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backdated to the 30th of December
Strel curled up in his nest, staring at the blank wall. He wanted to get it painted, but had yet to go with Mati to get the material to color his home. Sighing, he turned over in the bed, wondering just when he was planning to get something to eat for himself. It was getting later in the evening, dark even from what the light, or lack there of, in his window told him. He had lain down around the beginning of afternoon, having exhausted things to do for the day. There was no muse to really sew anything, and the lack of a terribly large variety of usable cloth made that even more difficult. Letting another sigh escape him, the redhead pulled himself up out of the bed. Sort of kicking the pile, he let it resume its usual form as a mountain instead of a volcano.
There was nothing in the kitchen so he figured he could always go outside and catch himself an animal. But that would require patience, and besides, mostly everything would be asleep now. What was the point? Strel left the kitchen, going into a room off the main hallway. He plopped himself down the couch after finding the bottle he had hidden in the room. The glass was warped and unique, definitely not something that a human had made in their most recent bottles. Rurik had given him this bottle as a free sample when they had met. Strel had confessed of his dilemma and received the vodka, though the next bottles would cost a trade. He had gotten drunk then, having tried some of the stuff the silver wolf kept on him in a flask thing.
Gently setting the bottle on the table, he shifted his body to rest on the couch. Strel's life had taken such a weird turn in this pack. He was no longer the weirdest one in a pack. There were just as strange people wondering around, and quite frankly, it was nice not having an alpha always make sure someone knew where he went. There was so much more freedom in this whole goddamn area. Thank god he had left his old pack. Thank god. Though there were some changes that could have been done without. Like the situation with Leroy. Now that was just a little confusing, and bothersome. He never had that kind of relationship, and he wanted one that meant something different. Beggars can't be choosers if the begging is not their choosing after all.
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OOC: ©table code and image to jacoby: Word count: 412. Worth 2 points SSWM
Hanna paused, just some ten feet or so from the Cour des Miracles border. She was not sure exactly what she was doing there. Jacquez had made it remarkably clear that he wanted nothing to do with his daughter; why push the issue? Still, the woman held some hope that he would do right by the child, that he would grow out of his childish ways and share something with the girl in the way of a talk, or even a friendly snuggle. The more she thought about it though, Hanna wondered if her fervent wish would end up being a blessing or a curse. What if Jac began taking a genuine interest in his daughter, only to decide somewhere down the line that he no longer wanted to have anything to do with her? Young Désirée might be, but stupid she was not.
The woman waffled by the scent lines, hoping on one hand that someone happened past, hoping on the other that no one did. Galilahi had been turned loose; she would fight to the death if someone tried to eat her though she doubted anyone would try around Cour des Miracles. The pack members here owned the beasts, too; Gali could have easily been one of theirs. Tobias had flown ahead ages ago; presumably he was in a tree sleeping the evening hours away in silence. Her baby nursed happily, and Hanna stroked her beautiful, fine puppy fur as she continued her mental questioning. She wanted what was best for the little blue merle pup, but what was that "best", what did it include in its elusive definition?
When finally Desi had eaten her fill of her mother's milk, the medic sat the child on the ground, clearing the snow away to give her a place to sit, then sat next to her. The young girl was more and more alert these days, and Hanna had taken to playing with her to tire her out. Tonight they would sing, as a full moon was rising in the sky. Desi would need to know about Luna. "Sing with Mommy, Sweetheart." The pup stared blankly at first, but then Hanna tipped her head back. A clear, melodic alto raised from her throat as she howled to the deity moon, wavering a moment and then descending the scales. On the second rise, a distinctly inexperienced soprano wove into hers, disappearing and then becoming apparent again. Hanna smiled. She would learn.
