Poison Path The Grass is Always Greener...

<blockquote>Even though they had claimed their home, the tawny wolf still felt luxate. She couldn't get comfortable in the rocky landscape she now called home. Not just home. <i>Her</i> home. She stalked towards the edge of the lake, a stance she regularly took since the adrenalin left her system. She was still numb. Corinna's final message still burned like a brand on her skin. She had been unaware of Rhysis's plan to form his own pack, she hadn't planned on falling pregnant... There was always a chance that they wouldn't have, and she had been hoping against hope... until that night.

She had been happy with the River wolves and this place just didn't feel...<i>right</i>. She didn't know if she was more angry with him or herself. She had been so foolish. Raised on the stories of her aunt Maia, who fell pregnant to a dog and was cast from the pack. Her own father had broken his sisters leg and watched as she was mauled to death by a bear. Her mate fleeing in fear... He was tracked down eventually too, his own fate just as pretty. It was more than she deserved. She couldn't shake the feeling she had been cursed.

As she approached the lake a small herd of goats fled in panic, but she paid them little attention. She hadn't eaten since they arrived, but she just wasn't feeling that hungry. Sitting on the banks of the lake, she watched as bugs teased the surface of the water, tail resting at her tawny flank, tapping impatiently at the ground. She missed being free to roam where she willed, to collect the herbs she needed for medicine. She missed the roar of the river and the family she left behind. Triell, Ice, the pups... She was going to teach them to heal before it all fell apart. Before <i>he</i> came...

She was torn. But she couldn't leave his side, and she wouldn't risk her pups by crawling back on her belly. An irritated sigh escaped her throat.</blockquote>

(This post was last modified: Mar 28, 2012, 08:45 AM by Naira.)

(hope you don't mind :3)

Poised behind a rocky protrustion within a scratchy brush a few strides away from the lake was the dark she-wolf, her belly low to the ground to prevent detection and her bent limbs teaming with potential. Her amber-colored eyes sparkled golden in the sunlight, focused fiercely on a cluster of mountain goats who had elected to stop for a drink. Since their arrival Ava had scouted the land, made herself comfortable with the surroundings, and teaching herself how to hunt the goats. They were plentiful in the mountains, but rarely had the dark female encountered them before. They were crafty and far more excellent climbers than Ava. The had yet to catch one, though the other day she did wound a smaller female before it had leapt to a ledge she couldn't reach. It wasn't among the group drinking their fill, but the sight of them still excited the girl. They had a long stretch of flatland to go before there were steep ledges where Ava couldn't follow. Surely she could get one of them now...

Or so she thought. Suddenly they broke apart, leaping fearfully away from the water's edge and into the safety of the cliffs. Ava stood immediately, but she knew she was too late to pick a target and go for it. Somewhat disgrunted, she swung her head to see what had caused the disturbance, and was surprised to see Rhysis' mate seating herself in front of the water. Ava couldn't deny the tawny female's dejected look. It almost seemed wrong to approach, as if she were intruding on a private moment of emotion, yet to return to the pack den she would have to pass Naira by and she supposed it would be better to greet the female than to be caught trying to slink passed unnoticed. Worst case, if she were to be unwelcome, Ava decided she would simply keep on her way and leave her leader to her thoughts.

The black-pelted subordinate relieved herself from her hideaway with a gentle rustle and slowly walked toward Naira. There was nothing to hide her and it was a quiet, calm day, so Ava had no fear of sneaking up on the leader - she would have to see her coming. Ava slowed to a stop a few paces away from the female and smiled politely, her tail wagging low to show her submission and good will. "<b>We haven't been properly introduced,</b>" she began, recalling the hectic events of that night. "<b>I'm Ava, again.</b>"

She didn't move or press further, despite her inner social butterfly fluttering in her mind. Better safe than sorry, she supposed, although for her it was something more like, better keep your mouth shut and realize when you're net welcome than piss off your leader if she wants to be left alone.

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(not at all! I was hoping one of you lovely ladies would reply!)

