Wolf RPG

After leaving the smelly mire and traveling through a quiet glade, Qamar and her newfound acquaintance approached a peaceful lake, made more beautiful by the towering aspens surrounding its western shore. This little slice of heaven was a bit closer to Ryūjin territory than that of the neighboring tribe, so Qamar felt much more at ease here.

The silver female walked up to the edge of the lake, the cool water lapping at her paws, and stared down into it. The white-barked aspen trunks and branches cast faint shadows on the surface. The sky above was a light gray, very cloudy, as it tended to be throughout the rainy spring. Only seldom did a ray of sun peek out to lend some warmth to the ground below.

Qamar looked over at Orkan, green eyes into grey. He had told her before they took off earlier that he had some knowledge of fishing but that was room for improvement. Likewise, she had told Asterr that she would be willing to teach wolves--current members or new recruits--how to fish during this famine. This was as good a time as any to start.

"Some wolves fish by reaching into the water and flinging the fish out, while others dive in with their mouths and catch them underwater," Qamar told Orkan. "My father taught me the latter technique, and that's what I prefer. You can feel free to try both and figure out which one suits you best."

She looked back down into the water and saw several fish flitting about in the shallows. While these waters wasn't quite as stocked as Arrow Lake back in the mountains, it was still a respectable place to hunt. She waited until one of the scaly creatures got close, then struck, slamming her face open-mouthed into the cold water and feeling disappointment when her jaws clamped on empty air.

"Bad luck," Qamar gasped after lifting her head and shaking droplets from her fur. "Hopefully you show me up," she added with a wry grin.

The area that Qamar had taken Orkan to was stunning! In the time it had taken them to travel the sky had darkened with the onset of a storm, which uplifted Orkan's mood immediately, then they came upon the most beautiful lake he had seen. Groves of white aspens came down to the water's edge and laid faint shadows over the clear suface of the lake. Qamar walked along the cloud darkened shore of the lake, paws treading the shallows and looking for a good place to begin fishing when she stopped and looked into Orkan's eyes he knew that the lesson was going to begin and he paid close attention to what Qamar was doing.

Qamar explained the two different styles of fishing and Orkan felt apprehensive at first, not wanting to look foolish in front of his new friend, but he was grateful that Qamar showed him how to do it, he learned a lot better by watching something being done before he tried it. Qamar's first attempt wasn't succesful but Orkan had the idea, he grinned at Qamar, "Ya hopefully I catch something, we'll share my first catch how about that?". Orkan knew things were probably pretty lean all over this area and wanted to repay Qamar for helping him learn to fish so he thought sharing was the way to go.

Orkan stepped into the cool shallows slightly further down the shore from Qamar, allowed the rippled surface to calm once again. Once the surface had calmed Orkan gently eased his half open maw into the water, desperately not wanting to chase the prey away, there was a brief flash of silver near his muzzle and Orkan surged forward causing a great splash. Orkan stood, dripping water from the base of his neck to his ear tips and trying to smile around the fish he had just caught, he walked back to where Qamar was observing and laid the fish on the ground. "That was great! Thanks for helping me perfect my technique Qamar. So you said that you were going to tell me about your pack and this area. What are things like here?", Orkan grinned, "We can still fish while we talk too this little guy probably won't fill either one of us."

Qamar watched silently as Orkan made his first attempt at catching fish here. She had to give him credit for technique as he approached calmly, quietly, waiting for the right moment. It only took a few short moments before the dark wolf had lifted his head with a fish in tow, wriggling frantically against the teeth sank into its silver body.

"Very nice," she praised Orkan with a smile. "More pessimistic minds would maybe pass that off as beginner's luck, but I think you indeed have a talent for this." She looked down at the fish; it was small, and she was sure they could find some bigger individuals for their dining pleasure here. Before she would attempt a second time, however, she needed to answer his questions.

The silver female pointed her muzzle to the west, toward the rocky crags of the Sunspire Mountains. "My tribe and I live over there," she explained, "and we call a cavern our true home. I haven't been here for very long, though. My old pack. . ." She hesitated. Did this stranger truly need to know her backstory? For a brief instant, she weighed her choice of words, and finally decided to go with the simpler version of events. If she became closer to Orkan, if he came back with her to the Lair and decided to give Ryūjin a try, she might give him the details, but even then. . .

"Things didn't work out in my old pack, so I left," Qamar said succinctly, her tone carefully measured so as not to give away any hint of emotion. That was one thing she refused to do--giving strangers any hint of the sentiment that ran deep within. To her, a bared heart was a weakness, and showing her belly to a wolf she barely knew would be utter foolishness. "As for what things are like here, well, times are tough, as you've obviously seen. I've never known Teekon any other way. But others tell me that in better times, it's as beautiful and bountiful of a land as any on Earth."

