Bonesplinter Ravine ScoobyNatural

"Super-what? Can you repeat that?" Wraen asked after Epic had managed to squeeze out the longest and most complicated adjective she had ever heard. "Don't  you worry about me, my pride won't let that happen," she added and found it endearing that he had said such a nice thing. Hearing that you were amazing from your relatives was one thing, but a praise from a stranger - entirely different.

"Well, one afternoon Echo entertained the chief god's chief wife Hera with her stories. She was very fond of them. Only later did she find out that her husband had bribed the nymph to keep his wife entertained, while he... well, to put it simply was banging another chick," Wraen told. "Hera was of a prideful and unforgiving nature and, while she could not punish her husband, she put a curse on Echo - she could only repeat the words of what other people said. Hence the name," she explained and paused, letting this piece of information sink. 

"The story goes on - she fell in love with a very beautiful and conceited man Narzissus and followed him around invisible to him, trying to make her presence known and but being able only to repeat the words he said, which - naturally - made him angry. Finally, frustrated he exclaimed: "Are you here?" And she replied: "Here." Appeared before his eyes happy to behold her lover, but he was disgusted by her and told her off with the rudest words. 

She was so unhappy, that she wasted and withered, until nothing was left of her, but her voice. That's the reason, why you hear echoes," she said the last word louder and paused to listen to the "echoes... echoes... echoes..." bouncing against the ravine's walls and disappearing in the distance. "At least Narzissus got, what had been coming for him, because he managed to piss off another nymph, who in turn cursed him to fall in love with his own reflection in water. And unable to look away from his own beautiful face he likewise wasted and withered and in the end was turned into a flower."

"Moral of the story - don't be a jerk to divinities. And probably do not give everything to a person, who does not know, how to value it," she finished.

Disclaimer: the Greek myths are not mine, but the retelling and wolf adaptation is.

Just having catched his breath, he also couldn't progress the supercalifrag...words. Sometimes he blurted it out, if he didn't have to think about it much. However when it was on request, his mind had a blank slate and Epic couldn't place it on auto-repeat. "I'm afraid not." An honest answer dripped from his leathery lips. 

Ah, story time, his heart skipped a beat. Like a little boy he was inclined to listen and forget about everything else that happened in his surroundings. Sitting down, his tail curled feline-like around his paws and his eyes lit up, getting excited and pumped about what was to come. 

So Echo's own personal tale was one interwoven with mystery and drama. She felt the wrath of a Goddess who was scorned, she fell in love with someone who - in the end - only loved himself. And sadly she withered away and died. Quite a tragedy. And with every word that filled the air, Epic hung onto Rennie's lips; savering each and every word and curious as what was next to come.

"What a tragedy, poor Echo. I wonder why she'd let herself bribe, though. Hmm." That last statement was an afterthought. Tilting his head to the side, he paused for a second, taking a moment to absorb the story before adding. "Moral of the story would also be: Don't fall in love with a jerk-head. Don't let a deity bribe you so he can bang-a-boom. And well, don't be like Echo -- as much as you love stories!"

"I don't think that we have much power over, who we fall in love with," Wraen said after a contemplative pause, having thought about the crushes she had had and that one truly serious thing that had left her heart-broken in the end. If she used that latter as a measure to the spells she had come under later, none compared. 

"Or, who we learn to hate. There is a story here as well. Eros - the son of Aphrodite, godess of love - has a golden paw and lead paw. If he touches someone with the golden one, they fall in love. If he touches someone with the lead one - they feel aversion and hate the person," she said. In the human version it is two different kinds of arrows. "And I think that gods love to tinker and play with our fates for their own amusement," she said.

"Well, if if someone ever tinkers with my faith but me -- I'll bite their butts. See who laughs last then, hmm?" With that said, he opened leathery lips and showed the edges of his sharp teeth. In reality this tricked looked more like a cheesy smile; but who cared, right? He wanted to make a statement not to mess with him; whatever supernatural powers were out there (or maybe weren't). He honestly didn't know. (Too bad there was at least a writer who could tinker with his faith). 

"Oh you don't think?" Epic listened to the story of Eros and was then reminded of another figure who tempted with the faith and destiny of would-be, could-be lovers ..or not. "Have you ever heard of Cupid?" Curiously looking at her, he then added. "He's supposedly a deity with wings and a bow. He shoots these arrows at everyone and the first thing someone -- who is hit -- sees, he falls in love with. Craaaaazeeeee." Of course Epic didn't know that Cupid was the Roman counterpart to the Greek Eros.

"They are kind of one and the same guy with different names. I would not be surprised, if this guy had aliases in other belief systems as well," Wraen pointed out, smiling still at Epic's conviction that he would be able to prevent, whatever tinkering with his fate god's may choose to do. The obvious problem being that you never truly knew, when they interfered or not. And paying too much attention and being paranoid was a wrong way to deal with it either. Better go with the flow and make a good story out of it.

"Ever been hit by either of those guys?" Wraen asked, however, leaving him a choice not to answer, if he did not wish to do so. "Every hero of the stories I know has a sweet-heart," she added.

Gods and deities, legends and myths; they made his heart flutter. His kid-at-heart approach to life made his eyes glint as the thought of endless stories that poured from her leathery lips. He was hooked and attracted, like a moth to a flickering flame. In the meantime he had some of his own stories to share; but he was forced back to reality when she asked about lovers and girlfriends. A thoughtful frown followed as he contemplated an answer.

