Set in the Waste.[html]
SOMEWHERE THERE'S A CRACK IN THE SIDEWALK
BIGGER THAN THE SHADOW OF DEATH IN THIS TOWN
This place was hideous, strewn with unfriendly gravel and an ugly shore to boot. No wonder this area had less of a canine scent mingled in the air. Inferni was to the east now, and Ryan didn’t realize that not much remained to the west. She dropped her bag to the ground, ignoring it for now as she carefully made her way down the sloping rock face towards the shore. Even though this area seemed hostile, the water still looked welcoming.
She slid off her dress (she had gone back to wearing the plum colored sweater-dress) and stashed it on the dirty sand, before wading ankle deep into the water. It was much warmer than she expected and the waves that came were rather mild. Beneath the water, however, sharp stones and things made it still unpleasant territory to tread on. By making her way out further into the bay, she relieved the pressure on her feet and began to tread water.
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 Things were finally returning to how they ought to be--Talitha was back home, he had no silly prisoners to guard, and he suddenly had a lot of time again to focus on himself. Although this mostly affected him mentally, it was also true that he had more time to exercise in the ways that he enjoyed. Already some of the leaves were beginning to yellow in colour and he felt the change in seasons creeping in on them... and unfortunately winter meant he couldn't enjoy one of his favourite forms of exercise.
During the war, he'd done a lot more running around the borders and he hadn't had much time to take a dip. While he'd still patrol the borders regularly, he'd found himself delighted by the prospect of swimming, and so he'd shifted into his werewolf form (it was most fun this way) and plunged into the seas nearest Inferni. He did powerful breast strokes, occasionally rolled over to perform impressive backstrokes, and he'd duck under the occasional large wave and swim along under water. As time went on, he found himself drifting further and further to the north--but it was no matter.
His shenanigans came grounding to a halt when he realised that he was not alone. In the distance, he could see somebody else enjoying the water. As they were still relatively near Inferni, his curiosity naturally piqued and he swum over quickly to investigate. As he neared, he managed to make out certain details--female, hybrid... somehow familiar, although not anybody he knew. Puzzled, he paused in his advance and waited for something to happen. |
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SOMEWHERE THERE'S A CRACK IN THE SIDEWALK
BIGGER THAN THE SHADOW OF DEATH IN THIS TOWN
Now that the rocky shards below her were no longer a bother, Ryan dipped her head below the surface and could fully enjoy her swim. It had been awhile since she had been in the water and her swimming skills were a little rusty. She could easily tread – her mother had taught her how to swim early in life. The only uniform stroke she knew was the front crawl. It was rather simple, alternating arms and twisting your torso so that you could slice through the surface. Ryan practiced a few strokes, then decided to turn on her back, floating.
With the water level to her ears, her hearing was slightly impaired. She could still hear the gentle drone of the waves crashing to the shore, but it seemed somehow further away – quieter, almost. A particularly large wave came and easily brushed over her head, sending Ryan turning and diving underwater. When she came up for a breath, she pushed her sopping bangs back to reveal blood colored eyes and finally noticed the other swimmer. She hadn’t expected to see anyone else. At least, not another canine.
She looked back to the shore, half expecting to see her things tampered with. But no, this hybrid hadn’t messed with her belongings before slipping into the bay. She turned to face the stranger once more, feet absentmindedly kicking below the surface to keep her head above the surface. She raised a hand, blocking the sun from her eyes, so that she could get a better look. "Nice day for a swim," she decided to offer.
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The golden male's eyes widened slightly as she turned to face him--those eyes. They seemed an awful lot like the ones that stared back at him in pools of water, but then again, Asphyxia's line seemed to possess a similar gene. Remembering that some of the older coyote's children were still missing, he now found himself wondering if this might be one of them. That would explain the familiarity, at least, and this girl obviously had some coyote in her (the shape of the head gave it away, since he couldn't see the rest of her body). In the deepest recesses of his mind, though, he sensed that something still didn't add up.
One hand lifted up out of the water and he waved and forced a small smile. Still working off of his previous assumption, he had nothing to fear. He dove under the surface of the water and moved closer, resurfacing only when he figured that they'd be able to comfortably talk. If he stretched, his toes could barely touch the surface of the ground below, although he'd practically have to tilt his head back to keep his nose above water. This was sure a strange spot for a conversation, but it would have to do.
