{Searching for the Unkown} open

[Nic]

The autumn sun had only recently risen in the sky, it’s rays falling upon the multi-colored leaves that hung upon the trees as well as those that littered the ground below and illuminating them in a show of brilliant colors. The warming rays of the sun had yet to evaporate the dew that had fallen and little drops still dotted the leaves, both on the ground and on the trees, causing them to almost shimmer in the faint morning light. A slight wind rustled through said trees, helping to camouflage the slight rustle that was caused by the steps of a gray wolf making his way quietly through the forest. Large paws hit the ground with only the barest hint of noise as the wolf, whose coat was a myriad of grays, made his way down a long forgotten path. One that the passage of time, and the course of nature, had made all but unrecognizable. Mikae had spent the night hunting for both himself and his sister Jannali, his offering of red meat having been left at the entrance of her den before the female would have even awoken. His littermate had never been a hunter so there was no need for her to keep a nocturnal schedule. That and the frailty that she had been possessed of since birth caused the petite she-wolf to sleep often.

Mikae had been hunting for and generally taking care of his sister since they were whelps but as of recent Jannali had been encouraging him to get out and about more on his own. She kept telling him that he had a life to live outside of taking care of her and that he should be concentrating more on his own life instead of worrying about her so much. At her insisting he did travel on his own more often than had been the case in the past but would often sneak by her den even when he wasn’t delivering fresh kills just to make sure that she was alright.

A fact that he kept as his little secret.

There was a fierce loyalty to those that he held close in his personality that Mikae wouldn’t have been able to ignore even if he’d tried so making sure that his littermate had everything that she needed seemed second nature to him. He would no sooner abandon her to fend for himself than he would a mate or pups, should he ever be fortunate enough to have them.

Walking with his head held high, in a position of one who was a leader and not a follower, the ashen gray wolf listened as the birds overheard sang their morning greeting to the forest. Alert gray eyes kept watch for anything that might pose a threat and for the most part ignored the small animals that dashed for cover the moment that they caught sight or scent of the predator. His stomach was full from his successful hunt the previous night and for the moment Mikae was merely out for a leisurely stroll. There was no greater purpose so Mikae kept his steps brisk but not hurried, his senses alert to whatever he may happen across.

[elizabeth]

Her little golden and white paws hurt. They where sore and raw tiny flecks of scarlet mixing with the dark gray of her paw pads and besides that she heard birdies and she…she didn’t like birdies they tried to eated her and she really didn’t like them. Especially those birdies with long sharp beaks and the sharp rocks like she had on her paws. Aarushi looked around tentatively her chocolaty brown eyes wide and a bit scared though they held an air of adventure one that wouldn’t be shaken by her fears, “Shi nah be ‘fraid! Shi big woof!” she scolds herself puffing out her cream colored chest her fur fluffing up to make her look like a huge gold and white fur ball. She stops in her tracks though her little legs go stiff as she watches the winged creature flying by her caramel dusted tail sweeping through the air behind her like a helicopter.
“Butterfly!”
Shrieked the young pup as she darted after it her jaws snapping in the air behind the colorful orange and ebony creature her small paws smashing down leaves where they had fluttered in the air though it they popped back up as soon as her pads left the soft tree-curtains. She paid no heed to the stinging hurt in her paws now it was all about the ‘hunt’ and she intended to win this one no matter if her paws where hurting her. She ran and ran until her paws where forced to halt and her tiny form slammed into a bigger wolf’s. A startled whimper came from her maw as she slumped back to the ground her eyes wide and round and terrified as she backed away her mind thinking about Monsters in the Dark even though it wasn’t Dark… ‘Where they comin’ in the lights now too?!’ she asked herself in silent shock. She was shaking from light brown nose to pure white tail tip little whines and whimpers coming from deep in her throat as she looked up at the wolf she didn’t know the name of.

