Oak Tree Bend Cold Steel

For @Leotie !

A snowflake landed on his nose, causing the white man to wake with a jolt. Feeling discombobulated and on-edge, Larkspur's fur stood on end as he tried to make sense of where he was. It wasn't Oak Tree Bend, but his pack's scent wasn't that far off. Snow floated down from the sky and a small layer of it had formed on the ground around him. The Spectral Woods was silent and cold, Larkspur felt a strong sense of dread fill him as he went over what he'd done that day. None of which led him to being away from the twisted oak tree he'd called home, much less outside of the Bend's borders.

That awful, sinking feeling of regret and trepidation began to fill him and choke him. For a few moments he was frozen in the moment, then managed to step forward. He needed to go back to his pack, back where he could make sure the wolves were fed, back where he had some sort of sense of duty. With that, he had happiness. It wasn't a pure, raw type of happiness, but it was his. He'd deserved it, he worked hard for it.

Did he, though? He had worked hard, he did his best to provide for his pack. But what about the one he'd left behind? What about the unforgivable things he had done? And, perhaps most importantly, what if it happened again?

When it happened again. He knew he wasn't well and ignoring his problems wasn't a long-term solution. Really, he had no long term solution. His short term solution seemed to be working. For now. He wanted to forget it all, he wanted to go back to feeling at home. Larkspur headed back towards his pack, quietly wishing the dread away.

(This post was last modified: Oct 01, 2016, 02:36 AM by Larkspur.)

The first traces of snow had shown their little faces in the forest that belonged to Oak Tree Bend which was significant to the agouti female. It meant that she had been with her pack for nearly a year aside from her little mishap. Since then she had been careful not to go off and get lost again. Instead she decided that she didn’t want to venture too far from pack lands without someone with her until she knew her way better. She did have a terrible habit of getting lost, it was how she found her pack in the first place after all.

Leotie gave her coat a shake before continuing on with her rounds of the borders before she did a little hunting for the pack. She had learned from the winter before there was a lot that needed to be done before winter hit to ensure the pack made it through. As always she would do whatever she could to help out. Part of her still owed the pack for taking her in so close to winter the previous year especially now that she understood just how tough things could be.

She stopped suddenly on her patrol when the scent of another wolf caught her attention. A first it was just the scent that alerted her and then she recognized the scent to belong to a member of her pack. Then she saw the wolf the scent belonged to, “Hello,” she called to him, Larkspur she thought his name was. Leotie hadn’t formerly met him so this would be a nice chance to get to know another one of her pack mates. “Coming back from a hunt?”

(This post was last modified: Oct 02, 2016, 07:01 PM by Leotie.)

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There is a family of deer nearby. Hunt Opportunity

A hunt seemed to be the most likely thing that he'd done, but he still couldn't be sure. And, really, the fact that unless someone had been with him, there was really no possible way of knowing. On top of that, he somehow doubted he'd be going around asking if anyone had seen him this morning. It was just going to have to be his secret, and he was just going to have to let it go. "Mmm... yeah." He didn't slow down, but instead motioned for the girl to join him to walk to... well, wherever he was walking. "Was following some deer, but lost their trail."

Larkspur glanced at @Leotie , who was familiar, but not really known. This wasn't much of a surprise to him, as he found himself fearing that anyone may be as... enthusiastic as Sahalie was. He had tried his best to push the girl away from him, but she seemed pretty firm on keeping him company when he clearly let it be known that he'd rather be left alone. Really he had no reason to be snappy to the girl, she had done absolutely nothing but be kind to him.

Right then, though, he sort of wanted some sort of interaction. Or maybe he just... didn't want to be alone. It was a foreign feeling, but Larkspur knew better than to fight what he felt. "You're up awful early," he began, though talked more at her than with her. Lark was often up earlier than the rest of Oak Tree Bend, doing what he had the energy to do in the mornings before snoozing the rest of the day away. Not to say that it was uninterrupted snoozing, as he'd been bothered by many pups during his attempts at sleep. "New snow got you up?"

