Otter Creek A Trophy Father's Trophy Son

Might not be a thread with him, but I found Sebastian's theme song. This song has been stuck in my head for days, and yet I only just realized that is could fit him. :o Poor Seb. @Burke

Since the creation of Bearclaw Valley, it was Kove's first time away from his new home. Everything was going well and working out nicely, and though they'd hit a bump once or twice, it had smoothed itself over. The main bump, however, had not gone away. It did not terrorize the pack or anything, but chewed away at his mind instead. Not too long before his departure, he had met someone. Not just anyone, either, but the son of one of his Brothers. He'd never taken Burke for the type to settle down and start a family, and judging by how his son spoke of him, he believed his assumptions to be entirely true. There was no way in hell someone would speak ill of a parent as the younger male had unless given a reason to. While he had defended the tank when speaking to his kid, the same would not be the case if he saw the large man. His leaving had, allegedly, lead to the death of a decent portion of the boy's family, and the ghost knew how something like that felt. It could eat away at one's entire being, taking away bits and pieces until they were no longer who they'd originally been before. Luckily for Kove, he'd come to terms with what had happened long ago, and accepted it as nature so it wouldn't haunt him. It was obvious that the Rochester boy hadn't been able to do that, though, which only drove the pale king to move quicker.

Kove was unsure what he would do when he confronted his Brother about his family. The thought of leaving the situation alone to sort itself out had, regrettably, crossed the pallid lupine's mind once or twice, but he couldn't bring himself to do that. It seemed wrong to do something like that, and he wouldn't allow himself to simply go about his days as if he'd never met the younger wolf. With a deep sigh, he brought himself to a stop and took in his surroundings, realizing he was at the creek that drained into the large lake. He was close enough to call for the Dark Brother if he so desired, but chose not to. Not right away, anyways. Instead, he told himself that he would get closer to the dark forest after taking a short break, and then call for the living tank to talk to him, and after that he would try to speak with Damien. Poor kid hadn't seen him in awhile, and the Inuit man felt bad for that. After all, he'd made a promise, and now that his pack was settled he intended to keep it.

His mind tried to push his plans to the back for a moment so he could better calm himself, but it was to no avail. They would keep popping right back to the front of his head to remind him, even though there was no way he could forget something like that in the span of three seconds. He wasn't some goldfish. After failing numerous times to put his thoughts on the back burner, Kove eventually just gave up and let his mind beat him, as odd as that might sound. He would be continuing forward soon, anyways, so it was no longer any overly large problem if his mind wished to cooperate or not. Before heading off, the man dipped his cranium down and brought his muzzle close to the steady and cold creek, satisfying his thirst that had started to grow. After, he sat and licked the stray droplets from his maw, using the calming silence as an opportunity to keep him relaxed. Though he was no longer under Meldresi's rule in the pack, he was still beneath her as a Dark Brother, and did not wish to break any rules by having an unfriendly spar with Burke.

Kove fighting Sebastian's battles hahaha. I also feel mine is ridiculously short compared to yours. 

Burke was not basically mentor and teacher of Meldresi pups. Things were slowly shifting now he was in BFW. Being under Meldresi's rules and commands made something shift. He respected her, and he wanted to work for her. With his brother he did not. Even though he wasn't a fan of the pups in the beginning he somehow worked through it was starting to like them? It was all a matter of perspective. How he disliked all the pups he created because he wasn't sure they were his own, but here he was, liking someone else's brood. Burke decided it was because he couldn't stand his brother Darius. His blood brother. The tank of a male was certain it was him. It was always him. 

The large male got out from the secret exit tunnel that was a split off from the river. The large tank trotted down stream clueless that he was about to run into one of his brothers. Burke sniffed him first and then blinked. Kove? Here? Burke trotted forward and soon found his pale brother. The large male let out a bark. He was more buff than Sebastian but that was something that would come with age and sparring. Burke's pale eyes settled on the white king. "Kove, my brother what are you doing here?"

Don't worry, it's fine. c:

The male's legs had moved once more so he was standing as he readied himself to continue on towards the dark forest. The wind was against him, not allowing him to smell Burke coming, but he could see him. It would be hard to miss the grey male, as he wasn't exactly built to be able to hide. He did his best to keep his cool, since coming off as crazy right off the bat wouldn't exactly be a good thing, and could possibly even get him into trouble. Besides, he wanted to avoid having another physical battle with his fellow Brother. “Burke,” the Inuit greeted curtly. To any onlookers, and possible even the other man, it might seem as if Kove was upset over nothing. They hadn't spoken in awhile, and in that time the tank certainly hadn't done anything to negatively effect the ghost, but how it may appear did not matter to him. Someone he had called his friend had left out the fact that he had a son, and had also seemed to have forgotten the fact that he abandoned his family. It wasn't an uncommon thing for wolves to want to go on and see new things, but at the cost of the lives of their family was a terrible thing. Something he couldn't stand for.

