Huyana: The World of the Water Wolves

Kyo took a quick brush of his cheek to hers, giving a short but warm greeting to his mate. However she seemed to quickly spot out that something was wrong with him. It was as if she was telepathic he swore. The brute shook his head, his pelt a soft mixture of both green and blue. "I was a dork." He replied, turning around and lowering his back legs a bit to show off the location of the poking pine needle. "I can't really reach it... mind helping a pathetic mate out here?" He chuckled warmly, turning his head around to look at her. Her pearls shined at this angle, the slightly lower sun glinting across the opalescent colors. Kyo was such a sucker for his mate, he'd do anything for her. "After the sun goes down a little bit more I would like to start." He smiled through a mini grimace as the needle shifted again.

Taima suppressed a chuckle as he explained, giving him a brief affectionate lick on the cheek before turning to focus on the needle lodged in Kyo's back. "Shouldn't be any trouble to remove... Just stay still for a moment..." she trailed off, positioning her mouth over the needle, preparing to pluck it. Then, with one swift motion, she clamped her teeth around the spindly needle and snatched it from Kyo's flesh with a silent heave of her chest. Taims stepped back, spat out the needle and locked her emerald gaze on Kyo, grinning at him. "Okay, all done. Those needles are quite frustrating," she added, clearly amused by the situation. Then she nodded, complying with his next statement, "Okay, wonderful!" was all she needed to see. She was, in truth, extremely excited to see this new concept. So much so she, Taima, was having trouble containing it. It had been a while since someone had something interesting and new to show her.

Kyo kept silent as the needle was pulled from his back, though involuntarily twitched lightly at the actual moment of the pull. He turned around and saw a rare sight across his mates face... she looked truly excited. Her excitement only grew his own moreso and his pelt flushed an even deeper hue of green and blue. "We'll head to the waterfall then." He spoke, taking a bit of a pointed lead to start moving. His tail brushing against her side from time to time as they walked, almost as if keeping an unspoken connection between the two Shaman. He didn't speak at all during the walk, his bubble of items floating dutifully above him and the sky slowly fading from a daytime scene to a sunset. As he walked he tried refocusing his mind already, hoping to make the transition easier for when he actually started. Soon the trees opened up and the sound of the crashing water could be heard. He turned around to face Taima again and looked her straight in the eye. "Alright, we are here." Kyo nodded his head. "I have to warn you now though, when this happens I do go into a different state of mind. This takes a lot of energy, and things may become alarming at times. Also, afterwards.." he looked up for a second, checking the sky again, "if everything goes right, I will be temporarily blind for a while." A miniscule smile crept up half his face for a second. "So... I might need some help too if you know what I mean."

I am such a terrible person you have no idea. This RP means everything to me and I neglected it. I find it so easy to have something so special staring me right in the face and not even see it.

This was the first RP I ever created, one of the first RPs I ever participated in. So many RPs never get hits or their members leave quickly, but I happy to be lucky enough to get the most loyal members on this entire planet and here we are still even after Foo deleted the RP board. How many other people can say that about their RPs? How many other people on this whole planet can say they are that lucky, to have friends like that?

And I ignored and forgot and postponed and got wrapped up in school work. I don't deserve anything so fantastic.

Yes I want to continue this RP. I'm going to read through ever page of this at some point and fix up the first post as well, just to see how far we've come.

Taima had no idea what to expect from this. It was a strange feeling, going in to something she barely knew anything about. She had always been the font of knowledge, the one who knew all the rules. Her brother had the physical skill and the charm and the brawn and she had the intelligence and the calm sense of mind. She was always the one who knew what to do.

Yet here she was following another wolf into the unknown. It almost felt like she was falling into a dark abyss without knowing what she would face on the bottom, but with Kyo walking beside her she felt no fear. She was excited, excited to see what was to come, what she would learn from it and what would happen. For once in her life, Taima didn't fear mystery and the sense of falling became more like a sense of flying.

When they arrived, Taima had to make a conscious effort not to begin hopping from paw to paw in excitement. She listened eagerly to everything Kyo explained, beginning to feel strangely nervous. Kyo would be fine, she insisted to herself, he was choosing to do this. He would be safe and she would be there if he wasn't. She would always be there.

Nodding eagerly as he finished, Taima swished her snowy tailed in anticipation, emerald eyes brimming with interest and enthusiasm. "I will be here for you and prepared to help," she said with confidence, "I'm ready when you are."

I'm at home for half term at the moment, but we're having a bit of trouble with the internet. So if anything goes amiss or whatever, that'll be why.

I hope your midterms went well <3

Taima was rarely scared about anything. She was never scared because she always at least had inkling as to how a situation would pan out. She always considered all the possibilities carefully and prepared herself for every outcome. She was wrong sometimes, yes, and there were always going to be events that she couldn't predict, but Taima had always thought of something vaguely helpful. It was her duty as Shaman to do so, to ease panic and withstand the storms. There was always something she could do, she had told herself time and time again, she was the most knowledgeable water wolf there was. Wasn't she?

This time, however, she was going in blind and as she watched Kyo close his eyes her whole body stiffened, ready to spring, ready to help. But help what, and how? Taima didn't know what could go wrong, what it would look like if it was going wrong or even if it was going right. Taima didn't get scared, no, she couldn't ever allow herself to be influenced by fear. But this time as she watched her beloved mate preform this unknown ritual she could feel the terror claiming her entire body. She couldn't tear her eyes away from him, his form or the way he tensed up as though he was bracing himself for something.

