The calm before the storm.. [Della]

[Tadao]

Night would fall in a few hours. But in the meantime, the sun flared as a fiery orb an inch above the horizon, shrouded ominously by deep purple clouds. He remembered days such as this, when the sun seemed itself a ticking clock, ticking away his and his siblings' playtime. They desperately tried to squeeze in as many games as possible into that little time before they would have to retreat to their den to sleep. But that had been long ago, and a few fond memories were all that he had of it.

He stood atop a cliff overlooking the valley and the sun, and raised his muzzle to the air. A bad storm was brewing, and he didn't even have to look at the forbidding clouds about to envelop the sun to know that. He could sense the tingle of the lightning in the air already, feel the moisture gathering in the air. The male wolf was large for his age, but not massive. His abundance of fur made him seem much bigger than he was, the fur itself being as pure of a white as Tor herself, marred only by a line of light brown fur running from his nose to his ruff, then from behind his shoulder blades all the way to his tail. His eyes, sharp and wary, were a beautiful shade of dark blue, the very color of the midnight sky. His head, ears and tail were held high, showing no submission to anyone.

The storm was coming.. he had to seek shelter before it came. He turned and trotted into the expanse of trees behind him, silently padding through the forest. He knew not that he was upon anyone's packlands, but frankly he didn't care either. He was an independent, lone wolf, in need of noone but himself. He had learned to rely on himself and his instincts from an early age, and had learned never to trust anyone. Odds were that if you got close enough to love and trust someone, you'll have your heart broken when they let you down.

Sharp gaze wandered along the horizon, and he saw no sign of shelter but a few caves. But he scented other wolves, so he assumed that a pack lived here. He snorted and turned, stopping for a moment and continuing his search with his eyes.

OoC|| Sorry if it's terrible, Raine my love. Still trying to get used to my Tadao. <3

[Della]

The dark clouds hung over the land ominously, making it clear that at any moment they’d be ready to shed their load and drench Transylvania in another wild summer storm. To make their presence even more bold, they’d rumble with tentative vibrations of thunder, growing ever louder; ever closer.

The still afternoon held promise for the pup, as she trotted along between the trees, her red-brown pelt blending in decently with the murky forest floor, dark roots, and tree trunks. Her camouflage was broken only by passing the green and luscious foliage that sprouted sporadically from the fertile soil around her. And, for once, Della was interested in how well she was able to disappear in her environment, for she was coming of age quickly, and her stomach was beginning to ache and churn for meat; a hunger that distracted her from her continuous play and lured her toward adult life.

Della was uncomfortable in the body she was growing into, for her proportions were off and made everyday things like walking and pouncing awkward. Her ears looked like that of a rodent, they took up so much of her head. Her snout was beginning to define itself, sharpening to what one day would be a sturdy point, equipped with a soft and leathery nose that would be expert at everything a proud wolf would need to survive. Muscles were beginning to form under her sleek and darkening pelt, rippling and evolving with every step she took. The cub’s paws were far too big for her, and made her look rather foolish as she ambled through the woods.

But her approaching puberty wasn’t Della’s main thought at the moment. Right now, she was on the hunt; searching for some sort of small Lera she could prey upon. Alice was tired, and was far too hungry herself to take the time to scout out food for her fostered daughter, so the youngster decided to set out and give it a try on her own. However, so far, her luck was rotten, for her abilities were still non-existent. Whenever she finally found a hare or a mouse, it would only take moments for them to be able to detect her presence as she fumbled for them, and they darted out of sight; leaving poor Della’s stomach to only whine more.

Heaving a great sigh, Della slumped herself against the trunk of a tree and looked up through the canopy above her, observing the clouds with a mix of emotions. As relieving as these summer storms were, she was tired of straining herself through the mud and slosh it created, and was sure that if they became any more violent, the lakes and streams would surely flood. The child was willing to put up with a little humidity to keep the terrain in tact. Watching the clouds meander somberly across the sky, Della shut her eyes hard and took a deep breath in, readying herself to pray a few of her thoughts to the heavens.

However, she was distracted as she suddenly took in the familiar scent of wolf. Someone else must have been wandering around her while she was too preoccupied to pick them out. Swiveling her ears in a new interest, Della let out a small bark that would hopefully carry out to the stranger. If her nose was right, they were close.

