Wolf RPG

She was venturing outward. Autumn was rolling in. The mornings were growing colder, but the height of winter had not yet shifted the earth over completely. She still had time to figure things out. Still had time to sample and collect herbs before they were buried and crushed beneath the weight of snow. She ventured outward, retracing her steps over territories she'd roamed through once before. Things were new, she noticed. The presence of additional packlife and various other things were scents she'd not encountered before. She steered clear of those and found herself tucked within a forest valley filled with still thriving life.

The clouds hung heavy overhead. The absence of the sun set the forest in a cold, dreary sort of hue. She was growing grumpier. The gray above placed a heavy weight on her mood, but as she was a generally sulky character it was difficult to tell the difference. Still, she searched until a light rain began to pitter patter on the tops of the trees. Here and there, the water would slip to fall upon her form. Citali moved faster as the rain picked up. Shelter. She needed a place to wait out this rain. She searched and happened upon a rocky outcropping. Not quite a cave, but a decent hovel of sorts that shielded her far more than the trees. She tucked herself beneath the stone and waited for the rain to lift.

Andrei was venturing out of the valley. To be honest, he felt a little weird there. The pack was not the most active or sharing, and the fact that he did not understand one bit was bothering him. He had made some progress with Raziel being there to help, but with the Alpha gone for weeks on now, he did not know what to think. He did not feel that connected to wish to remain, and was playing with the thought to relocate himself, maybe even find his way home. Although Raziel had explained that this was not possible.

In not the best of spirits, he was walking in the rain, looking utterly miserable. Much like the weather. He passed some bushes and prominent stones, and heard something that made him stop. He  lifted his head and looked to his side to see a female tugged other one. He tilted his head, finding it strange that one would hide in such fashion, but then again some just liked to be dry. His nose moved, trying to smell what scent was coming from her without being rude, but the water had washed most of it. It was only faint. She was from another pack.

From out of the mists of the light rain, another wolf approached. He looked sulky and equally as miserable as herself, though he seemed to prefer the rain. Kindred spirits, perhaps? If she were not so vain, she might actually have considered letting the water kindle her fire of self-loathing, but she preferred remaining dry a great deal more. Wet and cold was less preferable than dry and warm. She was a creature of comforts and hoped to stay that way.

"You're getting wet out there, you know!" she called towards the stranger. He likely already knew this, but as she was a bit of a know-it-all she felt the needed to announce it. "There's room here, I suppose... If you'd like to get out of that rain." It was roomy enough to accommodate two if he wished to escape the light rain. Citali lifted to her feet and took a few paces to the side before she sat down again. Room had been made. It was up to him to decide if he wished to take it.

Again that tongue he did not understand. It was starting to weight on him. He was not sure he wanted company, nor did he know if he wanted to put the effort out there to communicate. Yet he was a social creature, and he did feel a similar energy come from the wolf. When she moved, he understood that she was saying that he could come next to him. Maybe she didn't like the rain, maybe she too wanted company. 

He shook himself, and walked to her, then sat down next to her. His nose worked then, going towards her cheeks to say hi and get the scent of her better. It was a strong one, probably an alpha, so she must have been with a pack.

She diverted her gaze to make the choice easier for him. Her rock was somewhat cozy and considerably warmer and dryer than out there... which was all the more colder for the drizzle and the dreary weather that currently plagued the earth. She plucked off a twig that had somehow managed to find its way atop her foot and glanced briefly at the wolf as he joined her beneath the outcrop of stone.

He invaded her personal space, nosing through her furs in a way that caused her lips to curl with a low, guttural warning growl. "Too close," she warned verbally, as if her instinctual sounds were not enough. She'd invited him to share the rock, not put his teeth to close to her vital areas even if it was just to sniff.

Andrei backed away, giving a sound that he was sorry. These wolves relied a lot on verbal more than they and he couldn't understand what she was saying. He only made it out because of the growl. He didn't mean to be rude, that was for sure, but there was only as much as he could do. "scuze"  (sorry) he whispered. Sighing, figuring this was going to be a daily occurrence , he just turned sightly to look in the opposite direction. Maybe he shouldn't have accepted that offer at all. He seemed to do everything wrong. He missed his home , his granny, it just was too much on him. He hadn't asked for any of this. His head was hanging low, he just swallowed thickly...at least in the rain no one saw his tears, now ...he was back at holding back.

