Ydrin and the Red-Eyed Wolf

[Llkt'tudrin'wyshd]

A loud sigh echoed off of the trees as a shadowed figure picked its way through the dense mix of bushes and fallen branches that littered the forest floor. The thick canopy form by the numerous leaves that hung from the hundreds of year old tress blocked most of the sunlight, causing beams of it to trickle down through the gaps. One of the beams of golden light caught the top of the figure as it jumped over a branch, illuminating a thick mane of golden blonde hair. However, the figure was soon out of the beam and, once again, cast into the shadows.

Light sounds of birds and insects were the only thing rippling through the gaps in the trees apart from the heavy thud of a boot hitting the ground, the rustle of dry leaves as they were crushed beneath a weight and the snapping of twigs as the figure landed on them. Stretching as far as the eye could see (not that as far as the eye could see was very far due to the lack of light and closeness of the trees) great forest giants wound there way into the sky, stretching to bask in the glorious warmth of the sun, branches as thick as some trees were stretched from the trunks of the large trees, reaching out over until they impacted with their neighbour. A fresh smell of mud and clean air was carried on a gentle breeze, dancing and weaving through the trees.

Breaking from the dense treeline, the figure was cast into direct light as they entered into a large forest clearing with a pool in the centre. The pool was situated at the far end of the clearing from the now revealed human looking humanoid. Its waters were still, moving only slightly as it waved in the gentle wind that coaxed along its surface. The bottom of the lake was easy to see through the crystal clear, deep blue waters. Small shadows of fish could be seen, slowly swimming in circles.

Sighing again, the figure ran a hand through its golden hair, messing it up even more, before tugging down the fabric that covered its mouth, exposing its full face. The figure was a young human, around the age of 18, and had a mop of golden hair on top of his head. Strands of hair fell down to partially cover his sharp purple eyes, the left of which had the white coloured a milky black, which scanned around the clearing. The male was tall and thin with an angular face an high cheek bones. His clothing consisted of a brown waistcoat that stretched down to his knees and which had covered his mouth, below which was a tan shirt. Over the top of both them was a short tan coat that only reach to the male's waist. On his legs, he wore brown, leather trousers and round his waist, above the waistcoat, he wore a leather belt. Around his neck hung a silver hourglass necklace that glinted in the sun. On the inside of the coat rested a silver timepiece on a chain.

Ydrin walked over to the lake before dropping himself down, resting on his elbows with his legs bent, uncaring of grass stains. He stayed completely still, staring straight into the lake with no emotionless eyes, his surge of annoyance once again fading down into nothingness as all other emotions did for him.

His reason for coming to the lake was simple. He was stuck on a specific path in his life and had no knowledge on how to get off. His genius level intellect offering no help to him. He was to turn 19 in a few weeks and he had already heard the butlers and maids of his estate whispering of the news that his parents were planning on which parties to soon take him to in order to introduce him to females his age in the hopes that they could score a marriage contract in his name to an influential family. Ydrin himself had no desire to follow this, but could think of no way to avoid the fate.


[member="Neshoba Nodi"]

 

[Slot 12]

Life. It was everywhere. In the trees, in the sky, in the earth, in the plants. There wasn't a single place in the forest that wasn't teeming with life. And Neshoba was a part of it. She raced through the thick undergrowth with unnatural speed. Her Wolf Form was massive compared to those that were well known, and her snowy white fur and bright red eyes made her look that much more out of place. It had been weeks since she was able to run or hunt like this. Every one of her senses was lost to the wilds around her.​

​

Nesh came to a clearing. She slowed to a walk as she neared the edge of a large lake. As she lapped up a few sips of water, her ears picked up the sound of a heartbeat. This wasn't uncommon. She heard the heartbeats of many things in the woods. But this one seemed... different. And closer.....​

​

Slowly, her eyes lifted from the lake. That was when she saw a boy sitting along the other side. She did nothing but stare at him.​

​

[member="Ydrin"]​

 

[Llkt'tudrin'wyshd]

Ydrin did not know how long he stared at the mesmerising patterns within the lake, formed by the aimless swimming of the numerous fish of many different species, trying to think of as many ways as possible to escape the trap his parents were forming but discarding each idea as a failure as he went. All that he did know what that the heat of the sun had changed, where as it had a steady and pleasant massage when he had arrived at the clearing, it was now burning and ever present feeling, enough so that he could almost feel it sinking into the skin of his exposed neck.

