onepassingnight | 003. the strength of the Wolf is the Pack

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003. the strength of the Wolf is the Pack

It's a meadow, surprisingly bright and green and the heat of an early spring sun is just beginning to warm the air. The grass is tall and green and there are almost more flowers than blades of grass in the area, riots of bright color and pure white hanging in delicate bells or open bursts of petals. Listening there's the faint drone of bees somewhere nearby, busy with their pollen and even fainter the hint of a stream somewhere, quick with the melt of snow from the mountains that take up the not that distant horizon. Weathered, stunted trees form a wood of sorts nearby, full of cool shade and the old smells of moss and bracken and last years fallen leaves. And Cloud -

Cloud is hard to find.

Until you notice the ears above the grass. Or perhaps a stray breeze blows by and you catch the ripple of gray fur between the swaying blades. He's lying on his stomach, chin resting across his arms and he's...

Well, he's a wolf. Grey and furry and lean muscle with eyes the color of the waters off Costa del Sol. And at the moment, he's watching the whispy clouds overhead, one ear twitching absently at a nearby bird that's trying to decide if he's invading it's nest space or not.

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He makes snuffing noises in response to her complaint but he's pleased with himself. The rock is surprisingly free of rough spots and already comfortably warmed by the sun. Overhead the clouds seem to go on forever, starting with the imaginative puffy kind with the higher horse tails above. Tail thumping, Cloud lays down again himself, settling his head across her stomach and one paw. The meaning's clear. Stay put.

But after a minute, his nose shifts over to nudge hintingly at her hand.

It's hard for her to pull herself in sync with the wolf-Cloud's instincts. She's never been good at realizing what people want from her, and they have a barrier while he can't speak. But she slows herself down, takes a moment to decide it. She stays put and looks up to the sky. Her hand, prompted, lazily rubs and scratches him again. The flowers all around are beautiful. The clouds are white against a beautiful clear blue sea. She can see it right now.

"That one looks like your fluffy tail right now."

He relaxes again as he feels her do the same, settling in more comfortably and his paw comes off her stomach. Her hand in his fur soon has his eyes slitting in pleasure and the light breeze tickles over the fur of his back pleasantly, causing his tail to swish in unconscious contentment. At her words though, his eyes open and roll upward to look at the clouds above. He huffs at her teasing, though his tail curls to tuck up a bit more dignified against his legs now. Careful, he lightly nips at her fingertips, careful never to catch them in truth.

The lazy scene lends itself to thinking of equally lazy entertainments. Without seeming to expend much effort, Ami conjures a small ball of ice in the air. She rolls it across the grass just a few inches to see if the wolf-Cloud will become interested.

He doesn't move his body but his ears prick forward and both eyes open to watch the small movement. He's really embracing this wolf thing pretty fully and something small and mobile has his attention. He's just not sure if it's worth leaving behind soft and warm and scratches for yet or not.

She leans over - it doesn't take much yet - and picks up the ball again. This time, she rolls it between her two hands, from one to the other, back and forth. Looks like those scratches stopped anyway, for now.

Almost as if to challenge him - will he go for the game or insist on her return? - Ami shoots the wolf Cloud a sly smile. Which does he want?

His eyes follow the movement of the ball between her slender hands and at her look those blue eyes narrow. He knows what she's doing and -

dammit, those scratches are nice!

But... so is the idea of catching that ball and having the satisfaction of crunching that ice between his teeth. Back legs starting to tense, he snakes his head forward for it experimentally, careful not move the rest of himself and risk hitting her.

She rolls it just a short distance away, easy enough to chase after and pounce on and play with for awhile. What will really get fun is when she has a few at once rolling all around him.

In fact, while the wolf Cloud inspects the first ball, a second one forms in Ami's hands.

"Be careful!" she calls out. "You want to make sure to pay attention to everything."

Oh - he'll deal with that ball, Ami. Never doubt that. For his size, he's amazingly fluid as he bounds over the top of her and after the rolling ball of Evil. It doesn't get far thanks to his superior hunting skilz and he's already crunching it into loud, broken, slushy pieces with his bone white teeth as he turns his head to look at her warning.

He showed THAT ball who was boss.

Apparently she needs to step up her ice. And she does. There's a flash of light too pronounced, too defined to be a simple trick of the light off the reflective surface of the shards. They glow, and the ball pieces itself back together, stronger this time.

Let him try that one. It'll be like gnawing on something far harder than ice should ever be; she uses ice even as her weapon, after all. And of course, she's still showing off by the simple act of recreating her toy.

There's a quick lashing of the tongue to get the ice pieces off before they decide to solidify with the rest of the ball and trap him and he glares hard at the Pure Evil that has taken form in front of him, looking vaguely insulted. Legs stiff, he'll circle the newly reformed ball carefully, nosing at it in mistrust. A tentative nibble with the very front of his teeth proves the evil non-crunchiness of it and he'll growl a low sound, forgetting for a minute that there's a world outside Evil Balls of Not Crunchy Ice.

