That was just a petty excuse to make one feel better when the darkness came to embrace your naked soul in the middle of the night. It wasn't an encouragement to let you know things would eventually get brighter --at least to Amelie it wasn't that way. It was a statement that clearly declared that darkness would always reek through the shadows and no one could put a stop to it's vicious rampage until the sun finally rose.
So simultaneously as the darkest shadows soared through the Teekon Wilds, the young Amelie, who also wore a dark matle over her body ran beyond the cover of the Plateu and into the open flatlands. Her paws lightly falling upon the grass and propelling her like a rocket that hovered above the ground.
Don't wait for me tonight, she thought as she began to follow the border of the Whitefish river, each step taking her further from the Plateu and the den in which Blue Willow must be waiting for her foster daughter. After Osprey's presumed death, the juvenile had no heart to be around the pups as much, nor to face Peregrine with the same smile on her face.
Tonight the uneasiness in her tummy had been to much for her to handle, she couldn't get herself to settle in the den. The heat she felt crawling up her back was enough to force her outside, where finally her paws took charge and led her away from the plateu in an unconcious race against the shadows.
Now that the first rays of the sun began to stretch their fingers from the ground, it was time to name the winner. It was Amelie against the shadows, but not only those that lived in the night but the ones in her head.
EDIT (1/22/2015): Removing tables.
Keith enjoyed the regular nights, the ones when the full moon wasn't on the prowl. His white pelt shone under the stars and the heat of the day wasn't something he had to worry about; It was so peaceful.
The young prince lurked out of the woods to look for some trouble, he didn't like how it felt to be so lonely ever since he left his homeland. He started trotting slowly and a few moments later he found himself running across the lands, feeling the air rushing through his fur. He had always been a runner, he was born for it.
It hadn't been long since he came out when he reached the river, he slowed down until he found a good place to drink. When his thirst was sated, he came in the water, the cold water that was almost as freezing as his the northernmost lands where he had come from.
He was starting to relax, but he heard something across the river so his muscles tensed, ready for any posibility, maybe a bear, maybe a mountain lion, he knew the place was plagued by those, but it wasn't any of those, it was a young female, running across the river. The male called out to her with a sharp bark when she passed by and came out of the water to rush behind her.
Cameras flashed as the young Beaudet flashed past the finish line, tearing the ground apart as she went. The finish line and flashing lights were all a production of her imagination just like the eerie shadows that circled her feet. No she wasn't going crazy, Amelie was fully conscious that what she saw was nothing but her stress and tiredness playing tricks on her. Was the white blur at the corner of her eye a trick too? She didn't know.
Once her rampage was over, the dark furred femme sat back to catch her breath and sort out her thoughts in the process. While peering onto her reflection on the river she saw a much older female staring back. The contour of her face delicate and feminine. It took a second for her to realize that in fact the girl staring back on the water was her. Wow, she had grown so much, of course it would be noticeable for those around her who got to see her regularly, but Amelie rarely checked on her own reflection.
Suddenly a sharp bark that sliced through the silence made her whip her head back. A pure white wolf was a rare sight for her, the plateu was filled with dark coloured wolves after all. Even if she didn't feel good a smile popped onto her face, "Hello.." she greeted, her voice dying out as she noticed his face held no trace of friendliness.
The silver prince didn't want to scare the young female, but when she greeted him, her face turned grim. Keith cursed MoonBane inside, he hated having to suck up to his actions and have to clean the blood traces he left behind; but this little girl hadn't seen him in that state, or had she?
"It's a nice night for a run, huh?" he asked, hoping that she'd change her mind about him. Call it over-correction, but he tried to be friendly to every new wolf he met as far as possible, knowing that Bane wasn't quite as friendly.
So this is how it ends,huh?
A reproachful voice inside her head was scolding her for getting out of bed in the first place. God knows what this male would do to her..
Amelie had met wolves out of the pack before, but usually close from the border, where she could easily take off and retreat if there was trouble, but now.. she had no place to hide.
