Post by Pavane on Jun 1, 2012 15:38:04 GMT -5
Coinin - male wolf, Beta of Cerulean
Niyt - female wolf
---Two-River Fork---
Coinin has felt sort of out of sync lately. He has given it a great deal of thought and can't put his paw on why. Sure he can point to the whole fiasco with the Ute. He could just as easily point to Tariro getting hurt and going through, well whatever it is that he is going through, but it isn't that either. He could point to Molasses vanishing and Anoki not liking him. There are so many things that are 'wrong' and so few things that are 'right'. When it comes down to it, when he really thinks about it he just feels alone. Which is strange for someone who lives with a pack of wolves, but that is how he feels. Presently he is sitting in his usual spot doing a whole lot of nothing. He had been out on patrol earlier and smelled nothing but Anoki's scent. He's probably off looking for Jatya. He isn't pleased that Ute ran her off, it complicates matters.
Not so far from there is a small rise. Perhaps not quite a hill, but higher at least than the surrounding ground. Niyt wanders her way there, and sits down with her eyes closed. For a long moment, she simply listens to the gentle wind. The spring breezes speak; in time, so does Niyt. A rising howl, a series of notes going upward. Interlocking scales, until she finds the pitch that seems right and holds it for a long moment.
Coinin lifts his head when he hears the voice. He knows it of course, its Niyt. And it makes him glad to know that she is around the area. He hasn't had a chance to sit down and just talk to her in what seems like ages and ages. He half thinks about joining in the music but doesn't. What if those dogs are out there it could call them right to this spot that they are by no means ready to defend. Those dogs appear to have sucked a great deal of the life out of this place. Which is one of the reasons he told Tariro he thought they should move farther away. He does however get to his paws and after a quick stretch makes his way toward the source of the sound.
The wind still blows, even if dogs are coming. One wolf, at least, still howls. Niyt lets the sound of her song fade, and remains in that same posture in silence. She listens, to the world around her. All of the world; the wind beneath the wings of birds, the splash of fish in the rivers, the sound of wolfish paws approaching her.
Once Coinin gets closer and makes sure that it is indeed Niyt he has heard he makes his way up the hill and smiles to her, even though she can't see it. Its not a habbit that you can just kick, "Hey Niyt. How are you?" he asks as he sits himself down. Hopefully Niyt will have something good to say that will add a few more things to the right pile and balance out the wrong.
Niyt lowers her head at the sound of Coinin's greeting, nodding once. She, too, smiles; for what is a smile but a physical expression of something, an obscured word? She need not see the one to respond with the other, no more than she needs see the moon to howl to it. "There's a chill to the wind," she says. "But the sky is yet clear." A moment's pause, and she shakes her head slightly. "How are you?"
Coinin has always been able to be honest with Niyt. Everyone else he feels like he has to be somebody too and that gets uncomfortable after awhile. With Niyt he can be the same wolf that she encountered those few years ago when he first arrived, "I'm not good." he says simply. Because really it is that simple. As much as he has thought about it that pretty much is what it boils down too.
Niyt tilts her head to the side, that pose of careful inspection for all her eyes can't see. At least her ears can hear, and her nose can scent. "You have health, and you have eaten. So." A slight smile, there. "What is it that worries you so, that the clouds have gathered over your head?"
Coinin sighs and shakes his head, "Its nothing physical. I'm lonely Niyt. There are times when I feel like no one here really could care if I live or die. I know its selfish and that I really probably shouldn't feel this way but I do. Anoki has never much liked me...and honestly I'm ok with that. He's young and looking to be a hero and every hero needs a villan and I fit the role just fine. He'll grow out of it. Tariro is hurt and different somehow. I sort of miss the old Tariro...even if the old Tariro was quiet. Lex and Rayen are so busy with each other, and they should be. Everyone else...who knows where they went. I feel like I'm all by myself again. And its worse when you are alone in a group." Some of this is probably in his head, but he still has to be honest about it.
