Alonso was nearing the end of his strength. He’d been travelling for days now and the untouched white blanket of snow confirmed what he already knew – winter was here. He stumbled as he climbed up the path and knew that the lack of food was making him more disoriented as time went by. Soon he wouldn’t be able to move at all and would simply die of cold and exhaustion. Unfortunately Alonso, after a lifetime of hunting in a pack, still hadn’t mastered the technique of catching prey on his own. Ever since he had left Mexico, after his pack had been destroyed by a wandering pack of Luperci, he’d been heading north with no fixed destination in mind. In fact, he wasn’t even sure where he was now. He’d been heading north and about to turn west when a wandering coyote told him of a large area east of him that was inhabited by multiple packs of wolves, Luperci and other canines. At first Alonso had scoffed – ‘Large inhabited area? Luperci and wolves coexisting?’ Nevertheless, after a long conversation with the coyote, he’d headed off east in search of this mysterious land called ‘Souls.
That had been 2 days ago. He’d still seen no sight of this land and even his encounters with other canines had become less. Under normal circumstances this would have made Alonso extremely grateful, he had last encountered a Timber wolf with a pair of nasty claws, but lonely as he was right now he would have been glad at the sight of even a Luperci. He was just about to head back towards the west when he smelt the sweet, intoxicating scent of fresh water. “Fresh water and the possibility of game” he thought to himself as he bounded off in the direction of the scent, driven by his desperate need for sustenance. He kept running until he reached the banks of a stream running through the middle of the forest. Despite the snow on the ground the stream hadn’t frozen over and Alonso thankfully began to gulp down the water. The cool liquid felt like heaven to his parched throat. His senses, numbed by days of hard travel and the numbing relief of being able to finally get a drink, hadn’t yet noticed the leaves on the opposite side of the stream begin to rustle.
Word Count → 456 :: Welcome to 'Souls!!! More people should get in here.
It had been a while since Kiara was last in Drifter Bay. When she first arrived in Nova Scotia the arctic wolf had spent some time in the sunflower fields before all of the plants withered and died. It was about time she returned to the bay, despite the long walk. Now that Shiloh had a mate, Kiara was able to take a break from her puppy sitting duties. In fact, the fur on her tail and ears had started to return. Before Aleo joined their family, Sarian had relentlessly attacked the alabaster woman and in her enthusiasm managed to remove several patches of fur from her precious tail. At first, the site was horrifying and as Vesper had properly put it, looked "like a rat got hold of it." Kiara sighed a little at the memory, she needed a break.
Today, as usual, Kiara's mind was on food. She hand managed to chase down a rather plump looking rabbit that had been scared awake. The limp prize dangled from her snowy jaws as Kiara loped across the field towards the river. The tall grass was either dead, trampled, or brown, making her trip that much easier. Unfortunately, there was no snow one the ground to make her walk more pleasant. It wasn't long before Kiara entered the tree line surrounding the river. All of the leaves had fallen from the trees and bushes, their colored forms littering the ground and crunching underneath her paws. Kiara made no attempt to hide her footsteps and the bushes rustled as she broke through the line.
The wind was still, not even a gust ran through the plains. It was no wonder that the arctic wolf saw him before she smelled him. But there he was. Across the stream was a rather thirsty mottled wolf, his coat ragged and his body clearly underweight. Even his thick winter fur didn't cover the malnutrition that the wolf was obviously facing. Kiara placed the rabbit at her paws and watched curiously as the male drank from the river. He hadn't noticed her presence yet and Kiara wondered if she should introduce herself. The scent of a pack was absent, so there was little chance that he was a wolf from Salsola. The thought of meeting one of those Luperci sent shivers down the young wolf's spine. They were not friendly to non-Luperci and Kiara was grateful that she hadn't had the misfortune of meeting Salsolan.
Kiara watched the strange male a minute longer until she could take the silence no more. "Hey," she called "Haven't seen you before. The name's Kiara, Kiara Amarok. What's your's?" As Kiara spoke she a moved slightly upstream to forge the river at a shallow point. Kiara approached the male with her tail down, but relaxed. Her ears were perked a little out of curiosity, but otherwise her posture was relaxed and completely non-agressive. Kiara stopped at a respectful distance from the stranger and sat down. Her rabbit was, by that time, completely forgotten on the other side of the bank.
The rushing waters and the calls of the birds all served to mask the noise of the other wolf’s approach. In fact, Alonso didn’t realize the presence of the other wolf until her words of introduction reached him. She was a beautiful white wolf that Alonso instinctively recognized as an Arctic wolf, even though he had never had the opportunity of meeting one in person. She was as big as him, and though she didn’t look aggressive, Alonso was already planning his line of attack. It wasn’t that Alonso was looking for a fight, quite the opposite actually; it was just that his experiences of the past few weeks had taught him not to trust wolves in the area quite as easily as he had back home.
As he sat pondering on his best course of action the wolf, who had introduced herself as Kiara, had
already begun to cross the stream. Alonso tensed a little, but all Kiara seemed to want was conversation. She had the glint of curiousness in her eyes that seemed to suggest that she was more interested in finding out what he was doing there than fighting him. Part of him wanted to sit and chat; he had been too busy running these past few months to have had any sort of decent conversation with another wolf, but another part of him remained afraid of the stranger in these new lands. Finally, Alonso decided to compromise. He didn’t relax his guard entirely but he did acknowledge Kiara by nodding at her and introducing himself. “Hola! My name’s Alonso. I’ve just arrived in the area from Mexico.” Deciding that he had better get started if he wanted to find a safe area to rest for the night he turned around and started to the right, away from the stream and Kiara. Before leaving he turned to Kiara and said “It was a pleasure to meet you but I really must get going. A good day to you Señorita.”