<blockquote>The flicker of black in the corner of her eye caused her lips to briefly raise over her teeth. She was in no mood to see Rhysis right now but when the scent of the dark female <i>Ava</i> danced across her nose, her face quickly returned to its calm reflective state. She was yet to properly meet the younger female and a pang of guilt radiated through her gut for not seeking her out sooner before she pushed it down.

She forced the fiasco that bought them here from her mind. The truth was, with Rhysis avoiding her again, and each wolf individually searching out the territory to acquaint themselves with the land, she had ben given far too much time to think on all that had eventuated in the span of just a few days. As the dark girl approached, Naira pulled herself from her slump, sitting more like a leader and less like a moping yearling. The girls obvious submission was enough to put her at ease though.

She met the dark girls golden gaze with a small smile. She could almost be mistaken for her cousin Midnight if only she were a little taller. This girl still needed a lot of meat on her bones and again, the realisation that they were yet to establish a cache, hunt as a family, or establish a border routine weighed heavily on her mind. She would need to address all of this and soon. Her grandmother had run a tight pack, and she planned on doing the same.

<b>"It is lovely up here isn't it?"</b> she questioned the younger wolf. With the gloom now lifted from her vision, she could see the landscape held its own little charms. The small copse of trees near their den could hardly be considered a forest in her mind, it held nothing on the Yukon forest of her birth or the Sacred Grove of the River wolves. Again another pang ripped at her chest, but she forced it down. None of her internal struggle showing on her face. <b>"So what's your story?"</b> she questioned Ava gently, hoping it was less tragic than her own, but also wanting to know what had bought each of the gathered to her that night.

She waited.</blockquote>

The dark female was elated to see her company was welcomed. With Naira's inviting smile, she gently lowered her rear to the ground and sat nearby her leader.

"<b>I do like it,</b>" the female gushed sincerely, looking among the various coves and protrusions of the mountain as they were beautifully reflected across the lake's calm surface. "<b>I visited here only once before, but it's just as majestic as I recall it to be. Although, I wasn't raised around mountains, so I suppose the mystery of the new terrain is what excites me the most.</b>" Thinking of all the undiscovered ground she had yet to see and the various caves and cliffs and rocks all around her, her tail wriggled with interest. So much to discover - so many hidden secrets. Ava was sure she would come to love their homeland. Speaking of which, the dark female perked her ears, little surprised at Naira's question. It was a simple question, and for a moment she pondered why it had caught her off guard. Then she realized, nobody had ever asked her before.

A little noise of thought-processing hummed through the girl's throat before she responded. "<b>The same as everybody else's, I suppose,</b>" Ava mused, her gentle voice showing that she had no intention of being sassy or unwilling. "<b>I grew up in a sizeable pack - the bulk of it being my numerous siblings - which I rather did like,</b>" this fact clear by how talkative she was once prompted, "<b>but for its size it wasn't quite as strong as it needed to be... when the leadership changed many of my siblings and I left, finding it to be just... not the same, I guess.</b>" She scrunched up her face a little, as though she weren't sure how to describe it, though in truth she was covering the pain of recalling her past. A picture of the cold wilderness appeared in her head - barren tree branches coated in white, mounds of snow covering abandoned dens and vividly displaying the dark female as she wandered aimlessly, scaring away game with her obvious appearance and unable to find the hidden shelter. Ava suppressed her shudder before it became visible - yikes. It hadn't necessarily <i>felt</i> like a nightmare when it was happening, but looking back, it was no dream come true.

"<b>I have Rhysis to thank for my survival, though. I was the poorest wolf you could have imagined when I stumbled into these lands - thank goodness you won't ever have to see what kind of a mess I was that night!</b>" She laughed, recalling her sorry state of starvation and exhaustion. Yikes. If she still looked skinny now, she only needed to think of her first night in Relic Lore - the difference was drastic. The she-wolf still looked forward to the weeks ahead. With shelter, and the goats to catch and the mountains to climb, she would be fit and strong sooner than later. Positive thoughts about her future cancelled the negative feelings of her past.