An ice-cold shudder rippled through her spine as the male opened his mouth to speak. She even flattened her ears expecting the snowy creature to lash out at her. For all she knew she could be trasspassing.
But this wolf wasn't a savage beast --at least not now --, au contraire he was friendly. He even ended up having a charming smile. Her whole body posture changed completely, she wasn't slunking against the ground anymore, she perked her ears and raised her head though she was careful not to look him in the eye or instigate him in any form.
"Yes, it is" she breathed while contemplating the pureness of his pelt.
"I saw you running across the river and thought I'd say hi, you don't see such pretty girls everyday.." He complimented, he knew the girl was too young, but she was pretty anyways, and Keith was so used to flirt with every female he crossed paths that he didn't even realize what he was doing. "I'm Keith..." he said with his charming smile and a friendly wag of his tail, he was so charismatic that it seemed natural for him to be irresistible, and of course he was aware of that and used it to his advance.
An apology was something she might've never recieved from her stupid and now inexistent boy crush. She buried the thought of Ryder in the very bottom of the sea that was her mind, it was time to move on. "It's fine" she said in a soft voice.
Coal and snow looked at each other for a long while, she felt her face burn when he referred to her as pretty. This time it was different than from when Kisu had said it, this time she felt the flutter of wings inside her belly. Though it could be because it was now coming from a stranger's mouth. She opened her mouth to give an awkward "Ermm", quickly clearing her throat to try to cover her slip up.
"I'm Amelie, from Blacktail Deer Plateu" she said with her voice faltering a bit, she wasn't sure the pack had enemies but one could never be too sure, she was in strange territory after all.
"You're away from home, Amelie..." he said with a more serious tone, but still using his charming voice, He didn't know where Blacktail Deer Plateu was but he knew it wasn't in the Great Bear Wilderness, "You're one rebelious girl, aren't you?" Even if the boy didn't want to make assumptions he figured that such a young girl wouldn't be sent away from home alone, so she must have escaped or sneaked out somehow.
While she waited for a response, the young girl nibbled the side of her cheek nervously. He complimented her name once more and she managed to give him a little smile and a flick of her bat ears. She was never good at speaking with strangers especially boys.
"You're away from home" he barked in a tone the girl could not decipher as friendly or hostile. She didn't know whether she was intruding in another pack's lawn so when he said this she backpedaled a few meters. "I-I know, I just wanted to get away for a while", she explained hoping that she'd be forgotten in the case she was in fact intruding. She wasn't sure if his words were meant as a warning or a threat but she'd be reluctant to leave if that was what he wanted..
However he gave no further indications of being hostile so she allowed herself to relax again. His statement threw her off for a second, she was not the kind of girl he though she was. Awkwardly the girl shook her head. "Not at all, just a wanderlust filled girl" she barked with a tiny smile.
"And tell me, Amelie, what is it that you want to get away from?" he asked after shaking the bad thoughts away from his mind. Amelie was young to be so worried about life, but then again so was him when his sister and minions snatched his life.
Wanderlust.
Was that all she felt? No. But how could he know that, was he able to see the tiredness in her eyes? Could he see the shadows she was escaping from swirling across her feet?
She looked at him with tired eyes, not appreciating his foul language, in her yellow orbs it was easy to see she was suffering from the kind of tiredness sleep couldn't fix. A quiet sigh left her mouth and she flicked her tail once before rasing her gaze to meet his."My life is not...fucked", she murmured through gritted teeth, it felt weird to curse even if it was natural for most teenagers Amelie didn't see what fun being rude was. Yes, she was a miss goody-two-shoes
He kept prodding her to spill the reasons for her unusual expedition at such hours. She kept her eyes glued to him, for a moment wanting to tell him he did not need to play therapist with her. Then Beric from Somewhere really far Isle came to mind. He had been of help when her boy troubles arised..and he was a total stranger too.
Oh, whatever.
