Wolf RPG

A band of sirens had inhabited Ankyra Sound once upon a time. Vlad would have laughed at the mere thought of women organizing themselves, but there was not enough left behind of their existence to paint so vivid a picture. It was just a hunch, really; a smattering of long-emptied caches and a cave that might've been a den.

Vlad could not even begin to fathom. Number Two had scuttled off to do whatever rats do, leaving the exalted leader of their great two-man-band to explore alone. He would never live this close to sand, but the Sound's nooks and crannies made it an interesting place to explore. If Vlad could find a crab, he would introduce it to Rat as their newly crowned second in command - replacing the mangy critter he had picked up in the mire. The thought made him guffaw unattractively.

the salt wretch had been busy in one sect of the grotto restoring the damage of the long forgotten twister when she thought she heard the dim echo of laughter. she paused, her hackles rising -- was she imagining things again? had her iniquity finally caught up with her?

carefully the sea-wolf placed the wilted fern in her mouth on the ground, securing it with the heavy edge of a sea shard she had found weeks earlier. she turned back towards the entrance, her fur continuing to bristle outright as the source of the laughter became louder. for a moment she paused below the den's entrance, allowing her eyes to adjust to the harsh glare of the outer world -- and when her vision was restored the sylph burst from the ground with a ferocious coyote-shriek, rounding upon the mottled guffawer with haste.

"you're on claimed land." the coywolf growled, her lower lips curled as she sized up the agouti male. he was lean like her, but bigger -- and something about his physique made her wonder if he was no stranger to scrapping. while the sound was no longer claimed by a pack, she patrolled it daily -- and despite the fact her harem had sunken into the sand she still felt a tie to the sound. an ownership. a bond in which it was likely only death would release. "state your business."

A stern-looking wolf-mix cut his laughter short, emerging from the darkness in the wake of a banshee screech. She was all glaring eyes and business, making her displeasure known with every part of her body that could be made to look aggressive. On the other side of her sullen glare, Vlad looked at the scrappy little creature with suspicion in his yellow eyes. "I no.. smell claim lend," he challenged, raising his head to breathe deeply of the cool, salty air. A wicked grin split his face again, and he hiked a brow high over the left-most of his wicked eyes. "I smelling tiny wolf only. You hev ghost peck?"

a sense of confusion clouded her features as she heard the wolf's dialect -- what? her ears pulled back in consternation and displeasure while her hackles only continued to stiffen. she wasn't about to be cowed by an outsider -- and it showed in her refusal to rescind her initial response of defensiveness. every piece of fur on her thin body was bristled to the point where she resembled a spooked and outraged cat.

"want to find out?" she challenged inquiringly, her expression dark as she steeled herself to back down her words. she wasn't exactly the best fighter, but if she had to defend the sound she would -- and as the last living resident ankyra knew, it was her duty to do so. "why are you here?"

Vlad guffawed again, delighted by the spirit of this mucky little sand sprite. The leering visitor made no connection between her heightened displeasure and his manhandling of the English language, presuming instead that realization had hit home - she was doomed to lose if this encounter ended badly. Right? Vlad studied the dark, bristling body before him. This was her home turf, if words were to be believed, and she had a 'supercharged' look about her that made a fight seem unappealing. Even if Vlad won, she would take a chunk of him straight to hell - that much he believed.

"I look for vinter bratstvo," he informed with a flourish. "You understend? I find wolf for make peck until is warm. You want be queen?" It was a genuine offer, and one delivered with the added bonus of Vlad taking two large steps back - a show of friendship between lonely souls.

despite her spitfire appearance, caiaphas was anything but gifted when it came to battling -- so when vlad's posture shifted to one of neutrality caiaphas was nearly overwhelmed with cowardly relief. perhaps the mothers looked over caiaphas that day, for had she gone headlong into battle with the steely wolf she had no doubt it would have ended with more than her dignity being taken from her.

however, the sylph was genuinely surprised by the agouti's offer. her ears, long as a mule's, swiveled in uncertainty. she did not trust this fellow any more than she trusted the wind not to bite at her back, yet the prospect of some sort of company on this dismal shore appealed greatly to the salt-wife. "what is the catch?" the sly shewolf asked immediately, still not convinced that the male's offer was wholesome.

