He was growing desperate in finding his sister, the world screamed at him to give up, to let the past lie but he'd failed too many times recently and this was starting to become an obsession of sorts. He didn't let the world see the despair that was building in his soul but he kept at the work of exploring the lands within and outside of their territory. He wouldn't dare go to the quarry yet, he didn't even want to think of what might be at the bottom of the limestone cliffs.. and yet he still hoped. Such was the way of the foolhearted. A boy who believed he would have his love in the end and yet held her from afar. He just didn't know which way was up anymore and it was beginning to make the world such a strange place.
The silvery blue male was standing in the middle of the the straight spined trees with their long reaching limbs so far ahead, the old maple shacks still standing before him and yet he didn't see a thing. He knew what was there but he was just listening to the silence of the snow falling gently in the cold woods. The male's eyes were closed and he could feel the cold seeping into his bones from having stood there so long and yet he hadn't moved yet. Nothing had presented itself to make him want to move. His mind was sluggishly going through the places he'd been and the places he'd searched.. trying to remember where and what was left. He sighed softly, knowing that his breath was soft and misty in the day, such simple things and yet he didn't care, not now.
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Is he in luperci form? I wasn’t sure so I have Cwmfen in lupus.
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The snow was falling once more. There was a strange silence in the woods that seemed to only precede such peaceful snowfall. There was the silent sound of the sucking wind, as if the world itself struggled to breath in the winter season. The snow fell only to smother the world, and yet this natural death was beautiful. The earth sighed, sending swirling tendrils that disrupted the path of the snowflakes. But that breath shuddered and fell still once more, leaving the land in silence. On this particular day, the creatures of the wood fell silent, as if to listen with fear and acceptance to this dying of their world, for they knew that spring would come if only they had a little patience. The Wild may have wished to smother the life of the world, but life was persistent with its will to survive. It would only need that patience.
Cwmfen lay within the shadows of the Sugarwoods, away from Dahlia once more. With her eyes closed, she listened to that silence, to the barely audible song that the world whispered to her. Her breathing was almost silent in her hearing, for she struggled now to listen to that beautiful song. Somewhere she heard a flaw, a disruption, and her eyes were forced open. The black lids lifted slowly, and when they relinquished the sight to the world, the eyes were not looking, for they were locked upon the white earth before them. The woad-marked ears listened now, but they could hear nothing near by. Reluctantly, the she-wolf lifted her head to gaze momentarily, breathlessly, upon the heavens from which that simple whiteness fell. Then she rose with a single fluid motion and shook the snow from her coat. Above the pied Raven crawed twice, breaking the silence with its whip like voice. The warrior acknowledged the Dream with her mind before her paws carried her in silence toward the origin of the song’s discrepancy.
The wolf’s legs carried her lithe, toned body easily through the cold. Her breathing was leveled, untroubled by the movement of her body. A rhythmic expulsion of that soft cloud of breath was seen as she trotted like quicksilver through the winter woods. The woad warrior’s maw twitched occasionally as she tasted the air, seeking something or someone nearby. Having come upon several human edifices, the woad-marked female ceased, turning her white gaze to the trees ahead, for she found something there. Peering through the snow and cold and distance, she found the form of a male, one indistinguishable from coyote and wolf. His coat was grey, but blue also, and she saw the gold glint dully in the poor light. His eyes were closed, and there was an air of despair about him, of frustration and disappointment. Softly, the earth sighed, gently carrying his faint scent to her. She found that she recognized it, though there was a different scent lingering in it. Like a distant memory, she placed a name with that scent, and remembered what her packmember had told her of him and of Phoenix Valley.
"DaVinci...?" The alto melody called quietly to him, her voice brushing tentatively against his ears as if afraid to shatter the stillness in his body.
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DaVinci had not even thought that another soul would appear in the woods, but it seemed he was wrong. While the snow fell softly upon his steele blue form and came to a rest the soft step of another broke the silence of the world but there was little that really bothered him about another in the lands except for the fact that he was no longer alone. His world had been turned upside down and now he was trying to figure out just where to pick up the trail again and make his way slow and steady down the road.
When the soft voice brushed against his ears like the breath of a lover his stormy orbs flicked open as he slowly turned to gaze towards the exotic owner of said voice. He was silent a moment, watching the one he'd met before and yet they'd shared thoughts as though they'd known one another for decades. He smiled and tried to straighten up and shake the snow out of his pelt as she stood up. His stiff muscles made him grimace as he stretched his legs out and walked a few steps towards the woman, trying to clear his mind as he moved on.
"Cwmfen?" he replied softly as he began to gain the feeling back in his body. He didn't know how long he'd been standing there but obviously it had been a while. Stopping short of where the woad marked woman stood he flicked his eyes across the frame of the woman he'd barely been alb eto glimpse the last time they'd spoken. "What are you doing?" he asked. While she was far from his lands he wasn't too far outside his own.. but of course he wasn't for certain of anything anymore, he just wanted answers to questions that seemed to bog down his life at the moment.
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Cwmfen was still, her soft breaths rising in small puffs of cloud. The white orbs watched that still form—and yet, it was still no longer. Her voice seemed to reach that distant mind, for his slate blue orbs opened to the world. As she watched him in her silence, it seemed for a moment as if he could not see the world about him, as if he struggled to see the dark, snowing reality that surrounded them. Then he smiled, and his gaze seemed to focus on her own form. A ghost of a smile flickered upon her maw, but it was faint in the darkness of the shadowed world. That dark blemish on her soul seemed to revel in such days, in such troubles of others, troubles of her own. And yet, that, too, was faint, for her soul had yet to be damaged beyond repair.
