Searching for Companionship

[Winged Arrow]

[shadow=teal,left,9000]Out of the shadows of the quiet forest, the lonesome pup emerged. Her coat seemed to glow in the moon's soft rays, and her eyes of silver seemed to reflect it's beauty. She was young, a pup and no more. Tanned auditories flicked back ward and foreward, slightly flopping with their size, as her stumbly puppy paws made their way to a small stream. Like the clumbsy cub she was, her legs hobbled under neith her until she got to the hardly moving trickle. Her white lips graced the edge of the stream, lapping up water greedily.
After a moment or two and her belly being full again, she sat upon her haunches and stared up at the smiling moon above her. Silver opticals glistened brightly and a gentle sniff came from out of her maw.
Why? Why had it been her? What had she done?
Questions flooded her head, and she hung her small crania almost in sorrow but more likely in thought. Her black nose sniffed at the trinket that the people had given her. The Indians who she had stayed with, had given this charm to the young wolf, in hopes of good fortune. The necklace was made out of a very strong leather material, thin, like a collar but without the feel of one. And down where an ID tag would be on an owned dog, was a gold charm of an eagle. The little eagle in mid flight dangled neatly against her puppy pelt, giving a soft glisten every time the young she-wolf moved her head and allowed Tor's rays to shine down upon it.
Slowly, the young she wolf meandered her way up the bank again to a soft grassy spot for a lie down for the night. Questions and thoughts buzzing through her head as her silvern hues closed behind their lids. The cheif of the village looked on with pride at her in her dreams, the last words before she was sent away on this journey echoing in her mind.

Be free, like the young spirit that you are, and always remember us, for we will never forget you...Winged Arrow[/shadow]

[Tren]

For some unfathomable reason, Tren had managed to roll onto his back while dozing at the foot of a large tree, and consequently, when he awoke to the sound of snuffling, he panicked, for the world had turned upside down, and what he thought should be the ground looked like the sky. Four legs scrabbling furiously as they tried to latch onto something firm, he barked out his terror. Swinging violently from side to side, he yipped in surprise once he'd realised his terrifying ordeal could have been easily remedied, and looked about himself sheepishly.

Looking bemusedly at the lupine head that appeared over the crest of the bank, he growled, nothing threatening, merely enough to display his presence, and perhaps his dominance.

[Chax]

Covered by the same soft timothy that cushioned Arrow's comfortable resting spot was a small mann, his puppy fur silk-like to the touch and neatly flattened along his chubby frame as he was tightly curled into a ball. His gray lids gently shielding his optics from the nightly world around him while he rests.

His ears twitched with the sudden movements that seemed to flicker images of reality into his dreams. Slowly the timber was awakening his eye lids fluttering until fully ready to open onto Tor's glow. Flexing his ears forward the he-varg became attentive to the quiet sounds of the casual evening, only something was different from the other nights he had spend at the streams edge, there was a stranger.

Fearful emotions flooded the gates of his actions and he sunk into the pale grass. Broad sapphire's widening with each pulsating heart beat until they could no longer grow in size. Whose there? the question pounded at the doors of his maw as he struggled to keep silent. He could feel the solitude of his position taking its toll, there was no deeply respected parent to look after him, there wasn't even a recollection of his past.

Everything was a blank slate....

[Nocturnia Diiore]

A soft grunt of disgust sounded as yet another varg noticed the unknown femme's presence. Large paws pressed perfect tracks in the snow that so brutally covered the land, and he held his head high as he neared the scent. However, the obsidian lupine soon halted, for he had scented other wolves about the land, though he snorted - they were nothing more than a silly lot of pups.

Nocturnia cast his cruel gaze about the land as he again began to pad forward, ears perked and alert, listening for any sign of two things - danger and an opportunity to feed. He wasn't as thin as most varg might be in the middle of the winter, for he hunted often and, being a kerl, didn't have to worry about pack members feeding before he did. However, he looked as if he led his own pack, for his head and tail were held high with dominance. This one had the traits of a dragga, but he hadn't any pack to lead, so he had to make up for it by carrying himself the way the proudest of varg would - stepping so that he almost seemed to glide majestically over the ground.

Steel-hued oculars narrowed, then dilated as he spotted the young she-varg, though his nostrils flared as he caught a scent of humans drifting around her. He swallowed the cowardice in him that told him to run, as most wolves would do, and walked slowly forward, head cocking as natural curiosity caught the better of him. As he neared Winged Arrow, he noted in his mind how beautiful the young she-varg was, though he also caught a glance of the strange charm that hung around her neck - had she been tamed?

