[html] [/html]There was a haze of teal around the edges of the world, deepening into a dark blue that seemed to swallow any noise that rose off the earth. Beppe had slipped out of the house he and his son had been staying in as quietly possible and made his way down to the shoreline. The ocean was a source of comfort for the male, its constant and rhythmic beat against the shore something that he could rely on. With his toes reaching far enough to touch the very tips of the waves as they rose, the ebony wolf sat quietly, peering across the ocean. The sun would emerge from the water soon, shrouded in its layers of gold and crimson, but he had time to sit and watch, keeping company with the stars that knew their time was short.
It had been a long time since the incident at the river, and it was starting to feel like it had never happened. Suddenly and unexplicably, there was a piece of him missing, but his own misery weighed more on his mind than the actual event. Beppe knew why he felt hollow, but he was incapable of remembering the smiles of his daughters or the tricky wink of his missing son. The ocean seemed to wash away his concern, or at least mask it for the time being, and he relished the darkness and the rhythm of the waves. He did not feel whole, but he did not feel empty. [html] [/html]
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ooc: hi there! mind if I join this thread?  Xer needs new friends XD
It had become a part of her daily routine now, if it could be called a routine. Every day now she spent at least part of her time wandering the beaches of Phoenix Valley and the nearby unclaimed territories. Perhaps it was for the sentimental value, or maybe because she had never been able to spend time at a beach where she came from; no matter the reason, Xeris was happy and calm whenever she walked the shoreline. Coupled with her old routine of rising early in the morning, the white wolfess found herself strolling down the Quartz Shoreline before the sun had risen.
She was deep in thought; thought about the past, thought about the present, and thought about the future. Her head was leaned back, golden eyes focusing on the few stars that still remained visible in the sky above her. Xeris was so lost in her thoughts and the view of the sky above that she almost failed to notice the dark-colored wolf who sat on the shore ahead of her. Luckily, she turned her attention downward long enough to spot him, and stopped just short of colliding with him. "Oh, sorry," she said apologetically, "I didn't see you there. Hello."
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[html] Yay! Of course I don't mind Sorry I am slow :/
Gradually and gently, the waves lulled the wolf into a sense of calm. Like the rocks worn down to sand, Beppe's rough edges felt smoothed, his aches momentarily dulled to painless curves. Blue was just starting to bleed into the black depths of the night, and the stars were only just beginning disappear. In the hazy light Beppe did not see the female that was approaching, nor did he hear her footfalls beneath the lull of the waves. Her voice pulled him out of the comfortable emptiness he had drifted into, the sudden sensation of cool salty air almost startling as he found himself once more upon the beach. His surprise faded quickly and he smiled faintly up at the female. The male had locked himself up in the house, kept himself and his child isolated from anyone else, but the appearance of someone else living and breathing seemed almost... comforting.
"Hello," he said softly. "Lovely morning," Beppe added, mostly out of lack of anything else to say. The weather was a reliable source of small talk, even if it was just a short comment. He was too tentative to invite her to sit with him, but he hoped that she would. However much he tried to bury himself in water and sand and silence, he still possessed a deep longing for real company.
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ooc: sorry this post is so short!! >.<
Xeris noticed that the unfamiliar male seemed about as surprised to see her as she was to see him. It was rather odd, she thought, to find someone else out and about at this hour of the morning. In the past, when she'd come across another wolf in the early morning, she would be asked what she was doing out this early. But now it seemed that the roles were reversed, as Xeris wondered what this lonely-looking wolf was doing out here so early in the morning.
"It is a lovely morning," she replied amiably. "I love going out for walks in the morning. The sunrise over the ocean is always so beautiful." She smiled at the thought. Perhaps it would be nice to have some company on her morning walk today. "Oh!" she said, with a bit of a chuckle. "I've forgotten my manners. My name is Xeris, what's yours?" The white wolfess had never seen him around before, and he didn't seem to smell of any pack. Of course, she always loved to meet new people, whether they were from her pack or not.
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[html] Short is fine!
The presence of someone else let Beppe, at least for now, forget what he was being so mopey about. His loneliness was masked beneath a layer of happiness, and indeed he even fooled himself. With a soft smile, he nodded at her statement, and wondered if she did this every morning. This was the first time that the male had seen her, but that didn't mean much. He spent most mornings curled in a bed with his young son, completely oblivious to anything but the dim, dusty room. The world felt much bigger when he was out on the beach, and made his own worries so less significant. He stood up as she introduced herself, gave a little bow-type gesture, and replied, "My name's Beppe, nice to meet you." With tentative eye contact and a slight smile, he asked, "Mind if I join you on your walk?"
He had not had a friend for as long as he could remember - since he had been back in these lands, actually - and the wolf was beginning to see now the value in them. The friendships he shared in these lands did not all come with purely happy memories, though. Sometimes, in his most troubling of dreams, the Italian wolf could see the soul of an old friend lifting to the heavens, above the orange flames that had consumed the old lands. These thoughts didn't come to mind now, though, thankfully, and he peered at a potential new friend with, just maybe, a bit of hope glimmering in his eyes.
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The white wolfess studied the male for a moment as he replied. He looked rather lonely, she thought. But it was only polite for her not to delve into his personal life so quickly to find out why. Instead, Xeris returned his smile. "Sure," she replied. "I may not be walking anywhere fast though, what with so much to carry around." She chuckled, gesturing with her nose toward her belly, which was showing signs of the pregnancy now even in her lupus form. It wouldn't be too long. Soon, going on her daily walks would be a bit more difficult and she'd have to start staying closer to the cabin. But for now, a little early morning stroll would probably be good for her.
Changing the subject for a moment, she decided that perhaps she could ask a little more about her new acquaintance. "So, where are you from?" She'd never seen him around before, not even on her frequent walks. She had a tendency to run into all sorts of others, particularly on the beach here in the unclaimed territory, but even in her wanderings about Phoenix Valley. Looking down at the unfamiliar male, she noticed a bit of a glimmer in his eyes. She could tell that he needed a friend, and Xeris, being the kindly wolfess that she was, would definitely be willing to be his friend.
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[html] So sorry for the delay D:
He smiled gently at Xeris as she explained, looking at her belly for just a moment before uttering, with a small, pleased smile, "Congratulations." The male could remember when Empusa was heavy with their children, but as the thought crept up he supressed it. Sadness was not the most attractive quality, and he didn't want to scare this girl off. "Do you know when they're coming?" he asked. Puppies were something that somewhat intrigued him, the way they seemed to grow from nothing at all, kept warm and safe inside their mother's body. In a way it was slightly disturbing, but the strangeness seemed to add to its beauty.
Beppe had nowhere to go and he was in no hurry to get there, so the speed of his companion's gait meant nothing. Her question was simple but the answer was somewhat complicated; the man had never had a single place that he would have really called home. "Originally, Italy. Then I lived here, before the fire, then I wandered around Europe, and after that I lived south of here. And now I'm back." For the first time, he smiled widely. What a tangled path he had taken. It hadn't really been his doing; the ideas, the longing for adventure had been within him since he was a little boy, but in a million years he wouldn't have put those plans into action by himself.
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