This is a private one on one roleplay between bookwormiam2010 and raesilver42. If you are not one of the people mentioned then please do no post. Thank you!

Stars twinkled across the sky, such bright lights that almost seemed like ice on the sunlit morning just as the sun was rising. It didn't make much sense for her to be thinking about both morning and night, but she didn't mind being a little poetic every now and then. The packs had gathered beneath the full moon, females with flowers behind their ears and males grinning like idiots as they tried to impress. Oh, a good chest puffing out wouldn't be too bad, would it? It made all those females swoon like crazy if done right, then their howling filled the air.

Aurora padded along beside her alpha, a thick-set male with greyish eyes. Her own green ones searched the hill side as they approached. Her coat, a silvery grey along her sides and some tan flecked in, rippled over strong muscles with each step they took. Leo gave her a warm grin, then loped away to the top of the hill. It was her signal to go and have fun, something that she'd never understood. While all the other females seemed content to just flirt and make fools of themselves, that seemed to have missed Aurora and her forest green gaze. Rather, she'd just ignore males all together if she could...except for when they got out of hand and needed to be taught a lesson.

Her parents were off to a side she saw, their voices rising in harmony, and she longed to go join them. However, she was no pup anymore; she was expected to make her own family. However, the female found that it was more likely for males to just want the beta male position than it was for them to actually like her. She was one of the few females in the world that still believed in love, in being with the one guy that could make you feel special. Having not found that yet, she instead settled for going to the side with the other...

The omegas, the lower wolves, were seated off to the side. A few of them tried to catch her eye, but Aurora just rolled her eyes and kept walking. Frowning, she padded up to a separate ledge from all of the other couples and sat, curling her brown-tipped tail around her paws. She didn't mind listening to the music, but she was a little lonely. Not really, but close enough. With a sigh, she looked up at the stars overhead and wondered for a moment what it would be like to be with someone who cared about her...then she decided that that was ridiculous and instead settled on what hunting patrols she would set out the next day.

Kenyonlet out a soft sigh as he peered up at the sky. 'What a beautiful night...' he thought as he trailed along behind his alpha leader. He wasn't waxing poetic thoughts by any means but how could one not look up at the sky and be drawn in by something with such simplistic beauty? As the sounds of harmonized howls filled the air around him he promptly came to the conclusion that he wasn't the only one who felt this way. His ear twitched slightly hearing the loud off pitch yowling of his friends as they ran towards him eager to try and pull him into their antics as usual. Before his alpha, a somber face lithe wolf with warm amber eyes, a soft nod before he turned his attention to his friends. His friends remained respectably silent as their alpha slowly made her way to the top of the hill her tail swishing softly as she passed other pack members. But once she was a far distance away they lost all restraint and threw themselves on top of him with puppy like delight. "Come on Kenyon! You said last time you'd come and hang out with us. You promised! Come on...you can't spend the rest of your life mourning Bryn-" one silly wolf started but he didn't get far before Kenyon whirled on him his hackles raised and his teeth bared. "Don't tell me what i can and can't do! " he snarled his slate gray eyes turning harder and colder as he moved forward a low threatening growl rising up from with in him as he stared the clueless wolf down.

With a low whine the wolf dropped down rolling over to bare his stomach to his beta male. He hadn't meant to upset the larger wolf. But really...it'd been ages since Brynn had passed away. It wasn't that he didn't miss his sister. How could he not miss his own sister? But he'd moved on, just like Kenyon needed to. It wasn't sensible for a young wolf with as much potential to be the next possible alpha to mope around in such a fashion. And yet Kenyon didn't seem to care. Kenyon's hackles slowly lowered as he backed away from the unfortunate wolf. Move on? How could anyone ask him to do that? How could they ask him to forget about Brynn and move onto some other vapid shallow female who couldn't come close to comparing to her? Call him crazy, call him silly he didn't really care. He'd loved Brynn. And if you loved someone then you didn't just forget about them so soon after they'd died. You didn't just move on..you remembered them and cherished their memory. Why didn't anyone understand that? Even his alpha, Luna refused to let the subject drop. Like everyone else in his pack she was just looking out for him and trying to get him to do what was best for him but she wasn't helping matters any. If anything she was just infuriating him that much more. Nodding sagely he turned away from the no longer rambunctious group of wolves and walked away.

