Whisper Marsh two invisible eyes

Sibyl Balik

I turn my back and you got my shoulder
Release your mind, through your hands and your feet
A sigh digs you out when you are getting to deep

Even though Sibyl wanted to do nothing more than hide beside the den and hope that the demons tainted with the illness wouldn't find her, she forced herself to venture past the pack's borders in search of prey. But that didn't mean she wasn't any less scared. The calico wolf was practically crawling from tree to tree with flicking bronze eyes rimmed by the whites of fear. It seemed Grizzly Hollow's days in the Lore might be numbered, with the disease spreading across the land putting the Hollow's leaders at unease, but Sibyl couldn't let those things get in the way of her duty. Even if her pack chose to evacuate this Eden that Sibyl had come to love, they were still here, now, and there were still steadily growing not-quite-cubs to feed.

She had to keep telling herself that it wasn't too far, and that Aniu, or Destin even, were just a howl away. The thought was hardly comforting though, and she wondered if the demon did find her there would be enough time for help to arrive before it killed her. As the icy marsh came into sight, she forced these thoughts down and unsuccessfully tried to steady her shaking limbs.

The musky scent of the rodents had lead her straight to the wooden fortress nestled along the edge of the marsh. She was no stranger to hunting the fat, greasy water-rats, but they did take a good dose of patience to catch. Within eyeshot of the beaver lodge, she crouched down into the shelter of some reeds and waited. The air was heavy with their scent, and she knew sooner or later a beaver would have to exit or try to enter the safety of the lodge.

Coded by Lint Roller of RPG-Directory.com

She had been traveling for a while with no clear direction in mind, and was growing tired. Despite her paws being sore and achy, she willed herself to keep moving forward. Or not so much willed, but her body went into a sort of automatic mode, like a machine that stayed in motion without depending on the guidance of the one operating it.

Her body wasn’t the only thing that was tired, but her mind was too as the automatic motion of her body would suggest. It was cold and she wasn’t really thinking of anything. The disconnected feeling wasn’t much of a stranger. It had been developing for a long, long time ago towards the beginning of her life as a sort of coping mechanism to deal with her surroundings.

If only she could find a secure place to rest even for a little while. Security, however, was a rare and fleeting sensation. It would have to be sufficiently hidden away from anywhere another could reach. The problem was if another wolf couldn’t reach it, she most likely couldn’t either.

Always chasing these unobtainable goals.

Aloof of her surroundings, she didn’t even notice that there was another wolf present hunched down in the grass until she just about walked right into them.

It was quite a startling crash back down to earth and had caught her off guard which was a position she loathed, thinking to herself…

WHOA. Whoa, whoa, whoa…where did this other wolf come from? Great, this is awkward now..how am I going to get out of this one?

She didn’t really know what to say.

Sibyl Balik

I turn my back and you got my shoulder
Release your mind, through your hands and your feet
A sigh digs you out when you are getting to deep

Sibyl knit her brows when she saw a dark female ambling straight towards her. Surely the wolf wanted something, why else would she be headed right towards Sibyl's hiding place? Perhaps this was the black wolf's hunting grounds, and Sibyl wondered if female was coming to enforce her right to it. However, after a moment of examining her steady approach, Sibyl realized that she didn't really seem to be looking at her. Sibyl considered running for a moment, but then decided on crouching down further in the reeds, hoping to avoid detection of the dark wolf and continue on with her hunt when she passed. It seemed to have worked, and not a tilt of the ear or bat of the eye indicated that she had been seen by the stranger. Unfortunately for Sibyl, her hiding place worked just a little too well.

Instead of running, Sibyl shrank down smaller and smaller as the wolf just continued marching on, closer and closer. Finally, the wolf was upon her and suddenly stopped. Even though the female didn't do much more than stare at her, Sibyl flinched back, her tail instantly pulling up to her underside and her ears folded back. With small, squeaking whimpers she averted her gaze off to the side, not even daring to look at the dark brown paws of the stranger before her. "S-sorry! I'm sorry, ma'am! I didn't mean to, I didn't. I'm sorry, you can have them, please, if you just let me I'll be on my way and I won't bother you again ma'am." Sibyl rambled on in her soft, tiny voice. Really, she wasn't sure what she was apologizing for, but her default way of thinking was that she must have messed up something.

