Broken Antler Fen She's got a smile

Years ago Osprey had first set foot in the Teekon wilds in order to start life anew and many adventures, friendships and valuable lessons later she now with a family of her own had left the place. She had shared the tales of her numerous journeys with her kids, picturing them as exciting, colorful and amazing, never mentioning the other side of the adventurer's coin. One which included loneliness and having no idea, what would the next day ring.

During the first weeks in the wilds Wraen had often asked herself a question, whether mother too had felt the loss of home and friends so acutely as she did, and then thinking that perhaps not, because Osprey had always left voluntarily. With her heart intact. Many times - when it got unbearably hard - Wraen wished mom or dad could be there to comfort her, to tell that things would turn for the better. They were not and therefore the only witnesses for the young girl's tears were the moon and the trees. 

She had thought that perhaps distance between her and that problem she had left at home would make a difference, but even after all this time it didn't seem to have changed much, grown a little worse even. And yet every morning she woke up, with the resolve that today she will put the past behind her and move on and tried very hard to occupy her mind with something else rather than trying to figure out, how could she have dealt with things differently.

Sometimes it worked and on the day, when she caught scent of wolves nearby, she all but forgot about the reasons why she had left the pack. Wraen's joy to speak to another of her kind, meeting wolves again was overwhelming. There she stood amidst the wide open fields, trying to decide, which way to go now, who to seek out.

As a young wolf, well, younger than she was now, Genie had never been much of a wanderer unlike her friends and her brother. She had always preferred to stay within the packlands and learn about herbs, plants, medicine. Learning was her drug, like how fighting and wandering was her brother's drug. But now, in these wilds, alone, the shadowed fae realised that this mindless wandering, this journey without a destination bore a certain thrill that she had never felt before. It was almost as addicting as learning medicine....just almost.

Now, she stood once again, unsure of which direction to walk in but secretly enjoying the simple spontaneity of it all. A gentle breeze blew past, softly ruffling her fur and bringing with it, an unfamiliar scent. An unfamiliar scent of a wolf...a female wolf from the looks of it. Her heart quickened, nervous about this stranger. Try as Genie would to mask her fear and appear confident, an insecurity and shyness lay buried deep down in the pit of her heart, slowly burning.

Genie stood still, tail swaying behind her as she weighed her options and eyed the land around, searching for the stranger.

Sometimes one did not have to decide for themselves - fate or a coincidence do it for you. In Wraen's case it was a gust of wind, which brought the unmistakeable smell of another wolf. She turned her head and saw the person in question standing not too far. 

The happiness about the chance to speak to the other soul took over the rational reasoning of, why it would not be wise to dash towards the stranger. At this point she was so desparate for company that she completely forgot that the other one could be hostile or dangerous. 

"Hey!" she called out to the wolf from afar, closing the distance between them in a quick trot. "Are you from around here?"

A voice rang out from afar, and Genie, being someone who had always been quick to respond to her surroundings, tensed up immediately. Her ears rose atop her skull and swivelled towards the direction of the noise, while honey eyes scanned the ground in front of her and around her. It wasn't long before she caught sight of the stranger who was...wait, was she running towards her? Curiousity pricked at her spine and she canted her head slightly, regarding the stranger with a strange sort of emotion.

At the wolf's question, Genie simply shook her head. "No," she said, a tentative smile crossing her face. "Are you?" she asked in return, curious to know more about this seemingly over eager wolf. She hadn't met a lot of these - most had been cold, at best, and at worse, extremely hostile. This wolf was almost like a breath of fresh air, although, as always it could simply be just a facade.

"Me neither, what a coincidence!" Wraen exclaimed and chuckled. She was smiling and her tail was wagging happily behind her. 

"But I am extremely glad to meet you regardless, miss," she went on, "I mean it has been such a long time since I have met another living, breathing and talking wolf. My name is Wraen - may I know yours?"

The next question in store would be, if the lady was traveling alone and if, perhaps, she fancied a companion.

The girl's excitement was contagious, and Genie soon found herself smiling as well. "Glad to meet you as well," she canted her head and grinned, regarding the other wolf with curious honey orbs. There was something about the other wolf that drew the shadowed fae towards her. "I'm Genie," she introduced herself and shifted her weight between her paws in an almost nervous fashion. 

Genie didn't talk much in general, so she simply waited for the other wolf to say something else. She was shy, okay, what could she say?

"Genie is such a lovely name," Wraen replied thinking to herself that in a way the stranger's sudden appearance matched her name nicely - a genie from a bottle that is. 

