Ookami Charima's Story

(Okay we're going to start of with just people's everyday stuff, so just do whatever :))
Lilly was tending to her garden in the back of her small flower shop. She hoped business was slow as it was any other day, and it was. Even though slow business meant little money, she didn't care. Lilly didn't enjoy talking with people, it just made her feel awkward.

Ookami Charima, more commonly known as Charima by her pack, sat atop the gorge, emptiness below and in front of her. She'd never been afraid of heights or of voids, unlike a lot of wolf Shifters. More than anything, she enjoyed the silence that came with the gorge, with sitting there with her legs dangling, and with knowing that nobody would come to disturb her here. The gorge of Daviss was her haven of peace. But eventually, she had to leave.

Charima stood, wiping the dried dirt on her hands onto her leather pants. The black-haired girl gave the gorge of Daviss one last lingering look before heading back toward the forest that hid her village, her pack, and everything she knew.

On the path that lead home, she made a turn that lead her out of the forest. She had long since shifted into a black wolf, her bundle of clothes tied around a hind leg, and was now a monster of strength that rivalled most all wolf shifters she knew. In her own pack, the only Shifter that was bigger than her in wolf form was their Alpha, Shigan.

Now, though minutes ago she had been planning on heading home for the day, she was running full speed toward the Market, where merchants from all over the surrounding Shifter areas came to trade their goods and meet up. Charima had nobody to meet up with from other Clans, but she enjoyed watching other people live from afar, silently, as a ghost would.

Now, finally, she had reached the market. The first thing she noticed was the gigantic figure of a bear shifter, recognisable by the height, stature and facial hair, walking out of the Apothecary's shop. She knew him; knew his face, saw him around often, though she had never felt the need to talk to him. His height made him hard not to notice.

Charima shifted back into a human under the cover of the woods, pulled on her clothes, sat on a rock just outside the market town where all types of shifters gathered on a daily basis, pulled her legs against her chest, dropped her chin on her knees, closed her knees, and waited for nightfall – when she would go home again.

Charima opened her eyes just as night fell.

Again, her intention when she'd fallen asleep had been to go home when she awake, but a dream she'd had had made her change her mind. She stood, walked back into the forest. Undressing, she tied her clothes, one by one, to her thigh, then she set off at a human run through the forest, heading right to the border between the human side and the Shifter side. Usually she resented going anywhere near to humans, but this was something else entirely.

Just before the border, she found what she was looking for. The remnants of a tree house.

For a minute, Charima sat there on her wolfish haunches behind a tree, just off from the tree house, her eyes careful, holding her breath so as not to betray her presence. She couldn't see anybody, but she knew who lived there; Vixen, a fox Shifter. A few years ago, rumours about that girl had reached Charima's village, and where most people had seen only legends, she, Charima, had smelled truth, and had gone to investigate. The fox girl hadn't deserved this - to have her house burnt down. Some people...

But there was nothing she could do about the fox girl's lost house now.

Charima, still a black wolf, turned, and ran. This time, she was going home.

[WIP]

(I know it's not my turn to post, and I apologize, but I'm going to be unavailable for about 10 hours for the night, so y'all can skip my next turns and not get bogged up waiting for me to update, kay?)


Home, to Chari, was a small village with strong, elegant wooden huts, surrounded by a calm circular flowing river, with a small, simple bridge at each end to cross over the gently gushing water. At the center, Shigan's hut; the Alpha's home, larger and higher than other of the pack members' houses. Chari, for her part, lived outside, slept outside, and it was only with great effort that Charima was ever persuaded to feed with the pack. This was her choice; had been her way to lead her life ever since her brother's death. She would never have slept in a proper bed with a roof over her head – not while knowing that her murdered brother would never feel the warmth of a bed and the comfort of a home again. Sleeping outside was her own little rebellion against life – and against death.

She had only just crossed the entrance bridge to the pack's village, still in her wolf form, when a brown tussled wolf, slightly smaller than her, came running toward her and steered her back toward the woods, pushing his flank against hers in a friendly manner. Toohoo, Chari thought. Her best friend. She followed him out into the woods, knowing instantly that he wanted to talk to her.

They ran for a minutes, and soon both of them estimated that they had gone far enough away from the town. They Shifted, back to back, dressing in a way that would have told anyone watching them that they were used to it – to phasing back to their human selves around each other. With the swift habit of used comrades, they turned face-to-face in a perfectly synchronised movement, embracing each other warmly.