Every sound he made was like a clap of thunder to Taima's ears, echoing through her mind. All her thoughts were on Kyo for those long moments; her emerald eyes trained on him, her ears perked towards him, her whole body tensed to leap in his direction if anything dangerous befell him. And she watched and she watched and she waited for something to happen, some sort of movement, but nothing did. The beating of the waterfall against the rocks and the soft sound of her mate's humming were all she could hear and the only movement was her own chest rising and falling in breath, and the curtain of water before them cascading downwards in an everlasting cycle.

Even her own breathing paused for a moment as she held it in anticipation and she and Kyo stood like two canine statues stranded at the foot of the waterfall, frozen in time. Then she began to sway, whether it was from the anxiety that racked her entire being or the soft rhythm Kyo was creating that had beat itself into Taima's very soul, she could not tell, but she still shivered quietly in her spot, paws rooted to the ground but the rest of her body rocking gently like a fragile branch in the breeze.

She almost leapt up in fright when Kyo howled. She visibly flinched and dug her paws firmly into the soil to keep herself from moving from her appointed spot. She was not scared, she was not scared, she told herself over and over but it did not stop the terror clouding her eyes or the trembling that seized her whole frame. Taima had never felt so helpless and fragile as she did then, watching her mate howl into the waterfall. The fear was irrational, the terror pointless; there was no danger here, just water and two wolves. But even with that thought, even though she could see with her own two eyes that he was safe, the fear that twisted in her stomach like a tangle of angry snakes could not be stilled.

Then a wolf appeared from the mist. Not a wolf made of flesh and bone like her and Kyo but one made of haze with eyes like stars. Taima held her breath again and it took everything she was not to buckle with fear. She was not afraid. She was not afraid. It was just mist and Kyo, her beloved Kyo. He knew what he was doing.

But she didn't and that was what concerned her. Even though Kyo had seemed confident about it before, she was still unsure. Taima didn't understand and Kyo was not in the state of mind to be questioned. She had to wait for the answers and that only made her chest tighten even more.

More misty apparitions appeared and Taima's fear was momentarily replaced by wonder as she watched the ghostly pack rush over the water with a grace she didn't even think possible. Her jaw fell open and she stared in utter awe as they tumbled and played in the air above her. The terror seemed to melt from her body for that small moment and she relaxed a little as she watched. They were so innocent, just wolves made of mist. There was nothing to be afraid of.

But when the first wolf, the one adorned in countless beautiful decorations and artefacts began to approach her fear gripped Taima in its grasp again. Her breath came in as sharp ragged shudders as he walked towards her, staring at her as though he could see everything inside her; her bones, her brain, her wishes and desires and knowledge. And she stared straight back. Taima was not afraid, she couldn't be afraid. She could not allow herself to be afraid. So she looked straight back into the misty apparition's starry eyes as though her life depended on. For all she knew, it did.

The affect was almost hypnotic and Taima began to sway again as his eyes bored into her own, losing focus and control. The rest of the world blurred and all she could see were a pair of stars staring into her soul.

Then the stars were gone and Taima was left alone, dazed and half-blinded by the bright lights of the spirit's sparkling eyes. She blinked rapidly, trying to regain focus. Her head whipped around, her thoughts suddenly jumping back to Kyo. No she wanted to scream as the wolf raised a paw towards him, you can't touch him. You mustn’t. But not matter how she tried she could not utter a single sound, not even a tiny squeak of warning.

Taima couldn't tear her gaze away as the decorated wolf placed a ghostly paw on Kyo's chest and her whole body shuddered as she watched the impact, mouthing the word 'please' over and over but never managing to actually speak it. She was paralyzed, rooted to the spot in fear, frozen where she stoof and helpless to aid her precious mate as he took the impact of the spirit's touch.

It was over so quickly after that. The ghostly wolves vanished into mist as swiftly as they had appeared, their sounds of joy and laughter disappearing with them, leaving only the monotonous sound of the waterfall thundering against the rocks. The sound pounded at Taima's ears, making her head throb she shook her whole body out, lifting up each of her paws as if to make sure they were all functional.

Aside from the sounds of the waterfall, the whole clearing was silent, but it was not the sort of peaceful silence Taima usually enjoyed. It was a tense sort of silence, the uncertain silence that came after a storm. It only made her head throb more.

It was only now that she noticed the crystal that had been placed at her feet. How had that appeared? Taima blinked, trying to recollect what had just happened. The wolf had approached her, stared and then... smiled? Yes, she could vaguely remember it now, the ghost of smile to match his ghostly features. Then he had placed the crystal at her feet.

She didn't want to touch it. Pawing at it carefully as though it were something poisonous, Taima examined the crystal carefully, crouching down a little to look at it closer. It looked like a normal crystal to her, some sort of quartz, maybe? Why had the spirit given it to her?

Taima had become so absorbed but the mysterious crystal that she almost forgot about Kyo, lying in a crumpled heap meters away from her. She had been so busy trying to collect herself and understand the purpose of this odd gift that she had pushed out the images of her mate being touch by the spirit and the sickening impact it had had. But then the images came flooding back and Taima abandoned the crystal to rush to Kyo's side.

