Skyfall Glen after a couple glasses

AW! Special RE: Viorel for the last week you've had the same reoccuring dream every time you go to sleep, but as soon as you wake the only thing you can remember is the image of a pair of glowing blue eyes. They seem so familiar...what could this mean?

About an hour before sunrise, Overcast, 19C/66F

Viorel knew that night was beginning to fade into morning. The moon was so low over the trees that you couldn’t see it anymore, that brief period of time when there was no moon and no sun. Only the stars as they began to fade into an ever brightening sky. He knew that he should be heading back towards the pack and probably should be already well within the borders. All of these things he knew, logically. But, he couldn’t go back yet. After a week of being plagued by the same haunting dream, he couldn’t go home without some answers.

The leader did not even know why he had come back to these woods, the same ones that he had found Clover in all those months ago. It had given him the creeps then, like someone was watching, and so it was the only place he could think of might have answers for those eerie, yet somehow familiar, blue eyes. He couldn’t remember exactly the way back to where he had found Clover, and had ended up somewhere completely different.

At first he thought it was a mirage brought on by exhaustion. The lake that almost seemed to appear out of thin air at the base of the mountain, the white shores that left his paws coated as if it were snow but wasn’t cold. It was almost as if the world had gone still, other than the ripples of the water that spoke of a healthy population of fish in the depths.

Viorel stood perfectly still. His yellow eyes swept over the sight, looking for some kind of clue, some kind of solution to the recurring dream. Who did he know with blue eyes like that?

The cool water parted her pelt, touching her skin like a cold kiss on a summer night. The clouds overhead obscured the sky and hid the sun from view. The Winter Dame cast her vibrant eyes to the water, wading far enough in for it to tickle her underside. Patiently she scanned for movement. Her breathing was gentle, seemingly drowned out by the eerie silence cast by Ghastly woods. She had wondered off farther than intended from her companion. She honestly hadn't meant to stray too far from @Alvar 's side...but the beckoning of an empty stomach had set her paws in motion.

The woman had become lost shortly after, aimlessly wondering through the creepy woods. The branches had bent down to rake through her thick off-white pelt. Shadows casted over her like monsters of pup tales and sent shudders down her spine. Ever so carefully she'd made her way to the lake. Where now she stood in the water. Waiting. Patient. A look of pure concentration on her gentle features. Finally Nia dunked her head into the water, cold stinging at her face. Then, as quickly as she had submersed herself, the she wolf through her head back gasping for air. A large fish thrashed between her clenched jaws.

As she turned to head for the sandy shore she became all to aware that she was no longer alone. First the sent of that previous pack wafted to her nostrils. Then her eyes fell on a dark wolf near the bank. She halted her movements, standing quietly in the depths of the clear glacier blue liquid. The fish continued to squirm as she held it tightly. Her ears pressed forward, tail finding a neutral pose, and eyed him cautiously to see what the stranger would do. Perhaps, he was just here for breakfast too.

(This post was last modified: Jun 04, 2021, 05:24 AM by Nia. Edit Reason: Edited due to overcast )

The day was still fairly dim, especially with the clouds blocking out the sun that had not yet risen. Maybe this was the reason that he hadn’t seen the woman at first, or maybe it was the fact that he was so far up in his own thoughts. Whatever the reason was, Viorel had not noticed that he was not alone at the lake until the stranger had already caught her fish and was staring right at him. Yellow eyes swept back over the water before landing on her with a start.

Tail waved lazily behind him in an attempt to display that he meant this stranger no harm, but he continued to watch her cautiously. It was too far to see what her eye colour was, but Viorel was compelled to find out. He needed to find a way to clear the dream from his head so he could finally have a good night's sleep. Was this woman the answer?

His leathery nose twitched for a moment, taking in all the information he could from this far away. Female, larger than him, the scent of another on her pelt but not quite fresh. Viorel was intrigued, tilting his head and watching her closely. He made no move to get any closer and waited to see what she would do, giant flopping fish and all.

Nia pulled her head back slightly with a look of confusion as the other seemed to spook. Then he wagged his tail at her and she could feel the tension leave her shoulders. Visibly her muscles relaxed beneath her creamy pelt and an audible sigh escaped her taunt lips. The fish continued it's thrashing. Yet the woman remained where she was locked eyed with the male. He hadn't moved much despite the friendly gesture. This felt like some weird sort of stand off, yet she sensed no hostility from the dark wolf.