"Yeah; trying to enjoy these days while they last," he remarked. He continued to look at her oddly, and finally he decided to test his hypothesis. "You wouldn't happen to be one of Asphyxia's girls, would you? She told me that y'all would be in the area..." Here he trailed off, head inclined slightly to one side. Had she seen her "mother" yet? The darkly coloured matron would surely be delighted to know that Midnight (or whoever this was) had shown up! |
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SOMEWHERE THERE'S A CRACK IN THE SIDEWALK
BIGGER THAN THE SHADOW OF DEATH IN THIS TOWN
She was slightly surprised to find a friendly response in this stranger. She hadn’t come across many other canines since she left her mother’s body near that cave, but within these past few days, her sense of smell had been bombarded with coyotes and wolves. She had spoken to a handful, and so far, no one had been overly hostile. In fact, she had begun to enjoy their company.
His comment made her realize that it was already nearing the end of August. Soon winter would be upon them and hopefully Ryan would establish a place to stay by then. She wasn’t necessarily looking for a pack, since she had been a loner all her life, but maybe a place like a cave where she could try to keep out of the bad weather. Well, maybe not a cave. That had the potential to bring about unnecessary memories.
"Asphyxia? Sorry, don’t know the name," Ryan replied as she circled both arms on either side of her to remain a float. She had plenty of stamina to keep her above water for now, but she knew she would get tired after some time without resting her limbs. "I’m not really from around here." Looking into his eyes was almost like looking at her mother - they had some comfort behind them. "The name is Ryan," she added, bobbing as another wave brushed by them.
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His ears flattened against his head somewhat as he learned of his misjudgement--well, that was unfortunate. It struck him as very peculiar, none the less--other than the Holocausts and the de le Poer's, he didn't know of many families with their colour of eyes. Yellows, browns, greens, blues--all of these seemed much more common than blood red. Chalking it up to some weird coincidence, especially once she said she wasn't from the area, he simply shrugged.
The girl offered her name and he made a note of it. It was rather different and it stood out to him--it was a name he'd encountered in the past, but only in reference to human males in books. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, though--the human reference was abstract enough to be dismissed, and the masculine connotation may have suggested some sort of strength. He guessed. He wasn't really in the habit of putting a lot of stress on names and he wasn't about to start.
That didn't mean he wouldn't offer his own, though. "Anselm," he said smoothly, blissfully unaware of the fact that those two syllables would lead to a major change in his life (or at least his perspective). |
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SOMEWHERE THERE'S A CRACK IN THE SIDEWALK
BIGGER THAN THE SHADOW OF DEATH IN THIS TOWN
That simple word seemed to pause time. In fact, for a moment all of Ryan’s actions were halted – her breathing, her thinking, even her water treading. In a split second, she resumed all of these, but her heart seemed to be racing against her rib cage. Anselm. She had heard him right, hadn’t she? But wasn’t that…? "Well, it’s nice to meet you," Ryan offered, feeling suddenly lighter and almost dizzy. "Mind if we continue this conversation on shore?" She didn’t wait to hear a response. Instead, she leaned forward in the water and put her swimming skills to the test. Right arm, left arm, right arm… until the water was too shallow for her to swim like that anymore.
Anselm de le Poer. It was the name her mother had spoken about seldom before. She pulled herself out of the water, teetering on the dirty sand as the jagged rocks pricked her feet. She let herself fall to the ground next to her dress, taking in some of the fabric in fistfuls as a means of trying to comfort herself. She wasn’t sure why she was acting this way, but she couldn’t believe herself. She looked up to this stranger, to this person who claimed to be named the word Lené had muttered. "My legs were getting tired," she offered as an explanation, throwing in a smile for a good effect.
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He shrugged and moved after her, swimming until his fingertips brushed the ground with each stroke. Now he stood and found the water here only came up to about his waist. He trudged through the light waves to the shore, where he fell to all fours and shook vigorously. It started with his head and continued along down his body like some sort of earthquake, except instead of fallen buildings there was only wet sand in his wake. The tremors stopped once they reached his tail, and now that he was sufficiently dry, he turned his attention back to the young girl.
His head tilted curiously as he watched her--she had a dress. He was catapulted back to another time, namely the last time he'd been with a woman that had worn one of those. It had been a magical and surreal experience, and now that he was thinking about it, this was almost just as odd. Maybe the scenery was not, but the circumstances were. His gaze dropped to her busy hands, and he stared at them for some time. This was the same fretting he'd recognised in Bleach and Savina; what was troubling her? She offered an excuse that he certainly couldn't deny, although he wasn't sure that it was the full story.
