[html] http://i950.photobucket.com/albums/ad34 ... bott0m.png); background-repeat:no-repeat; padding-bottom:240px; background-position:bottom center; background-color:#252237"> ┤Not much happening, she can come in any way you want; he's sort of deep in thought so he might not notice her until she's quite close.├
He hadn't long departed the company of the non-shifter she-wolf, Finn, when the dense woods began to thin, and eventually he found himself free of the treeline altogether. What lay beyond were miles and miles of grassland, as far as he could see with his one good eye. He knew that the ocean was nearby...no more than a few hours trek, but he wasn't looking to keep close to the coast this time around. Rather, he was looking for the city that the black wolf Cwmfen had spoken of. Once he found that, it would be only a short ways north to the pack named Phoenix Valley, which was his destination. Hopefully, once he got there, negotiations would go well. After all, he wasn't asking for too much, though he expected to be forced to make some concessions, if the pack's alpha allowed him and his people entry at all. He did not yet regret leaving the rest of his party behind, though he thought that he probably would when it came time to go back and retrieve them. Assuming that time came at all. It was entirely possible that the alpha of Phoenix Valley wouldn't want them anywhere near his border.
A strong wind sent waves through the grass, and watching over the fields, Jantus could see its progress from a long way off. He strode toward it, closing his one eye and breathing deep as the breeze washed over him. Indeed, he could smell the ocean, but other things too. Pack smells...one to the south in particular, though he didn't know its name. He supposed that he and his group had missed it. The wind had told them of wolf populations in the area as they traveled, but now that he was tens of miles further north, he realized that one of the packs they had strafed along may actually have had some information regarding their destination: he didn't know that the group's name was Cour des Miracles, nor that it did indeed belong to the same community of packs as those up here, and certainly had members that could have told him earlier where Phoenix Valley was. Nonetheless, he had wanted to remain relatively unknown prior to their arrival, and had--he felt--mostly succeeded in that task. They had heard of a shortcut this time, and used a ferry to cross the great water, sparing them the land-bridge at the northwest of the territory where he had come in last time.
No, he doubted he was more than a day's travel away from his destination, and once he found it, it would be a few days back to find his group and bring them back. Or, alternatively, to tell them that they all needed to go home. He hoped very much that such a fate was not awaiting them at the end of their long journey. It wasn't so bad for him, actually, nor his sisters. But Aivyr, even though he usually would have lived much closer to this place than anyone else, had returned from a long journey back to their mutual friend's long-lost home pack, and brought a visitor a very long distance to visit the grave with the rest of them. He hoped for that individual more than anyone else that they were not turned back. | [/html]
[html] http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v515/ ... essban.jpg); background-position: bottom center; background-repeat: no-repeat;">
500+ words. Setting it for the 25th works fine for me. =D And sorry. . . I feel like I jumped around in this post. o_o;
######It had been a great deal of time since she had ventured out of the pack's territory - almost a whole month! For someone so intent on exploring as much of the surrounding area as possible for her own amusement, staying within the borders for almost a whole entire month just was not befitting of her. When she had woken up that morning, Princess had decided it was time to venture out into the unknown once more, and to top it off, she was going to return to the scene of the almost-crime from a month prior. If something happened this time, she wouldn't be able to count on someone like Anselm being there to save her again, but what were the chances of something happening there a second time? Not finding it to be likely, she had thrown on her old dress in shades of blue and toussled her hair before leaving with a bounce in her step. It was uncommon for her to like a dress enough to wear it so frequently, especially because this one was beginning to be considered old. She had many dresses from when she found this one, but she hadn't worn most of them yet, so they were not old. It would be time to find new clothing soon, just because she knew that she could.
######There was someone in the distance, but from the clothing that it wore, she couldn't tell a single thing about them. Curiousity raged through her head like a herd of the fastest deer in the world as she moved nearer, hoping to learn more about the stranger underneath the weird clothing. It kind of looked a fuzzy dress, but it didn't sit like a dress, which confused her greatly. Princess assumed they were relatively close to her, because she could clearly see them, just from the normal distance vantage point, but the smell was less distinct. No matter, she assumed it was because of the fact that they were relatively close to the ocean, which always smells strongly. However, she realized as she was walking quickly in that direction, her strides almost small leaps from her small stature, they were much farther away than expected. That meant that they were either moving faster than she happened to be, or they had been farther away than she had initially anticipated when spotting them and were just large enough that they might appear closer to her fairlu untrained eye. Though this might have seemed daunting to someone else, to Princess, it only meant that she needed to get closer to see them more clearly.
