The Wild Adventures Untold

Najmah reared back in surprise. What he had said was nothing like what she thought he was going to say. She spent the next moment not knowing how to reply. She ended up looking away. The angle she held her head caused shadows to be cast over her eyes, making her appear more solemn looking.
"...Shut up," she whimpered quietly. Then, realizing she had whimpered, she snarled angrily and turned completely around.
"Just shut up," she said through a forced growl just as quietly, before continuing to trudge eastward.

Rose still did not look up. "...Silence," she said quietly, "...Please understand... T'Sone... It's... ...We...didn't have the best experience..."

Silence let out a long sigh, wishing he knew better how to explain to them what he felt when they talked about T'Sone. He followed a distance behind Najmah, pushing all thoughts away for the moment, the cat running away in the corner of his vision.

Rose flinched slightly at the sigh and remained where she was even as the two started to walk away. She didn't feel she had the strength to move yet.

...You are lucky you didn't have to go through what other wolves would have, should they have been in your place and without Najmah.

I know.

You are lucky that, even though you were technically of breeding age, you were still so young, and small, and weak. Too weak to be of any use to her at that time.

I know.

...And you are lucky you did not have to fitness firsthand the true horrors she was capable of invoking.

...She killed my sister. Or rather, one of her wolves did. She hurt Najmah, physically and mentally. She kidnapped me and hurt me. She hurt my brother in her finally brother. She...she hurt Najmah so...so...so badly... The scars on her chest... It makes me sick just looking at them. And yet... I know.

You are traumatized by the things that monster put you through. But you must remember if you are to keep your sanity: It could have been worse.

...I know.

Jury fell silent at the mention of T'Sone. That topic would have been better untouched. She glanced over at Najmah for a moment before looking forward, not saying anything. The only things she had to contribute to this conversation were either already said or she had no intention of speaking of, mainly her death. "Let's just all shut up and keep going," she growled. "What's done is done and that time doesn't need to be revisited."

I just realized that there was a typo in my last post. Towards the end when it says "she hurt my brother in hr finally brother", its supposed tosay: she hurt my brother in her final battle. Just fyi! ^.^)

Rose flinched at her sister's tone and nodded. She waited until she was walking away before she got up and followed.
She's right, she thought, It would be best to forget it.
She raised her head and forced herself to look for something to focus on in order to distract her from her thoughts. She noticed the strange white clouds in the sky.
"Hey, what's that?" she asked loudly.

Jury was quiet until Rose spoke up, following her gaze. "What?"

Silence let out a rumbling growl at the mention of the clouds. "Not normal, for certain," he answered. "Give me a weird feeling, they do..."

[Talk like Yoda, Silence does. XD]

lol! XD)

Rose squinted her eyes, as if trying to see them clearly.
"I...don't know," she said, "They're...too far away. ...No, it's too far away. That is definitely not a cloud..."

"...Well what does your...er...parasite say it is?" Najmah asked.

I am not a parasite!

"Lupa is not a parasite! And she was offended by that, by the way."

Why wouldn't I be?! The nerve of that-

"She lives in your body and can control it even when you don't want her to. How is that not a parasite? You know what, forget it. What does she say about the not-cloud?"

Lupa?

Nope! I'm done for today. Have fun on your travels!

Huh? What do you mean by that?

...Lupa?

...

Rose glared at Najmah.
"Great, she won't say anything now. Thanks a lot Najmah!" she growled.

The long, thin white clouds remained a mystery to Silence for the few moments he continued to stare at them, until he shook his head and continued moving. Suddenly, he had an odd feeling, and an image popped into his head of something like a bird, at least, it seemed to be flying through the sky like a bird would, but it left the thin, wispy white cloud in its wake. Airplanes. The word came to him, and he frowned, it was like he had known all along, and then suddenly, something had unlocked and a fragment of knowledge had leaked through into his mind, but the knowledge had come from his mind. Like it was something that he had always known, and just forgotten for some reason. And things like this just kept happening. Fragments of knowledge that made no sense...except that they all related to the Humans. And the closer to this artifact they got, the more frequent the knowledge came. He shuddered involuntarily, as if trying to free himself from whatever external force was messing with his mind, but the feeling remained deep in his gut, and he knew, somehow, that this was supposed to be happening. That it had to happen. Yet the more he thought about it, he realized that this part of his mind that was slowly unlocking, it was almost...foreign. Like it was there, in his head, yet it wasn't Him. He focused inside himself, peering at this part of his mind, like a moon orbiting the main planet of his mind, and slowly, other moons began to be 'visible' to him, further away, and dimmer, but still there. He put his attention back on the first 'moon', and experimentally gave it a mental poke. Nothing too severe, just a thought of inquiry and interest, and was surprised when it recoiled and grew darker and harder for him to sense. He quickly retreated from the now strange depths of his mind and realized he had stopped still where he had been walking.

