Wild Rye Fields Lonesome Rider

Reaper please take him home
He's been wandering for far too long
He feels so blue, haven't you heard
He is the lonesome rider, it's the lonesome rider's call home
- Volbeat, Lonesome Rider

for @Reyes

- Midday, Fog - 53 ° F/12 ° C

The clouds had come down from the sky, wrapping the trees in shimmering, grey fingers, and completely hiding the golden grass of the open Field. The pearly mass was wet, leaving sticky droplets in the fur of those passing through, and gathering in wet layers and small pools in rocks and branches. The fallow pelted pup, intent on keeping up his adventures despite the fallen heavens, had to stop every few steps and shake out his coat, blinking the sticky water from his long lashes, before continuing onward. Moving through the territory was an entirely new experience this way, only the stems of grain right around him visible, disappearing into the grey above his head, as if they grew all the way into the sky. Large ears spun fervently, despite the moisture gathering in the fur at their rims, picking up any noise they could hear through the mist. Sounds travelled slowly through the soup, distorted and ghostly when they finally reached the young boy, appearing to come from all around. But it took more to scare the Griffin. He’d passed the pond a while back, the low bubbling and deep croak of toads marking its location even though he couldn’t see it through the fog. Now he continued out into the Fields, the creek somewhere on his right, though it was too far to hear, and he had no real idea of his direction. He didn’t care either, he was adventuring! At some point, when he got tired and had no idea how to get back home, he might think differently, but for now he was excited by the mystery, reveling in the newness the mist brought to everything. Bugs seemed to have become unusually abundant for example, drawn out by the moisture. Worm’s sticking their tiny, pink heads out of the wet dirt for air, snails inching their way across his path, there a woodlouse, crawling out from under its rock to escape a gathering puddle. Gale paused in his trek, lowering his nose to sniff at the curious grey critter, only for the terrified thing to curl up tight, forming a tiny ball on top of its stone. The pup giggled and snorted at the sight, raising a paw to poke at the bug and see if he could make it roll. But just then, a droplet that had been forming at the tip of his snout loosened, running down the middle of his dark nose, leaving a tickling trail. He raised his head and sneezed loudly, wrinkling and shaking his snout to be rid of the discomfort; Meanwhile, the bug quickly unrolled and scampered for safety. Word Count: 440 "Speech"

dawnthieves.de

(This post was last modified: Jul 28, 2017, 11:30 PM by Griffin.)

The fog was a bit strange for this time of year, generally warming up too quickly to see the fallen clouds at any time except the dead of night. Still, the air was a bit cool for midday, and with the suffocating humidity that had blanketed the fields the past several days, Reyes supposed it wasn’t that weird. He squinted into the swirling water vapors – dios mio, dealing with rain was better than this. At least he could crawl into his den and get it done with. But like this? It didn’t matter where the gamma went, he was perpetually soggy.

With his patrol finished, Reyes would have been content to turn about and return just there (so he might complain to Askan about how awful this weather really was) when an amused giggle came through the fog. His ears flattened. There was a puppy out here. Easy as it would be to say he never heard a damn thing, it wouldn’t look very good if the kid went and wandered off now, would it?

Surely, the loss of Phoenix was enough.

“Oi! What’re you doin’ out here?” he grumbled, trotting over to the small body – which one was this again? Kind of grey, boy, er… Griffin?

He was still recovering from the sneeze when a voice suddenly boomed behind him, making all the dark hairs along his back stand on end. Gale quickly spun around, eyes wide as he faced the approacher, teeth bared and ears raised; A copy of his mother’s dominance displays, affected to hide the fright. The looming shadow standing over him made it hard to keep up the fierce facade though. Of course he knew the grumpier Grumpy Uncle, he wasn’t afraid of him; Nope, nope! Definitely not! But his dark, bulky frame, emerging from the mist like that right in front of the small pup, was intense. Tiny, pink tongue slipped out between the bared teeth - which at this point looked more like an expression of anguish, than threat - wetting his lips nervously. For a while he completely forgot that the adult had asked him a question, too stunned by his mere presence. Finally it occurred to him that he should probably do something more than stare, and he tried to straighten up, swallowing a lump in his throat before declaring: “‘splorin’!” And then, because even Reyes intimidating aura couldn’t completely kill the boy’s cheeky nature: “What’ you doin’ out ‘ere?” Word Count: 202 "Speech" Thoughts.

dawnthieves.de

There is a family of deer nearby. Hunt Opportunity

“Oh, stop with th’ face, chico. I ain’t gonna eatcha.”

Shit, he probably wasn’t even gonna tattle on the kid, either. What did he care, if the little Avalons wanted to have some adventure? Shit, he only had one adult looking after him when he was this age, and he got into way more mischief than the trio of cubs combined. And he turned out just fine!

(Well, that probably depended on who you asked, but Reyes liked to think he was a fine specimen of wolf, and he was pretty sure that at least Askan would agree a little adventure wouldn’t hurt a guy.)

Eventually, Griffin seemed to recover, giving a perfectly responsible response, and the wolf hummed. This tip of his tail waved behind him, hanging low as he studied the kid. “Scoutin’ the border. Gotta make sure it’s safe, and all that.” For a moment, he considered offering to let the silver lad tag along – but he seemed a little young to be scent marking. He was more likely to draw wolves in than keep them away. “What’re you lookin’ for, anyways? Ain’t gonna see much, not when the clouds are damn near sittin’ on top the ground.”