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Post by Wolf Tears on Aug 5, 2007 21:30:03 GMT -5
(OOC-For those of you who don't know, a Pack's beta is like a Clan's deputy.)
Silent pads bounded across the clearing, agony burning in their owner's eyes as he glanced behind him at the range of mountains he had just fled. They were... so like his old home... So like the place where so much had happened... Where so much had been destroyed...
Sorrow replaced agony as Renorth turned his eyes skyward. He was the only one left of the two packs that had once reigned over the Mountains of Hunting Wolves-and yet the Pack of Starry Skies had given him no sign, no message, no glimmer of contact. Were they lost to him forever? Thasal, his dear friend and beta... Raveth and Thorsa, his beautiful pups... Tanatha...
Oh, Tanatha. Wonderful Tanatha. Sweet Tanatha. Loving, loveable, wonderful, kind, wise, strong, brave, amazing, perfect Tanatha. His mate, the only one he had ever ruled alongside, the only one who had ever known him, known who and why and what he truly was. His precious beauty, his Tanatha, gone forever.
Hopeless and drained, Renorth collapsed, begining to cry-not just falling tears, but huge, heatbreaking sobs. For months he had been too sad even to cry, but now his sorrow came out full force.
He was alone, and everyone he had once loved was gone; even his ancestors no longer shone down on him; the stars above looked and felt different. His heart was broken beyond repair and he had no purpose; what reason was there left for him to live?
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Post by Silverflash // Jayrunner on Sept 10, 2007 19:34:17 GMT -5
Kiba raced across the hill, Toboe, Hige, and Tsume just a few feet behind him. Four bodies skidded to a halt as four noses picked up the scent of a wolf in the area. Kiba turned to his pack and snarled, "Another wolf in the area. He seems smart enough to hide out here, and dumb enough to not feel a human form."
Toboe's stomach growled and he whispered, "He might have food, or at least know where some is." He blinked at his companions and whispered, "Sorry." the young brute shot off towards the lonely figure on the horizon, his tongue lolling and his paws making heavy thumps to alert the fellow wolf that he was there.
Toboe skidded to a halt beside the older wolf. He felt himself wilf at the thought of fighting this massive brute, but he managed to choke out, "You're one of us." His limbs shook and the loud chink of his rings added to his fear, making the noise echoe.
Hige growled at the young wolf as he took off, and hurried after him, careful to remain silent. He raced for awhile and then skidded beside the two wolves. His heavy collar loosened as he poked the big wolf. "Dude, you're one of us. Why don't you show us what your other form is?"
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Post by Wolf Tears on Sept 20, 2007 18:16:12 GMT -5
Renorth's tears slowly came to a stop as he lay still, but he didn't feel any better for his bought of crying. It hadn't helped; nothing would help. Perhaps he would just lie here in misery until he died, and then lead an even more miserable eternity searching for Tanatha and their pups. Oh, the amazing joy.
Suddenly footprints made the ground vibrate; Renorth's head jerked up in srprise, and he glanced about. A few minutes later the newcomers were close enough to smell; htere were four wolves, traveling in a pack. Renorth sniffed again, searching for the scent of the Pack of Hot Waters, but nothing familar entered his nose. With a sigh, he dropped his head again, hoping they would pass by.
No such luck. One of them, a male-hold on, were they all males?-skidded to a stop beside him. Renorth shifted his front paws in annoyance but otherwise acted asleep. Maybe they would go on.
No; he couldn't pretend anymore, not after getting words directly in his ear. Renorth's misty blue eyes snapped open, somewhat annoyed, though that was nothing in the face of his overriding misery. He kept them open just long enough to see all the wolves-the white leader, the dark brown one with weird silver rings, the brown one with the heavy-looking collar, and the dark gray one-then he closed them again and curled into a ball. Out of common courtesy he waited until the collared one finished speaking before he opened his own maw.
"Yes, I'm a wolf. Any idiot with a nose knows that. But as for 'other forms', I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about. I don't want to talk right now; just go away, okay?" His voice was muffled both by his fr and the unmistakeable sound of tears, and Renorth hoped with all the shards of his heart that they would take him at his word and leave.
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Post by Silverflash // Jayrunner on Sept 26, 2007 17:25:09 GMT -5
Hige tilted his head this way and that at Renorth with vibrant curiosity. He turned to Toboe and murmured, "He seriously doesn't know, does he?" Toboe shrugged and studied Renorth for a moment before murmuring, "Yes, I think he really doesn't know what his other form is."
