A hidden God among the lilies (open)

[Deleted]

The soft green yards north of Kai Lake had become gray with rain; the downpour hit without warning, startling all the nearby animals into scurrying for shelter. Nightfire had been in the middle of a long-yearned-for meal when he was similarly upset, but because he was too hungry he didn’t hurry off into hiding yet. The fresh, crimson taste of the rabbit carcass had long assaulted and muddled his thoughts. It wasn’t until the rain had soaked both him and his meal that he lifted himself up with a sigh and dragged his hulking body away from the mouth of the lake, his half-finished meal securely in his jaws.

Nightfire had already become familiar with Kai Lake. The scents of many wolves crisscrossed at this place, their many makeshift dens and little homes speckling the surrounding valley. No packs lived in this area, so he was not afraid to steal into the nearest burrow he could find to shield himself from the downpour. It was a sizable hollow dug into a mound underneath a tree, its entrance strangely decorated with roots and stones. Its insides were dry and spacious - Nightfire had no complaints for the owner. He settled down to continue gnawing at the meat whilst thinking of the darkening lake outside.

A wolf once whispered to him the first time he ever came here: there is a God amongst the lilies, hiding in the water. But you can only see it when the lake was black; as black as a spidery mote. Worlds would reflect from the fish, but that light was inherently dangerous; bright and lucid and filled with abysmal intentions.

Nightfire often curiously wandered into this lake in the middle of the night ever since that time. He often thought about the story and about that wolf. Was he there hoping to come across the god? Or the wolf?

[Meds]

Manaaki, Kanga;

The massive twins were on the move again. On the cusp of ranking-up within Secluded Sunrise, they had stolen away to have some time to themselves. A light but steady late Autumn rain had been falling for the past few hours, and both boys were significantly wet. The deep, solid grey of Manaaki's wet outer fur had parted to reveal the silver underneath. In the same way, the brick-red under Kanga's brown coat was flashing as well. Typically the hidden colours of the twins' fur only showed when the moved—but with the weather the way it was, it was no surprise.

Kanga and Manaaki had just finished a rousing fight, and both were spattered with mud, blood, and bits of foliage. Most wolves would fear seeing two hulking beasts like the twins when they were fighting—but that was just part of who they were. Each was so large, that even friendly tussles often turned into earth-shaking brawls. That was how they had met Blaise, alphess of Secluded Sunrise. They had been wrestling so intensely that they had unknowingly rolled into the territory and ripped up a few trees in the process. Things had since been smoothed over with their alpha.

"I'm telling you, Manaaki," Kanga said, looking over a large shoulder at his (very slightly) smaller brother. Manaaki was more suited to running, though he was still a miracle of nature. Kanga, on the other hand, was more noticably brawny—a body type meant more for hunting or battling. Kanga lifted a lip to show his long canines. "Just yesterday I caught a fish while I was swimming." The older twin gave a dismissive snort, one of many.
"I simply don't believe you, Kanga." Manaai's voice was calm, as usual. He was the more level-headed of the pair. His eyes danced as he watched his brother huff in frusteration. Of course Manaaki believed that he had caught a fish—his brother was a very fast wolf; however, he thought it would be quite the joke if he annoyed Kanga to the point of jumping into the depths of the quickly cooling Kai Lake.

They crested a hill and the sound of the Amoux Creek greeted their ears. Sure enough, Kanga trotted ahead and began to edge along the side of the water. Manaaki slowed, a smile growing on his face. In a moment or two, Kanga had leapt into the cold water. Manaaki chuckled, and began trotting gently to where he predicted his brother would surface.
Kanga swam as deep as he could manage with just one breath, snapping idly at a fish or two. When it became clear that he wasn't going to catch one on the first try, he kicked off from the bottom and rapidly rose to the surface. He greeted the air once more with a great splashing of water and a snarl for good measure.

However, it wasn't Manaaki that Kanga came face to face with. It was a wolf he had not met before. Black of fur, with red markings across and around his orange eyes. He was in a shallow den that was dug out around the visable roots of an old tree. Kanga paused silently in the chilly water, paws on the bank. He heard Manaaki's footsteps approaching form behind.