Speak, think, act
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Ears twitched slightly at a sound echoing a distance away outside. It was hard to hear and Strel had to strain to hear the sound. Lips thinning a bit, he rose from the couch. Grabbing the bottle, he quickly hid it in somewhere in the room that would not be accidentally disturbed by a careless pack mate who would steal it away from him. Tongue sticking out, the redhead moved to the window. The sun was setting, coloring the sky fiery where it sank beyond the horizon and the frozen moon's domain rose where the sun no longer touched the heavens. That sound - it sounded like singing - was a bit easier to hear closer to the outside, but it was not enough for Strel. He was curious now that he had gotten a better listen to someone distantly singing out to the budding stars.
Strel pulled off his shirt and pants, after glancing that no one was going to see him strip so randomly. It was not the stigma of being seen sans them, but more of being seen doing the action of removing his clothes. he folded them as best as he could. Opening the door, he felt the cold evening wind blow into his face, cold flakes of loose snow billowing into his eyes. He gave of a sigh, cursing his inquisitive desire. The door was shut to keep whatever heat was inside from escaping into the cold outside world. Then, he proceeded to shift into his lupine form with his longer mane shortening though remaining vibrant, a form he tried to use only for long distances or quicker travel and nothing else. The clothes, folded neatly and resting on the porch, he took into his mouth, trying to keep his tongue away from them.
He ran for not too long a time, but even as he moved forward, he prayed those singing would not stop doing so. Otherwise, this endeavor would have been exceptionally stupid. Finally, the song had gotten loud enough to be a few hundred yards away. This was when Strel stopped, dropped the clothes from his mouth, and changed himself in the time of a quarter of a minute. It took him another minute to put all his trappings on and to make sure his necklace was still on his person. The pair was close enough to him that it only took him a moment to stride through the wood towards them, standing about one hundred feet to their backs.
He raised his maw to the sky, letting his tenor voice join the soprano and the alto voice. Somehow it had fit, well enough to actually not sound terrible. The moment the song was over though, Strel gave a guilty look to the woman and her child. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help but join in. I hope you don't mind?"
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OOC: ©table code and image to jacoby: Word count: 556. Worth 5 points SSWM
Hanna nearly jumped out of her skin when the lower voice sounded from behind her, but she kept the song going. His voice intertwined with her own and that of her daughter in a way she would not have thought possible. The man had a good voice; it carried and was in the right range of pitch to blend well. After several more minutes of song, Hanna wound it down, tapering into nothing. She let the echos die away, sitting in perfect stillness and silence, seeming to ignore the man behind her. In reality, she was in a happy little place, for just sixty seconds, perhaps double that.
Those fleeting seconds were enough to take her daughter from being pleased as punch and sitting at her Momma's side to wiggling in place, and finally to investigate the man. It took some major struggling for the pup to work her way through the snow, and she was drenched by the time she got to her destination, but she propped her little white paws against Strelein's leg, her tongue lolling happily from her open jaws as she yipped once to get his attention. "'ey! 'ey! Mah name is Dehh -zee -ray! Whoo er yoo, big man?" She did not think for one moment that the "big man" would have trouble understanding her puppy speech, and in truth it was clearer than some pups' language at her age.
Her child's words brought Hanna from her reverie, and she frowned at the ground for several moments before really realizing that Desi wasn't in front of her. Her eyes widened, and Hanna jumped up, glancing frantically around for the merle and white puppy and coming across only tracks. She realized they were leading back behind her, to the last known location of the third voice, and Hanna hurried to follow them back through the trees.
Several long strides brought her in sight of a tallish male, who was around a foot taller than Hanna was herself. He was cream and brown and rust, but his hair was a gorgeous if shocking bright red hue. Her pup was propped against him, and her childish peep carried to her mother's ears as Désirée introduced herself to the male. Having never left AniWaya with her, Hanna had not thought to teach the collie hybrid that little girls did not talk to strangers. The idea had not crossed her mind, and she had not been in Dahlia de Mai during the drama with Conor and Emwe.
