Adventure (continued). Toiro/Open

[seadragoness]

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[bg=000000][atrb=background,http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff153/Lumarinam/kastiel-background.png] When Kastiel found his Alpha, it was to the sight of him relaxing in the shade of the pine tree Kastiel had been called to. He seemed calm enough, ready to take on whatever might be thrown at them. Seeing this strengthened Kastiel’s resolve, that he would get them both through this journey. That didn’t mean he didn’t trust his Alpha to be able to hold his own, on the contrariety he was sure Toiro could easily look out for himself. It was just that - with Kastiel here, he shouldn’t have. When Kastiel stopped before the leader, the other rose. And greeted him with a friendly smile and a pleasant wag of his tail. Kastiel waited in silence as his leader stretched, waited until he had turned to him once more and began to speak. The other was asking his opinion about the path they should take for there journey. It took Kastiel longer to identify the lands by there name then it was to make an action decision – he knew them better by sight, for the journey that got him to this pack lands. “I think... we should cut through Tiayr, both are immediate neighbouring lands, and although we can’t test out what lies in both before leaving the pack lands, we can at least speed the journey by passing straight through and into the Oriens” After Kastiel had given his opinion, the other nodded his head and added in that it sounded wise. Kastiel was grateful that his opinions held weight to his trusted friend and leader. It seemed that Kastiel had the final say, in fact, and after hearing his opinion the Alpha moved forward off the land. Kastiel rose his head and let out one final howl. A wolf-song to say his love for this pack and his family here, before he jumped forward to pad lightly one step behind his Alpha, on the right side, to show his status in second in command. But more then that, it allowed his leader to lead, and gave Kastiel the chance to look about them and keep on high alert. From here he could protect his leader, and watch over him. They walked for a short distance, but seeing as they weren’t far from the border of their territory they didn’t have far to go. A moment later and they where across; the next breath of air the Beta took in was that of almost unfamiliarity, by how long he had been in pack lands now. He didn’t pause, but stayed directly beside his Alpha. Wondering how the other would approach the land they walked towards. Would he pause before taking the step into the pack lands, and how his presence there? A polite formality where they didn’t cross the land without permission. After all, it was friendship that they where after. They wanted to know who they shared this land was, to make alliances, surely. Kastiel knew the distance wasn’t too far, and the majority of it would be taken through forest. His ears swirled every which way, and each step taken with caution. He would not let his Alpha down, he had already sworn this.

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[Toiro]

Toiro paused at the border of Tiayr, wondering if he ought to howl to announce his arrival. He had heard that a band of gypsies inhabited the area, but wasn’t sure if they’d officially claimed the land or not. Oh well, guess we’ll find out… he shrugged lightly before setting off into the unfamiliar territory.

Toiro led the way, comforted by the presence of Kastiel at his side. He knew his friend was loyal, and would be constantly on the lookout for danger, so he allowed himself to relax and just focus on where they were going.

He tried to keep them in the shade of the forest but soon realised that they were drifting closer and closer to Haishin territory. They would probably visit Haishin later on on their adventure around Anikira, but their first stop was the Oriens and, with the way they were heading, they would probably miss the Oriens completely and end up somewhere in I’queyer.
Quietly coming to a stop in a small clearing, Toiro looked back towards his beta, waiting for the soft sound of his panting to cease before he spoke.
“I’m afraid we’ll have to head out into the open soon. If we go any further south, we’ll cross into Kamari”

He glanced at the surrounding forest, hoping to find a trickle of water he could drink from. Although they had been travelling in the shade, Toiro’s thick fluffy coat combined with the high temperatures of summer was nearly killing him. And he couldn’t imagine what travelling in the open would do to him. “Perhaps we should rest here for a while. Some water would be nice, and I wouldn’t be against a meal either…”
A disappointed look crossed his face as he realised that this part of the forest was actually rather quiet and there wasn’t a drop of water in sight. “You haven’t seen a stream or something on the way here, have you?” he asked Kastiel worriedly. He hoped that his friend’s keen eyesight had picked up something he hadn’t, namely some water.

Toiro was almost at the end of his strength. He wouldn’t seem too bad from an onlooker’s point of view, but the reality was that he was burning inside. The fluffy grey wolf’s soft pink tongue lolled out of his mouth, and his chest rose and fell visibly despite the fact that the two had been standing stationary for a while now and he’d had plenty of time to catch his breath.

Toiro shook his head lethargically and turned to Kastiel. He thought he’d heard the other wolf reply, but hadn’t been able to make out the words. “Sorry, what was that?” he asked, the hint of a wheeze creeping into his voice. He didn’t want to appear weak, but that was probably the least of his concerns at the moment.
He glanced up at the clouds drifting lazily across the sky and begged them to release the water they held inside.



