Thicket of Secrets Brought the flood

"Never said it was a good one." She was going to argue more on this, but decided to be the 'bigger person'. No matter how hard that seemed to be for her right now. Once again, things were beginning to fall far from the plan and honestly, her feelings where starting to get hurt. "Just forget about the expression.. I only wanted you to walk softer.. That's all.." She fell silent, Making sure to have no eye contact with him anymore. She didn't want him to know he made her upset. Being upset could equal to a weakness in the eyes of this wolf. He'd think he won something.

She had no idea what the 'Secret Woodlands' where, but being the heir to it sure sounded stupid. Was he implying he owned the place? Woodlands. Key word. It belongs to the deceased. The spirits. Once again, letting this slide. "Sounds nice. Didn't know I was walking around with royalty." This was meant to sound neither impressed, nor sarcastic, but who knows how the beast with anger problems would take it. Did she even care anymore? She was beginning to lose interest in this guy rather fast. Hopefully that would be the end of this conversation.

"You're telling me you came all this way by my side only to NOT LISTEN? What was even the point? Am I a JOKE to you?!" her voice started to intensify. "I can NOT believe this. I just CANNOT BELIEVE THIS." she was so angry that her head began to feel light. He clearly took her as a fool. She was about to scream some more at the sorry excuse for a damn prince, but ended up taking a whiff of something magnificent in between breathes. It was the smell of meat. She hadn't eaten all day, of course this would distract her for a moment. As Ashton spoke, she took note to where the food was located. A smirk filled her inky face. "Well I suppose we will be heading our separate ways now right? I'm nothing but a toy for you to laugh at after all.. I can only imagine you've gotten your fill of tormenting the innocent for now.. And earlier.. You said.. What was it? You didn't want to cross right? Well.. It was nice meeting you prince Ashton." She scampered towards the waters, but hesitated to cross. She was afraid of water, and she just wasn't ready to conquer the fear so quickly.. But she had to play it off somehow.. She turned her head back to the boy as if waiting to see him off. Or see what he'd do at the least.

(This post was last modified: Apr 08, 2014, 04:33 AM by Catori.)

All of his pent up frustration seemed to fade with her change in tone. Had he hurt her feelings? Danica had never been like that, taking his blunt attitude with a grain of salt, and even bettering herself through it. Trying to save face he continued the facade in silence, and even managed to step just a touch lighter; barely even enough to notice. If that didn't maker her happy, then he was certain nothing would. But then again, why did he care how she felt? This girl was nothing but a thorn in his paw, babbling insane nonsense.

Satisfaction read clear across his face at being addressed in such a manner. "Well now that you know, I hope you will be less demanding." Truthfully, he just hated being made to feel like a child, constantly having to listen to authority figures. Especially when some in particular had no right to even try.

"I didn't know that my scent was so offensive to you." He spat, not bothering with an apology. After all, she was the one who had bothered him. Her words taunted him, challenging the male who refused to back down. "You know, I think I will cross, and when I do, I plan on keeping the food all to myself." A smug smile crossed his features once more as he waded right into the waters. Oh he was going to get there before she even had a chance.

The waters were cold, still icy from the long winter. It felt like needles against his skin, but Ashton could care less; He had something to prove. Only shoulder deep, there was no need to swim, and for that he was thankful. On dry land once again he chanced a glance back at the girl who didn't seem to be moving. "What, you got a problem?"

"I'll try my best, and I apologize for being so demanding before.." She definitely didn't care anymore, and that's what scared her. This was the first wolf she'd talked to outside of her pack.. The first wolf she's had more than small talk with since.. The massacre that left her feeling empty to begin with, and she already didn't care. It hadn't even been a day yet. Was it always going to be this way? She wondered if she should of just stuck around with those pathetic sacks of flesh that inhabited what she once knew as home. She continued the rest of the walk quietly. There was no need to talk to him anymore.

"Scent...? What are you TALKING ABOUT?!?!" snarling now. "Nobody said ANYTHING about your SCENT. This has nothing to do with your DAMN SCENT. Is this ANOTHER fucking JOKE?!?! WE'RE DONE WITH YOUR STUPID INSULTS. I'M DONE." She watched as Ashton strolled through the creek as if it was nothing, how did he do that? Wasn't he afraid? Just the thought struck fear up her spine. She whimpered softly enough to where she was sure he didn't here. How was she going to explain herself to him? "I.... On second thought.. I'm actually not.. I'm not hungry. Keep your stupid meat." She was so nervous. Would he catch on? "I.. Don't want to be anywhere near you... keep your meat...." She sounded pathetic, turning her back to him.. Was this it? So much for the cleansing. He can live his stupid life however he wants. She won't let it effect her. Just then her stomach growled.. She whimpered once more, and began to walk in the direction from which they came.