[Nic]

The tips of Mikae’s ears pricked up as he heard the sound of something rustling through the leaves with what seemed to be careless abandon. Whereas his own steps had been quiet, barely disturbing the blanket of leaves that covered the forest floor, the steps of the approaching figure caused a loud crinkling sound to echo in the air. Instinctively the male knew that whatever was approaching his location couldn’t be anything with much experience, either predator or prey, or else they would know that making so much noise was as good as a death sentence. Coming to a halt he gazed around, sniffing the air in slight curiosity, before watching as a young pup came gamboling from another part of the forest only to collide head-first with his chest. Blinking a couple of times he watched as the younger and smaller wolf fell back on her haunches, a startled look on her face.

Raising his muzzle and sniffing the air slightly Mikae noted that this youngster was female and obviously quite terrified of him. And, although he didn’t know the reasons behind these feelings, Mikae found himself wanting to offer the child comfort. Perhaps it stemmed from the time that he had spent caring for Jannali or perhaps it was his own, deeply buried desire to have whelps of his own, Mikae couldn’t answer this question for certain, but the male slowly lowered his head so that he was closer to eye level with the pup.

“Hello young one,” he barked in a low and surprisingly gentle tone. The male tilted his head slightly to the side as his gray eyes met with chocolaty brown orbs. “What are you doing out here on your own?”

In this world it was dangerous for a pup to wander very far from it’s parents. Adult wolves didn’t have much to fear in the forest, aside from the occasional human who ventured here, but whelps were a completely different story. There were several predators who would attempt to make a meal out of a young wolf if given half a chance and this pup had put herself in danger by being out here alone.

Had Mikae himself been possessed of a more vicious nature then this encounter would have ended very differently for the youngster. But, as things stood now, the male was only curious as to why she was out here without someone to protect her.

[elizabeth]

Another drawn out whine escaped her slightly parted jaws as she peered at the brute. He was big maybe as big as her ‘dad’ but she wasn’t sure. She scooted back a little bit her haunches dragging through the leaves. She tried to speak but it only came out in more terrified whimpers and whines. She sat still though despite her shaking when he spoke. It was calming and reassuring and it made her want to cuddle up next to the big wolf and go to sleep. She shook her head softly still looking at him with wide scared eyes though her fur had begun to fall flat against her form making her look almost ten times smaller. She said the first thing that popped into her mind that would even be close to an answer for him though it was phrased more like a question.
“Butterfly?”
Her tone was timid and quiet as she looked around trying to tell the wolf that she had been hunting a butterfly though in her panicked state of mind she couldn’t phrase the answer right. Though she grew a bit bolder and moved a few inches closer to the male. She could see the trees now that she wasn’t running and running and the giant nests for the birds where bursting with noise. A small whimper comes from her maw again as she spots a flying form come from a tree.
“Birds not Rushi’s friend,” she whispers cowering down onto her creamy white belly before pushing herself closer to the brute. He seemed friendly enough and the birds where getting more active which scared her and she was really hoping that he would provide an essence of protection though she didn’t really know the definition of the word. The ‘protection’ she remembered was stinging nips at her heels and ferocious barks telling her to get back into the den and stay there before that wolf became the reason she needed protection. Which happened more often than not.

[Nic]

Mikae’s gray eyes remained focused on the whelp as she seemed to debate how best to answer his question; or else to actually consider whether or not it was in her best interests to even offer a response. He could tell that she was still scared of him even before she backed away and he sat down on his haunches, thinking that perhaps if he changed his posture into one that was less threatening then she wouldn’t be quite so wary of him. One ear fell back while the other flicked forward as he heard her reply, though it sounded closer to a question than the answer that he had sought.

Gazing around the male caught sight of a small winged creature fluttering around near a clump of flowers that had survived the early autumn frosts that had already blanketed the area on more than one occasion. “You were chasing a butterfly?” he questioned with a slight tilt of his head, recalling such games from his own childhood.

