Monday April 23, 2012 David and The Goliath

Entering the range was something David always loved. It made him feel free, it made him feel normal. Looking at the beautiful scenery, you looked back and smiled at those you were with him.

"Now this, this is home!" David yelled. The aura that the place radiated was something amazing. He took a deep breath in, admiring everything around him.

"Hey Hazel! How are the new cubs? Anyone catch your interest?"

David was always bothering Hazel, but in a sort of brother and sister way. They took care of each other, they were family. So it made since to pick on her, seeing that he's older than her by a few years.

Hazel smiled as she trailed behind David. It was refreshing to see him like this. She was so used to him always joking and making light of every situation that it was nice to see him genuine about something. As far as the mountains went, Hazel could take it or leave it. They were nice and all, but she preferred the forest to the mountains. Hazel had a little thing with heights. It wasn't major, it was rarely a hindrance, but whenever she was up somewhere high she felt a queasiness in her stomach that only being down on level ground could cure. However, she had to admit that the view was lovely from way up high.

Hazel looked over her shoulder at the "cubs." They certainly were a peculiar bunch, but they were Uratha, what did you expect? They seemed like a good bunch, albeit a little inexperienced. That would get rectified with time. Hazel took a few steps closer to David and said softly, so that none of them would hear, "Gwen. I like Gwen. She seems smart. Plus, it's good to have Cahalith with us." Hazel did her best to keep the others from hearing. She didn't want to show any signs of favoritism.

David boomed with laughter

"Haha!" Then he died down and whispered

"She's kind of....well..weird. She reminds me of a younger you, always taking note of things." He said in a playful manner

"Well, where to my friends? Since we're here, why not take part in some friendly competition? How about a race Hazel!"

He knew that no one would take part, but he felt that if he didn't try to connect, the newcomers wouldn't like him.

Jo nodded to Gwen as they followed the other two. The small attention Gwen gave her made Jo begin to follow her in particular. "We're the cubs eh? Haha it sounds so cute!" she giggled.

"I'm Jo...Gwen right?" she started, but overheard David.

"OH OH!! I love races!" Jo exclaimed, her arms stretched out in front of her waving to get attention. During school she had been a part of track, she was always a hyper child and her parents had agreed it was a great way to rid some of that extra energy. The word race reminded her of great memories....and not so great. She never thought too much about those though.
She put her hair up with the scrunchy around her wrist and her eyes burned with passion, she was genuinely ecstatic and hadn't picked up on his joking tone. The normal smile had turn into a grin.

Davids ears perked up as he heard the excited girl.

"Well well well! Looks like someone took the challenge! You, you're name is Jo right? Well, nice to meet you! I'm David and since you're new, I'll give you a head start, ey?"

He winked at her. David was always trying to impress women, in whatever way he could. It didn't work so well with Hazel and Gwen was a whole different story. David then started laughing and said,

"Ready when you are, Jo."

Annoyed by the dirt that surrounded her, Gwen sharply breathed in a taste of the "fresh" air and coughed. It was nothing near her usual stale book smell. As much as she hated to admit it, she would have to learn to at least tolerate this thing called "nature". Inhaling deeply, she looked around her and, provided she ignored the dirt festering around at the frizzy-haired one's feet, saw a sight she wouldn't mind drawing. If she weren't here for some particular reason, she would probably have just plopped down where she stood (after carefully placing a layer between herself and the ground, of course) and pulled out her sketchbook and pencils.

She heard the touchy man laughing and wondered just why he was bothering the poor woman, but didn't want to draw nearer for fear he include her in his rambunctious escapades. Turning her attention back to Jo, she marveled, "Well I suppose we're all cubs, in a way...But we're the runts. And yes, Gwen...Races?" She was dumbstruck. Race? Why would that man suggest such a thing? Surely, it must just be in jest, but it seemed David was serious...

Looking at her fellow runt, she asked, "You want...you want to race? Why on Earth would you want to do that?"

"Yes I love running!" Jo replied to Gwen, a bit perplexed someone could ask such a question, and walking towards David.
She quickly turned her attention back to him, putting her hand on her hip and scoffing, "I may be small but I don't need your handicaps!" Her hand wrapped around his wrist and she pulled him out of the way of the other two girls.
"We're gonna start this together, but I'm gonna be the one who wins. Without a handicap!" Jo boasted, having great confidence in herself as she crouched into a starting position.

