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Post by Dylan Woods on Aug 3, 2008 19:03:45 GMT -5
The weather was getting colder. The chill in the air was becoming more apparent with each passing day, as the cool autumn breeze began to have more and more bite to it. It would be winter all too soon, and Dylan knew he had to be ready for it.
The day dawned late, and by the time the sun was up, Dylan was already hard at work. He had shored up the walls of his crudely-built but sturdy cabin in preparation for the incoming winter snows. He estimated, by the direction of the wind, that he had two or three more weeks at most to finish.
Now, as the sun rose high in the sky, he headed out to do some fishing in the nearby stream. He would smoke the fish that he caught for maximum keeping time.
As he sat on the shore of the stream, he heard footsteps approaching, and he looked up to see who was coming.
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Post by Elijah on Aug 3, 2008 19:25:27 GMT -5
A cold breeze blew by Elijah, nipping at his ears. Winter was going to hit soon and he would have to find some where to stay unless of course he wanted to be out in the snow. In winter, Elijah wished he could stay wolf longer so that way he would at least have a good fur coat to keep him warm.
He looked down at his clothing. The jeans he wore had a slight rip in the leg and the shirt had a rip in it as well, near the bottom where he didn't strip fast enough as he phased at the last full moon. The set of clothing wasn't the only one he had, he had a few others, but he was in need of a few more and he would have to find a new jacket, considering his other was in shreds.
Elijah felt the need to get a drink of water, and knew that the stream wasn't too far ahead. The forest had become his home and now he had to find a shelter before the winter reared its head. Maybe he'd settle down in a pack, or maybe he'd just keep to himself. He wasn't really one to stay in a pack however, so the possibility of him keeping to himself seemed to be the out weighing the other.
He caught a scent near the stream, but didn't get a good whiff to tell who it was because the wind carried it off. Whoever it was, Elijah could protect himself it the person or thing was a threat. Nearing, he recognized the familiar face looking up. Elijah eyed him as he made it to the other side of the stream, watching to see if he would react to his appearance.
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Post by Dylan Woods on Aug 3, 2008 21:52:18 GMT -5
Dylan sniffed the air, but couldn't quite pick up a scent. The wind was scattering it too much to really identify it. He didn't want to call out to whoever or whatever was there and make his presence known. He didn't trust his voice or the little quiver it sometimes got to it when he spoke up.
Leaning close to the water, he scanned the surrounding woods for any sign of whatever might be approaching. He didn't want to have to pick up a weapon, but he did have one handy. His hand hovered near his makeshift hatchet.
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Post by Elijah on Aug 3, 2008 22:02:40 GMT -5
Elijah thought it would be amusing to mess with the poor boy, but then decided against it. The dryness in his throat was getting to him. Stepping out to the stream's edge, making himself visible, he bent down slowly seeing him move towards a hatchet.
He was familiar with this one. A few run ins they had and Elijah never cared to much for him. He was too quite and too shy. That was going to him nowhere. However, Elijah couldn't really say much on that fact. He wasn't really going anywhere either. He didn't even know how to do magic. The only thing he had for him was his instincts, that was it. Most of the time, he liked that. He was alone, but then sometimes he felt something in him yearning for someone else, someone to talk to, someone to yell at.
Elijah cupped his hands together and dipped them into the water, warily. Carefully bringing his hands to his lips, he quickly drank the water not really satisfying the dryness. He wished he had more of whatever those round things were you could trade for something to drink. Sure, he had some, but he had to save them for now. They were all he had.
"Long time no see, eh," he finally spoke before taking another drink from the stream.
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Post by Dylan Woods on Aug 3, 2008 22:10:17 GMT -5
Dylan relaxed when he recognized who was approaching, but only slightly. A fellow werewolf, he had encountered this one a few times. Elijah, his name was. Dylan didn't care for him much. He was rough around the edges and crude. Moving his hand away from the hatchet, he cast out his line into the water to wait for another bite. "Hey," he mumbled. He really had nothing else to say, and he preferred silence. Hopefully, Elijah would just go away soon enough.
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Post by Elijah on Aug 3, 2008 22:17:30 GMT -5
Elijah felt his body relax more as he saw Dylan's hand move away from the hatchet. He took another drink and watched him cast his line out. "What, no hey why don't you stay for dinner," he asked tilting his head over to the side and propping one arm on his knee. Elijah knew that he would and could get on Dylan's nerves, and that was all to amusing. "You know, sometimes it's a lot easier if you actually wade into the stream, and then catch the fish with your bare hands, that way you know you'll get it and they won't pass your bait."
