[Kimster]

Bio Link:   https://www.dires.net/thread-6093.html

LOMELIA

Black socked paws traipsed through the tall grass, the stems tickling her belly. A grumpy sigh escaped her purple lips as she fought her way through the lush uncergrowth. Why on earth was she born so tiny? To a normal wolf this grass wouldn't even be a hinderance, it might even be considered short, but to her it was like pushing her way through a neverending, waving forest of green and yellow. Every now and then she would give a little hop, enabling her to see more of her surroundings. Her amber eyes darted this way and that, noting everything, used to seeing the world in little still shots like this. Unless...yeah! A rock! Nimbly she hopped onto it, and stood like a proud lion on top. Her head held high, her fox-plume tail angled jauntily behind her, surveying the land with a confident smirk. Her nose wrinkled at the border smell permeating the air a little way in front of her. Wolves stink.

The little hellion thought back on everything her mom had told her about wolf packs and how they operated. It had sounded so fun to her - border patrols and fights with loners and bringing down big prey! She already envisioned herself at the head of an army of tough wolves terrorising the land, an unstoppable force of teeth and violence! Er, not that she wanted to take over leadership of the pack, no no. That job was too much admin and political schlep. Nah she was just your typical, run of the mill jock who longs for action. Even if the body her big personality occupied was only 30cm high. Thankfully it wasn't winter yet, she had time to let her soon-to-be pack get used to the idea that she was a hellion before she actually LOOKED like one. 

Throwing her head back, she let forth a long, soprano howl ending with a very definite foxy yip:

Come on pack! Meet your new warrior!

[Charley]

All my life, my heart has sought a thing I cannot name...
A r i k

----

Arik, as always but more so since that scarlet night, was lost in thought as he traipsed along the border. Again he was going over what everything could possibly mean.

"I have a feeling... That... he may be right. I have a few theories but I believe that after tonight things will either be more clear... or... not." He had said to her. She had responded that she was ill prepared. While understood what she meant, he hadn't shared her sentiment. He was prepared somehow and he felt the calm in his bones as he sat next to her looking at the moon, looking at each other. At least when the "crowd" had cleared. Then that moment where he pulled away but she leaned forward with him as if she were about to tell him... something... She never got around to it and it made his paws itch. He hated not knowing what was on her mind, on anyone's mind but especially hers. Things were just as muddied as before, was his dream about that night or not? He didn't see a red moon in it, did he?

Then Jase had come running and told them the babies were born and that Kyra was in bad shape. She'd be a while before she went back on her own patrols.

It had been strange at first when he saw Kyra and he were in the same pack. Of all the outborn exiles that were to come back; him and Kyra were a couple of the very few. She had certainly been very telling what she thought of him and their history, and they had made to avoid each other as much as possible. Until that one time she tried to rope him into border duty just before the pups where born.

So he decided, since he would not dare touch his beloved isle while she was on it, that he would make himself busy and take up a shift on the border. He figured he would be better prepared for this kind of duty if it wasn't thrust upon him at the last minute. He really had to be in the frame of mind to take on new things. Otherwise he stumbled and froze when he didn't have a chance to change gears.

Just about in the middle of his shift he pricked his ears as a howling call echoed over the grassland. He ducked his head to start on the journey but paused as the call ended in a yip. Strange... Was a fox interested?

On long grey legs, he approached the purple wonder as she perched on that rock. Even as she sat tall on it he would still be a head taller than her. The tallest of the pack for now. (Though soon, he'd be dwarfed by the gentle hellion wolfbear) The grass barely touched his white underbelly.

For a moment he stood several lengths away from her, he had calmly approached and made no effort to hide it. A moment of silence, as he passively watched her, passed by and it suddenly occurred to him that he should... say... something....

Arik widened his eyes as he realized and looked off in the distance in a show of panic for a moment.
"I... uhhh." He started, how do you do these things!?
"You... you called?" He bit the side of his cheek. Kyra would laugh her ass off at him and possibly everyone else in the whole damn pack. If this fox was any tell, she'd probably blab this blunder the second she found someone else.

ooc

"Well you talk like yourself... no, I hear someone else though... now you’re making me nervous"

Photo © Spencer Arquimedes / Modified coding © vixxie's codes/ Headshot by EhwazAzi

[Kimster]

Broad ears swivelled and easily pinpointed the direction from which came the thuds of paws hitting earth, accompanied by the rustle of grass. Ah, finally! Lomelia stood up straight, her eyes bright and eager in expectation. Slowly the wolf came into view, and what a wolf it was. Black and white and light blue, with calm, serene gaze that seemed to look right through you. And tall. so tall! the grass barely scraped his belly! Lomelia's tail tip flicked in jealousy, but other than that, she kept her eyes on him, noting his movements and assessing the possible strengths and weaknesses in battle. He didn't have a lot of muscle, that's for sure, and his tallness would limit his nimbleness on the field, but it gave him a much longer reach which he could use to his advantage.

He watched her watching him, the silence stretching on. And on. The beginnings of a frown formed on the girl's forehead. Was he mute? No, they wouldn't be stupid enough to send a mute border guard 'cause what would be the point? And why wasn't his tail more confident? What WAS he staring at? She was beginning to suspect that, that soulful stare of his was, instead, a vacuous gaze centered in his own thoughts and had nothing to do with the situation he currently found himself in. She watched with disbelief and swore she could SEE how a thought started to form in his head, making it's down to his larynx. His eyes registered a slight panic and ...no...did he?...just bite the inside of his cheek?

