Wolf RPG

The night was nearing the very precipice of dawn and soon in a true nocturne fashion Tev would seek the darkness of his “bachelor” den — inherently empty in a way that he was not accustomed to — and fall into slumber, lulled into the vivid dreams of Valhalla, of beautiful Valkyries, and the presence of the very Gods themselves. Something “the phantom” was present, speaking to him. Kjalarr the scarred heathen had taken to calling Tev. Yet, they were just dreams. Instead they were as strange and foreign as the words and language in which the phantom wolf spoke. His lack of knowledge of who and what he inherently was allowed Tev to brush them off, because, their meaning was entirely missed to him. He'd only recently returned and physically joined the wolves of the Moonspear, having spoken his goodbyes to Scimitar and stopped by the Sound on his way back — as to which he hadn't told anyone about.

He filled his time with checking caches, and patrolling the borders. Tev was in the early stages of his  'unwinding' process, as he got ready to settle in during the day when his eyes did not have to strain against the visual impairment that the sunlight gave him, though he would venture out into daylight if he needed to and could not otherwise avoid it. Subconsciously, he found himself being lured to where he assumed Floki slept, though he was entirely unaware that his twin did not sleep alone. Part of him yearned to feel needed — needed in the way Charon made it sound like he was. Tev wasn't so sure that his older brother hadn't just made it all up in a ploy to lure him from the Frostfurs. Of course, thinking like that didn't make Tev any better than Charon with his belief that that Frostfurs had brainwashed him.

Tev hadn't noticed her until he saw the shadow of her body move in the distance, a distinctly canine shape. “Hey, woah, easy there,” He broke the silence as he drew nearer out of curiosity, realizing she was standing possessively over the dark lump beneath where she stood, though it smelled distinctly like a seagull. “I'm not gonna steal your bird, you can relax.” A soft half laugh left Tev's lips as he teased her all in good nature. She was the first wolf about roughly his age (if he had to guess) that he'd came across thus far that wasn't his family...and that made him inherently curious.

Tev watched with irises of Caribbean blue as she relaxed, visibly, and he offered her a charming smile that held a tease of wickedness not unlike Ragnar's infamous smirk when she stepped back from her bird. In reality, Tev had only been teasing her, he didn't care if she was possessive over her kill or not. He wouldn't have expected her to be any less — and thus it was his turn to be bewildered when she offered him a bite of it. Brow furrowed slightly as he inhaled, subtly imprinting her scent to his memory to place it with her face, and let it out in an partially amused sigh. “No, I'm not hungry,” He spoke and then as if he remembered his manners added with a slight sheepishness, “thank you for the offer though. It was very kind.” and highly appreciated. 

“Yeah,” Tev responded, though there was clear bewilderment in his tone when she named him off — using the name he preferred at that! Tev didn't readily believe that Charon would call him anything other than 'Jorunn' and while Thistle had seemed to be accepting of it the girl before him smelled ...a lot like his twin. “So I guess you know about me then,” Unlike Charon (which was the kind of reaction he'd came to expect) she did not seem to be spiteful about it. “you can call me Tev if you want.” It was less of a mouthful than 'Tevinter' at any rate. “Wildfire? Interesting name,” He studied her but he could not see the vibrant reds that made up her coat, unfortunate as it was. Like his world around him she, too, was monochrome — just varying shades of gray. “It's a pleasure to meet you.” Tev offered her sincerely. 

"Wifi it is then," He murmured with a soft tug of his lips upwards. His ears cupped towards her, at attention when Wildfire explained to him that she was a friend of Floki's and her words were accepted with a nod from Tev. There was much that he didn't know about his twin ...and much that his twin didn't know about him. Still, any friend of Floki's was a friend of his — right? That probably wasn't how it went, and there would likely be times in which Tev would be shown that just because someone liked Floki, or alternatively him didn't necessarily mean that they would like the other. Despite their identical (or rather mostly identical) appearance they were two different creatures. Perhaps Floki was half of his soul. Perhaps they were simply one wolf, each living one side of that wolf. Tev didn't know, but he knew that things were delicate enough and that the last thing that he wanted was to potentially forever mess it up.