"Anoki likes you just fine, Coinin. He simply thinks you're far too old and dull." There's a laugh in her voice - ah, youth. When she was a pup... adolescent... young adult... ah, but those days are gone. Now, she too is old enough to be stodgy. Her only saving grace is sisterhood - even the most ancient of sisters has /some/ good to her. The smile fades as she goes on. "Tariro..." A shake of her head. "You know, I still haven't met Kizhikoni's mother." Which is apparently all she has to say on that. Lexus and Rayen bring a fond smile but no words. She's quiet for a few moments. "You are a wolf who acts with reserve, Coinin. You keep a distance; you do not touch easily. I suppose there are many who have come to respect that - so they do not reach to you." A slight sad smile. "Even when you want to be reached."
Coinin is not now and never probably will be an overly touchy feely fellow, but Niyt is correct that just becuase he doesn't show his feelings all over the place doesn't mean that he doesn't have them the same as everyone else, "I haven't met her mother either. And I don't know where Maka is. I've looked and I can't find her." He isn't sure that he likes the idea of his alpha being mates with a wolf that he doesn't know, but he can't really do much about it either. It is what it is at this point, "I'd really like it if he would bring his daughter back home, but he seems set on staying where he is for now." He gives a bit of a shrug, "And on top of everything I don't know where Molasses is." Not that he ever really got all that close to her, but that doesn't mean he doesn't care.
Niyt shakes her head at the mention of Maka and Molasses, for she has no answers either. She sighs, with a small frown, and is lost in thought for a while before speaking. "When I was a pup, I never had a doubt where Cerulean was. It was with my mother and father." A smile. "As I grew, I learned there was more to it than that; an entire pack, relatives and friends. Still, it was always clear enough. Now, though... Where is Cerulean? Tariro has a pup he will not bring to us. Lexus and Rayen have theirs. Ute is closer to us than we are to ourselves." She frowns. "If you are beta, I ask you. Where is Cerulean?"
Coinin doesn't really have a good answer for that. He had always figured that Cerulean was the crowd of wolves that gathered by the river. Now everyone is off doing their own things. There are times that it doesn't seem like much of a pack anymore, and that does bother his sense of order, "Niyt if I knew I would be there. I know that I'm Cerulean. I know that you are Cerulean. I know that Ray and Lex are despite them being busy. I know Anoki is and I know that Tariro is despite his difficulties. We just all need to come home and regroup and figure out what we are going to do." It seems very simple, but its sometimes like herding cats.
Niyt shakes her head slowly. "We are become Viridian. We are become Lazuli." Her tone is sad, but calm. A moment, seeming inescapable now that it is reached. "What is home? I was born in a cave in the desert. My brother was born in the grasslands. This spring's pups are born by creek and in forest." Not merely a wandering pack, but a scattered one. Viridian. Lazuli. Old packs remembered, but no more. How can Cerulean be a pack, if only a beta lives among them; a beta looking to an alpha who has removed his den away from the rest? What should make it a pack, instead of merely a group of loners who meet together as friends? "Cerulean is only a name."
Coinin watches Niyt closely, he knows what she is getting at and its a difficult spot for him, "I know what you are asking but I can't simply walk up to Tariro and say to him that he isn't alpha any more. I would feel like I was backbiting. Or being disloyal." he says to her, "Its not an easy spot that I find myself in Niyt. The pack does need leadership, and Tar the other day was able to give it, but there are other times when he doesn't seem himself."
"I do not ask it of you," says Niyt. "If you will follow Tariro, then /follow/ him. Go up to where he has made his home, and listen to the wolf you name your alpha. That is what makes a pack; the loyalty, the binding together of fates. If you will be a wolf of Tariro's Cerulean, go there." She smiles sadly. "I will visit you, as I will visit all my family, no matter how they scatter."
