Sierra Hills A Long Way From Home - Open

Chantico’s paws were rough from weeks of hard travelling when she finally stopped, the blood on her pads that had once mixed with dirt now calloused over. Glancing cautiously around, she heard a small trickle of a stream, like a constant patter of a bird’s footsteps. Approaching it, whe bent down to lap it up, then sat back to gaze out over the landscape below and surrounding her.

Having climbed up a small part of the seemingly unreachable hills to give her a better vantage point. From up here, she could fully see where she had arrived. Looking over it, it seemed perfect, yet wished to find a fault, perhaps because if she admitted that this was what she had been looking for, then she’d have to stay, and it felt like abandoning her family. Why should she get to live in joy when they were at rest? Shaking this off, she once again looked around. This was where she would stay.

However, just as the illusion of perfection here started to wear off, she began to wonder. Chantico had been so focused on the journey that she hadn’t thought about the destination. Obviously she couldn’t stay here, partway up a mountainside, and she had smelt some packs on her way through, guessing they might not take to kindly to her staying there. Closing her eyes, she decided to forget and be in the moment for a change.

~Feel free to join anyone :)

Seventeen trotted over the hills, listening to the few birds who had not left for the winter. The sun seemed adamant that the world would not go without warmth and light, and spring was coming, though it was always a reluctant season to arrive. Snow covered the ground in a thick white blanket. She stuck her muzzle into the drifts and took some into her mouth. It slowly melted into cold water for her to quench her thirst with.

She felt that she was in perfect solitude, and was somewhat frustrated by the sight of another wolf, staring down from where she stood not very far from the grayscale girl. But this wasn't her fault. Seventeen was unusually forgiving today. Something about her mood today forbade her from being as hateful as she normally was.

Have you read my player preferences?

Chantico was startled by movement to her left, her ears perking upward. The girl seemed a similar age to Chan, and she stood up, watching the stranger with slight curiosity and suspicion. Having not met another wolf for a long time, Chantico was starting to forget what it was like. She took a step toward Seventeen, the soft fluffy snow all but gone everywhere else, leaving just a river of snowlike icy, wet sludge. However not here. Being much higher up, the altitude kept the ground cold, and the lack of wolves visiting the hills ensured the snow did not get trampled down. Glancing down, she admired for a second the softness of the snow, the way her paws stepped into it almost effortlessly, before looking back up at the female with a small pawstep.

”Hello,” she said, trying to seem friendly, although cautioned, unable to gauge the approacher’s intentions. Chantico couldn’t seem to detect any of the packs on Seventeen that she had passed, but then again, Chan wasn’t very familiar with these new lands. ”what brings you to these beautiful hills?”

@Seventeen

The girl was quite pretty and Seventeen couldn't seem to keep her eyes off of her. Her coat was  like a burning fire, the interweaving of gray like ash from the remains of what had been, whatever that may have been. She sensed a spark of a rare kind in her beautiful chestnut eyes. It excited her, drew her closer like a moth to a flame. She only hoped she wouldn't be consumed by the fire.

The girl spoke, yanking her back to reality, and Seventeen felt her ears burn. She desperately hoped she wouldn't be annoyed by the grayscale girl's rather obvious admiration of her. Or notice it at all. "Fate," she replied in a flippant manner to her question, the sides of her mouth quirking up. "Or just wanting to see the view, your choice," She shrugged.

Have you read my player preferences?

With relief, Chantico noticed that the other girl seemed to warm up a little, or perhaps she had just misjudged the stranger. Although attempting to be generally friendly and polite, Chan did her best to guard her heart with iron walls. If you never open your heart, you can never be hurt, right? she thought, not wishing for her heart to be stolen. It had already been crushed once when she was just a pup, and taken a long time to heal, but if her heart was taken from her she would not be able to heal, which was infinitely worse.

At Seventeen’s sort of smile, Chan tilted her head slightly, a soft curve gracing her lips. Turning to look outward at the vast world below them, she suddenly felt very small and very alone. But that is a good thing, right? she thought with less conviction than before. ”It is certainly amazing” the fire-like coloured female replied, a sadness in her voice as she gazed over the landscape, for her mother had always promised to hike with her up a mountain when she was old enough to touch the stars. Although now realising this was impossible, she still wished it were true.