Scowling at the little girl, Hanna strode right up to the man and picked her up, scolding her as she did. "Desi, little girls do not talk to strangers without their mommies being there. This man seems nice, but someone else could decide to take you, and Mommy might not be able to find you." She based her idea of nice on the fact that whether he had meant to or not prior to Hanna's arrival, Strelein had not picked up her child. If he had, he might have found a vastly different woman in front of him than the mother parenting her daughter. Instead, she nodded cordially at the Cour des Miracles wolf, extending her hand and introducing herself. "I apologize, Sir. My name is Hanna; I'm from AniWaya. This is my daughter, Désirée."
Speak, think, act,
Desi talks, Desi thinks
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did this between physics work xD
The silence seemed to drag on after the song ended with the woman's voice directing the volume of the other two voices. Strelein just stood there, not wanting to threaten or frighten the female who had sung so beautifully out of the blue. He could not really startle her more than he already had by the bursting out in a joining song. Awkwardly rubbing at the back of his neck, fingers running through his shoulder length, dyed red hair. Lavender hued eyes shot up toward the sky above them, which heralded a unblocked view of the moon for a moment as the clouds cleared between snow bearing clouds. Soon those thick, heavy gray-white tufts would return and merge into a huge hovering plain of frosted water falling upon the cold world below.
Letting a slight question noise rumble through his throat, the male looked down at his feet where a pressure had been applied by some small thing. What he saw was a young wolf pup resting her own small paws on his and he could not help but silently coo at the girl. She reminded him of the collies in the pack, Jacquez and Ruri and wondered if the young one could be related to the other two. "Dizzy ray you say?" Strelein scratched at his chin, knowing well enough that the pup said something along the lines of "Desiray" or something that sounded quite a lot like it. "Are you a mechanical weapon made to make us lanky adults fall on our faces?" he added, grinning down at Désirée with no malice. Puppies were cute, till they got annoying of course.
Naturally the mother came to scoop up the child, who had clearly run away from her parent to address the strange redheaded male. Making a fierce growling noise at the girl, though not terrifying enough to seem real, Strel grinned afterward. "That's right, the scary beasties will come to steal you away and eat you." His parents had said the same thing to him when he was younger, though their threats were more pressing and less joking. The beasts they had meant were the Luperci that dared to act in a manner far beyond the normal wolf's. Their warnings were whispers in the dark den they held when he and his siblings whined to go out and play in the midnight rain.
Strel took the hand extended to him. He changed his mind as his hand reached out, leaning forward to kiss the woman's hand as a gentleman would. Might as well give the pack a good image by being courteous while he was introducing himself. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, madam," he said smiling, rising himself from his lean and letting go of the woman's hand. "Would you want to return to the Hotel? It's much warmer there, and I'm sure Dizzy there will find some entertainment."
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OOC: ©table code and image to jacoby: Word count: 539. Worth 5 points SSWM
In the moments just before she was suspended into the air Desi gave the man in front of her the weirdest look she had probably given anyone. What on earth was he talking about? What was a meh can ih call? For that matter, what was a weh pun? Were they things to eat? Or maybe toys! All the same, her ears perked and her face drew up into a scowl of sorts as she tried to process what the Big Man had said. He seemed nice, if a little weird or crazy. He was smiling at her, and not nice people did not do that, right?
Even after her Mommy scolded her, the only change to the girl's appearance was that she laid her ears flat. Hanna knew that she had heard her, but even she could only wonder what the pup's confusion was about. The mother worked not to laugh as Desi's mouth hung slack. She was somewhat proud; Strel's growling did not scare the young one. In fact, the pup's facial expression still had not changed, as though she was having problems completely comprehending what the Cour des Miracles man was saying.
But who could know what was really going through the pup's mind? To Désirée, danger still did not exist. Even with her mother insisting that some person much like Big Man could come and take her away and Mommy could never find her ever, ever again, some part of the child scoffed, asserting within her mind that no power on earth would keep her hero, her Mommy, from locating Dehh zee ray. She was mommy's girl.
