Mountain Sound -- open

[Rueff]

HAVE YOU ANY IDEA HOW A RAVEN IS LIKE A WRITING DESK...?

"Thanks." Rueff sniffed, and tried to hide his dramatic gagging face. He felt no different, besides the feeling of his pores clogged by awful paste that stuck his fur together in random spikes. The words hung on his lip Can I wash it off yet? before he backed off. Yeesh, he was ungrateful. This wolf had helped him, and he returned the favour with distaste. He waited to hopefully feel this 'relief'

"I'll tell you one thing, you're a lot nicer than she was" He didn't have to specify who "she" was - it was pretty obvious. Yet by the glance he'd seen at Darago they looked like polar opposites. How they became mates, or even like each other baffled him.

[Darago]

--deep into the mountain sound

Notes;; -----

An sharp glance was shot at Rueff as if to say 'Don't even think about washing it off.' If he washed it off then it definitely would not work. It was awkward to have on, but it was something he would just have to deal with. Darago stopped at his next words. He supposed they spoke true at this point, though things were different back then.

"We were both young and she was different." They had been barely more than pups when they had first met. They had become fast friends. She was young, beautiful, and nice. If you were to tell his younger self that she were to go insane and try to eat wolves he would huff and tell you that was impossible. Wolves just changed, he supposed. Some more than others.

[Rueff]

HAVE YOU ANY IDEA HOW A RAVEN IS LIKE A WRITING DESK...?

Rueff huffed at that. He flexed his claws again, slowly regaining feeling. He looked back across the slow moving stream. It was quite pretty, the clear crystalline water making it took shallower than it actually was. He felt his mind slipping back into its own little world, but before he noticed he was too far gone, so he let his memories fill his head. It was rare he remembered in states like he is now. It was a treat, like visiting the cinema. He wondered what his mind intended to show him.

---

Abrina. Crisp white pelt and a perfect face. No imperfections. No scars or a fleck of dirt. Perfect. Soft. Yet he felt that longing. Is this really what I was like? He wanted to gag. So many fresh emotions, strong emotions. The thing that he saw her through two eyes. It amazed him of the view he had. No darkness or blind spots. It was amazing. Then he remembered her after something struck her head. Dumbfounded, confused and almost repulsed by him.

And he was caught by the one wolf he least expected - Matana. The one wolf that treated him like the omega he was. She was pretty, but strong. Resilient. And he loved her. But then like Matana, she threw him away. Not so cruelly, but she left over and over again searching for a new home or something. But she would return to him hungry or ill, and he would save her life and take her back. Because he loved her. But she left one too many times, and if she didn't want to be in his life, she didn't deserve to.

But there was Yechta, who found him after he had lost his self-reliance, when his injuries got too bad to walk or hunt, and he was left to starve. But she loves flowers. Beautiful, beautiful flowers. Her flowers and hard work saved him, and her beautiful face saved him from the madness. They started a pack, but it was dying without her hope because something... happened to her. Dark chi energy or some wrong shamanism or whatever stuff he thought was ludicrous but she loved.

He was yet to see a single femme since.

---

He came back to the real world too quickly. The sun was too bright, wind too cold. He was surprised to see that he still stared at the beautiful water. Beautiful, like the three wolves that somehow loved him. Why they did, he would never figure out.

"Women are mad," he scoffed quietly, directed more to himself than Darago

[Darago]

--deep into the mountain sound

Notes;; -----

The black male appeared to be lost in thought. He vaguely wondered what he was thinking about, but it was really none of his business. His stomach rumbled to remind him that he still had to eat today. He figured Rueff wouldn't notice if he went to get something. He made his way back to his den and over to where he had a few pieces of prey stored. He grabbed a large rabbit and made his way back out. Once he was by the stream once again the other spoke.

The white wolf chuckled softly at that. "Yeah... I suppose they are." He sat down next to the black wolf and took a bite out of the rabbit. Then his manners kicked in and he gave Rueff a sheepish grin. He hesitated unsure that he would take the offer, "Want some?"

[Rueff]

HAVE YOU ANY IDEA HOW A RAVEN IS LIKE A WRITING DESK...?

Rueff glanced down at the slightly merger meal and discreetly shook his head. Rabbit was a meal for one. He barely hunted, for he was now catching for one, not for two, or for a pack. Just one. It felt so weird, but it was just a habit he would have to fall back into. Rueff never got real, steady love-lives. He got beautiful femmes but became twisted in their complicated dramas. Alas, it did not mean he missed them any less.

He once dreaded the solo act, but his deteriorating mind relished it. The freedom, the lack of a need to please someone. You could not be blamed by them. But his madness also hated it because, as sad to say it, she-wolves had given him love and guidance, and gave him back his life and sanity. Love or madness. One or the other.

He wondered if his lack of appetite was him spiralling back down into that real madness, when he had no food to eat, unable it be self-reliant with a bad leg. When his brain began to rot and his muscle deteriorated until he was literal skin and bones, hours from collapsing and turning to fertiliser. Which was not a thought he liked not to delve into.

