Spectral Woods This Loneliness Won't Be The Death Of Me

@Zia 
Situated in the middle between where Fallen Tree Cove is and Spectral Woods. Currently searching still for the missing alpha female and members of FTC. 

February 19th - Mid afternoon, mostly clear with the threat of more snowfall - 14 ° F, -10 ° C

It had been two months now since his beloved Athena, matriarch of Fallen Tree Cove, had suddenly disappeared from their territory. There was no scent trail to follow, no set of tracks to give away her path of departure, but that didn't stop the agouti patriarch from searching far and wide when time allowed it despite the other troubles that weighed like a ton of bricks upon his weary shoulders. Not only had his white queen mysteriously disappeared leaving behind a hole in his heart and the pang of loneliness, but other members of the pack as well. Kassander was the first to go without a word, then the ball began to roll and gained momentum with each passing moon. Ren, Rayne, even Athena's sister Andromache were added to the list of M.I.A. members until all that remained of the newly formed pack was Anthem and himself. It didn't make a lick of sense how they all could have just left and him nor Anthem know anything about it. Had they been kidnapped by rouge wolves, or did they simply leave of their own whim to seek a home somewhere new? Vespertio had no answers, but he wouldn't stop until he had them even if each snow fall his hopes of finding them and his lover diminished.  

"Where are you?" He mutters under the warmth of his breath as his snout pushed away the snow beneath the nearest tree, hoping the action would stir up a scent belonging to either his missing love or another member of the pack that had vanished. A snort soon followed the empty-handedness he received. Nothing. Lifting his dark licked crown his golden eyes scanned the spectral woods around him, the velveteen tuft of his ears greeted with the sound of nothing but his own breathing. Stealing a glance upwards for an indication of the time of day a  heavy sigh rippled past the ebony lining of his lips. Afternoon was in full swing now and he had left early yesterday morning to begin yet another search and rescue mission. Anthem, the storm pelted man who remained behind temporarily held the fort down and he desperately wanted to push on, but being the only reigning alpha left he couldn't dare risk being away any longer than he already had been. The stormy man would need a break and to return to the tasks needed to be done like patrolling the borders and refilling empty spaces in the pack cache. Today was another failed attempt to notch in a tree back home.

With heavy shoulders and an equally heavy heart the agouti patriarch accepted this round of defeat, paws turning his body to head back towards where the lake lay and his empty den awaited. But it was a sudden rustling that stopped him in his place, body tense with a mixture of anxiety and hope. Was it someone he was looking for? "Who's out there?" His voice boomed through the silence, cupping his rounded ears forward to catch the slight possibility of hearing Athena's sweet voice again. What he would give to hear her say his name one more time.

 

 Just beyond the borders of Oak Tree Bend, Zia roamed, alone. These woods seemed to be all the more silent in the midst of winter. Normally, she would have felt out of place amongst such silence. But today was an exception. Times were changing...she was changing. Ever since she had made the difficult choice to leave Phineas and reside here with the Bend wolves, life had been anything but comfortable. While Triell was a good friend of hers, Zia just couldn't seem to adjust in her new environment. There were too many strangers, too many uncertainties. She felt crowded, overlooked. Not like back in the old days where she prominently stood out as second. And this nagging feeling of uneasiness and misplacement, ultimately lead to irritability. So as not to concern or direct the curiosity of the others, Zia separated herself. After a few hours of wandering further and further away from the heart of her territory, she had found the solitude she so wished for.

To say it eased her mood would be a lie. The situation was still the same, and the season did not help either. Winter was the time of year when wolves hormones rose, which often lead to more intense, aggressive behavior. The slender, silver female exhibited this behavior in classic fashion. Her paws shifted through the snow roughly, cold azure eyes pinned to the ground in hopes of spotting the tracks of a rabbit, or if she was lucky, a stray deer. She was trying not to think too much about her circumstances, and what she would do about them. Shouldering her way through a thick patch of bushes, she didn't seem to notice the needle like thorns until one snagged at the fur by her neck, digging down to pinch at her skin. The pain was only a brief sting, but it was enough for her to let out a sharp, annoyed growl as she turned to try and pry the thorn from her fur. No such luck. But she could worry about that later, as the unfamiliar call of another voice had her ears standing erect. 

She hadn't known she was not alone all out here. How long had this other wolf been wondering around? And for what purpose. Shaking herself off and regaining her calm composure, she slipped out from the dense cluster of bushes that she had gotten stuck in. Standing in full view in front of him, she swept her blue eyes over Vesperito's agouti frame briefly. "I wasn't expecting to run into anyone out here today." She offered with a flick of her silver tail. He didn't smell of the Bend, and she certainly had never seen him before. But he also held the distinct scent of some other, unknown pack. "Don't mind me, I was just passing through to clear my thoughts." She added, before crinkling her muzzle in a slight wince. That thorn tangled in her fur was really starting to become an annoyance. Oh well, it was better than having it lodged in the tender skin between her paw pads. Now that, would have been a problem.

(This post was last modified: Mar 03, 2015, 04:58 AM by Zia.)

