Between a Rock and a Heart of Stone (shiver, dogzrock)

[Deleted]

Amora huffed in her sleep as the warmth of Ruko moved away. At last she couldn't stand it. She stood, glowering at the stranger and plodded faithfully to Ruko's side. When he drank, she waited her turn. Then he began to splash in it! The clear surface became clouded with ash and dirt. "HEY!" She barked angrily over the frightening roar if the inferno outside.

With the danger so close at hand, her temper was even shorter than usual. "I WAS GOING TO DRINK THAT!" She reached out a paw to clout his ear when she heard his question. She dropped her paw immediately.

"Yeah! Where is our daddy?" She asked and blinked her deep purple eyes innocently and took a reluctant seat beside Ruko, her ears flat against get skull. Whatever was coming wasn't going to be good, somehow she knew.

[Rykett]

Blaise:

Blaise's mind was just slipping into sleep and shutting out the yells of Amora and the rambling words of Ruko when she snapped awake at Ruko's question. It was echoed by Amora. Thoughts swirled in her head. What should I say? How to explain? Should I ask Foxtrot to leave? No, that would be like asking him to run into wildfire, literally. She gave a glance towards him. he was still in earshot. The only way he wouldn't hear her words was if he left the cave and put himself in the path of the blazing fire. The pups need to know this tale but I hoped I wouldn't have to tell them until much later. Maybe I can delay it. No, Ruko demands answers. Amora looks too curious to be deferred. Foxtrot is probably dying to know the answer, as well. He deserves to know. He's been nothing but good to me and my pups.

Finally Blaise sighed. There was no way around it, she would have to talk about Scorpius. She couldn't tell everything or the facts would crush the pups as much as it had crushed her. They needed to know that he'd left them without knowing how much it'd hurt and how evil and devious he'd been. They needed some figure to look up to but not to follow in his paw steps. Blaise took a couple shakey breaths, organized the story in head, and began telling Ruko and Amora about their father.

"I met your father on the banks of Kai Lake. He was a very kind and loving wolf towards me. His name was Scorpius. During an evening swim, he saved me from drowning. We fell in love in the time after that. It was a deep love that I thought could never be broken. As the natural course of things goes, I became pregnant. We were exploring these ruins when you two came into the world. You were the most beautiful puppies we'd ever seen. Your father loved you very much but he doubted his ability to care for you and doubted that he was the father you'd want. So he left to hunt but never came back. His leaving was the He's out there somewhere."

During the course of the story, Blaise voice had some shakiness to it as she spoke but it means mostly soft and loving. When she spoke Scorpius's name, she had to pause to reconstruct her tone. When she varied from the actual series of events the shakiness in her voice became a bit more noticeable, but Blaise was sure that the pups would think nothing of it. After the tale, the cave felt more silent than usual. The calm before the storm of questions that was sure to come.

Ruko:

Ruko had become very familiar with his paws after the end of the story. No wonder. He'd been staring at them since Mommy told how Daddy had left them. Ruko knew he wouldn't have cared if Daddy had been a moose. Why had Daddy been so afraid? Ruko promised himself that he would never be scared again. A tall order for such a small pup but Ruko was sure he could do it. Sometimes Ruko couldn't control his fear though, so Ruko decided to edit his promise a little. Even if he got scared, he wouldn't act in fear like Daddy had. He would never do what Daddy had.

A strange feeling came over Ruko. It was anger. But a pup such as Ruko had no idea of such a feeling. Ruko puzzled on what the emotion was but came to no conclusion. He finally looked up from his paw and turned his gaze to the murky water. Why had their ever been any reason to play in it?

[6dewdrops]

Foxtrot

He listened in silence. Although he didn't really want to know, it was hard not to listen in the small cave. When Blaise finished her story Foxtrot grimaced. He had caught the fluctuations in her voice and pieced the real story together. No wonder Blaise doesn't trust anyone. But... He felt a sinking feeling in his chest. Blaise had just portrayed the pups' father as a coward. Technically he was since he needed a pretty darn good reason to intentionally break another wolf's heart but still... 

Foxtrot thought about the consequences of Blaise's choice of story. The pups will forever think that their father was a coward. Now any chance of building a strong fatherly image in their moldable minds was lost. They can't dream about meeting their brave father. They can only dread becoming like him. He sighed and hung his head. What was done was done. Blaise made her choice and the pups would have to live with it. 

The wolf stood and made his way to the side wall. He lay down and curled up. It was difficult with his large build, but he was able to find a comfortable position against the cold stone. Foxtrot accepted his situation and closed his eyes. Might as well sleep through the rest of the fire. 

[Deleted]

Amora's curious gaze slowly darkened. Her brows protruded and knit themselves together. Her nose scrunched up and her lips curled away from her tiny needle sharp teeth in a snarl. "I want daddy back!" She demanded, standing tall, with a stubborn aura radiating from around her.