######Her small leaps had become an almost run as she attempted to reach them quickly, before they could walk away from her even faster. Though in the back of her mind she knew that they probably didn't even know she was there, Princess, being an irrational girl, was not going to be ignored by someone in such silly clothing! "Hey! What are. . . Whoa. You're huge!" she exclaimed when she finally caught up to him, staring up at him in awe. Compared to her, he was massive. At least double her size! Or rather, that's what she assumed, though he only had about two and a half feet on her in height and was substantially larger than her everywhere else, but that only made sense when you were to consider his height and gender.
[/html]
[html] http://i950.photobucket.com/albums/ad34 ... bott0m.png); background-repeat:no-repeat; padding-bottom:240px; background-position:bottom center; background-color:#252237">┤Sorry I didn't get to this last night. Homework and all =(├
Lost in thought as he was (not something terribly common for the big wolf), Jantus didn't hear or smell the little girl coming before the called out, and he turned quickly, toward the right as was typical for him, the world spinning into view of his good eye first. At first he didn't see anything, even with his head tilted down to the level where he greeted most wolves. He looked down further, to find a very peculiar little girl who only stood a little taller than his elbow. She was wearing some strange, frilly human garment, and had a great deal of curly hair on her head...unusual in the wolves he'd met.
"Are you sure you're not just small, little one?" he asked, smiling down at her with a slightly quizzical expression. "Many people have called me big, but none of them quite so small as you. You've a bit of growing to do yet before you decide on who is huge and who is not!" He bellowed his good-natured laugh, and felt compelled to tussle her hair (despite it being much longer than any he'd seen before), but contained himself. He had four daughters back home, who he loved very much, and it was good to be reminded of them. Nonetheless, this was a strange girl in a strange land, and the last thing he wanted was to cause any disturbance; better to just keep himself behaved. It didn't even occur to him that calling a child short might bother their sense of grown-upedness, but such was the care-free nature and spontaneity of his humor that he rarely took such careful considerations before speaking up.
The bearskin cape, a symbol of his rank back home, blew slightly in the wind, but was heavy enough that a strong gust would be necessary to truly disturb it. He hadn't wanted to bring it along, but his mate, Vera, had said something about paying respects in form, and insisted that he travel with it. It had a few pockets that had been stitched on that let him carry things, but for the most part it was a non-utilitarian garment, and that made him detest it at times, though he certainly felt bigger (as if he wasn't enough already) and more important when he wore it before his pack-mates. The belt at his waist, on the other hand, he minded not at all. It was very useful, and he could understand why humans had used such clothing. After all, he'd have had to carry his club with him all through this land without it, and nothing said trouble quite like greeting pack leaders with a weapon in hand. | [/html]
[html] http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v515/ ... essban.jpg); background-position: bottom center; background-repeat: no-repeat;">
500+ words.
######With an indignant huff, Princess stared up at the overly large male with fiery eyes, her usual response to anyone implying that she was young. For heaven's sake, she was a year and almost a month old, she lived on her own and had off and on since birth, and she was a woman now, thanks to her orange Knight, Haven. It was tiring to constantly be told she was small or young, just because she was petite. That didn't mean that she wasn't an adult, and obviously, this large man was just the same as everyone else that had ever told her that she needed to grow up still. It was absolutely ridiculous how many people seemed to think she was still just a kid, and she certainly intended to let him know how obnoxious it was to constantly be told that she was young. Princess was an adult, and she'd be damned if she would let anyone get away with implying otherwise.
######"Listen, I'm an adult, okay? I'm not a little kid! Just because you're oversized doesn't mean I'm not an adult," she said, tone creeping towards a small shout. It was understandable, though, in a way, because of their obvious size difference. The girl assumed she would have to be louder in order to be heard because his ears were too high, and anyway, she always had difficulty keeping her voice in check when she was upset or annoyed. If he were to demand proof that she was an adult, she would likely not think twice about shouting about everything she viewed as justifying of her age, just as she had with that stranger on this beach only a month prior. Likewise, she had told everything to Anselm without a second thought, as well, and had no problem with needing to prove herself. Obviously, she could, and everyone else just needed to realize that she wasn't a little pup anymore, but a young woman and she didn't need anyone reminding her of her small stature. She was older than she looked, after all.
