And miles to go before I sleep

Susquehanna · 12-29-2011, 03:10 AM

[html]

OOC here!

Here she was again, the ebony woman mused, standing at yet another turning point in her life. AniWaya, she had learned through the grapevine, was no longer "home" to her, would never be the same. While she had been gone, a great war had happened at the heart of the tribe, one that took Dawali, in the end, back to the Great Tribe. She did not know all the details, but to return to such a place did not seem to the woman her best course of action. Instead of the peaceful people that AniWaya had always seemed to keep, there were new members that Hanna knew nothing about. Oh, Ralla was there too, and several others that she did know, but still, she felt wrong returning.

She had thought long and hard before even returning to Souls. She had been staying in a den in the old lands, where once had stood the Moaning Wood, her home of old. It felt perverted compared to what it had once been, ashen and desolate as compared to lush and full of life, but there was something comforting about the place, and the wisewoman who had helped her and Esmerelda survive along with the livestock she'd managed to keep alive thus far had called it home for nearly a year.

Now, though, the woman longed for the companionship of a pack. She wanted to feel a part of a greater whole. Moreover, she didn't want Essie's only memories of her youth to be grey, burnt forest. So she had tethered her livestock once more, lifted her daughter to Galilahi's rump, and headed once again over the mountains. She stood indecisively at the southeastern foot of the range, debating where it was she wanted to go, and finally she chose Anathema. She knew little about the pack, and little more about its ways, but Gemma, the girl who had rescued her when she had passed out near its borders, had lived there. Hanna would have, too, but she had chickened out before actually reaching the pack, made an excuse to bury her stillborn sons nearby, and then ran like a rabid wolf the other direction instead of returning to Gemma's side. She wished she hadn't done so now, but she just couldn't imagine then not living with the featherheads.

Still, and for a long time silent, the woman stood on the border, just looking. Finally, raising her muzzle to the sky, she called out for the leader of the pack, Anathema. She was dressed to impress, with her usual outfit on her body, her spirit bag around her neck, its familiar weight a comfort, and her long, dark hair tied back in a queue. She stood on the ground, gripping Gali's hackamore, Esmerelda atop the mare's back. The young one's eyes were wide; she didn't know what was to happen. Hanna patted her head gently, reassuringly, then sat back to wait.

Naniko D'Angelo · 12-29-2011, 01:58 PM

[html]
<style>
.naniko .ooc {font-style:italic; }
.naniko p {padding:2px 0px; margin:0px; text-indent:35px;}
.naniko b {color:#FFFFFF; letter-spacing:-.2px; text-shadow:#000000 2px 2px 2px; }
.naniko {background-color:#1e252b; background-image:url(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/K ... naniko.png); background-position:bottom center; background-repeat:no-repeat; border:2px solid #FFFFFF; font-family:georgia, serif; font-size:11px; line-height:12px; color:#141b21; width:375px; text-align:justify; }
.naniko-border {width:379px; border:1px solid #000000; margin:0 auto;}
.naniko .inner {margin:10px 10px 190px 10px; padding:10px; background-image:url(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/K ... nikobg.png); border:1px solid #000000; border-radius:20px;-moz-border-radius:20px; -webkit-border-radius:20px;}
</style>

The female was one of few remaining canines who had come over the mountain after the great fires had destroyed her old forest home. She'd been born in Chimera and had grown up in Clouded Tears, becoming an Alesterin before the fires had began. Naniko had felt certain that Laruku would have promoted her had the fires not occurred and she'd had her eye on that Gamma rank...so when she had made the trek over the mountain, she'd started a pack all of her own. She had not seen her old leader since then.

The fires were what had spurred change in the female - she'd started Twilight Vale, which then reformed into Crimson Dreams. The Angela had dabbled in various activities while she led that pack, including recreational drug use...which, in the end, caused her eventual eviction from that place. She'd searched New Brunswick for allies and had found quite a few by the time she had returned to the place, forming Anathema soon after. It had been around a year since then.

The rugged leader had changed in appearance since her Clouded Tears days, gaining scars and muscle from the various scraps that she'd been in and from the training that she put herself through each morning. One would be surprised at the amount of fitness it took to be able to run up and down the mountainside each day. She was in the middle of running the border when the female's call reached her ears, causing her to stop and turn toward the sound. She was needed!