Even as he spoke to the small wolf who was in front of him, the youngster seeming to grow at least a small degree calmer the longer that he remained in her presence, Mikae kept his senses alert for anything else that might happen upon him. The sound of wings beating against the air reached his ears and the male couldn’t fail to notice that the whelp seemed even more distressed by their presence than she was of his. A bit odd… had something in the little one’s past caused her to fear birds? That seemed a suitable explanation for the way that she seemed to scoot herself closer to him. Despite the fact that he still didn’t have her complete trust there was something about the presence of the birds that made her draw closer to him none the less.

For whatever reason this action on the part of the whelp caused that strange, protective feeling to come upon Mikae once again. Raising his muzzle into the air he lifted his voice in a howl. Normally he would have simply offered up a harsh bark to scare away anything that had aroused his irritation but he got the impression that this would only frighten the young one more so he opted for a musical howl instead. It would still serve the purpose of alerting the birds that there was a predator nearby but would hopefully not add to the whelp’s fear.

[elizabeth]

A wince pushed her form away from his as he began to howl though the sound of it soon calmed her and she scooted still closer to the brute her questioning look in her still wide eyes as she peered up at him. She wasn’t sure why he had started to sing but it was soothing she couldn’t decide if she liked this howling or quiet wolves more.
“Are you not friends with birds?” she whispers the question her tone soft and even though it had a whispery edge to it almost like it was floating in on some distant breeze.
She had moved ever closer to the brute and with a puppish act rested her head on his paw her golden ears pricked and her deep brown eyes looked like they were about to roll back in her head as she looked at him waiting for him to speak. In the few minutes she had known him, he had gained her trust…well at least a little bit of her trust. She lifts her head as a sneeze assaults her light brown nose the soft sound proving a bit too loud for her.
“Rushi not really loud,” she says and nods trying to convince him that she wasn’t always making noises.
She looks around and noticing the birds had gone away she stands and shakes out her golden and cream pelt before puffing out her white chest.
“Rushi nah ‘fraid! Rushi scare that bird aways! Right?” she asks the last part quietly hoping she was right though she would pretend otherwise even if she wasn’t.
The little pup would then circle around the wolf poking and prodding at his gray pelt mumbling that she was glad that the Monsters in the Dark weren’t coming out in the light before sitting infront of him again her head tilted a bit to the side as she watched him quietly trying to prove just how quiet she can be though when her eyes stray from his she catches site of the butterfly she had been chasing and lets out an excited yap, “Catch it with me?” she whispers knowing she needed to be quiet if that where to happen. She hadn't really had the attention span to wait for the wolf to answer previously but now she forced herself to wait and get an answer to this question

[Nic]

As he lifted his voice to the skies Mikae felt the familiar thrill that always came with song, one of the things that he enjoyed most in the world. For a brief moment he lost himself to the sound of his own music but was brought from this reverie by the feel of the whelp placing her head gently on his front paws. It was a strange feeling but he couldn’t honestly say that it was unpleasant.

Mikae ceased his howling the moment in the same instant that the whelp spoke to him. A kind look appeared in his gray eyes as he gazed down at her; a look that normally was reserved solely for his sister but somehow this young one had grown on him in the short time that they had spent together. “I’ve nothing against the birds,” the male replied as he lowered his muzzle and offered her the canine equivalent of a smile. “But you scared them off so there’s no need to worry about them any longer.”

The gray male could tell that she wanted to think that she had been the one to drive off the birds and, hoping to boost her confidence if only just the slightest degree, the male opted to agree with her on this point. He offered her a nod of approval as his gaze followed hers to once again fall upon the butterfly that he assumed the whelp had been chasing before their rather abrupt meeting. She seemed to want to involve him in this game and, though he hadn’t been involved in one since his own glorious days of misspent youth, Mikae found himself unable to deny him.

Odd since, up to this point, Jannali had been the only creature to whom he was unable to say no.

Lowering himself into a playful crouch, his long plume of a tail wagging behind him like a pup so that she would know that he was willing to join in on her little game, Mikae barked softly, “Lead the way, little huntress.”

