Awake and Dreaming.......

[Wolfbane]

The forest was blanketed in white. The glimmering frost covered the trees and shined in the sunlight. The crisp snow lay on the forest floor, crunching under the feet of a lone wolf...


Dream padded through the crunchy snow. It crunched like bones under a stone. She sighed. She began humming a tune that her mother used to sing when she was young. She hummed the gentle tune, walking without aim through the forest. She wandered, not caring at the moment as a a rabbit bounded past. Her white fur blanding in the surroundings, making her almost invisible in the light. She sighed, and laid down to look at the beautiful forest.

((Can wolves hum?))

[- s h a i t a n;;]

The landscape was locked in an icy prison. The prey was hiding from the frigid and biting winds, and the predators wandered the barren lands, searching. Searching for something with a heartbeat and something to ease the hunger clawing at their insides. The dark predator was no different. His whiskered maw was pressed up against the frozen loam, seeking the smell of something alive. Whether or not that scent was of prey or others of his own kind, it would be a mild relief to catch a glimpse of life. His striking, jade eyes traced out the ice sealed landscape, his tapered ears fluttering forth. There was nothing.

Shaitan continued through the woods at a brisk and healthy trot, winding through the thick pines and over crumbling thickets. His senses were sharper than needles today. His slender appendages felt powerful today despite his gnawing hunger. For today, he was going to feast. He was going to reward himself for the tedious miles covered and the hungry nights spent with only his own thoughts.

It was then his keen nares caught a sweet smell riding upon the wind. The dark wolf thrust his burly snout into the breeze laced with that interesting scent. It was most certainly that of a wolf, but not a male. This wolf was a lone female. It had been many moons since he had crossed paths with another of his own kind. He continued on his path with a renewed pace, following his fervid sense of smell.

Shaiten slowed once he saw the pale wolf, curled against the cold on the forest floor. His splintered claws crunched quietly against the snow as he approached her, his damp nares quivering. Who was this wolf? Where did she come from?

OOC // Probably, but I don't think they have a good sense of tune or pitch. ^_^

[Wolfbane]

Dream looked up, seeing the other wolf. She got up and shook herself. Snow flew off her coat, but it remained white, with a silvery touch to it. She looked at Shaitan with curiosity, before lowering her head and saying, "I am Dream Wolfbane. Who might you be?" Her voice was as light as the snow, with a musical touch.

[- s h a i t a n;;]

Shaitain drew back slightly as the ivory female stood up. He lowered his husky maw, his tapered ears flitting sideways as he moved back, his sooty claws crunching against the snowy vegetation. The last thing he wanted to do was startle her.

As she spoke, questions flooded his mind, fighting for his focus. Why was such a pure and delicate wolf alone in a forbidding and frozen wilderness? Did she, like him, not have a pack also? His mind chewed on specific details. Such as the way her pelt rippled and shone like liquid silver as the sun kissed it and her voice, sweeter than wind chimes. The shadowy wolf blinked, collecting his thoughts. He proceeded to kneel slightly, the tangled tresses of his chest brushing the snow. His bitter nature seemed to have deserted him for the while.

"I'm Shaitan Silverfoot." His voice was throaty and hoarse, a sharp contrast to that of Dream. He inched closer to her, his mangled tail swirling the air behind his legs. "Seems like a strange place for someone like you to be." He commented plainly, glancing at the thick and sinister looking parts of the forest which were enclosed in obsidian shadows.[/size]

[Wolfbane]

Dream chuckled. "My family has lived here since we separated ouselves from a pack, which was two hundred years ago. I find it quite pleasant, if you look beyond the cold and see the beauty within." Again her musical voice chimed through the silent woods.

[- s h a i t a n;;]

The darker wolf tipped his furry skull in thought. He'd never seen the winter as something beautiful - it was more a frozen hell to him. He gazed up into the trees, seeing the liquid gold sunshine spill through the canopy, glittering brilliantly off the crystalline and delicate ice upon the pines. He watched his foggy breaths curl out into the pure and simple air and fade away. The sky was blue and the air was fresh - perhaps she had a point.

"I see. I find winter a cruel time of year." He murmured softly, his mind coughing up memories of roaring ice storms and frozen corpses. He shook off those thoughts quickly, as his past stung when it was brought up. Rather, he was assaulted by another torrent of questions for the ashen lady.

"Do you ever miss your family?" The swarthy wolf picked up his whiskered mug, his electrifying jade eyes meeting her own eyes. There was something about her that intrigued him, yet he couldn't quite decide what that elusive quality was.