Naniko raced back toward the area from which the sound had originated. Her necklace and gris-gris bounced with each step, her braid flicking back and forth in the air behind her. She wore no clothing, having never found much of a need for it (besides an occasional cloak for warmth), but had a weapons-belt cinched around her waist. Upon it, two daggers and one small axe were strapped. Not menacing weapons...but something, at least. She was breathing quickly by the time she reached the outsider and her companions, and slowed to a walk as she approached. "You, there. Was that you who called?"

Table by Jenny!

[/html]

Susquehanna · 01-15-2012, 04:40 PM

[html]

Eternally sorry for the wait. I finally feel human again. ._. WC: 245

As opposed to Naniko, Hanna had spent much of her life in the lower rungs of the packs she had inhabited. Whether that was because she was better suited for those ranks or if she simply preferred being out of the limelight, the medic was not sure. Still, she had done her duties where ever she was, held co-ranks and the sort as well, and, at eight years old, was at peace with never ascending in the ranks heretofore. She'd either make up for it now, or she would not; what mattered was Essie, and if she could find it, information on her other daughter as well.

The group was not waiting long before an ivory femme appeared from the snow, her hair and a bag similar to Hanna's jumping as she bounded toward the elder woman. She drew to a walk as she came nearer, giving Hanna time to more fully take in her appearance before she spoke. She was white from head to toe, this woman, completely in opposition to Hanna's black, but she bore as many or more scars on her muscled frame. She wore no clothing, and Hanna wondered now if she should have, but shrugged it off as personal preference.

The other woman spoke, her voice gravelly. She asked if Hanna was the one who had called and the woman replied, "It was I. I am seeking admission into the pack for myself and my daughter, Esmerelda. I am Susquehanna."

[/html]

Naniko D'Angelo · 01-20-2012, 09:01 PM

[html]
<style>
.naniko .ooc {font-style:italic; }
.naniko p {padding:2px 0px; margin:0px; text-indent:35px;}
.naniko b {color:#FFFFFF; letter-spacing:-.2px; text-shadow:#000000 2px 2px 2px; }
.naniko {background-color:#1e252b; background-image:url(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/K ... naniko.png); background-position:bottom center; background-repeat:no-repeat; border:2px solid #FFFFFF; font-family:georgia, serif; font-size:11px; line-height:12px; color:#141b21; width:375px; text-align:justify; }
.naniko-border {width:379px; border:1px solid #000000; margin:0 auto;}
.naniko .inner {margin:10px 10px 190px 10px; padding:10px; background-image:url(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/K ... nikobg.png); border:1px solid #000000; border-radius:20px;-moz-border-radius:20px; -webkit-border-radius:20px;}
</style>

WC: This got to the second page pretty quick! Sorry for the wait!

Her fur wasn't particularly long or shaggy, but it kept her warm well enough. Naniko chose to keep herself free of clothing for a few main reasons - for one, it felt quite awkward to her. She was on the higher end of the scale as far as size went, and it was very difficult to find any clothing that could fit her and look right. She also kept herself clear of it because of what it could do to a canine in combat. An opponent could grab it and pull on it, possibly yanking her to the ground if they chose to do so. The braid that she kept was already a liability in that aspect...but if someone grabbed that she would likely just reach back with her dagger and cut the braid off entirely.

It had been a long time since she'd been on the other end of the questioning. "I see. I am the leader here, Naniko. You...there's something about you that seems familiar...but I can't place it." She said, narrowing her eyes with concentration as she looked the other female over. Naniko walked closer, stopping shortly. The name struck a chord within her and she wondered yet again if she'd met the other before. "What can you do that would benefit the pack? I have a need for many different types of canines"

Table by Jenny!

[/html]

Susquehanna · 01-21-2012, 02:58 AM

[html]

It did! People are posting like crazy for SoSuWriMo. 10 days left! WC: 438

Hanna was anything but a fighter; she could hold her own well enough, but she preferred to steer clear altogether. And if she knew she was going to be fighting, the only article of clothing she wore was her belt with its leather-sheathed hunting knives. And trying to heal wounded wolves in clothing was just absurd; blood did not like to come out of light fabric, she'd found. To her, clothing was merely for putting one's best foot forward; any other time it was extraneous. Hanna even forwent a cloak most of the time, though she was considering finding one to acquire.