(This post was last modified: Oct 02, 2016, 07:27 PM by Larkspur.)

Sometimes Leotie wondered if her other packmates did the same things that she did, sure they had to hunt and patrol but she didn’t often seem them when she was out doing those things. So it only seemed reasonable to think that he was out hunting like she would be doing later. Which he confirmed for her and went on to explain about the trail of some deer that he had been following. “That’s too bad but maybe you can catch up to them later,” she commented on the fact that he had lost the trail. Even though it would have been nice to be able to add some of the deer meat to the cache she knew that hunts didn’t always turn out as planned.

Leotie took Larkspur up on his invitation to follow him even though it would take her away from her patrolling. She thought that getting better acquainted with one of her pack mates was just as important as patrolling. It would be helpful when they had to hunt together which could happen at some point in the future.

Leotie smiled at his comment about her being up early, “I’m usually up now,” she responded, “Though I could say the same for you.” There was so much to do that Leotie thought it was best to get up early to get it all done and still have a little time for things like getting to know her pack mates. His question had a simple enough answer but there was more to it, “I suppose in a way it does,” she replied. Then she glanced at him, “Did you get up this early just to hunt?” She inquired with raised brow.

(This post was last modified: Oct 03, 2016, 12:58 AM by Leotie.)

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They needed to. He'd been fighting with the notion to start a pack hunt, but wasn't quite sure if he exactly wanted that. Despite that it wasn't what he had wanted, it would be best for the pack. He'd bite the bullet... just not today. Tomorrow, maybe... or next week. Or never he thought too, but knew better than to roll with it. He wanted to sigh, the whole idea of it all exhausting him, but refrained from doing so.

Lark gave @Leotie a surprised glance when she'd said she was usually up so early. He couldn't really recall seeing her before, which only made the most sense. He usually walked around the communal den to see if anyone was particularly hungry before doing his best to hunt solo. He hadn't seen this girl sleeping away the morning or out hunting. That made him inwardly smile, if only because it meant that he still seemed to be keen on the whole avoiding wolves thing.

He sneezed when he breathed in a snowflake, shaking some of the white specs off of his pelt. Most were half-melted and were there to stay. He tilted his head to the left, then the right, "Earlier," he first said, which only made his stomach churn with unease. How early had he gotten up today? He didn't know. "Usually I check out the borders, hunt when it's about sunrise, sleep come sun-high. Like clockwork," it helped him to have his small daily chores. He checked the caches, he sometimes asked around to see if someone was particularly hungry, which lately the prey hadn't run off, so no one was. Sometimes he slept without incident, sometimes someone would come and bother him. "It's nice to have the morning to yourself. It's a good time to think," though he often let himself be a little bit too busy to think.

He wasn't entirely sure where they were walking. For now, it was mindless walking, and mindless, idle chatter. "We must have been missing each other the past few months, huh?"

A herd deer would help the pack immensely especially with winter coming and the pups growing so fast not to mention the adults needed to eat. To be able to take down one or two of the deer they would need the pack. Leotie worried about this after their last pack hunt, she didn’t want anyone else to be injured but she knew the pack would hunt if it meant more food for everyone.

As for her being up early it wasn’t anything new to her, she’d been doing it since she was a pup just now she had different reasons to do so. Whether she caught anything on her hunts or only was able to patrol a small portion of the borders it made her feel like she was doing her part and that was what was important.

Leotie glanced at Larkspur when he sneezed, “You alright?” She asked as he shook his pelt which she assumed was to get the snow flakes off, she could feel the melted ones running down the hairs of her pelt. “Do you get up before the sun?” She asked curiously. It was something she’d only done a few time in her life and it was something she didn’t like much. It made the whole day feel weird to her. “That’s the same routine I have though I don’t always take a nap but getting up as early as you do it would be required.” There were days that she spent her afternoons hunting if she hadn’t caught anything all day. She nodded when he spoke about having the morning to oneself, “It is nice to have that time to yourself before the pack gets up and the forest is quiet.”

