Zana wasn't certain where she stood anymore within the lands. She had acquired her small nephew and in doing thus she had turned into something more. Her temper had turned to a sharp edge as protecting the young child took over her generally mellow and open state of mind. She was ashamed that she had let herself fall into such petty arguments and had even found herself being lectured by Ezekiel for her actions against Columbine. She had known the make could have killed her but she had been enraged by his words and suggestions. The tiny woman wished that things would calm for this storm that was raging was too much to handle.
Her small paws brought her to the edge of the lands, the tiny stormy tag along not far behind. She had found herself lucky that Sup-Sup had decided to go hunting in the woods near the mansion. So often she'd circled round the mansion and yet time and time again she had done nothing more than gaze at the building. Her recent run in with Halo had send chills down her spine and made the pygmy creature even more wary of the monster that loomed in the shadows. She let a soft breath of air slip through her lips as she decided to turn away from her duties to take young Timori to the edge of the sea.
The small child frolicked and skittered about as she lead him down the trail, short words and nips brought him along the way, reminding him that he was suppose to be following her. She had yet to return with him to the beach since the day that her sister had brought the young child to the borders and deposited her newest duty and family member upon their steps. It had not been an easy week.
She smiled slightly as they came over the dune and the child seemed to quiver with unrestrained excitement as he wasn't certain just what to do. She chuckled, glad that she had decided to abandon her duties for a moment of peace. She nudged the small boy forward and followed his hungry steps as he made his way in a rush to where the waves met with the shore. She knew the first spray of water over his form would send him running from the waves but she on the other hand had no problem with the icy waters of the bay.
The small woman waded out into the waters, her arms wrapped around her as the winds blew brisk across the dunes. The de le Poer boy had found a shell of some sorts and was digging a hole to bury it she assumed as she smiled softly, a bone chilling wave crashing against her chest as she felt the drag of the currents eating at the sands beneath her paws. She knew the ocean would not claim her but it would try.
.: OOC :. PP of Zana and Timori, if you don't mind.
The dark Lykoi male was in a huff, running along the borders like something possessed. He was doing it more for exercise then anything, the rush of feeling his muscles burn and ache from the strain was invigorating. He had finally fashioned a sling for his metal tip bow staff and the weapon was securely attached to his back, easily accessible with a quick draw of his paw. Helotes relished the idea that he now had a tool at his command that could eviscerate the thickest hides if he wanted it too, even better than his claws or teeth ever could.
The Lykoi male went bounding over fallen logs, boulders and crevices, enjoying the feel of his large paws hitting the cold wet ground, the feel of his claws digging into the wet earth. This is what it felt to be in one’s prime, healthy, well fed, and strong. Helotes felt like he could take on the world! His loins ached for the heat of a woman, his teeth yearned for the tearing of flesh; but for now, running had to do.
He was making his way to the beach, a place he had been frequenting more and more; it was the last place he had seen Zana, the last place he had seen an enemy, Firefly, and just the day prior he had had a pleasant run in with Halo, something that he was still trying to figure out. The normally cold woman had been nearly warm that day, and they had conversed pleasantly. Helotes could not help but trace her curves over and over again in his mind; a flawless woman that he could never attain, but such was the story of his life. And just then, irony raised it’s cruel face to him, and as a he came to the crest of a dune he saw a ginger form in the waves. Zana.
He was so enthralled by her, when the waves hit her chest, framing her small breasts in wet fur that clung, that he barely noticed the second small figure out the beach. Umber eyes darted to see a small coyote pup, gray as the sea with flecks of fire, as it dug in the rocky sand. Helotes head nearly turned ninety degrees as he stared at this little creature and then his eyes went back to Zana, who seemed quite busy with fighting the tides.
Getting down on all fours, Helotes crept silently down onto the shore, stalking, but his movements were made out of curiosity rather than blood lust. He silently made his way to the pup, trying to keep out of Zana’s peripheral vision; he wanted to meet this little tyke on his own, without her lavender eyes watching. He came upon the pup then, his form massive in comparison to the little thing, and stuck his dark nose into the creature's soft belly. Though the pup was obviously frightened by the appearance of the big male, it licked at his nose as he sniffed; the pup reeked of Zana.
