Crappy starter post, but those always suck from me, sorry. For Zalen. Forward dated to July 30th. +3
The hillside near her new home had gone unexplored by the mutt, until today when she decided it was time for she and her children to get some air. Grabbing all of her supplies, and a makeshift tankard of water, she ushered the two Russo kids out into the sun and toward the north, where their destination was. Today was a day to do something nice for Mars — after all, he was making her a new dress. Paz watched as her mother lead them away from Piccolo village, Amon trudging behind as if he didn't want to join them on their outing. Krystalle found that the boy was often that way; he didn't appreciate the idea of hanging around with the girls, he wanted to spend his hours with his male parent instead. She brushed it off as common; what did she know if boys preferred time with their fathers? She had only ever had her father.
It was Paz who ventured off first as they entered the unfamiliar territory, her mother scowling and sitting under one of the few tress in the area — watching them and working at the same time was not a task she was happy undertaking. Pale eyes fixed upon the small, subtly darker version of herself as it chased butterflies across the grass. Her brother came to rest under the tree, staring with grumpy heterochromic eyes. The Horzana woman rolled her own, taking out the chunk of moist clay she planned to work on. She couldn't bring her simple wheel, so pinch-pot items would have to do until she could manage to stay inside long enough to fashion a fired one. In an attempt to engage Amon, she offered him a little ball of the sticky brown material; though he gazed at it (and her) for a moment with confusion, he quickly started to push it around and bat at it.
A sigh escaped the woman as she set to work, humming a loud and off-key song as her fingers worked the clay into a simple, easy to recognize shape — a flattish disc that she slowly started to give a dent to. It'd be a bowl when she was done, covered in unique fingerprints and work marks and with whatever pattern she decided to make. She smiled as her hobby came to life, giving her back some of her cheer.
Hope you don’t mind I power played Paz a little bit. Zalen is in lupus form.
It was a gorgeous day and Zalen found himself nearly bounding along like a newborn fawn. The air was crisp and warm and smelled of flowers. He had been exploring even farther away from his den this time, much more southerly, more so then he had ever gone before. Now he found himself in an open area lined with the cluster of trees he had just existed. The meadow he was in was short grassed and green dotted by whites and purples of summer blooms. He found himself trotting through it almost as if he was skipping. It felt good to run and dance for no reason whatsoever except to just feel alive!
But soon he calmed and coming across a very small stream that ran through the meadow he took a moment to quench his thirst. After drinking he shook his midnight head, sending glittering droplets of water around him. He yawned, though he was not tired and stretched though he was not stiff. He had just been feeling very good lately, in the last few weeks he had met many wolves, all them interesting characters who were wonderful people to get acquainted to. He felt that so long as he avoided the area near Inferni, all the inhabitants he might chance upon would be kind. Today he felt especially playful, but without a playmate this feeling was somewhat stunted.
Zalen trotted along and found himself slowly gaining ground as he climbed a hill. A few fir trees dotted the area but besides that it was pretty clear. A few lazy butterflies hovered around him and he snapped at them off handedly. This momentary lapse of attention cost him as he suddenly stumbled over something that he had not foreseen in his path. With much awkwardness Zalen basically face planted into the ground and had to scramble to right himself and see what it was he had tripped on. Sitting there where he had once been standing was a fuzzy ball of shivering puppy staring up at him with eyes that seemed too large to be on such a small creature. Zalen stared back with equally as large orbs, completely shocked.
<3 Sorry it's kinda short; they should get better. Krystalle's in Optime.
The song caused her brain to turn off slightly, the world disappearing as her fingers — stained with the taupe-colored run-off of clay — pressed the bowl into its desired shape. She couldn't remember the last time she'd relaxed, the last time she was able to be selfishly happy — before she found Mars again, that was for sure. The knowledge of Mars' attraction to Orin had delivered a swift blow to her mood and it had never recovered. The pregnancy had soured it further. All of that was starting to fade, however, and it gave her a sense of accomplishment as she found herself able of returning to the world she once had.
A sudden, fearful squeaking yelp drew her back from her realm of calm and set her on edge. Pale pink eyes sought out the faces of her children; Amon remained at her side, starting to doze off beneath the tree, but Paz was nowhere to be seen. Faint panic gripped the new mother, who left her pottery work on the ground and sought to find her only daughter. It didn't take long, Paz hadn't wandered too far away, but the appearance of a strange and dark shape concerned her. "Oi, what happened?" The smaller Luperci twisted away from the four-legged male to get at her daughter, but the frightened girl's fear seemed to evaporate as soon as she realized she was alright — she scampered right up to the stranger and sniffed. Krystalle watched in shocked horror.
