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 Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 9:10 pm
At first, Alkos was worried Kailani would try to insist on the fish but was glad when the male didn't. He followed Kailani, feeling more confident about his paw steps when he let Kailani lead. If he simply followed the male's steps, there would be less of a chance for him to hurt himself, right?
"How can you tell?" he asked, interested in learning how to find edible plants. He heard Kailani sniffing close to the ground so he did the same, wondering which of the scents the wolf was following.
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Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 10:54 pm
"Naiad said to watch the squirrels," he said, sounding a bit skeptical. "But honestly, I...spent a lot of time chewing on plants to see what tasted good." He grinned sheepishly, and it wasn't entirely obvious from his tone whether or not he was kidding. "Anyway. Smell that sweetness? I figured out, they're...some kind of berry. Really good." Another smell lingered near the bush, a meaty, musky smell -- bear, in point of fact, although Kai had never met a bear before and wouldn't have recognized the odor. The location was, at least, apparently a favorite of at least one ursine.
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Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 7:50 pm
"Hnn," Alkos murmured thoughtfully. He did smell something sweet and he recognized the scent. He had merely never paid attention to it before, as his main interest had been of the animal variety.
The bear scent was familiar to him, although he couldn't quite place a paw on it. He did, however, remember he had been warned against such a smell when alone. He wasn't exactly alone, but he doubted it'd be safe with the two of them if he had been told to avoid it in the first place.
"Hey," he barked softly, calling to the other. "Do you smell that?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 7:56 pm
"It's the berries," he said, not yet noticing the other odor as he was not trained to recognize it. "Here, come try a few..."
He paused, brow furrowing. No...there was another smell, musky and alive, and he glanced around himself, curious. They seemed alone, so far at least... "...What is that smell? The other smell, I mean? Do you know it?"
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Posted: Sat Jun 12, 2010 11:07 pm
 Calvaria was always hungry, or at least it seemed that way to her. She finished eating not when she was full, but when she had eaten enough that she could at least function without constantly searching for more food. Had she stayed with her mother until she was fully grown, she may have learned better to satiate her immense belly; but instead she had lived with a wolf since after her first year, and wolves were gorgers, not browsers. What would satisfy Adriana for a week would only fill Calvaria for a day.
So it was often that she left her friend to find food. Berries were delicious, and she could easily plow through a patch in a day. Fortunately, they were easily found in the forest. This particular patch, she had been eating in a circular pattern, and it was only now that her circumnavigation brought her close enough to sense the two wolves. She did not fear wolves; they did not really compete for resources, and she had never met the sort of desperate wolf who would attempt to kill a bear -- so in her mind, they did not exist. Being the curious sort, she lumbered into sight of the blue and white pair, rising up on her hind paws to get a better look at them. She was a fearsome sight, with her night-black pelt streaked with brilliant orange markings. Adriana said her face looked like a death's-head, something Calvaria took in stride; she didn't consider how it would look to a stranger.
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Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 10:50 pm
"The... berries?" Alkos repeated. He was skeptical, but since when had he been an expert on plant life? "If you say so." he murmured, hoping his fears were wrong. Still, he was overly cautious, and was beginning to get jumpy when the smell started to get more noticeable.
"I..." he started, but was unable to finish. He still couldn't recall what it was, although it was right on the tip of his tongue. However, he could still tell it was something dangerous, and he grew nervous simply thinking about it.
Suddenly, the paw steps of something huge could be heard and he snorted fearfully, shying away from the sound. His ears flattened and he crouched, as if to hide himself, when the smell grew even stronger. And then, with a sharp, startled gasp, he remembered.
"Bear."
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Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 11:21 pm
Bear? What in the world was a bear? The word sounded vaguely familiar to Kai, but he had no idea what his friend was talking about. But, now he mentioned it...he thought he could smell something particularly earthy and not at all wolf-like -- or berry-like, for that matter -- and he turned in time to catch sight of a huge creature, the likes of which he had never seen hin his life.
For a moment Kai stood utterly captivated, jaw gaping a bit, tongue lolling. He had never seen anything so huge, so alien. Or, for that matter, so succinctly mark with apparent warning signs, such bright oranges and blacks clearly labeling a behemoth from far beyond the borders of any world Kai had trespassed upon before.
"Bear?" He repeated, in slight question, unable to take his eyes off it. Then, in an insistent whisper, "....Is it dangerous?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2010 11:21 am
The white one seemed most intelligent, having at least figured out Calvaria's species. If only he had spoken, Calvaria would probably have tolerated their presence on her feeding grounds. But the blue one... is it dangerous? IT? Calvaria was no it, she was a she, and any animal with a nose should be able to tell the gender of another, even if it wasn't familiar with the species. Bears weren't entirely uncommon in these woods, either.
She dropped down to all fours again, though her shoulders still towered over those of the wolves, and her forefeet landed right in front of the frozen blue wolf. "Yes," she said, her voice a baritone that would actually sound quite feminine to her species. "A bear."
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Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2010 12:02 am
Alkos was growing nervous. The bear was close, he could tell, but where? And why was Kailani taking no notice of it? He could sense no fear or nervousness from the other, and for a panicked moment he wondered if Kailani happened to be the type of wolf that enjoyed taunting bears. It wasn't something he himself was particularly eager to try, and for once in his life he hoped the other wolf actually took into consideration Alkos' flaw and think that, mayhaps, a blind wolf near a harrassed bear wasn't such a great idea.