[Tadao]

Despite his intentions to stay quiet as he wandered through the unfamiliar territory, he was being louder than usual in his haste. Those flashes of lightning and peals of roaring thunder were far too ominous to ignore. Tadao hated storms. He wasn't afraid of them, as a pup might be, but he disliked them. They created torrents of mud to mat his fur, for one.

Darker wolves may not have to worry about mud staining their coats, but his fur was of the purest of whites, wich meant that every little speck that didn't belong there was highly visible. The stripe along his snout and down his back helped, but not much. Second, he had seen wolves die in his lifetime due to the fiery terror that was a lightning strike. There was only a split second of warning before the deafening crash and the air heated up as hot as Fenris himself. He shuddred at the memory, and turned his attention back to the situation at hand.

He sighed, and turned his gaze to the sky again, just in time to see a flash of forked lightning. He winced, sensing that this crash of thunder would be a loud one. He was right, and the sound seemed to shake the earth beneath him. But as the silence returned once more, he heard something else. He halted his progress, listening. It sounded like little, padding paws. He smelled the other wolf, a pup from the hint of grass and mud with its scent, along with the mixed scents of what could be either a pack or a family or both. The yip, though, was unexpected, and he jumped, causing a twig to snap loudly. He cursed mentally, if the pup hadn't sensed him before, it surely did now. So what to do? He surely didn't want to talk to an annoying little wolfling's jabber.. but he needed shelter.

No way, no chance that he was relying on a local pack. Too risky. But a pup.. perhaps he or she would know of a place nearby that he could take refuge. Another crash of thunder ensued, and it began to sprinkle. No time to think it through. He answered the little one's yip with a gruff, low bark of his own, and then waited.

[Della]

A loud, rumbling clap of thunder roared through the trees, sending a soft vibration across the forest floor, and before Della could even blink, the dribbling starts of rain began to sprinkle from the sky. The drizzle made a comforting pitter-patter rhythm as it caught on the canopy, and only a mist was able to sneak it’s way through and wet the cub. This storm was going to be a big one, and that made Della anxious. She wanted to go home; go back to Koran, and sleep past the shrouds of water and crackling lightning in the comfort of a den, snuggled up warmly against Alice’s belly.

The youngster knew she couldn’t walk away from the stranger she had just offered her voice to, though. She was growing into a fine, proud wolf, and to turn her back for as small a reason as comfort and a slightly drier pelt could only be considered unloyal and shallow toward her fellow Varg. As the stranger responded in a male’s bark, Della swiveled her ears and thrust her nose into the air, scouting him out from amongst the fading twilight and underbrush.

It turned out that he wasn’t hard to spot, for he was a crisp white that stood out terribly against his forest surroundings. Lowering her tail, Della approached, and, looking up at the stranger who was now inches away, smiled.

“Hello! My name’s Della. You smell like you don’t come from ‘round here.” The cub still was inexperienced at proper etiquette, and her greetings were far from formal, and oftentimes came off as offensive or blunt and got her into trouble. Another roar of thunder rolled over them; this one so loud it caused Della to start a little. She looked upwards as the rain began to fall quicker and harder, quickly turning into something fierce, as summer storms had the reputation to do.

She averted her gaze back to the arctic stranger once more. “These kinda storms don’t last long, trust me.” She said, lapping up a bit of water that was beginning to drip from her chin. “They're really nice, though! Only the lake and river might flood, is all. And there’s lots of mud…” She trailed off, feeling it already begin to squish between her toes.

“…But that’s fun to play in!” She giggled, her green eyes twinkling in pup-like innocence.

[Tadao]

He listened as the cub recieved his bark, and stood up much straighter as it.. she.. appeared. The pup was feminine, to be sure, and in that stage between puphood and yearling. Had he been around a pack his whole life, Tadao might have thought the little one cute. But his heart hardened and he forced his instinct to be nice to the little one aside.

The sound of water splashing on water appeared with the pup, telling him that the pup was already soaked from standing out there with him. Somewhere a jolt of respect came, but he shoved it away with a low growl.