Glancing to her side, she could properly could look at the female she had accidentally met, both choosing to take the same path on the same snowy hill. Chan felt an energy radiating from the female, drawing her closer, but Chantico was not sure why. Was she the only one that could feel it? As engulfing amber eyes burned into Chan, she started to be drawn in, until she stoped herself as she remembered the pain of seeing her entire family killed. No, she thought with a slight shake of the head, I will not go through that pain again. Trying her best to empty herself of all emotions to become like a hollow rock, she decided that she didn’t care if she lost some good feelings, as long as she never felt dispair again. During her travels alone, occasionally she let herself slip and her mind imagine what it would be like to have a friend, love, a family, but she knew she could not do this anymore, as wishing was swimming in dangerous waters, as if was awfully close to doing.

Turning to the female, she realised that she did not even know this stranger’s name. Cocking her head, she asked with a slightly crooked smile ”So, tell me, what is your name?” With a pelt of shades of grey, the female’s coat was the same colour as parts of Chan’s pelt. Together, the two of them were like a volcano. Chantico was like the fire, what was most seen, but Seventeen was like the ash, the most deadly one. Together, they could change everything.

I'm not good at romance so... ;)

The ash-colored girl didn't see any obvious signs of similar feelings in the other wolf. It made her feel anxious and embarrassed. Was this one-sided? She hated the thought so much. She was always in control, so being in an equal or even submissive side of a relationship was unfamiliar. It was hard to imagine bowing to another wolf, but surely she'd have to sometimes to be in a successful relationship.

Seventeen nodded as the female spoke of the view. It was truly beautiful, but she couldn't help thinking that she'd rather look at her instead.

"I'm-" She found she didn't want to tell her her name-number. The metal building was a part of her past she wanted to forget. It was time to start anew. She searched her brain for something to call herself. "Lyrelone," It was Sikois' sister's name, who she'd spoke of frequently, but who the girl hadn't seen.

Have you read my player preferences?

As Seventeen paused for a moment to consider what to call herself, Chan wondered why, but knew that it was not her place to ask. Perhaps the girl had recollection deficiencies. ‘Lyrelone’ she silvery girl said. Lyrelone...she thought, pronouncing the name given in her head, seeing how it seemingly rolled off the tongue. Such an elegant name Chantico thought, thinking back to her own name, for once in her life feeling somewhat embarrassed over it. In opposition, Chan was named after the human Aztec goddess of fire, according to her mother, and her name took on a much less smooth manner, instead preferring the Latin way of speech. But why was she embarrassed of her name to this girl she hardly knew? Why did Chan suddenly care about what Seventeen, or Lyrelone, thought of her?

”I’m Chantico” she said with slight hesitation. Suddenly feeling insecure, Chan realised that she was asking all the questions. Was this good? No, probably bad. Perhaps Lyrelone just wants me out of her hair, but is being polite, she thought, now worried that she was intruding on the girl’s quiet. When she asked herself why she was worried, she denied everything other than that was simple manners and politeness, although she couldn’t quite shake the energy that seemed to flow from the other girl, making Chan want to break Seventeen’s mysteriousness and find out what is inside. However, with sadness she realised that this could never happen, for if it were to she could have to open her heart again. ”Um er sorry, I’m probably intruding on your peace” Chan said, a little flustered. It actually surprised her that she seemed to be asking the questions, for usually she tried to avoid talking and questions, and she felt out of control. Usually she held the power whether to answer or not, while concerned looking wolves had looked down on the still a pup, trying to get her to answer where her mother was. She quickly learnt that to get them to go away the fastest, ask no questions, and answer as little as possible, for saying nothing at all sometimes raised their concern levels. But she wanted to be new to match these new lands, friendly to all but not friends, ready to crusade against all things wrong in this society. This girl made her softer, took away her harsher edges, and she guessed that was a good thing,

Taking a step backward unconsciously, Chan felt her foot fly through the floor, and with a small yelp she felt her foot hit the floor. Eyebrows creased, Chantico turned to investigate what her foot fell through, when she felt a searing pain in her back paw. She pulled it out quickly, and went to see what hadn’t hurt her until she saw what was attached. Her face suddenly dropped, replaced by terror. Yes, according to her she was not afraid of anything, and would fight the world if she had to, but that didn’t include BEEEEES! With a cry of terror, she saw more and more coming toward her, frozen in place and unable to move. Glancing down, the girl saw multiple bee spikes stuck to her, her paw completely numb and starting to swell. She closed her eyes, awaiting her destruction, hoping they would think that she was a tree and not worth the effort. [i)It’s disgusting though, why would the bee evef sting anyone as they leave a piece of their behind in the victim![/i] she thought with a quick shiver, not wanting to consider that actually she was the intruder.

