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+--- Thread: Firefly Glen When Doves Cry (/showthread.php?tid=66237)
When Doves Cry - Kinusi - August 24, 2025
There was silence on all sides. Lost in the inbetween states. There was no one about. Kinusi traced footfalls she had traced as a younger child. She thought of memories both good and bad. She ached for connection for anything really. And yet here she was. Alone, just alone. And silence was all around.
She couldn't even lift her voice in song. It felt disturbing as if she would disturb the quiet hush that had settled over the Teekon wilds like a fog. Pushing everything down, making it feel heavy. Wrong.
RE: When Doves Cry - Katmai - September 02, 2025
Without either of his parents nearby, Katmai could only guess at how old he was. He imagined a year must now have passed, as they were leaving behind the true cubbing season and climbing on toward autumn. He could only vaguely recall what that felt like — which made it seem ever more likely he'd been very young.
But, in truth, there were many things he could not clearly recall. After that run-in with the moose and the resulting knock to the skull, he'd found his memories quite vague in some respects, while his recall remained perfect in others.
He could not, for example, remember the way back to his family's last-known territory. He only hoped that one of them would show up at Moonglow, where his uncle Valiant was still in residence. He was visiting now, though not very actively, having still not laid eyes on his elder nor set paw within the territory. Instead, he followed, idly, in the trail of an unfamiliar wolf. Her scent was fresh, but she never appeared before him. He picked up the pace, and then paused to give a quiet howl: Where are you?
Not just her — he didn't even know her — but for his family, and for himself.
Where are you?
I don't know, the silence seemed to answer.
Katmai hurried onward, more intent now on finding the mysterious source of the unfamiliar scent.
RE: When Doves Cry - Kinusi - September 08, 2025
A howl rang out. Kini stopped and listened. Blue eyes cutting through the shadows. She stepped nimble towards the voice lifting her voice in song. He was hunting for her this stranger. Could he be dangerous sure. But maybe not and she was lonely, frankly.
I am what I am
I am my own special creation
So come take a look
Give me the hook or the ovation
It's my world that I want to have a little pride in
My world and it's not a place I have to hide in
Life's not worth a damn
'Til you can say, I am what I am
I am what I am
I don't want praise, I don't want pity
I bang my own drum
Some think it's noise, I think it's pretty
And so what if I love each sparkle and each bangle?
Why not try to see things from a different angle?
Your life is a sham
'Til you can shout out, I am what I am
I am what I am
And what I am needs no excuses
I deal my own deck
Sometimes the ace, sometimes the deuces
It's one life and there's no return and no deposit
One life, so it's time to open up your closet
Life's not worth a damn
'Til you can shout out, I am what I am
I am what I am
I am what I am
And what I am needs no excuses
I deal my own deck
Sometimes the ace, sometimes the deuces
It's one life and there's no return and no deposit
One life, so it's time to open up your closet
Life's not worth a damn
'Til you can shout out, I am what I am
Oh, I am
Oh, I am
I am, I am, I am good
I am, I am, I am strong
I am, I am, I am worthy
I am, I am, I belong, oh
I am, I am
Oh, oh, I am
I am, I am, I am useful
I am, I am, I am true
I am, I am, I am somebody
I am as good as new, uh huh
Oh, yes I am
I am
I am what I am by Gloria Gaynor
RE: When Doves Cry - Katmai - September 08, 2025
A moment after his own howl faded, another voice lifted — not quite in answer. Katmai stood very still, struck dumb by the song that reached him, tinny at a distance. His ears swiveled and pricked, and he listened for a long moment before setting off in search of the stranger.
She might stop singing at any moment, after all — and then how would he find her?
As her voice grew stronger — nearer — Katmai found himself answering, "I am, I am," his voice weaving beneath hers skilled but uncertain melody. He kept up the refrain, answering her as it seemed to grow more urgent, and then the song was over —
Katmai picked up the pace, crashing through the brush in the direction he'd last heard the voice. There were not many obstacles in his way. A moment later, he stood just a short distance away from her, his chest falling and rising too rapidly for the short burst of speed. It was just that, for a moment, he thought he'd lose track of her. And he was lonely, too.
He sang: "I am a man of constant sorrow. I've seen trouble all my days."
It was the song as he knew it, but it was the truth, too.
"I bid farewell to Great Bear Valley, the place where I was born and raised.
"For this long year, I've been in trouble. No pleasure here on Earth I've found.