"Hello." He said vaguely, as if it was the stranger that had inturupted him, and not the other way around.

[Deleted]

After thinking about these questions, Nighfire suddenly snorted at himself. How could he so easily believe something like a God living in this lake? How many times had he walked this floor? And how many times had he seen these moors? There was nothing enchanting about them. This is just a lake, he told himself.

Just like yesterday.

And the day before.

Nigtfire’s fiery eyes continued to reflect the rain as it fell unto the glossy lake surface despite all of his body urging him to go look for more food. He had long pushed the bones of his snack to the side and leaned himself against the entrance of the burrow for a better view. The drumming of the rain took over all sound as he let his thoughts drift and break underneath the steady beating.

Was it the God he was here for?

Or the wolf?

He thought about the wolf then. It had been a female. Her eyes had been bright when she told of her stories; the God hidden in the lake had not been the only one he had to suffer through that time. But she told this one with such gusto that even he felt himself believing it to be real. He might have even asked for more details had she not mysteriously disappeared the following day, leaving him wholly stumped. He should probably track her down and bite off an ear for making him run around in circles around this lake for so damn long…

A spark suddenly set off across the lake’s surface.

Nightfire’s eyes lit up as he caught sight of it, his ears pricking up. There, underneath the surface, was a sudden strip of roguish red color vigorously moving about. If not because his eyes had adapted to the dreary color scheme of the rain in these past couple of hours, he wouldn’t have noticed it. After the appearance of color, a gurgle of bubbles quickly came up. Nightfire’s body had stiffened upright by then and an uncontrollable itch shivered between his hackles.

Something huge exploded out of the water the next moment. He couldn’t help it. Nightfire jumped up from fright with a growl, almost hitting his head against the roof of the hollow. The thing that surfaced noticed him immediately, though its expression was hidden from him by the shadows of the gloomy weather and its own dark coloration.

“Hello.” It said.

It even sounded a bit peeved. Nightfire stared at it with shock, only to quickly realize that it was just another wolf.

“What?” Nightfire responded.

Even though his senses told him he was staring at a wolf, the same as himself, his brain was somehow a step behind. He didn’t even dare approach it, just in case it was a….

“Did you just come out of the lake?” He asked stupidly.

Were it not for the rain, all his fur would be sticking out right now with tension. His incredibly stiff ears and tail were the only other indicators as Nightfire felt his pulse beating all thought out of his head. He even failed to noticed Manaaki's presence further in the distance.

[Meds]

Kanga, Manaaki;

"What?" The male asked, bewildered.
Kanga's ears flicked, sending a few droplets of water cascading down to the bank. He chuckled, the rumble building deep within his chest and rolling out. The stranger seemed thoroughly shocked, as if he had momentraily thought it was something other than a wolf that had come splashing out from the depths. What else could it have been? Kanga cast his eyes down for a second. He would certainly be quite a large fish.
"Did you just come out of the lake?"

Kanga frowned, looking up at the coal-coloured wolf once more. Hadn't he just seen him come out of the lake? Kanga could sense the tension in the air, but that didn't stop him from thinking up a sarcastic thing or two to say. He heaved his huge frame out of the water, and sat down by the lake's edge. He did not bother shaking off his coat—the rain was still falling rapidly, so there would be no point.
Manaaki came up then, but he stopped a few paces off when he took notice of Nightfire. By his body language, he could sense his younger brother was on the brink of saying something insensitive, so as usual, he worked deftly to settle the situation.

"Yes—my brother was trying to prove a point." His eyes flicked to Kanga and glittered wickedly. Kanga met his eyes and lifted a lip silently. He knew that look well—from Manaaki, it was along the same lines as laughing in the younger twin's face. "Which he failed to do, by the way," Manaaki added with a smooth, careful smile. Kanga couldn't help but give a grudging chuckle of his own.