I really don't mind short posts at all, they don't make me think less of you! It moves the story along quicker that way too. BTW, I'm going to be drawing a scene from this thread :-D
Zalen stood there stiff as a board as the Luperci wolf-dog came from a distance off. He saw another pup where she was coming from and realized this must be the mother. He knew that mothers could be quite fierce when it came to their young and he lowered his ears anxiously. He was about to answer her question when he felt a soft wetness against one of his forepaws. Looking down he saw the small fuzz-ball, this time not cowering but sniffing him curiously, stubby little tail wagging. Zalen, just as curious about the pup as it was of him, lowered his head and sniffed back at the pup. They both touched noses, wet to wet, and the young one giggled. Zalen’s heart melted into a puddle.
He looked up to meet the pink eyes of the mother and smiled softly, wagging his tail,Sorry, I accidently tripped over your little one here. I don’t mean any harm. Compared to her he was quite small in his lupus form and knew that if she didn’t like his presence she could easily pick him up and throw him wrestling style down the hillside. But he hoped it wouldn’t come to that. In truth he was hoping that she would introduce the puppies to him, since he had never really interacted with any before. When he ran with the pack outside of Nova Scotia, there were no pups and Zalen had never had siblings. The idea of puppies was something that always seemed beyond him, so to have two live breathing ones right by him was something special.
Zalen then took notice of all of their appearances. They all obviously had wolf in then, the pups more so than her mother, but they all were also touched by the domesticated side of canine. This was also a rare sight for Zalen who had only ever encountered another dog-wolf hybrid in the pack, but it had been a subtle difference because the mutt was part Malamute, which was so similar to a wolf already. But these three… were different. The ears drooped on the mother, and she had no tail, which threw him off just a bit. The little one at his feet was similar to her mother but the farther off pup looked more wolf then dog. Their coloring was remarkable and Zalen could not help but stare.
Fuu, that's awesome. Both the acceptance of short posts and the art. XD I have a tendency to be small, word-wise.
Confusion arose at the body language of the male as she approached — his ears lowered, a sign he was nervous? Nervous of what? Of her? The idea was laughable, for the woman was so much smaller (not so on two legs, but regardless), so incapable of really harming another. Still, she appreciated the gesture. Never before had she felt as if someone feared her, even if it wasn't really fear. Of course, instead of the fear staying, Paz distracted the stranger with her curiosity. The Horzana woman watched with curious eyes as the two exchanged a playful greeting, met with laughter from the child before he offered her mother a smile. Krystalle echoed the gesture, grin brighter and more cheerful than it had been in months as he explained the situation. Paz had gotten underfoot. Of course.
Krystalle laughed. "'s fine, I guess." She looked to her daughter as the girl tried to pounce the stranger's toes, oblivious to the fact that she could have been hurt or that she might have started an obnoxious game. It took a moment for her to realize that the stranger had taken up staring — by the time she did, she'd almost forgotten he was there. With an awkward laugh, she stepped back, ruffling the limp mess of what was usually her mohawk. "Sorry 'bout Paz; she's kinda adventurous, ch'know? Likes to wander, likes to poke at things." The explanation was peppered with the Spanish accent she'd always had, but left out a name for herself. A white-tipped hand rubbed at her nose, wrinkling up her features as she tried to think of what step came next in meeting someone new — it'd been a while since she'd come across the potential for a friend.
And just to show you I don't care about length of posts, here's a ridiculously short one.
The mother did not show any aggression or annoyance at his presence so Zalen calmed, ears flicking forward. He watched the little female pup bat at and try to pounce on his immense paw and couldn’t help but smile anew. Zalen looked up to the female as she spoke and cocked an ear slightly at her accent. It was quite pleasant.
She mentioned the pup’s name; Paz, a perfect name for the little ball of energy. Zalen lifted his paw away as her gnawing beginning to pinch a little. He wondered why the other pup was hanging so far back, perhaps it was afraid of him, but it seemed odd that it wouldn't at least follow its mother over. He wondered if this was normal; one pup being outgoing and the other shy. He never had any siblings so if this was the case would he have been the extroverted or the introverted one? Breaking out of his thoughts Zalen realized his manners.