Vlad was no stranger to this phase of negotiations. It was only natural for Caiaphas to doubt every twisted syllable put forth by the stranger, but Vlad was nothing if not persistent. His survival - and likely hers - hinged on making fast friends before winter slapped its mighty hand down on the Teekon Wilds and began to squeeze.

"No cetch," he assured her with a quick shake of his mottled head. "Vlad hev good face for to invite many wolf, you hev good face for lead - scerry, ruaargh! Is good metch!" To further assuage her suspicions, the Russian sat back on the cold sand and slumped his shoulders, assuming a posture one would associate with 'having a chill time' and not the tension inherent in two desperate strangers meeting for the first time. A look came over him then - as though he had just remembered something unfortunate. "Is.. one cetch," he admitted, rolling his shoulders. "My numbers two wolf, he... very ugly. Heving face like ess of rett, making eyes burn." The mask cracked and fell from his face almost as soon as it had settled there, giving way to the force of his crooked, yellow grin. "Joke," he guffawed. "Is no cetch. Make peck or make ded - I know this true and you also."

despite vlad's supine position, caiaphas was still doubtful. her life, lonely as it was, was consistent. there were little surprises (save the day she let sebastian in her den) and she was accountable to and for nothing save her stomach. it was a blissful life, even if it was marred by hardships -- caiaphas was not so eager to regain the responsibilities of the crown.

her expression drew into a squint as vlad spoke of an ugly comrade -- and even when he revealed it was a joke and laughed the pinched countenance remained. "fine. i'll show you the grotto." while it was exceptionally brave of any wolf to invite a stranger into their fold, caiaphas knew one thing -- should vlad pull any aggressive behavior she could easily lose him in the miry labyrinth that was her home.

without waiting for the presumably cheeky response, the sylph turned back the way she came and slipped into the underground chambers.

"Fine," the dour woman responded, and invited in him to survey the dark cave from whence she had come - the core of her ill-guarded territory. He could only interpret it as acceptance of the terms on offer, and so it happened that the sour and salt-stained wolf Caiaphas became the queen of this years bratstvo.

Vlad wasn't entirely sure how he felt about spending the winter months in a dank tomb, but supposed it was better than being dead. Most scenarios were preferable to being dead. He got to his feet and padded after the dark wraith, his movements blunt and lumbering in comparison to hers. The air was close and thick with scents, but it wasn't as bad down there in the dark as he had imagined. Might even be cozy, if someone would make the effort to drag in a few fans of soft pine to sleep on. The agouti male squinted into the dark, his eyes having yet to adjust. "Where go?" he called into the black.

the darkness would take getting used to, particularly for a soul who lived in the sun. but caiaphas was not a sunkissed, ephemeral flower -- she was the mold that grew in the dark, the spore that populated the subterrane. her steps were quick and nimble and as she heard vlad stumble behind her she imitated his guffaw, a shrill cackle bounding down the darkness.

should he use his ears he would hear the fleet of her scattering claws, and eventually, the two of them would break into the circular chamber caiaphas called her lair. once it had been a site for ceremonies, and the residents sacrificed to honor ankyra sound's longevity remained there still, skeletons set cold in the dust. in the center of the chamber was a rounded pool whence light came from and gave the cave its eerie and possessed aura. caiaphas rounded to the water, her countenance illuminant as she looked upon vlad. "sunlight from outside." she smiled, waving a paw across the rippling surface. "it bounces from the seafloor." she was proud of this spectacular find, and had spent the last year within the confines of this otherworldly grotto.

"there is no fresh water in the fall or winter." her brow furrowed by this small setback. "but in the spring and summer the ice in the mainland thaws and comes creeping down to the sea." the grotto's tunnelways were endless, and truth be told, she had not traversed the entire of the cavernous network. it was then she straightened up, a harshness to her feral gaze. "should you turn on me, there are plenty of places to hide your body."

