Ashes to Snow [Aiyana]

[Thirteenth]

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[atrb=background,http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x30/Silehnce/Valley%20Howls/background-1-1.jpg] Winter paled the landscape on the island of Traum in a way which Relic had never seen before. Strange, cold fluffs composed of a substance that smelled almost like water drifted out of the sky, swirling hypnotically on the breeze. He had awoken that morning to find both himself and the land covered in a thin layer of the alien material that felt like ice on his skin, but was soft as down beneath his paws. Relic, who hailed from am arid, sweltering wasteland, was thoroughly puzzled by it as he shook himself free of the layer which had accumulated on his thick, rich-chocolate brown coat. White flakes dusted the air, swirling about him for a brief moment before falling to the ground. With his nose angled into the air to scent his surroundings, he shivered against the chill of the wind, a lengthy twitching motion that flickered beneath his skin. Never in his life had he encountered anything even remotely like the snow covering the island. Thus far his stay in these lands had proved to be very interesting indeed; it was nothing like the desolate lands that had born him. Here there were forests full of trees that towered skywards, an unimaginable bounty of food, and even water sources. After having spent his entire life struggling to survive, fighting over scraps of food and filthy mud puddles in order to sustain himself, Relic saw Traum as a paradise; though this bizarre, frozen winter weather had thus far proven to be quite harsh. At first he had enjoyed the cold, crisp air; but as winter deepened, the temperatures dropped, and now the wolf rather disliked it even though his thick fur did keep him warm enough. Even so, he had already decided that he much preferred the bone-chilling cold to the unbearable, blistering heat in the desert where he grew up. It wasn’t hard to find ways to warm up in the cold; when it was hot, there was nothing to be done but suffer and try to stay out of the sun. “Too cold, too hot, it’s always something,” he grumbled, ears twisting back to pin against his skull as his gaze slid about the white surroundings. Above him the sky was a pale shade of gray, almost silver, and continued to spill forth tiny flakes of snow. Relic doubted that the icy rain would be stopping any time soon; it was falling too heavily. He gave himself a final shake, then padded out from under the sparse thicket in which he had spent the night. A thin mist ghosted over the meadow when Relic emerged from the cover of the trees surrounding its edges. He paused just before entering the open stretch of land, yawning, then taking a moment to glance about his surroundings. A small herd of deer gazed across the meadow, but Relic paid them no mind; he wasn’t hungry, and even if he was, it would have been much too difficult to bring one of the creatures down alone.

[† §arabi]

”God freaking damn-it!”

She hissed as she stumbled and plowed nose first into the cold icy snow. It was the second time she'd done it in an hour, and it was already getting pretty damn old. The snow had gone up over her sensitive nose and pretty much into her eyes. It stung long enough for the little ice crystals to melt which only made her eyes water. She cursed colorfully as she struggled to shove her feet under her and push herself up. She stumbled forward as she shook off rather violently, nearly shoving herself back down into the layers of fresh snow. ”This day cannot get any worse...” She complained and then paused completely.

As her bright vibrantly colored golden eyes peered up, she found that it could indeed get worse. A moment before the air had been relatively clear, a few flakes of snow here and there, but now it fell in a heavy mass. Not only were her feet and hidden stones tripping her, but now she wasn't going to be able to actually see where she was going. Perfect, juuuust perfect. She thought grumpily before she turned her head to peer at the landscape around here. Due top the suddenly heavy snow fall, there wasn't that much she could see past the thick flakes but what she saw was enough to at least ease her mind enough. There were definitely no trees to run into in a meadow, that much was certain.

A soft bit of amused laughter escaped her as she shook her head and continued forward, her eyes on the ground as she attempted to watch where she stepped. If there were no trees to run into, then she was just dandy. Now all she had to watch out for was the rapidly dissolving rocks and tufts of weed grass that still manged to poke up out of the earth and snow like little waving hands waiting to be rescued. The thought amused her, but she kept that mild feeling to herself as she walked, slower, more careful than she had a moment before. If her nose had escaped being scraped off then her day was looking brighter, but, for the moment, it was still quite sore from face planting for the umpteenth time in a single day.

