Jasper Rocks from the rain comes a river

For @Rook -- midday, cloudy, cold. -2F

The nice thing about the cedar wood forests was the sheer amount of land to explore. It varied widely in such a small space, Felix never needed to adventure far from the safety of Grizzly Hollow’s borders to find something new and interesting to study. Sometimes, wandering through the snowy willowwacks, he had to wonder why there were no other wolves nearby – or perhaps he simply wasn’t looking hard enough. It was so quiet in the cold, the only noise he could pick up the simple squeak of snow beneath his paw pads as he tread.

So much to see, and so little time – after the fiasco with the bull moose, Felix rather imagined he was always expected to return home each night, had never even requested permission to explore any further than he could travel in half a day’s time.

He did wonder, sometimes, though, what it would be like to see the rest of the world.

Curiosity led him today to the small pool of water formed by Heartleaf Creek, frozen solid by the recent cold snap. The ice was clearer than any glass, and Felix could not help his curiosity as he slithered forward, slipping and sliding onto the surface. It was like walking on air – if air was as slick as the insides of a fresh kill, he mused, right before doing a splendid spread eagle and splatting against the ice. But instead of whining, he pressed his face against the cold window, peering down into the frozen world below.

“Amazing…”

Since coming back home, Rook had tried to be social. For hours, he would follow the trails of his pack mates and think up all of the adventures and tasks they set out to find and accomplish. Winter was a time of rest and energy conservation; what they all could have been up to was well beyond Rook, whose past four winters were about nothing but being nestled up to someone's warm side while the snow fell all around them or outside of the den. Without anyone to snuggle up to while the clouds drifted across the sky overhead, the Lyall reluctantly stood up from his resting place and stretched his limbs. Today would be no different. He would put forward his best paw and be as personable as he could manage. It would be as easy as that...

From the heart of Grizzly Hollow he set off on a rather random set of tracks, sticking to the deep trench of a wolf highway as he headed east. When he finally caught sight of the creek, he took a moment to quench his thirst. In the shallows and little pools between the rock shelves, it had taken little effort to break the thin layer of ice to get to the slow-moving current underneath. Removing his chin from the frigid water and taking a look around, he released a sizeable cloud into the air, half-startled when he spotted a gray-furred figure a moderate distance downstream.

He squinted, his nose wriggling as a tilt of his head gave away his curiosity. The pelt patterned seemed familiar - Veho-ish, maybe? - but the physique seemed totally... off? Perhaps, this called for more of a "hands-on" sort of approach. It was already rude enough to stare and he surely knew he wasn't going to earn any favorable points if he kept him isolated from the rest of the pack. Slowly treading over the unmarked snow, Rook made his way over to where the youngster (those paws were something of a giveaway) laid flat against a frozen-over part of the creek. From a more scrupulous glance and a bit more observation, he couldn't help but assume this was the boy - his, Veho's and Oula's son - Felix.

His tail began to wag, his whole being already becoming affected by the sense of curiosity in the air around them. "Heya sport," he called, wondering if he might be welcome to join him and get to know the cub firsthand. "What do you have there?"

i’m trying to make it better piece by piece

Chances are I have a BEN WHISHAW gif for that.

Perhaps foolishly, Felix found he rather hoped to see a fish swim by. Of course, he knew it was impractical. As the birds and the bugs took off to escape the cold, so too did the fish hide, not unlike the turtles and frogs. The older members of the pack assured him the animals were simply sleeping and would come back once spring rolled around again, but still, the boy missed the excitement of the forest sometimes when surrounded by the silence of the winter…even if he generally preferred the still landscape for thought.

Quiet as it was, he did not hear the approach of another wolf until he was greeted; the youngster’s head shot up, overly large ears rotating like little radar dishes before mismatched eyes fell upon the older wolf. It took Felix only a moment to realize it was indeed @Rook who’d returned, and his heart set to thundering somewhere in his throat.

“Papa!” he exclaimed, having no other word for the man despite his extended absence. Awkward paws scrambled beneath him to no avail; unable to find purchase after several seconds, the young Macieo gave up, and settled for laying awkwardly on his belly with a sheepish smile for Rook on his face. “I, uh – well. You can see the bottom of the stream, clear as day. The ice, it’s really, uh. Clear.”