“Before, I had planned to take a trip down here in order to tell Damien where I'd gone, since I had promised him I would quite some time ago,” he started, his copper gaze having already narrowed as he stared into the face of pale-eyed lupine. “Not long after I'd finished planning when I would leave, I happened across a boy near the entrance of my pack's valley.” Kove paused, but his glare did not leave the face of his Brother. It was challenging, almost, but he didn't bother to fix it. “At first glance from afar, I'd thought the boy to be you, but I realized he wasn't once I got closer. He was younger and not as bulky, and he had a tail.” The pallid king considered sharing all that the little doppelgänger had said with the older male, but, ultimately, he decided against it. The last thing he needed to hear was that the bunny-butted wolf had gone after his son with a taste for blood in mind. “You know who he was? Your son. The son you had abandoned, according to him. That is why I am here.” Kove couldn't stand even the idea of a father leaving their children behind. It was just something he saw as being one of the ultimate crimes.

Burke was surprised how distant his brother looked at him. Slowly a frown came on his face. He wasn't sure what happened but apparently the white king wasn't pleased with him. He was curious about what the male encountered that made him like this. Okay, so he was planning on going got Damien, so what?! The pale eyed man frowned more and more. Burke slowly stepped a bit back when Kove continued talking and glaring at him. Burke now started to glare back at Kove because he wasn't pleased that his brother would change his mind that quick by a wolf. -- Oh but that wolf was apparently his son. Burke let out a snort in disbelieve and shook his head. Surely all of their females got pregnant but he never got even close to the youngsters to bond with them. 

Burke remembered it well. Darius would lounge with the babies or, rather the females who had babies, while he would do the hunting, protecting and general care of a pack. His brother always fought him over the spot of being alpha and with Burke often being away it wasn't hard for the other to just play king. Frankly, Burke hadn't even had the time to socialize with the pups, and definitely not with the pups that weren't his. The pups could be his brother or his own but Burke had decided to ignore them all. He never bonded with any of them. Never got one any special attention from him. He didn't saw the pups as his own because Darius blood might have poisoned it. "I don't have a son," he spoke in return to Kove. Another snort came from him, now in disbelieve. "I abandoned him, huh? Well how can I abandon someone I never had any connection with anyways? It is like a stranger telling you I never saw him again."

Burke looked at Kove and wanted to bare his teeth a bit, feeling slightly disrespected since the white king just assumed the words from a stranger instead of his own brother. Surely, he came to inquire about the story here, but that could have gone differently. He also didn't like that his past was coming after him. This 'son' of his that looked like him. Please. No one looked like him or be as big as him. Though his mind couldn't help but wonder from which female he had been born. Dalia was the most likeliest since she only accepted Burke, but he never know what Darius was doing to her while he was away.

Kove needs to chill omg

Kove's actions were clearly not normal. The grey tank was his Brother, and the only wolf of the Brotherhood he truly had anything against was the silver-eyed shadow. His actions were influenced heavily by his own experiences, as he was more like the man's son than he'd care to admit. He'd been there to witness his own parents leaving him, though they hadn't had a vote in the decision. Death had decided it was their time, just as he had a year or so before when he'd stolen his sisters away from him. He was too close to the situation, looping his personal experiences in with what Sebastian had gone through. It wasn't right to do that, but his mind was clouded too much by it to see he was acting selfishly. The Inuit man could do nothing to bring his sisters back, nor could he revive his parents, but those facts seemed to only push him to want to reunite father and son all the more. He had, more or less, come to terms with the death of his immediate family members long ago, and understood he could not see them again. Sebastian and his father, however... nothing was stopping them from living as family except for stubbornness and denial; or so Kove believed.