“Uh no, it's ok. Let him sleep,” Tev waved off the offer, brow furrowing for a moment as he considered his next words. “Sometimes I just find myself wandering this way,” Which probably made himself sound like a giant weirdo. “I like to check up on him I guess.” He shrugged, though in truth he couldn't explain it in any way other than it seemed to have something to do with that mysterious 'twin connection' thing they had. “I don't know, it's probably weird seeing as I was dead to them.” Tev said with an awkward soft of laugh. Though Tev entirely understood being as young as he'd been that it was only natural to assume that he'd perished; but lady luck had appeared to have left her mark upon the young Viking; still it kind of stung his pride that they hadn't had more faith that he was strong enough to survive despite the odds.

“For all of us, I think,” Tev would not underestimate how strange it must be for his family...and in some ways perhaps it was even hard for them. His believed death and now his sudden reappearance; except he was the not the same boy that had flung himself into the grasping ocean in fierce fight or flight instincts. These days he was mostly about the fight (though that wasn't very surprising) but then again he was older; maybe not fully filled out but he'd reached his adult height, at least. It was the same fearlessness he'd initially held as a small, arrogant child that had drove him to being “bold” (albeit some times idiotic). “It's weird and sometimes overwhelming for me too.” Because he'd been alone and scared and for a while angry that they hadn't found him; and it made Tev uncomfortable how Charon insisted on calling him “Jorunn” sometimes but he mostly let that slide.

Out of whatever shred of courtesy Tev possessed at any rate. “Yeah, I'm thinking it might be cool to go out on an outrider adventure together or something. Just Floki and me.” It would give them a chance to talk and hopefully “catch up”; while would also present them with alone time to rekindle their twin-ship and bond. Or that was what Tev would go for when he brought the idea up to Floki. “Uh, I'm really not that interesting,” Tev gave a low, perhaps even abashed chuckle. “but sure. I'll tell you anything you want to know about me...as long as you tell me things about yourself in return.” Sort of like twenty questions.

Not quite as self-centered as he used to be, Tev didn't want to hog all of the spotlight, especially when he saw it was a good opportunity to acquaint himself better with Wifi in return for her taking the initiative.

“Well, I'm an aspiring one,” He hadn't actually gotten around to earning the apprenticeship though it had not helped that for the longest time he had been too afraid of the world outside the safety of then Nova Peak to dare venture even to the borders — which had also put him behind on the warden trade, as well. It also hadn't aided his “recovery” time any when Bazi used the bear to blackmail him. Looking back on it now, he thought it was sort of funny and didn't hold her manipulation against him. In the end, he thought she'd made him stronger for it; but as a kid he'd been terrified. “That's what I was hoping. That him and I could use the time to bond.” Tev had other siblings, he knew, but no one had mentioned them to him: and the only ones he'd came across were Floki and Charon, interestingly enough.

“I'd be down for an Outrider trio,” Tev agreed with a grin. He wanted to make a trip or two with just Floki, but he didn't see why Wifi couldn't tag along and join them on some, too. “That's awesome.” Tev had to admit that it was cool to come across someone else who shared his natural love for travel ...and even better that his twin, also, shared it. At least it was one thing the two had in common and Tev saw the chance to use that. Respectively, Wifi held Tev's rapt attention, his ears of platinum silver cupping forth, towards her, atop his skull as he settled upon his haunches, finding a comfortable position. While she posed her question to him, he felt a small frown tug at the corner of his lips, but he saw no harm in answering her. She hadn't asked it with any malice and he did not feel like he was on any sort of trial. 