"For in this world I'm bound to ramble — I have no friend to help me now."
He stepped close, his tail wheeling and his tongue lolling. It had been painful to sing the word — vulnerable and embarrassing. But trading voices with the stranger had helped ease the ache of loneliness in his chest.
RE: When Doves Cry - Kinusi - September 08, 2025
Kinusi didnt know if her voice could reach far enough. But she tried after all no use in being bless with a set of pipes if it didn't get heard.
His chorus echoed to her and she lifted her voice a little stronger a little higher. Amd she moved herself. Forward. Blue eyes on the way it sounded.
She heard his song and ran through the ones her father had sang. She answered him back with a toss of her head and a cheeky smile.
You just call out my name
And you know, wherever I am
I'll come runnin'
To see you again
Winter, spring, summer or fall
All you have to do is call
And I'll be there
You've got a friend
She chuckled.
Heya there tough stuff. It's Kinusi by the way. My name.
RE: When Doves Cry - Katmai - September 08, 2025
The wolf had only been a scent and a voice to him up until now. He'd been too distracted to wonder what she might look like. In truth, she was not all that different from many wolves he'd seen, but Katmai still found himself thunderstruck when they finally stood across from each other.
He was lucky to have finished his song without stuttering. Certainly, he could not have mustered any words while she sang directly to him, her stance proud and her eyes flashing — and with a toss of her head that made him think of the wild horses he'd once seen out on the plains.
"Katmai," he replied, glad that his voice did not crack on his own name. "Pleased to meet you, Kinusi."
He padded closer, though he kept a polite distance, to catch the different scents on her pelt. She smelled bitterly but compellingly of the open wilds, absent of other pack scents despite her proximity to Moonglow.
"You have powerful lungs," he told her, feeling quite cheeky himself despite the erratic thrum of his heart. He gave in to the urge to pay her a more sincere compliment: "And a beautiful voice."
RE: When Doves Cry - Kinusi - September 09, 2025
Kinusi hadn't been blessed pretty like her mom. Oh she did well enough and she wasnt ugly. She had her dad's colors and her mom's eyes. It had worked out. She just wasn't gorgeous like Pie or Tikaani. But she made up for it with presence and confidence and cheek.
He had done well with his singing this wolf. She traced blue eyes over him. He was dressed in fall colors with deep sunset red eyes. A mottled browns and blacks. His fur sticking up in places. But it suited him this rugged look.
A soft laugh. Bright eyes.
Pleasure to meet ya Katmai.
Her chuckle stirred the air again. Softer. Happier.
I love to sing. I'm a bard after all. Bard, storyteller and healer at your service. And thank you for the compliment. It's not every day you get to sing with others. You sing great by the way. Not many can do that while running.
RE: When Doves Cry - Katmai - September 09, 2025
It could be, Katmai thought, the idea surging through him like his own blood. It could be every day we sing together. We can find other people to sing with, too. We could start something.
He bit his tongue, but he couldn't hide his smile at her praise.
"At your service," he said with a bow, his tail wheeling high in pleasure. He did not tell her that it was her voice and not any running that'd taken his breath away. Something being true did not save it from being a line, and he was as of yet still too self-conscious to be that incorrigible of a flirt.
"I'm a bard, too," he told her, though what he meant was that he wanted to be, and that his father was. "I don't know any healing, though. Did you learn from the moonwoman?"
She was close enough.
RE: When Doves Cry - Kinusi - September 09, 2025
Kinusi didn't know what she wanted beyond a belonging. Amd a pack that didnt fail.
She laughed then. Loud raucous.
Be careful what you offer. A woman other than me may take you literally.
She shook her hand. Princess a paw in place. Laughter on her face, in her eyes. Happy as always woth the wind blowing.
Naw. She taught me a little. But my dad Alaric is a bard, storyteller and healer. He taught me most of what I know. He used to run moonspear. But it sort of fell apart too. Hes near the coast or something now.
writing with the assumption since he is also my charie. That Alaric at least would have told her where they were heading.
RE: When Doves Cry - Katmai - September 09, 2025
Katmai made a sweeping gesture, mischief in his eyes. "By all means," he encouraged, "I can see that you will be a benevolent ruler."
Surprise briefly stole over his features when she spoke her father's name. He hadn't known that Alaric had children, and indeed, had never even set eyes on the man. But!
"My father, Dutch, knows yours!" he told her, his tail wheeling again. Something else occurred to him, and his voice was once more teasing: "He spoke often of how clever and handsome he is."