It seemed that Firefly’s words had held truth. She thought of that encounter of prior months, for it was then that she had finally learned of the relationship between DaVinci and her packmate. That meeting had begun well but had ended on a lesser note. Her meeting with DaVinci, which had been one of her first encounters with another soul after she had joined Dahlia de Mai, had begun with her own hostility and had ended on a better note. It was interesting how different relatives could be. And yet, now, as she looked upon the hybrid, it seemed that he was once again discontent (or perhaps he had always been so?), and the black fae felt a certain amount of concern for him, especially because she considered him a friend.
When he spoke her name, she responded only by shifting forward upon her paws. The warrior did not want to shatter the silence. She wanted to allow him to gently return to this world that seemed to have wronged him once again. The fae smiled again, this time allowing the gesture to be seen. She realized that it had been almost six moons since she had last seen him. Perhaps she should have sought him out sooner, if only to check upon him, especially after she had learned that he was now of Phoenix Valley. Quietly scenting the air, she confirmed this fact. But the scent of the cold was thick upon him, and she wondered, too, what he had been doing this day.
"I was listening to the snow," the black fae admitted at length, allowing her silver toned whisper to drift along the air. "It’s good to see you again." Her voice was louder now, almost at a normal volume. The black tail flickered behind her, emphasizing the truth of her words. As silence fell between them once more, the snow only seemed to muffle them, to suppress any thought that wished to be voiced. Struggling through that silence, the woad warrior spoke again, speaking with a melancholy melody. "It seems that you are lost once more, DaVinci.... What are you seeking?" Her woad-marked head tilted gracefully as she spoke. And for once, she found interest in the non-martial troubles of another.
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DaVinci's mind had been off in another world before the mysterious banded woman had broken through his concentration and brough with her all the strangeness of their first meeting and then some. His breath kicking up in swirls of mystic white puffs as he turned those stormy orbs to the woman he had met once and yet that meeting had stuck more than most he'd had with fellows and dams he'd known for moons. There was little that needed to be said between the two figures but still it wasn't polite to ignore the beauty.
He smiled weakly at the woman and sighed. "And what did the snow have to say?" He raised a brow at the woman and smiled. "Was it anything like the language of the storm?" She was almost like an older sibling who always came to lecture him in the sweetest ways on his woes and worries of the world. How she managed to find him when he was sinking deeper and deeper into his strange ways was beyond him but it was nice enough. She could almost have been his Dream spirit if he'd ever had a spirit but instead he just had a trail of tears and heartache that followed him wherever he went. It didn't bother him too much though, he knew how to manage, except when he forgot to breath, which did happen from time to time.. but yet it seems he always had angels that helped him through.
The whispers of the woman made him breath deeply as he admitted. "It's nice to see you too Cwmfen.." he said softly. The silence that seemed so much stronger than the tempo of the rain seemed to be too much for the woman though it suited him just fine in the moment. He smiled again and just shook his head at her declaration of where he was in life. "My mysterious one, when am I not lost?" He just stood there a moment as he watched the simple snowflakes falling about them again as he tried to figure out just what sort of an answer she was looking for this time.
Finally he just gave up and stated. "Honestly, I'm looking for the road before me.." He pawed softly at the ground as he admitted. "I lost it quite a while back and it's been a long hard ride over rough terrain." His stormy eyes looked to her mysty orbs as he said softly. "Maybe I just need a friend who can listen to a restless soul.." It seemed that's what she was turning into, or what she was all along. He wasn't for certain but he'd walked out upon that limb already and would find out soon enough just who she was in his life.
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Something flickered across the maw of the warrior, something akin to a sneer. "It’s quite different." The female’s tone strangely juxtaposed her expression, for the melody of her own voice was serene. "Much tamer—and yet crueler." Was it strange that when she heard the song of the snow that she was put at ease? She listened to it now as the snow fell, whispering wordless songs in her ear. "Perhaps the silence of the snow sings louder," she whispered suddenly, and it seemed as if she were speaking not to DaVinci but to the snow and world about them. The pied Raven ruffled his feathers against the cold and cruelty of that strange song, crawing, as if in agreement, to the woad warrior. The silence that followed the Dream’s voice seemed stronger now.
"I had heard that you were now among the ranks of Phoenix Valley, and that I thought that perhaps your discontent had ended," the female said, voicing the thoughts that flickered across her head. Her quiet voice, which had almost held a certain amount of delight, now took on a more somber tone. "Firefly warned me that this was untrue, and I wished that it were not." A small frown came upon her banded maw, and she did not return the smile that was upon the steel-hued male’s maw. She wished that he could find his way free of such frustrations. Yet, she wondered if such things went hand in hand with it. Surely not to such an extent? And yet, she could not deny that her own life was lived in a solitude that, when living in a pack, was becoming increasingly unbearable. The female was not ready, however, to say that the hybrid was beyond the point of no return.
When the male broke the silence, admitting to his troubles, the female smiled, for she felt a filial warmth towards the other. "I offered you my company, should you wish for it, those many months back. And I still offer it willingly now. In friendship, I will be at your side, and I will listen—I’m always listening." And perhaps he already knew that, for she listened always to the songs that the world sang to her. Haku, too, had approached her, seeking a friend.... Perhaps that was the source of her own discontent, her own restlessness that even now moved her to wander about. And yet, it had brought her this chance meeting, and for that she could not complain.
The white orbs sought those of the other as she spoke once more. "Perhaps we should get out of the cold." With her slender maw, the black female indicated towards the human edifice nearby and took several steps in its direction. The Raven Dream made a strange purring sound of dissatisfaction, but the warrior passed to him a brief glance. The Raven would be fine outside on his own. For now, the female wished to alleviate some of the burden from the shoulders of DaVinci. She wanted to listen to the troubles of that restless soul.