Qamar looked to the north, the direction of her birthplace. For almost a decade, her father had told her, the ungulate herds had come every season without delay, and the wolves of the Yukon had feasted heartily. She longed for the day when she heard the snapping of tendons and the bleating of elk once more in the Teekon Wilds. Only then would they thrive.

A sudden primal longing for the taste of blood on her tongue galvanized her into action again. "Time for Round Two," she chuckled at Orkan, and lowered her head to the water, nose skimming the surface. Moments later, she emerged with a fine specimen of a fish and slammed it against the ground to kill it instantly. She marveled at the beauty of its scales glimmering in the sun. Beautiful creature, she mused, just not as tasty as an elk.

Orkan felt grateful at Qamar's praise, "Thank you Qamar," Orkan bowed low, "I'd call it have having a good teacher." Orkan winked at the silver female. Orkan listened intently as Qamar explained where her tribe was, glancing at the mountains she had indicated and mentally marking it as someplace he may be accepted. Qamar went on to mention in passing that her old pack didn't work out and Orkan compeletly understood her being reticent about her past, especially having only met him recently. Orkan politely didn't prod any deeper into her history. Qamar began describing this area, called Teekon, and Orkan could almost see the trees and plants lush with life.

"Hopefully it'll be like that again, it sounds so beautiful and it would certainly attract larger prey like a deer! Do you know how long it's been since I've had deer? A very long miserable time.". Orkan sighed miserably, just imagining tearing into a large delicious deer that was all his own was almost as depressing as the locust ravaged land. Orkan shook himself, physically and emotionally, preparing to take his turn after Qamar fished. Orkan felt that now as good a time as any to share his story, or the most important parts anyway. Watching Qamar stalk the shallows he began, "Things didn't work out in my last pack either," Orkan decided he'd glaze over that part first to get past it, "so I made my way out west to get as far away as possible from them. I hope they don't come looking for me and try to take me back, there wasn't really any leaving I was lucky to sneak away.". Even sharing this much was almost too much for Orkan to handle and he kind of let the conversation go quiet, when Qamar slammed her fish against the ground it shook Orkan from his reverie, "That's a good one Qamar! Soon we will have a nice little fish feast here on the shore! Anyway I traveled for several months before arriving here in Teekon," Orkan glanced at Qamar gratefully, "and finding you.".

Orkan readied himself for his go to get another fish, muzzle and neck still dripping from his last succesful attempt. Orkan swayed slightly as he tried to make sense of the dizzying flashes of silver and reflections off the lake surface, suddenly he lunged again and rose again with another fish in his mouth. Orkan's head twitched to the side occasionally from the momentum and force of the fish's tail, until he bit down and ended the delicious morsels life. Orkan laid it with the others and shook the water from his body, "We're going to have quite the feast at the rate we're going."

There was a lot to like about Orkan. On a personal level, Qamar found him charming and humorous and enjoyed his company. As someone scouting potential recruits for Ryujin, she thought the black wolf could offer a lot to her tribe. They needed all the help they could get, and when the herds returned, the more wolves the better for hunting big game.

She smiled in acceptance of his compliment on her catch, and gave him kudos in turn for his second-round success. They were putting together a respectable pile here. Qamar dipped her nose to try for another, but came up empty, dripping maw scowling as she surfaced and shook her head.

"Slippery little things," she said ruefully, glaring at the fish swimming frantically around beneath the surface of the water. Looking back at Orkan, she let a half-smile melt over her features again. "So, if I might ask, what are your plans here, both short-term and long-term? Do you wish to remain alone or seek entry into a group?" These questions she asked everybody, looking for answers that may prod her to take the loner to the Sunspire for a further interview with Asterr.

She did not push him further on his telling his backstory. He looked as uncomfortable with sharing the details as she had felt when it was her turn to speak of her own tale. Qamar hoped that his sour past experiences with a pack would not cloud his judgement when it came to considering joining a group.

Orkan smiled at Qamar's reaction to losing a fish, they were very slippery little things. Orkan scanned the shallows waiting for another opportunity to strike when Qamar asked him about his plans, Orkan sat back while he thought. Orkan wanted to make sure that he replied accurately as possible knowing that Qamar may be asking from a recruiter's perspective, "Well, I hadn't really thought about it but now that you ask I think I should put some sort of plan together. I didn't know what I would do other than to get away from where I was. Short-term I'll probably do a little exploring of Teekon for maybe a couple months, try to get the lay of the land and hopefully increase my worth to a pack. Long-term I will need to join a pack, during my explorations I'll ask around and figure out someplace that'll have me and that I can be involved in.".

