OOC: In the process of IC joining Neverwinter Forest but impatient, so this is vague regarding that. Naturalist thread #1!
IC: The ungainly woman—she could not fairly be called a youth any longer—picked her way carefully along the rocky bank of a river which to her was nameless, observing its currents with dedicated focus. She had learned to fish when she was young, her mother being an excellent hunter and all, but Poet had never really excelled at it. Her paws never seemed to go where she aimed them, and more often than not she ended up smack dab on her big booty in the water, without really understanding how she got there.
No, it was not fish that interested the DeMonte, but rather, the way the river went in stop-and-go segments, without any logical rhyme or reason. Water would be rapidly spilling over stones and coursing through deep pockets for a metre or two, and the next few feet it would be swirling back on itself in eddies of confusion. Water was nothing like air, she decided with a faint huff as she diverted her course from its edge; air was easy to read, but water was impossible.
The woman tipped her head back to scrutinize the sky instead, and was somewhat surprised to find heavy, gunmetal nimbostratus clouds rounding the mountains to the east. Her ears twisted forward and her lips pulled downward into a poignant frown; she had expected a good day, full of nice weather, but it appeared the clouds had other plans for them. Nimbostratus almost always came with promise of snow... And now that she had noticed them, Poet sensed a change in the air itself from when she had first headed out to the river. It was damper, and felt more still; a certainty, then, that snow would come within a couple hours.
She remained there, gawking up at the sky, for much much longer than any normal wolf stood in one place staring at the sky, allowing ample time for anyone to chance upon her (sadly for her) and discover her weird, nerdy love of the clouds.
Jumps in! Can I use this for Gamekeeper?
There was a lot on Galena's mind as she prowled along the river's edge. Her first few days of pack life were both momentous and tedious, without much interaction with her fellow wolves. It was hard enough to be a part of something again; harder still, now that she was at the bottom of the ranks. She was reserved around these strangers. Careful, quiet, and more withdrawn than she usually was. Yes, there was a certain sense of reservation around these foreigners, but also a jovial energy that, at times, Galena could not contain. There was work to be done — a chance to prove herself to these others, and make a name for herself. It was exciting, terrifying, and alienating all at once.
It was with these thoughts in mind that the girl charged headlong in to her duties. A brief patrol of the land told her of some basics: the locations of dens, for instance; known hunting areas and the tributaries that flowed around them; hidden grottoes where food was cached. Basic things that were good for every individual to understand. Galena had decided to become a охотник — or whatever the equivalent of that was. It would be hard work. A part of her wondered if the physicality of the task would be too much, or if perhaps she had bitten off more than she could chew; however, Galena had just started. She wouldn't let doubts flood her system just yet.
The river was a nice starting point. The water was a familiar thing to her, as her parent's home was fed through the water, and not the land. Many of the men of the pack were able bodied experts when it came to snagging aquatic prey; it was considered men's work, and so Galena was already prepared to avoid the water. It was a refreshing thing, to be sure — rushing by with a forceful sort of determination, much in the manner she dealt with her own situations. With her face low and nose inhaling the crisp cold that was the water's empty scent, Galena made her way along.
She was alone. It was a different sort of alone now, but it was still alone. Her paws slipped across the river's edge, where the water licked at the stones and soaked her toes; it was refreshing. Not long in to her examination of the river, Galena caught another scent — this was something she still wasn't used to. Months spent wandering had made the girl more alert to scents and sounds, and it was a hard habit to break. Her head raised and her limbs stiffened for a moment. She looked around for whoever carried the scent, but she must have been ahead of them, as they did not appear in her line of sight.
The girl was tempted to bark or make some kind of signaling noise, but for the time being, her voice was lost to her.
OOC: Of course! To sort of explain this, I decided to swap Poet III out for Chandra, but I didn't want to leave you hanging on this thread so decided to swap them here, as well! I'll sort of PP Poet leaving.
IC: Poet's ears tilted and turned as she surveyed the sky and, deciding it was worth taking shelter, departed the river proper without ever catching sight of Galena.
