Post by Therdde on Dec 22, 2008 6:00:55 GMT -5
Characters:
Skelaghe - Female Wolf
Ixkin - Female Wolf
Helaku - Male Wolf
- Rolling Foothills -
It was very late when Skelaghe, Sketch, and Vincent met up with Helaku. Indeed, the shewolf was surprised to find Helaku where he said he would be, since it was at least an hour past sundown. She would have expected him to be in his den, and she had intended to rest for the night at that spot, to wait for him in the morning. It's the only reason she pushed Vincent and Sketch for as long as she did. After actually meeting Helaku, and traveling up and down several more hills, all three of them were thoroughly exhausted, and slept almost immediately upon reaching the densite at the top of one of the hills. Then, Skelaghe awoke in the middle of the night and left the den to sleep where she could be woken by the sun. After the confinement of the cave, it will be some time before she will want to sleep anywhere that she cannot see the sun upon waking. And, as it begins to rise, her eyes flicker open slowly. She does not move otherwise, though, content, for now, to lie and watch the beautiful colors created by the rising sun.
The rising sun always brought in new hope. Ixkin was about ready to give up traveling and just lay somewhere to die. Though watching the sun rise the wolfess pushes up to her paws in a stretch. Unsure of where she actually is she begins to look around as the light shows upon the rocks. It was then she lifts up her head to let go of a lone howl out of frustration and her ache for anyone in this world to be around.
Skelaghe is easily capable of hearing the howl, and something about it is eerily familiar. Like when she met Helaku, and was convinced, for just a moment, that she was not seeing an animal who was truly flesh and blood, Skelaghe would not now be surprised if this sound came from a ghost. She is just too certain that she knows that sound, despite how long she has been away from the other surviving members of Ute, and so it is with no hesitation that she lifts her head to return the howling, after which she stands to make her way toward the animal that sounded the call. Whether she believes a living animal made the sound or not, she has no reservations whatsoever about making her way to the source of the howling.
Ixkin didn't expect it to actually be answered, and she knew the sound of it! They met one time after they left the lands and were separated for all these moons. Leaping upon a rock to get a good look around she doesn't see the other yet and it makes her wonder if it could have been her imagination. Though she lifts he song to the heavens once more to be sure if not just for their memory.
Skelaghe does not run. Her leg is healed, has been for a long time, but the events that have led her here have been stressful, and she is not as young as she once was. She is far from being old, yet, but she would preserve to save her strength for when it may be needed. She again responds, and she increases her pace slightly, until Ixkin is finally in sight, which is when Skelaghe stops moving to just look at the other female.
Ixkin has never been the one good with words. Noticing the other female she just stares not moving from her perch. It's confirmed that she isn't the only one left of their pack. Releasing a loud breath as the sunlight reveals even more of the scene slowly as it rises. Since their last meeting she is better fed, but her fur at the moment it rather scruffy and muddy after battling through the flood to higher ground.
It has been a long time, but Skelaghe recognizes Ixkin easily. She is glad to see that Ixkin has apparently taken better care of herself since they last met, but her heart also goes out for the other female, in seeing the signs of the struggles she went through, recently. After looking over Ixkin, she begins moving again. Now, she runs. As she does so, there is nothing combative about her. She simply wants to be with her former packsister, wants to offer help, if Ixkin needs it. Wants that one more link to a time when her life had meaning.
Ixkin leaps down running towards her as with haste. Hopefully this wasn't one of her cruel dreams where she would pass straight through yet another sister only to awaken in tears. "Skelaghe!" she finally manages to get out in a raspy voice. It had been ages since she has spoken to anyone other than singing to herself.
It is no dream. Skelaghe is very real, and very solid. When she reaches Ixkin, she gives a playful hop, then steps forward to press herself against Ixkin and to nuzzle at the other female's neck and back tenderly. "Ixkin. I've missed you." When she first saw Helaku, after months apart, she was convinced she was being punished. Now that she has been reunited with two of her former packmates, she could never believe such a thing, and so this reunion is much happier, much more playful.
Ixkin closes her eyes nuzzling her in return. Lifting a paw she hugs it around her, "I've missed you too." Opening her eyes tears fall down her cheeks as there is so much she can't seem to manage to say. Only hugging her tighter and nuzzling her face into the side of her neck she allows herself to sob.