Amora didn't care that he had run away, he wanted him to come back. The pup made a silent bow to herself, when she was grown enough to leave her mother she would find her daddy, she would get him to come back to mommy. Only now dud she sense the cloud if sadness hanging over their family. Once dad was back, momma would be happy.

To vent out her anger she finally delivered the clout to her brothers head, her paw flashing out.

[Rykett]

Ruko:

"Hey!' Ruko growled at the sharpness of Amora's blow. He looked at her his expression a snarl of anger that had never been painted on his innocent face before. Anger that Amora had hurt him. Anger that Daddy had left him. Anger that he had ever been scared. "It's not my fault Daddy left!"

Suddenly the perfect thing to say next came to Ruko's mind. It would hurt, but Amora had hurt him, too. So he was just getting even, "Maybe Daddy took one look at you and left because you were so ugly!" Anger still unfulfilled, Ruko lunged at Amora ready to vent his anger, but a white paw was suddenly separating the two siblings. Ruko peered over it glaring at the spotted face of Amora.

Blaise:

Blaise could see how the tale was affecting her pups. The knowledge stung but it was better then them knowing how evil their father was. For the first time the pups were fighting to hurt. Blaise was horrified at the comment that Ruko threw at Amora. "That's enough!" Blaise shouted putting a paw between the pups. The scowl on Ruko made his face almost unrecognizable. "Your father's actions shouldn't change the way you treat each other! He made the wrong choice, I know, but that doesn't give either of you the justification to be angry about it or to act on that anger!"

Blaise looked at each of the pups, giving them each a stare that said to drop it. "It's over and past," Blaise removed the barrier that separated Ruko and Amora. "You're probably both tired. It's time for bed." She lay on her side waiting for the pups to cuddle against her. Blaise rested her head on her paws and listened to the constant crackling of the fire. Fire, it was so dangerous yet so beautiful. Every snap seemed to call Blaise in a way she didn't understand. For a second, Blaise was tempted to leave the safety of the cave and enter into the power of the flames, but she immediately banished the urge.

[6dewdrops]

Foxtrot

His ears flicked as they focused on the voices of the small family. He was never going to get any sleep like this. The large wolf wanted to snap at them, but he couldn't blame their actions after the story he had just heard. He decided to ignore them. He pressed his ears to his head and buried his nose, trying to escape the scent of ash. 

After a few minutes, Foxtrot noticed that he was focusing on the flames dancing outside of the cave. The light was able to penetrate his closed eyelids. His ears could hear the crackling of the burning trees. His fur bristled with the heat of the fire. With a warmth that melted his heart, Foxtrot was lulled to sleep by the rhythmic cracking of the flames and the caressing warmth. He hoped the fire would die soon so that he could escape the tight space that seemed to close in around him.  

[Deleted]

Amora snarled savagely, her elegant youthful features twisted in rage. Not because of Ruko, but because if her father. The colorful she wolf choked back a sib and spat at her either. How rude! She would get him.

Amora glared venomously at her mother. "I could've taken him, I could've won." She mumbled. When she looked at her again she was laying her head down, opening up her warm side for her pups. She knew Ruko would go to her, but in her anger she refused to lat next to either of them. The black and flame colired pup padded stubbornly over to the male wolf calledFoxTrot. He was asleep.

The pup scooted deep into his fur, and laid her head in her paws. Easily, sleep overcame her.

[Rykett]

Ruko:

Ruko stuck his tougue out at Amora before curling up beside Mommy. he had stopped believing that this was a dream during the forever sleep. It was much to painfull. Ruko had changed after the tale of Daddy's departure. His world had suddenly become darker with his knowledge of Daddy. Ruko had discovered anger, real and deep anger, and hatred. He knew he had to push the scary feelings away or he would break his promise and get scared. Fear would now be a feeling of the past. Ruko was determined never to experience such an emotion again. Ruko would rather act out of the newfound anger than act out of fear. Ruko drifted asleep not aware of whether Amora had joined him against Mommy's fur.

The dream came. It was bright and happy. They were all together. Mommy, Amora, and... Ruko gasped. 'Daddy!' His dream self shouted. He ran towards Daddy as fast as his little legs could carry him. Daddy didn't seem to get any closer. Ruko felt tears start to prick his eyes as his legs began to hurt. His lungs were burning. But the pain felt distant. Daddy slowly beganto show signs of getting closer. His pelt color was clearer now. For a second, Ruko wondered what Daddy's fur was. He decided that since Mommy looked like Amora, Daddy would look like Ruko. Daddy's coat instantly became a grey darker than Ruko's base coat and stripes appeared down Daddy's back.