Aiyana was a small creature, more dainty than anything else, cute in her rather petite size. Of course she was larger than an eight month old pup, but just barely. Many had often mistaken her for one of the youngsters. Over time she'd become a little sensitive about her size, but only because many individuals believed her incapable of completing even the most simple of tasks. She was not a pup, she was two years old! She could hunt very well for herself and she could fight, if, of course it came down to it. She wasn't the best fighter but she could actually hold her own, even among those larger than she was. Of course all they really had to do was remember to sit on her and she was then incapable of pretty much anything.

Her coat was winter thick, lush and silken even on sight. The many colors blended carefully, easily. They were not at all stark against her form, but smooth shades of colors that worked together to create something that was beautiful. She was indeed beautiful, but it was her very size that made other dub her as cute, or pretty, because not many saw her as a true adult. The colors of her face, however, consisted mostly of grays and a smidgen or two of black. Yet white took up a good portion of her face under the gray smudges under her eyes, and flowed down her chest and underbelly, like the grays and black and reddish browns were only resting on top of all the vivid white. Yet it wasn't just the flow of colors, the smoothness of them, the delicacy in which they had taken to blend that made her pretty, not, it was the addition of her bright eyes. They were not merely a faded yellow, watered down with a silver touch, no, they were vibrant, bright and nearly glowed in her face. A bright nearly metallic gold like two tiny sun's with black cores shone in her face. They truly were a sight to see, and when the light of the sun actually touched them, they flared as if the very source set them on fire.

Of course she never took any of this into account, she only saw her tiny size as a hindrance which erased everything else. She'd been dubbed cute to many times to count and she had come to despise the word with a heated passion. It was a compliment, yes, but one reserved for little ones, for whelps and youngsters. She was no child, she was a grown adult, well, at least, she was an adult, she hadn't grown much at all. It was definitely a sore spot for her, one she tended to get set off by and then that little temper of hers flared. She was never taken seriously, not even when she was pissed. Someone had once had the nerve to laugh at her when she'd gotten pissed at them, they had thought it both hilarious and adorable that something so small could make such a fuss.

Grumbling as her thoughts had definitely run away with her, so much so that she truly wasn't even seeing the ground beneath her feet, but the images of those foul little memories. The mist that hung over the meadow pretty much obscured her vision, that and the snow was not a pleasant mix. It proved foolish for her to be looking not in front of her but directly down at her feet. She was small enough that she was close to the ground, but not big enough to see what was in front of her before she literally ran into it. She felt the impact on the very top portion of her head and it felt like running into a fur covered rock. She stumbled back, her butt plopping on the ground before she could manage to do something even more stupid than running into the brutes flank.

”Jesus frigging Christ... what the crap!” She snapped, blinking rabidly as she jerked her head up and looked at the chocolate colored male she's run into. How the hell could that happen? She hadn't even smelled him above the scent of frozen water, and the distant memory of that of grass. Had her mind been to full to even pay that much attention? This was more than simply embarrassing. It was down right unnatural, how the hell out of every single path she could have taken, run directly in line with his flank and actually made impact? It was unheard of! Out of this huge place she had to be the stupid one to not pay attention to where she was going.

Realizing her mistake and her own stupidity she laughed softly, a sound of embarrassment than actual amusement. ”Heh, sorry..” she mumbled audits flicking back to pin to her skull, but she didn't dare move. She was afraid that she'd make an even bigger fool of herself than she already had, something she'd rather not repeat in front of anyone. She'd wait till he left first, if he didn't turn around and bite her head off.

[Thirteenth]

