Phoenix Maplewood Walking in a Winter Wonderland

For @Apollo

Spring felt a cold winter breeze slice through her fur, the brown,black and cream female could not wait for Spring to come around, when everything would be lively and beautiful, as Reek had told her.  Instead of just... withering, dead and dreary.

The female walked through the Maplewood, catching scents on the breeze as she scented for any dangers or intruders on the wind, finding none at the moment.  Spring continued through the Maplewood, imaging what Spring would be like.

Apollo was roaming the new territory, finding new scents to follow and trying his best to get used to the area. The frosty wind blew though his coat, giving him a small chill, he shook out his pelt in attempt to become more comfortable in he colder atmosphere.

When doing this, he caught the scent of another pack member in the area. He became curious, and decided he should communicate with the other wolves as soon as possible and become known in the pack, he began to trotted towards the scent, until spotting a female a few yards ahead of him. Apollo stopped on his tracks, not wanting to invade her space without consent.

The scent of a wolf caught the Gamma's attention.  Spring turned around eyeing the wolf with interest.  His scent was mingled with the packs, but still held some of beyond the Maplewood, which made Spring decide that this had to be a new recruit.

"Hello," Spring barked acknowledging the male in a friendly tone.  The brown, cream and black female took a few steps towards the male.  "You new to the Maplewood?"  Spring called out questionably

Her being a higher rank, he lowered his stance, in an act of respect. Apollo took her friendly tone as a welcome to come closer, so his trotted, closing the gap between the two of them, but still allowing some space. "I am," the newcomer had admitted. "I'm Apollo," he introduced, allowing a small smile. "And you are..?"

Apollo.  So that’s this wolf’s name.  Spring thought quietly to herself.  “Nice name you got.”  Spring complemented Apollo.  “I’m Spring.”  She remarked on her own name in answer to the Apollo's question.

Apollo had been learning the territory, and honestly thought he was doing pretty badly. Perhaps this Gamma could assist him. "I don't mean to be to bold, but would you mind showing me around the grounds?" He felt awkward, and shy. In fact, this large wolf was extremely shy, but he usually got over it.

Spring’s expression brightened.  “Of course I would Apollo!  Come with me.”  The female took off at a slower pace, beckoning Apollo to follow, with a flick of her tail, beginning to speed up as she trotted through the Maplewood.

“Is there anything you already know about the Maplewood before I get started?”  Spring asked, then awaited Apollo’s response as the pair continued through Phoenix Maplewood.  Spring wanted to know if Apollo already knew anything about the Maplewood before she got started, to know if there was anything she wouldn’t have to point out and show him.

Apollo smiled at her whole heartedness in the situation, he trotted beside her. "I honestly know nothing." He let out a deep chuckle, at how dumb that sounded. At least to him. He'd been traveling the grounds for at least two hours and still couldn't uncover anything in his mind, expect a strange looking rock, shaped like an owl.

Spring smiled.  “I’m not surprised.  Come with me, there’s a pond this way.”  Truthfully the female had not had enough time to go explore every wonder of the Maplewood, but her sensitive ears told her there was a pond a little ways away.  Spring made sure to keep every oblivious look of having no idea of what she was doing of her face, trying to go for a confident, knowing look instead.

Apollo hadn't noticed her oblivious looks, and was more focused on his own. he didn't want to seem dumb, since he was actually quite intelligent. Maybe not the most, but he definitely had potential. "Why did you join the pack?" He asked, maybe she had a story to tell. The tall male enjoyed hearing stories of others and taking in facts from their past, it was always nice to have someone actually listen time to time, and Apollo was that wolf. He also wanted to make small talk, or else the tour might be awkward, and he wanted to avoid that as much as possible. The wolf noticed their similar pelts, his being a bit darker brown, and hers being lighter. He liked her coat, with it's mixtures of colors contrasting perfectly.

“Well my original pack died off of rabies.”  Spring began a sad twist of emotion in her voice remembering those terrible days.  “I wanted a new start I guess, to make things right in a new beginning.”  Spring decided, still walking towards the pond.

Apollo had yet to hear of a pack demolished by a sickness, but it would seem more common than not. He was disappointed in himself to bring up bad memories in her life. "I apologize for that... misfortune." It took him a second to think of the right words. Questions swarmed his mind. Was she the last wolf to survive it in her pack? Was there a large outbreak going from pack to pack? If so, how to prevent it? Although his mind was in a bit of a panic, the outside he seemed calm and collected.

Spring shrugged.  “Thanks.  The guilt and hurt inside isn’t as bad now since it happened maybe a year ago now?” Spring remarked, in a slightly sad tone.  Her ears perked as the pond sounded much closer than before.  “Were almost their.”  Spring comment, trying to change the subject.

