separation anxiety. [open]

[torrah]

The warm scents of winter grasses filled the air, drifting lazily on the wind. The sun was high, warm despite the chilly breeze. The south was always just a little warmer, and as the Eastern Timber male wandered aimlessly around he was thankful that it was not bitter cold. He wasn't quite built for the coldest climates.

Unfortunately, the weather was the least of his worries. Somehow Torrah had managed to get himself ditched. He and his sisters had been on their way to finally meet Grandpa Zeth. That was days ago. He'd woken from their last night's sleep together to discover both of them gone. For the life of him he couldn't figure out why Tehrin would leave without him. Akihra had always been a bit rebellious. While he loved her dearly, he was honestly less surprised with her disappearance than he was his twin's. Tehrin, on the other paw, rarely did anything without him. He was her precious lackey; she simply wasn't happy without at least one sack of bones to push around.

"Where are they?" His voice was laced with worry as he continued to wander about the plains. Despite being the softy of their little trio, Torrah wasn't exactly accustomed to life without them. Tehrin had been the boss of him ever since he'd been born. And Akhira was his baby sister! Given Tehrin's pension for trouble-making, he just knew something bad had to be happening to them. He could feel it. That persistent, sinking feeling that always nagged at the back of his mind had been increased by ten-fold. The longer he was away from his siblings, the worse he was starting to freak.

Every so often a quiet whimper fell from his mouth. He didn't know what to do. He was alone and abandoned. A part of him said to head for Kamari, but if that wasn't where his sisters were then he would end up in a heap load of trouble. Tehrin would practically kill him for meeting their grandfather without her. That's why when he reached a crossroads, the border that divided I'queyer, Xisyn, and Kamari, he could only bring himself to sit and stare. There were faint traces of his sisters' scents but they branched in different directions. Akihra's pointed to his north while Tehrin's drifted west. Leave it to the two of them to divide their little group even further. Now he had to figure out which to follow after. His twin was certainly the most dangerous of them all, but Akihra had a nasty knack of meeting with unintentional trouble. Why didn't they ever try and make his life easy?

[revan]

"Ahh...ahh...achoo! Ugh, I hate this. Stupid dust." Revan stalked through the winter grasses, sneezing periodically. She wished it would rain or snow. It was partly cloudy, but the wind was simply causing dust to be blown about. So why was she out here, away from Kamari and her pack there? Because her pregnancy was just starting to show, and she wanted to get out and about as much as possible before her condition confined her the area near the dens. So, here she was, wandering around the Chamoru Plains, and grumbling about the dust.

Stopping for a moment, Revan twisted to scratch an itch on her back. As her condition progressed, Revan had felt very strange at times. She had no idea if the was normal and the only wolf she knew who had experience in the matter, would never want to help her. The black Tundra snorted at the thought of asking Legacy for advice. That would not end well. So Revan was dealing with it on her own as best she could. Revan yawned and sneezed again. An interesting scent drifted towards her. A male, whose scent was unknown to her. Well, it's not like I have anything else to do. Changing direction, Revan upped her pace to a trot.

As the male came into view, Revan's eyebrows rose. He looked quite a bit like a younger version of Zethrox. Was he perhaps related to her alpha? Revan didn't know if wolves who were of the same breed could look so much alike without having the same blood. But this male looked troubled. Revan's presence made itself known, without her consent, by another sneeze. Giving herself a mental shake, she walked into complete view. "Hello there!" she called cheerfully, looking the Timber male over. It was obvious that he was very worried about something. Revan came to a stop and sat down, waiting for the male to respond to her greeting.

[torrah]

If life with Tehrin and Akihra had taught him one thing, it was how to be alert. He'd been the butt of enough of his sisters jokes to learn how to expect the unexpected. Sure, his reactions times were exactly the greatest, but at least he'd learned to pick up on when a blow was coming. That preparation always helped him fair a little better in the long run, thickening his hide. It's also how he knew he wasn't alone long before the female ever made herself known, even with his eyes closed.