She dared not even touch him, he looked so fragile. "Kyo? I... are you alright? Can you hear me? Please, Kyo, I..." she whispered, her voice tremulous and barely even comprehensible. He had to be fine. He had to be.

Taima reached out a paw to softly nudge his side, peering at him in desperation. Taima didn't get worried, no; she was never worried about anything. She didn’t care enough about other wolves. They could worry about themselves, she had always told herself. Yet here she was, weak from fear with concern rolling off her whole body in waves as she stared at Kyo collapsed on the ground.

As Taima stood over her mate desperately trying to wake him, the wolf only continued to lay there. On the outside he was still utterly still, his pelt still the dullen, washed out white that it had changed to when he laid down. Only shallow necessary breathes were the current sign of life on the outside.

But Kyo was still very much alive. This was natural. Deep within Kyo's heart little surges raced, neurons and bits of energy pulsing and trying to reach each of his veins and course through them. It was much like the response the body might make after passing out from a traumatic experience, trying to recoup itself without sending out any other signals and simply try to cope with what just happened.

What Taima saw and what he saw during the ceremony were two very different things, but for her to know about his side she'd have to wait a bit longer.

Nearly two long minutes dragged by for the two wolves by the waterfall without much change. The constant drumming of the cascading water being the only sound to be heard at all in the now still night. The little surges went through Kyo's heart, beginning to crawl their way through his diaphragm. As they did so his chest rose and fell more than it had before. Deeper breathes. Healthier breathes. The electric currents trailed down his two front legs, sending both paws a light twitch in response. Inching, inching down his body, down the flanks and his hips and his back legs the little bits of energy surged, all creating some sort of reaction as if to say that they were once again working. A single pulse went through his tail, causing the end to flick and wag a single time.

Finally came the head. The impulses curled themselves up and around his neck making their way through his ears and down and around his skull. Around his muzzle and all the way through the tip of his nose to where they finally found nowhere else to go.

Kyo coughed. His mouth turned to a small grimace and ever so slowly his head picked itself up from the ground. Back legs slowly tucked themselves to a more natural position as he regained his composure and surroundings. Where was he? Memories brought by the surges quickly reminded him of what had happened. That's right. His eyelids flickered open, but no light came through them and he saw nothing. That was right. He had been expecting that.

Through the heavy exertion of the ceremony and for the fact that Kyo was essentially the door itself between the natural world and the spirits, there were bound to be a few setbacks. The spirits were so mighty and powerful that the natural eye simply cannot handle the sheer intensity of it all. Instead of the green and gold flecked irises he typically possessed, Kyo's eyes were now a milky white, like that of a wolf with a cataract or blindness. Although temporary, it was still a little disconcerting.

Suddenly, as if his other senses were heightened by the temporary loss of his vision, Kyo felt another presence right next to him. Taima. How long had she been standing there? ... How long had he been laying there? Was it the morning now? Had only a few seconds passed? Without his sight he really had no idea. He struggled to sit up a bit more, his muscles protesting.

"T-" he choked out, mouth parched. "T-Taima?"

Taima knew there was nothing she could do to help and it was that thought that harrowed her the most. She was a Shaman; it was her job to tend to the sick and weak and she was well-equipped for the task in mind and materials. But whatever was going through Kyo at this moment was no illness and there were no herbs or poultices or clever tricks that she could use to help him.

Though the thought was alarming, Taima did not panic. She was scared and concerned and totally helpless to aid her mate but she would not panic. Taima had never been inclined to panic, in moons gone by she might have said it was beneath her but nowadays she just thought it was pointless. It was no below her dignity by any means, it just amounted to nothing and the female Shaman had enough sense to see that.

There was nothing she could do but wait, she concluded. If he remained so still much longer than she would have to somehow carry him back to camp - with the help of Kohana if she could not do it herself - and then see if there was something she could do there with all her herbs arranged in front of her. But for now, she must wait. Kyo had said it would affect him but the effects were to be temporary, so Taima rolled back on her haunches and waited with her eyes fixed on her mate. At the same time she tried to banish the remnents of terror from her body, attempting to still her shaking chest and slow her thumping heart.

Kyo was still breathing, which was a positive sign, Taima noted, and the breaths appeared to be getting deeper. She watched with keen, anxious eyes as life trickled slowly back into the body of her mate. His breathing came closer and closer to normality and his tail even twitched. He was going to be alright, Taima began to think hopefully, watching closely for anymore movement.

The cough caused her to leap onto all four feet again, leaning closer again, waiting for his eyes to open. Then his head was up and... his eyes were a sickening haze of milky white. Blind, Taima knew. He was blind.

She was about to howl for Kohana, for lack of a better idea in her sudden shock, when she remembered what he had said before. He might be temporarily blind afterwards. It was only temporary. If it wasn't... no, Taima wouldn't think about that. She didn't know any cures for blindness.

The sound of Kyo's voice saying her name was the best thing she'd heard in forever. "Kyo," she answered. The tremor was gone from her voice but it was still fairly unsteady, holding only a little of its usual calmness, "I'm here. I'm fine, but are you?" Aside from the blindness, she added to herself somewhat grimly. She laid her tail on his back to demonstrate her presence, reminding herself that he could not see her as she could see him.