Skelaghe is hardly ever at a loss for words, and as Ixkin cannot seem to find any, and indeed is racked by crying, Skelaghe remains pressed against Ixkin, willing to allow the other female her emotional release for so long as she needs it. "It will be okay now, Ixkin." Whatever troubles she has encountered in the time since they last met will be more easily handled, now. Skelaghe will make certain of it.
"Not alone..." she say not moving away. Ixkin didn't want distance put between them for right now at least. Though uncovering her face she looks to her former packsister, and friend "I thought for sure I was alone. The flood... Has covered so much."
As of yet, Skelaghe has not actually seen any signs of the flood. She was on the southern slope of the mountain when it happened, and since then, it has either been dark or she has been along the tops of the foothills. Taking a step back, again, to take a look at Ixkin again, she says, "You weren't hurt, were you?" There are others Skelaghe should probably be concerned about too, but Ixkin is her primary concern, right now.
Ixkin shakes her head, "I'm not hurt. Dirty but not hurt." Stepping back she looks at herself with a sigh. Normally she tries to stay clean but she was just happy to gain higher ground that she hasn't paid too much attention. "How about you? Have you been safe?"
Safety is apparently not what is in store for any of Ute's members. There is no telling what Helaku has gone through until recently. Something bad, certainly, to have changed him the way it did. Skelaghe does not answer Ixkin's question immediately. Instead, she says, "We are well now. My companions and I. You must join us, Ix. Please." Will Helaku have any say in it? If he did not trust this former packmate of theirs enough to want to allow her to stay, would Skelaghe accept his judgment. Definitely not. By and large, she intends to respect the decisions he makes regarding their safety, and ensure that all of her companions who might feel more comfortable answering to her than to him do the same, but there are many animals who, if they seek to stay with her, would get it, without question. Ixkin. Teketa. Conner. Even Jage, Bodhi, and, almost definitely, any of the Amaranth cougars, if they needed help for whatever reason. She is as close or closer to many of them than she is to Helaku, at least right now.
Ixkin wasn't sure of what companions she speaks, "Ok." She didn't want to have to go off alone anymore and wouldn't since a former packmate is requesting her to stay. A brightened smile appears across her muzzle as she settles to her haunches her body beginning to tremble slightly from excitement. "You will have to tell me about your travels. Who are your companions?"
Skelaghe could probably talk about all she has experienced for weeks. To sum it up, though, especially to tell about her companions, she says, "For a long time now, I have been traveling with a female dog named Sketch. More recently, we were joined by another dog, her friend, Vincent, and most recently, by Helaku." Skelaghe has a smile when she finishes speaking. At least Ixkin should find no trouble with the Ute who survived and are in this land. She doesn't remember any difficulty betwen Ixkin and Helaku, at least.
Helaku was not the type of wolf that appreciated mornings unless they were covered under a thick layer of fog, or rain. He had grown to dislike, very much, the object after which their symbol had been created after. He tired of the den and left to roam and was quick to pick up on Skel's scent, and the distant scent of another vaguely familiar creature. He perked his ears, believing himself to hear something off in the distance. Best to investigate..couldn't have any strangers wandering about as if they owned anything...
"Helaku?" Ixkin blinks with a grin in recognizing the name, "He is still around?" At least it was two former packmates that actually liked her rather than the ones the shunned her for choices that she made. Hopping from one paw to the next she grins widely feeling more vibrant rising to be standing once again.
"He is. He has asked me to be his mate." It is very exciting news, at least potentially. Skelaghe will not birth pups for nearly a year, and they have not even spoken about it since they first met, but Skelaghe truly hopes to have pups around her again by next spring. Even if something happens, even if they are not hers, she has spent far too long away from her original role in the Ute pack. She wants to return to it, desperately, whether it is as mother or teacher. It makes little difference to her.
Helaku kept his pacing slow. These days, he wasn't much for interaction though he knew he was fit for being a leader. The closer he came to them, the more he heard bits an dpieces of what was being said. He paused at the mention by Skel. The thought of her being his flushed the skin beneath his fur with an intense blush. Why was he blushing? Tough wolves do not become bashful. Even though he changes so much, in looks and behavior, that was one part of him that may never vanish, though only in private. He quietly stepped onto a low branch of a tree and became to walk.
