Post by Pavane on Mar 12, 2012 1:41:16 GMT -5
Ahiga - male adolescent wolf
Ikuna - male adolescent wolf
---Lone Crabapple Tree---
Oh, the crabapple tree. The setting of many a happy times, and yet the setting of a very terrible time. This is a place of mixed feelings that war with one another, and thus how appropriate is it that this is the place that Ahiga finds himself drawn to. The tree is nearly bare now with winter's reach closing in with each passing day. The branches of the usually colorful tree cling to the last of its leaves, leaving the once beautiful object looking naked and vulnerable here all alone. Here is where Ahiga can be found, though the wolf is not taking advantage to the quietness that the abandoned location provides. Though it could be the perfect spot for him to clear his mind, think on things, and altogether calm himself, he's taken another (and likely, much much longer) route towards inner peace. He's tearing stuff up. Not for no good reason, if he were asked, but all around are small signs of destruction. A shallow hole dug here or there, trampled leaves, scattered earth, and currently he's chasing something either imagined or too small to be seen through the carpet of fallen leaves around the tree. A flash of a thin tail can be caught by those keen of eye, and Ahiga barrels through, using more effort (and making more noise) than is really needed to catch such a tiny morsel of food.
With his sister found, Ikuna has heard one side of a certain unfortunate story. The other side requires finding el Amigo numero Tres, and after seeing Tala back to the den he set out on that mission. Now then... he didn't catch the scent when he was searching before, or the meetings might have happened in the other order. So, someplace he hasn't been yet... maybe the clover field? He's headed in more or less that direction when he hears the sound of someone crashing through the leaves. An intruder? His mission is put on pause, and he turns in that direction at a quick lope, only to find that his mission has actually succeeded - for here's Ahiga, charging past him on a rampage. Ikuna blinks, then goes, "Hey, Ahiga!" and gives chase.
Drat this mouse! Always one leap ahead. One quick turn ahead of him. It really shouldn't be this hard, and in actuality it isn't. Ahiga isn't even hungry, but chasing something and having a clear purpose and goal in mind is much better than the alternative and sitting to stew over something he has no idea how to fix. Plus, what a better way to take out his frustration. And so he continues to tromp and growl and gnash his teeth together and pounce just for the sake of doing so, til a bit of his attention is turned by the sound of his name. He falters in his run, head turning. He catches a glimpse of Ikuna behind him then turns forward again, putting on the speed. The mouse is long gone now, but the chase has given way to a race as Ahiga aims to see if he can outrun his pal despite the amount of energy he's already wasted on his aimless mouse hunt.
Found, yes. Caught? Not yet. Ikuna falls behind for a moment as Ahiga runs faster instead of slowing down, but then he too leans forward and pummels the ground with his paws as he chases after. No, Ahiga isn't getting out of this /that/ easily, and while Ikuna's been busy all day too, it's been mostly in sniffing the ground for scent-trails and having conversations, not running about like a mad beast. He's got energy to burn and determination on his side, and he starts to make up some of that distance.
Ahiga's tongue lolls out of his mouth as he goes, running a straight path, then arching a bit to the south away from the tree. He's already beginning to feel tired and he knows that it's just a matter of time before Ikuna catches up with him. But that doesn't stop him from running, even as he begins to slow down. Ikuna can catch him and will, but he is unwilling to stop moving so easily, for when his legs stop moving, then his brain starts going off on its own, mulling over too many things at once. Winter. Wachiwa. Asku's absence. Tala. Ikuna. Hadir. Hunting. Spirits. A lack there of. It's heavy stuff, man!
The distance between the two young wolves is decreasing, bound by leaping bound. Ikuna's eyes are fixed on Ahiga, focused there as his paws beat against the earth. He can sort of understand the other's point; there's a sort of freedom in running, where the adrenaline gets flowing and it seems like none of the recent problems can even touch him. It's freeing... but it can't last forever. Nothing ever lasts, and this too will end. Ikuna pulls up alongside Ahiga, matching his stride for a few steps and then lunging sideways, trying to knock against him and end this chase.