The sneeze simply confirmed his suspicions and sunk his hope all in one shot. He had wanted the subtle footsteps of the shadow he'd caught in the distance to be one of his sisters. But it wasn't, and now that she was within seeing distance it was very clear that she wasn't. This female was much darker than Akihra and a bit on the pudgier side. She was also a few inches shorter than both of his siblings and smelled strongly of herbs and many other wolves. His nose wrinkled slightly in distaste at the medicinal scent, and his unfamiliarity with the wolves here could not help him place which pack she came from.

The fact that she so boldly approached him despite wearing the skin of a killer also surprised him greatly. Their resemblance to Ardemu, their father, had always earned Tehrin and Torrah less than pleasant attention. Then again, she also had to be fairly young. Maybe she was naive to the nightmare that was his parentage? There were many wolves here that were born on foreign soil; if she had arrived after the war then maybe she really didn't know! The prospect of having a friend that was neither family nor aware of his lineage brought a slight wag to his tail. Too bad his sisters had pretty much ruined any ability he had to properly talk to females.

"I, um... ah," he spluttered, when she drew a little too close for comfort and sat down. Instinctively he rose to his own paws and back up several steps, effectively removing her from his personal space bubble. Amber eyes were mostly settled on the ground, though every so often he would chance a peeking glance. Shyness overtook him and he refused to make eye contact. Fear caused his ears to fold down. Normally this was where Tehrin would nip him for not being able to spit his words out. Assuming all females were like his sisters, Torrah hung his head and waited for the pain.

[revan]

Revan watched the male back away. Was he actually afraid of her? That didn't make any sense. Surely she didn't seem threatening, did she? She wasn't trying to be. She tried to make eye contact but the Timber kept his amber eyes on the ground. His ears were folded back in fear, so Revan backed up several steps to give him space. "I'm not going to hurt you," she said gently. "My name's Revan. What's yours?"

Revan felt strange. No wolf had ever been afraid of her before; well, there had been her first meeting with Terror, but she wasn't counting that. Terror hadn't been afraid of her, but of the demons in his mind. Hearing the piercing cry of a hawk that had found prey, Revan looked up at the cloudy sky. She followed the dark speck with her eyes until it vanished from sight, disappearing behind Kalus' Point.

Turning her attention back to the Timber male, Revan tilted her head, her large ears flopping over, slightly comically. Emerald eyes sparkled with curiosity. This wolf had been sitting, here at the border, staring at the Kamari territory, for some time now. Was he looking to join the Haishin pack too? Or did he have some other motive for being here? Perhaps he was looking for something, or someone? Well, she would find out later. For now, at least, she had something interesting to occupy her until the time that she would be confined to the dens. She wasn't sure what would happen then, though, so she'd decided not to worry about it and to focus on the present. Dust tickled her nose and she sneezed again. And again. And again. "I'm sorry," she said, smiling self-deprecatingly. "The dust is giving me an allergy attack." Another sneeze. "There is something in the winter grasses here that isn't helping."

[miki]

Chamoru Plains, they where a beautiful site with luscious green grass growing as far out as the eye could see. Bright flowers of all colors painted the grassy land like the earth was their canvas. Heh, well that was at least if you visited Chamoru during the spring or summer time. It was currently winter on Anikira and the beautiful grasslands were nothing but a plan bare looking land. The grass was a dull yellow-brown color, and no flowers could be seen. The trees that stood out among the grass looked like twigs as their leafless branches poked out in every which direction. Yup, Meikou picked a great time to go out and explore on her own away from The Oriens.

After everything that happened Meikou felt that she needed a little time to just get away and have some time to herself. While she was particularly eager to learn about herbs from Siscarm she wasn't in any particular hurry to go out scouting to tell the other packs of their change of Alpha with Kadhi. She still loved Kadhi to death, he'd been one of her first friends in Aldgar but...

