Come all ye young fellows that follow the sea

Ambrose Llywelyn · 01-01-2011, 09:44 PM

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Why yes, I am going to title all my threads with the lyrics from sea shanties. Big Grin

It was a clear, bright day out, and despite the chilly weather, Ambrose was beginning to quite enjoy his trek through the unfamiliar countryside. Tall trees surrounded him, their branches laden with icicles that dripped in the sunlight, and he could imagine that the area would be quite lovely in the spring. Through the trees he could see the forms of rolling hills, now covered in a blanket of winter snow. The sight reminded him briefly of country he had seen in England once, and he grinned happily at the memory. Yes, today was turning into a very good day. As he walked, he began to hum a tune to himself, after a while opening up into song.

"Our anchor's aweigh and our sails are all set,
Bold Riley, oh, boom-a-lay,
The folks we are leaving, we'll never forget,
Bold Riley, oh, gone away..."

As he raised the volume of his voice and started into the chorus, he stopped, catching a scent of a number of canines. He realized that he had happened upon the borders of a pack land. Smiling to himself, he sat down with his back to a tree to wait. He had passed near several packlands on his way into the peninsula, but this was the first whose country he liked well enough to consider settling down in. Of course, the prettiness of the landscape was not the only factor he was interested in. There was also the promise of sparkling coastline and abandoned human harbors... Oh yes, he was very much looking forward to looking through those old human husks of ships, to find out if any could still float. He may be too old to sail across oceans anymore, but a few trips down the coast were something he wanted very badly to continue. He wondered if this pack had any coastline, and he lifted his nose to the air, trying to catch the scent of sea salt on the breeze.

Rendall · 01-01-2011, 11:07 PM

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I love it! lol word count 443

Ren had gotten accustomed to starting her days out early in the vally. She always woken before daylight and after breakfast would set out and about looking for something to do, or someone to meet. Today though she woke up late, after sunrise. She stretched out her back and grumbled as her leg complained about being disturbed. Ren finally got up and set about her daily chores. She went to the attic to check her pest trap but found nothing in it. Those raccoons were getting smart. She scowled quietly and went back down to stoke up the fire and make some tea. After all was said and done she grabbed her cloak and decided to head out into the snow.

Today was somewhat colder then others. The breeze had picked up and she had troubles keeping her hood on. However frustrating it was she still had a duty to do. She began her scouting around the coast. Making sure noone had washed ashore. She continued her search until a strange song crossed her ears on the wind. It was a sea shanty that the old wolf had taught her when she sailed with her brother in the northern islands. She followed the voice on the wind until it stopped. She stopped and listened carefully. Her ears didn’t pick anything more. The wolfess closed her eyes and tried hard to listen again for the song. But nothing.

Finally the wind carried a strange and very unfamiliar scent to her nose. She opened her blue eyes wide and followed the scent carefully tracing it up the ridge and into the forest. Her paws carried her far towards this strange scent until finally she happened upon an even stranger scene. A creature that her eyes had never laid upon sat near a tree in a snowy grove below here. She slowly approached it. It smelled canine, but not of wolf or Luperci. It also looked closely to a wolf but it still looked wrong. Wrong markings and just well….wrong in general.

She looked at it strangly before she realized that she was being rude. “Um do forgive me. My name is Rendall, I reside here in Pheonix Vally with my pack. So uh….what brings a fella like you to this place.” She hoped that her senses where right in saying that this person was a male. She Really didn’t want to be rude but she wasn’t quite sure how to act. So instead she offered a friendly smile and a happy wag tail. She may not know who or what this was but it was someone new to meet and it made her slightly excited.

