Sequoia Coast clap if you've got a ticket to the end of the world
70 Posts
Ooc — Somniari
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#1
All Welcome 
pp w/ permission, editing this to AW in case anyone else wants to hop in but I'll archive it after a couple days without response
@Arrille
 
The boy pursued relentlessly, long after an agonizing burn had set into his legs and pads. He knew later they would be raw and he would be sore-- it didn't matter, though. Prince didn't let anything stop him from staying on Arrille's heels, but eventually he got frustrated with the chase.
He took a breath and tensed himself, turning his next stride into a leap, paws aimed for the traitor. Impact sent both of the pale boys rolling, and Prince snapped at him a couple of times, but it was half-hearted and he wasn't aiming to make contact. He wanted answers first, before they fought, if he could get them. When they finally came to a halt, he wasted no time in directing his rage into a single word aimed at the other: Why?
459 Posts
Ooc — Cody
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#2
Arrille did not stop. Not at Grimnismal, he couldn't go back yet. He would need to give it time, and hope Caiaphas would be there for him. To protect him like she promised him that she would, keep him safe from the dangers of the world. 

Arrille was tiring as he had not been saving up energy, just full blown sprinting. But the one behind had more stamina then him, more determination. He barely got a look of his attacker before he was knocked, and he quickly tried to get himself back up while on the ground. Then he saw...Prince? Arrille had expected Furi, or Blixen, maybe even the heda. Not...Prince. 

"I...I was promised things! I was told I would find him!" And that was all he could say. He left to find his father...and now he was wishing he hadn't. "Just...just go back! Leave me alone!"
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Ooc — Somniari
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#3
Prince snorted, a heavy sound but not aggressive or even mocking. He sounded more tired than anything, and he shot Arrille a half-mournful, half-resentful glance.
You think we wouldn't have helped you? The boy demanded, but he did not raise his voice. Truthfully he didn't even know the extent of what Arrille had done. Not yet. But he intended to find out. What-- what did you do, Arrille? My packmates want you dead. I don't know if I...
He stopped. Bad Prince. Don't say that. I want to know the truth. If you're capable. The add-on wasn't as biting as he had meant it to be; it came out rather weary.
459 Posts
Ooc — Cody
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#4
Arrille was not sure what he was talking about, they wanted him dead? He guessed they would want him punished, but killed? He had not even realized. And for leaving? "W-What? Kill me? All I did was leave! I was...I was promised I would find my father by someone who knew him!"

He kept his eyes on Prince. "You told me you knew what it was like to lose your parents. And if there was any chance of getting them back, what would you have done?!" What would he have done?
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Ooc — Somniari
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#5
Prince couldn't help another snort, this time a little amused despite himself at Arrille's reaction. He quickly straightened his expression. Okay, I'm pretty sure two of them do. I don't know if Heda does. That's what matters.
At the question, he paused only to make sure he was meeting the other's eyes with the most sincerity he could manage. What would I have done? I-- I miss them more than anything, but I don't think I'd trade what I have for a ghost. Things can never be the same once they change.
He said it simply, without accusation or grandeur, but with a touch of confusion. As if the observation should have been obvious. Despite himself, the boy didn't want to hate Arrille. He didn't want to have to want him dead, or worse. But Prince knew he may only be delaying the inevitable-- selfishly buying himself time to entertain the idea that they could still be friends. Once his Heda declared Arrille the enemy, if she ever did, he would be obligated to hate him. To put his own life on the line to kill him, if the opportunity should arise.
Prince knew without a doubt he would do it if commanded, but the idea gnawed in his chest.
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Ooc — Cody
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#6
If the heda did want them dead...god, what had he done? He could have very well endangered the entire of Grimnismal. Arrille shook his head. "No, not a ghost. Prince, I did meet him!" He was right to find Caiaphas, he had met his father...and if he had not? Well, he didn't know the outcome of the war...maybe his father would have been killed. Then again, he also regretted having met his father once more. 

"He was alive, and he was at Blackfeather...where Drageda planned to attack. If I had known that, you really think I would do nothing?" Yes, Drageda had given him a home. But Grimnismal had given him a change to get what he wanted. But now, he had to think...would Drageda had done the same? There was great conflict.