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Post by Dylan Woods on Aug 4, 2008 10:42:11 GMT -5
Dylan glared at him. It didn't seem that he intended to leave any time soon. The last thing Dylan needed was to be forced into a conversation with anyone, let alone someone like Elijah. He had a lot of work to do today, and if Elijah wouldn't leave soon, it would prevent him from accomplishing it all.
"I know how to fish," he grumbled. In fact, usually, for smaller fishing trips, he did use the method Elijah described. But it was harder to catch large quantities of fish that way. Once you caught one, the rest would usually clear out of the area. This way, more of them would be attracted to the bait. Later, he would break out a large net to catch many at once.
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Post by Elijah on Aug 4, 2008 10:58:06 GMT -5
"My, my, it seems like someone is in a grumbling mood today," he commented as he splashed water in his face. "I was just trying to help you and you grumble at me. It's going to take you forever to fish that way and by the looks of things, you're pretty busy." Even though Dylan was busy, or trying to be, Elijah wasn't planning on leaving at the moment.
He eyed the water and a fish was nearing him. Knowing that if he could move quickly enough, he could catch it and not disturb the other fish. Elijah held his breath as the fish kept moving, leaning over just slightly, he moved his hand quickly into the water and pulled out the fish without causing many ripples. Grinning, he held the fish up so that Dylan could see. "I've already caught one, to your none."
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Post by Dylan Woods on Aug 4, 2008 19:35:57 GMT -5
Dylan watched in irritation as Elijah caught a fish, as if just to rub it in his face. "Hope you got a bucket to put that in, or it'll get away." he commented. He continued to sit on the riverbank, resolute, waiting for a bite on his line. His eyes were caught by a slow slithering movement along the bottom of the river, sliding towards Elijah. "Wouldn't stand there long," he grunted. "Snakes." He pointed toward the creature and its forward movement.
The stream, he knew, was frequented by water snakes. While not poisonous, their bites hurt like hell. He fought off the urge to smile at the thought.
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Post by Elijah on Aug 4, 2008 19:51:55 GMT -5
Dylan had a good point, but Elijah wasn't planning on keeping the fish at the moment. He just caught the thing to show off. Holding onto the fish, Elijah followed Dylan's pointing. The slithering movement wasn't hard to find. He hated water snakes ever since he was bit by one. His foot bothered him for awhile afterwords, but he never bothered to go to one of those places where they heal things. Elijah took a cautious step away from where he was bent over, still holding his fish. If he could time it just right, he could jump to the rocks in the stream, then jump across.
Elijah kept his eyes on the snake, and took a step backwards, making the jump to the rocks then to the other side where Dylan sat. He walked over and dropped the fish into the bucket that Dylan had before taking a few steps backwards and observing his surroundings. "Getting ready for winter, eh?"
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Post by Dylan Woods on Aug 4, 2008 20:05:58 GMT -5
Dylan fought off the urge to groan aloud. He couldn't let Elijah know that he could get to him. But why was he bugging him? Why wouldn't he just leave him alone? Did he like annoying him, or was he just bored?
"Yeah," he said simply. "Shouldn't you be doing it, too?" He hoped Elijah wasn't planning on staying long. Maybe a light reminder of how much work there was to do would convince him to move on.
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Post by Elijah on Aug 4, 2008 20:30:28 GMT -5
"I should," replied Elijah. He didn't want to be stuck out in the middle of the forest in the winter with no shelter, but he knew that he couldn't build a sturdy shelter and build up enough food in time. He should have started earlier, but he didn't. Elijah had to always procrastinate. "But, I haven't even started. I figure I might find a cave or something soon. But don't worry 'bout me Dylan, I'm a big boy." A grin started to play across his lips.
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Post by Dylan Woods on Aug 4, 2008 20:50:44 GMT -5
Dylan grunted and said nothing. He'd never really cared for cave living. Bears and wolves often chose to live in caves, and they usually weren't keen on sharing. When he was younger, he had settled for caves, but his cabin was much warmer and more secure.
If it wasn't for the fact that he didn't really like Elijah, he might have offered to let him stay in his cabin for the winter. But Dylan found him annoying, and way too talkative. They'd never really got along. Besides, he really preferred to be alone, anyway.
He felt a sudden tug on his line, and, with one quick movement, pulled the line out from the water, the fish still attached. Grabbing the fish, he carefully removed the hook and dropped the fish in the bucket along with Elijah's.
"Gonna be a rough winter," he said, pointing at the sky. "Unless you want to go to town, you're gonna have to start preparing something."
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Post by Elijah on Aug 4, 2008 21:04:26 GMT -5
"I'll get something started," replied Elijah. "But, before I really start worrying bout food, I gotta find more clothes." He looked to the sky and knew that Dylan was right. It was going to be a rough winter alright, and Elijah knew that he probably wasn't going to be ready in time. Maybe it was time for him to find a pack before the winter started. He'd help if he needed to and attempt to behave. It wouldn't hurt him to start stocking up on stuff though. Plus, he would take a cave from a 'willing' bear if he had to.
