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In Plain Sight [M] [DragonSong]

Started by Juno, January 19, 2016, 04:25:14 PM

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Juno

Despite the interactions between girl and wolf Christopher was just as puzzled as he'd been when their odd conversation had begun. He only nodded in acceptance, the idea that the pack was her family at least something he could understand. It was only a little bit concerning for him to have some unknown female living in his territory.

"My den? It's north a ways," he told her, turning his head to look in the general direction he knew it to be but being purposefully vague because he did not want them to find his home on their own. Surprises were not something he wanted, especially when she'd said there were eight wolves in total at least. If they had a mind for it he was sure they'd have no trouble running him out of his own home. "Where is your den? Close?"

DragonSong

Brenna nodded. They hadn't gotten too far from their home before running into him. "Close," she repeated, nodding again. "Storm kept us in...need to hunt, bring prey back."

She gave him a considering look. "You are hunter? Where is your pack?" If they were small enough, it shouldn't be too much trouble for the two packs to share territory. At least for a while, until Snowfur had another litter or something.

Juno

It was reasonable, but he was still concerned that he'd never happened upon them before. Or perhaps he had and he'd never seen the girl with them before. Or noticed.

"I hunt, yes. Mostly for myself. I don't really have a pack," he tried to explain, uncertain of what words she might understand from him. "I have a family... Parents? Ah, sisters?" Maybe sisters would help, she'd called herself a pack sister but he doubted it meant the same to her as his own siblings.

"We live far away from each other," he added, hoping they had no intentions of trying to drive them out. "It's just me around here."

DragonSong

She thought she understood the words themselves, but the concept was confusing. "You- you don't live with...pack?" She tried his word. "Family?"

That seemed very lonely to her, and she absently reached out to bury her hand in the ruff of fur around Graywind's neck. "You not...you don't..." She frowned, struggling for the word. Gesturing at him, she finally settled for, "Alone."

She tilted her head at him. "Alone is not- sad?" That didn't seem quite right, but it was the best she could do.

Juno

Christopher patiently watched her struggle, awkward as it felt for a self-proclaimed human to have a rusty grasp of the language. "Alone, yes," he nodded in agreement with her choice of words.

"Alone can be... peaceful, though. Not always sad. Alone is also very quiet." He had no way of knowing if it was all just the same to her, though. Or if the words he spoke even meant anything to her. "Why are you not with other humans?" he asked, furrowing his brow slightly. In his experience humans liked to be together. Families lived close, worked closely, and they rarely wandered far from the towns. This girl seemed quite comfortable where she was, though, if a little confused by their conversation.

DragonSong

The question made her think for a long moment. She knew there was a time before she was pack-sister, but like this...human language, it was fuzzy and the memories were hard to grasp.

Feeling a bit bolder than before, she let herself slide down the rock formation to get a little closer, head still tilted at him as she considered. Graywind gave a worried bark, but his mother licked the side of his face to calm him, eyeing her foster daughter.

"Was...once," Brenna said slowly, biting her lip as she thought. "Long- long time ago. Lived with...humans." She shrugged. "They went to sleep. Long sleep. Long winter." She frowned. That really didn't seem right, but she didn't know how else to describe it.

She'd never been taught the word "death".

Juno

The shifter eyed her, tense as she drew closer but then relaxing once he felt she was making no immediate threats to his person with her movement. He watched the wolves as he listened, thinking it a bit odd how concerned they seemed over a human.

Her mention of sleep seemed unusual, though, and his light eyes returned to study her once more. Brenna's frown seemed more telling than the words that she spoke. It didn't seem like she was trying to tell him she'd been abandoned, and he had a hunch that he could guess what she'd meant by it. "So you made...friends? With wolves instead of other humans?"

DragonSong

She nodded slowly, trying to remember. "Tried- I tried to go...make friends with more...humans." She closed her eyes, shivering slightly and wrapped her arms around her torso. "Cold...storm, big storm. So cold... I tried to hide, found a den..."

She glanced up at Snowfur with a small smile. "Pack den. Pups just born, she-" she gestured to the alpha female- "made me her pup. Human pup." Yeah, that seemed about right.

Juno

He looked to the alpha, studying her as the girl's story came together piece by piece. It made a bit more sense why she seemed so comfortable with them, why she considered them family. But he was wary of what had truly caused her to seek them out.

"Human pup," he repeated under his breath, uncertain why such a wild creature would take in something that might be a threat to its own young. "Do you know when that happened? When was a long time ago?" he asked, fidgeting a bit but finally relaxing and no longer feeling the need to be ready to grab any of his weapons at a moment's notice.

"How many winters?" he rephrased, hoping she might understand that better if she could at least count from her hands.

DragonSong

"Winters?" she repeated, tilting her head and thinking. "Um...ten?"

A sharp bark from Snowfur. She shook her head and corrected herself, "And three. Ten and three winters." There was a word for that, wasn't there? "Thirteen?" she ventured, watching his face to see if she'd gotten it right.

Juno

"Ah. That's a very long time," he sighed, shaking his head. Had she not become curious? Had she just accepted the wolves and not thought of humans again? It seemed strange to him that she would still be alone after such a long time, or as alone as he assumed she might have been with wolves.

