Wanderlust

[Destra]

Silent paws brushed across smooth ground, the earth alive beneath the claws and sending vibrations through the body of a canine. The fae was smaller than most, her roots buried deeply and distantly with vague hints of Dire DNA and her fur was black. Not just black, but blacker than the night, broken only by the russet colors that streaked through her fur like the hint of smoke in the sky. Her ears flicked backwards and forwards once again, listening intently to every hushed breeze that passed. Her name was Destra Valger and her journey here had not been an easy one. Still, she had made it here, to this no man’s land that wound its way through several pack territories and in light of recent events, now sparked and crackled with the tension between them. Destra herself had seen the body of the brute, had probably been one of the first to discover him, a lost wolf in another’s territory with his throat ripped open and blood spattering the ground around his corpse. That day she had felt her stomach pitch, roll, and heave violently, moving like the flies that had begun to flutter down to his fur. Being a coward of the dead, she turned tail and bolted, she didn’t want to see what was going to happen afterwards.

That was nearly a week ago now though, but still there was obviously some unspoken feud that the male’s death had begun and a wolf can never be too careful on her own. She had been around for well over a year here, bumped into other wolves every once and awhile, although not very often, and in all honesty, she was beginning to call this place home. She had no intention of joining pack, Destra preferred things on her own, but still the unclaimed lands here were enough for her. Suddenly, her stomach grumbled at her insistently and she remembered why she had come over to Animos side of things, too hunt. The prey hadn’t been running very well as of late, it seemed that death scared the rabbits and voles more than it scared Destra herself, and it had been a few days since her last meal.

Destra lifted her delicate head into the air, her black nose twitching as she gathered the scents in around her, breathing in the life that she knew was hiding just beneath the surface. Her large ears rolled back and she blocked out the sounds for a moment, opening her dainty muzzle only slightly for a better taste. Unfortunately, all the scents were stale and not a single one of them more recent than a day. Her usually bright red amber eyes darkened slightly with disappointment, but she padded on. If she stayed for more than a little while, it was like simply asking for trouble from everyone else.

While Destra didn’t mind seeing or talking to others, they usually minded her presence and she had learned never to trust anyone else. Trusting someone made you vulnerable and malleable and everyone knows others will take advantage of that to mold you into something you never thought you would be. Destra had had her fair share of being taken advantage of, especially in her own pack. Looking at her, you wouldn’t guess that Destra was originally being trained to be an alpha of a pack, but she had been. As a young girl her mother had rigorously pushed her to be exactly like herself and in doing so, had driven Destra to the edges of their land when the fire broke out. That fire either stole or scattered her entire life and every single wolf that had ever meant something to her.

She couldn’t look back on that now, if she did she would be stuck there. Even so, the future seemed brighter than the past had; Destra had learned quickly that being an alpha like her mother was not for her. Sure, she could make better decisions than most and of course she was good at ordering others around, but to be so demanding and controlling of other people? It left a sour taste in the fae’s mouth. Speaking of tastes though, a very tantalizing and tender smelling one drifted into Destra’s open muzzle, making her head snap in the direction of it and her ears snap forward immediately.

The lithe female dropped low to the ground then, her muzzle open to catch the exact position of the tasty morsel that sure smelled like a vole of some sort. ’Good, it won’t be able to fly away then.’ she thought gleefully, the muscles beneath her fur rippling skillfully, the strength returning to her stagnant limbs as she crept forward, careful to stay downwind from the creature. As she approached, she tilted her ears back, her muzzle contorting slightly in a deft snarl of concentration. With a final wiggle of her haunches though she lunged, her front paws connecting with her prey and her muzzle nipping at the spine of the small creature. Its body went completely limp in her grip, the lights of life suddenly flicked off in a single move. The soft brown coat of the creature suddenly looked grey and as Destra silently thanked the creature for its sacrifice so that she may life another day, she felt sullen and gloomy. Still, too tired to argue with herself, she enjoyed the vole for its body awakening revitalization, her cells sung with new energy and soon enough, she felt her gloomy cloud lift away and clear to let the sun’s warm rays wash down on her.

[Aivlyn]

It was Aivlyn. Scoping out unclaimed lands around the new-home-pack territory, for very specific and strategic reasons. Recent tensions between put her on edge, nightmares of killers in the night and of blood-pack-battles and death raged in her dreams, every night. Fear gripped her, that of which she had not experienced in some months. Fear of battle, of death within her new-home-pack.. She'd experienced such before, she'd seen exactly that. A link in a pack would break, and whatever tender bonds it suspended would tumble from there. Since the death of the alpha of that other pack, and his dead body in new-home-pack territory, her stomach had turned into a tight knot of stress and tangled emotions. No, of course, she had not done it. Something or someone did. But if there were any assassin-monster-wolves lurking in the shadows, causing trouble and making her stressed... Well, she was not having it! And that was why she was here.

