reflected path
#1
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So much corniness in this post! +454

The meeting with the wolfy scrap of fur had brought back memories of the past, and Vesper entertained these thoughts as she trotted along the outskirts of the human city, keeping to the shade of the trees that encroached on the sidewalks. It had been a full year since she’d reached her new homeland, and almost a full year since she’d been a shifter and clan member. She wasn’t superstitious, and yet it was eerie to walk through the sprawling northern forests and recognize landmarks as how she first came across them, leaves beginning to change color and the ground cold on her paws.

“Thinking?” came a hoarse croak overhead, and the small coywolf stopped for a moment to let her dark companion alight on her steel-streaked shoulders.

She allowed him a sardonic grin. “More like reflecting.”

“Boy not being puddle,” Stark scolded her, but she caught the jesting note in his caw. He flapped up and overhead, circling and keeping an eye out for any dangers that might lurk in the city—although Ves felt oddly safe in this ghost town. The scents she stopped to identify were mostly days old, and those that were more recent belonged to prey and other lower creatures. She found one such trail and began to pursue it before she saw a dark shape diving ahead; Stark returned to her with a vole hanging from his beak, but she let him eat the morsel himself as she took a seat on the cracked asphalt and reflected some more.

This time last year, Vesper had been a wanderer—walking what her Shepard would call the Endless Path. She knew that both females had strayed from that path and found families, but she knew that she was still a wanderer at heart. Her paws had led her here, after all, and she still explored the woodlands with as much frequency as she stayed within her own territory. Did it make a difference? She guessed a simple name shouldn’t make a difference.

“Do you ever miss your old home, Stark, with your birth flock?” the coyote asked as the bird wolfed down the last scraps of meat. He bobbed his head with the motion then fixed beady eyes on her; she could tell he was deciding whether to tease her for her somber state or go along with it.

“Home with boy and Inferni,” Stark replied, and she smiled faintly before he followed it up with a cackling caw and a light jab to her shoulder with his beak. “What happen, whelp? Always having cheesy words, not needing help from old raven.” He delivered another peck, at which point she yapped and jumped to her feet, chasing the bird down the street.


Vesper
one step forward, three steps around

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#2
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ooc:

The days of complication were behind her, as a renewed sense of certainty and purpose led her sure steps across the wooded lands. Guided by the desire to again stretch her limbs and explore, she trudged out from her known lands into the unknown to gain a better sense of what resided beyond their borders. Her steps through the lands were always in passing, never pausing to place a nose to the ground to smell the earth, or explore the human remnants fighting in vain against the reclaim of nature. She could hardly remember a time she bothered to truly scavenge through the structures, as such an act was demeaning except in times of desperation. But she was curious now, if only egged on by the luring calls of her companion, circling above with his eyes turned intently to the ground.

Shiny things…he would say, only ever addressing her as ‘wolf’ to gain her attention. Her name was a sound his throat could not make, but by the octave she could understand that it was she he would call for. Shiny things…wooden things…black sky in the ground, cracked and split. He talked of the road she walked on, four sturdy limbs working in unison to bring her deeper into the human relics. Black sky on ground…pale creature runs…bird. Prey…prey… food.

The excited shriek of the vulture turned her gaze from the road to the sky to watch his decent toward something in the distance. He had called the bird prey but knew better than to attack without her instruction. But she had yet to tell him he was not allowed to torment. The Nomad left her companion alone, watching as he banked and swayed, singing happily for this amusement. But as she drew nearer did she see the form of the creature behind it adorned with a pelt she knew all too well. Her eyes widened in alarm as she quickly sounded for the bird to return. Again he banked sharply then ascended to his surveying height seeing now that his fun for a time was over.

“Vesper!” the Nomad shouted with glee, bounding toward her dear friend now that her companion was away. As always her excitement got the better of her and with her bulk charging on all cylinders a collision was all too imminent.


387 words.



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#3
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+345

Another change the female recognized in herself was that she no longer took herself so seriously. She was able to play without worrying about dignity, and she certainly didn’t believe that she was the toughest canine on the block. Inferni had pummeled the lessons into her, providing her with worthy rivals to show her that there were always stronger individuals, and providing her with friends to help her lighten up.

