The Sunspire When the Sunset Meets the Shadow

For @Jace. Our meeting thread, since I said once she joined I would thread with you, and because I want Red to meet all of her pack-mates. ^_^ Plus I’ve never really threaded with you (Danni) before, other than a few with Blue and one with Sitri and I really admire your dedication to your characters and how all their personalities are different and interesting and stuff and okay I’m done ranting and run-on-sentencing now. >.< (Also the title is actually a play-off of Red’s and Jace’s fur coloration).

Red had finally found a home. A pack. A pack made of wolves, no less. She stood on the mountain — her mountain — looking out at the view. She was facing the Kintla Flatlands, and could see Greatwater Lake glinting in the sunlight, even as the clouds covered most of the sky. Despite this, it was still a gorgeous day, however hot and humid. She sat and contemplated her next move. After her discovery on Mount Apikuni, her need to discover new areas was even stronger than it had been before, but her instinct to protect her pack left an odd feeling in her bones whenever she traveled too far from the Sunspire. She was confused, and had a feeling she would be for a while, until she found some kind of balance.

Still, at least now she knew she had a place to return to after a long journey in the Wilds. She turned to look back at the mountain, gazing with fondness at its trees and its prey animals scurrying here and there. She knew that perhaps she was not as worthy as others to be here, seeing as she was half-coyote. But she would prove her worth. She had to. She was loyal to a fault and would die if it meant protecting those within her pack. The thought of dying for a great cause did not frighten her, though she hoped it wouldn’t end up coming to that. She hoped that she still had many great years ahead of her, to watch the pack grow and prosper.

Turning her body back towards the Flatlands, a smile graced her lips as her chest swelled with pride.

Jace strode from the mountain center, his blue eyes fixated on the horizon facing the flatlands and the lake. He had a small boyish smile on his face, as he looked around and beheld the grandeur that the mountain offered up, it made his heart sing. He had loved the creek with it's waterways, and its forest, but here, here he was the king of the world and it was amazing. He loved it.

As he traveled he caught the scent of another, a new wolf. They had an influx of newcomers lately, some stayed some went, but all were a new face with a name for him to learn. Though he had made it a habit to wait a few days until he was certain the wolf was staying before he got close to them, he was tired of having his heart trampled on as those select few left him to himself.

He chuffed gently at her and stood studying her, from beneath and overhang, all you could see clearly were his bright blue eyes looking out of a shadowed face.

Lol. Red always tries so hard... Also, I’m assuming the “overhang” that Jace is under is like a cliff overhang? Made of rock? Correct me if I’m wrong and I’ll edit it in my post.

Red’s ears swiveled to catch the chuff that Jace let out to tell her he was there. She tensed, but in a moment, the wind changed direction and carried his scent to her nose, and she caught Ferdie’s smell on him. He was a member of her pack. Good. She turned to face him, now relaxed, and was surprised that she could only see his eyes looking out at her from beneath a rocky overhang. This made her a little uneasy. Was he hiding from her? Why?

She whined, while simultaneously wagging her tail, which meant, “I’m not sure what you’re doing hiding under there, but I’m friendly. There’s no need to hide.” She hoped he would come out. Either that or she would approach him. Normally, other wolves frightened her, but she was learning not to be so intimidated — especially not with members of her own pack.

She took a step toward him and chuffed back, letting her tail wag more. Maybe he was nervous about meeting someone new. She would change that. She would be the nicest friend ever!

Black ears tipped forward as the female in front of him whined, but she didn't speak. He wondered if she was a mute, he hoped not, he hated trying to figure out what another was saying, he was terrible with body language. Another one of those physical things he couldn't handle very well.

Jace stepped from the over hand his large black body gliding into the sunlight, lending a blue sheen to his obsidian depths. Here was yet another wolf he towered over, he was fast becoming used to it. In his home everyone was large, but here there were a lot of smaller wolves, it was interesting. Sometimes he didn't know what to do about it, but he took it with a grain of salt.

He returned the tail wag and dipped his muzzle M'names Jace.

