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 Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 7:51 pm
Faline felt fresh and happy this morning after finding another hound who wished to form a pack, form the bonds of family and friendship. She had come to see herself as a real alpha, and now with a hunter standing behind her she decided to search for others. She would need hounds with all types of skills, more hunters, pup-sitters, warriors, weavers of tales. Most importantly though none of them could have the dangerous infatuation she had seen in other hounds, the fanatic or mild desire to please the gods of Asgard and Niflheim.
She shook off and snapped at the mist even knowing it wouldn't do her any good, if only she could be rid of that foggy obscuring mist. Ah well, she moved around and around her tentatively claimed 'territory' and tried to force the earth to catch her scent, but it was a difficult task that led her in circles. She sat to rest and hoped that the ground would grab her scent while she was at it.
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 5:46 am
 Zuli sniffed low to the ground, attempting to catch the scent of her brother, Kyanos. They'd split up to cover more ground while searching for food, and though Zuli now had a small deer over her back, just waiting to be eaten by two hungry siblings, she couldn't find Kyanos!
Zuli and Kyanos had grown up together, and become quite close. When their parents had pushed them out of the den, they stayed together, working as a team when they hunted, or when there was an attempt to push them out of another hound's territory. They each had rich, dark blue coats, speckled with black and gold. Their main features (horns, eyes, and nose) took an a golden brown color which suited them well...
Zuli lifted her head slightly in surprise as a faint scent reached her senses. It wasn't that of her brother, but of some other hound... A female, Zuli decided as she sniffed once more. The trail was relatively new, and it was a strange one. It went in circles most of the time, although as Zuli followed the scent, she was making progress forward.
Finally, a shape through the mist distinguished itself. Zuli took in a breath as the form of a deer became relatively clear. She and Kyanos could always use more meat...
She slid the already-dead deer from her shoulder, slipping it to the ground to come back for it later. The horns on the new-target's head implied a stag... a big one. The deer that Zuli had already caught was only a small fawn who'd gotten lost wandering around Oblivion. This catch would be Zuli's biggest prize...
With a small growl, she lunged forward and pounced. Her paws were on the 'deer's' fur before Zuli realized her mistake. This wasn't a stag! It was the female hound that she'd been tracking! Zuli tried to recover, but couldn't stop her flying leap. She at least managed to stumble out away from the other hound as she careened over the female's back, wincing as her paws scraped over the unknown hound's fur.
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 8:19 am
Faline had been sitting in quiet contemplation wondering how to draw other hounds of her ilk in as pack members when her ears perked. She twisted just in time to see a blue gold form rushing at her through the mist. She jerked up and saw the other hound go flying over her, she felt the brush of claws in her fur and snarled. With a quick twist she rushed over to the fallen female and lowered her horns.
"Why do you attack!" She growled softly her diamond blue eyes flashing with mistrust, after all she had just grasped this territory for her own a sudden attack seemed to mean challenge. As a new Alpha Faline was uncertain of how she would keep her little band together in the ever changing mist, but if other hounds before her had families then it was possible.
She kept her horns lowered on the female her muscles tense and prepared to fight, to defend her loose hold on the terrain. She would not so easily give up her dream.
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 11:27 am
Zuli frowned as the hound that looked like a deer twisted over Zuli's body and lowered her horns. If Zuli said the wrong thing at this point, the other hound might ram with those horns and perhaps crush a few of Zuli's ribs.
Zuli lay in a vulnerable position, down on her back with her stomache facing the sky. If the lapis lazuli hound tried anything to get to her feet, the deer-colored hound would be able to make a move quick enough to stop her - and crush her! The only thing that Zuli could try was the truth...
"I'm deeply sorry," she lowered her eyes, "I'm afraid this is just a big misunderstanding! You see, I was hunting with my brother, and we split up to search more ground. I had just stumbled onto a small group of deer some ways back. I had killed one, and the rest had scattered. Then while I was trying to find my brother, I found your scent, and I wanted to know who had taken this territory, and if they'd seen Kyanos (my brother). Then, I just barely saw you, and the mist..." Zuli chuckled nervously. "I'm afraid that this wretched fog tricked my eyes, and I took you to be one of the deer that had scattered. I didn't realize my mistake until I was partly into my pounce... Once again, I'm very sorry. My name is Zuli."
The blue, speckled hound looked up at the strange female with hopeful eyes. Best case scenario, she'd believe Zuli and let her up. Worst case scenario, she'd kill Zuli then and there... The story wasn't altogether plausible... Even with all this mist, it was hard to believe that Zuli had been so badly mistaken, and even worse, what if the deer-colored hound believed Zuli, but took offense at being mistaken for a weak, pitiful deer?
