Post by Therdde on Mar 29, 2009 23:04:36 GMT -5
Characters:
Teketa - Male Wolf
Skelaghe - Female Wolf
- Wind-Blown Lowlands -
The morning promises to be another fairly clear one. A few clouds blot the otherwise blue and lavender sky, and traces of pink and pale orange indicate the location where the sun will soon peek over the horizon. Teketa finds himself awake, sleepless. He didn't return the previous day after leaving Skelaghe and her mate silently and in what even he recognizes might have been an awkward fashion. If he did come back, he never approached either wolf, remained distant, rested, left again. Now he's sitting quietly in the long grass, watching the horizon with a thoughtful expression. His head is lowered in such away that he appears to be sulking. Maybe he is. But as a sliver of the sun's light becomes visible, his head lifts slightly with it. At least the sunrise was still beautiful.
Skelaghe has been awake for a short while. Without the sounds of her mate or Teketa moving around, though, she was plenty happy to remain stretched out and lying down. It has been a while since she has slept outside of a den, and with her internal warmth combating valiantly against even the early morning chill, she was not in a hurry to move, to lose the warmth between herself and the ground and her own limbs. As the sun began to rise, though, she opened her eyes to look around. No sign of Tek or Hel, which, while not terribly surprising... Well, time to rally the troops, she supposes. After pulling herself to her feet, she first follows the scent trail that Teketa left yesterday, faint though it is.
Should he stay? That's the question on Teketa's mind. It has been since he met Skelaghe and she offered to let him stay with them for the winter. But not just staying for the winter. Should he stay longer? Would it suit him to do so? Three days in and it certainly doesn't feel very natural for him. It brings up old feelings and memories that were better left forgotten. It brings a feeling of /oppression/ he had forgotten while he was comfortable and alone. Or was he simply a coward, outside of his own comfort-zone? The black wolf sighs, and a slender whisp of white mist rises around his muzzle. He should be getting back. But he had time. The sun is rising, and it is one of the beautiful things he can still really appreciate. Well, the sun and a few other things. Spring. Life. Strange to think he might be able to appreciate those things. He probably doesn't seem like the sort of wolf to love them. And this prompts a soft - but definitely audible - chuckle from the wolf. If only anyone knew sometimes he likes to stop and simply smell the flowers... and then he is silent and still again, pleasant thoughts disappearing like the mist around his maw... and then he thinks he hears pawsteps and his head lifts from its lowered position. Time to go already?
It is the chuckle, light though it is, that first really alerts Skelaghe to Teketa's presence. Unlike when they were first reunited, her tail does not wag, and she does not bound towards him. A few more steps, though, and she says, in a friendly tone, "Good morning, Teketa." She stops moving after she speaks, but she remains standing instead of sitting or lying down. With her lighter fur, either action might easily hide her in the grasses. Her distance is strictly for his benefit. Surely, he has done nothing to upset her, as her tone and, should he look at her, smile ought to suggest.
What a wonder that sunrise could do for his mood. It sheds light on more than just the ground he's sitting on... and for now, he could almost smile easily, as he had when he saw Skelaghe the other day. Almost. But he doesn't. He just tilts his head slightly, listens to the approaching pawsteps, and lets her speak first. "My lady Skelaghe," he utters softly, as if he loathed to disturb the morning air with words, though he had chuckled but a few moments before. Then his head turns and he looks towards the she-wolf with vivid yellow-green eyes, caught in the rising light. "Good morning," he returns her greeting. She is smiling. That's good. But he senses that perhaps there is something more. Or perhaps his senses are mistaken. He once compared her to Dawn. If his comparison was accurate, then... he rises slowly, his head remaining level with his shoulders. His eyes reveal that he thinks - knows - she wants something.
Of course Skelaghe wants something, but it is no more than what she always wants. Avoiding the question of whether Teketa slept well last night, Skelaghe instead says, "I love sunrises." Sunset too, though not as much. Times when the sun casts its color over the sky much more strongly than at any other time. "Hopefully, this winter will be a short one." For Teketa's benefit, so that he can leave them sooner? If that is what she means, there is no indication of it in her tone.