There were no serious thoughts left in her mind as she chased after her dark-winged companion, yapping in retort to his playful croaks. His claws skated along her good ear as he turned, and she batted at him with a paw, pivoting on her hind legs for a moment before they darted off down the road again. The game of tag continued for a few more rounds, each taking turns chasing the other, until Stark suddenly let out a cry that was far from playful.

Vesper skidded to a halt, her ear flattening and her muzzle jerking up until she saw a great, ugly bird in the sky. She wondered for a moment if the bird was Ithiel’s turkey vulture, but Stark likely would have known, and he looked agitated as he flapped around the creature in a wide berth, adding threatening sounds to clash with the vulture’s happier cries. The coyote was debating whether or not to make a leap for the raptor to scare it off when a third call was added; she turned. “X’y?”

Her blue eyes squinted then widened as the golden wolf galloped closer and closer. Immediately the hybrid yipped, springing up onto all fours, and decided not to prolong the collision; she’d just take it into her own paws. Grinning, she dashed toward her friend then jumped, pressing her body against and alongside the other’s in a glancing blow before turning and aiming to clamp her jaws on a furry tail, her own whisked out of reach and wagging furiously as she greeted her Shepard. Stark, meanwhile, made a frustrated noise then alit on a nearby car, watching cautiously.


Vesper
one step forward, three steps around

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#4
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ooc: -checks watch- My gosh... I am late

The collision was sound, not in body but voice as the explosive cries of true elation burst from the woman’s maw with no volume restrained. The touch against her flank was brief as the form of her pupil sudden dashed around and aimed for her tail. As jaws clamped lightly around it, the Nomad leapt off the ground in a playful bound, twist while aloft to turn toward her long-since seen friend. Happily she whined with eyes wide and twinkling with mirth. The sudden rush of excitement had her body twisting and turning every which-way to drop both front paws on the nimble female and drag her to the ground.

What a wonderful blessing to see her friend like this! When last they spoke the days ahead looked grim and uncertain, but for the day to find them in better spirits now, oh! It had to be the work of the Ancestors or perhaps ‘luck’ had indeed work its way into the scene.

Auburn mane whipped wildly around as the female wolf pranced around her dear friend. She came in close to bring her muzzle along the woman’s own, whining sweet tones of adoration and lavishing her scarred muzzle with kisses of endearment.

203 words.



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#5
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Hyper Ves! Loves her Sheparddd <3 Big Grin +302

The golden female twirled around, and Vesper rolled on the pavement with all four pale-socked limbs waving in the air before she returned to her feet, her lips wrinkled back in a snarling grin as her friend batted at her, continuing to twist and vocalize her happiness. Her umber paws dropped heavily onto her, knocking her down again, leaving the coyote to writhe and laugh. They were a tangle for just a moment until X’yrin nuzzled her, and her tail wagged high and fast as she returned the affection, only to pull away a bit self-consciously when she could feel the raven’s eyes on her.

“This is X’yrin,” the tawny female said by way of explanation, her voice breathless before she gestured to the bird. “And this is Stark, another one of my mentors.”

The raven ruffled his feathers. “Hearing much about X’yrin,” he croaked, but made no more comment other than to look Ves over curiously, perhaps not used to these shows of play outside of clan mates—and even then, few were given this much enthusiasm. Being with the Exultare again brought Vesper’s thoughts around full circle, however, back to her musings about how the seasons had turned and how autumn found her, once again, wandering the northland and looking back on her past.

“There’s so much to talk about,” Vesper said, a yearling again as she looked excitedly at the Nomad. They’d last met each other under the stress of war and disbandment, and since then the Centurion had found victory, new leadership, love. Learning what she had from Jaden and the other diplomat, she knew that X’yrin probably had much to tell her, too. Unsure of where to start, the small hybrid renounced her voice and dignity and simply reached out to paw happily at the other, whining.


Vesper
one step forward, three steps around

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