The Wildwood they do - Printable Version

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The woods that Viorel and Clover travelled through had slowly become a little less...paranormal and a little more, normal woods creepy. Frankly, the teen didn’t like being surrounded by so many trees and this night of walking had only cemented that in his mind. He was going to get his behind to the ocean as soon as the snow melted and the prey was more plentiful for travel. For now though, it would be easier to survive if the three Valles stuck together and now there was also Clover.

The dark eyelids were starting to grow heavy and his paws weary when their surroundings started to look more familiar. Eventually he was able to come back to the small clearing where he, his cousin and his brother had woken up, but neither of them were there when they arrived. With a sigh Viorel sunk into a lounging position, happy to not be walking any farther, all he wanted now was to take a nap. But, it wasn’t the time. Grinning his charming smile again, he gestured with his snout for Clover to come lay next to him. Lifting his muzzle to the sky he gave a short call out for Vayko and Andrey to come meet his new friend. Hopefully they weren’t too far off, the sooner this introduction was over the sooner he could get some sleep.

Vayko had been lingering around the Wildwood. He was not as adventurous as his cousin. He had done a little exploring of surrounding territories, but for the most part he had remained in the haunted and desolate forest that they had first woken up in. He thought it better that way too. He was more of a creature of habit, a Valle displaced from the comforts of the Estuary when he’d had no desire to leave to see the world to begin with. He’d find his way home once the blasted snow melted anyway, so what did it matter if he didn’t go out and see the world now?

He heard Viorel’s call and his ears perked, curiosity killing the cat as he moved away from the den where he was gnawing on a fish that he had caught earlier in a nearby creek that’s ice had been thin enough to crack with his paw. It didn’t even compare to ocean fish, but it was better than nothing. He made his way to the small clearing, a frown on his features to see that his cousin was not alone. “Who is this? What is she doing here?” He demanded quickly, ignoring Clover entirely for now to focus on his cousin.

He was, decidedly, not a fan of strangers. “Why did you bring her back here??” He hissed out, perhaps a little more aggressively than he should have.

The yearling had not ventured too far from the woods as the days passed. He had investigated a nearby waterfall and encountered a stranger, but aside from that he had been keeping to the woods and minding his own. Which was probably not the best strategy if he was to find the rest of his pack, or his way back to the coast. Or figure how the heck he had wound up in this strange place alongside his brother and cousin. As much as Andrey hoped that some of his packmates and family members were somewhere nearby he also hoped that they were back home. Where they all belonged. And that for whatever reason it had been just the three of them that got placed in this horrid place.

His brother’s call jolted him suddenly from his thoughts. Immediately his brow furrowed as he set off in the direction the call originated from. Odd, he thought to himself as he jogged toward his brother. There was no doubt that Vayko would be close behind, if not ahead of him. He, too, had kept close to the Wildwood. Perhaps for the same reasons that Andrey stayed close, but the charcoal Valle did not question him. His business was his own, even if they were related by blood. The boy did not want to pry as Vayko wasn’t really the share his feelings type.

As expected the tawny Valle had beat Andrey to his brother — but there was someone else. A female; a stranger. He stopped abruptly, a frown forming over his dark features as his cousin began to question the stranger’s appearance. She was not an Estuary wolf… why had his brother brought her here?

He exhaled sharply from his nose as he waited (impatiently) for a response to Vayko’s questions, as they echoed his own thoughts.

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Clover settled down next to him, not quite close enough for their fur to intermingle so Viorel shifted until he could barely feel her side against his. Glancing sideway to see her expression - and fully expecting to see some kind of excited or shy giggle- the teen gave her his most award winning grin. While it didn’t take long for either his brother or his cousin to show, it took long enough that the dark Valle’s eyelids were putting up a serious fight over staying open. Humming for half a second Viorel startled himself back awake to the sound of approaching pawsteps through the snow.