He looked to Dylan's little cabin and for a moment, he envied him. Dylan had a nice little place to keep warm in the winter and he was going to have plenty of food, unlike him. Elijah shook his head. "There's a huge berry bush just across the stream," he said pointing. "They're just right."
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Post by Dylan Woods on Aug 4, 2008 22:37:11 GMT -5
"Thanks," he said. "I'll check it out. Sure you don't want 'em?"
Dylan wasn't sure why Elijah was offering to help him, unless he was hoping to get something out of it. But maybe he was being unfair. He generally didn't trust most people, especially fellow werewolves. His experiences with most of them hadn't been good. There had been a couple of girls who lived in the woods for a while, and they had been OK. But he hadn't seen them around in a while. The new pack living in the middle of the forest near the caves were particularly untrustworthy. So far, he had avoided their detection, but as the cold weather crept in, there was a good chance they would be exploring more of the woods in search of supplies.
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Post by Elijah on Aug 5, 2008 7:08:07 GMT -5
"I'm sure," replied Elijah. He wasn't sure why he was being nice to Dylan, unless it was that he made sure that Dylan would make it through the winter, just so he had someone to talk to and annoy. Elijah thumbed the side of his own nose and then looked back to Dylan. "Make sure that you pack your stuff tight and hide it well. There's another pack out there," he said pointing. "And they probably ain't that nice." A smile spread across his face. "And find you a girl. They'll even help you stay warm longer," he added jokingly.
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Post by Dylan Woods on Aug 5, 2008 17:36:50 GMT -5
Dylan nodded grimly. Many of these same thoughts had occurred to him as well. He was considering setting up traps around the cabin, just to keep the other pack away. They seemed the types to rob someone else of their hard-gathered supplies. They were sneaky and he didn't like them one bit. "I know the pack," he replied. "Bad news, they are."
At the mention of a girl, Dylan rolled his eyes. It wasn't that he didn't like girls. But he wasn't used to talking to them. The truth was, he was shy, and girls seemed to bring out the shyness most of all. One of the rare times he'd gone into town for supplies, he had run into a girl, knocking her bags out of her hands. The girl hadn't been watching where she was going, but he still felt it was his fault. He'd bent down to help her gather up her things, and she had begun to smile a lot and flutter her eyelashes at him. He didn't know what it meant, but it embarrassed him. He had handed her the bags, then said goodbye very quickly. The whole incident had confused him greatly.
Admittedly, it could be kind of lonely out here by himself. But he also felt that the only person he could truly count on was himself.
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Post by Elijah on Aug 5, 2008 19:45:04 GMT -5
"Ah," replied Elijah. "I'll be sure not to hunt to deep in the forest then." Sure, Elijah didn't mind starting a little trouble here and there, but nothing too big. He didn't want to come across a pack that wasn't too inviting, so to speak, and have his head ripped off.
He didn't quite understand Dylan. He was too quite for starters, and he seemed to grumble a lot. Not to mention he didn't really know how to talk to people. Although, Elijah couldn't really say much when it came to that. He could talk to people, but sometimes it was a matter of would he say it wrong and they take it the wrong way.
"You better survive the winter son. What would I do without sharing this forest with you? I wouldn't have anyone to talk to, and you would be completely alone without me," he said with a grin.
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Post by Dylan Woods on Aug 6, 2008 12:58:52 GMT -5
Dylan looked at him for a minute. Was he trying to act like they were friends? Did he really care what happened to him? He didn't see them being buddies or anything, hanging around or hunting together. They were too different. Elijah, even though he lived alone in the woods, was a pretty social person. He never stopped talking. Dylan didn't understand that. Why talk unless you really had something to say?
"I'll be fine," he replied. He'd go to town if he had to. He did like some of the things he could get there, especially the books. They were great for curling up in front of a fire in the middle of the winter.
"You take care, too." He was sure that Elijah would also find a way to survive. Again, they were close enough to civilization that they could always go into town and do odd jobs if necessary. He preferred to avoid it whenever possible, because in town he was expected to talk. But he knew Elijah wouldn't have a problem with that.
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Post by Elijah on Aug 7, 2008 13:02:01 GMT -5
Elijah laughed. "I'll make sure I make it through the winter. I can't let you live out in this big forest alone with that other pack, now can I?" If Dylan didn't make it through the winter, he wouldn't have someone to annoy. Although, this winter, Elijah thought that he would head into town to maybe find shelter. If he wasn't successful, then he would return to the forest.
"I maybe heading into town soon. You better stock up on those fish. Sometimes, those snakes make a nice meal too if you're careful."
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