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"Come on, you can make it across. You made it across that other stream earlier today... It's not that much bigger." I called to my brother as he stared at the river with his tail and ears down. He looked terrified. "I dare you to jump over to the other side." A dare? How could I be so cruel. It was obvious to me he was frightened but I wanted to see him do it. In my mind I was sure he could make it but in my gut I felt a horrible churning that made me think I was going to be sick.

He straightened up and backed away from the edge of the bank a few feet. He was going to try it? He took off running and right as he reached the edge I saw him scramble for ground. He didn't take off right, he wasn't going to make it "No!" I screamed and shot off towards the river bank. Looking into the churning water I searched for him, I couldn't see him then I heard whimpering farther downstream. I ran over and saw him there, holding on to a small branch but his grip was slipping. I knew if I tried to save him I would fall in as well but I didn't see anyone else around. Time to try out that howl I'd been working on.

As I poured all of my soul and energy into that howl for help. I thought only about how this was my fault. If I hadn't been so cruel he wouldn't be struggling in those unforgiving waters right now. I completed my howl and knowing I had no more time to waste doing nothing except waiting for help I scrambled out onto the tree that was growing out of the bank of the river. The branch he was clinging too was just below me. "Hold on!"
I looked down at him, the water churning around his fur and I froze. Fear crept through my body and I was stuck there, stranded just above my helpless brother. I needed to save him, there was no time to be scared... but I couldn't move. He called to me numerous times, though I could only hear his voice, I couldn't make out the words through my head and heart pounding.

A familiar voice sounded behind me. I didn't know who it was for sure, I couldn't place the voice but I knew I'd heard it in the past. Somehow that voice gave me the strength I needed to shake off my fear. "I'm coming!" I called to my helpless brother. I scrambled down the tree until I got to a branch that I could reach him from. Water churned around my paws but the branch wasn't submerged enough for the water to knock me off. I stretched down and grabbed onto the nape of my brother's neck just before he lost his grip on the branch. I pulled back and nearly fell into the water myself. I vaugely realized he was safe on the branch and scrambling back up the tree towards solid ground. I followed him and when I reached the bank I looked around for the wolf who's voice had given me the strength to move and save him, but there was no one there, only a faint scent of flowers on the breeze.

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@Yin: XD How's that for an RP response? I'll do the one for the male later ^.^

Male RP entry:

((switching it to third person))

Kale was still stacking the wood pile when he realized the sun was starting to go down. Glancing towards the forest, he realized it was strangely silent. When Sarah toddled in after that blue jay he hadn’t though anything of it, but now, hours later, he started to worry. Looking toward the house he could see his mother setting the table for dinner. If he didn’t find his sister fast, panic was going to ensue.

He made sure to put the axe away so as not to raise alarm when he left. He grabbed his hiking pack still full of snacks from his weekend hike and left out the back door. He hoped to be back in time for dinner, but he knew the forest could be unpredictable.

Just a few yards into the trees, Kale heard a low growling coming from a deep cave. He prepared himself to enter with a few deep breaths. His weak flashlight did nothing to guide him through the darkness. The growl grew louder as he progressed deeper. He heard a small whimper as he turned the last corner to see a gigantic bear stalking a small bundle on the ground. Sarah had toddled into a bear cave. Berating himself for leaving the axe behind, Kale looked for something he could use to fend off the animal. He picked up a large stone and prepared to lob it over when his sister cried out. “Stop!”

Sarah told him that she had wanted to take a nap after looking sight of the bird. She came in here because it was “dark like nighttime” and she had cuddled up next to the bear for warmth. She was petting the huge black nose while telling her story. Kale listened as she laid out her adventure before realizing that his stomach had started to gurgle. “Let’s go now, it’s dinner time at home.” It took a moment to separate his sister from the motherly bear, and even as they walked out they were followed by heavy footsteps in the darkness. Finally reaching the fresh air, a salty scent of baked chicken and potatoes wafted to the kids, quickening their footsteps and guiding them home.

Oh, oh, RP Contest? I am SO there! *cracks knuckles*

They seem to be older in my response, kind of brushing on teen...hope that's OK.

Rp for Male


"He-e-ey Sirius, I bet I can climb higher than you!" Estella was already halfway up the tree when she said it, and she peered down at her twin brother with bright, enthusiastic eyes. It seemed a safe bet, that she'd be able to climb higher, considering Sirius was not only on the ground, but was staring up rather uncertainly with the slightest tremble to his body. Estella, oblivious, leapt to a higher branch, tail wagging. "C'mon, get up here!"

"I don't want to," Sirius replied, attempting to sound casual but coming out a bit more shakily than he'd intended--sounding petulant, really, and scared, and the fear in his voice made him turn his maw away in shame.

"Why not?" His more exuberant sister waved her tail tauntingly at him, sliding down to hang from a tree limb by two paws for a minute before heaving herself back up, utterly showing off. "You chicken?"

Sirius snorted, annoyed and a little hurt by his sister's almost cat-like grace--and, more than that, by her unwavering ability to do everything better than him. Well, he didn't need little Ms. Perfect anymore, he was done living in her shadow--and besides all that, he was OLDER anyway, but a whole ten minutes.

Grumbling, he turned his back and trotted to the shade, flopping down heavily and making a point of not looking at her as he sulked.

Estella paused briefly, started to say something to her brother, and then was distracted by a rustling in the trees. Her eyes and ears immediately shifted toward the sound, and a wide grin broke out over her maw. Movement! Prey! Excitement! Letting out a squeal of glee and then a long series of yapping barks, she leapt for the bird; it fluttered away, afraid, and she jumped more-or-less gracefully out of the tree and scampered after it, barking the whole way until she was thoroughly muffled by the dense forest she had disappeared into.

