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 Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 6:19 pm
 Selkie gave a tired yawn and stretched; her long forelegs dangled above her head before she rolled to her side and gave a quick shake. Her feet were dark against the ground, beautiful black fur that was brindled lightly with hints of gold. It was a color she hated, it marred the black and made it imperfect. The fog made the air around her cloudy, and it made the blind spot to her right feel worse than normal. It’d been a long time since the wound that had left her blind in her right eye, but she hated it and everything it told her about herself. Weak. Worthless. Pathetic. The shadows twisted and turned with the air, light gusts of wind blowing it until everything around her seemed to move. She curled her lip back in a small snarl and twisted around, not quite trusting her ears to hear in the fog. Paranoid perhaps, but now that she was awake the nightmares always came back.
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 6:38 pm
Yes, she was blind, but she had been born that way, and had come to accept it, so it did not bother her as it would to most. Her brother, Midas, was blind as well but she hadn't had any contact with him for a while and thus, he was only a faint memory in her mind. She occasionally stumbled across a rock here and there, as she was unaccustomed to the terrain she suddenly found herself in, so she slowed down to a simple walk, attempting to get used to the rough ground. Suddenly, she halted, her sensitive ears pressed forward. Was that a snarl she had just heard? Uncertain of where it came from, as the fog around her usually messed with her hearing, she lowered her ears and tail apologetically, wondering if she had entered another's territory. She sniffed the air tentatively, trying to find out whether she had missed the scented border, but could only smell the never-ending fog.
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:03 pm
Something moved to her left, the slight slice of antlers through the white fog and Selkie lowered her head, watching. A silhouette stood in the darkness, clouded by the small swirls of white and Selkie lifted a paw to her chest, automatically curving away as she tried to make out the enemy. Or not quite. The wind moved the fog just enough that she saw the hound’s lowered ears, the low set of her tail. At the very least, Selkie decided, the hound probably wasn’t one of her nightmares. She seemed too solid. That tended to mean it wasn't another figment of her imagination.
She sniffed uselessly, hating the heavy air. What good was having a nose when it could hardly make sense of the world of fog? It made her crabbier than normal. She’d always been alone. If she’d had siblings, Selkie never remembered them. But no matter what, she’d never gotten used to the silence. “Who are you?” Selkie said, her voice sharp enough that it made her wince. She wasn’t used to hearing it these days.
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:22 pm
Pasha waited silently for a reaction from the other. When she heard the other hound speak, she flung her ears back, the sharp voice stinging her ears faintly. She flicked them, as if to dismiss the slight pain, and replied. "I go by Pasha." she said, her voice soft. "And yourself?" A wind had come and the fog was diminishing just enough for her to scent faintly the hound before her. She raised her ears and breathed deeply, eager for a scent of another besides her own and the fog. She also decided to use the chance to find out if there were any of the fruits nearby, as she had been told they had a sweet smell. Again, she was only met with disappointment and she nibbled on one of her paws hungrily.
She had recently caught a young mouse the other day but it was hardly a snack, let alone a meal, and she pawed the ground with a foreleg, discomforted with the hollow feel of her stomach. She closed her eyes, which had always stayed open, and even blinked, while she was awake instinctively, and shook her head to clear away the thoughts, the long fur on her head shifting.
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:33 pm
“Selkie. Selk.” She cringed. “Whatever.”
She jerked her head around as the fog cleared, using the moment to get a good glimpse around with her good eye. Of course, to fully see she had to shuffle around on her hind legs to get a good 360 look before turning back to eye Pasha, just in time to notice the hound nibble one of her feet. Strange.
Selkie dipped her head a few times, a poor attempt to catch the other hound’s eyes, not quite sure what to make of the foot-nibbling. Finally, softer this time – though her voice seemed to croak the softer it got – she asked, “Hungry or bored?”
Or insane, but Selkie wasn’t quite willing to say that aloud. Insanity admissions tended to mean Selk had to run. The other two she could deal with. She was a fair to middling hunter, good enough when she had to be. The tree wobbled above her and she knocked her lone antler against a branch. Boredom was fairly curable as well. If she thought long enough about it...
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:48 pm
Pasha nodded when she heard the name, adding it to memory. "That's a nice name, Selkie." she murmured, trying out the name. She smiled, as couldn't see Selkie's cringe, which may have made her appear impolite, or perhaps cruel, although her ears did press forward curiously when she heard the shuffling of paws. She wondered what the other was doing, especially with the strange silence that followed, and was surprised when she spoke, for her voice was softer.
"Erm, hungry, I suppose." she replied, her cheeks flushing as she looked down. The question was unexpected and she hoped she didn't appear rude with her sudden paw-nibbling. She had never seen before, which had made it hard for her to be empathetic to others, and she was unsure of what her actions meant to the other hound. Her head lowered with worry when she heard the sound of antler knocking wood and again she wondered if she had done anything to offend Selkie.
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 8:04 pm
Ah crud, Selkie thought, pressing her ears back against her head. She was making the other hound uncomfortable. She ducked her head out of the branch. Then she remembered the smile, the odd body language… Selkie leaned forward on her front paws, careful not to get too close. Just in case there really was something up with Pasha in the head, but for some reason she doubted it.