Somewhere further downriver, however, she whizzed past another wolf, who looked up with mutilated eyes (tightly closed, for they were too scarred to ever open) as she went by. Poet paused a moment in her stride, transfixed and horrified at once, but kept on going; she didn't want to know what kind of lifestyle had led to such a grievous injury.
Chandra herself made no sound when the sound of someone crossing the gravelly river bank attracted her attention. Her head angled in the general direction the sound had come from, but she had no distance gauge, nor desire to speak with someone so frantically passing by. The ground underfoot was uneven, and she could feel pebbles digging into her pads as she picked her way carefully forward. The sound and the crisp scent of running water told her she had located a river, but its depth, breadth, and danger were unknown. Everything about this land... Unknown.
The time of day was uncertain. In the chill bite of winter, it was difficult for her to tell whether it was night or day. The sun didn't shine hot enough to grace her with warmth, and bitter cold nights could as easily be bitter cold days. Where she was was uncertain, lending to Chandra's step a slowness that had not existed where she'd come from. She could not risk twisting her ankle on the riverbank should it sharply descend; she could not risk falling to drown in waters she had no knowledge of. Nor could she risk being wet in the dead of winter, whose bite she knew only from previous winters. All she knew of snow was that it was wet, cold, and crunched underfoot; its appearance, its potential for destruction, all unknown.
Galena, too, was unknown. Chandra was making her way toward her fellow wolf, in the opposite direction the thumping of paws had gone, but the wind whisked from her backside to her front, giving no indication that another wolf was nearby. Distance muted sound, so that Chandra was alone... Completely and utterly, regardless how closely one approached her.[/align]
This'll be interesting. Blind wolf vs. Language Barrier wolf!
As the winds shifted again, the scent vanished. Galena was momentarily perplexed in that instance, until another new smell was caught upon the breeze, and travelled towards her. It was similar to the first smell, but different. Familiar as well - it must have been someone from Neverwinter, someone that was not a threat at all, but Galena was still nervous. She wasn't sure how the individuals of the pack would react to her behaviour; especially due to the language barrier, of which she had yet to test or truly understand. Galena's body remained stiff as she turned in a semi-circle. The ground crunched softly beneath her hefty body and the sound, ominous against the backdrop of running water, carried through the trees.
She spotted the stranger a moment later, with her eyes pinpointing the outline of rounded ears first, then the fur of the neck, and down to the tail. It wasn't a large individual and they seemed to carry themselves with caution - so perhaps they were just as nervous? From afar Galena could not identify the reason for the woman's motion or behavior; she did not see the scarred face of the individual, and would not, at least until she was closer. Gathering her thoughts and bundling her nervous energy, Galena began to stroll closer. Her naturally dominant posturing was left behind, dropping as her figure drew closer and closer to the distant wolf. Her head was low and tail, flicking in a friendly manner, nearly brushed the ground.
Assuming the stranger would hear her coming - or see her, since Galena was hard to miss - she made no effort to hide. The woman came upon Chandra and chuffed a greeting while averting her eyes, trying to defer to the other as a sign of respect to her fellow pack-mate. Had she been paying more attention, maybe Galena would have noticed the very obvious problem with all of her efforts; however, the foreigner was too nervous and eager to please, at least for the time being.
<style type="text/css">q {font:13px Georgia; color:#618da1;}</style>The ground shifted suddenly underfoot as the bank rose into the base of what could only be a rise. The change was unexpected, and pain jolted through Chandra's paw as she placed it down too heavily for the distance it had to close. Wincing, she drew up short at this point, unwilling to go much further lest she step into a badger's burrow and harm herself beyond the point of recovery. She was new to her home, and wouldn't have the slightest idea who to go to for medical aid... Or how to reach them.
The sound of crunching snow was the only alert Chandra had to another's approach. Her ears thrust in the direction of the constant sound of approaching steps—crrrnchsqueak, crrrnchsqueak—but depth perception did not belong to ears. The sound could be carrying for miles, or it could be a hundred feet in front of her. The Ostrega stood rigidly, unable to locate the wolf or animal that was inevitably going to reach her... And though she stood defensively, she knew (and so would they) that she could not defend herself at all.