Kyo's sightless eyes blinked as he waited for a response. It came quickly and let him let out a soft sigh. The feeling of Taima's tail going across his back sent involuntarily shivers down his sides, without being able to see and anticipate something like that, every touch became that much more intense. However, that was not his concern. Taima sounded.. different. Was that worry in her voice? Kyo had had no intentions on worrying his mate for this, it was supposed to teach her.

His eyes blinked again and he turned his head the direction he thought she was in. He nosed and sniffed around until he found her chest and then went up to her face, locating and licking the fur between her own eyes just once with his rough tongue. "I'm just fine my Taima."

His fur ruffled, now having turned to a more natural and normal white. His tail swished against the dirt a few times and a low rumble echoed in his chest. A small chuckle. "So.. did you see anything that you might have suspected?"

Taima was almost embarrassed for being so nervous about the entire ordeal. It was so unlike her, but then again, what she had just witnessed was very unlike anything she had ever experienced. Still, she forced herself to regain calmness again. It was done and there was nothing more to be frightened of.

Kyo was all there too, aside from his sight which he claimed he would get back after a while. Taima didn't know how long, but she refrained herself from asking, lest she seem too paranoid. He was going to be fine; Taima had to trust her mate in that.

Smiling softly as his tongue rasped above her eyes, Taima nuzzled his cheek in reply and then tilted her head to the side, contemplating his question. "Things that I suspected? I suspected nothing. I was completely clueless and even if you'd asked me to hazard a guess I would have been horribly wrong," she replied matter-of-factly, the worry finally driven from her tone. It was true enough; Taima hadn't had the slightest inkling of what was going to happen and even then watching ghostly wolves appear from the mist would not have been her first guess.

Her eyes flickered back to the crystal still lying in the dirt. Since Kyo was conscious and seemly fully competent - aside from the blindness - then now was probably a good time to ask him about it. "Also, one of those spirits left some sort of crystal at my feet. It's clear white, quite pretty but I don't think I've ever seen anything like it before. I know you can't see it, but do you have any idea what it could be?" she could help but be curious and now the initial fear of seeing Kyo so frail in the aftermath of the ritual was over her curiosity returned stronger than ever.

Aaand Alli wins the award for being the biggest loser for completely vanishing for literally months... I'm so sorry, with college and everything I've been so extraordinarily busy that I've hardly and any time for anything. And to be completely honest I kinda forgot about this in the craziness of it all. However I am done for quite a while and can focus on things that I truly enjoyed, just like this.

Unfortunately being gone for this time has sorta made me loose a bit of my train of thought for this current plot with Tai and Kyo, but I'm gonna try my best to piece back together my ideas. lol.

Also, when we first came back I had messaged Toast on CS, but I checked it and I saw that it hasn't even been read yet. I'm not sure if we'll be able to get hr back.


Okay.. back to the rp...




Kyo listened carefully to Taima, his head tilted to the side. The haziness in his head only continued to fade as the moments passed. When she spoke about the crystal at her feet his signature half grin pulled across his face. "Really?" The wolf's tail thumped the ground excitedly. "Wow.. I can't believe they actually.. That's really amazing- He..." Kyo mumbled to himself, "looking" around at the air. Just when he seemed to be once again in his own little world his focus turned back to his mate.

"Wow Taima.. that's.. that's truly amazing." His neck stretched out and nuzzled into her shoulder when he found it. "You. You're amazing." His head shook again still seeming to be in utter astonishment. He knew he wasn't making much sense, but to be fair he was geniuinely amazed. His mate.. his Taima, was really that of something special.

He turned his head towards her and blinked his sightless eyes. "Let's go home. I'll explain all that you want tonight or maybe tomorrow morning if you'd like to rest. ..Just make sure that you take your token with you."

((As I said on CS, don't worry about it! I totally get it, life is so exhausting sometimes! If going on unexpected breaks was a sport I would be a champion. Seriously. I'm just happy you have some time to breathe now <3

That's a shame about Toast I don't where else we could contact her if she's not active on CS...

Also sorry this is a bit later than I said. I turned out to be busier than I expected with revision and stuff.))

Taima blinked at Kyo's reaction, unsure. Was it really that special? She glanced back to the crystal to make sure it was really there. Sure enough it was still there, abandoned on the cave floor, shining with a faint glow in the dull light.

She was struggling to wrap her head around it. Every time she came up with a theory that seemed like it could be valid, inconsistencies and impossibilities cropped up and her train of thought eventually dissolved into a string of 'how's? It was beyond anything Taima had ever experienced and the lack of knowledge both scared and excited her.

The need to be informed was urgent. Taima smiled softly at Kyo's exclamations, feeling a flutter in her stomach at his praise; she couldn't help it. "We should get back. I won't bombard you with too many questions if you're tired," she told him softly, though the desperation to be informed was fairly clear in her tone.

She trotted over quickly to pick up the crystal wriggling the leather cord onto her nose and shaking it down onto her neck. She seemed to be acquiring a fair few amulets now; maybe she would get Kyo's to help tie the new around her tail tomorrow.

After the crystal was safe around her neck Taima swiftly returned to Kyo's side, laying her tail on his side, prepared to guide him back to camp, "are you ready?" she asked, staring down at him carefully. He seemed to be unscathed, aside from his sight. Hopefully he would be fully functional again in the morning.

As they picked their way through the darkness, Taima focused on organising her thoughts. If she was going to ask questions tonight she should only ask a few; as much as she wanted to squeeze every last scrap of information out of her mate she knew he needed to rest. Therefore she had to decide which questions were the most important and ask those.

