shoulder. She clung to her like she was afraid she would disappear if she let go. Anne found herself rubbing Leah's back, whispering words that she wouldn't remember later. It didn't occur right then that they might wake their host.

Yumiko Tsume · 04-24-2010, 08:47 PM

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ooc

Word Count: 701

Yumiko was far more tired that she had realised, for as soon as she had fallen asleep not even the strange smells of strangers so close to her awoke her. She only moved once, to flop into a more comftorable sleeping postion on her side with her legs sprawled everywhere. Despite their shortness, they certainly took up a fair chunk of the room, especially with the others napping so tightly curled up. They were certainly conservative with their space, as if they were used to sleeping in tiny spaces.

A horrific shriek was what finally tore her from her dreamless sleep. As she struggled to tear herself from the tight grasp the night always held over her, her muddled mind heard the scream echoing thousands of times over, screwing with her sense of space and time. She finally was awake enough to register what her open eyes saw, from their strange angle with one plastered upon the ground and the other facing the ceiling, in time to see a wolf she couldn't place shift far more quickly than was safe.

It clicked into place just as another cry wrenched through the night and stabbed Yumiko's sensitive heart with sympathy. They were her roomates. Her friends. Just children, really, even though they were so close in age to herself. That, and Leah was clearly frightened out of her mind because she barely even recognized the wolf she had been travelling with for who knows how long. Her hands were covered in rivers of blood, barely visible in the low light of the moon that barely shone through the tiny entrance. The blonde wolf's heart ripped even further, stabbed by blades of sympathetic pain that her considerate soul created. She couldn't bare to see such suffering. That was why she became a healer in the first place.

As Anne comforted Leah the fog that was always in place after Yumiko awoke disappeared completely, and she closed her eyes and shifted silently while they took comfort in each other's existance. Her bones made no soudn as they lengthened and readjusted, and she opened her lids to peer out at a higher vantage point, unaware of when she had sat up during the shift. She spoke softly, knowing that no matter how hard she tried she would undoubtedly frighten the two wolves that were so vulnerable at the moment. Leah especially. "Guys.... I... She paused, uncertain what to say. Who was she to comfort either of them? She barely even knew them yet, regardless of how well they had been getting along.

She decided to stop attempting to speak, and instead her focus went to the wounds that Leah had inflicted upon herself in her nightmare-ridden fright. She could only hope that the other blonde wolf trusted her enough to tell her what was going on. She wasn't one to pry. Instead, she shifted onto her knees and reached up to the lowest shelf, groping in the near dark while her eyes continued to adjust. She found the rocks she was seraching for, knowing their familiar touch, and brought them to the hearth. She built a quick fire pyramid (kindling at the bottom, steadily getting larger to the outside) from her small stash leftover from winter, and hurriedly knocked the stones together. The flint sparked on the first hit, and she managed to catch some kindling on fire, blowing on the precious light. It grew until the entire fire was lit, large enough to shed a flickering glow on the entire scene and warm up the cave in the cold night that was kept at bay only by thick walls and a small entrance.

The smoke drifted to the ceiling, until Yumiko hurriedly remembered to shift the skin she had covering the chimney hole and it made it's twirly way out that way. She dropped back to her knees, and looked at Leah with concern. "You can talk to me, you know, but I won't push you." She gestured with concern at the girl's bloodied paws. "Please, let me take a look at that, though. I'm a healer." She left out that, in their tribe, she technically was only at the lowest of the healer's positions. She did have more experience then the title gave her credit for, though.

"Talk." Walk. Think.

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Oops I forgot it was cold and snowy when we started this lol *has edited the fire Tongue

*

Aneira Rampant · 05-01-2010, 01:12 PM

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Sorry, I couldn't come up with anything for them to do. ^^;

Leah didn’t react to Yumiko’s first muttered words, which more than anything made Anne nervous. She smoothed the older girl’s back and murmured more unintelligible comfort. Another would have been annoyed, but there had been more than a few nights that Leah had stayed awake for her sake.