"Are you going anywhere in particular?" the girl had not to be asked twice to drive the conversation further - so excited she was for the newfound company. "That is - do you know any place worth going here? From what I know now - there are quite a lot of wolves around."

Of course. Of course she blushed. Because that wasn't obvious at all. And why did she have to blush whenever a pretty stranger complimented her? God knows. It was clear that she was cursed. Genie should just leave and jump off the face of the earth. She was so embarassed. She'd never been more embarassed in her entire life. Well, to be fair, she had numerous more embarassing encounters with both family and strangers, and this was barely anything compared to those, but still, when did these embarassing moments stop? Genie really didn't think she deserved this. 

"Thank you, you're very pretty yourself," Genie blurted out instead. Because, of course, that didn't add to her humiliation. Nope. Not at all. Change the subject. Just, change the subject. "No, I, uh, just arrived. So, I'm pretty clueless about how stuff works or where to go or, yeah. She smiled sheepishly.

Wraen sensed imediately the change in demeanor of the other wolf - from what she could tell there was stress and uneasiness with the situation - making the girl wonder, if she had said anything to upset or made the other person feel awkward. There had not been anything, which made things all the more confusing.

Luckily Genie continued the conversation and thus steered Wraen's thoughts away from analyzing the situation too much. "Okay. Where do you come from?"

The other didn't seemed too bothered, which in turn allowed Genie to relax. "From up north," she answered easily enough. "It's quite far from here," she added as an afterthought. The shadowed fae didn't think the other wolf would know about her natal pack, nor would she have ever come across it. Her pack were secretive creatures and they preferred to keep to themselves, which, she supposed, was why they were so close-minded and utterly traditional.

"What about you? Where do you come from?" she asked Wraen, eager to distract her thoughts from that of home. No, not home, her old pack, her birth pack, not home. Nothing was home now.

"I come straight from the opposite part of the world - South," Wraen explained. "Though, if I am correct, I was born somewhere around here. My parents moved, because there was famine in these areas, and after almost a year of traveling they found their "corner of paradise" down South." Her home had been a wonderful place and had things turned out differently, she would have never left in the first place. 

"Do you have any place in mind here that you would like to end up?"

The opposite part of the world? Genie perked up — she'd never really been to the south, given that she'd literally just turned a year old and had spent most of her life at home, in the north until some months ago, she decided to pack her bags and leave. So, of course, she was curious about how the south was as she doubted she could go there anytime soon. Some day, Genie would venture there, but that day was rather far away.

"Corner of paradise?" a small smile played at Genie's lips. "Sounds nice," she said, wondering what it was like to grow up in the south. "Not really," she replied with an easy shake of her head, "I'm just wandering for now, going wherever I want to go and see where my paws take me. I figured I'll end up somewhere eventually. I didn't really think it through when I left home," she explained, shrugging.

"Yeah, me neither," Wraen nodded and then quickly added, "I mean that thinking through part. I just felt the need to go and... well, left. Though I can't say that I haven't been faring well so far." The early summer had been a perfect time to leave home behind - the weather was good and there was plenty of food to sustain a young, lone wolf. At this point she did not think much about winter. 

"We can, perhaps, walk together for a while? Until that golden once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is thrown either your or my way?" having a traveling companion even for a day would be great and Wraen really hoped that the girl would say "yes" to her offer.

Except Genie had left for a reason. She didn't just wake up one day and decide, yes, she wanted to go and explore while she was still young - she wished that had happened. But, no, her family, or at least, her parents, hated who she was and her brother? Her brother left as well, and, well, the other wolf worth staying for had been exiled, so, she supposed the decision of leaving had been in a way, forced upon her.

Genie hesitated at Wraen's suggestion, simply because she preferred being alone than with company, if that company was not a pack. But she had been lonely for a while, so she suppsoed that it didn't hurt to wander with this wolf for a bit before parting ways. "For a bit, perhaps," she agreed with a shadow of a smile, the corner of her lip quirking up slowly. After all, surely, it couldn't hurt?

"That's amazing! Thank you!" Wraen replied a little more enthusiastically than a person should. But - hey - she was a social wolf, who had been without a companion for a very long time. One could not blame her for being over-excited about the possibility to not be trapped in her head and being able to talk with someone, who was not yourself.

"I suggest that we explore that stretch of forest over there," she took charge, turning to the line of trees in the distance. "I don't know about you, but I am getting hungry and there is perhaps mice."

one more post from you, then fade? :)

Wraen seemed particularly enthusiastic to have Genie agree to accompany her for sometime. Which was strange, in her opinion, because it was rare to have strangers like being in her company. It was strange to have anyone like being in her company. Perhaps, Genie thought, it was because Wraen hadn't had much contact with wolves for a long time, and as wolves were natural social creatures, she yearned for a bit of talking, a bit of socialising, before, well, she didn't really know, maybe Wraen was just a really social creature. 

