Ankyra Sound bleary will, barely still
you are never gonna be saved by kicking roses
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#1
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@Caiaphas hehe

he found that officiating a pack seldom required the certain eminence he once thought it entailed as a child. Wylla presided over them with no distinct metamorphose as an individual. she had not cocooned for a week, emerging wiser and apt as a monarch. perhaps eventually, as she aged and gained confidence and flexed her compelling force of personality, she would become the luminary he saw in Caiaphas. as it were, Lycaon was just as clueless in his own position and had his own insecurities to conceal, but he was delighted to stand alongside her in leadership, to also learn what actions were appropriate and which were not, as her beta -- her aide and her abettor, for better or the more likely outcome -- for worse. despite their  underdeveloped familial bond, due to that pesky separate upbringing of theirs, he was already feeling the need to insulate her from the enormity of the world -- from riptides, grizzlies, scorned packmates, and dalliances with philandrous boys
you know, the typical causes of screaming meemies. he had to supervise. that last one, he felt, required the most scrutiny.
still, it wasn't the same protectiveness he possessed for their brother. similar in its visceral nature, but summoning less emotional complexity from him. longevity of the relationship was, no doubt, the binding cause.
as he strung along the coast, alone as usual, he brushed his fur against the shrubby facsimile of the forest that flanked him and mused regretfully over his last interaction with Ingram, and all that heartache that had ensued. he regretted his severity towards him, and the image of Ingram's devastation flashed vividly in his mind. although when he thought of the girl, bitterness ripped violently through him. she was actively stealing something from him he thought was surely inviolatable -- his brother's attention and affection... and attention... and affection! up until they found Wylla (and Caiaphas), the only thing that yoked him to anything resembling an identity was the reflection of self-worth he saw when his brother looked adoringly at him.
presently, he could not see past his own hurt to instead see the healing Chusi could do for Ingram's own happiness. that should have been the most important thing to him, but Lyc was nothing if not still young, self-seeking, and obscuring the inflamed lashes that bespoke unresolved trauma still fresh in his youth.
he sighed and abruptly, without giving it much thought, took a sharp turn into the shrubbery, breaking through the closed palms of ferns that revealed to his eyes a vert, moss-carpeted forest -- all untouched by the gristbite of winter's teeth. he stared up, awed, tail falling motionless at his legs. fear that consumed him when he was on the outside looking in, fell away like a maudlin silk. 
it looks the same. he thought. it's all the same. he took a step further in, allowing the overgrowth to draw shut behind him. his head craned in a daunted manner as he turned his gaze to the gargantuan trees that rose up like idols of yore. they dwarfed him as a child, and they dwarfed him with no less immensity now as a matured wolf. he touched his nose to the bark, it's coldness strewing across the nerves of his nostrils and causing him to shiver and snort with surprise. if he were to venture to a higher elevation, he would find that this forest wasn't as impervious to winter's impact as he first thought and that every living thing was inhumed in several feet of snow -- foliage and fauna and idols one and the same. 
here, though, near shore, verdure was the ever prevalent sight and Lycaon felt nostalgia surge through him. he began pacing over the flat steps of rock and lichens and nurse logs, searching frantically for something, though he was so disorganized in his focus that it was anyone's guess as to what that something was.
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in time you'll taste all the salt in my lungs
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Ooc — lauren
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caiaphas had meant to suss out from the rabble her only adoring child -- he was proving a difficult individual to locate, if only because he never fucking stood still. caiaphas had wandered over hill and dale to find lycaon -- who was likely the last wolf (other than kierkegaard) that held some shred of fondness for her in his heart. how they did it, she would never know, as she was perfectly aware of what a spiteful little bitch she was.

at least wylla and ingram possessed the good sense to leave her unchallenged in her wanderings -- as did the agouti wolf she had seen when she was the sole wolf to intercept the interloper. caiaphas appreciated this deliberate avoidance; some wolves might have found such a life lonely and burdensome, but caiaphas thrived in isolation the way fungus must giddily spread in the dark.

