Grizzly Hollow So Don't Let Them Steal Your Light

@Oula // Clear -1*F, -18*C 11AM // Gonna be vague about what happens in our thread @Veho

After her chat with Veho the tawny female had decided she would make an effort to break out of her shell and meet the other wolves of Grizzly Hollow, but actually doing it was a lot harder than saying she would do it. For the past couple of days Yvly had been lurking around the outermost edges of where the communal den lay to the north, daring herself to go closer but being unable to do so with the fear of being surrounded by strangers. So she mostly ended up pacing back and forth from tree to tree, muttering under her breath about just doing it.

But today was different. Today she would stop fretting about what would happen and just go for it, for better or worse. With a deep breath she began a slow walk in the direction of the communal den, however when she caught sight of it she stopped in her tracks. Deciding after a moment of consideration that it would be best to wait nearby for a wolf to emerge, she reclined back on her haunches, dark amber gaze fixed on the mouth of the den. Maybe another day she would take those few extra steps into the den, but today was not that day. Baby steps. It may not be today, or tomorrow, or even in the next week, but it would happen eventually.

The clear day helped her relax as she waited patiently, the weak winter sun keeping her pelt from freezing over as she sat on the snowy ground. Winter was only just beginning to rise to its peak of power, animals already left or hiding away. Hunger would soon arise in the packs as food became even more scares, relations would be tested over and over again. Only the strongest would survive.

301 words

Yvly Doramor

imagine we are higher than the arrows,
casually we're breathing with the pharaohs,
tragically we fall just like the arrows.

A calm morning. Without the battles, the raids, the strife and war of her homeland, Grizzly Hollow was peaceful in comparison. Perhaps too much so. Even if she'd always been delegated to the sidelines by her battalion, her tasks far more on the domestic side than she'd preferred, she'd greedily fed on the excitement of a troop returning with tall tales and battle scars. Here there was no such thing, and if the Hollow had enemies besides mother nature, Oula didn't know of them. Sometimes that left Oula to wonder if they would be the unwitting victims of a more aggressive, assertive pack.

Oula had been patrolling about the borders, finding them as quiet as usual. Maybe it was to be expected, being so early in the day. But of course the most successful enemy was the most unpredictable, and only when Oula was sure the pack's boundaries were secure did she venture back to the pack's heart.

From a distance she saw another wolf between her and the den, their back turned to her. "You know," Oula said, coming to a stop and standing a short distance behind the tawny female with a squared and confident stance. "If you're going to guard the den, generally it's best to be facing the other way." She said curtly, the flat expression on her face making it clear that she wasn't joking in the least.

 

OOC here!

The solitary peacefulness was broken by a sharp voice calling out from behind the tawny female, curtly saying that if she wanted to guard the den properly she should face the other way. Yvly swiftly turned her neck and shoulders so she was now facing the other who was standing with a self-assured stance. Knowing that she would be on the bottom of the dominant totem pole, the tawny female changed her posture so it was more submissive, hoping that the female would not try and force any dominance on her. That was one of the few things that she could just not stand, but it would do no good to start a fight when she was so new to the pack.

However, the grey and cream female wasn't acting very nice to her, if she was going by the tone of voice and the way she stood, so Yvly felt no need to be anyone other than her usual self. "Who says I was guarding the den?" She said in a snarky tone, carefully gauging the flat expression on the others face for any changes. She always knew where to draw the line, well, most of the time. If they had been loners the tawny female would have added an afterthought, one which wouldn't have been very nice, but since they were pack mates she'd have to keep those comments to herself instead. "Would you like to show me how, then?" Yvly continued sarcastically, unable to keep the words inside, but they were much nicer than they would have normally been. She gave the grey and cream female a hard look, non-verbally telling the stranger to not test her. She would become very much less-than-nice then.

287 words

Yvly Doramor

imagine we are higher than the arrows,
casually we're breathing with the pharaohs,
tragically we fall just like the arrows.

(This post was last modified: Jan 09, 2016, 04:14 AM by Yvly.)

Oula blinked, something like confusion momentarily flickering across her round face as the female snapped back at her. Oula's tail swished, it's lofty sway a reminder to the other female of her greater rank, but by the quick shift of the female's posture to submission it was clear she knew her place. Oula wasn't sure why she was getting the attitude in return, she was only trying to help. Apparently her assumption that the woman had been keeping watch was incorrect, though given the situation she didn't think that it was an entirely unfounded assumption to have arrived at. Why else would someone have been sitting there like that?

"Well," She said slowly, her words carefully measured. If Oula was irritated, she did not show it. "I can't imagine what else you'd be doing, staring at the den as you were." Oula said, unshaken. She certainly didn't think that she was the one being weird, here. The hint of sarcasm wasn't missed by Oula, and while Oula was sorely tempted to show her a thing or two of respect, it probably wasn't a good idea to go picking fights with a pack she was still getting the feel for. "So tell me then, what were you doing?" If she hadn't been guarding as she had presupposed, the woman really had looked like she was up to something.

 

Sorry for the wait @Oula!

Yvly noticed the swift change to a confused expression on the grey and cream females face at her snarky comment. It seems the stranger wasn't expecting her to verbally bite back, as one would say. Well, she was very much all bark and no bite. Fighting was definitely not her forte... she would need to work on that in the near future. A few scuffles here and there were likely to be in the offing, whether they were wanted or not. She wasn't intimidated by the females' size, however, given their similar body shape, so if the situation arose she wouldn't back down. Maybe she did have a bit of a bite after all.

Tawny ears flickered forward as the other female continued speaking, taking in her words with some thought. No one was a mind reader, and she accepted the fact that a stranger wouldn't know what she was doing, but the way the other female had gone her way about it simply irritated Yvly. She wasn't a fan of being told to do something one way when she would rather do it another. But such was life, and she would simply have to let it slide if she didn't want to make an enemy of the first wolf she had come across in the pack.

