Whitestone Monadnock angels among us

RE - The sky is lighting up with an early aurora borealis! Reds and green lights dance across the night time sky for hours.

Tagging @Craw @Morganna @Wraith @Capable @Greer @Celandine @Odin @Kara

The nights were creeping in sooner, every day it seemed, the dark night skies clung on for just a few minutes longer so that by now hours of daylight were lost to the pale glow of the moon. It was a sure sign that, along with the increasing levels of snow, winter was well on the way to Relic Lore. Lorcan couldn’t help but be filled with a tingle of excitement for the upcoming snowy months; winter was always a magical time of year.

However, that night also seemed to be filled with its own kind of magic. Bright lights of red and green snaked and shimmered through the clear night sky and the brilliant colours were faintly reflected back upon the lowlands which were carpeted in a thin blanket of snow and ice.

Lorcan sat, perfectly still at the centre of the Monadnock, head tilted right up to the sky as he watched curiously as the brilliant colours dance above the pack lands. Gradually they shifted, twisting and curving their shape like a coiling snake. The subordinate squinted as the lights continued to move, slowly forming the familiar figure of a wolf which sat watching down from the dark starry sky. Charcoal lips parted in awe as he stared at it, willing it not to disappear. Seconds ticked by and the haunting figure remained there. Was this some kind of sign? Were the others seeing this? Lorcan sung out a howl, eager for his pack mates to see the apparition for themselves.

(This post was last modified: Oct 29, 2016, 09:27 AM by Lorcan.)

# P O R C A N

sometimes, two people have to fall apart to realise

how much they need to fall back together

Re-tagging for visibility: @Morganna @Wraith @Isuni @Greer @Odin @Kara - and @Saradathia since the date of her join thread means she was accepted to WM by this point.

The spider had been quietly enjoying the lights for himself, sat upon this highest point in the lowlands with the white world laid bare at their feet. Laid at the very edge of the plateau, forepaws dangling free over the lake far below, his scarred muzzle was pointed up, jaws slightly parted in appreciation of the spectacle. These were not the first northern lights for a wolf from the north, but he had not seen any in his time in this part of the world. The number of signs that this place was meant to be just mounted higher and higher. He recalled the finger of cloud which had signalled the worthiness of Whitestone, at least according to Capable - and there had been something so frightfully compelling about what she had said, the way she had said it, her utter conviction, and that one word - Valhalla.

Lorcan's voice rose high and excited from not terribly far away, and Craw glanced back over his shoulder even though he would not be able to see the man from here. With no distress or urgency in his tone, nevertheless Craw wondered what could have gotten him so riled up. Hefting back up onto all fours, his gaze drifted back up and saw only the canvas of dancing lights, swirling and mixing and vanishing and appearing like smoke, or like blood in a river. Lazily he padded on, until he could see Lorcan's back illuminated by the bright colourful sky and didn't bother to announce himself. Lorcan's head was pointed high, as if enraptured by something, and Craw huffed in private amusement; perhaps it was just his first time. But he moved up beside the medic regardless, taking a new seat at his side, lifting his eyes up to the aurora borealis in shared admiration.

There is a moose carcass that has been scavenged by coyotes nearby. +15 Health

The white wolf had been sleeping peacefully ever since sun down. Slowly adjusting to life within the Monadnock pack. Ears perked as a howl split the quiet air, silvery eyes blinking open and glancing upward toward the sky. Saradathia sucked in a deep breath as she saw the brilliant shade of green breaking over the boulder she had been dozing under. She recognized it immediately, something was greeting her on a regular basis, during the long nights far to the north.


Energy she hadn’t known she possessed coursed through the young wolf as she became more hyper at the prospect of being able to share a sight from home with her new family. She bounded toward the direction of Lorcan’s howl. As she bounded higher and higher up the path, soon finding the medic and Craw already situated on the center of their little nook of heaven.


