Poison Path tomorrow's life is too late

Partly cloudy -14 ° F, -26 ° C
For @Namid  <3

Lunette Vuesain

I’ve got my love stuck in my head

The sun filtered down from a dappled sky, a patchwork cover of white clouds scudding across the pale winter heavens. They were far off, those clouds, icy wisps strewn across the high vault, and whenever they passed over the sun they took to shining. Lunette liked those clouds. They were pretty, and the world didn't get so dark when it was those who drew in across the sky. Besides, it didn't snow from them, and after a couple of days of thoughtful deliberation, she had come to the conclusion that she preferred rain to snow.

Snow was pretty, though, she had to admit as she picked her way along the frozen shoreline. It covered the world and made the jagged edges softer, and when the sun struck it—particularly in the mornings—it glittered like a sea of crystals. And in the nights.. when the moon shone full and silver, and the stars shimmered in the sky, and everything seemed to be made of the same moon-silver, pristine and pure, though the shadows were so dark...

Lunette was at once both in love with the dark, and terrified of it.

But the sun was out now, still high in the sky, and she was content to know that, if she didn't go much further, she'd be back home before nightfall. While she had on occasion napped out in the wild, she'd never spent a full day away, and she wasn't keen on starting now, either. Her nose sampled the air, breath smoking into the cold day, and stopped. Cocked her head. Looked up the sloping sides of the valley again. Was that.. a path? It looked old and overgrown, unused, sort of.. hidden.. and utterly mysterious.

Gasping slightly with excitement, the young lady veered off her chosen course along the lake, and set her paws upon the path. Old mysteries seemed to reverberate through the ground and up into her bones, and she took another couple of steps along it, before pausing. Snow had bent and broken vegetation by the path's sides, and, curious, she used her muzzle to free some of them. Once they peeked through their blankets, she took a step back to survey them, snow still clinging to the top of her nose.

She didn't know these plants. She hadn't seen any of them before. Curiously, she leaned in again to sniff them more closely, but the winter had taken much of their scent away. Most of their leaves were sagging and unhappy, half-decomposed and frost-bitten by the time the snows had set in. A low whine of frustration escaped her throat as she inspected every inch of them, committing them to memory.

It was frigid, the kind of cold that even her thick winter pelt couldn’t keep out. And, the lack of sun did not help. But the cold helped to remind her that she was here, she was okay. She was going to be okay. The woman had finally settled back into her regimen of trailing the borders and refreshing markers, making sure everything was in order. But, something was curious about this day. Lunette, it seemed, was out exploring on her own. Namid tilted her head at this as her youngest didn’t usually go out on her own. It made a small smile fall on her lips. Perhaps she was finally working past her fears?

Still, even in her subdued state her motherly instincts wanted her to go check on her child. So, she meandered forward to follow her scent. She was even more concerned when she found where it was headed; the abandoned pack land. From her own explorations she had found that it was obvious that the area had once housed a pack, the size of which she could not tell. Still, there was an abandoned communal den as well as other indicators that proved her theory. The biggest thing, though, was that it was completely surrounded by poisonous plants. They were so brightly colored that it would be easy for a pup to think it was a sweet treat and take a bite, but they would quickly find it wasn’t as good at it looked. Perhaps that was the reason the pack had left, the risk of their young dying by the brightly colored berries. Her pace quickened.

When she finally reached her child her breath halted, but she tried not to look panicked. The lookalike child was nosing around the very plants that she feared and it took everything to keep her from yelling at Lunette to move away. Knowing her child, it would only make her terrified to ever explore again and while the world was scary there were still so many wonders that a wolf should naturally come to find and they were only found through exploration. Luckily it was winter so the poisonous berries were not in season, but she still needed to make sure her child did not come back to try a bite at a later time. “During the summer months those plants bloom a deep purple colored berry,” she said naturally, moving to press a kiss behind her child’s ear with a pleased hum. “But I would not eat them. They will make you very sick.”

(This post was last modified: Dec 12, 2016, 04:00 PM by Namid.)

Lunette Vuesain

I’ve got my love stuck in my head

The plants had since long shed their flowers, only brown, brittle remains remained as testament to their vague shape. Frost-bitten and beyond recognition Lunette scowled at them, frustrated at having found something new and being denied the better part of the knowledge. So engrossed was she with uncovering them, pushing snow aside with her blunt silver muzzle, that she did not notice her mother approaching. Perhaps she made note of the scent subconsciously, and decided it was safe, or she was entirely at the mercy of the world—something you'd think she would've learned not to be, from her run-in with Eek.

“During the summer months those plants bloom a deep purple colored berry,” a familiar voice said, and Lunette's heart went somewhere near her mouth as she flinched. The world was a blur before her eyes as she spun around, trying to see who it was, but between the overwhelming fear and the sickening surge of adrenaline, she might just as well have been blind. She knew who it was, she knew the voice, the scent—and yet she longed for the filtered sunlight to touch the silver features of her mother, light up her dual-colored eyes, and soften the edges of her body against the world.