Should the femme (or any of the pups around, for that matter) look up at him, she would see a heavyset body on powerful legs and muscles rippling under a jet-black pelt. He was not the type that should be taken lightly, for as he pulled his lips back to reveal his teeth, one could see many razors set in a slavering maw, supported by a jaw that seemed able to clamp down and destroy a boulder. The Mann's eyes, however, were the strangest and most interesting parts of his body, for they glowed with a light of madness, and one could hardly bear to stare straight into those steely orbs for long.

"Miss? Are you alright?" The sable pelted male crooned, edging ever closer to the body laying in the small clearing. His voice was deep and rich with a tenor tone, though Tor's rays made his onyx coat and strong bulk seem the rather malicious type. A low growl rumbled his larnyx as he again caught the humans' scent, and the hackles upon the back of his neck rose in a wildly feral fashion.

The overgrown body sat down upon its haunches as it awaited the femme's response, tongue lolling oddly from his mouth, mind hoping that she had not been tamed by the humans as their rotten hounds had, though the strange, distasteful scent that she carried nearly shot his hopes that she was still a free varg - once a wolf had been touched by a human with a gentle hand, it was hard for that wolf to turn back to the wild creature that it had been before.

[Winged Arrow]

[shadow=teal,left,9000]Slowly the cheiftan's tanned face faded into darkness, silverin hues blurring the reality that was, before everything slowly became clear in the darkness. Tor's light still shone down upon everything, but now new sounds of the night erupted everywhere. The young she-wolf sat her head up proudly, tanned auditories flicking in all directions at the new sounds. The sounds of distress, and the sounds of growling.

Her silver optics looked out across the river, as the slightly bewildered little white wolfess tried to pinpoint each identifiable sound. But her world was soon shadowed by a larger figure. Optics brightly shone as her agile crania turned to stare up upon the ebony varg before her, larger and stronger then she was by sure. The trinket around her neck jangled, as she stood upon her longer then average puppy legs shot upward, holding the young she-varg up into a standing position, her tail held high as well as her head. She did not care how large this varg was, for she was the same, only smaller. For a young cub, she held herself up like a Drappa would in a pack. Strong, sturdy and unafraid.

"I.. I am fine...sir...." She said quietly, her voice ringing out like a breeze in the summertime, for if it could, the snow around her would have melted with it's heavenly touch.

"Who..who are you? What do you want?" She asked, quite bluntly and not at all like her own self. For all her life, the young wolfess had known no other vargs. Not even her own mother. She knew not how to act with these truly wild wolves, but her curiousity was to behave like them. And since Nocturnia was closest, she decided to behave in the mannerisms he was projecting. tanned auditories stayed erect and foreward, tail curled behind her as that tiny trinket glimmered in Tor's gentle rays.

No, Winged Arrow was not tame. She never had been. Yes she had lived within a human settlement, but that was what seemed like ages ago. All the tame things she remembered was all they were, memories in dreams as she tried to figure out what her quest was in this new and strange world. She knew she was a wolf, and she knew she was suppose to be wolf, and always be wolf, to act as they were and to fit in as they do. How, was the question, how she was to do such a thing was the quest. It was like reliving her birth once more, only being concious through the whole ordeal.... [/shadow]

[Mist]

[shadow=purple,left,300]The night's bright, snowcovered landscape is broken up by shadows - everything has a shadow - Tor's shining face is revealing much of the usually dark night. Everything is still, the shadows unmoving, for there is no wind, not even a breeze to stir the barren branches that tell of the harsh winter, or the green needles of the pines. Everything, that is, except for the vargs. There are many out, greeting the full moon as their nature urges them. Many, aye, but many of those are alone.

One of those such is a dark grey fae, a proud daughter of Deor - a pack varg, aye, but a wanderer's spirit stirs her blood. Having lived in a pack all her life, she knows nothing different, but, if fate had decided differently, she could have lived well alone - depending on only herself. Even though she would have done well in that life, the one she lives is even better suited for her. With love and comfort, but also enough independence to still feel free and have enough space and time to be alone. Now is one time that she is alone; blending in with the shadows of the night, undistinguishable from her background until you see her eyes - golden orbs glowing in the darkness.