Tonight wasn't a night for fighting. Tonight was a night of peace. A night of well..harmonizing. But he didn't want to. Actually he wanted to, he just couldn't do it with anyone here. Brynn was dead, his partner was gone...Shaking his head, Kenyon kept his gaze focused straight ahead blatantly ignoring the preening females around him as he quietly made his way to a secluded ledge to spend the evening enjoying the nights festivities before he stopped in his tracks noticing someone else was there. He hesitated slightly before he spoke. "Is this spot taken or do you mind if sit here as well?" he asked with a low cordial dip of his head.

Aurora had never been in love. She didn't know the emotions at all, as she was a fairly young she wolf who didn't really look at all the other males. To her, they just wanted to take the beta male role, which would provide more authority than perhaps even her place. Though she tended to be a pretty sweet tempered female at times, she knew when to put wolves in their places. At the moment, she just kept to herself and only socialized when she had to. Even the other females didn't really seem to get alone with her, as she didn't preen and prep herself with a ton of flowers. It was almost like she didn't want to have a mate, which was anti-everything that made up a wolf. Surely she did? Then why was it that she was so standoffish and refused the attentions of any male at all?

She wanted what her parents had; pure love and devotion, a marriage that worked and was built on love and devoted trust. Her father would do anything for her mother, and she loved that the most about watching them. She didn't want just any male to pay her attention; she wanted a male that really actually wanted to be with her. Her green eyes peered up at the stars as she sat with her muzzle perked up in almost a smile...almost. She never actually smiled, not since she didn't have much to smile about. Sure, she had a loving family and a pack that loved her and were devoted to her...but she didn't know what else to expect in life. The males were trying to get the attention of the pretty female with brown tipped tail and glossy coat.

Her head turned as a male came to her ledge that she had thought was really off to the side and would thus be ignored; she was both annoyed and not that she had company. Her mother had tried telling her daughter to be more open with males, to give them a chance, afterall...maybe she just had to let her guard down for Mr. Right to find her. She didn't know if it was possibly or not, but she had decided to be a little bit more open. So for once, she gave him a small smile and dipped her head in greeting. She recognized him of course, and they wouldn't even be talking if not for the peace limits on the air for the night. Her tail flicked once in a wag as she looked him over....the beta male of the rival pack, but maybe she just...had never stopped to look at him before.

Strange. She clamped down on these thoughts and shoved them away. "No, this spot isn't taken. Please, join me Kenyon." She knew of him, but they hadn't really talked before. Would they now? She was trying to be more open, but she felt her walls sliding up again as he wasn't exactly from her pack. Now she'd have to be careful with her tongue.

Kenyon's ears twitched upwards at the sound of his name leaving her lips. She knew his name? Odd he didn't remember seeing her let alone introducing himself to her. Frowning he moved for a few more steps to get a better look at her in the soft moonlight. Ahh..Aurora. Beta female of Leo's pack. Well that explained why she knew his name. But it was odd that he didn't remember seeing her. She didn't look familiar. Actually she didn't look like any female wolf that he'd seen before. Not that it was a bad thing. It was relief not to stumble upon some female all but throwing herself at his feet just to get a taste of the power and respect that came with being a beta. It would be even nicer just to have someone to talk with. Maybe Aurora was that wolf? Nah he doubted it. Of course they shared the same pack status but that was far as their similarities went. They were from two different packs, two packs who were often at one another's throats at that. it was pointless to say the least.

