- anyone welcome :-)
After a well-deserved meal, the pale yearling crossed the borders of the Spine for the first time over the past few weeks. She had been tending the borders like a maniac, keeping herself inside the walls of the Ouroboros in hopes her presence would serve to ease old tensions.
She would've continued to stick within the borders if it weren't for the strange cramps that stretched across her lower abdomen and the even more unusual drive to go out of her usual routine and come across other wolves. She began to trot along the edge of the river and deeper into the flatlands.
All the trees that had once been filled with lush layers of green and then orange now stood fragile and naked, it was an incredible change of nature she was not yet accostumed to -- though it was little when compared to the very novelty mother nature had poured on her overnight. Without knowing so, the young female was beginning to transition from a lady into a blooming woman.
And though she had not noticed it, or thought much of it, it was higly likely the hormonal coctail expelled in the form of phermones would not go unnoticed by the men in the area.
He traveled on and on, steady in his progress towards nothing in particular even as winter's presence became almost unavoidable. It slowed him down none, for now, at least.. which may not have necessarily been wise -- not that wisdom was a trait of his.
For the time being, the thrill of the wanton freedom had not worn off; he had entertained himself well, especially after his last few weeks spent on the fringes of a pack just south of here -- one with a strong alpha and beautiful, fascinating daughters. Who was he, a prime specimen of young male, to pass up an opportunity such as that? All the same, eventually he had been run off in an ugly show of teeth and malice, as seemed to be customary for him now that he had met maturity. He took it in stride and consequentially, took himself elsewhere. The beige male had been forced to stay on his toes but he left behind that short chapter of himself with satisfaction.
So today, he found himself cantering across the rolling foothills of these strange new wilds. Mountains loomed on the horizon and soon he found a river. Deeming it as good of a path as any, he joined up alongside it and continued on. The minutes turned to hours with relative ease. He traveled onward in almost-mechanized silence.
Until his mismatched eyes spied another. His ears swiveled forward and he took half a second to fluff out his creamy coat, just to be certain, and approached with a curious bark. A female, no less, he smelled pack affiliations on her and much, much else. Dio appeared as a curious stranger with unknown intent; he looked to see how she may regard him as he walked closer to her.
What had driven her to venture outside the safety of the Spine's craddling arms was still not clear in her mind; but then again nothing was. Her second rise and fall had been so abrupt she still found it hard to swallow and even harder to accept. While she had set her mind to more personal buisness, she still couldn't shake the feeling that there was something out there missing.
Small ripples of fire licked her abdomen, making her blow out air out of her nostrils and curl her lip in a pained expression. She was still unaware she had been spotted, oblivious to the male that happened to see her walk by until he gave a little greeting bark to make her turn her head.
But he did more than just that.
In the strange shade of the Plateu and its leaf-less trees, the male looked awfully familiar to someone she knew, and had hoped to see for a while now. With a shocked gasp, the yealing's body tensed up, a mixture of happiness and anger flooding her veins. She lifted her tail over her back, and trotted directly towards him like a steam train that had escaped from the railway. Her face was a strange contorsiom between a smile and a frown, that would not only be confusing for him but for her hormone-crazed mind.
But like any runaway locomotive she soon came to a violent stop. Her eyes traced across his features, settling on his eyes that to her dismay were not white. He was not the guy she was looking for, and while it shouldn't have saddened as much as it did, she found her spirits dropping slowly to the bottomless pit of her chest.
His ears quivered forward and he lifted his head as she turned towards him and reacted with an unexpected show. He had stilled the instant her tail flung up tall (making him wonder of her status wherever she was from), his paws having stopped promptly at the sight, and he prepared for.. something. What, exactly, he was not sure, but watching the female come at him with the force of rolling storm and a bizarre expression alongside it was enough to almost worry him. The rest was, of course, eager curiosity.
His tail hung low at his knees, stiffened tensely only at the end, and he had found that his silver-tipped hackles had shifted upright as well in response to the confusion he felt as he had watched her approach. She was many signals all at once and he could not quite tell what it was supposed to mean. Was she angry to see him, or.. what? He was fairly certain he hadn't done anything this time. Dio was silent and watchful just in case she sprang on him with ill intent.
But instead she appeared... disappointed? He squinted his mismatched eyes at her as he thought maybe he was just reading her wrong. His ears splayed back then as well, which he straightened soon afterward. What? Not what you expected?
he quipped. I'm not that disappointing,
came afterward, although the addendum of trust me remained unspoken.
The friction between her pawss and the dusty floor created tire-like marks on the floor. She was about to collide with a total stranger who she have thought to be her long lost prince. With a brusque jerk of her head the female looked away, feeling suddenly ashamed, not only for almost crashing into his arms but for getting so excited at the idea of running into 'him'.
Finally she snapped her pale yellow orbs back to him, expecting a confused snarl in the man's face or a mocking smirk that would show her just how stupid she had looked. But instead of any of it, she found her own confusion reflected onto his features, as if she were looking at some kind of mirror. With a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips, she thanked him silently for being a good sport; the last thing she needed was to be laughed at.
"No, I mean -- you're fine, just- " she barked, the last part blubbling from her mouth without her even realizing it. "You look awfully similar to someone I knew she explained, trying to hide the fiery embarrassment burning underneath her skin beneath a careless slump of her shoulders accompanied by a quick lash of her tail.
Beneath his creamy coat, he was certainly tensed and ready. In times like these, he found himself thankful for his touch of arctic heritage that kept his furs especially dense. He had aimed to keep a straight face in light of all that she brought to him, but he knew he was not the best at such perfect stoicism. Confusion and curiosity bled together into a strange mixture which he wore rather nicely -- it suited him and how he usually faced life, anyway.