"Psst," he hissed, his call coming out a little harsher than intended due to the fear he felt. "Is--"
He was completely caught off guard when Kailani asked his question.
He... had no idea what a bear was? He knew the male had grown up someplace different, where the pack territory wasn't as large as some of the packs Alkos had heard of, and close enough to a tidepool. But he had always grown up in or near the woods, and the thought that another may have grown up away from it, away from the possible threat of a bear, had never occured to him.
He gaped, trying to form a response, but never managed to do so. Loud footsteps -- obviously belonging to a bear -- were audible to his ears once more, and soon the bear was upon them. He knew running was futile if the bear was so close, so he did the only thing he could think of and raised the fur on his hackles in what he hoped was a threatening manner, although the action seemed to loose its aggressiveness once one took notice of the fact that he was still crouched with his tail tucked in a submissive manner, and the fact that he seemed to be staring at Kailani's paw.
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Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2010 11:54 am
"They can talk!" He said, with awe in his tone. "How utterly fascinating! Alkos, check this out!" His tail wagged exuberantly, still utterly unafraid, far too interested to think perhaps he might be in danger. He took a tentative step forward; the large creature seemed perhaps a little annoyed, but he couldn't quite fathom why, and besides, bears probably didn't even have wolf-emotions. A bear! Oh, wait until the pack heard about this...
...well, if he ever went back to his pack, anyway.
"Hi!" He called, taking another step closer to the bear, looking up with a sort of puppish enthusiasm that, in the wrong company, would very likely get him murdered in one swipe. "I've never met a bear before. Sorry if I'm a little overexcited." He offered a wide grin, oblivious to his trembling companion. "Are these your berries? They're very tasty."
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Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 9:15 pm
Alkos was quick to drop the idea of trying to intimidate the bear away, when no immediate results were produced to fight against both his instinctive and learned fear. He hoped the large creature wouldn't take insult with his attempt, as she seemed to be doing with Kailani. And, to be honest, he thought that that would be the end of it, that the bear's tone, voice, and size would be enough to show the blue-coated male how dangerous they could be, and that they shouldn't try to anger the female further.
But, again, much to his surprise, Kailani seemed to be even more enthralled than ever before. "Umm," he started timidly, breaking off when the male continued to speak, his voice as excited as a pup who thinks it has found treasure. Being ignored once, however unintentional it may have been, would have, under normal circumstances, been enough to silence him. But fear of the bear and, no doubt, her growing irritation, drove him to greater lengths, and he called again, this time making sure he was heard.
"Kaiiiii," he said, his urgent need to gain the male's attention resulting in a nearly childish whine. "It... it might not be best to, um... to... to talk to her that way."
He hoped he had not been too late with that suggestion.
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Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 11:19 pm
"Why not?" Kai asked, innocently; he stopped a few feet from the bear, staring at her with utterly delighted excitement, but he didn't go any closer. She did look rather large, now that he was closer. Large, and powerful, and those paws were equipped with some rather impressive claws....
"...It wouldn't hurt me, would it?" He asked, then, suddenly wary. Having grown up all his life on the top of the food chain, the concept that anything could harm a full-grown wolf was a little mindboggling.
But judging from his companion's actions...ahh, well, maybe he had misjudged the situation.
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Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 9:15 pm
"She would," Alkos replied simply, beginning to tremble. Honestly, the way Kai spoke of her, as if she was incapable of understanding... He was glad nothing bad had happened... yet. He was desperate to get Kai to stop, but he was afraid that if he vocalized his concerns and specified what the problem was exactly, it would enrage the bear more.
He took a step backwards, feeling an urge to flee that, in all honesty, occurred much too frequently with him. It was unfortunate that his blindness, the cause of most of his fear, was also the source of his inability to properly run (who knew what he could crash or fall into if he went as fast as he could, without checking the land in front of his paws), but that it did and there was little he could do about it. Kai's presence, however, and the newly forged bond between them, no matter how small, kept him in check, and he entreated another try at the male's name, hoping the second time would convince him to, at the very least, step away from the bear.
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Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 12:01 pm
"Oh," Kai said, backing away from the bear. He glanced back at Alkos, saw the other wolf's obvious terror, then back to the bear, then back to Alkos.
He backed down, then, and joined his new friend's side, nudging him. "We'd best leave, then," he said, casually, as though the entire idea had been his own from the beginning. He gave the blind wolf a hearty, helpful nudge in the shoulder, and began sauntering off in the direction they had come, away from the bear.
He was still rather hungry.
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Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 4:43 am
Relieved that Kai had finally chosen to leave, Alkos quickly followed suit, keeping his ears low and tail curled as he skittered after the wolf. In his haste, he ended up bumping into Kai, but was so tense that he immediately turned away before any of them could end up tumbling to the ground. Still, the touch alone was enough to startle him and send him in a panicked sprint off to the side, for he had believed that, for a split second, the bear had chosen to follow them and that what he had nearly collided with was one of her enormous paws.
Then, two things occurred to him. The first was that it couldn't have possibly been the she-bear, for he had heard no sounds of her approach at all (and certainly a creature as large as she could have no hope of concealing her steps where they were). The second was that he was leaving Kailani behind.
Stopping just as quickly as he had begun, he raised his ears and began to walk around in a small, nervous circle, almost appearing as if he were trying to catch his own tail, trying to pin-point the bear's location as well as his friend's.
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