She shook her head. No, she didn't want to think about it, this was her time to escape and get away for a bit. She needed to find something to take her mind off of everything. And as luck would have it the sent of two other wolves reached her. Meikou perked up and smiled, a small wag to her tail as she went to find these two wolves. Maybe she was a little naïve for just rushing in to find the first wolf she found, after all she didn't know anyone out here and these two scents didn't smell familiar to her. She honestly wasn't sure she really knew anyone outside of The Oriens except for some of the wolves in Zahir, like their alpha Vee and his son Auden.

Other than that, Meikou knew no one.

Frowning at this realization, the Tundra female was even more determined to find these two wolves and befriend them. Maybe they would even come back to The Oriens with her and join Aldgar. Though the closer she got to the two wolves the more scents she smelled that lingered with them. 'They probably already belong to a pack.' She pouted a little but approached them anyways, just because they might be from another pack didn't mean they still couldn't be friends!

Maybe she would be lucky and find someone who could teach her a thing or two about herbs too before Siscarm did. Wouldn't Siscarm be impressed if she already knew some stuff before he went to teach her. “Hiya!” She barked as she came up to the two, flopping herself right down a few feet away from the two. That was Meikou for you, jumping right into things with little knowledge of what she could be getting herself into.

[torrah]

She wasn't going to hurt him? Well, that would have been all fine and dandy if the male had actually believed her. How many times had Tehrin used that line on him only to stab him in the back for a good laugh? 'Too many...' he thought with a frown. Thankfully, his already furrowed brown and nervous disposition passed the expression off as one of anxiety rather than disbelief. Not that the female could see his face to begin with. He was doing a very good job of not looking at her.

At least Torrah hadn't forgotten his manners. While he may not have been able to string a proper sentence together, he could coherently offer a reply to all of the sneezing. "Bless you," he'd whispered, voice barely audible. He didn't have the nerve to strengthen the sounds, but at least they were there and intelligible.

He didn't try to say anything else after that. Another presence was approaching fast, chasing away fragment of courage he'd managed to gather. The chipper greeting of the second female sent a shiver down his spine. This entire situation was just wrong! Where were the biting comments and stupidly evil (or evilly stupid) plans? Where was the overbearing dominance and stubborn resistance? Where on earth were Akihra and Tehrin!?

Paws shuffled him backwards a few extra steps. His flesh felt hot, a blush hidden beneath his thick winter coat. Poor Torrah had no idea what to do. Here were two kind, nice, sweet females and he was completely tongue-tied. Lifting his head slightly, he glanced first towards Kamari and then in the direction of Xisyn hoping one of his two sisters would appear. They always did the talking when it came to others, letting him hang back and watch with disapproving eyes. Now that he was the one who had to talk, all he could do was stand there and sputter, eyes falling back to the ground while he couldn't even manage a simple greeting.

[revan]

Revan sighed inwardly. Obviously this male didn't believe that she didn't want to hurt him. How could she convince him of her good intentions? She smiled gently at him again. "Thank you," she said softly, when he responded to her sneeze. Sometimes she wished that she wasn't one of the only ones that had the skill of reading and understanding the body. One would think that the ability to read another's body would mean that communication would be a breeze, but no such luck. While Revan could read the bodies of others very well, she wasn't skilled enough at conscious projection to get the desired response. It was a little annoying, but she had no idea how to change things. Sometimes she wished that she had spent a bit more time with the old alpha who had taught her, but as he hadn't been willing to let her join his pack, she had had to leave before she overstayed her welcome. But that was neither here nor there, and had no bearing on her current situation.

After thinking about it for a few moments, Revan decided to move on to her next question. This was proving quite a challenging puzzle, and Revan loved challenging puzzles. "Are you looking for someone? Or something?" If she could help this Timber male find what he was looking for, than it would be a worthwhile use of her time. Before the male could answer, however, another wolf appeared on the scene. Revan sat down again and smiled at the new female's chipper greeting. "Hello." Revan turned most of her attention to the grey female, but kept a bit on the male, who seemed more frightened and confused than before. "My name is Revan," she said. She tilted her head, causing her ears to flop, somewhat comically, again. "And you?"

