Cedarwood Forest ‘Cause there’s a shortcut down the beaten path

It was cold. While it wasn't snowing heavily or blowing any wind, the very low temperature made it so Meadowlark didn't want to go very far at all. Paws stepped through the snow as lightly as they could, ultimately looking for a place to stop and rest for a bit. Ever since leaving her homeland, it was one nearly regretful step after another. She preferred the warmer climate she was from where winters were a bit milder. This was just a whole new level of crazy.

Finding some cover under a nearby tree, Meadowlark took a look at the surrounding landscape. It was mostly white with stark contrasts of dark colored trees bending to the will of the snow that covered them. A steaming cloud of a sigh escaped her lips as she sat, pondering what sort of mess she got herself into by leaving home. Even though she knew being here was better than the home she came from, there were still things she missed. 

Now, it was just determining who or what could live out in these new lands she found herself in. Sure, there were other wolves in the area. She could smell as much. This was the first time Meadowlark was truly alone. The woman didn't like the idea of it. Oh, how she hated herself for being the odd thing no one liked to have around.

some fairy tales are more than true

Sage wasn't one to leave her home, especially with her recent goals in life. She much rather be working or spending time with those she cared most about. Despite this, she'd somehow found herself on a trip to Cedarwoods. She wasn't sure what had drawn her out from the confines of her home. Maybe fresh air? A chance to think over what was forming between herself and Oleander? The woman wasn't sure. Whatever it was she was seeking, she needed to sort herself out fast and head home. She didn't like being gone for very long and this was much farther than she liked to travel in the winter. Had she been here in search of Lavander Hyssop in the warmer months this wouldn't have been such an odd trip.

She sighed heavily, mind busy with the thoughts of the conversation she was biding her time with. With Tyra leaving she didn't need to challenge her for rank anymore. However, that meant she couldn't hold off with @Oleander anymore if she were to stick to her original plan. She just...didn't want to upset him. She liked the male. Her lips curled down into a frown, her head hanging as she walked aimlessly amongst the trees. She almost missed it at first, but she was not too lost in her mind to mistake the scent of another wolf. Her head perked up curiously, the girl stopping to smell the crisp winter air as green eyes swooped the scenery.

Her gaze fell on another pale female and immediately Sage was worried. Her first thought was to call for Ollie as she disregarded formalities to trot up to the loner. "Are you okay?" She asked with her head cocked to the side, stopping a short distance in front of the wolf. She looked her over with a worrisome expression.

"She speaks" She walks She thinks

Dead Empress Backwater

take care making wishes in the dark

Meadowlark wrapped her tail around her toes, attempting to warm them. While, in all honesty, it wasn't that cold outside, Meadowlark simply disliked the temperature. She had been traveling for so long that she didn't have adequate rest. Meadowlark wanted to feel safe, and she just didn't. Now, she had no choice but to stop and rest lest her body collapse from exhaustion. The only thing still running was her mind. Bouncing from thought to thought, constantly asking if anyone may have been following, or playing "what if" scenarios, or even a bit of derealization. There wasn't really anything stimulating to distract her. It wasn't Meadowlark's fault that her entire pack was toxic, creating just a little bit of traumatic stress in her life. However, she could do more to knock herself out of it. She was on this big adventure! Why wasn't she having more fun?

Eventually, the sounds of another walking toward her snapped her out of another scenario playing in her mind. As soon as the other saw her, the pace was increased to close the distance. Not in a seemingly aggressive way, but one of... concern? That was different. Instinctively, Meadowlark crouched down gradually as she got closer, ears pinning back in nervousness. The woman asked if she was okay, which again took her by surprise. The usual statement would have been "Quit pouting. Sit up straight and hold your head in pride. You look rather pathetic." or others similar when her posture didn't exactly match the role she was forced into. "I, uh..." she hesitated for a moment before awkwardly laughing. "Uh, yeah! Ha ha, I'm okay! I'm just uh -- sitting here, doing nothing in the cold, really! I'm not freezing my toes off, I promise!" All of it was a lie, of course. Perhaps if she presented herself as fine to hopefully move the stranger on, then things would be okay. Though, this was the first wolf she had seen in a very long time since her travels, so the excitement was fighting strongly against the shyness. The last thing Meadowlark wanted to be considered was weird or a freak like before.

