again, and again. [OPEN]

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more of less and less,

The male was romping through the river, stepping on polished rocks and propelling
himself into the air and then diving headfirst into the water. He snapped at bent shadows
of fish, barking and rolling in the chilly water. The snow had melted and merged with the river,
making it more than a little nippy. Yet, Gator couldn't find it in himself to care. 

As he tired himself out to the point of exhaustion, he sat and basked in the warm sun by the bank.
He rolled, his stomach exposed as he laid, and relaxed. He dozed, and only when he heard
something did he perk his ears, roll over, and peak up at wherever the sound had come from.

the charm of no success.

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A silver and black she wolf wandered slowly through the abandoned territory not paying attention to her surroundings. She had been troubled for the past few weeks because of the disappearance of her friend but she tried to keep a positive outlook. The she wolf stopped, suddenly very thirsty, and decided to have a drink at the water's edge. As she was doing this, she heard some splashing coming from further up the river and curiously tilted her head. This area was abandoned and had been since she was a mere pup, who could possibly be here now? More a curious wolf than a cautious one, the silver form trotted towards the source of the sound which had quickly stopped. Finally her fuchsia eyes landed on a form that was in the crisp grass at the edge of the bank. It was a wolf and it appeared to be lounging in the warm spring rays. The she wolf approached slowly trying not to disturb the other when she stepped on a sharp stone. Yelping, she backed off the sharp object quickly but knew that the other wolf had heard her. She snapped her head up, looking to see if she'd been spotted.

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Dmitri had always been an adventurer at heart. No matter how content he was with his life, staying immobile for too long left him restless. He had decided to leave his peaceful hiding places and explore the land.

To find that it had changed so much. All of the grasslands were territories to some sort of pack. The pack territories were inescapable, and as he found himself advancing forward, eventually it became harder to retreat back to the safety of his lands. He was captured, interrogated, chased off, attacked without warning, and almost relived every nightmare he encountered in his outside world in here. Had it been him in an earlier time, this would have filled his heart with dread and hopelessness. He may have even continued to wander aimlessly into the lands outside of the mountain, looking for solitude. But he was changed; changed for the better. If his fellow brothers and sisters wouldn't accept him, he could always look to the White Wolves. And he had even made a friend; a friend he hadn't seen in a while now actually. He wondered if she would be okay. There was no doubt in his mind she was alive; when he had met her she was powerful and was getting stronger right before his eyes. He just hoped life took her down a much gentler path than the one he endured.

Dmitri slithered off to the riverbanks to put some mineral clay on a few blisters he had gotten. It was a nice little trick he had learned from a bear long ago...or was it a boar? Ah, whatever. He was too tired to think about it. Yet, when the yelp resounded not too far from him, he was alert and ready. Dmitri was so edgy, he had leaped into the action without thinking or even realizing he had recognized the voice. Dashing forward with his ears flat to his skull, he scanned the area for the attacker only to slowly lighten up and even began to was his tail when he saw that there was no attacker and his friend-Shade-was there. "Ah...its been a while, hasn't it?"