"NO!" He replied rebelliously, after all who needed a lover? A partner in crime, maybe. But a mate? That sounded like a choice of path for those who wanted to live a dull life. However, he did feel slightly different now that he turned two and breeding season rolled around the corner. Blast those hormones. And he did almost feel a pang of jealousy and his heart that skipped a beat when he turned to ask her the same thing. "Have you been hit by this Cupid-Eros-dude?" Why was he feeling this? Why was he holding his breath until he received an answer?

Wraen almost laughed at Epic's all too eager answer to her question. As if he had not quite grown out of the age, where all girls are "EUGH!". Then, when he asked the same question to her, she contemplated it in silence, looking sky-ward and smiling to herself. 

It had been a very long time she had given Leander much of a thought and she found it curious, because it had felt once so, as if her whole existence was meaningless were it not for him in it. She wished she could go back now and see herself with the eyes of years and maturity, be critical and analyse and - perhaps - see more and understand better.

On the other hand he had been the first person she had said those three beautiful and meaningful words and offered her heart to be his. Never before and never after had she felt the same for anyone else. And sometimes - watching, how people her age and younger found their significant others and settled down with ease - she wondered, whether this kind of thing was for her.

Perhaps, her one true love in life were her stories - a lifelong marriage that would not disappoint, hurt or dissolve. Safe and familiar. "Once," she finally told him. "And it was beautiful."

What was it with all those love-ly dove-y wolves who acted all strange during the breeding season? Suddenly everyone was on edge, angry, cranky or happy-lovely-crazy. It was like a disease and truly never having been in love once; it was a strange concept. Even if he heard about all those stories and tales and happy endings. Well, in reality (and like with Echo's) not every story ended with they lived happily ever after.

His stomach suddenly turned and twirled once he released his breath, white puffy smokes were released into the air. Sadly, Epic misunderstood his newfound-friend Rennie when she explained that love was beautiful and that she felt it. He felt his eyes darting away for a second, words unable to reach him, his mind going blank. What was this feeling? So, at least she was happy and belonged to one of those lovely-dovey people.

"O-ow." Epic replied, trying to conceal his disappointment when he spoke next. Even if he was genuinely happy for her, if she lived on cloud nine. "I'm so happy for you!" Yeah, that must be lovely. He kept that last thought to himself.

"Feeling jealous?" Wraen teased him good-naturedly and bumped her nose against Epic's cheek, letting herself this kind of freedom, because he had proved to be a very easy-going fellow so far. 

"The rest of the story was not very happy and ended with a heart-break and some time, during which I had to nurse my wounded pride," she went on in such a manner, as if that had been a piece of cake. 

"But it made me realize that every relationship teaches you something and, when it ends, you have become richer and not poorer," she concluded. "And if I had to choose again - to fall in love, I mean - I would do it. I would take it all the beautiful, and the pain, and the other person as it were."

"Why of course not!" Epic protested as convincing as he could; although if it were possible his golden eyes would turn not apple-green (like Wraen's) but an ugly jealous-green. His poker face could only hold until the moment her nose touched his. Bzzzttt, a small invisible electric spark made his nose tickle. It almost caused him to sneeze, but in reality it was his heart that skipped a beat; still not used to this feeling. 

"You do not convince me!" Epic frowned, the more Wraen spoke of how lovely-dovey it was to actually be in love, the more rebellious he wanted to become. "I think it sounds stupid." He murmured, trying to strengthen his first sentence. 

"B-but how do you know when you've fallen in love? I mean what does love feel like anyhow?" The way she described it; it was beautiful. Her voice spoke of experience, of love, of pain of sadness but something she actually enjoyed. Epic looked at her, all the sudden from a new perspective while wondering. W-was he falling in love? Had he just found another liking to his friend? Time would tell.

"You will sing a different song, when you get there," Wraen told him in an annoying all-too-knowing voice in order to frustrate Epic further. It was funny to see him struggle and squirm against the "hard truths" of life and she would be lying, if she did not enjoy it.

"I can't tell you, what it will be like for you," she said. "From what I have seen - it's different for everyone. Depends really, what works for you or... what those gods, which you claimed to kick their asses for meddling, have in plan for you," the rest of her answer was hardly any less cryptical than the first.

Then she yawned and realized, how very late it was. "Well, I would love to charm you with my company for longer, but it is getting very late and I have to return before it gets totally dark," she explained. "I can show you the general direction of, where to find me, if you happen to be in these parts again. I will want to hear about your flying sessions."

You can fade out in your next post and I will jump in the new thread.

"But, but ..BUT!" Like a little toddler, Epic wanted to pry out any tidbit of information of what love felt like. Having never felt it before, the young male desired to know why all those other wolves suddenly acted so strange. He had never been attracted to anyone before; although this new season and turning two did turn on his hormones and things were about to change. For better ..or worse. 

"Everyone who is in love turns into a KNUCKLE-HEAD." Epic replied, trying to playfully get her to give him more information. The term "knuckle-head" was meant like an idijit (Supernatural word for idiot) because every wolf started to act crazy. His heart skipped a beat, looking at his friend Rennie and feeling a strange, faint attraction to her. Especially to those apple green eyes. Swoon. 

"Well..uhh..bye.." Epic stated doubtful -- his thoughts still lingering on what was love, being in love and love-sick was like. Before he could blink with his eyes, time had flown by rather quickly and his friend Rennie was gone. But most important; it was the most fun he had in quite a while.