Coinin sighs and shakes his head, "Its just that Niyt. I don't want to go there. Its not safe for him or for the pup. Its much closer to old Ute lands. I'm not going to put myself at risk by hanging out there. Nor would I ask it of anyone else. Perhaps now that he knows about the dogs he will stay closer to the river. I want to see everyone together, but I don't have the authority to make it happen, and even if I did half the pack would ignore me."
An alpha gone away. A wolf who calls another alpha, yet will not go to him in danger. A beta who has not the authority to act, and would be ignored even so. Where is Cerulean, indeed! Niyt simply shakes her head. "We are become Viridian," she repeats softly, almost to herself. She is the first generation born Cerulean, and yet... ah, how things cycle. What is becomes what was becomes what is. Here they are again, and this time, she is here to witness it.
Coinin isn't content to let things just fly apart. Its not like Coinin hasn't told Tariro of the danger and gone to find him, he did...several times. But he also knows that once Tariro has his mind made up then his mind is made up and there is no changing it. That doesn't mean he plans to give up he will still go to his friend, "I'm not ready to say things are over yet." he says softly, "Niyt would you follow me?" he asks. Its a fair question. Maybe he is just going to have to go around ask ask everyone individually. Since the structure of things is so precarious.
Niyt closes her eyes for a long moment before speaking. "I am still here, but it is not for the name of Cerulean. My brother Anoki. My uncle Lexus. Those are the voices that keep me. There are other voices here, and I am glad for them, but... there are voices that draw me away. My brother Afra. My father." She smiles softly. "If you hold claim over the lands where they live, I will listen to you. If they are gone... I will visit you as a friend."
Coinin listens to her response, that was just about right he thought. He didn't really expect the answer to be different, however much he might want it to be, "Thats not what I asked and you know it. Is there anything that I haven't done to show you how devoted I am to your family and to you as a friend? When do I get to stop being the outsider? I chased you halfway across the world to make sure that you were ok. We've known each other for years now. I don't want to hold claim on lands. If I'm going to lead I want to actually lead. You know what that is going to cost me in the end Niyt. You know that. And I'm still here. Doesn't that mean anything?" Its so frustrating sometimes to be so close and yet the gap be so huge.
Those blind eyes open abruptly, though there's still a faint smile. "Isn't it? You follow Tariro - but not to live with him in danger. Nothing is ever pure. It is always muddied - this comes with that. That, except when -" Niyt trails off into a shrug, then shakes her head. "What are you trying to prove? Will you replace my brother? Is that what your satisfation will take?" She frowns. "I have been to visit my cousin Kizhikoni. I do not go to live with my uncle Tariro. I have been to visit Viridian's valley. I do not run there with Zuphi. I have been to visit Ute. I do not stay there. What do you ask of me? If you find my nature so unsatisfying, leave! Do not waste your life. If the cost is too great, and the reward too small for it, then go. I have answered what you asked. I will listen, so long as my heart keeps me to where you are. There are many pulls on my heart, both great and small. No one wolf can claim it all. Zuphi of my love could not draw me away for long, nor could my father who raised me; how should you hope to manage it?"
Coinin sighs, well good he's mucking this up too, "You know that I don't find you unsatifying. At least I hope that you don't believe that. I'm just trying to tell you that I need your help. I want your help pulling all these threads back together. I want it so that you don't have to wander to see all your friends and family. I want the pack back together as one so that we can all survive this mess together. Thats what I want. I don't want to replace anyone...I just want to help bring everyone together." Thats all he has really ever wanted, to help.
Niyt settles back somewhat. "My help? That's another question entirely." She smiles, and proceeds to the giving of it! "I don't think Tariro will listen to me, but... perhaps you can convince him to bring Kizhikoni to play with the other pups. He does seem to care for her." She laughs as a thought strikes her. "Perhaps we can see if Ute has pups as well, and bring all the youngsters to play together. Children are good for bringing a pack together." Or more than one pack together. The smile fades slightly as her thoughts continue. "At least, if Ute can behave themselves around the thought of dogs. Anoki went to find Jatya, but..." She shakes her head. "He'll be back with her soon enough."