[elizabeth]

A grin tugs up the corners of her ebony lips as a little yap of excitement echoes from her small muzzle. She soon quiets though and scampers to where she in front of the brute again before pawing at his nose with a cream and amber streaked paw.
“Rushi and you gotsta be quiet,” she murmurs in hushed tones before letting her paw drop back to the ground and turning back around her tail swaying gently out behind her as she ‘stalks’ toward the butterfly though her paws where set down too heavily and she let them drag against the ground making more than enough noise to scare away the butterfly though it didn’t seem to notice until she was right behind it. She crouches down her tail beating the air behind her. Her slender forepaws where kneading the ground in front of her as she bunched the muscles in her haunches before springing forward her paws outstretched coming toward the butterfly with increasing speed though the insect was faster darting to the right, her smooth white nail just barely catching it’s wing though it didn’t slow it down any- it set off flying just as soon as Aarushi hit the ground. She yaps in frustration before leaping to her paws and chasing after the pretty orange and ebony creature her paws tearing into the soft ground as she gained momentum.
One of her paws catch on a root as they go deeper into the forest hurtling the pup forward so her chin dragged against the ground. She lets out tiny little whimpers of pain ended by a yelp as she skids into a thorn bush though it stops her sliding. She lets out another tiny whimper as she turns the thorns dragging and pulling at her fur as she crawls out liquid scarlet beads falling from her scraped muzzle an almost unnoticeable limp in one of her hind legs.
“Rushi hurts now,” she whimpers before settling back on her haunches.

[Nic]

Mikae watched as the whelp ‘stalked’ her pray, for lack of a better way to word it. The male was taking mental notes on the way that she was moving, planning to offer tips that would improve her skills and provide her with a better chance of success. He loped along behind her as she chased the butterfly through the forest, easily keeping up with her without very much effort on his part. His ears pricked forward as she almost caught the creature but then winced as a slight slip up sent the young one hurtling along the ground.

“This isn’t going to end well,” he thought to himself as he leapt forward. He wanted to do something to stop the inevitable but not even he was quick enough to stop her tumble before she landed in a thicket. Mikae winced as he watched the pup come to rest, the thorns pulling at her fur and no doubt causing a fair amount of pain.

Hearing her whimpers seemed to call out to some foreign part of him and the large male found himself walking over to the small pup, a look of sympathy in his expressive gray eyes. They say that eyes are the windows to the soul and in the case of both Mikae and his littermate Jannali this was most definitely the case, their eyes serving to convey all of their emotions.

Whether they wanted them to or not.

“Poor thing,“ he whined, sitting down directly in front of her. Leaning forward he brushed his crimson tongue across the wounds in a soothing manner, cleaning off the blood and making an attempt to calm the child. Honestly he had no idea how she would react to this, to the fact that he was treating her as though she were his own child, but the act had been instinct. Not something that he had given thought to but instead something that he seemed compelled to do. “You have to be careful,” he said in a quiet tone, his head still bent down so that he could gaze into her chocolaty eyes.

[elizabeth]

Aarushi ducks closer to the brute finding a comfort in his grooming though her ‘hunting wounds’ still stung quite a bit. Another whimper escapes her maw as she lifts her slender paw to try to cover the scratches on her nose though she soon drops it finding out that covering it with her paw hurt worse than leaving it alone. The corners of her ebony lips pull down as he speaks telling her to be careful.
“Rushi was just hunting fer foods,” she mumbles her stomach grumbling as if on cue. She presses her muzzle under his her pink tongue snaking out to lick his chin before crawling closer to his chest and lowering herself down on to her cream belly pressing her head against his fur her pain filled eyes closing slightly. She huffs out a long breath before bringing her head back up so that she could support it and paws at the brute.
“How did Rushi fall?” she asks curiously her head tilted a bit to the side though her tone was soft and her voice a bit shaken as she peers up at him, “Why didn’t you catches Rushi?” she accuses as if it was his fault she had gotten hurt although he couldn’t have stopped her getting hurt today if he had tried. If it hadn’t of been now it would have been later the pup was a klutz and therefore a ‘danger’ magnet despite what she tried to believe.
She hadn’t seemed to register it in her mind that he was treating her as if she was his own pup, it just didn’t occur to her that, that was what was happening. She had had many wolves treat her as if she was their own first her birthparents then by Nakomae and Soerian and then more recent a she-wolf she had no name for. It seemed to her it was just how wolves treated her, she had no clue that if she was brought upon more vicious wolves that she would no longer be alive.