He gave her a bit of space, backing up appropriately as he moved to keep to himself. Citali shifted, reoccupying her area a little more fully now that she was no longer worried he was going to invade it. She drew her arm up to smooth out her fur, a true act of vanity on her part, before placing that paw back on the ground.

Satisfied with her appearance, she now noticed the wolf next to her had gone quiet. Too quiet. She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes and watched him for a moment. While ordinarily she would not have gone out of her way to touch a male (as she still considered them beneath her thanks to her Amazon heritage) she nudged him with her shoulder and raised a bow as if to ask, "What's eating you?"

The wolf slowly reacted at the nudge. He had missed most of her arrogant display , too focused on his own misery. He looked back at her. Was he that miserable that you could see it on his face? He wished to get his story off his chest, but how did you do that when you were unable to say in words understandable to someone that you had been taken from your home which was heaven's know where and brought here.  Even with what he knew from English words, it didn't do it justice. His ears back, he whined lowly and rather silently before looking away. "Family  ...no ...Home....no. English ...no...no...no...no " he whispered and almost chanting it through gritted teeth.

The wolf looked to her. She looked back. Oh dear. Was that water in his eyes? Was he crying? Oh good heavens he was crying. Citali stiffened. She realized she'd just opened the door for him to come clean about whatever was painting his personal world in his very own shades of gray. Oh bother. She'd opened the door to be confronted with, of all things, feelings. She was doing quite a bit of that now wasn't she?

It was clear to her now that he did not speak much of the common tongue. Even when that upset, words were not quite so fragmented so it suggested to her that he did not know much of the language. She listened, looking to him as he did so (as was polite) and waited for him to finish. Her ears lifted, her nose detecting a trace of pack upon him. She didn't understand what he meant. Usually a pack was something of a family and a home. "But you're a pack wolf," she said, though it was more of a question.

Andrei looked back at the female. He tried to understand what she was asking, he knew the elements, he just needed a moment to figure out that she was asking if he was a pack wolf, or was ? He was not sure about that.  "da" he replied , not convinced by his answer. It didn't feel like a pack to be honest. He knew he shouldn't say bad things about the Bearclaw valley, but he just felt disconnected to everyone here.  He shook his head towards her, making her understand that basically that's how conversation went , how could you feel like a family with that kind of barrier between your next kin. "No family"  he repeated.

Da? Da what? She looked at him curiously, trying to make the best of this conversation despite their language barrier. She frowned. How was she supposed to talk to a wolf that could not understand her? Through primal grunting and outlandish gesturing? Such things were typically beneath her, but she found some sort of benevolence in her otherwise stoney heart. It was this that led her to attempting further communication... though she was thankful no others were around to witness it.

Fortunately, she was fairly quick witted and able to make assumptions based on minimal clues. No family. She smelled pack on him, but he'd not adopted those wolves as his own. Not yet anyway. She had a sneaky suspicion he was relatively new to these wilds or he might have been more versed in the common language most wolves here spoke. Most, if only because she had an uncanny way of running into those who did not know the dialect here. Strangely enough... that was also somewhat of a frequent thing.

"You," she said, gesturing towards him with a paw, "make family here." She pointed towards the ground as if to indicate their current location. Hopefully the visual cues helped. "You pack. You family. You new family here." She repeated the gestures accordingly but felt all kinds of silly about it. Limiting her rather verbose vocabulary was a trifling thing, but hopefully she managed.

Andrei offered her a weak smile. He wished he could believe those words  he understood. He appreciated her effort in making conversation with him. He truly did, and everything in his body language showed it, but he doubted her words. He was doubting he could make a new family out of the wolves of Bearclaw. The alpha was gone, it was only a matter of time before there would be a hostile takeover or the group would disband, because Scarlett didn't seem to want to be alpha or lead. His heart was set on leaving , but to go where ? Which pack would accept someone like him anyway. "You.... mh....k...kind?" he tried the word after thinking hard about it. His eyes said the rest.  ' but I don't think that's going to happen '

He looked down again, jaws rather pinched together. Maybe he was playing difficult. "Alpha... not ...mh...here. " he finally gave away, with all implication that had. At this point, what was there to lose, what was the point ?