Coinin is more than willing to get everyone in one spot together. It was be far more safe for all the pups and for the adults too. He had thought that he had smelled Anoki when he had been out on patrol, "Whatever Anoki may think I don't dislike Jatya at all. She seems like a sweet young lady and I'm happy that he has found a friend. I really am." Now he still is not sure about the whole romance part of the deal, but thats hardly up to him, "If Ute wants to stay then they had best behave themselves." He can't really kick them out but he can certainly ask that they be confined to where they are.
And who besides Anoki knows Jatya better than a 'seems'? Ah, well, the dog has reason enough to be shy! Niyt nods to Coinin's assurances, but she's hardly the one who needs to be convinced of that. On the subject of Ute, she nods again. "Of course they'll have to behave themselves." She sighs a little. "It is sometimes difficult, after something troubling, to remember that not all things like it are bad." How long was her brother afraid of holes in the ground? "We should have patience with them... so long as they /are/ trying." But, oh, they'd better be trying.
Coinin has all the patience in the world when it comes to things like that. He isn't going to throw someone in need out becuase hopes that they wouldn't do the same for them were the situations reversed, "I'm sure that we can help them try. And if we can't we'll have to figure things out then, but I'm not going to worry about it till I have a reason too." There are pleanty of other pressing worries, "I do like your idea though. We should get the pups together." He ponders for a moment before asking, "How is Zuphi?"
Everyone loves puppies right? In the midst of all this chaos, surely they can sit together and go 'awww' for a moment. Besides, if the danger does come, the most fragile of the wolves will all be together to defend. Niyt smiles, and at the mention of Zuphi she laughs. "Ah, the wind has caught him up. He comes, he goes, he swirls around like a leaf. He has more restless paws than most, now that he's healed enough to manage it. He was off among the cacti, last I heard."
Coinin is pleased to hear that the Zuph is doing well enough to be that much of a traveler again, "I'm glad he's doing better. I was worried that he wouldn't make it. And are you two still trying to figure out whatever it is that you both have going on together?" he is understandably curious. It seems that everyone in the pack has found someone for themselves, with him being the sole exception.
"Together? Ah, not so often. When he comes by, it is a pleasant thing, but to be together would surely take more being together!" Niyt shakes her head, still smiling. If Coinin feels the exception, it's only because he's come at a moment when the rest of the pack is being exceptional; for the whole time when Niyt was a child, the only relationship in the entire pack was her own parents. Now? Ah, now love seems to have sprung up nearly everywhere - though for how long? Maka didn't even last a year, and Lexus - and, yes, even Tariro - are growing old, even if the romance doesn't fail for other reasons.
Coinin would hope that being together would mean that you actually spent more time togehter than just a passing moment here or there, at the very least though his presence somtimes seems to have provided Niyt with some closure and thats certainly a good thing, "Do you want to come with me to see if we can find Tariro and maybe convince him to take his daughter to see some of the other pups?" It seems like the most sensible thing to do.
Niyt tilts her head for a moment, as though listening for a voice on the wind, then nods. "I can do that," she says, rising to her feet in readiness to depart.
---Crooked Brook---
Coinin had been pleased when Niyt said that she would come visit Tariro with him. In his opinion having more family interaction would be good for Tariro. Maybe help him uncover some of those memories that have been hidden by whatever it was that happened to him. He winds his way from the river up the creek until he finds the spot that Tariro and his daughter and apparently others as well have all been hanging out.
Niyt has evidently been here before, for she knows the way without prompting. She comes along quietly, letting wind and water babble to her thoughts in peace until they arrive near the little bankside den.
Coinin has also been here before, though it is easy enough to get lost these days. He has gone slowly and made sure not to make too much noise so that if there are any dogs about they won't be drawn to him. Though if a dog happened to appear they would likely be able to handle one of them, "Tar...you here?" he asks. At the very least he hopes he hasn't moved on somewhere else. He had said he would be back here since he had said the other day he wanted to talk to him.