Finally Ruko reached Daddy. He buried his head in Daddy's ashy fur. His tears streamed into the fur. He snuffled a couple words, 'Come back! Please, come back and don't leave me, again! Don't leave me!' Ruko was choking on his tears through the phrases. Daddy's fur became colder and colder until the form of Ruko's father turned into mist. Ruko's tears flooded down even more as he howled, 'Come back! Don't leave me!' The mist wolf that was Daddy looked at Ruko for a couple seconds with piercing blue eyes before turning away and ignoring Ruko's pleas for him to come back.

Blaise:

Blaise was also dreaming. She was dreaming of fire. It was the thing that her thoughts were focused on when Blaise had fallen asleep. She was standing in the middle of a wild fire. The blazing flames were roaring all around her. They seemed to spin in a cyclone around Blaise. Outside of the tornado, there were flashes of wolves that Blaise recognized. Ruko and Amora laughing and playing together. Scorpius with a loving expression looking straight into her eyes. Her parents tearfully giving their farewells as their only daughter left to find her own way in the world. Foxtrot appeared for a flash but quickly dissappeared. The images of Blaise's family kept appearing in the swirl of faces out side of the fire cyclone.

Blaise wanted to be with the wolves outside of the tornado but there was a flaming, spiraling barrier between them and her. Blaise's only option was to control the fire. She commanded it to go away. Nothing happened for a minute. Then Blaise felt a rush of power as the blaze started to obey. The fire started to die but it still spun it lazy circles. Blaise compressed the fire into a ball and drifted it to her side. She could feel the heat, but the flame ball didn't singe Blaise's fur despite the fact that it was only inches from her coat.

Blaise looked around the landscape. There was nothing. She was standing in the middle of a black nothingness. There was black beneath her, black above her, and black on all sides around her. Blaise and her fire was the only color or light in the whole world. Then the mist began to creep in. There was the pup's voice. It was so familiar as it called, 'Momma?' The little lost pup from her previous dream returned before the dreamscape faded into the waves of sleep.

[6dewdrops]

Foxtrot

Although he rested his head against the cold, stone floor, sleep refused to come. The looming danger that waited outside the cave kept his body alert. Foxtrot lay, listening to the crackling of the flames and the wolves reacting to their dreams. He had no doubt that the pups were dreaming about their "cowardly" father. In the darkness, he heard the quiet cries of the pups and the shifting of Blaise as she tried to reach something. Maybe it was her lost mate? Foxtrot shook his head. He had no business wondering about that. It was her life. She had her own past and it was not his duty to meddle. 

Slowly, time passed. Each breath that escaped him felt like a lifetime. Foxtrot noticed the decline in the sound of the fire. It was dying down. He opened his eyes and turned his head to peer outside. The sun was still an hour or so from rising, but Foxtrot could see the blackened earth already. Charcoaled branches desperately clung to the trees and leaves floated to the ground, partially burnt. He gazed outside into the desolate forest and wondered how many years it would take for the foliage to return. 

He he stood and walked to the center of the cave to keep watch again. It was unlikely that anything would attack, but with the pups and their injured mother, Foxtrot didn't want to take any chances. At the moment he would let them sleep, but Foxtrot knew they couldn't stay there long. The ash and charcoal would blacken their lungs and kill them. They needed to leave as soon as possible. He glanced back at Blaise and thought about how hard yesterday had been for her. Maybe today he would be able to lighten her load a little...

[Deleted]

Amora didn't dream at all after she fell into the darkness of sleep. He just felt FixTrots warm fur, the hard coldness if the stone, and the intense heat from the fire curling her fur into melted strands.

She woke suddenly as the warm body if the new male slipped out from beside her. Her fm dark purple eyes shot open and the soft pawed pup padded silently forward. All hate from last night was buried deep, a pups happy composure already back in place.

Amora reached FoxTrot and gazed out over the charred remains if the overgrown forest.

[Rykett]

Blaise jerked awake. She felt hot, uncomfortably hot. Then she remembered. Of course, it was the fire! There was a dying flame outside and a sparking flame inside Blaise. No wonder she felt so hot. She stood clumsily, knocking Ruko into the ashy dirt. He grumbled sleepily as he also began to awake. Blaise glanced at Foxtrot and Amora before looking over the smoldering landscape. Though her mind was still muddled from sleep, Blaise knew one thing, "We can stay here. I don't want to spend another minute in this area of the forest." She picked up Amora. Blaise had no doubts that Foxtrot would grab Ruko. If she had to be honest, Blaise would be surprised to be told that Foxtrot was evil. If he had set up a trap, Blaise had fallen straight into it. Then again, there was that same agrument, What choice do I have?

Blaise stepped out of the cave and onto the warm dirt. Soot quickly covered her paws as Blaise began the trek away. She looked up towards the mountains. Blaise hated being forced to accept Foxtrot's but even if she were in dire need of it, then Blaise was pretty sure that she would've accepted it anyways. But still... If Foxtrot was evil, Blaise would have no hope of survival. She needed some help that she could always rely on. The only wolves Blaise truly trusted were herself, Amora, and Ruko. But no one on that list was able to aid Blaise in her troubles.