He straightened himself up some when she spoke on, informing him that no, it wasn't him. Afterward, he found himself edging about two steps closer. Small steps. But still steps. A good someone or a bad someone? Because I really couldn't tell for sure what that was going to mean once it hit me,
he chuffed with a swish of his tail, which wasn't quite stuck to the back of his knees now and moved more freely now that a female wasn't barreling at him at top speed. I can't say I hear that often, though,
he said, trying not to sound too smug. I don't see many quite like me.
Dio then took the time to get a better look at her now, noting what he suspected was embarrassment (nothing he thought it warranted, but to each their own) and he tried to understand her scents best. The pack on her was very unknown, but this was no surprise. He had only set foot in these wilds recently. There was much to learn. I'm Dio,
he quipped after a pause, deciding that was... a somewhat relevant piece of information. Or not. It was hers to do with what she pleased.
She allowed his eyes to rest upon her for a few minutes, staring was the least he deserved after almost being assaulted by her. Then as he began to pick his way closer, with litte steps cautiously placed not to seem too forward but to still cut the distance between them she sviwelled her black-tipped ears in his direction, her eyes still reflecting a self-councious light in them.
Cara was unsure of what the purpose of his question was, after the confusing scene they had played out she figured it was his right to pry, but not her obligation to give him the answers he seeked for. "A someone I was looking for " she barked simply, not wanting to begin to flush out her frustrations on the almost-Keith guy; who was very much unlike-Keith when it came to accepting accidental compliments.
"I see a lot of you, apparently" she chimed after his remark; though this had been the first time in a long time she had seen a glimpse of a wolf sporting such peculiar white coat she had to recognize she had a certain weakness for them.
At this point, Cara's cramps had escalated to the point she felt her whole lower abdomen wrapped in some type of piercing material, a barbed wire that did not let the blossoming female face the man when pronouncing her own name. "I'M Cara, from the uh-" cramp, "Ouroboros Spine" she finished, bringing her pale orbs to meet his own, a pained expression veiled underneath her iris.
Lucky, he was born a man..
While her answer was not overly specific, he took it for what it was worth and deemed it a decent reason for her to come rushing at him. If she had been looking for a wolf that was he was mistaken for, he could suppose that made enough sense. Ah,
he chuffed first and nodded a small nod to signal that it worked well enough for him.
Well I hadn't.. back at home, or in the places I've been since, but it was different than here. The arctic blood must be a bit more common,
Dio tilted his head. Although he was only arctic in part courtesy of his maternal genetic contributions, the wolves he had grown up around tended towards the darker coats and rich agouti blends. He was not as pale as most, what with his creamy shades to accent his white with a touch of sterling now and then, but he was obviously enough arctic in heritage.
Anyway, she had his full attention and his head tilted sideways even more as she offered a name.. evidently with a pause which he did not understand the reason for -- which he was beginning to suspect was just the way it was with her. There was a lot he didn't quite get, and he had no idea about what ailed her. He was oblivious to it. Nevertheless, he'd remember the name. Is that a pack here? I'm new to the area. Never heard of it,
he mentioned, not sure if that would be seen as a good or bad thing.
Relieved at the satisfaction her lame answer brought to him, she allowed her muscles to relax, he was not a prying wolf -- which was both a relief and a shame. She would've wanted to get information out of him, but at the same time she wouldn't want to risk having him leak out information from her.
Like him, Cara also shared some Artic ancestry. Her mother, just a faint ghost in her memory had also sported a perfectly immaculate coat, that could be seen through glimpses of Cara's coat which had also been adorned with her father's tenously drawn markings above her face and upper back."Actually to be honest, I've just seen like three or four like you" she barked with a slightly amused smile curving her lips. Jinx, Lecter, Keith and Ragnar.
."New huh?" she mused, suddenly cupping her ears in his direction, ."The pack I come from -- Where I live and hope to die is called Ouroboros Spine" she explained, feeling a rush of pride shoot through her chest as she spoke of her home.
He chuffed a small laugh. Still more than me lately,
his expression was lighter now with a sway of his tail. Then, arctic wolf considerations aside, he was dwelling on the idea of her pack, what with its curious name and all. Dio couldn't quite conjure an image of what to expect with a vague title such as that one. A mountain? Forest? He didn't know what a spine was meant to signify.
Nevertheless, her pride was palpable. His ears shifted at the notion. He wondered what it was like to feel such satisfaction in a pack, to know that you wished to live and die there. This sensation he could not know anything about; he had not yet encountered in his few years so far. Maybe he would, but then again, maybe not. He had actually only officially lived in one pack (and lingered at the fringes of just a few others) so far -- that being the one he'd been born into. While thankful for the circumstances they had granted him, he had known early that it was not going to be all there was to his life. For now, he was comfortable on the roam. With that said, I'm going to guess that you like it there?
he canted his head.
Cara listened idly to the Keith's look-alike words, her ears swivelling lazily on her head as she debated whether to stay and chat for a while more or to get back to the Spine before Mordecai mistook her absence as abandonment.
She didn't want that -- nor she needed it.
She bobbed her head in response when asked if she liked the Spine. To be honest like was too soft of a word to describe what she felt for her dear pack. Even with Jinx and Lecter gone, and Mordecai at the throne she loved the Spine all the same than when she had howled into the night along with her packmates to claim said grounds as their own.
Then, with a pressing urge to pee and and itching desire to go back to the mountains of her home, Cara flicked her tail anxiously, casting a long glance at the male before speaking again. "And I should now get back to it--things get hectic when I'm gone " or rather when I'm around, she thought with amusement, "Ouroboros Spine if you're ever tired of being a loner " she calledover her shoulder, as she drew her lips back to reveal a very charming smile before turning and disappearing into the fog.