Niyt - female wolf
---Two-River Fork---
Coinin has felt sort of out of sync lately. He has given it a great deal of thought and can't put his paw on why. Sure he can point to the whole fiasco with the Ute. He could just as easily point to Tariro getting hurt and going through, well whatever it is that he is going through, but it isn't that either. He could point to Molasses vanishing and Anoki not liking him. There are so many things that are 'wrong' and so few things that are 'right'. When it comes down to it, when he really thinks about it he just feels alone. Which is strange for someone who lives with a pack of wolves, but that is how he feels. Presently he is sitting in his usual spot doing a whole lot of nothing. He had been out on patrol earlier and smelled nothing but Anoki's scent. He's probably off looking for Jatya. He isn't pleased that Ute ran her off, it complicates matters.
Not so far from there is a small rise. Perhaps not quite a hill, but higher at least than the surrounding ground. Niyt wanders her way there, and sits down with her eyes closed. For a long moment, she simply listens to the gentle wind. The spring breezes speak; in time, so does Niyt. A rising howl, a series of notes going upward. Interlocking scales, until she finds the pitch that seems right and holds it for a long moment.
Coinin lifts his head when he hears the voice. He knows it of course, its Niyt. And it makes him glad to know that she is around the area. He hasn't had a chance to sit down and just talk to her in what seems like ages and ages. He half thinks about joining in the music but doesn't. What if those dogs are out there it could call them right to this spot that they are by no means ready to defend. Those dogs appear to have sucked a great deal of the life out of this place. Which is one of the reasons he told Tariro he thought they should move farther away. He does however get to his paws and after a quick stretch makes his way toward the source of the sound.
The wind still blows, even if dogs are coming. One wolf, at least, still howls. Niyt lets the sound of her song fade, and remains in that same posture in silence. She listens, to the world around her. All of the world; the wind beneath the wings of birds, the splash of fish in the rivers, the sound of wolfish paws approaching her.
Once Coinin gets closer and makes sure that it is indeed Niyt he has heard he makes his way up the hill and smiles to her, even though she can't see it. Its not a habbit that you can just kick, "Hey Niyt. How are you?" he asks as he sits himself down. Hopefully Niyt will have something good to say that will add a few more things to the right pile and balance out the wrong.
Niyt lowers her head at the sound of Coinin's greeting, nodding once. She, too, smiles; for what is a smile but a physical expression of something, an obscured word? She need not see the one to respond with the other, no more than she needs see the moon to howl to it. "There's a chill to the wind," she says. "But the sky is yet clear." A moment's pause, and she shakes her head slightly. "How are you?"
Coinin has always been able to be honest with Niyt. Everyone else he feels like he has to be somebody too and that gets uncomfortable after awhile. With Niyt he can be the same wolf that she encountered those few years ago when he first arrived, "I'm not good." he says simply. Because really it is that simple. As much as he has thought about it that pretty much is what it boils down too.
Niyt tilts her head to the side, that pose of careful inspection for all her eyes can't see. At least her ears can hear, and her nose can scent. "You have health, and you have eaten. So." A slight smile, there. "What is it that worries you so, that the clouds have gathered over your head?"
Coinin sighs and shakes his head, "Its nothing physical. I'm lonely Niyt. There are times when I feel like no one here really could care if I live or die. I know its selfish and that I really probably shouldn't feel this way but I do. Anoki has never much liked me...and honestly I'm ok with that. He's young and looking to be a hero and every hero needs a villan and I fit the role just fine. He'll grow out of it. Tariro is hurt and different somehow. I sort of miss the old Tariro...even if the old Tariro was quiet. Lex and Rayen are so busy with each other, and they should be. Everyone else...who knows where they went. I feel like I'm all by myself again. And its worse when you are alone in a group." Some of this is probably in his head, but he still has to be honest about it.
