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The sun was beginning to sink down over the horizon, and the temperatures were dipping down below zero. She didn't really mind; she spent most of her time outdoors, night too. She had a lot of exploring to do, and now that she was well enough to do it she was taking advantage of all of the ties that she had around the lands. She could go into Dahlia de Mai because her cousin Cercelee led it, Phoenix Valley because her mother was one of the leaders there, and Crimson Dreams because her brother Kansas lived here and her sister Naniko was the Commander.
Tonight she was sitting on top of a rock in the valley, watching the sunset. Ember didn't have ties to any particular lands as a lone wolf, but she'd been spending most of her nights in Crimson Dreams. She just felt safer here. Naniko was a good leader; she would keep all danger out of her packlands and away from her pack members. Night time was the best time to be in the lands. Occasionally Ember ran into one of her neices or nephews during the day...so she had started hanging around more at night, when they would be asleep. The pups were innocent and simple; she didn't want to ruin their perfect little lives. Not yet.
She watched as the sun dissapeared, the lights around the horizon turning from a bright mixture of pinks and oranges to more dull purples and grays. Lately she'd been so out of it...she didn't really take notice of anything but the sunrises and sunsets.
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[html]  "Drat! Damnation! Blast it!" the stone hued wolfess swore as she stumbled after a stray rabbit. It's fluffy white tail retreated in the direction of the rabbit warrens on the other side of the valley. She snorted in frustration and flopped down in the grass to defeat. But she paused for a moment and laughed softly. It seemed that her behavior got more and more ridiculous by the day. She didn't use expletives very often, internalizing her frustrations more often than not. But she had to admit there was something very therapeutic about just shouting out her worries, letting the tension leave her body in short bursts of sound.
The weather began to cool dramatically as the sun dipped beneath the horizon, staining the sky in a myriad of warm colors before the cooler gray-blue spread across the sky. Winter was well on its way, if the chill in the air was anything to judge by. She shivered lightly, her coat not yet as thick as it needed to be in order for her to properly deal with the weather change. Her health had improved dramatically since her arrival in Crimson Dreams, but her body was still playing catch up. It would still be a few weeks until her thin coat adequately thickened.
She rose from her prone position, stretching lightly in her lupus form. She arched her back and rotated her neck slightly, sighing in satisfaction when her neck and back cracked. Although her attempt at hunting on a whim hadn't been successful, she had enjoyed her run through the field. Her muscles burned, but in a good way. The clean air felt wonderful in her lungs.
Her light colored eyes scanned the line of the sunset, meandering over to the trees to a small cluster of rocks. Her eyes widened marginally when she saw a black wolfess sitting atop the rocks. "Hello," she called out, her embarrassment coloring her words. She smiled ruefully in her direction.
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There were things that she used to love, used to revel in. But things had changed so much in the last few months that she didn't feel the same way about them any more. Or about herself any more, really. She had felt so powerful after fighting with Hybrid, even if she hadn't gotten the good end of the stick...but now she just felt stupid. Stupid and useless. She didn't have a pack and could barely stand being around her family. She was even coming around at night time so that she could avoid them.
Her eyes widened and she turned around on the rock, peering into the half-darkness that enclosed the woods beyond. She couldn't see very well, but she could smell that someone was nearby, and it put her on alert. Her arm was wrapped in a bright orange cast, and it seemed to glow in the remaining light from the sunset. Emerald eyes narrowed as she continued to watch, waiting for the creature to get nearer. It did emerge, a pair of eyes a brighter green than her own staring up at her. "Hi." What else should she say? Social situations weren't her forte, really. 'You live around here?' No, that would be dumb. Of course she lived here; Ember was the one who didn't belong. "Who are you? I could hear you all the way over here."
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[html] Geneva smiled, feeling a little foolish and a little nervous all at the same time. The combination made her stomach hurt slightly. But grimacing slightly, she swallowed the acrid feeling. Every day she felt as though she was coming into her own, growing into her own skin. And she found it surprisingly comfortable. She cared very greatly what others thought about her, but she told herself that it hardly mattered. She needed to be able to love herself first, and every day it seemed that it became less of a feat to like herself.
The stone hued femme came to a stop a few feet away from the rock and sat down. Her eyes traced the coal black wolfess, taking in the deep green eyes and the bright orange of her cast. Her eyes rested there for a moment. She wondered if Naniko had helped set the cast.
"Yeah, I guess I was being sort of loud," Geneva said, grinning with chagrin. "My name's Geneva. What's your name?" The other wolfess seemed completely at ease. "Erm...come here often?" she asked lamely.