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He couldn't help but laugh, the way she'd flared up so suddenly about the comparison between the rain and snow. He just stared at her a moment before shaking his head and sighed slightly, and the world called him a dreamer, always brooding over things he could never change or couldn't solve. His stormy orbs watched the woman calmly as she gave him a more reasonable answer as to what she found in the snow and rain before he just lifted his muzzle to the sky and was silent as he inhaled deeply, the sharp cut of the cold air blasting as he nodded to himself.
He lowered his gaze back to the woman as she spoke of where he lived now, he just stared at her a moment before it finally registered just who in the world could have told her such things. He snorted to himself as he realized, of course, Firefly was her packmate. Though the bronze and gold woman tended to keep to her little dark self he figured she could have friends or even those she didn't even like that she might spill that sort of information to. He rolled his eyes and commented. "Firefly, it would figure. She has no concerns for her family and yet if someone shows compassion for another she's got to find some sort of diappointment for every situation." He gritted his teeth as he tried to figure out just what to do about the coppery gold little sister who was all grown up and wrecking havoc on the world now. "Do us both a favor and ignore her next time.." he said to his woad marked friend as he settled back and let his eyes drift over Cwmfen.
"I thought you disliked the company of others?" he asked suddenly instead of going in full blast on his thoughts and worries. He didn't really want to talk to the dark female about ihs love life and that was one of his main issues at hand, besides the pack. He watched the woman with a slight smile, wondering just why she always did seem to arrive when he needed a shoulder the most.
He stood there watching her, he would have lost himself in that, studing the markings and wondering about her mysteries but she distracted him quickly with a suggestion and he just nodded quietly. "Yes. Let's seek shelter from the mysteries of nature once more." he stood up to join her in moving to one of the old maple syrup boiling shacks. He had no clue what the humans had done in them but he probably would have found it interesting and strange if he had known. His eyes flicked back to the raven, another of those creatures that seemed to tail after a wolf, he bared his fangs slightly at her Dream before shaking his head and trotting into the building.
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Cwmfen nodded, almost approvingly, as the silver hued male correctly assumed her inference. He seemed annoyed, however, at his sister’s thoughts. She thought it strange how families could be so far in their relationships, but she had to admit that her own family was not the best example to counter his. "She may have no concern for her own family, but she will be giving life to a new generation of her blood." Strange, the female thought, that one who so seemed to dislike others would find it in herself to allow these growing creatures to live. She herself could not imagine bearing children, for it would hinder greatly that which she valued most: the freedom of her warrior’s spirit. Yet, instinct would bid her to contradict herself. Whether or not she would obey would be a different matter. Brushing those thoughts aside, the female continued quietly. "I think that it will be difficult for me to ignore her when next we meet." And there was a half-amused smile upon her woad-banded maw.
His question, though it was more of a statement, was sudden, and she offered a small laugh in return. Then she responded, "It seems that pack life has eased my dislike." She paused before adding, "Yet I often find myself seeking my solitude," almost as an afterthought. The white orbs looked up at the other, wondering at that statement. The female worried that perhaps she were forcing him to accept her offered company, and that he would prefer if she would leave him be. But he seemed, then, to be watching her in a way that did not reject her, and so she did not object.
As DaVinci accepted the offer to go into the strange human constructs, she saw that he had bared his teeth at the Raven. A wry smile characterized her maw as she turned to slip into the darkness of the building, for she noticed that all who encountered her Dream disliked it. She did not judge them for it, for she was unsure of how she herself felt about it, especially because its form and its colour connoted a parallel to her father. And it was a parallel that she could not dismiss. She wondered often, but dismissed it. The warrior, who was of an accepting nature, tried to accept it, but this task was proving exceedingly difficult.
In the maple shack, she found that it was dark and dry. It was dusty, and she sneezed once as she allowed herself to adjust to the drastically different environment. The place reminded her of the edifice in which the two had shared their first meeting. It was strange, she thought, because this was the second time that the meetings had been similar. Her thoughts went briefly to the Raven, as if asking for some revelation, but she received none. Quietly, the woad warrior moved to the corner—a dark place—and she lowered herself silently—gracefully—to the floor. She became a part of a shadow, a shadow broken only by her white orbs. "I hope you don’t mind if I lay down," the female apologized. She had to admit that her body was a bit sore from her encounter with the pain-maddened Catherine only hours before. Probably a more leisurely journey back would have been wiser, but the female herself had needed to think, and running helped her to do so. "What is bothering you as of late—if you don’t mind my asking."
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DaVinci was quiet as Cwmfen spoke of his sibling and the wonders that she was bringing into the world. He knew that she was pregant with Haku's children but he hadn't looked any further into it, if she wanted him to be a part of that side of her life she would come looking for him, he wasn't about to stick his nose where it wasn't needed, or wanted. He knew that Haku had little liking for him and he couldn't say that he had much thoughts on the male that were warm and fuzzy either. "Hopefully they'll be sweet as honey.." he said with a sorry smirk, he really didn't think he could handle another pintsized version of Firefly running around the lands, or even want to think of a small version of Haku. How in the hell those two managed to find eachother was just bad karma.. of course their mother had been the one who sent Firefly into the heart of Dahlia de Mai, he wondered how often the silver and gold woman regretted that request of her fierce daughter.