Hanna stood quietly as the woman gave her identity as Naniko, the leader. A similar look of concentration passed across her features as Naniko admitted to recognizing Hanna from... Somewhere. Hanna felt the same. It had been three years since the fire, and both wolfesses had aged. Hanna's memory wasn't quite what it used to be. Still, she thought she remembered something from the Old Lands, both from her time in Chimera as well as after she'd joined Clouded Tears.

But wait. The last time she'd seen her was... Oh yes, Hanna remembered now. A fox kit, in the Concrete Jungle. Naniko was a healer like herself; the former Clouded Tears member (and apothecary?) had probably kept Hanna from being cut down that day. "We belonged to Clouded Tears together, under one Laruku Tears. Just before the Fire, I think it was, we both tried to help the same fox kit. I foolishly drew my blades against the Inferni leader." Hanna chuckled, she had been much stupider then. It seemed forever ago, but perhaps that was motherhood and growing up for you.

Naniko asked the standard question asked of every prospective joiner of any pack ever: What did Hanna have to offer? The woman thought about that for awhile, and finally said, "I have been a healer for years. I have been a part of several packs, and know a little bit about each one, though not all are still together. As any wolf, I hunt, I fish. I have trained a bird; I helped take care of the livestock with the AniWayans and kept this lot --" she pointed to the assortment of prey animals behind her "-- alive since the beginning of fall last year with a little help. I can tattoo, given time to find ingredients for my dyes. I can tan hides and start fires, and I'm still pretty lithe for a wolf going on nine years old, if I do say so myself. And I am always willing to learn more."

[/html]

Naniko D'Angelo · 01-21-2012, 01:17 PM

[html]
<style>
.naniko .ooc {font-style:italic; }
.naniko p {padding:2px 0px; margin:0px; text-indent:35px;}
.naniko b {color:#FFFFFF; letter-spacing:-.2px; text-shadow:#000000 2px 2px 2px; }
.naniko {background-color:#1e252b; background-image:url(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/K ... naniko.png); background-position:bottom center; background-repeat:no-repeat; border:2px solid #FFFFFF; font-family:georgia, serif; font-size:11px; line-height:12px; color:#141b21; width:375px; text-align:justify; }
.naniko-border {width:379px; border:1px solid #000000; margin:0 auto;}
.naniko .inner {margin:10px 10px 190px 10px; padding:10px; background-image:url(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/K ... nikobg.png); border:1px solid #000000; border-radius:20px;-moz-border-radius:20px; -webkit-border-radius:20px;}
</style>

WC: Luckily, I'm not having to worry about that any more Lol. I'm way too busy to do Sosu any more XD

Scars looked great, in Naniko's eyes. She thought of them as symbols that the canine they were on had experienced a lot in their lifetime. They'd gotten into some kind of a scrap and had lived to tell the tale...whether they had won the battle or had managed to run from it and save their own lives. She considered them marks of character and strength. So the fact that this female was marred with the beautiful markings was something that she appreciated and saw as more of a good thing than a bad thing.

The canines lives had been ripped from them when the fires had come - they'd scattered in every direction. Naniko had been back to the burned lands when she had delivered her very first litter, but she'd found nothing but disappointment there. The pups had been stillborn and she'd hoped to bury them in the place that she had once called home...but had found nothing but the dark, burned remains of a place that she could barely recognize any more.

So much had changed since then...and she had changed, as well. She liked to think that she had grown smarter and more cunning since her days in Clouded Tears - now she had run her own pack for over a year and was a wolf that could be respected. Back then, she'd been nothing but a simple healer, ending up at the Alesterin rank just before the fires had occurred. "There are days when I wonder how my life would have turned out had the fires never happened." She said quietly. "But I would not wish for things to be any different. I do remember you now, Susquehanna. Much has changed about each of us since we last laid eyes on one another."

She had a new perspective on the situation now that she had been informed of how she knew the female. "We could use a wolf with your wisdom and varied strengths here. My second in command Alaki is focusing on training some birds right now, actually...we have a series of crows that act as lookouts for us, and are working on trying to train some nighttime birds to watch the borders when the crows cannot." There was one final thing that she needed to cover, though. "But there's one last thing. To become a member here, you must be willing to go through the blood-sharing ritual of Agares. It isn't much blood - a small cut would be made on your paw-pad and on my own, and we'd join them together so that you would become one with the pack. Your daughter would not need to do this, as she is blood-related to you. Do you accept?" She reached for the ceremonial dagger on her belt with one hand, holding the other out as she asked.