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"It's okay to be loud sometimes. Good to be loud, even. You just gotta let it out." She nodded. "And they're your packlands anyway...you can be as loud as you want in them" Ember figured that she looked pretty stupid with her arm in a cast. She'd only just gotten rid of the sling a day or so before, and her collarbone wasn't aching as much. There was still a deep hole where a chunk of flesh had been torn out of her chest, but it was beginning to heal over. In contrast to Geneva, Ember's pelt was thick. She had been living outside for so long that she barely even noticed the cold any more, though.
The girl could remember when she used to have morals, a time when she had relished time with her family and friends, but now they'd all left her behind. Phoenix was gone, and her mate Khaden had abandoned her. It was becoming something of a pattern now, that she would learn to trust someone and really get to know them and then they would just up and leave. Now she wasn't sure where she fit in any more. She felt like the kind of wolf who was so miserable that she couldn't be around normal wolves. That she might infect them too.
"Ember. But I'm thinking about changing it. It doesn't seem like me any more." She shrugged. "Have you ever wanted to just...start over again?" She didn't mind sharing those kinds of things with this stranger; Ember doubted that she'd see her again anyway. She didn't usually see the same wolf more than once unless she actively sought them out. "Yeah. My big sister runs this place, I guess. She lets me in. I just try to stay out of her way; I think she has a lot going on. You live near here?"
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[html] "So I've discovered," Geneva replied. She couldn't deny the relief she felt. Her heart was a little lighter, her thoughts didn't weigh as heavily on her mind. In retrospect, she realized that it made it easier for her to think and to express herself. She had kept such tight reigns on her emotions for her entire life. It was odd to let go, especially so fast. The transition left her dizzy, but she embraced the feeling with baby steps.
"Ember," she said, considering it. She said it slowly, drawing it out and testing the sound. She mulled it over for a moment or two, her eyes tracing over the dark wolfess. "I like it," she said. "I think it's beautiful and distinctive, and so are you," she added the last softly, without really meaning to. "But you would know best," she added quickly, embarrassment making its familiar presence known on her features.
"I know what you mean." If anyone knew about wanting a fresh start, it was Geneva. She had come to Crimson Dreams seeking a place to turn a new leaf. To live and to love to the best of her abilities. So far, she had seized that chance completely. "Is Naniko your sister?" Geneva admired the Commander very much, and she was very grateful to her. A deep loyal burned in her chest, fondness evident in her tone. "It is because of her that I have the chance to start over here, and so far it has gone quite well. I've been part of this pack for a very short while, but it feels more like home to me than any other place my life has taken me." She turned reflective for a moment, a note of sadness entering her otherwise cheery tone. "But the more and more I think I'm starting anew, starting fresh - the more I find that it is me changing, and my life changing along with me. Not the other way around. Does that make any sense at all?" she asked, laughing softly and smiling apologetically. "Forgive me for meandering off onto a tangent."
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"I'm not any of those things. I'm just Ember." Her siblings had all gotten interesting names...but she'd been named after some dead wolf that she'd never even met before. Her father'd had some kind of bond with that other Ember...so he had named her after that other one. It seemed kind of sad to her; whenever he had seen her, hadn't she only reminded him of that other Ember? She would never name something after someone who had died. That was just silly.
"I need a fresher fresh start. I keep thinking that I'm going to start over again and that everything is going to work out, but it never does. This time, maybe. But I'm not going to get my hopes up." She rubbed at her cast absently as she spoke. She hadn't really talked to anyone this much lately except for Tayui, her previous Shadowed Sun leader, who she lived with. "It's good that you like it here. She bugged me to join up before, but I see too much of Naniko, Cercelee, and Mom already. I need some time in a pack where I don't have to see family members every day." That probably seemed backwards, but it was true. Ember didn't want to leave the lands entirely, because she did want to protect her family, but there were times when she just didn't want to see them. She wanted to meet people who didn't know her from before, who didn't know her entire life story. She didn't want to be pitied by anyone. She didn't feel bad about what had happened in the past...just pissed off.
She nodded at the inquiry about Naniko. Iskata had adopted Naniko before Ember had even been born...so she was more a part of the family than the dark one was, even though Ember was the one who was related by blood. She listened to what Geneva had to say, sliding swiftly down to the ground. "Naw, that doesn't really make sense to me. I guess I know what you mean about things around you changing, though. I did go to the old lands, the burned ones...but there was nothing left there. I didn't even recognize my birth-place any more. It's where many of us were born, over the mountains. Where were you born?"
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[html] Geneva listened intently, looking into Ember's face. Her expressions all seemed to be made up of hard lines, harsh and unyielding. She wanted to smooth out those lines, to see her mouth relax into a smile. But it was more than obvious that Ember's emotions were mostly dark and troubling. Geneva's mouth twisted downward, too. But only for a moment before she masked her frown. She didn't want Ember to think she was the cause of that expression - because she really wasn't. She was just another mystery, one Geneva couldn't unravel quite yet.