"Chari," Toohoo said first, soft, tufty brown hair sticking up every which way around his face. "We missed you," he whispered, pulling away from the black-haired girl to look at her face. "You've been out for a week. You have to stop doing that."

Charima shrugged, looking away. "I enjoy the silence," she said softly, but firmly.

Toohoo looked at her. "I know you went to the market," he murmured gently, not accusing, just stating a fact. "Mist saw you. You were sleeping on a rock." He paused; searching for her eyes, he asked softly, "Was the bear-shifter there again?"

A blush crept up gently on the girl's cheeks. She hid it easily, dropping her head even lower and letting her leaf-crowded hair hide her features. "The fox-girl's tree house was burnt down," she said instead, agilely changing the subject.

The brown-haired boy looked startled, and his eyebrows rose high. He pulled back even more, placing both his hands on his friend's shoulders to stare at her. "What?" he deadpanned incredulously. "Vixen? Vixen's tree house?" Charima nodded silently, not looking at him. "Who?" Toohoo asked. "It wasn't…"

Charima's head shot up. "No!" she nearly shouted, then exhaled slowly, calming herself down. "No. I'd never do that. You know that."

"Yeah," he replied. "Yeah, I know that. But that's not what I was gonna ask, silly." He flicked her nose playfully with a finger, and she batted his hand away, blushing again. "I was going to ask if it was…them," he continued, the last word said in a whisper.

Immediately, Charima's face darkened. She knew who he meant; the humans. Of course it would be them. Those bastards. Charima turned away from Toohoo.

"Too," she said without looking at him. "I'm going back there. Back to the tree house. Back to the border. It's about time somebody taught those idiots a lesson, don't you think?"

There was a silence, and then-

"Yeah," he said behind her, his voice breathy. "Yeah, I think you're right. I'll get Mist. We're going together. Go ahead; we'll catch up."

"I know you will," whispered Chari. "You've always been faster than me."

Then she ran into the forest, and behind her, Toohoo headed back to the village to get Mist.

Charima, Toohoo, Mist; a black she-wolf larger than a bear, an average sized brown wolf, and an albino-white she-wolf with red eyes and an ability for speed such that she was visibly holding back for the other two to keep up with her. Three wolves; three soldiers on a self-imposed mission.

It took the three of them two hours to reach the fox girl's burnt tree house. One look to each other, and they silently agreed to scout the perimeter. The fox girl wouldn't have thought about it; foxes were never as suspicious or as assiduous as wolves - it just wasn't in their nature.

The three wolves took their part, Mist scouring the remnants of the house for any traces, while Charima and Toohoo padded inside the perimeter of the surrounding trees, as silent as ghosts. For all they knew those who had done it could still be here, hiding out in trees; they could have already gone but left marks of their passage and of their guilt around. This was what they were looking for.

After a few minutes, Toohoo gave a soft bark for Charima to join him. When she caught up to where he was, he was prowling under a high tree. Understanding immediately, Charima nodded her wolf head at him, and he Shifted and became human again while she averted her gaze. He dressed quickly, and when he began to scale the tree Charima kept watch below him. Toohoo had always been better than her when it came to being agile; for things like climbing trees and obstacle courses, she had never been quite as silent as he was. Of course, Mist was even better than any of the pack, but her investigation of what was left of the house was more important, so Toohoo was left to do what she normally undertook.

"Chari," the brown-haired boy called down from above her. His head poked out from above a strong, thick branch. "There was someone here. They know their way around the forest; they lit a fire inside the bark to keep it lit during the night and avoid too much smoke. Small carcasses - rabbits, mice, birds - carefully hidden away. And - gunpowder! Chari, it's human gunpowder!"

Charima growled. That was all the confirmation she needed. It was a human who had burnt down the fox girl's tree house. And now she was going to follow their trail - even if it led her over the border and into the Clovek territory.

Charima threw her head up and howled. Instantly, Mist was beside her, her red eyes inquiring and hard and cold. Toohoo jumped down from the tree in one swift movement, and in under a minute he was a brown wolf, ready for anything.

They were going on a manhunt.

"She was here not too long ago." Mist sniffed the ground again. "Half an hour; an hour at most. She is in her human form, it should be easy for us to catch up with her." She turned to them, a small girl with white hair, a pale face, and frighteningly clear eyes. "Chari," she said softly, cocking her head. "Do we want to catch up with her?"

"Yeah," the black-haired girl, in human form again, replied, looking away. "It was her home, after all. We should give her a chance to join the hunt."

Toohoo, also a human, looked at her closely. "And if she should refuse?"