Vayko was as polite as he had ever been, and had he been less tired Viorel would have snorted at his lack of manners. Talks like that would have gotten him a swift reprimand from the council, how quickly everyone seemed to forget now that there was no authority around. The teen considered standing, but thought better of chancing this being taken as a sign of escalating the situation. Rolling his eyes dramatically he scoffed, ”Well hello to you too Vayko,” his cousin’s tone had been aggressive, but Viorel’s was smooth.

Andrey was hot on Vayko’s heels and unsurprisingly silent about the whole situation other than a sharp snort. Glancing back and forth between the two of them Viorel stated, ”This is Clover, she’s alone and looking for some company for a while,” matter of fact. ”I said she could hang with us until we figure out what’s going on.” Okay he hadn’t said those exact words to here, but close enough.

Hearing the sharp exhale from his other cousin who had arrived not long after he had, Vayko felt justified in his concern. These lands were strange, and it felt as if they grew stranger with each passing moment. The more he explored, the more he interacted with others, the stranger he thought it was. They really could not afford to let their guards down around anyone, especially wolves who seemed harmless. Usually, it was the ones that looked harmless that they needed to watch out for, after all. He huffed softly at his cousin’s scoff. Vayko felt as if Viorel was not taking their situation seriously. Clearly, there was something going on here. Vayko just wasn’t afraid to call his cousin out when he deemed it necessary.

His eyes narrowed softly. “Oh yeah? You didn’t think to… oh, I don’t know, check with us before you bring some floozy back with you? This isn’t the Estuary, Viorel, in case you’ve forgotten.” He really didn’t know for sure why he was so butt hurt about his cousin’s decision, but he was. She spoke up, and admittedly he didn’t think her much of a threat. If it came down to it, he had little doubt he could take her down. He could see any loner, well, most loners after his interaction with Annaliese, taking up the opportunity to travel in a group. She was a healer? That caught his interest. “How did you end up in these lands?” He felt that he was permitted to engage in his own line of questioning since the decision had clearly been made for him. “What are your intentions here?”

His brother was quick to get to the point after his arrival and introduced the pale female at his side. Clover, he thought to himself as he stored away the name, his chocolate gaze flitting over to her small frame as Viorel continued. “I said she could hang with us until we figure out what’s going on.” His focus immediately snapped back to his brother. Oh, did you now? he wanted to say as his tongue pressed to the back of his teeth, his features tightening. Did his brother no longer have plans to search for their missing packmates? Okay, cool. Whatever. The corners of his mouth fell into a frown as the girl—Clover—spoke up, offering her medicinal services to help them. Not sure how your medicinal knowledges are going to help us find our family, but okay, he responded quickly with an uncharacteristic sharpness to his words.

Under normal circumstances he would have appreciated the girl’s skills, but this was not his normal. They were in a strange place surrounded by strange wolves. None of this was good. Was he the only one that thought that?

His cousin was quick to speak up, too, offering his own venom directed at Andrey’s brother. At least Vayko seemed to understand that finding the Estuary, and their packmates, was the priority. He questioned the female, asking her questions that echoed his own thoughts.

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Viorel didn’t really know why his family was getting so butt-hurt over the fact that he said Clover could chill for a while. Now he was getting grumpy about the whole thing, standing with a sigh - he really wished he could be sleeping - he didn’t flinch at Viorel’s narrowed eyes. Glancing back towards the woman to make sure she was fine he listened closely to everything that the Valle’s had to say.

Swallowing hard to keep his tone even he responded, ”You’re right Vay, this isn’t the Estuary, and to get back home we’re going to have to survive the winter. Looking back and forth between the two of them he continued, ”You both really think there’s no benefit of having someone around who knows something about medicine? What if what the two legs gave us makes us sick? Someone gets hurt in a hunt? Are either of you confident enough in herbs that you think you could get us through something like that?” They weren’t thinking clearly, they were letting their tempers get the best of them and Viorel knew they couldn’t afford that.

Hardening his jaw a little he reiterated the main point, ”None of us is going to find our family or our home if we’re dead. Clover can offer us medicine and an extra set of paws hunting, besides, she’s not the enemy here. The two legs are.”

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