He blinked so as to break the trance he had fallen into and arched his back, the loud crack that rang out releasing a painful tightness. Shielding his eyes, Ydrin looked to the sky so as to try and judge the time based on the position. Looking up, all he saw was a flare of white that forced him to flinch away on instinct to spare his retinas the painful burn. Taking the assumption that it was midday and that he should probably return for his meal, Ydrin shrugged and allowed himself to collapse backwards so that he was lying down with one hand on his face.

He had been lying there for only a minuet when he heard the sound of heavy beats against the grass and the distinctive noise of panting reach him from across the lake. Pushing himself onto his elbows once again, Ydrin raised an eyebrow at what he saw. Before him was a large wolf, far larger than any other he had ever seen, who currently had its snort dipped into the cool water and was taking long drinks of it. The wolf's fur was a stark white, a pure and clean white, so much so that it hurt slightly to look as the harsh sunlight reflected off of the fur. The wolf's eyes were a piercing red, a red that he could easily make out form even the distance he was from it.

Ydrin had been reaching towards his hip, intent on withdrawing his revolver and firing a shot towards the large animal. Not to hurt it, but so as to scare it away. However, he froze as the large head suddenly swung up and red eyes met his purple. Instead of growling or making itself threatening like the young man had expected, the wolf instead also seemed to freeze, staring at him just as he was staring at it. He held the red gaze for a short while before he cocked his head invitingly. This wolf had stirred a feeling of curiosity in him and he wished to observe it up close.


[member="Neshoba Nodi"]

 

[Slot 12]

The staring continued. Nesh wasn't scared of the human in front of her. On the contrary, she was curious about him. But she noticed that his hand was reaching down for something... A gun. Sometimes, she hated those little metal sticks. It meant that she couldn't just walk around the lake toward him. He might take it as a threat and start shooting at her, and she really wasn't in the mood to deal with that today.​

​

Her eyes drifted to the water below her. It was deceptively shallow compared to how it looked to anyone with weaker eyesight. If she couldn't walk around, she'd walk through.​

​

Nesh carefully raised her head from the lake, her eyes still on the human as she slowly walked into the lake. When it came up to her neck, she lowered herself beneath water. She was halfway to the other side of the lake when something suddenly occurred to her. The human might feel even less threatened if she was in humanoid form. She wasn't wearing any clothing, but a naked girl would be considerably less scary than a massive white wolf coming toward you.​

​

She shifted, and continued the rest of the way to him. Slowly, Nesh came up out of the water in her humanoid form, her wolf ears and tail still present. Luckily, her very long white hair managed to cover the majority of her front half. Her ruby eyes continued to stay locked on the human; Curious, calm, and unwavering.​

​

[member="Ydrin"]​

 

[Llkt'tudrin'wyshd]

Ydrin continued to stare at the wolf as it looked away from their staring contest towards the water. The longer the wolf stood there, doing nothing that any other wolf would, to his knowledge, the more his curiosity was aroused, reaching enough height that it was actually breeching the level his emotions would have to cross to make themselves known to him.

Due to his extremely isolated and oppressive upbringing during his formative years Ydrin had many mental problems, and he knew of them. When talking to any living being that he was not close with, he would develop a stutter on nearly every word. Never being aloud to socialise with other children, due to his parent's seeing them as bellow his family's station, he had never managed to grow any social skills. He also had the issue where that an emotion had to be particularly strong for him to even feel it, leaving him emotionless the majority of the time.

An eyebrow was raised at the wolf's next action. Returning its red eyed gaze to his purple eyed one, the wolf slowly walked forwards, submerging itself into the clear lake water a bit at the time until it was fully submerged in the water. Shooting to his feet, Ydrin kept his gaze locked onto the wolf, tracking its progress through the water towards him.

What happened next shocked him and caused a small tint of red to grow on his cheeks.

When it had nearly reached the shore he was standing by, the wolf began to shift. Its body became more bipedal, the majority of fur shrank into pale skin, the hind legs reformed - growing longer and thinner, the front legs grew also - the elbow moving to a lower position and paws became hands. In all the large wolf had no become a naked girl, one that looked to be around his age.

As the girl emerged from the water, and after his blush darkened at the - to his mind - alluring image of water dripping off of her body, Ydrin was able to see more details than he could when the girl was swimming. On the top of her head, pointed ears peaked out of her, a long tail lay on the surface of the water and her eyes were still the same shade of piercing red and continued to have slit pupils.