He was lost in his silly little thoughts for a split second until his ears caught the last bit she spoke of. He asked suddenly. "What do you mean..." why the hell would Cwmfen have problems with ignoring Firefly he wondered. He knew his sister had a temper and a serpents tongue to boot but he'd been able to ignore her when he'd needed to, surely a warrior like Cwmfen would have no problems avoiding the golden bronze lady. He was beginning to suspect there was more to what she'd hinted at but he would wait to see if she wanted to share as the moved ontowards the maple brewing shack.
He smiled as she had spoken of her wants and needs, and what she lacked and craved still. He sighed and gave way to the comments with a small bit of the truth. "I joined Phoenix Valley because children should not be raised in the wilds alone in the middle of winter." his stormy orbs turned to look at her as she was studying the strange contraptions in the room. "Now.. I seemed to have grown fond of the lands.. and even the members.. and I can't just abandon them now, even if I wanted to." The poor male had found himself in a stand as a subleader, depended on by Jefferson and the pack. He might not be the best leader or even the nicest but the two males kept their pack together and even in these hard times they were still holding strong.
In seconds it seemed that Cwmfen had melted into the shadows as he sank down into the soft light that streamed in through the cracks and dusty windows. The dust tickled his nose but he ignored it as the woman spoke softly, he merely bowed his head in aknowledgement at her words as she had laid down before continuing with her questioning of the male. He bared his fangs in slight disgust as she wanted to know the truth behind his restlessness. "Cwmfen, do you really want to hear about my personal problems.." he said with a sigh. He wasn't for certain if she could even understand how twisted and strange his life had become since he'd joined the ranks of Phoenix Valley and it only seemed to grow weirder as the season's bitterness sank in.
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"As a pack member of similar rank, one cannot ignore the other," the female responded lamely. What she said was no lie—the female could not simply ignore the Acer, especially because she was her senior. But, of course, there was that matter with Haku. The woad warrior was not sure whether the golden female was aware of what she had done, but she was sure that there would be suspicions to say the least. It had been one night, and it had been something that the woad marked female had required to complete her Long Nights, but she had a feeling that kind and gentle Firefly would not understand that. She knew that the golden woman was of a similar heritage, but the culture from which she herself came was of an older, primeval nature, and such a thing was not looked down upon because both Haku and herself had consented to it. Males and females from her culture did not bind themselves to mateships, and while such love-related relationships were mutual but monogamous, sexual freedoms were tolerated. Cwmfen was no exception, but she could understand how her actions would offend the other. One day, perhaps after the pups were born, she would drop by if only to say ‘hi’. And all this she could explain to the steel hued male, but she doubted that he would care for any more ‘drama’.
Laying in the darkness of the strange cabin, Cwmfen accepted DaVinic’s bared fangs with little amusement, and her expression hardened. "You offend me, DaVinci, and the offer that I have given you," and her golden melody took on a hard, silver tone. To the black fae, the hybrid male had committed a minor act of disrespect. Because, however, she could understand that not all cultures were as her own, and because she could understand that he was, perhaps, distraught, she took the matter lightly. Letting it slide, she continued, her tone and expression softening. "Have I not already expressed that I am here for you—as a friend?" Then she paused, a slightly disgusted smile upon her face. "If not for personal matters, what would we discuss? The weather? Pack politics?" Then she laughed quietly, as if such things were ridiculous to discuss, at least at that moment. The she-wolf pawed the wooden floor with her black claws. "If you do not wish to share such things with me, at least take comfort in some shared company and silence."
Her shoulders were sore, as she had caught the weight of a luperci in her lupus form. At the time, it had felt like nothing, for with the aid of adrenalin and proper technique, such hardships were possible. Yet, now that several hours have passed, the Dahlian was beginning to feel the effects of the whole thing, and it was beginning with her shoulders. She was sure that there would be other places that would be sore, but for now that was enough. Stiffly, the female shifted, exhaling softly and slowly as if such an act would help soften her stiffness. The white orbs turned back the male, considering him quietly. She was uncertain whether he would come to join her. "If you would share your troubles with anyone, share them with me, who is of little consequence. It will be better for you than to let it fester there in her heart."
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DaVinci chuckled at the excuse he was granded and a slight shake of the head was her gift as he commented. "She'd find a way to ignore you if she wanted.. perhaps you'll be in luck and she'd rather ignore you than actually seek you out." he grinned bitterly at the idea, anyone that Firefly was actually seeking out was in some sortof trouble. He knew that the golden bronze sibling of his didn't go looking for anyone unless there was reason and normally the reasoning behind it had nothing to do with good will and wishes. His stormy orbs turned to CWmfen as he spoke, the grin staying on his maw as his bitter voice's words seemed to whisper and echo around them.
The hard look that Cwmfen granted him with the silvery words almost made him roll his eyes but he knew that he had been a little rude and too open with the woman. He answered her with the simple truth. "It's in my nature, you should know that by now. I accept little with an open embrace.. good or bad." he said simply. He knew that the woman hadn't meant any hard towards the subleader but therapy wasn't exactly what he wanted or needed. Cwmfen couldn't fix his problems and she could give him his lover in his arms for all days. They could speak of his pains and broodings and perhaps for a moon he could find solace in having cleared his mind.. but soon he would wind tighter than a top again.
He wrinkled his nose at the lecture she granted him, feeling once more like his mother was standing over him, something he'd just finally been able to remove from his life. No more was Iskata lording over her son but they stood on equal ground now. He just sighed softly and quickly spoke. "Cwmfen, do you honestly think I would be one to bore you with the everyday chatter of airheads. My own issues I don't tend to bring up because to another they would seem so simple and pathedic." he shook his head slightly as he watched her once more.