Hearing her say it was ok to sit with him he quietly sat down his muscles tense in case she changed her mind. "Are you sure? If you'd like I could go find somewhere else to sit. I'd hate to be a bother." he said politely. He was reluctant to move, because the chances of him finding another ledge as secluded and private as this were next to none. And if he did then that ledge wouldn't have the same lovely view. he was talking about the sky, not Aurora.

Although...Aurora wasn't too bad to look at. Once again she was different from the other female wolves he'd seen gathered around tonight. For starters there was the lack of those blasted flowers most females seemed so fond of. And her scent..it was clean. Natural. Somehow the female in his pack had gotten into their heads that to make themselves smell more appealing it was best to go and roll around in the biggest patch of flowers they could find. Wrong. At least in his case it was. There was such a thing as too much and the females in his pack had long ago reached and soared right past that mark. The lengths they went to just to attract a mate. It was laughable to say the least.Why was she so different? She wasn't just different in appearance. She was even different in attitude and temperament. He had so many questions but he wasn't so sure now was the right time or place to ask them. But..if not now then when? As of now they were at peace so he didn't have to worry about making her mad enough to cause some silly fight between the packs. If anything he'd just make this moment even more awkward than it already was.

Hesitating slightly he opened his mouth and asked the question that was bothering him. "I don't mean to overstep any boundaries here but why are you so different from other females?" he asked with a curious lilt of his head. He even offered a faint smile his lips curling up just enough to show the tip of his sharp teeth before he turned serious watching her for some reaction to his question. He hoped he hadn't insulted her. Because that hadn't been his intention. Not at all. He'd just wanted to know a little bit more about her. Something besides her name and her pack status. Was that so wrong?

Did he not know who she was? It was at once refreshing and not at the sametime; she liked that there was someone who wouldn't treat her as the beta of the pack that could help them move up. Surely, from her scent he could tell that she was a part of the rival pack? It was obvious that the two of them were pretty different, but he didn't seem put off by the fact that she was a rival wolf. This would have been worse if he had known that she was the beta of the other pack, she felt sure. He'd probably be avoiding her if he knew anything...and knew what was good for him. Her walls were up again, so strong that she felt sure that they would never come down again. What her mother said about letting a wolf in? It was ridiculous....

As he spoke, she felt her ears go back just a little. Why indeed was she different from the other females, who loved the flowers and rolling in fields upon fields before the Howling Meets, just because it meant that they had a higher chance of winning a male. Well, in their heads it was their scent that caught a guy's attention. Oh, she remembered quite well that males were drawn to the flowery scent; well, most of them were. They would get more caught up in the glossy coats and soft tails flicking behind them...flowers everywhere was just a bonus to make a guy want a female. At least, that was what they believed in. Aurora didn't see the point in the flowers.

Flowers brought in every guy, not just the good ones. The good and the bad were all brought to a female, and it turned out that all they wanted was a girl at their side. She didn't want to be just some girl. Her intent was to be special, to find a guy who treated her as such. When she had been a younger female, before she had been named as the beta, she had found herself doing the same thing as the other girls. She wanted a male, so she followed along behind the other girls with rolling in fields and draping petals over her fur. Surely that would bring the one that she was supposed to be with running, right? Right? And only him, just the way it happened in all of the stories?

A male had come to see her, and he'd been kind to her. For awhile, Aurora had even let herself believe that the male would ask her to marry him. The flowers seemed to have done the trick in the end. Both of them seemed so close, and her parents were so sure that it would be their eldest daughter that would wed and soon have a litter of warm pups to keep on their lineage. But one day, while out hunting with a group, she stumbled upon her wonderful male cuddling with another female. It had been one of the most crushing moments of her life; from then on, she'd decided to stop trying. Males would just hurt her, and she disliked being reminded of these things. So, when they got married, Aurora became even more closed and angry. She seemed cold. But really, she was just hurting.