"We will go on without her. It may have been her home, but this our chase."

Mist nodded seriously. "Then let's go. If we run, we'll be able to catch up within ten to twenty minutes. Come on."

The three of them Shifted back, but even as they started off, Chari stopped. She'd caught a whiff of something that was distinctly not the fox girl. She sniffed the ground. Yarvees. She snarled. The racoon. Yarvees had met with the fox girl; that man's meddling could never be good. They had to hurry.

Charima turned and hurried to catch up with the other two.

Soon. Soon, they would find Vixen.

Yarvees was falling as sleep he was trying not to fall of the tree the wind blew and he smelled something " ugh reeks of deceive and its not me must be then " he laugh and whistle so the kids would stay inside the house he turned into his raccoon form and hid far up the tree " let's see what the fox looking for " he was patient and careful he knew she was dangerous and would not hesitate to attack all because an item he sold to her had fail " can't let go of a grudge ? " he whisper to himself he focus his eyes to the darkness to be able to better see them coming his gaze didnt move from the trail.

" well seems they aren't coming this way still it doesn't hurt to make sure " he climbed down and told the kids to stay put e wasn't one to go look for fight but this kids two humans and a shifter they matter to him, they were the future yarvees never understood the war he wasn't sure why shifters and humans hated each other they look the same and acted the same the only difference is shifter transformed into animals and acted like it sometimes the other was humans weren't brave all the time they fear what they did not know remembering what he had sold the girl a shifter neutralization stone but it was a fluke or at least it seem that way the stone only work for those whose intentions were pure and didn't want to be shifters anymore, as yarvees ran to the forest getting closer he could sense something was wrong perhaps it was another attack on the innocent whether it was human or shifter he always thought it was wrong to kill civilians that's why he had left the army, he arrived slowly careful not to be notice in sight or smell he transformed back into humanoid form and pulled his hood over his head he saw the red head girl he had given his raccoon charm to and then the others a pack of wolf this would complicate things sure yarvees was skilled fighter back then but he had spend the last year's using his skill to run away not fight he wasn't sure if he could do much still he waited for them to do something.

"Vixen," Mist said beside Charima, her wolfish jaw moving in an arduous imitation of human talk. Very few wolves were able talk in wolf form; Mist was one of them. Charima was another, but at the moment she did not trust herself to speak to the fox girl and be courteous about it. Mist's wolf voice was unmistakably feminine, and made her sound much older than she actually was. It was feral in a way, stable but with an underlying animalistic threat to it at all times that made even Toohoo and Charima's fur stand on end.

"Vixen, fox shifter," Mist said again, taking a few trotting steps forward and into clearing while her two companions stayed back. "We have come with a proposition. We know that your tree house has been burnt down, and we are currently tracking the person responsible down. We have found that it was a human. We wish to give you a chance to join us on our hunt, if you should want to. If you should refuse, it will have no incidence on our actions. We will hunt, and we will kill; with, or without you."

Mist's clear blue eyes strayed back to Charima reflexively. Silently, the huge black wolf nodded, and Mist stepped back to allow Charima to step forward, towards the fox girl. Slowly, Charima came forward, her eyes fixed to the fox girl's as she advanced. Then, when she was standing, still a wolf, directly in front of the red head, she lay down, head on her front paws, facing her, bringing her head level with the girl's stomach.

An unmistakable gesture of submission, and one rarely seen in wolf shifters - particularly not toward fox shifters.

Charima, with this gesture, was indicating her willingness to work with Vixen, and placing her trust in the fox girl's hands. By submitting, she was making a silent promise of unspoken peace.

Vixen stared at the wolves, blinking a few times. She lifted the cookie to her mouth and took a few thoughtful bites. She shrugged and looked away at the trees, feeling awkward. "Why does it concern you? The tree house was my business, I don't see a reason for you to get involved. It's a waste of time, it was a loss but I don't see how it concerns you." She gazed at wolf that had laid down in front of her, her eyes unable to leave. She let out a quiet laugh, blushing. "You can get up if you'd like," she said.

" I knew she was special " he whisper while watching from the top of a tree, it was hard to find shifters who didn't hold a grudge against a human as well as humans not holding a grudge against shifters, he sighed the wolf was noble but her hatred had made her very lost to peace and love " hate hate that's all I see " he whisper again. he didn't move he was turning around preparing to leave if vixen wasn't in trouble he had not need to stick around and risk a confrontation, he smile and look again just to make sure things were ok and that the wolf wouldn't created another blood trail like she was famous for.