The smile she understood. It was one of those meek little thing that suggested he was trying, but his heart wasn't all in it. She understood that. She'd done it with Tezcacoatl and supporting his pipe dream of creating a pack when amazon wolves would never realistically bow to a male leader. It was a humoring sort of thing, but there was no heart behind it and therefore no loyalty. Citali couldn't say she understood all that was spinning in his mind, but she did notice and could sometimes relate to that sort of homesick feeling where she too often wished things were as they were back in the "good old days".

Then again, Citali lived very much in the now and tried her hardest to make the most of wherever she happened to be in life. Like currently, hiding out under this rock was significantly better than being out in that drizzle. She glanced towards him as he spoke again. The fragmented words this time were beyond her level of comprehension. She didn't understand what he was trying to say at all. Kind? No. She wasn't a kind wolf at all. She just tolerated a lot.

"I don't understand..." she said with an expression of utmost confusion. "Try again?" Perhaps these words were too hard too. Then again, how was a wolf to learn a new tongue if they did not immerse themselves in it? "Alpha in pack?" she was trying. Truly she was.

He had a feeling she kind of got what he felt, could relate on some level. He sensed a strong aura from the female, with a proud demeanor. He felt anything but proud of himself. Struggling as he did just because life had thrown a messy ball at him. He felt silly. All this green was just making him nostalgic of the concrete, of the city where they were hunting, that was funny.

Andrei's  ears went back in an instant of hesitation. Yes pronouns were missing.  What was that one again. He took a second , mostly because he was saying them all in his head.  "My alpha ... go ..."  He pointed his point in front of him.  " much....time...before"  he explained, hoping this time she would get it.

She hadn't understood. That much was made evident by the way his ears fell. Watching him, she realized there was a lot of thinking happening in that mind of his and she gave him the time he needed to collect his thoughts. She could only imagine what it was like knowing one language and trying to convert it to another. Perhaps that was why she didn't try. It sounded like way too much effort.

He finally spoke. These words were easier to understand. "Your pack does not have an alpha?" she questioned, wondering if she heard him right. "As in. Does not currently have an alpha?" Was this a thing? Could a pack technically exist if they did not have a leader?

"Da" came the answer and Andrei made a perplex face. He saw the question written all over Citali's face. Could a pack work without an alpha. What he replied with a given expression was  ' your guess is as good as mine'.  He shrugged and sighed. Well at least he was getting somewhere with that wolf. She had enough tolerance or patience or both to give him time to get something to communicate. It had afterall to come from both of them...go the extra mile.  If Raziel was not coming back, he did not really know what would happen. He licked his muzzle. "Hope ...Alpha...back....soon.... or .... mh... bad ..." he made a circle with his paw then pointed at himself. "No pack...no family ... all ....no there. "

Either he was learning or she was getting better at deciphering the words or both. Perhaps they were simply just figuring out a way to chat without being at a complete loss for words. Their pantomime was helping. The universal gestures and expressions provided more context clues than she would dare admit. She thought herself quite versed after all. Orating was no difficult thing.

She found it curious that a pack would consider trying to hold together without any clear direction in the form of a leader. Truthfully, it seemed his number was just waiting for another wolf to come along and collect them. That, or they needed to disperse to find true purpose in living. No wonder he was in such a mood. She'd be frustrated if she were in his footprints too.

"Find a new pack, then?" she asked. "Not your pack," she said with a paw towards him. "Another pack." She moved her paw elsewhere. "New pack. New family." It seemed a fitting solution.