It was made even worse by the fact that the female Solare had chosen was her very own sister. Now she had nieces and nephews that she couldn't even bring herself to look at, much less act auntly towards. Bridgette had done her best to heal the wounds, but both of them turning on Aurora had made her cold and very harmed. So in the end, she closed up to everyone and focused on fighting. It was her lack of socializing and her great fighting that gotten her the beta role; she could kick butt when needed, and she had the distance to discipline them effectively. She didn't like looking at the male that should have been her husband...it still hurt sometimes, but not as deep as Kenyon's pain. And she was cold because she didn't want anyone to come near her.

An ear flicked. She could hear Solare's voice rising with her sister's...and a claw dug into the rock. Well, she probably wouldn't have been beta if she didn't live so hard core...but she didn't trust, and her heart was very pained. So maybe he was nice; he was even a little cute, with his nice coat and eyes that didn't just judge her. She could have been an omega for all he knew. Did he even know her name? All he knew was that she didn't bathe in flowers before a Howling Meet....which meant that she wasn't desperate. And oh no, she wasn't at all.

Turning her head to look at him, she managed a smile. A small one, but it had been a long time since a real one had crossed her lips. "Well, I don't really like looking like the other desperate females, throwing on a ton of flower scent just to try to attract a guy. It's pretty pointless, and I prefer my natural scent anyway. Or were you referring to something else?" She didn't mind listening to his questions or even answering them; she still didn't trust him, but there was something about his eyes that forced her smile to deepen into a real one for once.

Whoa, wait a second. He didn't think females that did that thing were desperate. He just thought they were...odd. After all Brynn had done the same thing that the other females had done but her soft flowery scent hadn't sent him running in the other direction. If anything it'd pulled him towards that much more. He'd loved her soft sweet flowery scent. But now..well now he wasn't such a huge fan of that smell. Maybe it was because he thought it belonged to Brynn? Nah..that was silly. Brynn couldn't possess anything now..she was dead. Gone. Kaput. He winced slightly as he thought about Brynn and her goneness. Why was he putting himself through this hurt? He knew she was gone, it wasn't like he could forget that.Huffing softly he forced himself relax allowing his slim form to spread out comfortably on the ledge.

His ears stood upright hearing one particular couples voice rising over theirs. He sat up slightly his ear flickering slightly as he waited hoping to catch another snitch of the couples sound. They didn't sound familiar...but what ever the case they sounded good together. Happy, and completely in love..Sheesh...love. He had to be the only male who cared about love let alone actually believed in it. He was pathetic...His ear twitched softly angling towards her as he heard her nail scrape against the rock. Obviously she knew who it was though. And it bothered her? Nah he couldn't know that for sure. She could have just been stretching and her claw had gotten caught somehow.

He let out a low chuckle hearing her answer to his question and shook his head softly. "No, you answered the right question. Although I wasn't just talking about appearance wise, Aurora. You're personalities different from theirs. You seem less interested in finding a mate and having a litter....actually I'd say thats the farthest thing from your mind." he pointed out before hesitating slightly. It was one thing to ask why her appearance differed so vastly from other but to ask why she acted the way she did? That was a little too personal. Maybe he'd just leave it at that. he didn't have to ask about it. "You don't smile as much as they do. You're serious. Yet you don't seem to be that much older than them..." he mused softly.

Well...seeing as her sister had taken her potential husband from her, she saw the flowery scent as desperate and a little to revolting. Maybe it was just because she associated her sister with that flowery, light smell. It seemed to sting her eyes whenever she sniffed it now, and if she wasn't the beta female...she might have avoided the Howling Meets altogether. Would it be so bad for her to be curled up in her den instead of here, sitting on a ledge as everyone around her howled together and celebrated in their love? When every rise of the voices close to them caused her pelt to rise a little as if she could just jump on both of them and teach them what their betrayal had done to her?