"I was born in the city of New York. It used to be a metropolis of life for the humans, before their end time. The buildings were large, dark, cold. Not very many creatures chose to live there - and those who did were hardened, able to survive. But I loved it well enough," she said, her mind falling back into memory. She had loved those times, so simple with her sisters and her father. Her entire world encompassed a single room. "I was very sick, growing up," the small-boned wolfess said, shifting and wrapping her tail around herself. "I never saw a lot of the outside world, outside of my home. I'm trying to rectify that now."
She offered the dark wolfess a smile, moving to be closer to her, stopping maybe three feet away from her and standing loosely now. "I'm sorry about your home. It must have meant a lot to you."
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The lands of Storm had been pretty typical. Rocks, trees, caves, more trees...she had only gone to Citta Umana back in the old lands occasionally, and never for long periods of time. Back then she had been younger, and had been very afraid of leaving her father Phoenix behind in the lands. She had been afraid that something might happen to him while she was gone or that something might happen to her while she was out. Phoenix had gotten pretty sick a couple of times...Naniko, Pilot and Dierdre had helped nurse him back to health each time.
"There isn't much life inside a city...prey, I mean. How did you hunt? Or did eat other things? Was there any human food left behind?" Probably not; they hadn't been alive for ages. But she was interested either way. She had said that life there was hard--maybe hunting had been different inside the city.
Sick? Ember had only been really sick a few times, with the flu, and Khaden had always taken care of her. There had been one time that he had even carried her back to Twilight Vale so that Naniko could take a look at her. But that time she hadn't been sick, exactly. Not physically sick, anyway.
"But you're not sick now?" She asked. All of her life she had been able to roam. What would it be like to be stuck in one place?
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[html] "We managed, at least my father did," she said. "My sisters too. There were birds, rats, and mice." It didn't seem like much now, thinking of the small quantities of food. But she had never experienced the gut-gnawing hunger of starvation. Sure, some weeks would see her with her ribs sticking out as a youth, but that was as much due to her illness as lack of food.
Her lime green eyes sparkled with memories, happiness of recaptured memories lurking there. "No, I'm not sick anymore. I haven't been sick for a while." And it was true. She felt much stronger both physically and mentally. It was easier to think, to remember, to move and breathe. Before everything had had the pinkish edge of pain, but now things were different for her.
She gestured behind her, where in the shade of trees a dead rabbit and two dead mice were laid out. She had been hunting, and although she wasn't accomplished at this task, she could take care of herself. Her eyes lingered on Ember's cast for a minute. She probably couldn't hunt very easily. "Ember, I was about to eat and I woud love it if you would share a meal with me," she said brightly. She didn't phrase the offer as a question, figuring that the wolfess would probably refuse if she had asked that way.
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She didn't know what it was about Stockholm that interested her; normally Ember didn't open up very much on the first occasion of meeting someone...but this wolf was so easygoing that she found it difficult not to. Normally she didn't think about whether the things she said could be considered to be hurtful before she said them, either. However, now Ember was thinking very carefully about each word before she chose to let it out of her mouth.
"If you're sure." It was an acceptance, at least. "Why, though?" They were strangers, really. They'd only met once. But she felt this strange feeling, like she should at least give Stockholm the benifit of the doubt. That this wolf might not turn out like all the others had. What she wanted to know, though, was whether the other female felt something similar.
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Geneva's face broke into a bright, soft smile when Ember accepted her invitation. She wasn't sure why, but she felt very pleased. She wanted to prolong her meeting with the dark-pelted wolfess for as long as possible. There was something about her presence that was exciting. Geneva didn't excite very easily, but there was something just so interesting about Ember, something that drew her in. She couldn't put a name to it.
She thought for a moment before she answered the girl's questions. She wasn't all together certain what the right answer would be. She didn't want to shatter Ember's delicate acceptance. But she wanted to be honest with her, she decided. There was no need to dress up her words, to make her answer pretty, something that the wolfess might want to hear. "Well, I figured with your injury that hunting must be pretty hard," she began. Then her voice became just a bit softer, "And...I didn't want you to go."
She felt warmth flooding her face at the admission. This was so ludicrous. Shaking her head slightly, she tossed a glance toward the direction of her kills. Smiling lightly, she turned that way and waited for Ember to join in walking with her that way.
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She thought this over as well. Hmm. She didn't want her to go? Well, she'd had a pretty good conversation with this wolf so far...so why not continue it? And the meal was something that she needed, whether she was willing to admit it or not. Ember was thin enough.
The dark wolf nodded again, assuringly. She would eat with her. For her, eating was a big step. Normally she didn't eat with anyone except Tayui--and Tayui was very close to her. Or maybe a family member. Loner life seemed to suit Ember, really...if only she wasn't injured. Her injuries made her depend on others, which complicated things. "Alright. Lead the way."
