Look me into my eyes - [Mud]

[Hunter]

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[atrb=background,http://i739.photobucket.com/albums/xx34/Kitten_Lovour/wolftablemid.png] Actions. ; "Speech." ; 'Thoughts.' - and tell me you are innocent... The city could easily become a difficult place to stray. There were canines and felines everywhere and most of them were a part of the war and thus hated each other. Then, the country around the city was more peaceful. This wasn’t the place where the Tempest Pack and the Iris Pride fought their battles, no. This was more like the place for the loners. Those, who didn’t belong in a pack. Creatures like him. The Arctic wolf was laying among the flowers on the meadow, his white pelt hidden away from the outside world by the colourful carpet. It was a nice place to rest. He could to hear the birds sing and take in the sweet scent of the flowers which spread across the meadow like an everlasting carpet of one thousand scents, only a few trees breaking through it. Some of the leaves on the trees had turned red, yellow or orange, because autumn was here. And it felt nice. Now he wouldn’t have to suffer from the heat even though the days still were nice and warm. This was just the temperature for him, but it wouldn’t take more than a month before his winter pelt would start to show and then he would again long for colder weather. He hadn’t done much lately. After the two encounters he’d done with the male and female leopard, he hadn’t done much. The heat had taken its toll on him, so he’d been weakened and he’d therefore not been strolling as much around, neither talked to as many as he’d wanted. But it was hopefully changing now. Vladmir was slowly getting his old strength back and the weight he’d lost because of the drought was returning to him. Even though he slowly was getting out of his prime years, he was still kept well in shape, but it would still take a month or so before he truly would be fit for fight again. But even though he knew he was getting out of his youth and even though he still was slightly weakened after the drought, the six-year-old male wolf knew that no stray with a common sense would pick up a fight with him. Besides, there were also positive things with turning older since you got more authority among the younger creatures. At least young, reckless canines wouldn’t be a problem for him – what he should be worried about where young, reckless felines. But he wouldn’t think about that now. No enemy was in sight. What he was more interested in was the gossip which he’d heard. Gravity, the former Warden of the Tempest Pack was said to have gotten a mate, and, more importantly, that his mate was with pups. He couldn’t help but wonder what their role would be in the war… He opened his eyes. His head rested on his front paws and his tail was gently brushing the flowers as he curled it up beside him. He could wonder so many things, but he wouldn’t get any answers if he never interacted with others. He soon needed to meet someone in this war. No matter how dangerous it might be. He needed answers. 531words/notes: n/a

[MudBug]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style,background: url(http://i43.tinypic.com/4geu9.jpg);][atrb=width,500,true][atrb=height,412,true] Watch my moves! - Read my mind! - "Hear my voice!" Something didn't feel quite right, but what that was, she couldn't be certain. A disturbance in the air made her ears prick in every direction. A slight aching in the back of her skull meant the rigorous attention to every last echo in the wilderness was taking it's toll. Feeling her patience dwindle, she took a few steps out into the sunlight beaming down on the open grass. The setting looked as if it should be sweltering with heat, but, in fact, it was quite cool. She felt a slight breeze whisper through her pelt as she slowly walked to nowhere. Some part of her wanted to enjoy this for what it was - a relaxing stretch of time to accomplish nothing and feel the lightness of the air, no weight on her shoulders. Still, there was a nagging voice in her mind that insisted she stop this foolish frolicking. Frivolous jaunts through the meadow never sat well with her, even if she did want to enjoy them, secretly. It was like a vice, almost. Finally she decided to not give a damn what her rational self wanted, and be a young girl of a pup for a few precious minutes. Before she could use her intelligent mind to rationalize against it, Janina found herself leaping through the grasses with a bizarre smile on her lips. She watched the fauna - butterflies, rabbits, even a mouse or two - flee away from the giant furred beast wreaking havoc on their peaceful setting. Their jittery running brought a forced sounding giggle up from her throat. Even as alien as it felt, she kept skipping through the blowing meadow, enjoying it with all she had, whether she liked it, or not.

