Verdant Mosses Keep my Heart Safe for a While

@Spectre only please :)

Shade stared at his paws as he sulked forward, thinking of the good times and the bad that he had been through the past four or five months. There had been the birth of his children, the happiest day of his life. There had also been when they were nearly starved, when Anastasia had showed up, she had taken care of his kids when Rosealia had gone, and he was eternally grateful. Then there was meeting a pure white female, Spectre, who had lost her memory. He had offered her a place in his home and she had grown to become a great friend and a loyal packmate. He also knew that she was always working hard, even teaching Adsila a thing or two about hunting.

Shade found that strange things happened, there was the man who he was told should not be trusted, but Ana trusted him. It made him wonder if he should trust Ana or Spectre. He liked both of them, and he knew better than to doubt one of them, but there was something that was odd. He supposed that he would have to just meet the man for himself before judging him, though he did remain cautious. His eyes were focused on the surroundings now, the green mosses were beautiful, glistening with morning dew. The sun just showing itself on the horizon. It was a place he found reminded him of a place he once loved. That was back when he was a lone wolf and hated packs, a past he didn't prefer to remember.

Dawn had broken over Pitch Pine, and with it, Spectre had risen from her slumber and left the den bright and early. She had developed a routine in her time with the pack, and it was something that she was loathe to break. Even when it rained, she could be found emerging from the den to shake the sleep from her pelt, and getting in a good stretch. As a hunter, Spectre knew she had to constantly be on the move, always trying to keep tabs on where the herds were moving, or if there was a particularly popular gathering location for the larger prey beasts. This morning was no different, after finishing her stretch, she trotted away from the den and made her way into the familiar woodlands of Dragonfly Fen. It was interesting, to listen to the chatter of the birds and squirrels, watch the rabbits and other vermin scurry away at her paw steps.

As she did every morning, Spectre paused near a small stream to lower her head for a drink, and then splashed through it to begin the second part of her morning ritual. A good, long run to stretch her legs, and simply to feel absolutely and completely free for a while. The path she chose for her run was random, and always at the end, she would find herself somewhere new, and make use of the new location to find her way back, and to learn where smaller creatures lay. As she raced through the trees, her paws carried her onto the moss covered rocks and fallen limbs of the lands south of her home. She parted her jaws, allowing her lungs to heave in great pants of air before expelling it over her tongue. Limbs of ivory beat along the ground covering, her tail flying like a banner over her back as she moved.

She would have continued to run, had she not breezed past a familiar smell and drawn herself to a halt.. Frowning in confusion, Spectre turned, letting the wind carry Shades scent to her before she found herself grinning and moving his direction without thought. As she approached, the female paused a respectable distance away, panting heavily from suddenly stopping her run, but looking bright eyed. "Good morning, Shade." Spectre approached and pressed her tail between her thighs as she bent low, tongue lapping out in an attempt to graze along the underside of his jaw in greeting. "I hope the morning finds you in good spirits?"

Word Count: 439

Shade had not paid close attention to his surroundings, and he turned in shock when Spectre had spoken. He blinked, finding no need at the moment for his tail to raise up in dominance as her's had lowered in between her thighs. His tail did wag a bit, because he was always glad to see a friend. She then spoke about him being in good spirits, or she hoped he was at least. With a small sigh, he shook his head. "Hi Spectre, I'm afraid I can't find myself to be in good spirits today." Sadness had ranged in his voice as he replied to the white female. He had been thinking about how he could had done things better, perhaps if he had talked to Rosealia she wouldn't be gone, or maybe they would all be out of the Lore as a family.

He looked at his paws again, and then gazed to the sky, it was almost uncomfortable for him, but he had no idea why it was so uncomfortable. His eyes had a sense of confusion in them. Could anything that he said or done stopped Rose from leaving his side, from leaving their children. Perhaps it was the fact that he had been separate from her for most of her pregnancy, and had arrived just as she had finished giving birth. Was it truly that he wasn't a good mate when she needed him to be. He had no idea though, she hadn't told him anything before she disappeared. Out of sight, but never out of mind.

Words: 261

A frown enveloped the features of the pale Pitch Pine second, her tail giving a faint wag from its location between her hind limbs. The female thought a few moments on what she might say to attempt to make him feel better, but she was coming up dry. Instead, the female shifted and stretched out upon the ground on his right side, crossing her long forelimbs over one another. "If...it would not be too forward of me, I have found that...speaking of the things that are weighing on my mind helps me sort through my feelings." It had helped immensely to be able to talk to Silver about her worries of who she was in the past. Now, the pale female had no such qualms.

