Half Hearted Hunting (Open House)

[Sivoncé™]

Amoret yawned again, studying her claws with a bored expression. "Aw, come onnn! There's got to be more to pack life than that, right? I mean, all the stories and legends and crap idolize the lifestyle you carry out, like its some glorious, golden, divine, godly thing. And I guess, it is spectacular in its ways, but it seems awful dreary to me!" She wrinkled her nose, then smiled when her question was reciprocated.
"Fun? It has so many definitions I dunno even where to start! Well, my family is a lot different than most, but I'm not going into detail with that. Basically, we just have a lot more energy than other wolves -- not like we're hyper all the time, which we are a lot, but we just sense things differently, our minds work in different ways than most other wolves I've heard of, or like Kippy or some wolves I cam across today. We take pleasure in small things....but we take risks sometimes, too. Everyday is fresh -- we plan very few things, like time to come home for a night hunt or howl or something. We wake up to things that are new -- we go out and just follow whatever scent catches us, go wherever our paws take us..." she woofed.

[Njack]

Ligua shrugged. "Well, I'm not really the best wolf to ask about pack life. I joined, like, a few moons ago." It was probably more than that, but he wasn't really sure.

He thought for a little while on Amoret's words, then decided to say what he was thinking. "You know, it's sort of ironic, but... We, as in packs, define you, as in wolves outside the packs, as loners, but really... No one truly is a loner for long. From what you're describing, and of what I remember of my time in the loner lands, most of the 'loners' are really in little packs!"

Still on a roll, apparently, he continued, "And what's more, really, it's sort of like that with packs, too. A pack is never really consolidated, except maybe in times of danger or when facing a tough enemy. That's when we have to unite. But most of the time, I think, it's really like the loner lands. Friends and family look out for each other. Pack mates are sort of like friends in that respect."

Ligua's tongue was drying out from all that talking, so he finished quickly. "I guess bigger packs are less bonded than little packs, though, because of the... er... proximity." Ahhh, big word!

[♫Flisk♫]

((Mind if I come in with my Neophyte?))

[Sivoncé™]

(Read the Story Thus Far first, like you were supposed to in the first place. -_- )

Amoret's returning gaze to Ligua was once again doubtful. "I dunno. Pack life is so rigid -- being a loner is so open and unstructured....its open-ended. You have all of your customs and traditions, and we might be little packs like you say, but the four biggies here just came along over the mountains and laid their claim down, turning whatever resemblence to a 'pack' in your mindset to dust. We suddenly were 'loners' in the 'loner lands' and this place here is part of the 'packlands'.
There's most definitly a difference: I won't deny any strength of a pack wolf, but whatever you deal with, we deal with more severely, perhaps, because we don't have the numbers all the time to fight it off. Blood Mist and Black Fury's Gang are just two examples there. And not every loner is to be trusted -- a pack trusts and stands by its own. And really, families my size are rarities," she woofed.

[Njack]

"Perhaps on this topic, we should just agree to disagree," Ligua woofed back. "Well, I mean, we're both biased one way or another by circumstance, namely our allegiance to a certain group of wolves." He was using so many big words on accident, he sounded like a politician or something.

"As for customs and traditions..." He scratched himself with his left paw. "Well, I don't see how they cause any harm."

"The enemies you talk about though, I concede your point." He suddenly jumped up and started pacing, his paws making soft crunching noises on the burnt twigs below. "I think there has to be some way to protect the wolves that need to be protected. But I'm sure better wolves have tried and failed. And there's numerous issues with that, anyway. One, loners don't want to be 'protected' by the packs, right? It implies they're too weak to deal with the enemies on their own. And yeah, loners aren't that weak, which pretty much defeats my own point..." He stopped.

"You know, I think that's how it is. The packs are for protection, and the price we pay is less freedom, more consolidation. The 'loners' get freedom, but the price they pay is less protection. It's a lifestyle choice, or maybe, in most cases, pure luck, as in where you're born."

"Am I confusing you?" Ligua asked, a little lopsided grin flashing at the corner of his mouth once again. "Because I think I'm confusing myself."

(OOC: On that note: Would the packs be the Democrats and the Republicans, and the loners be the Independents? XD Joke. I'm not really into politics...

And oh geez, what Ligua says is true. I'm so confused right now.)

