The silver and gold woman had finally found a day to start collecting the fast growing crops from the lands. She smiled to herself as she sat in the mists of the old apple orchard, she knew that few wolves would probably eat fruit but she knew it would be grand fed for the lifestock. She'd spent part of the morning perched up in the limbs of the trees plucking apples from their branches and filling basket after basket of apples. She'd discovered the cellar of the farm and could see by the old jars of human goods that had gone to waste over the years that it had been used to store food, which she planned to put it back to use once more.
The limbs of the trees were still heavy with fruit she hadn't finished picking but the lady stood leaning back against an old tree and munched on the sweet crisp apple she'd just picked. The flavor was grand though she wasn't really sure what to think.. she liked them yes, but she knew she could never live off them alone. She twisted the stem of the ruddy red apple between her fingers as she savored the fruit, knowing that she was strange indeed but feeling better since she could atleast admit it.
She sighed softly, the busy pace she'd pressed herself with had kept the truths from sinking in and the emotions from overflowing, for how long she wasn't for certain but atleast there was no time or energy left to cry. She tossed the core off into the meadow as she started up her task again, knowing that soon she'd need to head down to the cellar to start laying out the fruit for the winter, later she'd start on the late garden that had been set up, knowing that some of the plants were ready to gather atleast by the looks of their heavy vines and bounty. She wasn't for certain, but the lifestock would eat it if that's what they had.. that much she knew.
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Emory had made himself into a pack. Three years of independence and now he was locked down to a place that he would learn to be loyal to. He wasn't sure how this would come along, or how soon, but he knew it'd have to happen eventually. There were no half-ass jobs worth doing in Emory's eyes. He told himself he'd find a pack, and stick with it. If anything, he'd /try/ to make this work. Challenges were always fun, eh? Though, he was beginning to become fond of this place. I mean, the scenery was pleasant to look at. The fragrances were beautiful. And so far, no one had given him any problem. Although, he'd never really run into anyone to /give/ him problems. That goes to say, no one had given him any reason to be any happier either. But, that was alright, Emory had a content feel all around. Wasn't he just the happy man. Er.. wolf?
Today, Emory found himself trotting through some fields, the forest, different terrains. Just learning the territory was the important thing right now. No use in getting lost in your own home. Ha, "home". What a funny thing to be adding to his personal vocabulary that attained to him. He'd get used to it. He would.. yes. The thing about this place was having to adapt to permanent werewolf territory and structures. He was so used to the scruff of life that most wolves were brought up with before the mutilations began dominating. The gray wolf never really had a problem with werewolves joining the species list, it had just never been really pushed on him to get used to their lifestyles. Life was just full of surprises, wasn't it? Golly gee..
And then, as if the day couldn't get any more interesting, BAM. Like a wrecking ball, he caught a scent in the soft, lush grass at his paws. Well, that was a bit exaggerated. But the male was still curious to meet someone new from the pack. He needed to get himself some friends before he did anything else today. Or, enemies. Acquaintances of whatever sort, he needed communication. Just.. /preferably/ in a non-hostile sense, please and thanks. The wolf smiled to himself playfully, wondering why he let his mind talk to him the way it did. Had he been alone for that long? Really? Ha. Switching his choice of direction into the one that he'd caught, the wolf picked up his pace and lowered his nose to the ground, tail bouncing lightly behind him. Follow the yellow brick road. What? Wrong species. Bad wolf. Go eat an old lady as your punishment. The four year old laughed at his inside joke, and continued on, enjoying his mingled thoughts, as youthful and pointless as they were.
As the scent strengthened, a few things became clearer in Emory's mind. He was tracking a female. But not the one he'd met the first time he'd set paw in these lands. There were other scents, sweet, but not appetizing, scents. Fruits? Most probable, he was sure. Squirrels, and.. other small things would be attracted to them. Good. That meant lunch. No pun intended. Picking up his head, Emory was sure whatever he'd been looking for would be within eyesight now, and to his favor, it was. Or, she was, now that he saw her. Definitely someone from the pack, of higher status? Most likely, he'd only gotten in recently. In da hood, even. Alas, he plastered a small, yet slightly friendly smile on his maw and strode forward, slowing his pace considerably. What was she doing? Gathering? What.. the fruits? Huh. I guess there /was/ a pun intended for earlier, how quaint. He stopped several paces from her, looking up, like he usually had to do these days to have conversation.
"Hi," he said, hearing the smile in his voice.
Word Count: 647
Iskata had left a pile of overripe apples sitting in a container, the bees and butterflies fluttering around the fruit on this one rare day of rain. She smiled and tossed another into the bucket before raising up and pushing her bangs from her face. The lowing of the cattle in the next field caught her attention, though she had already tossed them some of the older apples on her last trip to the house. She shook her head and muttered, "Bottomless pits.." the grazing creatures reminded her of some other folks she knew but wasn't about to start thinking on friends and family at this moment.