She turned her head slightly toward Naira, inviting whatever commentary or story she had to share in return.

(This post was last modified: Mar 28, 2012, 11:19 PM by Ava.)

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<blockquote>The younger wolf seemed positively elated to be asked a simple question and more than willing to answer fully. It was a relief. The more she watched the girl the more common ground she found and the realisation this wolf was much like how she usually was, in mannerisms and her chirpy happy-go-lucky nature, put her quite at ease. Rhysis had made a good choice with this one. As her tale grew to a close, she thought it time to tell her own.

<b>"My birth pack was large, over 30 strong... too large to sustain regardless of how far our borders stretched. My brother Kanosak left home one morning so when me and my sister Aniu came across his trail we tried to track him down. At first it was to try and convince him to come back home, but the further we travelled, the less the desire to return. We were going to see the world together, all three of us... once we found him..."</b> She let her voice trail off for a moment, keeping her quickly rising emotions under control. Leaving the River left her nerves rattled, and she was still finding herself jumping at the slightest sound and getting particularly emotional about very little at all. Perhaps that was why Rhysis was avoiding her...?

<b>"Just before the winter, Kano's trail got confusing. I wanted to go one way, and she wanted to go the other. I should have followed her, she had always been a better tracker than me. We split up... I haven't seen her since..."</b> She managed to keep her voice even, but the guilt shone clearly in her golden eyes as she continued to focus on the mirrored surface of the lake. <b>"I eventually made my way here, as a loner I met Rhysis and we hunted together. Even after I joined the River wolves, it seemed... Well we just kept bumping into each other. He pushed me off a collapsing dam, came to my rescue when I was attacked by a strange wolf and then appeared at the borders..."</b> <i>And now here we are...</i> she added to herself silently.

She left out the part where she had gone to find him to help him with his headaches, about her panicked awakening in the middle of the night and her initial flight to the life of a loner... Only to find her <i>mate</i> had other plans. It was still a strange word to her. Foreign. Wishing to turn the conversation to less emotional subjects, she eyed the spot from which the goats had fled. <b>"I have seen goats and rabbits, have you spotted anything else of substance on your travels?"</b> The adventurous nature of the other two wolves had not gone unnoticed by the tawny lady, but beyond the ritual marking of the borders she just felt far too flat to go gallivanting off herself.</blockquote>

Much like her company, Ava was surprised and quite happy to find Naira was of a pleasant disposition. Though many wolves made their same journey, the smaller female enjoyed the little points of similarity in their upbringing - a large upbringing, leaving home to follow the brother, before splitting apart on their own terms. A dull ache began in her chest when she caught the guilt her honey-eyed leader. Quietly Ava interjected, "<b>I sometimes regret parting ways with my siblings, too.</b>" Her life had worked its way out - she was now a member of a pack, its foundation, and she found joy that she would grow with the pack once again. Yet it didn't stop her from missing her childhood, missing her siblings who teased her and irritated her but loved and protected her, or the parents she selfishly abandoned.

To offset the emotions rising within her, she chuckled warmly at the story of Rhysis' and Naira's coming together. "<b>I think he is a good wolf,</b>" she smiled, hoping to lighten to mood somewhat. His demeanor was nothing like Naira's, but it was clear that he cared for her. Still, Ava was happy to have the subject changed. The time of transition was always turbulent, but it appeared both Ava and Naira had plenty to say but without pleasure. So, instead, the darker girl considered her question before her inflating eudemonia caused the inner Chatty Cathy to re-emrge.

There was a surprising amount of life in the mountain - squirrels, stoats and voles scampered around rather often. They weren't nearly as plentiful as they were in the forests, but the beauty of the wilderness was adaption. There was shelter here, and some plants, and plentiful water - why would the stone bother them? "<b>Besides the little critters, there's occasionally some kind of fat ground hog or marmot about the lake, usually early in the morning. I've seen elk toward the treeline. They don't often climb the mountains but they're just a short ways away from the territory.</b>" Her face lit up as she remembered something else, a happy trembling beginning in her tail. "<b>Oh! On the borders I saw a moose, once - a big bull, he was. I'd love to take one of those down...</b>" obviously no wolf could do it by themselves, but the thought of tearing down one of those massive, meaty creatures was enough to make her mouth water.