All the while the blue merle puppy was chewing on her thoughts, she listened as Big Man talked to Mommy, using lots of words that her little brain could not even break down into bits, let alone grasp. The man bent over her hand as he did, and for one irrational moment, Désirée was afraid that he was going to eat Hanna, hand first. He merely touched his lips to the dark fur of the medic's hand, then released her, standing upright once more. Yet another oddity to add to this person.
As Strelein's lips touched her hand, Hanna flushed red beneath her fur. My, were all Cour des Miracles men charming? Her heart seemed to skip a beat, though it was not nearly as pronounced as it had been when she was with Jacquez. Perhaps it was merely that the collie king had entered her space first, capturing her hand instead of having it offered to him. Either way, the woman felt at ease, and at his query, may have slightly exaggerated looking around the snowy wooded area before she spoke to him. "Sure, thank you so much for offering. I was headed northwest, but it would be nice to stay in a warm building for the evening." Belatedly she wondered who he was referring to as Dizzy, but she realized that her daughter had probably mispronounced her name when she spoke to her host originally. It was cute, in a way, so she let it slide. In fact, Hanna decided she might begin fondly referring to her little girl as Dizzy, herself.
Speak, think, act,
Desi talks, Desi thinks
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I hope you don't mind me skipping their walk over xD;;
Strelein was not really surprised when the young child did not really take his actions to heart. He was not a scary person. To say he was scary would mean one had pissed him off and he came at them with sewing needles between his fingers in a fit of anger. Even that was entirely impossible since he would never put in the effort to get up to attack someone in such a situation. He would merely toss the needles or pick up spools of thread, or a rock. Strel's major form of attack would be throwing rocks. Oh yes, he was as menacing as a turnip. Or a cabbage. Strel was a terrifying as a garden vegetable. Or maybe the girl was brave and old enough to know better than to believe his play-growls. That had to be it, otherwise his ego would deflate a bit more.
He gave of a shrug, clearly thinking nothing of it. It was the courteous thing to do, especially in this weather. It could start snowing anytime and to leave a mother and her young child out in such a condition would simply not due for a Cours des Miracles gentleman, sexual orientation aside. Besides, the little girl was simply adorable, and he could not just leave her out here with only her mother for warmth. Surely they could get a roaring fire made in one of the downstairs rooms for the child to keep warm and to be fascinated with. He had always been fascinated by the fire when he had learned to make a flame. Even now, at an age where he was approaching three, he was still engrossed by flames whenever he came into view of them.
Strel shook his head, and put up his hand. "Think nothing of it. It's the proper thing to do, first of all. Second, you are clearly not guests who mean harm. The Chien Hotel is simply the best place to go to be comfortable, especially if you're merely spending the night, which I'm assuming you are as it is getting late." He hoped he was right on the money. Traveling back home with a slumbering pup was not an easy thing to do, especially considering how dangerous it could be at night for anyone, not only a mother and her child. He waved his hand to the woman, edging her on to follow him. He would lead her there and try to situate her with a nice room for her and 'Dizzy'.
After some time, they managed to get to the front of the Hotel, some of the windows alighted with the members inside lighting up their scavenged candles. Strel wondered when they would be able to figure out how those humans ran their generators to power their vast cities. The door was pushed up and he stepped to the side to let Hanna into the entrance hall. "If you go to the right, you'll find the living room. I'm sure I can find some firewood to burn if you would like," he offered, trying to be as accommodating as he could be. He had never really welcomed a total stranger to the Hotel, though a few friends of his he would gladly welcome there. "A drink for the lovely lady?"