The sound of voices disturbs the perfect silence of the night, and a shadow moves. Urged by her curious nature and encouraged by her ability to move quietly, Mist pads forward in the direction of the other vargs. She stops under a large pine only paces from the two and sits down to listen. Her presence is given away by the chattering of a just-woken red squirrel, warning others of an intruder in his domain. Growling under her breath at the foolishness of the lera, Mist watches the two other vargs as they look her way, notified by the squirrel of another presence near them.[/shadow]

[Winged Arrow]

[shadow=teal,left,9000]An ear flicked almost instantaniously to the sounds in the darkness, though her eyes never left the larger male in her front. Her sharp hearing heard three distinct voices now, one growling to a lera, one in distress and one nervous. Keeping strength like she was told to have she stood tall and proud to the brute before her.

"My name...is Winged Arrow, but many call me Arrow...And you are?" She asked, her voice heavenly to the touch, and gentle as a doe's kiss, though there was a strength behind each syllable that was to much to describe. Her tail still held high, and her head hung upward in a proud stance, her chest out and her paws gripping the ground slightly in her stance. The suspended flightless trinket glistened brightly in Tor's gloriously white rays, some of those rays bouncing neatly off of the golden bird of prey and shimmering upon that of the larger male wolf before her.

Silvery hues like the moon's stars shone quietly in their sockets as she awaited for the varg before her to speak. Had she trespassed? Was she in the wrong being here? Is he here to remove her from this stream's comfortable bed? A wintery breeze blew her softly glowing white pelt, her grey and black speckles across her back wafting and seeming to disappear then reappear again within that snowy coat. Arrow was a lovely she-wolf, and she wasn't exactly completly a puppy anylonger either. Yes, she was young, but she wasn't as young as the other's she heard here. It was true, this was her first winter snow, but she was slightly taller then the average pup would have been. Not a whelp, not a strapping young adolescent, just somewhere in between. Her tail was long and feathered, her body long and agilic. Her crania was aerodinamic, and her legs were fairly long and beginning to take the shape of a lanky appearance. She was obviously beginning to change into a wolfess fit to be running, leaping and swerving between the trees and shrubbery in the wood's forests. [/shadow]

[Nocturnia Diiore]

The larger varg snorted as he was alerted by Mist's presence, for the chattering squirrel was an easy sign of a varg. His head slowly turned to focus upon the area of the squirrel's restlessness, eyes narrowing in agitation. Without warning, the sable male let out a deep bark that nearly seemed to shake the snow from the trees and rustle the heavens; the squirrel was rather annoying, and a noise so loud and sudden would surely put an end to the lera's meaningless noise. A look of complete satisfactory crossed his emotion as he heard the tree-rodent's squabble no more, cranium turning back to Arrow with a look of one gone mad in his steel orbs.

"Mmm.. Arrow. Perhaps I might later be pleased to have met you, but this is not likely, especially considering how.. small and useless you look to be. My birthname is Nocturnia, but call me what you please. You have spent time with humans and that makes you an outcast among varg - what could one such as yourself be wandering the forests for? Did your human's hound get jealous and decide to snap and threaten until you left? Disgusting lot, truly.." Nocturnia glared hellwards at the femme as he spoke, words backed up by a powerful, almost commanding voice. It could also easily be known that he wasn't the most polite varg in all the world, but he grew up around a bitter life, so what had he to be gentle and friendly about?

Again, the obsidian Mann's eyes darted to Mist's location, growling deeply as the scent of the Dragga of the Deor pack found him. Shaking his head to get the disgusting reminder that Thunder was still alive out of his head, he huffed lightly, laying down near Arrow. One could see blood matting his coat on his underside, just near his ribcage, but he hurriedly covered this up.

Nocturnia looked slightly guilty as he cast his cruel gaze away from Arrow, finding that he rather disliked the odd thing about her neck. With irritation, he began to mumble to himself, saying random things about humans and their horridity. A strange one though he may be, the jet male's mind was observant, and natural curiosity played a large role in his wandering, nomad-like life. Finally, his curiosity got the best of him, and he leaned in quite close to Arrow, licking at the golden charm around her neck, charting the taste down in his mind for his own insane reasons. What was it and why did she have it? A human had given it to her, hadn't he?

[Winged Arrow]

[shadow=teal,left,9000]A leap backwards would ensue after Nocturnia's defiantly rude words. Her tanned auditories flicked backward aswell and a growl came to her maw. Useless? Useless!? Her? Certainly not. Even as young as she was, she could hunt for herself, and take care of herself quite easily.

"I am not useless Nocturnia, much more use then an old feeble varg like you would be. I am fast and stealthy like the shadows of the night, and am much easier on the eyes then your mangy pelt." She growled, but her voice was not entirely threatening. It was more playful and sarcastic, appendage swishing cockily behind her in a light manor. Her black and grey spotted back whished to and fro, as those auds continued to stay flat against her agile crania. Nimble legs danced lightly as she circled the older male, no longer afraid, no longer worried of the other voices around, of the lera and the other three vargs lying in the shadows.

