Sex: FemaleUpon entering the orchard of cherry trees, Cas had firmly decided she'd found a new favorite place, instead of the Larkcall Lowlands. This place was absolutely perfect, with it's broad, open paths weaved through slender, elegant trees that adorned them. She only knew that these were, in fact, cherry trees, because the man who kept her captive had a few scattered around his yard. But those were nothing compared to this huge, incredible orchard, and Cas couldn't wait until spring, when they'd be ridden with beautiful, pale pink petals. Then, of course, would come the cherries, which were beautiful in their own right. Cas had no idea how they tasted, but the humans sure did like to eat them. For now, Cas was content to just stroll slowly down the paths and pretend that the snow on the tree limbs was thousands of cherry blossoms. If she concentrated hard enough, she could even imagine that the winter sun was doing more to warm her frosted fur, and that the few drifting snowflakes that flurried down and nipped at Cas' nose were drizzles of spring rain. It helped quite a bit that the snow on the ground was patchy, and some areas showed dirt and mud underneath. And Cas was certainly not one to pass up a good puddle of mud. Especially when she wasn't in severe pain, and she was in a particularly excellent mood. So, she did what any immature wolf would do. She jumped. The first puddle that she leaped into splattered mud all the way up into the fur on her flanks, and all the way up her legs. Most of the mud was frozen, but there was plenty of it to make a mess, especially with the warmth of her paws melting the surface slightly. Yes, it was entirely childish. Yes, it was incredibly messy. Yes, it was going to take a dip in a freaking ice-cold river to get it off. But Cas didn't care whatsoever, laughing as she slid on a patch of icy mud and getting it caked on her chest fur, and even on her face and tail. Part of the reason she didn't care about the messiness and childishness of the situation was that she was alone in the orchard, but another part of her knew that she wouldn't have cared even if an entire pack of wolves was watching. Life was just so much better when you pretended it was spring in the wintertime. |
He hated everything so much. He was so done with even being on this side of the mountain. While he was always to blame for his own issues he still felt hatred towards everyone. Deacon hadn't even gone to alert Renier or his mother of what he was doing now. Being a grump walking around the forest. They'd probably frown at him. His father would be gravely disappointed with his lack of leadership. Where the hell even was his father? What about Niles, the little brother, that was supposed to be keeping an eye on the aging man? Deacon had never even met the kid and he hated him already. Felt jealous that Dad had gone out on some long adventure with him. Felt disgusted that Niles wanted to hoard all of the father's attention. Did the dumb kid even think about how their mother or other siblings would feel?
A loud snarl erupted outwards. He couldn't contain his emotions anymore. Everything ate away at him like some spreading disease. He couldn't figure out if he wanted to disappear, die, or both. The dark male was obviously still young and had a lot of time left but what was the point if he couldn't do anything right?
Somewhere his cloud of anger partially faded, he heard someone having fun. Like a big bully on the playground Deacon marched forward to where he heard the splashing and giggling. "Hey!" He called out as eyes narrowed. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing, huh?" Was she dumb?! Jumping in stupid puddles in the winter. He bet she didn't even have half a brain to think of a reason.
The little wolf jumped slightly at the sharpness of the voice directed her way, and she turned her head to meet the gaze of whomever had spoken. Mud dripped off her muzzle, and she offered him a smile and a wag of her tail. "Hey, yourself," she returned, as though his own 'Hey!' had been one of simple greeting and not of a grumpy wolf attempting to get her attention. No need to match negativity for negativity, after all. Maybe all this wolf needed was a better day. She frowned when he asked her 'Just what the hell do you think you're doing, huh? like it was somehow any of his business. It occurred to her that she could probably reply to that with something mean in return, but she chose the alternative path - cheerfulness with a slight bit of sarcasm. "I'm having fun. You know - enjoying my day. Maybe you should try it," she offered, and trotted over to shake out her muddy pelt in an attempt to shower him with icy, wet dirt. "It's a beautiful day!" She bounced backward, out of his reach in case he got even more pissed at the fact that she'd tried to spray him with mud. "What's your name?" she inquired, as though this were a normal conversation, and he hadn't just opened it up in an attempt to ruin her fun. |
Then she had to audacity to try and tell him to have fun. Then she came closer to him, his hackles raised with fury. Splatters of mud reached his legs and chest. His bright amber eyes narrowed to look at her face. "If having fun means being dumb and jumping in mud in the winter," He eyed her and scowled. "I'll pass." If she had even been worth his energy Deacon would have lunged at her. Shown her what fun really was. She was so small that he doubted she would last long under his weight. "It's an awful day." He snorted back at her remark of beautiful. Was she blind too?
His ears pushed forward as he lowered his head. Did she want his name now? What a pitiful thing. "It's None-ya. None ya business to be exact." It was unusual for Deacon to be this hard but his cold exterior hadn't worn off. Not to mention know he was alone in the middle of winter. No one could save him from his mountain of self-made problems.