######Taking a moment to study him critically, she observed every little detail she possibly could about him that was not relative to his size. If he could patronize her, then she sure could ask him too many questions, and ones that would probably annoy him, as well. "What happened to your eye, anyway? And why do you have a weird furry thing on you? It looks weird," she added critically, before continuing with her rapidfire questions, "And what's that next to your hip? How come you're so big? And what happened to your eye?" she asked again, impatiently, though she hadn't stopped speaking long enough to give him time to answer the first time. The question regarding his eye was the most important out of all she had asked, in her opinion. He was wearing something over his eye, which must mean it wasn't normal. Otherwise, why would he be wearing something on it like that? With the rest of his strange attire, she supposed it could just be something random, but she highly doubted it.
[/html]
[html] http://i950.photobucket.com/albums/ad34 ... bott0m.png); background-repeat:no-repeat; padding-bottom:240px; background-position:bottom center; background-color:#252237">┤Lol, I have to go back and change his dialogue half the time because his diction is simpler than mine XD Been cutting out a lot of 'at any rate's and 'well, you're one to talk's and stuff like that.├
Jantus quirked an eyebrow at her outburst, but couldn't put away his smile. It was just cute. Perhaps a bit off because of her human garment, but she wasn't the first he'd seen wear clothing after their fashion, nor even of their making. One way or the other, her indignation, perhaps against her wishes, did nothing but endear her to him more. He paused a few moments after she began rattling off her questions at him before finally cutting into her tirade to answer.
"Alright, alright!" he laughed. "Maybe I wasn't being fair. My eye got poked out by a spear; that's a sharp stick with metal at the end, if you didn't know. So, I've only got one eye. My friend and I decided it looked better to have a patch over the eye instead of just ugly scar tissue." He tapped the brown patch with a claw. "Downright gross under there. As for what I'm wearing, look at you! I don't think my little cape is any stranger than your human-made...thing. Not sure what they called those...anyway, this is from an angry bear I killed, and it's a symbol carried by the leader of the pack back where I come from." He puffed up a little at that. "The metal thing at my hip is a club, and I use it to fight people with spears so I don't lose my other eye. I got so big by eating a lot, and because both of my parents were big." He gave her a questioning look, but there was more play in it than serious intent.
"So, now that I've answered you're questions, you should answer mine. First, I've told you how I got so big, so you should tell me how you got so small. Were your parents small? Did you decide to stop growing so you could fit into your human clothes?" He cocked his left eyebrow exaggeratedly. He might have sobered up by now, but her outburst had given him too much fuel, and talking to her felt far too much like conversations he might have with one of his younger sisters years ago, or one of his daughters now. "And for my next question...hmm, I'm not that creative. How about: what's your name? Mine's Jantus."
| [/html]
[html] http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v515/ ... essban.jpg); background-position: bottom center; background-repeat: no-repeat;">
1000+ words. =D
######Princess glared up at the broad man, eyes aflame, although it was likely he would not feel threatened. Others were occassionally apologetic when she was angry (though she liked to pretend that was because she was very intimidating), but he only seemed to think it was worthy of smiling about. Obviously, he did not seem to understand the severity of her anger at that moment, as she was very easily offended and he had managed to find one of her soft spots. There were many things that could spark the girl's immature temper, and being mistaken for younger than she actually was happened to be one of the main triggers. Along with this were mentions of her mother in reference to doing something good, and insulting her choice to sleep with Haven. Both were equally as bad when it came to triggering her anger, but as this man knew not of Tokyo or Haven (or Ares and Mati, since they were also relevant), he only had the possibility of insulting her pride.
######As a matter of fact, she had no idea what spear was except for a vague notion of it being a weapon, but she was not about to let on to that thought. Princess was much more intelligent than that, though not as experienced in the ways of weapons. Such things were not befitting of a lady, except when being wielded by their ever amazing Knight. As made obvious by this stranger, they could do much more harm than good in many cases. She was willing to take his word on how the skin and tissue beneath his eyepatch looked, because she certainly did not want to see it. Gross! Despite the horrors she had seen, the only graphically disturbing thing she knew she had witnessed was the murder of her three siblings when they were so young, but thankfully, she had been far too young to remember exact details. Something so terrible stayed with the one experiencing it forever, and she would always remember the feelings and thoughts associated with it, as well as images her mind had conjured, but never an actual memory of exactly how it had looked.