A soft chuff escaped Yvly's maw at the question of what had she actually been doing, and she considered saying something ridiculous, but with effort told herself she needed to be nice to make friends. "I was waiting," the tawny female said simply with a half forced smile on her face, properly turning her body around so she was fully facing the grey and cream female. "I figured since I have been a part of this pack for nearly three weeks I should meet a fellow pack member." She then raised one of her wolfy brows and waited for the other female's reaction to her rather truthful words.

325 words

Yvly Doramor

imagine we are higher than the arrows,
casually we're breathing with the pharaohs,
tragically we fall just like the arrows.

Oula's almond eyes narrowed slightly as her quite reasonable question received a chuff in return. She didn't think she was being the difficult one here. The curt answer was somewhat mystifying yet unsatisfying. She was... Waiting? Well, that wasn't creepy at all, Oula thought. The thought of someone watching others sleep was somewhat off putting, and Oula was marginally glad she had been running about that morning rather than sleeping soundly in the den. "Ahh, I see." She said, her lips pulling a thin line.

The reddish female continued to elaborate, mentioning wanting to meet her packmates. It made a little more sense, but it really wasn't how Oula would have gone about such a task herself. Like in nearly all other aspects of her life, Oula preferred a direct approach. The evasive and admittedly squirrely games her packmate was playing at did not suit her, and she wasn't in the mood to play them. "Well, allow me to introduce myself then. I'm Oula." She said with formal politeness, trying to clear any residual annoyance from her voice. Oula was all business. Her short plush tail swished as she offered a stiff smile that didn't quite extend to her eyes.

OOC here!

Perceiving the narrowing of the grey and cream female's green eyes, Yvly realized that she must be acting quite unreasonable in terms of her words and actions, though she didn't quite understand why. Sure, she was a bit uptight and withholding, maybe even slightly snappish, but that's what she responded with when the other did something she didn't like. However, she did understand that other wolves may not comprehend that. They didn't know why she was the way she was, and so she would have to try and give them the benefit of the doubt, as bothersome as it sounded. And so when the other female introduced herself as Oula with a seemingly partially forced smile, Yvly gave what she hoped was a convincing smile in return, trying to reciprocate the politeness that she was receiving.

She opened her maw to reply with her own name, but stopped short. She didn't need to tell the other wolves of Grizzly Hollow her real name when she would rather them call her by her preferred nickname, so the solution to the problem would be to just introduce herself with the nickname. Yes, that was a very good idea. Only Veho and Wacipi needed to know her real name. "Crystal," she offered in return, attempting to make her posture more friendly than the closed off state it had been in before by allowing her body to relax and wag her tail so it was thumping softly on the ground. This whole 'being nice' thing was mentally strenuous, but if it meant she wouldn't get into verbal and nonverbal fights with her pack members then she supposed it was a necessary evil.

278 words

Yvly Doramor

imagine we are higher than the arrows,
casually we're breathing with the pharaohs,
tragically we fall just like the arrows.

A young deer has been separated from the rest of its herd. Hunt Opportunity

Oula's introduction was returned with a single word, Crystal's name. Finally they were getting somewhere, the stiff and guarded posture of the newest member taking a turn to something more welcoming. Oula's small ears relaxed, the tension easing from the corners of her lips as she took a couple steps forward and seated herself on the snowy ground. If Crystal had been waiting for someone to meet she figured it would be appropriate to go a little further than just trading names.

"New blood, huh?" Oula said, head tipped slightly with a quirk to her lips. "I haven't been here too long myself, I just joined this fall." She said, realizing as the words left her mouth it that it was already winter. Oh where had the days gone? She had left her regiment during the summer, and she was starting to doubt she would ever be able to return. Did they think she had died? Or worse, think that she had deserted them? In a way, hadn't she? She hadn't meant to, but seeing as she still hadn't found her friend's murderer as she had promised, she was too ashamed to try to go back home.

She swallowed around a lump that had formed in her throat, quickly blinking and spitting out her next question to hopefully keep her mind off of the turn her thoughts had taken. "So, where are you from?" She asked.

OOC here!

The tawny female kept a watchful eye on Oula as she stepped forward, reclining her haunches upon the snowy ground. It was clearly a sign of acceptance, well, enough to not warrant the grey and cream female to be on guard. Yvly reciprocated Oula's posture as she spoke once more, speaking of having only joined the previous fall. So she wasn't much newer in this pack than herself. Something interesting to know. Being the newest in a pack was hard; not really trusted and always watched. Wolves relied a lot on loyalty, and she knew firsthand it wasn't easy to gain it back once it had been lost.

Oula's question was met with a slight pulling back of tawny ears. She didn't like it very much when others pried into her past, or rather anything about her at all. Giving out information about herself wasn't an easy thing to do, never had been, and likely never would be, and the action to respond in an aggressive manner was very hard to contain, but she forced herself to breathe and relax. It was necessary to do such things if she wanted the trust of her fellow pack mates, but that didn't mean she had to like it. "Far from here," Yvly said flatly, keeping any emotion from spilling forth, "To the North," she added swiftly, trying to not come across as bitchy or cold. It would take time for her to open up to anyone, lots of time. "You?" She asked as politely as she could. Hopefully this encounter with Oula was salvageable... if not, then there would be next to no hope of fixing it at a later date.

279 words

Yvly Doramor

imagine we are higher than the arrows,
casually we're breathing with the pharaohs,
tragically we fall just like the arrows.

(This post was last modified: Feb 07, 2016, 04:43 AM by Yvly.)