In Stranger Parts (New Character, open to anyone)

[ravynmad121]

OOC: If anyone wants to come along and meet her, just reply, everyone welcome.

IC:
Rain fell from the sky, beating like a drum. In the dark of night a new wolf, stranger to these lands, trotted silently past the tall dark trees and over the soggy ground. The young, black she-wolf was sure not to make a sound as she wandered into the territory of an unknown wolf pack. She wasn't looking for trouble, but trouble always did seem to find her.
If only I knew where I was going she thought wearily. She had been travelling for weeks, maybe months, she couldn't be sure. She didn't know where she was or what exactly it was that she was looking for, but maybe here was where she would find it. If only there was someone nearby she could talk to, she hadn't seen another wolf since leaving her father's pack. At the memory of her father, she cringed and turned her face to the side as if there was someone nearby who was close enough to see the scar on the left side of her face. She wasn't ashamed of much, but that scar her father had given her shortly before she left the pack was an open emotional subject that she would rather forget.
Alphira continued to walk through the unseasonly rain with a bitter streak to her name. Her feet were sore and her belly ached with hunger. She was a very good hunter, but she hadn't seen much worth hunting in the last few days and now she was beginning to weaken. She hoped that no strangers were going to attack her, she was not in the mood for a fight and she really wasn't at her best. Her weary eyes were beginning to droop and she decided to lie down for a while, but there wasn't anywhere nearby that would shade her from the rain.

[jay]

It had been so long.

The young male had wandered aimlessly since Siscarm disbanded the pack. Jay had no idea what to do with himself, and so he let himself fall to piece. Alearia had long since flown away, disgusted with the tattered mess he allowed himself to become. In all honesty, the brute had lost his will to live long ago. He did not have the spunk of his smaller, older mentor. Jay was just a poor excuse for a wolf that had somehow managed to stay alive by picking the bits off others’ kills like a scavenger. He was a wreck, and he was not trying to fool himself to believe otherwise.

In fact, Jay had all but decided to throw himself away until a nagging feeling convinced him otherwise. He needed to make something of his life, and that had not yet happened. He found himself bordering the pack lands of Airila. He had yet to see any other packs aside from Aldgar in the past year, and so he was interested with where fate had led him. As he danced along the border of the pack lands, he had the decency to howl prior to setting into the territory. There was nothing he knew better than to howl at the border, as he had seen Xinelil frustrated with the trespassers in the Oriens.

I have another chance here. Maybe this pack will take me in, he thought. It was an off-handed shot, but it was something that could possibly work. It was then that he scented another wolf, though it was obvious that she was not of the pack. The scent marks from this pack were not upon her, yet here she trudged through the miserable weather without a care in the world as to the fact that she was trespassing.

“Wandering into pack lands unannounced is a good way to get yourself killed,” he announced breathlessly, his cool eyes fixated on the wolf before him.

((OOC: I haven't played him in forever...))

[ravynmad121]

The ebony she-wolf had fallen into a pit of her own thoughts and almost didn't hear the voice that spoke to her. She turned her head to see a large grey brute heading towards her. At first, she was on guard, the fur at the back of her neck bristling; but then she relaxed a little as the stranger did not seem to be aggressive.

"I haven't decided yet if I want them to know I am here. What sort of packlands am I walking into exactly? What is the alpha like?" Alphira asked curiously, tilting her head very slightly to one side. She was glad to see another wolf, another lone wolf actually, judging by the lack of the marked scent that surrounded them on his fur.

She wanted to make sure she had come to the right pack, if the alpha here was anything like her father, she would probably attack him out of rage. She wanted wolves like her mother, calm, loving, caring, not cruel and sadistic like her father. Once again, the thought of her father made her snarl under her breathe. She turned her head away from the stranger to hide her snarl so that he wouldn't think she was being aggressive towards him.

He seemed nice enough and she was not in a position to scare away potential friends. He was a handsome brute who walked with an air of confidence in his step, he knew the area well and probably knew everyone in the pack that they were both steadily walking towards. It was probably in her best interests to play nice with this stranger, but there was just one problem: she never learnt how to play nice. She knew how to fight, she knew how to dominate a weaker wolf, how to keep a pack in line, but she didn't know how to greet a wolf politely or even how to play without hurting someone. She felt bad at being so brutal by nature, but she was raised by a cruel father who wanted that side of her to be the dominate side. Alphira stepped a little closer to the stranger, liking the feel of company beside her; friendly company. He didn't want anything from her, he had an agenda of his own which probably had nothing to do with her, he was just being friendly and she could at least try to do the same.