Blushing harder at the beautiful image the girl provided, Ydrin coughed and shifted awkwardly despite not being able to tear his eyes from the sharp the wolf-girl had resumed with him upon surfacing.


[member="Neshoba Nodi"]

 

[Slot 12]

Neshoba stood there, looking down at the human boy. His face was an odd color. It wasn't supposed to be that red, she was sure of it. And the way he was fidgeting seemed a bit odd as well. Then he coughed. Was he sick? That would explain his strange demeanor. She got down on her hands and knees and began crawling toward him. She got extremely close, sniffing his body thoroughly to double-check for sickness or injury. She stopped when her nose was inches from his, staring directly into his eyes once more.​

​

After a few minutes, Nesh determined that this human had nothing wrong with him. She moved backward and sat on her haunches. She continued staring at him. How weird to find a person out here. She tilted her head, giving the boy a curious whimper.​

​

[member="Ydrin"]​

 

[Llkt'tudrin'wyshd]

Ydrin swallowed heavily as the girl (woman?) walked towards him on all fours, swaying over the ground as she crawled to him. Dropping himself to the ground, he offered a prayer to his God for the woman's (he didn't know why, but calling this woman a girl seemed wrong) long white hair hid the majority of her nakedness from his eyes. Every part of her body that could be thought of as a sexual area was hidden from his view, preserving the wolf-woman's modesty and making it easier on his to regain control of his reactions.

As the woman stopped sniffing him, for whatever reason, Ydrin found himself staring into her eyes inches from his own. From that point he could clearly make out the numerous hues of red that swirled together to create a unique looking colour of red. The position was held by both of them for a few minuets, Ydrin being captivated by the uniqueness of the woman's eyes, the way that the hues shifted constantly under the light of the sun and weight of emotion, some emerging more strongly than others before fading back into the background as an other shad was raised to the foreground and gain prominence.

His trance was broken by the sudden movement of the woman. Settling back onto her haunches, she tilted her head and released what he thought to be an absolutely adorable whimper of curiosity. The sound of said whimper was what reminded his brain that it had control of his body. Reaching backwards, he pulled the waist length coat from his shoulders and offered it to the girl. While her nakedness did not seem to have any effect on the woman, it was simple manners that dictated his move.


[member="Neshoba Nodi"]

OOC Note:

Spoiler

Just to let you know, I'll probably have Ydrin introduce himself in my next post. I'm still trying to work out a way to describe his movements. Oh, and do you want anything steampunk-y making for Nesh? I seem to have become one of the R&D members of the Thorn.

 

[Slot 12]

Neshoba looked down at the garment the boy offered her. She sniffed it a little, trying to figure out the nature of this gesture. wouldn't he be cold without his coat? It was a little cool out here, after all. Hmmm.... Maybe she wanted him to put it on? Oh, that's right. Most people weren't comfortable when she wasn't wearing anything. That might be why his cheeks are red!​

​

Nesh gently took the coat from his hand and wrapped it around herself like a blanket. She wasn't sure that was how it was supposed to look, but it did cover her. She looked down at it, and then back up at the boy to see if anything about his face changed.​

​

[member="Ydrin"]​

 

[Llkt'tudrin'wyshd]

While the wolf-woman was staring at his offered coat, Ydrin took the time to compose himself, regaining the emotionless mask he nearly always wore, no matter what, and beating the heat and redness of his cheeks back down to normal levels - nothing. As the albino female slowly took his coat and wrapped it around herself he flickered his eyes over her body taking in and cataloguing the abnormal features he found when comparing the woman's body to a standard female human.

The features he had already spotted when the woman was emerging from the water were catalogued again: the canine tail that was covered in drooping and dripping strands of wet fur; the canine, pointed ears that were that were peaking out of the top of the woman's mane of hair; the vertical, black line bisected the fierce red eyes. However, now he could also notice the pointed tips of white teeth peeking out from the woman's top lip and compressing the lower; the lithe muscles that rippled beneath pale skin, showing a strength that was not present at a distant and the slight twitching of both the woman's nose and pointed ears.