[Okay. Now before you guys freak out about Silence's newfound 'Abilities' if you will, let me do some explaining. So, basically, Silence is a descendant of Lupa. I'm thinking he might also be a Dire Wolf, but that's for deciding later. Basically, he has a hyper-perceptive mind, that can actually sense other minds that are nearby. This 'ability' is strengthened greatly by being in proximity to Artifacts. The power comes from Lupa, but only manifests very rarely throughout the bloodline. As Silence is near to Rose, who is inhabited by Lupa's spirit, the ability is actually being strengthened via a slowly forming mental link between Rose and Silence. Basically, Lupa's spirit is wanting to connect with a body/mind of her own bloodline, and the artifact is only helping that along by making Silence's mental 'radar' go on hyper-drive. Interesting stuff, huh? Well, that's only the beginning. If Lupa's spirit were to try to inhabit Silence's mind, it would have to leave Rose. But it can't leave Rose, because it, well, just can't. Because reasons, and also that cycle cannot be broken in that way. So, basically, An impossible thing is trying to happen because an impossible thing already happened with the time warp shenanigans and that caused a rift in the space-time continuum that is slowly but surely destabilizing all the wibbly wobbly timey whimey...stuff. Yeah. So, Silence may have to die when they reach the artifact, possibly be revived, but if so, he would lose all memory of the trip back in time and possibly lose his ability as well. Anywho, rant-explanation over. XD I think this is my most lengthy post yet on the site ]

Jury paid no attention to the clouds, looking around instead, taking in the scents. This new world still interested her, and she was still curious to see what other strange things there were to see. She looked over as Silent shuddered with a confused look on his pretty face. "If it's the clouds that you're thinking about, they're just weird clouds," she spoke up, raising an eyebrow (if they even have them, imagine),not knowing why the clouds caused such a reaction.

(nooooOOOOOOoooooooOOOoo don't kill Silence no killing my baby. Lol but cool. And the doctor who reference xD. Pretty interesting idea in my opinion (obviously). Lol Rose has Lupa and Silence is a descendant meanwhile Jury just likes exploring.)

[Ahh, but see Juryoku is awesome because she died. XD in my books at least, that makes you pretty dang amazeballs, dying, and coming back. Also her personality is great. Well, depending on how you look as seeing as she is usually kinda grumpy and mean and difficulty to like, but I see that as a cool personality, because it makes me want to figure out what makes her that way, figure it out, and hit her right in the feels and make her realize I know why she feels that way. *deep breath* XD that was, again, a bit rant-y.]

(xD Jury's sweet once she accepts you. She hasn't accepted Silence yet but it's slowly happening as she's forced to spend time with him. Jury would probably be the one to wander off because she saw humans doing something shes never seen before, like riding a bike or something to be completly honest. Her attitude around frievds and family isn't so grumpy lol)

Eco, you just blew my mind! I mean, we already decided that Silence is Lupa's descendent, but whoa! All that stuff I didn't know is genius! I am actually really impressed! Oh, and no problem about the explanation! BTW, I'm pretty sure a rant is just a big wall of text explaining your negative feelings towards something that aggravates you, so I don't think this would qualify. Just fyi, lol! ^.^'

Oh! By the way, hold that thought about Silence dying when they find the artifact, because stuff is going to happen when they do. I... Well... Spoilers! It's going to be...interesting.

I love Jury. She is just so adorable behind all the grumpiness and snappy teeth! <3 *huggles Jury*

---

Noticing that they were on the move again, Rose and Najmah followed after Silence. Najmah became disinterested in the clouds as she started walking and focused on the path ahead of her. Meanwhile, Rose kept on throwing glances towards them as if trying to figure them out herself.

...!

The youngest wolf came to a stop at a sudden strange, unidentifiable feeling. It didn't come from her, she knew, but it affected her all the same. She closed her eyes and trained her focus inward.

Lupa? What's wrong? she asked.

She could almost picture the ancient spirit in her mind's eye. The expression she wore on her face...a troubled look of surprise, but also...nostalgia.
The white Dire Wolf looked at her with those pupil-less eyes of hers, and she softly smiled.

...Ah. It's nothing, she replied in a soft tone after a moment, Nothing you need to worry about, at least.

Rose blinked in confusion. She knew there was something going on. Why wouldn't Lupa tell her? She knew Lupa knew she wanted to know what was going on, but... She just couldn't bring herself to ask. There was something about the tone in her voice that discouraged her from it...