The stranger was still looking reasonably shocked though, so both boys kept their distance. He was new here, or at least didn't belong to a pack. Kanga took a few measured steps towards Manaaki, and sat easily. When next to each other, the twins' size was truly unmistakable; however, when trying not to be intimidating, they usually succeeded. It was because of this that Manaaki felt comfortable giving a prompt of his own.

"What brings you to the lake on such a wet evening?"

[Tiel]

((I hope it's okay that I get in on this thread with Topaz))

Topaz:

It was raining, which meant mud puddles, which meant fun! Although Topaz was not a pup anymore, she had the spirit of one, not to mention the small size of one. It was a perfect day to hit the lake, so she left the dry comfort of her cozy den in Sapling Grove, and bolted off to Kai Lake.

When the forest turned to open grassland, the rain pelted Topaz harder, without a canopy of leaves to block the raindrops, but she did not mind. It gave her a sense of freedom as she followed Amoux Creek down the plains, and she ran like a wild horse would. Everything felt so big, and Topaz felt so small. That should have generated fear, but instead it gave her a sense of freedom, that there was so much of the valley to experience.

Topaz remembered the way rain used to feel. It would scare her half to death, especially since she had no family to comfort her, and she was just a small pup forced to find shelter for herself, with no shoulder to lean against. But now it pleased her, and gave her a refreshing, comforting feeling that everything was okay. She had a pack, a place to go, good friends. The Power obviously found favor in her.

When the lake came into view, Topaz dashed forward, but slipped right into the mud. Her clumsiness was something she could never seem to overcome, though she had believed she would grow out of it eventually. It turned out, it was just a part of her. She stood back up so casually, it was almost like she had not fallen at all. She then trotted over to the lake shore and dove straight in. The sound of the rain disappeared underwater, and she lingered beneath the surface for a bit, until she came up for a breath, spotting three wolves on the other side of the lake. She was timid at first, but she suddenly recognized two of the wolves. She had seen Manaaki and Kanga around Secluded Sunrise. The twins were intimidatingly large, but always had a childish spirit about them, making them a lot less scary, and more like two giant pups. Topaz had heard of them, but never formally met them, and since she rarely saw them apart, she was not entirely sure which one was Manaaki and which was Kanga.

Topaz swam over to them, now seeing that the third wolf was a black coated male with small flame-like markings. "Hi there!" she said cheerfully. Turning to one of the twins she added, "I've seen you around Secluded Sunrise haven't I?"

[Deleted]

(ooc: welcome aboard)

Nightfire was using his all to look at Kanga. He was that strung up. But who could blame him? Kanga was a towering beast, even bigger than himself, Nightfire noted with a bit of alarm. An accentuating dark red hid sneakily amidst his dark fur, which looked like streaks of blood sleeked wet against his robust frame. Even sopping wet he looked imposing. However, Kanga never made any other startling move after his noisy entrance, probably having sensed the charged up air.

Following Kanga’s reaction to his question, Nightfire’s ears twitched in irritation. It’s true his shame was currently strewn all over the floor right now, but there was no need to rub it. Nightfire would definitely not react sensibly to this. It was then Manaaki arrived to smooth things over, timely preventing an untoward beginning from happening. Nightfire barely managed not to look shocked at Manaaki as well; he too was so big anyone would feel uncomfortable about it. Nightfire suddenly felt like he had no choice but to calm down and pick his face back up from the ground with a smile full of chagrin.

Seeing how they kept their distance, Nightfire relaxed enough to whip his pelt off the excess water, some frightened nerves flying off along with it, and sit back. What was the point in any form of aggression? It was easy to tell Kanga and Manaaki were familiar with each other by their exchanges. He wouldn’t be able to confront these two at the same time, so Nightfire should be the one trying to diffuse the tension here.

He took his time thinking of how to answer Manaaki. What was he supposed to say? His reason for being there was ridiculous. His gaze glowed a molten orange as it flickered between Kanga and the lake. He even turned his face away and closed his eyes, hoping the pair of brothers would just vanish like figments of the imagination.

“I’m waiting,” He said after finally giving up.

