Stone Circle It sounds wonderful

By the time the early morning has rolled around, she's already been up half the night and isn't as tired as one might expect. Phyllis had spent some of the evening getting acquainted with the territory, although it was a moot point considering it was so dark and her senses had started to dull (a fact she refused to admit to anyone and loathed about herself); but when morning broke and the winter sun peeked through a corner of the clouds, she felt much better. Phyllis watched the sun climb from the horizon's edge, herself roosted in the crux of a few trees on the hillside. The trees afforded some cover from the elements but gave her a nice view from a ridge. The sun went up very slowly, and the sky changed colors in the subtle, diluted manner that was common for the season. Through it all she was more interested in the thoughts within her head - her plots, her schemes - but to anyone watching, she was basking in the glory of the morning light.

This was much better the first time I wrote it, but oh well.

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She had slept, but not without the nightmare that plagued her mind every night since her... run-in with Greyback — the nights she could get to sleep, anyway. Most nights, she couldn't. The old memory from her previous pack would play in her mind when she slept like a tape stuck on loop, and her cursed subconscious toyed with ideas of what horrible things could've happened if she hadn't gotten away. Or worse — if she tried and failed. Would he steal her innocence? Would she anger him further and incite his wrath, ending her life? What if she'd remained in that pack? Would they believe her? Blame her? Ridicule her?

Dianne had stalked the territory throughout the night into twilight and now the rising of the sun. But the outside world didn't exist to her, for she was trapped in her mind. Now that she was back from her trip, Dianne couldn't afford to shove the thoughts aside anymore. The robotically logical part of her that normally dominated informed her that she couldn't yet know whether Greyback was like William or not, but the fearful, damaged part of her insisted she couldn't take the chance. Why had he asked that god damned question? She didn't need to be escorted around, nor was she a child that needed chaperoning. The territory was secure; there was no danger for her to worry about — except him.

To appease them both, Dianne decided she'd avoid him as much as possible and keep her mouth shut. If she had to speak to him, she would. If they were alone, she'd remain alert and turn tail if she needed to — there was no way in hell she could fight off a wolf as astronomically large as he was. If push came to shove, Dianne would leave this pack and hope she could find another that wasn't full before winter came, but she really didn't want to have to push her luck.

Sighing, she allowed the outside world to register again. The scent of an unfamiliar woman came to her — a new recruit, from what she could tell. Her tired gaze swept up to find her resting on the hillside nearby, but like hell she was going to talk to anyone right now. Fixing her gaze back in front of her, Dianne continued at her anxious pace with nowhere in particular in mind.

The sky wasn't that interesting. It was sort of a muddy puce, kind of a dull purple color that wasn't appealing but was trying very, very hard to be. It didn't help that the sunlight was so thin and a strange puke-yellow color, which did not blend very well at all as the time passed and clouds drifted overhead. The more light there was, the more the colors struggled for their space, and by the time Phyllis thought she saw a decent shade of purple - it was gone, transitioned to a thin grey that mostly resembled old paint water. Phyllis wondered, as she watched these shades transition from blurry formation to blurry formation, if that's what she'll look like in the coming days. Some sort of messy, faded, blurry thing.

She was lost in thought as the stranger came slinking along. The woman didn't have eyes on the back of her head and she wasn't incredibly interested in whoever it was, but the staccato of the stranger's footfalls gave her some indication of their mood; it was erratic, but growing louder. When it paused she took a breath and looked around, spotting the girl and raising her brows when her eyes took a moment to linger upon her. The girl's coat was very odd, and in all her time on the Earth, Phyllis had never seen such an ugly mixture of colors, not even in the winter sky overhead. If someone were to ask her to name the color of the stranger's pelt, she'd have said nasty sky grey, except it wasn't a solid color, there were fragments of storm-cloud gray smudged across.

The girl had a dull look to her. Phyllis wasn't sure what to make of that expression except to assume they'd just woken up, and maybe sleep hadn't been a very peaceful thing. She didn't want to chase after the girl nor did she really want to ask her what was wrong, but if Phyllis was going to make anything out of herself while she lived here, she had to start somewhere. May as well try to befriend someone and use that bond to get something done. So she took a deep breath, did a quick inventory of her options in her head, and departed from the ridge. 

She crept up behind the girl. Her steps were short, quick, and not at all subtle, and she came up beside the ugly duckling's path until she was aligned with her hocks and quietly called out to her, Miss, miss — slow down miss, I wanted to say hello, and, well, you're too quick for these old bones, Phyllis put on a small show of it; she huffed and puffed and lagged behind until the grey-capped girl drew back her pace, and then she smiled at her — I'm sorry you just, you look so troubled. I don't mean to be a bother but I'm new here, you see. And I'm.. I'm a good listener. What's the matter? Oh, god, she really, really didn't want to know. But then again, maybe she'd say something useful.

1v1 me, Phyllis. >:(

Dianne heard frantic footsteps behind her, and she just knew it was that old crone. Her eyes rolled irritably in their sockets. She was never truly in the mood to chat, but she absolutely loathed the thought right now. The lady insisted she slow down, so she did (with reluctance), dragging her worn-out gaze towards the tricolor woman. She was practically gulping in air like a fish out of water. Dianne hoped she didn't live to such a pitifully old age. She fought back a scowl in return to the woman's smile.

The lady basically explained that she wanted to rub her nose in her business. Dianne knew she meant to help by it, but she didn't care. Spilling what was bothering her would only make the problem worse, plus she didn't trust the nosy stranger to keep it to herself. Besides, she'd have to basically explain her whole damned life story, and that sure wasn't going to happen.

Too tired to even halfheartedly welcome the newcomer into the pack, Dianne cut straight to answering the woman's question. Nothing, I just can't sleep, She said completely deadpanned, ensuring to maintain eye contact when she did with hope that the crone would take the answer and leave it. Dianne knew she wouldn't, but she could dream (ha). It wasn't a total lie, so she could build off of it if (read: when) she needed to.