[Nic]

“You have to watch where you’re going even when you’re hunting,” Mikae told her in a voice much quieter than the one that he normally used. He had taken note of the fact that the pup seemed skittish around loud noises so he toned down his voice so as to keep her at ease. The male completely ignored the fact that she seemed to be blaming him for what had happened, thinking to himself that it was only a natural response for one so young. The older wolves were supposed to keep the pups safe so in her eyes he should have kept her from getting hurt despite the fact that there really was nothing that he could do about it.

Mikae paused at this point, thinking about her previous statement about trying to get food. It seemed strange to him that the young one would have the need to try to capture her own food. Exactly how long had she been on her own?

Curiosity not withstanding Mikae didn’t pose this question to the whelp, partially because he was somewhat fearful of the answer that he may be given. It angered him to see whelps neglected in any way and, based solely on the sounds that this child’s stomach was making, it appeared that she hadn’t had a decent meal in quite some time. This train of thought caused a slight amount of anger to rise in the gray wolf but Mikae didn’t act upon it, not even voicing the growl that was building in the base of his throat. If not for the fact that he was fairly certain that it would frighten the whelp he would have been growling low in his throat. As it was only a faint gleam in his eyes hinted at his displeasure over this situation.

“Would you like something to eat?” he questioned, allowing her to cuddle against him without protest.

[elizabeth]

Aarushi could tell something was wrong, she could almost feel it in the air, almost like he was angry at something. Maybe she shouldn’t have asked him why he hadn’t caught her. She whimpers and looks up at him her chocolate eyes a bit scared. She could see the unhappiness in his eyes and it scared her even more.

“Rushi is sorry,” she mumbles her tone soft and almost inaudible for she was slowly backing away from the brute. Usually when wolves got mad around her something bad happens and she –really- didn’t want anything to happen now. Her whole body was now slightly trembling her cream and gold fur vibrating. She had thought things were going good besides her getting hurt but now he was angry and she had no reason to believe he was mad at anything or anybody but her.

She looks around quickly trying to pick out where she could hide if things went downhill but the trees looked taller and full of birds and now even the bushes scared her as if they all had a thousand thorns ready to tear into her fur and skin. Another whimper flows up from her throat as she looks between the brute the trees and the bushes fear creeping over her like icy fingers. Usually she had a place to run but obviously not now. Memories of old mishaps where beginning to swamp over her, reasons why she should run and hide anywhere that would be safe was good but now…nothing seemed safe and now she had nowhere to run.

She cowers down onto her white belly her ears laying flat on her head, “Rushi is sorry,” she says again covering her chocolate eyes with slender paws hoping that if she said sorry enough times the brute wouldn’t be angry.

[Nic]

Mikae’s ears went forward as the whelp began backing away from him, apologizing profusely the entire time, and he instantly began internally berating himself for allowing even a trace of his anger to show. For whatever reason this child who called herself Rushi thought that he was angry at her and now seemed terrified that he was going to harm her in some way. Issuing a comforting whine low in his throat the male slowly padded over to her, making sure to keep his posture as non-threatening as was possible for such a large wolf. His thick plume of a tail waved back and forth slightly and, when he reached the spot where she was cowering, he leaned his head down and gently touched the tip of her muzzle with his own.