She crowed shrilly from up ahead, skittering over the rocks like a lizard. Vlad did his best to follow, pausing here and there to lick the walls and grimacing hard when these spot tests yielded sharp or astringent tastes. Sound bounced off the dark walls in all directions, and it would take him a long time to find his way back or unaided.

But Ankyra HQ itself was quite a sight to behold. The light came as if from nowhere, painting the cavern a cool, ever-shifting green. Vlad didn't understand the wraith's explanation, but absorbed the rest of the information easily enough - no fresh water, but plenty of space and protection from the elements.

"What I gain?" he returned with a bark of laughter, ears flattening when the cave returned the sound to him. "Why I risking life for so skeenny meal?" He gestured over the water at her. "Vlad not full eedjot. Where you find fud? You leek wall?" That would certainly explain why she was so sour. Still, Vlad did not find the black-faced hybrid entirely unlikeable.

caiaphas scowled at the idea of licking the gneiss face of the cavern. she had no intention of bringing her tongue to such a soiled surface. she lowered her haunches, primly sitting in the manner of a cat -- her attention wholly on the strange wolf in her abode. she never grew tired of the grotto or the light that flickered blue and coruscating from the water -- but at night, the caverns were doused in unremitting darkness.

the mention of food caused a smile to flicker across her face, much in the manner the light quivered in oscillating glances across the chamber. "the sea, eedjot." a bubbling cackle punctuated her insult before she quickly grew silent. "lots of seals outside, lots of crabs in the caves." she paused, wondering if he even knew what a seal was. "dog-fish. tasty and slow on land." of course, if he preferred the heady taste of a land animal, he may find his options limited.

Crabs and dog-fish. The prospect of new food excited Vlad, who might have made a decent zoologist or restauranteur if the heavens had not put his soul in the body of a wolf. He bobbed his head fiercely, spraying spittle in an uneven rain over the edge of the illuminated pool. "This gud!" he declared. Beach life seemed less and less ridiculous the more she revealed about it, and his nose had already forgiven the peculiar smell that pervaded the cave. "I come beck," he told her, deciding then and there that yes, this would all do nicely. "I go, find meny wolf, come beck - you teach how cetch creb!" Vlad had tried and failed several times earlier that day, suffering the might of the scuttling devils' claws each time. The brute's tone became serious then - at least by his standards. He turned his chin up and levelled a searching gaze at the conniving little cave-dweller. "You not make lie to Vlad, I hoping. What is name? I call 'Bleckface' wolf?" Caiaphas was far beyond his pronuncial abilities.

despite her normally detached nature, there was something about vlad's excitability that stirred a sense of discomposure in the secluded female. she eyed him sagely, as if peering down a rim of spectacles -- and spoke: "you've much to learn about crabbing, vlad." a slippery smile doused her countenance as she dissected his peculiar speech. vlad's dialect was most amusing, and the gutturalness of it clicked off the cave walls in abundance. she liked it.

"caiaphas. but you can call me what you wish." she was never one to be flustered by the mixage of names, and with a flourish the sea-witch turned tail and scrambled down the narrow opening of one of the many tunnels. in one of those circular caverns she had witnessed a great house of all manner of decapods , and she would start her search for them immediately.

"You've much to learn about crabbing, Vlad," the siren declared - Vlad did not disagree. She introduced herself as Caiphas, which he would practice saying out loud on his westward journey and give up on completely before he had passed south of the Sunspire range. She would be Blackface for now, or some other temporary and recruitment-appropriate name. Those that he brought back to her cave could decide what to call her, but they would know that this was her dwelling, and that they were to treat their host with respect. After all, this was about survival - nothing else. Vlad had learned the hard way that a little civility went a long way.

He leered at the vacant space where she had sat, and turned to find his way back to the surface. There was much campaigning to do on behalf of the saltwinter pack to be.