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Endymion Russo.
Two years; November 2005.
Luperci Ortus.
Male.
casketcase@charter.net
ourbenediction
Previously/currently a member.
Yeah, I totally took longer than a week. >_< Sorry! Here I am now! With a quick, bad post. Just wanted to get it done.
He had avoided them all. Familiar scents leapt out at him as he passed the new packs, toying with his memory, but he had walked on. The strongest and most familiar was the first he encountered, which was perhaps a good thing; Tayui's scent marked the border of the pack on the mountain. Inside, Endymion rejoiced that she had survived, but did not allow himself to seek his former alpha, at least not yet. Fatin told him to find Laurent, and that's exactly what he would do. That was his first order of business. Besides, he didn't want to be around mountains. Not so soon after the fire. The thought made him shudder, even in the overwhelming heat, and he quickened his pace.
His uncle's trail led him through dense forests, quiet, damp, and strange. The sun winked through small breaks in the canopy above, but was never allowed to shine in full on the soft floor. Endymion's footfalls were so hushed that he felt like a ghost. Perhaps he actually was one, or else in purgatory. The air was so still it was as if time had stopped. Though he was uneasy, fur slightly bristled on his shoulders, his determination to find his uncle was stronger than his trepidation; Laurent's scent was more noticeable the further he went, and Endymion's already brisk pace evolved into an eager canter.
Although the sky could scarcely be seen through the trees, the wolf could tell it was late in the afternoon when he finally found what he was searching for. Or rather, smelled what he was searching for. Invisible borders flared up at him, causing him to halt instinctively. Though most of the scents within were unfamiliar, he could clearly make out his uncle in the mix. This was the place. For a few moments Endymion stood still, peering into the foggy territory ahead of him. Then he began to shift, deciding he would feel more comfortable on two legs. He finished quickly, and as he announced himself with a howl he had a vague sense of déjà vu. Only this time, there was no leather pack across his shoulders, and the lush green mountain did not loom above him now. It was just an endless labyrinth of fog and forest.
*waves!*
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For what was the first time since he had come there, someone actually howled for attention. Finally, someone didn't just wait around at the border hoping to be found. It was much easier to drop what he was doing instead of just picking some random time to wander out there and investigate whether or not someone had been hanging around, and in which case, he could put tuning his banjo off for later. Venturing through the forest stealthy and quickly, Laurel was easily able to pinpoint where the call had come from and eventually the young man who had called popped right up. The dressed coyote waved at him, letting a grin spread easy on his face. He looked like a traveller, perhaps one like the last one who had turned up. “What brings you to this neck of the woods?” [/html]
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-waves back!-
Endymion's pale green eyes roved across the territory with an almost forced interest as he waited, hands clasped behind his back. He was trying to keep his mind from wandering into the desperate spiral of illogical conclusions and rash decisions that had been threatening to swallow him for days since meeting his mother. He didn't want to think about his state of mind last March, or the family he let down, or his brothers and sisters that might be dead, or his father(s), or...
The sight and sound of the approaching coyote brought his thoughts back to the present. Though his sudden appearance nearly started the red wolf, his wardrobe and manner just confused Endymion, though his face remained reserved. The feeling was all the more increased by the coyote's idyllic gesture. Without thinking, the two-year-old halfheartedly waved in turn. The grin was infectious also; he smiled, but the expression felt strange, like moving your arm after it had been stuck in a cast for months. He shrugged off the thought. "I'm looking for Laurent Nakado," replied Endymion. The way he spoke had changed along with everything else. Instead of a stammering, hesitant barely-above-a-whisper voice, the wolf now spoke with confidence and strength. This, however, could only be said when in comparison to the past. It wasn't as if he boomed like a drill-sergeant now, anyway.
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Though the stranger was well composed, the voice that came out of his mouth was less than composed… but Laurel had already seen his fair share of quirks. So he was looking for Laurent, well, that was definitely interesting. “I don't know if he's around right now, but he lives here. Who might you be? I'm Laurel,” he offered, hoping to cut to the chase as to why this kid was looking for Laurent. Things were pretty pressing at the moment and frankly, he imagined if Laurent was around, he wanted to stay with Jasper. [/html]
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-lazytired-
"Endymion Russo," he said, folding his arms across his chest. "I'm his nephew." There was a pause, then he hastily extended his hand toward Laurel. No matter what he went through, Endymion figured he would never forget his manners, even if they were a faint intimation of what they once were. "He lives here, huh? Is this a pack of some sort?" he asked curiously, reaching back absently to muss up the back of his head. When he realized what he was doing, he quickly dropped his hand. Old habits died hard, apparently.
