a walk in the woods | oberon

[arbie]

She lowered herself into the grass. Her eyes were on the prize. Baring her teeth, she swept in for the kill, claws digging into the dirt. The rabbit’s ears twitched, and Iris snarled as it leapt off in a different direction entirely, though not the way she expected: it came towards her. She snapped at it and the rabbit, realising its mistake, skidded and turned, fleeing in another direction. Iris moved to follow, but the speedy creature ducked between roots and Iris clawed at them, trying to rip them out of the way. Sadly, she lost her prey and she glanced round. Something had spooked the animal before Iris even moved, which meant someone else was about.

A heavy sigh escaped her and she relaxed, looking up at the sun. She winced as the rays hit her eye and she moved on quickly, making sure not to stay in one place at a time. She felt uncomfortable sitting around in one area unless it was to nap. Iris felt almost exposed in No Man’s Land… She looked ahead as she trotted her way through the trees, heading to the Cliffside. A favourite area of hers, as it was calming and she would often see passing wolves. Whether they saw her or not, depended on the mood they were in.

Stopping by the edge, Iris sniffed the air. It smelt of Spring. She smiled contentedly, looking round and became more comfortable, watching the water run by her. She lowered a paw into the water, merely to feel the rush of cold liquid against her fur and her smile widened before she removed her paw and set it back on the ground, shaking it a few times to let most of the water fly off. It was just moments like these that she enjoyed to think about anything and everything.

I wonder how Taku is doing. she wondered, gazing at the water. She knew he would be off perhaps training somewhere, or hunting. Maybe he was even looking for his mother, though she doubted it. Taku seemed very independent in Iris’ eyes. However, he didn’t share the deceit and anger with his father. Thinking of Caerwyn sent goosebumps up Iris’ spine, and the female closed her eyes momentarily. She didn’t want to think about him. But she couldn’t help it, and she wondered if he was alive.

It was at that moment that she realised she really did hate someone.

She never thought she would despise a wolf so much. Iris was known to be quite friendly, but apparently even she had her limits. But she wasn’t too surprised. Being the daughter of Duke and Anevay had its cons, though she’d never say that out loud. But she really did detest Caerwyn, and truly hoped he wasn’t alive. She hoped he struggled and died alone. Part of her dared to feel guilt for these thoughts, but for the most part, Iris regretted nothing.

[Paint]

"What's a pretty wolf like you doing with such a serious expression?"

Oberon's voice carried across the cliffside. He'd spotted Iris from a distance, being the other side of the small water running into the waterfall. She really was pretty, there was no lie there, and appeared to be deep in thought. There was something about an intelligent female that just did it for Oberon, almost confirming to him that all hope was not lost. Whenever he met a vain and shallow female, he felt like throwing himself off a mountain in despair. Not that he was a drama king, or anything.

He realised that he might have offended her by remarking on her expression, so he was glad that he got a compliment in there. He rarely began conversations so abruptly, but he hadn't seen anyone in a while, and having just gone for a refreshing run, he was feeling particularly buzzed up. He jumped onto a branch that overhung the river from a tree that had been struck by lightning years ago, bounding across it in a rather rough and masculine manner before landing heavily on his bronze feet on the opposite side. He half-smiled, nodding his head in a gentlemanly way before approaching her any further.

[arbie]

The voice surprised her, and her head snapped up. Ears swivelling, she looked round for the source of the voice, seeing him approach. She blinked and leaned her head forward a little, more out of curiosity as he approached. He was a handsome wolf, and as he came closer, she realised he was very large, too. She felt very small now, though Iris was always small and delicate compared to others. But when the compliment rang in her ears, she smiled and laughed a little.

“Excuse me?” she asked. Iris was certainly not offended, but sounded more shocked than anything. She didn’t know any wolves that were so forward, though being a loner she didn’t know many wolves in general. Perhaps this would be a new potential friend. But at the thought, she felt immature and inwardly giggled. But on the outside she was composed, with a small smile and watching Oberon as he approached.

When she realised it was just a question, she laughed gently to herself and shrugged, moving towards him to close the polite gap.

