this used to be the place i ran towhenever i was in need
of a friend
[size=3]why did it have to end[/size]
A few days prior, he’d been plagued by feelings of anger from the female that had come to the border and had ended up upsetting him. He had hated that feeling. It had taken a while for that anger to go away, but when it finally did, he was greatly relieved. It was definitely not something he wanted to feel very often, if ever again. Though there was no way to say that he wouldn’t ever feel it again. It was what it was. It was hard to put limits on emotions, especially when they came up out of nowhere at any given time.
Earlier that morning, he had received good news. Koontz had promoted him to Gamma. Yildun was clearly thrilled by this. But there was bad news that had come with the good news. Verrine was gone. Needing to wrap his mind around that news, he had gone for a long walk by himself. Verrine was gone, leaving Julooke here. But now Yildun found himself wondering how long it was going to be before Julooke, too, was gone. His fears were coming to light it seemed. It was only a matter of time before he was without anyone left. That was how he viewed it. Upset was absolutely putting it mildly as far as how he was feeling when he first set out on his walk.
By the time he began to make his way back in the general direction of the den he shared with his sister, night was just around the corner. The sounds of the insects that came out at night could be heard as the silvery male slowly walked. At one point, he stopped. Tilting his nose toward the night sky and let forth a soft, mournful howl.
She arrived with nightfall to find Yildun just feet from his den. She opened her mouth to greet him, only to stop short when she saw him throw back his head and point it at the darkling sky. She listened to his deep, sonorous voice as it poured from his pale muzzle. You have a pretty voice, my friend, she thought, a smile twitching her lips.
After a moment, the silvery yearling slipped alongside Yildun, touching the side of his pallid neck with her cool nose so as not to startle him. Koontz then threw back her own head beside his and joined in his song, hers a feminine falsetto to complement his deeper baritone.
this used to be the place i ran towhenever i was in need
of a friend
[size=3]why did it have to end[/size]
He knew she was there. He’d heard her coming, smelled her scent in the air. Having to rely so heavily on his sense of hearing left little chance for anyone to be able to sneak up on him. This was a good thing in most cases. Even knowing she was there, he’d continued with his soft cry. Not a day went by that he didn’t think of those that had come to this place with him, and how they were all gone, save for one; Julooke. It was still painful for him to think of his brother having left without so much as a single word. And it was hurtful that Verrine was gone as well. What made it even more painful was thinking about how if it hurt him this much, even after it had been several weeks, how hard was Julooke taking it? He hadn’t really talked to her much, choosing to give her space instead. He didn’t want to add to her sadness with that of his.
His song continued as she slid up beside him. The feel of her fur brushing against his sent a little shiver down his spine, while the feel of her nose against the side of his neck elicited a slight wag of his tail against the ground behind him. Her voice joined with his and, for the first time in a long time, Yildun, in that moment, felt like he was where he was truly meant to be. The sightless young male felt like he belonged here, not anywhere else. And it felt good, leaving him feeling warm inside, for the first time in a very long time. Koontz joining his song meant more to him than anything had in that same amount of time.
As his song slowly died down, he lowered his head and turned his face toward her so that he could touch his nose to the side of her neck. “Thank you.” His voice was hushed, barely above a whisper.
They sang in tandem, giving voice to a range of wordless emotions. When their ballad faded away into the night, Yildun pressed his nose to the side of her neck and a slow smile crept onto her face. "That's my signature move," she teased softly, then leaned slightly sideways into him and nodded, allowing him to feel the motion. "You're welcome."
Although being with him put a smile on her face, Koontz stepped backward and sighed quietly. "I'm sorry, Yildun," she said, knowing she didn't need to explain why she was sorry; he would know she was referring to his departed family and friends. "With that said, I can't tell you how glad I am that you're still here. I want you to know that I'm here for you too."
Koontz moved so that she stood just in front of him, nose-to-nose, barely touching. "I know you've had a lot to deal with, between people leaving and that audacious bitch on our borders... but how are you? Have you had any time to try out the whole Dreamserpent thing?" She wanted to tell him about her own chosen duty, yet she remained quiet, allowing him a chance to speak first.