"Anoki likes you just fine, Coinin. He simply thinks you're far too old and dull." There's a laugh in her voice - ah, youth. When she was a pup... adolescent... young adult... ah, but those days are gone. Now, she too is old enough to be stodgy. Her only saving grace is sisterhood - even the most ancient of sisters has /some/ good to her. The smile fades as she goes on. "Tariro..." A shake of her head. "You know, I still haven't met Kizhikoni's mother." Which is apparently all she has to say on that. Lexus and Rayen bring a fond smile but no words. She's quiet for a few moments. "You are a wolf who acts with reserve, Coinin. You keep a distance; you do not touch easily. I suppose there are many who have come to respect that - so they do not reach to you." A slight sad smile. "Even when you want to be reached."
Coinin is not now and never probably will be an overly touchy feely fellow, but Niyt is correct that just becuase he doesn't show his feelings all over the place doesn't mean that he doesn't have them the same as everyone else, "I haven't met her mother either. And I don't know where Maka is. I've looked and I can't find her." He isn't sure that he likes the idea of his alpha being mates with a wolf that he doesn't know, but he can't really do much about it either. It is what it is at this point, "I'd really like it if he would bring his daughter back home, but he seems set on staying where he is for now." He gives a bit of a shrug, "And on top of everything I don't know where Molasses is." Not that he ever really got all that close to her, but that doesn't mean he doesn't care.
Niyt shakes her head at the mention of Maka and Molasses, for she has no answers either. She sighs, with a small frown, and is lost in thought for a while before speaking. "When I was a pup, I never had a doubt where Cerulean was. It was with my mother and father." A smile. "As I grew, I learned there was more to it than that; an entire pack, relatives and friends. Still, it was always clear enough. Now, though... Where is Cerulean? Tariro has a pup he will not bring to us. Lexus and Rayen have theirs. Ute is closer to us than we are to ourselves." She frowns. "If you are beta, I ask you. Where is Cerulean?"
Coinin doesn't really have a good answer for that. He had always figured that Cerulean was the crowd of wolves that gathered by the river. Now everyone is off doing their own things. There are times that it doesn't seem like much of a pack anymore, and that does bother his sense of order, "Niyt if I knew I would be there. I know that I'm Cerulean. I know that you are Cerulean. I know that Ray and Lex are despite them being busy. I know Anoki is and I know that Tariro is despite his difficulties. We just all need to come home and regroup and figure out what we are going to do." It seems very simple, but its sometimes like herding cats.
Niyt shakes her head slowly. "We are become Viridian. We are become Lazuli." Her tone is sad, but calm. A moment, seeming inescapable now that it is reached. "What is home? I was born in a cave in the desert. My brother was born in the grasslands. This spring's pups are born by creek and in forest." Not merely a wandering pack, but a scattered one. Viridian. Lazuli. Old packs remembered, but no more. How can Cerulean be a pack, if only a beta lives among them; a beta looking to an alpha who has removed his den away from the rest? What should make it a pack, instead of merely a group of loners who meet together as friends? "Cerulean is only a name."
Coinin watches Niyt closely, he knows what she is getting at and its a difficult spot for him, "I know what you are asking but I can't simply walk up to Tariro and say to him that he isn't alpha any more. I would feel like I was backbiting. Or being disloyal." he says to her, "Its not an easy spot that I find myself in Niyt. The pack does need leadership, and Tar the other day was able to give it, but there are other times when he doesn't seem himself."
"I do not ask it of you," says Niyt. "If you will follow Tariro, then /follow/ him. Go up to where he has made his home, and listen to the wolf you name your alpha. That is what makes a pack; the loyalty, the binding together of fates. If you will be a wolf of Tariro's Cerulean, go there." She smiles sadly. "I will visit you, as I will visit all my family, no matter how they scatter."
Coinin sighs and shakes his head, "Its just that Niyt. I don't want to go there. Its not safe for him or for the pup. Its much closer to old Ute lands. I'm not going to put myself at risk by hanging out there. Nor would I ask it of anyone else. Perhaps now that he knows about the dogs he will stay closer to the river. I want to see everyone together, but I don't have the authority to make it happen, and even if I did half the pack would ignore me."