[Sivoncé™]

( LOL xD I happen to be a very political person -- I like that way of thinking...*imagines elephant and donkey heads sprouting on wolves*
0_o )

Amoret shrugged, laughing softly. "No, I get what you mean, I guess ;; we pay a price, a consequence, for what we recieve, our gift. There are pros and cons to everything, and a pathway or lifestyle is paved differently for every wolf who walks this earth," she woofed, seemingly pleased with their not-so-direct conclusion.

Amoret's ears perked, and she peered around the blank fog warily, tail of bushy red twitching with hints of anxiety. "I know I'm not supposed to be here -- and it looks like things are bad enough between all the packs right now -- but honestly....talking to you calmed me down a bit. I swear I'll act like I attacked you if anyone comes -- that way you won't get in trouble -- but can super-pretty-please just stay a bit longer?" she asked, hopeful.

Who knows what's going on back at home? I'm not so fiery now, but its just going to blast right back on me if I go back right away. I don't really think anybody else is around...Ligua doesn't seem bothered. Maybe a little bit longer, and going back won't seem so bad -- who knows? Maybe they even decided a sensible form of action and will be waiting with better news...

[Njack]

Ligua glanced around as well, but he saw nothing but smoke, as usual. He was pretty sick of smoke by now, but he was glad he didn't sense any other wolves in the forest.

"Well, I guess you can stay a little longer." He cracked another grin. "Besides, I thought you were a loner. Free to do whatever you want, trying out new things... Why are you asking me for permission?"

Turning a little more serious again, he sniffed the air, just getting more smoke scent, and maybe something else - no, it was nothing. "I hope no one discovers us, though. I wouldn't want you getting in trouble either."

[Sivoncé™]

Amoret beamed back at him, pleased. "Thanks! And you're right, except for the fact that a bunch of angry packwolves might come after me, and really I don't like to lead wolves right to my den," she laughed softly. As she did so, a rough, warm, coarse wind gusted up and plastered back her red-orange mess of long fur. She narrowed her eyes, squinting had against the sudden lashing.
Eventually it calmed, but the frames of trees around them seemed to turn and twist restlessly -- waiting for something, angered by something.
Amoret looked around her, tail and ears perking and twitching.
"It's so weird -- this morning it was freezing, and now it seems actually....warm. Hm. Fires must've done something funky to the weather," she shrugged. "Ah, well, that was a really weird forest fire, if we can even call it that..."

[Njack]

"Yeah... but now that you mention it..." Ligua cocked his ears to one side, then another. Tentatively, he said, "Well, I thought I heard something a few seconds ago. Wasn't sure if I was imagining it, though."

He froze as he picked up something. "Wait. Something... a roaring sort of sound. Maybe just a bear."

Ligua squinted through the mess of burnt pine trees, trying to locate the source of the sound. He saw nothing.

Except for an almost invisible cloud in the distance that seemed to have a tail on it, slowly waving from one direction to another, throwing up smoke and dust on either side.

"What is THAT?!"

(Hopefully I didn't do anything wrong)

[Sivoncé™]

Amoret said nothing, only stood, waveringly, with her mouth agape as she followed his gaze. "Dear......someone upstairs.....what the Hellfire is that thing?!" She woofed, panic apparent.
"I need to get back! I need to warn my family.....oh, it's too far! That thing is moving way too fast for my liking -- or my speed. And you need to get back to your pack, and it's moving right towards this region....oh, HELL....." Amoret began rapidly pacing, breaths quickening slightly. "We're both just screwed!"

[Njack]

Ligua's analytical brain leapt into action, stumbled, then fell. So he also stared at the tornado dumbly.

Amoret's words jerked him back to reality, and his brain got back up and brushed itself off from its fall. "Like you said, from the speed that it looks like it's going, I don't think we're going to be able to outrun it!" Ligua took a few steps toward the pack, then toward the other direction, then stopped. "What do you think will happen if it hits us- No wait- I-" Dust and ash began to fill the air as the tornado moved steadily forward.

"GET TO THE OPEN!" Finally reaching a useful conclusion, he sprinted as fast as he could toward the edge of the Pine Clearing, hoping the devil cloud wouldn't swallow him whole, and hoping that Amoret was doing the same thing. Those trees are going to fling around like paper in the wind...