Somewhere in the back of his mind something warned that she was dangerous in her own ways, a friend yes, but one so exotic and beautiful that she could easily be mistake for someone a little closer and rumors were bound to spring up quickly. He let the held breath out slowly as he moved across the shed and joined Cwmfen where she lay, his voice soft as he asked. "What troubles have you been getting into.." for her motions and slightly ruffled fur hadn't gone unnoticed in his eyes. He could scent the smell of another on her and the aggitation of the stranger's scent that lingered still.
He wondered if she'd even grant him an answered but it didn't matter, he'd joined her like she'd wished and already it seemed natural. "My pack would suffer if you allowed my heart to fester you know.." he grinned wickedly, for his brooding mood and wisecracking antics turned worse the longer he sat and thought on his family issues and lost love.
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Sorry for the super-wait! OnO I will not forget this thread ever again!
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"I won’t force you to say what you do not wish to say, DaVinci," the female said in mock exasperation. But she was not joking or mocking this male, for she knew that perhaps there was some great difficulty to his troubles than even he would admit. And such difficulties only made it more difficult. Prying would not help, and so the black fae would not pry. She did wish that she could help him, and so she did not want to make the male more upset with her efforts. And so the female simply smiled up at the male in the silence and the darkness. She valued his friendship greatly. While she had only met him twice, she could not help but feel a fraternal affection for the steel-hued hybrid. She was glad that she had come across him today, and she hoped that he did not regret her company.
She was glad when he came to join her, and she laughed, a clear, golden sound. "No you wouldn’t do that to me," the black fae agreed lightheartedly. "But I am a simple wolf, and simplicity does not offend me." The alto voice was quiet as she looked up at him. Then she slid herself so that she was closer to him, and she allowed her body to relax. She leaned against him with her head on his shoulder as she sighed, a sound that seemed to release the tension in her body. "I hope you don’t mind," she said quietly, but she was comfortable enough with this male to close the proximity between them. "Oh, I just got in a little spar with an AniWayan," she replied with a smile in her voice. "You really get a feel for the difference of a luperci’s forms when you fight that way." And she laughed softly.
"We musn’t let that happen," she said in response. Then she was silent for a moment, as if thinking. But in her position she was comfortable, and she was beginning to feel the effects of her weariness. She listened to the silence and to the soft knocking of the world outside. It was strange to hear the songs of two worlds at once, but the ethnic half-breed felt such a song in her own being. Then, suddenly she asked, "Do you dream, DaVinci?" It may have seemed like a random question, but it was not. Her train of thought had taken her to the Raven, who had feathers like the shadows around them. And he—or at least the raven—was her Dream, and dreaming often helped her to relax. Perhaps it was a silly thing, but rest and sleep always refreshed her body and soul. And yet, perhaps his troubles were beyond the help of dreaming and required some other remedy. But she knew not the extent to which he was in pain. "Sometimes it’s better to simply dream." But better than what? She supposed that that depended on the individual.
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He couldn't help but rub a paw across his face as he sighed. She wasn't demanding the world if him and yet she'd caught him in one of those moments when he was off guard and had though he'd had the whole of things tightly closed up to where they wouldn't matter. Yet this woad marked lady from the old countries appeared and tore down the walls and towers he hid his pain away in. His stormy orbs gazed over the paw as he eyed her for a moment before asking. "Are you certain you're not some sorceress here to bewitch me.." Not that he would mind being bewitched by the lovely lady but he doubted that the events would solve any of his problems. Women only seemed to add to the unease in his life and strangely it seemed he could count too many woman as friends and not enough males.. something that was bound to cause some sort of new fuel for the fire in the future of his romance.. if it even existed anymore.
He felt relaxed about her and his ears pricked forward at her laughter, his mind still puzzling over if she was a tricky fae like his younger sibling had become. He sighed softly as his hungry heart seemed to take over his mind for a moment, he realized what was happening as he pushed back the unwelcome emotions, but at that second she'd chosen to lean her head against his shoulder, causing the feeling to rumble and purr. He couldn't help it that he was male but he didn't force those thoughts away as she spoke of her spar. A small smile split his maw as he asked. "Now you're not off causing trouble for yourself are you?" He didn't know why he fought it, he knew speaking to the lady was just as easy as spending time with Firefly, something he didn't do as much as he should anymore.. maybe he just didn't like giving over to his weaknesses and letting someone so close.. and yet he kept letting Cwmfen into his heart and soul over and over again.
When she spoke of his bitterness he turned his head slightly, his own muzzle resting ontop hers as he rumbled. "I don't think they'd know me otherwise..maybe they need to learn a little suffering" he teased, knowing that the brooding bitter Savant was all the pack knew, to find another male in his place might be too much for the crew he helped to command. He smiled at the thought and decided to leave it at that.
He could feel his own pulse beating softly against the louder thunder of their hearts so close. He closed his stormy orbs for a moment and yet when she questioned him he perked his ears up, opening those eyes once more as he murmured. "Hrmm?" He was quiet a second as he thought quietly on the question. He dreamed, waking dreams, day dreams, wistful dreams, wishes and nightmares.. but lately they'd all turned more to sorrowful painful rolling replays of that scene. "I dream.. of what I can not have.." he said with little or no emotion to his words. It had occured to him that it should have been Ryan so close to his body that their heartbeats seemed to mingle and yet never had they been given the change to draw so close, to blend so whole and true..
Why did it seem that Cwmfen and he could blend so well into nothing and yet every tension would slowly melt for the moment and yet his love was starcrossed to the ends of time.