“Don't have a son?” the pale wolf repeated in disbelief. “Could have fooled me. He's the spitting image of you, Burke, just isn't as big. I'm sure he'll match you completely once he's experienced more, aside from that rabbit tail of yours, of course.” A humorless smile flicked across his face at that. Okay, maybe there was some humor behind it, but he forced it away the second it showed. He was suppose to be upset with the man, wasn't he? Truthfully, no, he wasn't, but he believed he should be, and that was all that mattered in his mind. “Whether you think you formed connections with him or not doesn't matter,” Kove stated, his tone insinuating that his words should have been the most obvious thing around. “He knows you to be his father, and that knowledge alone was enough for him to form his own connection towards you. Even if you didn't know it existed, it was still there and he's turned it into something of a hatred, all because you abandoned him.” The younger male had worded it as if Burke's leaving had caused the death of many of his family, which didn't seem that unlikely to Kove. If the place was a dangerous one, then the absence of the tank's size alone probably made quite the difference. Of course, the ghost didn't have the full story. All he had was what the boy had told him.

Slowly, the copper-eyed lupine started to come to his senses. After speaking aloud and hearing what had been within his skull, he started to think more reasonably. The happenings of his own family and the happenings of Burke's family started to pull themselves apart, essentially clearing the pallid man's mind. There might have been a reason for his leaving, one that actually made sense. It still didn't seem right to Kove for someone to abandon their family and leave them for dead, but he decided to give his Brother the benefit of the doubt. Steadily, the glare was removed from his optics, and in it's place he put on a more neutral expression. “Why'd you leave them, Burke?” he inquired, having come to his senses and realized he needed the full story. “What could have forced you to leave your family behind—your blood family, that is?” The wolves of the dark forest, especially those who were apart of the Dark Brotherhood, were very similar to a family, as the pale wolf already knew, making him feel the need to clarify what he was saying.

Welp there it goes. Oddly satisfying to write!

Honestly, Burke couldn't even remember this pup. There had been so many of them. Surely there had been some grey ones but Burke wouldn't believe that those were his, color wasn't automatically stating that the youngsters would be his. Burke's docked tail rose, he almost stood there like a statue when Kove raged on and on. Burke didn't show any expression just yet, just that calm wolf everyone knew, but on the inside he was brooding. How dare Kove to judge him like this!? He didn't know the man that claimed to be his son. And Kove definitely didn't had to fight his battles for him. Burke disliked having this discussion or fight with Kove in the first place. Burke let out a low snarl to shut Kove up. "You are not allowed to judge me." The tank of a male somehow didn't mind talking about his past. But somehow he got the feeling that Kove would dislike the truth he would give his brother.

"Because I was unhappy. That is why I left," he returned. "Why should I give up my life for someone else's happiness?!," Burke growled. The tank of a male stepped closet to Kove so his muzzle was almost touching the white one. His teeth were exposed for a moment before he dropped all of it. "I have a brother named Darius. Only we two were the survivors of a littler of five. We grew up together, and once I was two, we set out together. I didn't want to kick my own father of the throne, I respected him. It seemed like a good idea to stay together with my brother instead of becoming a lone wolf. We left with one other female of our pack, later on four more females joined and we settled on Thorn Ledge, named after the thorny ledge we lived close by. That is when it all started. Darius thought he was alpha over me. While I found I was the rightful alpha. We fought. And fought. Females started to go in heat and of course us being males we wanted to further our line. But instead of taking on a mate we expressed our dominance by taking these females over and over again."

"I was the provider of the pack. I did all the hunting with some of the females but in the end I needed to hunt alone because they got too fat with pups to even walk. I deserved to be the alpha. They listen to me. I provided the meals, I protected the borders. I was their counselor and their caretaker. I ran my paws from under my body to give them a good life to then come home to my brother Darius lounging around, fucking one of them or telling me what to do. Every time I went away he thought he was the alpha. He was not. I had to spar him on top of being mentally and physically exhaust. Of course he won many spars and it is also why I got my many scars. I didn't had the damn time to even socialize with the pups we created. I wanted to give them a life, a future. But one day I couldn't go on anymore. A switch in my head flipped. Why did I care so much? I realize I didn't. I did not even know the names of the pups. Especially not the ones that were born a year later and the year after that. I couldn't even participate. I don't even wanted to know them for the sole reason they would be of my brother's blood. I don't want anything to do with them."