It felt good to have been sharing his sad song with her. The sightless young male was glad that she had come, even if he wasn’t in the most upbeat of spirits. Just her presence made him feel happier inside. His tail gave a faint thump against the ground behind him as she leaned slightly into him, teasing him about him touching his nose to the side of her neck. A faint smile began to show upon his silvery muzzle. Yes, he was very glad she’d come when she did. She was someone he felt he didn’t have to pretend with. He could let all his emotions show and he felt that she wouldn’t judge him for it. She didn’t have to say why she was saying she was sorry, and she was correct in that he would know why and what she was referring to. He was hurt that the others had left, vanished without so much as a single word. In a sense, Yildun found it to be just flat out unfair, especially since he knew it threw his sister into an even deeper depression. "Me too," he responded quietly, falling silent when she continued. A faint smile graced his silvery muzzle as he listened to her. "When we first came here," he began, wanting to tell her everything in his thoughts. "I didn’t know if I would be accepted or not because of my blindness. To be honest, I didn’t even care. I was walking through life merely existing, not living. I wanted to join my dad." His voice cracked for a moment, causing him to pause to collect himself. "The longer I’m here, the more I can’t imagine being anywhere else. You have given me reason and will to carry on." She moved to stand in front of him, nose to nose, and he could feel her warm breath on his face. Her just being there was comforting to him on so many levels. "I haven’t had a chance," he admitted. No one had come to him seeking someone to talk to. Because of that, it was hard to try out his job. "What about you? Have you had a chance to yet?" he asked in return, not knowing she’d picked a different path since they’d last spent time together. "I’ve been… alright I guess, though. And you?" |
"No, well, I decided against becoming a Dreamserpent myself. I have faith that you'll be all the Dreamserpent we need," she replied with a little smirk which he, of course, couldn't see. Perhaps he detected it in her voice. "Out of necessity, I decided to become a Boneknapper instead. I'm not a naturally gifted hunter, despite my heritage, but I think that I can do the duty justice. I don't have much of a choice; we badly need a hunter if we're going to make it through this winter."
Talk of hunting reminded her of something suddenly and Koontz paused, then smiled. "Hey, are you familiar enough with the territory yet to show off your hunting skills?" she wondered. It was past dark now, yet that wouldn't matter to Yildun, of course, unless the dropping temperatures—his way of telling when it was nighttime, as she recalled—somehow affected his abilities.
She was the first one that he’d ever admitted to that he’d wanted to join his father. He hadn’t even told Julooke, mostly because he hadn’t wanted to cause her any further distress than she was already dealing with. Though he hadn’t outright acted upon that desire, his eating just barely enough to sustain a beating heart should have spoken volumes to those who knew about his severe depression, or at least to those who knew him best. Since becoming friends with Koontz, though, he had gained a little bit of weight, finding an actual desire to want to live. It wasn’t much weight, but it was enough to make him no longer look like a walking skeleton with fur draped over him. She gave him reason to want to live, actually live. Though he couldn’t see the smirk, he could hear it in her voice and thumped his tail against the ground behind him. She had more faith in him than he had in himself, that much was certain, but it was clearly something the sightless young male needed; someone to believe in him when he, himself, couldn’t. He didn’t yet say anything as she continued, explaining the job she opted to take on instead. Yildun understood the need for hunters within the pack instead. The sightless male did wish that he could help with hunting for the pack. Alas, things didn’t always go as one wished they did. But that was okay. "You can do it," he finally responded. "I have faith in you." A slightly wider smile graced his muzzle as he spoke. He went silent again, though, when she asked him about showing off his hunting skills. It wasn’t that the night affected his abilities. It was more that some of the things he was able to hunt weren’t out at night, preferring the safety of their dens or tree homes. But he didn’t want to disappoint, especially since she had done so much for him already. Turning his head from her, he pushed his ears fully forward. Silently, he listened to the night around them. He was listening for any sign that some creature would be out in the night, something that would be small enough for him to be able to hunt. Yildun wasn’t hearing anything, though, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t something out there somewhere. He chalked it up to the two of them having been singing to the night just moments before. "We’ll have to move away from this spot to find anything," he finally told her, turning his head back toward her, accidentally brushing his nose directly against hers in the process. If it were possible to blush, he would be. |
Yildun's silence earned a questioning look from Koontz, yet she quickly cottoned onto what he was doing: listening. Accordingly, she grew very still and quiet, not only to help him focus but so that she could listen herself. She didn't detect anything disturbing the nighttime silence, nor did he, apparently. He mentioned moving away from the area and she nodded, then remembered to vocalize her agreement: "Good idea."
As they began to move quietly through the night, his nose brushed hers and she smiled fleetingly, though said nothing of the brief contact. As they walked, she said, "It would be a damn shame if I ended up being a bad hunter. My mother was a masterful hunter," she explained, "and even if she can't see me, I would feel her disappointment all the way from Seahawk Valley if I were to bungle her specialty."