"Speech." "Thought." Action.

can't be sure they've hit their mark

(This post was last modified: Jan 15, 2024, 05:50 AM by Meadowlark.)

some fairy tales are more than true

The girl cowered before Sage, causing her ears to flatten against her skull. She lowered herself towards the ground slightly in an attempt to be less threatening. Had she approached too hastily? The female whined, offering a low wagging tail, "You don't have to be submissive, you're not on pack territory." She hoped her words would be reassuring, but as she played them back in her head she worried she just sounded weird. Oh no, would if I'm being a total creep right now? She thought to herself, tensing up slightly at the idea. She didn't want to scare the other wolf at all, she was just worried for her well-being.

Uh, yeah! Ha ha, I'm okay! I'm just uh -- sitting here, doing nothing in the cold, really! I'm not freezing my toes off, I promise!" The wolf furrowed her brows. This had to mean she was indeed cold and trying to play it off. Perhaps she wasn't comfortable with other wolves? Or Sage had, worse, scared the girl. The mention of losing toes amused the young woman and she couldn't help the wry smirk that crossed her features, "Not missing any, are you?" She joked, holding up her paw that was missing a singular digit from her snapping turtle encounter. "I wouldn't want you to lose any from frostbite." She followed the joke up in a softer manner.

"I'm sorry if I scared you, I'm Sage, and you don't have to freeze out here alone." She paused to catch her breath, she didn't normally have this much to say unless it was someone she knew better, "My leaders are fairly welcoming, they took me in last winter." She tried to offer her most reassuring and kindest smile, her tail swaying more confidently behind her. Truth be told Viorel was...Viorel. Then Eros was one of her closest friends. They were both good wolves, grumpiness aside, and if this stranger could pull her weight, surely they'd help her out. "But we don't take in freeloaders." She added in with a gentle head nod.

"She speaks" She walks She thinks

Dead Empress Backwater

take care making wishes in the dark

Oh boy. The woman had the opposite reaction from what Meadowlark anticipated. Now she was going to be more curious and ask more questions and... and.. Meadowlark laughed nervously again as she inquired about toes, but even she was curious about the status of her feet. "Mm.. no, I don't think so.." she said, lifting up a paw to examine them. In flexing her paw a little bit, she could feel a little tension from her paws being cold, but nothing that would be of immediate concern. Meadowlark had been cold before, but this was a little different this time. Meadowlark looked at the missing toe from the other's paw and eyebrows lifted in surprise. "How did that happen?" she asked, but then bit her lip. "Oh, unless that is rude to ask! I hope I didn't offend you by asking."

The woman apologized for possibly scaring Meadowlark to which she jumped up in exclamation. "N-no! No, you didn't scare me. Honest.." she paused for a moment. "I just.. I don't know. This is the first time I've been so far away from home. Not that I'm going back. I don't want to go back! They weren't exactly nice there." the brief voice of confidence drifted off again, realizing that she was beginning to blabber. The woman introduced herself as Sage. That was the name of a plant, wasn't it? The girl sat up a little straighter briefly. "My name is Meadowlark, like the bird. It was my mom's favorite bird." as pained as that fact was, Meadowlark tried to keep a smile on her face anyway, hoping to not dive in too much further right now about her past. Not right now anyway.

Sage talked about a pack that was fairly welcoming, though that's how her original pack was too - to a point. It was all a positive, public facing facade until people joined the ranks and was absorbed into the hierarchy. It was there that the water became muddy, and the once positive and charismatic personalities became cold and judging. You served your purpose and your role, provided resources to the pack, or you were beautiful enough to breed with. You also had to surrender yourself to the doctrinarian of the packs beliefs or be cast out as a hypocrite. Her home pack was definitely on the looney list.

"Well..." she paused for a moment and looked out at the winter landscape. She really wanted to be warm now. She missed the protection of a den where she could bundle up in her fur and warm up, safe from any wind chill or exposure. The next statement about freeloaders made her wince a little. "What makes you think I'm a free loader?" she asked. "It's not like I'm lazy or anything, right? I mean -- I may like to learn why elk make funny noises in fall, or try to learn why ants build big mounds of dirt, or even what causes thunderstorms.." Realizing her nervousness was making her talk a thousand miles a minute, Meadowlark sighed and looked out on the landscape."I was weird again, wasn't I?"

"Speech." "Thought." Action.

can't be sure they've hit their mark

(This post was last modified: Jan 15, 2024, 06:57 AM by Meadowlark.)

some fairy tales are more than true

Sage's attempt to lighten the mood with a joke was met with a nervous laugh. The woman held back a giggle when the girl replied and checked the status of her paws. Green eyes looked over them for anything that looked concerning, but she was no medic, and this wolf seemed adamant that they were in good health. Still, she wasn't fully convinced that they didn't need help. Her tail wagged at the question, the woman eager to dive into the story if it meant possibly lifting spirits, but before she could speak the other had interjected. She merely kept her smile, shaking her head, "No it's okay to ask! I showed you my paw anyhow. I was swimming and an angry snapping turtle attacked me. My friend Eros, the pack leader, saved the day by fighting it off. He flipped it over and showed it who was boss! He's pretty brave." She told the story with a humorous tone, clearly over the dramatic event, "He also patched me up afterward." It wasn't much of a story, but she hoped it'd done something to ease the other she-wolf's nerves.