Food would be nice. Selk turned to look around, the fog softer but never completely gone. Like ghosts trapped forever above the ground, crowded close so that they never had to be alone. Selk gave a small huff. “I hate this fog.”
Still, if her memory served her right… Selkie took a step off in the direction she’d traveled yesterday. She’d seen a rabbit hole the other day that she hadn’t checked out yet. “A rabbit hole was… somewhere.” Selkie frowned. She was pretty sure it was past the large, barren tree up ahead. “There I think.” Selkie turned, eyeing the other wolf. She jerked her head to the right, testing. Blind? “Or maybe it was…” her voice trailed off. She couldn’t make sense of the land very well. “I don’t know. If we walk I’m sure to find it again.”
She tilted her head back, her right eye scarred over. “I don’t see well.” And just like that the sharpness was back to her voice. It was a weakness to most, but she faired well enough. But the scorn she remembered was more than enough of a reason to have let that last bit go unknown. Not that most didn’t guess it right away anyway. "But if we move, I'll find something."
Probably.
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 8:27 pm
Pasha blinked. Her other senses had heightened to make up for her lack of sight and she felt a small pressure in front of her, similar to the one she felt when another was nearby. Was Selkie coming closer? The snarl and the antler-hitting-wood noise she had heard before certainly didn't make her feel any better about the movement and she moved back a step, turning her head, as if she had only moved to look around.
"Yes." she replied uncertainly. "It never leaves, does it?" Suddenly, she wondered what the fog looked like. All she had ever known was the darkness and a question had formed in her mind. Did weight have an affect on appearance? And if so, what would the fog be like? For although it was heavy upon her nose and ears, it was like air to her sense of touch and taste.
Her train of thought was broken at the mention of rabbit. She looked up hopefully although she was only facing the direction of Selkie's voice, and nothing more. "That's all right." she said, taking on a careless tone. "There's no need to go hunting just to make me feel better." She feared angering Selkie as she had no real means of protecting herself. "Unless... you're hungry as well?"
She flinched at Selkie's sharp words and her ears twitched when she was able to comprehend what she just said. Pasha nodded understandingly, but didn't probe any farther. By then she assumed the female was bitter over a recent injury to her eye but she kept her mouth closed, uncertain of what one could say to make another feel better about that type of injury. It was always a pain to lose a sense, even a part of it. She had been lucky enough to have never seen, for she could never truly wish for sight if she did not even fully know what it was, and thus she would never grow mad or insane, lusting for it.
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 8:44 pm
There she went again, making Pasha uncomfortable. Selkie had never been good with body language, but she understood a flinch just as much as she understood the need to move away. “It never leaves,” she said, her voice soft again. Like a madwoman she had to seem. Still, the company beat the fog induced silence – which in away, had always been better than the silence of a crowd. “Makes it impossible to remember where I’ve been and where I haven’t.”
There. That last bit had even sounded friendly. At least, to Selkie’s ears, which probably meant they were rougher than normal and not quite her soft croak she’d been managing. “I’m no good at this,” she said finally. Others didn’t tend to like her much. Which was fine for the most part, but Selkie was tired of the quiet and the nightmares that came with it. She was fairly sure she wasn’t losing her mind, but the fog made even that hard to tell these days.
“I could eat…” Then right on cue her tummy gave the upset rumble that tended to follow her naps. She twisted her head uncertainly in the direction of the bare tree. The rabbit hole had to be there. She shuffled a bit to get another view around her and then nodded. “I believe it was by that tree.”
Or one of the several others ones, but Selkie trusted her nose would pick it up sooner or later. Underneath the strong musk of hellhound and fog would be the subtle signs of prey. She sidestepped to the right, to keep the wolf to her good side. It still felt weird to be open on the right and Selk fought the uneasy itch on her right shoulder.
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 9:05 pm
Pasha, confused now by the constant changes Selkie was showing through her tone of voice, raised her muzzle thoughtfully. She had never really cared to remember previous places she had visited, except for the den she had been born in. She sighed wistfully, remembering her time there. That was the only place where she was able to walk confidently, as she had lived there most of her life and knew most of its nook and crannies, despite the changes the weather might have brought. But now, crashing into trees and other such objects were a common thing for her, although she was able to veer away most of the time.
She frowned, tilting her head slightly. "No good at what?" she asked, wondering if Selkie was referring to hunting. Possible, as she had yet to give a reply to her previous question. When she heard the female's stomach growl with hunger, her tail raised as it meant they would hunt soon.
Pasha could hunt. She wasn't the best, but she wasn't the worst either. Most of her problems came from the fact that prey could... well, move, and she had no idea where they were headed for. She could hear them, and she could follow, but she couldn't see the obstacles in her path and she often tripped or crashed. The inanimate objects gave off no heat and so they were harder for her to notice. One thing she excelled at, though, was that most of the time, she knew where the prey was. Some could fool the other hounds, by hiding in a bush, climbing a tree, or some other form of concealment, but she found that if she had the patience to wait it out near said hiding place, the prey would often have no choice but to come to her. Of course, she still missed as they darted past her.