She'd found one- a no-pack-lone-wolf. This female stalked around. She was small though, and delicate. Definitely not a killer, maybe. Still unconvinced, with skilled paws Aivlyn followed her, far out of nose-detection-range. She was fairly impressed with how quiet this female was, but silent paws did not cover scent. This wolf was upwind, Aivlyn was carefully downwind. For now. She figured that in a moment or two she'd calmly walk out of hiding, declare herself not-a-threat, and ask how this wolf was doing and make small talk if she could. Why not? Maybe this delicate wolf was some sort of sneaky assassin and Aivlyn had yet to find it. Though this wolf did not seem so. Aivlyn remembered her scent around the dead body, but not on it, so it seemed that she saw it at some point and took off or something. She wasn't sure. But if you were scared of the dead, then mercy on you when you meet something alive.

The sounds of more rushed movement caught her attention. Had she been discovered? Aivlyn adopted a defensive position, not in an aggressive stance but one that said 'don't lunge at me, I'm nice right now, but if you do, I'm ready'. But no.. That wasn't it, was it? She analyzed. The reek of prey reached her nose. Ew. Vole. At least this wolf could hunt a bit. Aivlyn would feel bad if she stumbled upon some poor emaciated thing that needed caring for. Of course she'd abide, but she'd feel bad that she would not have discovered such a wolf sooner. But that was not the case. She was glad.

Her quick movements likely gave her away a bit, though past the prey-catch-noises she didn't hear any confused-noises from this wolf. But, alas, she was bored of following. Might as well reveal herself and ask how this wolf's meal was going. Walking forward now, and not really making a move to sound quiet(She'd prefer to give some warning that she was coming, as not to freak out his wolf into immediately attacking her), she slowly moved towards the female. She came into sight, and Aivlyn noticed the vole in her mouth. A slight, friendly-ish smile showed. She paused after a few steps into this female's vicinity, strategically making her smile a little more friendly. Then, in a move of respect to the stranger(and in order to gain a bit in return, possibly), she tipped her front end forward and down and her nose dipped lightly toward the ground.

"Greetings, stranger." She said in a low and almost whispered voice, returning her gaze up. For being rather large and looking like she'd seen plenty of conflict, she had a pretty soft and kind voice to her. "I am not threat to you, nor your kill. My name is Aivlyn." It was here that she stopped her speech, allowing a gap in which this wolf could respond. She pondered how this would go? Though for that, she did not know. All she knew was that she would keep rhyming her thoughts in her head until the day she was dead.

[Destra]

After the last scraps were gone, the bones scattered neatly around the ground, the fae was lounging in the light, her rear legs splayed to the side and her tail draped neatly across her back paws. Her front legs were out in front of her, her paws rolled on their sides while her tongue slid between her pads. Destra was working on her russet-colored paw when a noise creaked in her surroundings. Her ears pricked up, eyes flashing, wary and careful. The stranger’s scent was nowhere in the air, meaning they were upwind. A small growl slipped from the fae’s lips, her ears falling back, more in fear and defense than anger. Her paws rolled onto the ground and she nearly stood when the female parted from the foliage.

She was a dainty thing, this new female. Her coat was a blending of shades ranging from a delicate ivory to small guard hairs dipped in ink. Even though she was larger in size, there was something in her stature that showed she had no need to fight. When she spoke, her words were soft even, not brash and brute as Destra had expected them to be. Each time she had met another wolf from a pack, they were almost always stuck up and held an air of conceit about them. This new girl however, she seemed shy and reserved if anything. Slowly, Destra stood and stretched out her legs minutely, her toes digging into the soft dirt and her claws flexing slightly to raise her up. With a slow breath out, she shook out her mid length fur, the longer fur along her chest and belly waving slightly. When she was done, she raised her eyes too look at the stranger, her eyes sparkling good naturedly and creased slightly in the corners. Out of her muzzle, her tongue had lolled out in a slight pant, the corners curving up slightly in a smile laced with a silent laugh.

“Well hello there,” Destra’s voice was darker and huskier than the other female’s, roughened by years of singing and deepened by her need to frighten to survive. Yet, there was something deeply moving and silky about the way she enunciated every word, articulated every syllable. She spoke carefully, as if every word could change the way the earth rotated, shift the earth beneath her paws, “I know you are of no threat Aivlyn,” she chuckled darkly thing, her head dipping slightly and eyes sparkling with a dark light of humor, “that much Is clear to me.” Destra stepped closer to the other female, noting how her ears barely passed the girl’s shoulder blades and also watching the muscles in her legs and back move, contract and tremble slightly, there was strength there barely bridled by the control that Aivlyn forced into her limbs. “My name is Destra,” she said as she completed her circle around the new wolf, stopping in front of her and nodding curtly, “it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

[Aivlyn]

Fear and defense. That was the initial response of this no-pack-loner. Aivlyn stopped, and swept her eyes away from this wolf a moment. Fear and defense were a decent response, and Aivlyn caught no hint of the reaction being faked or as a mask, though of course as of yet she could not rule that out as a possibility. The female was a strange color, black and tinted with russet and red, as if she were burned crimson by the heat of the sun. Her eyes struck Aivlyn as strange, they were quite blood red. What sort of wolf was this, after all? Was it some breed of which Aivlyn knew not? The question was something that she'd have loved to have an answer to at that moment, but she did not have one, so she simply noted it and moved on. Aivlyn herself was not what one might call a normal wolf, she had the size and build of wolves whom were likely more used to battles and disputes than most. That was attributed to the joining of two packs, which became what was now her birth pack. One pack had been lithe and dainty and quick as an arrow, as well as lanky and tallish. Her pack, and her ancestors, were known for being strong, large, and both had been wise, as they were in no way brutish or stupid. And then this bond between the two slightly different gene pools continued, with the more elvish wolves and the more burlyish wolves forming two-wolf-teams(guard siblings) as protectors.

