The difference between now and then

Ashton had been waiting... waiting for someone to come by. He wanted to learn something today, in the past few months, life had been a blur. His eyes had changed as well as his fur. Silently he hoped someone would come by and see the young male lying in the cool grass and give him something to do. Whyyyy s everyone so busy!? He whined aloud to himself. He wanted Iopah to come by and teach him something of Hunting, or Hollow, to take him on a patrol, maybe Azariah to teach him about herbs, but Ashton knew he didn't really care for herbs. He would even settle for seeing father, mother, or even Tacoma and Danica. Recently he had become more of an introvert and though he knew nothing of it, he was already becoming his uncle Ash, watchful, and quiet.

He hoisted himself from where he lay and began to pace. Until finally he decided to start practice fighting, maybe if Hollow found him he could teach him, maybe father could, he knew he could fight. After all he was Koda, the alpha make of Secret Woodlands and Ashton was his son! Ashton began with that thought, making vicious little snarls, which were still not intimidating which bothered him. Still he attacked, the bushes and trees twisting and snapping his still small jaws just trying to show just how strong he was becoming. He kept jumping as high as he could, and then running to another tree or bush that looked at him funny and showed it who was boss. Ashton was the king of his four foot little space.

(This post was last modified: Aug 09, 2013, 10:14 AM by Ashton.)

Quick paws led Eva towards the Secret Woodlands den. A rabbit hung in her mouth, green and blue eyes looking this way and that. The forest was quiet, though the girl could feel some sort of vibration underneath her steps, ears perked to listen to a steady rumbling coming from somewhere near the mountains. Venturing throughout Relic Lore had given the female the impression that the territory was rather small, but this idea was proven to be false as she looked up at the rock that thrust itself into the heavens beyond. It was hard to imagine something so large could possibly be in existence when she was so small in comparison.

The tell-tale signs of the den began appearing steadily as more tangling plants appeared in her field of view. Bushes and other flora opened up to make way for a stone entrance that Eva knew led to the underground. It was from there that the Secret Woodland pups had originated, and was an extremely important landmark in Secret Woodland's history. It was after this thought that she heard a strange rustling. Moving her multi-colored gaze and sliding it from the cave to the plants beside it, Eva saw a little shape pawing and batting some shrubs that surrounded the den. If she listened hard enough, the girl could also hear small growls that were presumably an attempt to intimidate the tree or plant the pup was trying to beat up. Eva could not help but smile.

Watching him play, she sat on the ground and put down her rabbit on the earth while still keeping an eye on Ashton. The girl never had direct contact with any of the pups, and did not even know whether or not they knew who she was. Nevertheless, his antics reminded her of her own when she was learning the ways of the wild two years ago, when she had been forced to grow up so fast. Eva's job was to make sure he was safe and that he never had to go through what any of the other Hervoks had. She could not help but feel uncertain, even though Ashton was only a pup. Should she interrupt him without frightening him? What could she possibly say? Instead of speaking, the Hervok simply watched.

"speech"

SECRET Woodlands

TEMPLATE © NDA OF RCR & RPG-D

(This post was last modified: Aug 09, 2013, 05:09 PM by Eva.)

At first Ashton did not notice any difference, still caught up in his own world where he was a master warrior. He battled enemies in far of lands, and won the hearts of wolves. Ashton was a hero now and uninterrupted he continued his game at least until a poorly placed leap caused him to roll over and over. When the pup came to a sitting position he was staring directly at Eva. Excitedly he got up and raced over to her, "Auntie Evaaaaa!" He squealed while he bounced around and over her. "Can you teach me something? anything!" Ashton bounced excitedly around his kin still waiting for her to rise for any reason at all. He was very ready for an adventure, maybe they could hunt, or go outside the borders!

The pup's excitement at finally having someone around that wasn't his brother or sister caused his imagination to run wild. "Could you teach me about sneaking?" Ashton new only that hunters had to be sneaky to catch their prey, what he did not know was that his strange affection for stealth stemmed from his uncle. The little Reinier began to nose his aunt in an attempt to make her rise. He continued this for a few short moments before stopping and circling in front of her several times and snapping at his own tail. Excitement was a very odd suit for this little wolf, something that undoubtedly would be shed in the future. But for now he wore it with pride and soft paws that almost stumbled over each other.

Danica was growing fast and while it made her happy to be getting bigger and stronger, she seemed to be getting clumsier at the same time. Her legs had grown longer and were no longer stubby, but her paws seemed to have grown twice as fast and she seemed to ever be stumbling over them. This made her self-conscious and even more shy than she normally was. But hiding forever in the den was simply not an option. Ashton had already been outside forever and she was bored being alone. She wondered what Tacoma was up to briefly, but decided that she was tired of doing nothing. Just as she made her way outside towards the growling sounds of Ashton's mock fighting.