Helotes glanced over at her, she was still amongst the waves, before lookingback down at the little guy, Hola un poco. He whispered, giving the pup a lick on the belly, ¿Quién eres tú? The soft Spanish coo caused a shift in the pup's demeanor, and it began to wag it's little rear end as it attacked Helotes face with this puppy kisses, as well whimpering and barking at him. Helotes smiled, he had forgotten how much he loved pups.
She had not meant to avoid her dark hued cousin for as long as she had, she had even went to the point of stopping by his room in the mansion with the puppy in town in hopes that he would be home but their two ranks kept them on their paws and busier than almost any other creature in the clan. She had never minded just how busy her duties had kept her til now. With the demands of the child and her role within the clan she wondered just how long she would last before she broke. These thoughts were chilly and cold, colder than the waters that danced and lapped at her pelt. She tried to push them from her mind as she sighed, her eyes glancing to the small child for a moment, a fluttering danced in her heart as she watched him so proudly attempting to bury his caught and captured prey. She shook her head and waded slightly further into the waters before ducking down under the waves.
She flung her head back, her back arched at the bitter cold of the salty waters as she let the oceans life flow back to the sea in curtains down her back. Her strawberry blond curls like dark deadly snakes playing down her neck and spine, dancing in the weak sunlight as the ocean misted over them with every crashing wave that framed the small Lykoi woman's body. It was rare that the woman danced with the sea and she hadn't been partners with the ocean since well before she'd found herself wounded on the borders of Salsosa. Now she was lulled into the game, the rush of the waves and the pull of the tide her drug, the very salt in her veins answering praise to the sea as she felt her heart beat and hammer with the fierce wild beauty of the ocean all around her.
She let her body fall perfectly into the motion of the ocean, the dance steps she knew by heart. They were not something one could be taught but had to learn, to love and to accept that one could never fully master the sea. She had found solitude in these things long ago and the fluid motions of her body gracefully pulling through the currents was like that savage song of the bow, the whistle and snap of the cord as the arrow was finally let lose to find it's point, deadly and sure driven home in the heart and soul of some hapless beast. Sometimes that arrow went astray but here in the sea there was no room for aimless drifting and it was a deadly mistake to believe it was possible without paying the consequences.
She knew that the child was safe enough on the sands of the beach, the ever rolling tide was dying away now, the dance drawing to an end as the sea claimed back the soils of the land and the waters of the ocean once more. Soon the time would come when the flow of waters around her would be so weak that she would have to do little but patter back to the shore, cold damp and misty eyed. There was still power in the flow though as she let only her ears trail in the mortal world, a constant flag of attention for the sounds of her time cousin as she let the ocean claim her stress and tension, the worries of a world she couldn't fully command easing from her bones and into the father sea. She would be weak as a kitten by the time she was done but the world would be bright again and her soul aching to pull against the bit and challenge the whole of it all once more.
She was feeling the pull of the ocean begin to slowly push on her frame now. She had been in the waters for far too long and she was starting to awaken to the fact that the child had probably become bored with the game she was playing so far away and out of reach. Alarm bells were ringing in her ears as she remembered her slight brush in with the annoying woman from the Court a few days past when the de le Poer child had tried sneaking down an small game trail. She had been paralyzed with fear at losing him or the boy falling prey to the dangers of their world and in the end she'd almost salvaged the poor woman who had done little but try and figure out why the boy was wandering across the clan lands alone. She had felt a pang of guilt at her over reaction but she believed that it was better than not reacting at all and possibly losing the child. The woman had always seemed a bit fair shady to the pygmy Lykoi bitch.
She had finally given into the storm warning that were going off, telling her to turn her attention back to the world she had to parade in every day, to savor the life of the puppy and the joys and hardships that came with the new found duties of motherhood. She sighed, opening her eyes once more and turned back to gaze upon her small nephew. Surprise through her perfectly posed body into ridged shock as she caught the larger frame of another right atop the small boy. A savage snarl broke from her throat as she screamed, "Timori!" the salty water having turned her docile tones raw in the time she'd spent in the water, the voice sounding more primal than it ever had as her eyes flashed dangerously.