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Momentarily, he wondered if he was making the boy uncomfortable, just from the way he was reacting. First his arms crossed and then just as abruptly, he re-extended his arm and offered his hand in a handshake, at which point Laurel took up the offer with a returning smile. “I suppose you could call us that, though we're really more of a gypsy band. This forest, at least this part of it, we've named Esper Hollow. Laurie's our carpenter,” and honestly, it was nice to know that he had some family lingering around. Though he had never really talked at length with the tall man about his family, Laurel knew he had some in the north. Perhaps that was what had drawn him to Halifax in the first place—at least now, it made some sense—and the rest was probably history. “If you want, we could head back to the camp site and see if he's around.” [/html]
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Endymion had always been cursed with awkwardness, but at least he had stopped worrying about it. If he could have seen through Laurel's eyes at that moment, he probably would have laughed out loud at himself, fidgeting like that. His thoughts, however, were on his uncle, and this gypsy band he had taken up with. Nodding pensively, Endymion fell silent until Laurel suggested they delve further into the territory. "I'd like that. I haven't seen him in quite a while," said the red wolf, folding his hands behind his back. He was marginally surprised that Laurel invited him so freely into Esper Hollow; Endymion was expecting a near-hostile greeting. That was how it was before he left, before the fire. Had things changed that much? Somehow, he doubted it. Maybe Laurel was just different. Maybe Esper Hollow was different. He needed different. "Is this your gyspy band?" he asked with a smile, finding the terminology strange.
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As they headed back towards the camp site underneath the thick canopy of the forest, Laurel couldn't help but smile a little bit at his question. “Something like that, I guess. It really belongs to everyone, even though I suppose they look to me and my partner Nikita as leaders.” Whatever gave them peace of mind, it didn't matter to him one way or another. “Most of the other packs around here don't know how to react to us. I guess they don't get what we are either, but most of them haven't spent most of their lives travelling either from the sound of things.” As it were, most people who knew anything about gypsies associated them with a lot of things, travelling being at the head of those things. “So do you live around here?” he decided to inquire, wondering if he was also one of the dozen or so refugees he had already met from that fire on the other side of the mountain. [/html]
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haha, i just realized i spelled 'gypsy' wrong in my last post.
He nodded as Laurel spoke, walking evenly beside him. It made sense that the other packs would be confused about this place, seeing as most of the creatures here harbored ancient grudges againsts coyotes, and vice versa. He had no doubt that they would be in store for trouble from the radicals. Endymion was grateful to his mother for raising him to be as tolerant as she was; his belief was that there was good and evil in everyone, but what mattered was the side they chose to act on. It was an obvious thing, but some people were blinded by their hate. Laurel seemed to have his eyes wide open. "No," answered Endymion hesitantly after a pause. "I lived northeast, beyond the mountain. There was a massive fire there, destroying my home, but I left before that." He spoke the words softly, pale green eyes peering ahead but focussing on nothing. It didn't occur to him that Laurel would know what he was talking about.
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I didn't even notice. XD
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One could bastardise the hell out of colour-blind and say that Laurel was species-blind. He simply didn't care if someone was a wolf or a coyote or something in between. If they were all blind creatures, there would have been no way for them to really tell what the other was by voice; unless they howled. “I've heard a bit about that fire from a few folks around already,” he said with a shake of his head, “definitely a sad story to hear. Some families got pretty broken up over it, I guess.” At least in Naniko's case, anyway. But at least one more person had gotten out alive, even if they had taken off before the fire occured. As they approached the camp site, Laurel found it to be eeriely quiet but that was nothing out of the ordinary. During the day time folks pretty much scattered, but by the time night had really descended fully on the countryside (and not just the darkness that the forest gave them) they usually wandered back. “He'll probably be around soon enough, though I've got to warn you about his shack over here. We've got a few people who are pretty sick and that's where we've put them, so if you don't want to get whatever they've got, I'd recommend that you avoid it.” [/html]
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sorry for the wait!
