Learning to Live
#1
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OOC:Time: June 1st, 2011
Location: Ethereal Eclipse, near Beast's Grin Peninsula
Word Count: 422



This new land was rather frightening. It was quite different from the total wilderness that she had just come from. Out there it was silent, there were no houses or buildings, no husks of broken down machines. There was rarely even other creatures around to bother the occasional wanderer. So many new things in this place, a few she had encountered, and a few she'd only seen from afar.


Tawny was extremely cautious about where she was staying and when she needed to move on. There was no desire to run into other wolves, or any other animals bigger than the occasional deer, for that matter. She was so shy and timid around anything with a thought process that she tended to simply shut down. Her near total lack of social skill didn't help in those situations either, her responses were always wrong. It was almost as if this three year old was a young pup, lost without her mother and father.


The small female had dug out a large hole beneath a fallen tree. The massive hulk of wood was resting on a rock formation and provided ample coverage from rain and wind. Over the past few days that she'd been in the area, Tawny had collected little things she had found scattered throughout the forest. Most of the things were sparkly or could be useful in her two legged form if she ever shifted. The only time she had done that so far had been to use her hands to prop up the dirt walls of her den with thick slabs of wood, keeping everything relatively stable and in place.


Today she was in need of some kind of food, and she wasn't planning on going far. There was a small stream about four hundred yards from her den and she hid herself in the bushes on one side. A few squirrels and birds landed, and finally the rabbit came hopping out, nibbling on some shoots in the dirt. Tawny wiggled her backside a little and then leapt out from her cover, launching herself at the rodent. It was a near miss, having totally overshot the distance, but luck seemed to be on her side. Without even touching the thing, it fell over dead, its tiny heart bursting from fright.


She was a bit put out by the turn her little hunting excursion had taken, but snatched the rabbit up in her jaws and ran off back to her den anyway. Dinner time would be small, but delicious and nutritious.


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#2
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Hope you don’t mind if Pixie joins ^^ Word Count: 435

She had never been here, to the west of Cercatori D’Arte, and thought that today would be a nice day for some exploration of the place. It wasn’t much different from the rest of Ethereal Eclipse, in terms of the looks and smells, save for the faint smell of the ocean, which was close by. The blue gray wolfess had left Magic near the border of Cercatori; she did not want him to be following her around while she was exploring and hunting, but she was worried that if she just left him somewhere in the middle of the woods, she would not be able to find him. And she certainly was not going to leave him all the way back at Crimson Dreams; even on horseback, the trip from one pack to the other took several hours.


Trotting along in her Secui form—her best form for hunting and for protecting herself, should she be attacked—she wandered through the forest, looking around her as she went and pointing out landmarks such as fallen trees or odd looking bushes, to have extra assistance finding her way back than just the scent of the path she was making. Eventually she stumbled upon what appeared to be a den; it was underneath a log and surrounded by more large pieces of wood that couldn’t possible have been there without someone to prop them up. The familiar smell of canine also surrounded the den.


Then Pixie realized that the same smell was coming through the woods and seemed to be getting closer and closer. With it came the scent of prey as well, a dead animal, probably a rabbit or hare. Sure enough, a few seconds later, Pixie caught sight of the brown female wolf running through the trees. Though her ears were raised in alertness, she wagged her tail to show that she had simply stumbled upon the den and that she meant no harm. At least, not yet—she was not afraid to defend herself if this wolf turned out to be aggressive.


“Do you live here?” she asked as the wolf got closer. “I’m from the pack to the south, Crimson Dreams. I was just exploring here, I don’t mean you any harm.” Pixie eyed the rabbit in the loner’s mouth and licked her lips; it looked delicious, and after traveling for most of the day, the young fae was tired and hungry. But she was not so desperate as to steal this other wolf’s prey, especially on their own territory; Pixie figured that the loner wolf needed the food much more than her.


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#3
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OOC: Word Count: 288



The run back to the den was peaceful and uneventful, perfect in the small wolf's opinion. She had no interest in stirring up trouble or drawing any kind of attention to herself, ever. Living so far out in the middle of nowhere was a good thing for her health, she was sure. If there was much interaction with other wolves, she'd probably be dead rather quickly. Plus, being alone was nothing hard. Of course she sometimes craved the attention and socialization from others, but overall being by herself was a blessing.


Even with her super cautious ways, Tawny was obviously getting a little bit too comfortable with her new surroundings. She never smelled the other wolf near her den, and didn't see anything until she was too close to get away unseen. Her little gray paws braced against the ground and she almost slid to a full stop, about ten feet away from the larger wolf. The rabbit fell from her jaws with a soft 'thud' upon hitting the dirt. She crouched down low, her belly brushing against the ground, tail tucking up between her hind legs tightly.