[jay]

The brute watched his new female conversationalist with an amused twinkle in his eyes. "Darlin', if you didn't want them to know you were here, then you're in the wrong place. Pack wolves patrol, and there's the little fact that I howled before strolling onto claimed territory," he scoffed. Jay was not feeling the need to be intentionally harsh, but this femme seemed a little too airy for his tastes. She was not taking the situation seriously. When he told her she could be killed, he was not joking. Foolish femme.

And then she asked him about this pack. How would I know? I've barely stepped out of Aldgar's territory my entire life, except to find what meager excuse for food I could scavenge, he thought, licking his lips hungrily. The brute was tired of the constant grumble in his stomach that alerted him that he was malnourished. To any outsider, the brute looked borderline scary. He was scruffy and ungroomed, and his fur was virtually in mats. Why he had even bothered to approach her, he was not sure. Maybe he had lost his mind; it would not be surprising with the condition he was in.

"How would I know?" he asked in a raspy voice, a cough stuck in his throat. He cleared it and began speaking again. "I know nothing of this place. I have never been here before, and I'm not sure I want to stick around long enough to find anything else," he lied. In his lifetime, he had wandered this far north. He knew the terrain, but the pack that dwelled in this area was quite new. He knew nothing of the alpha, how many members the pack had accrued in its life span... Anything. He was out of tune with this world, and it would take some time for him to get acclimated to life around others again.

Siscarm has ruined me, he thought bitterly. The old geezer had torn apart the only thing he had left of Xinelil. Jay had stuck around out of loyalty and emotional ties to the Aldgar Pack. Now that it was non-existant, he could not bring himself to let go. It would take time, but maybe, just maybe he could bring himself out of this funk.

[ravynmad121]

Alphira considered the stranger with a curious eye. He was not like the wolves that she had known. He was matted and unkempt and he looked like life was giving him a hard time right about now. She wondered if she should just leave him alone, although he had approached her first, he didn't seem very interested in a conversation or even at having company. That was probably not true though, being a lone wolf was dreadfully lonely.

She thought over what he had said earlier and decided he was right, she was in the territory now and trying to hide was pointless. She lifted her head to the dark, gloomy sky and released a deep, haunting howl that stretched for miles even with the crashing rain.

When her call came to an end, she turned back to him."Are you planning on joining this pack? You look like you could use a little help, like some food maybe? Can you not hunt?" She asked in an almost mocking voice. She knew it was a stupid thing to ask, she was just as thin as he was and she could hunt just fine. But she couldn't help feeling bitter towards the brute.
Even though he looked like hell, she could tell that he had once been a strong and proud wolf; or at least he had had the potential to be. But he stood as if he had no self-confidence left, as if he was on the brink of giving up and that just pissed her off.

"Why do you not hold your head up high? Why do you look so low? There is a glimmer of light in your eyes that tells me you were once something great, but for whatever reason that seems to have gone." Alphira almost smirked to herself, she wanted to be nice, but she could not deny how good she felt when she was mean or mocking. It was just so fun...I really need to work on that she thought. Snide remarks and bitterness would get her nowhere.

[jay]

Jay was almost cold-hearted toward this female. She had not shown him anything to prove that she could be trusted, so his first instinct was to keep her at a distance. There was no sense getting emotionally attached to someone who was just going to leave him. Alearia... he thought, forlorn. She had been his best friend, and she abandoned him. If anything, that betrayal hurt worse than the pack falling apart in the first place. The little snowy owl had refused to let him wallow in his misery, instead throwing it back in his face and storming off like a spoiled brat. The brute had needed time to mourn the loss of his alpha, since he had never been properly allowed to do it. She simply did not understand, and it ended up costing him dearly.

"Are you planning on joining this pack? You look like you could use a little help, like some food maybe? Can you not hunt?"

A growl snagged in the brute's thought. The mocking tone in the female's voice suggested that she was not only appalled by his appearance, but felt it necessary to make fun of him. "You know nothing," his voice remained flat, emotionless. He would not allow her to get to him. He had taken the time to build these walls, and the first wolf he ran into would not be the one to tear those down. He would make sure of it.

It was the next words out of her mouth that made Jay snap. In an instant, the fiery spark of the little pup who had wandered into Xinelil's territory with Tain and Lan by his side return. He was furious, and he refused to be make into a spectacle any longer. "I said, you know NOTHING!" he bellowed, fury coarsing through his body. "I am still something great. There is a difference between a lack of and a suppression of greatness," he reiterated, his eyes narrowed as he glowered at the female.

