Secluded Spring educated horses

Random Event: The sky is dark with storm clouds. Also, all welcome! :)

Thunder grumbled overhead as Liran made her way beneath the thicker canopies of the forest. Weather rarely bothered her and for the longest time, she had watched the storm roll in from afar. It was almost as though it had followed her across one of the last open patches of ground before the Lore began, but she wasn't entirely a believer that it had. Mid-afternoon had been so bright and vivid, but now it seemed to rapidly fade beneath the ever-growing, ever-consuming swell of the clouds at her back.

Another crack of thunder came closer, and the lithe Lael picked up her pace a bit more with its simultaneous flash of lightning. The wind followed sharply at her heels and she knew that in a matter of minutes, it would be daring to pour buckets on her and everything else in its path. As she proceeded into the depths of the wood, it wasn't just the rain that she could smell in the air but the crisp waters of the springs ahead. Her pace slowed as she stepped lightly through brambles and stayed that way; there wasn't any point in trying to outrun the storm. It would catch up soon enough.

But the overgrowth of the vines would provide some cover, she thought. If she could handle the annoyance of possibility getting caught up in some of them, then maybe she wouldn't get quite as soaked to the bone as she anticipated. If anything, Liran did not expect to encounter anyone else out braving the weather, and while she had been through the Lore once before… what she knew about this particular area was minimal at best. Out here, she knew she was on the fringes from the general populace.

(This post was last modified: Jun 03, 2014, 06:19 PM by Liran.)

@Liran: This was looking lonely, I hope you don't mind me popping in!

Thunder grumbled nearby as the copper man stood by the spring. He was getting to know Northern Eden better every day. With the pack busy with pups, the scout had taken a brief trip up north to look around and meet some new faces. Also, on a previous visit to the North, he had failed to find the she-wolf he sought. It was proving to be quite the task, trying to find a wolf he barely knew. Lunas didn't know her name, which was the trickiest part, but he didn't know her pack either. However, he was looking forward to finding her...

With the approaching storm, Lunas had stopped by this stream to rest, rejuvenate, and take shelter from what would surely be a rain shower. The crisp, electric scent on the breeze suggested otherwise, however. It was a thunderstorm. As a pup, he had loved thunderstorms. Frolicking about in the pouring rain while scampering up and down open, grassy hills with his sisters had been a wonderful time for the Axxya boy.

At the edge of the trees, his small but quick paws easily created a makeshift den for him under a tree. A light covering of brambles and vines fully concealed his den and sheltered it from the beginning of the rain. Moments after he had settled inside, a soft rustle in the brambles nearby suggested that he had just received company. Hauling himself to his feet, Lunas went to greet the newcomer.

"Hello there! Would you like to get out of the rain for a moment? There's some shelter right over here!" Lunas had to shout over a clap of thunder, but he felt his message had reached its destination. He stepped tentatively out of his hiding place so that his companion could locate him and determine if they deemed him a threat. A neutral stance displayed his goal to treat the other as an equal.

Thanks much for joining, I was hoping this wouldn't collect too much dust, lol. And sorry about the wait, too! My work schedule has been all screwed up. @_@

Liran almost didn't hear the shout through the next rumble of thunder, which came so close that she felt the very earth beneath her feet quake. She missed the biggest portion of his shout, only picking up on the call for shelter. She paused immediately, gold eyes scanning through the thick forestry until she found the coppery-haired canine standing at the edge of a rough hole. Figuring that his offer was better than being plastered to the ground by the oncoming storm, she bee-lined for his form and the den he stood in the mouth of. A thankful smile graced her muzzle as she drew close, tentatively of course, and a gentle wave worked its way through her bushy tail. At her heels, the rain came fast and furious through the cover of the woods, the very sound of it all seeming like the springs themselves had come bubbling from above.

She pressed past him deftly, upon feeling the cold, fat, drops pelt her summer coat. “Whew,” she stressed, “you saved my hide from getting soaked. Almost didn't make it there.” And in there, the strong smell of freshly upturned earth greeted her in lieu of the rain she had smelt for some time. She sniffed audibly once, to clear her senses and turned readily to face her so-called raindrop savior. Liran had no real way of deciding right then and there whether or not she had made a good judgement call, but life was bland without a little adventure. This den wasn't his home, she could tell that much. “Thanks for pointing out the shelter.” If he was keeping things neutral, then she would too.

A smile washed onto Lunas's features, and he wagged his tail just once. "Not a problem. Summer rains can be quite fun when they're warm, but also rather annoying when they're cold like this. You should take the den." The copper scout motioned her toward the den he had dug, which was not large enough to fit the both of them inside.

To further insist that she take the den, Lunas settled himself nearby, in a shallow dip under some of the brambles. His thick, fluffy winter coat had just begun to shed, so the cold water splashing down onto him from the angry thunderheads above didn't reach past his outer layer in most places, which was rather convenient. The boy had noticed that his acquaintance could not say the same, and had her thin summer coat already.

"My name is Lunas. I'm a scout for Angier and Elettra of the pack Willow Ridge. May I ask who you are?" Quite often, Lunas was the first to speak his identity when he met a new wolf. As he had learned with the tricky arctic female from Northern Eden, it wasn't the most intelligent move, but someone had to do it, and besides, it hardly bothered him. With an inward smile, he had remembered how his friend Naia of Cut Rock River had introduced herself, by including her alpha's name. Lunas had been so fascinated by the action that he had put it to use himself. Elettra Archer was a well known name in Relic Lore, and he felt sure that some of the wolves he came across would recognize it.

Of course, Liran felt a tinge of discomfort when she realized that the helpful fellow -- Lunas, he called himself -- wouldn't be able to join her in the shallow den. Her smile turned a little bit apologetic. Still, she was all the more grateful for his aid even if he was willing to shoulder a bit of the bath she wasn't wanting. He was forthcoming with introductions and titles, which were a bit more than Liran had anticipated. While she had been offered them a few times in her life and travels, she never really had as many to return to him. Still, the prestige and pride were evident in his tone.

"My name is Liran," she told him. "And I'm afraid I belong to neither pack nor have a fancy job to go with it." A cheeky grin followed her words. She never really minded throwing out that she was more or less a vagrant. Many travellers were, at least from her experience. Her father had been one more times over than she had, but in a way he had also always been willing to offer his services to those who needed it. Liran hadn't decided just how liberal she was willing to be on that, though she knew she couldn't always be wandering the countryside. Everyone had to lay down roots sometime, didn't they?