"<b>I'm banking on luck, I think, that I have yet to run into a cougar or bear or wolverine...</b>" God, those things were nasty bastards. Mountain lions and bears were huge, and strong, and those claws were something to be reckoned with, but they could be chased off and were rarely unstoppably violent unless - god forbid - you accidentally stumbled upon a mama and her babies. But wolverines, "<b>They're just damn evil,</b>" she said aloud, curling her lip slightly and wondering if the tawny leader had ever had a similar experience herself.

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<blockquote>So there was large game about? Well that was a relief. It had been so long since she had hunted moose. <b>"We lived on moose and caribou growing up. My little sister caught a wolverine once, then tried to eat it... she shared it around, it wasn't so pleasant."</b> Ani may have been tiny but she was fast and had spunk. She never would have been bitten on the paw by a beaver. A small giggle escaped her throat at the memory.

<b>"I tried to catch a beaver for Rhysis once, right after he almost drowned pushing me off the dam, he promised me before that he would teach me how to hunt them but of course after going for a swim in the dead of winter he wasn't too keen on hunting lesson. He told me I had to attack from behind..."</b> She was struggling to contain her laughter at the memory. <b>"I couldn't get behind it so I tried to push its head down so I could get at the back of its neck, it works with other animals right? So anyway, I tried to hit it on the head to knock it down and it <i>latched</i> onto my paw... I never realised their teeth were so sharp!"</b>

Taking a moment to get her laughter under control, she looked around the landscape that surrounded her, each moment spent with company making it appear more and more welcoming. More like home. <b>"Anyway, I caught it in the end, and Rhysis laughed at me... that was the first time I heard him laugh..."</b> she added the latter quietly. Considering how upset she had been with him a few minutes ago he was certainly playing a large part in her stories.

<b>"Have you ever had a hunt you cringe remembering?"</b> she questioned yet again, the laughter still shining in her eyes. They were going to get along just fine.</blockquote>

A huge, white grin broke apart her face of black, tail thumping on the ground as story time began. Oh, she was so happy. The female thrived on positivity, so she was open to any good time at all - be it a romp in the park or a good old fashioned story sesh. She tried to picture what wolverine meat might taste like and wrinkled her nose, a shudder going down the curve of her spine. "<b>Yuck,</b>" she voiced, snaking her tongue out from between her teeth as if she had to scrape the taste off of it.

Naira's next story moved Ava to a delightful laughter even more. She laughed because of the contagious quality of the sound, but also because the picture in her head was amazing as well as the fact that a great happiness was within her company, all factors contributing to an overall excellent experience. In her mind she pictured Rhysis, all stoic and whatnot at she knew him, attempting to instruct a sopping-wet and recently-saved Naira on the art of beavers. "<b>Oh, noooo,</b>" Ava giggled as Naira lead the story, knowing that there would be a twist ending. Then as the female continued, and as it played out in her mind she couldn't help but laugh loudly, even smacking a paw on the terrain beneath her and shaking her head at the absurdity of it.

With her tail thumping, she shook her head clean and calmed herself enough to speak. "<b>I grew up around water but I never, ever encountered a beaver dam - and now I'm damn glad I didn't!</b>" She snorted a dorky little laugh, realizing her pun. A-ha-ha, so punny. "<b>Luckily you made a full recovery!</b>" She teased.

"<b>Oh, god, <i>plenty</i></b>," Ava barked, thinking back to her first hunting lessons when she was incredibly stupid and very distracted. Once she was scared by a rabbit - for which she was teased for weeks - but that was a story she would not be sharing. Instead she cleared her throat and thought back to the time when she and her siblings hunted often. All at once her head flooded with moving pictures of her family - Wren tipping his head back with his roar-like laugh, Patak and Pakshi tumbling into a hole while play-fighting, silent Steppe illuminated in gold as he sat on the look-out hill, watching the densite as night began to fall. Finally one stood out.

