[html]
She put her paw into the icy water, then pulled it back out. It was pleasantly warm today, compared to the last week or so, but the water was still freezing. She didn't know how the fish could handle it; she could see them swimming sluggishly below, just out of reach. Didn't fish migrate? Salmon did, she knew that. One of the shadows became an outline of a carp as it rose toward the surface of the water, and she stood still. In a flash her face was in the water, mouth wide open---but no. The fish flipped up and over her head, slapping her in the face with its tail before it dissapeared into the lake with an echoing /fwap/ to the water's surface.
Naniko growled beneath her breath. She used to be good at fishing...what had happened? Sure, she'd broken a leg, but she hadn't thought that it would throw her off balance so much. That it would affect everything in her life like it was. It was hard to walk, to hunt, to build a fire...and she didn't have Iskata or Conri to take care of her this time.
She shook the cold water out of her fur, sitting back to look into the water again. One would come back up...eventually.
[html]
indent He had gotten some answers. Not all of them, not the ones he wanted, but some. Laruku had gone mad—that much he could assume safely. Anything beyond that would be guessing too much. So instead, he retreated into his own existentialist crisis. It was a dark place but it was comfortable. Here, he contemplated his death, skipping rocks. Each bounce sent ripples across the water, which settled into the same placid surface it had always been. Perhaps lakes were appropriate comparisons for people, he reasoned.
indent Ahren bounced a stone in his hand, tossing it into the air, watching it fall, catching it again. He did this five times, each time thinking less of the action and more of the means of such a thing. Biology was a remarkable thing, with the cells, the blood, the nerves. On the fifth fall, the stone remained in his hand, heavy and smooth. He studied it for a long time, then looked across the lake and hurled the rock, watching it bounce once, twice, and sink beneath the surface.
[/html]
[html]
Her stomach was growling, but there wasn't anything she could do about it. It made her mad that she couldn't catch any larger prey...if she could bring down a deer it would feed her for a week! Naniko generally ate any part of the animal that she could; everything tastes good when you're hungry.
Another fish was slowly rising up to the surface, its mouth wide, gaping. Fish breathed underwater, but sometimes it seemed like they breathed the air, too; they would come up to the surface and take gulps of it. This was when she would strike, when it was distracted. She tensed, preparing to jump into the shallower part of the water.
And then a splash. She jumped back, shaking the water out of her eyes. What the hell? The mists were fairly thick here, so she couldn't see where the object had come from...but one thing she knew for sure. The fish were gone. She watched the water for a moment more to make sure, but no, no more shadows were appearing. She growled to herself, climbing up out of the water. They'd ruined her chance at supper. Or lunch. She'd skipped so many meals that she wasn't sure what it would be counted as.
She turned and stalked along the bankline, looking for whoever'd thrown the object...they were gonna pay.
"Oh, it's /you/." Her green eyes stopped at the form of Ahren, one of her former alpha's. She'd been there at the border when he had come to join the pack...and wasn't sure what to think of him. Anyone that would hang around her crackpot old aunt was bad news.
[html]
indent From the corner of his eye, he saw the white figure moving along the bank. It did not perturb his senses, so he did not associate it with danger. Soon enough, the form was given a face and name—he didn’t spare her a glance. She meant nothing to him. Just another girl, another figure from his past, someone who had become nothing but a hollow idea. “Don’t sound so thrilled,” he said snidely, tough his subtlety did well to hide most of that tone.
Passing a stone from his right hand to left, he hurled it over the water. It bounced twice before falling below the surface. Scratching at the back of his neck, he pushed his dreadlocks over his shoulder and finally spared her a glance. She looked like her mother, whose name he could not recall. “Do you want something?”
[/html]
[html]
He was intriguing to her, despite the way that he acted. There was something about him that made her want to look twice; she wondered if somewhere deep down, beneath his nonchalant answers and dismissing gestures, there was something else. Something really wonderful. He looked at her and she thought she saw it for a moment...aaannndddd...then it was gone.
Naniko watched him toss the rock, then replied. "You scared my supper away." She stated. She waited for a reaction, but didn't get one. He wouldn't even look at her. The girl grumbled beneath her breath. Why had she even come over here? She should have turned away when she'd realized that it was him...
"So you owe me. Catch me a fish."
[html]
indent He could tell her a thousand different stories. Some from the time before she was born; of his father and mother, the forming of Chimera and Azathoth, the prophecy of his birth, the romance of his father and Misery D’Angelo, his mother’s death. His own life was full of twists and turns, from a prince to exile, to the crown again. Then, without a word, he had thrown it all away. Taken his family across the sea and lost them there, losing himself as well. Around the sea once, and back across the ocean to this miserable place he had once called home.
indent Snorting at her demand, he narrowed his eyes slightly. “And what if I don’t? You plan to run off to Laruku and tattle on me?” He did not fear retribution from his (former?) friend and alpha. Being absolutely free meant you had nothing left to loose.
[/html]
[html]
Naniko considered this, then shook her head. "No, I'm not sure that he could take you." She was beginning to accept the fact that she wasn't going to get to eat any time soon. Maybe she'd be able to catch something later on, but she doubted it; her leg was achy and it didn't take a lot of weight to make it buckle. Leaning forward to look into the water wouldn't be a good idea.
"Why'd you come back?" She blurted, before she had the chance to consider what was asking. "I looked around after you guys left for signs of you...and then everything fell to Hell with the pack...I was too young to live without a parent, really...Iskata Sadira found me and brought me here."
She had met his son, Jasper, just the day before. Obviously /something/ had happened, if he'd come back with Jasper, but what about the rest of her side of the family? "Roman and Kaelyn came back, for a little while...then they left again. Were there more D'angelos with you?"
[html]
indent Ahren shifted his weight, dropping to his knees and looking into the water. The fish had not come back yet, though he expected they might in time. His legs moved again and he settled to an Indian-style seat. “A few,” he responded to her latter question, scratching under his hair. “Your parents didn’t come with us,” the blonde continued. “Your grudge should be against them, not me.”
indent Shrugging lightly, he stopped speaking. Ahren felt no need to explain his reasons for returning (or leaving) to her. As far as he could tell, the only people who needed to know did know.
[/html]
|
