[html]
.......out of character
There were times when Addison thought that she saw the world differently than other wolves. With her dad Jefferson, she often saw him do things in situations that she would have never done. He was a diplomat, a thinker. Addison was more of a do-er. If there was something to be said, she would say it. And if there was something that wasn't quite right...then she would investigate it. The outgoing 5-month-old travelled slowly around the border of Crimson Dreams, aiming to end up somewhere around Rabbit Lake. She was just travelling through, and the lake would be a nice place to stop for a rest and a nice drink.
It took another hour or two to reach it, the clean blue waters, and she ran to the edge, looking in with one blue and one yellow eye. It was a nice day outside today, an even temperature, and the sun was out from behind its usual covering of clouds. The brown and gray pelted wolf looked at the water for a moment, considering. She was really, really thirsty. What was a good way to get a lot of water at once? In another moment she had decided; the girl dunked her head down deep beneath the surface, taking in gulps of the fresh, cold water. It was so good.
|
[/html]
[html]
___ It was something his father used to do, though Apollo wasn’t entirely aware of that. The young Haddix's purpose was to see more of the lake, and what better way then getting a better view? He climbed one of the trees not far from the lake’s shore, leaving his belongings carefully stashed at the base of the trunk. It took some careful maneuvering, but Apollo had a rather lithe frame. In no time at all, he had made his way at least twenty feet into the air.
___ His gaze was focused out in the middle of the lake, watching as the slight breeze caused waves to ripple along the surface. It wasn’t until he heard the splash, that Apollo cocked his head and let his gaze travel to Addison. He smirked to himself, wondering what was up with that. Slowly, but with relative ease, Apollo climbed down the branches, dropping onto his feet when his fingers were confident to let go of the last branch. "Trying to drown yourself?" He asked, figuring she couldn’t hear him regardless.
|
[/html]
[html]
.......out of character
She lifted her sopping wet head out of the lake, a big smile upon her muzzle. Her thirst was finally satisfied! Her belly heavy with water the youngster turned away from the lake, shaking her head so that it would dry off faster. She was sure that her fur was every-which-way, but she didn't mind it. She didn't even look back into the lake to see her fur and see how messed up it was. Fully satisfied with life now that her thirst had been quenched, the wolf took a few steps forward.
She stopped when she saw the stranger, a slow frown appearing on her face. She had thought these were neutral lands--why would someone she didn't know be approaching her? With narrowed eyes she took another step closer. Hmmm. Time to put her investigative skills to the test. "N Juss who are yew?" She asked, trying not to wince as her still-sore paw touched the ground. Investigators couldn't have limps.
|
[/html]
[html]
___ Apollo watched curiously, familiar crooked smile finding its place. He had never seen this girl before, he was sure, and he couldn’t quite tell if she were from Crimson Dreams or not. The pack’s scent didn’t seem to linger very strong on her. For a split second, he thought perhaps it was one of Savina’s children, though he easily dismissed that assumption. Savina’s Italian babes had only been born a month or so ago, according to the beautiful raven woman. This girl was a few months too old to be of Marino blood.
___ "I’m Apollo," he responded, studying the girl now that she had actually turned around to face him. She looked hysterical, entire head dripping from being dunked below the surface of the lake. There was one other thing about her appearance, however, that really caught Apollo’s attention. He was fixated on Addison’s eyes which, aside from the vertical split, were much like Apollo’s own. "Who're you?"
|
[/html]
[html]
.......out of character
She wasn't sure why her mother had named her Addison, but she'd decided over the last few months that she liked it and she wouldn't change it. Jefferson had adopted her and she'd changed her last name so that she could show she was a part of his family now, but she wanted to keep her same first name. "Addison" She answered plainly, stopping when she got close enough to him.
She looked up at him curiously, at his bandana that he wore around his head. His hair sure looked funny, too. "What's that you're wearin' on yer head?" She had to know. If it was for fashion reasons, then she wanted one.
|
[/html]
[html]
___ Addison, he echoed in his head. He was sure he had never met her before, which was easily explained… he was probably traveling when she had been born. He was curious as to her surname, but didn’t ask. A swirling in his stomach just made him wonder about those eyes. He had never seen anyone with them before, except for himself. And even though she didn’t share the vertical split, it still seemed so strange.
___ "It’s a bandana," he answered her, raising a hand absentmindedly to check that it was still there. With a swipe of a few fingers, he brushed away some of the silvery-white bangs that had fallen close to his eyes. He shrugged his shoulders and although she hadn't asked, added, "Just for looks I guess." He had worn it for so long now that it would be strange if it wasn’t there. It had become something of a comfort blanket to him.
|
[/html]
[html]
.......out of character
That explanation seemed to satisfy her, but a few seconds after she had recieved his words she had another question. "Can I have one? Where do you get them? Did you bring it from home? Where did you come from?" He smelled strange to her, not like any place she'd been before. Definitely not like Crimson Dreams. Did she smell like Phoenix Valley and Jefferson? She wasn't his child by blood, but she had taken his last name when he had adopted her. He'd been the one to find her, after all.
"One of my cousins lives here...Naniko. But I's never meeted her." She said, looking off into the packlands. "We has almost the same last name, me and Naniko. But I was adopted...so I got two last names. A D'angelo and a Soul."
|
[/html]
[html]
___ This girl sure had spunk, that was easy to see. Apollo didn’t mind so much. In fact, her eagerness had brought a smile upon the arctic boy’s lips. "Sure you can have one. I found it somewhere when I was younger; in one of those human buildings. I’ll bring you one sometime if I can find another one." He wasn’t sure how to answer her question of where he had come from. There were many places that Apollo had lived throughout his life, so he wasn’t quite sure which answer would be most appropriate. As he stumbled for an answer, the little girl relieved him. Instead, she rattled off a name the young Haddix was plently familiar with.