If she was going to be able to ask questions, that is. If Kyo was not up to answering anything she would not force him. She was a Shaman and therefore she had to put the needs of others above her own. But more importantly than that, Kyo was her mate and she didn't want to cause him even the slightest discomfort, physical or mental.

So she prepared her small list of her most important questions all the same, just in case, and then put her full attention into guiding Kyo back to camp. With only the moon and stars to guide her, it was difficult to spot every little obstacle, but eventually they made it safely back to the Shaman's cave.

"We're back in the cave, safe," Taima told him, , giving him a brief lick on the ear. She kept her voice soft, as she did not want to wake Coal or Kohana, who were probably sound asleep in the caverns either side of them.

She led him to the center of the cavern, trying to ensure he was not likely to accidentally knock any of the carefully placed herbs tucked away in their nooks. She encouraged him to lie down, tail always laid across his flank.

"If you feel as though you need to sleep immediately then did not hesitate. My questions can wait until morning. But..." Taima trailed off. She was trying to be sensitive but the burning curiousity swirling in her stomach was difficult to ignore.

Even as they walked Kyo could nearly sense Taima's anticipation at getting back home so that she might ask questions. He did not need his sight to "see" that, even just her slight body movements as she led him clued the brute into knowing that her vast mind caused her to be brimming with possible inquiries.

His paws plodded the ground, a little heavy still from his exerted energy from the happenings earlier. His left ear flopped down, something that seemed to happen when Kyo was tired. But the brute vowed to stay awake as long as he was needed, he wanted to put Taima at ease with her mind. Kyo knew that unanswered questions could nearly be torture to the intelligent Shaman, if even just over the rest of the night. There was no question that he would do his best to answer what he could for her.

Soon the two were back safe into their home, Taima having led him into the Cavern perfectly. A warm lick on his ear and the soft sound of her voice telling him that they had arrived sent a soft warmth down his back. She encouraged him to lay down and without any hesitation he obliged.

"If you feel as though you need to sleep immediately then did not hesitate. My questions can wait until morning. But..."

Kyo chuckled at her bottled anticipation, head over his right paw. He spoke gently too, trying to not let his voice bounce around the rock walls and disturb those who were sleeping. "Ask anything you wish my love and I will do my very best to answer it for you."

Taima settled herself beside her mate, pressing against his side. She mulled over his words, unsure. Though she was obviously bursting to discover the details of what had happened, she could not help but worry about wearing Kyo out further.

Still, he had told her he was happy to answer, so she would ask. Only the most essential questions, though, as she had prepared.

"If you're sure," she began carefully, "if you need to rest then don't hesitate. I won't ask too many questions."

Taima paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts and making sure Kyo was ready, then she launched into her questions, "what is the crystal? Does it have magical properties? Where does it come from?" She had to stop herself rather abruptly, lest she go to fast and end up blurting out too many questions for Kyo to possibly answer at once. She had show some restraint.

Kyo leaned back into Taima as well, awaiting her questions. It didn't take long for them and as the first one came on an large grin pulled across his features. Of course she would ask of this one first.

The brute couldn't blame her though, what had happened was absolutely nothing of the ordinary.

"It means that you, Taima.." he reached and licked right under her ear affectionately. "are a very special female... Of course, I could have told you that myself," he chuckled, "but I guess the spirits felt the need to only confirm it. More specifically the spiritual Shaman leader himself."

Kyo shifted positions, trying to recollect his thoughts to best explain what all had happened. He wished that he had his sight back to fully see for himself, but for that he had to wait. Although rather temporary, it was a bit of a hassle and annoying to be without his vision. His mate deserved the best of answers and the male planned on doing his very best on delivering it.

"As your question is a rather, well, loaded one, I guess it'd be best for me to start at the beginning. The very beginning.. When I was with my previous uprearing pack of normal wolves as you know I wasn't very much well wanted around. No water wolf truly is. Anyways, I was a constant worry and hassle towards them and therefore did end up taking a lot of unwanted anger and disdain due to it. It is understandable, just as it would never be completely safe for a normal wolf to live among us, it really would not be safe for one of us to live among them. However, it was difficult. Anyways, there was an elder healer, retired from his practice, who seemed to take it upon himself to try sometimes to help me learn and grow. One of the most important things he ever taught me though was how to calm down and control my abilities through meditation."

Kyo's head tipped to the side in memories. "I do believe I owe a lot to that elder wolf. If not for him I probably would not have my interests in herbs and probably never would have become a Shaman either. He was the one who gave me my the amethyst around my tail. Told me it'd help me connect. While his teachings of meditation was only up to the ability that he had, he told me that there were different states and stages that one could learn, to get help and call upon maybe even spiritual places. I'll be honest and say that I did not understand a lot of what he spoke of at the time that he spoke of it, but after I had finally grown and left the pack the questions of it only burned in my head louder and longer. When on my own I practiced my meditations a lot, trying to find a way to be guided." Kyo licked his maw, "Being on your own is rather hard sometimes. With a potential to maybe get some help along the way I was gonna try to do whatever I could to get it."