Taking in all that information, Ydrin began to try and compile data on this strange but beautiful woman, trying to make sense of the anomalies this woman showed and to gain information on her species. Starting from the top down, he first focussed on her ears. The twitching of them probably lent credence to the fact that she could rotate them slightly so as to focus in on sounds from a certain direction. The conical shape also hinted to a hire hearing range and sensitivity. The vertical pupil in the piercing eyes meant that the female would be able to handle greater or lesser quantities of light than he as the slit pupil would allow for greater contraction and expansion. The pointed teeth hinted that the diet of the female was mainly meat based. The lithe muscles were obvious on what their gifts were, but it was the tail that he drew two conclusions on. One, that this form that the woman was currently wearing had some features left over from the wolf form and the tail was one. Or two, that the woman would be able to run on all fours better than he could as the tail could be used to stabilize.

By the time he fell out of his thoughts and analyse, the wolf-woman had returned her attention to him. After staring at her in reply to her own gaze for a few moments, Ydrin bowed his head in a greeting and smile as best he could while not feeling any emotions, as was usual for his. "M-my n-name is-s Ydrin. A-A pleas-sure to-o mee-eet y-you."


[member="Neshoba Nodi"]

 

[Slot 12]

Neshoba's ears perked slightly as Ydrin spoke. He must have trouble talking to other people. She knew what that was like. Nesh gave Ydrin a tiny smile and decided to reply to him the only way she knew how. She focused on his mind. It was fairly simple. Some people were harder to focus on than others. She then spoke directly into his thoughts.​

​

Neshoba.​

​

[member="Ydrin"]​

 

[Llkt'tudrin'wyshd]

When the small smile spread over the lips of the woman before him, Ydrin couldn't help the reactive thought of her as a Dea ex ille Cor give a physical form and allowed to descend from the Divinare Regnum to walk among mortals. Of course, that line of thought was dismantled by the young man himself as he shook himself out of his daze and cursed his lacking social skills for leaving him so flat footed. However those dismantled thoughts were soon lost to the wind as a feminine voice echoed within his head.

'Neshoba'.

The voice seemed to resonate with an inner strength coupled with a fierce ferallity that seemed to be caged by pure will alone. His eyes snapped disbelievingly to the half-animal being before him, brow raised in shock. "P-please t-tell me-e tha-at was-s y-you saying 'Neshoba' an-nd not-t a voic-ce I'm dev-veloping with-thin my head-d."

[member="Neshoba Nodi"]

 

[Slot 12]

Neshoba pointed to herself and repeated the word.​

​

Name's Neshoba.​

​

She got a little closer to Ydrin again, taking in his expression.​

​

You seem scared. Or bothered. Or sick. Are you sick?​

​

[member="Ydrin"]​

 

[Llkt'tudrin'wyshd]

At Neshoba's conformation that it was her voice that he had heard speaking within his mind, meaning that either she or her species had the ability of telepathy, and obviously not a voice that originated from his mind and was the sign that he was finally going crazy. As so many had accused him before, family and non-family.

At the wolf-woman's question, Ydrin let out a brief, quiet chuckle even as he leant back slightly to prevent Neshoba from leaning fully into his face. Reaching backwards he rubbed awkwardly at the back of his head, messing up his hair even more.

"Y-you mean-n m-my s-stutter? N-no I'm-m no-ot s-sick. O-or both-thered. O-or sc-cared. It's-s a-a sp-peech im-mpediment. I-i'm s-sorry if-f it both-thers you." Again he reached back and scratched at the back of his head once again, in a slight amount of embarrassment.


[member="Neshoba Nodi"]

 

[Slot 12]

No. Not your speech. Your face. It's red.​

​

Neshoba reached out and gently poked on of Ydrin's cheeks. She didn't smell the scent of sickness from him, but it was still strange that his cheeks were such a color. Maybe he needed medicine? She could probably find him some herbs for an upset stomach or a fever if he needed them.​

​

[member="Ydrin"]​

 

[Llkt'tudrin'wyshd]

Chuckling slightly, Xavka once again ran a hand over the back of his head, messing his hair up even more. "N-no, n-no. I-I'm not-t i-ill. I-I w-was jus-st bl-lushing. A-After all-l i-it's n-not e-every d-day th-that y-you s-see a-a b-beautifu-ul w-woman a-as y-yourself-f r-raising out-t o-of th-the w-water l-like y-you d-did. L-Let a-alone a-a n-naked o-one."