"Mud.. great.." he muttered under his breath. Soon the white wolf would be all brownish-grey. Lovely. He noted the way the little one spoke, and sensed that she was most likely still naive of the ways of the world. She was very trusting, which Tadao had found would get a wolf in trouble. He forced himself to smile though, and he stepped forward to look into her green orbs with his own blue.

"Hello, I was just wondering if there was a place nearby.. perhaps a hiding place or something that I could wait out the storm in. Do you know of such a place?" He forced himself to speak slower than normal, even if his meant-to-be pleasant voice was still curt and intimidating. His eyes were wide as though he were kindly looking upon her, but trepidation glittered behind the veil of his eyes.

[Della]

As the storm continued to worsen, the umbrella the canopy created for them began to weaken as the branches bent with the relentlessness of the water and forceful gusts. A shiver traveled down Della’s spine as nature soaked her, and the temperature dropped considerably. In her life she had yet to experience a storm so heavy and forceful, and it created a feeling of mild panic and fear in her. Looking up timidly at the sky, the pup swallowed hard and turned her attention back to the stranger.

She knew that he was tougher when he avoided sharing his name, even though Della had eagerly offered hers. There was a rough and exotic air to this stranger that lent the child’s imagination to believe that he had traveled far and long before he arrived here. It excited her, and caused copious amounts of questions to bubble up inside of her, sprawling continuously from her thoughts and working furiously to become words. This new wolf was a mystery for her to solve; the beginning of a path to another adventure she could embark on.

And of course, Della couldn’t resist the opportunity to try and unlock what might be a bottomless chest of knowledge and new things. Another bellow of thunder echoed across the forest, shaking the youngster to her core, and brought the thought of shelter for her and her new stranger to the front of her mind. Pulling back her ears, she squinted and looked about her, trying to think of the various hiding places she had familiarized herself with during her play.

“Yeah, mmhmm! There’s someplace near here; I’ll show you.” Della said, slightly absently as she tried to decipher the forest around her and think of a safe place to house him. Della knew that if she strolled into Koran territories (where she knew there were dry, deep dens to hide out in) he would be chased out or, with his attitude, even hurt.

“Follow me.” She said, getting up quickly as a clap of thunder cackled ominously across the sky and urged Della’s mind to jog itself. Padding along the sinking forest floor, she started to head into parts of the woods where she knew there would be ample places to shield them from the downpour.

[Tadao]

The sky seemed to roar like an angry lion every time the lightning forked across the sky, and the wind and rain ripped at his pelt like claws. If the wolven hadn't been soaked before, he sure was now. His once-shining pure white fur was dulled to a lighter grey, being wet, and his dark eyes were narrowed against the wind while still watching his companion. He showed no concern for the pup, no fatherly instincts that told him that the pup should be indoors before something happened to her. He seemed to show no emotion at all, his furred face blank as he looked to her.

He watched as the pup winced, and her fear was apparent. The apparent restraint in her instinct to duck and seek shelter for herself was to be respected for sure, she was apparently raised (or being raised, he added to himself silently) by someone who believed in politeness to a stranger and putting others before themselves. Some wolves would find such noble, but Tadao had to admit that he did not feel the same of himself. Years of taking care of himself and noone else and the lack of anyone that he loved in his life did that to him, morphing and warping his spirit to what it was now.


Nevertheless, he appreciated the gesture as she told him that she knew of a place, after she had thought for a moment, and trotted off with the apparent intent for him to follow her. He paused a moment, looked to the now darkening sky, a combination of night falling and the storm's coming. He snorted and shook his head as a raindrop went in his nose. He pawed at it once, then sniffed and followed the young pup, wondering where she was taking him. He hoped that she was not taking him to her family's den; he didn't wish to spend his night under the scrupulous, judgemental eyes of a pack or a family. Nor did he wish to be 'recruited.' He sighed, following her with his head ducked slightly against the gale.

