Howl To The Moon

Howl To The Moon
Date of Scene:	06 January 2013
Location:	British Countryside
Synopsis:	Skoll howls to the full moon, and is joined by Avira. With the leashes on his heart lessened, Skoll manages to be more true to himself.
Cast of Characters:	Skoll Ulfang, Avira

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Skoll Ulfang has posed:
The British Countryside at Night. This isn't where Avira might have found her wolves, but it is one of the things one must venture through in order to get to that place. Within this countryside, there lies a forest. And within that forest are some small rocky hills. They're not big or anything; they're most certainly no mountains. But they're tall enough to tower just slightly above those trees.

That is enough for Skoll. Standing atop that little rocky outcropping amidst the forest of trees, the werewolf - fuzzy fur and teeth included - howls to the full moon which has come to reign above in the skies. To him, it's second nature to howl at the full moon, people who might see him be damned. But the werewolf is alone in his howl. This forest contains no wolves to cry to the moon with him.

No, there is only Skoll for now - and his cry is full of emotion. Powerful, deep emotion.

Avira has posed:
Before she had never had the urge to howl at the moon. Then Avira mutated.

This body, cobbled together with animal genetics and woven into an affront against nature, had all sorts of strange urges and instincts. Avira never really noticed herself responding in such ways until someone had pointed them out afterwards, much to her embarassment. Leaning towards people when being petted. Sniffing deeply upon meeting new people. Seeking out warmth automatically. Fluffing out fur and feathers when threatened. It was both natural and unnatural at the same time, the later due to her human upbringing.

Skoll's howl is answered by a different howl a minute or two afterwards. It's much lighter in sound due to the source. Right afterwards, Avira lowers her head and glares at the ground, unsure what to think of her own behavior. She knew it wasn't the wolfpack she was howling at either because she had heard them before. Skoll she had /never/ heard. To her, it was just instinct to respond, joining the howls at the moon in the skies.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Imagine Skoll's surprise when a soft-spoken Howl lifts up into the air to meet his ears. The werewolf, standing on his hind legs, pauses for a moment. To him too, it is a howl he'd never heard before. Not one he recognized. Not at first anyhow. There's a small pause. At first, there'd been a little jump in his heart, thinking Hati had perhaps howled to him - having chanced upon her. But no, Hati had a different howl - especially now. He knows her howl well, having needed to listen for it within Fluorgis.

The werewolf tilts his head, looking left and right. His eyes gleam obviously, like little mirrors, within the pale light of the moon. Then, he decides to call out to the mysterious voice. Had it been Sassaral maybe? He considers. Or was it another werewolf of some sorts?

"Awoooooooooooooooooo!" He howls, one meant to 'call' for the mystery howler. A howl any wolf would know as a beast-call. But would Avira recognize it for what it is? Or would she simply believe it to be yet another howl? Or perhaps... would her instincts... .

Avira has posed:
Strange howl indeed. Avira merely thinks she's just howling back to a regular wolf. Surely there had to be such creatures like that out here too. It wasn't THAT far from Bramble Woods. It was a much deeper howl though. What if...

What if it was that so-called beast from the forest? The one she'd never met? What if it had roamed out here? That...well, could be dangerous, but likely not with Avira in this state. She feared no beast.

Her thoughts are disrupted when she hears the howl sound again. There was something different about it this time. Something...

She starts to run in its direction, long, fast strides across the rocky hills. A little closer, she scales another hill and howls back before resuming her run. That second how was, undeniably, calling for her. She was sure this time.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Skoll lets his ears perk, listening to his surroundings. He can hear the other's decision. He can hear that its body isn't 'small'. It's not a regular wolf, just as he'd expected. But he doesn't leave it at that second howl. Instead, he just closes his eyes and lays his both hands to the stone, and presses his chest forwards as he places yet another calling howl out to Avira, so she might better hear him. He can feel his heartbeat pounding away in his chest. After all, who knows who this stranger is?

