Hush Meadow pick me up with golden hand

Random Event: There is an active change in the Northern Lights! The sky lights up in greens, blues, and even shades of purple.
All welcome!

The hushing meadow was silenced by winter's smothering grip. To Hagar, it was just another clearing, even if expansive. Dead grass brushed against his legs as they pressed through the snow, telling brief stories of what once was. Occasionally, he would even sense movement not of the wind; rodents attempting to still survive beneath the powder and amongst the frozen remains of the field. Those he let be, having fed heartily just the day before on another predator's abandoned kill.

Nothing stopped his wandering strides until the ice began to sparkle as though the sun were starting to rise. The wolf ceased walking and blinked at the glitter upon the ground, blues and greens and... purples? He'd never seen such a thing, and certainly did not think to look in the opposite direction of what he perceived to be the phenomenon itself, not merely it's reflection. As such, the display forming above his head in the night sky went completely unnoticed.

(This post was last modified: Dec 18, 2021, 11:02 PM by Chan.)

The harsh sound of crunching snow and ice filled the almost brittle night air as Moore trotted along at an even clip, uncaring about the racket he had been making as he traveled. The rolling knolls to the south had been determined to wind him; seeing the meadow from afar almost felt a blessing. Until he had started crossing it and found it to be uneven ground as well. And much, much larger than he had anticipated. Drat. Couldn't have it all, he supposed. As long as he didn't trip over a hidden hare burrow again, it mattered little how big or small the frozen expanse was.

Stopping temporarily beside a snowdrift to take a brief rest, the wolf let the sounds and scents of the twilight hour wash over him for the first time in a while. Drifting on one's own would typically make most cautious, skittish. Moore found the opposite; roving for so long has been almost freeing. Almost. Risking getting lost in his nostalgia, he pulled himself back to the present, in time to see another stop to... Stare at the ice? Tilting his head to the left, he almost calls out, curious if nothing else, before movement in the sky catches and drags his gaze upwards to the spectacle unfolding above with wonder.

Slowly looking between the borealis and the stranger wolf, he carefully contemplates even calling out. "Hey," a brief pause, and he motions upwards with a flick of his nose. "You might see more if you look up."

(This post was last modified: Dec 20, 2021, 04:15 AM by Moore.)

His small green eyes tracked the shimmers to and fro across the ice, finding that they scattered further and further, dimmed only by shadows. Curious. Hagar's head tilted, his mind working leisurely to puzzle over what was happening. The sound of crunching snow did not draw his attention away, no sense of danger or insecurity entering his being at not knowing what was near.

Not until it addressed him, anyways.

Hey.

Hagar lifted his head, gaze traveling the snowscape until it found the stranger's dark form peering back, nearly obscured by terrain. Look up? He didn't think twice about taking the advice, tilting his skull back to point his muzzle straight upward. What he saw widened his sage-green eyes with awe.

"Oh..." he breathed, settling absently down upon his haunches. His jaws remained parted, clouded breath the only movement.

He'd seen many a wonderful show thrown by the sun, but never the moon and her stars. It was stunning.

(This post was last modified: Dec 20, 2021, 06:40 PM by Hagar.)

Had Moore not been entranced by the dancing lights as well, the situation would have almost been amusing. Something he indeed would have got a light chuckle out of. However, after getting the other wolf's attention, his interest fell almost immediately back on the sky. Vague memories nipped at the back of his brain, painted skies in his puphood. Never would he have imagined he'd see the lights again, nor that they'd be so beautiful.

The stranger seemed to have little intent or interest in any form of confrontation, the remaining tension dropping from the giant wolf's shoulders. With little caution, he stands and ambles over to the stranger, seating himself a gracious distance away. No point in hiding himself in the shadows, but staying far enough away to allow the stranger his space.

"Oh…"

A momentary glance over at the other, before returning his gaze to the stars. The movement almost reminded him of how snow would catch a breeze and dance in swirls and loops.

"Have you ever seen anything like it…?" A safe question to ask. Hopefully, he's not infringing on anything.

Hagar's tail thumped the powder at his flank as the stranger drew closer, an absent-minded signal that it was alright for him to come as near as desired. Fear was not an emotion the wolf was familiar with, and so he had no reservations about the situation.

"No," he hummed in response, without an inkling that the other wolf might. Silence reigned again briefly before he mused aloud, content to be engaged with another of his own kind after such a long stretch of solitude.

"Are they colored clouds?"

(This post was last modified: Dec 20, 2021, 06:51 PM by Hagar.)