Finally, tired of holding her breakfast and of the cold water causing her legs to tingle, she stepped forward from the depths. She swam to the shore in silence spare for the splashing lake. The Winter Dame moved off towards the side of the inky stranger. As her paws met the ground once more she shook her pelt free, becoming a massive puff ball before her fur settled back down. She stared at him, not close enough to pick out the details of his facial features. He smelt younger, looked smaller, and was definitely a pack wolf. Male too of course. She stifled the instinctive growl at the back of her throat, biting her tongue in the sake of forced friendliness.

The beast dropped her prize, placing a paw down on top of the body before reaching over to rip the head clean off. The body gave a twitch or two before becoming motionless. In an odd sort of kindness she flung the fish head his way. Maybe he was just hungry and didn't understand how to catch one himself? She couldn't be too sure. She kept checking on him with whale eyed side glances as she hastily consumed her meal. It was gone within a few sloppy bites and a lick of the maw.

She turned back to him, lifting her head slightly out of habit. Emerald eyes traveled down his form slowly before she let out a chuff. She wagged her tail and brought herself back into a neutral position. No, this fellow didn't seem to have any ill intent.

He watched intently as the stranger relaxed, then continued to stare. This all felt like he had not ever woke up from the dream, like he was in some sort of trance or vision. Eventually she moved, splashing back towards the shore and for a minute Viorel worried what would happen when she got there. Would he suddenly jolt awake back at home safe and sound? Would she morph into something horrifying?

The answer turned out to be nothing like that. The stranger reached the bank, shook out her pelt and dove into her meal. Viorel saw the whale eye glances sideways and felt an impending sense of dread somewhere deep in his stomach. But, he couldn’t bring himself to break the silence. From here he could see the stranger’s eyes were green, and not blue like the ones that had been haunting his dreams.

Taking a couple of silent steps backwards he was tempted to leave. Then the stranger chuffed at him, and whatever spell the silence had held over him was broken. His tail swept lazily behind him again and he nodded respectfully, ”Viorel Valle, wasn’t expecting to see anyone out here.” Or even to see this lake if he was being honest, but he wasn’t.

The she wolf repeated the name back in her head a few times, watching his tail as it swayed behind him. "Same here...although I was a little concerned." She admitted with a casual shrug of the shoulders, "I've smelt your pack before." Nia attempted a smile,  but it was more of a sheepish expression than anything, "I'm Nia Hervok from over near the thickets." That had been a lot of talking and a bit of over sharing. The pale she wolf mentally kicked herself for such.

Not knowing what to do from this point she allowed the silence to engulf them once more. She was curious of him and his fellows, but what was there to say? Could they even form an alliance if her pack had yet to exist? There wasn't much she could offer the Heart leaf loves. Trying to keep the other's company she flattered about her mind for something, anything, "So...uh...what brings you to this spooky place?" Spooky place? Really? She wasn't doing so good in this conversation at all. Her confidence wavered and the winter dame tried to hide it behind kind smile.

She had smelled his pack before? It was odd that she didn’t mention meeting someone from the pack before. He could only infer this meant that she had been hanging around the creek, at least she had been sometime since this spring. It was an odd thought, that she had smelled them but that Viorel had never smelled her before, or the faint smell of whoever her companion was that hung on her coat. Shifting on his paws for half a second, and then catching himself and standing still he responded smoothly, ”I’m not surprised, we have quite a few members who are out and about hunting these days.” The first half a lie, the second half true, they had a lot of mouths to feed and that meant a lot of hunting.

Looking Nia over in interest, he followed up with, ”I’ve never heard of the thickets, is that another pack around here?” She certainly didn’t smell like a pack, just a couple of loners, but Viorel could play along with a lie if that’s what she wanted. Glancing towards the trees which were, admittedly, ‘spooky’ the leader grinned and shrugged. Looking back towards Nia he chuckled, ”Couldn’t get any sleep, not sure why I thought exploring these dreadful woods was going to help. I’ve been in them before, but never ventured across this lake, that was a surprise.” The change in conversation brought his mind back to the dream, and those haunting blue eyes.

He just couldn’t figure out why they were so familiar.

You discover a half-eaten deer carcass. +5 Health