Galena's chuff confirmed the animal's type and location, prompting Chandra to shift into sloppy submission. Through instinct, she knew the lowering of her ears and the bending of her limbs to bring her closer to the earth was mandatory in the presence of higher ranked wolves, of which all wolves had always been... But to say hers was a graceful submission would be wrong. Her head was angled somewhere away from Galena, to her right or left but certainly not directed at her face, so that the subject of her submission was somewhat uncertain. Of course, Chandra was surrounded by the other wolf's scent, and could not have known that she never truly looked at them.
Hello,
she greeted quietly, uncertain of the other's demands, but confident that if they had meant to attack her, they would have done so without the sound of greeting. She pressed closer to Galena suddenly, moving with slow and gentle steps until her forearm brushed lightly against... Well, some part of Galena. Here, Chandra stopped, unaware that her new companion was also in submission mode. All she knew was that Galena was warm—a good sign, she thought—and smelled of Chakra, the Neverwinter Forest Alpha.
The stranger was meek and nervous, just as she was, except her reaction to Galena's approach was more drastic; she shrank down almost instantly, even before the Russian woman reached her. A hushed sound left her mouth - similar to the phrase muttered by another wolf Galena had encountered - and she, learning quickly, tried to say it in return; "Hell-yo," the woman cooed, trying to be as soft as she could while the stranger pressed herself lightly against her hip.
It was unfortunate that Galena didn't know how to communicate. She had to rely on her physical behaviour, which would have sufficed, except that this stranger could not see her, and everything was made much more difficult. Her head lowered slightly so that they were on the same level, and Galena tried shuffling towards the stranger's face, to plant her nose carefully upon the stranger's cheek; some could call that a kiss but it wasn't meant as such. It was something her mother often did when she was stressed or unable to handle the regimented manner that their family carried on.
Maybe it would work in this instance.
Galena tried, anyway. A moment later she removed her nose from the stranger, slow and deliberate, and made sure to keep at least a part of her in contact with them; it was an unsettling feeling but it would be the only way to keep the stranger, her pack mate, from possibly walking in to the river. Galena's ears fell back for a moment as she contemplated what to do - she wanted to hunt, or fish, or in some manner restock a cache, but that would be impossible if she had to babysit this poor girl. Should she call for help?
Maybe someone else would be better equipped? It felt like defeat to her, though, and so she didn't; not yet. Maybe they could reach some kind of understanding. The girl murmured a pleasant sound within her throat and chest, trying to tell the other wolf that she was not to be feared. Hopefully she would understand.
Her arm found the subtle curve of hip, and Chandra was comforted by this. The form of wolf was one known to her, from her memories of sight and also from the careful mapping of the bodies of her kin with sightless touch, and she knew now where she stood relative to Galena. She moved carefully upward, lowering her nose to brush it softly through the other wolf's fur as she righted herself so that they were parallel. The feel of coarser hair as she tilted her head upward told her the other wolf's topside began there, identifying Galena as the taller of the two. Otherwise, not much could be said of her appearance, not by the blind anyway. The woman cooed a response, with an odd inflection that made Chandra's brows tilt toward her nose in contemplation.
She was spared the awkwardness of asking about it, for suddenly there was a soft touch on her cheek. Her breath hitched for a moment, then fell quietly from her nostrils, as she accepted this form of comfort. Touch was Chandra's only indication of intent; the sharp sting of a wolf's weaponry cutting into her hide would bid her flee, but Chandra could not flee anymore than she could fight. Not yet, anyway; a blind wolf running was like to be a death sentence. Thankfully, the touch had not been the deadly kiss of incisors, but rather, the brush of a nose tip; friend, it said.
I hope I haven't interrupted you,
she said good-naturedly, taking a moment to draw her hind limbs toward her and collapse into a seated posture. Whilst sitting, Chandra was more or less safe, when in the company of another wolf. She could not walk off a cliff or find herself in the jaws of an upwind predator so long as she wasn't moving. The act gave Galena the unspoken option of remaining in physical contact or not. Surely, if she chose to leave, Chandra would have to accept that as well, but being sociable and irreversibly reliant on others, she hoped that would not be the case.