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A soft smile tickled her lips as the soft sound of her laughter tiptoed through the wooden room. “If only such powers resided within me....” Her alto melody was almost wistful as she spoke in quiet tones. The white orbs looked up at the hybrid with eyes filled with a soft, warm mirth. Often, it had been said that the Dreamers of her people had strange powers over the minds of others. And while the black fae did indeed Dream, she was a Warrior first and foremost. She did not feel within her that she held such a power within her and had not seen her influence manifest in any way within others. But often the female had wondered to herself what it would mean to have such a power. Perhaps she would have been able to change the songs that she heard within the world. But perhaps that was a dangerous thing.
“I am a Warrior, and that is what we do,” the female replied with mock flourish. But there was some truth to what she said. At times, such things seemed to find her—or had she sought it out? “I was attacked first. I do not start fights—only finish them.” Her voice was quiet once more, and it faded into the darkness. There was a strange contentedness in her words, and there was no doubt that she loved what she did.
The female only gave a quiet laugh in response. Or perhaps they would suffer the change, she could have said, but her words were gently silenced as his maw came to rest atop her own woad bound maw. It was strange, she thought suddenly, that she had placed herself so near to him, to be as close as lovers are and yet remain chaste. The female did not often make close contact with others—in fact, the only close contact between herself and a male had been made only twice, and such contact had been in the throes of love making. It was strangely pleasant, the black fae decided, and so her maw did not rise to chase him away. And she wondered is such contentedness was becoming of friendship or something else. A soft, contented sigh escaped her as the white orbs watched the darkness that surrounded them, and she couldn’t help but notice that this edifice in which they hid was similar to the one in which they had shared to shelter from a rainstorm.
The woad warrior smiled faintly. “It seems that such longing both haunts and blesses our dreams,” the female murmured quietly. And she was silent for a moment as if she would say no more. But suddenly, she said, “I dream of being free. And yet, I find that true freedom comes only in Death. But I do not seek to prematurely bring my end, though I find that my passion for the art of war stems from such a desire.... It is perhaps because of this that I have not openly sought a mate....” And yet, if she found a male who found interest in her, and if she were greatly intrigued by him, the black fae would not deny her body’s needs. And such a thing was not culturally forbidden to her. The white orbs looked up at the male. “And yet...at times that solitude bids us to fill that void.”
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DaVinci's jest had seemed to drawn some musing from the woman beside him as her soft bit of laughter filled the air, her words soft and the tone seemed to tease at his senses as he smiled. He wasn't for certain if he should take her words as a compliment or if it would have been wiser to think on them as a warning. DaVinci was in a sorry state, torn between love and the pain of it and the temptations of just having someone to hold, if only for a moment in time. The warmth of the woman making him drowsy as he replied with a chuckle of his own. "Would you, if you were?" he asked, humoring himself with the question, wondering if what just how far he was reading into her words.
DaVinci closed his eyes slightly when she spoke on about the match she'd been in, a soft humm to show that he was listening as she tried to explain herself. He couldn't help but snort when she declared that she never started fights, only finished them. Opening one eye to peer at the girl he rumbled softly, her words sounding cocky and full, though he didn't doubt the lady. "You only ever finish them?" He wondered quietly if it was only the fights she never started, but he left it at that. There was a time, place and another woman for thoughts like that and he wasn't for certain if this fit any of those three.. though as confused as he was now... it was a possiblity.
He chided the primative male mind for even tempting such thoughts as he listened to her breathing, her head resting below his was soothing and the soft sigh that escaped her lips didn't go unnoticed. The darkness that enveloped them was comforting as he ran his muzzle up over her head and softly touched the soft silk fur along the back of her ears, almost hesitating as he opened his eyes once more and stared across the strange meeting place they'd come to rest in, no dancing rain on a tin roof but the quiet wonders of the cold winter were just as luring as the warm scent of the woman lingered on his skin and made him think of another world they'd shared over a season lost.
Gentle words seemed to play in his mind as once again she spoke, the words magical and savage at the same time, speaking of freedom, desire, war and death all spun together in a web of truth and honestly. Lurking just in the shadows he could see the reality in what she spoke and yet his mind gave way to warning as he drew his head back from the touch they shared as the soft words drew to a close and he was met with the foggy orbs of the woad marked lass. He drew a breath as he tried to find words that didn't sound like they were filled with doubt. "You're a wildfire.. embers hiding under the brush." He licked his lips as he realized too late those were probably just the wrong words he was hoping to avoid. "Waiting for the whisper in the night to bring a raging inferno.. and yet just as quickly to burn down to hide once more.." his eyes shifted away as he said quietly. "Until another time.." He could see the flames burning in her orbs and he was knew if he stared too long he would get lost in them.
Storm filled eyes gazed into the security of the cold and dark as he asked. ".. and yet no love?" The silence was loud in his ears as he wondered if he could even walked into the wake of a wildfire and survive. Once perhaps he could have, but wounded a broken would the flames be of healing fires or deadly venom to boil his blood and bring darkness to what was left of his world.
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A scheming smile tugged at her lips. “Perhaps,” the alto melody insinuated, and she wondered at the truth of the words. She wondered. She knew already that she was comfortable in his presence—more so than with any other male. But was there something there for him, something which she could give him? Or was there only the teeth of brevity? And so she was silent as she contemplated his words as well as what was unsaid lingering between them. The white eyes watched her woad marked toes as she shifted slightly against him, welcoming the warmth of his body so near to hers. She could not deny, however, the implication of their proximity, but her body was still—perhaps too still.