OoC|| Bleh.. terrible post and short. Sorry, my mind is not at its best today.. and I'm still getting used to doing a darker sort of character. I've done good charas and evil ones, but none in between. Sorry if it's not my usual best. =/

[Della]

^{OoC|You're doing wonderfully! Ahaha, anti-heroes are my favourite types to play. Also, sorry my posts are so short...I kind of ran out of things to say. X=}

As night began to unfold, teaming with the storm to create a terrible visibility, Della’s eyes kicked in, flashing as they adjusted to the dark, as wolves’ vision is blessed to do. Scouting through the night with her nose to the ground, the cub was having trouble sniffing out familiaralities in the dense forest. The relentless hammering of the storm was beginning to shift things on the forest floor; washing away the strengths of scents and covering them with the strong smell of earth and mud. The faintness made Della feel lost and unsure of herself, and she stopped her tracking, tail between her legs, to try and rediscover where she had led them.

“Sorry…” She murmured, embarrassed in front of this stranger, who she was probably wasting the time of. “I…The rain’s washing out the scents.” The pup sniffed around for a long while, leading herself in circles as she slowly began to pick out the intricate trails of smell. Looking up again with a big, wet smile, Della shot a glance back at the foreigner and leapt away through the trees excitedly.

“Come on!” She called, regaining her hyper-activity once more. Della’s tail sprang into the air and her eyes lit up as she dashed through the trees at a hearty pace, finding it hard to keep her speed in check. (She didn’t want to leave the white wolf behind.) It didn’t take long before she had weaved a tight path across the forest and landed them at the entrance of a cave. It’s mouth was narrow and dark, but Della had sheltered in it’s depths many times, for her and Shadow, her great friend, had stumbled upon it while exploring the forest one day. The child knew every inch well and quickly shrouded herself in the shadows it provided, panting happily.

Her eyes gleamed, catching the faint bits of outside light as she sat at the cave’s opening, beckoning the stranger in. “This is it! It’s safe!” She called out, creating puddles underneath her paws as the water began to river off of her fur, settling and allowing it to dry.

[Tadao]

He watched as she adjusted to her surroundings with emotionless eyes, seeming to want to snicker when she had difficulty with her scents because of the rain. Never mind that he had been as thus when he was a pup, but then he was on his on by the time that he had hit her age. He supposed that was the reason for his lack of the 'worry' gene for pups, that he had not grown fond of anyone in his life save the so-called family that did not come looking for him when he had run away.

That there were other elements involved did not cross his mind in the least, but at the very least he had the hope that he was wrong and that his parents had wanted to come looking for him, or even that they looked and could not find him. A dull, haunted cast crossed his eyes that now matched the deep, dark sky above in midnight blue. But it was gone soon after it came, his expression becoming carefully blank once more.

He followed the overenthusiastic pup at a slow trotting pace, refusing to go any faster. But even as he was wmoving slower, he kept sight of her wagging tail as his steps were larger than hers. As she entered the mouth of the cave and disappeared, he faltered in mid-step, hesitating for a moment as he looked the cave over and sniffed the air. He could not tell because of the rain if anyone lay inside other than the pup. He took a deep breath, held his head higher, and trotted in.

To his relief, the cave was empty save the wolfling, who was overly happy and triumphant that she had found what he guessed to be her secret little refuge spot. He and his sister had had one of those when he was young, after all, and pups hadn't changed that much in the summers since his birth.

He surveyed the cave from top to bottom in exercised wariness, finding nothing that needed worrying about. That being done, he retreated a short distance and shook his fur abruptly, sending water droplets everywhere. He then kicked each one of his paws as though to dry them too, and he returned to the wolflet. "My thanks for the shelter," he replied curtly, in an almost emotionless voice that did not sound in the least thankful. He settled back on his haunches, still glancing occasionally at the entrance to the rest of the cave beyond.

OoC|| Sorry it took so long to reply!! I was sooo busy with the start of school and all.... Can you evah forgive meh???

[Della]

^{OoC}I'm so sorry it took so long. Busy, busy life! I'll try to get my replies in faster from now on. Love ya!}

Della shook off her coat, splattering the walls with oil-tainted rain, and giving the inside of the cave a strong, musty scent. Moving herself away from the puddle she had made, the youngster sat near the mouth of the cave, using her tongue and flexibility to clean off the mud that had stuck to her in their wild flee for shelter.

Finishing up her bath, the pup licked her chops sloppily and chewed away the last grains of mud from between her new adult teeth. Perking her ears in wild curiosity, Della caught wind of the harmonious rhythm the storm outside was creating, and it calmed her hyper-excited mind for a moment. The relentless pounding on the cave walls and tree trunks created the hard; creating a steady beat and keeping time while the streams trickling off of the canopy and plunking onto the muddy ground melded with the scurrying Lera filled in the intricate details.

