Discovering New Things [Skyler]

[°Wystar°]

[scrolly:h(200),w(1),sy][/scrolly]
[atrb=background,http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q21/winkatuck/wysttable.png,true][atrb=width,500,true][atrb=height,367,true][atrb=border,0,true][scrolly:h(50),w(1),sy][/scrolly]	[scrolly:h(110),w(300),sy] The growing pup had gotten taller and faster and stronger. It wouldn't be long before he was full grown and he was already almost as big as his mother, and he weighed enough to squish his siblings. He had had a overall comforting and joyous life. He had explored almost every part of the children's territory, all but the Painted Cave. Luke and Thorn always poked fun at him, saying that ghosts and dragons lived there and would eat anyone who stepped foot in the cave. He would show them, he would see for himself and then bring them back and prove how brave he was! "I'll show'em! I'll march right up to that big ole cave and....and..." The hybrid choked on his own words as he paused and peered at the mouth of the dark opening. The sun slowly dropping below the horizon as night began to fall. He almost whimpered but stiffened up as he remembered what his brothers told him. What he had just told himself. He would show them! And the first two or three steps into this cave would be all he needed to do, right? Or maybe he could just wander near the edge and poke his head in. Come on Wyst! Quit being a pup! You're all grown up now! He growled lowly to himself as he took feeble steps forward. His ears pressed against his small skull and his wings plastered even tighter to his sides. He took slow shallow breaths as he waited for his eyesight to adjust to the darkness. Well, he had made it into the cave and nothing had happened so far, maybe all that junk his brothers had told him were a bunch of lies afterall! [/scrolly]	[scrolly:h(80),w(120),sy][/scrolly]
[scrolly:h(00),w(1),sy][/scrolly]

[Skyler]

The evening was a time for rest as much as the night. Deep within the Painted cave, in a side chamber, another hybrid was saving up her energy. She was not asleep, just resting her eyes and thinking of her current situation. She had gone on a journey to find herself and to learn about the world outside the pack. She had encountered her estranged father, and finally stood up to him, gaining much needed confidence despite Draugur's reaction to her defiance. Since she had returned to the packlands from her little adventure, so many things had changed. She had spoken with Yueh, her mentor, and had managed to mend the rift that she had put up between them. He had hurt her, but she had hurt him as well by leaving without word.

However, their conversation helped to forge her new niche within the pack. With Yueh's help and encouraging, Skyler had spoken to the High Chief, Reynard. She had informed the red male about the state of the Cadre's territory and pack. She even managed to express her interest in knowledge and learning the painted language upon the walls of the very cave she now rested in. He had agreed to teach her what he knew of the symbols and granted her the title of Storyteller so she might inform the rest of the pack of her findings. She felt that she needed to live in the cave to fully submerge herself into her studies.

When she came to make her den here, she had been surprised that there was another wolf taking residence up in the cave. The adopted son of Reynard, Nocht. Since both of them were quiet and socially awkward wolves, it took a while form a conversation. However they managed to hammer out a deal and became roommates. There were a few shallow side chambers that they could sleep in and store things in. Notch had a cache of food, while Skyler had begun collecting leaves and berries to attempt to form the dyes and paints that covered the wall. Her own sleeping chamber had a few crude attempts at her mimicking the pictures.

Her days were spent trying to riddle out the meanings behind the pack's history, while she still had sunlight to see by. She had taken to hunting at night when ever she needed to eat. So her evenings were spent resting and pondering the wonders of the world. This evening, however, seemed to hold a different path.

Skyler's eyes opened slowly as her ears picked up the sound of someone in her cave. Her first thought was that it was Nocht, returning from his daily hunts, or whatever it was he did. Despite living close together, they did not talk very much, nor did they really see much of each other. Her head lifted off her berry stained paws when she realized that is was not the lyxxus male. She slowly stood and came around the corner, out of her sleeping hole. She took a winding path toward the mouth of the cave. Her scales gleamed in the bad light, she shook out her grayish pelt, sending a small cloud of dust into the still air. Soon her eyes fell upon one of the younger members of the pack.