Occ: No, you’re great :D Also, Perhaps I can make it that she now cannot walk properly for a bit, and Seventeen looks after her so they have an excuse to see each other? This was one of those random event things :)

(This post was last modified: Mar 05, 2019, 07:11 AM by Chantico.)

That's a great idea! But for the future, just remember you probably won't get the life points for it if the Random event isn't in the starting post. You can see if they'll give you them anyway though?
Also, this is the longest post I think I've ever made O.o It came out as a little over 1,000 words in case you're curious.

Chantico. It was a plain name, but sounded strong. Like some kind of protector. Chantico, guardian of the innocent, she thought, somehow managing to keep a smile off her face, and simply nodded in acknowledgement. The name fit her. Even though she wasn't a hulk of muscle like Seventeen imagined a typical guardian to be, there was a goodness about her that you'd need as a guardian of innocents. It was an attribute that she was painfully aware that she didn't have. That in itself was strange. She was usually proud of her villainous nature, and even in those rare moments where she wasn't, she never wanted to be a naive puppy wolf who "did the right thing even when no one was watching". Not that she could anyway. She was too experienced with cruelty to be naive. Chantico wasn't like that though, at least it didn't seem so. Maybe there were different ways to be a good wolf. Just maybe she could be her cynical self but also try to help those who were so lucky to not know brutality like the ridged pads of their own paws. But then if she wasn't around, they wouldn't know that others may wish them harm and would be taken advantage of and hurt. Seventeen had done a bit of that herself. 

Probably intruding on your peace? "Not at all, fire girl,"  she tried to assure her, ears turning hot as the nickname she called Chantico in her own head came out. She fell silent, not trusting herself to speak again. 

The grayscale girl had noticed the signs of insecurity blossom across Chantico's face as she spoke. She felt a bit of relief and even triumph, before chastising herself for being happy that this uncomfortable feeling was affecting both of them. But she couldn't help it. This meant that Seventeen wasn't the only one with these conflicting mixes of feelings when in company of the other. The longing to be close to her, both physically and emotionally, the desperate need not to be seen as odd, or too familiar. These feelings waged war on each other and she was like no man's land. Left feeling stripped of all her determination and power. 

She had only heard about these sorts of emotions from Sikois. She had been hunting, eager to show her how much she had learned. It had taken a few tries but finally she had managed to chase down a rather large rabbit, so fat from gorging all summer that it was quite a bit slower than the others. It was still a marvelous catch. When she brought it back for her adoptive mother though, she didn't congratulate her at all, or even thank her for the meat, instead just scarfing it down without a word. She was used to this, and simply waited and bathed in the congratulations of her own given to herself, because no one else would. When Sikois finally spoke, she sat up, stared wistfully at the clouds in the sky and said, "Someday, you will find someone who excites you in a way I bet you can't even imagine now. You'll want to hold onto them forever, maybe even have pups with them." Young Seventeen had scoffed at this. She never wanted pups. They were just helpless little fuzzballs who whined and fussed and cried. Sikois had told her that, and what Sikois told her, she never doubted. She continued. "When you find this special male" -Seventeen distinctly remembered she had said male- "You may feel very differently. He will feel like your destiny, that all you want is to be owned by him and own him in return." "What do I do when I find him?" she had asked, expecting her to sigh something about keeping him close, or fate, or something. Instead she tore her eyes away from the sky, just like that, "tore" ,like it was a very great pain to do so, and stared her straight in the eyes. "Run, my child. For he is the only one who can destroy you and still make you crawl back for more." They sat in silence for a bit before Seventeen asked, "Why did you only say he?" "Because you are a female of course," was her reply, the finality of her tone saying that there would be no more discussion of this. But here was proof that a female could feel this way about another female. Her adoptive mother was wrong. Seventeen was a rebel at heart and the sense that this proved an authority figure of a sort wrong kept her going.

