Rehabilitation of the - e n t i r e - NATION

[Sivoncé™]

"Dude, sometimes I wonder what made Goldie Locks make freaks like us. I mean, I know he was lonely and everything, but why bother giving life to someone who would eventually give birth to odd balls like us? I love you, dear, but really, we have issues!" The dark brute yawned and rolled over in a seemingly lazy gesture. Perhaps this was the beauty with Darius and Santi ; they could appear at ease, calm, thoughtless, but this was never so. Wolves like them moved miles a minute across time and space, or at least they were blazing by the world in an internal haze. These two were the over-compulsive disorder victims of the world.

"Yeah, I get that way, too, love," Santi snickered, laying down beside her mate. The two were peacefully lofted on sooty stones above the dust and grime that had replaced any lush the forest once held. They could peer through the thin line of trees and see the glistening dollops of water that made up the Twilight Lake from here. Their actual den was a mile or so away from the shore, far from their current location. Perhaps this is why the two did not much care about their openness to the world ; they were not endangering their family. As far as their own saftey went, Darius and Santi had stopped trying to keep each other out of hazardous situations long ago. For wolves like them, it was just something that came like the air they breathed.
"Why bother with us if we're no great heroes? Why bother with us if we're not to be saved by any of the said big wolfies. But then I remember...." she grinned, giggling softly at a rustle in the woodlands.

Darius tilted his head, raising his brow at her. "You remember what, Santi?"
She stood, tail wagging slightly and a small bark of greeting coming from her maw, directed towards the newcomer. "Then I remember we're no the only freaks around here, and we're what makes the stories interesting!"

[.Rabid Lycan.]

((I can't resist-- I must throw Vee in here ))

"STOP FOLLOWING ME!"
Swiveling around with her withers standing on end, Vee growled threateningly at the wolf behind her.

"Mmmhmm... make me, beautiful."

Although she was quite clearly both insulted and disgusted, Vee merely groaned in frustration and rolled her eyes. The brute behind her sounded half-drunk.
"This is definitely the last time that I'm going to trick you into eating wolf-nip, Fendrel..."

The normally on-edge, no-nonsense brute was grinning, thick black mane ruffling to make his chest look bigger... He was trying to flirt, but ultimately tripped and stumbled after a few more steps.
"...what're you talkin' 'bout?"

Vee sighed, leaning over to help him up. "So much for practical jokes..."

"Your face is a practical joke."

Vee dropped him back where he was and sat back on her hind legs, closing her eyes tight.
"Wow. Real mature, Fendrel."
Jeez, I didn't even think that I gave him that much...
Suddenly, she heard voices and tilted her head to one side. The voices were nearby, she figured. Very near.
"Hear that?"

"Nope," Fendrel replied in a slurred voice, slowly staggering to his paws and blinking his near-scarlet eyes drowsily. "...why?"
He then slumped over to one side, falling on top of Vee. She yelled in response, grunting in an effort to get him off.

"GET OFF!"

((wolf-nip... it's crack for wolves! ))

[Sivoncé™]

Loud mutterings issued forth from the single piece of brush that remained in the mud-caked clearing. Santi tilted her head, slightly confused now. Darius joined her to her left shoulder, equally as puzzled. He attempted to scent the newcomers, but a whiff of the air was enough to send his coughing and hacking up mucus. With a great sigh, Santi arced her back downwards, resting close to the forest floor, and letting out another call to what seemed to be multiple wolves.
"Well then....READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!"
"Dear," Darius warned her, suddenly alarmed. "Do you really think that's a good---""WAAAHOOOEY!!!!"
A furball of bright autumn red tumbled down upon Vee and Fendrel, perhaps incurring great pain onto her landing mats.
"OOOHHHH IT'S VEE-NESS! But who the hay is this kiddie?" Santi peered under her to Fendrel, making no move or motion to leave her place on top of his belly.
Darius rushed forward, a panicked look in his eyes and legs all a-jitter. He sighed heavily in relief as Vee was revealed in the scene. Well, at least we weren't massacred by a squirrel.....or that Loni gangster freak. Geeze, that dude has anger issues! Well, so do the squirrels....
"Santi...." he breathed, searching for words. He shook his head, rolling his eyes and giving her an exasperated gaze.
She inclined her head slightly, smiling at his wound-up tenseness.
"Yes'm?" She answered pleasantly.
He only laughed softly and shook his midnight head once more.

[Destiny]

( Well, at least we weren't massacred by a squirrel.....or that Loni gangster freak. Geeze, that dude has anger issues! Well, so do the squirrels.... <-- LOL XDD Oh yes, sooo many issues. )

"Teeheeheeheeheeee...." An unusually tiny, lean, soft chocolate, dirt, and caramel mixed together colored female wolf was trotting absently along. Yes, trotting. Well, actually, it might have been more like skipping, but who knows, really.