It's too bad really, that one can't run forever. Ahiga's eyes turn to meet Ikuna as his friend draws up alongside him, mouth open and tongue flapping. It's over. He braces himself for the impact of body against body, the thrumming rhythm of paws shattered as Ikuna's weight is pressed against his side. He stumbles a bit, trying to keep his footing, but eventually he does tumble. The fall isn't a hard one, and in all honesty it's a fall he needs to take to catch his breath. He lands on his side upon the grass and leaves, panting and breathless. Well..almost breathless. "Could've...kept goin'...if....wasn't ti...red...!" he pants.
Ikuna stumbles as Ahiga gives way, his own body still leaning to the side and pushing. He only barely keeps his feet and comes to a stop, standing right against the fallen wolf and looking down at him. He's panting as well - wolf caught, now to catch his breath. Pant. Pant. Pant. "Yeah...but...I'da kept...going...too."
Ahiga snorts though isn't able to give much of an answer other than that for a while. Breath needs to be caught. He closes his eyes and doesn't bother to get up, glad for the cool autumn breeze, for he's feeling a bit warmish now. Moment pass before his eyes are unveiled again, and he looks up at his friend, breath slowing, though still remaining somewhat elevated for the time being. "..Made me lose my mouse," he points out before rolling onto his stomach, licking at his own muzzle. "Probably better that way anyway. Can't be huntin' mice anymore. A mouse wouldn't even make your little nephew or niece happy."
Ikuna keeps watching, his gaze steady even as his chest heaves and slowly returns to normal. His eyes are on the other wolf when Ahiga's eyes close, and still there when they open again. As he recovers his breath - and comes back to thinking about things - there's a moment where his tail lowers in a nervous way, but he shakes that feeling aside with a dual purpose deeper-than-usual breath. He gives a short laugh at the talk of the mouse. "Maybe by the _end_ of winter..." he says, though he doesn't really believe it himself. Sure, winter will be hard, but that hard? Not likely. He takes another of those deep breaths, and then throws things serious. "I talked to Tala."
The day the wolves cheer over the meal of a mouse will be a sad day indeed! Ahiga snerks at Ikuna's remark, beginning to sit up now, but he seems to freeze in response to those last four words. He can only imagine how /that/ talk went. In fact, he does imagine, and the image isn't a pretty one. Who two best buddies...hell, his only true friends, snickering and laughing as Tala spills the beans of the pitiful state of available male suitors. Settling with ol' Ahiga because really, what other option is there? That is, of course, til a more suitable fellow comes along. Dashing and cool and...meh. He can feel his mood souring again as embarrassment makes its somber way back to him. So much for adrenaline taking over. Recovering his wits, he finishing sitting up and shrugs a shoulder. "Yeah, so what? Isn't all that gettin' old?" He asks as he rises to his paws. "I'm over it."
"Yeah?" says Ikuna, looking Ahiga in the eye. "So we're all just back to friends?" He keeps that look, doing his best to mindread... or at least read emotions as he continues. "She might go visit Anoki for a bit. Spend some time down there." And if that doesn't get a rise out of Ahiga, maybe he'll actually believe that the other wolf is over it.
"Yes," Ahiga answers with a light frown. Back to friends. They weren't anything more than friends anyway, were they? Everything just got crazy and mixed up with that stupid puppy comment, and if they could all just forget that and pretend it was never said, it'd all go back to... "Huh?" His thoughts come to a screeching halt, and his ears perk up with sudden alertness now. She's going where? To visit /who?/ "...Why?" he asks, doing a horrible job to keep the distaste from his voice and face, for his nose wrinkles as if he's tasted something sour. Nothing against Anoki. He's a cool guy. Or..rather, he was. Now the word "cool" isn't the first word that's coming to his mind upon thinking of the young Cerulean male. "She said that to you? That she was goin' down there to see him? To spend time...doin' what?"
Hah. Yeah, that's what Ikuna thought. He plays it cool, pretending he didn't see nothin'. It's an imperfect pretense, because his ears twitch like he just heard a deer and his tail dips for a moment, but maybe Ahiga's too distracted to notice. "What's it matter to you? You're just her friend. So what if she's going to see another guy, one she's known since... oh... since she was a puppy, I guess." He looks aside, scuffing a paw against the dirt and watching Ahiga out of the corner of his eye.