Coded by Lint Roller of RPG-Directory.com

She paused, stunned, looking down at the seemingly almost cowering wolf before her.

"S-sorry! I'm sorry, ma'am! I didn't mean to, I didn't. I'm sorry, you can have them, please, if you just let me I'll be on my way and I won't bother you again ma'am."

There weren’t all that many instances where Aeyla’s first response wasn’t heavily calculated and/or coated with aggression, but this was one of them. Maybe part of it was how tired she was. Maybe she felt bad for the other party involved. She hated the idea of one party being forced to take the lower role. Inequality infuritated her. She despised just about anything that can be construed to resemble weakness or vulnerability. But off the bat, her anger always went aimed towards what other party must have made that weak wolf that way. For a creature that was usually pretty hostile, she had some complicated interpretations of innoncence.

It was definitely something that kept her a lone wolf and away from pack life.

But for the wolf in front of her, this worked in her favor as she was on the side that gained the acute support of Aeyla.

“Eh..no, no, no…Please get up..I really wasn’t paying attention. Trust me, you have nothing to apologize for. If anything I should be apologizing to you. You aren’t the first casualty of my…eh, absentmindedness.”

Hope you don't mind. <3

you do not know who is your friend or who is your enemy until the ICE breaks. Time was running out. Each day the air grew milder, and the days longer. Each day brought them closer to spring, to breeding season, to a time of the year that would anchor Corinna, and the pack, to the den until late in the fall. If they wanted to move, they would have to do so, soon, but one thing stood in their way. It would be easy to discard the Aniwaya thread, but he'd smelled them, always running around in the shadows, threatening. They could not rear another litter in the shadow of that, knowing that they might be stolen, nor did Ice think they could rear a litter in the shadow of Indru. They had to do something, soon. And so, Ice found himself loping west at a steady pace, keeping to the paths beaten by hooves and paws. The shifts in weather, which melted the top layer of snow by day and froze it by night, had created a hard crust, which bore him on nine steps out of ten. He'd met Borden, and his former pack mate Angier, in the Wildwood a while back, and passed on the news of the rogue wolves from across the mountain. And, unless Ice's emotional understanding was even more off than usual, Grizzly Hollow would not mind eradicating that threat, at least. The sickness was another matter, but perhaps it would be easier to deal with, if they knew that their pups were safe from those scavenging murderers. And if the leader of the Willow pack had any sense at all, she'd tag along too, to keep her upcoming litter safe. Ice didn't know the precise whereabouts of Grizzly Hollow, only that it resided in the cedarwood forest to the far west. Without meaning to, he drifted slightly south as well, eventually breaking out from the trees after having skirted around the willow wolves' pack. He'd never stopped at the marsh in the snowless months, and as he saw the reeds poking out of the cover, he was glad for the fact that it was, mostly, frozen solid. Here and there darker patches signaled it wouldn't bear him and he stayed clear of them, keeping to the edge of the forest. Time passed as he traveled, and the wind brought him a gradually strengthening scent. Two wolves. Soon enough he could see one of them, a pretty average-looking female, dark brown splotched with black. The other scent he thought he knew, but he couldn't immediately place it. With his tail at a limp neutral, Ice barked, so as to not surprise them. He steered clear of the rogue female, and spotted the familiar, cowering shape of a small female. On pale feet he moved closer, to stop in front of her, casting a glance in the direction of the darker female before returning his attention to Sibyl. Bear, his mind said, and he thought of two red wolves, an angry bear, a massacred doe, and this little girl, helping to tug the unconscious red male away. He knew that she'd given him her name, but he couldn't recall it, and peered down the length of his pale nose and at her. "You can stand up to an angry bear, but not a wandering wolf?" he said lightly, his tail starting to sway. .ice aesir

let the stars above shine in your soul

Its all good with me, the more the merrier ^^

She was in the middle of waiting for a response from the female in front of her when in the distance echoed a bark, which despite its non-threatening tone, still startled her making her jump to straighten up, her attention darting to this new wolf approaching them.