"Awoooooooooooooooo!"

She'd howled back. Yes, he knows now, this is a female's voice! His heart pounds faster. It's not Sassaral's, it's not Hati's. Is this maybe fate toying with him? Could this be his Golden Wolf finally finding him?! His tail is wagging excitedly without his know, and the werewolf lets out yet another howl. Calling. A call to make one's heart race. A call that will make adrenaline rush. A deep howl as he turns his head towards the moon...

"Awooooooooooooooooooooo!"

One that spells both hope, and a call. He can hear her climbing the hills. His ears twitch naturally, and Skoll closes his eyes.

"Awooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

Avira has posed:
Alas, Skoll would only find disappointment tonight.

While the call is definitely not small and definitely not from a regular wolf...well... whether or not this was actually his Golden Wolf was debatable.

It was strange for Avira. She didn't know how to speak to animals yet in these howls she could certainly sense emotion. The calls had inflections that betrayed a certain amount of intelligence and purpose. The third howl...she could tell it was filled with excitement. Another beast was happy that someone was calling back to it. Avira is, frankly, unsure how to feel. Her true self wasn't /really/ a beast, was it? It was a human, albiet one with a deepening bond to the wild. That was something, though, for how many humans dared to make that bond? How many humans would humble themselves to the power of nature and try to reach out to it with their hearts?

Skoll can see the distant figure of Avira cresting a hill. She pauses to let out another answer howl. 'I am here. I am on the way.' before she dips down. There's no doubt he'll catch her scent now, though it has changed again. The darkness certainly is gone.

Avira can smell HIM now and immediately recognizes him since Skoll's werewolf form was one of the first things she had experienced after being mutated.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
The girl's mutate body shows as she passes over that hill, but Skoll has not opened his eyes to see her there. It is her scent that warns him of just whom is approaching him. But it confuses him. It may smell of Avira, but indeed, the darkness is no longer within that scent. This discovery causes the wolf pause, as he wrinkles his nose. His eyes open, but she's already disappeared from sight again. His tail continues to wag.

Avira had come. For some reason, he'd expected the Golden Wolf. But instead, it was Avira. Hati's words immediately ring within his mind again. He'd gone blind to the possibility of already having found the Golden Wolf. Was it possible that Avira was the Golden Wolf? Did she really 'need' to be, as Hati also had pointed out? Yet, he can't get rid of that excitement within his chest. She may not be his Golden Wolf, but she's still a dear friend.

His scent has no changed much, though it does contain more darkness than before. It seems almost as if what she'd lost had joined him in smaller amounts. The fact that she no longer contains darkness however, makes Skoll no longer as scared of being harm to her.

And so, for one last time before she would reach him. He howls to her...

An excited howl that greets. One that tells her; 'I want to see you. Greet me.'

Avira has posed:
There is no response how this time, but Skoll would hear plenty of other noises. Crunching and crumbling of small rocks. The rustling of grass and the snapping of twigs. The sound of wind through feathers. Then, all the sudden, she is upon him, rising over the hill with her wings spread out behind her. She's not flying though and she actually looks quite exhausted from all the running. "Skoll-" she gasps, between deep breaths of air, before leaping at him.

Alas, with no more darkness of her own, Avira seems completely unaware of Skoll's. She could no longer sense such things so acutely. It was actually kind of sad in some ways, as if one of her senses had been blindfolded once more. Maybe one day she'd be able to feel such things again.

She greets him with a warm hug, clearly undaunted by his much larger werewolf form. She'd seen it many times before. "What are you doing all the way out here?"

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
The werewolf opens his eyes when she comes closer upon him. Some of the sounds were not ones he'd previously associated with Avira. As much as he knew she had wings, it wasn't something he'd ever seen her use. He didn't even know if she /could/ use them.

