» Where Once Was Light, AW

[Zina]

She was bitter. The attack had left serious, awful wounds, but Constance had nursed her and with the angel's help, she was able to rise once more and take up her status as the link to the Underworld, though it seemed that through the battle and some forbidden feelings for someone, she had become even more odd. She had been to the riverbed and had spoken to the spirits as always, and they told her that if she continued this pathway, she would no longer be able to connect with them. She had been eating well. Her weight had been almost completely restored and she was learning to hunt better for herself. But she walked with the same lumber as usual. Her eyes held the same, dead feeling. Her ideas were just as strange and she still believed that she could speak to those who were dead. She still believed that Constance was no less than her Guardian angel, a gift from the Spirit world and a woman to treasure. As the trees began to show their first signs of turning, Jurune was there among them. She sniffed at many of the fruits that had fallen onto the ground and as she came through, the deer feeding there would scatter. She carried a heavy limp now, and the wound had scarred her hindquarter deeply, cutting from the top to the knee in a sort of jagged "Y" formation. She would probably always limp like that, though hopefully it would fade some. She was just thankful that she could walk at all. Though she was healthy, she was still lacking severely in socialization skills and was not technically a part of the pack. She was lucky that Akki had remained unobservant to her. Feeling tired, Jurune sat beneath an apple tree, eventually laying down to rest.

[Fuego]

The old beta was making his usual rounds of patrolling the lands went he came up here. Thoughts of his long gone alphess came to his mind. Actually he had been on his way to coming to visit her grave site. But he guessed that something else would most likely catch his attention today. The wind was kicking up just a little bit, sending a very pleasant breeze through the area. The leaves were now turning their brilliant shades of oranges, reds and yellows. Autumn was now here. And this season was practically empty of any problems going on. Fuego was unaware of the problems going on with Yokushin or even Jurune and Aiyoku. He hadn't seen the Omega since she witnessed her uncle's death at his and Akki's jaws. Ever since then, he supposed that Aiyoku just decided to just up and leave. What other reason could she have left for? Oh well, it wasn't really his problem. Akki would find out eventually. But Fuego here would find out about another issue that had yet to pass his ears. It took no time at all for the black male to catch the scent of a wolf he hadn't seen in a long time: Jurune. She was laying down underneath an apple tree, looking quite unpleasant with herself. Walking casually and cautiously over to her, Fuego put a mellow smile on his lips and came over. "Hello there, Jurune. You probably don't remember me much. I saw you when you were just a little one. I'm Fuego, the beta now of this pack." He stated clearly and warmly, his dark emerald eyes looking for any signs that she was indeed listening to him and paying him some attention. Now even though he was the beta and all, he wasn't quite ready to do the whole dominance thing on her yet. She was still a bit young, and wasn't really in the pack yet. He couldn't just put more stress on to her then she already needed. "What have you been up to, my dear? And how have you been fairing?" They were two simple questions to be answered. But Fuego didn't know just how unsimple her responses were probably going to be. No, he was far too caught up in the mellow and happy state he was currently in. Taking care of ever-growing children can do that to a man, especially one that used to be such a hard core warrior for this pack. Oh well, people can change. And it looks like the times have certainly changed quite a bit too.

by Zina

[Zina]

She was not expecting to be happened upon by someone as large, friendly, and happy as Fuego, who spoke her name. She looked up at him dully, a vacant, even nasty expression on her face. Who was this man and what did he want from her? He told her that he had once known her when she was small, but she could not remember anything like that from her childhood. All she could remember was blood, pain, and the nasty stare of her mother and father, dead outside the den. She could remember the devilish features of her father, the cold, cruel nature of his ghost, and the terrible death seen in his white eyes. Details like this stranger had fallen into decay, and finally she had forgotten them entirely. A memory gap. He asked two questions, and Jurune laid there, unblinking, lacking in emotion, stoic. Finally she responded. Her voice was cold and breathy. "I have spoken with the spirits who lie deep within the old riverbed. They hunger for more company," she told him, eying him carefully as if expecting him to die right there. "They spoke unto me your name. They thirst for your life. They will take it from you if they can," she answered, a weird, strange little smile planted firmly upon her ugly face.