So my laptop yesterday decided to die on me because I kept forgetting to plug it in, which is why I stopped responding to threads so soon… (When it says that I’m on ALL THE TIME on Who’s Online, it’s because I’m always logged in on my phone, but I abhor typing responses to threads on my phone…)

“M’names Jace,” said the male, as he stepped out from under the overhang.

He towered over Red, which frightened her a little, and she felt the need to submit to him. Something in the way he held himself told her that he was an Alpha, or something close to it. Or maybe it was just wolf instinct. Wolves were generally good at distinguishing hierarchy. It was needed to keep the peace within a pack. You couldn’t have submissive wolves stepping on the toes of the higher-ups. That would cause tension, and tension could destroy a pack.

She lowered her body in accordance with the rank difference, but continued to wag her tail. He seemed friendly enough, willing to talk to her, and much less scary out in the open, even though he was bigger than her. “Red,” she responded, by giving a single bark. Afterwards, she wasn’t sure what to do. She had never been very good at speaking, so she was at a loss.

Instead, she stared up at him with big eyes, begging him to say or do something that she knew how to respond to.

I no longer have a laptop, but my kids broke the screen and then I fried it, because I kept it plugged in too much lol


Jace saw her submit and he raised an eyebrow. He didn’t mind and he appreciated it, so he shot her a grin crooked and boyish par usual for him. He knew all about tension destroying a pack from the inside out or more or less a person or people, he and ferdie were testament to this.

Jace wasn’t one to make idle chit chat usually, he didn’t know how. He was largely a physical wolf, though even physical touches unnerved him. Let’s face it he was a hermit trying to make a difference and make friends and it was proving exceptionally hard for him to do. But he would try. Well Met Red. I see your new. Where do you hail from? And do you like it here so far?

So Red is apparently über emotional. Lol. I never expected this from her.

All was going fairly well, until those magic words: “Where do you hail from?”

That was when Red knew she had absolutely nothing on Jace. What was she supposed to share about herself? She had no past. No memories of childhood. No thoughts on her parents or siblings — if she even had any. What on earth was she supposed to say? There was nothing she could say. Nothing at all. She was new not only to this pack, but to the world. And suddenly, this information hit her like a ton of bricks. She felt as if someone had slapped her, and actually flinched in response, and then turned away from the black wolf. There was nothing she could say — not that she would say anything, anyways. She was terrible at speaking.

Awkwardly, she ignored his questions, and simply stared down at the lake below. Would this be how she was for the rest of her life? Not speaking about herself because there was nothing to say? She supposed she could tell the truth: that she didn’t remember. But that would be hard to explain, and would raise so many more questions that she didn’t want to deal with. She looked at her paws, wishing she had more courage than she did. Didn’t protecting a pack mean one had to be courageous? Where was that courage now? She tried to speak up, to tell the truth, to tell Jace that she was no one before the Teekon Wilds. But the words wouldn’t come.

Instead, she gained only enough courage to turn and face him, to flatten her ears along her head, and let out a pitiful whine before collapsing to the ground in defeat. For the first time since awakening beside the Duck Lake those few weeks ago, she felt… like a nobody — that in the grand scheme of things, her place in the world didn’t matter. She hid her face beneath her paws and hoped desperately that Jace would simply go away and leave her alone. He had punctured some part of her, and now the puncture wound was bleeding her emotions all over the ground. Wolves can’t cry, but if she could, she would be. Instead, she opted to making whimpering sounds into the ground as these thoughts pounded their way through her head…

Jace was just batting a thousand this week, first he had possibly chased away the girl he was in love with. He just couldn’t win for losing and that was obvious when he saw the other’s face at his question. By all the gods were all females crazy he was really starting to think so. What the heck was he supposed to do now, he couldn’t leave her there all sad and broken hearted, He had severe white knight syndrome and he could no more ignore a damsel in distress than he could ignore a hungry belly. He uttered a quiet curse under his breath and stood still while he thought of what to do.