“It’s the Skyfire!” She squeaked excitedly as she skidded to a stop, the usual quiet and shy wolf lost all vestige of that demeanor as she almost vibrated while looking up at the massive shape in the sky, she glanced between the two already present, her heart beating quickly as she started to calm down, plopping down on Craw’s other side, a small grin plastered onto her face “It’s just like back home..but better with this pack…”

Slight pp of @Odin let me know if that isn't okay!

 

Kára had been sleeping peacefully tucked away within the communal den. There was no in between with the fiery girl, either she went to bed earlier than everyone else and was crabby to be woken or she stayed out as long as possible until an adult shooed her off to bed. Tonight had been one of the early nights and the sound of Lorcán's call was enough to rouse the pup much to her displeasure. What did he think he was doing making so much racket so late at night? He had to have known that some of the others would be sleeping.

Raising her head and looking towards the entrance with annoyance the displeasure was quickly replaced with curiosity at the sight of some odd glow. Nudging her brother sharply behind the ear with her muzzle all thoughts of sleep dissipated as she stood to go investigate. Leaving behind the warmth of the den the pup stepped out into the snowy landscape, enraptured by the lights weaving above her. grey eyes widened in surprise and wonder and her mouth popped open into a small 'o', she had never seen the night sky do anything like this before.

Leaving the den and her brother behind creamy paws carried her in a frenzy towards where the others had gathered. Bursting onto the small group in time to hear the newest Monadnock member declare that it was called 'skyfire'. Coming up towards the other men the girl squeezed her body in between them instead of sitting somewhere else. She had been raised by Craw after all and had never learned the importance of personal space. Looking upwards once more she said to no one in particular, "What is the skyfire?"

 

Lorcan’s eyes were fiercely fixated upon the swirling dancing lights. He could still make out the figure of the wolf, staring down at him from all those miles up in the dark starry sky, and the agouti male couldn’t hold back an enlightened smile. His russet ears heard movement then, and as he briefly glanced back behind him, he caught the figure of Craw approaching. Lorcan greeting his superior with an excited chuff, turning to the scar-laden male with his salmon pink tongue lolling from his mouth. It was clear that he was enthralled by the apparition.

“Can you see it?” He asked, muzzle pointing up to the apparition in the sky as Craw settled beside him. “It looks like a one of us!” He grinned, black tipped tail thumping incessantly upon the snowy monadnock as his golden gaze remained focus on the ghostly figure.

Saradathia bounded in towards them then and she appeared just as excited as he was. Lorcan greeted her with a playful yap before listening to her explanation. “Skyfire?!” He repeated, head tilted curiously to one side towards Saradathia. He had been about to ask what it was, but Kara beat him too it. Lorcan glanced down to see the younger girl, who was not so little any more, clamber her way into the tiny space that had been between him and Craw. Shuffling over to give her his comfortable spot, he nipped playfully at Kara’s ear for her peccadillo, before leaning forwards to look across to Craw and Saradathia with a questioning look.

“I don’t know.. Maybe Saradathia or Craw will know.” He said, hinting at either one of them for an explanation, before shifting his front paws forwards to lay comfortably at the edge of the monadnock, determined to enjoy the view. This was something he wasn’t going to miss.

(This post was last modified: Dec 14, 2016, 05:18 PM by Lorcan.)

# P O R C A N

sometimes, two people have to fall apart to realise

how much they need to fall back together

Lorcan's enjoyment of the lights was evident, the man made practically giddy over it, but then he spoke and it became clear that the medic was seeing rather more than Craw realised. Frowning as he looked up, not through frustration but because the idea seemed so strange. One of us? As in, a wolf? But as he watched the bouncing and shifting lights, trying to make sense of them, head tilting slowly from one side to the other, he thought... maybe he could see something...

