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+---- Thread: Spectral Woods a bear out there knows how to use matches (/showthread.php?tid=19246)
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a bear out there knows how to use matches - Marian - Jan 20, 2021
RE: The sky darkens with ash from a distant forest fire
Marian wrinkled her nose. As if the distant stink of smoke on the wind wasn't enough it looked as though this place had seen better days. By no means was the land beneath her paws a charred and blackened mess, but her sharp gaze was quick to notice the tell tale signs that a fire had once raged here. The ashes were long gone but hiding amongst the saplings she spotted a tree with gnarled branches and charred bark standing proud in the centre of a clearing. An oak tree and a stubborn one at that.
Padding close, Marian tipped her head up and squinted at the sky through it's branches. The longer she stayed in the Lore the more she couldn't help but wonder what was the allure of this place, there was nothing that outright grabbed her attention and wouldn't let it go. Maybe it was the mountaineer in her, the Selwyn blood coursing through her veins that had her yearning to look down at the world with an almighty scowl. Or and this was the most likely cause, the life of a loner was not all it's cracked up to be. She snorted, knowing full well her family back home would wag their paws and tell her they told her so.
RE: a bear out there knows how to use matches - Azra - Jan 20, 2021
"Doesn't look like much, does it?"
The namesake of his birth-pack was scarred and sickly looking, standing proudly in the way known only to those resigned to death. Death was immanent but the Oak Tree was still here. And when it finally fell in however many years the log would be there, it's guts feeding a thousand instincts and disintegrating into the blackness of the soil. Then it would be just the roots and the space they left, weaving between the pebbles to the ground, pushing them around. Roots that connected the woods like an invisible net and roots the only reminder that this had once been Azra's home. He had spent more time away than he had ever spent now, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt.
The canopy was to open, the trees were so new they were like tottering, spotted fawns. Spectral Woods was meant to be a closeted place, where you could wrap yourself in mist and disappear. Oak Tree Bend was a brighter spot in the woods but it was never like this. Confronting the starkness between reality and his memories was tough.
He stepped out from the trees so the girl could see him better. "Sorry... I'm Azra. I wasn't...wasn't following you I just. I happened to be here." Did that sound alright? Did that sound normal? She was a girl about his own age, it looked, and he didn't want to scare her off. It had been so lonely walking in the woods south, and even lonelier here in this old wood. Her coat was dark and warm, with a lighter shawl wrapped about her shoulders. She looked like she ought to be friendly. That they could talk.
"Well I didn't happen to be here I guess. Uhm. I came here on purpose, that is....".
Oh no.
RE: a bear out there knows how to use matches - Marian - Jan 20, 2021
Yeah, he could say that again. Wait what? Now Marian wasn't superstitious and she didn't believe in no ghosts but for a split second, a very thin slither of a moment she thought these woods were haunted. Her eyes narrowed into a thin Selwyn squint. Except that ghosts were bullshit and if they did exist she didn't think they'd be so soft spoken, as though there was something to be afraid of. Sure enough a pale wolf emerged from the fresh greenery, sheepish and quick to excuse himself. Marian snorted in amusement and shrugged off his concerns. She'd never been overly uptight and she wasn't gonna start now, if he claimed that he'd just happened to be passing by then she'd believe him. Even then she let him stumble through his words, a little too mean to put him out of his misery just yet.
"And what purpose was that?" She put on her best hoighty-toighty expression, set shoulders and head held high and even stamped her paw for good measure. Just Selwyn things.
Except she wasn't just out to piss all over his day. As much as she pretended not to care all that much she did wanna know why everyone had left and why now seemed like the perfect time for everybody and their aunt to roll back into town. The fact he mentioned coming here on purpose heavily implied that he shared a connection with this place, maybe if she poked hard enough he'd spill his secrets.
RE: a bear out there knows how to use matches - Azra - Jan 20, 2021
This girl was like a fire herself. Not an inferno, but the bitter smolder of ashes. Azra observed this with just a blink, less bothered by her airs and her foot punctuating a question on the ground than the thought of being all alone with all the ghosts of Oak Tree Bend. She was alive and she was lively. Shrewd with her squinty eyes. There was something about her expression, now that Azra could see her face clearly, that he liked but couldn't place. It could have been the haughty, summer stare or just the fact that he hadn't seen any girls in... oh, awhile. And he didn't know what to do about them.
"I was born here," he rolled his snowy shoulders matter-of-factly. "Thought I should see it again. Felt drawn back here...". Because hadn't he just been telling himself days ago that he would not stand to come back here? Every day he grew stronger, felt the wound stretch without opening again. The scar seemed smoother.
"It's a very powerful tree. It probably drew you here too." He firmly believed in the memory of the land. The stronger and more plentiful the memories, the greater the energy in the ground. They were all probably just chasing the magnetic trails in the sky, looking for the source of... well something. Azra had met religious wolves before and this wasn't that. It was not a diety, but some unseen force moving the pieces around. "For one reason or another...".
To meet him?
RE: a bear out there knows how to use matches - Marian - Jan 20, 2021
Well okay that was fair enough. She wrinkled her nose at the thought of being in his sorry paws. She'd only just left and she wasn't all that eager to rush back with her tail between her legs but she supposed Azra didn't really have a choice, did he? If this pack was anything like Shallows Edge it had been abandoned long ago, his family scattered like dust in the wind. As to whether there was a mystical and unknowable pull that had drawn her here well...
Marian let out a giggle snort. Okay damn maybe she hadn't given him enough credit, maybe he wasn't the wolf version of a stepping in a puddle with socks on. Except that the gravity of his words and the sense of knowing in his tone were far too real to just be a pretence, to grounded in feeling and reality that it slowly dawned on Marian that he was serious. He actually believed mumbo jumbo like that? She offered him a look, brows raised and mouth slightly agape as she tipped her head back a little. Maybe he'd been here when this place went up in smoke and had huffed in one too many fumes, if that's how it even worked.