That reminded her of yet another thing to mention. "I vaguely remember somebody mentioning that you all came from the Seahawk area as well, right? I don't think I ever got the details; if I did, I forget them. What pack did you all come from?" More likely than not, she would be familiar with its name, if nothing else. Koontz knew about most if not all of the packs active during her time there, she just didn't have any one-on-one experience with many of them, having been a bit of a homebody up until her departure.
Walking beside her, he occasionally brushed against her. This was done on purpose, to be able to tell exactly where she was at, but it sent thrills down his spine each time he felt their fur mingle against each other. She’d become an almost constant in his thoughts, but he was far too bashful and unsure of himself to openly tell her about it. He’d never had feelings about someone before, so wasn’t even sure of what it was that he was feeling. Sure, he loved his parents, he loved his siblings and he loved those he knew within the pack he’d been born into, but that was an entirely different feeling. What he wasn’t understanding was that he was developing a pretty strong crush on the Alpha Female. His ears were pushed fully forward, swiveling every so often to listen to the sounds in the night, sorting those sounds from the sound of her beautiful voice. It was hard to not focus entirely upon her, but he did want the chance to show her that he could hunt, and hunt successfully. But the moment she said Seahawk Valley, the sightless young male came to a sudden halt, turning his head toward her as though he were really looking directly at her. On the day that they had been accepted into the pack, he hadn’t paid much attention to the things that had or hadn’t been said because he had been too far into his depressive state. "I didn’t know you’re from Seahawk Valley," he responded, surprise clearly laced in his voice. "Sterrenvuur," he answered. "I was born into Sterrenvuur. My parents were the leaders; Liyano is… was… my father. After he died, Youmi, my sister, and her mate, Chakra, took over the pack." He fell silent for a few moments, trying to figure out what was going on in his head at that moment. "What pack are you from?" It seemed that he was learning that they had more in common than just being in this pack together. |
"No kidding!" she blurted. "Chakra and Mo—my mother—were close. They didn't get to see each other that much after becoming leaders and having kids... but he would come to see her every once in a while or she would go visit him." She found the connection pretty neat, which was evidenced by her tone. "I only met him once or twice myself and I barely remember him because I was so young... but he must've been pretty awesome if Mo was fond of him," Koontz said complimentarily.
"Flightless Falcons," she added when he inquired after the pack's name. "My mom founded it when she was really young. She ran it with her previous mate—I forget his name—but he evidently disappeared not long after they had my half-brothers. Then she paired up with my dad and, well, they've been running the ship ever since. They're getting kind of old and creaky these days," she finished with a laugh, "but I bet they'll be in charge until the day they die. I can't see Mo ever stepping down before then."
The feel of her tail brushing against him sent an invisible shiver down his spine. He remained silent, though, while she spoke, listening to her words along with the sound of her voice. "He is pretty awesome," he responded about Chakra. "My sister, Youmi, is pretty head over heels for him. They’re a great couple, and have been really good leaders since stepping up after mom and dad died. I’m an uncle through them." He seemed to beam with pride when he spoke of being an uncle. He was feeling a little homesick in that moment, thinking about his family that he’d left, but it passed as he realized he wouldn’t have met Koontz had he stayed behind in Sterrenvuur, and he really liked Koontz. Flightless Falcons… Chakra had mentioned that pack before! "I’ve heard of that pack, from Chakra. He spoke of Mo, too. What a small world, after all," he mused aloud. It was fascinating to learn that they were from the same parts of the world before ending up here. It made him feel a little less homesick, and that much closer to Koontz. Coming here really was a good thing. "I bet she’d be proud of you for having your own pack," he said after she’d finished talking about her parents. She seemed to be just as fond of her parents as he would always be of his. He was having a difficult time with trying to listen for something to hunt purely because he was far more focused on their conversation than anything else around them. |
"Oh, shoot," Koontz said suddenly. "I'm over here yip-yapping when you're trying to listen for prey. I'm zipping my lips right now," the Alpha said, pressing them together as promised and allowing silence to overtake the pair of them.