When DaVinci questioned her certainty. And perhaps he was right to question; her use of absolutes had been too free, perhaps. It was the beginnings of arrogance, and whether rightly placed or not, arrogance was not a thing welcomed in a warrior’s soul. “Perhaps you are right,” she admitted aloud, but there was no grudging nature to her words. “But a good warrior must learn to conquer all enemies, and so I have thus far. Should I fail, may Death take me, lest I should rise again to challenge my conqueror.” Her voice was strangely quiet, belying the tone of her words. But it was a matter of survival, more so than for glory and honor, for, while these qualities were bestowed upon the warriors of tales past, the female did not care for such things. She cared for survival. And for freedom. Life was a gift to be cherished, and she fought for freedom. “In times of peace, remember war.” Perhaps now she was thinking aloud.
And again the silence surrounded them, and it was a tempting thing of which the silence spoke. When the male pulled away to look at her, the female turned as well, her white eyes seeking the face of the hybrid, and she smiled almost sadly up at him. The smile faltered when he spoke, and she was unsure of how to accept his words. Fire. The female, who lived in that world read of symbols, knew fire to be many things. Power, pugnacity, pliancy, purity, passion. And so, the female was unsure. Her eyes clearly shone with her uncertainty and question, but he turned away from her. Her gaze was inclined to follow, as if he had pulled her by a string, but instead, she returned her gaze to her feet and the floor.
“No.” Yet there was no remorse in her voice. Slowly, her head turned, his fur moving against her as she disturbed it. “It seems this fire is too low to inspire,” the alto melody replied, applying his ambiguous metaphor with a mild amusement. “I’m left with only a longing and a desire.” The silver tones were a murmur, almost inaudible even in the silence. Men liked to think that they were the only ones who experienced the need to sate their carnal hungers. But the woad warrior was keenly made aware of her own appetite since her Long Nights, and she felt the fires of her lust particularly after a fight. But the female was not like a male, who would and could sate his desires upon another. The female could wait. She was a patient creature.
“And you, DaVinci?”
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The steele hybrid couldn't help the rumble of amusement that threatened in his throat at that one simple word that Cwmfen held in teasing him with. "Should I begin to worry.. my warrior woman?" He asked jokingly. He wasn't sure how exactly he felt on knowing that if she was a tricky little fae with the powers of the dark folk just what she'd do to him.. but it was indeed something to think on, just what she would and could do to him. He wouldn't shy away from the thoughts, he was male after all and though his midnight romances had been long put behind him since he'd returned from the emerald island he still had desires and wants like any other. A flicker on unsurity flickered in his eyes though as he thought of the woman who'd ripped his hearts to shreds and still pressed on that she loved him like no other. She'd promised to wait for him, to wait for the healing and the pain to pass.. he doubted she would see the healing powers of one night between friends.. but there was healing in tears and in passion. This much he'd learned from the clans of old Eire.
DaVinci's mind was restless as Cwmfen turned to find answers to his question, a battle tipping the scales back and forth on just what he'd placed himself into this time. He was basically wrapped in the arms of another when he knew well and full that there was a woman he loved out there. She was wrapped in thorns and barbed wire, untouchable to the male for so many reasons but still, even if she'd broken his heart she still owned it. He listened to her answers as he mused, his voice soft in her ear. "Must everything be a battlefield for you.." He wondered what love was like to a warrior, if the world he'd known of tenderness and soft passions was a savage and almost cruel lover, harsh carasses and salty tears to mingle with the scars.
She couldn't know what he was thinking but his eyes seemed to show the uncertainty as the emotions started playing strange games with the weaker of the two figures. If she was a wildfire, passions raging on like the warrior she was.. could she purify and cleanse like fire. Leave him like the Phoenix he was to be reborn of the flames of desire and able and ready to take up the weight of the love he had left on the sands of the bay. He could feel her gaze upon him and yet he couldn't return. When he felt her eyes cast off him he finally turned back and gazed at the lady, knowing what he wanted.. even if it wasn't the answer to his pains but uncertain if he could take the steps down that path.
He didn't know why he'd asked her of love, he'd known many relationships that had been build without pure love and they'd stood longer than he'd believed possible. Raised in a world where castles and fairytales were the stories of legends and mothers passed them on to their children.. He'd never been fed the lines but he knew so many who had. DaVinci was a living fairytale gone wrong but he'd never bothered to realize it. Now there was only the two of them and the answers she granted.
His smile faultered slightly when she spoke of the fire's flames to love to inspire. His stormy orbs seemed to flash as he said seriously. "It only takes one spark for a flame to catch.." his deep voice rumbling. "Longing and desire are hard to control.." his words catching in his throat as his eyes seemed to study the woman before him.
When the conversation was turned to him he was quiet too long. "I've been wounded in ways that time alone can't seem to heal.." His gaze never left hers as he answered honestly. "Perhaps once I believed in one love.."
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Warrior woman. The female replied with nothing save for her gold and silver laughter that danced and whispered in the dark. With a sigh, a silence fell once more, and somehow this silence was always filled with a warmth, and the female was content as she lay against the hybrid.
“Even love is a kind of warfare,” the black, woad marked female replied with a fierce smile and a quiet laughter. But she knew that she may be alone on that thought. But the trust, the courting, the fights, and the betrayal, they were all things of war as well. Love was simply a different battlefield, and with that view she could approach the matter. If love were purely social, the female would not stand a chance. But, because she did see it as war, the odds were lessened. Yet, it was still a thing with which she was unfamiliar. It may have been a thing that she did not desire. At times, society was her greatest enclosure, her greatest challenge. Often she found herself trapped within its walls, but she had found ways to lessen the discomfort, and perhaps she would suffer solitude for it.