"You seem ... troubled?" he asked, puzzled. What was the matter? Had she seen a shark? His head turned back to the bay and he squinted into the water, trying to discern any shadows of the large predatory fish. Well, even if that was the issue, they were safe now. |
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SOMEWHERE THERE'S A CRACK IN THE SIDEWALK
BIGGER THAN THE SHADOW OF DEATH IN THIS TOWN
She watched as he emerged from the water behind her, shaking himself dry as she normally would have done. After a moment, she averted her gaze almost as if she felt guilty for looking. She pushed the sopping strands of hair out of her eyes before looking back towards Anselm. She offered a smile once more, adding, "I’m fine." She said it so fast that it almost came out as one word. She was trying to convince herself that she was just that – fine.
She looked around for her bag, thinking it was gone for a moment, and then remembering she had left it further up along the shore. It was stowed at the top of a small sloping cliff face that Ryan had climbed down in order to make it to the water. She wished she had it now so that she could dry herself with some of the fabric she carried inside. She feared that if she stood up, however, her legs might not hold.
"Do you live around here?" She had almost forgotten that he was still sitting there, but now she wanted to divert his attention away from herself. Maybe if she knew a bit more about him, she could figure this out for herself. She was too afraid to explain to him. At least, for right now.
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Her behaviour contradicted her words, but he decided to let it go. If it was something that required medical attention (like a jellyfish sting), she'd probably just say it. Since she wasn't, it was probably some kind of weird personal problem. Every so often he'd feel inclined to work through issues like these with others... especially if the solution was glaringly obvious to him (as was the case with Savina). Then again, most of the time he was content to let these things slide; gossip and drama weren't exactly important unless the "gossip" was a "confirmed rumour." If she was new to the area, odds were she wouldn't know of anything relevant to Inferni, anyway.
Her plan worked, though; he'd be more than happy to babble on about Inferni for awhile, especially since she might be a potential recruit. "I live just south of here, actually. Inferni. It's a clan of coyotes and hybrids; you'd be welcome there. The pure bred wolves in these parts will sometimes be nasty for no reason at all, so it's nice to have somewhere safe to go," he remarked. He shrugged when he realised how such a statement might strike her; he was mostly wolf, after all, and he spoke of a clan of coyotes that didn't get along with wolves. "My cousin leads there and I serve directly under him. I guess most of us are related in one way or another, either by blood or marriage. So where are you from?" |
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SOMEWHERE THERE'S A CRACK IN THE SIDEWALK
BIGGER THAN THE SHADOW OF DEATH IN THIS TOWN
She was relieved when he took the bait, focusing then on where he lived and the clan called Inferni. She smiled a bit when he spoke of it, having just gone by there not too long ago. She had been intrigued by the wolf skulls lined in a row on sharpened sticks, and had even come across one if its members. She had been fairly nice, and even convinced Ryan to stick around this area for a little while longer.
"Inferni, huh? I actually went by there about a day ago. I met a woman too." She couldn’t remember her name right now. Had they even introduced themselves? She wasn’t sure. "She was a bit older," though not much older than Ryan herself. "Maybe just a few years?" Kind of like her mother. "She had golden hair and bright blue eyes. Do you know her? She seemed rather kind." She studied Anselm’s face – his red eyes – and looked on as the sun reflected on the damp fur of his face.
"I came from south of here. No where in particular. My mother and I are travelers – we’ve never lived in one place. I’m sort of just passing through," she told him, trying to picture him with her mother. Had Lene been a traveler when she had met this man? She wondered if maybe she had once lived in Inferni with him.
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There were only a handful of golden canines in Inferni's ranks and family (that he was aware of): himself, Molochai, and Corona. Obviously, the former two were male, and Corona certainly had rather stunning blue eyes. He nodded quickly to show his recognition. "Yeah, that's another cousin of mine. Corona. She came back recently," he explained. Although he hadn't spent a lot of time with her yet, he had liked her immediately--thus, the description of "kind" was none too surprising, either.
"Whatever works. I used to travel a lot, myself, and then I settled in here. A few months later, a ton of wolves showed up... there was some kind of fire over the mountain. But it all worked out in the end, since I got to meet a bunch of my family." It was pretty nice here, he'd decided, even though they were constantly being harassed. He'd experienced that in his birth pack, too, but at least here there was enough food and water to go around. At least he found acceptance within his own pack, too. It might not have been perfect, but it was relatively better by a long shot.