"I flipped when I lost another spar, once more bleeding from my wounds and laying on the ground close to being deadly exhausted. I didn't want to be who I was before. Darius could have his pack and the wolves with it. He had beaten me. He seemed to fuck any female while I was away, anyways. I told him that he wouldn't survive without me. That I was the one that kept our pack together. Darius didn't believe me, of course." Burke took a deep gulp of air. "Two and a half long years of hunting, fighting and protecting our borders. Every day. Two and a half years. No wonder I am such a tank you must think. Well yes. And you can sink down and rot in your valley if you think I am in the wrong here, Kove. I choose for myself and after that day I felt I never felt more free. I don't know the one that claims to be my son, or all the other wolves that are now supposedly dead. They were foolish to stay with Darius. I found my place, a place where I am valued and if 'my son' wants to know the truth then he can come and get it himself." And after that Burke would kill him too. He wanted nothing to do with any of the wolves from his past. Talking, Yes. Meeting, No. In the end it turned out Burke had been pretty caring and loyal until he was broken to a point of no return.

Took Kove long enough to come to his senses lol

The second the snarl left his Brother in order to silence him, Kove returned with one of his own. He'd never been one to simply rollover and take what was thrown at him, and the encounter with Burke was no exception to that. He had, faintly, realized he was in no place to judge the older male, but he couldn't help but do exactly that. What had been told of him by Sebastian made the pallid wolf feel as if he was n the right, though his subconscious knew him to be in the wrong. There he was, going by the word of some loner over the words of the tank—the same tank we'd hunted with, was a Brother of, and had even grown to call his friend. As thoughts of such slowly started to settle into his mind, alerting him to his own error, he visibly settled. Even the glare faded from his eyes completely, and any fur that had bristled earlier returned to laying back against his body. He was not in a position where he could place judgment on Burke, and, as he was beginning to see, the male did not deserve such a thing anyways. The alabaster man was able to pull his own experience from what had happened with Sebastian and his father, essentially clearing his mind of any hostilities he'd felt towards the grey being just moments prior. He'd reined in such negatives emotions and thoughts, and then forced them back into whatever depths they crawled out of.

As he spoke, Kove stayed silent and listened. He caught each and every word that left his mouth, finishing off the puzzle that was the entire story piece by piece. It made him realize just how much he had been in the wrong, and just how little the man's son truly seemed to know. Neither of them really knew one another, which made the king's idea of what would happen if they met turn into grave images very quickly. When the older wolf reached the end of his life's story, the white wolf pulled his ears back and gave the man an apologetic look. He did not pity him, for he was certain the warrior would not appreciate such a sentiment, but that did not prevent him from wishing to apologize. For his actions, as well as what the other had to go through, even though he had only been involved in the first. “I am sorry,” he told him, feeling fairly bad for having jumped to conclusions and passed judgment before he'd been made aware of the full story. Of course, the story would probably be different coming from the boy, but why should that matter? It was the word of his fellow Dark Brother he should take, not the words of his estranged son. “For jumping for conclusions before knowing what you'd gone through, why you'd left, and for taking the word of the boy over yours. I should have heard you out before acting, I know that now.” Kove really did feel bad for his behavior. The Brotherhood was a family, and family listened to one another before setting their minds on something. He had, regrettably, allowed himself to get too close to the situation, when he knew he shouldn't have.

To make up for his actions, but more to make sure nothing caught the tank by surprise, Kove decided he should tell the man of his son. How he was like, his opinion of him, but more importantly, the fact that Sebastian had an idea of where his father was, and the Inuit had a sneaking suspicion that he might act on that knowledge. “You should know to be prepared for an appearance from your son,” he informed him. “The boy Scarlett has been looking after told him to check out Blackfeather if he wished to find you, and from how he acted, I am certain he will eventually find his way to the pack's doorsteps to confront you. I warned him of the forest to try and keep him away for a bit, because I was unsure how you would react to his appearance, and also because I didn't know how the possibility of him getting harmed would effect you. I got the sense he wasn't too caring towards you, but until now, I hadn't know that the feeling was a mutual one.” Even then, Kove couldn't quite figure out just how the two would react towards each other. Sebastian had seemed pretty set on telling his father off, and he could only assume what was going through Burke's mind, but that was while they were apart. Would it play out differently than planned if they actually met? He was curious to know, but wasn't entirely sure he wished to, or even could, be around when the meeting occurred.

Babies shouldn't fight xD

Once he finished his story Kove seemed to have come to his senses. The white king preferred to listen to a stinger instead of his brother. He should be deeply shamed. The large male wasn't pleased that his brother had been confronting him and even causing him of certain things. Burke wasn't pleased, and for once a scowl was seen on his normally calm face. "Well that does mean I am not offended by your actions, Brother. Your almost as bad as my blood brother, Darius, with your assumptions," he huffed. Burke was usually so calm but after the incident with Darius he was not going to accept being looked down on. One sorry wouldn't be good enough for that. 

