Monkey Bars & Tree Houses [Attn Sohvi]

[Guest Arie Ronshor]

 

She was clever. So very clever. In fact, if she could she would pat herself on the back and treat herself to all the pastries in the Inn's kitchen. However after the last time she got caught, Korrena felt reluctant to tackle the Inn until their guard was down and the y were not watching out for her. That woman and her big wooden stick was very scary. Very scary indeed. However, her brilliance was more than enough to make up for the lack of sweets, and she sufficed with an inadequate pat on her own head before she ran out of the small house that she shared with the Tracker, her sisters and the other women. She could barely contain her giggles as she clutched tightly to the contents wrapped in leather which sat just under her arm as she raced far from the house to a river bank fairly north from the village and that smelled the least populated by any that may pass by her.

 

Oh yes, she was so very very brilliant. Unwrapping the leather to reveal the small stash of items that she borrowed from around the house, choosing a bar of soap that was not hers, but a spar bar that Anton left around the house. Each of them kept their own favored soap, and this one smelled nothing like the others that lived there. All the better to hide her own scent. Especially as this one was particularly perfume-y and flowery. Not one that Korrena preferred, but it was perfect for today. So very perfect for today.

 

She smiled as she jumped into the stream - feet first - without so much thought to the temperature. Days free of lessons were always the best! Washing with great care to not only her skin but also her hair, she pulled herself out of the river, toweling off in a freshly washed towel - also not hers - and proceeded to dress in the clothes she pulled from the house. They did not have any particular scent to them, although there was still a lingering hint of Anton as it had been in his house. Few things could stay in the presence of that house without starting to smell like him or its occupants. It grew to be a little suffocating at times.

 

No, it was always suffocating. It would be better to sleep outside or on the roof than in the house and bath off the scent every morning. Her skin would become raw if she continued such a ritual!

 

Tugging on the freshly laundered dark brown shirt and pants, Korrena tied a green sash as a belt around her waist, braiding her hair carefully down her back. It would not be good to have hair astray to give herself away far too easily. Giving herself away and getting caught would be very bad. Looking back into the sack, she carefully folded her previous clothes, her own bar of soap and stashed it into a small hovel at a tree's base. She had known it was there. The tree told her to hide it there. it would be safe and the tree will guard it for her. This was good, very good. A tree protecting her little secret was best.

 

Listing off herbs in her mind, she strolled far away from the town, and doubling back a different path, leaving nothing short of confusion for any to try and follow her path. For an hour or so she walked, climbed, ran, jumped, and kept moving until she heard a sound in the distant tree line not far south of her. Alone, the sound seemed to be. Investigate, she must. Curiosity was as much a curse as a blessing. Moving carefully, she moved to where the sound was.

 

 

 

Korrena

Wolfcub

[silhouette]

A soft humming could be heard coming from the brook close to Sohvi’s little cottage. The source of the humming stood in the centre of the brook, with her breeches rolled up to her knees and a wreath of flowers in her hands. Unwatched and unworried, Sohvi wandered down the stream, enjoying the coolness of the water and the simplicity of her life. Not that it had ever been complicated, not even before she went through the Howling, but it had certainly been different. There had been menacing elder sisters to deal with, and troublesome elder brother, and… well, a lot of things. Now that she’d moved out of Anton’s home and into her own, she only had herself to tend to. She had classes and she went hunting and she learned what it meant to be wolfkin, but all it all, it was blissfully uncomplicated.

 

If one chose to forget about the other wolfkin, of course. Sohvi had never been a beacon of social light, and it showed. She was shy, aloof even, and chose to do much by herself, even though Anton urged her to meet with the other wanderers and wolfcubs. She tried, of course, but whenever she met someone, things got complicated. Things had gotten complicated with Anton, when they argued about spending time with wolves. Things had gotten complicated with John, because she didn’t know what she wanted. Things were complicated with Timewalker, simply because half of the time she didn’t know who the other woman was supposed to be.

 

Still humming to herself, Sohvi avoided the complicated things in life. Or so she thought. A whiff of something attracted her attention. Clean. Maybe Anton? She stood still and lifted her nose a little, sniffing at the air. Not Anton? One of the Candarr Sisters, perhaps? She flinched slightly at the thought. She liked all of the sisters, but they were just a little too… complicated. Especially when they were together. But from the scent of things, there was just one. Which one though? And why did she smell like Anton? Sohvi blushed slightly when she thought of reasons why a woman might smell like a man. Surely Anton wouldn’t. It was impossible to think of him that way. Wasn’t he everyone’s big brother?