She would choose the ledge close enough to hear them together. A sigh almost came from her lips, but that would be a sign of weakness. Rather, she looked up at the stars and tried to figure out how long she had to sit there before she could excuse herself and go back to her anti-social world. You just have to open up! The right guy will find you if you don't drive them away with a stick! Yeah Mom...now she had the beta male from the other pack talking to her, questioning her. Not only that, he was close to figuring out the truth behind why she was so cold and locked up against all males and even a lot of females. Heck, she had a reputation of doing her job and not much else.

Made her a good beta, but what else to that? She'd dreamed of pups, of a male to cuddle against at night...but either males were just digging for her rank or had turned against her. Not trusting males was not going well for her anyway, though it made her a good worker. She could do her job, but she didn't have any of the things that she really wanted. How was he able to see behind her normally cold green eyes? She shook her head once, then laid down beside him so that she could look out over the valley with him.

"Hmm...why am I so unlike all the other females, you ask? Why am I so stoic and unsmiling? Well, the surface answer would be that I'm the beta of Leo's pack and thus it's my job to never relax...but the real answer is that I was hurt in my past." Why was she telling the truth? Why not? She wouldn't tell him all of it, not at all. "I guess I just don't feel like I can trust again, so...I'd rather be in my den than listening to all of this happiness."

Kenyon winced slightly hearing the seriousness of her tone. Oh crap, he'd insulted her! He hadn't meant to make it seem like he thought there was something wrong with being serious, if anything he liked it. It was nice to be able to talk with her instead of listening to her giggle over every other thing he said. Heck it was even better than listening to her yip on and on about mindless pack gossip. It was refreshing to say the least.

"Don't take it the wrong way, I wasn't trying to sound rude. I like the fact that you can be serious...but I don't think this is the time or place. You're young and pretty..." he paused his head dipping in embarrassment. Not pretty! Well she was pretty but he didn't want to sound like he was looking at her in a superficial kind of way. Agh how did he cover a slip up like that? "Smart!" he blurted his eyes lighting up just the faintest bit as he managed to cover up his slip of words. "You're young and pretty smart, and you're the beta of your pack. Its surprising that you don't have a potential mate...And you should be having fun. Becaause you're young...and yea ya know.." And now he was back in awkward territory again. Great, just great. Huffing he laid his head down even going so far as to cover his eyes with his paws to hide her inevitable amusement over his fumbling attempts at conversation.

And then as if he didn't feel bad enough for running his mouth, he heard the real reason behind why she was so serious. She'd been hurt. And there he'd been rambling on about pack mates...He was jerk! She'd been hurt, the last thing she'd want to think about, let alone talk about was pack mates...Unable to hide his guilty expression he gave a soft whine before he pressed his warm flank against hers in a silent offering of comfort. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to make you talk a bout that. I was just stating my observations. I didn't think you'd tell me the truth. Not the whole truth anyway. I'm honored that you felt you could tell me that though." he murmured respectfully tipping his in his direction as he remained close to her his flank pressed comfortingly against hers.

How was he going to make up for that? He couldn't just offer her comfort. What if that wasn't enough? There was no way he could make it up to her...unless he told her about his own pains. He swallowed nervously glancing down at her before he looked up again,forcing himself to focus on the lovely sight above them before he spoke."I know how you feel...the part about staying in your den and hiding from all this happiness anyway. I feel the same way. But I know if I do that then I won't ever move on...At least in your situation there's a bright side. You were hurt in the past, you've had time to heal and grow stronger because of that pain. At least the source of your pain is still alive. " he paused exhaling slowly before he continued. "Unlike you, I was hurt recently-by my standards anyway. I lost someone very dear to me a few months ago." he explained shakily. There he'd said it. Now both of their troubles were laid out in the open. He'd ran ahead and rudely opened his mouth making her talk about something she didn't want to so he'd repaid that debt in full...so why didn't he feel better?

