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She fought the urge to grasp his hand and run. Hand in hand they would float under the blue sky, over the soft undergrowth, though the sprace tall trees. Blue and gold eyes would glance at each other with grins and minds would imagine all the things that they would encounter and uncover. She did not allow it, for she knew how silly it would be. But Anu looked at his face, and she smiled. Her feet seemed to glide above the ground and the Sun hung above as if it watched then and blessed their childish games. And her mind wandered and she thought of all that might happen while they explored. Those things she did allow.
He sought her out, just as she had him those months ago. Had it been that long? It shouldn’t have been. He came to her and spoke of a new adventure, and Anu gave no hesitation, only enthusiasm. The beach, the sea awaited. Eyes the color of sky and water saw but did not see the forest they walked through. Hemming lead the way and Anu saw only what might stand ahead in the mysterious place they were traveling too. She grinned, her energy pure and hardly restrained. She would have run, playing a game of chase to make the trip pass more quickly but how far they had to go was unknown. Instead she walked beside her dear friend, a small skip in her step and the smile never fading.
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[html] love love love!
The summer slipped away like melting snow, like the sun slipped beneath a shroud of heavy clouds. The day lily that the two wolves had planted, now protected by a little fence, had had her time in the sun and rough days were ahead. Hemming mourned for her short life span, the little blip of beauty that faded all too quickly compared to the many years of a wolf. Winter was upon them all, slowly but surely, and Hemming intended to make the best of the few long days that they had left. Maritime winters were vicious, and on most days the squalls of snow and ice would probably limit the things that the wolves could do. A thick blanket of snow would be a mask on the face of the earth, and in such weather it would not be possible to look at the many strange stones, the little bits of ancient history trapped as minerals on their faces. There was another pleasant surprise that Hemming had experienced while on the beach, and he had all intents to show the funny things to Anu.
They wandered through the Ethereal Eclipse, the trees folding around them like arms reaching up for a hug. Hemming would grant their wish, as he had many times before (he probably wouldn't admit he had done so), but not right now. Just being around his alabaster friend lifted his spirits high enough to make him feel as if they were pulling on his body, as if he was hanging from a hot air balloon with his feet dragging on the ground. There was a wide smile on his face, and after a few moments of trying to be patient and walking nicely beside Anu, he tapped her on the shoulder and took a few quick steps to get ahead of her. As he ran off through the dense forest, he cried back, "Tag, you're it!" If asked, he would have been unsure of where he picked up the game. Anyway, it was suitable enough for his current excited state, and quite useful in initiating a game of chase. They weren't too far away from the beach, now, and the wolf's energy seemed infinite.
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eeeeee!
How did he know? Anu had yet to understand how Hemming knew right when she needed him. Of course she had gone off to find him once, but then she hadn’t known how badly she could use his company. But it was obvious now that whenever she needed his presence he appeared. No one soothed her ragged mind like the Aniwaya wolf could, and such a thing was no mystery. They did not speak of what weighed on their minds, and Anu could never truly tell if he was ever in need of a pick-me-up. She hid her woes well, but it was hiding with Hemming. It wasn’t even ignoring. They didn’t exist. It was as easy and simple as that. She did not know of the transformation of their ranks, or the young love she had come across. Questions did not exist between them.
She felt the slight tap, her mind clouded by the prospects of sand and water, and it wasn’t until he spoke out right that Anu understood the game he played. Her body was more then ready for it, having wanted to play since they started their journey. She let him run off, the distance growing between them. Then the light wolfess took to the chase. If she were “it” then she would play the role of predator. She smile grew, and her legs carried her easily after him.
“You better run!” She called playfully. Anu was no fighter, but she could run as swiftly and quietly as the wind in any form. The silver tinted wolfess dashed after him, her body reeling with new endorphins and the locked energy unleashed.
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[html] wow, i totally didn't think i wrote this much. sorry!