Burke snorted, not really impressed. "Let that pup bark and I will silence it," Burke just returned so indifferently it was quite shocking. How 'loving' he interacted with Meldresi's kids was nothing to be seen of to his own son. To Burke the grown male that called himself his son should act like a grown up. That pup was lucky to have survived, and now he had gotten to adulthood he wouldn't need his father. It was also a bit selfish because Burke just didn't want to be reminded of what he let his brother do to him. "Like I said that pup can bark all he wants. It will be his end." Burke then raised his head proudly and turned his scowl at Kove.

"You can better go an visit who you were going to visit. I don't have anything more to tell you," Burke spoke dismissively. Surely the other was an alpha now but Burke didn't really give a shit. As a fellow dark brother he deserved respect and dignity from his brotherhood. He didn't need to be judge on his past. It was how he behaved now.

You can go ahead and archive this after your next post. c:

The man pulled his ears back ever so slightly when he saw the scowl settle onto Burke's face. The usually so well-composed and calm wolf actually seemed annoyed, or perhaps even angry, to some degree. He knew one 'sorry' wouldn't cut it, but it was at least a start. Had the man been Niklas or Jan, or maybe even his sister, their differences would have been settled differently, but that couldn't be done. Kove had accused the older wolf of something, he'd taken the word of someone he'd only met once before even hearing his Brother out. It was almost an unspeakable thing to do, and he felt ashamed for having down so. “I know a single apology will not make up for my actions, but I really am sorry,” he voiced. He was unsure how he could make up for what he'd done, but was sure something would eventually come to mind. Though offended by his comment after having heard how terrible his blood brother had been, the Inuit man said nothing in response to that. He had no right to openly take offense, as his accusations had been far worse than what the tank had said.

Kove felt a low growl rising in his throat, but shoved it back down before a single sound could escape him. From the way the words sounded, it seemed as if Burke was actually willing to kill his own son, or at least harm him, if he ever came around. The pale being had warned the younger male of the danger when he'd met him, though, so he hoped the boy would heed his warning and stay away. Deep down, however, he knew that would never happen. “You would harm one of your own blood?” the man inquired, even though he was certain he already knew the answer. Even if the memories of the tank's old home where bad ones, harming one of his own blood still seemed far too extreme. Then again, Kove couldn't relate to the time of place he'd come from. His old home had been a closely knit family, and though fights occasionally broke out over silly things and his father had been strict in teaching him the ways of Inuit men and of a leader, nothing overly horrible such as Burke's situation had ever broken out.

He didn't particularly appreciate the dismissive tone his fellow Brother took with him, but, once again, did not voice his own complaint. He started passed the grey man, but stopped shortly after and glanced over his shoulder. “For both your sake and his, I hope the inevitable meeting with your son goes well,” he stated, turning away from the other towards the ending of his words. “Even if you don't recognize him as your own, he is still family to you, and I doubt killing a member of your family is something anyone can live with—even someone like yourself.” With that, he continued walking without a second glance back, heading straight towards the shadow-filled forest. As he walked, he worked to clear his head of the encounter and talk with Burke. He was going to meet Damien, after all, and didn't want to risk bringing the boy down with his thoughts and opinions.

Okay :3

Burke had the feeling that Kove was really holding this tongue. He better be because he didn't want to turn this into an aggressive spar to be really honest. The dark man really saw the pale one as his family, surely they had fights at certain times, but he rather not have them. This verbal sparring was more than enough. Plus Meldresi wouldn't be happy to have him injured or have two brothers fighting. Slowly Burke raised his head, eyes cold. "He is only alive today because I squirted some sperm in a female's belly. I can just as easily end that." It sounded so foul even coming from Burke who was normally rather charming. The male was really bitter out his past it seemed. He wouldn't allow it for another to complain about how he was living his life.

Burke shook his head. "You don't know who is family to me and who is not. The dark brother's are Mephala is family to me, and Meldresi is. My past life has nothing to do with what I am doing currently. This pup can't tell me what to do. Even if he is family. Just like I won't allow you to judge me like this," Burke spoke full of pride and bitterness. He wondered if Meldresi would let him kill the wolf that acclaimed being his son. Burke was stubborn, highly stubborn. And he just couldn't believe that his son looked so much like him. He only had this amazing combination with charcoal grey and pale eyes.