"I did not belong to, to the humans. They belonged to me. They were the ones worshipping me, and as a tribute to me they gave me this trinket about my neck. I did as I pleased in their village, and I was sent away on a journey not because the other hounds disliked me. They respected me for being something they were not." She replied trumphantly, and feeling esspecially playful, she pounced atop him, her paws landing neatly upon his back as her head faced the same way his did. Her front legs stretched foreward easily and were placed with a soft thud upon the top of his shaggy head, parting his ears slightly but no more then the tiniest bit. Her voice continued to be heavenly, and as sweet as a doe's kiss to her fawn. Her tail wagged with glee behind her, her head held high to match it. Her curiousity was never ending and quietly as she lay upon his back, her paws resting upon his head she asked, her head tilted slightly with her larger then puppyish body.

"How come I am of no use to you? What use would I be to you if I was? Why am I an outcast among vargs? Why are humans disgusting? Don't you live with humans too? Or have they sent you away upon a journey aswell?" She asked, her silverin hues glinting like the stars above them. So many questions flooded from her maw, for this was the first truly wild wolf she had ever met. She had only known of a human's village and everything about this new world was alien to her. Even the wildlife.[/shadow]

[Nocturnia Diiore]

Nocturnia snarled as the playful youth leapt atop him, though he simply stayed standing, staring straight ahead. With a deep grumble, he lay upon the snow with Arrow on his back, feeling suddenly like a playground. His tail lowered and he sighed, rolling his eyes at all of the foolish questions her 'tamed' mind had come up with.

"Wolves don't live with humans - you're just a crazy oddball who was raised wrong. My gods, you ask far too many questions - learn from the world around you. I cannot answer everything you want to know. And, please.. Get off my back." The strong varg bucked slightly upon the ground as he finished his words, hoping that his son would not come into the clearing and see Arrow atop him - he couldn't bear the thought of seeing Mandarb's jealous eyes looking his way ever again.

Without warning, Nocturnia sat up, knowing that the strange she-varg would not be able to grip his sides and stay atop him. He licked his lips hungrily before he looked about, for he was rather hungry - refraining from eating for three suns does wonders to a kerl's stomach, especially during such a bothersome winter as this.

"Besides, who are you to ask questions? Varg have never wandered near to humans before, so it should be the rest of the world asking you the questions. You are of no use to me because.. well, what use is a femme when you're not her mate?" His nose twitched as he acknowledged her questions about his being with humans, and he shook his head, ears pinning back slightly. "Listen.. wolves never go near humans. They think us brutal beasts who do nothing but go about killing their kind and livestock - this is not entirely true at all, for they have enough food to share with us, and we stay quite clear of their territories. It's not right to mingle with them, understand? This is why we stay away, for they are the rulers, and they have conquered the world with their genius." Though afraid of humans Nocturnia sounded to be, he seemed to know an awful lot about humans.

[Winged Arrow]

[shadow=teal,left,9000]Slowly young Arrow slid off of Nocturnia's back, his ebony coat slipping out from beneath her paws as she plopped upon her rump behind him. Quiet she stood up again and rounded to the front of him, listening intently to his words.

"You say humans are evil? But why are they this way? I have lived with humans because my wretched wolven mother abandoned me for my silvery hues and glowing white coat. I do not even remember her. If it is humans who are evil, then why does a wolven mother abandon her only daughter?" She growled, anger in her voice this time, as she stared blankly upon her paws. She could not even remember her mother's deviled face. As much as she tried in her dreams and when her eyelids were closed, her mother's face eluded her.

"Have you ever tried to enter a human's village? You should have come to my village, my cheiftan would have fed your belly until you could not walk for five days." Winged Arrow replied softly, her tail flicking gently behind her again as her silvery hues reverted upwards at the taller varg before her. Her ears were pressed foreward again, she was listening to every word he said. But her heart sank slowly when he mentioned how she asked far to many questions.

"I am sorry Nocturnia...but you must excuse me, as I have never met a truly wild wolf before....you are a wild wolf aren't you?" She asked, though not meaning to end her appology in a question. [/shadow]

[Nocturnia Diiore]

Nocturnia sighed once more, shrugging as he felt the wound in his chest pain him once more. He had received it from a different clan of humans, a group that was not on such friendly terms with wolves. Looking away from Arrow's curious eyes, he shook his head, making his sleek coat ruffle in the slight breeze he'd created amongst himself.