"I..uhhh... You...you called?"

The small wolf/fox's jaw dropped, her eyes wide and a big frown pasted on her face with one ear flopped to the side. Whuu????? Utterly incredulous. This pack was in trouble if THIS was the type of border guard they had! Yeesh. She'd come not a moment too soon! With a disgusted sound she shook her head, one paw coming up to rub at the side of her face.

"Nah, nah, look. You're not supposed to leave the ball in my court - YOU'RE the border guard, YOU keep the ball in YOUR court. Look, lemme show ya." in a lightning quick movement she jumped off her rock and hopped a few steps towards him. Her voice might be a tad muffled in the tall grass, but with her tail high and confident he'd be able to follow her progress: "See, what you do is you gotta say 'Hey this is Nardir's border, see, what's your name and business here?' And get your tail up it's important to establish who's boss." she paused in her tirade, took a hop and at the apex her right paw shoots out to point at him and she says: "You're the boss, see." before she disappeared back in the grass. "Then me, the applicant, sees you and thinks 'hoooh bub this here pack's got some scary teeth guarding them I'd better be on my best behaviour and be truthful' - But now, see, cause you were too ...um... let's call it polite, the applicant thinks 'hur hur dis pack be pushovers' and they might attack yuz!" she gave another jump upwards, growling and gnawing theatrically at her own paw to illustrate her point.

Rant done, she hopped back to her rock, took her position and motioned encouragingly with a paw at him:

"Come on, do it again."

[Charley]

All my life, my heart has sought a thing I cannot name...
A r i k

----

The tall priest watched intently as the little purple recruit bobbed and weaved and explained how to do his job properly. His storm grey eyes followed her tail and her paws, his brows alternating between knitting and lifting in surprise. Until she popped back up on that rock and expected him to try again.

Slower than molasses,, silently and untrusting of himself, he placed his feet wider, raised his tail a smidge and furrowed his brows as menacing as he could. It was comical really, he was such a gentle giant. If the queen saw him now she'd be rolling on her back laughing her royal crown off.

Glowering down at her, his eyes were still too soft, and his tail wasn't quite high enough and his shoulders were still too relaxed, he stuttered unconfidently,
"You, you're... This is Nardir. What... What's your business... name..." He lost it half way and just sat on his rump. He shrugged and discarded the facade.

"Look- I... we're short staffed. I mean... Obviously you're here for recruitment, or trade or something, right? Kyra's holed up on my island with her babies. She's the one who does this. I'm just filling in until I can do my own job again." He was soft and dreamy, not at all border guard material.

"You seem to know your stuff. I'm Arik. What's your name? ... What are you here for?" He at least got his head back on right to move forward.

ooc

"Well you talk like yourself... no, I hear someone else though... now you’re making me nervous"

Photo © Spencer Arquimedes / Modified coding © vixxie's codes/ Headshot by EhwazAzi

[Kimster]

Seems her lesson was taken to heart. Execution was NOT perfect. The small bundle of energy suppressed a sigh - he tried. He really, really tried to do what she says. His movements were too slow and unsure, his tail was half mast, and though he glowered at her it was with these soft, mooncalf eyes so that it looked like he was trying to proposition her. Eh bub. She couldn't help a slight snort of laughter at his comical appearance, this tall drink of water that could easily cromch her into tiny pieces was totally worthless. After trying to talk, he flopped down to his rump and said:

"Look- I... we're short staffed. I mean... Obviously you're here for recruitment, or trade or something, right? Kyra's holed up on my island with her babies. She's the one who does this. I'm just filling in until I can do my own job again." Her ears perked up - so this wasn't his normal job? Well that was a relief! And short staffed! Whoever this Kyra was, she sure must have been good at her job if they didn't have any other members that could do it. Until now, that is. "You seem to know your stuff. I'm Arik. What's your name? ... What are you here for?"

"Arik?" she grimaced at the odd name, then shook her head: "Nah, I'll just call you LongShanks. And you bet your fuzzy butsky I know what I'm doing! Lucky for you, I'm here to get accepted and be a border guard. From the looks of it, you guys need me, oh boyo, yeah you do! Hah! I can fight." here she puffed up her fur and bared her teeth, looking quite ferocious for such a small thing: "I can hunt. 'course rabbits and fowl I can bring down myself. Anything bigger, werl, that's why we got you long legs for." she wagged her foxy tail, still scowling ferociously with her eyes glinting at the thought of a magnificent hunt for deer. Dropping her act, she frowned and thought for a while. "Not really sure what else I can tell ya. 'Cepting I'm good at what I do, and ya obviously need me. Oh, right. Name. " For a brief moment she looked sheepish, then her cocksure facade was back up. She squinted at Arik, jumping down off her rock and hopping towards him, her gaze fastened on his intently. Getting near him, she reared up and placed her forepaws on his leg, reaching his knees. With her right paw she jabbed it upwards at his face and answered in a low voice:

"The name's Lomelia, but you call me Lou. Got that? Call me Lomelia and I'll make ya eat yer ballsack."