The Morning Routine [open]

[rowan michael]

The sun was barely peaking out over the horizon when the girl slipped out of the dorms wearing one of her prized jumpsuits. Already in fourth year, the instructors of Stonemont had begun to substitute all of her pants for skirts and dresses. Luckily she had stowed away a few sets of pants to keep to herself. Looking around the courtyard, she saw that there was no one around to stop her, so she ran as quickly as she could out of the open space and into the cover of trees.

Rowan wasn't so naive as to believe that no one could have seen her, seeing as how there were tons of windows facing the path she had taken, but in all her years, no one had said anything about her early morning routine. Not even her roommates.

The smell of the forest rose up around her as she traveled deeper into it's domain, calming her from her previous day's stress and preparing her to face another load of the evil tension. As she walked along one of the well beaten trails, she took in her surroundings. The green of the underbrush, canopy, and moss. The dark browns and greys of the various species of trees. The specks of colour that filled the forest with flowers. The scampering of small animals and chirping of morning birds.

She was so caught up in the forest that she barely noticed the grey wolf that had taken a spot by her side, matching her stride for stride. Rowan wasn't startled when she looked down at the creature. Instead, she reached out her hand and ruffled it between the ears.

"Morning Ulric." The wolf nudged into her hand to get the full feel of it as it's muzzle seemed to tilt upwards in a smile.

Rowan dropped her hand back by her side and looked out once again over the forest. Then she set into a steady jog, Ulric by her side.

[douglas carter]

The morning was fresh in the air and if you tried really hard, you could feel nature waking up slowly as a whole as the sun's first ray broke through from the eastern rim and stretched across the sky. It was a calm, gentle movement, the rustle of the trees was like a man yawning contently after a good night's sleep. Nothing could be better than becoming a part of this large canvas, with nature painting away with long, deep strokes that drowned the long-asleep land into a bath of warm light, which tenderly melted away the cold night air. 

Douglas was fortunate enough to see this symphony of nature and had woken with a blade of the sun's rays cutting into his eye. Irritated at first, Douglas was soon enraptured by the scenery outside his window, watching the calm night blossom into life. Surprised but glad that he hadn't let the shades down the night before, Douglas quickly put them down and changed into clothes appropriate for outside his room. He then went through his morning routine of washing his face and brushing his teeth before running outside to see the last traces of night unravel away into dawn. It had been awhile since he had woken up this early, so Douglas decided to enjoy it. 

Breathing in the fresh, crisp air, Douglas strolled down the path, taking in the scenery along the way. He loved this school and where it was. The unity with nature and the balance was perfect and soothing. As he walked down the way, he say a figure heading up. Squinting his eyes and straining his neck, Douglas saw that it was a girl around his age. There was something running next to the girl, too. A dog? No, it was too large. As they approached, Douglas realized it was a wolf and also a bit shocked, he marveled at the beauty and grace of the creature. "Hello!" he called out to them. "Beautiful morning, isn't it?"

[rowan michael]

The pair of friends had slowly worked from a slow jog to the pace of a hunt. The morning air whipped around them, tousling blond locks and ruffling grey. Ulric had started baying for the fun of it, but almost as quickly as it had started, the noise stopped. Rowan was quick to slow her pace back to a slow jog as she kept a watchful eye on the seemingly peaceful surroundings. Ulric didn't stop his baying without a reason.

Within moments, the reason became clear as a figure materialized around one of the trail bends. A boy, by the looks of it. And probably a fellow student as well. She slowed her pace even more until she was walking to meet the dark haired boy. As she came closer, she recognized the boy from classes they had shared throughout their years. Douglas Carter was his name if she remembered correctly.

Ulric, not knowing who the stranger was, had moved to block Rowan if the boy was a threat. The girl didn't stop him, but did send the wolf a warning growl so that Ulric wouldn't show his teeth. She didn't mind the protectiveness of her companion though. She had to smile at the irony. If anyone else had played the role of protector around her, she would have knocked them to the ground in an instant.

"Yes, it is." She said, her breathing as if she hadn't just run 6 miles. "Although I don't usually happen across other students at this hour."

[douglas carter]

Douglas smiled brightly at the girl, observing her face. She looked so familiar and he could swear that she was in some of his classes. He believed that her name started with an 'R'. It was something like Ramona or Rowena or something like that. Well, he would find out sooner or later, anyways. "Yeah, I usually don't get up this early," Douglas replied as he ruffled his hair a bit with his left hand. "but the beautiful morning was just hard to resist." If someone didn't want to come outside on such a fine day, then they would be crazy. It was just too bad that many of them didn't get to see it, like Douglas on a usual morning. "You must feel the same way, do you not?" The dark haired boy inquired with gleaming eyes. "It sounds like you are often outside at this early hour."

Douglas then noticed that the wolf had strode in front of the girl and struck somewhat of a menacing pose, as if warning Douglas not to come too close. Douglas had seen dogs being protective, and while they had acted more viciously, they didn't give off as much of a fierce aura that the wolf did. Perhaps that was how these feral beings differed from their domestic counterparts. "He is really such a handsome wolf." Douglas inclined his head toward the canine as he spoke. "You get along with him, don't you?"

[rowan michael]

The blond watched as the boy's face lit up like a Christmas tree, her own lips moving to match his, only not nearly as wide. She had told Ulric not to show his teeth, and if she showed hers, even in greeting, he would take it as permission to wear the true face of the wild animal he was.

"It's not so much the beauty of the morning," Rowan said. "So much as it is the need to be outdoors." She didn't answer his inquiry of her always being outside in the early hours, he didn't need to know what she did in her free time. They were classmates, not friends.

Douglas' easy smile had made her drop some of her guards, but thankfully that one truth put them all back up. Ulric had even crouched closer to the ground, just in case she had given into the naive side of her mind. Smiles hadn't been kind to either of them. Not after seeing the lies they tended to hide.

Rowan was about to leave, to escape the mental bombardment of all the times that her and Ulric had almost been completely separated from each other, all those times that the wolf had escaped the bullet of a gun, and she had been spared from drowning for simply being a 'devil child', but the boy's words made her stop.

When was the last time that Ulric had been complimented? The girl didn't know if it was an act or not, but for her friend's sake, she couldn't let the chance pass by. Besides, it wasn't like she was his master. No, she wasn't his master.

"More like he gets along with me." She unconsciously reached her hand out to stroke the fur covering the base of Ulric's spine before it launched into tail. "But thank you."