The invitation doesn’t go unnoticed, and after a moment of deliberation, Moore was on his paws once again and seating himself a little closer. An ear twitches, eyes going down to the snow, watching the way the reflection of the lights dance to and fro. While initially, the thought of watching the snow almost gave him a chuckle, the way the reflections made it seem as if the snow was offering its own show in response to the skies made it seem almost as beautiful in its own way.

Pointing his muzzle back to the lights above, head tilted back and forth as he watched them, he thought back to what his family had said.

"Are they colored clouds?"

“They must be… My family had always called them dancers, though. Because of… Well, the way they dance, hah,” he breaths out in a light chuckle. “Whatever they are, they know how to cause a spectacle.” A break, sending the pair back into temporary silence. “If not clouds, d’you have any idea what they could be?”

Hagar's ears twisted sideways in order to face the other wolf directly at the mention of my parents. So this wasn't a completely novel event, then? Was it... location? Had he truly wandered so far from his birthplace that the sky itself was changing its nature? It didn't feel like it, but what did he know?

"Dancing clouds," he murmured, absorbing the description into his own perception of what was happening above their heads. A question was lobbed back, and Hagar focused intently on the lights, tapping into what little imagination he possessed.

It didn't appear far enough to be stars, and if it were of the moon, wouldn't it have happened back home as well? He was reaching the limits of his deductive thinking abilities, but he was pretty sure it wouldn't be foolish to suggest an animal, something that lived here, just as he no longer saw certain species that had been plentiful where his natal pack dwelled.

"Birds? Like whizzers. With feathers that gleam."

His head twisted slowly, following different strands of color, taking it all in until he was certain he'd spied every inch visible to him.

"Did they say anything else about it?"

"Birds? Like whizzers. With feathers that gleam."

An interesting concept, and watching the skies dance above, wouldn't be entirely implausible, and his eyes widen at the very thought. Moore finds himself imagining a near-insurmountable amount of birds flying in formations across the night sky, with iridescent feathers that catch and reflect light in such a way it creates a spectacle of its own.

"Did they say anything else about it?"

Looking back at the stranger with still wide and awestricken eyes, mind still going through the new possibilities of other animal influence, he tilts his head, not entirely absorbing the question at first. When it finally reaches him, he shuffles his paws in the snow, pushing it around slightly. Picking through early memories, he tried to find any other mentions of the clouds.

"Not much that I remember. I think my father said it was good luck to see them, though, it meant good things would come your way." His tail thumps against the snow, the shifting motion piling up small mounds on either side of it. "Wish I could tell you more; it wasn't something that came up often."

Good luck? Hagar hummed in acknowledgement, considering the possibility. His parents had warned him against superstitions; the world was what it was, without secrets and magic running currents beneath the surface of reality. Everything was to be taken at simple, face value rather than burdened with excess meaning. Still, it was a nice thought, a reminder to be positive about what was to come, and he could appreciate that. Hagar was certain there were plenty of other visual wonders to witness ahead of him, after all. That in itself was a good thing to be heralded by the clouds.

"Do you live far?"

His eyes never left the show, even as he continued the conversation.

(This post was last modified: Dec 24, 2021, 09:08 PM by Hagar.)

As the stranger hummed and sat quietly, Moore himself thought back on his father’s words, now having started to become a distant echo in his mind. He had always held his family’s teachings close to his heart, rules and ideals imparted on him that he continues to carry through his life. Absentmindedly, he paws at the small snow mounds he’s created in front of him, squashing them down flat, and wonders if they still hold those same views of the world around them. He hopes so. The world can be cruel and unjust with little reason or warning, making it easy to wear down those types of mindsets.

Yet, having managed to peel his attention away from the night sky and his thoughts, he studied the pair’s surroundings. Dead twigs and branches peeked through the snow; the only leaves left being those of hardy evergreens. Flowers and shoots wouldn’t appear for quite some time, and what visible grass there was had died some time ago—ordinary, dreary on its own. Snowdrifts that keep piling up with every storm that sweeps through. But bathed in the lights above, it made everything feel so much more alive, more welcoming. Wondrous. Good luck? Who can say. Regardless, it was a moment he wouldn’t soon forget.

“Do you live far?”

“Huh…? Oh,” Moore swung his head back towards the man, ears pricked forward. “Oh, no. I’m a drifter. Just passin’ through is all… Nice as the place is. Name’s Moore, by the way. What about you? You from here or…?”]\