Hemming was not a strong runner. He was fairly fast, certainly, mostly due to his long stride, but he did not have the grace or control of one who was truly made for running. He enjoyed it anyway, especially when it was utilized for entertainment purposes. The wolf made his way through the forest, the thrill of the chase like a drug in his veins, with his feet hitting the ground haphazardly. Occasionally he would glance to the moss carpet of the forest to make sure he wasn't about to step on a particularly obstructive root or the home of a small animal. For the most part, though, his eyes were ahead of him or turned backwards to see how close Anu was. She was a quick runner, her feet barely even hitting the ground before she was in the air again. The only hints of her presence were the flickers of white in between the trees. These glimpses of wolf were getting more and more frequent as the female gained ground, and Hemming knew that he was very close to losing his turn.
As he spent more and more time checking over his shoulder, his odds of disaster increased. The trees were close together and sporadically arranged. A particularly prolonged glance over his shoulder gave a tree time to sneak up on him, in a sense, and the wolf's shoulder grazed it. He took the hint and turned his eyes forward again, but not in time to avoid a second tree that had jumped out in front of him. The wolf hit it at an angle, his chest colliding with its great trunk. If he had hit it straight on, it probably would have been too painful for him to keep on going (the wimp that he was), but the angle and the endorphins that pounded through him seemed to absorb all the pain. As he hit the tree he folded around it, his eyes glancing upwards to its high branches and his arms reaching around to the other side, and with the momentum of his run he slid around it a little. "Good day, sir, and sorry!" Hemming cried up to it, wearing a wide grin combined with sympathetic eyebrows. If the tree had been wearing a hat and Hemming had knocked it off, he would have picked it up, dusted it off, and placed it back on the tree's head. For some reason, the tree seemed to have the personality of an old man, and for just a brief second the odd wolf thought it ought to be wearing a nice bowler hat.
He only had a moment to be off again, though, and he disentangled himself from the tree quickly and started to run once more. Now he paid much more attention to what was in front of him, though he did still glance backwards when he got a chance. Anu was so close to him now, within arm's reach probably. Had she seen him crash into the tree? The thought made him giggle a little as he ran. It wasn't that he would be embarrassed (was that feeling possible around his friend?), but that he had found some humour in it, so perhaps she would have too.
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Running came so easily to her lean and agile form. Her lungs took in the clean air easily, her heart beat with a calm rhythm, and her face did not loose her smile. It was obvious that Hemming was not built for the long marathon, more of a sprint runner it looked like. The blue eyes woman traveled through the see of trees, flying over obstacles with ease and grace. She stalked him like she would any other prey, and let the trees hid her small form. His heavy paws gave his location away, and her light toes kept hers hidden. She would pass him before he could realize it, and planned to move and cut him off. The trees opened and her sight of him was unbroken. He was standing still., and Anu had to slow to understand what had happened. She almost came to a halt, as eyes watched the exchange of blows and then one-sided words.
Shaking her head she ran passed him and his new found friend, quickly and silently to take the lead. Then when she was far enough ahead she turned to stand in his path. Arms crossed over her rising and falling chest Anu waited until she saw the male to speak. “Your wonderfully clumsy.” She told him with a smile. If he had been hurt she wouldn’t have been able to love the stumble that he had made, but he looked fine from here. Perhaps just a little out of breath Hemming had recovered and taken to the game once more. Anu stood in her path, he would have to either submit and take his turn as the chaser, or avoid her agile form. Either way Anu watched him closely and with a grin on her face
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The male would have lost eventually, but his demise was made closer by his little collision with the tree. He could see Anu coming up beside him, her graceful gait pulling her around the trees with ease, and though he knew the end was near he was grinning. It seemed like every time that the female was near they resorted to childlike games, and Hemming loved it. He had not enjoyed his childhood, not in this manner at least, but the games it granted were more fun than almost any adult pursuit. Perhaps if he had played tag as a youngster he would be better at it now, and more swift and comfortable on his long legs. Oh, well, in a game it was just as fun to be a blundering beast. If he was truly being hunted, it would be a horrible trait, but thankfully the wolves seemed to be secure on the little tip of the hunting pyramid. However, if Anu ever decided to turn against him and actually hunt him, he would be dead within an instant!
