+- 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: Sunset Valley ma'am... some other sunset (/showthread.php?tid=66674)
ma'am... some other sunset - Dutch - December 07, 2025
The family was scattered, now. Dutch had returned to find Katmai gone once again, his mother departed and long overdue to return. His youngest brother missing a littermate, the litter before that down to a single daughter.
Sometimes, they all felt like strangers to him.
He lingered here in the valley. To the west was the home of his heart. His brother. The remains of a life well-loved. To the south were his family's ancestral lands — home bases dotted the taiga and the valley beyond, erstwhile and forgotten though they were. And behind him, if he really wanted, was a place he could've found rest. A place he could have waited for his family to return to him. A place he could've been useful. Could've been among blood.
And to the north, of course, was the ocean, violent and vengeful as she was. Dutch felt pulled in all directions, but mostly, he felt unmoored. Apathetic. A great and terrible wanting had opened up a pit in his belly, but he had nothing left to fill it with.
So he lingered. Padded silently through the snow first in one direction, then in another. Paused to dig at the remnants of an old den, though he had no goal with his tending. Eventually, he simply sat in the dead grasses and let snowdrifts accumulate on his thick pelt. When he looked up at the sky, he could almost pretend he was back on the mountain where he'd been born.
RE: ma'am... some other sunset - Pala - December 08, 2025
Pala had returned to the Teekons with only half a heart left. The rest had surely been left with Ignace in the mountains, her only living son as far as she knew.
She had never come this far east, but she was here now with good reason. Pala wanted - and maybe needed - to avoid what was familiar.
Nose twitching, she spotted a wolf ahead. He was the first she had seen on her travels, and it gave reason for caution. He had that sad look about him that was hard to pinpoint as true danger.
Despite herself, she looked up at the sky too. Maybe to see what he was looking at, maybe because she needed to remember another home too.
RE: ma'am... some other sunset - Dutch - December 08, 2025
He'd not lingered for long before a new scent reached him on the wind. Beneath the harsh burn of the cold was a shewolf, and when he lowered his gaze, there she was beneath the sky. She was unfamiliar to him, but even from here, he could see a distinctive marking upon her face.
Upon what was left of it.
The sight drove him to his paws. His hackles bristled without his consent, chilled by the ghastly appearance of the strange woman. But if he could smell her, then she was not a ghoul, and he forced his posture to be loose and friendly.
The panther gave a tentative wag of his tail, inviting her closer if she wished it.
RE: ma'am... some other sunset - Pala - December 08, 2025
Catching sight of his nerves, Pala remembered herself. Her appearance hadn't been particularly appealing before, but for wolves outside of her home which praised such scars she had to imagine that she was outright horrifying now. She could feel a twitch of embarassment bubbling in her chest.
Wary even as the stranger followed with a friendly gesture, Pala only came close enough to speak.
Did I scare you?Greeting with a question, she kept her head turned to keep the missing half from view. She wasn't sure she actually wanted to know the answer - but then again, he hadn't ran away or threatened her further.
Nose twitching, she took what she could from his scent. Clearly he was well-travelled.
RE: ma'am... some other sunset - Dutch - December 09, 2025
After the brief scare, Dutch made an effort to gaze at the woman head-on, as he would with any other wolf. The way she held herself stirred guilt in his heart, but there was nothing he could do to take back his initial reaction.
A thin smile curved his mouth at her question.
"Only for a moment," he admitted.
They assessed one another, neither seeming to have much to say. She smelled of cold places and isolation, as he was sure she might have said of him only a few weeks prior. But his visit to Round Valley had been fairly recent, and he knew he smelled faintly of his distant cousins, and the few siblings that still remained with them.
"Clearly you are a braver wolf than I," he said. A weak attempt at humor.
RE: ma'am... some other sunset - Pala - December 09, 2025
Her laughter was polite but half-hearted, not quite sure what to make of him.
I'm sorry, I haven't spoken to anyone since I left home.She usually wasn't the best for conversation, but the weeks on her own hadn't done any good for her social skills.
Do you know how far we are from the mountains? The big ones neighbouring the wilderness.
She had told herself she would stay away, but her curiosity hadn't died entirely. Not that she could go through the mountains anymore; the risk of bumping into Chaudry was too much.
RE: ma'am... some other sunset - Dutch - December 09, 2025
The woman didn't introduce herself.
Neither did Dutch.
"The Elysian mountains are a fortnight to the east, if you are in a great hurry," he replied, not yet bothering to point the way. "The Sunspire range is just days behind you. And the Moonspear range is a few days beyond that — though you'll want to plan a week or more to cut through the mountains, this time of year."
Judging by the state of her. Perhaps she was fitter than she looked to his eyes.