[Hunter]

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[atrb=background,http://i739.photobucket.com/albums/xx34/Kitten_Lovour/wolftablemid.png] Actions. ; "Speech." ; 'Thoughts.' Thinking so much about war was messing with his mind, because he suddenly started to think about his past – his life in the north. He raised his head from his paws and shook the thoughts away. It’d been a long time since he’d thought about his old home. He needed to think about something else. Being positive was always good so gone would all the depressive thoughts about the war be – at least for some hours he hoped. And out here on the meadow there was little possibility that he would meet aggressive creatures since most of them were located in the city. Maybe he should go hunting? Not that he was very hungry, so a rabbit or something like that would do. And it would help him with thinking about something else. He came on his four, stretched and yawned. Then he shook his white coat and looked over the meadow. What a beautiful, perfect and peaceful- oh wait, suddenly not peacefully. He saw rabbits racing across the meadow in fear and looked behind him to find the source. The source of the fleeing rabbits wasn’t a hunting predator as Vladimir had thought it would be. No, instead he was watching a female wolf bouncing like a pup through the flowers, making all kinds of small creatures flee in horror. She was several meters away, but he was still sure that he found something like a smile on her face. A crooked smile was about to appear on his own face, but it never really reached his features before he had to frown. He was thinking about his past again. Old memories flickered in his mind like pictures. But he pushed the memories aside. They were bad memories, and he was far away from his old home, so why should he dwell at it now when he’d chosen to think about something else? But something inside him still wanted to know who this female was. She looked old enough to be… Forget about it, Vladimir, he thought by himself harshly. Why should she even be here? He chose not to dwell at the question, because when it came to the end, then why shouldn’t she be here as much as himself? But there was no way this she wolf could be one of the puppies he’d seen that day. There was no way it could be her. Choosing to finally drop the stream of thoughts, Vladimir rose his muzzle a bit and howled. The howl was short and deep, the tone being neither daring nor intimidating. It was more like a greeting – making the she wolf aware of his presence. Then, as his howl faded away, he started to trot peacefully down from the little hill he stood on to make the distance between them shorter.

[MudBug]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style,background: url(http://i43.tinypic.com/4geu9.jpg);][atrb=width,500,true][atrb=height,412,true] Watch my moves! - Read my mind! - "Hear my voice!" A warbling howl interrupted her frolic. Janina sighed as she carried her gaze over the horizon. Her eyes landed on a white wolf, trotting toward herself, a friendly expression on his face. Familiarity struck her, like a nagging at the back of her mind. His face came into view, and memories flooded into Janina's mind. Her mother laid in the snow, her pelt a million shades of red. Not a speck of it's natural grey hue to be seen. Janina's small body coward in the bushes, her brother at her side, quaking with fear. Their small teeth rattled in their muzzles, their bones ached with shaking. His face, it moved quickly. Not quickly enough. Janina's young mind was forever burned with the image of that face, never to be forgotten. Vengeance would be hers... Vladimir stood before her now. Both of them, all grown up. The odds in her favor. Surely he hadn't recognized her, unless he was simply insane with sadism, and regularly carried himself friendly toward the children of his helpless victims. She took him in, looking over every inch of him. A handsome wolf. Pelt: snow white, build: medium and fit, gaze: soulless. She saw through him. The wolf that stood before her now wore a kind smile, but all she could see was a million expressions of savage blood lust contorting his features, as they had contorted the day he slayed her mother. She took a calm step backward, steeling her gaze into his own. Her words came out like the words of a ghost, but more powerful, a resolution behind every syllable. "Hello, stranger. Funny thing, that word. I know you, but still you're a stranger. Strangest thing I ever did encounter. No matter, I don't need to understand you...only to end you." Fur flew through the air, teeth in the lead. She would go for the throat, her claws would slash at his shoulders. It would be over before it began for her, but long after it had meant the end for her mother.

[Hunter]