A cold nose kissed the back of her head, and Lunette stared at her paws, taking deep breaths but trying to mask them and quieten their noise. "Hello mama," she breathed, not trusting her voice to carry at a louder volume while her heart still raced so. It was uncomfortable, a loud, painful hammering in her chest. She was sure it'd burst from the pressure one of these days. Blinking a little, Lunette finally raised her head. The day was still pretty, and not that many minutes had passed since the plants first eclipsed her attention. And speaking of...

"Oh," she said, a little too late, shuffling through the disturbed snow to press her nose against mama's cheek. "Why?" she asked, expecting mother to have all the answers, as children are wont to do.

Teacher post 1/3

Namid’s brows rose as Lunette whirled on her, the scent of fear palpable from her and she wondered why she had been so scared. The woman had not been sneaky in her approach, had not attempted to conceal her presence from her child and yet she still managed to have scared the living daylights out of her. She frequently wondered how her child could have become such a terrified personality, but a look at her ear proved a small reason. She still felt a stab of shame every time she saw the girl’s ear, a relic of proof that she had not been there when the girl had needed her most. The only hope she could feel for the petrified girl to change her spots was the fact that her older brother had been much the same way, though not quite to the same extent. And, @’Cernan’ had turned into quite the fine young wolf. He was still cautious but he was much less the scaredy pup he used to be.

She offered a hum of pleasure as her look-alike pressed her nose to her cheek. How ironic it was that Lunette was even larger than her bold litter-mate and her own mother. How her children had grown. “Why? Because they are poisonous. It is how they protect themselves I suppose,” she replied, tilting her head in thought. “During the summer months, rabbits turn brown to blend into the brown forest and during the winter they turn white to blend into the snow. They do that so that it makes it harder for us to find them. But, plants sometimes will turn a bright color to show they are poisonous so they will not be eaten. It is just how nature works,” she replied, giving her daughter a playful nudge.

(This post was last modified: Mar 07, 2017, 08:37 PM by Namid.)

A lynx has left behind the remains of a deer. +5 Health

hlerp <3

Lunette Vuesain

I’ve got my love stuck in my head

The world was a strange place, Lunette decided. She didn't doubt Mama's explanation for a second—after all, why would Mama ever lie to her?—but that didn't mean it made sense. Because, frankly, it didn't. Rabbits made sense, even though Lunette hadn't ever thought of it that way. Ismena had probably known, though. Ismena knew everything. But the plants being colorful to show they were dangerous..? She turned her head to look skeptically at them, barely noticing the nudge her mother gave her even though it threatened to upend her. She swayed on the spot, brows furrowed. It sounded really, really stupid of the plants to attract more attention.

Then again.. plants were stationary, weren't they. At least, she had never seen one run—so that meant they couldn't, right? Maybe a bull moose stuck in the same spot would also turn some bright, fantastical color. She smiled a little to herself and turned to peer at her mother.

Her beautiful, loving, graceful, and kind, mother. She had never really known any other Namid than the worn-down one, but that didn't matter. Namid was beautiful to her anyway, and Lunette's tail swayed solemnly behind her. "It's strange," she hummed softly, taking a couple of steps past her mother and up the barely-visible path. She paused there, and turned her head to peer at her—almost as if asking if she was going to come along. Exploring the path still beckoned to her, but she felt safer with her mother in tow. She remained silent for a second. Part of her wanted to ask, what's up there? where does it go? what happened here?, but part of her didn't want to spoil the mystery.

"I'm going up," she finally said, decisive, but not uninviting; not unkind in any way. One ear folded back for a moment. "But don't tell me what I'll find." The words were softened by a smile and another sway of her tail, before she turned to look up the slope again. It was a faint incline, shrouded in shadow and mystery and small, alluring patches of sunlight. She began to walk again, eyes wide and taking in all the wonders.

I have loved the stars too fondly

It seemed that Lunette was more or less just confused about the plants, but there wasn’t much she could do about that. She’d already told her everything she knew about the plants but she couldn’t tell her why it was exactly that they were made to do what they did. Those questions could only be answered by the higher power that had created them. “Indeed,” she replied.

Her daughter’s chocolate gaze traveled further up the path and she watched quietly, seeing what it was that she was going to do. She was even further surprised when the Vuesain girl began to make her way upward but her heart lifted slightly to see her child taking an interest in exploring. If anything, she saw her inquisitive nature as a true sign of her Macieo heritage. Her side had always been the scholars(besides their strong and vigilant Ooljee, who even then knew as much as he could about tactics and strength) and the explorers. They seeked knowledge wherever they could find it and if they had to look for it so be it. “I’ll only tell you what you ask to know,” she replied calmly, allowing the pale pup to lead the way. The mother trailed along behind, sniffing at a new things on her own and just taking a general view as she waited for the questions she knew were likely to come.

