- irresistible [Rikez]

[Calantha]

There was something so wonderfully familiar about the mountains that made Calantha smile, her narrow muzzle tilted towards the sun high above as she scaled the rocky incline. Her tiny paws navigated the terrain with ease, her body remembering the days of her youth spent scrambling deftly across the volcano that her family had called once called home. So many things had changed, but the knowledge ingrained in the coyote’s heart had not. She moved swiftly up the winding path, occasionally diverging to scramble over a jutting piece of rock before weaving back onto course once more. This was her home now, she reminded herself as she breathed in the crisp mountain air. It still felt so odd to settle down somewhere, to call herself part of a pack once more, but it was a feeling that Calantha assumed she would grow accustomed to.

She’d spent the majority of her time exploring. While she hadn’t seen many of her pack mates since the initial meeting with Arche, she knew that given time, she would acquaint herself with each of them. On this morning there was one in particular that the femme searched for, a dark brute with blazing eyes seemingly capable of warming her heart each time she gazed into them. The thought alone made her skin heat beneath her pelt, saffron eyes automatically lifting towards the sky, searching for a flurry of dark wings. Already she’d come from the forest where she’d bedded down the night before, and the peak of the mountain in the distance had intrigued her, driving her to enjoy herself while she searched.

The femme came to a halt on a rocky outcropping, thick tail fluttering around her haunches as her gaze skimmed the area. There was an abundance of shrubbery and underbrush here near the base of the mountain; she had not climbed high enough to reach even the halfway point of the crags, which surely would have taken her half the day. Her ears sat perked atop her skull, straining to detect any noise aside from the calling of sparrows. The sun warmed the fur of her spine as she slid down the side of the boulder she’d perched upon, a fresh scent reaching her suddenly, familiar and inviting. She paused for the briefest moment to inhale, a tiny smile gracing her features as she glanced towards the cluster of shrubs and bushes further down the incline. ”Rikez?” She called softly, uncertain of whether or not it was he who lurked near, but sincerely hoping that it was.

TAG: Rikez
WORDS: 425
NOTES: Figured this could take place after the Airila meeting, but before Auron's death ;-;

[Rikez]

Rikez liked to make his rounds by the Tia-deli mountains. It was the southernmost portion of Airila territory, and the black brute thought it essential that the border was monitored regularly. The scent markings along this border were often more weathered, and needed to be refreshed often in order to keep out any unwanted wolves. Rikez made it almost a personally duty to traverse the rough terrain of the mountains.

But that wasn't the only reason the ebony brute was standing at the edge of a sharp incline, his front paws curled over the sharp edge of grey stone. There was something about the mountains that drew him to its dangerous inclines and sudden drops.

At this altitude, he cold look down on the forest in all its sage green and earthly brown splendor. From this ledge the black brute could see to the far reaches of the territory, from the soft tan sand of the West shore to the far Northern reaches of the forest. It was a perspective that made Rikez feel protective of his newly found home. A steady breeze ruffled the dark pelt of his back and neck, and the cooling air was comforting to the brute. It carried in it the scents of pine from below and the promise of autumn. High above, Huginn was circling. It was amazing how close she felt, even when she was practically consumed in the clouds. He could feel her presence without even having to look upwards. There was no doubt that she would follow him anywhere he went. The large, inky black bird was watching him from above silently, which was unusual for the noisy bird. When they came to the mountains together, her voice was often echoing off the peaks and crags.

Suddenly, something else had come to him on that breeze. For a moment, he thought the scent was only in his memory, but as it grew stronger in his nose he realized it was real. Tangible.

Calantha.

Her name was like a bell in his mind, tolling with a pure, unburdened clarity. He would never mistake her scent, though it had only been known to him for a short amount of time. She was here, and he knew she was close. As if reflecting the uplift in his usually still heart, a cloud shifted above and let the light of day come beaming around him. His pelt immediately felt the change in temperature, and Huginn responded to both Rikez's change in mood, and the change in the heavens. She came swooping lower as Rikez turned away from the ledge, her wings brushing an outcropping of rock as she lead the way around the outer edge of the stone terrain. Tail whipping like a dark banner behind him, the black brute moved as fast as he dared at this elevation. Small foliage was still growing at this height, and her voice came to him just as he turned a corner and found her standing there.