Still, when she finally leaps at him, the wolf moves towards her in the same manner. His hug comes after hers, since it's not quite so natural for him. Instead, he lays his head against hers and nuzzles his cheek against hers not once, but twice. He need not say 'hello', he can do it like this just fine. Wether it's learned behavior, or becoming instinct to her.

"Wandering." Skoll says. "I've been... forgetting things lately. So I wanted to wander. Trying to remember." He tells her. This isn't the first time he'd commented on 'forgetting' things. Last time, when she'd had her 'picnic' with him and the others, he'd also made a comment about missing days.

Avira has posed:
Those wings did work. She'd actually been using them quite a bit, but since she took her 'cure', she'd been very wary to try. She was supposed to be changing back and she couldn't think of anything worse than losing them in the middle of flight and plummeting to the ground.

Their cheeks rub together, a gesture that she's seen before from Skoll and more or less knows what it means. A greeting and a sign of appreciation, which is likely why he doesn't have an outright 'hello' for her at first.

She pulls away from him to look at him, the words he speaks bringing instant concern to him. Forgetting things...oh no. Clearly the Gaudium Lords HAD noticed their control was slipping, in spite of her attempts at trickery. Maybe they even knew that she went to warn Zia. A look of guilt shows on her face and she lowers her head, "I'm so sorry. That must be very terrible." Her thoughts drift back to the coliseum-no, that hadn't been Skoll. That had been an illusion...right? At least.../Maira/ was an illusion. Maybe that Ember was using Skoll as a pawn too. "...is it helping at all?"

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Skoll tilts his head a little when she draws away from him and looks at him with concern. He slowly blinks a few times, before shaking his head. "It's annoying... I know something is wrong. But I can't remember." He's supposed to be able to reject such mental toying, and it is certain that he'll come to remember things. "But... I don't think I was here. Whatever it is that I have forgotten, it was not here." That he's confirmed at least.

"I'm sure that if I went to whatever place it was I'd been, I'd remember." He nods his head a little. "I just know that my Lords have been calling upon me quite a bit lately." He pauses, ears twitching, before adding; "But they're not keeping a watch on me right now. I've searched the place quite a few times now. They're leaving me alone right now."

The werewolf then looks Hati in the eyes for just a moment - straight in the eyes - before shifting that gaze to her ears. "They must be otherwise indisposed. Don't worry about it. What about you, Avira? I feel... something has changed?"

Avira has posed:
Now Avira looks confused and worried. 'I don't think I was here?' "Do you remember..." Avira says quietly, "...anything your Lords have told you recently? Have they said anything to you?" She seems nervous about asking this question. What if the memory of him mentioning them to her was erased? What if that triggers suspicion? It was a risky thing to do, but she has to know. She had to know what she was dealing with.

Then he explains further. If she had her human form right now, she would be paling. Calling on him more often? Perhaps trying to lead him away from his friends? It couldn't be a coincidence. It must be that /woman's/ doing. "Are you sure they're leaving you alone?" she asks quietly. Admittedly, she does like the idea of them no currently watching this somewhat tender moment.

Their eyes meet. Avira looks right back into his and he can see the eyes Avira had when she was human. They are, in fact, the same in this form though the white is white once again and not yellow.

"...I was given the cure for my condition. It removed the darkness from me and Angantyr. The...mutation seems to be fading much slower." If it was at all. There was still hope in her heart that the cure was working like that.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Skoll's ears fold down. "Not really. They've just been asking what I've been doing. Which lately has just been wandering. Don't worry, I've not mentioned you." Skoll answers her... but then hesitates. "I think...." After all, time was missing, so nothing really felt safe anymore. Her question on if they're leaving him 'alone' though, he nods to. "I've not gotten wounded in training for a while now." He says.

"I'm sorry I could not help with getting you the cure." He whispers, before his right ear twitches at the mention on Angantyr. Upon mention that the mutation is fading slower, his both ears fold down for a moment. Wether that is about the mutation disappearing period, or it being slow... that's up for interpretation.