Oh! Uh… sorry, my name is Zalen. He watched as Paz lost interest in him and began chasing the colorful flying insects again. Your pup here is very friendly. I’ve never seen pups before. He looked up at the her and wagged his tail lazily, You must belong to a pack. I’ve never traversed this area so I’m not sure what territory is claimed. He was just glad that it wasn’t another coyote area.
XD It was long enough to reply to, so who cares! <3
Since he didn't seem bothered by her daughter's enthusiasm, Krystalle almost forgot that it was rude not to chastise her — why ruin her fun? She would have been angry if someone'd done it to her, after all. No, instead she smile brighter, stub of a tail wiggling around behind her under the dress Mars had been so adamant about making for her. Dresses. Bleh. She still didn't understand the purpose of a dress — just like she'd thought, it was so...girly. She didn't have the heart to tell Mars, though; he'd gone through so much to make it, having to touch her for measurements. The loveable wimp.
Zalen, a weird name. So that's who he was — of course, that didn't give her much, but it was a start. As Paz lumbered about in a graceless attempt to catch more butterflies, his conversation continued on. He'd never seen puppies? It was surprising, but she supposed it wasn't unrealistic. She hadn't really been exposed to them herself until the birth of her two children, a side effect from living in her father's awkward cult. "Pack, yeah; down there--" she turned enough to point back in the direction she'd come from "--Crimson Dreams. Ain' a bad place. Whole area kinda sucks anyways, ch'know?" She scowled subtly as she remember how much she hated the 'Souls region she'd followed Mars to.
"'m Krystalle, Horzana; y'already met Paz, but that's Amon over there." Her eyes found the shape of her son as he continued his antisocial play with the clay ball she'd given him. "He's being a bit...rebellious, don't really wanna spend time with his mom and sister anymore, he'd rather be with Mars." She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. Maybe next time she'd just let him stay home.
Zalen listened to the woman intently with his ears but his eyes followed her frisky daughter. Something about the way the pup moved and played in such a carefree manner touched something inside Zalen that hadn't been in a long time. He could feel a calm fill his limbs that almost put him into a body trance. Had he played like that once, so carefree and innocent? Had his mother sat with him on a beautiful day such as this? Memories of his childhood were so fleeting and tainted by the horrible night his mother died he could hardly imagine such wonderful scenes. He hoped against hope that little Paz would remember today, remember how happy she was, in case anything terrible ever happened to her.
Krystalle introduced herself and the male pup; Amon. Zalen nodded to her and looked over at him, he still hung back and played with a little ball of some kind. Zalen chuckled a little when she mentioned that he wasn’t interested in hanging with his mother and sister. Made sense in Zalen’s mind, brothers for a male wolf were so important. But then again, he had never had sisters.
Zalen looked up at Krystalle with a smile and sat on his black haunches, Well met Krystalle. I’ve never heard of Crimson Dreams. I live near Anathema and only know of those surrounding territories. So many packs, it was hard to keep them all straight in his mind! It amazed him that in his life prior to coming to Nova Scotia he had encountered just two packs and just weeks after arriving he had encountered more than double that. The density of Luperci and non-Luperci canines in this land was immense. It took some time to get used to, having all these wolves and dogs around him, sometime he thought he was just dreaming it. But it was real and he was beginning to love it.
I’m going to have to disagree with you. This area definitely does not suck. He gave a wag of his tail.
The fact that he seemed anything but threatening greatly reduced the stress of the woman as she gave introductions and watched Paz wander off again. Butterflies. Always the butterflies with that girl. Her mother shook her head and tried to focus on the dark-furred man while keeping her peripheral open to where her daughter was at any given moment. Socialization was an important skill, one she was trying (for Mars' sake) to work on; without it, she was sure she'd leave eventually. She didn't know what Anathema was, but it was a place that he lived near and he didn't know what Crimson Dreams was so perhaps it was very far away. Her body twisted to motion around her, pink eyes squinting in the afternoon light as she searched for something that wasn't there tangibly. "Well, Crimson Dreams is over...there. And then over there--" she pointed toward the forest, farther west than south "--is Cercatori d'Arte. Lived there for a bit. And over there--" again she paused to turn her arm, pointing northwesterly "--was Dahlia dee Mai. 's where Paz 'n Amon were born. But they were idiots; moved into the mountains, real far away or something." She snorted at the idea, still unimpressed by the leader's inability to think of her pack before her own desires.
