CALLISTO Walk | Talk | Think She had not gone quite as far as she had first planned when she left Ebony. In those first panicked moments, merely getting out of the den she was sharing with Maximous had been the goal, but it had quickly escalated. Outside of the den became on the other side of the lake, which became on the other side of the territory, and beyond the territory. At first she was unaware of where it was that her lean grey legs were carrying her, but somewhere deep in her subconscious her old hiding place called to her. Before she realized it she had ended up not clear on the other side of the Alacritian continent but just beside her pack's lands, nearly at her old den site on the Stone Steppe. She prayed before she reached it that it would be empty - Max likely had not touched the place since he had found her there and so it would have been open for the taking - but it was as she had left it, and desperate she reclaimed it again. Time had passed, and though her stomach growled she was reluctant to leave the shelter. If she stayed where she was, curled up in the furthest corner, her back to the entrance, she stood a chance at blending in with the shadows, even if her scent said otherwise. If she ventured out in search of a meal, that put her in clear sight of any curious wanderers - or concerned packmates - who might come looking for her. No, she was not ready for that. Kassander might have been understanding enough, even if he had not been too thrilled by the circumstances of her return, but of them all Max had been the most concerned, the most interested in her. And all because he wanted to keep her next. The dark colored female curled up more lightly as she shuddered at the thought, suddenly feeling like ice. She needed to quit thinking about it. She needed to get her thoughts on other things. But with her belly aching for a meal and her paranoia preventing her from leaving the den, she felt trapped in a new sense of the word. No matter what she did, winning did not seem to be an option for her. Image by Maka.

The man had felt bad for not further explaining himself further when he had blerted his feelings. All he could think of at the time was offering to leave but that hadnt worked as she had run away. Presumably to leave Ebony and to get as far away from him as she could.

After Callisto had bolted from his den, Max had tried to stay in his den for as long as he could. Sitting still and feeling as though the girl he loved hated him didnt work out well though. He needed to move even if that meant all he was doing was running. Sadly running hadn't worked for long so he would find something to chace.

The rabbit however would soon bore him and he would kill it with the intention to offer it to someone else in Ebony. In picking up the rabbit Max had realized just how far he had gone. In all of his running he had left the boarders of Ebony and was staning on an old scent boundary on the side of the Stone Steppe furthest from his packs boundaries. For a split second he thought he might keep going and just like that the thought was gone.

He would turn back and head for home, but he would go by Calli's old den to see if that is where she had gone first. Just as he had suspected her scent was fresh but the question was, was she still here. "Callisto, if your in there I brought you a rabbit and an apology if your willing to hear it." His voice was soft but he would move away from the entrance as soon as hus words had left him. Not so much that he couldnt hear her if she spoke but enough to give her more space.

CALLISTO Walk | Talk | Think No matter how much she told herself she did not need to go finding food her stomach still continued to occasionally gurgle pleadingly at her, which only managed to elicit a heavy sigh. How was she going to do this? She really should have gotten further away from Ebony than this, no matter the sentimental value this isolated den held for her. It was too close to her pack lands, too close to Maximous, and considering the way she had up and left not so very long ago she half expected him to be on the lookout for her, with or without the help of the pack. Gods, she hoped he had not told them. It was one thing to have to worry about him alone, but to have to worry about the entire pack as well? This is stupid. All of it. Her silvery blue eyes were half lidded, the disinterested look about her hinting at her resignation over her desolate fate, but behind it all her thoughts were buzzing. How could she do this? Maybe she could just make a break for it, go racing from the den and keep running until she was well enough away from this area and safely somewhere else before she stopped for a meal. Or maybe she could take it slow, see if anyone was even around this area first before she went running off and possibly drawing attention to herself because of her haste. Running immediately sounded the better plan to her, but that was only because now her den no longer felt as safe as it had when she had returned to it. She was still trying to choose a course of action when she heard soft paw steps outside of the den, and immediately she froze. Oh shit. Her whole body tensed where she lay curled up, but she dared not move. Only her ears did, turned back to listen as closely as she dared as those steps drew nearer and eventually stopped just outside of her den. Shit. There was no hiding her scent, especially since she had been holed up in the den for a while now. She was cornered. The sound of his voice, the voice that she knew would find her eventually, entered her den unwanted, and instantly her pale eyes clenched shut in a moment of anger. Damn him. He had found her, though no doubt she had made it easy for him. And - Damn him again - he had brought her a rabbit. Just the sound of hearing him mention his catch was enough to wake her stomach again, and she willed it to remain quiet, and it was only by chance that it managed to listen to her and stay silent. He mentioned an apology and from the sound of it stepped back from the den, distancing himself from the entrance and from the wolf stuck within. Callisto said nothing at first, her mind a blur. He had found her, because of her own stupid choices no doubt, and he wanted to talk. Well, she did not. Nor did she want to take the offering he had brought her, whatever token it was meant to be as a means to win her over. He loved her, and that was far too much for her to handle. Especially after everything she had been through. She thought about staying silent, but decided it was stupid in the end since he obviously knew she was there. Talking to him was out of the question - she had no interest in hearing whatever apology he had whipped up and really did not want to leave her shelter to face him knowing now what she did. She took the coward's way, staying inside of her hole and, not even moving to speak directly to him, spoke aloud so that he could hear from outside, "Go away." Image by Maka.