######Looking down at the garment she worse, Princess studied it self-conciously, perplexed at what he had said about what she wore. How could he possibly compare a dress with an ugly bear skin? Appearance was very important to her, unfortunately for those around her that chose to let themselves go a bit, and dresses were meant for beauty; bear skins were, apparently, a sign of leadership. Cercelee had not worn a bear skin, and neither did Savina, for which the girl was most grateful. Perhaps it was only a thing for male leaders, strange as it sounded to her own ears. If he was a leader, then why was her not back home then? Why was he here, of all places? It was possible he was the leader of a neighboring pack to Crimson Dreams, as she knew there were others. In the area, she knew of Dahlia, AniWaya, Crimson Dreams, Inferni, and Cour des Miracles. Those that she had not been members of, she knew those who were. It was possible there was another pack close by, but shouldn't leaders stay close to their lands? He must have been very far away from home, indeed.
######Directing her gaze back to the older man, Princess sighed as if what she had to say should have been completely obvious. "This, what I am wearing, is called a dress. It is meant to look pretty, and it does." There would be no debating that fact, because she just would not hear anything he had to say on the matter if he chose to argue with her. "I did not choose to stay small, obviously. What kind of an idea is that? My mom is small, and her family, but I don't know about my dad, because he raped my mom and left us," she added with a tone of indifference. Of course she would leave out all of the details, but what she had said was just a skeleton of what had happened. Regardless of her mother's past lies and misgivings, she still believed that Raphael had raped Tokyo, and that it was all his fault that her beloved brother had lived a miserable life by Tokyo's treatment. If she should ever come across that miserable man again in her life, Princess would give him a lifetime's worth of repressed anger towards him. Though her mother had olften expressed her dislike of him, Princess had never openly said anything negative about him to her or anyone else. If she ever found him, however, you had better believe that he would get it.
######Evidently, he was right in saying he was not creative; everyone and their brother wanted to know her name when they met her. She supposed this was acceptable, however, as she was curious to know everyone else's names in return. Sometimes, giving her name led to very good things, as well, such as when she had met Haven. They had matched together perfectly - a Princess and her Knight. Likewise, telling Amata had been nice, because the girl had obviously been excited to hear what her name was, and Princess thought the cream-colored puppy was so adorable! "If you must know, Jantus," she stressed, her own way of letting him know that she was still very annoyed about what he had said to her earlier about her size and what not, "My name is Princess Chance, and I live in Crimson Dreams, one of the best packs around." Truthfully, she also thought that Dahlia de Mai was nice, even if it was home to awful ones like her mother and that dreadful Haku Soul. There were too many nice people there to say the pack was bad, but she would never be caught vocally admitting that. "So, if you're some big shot pack leader, why are you out here?" Naturally, she would always manage to think of more questions to ask. Though she knew she was quite nosy, she much preferred to use the term inquisitive. It was far more flattering for her.
[/html]
[html] http://i950.photobucket.com/albums/ad34 ... bott0m.png); background-repeat:no-repeat; padding-bottom:240px; background-position:bottom center; background-color:#252237">┤You've been online practically all day >_< Sorry for not getting this written sooner.├
It was a strange thing. The more she talked and the more huffy she got, the more he liked her. It was just...well, the word he guessed was cute. Not the kind of cute he'd want in a pack where everyone had to be worth their weight in a fight, like back home--he'd have to teach a girl overly concerned with beauty and other useless things how the world worked--but still charming in a weird way. He kept up his grin through her explanation right up to the part where her father raped her mother, at which point the grin fell, but he said nothing. He felt compelled to ask if the father was still around, but given that she said he'd left them, he assumed the male wasn't still in the area. Even if he was, Jantus had resolved that he and his packmates were not to get involved here. Skoll had told them that this place had its problems, so he'd known that coming in. They weren't his to address.
"Sorry to hear that, Chance." He didn't mean to insult her if she went by Princess...it certainly would have fit her style more closely; the name 'Chance' simply appealed more as a diminutive, and given his tendency toward impulse, he'd answered her in his somber tone before he'd considered it. "Nothing's quite like it should be in the world." With that he averted his eyes for a moment, off down the way he'd been going before she appeared.
"Didn't say I was a bigshot, though I guess my pack is bigger than the ones around here. I'm here to visit a friend." He said this a little heavily, still sobered by her account of her origin. "Well, a friend's grave. A wolf named Skoll died here about a year ago. Brought myself and a handful of his other friends and family to visit the site. Being an alpha, I couldn't leave right away; and we needed time to round up others who wanted to go. He touched a lot of people. We've come a long way just to visit his hole in the ground." It was a sad thing, especially because no one he'd spoken to thus far knew the old wolf. Skoll had lived in this place--or the place where all these wolves had lived earlier--for three years. Jantus would have figured he'd be a name here the same way he was abroad. He'd never quite believed him that he wasn't anything special among these people.