Like father, like daughter, he wanted to say. But also: like father, like son!
"My father once led Moonsong, but it, too, fell apart. My brother and my sisters and I grew up at Moontide — which has also fallen apart."
His smile was a little sad, now — but it was still very much a smile.
"You don't travel with him," he said, curiously. "Are you — dispersing?"
He said it almost as though it were a naughty word, and one he wasn't sure he ought to be using. Dispersal carried a certain weight to it. It meant that one was not just out and about, but gone — and in search of something new.
Was that what he was doing?
RE: When Doves Cry - Kinusi - September 09, 2025
Kinusi snort laughed.
Perhaps for a time until all the power goes to my head. Or I say something to offend.
Kinusi smiled. Sharp and bright.
Yea dad knows a lot of people. He's a trader. I don't know if he's handsome
She made a face.
He's my dad. But I mean lots of wolves like him. So I guess. He's pretty cool.
Love for her dad showed in her face. They weren't as close as they could be but she loved him greatly.
There's a wolf in moonglow who once ran a pack named Moontide Rody or rod or something like that.
She chuckled again.
You're cute. Yea I guess you could say that. But I left moonspear when I was like 6 months old. Thought a wolf was my friend, but he left once I joined up. Thought the leader was my friend, but then they both left too. So you know 0 for 2 in the friend department.
RE: When Doves Cry - Katmai - September 09, 2025
"He must be," Katmai said of Alaric, nodding vigorously. His father, after all, had composed song and story about Alaric and his fine attributes and his daring deeds. He was something of a folk hero to Katmai, though the young male half learned to take everything Dutch sang with a grain of salt.
And then —
He was cute? Katmai hoped that this was a good thing, but at the back of his mind, he had his doubts. He'd liked it better when she'd called him tough guy, but in truth, he was pleased enough if she'd just keep talking to him.
"That sounds very rude of them," he told her, quite seriously. He hesitated before saying, "I was lost when I was very young. My father and my uncle found me again, but much time and many things had already passed."
It was a sad tale. He didn't want to dwell on it.
"I would like to be your friend, Kinusi," he told her. "We should sing together, you and I. Often."
His eyes were sincere, and utterly without guile as he fixed them on Kinusi's white-splashed face.
RE: When Doves Cry - Kinusi - September 09, 2025
Kinusi knew her father was awesome. I mean he had her so of course that raied the great factor. But his own merits and deeds were profound. Even she couldn't fathom it all.
He was cute. She liked the way his fur stuck up. And how he studied you as he was speaking. You knew he was listening.
Kini frowned.
Im sorry. That musta been scary. I'm glad they found ya. Time can surprise ya.
She smiled.
I am always up for friends and singing. Sounds like a good time. What do you plan on doing? And where ya going?
RE: When Doves Cry - Katmai - September 09, 2025
It had been scary — but he was fairly certain Kinusi was not supposed to know he'd ever been afraid of anything. Not yet, at least! He had no instinct for lying, so he didn't try to deny it, but he did studiously avoid agreeing with her. Only a furtive little smile of thanks acknowledged her comforting words.
He was more pleased with the rest of it, anyway. They would be friends, and there would be singing. All seemed right in his world for the first time in quite a while. And with this peace came sudden clarity.
"Well, I'm dispersed," he said, importantly this time. He hoped it might make Kinusi laugh at him again. "That means I must find a fine territory to defend."
He did not take this too seriously, and that was likely clear in the way he puffed his chest before grinning again at his new friend.
"Where I will rule with the lady of my heart," he added, totally not too serious, "and maybe growl at some mean strangers. What do you think? A noble plan?"
He dropped, bowing playfully in her direction.
"There will still be singing and adventuring, of course," he assured her.
RE: When Doves Cry - Kinusi - September 09, 2025
Kinusi had been scared at first qhen she left her dad. Even now sometimes when it was stormy and dark and she had no one to hold a paw over her eyes like her dad used too. It was scary. But she'd not admit it. Not yet anyway. A girl had to be mysterious after all.
A soft chuckle.
Dispersed. Huh.
A weave of her tail. A tap tap as she ghosted forward.
what type of territory?
Already got a lady's heart do you? Like knights of old eh?
She tilted her ears. Wagged her tail and bent forward to wiggle forward boop his nose and back up laughter in her gaze.
Sounds like a plan.