It was the fitting solution, and  Andrei did the most childish  ' I know' reply you could expect from a wolf, groaning and just sinking on the spot. He knew he should leave, a young male was always needed somewhere, but then again, he was still bound to be loyal to Scarlett. "But..."  He pointed at her , cause she was a female, "and ..."  he drew four lines in the mud in front of them  "Small wolf ....there...no...safe ....alone. " he tried to explain his reasoning.  He pointed at her again and the four lines " Beta and small wolf... me into pack hi"  

Well, at least he seemed to agree with her idea. From where she was sitting, it seemed like the simplest of solutions except she could tell there was a — Oh. Yes. There it was. The "but" dropped from him as he began to explain again. He pointed to her. Citali didn't understand how she was a part of this. So herself and... the one, two, three... Yes, she was quite capable of counting. So then. Herself and four small wolves. Um no. She was not having a litter with him.

She frowned until he added more words. Ahh. Not her. Some other female and her four little ones were alone in that pack. Good heavens. No wonder he felt so bound. No doubt the female and her brood were in quite a bind. And with winter around the corner? How terrifying. "Find new pack for everyone?" she suggested, though that was quite a few mouths to feed and enough wolves to start a pack of their own. Benevolence for such situations was difficult to find.

Akela gave her the look.  The ' are you serious '  look. He was no fit alpha, Scarlett either, and with a litter, not every pack would just accept strangers with pups. He knew his own pack's policy. They had even been harsh by injuring some pups as a warning. Pups , they grew, and once grown they could throw the balance of things off. Citali was right to tell him to go somewhere else, but where, how could he live with the responsibility of leaving Scarlett, but how could they find a pack filling to take so many mouth to feed. "You ...know pack free ....for wolf ?" he asked her then. If he was doomed to look for something, he might as well take some advice on where to go and where to avoid from a wolf from these lands.

She didn't quite understand the reason for the look, but the one she gave back was akin to, "well I don't know!" His situation was a tricky one and she was no expert in these things. It was far easier for her to dismissed it with a "sucks to be you" than to put any real thought into the matter, but since they were both still occupying this rock and the rain was only starting to let up a bit, they still had time for discussion.

Did she know a place? She frowned, exhaling somewhat exasperatedly as she tried to think of another pack that might serve them well. Truthfully she did not know of many... or any for that matter so she circled back to the only one she knew. Phoenix Maplewood might except they'd just gotten a couple of coyote pups for whatever reason... Oh dear. They collected strays. What was one more desperate crew of mouths to feed?

"Phoenix Maplewood might," she said eventually. "My pack." She couldn't believe she was suggesting it, but the words were already out in the air. "It's north... or maybe east of here?" She was the worst wolf to ask for directions. She was always turned around in some way or another.

Andrei noted that name , it was complicated, but he would recall it. He did not quite understand what she meant afterwards, but then again, this was the most elaborate conversation he had in weeks.  "I ... maybe"  he tapped his paws on the ground, then gave her a headshake towards her.  " to you, for pack  ... mhh ... I ... make..." he put his paw above his head to signify  his mind.  "clear.  Okay? " 

Was he going to join another pack, that was probably the wisest, especially with winter coming. He just wished to find a pack like his, a real unity, jerks to others at time, but never one without the other. The rain was slowly giving up. He wished for it to last longer, finding Citali's company pleasant.  "My name ...is Andrei" he then stated.

Now that she thought about it, she wasn't quite sure where Phoenix Maplewood was from here. Hmm... that would present itself as a problem later... but for right now she was quite content to sit here and wait for the rain to let up.

Her thoughts were distracted as he spoke again and added pantomime. Maybe he... Maybe he what? No. No. She did not want a massage from him. Oh wait. Maybe that was some form of walking? Maybe he would... Oh. Come to her perhaps? That made much more sense. Come find her and join the pack. That was all well and good. He could think about it all he wanted and decide whatever made the most sense for him. It didn't much matter to her one way or the other.

She was about to lose herself to thought again when he added his name. Andrei. That was a nice one. "Citali," she offered in return and let herself look out into the distance. The rain was letting up, but she had no intentions of venturing away from this rock until it was fully gone and the sun began to peek out from the behind the clouds once more. "Any other questions?"

Citali lingered for a moment, waiting for a reply. When there was none, she watched him depart and go about his way.

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