Not that Genie really minded. She didn't really care, either ways.

Genie nodded at Wraen's suggestion. "Yeah, I'm kinda hungry anyways," she agreed easily and fell in step next to her current travelling companion. Perhaps this wouldn't be an absolute disaster yet. Not that she'll get her hopes up.

ooc: that depends, what you have in mind for your character. I do not mind going on for a bit.:)

"This way," Wraen beckoned the other to follow her lead. It felt a little funny to play the wise one in the unknown terrain, heading to a forest, which could turn out to be not as innocent as it looked from afar. But then again - where would be adventure in life, if one did not take chances. 

"Say, have you run into any dragons lately?" she asked out of the blue.

ah, okay! we can keep going for a bit then :)

Wraen played the role of leader, and though Genie felt just the slightest bit uncomfortable, she went along with it. It didn't matter, really, she thought to herself as she walked beside the other she-wolf. She didn't know this terrain very well, and she wasn't really in her comfort zone at the moment. Following someone, actually, seemed like a pretty good idea right now.

And there was silence. A comfortable one, in her opinion. In fact, this all seemed pretty nice.

Then there was the question. Genie stiffened instinctively - she hated being asked questions she didn't understand. Then she relaxed. This was fine, everything was fine, this wasn't a military training camp, she could answer. "Dragons?" she said instead, her confusion showing through.

"Yup! Big, scaly and sometimes very green things!" Wraen explained, visualizing the classical dragon image from her childhood stories. "Most of them are nice and goofy, but there are bad seeds as well. For instance - the fire breathing kind have also very fiery temperaments and can get angry easily. And in that case... ouch - you have to watch out!"

"And mostly they remind oversized lizzards, though some are big, toad-like creatures too. Anyone that could fit this description?"

Big, scaly, green things? Genie cocked her head, confused. She'd seen a lot of weird things in her life, but they didn't really...they weren't really big scaly green things who breathed fire. Truth to be told, Genie wasn't quite sure she wanted to meet these dragons at all, if they even existed. 

The chocolate girl shook her head slowly and licked her lips. "I don't think I have," she said slowly, eyes wandering. "No, I haven't. Have you?" she glanced at her companion, a thoughtful look flitting over her features.

"Only, when I was wee little thing. Me and my family were traveling through a place, where there a lot of caves and in one of them... I first heard a rumbling sound. Like thunder or something and then a pair of big, yellow eyes. They looked straight at me," Wraen explained one of the many childhood adventures, where her active imagination had changed facts just a little. 

"But they are hard to miss, therefore, if you have not met any so far - it is not very likely that we will meet anyone around here either," she replied and smiled. While she had told the story, they had arrived at a reasonably high hillock. Wraen took the opportunity to observe the area from the elevated point of view imediately. She jumped up and sniffed the air, searching for smells that would promise lunch.

Genie remained carefully impassive throughout Wraen's story, although incredulity and a twinge jealousy surged through her veins. She wanted to see dragons too, even though she was pretty sure they were fake. Although, to be fair, pups were tiny and their version of big was not the adult version of big, so what Wraen might have thought to be dragon eyes could simply have been the eyes of a large wolf. The yearling shook any remaining thoughts of dragons away, she didn't want to linger on things that would prove irrelevant later.

"Shame," Genie said, lifting a paw to avoid stepping on a particularly large branch, then padded forward to join Wraen. The girl inhaled sharply, sifting through the various scents that filled the air, and scrunched up her nose.

"Got anything?" Wraen asked after a while that had been spent sifting through numerous fragrances, odours, stenches, emanations, flavors, scents and smells. Each one projecting a mental picture of the animal, plant, area it had come from in her mind. However, no prey yet.

"Oh, look!" she tensed, when she spotted something moving in the distance. 

ooc: you can decide, what it is and we can fade. :)

Words did not slip past the girl's lips, as she was still busying herself with identifying and figuring out all the different scents that barraged her poor nostrils. Her gaze, however, flickered instantly to where Wraen looked and a satisfied smile danced on Genie's face. It was a herd of elk, with an injured one lingering somewhere in the middle. They were two, so this would be harder than it would if they were a pack, but Genie didn't mind, not really.

"Shall we?" she shot the girl a soft smile. This would be a little adventure in her life's adventure, but she treasured it nonetheless, if only because it was rare she got along with strangers right after meeting them.