Cas snorted and shook her head. "Well, aren't you just a blazing ball of sunshine?" she asked, her tail still waving lazily back and forth. "Nothing's fun if you look at it in that perspective. You've gotta be positive, or you'll only end up making life harder for yourself." The little wolf usually wasn't very philosophical in conversations, but she couldn't help but feel bad for this man. How horrible must his life be in order for him to act like that? It must not have been kind to him. Perhaps that was all he needed. A little kindness. The silver-dusted female padded back up to him and moved to tap her nose to his muzzle in a genuine greeting, and stepped back. "If you won't tell me your name, then I'll just have to tell you mine. I'm Cas. Castel Noor, actually, but everyone I've ever met has just called me Cas." She offered him a smile and a wag of her tail. "Can I know what I've done to piss you off so royally, or do you treat every wolf you meet like this? To be fair, I was minding my own business, and you showed up to stick your nose in and ruin my good day." "Not that I'm angry with you for it. A day this nice is always better to share with someone else," she ended with a smile, and pointedly hopped into another mud puddle. "All these mud puddles make it feel almost like spring!" |
The dark male raised an eyebrow at her introduction. "You haven't pissed me off. Agitated with your dumb laughter and mud splattering, yeah. If I really wanted to ruin your day I would've just straight up attacked you." He eyed her again as his tail flicked behind him. "And I don't want to share this day. I hate the mud and just because it feels like it's almost spring doesn't mean it is. Aren't you worried you'll get sick from this? You'll have to wash off in some freezing river. If I'm being honest, doesn't look like you could handle getting too cold." She didn't even look like she could handle tripping just slightly. Would one of her legs snap? It would certainly be a sight to see.
"You got somewhere to go or someone to see?" He inquired out of his own interest. While she smelt like a loner she might have at least one other wolf to go 'home' to.
Cas rolled her eyes and laughed a bit. "It may be better than the alternative - being a perpetual downer who can't see any of the magic in life." She could imagine, of course, what it felt like to see the world from this man's perspective. She had seen the world that way for a long time, stuck in that cage for so long. Maybe he was in a proverbial cage. Maybe something bad had happened to him to make him see the world in that light. The thought sent pity through the younger wolf, and her eyebrows knitted slightly. Nobody should be forced to live like that. Her eyes lit up a bit when he said she hadn't pissed him off, and her tail set to wagging once more. "Oh, good. I was worried I'd made a bad first impression." She probably had, covered in mud the way she was. Not particularly attractive, but that was the least of the tiny wolf's worries. She set her jaw and frowned when he mentioned how she looked, and she flicked her tail. "For your information, I'm tougher than I look. I can definitely handle a little mud and river water; it's not so bad, actually." She decided to leave out the part that she was actually sick, and kind of cold now that the mud had seeped into her fur. She blinked in surprise at his next question, and shook her head with a slight smile. "That's a personal question, coming from someone who won't even give me his name. But, if you need to know - no, I do not have anywhere to go, or anyone to see," she replied, taking a seat on the forest floor in front of the dark man. "What about you?" |
"Well, it's not the best impression either so don't get too excited." She was standing there covered in mud and ever had the audacity earlier to try and shake the mud off onto him. How rude. He also noted how she went on acting like the whole world was sunshine and rainbows. That everyone was supposed to be as joyous and flamboyant as her pompous butt. "News flash sunshine, not everyone can be like you." He mentally chimed as she kept blabbering.
He couldn't hold back a rumble of laughter. "Not so bad? Have you lost your mind? Once you wash off in the river you run the chance of either becoming a block of ice or getting hypothermia, the flu, pneumonia, you name it." He raised a brow at her in surprise. Deacon truly wanted to doubt she was that tough. A loner overcoming a sickness brought on by the cold in winter? He didn't know much about all that stuff but his mother had always told him as a child about how dangerous little things could become.
His shoulders shrugged. "Just because I don't get personal with you doesn't mean you can't get personal. And if you need to know," He paused and sigh. "I don't either. Just leaving somewhere, actually."
Cas groaned and rolled her eyes for what felt like the umpteenth time durin their short conversation. "I don't mean real magic. I know that stuff doesn't exist. I wouldn't even be here like this if magic existed," she told him in exasperation, eyes narrowing. "I meant it metaphorically, dumbass." This guy was really beginning to get on her nerves, and she wasn't above standing up to him, if the need arose. Cas pointedly ignored the statement about how she hadn't made the best impression, and instead focused on his next train of thought. "I haven't done any of that yet," she reasoned with a grin, and shook off a bit more of the mud, though this time not on the man. "I'm in the business of doing whatever the hell I want, so I'm not worried about the consequences. There's really no point in it for me." That was true, at least, for her. Her lifespan was so short, it really didn't matter if she caught hypothermia beforehand. She laughed at his claim about her being personal. "You make about as much sense to me as I must to you,""Leaving somewhere is probably a good idea; I hate staying in one place too long. Especially if I don't like it there, or if I'm not treated well." She smiled up at him. "It's pretty much soul-sucking to spend time in a place you hate. It's good to leave." |
He growled as the word dumbass left her mouth. If anyone here was a dumbass it was her. Prancing through dirt, talking about magic, practically drenched with stupidity. His tail flicked about in agitation as his hackles prickled. The urge to just shove her over was growing by the minute but he refrained.
"If you say so." He huffed. She was becoming annoying and he was looking for an out. The dark male was beginning to care less if she wanted to go off and die. He could only give so many warnings before the grave decided to swallow her whole. What would he get out of it anyway? Nothing, absolutely nothing. Besides, she wasn't of any importance to him and nature would do what it pleased no matter what.
There his out was. She was talking about leaving which left him to practice her words. "I do agree." He said with a small smirk. "Which means you won't mind if I leave. Like you said, it's good to leave." He snorted and turned around to take his leave. No use in sticking around here if he hated it. She had said so herself. Perhaps he'd be able to find a nicer place with some more reasonable wolves.
-deacon's leave-