Drooping Willows we can hold hands & skip afterwards

For @Kyna. Niles' basically headed east from WR and is somewhere where the Drooping Willows touch the foot of the mountain. Let me know if that's close enough for a puppy play date!

September 26; Afternoon; Sunny; 43 ° F, 6 ° C.

Niles should have been looking for his friend and caretaker Enoki but, instead, curiosity found him. Finally steady paws loped through Willow Ridge. His leathery nose was twitching with newfound intrigue. He had traveled this far from the Infirmary several times before but never had he had the chance to smell something this strange. His now colorless eyes kept scanning the landscape before him, puzzled as to what this weird smell belonged to. It was almost feathery, like a raven or the occasional warbler that had flown into his midst, but it was definitely more gamey.

In his head he couldn't help but imagine something like a rabbit with wings. As silly and nonsensical as it was, it was quite possibly the closest he could get to describing what he had yet to learn was a pheasant.

Nose to the ground, the young Lyall trailed the foreign bird's scent, stepping past his father's boundaries and heading eastward toward the mountain. It had taken a whole ten minutes or so to realize just how far he had gone. He was startled, his whole dark-furred body tense as his fur stood up along his neck and spine. Wide moon-like eyes surveyed the sight of the Mountain of Dire, the Heights above him looming up some several stories high. It was daunting.

He audibly cleared his throat as he stared at the near-vertical wall of stone. One of his large ears turned back before coming back forward to mirror the other. He had peed on some tree some while back... Perhaps that would be enough to lead him back on the right path home.

Somewhere to his right the strange bird let out it's characteristic kok-kok-kok call and immediately the prince stood up at full height, obviously on edge. It crossed his mind  that he ought to head back home but instead he silently sat down. Perhaps if he waited it would show itself from wherever it was hiding along the tree line. His sister Isolde would probably get a kick out of it if he managed to catch it...

NILES ARCHER LYALL

it's too much to take it in. senses overload.

(This post was last modified: Sep 26, 2015, 05:08 AM by Niles.)

we can say goodbye, just head home, but if we're going to be alone
Chimera is currently traveling with Niles and may hop into this IC thread!

Not so long ago, she’d promised herself she’d never, ever leave Silent Moon Plateau if she’d got home safely and without harm.  Her previous exploration had been frightening, though perhaps not actual trauma had occurred.  That seemed like a lifetime away, however – that was when Aponi was still at the head of Silent Moon Plateau.  That was when her mother’s rules still mattered.  What did it mean to be forbidden from leaving pack grounds when her mother had bid her farewell before picking up everything and leaving? It was a fierce desire to go and look for the woman that drove the honeyed child from the safety of her father’s lands.  Oh, she had every intention of coming back before night fell.  Having left at dawn’s first light, Kyna thought a full day was plenty of time to look around for the silvery female.  While it seemed unlikely that her dam was still on the mountain, how would she ever know if she didn’t look?  What if the woman had been hurt and unable to get home?  She was certain her mum would have come looking for her – the pup knew she had to do the same. Several hours and countless miles later found the young princess at the bottom of the mountain.  She’d slipped, startled, and the trail she was certain she’d use to get back to the plateau seemed no where to be found.  Creeping through the forest, Kyna put her nose to the ground, wishing violently she’d asked her father to come look with her.  (He’d have probably said no, she thought, but she could certainly use an adult, and who else could she ask?)  Ears swiveled as she huffed, only an hour or so from giving up when a strange noise caught her attention. Kok-kok-kok. Picking up her blond crown, the wolf responded with a small chuff, orange eyes growing wide as she looked around for the source.  The scent was foreign as the calls, and the girl began to pace when it sounded again, closer.  Calling out once, Kyna was debating whether she should investigate or not when the bird burst from the tree line with another loud call.  Shrieking, the young girl bolted towards the forest the animal had come from, seeking shelter behind the trunks.  It wouldn’t chase her, would it?  What if it attacked? “Help!” KYNA AQUILA-ARGYRIS

Bleh. I need to start getting tables with a larger Kyna...