Najmah almost ran into Silence. "What the-?!"
She grit her teeth and walked around him. "Hey! What's the big idea? Why'd you stop?" she demanded.
She looked at Jury after she spoke. Could it really be the clouds? she thought in annoyance.

[Danka, Villi. Yeah, moments like those just sometimes come to me where I just have ideas and pour them out. Ahh, yeah see, I was thinking of rant as just a long, nonstop wall of text explaining or expounding upon something, including feelings, ideas, or subjects. XD I guess you're right though Rants are usually full of distaste and emotion.

XD okay, I shall put a pin in that thought. Boop. Pin in. XD Bolt references Can't wait to see what your brilliant ideas are ]

Silence was thankful for his thick fur to hide the reddening of his face. "Sorry, Najmah," he muttered, moving again, but slower this time, lost in thought. He didn't even notice Rose's own stop and inner focus moment, caught up in the strangeness of the day. And he'd thought yesterday had been crazy with the whole riding in a human death-trap thing. It seemed his world was slowly falling apart. [Ahh, if only Poor Silence knew how true that was. XD]

Najmah rolled her eyes, shook her head, and padded forward again at her normal pace, passing Silence by.
Next time give us some warning, or we might actually run into your fuzzy wall of a flank! she wanted to say. But the moment had passed and she would only make herself look like a fool if she said it now, so she bit her tongue.
"...So Rose? Any idea about how we're gonna get there yet?" she asked loudly.
She did not get a reply. She narrowed her eyes in confusion and stopped, turning to look over her shoulder. "Rose?"
She deadpanned when she saw the youngest wolf just standing in place, getting left behind.
"Oh come on! Not you too!" she groaned.

er...should I...have made that post a little more open-ended? Sorry! Um... Here: )

The wolves chased on for several hours without running into any incidents (if that's okay with you guys?). It had been quite a while since the sun had reached it's highest point in the sky and it looked like they had several more hours of daylight to kill. Wolves were known to have great amounts of stamina and had the ability to go on at a set pace for long periods of time, so this wouldn't necessarily be considered "torture" for them. But, despite this fact, and though she had the strength to continue running until night had fallen, Najmah was miserable. It was hot, they hadn't found anything to eat that morning, so she was starving, she did not have a good morning, and according to Rose, all this running would go to waste because they wouldn't be able to get to this artifact in time to get home. ...They had to get home...
Raiya... she whimpered internally, her eyes stinging with tears, I want to see you again. I want to hold you. Please... Mommy's coming as fast as she can. Please hold on. Please be safe...

VWOOOM!!

"KYAAA!!"
Najmah just about had a heart attack and died right then as a huge car sped right past them from behind.
"Okay, why do we keep on running beside the road?! Guys, we are taking a detour. Let's get away from this thing!" she snarled.
With that, she veered to the right and slightly off course.

Rose flinched at both the car and Najmah and made to silently follow the she-wolf when she suddenly stopped in her tracks and stared after the truck with wide eyes.

(Umm... Ya, I need to work on my open ended endings... Sorry guys... -.-' )

[XD nah Villi, you're fine XD I wasn't actually paying attention at all and didn't remember to reply to your post here XD]

Silence was quite fine with the current situation himself. Despite the heat, which was made slightly worse by his long, thick fur, he was willing to keep going. They were making okay time traveling by the road, better than trying to weave through the forest, and when the truck rushed by, he was startled out of a somewhat meditative state. He muttered something even he wasn't sure what he said, but followed Najmah off track. He had decided to go along with whatever the others said, instead of trying to talk sense into them or even give them ideas. At the moment, he just wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible, but since his ideas for quickness in the past hadn't turned out so great, he was now willing to let others have a go at some solutions. And Najmah seemed to want to be the leader at the moment, so he yielded and followed. He turned back to Rose as she stopped and stared after the car. "Anything special about that one that sets it apart from the other half dozen that have passed us?" he asked her, only really making conversation to ease the awkward half-Silence. [Wait, where am I? what just happened?......XD jk.]

XD)

Rose turned to the other three with an ecstatic expression on her face. "...I just figured out how we're going to travel," she replied with a voice overflowing with emotion.

Najmah looked back over at Rose with wide eyes. "What? Wait, really? How?"

Rose grinned. "Follow me!" she said before running in the direction the semi-truck had driven, following the road, "We are going to catch a ride!"

Silence grinned and ran after Rose, hoping her idea was good, since at the moment his mind was on other things than ways to travel.

"Wait, what do you mean? Rose!"
Najmah ran after the younger wolf. After seeing the way Rose's eyes had lit up after seeing that huge car, she knew what she was thinking. "Wait, hold on! We already tried this! Is this your way of telling us you've given up?!" she suddenly shouted.