"Look, don't get involved in this. Just...just go! This isn't your fight."
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Ooc — Somniari
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#7
Prince softened a little when Arrille said he had met his father, and he couldn't help but ask: Is he with you now?
He had no way of knowing this was sensitive for the other; in fact, he sounded a little hopeful. If Arrille had his father, at least something good had come of this, right? It was the only thing the boy had to comfort himself in the face of what he was beginning to see as the start of another war.
At the second part, he frowned. He was with the enemy-- a captive? The pale boy was baffled. Surely that could be the only explanation, with the things he had heard of Blackfeather. Arrille couldn't come from such a horrible creature to live there, could he? Suddenly, Prince was seeing him in a new light, and the first hints of fear sparked behind his gaze.
A fire flashed through him at Arrille's second attempt to shoo him, though. It is my fight now. You made it everyone's fight-- at least face it, at least try to fix it, before there's more conflict. Or a war.
459 Posts
Ooc — Cody
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#8
Arrille hesitantly shook his head. He couldn't say what his own father thought of him. All that mattered, he had found him. There was not much else to say about it. "He didn't come..." Then what Prince said after...it struck him. What if he was...what if the reason his father was not himself was because he was a prisoner.

But that, that was an entirely different matter. "And do what?! Go and surrender myself?! Like you said, they want to kill me. I can't do that...I know what could happen, but there...there's nothing I can do. Just...just go, before you get hurt" he said. But that time, it seemed more like a threat...
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Ooc — Somniari
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#9
That's what you want, then? The words were biting and he took a step back from Arrille, ears flattened. Still he lacked aggression in his posture or expression, but the boy did not take kindly to the ghost of a threat behind the words. I thought we could be friends. Maybe family, like the rest of Drageda. But you're just a heartless, bloodthirsty traitor.
Prince fully expected a fight now that he had said it, now that he had let his anger boil over. Deciding he would go in all the way, he took another step back and added: I hope your new packmates see you for what you are before they get themselves killed over you.
459 Posts
Ooc — Cody
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#10
Arrille had had it up to here with the world. His father turned his back on him. He had gone against the back that let him in, now they were out to get him. And now, a once friend was about to fight him. "I didn't want this! All I wanted was to have my family!...And Drageda wouldn't have gotten me that. Grimnismal helped me find my father."

He shook his head. "Prince, I don't...I can't do this. I don't want to fight you...But I can't go back." To hear that his packmembers could even die just for him...It stunned him.
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Ooc — Somniari
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#11
Drageda could have been your family! Prince snarled, but the expression left his face the next instant. His next words were cold but level. So you found your father-- yet he's not here with you. And still you think it's worth it?
The boy snorted again in frustration. He had wanted to fight, at first-- to tear into Arrille for causing all of this. For being such a coward. But now he just wanted to see the conflict ended; Drageda had just gotten done with war! Bit by bit, each of the traitor's words were stripping at Prince's patience, and at his concern for the other. For Prince, his pack would always come first, and the only chance Arrille had was if he accepted responsibility, faced whatever they decided for him. It was becoming clear now that he was wasting his time by offering this.
I don't want to fight you, either. His tone was hard. But my packmates are back there, fighting your packmates over you. If you choose not to make peace, you are the one shedding the blood of my packmates.
459 Posts
Ooc — Cody
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#12
Arrille couldn't hold back the snarl in response to Prince. It was plenty worth it. He had found him, even if the meeting had not gone well. But still... "It...was worth it" he growled. Arrille did not like Prince's tone, and how he spoke. He cared more for his pack then Arrille. Which he could understand...but that also meant he could potentially go back. To try and take him back. 