"So? She's known me longer!" insists Ahiga, who is too busy seeing red to notice anything else. He does not hide his agitation well. In fact, it doesn't seem as if he's even trying to do so. The fur on his neck is ever so slightly pricked and ears are flattened against his skull. Unable to keep his paws still, he stands and pads off a few feet, only to turn back around and return to Ikuna. "I /don't/ care," he replies, eyeing him. "I'm just sayin', why would she go way over there to see'm after Wachiwa told us we've to stay here and hunt and watch the pups while she's gone? Plus," he paces off a few steps again, "he'd be borin' to her without us there with her. He talks too much. /And/ he catches fish. That's weird. Catchin' fish isn't gonna be helpful to any pack in winter when the river's froze."
When Ahiga rises to his feet, Ikuna turns back to look at him, watching as he paces. Ikuna should be satisfied - after all, he's provoked just the reaction he wanted out of Ahiga, right? The other wolf is definitely upset about Tala being with in someone else, and maybe he'll even realize that this means Tala does have other options and so it's actually him she cares about. And yet... Ikuna's expression is anything but satisfied. He's done what he meant to do. He's established, fairly clearly, that Ahiga cares about Tala... and yet his tail is drooped, and his ears are back like he's just found out something horrible. Not that Ahiga's likely in any state to notice, amidst his rapidfire objections to Anoki. Ikuna's quiet for a long moment, his expression all torn up as the thoughts battling around inside his head until it all bursts out with, "'Cause she thinks you hate her! 'Cause she loves you, stupid, and she said dumb stuff because it's hard to think right, when all you can think about is how much you want to see someone and how cute he looks when he smiles and the way his fur blows up in the wind and -" Ikuna's brain apparently catches up at this point, because he stops mid-sentence. His ears turn bright pink, he turns around, and he starts to run. Away. Away is a place. It's the place he should be. NOW.
There are so many reasons why Tala shouldn't go galavanting off to Cerulean that Ahiga is having a hard time articulating them all, as they all want to spew from his mouth at the same time. And so that leaves him momentarily tongue tied, left to merely fume as he paces a small trail. But really, this is plain stupid. He's sure he understood Tala loud and clear, and the likely reason she's going to see Anoki is to broaden her options and flirt around with him. And if she wants to traipse over there at the start of winter and abandon the Ute pack for some egghead Cerulean male then why is he allowing himself to get riled up? Two can play at this game! He turns to Ikuna again, and believe it or not, despite his own personal conflicts, he's not completely blind to his friend's stress. This is, after all, his oldest companion, and the expression on his face causes Ahiga to pause, ears lifting. But he doesn't get a word out before Ikuna starts, and boy does he start. Hate. /Love?/ Woah, hold the phone, that's a seriously heavy word! His maw moves, but nothing is said, dumbfounded into silence. He's cute when he smiles? The way his...fur blows? .. Tala said all that about him? Or at least, that's what he's interpreting. ;>.> "Uh.." And then, he's gone. A glance of pink ears then a flash of a tail is all he gets. Bewildered, Ahiga's left to stare, confused beyond words, by Ikuna's sudden fleeing. "H-hey!" he calls after him, trotting after him a few steps but not quite sure if he should follow. He's not even sure just what happened. "Ikuna, wait up!"
This is the problem with emotions. They get you, and then you start saying stupid things. Ikuna thought he could handle this. He could mediate and make sense of things and make his two best friends happy even if... and... well... now it's all fallen apart. He's running away, with his tail practically tucked between his legs and his ears still pink as they're pressed back against his head. They flicker at the sound of his name, but then his head lowers and he just keeps running. He wants to stop, he really does, but then he'd have to face Ahiga and look at him, and... he can't, he just can't right now, he can't do that...
What did he do? Ahiga feels distress rising in his chest. He's never had anyone run from him like this before, not a friend, and Ikuna isn't showing any signs of stopping. With his brows pressing together, he lopes after him a few yards, but his pace trickles to a trot, a walk, and finally stops altogether. He's done something horribly awful that's caused Ikuna to not stand being in his presence any longer, but what? His dilemma with Tala? "I'm sorry! I messed everything up. I... I'll fix it!" He's not even sure Ikuna can hear him anymore, but he calls out him anyway, knowing that this mess /must/ be fixed, and he must figure out a way to do it. He can't lose his friends. They are his heart in this pack. Without them, this is not his home. Ears lowered, he lowers himself onto his haunches, watching as Ikuna's form gets smaller with the growing distance, a sad frown etched across his face.