"It will be different this time! We're not the ones who are going to be doing the driving!" Rose called back with a smirk.

Najmah felt a sense of dread.
...What...What exactly does she mean by that?

(Hey, do you guys mind if we fast forward through this part? All they are going to be doing is spend the day (or next few days... your choice) just secretly riding in the back of a trailer, and I feel like it's going to be pointless to RP through all that since nothing exciting or important will happen. What say we continue this in Wisconsin? (I have a reason for this particular state, but if you guys want them to go anywhere else first, I'm open to any and all options!))

[Time skip is cool with me, Wisconsin is fine ]

Coolio! I'm gonna wait for Silv to post before I do anything)

(Uh sorry. Everytime I went to reply I got distracted or pulled away then forgot to reply. Wisconsin is cool ^^)

Jury flicked her ears in annoyance as they ran back to the road after momentarily leaving it, scrunching her nose at the smell as she followed. "Whatever your planning, it better be good," she muttered, unsure of what she had in mind.

That's okay! That happens to me a lot too, lol! ^.^)

All right! Let the fast-forwarding begin!)

It took another long period of time filled with running, but finally, the wolves made it to another human site. This wasn't a city like the other places they had been. It was a rest stop for humans that were traveling long distances in their cars. There was only one building in site, but there were several cars parked in front of it. The humans had left them there so they could go inside and refresh themselves. Using this to their advantage, the wolves hurriedly ran over to a section where semi-trucks were parked. As she opened the back to one of the trailers, she informed the others that while the human was driving it's vehicle to who knows where, they would be riding in the back.
"And if they start taking a different route than what we need, we can just hop off and get a different ride!" she cheerfully told the others.
This plan was a lot safer than what they had attempted the day before, and it would get them to their destination in plenty of time! ...Theoretically.

So that is what the group did. They secretly boarded a large vehicle heading East. They had no incidents with any humans. And when that vehicle began heading North, they waited until it was stopped before getting off, and then got in another vehicle soon after. After a full night and most of a day of riding in the back of trailers, the wolves got off for the second time. They were definitely in a different environment than they were before. The air here was thicker due to elevation changes. It also seemed as if the area was...cleaner... In a way, this environment seemed more like home.

---

"I don't know where this is," Najmah said, her back turned to the slowly setting sun as she observed her surroundings ahead, "But I actually kinda like it here. ...Say, how much closer are we to where we need to be?"
She turned to Rose as she asked this question.

The youngest wolf looked at Najmah and shrugged. "We are a lot closer than we were yesterday," she said, "We covered a lot of ground. But I need a map of some sort to be completely sure..."

The group was currently standing in a forest not too far from a small city. A large number of humans could be spotted a distance away just outside this forest. The scent of grilling meat and other food could be smelled within the crowd. Though they were a distance away, they were close enough that if one of them wandered off, they could easily discover the wolves.
Rose ignored the humans, but Najmah continuously glanced at them in a wary manner. And the smell of food was really starting to make her stomach hurt..

Jury stood with the others, taking in their new surroundings and silently nodding when Najmah had said she liked it. It seemed cleaner and more open than where they'd been before. What she focused on most, however, was the scent of the meat. It smelled different than what she was used to, but meat nonetheless, and after having not eaten much she starving. While Najmah looked wearily at the humans, she watched them without fear, instead trying to mentally figure out how to get close.

As they fell into silence, Najmah glanced around at the others. She noticed the look on Jury's face and gained a feeling of dread.
"What is going through your mind?" she asked hesitantly.

Jury blinked, looking at the humans for moment more before facing Najmah, trying to feign slight boredom to the humans. "Uh, nothing. Just watching to make sure they don't come closer."

Najmah looked at Jury for a moment longer before nodding.
"Alright then," she said, accepting her words, "But I doubt you really need to do that. They seem content doing whatever they're doing. ...With all that food..."
She said this last part wistfully and for a second, there was a jealous look in her eye as she glared at the humans.

Jury nodded, attention back on the humans, only half-hearing Najmah as she slowly crept forward, head down but not going more than a few feet closer. They'd run if they spotted her, like the ones in the last place they were in had, or so she expected. Though Lupa had told them they were dangerous, she just couldn't see it, and she was too hungry to care much at this point.

Najmah continued glaring at the humans. She was so focused on her annoyance with them being there and the fact that her stomach was trying to tear itself apart that she didn't process the fact that Jury was creeping towards them. Rose took notice though.

Tilting her head and looking from her sister to her brother's mate and back in concern, she frowned.
"Um... Maybe we should go find something to eat? Somewhere over here? And...not over...there?" she asked uneasily.