A Yearning For Home [Joker & Open]

[Viv]

I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But it's home to me and I walk alone

Soft paw steps filled the quiet night of Shore Woods. A place many have called home, and a place where few have stayed. Blinded by adventure, and by what lies outside this territory. The enticing calling of what else there was pulled wolves away. Like a seductive mermaid enticing sailors into the ocean. There are those few who left after Shore Woods Pack seemed to have no hope for the future. Now they are all coming back. All for reasons of their own. Homesickness, a calling, or just plain domination of Shore Woods.

Levi Tafari was one of those wolves who had gone with the wind. Born and raised in Shore Woods, yet never had he had a yearning to come back home till now. It was a surprising twist for this cold, distant wolf. What he was hoping to find eluded him. He was never much of a pack leader himself, so all ideas of making a new pack would have been thrown away long ago. A leadership of a different kind beckoned him, but for now that was just a distant calling. Maybe what he was really looking for was a familiar wolf, or more specifically Joker.

Though the two were never close, Levi still had a hard earned respect for the wolf. Rumor had it that Joker was picking up where his father had left off, and if that was true Levi wanted back in. Shore Woods beckoned him back, and if it wasn't for the hope of a new pack then he would be off again. Traveling never suited him, but he would live through it as long as he needed to. He threw his head back and howled his own little special 'hello' to Shore Woods. Hopefully it would attract wolves, and that was something he wanted.

He sat right down on his rump and stubbornly waited. He snapped his chomps in impatience as he wondered why he choose to make his entrance at night. A yawn quickly escaped his muzzle as he looked around. It didn't seem like to long ago that he was here in Shore Woods as that little pup. He was a playful pup at that age, and not as obnoxious. It's really blurry when he had changed into such a wolf. What had caused him to become the wolf he was today? Now he would never admit it, but maybe it was the loneliness he felt from traveling.

Despite this change in character he does know where he belongs. For this new pack he would lead wolves into battle. He would give his life for that feeling of family again. The real question wasn't what had shaped him, but instead how loyal he would be to a wolf he never cared for. Only the future could hold tell these secrets.

"Shore Woods I am back, and this time I won't leave. No matter what," he whispered as he looked around his surroundings.

I walk this empty street
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Where the city sleeps
And I'm the only one and I walk alone

OOC: That is a really intro. I guess I just wanted Levi to make an entrance.

[Kenren]

Joker was caught in a fitful sleep, nightmares plaguing what he had hoped would be a restful night. Irial stood over him, a snarl on his lips. Joker had been just a pup then, no older than four months. He cowered to the ground, belly scraping dirt, but Irial didn't care. "What good did you think would come of it?" the man growled, and Joker could say nothing in his own defense. "I gave you one command, Jory. Stay put. And instead we lost a life because of your disobedience." Joker hated that name, hated the way his father spoke it. He was the only one who ever called him by that. He hated the rolling feeling of guilt. He hadn't know, he never would have disobeyed if he'd known... but it was too late now. And his father's eyes held a distrustful hate that he'd never seen before... It was something of a blessing when the sound of a howl shook him from his own memories - or what he assumed was accurate enough to be memory. That had been years ago. He was a little disoriented as he rolled to his feet, shaking the dirt from his fur. He didn't know what direction the sound had come from, but he figured if he moved south from the he'd eventually find what he was looking for. The wind was against him, and it took him longer than he'd like to finally catch the scent of... someone not unfamiliar. He couldn't help but feel elated that the old pack had started showing up again, even if there was no real love between he and the one waiting for him. He jogged toward the distant figure, a wry grin on his face. "Sorry I took so long. You really didn't have to wait, you know. This place is your home as much as mine." While he and Levi weren't great friends, Joker didn't really have a problem with him. They just didn't... mesh well.