Howl For Me (Open)

[Frost]

Summer 10th, 511 AV


Frost's icy eyes narrowed in frustration as her face contorted in a teeth-baring snarl. She lifted a hand off of her bow and brushed white hair out of her eyes. She was starting to sweat under her fur-lined cloak and her anger was only mounting. Her source of frustration? The tree thirty feet from her slender form. And the arrows sticking out of the snow all around it. She was practicing her archery, to better her hunting, and so far... She sucked. Maybe hunting would be easier for her if she stayed a wolf.

Frost snorted, a puff of... well... frost, burst before her lips. She had found her human form not two Seasons before, and she wanted nothing more than to get used to it. She wanted to make friends, to bond over archery with the Vantha people she was trying to learn about. Sadly, her past dictated she be uncomfortable in large groups of humans. She wasn't used to it. No human shared the same bonds as wolves did, even with the lesser members of their society. A wolf pack was friendly with their own, they never left eachother, they defended eachother with a loyalty unmatched. The Vantha and others here weren't the same. They bonded exclusively with one another, leaving parts of their society to be picked off. It was a selfish world Frost had joined. She was easily confused by it, but at least she'd try. She'd try to become something beloved to these people, even if only a few.

Frost flipped her long white hair back, exhaled a long breath, notched another arrow, and drew back her arm. For a few chimes she remained in that position, her arm growing sore, but her breathing remaining undisturbed. And then, quite suddenly, her bowstring snapped forward, and the arrow sliced the air to spear into the snow. Frost snarled and snapped a long curse in Lupine and stalked forward to collect her spent arrows, and then she returned to her former location, stretching her hand before she drew another arrow.

Frost could do this all night.

[Viridiana]

Pulling her cloak tighter around her frame Viridiana idly kicked up snow with her toe. She had been given permission to travel. Her parents agreed that maybe it would be good for her, then that boy had proposed and her parents had halted her plans stating she wasn’t trained enough. It wasn’t fair! It was aggravating, it drove her crazy…but she would never go against their wishes either. Though she didn’t have to be happy about it, maybe it was childish to throw her fit but, goddess! She was a child! A long sigh slipped past her lips, it wasn’t so bad, she knew eventually she would go, married or not. So lost in her thoughts she turned to wander back only to find she had traveled farther than she had intended. Closing her eyes she stared to the sky "Ah, Morwin preserve me. I love this land and I would come back but I want so badly to see everything.”Finishing her small prayer Viridiana turned to leave only to nearly fall over in surprise when a low snarl reached her ears. “Wolf!” Breathing out the word nervously she turned in a circle slowly, looking around for a potential threat. When she found none she waited for a few more minutes in mild panic when she heard the second snarl. The second time around she noted that it was in fact a human, but just as angry sounding as any wolves. Creeping in the direction of the noise Viridiana made sure to keep herself alert for trouble but also just curious as to who was out in this late afternoon.Reaching a small grove of trees, she found the source of the sound. A young woman with long white hair was repeatedly shooting an arrows…and missing.‘Hmm, Maybe I should help her? We could practice! It would take my mind off things. Mmhm.’ Nodding to herself she took a step forward and prepared to introduce herself.

[Frost]

Frost cocked her head, listening as snow crunched under the feet of a walking human, half her focus on the tree in front of her. When she looked back at her tree, she noticed that at least one of her arrows had nicked the side of the wide trunk. She growled and once again went to retrieve her arrows. So far, none had been swallowed by the trees, and that made her glad. When she returned, and stood once again in her spot, she looked around for the approaching person.

Her icy eyes settled on a woman wrapped tightly in a cloak. The new woman, who looked to be about her age, had long black hair and mismatched eyes and was very short. In the wild, she'd be easy prey.