She surprises him by making a statement rather than asking a question. But his expression hardly changes to indicate that. And her words seem enough permission for him to turn away from her and look at the sky once again. His eyes were a little distant, but he nods his head, and the corner of his lips twitch in a momentary smile. "Something beautiful," he murmurs before looking at Skelaghe again, his attention rushing to the present again. Her second statement receives an empty stare for several seconds before he dips his head once. There's no doubt the same thought has occurred to Teketa as well. The sooner winter ends, the sooner he can leave without feeling as if he has broken some unspoken promise. "I thanked you, didn't I?" he murmurs suddenly. His memories of that first day with her again are a little foggy. He was tense inside that den. And far more tired than he realized. Only the sight of that she wolf and those few moments alone with her were clear anymore. "Well, thank you, in case I didn't..." his head tilts slightly, awkwardly. What does she want, though? Like Dawn, he's left in the dark, except for his own grim imaginings.
"There is no thanks needed. You are more than welcome, as our guest or otherwise, Tek." Now, Skelaghe begins walking toward him again. She keeps herself well to his side, though, when she sits to join him in watching the sunrise. "I've spent more than enough winters alone for my taste. I will be glad to have company again." She thought she would have company last winter. She spent it alone anyway. And the winter before that... Was not a good winter for her. Solitude may suit Teketa, but it does not suit Skelaghe.
He's looking hard Skelaghe, but not unkindly. Condescendingly? Not quite that, either. But he looks away, his eyes for the sky, then back at the she-wolf a slightly softer look. She was a far more social creature than he had ever been. Could ever hope to be. He considered himself different, and not necessarily in a good way. But he nods his slowly in false understanding. "You needn't worry about spending winters alone again," he confirms. She has Helaku now, and that's good. And she has friends to keep her company. There is a certain emptiness to his voice, though, a tired quality that he can't escape even in the lovely sunlight. Sunlight that brings out the dark slate color of his fur. And perhaps a few silvering hairs on his muzzle. Teketa isn't a young wolf, and life is aging him more quickly lately. "You're suited to company. Friends." And there seems to be something he's trying to say behind those words, but he can't.
"But you aren't." He doesn't have to say it. She can read that in his body language, ever since he met Helaku the day previous. There is sorrow in Skelaghe's voice, but it is contained. Will it bother him, terribly, to try to fake it? Perhaps, and Skelaghe would not want to be the cause of it. "You're right. I won't be alone." Even if he leaves. If no one else comes, she will still have Helaku. She pauses no longer than to take a breath, then continues speaking. "I won't say I want to see you go. I can't say that." Not even if it would make it easier for him to leave. "I don't want to see you stay with me only out of a misplaced sense of obligation, though. All I can ask is that, if you do decide to leave, whether it is now, when spring arrives, or any time in between... That you visit, whenever you can."
He looks at her again with those hard, yellow-green eyes of his, practically glowing in the light of the sun. But again they soften, and then he looks down as she speaks. Only when she has finished does he tilt his muzzle up to look at her, and there is a smile on his maw. Big compared to the small ones he usually spares for her. But his brows are furrowed and his eyes a little sad. "The pack has made me what I am," he utters these words nonchalantly, but there is some wistfulness in his voice that suggests he would rather it have happened differently. "And I wonder if it isn't that alone: if I am really a coward," his voices deepens and reveals some bitterness: an anger at himself. "I haven't many winters left if I continue alone like I have been. I'd be a fool to deny it." He casts his gaze away from the she-wolf. The lines in his face are hard: the culmination of years of anger and sorrow intermingled to create this one wolf. But they disappear after a moment, as he watches the sun rise higher.
Skelaghe keeps her gaze on the sunrise. Were she to look at him while entertaining the possibility that she may very well never see him again, it would be much harder for her to keep her composure, to advise him according to what may be best for him, not only physically, but emotionally, instead of according to her more selfish desires. "We can help you to survive, just as you can help us to survive." Helaku and Skelaghe together have a stronger position than Teketa alone, defintiely, but the three of them together are stronger than any other option could be. That isn't the only thing that matters, though. "You could survive many more winters, and I like to think that winters and other seasons alike would be fulfilling for everyone. If it were up to me, I would see you stay." Surely, there is no doubt about it, but now she says it, openly, without mincing words. "If you should find yourself choking on interacting with others, though... You should go. In the spring, when it is safe, you should go."