The wolf then reaches one hand out to her shoulder and bumps his head against her chest - just below her neck - very lightly. "I'm glad you're safe."

Avira has posed:
This was all too suspicious. "...has the one called White Cloud said anything to you?" she asks carefully. Sure, Makenshi had accosted her, but it was not over Skoll. It was about that red-haired man, of all people. Somehow that man could tell of her encoutner with him, even after all these months. "I'm afraid, Skoll, that they will do something horrible to you."

She's also afraid to say anything more. She knows just how much power they have over Skoll and how easily they could make him 'disappear' as the woman had put it.

"There was no fighting involved. It was just...an unpleasant moment." And a brain teaser for her, mostly. "Hopefully it'll all be over soon. Then we can get back to training...just like old times."

This chest bumping thing is new to her and Avira looks downright confused when he does it. Must be some werewolf thing? Leaning in a little, she rests her chin on top of his head.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
This time, it's a proper show of affection. And as she leans her chin onto his head, he moves himself up to rub his head up along her neck and cheek before he comes to stand normally again in front of her. Of course, he's not explaining this one to her. Though the slightest of red on his cheeks might tell enough. "I'm glad no fighting happened, and that you were able to keep the darkness from taking over... your heart is strong."

In a ways, he's a bit jealous of her strength. As much as there is indeed training to be had in the future, and he'd surely take the role of teacher again, there's something he certainly could learn from her. How to control that darkness. Still, it'd taken a medicine to push out that darkness within her.

"As for White Cloud... no. He... doesn't talk much. We... don't talk much." Skoll points out. "He keeps to himself mostly, and the little doll that always hangs around him." He doesn't touch upon her fear though. But the way he moves around the topic probably tells her enough. He's afraid too.

Avira has posed:
Her wolves had not really done something like this before. She watches the look in his eyes to try and divine a meaning and after a few seconds, and some shock on her part, she gets it. Part of her is happy, but part of her is also quite confused. Does this mean he really liked this mutate form? She did somewhat resemble a werewolf like this but there was still plenty of her that didn't...belong. "It wasn't easy." Avira says quietly, "I felt those urges a lot. Those killer urges. Every time I resisted, it felt like it was tearing me apart on the inside."

She says nothing about the strength of her own heart. She cannot judge that-it's not her place.

"I don't know how much longer I would have lasted without that cure." Avira admits before she finally unwinds herself from him.

Though it is some solace that her encounter with Makenshi had nothing to do with Skoll. Still, it was disquieting to know that she's on their radar. "We really need to resume the training." she says quietly, "I need to get a lot stronger than I am now. A lot is happening. I think I'm in over my head and...and there's so much I want to /do/."

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Skoll can be noted trying to escape looking her in the eye more than usualy when he notes that her expression changes in regard to the little affectionate motion he'd made just moments ago. It makes him nervous, not knowing what she thinks. "I know it must not have been easy. Even us werewolves, we're made to kill. There's a time for the teenagers amongst us that is very difficult for us in regards to that. Or at least, it did within my pack." Skoll admits.

"Adding darkness onto such feelings, it's difficult. So don't sell yourself short. Even if you might not 'know' how much longer you would have lasted. I... I trust you would still have held on to your light." He admits. He then looks back up at her for a moment again. "Are you okay?" He asks, his tail slowly stopping their excited wag.

He falls to all fours and paces around her for a full circle, if she'll let him, looking her up and down. "Did the White Cloud hurt you?" He then adds, growling, before moving on to say; "Whatever you wish to train, I can help you get stronger."

Avira has posed:
That show of affection she's noticed by now, she seems...happy about it. Both happy and a little sad too since this did complicate matters just a little bit more. She had previously assumed, after all, that he was not affectionate towards her in that way. Maybe her mutated form had changed his mind?

