Loneliness [Le Mad + Midnight]

[cptkickercutleg]

Graal pads through the Hiagaru Wastelands, letting the wind ruffle his coat as the ground cracks beneath him.
He looks around, thinking back to his own childhood, how parched the land had become.
"It was nothing like this..." he thinks to himself.
"And at least Ashory had others to talk to..."

[Midnight]

Midnight swoops down from above Graal. She had followed him without him knowing it. With all the strange and dangerous creatures here, she figured he didn't want her to go, even if he didn't say so. "Who're you gonna talk to? Who's Ashory?" Her voice was really puppy-like. "There's no one to talk to out here." To tell the truth, she was uncomfortable out here. There was no water, everything was parched and dry. "We should go to the Asanagi Ocean. You know I've always wanted to go there, fluffy-head. I love beaches. Even if I haven't gone to one, wolves say there fun......"

[cptkickercutleg]

Graal listens to the questions as they tumble from the pup's mouth like water from a burst dam, waiting for them to trail off as he walks.
"I am here to talk to you, Midnight, I am here to teach you. Ashory is a place, not a Vulf, it is where I was born and raised, I had to leave because of the drought." He comes to a halt next to a brown puddle of tepid water, turning to face the young wolf.
"I'm here to teach you, Drappa. Look around you, and tell me what you see, why do you think we could be here?" he says, smiling down at the little ball of fluff he had come to care for, he knew it was uncomfortable for her, maybe even a little cruel on his part, she'd be very thirsty, but they were not far enough into the desert to be in trouble should she fall to dehydration, he could carry her back."Think hard now, we're in a desert, next to a puddle, with no trees in sight."

[Midnight]

"Ummmmm..." she looked around uncertainly, like the answer would spring up out of the hot sand. "Fly?" she asked. "Or maybe magic?" In truth, she didn't really know. She thought one was as good as the other, since all the blue colors on her, like her spots, usually meant she had water magic, but that was not the case.

[cptkickercutleg]

Graal chuckles, watching her as she looks around.
"Do I look like I can teach you to fly? Do I have magic? No, Midnight, these things are not mine to teach, there is only one thing I know how to do properly, and that is survival." he says, smiling down at her patiently. "This land is not as dead as it seems, there is much life here, many chances to live and many dangers as well. Take a look at this puddle." he says, guesturing to the tepid, brown pool of water.
"Do you see the insects? They swim, they skate and they fly, over, on and over the water. Do you know why they are here and not at another pool?"

[Midnight]

"Beeeeaacaaauusse...." she started at the pool. It looked nasty, and he was right, there was bugs flitting around and on it. She didn't really see what was so special about it, it was just like any oth-oh. "Maybe because it's the only pool around for a long way? But I don't see the whole picture eh, thingy." she sat on her haunches and made vague movements with her paws. "I mean, I'm sure it has some sort of, um, reason? but I'm not going to just walk into the desert; you know I don't like dry. So I don't really need to know how to survive somewhere if I'm not gonna go there, to that place. I would rather be somewhere else....ya know,.....like the Asanagi Ocean?...."

[cptkickercutleg]

Graal chuckles, "Oh dear, Drappa, you really don't know?" he asks, "You see only a dead land, do you not? Can you not see life? Can you not feel the beat of the world under your feet?" he asks, smiling and stretching in the sun.
"It is hot, yes, it is dusty, yes, but this land is far from dead, it is merely dormant, tired. And yet-" he picks a leaf from Midnight's fur, "If you put a leaf down here, what do you think happens?"

[Midnight]

"I'm not going to answer that, cause I'll get it wrong." Midnight says. She could feel tiny life here, but it was faint. He was right, once again. "You really can't take a hint...." she mumbles.

[cptkickercutleg]

Graal's smile turns into a cheeky grin, he had purposefully been ignoring her blatant hints to tease her, but...
"That face!"
"Oh, I can, trust me." he chuckles, the pain in his ribs sparking a subtle twinge.
He takes a deep breath through his nose, closing his eyes.
"We will go to the sea tomorrow, and I will teach you to swim and I can show you the tasty animals that live there? How does that sound?" he asks, then takes another breath, absorbing every smell.
"If I put this leaf here in the water, it will absorb the water and grow into a tree, what do you think of that idea, eh, Midnight?" he asks, looking closely at her for her reply.