Hearing the sounds of movement from Selkie, she padded forward, feeling the familiar warmth of another being as she neared Selkie's side. She, too, lowered her nose to the ground, her muzzle twitching as she took in short, snuffling scents. Licking her nose to catch the scents better, she turned her head this way and that, looking for the first hints of the rabbit hole.
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Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 7:51 am
“Talking,” she said, knowing she was confusing the other hound. There really wasn’t much she could do about that so instead she settled for waiting. As Pasha stepped up and started to scent Selkie lowered her head to follow suit. Her problem, unlike Pasha’s, wasn’t the lack of sight. The blind spot on her right side was disconcerting, but while hunting she tended to forget unless the prey moved too far out to her right. It was only in the dark stillness of the fog that she paced endlessly, trying to see what she couldn’t. Too many had snuck up on her in the past, including the one that had given her that scar.
But a rabbit was hardly something to be concerned about. She dry scented the earth, using a foreleg to draw up fresh ground as she started forward. Her nose had never been particularly spectacular and since the attack, it’d actually gotten worse. Selkie’s ears had gotten sharper in the loss of her right eye, but the attack that had damaged that side of her face had also damaged the nerve endings in her nose. She could smell, it just took her longer than most. She huffed over the grass, sifted through the scent that lingered there and continued on. “And tracking,” she said finally in between sniffs. “Talking and now tracking.”
She really didn’t want the other hound to get her hopes up. This could take awhile.
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Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 7:24 pm
"Talking?" Pasha replied distractedly. She thought she had found something but it was only the scent of a protruding root. Leaving it, she circled around. Now, if I were a rabbit, where would I go...? she thought, her ears swiveling here and there out of habit. As a pup, she had always used her ears to help her, so they were constantly on the move, even after she had learned to use her other senses as she grew.
She was too far ahead to hear Selkie's next words for she had unintentionally wandered a bit to the side in her search. When she realized the other hound wasn't nearby, she raised her head, stepping to the side when her horns crashed into something. A branch, she assumed. She thought of howling to Selkie but she didn't want to startle any nearby prey so she kept her mouth shut, instead trying to go back the way she had come.
Was it that way or.... Well, she had to admit, she had no idea which way she was facing. How wonderful.
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Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 7:35 pm
Selkie watched as the other hound went ahead, confident enough that Selk figured she was onto something. She paused to take a quick survey around her, straining her neck around to get a good view of her right side just as she heard something rattle ahead. Some niggling part of her brain insisted it was probably Pasha, but she still flinched, her ears suddenly flat against the base of her skull. With a jerk of her head she turned her attention towards the sound and watched as Pasha swiveled around.
Lost. Selk gave her head a quick tilt. The hound definitely had to be blind. Ducking her head automatically Selk broke into a quick trot, her strides choppy but soft as she approached. Not really a stalk, but she was doing her best not to stir out the rabbit, they were after all near the mystery tree and Selk was fairly sure that she’d seen the hole around here…
“Oomph.” Her right foreleg slipped down into the small burrow and twisted, stumbling Selkie tried to catch her balance but only achieved in tossing herself to the ground at Pasha’s feet. At least walking had proved more successful than sniffing. “I think we passed the rabbit,” she muttered. If it was even home anymore.
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Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 8:45 pm
Pasha perked her ears, hearing soft footfalls, and was just about to try her luck with the direction she was facing when she felt a faint prescence, followed by an 'oomph.' She frowned meekly, flattening her ears. Was that her fault? She decided it was best to play it safe. "Sorry." she whispered faintly. She took a step forward, in an attempt to help Selkie, but she had judged their distances wrong and ended up stepping on a limb. Immedietly, she retreated, coming to the conclusion that staying still was the best idea.
Her head cocked curiously to the side at the mention of the rabbit. She didn't think it'd be so close. "Where?" she asked quietly, wondering if Selkie would be too angry from her previous mishap to answer. She was sure she must be getting annoyed by now with all of her mistakes....
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Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 4:10 pm
The bubble of laughter started low in her chest shortly after the apology. Selkie didn’t know why exactly the other hound was saying sorry, when she obviously hadn’t shoved her foot in the hole, and but the low rumble didn’t actually sound aloud until Pasha stepped on her foot. She jerked it back and rolled to her side, the low chuckle enough to make her close her eyes. They probably didn’t make the best hunting team.
“Sorry for what?” she finally said, catching her breath. She wasn’t exactly sure where the hole was. She hadn’t really been looking down while she smelled, which now that she thought about it, was probably why she was laying on the fog-heavy grass wishing she remembered where she’d lost her brain for the day too. “I believe it was just a few paces behind me. But I didn’t actually smell it.” Her voice was a low whisper, not much louder than her soft chuckle and Selkie shook her head. “I just tripped over it instead.”
Then, almost as if she was just remembering it, Selkie tensed and jerked her head around as far as she could. Had something actually moved in the shadows, or had it just been her? She let out a small breath, not willing to ask. You’re not crazy, she told herself. Just half-blind. And clumsy as an ox. A branch broke to her right and Selkie stiffened against Pasha. “You heard that too right?”
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