[Wolfbane]

All of a sudden her eyes filled with sorrow and anger. She shook her head. "They were killed a year ago by a bear. I miss them, but they will never come back. Tears merely bring back the pain......." A silvery tear slipped out of her left eye, and only then the mar in her beauty showed, a scar, running from the skin just above the eye to the edge of her muzzle.

[- s h a i t a n;;]

It was surprisingly disturbing to Shaitan as he watched her delicate features crumple in the pain of rehashing vexatious memories. Regret seared his tongue for a brief moment before he berated himself for thinking that way. Since when did such trivial matters start bothering me? He thought. Since when did the feelings of others begin to affect his own?

He watched helplessly as a salty tear crawled down her refined muzzle. His heart seized and twitched awkwardly as he realized an unfamiliar urge to comfort her overtake him. Rather than denying in, he stepped forward modestly, his warm tongue flickering out for a moment to catch her tear and graze her wet eyelash before he stepped back once more.

"Don't be sad." Was all he said.

[Wolfbane]

Dream smiled, nuzzling him. "I know I shoudn't be sad. I shoudn't trouble the dead with sorrow......." She smiled again and stepped back a bit, sitting down.

[- s h a i t a n;;]

He felt electricity sizzle through his dark pelt as she pressed her pale maw to his shoulder. He smiled slightly and sheepishly at her, his emerald eyes sparkling. "I wouldn't quite say that you should forget your past completely." He said gingerly, choosing his words with caution. "But rather, keep it in a place where it will be with you forever but won't change your true character." His voice stumbled through the last sentences as he was assaulted by foggy memories of the crimes he'd committed in his shady past. Shaitan cringed, locking his jaw as he fought them back. He would not let these thoughts poison this seemingly perfect morning.

It was a fight, but the dark wolf wrestled his own mind back into submission. He tilted his whiskery muzzle to the bright and open sky, tinted gold by the sun's warming smile. The past was over now, and he'd taken whatever good from it that he could manage. It was time to move on, to dive into new and uncharted territory.

Shaitan inhaled deeply, his nerves buzzing.

"Shall we take a walk?"

[Wolfbane]

Dream smiled. and nodded, getting up and standing beside Shaitan. It was strange, a white wolf with a black wolf. "I know you struggle with past memories. I see it in your eyes." She smiled.

[- s h a i t a n;;]

It was a little strange, actually. The extreme contrast between his deep raven pelt, and her glimmering ivory one. The haunting emerald of his masked eyes, and the pale sapphire of her smiling eyes. His burly paws and splintered claws beside her delicate feet and smooth, even claws. Could they possibly be anymore different? Shaitan pulled his gaze away, looking off into the forest for a minute. They were the real life case of the beauty and the beast.

He turned back to her chiming voice, a coy smile cracking his blank expression. "You're very perceptive, miss Dream." Shaitam chuckled, nuzzling her shoulder gingerly with his whiskery mug. He pulled away, his puzzling eyes growing dim. For a few moments, the two walked in complete silence, hearing nothing but their claws crumble the ice beneath them. "I had a rough start to life." He murmered, his eyes lost and his voice hushed. "But...the past bothers me less each day. The older I become the easier it gets." He added quickly in a lighter tone.

[Wolfbane]

Dream smiled. "I too, had a bit of rough past." She smiled. "And you know, beauty does not come from the outside, but from the inside. "I could be ugly and you could still like me." She smiled again, padding in the snow.

[- s h a i t a n;;]

The shadowy wolf snorted, shaking his thick, tangled mane, flashing his peaked fangs in a fast grin. His matted tail fluttered behind him as his entire frame shuddered with laughter. "Easy for you to say, maiden!" He exclaimed, his voice brimming with mirth, his hooded eyes lighting up. "You are a beauty" - he jumped in front of her, his muscles coiling as he crouched down like a hungry tiger. His husky mug twisted into an ugly snarl as he imitated an ugly and savage beast.

He then stood up, chuckling.

"And I am but a terrible beast that poisons the dreams of prey everywhere." He finished, his voice flat. Shaitain continued walking beside her, his tapered ears hung to this sides of his skull. "So you see..." he explained, "I look like something horrid next to you." He cast a glance in her direction, wishing for a moment that he didn't look like such a nightmarish beast and that he could look more like he belonged right beside Dream.

[Wolfbane]

Dream chuckled. "Maybe I am, but you are the only wolf I know that could fight a well as me. AND you've got a great personality."

((I think Dream likes Shaitan! Does Shaitan like Dream?)