Frost tilted her head slightly, eyes glittering as she waited for the female to speak. She could see the words just sitting on the tip of her tongue, waiting to be spoken. Patience, thankfully, was a virtue she understood, and while she didn't demonstrate it for herself, she had no qualms with waiting for this woman to speak. She'd just stare at her until the woman did speak.

Her eyes were unblinking as she employed this strategy to coax those words out of the female. She figured this woman was Vantha as well. Very few people that were non-Vantha would wander the snowy land unless coming to visit Avanthal. Most of the population was Vantha, and then the polar bears took up perhaps the next greatest amount of the population. Frost fit in here just for being a Kelvic, but she wasn't as welcome as a polar bear would be. Wolves were good for guarding and hunting, but for muscle the Icewatch needed polar bears. That was fine for Frost too, as she wouldn't bond herself to just any Vantha, if at all, loneliness be damned.

[Viridiana]

When the woman turned to stare directly at her Viridiana froze in surprise before smiling once more her eyes a warm, white-brown. She had surprised her! For when the woman faced her it was quiet obvious she was not human but Kelvic—of what kind, she wasn’t sure-- and she was tall. Much taller than the short Vantha at least, but she held no fear, most Kelvic weren’t out rightly cruel and she knew anything she did to be attacked—if she was attacked--would be her own fault. Standing awkwardly Viridiana waited for the woman to speak or tell her to leave. When she did neither and simply waited patiently and unblinking Viridiana decided it was best to introduce herself. “Hello, I am Viridiana. You are?” She spoke in common for fear the woman did not speak Vani and waited, inching forward cautiously. It had occurred to her that perhaps Kelvic did not shake hands and so she let her hand fall loosely to the side. She had never met a Kelvic before and did not want to impose herself or anger her. Though she might have already angered her as she could not help but stare at the woman’s tattoos that seemed to cross everywhere. She wanted to know if they reached everywhere but they were only visible from her hands and her neck as the cloak covered most of her body. Ripping her eyes away from the woman’s neck she kept herself at least a foot away and gestured to the bow and arrows, “I notice that you are practicing. May I join?”

[Frost]

Frost tilted her head. Those eyes were truly unusual. Brown-white. Winter colours. This woman was Vantha. Only Vantha had such unique colourings. Yet she spoke a tongue Frost could only associate with Common, but she could barely understand. Her nose wrinkled in frustration and her icy eyes darkened slightly as she tried to catch words she could understand, but she gave up with another huff of frost. When she spoke, she did in Vani.

"I can't understand." She said. Her canine fangs glinted slightly as she spoke. "You are Vantha? Speak Vani." She forced a smile passed her lips, but she had little practice in making smiles, and for all she knew she could be grimacing. "I am Frost." Her words were simple. Stating only what was necessary.

She had seen the other's fascination with the markings on her skin, and looked down at her own body and the graceful lines that curled up her arms under her clothes. Her eyes lifted again to look at the shorter female. "Do you like these?" She spoke a little less gruffly, and much more softly. She had forced herself to not view the woman as prey, but as a lost pup. Not of her pack. But one she could help anyway. The girl seemed clueless enough. Like, a Vantha that couldn't speak Vani? That wasn't usual here.

She looked down at her bow and the arrows, wondering what the woman had asked why she had gestured to them. Frost was frustrated already, and her lack of knowledge of Common only aggravated her more and caused her to bare her teeth in frustration before she calmed herself forcefully. It wasn't good to get angry. She shouldn't allow herself to fall into rages so easily.