"<i><b>Geese</b></i>!" Ava blurted as the memory came to the forefront of her mind. She shared a glance with Naira to see if the female had herself ever had to deal with the awful creatures. Excited she turned her body toward Naira and started in typical girl fashion: "<b>Okay, so! My two brothers and I went out on the water one day to learn how to catch water-fowl, since we had already learned how to fish but we still wanted to stay out on the water. I was a little more than a yearling at this point. So they, Wren and Finch, I mean, are both older than me and they're teasing me about how they already know how to sneak up on ducks and I don't and what not this whole time. So we scare off all the ducks trying to do this - it wasn't a successful lesson - but then Finch spots this goose approaching the water. And Wren and him go at it, trying to decide who gets to go catch it, and Wren - since he's just huge, Wren is, damn huge - just shoves Finchy out of the way and starts stalking the goose. When out of NO WHERE, this goose just turns, I swear it looks Wren <i>right</i> in the eye and charges. It just started whooping him, mercilessly, such a devil! It chased Wren all the way up the banks and back into our forests, beating him with its wings, and it was just sooo funny because Wren's so big! Then it became less funny when the goose, on its way back, became really pissed off at the sight of Finch and I dying of laughter, so it just charged us into the forest too! I got smacked on the rear so hard I couldn't sit the rest of the day.</b>"

She squirmed a little as she finished the story as though she could still feel the wound - oh yes, that was a story that made her cringe!

(This post was last modified: Mar 29, 2012, 08:03 PM by Ava.)

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<blockquote>While she had never encountered a goose, she could appreciate the hilarity of a wolf being beaten about by a large duck and she laughed along with the young dark lady. Small talk seemed to flow effortlessly between the two for which she was grateful. She hadn't had such a relaxed conversation since her little sister disappeared. She hoped she was ok. She still wondered where her sister may be, but once again, she was dredging up the past and her mood began to slip.

Getting frustrated with herself internally she decided to put her paw down. She was going to stop letting things from her past drag her down. This was an opportunity, one she had never contemplated for herself. She had been groomed to be a second all her life, and had resigned herself to her fate, until that night. Even if she consciously hadn't realised the implications of her actions, she was grateful for Rhysis's assertive action.

She would have to seek him out tonight and finally get the awkward confrontation over with. Truth was they had been avoiding each other since they settled. It wasn't healthy for them, as individuals or as a pack. Drawing herself up confidently she shook her head with a smile, raising her frame from her comfortable position. It wouldn't do to grow fat and lazy now. She had a pack to maintain. <b>"Care to run the borders with me?"</b> she questioned hopefully. She was enjoying the company immensely. It had really lifted her mood.</blockquote>

The laughter was subsiding. Her smile waned a little as she came back to normal, though her dark tail continued to wave behind her like a little banner of happiness. Her watchful eyes laid upon the lake before them. The scent of the serene body was so clean and fresh, so unlike the earthy waters of the rivers and streams whose grassy banks dipped into the water and whose bottoms were lined with soil. Murky river-fish and frogs were plentiful there, giving the water its own flavor and scent. Here, though, things were so different. Stone could not be worn by animals, and it was resilient even to nature. The water that laid in the lakebed was untouched.

Much like the water, the territory was also untouched, so when Naira offered a little border patrol, Ava immediately rose to her feet. "<b>Absolutely,</b>" said the dark girl, her expression displaying both her willingness to serve and her eagerness to explore. Lifting her chin, she surveyed their surroundings: so much pale rock to climb, so many nooks and crannies to discover, caves to explore, places to find before she could say she knew the land. She looked at the numerous paths before them, her head flooding with opportunities. She had been avoiding one part of the area in particular, but she let the fugitive memories disappear. Despite that Ava desperately wanted to know the land like her own paw.

With a glad little smile, she raised her brows and motioned to their surroundings. "<b>Where to?</b>"

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