she came across a trail of lycaon's and set to it, wondering what compelled him to visit the forest that day. from the upturned rocks, tussled snow and battered imprints of his passing, she concluded he might have been looking for something. she picked up her pace, pulling through the snowstrewn forest and its giant occupants with a fleetness to her step until she came across lycaon hunched over a lichen-splattered stone. "lose something?" she asked, pulling up alongside her adoptive son with a critical eye upon him.
this house was my flowered heart,
but my petals have fallen.
you are never gonna be saved by kicking roses
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#3
she loomed up behind him in the slow-roiling manner of a thundercloud. Lycaon had, generally speaking, adapted to the serpentine quality of Caiaphas' approaches. as such, he jumped only slightly out of his hide with faint-hearted propulsion when the inquisitive lull of ”lose something?”  tightened around him like Kaa’s coil. his plaster-white head jolted upwards, back foot slipping awkwardly from its purchase on the morass. oh good lord! hey, presto--look at you, there you are... heh..” the boy wheezed, heart clubbing his chest with the proficiency a shaolin monk. ”sneaking, huh, still your thing?” he asked, voice reverting to puberty momentarily. "announcements--those are fun. oh boy." he added with a flourish of his paw, careful not to displace himself from the rock. "any pack announcements?" his ears pitched like airplane wings in turbulence.

sloppily evasive of her question, and given how twitchy he had become in her presence, she would sniff out the classified nature of his mission with a quickness if she hadn't already.
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run in here come get yall juice
Ghost
in time you'll taste all the salt in my lungs
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Ooc — lauren
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#4
god ur writing is full of such imagery and i just vomit hot trash writing on u LMAO

her sudden appearance started lycaon, who wilted like a flower pressed to fire. she said nothing about this, though it caused a faint flicker of amusement to filter unkindly on her sharp features. she preferred to spook residents other than her adoptive-son, but given her closeted nature, perhaps it was good she got her jollies out on someone even if that victim happened to be one of the very few wolves that liked her.

his demeanor was quivery and shaky -- she fancied she even heard the drumming of his heart in his narrow rib-cage. she leveled him a skeptical stare, placing her thin butt on the snow with a most cynical and wry expression. "yeah, i got a pack announcement. lycaon, beta of grimnismal, is about to shit his pants since he can't find his brother who hasn't spoken to him in weeks." caiaphas' expression was painted with amusement: "i'll start the howl, if you like." cue innocent blinking.
this house was my flowered heart,
but my petals have fallen.
you are never gonna be saved by kicking roses
109 Posts
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#5
father of all lies right there

her stare made him sink lower to the earth. though it was possessed of a maternal warmth, the sulfur within still emitted an inimical quality. lyc guiltily watched his snow-brushed toes thrum at the mention of Ingram, his ears listless daisies on his head. ”i know where to find ‘im…” grumble mumble. 

the pale boy braved an innocent glance at his mana,  who watched him with conglomerate amusement and skepticism. she suggested a family reunion, an offer to which he scrunched his brow. it successfully set him off, though. "what was he even thinking? so stupid.” he spat, kicking a pebble to disperse the frustration escalating in him. "it'll end just like..." cutting himself off abruptly, lyc's eyes welled with angered grief.
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run in here come get yall juice
Ghost
in time you'll taste all the salt in my lungs
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Ooc — lauren
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#6
she was only scantily informed on the reason for the brother's parting -- as lycaon wilted beneath her like a flower held too close to heat she felt something akin to compassion -- or really, the closest thing to compassion her cold heart would ever feel. he looked genuinely wretched, a soul derived of its other (and perhaps more gregarious) half.

compelled to reassure him but lacking the empathy to to do, she simply hunched over him like a slavering hyena as he worked himself into hysteria. her long ears pulled to the top of her narrow skull and she tilted her head sidelong as he failed to complete his sentence. "like who?" she inquired somewhat obtusely, realizing now that she did not know the details at all for their unamicable split. "what are you talking about?"
this house was my flowered heart,
but my petals have fallen.
you are never gonna be saved by kicking roses
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#7
lycaon was loath to admit that most of his gloom descended from misfiring signals of abandonment and enmity for anything that threatened to drain the emotional income coming from bank of ingram—any other cause was underlying and obscured from the focus of even the most sensible eye. but to admit he was irrational? lyc would've sooner volunteered his dangler to a pirahna. 

he splayed awkwardly under the gathering stormclouds of some gauche effort put towards consoling him. his mana had never been a particularly hands-on guardian, other than when he was an infant and unable to form the litigious memories of her being anything remotely close to sweet. she hunched over him and he momentarily felt like silage for a passel of swines.

he swung his muzzle away in refusal of her questions. the pale boy wasn’t ready to divulge what scant details he knew of his mother and father’s tryst. and he only knew what ingram felt comfortable revealing throughout the duration of their journey together--but it was enough that he knew that his chowderheaded brother should’ve known better than to repeat family history.