"If you don't believe me, my kill is still over there just a bit," Zuli said suddenly, gesturing with her head back behind the female hound. There were several bits of strategy to this admittance. First, the kill would be proof that Zuli had been telling the truth. Second, the other female would need to let Zuli up in order to go check the kill.
Zuli only hoped that the other hound wouldn't take the deer as her own. She'd worked hard to get that meat! And she had no idea if Kyanos had had any luck hunting... If the other hound took the meat, Zuli and her brother would no doubt go hungry that night...
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 11:39 am
Faline watched and listened to the other female and considered her eyes and her words with care. She could tell, there was truth in the blue femmes words and so she slowly rose her horns and stood tall. She gave the other a small tip of her muzzle, her posture remained stiff, tense, ready. Her eyes had warmed though the ice melting to reveal gentle blue depths.
"The mist causes all kinds of confusion, it's hard here." She brushed away the melancholy that laced her words and slowly sat. Her voice became smoother more friendly and she offered the blue female a light smile. "I'm sorry I was so defensive, Zuli was it?" She nodded. "I'm Faline, Alpha of this territory, though it's not perfectly marked yet...the fog carries everything away. I want my pack to be a safehaven, a place where the oblivion cannot come and wipe things away."
She glanced over "You should get to your meat before some other wanderer does."
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 2:58 pm
Zuli nodded, relieved as the other female let her get up. Good. Most hounds would've crushed the lapis lazuli's ribs without another thought. This hound, however, seemed fair.
"Yes, the mist is wretched," Zuli agreed in a conversational way, "they say that in some places the fog has cleared, and that sun shines. They also talk of plants, and fruit that tastes sweeter than any meat." She scoffed a bit. "Such people also talk of 'gods'. Their stories don't go together; some say the oasis's are in Oblivion, others say they make up the entirety of Asgard. I don't believe either stories. All of Oblivion is this way, and Asgard is likely not so different. I haven't ever been there, but some hounds' stories are just too much to believe."
Suddenly, a wry grin spread onto her face.
"Then again... some demons who've never seen those like us would say that dogs with horns are too much to believe."
With the thought in her mind to leave Faline thinking about this statement, Zuli trotted back to the area where she had left her meat. It wasn't there. Zuli had excellent ears, and she hadn't heard any creatures approach... The meat had to be here... Zuli was probably just looking in the wrong spot.
She glanced back at Faline and cursed silently. Now she'd look like an idiot, saying such a line and then having to sniff around for her lost supper... Oh well. At least she'd try to make a joke out of it.
"It seems that there was more truth in your words than you knew," she gave a sheepish grin, "Either the fog has carried away my meat, or it has carried away my memory of where exactly I left my meat."
She lowered her head to the ground and sniffed anxiously. The smell of her meat was there, but it wasn't right there. She'd just have to sniff around until she found it... This would be so much easier if the thick fog wasn't covering everything.
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 4:49 pm
Faline chuckled at Zuli's words and nodded softly, she had been to both Asgard and Niflihem and the only impression they had left on her was one of anger. She would defeat the mist with her pack and prove that she didn't need to be a lapdog to the gods to do it.
She watched as the blue femme turned and searched for her meat, but the meal's scent was washed away by the thick fog. Faline sighed "This is why I'm creating a pack, we should not live lost in a haze all the time. We must cry to each other in the day and night to find one another. Food must be found through the mist, the water burning your nose while you try to get the meat. I will unite hounds, we will prevail here, no fog will seperate us..." She scratched at the earth.
"I hope to have the border defined soon, it will be hard work against the mist, but work well worth the effort."
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 7:19 pm
Zuli looked up and nodded in approval at Faline.
"Sounds good to me," a small grin came over her face, "a place where you can set down your meat without it disappearing sounds Great to me..."
A determined frown replaced her grin, suddenly.
"What I hate about the fog," she said angrily, a threatening tone in her voice, not toward Faline, but towards the fog, "is that some hounds can lose their own offspring in it. They need to go look for food, they can't take the pup, so they leave them in a well-marked place, go find food, and then the mist carries away the scent of the mark, the pup, and otherwise the child itself may wander away, wanting it's family, then it'll get lost in the fog! I sometimes wish I could just swipe my tail and move all this fog away..."
She wagged her tail emphatically to accentuate her point, and a small area of air cleared around her. To her surprise, the hoof of her dear became visible. It had only been a foot away from Zuli's remembrance of where she'd layed it, and she hadn't smelt a thing. She pounced on the dead deer with a grin, latching down wiith her teeth roughly to make sure the fog wouldn't carry it off.
Zuli glanced at Faline, trying to decide whether to offer some meat or not... The femme had almost killed Zuli! But then maybe it was proper to offer her some meat, as thanks for her trust? And a good deer wasn't easy to find in the fog... Oblivion was a big place. Often the prey was as disoriented as the predator, and they would wander all over Oblivion, but they still never came across a single hound... Who knew when Faline would get the chance to have deer meat again... Probably not for a very long time...
