Drooping Willows running around leaving scars - Printable Version +- Ruins of Wildwood (https://relic-lore.net) +-- Forum: Library (https://relic-lore.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=23) +--- Forum: Game Archives (https://relic-lore.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=26) +---- Forum: Relic Lore II (https://relic-lore.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=32) +---- Thread: Drooping Willows running around leaving scars (/showthread.php?tid=2062) |
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running around leaving scars - Ice - Apr 03, 2012 Night; Clear — Current Temperature: 37° F/3° C [dohtml]
open for anyone and everyone! :) running around leaving scars - Ava - Apr 04, 2012 The sun goes down, the stars come out, and all the little wolfies lay down their heads and go to bed. Ava had followed that routine faithfully, for more than two years straight, up until a few days ago. Following her acquaintanceship with her pack's second-in-command and some newcomer with a drawl, she had found that night would fall over the mountains and she simply couldn't find peace. Her mind was wandering too far to bring it back. The night they had formed Poison Path was a frantic night - they fled with urgency, which was expected as three of the four had been fleeing a pack. Ava knew that, and slept just fine. But then the details came forward: Naira, the former pack's second, and Rhysis, a subordinate, had conceived and stolen away with another one of the packmates in the middle of the night. Oh, Ava had heard the lead female's cruel snarl echoing behind them as they ran that night, singing a devastating song of betrayal and promising repayment. Now she knew just why the woman's cold words had been so severe. That night Ava had watched the brilliant sunset, the colors dripping down into one another like a wet painting until finally the sky was black once again. She had planned on watching the glittering stars reflected against the lake shore, as she had the night before and the night before that, awaiting exhaustion to finally take her down. But as she picked out familiar formations of stars against the water's surface, a desperate fire began to burn in the muscles of her legs. Suddenly the Poison Path sylph could no longer bear the pain, and she disappeared from the packlands within minutes. Her dark form snaked through the climbing mountain paths, and for the first time ever at her ascent she did not look over her shoulder to her home. She only leaped over the ridge of the mountain and began the downhill race. Her strides were long, running to each cliff and rock in her path and leaping from it, her black body outstretched and poised for landing and feeling the wind beneath her belly. It felt like flying - she missed it desperately. When Ava hit the bottom of the mountains, as they began to bleed into the forest. Stone turned to soil beneath her paws as she fled, feeling the familar give beneath her strong legs as she pushed forward. The night was windy, which awakened her from her confusion greatly. Every stride she took was another smack in the face of cold air and a variety of smells - deer, and squirrels, and grass, and willows, and something else coming from the north. Swift River, she knew now. Her pace slowed slightly, a nervous touch shining in her amber-colored eyes as she looked in the direction of the land they called home. From here, she could not see it, but the wind carried to her the faint scent of their borders. She couldn't help but shudder before she continued forward. But the movement of her legs was stopped short, as another great gust of wind blew past her from the left, carrying with it the strong scent of Swift River. Her dark chin lifted to the sky, head craning in all directions to attempt to find the wolf before he found her. For all she knew, the wolf had eyes on her the entire time she was running. Did she turn back, return to her conflict? It seemed wise, but adrenaline grasped her heart so tightly - she could feel it like a cold fluid rushing through her veins. So instead of the wise move, the dark huntress slunk low to the ground and approached the scent of the supposed enemy pack through the willows. Fear nearly caused her to drop dead when suddenly, a voice cut through the howls of the wind. She inched forward and focused through the trailing branches of the willows to spot a large, grey male. In the moon's delicate lighting he appeared almost silvery yet what struck her most was the fierce scent of his pack, almost as if she could see it radiating off his body. Ava realized she herself reeked of her allegience - Athena and the newcomer, most freshly, but also of Rhysis' territory, and Naira. It was too late to turn back, however. Feeling as though her heart were about to crawl up her throat, the dark female pushed through the willow's drapery and made herself visible. "Perhaps you'd tell me, then, how to take guidance from the stars," she started quietly, taking no more than a single step out from the willow's cover toward the male, "because they seem only to haunt me." Ava's voice was gentle, and her posture was basically neutral. She held her spine straight, no pose of attack but only the poise that she was ready for action, if there would be any. Just two wolves, on unclaimed territory. Only her eyes betrayed her calm stature - they were vivid, alert, and would follow his every move. running around leaving scars - Ice - Apr 06, 2012 [dohtml]