Hige sniffed Renorth curiously and detected no lies in his cold pelt. The big brown wolf took a step back, and after a second, a curtain seemed to drop in front of him with a picture of a boy painted on it. Hige poked Renorth and asked, "Why don't you try? It's not that hard. It's like eating. Once you figure out you're supposed to use your mouth, you never forget."
Toboe poked the wolf, the bands on his arm bouncing against eachother. He pulled his hand back for no reason and murmured, "I don't think he ever figured out he could disguse himself, Hige..."
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Post by Wolf Tears on Sept 28, 2007 20:46:54 GMT -5
(OOC-I can't tell which ones turned into humans, if any. But you did say arm, and that thing about a curtain... So.)
Renorth curled into a ball, trying to makehimself as small as possible; that way, he could block out the other wolves' voices-they weren't going away-and be blessed by black oblivion, able for a whle to forget his troubles.
But for some reason sleep wouldn't come. Maybe it was the murmer of voices still audible through his fur; maybe it was the fact that her kept getting poked by the other wolves. What did the think he was, prey that had gone bad? Raising his had to snap at them and-hopefully-make them go away at last, Renorth found himself staring straight at a human.
Instinctual terror raced through the wolf; human hunters had played a large hand in destoying his pack. He leapt to his feet, snarling and bristling, backing away as fast as he could though never taking his eyes away from the human. When he was several tail-lengths away, he lowered his growling, muttering, "In Tanatha's name, when humans are faster than wolves, I start to worry..."
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Post by Silverflash // Jayrunner on Sept 28, 2007 20:54:52 GMT -5
Toboe let out a laugh, his red hair shaking as he tossed his head from side to side. "He really doesn't get it." Toboe dropped down to a squat and for a moment, there was no boy, but a brown dog lying down, then there was Toboe, the human, again. Toboe stretched out and laughed again. "And that's how you do it. Try it."
Kiba growled at Toboe and Hige. "He isn't a wolf then if he can't do it." He glared at Renorth. "Only wolves can change. Blue could change, but that was because of Cheza. Obviously this guy's a mutt that never met the key to Rakuen yet."
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Post by Wolf Tears on Sept 28, 2007 21:26:17 GMT -5
(OOC-Face the wrath of Renorth.)
Renorth watched, bewildered, as the human flickered back and forth between human and wolf; for a moment, he wondered if he had fallen asleep after all and was dreaming. Then the human-the wolf in human form, anyway-spoke in a language that Renorth could understand, and he grudgingly accepted the fact ath he was awake. He stepped forward, uttering a silent prayer that he wasn't about to engage in anything that would keep him awa from the Pack of Starry Skies-and, by conseqence, Tanatha.
"How..." He leaned forward, sniffing-that was human scent, certainly, but similar to the human-wolf's wolf-scent. "What on... How did you do that?" He spoke in awed whispers, almost too quiet to be heard, though he wasn't entirely sure if he wanted to. Surely his ancestors had had a reason for keeping this secret from the Mountain Packs when they were still in contact?
Another voice drifted over to him, and Renorth remembered himself long enough only long enough to dip his head to the human-wolf in apology before shooting off toward the wolf who had spoken. In his mind, somehow, without him even realizing it, the words against him had become an insult not only to him but to Tanatha-and he wouldn't stand for that.
Skidding to a stop in front of the wolf who had spoken-was he their leader? Who cared?-, Ranorth met his glare full on. He raised his head and tail slightly above the younger wolf's, anger mixing evenly with the sadness that was his constant radiation. "Look, bird-brain--I don't have the faintest idea what under Tanatha and the Pack of Starry Skies you four are talking about, but any wolf who say's I'm not one has my teeth to answer to." He clacked them together warningly. "If you don't believe I'm a wolf-if you think I'm a mutt, as you so called me-I'll gladly prove it to you with a fight." He would, too-he had experience of years on the other wolf, and was positive that he could beat him. If the other wolf knew what was good for him, he'd stand down.
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Post by Silverflash // Jayrunner on Sept 29, 2007 15:52:13 GMT -5
Toboe shrugged. "I just can. It's like breathing. You don't know how, but you can."
Kiba snarled and raised his tail into a high flying banner, straight up, and raised his head so it was nealry an inch above Renorth's. He surveyed the brute and clacked his jaws deciseively. "You wouldn't be much to fight against. Scrawny and thin; little muscle could survive when you're that thin." He strode over to Tsume and patted him on the head. Tsume let out a growl, snapping warningly at the warm hand. Kiba let out a laugh and let his head turn so one eye was on Renorth. "You may be thin, but you're a wolf. You have spirit. You might as well join us before the world ends. Only then will Rakuen open. And if you aren't at the gates when it does, you'll never see the inside."