"My mom and I weren’t all that close," he admitted. "After Atreides, one of my litter brothers, died, she seemed to be sick and sad more often than not. He died when we were still really young. So I was never able to really… I don’t know… connect with her, I guess. It was my dad that I was the closest with." It actually felt good to be talking about the things that he seemed to have locked away inside for so long. That he was able to do so without breaking down into tears was an absolute plus, too. He gave an understanding nod as she spoke of sometimes missing her parents. At least hers were still living and it didn’t seem likely that she would be there when her parents did die. But that wasn’t something he voiced out loud, purely because he didn’t want to sound like a jerk or something. "Not a day goes by that I don’t miss my parents, especially my dad," he readily admitted. "But it’s become a little easier lately," he added, turning his head toward her almost as if he were looking right at her. He couldn’t help but laugh playfully when she seemed to realize that the two of them talking was making it hard for him to locate prey in order to show her that he really could hunt. It was funny because it was easy to forget that he had to use his keen sense of hearing in order to do much of anything, especially when it came to hunting. To show his gratefulness, he brushed his shoulder against hers before returning his focus on what he was doing; listening for prey. His ears were pushed all the way forward, swiveling forward and back, listening to the sounds of the night all around them. Doing this at night was a little trickier purely because the insects of the night were rarely silent, but he was able to hear beyond them. Yildun froze, facing to his right with his ears thrust forward and his nostrils twitching as he sniffed at the air. His tail lifted and he began to slowly make his way toward his right. Since his sense of hearing was so strong due to lack of eye sight, it was likely that it would seem that he was almost chasing shadows, in a manner of speaking. But as he slowly moved closer to what it was that he was hearing, it would eventually become clear that he wasn’t just chasing shadows or random sounds in the night. It was a possum that he’d been following the sound of, scurrying around between trees searching for bugs. His tail went level with his back as he slowly, and silently, crept forward. His muscles were instantly taunt, flexing beneath his silvery coat, as he stalked forward, relying entirely on his ears and nose. Yildun said a silent prayer to the stars for this to go right, for him to not make a fool of himself in front of her, before moving forward once more. He was careful as to where he set his paws down, each step calculated so as to be as silent as absolutely possible. Yildun got within a couple feet of the possum before it realized the lithe wolf was upon it and it began to try to scramble away. But because of a whole lot of practice, a whole lot of trial and error, Yildun was able to pounce before it got too far away from him, catching it first by the tail. Not wasting any time, the sightless male swooped his head down and snapped his jaws closed around the possum’s neck. When it stopped moving, he lifted his head and carried his prize to him, lowering his head and setting it at her paws. When he lifted his head, the young male was beaming. |
When Yildun brushed against her, she gave him an encouraging nip. Her pale eyes followed him as he switched fully into hunting mode. Because she didn't want to impede his tracking by possibly creating extra noise—for he could surely hear her, even when she was trying her best to be stealthy—Koontz fell back, trailing slowly after him.
She only heard the possum's scurrying in the moment just prior to his attack. She froze when Yildun pounced, snatching the creature's tail before positioning it more properly and biting its neck. Koontz heard the crunch of its bones and the soft wheeze as its last breath squeezes through its torn throat. Her tail wagged lightly and she waited where she stood.
He plucked up his kill and presented the carcass to her. "Good job, Yildun. I'm impressed," she told him sincerely, touching her nose to his and then looking down at the possum without moving her head. "Seriously, I can't even fathom how you did that. You'd make a better Boneknapper than me," she said in jest, though she wasn't entirely joking.
"I'm going to pick up the possum and move somewhere else to eat it," she told him in the next beat. True to her word, she bent down and scooped the dead possum into her jaws. She then nudged Yildun and trotted into the wood. She glanced behind her a few times to make sure he was following, concerned that he might lose her or else have trouble otherwise, yet he glided along behind her like a ghost and soon Koontz stopped worrying about him.
She arrived at her favorite spot, the ledge that overlooked the southernmost part of the park. "Stop," she instructed Yildun, as she didn't want him hurtling over the edge. "Make yourself comfortable while I split this thing," she added, the night soon filling with the sound of ripping and tearing.
After nudging his ration toward him and situating herself, Koontz sighed contently. "I wish you could see this view, Yildun," she said quietly. She glanced over at him. "Just below us is a lovely hot spring—perhaps you can smell it?—and, beyond that, to the south, there's a majestic mountain rising up into the sky. To its left, there's a sprawling forest. East of us, there's a river, funneling off into the wilderness." Surely he wouldn't be able to paint a mental picture that looked like the panorama below, yet maybe her words would help him conjure up a pretty image of his own understanding.
After they ate, Koontz would have been happy to simply sit there and admire the view. Yet since Yildun couldn't enjoy it the same way, she opted for a different activity. Standing up, she moved closer to him, hovering for a moment. "May I?" she asked quietly before slipping down beside him. Then, with only mild hesitation, she scooted close to him, leaning her side and back against Yildun's pale form. When he seemed receptive to the contact, it emboldened her and she curled closer into him, effectively cuddling with the blind wolf. It felt incredibly comfortable. She wondered how much more vivid the physical sensations must be for him...
"I like this," she said quietly, a smile in her voice. Eventually, she let her chin sink to her forepaws and, without meaning to, she fell fast asleep in Yildun's arms.