Far from being insulted, Aurora was using the cold tone that she always used when she was asked about why she was so standoffish and ready to tear into someone. It was her beta tone, the tone that was meant to make the listened not question her and certainly not think that she was weak. Because after all the pain that she still felt in her chest, the pain that was renewed each time she glanced at her nieces and nephews, she knew that deep down she was still very weak. There was a chink, a weak spot in what seemed like impenetrable armor; if someone could find it, she feared that they would see that she really was, deep down, hurting and unhappy.

Aurora didn't know what to say when he went on to call her pretty...with most males, you could expect that she would take it the wrong way. Then, when the male least expected it, she would tear into him for even daring to think that she would called pretty. Pretty, beautiful, all of those terms seemed to her nothing but mindless flattery. What she wanted instead was to be taken seriously, to not have her past dictate whether she would be happy or not. She kept everyone away from her in order to keep to herself. Superficial words were all they would ever be, at least at the moment, as Solen had badly harmed her believe in the good of any males in the world. Well, except for Leo. Even he didn't have an alphess though because he didn't want to settled down...or because he 'hadn't met the right one'. She was amused though when he tried to back up and go around calling her pretty, amused enough to let a small chuckle escape her maw.

There were two ways his next sentences could have gone over: she could go cry because no, she didn't have a mate because he and her sister had turned against her and left her with nothing but an empty den and a sad need to fill her broken heart and build walls so she would never be harmed again. She pretended to be tough as nails, but really she wasn't. What she really wanted was for someone to find that chink in her armor, as scared as she was of anyone doing so. And as he awkwardly tumbled over his words, she found her chuckle deepening into a warmer laugh. As much as memories of her sister and love hurt, watching him put his paws over his eyes and try to not act like he'd just walked them into the awkward zone was exactly what she needed. So she laughed, a warm and gentle noise on the cool night air.

It had been awhile since she'd done it, but it felt good to laugh and enjoy his company. Even if he was a dork and said the wrong things, she liked that he was real instead of some suave male with only a new status on his mind. She smiled to herself, actually not feeling too bad about his mentioning pack mates in the wake of his being a dork. The paws over his eyes had been too cute for her to really focus on the rest of those lines, though his apologies quickly caused her to sober up again. She looked away, her green eyes focusing on a bird in the distance. Leo and all of the others had sympathized with her too...frankly, she just didn't know if any of them really meant it or not. On the other hand, she felt that Kenyon really meant it when he told her that he was sorry about what had happened to her.

He pressed his flank against hers, and Aurora stiffened just the slightest. This was a male, the beta from the rival pack, and he was supposed to be an enemy. More than that, she hadn't let any males near her in months. But, as he gave her a soft sign of comfort, she let her pelt relax again and just accepted the touch. How long had it been since she'd let anyone near? Years? Not even her mother and father really got that close to her anymore. With a flick of her tail, she gave him a softer smile as he told her that he was honored that she'd trusted him. Well, Aurora didn't really know why she'd told him that she'd been hurt before, but she'd told him...and he'd understood. More than that...

She listened with patient ears as he told her about what had happened in the past few months. Never could she imagine losing that one that you had found, that one that was supposed to be there with you forever. She had lost her love to another wolf, her sister, but that didn't hurt as badly as a lost life. At least she could see that the two of them were happy and completed each other, which was more than she could have asked for. But he knew that she was gone, that she wasn't coming back. Poor Kenyon...she felt a wave of sympathy, an emotion that had been missing from her for a long time, rock her chest, and she put one paw over his.

"I'm sorry for your loss," she said softly, and meant it with all of her heart. She felt bad about him, about his pain....about his loss. A story for a story, huh? Perhaps the details of hers would be told later, if she ever felt the need. There was peace at the moment, but at the end of Howl Meeting, they would separate again. "And I guess you're right. That being here is a way to move on. There's something about the howling that always entranced me, even when I was a young pup." A softer smile came over her lips, so rare for the cold and merciless beta that she had become. "Perhaps you and I are more alike than I thought."