Ixkin grins broadly, "That is great news!" She herself hasn't been able to even think about love or the possibility of future children. No she was not totally over her own losses from the past ranging from her mate and child to the day her brother.... Thoughts causing her ears to flatten against her skull, "Have you thought of.. Reviving the pack?"
Not... In those terms. But Skelaghe's desire to have a community around her did not begin when Helaku asked her to be his mate. If Sketch and Vincent are to join them indefinitely, can they even call it a pack? She knows dogs and wolves have many things in similar, but do they call their groups, their families, the same thing? "I know that is Helaku's hope." Only after speaking again does she finally spot her former packbrother, her likely future mate, approaching them... And, though she knows they used to be on good terms, she also knows that Helaku was rough when he first greeted her. To protect Ixkin, Skelaghe moves quickly, trying to place herself, jsut slightly, between Helaku and Ixkin. Just in case.
Helaku slipped out from behind the trees, and stood on a low branch before them, looking at the two with his bloody eyes. Red, of course, though bloody with past strain and trauma. It was Helaku, but not Helaku--just as Skel had met him a few days earlier. Though his appearance was certainly intimidating, his voice said otherwise of their company. "Do you hunger?" he asked simply, to Ixkin. Somehow he remembered her, though he couldn't place why. She was an Ute, after all.
"Helaku..." she smiles yet doesn't move at first. Ixkin finds that he looks so different than she remembers. Moving around her packsister she approaches her old friend. "I'm not hungry right now." she says lightly coming to a stop in front of him glad to get a closer view, "It's me.. Ixkin.." she says her name hoping to trigger a memory.
It is not bad. When Helaku met her, he did not seem to remember her at all, and for a while, it seemed like he might get violent. Skelaghe was not so certain Ixkin could remain as calm as Skelaghe did, in that circumstance, which is why she did what she did. As Helaku is calm, or at least calm enough, though, Skelaghe allows Ixkin to move around her with no opposition, though she does remain by Ixkin's side, and quiet, as Ixkin approaches Helaku.
Helaku watched them both carefully, just to see how they stood together. Even though they were 'his' in a sense, them being Ute, he had to know how they both, especially Ixkin, held themselves. Helaku narrowed his eyes for a brief second and jumped down from the branch to get a closer look at Ixkin. "I've been wondering where you've been since we separated," he said softly. "The flooding must have driven you out with the state of yourself. Do you need rest?" Of course, all of his attention was primarily on Ixkin at the moment, though he gave a short, warm glance to Skel as well. Ixkin was the previous Alpha's sister, after all.
Ixkin ears lay back and she steps backwards going into a more submissive stance. Around the males she just could never help herself of course. "I woke not too long ago. I didn't leave right off you know." she sighs basically meaning their lands. She should have left with the others but she stayed behind long enough to watch her brother go crazy. "Ho..How are you Helaku?"
Helaku's ears sharply raised. "I am...fine," he said, "but you don't need to bow. A pack is no longer the objective, but instead a tribe." Unusual...for a wolf. "But I must inquire--are 'you' fine, Ixkin? You seem timid and shaken."
Ixkin settles to her haunches, "I have always been the submissive sort." Looking over at Skel a moment she grins and looks back towards Helaku, "Now that I have found two of my good friends. I couldn't be better."
Unusual can describe many things about Ute wolves, at least compared to the wolves in this region, Skelaghe has found. Speaking up, Skelaghe says, "She has always done what she needed to do to survive. As you have, and as I have." She may as well have been omega herself, for how some of the members of their former pack treated her. She cannot be blamed for those habits that have been deeply ingrained in her. At least, not for so long as no one if harmed by them, which is unlikely to happen, given the nature of the habits. "But we have each other now."
Helaku murmured softly, once more looking between them. "Then, shall we return to the den?"
Ixkin nods her head, "Lead on."
Skelaghe has no desire to return to the den, actually. The sun is still rising, and unlike Helaku, Skelaghe will /never/ dislike the symbol of their former pack, her proof that her deity and spirits exist. "You two go ahead. I will be there in a while."
