Riddle Heights lake children

@Staleek

"Brother," she barked. She did not wait for his greeting.

They had done most of their travelling separately. It was a test of sorts: to see who was better, who could reach their mother's birth place first. Staleek had always been a better tracker, but Tauza was tenacious. She made up for any perceptive shortcomings with will power, as if she could find Mother's scent again merely by wishing it to be on this tree to the left or this rock below her feet. It didn't matter if she lost sleep. Tauza's nose would work all night if that was what it took to find the trail again. And in the night she would curl up by herself, her nose pressed firmly against the quickly fading tendrils of her mother's earthen odor. They would meet again. She would arrive in the mountains of her mother's family and watch that smug grin fade from brother's face when he realized he had been beaten.

She twitched her muzzle further up the mountain in the direction she had come from. Her paws had climbed all the way up this wall of stone in search of the mountain lake. What she had found was disheartening, irksome. "There's a pack up there. At the lake." She wasn't sure if Staleek shared intentions to live by the lake, but Tauza had been quite taken by their mother's descriptions of her birthplace. It had nothing to do with the raw, natural energy of the water that Belladonna was so taken by... It was more the empire, the power that emanated from the stories of wolves that lived and fought there. "They weren't living among the nightshade bushes. I don't think they are of Poison Path."

"Do you think mother will be upset?"

This was, perhaps, a strange question for Tauza to ask of her brother. Not something that crossed their mind a lot. But it was a question that begged asking, since it was for her sake that they had come all this way. Staleek and Tauza could have taken the lake of their birth from the stupid Skylark wolves, Tauza was certain of that. Others would have followed them. Probably. "She didn't want to fight for our lake. Do you think she's got enough strength to fight for this one?" She shared with her brother a wry, knowing grin.

staleek "snakeroot" calor

careful, there are snakes in the garden

Staleek had become frustrated when he arrived at the top, near the lake, to find that his sister had beaten him to the meeting spot. She knew which nerves to poke and he surely would get back at her for it sometime. “Sister,” his words held slight frustration but nothing more. He would save that for when the tumbleweed rolled in, surely with their mother, later. His sister would speak outright about the pack that belonged to the lake now as Staleek settled his rump on the ground. Do you think mother will be upset? That was a joke… right? “Sister, I have yet to see mother upset about anything. She will probably pass it off because that is who she is – a pushover.” His frustration still laced his voice as he came to the realization that they hadn’t fought for their home, and now their mother’s birth home was gone. Poison Path was dead.

When she asked if they would fight for this new home, the young boy fought back a laugh. “Oh yes, because Belladonna Calor is such a fighter. I mean, she would probably take the pack on single handedly with the ever so strong Duckweed at her side.” The sarcasm was dripping off his tongue as he spoke, giving an eye roll. “Watch, she’ll seek to join them instead.” The disdain in his voice filtered through as he rose. “Tauza, sometimes I wonder if it was worth it to follow mother.” His tone was serious as he looked towards his sister, wondering if she felt the same. He wanted Crystherium Lake as his home, not the nonexistent Poison Path.

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That was true, of course. Mother rarely got upset. She seemed so content to be one with nature and the world that she absorbed hardship and let it flow over her like rain. Hardships passed over her mother like the sun, setting behind her. Belladonna entered the new day with an open mind and heart. Even when Mother caught them teasing the weed or "playing duck" she did not raise her voice or get aggressive in the ways that father did. She just told them to stop and did not appear to love them any less. Tauza did not understand this, and she probably never would. Tauza counted the wrongs done to her before she went to sleep every night. She neither forgave nor forgot. She nursed her wounds and waited for the moment to spring. To some extent she assumed her mother did something similar, that her mother was just better at hiding her emotions. She was just saving them up. Probably. The creamy girl grunted in agreement with her brother, hoping to quell a bit of his angst. "Pushover indeed."

A laugh sprung easily from her lungs at the contradictions her brother wove together. "We probably will have to join them, yes." Mother would probably want that. And to be honest, Tauza wanted this too. How else would they learn anything about Poison Path? Staleek probably just wanted to stoll in like a warlord and knock them all off the mountain. Staleek lacked finesse. Always had. That was what she was for.... sort of. She certainly had no knack for it either, but she had to make up for his short comings. "We don't have the strength to take their lake from them. The Skylark wolves had numbers, remember? That was the only reason they won. The two of us would not be enough. I smelled at least as many as the Skylark wolves up there, brother. Don't be dumb."