Seeing her before him in the dazzling light of day still shocked him. She was so slim, even with her full, multi-colored coat. He secretly loved the way he towered over her when he was near. Not in a possessive way, but in a more protective manner. As if anything that wanted to harm her would have to go through him first. Her yellow eyes fixated on him immediately as he came into view, and his trot slowed as he came up to her. He did not hesitate this time, as he leaned in close to her and brushed against the top of her head with his dark snout. He surprised himself with his need to suddenly be close to her, to feel her face and soft pelt against him.

"I did not expect to see you here, far outside the forest." His voice rumbled against her fur, and he did not feel the need to introduce himself to her. He was a wolf that was more comfortable in shared silence. Introductions were for those who did not yet know one another.

---

Count | 689
Tagged | Calantha
Muse | Excellent
Notes | <3

[Calantha]

A blur of black feathers that was inevitably Huginn was Calantha’s brief warning of the dark brute’s arrival, her heart leaping in her chest at the sight. Almost as if her voice had conjured him, Rikez appeared around the nearest edge of the mountain, and Calantha’s muzzle immediately stretched into a wide smile as he padded towards her. Eagerly she stepped forward to meet him, nudging his chest gently with her snout as he brushed against her head. His scent was stronger now that he was near, washing over her and comforting her with the earthy, masculine scent. A moment later she stepped back just a fraction, tilting her muzzle upwards to look at him, the sound of his voice only making her smile widen further.

”I enjoy the mountains,” she informed him, and before she could stop herself she added, ”they remind me of home.” She’d never spoken to Rikez of her family or her past, but the words were out now, his nearness prompting her to spill the inner workings of her mind to him. Embarrassed, her ears flicked back against her skull as her gaze wandered, finally settling on Huginn, who she greeted with a quick bob of her head. Then her citrine eyes were roaming once more, returning to Rikez as if they could not stop themselves from drinking in the sight of him. Only just before she’d met Rikez for the first time she’d told her story to Auron, the first friend she’d made on this strange island, and she remembered the weight that had lifted from her slender shoulders afterwards.

”Well, it was a volcano that I was born on. It was very similar terrain. I guess that’s why mountains always seem so…familiar.” She smiled, memories flicking through her head one by one as she considered how much more to tell him. She’d never been good at keeping the emotions off of her features, and yet the last thing she wished to do was burden Rikez with heavy thoughts. ”I cannot ever go back to see it again,” she finally said very carefully, her voice light and steady. ”But I hear that there is an inactive volcano here on this island, too. Maybe one day we can visit it…together.” Her heart was a thundering, fluttering mess as she peeked up at him, her tail wagging gently at her haunches. It was still so strange to stand where she did with him before her and her emotions burning through her; speaking of her past made her recall the warriors who’d vied for her attention before she’d fallen from their good graces, even despite the alpha’s firm insistence that if she was truly blessed, she would not be allowed to mate. Regardless, Calantha had never longed to hear their voices or to gaze into their eyes like she did with Rikez.

Curiosity prompted Calantha to inquire about his past, but caution stilled her tongue. Much like herself, not everyone had the luxury of a stable childhood, and so it was with a gentle lilt to her tone that she asked, ”Are you a native here, Rikez?”

TAG: Rikez
WORDS: 520
NOTES: sorry for the constantly changing text color...still struggling to find the perfect one for this table xD

[Rikez]

He lived for her smiles. They came slowly most of the time, not because she was holding back, but because each time she smiled at him was a genuine glimpse into herself. And those moments were to be given sparingly.

