Ruins of Wildwood
Wildflower Glade ashes - Printable Version

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ashes - Jaune - Sep 15, 2010

Lilies did not spin for their petaled dresses. With a small squeak of surprise, the small, somewhat harassed female stumbled into the glade, escaping the claustrophobia of dense thicket to the soft plushness of wild flowers. The wild flowers were dazzling in their array, and their colors seemed youthful to her. It was as if these flowers drank in the honeyed sunlight and smacked their lips in whispered appraisal. There was a gentle hush here, the sound of wind feathering through petals and leaves, and she felt, for once, at peace.

Not bothering to look around her, fully mesmerized by the glade before her, she was Sophie, entering the field Howl had prepared for her from his heart. Taking each step with great deliberation, she planted them carefully among the flowers, and she felt almost scared. She did not wish to crush them. For she knew how most beautiful things were also delicate things, easily trampled by circumstances and woes. If she was not cautious, she would ruin the perfection of the moment, shatter it into pieces. Above, an eagle flew by and screeched as it caught an unsuspecting meal. Her eyes flew upwards. With her attention distracted, her feet, though small and almost dainty, unknowingly clipped the dress of a small yellow flower. The flower wailed in pain, and frightened, the female leaped backwards, crushing afresh a handful of the flower's companions--and just like that, the perfection was broken with her. She suddenly realized that Howl was leaving her, not planning to return, and the pain of this knowledge surged through her heart. Ashes. She fell to the ground.


ashes - Skittles - Sep 16, 2010

The tan male had found himself amidst a field of flowers, like a dream, they seemed to float above the surface of the ground, held above it by some unknown stuff. The sun shone down pleasant and cheery, and the air with it, carrying a call of freedom, the echo of the wilderness, and the yearning of prosperity. He watched contentedly idle as the sun made a great circle in the sky, and the flowers themselves seemed to turn with it, not wanting to loose sight of their master, their lifeblood.

A gentle breeze caught his attention, a different fragrance in the air. He blinked, his mind rising from the shallow depths of a lucid state, not asleep yet not awake. He twitched each paw one by one, to find out where they were, and then seeing all four of them contently outstretched above him, he playfully rolled side to side, half amused, and half interested in picking up this flowerbed smell to carry with him. Scent now in-fur, and accompanied by a lion's yawn, he rose, pausing only to arch his back, and then let his nose lead the way, following this new tangy floral aroma.

A figure in the distance lurked about, seemingly prancing through the flowers with equal joy, her tail waving happily in the air. As he watched her strained steps, he saw how carefully she tried to step between the flowers. A silly grin found its way to his face as he watched her futile efforts, and then eventually, it came. A distraction caught her attention, and then a saddened look overcame it, discovering that to not step on a flower was impossible. As he watched the one fall to the ground, presumably to cry, he tilted his head awkwardly towards the ground, and used his teeth like shears, clipping a small clump of them from their stems.

Forgetting about the interesting scent he had gotten up to explore, he now approached the creature, bearing flowers in his mouth. As he grew closer, the curves and proportions indicated it was a female. He racked his brain, trying to think of something to say, but, finding nothing for the occasion, he remained quiet while he cautiously approached, and dropped his flowers beside her head. His eyes found themselves randomly focused on the creatures ear, and the native desires within him grew, welling up into a desirous urge. Obeying, he attempted to acquire the ear in his mouth to gnaw on it.



ashes - Jaune - Sep 16, 2010

Still standing in the wake of her destruction, she caught sight of the male from the corner of her eye. Immediately, she grew wary. There was a solemnness to his features that did not seem to match, and it was with growing uneasiness that she followed his disproportionate form slowly lumbering towards her. It must have been the flowers in his mouth--a symbol her romantic heart could not reject--that kept her standing there, even when all of her instinct told her to run far from this strange, later unpredictable wolf.

He was so odd, she could not help thinking as he wordlessly dropped his bait by her feet. There was something, not quite right, and she felt his dull eyes upon her, searching her, feeling her, reading her. He read her all wrong. She saw his eyes focusing on her ear even before he attempted to snatch it, and knowing this, she side-stepped his motion with a growl of displeasure gurgling from her throat. Her body became hunched, her slender legs spread farther as she attempted to grip the soft ground, and she attempted to make herself larger--but she knew she was no match for the size of the other lone wolf. Still, she knew how to play the part of an illusionist, especially when her own safety was at wager. Here she was, grieving the death of her flower companions, and here he was, rudely taking advantage of her sadness. Rashly, she confirmed her beliefs about grief. Her jaw locked, her cheeks pulled tightly back. She snarled at him, warning him not to further approach her unless he desired trouble, and reasserted her dominance with a stamp of her foot. Her tail, once drooping, became rod-like, and her pointed ears pulled back. There was another flash of white as she snapped her jaws. She did not wish to spar with him, not on the fresh graves of her newest companions. The scent of crushed petals dispersed and filled her nostrils.