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[atrb=background,http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x30/Silehnce/Valley%20Howls/background-1-1.jpg] The cold stung his sensitive nose and clung stubbornly to his toes and the tips of his ears as the small herd of deer suddenly began to vanish beneath a thickening curtain of white. What ever the strange, icy substance was, it began to pour into the mists with renewed vigor, effectively erasing most everything in his line of vision. Not only that, but it seemed to dampen his ability to pick certain scents out of the air. He should have been able to discern the smell of each individual animal in the small, now hidden cluster of deer; but all he could catch wind of was ice, grass, and more ice. Miffed by the disconcerting disadvantage of losing his sense of smell, Relic lashed his tail, causing snowflakes to swirl about his hind end as he scowled at the white wall in front of him. He was unsure what to make of the situation; the lack of visibility he could cope with, having suffered through many a blinding dust storm in his native lands. The male was also slowly losing sight in his left eye thanks to an injury inflicted by a much stronger, older male several months back. At some point during the brawl Relic had lost his footing, and the other male had slammed his head against a boulder, effectively forcing him to beat a quick retreat. Initially, the concussive force had caused him to lose sight in that eye; but after a few days it had returned, good as new. Then, just when Relic had begun to feel that he was in the green zone, his vision had begun to diminish. It was upsetting, but he had grown accustomed to not being able to see. The sudden inability to smell properly, however, was unsettling; he felt vulnerable. A feeling that was not at all helped by the creature that appeared unexpectedly in his peripheral vision, and plodded solidly into the lower half of his underbelly and his hindquarters. Startled, Relic whipped around with a snarl, pinning his ears forward aggressively to warn off…a pup. Upon the realization, his thunderous growl rolled to a sudden stop and the brown coated male took a slow step back, shaking himself off with a scowl. Jesus frigging Christ... what the crap! Relic did a double take when he heard the pitch of her voice, taking a moment to get a better look at the wolf that had unceremoniously plowed into him out of nowhere. She spoke again, this time apologizing, and he realized that it was not a youngster, but instead a fully matured, very small she-wolf whom he had knocked on her ass. Or rather, she had done it to herself, seeing as she had run into him. Suddenly remembering himself, Relic dipped his head forward, “Not a problem m’am,” he drawled as he completed the sweeping, gentlemanly motion, “I find this shit right disorienting myself.”He sniffed the air again, testing it. He could smell her now that she was standing right there; but he wasn’t scenting anything else, which was quite irritating. Hopefully it would not be a problem for very long, however…

[† §arabi]

Aiyana heard the beginning of a growl, a sound that had her hackles raising and her lips twitching. Yet before she could fully react, and growl back at him in return, and show just how feisty she could be, the sound was cut right clean off. It pricked her interest and had her watching his face closely for the reason as to why he'd started to snarl at her and then stopped before it could get down right mean. It wasn't like she'd meant to run into him, accidents did happen. Only, they happened more often when she was around.

“Not a problem m’am,”

He said and his voice startled her. It was as if, for a split second she hadn't actually expected him to speak. She wasn't entirely sure why either. Her head tilted ever so slightly to the side as she watched him dip his head in a sort of greeting. Or was it in the acceptance of her apology? She wasn't entirely sure, but most males, at least, where she came from, weren't that polite. She couldn't even remember the last time an apology like hers had gone over so easily. Not many would outright harm her, of course, but they weren't to nice about it, even if it had been an accident.

“I find this shit right disorienting myself.”

Audits perked forwards at that and a small smirk quirked the corner of her lips. She couldn't help but agree with him though. She'd grown up in the snow, and knew what it did to the world and those who weren't careful. Of course no matter how much she tried to be careful, it just didn't work, but that was beside the point. The snow was just a hindrance, it didn't help that she was tiny and rather clumsy either, the snow just made it worse. Though, it didn't hurt as bad when she plummeted face first into snow compared to the hard, tightly packed earth, now that was down right painful.

”Well, its not all that bad, least it breaks your fall...” she said, realizing her slip just a moment to late. Not only had she run face first into him, and god only knows just how she managed that even with the snow falling so thick, but she'd just admitted, flat out, the only good reason snow gave anyone. Which also meant she'd admitted to one of her many flaws. Great, just perfect, now he'd likely think her incompetent and unobservant. How the heck could she put her foot in her own mouth after she'd just stumbled over them? It seemed her feet were definitely a big problem in the sense that they kept causing her problems.

Carefully Aya pushed herself to her feet, wanting to at least stand up and not look as if she'd fallen on her ass. She blinked back the snow that landed on her face, resting along the narrow bridge of her muzzle as it fell all around them. It may be breaking her fall, but it was definitely a pain when it came down in this amount. If she didn't keep moving it would likely bury her tiny ass before she could take another step. This was definitely not her day. She wanted to go find a little hollow to curl up and and sleep for a good couple hours, maybe sleep and time would allow her at least some sort of grace.

Bracing herself she shook out her thick pelt, trying to rid herself of the snow that collected on the thin outer strands and rested there. Though she knew the snow wouldn't likely melt, it was still an uncomfortable weight that rested along her back and head. She didn't like the feel of it, or how heavy it seemed when it collected in thicker portions as the snow rained down all around them. The soft sound it made was mildly pleasant, but it didn't justify the fact that snow simply wasn't something she enjoyed. It was cold and if you weren't careful it was wet. She didn't like wet.