Ikuna - male adolescent wolf
---Lone Crabapple Tree---
Oh, the crabapple tree. The setting of many a happy times, and yet the setting of a very terrible time. This is a place of mixed feelings that war with one another, and thus how appropriate is it that this is the place that Ahiga finds himself drawn to. The tree is nearly bare now with winter's reach closing in with each passing day. The branches of the usually colorful tree cling to the last of its leaves, leaving the once beautiful object looking naked and vulnerable here all alone. Here is where Ahiga can be found, though the wolf is not taking advantage to the quietness that the abandoned location provides. Though it could be the perfect spot for him to clear his mind, think on things, and altogether calm himself, he's taken another (and likely, much much longer) route towards inner peace. He's tearing stuff up. Not for no good reason, if he were asked, but all around are small signs of destruction. A shallow hole dug here or there, trampled leaves, scattered earth, and currently he's chasing something either imagined or too small to be seen through the carpet of fallen leaves around the tree. A flash of a thin tail can be caught by those keen of eye, and Ahiga barrels through, using more effort (and making more noise) than is really needed to catch such a tiny morsel of food.
With his sister found, Ikuna has heard one side of a certain unfortunate story. The other side requires finding el Amigo numero Tres, and after seeing Tala back to the den he set out on that mission. Now then... he didn't catch the scent when he was searching before, or the meetings might have happened in the other order. So, someplace he hasn't been yet... maybe the clover field? He's headed in more or less that direction when he hears the sound of someone crashing through the leaves. An intruder? His mission is put on pause, and he turns in that direction at a quick lope, only to find that his mission has actually succeeded - for here's Ahiga, charging past him on a rampage. Ikuna blinks, then goes, "Hey, Ahiga!" and gives chase.
Drat this mouse! Always one leap ahead. One quick turn ahead of him. It really shouldn't be this hard, and in actuality it isn't. Ahiga isn't even hungry, but chasing something and having a clear purpose and goal in mind is much better than the alternative and sitting to stew over something he has no idea how to fix. Plus, what a better way to take out his frustration. And so he continues to tromp and growl and gnash his teeth together and pounce just for the sake of doing so, til a bit of his attention is turned by the sound of his name. He falters in his run, head turning. He catches a glimpse of Ikuna behind him then turns forward again, putting on the speed. The mouse is long gone now, but the chase has given way to a race as Ahiga aims to see if he can outrun his pal despite the amount of energy he's already wasted on his aimless mouse hunt.
Found, yes. Caught? Not yet. Ikuna falls behind for a moment as Ahiga runs faster instead of slowing down, but then he too leans forward and pummels the ground with his paws as he chases after. No, Ahiga isn't getting out of this /that/ easily, and while Ikuna's been busy all day too, it's been mostly in sniffing the ground for scent-trails and having conversations, not running about like a mad beast. He's got energy to burn and determination on his side, and he starts to make up some of that distance.
Ahiga's tongue lolls out of his mouth as he goes, running a straight path, then arching a bit to the south away from the tree. He's already beginning to feel tired and he knows that it's just a matter of time before Ikuna catches up with him. But that doesn't stop him from running, even as he begins to slow down. Ikuna can catch him and will, but he is unwilling to stop moving so easily, for when his legs stop moving, then his brain starts going off on its own, mulling over too many things at once. Winter. Wachiwa. Asku's absence. Tala. Ikuna. Hadir. Hunting. Spirits. A lack there of. It's heavy stuff, man!
The distance between the two young wolves is decreasing, bound by leaping bound. Ikuna's eyes are fixed on Ahiga, focused there as his paws beat against the earth. He can sort of understand the other's point; there's a sort of freedom in running, where the adrenaline gets flowing and it seems like none of the recent problems can even touch him. It's freeing... but it can't last forever. Nothing ever lasts, and this too will end. Ikuna pulls up alongside Ahiga, matching his stride for a few steps and then lunging sideways, trying to knock against him and end this chase.