ashes - Skittles - Sep 16, 2010

Feeling completely engulfed, her ear loomed larger and larger, it consumed his brain, and then, the sky, and then and then everything! As he reached towards it, his actions in slow motion, the ear was there, and then, it was not. His muzzle halted now in mid-pursuit quite unsure what to do next. At last, the earth and sky once again grew back to their proportions, now that the black hole that was this wolf's ear had disappeared.

He had no time to dwell on it, as the vacant expression on his face quickly morphed into alarm. Caught off guard by the sound of a snarl, he saw her pearly white fangs drawn out, not in a smile, but in a snarl. Without thinking, he did what came naturally to him, and with no effort at all, he violently pummeled himself onto the ground, rolling onto his back, and holding his four limbs against his chest. An anxious whimper-whine escaped his muzzle with the effort. And his tongue naturally found it's way out of it's ivory prison and lolled outside it, onto the soft grass.

With a stroke of luck, or perhaps, unluck, to some, he found a tingly sensation on his salmon appendage, and drawing it back, discovered it was laden with a munchy morsel. It wasn't until his teeth cracked down hard on some sort of shell, that a piece of it induced a gagging cough. Out flew the snail from his mouth. Still undeterred, his pink retriever retrieved the tiny snack, and this time he was able to gulp it down.

With instincts aside, now, he was able to ponder the meaning of things. He knew he was on his belly, attempting to appease this distraught female, who had apparently rejected his flowers. He didn't fully understand why she was upset, or what was the matter. Did she need her back scratched? Was she hungry? Was she upset because his flower-bringing had implied she might have been a vegetarian? Was it a full moon? Did she require appeasement only by rite of passage where wolves grew elk-horns and bashed each other's heads with enough force to move mountains and then raced to the bottom of the seas growing gills and eating catfish? Woah, that last one was actually pretty cool.

With reasons for the female's flared anger beyond him, his mind quieted, and he lay there contentedly submissive, waiting for something to happen.He became aware that neither of them had spoken. But, what were words for when actions bested a thousand of them? A tiny wag escaped his control at the tip of his tail. Before he could correct himself, it had traveled the whole length, and it now wagged back and forth with glee, creating a tail-impression flower-angel in the lush vegetation. To amiable to tell his tail it was not allowed to wag, he let the both of them continue in their happy-go-lucky frame of mind.



ashes - Jaune - Sep 17, 2010

He was unthinking. This was perhaps what first came to her mind, only came to her mind, as she watched the large male fold before her like an origami frog. His legs were brought close to his chest, his salmon-colored tongue lolling about, and she thought him almost pretentious--that is, until he decided to have his little snack. Falling quiet, though still tense, unsure of how to judge, let alone punish, the jester of a wolf, she searched his eyes for possible enlightenment into his thoughts. Perhaps, he was playing some game with her, and yet she could not imagine a creature of such smallness possessing enough intelligence to be so arch.

Flowers forgotten, she narrowed her eyes, deciding it was safer to be suspicious than prematurely conclusive, and when he began to wag his tail back and forth, transforming into a veritable fish out of water, she could only feel a look of disgust worming its way onto her otherwise delicate features. Quickly, she concealed her heart. If he so enjoyed this game, as he so communicated with his wagging tail, then she would play along, but only by her rules. Smirking, she gently nodded her head and gestured for him to rise from his submission. She would accept his show of respect, she communicated. She took a dominant step forward. She translated her earlier aggression into one of exaggerated confidence, and it was obvious from her stance that she thought herself princess of the situation. Gazing at him for a second more, she abruptly turned on her heel and began to walk forward. She softly barked at him to follow along, if he wished to make amends with her. It was he who had wronged her, most obviously of all. Meanwhile, a small maggot of doubt began to nibble at her heart.


ashes - Skittles - Sep 17, 2010

Lying on his belly, he observed a frown gliding across her face, perhaps even a look of disgust. Did she not like him? What was so disgusting? Why did other wolves treat him this way? Ah, such was the song of his life. Pushing the tiny bee-sting of rejection from his mind, he waited, quietly persistent. Her frown dissapeared into a serious look and she gave him a slight nod. His persistence had paid off.