To be fearful of the night

Lunette Vuesain

I’ve got my love stuck in my head

The soft fall of her young paws was almost reverent, and she was wide-eyed with wonder as she made her way up the path. The pale sunlight and the darker shadows formed a veil between this world and the mystery which lay just beyond... Here and there, her nose disturbed the snow, but she continued ever upwards, leaving tracks where there previously had been none. At times, the path narrowed, at times, it switch-backed up a steeper incline, but one thing remained constant: the nightshade plants, twisted and bent and broken by frost, a handful of dark berries still defying the season but frozen solid all the same. Her mother's presence gave her confidence where otherwise she might've balked, and after many minutes of silence and walking, Lunette stopped.

The path kept winding up, and as far as she could see, and smell, the plants kept flanking it. She had never seen such a curious behavior before, and where the hardy trees thickened to the sides of the overgrown path, the nightshades grew sparser and sparser. It was all covered by a thick blanket of snow, of course, but by now she recognized the form of the stands under the snow. Frowning, she turned to look at her mother. There was hardly more light on the path than it was in the rest of the forest, so why here..?

"Do they always grow by paths?" she finally asked, snuffling around another cluster of nightshade. She took great care not to accidentally get anything in between her lips, but as a result of all the nosing about she had snow clinging to her nose, and piled on top of it. "And what is this place, anyway?" The mystery was less.. immediate, now; it was less of an acute need to sniff all the plants and more of a sophisticated, breathless wonder about where it lead. But even young, adventurous pups can grow tired of the boring trek to the treasure, and while she didn't exactly want it all spelled out for her so she could go home and sleep, a little help along the way would just be nice.

(This post was last modified: Mar 28, 2017, 12:22 PM by Lunette.)

So I realized we could totally get some teaching demonstration points out of this c: Lunette can get some for asking questions, so she already has two dem. posts out of the 3 she needs. Namid teaching post 2/3 and overall post 8/12

I have loved the stars too fondly

Namid followed along behind, watching her daughter scout about with a pleased expression on her face. She was glad that the girl was taking an interest in exploring. Venturing out of their little bubble would be good for her, perhaps it could even bring her out of her shell a little bit. Lunette was painfully timid and afraid of mostly everything, which is why the mother was so surprised by her sudden curiosity. But, she certainly wouldn’t be complaining.

“Do they always grow by paths?” the pale Vuesain girl asked and Namid shook her head. “No, I do not believe so. I believe it is like that because there have been many animals that have come through here and trampled the plants down to where they do not grow anymore in this area. They have forged a path through the nightshade,” she replied, watching the girl sniff at the nightshade with a bit of apprehension. But, as long as it wasn’t in bloom and she didn’t ingest any of it she would be fine. The next question about the area Namid didn’t quite know. She’d been across here, sure, but her duties laid mostly within the boundaries of the Cove. She didn’t take a lot of time out of her day to go exploring as much as she used to. “I am not entirely sure. It could simply have been a path for other animals to follow through the mountain, it could have been a packland, any number of things.”

To be fearful of the night

(This post was last modified: Mar 07, 2017, 08:47 PM by Namid.)

Are you sure I can get points for asking..? I thought you could just get them for BEING the Teacher?

Lunette Vuesain

I’ve got my love stuck in my head

She was glad for the extra security of her mother, and the shortcut to the answers. The sunlight could only reveal so many of the mysteries, after all, and words could explain the rest—her nose and her eyes were limited by her lack of knowledge. Briefly, she pressed herself against her mother's right front leg, ears cupped back to take in the words. The nightshades had come before the path..? She scowled, scampered up a few steps ahead, and surveyed the path. Looked at it upslope. Looked at it downslope. She could almost imagine it.. an infrastructure younger than the world, a map across the land—but with all the snow, it was a bit hard to tell.

"Huh," she breathed, and went on up the slope, defying the growing ache in her bones. Exploring was hard work to the pup unused to it. And then, it happened, that moment when the world stops spinning and her own vulnerability was laid bare: "Oh," she said, pausing for a moment to nurture the sinking, black feeling in her gut. Her mother.. her mother didn't know everything. Her mother didn't know everything. The revelation took her breath away, stole the warmth from the sun, and left her adrift in a frozen, black sea.

If she did not know everything.. what else.. might she be incapable of? What else might be able to best her mother? Hesitantly, she turned her head around to look at Namid: elegant, patient, beautiful and kind. There in the sunlight, it seemed awfully distant and unreal that she might have limits. Or maybe.. maybe it was a one-off occasion—the one thing her mother didn't know. Lunette licked her lips, and glanced up the path. "Come on then!" she said brightly, and took off at a jog. If Mama didn't know what this area was, they'd better find out, and everything would be alright again.