"I've never killed anyone." Avira admits quietly to Skoll. "Not a person." Beasts. Marks...Heartless, she didn't think of any of that as killing. When he pulls away, though, he'll notice that she's fumbling with her crystal. It still glows a little more than it did when Skoll gave it to her as a present. "Yeah I.." holding onto her light. She smiles weakly. "Yeah...I think I managed to do that."

Avira lowers her head and nods. "We had a fight. I was no match...I am lucky to have survived..." her fists clench. "/Everything/..I...I need to become better in /everything/..."

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
While Skoll may be a werewolf, one must not forget that he also has a human form that comes just as naturally to him as the other. It'd taken time, yelling from his sister, and even now he's a bit uncertain. Still, she seems happy about his little moment of affection - so that will have to get him through the day for now.

"I'm glad." Skoll replies, "But be careful. Sometimes, you may be able to stop yourself from killing a Beast when one need not kill them." His gaze slowly lowers down to her crystal when he finished making that circle around her, and indeed notes the glow. "A reflection of your inner light?" He requests to know, before bowing his head just mildly in acknowledgement.

But then she admits to having fought the White Cloud... and he growls again. "You should not fight him. He's a Gaudium Lord... I don't want you to endanger yourself like that, Avira..." Skoll rumbles. Not that he truly has a say in the matter. "It..." His ears fold down again. "It worries me when you do that. Still... I can teach you to become stronger. But is there something you wish to excell within? There's only so much I can teach."

Avira has posed:
Avira looks quite confused at this mention of...holding back against beasts. Though yes, she was a 'beast' herself now so maybe not all of them were mindless monsters. There had been plenty of people in the last few weeks that had assumed such. "This...? It's...something like that." she looks at the glow, "Another gift someone had given me, really. Where did you get this crystal, by the way? It's nice."

His reaction to her fight with White Cloud was to be expected. Her ears fold down and her tail tucks between her legs-both reactions she does not notice she's doing. "I know but he was threatening me. If I hadn't struck out at him, who knows what he would have done to me." She had to fight back! When picked on, she /had/ to fight back!

"Fighting." she says immediately. "I need to get better at it. The...other things we were working on...I need to get better at all that too." Seems all this Gaudium Lord stuff has made her very anxious and inadequate lately.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Skoll nods. "I got it on the market in Lindblum." Paid quite the pretty penny for it as well, in addition to things he'd had to hunt for it. But he's not going to tell Avira that. "I'm glad you like it." He's not quite following how his gift became someone else's gift. He hasn't a clue that a certain magic item was added into it all.

"As for the White Cloud... I understand your frustration. I'll..." He pauses, and again remembers something Zia had told him. "No... No, I won't tell you not to face him. It's not my place, and I can't stop you. Just... be careful. I will try and teach you more. Teach you about Nature... and about building up your own strength. I do hope you're not still forcing yourself to eat bread. At least, not while in this form?" He asks, before moving back on his hind legs and raising him to a point where his head is just barely beneath her level - his snout sniffing at her chin.

"I can't teach you how to swing a sword around, I am afraid. But I can teach you how to toughen up your body with a proper diet and specialized excercise."

Avira has posed:
There's a small smile on Avira's face as she plays with the crystal. She doesn't explain any further about the light from King Mickey that she added to the necklace. "It's helped me quite a bit this past week or so." she says quietly, looking to Skoll with a grin.

The look on her face sobers at the mention of White Cloud. "He was the one who sought me out. I didn't /want/ to face him but I kind of /had/ to." And it scares her. It reminded her of how weak she really was. How, if the Gaudium Lords really wanted to, they could crush her easily. It was fortunate she no longer had darkness within her-hopefully that made her a less tempting target? "W..well I've been avoiding bread. And other stuff that's not made me feel so good."

Seems she has no problem with him walking around her on all fours to examine her. But she is confused at her sniffing at her chin before realizing it might be related to the food question. "...I have to eat a whole lot more like this. It's kind of annoying."

He can't help with sword skills, apparently, yet- "I'll take it." she says quickly. "Anything that'll help."