Ambrose Llywelyn · 01-01-2011, 11:24 PM

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out of character text

Looking up, Ambrose spotted a dark-colored wolfess approaching through the trees. He thought he had smelled wolves here, and the appearance of this female proved his suspicions correct. Several years ago, he would have been able to detect the predominant species by the pack's border scent, but now he was getting used to a little bit of uncertainty. Not confusion, though... He would never admit to anything more substantial than a "slight ambiguity" with his sense. He wasn't that old yet, just a little... older. Saying to himself, "Ah, at last," he stood up and bowed to the woman with an outstretched sweep of his arm, so that his whiskers almost touched the snowy ground.

"Good day, miss Rendall. My name is Ambrose Llywelyn. I am but newly arrived in the area and have embarked on a mission to scout out the packlands of this beautiful, wet, and chilly peninsula in search of a land where I may retire in peace." He straightened, with a mischievous twinkle in his dark eyes. His language was a little overwrought, but it usually became so when he spoke with a female canine, no matter what her species. His voice itself was a sort of rolling baritone, heavily accented with a distinct Welsh character and something less definable... perhaps Spanish or Portuguese. Standing straight, but being certain to remain relaxed so as to be nonthreatening, he smiled at her and continued. "As part of my mission, I had hoped to discuss the lay of the land with someone who knew it well. Might you perhaps be able to aid me?"

Ambrose Llywelyn · 01-02-2011, 09:43 PM

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I'm actually finding it really funny. Smile Plus, to my knowledge, the other dogs in the area are more wolf-appearing than terriers are, so she must be really confused. XD

Looking up at the wolfess (for indeed, she was considerably taller than he was), he smiled happily. "I would be honored if you would give me a tour of this land. I was admiring it as I walked here, and I would love to see what lay inside the border." At the question about the shanty he felt his heart lighten. Wolves and dogs did not always get along on even terms, but here perhaps, there was some common ground. He nodded. "I was indeed. I believe I know more shanties and sea songs than I do any other sort of music... I spent the past eight years of my life singing them, and I will never grow weary of it. Are you a sailor yourself, miss Rendall?" If so, then this tour would be even more enjoyable than he had first expected.

At her next question he laughed out loud. "Never met a dog before, eh? Or maybe you've just never met someone quite like myself." He smiled good-naturedly. "No, it's not a rude question, don't worry... I'm a Welsh Terrier, to be specific, although that's probably not entirely true, seeing how mixed breeds are now. They have to be among canis familiaris, in order to have survived without the long-dead humans who took care of us for so long. Of course, there are some who disagree with that view..."

Rendall · 01-03-2011, 11:44 PM

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good lol word count 464

Ren lead the way over to the crystal clear lakes. Keeping to the trail so that she wouldn’t have to jump through the snow. She smiled as he talked about the shanty and how he’d been a sailor for eight years. Wow….. that’s a long time to sail. She thought as they made their way to the reflective water. She stared into it for a little while “Yes I spent my time on the sea for a while. I traveled a lot with my brother in my early youth. During that I spent my time with an old male who taught me a lot of shanties and all I knew of the sea.” She looked down for a moment. “My brother tried teaching me those things but uh….he didn’t have the patience that the old man did.” She chuckled.

Ren blushed at the males answer to her. “Yes I haven’t exactly met a lot of dogs that don’t look that different from wolves. Except for when we made port in Egypt, but I didn’t want to even inquire about the things that I saw sometimes when we walked around there. I must say those people are strange….”She chuckled a little before she continued. “So a Welsh Terrier? How interesting…I’ve never seen markings or fur like yours. Though I can say from personal experience that strange is nothing new to me.” She stared in the water for a moment.

Ren turned and looked back up at him. “Well this is our first stop, this is mirror lakes. Some of the most crystal clear water in this area. I know of a few wolves that live near here in dens but, the cabins are more south of here. Though you can always build your own.” She moved down the trail a little “From here were surrounded by the ridges and its hard to travel around this area anyways during the winter however, if you know the trails well enough, you can get anywhere quick.” She began to move again.