running around leaving scars - Ava - Apr 07, 2012 Unmoving, she watched his eyes rove over her form, similarily studying him now that he had met her eyes. She was unable to read his expression, which alarmed her as it would alarm anyone else, though she did not make any move at all to show the rapid beating of her heart. It seemed like hours that she dark she-wolf stood, beaten by the night winds and pet by the willow's cold branches before finally the great male sighed. Without knowing what it meant, she inadvertantly relaxed. The silvery male had passed his judgement on her - now she could only wait to find out what it was. Patiently Ava allowed him to search the darkening sky before returning his gaze to her. His eyes were strikingly bright and pale, yet they seemed to hold no monstrosity within them. Then he spoke, which entirely surprised her. Ava had anticipated his attack, and if not his attack then perhaps his mockery or some other form of cruel words. As the words fled his mouth she couldn't find any trace of sarcasm, nor did it seem as though he was attempting to humor her idiocracy. Was he genuinely responding? Mometarily the corners of her dark lips tugged upwards, as if she wanted to smile, but the gesture disappeared within half a second. It was not yet safe. Still... Ava continued the interaction. One lanky leg slid forward slowly so he would see her approach before the rest of her body followed. She really only took one step forward because the willows, in all this battering wind, were beginning to bother her. They felt eerie and other-worldly and she needed very much to remain on earth for this time. Her head simply couldn't escape her now. Clearing her throat, she considered his words. What was still on her mind? Try as she might to place it, Ava wasn't sure at all what exactly was bothering her. "I don't know what it is. Stars are supposed to remind me I have survived one day, and that another day is coming. Now, I don't know if that's what they mean." On the surface it was apparent that the cogs in her mind were working hard: her nose was scrunched up and she squinted at her paws as though they might have the answer. What was it she was feeling? Why was she feeling whatever indescribable feeling it was? It seemed that asking herself that flicked a switch in her brain that started the reel of her life - little moving pictures, snippets of her memories, flashed in front of her eyes. Her loving parents, her protective older brothers, her two littermates, her baby twin siblings, all mashing up in an array of happy memories. Then the border skirmishes got worse. The fights began. The opposing pack took land, and lives, but most importantly, Patak and Pakshi. She felt the betrayal of the betas, the stiffness of her months under their rule, the grief of her mother's passing, the rush of freedom she felt when her brothers and she slowly left the lands to seek their own destiny. But for whatever reason, in her memory, she felt not freedom but immense guilt. She'd left behind her loving father, alone in a pack that had been taken from under him, with a family that had dwindled down to just two of his children remaining with him. Then she saw her littermates' faces as they approached her somewhere far away from the borders of their own pack. Back then it had meant that the family was finally free. Now, she knew it had only meant the family was finally broken. Father dead, mother dead, siblings dispersed. Was that freedom? No, it was no more free will and choice than it was she was simply lost. She recalled her dwindling health after she had left the company of her siblings, the way she crossed into the lands of Relic Lore nothing more than a dirty black-furred bag of bones. At that point, Rhysis had been her savior. Now in his pack, she wasn't sure what to think, except that she wasn't truly safe. The lands were well guarded and difficult to get to, but Ava knew they had enemies. Out of all the Poison wolves, she preferred Naira the most. Knowing that she, the Swift River second, had betrayed the pack out of no where brought a close-to-home pang of regret and worry and sadness. But still, she couldn't really say it was guilt keeping her up at night. Her jaws parted in an attempt to talk it out. "I feel as though-" she sighed. The words in her head sounded incredibly stupid, and yet she decided to say her agley piece anyway. She glanced over at Ice almost embarrassingly, hoping he wouldn't roll his eyes at what she was about to say. "I have planted myself a new life here, so the roots are in the ground, but they just haven't taken yet. The hold's not strong. And everything is just... uncertain." Her plant girl metaphor had been incredibly silly, but at the end of her words a strength actually rose in her voice. Maybe that was it. Maybe it was the uncertainty of what she was doing, what she had done, what she was going to do. She didn't know her place, didn't even know if she had a place, knew she had no place anywhere else, couldn't all of that mess with one girl's mind? Suddenly she found herself looking intently at the male, her eyes shining with hope that he might be able to make sense of her at all. By her gaze, he could assume that if he was mad, surely Ava wasn't far from it either. running around leaving scars - Ice - Apr 07, 2012 [dohtml]