An alpha gone away. A wolf who calls another alpha, yet will not go to him in danger. A beta who has not the authority to act, and would be ignored even so. Where is Cerulean, indeed! Niyt simply shakes her head. "We are become Viridian," she repeats softly, almost to herself. She is the first generation born Cerulean, and yet... ah, how things cycle. What is becomes what was becomes what is. Here they are again, and this time, she is here to witness it.
Coinin isn't content to let things just fly apart. Its not like Coinin hasn't told Tariro of the danger and gone to find him, he did...several times. But he also knows that once Tariro has his mind made up then his mind is made up and there is no changing it. That doesn't mean he plans to give up he will still go to his friend, "I'm not ready to say things are over yet." he says softly, "Niyt would you follow me?" he asks. Its a fair question. Maybe he is just going to have to go around ask ask everyone individually. Since the structure of things is so precarious.
Niyt closes her eyes for a long moment before speaking. "I am still here, but it is not for the name of Cerulean. My brother Anoki. My uncle Lexus. Those are the voices that keep me. There are other voices here, and I am glad for them, but... there are voices that draw me away. My brother Afra. My father." She smiles softly. "If you hold claim over the lands where they live, I will listen to you. If they are gone... I will visit you as a friend."
Coinin listens to her response, that was just about right he thought. He didn't really expect the answer to be different, however much he might want it to be, "Thats not what I asked and you know it. Is there anything that I haven't done to show you how devoted I am to your family and to you as a friend? When do I get to stop being the outsider? I chased you halfway across the world to make sure that you were ok. We've known each other for years now. I don't want to hold claim on lands. If I'm going to lead I want to actually lead. You know what that is going to cost me in the end Niyt. You know that. And I'm still here. Doesn't that mean anything?" Its so frustrating sometimes to be so close and yet the gap be so huge.
Those blind eyes open abruptly, though there's still a faint smile. "Isn't it? You follow Tariro - but not to live with him in danger. Nothing is ever pure. It is always muddied - this comes with that. That, except when -" Niyt trails off into a shrug, then shakes her head. "What are you trying to prove? Will you replace my brother? Is that what your satisfation will take?" She frowns. "I have been to visit my cousin Kizhikoni. I do not go to live with my uncle Tariro. I have been to visit Viridian's valley. I do not run there with Zuphi. I have been to visit Ute. I do not stay there. What do you ask of me? If you find my nature so unsatisfying, leave! Do not waste your life. If the cost is too great, and the reward too small for it, then go. I have answered what you asked. I will listen, so long as my heart keeps me to where you are. There are many pulls on my heart, both great and small. No one wolf can claim it all. Zuphi of my love could not draw me away for long, nor could my father who raised me; how should you hope to manage it?"
Coinin sighs, well good he's mucking this up too, "You know that I don't find you unsatifying. At least I hope that you don't believe that. I'm just trying to tell you that I need your help. I want your help pulling all these threads back together. I want it so that you don't have to wander to see all your friends and family. I want the pack back together as one so that we can all survive this mess together. Thats what I want. I don't want to replace anyone...I just want to help bring everyone together." Thats all he has really ever wanted, to help.
Niyt settles back somewhat. "My help? That's another question entirely." She smiles, and proceeds to the giving of it! "I don't think Tariro will listen to me, but... perhaps you can convince him to bring Kizhikoni to play with the other pups. He does seem to care for her." She laughs as a thought strikes her. "Perhaps we can see if Ute has pups as well, and bring all the youngsters to play together. Children are good for bringing a pack together." Or more than one pack together. The smile fades slightly as her thoughts continue. "At least, if Ute can behave themselves around the thought of dogs. Anoki went to find Jatya, but..." She shakes her head. "He'll be back with her soon enough."