The man would wait patiently for an answer. The one he received would hurt but not as much as her running away had, as he'd expected this answer. It was all he needed as proof that she hated him...hell her running away had made him suspect that very thing.

He wanted nothing more than for her to be happy even if that meant he had to be miserable. Even if he had nothing to do with that happiness, it was all he wanted for her. He would not move or make a sound for a while after she had answered. He was two busy chastising himself for ever even considering a possibility of her even remotely liking him.

Finally the man would growl at himself "Your an idiot Max!" his voice would be so soft it had almost been a whisper and then with no anger his voice would raise loud enough for her to hear "I never would have told you if I had known it would make you hate me. Hell, I wasnt expecting you to accept it but...."

Maximous would sigh then, realizing that he was just waisting his breath again. She wanted him to go away but still he hoped she would come out and tell him he was wrong. Based on his previous hopes he figured it would't happen. After a frew minutes he would stand and move towards the entrance. After a few seconds he oppened his mouth to say something but then closed it again deciding she probably didnt care and then would turn around to walk away.

Though he wouldnt make it far before collapsing on the ground only to cover his face with both paws.

CALLISTO Walk | Talk | Think There was silence beyond the den's entrance, eerie and heavy, as she waited to see what Max might say or do. She had expected him to go right into his apology, whatever it was that he had worked up to tell her, and though she waited for it, ears turned back to listen as she continued to face the back wall of her den, nothing came. Nor did she hear any sound of retreating steps signifying he was doing as she had told him and leaving her be. It was stressful, knowing he was there but not quite understanding why he was so silent. Could he no longer speak? Did he forget what he wanted to say? Was this his way of giving her the quiet and space that she wanted? It was not nearly enough. Unexpectedly, he growled, a quiet, low sound that startled her initially. When had she ever known Maximous to growl? At anyone? She had only ever seen him speak out of turn once and that had been on her behalf to Kassander, but even then he had kept his cool enough not even to raise his voice or make the noise that he did now. Already on edge as it was, the dark colored girl tensed within her hiding place, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck stand, but the muttered words of self-loathing drifted away, carried away from her as Max distanced himself from the den. Was that it? Was he gone now? But no, he spoke again, his voice once more quiet and resigned and so pitiful. What did she say to that? It would have been nice if she could have told him she did not hate him, but at the moment she could not tell where her feelings rested, whether she was more angry or scared, defiant or cowardly. What was he wanting from her? It was not making things any better, but Callisto continued to refuse him any further comment, letting the only noise that came from her be the sound of her stomach gurgling another soft plea. If only it would shut up; it as ruining the silence she was trying to create and disappear into. Image by Maka.

Max would lay there on the ground silently for a while. He didn't know what else to do, aside from leave, but for some reason he couldn't make himself do that. Not yet anyway. His mind was too cruel to him to just let him leave. She was there, so close and within grasp but he couldn't touch her. He had never been able to touch her and probably never would with the way things were going. His mind would taunt him and after a while it would seem as though the birds were too.