But he would be a fool to stay, wouldn't he? She leaves his question unanswered. Perhaps for the better. If he is a coward... then it is a position he has held much of his life. He doesn't look at her until she mentions her own wishes, and here his head turns and his expression is unreadable, though his half-lidded eyes are gentle. His next words might be taken the wrong way, but he speaks them nonetheless: "For you I would stay. As long as I can bear it." Teketa allows a moment of silence to let those words sink in before he continues. "You alone are a friend I can trust, and it was for you I returned, to some degree," he admits, his deep voice low and quiet. "So I will stay." Here he pauses again. "...might I ask a more trying question of you, my friend? Concerning your mate?"
Skelaghe has no doubt the question may, in fact, be trying. Based on everything he has said to this point, based on her being the one wolf around which he is comfortable... Forcing herself to leave her thoughts, she says, "You may ask me anything you desire. I have no secrets from my friends, Teketa, concerning my mate or anything else." Regardless of what he may have been led to think by Helaku's whispering to her as he approached yesterday.
She responds not outside what he expects of her. Nonetheless, one dark ear flicks uneasily, and turns to face her more completely. "He is a serious sort," he mutters. Unlike Teketa's first impression. The wolf in the tree... but that aside, Teketa mentally shakes himself, "...excuse me," he straightens visibly, then continues more confidently, "I wanted to know. Does he think badly of me?" He almost sounds... vain. Like some young pup. He realizes this and so turns his eyes away as he explains himself: "Can he tolerate my presence all winter?" And can /I/ tolerate his...? Teketa could be patient. But there would be a breaking point somewhere unless Teketa or Helaku were able to approach one another without being too stand-offish. At least on Teketa's part.
Yes, Helaku is a serious sort. Even when he is joking, it is an act. A good act, but it does not come as naturally to Helaku as it does to others. Nor is Teketa the joking sort. Skelaghe is, but, in this moment, there is no humour in her tone, nothing that could be misinterpreted. "If Helaku thinks poorly of you, he has had no such thing to me. He recognizes that you have had a rough time, and he knows what that is like. He will not fault you for it." Which doesn't entirely answer the black wolf's question. As to whether Helaku can tolerate Teketa... "If you give him the opportunity, and he gives you the opportunity in exchange, I can see him doing much more than just tolerating you. I can see him appreciating your presence." Why would he not? of the two of them, Teketa and Skelaghe, Teketa was always the more cautious, warning her against dangerous activities. Ixkin was so battered by her time in Ute that it is, at times, a wonder that she knows which way is up. Sketch is skittish, but she and Vincent are equally unskilled in what it takes to be safe. Skelaghe knows better. She knows perfectly well what could be dangerous. She just, more often than not, views the rewards as being worth the risk. Surely, Helaku would love having another wolf around to hobble her more careless tendencies, once Helaku and Teketa get to know each other.
And, as usual, her answer is satisfactory. Teketa allows his eyes to close for a moment before he nods. "I will save my judgements for the spring," he says at last. Judgements? For Helaku? For a pack? Most likely the latter is what he means. But his words are ambiguous, and deliberately so, it would seem. "We shouldn't tarry here much longer," he suggests, as he turns from Skelaghe at last, and begins padding back. He's not sure where they should be heading. But he supposes they should meet up with Helaku at some point - soon hopefully - and begin their trek anew. He's finished, if Skelaghe is. But is she? He pauses to look back at her, chances a smile he hopes is reassuring, then continues on.
Skelaghe finally looks at Teketa as he stands. Soon after, she is on her feet and following after her. Is she finished? Could she have possibly hoped for a better outcome than this? Returning his smile, she falls into step beside him. No. For now, this is good. Helaku... Well, he never said that he even recognized that anything he said may have been harmful to Teketa's continued well being, but she can hope that there was a positive outcome to that conversation, and she knows there was to this one. Doubtless, her work with these two is not yet finished, but she thinks she has made great strides in the past day. Time will tell her. She does not bother with any more conversation, rather leaving Teketa to his thought and her to hers.