(This post was last modified: Sep 26, 2015, 05:01 PM by Kyna.)

A wild dissertation appears!

Patience seemed to overtake him; his heart had slowed, his eyes had begun to take note of every subtle movement in the forest, but he had no reason to move or make a run for it. He couldn't be quite sure just yet where this strange creature had  taken refuge. If he started looking for it, perhaps it would indefinitely flee. For a growing pup his size, Niles had two gears: he could take up a steady walk that showed control in his steps or he could flat out galumph about on his still-large puppy paws. The latter, he knew by now, would startle the creature and he so wanted to at least figure out for himself what it was.

The tranquility that had washed over him did not linger for long. As quickly as he had settled and tried to ponder the possibilities of what had made that strange grating sound, the call came again - a little further away - followed by a cry for help. Adrenaline surged through him and immediately the paladin took up arms. His dark tail came up and his head lowered as he raced through the willows, diving through the verdant curtains without even anticipating where he was going. All he knew was that one of his sisters - Isolde, perhaps, for she was the more likely of the three to strike out on her own for the sake of learning more about the world - was in trouble.

He heard the beating of wings somewhere on his left for a moment, assuming it had landed somewhere not too far away. Right now, though, he needed to make sure his sibling was okay. In his haste, however, he crashed through yet another cluster of branches, startled from seeing the blonde figure of what could have been his youngest sibling. Clumsy legs scrambled to avert his direction, ultimately leading to him tripping over himself and face-planting into the ground close to the girl's fore paws. If he hadn't stopped, it was highly possible that he could have easily bowled her over.

A groan briefly left his throat and, discerning that he had come to a full stop with his rump in the air, he pulled his head into an upright position as he glimpsed up into Isolde's face with a rather silly smile. Only... it wasn't Isolde's face. His blue, silver-touched eyes widened like twin moons and his jaw fell slack in what could have only been utter embarrassment. If he had been capable of verbally apologizing, he could have. Niles Lyall was not a man of words though and in his shock, he merely clenched his teeth and unfolded his forelimbs so he could cover his ebony face with his paws.

NILES ARCHER LYALL

it's too much to take it in. senses overload.

we can say goodbye, just head home, but if we're going to be alone
Chimera is currently traveling with Niles and may hop into this IC thread!

Not waiting to see if the bird had come charging after her, the puppy stampeded through the unknown forest in blind terror.  Her overlarge paws caught on branches and stones.  Only by a divine miracle (or perhaps simply through the thrill of adrenaline), the girl managed to stay on her feet as she careened through the unknown land.  Only when something else began to galumph through the forest did the girl screech to a halt, paws skidding through the dirt and leaves.  Raising her crown to try to peer around the undergrowth, Kyna’s ears swiveled like radar dishes atop her head as she tried to determine the exact direction the crashing was coming from.  The woodland was nothing like the plateau she’d spent the first four months of her life on – there, the key was being as quiet as possible.  A single tip of a stone was enough to alert someone else of her presence, and upon the heights, there was no where to hide.  Echo location was not something the girl had any practice at.  The echo was disorienting, as were the myriad of sounds underlying the crash and snap of branches breaking underneath someone’s (or something’s) feet. By the time she realized from what direction the noises were coming, the princess realized it was entirely too late.  It probably wasn’t the strange, monster bird she’d seen explode out of the woods – but what if it had friends?  What if the bird was running from something even more terrifying?  Choking on a whimper, the honey-touched child did the only thing she could thing of.  Into the ground she sunk, legs shaking and trembling as her joints began to buckle and quake.  Her belly touched the forest floor, eyes tightly clenched as she wished for the earth to swallow her up.  Knowing well this wouldn’t happen, Kyna folded her legs beneath her lanky frame and waited for her inevitable fate, for the unknown monster to come thundering out and open its big, gaping mouth.  There would be sharp teeth and terrible breath, and she’d never get to see her mother again, or apologize to her father for going to look for the missing woman.  Heart pounding so loud it was beginning to hurt her sternum, the girl began to mumble under her breath, trying to summon @Phineas with a wish to sweep her away at the very last second. At the last second, the thunder of feet became a scuffle and slide, followed by a soft…groan?  Kyna’s ears pressed forward, startled by the lack of roar, and peeled her fiery eyes open slowly to find not a monster looming over her, but another puppy only inches away from her face.  For a moment, she could only stare, so certain that she was about to die the relief was almost paralyzing.   “Wr-ren?” she finally squeaked – but no, this boy wasn’t Wren.  As cold as the other cub’s eyes could be, they weren’t the actual color of ice, and this boy seemed to be a bit darker in color, too. After a moment of staring owlishly at one another, the stranger covered his face with his thick paws, leaving the princess to exhale again.  The tension began to drain from her shoulders, limbs trembling slightly as she reached forward with her nose, touching it gingerly to the black wolf’s forearm.  “…you…okay?” she whispered forward a moment, ears out to the side as she tried to look the other boy over.   “Did it follow you?” KYNA AQUILA-ARGYRIS