He stopped a few paces away from Anu as she stopped before him, a glint in his eye as he stared at her. His breath heaved in his chest, but he remained in a rather active stance, his knees bent and his back curved. At her statement, he quipped, "I've been working on it. It takes a lot of practice to be this clumsy, you know." He grinned widely, eyes moving to the ground for a moment. His breathing was ragged and tired, but he was not ready to give up yet. Utilizing the small amount of room he had left between them, he stuck a foot in one direction before darting off in the other, giggling. The wolf tried to make a curving horizontal path towards the beach, but surely Anu would cut it off and he would not make much forward distance. Anyway, he was prolonging his time of being Not It, however minutely, and surely that was worth it.
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She would owe him a million new flowers in the seasons to come for fetching her this day. Just as it always did, and just as she needed it to the world slipped away. It ran like wet ink away from edges of her mind and was easily forgotten. If anyone asked where she lived or what day it was Anu would have to pause and think of the simple answer to the simple question. Such an affect he had on her. She smiled, clever and coy as he approached her. “Practice?” She retorted, laughter and a false slyness on her tongue. “You’re a born natural” The teasing fell form her mouth too easily and the brother figure that she saw before her would always be an easy target.
He ran from her, and Anu let him sprint off, laughing at his attempt to fool her. Blue eyes watched him run through the trees. The sea was not far, the salt hitting her nose already. She took to her paws, and ran after him. For once Anu truly tried, pushing her legs to the limit and moving with more speed then necessary and smart for the terrain. The trees became a blur beside her but she saw Hemming clear as crystal. She tried to smiled in her quick breathing, and it did not take long for her pass him as he turned to make the round about way to the beach. Anu stayed strait, letting swift light paws carry her over the forest grounds that thinned and then opened out to the beach.
Paws touched sand. She felt her weight shift over the uneasy ground. Slowing Anu pushed on, and fought the beach to reach the harder ocean soaked ground. She stood, alone and heavily breathing the salt laden into her lungs. It was no longer a game of tag, but a race to the Dreaming female.Watching the tree line she realized that she was first to make it to the beach, and in celebration she began to move to a beat that could only be heard in her head. It was high, and the rhythm heavy and catchy. Everyone had their own victory dance…
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In response to her retort, Hemming could only grin. There was no arguing with what she had said; he was extraordinarily successful in his foray into clumsiness. Of course, it had been an exploration that he had been undertaking for many years, as if he had gone into the awkward first few months of life and never come out. His lanky legs still felt like extra appendages, but he had become accustomed to them, used to being unable to trust them with anything. With her statement, he was off with a little chuckle, the wind streaming through his fur, the trees just a haphazard step away from contact. The salt in the air was growing thicker, the ocean calling out with each saline gasp, and Hemming knew he had little farther to go.
Anu had passed him in what seemed like an instant, but she did not corner the wolf as she had before. Instead, their little game of tag had turned into a race to the shore, to the ocean's wide gargling mouth. The female won, as Hemming expected, and she burst out into a dance. As he hobbled across the beach the sand tried to swallow up his feet and he laughed, watching Anu's movement with amusement. Pushing some of his hair back with his hand, he walked floppily to the edge of the ocean, where the occasional wave reached up to touch his toes. He sat down heavily, letting his back fall to the sand and stretching his legs into the water. Extending his arms to his side, he lowered them to his side and then up again few times, giving himself sand wings.
His gaze fluttered to the blue sky and his chest heaved, and Hemming said just loud enough for his voice to carry to his friend, "You're fast, Anu, and you're also still It!" He was a sitting duck there on the shore, but somehow that seemed irrelevant.
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The song played in her mind and Anu moved to it’s groove. She was excited that she had won, but once Hemming reached the shore, his gold eyes staring at her movements Anu slowed and then stopped her small victory dance. Part expected him to keep running, but another said he was finished. A smiled came to her face as he fell to the sand, back against the coarse shoreline and footpaws in the lapping waters. He spoke, a voice that held his fatigue. The Dreamer felt the tire as well, though she still had wind and energy to spare.
A few steps killed the distance between them and Anu scoffed at his words.
“I don’t mind.” She lied with humor in her voice. Though as she thought of it, perhaps she really didn’t mind. What did it matter anyways?