running around leaving scars - Ava - Apr 08, 2012 As the night sky darkened even further Ava spared a honey-tinted gaze upward. It seemed the word was trying to snuff out the starlight by shrouding the little dots of light with its blackness, yet it failed entirely. Against the pitch-black sky their subjects of thought were vivid, almost as if they were burning brightly like candles above them. For the moment she considered their strength to be greater than that of the moon. Perhaps it was the starlight that bathed the land after nightfall? Returning her sight to Ice, she felt strangely comforted by his presence. The black female didn't dare mistake his patience and kindness for weakness, but she did wonder why she was supposed to be so fearful of him. Because she truly was supposed to stay away from Swift River, or any other packs for that matter, to lay low and reveal nothing. She had said nothing to betray the Poison Path, but that wasn't a big enough reason to take the edge off of encounters with enemy wolves. He was far larger than her, stronger, probably smarter as well. If they fought she could not win, she could only run and pray he'd tire out before she did. And yet for some reason the regularity of her heartbeat had returned. The wolf's slight shift in posture brought her away from the reasons for their encounter, shifting her mind back into reality - if that was how she could really consider the moment in time. Perhaps her vision wasn't so dream-state as it was an alternate reality. The moonlight came in streaks as the willow's wispy branches danced in the violent winds, creating the strangest illusion that the very earth was sparkling. She saw it reflected in the male's pale eyes, shining at her through the spinning darkness. Cacophony surrounded them, the mixture made of leaves rustling and winds howling and branches clattering, not to mention their own melodious voices snaking through the whirlwind of sounds. His was the next to sound, clear compared to the loud snarl of the wind that whipped the fur of her chest as she stood in its path. Despite the clarity of his words and the knowledge that what he was speaking was true, Ava felt the immediate urge to reject the fact. Why was change the only guarantee in life? Why did they seek stability when it was literally unattainable? She turned her head away for a moment, as though physically turning away from the notion, and stared at the swaying willows while he continued. If it was the right thing to do. There, he had basically figured it out for her. She blinked in suprise, although she kept staring at the surroundings. "I guess I really do wonder if I have done the right thing. I can't stop myself from seeing it from both sides. However blindly I swore my allegience," which was very damn blindly, "I cannot turn my back on something that saved me. But at the same time, why is what I've chosen so... wrong to everyone else but us? And if I wasn't literally dying when the choice was given to me, would that have made a difference at all?" In that moment she wasn't sure if it was Rhysis himself, or the pack which now gave her a home and food that she was calling her saviour. And despite the wanderlust that festered in both her feet and mind, she truly was beginning to love the challenge of life in the mountains. If she could just turn off the part of her where she questioned everything, Ava would be completely content with her life. Finally looking back at Ice, it was clear that she couldn't. A short sigh escaped her as she slunk to her haunches. It was wearying to stand so stiffly for so long, and the constant wind was nearly freezing her into a statue. Not only that but Ava now felt just a limited presence of threat, and even that was only in her own head. She knew he was supposed to be one, though physically there was not a sign of it. The safety she felt within the apotropaic fencing of the willows became apparent as she went on, "I'm so stuck in between proving that I am worth something and wondering if it is worth me. Everyone there is so foreign, and they underestimate me." A low growl had crept into her words. She was quite bitter about it. Ava hadn't yet figured out if it was her own neuroticism and ego that made her feel so alienated, or if everyone else was uncaring and arrogant. As the thought popped in her head she felt immediate guilt. Maybe they were just guarded. The female was careful, and clever as well, but she was more than willing to be open. "Maybe that's to be expected. Maybe I just wasn't prepared for it," Ava added softly, basically admitting to Ice that he was correct in his diagnosis. Closing her eyes, she attempted to find clairvoyance from the words they were speaking. running around leaving scars - Ice - Apr 10, 2012 [dohtml]