It occurred to the boy that Rook probably did not find this as interesting as he did and he ducked his head down, cheeks burning beneath his winter coat. What a silly thing to say to a man he hadn’t seen in ages!

As soon as the boy had been called to attention, Felix's eyes fell upon Rook, then came the recognition that the Lyall had longed for in the days he had been away. "Papa!" Rook's heart could have melted; his black-tipped tail gave an easy wag. A soft chuckle even bubbled up in his throat as he watched his son lose his footing, regain it, then begin scrambling again. Felix ultimately plopped down onto his belly and Rook grinned as he tested a paw on the ice. The youth relayed his discovery without being prompted, continuing to lure Rook onto the glassy surface.

"Is that so?" he continued to simper, his own four paws sliding inches at a time towards where the near-yearling laid. Some feet away from Felix, he finally glanced downward, grazing his left paw across the ice to fully see the rocky riverbed below. "Well, would you look at that..."

His mismatched eyes went to the space where the lad had been staring before, one brow rising up in piqued curiosity. A little more shuffling and they would be within proximity of each other. They could both peer down through the ice and see what might swim beneath the slow-moving current! The prospect of this had set Rook's eagerness on full tilt and, with moving just a little quickly, he slipped! One forepaw went forward and, with the way he had been moving, the other went sliding forward with it. In something like a play bow, he snorted. His wagging of his tail finally caught up with his toothy grin. "Your sisters didn't want to come out and play?" As soon as the question had fled from his lips, he hoped he hadn't offended Felix; whether or not the cubs still played at this age, he couldn't be sure. At this age, he had been preoccupied with caring for Borden back at Renegades Reach, and when Tomen had been eight months old, Rook was certain that he'd never witnessed anything close to this curiosity that Felix currently had; at least, not when Cinder was missing, the pack was grieving, and Grizzly Hollow's members were thrown into confusion with a number of happenings when the Lyall was seemingly scarce on territory grounds.

i’m trying to make it better piece by piece

Chances are I have a BEN WHISHAW gif for that.

The boy lifted his head, making no other attempt to rise as he watched the older wolf shuffle across the glassy surface. Frankly, he had no reason to – the strength of the ice did not concern him. (Whether that was because it gave no ominous noise or because the boy did not know better remained up in the air.) So he only offered the beta a watery smile, heartened by fractions as Rook appeared to be interested -- or at least humoring him -- in the remarkable discovery he’d found below the ice’s surface. If only a fish or something would swim by!

His thoughts were quickly distracted by the question and he glanced back up, lifting one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. While Joan was more liable to spend time with him (perhaps out of a twisted sense of duty), Ophelia could be a juggernaut of emotion even on the best of days. Eventually, he shook his head. “No. They think this stuff is boring.” This time, his shrug was much more visible, and he puddled back against the surface of the ice. “It’s okay, though. I don’t mind the quiet. I’m not very good at most games, anyways.” It was not to say Felix wasn’t interested in playing – but he was awkward, but he thought too much, and he really wasn’t quite the playmate everyone expected, he supposed.

“We could go look for other things, maybe?”

Rook's rump lowered onto the ice and with pushing himself up with his forearms, he came to sit before his son. He had said that Ophelia and Joan thought this stuff - looking for new discoveries and all sorts of interesting things - was boring. It reminded Rook of how his older siblings thought of him, how Bishop thought of him... He gave a shake of his head, even as Felix told him that it was okay for them to think so anyway. The boy could have been a Macieo and Whitebark through and through, but Rook saw the Lyall there within. He could definitely relate.

"That's all right," he assured the youth. "Me too; my own sisters never really wanted to play with me either."

Felix easily followed through, "We could go look for other things, maybe?" Rook grinned, "If you'd like, sure..." It took some cautious measures but he managed to stand back up. His left paw slipped a bit, but once he regained his balance, he waved his tail about, eagerness getting the best of him. This was going to be something like when he and Borden had gone on walks together, only this time Rook was the older wolf, indulging and maybe tossing a few bits of wisdom every now and then while Felix led the way.

