Cedarwood Forest Downtime

For once, Vlarindara had decided to stick around their den.. doing some cleaning and remarking their territory markers. They didn't have many.. or much of a 'territory' perse but she didn't want anyone wandering in either. The white female had always kept up with Borden's scrapes along a few of the trees surrounding their nearly hidden grotto.. but was careful to mark a few other trees as well. With plumed tail curled loosely over her back, the white female trotted back through the trees and hopped over the low brush and thistles that were bared to the sunlight. This hop landed her in the semi-circle she called home and she stopped, admiring the view as she tended to do.

It was beautiful.. the light was bright, slanting across the clearing and sparkling off of only a few bits of snow. Thanks to the reflection from the mountainside their den was tucked in against, the small clearing had help melting the snow.. along with the constant tread of paws. That wasn't to say that there wasn't any at all..but in some places there were clear bits - but compared to anywhere else.. there was almost no snow here. The sound of water was music to her ears, drawing her attention to the thin, but steady trickle of water that filtered down the mountainside from stars knows where. Her paws carried her over to the water where it gathered in a shallow pool that was in reality a large indentation in the rock bed. It was only three, four inches deep at most and stretched about two feet in height, four in width.

She lowered her head and lapped at the water with a soft sigh of content - whether it was the natural filtration of the mountain...or the knowledge that this source was hers...it tasted sweeter than most waters she could drink. Large, triangle ears swiveled this way and that as she drank her fill, finally returning to rest over her neck as they tended to do. The female straightened and trotted to her den, a small triangle opening in the side of the mountain. At first, the opening was small.. even she had to squeeze through it, but once her shoulders cleared the small entrance, it widened into a larger cavern. The floor was naturally warm, leaving the cavern inside warm as well no matter the strength and viciousness of the wind howling outside the entrance. The inside was big enough for two, maybe three wolves.. but just perfect for herself and Raigo.

Vlarindara began carting cracked and gnawed bones from the den, carrying them to the corner of their clearing and adding them to the pile she'd had started. She could have simply dropped them around their clearing, or even outside it but there was no reason to do something like that..Besides, she really didn't *WANT* to be discovered.. and bones randomly appearing and scattered about were usually a good indication that some one was skulking about. She got the bones cleaned out and moved out to where a large, flat rock was situated near the water puddle...pool? It was usually quite warm even in the winter, so she climbed up on it and settled down on her side, stretching her hind legs and tail out, and resting her head on her front paws.. Raigo was out and about somewhere...and she did worry.. but really couldn't know where he'd gotten off to..

(This post was last modified: Feb 14, 2011, 09:31 PM by Vlarindara.)

♪ | Thom Yorke – Analyze

Walking along what remained of February’s drifts of snow, Angier Lyall strolled quietly through the forest. Winter had not been kind and it had fashioned him into a canine of selfishness with little tolerance for anything or anyone outside his current interests. It just so happened that the displaced Lyall had been searching for a suitable place to rest before hunting for the day. Every so often, he’d stop and shake the bits of slush that gathered between his paw pads, miserable with the puddles that formed hidden underneath accumulated lifeless foliage. Damned snow… He shrugged, coming to a stop to shake out his coat.

A low growl vibrated through the air, his discomfort echoing through the trees. He stopped in his tracks before a fallen tree and took a moment to survey his surroundings. The forest, though sparsely populated by spindly trees, had looked welcoming when he first padded through. But now that he really thought of it, he suspiciously gazed about his immediate surroundings. Something about the way the trees towered high above him and how they were spaced far apart from one another wasn’t quite right.

After giving his left hind leg a good shake to get his blood flowing and to remove a chunk of ice between his toes, he forged onward, walking right past the small clearing where a wolf and her charge made their home.

(This post was last modified: Oct 24, 2013, 08:03 PM by Angier.)

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Her head lifted at the rustling sounds she could hear just outside her clearing, those triangle ears shifting to catch it.. Vlarindara dropped lightly off of her rock and padded over towards the sounds, but quietly...watching. She caught glimpses of a mottled coat - but no colors that she recognized.. nor a scent. The female knew better than to jump out and yell 'BOO!' at passing wolves, so instead she cleared her throat quietly, having chosen as spot a little ahead of his path to sit. She had her tail curled around her feet, and her ears pointed forwards, though she wasn't...exactly sure if she knew this wolf. "Excuse me... but are you lost?" She really didn't want strange wolves wandering near their den.. but she couldn't simply sit and wait for him to go away.. In retrospect it was perhaps better if she'd gone inside and waited him out.. but she just couldn't with Raigo being out and about...