Word Count → 283 :: Aw, Kiara is being cute! She likes him. ^_^
Alonso. Nice name, nice face. Actually, he was quite the handsome male and his spanish accent made him all the more attractive. Alonso was covered with a beautiful array of reds, tans, and grays. There were several scars that littered his body, but somehow they fit him. His body was stiff, his muscle coiled as if ready to receive an attack. Everything about him was new and strange and it this only enthralled Kiara's sense of adventure and excitement. It was the very same feeling that had caused the snow wolf to leave the arctic in the first place.
Kiara couldn't help but giggle a little. They were so close to Salsola and there Alonso was, heading straight for them. The danger that Kiara was in was monumental but she didn't really care. All she cared about was that someone so interesting was trying to leave and she would have none of that. Kiara trotted over to the male and placed herself right in front of him. As she passed she exclaimed in a mischievous singsong voice, "I wouldn't go this way if I were you." The arctic wolf bent low to the ground, her tail waving high in the air and giving away her playful mood. She crept towards Alonso, her sapphire eyes sparkling. "After all, you never know who's waiting in the shadows." It was fun to tease this newcomer. He had no idea who the Salsolans were and in fact who she was.
Without warning Kiara pounced on Alonso. She was aiming to wrap her forepaws around he neck and to tug gently at his ear. A playful growl emanated from her jaw, challenging him to a friendly wrestling competition.
“Kiara Amarok.” Alonso tried the new name on his tongue as he turned to leave. It was a strange sounding name to the Mexican wolf but he couldn’t help thinking that it suited this beautiful wolf to the T. He’d become very good at reading people these past few days and his instincts were telling him that this wolf was far too placid and cheerful to instigate a fight. A part of him wanted desperately to stay for a little longer and maybe get to know Kiara a little better. But before he could make up his mind to turn around and head back, Kiara raced in front and planted herself right in front of him. This sudden interruption unsettled Alonso for a minute before he noticed her tail wagging. “I wouldn’t go that way if I were you” she teased coquettishly. Her smile was so effortless and genuine that Alonso unconsciously returned the grin. “Why not?” he was about to ask before she pounced him.
“She wants to fight?” thought a bewildered Alonso as he let himself tumble and roll. It was a notion he had long since abandoned in view of Kiara’s friendliness. “She’s playing!” was his next realization as he remembered similar ‘wrestling’ matches with his family. He suddenly grinned playfully. If a game was what she wanted, a game was what she was going to get. He lay on the ground, feigning unconsciousness, until Kiara trotted over to his side worriedly. The minute she was close enough he pounced up and grabbed her around the neck, intending to repeat her earlier maneuver. That was until he lost his balance causing both wolves to topple down the decline.
Her friendly attack was met with equal fervor. Together the two wolves rolled in the winter grass, each trying to get the upper hand in their friendly brawl. Growls emanated from the two wolves and to any onlookers it would look like they were seriously fighting. But high tails and glittering eyes told a different story. For most of the time Alonso dominated their friendly fight, but as time wore on Kiara started to get the upper hand. She had the stamina of one who survived the tundra and her prowess was not easily matched by regular wolves. Altogether their wrestling contest lasted for several minutes, by the time they were done Kiara needed to sit in the grass and pant. She hadn't had a brawl like that in a long time. Most of her battles were with the young Sarain and she was not often pushed to her limits.
After resting for a while Kiara stood and shook herself free of any dead grass. It was time for her to return. The Ikusei had duties to attend to and it would take several hours for her to get back home. Kiara turned to her new friend and smiled. "That was fun, but I've got to get back. There's a puppy thats waiting for me. If you ever want your but kicked again, come by Ichika and call for me." Kiara started to trot off before she stopped and turned to Alonso. "Oh, right. Don't go that way. That way leads to the Salsola pack and they aren't friendly. Especially if your a wolf untouched by the virus like myself. Later." And with that said, Kiara jumped into a sprint and headed home.
Alonso was taken aback. Just as he had hoped to get to know this new wolf better she had jumped up and left. He lay still on the grass hearing the sounds of her sprinting back to her territory and felt a sudden stab of loss. “Don’t be idiotic! You barely knew her for.” He thought to himself as he got up and trotted back to the stream. He battled with himself pointing out that she was the first friendly person he had met at Nova Scotia and he was hence simply pining for more company. It was true that Alonso, belonging to a traditional wolf pack, had never been without his family for any long period of time. Living in his own had been especially rough on the Mexican wolf because he was so unused to hunting on his own and was never really sure what to do when facing a prey alone. However, there was something more. Mexican wolves were so fixed in their ideas of territory and pack that Alonso had never really experienced life outside the pack’s borders. The past few months he had been more involved in pining for his pack and getting away from Mexico safely that he had had little chance to enjoy the wonders of his travels. Meeting Kiara had brought that all to the front of his mind with full force. She was as far away from home as he was and yet she seemed so full of life and fun. It filled him with a longing – to be able to see the world through the Arctic Wolf’s eyes.
Alonso sighed as he got up and went his way looking for game. He would come back later to the same area and he would come back often, all in the hope of meeting Kiara again. But for now he left the Bay area and sprinted off to explore these new lands that he had found himself in.
P approved.