((OOC: Could you put in the title that this thread is open to the gypsies/loners aswell?))
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[seadragoness]

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[bg=000000][atrb=background,http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff153/Lumarinam/kastiel-background.png] Kastiel couldn’t help but notice that it was beginning to be a warm day, he was grateful that his Alpha shied to the shadows of the forest where the warm rays of the sun where diluted through the soft green shade of the canopy. However, he understood when Toiro paused in his steps, panting from the heat, and pointed out they couldn’t continue in this direction forever. In order to keep to there course, refrain from crossing pack territory, and to add hours onto there journey they had to break from the shade the trees provided. Kastiel nodded his head lightly in understanding to what his leader was saying. He didn’t like how open that would leave them however. At least in the forest you where on equal footing to whatever else might be out there. Once you strayed to the open land it meant you could be stalked from the forest, or that it was easy to keep an eye on you and near impossible to find quick shelter if they needed it. What Kastiel hadn’t realised however, was that his companion and Alpha was not as use to long journeys as he was. He didn’t doubt that his leader was strong, capable of looking out for himself, but a long time in one area meant there was little practise in long periods of travel with no clue where the nearest food or water source was. Toiro was asking him if he had seen a source of water – and Kastiel had in fact encountered the scent of water, as slight as it had been, further back. It meant back tracking however and Kastiel was reluctant to deduct miles from what they had already passed. He opened his mouth to tell his leader this, but found himself pausing and looking at his friend properly. He looked dehydrated, which was never a good thing in hot weather. It was clear by the heave of his sides as he panted, which worried Kastiel a lot. panting was good at removing access heat from one’s body, but it also caused one to loose a great deal of water. The more Toiro panted to relieve the heat, the more water he lost in his body, and the less liquid he had to compensate – it was a vicious cycle. His eyes had begun to look a little sunken – not a great deal, not dangerously, just enough to highlight the dehydration his Alpha must have been feeling. “Toiro? “ He murmured, concerned. There was a slight delay before the Alpha turned to him, his expression cloudy and confused. If Kastiel wasn’t so polite he would have sworn. It was not good at all even in the shade, how had Toiro degraded so much and he not pick it up? “Toiro, I want you to wait here. Do not go anywhere you hear me?” His voice was full of concern, worry, but also that determination that marked him. He could remember the last time he had left a sick wolf on her own... he had never seen her again. He couldn’t think of that now, he knew exactly what he had to do. He moved away from his Alpha before the other could protest and moved deeper into the forest with a light loop. It took him about twenty minutes – which by the beta’s standards was far too longer, rather then as efficient as it had actually been. He came behind the doe, he was cautious and quite, but impatient. It took another five minutes off the time to properly catch it, with the time creeping up, after that it was a matter of leaping efficiently, catching it’s neck, and easing the corpse to the ground. It was clear the male knew how to survive on his own. He wasn’t a twenty minute walk from his alpha, he was approximately eight. The time had been killed circulating, to broaden the search area without actually leaving a great distance between himself and the other. Now, he dragged the small doe in his teeth and walked backwards. He arrived close to where he had left his leader, and called out – expecting the other to follow his wishes and stay where he had left him. Now, when the other made those few short steps into Kastiel’s view – if indeed he did so, Kastiel would tell him to drink the liquid the catch contained. It was easier then making Toiro walk the fair journey backwards to the waterhole the Beta had scented out – this was far more efficient. If the other was still in bad shape at the end, at least he would be revived enough to make the journey to the water hole, and as well as giving him liquid, the kill would give him food, and the energy that provided.

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[dreidoj]

[atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,450,true][atrb=background,http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/602/dreitablemiddle.png,true] It seemed these days the Gaziché Leader was being pulled in a hundred different directions, and accomplishing nothing in the meantime. The gypsies had been on Anikira for nearly a year, and the only thing Dreidoj had managed to do was unsuccessfully knock up his Rhyanne, miss out on an opportunity with a beautiful Mexican female, lose his mate; which was really of no great lose to him. It had been nearly a month before he realized she was even gone… His hopes in meeting with the Kamari Alpha had fallen through. The gypsies were floundering here on Anikira, and he was not sure why. But the groups’ inefficiency showed on the elderly male. His tri-colored coat had lost its sheen; grey hairs peppered his muzzle while his nose had gone dry. Chocolate brown eyes were glazed over; but there were other effects of poor nutrition that were not so easily identifiable. Under that dull coat was concealed a boney figure of hips and ribs and shoulders. The King had lost his crown, his band of liars and thieves had left him, uncertain of their own futures if they stayed. Dozing off in the forest of Tiayr, he lay curled up in a tight ball next to the large base of a tree and an adjacent exposed root. Black tipped ears would twitch alive at nearby noises, and then would fall limp. Several times in a matter of minutes this happened, and with each flick his brain would catch more and more of what was stirring him from his sleep. He did not want to wake, chocolate eyes remaining closed off to the warm summer day, intent on the vivid colors and faces of his dream. But the noise around him became clearer, it was a voice, no two voices, and what they were saying was not cohesive with the figures of his dream. Dreidoj still did not want to rise, but self-preservation forced him to wake with a startle, immediately poised in a sitting position, ears swiveling atop his head until they discovered the source of the voices was behind him. The voices had ceased, replaced by the distinct sound of paw steps; louder at first but they were moving away instead of closer. The male only realized he had been holding his breath when his lungs acted on their own, dragging in a deep breath. He stayed put, hidden behind the tree trunk, trying to gather as much information about the intruders before he revealed his position. Mind was buzzing, trying to remember what the fleeting wolf had said to the other; or were there others? Dry leathery nares inhaled deeply, dissecting the atmosphere’s scents. He could only decipher two distinctly different canine scents in the immediate area. Several minutes passed, Drei not able to make up his mind to stand and fight for what only he believed to be his, or flee for his life. It was the scent of blood that made up his mind for him. He would stay. He would fight. The intoxicating smell sent a spasm through his abdomen. He needed to feed his body that was slowly wasting away. No sooner did he make up his mind a low howl was sent out, most likely the wolf that had left earlier. Dreidoj waited for the answer before he made his move. ***** words: five fifty nine. muse: average. notes: sorry this took so long to get up here guys. in all honesty, i kind of forgot about this poor old guy.

[Toiro]

Toiro blinked, trying to focus on the wolf in front of him. Why was everything so blurry? He nodded numbly when Kastiel told him to stay where he was, but he doubted that he would’ve been able to move more than a couple of steps even if he had wanted to. The sound of pawsteps told him that his beta was heading off into the forest, back the way they’d come.
A little glimmer of hope rose up inside him at the possibility that Kastiel had seen some water that he hadn’t on the way here, and was going to get it. Toiro was too tired to bother wondering about how his friend would get the water back if he had indeed gone to get some.

The dehydrated alpha lay in a thick patch of grass at the edge of the little clearing, his tongue lolling out of his mouth as he panted. Gradually, he felt himself cooling down, although the heat was still suffocating and he now had a splitting headache because of all the water he’d lost.
In his exhaustion, Toiro didn’t notice the tell-tale signs of another wolf in the area, which he might have normally been able to pick up. Instead he lay snoozing in the grass, blissfully unaware that the notorious leader of the gypsies was right behind him.

Kastiel’s call jolted him fully awake, and the nice daydream he’d been having about Nikia vanished back into the recesses of his mind. “I’m coming” He replied somewhat sleepily.
Slowly Toiro stood up and stretched, yawning as he did so. He padded towards where he thought his friend’s call had come from and was pleased to find that he was only a few metres out with his estimate.

His eyes widened as he saw the prey Kastiel had caught and his stomach growled hungrily. “Is that really for me?” he beamed, dizzy with joy. Deer had never looked so good. He tore into the rich meat, relishing the delicious taste and texture, and the liquid that came from the kill. “Thank you Kastiel – this is wonderful” he mumbled appreciatively around a mouthful of venison. Already Toiro could feel a bit of his strength returning. He knew he should slow down his eating because of the queasy feeling that wolfing down his food often gave him, but, quite frankly, he didn’t care.



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[seadragoness]

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[bg=000000][atrb=background,http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff153/Lumarinam/kastiel-background.png] Coming back with the corpse of the deer, kastiel had caught the faint scent of a wolf. He thought nothing of it, after all this was loner territory and plenty of wolves could wonder freely through it. He was cautious by nature, and since he didn’t plan on throwing caution to the wind any time soon he was assured in the knowledge he would know if a wolf came any closer to them. His first concern at the moment was to his Alpha, who made those few steps towards his Beta with ease. Kastiel nudged his head towards the kill in indication for his Alpha to dig in. he hadn’t needed to give the encouragement however as the other moved towards the food, a slow, weak smile on his mussel as he voiced his question to the other. As the Alpha tore into the meat and murmured his thank you, it was clear the other appreciated the effort. More then that – Kastiel feared to think what might have happened if he wasn’t here. He would die for his Alpha, but he didn’t like the feeling of worry in his gut – if they had lost there Alpha here, and now, Kastiel would never have forgiven himself. The other was digging in quickly to the kill, maybe a little to quick then what was healthy, but at least he was getting in that nutrition that he needed, the liquid to keep him going. “Toiro, I know how much this journey means to you, why you want to do it, and all that, but maybe we should turn back. You could have died out here, you didn’t, but you could have. Why don’t we turn back, train, become fit and strong enough to look out for ourselves out here in unknown territory, then come back to this” He was worried the other might be insulted, but all Kastiel wanted was for Toiro to be okay, he was Kastiel’s responsibility out here, and Kastiel would voice what he had, even if he was worried of offending.

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