 

“Hello?” she finally called out, sending out an image of herself at the same time. The sun shimmering off the first snow in winter. Shimmer. “Helloooooo?” it took a while, but then an image came to mind, as if the person to whom the scent belonged had tried to hold it back at first. It was as if the sun suddenly shone brightly through the trees, warming a cold that Sohvi didn’t even know existed before. “Korenna? Is that you?” she was fairly sure it was. She was the only person Sohvi knew who possessed such an overwhelmingly sunny disposition.

 

~Sohvi Darwin

Shimmer

 

[Guest Arie Ronshor]

"Snowflake?"

 

Korrena paused from just behind a tree, frowning deeply as she concentrated on the image long enough for it to form better. ...wait wait.. AH! Shimmer! Snapping her fingers as it finally clicked. The girl was Shimmer. "Sohvi!" bouncing out from behind the tree, she smiled brightly at the girl. "I have not seen you in a while, not since we arrived here. Busy Busy." her enthusiasm bright as there was but one cloud in her mind as to this whole situation. How had Sohvi guessed it was her? She tried so hard to keep herself from being detected, and yet a fellow wolf cub -WolfCUB!- had sniffed her out right away.

 

Smiling, locking her hands together behind her back, she looked the girl over carefully. "How are you? What have you been doing since I last saw you?"

 

 

Korrena

Wolfcub

[silhouette]

“Uh… well, a lot of things, actually.” Sohvi said, trying to leave what those things were in the middle. Not that they were all secret, but… well… they weren’t really Korrena’s business either. “I’ve been… ehm… tending to my herb garden, and I’ve been practising with my bow and staff, and… Why do you smell like Anton?” She clasped her hands on her mouth the second the question popped out of it. “Oh my… Not that I’m implying anything, of course. I mean, Anton would never… Not that you’re not lovely and attractive of course, but… oh, ashes! Never mind me.”

 

The look on Korrena’s face was priceless. For a moment the other wolfkin girl just looked at Sohvi, the corners of her mouth twitching as she tried to hold back her laughter. Then she clasped her hands in front of her own mouth with an oddly snorting noise, before falling back on the ground. Before long she was rolling in the leaves, laughing her butt off. Soon enough Sohvi found herself giggling. It was a rather infectious laugh, after all.

 

It took a while for it to die down enough for Sohvi to try speaking again. “So… what are you up to?” she asked, narrowing her eyes slightly. Korrena was always up to something, and it was rarely something productive. And now she smelled like Anton, and had a mischievous look on her face. “And if it’s any good, can I join?” Sohvi asked, the look on her face mirroring that on Korrena’s.

 

[Guest Arie Ronshor]

 

 

It took Korrena a while to catch her breath, wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes. Her and Anton?.. good grief, that was just... funny! It was almost as ludicrice as her actually Liking anyone from the opposite gender. Although she had gotten past the shole "boys are icky" to her, they were all still pigs. Anton may be her only exception for the very reason of him helping her find her way in the Wolf Dream and teaching her the basics. Weapon training still sucked, though. Still wheezing she held up a finger as Sohvi asked her her questions.

 

"Well, i'm not up to anything.. not yet anyways. What I want is way way up but it is too dangerous for me to tell." She smile mischievously. "Danger is my task and You are far too sweet to be part of this... er... " Korrena paused as she saw the downcast look on Sohvi's face. She didn't get much of a chance to paly with Sohvi. She would feel too guilty to get her in trouble, not just yet, that is.. "But, if you are interested, there is something you can do."

 

Korrena could feel the mood in the other girl brighten a little, although Korrena was no fool to think that she was 100% eager. Probably for the best, she supposed. "I was thinking of having a picnic out in the woods. So many of us have made it past the worst of the Howling and it would be fun to celebrate. Don't you think?" She paused, lookign a little sheepishly, "But if I were to start organizing a picnic, no one would come, if you know what I mean. But if you invite people I bet ALL the wolfcubs would come!" her excitement grew with the brilliant addition of her plan. "We can not tell anyone and all of us Wolfcubs can go out in the woods and spend the night out. We will be completely safe because, after all, we are wolfkin! It would be so perfect!"

 

She grasped Sohvi's hands with both of her holding them as she looked pleadingly into Sohvi's eyes. "Oh, say you will do it? Please? It would be so wonderful! Just think of it! Stories and food out in the open with all the stars and no one but us wolfcubs! Please?"

 

 

Korrena

Wolfcub