[Fuego]

Fuego watched her with somewhat curious eyes. And then he grew a bit weery. There was something quite wrong with this girl, and he knew it from the instance she spoke. "Those who are dead surely wait for me to come. But I'm not going anywhere for at least a while. I assure you this." His voice was confident and strong. It wasn't lacking at all the assertiveness his presence often held. His dark emerald eyes looked down on her with a quiet sort of dominance. He wasn't liking at all the way that she was speaking to him. Then again, she probably couldn't help it. Her head wasn't screwed on right at all from the looks of it. And it was then that he caught a glimpse of a deep wound on one of her legs. A Y formation was marked on her knee and down her leg. Who on earth caused that? "Jurune, what happened to your leg? Who did this to you?" Fuego's voice grew very concerned and worried. Even though he didn't know her all too well, he was still very concerned that something was going on around here. The last thing Yamamori needed was another insane wolf prowling its lands. Ever since Zyuushima had left this place about last Summer, things grew peaceful here once more. There was no way that this pack could handle another monstrosity. Fuego thought for a few moments if there was any wolf here that he had possibly overlooked. There was that Stolz fellow who gave quite a horrid stare at Toorima and her family before she passed on. Even at the last pack meeting, he noticed that Stolz gave the heirs a horrible look. What was going on there? Was the quiet and dark male plotting something against the royal family? It was a small possibility. But there was one small problem with that theory. No one had seen Stolz for quite some time. How on earth could he have even attempted to start anything if he hadn't even really been around here for the most part? Fuego just couldn't think of who would want to start something. What made him so worried though, was the fact that he now had children to look after. Fuego wouldn't know what to do if something ever happened to Rafael and Carmin. Apart from Keiryo, they were his whole world. Looking back at Jurune, the onyx pelted wolf noticed that she had some sort of creepy smile plastered on her face. What on earth was her issue? More and more he found himself wondering just what he had been missing this whole time. Aiyoku was missing, Jurune was injured by an unknown source and he still didn't know what was going on witht the heirs. The pack was literally falling apart it seemed. And Fuego had to find out what the reason was. It was driving him crazy. Fuego had his head full of worries and doubts all over again. And it was such a damn pity. Really it was.

by Zina

[Zina]

Jurune was a fortune teller, in a sense. She had not meant disrespect by what she told him. She was simply stating what she believed to be the facts, even if they weren't true. Such jabber was what she was used to and what her entire life was built off of. She believed herself to be superior to all that walked this earth, though she knew that physically she was weaker. She scoffed lightly at Fuego's comment that he wasn't going anywhere for a while. Jurune knew death better than anyone, she thought. Jurune knew when it would happen and why. Fuego was nothing more than a fool in this moment, to defy the logic of the dead. But she held her forked tongue between her teeth and dropped her head to the ground to rest. He asked a question of her. One that she knew the answer to, but answered in a cryptic way that she often spoke in. "The Demons would not come to my aid when I asked it of them. 'Tis treachery for them to be such cowards as to flee from Zegazla, the Devil who haunts Yokushin's body and taken his mind. Zegazla is powerful, and I have foreseen that to vanquish him and rid Yokushin of such a menace, Yokushin will not survive an exorcism." She spoke in English, but she used a tongue that nobody else seemed to know. Indeed, she may have had a few screws loose but she fully believed in what she had said.