However, it didn’t take her one-tracked and young brain to break out if it’s complacent reverie and focus on what she believed was the topic at hand; the stranger she was so proud to have saved.

Turning back to him, tail held forgetfully high and shaking in it’s anticipation to wag, Della’s eyes glimmered with a keen thirst for knowledge. As formalities had already been set aside yards back, she jumped right into the questions.

“So, where are you from? You can’t be from around here, with that bright coat. Why d’ya have that stripe down your back, anyway? Never seen a Varg with that before.” She was painfully casual and the words flew off her tongue in a flurry. Della had become used to being around strange wolves, as that was how she was introduced to the world, and her outgoing nature was how she happened across who was now her mother. Even though her exuberant personality had gotten her into terrible and narrowly escaped incidences, none of them were enough to keep her from holding in the questions that constantly burned, ready to burst out the moment she had an available ear.

Sitting down across from her victim, the cub took a moment to admire his figure, for he was a proud Varg indeed. His muscles and worn soul showed through his shimmering wet coat, which drooped with the dirty weight it was carrying. Eyes twinkling in awe, she bit her lip and waited for his responses so she could throw more questions at him.

[Tadao]

Tadao imitated the pup in giving himself a bath, stopping only to scratch at a flea or two that were ailing him, the fleas apparently clinging to the warmth of his coat to keep out of the wet. This would not do, so he shook off again, then returned to his licking the mud from his coat. As his tongue took away mud, his pure white pelt began to show as clearer and brighter little by little. Mostly the mud had gathered around his paws where he had tromped through the muddy water and his chest and back where the rain had dripped from the trees. His tail, as well, had been exposed to the same treatment.

Naturally, he could not get all of the foreign color from his fur until he took an actual bath in a clean stream or lake, but it would do for now, as he sat back on his haunches, waiting to dry, watching the pup with expressionless eyes.

He would have just rested, but obviously the pup.. Della, was it? She seemed to have other plans. He took a deep breath, appearing to steel himself before he decided to humor her.

"I am from up north, where it is colder. It is needful up there to blend in with snow, so over time we became lighter of coat. And I was born with the stripe. I don't know why I have it. I just do." If one were careful, one might detect a slight bit of annoyance in his tone. But he seemed to hide it well as he looked to the pup, his tail switching back and forth in impatience.

He glanced again to the cave's mouth, watching as the rain continued to fall despite the fact that it was getting darker. The thunder rumbled like some irritated wolf, imitating hi s mood beneath his apparently unfeeling surface. Kids made him nervous. Well, nervous wasn't the word. Uneasy, perhaps? Or they just flat annoyed him. And this particular one, he thought as he looked back to her, seemed to be well on her way to annoying him. It was going to be a looong night.

OoC|| We're seeming to trade off, eh? I promise it won't be this long before I get to reply again.. the hurricane kinda complicated things and it took a while to get back into the groove of daily routine again. Plus, my unsympathetic professors are all like 'ah, let's cram everything in instead of taking off some of what we missed!' Soo yeah.

[Della]

^{OoC|AAAA I know! I won't take as long next time. Life's been catching up on me. I'm so sorry! Love you! Also sorry this post isn't that good. Bit of a writer's block lately.}

Della’s eyes glittered and danced in the ever-moving shadows; shifting as the rain created a texture to the air and heavy claps of lightning split the atmosphere. Through the thunderous, pelting weather she was experiencing during her first summer, it was slowly engraining itself into the youngster’s mind that summer was, indeed, a season of unforgiving rain. Her thoughts sent off a quick question to Fenris, wondering to him why they were being flushed with so much heavy weather.

Her mind did not stay on Him for long, however. It was almost completely enveloped in this foreigner. She watched him closely as he cleansed himself, her eyes bearing down intrusively on his every mood. And when he finally spoke, the cub’s ears perked in delight.

“Ooooh.” She said in a revolutionary excitement, nodding her head with a wild awe.

