Spectral Woods a heavy stone fears no weather.

RE: A cold snap seizes Relic Lore in its icy grip! Open to anyone, shout out to @Lena if you're interested.

He left too early. Maybe he had let the tension in Grizzly Hollow rule him. The snow stopped for a few days, and Felix was gone like a shot, much more eager to see the world than he was to watch his friends and family skulk around in misery. It had even started so well! He’d left Grizzly Hollow and found Mathuin and the weird caves. It was too bad they weren’t really travelling together, but that was okay. Felix had always liked the silence, rare as it was back when he lived with his sisters.

The howling wind, though? The sudden cold that had snapped back into Relic Lore, winter refusing to give up its icy grip even as breeding season had come and gone. Would the sun ever come back?

“I should have stayed home,” Felix sighed miserably. There was a tree nearby. While it hadn’t grown any leaves yet, it was more shelter than anything else in the woods. Shivering, the young wolf trotted over to the largest trunk he could find, pressing himself against rough bark and gnarled roots. It would have to do. Maybe if he could just sleep through the night, the morning would be warmer and he…he could find a better place to den. Or something.

Hope you don't mind Aponi coming in! 

At first Aponi had joked with @Serach that the pups in her belly  were the produce of the yeth-hound because they kept her awake all night, now she was not so sure she was kidding. She hadn't slept at night in nearly a month and in the last week she had become so nauseous even the thought of food rolled her stomach. Despite her drop in appetite and food consumption her sides had begun to swell, though as of this moment she just looked plump rather than pregnant.

The mother had thought that perhaps moving would help with the way her stomach sloshed within her belly. She had been correct, but this only worked if she was continuously walking and she had quickly grown bored of walking the borders in circles. The farther she went past the markers the better she felt, as if the cold air in her lungs and the mist around her was the best cure. She had felt sick with Kyna but it had nothing on how she felt right now, this was relentless all day and night.

She had been so distracted by the relief that her quick pace had given her that she didn't realize that she had been nearing another. The sound of his voice made her jump, blue eyes seeking out the body of who it belonged to. A silvery form pressed tightly against the tree was almost comical and a single brow crept up her forehead, "I don't see many wolves hugging trees like that around here." The words a slight undertone of sarcasm but no threat. By the looks of him he was around Lila's age, verging on being a yearling.

There are several fresh rabbit tracks in the mud. Hunt Opportunity

A violent shiver racked the boy as he pressed closer to the barren tree. As promising as the wide trunk had looked, a dormant oak was hardly a dinkum source of warmth. Frankly, it didn’t even pass as shelter, though the yearling was hardly in the state to argue. He was contemplating the possibility of curling up and going to sleep right then and there when an unfamiliar voice pulled him free from the calculations on his chances of freezing to death.

“Uh—“

What had she just said? Something about hugging a tree? Felix shook his delicate skull. “Uh, no, I’m uhm-- I was just cold. The tree was breaking the wind. Kinda.” Clearly not that well, or he wouldn’t have been complaining to himself. It occurred to the youth then that the woman smelled very strongly of pack, and her stature was certainly not a submissive one – had he…? Felix’s ears rolled further back as he pressed himself against the bark, tail dropping between his hocks.

“I, uhm. Sorry. This…this isn’t yours, is it? I wasn’t…wasn’t trying to trespass or anything. Was just…uh. Just trying to get out of the cold. And not cause any trouble.” Though two of his parents had been absent the most of his childhood, Veho had at least pressed upon all his children the importance of pack law, what was expected when visitors came to Grizzly Hollow, and what to do were they to ever visit someone else’s territory.

@Aponi -- Thank you for joining! Sorry I took so long to reply. <3

Now it's my turn to apologize!

It seemed that her sarcastic comment had startled the boy as he looked up to face her, confusion written across his muzzle. To this Aponi raised a single silver brow, her implied question still standing; why was he hugging the tree? His answer was somewhat stuttered but it got the message across - he was cold and thought that wrapping himself in the roots would help. The expectant mother was not sure that anything besides the warm bodies of a pack could do much against the cold snap they were facing but that clearly was not an option for the stranger. He smelled of no one but himself and nature.

Suddenly his demeanor changed from confusion to submission and his tail drooped low and his thin body pressed further into the bark of the tree as if it could swallow him whole. Aponi's posture may always stand slightly above neutral but this was nothing compared to how she would have greeted a stranger had they be curled around a tree within their borders. Shaking her head in dismissal to his qualms she joked half-heartedly, "I do not own the tree, you're free to do with it what you wish." The Donata was not good at small talk but she had no reason to be threatening the teen and this was at least a distraction from her waves of nausea.

It was to Felix’s great relief that the woman did not seem intent on causing him any bodily harm, at least beyond a bit of embarrassment. That was not a foreign feeling for the young lad; his sisters weren’t exactly full of puffery or kind words. Half the time, he didn’t even need anyone else to do the humiliating – he was pretty good at doing that on his own. His ears laid flat against his head, his submission remaining quite evident even when the woman made no further move to assert any more dominance; it kept him safe so far, so there was no reason to stop now.

“I, um. Thanks, I guess.”

Felix’s eyes narrowed a bit, mouth twisting to one side, but he didn’t pursue it any farther. “I…but you’re from the pack near here, right?” He could smell it, though maybe it was because he was just that close to the borders. “I’m…not trying to trespass, or anything. Or lurk. I’ll leave soon, just waiting on the weather. Just a little.”

Did that sound weird? Did that make him sound like he was actually trying to do the things he said he wasn’t? Felix sighed, drooping a little more. Being a loner was hard work.

Everything that the silver queen did seemed to stress out the loner and cause him to become more anxious. Aponi would be lying if she said she didn't find it rather amusing, it had been a while since she had met a wolf so easily worked up over such a simple exchange. She liked him. Even if it was only because she got such a rise out of him with a simple raised brow and a glance. What was such a child doing out in the cold alone when he could barely speak with strangers? 

Nodding at his question she supplied the answer that he was searching for, "Oak Tree Bend yes, I am one of the alpha's there." She waited in anticipation to see if this title would cause him any more distress. Would talking to the alpha of a neighboring pack change his plan to hug the tree all night long until the weather turned? Or would it make him more at ease since she had not been peeved at his nearness? Aponi couldn't possibly know until he responded, neither of her daughters had ever acted so uncertainly in front of her. Aquila blood in their veins and all of that.

Suddenly, she chuckled at the thought. I'm Aponi Donata. And I don't care how long you stay out here as long as you are smart enough not to go trespassing past our borders." Though she seriously doubted that such a fearful child such as the one before her would even think about attempting a stunt like that.

(This post was last modified: Jul 12, 2017, 01:20 AM by Aponi.)