(This post was last modified: Sep 26, 2015, 07:01 PM by Kyna.)

A wild dissertation appears!

The word that had come from her lips was foreign, had the boy known any better, he might have known that a wren was a type of bird and could have shaken his head to that. He kept in his place; maybe if he stayed still long enough she might leave... Niles braced himself, absolutely unprepared as the girl touched her nose to his forearm. He flinched, peeking out now from behind his muddied paws. He denied with a shake of his crown that the monstrous creature - the pheasant - had not followed him at all.

He almost grimaced - made that scrunched up face that showed that he was on the verge of crying - but he merely sniffled. Niles was fine; startled, perhaps, but he was all right. Ever so carefully, he pushed himself up into a less-than-proper sitting position and regarded the girl quietly with wary eyes and quivering ears. She smelled different (like windswept stones and strange plants he had no names for), he realized, and suddenly he wasn't sure if he ought to trust her as he did his sisters.

On the contrary, though, she reminded him an awful lot like his sister Issi and, that alone, said something to him. "Willow Ridge?" he tried with suspicion apparent in his tone, his guard slowly rising up within him as he recovered. Somewhere in-between thinking and panicking about how to go around asking her questions without having to rely on grunts and whines and whimpers, his question and sentence had become incomplete. A wince worked it's way onto his face, "Niles."

Compared to his older brothers who sat on the extreme ends of the spectrum regarding speech patterns, the Lyall sat somewhere in the middle. Though, due to his shyness, as soon as he uttered his name, he hide his face again.

NILES ARCHER LYALL

it's too much to take it in. senses overload.

we can say goodbye, just head home, but if we're going to be alone
Chimera is currently traveling with Niles and may hop into this IC thread!

