this old dark machine

Border of Stavanger Bay- Onyx

Darkness seemed to sweep across the land much faster than it had in the past few months. Kierkegaard had been anticipating that night would fall, but he had not expected it to have happened so soon. There was a chill in the air, more so around the areas with water. His leg injury was beginning to heal, though still caused him grief when it came to hunting. His means of getting prey had been fishing in the rivers, but they were getting too cold to endure. This caused the ashen brute to be quite gruff around others. He was hungry, frustrated, and constantly perturbed by the presence of others in the area. There were a select few who had not harried him to the point of anger. Then again, he had not seen them since their first encounter either. As was life… The brute trudged forward, his back leg causing him to limp slightly, and his form was getting thinner than it had been in months. This gave him a rangy, uncultivated, tameless appearance. The fur along his neck and spine stood at odd ends. His ribs were beginning to show through on the sides of his body. His shoulders stuck tall on his back. It did not help that Kierkegaard hung his head considerably low. His bright orange eyes swept his path and he scowled at the scent of a nearby pack. As it had turned out, he was dangerously close to their borders. Pausing, the ashen loner lifted his head upwards and huffed through his nostrils, squinting at the surroundings with a ghastly frown.

Onyx wandered along the scent line picking up mixed scents of wolves. There were so many, she hadn't met most of them. She picked up another scent, except this one floated in the air. She looked up. Standing nearby was a ragged looking wolf. He was skinny, limping, and his fur was messy and unkept. Strangely enough he did not scare her. It seemed that only unusually tall and muscular males scared her, like Ragnar and Silvermane. "Hello!" She called out with a small smile. She liked meeting new wolves. It was fun. She had no idea about telling this wolf to go away or stay off their territory.

Bright orange-gold eyes flashed in the direction of the creature who had hailed him. He settled on a shadowy female who was approaching with a seemingly pleasant expression on her face. Kierkegaard stopped dead in his tracks and the fur along his back bristled with the small breeze that seemed to brush against him. Flicking the tip of his tail once or twice, he lowered his head towards the earth and frowned softly at the female. “Evening,” he responded in a gruff baritone. His eyes searched her, wondering if she was going to ask him to leave their borders. The dark female’s body language did not suggest that she was aiming to be rough with him, however. So, the ashen brute held his ground, wary of this stranger.

Probably my last post tonight.

"What's your name? I'm Onyx." At this time for no reason in particular she
thought of Thistle Cloud Loðbrók. She had a last name. Onyx wondered if she had a last name. She couldn't remember right now. She thought it would be cool to have a last name. Maybe she could make one up for herself. Onyx wondered again what her name meant, if anything. Perhaps she would never know.

No worries!

Onyx... he mulled the name over in his head for a few moments without responding. It was fitting, for her pelt color anyway. The sooty coloration of her coat seemed to be something of a norm for the Teekon Wilds. Kierkegaard could recall several wolves that he had come across who had been gifted with such dark coloration. Shaking the thought away, he blinked his fiery gaze at her once or twice before drawing up a response. “I am Kierkegaard,” he introduced himself with a quiet rumble, muzzle still pointed towards the earth. He was not a wolf who shared his last name very frequently, if ever. It was something that he found unnecessary when conversation with absolute strangers. The ash-colored brute may not have been proud of his heritage, but it was only because he knew nothing of it. Still, there was a strange pang whenever he let slip his byname.

"It is nice to meet you Kierkagaard." She said, her smile stretching a little. She wasn't so alone. Maybe this wolf didn't have a last name either. She had never heard the name Kierkagaard. It was a long name, she thought. "Are you from around here?" She asked. She had no worries about meeting a wolf from another pack or place. He didn't seem mean.

The question that fell from her lips was to ask if he was from around there. He peered at her curiously, a stern expression on his features, before he shook his head. “No,” his voice was gruff, straightforward. Kierkegaard was not the type to fluster with too many words. She had inquired, and he had answered. He did find it a common question from the wolves of the Teekon wilderness, though. Perhaps it was a form of politeness to inquire as to whether a stranger was a native or if they originated somewhere else. Either way, the ashen brute found it bizarre that he would be asked the same question so many different times. Kierkegaard did not look like he belonged there, in those lands. He was a massive creature, broad in shoulder, with a long frame and thick muscle. His fur was wild and unkempt. It stood tall along his shoulders and spine, aiding in making him seem much larger than he was. It was a marvel that the wolves still bothered to ask of his origins.

"Okie-dokie." She said. Sometimes she sounded like a child, she had gotten vary little since when she was four months. Time had not changed her speech, besides, living alone she had had nobody to talk to, except Raven's spirit and Dust's spirit and the annoying seagulls, who were her prey. She seemed childlike in several ways, except she was standing in an adult's long legs and sharp eyes and shoulder muscles; she was taller than many adults. Sometimes her young ways of speaking and acting came across as a surprise. "So whatcha doing?"

Boy he's a pill sometimes... :)

The sooty female did not seem at all disenchanted by his gruff response. Quite the opposite, really; she returned his monosyllabic reply with a cheery chirp of ‘okie-dokie’. He narrowed his brows at her and frowned deeply, casting small shadows over his vibrant eyes of orange-gold. Onyx then followed her pleasant retort with a question pertaining to what the ashen male was supposedly doing. He drew in a heavy sigh and his eyes fell away from her for a moment as he dared to look at his desired path. Had Kierkegaard not been stopped, he would have been well on his way to his next designation. Instead, he was halted by the chipper young shadowy female. “I was scouting,” he answered her in a low rumbling voice. Perhaps she would understand that he had better things to do than stand around and chit-chat with strangers. Hadn’t he played the socialite for long enough?

"You were? What-" she thought for a moment, then, "Oh. I'm Sorry. Were you busy?" She asked. "I'll go if you like." She said. Onyx was willing to go, but she did enjoy the company of most wolves. It was a slight disappointment that this guy wouldn't want the company of a little ray of sunshine like Onyx. She thought she was good company.

If you want to reply once more, you can. If not, we can have it archived now! :)

The injury sustained to the back of his leg had turned him from a surly creature to a complete brute of an animal. He had wanted nothing to do with the wolves of the Teekon area. He actively sought solitude of any kind, and whenever he happened across another one of his kind, the pallid male would quickly seek a means of escape. It was the same with Onyx. He had no interest in remaining to talk with her. His hock was throbbing with the pain of the bite marks that had been scored there, and his patience was running thin. When she offered to leave him, the pale loner lifted his head with sharp golden eyes and frowned. “No. I’ll go,” he growled to her curtly and without so much as another word, Kierkegaard turned away from the sight of her dark pelt and disappeared with a scowl and a heavy limp.

She became scared when he growled, her ears pinning against her head. He was off before she could say 'bye'. She watched his limp as he walked away. Then she turned and begun to head back to her own den, to think her life over. She was very confused about it all and this wolf's company had done little for her that day. Although, she hadn't been so alone.