Recieving the nonverbal cue, he rolled back onto his belly now and rose to his feet, giving his pelt a slight shake to get rid of a few blades of grass that clung to him. He leaned forwards to lick her, but he was too slow, she had already turned. With head cocked inquisitively, he watched through dull yellow-brown eyes as she departed, her steps confident and brisk. When she nodded at him again from afar, beconing him, he questioned no further. He sprinted to catch up to her, and then fell into pace beside her. Half-mindedly, he pointed his nose in her direction, trying to hover over her unstill pelt, gathering her scent, and commiting it to memory. Satisfied to have at least a scent to remember the female by, he continued his pace beside her, panting, a jubilant victorious grin across his face.

He hadn't figured out why she was so upset yet. Why was she so sad amongst the flowers? When he brought her flowers, why did she become so angry? Perhaps he would ask, "Pardon me ma'am, why were you sad?". But it would be a stupid thing to ask, and in all liklihood, she might become upset at him for merely mentioning the subject again. Perhaps she might call him names like 'insensitive', 'stupid', 'foolish', or 'chatterbox', whatever that last one was. He resolved to keep quiet, and said nothing. It was the thing that had won her over, and she seemed to like it.

They passed a mushroom. His face followed the mushroom while still keeping up with the girl until at last, he darted off to investigate. A sniff indicated the fungus a foul one, and he loped back to the woman, keeping up again until another object caught his attention, he investigated, and came back. After a few more likewise iterations, he came back this time holding a snakeskin in his mouth.

Getting ahead of her, he turned around, to face her, object-in-mouth. If she continued to trot forwards he would trot backwards facing the woman. With a serious expression, he tried his best to gesture towards to snakeskin, and then gave the girl a puppy-dog look.

This female hadn't said a word yet. He didn't mind, words were overrated. A wolf such as him could communicate what he needed and wanted with his body language. For a male, such things were not too hard. After all, what did males ever want but food, sleep, and a mate? Being no average male, such primitive things did not dominate his mind like others. Instead, he wanted to see the world, to discover new things, meet new creatures, create endearing companionships. And for all of those things, he had his special un-average personality and expressionful features to communicate them with. And words, should he choose to use them, he knew words, quite a few of them in fact.


ashes - Jaune - Sep 17, 2010

It annoyed her. Though she had not looked back, she could see the silly grin on his face. His jubilation seemed to be reaching out to her like two small hands intent on tickling. Hastily, she swatted them away and proceeded to gaze forward, determined not to indulge his childish tendencies. It was only until she began to almost feel his eyes and his nose inhaling her form that she decided to set their boundaries straight. He was to have no part of her. Nothing at all. No, it was only her that could take possession of him. But when she half-cocked her head back, scowling and ready to insult the little knave, she found him quite absent. Blinking, unsure where he had scurried off to, she craned her head further back and caught sight of him feet behind. Thinking him all the more thick-headed for being unable to keep pace, and so easily distracted at that, she inhaled a sharp breath and puffed up her cheeks in what might have been irritation. But he was returning, with yet another bait, and she quickly craned her head back and pretended to be completely disinterested in his going-about.

To her complete disdain, her attempts at ignoring him were unheeded as he surpassed his step--he was either going too slowly or too quickly, the fool!--she shifted her eyes to a corner far above and once more pretended to be uninterested in what he had caught. But he was persistent, a persistent ignoramus, and deciding herself rather generous, she decided to give him a snatch of her radiant attention. His face was serious, more grave than she had ever seen it, and in his mouth held a most repulsive snake-skin. Openly showing her disgust, this disgust was quickly subdued as his face, once so solemn, became as pathetic as an infant's. Rolling her eyes, and sighing aloud, wondering what other cheap tactics this boy's man would use, she did have to admit that the snake-skin was rather interesting, opaque and almost stringy in its wrinkled form. Wondering if the owner was still around, she made a slight joke to herself and imagined the snake naked, ashamed, and wildly desperate to find his old coat. This encouraged a smile, ever so slight, to kiss her black lips, but when she realized she had shown some pleasure in plain sight to the larger male, she quickly stole it away and replaced it once more with a veil of coolness. She was doing him favor, she rationalized. It was good for her to discourage his curiosity, as curiosity easily led to trouble.

Still, she wondered why it was that wolves never shed skins. Behind, a slim figure slithered through the grass and flowers, flicking its tongue as it timed its chance to strike.



ashes - Skittles - Sep 17, 2010

This female was proving more and more difficult to understand. He had learned by now that in order to comprehend this one, he had to take it one moment, one gesture at a time. At certain times, it felt like he was trying to understand the stars, and what they were made of, and how far away they were. Such difficult and impossible objects to grasp, being so far away from. So too, the girl's mannerisms were unweildy to his comprehension.