As she shook her pelt out, the momentum throwing her weight a little to far for her paws to keep hold, her left slipped out from under her, again, and sent her back down into the snow. She hit chin first and nearly bit her tongue in the process. She cursed herself in a hiss of breath before she simply allowed her body to collapse. It was best she simply didn't move, that way she couldn't continue to fall. ”Oh my God, this day can seriously not get any worse...” she mumbled lifting her head far enough to glare up at him. She wasn't mad at him, of course, but the world in general. It seemed like it was sending obstacles her way that she couldn't get past and laughing at her each time she did something foolish. Yet her glare to Relic seemed to be a warning, like she was just daring him to laugh at her.

Instead of getting up she straightened out, crossing her front paws over the other. For a moment she seemed as if nothing had happened, that one second she was standing and the next she was laying pretty, like a sphinx statue with its legs crossed and its head tilted back far enough to peer up at something. She vowed not to get up though. It didn't matter if the snow buried her alive, she wasn't moving till she could at least see something. Though what she could see of him wasn't all that bad. It made her head tilt light to the left and her mind to think of something other than having fallen on her face for the third time that hour.

Aiyana quickly decided to pretend that she hadn't actually fallen on her face and get on with it. She wasn't about to move another inch so unless he parted ways, she would sit right there till it stopped snowing. ”Have you never been around snow before?” she asked, curious. She's taken note of the way he spoke about the foul white stuff, and though it seemed extremely bizarre to not have at least dealt with it once before now. She was only two and she'd met it face to face, literally, each time winter crossed paths with her. ”My names Aiyana by the way...” She added in a delicate mumble. Her voice was sweet, feminine like little bells. It was almost unimaginable that this little pixie of a wolf could be down right feisty.

[Thirteenth]

Well, its not all that bad, least it breaks your fall...
The response she gave was an amusing one; it gave Relic the vague notion that falling was something that the little female did a lot of. It wasn’t so much what she said as how she said it that gave him this idea. There was a certain, faint sense of exasperation underlying her words, but at the same time there was a rueful sort of gratefulness in regards to the fact. Stifling the amused chuckle that arose in response to her words so as not to risk ruffling her feathers, Relic watched her push herself carefully to her feet.

White flakes of ice continued to pour around them, muffling his sense of smell, diminishing his line of vision. He felt flightier by the second in the indistinct surroundings; the paranoia that was so deeply ingrained in his psych after a childhood spent fighting to survive both the wastelands and his own pack mates was beginning to rear its ugly head. So badly that it even entered his mind that the female that had so suddenly plowed into him was a mere distraction; but he pushed the thought aside. Traum’s social structure was infinitely different than the one from which he had hailed. There were plenty of resources on the island. He didn’t have to worry constantly about being stabbed in the back by a familiar face, and he didn’t have to keep his distance and warn off any strangers he encountered. He knew this, but even so, the methods of survival he had utilized almost since birth were not easily shed; and with this strange, never before seen weather screwing with his internal navigation systems, Relic couldn’t stave off the sense of unease.

He shifted his weight slowly to his left side, then rocked it back to his right and maintained the position with his tail swaying slowly behind his haunches. Even though he knew he couldn’t see much his gaze flickered around, searching for any shadows behind the thick curtain of white hovering around them; he wished the mists would clear away. At least then there might be some amount of visibility…

Relic was looking to the side, gazing in the direction in which the small herd of deer had been grazing, when the female shook herself, her figure turning into a blur of motion in his peripheral line of sight. No sooner had he glanced towards her than did she suddenly pitch too far to the side, and a split second later she was on the ground again. His brow arched visibly when her chin struck the ground, and he flinched inwardly; even with the thick padding of icy fluff on the ground it must have been painful. A bark of laughter was on the verge of breaking free when she glared up at him, and Relic quickly bit his tongue to muffle the sound as she mumbled.

As though nothing had happened the female crossed her paws and situated herself comfortably, gazing up at him and seeming to have no intentions of moving anytime soon. Have you never been around snow before? she questioned, curiosity evident in her voice. With a mental shrug, Relic folded his haunches and sat down before her, tail folding over his paws to keep them warm, “Is that what this infernal shit is called?” he swept a paw across the stuff, scowling at it for a brief moment and then shaking his head once, “Nah, this is the first I’ve heard or seen of it.”