A high-pitched yap behind him shattered his concentration, the spider glancing back to see @Saradathia similarly enthralled. She came to sit on the other side of himself, eyes pointed similarly skyward, though she clearly was seeing something completely different. The need to ask for clarification was clearly shared by them all, as first Lorcan questioned it and then @Kara, who came in to wiggle herself between the two men. Craw adjusted his rear just enough to not inconvenience Lorcan, instinctively reaching down to nibble at his daughter's ear in affectionate greeting.

Catching Lorcan's searching look, Craw shook his head, himself turning around to look at Sara and pass the question on. He had not known the lights by any fancy name, or attributed anything extraordinary to them... his mother had enjoyed watching them with him, the handful of times he'd seen it before, but his father could have not cared less. He'd never really talked about it before.

Skyfire. It was quite an apt name for such a dramatic display.

Saradathia was focused on the sky, barely hearing the others until someone had mentioned her name. She blinked and glanced toward her packmates, as they all seemed to want to know what the Skyfire was. She gulped slightly, unused to the attention, but she swallowed and looked back skyward before replying.

“In my old pack, far to the north, we had some legends about it. It needs some context though, the arctic is frigid, nothing but cold, snow and ice everywhere, all year, every day, it’s nothing but glacial temperatures. The sun shone briefly for a few months at a time, but otherwise the night won out and it was dark the rest of the year.” a wistful sigh escaped as she settled down, keeping her gaze skybound. “Every year the sun would fight to stay dominate among the stars, but the ever creeping shadows of the moon would always win out and vanquished, the sun would retreat, leaving the north encased in darkness as she regained her strength, one day, long, long ago, she fought the darkness, it was an even battle that lasted so long that the two called a truce, eventually an agreement was worked out. The moon was so used to covering the region in darkness, but the sun wanted all to feel the warmth of light, so the Skyfire was born, the compromise that even though darkness may always surround us, there would always be a flame of up, for one day the sun would return.”

@Lorcan sorry for the wait!

 

Lorcán's playful nip towards her was met with a flicked ear and a sly grin in his direction, oh all the slimy things she would drop on him when he least suspected it. Her pranks were never meant maliciously and the pack knew this but that did little to stop her reign of terror; the rain of slimy things on their heads. Kára was quickly distracted from her scheming though as the male leaned to look across and question the other two about the skyfire and the grey eye's followed eagerly. Craw passed the question along silently and with that the pup stopped looking to adults and back to the sky.

She had never seen colours like this in the night before and Kára would be quick to admit that this was much preferable to normal. Still, though she understood what sky was she had never heard of or experienced fire and didn't know to make the connection. Despite not knowing what a ground fire was Kára appreciated Sara's story about the war between the dark and the light. The dark had never bothered the pup and she had not been raised to be afraid of such a silly thing as night time but being in darkness forever didn't sound great either.

Still, it left her with one question, "Whatsa flame?" And how far north did you have to go that the sun didn't come out every day? Okay, maybe the story left her with a lot of questions.

 

Thought Saradathia might like some teacher demonstration points :)

Lorcan listened quietly as Saradathia took the opportunity to teach them all about the belief’s her previous pack had held about the mysterious coloured lights that now danced across the midnight sky. As the white female spoke, the agouti male kept his head tilted upwards to look up to the spectacle above, a smile of enjoyment soon forming upon his charcoal lips as he marvelled at the sheer beauty of it. It was times like these that Lorcan couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. Whitestone monadnock and the wolves that inhabited it were quickly becoming like family to him.

When @Saradathia finished talking, the agouti male turned to look towards her and offered her a nod in appreciation. It was always nice to learn something new. It seemed Kara was also eager to listen and the agouti male glanced down to her and placed an affectionate lick on her forehead as she questioned about the meaning of a flame. Golden eyes flickered back up to Saradathia, raising a brow to encourage her. She seemed to enjoy teaching them all, he would hand over the lesson for her since she was doing such a good job at enlightening them with her knowledge already.   

# P O R C A N

sometimes, two people have to fall apart to realise

how much they need to fall back together