“So next we’ll go over towards the firefly fields and the springs which are near the ranch. Where some of our pack resides now and then.” She walked more down and thought about the sunlight. How it use to be such an enemy of hers when she was younger. In this pack, unusual wasn’t anything new. She thought of all the misfits that lived here, but not just in this pack, but all packs. “If your use to the outcasts of many packs you’ve come to the right place. And were not the only ones either. There’s a lot of wolves who have bad histories but not all of them and quite a few of them you meet are very nice.” She smiled at the old one.

Ambrose Llywelyn · 01-04-2011, 06:39 PM

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I was in the middle of writing this, and then my computer shut down. Sad Take two...

As he followed the wolfess down the trail, he listened to her words attentively. So she had been to Egypt, eh? The old dog had been to Cairo several times before, when he sailed with a merchant vessel on the eastern Mediterranean. He had found the place to be interesting and certainly different from most of Europe, but it was not so different from places in Asia Minor or elsewhere in Africa... Every port had a very unique culture to it. He supposed he just had a broader view of what was ordinary, so when something "strange" did occur, he was less likely to notice it.

When she spoke of her brother and the man who had taught her, he nodded with a knowing grin. "Patience tends to come with ability to look back and cringe at how impatient you once were." He laughs at his own joke. "Or at least, I often do. What was the name of your ship, and where did she sail from? I've been to Egypt a few times before, myself. What is your brother's name? Perhaps I know him." He tried to think if he had ever sailed beside any wolves of Rendall's coloring, but unfortunately about a dozen young men came to mind. It was unlikely that he had met her brother, however, as his journeys on the Mediterranean had taken place when he was much younger. More recently, he had worked on ships sailing to and from the Americas, although it was always possible that her brother had done so as well.

When they arrived at the lakes he looked over the area with admiration. Even though a layer of ice covered the lake, the area was still beautiful, with ridges rising up all around them. He imagined that in the summer, the green slopes around them would reflect spectacularly in the clear waters of the lakes. "Beautiful..." When Rendall started moving, he followed after her. "So where do you make your home, then? Close to the lake or in the fields?"

Rendall · 01-05-2011, 12:16 AM

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Awww..lameness. I'm sorry I hate it when my computer does that. word count: 465

Rendall smiled at his answer. “Yes indeed it does.” She chuckled, “The of the ship was called The Escapade, though why it was named that I have know idea. However, My brothers name is Vulcan. He isn’t my litter mate though, he’s older than me by a season, and He has reddish brown fur.” She was interested to see if he knew her brother though it was alright if he didn’t. It would be nice to know someone though who did. It felt so nice being able to talk to another….well canine about the seas. It was a hard time for her but she still loved the smell of the sea and how it brought her everywhere. “Though I can tell you we do share the same eyes, his are as blue as mine and his fur well….” She was a little hesitant about sharing her secret with an outsider, but she felt that he could be trusted. “Well his fur is something else. It has a unique red glow in the sunlight. It’s something we, as siblings share. Only different."

She turned over her shoulder to look at him. “My home is directly in between, so that I can get anywhere quickly if needed. I had to do one heck of a clean up job on my cabin, but its placed near both the ranch and lakes, though with all the snow around its easier to go to the ranch first then loop around.” She continued to travel up the ridge and around the hillside till they began to get close to the fields. “There are some springs near this area that are very good for the health. They are even better in the winter for when the cold causes bones to ache. But in the summer it’s a wonderful view at night and many lovers find it as a place to come for solitude. Though you don’t have to worry too much about all the lovey dovey stuff. Its been a while since the Valley has seen a mating take place. Doesn’t happen too often.” She continued on a little further till they reached the enc of the field. The wind began to pick up a little so she stayed within the trees while she talked to Ambrose.

“This is the field. Normally in the summer we heard cattle into the field to graze and we can have better access to all that’s around the Valley. The ranch is on the other side it wont take too long.” She began to walk some more down the trail trying to keep a steady pace so that they would get out of the wind soon. “So..” She said, trying to make conversation, “Ambrose? That’s a name I don’t hear a lot. What does it mean?”

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