"I could..perhaps point you in a direction if you've somewhere specific you're trying to go.." Despite her obvious comfort in the small clearing, her tone was gentle, her posture....dominant, but not of him.. only of her clearing. This was her home, after all. She waited, watching him with amber eyes that seemed to rove over his fur..his markings as if she could memorize him from a distance.. Whether it was to avoid him in the future... or to find him was unclear.. but it was almost a single minded interest...inspection..if you will. Though her ears constantly moved, listening to his every sound, every movement.

(This post was last modified: Feb 14, 2011, 09:31 PM by Vlarindara.)

♪ | Gary Jules – Mad World

Angier was just about ready to break into a run before his ears picked up the voice of another. ”Excuse me… but are you lost?” His ears folded and he rounded on her, holding his tongue in case she spoke once more. Pale gold eyes addressed her warily and he turned both his ears forward in interest. ”I could…perhaps point you in a direction if you’ve somewhere specific you’re trying to go…” she added.

”What’s it t’ ya?” he barked, calling out to her as he raised a brow. The white wolf before him protectively stood guard at the edge of the small clearing he had passed. His tail flicked and he studied her as he awaited an answer. Her ivory fur and vibrant gold eyes drew him in, he had to admit, but the kind tone in her voice made him doubt her generosity, taking her offer as a means of trickery instead. The fur about his shoulders stood up, making clear that she had annoyed him to some degree just by stopping him in his tracks. Perhaps she meant for him to lose his way among a labyrinth of trees, hedges and winding rivers. ”And where exactly would you point me to, regardless of where I hoped to end up?”

(This post was last modified: Feb 17, 2011, 08:06 AM by Angier.)

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His tone was coarse, almost uncultured, but she didn't particularly mind it.. to be honest. Of course when he stiffened, the fur around his neck raising she had to fight the instinctive urge to do the same. The She-wolf did stand form her seated position, however and was watching him intently, almost warily. But she didn't growl, or raise her own hackles.. simply watched him, having gotten to her feet to find a better position should he choose to attack. "I would send you wherever it was you had wished to go...I don't know enough about these lands to lead you into a trap..or a ditch.. I know enough to get around and to do what I need to do.."

She knew the instinctive aura of fear that fathered around Loners - she was one herself... but she could at least offer him help of some kind.. A wolf once did the same to her.. helped her out of the life threatening danger she was in with her weight, and lack of strength to even hunt up a decent meal. He... was gone now.. romping with another wolf - merrily it would seem... Or so she told herself. "I don't with to cause anyone harm or discomfort... please.. come in and have a bite to eat.. relax a few moments..You... could need it." She had. The white female took a few steps backwards then turned, moving away and heading into the clearing and towards the den - she still had the groundhog waiting for Raigo...but she could always hunt again.

(This post was last modified: Feb 14, 2011, 09:32 PM by Vlarindara.)

The large male continued to eye her, unsure of what to make of her offer. His father had often told him and his siblings to become self-sufficient, to only accept the aid of another when one was either injured or incapable of hunting. He was neither injured nor unable to hunt; quite the opposite in fact. His fur was matted in places, but the sheer size of him, even underneath his thick winter coat, conveyed his ability to keep himself fed. She tried to convince him to relax and have a bite to eat… to have her company.

His uncle’s stern words about having good manners and being a proper gentleman nagged at him from the folds in his memory. He sighed, watching her spin and edge towards the den she protected. Go on… he heard the aged wolf say. He gritted his teeth and approached the small encampment, finding nothing more than a homely den beside a small pool of water and a pile of bones. He slowly sat down, remaining quiet for the meantime. Okay, so… here he was. Now what?

(This post was last modified: Feb 17, 2011, 08:06 AM by Angier.)

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She emerged from the den and stepped up to him, laying the brown furred creature at his feet and nudging it towards him. "It's not much.. but perhaps it will help you get wherever you have to go." Her plumed tail wagged slightly behind her, but didn't curl up over her back like normal - there was...perhaps a almost limp tilt to it, but it was invisible to those who didn't know her. She ambled over to the clear pool and lowered herself to quench her thirst of the cool liquid - Always so sweet. When she lifted her head, a few drops found their way back to the pool through her whiskers and she prevented any further escapees by passing her tongue over both sides of her lips.

The she-wolf hopped back up onto her rock and stretched out, returning her head to her front paws as she watched the clearing and the newcomer. "Would it be uncooth of me if I were to ask where you were from...or what you were looking for? If it's a pack you want...I could point you in the direction of one or two..." There was a hesitation when she mentioned two packs.. she didn't want to suggest the male go up to Midnight Plateu.. she might have to escort him herself.. and for now, she had been extremely careful not to be seen or heard on those...pack lands. Her head lifted as she flicked her ears back over her skull then forward, listening to some creature or another that had caught her attention.