The rustling continued and no voice followed his call causing the guard hairs that lined his shoulder blades and hackles to lift from the rising adrenaline flowing through his veins. A solid minute passed before the bushes gave way to allow a silvery woman to step out from them, her slender frame stopping within full view of him while the blue pools of her eyes gave his frame a brief look over. "I wasn't expecting to run into anyone out here today."the words fell from her lips accompanied by a flick of a silver tail. This wasn't Athena, nor any wolf he had ever seen before. Washed over with disappointment his fur nestled back down into its proper place, tail lowering from its once held position to fall limply behind his rear though his body didn't completely relax in the company of this new stranger. "To be honest, I wasn't expecting to either." Inhaling the cold air that stung in the inside of his nose and his lungs there was a distinct scent of pack on her pelt and a familiar one at that. But where had he smelled this oak wood scent before? The Vuesain man recalled his memories of wolves holding similar scents and then it clicked. That black man whom Silver had left the pack with. Now what was his name? Destry? Drigger? Drestig! That was it. So this woman must belong to Oak Tree Bend as well. At least he was in the presence of an ally not a foe.

The Bend woman then added how she was only passing through, his golden gaze noticing the way she made a wincing facial expression. Rising a brow his dark masked crown gave a tilt to the side, jaws parting to speak up once more. "Are you alright, Miss?" One didn't wince for no reason and there had to be something causing her discomfort. "I better introduce myself while I'm at it. The name is Vespertio." he added while the dark tipped tail of his gave a small flick from side to side behind him.

 With a slight shake of her head, she reigned in her composure again, focusing back on the handsome specimen of a male that stood just a short ways before her. Her charcoal lined ears tilted back ever so briefly, a sign of mild embarrassment as a new set of words left her lips. "Oh yes, yes I'm fine. Just an annoying thorn managed to sneak under my fur is all." She refused to ask him to assist in removing it, even in such a difficult to reach place. It wasn't proper. One did not simply ask a complete stranger to come into their personal space, even if it were in an act of kindness. But on the other paw, should one take matters into their own hands, the act itself could be interpreted as a test, to see how far one would trust the other. Just like any good gentleman, he introduced himself with a name. Her silver brows rose slightly, her dark tail swishing in a slow wag at her heels. "Vesperito....that is handsome name." She commented honestly, perhaps unintentionally flattering him. While he offered no surname, that was a piece of information Zia did not find essential at the moment.

 Staying rooted to her spot, she eased her slender, athletic body down into a poised sit. "It would be rude of me not to return the favor. I am Zia Celencio, of Oak Tree Bend." While she did not know of the good terms between himself, Drestig and Silver, should she find out, she would consider offering the man a visit to their borders, to meet with Triell to discuss possibly forging an alliance more officially. The pack was on it's own on this side of the mountain, and with disconcerting times around the corner, a supportive ally in times of need would be most appreciated. "I haven't seen you around here. I have little knowledge of the west, but I have lived here in the east for almost two years. Are you new to the Lore?" She asked with a gentle tilt of her chin. If so, Zia certainly wouldn't object to giving him an official welcome, and even a bit of history, should he be interested enough. 

There is a family of deer nearby. Hunt Opportunity

Apparently it was a thorn lodged in an unreachable place that had come to create a great discomfort for the silver coated female. A moment of silence passed as he mulled over the thought if he should offer to remove it for her or not. The two had just met and whether it was something in the air or not, the tawny man couldn't decide if she would be in agreement to let him approach so close to her in order to remove the pesky object. But what harm could asking do right? "I could remove it for you if you'd like." He laid out the offer on the table, leaving it for her to do with as she so wished. Vespertio wouldn't help someone if his help was unwanted. That was just the way he was and always had been.

Dark tipped audits gave a mild flick as the caught the woman's name on the air, repeating it in his mind before giving it a test on his tongue. "Zia Celencio. Very pretty." He returned the compliment finding that he actually quite enjoyed the way her named rolled off his tongue effortlessly as if he had spoken it a million times before. Perhaps it was just the fact that both names held a similar root in the European dialect. If one was not mistaken it would appear that both held names of the Italian decent, but who could ever tell for sure? All in all names were just strings of letters and sounds made with the mouth. The second part of her statement managed to catch his interest a little more. So his previous thoughts were correct. Zia was indeed a wolf of the Bend and most have run into his former member, Silver. Briefly his mind reminisced on the dark coated girl. Silver and Vesper didn't have the best of relationships in comparison to the one she held with Athena, yet the two were able to function. With that he wondered if the missing matriarch had come by this way to pay her beloved a visit.  

The thought was shortly lived though as Zia's voice filled his ears and brought him back to the surface, taking in a breath of reality once more. A steady shake of his head minorly answered her question. "Not entirely new anymore. I actually live just south a bit of here by the large lake. Its where I reign over the Fallen Tree Cove pack." the words came out matter-o-factly although just barely hitting the point of being cocky about his title. Vespertio then came to wonder if she had heard of his pack yet. Drestig had made word of informing his leader of forming an alliance between the packs and thus the patriarch wondered if he held true to his word. He had allowed Silver to leave his pack peacefully to join theirs. It was the least he could do.