“Yeah, it's ...not a real popular subject for at least my older brother,” Meaning Charon, but he didn't address him by name, assuming that Wildfire would know who he was speaking of. Tev had put it nicely though. As far as the young Viking cared his older brother had been downright rude about it. “but I'm not ashamed or afraid to talk about them.” Just in case there was any worry about it. “I don't know if the name Frostfur rings any bell to you but I was adopted by Scimitar and Bazi Frostfur. It was Scimitar that found me, malnourished and probably delirious.” Tev didn't remember that too well, aside from the fact that Scimitar had been like some kind of shining knight to his rescue, and that for that there would always be a part of Tev that greatly admired him. “We lived on Nova Peak for a bit, but then relocated to Jade Fern Grove when the tornado came through. It caused a wild fire,” There was a slight smirk as he noticed the irony of that. “That tore through the lands and forced us to evacuate. I only very recently found out, before I came back to Moonspear for good that they left the Teekon Wilds. Scimitar tried to convince me to go with them, but I couldn't. I couldn't leave Floki ...or my mom again. Not a second time.” It had been plenty hard turning down Scimitar's offer down, though. 

Tev's ears had fallen slightly, as he realized that it meant he'd never be able to visit them, and them him; but he'd made his decision and it was his duty to stick by it. “What about you?” Tev asked under the assumption that she hadn't been born in Stavanger Bay, though she could have easily been apart of the pack that the Bay merged with.

Tev took the shake of Wildfire's head as it had been meant: that the name Frostfur did not strike her as familiar. He hadn't expected it to be familiar to her, in truth, but he didn't know how well Scimitar and Bazi were known (or alternatively not known) and held onto some small sliver of hope that she might have known them. Or of them; but he wasn't disappointed that she didn't. Her quiet contemplation caused his ears to lower slightly as he thought through the following words. “It was the hardest choice I've ever had to make,” Tev admitted in hushed tones — as if he were sharing a secret with her. In a way, he sort of was. Tev felt bad about it, like he shouldn't have had any trouble picking the Loðbrok's (since Charon had made it clear that he wasn't a Loðbrok) over the Frostfurs but that was not the truth. He wasn't afraid of Charon or his outbursts per say but Tev didn't want to deal with another temper tantrum from the Alpha Male of Moonspear and so he chose not to really bring it up. At all. Yet, Wildfire had asked and Tev saw no reason to lie or to withhold the information from her. She gave him the impression that she understood and he appreciated it and did not want to be a prick by being tight-lipped.

Tev offered her a soft smile when she spoke about being glad that he was here now, tail beating against the ground for a few seconds. “That's good,” Tev offered, eager to get the attention off of him. He wasn't quite the vain boy of his pup-hood and in this particular instance he didn't exactly find himself relishing alone in the spotlight. It turned back to him, fairly, however, when Wildfire posed her next questions; this time upping the challenge. She had forced him to think outside the box of 'here and now' which was the box that Tev tried to keep himself in. Instead, she encouraged him to look to his future and try to guess what might be awaiting him. Answering some of it would be easy but the rest of it he couldn't say.

“I would like to be a warden and outrider by that time,” Check the easy response. As he considered the more harder part his brow furrowed slightly. “Apart from that I can't really say. I don't pretend to know what the future has in store for me. I try to focus on what's happening here and now.” He didn't want to set his expectations high so he did not feel the harsh disappointment when it did not come to fruition. “Now, your turn. What about you?”

Wildfire had begun to respond to his rather unoriginal turn around of her question — though it was clear that he was thinking aloud. “I've found that things can change in a split second, wildly out of our control,” Tev interjected softly, voice a soft murmur when she admitted to him that she'd thought she would spend her life on the Caldera. His life had changed like that several times and while he had rebelled against it at first he'd learned to ...take it as it came. He could either ride the waves or sink below them; and as it turned out Tev would rather face and conquer the obstacles thrown his way as opposed to letting them drag him under. “but change, no matter how bad ...can also be good.” It was all in finding the silver lining. Or perhaps Tev was just extraordinarily skilled at turning those curve balls in his favor.