Yellow eyes drank him in and she spoke about her home. A volcano... The dark brute was surprised when the words passed her lips, but then with a sort of calm acceptance, realized such terrain was actually fitting for the coyote. Calantha was not fragile. She was a force to be reckoned with, a tiny storm packed into her limbs, her mind, her spirit. He could almost see her, silhouetted against a grey, ash-filled sky. Paws pushing her along a black, stoney ridge. She had not come from anywhere he had been, for he had always been a creature of the forest. ”I cannot ever go back to see it again,” she was saying. ”But I hear that there is an inactive volcano here on this island, too. Maybe one day we can visit it… together.” There was a certain steadiness to her voice that Rikez heard right through. Speaking of her past was hard, he could tell.

After all, everyone has a story that has tainted their heart.

He didn't ask her why she couldn't go back. There was no need to. He understood with every fiber of his being. "Yes," he said, answering her question. "One day we can see all of this island together, if that's what you want." The black wolf's paws tingled at the thought of stretching his legs across the continent. To him, there was no reason to explore really, except to share more experiences with Calantha.

Her voice came to him again as she turned her muzzle up to look at him. ”Are you a native here, Rikez?”

The inflection in which she asked made Rikez realize that she knew his answer was no. He was not a wolf of many words. His silence wasn't hostile. It was just the way he was; closed off at times and quietly sweet. Even so, his chest expanded as he took a deep breath. She deserved the truth, a full response from him. And so he opened his maw and told her about his past.

"I came from a forest over the sea. A forest a lot like this one, actually." He squeezed his dark, amber eyes shut and rubbed his chin gently between her ears in an attempt to comfort himself. "I had a family. A mother, who loved and protected us with all her heart, a brother, a sister... and a father. My father, however, did not love us. He was a warrior, determined to turn his small family into a personal army. What for, I never knew. I only knew that I had to be strong for him, so he wouldn't turn his teeth on my siblings. I was the oldest, and even though he made me fight them, I never wanted them to feel pain." Rikez blinked, his ears lowering in shame. "When I challenged my father, I wasn't strong enough. I left them with him there, and came here." Turning his head away from Calantha's sweet gaze, Rikez nosed the long, jagged scar that ran over the top of his hind leg. "This is the last reminder I have of them... and of him."

---

Count | 572
Tagged | Calantha
Muse | Good
Notes | The babes are back. <3

[Calantha]

"One day we can see all of this island together, if that's what you want."

A smile fluttered across her feature as his words reached Calantha’s ears, pure and sweet. There was no way to describe the feeling that his willingness to journey with her, coupled with his very presence, caused. It was, to put it in the simplest form, undiluted joy. She was not sure when she began to fall for Rikez; from the moment she saw him, perhaps, though getting to know him had only hastened the feeling. She was glad that she’d met him, that she’d trusted him and joined Airila at his recommendation. Now, if he would allow it, Calantha would remain by his side.

The feel of his muzzle brushing gently over the top of her head made her eyes flutter closed, but she did not move, instead listening intently to the story that he told her. His life had not been easy by any measure, and to hear of the cruelty he and his family had suffered at the teeth and claws of their own father made her suck in a startled breath. Her eyes snapped open as he gestured to the scar running down one of his legs, something that she’d failed to notice before. She’d been too captivated by his eyes, the handsome angles of his face, the lean muscles of his body. But now she stepped forward, pressing her nose just slightly against the top of the mark. ”I’m so sorry that you were made to suffer,” she said quietly, craning back around to press her tiny side against his, her muzzle come to rest in the thick fur of his neck. ”Don’t be ashamed,” she said, for she’d heard it in his voice, seen it in the set of his ears. ”You protected them for as long as you could. Perhaps the strength they saw in you stayed with them even long after you were gone.”