Then again, he supposed it made sense. A warrior could only shine in the light of war. In situations other than that, all the attention paid to martial skill were wasted; better to expend energy on perfecting the art of hunting, lore, or politics. Politics. Bah. That was one thing he could always agree with Skoll about. Politics were one thing that could turn his stomach more than war. Nothing quite as vile as wolves biting each other in the back over empty words, betraying loyalty for fairweather friends, or killing each other over presumed rights or duties. Nothing struck quite so close to home sometimes. Losing your mother and father over some arrogant alpha's claim on your sister could sour anybody to the 'civilized' method of working out problems. The scummy alpha had escaped. That alpha's son, his beta, along with Jantus's mother and father had not. Nothing was quite like it should be in the world.
| [/html]
[html] http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v515/ ... essban.jpg); background-position: bottom center; background-repeat: no-repeat;">
Don't worry about it. I'm in college, pre-med, and my replies are usually a day or two or three after the other person posts, unless I actually have the time to write right away. ^^; 520+ words.
######"It's Princess," she corrected him, though her tone was less than enthusiastic about it, not actually caring what he chose to call her. She was, admittedly, feeling smug about the fact that he was not smiling at her anymore in the patronizing way, as if he found what she said and did adorable. Mentioning her useless father had certainly done the trick of sobering him a bit. Princess was still not fond of the size of him and the fact that he had called her "Little one" and told her she still had some growing up to do, and as a result, was more of a brat than usual. Unfortunately, she knew this, but it did not mean that there was any chance that she would be any less of one. Her sense of pride, though occassionally flawed, would not allow her to ever really apololgize for anything. In recent times, she could only recall apologizing to her brother for calling him by his birth name.
######There was a truth in his words, though she did not want to agree with him because of her obvious annoyance at some of his words. Regardless, she did have to acknowledge the statement. "Don't I know it," she muttered, thinking about everything that had happened in her life. Princess would never have chosen those things to happen. Anybody who did want horrible things like her experiences did not deserve the good things in life, just as those that inflicted harm or emotional abuse deserved nothing more than what they gave. She knew this, but still, she secretly hoped her mother was happy in Dahlia de Mai without her. In leaving, she had wanted to hurt Tokyo, but now she hoped things had smoothed over for the older Chance woman, at least relatively so that she could move on with her life.
######The name Skoll was not familiar to her, but then, that was to be expected, since she had not been in the area for even six months yet, and Jantus had mentioned his friend had died over a year ago. Glancing around her with uncertainty, Princess was almost expecting to see other luperci like the giant in front of her. "Where is everyone else?" If there was a group of them, then they certainly had to be nearby in their search for a gravesite. In such a case, she assumed that she might need to start acting a bit more polite, in the presence of a leader with his followers nearby. Perhaps they also carried clubs, maybe even the spears that he worried about, and would not hesitate to punish her for her attitude. It was a worry with no foundation, but never the less, the young girl was a bit worried about the possibility. Frankly, she did not need to have any holes put in her, or any parts of her broken, or even parts of her missing. Would a pack leader set his pack on a young, bratty girl? A leader like Haku Soul might, so maybe Jantus would, too. She needed to be more careful in the future, obviously.
[/html]
[html] http://i950.photobucket.com/albums/ad34 ... bott0m.png); background-repeat:no-repeat; padding-bottom:240px; background-position:bottom center; background-color:#252237">┤├
"Oh," he said, looking back over his shoulder at where he guessed his companions would be expected to be if they had come traveling with him. He supposed that an explanation for his solitude should be forthcoming if he was to mention them at all. "Well, we need to cross a pack border to visit the grave, and we figured we'd cause less of a stir if we sent one person out to find the path first, and have that person come back once they knew the path to Phoenix Valley." Cwmfen had already given him decent directions, though further guidance was always welcome. Still, considering how mischievous this girl seemed, especially in anger or frustration, he wasn't sure how well he would trust her if she were to give him information counter to the black she-wolf's.
"We're probably not exactly what most of you lot around here would be looking for in neighbors, and we didn't want to cause a scene if we ended up skirting someone else's territory: alpha's can't mark every tree, y'know. If one person misses a mark or comes across an empty space between markings, well, that shouldn't be so bad, but if all of us did at once, we might have a battle on our hands." He shrugged and looked off toward his destination. "Not that we couldn't handle ourselves just fine, mind you. But this was the home of our friend, and I don't want to cause upset here; especially not on a peaceful mission like ours." It was a shame. This place wasn't quite the same as the last one, though he supposed many of the wolves had to be the same. Still: the whole area had more appeal to him as a veteran warrior's retirement home, the way he'd somewhat arrogantly considered it when Skoll had lived there. After all, anywhere that coyotes were the most feared force in a hundred miles had to be pretty laid back.