“Really? Just the middle? You've never thought about leading, someday? You don't even have to be Alpha. A Beta is just as important but offer a more supportive role to the Alpha.” While he didn't bank too much on what he might imagine what his future might be Tev was ambitious. A trait he inherited directly from Ragnar — and not a trait that his father liked to see in his children. It wasn't exactly a trait associated with goodness in his family, in all fairness, but Ragnar wasn't there to tell him of Björn and Vali...or his own gruesome tale of his initial rise to power in Odinn's Cove. His eyes softened as he offered her a grin when Wildfire admitted that she wanted to be a mother someday. It was not a bad ambition to have. A family.

Family was important, after all. “To who? Yourself? Or the leaders?” It was a strange thing to say, in Tev's mind. Why did one have to prove their worth to have children? “It'd be pretty shitty if anyone denied you permission to have children someday.” But those were just Tev's personal thoughts on the matter. He hadn't ever really talked to anyone about how the whole “permission to breed” worked (though to be fair he hadn't had the “birds & bees” convo, yet, either). “You make it sound like a competition,” Tev laughed, teasing her. “What's wrong with just falling in love and just having rugrats with your love?” Not that he knew what love was, either, really. Still, perhaps he was developing into a bit of a “romantic” and her choice word of “suitable” just made it ...cold sounding, even if she hadn't meant it that way. He wasn't being mean (or trying to be), his words were in good nature, enunciating that he was giving her a hard time. 

Jesting aside, his eyes rose to settle at something over her head as he thought, finding that he was a tad bit distracted when he stared at her and that there was an ever so slight creep of heat at his neck; despite that his expression was contemplative as he considered her question. “Yeah,” He spoke softly after a bit, his eyes lowering to rest upon her once more. “Yeah I'd love to have kids someday. Maybe I'd name a son after Ragnar.” Felt like the right thing ...even though he had a good while to go before he reached that point in his life. He didn't even have a girlfriend!

Tev wasn't a timid beast by any means of the word, nor shy. He preferred to speak his mind — he didn't believe in lying — perhaps this made him unattractively blunt (and would no doubt get him into trouble in the future) but at least he could claim that he spoke his mind and was honest. His beliefs (and opinions) would not always be right, or fall in line with what someone else thought but he would stand by them ...because he fancied himself a man of his word. “That's true,” Tev concurred softly. “I understand what you're saying but you have to admit that not all leaders are good leaders and do we really want mini's of them running around?” He shrugged then, figuring that if she wanted to prove herself an able mother then it was her prerogative. He understood from a leader perspective why not everyone could be granted permission to breed; and he also understood her point of view. Still, someone with as much as ambition as he'd seen in their very brief acquaintance within Wifi already proved that when the time came she had nothing to prove. At least in his eyes. But, he wasn't a leader and that was a ways off, yet. For the both of them.

Tev offered her another charming grin when she explained her numerous names (and nicknames) to him, unable to help but draw comparisons. In that way, she was like him. She must have drawn a very similar comparison herself for she made an inquiry about his different names. There were so many of them; though only one was of his own choice. “I don't really know if Tevinter has a meaning or not but I just thought it sounded cool,” He admitted with a sheepish half shrug. “I was given the name Jorunn Eitri at birth though. Jorunn means chief's love in my father's native tongue and Eitri was the name of my grandfather. That's kind of like you being named after your uncle Atticus.” Another thing they had in common. “There's this name I hear sometimes in my dreams. It's Kjalarr. I think it means The Nourisher...and I think it's another name for Oðinn or something. He's like the King of the Norse Gods, I guess. I use it sometimes on Outrider missions.” His knowledge was still largely lacking but from what little he'd learned so far his judgment seemed right. Or pretty close to it, anyway. Tev omitted the part about seeing his deceased father in his dreams in lieu of not wishing to scare to her off.

Wifi had appeared to have taken something of an interest in his mention of his dreams, and embarrassed Tev's gaze lowered ever so slightly. He hadn't ever really told anyone about his dreams, either. As it were, she wasn't wrong. They were extremely vivid and most of the time he was visited by Ragnar — though he wasn't aware it was his father's phantom. In reality, it probably wasn't really a phantom but some version of Ragnar created by his subconscious, perhaps given life by the effects that the Berserker mushrooms his father consumed in his youth had genetically upon his son. Yet, he had no way of explaining these things beyond what he knew: magic and Gods.