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[atrb=background,http://i739.photobucket.com/albums/xx34/Kitten_Lovour/wolftablemid.png] Actions. ; "Speech." ; 'Thoughts.' He wasn’t able to read the expression across the she wolf’s face as she acknowledged him, but something in his mind told him it would be best to run away now, before it was too late. But he didn’t. He kept approaching the female and now he stood in front of the female, frozen. There was something about the way she looked at him which he didn’t like. It’d been a while since he’d felt uncomfortable in someone’s presence, but he felt it now. Her eyes pierced into his and it was hard not to look away. The younger female spoke up, her voice somehow distant as a ghost’s, but with a powerful undertone, her words unpleasant in the older wolf’s ears. It was her. Off all wolves in the world, it was her. She’d taken a step backwards but now she lunged at him, and he suddenly felt like looking into the eyes of his past. For a second, the female in front of him was the mother who’d fought him to protect her young. By the time he’d done it so many years ago, he hadn’t known she’d been a mother, but by then, would it have made any difference for him? It hadn’t. Not until after the deed where he’d regretted killing her – when it’d been too late. Now, as the female leapt at him, he darted backwards, but too late. He was dazzled shortly by the realization of the pup who now had grown up to become an adult wolf and by the flickering sight of her attacking mother, so his dodge was clumsy and too late to avoid the female’s attack. Her claws scratched his right shoulder as her fangs snapped at his throat. Her claws didn’t draw blood, but her powerful jaws did as she snapped right under his right cheekbone. But even though he’d been dazzled, he was lucky enough to not become caught in the female’s grip which gave him the chance to draw back, distancing himself to her. Tail held low and ears laid down on his head, he crept backwards in a yielding stance. ”Stop!” he pleaded her, fighting an inner battle in his mind to not make himself bare his fangs at his attacker. ”Please, I don’t want to fight you. Please. Stop, and let us talk.” He knew his words would bare nothing but none to little effect, but what else could he do than hoping to speak to the female’s common sense? If she had any by now. He’d killed her mother. He was the reason to why she was filled with such hatred and he whined by the thought of how miserable he might have made her life. He wouldn’t fight her even though she wanted him to. He wouldn’t fight anyone. And he certainly wouldn’t kill. ”Please, listen to me,” he continued pleading as he made sure not to turn his back on her, keeping his yielding stance with tail and ears low, frequently placing his paws on the ground in his uncertainty. ”What will you gain from killing me? From starting a war which long ended? You want to avenge your mother, but do you really think your life will be more fulfilling with a murder burdening your shoulders? I know how it is - you of all should know that. I don’t want you to feel the same way I did. Murdering solves nothing, I’ve learned that.” He whined shortly, being far from the killer she’d seen many years ago. ”I’m sorry for your loss, that indeed I am. But I can’t change what I did, and I hate myself for that. Wouldn’t it be a better punishment in your eyes to let me life with the guilt than killing me and give me peace? I have already lived with the guilt for years, but that doesn’t make it any more bearable, so please. Instead of killing me, let me live. I’ll never fight you and thereby give you the revenge you want. Let me live, and I’ll do anything you want me to. Anything but fighting and killing. Whatever you want me to do to make what I’ve done easier for my heart and mind to bear. The only thing I want is to see you safe from the war I pulled you into.” He stopped and panted from the effort. His pulse was high, his neck bleeding, his body shivering. Saying so much while it depended on your life was actually hard. He was sure he was able to fight her and escape safely with his life, but he wouldn’t do it. He would rather run away and make her chase him to the end of the world if she wouldn’t listen to him.

[MudBug]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style,background: url(http://i43.tinypic.com/4geu9.jpg);][atrb=width,500,true][atrb=height,412,true] Watch my moves! - Read my mind! - "Hear my voice!" A glancing blow was all she managed to land on the other canine's neck, and it angered her. She wanted to be swift and clean with this kill, lest by some miracle her mind was changed. She couldn't imagine why she thought her mind would ever be persuaded against ending the one who killed her own flesh and blood before her very eyes. Perhaps it was that pesky ounce of caring left in her heart, the part that had her "frolicking" just moments before. Nevertheless, that sweet voice in her mind had to be silenced for now. This was not revenge, this was justice. What had happened to her mother was a crime, a war crime at best, a savage, cold, heartless, treacherous crime against the dignity of wolves as a whole, at worst. In Janina's opinion, "At best" was always too good to be true. The angle at which her claws grabbed the fur on Vlad's shoulder tugged on her paw just enough to keep her from being able to get it back under her in time for a smooth landing. Her shoulder hit the ground first, followed by her spine as she tumbled through the high grasses. It might have been a humorous sight, had she not come up snarling and snapping. She could taste foam on her tongue, threatening to pour from her jowls. Vladimir was talking now, a million miles an hour. Begging for his life, with every line of logic imaginable; save for "killing me might get your paws literally dirty", an argument she would have taken on equal seriousness with whatever was pouring from his lips now. She wanted to shut him up, silence him, make him stop his pointless pleas. Yet, still, she couldn't silence him in the time it took her to get to her feet and return her gaze to his, burning holes through his skull. What she wouldn't give for his hideous face to burst into flames in that very moment. The flames slowly consuming his frame, inch by inch, sapping him of his strength, and soon his will to live, and eventually his life. Instead, she stood and growled, watching him backstep in a hurry, doing whatever he could to put space between himself and murderous vengeance. Whether she liked it or not, his pleas reached her ears and her mind was forced to swallow. Her face showed no sign of it, but she could have almost laughed. Surely he couldn't think her that stupid, that naive. She interrupted him, barking her words quickly. Just the action of speaking to this wretch left a foul taste on her tongue. "Let you live with the guilt? Let me ask you then, if the guilt is as bad as you say, worst than death even, why do you beg so profusely for the right to live with it even a moment longer?" She didn't wait for him to respond, however, or even finish the monologue that he insisted on casting through the air. She charged, yet again, barreling toward him at full speed. The distance was short, yet it seemed to long. She felt fear that he would evade her jaws again consume her, propelling her forward still faster. Her rage consuming her whole, looking for any way out, snarls and howls ripped from her throat as she went. "If you'll run, then I will chase. If you stop, I will be there. And if you breathe, I will stop you!"