When Jo bolted forth to meet David's challenge, Hazel's eyes widened in surprise. She'd known the girl was energetic, but after trekking the entire night to the base of the mountain, she figured Jo would be at least minutely tuckered out. Evidently, that wasn't the case. Hazel smiled and admitted silently to herself that Jo's seemingly limitless pool of energy would probably come in handy later. When they began to discuss the race, Hazel backed up a few steps, her hands raised in front of her. She wanted no part in this race.

While David and Jo talked, Hazel stood next to Gwen, gazing at the well-matched pair of energy. Out of the corner of her eye, Hazel examined Gwen. The corners of her mouth tilted upwards in a small smile. Maybe Gwen was like her. The younger girl seemed to have the same aversion to David that Hazel herself had. Gwen was also the same age Hazel was when she first joined The River Spirits.

"You got me there," Hazel responded to Gwen's question, thinking out loud more than actually answering. Hazel wasn't one for frivolities. She wasn't stick in the mud, and that proverbial stick wasn't shoved up her ass or anything, she just felt that there was a time and place for things.

To his surprise, David was taking a liking to this Jo girl. Certainly her ambitious personality reminded him of his younger self and couldn't help but smile. Laughing as he ruffles her hair

"You're quite the character Jo, I like that!" David said but soon realized that he didn't mean to say that last part. This was entirely interesting to David.

"Er, what I meant was..you know what? Forget it! Let's get started!" He was excited. This was probably the first time in years that someone was this excited to do something David suggested. He saw this as a beginning of a friendship. And he loves nothing more than acquiring more friends, adding to the group that he cares for.

"Are you sure nobody wants in? It'll be fun." He said, dragging the last word. He wants the others to enjoy themselves, and in what better way?

Gwen looked at the woman next to her when she spoke to herself, and before she asked, she realized she had answered her question.

Her gaze was soon averted to the loud man before her, and she felt annoyance as he ruffled Jo's already-frazzled hair. Now the touchy man had gone and bothered her, too! Grumbling under her breath, she took a step forward and sighed, "Fine, I'll join...just don't laugh too hard when I trip and fall on my face." She took one straying glance at Hazel, hoping she'd step forward as well, but sprinted over to the two excitable ones, wedging herself between the two. Gwen decided she didn't like David enough as it was, and the last thing she wanted was for this innocent one to be corrupted by his ways.

I apologize, I'm being confusing.

Oh, bother. Now both of the new girls had joined in the race. Now Hazel had to join in, lest her pride take a serious beating. She exhaled and stepped up to the small group of participators that had formed. Hazel tied her dark hair up with a hair tie from around her wrist and looked apologetically at Gwen. Hazel stood there with her hands on her hips, her hair pulled away from her face in a high ponytail so that her angular cheeks stood out in the light.

"All right, let's get this party started," she said with a smile. If she was going to get roped into this, then she might as well attempt to enjoy it.

"Haha this is great!" David boomed

"Why don't you pick the destination Hazel?" This day was something else for David, getting not only Gwen to join, but Hazel? There must be something wrong with the world.

"Hey Gwen, try to lighten up, yeah?" He look down at the small timid girl, wanting her to feel at ease.

"You're with family now, so don't worry." He said this while looking at the sky, smiling.

Hazel knew that David was delighting the fact that he had managed to get her to partake in one of his little games, but she surprisingly didn't mind. Instead she pretended she couldn't see the smug expression on his face and looked about for a place they could run to for the race. There really wasn't anyplace that they could go to. They were still by the highway, and as such if they attempted to run anywhere, they would have to stop in order to climb over some loose rocks without hurting themselves.

"Why don't we put off the race until we come to a spot with a little more room to run?" Hazel suggested, glancing over at David. "We could try climbing until we reach a spot that's more level and go from there?"

"Shall we then?" He said with a smile.

He was hoping that the others knew how to run this race. To be "free". He couldn't wait for the moment.

"Sounds good, COME ON!!" Jo said hastily, getting a bit antsy. She grabbed Gwen's hand and dragged her along with her in attempt to get everyone moving faster. This was fun.
"I like you guys" she chirped. Now becoming a bit more comfortable around them, she almost forgot about the race. She was too busy thinking about the fun she'd have with them.

Gwen, who was still fuming over David's comment, found herself being dragged along by Jo. Speeding up herself, she glowered at the hand holding her own. As much as they were family, she didn't see the need for all this touching. What is with these people? Sharing germs with one another, touching hands. Who knows where those have been?

