and lonely hearts
#1
Kansas
Kansas was tentative about leaving home, even if he knew his other siblings probably had already done so. He remembered there being rules not to, and the concept of possibly doing something they frowned upon frightened him. The cream boy didn't want to disappoint them. It was especially hard to go somewhere without Firefly, as the two were nearly attached at the hip, and he'd surprised himself for not having bugged her to tag along. But he didn't plan on going very far. He could always turn tail and head back to the safety of Storm if he got lonely for her.

The trees as well as the earth were covered with leaves the colors of sunset. He had made that connection himself, remembering watching the sun sneak below the horizon one evening, setting the clouds on fire. The colors were nearly the same; scarlet, orange, yellow. He loved that he had been born in a season that possessed so many colors. Would it be that way forever? He'd yet to ask that question.

He broke through the still-recuperating forest of dead trees, crossing another forested area. Kansas recognized that he was now outside the borders of Storm. He shivered, whether from frightfulness or cold, he didn't know. His tummy felt a little uneasy, but he had faith in himself. He paused after a short while, having heard a rushing sound and smelled wate - quite a bit of it, actually. Kansas broke into a run, finally passing through the tree line and entering what he didn't yet know was called the Yawrah River Territory. The river was so vast it scared him, but it held an untamable beauty. It frothed and spat, white over the rocks, blue-green in the pools near the bank. He moved toward one of these small pools and bent over it. Staring back at him was his reflection, the first glimpse of himself he'd ever had.

Calypso
Calypso had had to come see the river again. He had spared it a cursory glance a week ago when he had stopped by Storm, but he had been far too preoccupied with Lily's corpse and the issue of where to live to actually bother to climb downhill to the river bank. Sofia was very carefully walking so that Daddy was between the river and herself. She had heard his stories of the danger of the Yawrah and didn't even want to risk letting a single splash of it's water hit her. It was this river that had hurt Daddy's leg!

Shivering, she looked away from the water and focused instead on the stretch of land further down the shore. To her surprise, she saw another wolf. But not a big one; a little one, like her. "Daddy, can we go say hi to that wuff?" She whispered, as was her wont, but Calypso's ears were attuned to the soft slur of her voice and he had no difficulty picking out the words even with the river roaring nearby. "Of course, darling." He licked her affectionately and began to stride purposefully, no longer idly meandering.

While lighter in hue, the male-by-scent Storm puppy reminded Calypso significantly of himself. He hadn't been much older when he'd had his own run in with the Yawrah. He only survived but for the coincidence of Malachi being nearby. An eerie sense of deja vu hit him; whether or not it was actually there, he thought he recognized the same curiosity and desire for adventure that had once caused him to brave the waters. But he kept his pace restrained. Not everyone was as impetuous as he had been, and the water did not rage.. quite so dangerously this time of year. Still, he couldn't help himself as he approached into conversation range: "Be careful; don't get too close." Sofia nodded her approval at his words, for once remaining visible instead of pressed against her Daddy's side.

Pilot
Now that the puppies were older and venturing out of the den, Pilot made a mental note to try and keep an eye on them. He knew that Phoenix's paws were already full of duties he must carry out to run the pack, let alone try to raise his youngest children. And they were a handful - that much was clearly apparent pretty much from the day they had been born. Pilot himself had yet to really speak or bond with any of the tikes just yet, but he hoped to have the chance sooner or later. He liked having a close relationship with most in the pack. Aside from the pups, he really needed to get to know Phasma better too.

He was no longer assigned to just patrolling the borders, but he still made his daily checks (usually in the morning) to make sure all was in order. He hunting skills had greatly increased now that he had grown stronger and become a Luperci. Today was another day he planned to go hunting - perhaps he would be able to feed the entire pack tonight and they could all have a feast together. But that was being ambitious.

He could tell the pups apart now - even the twins - and knew the smells to distinguish them. When he reached the scent of Kansas from where he had deviated out away from Storm's lands, Pilot instinctively followed. He wasn't aiming to bring the boy back and scold him. Quite the opposite, in fact. He was curious to see what young pups did in their free time, and he hoped maybe he could snag up a little quality time with the Sadira offspring.

The pup was close to the river, though it didn't worry Pilot just yet. He still was far enough away that he wasn't in any immediate danger. "Hey there, Kansas," Pilot called out to him, to avoiding accidentally sneaking up and frightening him. As soon as he spoke, however, he noticed two others not far from them. He didn't recognize them, but their presence wasn't threatening. In fact, the adult was traveling with a young pup too. Pilot offered a grin and nodded them a greeting.
#2
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_____ He was very interested in what he looked like, though the rocks beneath his small paws were slippery and he was becoming worried about perhaps loosing his grip and falling into the pool. Luckily, it wouldn’t have been too terrible, since the pool was cut off from the rapids by a circle of small rocks. It would have been a nice place to swim if the weather wasn’t so cold. He saw himself almost perfectly - the pale cream face with blue eyes was staring back at him, mystified. He couldn’t see the varying shades of his eyes there, as the blue of the water lessened their effect.