A great sigh of relief rushed from the pup when the other child confirmed that the demon bird had not, in fact, pursued him. They were safe (for the time being), and Kyna allowed herself and her companion a moment to collect themselves after such a distressing event. That he didn’t talk was no great strain on the girl – in fact, it was the silence that comforted her like an old friend. Settling down into it, she made no attempt to move from where she was. If she did, there was a greater chance of the monster finding them. Besides, the other cub here didn’t seem like a threat at all. If she had to guess, she reckoned Not Wren was just as disoriented by the entire ordeal as she was. As the swarthy male pushed himself upright, the princess watched for several minutes before she did the same. Her forelimbs felt like wet noodles, still trembling slightly as the adrenaline continued to drain back into the earth. The question was only met with a puzzled expression, compounded more so by the hint of suspicion. She knew that tone well, it was one often used by Aponi before her mother had…left. Ears suddenly flattened out, the girl sinking visibly as her shoulders hunched. Even though the alpha had disappeared onto the horizon, she could still recall such a haughty voice, often laced with cynicism or unhappiness, as though the wolf stood right next to her. Despite everything, Kyna found herself glancing over her shoulder just to check, and sunk down further as she realized how dreadfully foolish she was being. This other boy must think her an idiot. What did he say his name was? “N-Niles? You’re Niles?” she asked, peering at his face bashfully. Why was he hiding, she wondered? It did not occur to her that the only reason she had the courage to study his face at all was because he was not looking at her. When she met his older brother (and little did she know Niles was related to Greer, a terrifying shadow she found to be more agreeable than she’d ever imagined), she was hardly able to look up at all, watching the surroundings, her feet, the ground, anything but looking up. She even had a hard time meeting Phineas’ guarded expressions, plagued by worry of what she might read on another wolf’s face. After a moment (or several moments), and a strong swallow, the blond tried to speak back up. “I’m…Kyna,” she decided slowly, never having a reason to lie about her name. She worked her jaw as she thought, wondering if she should explain her situation. The rules had gotten quite fuzzy with Aponi gone – her sire wasn’t nearly the authoritarian her mother had been, at least not in the honeyspun child’s experience. “I…I’m lost,” Kyna finally admitted, glancing around the forest. “I w-was looking…for my momma…and I fell. Now I’m…here.” Wherever here actually was, she sighed to herself, deflating further. The girl was only inches off the ground she’d risen from moments ago. Twisting her head, she glanced back at Niles hopefully. “Willow Ridge? Is that here?” KYNA ARGYRIS

A wild dissertation appears!

There is a deer that was killed by a lynx nearby. +10 Health

The pheasant and all the curiosity and fear it had summoned had gone momentarily forgotten, right now, this girl was something to be concerned with. "Mmm," he confirmed when she questioned his name. He risked a chance to look at her but upon catching her gaze, he, too, immediately and bashfully kept his eyes averted. She was pretty as girls came, he had found, now that he had had time to see her up close. She was very different from his sisters whose pelts lacked that warm hint of fawn and honey. Well, @Morganna had some, but it could only be seen in direct sunlight; otherwise, the darkness of her guard hairs and the majority of her pelt, covered it all. In the shadow and indirect sunlight, even she was like his mother and Skoll, Greer, his aunt and uncle (what brief moments he had seen of them in passing). Even his own fur, at least, judging by what he could see of his paws, his rump and lower back, and his tail, seemed to be like the night. All darkness without even a trace of the mousy brown he had when he was just born.

She told him her name was Kyna and that she was lost. This struck him as startling; really, it cast quite a bit of contrast to what that @Sven-kid had told him and Ravenna. Sven hadn't been lost or misplaced, but Kyna was... Without knowing why or how, Niles felt a sense of duty overcome him, the need to protect her. He was about to ask her where her mother went when she seemingly circled back around to ask him about Willow Ridge. His brows rose up in hearing her interest pique, his tail wiggling.

"Not really here" the prince explained, casting his muzzle towards some place far over his shoulder. "Back over... there."  His words came slow, as if he were reluctant to be sharing them, but in all actuality, he was rather eager to share the sounds, the conversation, with her. No one, apart from a selection of individuals in his life, had ever heard him verbally speak more than a word or two.

"Where is your mother?" he asked, expecting her to give some sort of place that was merely some sort of errand-run (the meadow, for example, for the last bits of herbs like his mother often did when she left the den). "You okay?" His eyes looked her over and his nose sniffled as he attempted to assess her by scent, even if he wasn't quite sure what he was looking for. "Do you have an owie? My mom can fix owies."

NILES ARCHER LYALL

it's too much to take it in. senses overload.

(This post was last modified: Oct 10, 2015, 02:31 AM by Rook.)

we can say goodbye, just head home, but if we're going to be alone
Chimera is currently traveling with Niles and may hop into this IC thread!