What was wrong with her?! Normally, she would have avoided other wolves like the plague.. but here she was inviting one larger than herself into the clearing. She inhaled a sigh before holding her breath, realizing that it was the sixth time in an hour that she had sighed. The breath was very slowly let out.. slowly and silently before she lowered her head back to her paws and let her ears fall back over her neck. Those amber eyes seemed to constantly glance towards the east before snapping back and watching the clearing around her. What was she doing here gathering wool?! She had work to do.. A guest to entertain.. and thoughts to chase away.

The huge male watched as she came out from the depths of the den, squeezing her frame through the triangular opening in the mountain. She had something brown and furry in her mouth and she dropped it before his forepaws with the wag of a tail. ”It’s not much… but perhaps it will help you get wherever you have to go.” He glanced down at the rodent, its small body sprawled out in a lifeless slumber. His left ear swiveled downward as his right ear remained trained forward, tall and cone-like; a genuine expression of his curiosity. He felt a twinge of guilt and a wave of gratitude as he laid down and sniffed at the small meal; he had expected her to bring him a couple of mice or half of a dried out carcass.

She skipped back to her perch and spread out in the warm sun. Delicately, he began to remove the pelt from the underside of the groundhog, not wanting to be rude by refusing her hospitality. When he had expected for them to spend some time in silence as he ate, she politely inquired about his background and how he had found his way here. He didn’t think it uncouth in the least bit; she had provided him with a little something for his stomach, perhaps in exchange for a little information about him. Licking his lips, he gazed to her; both of his ears were relaxed now, no longer uneven.

”Bertram Valley,” he replied, despite realizing that she had probably never heard of the place. The mention of a pack made him want to scoff, but he held it within his lungs. ”A pack? Nah… I ‘ppreciate your aid though, but I’d rather scope things out here on my own for now.” Honestly, he wasn’t sure he was ready to live within a pack again; life under his father had been hard with all his high expectations and his mother never seemed to recover from when Angier’s older brother had left. Small talk had never been the brute’s best skill, but he did his best to carry the conversation. It seemed only right to show some friendliness to this stranger, ”How ‘bout you? Are you from ‘round ‘ere?”

(This post was last modified: Feb 17, 2011, 08:06 AM by Angier.)

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She flicked her ears towards him when he questioned back and lifted her head to shake it before it was returned to resting on her paws. "No..I lived South of here... I think.. not that I really remember...I might have..." She stopped herself mid sentence from finishing with 'Might have called this my home...but not now.' Her ears had shifted, laying back against her neck with a minute accompanying whine that she hadn't been able to stop. The female pulled her hind legs up beneath her, shifting on the rock and curling into a tight ball, with her muzzle on her tail and paws, rather than her paws alone. "My apologies.. My mouth tends to run off without my permission at times.."

Vlarindara shifted, debating just going in her den to save herself from further embarrassment, but she didn't.. she stayed outside curled up on her rock. She'd fallen silent after the embarrassing admission, simply curled up and watching the clearing around them. She was worried for Raigo..upset over Borden though she truly had no right to be, worried for her own livelihood... including Raigos's.. Perhaps she could convince Borden to take Raigo.. he seemed to like her adopted pup enough to care for him.. It might seem a strange change to an outside observer..what happened then.

Enough of this moping! She stood and jumped off the rock in one fluid moment, shaking herself vigorously as if she were dislodging something or other on her pelt. "I apologize..I've not been a considerate host..." She dipped her nose in greeting to him, having begun to hold herself higher... more confidently and regally..if anything. Her tail, however stayed behind her were it might normall had she not generally curled it over her back. "I haven't introduced myself...Vlarindara Windrunner...but if you wish, you can call me Vlar."

He gnawed at the spine of the creature between his forepaws, listening diligently above the muffled crunching of the bones between his jaws. ”Oh,” he chimed. She hadn’t finished her question, but he replied anyway, wondering why, all of a sudden, her mood changed. He licked the blood from his lips, doing nothing more than smearing the tint of red over his muzzle and chin. Her first apology, he simply nodded to, seeing no harm done at all. If she couldn’t or didn’t want to let him in on something personal, that was absolutely fine by him. He wasn’t exactly pouring his soul out to her or presenting himself as an open book anyway. Her second apology, however, shifted their conversation considerably and it left him absolutely at a loss for what to say.

What Angier wasn’t anticipating was learning her name; most strangers he met on his travels kept to themselves and addressed him as “friend” or “brother.” By rule, his father had always told him to never reveal one’s name unless it was absolutely crucial, to keep silent and mysterious. The only times it was deemed appropriate to introduce oneself was being the audience of an influential leader or a newly initiated pack member. Angier, however, had always been a rebel. ”Angier,” he grinned, taking her name in as a means to inveigle her if he ever happened to run into her again. Perhaps one of these times, if he could find his way back here, he’d be able to persuade her in joining him on a hunt or a leisurely walk to repay her for her hospitality.

(This post was last modified: Feb 17, 2011, 08:05 AM by Angier.)

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