But besides her own lineage, and besides this wolf's reaction and funny coat, she did speak and reply. Aivlyn listened intently, over-analyzing as was usual. She seemed polite enough, maybe too much so for the scare which Aivlyn gave her. Aivlyn smiled politely to mask her amusement at the smaller wolf's reaction, trying not to show too much emotion as it played back in her head. This wolf's suddenly relaxed posture concerned her. If she had really come up to this wolf and had meant bad intentions, but not said so, this female would probably be doomed as soon as she relaxed. But, no matter, today was her lucky day for that sort of behavior. Right now seemed more standoffish than relaxation, as each wolf assessed the other.

"Mmmh." She acknowledged the female's first words, but then paused. It would have been nice to use some of her own past language at this moment, to give a more ominous look to herself. But, Aivlyn guessed, it was too late and she thought of no words to incorporate into her speech at the moment. So she stuck to the second-tongue, and continued. She noticeably tensed as this wolf began to circle her, her muscles quietly tightened and her fur fluffed slightly. This was not okay with Aivlyn, as was obvious. Though she did not otherwise provoke her, nor strike, just yet. It seemed this wolf was trying to seem ominous, and loner-like, mysterious. It was rather failing with Aivlyn, her darkish humors and whatnot simply wanted to make Aivlyn grin with amusement at this female's temperament. However, she was still somewhat annoyed with how this wolf stalked about her. When the female completed her circle, she stared her right in the eyes for a few moments, before breaking gaze. "Nice to meet you as well." Aivlyn paused to let out a light laugh, she really didn't mind the intrusion of personal space too much on a personal level, but the tightness in her gut nearly strangled her when this loner acted so. "I am from the new-home-pa- ah, Animos Regum." She paused once more, quietly thinking of her words. Time to make small talk! "You have a very intriguing coloration. I don't think I've ever seen such crimson colors on a wolf, as you harbor."

[Destra]

Silently, Destra sat with her tail curling around her wide haunches and barely to her front paws. The black fae had noted the sparkle in Aivlyn's eyes, the fae was amused with her. Whether it be because of her small stature or her ease with which she moved, it mattered not. The point was, it was obvious that Aivlyn wasn't going to be a threat towards Destra at the moment in time. The silence between the two females lasted no longer than a moment or two, yet it seemed to lag on as they silently assessed each other.

Aivlyn was large for a wolf, much larger than Destra herself, but she carried a graceful and lithe movement in her limbs. Her paws were a large but dainty form and it was obvious they had seen much terrain over the years. The two were similar in that regard, both had sturdy and reliable paws that would carry them. Yet, while Destra's small and lean form was meant to run on large paws, Aivlyn held the stature of what some would call the perfect canid. Her body was large and her muscles thick with the ability to fight, yet her body was leaner and her muzzle meant to run through the wind. However, when she spoke, Aivlyn's voice carried a strange accent, one that Destra struggled to pinpoint its origin. The tone ran thick through Aivlyn's words and it was more obvious by the vocabulary that she used that she was not originally from this land. One more thing the two girls had in common.

As Destra listened to Aivlyn's words, she caught the gaze that seemed to tear through her fur for a moment, burned at the back fo her skull and into her psyche. As though she were reading her mind and analyzing her, leaving her exposed to the weather and to her probing eyes. As quickly as it had scorched her though, it disappeared again as Aivlyn's eyes left. Destra couldn't help but smile a little at Aivlyn's stumbling over her words and her head tipped as the other fae noted her coloring. "Oh yes, thank you. It is a little strange, isn't it?" Her voice was twinged with the small notion of concern about how others perceived her and she took a moment to swivel her head back as far as she could and study her fur with darkened eyes. Her size and her fur, both had separated her almost her entire life.

Her size was due to her strong roots in the long gone roots of the Canis dirus species and also because of her need to remain small and fast. Her colors on the other hand, she had no idea how those had come about. Her parents and both of her siblings had stayed fairly light in their pelts, yet due to some random happenstance, Destra had ended up with the thick dark colors that came from her grandparents' siblings. After examining herself with a critical gaze for a moment longer, Destra raised her eyes to flick to Aivlyn's and then down to rest on the fae's cheek, "Speaking of strange," she started, "where is that accent you bear come from?" The question wasn't meant to be rude or even disrespectful, all that rang true in Destra's voice was the sincere curiosity of not knowing and longing to.