calling all skeletons

[Fire]

these feelings tend to leave me
with a hole in my chest

For some mad reason unbeknownst to him, Keanu had decided to take a trip to No Man's Land. Well, that wasn't completely true. The reasons were the same as they always were: he was tired of the Moon's vicious, blood-thirsty nature and was looking for a little fun. Fun was something rarely found over the Falling Moon borders. Maybe fun found the pack as distasteful as he did, and decided to stay clear. The mad thing was the circumstance. After what had happened to Caden there, it would probably be wise to steer clear of No Man's Land. But Keanu was too bored to be sensible. Intelligence and safety were overrated anyway. This whole Caden thing was getting old. If it was up to Keanu, things would get spiced up a little. Holding him hostage? Yawn. They should be messing with the Stars, not sitting around waiting for them to attack. Where was the fun in that?

No Man's Land wasn't much better, really. Ever since Demi had left the valley without even saying goodbye, everything seemed a lot duller. Nobody was any fun whatsoever. He was considering leaving the valley himself.

The problem, although he wouldn't admit it, was that he was lonely. Keanu was a pretty dependant wolf, hence his being in a pack he loathes. One of the main reasons he'd joined Kinaki was that he couldn't handle being alone all the time. No wolf was an island, right? Well, he was an island right now. And the thought struck him rather suddenly: he was all alone. He didn't have anyone, not even an enemy any more. As he padded through the Outlands, his breathing became heavier and he scowled at the ground. He felt so restless. Growling under his breath, he stopped and looked around. He needed something to do; anything to stop him living in the past.

it's only just begun, it's been fun
we were blind, deaf, and dumb
there's a party in my closet
calling all skeletons

[[Midnight]]

Life had been so full of surprises. It was one thing after another, each event even bigger in its importance than the next. At least, bigger in the rational way of looking at things - the biggest blow had been when Bion had left the pack. She hadn't seen her father now, the traitor that he was, in a long time. Akiko felt greatly wounded that someone so close to home had offended her in so deeply a way. Her trust for others was slowly dwindling the longer she dwelled on it. Her father was gone, and her own mother seemed so...indifferent. There weren't any more cuddles or forehead licks or reassurances from the brown bespeckled beauty known as Esmerelda, Akiko's mother.

Akiko, golden pelted and sometimes fiery red in certain sunlight, carried a freshly caught hare in her maw and wondered how her brothers were doing. She hadn't seen them in a while either and so Akiko was starting to get used to being alone. She stopped for a moment, next to a tree, where she dropped her kill and rubbed her scent on the rough bark, letting it itch her skin as she looked across the outlands that had come to be like a playground her. She practiced her hunting a lot here - God knows everyone back at home was too busy sitting around waiting for a miracle to bring Caden back, and they wouldn't spend time with the pack pups anymore. Akiko felt selfish for resenting everyone for her own loneliness, but still...they could all try harder!

Her belly rumbled loudly; the hare she'd gotten for herself was far from enough. She may as well hunt again. She spent the next few minutes scouting around, sampling the scents of the earth. She took off in a sprint, heading northward, when she rounded about a thicket that had previosuly blocked her vision.

She stopped dead in her tracks, feeling the fur on the back of her neck raise with suprise and dread. There was a male wolf standing just a few feet away, dark-pelted and not necessarily the most threatening wolf she'd seen. But she thought she was alone with her devices, and out of embarassment, like a pup caught somewhere without permission, she stuttered stupidly before cutting herself off to watch him silently. She did not catch his scent - the breeze was blowing towards the male, so if he was a Moons wolf, she was pretty much done for. For some reason, though, she felt, not dread, but curiosity. He had such a strange pelt, she'd never seen anyone like him before. Her eyes glittered with her obvious admiration as she looked from his small paws, to his golden eyes.

"I...thought I was alone out here," she said quietly, all too aware that her statement sounded incredibly narrow-minded and naive. As if No Mans Land was an empty place! "I mean, I ddin't see you through the thickets," she added as an afterthought. She stood on her tip-toes as though ready to sprint in case he was the agressive sort...or a Falling Moon.