___ "She’s like my aunt; Naniko." At least, that’s how Apollo remembered their relationship. It was sort of confusing, because there had been adoptions and mateships to skew how their ties went. "I grew up with Naniko too, in a pack called Twilight Vale. But that pack’s gone now. Last I knew, Naniko was a leader here in Crimson Dreams." He motioned vaguely in the direction of the mansion. He looked back to Addison then, eyes mirroring his curiosity. "You’re adopted? By who?"
|
[/html]
[html]
.......out of character
"I guess my momma said Naniko was her sister, too...but is that weird? Maybe dey was not related by blood" Because why would her mother have pups with her own cousin? That wasn't a good thing to do, was it? She had thought that it wasn't good for family to have pups together because the pups could have problems. Maybe that was what was wrong with Addi, though, why her parents hadn't come looking for her after she had disappeared.
"Really?! One jus' for me?" She questioned. There weren't any other pups in her pack that she knew of...but she didn't want to have to share it with anyone if any did come. At his next question the girl gave a flurry of movement, her back leg coming up quickly to scratch behind one of her ears. "Jeff did. Jefferson Soul. Why was you raised by Naniko? Did your parents not want you neither?" She asked.
|
[/html]
[html]
___ Apollo shrugged at Addison’s words. He had no clue who this girl’s mother was, and he himself wasn’t sure about Naniko’s siblings. "Who knows," he offered, his mind locking up when he attempted to even begin to think about his family ties with the woman. His eyes lit up, and he found himself grinning down at her. "Of course! Just for you. And I don’t know what color you like best, but maybe I can find one in it." Halifax had a lot of stuff, and even though Apollo couldn’t remember exactly where he had acquired his bandana, he was sure he could find another one somewhere.
___ The name of Jefferson wasn’t familiar to Apollo. He would have asked more about him, but the girl had other questions for him. One question, in particular, that made his heart ache. "No, I had my dad. He stayed with us, but I never really got along with him. He was heart broken ‘cause my mom wasn’t around. I never met her before. I don’t even know if she’s alive or not." He hoped that his story didn’t upset the girl, but somehow he didn’t think she would be. "Naniko just helped out with me and my brother, and helped teach us stuff. She taught us how to speak other languages," a spark flashed in the split colored eye. "What about you’re parents? Before Jefferson. Where’re they at?" He hoped he wasn’t overstepping any boundaries, but regardless of their unknown relation, Apollo was starting to feel a connection to the girl.
|
[/html]
[html]
.......out of character
What an odd day this was turning out to be! She had just stopped for a drink and she had gotten a nice conversation out of it. She had been told not to stray too far from the packlands, but she felt relatively safe around this territory; if she needed to, she could just run inside of Crimson Dreams for help. Having a few ties to members in each pack did have its perks. Last she knew her grandma Deuce still lived in Dahlia...but she wasn't completely sure. Maybe the older wolf had moved on elsewhere.
He said he was going to give her a bandana! A smile split on her face and her tail wagged behind her in an excited manner. She shook her head a little bit as she thought about what kind she might like. She really liked the color that he had on his head, the same color as one of her eyes...but maybe she ought to choose something else so he wouldn't think she was copying him. "Yellow? Like my 'udder eye?" She suggested. Then he could have blue and she could have yellow! Like both their eyes. His were so neat to look at.
"Well...my bruvver comed right before I left them, my bruvver Sirius. He was living there...he brung me some food once. He looked weird, though...not like momma or dad. Dey was lighter colored" She explained. She had really liked it when her brother had come; she had never seen eyes as green as his. He had looked kind of...coyote-ish, but she hadn't known what a coyote was at the time. Only now, when she thought back, did she realize the differences. "He looked weird, not like a wolf. Not like us. But Momma Dierdre said he was my bruvver." That was how she had identified her grandmother, too, because Deuce had known who Sirius and Dierdre were.
|
[/html]
[html]
___ "Yup, just like that," Apollo reassured her, once again letting his attention return to the oddity of their eye similarities. It just seemed to strange to him. But Apollo wasn’t allowed to focus on that for too long. Addison was speaking again, and her words made the young boy’s heart stop. Ice water seemed to be invading his veins and his maw parted ever so slightly, assuming he had misheard the young girl. Apollo wasn’t sure if Sirius was a common name or not, but he had never heard it anywhere else – even on his lone travels away from Nova Scotia. He was baffled, but he figured it could happen.
___ At least until the girl mentioned Dierdre. Apollo would have gone along pretending all of this was a coincidence, but now he knew. "My mother," he started, his throat feeling thick and dry, "was named Dierdre." He often spoke about her in the past tense, as if she were no longer alive. Perhaps because to Apollo her absence had made it feel as if she had been dead all along. "And Sirius is my brother." He paused, studying those eyes again, now realizing why the girl had them. It was coincidence at all. It was genes.
|
[/html]
[html]
.......out of character
She had said that he was gone, that he was lost. Her mother had. But he had been here the whole time? She could have cried; she had been here for this long and she hadn't found her own brother? Maybe it was fate that she had wandered here today...she hadn't even been meaning to go to Crimson Dreams, it had just happened when she'd set off. It was chance. But it felt like fate, like something that was destined to happen. "She said you was losted.." she breathed, looking at him intently. Now she was looking at him differently, trying to soak in every detail of him. He was her brother, her lost brother.
"She is alive, Momma is. And my daddy...but we don't have the same daddy, do we? My daddy is Cerulean D'angelo" She moved closer so she could observe him better, still staring at him oddly.
|
[/html]
|