Taking a breath and glancing at the two wolves, he decided to elaborate, “ I heard there’s a God hiding in this lake and you can only see it when the surface is completely without light. Do you know of it?”

Since he decided to do it, Nightfire asked with all the sincerity he could muster and looked seriously at the two. But mere moments later he tensed up once again as a voice not belonging to any of them slipped into the vicinity. Only that, unlike Kanga’s previously deep, guttural snarl, this one sounded much thinner, farther, and…young? Nightfire strained to look through the rain toward the lake. Spotting Topaz energetically paddling toward them, his face turned gloomy.

Was it not raining right now? Was this lake not eerily still and quiet just moments ago? How come wolves were suddenly flushing out of thin air? Nightfire didn’t even greet back, not knowing how to react. She didn't hear him did she? In fact, he suddenly felt compelled to slip away while they were distracted with each other and pretend he hadn’t seen anyone.

[Meds]

Kanga, Manaaki;

Nightfire was no small wolf, it was true, but even he seemed perturbed by the boys' size. It was an unavoidable fact of life for them—but it was not without its perks. Any sort of fear or misgivings were more than valid, for the twins were a force to be reckoned with when the mood took them; however, more often than not, it was just Kanga acting like an idiot and Manaaki picking up the pieces. Such was his lot in life, being the older twin. How the two were raised didn't help, either. But that was all in the past—for the most part. Manaaki could still sometimes see uncharacteristic shadows in his brother's deep eyes.

When Nightfire spoke of a God, Kanga snorted in barely-contained laughter and slapped the muddy ground with one huge paw. He wasn't laughing at Nightfire per se, for he respected most forms of belief, it was because of the situation. That must have been why the black and red furred wolf had been momentarily struck dumb. There had had been, waiting for a God, and up popped Kanga.
"I hope I paint a pretty picture as a God." His voice was even deeper than Manaaki's, but unlike the older sibling, his held a tone of mischief. He shook out his mane and swung his big head back and forth a few times. Manaaki hissed evenly at him, which made him quiet down (more or less).
"I can assure you that though my brother speaks discourteously, were he the God you were waiting for you would be quite let down." Kanga looked at his brother in acute protest, but Manaaki continued. "The only gods we're aware of in the Valley are the White Wolves." Perhaps whoever had told Nightfire this story had seen a White Wolf before the family had moved to the top of the mountain? Manaaki wasn't even sure there was a before, with them.

Then, though Nightfire was still ill at ease, it was nothing to the fantastic way Kanga jumped and spun around when Topaz's voice rang suddenly out from the water. Manaaki turned smoothly, ever the opposite. Each brother was silent for a minute, gauging the situation in their own way. After a moment, Kanga smiled.
"That's us. We're hard to miss." He turned back to Nightfire and gave him a knowing wink. A bit of tension in Manaaki's shoudlers relaxed. If Kanga was at ease, this meeting would go a lot more smoothly.

"I'm Manaaki," The silver brother rumbled. "This is Kanga."

[Tiel]

Topaz:

Without even bothering to make sure she was not interrupting some important conversation, Topaz hopped up onto the shore, stumbling forward a bit clumsily, and placed herself next to the boys. She was a puny wolf, and any of them could have attacked and easily killed her right then and there, but with the familiar twins around, she was not so afraid. Nightfire, however, was somewhat scarier, but based on the expression on his face, she could tell he was shocked to see her, like she was White Magic paddling over. The twins also seemed rather amused with the situation. Topaz was one of those wolves who could tell a lot about a wolf from the expression on their face, and she liked to think of it as a power, that perhaps her parents were psychic and passed their genes onto her.

"I'm Topaz," she said when the twins introduced themselves. "Glad to see I'm not the only one that likes to visit the lake on rainy days." Topaz smiled cheerfully, joining the conversation like she had always been a part of it. She turned to the twins. "You two don't look quite as big when your fur is slicked back from the rain."

Topaz looked at Nightfire with a calm, yet chipper gaze. "Wow, you've got a cool coat," she said bluntly. "Almost like your on fire."