"Why do you stay? What about other humans now? Have you been...turned away? Rejected?" he guessed.

DragonSong

She shook her head slowly. "Humans...afraid of us. Don't come close." She shrugged. "You...first human- shifter? First to not be scared." She shrugged.

She had to admit she'd become curious about the two-legged creatures she was born to, particularly in recent years. A little warily, she leaned toward him, cocking her head from side to side as she gave him an evaluating sort of look.

Graywind jumped down to her side, nudging his muzzle into her ribs and whining, giving the stranger a wary look. Brenna patted his head absently, whining back. "Have to go," she said, turning her attention back to the shifter. "Pack...hungry. Need to hunt."

An idea struck her and she twisted to look at Snowfur, barking sharply. Both wolves started in surprise, giving her incredulous looks. They seemed to argue for a few moments, then finally Snowfur shook her head, ears pricked forward, and gave a resigned sort of huff.

Brenna turned to the stranger excitedly. "You...come with us? Another hunter- maybe help." She was thrilled her foster mother had indulged the idea. She was curious about him, about humans, and she hoped he'd agree to come with them.

Juno

He raised a brow at her words. How could humans possibly be afraid of one of their own? Especially a female, small as she was. Perhaps she mistook their fear and wariness of the wolves as fear of herself, but it seemed an odd reason to keep away from the villages that were really not all that far from where they were.

Christopher took a step back as Graywind approached, still entirely oblivious to what the continued "talking" he witnessed between the trio meant. Her request had him thinking, though, uncertain why they would want him along at all.

"I'm not sure what help I could be to wolves, I hunt very differently. Usually," he explained, gesturing to the bow across his back. He was not against it, though, and truly it was the first interesting prospect he'd been presented with in a long time. "But if they don't mind I don't see why not. I can tag along for a day," he agreed, looking to the lighter wolf as if he still needed extra permission.

DragonSong

Snowfur gave a regal nod of her head, then a quick, low bark, turning and disappearing over the rocky outcrop.

Brenna smiled a bit, twining her fingers in Graywind's coat and swinging up onto his back. "She says keep up," she told the stranger.

Realizing she really should stop referring to him that way, even mentally, she asked as Graywind turned to follow his mother more sedately, "What are you called?" Once again her head tilted in that puppyish manner.

Juno

With the fresh snow upon the ground it would be a little difficult for him to keep up stride for stride with wolves in his chosen form but he would certainly try. Abandoning his human weapons in the snow didn't seem appealing, but he would do it if there came a time and a need for it. "I'll do my best," he told her, moving to follow and trail behind the slower wolf a bit.

"My given name is Christopher, but you can call me what you wish. Do you have a name? Did the wolves give you one?"

DragonSong

Snowfur waited for them to catch up to her, then set off in a steady trot- not too fast, setting a speed they could maintain for a good long while.

"Christopher," Brenna repeated slowly, turning the sounds over in her mouth. Then she nodded at him. "They call me Little One, or pack-sister." She furrowed her brow, thinking. She had another name, though, one the wolves rarely used. She remembered her before-family called her that.

"My name...Brenna," she said after a moment of consideration. She'd never quite forgotten that. Smiling a bit, she added, "Bryn. Sometimes they called me Bryn."

Juno

So she did have some real communication with them. Or at least she thought she did. It was a good piece of information to have regardless.

He followed along over their prints in the snow but kept quite close to Graywind's tail. Looking out he stayed alert for any potential signs of prey that the wolves might wish to pursue. "Brenna, hm? Or Bryn? Do you like one better than the other?" he asked, uncertain what he should call her. Perhaps time would tell which he should choose if they crossed paths again.

DragonSong

She tilted her head. She'd never really thought about that before. "I think...Bryn," she decided slowly. The pet name sparked something warm and familiar in her chest that she decided she liked. She glanced back at him, then leaned forward to murmur in Graywind's ear.

The wolf slowed long enough for her to jump down into the snow, falling easily into place alongside him. She looked at the weapon Christopher carried with interest. "To hunt?" she asked, pointing at them and raising her eyebrows curiously.

Juno

"Then I'll call you Bryn," he agreed easily enough, having no real idea why she liked it or that she had any fond memories associated with it. He was surprised when she left her seat astride the wolf to join him on the ground again.

Christopher glanced over his shoulder at the bow and quiver and gave a short grunt of affirmation as he continued to trudge along in the snow. "Yes. A bow to shoot arrows with," he explained gently, unsure if she might even know the words he used to describe it despite it being the simplest terms he could think of.

"Do you use one, too? Or just the knife?" It would not have surprised him if that was all she used. She did seem a bit wild, though it seemed odd that she might catch similar prey to himself with essentially her bare hands.


DragonSong

Knife? Oh, right. She looked at the weapon in her hand, then back to him, and nodded. "I don't...it's my fangs," she supplied with a small smile, gesturing with the blade.

"The- bow?" She vaguely remembered her human father carrying something like that. "It can... you can hunt from far away, yes?" She thought that was how it worked.

Suddenly Snowfur came to a halt, giving a soft bark over her shoulder. Graywind and Brenna immediately flanked her, peering over the drift she'd crouched behind. Elk, a small herd. Glancing back at Christopher, Brenna beckoned him forward.

"Stay here," she said quietly. "Watch."