Her fatigue began to betray her, more, and her almost successful efforts to appear calm and neutral remained incomplete due to her muscles seemingly deciding of their own accord to stiffen up making her stance seem tight and a bit forced.

Which it was, of course. Underneath this veil it was incredibly forced. At her core, she was fearful. She knew she was tired, and now she was outnumbered. She hated everything about the concept of being afraid, so this is where hostility usually came in. She resisted her initial urge to respond with aggression and that is where this supposed calm neutrality was. Whatever wall had went down when the female had ended up in a submissive stance went right back up with the entrance of this male.

She didn’t know what else to try to be. As reactive as she was that was all it was – a reaction. It wasn’t aggression for the sake of aggression. Someone had to trigger her first. Which, from her judgement so far, had not happened. It didn’t stop her from staying on her guard, but it kept her coated in her best neutral efforts. Keeping her body language in tact was work enough, so as of this moment she remained silent.

Luckily, this new unfamiliar wolf seemed to be focusing his attention on the female in front of her. She hoped that by staying on the side and out of their direct attention, her stance would be able to pass off as non-threatening.

The new male spoke:

You can stand up to an angry bear, but not a wandering wolf?

Taking a few steps backwards away from the two wolves, she continued to observe them.

Sibyl Balik

I turn my back and you got my shoulder
Release your mind, through your hands and your feet
A sigh digs you out when you are getting to deep

Sibyl carefully peeked out of the corner of her eye at the chocolaty female, expecting to see bared fangs, a flash of memory of the slobbering mad fox and her cruel sister all rolled into one crossing her mind. However, the wolf was entirely placid, and the assuring words of the lady somewhat soothed Sibyl's frazzled nerves. Sibyl rose enough so that her chest wasn't as glued to the icy once-mud as it had been. Her tail still remained tucked and her face still carefully dipped low, nuque exposed, but her eyes drifted up as far as the other female's chin rather than staring out at the surroundings.

A soft woof, a greeting it seemed, made Sibyl flinch even though the sound held no malice in it. Her eyes darted towards the source, and she found she could recognize the male from somewhere. Something told her he was trustworthy though she couldn't quite remember why. It wasn't until he mentioned the bear that it clicked in her mind. He had been the one to help her drag Kiche away to safety. She wouldn't really call it standing up to an angry bear, but she felt the skin of her face warm with embarrassment. "S-sorry sir! I, I mean..." She shook her head, again realizing she was apologizing for nothing. The "wandering wolf" as he had so called her had backed up a little, not even close to being threatening, let alone as much as an angry bear. "Well, she wasn't hurting anyone, sir..." Sibyl gave her excuse for having been cowering before the woman. She blinked confusedly as she thought about what she had just said. If the female wasn't hurting anyone, why had she been so afraid?