“I suppose we do,” she agreed, “Which would make sense if you're already up and gone by the time I am.” Now that she thought about it she had seen him around but it wasn’t as often as she saw others but it was nice to have the chance now to chat with him.

(This post was last modified: Oct 03, 2016, 04:10 AM by Leotie.)

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He grunted when she asked if he was alright, wriggling his nose as another cold speck landed on it. "Usually I do, I like getting up before the sun," he didn't, but he'd been telling himself that long enough for it to feel true enough. He would have preferred to get up and then retire with the sun, but things just weren't that way anymore. He just made do with what he had, he did what he could, and that was that.

He glanced up when he realized it had stopped snowing. He used to not need to nap so long, but that was just another one of those things that he chose not to think too much about. His life was simple in Oak Tree Bend, although somehow feeling meaningless in the grand scheme of things. He didn't think he wanted a grand life anymore. He wanted the one that he had now, the one where he got up and was kept busy until he was too tired to keep busy anymore.

How long would it last? He knew firsthand things didn't last forever, he knew that he'd been shoving everything to the side lately. It wasn't better, it was worse, but it was so much easier. Was it so much to ask for something to be easier and better?

He guessed it was, if only because he probably didn't deserve either of those things. His life here would run its course eventually, but for now he would stay. Lark knew how to cling onto things tight enough, maybe he could hold onto his life here until he was done.

He nodded without thought, hearing @Leotie but not really listening. He was headed back to his tree, he realized, as it was the most comfortable spot he'd found in the Spectral Woods. It was close to the rest of the pack, but not too close. Lark didn't think he wanted his companion to know about his tree (though it wasn't as if he was so hard to find) and slowly directed them to another path. "Do you like it here?" he suddenly asked.

She glanced at him when he grunted in response to her question which she supposed meant that he was okay. As for her other question he affirmed that he did like getting up before the sun, “I suppose it would help to get more done in the day,” She mused aloud, “And more time to yourself for whatever thinking that you might need to do. It still feels all wrong to me though.” It was like being on the wrong side of things for the whole day. She was used to getting up after the sun had come up, she liked it that way.

Her time in Oak Tree Bend had been quite the adjustment from what her life had been like when she’d been with her humans. She didn’t think of them much anymore now that she had gotten used to being with the wolves of her pack. Before she hadn’t thought of the things that needed to get done throughout the day, She had laid around waiting to see what her humans would be doing.

Now though she felt as if she had a purpose which she didn’t have before and she had to admit that she liked it better, to have something to do during the day. Leotie noticed the snow had stopped falling, she took that moment to give her coat shake to get the flakes that hadn’t melted off.

At his question she nodded, “I do like it here a lot even though life here is harder than what it was before I came here. Do you like it here?” The wolves in Oak Tree Bend especially Triell and Serach had been patient with her allowing her to come to things in her own time and allowing her to try the best she could and not expect more.

Oak Tree Bend had become her home so much so that she didn’t miss the life she once had no matter how hard it was to live in the forest. Though she’d had a plush life being able to be who she truly was was better than living behind a fence.

(This post was last modified: Oct 03, 2016, 07:14 PM by Leotie.)

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Did he like it in Oak Tree Bend? He had asked the question without thinking much on it himself. "Mm, I guess, " he sometimes felt there was more that could be done, but couldn't do much more than what he did. Not comfortably, at least, and Larkspur was intent on being as comfortable as he could manage. "It's home, for now, and I think that's all that matters," he mindlessly said, paying more attention to where they were headed. He'd glance at his companion every few moments, if only to make sure she was sticking near him while he led @Leotie away from his tree.

Finally, they stood near the den that many of Oak Tree Bend's wolves called their den. Larkspur then sat, and motioned off to the side. "Alright," he told the girl, "Off you go. We're done chit-chatting." There was no easy way to tell someone to leave him alone, but usually telling someone to do so worked. Usually being the operative word, because he knew firsthand that a wolf like Sahalie or Ruenna would refuse to leave him alone, even if he shouted it to them in their faces. "Nice meeting you and all," Lark said, but didn't really mean it.