It was with an iron sadness that her eyes met her brothers. "I wonder too, brother. I wonder all the time." They could have made it on their own together. They were old enough. "But maybe this won't be so bad. I think we can make it work, if you'll listen to me." Her head titled severely, as if to remind Staleek of all the times he had disregarded her advice and lead them to ruin.

(This post was last modified: Jun 26, 2015, 01:49 AM by Tauza.)

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staleek "snakeroot" calor

careful, there are snakes in the garden

His sister would quickly agree with him over their mother and the simple fact that she was a pushover. It was what she said next, however, that almost surprised the snake as she agreed with her mother as to joining these wolves. “Okay Foxglove.” He would be quick to use the name she was given by their mother before she gave her explanation. Staleek would charge in there like a warlord, but unfortunately for him, his sister made sense. A sly grin would catch him as he looked towards his sister. “We could take them down from the inside!” The ideas started to formulate in his mind as the young yearling plotted the silent overthrow of the lake pack. He was an heir to Poison Path, making his claim strong.

I wonder too, brother. I wonder all the time. Was that sadness in her voice? He missed his lake, the lake that he had grown up in, and sometimes he debated leaving, heading back, and trying to take back the home he once had. Still, Tauza pressed forward so he had. Their father was gone and their mother was spineless. But maybe this won’t be so bad. I think we can make it work, if you’ll listen to me. The words made him frown slightly. He knew he was impulsive, but he still acted impulsively. He would reluctantly nod as he spoke up once more. “Where do we start?” He remembered the times he didn’t follow her advice, and her head tilt only led to bring up long buried memories.

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

Realism was a bitter medicine that Staleek had always struggled to swallow. Although she was not surprised, her reaction to the name he called her was frighteningly swift. Her body went rigid and her tail arched over her back. She had told him once and she would tell him a thousand times until that name was erased from living memory. "Do not call me that, " she hissed through her clenched teeth. "Snakeroot." A snort erupted from her nose. Tauza was not meant to endure the suffering they had always reserved specifically for weed. Sometimes her brother forgot this and some of his coarseness and disgusting humor would be directed towards her. But there was no reason for her to tolerate this. He would stop or she would make him stop, it was as simple as that.

Her posture relaxed slightly as his attitude changed. He seemed almost gleeful. The cream Calor sighed loudly. She tossed her muzzle in the air in as an exasperated gesture. "I don't think me or you have any idea of what that's going to take." They knew they were many wolves up there, but they did not know their strength, their character, or their history. Tauza would not go in blind. "We might find that that is not the wisest plan." In her assessment of situations, Tauza was very like her mother — though no one had ever mentioned this to her. She looked at things through her steel gaze and saw them for what the were. She adapted as necessary. Where her brother sought to knock the wall down with brute force, Tauza looked for cracks in the mortar. When she found none she would simply go around it. She would not mourn the effort.

Staleek acquiesced and a small smile split her muzzle. "I think we should join them," she shrugged. It was simple. She wracked her head for something else to say. Staleek needed explicit instructions else he would make up his own. Sure, he was by no means stupid, but they had very different modes of operating. She did not want to be forced into following his lead again if he decided to go his own route. "Fall will be here soon and we need to establish ourselves before the herds dry up and they become too stingy to let us in." They would definitely be in no place to act if they did not have the strength. "We need to watch them, find out if there are any among them we might use or align ourselves with."

"But by no means," she hissed, her voice growing hard and quiet again, "By no means tell anyone of our plans. Family only."

(This post was last modified: Jul 02, 2015, 01:43 AM by Tauza.)

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@Tauza

staleek "snakeroot" calor

careful, there are snakes in the garden

He took a calming breath of the crisp and rough mountain air as his sister digressed into plans and ideas. Still, he knew better than to ignore what she was saying so he would listen, and carefully at that. Strategy had never been his forte, it had been hers. He was more of the muscle than anything and to be honest, he was perfectly okay with that. When he had called her Foxglove, she had retorted with Snakeroot, and he bit back a hiss. He was not weak, he was strong! She would speak, suggesting that they join the strange pack by the lake, and he would nod slowly, trying to figure out why they would need to while contemplating where that could get them. He made his comment and she pointed out it might not be the best idea for them to do that.

She kept his sense of planning in check, because she was the strategist and he was the warrior.