Her thick, heavy tail dragged slightly across the cave floor making an odd scrapping noise where the scales hit the stone. If her clicking nails had not given her away, her tail sure would have. She was not trying to sneak though, she cleared her throat softly to announce her presence to the pup. She was partially obscured by the queer shadows of the cave and fading light. If his eyes were still adjusting he might not realize that she was a wolf, let alone there. She waited to see his reaction, not wishing to alarm the youngster with an inquiring word just yet.

((Whoo....sorry for all the subtext, I wanted to put some background there. To those that are referenced in the subtext, feel free to correct me if I got something wrong, there were a lot of side conversations and jumping to conclusions on some inprogress threads))

[°Wystar°]

[scrolly:h(200),w(1),sy][/scrolly]
[atrb=background,http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q21/winkatuck/wysttable.png,true][atrb=width,500,true][atrb=height,367,true][atrb=border,0,true][scrolly:h(50),w(1),sy][/scrolly]	[scrolly:h(110),w(300),sy] Wyst swiveled his ears around to listen for anything in the dark cavern. His sight was still a bit foggy so he relied on his nose and his ears. A loud scraping noise came from inside, the sound of scales hitting the cold bottom of the cave. Wystar felt his whole body shiver, a dragon! It had to be! Now he was doomed! But wait, there was an odd familiar smell to this dragon... "H-hello?" The pup began as the form drew closer to him, he gulped and fought to stay strong just in case anyone were to see him cowering. "I mean, show yourself! You big dragon! I can take you!" the hybrid insisted now, a growl rising up in his chest as he took an aggressive stance. He was big and grown up now, so he could take on anything! Even a big scary... nasty... pup eating... dragon.... Okay maybe I should've thought this out better... He pondered to himself, still awaiting the 'dragon' to come forth to where Wyst could see him. Maybe this was a friendly dragon? After all, not all dragons were evil. In fact, Kasmira had told them the Cadre [whom they were allied with] had a big black dragon friend who fought by the wolves side. So maybe they had a secret weapon too! A dragon that would fight for the Children! That would be so cool! He shook his rump as the figure closed in on him. Yeah, he could take them! My momma and them will be super jealous when I bring them a dragon! [/scrolly]	[scrolly:h(80),w(120),sy][/scrolly]
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[Skyler]

Her leathery wings were held out slightly in case the intruder needed to be ousted. She was no fighter, but at least she could look menacing if she needed too. Her deformed wing was crumpled and small compared to her healthy wing, but it was still there. She had come to terms with being a deformed hybrid, however she knew that every new wolf would judge her by appearance whether they meant to or not. Her brown eyes fell upon the smaller wolf. He was half her size, if even. She had no doubt that he would grow up to be larger than herself, but for the moment she had the size advantage.

Her ears perked forward as he muttered to her shadow. There was a slight pain in her heart, coupled with confusion as he accused her of being a dragon. She glanced at her body, she was oddly dragon-like as far as wolves went she supposed. She had not met another like herself since her siblings died. She knew what she was though, a mix of cael and kieyou. This pup had probably never seen anything like her. Her logically mindset was working past the hurt feelings. She needed to stop being so sensitive.

"I'm not a dragon..." Was what she finally managed to say after sifting through her practicality and emotions. She stepped one partially webbed foot in front of the other and came into the fading light, closer to the puppy. She decided that puppy was the wrong term, he was well along his way to adolescence. Her new found rank obligated her to teach the young, so she mustered up her courage and took this chance to inform the youngster, "Dragons are much much bigger than me." It wasn't too long ago that she was hunkered in a hole hiding from a giant dragon that wanted her for a meal.

Once she was fully in the dusty light of evening, she allowed herself the chance to sit down and wrap her thick tail partially around her strange paws. The cave was large enough to move around comfortably with out much cramping. She stretched both wings out briefly before folding them to her sides. She attempted to hide the deformed one as much as possible. She knew that pups liked to ask pointed questions, so she opted to remove one such object of inquiry for the time being.