In that moment the push of a larger wave threw her off balanced body into the waters, the roll of the rip current dragging her down and back out towards the deeper waters of the bay as she struggled to resurface. She hadn't realized that the form she had seen had belonged to Helotes and her heart and soul were in a panic now as she fought to gain control of the ocean just once. Her head rolled above the waves for a moment, she gasped, brine water filling her mouth and throat as she coughed and choked. She dove back under the waves and began to swim back in. Her body was weak and the pull of the sea was strong but this once she had something worth fighting for as she locked in on the shoreline, pulling her tide weary form through the ocean and back to the confinements of the land.
She stumbled out of the water, her body quivering as she snarled. Her grey lavender eyes had turned a stormy deep grey with the smallest hint of purple at the heart of it's squall as she dropped to all fours, letting her talons dig into the sands as she growled a warning to the beast, her heart beating out a fearful song as she prayed that the small form of the child was intact and no harm had fallen upon him.
Suddenly she found herself just dropping from pure exhaustion into the sands. She was beyond embarrassed as she finally had recognized the scent and form of the male before her. Her eyes slowly fading back to their natural hue as she looked like a rag tag piece of wreckage from some vessel that the sea had chucked upon their shoreline. She lay there gasping like a fish out of water as she moaned. "Helotes.. what.. are you doing." She didn't even bother attempting to compose herself for she knew the child was fine..and she doubted there was any coming back from her graceless entrance upon the sands anyways.
The little pup began to giggle and snort at Helotes’ prying snout and the Lykoi male couldn’t help but laugh along. He had wanted to do this very thing with Halo’s pups, though she would never allow such a thing. But Helotes was a family man, and he had not been around pups for a long time, so having been given the chance to interact with one he readily took it. The little gray pup then retrieved a pink shell for him, that had been half buried and Helotes put on an astonished face, Para mí? he said, exaggerating his flattery, Usted no debería tener. And he took the little shell from the pup and playfully gnawed on it.
This playful reverie however was cut short by a blood curdling screech that could only come from Zana. Helotes ears shot straight up and he caught sight of her just as her small body fell beneath the waves. The Lykoi male did not hesitate, immediately dropping the shell and running straight into the frothing surf. He could not see his ginger cousin anywhere, and he frantically waded out, Zana! ZANA! Fear suddenly gripped him fiercely around the throat; the tide could easily have pulled his friend under never to be seen again.
Helotes exited the waves then, and paced along the shore frantically along the place he had last seen her, Zana, Zana no! He whimpered, whines and cries escaping his throat. She surely must have drowned.
Helotes hung his head, despair coming over him, and he would had sunk to his knees crying then and there if it hadn’t been for the sound of coughing and sputtering. He whip his head to the side in time to see Zana collapse in the sand, a snarl melting from her face as she looked upon him. He ran over to her and scooped her up in his arms, and began planting warm coyote kisses all over her face. She tasted like salt.
He whimpered as he did this, Dios mio I thought you were dead! He cried, burying his face into her soaking fur. He then took her over to the pup, who had been watching all this with astute interest, and set her down in the sand next to him, What the hell were you doing so far out there! Helotes then snarled, angry that Zana would put herself in such danger.
Zana was a strange creature, he had to have known that from the start. There was little she did that made sense and even less that did not have a long line of dangerous challenges attached to them. She doubted that the gray male would last through the spring by her side when he found her in the vipers nests milking venom from deadly serpents. She tried to chuckle at this idea as she was mauled by the male she loved so much and yet feared just the same. Nothing should seem so funny but right at this moment she had been thrown into shock just enough to where everything was hilarious.
She was wrapped in his frame, the child she had been so desperate to protect from the large male forgotten as she found herself covered in what must have been a million soft wings of butterflies bathing her face. She was addled just enough to reach one arm up and wrap her fingers firmly in his mane as she pulled the beast in closer, her own maw returning the kisses that had seasoned her face just moments, wanting them to linger and expand, to claim more than was chaste and right between cousins. Her stormy eyes were half closed as her sea tossed mind left her with the silliest of thoughts. She did believe she could get use to this.