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Skoll nods his head. He's not sure how the crystal helped her, but he assumes it did so as a symbol. "I understand." Skoll comments in regards to the White Cloud issue. "Please... it's okay. No need to appologize to me. I shouldn't have said it like that." But indeed, they are a scary group of people. Especially for someone like Avira - who had only come from Manhattan not a few months ago.

The sniffing near her muzzle however, isn't because of food. He makes for a little nuzzle with the top of his snout with the bottom of her muzzle and then steps back, looking left and right again, all embarased, before adding; "Yes, it may be annoying, but it's also very important." He comments. "I think one of the things I'm going to have to teach you as well... may be how to let your instincts help you on finding food."

It really does seem like that, when he feels 'more free', when the Gaudium Lords are not looking... he can try and be more true to 'himself'. Though darkness may be within his heart, the reigns are not as tight right now. Or maybe that's all just a plan from the Gaudium Lords. To let him get close and then...

"As an extension of learning how to survive within the wild that is." He just continues to speak, trying to ignore the negative thoughts trying to make their way through.

Avira has posed:
Skolll would definitely have some idea, thanks to Castle Oblivion, what "Avira's" life was like before the Heartless came. It was, notably, not filled with the harshness of his werewolf upbringing. Hell even her body looked a lot different before her world shattered into shards. Since then it had been nothing but painful coping and adaptation for her-even more so with the complete destruction of Manhattan. At least there was hope for revival of that though!

It isn't until the muzzle contact that Avira realizes that it's not just sniffing. That was definitely a sign of affection! Her heart leaps a little and she nudges him back. Of course, this DEFINITELY complicates things a little more. And would he still be like this when she changed back?

"Ahahaha...I guess so." Avira remembers her pretty embarassing conversation with Max now too. Her skills at procuring normal human food was even pretty subpar.

So more wilderness training. This would help now. She'd need a stronger body if she was to withstand both the Shadow Lords and Gaudium Lords. "Right, of course."

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Indeed, he remembers very well. But she might also remember how Skoll didn't 'disappove' of fast food either. But then, he and Max seemed to dislike eachother. Or rather - Max seemed to dislike Skoll, while the far to good-natured and noble wolf was... a pushover.

Such negative thoughts quickly are pushed from his mind when she nudges her head back against him though, confirming that she is indeed willingly answering his affections. Which draws a blush to his wolven face. Of course, he's not entirely sure where to go from there, so he tries to skip to another subject. Besides, he has his confirmation. And it's something that makes his heart beat faster.

This made things a lot more complicated for him as well.

"You remember, don't you? When you were within the forest. You didn't have enough food to survive running from those wolves. But you managed to find berries, and realized which ones were edible. Do you remember that?" Skoll asks curiously. After all, he'd been watching! Of course, not all the time. She'd gone after that delicious burger offered by Sho after all!

The wolf then turns and takes a step towards the edge of the slope of rock, and motions out towards the forest beneath. "So... how about I teach you how to hunt, killed, skin, and eat a boar?"

Avira has posed:
It's true, Skoll wasn't nearly as much of a food snob as Frenchy French McFrenchpants. Skoll likely wasn't the only person disliking Max at that moment and given what she has heard from the other members of the TDA, he's not the only one who had problems with that guy.

That reaction of his to her returned nudging makes her heart beat a little faster as well. But much like him, this also complicates matters greatly for her. Now her heart was being pulled in three directions and, unlike other certain people, she didn't believe in going in all at once. Her dreams fueled by anxiety illustrated that perfectly.

At the memory, Avira nods. "I didn't have /any/ food on me. I had to scrounge up everything. You sort of surprised me with the whole experience so I wasn't prepared." Of course, yes, she had snagged some burgers, but paid the price for it in fighting the much, much more dangerous Noise.

Tail wagging (or swaying more accurately), she follows after Skoll. "Sure!" It doesn't even register as gross in her mind. In fact...it makes her kind of hungry.