Orkan continued to think about what his plans would be while he scanned the lake when there was a bright flash of scales almost between his legs, and Orkan lunged again and again rose victorious with another fish in his jaws. Overjoyed with his success Orkan veritably danced back to their growing fish pile, placed both legs stretched out in front of him nearly touching the ground and playfully shook his head back and forth and, in the process, just about tore the fish in half with his energy. Orkan laughed easily, "Well there's one fish that's ready to eat, most the hard parts already done!". Orkan sat back on his haunches panting lightly, "What's your tribe like Qamar? If there's more wolves there like you it's definitely going on my list of potential places to check out."

It was time to take a small break from fishing. A larger girl might have been able to go on, but Qamar's mouth was small, and her jaws ached from the exercise. She sat and watched Orkan's next success, giving a small cheer as he yanked the fish from the water and chuckling as the creature nearly split in two because of his excitement in catching it.

They had four fish now, piled atop each other, a glittering heap of silver in the pale early summer sun. Orkan told her his plans, and she nodded along. That certainly was the smart thing to do. She had hitched herself to the first group she had come across. Maybe, if she had looked more. . .no, she thought, chiding herself for even entertaining the notion of regret. Ryujin is where I belong.

"Well, I mean, it sounds like you have things pretty well figured out," she said with a smile. He had asked her about her tribe, and she began to speak, careful to leave out any information that could be damning to them down the line. She had no reason to distrust this wolf, but she had no reason to trust him, either.

"We're of good size and with a strong leader. Our tribe is called Ryujin; our leader, Asterr Draconid." The image of Asterr, whom she had not encountered in a few days, rose up in her mind. "She's quite small, but carries herself like a queen. Gracious and kind. Very insightful. You'd like her."

Qamar looked toward the mountain, eyes lit at the thought of her tribe. "We are a mix of all different types--warriors and healers, hunters and stargazers. You'd fit right in. Anyone would."

Orkan sat on the side of their fish pile across from Qamar and let her tell him about her tribe. Listening to Qamar tell him about her tribe almost made him want to ask to be taken to Asterr immediately, Qamar described things so Orkan could almost see it in his minds eye. Qamar's description was amazing, her tribe definitely made it to the top of his list of places with joining potential.

"This Asterr sounds like quite the amazing leader, I'd like to meet her someday.", Orkan grinned, "The way you describe your tribe makes me almost want to go off and join right away I admit, but I must refrain. I'll do some exploring around this area first and hopefully gain some knowledge that I could add to a pack or make me seem useful, can't hurt my chances to know the area and maybe get to know some of the local wolves."  Orkan wished terribly that they could go right now and he could join but he would have to wait, that's when a thought hit him, "So where could I find you again if ever I'm around and in the mood for a fishing buddy or a playful spar? You stick mostly around your mountain?" Orkan's ears flattened shyly against his head.

"That's fair." Qamar was a bit disappointed he was coming with her right away, but he had left the door open for the future possibility of him joining Ryujin. "There's a lot of packs around here. Good idea to search for the one that suits you best."

She grinned at his playful words and the way his ears flattened bashfully on his head, and gave him a wink and a nudge of the shoulder. "Yep, I'm hanging around the Sunspire and its other mountains pretty much all of the time. You'll find me there." Orkan was a pleasure to spend time with, a kind and personable friend. She was happy to have stumbled across him.

She looked down at the fish, mouth watering. "If you don't mind, I'm going to dig in. It's been a while since I've eaten," she admitted. "I'll eat one and bring another home for the tribe."

Orkan could sense that Qamar was a little disappointed in not coming with her to her pack, he felt a little disappointed as well. Orkan smiled at Qamar when she had said where she was going to be spending her time and that he'd probably be able to find her again, that made him happy and relieved a small portion of his disappointment. "I'll be sure to keep an eye and nose out for you if I happen to be around." Orkan said absentmindedly, "Oh ya go right ahead, I'll dig into mine as well." Orkan grinned and glanced down at his meagre share of their hunting efforts while still lost in his own thoughts. Orkan still looked unsure for a moment or two and as Qamar was finishing her first fish he chuffed decidedly and tore into his first as well but saved the second.

Orkan glanced sidelong at Qamar, "So with this famine going on I imagine that food's pretty important and scarce, I don't think that there's much out there in plenty other than fish right? I think my first decision was a littl rash and hasty, what good is knowledge of the area if I'm lying dead somewhere from starvation. How bout I take my second fish as well and make it as an offering?"