Before she reached him, another form approached and watched her brother's antics. It was Eva. Her beautiful aunt. She remembered well how star-struck she'd been when she first saw the older female. She'd been in awe over her bi-colored eyes, thinking them the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. A bout of shyness overcame her at the memory of yelping like a silly fool in front of Eva and the other adults from the pack. Nerves kept her still and silent as she watched Ashton's rambunctious play land him directly in front of their aunt Eva. It didn't even take him a moment to excitedly ask her to teach him and Danica wished that she too had that kind of openness. She supposed that it was something that she would have to work on. Although she didn't say a word, her small tail waved a small dust cloud formed behind her, betraying her presence to her brother and aunt.

Image by Cool Text: Free Logos and Buttons - Create An Image Just Like This

Ashton's sudden attention overwhelmed the Hervok for a moment. She had been getting used to the silence except for the scrapes and yelps of her nephew when he gave the tree a particularly strong whack. His excited words were now washing over her, and it took Eva a moment to comprehend them. Once she did a wide smile formed on her face, her good eye looking kindly down at the ever-growing pup and son of her sister. His curious nature reminded her of her own childhood when she wanted to know everything there ever was to know, and his high-pitched squeaks and yelling of her name caused a laugh to emerge from her jaws.

"Of course I'll teach you about sneaking! I'll even tell you a little secret." The Hervok girl leaned forwards as if to whisper in Ashton's small ears, waiting for him to pause in his little dance so she could tell him something. Out of the corner of her eye Eva saw a small dust cloud rising from the otherwise still den. Moving back upwards she saw little Danica sitting at the entrance, watching them from afar. Eva knew the shyness that Danica must have been feeling so well that she wore it almost constantly. It seemed like she was similar to all of Nina's pups in one way or another. Giving an encouraging smile she said, "Come over here and join us, Danica! I have a secret for you both."

"speech"

SECRET Woodlands

TEMPLATE © NDA OF RCR & RPG-D

(This post was last modified: Sep 01, 2013, 02:54 PM by Eva.)

A secret! Ashton stopped almost immediately and ran to Eva eager to hear this secret. But before she could speak he heard Danica somewhere away from them both making her way towards he and Eva. "Hurry up Danica! Auntie Eva is going to tell us a secret!" Ashton bounced excitedly as he wondered what it could possibly be that he was going to here from the shy she wolf. Of course he had grasped by now that Danica and Eva were very similar, mostly in that neither of them spoke much to other wolves. Whereas he and Tacoma never really had much of a problem with it. Ashton had never even given a second thought to it. If he wanted to talk he did, if not, he didn't, simple.

The little Hervok waited for Danica though, knowing that she would take her time getting there, mostly because of her shyness. Ashton was patient, just because it was Danica, in reality he hated waiting. Hated to sit and do nothing, Ashton wanted to be on the move, learning doing and understanding his entire world. Even now a little seed had been planted in his head, he had learned of pack roles by watching where Iopah went, and where Hollow went, and of course, both Nina and Koda as well. The boy heard Eva mention sneaking and his very first hope was that he could use ot to run around the borders with the others who patrolled without being noticed. Ashton wanted to be, a shadow, and a guardian, even if he hadn't named it yet.

The small shy pup watched as her aunt and Ashton spoke, Eva promising to teach him to sneak. Danica wanted to go over and learn about sneaking too. Not particularly because she wanted to sneak... she wanted to be near Eva. And she love Ashton, even when he was a little rough or impatient with her shyness. She knew that he was always there for her in the end and she for him. He was her brother. She was a bit startled when Eva called out to her though. She hadn't thought either of them had noticed her. [/I]"Come over here and join us, Danica! I have a secret for you both."[/I] She smiled shyly and started to slowly make her way over to her aunt.

Ashton didn't waste any time though. He bounded over, calling for her to hurry up. His excitement fed her own and she did speed up as much as she could without tripping over her oversized paws. It seemed like every day something was too bid or to small on her! With as small grunt of effort, she tried to catch up to Ashton, but as usual, she failed. This didn't faze her though. He was bigger, stronger and faster. He should be better than her... for now at least! When she was braver, she somehow knew that the rest would come. It had to, because she wanted to grow up to be just like Mama. Strong and not afraid of anything!

Looking at her beautiful aunt, she asked in an excited voice, "What secret, Auntie Eva?

Image by Cool Text: Free Logos and Buttons - Create An Image Just Like This