She reached down to pick up the bucket of sickenly sweet smelling fruit as she heard a voice call out happily. Raising her face to meet one of a stranger, yet one who seemed to belong here she smiled a friendly yet slightly confused smile. "Hello, you busy?" she asked. The boy was beginning to develop a scent of the pack so she figured that one of the other leaders probably had accepted a new member into the lands recently though she didn't touch on the topic yet.
Hauling the bucket up to her thigh she huffed softly as she titled her head to the side and watched the male. Smiling she asked the fellow one more question, "Wanna tag along?" She had things to do, she didn't care if the fellow helped or not but she had to continue on with her works. If he wanted to tag along then they could continue the conversation, if not then he'd find another to chat with perhaps.
ooc:// I apologize for the wait.
Emory fought a scowl as he realized that civilization here was a little more human than normal. Was that a /cow/ that he'd just heard? Free cows? He watched for the female's expression to change into one of curious hunger, you know, the normal one of predator and prey? But she just muttered something to herself. Maybe something to help her self-control, or something, he concluded. FREE cows! How easy could life get. The male desperately fought back the idea that the lunch orders he'd heard mooing just moments ago, and now again, were not pets. Something to keep with leisure. What kind of place was this? The vegetarian wolves? Had he picked the wrong place? That would suck if he'd have to learn to leave things alone, never knowing if he was allowed to eat them or not. But seriously.. FREE? cows! Easy enough. They weren't smart creatures. Unless they had protectors.
His eyes flicked back into focus when he heard the female speak with him. Or.. ask him something? There had been a greeting in there.. that was good. "Hi..-ignore-". Not the best way to make friends. But he was pretty sure she'd ask what he was doing. His ears turned forward instinctively, making sure he'd hear anything else, instead of letting his mouth water over things he couldn't have.
"Wanna tag along?"
Was she repeating herself because he stood there quietly as if nothing had been said? Regardless, he'd heard her this time, and he would respond. Like the gentleman fellow that he was, that Emory boy.
"Uh..yeah. Sure."
She was .. carrying a bucket? Did she expect him to be able to that with paws? No. There must be something else she'd intended behind the sentence. But Emory didn't exactly feel like it was right to stand by, or trot along by her side, without helping in some way. Being a wolf never felt helpless until you were around other species with thumbs. Not exactly fair. Frowning only in the slight, and moreso to himself, he strode forward lazily, thinking of things he could come up with as to not look so stupid in front of the female. Instinct cut in when a lady was doing more work than you were. "Ehh, I'm not quite sure if I'll be much of assistance to you without thumbs though," he said, keeping as much self-doubt out of his voice, and sentence, as possible.
Word Count: 405
She sat there a moment watching the male as he eyed the cattle with such interest. She chuckled as he seemed to just be absorbed in his own thoughts as thought she wasn't there. Shaking her head at the new packmember, because now she could catch the light scent of the pack on the male, she laughed. "Don't fall into temptation just yet, you'll enjoy them more when winter hits.." She didn't know if she really needed to explain to the boy just what the whole reason for the lifestock was but she did anyways. "We figured that we'd take a page from the human's book.. Why hunt in the harsh of winter when we can keep the prey close at hand.." She shifted the basket of apples from one hip to the other as she continued. "Of course, we have to keep them fed, but in the end it will keep us strong as well."
She began to move along, until the words of the male cut in. She paused and turned to gaze at him as though he'd said something foolish. She teased the male slightly as she raised a brow. "I said tag along, not become my slave.." She flashed him a toothy grin as she turned back around. "Slaves could come in handy too.. willing slaves of course." She really didn't have any mind to keep slaves around but there was a slight dark humor behind the comment, she hoped the other wouldn't really catch the hint.
She hummed as they moved along, tilting her head to the side as they moved on towards the farmhouse where the cellar doors lay open to the world. "So, what's your name?" she asked, offering her own in exchange. "I'm Iskata, Matriarch here.." She didn't know if there was really any reason to explain her role in the lands but she did it anyways. She hoped that she wasn't scaring them away knowing that they were in the company of one of the leaders of the pack.
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"Don't fall into temptation just yet, you'll enjoy them more when winter hits.. We figured that we'd take a page from the human's book.. Why hunt in the harsh of winter when we can keep the prey close at hand.."