"But hey, if you haven't had enough of me already, you could always wait around for when I bring the rest of the group through to Phoenix Valley. It's a shame that I didn't bring my daughters with me; you might get along with them better." He rested his chin on his upraised hand for a moment, furrowing his brow as he pondered. "But I don't guess they would understand any more about dresses than I do. We don't have human clothes in the valley...just the occasional human tool." He patted the half-car axle that he carried as a club. Weaponry they had, having looted nearby ruins several times for armaments. He guessed there could be dresses there, but he wouldn't be the only one in the pack laughing if he saw Brin, Fala, Feny or Vel dressed up like Princess.
| [/html]
[html] http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v515/ ... essban.jpg); background-position: bottom center; background-repeat: no-repeat;">
500+ words.
######Jantus had a decent explanation for why he was the only one there, and though the reassured girl would have loved to argue with him a bit more about it, she could not think of a thing to say about it. That was a first for her lately, wasn't it? Unfortunately for her, Princess could actually see the logic in why they would only send one member ahead to scope out the situation, but she assumed it must be dreadfully boring. Did he not miss his family, and his pack, or at least his daughters? Judging by his reaction when she had explained her parents and what had transpired between them, she could only guess that he had morals and values attached to doing the right thing. If he had daughters, it was same to assume that he would be there for him. She would not like to be separated from her brother for any length of time now, and could also safely say that she would have felt even worse being separated if she had more family in the pack, or if she was (heaven forbid if it ever happened) actually the leader of the pack. In any case, she believed that pack leaders needed to be there for their packs, but she supposed this could be the case even though he had come to find Skoll's grave. As an old friend, then maybe he had been a member of the pack, and it was best for the pack to send their leader. It didn't make much sense to her, but she was not well versed in the manners of leadership.
######"Don't you miss your family? What are your daughters like? How come you were the one who came, instead of someone like your second in command?" she asked, thinking about what might happen if someone in her pack had to venture into strange lands. Would Savina go, leaving her family and puppies alone, or would Anu be the one to go? "Tell me about your pack. We have a pack that's not very nice, so I'm told. My friend Anselm told me that Inferni's full of madmen and murderers, but I don't actually know, because I'm never been there. I plan to go soon, though." This was not necessarily a fact, as she did not know if she would ever go there (Anselm had told her to stay away, but she was more intrigued by his warning than anything), but her voice was confident about going there. She probably would go there, at any rate, and if anyone found her, then she could always make some excuse about needing to find Anselm to tell him something. If asked, or if she actually found him, then she could tell him about making up with her brother after her talk with him. That seemed like an acceptable story, even if Inferni was full of coyotes and hybrids that would surely want to rip her apart for being a wolf. My, she might even like the brush with danger! Anselm had not told her of the wolf-hating, but the grape vine was a lovely gossip chain - Princess adored gossip.
[/html]
[html] http://i950.photobucket.com/albums/ad34 ... bott0m.png); background-repeat:no-repeat; padding-bottom:240px; background-position:bottom center; background-color:#252237">┤├
Jantus lifted a brow at Princess's renewed interest, and smiled wide, hoping for a moment that she'd stymie the flow so he could actually answer. Before he was able to, though, she said some very disturbing things. Skoll had made it clear that Inferni wouldn't be much against a group like the Pine, but that didn't mean they couldn't pose a very real danger to someone like Princess. Much as he liked thinking little of villains and monsters, that didn't change the fact that such people knew how to pick off easy targets, and for all her fire, Princess unfortunately fell into that category.
"Now don't go off and do something stupid, Princess," he bellowed. His voice was deep, now, serious. It was the voice of an alpha, the voice of a father. "How many madmen or murderers do you think it'd take to snap you up? Curiosity is all well and good, but if you know someone who can tell you about a dangerous thing, settle your curiosity with them. Some things are better experienced far away." With that, he tapped his eyepatch. "Might be you're curious about a spear; doesn't mean the spear will hold still long enough for you to look at it safe." He was quiet for a few moments after he said that. His demeanor had shifted very suddenly; he could tolerate Princess's orneriness to a degree, but he couldn't give her enough slack to hang herself with. He couldn't listen to a young wolf talk about getting herself murdered. After that bout of solemn warning, however, he tried to divert the conversation back to another topic.