Teketa - Male Wolf
Skelaghe - Female Wolf
- Wind-Blown Lowlands -
The morning promises to be another fairly clear one. A few clouds blot the otherwise blue and lavender sky, and traces of pink and pale orange indicate the location where the sun will soon peek over the horizon. Teketa finds himself awake, sleepless. He didn't return the previous day after leaving Skelaghe and her mate silently and in what even he recognizes might have been an awkward fashion. If he did come back, he never approached either wolf, remained distant, rested, left again. Now he's sitting quietly in the long grass, watching the horizon with a thoughtful expression. His head is lowered in such away that he appears to be sulking. Maybe he is. But as a sliver of the sun's light becomes visible, his head lifts slightly with it. At least the sunrise was still beautiful.
Skelaghe has been awake for a short while. Without the sounds of her mate or Teketa moving around, though, she was plenty happy to remain stretched out and lying down. It has been a while since she has slept outside of a den, and with her internal warmth combating valiantly against even the early morning chill, she was not in a hurry to move, to lose the warmth between herself and the ground and her own limbs. As the sun began to rise, though, she opened her eyes to look around. No sign of Tek or Hel, which, while not terribly surprising... Well, time to rally the troops, she supposes. After pulling herself to her feet, she first follows the scent trail that Teketa left yesterday, faint though it is.
Should he stay? That's the question on Teketa's mind. It has been since he met Skelaghe and she offered to let him stay with them for the winter. But not just staying for the winter. Should he stay longer? Would it suit him to do so? Three days in and it certainly doesn't feel very natural for him. It brings up old feelings and memories that were better left forgotten. It brings a feeling of /oppression/ he had forgotten while he was comfortable and alone. Or was he simply a coward, outside of his own comfort-zone? The black wolf sighs, and a slender whisp of white mist rises around his muzzle. He should be getting back. But he had time. The sun is rising, and it is one of the beautiful things he can still really appreciate. Well, the sun and a few other things. Spring. Life. Strange to think he might be able to appreciate those things. He probably doesn't seem like the sort of wolf to love them. And this prompts a soft - but definitely audible - chuckle from the wolf. If only anyone knew sometimes he likes to stop and simply smell the flowers... and then he is silent and still again, pleasant thoughts disappearing like the mist around his maw... and then he thinks he hears pawsteps and his head lifts from its lowered position. Time to go already?
It is the chuckle, light though it is, that first really alerts Skelaghe to Teketa's presence. Unlike when they were first reunited, her tail does not wag, and she does not bound towards him. A few more steps, though, and she says, in a friendly tone, "Good morning, Teketa." She stops moving after she speaks, but she remains standing instead of sitting or lying down. With her lighter fur, either action might easily hide her in the grasses. Her distance is strictly for his benefit. Surely, he has done nothing to upset her, as her tone and, should he look at her, smile ought to suggest.
What a wonder that sunrise could do for his mood. It sheds light on more than just the ground he's sitting on... and for now, he could almost smile easily, as he had when he saw Skelaghe the other day. Almost. But he doesn't. He just tilts his head slightly, listens to the approaching pawsteps, and lets her speak first. "My lady Skelaghe," he utters softly, as if he loathed to disturb the morning air with words, though he had chuckled but a few moments before. Then his head turns and he looks towards the she-wolf with vivid yellow-green eyes, caught in the rising light. "Good morning," he returns her greeting. She is smiling. That's good. But he senses that perhaps there is something more. Or perhaps his senses are mistaken. He once compared her to Dawn. If his comparison was accurate, then... he rises slowly, his head remaining level with his shoulders. His eyes reveal that he thinks - knows - she wants something.
Of course Skelaghe wants something, but it is no more than what she always wants. Avoiding the question of whether Teketa slept well last night, Skelaghe instead says, "I love sunrises." Sunset too, though not as much. Times when the sun casts its color over the sky much more strongly than at any other time. "Hopefully, this winter will be a short one." For Teketa's benefit, so that he can leave them sooner? If that is what she means, there is no indication of it in her tone.