[Fuego]

It was quite alarming to hear such things slip from the mouth of one so young as Jurune. "What happened to Yokushin? He was responsible for your leg injury? What happened?" His voice was very worry filled, and his whole body posture turned more rigid and stressed. Fuego eyed her over a bit, trying to get a clear picture in his head of what might have happened. What didn't make sense though, was that Yokushin had once loved these children of Freya's. Why on earth would he just snap off and come at them like this? Fuego wasn't much in the believer of demons and angels. He didn't believe that there was such a thing as an after life any more. He lost that faith a long time ago when things just continued to get worse for him. Still to this day, he keeps wondering and half-expecting to see something bad happen to the only family he had left. He wouldn't know what on earth to do if Keiryo and the children were to ever be taken away from him. Fuego would surely die of saddness. After losing his last family, he just didn't think he could bare to lose anyone else at all. Fuego thought about what she had said, about the demon controlling Yokushin's mind. Was it just possible that he was losing his sanity for a brief amount of time? The stress of being the alpha heir was bound to catch up with him eventually. Fuego just didn't think that he would take out all of his frustrations on others. Instantly he thought of the one agouti female he had seen with Yokushin back at the last pack meeting. Fuego wondered if that woman had something to do with what had happened here between Jurune and Yokushin. "Was there another with you when he attacked you?" Fuego asked Jurune kindly and yet strictly. He wasn't in the mood for any nonsense any more. He wanted to have this problem tackled one way or another, even if it meant taking this all straight to Akki herself. The alphess would have to know in order to really make a choice about the next alphen of Yamamori. Perhaps this would really make her decision a bit easier for her to make. Fuego surely hoped that his information would help Akki out even in the least bit.

by Zina

[Zina]

I suck. >_>;

She didn't respond to his question again, as she had already answered it. Zegazla was trying to control Yokushin's mind and there were just no two ways about it. The ways of Demons was as such. This demon in particular was strong and Jurune did not believe that Yokushin would be able to survive much longer with it still inside him. Unless the demon exited on its own (which was so unlikely to happen that Jurune agreed with herself that she would more likely become leader of the pack), it would need to be exorcised, but even she didn't think she had the power to force it to rise without seriously harming Yokushin. Fuego didn't seem to want to force out anything more about the demon Zegazla, but instead asked a most interesting question. Jurune felt an interesting flutter of her insides. "Yess," she said in an odd, breathy, hissing tone that was a perfect blend between the cool voice of her dead mother plus the raspy tones of her murdered father. "The guardian angel, Constance, yes she was there. She is the only reason I am standing here now, for she protected my soul from leaving my body. Had she not, I would have become an empty shell and a ghost," she answered calmly, eyes alight with new interest in Fuego. Why was it he wanted to know such a thing? Why was it he stood so proudly above her? She supposed he was high-ranked. A loner was she, yet she had been staying within pack bounds.

[Fuego]

Fuego just watched her closely as she answered him. And it was quite interesting to hear of what she had to say about Constance. "It seems that you have grown quite fond of this female. Have you not? Or are you just using her?" The darker male asked with curiosity. He just wanted to make sure that all of his pack members were being watched over and cared for in a way that was indeed right. Fuego was such a good wolf to this pack, and a very good person at heart. It was such a shame that such things though used to happen to him, things that others probably would have killed themselves over. But no, he held on fast to his sanity and kept on going. Something that Jurune here didn't seem to grasp at all. Perhaps she wanted to leave this earth. Who was to know honestly? "I am glad that she was there to save you from certain death, Jurune. Such qualities in this pack have almost long since past from us. It's good to know that some of us here are still worth keeping around here. Speaking of which, are you with the pack?" Fuego was curious about this indeed. He didn't press the issue of Yokushin any more. Akki would indeed need to hear of such things. But he didn't really see it as a huge importance right now. Who so ever knew of this would have to just tell her, if he didn't just happen to do it before anyone else for that matter. Instead he kept his attentions on things that really made his day. Rafael and Carmin were just growing rapidly. But he hadn't had the chance to truly spend time with them. It was a shame really. He just couldn't bring himself to stop his duties though to come and see them. Rafael was beginning to close up to him somewhat. And he wasn't sure just how Carmin felt now about him. Back when they were a little bit younger, she would just adore her Father. But now he couldn't be too sure. He hadn't seen Keiryo in a bit either. Well he supposed that he should just change that now shouldn't he? It was most certainly time to do that indeed.

by Zina

[Zina]