Skelaghe - Female Wolf
Ixkin - Female Wolf
Helaku - Male Wolf
- Rolling Foothills -
It was very late when Skelaghe, Sketch, and Vincent met up with Helaku. Indeed, the shewolf was surprised to find Helaku where he said he would be, since it was at least an hour past sundown. She would have expected him to be in his den, and she had intended to rest for the night at that spot, to wait for him in the morning. It's the only reason she pushed Vincent and Sketch for as long as she did. After actually meeting Helaku, and traveling up and down several more hills, all three of them were thoroughly exhausted, and slept almost immediately upon reaching the densite at the top of one of the hills. Then, Skelaghe awoke in the middle of the night and left the den to sleep where she could be woken by the sun. After the confinement of the cave, it will be some time before she will want to sleep anywhere that she cannot see the sun upon waking. And, as it begins to rise, her eyes flicker open slowly. She does not move otherwise, though, content, for now, to lie and watch the beautiful colors created by the rising sun.
The rising sun always brought in new hope. Ixkin was about ready to give up traveling and just lay somewhere to die. Though watching the sun rise the wolfess pushes up to her paws in a stretch. Unsure of where she actually is she begins to look around as the light shows upon the rocks. It was then she lifts up her head to let go of a lone howl out of frustration and her ache for anyone in this world to be around.
Skelaghe is easily capable of hearing the howl, and something about it is eerily familiar. Like when she met Helaku, and was convinced, for just a moment, that she was not seeing an animal who was truly flesh and blood, Skelaghe would not now be surprised if this sound came from a ghost. She is just too certain that she knows that sound, despite how long she has been away from the other surviving members of Ute, and so it is with no hesitation that she lifts her head to return the howling, after which she stands to make her way toward the animal that sounded the call. Whether she believes a living animal made the sound or not, she has no reservations whatsoever about making her way to the source of the howling.
Ixkin didn't expect it to actually be answered, and she knew the sound of it! They met one time after they left the lands and were separated for all these moons. Leaping upon a rock to get a good look around she doesn't see the other yet and it makes her wonder if it could have been her imagination. Though she lifts he song to the heavens once more to be sure if not just for their memory.
Skelaghe does not run. Her leg is healed, has been for a long time, but the events that have led her here have been stressful, and she is not as young as she once was. She is far from being old, yet, but she would preserve to save her strength for when it may be needed. She again responds, and she increases her pace slightly, until Ixkin is finally in sight, which is when Skelaghe stops moving to just look at the other female.
Ixkin has never been the one good with words. Noticing the other female she just stares not moving from her perch. It's confirmed that she isn't the only one left of their pack. Releasing a loud breath as the sunlight reveals even more of the scene slowly as it rises. Since their last meeting she is better fed, but her fur at the moment it rather scruffy and muddy after battling through the flood to higher ground.
It has been a long time, but Skelaghe recognizes Ixkin easily. She is glad to see that Ixkin has apparently taken better care of herself since they last met, but her heart also goes out for the other female, in seeing the signs of the struggles she went through, recently. After looking over Ixkin, she begins moving again. Now, she runs. As she does so, there is nothing combative about her. She simply wants to be with her former packsister, wants to offer help, if Ixkin needs it. Wants that one more link to a time when her life had meaning.
Ixkin leaps down running towards her as with haste. Hopefully this wasn't one of her cruel dreams where she would pass straight through yet another sister only to awaken in tears. "Skelaghe!" she finally manages to get out in a raspy voice. It had been ages since she has spoken to anyone other than singing to herself.
It is no dream. Skelaghe is very real, and very solid. When she reaches Ixkin, she gives a playful hop, then steps forward to press herself against Ixkin and to nuzzle at the other female's neck and back tenderly. "Ixkin. I've missed you." When she first saw Helaku, after months apart, she was convinced she was being punished. Now that she has been reunited with two of her former packmates, she could never believe such a thing, and so this reunion is much happier, much more playful.
Ixkin closes her eyes nuzzling her in return. Lifting a paw she hugs it around her, "I've missed you too." Opening her eyes tears fall down her cheeks as there is so much she can't seem to manage to say. Only hugging her tighter and nuzzling her face into the side of her neck she allows herself to sob.