“Oh, just lost in thought.” she answered, glancing at the branch he bounded over. She was almost afraid he would have fallen off, or his large figure forced it to snap and that he would fall. But, thankfully, he didn’t, and her worried expression quickly washed away and her smile returned. He smelled of Dancing Star, but that thought was whisked away with other thoughts and she didn’t want to seem rude, “You’re awful happy. I suppose Spring does that to you.”

The comment may have been bold for Iris. She was hinting that perhaps he was feeling confident because his mate was having pups, though that wouldn’t explain why he called her pretty. She then berated herself for jumping to conclusions; just because a wolf called you attractive didn’t mean they were trying to get close. It was perhaps just his way of speaking to people.

[Paint]

Oberon chuckled, smile stretching a little further on his maw. He tipped his head slightly, sitting down a small distance from her. Not that he thought he was intimidating her, far from it, he only really became scary when he was angry. Now, he was a harmless as a pup, but sitting a little distance away was simply polite.

"Spring?" he responded, pulling a face. "Well I suppose it does. All the birds flitting about like idiots and females restrained to their dens and their mates stalking around as if their female is the target for everything bad... No, I'm afraid I remain fairly cynical about spring. I believe you have to fall in love to experience the full effect of the flowers blooming."

He finished rather drily. He wasn't sure if there was a hint of bitterness in his tone. He didn't mind not having a mate, not really. He was sure he would at some point. The Stars wolves really hadn't gone too pup-crazy this year. Maybe the spring fever just wasn't catching on their side of the valley.

Noticing, he hoped not too rudely, that she did some seem to be pregnant, he found himself curious. Were there not that many hot-blooded young loners about? Still, she may just not want pups. She may already have had them, who knows! Don't be an idiot, she would have them with her, he reminded himself.

"Spring fever not caught you either then?" he asked, smiling to lighten the mood. He hoped it wasn't a sore spot for her. But something told him that she was a lot tougher than she looked. Petite and pretty didn't necessarily mean naive.

[arbie]

As he went off on his tangent, Iris merely smiled and let him speak. Sometimes all a wolf needed was someone to rant to, and it seemed this wolf had a lot of irritation to let out. She sat down quite near him, closing the polite space between them both, though didn’t sit near enough to make either of them feel awkward. It would certainly be rude during a first meeting, and she didn’t even know his name! Her smile kept firm as he finished. So, Spring wasn’t for some wolves. She couldn’t blame them, especially if they were mate-less, like this poor soul was. She seemed to have hit a sour patch almost immediately! That couldn’t go well for his opinion on her.

“Haha no, I’ve been keeping a level head this Spring.” she answered, hoping the conversation would become more light hearted from there. However her smile turned slightly pained, which she didn’t notice. Her eyes held a slight sadness that she would rather hide. The thought of Caerwyn was painful, especially during this time. However she widened her smile so that the hurt would leave, and her eyes brightened almost immediately, “I’m afraid no one’s really caught my eye. There aren’t that many loners about.”

Not that she minded. Iris was in no way looking for a mate now. She was only two years old for goodness sake, she had a year or two to go before thinking about having pups. Of course, she’d have the bother of telling her father if and when she did get pregnant, and she’d probably have to introduce her mate to him, too. There would be no way of keeping her parents a secret with a mate: honesty was key. If they could deal with the fact she was of Falling Moon blood, then they would certainly mean much more to her.

[Paint]

Oberon listened to what she had to say, and lightened up immediately. It was unlike him to be too serious, especially during initial meetings with people. Which reminded him.

"How rude of me. I'm Oberon, by the way. Stars Delta, which you can probably smell on my fur from a mile off," he half-smiled at her. He was always curious as to why wolves were loners. He himself was a loner in personality, not being a wolf of many words (usually). Being within a pack really wasn't much of a bother to him. Sometimes he liked to be around his packmates, but mostly he liked to explore the lands, contemplate. Not finding a mate this spring was only slightly irritating to him, but he'd stopped feeling lonely a few weeks ago, now. He wasn't one to regret what he couldn't change. He waited for her introduction, although he was sure he'd met her briefly before.