"So is your mother around the area, too?" he asked casually; Ryan had mentioned that they were travellers, which meant she may be around. He wasn't sure what difference it made, but perhaps he'd keep an eye out for her. It was always kind of nice to know who others were before you had to deal with them--at least one of Ryan's parents had some wolf in them, and if it was the mother he'd prefer to know in advance that the random wolf lurking around wasn't there to cause trouble (as they were very close to Inferni).
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SOMEWHERE THERE'S A CRACK IN THE SIDEWALK
BIGGER THAN THE SHADOW OF DEATH IN THIS TOWN
"Oh yeah, that’s her! Corona." She was interested to hear that she too was one of his cousins. But then again, that made sense right? Hadn’t Corona mentioned that Gabriel was her brother? And Anselm said that Gabriel was his cousin too. It seemed like Inferni was a big family – and maybe Ryan would become the newest addition.
"My mother? Oh no." Speaking of her was still a bit hard, but Ryan had come to cope with her mother’s death. "She actually passed away a few months ago. She caught a terrible disease. I’m not exactly sure what it was, but she was miserable for awhile. I’m glad she just doesn’t have to suffer anymore," she nodded, feeling that familiar twinge of tears threatening to brim. "It’s just me now," she told him, almost deciding to tell him about their relationship. But then she stopped herself and stood up. Even though her fur was still damp, she pulled her dress back on. With a piece of string she had tied around her wrist, Ryan wrapped her sandy colored hair back into a ponytail before spreading out the wrinkles in her dress with a brush of her hand.
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A disease. He wondered if it was anything like the one currently attacking Esper Hollow. His first reaction was to ask about the symptoms to see if any matched up, but something in his gut told him that this would be a bad idea. If Ryan had only lost her mother a little while ago, having to talk about it a lot (especially from some stone cold physician's perspective) would only make her miserable. He had to give her quite a bit of credit, though--she seemed to have accepted the event for what it was and had an unusually selfless perspective.
"That's a shame," he murmured, ears fallen back slightly as some sort of apologetic gesture. Expression of emotions was not his strong suit, though, and he found himself relieved when she stood up and got ready to go. He wasn't sure if she was intending to leave or if he was supposed to follow, but he either way he stood up from where he'd crouched down to talk.
"If you're on your own, maybe you ought to check us out again," he offered. "There's safety in numbers and this place is as lawless as the sea before us." He finished his little plug and decided to stop before his suggestions turned into an onslaught of harassment. Some part of him was genuinely concerned that she kept herself safe, though, which was decidedly unusual--usually he didn't care one way or another what anyone else chose to do with themselves.
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How about we archive this... Then the two can have a thread sometime after someone accepts Ryan into Inferni.[html]
SOMEWHERE THERE'S A CRACK IN THE SIDEWALK
BIGGER THAN THE SHADOW OF DEATH IN THIS TOWN
"I’ve never been in any sort of pack before," she divulged, sweeping her bangs out of her eyes with a gentle motion. She cursed herself for having cut them so short – they were the prefect length to stab at her eyes, but not quite long enough to be swept into her ponytail. She would make a mental note of that and let them grow out. "I’ll keep Inferni in mind though." She couldn’t help but wonder… would he be so open to her joining if he knew the truth? There was really only two ways it could go; he would accept her and be completely fine with everything, or he would reject everything about her. For some reason, her mind tended towards the latter of the two, even though she tried to keep her thoughts from falling too pessimistic. "I’ll see you around?" She asked, giving him one last smile, before she turned and started towards the rocks. Her departure was slow, however, because she had to watch the sharp rocks beneath her and her limbs still felt a bit wobbly. In order to climb back towards where she stashed her belongings, she would have to climb up a short but semi-steep rock face.
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Anselm fought off the urge to follow her--what was this, anyway? He was a free man, fiercely independent, and he couldn't recall a time he'd given two shits about whether or not somebody was no longer in his company. He just felt strangely drawn to the girl, and this alone was bizarre. She was remarkably pretty, probably old enough, and yet he felt no sexual attraction toward her--baffling.
"Take care," he said finally, although by this point she was already some distance away. He wasn't sure if she'd heard him or not, but all of a sudden he wasn't inclined to wait around and see. Something about this wasn't right and for the first time in a long time, he was slightly uncomfortable in his own skin--or rather, in his own mind.
Turning quickly, he strode back to the bay and dove underwater once it was deep enough. Every so often his golden head would rear above the surface as he took a breath, but before long at all he'd all but vanished into the waves. He would need to think about this more to figure it out, but unfortunately, his first instinct was to block out the strange feelings entirely and hope that they went away.
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