“I kind of like chasing you.” She spoke with a smile in her tone. She sat beside him, blue eyes looking down at the defeated male. The ocean ran upwards and touched her toes. It was still warm from the summer Suns, though as her fur became wet she could feel a distant chill of the autumn that was waiting for them at each turning day.
She would let him recover, though her curiosity was bubbling, spiked by the new surroundings.
“Imagine what we'll find here.” Eye looked into the distance, the beach littered with things that awaited their discovery. She rested her gaze at the male, eager to explore and yet whiling to wait.
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[html] So sorry for the delay! D:
The two wolves seemed to have a connection that breached each of their souls, as if the same blood flowed through them. In another world, Anu would be his sister, someone that knew how he worked, even if she did not understand his inner workings. Though, sometimes he felt as if anyone could understand what was going on in his head. He felt, occasionally, as if his actions and thoughts were transparent, as if the only thing protecting his own ideas from the rest of the world was a thin film of water. Hemming was a simple wolf, one that delighted in the beauty of the world and its little wonders, and perhaps he was almost childlike in a way. The world never got old, despite its four billion years, and neither did he.
Hemming chuckled a little, the breath still moving in and out of his chest quickly. He stared at the bright sky, squinting, as Anu sat down beside him. The wolf was tempted to get up and start running again - the female had said she liked chasing him, after all - but he was fascinated by the way the clouds moved, by the way their forms shifted from one discernable shape to another. It was all his mind playing tricks on him, he knew, finding the lines of another creature or object within the gossamer edges of a completely physical phenomenon, but he enjoyed it anyway. As the clouds drifted, his eyes did too.
When the alabaster wolf spoke again, Hemming finally pulled himself up so he was sitting, his feet still extended out to the water. The salty waves tickled the soles of his feet, and the gray male felt as if he was filled with helium and would float away, the joy of the day so buoyant. With a grin, he turned his own gaze down the beach, his golden eyes moving from rock to shell to rock to sea, already searching for little wonders. "Treasures beyond compare, I'm sure," he said with a broad smile, his eyes meeting Anu's sky blue ones. They were a gateway, he thought briefly, through her head and into the ether.
After a moment, his eyes lit up and he said, "Oh! I forgot, there was something I wanted to show you." With a little laugh that could fairly be called a giggle, he pushed himself onto his feet and skipped out towards the little sandy peninsula that was starting to be revealed as the tide moved out. "Come on!" he beckoned, looking back for just a moment.
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He did not know her.
Hemming didn’t know her at all. He didn’t know she was a leader of her pack, that she was the second to only their Commander. He didn’t know that she was in love, falling for another female, as was her nature. He didn’t know that she yearned for a child’s love and feared she would never know the bond of those she bore herself. He didn’t know that her past mate was now exiled, and that her world was teetering on the verge of turmoil. Her favorite color was green, she claimed four almost-yearlings as her own young, and at one time had two brothers. He didn’t know any of that, and so much more. But she felt like he was one of the few that knew her, truly. All the things he did know, they spanned beyond the details that were so truly useless when she was beside him. He understood her, the smile that she could not loose, the dance to the tune in her own head and the way the world slipped away, happily forgotten. At times she felt he knew her better then anyone else.
Blue eyes followed his gaze, the sky playing with the cotton that made it’s clouds. Anu laughed softly at his lack of concentration, but found that her eyes were drawn to their movements and shapes. Treasures, mysteries. Anu was ready to find them, and maybe a little something for another. The stalks of lavender had not reached the nose of the Dahlia wolfess, but perhaps she could find something for her here… Thoughts disappeared, as they rightfully should while Hemming spoke. Something? “Wait up!” Anu took to her feet, and closed the distance that his frolic had created. Paws moved quickly, and Anu followed the line the tide had made. Her curiosity whipped clean any other thoughts, and she wondered what Hemming had in store for her. All the things they found, explored were more amazing then anything she had ever seen with another. At the prospect of adventure, her tail began to wave behind her.