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Stockholm let out a breath she hadn't known she had been holding when Ember decided to join her for a meal. It was a simple thing on the surface, but she thought that it was probably unusual for the dark girl. She didn't like that Ember probably didn't break bread with anyone very often. The act of sharing a meal, although simple, was very meaningful on the most primal level. It indicated trust on a certain level, although a subconscious one. Food was life, in a sense, and sharing food was kind of like sharing livelihood.
She arrived near the brush and sat beside her kill, waiting for Ember to join her. She positioned herself to be across from the green eyed girl, but refrained from really looking at her. She didn't want to make her uncomfortable or make her reconsider her tenuous acceptance to keep spending time with her.
"I'm not the world's most accomplished hunter," she said sheepishly. Her bounty was modest, but she had caught plenty for just the two of them, if only for one moderate meal. She wished she were better able and equipped to take down a bigger kill and have something better to offer this intriguing stranger, but small boned as she was, she utilized as many of her resources possible that afternoon. Her muscles ached slightly from the hunt, but faint traces of adrenaline still coursed through her veins.
And the thrill of the chase was still upon her, although this time she was hunting in a metaphorical sense. And Ember made for much more interesting and elusive prey, giving a much stranger chase. She dropped her eyes from the wolfess and began to nibble at the food, hoping to break the ice so the girl would join in too.
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[html] In our next thread they should get drunk, totally. :] and Gen could tell her about her last mate and Ember can be like "omg my mate was a dickkkkkk, he lefted meeee"
She had been quiet for most of the walk there, commenting on stuff like the weather or other simple things like that every now and again...but when Stockholm stated that she wasn't a very good hunter Ember couldn't keep it in any more. It started as a small giggle, but exploded into an outright laugh that lasted for at least a minute. Stockholm wasn't a good hunter? But she'd gotten some prey! Ember was so horrible at hunting that it wasn't even funny; even without her hurt arm she was terrible at it. She had never caught a deer by herself or any other large prey like that...only rabbits, or the occasional possum.
She stopped laughing, trying to explain. "Ah...I...I'm sorry. I just...I'm really bad at hunting. I don't know why it seemed so funny to me..hahaa....but I was thinking that you must be a pretty -good- hunter to bring that down, and then you say that you're not very good at it.."She said, grinning. "You're great." she reached over to take a bite after Geneva, waiting for the older wolf to start before she did. It was only polite; it was her food. She still chuckled a little as she chewed, shaking her head. The Crimson Dreams wolf probably thought she was crazy, laughing the way she had...but that was okay.
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I think that's an awesome idea!
Geneva cocked her head to the side, regarding Ember curiously as laughter begin to bubble from her lips. Her lips upturned slightly, she couldn't help but smile. Laughter had been the last thing that Stockholm had expected from the dark pelted wolfess. She had seemed so uncertain of even staying to talk. Although her laughter hadn't been expected, it was certainly a welcome sign. She really had meant it when she told Ember that she wanted her to stay for a while.
She bent her head to take another bite of their meal. It felt right to share with Ember. It was ten times better than having a meal alone. She would go hunting early the next morning for the purpose of stocking the kitchen in Haven Mansion, but for now she was completely happy to enjoy a meal with Ember. It was a simple pleasure, but one that she hadn't had in quite a while. Besides Haven, she had yet to share a meal with any of her packmates. And that was fine; Geneva Stockholm enjoyed her solitude, probably more than most, but she loved to have Ember's company. She was unobstrusive.
She felt her smile widen when Ember bequeathed a compliment. At least, that was the way she interpreted it. She might have been shy, withdrawn before, especially since Ember had laughed. But now, Geneva felt as though she was growing into herself. Her isolation before had been very much self inflicted. No one could be an island, and she found herself changing day after day as she let go of the choke hold she had on herself. She was still quite, reserved, more gentle than aggressive, but now she was far more sure of herself. "Thank you, Ember. But I still think there is definite room for improvement in my case." She looked thoughtfully at the wolfess. "We should go for a hunt together sometime," she said after a moment. "After your arm heals. But only if you want to." It was an open ended invitation. She wanted very much to see more of Ember, but the decision would always be hers.
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She ate quietly for a few minutes, listening for any other words from the wolf in front of her. It was really nice of her to share her food with Ember...and it wasn't something that the female would soon forget. She owed Stockholm, now...that was how she saw it. Just like how she owed Tayui, another of her friends. "Sounds good to me. We should go after something medium-sized. Maybe...a turkey or something. Or some phesants." She didn't know what they had here for prey, but she had seen those things over in the area that AniWaya sat in.
"Thanks for inviting me in. After I'm done eating I"ll probably head out--but you should definitely come by AniWaya. If anyone stops you, just tell them that you know me."
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