She listened, waiting for her turn to speak, "I'm glad I didn't scare you. Yeah, leaving can be hard, and I get that. My birth pack was pretty mean to me too." She looked down at the ground with a frown as she recalled the bullying she endeared, then back up, "They're not like that here, though, except maybe some of the pups have attitudes." She laughed after her sentence. It was truthful, they could be brats, but aside from that the pack was a welcoming one.

She was named after her mom's favorite bird. Sage grinned, "I like that, my mom named me after a plant, but I'm not sure it was her favorite." They could leave it at that. Her mom was knowledgeable about plants, and perhaps this girl's mom was with birds, so more information wasn't needed to be shared. However, she found herself wondering if Meadlowlark's mother was deceased.

The Hervok woman's ears pressed forward as the other said "well", feeling a twinge of hope that maybe she could help this wolf. There was a pause though, and the next thing that left the other's mouth had Sage feeling immensely guilty. Crud. "I uh." She hesitated, flattering with words as she tried to back out of her mistake, " Uh well...no...I uh." She looked away bashfully, her paws doing the nervous shuffle they often did when social interactions got awkward or intense. "I didn't mean to call you a freeloader." She whispered shamefully, "I was trying to be funny, but like also, serious. If that makes sense? We gotta make sure everyone pulls their weight." Gosh, why did she have to be so darned awkward?

Sage tilted her head as the other rambled on, not sure what to say. A question was asked and the woman shrugged, "No weirder than me." She had never met someone who stumbled so awkwardly in social situations like herself before. Although, with maturity, she was learning some grace...and she'd never said something as odd as that. Perhaps her struggle was more with being creepy than weird. She thought of shy Asmund, realizing he was more weird and creepy than the two combined, but kept her mouth shut on the matter.

Dead Empress Backwater

take care making wishes in the dark

Silence seemed to become more present as time went on between conversing, but it wasn't the kind of silence to be too overly concerned with. Things were just .. awkward.. and Meadowlarks nervousness wasn't helping. Deciding to go out on a limb, she took in a breath sharply, but let it out slowly. Time to put herself out there a bit, eh? "Come on, Meadow. Stop making it worse! Just act natural, just like with your escort from home. She's not like the others." she thought to herself before opening her eyes to gaze at Sage again.

"I'm glad you had someone to help you with the snapping turtle. I didn't think they were that strong!" she said as Sage finished her story. Meadowlark's tail wagged in response to Sage as she seemed to have some similarity with leaving a rough home. Perhaps they were alike in more ways than she anticipated. She chuckled at the mentioning of pups having attitude in the pack where Sage was from. "That sounds like fun. Pups always seem to have some sort of attitude." So she was named after the plant! Meadowlark felt elated at guessing the source of the name right. The sage plant was one of her favorites too, and occasionally she would eat a leaf because she liked the flavor, but not all of the time. Wolves eat meat - not plants. And that was something she had to remember. It was fervently taught by her father who abhorred the idea of consuming plants, regardless of the reason. You were either strong enough to survive, or you weren't.

Eventually, the conversation turned a little more awkward as Sage tried to recover from the freeloader statement. A wince formed on Meadowlarks face, knowing she sort of caused Sage to try and recover herself. "No, no I understand. I just -- yeah anyway. I know you don't think I'm a free loader. We just met after all." A paw covered her face in slight shame before she continued talking. "It makes total sense. A pack doesn't run without everyone pulling their weight after all." Meadowlark let out a hefty sigh, feeling like perhaps she helped to settle the awkwardness a bit? Sage's comment of Meadowlark not being weirder than herself only continued to help settle. "Well.. thanks." she said with a nod."Speech." "Thought." Action.

can't be sure they've hit their mark

some fairy tales are more than true

"He was a pretty big snapper!" She exclaimed, nodding her head and giggling slightly. They were apparently rather strong and a nuisance. Hadn't someone mentioned a sickness to her once? She tried to think about it, but couldn't fully form a memory in her head so she moved on from the idea.