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He splashed through the shallow tide pools like a child, careful, of course, to avoid stepping on the hermit crabs that carried out their lives and their little dramas submersed in an inch of water. The water that rose up around his feet as it was displaced thrilled him in a simple way. He was alive, the wet sand reached up between his toes, the salt water clung to his fur, the blue sky smiled down upon him. The wonders of the world would never grow old, and as long as Hemming was appreciating them, neither would he. A curiosity and awe that was present in a youngster's wide eyes was present in his, too, as they scanned the water for the little creatures. He had been intending to show them to Anu for quite some time, and took great joy in their presence. They were odd, almost as alien as the clickety hermit crabs, and Hemming sometimes imagined they were from a different world. The fact that they weren't made them even more splendid.
Unable to see past the sheen of the water from his height, the wolf bent down a little, squinting into the water and holding his hand up to cast a shadow. This wasn't the most effective method, though, and the angle of the sun made it even more difficult. Carefully and slowly, so as not to scare whatever little beasts might be around away, he squatted, up to his ankles in water. His tail fell behind him and floated upon the top of the sea.
It took a moment, but he spotted one. Its rusty purple color made it difficult to see against the red tinged sand, but there were its eight arms, waving simultaneously. With a grin, Hemming looked up to Anu and whispered, "There's one." He pointed, staying very still so even the female's movement as she got closer would not disturb the creature. It was an octopus, and a tiny one at that. Perhaps it was both their size - about the size of Hemming's hand - and their color that had prevented the male from seeing them until he had been to this beach so many times. Every time, it seemed, it revealed another secret, and Hemming was more than happy to share every little wonder with Anu.
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sorry for the wait, <3
Anu couldn’t imagine what he had waiting for her. Well.. of course she could imagine. The sea was filled with all that was extraordinary, all that was unknown. It was bottomless, never ending and so its territories were borderless. The creatures unlike anything that she had ever seen, falling ashore with the change of the tides, and all right here for the pair to explore. It could have more then two heads, it could be a small wolfish creature with gills like a fish. Anu found it hard not to let the images and the possibilities from fogging her mind. Tagging along behind him Anu fought the pull of curiosity that he brought forth, as well as the beauty that Anu found so easily in the beach around them. Standing in the shallows she found the ocean in front of her, and the red sands of the beach behind her. Both seemed to never end.
Turning away from the call of the ocean Anu smiled at the male. His voice bringing her back to their sweet form of reality. “Where?” Anu asked with a newly brewing excitement. Blue eyes looked over his shoulder, a sudden shyness and fear coming over her. What was it? She was sure it was another jellied fish, for that was no longer a new adventure. Instead she looked down to see a sort of rock, or a spider. It had far too many legs, or arms. But as she looked closer, she found that it was far from a rock or a spider. Under the water she saw that it was smooth, even soft? Trapped in the shallows it didn’t seem to be harmful, and yet Anu looked at Hemming in question.
“What is it?”
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The thing shimmered beneath the water, camouflaged so well that it looked like little more than a blur of sand. But if one looked closely enough, its eight legs would become obvious, its giant eyes clear. They were strange creatures, like nothing that Hemming had ever seen, and what was truly amazing was their sheer multitude. These little beasts were all through the water, but their sandy colored skin kept them hidden. This was the miniature version of the eight-armed sea monsters of lore, the innocent side of a vicious predator. These ones were good natured and shy, and just the slightest bit of movement could rub them the wrong way. The one that Hemming had spotted stuck around, though, and he watched it fondly.
At Anu's question, he replied softly, "It's an octopus. Eight arms, no skeleton, three hearts to love you with, and a wonderful brain." There was a grin on the wolf's face as he looked back down to the funny creature, watching it until it caught sight of a shadow moving and darted away. "Oh," Hemming started, "There she goes. There are many more, but they're tricky to find." Smiling, he took another look at the water, where the movement of the creature had left little torrents of sand. "Maybe if we stay still for a moment others will come by."
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This was even stranger then the jelly fish he had found the day they met. Thankfully this oddity was not drowning in air and sand as the shapeless creature in the past had. She seemed safe and content in the small pool, but did it not miss the endless ocean? Anu wondered as she tried to keep the hidden octopus in her sight. It was a tricky little thing, and under the slowly moving water and the reflection of light she found it hard to keep her eye on it. Hemming spoke, and Anu lost the ocean native as she looked back at her friend. She smiled as he spoke if its heart. Three? She found such a thing hard to believe, but she knew that Hemming would not tease of try to fool her.