Her fingers fell from his mane though as she realized that the male before her was actually afraid, the scent of fear was strong in the air and he reeked of it. A shiver danced down her spine as she realized that it had been for her and her alone. She was silent as his soft whimpered filled the air, the tears of his words mingling with her soaked pelt as she turned in his arms, curling her small frame against his as he lifted her from the sands and brought her to where Timori remained, the steadfast eyes of the puppy filled with nothing but interest at the scene that had just taken place.
She smiled a silly little smile at the boy and rubbed his ears with damn fingers as he lapped at the salty water that still dripped from her pelt. She could have remained like that forever, between the child and the man she loved but she had forgotten one thing that obviously Helotes seemed to believe was much more serious that it really was. Her fingers fell from the de le Poer child's pelt as a snarl errupted and the angry words flew forth from her undercover lover's lips. A sigh followed from her own maw as she turned her grey lavender eyes on him, wondering if this storm that raged in the male was going to die away anytime soon or if she would have to battle through him too just to find peace.
The pygmy Lykoi was more amused than anything, a side effect from the tumble through the tides she had taken after her prolong exposure to the chilly sea temperatures. She laughed softly as she gently tugged on one of his crimson tinted locks of fur. "nár mhaith leat tuiscint a fháil ar mo ghrá"You would never understand my love.. It was a mystery even to her as to why the pull of the sea when so little else could comfort her, though right now she believed that she would forsake the sea for a million lifetimes if he would just shut up and kiss her again.
Her stormy orbs watched the rage that engulfed the male quietly before she spoke again, not the dark language she had grown to know, but the tongue they both understood. "Take me home Helotes.." She wanted to be held again, to feel the security of his arms wrapped around her as the solid muscles of his frame shifted and moved so fluidly. There was nothing about the male she didn't admire and there was so much more she would come to love in time. She was just crazy enough right now to let that reckless wonder take over if he was willing to accept her for who she really was.
The pup whimpered slightly when he raised his voice and he glanced over to it and calmed a bit before turning to look at Zana again. She seemed positively giddy, for what reason Helotes could not discern, especially since she had almost just drowned. Zana was a funny one like that, prone to extreme moods swings and actions. At least this was a good mood he supposed, as opposed to a nasty one, which he readily knew she was capable of. She chuckled softly and reached up to tug on a strand of his hair as she spoke in that eerie dialect of hers, one that he sometimes wished he could understand. Whatever she had said was very forlorn, and this was one of the times that wish he had ears for it.
But she changed then, her amethyst orbs catching his amber ones. There was an exchange then, a foreshadowing in the glance that shot fire through Helotes' veins. Having Zana lying there on the sand, soaked to the bone, and nearly having drowned caused a fire to light in Helotes' belly. She asked him then to take her home and he nodded slowly, eyes never leaving her.
The dark Lykoi had no problem lifting his cousins limp form in his strong arms and he began the trek back to the mansion. He went slower then he would have wanted, but this was for the pup's sake, who followed the man and his burden closely, occasionally nipping playfully at Helotes' heels. Helotes said nothing and kept his eyes trained on the path ahead, and did not even look at Zana, for he was trying to contain the blaze that was slowly beginning to build within him. He knew what it was; it was the flame of lust, of desire. The last time he had seen Zana it was all business, driving off her sister, but the time before that… that time had been difficult. It was Helotes’ greatest obstacle now, the fire he felt for Zana. It was different, different than any craving he had ever felt. Even how he felt about Halo, with her perfect lineage which screamed at him to have her bear his children, that was different from this; this was love, this was death and pain, and life.
His pace quickened as they neared the mansion and luckily the bounding pup kept time with Helotes’ optime form, but it was clear that the little male was getting tired. Helotes shifted Zana to one arm so that as they approached his room he could open the door. His quarters where relatively tidy this day, much to his relief, and he set his cousin down upon his cot, which he had recently adorned with the pelt of the wolf he had killed. It was slightly macabre, but there was no use letting the hide go to waste, eventually he would turn it into a cloak, but for now it made a warm mat to lie upon. The head however, was removed, for that prize was giving to Symera, who much enjoyed the skulls. The pup laid down at the foot of the bed, watching attentively as Helotes retrieved some dry fabric from the wardrobe and beginning drying Zana off, he glanced over at the little grey furball, So, who’s is this? He asked nonchalantly, still not looking upon her lest he lose his mind and his restraint then and there.