But love...for her that battlefield could have no victor. Physically and mentally, both participants must be matched equally. It was only in that way that their union could be permitted to occur. And yet, as the female, the warrior knew that it was inevitable that a male would conquer her in such a union, for it was the nature of love making, of nature itself. For that reason, the female was always critical and careful of who she permitted entrance. Love was mental, but the physical aspects of such an entity cannot be ignored. Love was a human thing. Desire and lust were bestial. And, despite her civilized mind, the warrior was first and foremost a wolf, that creature of basic instinct.
Then, as if she had spoken her thoughts aloud, the male was speaking. The white orbs turned up to look into the orbs that held within them a raging sea, and she that she saw a flash of lightning from that storm. That spark? The female’s heart quickened only slightly, and her quiet breath wavered. She looked away, slowly, from those troubled eyes. “Yes,” she breathed at length, “but not impossible.” And her voice seemed to hold something strange, as if she were painfully contending with something that she had seen or felt. The female shifted her body slightly, as if to mask the true meaning of such a sound for the discomfort of her cold muscles.
The silence that followed was great and vast, as if a sea had been opened. At length, the female forced herself to turn to face him. But he spoke at last, breaking the silence. She understood this to be the source of his pain, for the wound of the heart healed slowly, if it ever truly healed. The white orbs met the gaze that had remained upon her, and she tried to peer into that dark and stormy soul. “If there is one love, I have not seen it. Such wounds cannot heal,” the woad warrior replied quietly. “But perhaps the company of a friend may may lessen it.” The white orbs searched the face of the male as she reigned herself in, holding herself at a distance.
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one more from you, then fade?
DaVinci couldn't help but laugh, though not along with the woman on his own comment but at the announcement of love and it's battlefield. Perhaps she was right but he'd rather not look at love thatway, expecially considering the fact that his love was just that. He shook his head lightly and murmured. "Only you Cwmfen.. could make love seem savage." He didn't mean the comment to be brutish, he himself had lived among the 'savage' folk of old Eire and the time there had almost made him feel at peace. He had been the black sheep of the family with his half and half bloodlines and his dark brooding ways but for once he'd found enjoyment in that instead of rebellion.
The scent of the woman was heavy in the air as the warmth of their bodies was almost too much to draw him over that line he'd held tight to. His muzzle brushed against her silky mane a moment as she spoke, her words seemed taunting, making something at the back of his mind stir like a whisper to tease and whisper in his ear he turned away. "Even after the spark has caught.. you believe it possible to hold off the raging fire.." A shadow of darkness crossed his mind, wondering if she would let another's fire be what consumed her. "And if you could.. what would you do if the fire burned on in the other.." His soul was teetering on dangerous ground but he didn't care.
He knew enough to walk away and he could feel the ache in his chest paining him even now as his mood seemed to flash from light to dark, from easy to rigid and cold. Times were changing and so was the man.
Swiftly it seemed that he rose, his frame standing over her as he leaded down, his face close to her ear as his body brushed alongside hers. He knew what she was and what a friendship could offer on a cold dreary night but the small shadow in his soul was an uneasy claim to his world. His voice was soft and deadly as he spoke. "Sometimes a friendship like that.. can be a very dangerous thing.." He didn't even wait for the woman's words as he moved on and out into the night. The burning in his soul was too much and he had to get to where the flames could eat and lick at the world without letting him feel the guilt of it all.
The male moved on towards the Quartz Shoreline and to where he could stare off towards the small islands that dotted the lands and dream once more of a darker time before the real world had engulfed his life and tried to properly groom the savage beast. Had they managed to turn his world around or was there still weeds in the garden threatening to take over.
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Okay, ^=^ And then I’ll request this to be archived~
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The woad warrior nodded slightly, imperceptibly. Yes, she could hold off that raging fire that threatened to break through. She had been trained to be in control of herself, and she had mastered such a thing. But what if such embers became a fire, and what if those flames burned another? The female looked up at the steel hued hybrid, the white eyes searching his face. She could see the change, the conflict, and so she gathered up her embers and wrapped them deeper within her. But it seemed that she had already burned him. A light smile tugged at her lips. “I would—could—do nothing. I do not bid the flames to burn; I only urge them. But whomever they shall burn—it is they who must decide.” The warrior, while she believed in something akin to Fate, believed that all creatures had a choice. She could not force anyone to do anything—even in death. Even in battle.
And then he rose, swiftly, but the warrior did not mistake the movement for anything other than what it was. She did not rise to follow him, remaining where she had lain, shifting only to allow herself to compensate for the loss of the male’s support. She was almost laying completely upon the decaying wood of the cabin, but her head was lifted, held up by the support of her upper torso. A paw was brought in against her chest when the male leaned down to whisper in her ear, and she head a darkness in his voice. The female turned her maw up to his ear, whispering her own reply with shadowy tones. “Such danger makes life more precious.” The female lived her life as if this life were the only one, as if there were no afterlives or reincarnations. As if each day might be her last. And for a warrior, such a thing was necessary. Yet, she was not impulsive or foolish. She was merely comfortable with these facts of life.
But even as she had lifted her maw, the male had left, turning to leave, almost rushed. The female was left alone in the darkness as she watched the doorway from which he had left. She did not move to follow him. The silence of the snowing world filled the woad bound ears. A light smile had flickered across her maw. He had resisted, and perhaps, she thought, in this society resistance was required. And she recognized that whatever love had caused him grief, that love had lost a loyalty. And perhaps, even if he had not resisted those flames, the female would not have succumbed to them herself. Already, the rush of the battle with the AniWayan had been fading, and her body no longer felt the urgency. At length, the female rose, her silent, graceful steps carrying her to the threshold. The white gaze looked up at the awaiting Raven, and then she lept into the snow. It was time for her to return to Dahlia. There was nothing more to be done that day outside the boarders of her home.
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