[Hunter]

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[atrb=background,http://i739.photobucket.com/albums/xx34/Kitten_Lovour/wolftablemid.png] Actions. ; "Speech." ; 'Thoughts.' Her eyes locked on his, Vladimir doubted that she heard his pleas and feared she would attack him at any moment, ripping his head off his shoulders. Just looking at her made it clear just how much she hated him. The look in her eyes told him everything; he didn’t need for her to speak. But what could he say to stop her which he hadn’t said already? It was by then she spoke, and even with her spitting voice sprinkled with rage, Vladimir thought that he finally had gotten a change to get through to her. But what he didn’t know was that he was awfully wrong and by the moment he started to relax, he’d as well as already welcomed his own death. The wicked she wolf didn’t let him respond to her question and his single second with relaxed muscles had been a big mistake. She raced forward to meet him head on and Vladimir quickly darted backwards before turning around to run. Well, at least he tried to turn. The Arctic wolf slipped and lost his balance and had to roll to his right in the hope that he would dodge the female again. But he wasn’t as lucky this time. She hadn’t needed to crash into him as she’d wanted to since he’d done the deed himself by slipping, and his neck now suffered a second time from his own clumsiness. Instead of trying to run he could have fought her, but he’d chosen the way of a coward which had been a mistake. Her fangs lashed at his neck as he tried to get on his four and her teeth hit him beneath the back of his skull. The pain and the piercing sound in his mind told him that she’d given him a second wound, and his body shook, trying to make adrenaline dull the pain. He panted heavily and tried to get to his paws, but as he tried, the female pushed him and he fell sideways back to the ground, rolling over a few times before laying still. Another wound from her fangs now rested on his left shoulder as he tried to get up again, and he felt how each blow had sent him back in time. He was slowly loosing his temper, thinking like the fighter, the killer, he once had been as the adrenaline pumped through his body. He somehow got onto his paws, gaining his balance before the female could attack again. Getting his balance back meant that he dodged her next blow just in time and he got a change to distance himself from her before she would be at him again. "If you'll run, then I will chase. If you stop, I will be there. And if you breathe, I will stop you!" He heard her words echo inside his mind as he ran from her, hearing she gave chase. As he ran with full speed he came to a sudden stop, quickly lowering his body to get ready for impact, and when she crushed into him his muscles flexed, trying to throw her into the air as they collided. ”I’ve chosen never to fight again, so stop your foolish games or you’ll force me to change my mind!” he roared. All fear had left his body and he was feeling stronger than before in spite of his three bleeding wounds. Looking at the female, his features suddenly softening, he hoped she would at least hesitate before daring to attack him again. He’d wasted his chance to run away from her, and now he was too weak to run away from her. He’d promised himself that he wouldn’t fight unless his freedom was in danger, but now, if the female chose to attack him again, he wouldn’t even be able to keep his life if he didn’t fight back. Maybe he would have to fight through his life even if he didn’t want to, but he certainly wouldn’t kill anyone. So if she charged, he would have to fight. He couldn’t simply dodge her forever. But if he fought, he wouldn’t kill. If he fought her and if he should survive… Then he would tend her wounds when the battle was over.