Her mood swings were more than the hot tempered boy could handle, but he had to restrain himself - a feat for the cub who knew nothing of the matter. Wanting nothing more than to put her in her place, he allowed a sharp exhale to fall past his dark lips before speaking. With some of the tension eased, he allowed words to spill forward, lacking the malice he wanted them to have. "I don't know what you mean then." Nor did he truly care, for whatever she thought a 'cleansing' was would probably only insult him further.

She sounded pitiful, giving up her rights to the carcass. Sure he had scented it first, but he expected at least a little bit of a challenge. Disappointed by her lack of drive, Ashton called out once more, "Are you afraid or somethin'?" Why else would a lone wolf, probably still half starved from the winter throw away a chance at a decent meal?. The young Hervok couldn't wrap thick skull around what had even caused her fear. At first she seemed enthusiastic about traveling to the barren side of the river, so it couldn't be that. The Lynx who's aroma laced the kill was already stale, probably eating it's fill and taking off in search of a good spot to rest, so that was also eliminated. Then possibly a few minutes to late, he realized. "The water! Are you.. worried about crossing? The currents not that strong, and it's pretty shallow here. You should be fine." Why was he helping?

"N...No." If wolves could blush, she would sure as hell be blushing. "It's not the water. Who's afraid of water? That's stupid.. I just... I'm not hungry. I already told you." The wolf in question paused her step for only a moment. Considering coming up with a better excuse, but why should she explain herself to him anyways? That's right, she shouldn't. Although she did have something to say. "By the way,you have a lot of negative energy lingering around you. It's wearing you down. I was just trying to help.. Nothing to do with your scent. Just thought you should know what I meant.. " She then continued on with her leave.

'What's WRONG with me?' she thought. Catori hasn't felt this many emotions at once in.. Well..It's never happened.
She was hungry, she was sad, she was angry, she was confused, and why the hell was she still so damn excited!? Ashton had to of thought she was crazy by now. Making him tag along for a cleansing when he apparently had not the slightest idea what one even was. Shouting at him over silly little things.. Making fun of him for thinking he was a prince. He had to deal with it all. Why couldn't she just calm down? 'I wish I could just start today completely over.' she grumbled, still in thought. It was true though, she could of ended up friends with the boy. 'Up until leaving home, I've felt nothing. I've been feeling nothing for months now.. So when I was finally able to feel SOMETHING... It came out some weird cluster of EVERYTHING. I'm. So. STUPID.' And she took it all out on him. She exhaled, and laid on the forest floor. If he already thought she was crazy, there was no harm done. Crazy people do crazy things, and now on top of everything else, she was exhausted.

He watched with mild interest as Catori began her retreat, only to plant herself right out in the open. The scene was dramatic in a way he had never encountered before. Was she.. pouting? Deciding that this girl was going to be the death of him, he forced an eye roll. Sighing in the most over exaggerated fashion he could possibly think of, Ashton set off to find the kill. Luckily the half eaten carcass was not far, hidden just beyond a grouping of rocks. It's fumes were enough to make his mouth water, but he wasn't raised to be a complete jerk. Halting himself from taking even a single bite, he began pulling the remains with him towards the river.

Irritation guided his posture, as he hoped to give off the appearance that this deed was some great burden. Dragging the meal backwards through the icy waters once more, proved to be harder than crossing alone. Once his feet touched on dry soil again, the dark boy spun around, searching for the lump of fur he intended to give this to. Laying the deer down right in front of the girl - who may or may not have been a touch off her rocker - he spoke. "Eat it." He turned away, searching once more for the direction he had originally been moving in. Home was not beyond the river, but which way was it? He was going to have to trail himself all the way back to the point where his course had been interrupted.

Her thoughts where anywhere but clear, piling up one after another, jumbling around, thinking straight seemed close to impossible.. And here he was, putting the stupid food in front of her face. She shook her head around as if that was going to solve something. "Wait." Her tongue moved before her mind could catch up. "I...I'm not crazy" she grimaced. "I can't let you leave thinking I'm crazy.. Can we just.. Talk for a second... Then you can go wherever you want.. Or I guess that sounds kind of demanding doesn't it? Heh. You obviously don't have to stay.. I just feel like I have a lot of explaining to do.. Though I'm not sure why.. But I promise I'm not crazy..." though that more than likely didn't make her sound any less insane.

What she's experiencing now is much like a crash after a sugar high, only with emotions. The craziness was more than likely done. The excitement was gone. She felt defeated now. Maybe this wasn't such a bad thing though? This could possibly be the start of semi-normal relationships with new wolves to come! Or so she hoped. She evidently had some sort of urge to explain to the wolf why she may have been going overboard with all of these feelings so she'd just start with that.. Though the fact that this self realization happened within the blink of an eye was certainly not going to look good on her. She could at least try. "Just a few minutes.. I promise it won't take long..."