"A kid died. I was her babysitter so I feel bad.. and my mother is Alpha now, so I should be proud of her but I kinda wish she was still just the healer because now she has no time for me. And I'm bothered by the fact I'm almost and adult and I don't feel like one yet. she whined while shifting her paws from one place to another.
"That's not fucked up.. At all.." he said with a straight face trying to sink in all the information. "Uhmm.. No sorry, I've got nothing" he admitted realizing that probably nothing he said would make her feel better. But then he looked her in the eyes and felt the anguish and the pain, and not thinking what he was about to say he sighed "I guess that's just how life's supposed to be, right?" he said without being too sure about his words. "I mean.. People die, pups especially; and people leave us.. But we can't let those things bring us down.. We have to.. keep walking forward.." If the girl was looking at him at the moment, she would've notice how much he was struggling to say those simple words. Keith was a guy who hated suffering and usually just rejected the pain or simply ignored it, that's why he was always active, to keep his mind busy.
Amelie watched the young male stumble over his words, he tried to make her story less tragic but all he was doing in the long run was comfirming how completely twisted and fucked her situation was. Her eyes penetrated into his own as he tried to console her,but his words were in vain. The usually happy-go-lucky teenager was now swimming in a pool of sorrow.
"Yeah I guess", she agreed and shrugged her shoulders while staring intently at the space between their paws. By then she wished he would've just shut up and allow the awkward silence hovering above them to embrace them, but he went on.. this time playing the 'we are not inmortal, everyone dies' card.
This made her roll her yellow eyes while an exhausted scoff left her chest."I know everyone dies, I just.. I didn't want her to die. I was her sitter! she whined again while giving him a strong lash of her tail to bring emphasis into her frustration, "And I know it doesn't matter if I wanted her or not to die --life is like that ok! she began to raise her voice although it faltered through the end. "Her death killed us all" she concluded finally.
With Osprey's fake death, the hearts of every single Plateu wolf had died with her. That was why she had wanted to leave, she feared if she stayed in that mournful place for too long she might actually die.
How could someone be so damn hormonal? She raised her voice and ended her sentences whispering, she was in some deep emotional shit and the silver boy wasn't the one to counsel her, he wasn't a wolf who whined about life; he made something out of it, He didn't regret his mistakes, he just acted like they were never made; he wasn't a whiny little girl, or at least he avoided it.
The handsome yearling didn't have more to say; there was nothing he could say to make her feel better anyway so he didn't say a word, he just looked at Amelie's beautiful amber eyes and with his snout he attempted to lift her chin.
The first rays of the morning sun started coloring the sky with soft hues of baby blue and the Young wolf was already getting uncomfortable with the girl's emotional issues, he was no therapist. "Listen Amelie..." he woofed with an awkward feeling after the girl finished whining. "I really hate to do this but I gotta be going now... Are you fine to go back by yourself?" he enquired and gave a few steps backwards before turning around, but when he was at the border of the running water he turned to face the girl again, "It was really nice to meet you though... See you 'round..." and with a wink he jumped to the water to go back to the comfort of Neverwinter.
She had not expected him to say anything else. He was no counselor anyways, it showed it his eyes. Another heavy sigh escaped from her lips as she allowed her rant to linger around her head, where it quickly turned into a grey storm cloud that threatened to spill icy water on her head.
The dim light of the birthing sun reached the corner of her eyes and she, just like the young boy, turned away awkwardly. That had been a hell of an introduction she doubted either of then would ever forget. He began to excuse himself from the scene and the young teen simply shrugged her shoulders while looking away.
He had been of no help at all, but then again she hadn't come to him expecting answers. She gave an annoyed huff when he questioned her ability to go back home safely,she was sad not mental, and she'd be able to survive.. or at least she hoped so.
When it was finally time to part ways Amelie lifted her head just enough to look at his face, "Later" she barked with a sad tone rippling on her voice then, with no more ado she turned her tail and began to trot away.
Slowly the black silhouette of the teen dissapeared into the cold morning light.