He still felt bad for her, and wanted to comfort her on the subject. But maybe the best way to do that was to leave it alone, seeing her changing the subject. For a moment he'd forgotten the original purpose for her talking and walking with him, but he was enlightened when he remembered she was showing him the territory and thy were heading towards the pond. "Where's your favorite place in Maplewood?" he asked.

Spring thought about Apollo’s question happy to move on to another subject.  “Truthfully Apollo, my favorite place in the Maplewood, is where my pack is.”  Spring answered truthfully in response to Apollo’s question.

“What about you Apollo?  Where is your favorite place in this Maplewood?”  Spring asked with curiosity.  Awaiting the male’s response to her returning question to him.  Wondering what Apollo’s answer would be.

"So far, it's been difficult to choose with my lack of learning the terrain. But I know I enjoy water, so the pond would be a good guess." Her answer was humble, and said a lot about her personality. She obvious liked Maplewood and, even with his little experience, did too.

Spring smiled at the males response.  "Well lucky for you Apollo we are headed to a pond."  Spring announced to Apollo.  Her tail gave a wag as the pair rounded a corner.  Revealing a beautiful frozen pond.

"Here it is."  Spring remarked to Apollo.  "Beautiful really isn't it?"  The multicolored female marveled.  Happy to see a beauty of the Maplewood.

Once reaching the glazed over pond, he stopped to admire its picture for moment, before taking a few more steps towards the frozen pool. He then realized it might be rude to continue on without her, and motioned with his head for her to follow and the smallest smile on his paw. His intentions were only to get a closer look at the water beneath the sheet, but he noticed it was still rather thick for the ending winter. "Beautiful," he admired before looking over at Spring.

Spring followed Apollo, but thought it was cute that he waited for her, as the many colored female padded next to Apollo with a slower stride still taking in the ponds beauty.

"Yes beautiful, so very beautiful."  Spring remarked after Apollo with a small smile.  Looking down at the pond, wondering what it would feel like to glide across it with interest.

He gained the courage to place one paw onto the frozen platform. Apollo retracted at first, but talked himself into putting both of his front paws onto the ice. The male looked up at Spring, tilting his head as offering for the two of them to walk across it together. 

The superstition of him falling in the process still presented itself in his mind, but he needed to work harder on taking chances.

Spring hesitantly placed her left frontpaw on the ice, accepting Apollo's silent invitation, then the right cautiously.  Slowly and carefully she placed all four paws on the ice.

Spring stood still for a moments on the ice, but then she started to take a few small steps forward.  Almost instantly Spring slipped and did a face plant after about five steps.  At first fear coursed through her that the ice would break beneath her, but then she just chuffed laughter as she realized the ice was pretty stable.  Excitement coursed through her veins as she started to notice how much fun this actually was.  She shoved her body forward, shifting her weight, as she felt herself begin to glide across the ice.  She yipped playfully at Apollo, inviting him to join her out fully on the ice of the pond.

When she joined in on his idea, he was delighted, until after her first few steps she slipped and landed directly onto her face, slamming into the ice. His ears lowered and took two steps forward to see if she was alright, but before he had the chance to reach her, she then began to laugh, allowing the wolf to relax. Seeing her slide happily across the frozen pond, only encouraged him more to do so. When she barked excitedly at him to join, he warily began to go across the ice. Not wanting to hurt- or embarrass- himself by falling.

Spring enjoyed the feeling of sliding on the ice.  Feeling the cool touch on her paws.  She tried her best to slide up to Apollo, but almost slipped a few times, just barely catching her balance by digging and scraping her blunter claws into the ice best she could.  Finally she made her way up to Apollo till she was right in front of him.

“Nice isn’t it?”  She remarked, her gaze shifting over the ice.  Enjoying it’s feel and cold scent.  She wondered how long this pond had been frozen over the water with ice with curiosity.  Maybe a month now?  She wasn’t sure.

"I would have to agree," he said, still extremely wary of his steps, not waning to embarrass himself in front of Spring, but when trying to take another step closer to her, he slipped and fell directly onto his stomach, he gave a quick whine and grappled to regain his balance and stance. He lowered his ears with writhing emotion, and avoided eye contact with the girl. It must have been strange seeing such a large wolf have such a difficult time to stand.

Spring let out a small laugh as Apollo slipped and seemed very embarrassed about it.  Spring gave him a playful nudge as he stood back up, though careful not to nudge him hard enough to make him slip again.  She flashed Apollo a playful teasing smile.

“No need to act all embarrassed.”  She remarked in a playful tone.  “It’s natural to slip on the ice, since wolves don’t skate all day.  We don’t have any practice whatsoever, we don’t live on the ice Apollo.  Don’t worry.”  She gave him a small smile.

“We should probably get off the ice soon.”  Spring commented.  “We have been out here for quite a while.”  The multicolored female then added in a slightly regretful tone.  It had been fun out here with Apollo, but her paws felt a little uncomfortably cold now and suddenly she noticed that the sun had begun to set.  That surprised her.  Time really did fly when you were having fun, she supposed.