Ice blue eyes shifted, her head tilting to look up at Shade, laying comfortably in his shadow. "If not through speech itself, the simple act of having company often soothed the worries on my heart." She was not sure if he would understand, or even listen to her words, but Spectre felt the need to offer it anyway. In a way, she felt...strange. Almost as if losing the memories of who she had been had allowed her to take a.. unique perspective on life. After all, when she could simply sit back and take life for what it was, where most could not, it made things that much simpler. Spectre fell quiet, simply remaining where she lay -allowing Shade a silent companion, or an ear to talk to if he so desired.

Word Count: 256

Say your prayers and stomp it out

Shade gave a small smile, it was good to know that at least someone would care to listen to the sad story that he had been telling himself for nearly 2 months. Love, loss, desires, hate and everything else to pile on top of the emotional stack that he claimed as his. The esse of his history, he felt, was revealed to Rosealia, something he cared not to remember, and that was why she left. But she left Karpos and Adsila, and it broke his heart that she had. Even if she had left, he had the constant reminder of how much she impacted his life. At the same time, he felt that it was better that she had not taken they're pups, because there would then be a constant void.

Spectre sat down beside where he stood, and he too sat down. Talking was always the best, and he wanted to talk, it was just difficult to put into words, he would try anyways. "It's about Rosealia, it has been bothering me for some time now. Making me wondering if she left because of something I had done, or something that someone else had told her about me. I keep getting this weird feeling that I am the reason she left without Karpos and Adsila. It makes me have nightmares almost every night about her returning and being not the sweet woman I fell in love with, but a wolf who hates me. I just don't know what to do." He stated honestly, a bit of sadness laced his voice as he gazed at Spectre, wondering if she had any words of wisdom.

Words: 274 || Tags: Spectre :) || Notes: Spree?

♥ NEVERTALE

OOC: I'll try :D

Ice blue eyes lifted from where they were watching the distance, turning up towards her Alpha and friend. A frown marred her muzzle before she hmm'd, shifting to kick her hind legs to the side, resting her hip against the ground. "To...understand what was really going on, perhaps you have to look farther back? I have few doubts that you were an attentive mate...but did something happen to perhaps cause her to feel unsafe? You have...mentioned before that there are dangers to the pack, and sent Silver on a scouting mission to the north. Would any of these perhaps cause Rosealia to flee for her life? Or..." The female paused her thoughts running a mile a minute.

"Nn...Allow me to start over with my thought process. If it were me in her...position, I would wish to think that the only reason I would simply up and leave is to see to the safety of those around me. Perhaps something happened that caused her to feel as if her presence would threaten the lives of you and your pups? A mother of pups so young would not so easily abandon them without cause...Unless she..was fickle to begin with?" Perhaps Spectre wished to know more about Shade's true mate. Had he simply stumbled upon the female one day and struck up a relationship with her, it certainly did not surprise the female that she had run off.. But if there was more to it than that - more of a bond, Spectre was far more likely to believe something had happened to cause the others departure.

Word Count: 265

Say your prayers and stomp it out

Shade listened, shaking his head a bit when he heard her speak. "I just think she would have talked to me and told me what was going on first. W-we always talked about everything, and he didn't have the smoothest relationship, but everyone has they're rough patches in a relationship. I-Its just that we knew everything about each other, or at least she knew everything about me and..." He cut himself off and started thinking, something to put her in risk of her life. It made him wonder... the day that she had disappeared she had disappeared on a walk, was it possible that Elettra or someone from Willow Ridge had caught her and decided to take her out? Perhaps a kidnapping, or maybe they hauled her away from him knowing the pups would die without a mother? He was probably just a bit paranoid.

"There is.... one thing she could have left for. Rosealia and I abandoned Willow Ridge.... perhaps one of them f-found her." The idea was almost horrifying to imagine. As far as he knew, Sica or Guiness could have dealt with her, or maybe even Angier or Elettra herself. But with pups in the Ridge {he assumed as much for her to have found a sire} surely Elettra wouldn't kill a wolf in front of them. It made him even more sad, after all Roseali and him had so much in common, though there had been that brief spill up of a confusion between them. They had always been there for each other, in sickness and in health. In thick and thin. He then realized, no matter where she was, it had all come to an end.