“Yes. Maybe not every night but most nights. There's this phantom I guess that's pretty constant in them. About the same size as me, except one half of his face is all scarred and he's missing an eye. He's pretty gruesome and ugly. He scared me at first, as a child, but I stopped being afraid of him when I realized that there are things in real life that deserve my fear.” He gave pause and then added, briskly, “Not that I'm afraid of bears anymore.” He'd conquered that with a reckless abandon that could have very easily gotten him killed. Luckily, all it got him was the wounds turning into scars on his muzzle; and that'd probably just been stupid luck.

His hackles bristled along his spine when Wifi admitted that there were two bears that lived on the Moonspear, as well. That made him uneasy, if because twice in his young life he'd had a brush of death with bears. He might have ceased to give the beasts the power to make him a slave to his fear by conquering it (however stupidly), but that did not mean that he did recognize their power, or the danger they poised. “I was almost killed by two different bears twice. I decided that I wasn't going to let my fear make a slave out of me.” It was bold talk, sure, but he'd charge them again if it was what it took to keep his family safe. There was a value to life, though, and he would not be so reckless the next time. Since it had became apparent there would be a next time. He couldn't seem to get away from them: first Stavanger Bay, then Jade Fern Grove, and now Moonspear.

If this was a sign from the Gods it wasn't one that Tev found amusing.

“I can't seem to get away from bears, apparently,” Tev commented a bit sourly, before he inhaled  deeply and let it out. “Is there a plan to deal with them? Chase them out? Or kill them?” A pack might actually stand a chance at taking them down individually so long as they herded and got them separated. Although he attributed that bears would probably be smarter than your average herd animal. They weren't prey but predators, too. Fear could be debilitating if one left it fester like an unchecked wound — something Tev understood all too well. He had never necessarily feared death so he couldn't claim that, though it was likely a common fear. He wasn't afraid of heights, or bugs, or anything else practical. Sometimes he was afraid of his dreams, of what they meant and of why he could remember them for the most part. He didn't fear the unknown, or the Gods. 

“I'm afraid of losing wolves that I love,” It had happened to him twice, so far, and twice was enough for him to realize that he didn't like losing wolves he'd grown to care for. “And if I'm being honest rejection.” He added with a laugh. They were not tangible fears: not anything he could touch or see: but rather what he felt; and each was out of his control. “Family is important to me, and I want to keep them safe, even though I know there are things I cannot protect them from.” but that didn't mean he wasn't going to try. It was important to him that he feel needed, that he had purpose. 

The idea of talking to Charon about the bears didn't fill Tev with any sort of eagerness, but he supposed he couldn't avoid his older brother forever; especially because he was the Alpha male of the Moonspear. After some shuffling of his paws as he mulled it over (though he had no real choice) Tev finally conceded with, “Yeah. I'll check in with them on it.” The last time he'd engaged bears without any sort of plan both times had ended badly. The rifts between him and his family and the ugly scars forming on his muzzle were proof enough of that. He didn't want to add a third bad ending to his collection. “Oh I'll definitely help. The bears are a threat.” And any threat domestic or foreign was going to have to go through him (or so that was how he liked to paint it in his head, anyway). “I'd say that I always am but you know,” His past definitely spoke otherwise. “So instead: I'll try to be.” He offered her a cheeky grin, sort of flattered that she thought to tell him to be careful. 

Tev watched as Wildfire's face took on several different expressions as she thought, only to voice that she changed her mind. “I know it does,” For it sucking and for it getting better. He spoke softly though he offered her a nod of understanding all the same. He couldn't say if his rejection had gotten better yet or not. Charon's words still stung him when he thought back upon them. Yet, he couldn't quite figure out why he cared either way.