_____ Footsteps startled him; he jumped and lost his footing, but instead of tumbling into the pool as he’d feared, he merely slid to his belly. He stood back up and wheeled around, fearing perhaps his parents had come to reprimand him. But there was only another youngster, one who didn’t look or smell like either of his sisters. She appeared to be his age, or nearly so. She kept her distance from the river, so he himself moved away from it, toward her. Behind her was a multihued male keeping careful watch; her father, he decided.


_____ Kansas tentatively approached her, keeping far enough away that he had to stretch his snout to touch her shoulder, sniffing her curiously. His voice was soft but interested as he greeted her. “Wha’s your name?” He was trying to be polite, but he realized that he’d forgotten to say “hello”. He glanced sheepishly past her and her father, a flash of white having caught his eye. Moving toward them was Pilot, the boy Kansas thought was a little weird, but who diligently tended to Storm and, recently, helped watch over his siblings and him. Oh, no. He was in trouble.


_____ However, Pilot didn’t start off the way Kansas had anticipated. A bit surprised but pleased, he spoke to the blue-eyed male, this time remembering his manners properly. “Hi, Pilot. Am… am I in trouble?


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#3
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ugh, sorry for sucking and taking so long. i had a horrible week. >>


Sofia didn't really interact with other wolves enough to notice the lack of politeness in not saying "hello." Oh, she knew the theory of manners well enough, but her general aversion to strangers made putting them into practice difficult to remember. In fact, the only reason she bothered approaching this one because it was the first time she'd seen a wolf her size since her brothers, and they weren't more than fuzzy blobs. She only even remembered one of their names; Tomas had been nice and would let her chew on his tail.


She tried really hard to deliberately pronounce each word of her response. Her voice always sounded so stupid and it was always so hard to say things correctly; she didn't mind the puppy accent in others but she always sounded so different than Daddy and she wanted so badly to be exactly like him. He was the best wolf in the whole world. "I am Sofia." In struggling to get the pronunciation down, her tone was very solemn and serious. To try and lighten that tone a bit, she added in a hesitant smile, then wondered how her smile looked. Probably not as good as Daddy's did.


At the appearance of another male, a big one this time, and Sofia quickly flattened her ears against her head and took a step backwards, glancing at her daddy to make sure that he was still there. Only his reassuring smile kept her from scampering straight back to cowering at his side. Calypso wasn't sure about this strange male other, but the other puppy's familiarity with him made him less worried about the white stranger's presence. Or Pilot, as was likely his name. It sounded vaguely similar to someone he'd heard of before - maybe he had been part of Storm before Calypso had left? It was possible, albeit unlikely. Didn't matter, really, in the long run.
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#4
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_____Pilot admired the adventurous spirit in most all of the pups, though he had yet to really see it develop in Ember. That, however, could have been partly due to the fact that he rarely saw much time with the whelp. Instead he was usually keeping an eye out for the twins – Firefly in particular, the most rambunctious of the group. Though there may have been a bit of hesitation in the back of his mind about letting Kansas wander past the borders, it was largely over passed by the thrill of perhaps gaining a playmate, in a sense. Really Pilot just wanted to be a big brother and perhaps learn second handedly from Phoenix what being a father was like. After all, he hoped that one day he and Dierdre would have their own rascals to look after.


_____"Not today," Pilot replied with a subtle wink. His attention then turned to the small pup whom Kansas had just met. Though slightly skittish, the pup seemed rather like Storm’s own. The only difference was perhaps the absence of the Sadira blue eyes or the dark brown fur passed on by Storm’s own alpha. To try and aid her comfort, Pilot offered the girl a grin. "Hi there. Keep an eye on Kansas, there, will yah?" He made a move towards the male accompanying the pup, hoping that the girl wouldn’t feel segregated from her father once Pilot made his approach.


_____For a moment, he almost forgot that they weren’t on Storm lands anymore. He had to ditch his border greetings behind. But in a way, he was glad for this. Things could be less formal and perhaps it would give a chance for the two pups to have some play time together. "Hello. I’m Pilot Haddon of Storm." The white male moved, so that he came to the other’s side, allowing him to keep one eye on his best friend’s kin. "Is that your girl?" he asked conversationally.


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#5
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Eep, sorry for the wait.


_____ The boy noted how her words were spoken almost hesitantly. She seemed to be putting a great deal of effort into getting her speech down right. Kansas somehow admired her for doing this – and she sounded so wonderful. He wasn’t really worried about how he spoke; not most of the time. He felt he would get this talking thing down soon enough. The girl was nearly prim, which was amusing. He grinned shyly. Sofia? What a pwetty name.


_____ It was true – somewhere inside, he matched it to her personality and to the way she looked, and it fit to both perfectly. Despite the initial shyness, he immediately had this hope that they might be playmates; friends, even. The only puppies he knew were his siblings, and, well, he was so used to them. It was nice to meet someone new.


_____ He’d been timidly watching Pilot out of the corner of his eye. And the other’s answer came unexpectedly – Kansas had truly feared he’d be in trouble for this. Maybe if he didn’t make it a repeated offense, things would be okay. The alabaster male had said “this time”, hadn’t he? Oh, okie. Kansas’ tail began a slow wag, and he felt such relief that he smiled more widely. He glanced past the girl toward her father, wanting him to say his name as well but feeling unqualified to ask for him to do so. The boy was glad that the multihued male didn’t seem cautious about Pilot – it just made things that much more comfortable.

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