[miki]

A small frown formed on Meikou's maw when the male shuffled a couple steps backwards. She tilted her head a little and almost pouted. Was he afraid of her? Did she let off some kind of terrifying aroma? As far as she knew she wasn't in heat. Not just yet anyway. The only scent on her was probably her own along with the soft scent of her pack. Unless he was intimidated by girls in general she saw nothing for him to worry about.

The frown on her muzzle quickly left when the other female introduced herself. Meikou smiled at the other female. “It's nice to meet you Revan, I'm Meikou.” She nodded to her before tilting her head a little. Now being this close to the other female she could tell something was a little... off. She was slightly on the heavy side and there was an oddly familiar scent in the air that Meikou had encountered before... She couldn't quite put her claw on it however.

Shaking her head a little, Miki turning her attention to the male again. “And you? What's your name? There's no reason to be afraid, I wont bite...” She trailed off, taking a pause before adding a little “hard.” to the end, before giggling. “No, I'm kidding, I wont bite. Promise.” She flashed the young brute a toothy smile.

Meikou wasn't even giving the fact she was far away from home a second thought, mingling with potentially dangerous wolves. They didn't seem like any threat, specially the young male. He was actually rather adorable. He looked so shy, it made Meikou's stomach fluttery. Shy creatures were so cute. Young creatures were cute too. Thus it made him double the cute.

[torrah]

The brief distraction the two females caused for each other was something Torrah welcomed. It meant he could fade into the background while they chatted and exchanged pleasantries. He was out of the spotlight. His throat, thick with nerves, was relaxing enough to let him breathe easily. Shyness had made him completely miss the question the first female, Revan, had directed at him. Hopefully she wouldn't realize his blunder while little miss perky, er Meikou, provided a chipper distraction.

Then again, Meikou seemed to be controlling where that spotlight shined. As soon as she turned her attention from Revan, that bright light was settled on him, blinding him into a stupor. Every muscle in his body went tense at her little joke, ears folding flat against his head. If she thought she was funny, she wasn't. That was the sort of joke his sisters used often. Except one of them really did bite. Hard. He had a few faded scars to prove it.

Unfortunately, both females had asked his name at this point. To not give it would be just plain rude. Torrah was the sweet one in his family. Rudeness wasn't something he prided himself on. While Tehrin and Akihra had perfected that art to a T, he just couldn't sit there and ignore these two strangers. Lifting his gaze from his paws, he attempted to look at the two friendly faces. He still refused to meet their eyes, but the gesture was better than nothing.

"I'm, uh... T-" The rest of the syllables were swallowed as his voice cut out. The first part of the sentence had been so quiet he wasn't even sure they could hear him. Opening his mouth, he tried to force his name to come out again. But it would not come. Usually one of his sisters took care of his introduction, doing all the talking for him. Now that he had to do it on his own, he was a few hairs shy of being completely useless. Nothing about this situation was comfortable for him, and as such it seemed he had lost his voice to tenseness. Giving it one last shot, he finally settled on giving himself a nickname that could be used instead, the single syllable much easier to say. "Tee."

[revan]

Revan felt a little sorry for the shy Timber male. It was obvious that Meikou's sudden appearance had startled him into almost frightened silence again. She gave a mental sigh. And just when I was staring to draw him out, she thought. Oh well, back to square one.

When the male gave his name as Tee, Revan smiled gently at him again. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Tee," she said, keeping her voice soft and her posture non-threatening. At least, she hoped her posture was non-threatening, she still wasn't very good at that sort of thing. "Tee, you look quite a bit like my alpha, Zethrox. Might you be related to him?" So maybe it was a bit blunt, but Revan's curiosity had gotten the better of her. Perhaps it was just a coincidence, but there was something about Tee that reminded Revan so much of Zethrox that she had to ask. It couldn't be the coloring, while both wolves were mainly light-colored, Tee had some darker reds and blacks in his coat that Zethrox lacked. It couldn't be the personality either, Zethrox wasn't anywhere near this shy. But there was something about the way Tee moved, the thoughts that underlay his steps; Zethrox had the same way of moving. Revan said 'look quite like' because she had no idea how to tell this wolf that he moved the same way as her alpha. Saying that aloud made no sense at all, not even to Revan, and she smiled inwardly at the thought of trying to explain it.