Closing her eyes, she tried to keep up with the girl's speed, and just felt as the wind rushed past her...It did feel nice.

Hazel smiled after the two girls as they sped ahead of them. "Reminds you of us when we first got here, doesn't it?" Hazel said as she walked beside David. "Jo all full of energy and happiness dragging along a disgruntled Gwen on a ride she most likely doesn't want to go on. Seem familiar?" Hazel said all this with humor in her voice. Despite it all, she enjoyed sharing memories with David. They had some good ones. There were not-so-good ones too, but Hazel didn't like to think about those.

A breeze blew past and lifted the tips of Hazel's hair that hung by her ears up slightly. It was nice and cool, and the sunlight warmed the back of her neck slightly as it rose. She enjoyed this. Hazel had been so caught up with keeping track of everything that she'd hardly taken any time to just enjoy the world around her. David was always good for that. They were a good balance, the two of them, and isn't that what being an Elodoth all about?

||ooc; I'm heading to bed so if you want to keep going then just skip me or something.||

Scarlett walked along the edge of the empty path sticking close to the shadows, she couldn't help it, she was always a secretive person. The Old man had told her where to find her pack since she had finally gotten up the nerve and the energy to speak with them and try to become more of a family. She was new, and yes she was quiet, but determined to try and fight past her inability to speak with other people. Finding the pack was easy, she was already a pretty good tracker and the wolves had made no attempt to cover their tracks.

"This could've been a fatal mistake" Scarlett mumbled to herself.

After about two hours of serious tracking she found the pack, unfortunately they were running, in plain sight. This bothered her, these people had no concern for what may or may not be watching.

"Family." Scarlett said out loud, and with a heavy sigh she steped out into the open and began sprinting after the pack.

David started with a light jog, followed by the removal of his clothes. Without thinking, he starts to strip and yells,

"You'd better find a way to beat me! I'm not going down that easily!"

David was hoping that they'd run faster in hopes to impress the newcomers. He wants them to see this

"David!" Hazel shouted as he began to disrobe. "Really, control yourself!" It wasn't an objection to his nudity. They were Uratha, nudity was natural, no big deal. It was the fact that they weren't even out of sight of the highway yet. Someone could see. And it wouldn't be very good for the pack's esteem or reputation if they got caught having an alleged orgy by some passerby. "Couldn't you wait until there isn't the chance of someone who isn't Uratha seeing you?"

Jo let go of Gwen and picked up her own speed to catch up. She didn't like being behind, it was usually her in the front for at least the first 15 seconds. This felt good, letting the wind caress her face and the moonlight guide her through the mountains. In the back of her mind she felt bad for leaving Gwen in her dust, but nothing got away from her...nothing.
She caught up to him, barely breaking a sweat, but she looked troubled as she passed him. Distracted, she tripped on a branch that could have easily been averted. Her fall was pretty hard, but her face didn't express any pain. It was a colorless horrified expression. Something was bothering her, she didn't want to think of it, but couldn't help it. This place, this scenario...

Once Jo let go of Gwen's hand, she woke up from her strange trance. She stopped running, slowed down, and wiped her hand on her jeans. Walking over to Hazel, she watched as her fellow runt sped up to meet David, only to trip and fall hard.

Without a second thought, she booked it at full speed toward the girl, and even though she knew she couldn't hear her, she asked, "Jo, are you alright?" In a strange way, it kind of reminded her of how children always fell flat on their faces. Hopefully, she was made of the same rubber the children were and would just be able to pop straight back up.

Scarlett stealthy sprinted down towards the werewolf pack. She carefully clutched the silver bow in her hand just in case she had made a mistake though it was highly unlikely. She kept running until the woman with short brown hair and her whelp came into sight. She slowed, to a walk until she was face to face with the woman who was clearly the leader. Scarlett didn't know how to react to her superior so she just stood straight and extended her had like she would a professor at university.

"Good evening ma'am, I am Scarlett the Old Man sent me to come find you and bond I guess but it's cool if you don't I mean..." Scarlett let herself trail off.

Scarlett kicked the ground, she had a real problem with babbling.

Maybe I'll try engaging her in something I like She thought.

"I can shoot, do you like shooting?" She looked at the young one then to the superior wolf hoping she didn't look stupid.