Vixen shrugged and gazed at the ground, kicking it gently with her foot, tearing up a bit of the dirt. "Well, when you lose a lot, you just learn not to care as much as you're supposed to. It helps, especially with difficult situations." She glanced back up at the wolf, her voice guarded and quiet. "Not all humans are bad. Just like not all shifters are bad. If you're going to seek vengeance, make sure what you're doing is right." Setting down her cookie, she rubbed her hands on her lap and sighed, her voice sarcastically cheerful. "It is either kill or be killed, huh? I'm not going to choose, I will take whatever comes my way, good or bad. I'm not going to 'kill', I'm just going to do what it takes to survive." She watched the wolf speaking, slightly curious.

Silently, Charima looked at the girl, her big golden eyes shimmering with something that did not have its place there. Worldessly, the huge black wolf padded forward again, and when she came head to chest with the redhead, she lowered and nose and nudged the girl's cheek gently with it. She exhaled softly and said, "Both of us have lost things we cared about, have we not? I can see it in your eyes. I can see it just like I'm sure you can see MY loss in my eyes."

Charima drew back slightly, and this time she bent down and nudged the hand that had been holding the cookie. "Food is a comforter, is it not? And yet we need it to live, and we eat it everyday. Could it be that we all need to be comforted, every day of every decade? Could it be that we have all lost something dear to us at one point or another - something that we will never be handed back and told, 'Here, I was just on holiday, but I'm back now, and I love you'? Could it be that this world is so cruel as to take from us what we were never willing to give in the first place?"

Charima lay down again in front of the girl, crossing her paws in front of her, and tucked her head gently under the fox girl's arm. "Vixen," she said softly, and it did not escape either of their notice that this was the first time that she had addressed her by her name. "I have not expressed what I truly meant. Vengeance is all I have left. It is how I hold onto the world, how I keep on going even when I should have been stripped of all determination. I do not love life. I was deprived of that love eight years ago, when my brother was killed by the humans. He was all I had left. That is why I wage a war against them so strongly. That is why I am here today, to fight a battle that is not mine, yet that I need perhaps just as much as you do. If you will not see it as vengeance, then how about justice? Is this not justice? A life for a life? A gangster's bargain, and yet one as old as the world itself. The world is unfair. But neither of us should have been taught to fear it so early on in our lives."

"Vixen," Charima said again, looking up at the red-headed girl from where her head was tucked under the girl's arm. "If you will not come with us, if you will not accompany us in this forsaken quest of ours - will you teach me to love this life again? Will you teach me to forgive and to forget, and to let my quest for revenge go as ephemeral?" The wolf looked down and away from the girl's face, but did not move as it said, "I will call off the search for the human," she whispered softly, "but I am in need of something to replace it with. Something to occupy days of what has became forceful living. Teach me to live again, fox girl. My name is Ookami Charima, of the Clan of the Wolf of District Psi, and I am begging you to help me in what has become a lost bargain with myself."

At that, Charima closed her eyes. There was something within her, a black void of churning stars that had been there for years, that had been soother over by the fox girl's voice. She felt suddenly at peace - more herself than she had been in years.

Behind her, Toohoo and Mist, as silently as they had come, turned around and disappeared into the trees - leaving them alone.

Vixen gazed curiously at Charima. She picked up another cookie and took a bite of it as she gazed up at the trees. She smiled slightly. "What now?" She said with a bit of a laugh in her voice. "Usually I come to town and then go home, alone, and just sit on my steps." She shrugged.

The forest was quiet in the human side, strange he thought there would be more barricades around hopefully this means there won't be escalation in this problem he said as he walk along the path looking for others around his journey was just starting and he was tired already he thought of those he met recently. " I can probably avoid the one call shadow, definitively avoid charisma if I want to keep my head but that red headed girl she is different I couldn't get the scent of a Fox like charima said maybe she using a disguise but a nose train on deceive can perceive deceive " he said as he walk maybe vixen wasn't what the wolf's thought she was maybe she was something else he headed to the source of the fox girl scent which he assume was her house this would confirm if she was using a charm to give off the shifter smell.

Vixen crossed her legs and stood up, she smiled wryly. "You can sleep in my bed if you'd like to, I don't mind. Nor do I mind you being in wolf form, whatever makes you feel more comfortable. After all, if something bad to happen then I guess you could say it was meant to be." She shrugged and picked up her things, glancing at the wolf. Realizing her house would probably be a mess, she ran her fingers through her hair awkwardly. "Heh, just to let you know, my house isn't the greatest out of all of them.." She trailed off.