"Anyways, I found myself tweaking how to meditate every time I did. Altering things to become more of our ways with our abilities and getting deeper and deeper into it as I worked it out." He nodded his head, the words flowing easier now that they had before. "I'll tell you, the first time that I lost my vision because of it nearly scared me witless. I thought I had done something horribly wrong and offensive and was being permanently punished for it." Kyo chuckled lowly, the sleepiness starting to ebb off of him as he explained. "Anyways, long story short my love I have gotten rather decent in my meditations to get very close to be in contact with the spiritual world, but not quite like what had happened tonight. And if I have this right, it is because of your presence that all of what happened tonight, happened."

Kyo was not done explaining, not by a longshot, but he paused here for a moment letting Taima take anything and everything he said so far in.

"Any questions so far? Or would you like me to continue on?"

I am so so so sorry about the sudden super-long disappearance D: I had my exams, which turned out to be way more draining than I had hoped, then the first month of summer has just been a bit of a disaster. Nothing has been going particularly well for my family recently and I have had little to no drive to do anything. Plus I was also away for all of July staying somewhere that made be incredibly miserable. It's no excuse to have taken so long, and I am really sorry again. I'm getting my muse back now though, and should be on top of things from now on!

Taima listen to Kyo as he spoke of his introduction to meditation, shutting her eyes and allowing the words to wash over her. She was feeling rather tired, all of a sudden, but she still kept her ears, pricked, evaluating her mate's every sentence.

She had never had any experience with spirits before. To tell the truth, before tonight she might have questioned if they even existed at all. Her old pack had been very mundane, focusing totally on being as normal and functional as possible. The healer of the pack had taught her to identity different herbs, but no more. He was pleasant, but she knew he had no love for her. She had it better than, Kohana had, though. The healer had disliked her, but never treated her badly, whilst Kohana had been disliked and pushed around by the warriors and hunters of the pack.

She had never been treated as anything more than average, perhaps even less than that, so to be told she was somehow special was an alien thought. Yes, she was intelligent but there were many other intelligent wolves out there. The only thing vaguely extraordinary about Taima was that she was a Water Wolf, and in this pack that was the standard.

She assumed she was meant to be flattered by the sentiment, and to some extent she was, but more than anything it only raised more questions in her mind. What was it that made her special? Was it something she was born with, or something she had obtained over her lifetime?

But she would not ask such question now, instead continuing to listen to Kyo's story. Once he had finished the first portion of his tale, Taima found herself with even more questions buzzing around her head than before. However she could tell Kyo had not quite finished the whole story yet, and so would wait until the end to ask more questions, just in case they ended up being answered later on.

"Continue, please," she said, finding herself eager to hear more, to find out where the mysterious crystal fir into the story, "unless you want to sleep. We can always continue in the morning." Her tone was edge with reluctance, but she did mean it; Kyo's health came before her curiosity.

If there is anyone to understand the stresses of life then it would be me. I totally get it Teak, never any reason to apologize. I just started a new semester in college today even. I am sorry things have been stressful on you, I hope it becomes easier for you and you just get some time to relax!


Kyo nodded agreeably, understanding that his lengthy answer did not even come close to satiating the burning questions. "Continuing on then..."

"As you very well know, you and I, as well as the others in the pack are in fact what we call 'Water Wolves.' For some reason we are special and different than normal wolves and their average capabilities, we somehow have seemed to gain and/or pass on these strange water-controlling traits. To us, that ability is not special, it is normal, yes?" Kyo nodded to his own question, agreeing with his own statement. "But sometimes in addition to these 'typical' traits that we each possess something else may be thrown into the mix, something unusual... something different. In addition to that, each wolf is of themselves. They each carry their own personalities, their own knowledge, their own passions, and especially their own actions. It is different from every wolf to another, never two alike." The brute again nodded to this too, adding an interjection.

"Now I feel implored to tell you now that we are not controlled by the spirits. They are never telling us what to do and we are not just living puppets that they move around like some sort of master. It doesn't seem to work that way. We live within two different universes, but even how different they are, they are connected."

"Anyways, I carry on with my answer. As I was saying some of us wolves are special from each other, more special than just the simple differences that we all have. I am different as in the way my pelt may change depending on my mood, but that does not really make me special - it is simply a trait I possess. Coal gets the glowing streaks down her flanks when she's in contact with water.. again different, but not special. Now Rakoo.. when he was still here," the brute additively mumbled, "held a difference. In addition to his water abilities, he was also capable of manipulating and creating ice. Now in our world that is special. It is a capability, not a difference. For whatever reason it was, he held that power and had it at his disposal. Understand?"

The wolf paused a moment before getting to his point, letting Taima really understand what he said to get the most out of his next words which were of vital importance.

"You, Taima, are special. Not only special like Rakoo, but different entirely still. In addition to your water capabilities you possess the ability to read auras right? The talent and the aptitude to physically see one's intentions. That alone makes you special. But even moreso on that is how you possessed it. Rakoo was born with the special talent he had. As amazing and great as it was, he was always able to have it... saying it like that makes it seem a little less impressive huh? Well you are not like that. You earned yours, you gained it.

"Even at whatever young age you were, you gained that ability to read auras. Even before you had any training in the arts of herbs or water controlling, your mind was strong enough to enter enough into the magical and spiritual world that you physically gained and TOOK that ability. Naturally you had it in you and your mind was strong enough to harness new capabilites... even if you didn't know what you were even doing. You're an anomaly..."

Kyo's voice had gotten quicker and louder as he had been speaking, understandably getting a little excited as he was explaining. He recognized this and tried to bring it back down to a hushed tone.