She surprises him by making a statement rather than asking a question. But his expression hardly changes to indicate that. And her words seem enough permission for him to turn away from her and look at the sky once again. His eyes were a little distant, but he nods his head, and the corner of his lips twitch in a momentary smile. "Something beautiful," he murmurs before looking at Skelaghe again, his attention rushing to the present again. Her second statement receives an empty stare for several seconds before he dips his head once. There's no doubt the same thought has occurred to Teketa as well. The sooner winter ends, the sooner he can leave without feeling as if he has broken some unspoken promise. "I thanked you, didn't I?" he murmurs suddenly. His memories of that first day with her again are a little foggy. He was tense inside that den. And far more tired than he realized. Only the sight of that she wolf and those few moments alone with her were clear anymore. "Well, thank you, in case I didn't..." his head tilts slightly, awkwardly. What does she want, though? Like Dawn, he's left in the dark, except for his own grim imaginings.
"There is no thanks needed. You are more than welcome, as our guest or otherwise, Tek." Now, Skelaghe begins walking toward him again. She keeps herself well to his side, though, when she sits to join him in watching the sunrise. "I've spent more than enough winters alone for my taste. I will be glad to have company again." She thought she would have company last winter. She spent it alone anyway. And the winter before that... Was not a good winter for her. Solitude may suit Teketa, but it does not suit Skelaghe.
He's looking hard Skelaghe, but not unkindly. Condescendingly? Not quite that, either. But he looks away, his eyes for the sky, then back at the she-wolf a slightly softer look. She was a far more social creature than he had ever been. Could ever hope to be. He considered himself different, and not necessarily in a good way. But he nods his slowly in false understanding. "You needn't worry about spending winters alone again," he confirms. She has Helaku now, and that's good. And she has friends to keep her company. There is a certain emptiness to his voice, though, a tired quality that he can't escape even in the lovely sunlight. Sunlight that brings out the dark slate color of his fur. And perhaps a few silvering hairs on his muzzle. Teketa isn't a young wolf, and life is aging him more quickly lately. "You're suited to company. Friends." And there seems to be something he's trying to say behind those words, but he can't.
"But you aren't." He doesn't have to say it. She can read that in his body language, ever since he met Helaku the day previous. There is sorrow in Skelaghe's voice, but it is contained. Will it bother him, terribly, to try to fake it? Perhaps, and Skelaghe would not want to be the cause of it. "You're right. I won't be alone." Even if he leaves. If no one else comes, she will still have Helaku. She pauses no longer than to take a breath, then continues speaking. "I won't say I want to see you go. I can't say that." Not even if it would make it easier for him to leave. "I don't want to see you stay with me only out of a misplaced sense of obligation, though. All I can ask is that, if you do decide to leave, whether it is now, when spring arrives, or any time in between... That you visit, whenever you can."
He looks at her again with those hard, yellow-green eyes of his, practically glowing in the light of the sun. But again they soften, and then he looks down as she speaks. Only when she has finished does he tilt his muzzle up to look at her, and there is a smile on his maw. Big compared to the small ones he usually spares for her. But his brows are furrowed and his eyes a little sad. "The pack has made me what I am," he utters these words nonchalantly, but there is some wistfulness in his voice that suggests he would rather it have happened differently. "And I wonder if it isn't that alone: if I am really a coward," his voices deepens and reveals some bitterness: an anger at himself. "I haven't many winters left if I continue alone like I have been. I'd be a fool to deny it." He casts his gaze away from the she-wolf. The lines in his face are hard: the culmination of years of anger and sorrow intermingled to create this one wolf. But they disappear after a moment, as he watches the sun rise higher.
Skelaghe keeps her gaze on the sunrise. Were she to look at him while entertaining the possibility that she may very well never see him again, it would be much harder for her to keep her composure, to advise him according to what may be best for him, not only physically, but emotionally, instead of according to her more selfish desires. "We can help you to survive, just as you can help us to survive." Helaku and Skelaghe together have a stronger position than Teketa alone, defintiely, but the three of them together are stronger than any other option could be. That isn't the only thing that matters, though. "You could survive many more winters, and I like to think that winters and other seasons alike would be fulfilling for everyone. If it were up to me, I would see you stay." Surely, there is no doubt about it, but now she says it, openly, without mincing words. "If you should find yourself choking on interacting with others, though... You should go. In the spring, when it is safe, you should go."