Coinin is more than willing to get everyone in one spot together. It was be far more safe for all the pups and for the adults too. He had thought that he had smelled Anoki when he had been out on patrol, "Whatever Anoki may think I don't dislike Jatya at all. She seems like a sweet young lady and I'm happy that he has found a friend. I really am." Now he still is not sure about the whole romance part of the deal, but thats hardly up to him, "If Ute wants to stay then they had best behave themselves." He can't really kick them out but he can certainly ask that they be confined to where they are.
And who besides Anoki knows Jatya better than a 'seems'? Ah, well, the dog has reason enough to be shy! Niyt nods to Coinin's assurances, but she's hardly the one who needs to be convinced of that. On the subject of Ute, she nods again. "Of course they'll have to behave themselves." She sighs a little. "It is sometimes difficult, after something troubling, to remember that not all things like it are bad." How long was her brother afraid of holes in the ground? "We should have patience with them... so long as they /are/ trying." But, oh, they'd better be trying.
Coinin has all the patience in the world when it comes to things like that. He isn't going to throw someone in need out becuase hopes that they wouldn't do the same for them were the situations reversed, "I'm sure that we can help them try. And if we can't we'll have to figure things out then, but I'm not going to worry about it till I have a reason too." There are pleanty of other pressing worries, "I do like your idea though. We should get the pups together." He ponders for a moment before asking, "How is Zuphi?"
Everyone loves puppies right? In the midst of all this chaos, surely they can sit together and go 'awww' for a moment. Besides, if the danger does come, the most fragile of the wolves will all be together to defend. Niyt smiles, and at the mention of Zuphi she laughs. "Ah, the wind has caught him up. He comes, he goes, he swirls around like a leaf. He has more restless paws than most, now that he's healed enough to manage it. He was off among the cacti, last I heard."
Coinin is pleased to hear that the Zuph is doing well enough to be that much of a traveler again, "I'm glad he's doing better. I was worried that he wouldn't make it. And are you two still trying to figure out whatever it is that you both have going on together?" he is understandably curious. It seems that everyone in the pack has found someone for themselves, with him being the sole exception.
"Together? Ah, not so often. When he comes by, it is a pleasant thing, but to be together would surely take more being together!" Niyt shakes her head, still smiling. If Coinin feels the exception, it's only because he's come at a moment when the rest of the pack is being exceptional; for the whole time when Niyt was a child, the only relationship in the entire pack was her own parents. Now? Ah, now love seems to have sprung up nearly everywhere - though for how long? Maka didn't even last a year, and Lexus - and, yes, even Tariro - are growing old, even if the romance doesn't fail for other reasons.
Coinin would hope that being together would mean that you actually spent more time togehter than just a passing moment here or there, at the very least though his presence somtimes seems to have provided Niyt with some closure and thats certainly a good thing, "Do you want to come with me to see if we can find Tariro and maybe convince him to take his daughter to see some of the other pups?" It seems like the most sensible thing to do.
Niyt tilts her head for a moment, as though listening for a voice on the wind, then nods. "I can do that," she says, rising to her feet in readiness to depart.
---Crooked Brook---
Coinin had been pleased when Niyt said that she would come visit Tariro with him. In his opinion having more family interaction would be good for Tariro. Maybe help him uncover some of those memories that have been hidden by whatever it was that happened to him. He winds his way from the river up the creek until he finds the spot that Tariro and his daughter and apparently others as well have all been hanging out.
Niyt has evidently been here before, for she knows the way without prompting. She comes along quietly, letting wind and water babble to her thoughts in peace until they arrive near the little bankside den.
Coinin has also been here before, though it is easy enough to get lost these days. He has gone slowly and made sure not to make too much noise so that if there are any dogs about they won't be drawn to him. Though if a dog happened to appear they would likely be able to handle one of them, "Tar...you here?" he asks. At the very least he hopes he hasn't moved on somewhere else. He had said he would be back here since he had said the other day he wanted to talk to him.