"I do not know what lays beyond those mountains," he told her. "But to the south of us, the land grows hot and flat. Eventually."
RE: ma'am... some other sunset - Pala - December 09, 2025
Pala nods, taking in his words. She wonders if @Julia is still with her father.
Closer than I thought.
Pushing out a breath, Pala faces him properly.
I don't think I'll go that way yet, but I'll hold onto what you've told me.Where she was going to go now, she wasn't sure.
..My name is Pala. Can I ask yours?It was polite to exchange names, right? They seemed friendly enough now.
RE: ma'am... some other sunset - Dutch - December 09, 2025
His ears fell back as if he'd been accused of something. It was only that he could relate to her reluctance, and it was unpleasant to see any part of himself reflected in someone else.
Mainly because it was the only time he had to look at it.
"Dutch," he replied. And then, because that was not enough, "Are you alone out here?"
It sounded inherently threatening, even to him. He wished he hadn't asked.
RE: ma'am... some other sunset - Pala - December 09, 2025
It does sounds like a threat, but it doesn't feel like one. Maybe because he seems to be alone, too.
I am. I used to live over those mountains on Moonspear.But that had been a while ago now. She had left them behind, or really it felt like they had left her.
I won't be alone for long though, if I can help it.
She would look for a pack. That was where Pala thrived, somewhere she had something to guard and live for. Sociable or not, she was a pack animal by nature. She couldn't live alone for long.
Are you on your way somewhere?
RE: ma'am... some other sunset - Dutch - December 09, 2025
Though he was not surprised to hear it — some part of him had expected something like this — it still pained him when the name left her lips.
"No. Nowhere," he replied, though he was still toying with the idea of returning to those same wilds. His eyes traced her figure, looking for any sign of familiarity, but even beneath her scars, she was a stranger to him.
"I lived there, too" he told her, though his throat threatened to close around the words. Not tears any longer. Just a Pavlovian response, shrinking away from the wild ache of it that he could no longer quite identify.
"In Moonsong. In Moontide."
He fell silent again. The conversation was painfully awkward, though he remembered that he'd been charming all his life. He wanted to be better, to put her more at ease, to be pleasant enough company that she might enjoy it. But he found that he could not.
RE: ma'am... some other sunset - Pala - December 09, 2025
Pala saw his hesitation, his discomfort. Something about it made her relax.
You don't want to talk about them, I understand.In truth, she didn't either.
We aren't much different in that sense, then. I don't have anywhere to go either.It was making her restless. She had half a mind to insist that she follow him, but Pala knew better.
Have you travelled much? Maybe you know where to find friendly faces.
RE: ma'am... some other sunset - Dutch - December 09, 2025
Had he travelled much?
The ghost of a smirk found its way onto his face. The expression felt unnatural, get it appeared there quite without his permission.
"Not many places nearby, if you do not want to return to the moon villages."
He tipped his nose to the east.
"That way. Past the Elysian mountains. There is a pack called Round Valley that might take you in."
He was not sure what Nino would think of her scars, nor her age. She seemed bold enough, however, and he thought that might appeal to his implacable kinsman. To the rest of them? He wasn't sure.
"There is a younger pack that way, too, on the Ten Mile River. They take strays, but their manners are lacking."
Then he pointed his nose south.
"And there is wolfscent that way. I do not know them."
RE: ma'am... some other sunset - Pala - December 09, 2025
Graciously, Dutch lists off what he knows of, but none of it quite appeals to Pala.
We'll see.She says, frowning.
The moon packs and a neighbour in the mountains are the only packs I knew of while I was here, I can't go back to either.Some for her safety, others for her pride.
I was never patient before, but I think I need to be this time.If she had been patient, maybe her face would still be whole. Maybe she would still have a friend in @Treepie or a pack in Montagne de Cigue. Fate and the mind had a cruel way of placing blame.
Most wolves won't take me in, and the rest haven't made out to be good companions.
No offense to Dutch of course, he seemed fine.
If she was any bolder she would insist on starting a pack of her own, but for all her quiet confidence Pala was never the 'alpha wolf' type. After all, she had come to the Teekons the first time expecting to play second fiddle to her brother.
I hope you find a place to go Dutch. Maybe I'll see you again.
RE: ma'am... some other sunset - Dutch - December 09, 2025
Patience. It was a thing he'd not stopped to consider for a long time. Desperation. Conviction. Stubborn pride. Resignation. These things had been driving him. Was there any use in the world for patience, when there seemed to be nothing left to wait for?
He supposed that the answer was to wait and see.
"Perhaps," he replied, though his track record made prospects far from promising. He dipped his head.
"Go in peace, Pala," he murmured, disappointed and relieved at once to quit her company.