She would speak again, talking about observing and watching them before pointing out that there might be wolves they could align themselves with. This slowly made Staleek’s dark fur settle across his back. She made a point to note that no one except family should know of their plans and he remained silent for a moment before speaking up, thinking his words through for once in his impulsive life. “I’m not daft, Tauza. But… should we even tell family? It’s not like mother or Duckweed would be of use and mother would be against it. Even Ahkna could go either way; I never know where everyone else is yet. Maybe we should keep it to ourselves.” It sounded like a good idea to him, but would his sister agree.

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@Staleek
Tauza had never had never appraised Staleek's analytical brain highly. She knew he had his own strengths, as most wolves did, but she did not really understand that everyone's pluses and minuses leveled the playing field. She felt as though certain strengths were better — her strengths were better. Truly her brother was not daft, but most of that time she felt that way. The girl spoke down to him a lot for this reason, but also partly because she got a kick out of it. She talked down to nearly everyone. As of yet, it had not gotten to her into any serious trouble. A neat little smile folded the corners of her mouth.


Quickly she shook her head, "Family is only us, brother. You and me and father. That was the only family I ever had." She had wanted to count their mother, she had ached to include Belladonna into their small family. But mother only had eyes for the little weakling. She sighed. "Idunno what to do about Belladonna and the duckling yet." Lately she had taken to calling their mother by her first name rather than her given title, slipping back and forth whimsically. The lack of respect was evident.

"Duck is definitely a tattle-tail. And... Belladonna is too... go-with-the-flow if you know what I mean?" Of course he knew what she meant. She was his mother too. Though maybe Tauza had tried harder to like her, to understand her. "Though she might not even stop us, then. But I would feel them out too, the same way we would strangers." She hardly knew what to even say regarding Ahkna. To Tauza, Ahkna was a stranger and she barely understood a thing about her. Pft. Sisters..

"We should poison the lake," she whispered suddenly, as the idea suddenly sprung to mind. Poison Path. She wasn't sure that Staleek would appreciate the irony the way that she did, but figured he would like the hands-on approach. "Cause poison path, ya know? You get it? We'll poison it all."

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@Tauza

staleek "snakeroot" calor

careful, there are snakes in the garden

Everything was processed as Tauza said it an filed accordingly as he started to come up with his own thoughts. He agreed with her, not daring to consider his stranger of an older sister to be family. He considered Belladona and Duck to be family, but only in the sense of sharing blood, not a strong connection to him like Tauza or their father had shared with him. He only nodded, his slate grey eyes focusing on her with a slightly narrowed expression when she suggested poisoning the lake. He had never been one for a strong mind, they both knew that and he had proven it many times, but poisoning an entire lake with just two wolves seemed a bit difficult to do, even for him to admit.

“I don’t think that is very realistic, Tauza. Poisoning an entire lake? How could we do that?” Curiosity laced his voice as the russet colored wolf began to analyze what was actively going on around him. He understood the reference to Poison Path, but that was one hell of a message. He let out a small smile as he thought about it more. It would be pretty cool to pull off poisoning an entire lake, though he wouldn’t ever admit it aloud. What I wanna say. Tell me I'm an angel, take this to my grave. Tell me I'm a bad man, kick me like a stray. Tell me I'm an angel, take this to my grave. Plots ran through his head with no mercy, though most of them were impractical. He should probably just leave the plotting to his sister.

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@Wren you can archive it with your next post

Her brother's lack of imagination bothered her sometimes —really a lot of times. His doubtful tone inverted her expression as she gazed at him with a critical eye. "I don't know, Snake. I haven't figured that out yet!" The girl did not like to be rushed or questioned. On any given day she could have an upwards of twenty plans and by night fall have twenty different ones after discarding all the old ones. Tauza was equal parts analytical and spontaneous, but her methodology or design was usually questionable for the burgeoning statements of an idea. In a sense, she was missing a few pieces of the puzzle, but still had in her possession the very crucial corner pieces. She was very good at noticing and connecting the actions and emotions of others, but underneath it she did not have much of a why or how. Additionally, she was just a girl who still had much to discover about the world. This was often reflected in her methods. Sure, she had managed to provide Staleek with a blueprint — often forced to because otherwise his alternatives would be outlandish— but it was still incomplete, it was basic. It was enough to placate. But it would not hold up for long. "Collect data," was all she had really said. Collecting data was easy.

It was knowing what to do with it that was hard.

She considered for a moment the vastness of the lake, peering down at it from their vantage point from the Heights. "I'll think about it." And that was really the end of the conversation for her. She hoped the Staleek would not press her.

"Shall we go search for mother? Or perhaps see this other pack?"

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