RE: When Doves Cry - Katmai - September 09, 2025
"I'm working on it," he shot back, his face feeling quite hot as he hinted at his budding crush. His tail whipped wildly as the exchanged a few stilted motions of play, Katmai still struggling to remember what play even felt like — and he was electrified when they touched for the first time, just a childish bump of noses.
Whatever crush or kinship there was between them, and whatever might grow in its place, Katmai was sure Kinusi was a wolf he'd admire just as deeply as his father admired hers.
"Well! We'll have to find one," he told her, springing to his paws with all the energy she'd imbued him with. "Something grand, of course. Something — safe. Ah — protected, I mean. Like a fortress. Like the knights of old."
To borrow her words.
"Know anything like that?" he wondered. "There's my old home — but I think it should be somewhere new."
RE: When Doves Cry - Kinusi - September 09, 2025
A small smile. A toss of her head. She knew what he was hinting at and she was okay with it. Liked him well enough for having just met. She could see something maybe. Though. She briefly thought of how bad her dad had been hurt. Naw surely this guy wasnt evil like that.
Kini listened. Her mind working through territories. She knew a few herself. And her dad had told her if some. Did he want forest? Rock's? Sea?
Well it depends. Do you want trees and forest? Rocks and mountains or cliffs and sea?
RE: When Doves Cry - Katmai - September 09, 2025
He'd grown out of it some, but there was still something about forests that unnerved him. Far more than talk of trees, however, he was disturbed by the idea of living on the coast.
"No sea," he said decisively, though he did check her expression to see if this disappointed his maybe-future-queen. "We can be close, but... I think I've had enough of the sea."
It was the sea that had taken Chakliux, and half of Dutch Morningside with him.
"Cliffs sound good," he went on. "Something we can stand on and survey the land from. We can stand there and look down at strangers and say, 'Whyever have you grown so small? I say, you look no bigger than a louse!'"
He stole another glance at Kinusi. Was he funny? Was he? Was he??
RE: When Doves Cry - Kinusi - September 09, 2025
Kinusi loved forests, but she also loved hills and mountains and cliffs. She had been born in them after all. She had not ever really been to the sea. Wasn't sure if she would like something that screamed with birds and crashed against rocks. That you couldn't drink.
I don't know that I would like the sea. Seems loud. A voice would get lost in the sea.
She laughed at his impression. It was good she had to admit. And it would be fun at times to look down on places. Her father had taught her early how to survive on food in the rocks. And if you knew where to look and weren't afraid. Prey was many in the higher altitudes.
There's mountains near moonglow, but there are aslo some further in the snowy regions. And some down past the sea. I believe.
RE: When Doves Cry - Katmai - September 09, 2025
His head tipped to the side. Had she not heard the ocean? He thought it made a great singing partner, sometimes, but he supposed he knew what she meant. He thought a little more, contemplating what he really wanted in a territory. It still felt like a fun game they were playing, but one he could keep on playing for a lifetime.
"What do you say we go look at them?" he suggested, already warming to the idea. "I'll have to stop in at Moonglow and tell my uncle — and perhaps we can visit your father on the coast! I should like to meet such a storied and gloried man for myself!"
His tail wheeled, and he turned his whole body toward the sea as if he might go racing off then and there.
"And we can look and see what sorts of castles and causeways are around," he went on, a speculative gleam in his eyes. He looked back at Kinusi, feeling bright and light and excited. "You'll travel with me, right?" he asked her, just wanting to be sure they weren't still speaking in jest.
RE: When Doves Cry - Kinusi - September 15, 2025
He was sweet and kind. A d she hadn't had a fresh face. Or a kind one in so long. It was nice to be included.
She laughed and stepped towards him.
Okay let's go look. And yea I can travel with ya. I sing a lot. And I always like snacks.
She chuckled and tip tapped towards him already humming a traveling song.
RE: When Doves Cry - Katmai - September 15, 2025
His heart leapt! He laughed, though she'd made no jokes, and filed the information carefully away. Snacks — he could find her plenty of snacks.
Despite intentions to set off at once in search of a decent territory, Kinusi's tip-tapping looked like too much fun not to try. He copied her, a bit clumsily as he tried to identify the tune she hummed. When he didn't know it, he committed himself to learning it with a savage kind of joy.
This was the start, he thought, of a beautiful friendship.
It would be a long while before they got much of anywhere, considering Katmai's mind was anything but one-track.
fade here?