"When was the last time you ate?" Zuli asked finally, settling for the in-between option. She wasn't offering food, but she wasn't holding it back, either.
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Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 9:42 am
Faline smiled softly at the females enthusiasm, her own tail gave a slight swish. Long ago she had passed the frolicking wild age, her recklessness was random and had cost her in the past. Now she was too focused on building up a pack and staking an area out to be distracted by the joys of the world around them. The doe colored female was more often then not contemplative and quiet, on occasion she would let out a howl of triumph and joy, but her days of prancing and tail wagging were set aside for a greater cause.
"The fog rips apart families, keeps the food scarce, blocks the seasons and days...sometimes it lifts away and I wonder how we wander never knowing the beauty were missing. If we could all unite, perhaps we could drive away the mist and see what living a life unblinded would be like."
She glanced at the deer and grinned "Imagine being able to find your food with ease." She smiled softly at Zuli's question.
"I'm not hungry, my lead hunter is quite adept at finding rabbits, it would seem this area is abundant with them. We dine quite well in the den, when there are more in my pack we shall go after the larger quarry. It is noble of you to ask, it seems you were taking it somewhere?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 2:05 pm
"Yes, to my brother," Zuli nodded, relieved that the female hound did not want to share the lapis lazuli hound's kill. She glanced around in the fog. "Now I just need to find him..."
"We've split up in the past," she explained hurriedly, "and we've gotten pretty good at picking up each other's scent, even in the mist... Sometimes it just takes a bit. Especially if I've got his scent, but he's turned around and passed me and found my scent, and then we spend an hour tracking each other going in circles. It's happened many a time before."
Zuli grinned good-naturedly.
"So, your pack has a den, then?" she said, attempting to make some conversation, "Is it a cave above ground, or was it dug out of the dirt? What's it like? Kyanos and I usually just wander; we don't really have a fixed home..."
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Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 9:08 pm
"It's understandable, even the keenest nose can end up in circles when the mist gets heavy enough." Faline nodded and smiled watching as Zuli glanced around, but even keen eyes often had trouble pinpointing things in Oblivion.
She snapped back to attention at Zuli's question and nodded "Our den is a mixture of both, a rocky outcropping that we've managed to dig beneath. We have large open chambers, the walls are well supported by slabs of shiny rock. We were lucky in our choice, and sometimes when the mist isn't so thick and the sun is out we can find the den just by looking for it's shine." She smiled softly glad that her territory was shaping itself out, she would be more happy once she had everything pinpointed for herself.
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Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 2:45 pm
"It sounds wonderful," Zuli nodded. Faline's pack sounded amazing... and the more they spoke, the more an idea began to nudge itself into Zuli's mind... Kyanos would never go for it though... or would he?
"So..." she attempted to think of a way to ask about her idea before fully committing herself, "I assume you've planned for all the pack details... The den's location has a good natural defense in case it's attacked... It's big enough for all the pack members you hope to have... It's safe for the puppies?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 7:30 am
Faline nodded with a smile, for her it was wonderful, at last a place to settle, no more wandering around oblivion. She sat down and her smile remained at the mention of pups, for though there were none yet, she hoped someday some family might find peace, refuge, contentment within her pack.
"Safe yes, but of course pups need caretakers, thus far we have but the hunter. We'll need others to bring their talents to the land."
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Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 5:38 pm
Zuli nodded in satisfaction. So she would need someone to take care of the pups... She could envision them now, the little dumplings toddling around in a cave, giggling and playing, imitating Skoll and Hati, paying no heed to the wails of the pups unfortunate enough to be playing the golden horses, and the moon.
But wait! What was this? Zuli's imaginary charges were chasing each other toward the mouth of the cave! There was no one to guard them! Just outside the imaginary cave was a cliff! They would fall unless there was someone to keep them safe!
That settled it. As odd as that daydream had been, it convinced Zuli. If Kyanos didn't like the idea of splitting up and her joining a pack, then he'd just have to join himself.
"I'll do it," Zuli said promptly, with little tact on her part, "I'll be the pup-watcher... A guard, too, if you need one! I can watch the den and the puppies! Oh please, Faline? I can't bear the thought of any puppies being defenseless..."
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Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 10:01 am
Faline was a bit startled by Zuli's sudden proclamation but she smiled as she saw the gleam in the other females eyes. She was passionate about pups, and she would be the perfect den mother. Faline felt almost certain she could trust the blue femme with the responsibility of caring for pups.
She circled Zuli carefully and nodded softly before smiling at her. "Yes, I can see that you would take the job quite seriously. If you wish to join my pack you are welcome, you can guard the den until there are pups to fill it, then you will care for the treasure within."
Faline gave a soft wag of her tail and nudged Zuli's nose gently.
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