"Right well...I hate to burst your bubble Az but I just happened by is all." Anyway, it was funny whilst it had lasted. "My name's Marian. I'd say something witty like.. my friends call me Annie but I don't got any."
RE: a bear out there knows how to use matches - Azra - Jan 20, 2021
"I'm..." he stared back her he awkward expression and threw a glance over each shoulder. The girl looked very uncomfortable. "Is.. ". But then it occurred to him that nothing was the matter and there wasn't some great bear towering behind them, that wasn't "look". The look was him. Before he could even try and ask what the problem was she just verbally shouldered her way forward. Okay. A realist. Most of those weren't any fun.
Still, he found himself grinning. "So you prefer coincidence, Marian?", he drawled. "Or I can call you Annie if you like...." Annie didn't match her conceit, but it matched her little chortle. A wolf could be many things at one time.
Azra shrugged a lot, so he barely noticed a second shrug in as many minutes. "It all burned down when I was two seasons old. I haven't been back since." She was a pretty good distraction. He found himself regarding her instead of peering around the side of ever tree looking for a familiar face, thinking that he might have seen Kisina's tail go around a corner, or seeing his father staring back at him from the surface of the river. "Doesn't look like anyone else came back either. They all fled over the mou... the mountains I think.". His voice hitched a little.
"This whole place is remarkably empty. I think one time my dad told me there were five or six packs on this side of the mountain.".
RE: a bear out there knows how to use matches - Marian - Jan 21, 2021
Another wolf might have gotten all prickly at defensive at how quickly she'd dismissed his beliefs, but he took it in his stride. No harm no foul. She liked that in a man. His grin was infectious and despite having only just met him, Marian had come to the conclusion that Azra was an all right guy. Now that might be all down to the fact that the pickings were real slim in the Lore but whatever! Marian didn't care one hoot.
"Mmm I do and Annie's fine."She said, eager to keep up the laidback tone till it all sorta took a nosedive. Oof.
She'd kinda seen it coming but it didn't make his situation any less sucky. Marian was fortunate in that her life had been pretty easy thus far but she wasn't so pampered to think that her life was always gonna be that way, shit happened and then you died. Except it seemed as though Azra had dealt with more shit than most and for that she did feel a little guilty as her gaze roamed over the thinned foliage that surrounded them. It seemed as though there was no comfort to be found here, only memories, what ifs and a conceited little Selwyn.
"Yeah, I heard the same story from my old man too. Some chick told me that coyotes chased everyone away but like...how?" She pushed at the snow, made a little mound and stomped it with her paw for emphasis. A fight between a wolf and a coyote usually ended the same way. "You'd think that they'd wanna fight for their homes, right? I just don't get it."
RE: a bear out there knows how to use matches - Azra - Jan 21, 2021
"Annie it is, then," he nodded with his grin deepening.
Annie didn't falter at his sordid childhood and it was kind of nice. He didn't talk about Oak Tree Bend a lot because, well, when he had a a very young boy everyone just got so sad and then they treated him differently—like they didn't know how to talk to him. That just made him feel weird and not at all like anyone was really sad for him. Just uncomfortable about being sad. It was fine, anyway, because what was the point in talking about a fire to wolves who had never seen one? Or about the death of someone they'd never met. The whole thing had no meaning for any of them except that Azra was a wretched orphan. Annie just kept going. And maybe she did get it.
His expression brightened and he raised his eyebrows as she casually talked about her dad and the little history she knew. "So you grew up here, too, then? I haven't met anyone else familiar with the area." If the boy sounded excited it was because it felt like they shared some common ground: the darkness of eastern Relic Lore. But he scowled a little as he tried to remember, "Yeah... I think maybe there was something about coyotes. I was so little I can't really remember much." Most of what he remembered smelled of smoke and dusted with ash. He chose not to linger on this.
"Do you think our dads were friends?" he asked quietly, a bit uncertain.
Re: - Spirit of Wildwood - Jan 21, 2021
You discover a half-eaten deer carcass. +5 Health
RE: a bear out there knows how to use matches - Marian - Jan 21, 2021
"Nah, my home is a long ways away but my dad used to lead Shallows Edge up in the Falls. "She gestured vaguely north with a flick of her snout.
Even after the fire thinned everything out it was still a little difficult for a newcomer like her to tell which way was which. She'd learn in time probably and if not she was sure she could wrangle Azra into being her guide. Moving around Secret Falls had been a pain in the arse in and of itself, hunting was even worse which made Marian wonder how her dad's pack had managed to eke out a living there in the first place. But supposedly he'd made it work which made him better at wolfy things than she was, apparently.
Marian could take a hint though, if Az didn't wanna focus on that she'd put it on the back burner for now.
"Pffft. Probably not. He's uh...a bit of an acquired taste."And as per her daughterly duties she was putting it quite gently. "I reckon they probably knew each other though, being neighbours and all."
Which meant that had things turned out differently, in another time and verse they could have met one another a lot sooner. It was a weird line of thought, forcing to her to realise that she'd only been brought into this world as a result of her dad's misfortune. It wasn't something that was openly addressed but she knew he wouldn't have gotten together with Lyanna if he hadn't been backed into a corner. She hoped at the very least Azra's parents loved each other, he deserved that if nothing else. Being the product of lukewarm feelings wasn't...it wasn't great, for sure.
But look at her taking a page from Azra's broody book.
"My mum's a Tainn though so he might have known her too. I was told they got around, if you know what I mean." Wink wink nudge nudge.