running around leaving scars - Ava - Apr 10, 2012 Unlike her companion, the dark she-wolf was quite oblivious to the growing storm in the surroundings, for she was much too concerned with the storm that had been festering in her mind for far too long. There was not enough concern in her body to give to the willows' branches as they whipped behind her, or to the wind as it cried louder and louder each time that it snaked between the two wolves, practically trying to knock them over. Ava's brooding was far too mentally consuming to notice that the weather was fighting for her attention. Did you hear us? Ava finally gave movement in the form of a shudder, caused not by the chills of the wind but the memory of their snarls echoing behind them as they ran for it, her scent contributing to the reason why they weren't able to follow them too far. Even with his judgement-free tone, she refused to meet his eyes, fearing that the anger and resentment and pain he spoke of would be reflected in his gaze instead of his words. But Ava took the brunt of it and listened closely, especially as he spoke of Naira. Out of the Poisoned wolves back home she had grown to love Naira the most. She'd even given thought to studying beneath their tawny leader, to find medicinal herbs the way she could. Of the female wolf she thought nothing but the best, even knowing she had betrayed the Swift River wolves - betrayed the wolf she was speaking to - Ava could not find it in her to disapprove of Naira in any way. Delicately she picked up her head at the small fact Ice dropped, that Swift River was lacking one of its leaders, and she felt sympathy well in her chest. When she looked back to the male, there would be an inkling of understanding growing within her expression. Ava came thisclose to correcting him, that her name was not stranger girl, but rather it was Ava, before she shut her barely parted jaws and considered if it was bravery or foolery that was controlling her actions now. It wasn't his response to it that she feared, but Rhysis'; in the back of her mind she considered what he'd do to her if he found out she was here tonight. Truthfully Ava knew it was practically harmless - in fact, it was probably better for the both of them to speak. It didn't matter that she and Ice were speaking to each other, necessarily, but it was clear there were feelings within both the wolves that would only cause turmoil if left to bubble within their souls any longer. Regardless, Rhysis could take it as the very scornful betrayal Ice was talking about. He could take it as fraternizing with the enemy. Disloyalty. Worthy of exhile, or death. So she kept her name to herself, one measly speck of proof to claim she had never been here at all. But she continued to hold his gaze as he spoke, reminding herself his explanation was not akin to him scolding her for what Rhysis and Naira and Athena had done that night... although with his sigh and attention change she did find a little relief. Despite the clear bitterness in the words that sprung from his jaws, she found them strangely reassuring. Quietly she interjected, "It's not so much that I don't like where it came from... maybe that I don't know where it is going. What is pups, the future of the pack, and growth together from the very beginning, if there is an eminent threat laying over our heads?" Even as the dark female spoke, there was less strength to the words she was saying. Ice had a point. It was the pack she had sworn her loyalty to, and it was indeed blooming with minimal bumps. It formed like a list within her head: Two leaders, a second, three subordinates, and little ones one the way. A beautiful territory, a variety of game, a well-hidden den. Any wolf could make home out of that. Why was she so reluctant to? A pack should be built on trust, on love, a genuine desire to protect and cherish those you call pack mates. Perhaps that was the reason why. She knew almost nothing of those packmates she was to love and trust and protect at all costs, but why was it that she knew so little? Crookedly she would smile at herself, shaking her dark head. She had though Athena to be guarded, though she never truly looked at herself. Maybe her effort had not been strong enough yet. Her little smile disappeared immediately as he began again. His advice was entirely practical and true, but the outright words shocked her a little. Leaving was always a possibility. Who said she didn't have the option of flipping her tail up and saying "I'm sick of this shit!" and strutting away to create her own destiny. But those were the fantasies of fools. Life was much too cruel to allow for such happiness easily. Critically she considered his words, thoughts reeling through her mind quicker than the winds howled around them. No where in his many words Ice he outright tell her what was better - to stay and prove herself, or to leave and carry on her own way. Though a while ago, when she was laying before the star-studded lake unable to sleep, she had hoped desperately for somebody to just tell her what was right and what to do, Ava actually found herself grateful for the wolf's flexible and non-cottony advice. "There's something valueable in me that I could give to support a