[MudBug]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style,background: url(http://i43.tinypic.com/4geu9.jpg);][atrb=width,500,true][atrb=height,412,true] Watch my moves! - Read my mind! - "Hear my voice!" The world spun out of control as she flew, literally head over paws through the air. It felt as though it were slow motion. The entire world turning around her - perhaps she wasn't moving at all, and only the world was spinning. Either way, she had lost control of reality, a most troubling thought. Her skull hit the ground with a thud . . . and a crack. Sparks flew across her field of vision, like fireflys plucking at the strings of reality, pulling it apart ever so gently. Her eyes blinked rapidly, but the wheeling world only continued to spin until she clamped them shut. The darkness enveloped her like a cloak, and she felt it slowly seep around her consciousness, grabbing at her wakefullness like lapping tentacles. Who will love you? Who will fight? And who will fall far behind? It all became so detached, as if every thought to ever pass through her mind had been shaken from it's resting place in her consciousness, and ben set to float before her mind's eye. She tried, desperately to grab at the bits and pieces she recognized to be most important to her, but instead they bounced off of her mental fingers. The darkness continued to wrap around her, slowly coming to take her away to a new world, a new life. It whispered sweet nothings to her, promises of a life without pain, without bitterness, without a past. It sounded so sweet, but her own voice fought it to the bitter end. It cried out, shrill and indignant. Who would you be without your past? Who would you miss without your memory? Who would you love without yourself? She pressed her mind for a proper response, the pressure building to almost unbearable. She knew the truth - she was no one without her demons, but the mystery of a new self intrigued her, drew her in with it's song of hope, and happiness. The darkness . . . it took her far away.

OOC: Wtf just happened? You'll have to wait and see. ;)

[Hunter]

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[atrb=background,http://i739.photobucket.com/albums/xx34/Kitten_Lovour/wolftablemid.png] Actions. ; "Speech." ; 'Thoughts.' Vladimir panted a few times after his outburst, waiting for the female to do something, anything, but she was just lying still in the flowers and he wondered if the alarming thud he’d heard had been her head hammering onto something harder than just the ground. Worry started to rush through his heart and he held his breath for one more moment which seemed like forever as his heart raced in his chest. She was still not moving. ”Oh no…” he whispered so low that he wasn’t sure if the words had even left his lips. What have I done? What have I done? What have I… That was the only thing which raced through his mind as he quickly ran to the female’s side. He examined her frantically wide eyes and looked around, but there was no one who could help and he whined shortly in desperation. He looked at her again. It looked like she was just sleeping peacefully and relief flooded through his entire body when he saw she was breathing. Maybe he could wake her up? He lowered his head to nudge her gently with his muzzle, his wet nose touching her fluffy cheek. But nothing happened. He trotted to the other side of her and nudged her again, realizing that no blood covered her head. So maybe it wasn’t as serious as he’d feared? But nothing had happened the two times he’d touched her, so she was definitely unconscious. So what now? Would someone look for her if she lay here for too long? And when would she wake up? He couldn’t leave her here – even though she wanted to kill him, there was no way he could just leave her in this state. At least he didn’t have to fight her now... Something stung in his body, and Vladimir painfully remembered the three wounds she’d given him. He settled down beside the unconscious female and started to lick the wound at his left shoulder. He couldn’t do much about those on his neck – only hope that they soon would stop bleeding and then he had to be careful not to make them crack up again. When he’d cleaned the wound, he eyed the she wolf again. It still looked like she was sleeping and she somehow looked peacefully as she lay there. He wondered what was running through her head by now, what kind of thoughts her subconsciousness revealed to her. Was she scared? Was she happy? Did she even dream anything by now or was she just veiled in darkness? He almost didn’t dare to, but he licked the female’s temple one single time. How awful her life must have been after he’d killed her mother… if only he could redo his actions. But no matter how much he wanted to redo the past, it was no use. The only thing he could do now was to wait here, beside her, and hope she would wake up soon while hoping that there was no way he could make her life any more miserable than he’d already done. ((OOC: I FINALLY DID IT!!!))