But he would be a fool to stay, wouldn't he? She leaves his question unanswered. Perhaps for the better. If he is a coward... then it is a position he has held much of his life. He doesn't look at her until she mentions her own wishes, and here his head turns and his expression is unreadable, though his half-lidded eyes are gentle. His next words might be taken the wrong way, but he speaks them nonetheless: "For you I would stay. As long as I can bear it." Teketa allows a moment of silence to let those words sink in before he continues. "You alone are a friend I can trust, and it was for you I returned, to some degree," he admits, his deep voice low and quiet. "So I will stay." Here he pauses again. "...might I ask a more trying question of you, my friend? Concerning your mate?"
Skelaghe has no doubt the question may, in fact, be trying. Based on everything he has said to this point, based on her being the one wolf around which he is comfortable... Forcing herself to leave her thoughts, she says, "You may ask me anything you desire. I have no secrets from my friends, Teketa, concerning my mate or anything else." Regardless of what he may have been led to think by Helaku's whispering to her as he approached yesterday.
She responds not outside what he expects of her. Nonetheless, one dark ear flicks uneasily, and turns to face her more completely. "He is a serious sort," he mutters. Unlike Teketa's first impression. The wolf in the tree... but that aside, Teketa mentally shakes himself, "...excuse me," he straightens visibly, then continues more confidently, "I wanted to know. Does he think badly of me?" He almost sounds... vain. Like some young pup. He realizes this and so turns his eyes away as he explains himself: "Can he tolerate my presence all winter?" And can /I/ tolerate his...? Teketa could be patient. But there would be a breaking point somewhere unless Teketa or Helaku were able to approach one another without being too stand-offish. At least on Teketa's part.
Yes, Helaku is a serious sort. Even when he is joking, it is an act. A good act, but it does not come as naturally to Helaku as it does to others. Nor is Teketa the joking sort. Skelaghe is, but, in this moment, there is no humour in her tone, nothing that could be misinterpreted. "If Helaku thinks poorly of you, he has had no such thing to me. He recognizes that you have had a rough time, and he knows what that is like. He will not fault you for it." Which doesn't entirely answer the black wolf's question. As to whether Helaku can tolerate Teketa... "If you give him the opportunity, and he gives you the opportunity in exchange, I can see him doing much more than just tolerating you. I can see him appreciating your presence." Why would he not? of the two of them, Teketa and Skelaghe, Teketa was always the more cautious, warning her against dangerous activities. Ixkin was so battered by her time in Ute that it is, at times, a wonder that she knows which way is up. Sketch is skittish, but she and Vincent are equally unskilled in what it takes to be safe. Skelaghe knows better. She knows perfectly well what could be dangerous. She just, more often than not, views the rewards as being worth the risk. Surely, Helaku would love having another wolf around to hobble her more careless tendencies, once Helaku and Teketa get to know each other.
And, as usual, her answer is satisfactory. Teketa allows his eyes to close for a moment before he nods. "I will save my judgements for the spring," he says at last. Judgements? For Helaku? For a pack? Most likely the latter is what he means. But his words are ambiguous, and deliberately so, it would seem. "We shouldn't tarry here much longer," he suggests, as he turns from Skelaghe at last, and begins padding back. He's not sure where they should be heading. But he supposes they should meet up with Helaku at some point - soon hopefully - and begin their trek anew. He's finished, if Skelaghe is. But is she? He pauses to look back at her, chances a smile he hopes is reassuring, then continues on.
Skelaghe finally looks at Teketa as he stands. Soon after, she is on her feet and following after her. Is she finished? Could she have possibly hoped for a better outcome than this? Returning his smile, she falls into step beside him. No. For now, this is good. Helaku... Well, he never said that he even recognized that anything he said may have been harmful to Teketa's continued well being, but she can hope that there was a positive outcome to that conversation, and she knows there was to this one. Doubtless, her work with these two is not yet finished, but she thinks she has made great strides in the past day. Time will tell her. She does not bother with any more conversation, rather leaving Teketa to his thought and her to hers.