Skelaghe is hardly ever at a loss for words, and as Ixkin cannot seem to find any, and indeed is racked by crying, Skelaghe remains pressed against Ixkin, willing to allow the other female her emotional release for so long as she needs it. "It will be okay now, Ixkin." Whatever troubles she has encountered in the time since they last met will be more easily handled, now. Skelaghe will make certain of it.
"Not alone..." she say not moving away. Ixkin didn't want distance put between them for right now at least. Though uncovering her face she looks to her former packsister, and friend "I thought for sure I was alone. The flood... Has covered so much."
As of yet, Skelaghe has not actually seen any signs of the flood. She was on the southern slope of the mountain when it happened, and since then, it has either been dark or she has been along the tops of the foothills. Taking a step back, again, to take a look at Ixkin again, she says, "You weren't hurt, were you?" There are others Skelaghe should probably be concerned about too, but Ixkin is her primary concern, right now.
Ixkin shakes her head, "I'm not hurt. Dirty but not hurt." Stepping back she looks at herself with a sigh. Normally she tries to stay clean but she was just happy to gain higher ground that she hasn't paid too much attention. "How about you? Have you been safe?"
Safety is apparently not what is in store for any of Ute's members. There is no telling what Helaku has gone through until recently. Something bad, certainly, to have changed him the way it did. Skelaghe does not answer Ixkin's question immediately. Instead, she says, "We are well now. My companions and I. You must join us, Ix. Please." Will Helaku have any say in it? If he did not trust this former packmate of theirs enough to want to allow her to stay, would Skelaghe accept his judgment. Definitely not. By and large, she intends to respect the decisions he makes regarding their safety, and ensure that all of her companions who might feel more comfortable answering to her than to him do the same, but there are many animals who, if they seek to stay with her, would get it, without question. Ixkin. Teketa. Conner. Even Jage, Bodhi, and, almost definitely, any of the Amaranth cougars, if they needed help for whatever reason. She is as close or closer to many of them than she is to Helaku, at least right now.
Ixkin wasn't sure of what companions she speaks, "Ok." She didn't want to have to go off alone anymore and wouldn't since a former packmate is requesting her to stay. A brightened smile appears across her muzzle as she settles to her haunches her body beginning to tremble slightly from excitement. "You will have to tell me about your travels. Who are your companions?"
Skelaghe could probably talk about all she has experienced for weeks. To sum it up, though, especially to tell about her companions, she says, "For a long time now, I have been traveling with a female dog named Sketch. More recently, we were joined by another dog, her friend, Vincent, and most recently, by Helaku." Skelaghe has a smile when she finishes speaking. At least Ixkin should find no trouble with the Ute who survived and are in this land. She doesn't remember any difficulty betwen Ixkin and Helaku, at least.
Helaku was not the type of wolf that appreciated mornings unless they were covered under a thick layer of fog, or rain. He had grown to dislike, very much, the object after which their symbol had been created after. He tired of the den and left to roam and was quick to pick up on Skel's scent, and the distant scent of another vaguely familiar creature. He perked his ears, believing himself to hear something off in the distance. Best to investigate..couldn't have any strangers wandering about as if they owned anything...
"Helaku?" Ixkin blinks with a grin in recognizing the name, "He is still around?" At least it was two former packmates that actually liked her rather than the ones the shunned her for choices that she made. Hopping from one paw to the next she grins widely feeling more vibrant rising to be standing once again.
"He is. He has asked me to be his mate." It is very exciting news, at least potentially. Skelaghe will not birth pups for nearly a year, and they have not even spoken about it since they first met, but Skelaghe truly hopes to have pups around her again by next spring. Even if something happens, even if they are not hers, she has spent far too long away from her original role in the Ute pack. She wants to return to it, desperately, whether it is as mother or teacher. It makes little difference to her.
Helaku kept his pacing slow. These days, he wasn't much for interaction though he knew he was fit for being a leader. The closer he came to them, the more he heard bits an dpieces of what was being said. He paused at the mention by Skel. The thought of her being his flushed the skin beneath his fur with an intense blush. Why was he blushing? Tough wolves do not become bashful. Even though he changes so much, in looks and behavior, that was one part of him that may never vanish, though only in private. He quietly stepped onto a low branch of a tree and became to walk.