Sirius tried not to look. He covered his ears with his paws and hummed loudly to himself and squeezed his eyes shut--did everything he possibly could to totally and completely deny his sister's existence. Who knows, maybe if he tried hard enough he could wish her away, and if he could then maybe he could finally be his OWN wolf, not just following his twin everywhere, and.....what was that?

He lifted his head, blinking. That was...silence.

No barking, no laughing, no rustling of leaves. Just....silence, everywhere.

He pinned his ears back to his head, blinked again, and stood, slowly walking along the tree line.

"Stella?"

No reply. Well, he thought nervously--that's because she's playing a trick on me. She wants to fool me. I won't buy it.

Resolutely, he turned his back again and flopped down to his haunches, waiting for her to get bored and come back.

Time stretched by. The sun moved in the sky, shifted a little, and Sirius could swear it was getting colder, and....nothing.

"Very funny, Estella," he called, annoyed, looking over his shoulder, but he couldn't help the feeling of unease spreading through him. "You're just a whole bundle of laughs."

But she didn't reply, and the unease was turning into the beginnings of full-fledged panic.

"Stella?" He stood, walked to the edge of the forest, tilted his head.

And there--he heard something, very quiet, a whimpering that seemed to come from deep inside the wood, and every hair on his body stood on end in alarm because he *knew* that whimper. He had nursed alongside her, wrestled with her, chewed on her ear, and if there was one thing he knew as well as his own pawpads, it was....

"ESTELLA!"

Momentarily forgetting his jealousy, annoyance, and fear, Sirius dove forward through the underbrush, running at a dead sprint for the sounds of the whimpering, his ears perked forward, nose quivering. He leapt and dodged around the brush and low-hanging tree limbs, and nearly tripped over her when he finally did find her; skidding to an awkward halt, he stumbled over his own paws, overbalanced, and landed hard next to her with a cheesy grin.

"You okay?"

She blinked at him, thoroughly surprised by his entrance--not just because he'd nearly crashed into her, but because he was a notorious coward and, for the briefest moment, he'd seemed almost heroic. Her eyes, however, were bright and shiny with pain and tears.

"My--my paw. I tripped." She nodded toward an upturned tree root; she was holding one forepaw gingerly over her other. "I think I sprained my ankle."

He rolled back up to his paws--he was now thoroughly dirty and rather comically ruffled--but his brow furrowed in concern. "Really? Does it hurt?"

She gave him a withering look.

"....Ok, good point, of course it hurts." He touched his nose to her shoulder, comfortingly, and smiled a little. "....Here." He kneeled, haunches in the air, fores splayed out before him, and gave her a strangely serious, probing look for a pup. "Climb on. I'll get you home."

She did; it took them halfway into the night, getting back--she was heavy and Sirius had to stop often, puffing and panting, before he could continue--but not an unkind word was exchanged during the journey.

Pain in the rump or not....family is family.

Female RP entry:


((changed to third person))

The sound of the near by rushing water filled the ears of the two young siblings as they walked along the tree line. They had been sent out along with all the other children to gather wood for the ceremonial fire. It’s an event held every ten years to celebrate the choosing of the next Spirit Guide. Both Cindra and Lentz were members of the Talhoe Tribe. The Talhoe believe that, if the right child places wood on the fire on the night of choosing, the flames will tell them the Guide has been chosen. Tonight was the night, and it was getting dark. The kids had to hurry if they were going to make it back in time.

Cindra had always been afraid of water. She didn’t know why, but just the sound of the river made her shiver a little through her long cream colored coat. Lentz teased her about it, just like little brothers do.

“I bet you couldn’t even catch a fish if you had to go in the water!” He laughed because catching fish was a very important job for the older dames of the tribe. As he giggled, his large ears flopped over his face causing him to stub his paw on a large tree root.

“That’s what you get meanie!” Cindra walked a little taller to show him he hadn’t gotten to her with his teasing.

The path they were taking had brought them to a fallen tree that served as a river crossing. Cindra was noticeably nervous, and began pacing on the shore, contemplating what to do.

“Oh come on you big baby! You can almost just jump over the whole river from there. It’s easy!” Lentz was impatient and didn’t have any sympathy for his older sister. Plus, he liked exploiting the fact that she was scared of something that didn’t frighten him in the least.

“Oh, if it’s so easy, why do you jump over it! And I’m not a baby.” Cindra had turned away from him to hide her emotions. She knew she had to cross, it was already dark and she was sure the Ceremony had started already. Just when she got up the courage to rush across the log, she heard a heavy splash a bit downstream. She glanced over, not expecting to see anything, but shocked to spot Lentz in the river!

“Lentz! Grab the branches!” She ran down the river’s water line and saw him grab a thick tree branch near the middle of the fast river. There was no way to get to him, and he was starting to slip.

The frightened young Talhoe cried out, “Help! I can’t….” His head kept dipping under the water as he struggled to maintain his grip. His paws were wet and slippery on the smooth bark of the birch tree.

Cindra was his only chance and she knew it. She closed her eyes for a moment to gather strength from the deep water and the trees behind her. She felt herself grow stronger as the river went silent. Her large ears were no longer their normal dark cream color, but a blazing black with white markings at the tips. When she opened her eyes, they gave out a soft yellow glow that illuminated her brother clinging to his lifeline in the river. No longer filled with the uncertainty of her childhood, Cindra leapt into the raging river to retrieve her kin. Grabbing the scruff of his neck, she carried him out like a mother would carry a pup. Upon reaching the opposite shore, it was clear that the sister Lentz had been teasing just a few short minutes ago was no longer there. The new Talhoe Spirit Guide had been chosen.