It's too bad really, that one can't run forever. Ahiga's eyes turn to meet Ikuna as his friend draws up alongside him, mouth open and tongue flapping. It's over. He braces himself for the impact of body against body, the thrumming rhythm of paws shattered as Ikuna's weight is pressed against his side. He stumbles a bit, trying to keep his footing, but eventually he does tumble. The fall isn't a hard one, and in all honesty it's a fall he needs to take to catch his breath. He lands on his side upon the grass and leaves, panting and breathless. Well..almost breathless. "Could've...kept goin'...if....wasn't ti...red...!" he pants.
Ikuna stumbles as Ahiga gives way, his own body still leaning to the side and pushing. He only barely keeps his feet and comes to a stop, standing right against the fallen wolf and looking down at him. He's panting as well - wolf caught, now to catch his breath. Pant. Pant. Pant. "Yeah...but...I'da kept...going...too."
Ahiga snorts though isn't able to give much of an answer other than that for a while. Breath needs to be caught. He closes his eyes and doesn't bother to get up, glad for the cool autumn breeze, for he's feeling a bit warmish now. Moment pass before his eyes are unveiled again, and he looks up at his friend, breath slowing, though still remaining somewhat elevated for the time being. "..Made me lose my mouse," he points out before rolling onto his stomach, licking at his own muzzle. "Probably better that way anyway. Can't be huntin' mice anymore. A mouse wouldn't even make your little nephew or niece happy."
Ikuna keeps watching, his gaze steady even as his chest heaves and slowly returns to normal. His eyes are on the other wolf when Ahiga's eyes close, and still there when they open again. As he recovers his breath - and comes back to thinking about things - there's a moment where his tail lowers in a nervous way, but he shakes that feeling aside with a dual purpose deeper-than-usual breath. He gives a short laugh at the talk of the mouse. "Maybe by the _end_ of winter..." he says, though he doesn't really believe it himself. Sure, winter will be hard, but that hard? Not likely. He takes another of those deep breaths, and then throws things serious. "I talked to Tala."
The day the wolves cheer over the meal of a mouse will be a sad day indeed! Ahiga snerks at Ikuna's remark, beginning to sit up now, but he seems to freeze in response to those last four words. He can only imagine how /that/ talk went. In fact, he does imagine, and the image isn't a pretty one. Who two best buddies...hell, his only true friends, snickering and laughing as Tala spills the beans of the pitiful state of available male suitors. Settling with ol' Ahiga because really, what other option is there? That is, of course, til a more suitable fellow comes along. Dashing and cool and...meh. He can feel his mood souring again as embarrassment makes its somber way back to him. So much for adrenaline taking over. Recovering his wits, he finishing sitting up and shrugs a shoulder. "Yeah, so what? Isn't all that gettin' old?" He asks as he rises to his paws. "I'm over it."
"Yeah?" says Ikuna, looking Ahiga in the eye. "So we're all just back to friends?" He keeps that look, doing his best to mindread... or at least read emotions as he continues. "She might go visit Anoki for a bit. Spend some time down there." And if that doesn't get a rise out of Ahiga, maybe he'll actually believe that the other wolf is over it.
"Yes," Ahiga answers with a light frown. Back to friends. They weren't anything more than friends anyway, were they? Everything just got crazy and mixed up with that stupid puppy comment, and if they could all just forget that and pretend it was never said, it'd all go back to... "Huh?" His thoughts come to a screeching halt, and his ears perk up with sudden alertness now. She's going where? To visit /who?/ "...Why?" he asks, doing a horrible job to keep the distaste from his voice and face, for his nose wrinkles as if he's tasted something sour. Nothing against Anoki. He's a cool guy. Or..rather, he was. Now the word "cool" isn't the first word that's coming to his mind upon thinking of the young Cerulean male. "She said that to you? That she was goin' down there to see him? To spend time...doin' what?"
Hah. Yeah, that's what Ikuna thought. He plays it cool, pretending he didn't see nothin'. It's an imperfect pretense, because his ears twitch like he just heard a deer and his tail dips for a moment, but maybe Ahiga's too distracted to notice. "What's it matter to you? You're just her friend. So what if she's going to see another guy, one she's known since... oh... since she was a puppy, I guess." He looks aside, scuffing a paw against the dirt and watching Ahiga out of the corner of his eye.