The older girl turned around and watched without recognition as Yumiko breathed life into the fire. Anne pulled Leah by her wrist and settled the red wolfess beside her. Leah looked oddly vulnerable. She was visibly pulling herself together and erecting the iron shield that made her normal calm possible. Piece by piece the wall was going up

Anne looked somewhere between embarrassed, and exhausted. She her ears twitched uncomfortably. Even as open with her emotions as she tended to be, she wasn’t fond of being so blatant. One could even say her ceaseless teasing was her own form of mask.

Leah watched the older female’s gesturing hands with detached interest, until Yumiko’s offer worked it’s way through her dream induced fog then obligingly held out her hands. “Thank you.” For a moment she said nothing.

Then... "What would you like to know?" As if she didn't have some idea of what Yumiko was asking about.

Yumiko Tsume · 05-03-2010, 08:16 PM

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lol

Word Count: 421

At Leah's consent, Yumiko gave the briefest of smiles before reaching up to the shelves to get out her healing supplies. She didn't have many, since few herbs grew throughout the winter, but she had some basic supplies and dried plants she'd asked for from others. She opened the leather herb pouch and removed the alder bark that grew on trees year round, broke off a small piece and promptly put it into her mouth. Cringing at the bitter taste and chewing huriedly, she made a thick paste that she spat into her hand and spread into the wounds. It wasn't pretty, but it was effective. "This will prevent infection..." she said to anyone who was listening.

Looking up through long lashes at Leah, she noticed the blank, guarded look she wore and frowned in concern. Was the nightmare really so traumatic? Perhaps it was based off of a past experience, something the young wolf would sooner forget. Yumiko glanced over at Anne while the paste set into the cuts, a woodsy smell combining with the smoke in the air.

Focusing on the task at hand, she spoke to Anne while gently massaging the paste deeper into the scratches. "I can tell you two have something to your past, something you may not want to share," she said with experience. She had her own secrets, her own torments that she'd rather keep bottled up inside. "However, I've learned it can be better to share what's bothering you. It makes it worse, for a time, as you realise it's all real, but if you keep it bottled up inside you'll never feel release." Yumiko picked up a pile of cobwebs from her kit without looking, fluffing them up stretching them out before placing them tightly over Leah's hands. She secured it with a strip of bark, wound around her hands, tied, and cut with her teeth. The bandages would need to be changed, but would hold for the night.

She put her supplies back up upon the shelves, but not before placing a sprig of thyme near her side. It would help when the time arose. Rubbing her tongue along her teeth to rid any of the remaining bark from her mouth, she leaned back on one hand and gazed at the two young wolves in front of her. Yumiko had her own tragedies, but she settled back on her butt as she prepared to listen to the tale that would hopefully be spilled. The two needed closure. Yumiko offered just that.

"Talk." Walk. Think.

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The thyme will be explained soon <3

Aneira Rampant · 05-10-2010, 10:00 PM

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Aneira

J

Leah flexed her hands experimentally with an expression of intense interest. "How intriguing... Thank you." She sniffed, trying to identify the herb Yumiko had used. She paused at the woman's next words.

Leah glanced at Anne. The younger girl gave her a weak, reassuring smile. "Your story is mine."

Leah wagged her tail before turning her gaze turned inward for a moment to frame her words. She crossed her legs and rested her newly wrapped hands palm up on her knees.

Anne shifted into her Lupus form, and leaned againt the older woman's leg. She nosed one Leah's hands until she rested it on the blonde's ruff, and Anne took the opportunity to sneakily pillow her chin on the elder's knee. She wagged her tail sleepily, a content expression on her face. The older girl had also relaxed, the stress disappating as she smoothed blonde fur. There was something amusing about seeing the usually brash and energetic wolfess looking like a sleepy housepet.

She was quiet for a time, until she spoke again.
"In our pack, I'm known as Lealia Anemos, Hare, second division." She gently tapped the top of Anne's head.

The blonde started. "Aneira Rampant, border patrol, Mobile division." She grumbled drowsily. "Thats us"

The older wolfess continued. "I'm meant to be a tool of war." Abruptly she changed mental direction. "Did you guess we're called Hares and Hounds after the children's game?" She smiled a little bitterly.
...because we start the training as pups.

She half-idly traced a streak of copper that circled Anne's right ear, studiously avoiding Yumiko's eyes. "I've hurt a lot of people." She was more nervous about this than she had expected. Her discovery that Yumiko was a healer didn't help matters at all. If anything, Leah was an anti-healer.