She was quiet then, content to stand there at his side, offering him what comfort she could. He’d given her something so substantial when he’d offered her those pieces of his past; he trusted her, and it was something that she would always cherish. ”I was chased from my own home because I lived when I should have died,” she told him. He’d shared such a large part of himself with her, and she felt the desire to do the same. ”I got sick like many young ones in our tribe did, but I was the only known survivor. I’m sure there were more, before our time, but…” She paused and shrugged. ”I suppose they assumed I was blessed because of it. But I wasn’t, and when they realized it, they wanted to sacrifice me to ‘appease the gods’.” Her lips curled at that, but there was little amusement in her tone as she stared up at Rikez. ”My mother warned me, and every day I wonder if they found out that she did, if they punished her for it. So I understand.”

TAG: Rikez
WORDS: 510
NOTES: Ahhhh <333

[Rikez]

It would be a cliche to say she reminded him of sunshine, but that's exactly what she was. It wasn't pure sunshine, for he knew nothing was perfect. Instead he saw her as that kind of sunshine you get after a heavy rain, when the clouds are thick and grey and the sky has yet to return to it's calming blue hue. She was consistent of those beams of light that manage to sneak past the dark heavens and reach their glowing hands down to the land below. She was determined to shine, even when the odds were against her; She shone to him even when he was a dark, raging storm. She was joy. She was hope. She was his future.

For the first time in his life, he wasn't afraid to tell someone of his past―a past that looms over his shoulder every day, whispering curses in his ear like his father used to. He had spoken openly and true, and he had watched as her eyes widened and her face grew sad. When she finally spoke, her words touched him like a breeze. Her support for him was so achingly pure, as real as the stone beneath the pads of his paws or the thick fur of his back. He knew then that she would never speak empty promises to him, even as she shared her own secrets with him.

When she was done, he did not know what to say for a long while. He never before thought he would find someone who understood what it was like to have to leave a life behind, and leave those he loved to unknown fates. He was a wolf of few words, a wolf who preferred not to waste his breath... but speaking with Calantha never felt like a waste, and he wanted her to know how important it was that she shared her past with him. "Never regret leaving," he said finally, his tail sweeping in a slow arch as he furrowed his brow in thought. "You are stronger because of what you went through. I see it in you every day. I am not surprised you survived your tribe's childhood sickness because I know in my heart that you are different than the rest. You are a fighter.

---

Count | 388
Tagged | Calantha
Muse | Good
Notes | Feel free to wrap this thread up! I'm sorry that this was a bit short. 

[Calantha]

Calantha had struggled with her past for what seemed like ages in those first days after washing ashore on Anikira. She’d questioned every move she’d made, every word she’d spoken, until her head had ached and her heart had hurt. She’d even wondered if perhaps her living had been a mistake – perhaps she truly had angered the gods with her stubborn insistence to thrive, just as her tribe had thought. Slowly, though, she’d come to terms with it. With each day that she spend wandering foreign territory, the burden upon Calantha’s shoulders had lessened, the weight she carried growing lighter. It had never disappeared completely, but it had become manageable, tucked away neatly somewhere behind her ribcage, alongside her beating heart.

But now, as she stood before Rikez having laid her soul bare, his gentle words seemed to wash away every fraction of doubt that still gnawed at her when she was alone. In that moment, there was nothing but the sky above her, the familiar stone beneath her paws, and the telltale beating of her frenzied heart that suggested he was becoming very, very dear to the coyote. While she did not immediately respond to his words, her smile spoke volumes; it was small but firm, and the happiness shone through her gaze to accompany it. Wordlessly she stepped forward to brush her muzzle along his, having to tilt her head back and stretch her neck just so, a movement that was well worth the reward of touching him.

After a moment she stepped back, gesturing to her surroundings with her muzzle. ”Would you like to explore with me?” She asked him, but she did not wait for a response, instead starting off down the mountain, knowing in her heart that he would follow her. Moments later, when the sound of his footsteps close in pursuit reached her perked ears, her smile grew wider at last, her steps jauntier than usual. She didn’t know where they were going, but Calantha knew it did not matter as long as Rikez was by her side.

TAG: Rikez
WORDS: 344
NOTES: Not my best but just wanted to go ahead and post the last reply for this thread <3 I'll get the new one up soon!