Ixkin grins broadly, "That is great news!" She herself hasn't been able to even think about love or the possibility of future children. No she was not totally over her own losses from the past ranging from her mate and child to the day her brother.... Thoughts causing her ears to flatten against her skull, "Have you thought of.. Reviving the pack?"
Not... In those terms. But Skelaghe's desire to have a community around her did not begin when Helaku asked her to be his mate. If Sketch and Vincent are to join them indefinitely, can they even call it a pack? She knows dogs and wolves have many things in similar, but do they call their groups, their families, the same thing? "I know that is Helaku's hope." Only after speaking again does she finally spot her former packbrother, her likely future mate, approaching them... And, though she knows they used to be on good terms, she also knows that Helaku was rough when he first greeted her. To protect Ixkin, Skelaghe moves quickly, trying to place herself, jsut slightly, between Helaku and Ixkin. Just in case.
Helaku slipped out from behind the trees, and stood on a low branch before them, looking at the two with his bloody eyes. Red, of course, though bloody with past strain and trauma. It was Helaku, but not Helaku--just as Skel had met him a few days earlier. Though his appearance was certainly intimidating, his voice said otherwise of their company. "Do you hunger?" he asked simply, to Ixkin. Somehow he remembered her, though he couldn't place why. She was an Ute, after all.
"Helaku..." she smiles yet doesn't move at first. Ixkin finds that he looks so different than she remembers. Moving around her packsister she approaches her old friend. "I'm not hungry right now." she says lightly coming to a stop in front of him glad to get a closer view, "It's me.. Ixkin.." she says her name hoping to trigger a memory.
It is not bad. When Helaku met her, he did not seem to remember her at all, and for a while, it seemed like he might get violent. Skelaghe was not so certain Ixkin could remain as calm as Skelaghe did, in that circumstance, which is why she did what she did. As Helaku is calm, or at least calm enough, though, Skelaghe allows Ixkin to move around her with no opposition, though she does remain by Ixkin's side, and quiet, as Ixkin approaches Helaku.
Helaku watched them both carefully, just to see how they stood together. Even though they were 'his' in a sense, them being Ute, he had to know how they both, especially Ixkin, held themselves. Helaku narrowed his eyes for a brief second and jumped down from the branch to get a closer look at Ixkin. "I've been wondering where you've been since we separated," he said softly. "The flooding must have driven you out with the state of yourself. Do you need rest?" Of course, all of his attention was primarily on Ixkin at the moment, though he gave a short, warm glance to Skel as well. Ixkin was the previous Alpha's sister, after all.
Ixkin ears lay back and she steps backwards going into a more submissive stance. Around the males she just could never help herself of course. "I woke not too long ago. I didn't leave right off you know." she sighs basically meaning their lands. She should have left with the others but she stayed behind long enough to watch her brother go crazy. "Ho..How are you Helaku?"
Helaku's ears sharply raised. "I am...fine," he said, "but you don't need to bow. A pack is no longer the objective, but instead a tribe." Unusual...for a wolf. "But I must inquire--are 'you' fine, Ixkin? You seem timid and shaken."
Ixkin settles to her haunches, "I have always been the submissive sort." Looking over at Skel a moment she grins and looks back towards Helaku, "Now that I have found two of my good friends. I couldn't be better."
Unusual can describe many things about Ute wolves, at least compared to the wolves in this region, Skelaghe has found. Speaking up, Skelaghe says, "She has always done what she needed to do to survive. As you have, and as I have." She may as well have been omega herself, for how some of the members of their former pack treated her. She cannot be blamed for those habits that have been deeply ingrained in her. At least, not for so long as no one if harmed by them, which is unlikely to happen, given the nature of the habits. "But we have each other now."
Helaku murmured softly, once more looking between them. "Then, shall we return to the den?"
Ixkin nods her head, "Lead on."
Skelaghe has no desire to return to the den, actually. The sun is still rising, and unlike Helaku, Skelaghe will /never/ dislike the symbol of their former pack, her proof that her deity and spirits exist. "You two go ahead. I will be there in a while."