At the question, Jurune did not answer. She merely looked onward, curling her lip back and showing teeth briefly. How could he accuse her of merely using Constance? Once could not use an angel. The idea was completely inconceivable. Angels were protectors. Their purpose was to ward off evil. They were from Beyond, in the Spirit world, where the air was bittersweet and one was surrounded by memory. It was not the Heaven that one could dream of. The way of death was that a soul would live on, but not as it was. In death, one could not feel or taste, but in the Spirit world, one could visit loving memories over and over again. There, a soul was nurtured and fed, and eventually went back into the earth again as a new life was created. Reincarnation. "No," she whispered, as if it was a secret. She was not with the pack. Though still a lone wolf, she associated with Yamamori wolves now. Constance was attempting to train her in order to learn good mannerisms, so as to be accepted by Akki. In her current state, acceptance remained unlikely, but she was unaware of this. "You ask many questions, Fuego. Why must you worry yourself with such petty nonsense?" she asked, though it was not a real question. She asked because she didn't understand why he was interrogating her. She didn't like that he had thought he might be 'using' Constance, and she didn't like his overly-confident nature.

[Fuego]

Fuego watched her with careful eyes as she spoke. So it seemed that Jurune was saved by the grey and white female. That was interesting. This whole thing was quite a tale for Akki to hear. Perhaps he wasn't the only one here who knew about this. And if they did, they should have come to the alphess or him with this information. The black beta wasn't sure if there would be any given punishments for keeping such information from the alphess. This was important news for her to hear, especially since this would possibly help her pick the next alphen to this pack. Fuego would see to it that Akki would hear about all of this indeed. "I apologize for my mis-judgments. It is just that I have to make sure that this pack is secure to the most it can be. I am in a way responsible for everyone in this family here. I am the beta of this pack, and so it is partially my duty to make sure all runs well here." Fuego explained to her his reasoning for his massive questioning. It was all necessary for him to do this. Without such questioning, there wouldn't be much solved here. "It is good to hear though that you are not indeed using the lovely Constance. I hear that she has a certain fondness for you and for Yokushin. But maybe that fondness for Yokushin has deminished somewhat?" He commented slighlty on the matter between the wolfess in front of him and her savior. "And I'll be sure to reward Constance somehow for her efforts towards your life. She shall be thanked in the best way possible here, I assure you." Fuego made it possible to show a small smile on his lips, hoping that his warm gesture would allow Jurune to be less cross and less savage towards her elder and somewhat superior. It shocked him somewhat to see her show her ivory fangs at him. Did she have a death wish? Fuego wouldn't tolerate this action from any other wolf naturally. But since Jurune was apart of this pack once, and indeed had a rough start in life, he was able in his heart to let this one thing slide. He hoped that Constance could help her a bit more if that was even possible.

by Zina

[Zina]

Fuego explained that because of his high ranking in the pack, it was a part of his job as a pack wolf to ensure that everything was running smoothly as usual. Jurune still did not enjoy being interrogated like some sort of war criminal, but she did not really have much choice in this life when it came to tolerating the brutality of mind, spirit, and physicality. Still, she was thankful at least that Fuego had not resorted to true cruelty. Rather, he seemed content with asking many questions for no particular reason other than to find out more information. For whatever reason, this situation seemed to interest him in some way, the same way that picking at dead bodies interested Jurune. She listened to him, not knowing whether or not to feel judged or angry in some way. He seemed harmless enough, but she was untrusting of anyone, aside, of course, from Constance. As Fuego spoke of Constance and a certain 'fondness', he called it, Jurune felt something warm like liquid spill through her insides. Her body tensed for a reason unknown yet to the real world. The ebony male spoke of how Constance would surely be rewarded for saving Jurune's life, and the thought made her soar. Constance, an angel no less, deserved the greatest treasures that life could give. "I thank you for your kindnessss toward the Angel. She is deserving of such that I cannot give, a grand array of gifts blessed by the powers of her Spirit world. Such gifts are most difficult to find in such a place, but perhaps a reward that you can give shall suffice," she said, spilling out meaningless words that seemed to float away with the lightest breeze. She'd never really been one to make much sense. But, it was the thought that counted, right?