"That crystal is a physical representation of the spirits acknowledging your true ability. Who knows, you may have a lot more in you still that you haven't discovered. That crystal is a handed link for you to learn as much as you want from them. They trust you."

Thank you so much for understanding <3 I hope college is going okay!

Also, I love the new banner at the top :3

Taima tilted her head, listening to Kyo as he continued his explanation, contemplating his words carefully. Indeed, after being amongst other Water Wolves and only other Water Wolves for so long, she had almost forgotten they were a minority where the rest of the population was considered. Their strange abilities were still supernatural, and she knew that, but nowadays she didn't feel it made her special, because she was among others just like her.

But Kyo had a point. It is not one's abilities that make them special, really, it is what they decide to do with said abilities. And every wolf's decision was different. Take Taima and her brother, for instance. Siblings from the same pack who activated their powers at around the same time. They founded the pack together, and in that respect had similar intentions. However, where Taima sought practical and medical use for her abilities, Kohana at first appreciated them only for their entertainment value, and later became interested in different methods to use the water as a means of fending off predators and killing prey. They had the same powers fundamentally, but they chose to use them for different things. Neither choice was wrong, simply different.

Taima twitched her ears as Kyo reminded her of her own ability. Honestly, Taima found herself forgetting about her aura-reading ability sometimes. It was so limited the way it was now that it was only useful when meeting another wolf for the first time - she could see the purity of their intention, and discern if they were a water wolf. Since they hadn't come across anyone new in a while, she hadn't really needed it. Even the love part was quite unhelpful; she knew Kyo returned her affections and Kohana wore his heart of his chest like a medal anyway. As for Coal... well, who she loved honestly failed to interest Taima.

Still, as Kyo had mentioned it she found herself looking down at her mate's chest, where the strange glowing orb was currently residing. It was blue-edged as always, but also slightly green-tinged too, which Taima assumed indicated his temporary blindness. There was also that soft pink tinge to it to, indicating his love for, well, her. Although she had seen this very tinge for moons now, it still made her smile softly to herself.

An anomaly. The white female considered the term, blinking slowly, as though the very idea of being anything but usual was bizarre even though in truth, it wasn't. She had just never thought about it much, never really cared. Besides, she wasn't the only 'anomalous' one, as Kyo had mentioned - there was Kyo himself, Coal to some extent and of course Rakoo. Arguably Rakoo had been the most anomalous out of all of them, as well as the one with the most useful extra ability. Though she knew Kohana had a theory that all of them possessed the potential to manipulate ice, they just didn't know how to unlock it. Whether or not this was true was something Taima did not know, but it was certainly a possibility. anyway, creating ice seemed like it would be a given when one could manipulate water, so it wasn't unlikely.

As Kyo's speech came to close, Taima could feel a sense of excitement and pride prickling up her spine. She felt childish for being so thrilled at the thought of the spirits treating her in such a trusting manner. She felt she should not treat this like an ego boost or simple compliment. They seemed to think she had potential to do something. The trouble was, she didn't know what that something was. Not yet, anyway.

Actually, Taima had always had a theory about her aura-reading ability, which was that with some concentration and practice she could extent her ability to read moods as well as intention, affection, health and Water Wolf-ness. However, discovering the truth behind this theory had been low on her priorities list, and she had never found time to pursue it.

But why would the spirits care if she had the potential to discern moods? It wasn't really a very life-changing ability, especially not for them. Taima couldn't make sense of it, and it frustrated her.

She wanted to ask for Kyo's opinions on the topic, but she felt she had put him through enough tonight. They could discuss it further in the morning. "Well, I..." she began, but her voice faltered as she realised she didn't have a properly formed reply to all the information he had just unloaded onto her, "that's... really something, huh? We're going to have to investigate this for sure. But tomorrow." She suppressed a yawn, laying her head on her paws, "for now, I think we should get some rest."

College is going decent... getting through it! Also I put up a new banner because it seems the old one expired. I'm not sure what happened to it, but one day the image no longer displayed.

Okay, so with all the time having gone by and with no reply from Toast I have kinda come to the assumption that she may not be coming back. Because of that all of the characters she had are either in suspended animation or gone or something, so I decided to rp Coal as if Rakoo had left (and did some time warp/skip I guess too, so it's like it'd been a while since he left). I hope that is okay with you?


That's really something huh?

Kyo suddenly fell into a low chuckle, one of those deep down rumbles in the pit of your chest that only portrays true amusement and happiness. Taima was one of the most articulate wolves the brute knew.. he had only just finished explaining to the intelligent she-wolf that she was a special anomaly singled out by the very spirits themselves. And despite all that the first thing she says about the discovery was perhaps one of the most understated comments one could leave. It amused him.

The male Shaman leaned into his mate for a moment, fumbling around his muzzle until he found her cheek to lick it. "aheheh.." the chuckling trailed off, "I love you my Taima." His head craned down until it was over his paws, eyelids closing over his blackened eyes. He swung his backside around so he was in a tight circle. "Goodnight."



Coal's eyes spluttered open, a fly having landed on her ear and woken her up. She laid in the pack den, as usual the only wolf dwelling inside. Rakoo had been long gone now and was now only a thing in the past. Time had gone by, hardening her mind. During the time Coal had a lot of time to think, her thoughts becoming one of the things that she now relied on the most. The wolfess felt foolish for ever having had entertained the thoughts of getting into a relationship. Even then now she recognized that she hadn't ever fully believed it, hence never accepting the wolfs' constant offers.