He strode forward and nosed her side and her neck trying to get her attention and then he spoke quietly Listen red I don’t need to know where you came from? I don’t need to know if something bad happened unless you want me to fight with someone on your behalf then yea I need to know but otherwise I don’t. So please don’t make that bonny face of yours sad. It doesn’t matter, all that matters is that you’re here now and you’re part of my family now and no matter what I’ll take care of you and everyone else. I promise. it was a hefty promise but it was one he would keep with his dying breath. Some day he’d probably die holding tight to those ideals, but not today and not right now so he gave her a small smile and then he backed up a little bit hoping he had made her feel a little bit better.

… I’m beginning to love Jace’s character. Lol. He’s like, “Ugghh. Why me? Now I have to fix another crazy female with emotional issues!” Erm… I might end up making Red crush on Jace, lol. She gets very attached to others very quickly [size=xx-small](like me).[/size] Also, I’m PowerPlaying a little bit… Just tell me if you want me to change it, but I figured it was alright because Jace came and touched her earlier… Oh, also no need to match the length.

Red jumped at Jace’s touch on her side and neck, but did not pull away. Though the sudden physical contact frightened her, she a) was submissive by nature, and therefore had to make herself stay put if others touched her and b) felt the sudden weird urge to nuzzle against the black wolf’s face. But she didn’t. That would be inappropriate and she couldn’t be sure how he would respond in turn. It might just make everything worse, and she definitely didn’t want that.

So instead, she just laid there and listened as he spoke. A small smile graced her lips when he said he would only need to know if something bad had happened in case he needed to fight someone on her behalf. While she appreciated the sentiment, she was sure she could handle any fighting herself. She was in-training to become a Warden, after all. And although she would never quite be a Warrior at heart, she was a wolf. All wolves knew how to fight to protect themselves, as part of their instincts. And if there was one thing Red was good at, it was doing whatever instinct told her to do.

The Beta’s promise to take care of her, as well as the rest of the pack, sounded an awful lot like something she, herself, would say. When he backed up after he was done talking, she rose to her paws and faced him, looking at the ground awkwardly for a moment before beginning to speak.

“Thank you,” she said, so quietly that it was almost a whisper. Her voice was small and timid and a little raspy, due to the fact that she hardly used it at all. With a sudden burst of courage she came forward and placed a kiss upon his chin, her small pink tongue flicking in and out of her mouth quickly like a snake’s. The licking of the chin in Wolf language was a sign of both deference and adoration, which seemed fitting, since he was her superior in rank, if not in age. Quickly, she backed up, ears flattening again her head in embarrassment. Then she simply waited, to see what he would do, how he would react to her show of friendship and thanks.

That's fine give Jace all kinds of woman trouble I am happy to throw him at things....i like to torture him poor awkward boy that he is lol.

Jace felt her freeze under his nudge so he of course froze in turn as well, being awkward anyway when it came to physical contact he was unsure what to do. He didn’t remove his nose though, though he wanted to run like hell with his tail tucked firmly between his back legs, as all females made him want to do, he persevered and stayed put.

He saw her smile and figured he must be doing something right, so he pulled his head back and sat to his large black haunches eyeing her with blue eyes. And though she smiled and perhaps thought he wasn’t serious he was, he would fight to the death for any in the pack, they had his loyalty and that was something among others that he would die for another being love, he dies for those he loved, but he pushed that sentiment down deep, while he tried to deal with the here and now.

He had to tip his ears forward and strain to hear what she said ,but he did hear her. You’re welcome Red. Jace smiled at her lick and he placed his muzzle across her brow for a moment and nudged the side of her face then removed all physical contact. So tell me Red what do you want to talk about now?

In my head, I was imagining Red and Jace side by side and laughing so hard because of their size difference. Like, if they stood right next to each other, Red’s shoulder would be at least like five or six inches below his. Of course, that’s Red and most wolves… She’s tiny. >.<

Red nearly purred with delight — if wolves could purr, that is — when Jace returned her physical gestures. She just barely refrained from nuzzling him, being deathly afraid that he would think she was going too far and snap at her face. She was still below him in rank and she would make sure never to forget that. So when he pulled away, so did she, and sat back on her haunches to look at him curiously.

“So tell me Red, what do you want to talk about now?”

