Oak Tree Bend Slow Starts

@Ruenna

Leotie couldn't believe that she had been with her pack for a year, to her it didn't feel like that long ago she'd come to the borders asking to join. So much had happened but she still felt as though she'd made the right decision when she chose to become a part of her pack. Everyday she tried to repay them for their kindness in taking her in despite winter coming. Then she didn't understand how serious it was but now that she had spent one winter and was heading into her next she had a better understanding. She had learned so much in the past year and was proud of how far she'd come.

The agouti woman worked hard everyday but there were days when she was a little slower to get moving in the morning. This just happened to be one of those days in which she had laid in the communal den a little longer. As she left the den she stretched out her muscles before taking note that it was late morning. Sitting outside the den she allowed her eyes to adjust a little more before heading off the start her day. With the freshly fallen snow it was brighter than usual out which she had learned the hard way that she would need a couple extra minutes. It gave her a little more time to prepare herself for going out into the snow to find food for the pack.

(This post was last modified: Dec 06, 2016, 08:12 AM by Leotie.)

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The easy but irresponsible thing to do would have been to leave then and there. The moment she realised that the world wouldn't end and they all wouldn't hate her guts forever and ever, the tether keeping her in the Bend had frayed down to the barest thread. It would have taken nothing at all to snap, just a gentle tug, and then freedom.

She told herself not to feel guilty about it any more. It was how her brain worked, and that was that. She would rather be free and alone and apart from this place than sad and dying and here, dragging it down with her mood and awful hunting skills. Two and a half years old, and Rue was about to leave the only pack she had ever been a part of. When she stopped to think about it, she felt like a broken wolf, as if all her loyal, sacrificial aspects of devoting herself to a pack had been dropped on the floor when she was born and just forgotten to be applied. She heard the others talk about it - both here and all over the land - with such reverence, such a sense of purpose, and it made her sad that she just didn't seem to get it. It didn't click. She thought that it might, once she found her people, but this was literally the pack she and her dad had been looking for her entire life. If it didn't click here, then when could it possibly?

Broken wolf it was, then. But oh boy, she'd be such a free broken wolf.

The plan was to go that day. She'd fallen asleep in the communal den for the last time the night before, surrounded by the smell of the others, and she'd faced her last waking-up as a pack wolf. @Serach and @Spieden and @Sahalie and @Triell - they all knew her plans, she'd sought them out to say goodbye, to apologise for the change of heart, but most of all to thank them for absolutely everything. They would never understand just how much this had meant to her, even if it hadn't been her destiny to grow old in this spooky old forest. Now that it was so final, she felt a strange reluctance to leave, as though the trees which she had been so utterly bored of suddenly meant something, triggered some kind of sadness that she was going to leave them behind. It was a curious feeling. She'd never been attached to places before. She'd rarely even slept in the same spot more than twice in a row, so had hardly given herself a chance to get emotional. But, suddenly, the unique scent of this place - the oak trees and the stream and the constant odour of so many wolves - struck a chord inside her, and she inhaled deeply, wanting more than anything to memorise it. If she might forget everything else, let her remember this.

The sound of footsteps gently lulled her from her thoughts, and Rue saw her pack mate approaching, freshly woken and coming from the direction of the den. The young Tainn smiled, tail rising to wag in warm greeting, her mixture of melancholy and irrepressible excitement building even more. She hadn't had the opportunity to tell Leotie yet. The thought of another goodbye made her heart want to burst.

"Hey 'tee," she chirped, hopping once to turn and face her friend, desperately cramming it all into fresh pages so she might take the memories wherever she went. "Late morning?"

The chill of the morning hit her as soon as she stepped out of the den, it was the thing she hated most about winter. Going from being so warm to suddenly so cold early in the morning, when she was up early. After sitting for a moment and the snow didn't seem so bright to her she knew she had to get moving I'd she was going to have the slightest chance of catching something for the cache. She left the communal den with on real plan for where she was heading since she was hunting she would see what she could find along the way. As long as she didn't get lost again she wasn't very particular about the direction she headed in.

After her incident of being lost she had taken more precautions so that didn't happen again. The last thing she wanted to do was to have it happen again, she might not be so lucky the next time. Being back to the den and not going out in very bad weather we're the biggest ways that she made sure to return home. Leotie had also spent more time getting used to the area around the pack's territory. It was the only way she knew of to not get lost again now that she had a home that she loved. She didn't ever want to lose her home again.

Leotie didn't get too far from the den when she ran into one of her pack mates, Ruenna. The agouti subordinate was a little surprised since she didn't usually see anyone when she headed out. It was later in the morning though so she supposed that was to be expected even if it wasn't the norm.

“Hey Rue,” she greeted and nodded, “Yes, very late by the looks of it.” Leotie had grown accustomed to the position of the sun during different times of the day. It still surprised her how much she had learned since she had been on her own. “Are you heading back to the den or out for some hunting?” She asked curious what her pack mate was up to. If it was hunting they could maybe go together.

(This post was last modified: Dec 08, 2016, 06:11 PM by Leotie.)

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A young deer has been separated from the rest of its herd. Hunt Opportunity

Sorry for the wait <3

That look of complete ignorance was just one of many that Rue had endured, because they had no idea until she told them - how could they? She'd been playing at packlife for long enough to be decent at it, outwardly at least. Ruenna was nothing if not a good actress, after all. Or maybe the acting came behind her life as a scribe. Which one would make her feel less like herself if she lacked it?

Oh, but these were good thoughts for the road, not to be wasted here and now! Just thinking about all that free-time she'd have while chasing the sun was making her giddy. And in contrast, Leotie's innocent question, reflecting so perfectly the mundane existence to be found within the confines of a pack territory, made her want to wince, but thankfully she was in control of herself enough to resist doing something so rude.

But that didn't make her reply any easier. "Neither," she said softly, tail dropping a notch even as it continued to wag. Leotie was such a sweet young thing, so impressionable... this place was good for a wolf like her. Rue wished she could wish she was more like the girl in front of her, instead of the faulty wolf she was, but she couldn't lie to herself in even that degree of abstraction. "I'm actually - I'm leaving. Oak Tree Bend, I mean. Today." Right now! 

Being that she had gotten up rather late she hadn't expected to run into anyone figuring they would all be out taking care of pack business. She felt a little guilty sleeping in but at the same time she felt it was needed and possibly a little deserved. Running into Ruenna however was a welcome surprise. It wasn't often she was able to speak to the girl so she was more than happy to stop and chat with her for a bit.

As it turned out though Ruenna wasn't going hunting or to the den which left Leotie a little confused. Where else would the girl be going, unless it was patrolling she was off to do as it seemed to be the only option that was left to Leotie. Before she had the chance to ask if that was the case her packmate chimed in with what she was actually doing. It left the subordinate with a look of surprise and shock on her face, “You're...Why would you want to leave?” She stuttered out.

Leotie didn't understand why Ruenna would want to leave the pack when it offered a safe place to live, food, and friends. Waiting to find out her friends reasons for wanting to leave the Rhys tried to get over the initial shock of hearing this news. Then it occurred to her that Ruenna had also said she wanted to leave that day, “Why do you have to go today?” She asked her tone a little more controlled than it had been before.

(This post was last modified: Jan 17, 2017, 04:14 PM by Leotie.)

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