[Viridiana]

“I can’t understand.” The moment she spoke Vani Viridiana felt like an idiot, she had assumed that the woman could not speak Vani. “You are a Vantha? Speak Vani.” Viridiana hesitated she had already started on the wrong foot. Standing silently she wracked her brain for a way to apologize without seeming more foolish than she already did. “Do you like these?” Startled out of her thoughts she could only nod dumbly for a moment and as she opened her mouth to speak Frost bared her teeth, in what almost seemed to be anger. Fearing she had offended her the words no longer stuck in her brain, they flew from Viridiana’s mouth in a bumbled apology. “Ah! I’m sorry! I do speak Vani, I assumed you spoke common since a lot of people do, but since you live here it would um, make sense you speak Vani. I didn’t mean to offend you I only thought we could practice together an—sorry. I’m babbling aren’t I?” Taking a shallow breath and running her fingers anxiously through her hair she restarted and took a tentative step forward, “As I said, I am Viridiana. I just wished to practice with you, so may I? Hmmm, and where did you get those tattoos?” She tugged on her lip in annoyance at her own misconception and kept inching herself forward with a small smile, once more her eyes dragged toward the tattoo’s. She had never seen them before but now she desperately wanted some of her own! Her hand seemed to reach out of its own violation before she jerked it back, “There so pretty…ah, I like your name. It suits you.”

[Frost]

Frost frowned at the river of words that burst past this female's lips, over filling her mind and confusing her, but after a few moments she separated the words and forced herself to understand. She wondered if her smile had done this, had frightened the little female, and she snarled at herself inwardly. Frustrating herself further with her failure to be friendly even more.

"I have not lived here very long. Perhaps since the first of the Season." Her head cocked to the side again. Babbling was not a word she understood in this context. Babbling is what water in tiny rivers did. Frost saved the word, and the way it was used, in her mind for later consideration. "Practice? Can you help me get better?" Her blue eyes flashed brightly as she looked down at the bow held limply in her left hand. She looked back up at the woman, Viridiana, and frowned. "You're name is different..."

She thought it over for a bit, wondering if it, like Frost, meant something in Vani. She couldn't make any connection however, and smiled a little more naturally. "It suits you as well, Viridiana. Your name, that is... Frost is the first word I learned in this language.". She followed Viridiana's eyes to the markings on her arms and frowned again.

"When I was last here, there was an Eypharian. He tattooed me, and I paid him, but I found his body when I returned to my pack and took back my money. He didn't need it anymore." She said this bluntly, as if his death had no importance to her, and it didn't. The man was neither friend nor foe, pack-mate nor prey. He was another sacrifice for Dira, the Goddess whose arms beckoned to every living creature.

The fact that this Viridiana girl kept coming closer without invitation unnerved Frost, and if she was a wolf, her hackles would have rose defensively. She held back the growl pushing out of her chest though, and tried to keep from baring her teeth in a more purposeful snarl. She relaxed when Viridiana lowered her arm.

Eventually, she held out her bow to Viridiana, seeing that she carried none. "Want to try?" She asked quietly. Her eyes did not glint as ferally as they had previously, the blue frozen again in the perpetual state of a creature unused to emoting with anything but body language.

[Viridiana]

