A Thousand Miles Away from You (any)

[draven926]

I'm here again
A thousand miles away from you
A broken mess
Just scattered pieces of who I am

The ocean stretched gently back and forth along the rocky shore, sometimes touching the timber's mismatched paws. His lime green eye stared out on the surface dotted with reflections of stars. There was no sound save for the rolling of the waves and the sound of his own breathing. He loved this time of day, the time of day he was named after. Tranquility blanketed the land at night, allowing the diurnal creatures to feel safe enough for sleep.

He did not sleep tonight.

He was too deep in thought to even consider returning to his den. His thoughts drifted from his parents to his siblings and back again, Night wondering how they were doing. He was sure his parents were fine, it hadn't even been half a year since he moved on, but he worried for his brother and sister. Were they safe? Had they stayed together? He hoped so, for it would be easier with two wolves hunting. He wished he'd been able to go with them, bt his body had been too fragile. Heck, it still probably was.

The calm silence was broken by a fit of coughs.

Damn...not again. Night wiped his mouth, his one good eye noticing the small smear of blood upon his paw. His lungs were acting up again, it seemed. The small male sighed and washed his paw in the coming wave. "Come on, body...get well..." It was really a worthless request. For whatever reason, he'd been frail since birth. He was lucky to have lived this long with all the times he'd gotten ill. He'd probably die long before his time.

Best make do with the time he had.

He looked up at the sky, smiling when he spotted the constellation his shoulder mark matched. It was like a piece of him was sewn into the night sky so that no one who met him would ever forget him. He looked at more of the sky, identifying the stars and constellations that matched the markings of his siblings. There was Sirius, the bright star that could be found on Dusk's forehead. Leo, found on Lunar's hip. He even saw Jupiter, colored like his father's tail tip. He smiled, glad that he had seen the almost invisible planet.

Night then looked around at the land surrounding him. Would anyone see him and engage in conversation? It was so late at night, he doubted it. It would be nice if it happened though. Night lowered himself from a sitting position to a laying one, keeping his head up so it didn't get wet. A sneeze caused small ripples on the departing water and brought a small frown to his face. God he hated having a cold.

[unleashing]

Drifting was his business now for wanderlust had long ago abandon him and now only the lack of a proper home kept him moving. Tsin was far into his adult years now and viewed as too old to keep this up for long, at least in his own eyes. Settling wasn’t his first priority, only out of fear that if he found a new pack he would take a liking to someone new. He vowed to never be unfaithful to Clipit. Although physically apart, Tsin would never let her be so easily replaced. Too old to travel and too old to seek love, he hoped.

‘Old’ hardly applied to him. He was neither venerable nor old; he was the equivalent of a man in his late thirties in the eyes of dogs. Maybe the equivalent of an unshaven bachelor of a man, for he was scraggly and unkempt and his fur clung to him like a dead thing and possibly had a faint moldy wet-dog smell from the humidity soaking into his coat. His fur glistened with a thin layer of salt that was powdered over his body, possibly picked up by the winds and clinging to him. Tsin did not look like much, but he was of healthy weight and regardless of his messy fur he didn’t appear sickly in any way. The term he used to describe himself, ‘old’, was an offense to true elders.

Tsin shared grumbling and moaning with the elders for he did not care for the sandy beaches. Although the night was considerably peaceful and still on this night, peace didn’t keep the sand from becoming stuck between his toes and the taste of salt off of his lips and nostrils. He didn’t much care for seafood either…picky, picky.

Silence didn’t last forever and what broke it was the sound of coughing. Inevitably Tsin was drawn to the sound by curiosity, something that hadn’t been tainted with age. It wasn’t long until he saw the dark colored wolf lying on the white sands, head upright. Before coming within reach Tsin took a good whiff and hoped that salt would not make his efforts in vain. Nostrils expanded and took in the smell and Tsin knew he was sick. Nothing escaped the scent of a wolf.

“Is it a wonder you’re ill?” Tsin grumbled. “The beach is a cold place at night.”

[draven926]

Night's silent contemplation was soon interrupted. It wasn't by any sound he made this time, however. No, it was the sound of another animal straining its nose to smell through the salt. The young male looked in the direction of the sound to see a scraggly old male near him. He gave him a gentle smile and put his ears back a bit in respect. After all, this wolf was older than him. He'd been brought up to respect those older.

“Is it a wonder you’re ill? The beach is a cold place at night.”

"Mmm." He would have laughed at the remark, but that would have induced more coughing. So the small hum would have to suffice. "It would be a bigger wonder if I was well, since I was born with a dismal constitution." It wasn't said with remorse or bitterness. It was a fact, so it was stated like one. Night sat up and looked at the other male more directly. He smiled. "But if I were to let that stop me, my life wouldn't be worth anything, now would it?" Again, a simple fact. If he let a simple cough get him down, then what would he do in reaction to the more violent symptoms when they came?

A wave rolled quickly towards the two wolves, reaching far enough to submerge Night's front paws. He shivered at the cold and scooted back a bit. His lime green eye turned towards the water. "Such playful things, the waves. Always trying to catch us off guard." Was that really necessary to say out loud? Maybe not, but silence when he wasn't alone was an uncomfortable thing. Visits should be filled with conversation. "My parents named me Night, for the beauty of its sky which my fur is so similar to." He tilted his head to the side, causing the bangs covering his blind silver eye to fall a bit away from it. "And what may I call you, sir?"

[unleashing]

“Oh?” was the instant reaction. Tsin hadn’t decided yet if he felt sorry for the fellow for his condition or if he simply didn’t care. “The worth of your life is dependent on your health? That must be difficult for you. Illness can’t always be fought off with willpower alone...”

Tsin didn’t voice all of his thoughts. He wasn’t a walking time-bomb, unlike this fellow, so he didn’t live in fear of his heatlh. It was difficult for him to criticize the younger wolf for something he himself did not have full understanding of, but he knew that it didn’t change the fact that the cold could only worsen his illness. If he didn’t want the illness to stop him in fear of losing his self worth, surely he would find shelter from the cold or at least hide away somewhere off of the beach where frightening looking stragglers like Tsin couldn’t find him.

Tsin tilted his head to look towards the water when the younger fellow mentioned it. He made no response nor gave his views on the personified water. The ocean was indifferent, much like him. It had no feelings or emotions and all it was to Tsin was an obstacle that kept him from his home. Tsin was bitter, but he knew blaming the waters for being in his path was fruitless. Still, he could not gaze upon the ocean and think of it as being ‘playful’ or ‘beautiful’ or any of the words most used to describe it.

“Night,” he repeated the name in response to the introduction. Tsin was not the most well-mannered…or maybe he just didn’t care anymore. “I hope my own name was given to me in a fit of wanting to be original or else my parents were being unintentionally cruel. My name is Tsin.”

Glancing towards inland he muttered, “Maybe you would be better off away from the water’s edge.”

[draven926]

((Sorry for forgetting about this. >.< Wanna continue?))

[unleashing]

If ya come back, sure!