"Sounds like you're too intelligent for most of the brutes in this valley," Oberon remarked, still smiling. His tone was friendly though, as he wasn't intentionally going to forcefully flirt with her. He hated males that had to always flirt with females, as if they had no other purpose in life. "So are you a always-moving-on loner? Or do you have some sort of tie to this valley?" he asked politely, simply to keep the conversation going. He knew nothing of her family, and hoped he wouldn't hit a sore note. But he'd seen her before, and loners didn't usually stick around for long without a reason...

[arbie]

Iris nodded politely as he introduced himself. She wasn’t surprised by the news of him being Dancing Stars, though she didn’t feel so bad that he was a mere Delta. Not that it was a bad thing, but conversing with a Beta or Alpha of Dancing Stars felt like a much stronger betrayal than this. Trying to avoid that thought, she looked down at the water, before looking back at him to introduce herself, not wanting to be rude and give off the wrong impression. Iris would never want to ignore someone when they spoke, it was the worst of manners.

“I’m Iris. It’s a pleasure.” she always enjoyed meeting new wolves, and so far Oberon seemed to be the type of wolf Iris would like to see around more often. When he continued, she chuckled again, shaking her head. She felt her cheeks burning slightly, but that soon disappeared and she looked at him, “I’m sure there are some that would be worth my time! I just haven’t met them yet.”

As he continued, she thought about his question. Would she ever think of leaving? She had seen loners come and go as they please, and part of her wondered if that was a good life to have. But then she remembered the family and friends she had here, and thought against it. Leaving them behind was too much for the young female, and she didn’t like the idea of constantly meeting and losing friends. She shook her head.

“Oh, I have family here.” she answered, “I don’t plan on going anywhere unless they leave, which is highly unlikely. I arrived with the wolves that came from Empyrean Valley.”

Feeling like she had rambled enough, she smiled bashfully and then decided to change the subject to Oberon. Iris didn’t feel like revealing too much about herself during their first meeting, such as her immediate family and Taku. She didn’t know what would happen if she did let slip she had a son, but hopefully he wouldn’t be too judging. Who knows what wolves thought of a mother with no father.

“When did you arrive to this valley? I’m afraid I’m not too familiar with Dancing Stars wolves.”

[Paint]

Some wolves, especially females, could talk for hours. If you gave them an opening, they simply loved to ramble on (mostly about themselves). But Iris seemed different. There was something a little mysterious about her. He listened curiously, dipping his head in response to her introduction.

When she spoke of having family here, his mind span out to encompass all of the wolves he'd met here. He couldn't quite place the family tie. She was quite unique in her patterning. But he would not press her any further for details, as it wasn't really any of his business, and she clearly wasn't one for going into much detail. Either her history was too complicated to explain, or she didn't like to talk much. Either way, he wasn't bothered, and half-smiled throughout.

"I was one of the first here, actually," he laughed a little. It sounded rather bigheaded. "I was a loner, but after most of the previous pack left, I joined Caden and Sayuri to boost their pack numbers. Then the pack began growing because of the Empyrean Valley disaster, and of course Duke arrived with the Moons wolves. Since then I've just been sort of keeping an eye. I've grown rather attached to the pack really, in a distant sort of way," he finished, rather vaguely, referring to his protective side but not in enough detail that she would understand. He'd grown rather tired of the sound of his own voice, really, so he shrugged and stretched his body out as he waited for her reply.

[arbie]

Iris listened with content, tail wrapping round her paws. She enjoyed listening to the tales of other wolves, no matter how mundane they seemed. It was just interesting to hear of wolves that came from somewhere that wasn’t Empyrean Valley. Iris wanted to know what it was like out there, sometimes. But instead of going out herself, she could hear it from passing loners or other wolves that arrived and stayed. It wasn’t exactly a selfish thing to do; she didn’t feel like she was using other wolves. Iris wasn’t forcing them to tell her about their past, so she felt no guilt in hearing about long winded stories.