A soft warning growl rumbled through her throat as she watched the gray wolf, her eyes unable to stay in one place for too long. Not knowing how to interact properly with other wolves was her downfall and she felt like an idiot. What if her body language was all wrong and she was attacked!? Fear was the only thing she knew about other creatures, was the only thing she was taught before her parents died. So it was the only thing she was left with, and it had grown over the short amount of time she'd been left alone.


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#4
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Word Count: 323

Pixie took one step backwards as the stranger skidded to a stop, the rabbit being flung from her jaws. She quivered slightly, instinctively wanting to snatch the rabbit for herself, but resisted; she would respect this wolf on her own territory, and since the young blue gray fae was no longer a loner herself and was fed properly within her pack, she no longer saw it necessary to steal prey from others. At least, not yet. Just because she had matured since her days as a loner did not make her any less hungry after traveling all day.


She narrowed her violet eyes as the wolf—even smaller than her, surprisingly, though that was partially due to her being in halfling form at the moment—crouched down in a submissive position. But why? She was the one who should be protecting her den and the prey she had caught. Pixie had made it clear that she meant no harm to her, so why was she acting afraid? Perhaps it was because the blue gray wolfess had the smell of other wolves on her, from Crimson Dreams—but the scents were clearly old, and they were not coming from anywhere nearby.


“I mean no harm, ma’am,” she repeated, crouching a little more to the ground and looking away from the brown female to emphasize her point. “I’m only passing through, see? If you want, I’ll just be on my way out of here…” She considered shifting into Lupus form to appear smaller, but decided against it; it would be too annoying to have to shift back into Secui form once she went off hunting again, and she wanted to be prepared just in case the other wolf attacked her. Glancing briefly over at the rabbit on the ground, she took another step backwards. She did not want to take off right away, as she was still curious as always about who this wolf was.


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#5
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OOC: Word Count: 215



Tawny wasn't sure what she was supposed to do now. The rabbit was on the ground, her body in the wrong position, and the other wolf was trying to explain something to her. Speaking and understanding speech weren't strong suits, so understanding what was being said was very difficult. She had to think back on the time with her mother and father, trying to pull the words and their meanings from her mind. When she had no luck, the little female crawled forward and grabbed her bunny again before changing direction and crawling closer to her den, her eyes never leaving the blue-gray wolf.


There was no desire to fight this other creature, only the need to get away and be free of the fear building in her chest. She doubted that she'd even defend herself if she was attacked, her body would most likely just shut down and take the beating. As fast as she could go with her belly brushing the ground, Tawny got to her den and ducked inside through the little entrance. Once inside, she twisted around and curled up on the ground, shaking and whimpering softly from the fear and adrenaline the unexpected encounter created. Her eyes stayed glued to the other wolf, watching and waiting for her to leave.


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#6
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Shall we wrap it up, then? Word Count: 285

Violet eyes followed the strange wolf as she picked up her kill and crawled towards her den. Maybe this wolf was from another country and didn’t speak English. But that wouldn’t explain why she seemed so oblivious to the body language that Pixie was portraying. Even the pups in Crimson Dreams would be able to see that she was in a submissive state, not meaning any harm to the little female whose territory she was on. The silver woman slowly rose from the ground as the brown wolfess approached her den, feeling as though the other wolf wouldn’t get the message either way.


Pixie took a few steps forward and ducked her head down, her eyes meeting those of the shivering wolf in the den. Still not sure if the other wolf could understand her, she said, “You’ll need to learn how to defend yourself around here. Not too far from here is a fairly large pack, and most of the members are pretty peaceful, but if you encounter one of them and you act strange, they might see you as a threat.” She didn’t know of anyone in Cercatori who was particularly skilled as a warrior, unless you counted paintbrushes or guitars as weapons. None of them were particularly violent, either. But there were definitely some who could be unpredictable and somewhat snappy, such as Mars or his female friend from California. Pixie wasn’t sure how they would react to a lone wolf who didn’t even understand body language wandering around or near their hunting grounds.


With that, Pixie padded off into the woods, only glancing back once at the den. She had already caught a scent of pheasant nearby, and she was starving.


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#7
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OOC: If you wanna...or not. Big Grin
Word Count: 262



The small wolf’s ears perked up a bit as she watched the other get a little bit closer; still watching her closely. It seemed as if the silver wolf was curious about her, or maybe the way she was living in the little den, Tawny didn’t know. She’d seen how some wolves lived in old abandoned buildings, or sometimes they even fixed places up and made them look rather nice. Whatever it was, she was starting to feel a little more comfortable, sure that if she was to be attacked, it would have happened already.