[Midnight]

"But it can't," she protests, "it dosn't have a seed." She liked the idea of going to the see, bit she already knew how to swim. She left the argument for another time.

[Le Mad]

Emiko had.. Hit a stroke of bad luck. Perhaps she had wandered too far too often. Perhaps her family had moved on without her. She'd grown quiet since, forlorn and brooding, almost. All the dark little pup knew was that she no longer had her siblings, parents, or a warm den to turn to. So she'd set out as well as her puppy-paws could take her.

The wolflet was only about seven months old. She was large enough to not be carried away by a bird, but it was a miracle she hadn't been eaten by now. Especially in the wastelands of Akeru. The parched earth made miniature canyons around her, and being the puppy she was, she found herself making light of the situation. She would race forward, leaping over as many little islands of dusty earth.

Her eyes were on her paws, completely unaware of the fact that the pair of wolves were not fourty meters ahead of her. She imagined herself a bird, flying over the rumored canyons of Giaku. She had no wings, though, and as she fell she realized where they would have been useful. Her paw landed on a not-so-stable chunk of earth. It collapsed under her weight and sent her tumbling nose over end.

Her path left a small cloud of dust trailing her. She rolled to a stop about fifteen meters away from the two. The dark little lump of fur, now covered in dust, lay motionless. She didn't know that there could very well be eyes on her; she didn't exactly care. Her mind was twisting and bending, warping like a wilting flower. Perhaps she would lie there forever.

OoC: Sorry dudes. I haven't been around, school started this week and I got sick. But I am back in action! And, I hope this isn't a bad time to jump in.

[cptkickercutleg]

(( it's fine, I've been neglecting revision I should really be doing, to post on here, because the way I see it, I can always resit the exams ))

Graal grins down at Midnight, "No? Then would you explain how a buried branch could sprout roots, and grow into a sapling by the time I left my land?" he teases.
"Now then, consider this: this leaf is still living, but it will die if the stem is not buried near water, so will it live if it has light and wa-"

Graal cocks his head in the direction of Emiko, watching her run, stumble and fall.
"Well, Drappa, you may have a less boring lesson today than either of us expected. There's another cub over there, do you see it? And yet, I do not smell nor see any adults..." he trails off, glancing at Midnight carefully,
"Are you okay, sister?"

[Midnight]

"I see her. And yes I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" she says. Walking over to the little pup, she picks her up and brings her over to Graal, setting her down and licking the dust off the little body. "Now can we go to the beach? It'll be easier to care for her because I can catch fish and we can care for her easier."

[Le Mad]

The voices of the others had barely registered to the little wolf. Before she knew it, she felt jaws on the scruff of her neck. A loud, crackling snarl erupted from the throat of Emiko as she rose. Her body twisted and writhed in the jaws of her captor, her too-large paws flailing upward in an attempt to scratch the wolf that had her.

"Let- Me- Go!" She rasped out in her scraggly tomboyish voice. When she was placed upon the ground, the little fae had scrabbled away. She whipped around, her bi-colored eyes darting between the two creatures before her. The little beast attempted to look threatening, with her hackles raised and her teeth bared. Her efforts were futile, though. She was about as terrifying as a slug. The fact that she was shaking furiously was probably not helping, either.

"What do you want?" She hissed between her needle-like teeth.

[cptkickercutleg]

Graal raises his eyebrows at the two pups, watching Emiko struggle, escape, run and turn to face them.
"Feisty..." he thinks. "Both of them."
"The question is moot if you cannot answer it yourself, tell me, cub: where are your parents, your siblings, your pack?" He asks, already guessing at the answer.
"But first, you both must learn the rules of meeting another Vulf. First, you give your name. I am Graal, this is..." he pauses to allow Midnight a chance to introduce herself.
"And you are?"