The female's voice caught strong attention in the male's head, and he definitely heard every word she said this time. And there were mixed emotions. First was relief. Knowing now that he wouldn't have the issue of trying to become vegetarian or something with such easy prey nearby, the mouth watering in his maw was a little more tolerable, but still a bit more wet. Yummy cows. Winter? When was that? Was that near? Yes, of course. It was coming into fall now. A couple months, was it? In a twisted way, he wished that prey would get scarce early this year, so he could feast. Or was that just some problem with wanting what you can't have? Emory was being immature and childish about this, and so he pushed it aside from his mind. For now. Yummy cows.
The second feeling was embarrassment. She had a very motherly tone to her, like scolding a bad kid looking for trouble. Emory was a four year old male, he should be at /least/ past the stage of needing someone else to tell him how to behave. He couldn't have been making a good impression on his fellow pack member right now. Did he really suck that much at first impressions? Was it fate that everyone he met needed to see his stupidity before the persona? All his years in solitude must have really kicked down his social skills, or kicked up his dorkiness onto others. Both were very real possibilities. Sadly, they could easily be mutual to the situation. And he was on all fours to boot, with no thumbs. So there, Mr. Medley. Your life is pointless. No cows for you.
One of the later emotions was pointless, and it was just a distaste for the apples that the nameless female held at her hip and moved as if it were precious. Apples versus meat? Preposterous.
The outcome of these emotions coming at the same time had a weird affect on Emory's face. It was sort of like a frown, averted eyed, questioning, curious look. Closely related to the facial expression of constipation. Commonly associated with retardation, etc. Awkwardly nodding at her 'of course' statement, he didn't really know what else to do with himself. He felt pretty stunned at the moment. She began moving away again and he followed suit along behind slowly. Stupid apples. He felt mindlessly helpless as he tagged along behind her. Stupid.. thumbs. Must be nice to be able to carry a basket in your hands. Or..paws. Whatever the young'ns were calling them these days. He had a mouth, and that was about it. Stupid.. genetics that he never got around to getting.
"I said tag along, not become my slave.. Slaves could come in handy too.. willing slaves of course."
Emory was glad to hear that there was a teasing in her voice. Or that he'd convinced himself that there was. That meant she wasn't uncomfortable enough with him to notice his mental battles with cows and apples. He shuddered happily. Yummy cows. He'd be looking for the weather to become harsher everyday now. Though there was dark humor behind her tone, Emory smiled sheepishly. How was he supposed react to that? Agree? Was he that unsociable? He couldn't find anything intelligent to say to even a friendly joke. He would definitely need to work on that one. Next thing he knew, others would be finding him walking around the woods talking to himself in conversation, practicing responses to all the question he could think of being asked.
"So, what's your name? I'm Iskata, Matriarch here.."
Oh. She decided to help him out. He was sure in her head, he was like a monk wolf or something. Maybe they'd consider him as Secret Keeper or something. He'd know everything and never say anything. Perfect. But he decided it was due time he'd spoken to the authority in front of him. As she ended her sentence, his ears and tail dropped automatically. Emory was shorter than Iskata in his little wolf form, but he still felt the need to show some sort of submission around his superiors. Eying the sketchy cellar doors, he swallowed, clearing his throat. Not that he'd been talking too much for it to be necessary. Nodding to himself for reassurance, he spoke for the first time in a while, his male voice contradicting hers, blending in with nature's sounds within itself.
"Emory.. my name. It's uh.. Emory. ..Medley."
Confidently, of course.
Word Count: 789
Iskata grinned as they walked towards the house, the male seeming lost in his thoughts, so serious looking and quiet, almost broading as they fell in step by step. She chuckled to herself as finally he seemed to find himself and offer her a name. They reached the cellar doors in no time as she moved down into the dark musty storage room to place the container of apples next to the other fruits and items she'd been gathering. She'd already made certain there weren't any holes and crawl spaces for rats and mice to get into the room, satisfied that everything was in place she stayed in the cool damp building a moment longer to shift to the same frame that Emory was in before turning topside to join the male.
Leaping the steps two at a time to the sunny yard above she smiled at the male before crawling under the heavy doorframe of the cellar and with a grunting heave she managed to topple the door back into it's place and close the treats off from the scavangers of the world. Grinning at the male as she panted slightly Iskata greeted the new packmember. "Well Emory, I hope you like it here.. it's probably not what you're use to.. but we try and make it seem more like a home and family than just every other pack." There were still rules and ranks to follow, responsibilities and duties, but they were done as a whole and if help was needed there was always someone to turn to. She knew of course that asking for help may well get a host of grumbles as the need was given, but she knew that each and everyone of the packmembers was a different personality, just like any family.
Shaking the dust and a few scrap bits of apple leaves from her pelt she stretched out her long legs as she asked him. "Have you had time to look around much? There's a wealth of interesting places here if you like exploring.." She finished her stretching and straightened up as she smiled brightly at the male. There was always room for exploring in a day, though she could find a million things to fill her time with, having explored the lands far before the pack had been founded.
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