Ydrin was silent for a moment before what he had said registered within his mind and, once again, he began to rub at the back of his head while a new blush erupted across his cheeks, painting them a harsh red. 'Droyk mia balvuhi! This would be so much easier if I could Dios Droyk speak.'


[member="Neshoba Nodi"]

OOC Note:

Spoiler

Sorry for the late post.

 

[Slot 12]

That earned another head tilt from Neshoba, this time a confused one. He thought she was beautiful? And even more so, because she was naked? Normally people would just avert their eyes and not even speak to her, or go out of their way to avoid her. They never called her anything even close to beautiful. It was an odd feeling.​

​

Beautiful? How am I beautiful?​

​

[member="Ydrin"]​

 

[Llkt'tudrin'wyshd]

As the question from Neshoba echoed reached his ears without movement of lips or production of sound, Ydrin's blush once again flared, although the a lesser extent this time as he was able to grasp control over his reaction. Never the less, though, his cheeks did turn a dark hue of crimson.

"Erm, w-well, er." For once Ydrin's stutter was not due to his lack of social interactions and damaged social skills that lead to his feeling unsure around new people, from which his stutter came from, but from pure embarrassment, which also happened to be the cause of his lack of words. Coughing awkwardly and clearing his throat, Ydrin shifted slightly as he tried to regain control over his voice. "Y-you s-see, er." Again he failed to speak as he tried to explain his comment.

Scowling slightly at himself, Ydrin coughed again and focussed on actually producing a sentence. "W-Well, th-there's n-no e-easy w-way, erm, t-to e-explain b-beauty, I-I s-suppose. I-it's r-really, er, s-something-ng th-that p-people j-just r-recognise. A-and, w-well, t-to m-me y-you a-are b-beautiful." Clearing his throat, Ydrin focussed on speaking and not on the burning heat he could feel on his cheeks and spreading down his neck. The whole time his hands fidgeted in a constant tangle of fingers and rubbing of the back of his head and neck. "I-I m-mean, y-your e-eyes a-are p-pretty u-unique a-and e-entrancing, er, a-and, er."

Stopping, Ydrin looked away as his embarrassment grew too much and cut him of mid sentence.


[member="Neshoba Nodi"]

 

[Slot 12]

My eyes...​

​

Neshoba thought for a moment. She'd never heard that before, either. She turned from Ydrin for a moment, looking down at her reflection in the water. Hm. Her eyes were very red. It still didn't quite click with her as to how they could be categorized as beautiful, though.​

​

[member="Ydrin"]​

 

[Llkt'tudrin'wyshd]

Shifting nervously, even as he huffed in annoyance with himself at acting like he was, Ydrin's blush returned as he watched Neshoba turn around and bend over the water to look at her own reflection, accidentally, or at least Ydrin thought it was accidentally and not done on purpose to tease him, exposing part of her behind to him. Huffing again, Ydrin turned his face away to allow his blush to recede by preventing himself was staring at the beautiful woman as well as to stop himself from staring.

'What are you doing?' Ydrin mentally berated himself. 'You've stood before the royal court a few time on behalf of your Family before. Get a grip.' Taking a deep breathe Ydrin turned his attention back to the white haired female before him.

"Erm, w-would y-you b-be u-up f-for a-a m-meal?" Blushing slightly around his neck, Ydrin hurried to speak. "I-it d-doesn't h-have t-to b-be a-anything b-big. I-if y-you w-want I-I c-could e-easily c-catch a-and c-cook s-something f-from th-these w-woods. I-It w-would j-just b-be a-a w-way f-for u-us t-to g-get t-o kn-know e-each o-other." Shuffling slightly, Ydrin looked away in embarrassment, before refocusing and somehow speaking quicker. "Er, th-this I-is o-only I-if y-you w-want t-to, o-of c-course. I-I'm n-not g-going t-to m-make y-you."

Falling silent, Ydrin looked over Neshoba's shoulder instead of at her, rubbing at the back of his neck.


[member="Neshoba Nodi"]

 

[Slot 12]

Neshoba looked up from the water, turning her head so that she was glancing back at Ydrin. A meal? It had been a few hours since she'd eaten anything. Hunting here was pretty good, but she hadn't been trying to catch anything before. She could find them something good to eat. Her tail wagged a little at the thought of getting to hunt.​

​

Could probably catch us a good deer. Maybe some fish. Don't know if you like eating raw things, though.​

​

[member="Ydrin"]​