As he showed the snake skin to her, she showed the slightest hint of pleasure but only for a moment, before her features returned to her all-to-familiar look of disgust. The look was beginning to wear on him. It made him feel completely inadequate, disgusting, and more lowly than the feces of a mosquito. He shook his head and then fell back into pace with her, wanting a few moments to piece together her body language. She seemed a little interested, but then again not at all. Perhaps she was hungry too, but didn't like to eat snakes? The answer seemed to fit.

He turned and trotted off now. A hissing sound attracted his attention and he looked to see a sprawled out snake, recoiling, and clearly agitated. He frowned at it and then moved a few steps in his direction, watching to see what the snake would do. To his surprise, it slithered quickly towards his new companion. Displeased, he approached the snake again, his paws ready to spring. As he darted a paw forwards, the snake lunged at him again, but he was too quick. His paw landed right below it's head, rendering the creature unable to pose much harm. With a quick snap of his jaws, he separated the snake where he held it into two, dissolving whatever threat it might have posed for his new companion. Holding the body dangling from his mouth, he looked towards the female again. She did not seem to notice. He remembered that she didn't like snake. Not being a wolf to let a good meal go to waste, he quickly gobbled it down in a few bites, and then set off again.

A few minutes later, a rustling sound caught his attention, and he followed it, snapping his teeth in mid-air. The thing seemed to try to dig underground, flinging dirt at him.A few digs himself and a well-aimed snap later, he held the ornery creature, still alive, by it's tail. After a few moments it went limp, either temporarily knocked out, or playing dead.

He approached the girl again, holding his vole in his mouth. As before, he trotted in front of her, keeping pace while walking backwards. This time he gestured to the vole, and then to her.


ashes - Jaune - Sep 18, 2010

Not wanting to be powerplayed by another player, the hissing of the snake did indeed reach the french canary's ears, and she stole a glance backwards, having learned long ago that it was always wise to keep watch of one's heels. To her surprise and pleasure, his companion was swift in his movements, moving faster and with more skill than she had ever seen him perform. He was decisive in his execution of the snake, and inwardly, she heard the sound of another sort of hissing--the silent celebration of her heart. Still, she would not concede to him anything. Not now. Not ever, said her wounds. No doubt her stubbornness had wended long ago to the very material of her bones, and it would take more than a few haphazard "baits" to win her appreciation. Still, when the male again dared to break pace, she gently snapped her jaws in disapproval, if only to show her dominance in the relationship, before slowing down in her step and stopping altogether. A quizzical expression was pasted on her face, and she felt at a loss of how to deal with the male, who though more than capable of crushing the head of a snake, was undeterred by her unfriendliness. It wasn't that she did not want his company. If anything, she might have enjoyed it, but there was something still so odd about his appearance that made her feel ill at ease.

Finally, she spoke. At least, she spoke aloud in her mind, but when she opened her mouth, she found them quickly shutting again. The words she wished to say, the questions she wished to ask, dissolved as her heart hardened once more. She stared at the male, searched his face for any indications of his true motivations--for surely he was scheming in his mind to trick her--and when she found nothing, she continued to search nonetheless, for all motivations, even good ones, were doomed to corruption.


ashes - Skittles - Sep 18, 2010

When he left the girl she seemed mildly unpleased. The reaction surprised him, but it didn't falter his steps. He had long accepted that this female had a mind that he simply was incapable of understanding. The concept of such a mind was not foreign to him, as he also found others were utterly incapable of comprehending him as well. Content to manage with what few of her body languages he could interpret, he had set of, pleasantly surprised, deciding her anger was due to his leaving. So she did want him around.

But when he returned with the vole, she simply looked at him with a seemingly blank expression. She had indicated she was hungry? Perhaps she simply did not want to take it from him? Acting on his suspicion immediately, he sat the creature down in front of her, while holding down it's tail in case it decided to wake up suddenly and try to escape. He backed as many steps as he could, stretching his paw to the limit, and then pushed his thighs downward to sit. His tail wagged with a gleeful patience, and his face once again contorted to an even happier grin, closing his eyes and lolling his tongue out to pant and cool himself down from his previous exertion.

Remembering the persistence that the female seemed amiable towards, he held the creature down by it's tail and quietly waited, averting his eyes in case she disapproved of his mindless staring. The only indication of time was the methodical thumping of his tail, echoing the rhythm of nature's heart-beat, the very essence of time itself.

Hmm, what were the stars made of... ? His mind wandered off.