He disagreed with her opinion of the region, but it just continued to make her smile. "We ain't all gotta think the same way, ch'know? Makes the world more fun 'r somethin'." She wasn't sure about that herself, the world seemed more difficult with all these different opinions. There was always fighting. There was always anger. Nakzhi had been calm, but the real world was so strange, as it had been in San Solace. She sighed. "If I didn' need ta stay here, I wouldn't...but 'm 'n idiot, so I do." She loved Mars enough to remain for him, though it destroyed her joy in the process.
yeah... Zalen's messed up! Sorry to throw this twist into the thread :-D
Zalen cocked his head as he listened to Krystalle speak. He wondered where it was the woman would rather be and why she was stupid for staying here. The complexity of people’s lives sometimes astounded him. He himself lived so simply that the hectic lives of others were beyond him. He supposed being a loner with no family ties would cause life to be simple and this made him realize how much he enjoyed his current lifestyle.
Krystalle mentioned two more packs that Zalen had never heard of; Cercator d’Arte and Dahlia dee Mai. This place was just too much for him. How was it possible that six packs (or possibly more he realized) could live so relatively close to each other with seemingly no violence? Everyone he had met had given him no indication of any kind of inter-pack conflicts and, beside Inferni, all the wolf and dog packs seemed peaceful. It was like a utopia here.
Zalen shifted from his haunches and laid down on his side in the warm, soft grass. In his peripheral vision he could see Paz bound around. All of a sudden he was overcome with such emotion that his breath was torn from his lungs and a painful knot formed in his throat. Why had his mother not taken him here when he was a puppy? They could have lived without a care in the world here. She would still be alive now. Tears welled up in his eyes and his body heaved in a sudden sob. He suddenly was falling apart at the seams on this beautiful day in front of this stranger and her children. He was reduced back to that frightened adolescent wolf on a cold winter’s night when his mother had been stolen from him.
Mom… he choked out as the tears streaked down his muzzle onto the grass beneath him. Being here with this happy family had opened a wound in him that he thought had been closed by months of isolation and travel. But here he was, curled up and crying at the feet of Krystalle who had only come here with her pups expecting nothing more than a nice outing. Zalen felt like a coward and his heart ached.
Hah, poor Zalen. >.> Krystalle has no sense of sympathy. She's more like "IT'S CRYING ON ME, GET IT OFF".
Everything seemed pleasant enough. Krystalle was getting fresh air, Paz and Amon were experiencing the world. She'd met what could be a new friend. Everything was jellybeans and sunflowers, until the dark-furred man started to bawl. Sympathy was never Krystalle's strong point — she could only stare with wide eyes and discomfort as the man said something about his mother and curled up to cry. Paz paused only a moment to look before going back to her butterflies. Krystalle gazed in horror at Zalen.
What had caused the sudden outburst? She didn't think she'd done anything wrong, but something'd made the wolf snap. She wasn't sure what to do — did she comfort him or slowly inch away as if he were diseased? Of course, guilt reared its ugly head at the thought of simply leaving him. With a touch of wariness, she kneeled to pat gingerly at his back. It was an awkward gesture, one she'd never really participated in before. Was it the right thing to do?
Him breaking down will allow me to bring an end to this thread. I’m trying to get them all closed out before my move in Sept. Hopefully we can have another one where he isn't so DUUUURRRRR XD
Memories were flashing past his eyes; a windswept forest in the throws of a blizzard, gleaming eyes in the dark, fangs and claws flashing, the smell of the blood, the sound of tearing flesh, him running for his life. The night his mother was killed replayed in his mind now like a terrible nightmare, and somehow in his mind he was able to return to her bloody body, watch her last breath leave her and lying next to her his adopted brothers, also dead. He couldn’t fight these images, they ripped at his brain like a monster and all he could do was succumb to them. But soon they faded, and he could smell the summer air again, could feel the warm sun on his fur.
Zalen became very aware of the situation he was in; lying on the ground crying like a child while Krystalle and Paz looked at him completely taken off guard. He had not meant for this to happen, but months of pent up emotion had finally spilled and there was nothing he could do to stop the onslaught. The pain and grief for the loss of his mother and his two best friends finally came rushing forth because he had suppressed these feelings for so long. Everyone dear to him had been murdered and this grieving could be the beginning of his healing.
He managed to gather up his thoughts into something semi sane for a moment and stood back up. With teary, bloodshot eyes he looked up at Krystalle, ashamed, I’m sorry… excuse me. He turned and began to quickly trot back down the hill and when he got to its base he took off in a flat out run back into the woods, back into the safety of the shadows, and turned towards home.
