Cedarwood Forest Board Up the House

<i>Yep. Blegh, apologies for the wait; I haven't had a day off since last Thursday.</i>

<blockquote>Stalking through the trees with his head and tail held high, Borden led the way through the forest. Though the adrenaline still coursed through his veins his heavy footsteps stamped along the forest floor with somewhat even strides. They walked in silence for some time until Follko broke the ice again, questioning about bobcats in Cedarwood and how the felines were vast in number from where he had come from. Borden's brow furrowed. <i>Goodness,</i> he had wanted to say out loud. To even think that bobcats could multiply at that magnitude was a hundred times more troubling if he couldn't even risk having a juvenile one lurk about just beyond his doorstep.

<b>"It would seem like it, yes,"</b> he replied quietly. <b>"Out here, it's not so much the coyotes or foxes to be wary of. It's the <i>bears</i> you ought to look out for, but even they are few and far between."</b> Wherever Jaysyek's scent criss-crossed with his, the leader stayed true to her markers, even if they caused Borden to zig-zag a little and stray from his normal, straight-as-a-ruler path. Eventually, after a few minutes' time, he pulled away from her path and started to drift towards where the cool, fresh scent of the River could be detected through the thick musk of the forest. His pace slowed and he cast the older wolf a warm smile, <b>"I hope you don't mind me asking but... how did you come to the Hollow, to decide that this was a suiting place for you?"</b></blockquote>

Well, what do you want from me?

Tis okay :)

Follko followed Borden and added his own scent with the preexisting older ones
along the border. As the two males plodded along Follko continually looked back
they had come. He was starting to feel odd. Like something wasn't right again,
but the oldwolf shook his invisible fears away and looked forward again to his alpha.
"Bear's...Gosh I'm lucky not to have encountered one yet. In all of my travels I have yet to
see one." He wondered what they looked like. From other wolves descriptions they were
far larger than any wolf with either black, brown, or cinnamon colored fur.
That was the most of his knowlege on the horrible beasts.


It wasn't soon after that Borden asked the elder why he'd come here.
"Hell if I know!" Follko chuckled then turned to a serious look again. He remembered
his old family. He missed them now but they likely weren't alive anymore. It was so
long ago that he'd left them.


"Well first off when I was young, arrogant, and extremely stupid I left my
parents pack looking for a little more adventure. " He sighed remembering his parents
annoyed faces. They had always seemed like they were annoyed with him.
"I lived as a loner since age two. Back then I thought it was cool to be a loner.
I didn't yet know the loneliness that would come with being a loner.
Pausing the blackish wolf was being annoyed by the tingle of pain every time he spoke.
The scratches were still bugging him.
"Even so I wasn't really lonely until I hit age four. Before then I had so many things happen
to me. I could go on and on about some funny and exciting stories I have up in this
ol noggin." He smiled again remembering the moose incident. "Maybe I could
share those stories with the pups later." He smiled brightly. It wasn't often that someone
would actually want to hear his story of survival. Even when some parts were funny and
others scary. Maybe the pups would like to hear of it.


"Anyways... So I finally began to see what I'de done wrong after leaving my
parents pack. But I couldn't go back. I would just be some loner to them. So I started
traveling north. I ran into other packs but they turned me away. They must have thought
that a wolf in his prime shouldn't be a loner unless there was a reason for it.
Like banishment from a pack or something." He knew he was talking too much now
but Follko was just happy to have someone else to talk to now. To have a pack
with lots of other wolves to chat with.


"I was a loner for another two years until I came to Relic-Lore. The packs here
seemed much more low key compared the packs outside the mountains to the south.
Perhaps because there is more forest and prey here than out there." Laying his ears back
Follko thought about how he'd been chased away from otherpack borders more than once.
"I tried to join the first pack I met with and it just happened to be you guys." He smiled
nice and wide again. "And you know what I definately know what I was missing in my youth!
I missed the good feelings you got when helping your packmates. " He laughed then
questioned if Borden might have thought he was crazy. Nahh...
"I am no longer that stupid pup. But now I have wasted all of my good years on nothing
but trying to find more excitment in life. I didn't realize there was more excitment in a pack."
He shook his head. He was talking WAY too much. He'd probably made Borden bored
with his ramblings. So now he kept quiet still with a slight grin on his face as they padded along.

“Never to suffer would never to have been blessed.”
--Edgar Allan Poe  

<i><3 Shall we wrap it up... or?</i>

<blockquote>Though the leader continually blinked in odd intervals, his eyelids eventually stopped fluttering. Follko's words, his story, drew him away from whatever pain had blazed across his face. The older male had lived a rather similar existence before he had come to Relic Lore. He imagined a young Follko, confident beyond his years, easily taking on the world with ground-eating strides. The only difference between them was that he had embarked on his journey on his on whereas Borden had been sent away. The Hollow leader nodded briefly, his half-blind pupils flickering to his companion's face before returning to the pathway laid out in front of them.

It turned out that Follko had had it rough... even more so than what Borden had gone through. Where Borden had been naive and egotistic to shy or avoid nearby packs, Follko had been <i>turned away</i>. The last bits of the subordinate's story unfolded and it occurred to the Lyall how fortunate he {and Jaysyek} had been to stumble upon him. Not only had he just aided him in getting rid of a bobcat, but he had quite the character and personality... one, he hoped, that would lend itself to the pups' whims. <b>"Ah, I wouldn't say you wasted your good years,"</b> Borden smiled, nothing on his face <span class='word'>bathetic</span> or masked by a white lie. <b>"You've still got that fight in ya that's for sure, and I'm glad you came when you did."</b> He strode through some underbrush then glanced over his shoulder with a heartened grin, <b>"We'll take the shorter route around, I think, should be near the creek in a matter of minutes. What d'ya say?"</b></blockquote>

Well, what do you want from me?

Yes, I think we shall.. ^^

"Sure!" Follko was a bit surprised at the kind smile
which graced his alpha's features. For once the elder felt
even more accepted into this new pack than he'd felt even in his old one.
Perhaps if he'd been as smart as he was now in his youth Follko would not
have left his own family. But then I would never have met this new family..
With a short nod Follko agreed with taking the shorter route to the creek.
"What are we waiting for?" He padded after Borden in high spirits
as the two wolves disappeared into the brush which led to the water..

“Never to suffer would never to have been blessed.”
--Edgar Allan Poe