[°Wystar°]

[scrolly:h(200),w(1),sy][/scrolly]
[atrb=background,http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q21/winkatuck/wysttable.png,true][atrb=width,500,true][atrb=height,367,true][atrb=border,0,true][scrolly:h(50),w(1),sy][/scrolly]	[scrolly:h(110),w(300),sy] "Oh" Wystar blinked in amusement as the other wolf presented herself to him. She was like him! She had wings, but her's were cooler! "Well, I've never actually seen a dragon, so I wouldn't know how big they really are..." he gave her a toothy smile as he wagged his purple tail, his brown wings opening up as he presented himself to her. "I'm Wystar! Who are you and what are you doing hiding in here? Aren't you afraid of the dragons and ghosts that maybe back in there?" Wyst questioned and puffed out his chest as if he would protect the fellow children member if they were to run into such trouble. He took notice of her leathery wings and thick lashing tail. Now the little hybrid wanted to know everything about her. "Are you part dragon? You got their wings and tail-" he pointed out, but noticed she turned from him suddenly. Was she trying to hide something? Surely anything she had he had to see! "Hey! Watcha hidin'? I wanna see!" he licked his lips playfully and got ready to pounce. He was already starting to like this wolf more and more he got to know her. Maybe she could clue him in and they could find a dragon and beat it up together when he got bigger! And they could fly places together too! She seemed like the kind that liked to travel, maybe she could show him secret spots where they could hideout and play?! The possibilities were endless and were jumbling up what the smaller hybrid was thinking. [/scrolly]	[scrolly:h(80),w(120),sy][/scrolly]
[scrolly:h(00),w(1),sy][/scrolly]

[Skyler]

[scrolly:h(480),w(8),sy][/scrolly]
[atrb=background,http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q21/winkatuck/skylerpsdcopy-1.png,true][atrb=width,500,true][atrb=height,800,true][atrb=border,0,true][scrolly:h(50),w(1),sy][/scrolly]	[scrolly:h(160),w(465),sy] She examined the young wolf, curious as to what he was. She knew that keiyou had feathered wings. However she never knew one to be so colorful, perhaps it was a a hybrid. She had heard in passing that some interbreed couples had mated recently. She even knew that Reynard had sired a bastard litter of hybrids. It gave her pause, for the longest time she had been shunned and ostracized for being a hybrid and deformed. That was when her father was in power. The presence of hybrids had increased since Draugur left. It actually made her feel a little better about herself. Sure she was a strange looking hybrid, but she was not the only hybrid. Yueh....this kid Wystar, the other puppies running around. Once she put it in perspective, she did not feel so alone anymore. Her attention came back to him as he admitted to never seeing a dragon. He seemed so eager to find one, did he not realize how dangerous they were? Before she could really comment he peeled off into an introduction of himself and a barrage of questions. Her ears folded back as she felt on the spot once more. She shifted her weight awkwardly as she analyses his questions. Maybe she could inform him about dragons so he did not go looking for them in the future. "I have seen dragons....they are bigger than this cave. You could fit in their mouth in one bite. They are very dangerous. " She paused and glanced behind her, hiding? "I'm not hiding here....I live here. There are no dragons or ghosts here, that I have seen. Just me and Nocht." She felt weird including the lyxxus in the conversation. They didn't live together they just slept under the same roof. She didn't see the point of defining things that finely for him though. "Oh...I'm Skyler..." She swallowed the lump in her throat. She had to get used to talking to pups one way or another, "Nice to meet you...Wystar." She was a little confused as to why he was so puffy. Maybe it was a male pup thing. She never really had the confidence this little guy did. Deep down maybe there was a shred of jealously, however it was too far hidden for her to see. His questions seemed to have no end, however she did her best to answer them carefully. "No....I'm not part dragon. I'm part cael and part keiyou. This is just what I look like." She was taken aback by his sudden interest in what she was hiding. She felt the heat rising up the back of her neck in embarrassment. "It's nothing. Just my wing." How was she supposed to answer that? She hated attention being drawn to her deformity, but it was like she dipped it in stag blood by trying to hide it. He seemed intrigued by it. Suddenly the spacious cave felt smaller. Speech [/scrolly]	[scrolly:h(80),w(1),sy][/scrolly]
[scrolly:h(00),w(1),sy][/scrolly]