"I suppose that if what you call wild is a wolf that has never been near humans in his life, then yes. Most humans don't like wolves because they do not understand us, and varg fear humans because we do not understand them. Misunderstandings can lead to pain and death, when truly entire wars could be avoided if only the participants had understood each other; do you understand?" His ears pinned to his head, for he disliked speaking of the rotten devils - they had hurt and killed so many in his life that he had come to despise them with a severe hatred.

The overgrown wolf looked up at the sky, eyes staring up at the magnificent eye of Tor, wondering how long it would be until Fenris chased his mate's shadows away with the brilliant daylight that his eye shone during the daytime. He was rather lonely until Arrow had been scented, and now he had wished he wouldn't have ever found her, for he didn't fancy remembering what humans had done to him.

"Your mother.. She was probably one such as I and my son, one touched by madness. It is a gift for those who use it right, but she could have been led down the wrong path - it's quite possible. Or, like I said before, she might have abandoned you because you were different and she was afraid of you, afraid to understand. Really, the last possibility that I can think of is that she could have disliked your father - whoever he is - and might have left you for dead because you were of his blood.. I'm not sure. There is a myriad of possibilities, you know."

[Winged Arrow]

[shadow=teal,left,9000]"I suppose that is true..." Arrow whispered gently, her tail swishing lightly behind her, before she looked up at the larger Nocturnia gently. Her ears stayed foreward with interest. A sigh escaped her maw gently, and her maw turned to Tor aswell. Already she was beginning her decent into the wester horizon, and the darkness of the night was slowly receeding from her borders. Violet streaked through the sky lightly, slowly becoming brighter and brighter with each passing moment. A yawn escaped the young wolven femmes maw, showing her small canines, white as her fur. Her silver eyes blinked with the coming of the day, for now she had stayed up most of the night, and had gotten little sleep. But her curiousity of this wolf kept her awake.

"Nocturnia, why is it you came to this place? If I may ask of course." She asked gently, her head turning toward him again as the stream before them began to lighten with Fenris's slowly flying lights. Tor's face was soon to be hidden behind to many tree tops to be seen anylonger, and her stars were quietly disappearing to make way for the brightest of them to appear.[/shadow]

[Nocturnia Diiore]

Nocturnia couldn't help but smile as he took in her question, looking down as he thought about it. Why had he come here? It was a good question, and he couldn't quite grasp a solid answer to it. The sable lupine's handsome face glanced about, looking for any sign of why he might have wandered into the clearing. Once he realised he couldn't find anything on the landscape, his gaze rested upon Arrow, and he let another warm smile wash over his emotion.

"I came here, perhaps, because I scented a varg who carried man's scent along with her. Some part of me wanted to learn who this was, why she was here, and if she was among humans or not. Instead, I found a wonderful soul that seems to be full to the top with questions, willing to share her story to the world if it meant understanding the lives of the Wild Ones, the true varg." Nocturnia looked away as he finished, feeling rather ashamed that Arrow hadn't gotten the chance to be free as she grew. He actually shook his head in disgust, for a wolf should not live with humans - it was unnatural and against the law of nature.

A low growl sounded as he looked in the directions of the other scents around them, his powerful body flexing every now and then so that it wouldn't cramp. He looked once more into Arrow's eyes, feeling that he might be able to understand this femme yet. Blinking, he finally realised something that he hadn't quite thought about yet - she was a beautiful creature, and would soon grow gorgeous if Tor and Fenris allowed her to live with her sin, but who would care for her?

[Winged Arrow]

[shadow=teal,left,9000]"Oh.." Arrow's one word escaped her maw quietly, and her silverin eyes looked away from Nocturnia quietly. Her tanned ears flicked foreward neatly, her tail wagging. She obviously had no problem being who she was, and she smiled happily at the thought of being who she was. Standing up she pounced off of the bank and splashed into the crystaline stream before her, her paws soaking in the now reddening waters. A giggle escaped her maw when she looked back at Nocturnia's slightly saddened face.

"Nocturnia, I am glad you found me. I am quite alone here, and you answered many of my questions about the wild wolf, questions I couldn't have answered on my own. Thank you." She said kindly, her voice touched with heaven's light again as her tail wagged furiously behind her. She was young yes, but she was still a cub in her actions. But her smile soon faded and her tail slowly began to droop. Her silvery hues glinted slightly as she stopped her play in the waters, and turned toward the large male in confusion, that trinket about her neck glinting again with the change in position.

"Nocturnia? What is wrong? Why do you look so worried?" SHe asked, reading his facial features as he had looked away from her gaze. Had she done something? If so, what had she done? Could she fix it?[/shadow]