The coywolf’s ears went back against her head and she looked at the ground. After a long, awkward pause, she said, very quietly, “I don’t like talking.” And that was all she said. With an embarrassed expression, she slowly looked back up at Jace, wondering how he would take that. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to talk, it was just that talking for her was so unnatural. Words felt wrong on her tongue. She was so used to communicating through body language alone that speaking seemed… foreign. Ugly. Difficult. She could understand when others spoke just fine and didn’t mind it at all. It was only when she had to speak that she hated it.

Instead of letting the awkwardness get to her, Red decided to rectify the situation by suggesting another form of entertainment. She suddenly lowered her upper body to the ground and raised her rear into the air, wagging her tail and barking playfully at Jace. If there was one thing all wolves knew, it was how to play fight. Her eyes, sparkling with mischief, asked the question that her mouth wouldn’t: “Wanna play?”

[size=x-small]That's jace next to most lol[/size]

Jace felt the girl freeze beneath his muzzle brush and he thought perhaps he offended her. Lord knows he was terrible with woman and often when he thought he was doing the right thing, well it usually turned against him in a heartbeat…They flamoxed the youth often.

Jace tipped his ears forward to try and catch her whispery words. Goodness the girl was quiet, he could barely understand her she was so silent. If the wind had been blowing he wouldn’t of heard a word. Oh okay well that’s okay….talking is overrated anyway. he gave her a smile trying to clear the air and keep her from feeling bad.

Jace raised his brow and chuffed quietly. Bending at the waist he wagged his tail and waited for her to make the first move. He didn’t mind playing, although she was a tiny thing he might hurt her. That crossed his mind, sometimes he loathed that he was so large and imposing.

Yay! Time for Red’s barely-adult nature to shine through and be all adorable! Also, sorry this is so short. I figured since this is mostly physical-based now, I shouldn’t do long posts, otherwise it would be hard to know what to respond to.

Red yipped happily when Jace agreed to play. She had no memories of her puphood, and so had no memories of ever playing with littermates. However, instinct was a powerful thing — especially within her — and it filled in whatever gaps her amnesia might have left her with. For a moment, she just stared at the Beta, stock-still, and then suddenly sprung into action, barking playfully and prancing around him in circles. Every once in a while, she would attempt to reach out a paw and whack at him gently, counting on her speed to keep her out of reach of him.

Then she paused, waiting for him to make a move. She wanted to see if she could dodge whatever he tried to throw at her. He was a lot bigger than she was, but that didn’t matter, since they were only playing. The most he would probably do was bowl her over a few times. She wriggled in anticipation, a light challenge in her eyes, which was essentially the equivalent of, “Come at me, bro.”

Jace knew the nuances of play well, he had done so before he could walk, play that is at least it felt like it. His head snaked to and fro as he watched her circle him and jump. She would snake a paw on occasion and tap him somewhere and he waited and watched.

He barreled forward with his head down hoping to tap her light enough to mover her, an unorthodox move and normally he wouldn’t do such a risky move, but this was just play. He moved paws and stabbed a paw towards her feet intent to unbalance her.

Found out from the CMs that you can, in fact, use friendly sparring as a Warden Trade thread, so I might use this one if it goes on long enough. But if you wanna wrap it up soon, that’s okay too.

Red watched Jace as he returned her stare. There was a moment in which neither of them moved. And then she saw him barrel towards her at full speed. Being smaller than him also meant being faster, and so she managed to dodge him at the last moment. What she didn’t see was the paw that he stuck out in front of her, and so when she lunged out of the way, she still landed heavily on her face, having tripped over his giant foot.

Grumbling to herself at being stupid and not paying attention to the ground, she quickly scrambled to her paws, intent on winning. She spun around to face him so he couldn’t get the jump on her. Before he could come charging at her again, she coiled her back legs and sprang at him, hoping that her extra momentum might push him over — though she doubted it. He probably wouldn’t even feel it. But if she was going to be a Warden, she had to learn. And there was no harm in trying whatever move came to mind, since this was a safe partner to spar with and she knew neither of them would actually hurt the other.