"And I do miss my family, but I haven't been away from them for more than a couple weeks." His tone was warmer now. He wasn't happy about getting stern, and he didn't know that she'd even listen, frightening as his booming 'serious' voice could be. But he couldn't have lived with himself if he hadn't said something. "As for my second in command, he's standing in my place back home right now. Of the people who came here with me, I decided to scout ahead myself because I'm the biggest, and probably the best equipped to take on any madmen or murderers who come my way." Having answered her easy questions, now the much more interesting prospect of discussing his family came up. Hopefully, that would be enough to take her mind away from defending the ludicrous idea of visiting a gang of madmen and murderers.
"But you want to know about my daughters, eh? I've got four of them: Fala, Feny, Brin, and Vel. All 'bout the same age as you are, and none of em wear bear skins." He emitted a momentous bark of laughter. He'd never seen someone who had reacted so disdainfully toward it before; Princess's affectations tickled him more than she could know.
"Hmm...I think you'd like Fala best, but who am I to know? A real social butterfly, Fala. Everyone likes her, and she likes everyone, close as I can tell. Even the mean ones, if they don't snap at her too much, and I figure they're scared to cause of her big old dad." He smiled, calling back the recent memories fondly. "I guess you might also like Feny and Brin. You've gotta talk about them as a pair because they're never apart. Joined at the hip, Vera says. Oh, Vera: she's my mate, the girls' mother. Feny and Brin...what's to say? They're a little odd. More exclusive than Fala. They like their aunts best of everyone in the pack, 'cept their mom. Since their aunts like fighting, that means they like fighting too, but their hearts aren't in it completely. 'Be honest with ye, I think it's Feny who likes the fighting. Brin does it because she loves her aunts and she loves her sister, but Brin likes practice-hunting better, and I think she'll be really good at it when she's older. So far, though, they both seem to like pretty things and tough things, and they like it best when they're both together, which I guess is why they like their aunts so much." He laughed at his own conclusion; it was really doing a lot to improve his mood, talking about his family.
"And so I guess that leaves Vel? She's a bit harder to figure out. Girl doesn't open up to anybody. Her mom doesn't know much more about what's in her head than I do. All I know is she stands off alone a lot of the time when the rest of us are having fun, and I've caught her looking off at the rim of the valley where we live. She's a natural at hunting, I think. Doesn't enjoy it as much as Brin does, but I think she might end up being better at it than her sister. That's good, too. I think she'll leave us all too soon." He looked back down at Princess. "I'm guessin' you wouldn't know, not having daughters, but I don't want to see that happen. It might have kept me from going on this trip if I thought I could prevent it somehow." He deflated, slightly. He loved all of his daughters as much as he could love anything in the world, but that didn't mean he could provide everything they needed. Fala was going to be best as a mother, he thought, or even as a leader, if times became less violent. Feny would be a fighter and Brin a hunter. As much as he hated it, he thought that Vel would be a loner.
| [/html]
[html] http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v515/ ... essban.jpg); background-position: bottom center; background-repeat: no-repeat;">
500+ words.
######Instead of answering her first question, Jantus spoke with the tone of discouragement that he had used before, and Princess frowned at him, annoyed that he was acting like that once more. Obviously, she knew of the dangers that Inferni could pose, considering she was from the area and knew a member while Jantus was not and did not, probably. It was a shame that he had decided to use that tone again, since she was certain that she knew just how many madmen or murders it would take for her to go down - zero. If her mother couldn't do it the day she slaughtered the other three puppies, sparing her and the pup that would become her abused brother, then no one in Inferni could take her down, either. There was some reason she was still alive, despite the fact that she could have easily been one of the killed puppies, or she could have simply died when she had ran away from her mother, and no one in Inferni could change that.
######It was a shame that Jantus had once again used that tone, because she was no longer interested in listening to anything he had to say. Regardless, she remained quiet out of politeness, but her heart wasn't really into listening. Though her outside appearance made her seem to be paying complete attention to what he was saying, her mind was wandering a bit. Soon, she would be going to visit Haven, she had decided. With Anselm's talk in mind, she had made up with her brother on her birthday, and it had been about a month since the day Haven had come to Crimson Dreams to visit her and talk about what had happened. Princess had wanted to go see him many times since then, but nerves had talked her out of it, just incase he was not actually interested in seeing her again. Soon, though, she would be visiting him, whether he liked it or not. To herself, she owed that much, and it was also unlikely that he would be unhappy about her visitting. She was just thinking too far into things, now, which was almost always a bad thing.