[Darago]

--deep into the mountain sound

Notes;; -----

Darago shrugged and took another few bites of the rabbit. "I have another rabbit if you wish to have it." He usually kept a meal or two around until he went hunting again. Darago had always hunted for two meals ever since Angel. Back then it was for two wolves, but now it was for practicality and if he ever had company. "It's different, isn't it? Being alone."

The white wolf checked the paste to make sure it was still doing fine. "How does the leg feel now?" He figured that if it was still hurting at this point then he may as well wash it off. Then again if was working he could still wash it off. "I guess it can come off either way at this point."

[Rueff]

HAVE YOU ANY IDEA HOW A RAVEN IS LIKE A WRITING DESK...?

It's different, isn't it? Being alone. "It's better Rueff snapped, but he wasn't quite sure he believed it. Well, his current mind did, but there will always be that nagging narcissistic feeling of common sense in the back of his brain, existent until the next time he is pushed too far over the edge.

Rueff heard Darago offer him a second rabbit, and he shook his head once again. He had lost his appetite a while ago. He still hunted, probably too often, bringing down prey for sport. He didn't eat half of them. He just loved watching the light fade from their panicked eyes, and watch them twitch helplessly as their nerves began to die. And once the thrill of the kill dissipated, he would leave them in the dirt for the crows and those pitiful scavengers - like he used to be.

Rueff hesitated. Huh. He hadn't even thought about his leg in a while, long forgotten as his brain forged from one thought to the next, grabbing a new one and discarding the last. As he sat there he had barely twitched it. He stood and stretched it up. Movable, and strong. Painless, but the muscles felt like they hung slack, and he couldn't feel the grass beneath his paw. "Numb. Thank god" Rueff was probably more excited about washing off the cocktail of bacteria rather than the benefits it was giving him, but he was grateful. He only hoped this "affect" would last. Rueff twitched an ear submissively. "Thanks"

[Darago]

--deep into the mountain sound

Notes;; -----

"It's better."

Was it? Sharing a home, hunting for two or even hunting together, not being alone. As much as he despised being in a pack, he didn't like to be alone either. The feeling of coming back to a den and greeting the one you loved. Then there was the fighting about fickle things. Then somebody has to leave and when you're back they have a new mate. Still, he did enjoy the god times. "I disagree. I don't like being alone all the time."

Darago manged to hide his excitement that it had really worked. "That's good." He was happy that he had managed to relieve some of the pain. It should make things a bit easier at least. "Just be careful when washing it off, the stuff tastes foul. It should last for around three days. The more you put on, the longer it lasts. Though, if you do put more on you have to wait a bit longer for it to set."

[Rueff]

HAVE YOU ANY IDEA HOW A RAVEN IS LIKE A WRITING DESK...?

Then you're weak! You lack self-reliance! The reason you have no mate is for the fact you cannot look after yourself. You depend on another, and that makes you easy! Someone will pick you off the bottom of their shoe and keep walking, because no one will ever miss the guy that died for no good reason!

Rueff wanted to absolutely scream at him, but he missed his opportunity as Darago continued to speak. His anger quelled when he couldn't voice his frustrations. Rueff nodded in he right places, and gave a weak smile at the end, but his mind had pulled him under again. Lost in thought.

Rueff knew so many of his accusations were misguided. Some of them were repetitive, others lacked coherence. He just wanted to voice his frustrations. Rueff had strived his whole, meagre life to be that wolf that some rumoured about. People knew his name, wolves that had never met him knew his face. He wanted to live inside other's minds, his legacy grow with word-of-mouth. He had developed so much respect, and myth and fear. But after he lost that one grave battle... he was that laughing stock. He stooped his lowest when he needed help. Like now. He wanted to just scream in Darago's ear hateful words. Because in Darago he saw what he should have wanted.

[Darago]

--deep into the mountain sound

Notes;; -----

The white wolf sensed that something was off with the other. He fell silent as he considered what it might be about. Ahh, being alone. He supposed he should have made himself more clear. It wasn't a mate he wanted, just company. He had been thinking of a mate at the time, but that had just been a first thought. He was about to say these things, but he held his tongue. He could practically feel the tension and he did not want to make it worse. His blue eyes narrowed as he studied Rueff.

The wolf had something to say, but he was holding it all in. Darago already figured that this wolf was going mad. not many knew of him anymore, but Darago was one of the older wolves to still walk around here. He had seen quite a bit and this Rueff was interesting. He wasn't new, but he was different as well. Darago was also curious on what he was thinking about. Whatever it was he doubted it would be better if he let it rest inside. "Just say it.

[Rueff]

HAVE YOU ANY IDEA HOW A RAVEN IS LIKE A WRITING DESK...?

Rueff let his lips pull back from his teeth. But he was not fuming anymore. These mood swings were killing him. His head could not made up its mind. "You come off weak when you mooch off someone. 'Loneliness' is independence. And independence is strength"

Ah, one of Rueff's jibberish philosophies, coming up next to sleep when you're dead, or sleep and die and madness is Nirvana (not Buddhist, but Nirvana is the highest state of mind, like tranquil). Yep. They both had their ups, but jeez did they have their downs. Any other wolf would be mad to follow his advice.

(Soz so short)