+- Wolf RPG (https://wolf-rpg.com)
+-- Forum: In Character: Roleplaying (https://wolf-rpg.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=5)
+--- Forum: Archives (https://wolf-rpg.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=11)
+--- Thread: Blackfoot Forest faith ain't no privilege (/showthread.php?tid=64230)
faith ain't no privilege - Nimbus - December 30, 2024
The forest was quiet beneath the weight of winter’s shroud, save for the occasional sharp cry that pierced the stillness. Nimbus moved through the snow without sound, his silvered form blending into the pale light of the moon above. He barely registered the voices of the foxes echoing through the woods—they belonged to the night, as much a part of it as the frost clinging to the branches.
What lingered in his chest was far louder than the calls around him.
His breath came slow and steady, each exhale curling into the air like ghosts of words he hadn’t spoken. The ache he carried gnawed at him with every step, a hollow, biting thing that no amount of distance seemed to ease. He’d been here before—different forests, different seasons—but the weight never changed.
The snow crunched beneath his paws, the sound muffled as though the forest sought to smother even that small intrusion. He welcomed the stillness, though it did nothing to calm the storm of memories swirling behind his eyes. Her face, her voice, the sound of her laughter—it all played on an endless loop, relentless and sharp.
Nimbus stopped beneath an old pine, its branches bowing beneath the weight of snow. He stared at the ground for a long moment, his breath shallow, his shoulders stiff. The night stretched around him, vast and uncaring, and he felt its indifference settle heavily over his heart.
A faint rustle stirred the air, the scent of prey brushing against his senses. He should have followed it—should have let instinct take over and let the chase fill the void, if only for a moment. But he didn’t move.
Instead, he lifted his head, pale yellow eyes scanning the shadows ahead, though he wasn’t truly looking at anything. What was there to see? What was there to find, now that the thing he’d been chasing for so long was gone?
The forest whispered around him, the wind weaving through the trees like a song with no melody. Nimbus exhaled, his breath shuddering as it left him, and forced his paws forward. He didn’t know where he was going, only that he couldn’t stop. Stopping meant thinking, and thinking meant remembering—and that, he wasn’t ready for.
RE: faith ain't no privilege - Rala - December 31, 2024
nanuralaaq moved south-west from the valley in which she made her home, carried only by the wind and an urge to keep the surrounding areas free of threat so that her packmates may rest peacefully, without threat nor fear. so she walked, now, on light paws that hardly churned the snow underneath, carrying her with a gliding grace almost comparable to an ice-skater, or a wandering spirit. pale in an ethereal manner.
it was her that emerged from the shadows ahead, watching him watch her, her eyes similarly pale, though orange rather than yellow. he was tall, like many she knew, though less toned, athletic, instead appearing rounded, to have lived a life of comfort. the snowwoman turned her head, then, studying him. curious.
hello,she tested, quiet, melodic, as if speaking carefully as to not disrupt the peace of the they stood within. moonlight filtered through the trees, bathing the white wolves in a ghostly colouration.
who are you?she asked, assessing the thread of his presence.
RE: faith ain't no privilege - Wake - December 31, 2024
Winter’s Wake and @Kirain had taken much of the day to at last descend from the mountains into the snowy valley below. He showed the snowangel first to the foxwoods, though they had not been able to see much of the evergreen forest in its daylit glory before winter began to darkness fall upon them.
Now that his companion was full fed and with strength enough to care for herself, Wake felt that he could leave her to her own devices for longer stretches of time. Besides, there was much scouting and recruiting that needed to be done, and they would cover more ground and meet more opportunities if they worked independently of one another.
I will hunt, if you can take up finding us shelter for the evening,he had told her, with the added invitation of joining him if she finished before he returned.
***
He hunted for over an hour without success. Until…
Wake paused to watch the progress of two wolfish figures: a tall silver stag and a pale dainty figure in the night. At first he thought the smaller being was Kirain, but after watching their movements for a time, he knew it wasn’t her. Task quickly forgotten, the winterwolf moved to investigate.
Ave, strangers,he called in the dark, lifting his tail in greeting. He moved with the languid confidence of a snow leopard, though kept his distance, lest the pair prove unfriendly or otherwise psychopathic. He would need to discern this if he wished to boast of leadership.
tag is for ref, but i also made it plausible for her to jump in any time now <3
RE: faith ain't no privilege - Nimbus - December 31, 2024
Nimbus stopped dead in his tracks, the sight of her stealing the breath from his chest like a punch to the ribs. She moved with a grace that defied the weight of the world, her paws skimming the snow as though the earth itself refused to hold her back. The moonlight caught her pale fur, painting her in shades of silver and frost, so striking that for a moment he thought she wasn’t real.
But those eyes—orange and alive—anchored her firmly to the world, even as the air between them felt charged with something otherworldly. He swallowed hard, his heart stuttering as memories he’d tried to bury surged to the surface. She wasn’t her. She couldn’t be.
Still, she stared at him, assessing, curious, her head tilting as if weighing his existence against some unseen measure. His chest tightened, and a faint, bitter laugh slipped past his lips.