"So? She's known me longer!" insists Ahiga, who is too busy seeing red to notice anything else. He does not hide his agitation well. In fact, it doesn't seem as if he's even trying to do so. The fur on his neck is ever so slightly pricked and ears are flattened against his skull. Unable to keep his paws still, he stands and pads off a few feet, only to turn back around and return to Ikuna. "I /don't/ care," he replies, eyeing him. "I'm just sayin', why would she go way over there to see'm after Wachiwa told us we've to stay here and hunt and watch the pups while she's gone? Plus," he paces off a few steps again, "he'd be borin' to her without us there with her. He talks too much. /And/ he catches fish. That's weird. Catchin' fish isn't gonna be helpful to any pack in winter when the river's froze."
When Ahiga rises to his feet, Ikuna turns back to look at him, watching as he paces. Ikuna should be satisfied - after all, he's provoked just the reaction he wanted out of Ahiga, right? The other wolf is definitely upset about Tala being with in someone else, and maybe he'll even realize that this means Tala does have other options and so it's actually him she cares about. And yet... Ikuna's expression is anything but satisfied. He's done what he meant to do. He's established, fairly clearly, that Ahiga cares about Tala... and yet his tail is drooped, and his ears are back like he's just found out something horrible. Not that Ahiga's likely in any state to notice, amidst his rapidfire objections to Anoki. Ikuna's quiet for a long moment, his expression all torn up as the thoughts battling around inside his head until it all bursts out with, "'Cause she thinks you hate her! 'Cause she loves you, stupid, and she said dumb stuff because it's hard to think right, when all you can think about is how much you want to see someone and how cute he looks when he smiles and the way his fur blows up in the wind and -" Ikuna's brain apparently catches up at this point, because he stops mid-sentence. His ears turn bright pink, he turns around, and he starts to run. Away. Away is a place. It's the place he should be. NOW.
There are so many reasons why Tala shouldn't go galavanting off to Cerulean that Ahiga is having a hard time articulating them all, as they all want to spew from his mouth at the same time. And so that leaves him momentarily tongue tied, left to merely fume as he paces a small trail. But really, this is plain stupid. He's sure he understood Tala loud and clear, and the likely reason she's going to see Anoki is to broaden her options and flirt around with him. And if she wants to traipse over there at the start of winter and abandon the Ute pack for some egghead Cerulean male then why is he allowing himself to get riled up? Two can play at this game! He turns to Ikuna again, and believe it or not, despite his own personal conflicts, he's not completely blind to his friend's stress. This is, after all, his oldest companion, and the expression on his face causes Ahiga to pause, ears lifting. But he doesn't get a word out before Ikuna starts, and boy does he start. Hate. /Love?/ Woah, hold the phone, that's a seriously heavy word! His maw moves, but nothing is said, dumbfounded into silence. He's cute when he smiles? The way his...fur blows? .. Tala said all that about him? Or at least, that's what he's interpreting. ;>.> "Uh.." And then, he's gone. A glance of pink ears then a flash of a tail is all he gets. Bewildered, Ahiga's left to stare, confused beyond words, by Ikuna's sudden fleeing. "H-hey!" he calls after him, trotting after him a few steps but not quite sure if he should follow. He's not even sure just what happened. "Ikuna, wait up!"
This is the problem with emotions. They get you, and then you start saying stupid things. Ikuna thought he could handle this. He could mediate and make sense of things and make his two best friends happy even if... and... well... now it's all fallen apart. He's running away, with his tail practically tucked between his legs and his ears still pink as they're pressed back against his head. They flicker at the sound of his name, but then his head lowers and he just keeps running. He wants to stop, he really does, but then he'd have to face Ahiga and look at him, and... he can't, he just can't right now, he can't do that...
What did he do? Ahiga feels distress rising in his chest. He's never had anyone run from him like this before, not a friend, and Ikuna isn't showing any signs of stopping. With his brows pressing together, he lopes after him a few yards, but his pace trickles to a trot, a walk, and finally stops altogether. He's done something horribly awful that's caused Ikuna to not stand being in his presence any longer, but what? His dilemma with Tala? "I'm sorry! I messed everything up. I... I'll fix it!" He's not even sure Ikuna can hear him anymore, but he calls out him anyway, knowing that this mess /must/ be fixed, and he must figure out a way to do it. He can't lose his friends. They are his heart in this pack. Without them, this is not his home. Ears lowered, he lowers himself onto his haunches, watching as Ikuna's form gets smaller with the growing distance, a sad frown etched across his face.