A cry of terror turned her blood cold. She began to race to Chantico, before seeing bees clamped on to her leg in what looked like a second thick coat of yellow and black fur. "Oh, no, that's not good,"  she whispered, understating it just a little bit. She had been stung by a bee when she was young, and the pain had not allowed her to walk for hours. This was so many more bees than that. She didn't know what to do. If she ran to the girl's side and attempted to fight off the bees, she'd surely be attacked as well. Besides, how did you fight such small flying bugs? Turns out she didn't have to decide as when the bees flew off of her leg they had left the stingers in as well, causing them to die very quickly. Seventeen rushed over and offered her shoulder for her to lean on. "I'll get the stingers out when we're not in danger, I promise,"  she told her quietly and solemnly.

(This post was last modified: Mar 05, 2019, 09:33 PM by Seventeen.)

Have you read my player preferences?

Occ: Thanks :) I think I won’t get them, but I wanted to add this in to give them a reason not to part :D
Also, well done!
Ps, how to you get the box around this?


The female assured Chan that she wasn’t intruding, calming her slightly. She picked up on the nickname curiously, but before she had time to think she had fallen through. The girl of fire breathed a sigh of relief as they seemingly left, or more accurately, dropped of her paw. However, then the pain hit her, taking all her willpower to bite her tongue and not cry out, wishing not to seem weak, especially after her moment of fear. Glancing down, she counted at least four stings, throbbing a brilliant red colour, the spikes still in her paw.

Quickly, she tried to get up before Seventeen could approach, attempting to make up for her prior terror of the bees by appearing stronger and independent, only for it to backfire. Chan stood up on her other paws, but as she tried to move her injured paw too quickly, a searing pain shot up her calf and leg, and she fell onto the support of Lyrelone‘s shoulder. Steadying herself, she offered the girl a quick smile of gratitude. After being alone for so long, she was forced to be completely self-dependant from a very early age, and often felt vunrable at letting others help her. However, due to her not being able to walk at all without Seventeen’s help, there was nothing much she could do.

Wincing, she took a step forward, nodding at the girl’s promise of help, offering a meek ‘thank you’ to her guardian. Forcing herself onward, Chantico held her injured paw off the ground, continuing despite the burning hurt at each step. When they were some distance away, Chan looked over at Lyrelone. ”Does this mean I get to call you ash girl then?” she said with a forced smile, trying to cover up her pain with humour and friendliness. As always, when she was in a new situation she had not experienced or did not understand, she barricaded her heart and true feelings to all. Although sometimes wolves could perceive that things weren’t right, she would pretend they were. That way they didn’t feel as if they had to help her, and Chan could deal with it by herself. She had come here for she felt tired of dealing with problems herself, but ultimately she reverted back to what she always did.

Yeah, I write barely over 100 words normally and then my brain decides to give my the muse to write 1,000? Not complaining tho :D
By the way, I just thought up the rain girl thing in the shower. There's a character defining moment for Seventeen if Chan asks why. ;) You're still free to decide to keep calling her ash girl after if you'd like. She won't mind.
[*ooc][*/ooc] without the asterisks of course

When Chantico tried to walk on her own and fell, Seventeen winced in empathy. She understood the fire girl's need for self-reliance but was glad she figured out that she couldn't walk on her own. She didn't have the strength to carry this wolf, who seemed about her age and size. Dragging her might prove too much for her as well, especially if she struggled the whole time, and would hurt her leg excruciatingly. With a motherly gentleness she'd never shown before, she slowly moved away from the bees' nest, the weight of the girl's body not entirely unpleasant on hers.

"You're not a cripple," she said suddenly with assurance. "You're not." She didn't know if she was telling Chan or herself or just the whole cruel world. If she was, then... Well, she wouldn't be. It would destroy her if her fire girl was crippled. Of course she'd have these feelings for her just the same, it was just that it shouldn't be her. She was friendly and kind and most importantly, Seventeen needed her. She knew the world didn't give a hang about what a puny little wolf thought she needed but somehow this made her believe differently than what she'd always known, just because the alternative was impossible to imagine.

"Sure," she said in response to her request. "Or rain girl," She floated her own idea hesitantly. She liked both of them about the same. They both fit with the fire girl name in different ways. Though calling herself rain named her as Chantico's opposite, and ash left her as the after-affects of her fire. But ash killed more than fire.

Have you read my player preferences?