You’ve got to be shitting me,he muttered under his breath, his voice barely more than a rasp.
She moved her head, and the motion was so achingly familiar that it cut him open in a way he hadn’t expected. A lifetime of quiet, unanswered longing pressed against his ribs, threatening to spill into the frozen silence between them.
Nimbus took a step forward, his paws crunching softly in the snow, though his body was rigid, his muscles coiled with something he couldn’t name. A ghost, a stranger—what the hell was the difference when they both made him feel like this? He tried to tear his gaze away, but the way the moonlight framed her made it impossible.
Nimbus.he muttered gruffly to the night, his voice cracking under the weight of his thoughts but also from months of hardly finding a will to speak.
Nimbus let the silence settle again, though it wasn’t quiet—not inside him. He stood there, caught between the past and the present, unsure which one would swallow him first. But silence was to not be at the sound of the others voice. From solitude to now an audience, Nimbus could feel the pang of longing from a lifetime ago, comradery from friends, a life once spent as part of a pack.
He turned his head to face the other, eyes seemingly glazed over as his scarred ear flickered, unsure if these strangers were a threat.
RE: faith ain't no privilege - Rala - January 01, 2025
the man ahead of her seemed to mumble something ; words that she could not quite pick up, and so she drew her brows together, silently confused. nanuralaaq drew closer - and a few seconds later he had shared his name, nimbus. about to share her own, the sound of a voice sounded from a few ways away, and she turned to pinpoint where it had come from. she moved away from nimbus and this stranger, now. were they together?
and who are you?the words spilt from dark lips, lilting as they echoed through the woods. she flicked her tail, then, looking between the men that stood before her.
are you two together?arctic accent think on her words, wondering if it was time for her to take her leave. how quickly would it take for this to get dangerous? neither seemed particularly hostile, though perhaps it would be best for her to alert the valley that there seemed to be strangers gathering nearby.
what are either of you doing here?
questions, questions.
RE: faith ain't no privilege - Wake - January 01, 2025
The way the strangers interacted made it clear that neither of them knew the other. Wake looked between them both in mild interest, lifting his nose to inspect what he could of their scents at his distance. There seemed nothing of note about the male, whose name he had missed, but the other wolf carried with her a trace of the Bearclaws.
I belong here,came his nonchalant reply to the self-righteous interrogation. As if these woods belonged to her alone.
You are from Bearclaw Valley,he went on, tail wagging slowly as he openly studied the wintergrey, her sunflower eyes glimmering speculatively towards him.
I am your neighbor, Winter’s Wake.The relationship between himself and the bruin-wolves was tenuous at best, perhaps even undecided, but he was not unknown to them.
He looked to the stout, mountainous wolf, who was even taller than Wake had thought from afar. He admired the silverstorm also, appreciating what he saw and remaining calmly interested, as he was with most wolves who looked capable of holding their own.
Are you also from the area?he asked the loner, using this as both a way to sate his curiosity and inform the wary woman that they were not cohorts.
RE: faith ain't no privilege - Nimbus - January 03, 2025
Nimbus’s gaze lingered a moment too long on the wintergrey wolf, his pale eyes betraying a flicker of something deeper—something distant and raw that he couldn’t quite name. Her coat, brushed by the silvery moonlight, tugged at a thread he thought he’d buried long ago. It was just a glimmer, a whisper of memory, but it caught him off guard all the same.
When Wake’s question came, it pulled him back to the present, though his answer seemed to carry the weight of elsewhere.
No,he said quietly, almost absently.
Not from the area. Not really from anywhere anymore.His voice held a softness that hadn’t been there before, as though the cold night air had stolen some of its usual sharpness.
His gaze drifted back to the female, studying her without meaning to. She wasn’t the same—of course she wasn’t—but something about her bearing, her eyes, made the ache in his chest twist tighter. He let out a quiet breath, his focus shifting back to Wake, though his thoughts still wandered.
Just passing through,he murmured, his words more for himself than anyone else.
Looking for... something. Or nothing.A faint, self-deprecating smile tugged at his lips, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
RE: faith ain't no privilege - Rala - January 08, 2025
i belong here, came easy words, though she was not so certain. they seemed far too close to the valley, though nanuralaaq supposed that kvarsheim had been close, too ... but the man before her did not smell of pack ; he wore another upon his pelt, the smell of a woman, but it seemed that, otherwise, he and she were alone, asides from those who now intruded upon the forest - herself, and the man she now knew as 'nimbus'.
weary little thing, anxious like a rabbit for reasons unknown to her.
winters wake,she echoed, giving a nod of her head and an attempt to straighten her posture. and it seemed that neither wake nor nimbus knew of one another, and so rala relaxed, instead adopting a separate demeanor ; one of calm. just passing through, came the words of nimbus. and so she would say:
be careful, on your travels,looking back to the valley.
do not get too close. valley wolves are hostile ones ; we protect with our lives,a flicked tail.
her thoughts returned to the stranger who had come second.
you, wake, are you trying to start a pack here?perhaps she could return to the regina with information.