Oh, it's ON now, evil ice ball. It's on.

Evil and ice are her specialties. It won't be easy! Ami leans back on her hands, an unusually relaxed pose for her, as she watches the wolf-Cloud with his new foe.

"Shouldn't you be strong enough to tear it apart again?" she suggests. This will, finally, be possible if he keeps trying at it. Even as he chews and snaps and nibbles, tiny bits are shaved away.

She plucks a flower without lifting her hand from the ground.

His eyes lift at her voice and he gives her a dry look. Right. Evil Ice Ball is her fault. Crunchy ice is fun. Hard ice isn't. So he'll sit down for a minute with the ball at his feet and study it carefully, tail curled around his haunches, nose tipped down almost against his chest. Finally, apparently reaching a decision, he'll sneeze and stand up. Nosing around a bit, he'll finally settle on a spot. And start digging.

"Going to bury it?" She doesn't seem to bothered by the idea. Instead, she stays where she is, idly plucking a few more flowers. She has a small bouquet for herself by now.

"And then what? It won't melt even if you do."

There's a snort in reply. Not the point, Ami. The wolf part of him understand perfectly. Out of sight is out of mind and chunks of rich smelling earth fly as he puts his back into the digging job.

Because he's a good dog, he makes sure the flying dirt isn't going in her direction.

She conjures another ice ball, this one ready to be shattered, and plays with it awhile; she sits up straight to be able to throw it up and catch it again in her long fingers. Something to do to pass the time, no doubt, until he is ready to pay attention to her again - or demand her own.

It doesn't take him long. The Evil Ice isn't big and he's got some strong muscles in his shoulders and back. Picking it up, pleased with himself, he trots over and dumps it with dramatic finality in the hole, before turning around and kicking dirt over it. His nose is covered in dirt and so are his front paws with smatters of it on his chest and he looks far too pleased with the situation. Halfway through a kick, he notices the new ball in Ami's hands and his blue eyes rise to follow it as she tosses it. Behind him, his tails whisks lightly back and forth.

She fakes a toss towards the wolf-Cloud, not really expecting to fool him but simply to catch his interest. "Want to chase it? Fetch it?" She's feeling less lazy, and in another moment she'll be ready to run alongside him, across the fields and flowers that remind her of some of her pleasant times walking through the park with someone important to her.

He jerks at the fake toss, less as an attempt and more to show he's ready. Blue eyes are bright and his tongue is lolling from the side of his open mouth. Sure, he's human somewhere and this would be ridiculous... but he's not human here and he has nothing to worry about but enjoying his time with her. Go ahead, Ami. He'll crouch down in front, tail wagging happily behind him and give a short bark. Play with him?

She's up in a second, running towards the ball; a race to get there first and if it's her, she'll pick it up and throw it again, further. If it's him, she'll just keep running. Leave the ball and everything else behind but the sun streaming its way towards the flowers and their heavy aroma on the air.

The first time she gets to the ball first but the second time, he does, snatching it off the ground while in full run, long, gray legs working in smooth rhythm. It's good to just run. To simply enjoy the feel of muscles working and air rushing past and no worries in all the world. He keeps Ami in his orbit, running next to her, dashing ahead with his head down to pound out a hard rhythm before arching back around to join her again, falling behind to bound upward near her shoulder before falling back to do it again. The meadow goes on forever and there's nothing to stop them or break their plunge forward. There's only them and this forever spring afternoon.

She runs and runs and runs, feet pounding against the ground She's gone at this pace often, running to one battle or another or to investigate some mysterious situation.

How long has it been since she just ran for its own sake, because she wanted to?

Today, she can. The wolf-Cloud paces her easily, leaping to goad her to go quicker still, and while she's only a normal runner in waking life, here and now her legs feel as though they could keep moving forever.

The wolf has no problem running forever. For once he's not running away from or toward anything. He's just running to run and in his forever dream there will never be an end to the meadow or a place that forces them to stop. The woman at his side is happy, really happy, and so - so is he. They can run as long as they want and even the melting ice in his mouth is a sweet taste. This isn't about obligation. It's about freedom. And he thinks that neither of them have as much of that as they think. Here, at least, they can steal it for themselves.

Edited 2011-08-25 23:27 (UTC)

This dream is entirely different from the nightmare of being trapped in the forest, going forever only to wind up caught and trapped in the same place. This is endless, boundless running, the exact opposite. She's not slow to appreciate it. Her mind lets loose and lets her go on running, careless of the flowers she tramples (that seem to bounce back easily anyway).

"Come on!" she calls out to the wolf-Cloud to goad him onward. "We can go quicker than this!"

Next to her, he gives a sound that's not exactly a howl but not exactly a bark either and his head goes down. Powerful muscles bunch and release and short claws dig deep into the soft soil for better traction. Intent, he pulses forward, pushing himself and it doesn't matter if in the waking world it would be impossible. In this dream, he has no doubt that she will keep up with him.

hell yeah! I mean - it's all for innocent intentions ;)

Mmhmmmmm XD

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