pack, I know it. And yes, it is a heavy promise that I made - and quite a debt that I owe as well. I may belong to a pack birthed from dishonor but I don't have to contribute that to its future. You are entirely right - wondering why something happened and what could've gone better is just nothing but a headache, and a few nights of lost sleep. Maybe it is a wobbly bridge I'm standing on, but eventually every bridge leads to solid land. It has to, it is built upon it. " A teeny smile had crept into the corner of her lips as she spoke, tugging upwards. The uncertainty hadn't been entirely cleared, of course, but it had been shelved, perhaps permanently. "Sadly, then, I'd theoretically reject your offer to join Swift River, not only because I can build my future however I want to, but because that's just a death sentence in wait." The female's demeanor was returning, as evidenced by her joking tone. She turned her head and gazed through the thrashing trees in the direction that the mountains lay. Though she couldn't see them from their secluded gathering, she could feel them tugging for her to return and prove herself. Ava turned back to Ice once more, a returned life shining in her amber eyes. "If you and Swift River come for us in want of revenge, make sure you say hello before the carnage begins." She half-joked, a toothy smile the evidence of her gratuity to his words. running around leaving scars - Ice - Apr 11, 2012 [dohtml]
running around leaving scars - Ava - Apr 12, 2012 The black female was surprised to find she was actually proud of herself. Somehow, the issues in her heart had ended up working themselves out, and she had this wolf here to thank for it. A sly smile slipped across her maw, considering the curiousity of their circumstances. Not only was her mind recovering, there were his own dragons that had been battled as well. They were in likely the same ship. Then worry blossomed in her chest as she peered curiously into the male's eyes - were there consequences to his side of this encounter as well? She recalled the strength and anger in the Swift River leader's voice; it was easy to assume there wouldn't be smiles and wagging tails when he came back with her smell. Then again, it was awfully stormy... was it likely that on their travels back and through the night the opposing smells would cling to their fur? It didn't cross her mind she shouldn't be worrying about a Swift River wolf - what did it matter? Ava was good in her heart - she was kind to strangers and would never withhold help, so she found legitimate concern over what could be their predicament. Had he any of the same worries she was unable to discern. Ice was much quieter this time around. Ava had enjoyed hearing his thoughts. She'd almost forgotten what a sociable creature she was raised to be, and how much she enjoyed sharing a lively conversation, even if it was one of deep subject matter. Of course, she wasn't going to intrude where he needed silence and thoughts. There was only so much to purge before your throat became too raw for the rest of it. The intensity of her reeling thoughts had wearied her mind to the point where it felt as though her body was affected as well. That was the strange thing about purification - in the end you felt better the way you were supposed to, but everyone always forgot that purification was draining. There was an emptiness - or if said more pleasantly, a lightness, like the wild winds could lift her from her earthly position and take her on wing, through the sky back home. Any vacancy in her soul was forgotten, immediately, when he quipped a question her way. She shook her head gently, refocusing on Ice, and was surprised to find such intensity in his gaze. Blinking it away, Ava slapped a wide grin on her face. "Oh, I can't tell you that," she teased, "it's a pack secret!" As he stood her expression went blank. It truly wasn't her fault - she didn't mean to be distrusting, not at all! It was simply instinct that her heart jumped and she tensed where she was sitting. Ava quelled her desire to run away as fast as she could, drawing upon logic to remind her an attack was unlikely at this time - she needed to stay and see. Ava liked to think she wouldn't be surprised if the entire encounter had been a lie and Ice had been planning since her arrival to catch her off guard and rip out her throat, making short work of one Poison Path rival. It would make her life easier to think of him in black and white terms: just the enemy, nothing more. But in fact, she would be extremely surprised if he attacked her out of no where. Which was why she was so extremely relieved to see his threatless posture as he charged - the whipping tail, playful expression, no blood-stained teeth. All fear washing out of her veins, she barely had the time to stand and face him. Ava pretended she had let herself go down, although in all honestly she was a crap fighter and a wolf of Ice's size was easily a contender out of her league. Wriggling beneath the larger male she cried out in jest, "Get off me, brute! I'm a proper lady!" And she would flail her little dark paws while yelling so, aiming to whap his ears and cheeks in an irritating, but harmless manner. |