The white wolf set off at a steady pace towards the mountains, a pace where it was quick but if someone tried to follow you then you would hear their pawsteps. Toboe and Hige cast one last look at Renorth before padding behind their leader. Tsume kept his eyes fixed in Renorth's pelt. "You really are a fighter," he murmured before bouncing off after his pack.
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Post by Wolf Tears on Sept 29, 2007 16:29:05 GMT -5
"Breathing..." When he though about it, Renorth realized that the wolf was right; he had no idea just how he knew how to breath, but he been doing so his whole life. A flicker of want passed through him, the first time he had been interested in anything but srviving and remembering. This was interesting if unusual, and despite himself Renorth wanted to learn. "But surely we can't all do it?"
Renorth returned the white leader's snarl, raising his tail and head again; his long tail fur hung down in short curtains, and his was poised regally above the other's. However, Renorth could see that if his opponent really tried, he'd be able to reach over Renorth. The older wolf was ever-so-slightly shorter, something that irked him quite a bit, though he didn't let it show.
"Thin with mourning, perhaps." Renorth allowed a fresh wave of sorow to flash in front of his eyes, not bothering to restrain it; he had learned the hard way that that just made it worse. "But I could prove to you easily whether my muscles have survived!" He glared at the other wolf, but his expression flickered to confusion for a split second when he turned into a human and walked over to one of the other wolves. Was he ignoring Renorth, mocking him, or standing down from a fight?
Taking the wolf-human's next words as an apology of sorts, Renorth let his growling fade away. Part of that was forgiveness (kind of, anyway), but another part was confussion-again. What was he talking about? Even as Renorth opened his mouth to ask, the wolf started off again, and where he once wanted them goen, Renorth was now dissapointed. After a second's consideratoin, he sped off after them, his long legs taking him in easy trides to nearly come level with the white wolf. "Wait! What's Rakuen? Why is the world ending? What are you talking about?"
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Post by Silverflash // Jayrunner on Sept 29, 2007 16:38:13 GMT -5
Toboe looked oddly at Renorth. "I learned as a pup that I could disguise myself. It's how we survive. We look like humans, we go into towns, get some grub where it doesnt look like a stray dog stealing, then we run and chow."
Toboe spun on the spot, delight showing on his puppyish face. "I knew you'd come!" He flopped down on the grass, and Kiba annoyedly stopped for the pup. "Rakuena is Paradise. When the world ends, Rakuen will open and the world must flee into it to keep on living. Only the wolves can find it, and Kiba thinks we were born with fate choosing us to lead the wolves to Rakuen." He stopped to think about the other questions. "The world will end when the humans make it die. Like a rabbit will end when you force it to die by killing it, the world will die when humans strangle, stab, rib, or whatever they do to the earth." He licked a scabbed paw and barked, "That answer your questions?"
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Post by Wolf Tears on Sept 29, 2007 17:23:32 GMT -5
Renorth laughed at the brown wolf's words, ignoring the odd look fixed on him. "Seriously? I've never had human food-it wasn't exactly Pack regulation. Besides, humans never really came to our lands- at least, not until..." Renorth's eyes glazed over, and he stopped speaking as a shotgun's blast deafened him again; a flash of light piercing his Packmates... Thasal, who fell, never to rise again, the first of many...
Renorth shook his head sharply, pain lashing at him from all idrections as he turned his eyes back to the wolf. "Sorry. Bad memories..."
Renorth skidded to a stop, leaving the white wolf to pad back over to the brown one he'd talked to earlier. "Why do yo usay that?" He sat down, his gaze caught between amusement and curiosity; his expression changed to gaurded interest as the wolf spoke. Only once did he speak, and that was to glance back at the white leader and ask, "May I presume you're Kiba?" The rest of the time he listened attentively to the wolf's words, waiting until he was done to speak.
"I think it doe-" Renorth stopped mid-word as another question flashed into his mind. His voice dropped to a whisper as he asked one more question, his heart pounding uneven beats. "What... What about those whose lives have already ended?" An image of Tanatha flashed in front of him, and he shivered at the thought of an eternity without her.
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Post by Silverflash // Jayrunner on Sept 30, 2007 12:31:23 GMT -5
Toboe tipped his head this way and that. "It isn't half bad, long as it's just meat or something. But that junk they call pizza..." The young wolf stuck his tongue out of widely parted jaws, screwing his eyes up in disgust. "You can rarely get good food, but it ain't unheard of."
Toboe dipped his head. "We each have hundreds of them; don't worry."