Her voice pulled him away from his directions once again, and all plans of getting home would have to wait. It wasn't like getting back to the thicket was an urgent matter, nor was he necessarily looking for it. Well maybe he was now, but Ashton would never admit to such a cub-like plight, nor the homesick feeling he held in his stomach each day.

How did she know he thought she was crazy? Was this girl a mind reader now too? Waiting for her to finish, he contemplated his words very carefully. Catori had already proven how delicate her state of mind was, and he did not plan on upsetting her further. "I... I don't think your crazy." The words left his mouth, a little unsure at first, before finding their footing within the sentence. He halted next to her, seating himself in anticipation of the story to come. Something told him this was going to be good, and a comfortable spot was the best place for long stories anyway. "Go ahead, I'm all ears." The silly expression was used with intent, hoping she would note the fact that he knew how to use one.

Quite frankly, he was excited to see where this was going. Catori would plead her case, and he'd be the judge, deciding whether or not she truly was insane. It was a small game, one only he knew they were playing. A bit of fun to be had like he hoped in the first place, and secretly of course, Ashton loved listening to tales.

She sighed heavily "There's no way you don't though, anyone would. You don't have to try to hide the truth heh." She tried her best to at least kind of let out a laugh, though she wasn't in that sort of mood. "Thank you, it means a lot to me that you're willing to hear me out..." Where would she even begin? She said this would only take a few minutes, yet there was so much to tell. She's never even spoken to anyone about this before.. It's not like she didn't want to, having someone to talk to about this probably would have helped her out a ton, there just wasn't anyone there to listen.

"Hmmm.... Okay.." She took in one last breath before finally deciding where to start from. "This might get confusing.. You're free to ask questions if it even matters to you.. Before meeting you I lived in a pack. This pack once contained my parents, my siblings, and my friends. I didn't have a lot of friends but the few I did have meant the world to me.. You even remind me of one of them a little. Don't take offense to this but he was just as hot headed as you are! It's one of the things I loved about him though. I was so happy where I was. Life was perfect... I want to say about 3... maybe 4 months ago... Humans infiltrated our forest and started.. Setting up traps at first.. They'd catch things like rabbits.. While they WERE taking away from our food.. We didn't step in. Humans are dangerous you know... It hit us pretty fast.. We where all just going on with our day like we normally would have.. But they started firing their weapons at us.. Killed one wolf on spot, before you knew it everyone was screaming..running away.." She had to pause for a second, talking about this was a lot harder than she thought it would be.. "I'm sorry... Uhm.... My family and friends and I all stayed behind to make sure the elders and pups were to make it out alive.. I watched everyone I ever cared about die within 5 minutes.. I'm not even completely sure how I made it out... My friend... The one that reminds me of you.. He was running only a few passes behind me when we decided to retreat.. but somewhere along the way I think they got him because when I made it to wherever we ended up he wasn't with me anymore... I was sad for a few days, but slowly I just began to feel.. nothing... I felt nothing.. For months just.. nothing. Not happy. Not angry. Not sad... I hadn't even noticed to be completely honest.. It took me up until 4 days ago to notice.. That's when I decided to leave. I Somehow made it here, and I think being away from them for the first time.. Being away from everything.. meeting you.. Someone NOT apart of the stupid remains left of that pack.. It was overwhelming? I don't really know how to act anymore.. I haven't felt anything in forever and here I am now feeling too much at once and I can't even handle it. I made myself look like a fool and I deeply apologize for that." She rolled over, glad to finally be done talking about it. Surprisingly a sense of relief filled her body. It was like a huge weight had just been lifted from her shoulders. Finally someone got to know just exactly how she's felt the past year. Even if it was just some shortened version of the story to spare their time.

(This post was last modified: Apr 09, 2014, 06:22 AM by Catori.)

He could sympathize with her, pushing his feelings aside, and frequently forgetting to care. It was too much now to let himself go through the motions of grief, and so he ignored it. When Tacoma was brought up, he might even crack a joke or two, in hopes that nobody else could see how vulnerable he was. Nothing could get him here in his shell, hiding from the world. Maybe that's why he had been so mean to her before, shutting those around him out in an attempt to keep them as far from the wall as possible.

Silence fell over them, but this time it held no awkwardness for the dark prince. Instead it was a time for thought, understanding what she had to say before he formed his next words. "I can't say I know what a human is, but you don't have to apologize." The aspiring guardian began his speech hoping to sound like Hollow always had, with intelligence resting on every syllable. Briefly he wondered what the male was up to, and if he was worried over Ashton's disappearance. "You know, they aren't coming back. Here there are none of those things you speak of, and well..." How could he word this without disclosing too much of his past? "We all have to deal with loss. Even I have, and I can tell you that it sucks, but you can't stop yourself from living." The pot and the kettle. Hadn't he shut himself away from everything; Choosing instead to put up a stubborn front.