Sage chuckled, "I wouldn't call it fun, but maybe it's just not my thing." She only really liked Jacy out of all the pups anyhow. Either he was grand, and the others not so much, or she just wasn't a fan of pups. She shrugged her shoulders.

A sigh of relief left her, the woman nodding her head feverishly, "Yes, that it was I meant. I'm so sorry if that came out wrong earlier." First she'd been creepy, then mean, what a great representation of the Backwater she was being! Ugh I'm an idiot. It was Sage's turn to laugh awkwardly, "Yeah...you're welcome." Had she given Meadowlark a backhanded compliment? Interally the young wolf was kicking herself for the loads of mistakes she kept piling up throughout the conversation.

"Well, anyways, if you want...I can show you to my pack boarders. " She smiled, "No pressure to join or anything, just in case you wanted to consider it later on? If you get lonely out here." She motioned her muzzle in a sweep directed at the cold woods surrounding them. Sage herself wouldn't want to be out here alone without a family to return to at night. Without Ollie to return to. She could feel her heart thud a little harder at the thought. Was she missing him? Perhaps it was time to finally bite the bullet and have the conversation about ranks. She sighed, looking down, worried about what it might mean for them. All she knew for certain was that she liked him and didn't want to mess it up. She needed to feel secure in the pack, though, and establishing herself in a higher rank felt like the way to go. He carried the Valle name, so it wouldn't hurt him as much. At least, that's what she reasoned.

"She speaks" She walks She thinks

Dead Empress Backwater

take care making wishes in the dark

The girl could only imagine what a snapping turtle looked like or just how big it was to take off a toe from a wolf. Not to mention how much it must have hurt also! Would one still feel their toe after it went missing? The thought almost made her shiver. Regardless, Meadowlark kept moving forward not wanting to stay behind. Rebellious pups were sometimes not fun, depending on the attitude they had. Meadowlark knew because she was a little shit growing up until it was time for her to "grow up", at least in her parent's eyes anyhow. Play time was a thing until it wasn't. That's where the act of sneaking out for freedom was practiced more often. Of course, when someone got in trouble, it wasn't as fun, but at the very least it helped to stir the imagination and sense of curiosity when you were able to go out and explore. It also helped develop the mind mapping of the area someone lived in. Meadowlark softly hummed to herself as her brain turned the cogs and wheels of thinking power before Sage spoke again.

"Don't worry too much if it came out wrong. It truly didn't." she said softly. "It's just me." A comforting smile was given to Sage to help reassure her that the woman didn't make things awkward. It was just Meadowlark's brain jumping to conclusions that didn't truly exist. The offer to escort her to the pack borders was definitely tempting. Not only would it mean warmth, but it also meant comfort and potentially meeting someone else new also similar to Sage. Opting for the desire to be warm and maybe a little food, Meadowlark nodded briefly. "I think that would be a good idea. Besides, a pack that has you as a member may be a pack I want to be in, anyway!" Meadowlark trotted in place a little bit with anticipation about seeing Sage's home. While she felt way more comfortable being alone without the concern of others judging her for her weirdness by being a pack wolf, there were certain benefits and survival bonuses by being in a pack. For one, you weren't alone, making it possible to get out of a sticky situation and two, well... you weren't alone. You had others to talk to, fight alongside with, explore and hunt with. Meadowlark could go down the line of childlike reasonings in the pack, but bottom line it made sense. That's what wolves were - pack animals. Not herd animals like elk and deer, or solitary animals like bears and cougars. Pack animals - the kind that stick together in any kind of weather. Quite literally in some cases.

"Speech." "Thought." Action.

can't be sure they've hit their mark

some fairy tales are more than true

Sage first sighed with relief, then furrowed her brows, "it's just me". She couldn't tell whether it was a form of talking down on oneself or simply admitting the other female was sensitive. Hopefully, she was not too sensitive, if that were the case. The woman didn't want to lead the other to a place where she'd become a target. She pushed the thought back, she'd been just fine in the Backwater and had thickened her skin along the way. Eros's jokes about her missing toe might've gotten a different response had she been the same wolf she was before. Now she could make her cracks about the incident without hesitation. The other adults would likely be nice enough to a newcomer...it was just the pups they had to worry about.

The pale wolf smiled and nodded with a gentle laugh, "Alright, this way then." With that she quickly turned around towards home. Her legs eagerly moved in long strides. Her mind was now clearer on her situation with Oleander, the break in thought from meeting Meadowlark seemed to have done some good. Perhaps she'd made a new friend while helping her sort out a current. She looked back once in a while to ensure she wasn't moving too fast.

FADE

Dead Empress Backwater