Toboe tipped his head again. "I just do. It's the words I know sound good in this situation, so I suppose they're the words I must say. But I don't really have a reason for saying it." He turned his head so that he was looking at Renorth out of a narrowed yellow eye. "Confusing?"
Kiba nodded. "Yes. But I'm not the leader. our pack has no leader. We help eachother." His eyes narrowed. "But if we had a leader, it wouldn't be you, a wolf who has no idea how to camoflauge and keep a pack alive."
Toboe leaped to his paws, excitement showing in his eyes at the question. "The Book of the Moon says that when the world ends, those who die in the ending won't make it, but those already dead are already in Rakuen." His eyes narrowed playfully. "You got a lady friend there?" Without waiting for an answer, he barked gleefully, "My mistress and pack died awhile ago, and I can sense that they're there somehow. Rakuen is the Kingdom of the WOlves, but anyone who dies can go there. I thinnk that anyone who dies before the world ends can sense that Rakuen will slip away if they don't die. That's why some critters comit suicide." He laughed at his own emo joke.
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Post by Wolf Tears on Oct 5, 2007 21:18:13 GMT -5
Renorth laughed a little at the younger wof's description of the humans' food. "Pizza? Fenris grant, it even sounds disgusting!" The reddish-brown wolf rolled his eyes; what could he expect?
The Drappa gave a tiny snort at the next words out of the other's mouth; his eyes were suddenly vacant, staring away again, past the pack, past the sky, into the place where past and future collided. "A hundred, yes," he murmered to himself, too quiety for the others to hear, "but a thousand? Which-a thousand horrid memories, or a hundred that burn the mind to ashes? Which ends a life, and which can plunge one into darkness? For what is joy without despair?"
Renorth was losing himself to memories and thoughts as the other wolf spoke again, and he shook himself feircely. He had ben alone fo rtoo long, retreated too far into himself. Sitting attentively to make up for his momentary lack of attention, Renorth did his best to follow along; however, he was lost about halfway through the explanation. "Just a tad," he said with a small shrug. "Ah, well. sometimes the things that don't make sense make the deepest sense of all."
"That makes enough sense." Renorth dipped his head to Kiba at the white wolf's first sentence, then raised it as he went on, a small fire lighting in the older wolf's eyes at what his ears told him. "My young friend, I was likely leading the Pack of Hot Waters before you were even born." As Renorth spoke, he realized something; he wasn't truly angry, but rather highly amused by the younger wolf's contempt. Was that bad? Did it matter? "However, you are right-away from the mountains and my familiar prey and territory and ways of survival, I could not lead. Nor could I camaflaugh myself as you do, turning into humans. But then, one of the deepest laws of Tor and Fenris is for the Wolf to have nothing to do with human affairs. Likely that is why we were never taught that this could happen." Renorht sighed as he though of his parents, of Thranto and Sartha-Alpha and Alphess before him. Whatelse had they hid from the living-and were they right to do so? Fenris help me see what is right.
Renorth turned back to the excitable brown wolf. "The Book of the-" Suddenly he stopped, his eyes wide; he didn't even here the rest of the wolf's words as what he had heard rang over and over again in his mind. Those already dead are in Rakuen. Those already dead are in Rakuen. For the first time in months, pure hope filled Renorth's eyes. It was possible,if these wolves were right, to see again not only Tanatha but also his pups, Reveth and Thorsa-even his dear, trusted friend Thasal!
Without even realizing it, Renorth sprang to his feet. He bagan subconciously to speak, his mind still reeling, careful to adress the whole pack and not just Kiba, though his words were in fact directed mostly to the white wolf. "Would you take me with you to this place? Rakuen? Please-if not for me, for Tanatha, or for the blood of our pups who never truly lived." Fear flickered in renorth's eyes as he realized that they may refuse him, but hope hung by a thread, carrying him on. He would follow them day and night if he had to.
For Tanatha.
For love.
For life itself.
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Post by Silverflash // Jayrunner on Oct 6, 2007 9:25:15 GMT -5
Toboe opened his mouth uncertainly and murmured, "Are you sure you're speaking wolf?"
Kiba raised his lips in a snarl. "Huh. You think that just because I look younger than you I am. Actually I'm older than that tree over there." He pointed his nose at the towering oak. "We've found a way to blend in, to stay young forever." He sneered. "You really were raised in a dumb pack. No sense at all." He turned and continued padding off.
Toboe tipped his head from side to side at Renorth. "I probably wouldn't if I was you, but Kiba will back off... Every full moon or so." He leaped to his paws, signaled with his tail, and the rest of the pack sped off after Kiba.
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