”i’unno. like no one.” he mumbled with a shrug, blinking as hard as he could to wring the angry tears from his eyes. ”as soon as we got here ingram found himself a GirL to run around with, like he couldn’t wait to get rid of me.” he admitted with a sag of his ears.
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run in here come get yall juice
Ghost
in time you'll taste all the salt in my lungs
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Ooc — lauren
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#8
lmfao phas can arrange that introduction to pirhanas if u want -smirl-

lycaon's dejected bearing persisted. she watched, somewhat amused by the despondent flop of his long ears. he was truly as miserable as a fresh-drowned mushpig. despite volunteering herself as his mother, caiaphas could find no reassuring words. all she could summon was a look between 'sorry ur lollipop got stolen kid' and 'ok but what really is the problem'. 

he professed his dolorous aspect was contributed in part to ingram's easily swayed affections. caiaphas was not surprised; she snorted lightly, her bemused expression accompanied by an exaggerated eye-roll.

in truth, of all the luschyon brood, ingram was her least favorite. she found his ebullient and whimsical nature downright dense. she worried maybe he had drank too much saltwater as kid, or maybe been dropped on his head (by lusca, of course) too often.

"he's stupid." she dismissed him immediately, waving a thin wrist as if telling the very thought of him to bugger off. "who's  dumb enough to shackle with him?" she tried to think of grimnismal's eligible ladies roster. there wasn't much on the menu that was appetizing in her eyes.
this house was my flowered heart,
but my petals have fallen.
you are never gonna be saved by kicking roses
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#9
he held frame to her amused scrutiny, sticking his chin out with a sullen pout at her announcement of his brother’s dimness—any other day, he would have flown to his station as Ingram’s advocate but today he in agreement with Caiaphas’ snide judgment. ”i don’t remember her name.” he grumbled. chassie? chessie? whatever it was, he found it intolerable. ”jus’ that I don’t think she was burdened with an overabundance of male attention in the past so Ingle must be a nice surprise for her…”
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run in here come get yall juice
Ghost
in time you'll taste all the salt in my lungs
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Ooc — lauren
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#10
she did not miss the workings of lycaon's muzzle into a frown, an expression she assumed was in relation to her remark on his brother's intelligence. an unkind snicker rose to caiaphas' jaws as lycaon's wit lashed out before her; she closed her jaws tight to stifle the sound, but amusement showed clearly in the lines beneath her eyes.

"if that is the case, their union will be short." she had seen all manner of flings come and go in her life-time; bitter salt-wench that she was, caiaphas knew a listing ship when she saw one. she would have to see their sorry union for her own eyes before she asserted her opinion properly, but a little speculation for now never hurt anyone right? (r0NG!!) confident that this matter was little to worry about, she primly added "any port in a storm."
this house was my flowered heart,
but my petals have fallen.
you are never gonna be saved by kicking roses
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#11
"then maybe i should start referring to her as 'land ho'," he huffed, feeling the hackles along his crest dilate in a fit of pique. he was being unreasonably inconsiderate of Ingram's feelings, and deep inside he knew he was the one making transgressions, but presently he could not make those feelings of jealousy and guilt congruent with eachother.

having his mother in solidarity only made him more determined to frost Chusi out of their fellowship. "or just 'ho' for short." he snapped. gathering himself to all fours, he turned to the erstwhile siren queen and ministered a loving lick to her chin. "thanks fer making me feel better." he said. "i told Nyx i'd meet her by the tidepools and torment the pufferfish 'til they inflate, so i oughta get goin'." he lied smoothly, leaping from the rock ledge. 

truthfully, he had come to the forest striving to locate the Luschyon birthing den--but there was no way he was soliciting Caiaphas for that task. it felt very intimate and essential to do alone. "catch later." he called from over his shoulder as he departed.
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run in here come get yall juice
Ghost
in time you'll taste all the salt in my lungs
2,045 Posts
Ooc — lauren
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#12
she did not rise as lycaon made to leave, though she canted her slender muzzle towards him as he supplanted an affectionate kiss to her cheek. if he was lying, she did not know -- and truthfully, she was too bemused by the brotherly angst that afflicted lycaon to notice any deceit.

"sounds thrilling." she rejoined with a dryness in her voice, watching him as he spun round and made for whatever clandestine destination he had.

once the youth's albescent form was no longer visible to the old shrew, she turned back to the sound's keep, making directly for the grotto that was just as much a part of her as she was a part of it.
this house was my flowered heart,
but my petals have fallen.