No, the birds were just getting on his nerves as was his mind. Unfortunately he had no way to silence either of them as the birds would only be quiet if they were asleep or dead. As for his taunting mind, it wouldn't even be silenced when he was sleeping. It had taunted him when she had been stolen both in the day and at night keeping him from getting much rest. He assumed it would do the same now. *It was your fault she was stolen and now its your fault she is leaving.* the voice in his head would taunt *I cant believe you honestly thought the girl would like you, no one else dose.

Covering his face had only worked for a few minutes but as the voice would taunt, the man would grow angrier with himself. Slowly that anger would mix with hatred for himself and the man would ball up on the ground, trying to silence the voice. But no matter how tight he would curl the voice wouldn't be silenced. *Raisa left and all of her children hate you even though you helped them into the world. No one likes you how could you have ever thought this girl would be different.* As quietly as he could manage, regardless of how muffled it would be, Max would growl at the voice. No matter how correct that voice was, Maximous hated it and wanted it to shut up as much as he wished Callisto would talk to him. Though he figured his odds of that ever happening were as low as the odds as to whether or not the voice would ever shut up.

CALLISTO Walk | Talk | Think She heard nothing more to suggest that Max had finally left her, which meant he must have been somewhere just outside the den either waiting for her to emerge or waiting for some sort of response back. Still she could think of nothing to say that might remedy things, that might turn the whole fiasco she had ended a part of into something comfortable again. How could she even dare to look at him knowing that when he looked at her he did so with longing? That there was a part of him that wanted her, even in some way entirely different than Lel had? It made her skin crawl just to think about it, made her heart speed up anxiously. No, this was nothing that she wanted. She had only wanted to come back to the familiar, the comfortable, and instead her troubles had followed her home and destroyed the one sanctuary she had had in the world. The silence was broken by another pathetic growl from the once-healer from wherever he had gone outside the den, but Callisto refused even now to turn and face him. She stayed in her place, curled up in the very back corner of her den, her back to the den entrance and her gaze pointedly kept away from that opening. But her ears listened, heard the sounds of him out there, as if he was waiting for something from her. "I don't know what you're waiting for," she called out to him, praying that her voice sounded steadier than she felt. At least she no longer felt hungry, though she would have taken that over the sickening feeling that had settled in its place. This was all not sitting well with her, and she did not know how to turn the situation around to make it better. Image by Maka.

There woud be no talking for a while, aside from his own mind tormenting him. He had nothing more to say and he wasnt expecting anything from Callisto either. When her voice came drifting out of the den, Max would lift his head and stare at the entrance to her old den.

For a moment he wasnt sure if it had been her or he was hearing things, but would soon decide to answer anyway. "Im not waiting on anything" his voice was void of feeling as he figured she wouldnt care anyway. He would lay there for a few more moments before he would stand. "You have made it very clear that you want nothing to do with me, so ill make sure you wont have to."

He thought about leaving Ebony for a moment and then decided he would be just as worthless away from the pack as was within it. Silently he would turn away from the den and stalk back to his side of Ebony, leaving both Callisto and the rabbit behind.

Exit Maximous

CALLISTO Walk | Talk | Think There was a small pause that preceded Maximous's answer, one that made Callisto wonder if he was going to answer her at all. He had been doing nothing but growling pathetically, at himself she assumed, and she had heard his mumbling something to himself while he was at it. Had he been broken by all this too? She could not remember him behaving so before she had been taken away...but then that felt like ages ago, a different time entirely. She would never have acted like this either, cowering away inside of a den all because someone had confessed to loving her. Could Lel have caused more damage beyond just what he had done to her? The answer he gave was spoken through a voice uncharacteristically flat, almost hard in the emotionless quality to it. It was so unlike him, but it was still his voice, still distinctly Max even if he sounded nothing like how she remembered him. A part of her wondered if that was her doing, if she had done that by refusing him, but she was too selfish a creature to care beyond a mild sense of disappointment that he had to like her in the first place. If he had only found another to set his eye on while she was away, then maybe things would have been able to go back to the way they had been before she had been taken instead of dissolving into this mess. At the end of it all, he excused himself, and she finally heard the sound of his retreat. Callisto waited, tensed, hardly willing to let herself believe it on the off chance he might have still been waiting somewhere nearby. He had always been a creature of his word before, but now...she was not so sure what to believe of anyone anymore. So she waited, eventually relaxing back into place where she lay curled inside her old den, and shut her eyes tightly against the cruel, horrible world she had been born into. -End thread- Image by Maka.