"Do not make someone else's problems into a light situation, femme," Jay sneered, his body still itching to lunge at the female that had so openly insulted him, but he fought the urge. "Because some wolves won't be so kind as to explain themselves. They will simply... attack." He bared his fangs at the femme briefly before turning an insulting shoulder on her. He strolled a few paces away, not even wanting to be so much as in reach of the female's words any longer.

He turned.

"You are not familiar with me, so I will forgive and forget. But mark my words; throw anything like that in my face again, and I will not be so lenient. You do not know me, and so you have no right to make assumptions and say things like you have said."

[ravynmad121]

His teeth meant nothing to her, his fury was almost comforting and the way he had spoken to her reminded her of home. Damn it, that is just what I was trying to avoid.The stranger turned away from her and Alphira felt her breath catch in her throat. She had insulted him and mocked him, and now he was furious. She started running after him, not wanting to have made an enemy already.

"Wait! I...I'm sorry" She tried not to bite her own tongue as she said that, saying sorry was a sign of weakness, but it needed to be said. Her ears sank back and she dropped her head, her whole body seemed to sink lower in shame." I didn't mean to make you so mad...I just...I don't know how to be nice, I want to be, but I don't know how. Please don't leave, you're the only wolf, aside from my mother, that I have ever met who wasn't mean or cruel." Alphira turned her face away, feeling ashamed at being so socially naive, and at looking so weak in this moment. She looked back to the brute with saddened eyes. " Will you please give me another chance?"

Alphira almost whimpered to keep the stranger there with her. She didn't want to be alone anymore. She had many lessons to learn, and she had just learnt her first. The mocking and critical ways she had grown up with as a way of bonding were not welcome in the outside world. But what else is there? How else do you talk to someone? Alphira stepped even closer to the stranger and decided to explain her actions so that he might not hate her as much.

"I...I came from a pack where cruelty is common. Since my siblings and I were born, we had been taught to be strong and powerful; my father believed that that meant you had to be harsh and dominating. Mockery and casual insults were a form of...affection I guess you could call it. We were never taught to be friendly with others...my mother was different though. That is why I left, because my father knew nothing more and it cost him our family...my mother, my sister and my brother. Blame me for my rudeness, I deserve it, but please don't think I mean to be that way." She had never spoken so calmly towards someone, and it felt...good. Was that what being nice felt like? Being nice was something she knew nothing of, but she was beginning to think it might be easier to learn than what she had thought.

Through the heavy rain and whistling cold, she slowly walked closer and closer, just wanting to be closer to someone; anyone.The best, and possibly only, way to describe Alphira at this point in time was confused. She was torn between what she knew and what she wanted to be, and it was making her behave in a way that was alien to her. Sulking, whining and pleading with a stranger was something her father would have beaten her for doing. But if she didn't change her ways, she was going to end up just like him; and nothing terrified her more than becoming her father.

When she merely a few steps away from him, she lifted her head just the tinest bit and looked up at him with deep golden eyes, just wondering if her mistake would cost her what could have been a valuable friend and creating a dangerous enemy.

[jay]

Jay watched the femme, almost disbelieving at her sudden change of attitude. He was not much for hormonal, crabby companions. This femme seemed to meet both of those specifications. She couldn't keep her damn mouth shut? I don't give a rat's ass about what happened in her past. You can't let that define who you become, he thought defiantly. He was pissed, and it would take a lot for him to come back around.

"You know what your story is missing?" he asked humorously. "The part where I take that as a legitimate excuse. I haven't known my parents. I was dumped, left alone, and raised by an alpha that was murdered right in front of my mentor and best friend, who then darted off to crazyland, and came back in a fit trying to take over the pack." He snorted; for the first time, some of his story was actually coming out. He still had negative feelings about the whole situation, and this irritable female was bringing them to the surface once again. Quite frankly, Jay resented her for it.

He growled deeply. "I had nothing. No family, no alpha, and I watched my pack fall apart right before my eyes. Finally someone with the chance to save us came and took over, but just long enough to tell us to get the hell out of our territory because the pack didn't exist anymore." He shot a dirty look at the female. He knew a lot of his negative feelings were being projected on her for no reason, but he needed to talk about this, and she had provoked the rage in the first place. The least she could do was suck it up and listen for a few short moments in her life.

"I may not be intentionally mean or cruel, but I have serious baggage. I hate myself, I hate all of them, and damn it, I wish I was dead most of the time," he growled. "You don't want to be around me. I'm bad news, and I'm not looking to change any time soon." He laughed darkly.

"Sorry Princess, but Prince Charming has left the building."

((OOC: I'd be careful with him, he's extremely unstable and I'm thinking he might snap here in a bit. Just forewarning.))