“Oh. Okay.” Kyna glanced up and over her new companion further into the trees, her tail wagging slowly as she shifted her head. Trees. Greer had told her he lived in the trees – he didn’t say what kind, or what his home was called, but he’d motioned down the slope when they were discussing their respective homes that lovely day on the hillside. It had started completely terrifying, the little girl cowering in her castle on a cloud cloud. Crying at all is not allowed – there she found her bravery, and had made a friend out of the slender shadow, sharing his deep love for the quiet solitude the wilderness could offer a wolf. Curiosity struck her, and she tipped her head, fire meeting ice once more as she enquired, “These trees…does @Greer live here?” She might have pressed the subject further, asking if Niles had known Greer, or if he was like the sturdy shadow, fond of soft words and quiet expression, if the other pup had not asked after her mother. Ears rotated backwards, her expression crumbling as the hope and joy that had been summoned by the thought of her friend gave way under the memory of her mother. “My momma left,” she whispered quietly, something warm and uncomfortable rising from her chest and up her neck. Her fur began to feel itchy as the blush prickled against her skin and she glanced downwards, shuffling awkwardly as she sniffed. Kyna often wondered what she had done to drive Aponi away – what she could have done to convince her mother to stay with her. Honestly, she didn’t even know if her dam was still alive, or if she was like Aesire, buried somewhere in the cold earth. At least @Wren could visit his mother, whatever comfort that was. It was almost a worse fate, that he did not know where his father had gone, and the same for the princess and her mother. “My momma left. Said she had t-to…to…t-to look. For something. But she never camed back. So she left me with my poppa. But--” The honeyspun princess bit her tongue, shaking her head as she trailed off. It occurred to her that the Willow boy had not asked for the entire story, and rarely did she enjoy the sound of her own voice. If he really wanted to know, he’d pursue the topic further – as it stood, she was simply looking without any clue of where the former alpha had actually gone, and how she was actually meant to get back up the mountainside. Sniffing, she glanced up at Niles as he made an offer, and she gave him a slow, careful look. After a moment, she shook her head. “Fell. Got lucky, I guess. Just got scared. No booboos,” she murmured quietly, glancing down at her feet to make sure. Undoubtedly, the young girl would have bruises under her golden pelt and sore muscles come the morning, but Kyna would not feel those effects until said muscles had begun to stiffen during the night. “You know any paths? Up the mountain?” KYNA ARGYRIS

A wild dissertation appears!

Still sitting, his pale eyes met her face, taking in the color of her eyes. "Greer's my brother," he shared in lieu of telling her that Greer did live within Willow Ridge. Brothers lived together right? So it made sense that the answer was yes. "He doesn't talk much." Niles made a face to show his amusement over the fact, and he was gonna ask if she knew him when he considered that he ought to let her answer his questions first before pitching any more.

Her mother had left her and she had been left behind with her poppa. He watched as she bit her own tongue and he shook his head with a small smile, "Is okay." If he had known her a little better, he might have lifted a paw and touched it to her shoulder or touched his nose to her chin in that assuring way that his mother and father often did. What was assuring though was the fact that she wasn't hurt. No booboos.

"Good," he gave a quirky nod with a dip of his boxy muzzle. Though when she asked if he knew of any paths up the mountain, he grit his teeth and shook his head again, his large ears flopping to and fro, "Mm-mm. I'm not allowed. I'm... out of bounds as it is." His nose wrinkled as he regarded her, "Can you climb?" Suddenly, in his head, the image of the two of them popped up at the forefront of his mind, with him having to boost her up onto a bunch of flat surfaces that were the cold rock shelves of the Heights. It was a little comical, really, but he could only imagine himself doing it.

"If... If I help you up, will you help me down again?" he asked, not entirely aware that what he was requesting of her absolutely defeated the purpose of helping.

NILES ARCHER LYALL

it's too much to take it in. senses overload.

we can say goodbye, just head home, but if we're going to be alone
Chimera is currently traveling with Niles and may hop into this IC thread!