Coded by Lint Roller of RPG-Directory.com

you do not know who is your friend or who is your enemy until the ICE breaks. The dark-coated stranger started at his call, and despite the tense position her body snapped into, he guessed it'd been the right call to make himself known from afar instead of suddenly breathe down her neck like a creeper. And beyond her, the little Sibyl had flinched too, and Ice almost began to question his own appearance. Had he suddenly grown five extra eyes and a new tail, or something? Keeping his head level with his spine and his tail swaying slightly he hoped to soothe what tensions he could (and as his tail didn't collide with anything, he assumed he still had only one). Though, he still wondered what the hell he'd pulled off to startle them both so; the one he didn't know stiffly backed off a little, and Sibyl stammered out an apology, and called him sir. For a moment Ice just stared blankly at her, before blinking dumbly at tilting his head. Sir? There was no reason to call him that, no reason to apologize, then she seemed to get a little more confident. "Well, she wasn't hurting anyone, sir..." Again, Ice just stared dumbly at her, trying to understand the logic or connect the dots, but he just drew blanks. Slowly he moved his head to look upon the loner, though not directly at her eyes and with his tail still swaying, and then back to Sibyl. "Then.. why were you cowering?" he asked her, quite gently, though obviously very confused as it made no sense at all. Would she only stand tall in the face of danger? A good quality if she did fight when it was needed, but if she cowered to everyone she met, for no reason at all..? A slight frown creased his face. "Oh, and, don't call me sir," he muttered as an afterthought, before glancing over to Aeyla again. Neither a bear, nor hurting anyone... Would she keep backing off, overwhelmed, or would she stay? Ice was a rather friendly soul most of the time, unless you did things which threatened him or his pack (not to mention if you acted suspiciously), and while he had been on his way to Borden, it wasn't like the end of the world was about to occur in five minutes.. and the thought of frightening off the rogue lady wasn't one he liked. He wasn't scary, nor aggressive, was he? .ice aesir

let the stars above shine in your soul

This newest wolf, the male, started to seem more personable. Casual, at least.

She understood herself well enough to know that sometimes she was wrong about others. Calculating back and forth between her judgement and her fear..she was expecting, well..something else. Not entirely sure what but anxiety didn't always make sense. Maybe that cowering wolf before her had a similar demon on her back.

Different wolves…different wolves…she kept reminding herself.

Usually she was pretty good at keeping it all under control. Right now though, she was becoming more and more worn out. Somehow she was able to choke it down and keep herself in control with shutting her eyes and a couple of deep breathes and on the outside that is all she showed.

This, though derailing, wasn't entirely new. The terrors and anguish that she was so desperately trying to avoid with every layer of these defenses was like keeping a giant dam together to keep the trauma back. Like a dam there were bound to be cracks which those dark entities on the other side were just waiting for.

Deciding she was a bit too weary to stay totally stiff, she saw an opportunity to chime in. If she could manage to come off as at least a non-threat, or better yet a reasonable wolf, maybe that could start off a different tone where she may not need to immediately defend herself. At her strength, it was her best bet at self preservation.

So after the new male began asking why this female was cowering, Aeyla went for it, chiming in:

"Someone have you running scared? "

It was easier for her to face this wolf in front of her than the male to her side.

Sibyl Balik

I turn my back and you got my shoulder
Release your mind, through your hands and your feet
A sigh digs you out when you are getting to deep

Ice asked her why she'd been cowering, and the dark female joined in with a question of her own. Even though the two were entirely non-threatening, with the slightest tinge of concern in their voices, Sibyl felt a bit like she was being interrogated. Who knew why she did the things she did, besides the fact that they felt like the right thing to do. She'd learned her lesson on running into strange wolves well enough in the Willows. But Sibyl could still tell they didn't seem to be of the crazed sort, fox or wolf or otherwise, and the male's waving tail brought Sibyl a little bit further out of her shell. She stood up just a little bit taller, ears venturing to tilt forwards, until he corrected her to not call him "sir", pushing the reddish points back against her head

"Oh, sorry Mister..." She licked at her nose as she tried to remember his name. She was sure he'd told him before, and something about his whitish fur jogged her memory. "Mister Ice."

She shifted uncomfortably, eyes bouncing around at everything besides the two before her as she answered. "Uhm... Nobody's after me, but... There's a lot of dangerous things out there." She glanced up to the female's amber eyes, before averting them down to the lady's black toes. "Not to say you're dangerous, ma'am. I mean, I don't think you'd hurt anyone. Not now, I mean. I don't think you'd hurt me now but I wasn't sure." Sibyl chattered on in a progressively shrinking volume, trying her hardest not to inadvertently insult the woman but not entirely sure that she had succeeded on that front.

Coded by Lint Roller of RPG-Directory.com

(This post was last modified: Mar 03, 2013, 08:05 AM by Sibyl.)