irony, don't gotta love it [open]

[leah clearwater]

Leah Clearwater had stopped finding irony particularly funny at about age seventeen aka approximately the time her life became irony’s little cluster…well, yeah. Still, regardless her less than stellar sense of humor, even she couldn’t help a snort of amusement when she considered her present set of circumstances. Was there anything even remotely more cliché than the fact that she was in the woods, four paws on the ground, covered in fur, staring up at a full, silver moon?

God, where was her life going anyway?

If (when?) one of the boys found her, they’d never let her live it down. Then again, being beta wolf did run its advantages. She could just talk Jake into giving them extra patrols or something. Yeah, she’d just threaten to pull rank or something and it wouldn’t be an issue.

But then again, given the thoughts swirling around in her wolf brain, they probably wouldn’t have the heart to give her hell anyway: who could blame her? Full moons, for some bizarre, too-cliché-for-her-to-dwell-on reason, always made her think about her family. Maybe it was the way silver late cast shadows through her house, reminding her (yet again) of how empty it was. How quiet everything felt after they’d lost mom (and even Charlie).

Sure, it was probably hard for some of the others too, she knew it weighed on everyone: watching family and friends age and shrink and wither and died. But most of them still had their imprints (aged though they might be) or even kids. Or even if they were gone, they had the memories of them to try and fill the eerie glow left by the round, distant moon. She just had Seth (which, goodness knows, she’s grateful for) and the memories of the life her parents had; a life she’s never had and, for all she knows, will never have. Her house is full of decades old photos: they haven’t changed in years, had no desire to document the changes in their mother; the Clearwater house looks like time just stopped, except for the re-arranged bedrooms.

But that’s fitting, isn’t it? Leah thinks, padding slowly up to the river to take a drink. Just another heap of irony that she can’t ignore in the light of a too bright moon—after all, the lives of the Clearwater kids and their pack mates did just stop.

Urg, she growled, enjoying the way the sound seemed to startle the crickets and overpower the tugging summer breeze. Cause all this is really helping Clearwater.

[ooc: so Leah is moody (surprise, surprise) but also very introspective. Feel free to change or keep the mood. Cheer ups or drama fests equally welcome.]

[seth adrian clearwater]

leah wasn't in their house. it sucked, sharing a house with his sister even though he was sixty years old. sixty years old, but still with the same face he'd had fifty years ago. but he wasn't old enough to have his own house and look normal to the people on the outside. fifteen year old boys didn't buy their own places to live.

and so he stayed with his sister. it made sense, living with the only relative he had left. he probably could have moved in with jacob or quil or embry, but it felt more normal to live with leah. she was the only family he had left and, even though he'd never let it show, he needed her and loved her.

he was used to her being out at nights, used to her being out in general. the house wasn't really needed, but leah still hated eating as a wolf and needed some place to cook her meals. seth rarely came back to it anymore except for his bed. but tonight, he'd wanted to spend some time with leah. a rare occasion, but he was feeling sentimental tonight and wanted to be with his sister. and, since she wasn't in the house, he knew exactly how to find her.

the backdoor still swinging shut, seth shifted into the wolf he was at heart. sandy fur turned gray in the moonlight and again he felt the urge to sing to the great rock in the sky. but he had to find leah first. he reached out with his mind, calling to her. 'leah? leah, where are you?' he could see broken images as she looked at her surroundings. the moon, the trees, the river. the river. so that's where she was, he began to run towards her, though not at full speed. if she didn't want him (and there were plenty of times she didn't) he wouldn't annoy her.

[leah clearwater]

Of course, she felt Seth’s presence the moment he shifted—a bubble of bright enthusiasm (not chased away even by the intervening years), which helped to shake and disturb the dregs of her bad mood that remained even in light of her cricket scaring amusement. But for a moment he didn’t seem to be thinking anything in particular; just moving around. Seth and Jake had always both been better at surrendering themselves to the wolf inside than she was. Even with four legs, a tail and the smell of the forest around her, Leah couldn’t completely relinquish her thoughts to instincts the way the boys could. Sometimes she was a little bit jealous of their ease, just another oddity that alienated her; but other times she enjoyed the knowledge that even though being a werewolf (shapeshifter—whatever) consumed her life, she still managed to retain herself within it.

Just a few heartbeats after the bright cadence of Seth’s wolf filled her consciousness, Leah heard the first solid, formed thought from him. ‘Hey Seth,’ she called out mentally, glad for the distraction and company. The years had mellowed her slightly; at least amongst her own pack Leah could be downright nearly friendly when she wanted to be. Even though she could already see him moving her direction, images of the forest moving around him played through the back of her mind, she still answered his question. ‘By the river.’

Anticipating his arrival, the shaggy gray wolf (she definitely needed a haircut, her fur was starting to get too long again) lifted herself up onto her paws. The moon brightened the forest to such a degree, Leah thought she might even be able to see him coming before she could hear or smell him; which would be a rarity. Werewolf ears proved her wrong though, his approaching pawsteps reaching her actual ears (which unconsciously pricked forward to catch the sound) even while they already sounded in her mind. ‘Hey,’ she called again, a quiet but audible woof accompanying the words she was thinking when her little brother (utterly ironic these days; since she was the smallest wolf—and human—in their pack and what did a few years matter when you’d lived nearly 80?).

[seth adrian clearwater]

apparently she wanted his company. he hadn't exactly been expecting that, but leah had become much friendlier during the last fifty years. she was easier to get along with now, no longer tried to fight everyone over everything. in fact, seth didn't mind having her around constantly anymore. being inside another's person for half a century really made you grow close to them.

he smelled his sister before he saw her, then heard the soft rustling she made doing whatever it was she was doing. and then seth could make out her pale gray body. less than a hundred feet away, he stopped forcing his paws to move him forward and let his paws skid across the ground. 'hey yourself'

[/i] he answered his sister, finally stopping too close to her. the awkwardly proportioned wolf took a few steps back before he sat back onto his haunches.

in the moonlight, his sister's pelt shined silver. his own sandy fur took on an odd golden sheen to it. for whatever reason, this made him laugh, and series of short barks came from him with the mental chuckle. 'so what's up, lee-lee?'[/i] he asked, his lips spreading into the odd wolfish grin he'd become so well known for. his use of her old nick-name might spark a nerve with her, he wasn't sure anymore. she and sam had been apart for so long, and he'd heard others use it so...maybe it was allowed now?[/blockquote][/size]