When eyes returned to the water, it was gone. Fluttering away in the shallow waters. She looked for it, but only saw the sand beneath the salt water. "How do you know these things?" She questioned idly. He knew so much about the different things arund them, even the things that lived in a world unlike their own. Anu closed her mouth quickly as he spoke once more. A whisper spoke to him. "Really?"
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It had been a very long time since Hemming had cracked open a book and just read for hours. He used to do that for days and weeks at a time, having little else to do. Living completely isolated from most others could be a productive thing, but it could also be destructive. Though the male was not learning things from books, he was now learning things about living in a tribe, and from this he was able to learn much more. Each one of the wolves in AniWaya had skills and ideas that he was able to tap into, and he was certainly having more fun now that he had friends. Reading was still something he enjoyed, though, and some rainy day he would have to head up to the library and pick out a few interesting books. Those long years were the only reason he knew these things, and the only reason they somehow lifted themselves out of the sediment of the male's memory. The interesting things stuck, and these odd creatures were certainly one of the most interesting things that Hemming could think of.
Hemming smiled at his friend's question, shrugging a little. He did not feel like he knew all that much, but he did have a sufficient number of tidbits of information to make him seem like he did. "Humans wrote about them in books, and I've read some of them," he replied offhandedly, shrugging some more. The humans had left an invaluable source of information behind, and Hemming was pleased to peruse some of it. There were other things they had left that were not so valuable, legacies that were almost unbearably ugly, and the male did his best not to think about such things too often.
After a moment another one of the little creatures slipped by, slightly larger this time. Its flesh was the perfect color and texture to match the sand, its presence betrayed only by the tiny waves it made and its large eyes. "There's another," Hemming whispered, trying not to move a muscle.
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When she was born, those that raised her found no use for the human’s remains. They did not see the skills that so many here owned useful. Anu was never taught to read, instead she was taught all the things that allowed her to grow and tend to her garden. She was taught the names, and the details of the lives of trees and flowers. It had been meaningful, to her father and mentor, and thus to Anu. Here she found it only help in her hobbies, and for gift giving. Reading had never been something she wished to know, until faced with certain problems, or situations such as this. If she knew, that she could know just as much as Hemming did.
Anu laughed lightly as his casual response. She knew he knew far more about the world around them then she did. Just knowing the names of the sea creatures was more then Anu understood. That invaluable information was lost to Anu, trapped within the written word. Books would always hold such things captive. Blue eyes looked to find the boneless creature, camouflaged against the sands. She stood still as well, and the world grew quiet enough that she could hear her heart beating in her ears. Neither of them moved, and with the stiffness of her joints she almost didn’t notice the tickle of her toe.
There it was again. Anu looked at the other wolf, not sure if she should speak up. When she felt it a third time Anu could not stand still any longer. She jumped from the water, finding the nearest rock to stand on.
“There’s something touching me!” She spoke with a frantic tone. She didn’t want to look, not wanting to face the beast that shared the shallow water. She was fine with looking, but always at a distance.
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[html] So sorry for the delay D:
It was not necessary to know everything about something to be able to appreciate it, but Hemming found it helped to know a few little facts. Nature had an odd way of keeping her creatures, their methods of survival and functioning varying so greatly it would never be possible to catalogue them all. The humans had dissected things carefully, and had started to do experiments that the wolf wasn't able to understand completely, and had learned many valuable things about the richness of the world. Despite their knowledge they had failed to maintain it as well as they could have, and so perhaps understanding did not necessarily convey an appreciation for something.
There were more of the little creatures around than it was possible to see, a truth that became evident as Anu jumped back in surprise. Surely whatever had touched her had darted away by now if it was capable of doing so, and as the whirls of dust that the female's displacement had made settled to the bottom of the sea it was clear that no creature was still there. It seemed likely to the wolf that it had been one of their little octopus friends, and grinning back at Anu, he said jokingly, "Aw, it only wanted to give you a hug."
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