“What’s the north like? I never heard of what it was like ever. Alice never really told me much about anything past here. Prob’ly acuz I never asked. But that doesn’t matter; what’s it like?” The questions jumbled about in her head, blurting out of her mouth the minute they appeared.

Della, tired of the spray catching her from sitting next to the entrance of the cave, moved further into the cave, planting herself directly across from the northern wolf, and continuing with her steady flow of questions.

“Do they worship Tor and Fenris there? I heard that in a lot of places they don’t which I don’t get. Tor and Fenris are nothing but great to their mighty Varg and protect us from Wolfbane. Don’t you agree?”

Her appreciation in her religion was almost ignorant, and gave her an even more childish, blissful air. The cub was very proud of her expeditions and deeds led in the name of her grateful deities, and had spat venomous words when anyone even mentioned the shadowy nightmare that was Wolfbane. Hellish dreams and gory hallucinations had personified the demon as one of her realest threats, and kept her eyes toward the skies; praying daily to her gods.

[Tadao]

Tadao was learning quickly that the child was an annoyance. She talked so quickly that he was barely able to understand what she was saying half the time, and so most of what she said was ignored by the pure white varg. His deep eyes wandered from the brightly hued pup in front of him to the cave's entrance. His gaze flicked back as she seemed to bounce lightly on the pads of her paws, and he tried to keep a neutral face as he looked to her coldly.

"Cold. The north is cold." He knew that this was not a very detailed description, but it appeared that 'cold' was all that the pup was going to get. His tail flicked to and fro again as he watched her.

At her mention of Tor and Fenris, and Wolfbane, his eyes clouded over, and it appeared as if his eyes had become chips of ice as he looked to the pup. He had been like her once, faithfully following his pack's religion.. how would she know any different? This was all that she knew.

Still.. the mention of the gods brought a low rumble to his chest, a half-growl. "My birth-pack did worship Tor and Fenris.. but I do not." The first part of his reply was spit at the youngling, and he began to pace back and forth in front of her. "Why should I? Tor never took care of me.. Fenris was never with me. They didn't care then and they still don't care now. Why should I offer praise to the so-called great and mighty gods that never cared about me? They're supposed to care about every varg, whether great or small. Not me. Never me. So, to answer your question, no, I don't worship them."

He stopped his pacing, eyes blazing as he looked to the young one. He sat once more, further away from the wolflet and angled with his face away from her wide, innocent eyes.

[Della]

^{ooC|Heyo, Kristin! Don't worry; I didn't forget about ol' Tadao! I kind of took a brake from this site due to my own busy life, but expect on more often, and to ACTUALLY post on time ahaha.}

Della was drawn aback by the wolf’s coldness to the greatest protectors, and she felt her heart sink discouragingly in her chest at his faithlessness. A shiver ran up her spine; little pinpricks of pity for the northerner, for something truly grave must have happened in his life to turn him so strongly against the Gods. Her tail sunk between her legs, more in sadness than anything, and the pup let out a small cooing sound.

“Why do you think that? Tor and Fenris arethere for every Varg, no matter how small or mighty! Why, I’m sure they’ve helped you through lots of things. I even bet they lead you to me to help you find shelter!”

A triumphant smile lit up her face, and her aura began to glow decidingly stronger at the thought.

“I mean, ya just gotta look for it! Do you look for it?”

Continuously she prodded, digging her way deeper in the stranger’s mind with as much wisdom and cunning as she could muster. (Which, minding her age, wasn’t all that much.) As she grew older and more and more treacheries and cold winters blew her way, the grandeur of believing so strongly and unquestioningly in her gods would lose its wonder. Like any growing wolf, she’d be beaten down by the world enough to turn those flawless idols into mere ideas, floating around in the back of her mind and floundering out in everyday vocabulary and half-hearted prayer. But for now…For now she had her faith, and it fueled her well, and when something brings you so much happiness, it’s natural to want so badly for the whole world to see it.

And, even if it was dripping with naiveté and ignorance, that was all the pup was trying to do for her foreigner; give him something beautiful to believe in. It truly was a youngster’s duty to help us realize that humanity still exists in the world.

Della’s tail was back up now, wagging idly in wait for his answer; ready to hear some defeated babbling so she could strike with stories of glory she had been told; help the northerner to realize Tor and Fenris’ brilliance and revel with him.