It wasn't even so much that she was guilty for doing it - the hardened part of her knew if she hadn't she probably would have died. Still, the larger part of her nature could only ask a bewildered "why?"

Anne was almost asleep, one ear twitched towards Leah when she spoke, but it was doubtful she fully heard what was being said.

Yumiko Tsume · 05-13-2010, 08:37 PM

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ooc

Word Count: 306

The pair of young females began to talk, reciting ranks like they were lined up for an examination. Yumiko folded her hands in her lap and listened intently, her lack of sleep not a problem after the five or so hours she'd just recieved. When Leah said she was a tool of war, the blonde wolf blinked sorrowfully. She had never liked fighting of any kind, and couldn't imagine what her roomates had gone through.

"As pups! Oh, ah, sorry. I... I don't think I could do that. You must have been very brave," she said truthfully, wide-eyed. Leah was obviously avoiding her gaze as she played with Anne's hair, and the small woman understood and let her be. It was obviously not an easy conversation for her, and probably the same for Anne although she seemed too exhausted to care much. The other blonde was almost asleep, and so the attentive listener leaned foward so as not to disturb her, speaking directly to Leah herself.

"The memories may never leave you, but you have a home here. A fresh start. Don't let your past hinder you." She spoke partially from experience, and partially from a soft voice in the back of her mind that told her that her words were true. The fire crackled behind her, clinging desperately to the last chunk of ashen wood. The light had died down and her eyes were having trouble readjusting to the darkness, but she felt no need to relight the hearth. The dim night seemed fitting for the conversation at hand and the blonde wolf no longer noticed the cold winds that snuck through the entrance as she did when she had slept alone; it was as if the very presence of others kept the cold at bay.

Struck by a sudden feeling, she put a gentle hand on Leah's shoulder, reassurance plain upon her face. "I won't judge you by what you've done, you know. If there's anything else you want to say, it stays with us and the embers."

"Talk." Walk. Think.

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Aneira Rampant · 05-17-2010, 07:59 PM

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Aneira

Leah snorted softly, causing Anne to jump in her sleep. Brave? She wasn't brave, any more than her weak brother had been. She was tied to sanity by one person and one person alone, unwitting though she was.

She smiled quietly at the older woman's next words. "I usually can forget for a time, but I can't help my dreams." Her brother didn't want to leave her in peace, it seemed. The dying fire was letting the chill seep back into the night air, and the younger blonde whimpered softly. She shifted until she was sprawled out in her side, her back pressed against the red wolfess for warmth.

Leah's ears twitched a little at Yumiko's touch and words, but she didn't pull away. She looked at her with somthing akin to bewilderment, perhaps closer to awe. Her features melted into a strange hybrid of a cynical, hopeful expression, as if the fighter and child within her could not come to concensus on how she should be feeling. "If you can listen without judging... you have a gift.[b]

She paused, glancing thoughtfully at the lightly snoring Anne. Should she trust this woman? She wanted to trust people; wanted it so badly she could taste it. Perhaps she could finally try this time? [b]"My brother died before we left; Anne was accused of the murder." She finally met the older female's eyes. "...We hardly knew each other - I regret that now." She idly traced patterns into the packed earth floor, then when she glanced down angrily obliviated the vaguely star-shaped flower she had unconsiously sketched.

"But I know Anne didn't do it. She's just to charismatic for her own good."[b] She chuckled, her tone more befitting the telling of some fond childhood memory. [b]"Had the entire camp twisted around her fingers when we were kids." Anne twitched in her sleep, perhaps responding to Leah's oddly tense tone. Leah smoothed her fur again until she stilled. "When we were younger, she followed the outer patrol, even though she wasn't supposed to. I was... busy that day, and didn't realize she had left. Of course, that would be the one day that they ran into trouble, with her right in the middle of everything." She laughed again. I swear the whole battalion came swooping down on those poor dogs. Her eyes become more serious. "Of course, the bosses don't like this. Nearly a whole pack of highly trained storm troopers come running when a little girl howls for them. Just asking for an uprising."

"So they framed her." She gently ruffled Anne's hair, a tender and oddly guilty look on her face. "After all, murdering an Anemos is just asking for the death penalty.

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