She nodded, and as he finished, she wondered who had joined Falling Moons recently. She didn’t hang around their borders often (whether that was by chance or her subconscious at work, she never wondered) and so she was often out of the loop with recent happenings. When he stated he had been there before, she didn’t get any big headed vibe off of him. He was just stating a fact.

“It’s good to see a pack grow.” she commented vaguely, though wondered what he meant by his last statement. She wasn’t sure how you could get attached in a distant sort of way, and thought it over. But Iris held back any confused expression, and instead laid down, stretching her paws in front of her, continuing, “Surely it’s nice to know you have wolves that you can go to for advice, though? How can you be distant?”

Iris was slightly naïve, sure. She wasn’t stupid, but when it came to vague references and suggestions, she could miss them and they often flew straight over her head. Iris just hoped he wouldn’t find it amusing… In a bad way. And by that, she really meant she didn’t want him to laugh at her. Not that Oberon seemed the type to openly mock others. He seemed like a pleasant wolf really.

[Paint]

Oberon smiled, amused, but did not laugh. He was always one to see the lighter side of a situation, but really wasn't the type to try and make others feel uncomfortable. He considered her words, chewing them over, exhaling as his eyes roamed the land around them.

"Yes, I suppose," he began, brow furrowing as he thought of how best to reply. Ignoring the fact that he was probably about to sound very arrogant, he continued, "But I've never really needed anyone's advice."

He laughed a little, setting his soft brown eyes on her to see her reaction. She seemed a little guarded to him, but he didn't mind. She probably had good reason. His confidence may be offensive to her, but he was brimming with it, and found that he had nothing to lose in being honest and open with her. If she didn't like him, they would part ways, and may never have to see each other again. So he would just be himself, he decided.

"What it is, right," he began again, mulling his words slightly, brow furrowing before it unfurled and he continued. "Is that since the pack has grown, there has been little need for my involvement. Caden even forgot who I was the other day," he laughed again, clearly having taken no offense to this mishap. "Nice to know we've got a leader with a brain," he joked. "No, but really, I'll be there if I'm needed. I will protect and be part of this pack probably until I die, I'll do what I'm told. If the Falling Moons attack, I'll be the first to the frontline. But in the day to day? I keep to myself and let them go about their lives, and they mine. I'm not terribly important and it suits me just fine."

He paused, tipping his head sideways and grinning at her.
"You've got me rambling, missy," he pretended to scold. He rolled onto his back, shaggy bronze fur ruffled out of place. He closed his eyes and put on a rather over-the-top regal tone. "That's it, your turn, enough of me. Chat away," he ordered, peeking out from under one of his eyelids at her to see her reaction.

[arbie]

It must be nice to be so confident about yourself. To know what you needed to know without going to others; to be able to just make decisions and go for it. Oberon seemed like the wolf that knew what he wanted, and Iris was almost jealous. She knew what she wanted most of the time, but sometimes she felt a bit lost. She just needed someone to go to, to make sure she knew what she was doing was the right thing to do. And often she only had Taku to do that. She meant no offence to her son, but he wasn’t the wisest of the wolves she knew. He was blind to most of her problems, really.

She let out a soft giggle at his joke, listening intently. She smiled when he finished, though her heart went out to him. She knew what that felt like. When she was part of Falling Moon, she felt unimportant, however she had taken a different route than Oberon. She had done something about it, and most of her never regretted the change. But they had a few different factors, mainly the fact he was a pleasant wolf that fit in with the other Dancing Stars; Iris was a ‘unique’ Falling Moon.

“Haha, well, it was an interesting tale at least.” she complimented, looking down at him, “I know how you feel, I was in the same situation. Though I felt more uncomfortable about it, and I left the pack.”

She was being rather vague, but at least she was starting conversation about herself.

“It was more the fact I was too different from the others. They made me feel uncomfortable… But I’m happy out here. I can do what I want and feel how I want. It’s a nice life.” her last comment was slightly more quiet, as if she were rethinking it as the words came out. She liked being alone? She liked wandering the land, trying to find wandering wolves? What kind of wolf was she?

But she put on a smile at Oberon and thought of something else to say.