Tawny was starting to remember things, and was able to pick out a few of the words spoken to her as the silver gray wolf made her way off. She tilted her head to the side and gave a sharp bark, lifting her frame up off the ground and taking a few timid steps out from under the cover of her shelter. For some reason, she thought that the only body she’d be able to form words in was the two legged shape, so she closed her eyes and felt as she slid into the change easily.

Licking her chops a few times, her eyes kept flicking back and forth from the ground to the other wolf. She parted her jaws slowly and made a low growly sound, shook her head, and tried again. ”Ah…I-I…ah…I’mmm…s-sor…ry.” The words came out stuttered and broken harshly, but it was obvious that she was trying hard to remember how to say them and then form the sounds on her tongue.


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#8
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Word Count: 316

She paused when she heard the bark pierce the air, one front paw lifted in mid-jog. She was fairly certain that the bark was only meant to get her attention, and didn’t have some other meaning to it. Rotating around, Pixie stared back at the tiny brown wolf and waited for her to speak. She could still smell that pheasant nearby and wasn’t going to wait that much longer for the other female to talk to her. If she did speak, however, Pixie thought that getting to know her name would be good, and perhaps having a short conversation and then being on her way. Hopefully. That was what she was trying to do in the first place, and that didn’t work out.


Pixie saw the lone wolf crawl out of her den and took a few more steps forward; she wanted to make sure she could hear exactly what the other wolf was saying. Her ears flicked slightly as the other wolf shifted into Optime form, maybe because she was more comfortable in it. Pixie, however, remained in Lupus form, not wanting to startle the loner again. Listening closely as the brown female half growled, half stammered an apology, the silver wolf smiled a little. “You needn’t be sorry for anything. This is your territory; if anyone should be sayin’ sorry, it’s me for trespassing on it. I was just givin’ you some advice, is all.” She wasn’t sure why she was being so nice to this wolf—maybe out of pity. She knew what it was like to live as a loner, and it meant having to be confident and tough. This wolf was anything but that, so Pixie didn’t see her as having a very good chance of surviving for long unless she toughened up or found a pack to live in.


“I don’t think I told you my name. I’m Pixie Frost.”


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#9
WC: 259

The words that the other wolf spoke were still a jumbled mess in her brain, but a few rang out and were easier to understand. Her face twisted with concentration as she tried to figure it all out, finally deducing that the silver wolf’s name was Pixie, and that she had only wanted to help. Sighing softly, the little one shrugged her slender shoulders and grabbed the rabbit she had killed before by the ears. Using her other hand, she gripped the feet and pulled roughly, watching as the thing broke in half. Rapidly cooling blood spilled from the innards and stained the fur covering her hips and thighs, only making it darker.

Looking up at the other wolf again, she smiled a toothy grin and held out the larger portion of the meaty bunny, willing to share her meal with the first nice canine she’d met in forever. Setting the big half down on a warm rock, she backed up a few steps and hunkered down, crossing her legs together. Her long pink tongue flicked out again and again, lapping at the blood on her hands and then catching the red droplets still falling from the rabbit’s flesh. The taste made her sigh and smile more, knowing that she would not be starving this day.

”T-tah…wa-ny…” Still with the broken speech, but she clarified what she was trying to say by pointing to her chest, indicating that she was saying her name. Pointing back at the silver wolf, she attempted to form the other’s name as well, ”Pi-pi…ks-ie?”
#10
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Word Count: 246

She watched with curiosity as the other female took hold of the rabbit and then ripped it in half. Licking her lips, Pixie practically sprinted back towards the brown wolf, but restrained herself enough to gently grab a hold of the rabbit in her teeth before beginning to devour it enthusiastically. She was aware that the lone wolf was sitting not too far away from her, and she paused for a moment to look up and nod her head in thanks before once again ripping the carcass to shreds. Tasty as the bunny was, she was eating it much too quickly to fully enjoy the taste. But that didn’t matter much; she just needed a quick snack to restore her energy.


Then the stranger began to speak again, or at least say a few syllables that sounded a little like speech. Pixie looked up again and noticed the other wolf was pointing to herself, and seemed to be attempting to say something. “…tawany?” she asked hesitantly. “Or tawny…is that your name? Tawny?” When Tawny pointed to her and began to say her name, the silver female nodded. “Yes, that’s my name. Pixie. Pixie Frost.” So this wolf could speak. Whether she was so hesitant to was because she didn’t know English that well or because she just had a problem with speaking in general, Pixie couldn’t tell. But judging from how difficult it was for Tawny to say their names, she guessed it was the latter.


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