"Tralalala.." Oh dear God, she's singing now. Yes, that's right, wolf that is incapable of producing a single note of song that sounds good is attempting to sing a song. Golden Wolf better help you all, because your ear drums might just break from the agony of this sound.

Ah well, right? Sing like no one is listening, dance like no one is watching, and live like there's no tomorrow! Or so Fawn always says, anyway. But, who is she to say such a thing? Oh, that's right, the freak who calls upon dead wolves to help her when she needs to! Yea, that's who she is.

There was something up ahead, it seemed. A scent carried along the breeze. And, no, it was not the scent of flowers for once that Fawn could smell. She seemed to have an issue with smelling flowers, like all the time... Well, no one is totally normal. Fawn's certainly not. Not even close, as a matter of fact.

'Skipping', it would seem, in the direction of the voices female opened her jaws to call out. "Howdy ho, whom doth I have the greatest pleasure of meeting on this fine, glorious Autumn day?"

[.Rabid Lycan.]

“—ahHHH!”
Landing with a barely audible oof, Vee found herself empty of breath and with two heavy weights crushing her. Despite this, she managed a grin and a wheezing, “Santi!? Nice to see ya…”
Grunting, she fought to scramble out from underneath the black brute on her chest. Once partially free, she inhaled a deep, gasping breath before squirming the rest of the way out. Fendrel looked on in utter indifference, seemingly oblivious to the fae on his chest.
“That ‘kiddie’ would be a friend o’ mine, Fendrel… well, kind of a friend, at least,” Vee explained, poking Fendrel’s neck with her nose. His paw twitched slowly in response.
“I, uh, kind of wanted to play a joke on him… I fed him wolf-nip, and he turned into… this.”[/i] She rolled her eyes, curling her lips and biting back a laugh. However, at the sound of another wolf approaching—and the following words that said wolf spoke—Vee whirled around, taking in the sight of the other wolf.
Not sensing danger, Vee grinned at the newcomer.
“Mi nombre es Vee,” she woofed, smirking a little. “How’re you, stranger?”
Fendrel continued to stare off into absent-minded bliss, smiling contentedly to himself.

[Sivoncé™]

"Greetings, Fendrel! You a commoner in these parts?" Darius inquired, nosing Santi off of the two with a playful dip of his muzzle.
"OOF! Meanie." Santi grunted. The ginger she-wolf shook herself and stood, dusting off her pelt.
Darius' soft chuckle suddenly grew in volume ; booming laughter wove joyously into the scene.
"CHARGE!"
"OMIGAHH--OOFF!!"
Santi was knocked clean off her paws, straight to the ground again. She squeezed her eyes shut tight upon impact, but they narrowed open as they eyed the attacker.
"Ugh. My own offspring will be the death of me!"
"Really, I think she's just inheriting your talents," Darius put in, still snickering.
"Eh, stop talkin' like I'm not here!" Amoret grunted, rolling her eyes and tossing her messed pelt slightly.
Amoret was eccentric to say the least. She and her siblings were young -- neophyte age, probably. And she embraced this yearling age with more zest and wild enthusiasm than even Santi or Darius could harness now and then. Luckily, Amoret did not show any of the "supernatural quirks" that had cropped up in her parents, but to make up for it....she was perhaps the most vivacious thing that grew in these parts. Though the forest was stripped clean of its cloak of autumn dazzlement, Amoret's rugged and tossed appearence nearly made up for it. She held the lush green eyes of her mother and somewhat resembled a fox. He pelt was primarily an orange-red, long and unkempt. Her ears and muzzle were painted black, and her tail had been dipped into an inky pallette. She was taller, definitly slim and lean. But shorties aren't just small...and this is especially true in Amoret's case;; short things are FUN SIZED.
"Hello!" She woofed to Vee and Fendrel, already having heard of Vee and not really caring yet to ask for Fendrel's name.

[.Rabid Lycan.]

“Dun think so,” Fendrel replied in a slurred tongue.
Vee rolled her eyes at the other brute. “He was born and raised a ways from here, though he’s… well, let’s say unavailable at the moment, due to psychological disturbances.” She snickered as Fendrel began to hum an offbeat tune to himself.
“Why, hello!” Vee yipped, noticing the young wolf when she appeared on site. She blinked slowly, suddenly remembering when she had last met Santi.
“Hey—I remember you! The last time I happened upon Santi here, you were a little pup…” She closed her eyes, grinning in delight as she recalled the pups at their previous meeting.
“Where’re we?” Fendrel mumbled, his voice an incoherent, garbled mess.
Vee sighed, glancing toward Fendrel through half-closed eyes. “Fenrisulfr, remember?”
“Ooo—your boyfriend…” Fendrel rolled over, sloppily flopping onto his stomach.
“My god—I think wolf-nip just downgraded you to a month-old pup, Fendrel,” Vee muttered, barely restraining herself from smacking Fendrel across the face.