Words: 281 || Tags: Spectre || Notes: :)

♥ NEVERTALE

Now that she had him talking, Spectre hmm'd, thinking more on the subject.. So there had been some kind of suspicious activity to what may have happened to his mate. "Willow Ridge? Where is that pack located?" She frowned, wondering if something had perhaps happened to the female when she had gone on her walk. "Did it happen before you formed the pack here, or after? If..it is before, would it have possibly been in retaliation for the two of you having pups?" She knew enough about pack life to know that having puppies within a pack when you are not the leading pair was generally a large no-no. Spectre hoped it was not something to do with that, but if it was..

She leaned out and nudged Shade's leg lightly with her muzzle, a gesture of comfort for one ailing so. Not knowing what had happened to his mate had to be eating away at him, and she found herself wanting to find out the truth, to give him some form of closure. Slowly, she parted her jaws, ears dropping against her neck in case he bit at her, though why he would, she did not know. "If...If you wish it, I could travel to the pack and see what I might be able to find about Rosealia for you.. I did not know her, but I am certain that not knowing what happened to her has to be worse than what did happen if you did know for certain. I...would be willing to at least try to find out for you..But if the pack lies over the mountains, it could take me weeks to just get there and back, let alone dig around for information.." Spectre was unaware of the gravity of the situation between Shade and Willow Ridge, or the dangers she would be putting herself in just by asking.

Word Count: 313

Say your prayers and stomp it out

Shade was grateful for the offer, but he had sent Silver across the mountains to talk to Nari, and he saw it as an excuse to see if she could catch a scent of Rose, though he would never admit it to himself. He shook his head again to explain it, he trusted Silver to be a quick and stealthy as the night on her adventures near the borders. "Willow Ridge is just over the mountains. I sent Silver over the mountains to talk to a long standing friend of mine who also left Willow Ridge, though she had talked to Elettra and they remain good friends. We're seeking an alliance with her, but then I'm having Silver just investigate around the borders, perhaps if she catches a scent similar to me or the pups, she'll report it.... and we'll know what happened." He spoke the truth with every word, his eyes full of summertime sadness.

His tail had a small wag to it, glad to have such a good friend by his side. If it came to searching for Rosealia, he would do it himself if it involved leaving the Lore, though he could not, he knew that if she was still alive, and wanted or even could return, she would. His eyes troubled a bit, had they're mistakes caught up to them? Perhaps he should prepare for an attack as in vengeance for the Willow Ridge's former alpha abandoning them for two puppies and a few others whom he had collected. No... he knew some of them would never hurt the pups, and he believed there was no risk of attack for now, but just in case, he wanted to have allies to help out. He looked at his paws awkwardly, something stirring in his mind, or heart, or whatever. He couldn't put a name to it yet though.

Words: 311 || Tags: Spectre || Notes: How can she make him open up :') Beautiful

♥ NEVERTALE

(This post was last modified: Jul 30, 2013, 08:30 PM by Shade.)

His reasoning, though sound troubled her and she found herself frowning, contemplating the wisdom of mentioning the fault she saw in his plan. "..Shade...Silver joined shortly after I did. If Rosealia is still alive and well on the other side of the mountains, it has been months since she has been around you...and the pups. Her scent would have lost anything even remotely related to the three of you.." She lowered her head, saddened to be the one to point out the fallacy to his plan, she truly did not want to. "It is quite possible that she may have either joined, or been forced to join a pack, and would smell like them, and not like you. Now, Silver would smell faintly of our pack, but depending on how long she has to travel to get to where she may run into your mate...your scent upon her pelt may also be washed clean.." She hoped he had taken that into account, and would not get his hopes up that Silver would cross a scent she would recognize. Even a few days was enough to wash parts of a scent from a pelt..but to expect that smell to linger for months of being apart? It was insanity.

Her heart hurt for the leaders sorrow, and she aimed to lick his lower leg softly, her attention turning towards him. "I am sorry to say it, Shade...but the only wolf in these lands that would recognize her scent now is yourself, or someone that has been around her recently. I fear that Silver may return with news of Rosaelia, but it will not be because she simply stumbled on her, but instead through the word of mouth of other wolves who may know her whereabouts.." Spectre wondered if his pain caused by Rosealia's departure was more than he was letting on. After all, to expect such a thing would be a miracle.. And she wondered if he was losing his grasp on reality.. and that alone scared her.

Word Count: 336