The black Tundra female opened her mouth to speak again, but once more a sneeze interrupted her. Her emerald eyes were starting to itch also. What was at about the winter grasses on these plains that she was so allergic to? As one who was proud of her skill and knowledge of herb-lore, it was somewhat annoying to find a plant that made her sneeze and itch. If it had medicinal properties, Revan would never be able to find them; she wouldn't be able to spend enough time in the plant's presence to start looking.

Revan tilted her head to one side, her over-large ears flopping slightly comically. Unobtrusively, she looked Tee over once more. The shyness of the Timber male endeared him to Revan, and she felt that she would like to become his friend. She had no real idea about how to go about it, though. Well, time would tell, and soon enough, Revan would have much to occupy her time.

[miki]

The Eastern Timber's small tiny voice barely reached the Tundra's ears as he introduced himself as Tee. An interesting name. Then again, who was she to judge? A smile spread across her face and her head tipped in a nod. It oddly fit him. “Well, Tee, it's nice to meet you.” She let out a soft bark, bring her loudness level down a couple notches. She hoped if she calmed herself down a little he would maybe open up a bit more. He was awful shy and she figured her overly hyper eccentric self was not helping his shyness. His wary stare that never met her copper eyes fully made her a bit wary herself, she did not want to scare the poor thing. She only wanted to make friends.

So, the multi-hued Tundra female shuffling herself backwards a little, maybe giving him some more space would help. She did have a bad habit of pushing personal boundaries sometimes. She never understood the differences between someone's “space bubbles” compared to her own. She'd always had such a small one it never seemed to occur to her others might have slightly bigger (or a lot bigger) ones than she did. They were invisible and imaginary so one only had to guesstimate where one's bubble range was, after all! It was almost like a game.

When Revan spoke, the Tundra female tilted her head to the side and gave Tee another good look over. “Hmm...” She hummed softly, a small frown on her muzzle as she ponder before a grin took over her maw once more and a soft giggle left her lips. “I think that Tee, looks just like Tee.” She nodded as if agreeing with her own statement. Of course she had never met this Zethrox Revan spoke of. For all she knew he could have looked like said brute's twin, but she wouldn't know.

A sudden realization washed over Meikou as she Revan's earlier statement sunk in a little more and registered to her. “So you belong to a pack?” She asked Revan. “I do too.” She smiled at her, wagging her tail ever so slightly. Maybe this was a good chance to form another alliance with a pack and inform them of their recent change of alpha.

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[torrah]

A soft smile twitched up the corners of his lips as they accepted his syllable of a name. Sure it wasn't his real name, but it would have to do. It was at least the first letter of Torrah. Considering strangers made him so nervous he rarely spoke, that was quite the accomplishment.

The females seemed to be back off a little as well, making accommodations for him. Now that he had enough space to feel that it was okay to breath, he chanced a glance at each of their faces. They were both so different from his sisters, one black as night and the other a pretty colored Tundra. They didn't match in personality either. It was kind of weird, being on his own with two females that were far from what he was used to. A part of him longed for his siblings to show up and ease the situation. Then they could do all the talking and he could fade into the background.

And as soon as those words left Revan's mouth, fading into the background was the only thing he wanted to do. His jaw hung slack, head rapidly shaking back and forth in a negative motion. He looked like Zethrox? He didn't even hear the rest of her comment, mind stuck on the first sentence. This little lady really had her messages mixed up. As far as he knew, he looked nothing like Zethrox. For one thing, he was a carbon copy of his sister Tehrin, the two of them being twins. For another, both he and his sister were the spitting image of their father, Ardemu. From what he knew of his father and his grandfather, the resemblance between them wasn't great. It was probably no better than any two Timber Wolves of a similar coloring.