“I have not lived here very long. Perhaps since the first of the Season." Viridiana felt a smile bloom across her face at the words, “Oh, really? That is a decent amount of time…perhaps…” Here she hesitated the more she watched her the more she was sure this woman was a Kelvic, and a wolf at that! She could tell now the woman was only attempting to be friendly and her frustrations were directed inward. Still, there was no harm in offering…later. "Practice? Can you help me get better?" Viridiana paused at the question, she was no master herself but she knew much about the technical parts of it. She nodded slightly, [color=red] “I might be able to help you a bit.Hm, I’m no expert but I can usually hit my target, even if it isn’t a bulls-eye.” She then unpinned her cloak and tossed it on the ground and shivered a bit, “Well usually you can practice indoors at the range…in the city that is. I always think it’s easier to shoot without my cloak, plus I get so sweaty!” Laughing slightly she sat herself crossed legged on her cloak and peered up at Frost as she spoke. “"It suits you as well, Viridiana. Your name, that is... Frost is the first word I learned in this language." “Mmm, Thank you! It means green; my parents thought it would be interesting considering most things here are white. Guess it’s my curse though, I really wish to travel.” She halted her speech slightly, it seemed she would not be able to stay completely distracted, shaking her head slightly she began to run her fingers through the snow. “I will have to teach you more words then…if you’d like that is.” Viridiana listened to the story with mild surprise but otherwise made no comment, if Frost was not upset by the death there was no reason for her to judge it. Each was entitled to their own thinking’s. Still it was far from the any type of tone she had previously heard people use when describing a death. She stored the knowledge away with her vague knowledge of Kelvics. Well that knowledge and the knowledge that it was a bad idea to invade their space.”Want to try?” At first she hesitated when Frosts eyes seemed to harden before she relaxed and stood. She was beginning to understand that frost was more like her animal counterpart so it would be up to her to try and interpret the woman’s signals correctly. Keeping calm and comfortable she accepted the bow and arrow and flashed Frost a grin. ‘Now to hit the target.’ Lifting the bow she inspected it briefly before pulling the bowstring to test the drawback strength before realizing it slowly. “Well first you’re too tense, be tense when it’s life or death, when it’s not…Um, Well, just relax. Archery is fun and soothing when you do it for fun, clears you mind and all that.”Waving her hands to express herself she glanced back at Frost, “So just watch what I do and I’ll see if I can help you any once you shoot.” Viridiana walked towards the tree and counted fifteen paces back before sucking in the stinging air heavily and taking stance. Mentally making a check list she bgan to take stance. ‘Relax, posture, feet width.’Straightening herself out she made sure her arm was the only part of her body to aim before notching the arrow and lifting the bow slowly. While releasing the air she had been holding in Viridiana pulled the bow back, careful to pull the bowstring toward her face and not the other way around. Firmly placing her index finger at her jaw, she pointed her arrow at the tree and felt the muscles between her shoulders blades pulse. A feeling of bubbly anticipation flew through her, sucking in her air sharply once more she allowed her fingers to smoothly, in unison, release the bowstring. It seemed as if she blinked and the arrow hit the tree, lodging itself firmly in the left hand side. She smiled slightly and turned to Frost gently lowering her arm and holding the bow out to her, “My mother always told me to relax after each shoot as well, unless your hunting or you can strain your muscles.” Situating herself back on her cloak she peered up at Frost curiously, “So where do you come from?”

[Frost]

Why was she... Smiling? Was she glad she lived here for that long? Confusing. "M'hm." Her reply was short, but what could she say to that?

"If you can hit the target, you'd be better than me." She said quietly, looking to the chip in the tree's rough skin. As Viridiana removed her clothes, speaking, Frost raised her eyebrows. "There's a range in Avanthal?" She was surprised to hear this, but her preference was still with the wilderness. There was something calm and pristine about the wintery land that she couldn't resist. It could have been a bias, however, as she barely remembered living anywhere else. "I like the cold..." She said quietly. Mainly true. Without fur it was a little harsher, but still... The chill made one feel alive.

"It means green? There are so few green things here. I haven't traveled either. I can only remember Taldera as my home." Her eyes gleamed at her offer to teach her more words. "In Common? Or Vani?" She smiled a little again.

Frost stepped back as Viridiana took the bow and arrow and then grinned, her blue eyes glittering. She watched the woman, paying close attention to what she did. The life a wolf was to see and do, and she brought that into this form. But, she'd take the verbal knowledge. She nodded at the words directed to her and smiled again. Smiles felt easier when not forced.

She listened, and watched. Icy eyes observing everything Viridiana did for later imitation. When she hit the tree at the first shot, she felt no envy. What wolf envies a better wolf? None. She would take this knowledge and use it. "Your mother is an archer too?" She asked slowly. How interesting. Her mother was a wolf. She was the nurse before her. Her real mother was almost a figment of her imagination.

She took back the bow offered to her and unsheathed another arrow. "I come from the Wilderness. It is the only place I know." She said coolly. She began to imitate the woman. "And you? Have you been in Avanthal your whole life?"