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OOC: ©table code and image to jacoby: Word count: 468. Worth 2 points
Hanna followed after Strel, carrying Désirée and her satchel. Cian roamed behind somewhere, unseen even to her eyes, but she knew he was present. The tiger was likely keeping an eye on Desi, who he seemed to have taken a shine to. Hanna did not question his love for the child. Instead she accepted his watchful sapphire eyes as one more set to keep the girl safe. Doubtless someday Désirée would get tired of his keen feline eyes, always three steps behind her. Unless he kept himself hidden from her. Hanna did not know whether he would do so or not, not with her daughter.
That did not matter just then, though. They were nearing the building she had stopped before when she had come to tell Jacquez that she was expecting. This amused her greatly, but she did not say so to Strel. Instead she paused, if only momentarily, to gaze upon the almost romantic sight of candles being lit within before following her host into the building, then said, Still, it is nice to know there are still those who would invite a person into shelter instead of just leaving them out. Not all would, unfortunately.
She did as the man suggested and moved off to the right into the living area, sat Désirée on the floor and watched as the young one took off on an exploration of the room’s corners. Hanna herself peered around the room, taking in the fireplace, the couch that looked like it needed some repair work done to it, and the pile of bedding material. It smacked of comfort, and Hanna felt relaxed in the room for all it was not her home. Sure, I'll start a fire if you'll hand me some wood. The tinder will light quickly, though. Hanna removed her old medicine bag from her satchel and took the tinder and flint from it, and knelt next to the fireplace. She unsheathed one of her knives, struck the flint against it several times and was pleased to see the little line of smoke rising from the tinder. She glanced up at his offer of a drink, then looked at Desi. I'll take you up on that, once the little one's asleep.
Leaving the rest of the firemaking to her host, Hanna scooped up her daughter and held her to her, letting her suckle. Inside of fifteen minutes, the child was asleep, her day of travel and adventuring caught up with her. The mother cast around the room for the best place to lay her daughter, and decided on the couch. Desi didn't move around much once she was asleep, so Hanna was confident in her choice. Then she sat on the floor and relaxed against the wall. Okay, now she's asleep a drink would not go amiss.
Speak, think, act,
Desi talks, Desi thinks
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300+
wtb more muse pls, sorry for the slight powerplay
Glancing to see that the woman had found the living room, the redhead went outside to find the firewood pile that had been cut by someone more fit than he. Taking a rather decent armful of logs, Strel nudged his way back into the door, having jammed it a little bit with small stone wedge. By the time he had returned, the tinder was already burning and the woman had left him to make the embers flame up and roar. He knelt by it, feeding the logs in a piece at a time with a thunk as one landed on top of the others and stifled the fire for a moment. Strel looked over his shoulder, hoping to confirm that he was indeed going to offer Susquehanna a drink, before he promptly turned back to focus on the fireplace. The woman was feeding her child and he wanted to give her some privacy. "Sure, as soon as I got the fire goin'." The poker jabbed at a log, sending up light sparks into the chimney. The way he interacted with the logs was almost as though it were a moment of being dishabille.
Turning around after he heard Hanna shift, making the seat she had chosen creak, the redhead watched her choose the bed the as a place for her daughter to rest. Rising, the Miracles male got the bottle of alcohol, though he set it back down. He exited the room and went into the kitchen, taking two cups. One was a mug and the other was more of a tall glass, not really containers for alcoholic beverages. It would have to do. As Strel returned to the room, the woman moved to the wall near the fireplace, and the redhead sat himself down on the stones before the blazing fire. The booze was opened and he distributed a small amount between the mug and the glass. He picked up the glass and let it clink next to Hanna. "There you are, hope the cups will do."
Taking a sip, Strel scrunched his face from the alcohol, though he recovered with a soft sigh and a head shake. "So you said you were heading somewhere in the lands, yes?" he inquired, wondering if she were heading to Halifax, but why would she pass through a territory to do so? It was a risky move, so surely she was coming to see someone in the territory. But who? "You were going to meet someone?" he asked, innocently, wondering curiously what she was doing in Miracles.
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