And what similarities there were between himself and the Haishin alpha in other aspects, if there were any at all, were probably close to none. Torrah's steps held no confidence, the walk of a coward with head hung low and tail tucked between his legs. He did not look nor did he act like a leader. He had none of that self-assurance and none of that poise. He couldn't even manage to talk to a couple of females while an alpha was required to talk to many. Revan had to be delusional if she thought there was any sort of likeness between himself and Zethrox. Akihra would have been the closest to him in personality and mannerisms; too bad she was not here to show the stark contrast between the pair.

Thankfully, Meikou redirected the conversation. He shrunk in on himself, gaze falling back down, boring holes in his paws. He wanted nothing more than to escape right now. Maybe if the two females became absorbed enough in the conversation to completely forget about him, he could. That last question just made him so uncomfortable! Fear chocked his throat as he slowly began to put more distance between himself and the females, paws shuffling him backwards. He really did not want any more questions about his lineage to be asked. It was a touchy subject, one he often let Tehrin answer for him.

[revan]

Revan's ears flattened a little in distress at Tee's almost panicked reaction to her question. I seem to have put my paw in it this time, she thought to herself, somewhat annoyed at her inability to make her meaning clear. But at least I have my answer. If he's not related to Zethrox, he does at least know of him. She gave a quiet sigh. "I'm sorry," she told the Timber male. "I didn't mean to upset you. I'm not very good at explaining myself, I'll drop the subject if you want."

Revan turned her attention to Meikou's questions, unobtrusively giving Tee some more space. A small smile appeared on her muzzle as she nodded. "Yes, Meikou, I do belong to a pack. My pack is Haishin, our alpha is Zethrox, and our territory is Kamari." The wind died down a bit, the lighter breeze making sshh, sshh sounds as it wove its way through the winter grasses. Revan stretched herself out, feeling her muscles loosening, then got to her feet. "Speaking of territory, I had better start back." She gave a slight smile as she felt the movements of the small lives inside her. "Zethrox says I'm not to venture too far or stay away too long." Turning a gentle smile on Tee, Revan tilted her head, her glittering emerald eyes seeking the Timber male's amber ones. "Would you like to come along?" she asked gently. "I have to report my return to Zethrox, and I could introduce you if you like."

Revan knew that Tee would probably turn down her offer, but she felt obliged to ask anyway. Something about the Timber male's soft shyness endeared him to Revan. It was a more open type of shyness then the one Revan herself sometimes displayed, and it touched something inside her.

[miki]

Tee's reaction to Revan's question was rather surprising and both amusing to Meikou. His frantic shaking of his head told her he denied the whole accusation completely. The Tundra female didn't know Zethrox so had no say or input to weather he did or did not look like him or not, though it was a rather amusing thought that this strange male could resemble her alpha... Meikou trailed off a little as she began to think about another alpha who had a strong resemblance to another young wolf she knew once before.

A more sadden and solemn expression crossed Meikou's face as she was reminded of a sad and still painful memory and realization. It was still hard to coupe with it sometimes but she survived. She also still didn't want to give up on Algar, her pack. Siscarm might be alpha now but she wanted to follow through with her words and climb those mountains Kadhi talked about to make her way to the top and resume being alphess of Aldgar once more. To prove that she could be a good alphess. Kadhi also stood in her way, but she wouldn't let him get the best of her.

She was going to prove she was made of something worth wild and she could be someone successful and confident. She wasn't going to be the same Meikou every knew before.

Meikou then looked back at Revan when she answered her question, moving the pressure away from Tee, much to his relief she was sure. Meikou nodded. “I belong to Aldgar, of The Oriens.” She said, not bothering to mention who their alpha was at the moment. It was not something Revan needed to know, her alpha Zethrox however...

And as if opportunity had it out for her Revan decided it was high time she head back to her land and offered to take Tee along with her. Meikou jumped in while she had the chance. “Oh! Could I come too? I actually have something that I need to talk to your alpha about...” She trailed off, hoping Revan would take her to Zethrox, then Meikou could inform her alpha of their recent alpha change.

[torrah]

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