[Destiny]

"Vee?"[/i] Headed tilted sideways then, questionable gesture for sure. "OH! I've met you before, I think! Didn't you show up that time that freaky psycho chick and her wack-job mate tried to kill Akaira?"

Fawn pranced over to Fendrel then, immediately after asking her question. Did the girl ever wait for an answer to anything? Aha, no, probably not. Curiously she poked him in the chest with a paw. "Earth to wacked out wolf guy, earth to wacked out wolf guy!" A curious little flick of her tail then.

Nearby, reddish, brownish, goldish, grayish, silverish, blueish, no particular color yet brute was skulking along. "Akaira's not coming back mom!" Riniad called the words in Santi's direction, but didn't look her way.

[Sivoncé™]

Amoret, becoming bored for a moment, decided it was time someone else was knocked over.
So it was, naturally, Fawn's turn
She rushed the fae, then proceeded to crash into her and knock her to the ground.
"Hey there, Fawn!" She giggled, licking her face and rolling off of her.
She laid on her back, eyes wide and hyperactive, kicking her paws this way and that to expel her random spurts of adrenaline. Who needed extra abilities when she was this vibrant? That would be like having too many layers of chocolate --- it would taste good at first, but it would make you sick later.
Amoret's head snapped up and she froze, silent and staring at her brother in disbelief.
Santi, too, was speechless.
It was Darius who broke this, his voice worried, concerned. "What? Is she hurt? Attacked? Who did it? It was that Squirrel character, I know it! He's a damned bastard---"
"You mean Loni, right?" Amoret sprang to her paws, a snarl starting in her throat. "I'm going to rip that manwhore limb from limb -- and you can't tell me I'm not coming this time!"
Santi did not move. She was staring at her son, tears glistening at the rims of her eyes. She turned and vanished without a word, snapping over her shoulder, "She didn't freaking get attacked --- she left us! Left us for her damn glorious legacy! She's royalty, really -- daughter of Hope or Fate, or Light and Fluffy Goodness or some shit like that! It just wasn't convienient for her to hang around with freaks like us anymore!" She paused at the entrance to their barn, resting her head on the door for a moment, shaking with fury.
"Just not convienient for her to have such a legend of a mother and and lead a life here, with the scum we are," she spat, disgusted. "I can't believe we even took something like that in...." she turned away and climbed up to the hayloft, where she collapsed to grieve for her lost packmate.
Amoret was shaking too, but instead of shedding tears, she glared at the ground with a gaze that spelled the word 'murder' quite clear.

[Destiny]

Fawn fell into a fit of giggles as she was knocked over. A playful swipe at Amoret. Then nothing, as she fell silent. Rolling onto her belly, the wolf stared down at the earth. Fawn said nothing.

The wolf still did not turn towards anyone else. "Do not judge based on what you think you know. This choice was not made based on the destiny that her mother Destiny has chosen for her to lead. Or thinks that she has. Akaira did not leave to fulfill some great prophecy, or to help save some great wolf or pack. Akaira left to save us all from the same fate that.... that... he suffered." Whether or not anyone actually payed attention to what Riniad was saying didn't really matter. It was, simply, true.

"He's right you know, oh so right." The ominous, malicious, starved snarl came from Twilight only knows where. No matter where they looked, no wolf there would set eyes on the speaker. For the ebony and flame, laced with rouge pelted creature was far to well hidden. Not even touching, or near, the ground. Or any of the other wolves present.

[Sivoncé™]

Amoret was deaf to anything else but her brother at the moment, luckily for whoever was snarling -- she would most definitly fight like a crazed squirrel, paws down.
"Riniad....listen to yourself. You're repeating exactly what Mom just said. So what if it's destiny? So what? We're family. All we see of a pack is an alpha, its beta, proxy, healers, but we never see the warriors underneath, never praise all of their names to the stars! And, really, without them the alphas wouldn't be shit! We were a pack, all of us here! Her ego was just too freakin big that it didn't fit here anymore!" She shook her head and spat. "I don't care what she told you, because chances are whatever she said would make herself look good to your eyes. To make you biased and not think too hard about it. Hell, she couldn't even drag her angelic ass over here for a proper goodbye, to explain herself, anything!And..."
One look at Darius made her stop.
Her father was.....crying.
"Illustrian......Illustrian is DEAD because of the wolves SHE involved us with --- Loni, Sekhmet....and she just......shrugs it all off......your brother is....my son was...."

[Destiny]

Riniad let out a howl. "STOP!" The emotions coming from his family were all hitting him at once now. All driving down into his skull. "It hurts so much.." Shaking his head wildly Riniad jumped to his paws. "I can't take this! Come find me when you're all calm!" With that, he tore off into the forest, tears streaming from the corners of his eyes.