Table by Jenny!

[/html]

Susquehanna · 01-21-2012, 06:54 PM

[html]

I don't figure I'm going to complete it, but I'm definitely still going to try. I'm at 2.16% done after this. xD WC: 399

Hanna's head dipped. She too wondered what life would have been like had fires not swept through their old home, but she rarely voiced such a thought. Things had mostly been better here since then, she had found love, of sorts, helped form a pack, and found family in all sorts of places. She had picked up a fair few scars, as well, just in the three years since crossing the Halcyon Mountains. Claw marks on her left shoulder from a scrap with a bear, more scars across her nose courtesy of her nephew. True, she had trespassed on pack lands, but she was chasing someone else and received the scars from defending him. The only scar she'd received prior was her throat, received in a run-in with her sister where the latter was delusional. Luckily, while she had bled profusely, there was no permanent serious damage inflicted with that one. "I'm sure we all wonder, Naniko. What few of us are left, anyway. I am pleased you remember me, though, and you're right, many things have changed. "

"I would be glad to add my knowledge to the pack. One thing I should have noted is, while I know Low Speech, and that is how I trained Tobias, our relationship was one of mutual respect. I got him flying again after finding him grounded with a broken wing and in exchange he helped me hunt, carried messages, and the like. I sometimes wonder where that bird got to." Little did she know, Tobias had simply been captured by a wolf in Cour des Miracles. "Anyway, I will find Alaki and offer my services to him."

Naniko added one final note. Hanna had not heard of the blood-sharing ritual as Agares, before, but it did not seem very different from sharing blood to transform a non-shifter into a Luperci. That she had done multiple times and was comfortable with. She said as much, "I have offered to change non-Luperci and been taken up on my offer multiple times. The only difference between this and that is the thought behind it. I will freely share my blood with you and the pack, Naniko, spill blood when called to in Anathema's name, and would offer my own in exchange for Her safety." With that, Hanna extended her arm towards Naniko, who had already withdrawn a dagger and put out her own hand.

[/html]

Naniko D'Angelo · 01-22-2012, 11:54 PM

[html]
<style>
.naniko .ooc {font-style:italic; }
.naniko p {padding:2px 0px; margin:0px; text-indent:35px;}
.naniko b {color:#FFFFFF; letter-spacing:-.2px; text-shadow:#000000 2px 2px 2px; }
.naniko {background-color:#1e252b; background-image:url(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/K ... naniko.png); background-position:bottom center; background-repeat:no-repeat; border:2px solid #FFFFFF; font-family:georgia, serif; font-size:11px; line-height:12px; color:#141b21; width:375px; text-align:justify; }
.naniko-border {width:379px; border:1px solid #000000; margin:0 auto;}
.naniko .inner {margin:10px 10px 190px 10px; padding:10px; background-image:url(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/K ... nikobg.png); border:1px solid #000000; border-radius:20px;-moz-border-radius:20px; -webkit-border-radius:20px;}
</style>

WC: Good luck!! bit of PP with the ceremony :3

She was interested in hearing about the female's skills with the beasts - perhaps she would choose to join the animal caretaker tier once she got settled in. She understood the need for a more mutual relationship when it came to teaming up with other animals, especially lower ones. The only reason that Alaki had been able to get the crows to follow them was the fact that they had been around him since they had hatched. They'd grown over their time in the pack and had become acquainted with those who were members and were able to recognize new or different faces among the others, it would seem. Naniko's own owl companion wasn't so much belonging to her as it was volunteering to help her in exchange for meat, warmth, and safety. "Understood. We treat our animals with respect, here."

The blood that was required for a luperci transformation was a lot, and she gave a small chuckle. "I won't take quite that much. We need only a few drops." She said. Naniko grasped Hanna's hand with her own, making a small cut on it before doing the same to her palm. She pressed the two together, allowing a few drops of blood to drip down and spill onto the soil before releasing the other's hand. "It is done. You'll be our pack's newest Zepar, an Unproven one. Once you have shown that you are loyal to the pack, you'll be able to pick a rank tier and begin working on moving up the ladder to the top." She said. "We live underground, for the most part...but that's a canine's own choice. Some choose to live in our outer territories or in the village. I will show you to the caves, for now...where you go beyond that will be on you. Welcome to Anathema."

Table by Jenny!

[/html]

Login




Remember me Lost Password?