There was no need to have another being be around you.. take care of you. It was only easiest to be yourself and yourself alone, taking care of your own needs.

The steely gray wolf had changed. Her mind was no longer in the same mindset it ever had before. She was independent and determined to never let her head get so foggy again to ever become dependent on anything. Weak. She had been weak. Her maw grimaced into a small snarl, as if she had tasted something bitter and awful when thinking about what she had been like before. Shifting her tail she fell asleep again until the daytime.

Yeah I don't know what happened to that. I guess tinypic deletes images after a while? The file for the old banner is on my old computer, which is in storage, so i can't reupload it. I like this banner better though <3

Hm okay, that probably sounds like the best plan. I'll just RP Kohana as though Akua 'disappeared' or something. I don't really know what to do about the pups, though; we kind of had like 'joint custody' of them XD I might keep one and say the other one disappeared with Akua. Unless you want one? They never really had set personalities, though I think Caspian kinda had daddy issues and Cove was the perkier, more naturally talented one. I'm not sure how old they'd be now... like one year? Which would make them fully grown (though probably not sexually mature, I'm not sure). Cove's the girl and Caspian's the boy, just tell me if ya want one

It was a rare occasion when Taima couldn't find the right words, but this was one of them. She just couldn't seem to articulate her thoughts on the matter; even inside her head various emotions and thoughts swirled around, refusing the organise themselves. It would have annoyed her, feeling so incapable of pulling herself together, but at that moment she was too tired and excited to care.

So instead she curled up and wrapped her tail around her nose, shutting her eyes, allowing the smallest of smiles to play on her muzzle. "I love you too," she mumbled sleepily, already feeling the relief of sleep creeping over her. "'Night."

-

It was cold. Why was it always so cold? Kohana shifted uncomfortably, unable to get into a suitable position to sleep in. He had stayed awake until Taima and Kyo had returned from... whatever it was they were doing. Honestly, he had no idea what the two Shamans were up to. But he was Alpha; he should know what they were up to, shouldn't he? Yet here he lay, staring at the ceiling of his cavern without the foggiest idea of what idea they were currently pursuing. Did it matter? He trusted his sister not to do anything dangerous or stupid. Dangerous and stupid was his game, not hers, after all.

Kohana shivered, changing positions again, curling up tightly to try and conserve some heat. Why was he so cold? It wasn't cold at all at the moment. So why was he shivering?

Because he felt empty. He was missing something - well, someone -  and he knew what it was. And it hurt; a sort of dull ache that liked to flare up in moments such as these when he was left alone to his thoughts. During the day he liked to occupy himself with worry about everyone else, so he often forgot about his own troubles. He worried about Coal the most. She really needed some cheering up. Perhaps he would try do that tomorrow. It was certainly better then sitting around alone sulking.

Huh that is a question about the pups. If you didn't want to rp them you could just have said Akua took both pups with her as they technically were never Ko's. Idk. Yeah they'd prob be about a year, they'd be sorta gangly but not fully matured quite yet. I sorta like my two characters, but if you want one to stick around we could figure something out I'm sure, I'd be gang to help.


The sun rose from the earth, little cracks of light beginning to gleam through a few of the trees around camp, shining towards the pack den and partially into other caverns. A ray gleamed its way through a few boughs, landing on Coal's nose. As the sun continued to rise the ray made its way up her muzzle, waking her up from the brightness. The fae blinked, tongue curling into a yawn as she stood up. She shook out her pelt, getting any dust from the floor of the den off her coat.

Today was another day, and a day to prove her own self to her. Her back toes dug into the dirt as she moved forward, heading towards the water for a drink. Today she was gonna get herself a decent meal and go out. Yes she was. Coal's face was a straight line, showing no expression as she approached the water's edge and bending down to lap at the liquid. Her flanks shimmered at the contact while her eyes looked out across to the other side of the pond.



"Mhghnnn.." Kyo mumbled, daytime coming way too early for his liking. The two Shamans had been out rather late in the night and had only stayed up after that even later. He had no idea what time of the day it was, for all he knew it could be afternoon. His eyes opened, revealing a dreary sight.. or well, little sight. The wolf no longer had full blindness but everything before him just looked like gray and black blurry shapes and images. He sighed, having hoped that the sleep would have restored it quicker than it currently was.

The brute's head turned to look at the blob that he assumed was Taima as its shape rose and fell with breath, sometimes hearing her exhales. Not wanting to wake his mate up, Kyo slowly rose to his paws, planning on just getting a drink from a small puddle before returning back to the Cavern to relax with her until she awoke.

His eyes blinked rather uselessly, squinting as he took a step forwards. Okay, this wouldn't be so hard. He took another one, and another one, making his way to the exit... and promptly kicked into a rock. Holding in his exclamation for the sake of not waking Taima, he held his paw up for a second, shaking it off. Okay, okay.. try this again. Carefully and sloooooowly the brute shuffled his way out of the Cavern, the exposed light of day only distorting his partial vision even more. "Aww, come on," He commented, sniffing the air for some water. "Work with me here would ya??"

At about the speed of a turtle and about as much grace as a pup trying to walk for the first time Kyo meandered around in his attempted search for some water.