Jace was for a moment scared that he had hurt her, but she got to her feet rather quickly and he silently breathed a sigh of relief. He did not like to cause unwarranted pain, and he was a fighter, a brawler but he hated to throw down. It was that simple, but sometimes his temper got the best of him, or perhaps it was the worst of him.

She hit his side with a hard whumph and though he didn’t move very far he did lose his breath for a moment. Before she could take advantage of his lapse of breath, he inhaled and Jumping on his back feet he sprang forward with a small grunt aiming his muzzle and shoulders at her shoulders to unbalance her from the front if he could.

Red was feeling overly confident from her solid hit on Jace’s side, even as it made her dizzy. She stepped back afterwards, intent on driving into him again, but then he straightened quickly and charged at her, aiming for her shoulders. She backpedaled, trying to get out of the way fast enough, but he still managed to hit her. It wasn’t very hard, but it was enough to cause her to stumble, and stumble she did.

As she straightened and tried to catch her breath, she was also trying to figure out how to knock him over. And then she got it. He was big, so going straight at his body as a whole wouldn’t do much, like throwing herself at a boulder. A furry boulder. But if she got at that boulder’s foundation and messed it up, the rock would come tumbling down. She had to get his legs. If she threw herself at his legs, he would be knocked off balance.

Quickly — hopefully before he noticed — she bunched up and sprang at him, aiming right at his front legs with the intent of knocking into them and causing Jace to collapse. If it didn’t work, she’d have to back up and rethink her strategy.

<style type="text/css">.red {width:400px; margin:0px auto; padding:200px 25px 20px 20px; background-image:url('http://i62.tinypic.com/10h0siu.png'); background-position: top; background-color:#0a0c00; background-repeat:no-repeat; text-align:justify;} .red-in {width: 380px; border:3px double #edc61e; padding: 10px; background-color: rgba(0,0,0,0.65); text-align: justify;} .red q {color:#edc61e;} .red p {text-indent:30px; color:#dcceb6; font:12px/1.75 times; margin:0px;}</style>

Jace saw her stumble and though he was proud of himself for being defense. He also felt bad as she tumbled and stumbled and his heart jumped to his throat. Sometimes, he got to into the spar and he could hurt her if he wasn't careful. He needed to remember that, especially when his opponent was so tiny.

A loud grunt came from Jace as he hit the ground face first, he managed to keep his face from nailing the round and he gave her a smile. He shifted and tucked his head to cover his vital organs and he attempted to get up to his feet, but she was a little fireball of speed she might get to him before he could move.

[ooc]I thought I’d tell you that the coding for the dot so you can have a dot before Warrior in your title is &*middot; Just take out the * ^_^ Also, I’m gonna start wrapping this up.

Red backed up after Jace was bowled over, giving him a chance to recover. She was done play-fighting for now; they hadn’t really been sparring, anyways. She didn’t mind a stalemate. She bowed her head to her Beta, giving him a wry smile and wagging her tail, which was her way of saying, Thanks for playing.

She sat back on her haunches, steadying her breathing from their exercise, tail wagging furiously. She may be a lot smaller than Jace, but at least now she knew that move worked, knocking a wolf off of his feet by ramming into his legs. She would log it away in case she ever needed it. For now, she was content to go on with her day, but she thought it would be rude to just walk away without saying anything. Well… without figuratively saying anything.

<style type="text/css">.red {width:400px; margin:0px auto; padding:200px 25px 20px 20px; background-image:url('http://i62.tinypic.com/10h0siu.png'); background-position: top; background-color:#0a0c00; background-repeat:no-repeat; text-align:justify;} .red-in {width: 380px; border:3px double #edc61e; padding: 10px; background-color: rgba(0,0,0,0.65); text-align: justify;} .red q {color:#edc61e;} .red p {text-indent:30px; color:#dcceb6; font:12px/1.75 times; margin:0px;}</style>

Thanks yea i didn't know how to do it

Jace got to his feet a slight pant marring his words but he shot her a boyish grin and then looked to the sky. I better get back to hunting Thanks for play fighting with me Red I enjoyed it. Ever need a playmate come and find me I'll be glad to spar. He chuckled gave her a small wink and strode off towards the other end of the mountains intent to gather some prey for the caches.