"Making peace means going back...And I won't...you can't make me." He took a menacing step forward. He would not let Prince take him back. He may have been a friend...so as he stepped forward he could fear one of his eyes prickling as he saw the inevitable. It was either go back, or stop Prince altogether.
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Ooc — Somniari
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#13
Fight will be written to follow the outcome of this thread
A cold certainty filled the boy at Arrille's response, and he found himself growing numb to the situation except a stirring, rapidly-expanding rage. He mirrored the other's step forward, lips pulling up in another snarl. You will come back with me, dead or alive. Jus drein jus daun.
Prince lunged, then, aiming to grab the other's scruff. If he had to drag him back to Heda, he would-- he had known this from the start. The only difference now was that he would not dare to beg the Commander for mercy on Arrille's behalf; he felt foolish to have considered it now. Outsiders were not to be trusted.
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Ooc — Cody
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#14
Arrille snarled back, and then prince lunged at him. Arrille ducked to the side, trying to snap at Prince but his head was too low. He turned as quickly as he could, staring him down. He couldn't feel the wetness around his eyes. Having to fight a friend, someone he related to on a personal level. Someone he had turned his back on, yet he couldn't even blame himself. Arrille was too arrogant, too stuck up to blame himself, to accept responsibility for his actions.
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Ooc — Somniari
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#15
Prince responded to the snap with one of his own, aiming this time for the soft, vulnerable flesh of this throat. The pale boy grunted in frustration when he missed, realizing after a moment that this was his first real fight. He had been trained, of course, alongside all his packmates, but this? This was a struggle for his life, for his home-- his family. The thought invigorated him a little more, and suddenly he was determined not to fail.
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Ooc — Cody
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#16
Arrille wanted to shout at Prince, to stop him from being so stupid. To just go back so he wouldn't get hurt. But, he couldn't. His blood was boiling, and as he lunged for Prince's face, in an attempt to grab at anything around there, he knew already he would someday regret this. Look back on this, and cry at how he had lost his first friend.
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Ooc — Somniari
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#17
PPing Prince's hit on Arrille with permission
Prince thought little of it when Arrille lashed out again, assuming he would be faster-- he was not. Instantly he felt a white hot pressure on his muzzle, and he gasped a little when he realized the other had him by it. The boy ripped his face away with a yelp, unable to contain a couple of pained gasps as he felt hot wetness soak his face. A metallic tang filled his nostrils, and he could feel the torn flesh stinging as it was exposed for the first time to air.

It was not a serious wound, but it was gruesome. Prince snarled, immediately moving to return the favor. He grabbed for Arrille's scruff again, this time seeking not just to grab him but to cause pain. The boy sank his teeth in deeply and tossed his head violently from side to side, intending to keep the purchase he had on the other but desiring some form of revenge for the blow to his muzzle.
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Ooc — Cody
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#18
Arrille felt the wetness on his teeth. Then...it stunned him. He had just hurt him. His first friend he ever had, and he...hurt him. Not just that, he had made him bleed. He tasted blood...blood. Before he had time to recover, Prince was upon him.

Arrille yelped out loud as Prince grabbed onto his scruff, and started shaking it. He tried desperately to wrench himself away, trying to buck Prince off. Neither however had seen the edge. Or the flowing water below, and as Arrille felt a paw slip, he knew it was too late for both of them...
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Ooc — Somniari
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#19
@Kierkegaard now's ur time to shine
Honestly, Prince hadn't even known there was a cliff right there. He was too focused on Arrille to notice-- too angry, too scared. And too naive.
The boy wasn't ready for such serious things yet in his life, though he would never admit it. He didn't yet have the capacity to handle something like this, and part of him was desperately wishing for a way out. An end to the fight. So why was he so surprised when he got it?
Maybe because suddenly the earth was gone from below them, and they were both tipping into sudden, disconcerting nothingness. He let go of Arrille instantly, eyes wide, and all he saw was the other's pale coat and endless blue rushing towards him.
winter ghost
330 Posts
Ooc — Mary
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#20
Tagging 'Phas for reference :eyes emoji:
On ragged limbs, the ghost had followed after Arrille and the other who had pursued. Of course, he was not as spry as he had once been, and so his pace was slower and more calculated than the young boys. Still, Kierkegaard had no intention of letting his apprentice disappear without a trace; he was certain Caiaphas would not have been pleased if he were to have returned empty handed. So, his paws carried him quickly enough that he felt he would close distance on them if they were to stop. He was certain that the Drageda wolf would not have allowed Arrille to vanish; those beasts had been after the young man's blood.

Their scents were growing stronger, and the old man climbed onto rocks that rose upward to a small cliff-side. The waters beat relentlessly below and Kierkegaard felt a clutch of fear in his chest. As he pulled himself on tired limbs to a point against the backdrop, he watched them. The Drageda wolf had latched himself to the scruff of Arrille's neck. The ghost bared his fangs, but he could do nothing; both of them toppled over the side and out of his sight.

But, Kierkegaard had not intended to return home empty-handed. With a grumbled, “motherfucker,” and a few huffs of air, the ragged brute set himself at a run and before he could opt to change his mind, the ground no longer supported him and he plummeted down into the depths of the sea. The waves washed over his frame and engulfed him. Darkness beat against his eyes until he saw nothing more than memories, and the thought of @Caiaphas whispered through his skull.
old enough to know i'll end up dying, not young enough to forget again