My names Aiyana by the way, she informed him, and the chocolate hued male dipped his head again, “Relic.”

[† §arabi]

((I swear its complete and utter crap, and a ramble of her thoughts and crap. i dont often write like that unless my own mind is a ramble of words.... well, this badly anyway o.0 i still ramble... lol and i am doing it now XD))



“Is that what this infernal shit is called?”

A faint smirk quirked the corner of her wolven lips and brightened her vibrant golden eyes with humor. The words, somehow amused her to no end, but they also astonished her just as much. How, she suddenly wondered, did a wolf go his entire life without once encountering snow? She couldn't remember when she hadn't known about it. Hell she had practically been born in it. Well, for the most part, there had been a little left before spring had fully hit. She couldn't really comprehend that there were actually places on this earth that didn't get snow. She simply couldn't imagine it.

She'd have liked to point out that infernal meant hellish, but considering the facts, it pretty much was in his point of view. But then she considered hellish more in the vicinity of fire and heat, but it was his point of view, not her own, so she kept her trap shut. She didn't want to irritate him. It had been quite some time since she literally ran into anyone, let alone talked to anyone. She had to admit, however, that running head first into someone wasn't the best way to lead as a conversation starter. It often lead to insults more than actual conversation. But company was company, and she hadn't seen any herself in ages. She was young, yes, but she'd also come from a place that didn't exactly like having her around. She was a liability, something that needed to be taken care of, and watched closely. She was either avoided at all costs, or simply ignored, and never, ever was she allowed to go on hunts, or missions, or scouting trips. She was far to clumsy. Though airhead and some other highly foul words had been used.

Blinking rapidly, Aya realized her mind had, once again wondered off. She could only imagine what she'd have looked like, speechless, and staring as if startled. It wasn't a very becoming look, she'd seen it on a few others a time or two and it was all the same. Yet like usual Aya pretended she hadn't just zoned out, and hadn't let silence fall longer than what was polite. More than anything she hated to come off as rude, or foolish. Thing was, she'd already covered the foolish part by face planting in the snow. It had hurt, and she was a little surprised she didn't taste blood, last time, she'd had to spit a mouth full of it out because she'd bit her tongue.

”I find that almost bizarre. I've never not known snow, were you born in a desert? Wait, no... Deserts get snow... sometimes...I think...” she rambled, her head tilted ever so slightly to the side. Curious at the thought. Was there a desert on Traum? Well Lucifers was pretty much a wasteland, but was it an actual desert? What she'd seen one day had been a red and brown wasteland that had turned into one of white and endlessness. But the question was, was it actually a desert?

Her bright golden eyes narrowed as her head lowered to her paws. Here she was, once again, zoning out. It was a bad habit, one she couldn't seem to suppress. She;d have liked to be able to keep her mind at attention, alert and absorbing, but she just had to many uncertainties in her life, though the ones rising now were small and nearly useless.

Pushing herself up into a sitting position she peered up at him, head tilted slightly, her eyes large in her little face. She looked a little younger than she was, like a wolf version of a pixie with her size and her curiosity and her bell like voice. She forced herself to pay closer attention, and that's when she heard him say his name, and dip his head. She smiled slightly, sitting up a little straighter. As long as she wasn't standing she was accident free. Thing was, it was hard for her to not move, she didn't like sitting still for long. It was more a habit of how others had treated her, something she didn't realize she did. Keeping herself on the move allowed her to keep out of range of harsh words or brutal shoves, and her own fierce vocal lashing in return. She hadn't been afraid of them, at least, not their words. And she'd her own temper that couldn't quite be controlled.

”Well, when its not actually snowing, its okay, but its still cold. Least... you can see a lot better. Now if your small, the deeper it is, the harder it is to get through, and jumping wears your ass out a bit quickly...” she said thoughtfully, her head turning to the side to peer out across the meadow, or what could be seen of it. She wondered, for a quick moment, if the snow would make it difficult for her to get through. She had already been having enough trouble without it getting that deep. She may have been small and full of energy like all pint sized creatures tended to be, but jumping through thick heavy snow was just plain exhausting. ”Oh gods save me from that fate...” She mumbled, ears flicking back against her skull in an exasperated sort of way. She suddenly wished the snow would just stop. Yet, she swore that it only seemed to fall ever harder against the earth.