######Though her mind had been wandering a bit during his lengthy explanation, Princess had actually heard everything he had said, which was not very interesting at all. There was little chance that she would ever meet his daughters, so she did not particularly care what they were like, but he seemed to enjoy talking about them, so she smiled at him when he was finished. It was the least she could do, since she had been the one to ask about his family and his pack. "Sounds like you have a nice family, then. Maybe you should go back and try to work things out with. . . Vel, yeah? I mean, you should try and figure everything out or even just say good bye, unless you've done something bad to her," she added, thinking of her own mother's actions that had driven her away a total of three times now. There had been the first time, when she and her brother had crawled away as their siblings were slaughtered. The next time had been when they were three or four months and left together, and the last had been when she had gone to Crimson Dreams. Hopefully that would be the last time.
[/html]
[html] http://i950.photobucket.com/albums/ad34 ... bott0m.png); background-repeat:no-repeat; padding-bottom:240px; background-position:bottom center; background-color:#252237">┤Good closing point? If you want to continue, however, go for it. It's been a fun thread =)├
Having cared for his younger sisters for so long, and now with all his experience with his four daughters, it wasn't hard for Jantus to tell when a little girl was bored with him. He knew that he had gotten a little carried away talking about his family, a lot of fathers did. He also figured opening up with a lecture--even one as short as that--probably hadn't been conducive to endearing the little girl into further conversation. It was just as well, he supposed. Daylight was burning and he needed to make more headway toward Phoenix Valley and find a safe place to sleep for the night.
"Not that I or anyone else can figure out, Princess. Vel's just one of those types...she's got the loner instinct pretty strong. I want her to stay, but not if it will make her unhappy." The massive werewolf turned to face the direction of his travels. Somewhere, nearby perhaps, lay Phoenix Valley. Once he arrived, he'd have to make the trip back to the ground and bring them along...assuming he got permission from the pack's alpha. After that, they could get this sad business over with and get back to their lives...and their families.
"To that end, though, I think I need to be on my way. Can't return home until I finish my business here!" With that, he performed an exaggerated bow toward the young she-wolf, and turned to be on his way. "You can come along if you'd like, but you probably have something better to do than jaw with me all day?" He laughed to this, and began on his way, though not so quickly that she couldn't still catch up.
| [/html]
[html] http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v515/ ... essban.jpg); background-position: bottom center; background-repeat: no-repeat;">
Ending here works out fine for me. You can post again, or ask for it to be archived. 500+ words.
######In a way, Princess wished that she still had a parent to love her and brag about her, as Jantus seemed to enjoy doing for his daughters. Her own father had never been present, so that was an idea that was completely out of the question. Tokyo had always done a good job of boasting about her "perfect daughter," but that was only when the girl was behaving. As much as she thought about wanting a parent to still love and care for her, she did not want to go back to her mother. Even her mother's doting had not been enough for her, as she knew it was only a matter of time until she did something, anything, that her mother did not like or approve of. Without a parent to be proud of her, she did feel a bit jealous of those that had them, but no matter. Eventually, she would be able to have her own family, and she could brag about them. It was certainly a big "eventually," though, since she did not plan to start a family anytime soon; she was still just a kid.
######There was little more that she could think of to say in regards to his wayward daughter. The large male did not seem to have much faith in his daughter to stay with their family, which bothered Princess quite a bit, surprisingly. In her eyes, he was not completely appreciating the family he had around him, because he did not seem willing to put in all the effort possible to keep Vel with him and his pack. In some situations, such a thing could not be helped, such as her leaving Tokyo to be with her brother, or Haven leaving Crimson Dreams (presumably) because of how his father was. She did not know much about the situation, but it seemed logical to her that the boy she was infatuated with would leave because of his father. If she had left her mother because of the murder of her siblings and the abuse of her living brother, Princess could understand why Haven would not want to stay in the place where his father had been, if that was the case.
######Not a moment after he spoke, he was already beginning to walk away. Princess huffed, shaking her head. "I'm sure I can find something to do. Have fun looking for your friend's grave and stuff." It was not particularly polite to walk away without waiting for a response, whether declining or agreeing, but that was not the only reason she was not interested in staying much longer. Time had surely passed, and though she tried not to fear anything, she was a little apprehensive about staying in the area much longer, especially if it would be dark soon. With the wolf that attacked her, Anselm had done a very good job of removing any chance for him to repeat the attempted action considering the body part he had forcibly removed from the attacker. Still, she was not feeling inclined to stay much longer, so she began to walk in the direction of her pack, mind busily making a list of potential things for her to do when returning.
[/html]
|