He turned his face away at the mention of broken families. Endymion's family was beyond repair. His mother, with Gabriel's son, was wandering who-knows-where looking for Tristan, who was in turn looking for Alarice. And as for his youngest siblings... he didn't know. He couldn't say the word 'dead'. He couldn't even think the word dead. They were simply lost to him, drifting somewhere between dream and reality. A sudden, brief pain in his heart interrupted his thoughts. It had been happening a lot lately, the pain. He referred to them as 'heart cramps' from time to time, though he really didn't know what caused them. He rarely gave them a thought anyway.
Endymion glanced around the site, disappointed that Laurent wasn't present. He was getting quite anxious to see him. He sighed, but gave his full attention to Laurel as he began explaining about the sick members. Concern lined his face, and he turned his gaze to the shack to observe it more closely. "Hmm," said the red wolf, mussing up the back of his head again. He didn't notice it this time. "I'm sorry to hear that. I have a pretty good understanding of natural medicine... I don't know if I can do much for them, I'd have to look, but maybe I could stick around for a while and help out anyway?"
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“Oh, you're an apothecary then?” he piped up when the younger man mentioned such a thing. What luck! “If you want to help out, I can't object. The folks we've got who are looking over are family to one another, but they don't know anything much about medicine. Hell, even if we get this cleared up, I wouldn't mind if you stuck around as long as you wanted.” Even if he wasn't an apothecary, or at least something along those lines, Laurel wouldn't have cared if he stayed. A hunch told him that part of the reason he was there looking for his uncle was to stick near him. Wolves were funny that way, at least, which was probably a good trait to have. [/html]
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Laurel's enthusiastic reaction elicited a smile from the wolf, along with a shrug. "If you want to call it that, I guess. I'll do what I can to help, no problem." In truth, Endymion's main motive to stay was to be close to Laurent. It was his obligation, as Fatin had told him to find his uncle, but it was also a security blanket kind of thing. He believed that it was his duty to be with and protect his family, so he felt incomplete without even a fraction of it. The young wolf let out a sigh. His old optimism was beginning to fight through the despondency he had drawn over himself like a cloak. He felt like this was where he should be, as silly as it sounded.
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*beats an admin lovingly to title you now* 
[html] Then it was settled, if Endymion wanted to stick around then Laurel was going to let him. Simple as that, considering that he had quite a helpful skill. They'd been needing it more than anything, and it would give him a good chance to warm up to the folks that were around and if anything, maybe break out of that shy guy shell. “Well in that case, if you want to set yourself up a tent, I think we've got a couple of spares over there,” at which point he gestured to a blue tarp underneath a tree, “and you can put that wherever you want. So if you wanna get set up, maybe I'll go and see if I can't track down where your uncle's gone off to and let you guys get reacquainted with one another.” [/html]
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yay! thank you. by the way, can we date this thread as 19th/today?
Endymion's smile expanded into an appreciative grin that nearly lit up his entire face. Had he known the full extent of Laurel's gratitude then he probably would have resembled a flaming lighthouse. He wouldn't realize it until much later, after he had stepped into the shack and seen the sick. But he didn't think about that now. He looked as Laurel gestured to the tree, observing the tarp with curiosity. He had never slept in (or was it under?) a tent before, so he was quite interested in the idea. Normally he just slept under a tree or in a hollow, but due to all the rain it would probably be a blessing. Turning back to his new coyote leader, Endymion extended his hand. "I am extremely grateful to you, Laurel."
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Date whenever you like, I don't keep strict timelines. 
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He shook Endymion's hand to firmly seal the deal, grinning broadly at the younger man. “Well, I'm sure if you can do anything to help out the folks here, it'll be all of us who are grateful to you.” It was certainly a hell of a task to take on, probably more than anyone else wanted to deal with right off of the bat. But whatever he or anyone else could do was a relief to Laurel. “Anyway, feel free to make yourself at home however you need. If there's anything you need, I'm pretty sure the others around will be able to give you a hand out.” He would too as well, but of course, he had intentions to go and fetch Laurent. Passing Endymion up, Laurel gave his shoulder a friendly pat as he headed out of the camp site and back to the forest, deciding to scour the city for the tall Carpenter and tell him the good news. [/html]
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