“I didn’t mean to frighten you little one,” he whined in the softest and most gentle tone that he could muster, a soft look appearing in her gray eyes to replace the angry light that they had previously held. He once again gently nuzzled her face, hoping to alleviate the fear that he hadn‘t meant to cause. Because he could detect the scent of her fear in the air and knew that he was the cause of it. A fact that he didn‘t relish. “You have anything to apologize for.”

Moving his nose from hers Mikae lay down on his stomach, his front paws stretched out in front of him and his bushy tail still slightly swaying out behind him. It dragged along the ground, causing a slight rustling noise, but he was unconcerned by this fact. His goal was to make himself as meek appearing as was possible. Something that he never expected to see himself actually doing but he didn’t want Rushi to be afraid of him.

“If you’re hungry then I can help you catch something to eat.”He didn’t offer to do it for her, sensing that she had this desire to do things for herself, but instead merely offered to help her out with her attempts at hunting.

[elizabeth]

Low whimpers come from her maw as she slides her paws back down and watches him come closer though he didn’t seem threatening anymore. She winces back as he moves toward her face though she relaxes as he touches his muzzle to hers. She looks at him her eyes still a bit scared.

“Rushi didn’t mean to make you angrys,”she whines and paws at him gently. As he nuzzled her again she calmed down more her belly sinking lower to the ground and her body beginning to stop the constant trembling moving to cuddle up to his side when he lays down though she was a bit afraid she would make him angry again.

“Rushi really didn’t mean to,” she murmurs laying her head on his side her stomach beginning to grumble and growl again though she wasn’t sure if it had even stopped at all. She shakes her head as he asks, “Rushi not hungry,” she says not wanting to tell the brute that she wasn’t up to hunting, her hind leg was hurting and her scratches where stinging and alls she really wanted to do was lay there and not hurt herself again and not make the brute angry again. She needed to figure out what did make him angry first though before she could even try to stop making him angry.

She sighs and paws at his side gently, “How did Rushi make you angry?” she whispers her chocolate eyes curious and a bit scared…that she would make him defensive or angry again by asking though it didn’t stop her from asking. She wanted…no needed to know how in the world she had pushed his buttons so she never did it again. She liked it more when he wasn’t angry…she was more at ease instead of constantly thinking he was going to harm her.

[Nic]

Mikae continued to wave his tail back and forth in a manner reminiscent of some of the domestic dogs that he had occasionally encountered during his wanderings. It wasn’t normal behavior for a wolf, especially not an adult male, but he was fairly certain that it would set the whelp’s mind at ease. After all this motion was about as non-threatening as it came. He once again moved his head to nuzzle her, this time on the top of her head between her small ears, as Rushi lay down beside him.

He felt guilty when she began asking him what she had done to make him angry. He should have done a better job of hiding his emotions from her and gave himself an internal lecture on the subject.

“It wasn’t you sweeting,” Mikae assured her, his tone quiet and holding the reassuring quality that he had learned from his mother and used so often with his litter mate. He wanted to make absolutely certain that the young one knew that it wasn’t her that he had been angry with but at the same time didn’t want to actually lend voice to what had upset him.

Because this might serve to upset her further; the last thing that he wanted to do now that she was warming back up to her.

The scent of her fear was beginning to diminish and Mikae wanted to make sure that this remained the case. He had heard the growling of her stomach and thus knew that she was lying when she said that she wasn’t hungry. The male just wasn’t sure if this was because she didn’t want to upset him or because there was some other factor involved. Resolving that he would find out what the reasoning behind this was a little later, once he had gained her trust a littler further, Mikae wrapped his plume of a tail around the small body that was cuddled up to his side.

“You don’t have to be afraid little one,” he told her in the same quiet tone. “I’m not going to cause you any harm. I’ll protect you.”

In all honesty he didn't know if she would even want his protection but he was offering it none the less. She was free to refuse it of course but he wouldn't feel right just going about his business and leaving the pup alone to fend for herself.