“Sometimes I feel a bit empty. Not to be melodramatic, of course. But I do find myself thinking about pack life.” the only thing stopping her was Taku. Iris would never return to Falling Moons, but he would be damned if he went anywhere near the Dancing Stars. And she herself would be overweighed with guilt, considering her father would probably be disappointed in her. He wondered how far in his disappointment he’d go: would he disown her? Would Iris be no longer part of Duke’s family? The thought made her heart ache. She loved every member of her family. She couldn’t do that to them.

“Look, now you’ve got be being overly dramatic and sad.” she joked, smiling, trying to mentally drop the subject of family.

[Paint]

His smile widened, from a lop-sided grin to a full-on beam, when she giggled at his joke. He loved to make people laugh, especially pretty females. It was a simple pleasure, but he wore it well. He became slightly more serious as the conversation went on, rolling back onto his belly and vaguely shaking out his shaggy bronze fur. The dust simply rose up and settled straight back onto him, but he wasn't vain and he didn't mind.

He liked the way she talked. She didn't sound arrogant or self-obsessed at all, just like everything she said should be followed by a sigh. It sounded like she'd been through a hell of a lot. His smile became more sympathetic and kind.

"God forbid once in a while being overly dramatic and sad," he teased. "Hey princess, it's okay. It sounds complicated to me, but all the best times in life are. It'll all figure itself out."

"Keep your chin up, lass," he continued. "And if you ever feel like being melodramatic and sad again, come and bother me. My favourite thing to do when I get like that is just howl. No matter what time of night or day, just letting out a great belting song really makes you feel better. Doesn't have to mean anything, it's just a release."

He tipped his head at her. She seemed to have a lot bottled up, like she didn't trust too easily. It intruiged him slightly. She sounded like she'd make a good friend- well, this conversation had gone well, hadn't it? But Oberon wasn't the type to jump straight into 'let's become mates and have pups'. Sometimes he felt too young for his body, when he was in a childish mood like now. When he was serious he felt like an elder, but right now he was bright and warm.

[arbie]

Iris watched Oberon as he spoke. She didn’t like spilling out her feelings to strangers, not did she like to make it sound like she had some sort of terribly hard life. Even though she went through some odd events that complicated her life, Iris tended to ignore it rather than confront and accept that. She wanted her life to be perfect and happy, with her son growing to be a nice strong wolf that didn’t know his father was an enormous monster.

As he continued, she smiled at the offer. It sounded nice to have someone to talk to and lean on. Someone that could hold her secrets for her so that she didn’t feel so alone. However she didn’t want to burden Oberon with too much. She didn’t want to scare him away with all her secrets and past… It would waste a friendship. Iris didn’t want to use Oberon like that anyway. She wanted a true friend, someone to rely on, not someone to just spill her personal life to. He wasn’t there for that.

Well, he was, but she knew what she meant.

“That’s a very kind offer, Oberon.” she nodded, “And that does sound like a good idea, too. I might try that some time. Oh, and of course, you can come find me for any reason at all. I’m glad to speak to wolves such as yourself.”

Iris didn’t really know what she meant by that comment. Kind wolves? Wolves in general? She hoped it was a compliment to Oberon, and not some sort of odd generalisation. She really did like Oberon, he was a nice fellow that just seemed to want to have a friendly chat.

[Paint]

Oberon gave her a bemused look after the initial bridge-building comment she made. His eyebrow raised very slightly, but everything that he felt was still in good humour right now, and his body actions reflected that.

"Wolves such as myself, eh?" he chuckled slightly, looking her directly in her bright eyes. He wondered what she meant, and whether he came across in a certain way to wolves such as herself. "Well I'll be sure to take you up on that offer, although I'm not always so talkative," he laughed. "But I'll be here if you just fancy some company. I do like a bit of company, from time to time."

He knew that he wasn't as he was right now -comical, open, chatty- all of the time. There were times when he went for days without saying a word. Times when he was the last wolf to make a joke. Of course, she wouldn't know that. And she might never know that. He didn't mind, particularly, but he wondered what all of her layers were like underneath the Iris that he was speaking to right now.