Unless Blaise could somehow give herself superpowers... Blaise's gaze was fixed on the mountains to the West. A plan formed in her mind. The pups would be ready for such responsiblity and Blaise didn't want them hurting themselves while practicing. Blaise recalled how the fire had seemed to call to her. Now she knew it was really calling to her. What about Foxtrot? Blaise would have to tell him, but later. This plan might just work. Blaise suddenly remembered when she was lost in thought, she often forgot about the world around her. She glance back to check on Foxtrot and Ruko.

[6dewdrops]

Foxtrot

Blaise woke and Foxtrot turned to look at the female. She stood and he knew they would be leaving soon. He placed his large pass under his body to stand, stretching his aching muscles. As Blaise spoke, Foxtrot was unsure wether she was talking to him or herself, but he nodded anyways. When she claimed Amora, he already had sleeping Ruko in his grasps. He followed closely behind her as she exited the cave. 

The sun had risen about an hour ago. Now that light fell upon the forest, Foxtrot could see the damage done. No green littered the ground and no animal tried to attempt a daring dash across the wolves' path. No life was evident. Foxtrot wanted to itch his nose as it accumulated ash, but he didn't want to set the clean pup in the blackened earth. 

For a while Foxtrot lazily followed behind Blaise. He looked up to inspect the she-wolf. I hope her paw doesn't hurt. Glancing past the wolf, Foxtrot viewed their path. More black foliage lay ahead, obscuring any chance of identifying the charcoaled plants. In the distance Foxtrot noticed the White Mountains. Is that our destination? He looked back at Blaise. What is she planning?

[Deleted]

Amora was too awed to object as she felt her fur sluding above her head, in the strong-yet gentle-grasp if mother. After seeing FoxTrot act so...happy...Amora knew that mother wasn't. She wasn't happy. It was probably because she wanted daddy back. Strangely enough when she thought if the word 'daddy' the lean, lithe figure if FoxTrot emerged. Weird.

Amora scanned the cold black ashy ground. Black flakes perked off wood and leaves in the wind. The stench if smoke and terror filled her nostrils and Amora sneezed.

The pup was excited as she saw something green in the distance. Leaves! Trees! Grass! Prey!

[Rykett]

Blaise:

Blaise's eyes snapped forward as Amora shifted in her grasp. She feared that Amora had spotted some form of danger, but none was evident. Then Blaise saw what had mae Amora shift. It had been a shift of excitement. The charred landscape blended to gray then to green. Green grass that was swaying in the wind. The grasslands sprawled out before the small group only separated from the wolves by several rows of half-burnt trees. Beyond that loomed the mountains, they seemed much larger but still distant. Their destination was growing closer.

Blaise thought through her plan in her head. If all went according to plan, Ruko and Blaise's injuries would disappear. Then Blaise could sneak back up and answer the call that had been bothering her ever since the fire. A perfect plan. How to tell Foxtrot? How would he react if she told him she was going after such a destructive power? Maybe she should just tell him about the healing and not the power part until afterward.

As Blaise finished thinking through it, she passed under the last trees of the forest. She smiled. They were about halfway to the mountains.
-Exit Blaise-

Ruko:

Ruko stood on the brink of sleep and reality. His dream self was hunched in the middle of a black as he cried over his misty father's disappearance. The rocking motion of Foxtrot's pace drifted him into the world. As his eyelids fluttered open, a tear trickled down his cheek as the sadness from his dream was still fresh in his mind. The memory if it was still as painful as the fox attack.

Ruko's yellow eyes watched the blacked dirt beneath the brown paws that must belong to Foxtrot. They watched as the tear dripped from Ruko's pink nose and splattered onto that ash dirt, making it even blacker. Then those lanterns rose as green caught Ruko's breath. He held it as he surveyed the life-filled grasslands. Joy tinged Ruko's emotions. He let out his breath in a gasp of excitement. Excitement that only lasted for a seconds before Ruko's negative feelings smothered the rediscovered positive ones. His breathing changed its rhythm again as Ruko let out a small sigh. Adventures weren't that fun after all. This adventure had been a disaster and its end wasn't in Ruko's line of sight. But it was continuing and Ruko could do nothing to change that.

He closed his eyes wishing them could all be back home in the ruins with no knowledge of Daddy. He wished it could just all go away but it would never leave Ruko. That's why it could make him stronger. Ruko heard the swaying of grass in the late spring wind. It was so close. They must be in the grasslands by now.
-Exit Ruko-

(Heading to Amoux Creek! I'll tag you in the thread )

[Deleted]

-exited with Blaise-