Fawn pushed herself up from the dirt. Head hanging so low nose almost brushed the dirt. Tail between her legs. "I.. have to go.." Slowly, she padded off into the brush, disappearing within moments.

"Sekhmet did do quite a good job with picking off Illustrian. Now, Riniad is gone off somewhere, Fawn has dissapeared, Santi is in the hayloft. You have little protection now, dear Darius. Only Amoret to help you. And Akaira, the branded one, is not here to protect you with her positive spiritual energy. Or whatever the Hellfire she does. You're like a mouse caught in a trap, eh, Darius?" The voice seemed to echo from every direction. Taunting, menacing, wicked.

Not to far away, Akaira lay in a heap on the ground. Body was twitching and rolling around as the vision showed itself.

Loni was perched high above the ground on a tree branch. The wraith of a creature completely hidden by the smoke that tangled around the area, just like everywhere else. Hungry, vicious rouge fangs ready to sink into flesh. Dark, horrible, evil amber eyes staring downward. Downward at ... Darius. Darius, all alone, except for Amoret. And.. wait no... there were two other wolves there.. two that Loni had missed. Vee and Fendrel. But the brute seemed oblivious to the situation, anyway. And, there, lurking in the brush. A final wolf. Scraggly, dirty, tangled brute with blood lust in his eyes. Rage. The little bastard who followed Loni around now that he'd lost track of Tread. Two wolves, one lethal, one starving, against Amoret, Darius who looked to be in a state at the moment, Vee and this Fendrel who seemed to be high on wolf nip or something. Not the best odds, really.

Eyes burning with the intensity of an entire Nebula, or something along those lines, were haunted by wraiths of past. Not her own past, but her mother's. Destiny's haunters were messing up Akaira's life. If only her mother would learn to let go.

"You know, you're wrong in a sense. Akaira didn't really involve me with you.. I would have slaughtered you all anyway, for the fun of it, and dragged Sekhmet along for the ride. Hehe." Claws dug into the bark as he prepared himself to launch.

Get up...

"Who's there?" Rolling onto belly, fae pressed herself against the dirt. Ears pricked, trying to find the direction from which sound came from. But it came from no direction. It just was.

Get up, get up. Forget Destiny and her paths for you, just get up.

"How do you know of the curse she's lain upon my existence?" Wary, Akaira took a step backward. Legs unfolded as female stood full height, tail held high.

It does not matter what I know, but I tell you now that Destiny has chosen the wrong path. You are not a wolf of prophecy, or fate. Not of destiny, or the like. You are free of all but your own bindings, and you must do what's right.

Turning, nostrils searched for the scent of anyone other then herself. There was nothing. The voice seemed to come from a direction now, though. So, hesitantly, Akaira followed it as the wolf spoke. "But what if I don't know what's right?"

Then follow your heart.. Follow it home..

The ethereal voice had begun to fade, but the wolf was still heading in a certain direction. Not just walking anymore, either. Paws beat a steady rhythm into the earth as they carried her to the place Riniad had fled.

...just a wolf... a gifted wolf...

That was the last that Akaira heard. If New Moon spoke again, then it was drowned out by her heart beat. Eyes were locked onto the ominous, pulsing cloud of extra dark smoke that pulsed only to her. The negative, wicked energy seemed to want to eat her up. But she could see what he was doing in her head. And Akaira screamed. "DADDY LOOK OUT!" Funny, she called Darius daddy.

Loni had not seen this coming. This was a turn of events that should never have occurred, was not anticipated, and it cost him. Cost him a lot. Why? Rage fled at the sight of one more enemy, the lousy piece of wolf meat. It was to late for Loni to do the same, though. Hind legs had already pushed him from perch, and rival was already rushing across the few wolf lengths of space. Leaping into the air, passing over Darius, meeting him head on.

To bad for Akaira, Loni was heavier, and sent her crashing backward onto the ground. To bad for Loni, she was cunning, and new how to fight even in disadvantage.

The best part is, this all happened within a matter of minutes.

[Sivoncé™]

Darius was completely unaware, completely not ready, completely ignorant that a vicious, monsterous brute was flying towards his head, full force.

Amoret, on the other hand....had not only been gaping at her father's tears, but the fact that they were being overheard. She coiled and sprang, having done so so swiftly that her targeting was not the best, but she bumped Loni enough to steer him out of her father's way.
"Wrong, Squirrel Boy. Nobody knew about our little home here until we met Akaira and showed her...and then you tracked her.....OH!" Amoret grinned widely, then padded over to Loni.
"There is one leaf I would like to take from your Squirrel Girl's book...."
She narrowed her eyes and bent low to the ground, a gutteral snarl from her young maw,
"Hello, Loni, I want to play a game!"