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Being as he was still young and didn’t have the ability to shift for another few months, Apollo took a hard grip with his teeth on the fabric of the curtains. He yanked with all of his might and took a few sidesteps to his right, trying to pull the curtains open to let the daylight into the lonely bedroom. Now that his brother was gone, Apollo no longer shared the small room. The mattress that lay on the wooden floors was shoved back into a corner, while some of Sirius’ abandoned toys lay on the floor. He had been here to pick them up to take to Shadowed Sun, but it seemed as if he had forgotten some. Apollo didn’t bother to move them. Instead he would make sure to step over them. Occasionally when he lay on his mattress alone at night, he would look to the moonlight silhouetted toys and his thoughts would dwell on his abandonment in Twilight Vale. It wasn’t like he had been purposely left alone in this pack, but sometimes he viewed it that way. But only when he was feeling particularly lonely.
When the youth managed to get the curtains open, rays of light spilled into the room and cast a thick bar of light along the floor. He made sure to step over those toys, before wandering over to his mattress. He sat down upon it and looked at the empty walls. Though he wasn’t so much afraid of the dark like he had been during the first month or two of his life, he found it rather depressing to stay in this room alone. He sort of wished his brother would have decided to stay, solely so there would be another body there at night… even if Sirius was annoying.
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The old human mansion was beginning to feel more and more like home each day. After spending so much time wandering all over Europe, and living on that Spanish ship for nearly a month, Ehno found it comforting to finally have a single location to call home. Even if it was as strange as this old mansion on a continent so far from home. But as things stood now, it was highly unlikely that there was anyone left in Italy waiting for him. Fate (and maybe a touch of luck) had brought him here to Savina, and he was glad for it.
So to help himself feel more comfortable in the mysterious old house, Ehno made a point to explore it a little each day. He hoped that before long, he would know the house like the back of his paw. The foreign wolf sauntered aimlessly down one of the many hallways, the tapping of his four paws on the ground the only sound to break the silence. But soon a rustling from further down the hall caught his attention. He perked up at the sound, amber gaze searching the dim hall for the source of the noise. Seconds later he saw a small shaft of light appear from a nearby room. Curious to see which of his packmates was around, he headed toward the room. He stopped near the doorway, spotting the light-hued pup sitting alone upon his mattress. "Hello there." The accented greeting drifted through the air, breaking the relative silence. "Enjoying some alone time, are we?"
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"Not exactly enjoying," Apollo replied, and then cast his glance up to see whose voice it was that had permeated the air. He didn’t know the face for sure, but knew it was one of Twilight Vale’s newer members. Wasn’t it one of Savina’s relatives? He had seen them together the few times that Apollo had seen Ehno around. "Who’re you?" Apollo asked curiously, turning his body on the mattress so that he could get a better look at the Corvus.
Thinking of Savina made him remember his Italian skills. They had had a lesson together once already to better his skills, but it had been days since they had last gotten together. He had really enjoyed what she had taught him – helping him choose the right words for the ideas he wanted to express. He hoped that one day he would be able to speak Italian fairly fluently. Though he could easily speak it now, his sentences remained rather simple.
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"Ehno Marino. Savina's brother," came his reply as he stepped into the room. He could only assume that the boy knew his sister. She had made it seem like she knew the majority of the wolves living in the mansion, but he couldn't be entirely sure. Either way, what was said was said, and there was no point in worrying about it now. The brown-hued wolf came to a halt beside the matress, taking a seat next to it. It sounded like the boy was in need of some company, and Ehno was always up for a little conversation.
His amber gaze washed over the room quickly, taking in its bare walls and the toys that lay strewn about the ground. Judging by the toys laying around, and the fact that he had been sitting here by himself, the room seemed to belong to the boy. Ehno turned his attention back to the white pup nearby. "And who would you be?" He had seen the pup around a few times, but he didn't know who he was, or who he belonged to. Now was as good a time as any to find out.
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So he had been right. He was a relative of Savina – her brother, no less. Apollo eyed him, wondering where he had come from to join Savina here in Twilight Vale. He had never asked Savina about her former home, but assumed it must have been in Europe, where there was a place where Italian was spoken instead of English. He figured Ehno must have come from there. He couldn’t remember the name, or if he had ever been told it.
"I’m Apollo Haddon," he told the Corvus, watching as he took a seat on the mattress that was still a bit too large for Apollo. Though he was now four months old, and becoming quite large, the youth still retained evidence of his premature birth. He wouldn’t be able to fully fit the mattress until he reached his seventh months. As he got older, he would outgrow its length when shifted. "Did you come here on a ship?"
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“Nice to meet you, Apollo,” he said with a soft smile. The surname ‘Haddon’ didn’t ring any bells with him. He didn’t recall meeting any wolves around the house with the name, but then again, Ehno hadn’t met most of his new pack mates face to face just yet. As it was, he was still getting familiar with the house and the lands. He figured he’d get fully settled here soon. There was no hurry to adjust.
He nodded at the pup’s question. “Yeah, I managed to hitch a ride on a ship with a bunch of Spanish sailors. Ended up getting left behind, but I don’t think they did that intentionally.” It had definitely been an interesting experience. The language barrier made things a bit difficult, but he had gotten used to it after a while. Italian and Spanish, with all their similarities, were still rather different languages. Despite this, Ehno still enjoyed the time he had spent on the ship. He shrugged and said, “It all worked out for the better, though.”
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Apollo listened to Ehno’s story with mismatched eyes focused on the Corvus. Though he had never seen a ship in real life, nor ever met a Spanish sailor, he was sure that Ehno had found plenty of adventure in his journey. Apollo actually felt a bit jealous – solely because of the fact that his pack mate had found some adventure in life. Apollo was still too young to have experienced anything like that.
"Hmm, I’ve never seen a ship before," Apollo told Ehno, wondering just how this Marino had ended up with those sailors. Maybe the white youth would be able to travel by boat one day – maybe even explore the other lands of the world. For now, he would suffice from hearing a story. "What was the place you came from like?"
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“Italy’s a real nice place, pretty different from the area here. Most Luperci out in Europe live quite similarly to the humans, but our pack was a bit different. We never usually shifted from our natural forms, but we did still learn about the humans and their culture.” Packs that lived like Ehno’s had in Europe were in the minority. They preferred to live in packs while still learning from the humans’ accomplishments and mistakes.
Maybe that had been part of the reason why Ehno decided to take off on a journey as he had. Amber eyes shifted across the room momentarily before resting on the white-furred youth once again. “Maybe one day you’ll be able to travel there. It’s really amazing to be able to see new places.” Did Apollo have that itch for adventure in him like Ehno did, or was he more of a homebody? Maybe the touch of wanderlust was an aquired thing. It could very well visit him one day, reguardless of how he felt now.
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