"So, if we don't stay around here, where shall we go looking for something to look at?"

i’m trying to make it better piece by piece

(This post was last modified: Feb 17, 2017, 11:27 PM by Rook.)

Chances are I have a BEN WHISHAW gif for that.

Shallow water has trapped several fish in a small pond. Hunt Opportunity

There was something reassuring about being told he was not the only one who could not relate to his own siblings so easily. Oh yes, they shared all three parents, they shared their lineages, but after that? They all seemed so different. Joan was so very much like both their parents, but he and Ophelia? Sometimes he wondered exactly how either of them had happened. But he was no expert on psychology, and there was nothing meritorious about spreading rumors, so often the youth just left it there.

It was, however, quite nice to hear that Rook was interested in exploring. Carefully, very carefully, he lifted himself up on wobbly legs. Without all the flailing from before, he had considerably more success, and the youth gingerly shuffled his way back to the safety of the shoreline. “Well…” he hummed thoughtfully, tail thumping against his legs. “…I was originally looking for fish. Pip goes fishing sometimes, and I… I wanted to give it a try.” Felix trailed off sheepishly, well aware this wasn’t exactly the time of year for fish. (Or, he hadn’t been, but recent attempts to locate the little scaly morsels had informed him that they were likely sleeping, like the bugs, and the chipmunks.) “Do you know where to find them right now?”

Sorry, man, Rook just didn't want to talk to Felix at all for like the past 3 months.  :C I have no excuses. Just an apology and a hopefully decent post for ya.

The boy readily had an answer. Felix had originally been looking for fish and had wanted to give fishing a try. Yes, this was going to be just like old times - but, Rook was going to be the fatherly role this time around. The Lyall hummed in thought, very much like Veho did when he was considering the right answer to his partner's musings. His tail gave a wag. "From what I know," he started, bi-colored eyes scanning the frozen river from bank to bank. "The fish are probably asleep, but that doesn't mean we can't hunt them."

Much like the tadpoles he had hunted that very first summer as a cub, Rook knew where to find hibernating fish. A fishing lesson with Namid had once been one of the very few gauges he had when it came to measuring just how good of a hunter he was. To be frank, he was rather intimidated but, if time had taught him anything - and he had done well to remember it - it was to have patience. Perhaps he could bestow that upon Felix. Just that would be enough.

"From what I know," his sights anchored on a specific spot where the creek was lined with gunk-covered rocks. In the summer they would be covered with vivid green moss, but right now, they were merely coated with frost and dead roots (if... moss had roots, anyway, Rook wasn't so sure). As carefully as he could, he followed suit and stood up. Then, with unsteady legs, he made his way over to a shallow part of the bank. "We should probably check any parts near the shore, or where he ice looks like it could make a pool deep enough for fish." He scraped his paws over the glass-like surface as if it would make any visible fish any more prominent through the distortion. "I know there are bass in here sometimes, and maybe catfish... They like to hide between the rocks and sometimes you can see their whiskers or their tails peeking out from under them."

Chances are I have a BEN WHISHAW gif for that.

“What’s a catfish?”

As Rook spoke, it seemed the lad slowly forgot to be shy. And maybe that was a good thing, because the masked Lyall was supposed to his papa, after all. But it was easier to stop his rambling thoughts when he listened. When Ophelia or Joan talked, it wasn’t the same – they weren’t trying to teach or share interesting facts. His mismatched gaze flickered from the adult to the shore side he was scratching at. Felix moved slowly, purposefully, and edged himself off the ice back to the safety of solid ground.

He trusted the older wolf, of course – but it seemed like maybe he was barking up the wrong tree. Even if he did scratch through the ice (and it didn’t seem like he was having much luck there), the youth was pretty sure they’d still struggle to actually catch the fish.

Felix trotted a little further down the stream until he could locate a much thinner layer of ice. There, he reoriented, bouncing on his front paws twice before pouncing (with only his front feet) on the area, smashing through the ice easily. Cold water splashed up, much to the boy’s delight – and immediate dismay – and he scampered back, waiting for Rook to approach. “How’s what?”

@Rook -- Since we have to do some more posts anyways, want to go for skill points? (Fishing, 1/3)