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OOC:
Good posting, Safari, glad to see you're still with us. :-) Vivid and
immersive post by you, too, Draiko, good stuff. Someone needs to reply
to poor Aithne, are there any takers or do I need to break out Cobalt
in his battered state? :-P Don't make the poor dog stagger all the way
to the vet's.
BIC: The bearded human weathered Omara's judgement, the wolf's decision to move closer made at length, and he remained kneeling respectfully as she approached. It was remarkable what this alpha female would do for the good of her pack, or indeed for the good of all wolves it seemed. Trying to bridge the divide between human and lupine, it wasn't an easy task, and a trace of mysticism was in the old wolf's scent as she drew herself up near enough for even a man's nose to detect her. It was a natural smell, wild but refined, the fragrance of a wolf, it pulled at the youth's soul and he wished he could somehow be there. It was a huge show of trust, and he lowered his head a little in its acknowledgement, listening with concentration as Omara spoke. The focus she was giving her speech was making it easier for him to understand, as if the 'words' carried direction as well as simple meaning... Had she done this before?
Omara was describing the pack to him, the sense of unity, and it sounded like some kind of shared consciousness as well, a much more literal bond than a simple sense of brotherhood. The concept was familiar, and when he thought about it, the idea had to have come from somewhere, so would it be that much of a stretch to apply it to other species as well? And wolves were certainly a noble species, in fact a lot of animals were when compared to humans. In the morning sunlight, shining down over the tops of the trees behind the ledrene, she seemed to take on a mantle of the spiritual, and when her eyes held him, he couldn't look away. It was a challenge to stare a wolf in the eye, but this was different, this was another side to wolf communication, to the wilderness John wished to find out more about, and ultimately, to integrate with.
BIC: The bearded human weathered Omara's judgement, the wolf's decision to move closer made at length, and he remained kneeling respectfully as she approached. It was remarkable what this alpha female would do for the good of her pack, or indeed for the good of all wolves it seemed. Trying to bridge the divide between human and lupine, it wasn't an easy task, and a trace of mysticism was in the old wolf's scent as she drew herself up near enough for even a man's nose to detect her. It was a natural smell, wild but refined, the fragrance of a wolf, it pulled at the youth's soul and he wished he could somehow be there. It was a huge show of trust, and he lowered his head a little in its acknowledgement, listening with concentration as Omara spoke. The focus she was giving her speech was making it easier for him to understand, as if the 'words' carried direction as well as simple meaning... Had she done this before?
Omara was describing the pack to him, the sense of unity, and it sounded like some kind of shared consciousness as well, a much more literal bond than a simple sense of brotherhood. The concept was familiar, and when he thought about it, the idea had to have come from somewhere, so would it be that much of a stretch to apply it to other species as well? And wolves were certainly a noble species, in fact a lot of animals were when compared to humans. In the morning sunlight, shining down over the tops of the trees behind the ledrene, she seemed to take on a mantle of the spiritual, and when her eyes held him, he couldn't look away. It was a challenge to stare a wolf in the eye, but this was different, this was another side to wolf communication, to the wilderness John wished to find out more about, and ultimately, to integrate with.
Her paw touched him then, cold and damp from the ground it had trodden, but quickly warming from the heat of his uninjured left hand. So inefficient at conserving their own heat, humans, it ebbed effortlessly out of any part not wreathed in clothing, and instead of giving away his warmth to the air, the thermal energy went to Omara. And flowing the other way, from her to him, something else entirely. John had managed not to start with surprise when she placed her paw on his skin, it was unexpected but not unappreciated, it was an honour for him, but his breath caught as the first tendrils of sensation filtered into his being. The young man opened his mouth as if to speak, looking off slightly to the side, distracted from the here and now by the there and then spilling into him, seeing less with his eyes and more with his mind, his imagination almost, but actual rather than fanciful, and guided by Omara. His breathing quickened a little, the sounds of the Thara'draal pack, their scents faintly, even a vague sense of communal purpose were extended to him through this 'spirit link', he supposed was an appropriate term for it.
John never thought something like this possible, he hadn't any experience of shamanism, he was no medium, yet here this was, happening. The alpha of the territory was without a doubt the most etraordinary wolf he'd met. Not that the human had met all that many wolves, but he could tell, she was an absolute rarity, and the overwhelming sense of gratitude and awe that gradually filled him, diffused back across this weird connection to Omara. For those few moments, he felt like a wolf almost, belonging to a pack, comfortable in his station within it, it was unearthly, but it was invigorating. His home, he felt the land through the wolves as the stream of empathy deepened. Wolves patrolling, the snapshots and shreds of memory that came from the pack, covered most of the borders to his home range, and the borders were safe. Except for one small section off south, just past where Thara'draal land ended, and he knew NightTracker's self-staked territory began, intruders? Two or three wolves it felt like, as he tried to steer more towards this item of interest, he'd probably be best going to check it out himself after setting up his fishing nets. For a start, it might even be NightTracker, and he owed it to Sybrix to try and find her lost friend, the poor Collie had been too long without her now... The sympathy he held for the new mother and some essence of her yearning for her only packsister found their way back to Omara from him, the bond reaching both ways between his little pack and the old wolf's.
Sympathy too he felt, for Omara's pain, the emotional as well as the physical, and a barely audible whine murmured in his throat. She deserved neither, it wasn't right that such a gallant and serene alpha should suffer like that. Whatever was she grieving...? Before he could try to gravitate the link towards Omara herself, the pale hue of her fur darkened in his mind, swirled with black even as he looked back at her again, another feeling flowing into him. Hatred, frustration, fear perhaps, it was in too much turmoil for him to separate them out, and before he knew it, Omara was gone, a cloud covered the sun and Aranok was there, boring into his soul through the pack connection, piercing the wavering human with his biting stare. John cried out briefly, quietly for it was strangled by the suddenness of the experience, and he was left shaking as if from the cold as the wolfess took her paw away, and with it the glaring visage of the wolf who had mangled his wrist.
The cloud passed on, the snow shimmered in the morning sun, crisp air came back to his faltering lungs and Omara was back again, it was okay, it was safe. He began to calm down, and swallowed before trusting himself to speak. "Thankyou," he said in Lupine, breathing and heart rate starting to slow down from first the elation of the window he'd been allowed to look through, and second from the shock of Aranok looking back, "I... Thankyou." It was all he could manage for the moment, his emotions still settling, he needed a moment to gather himself. John nodded in response to her words, that mental apparatus still in place to aid his understanding, and the experience he'd just had lending some further familiarity with the language. He did have cubs to feed now, Sybrix's cubs, and with Fire Eyes gone, it fell to him. The young man found himself looking at Omara's leg, the one that gave her trouble, and he wanted to look after her, too. It was one of his weaknesses, he wanted to help everyone, Sybrix was right to get irritated with him, bringing back strays all the time, not having the heart to turn them away, it'd probably get him in trouble one day.
"Questions yes, but another time," he pieced together in the wolf's tongue, looking back to her face again and giving a slow blink and bob of his head, "Need time, to think on this. Also cubs, you are right. Thankyou again, Omara, for rabbits, and for pack-feeling."
-John
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