Wolf RPG

It was quite a misty morning. The cold was slowly settling in and it was a warning that winter would set in soon. On the edge of the forest the winds were stronger than inside and there was one lone figure moving through the misty lands. This part of the woods weren't often marked since the swamp was enough of a barricade. Burke still liked to be through and do some marking so stupid loners would be warned. Burke let out a howl for any wolf that wanted to join him. Going in the swamps wasn't something you wanted to do on your own. 

Sometimes even weird lights would appear, caught your attention. The trick was that those wisps were gases, the gases came from the earth somewhere, yet if someone would walk towards it they could soon be stuck in the quicksand layered with a inch of water. The mud would suck you into the ground and not be able to get out with help. Burke was carrying a big branch, basically his safety vest.

Macbeth was on the borders himself when he heard the call. He had been patrolling up and down for hours hoping to earn his place in the pack, but so far there was not even a whisper of an intruder. It looked like other wolves and indeed other creatures were smart enough to avoid this place and even though that was smart of them and somewhat admirable, it lead to a uneventful patrol for him, so he was grateful of the alpha's call.

Picking up his pace to more of a trot he quickly made his way for the source of the call. As he approached Burke he presented his neck and then bowed his head. "I was patrolling when I heard your call sir." Hopefully that would impress somewhat. "How is it I can help?" He stayed a few steps back form the large wolf just in case the help of a newcomer was not required.

Burke didn't have to wait long before someone arrived, the one arriving did surprise him. He was pretty convinced that Kove would come first. Alas. Burke placed the stick down at his feet he was holding. "Greetings. It is just Burke now," he spoke to the male but it was clear that he appreciated the formality of it. Plus he had been patrolling already which was always good. "You are going for your Mercenary then?," he asked just to be sure of that case so he could keep an eye on the male doing his trades in the first place.

Burke turned to the path he wanted to go. "I want to patrol the swamps. Too dangerous to do alone really, always better to go with two, hence why I have gotten this stick if someone gets stuck," he pointed out. Their swamp could be a tricky place but seeing that Macbeth was here to learn already Burke was confident that the male would watch out next time. He didn't come over as stupid anyways. "So are you ready to go?"

Macbeth tipped his head at Burke's greeting and was pleased to finally know the name of his leader, that was one less awkward thing for him to get manage. Burke seems to Mac to be impressed with his patrol. The young wolf held back a grin at being somewhat more accepted than he felt before. "Yes s- I mean Burke. It's all I know really, so I hope it comes in handy for you guys." However Mac could not help but give a small nervous twitch at the mention of the swamps. Hew knew all too well the dangers of the mire after he had thrown himself into there with Venus. It was a good job she was there or he might have been lost to their currently frozen depths forever. "Yeah, I'm ready. I know how dangerous those swamps can be, nearly took a turn for worst in there myself t'other day." He look at Burke and his stick. "Is that what the stick is for? I'm guessing it ain't for a game of fetch?" He asked somewhat jovially.

Burke nodded shortly. "Well you are welcome to choose a secondary trade later when you find that interest," he pointed out. "Mercenary is fine for now. It is what you specialize in later. We have currently more guardians I believe. Luckily my son wants to be a warrior," he explained. Burke wasn't going to add that he was old. He was starting to get older but that wasn't stopping the oversized tank. He was a leader from the start and he felt good being one. He learned how a good leader was suppose to be. 

Burke eye at him, normally pack wolves didn't go too deep into the swamps but it seemed this guy was keen on exploring all. "Well then it is good you come with me today, you will know where to go," he pointed out. Burke was about to walk when Mac asked what the stick was for. He believed he had just said what the stick was for. Burke didn't laugh at his joke. "You will see, because you clearly weren't listening before," he pointed out, meaning that he probably also wouldn't listen to what Burke would say in the swamps and that Mac would make a tumble again. Burke was probably going to need this stick more than ever.

Burke talked of a second trade to Macbeth, but to be honest, he really had no idea what he might do outside something that didn't involve violence somehow. Maybe he would give that some thought though, not right now, he had far too much to focus on with his two week trial and mercenary duties, plus he wasn't really one for multi-tasking. Brute strength he could do, things that required brain power though took him a little longer to manifest. Which was an excellent reason for why he was worried that Burke's faith in him hopefully would not be mis-placed. Besides the fact that he didn't want another fall into the mire, he also didn't want to show himself up in front of the alpha...well again that was after he caught out for not listening too. He screwed his face up into an apology and offered no excuse as he didn't have one.

They both headed off in the direction of the swamp together and Mac thought this the perfect time to learn some of the pack history. "So, Burke, anything I need to know about the pack I mean how did you guys start out, is there anything I should know? I'm kinda liking this Dark Brotherhood idea from what I've heard, kinda think it could be quite nifty to be an assassin." He play bowed, wiggled his butt in the air and faux pounced. He just had far too much energy today.

Burke started walking into the swamp taking a careful path. He was carrying the stick which wasn't really great for talking and have an explanation for Mac. He turned to show him the stick in his mouth. It seemed Mac wasn't the most intellectual of wolves. Not that it mattered, if he could follow orders and do what was expected Burke was fine with it. He walked to a barren tree, placing the stick down and starting to mark the dead tree. "Meldresi started this pack, I have not been here from the start, I actually joined about a good year ago. She became my mate actually. She died a month after the birth of Kendra and Pietro. She was remarkable, setting up the Dark Brotherhood that works in the name of Mephala and Sithis," he explained.

"The brotherhood forms quite a remarkable structure and bond. One can even choose to follow a special branch they like to specialize in like you just mentioned. But, if you do not mind I'd like to explain more about that after your two weeks, and do some marking. Careful were you walk. This part isn't visited by loners often but it should be marked. Up for it?," he asked, pale eyes on him.

Macbeth listened to Burke intently as he explained the history of the pack, nodding in the all the right places, not wanting to be caught out again like he was earlier. This time at least it was easier as he was actually genuinely interested in what the alpha had to tell him. At the mention of children, Macbeth was caught off guard somewhat, he had trouble imagining such a tank of a wolf as a gentle father. He was sure Burke was of course, but it was just difficult to see. Yet Burke only skimmed over the Dark Brotherhood, seemingly not wanting to give too much away. Yet, just the mention of a possible job for him almost made him tingle with excitement. He had a place again. A feeling he remembered from his mother as pup but hadn't really felt since. Of course he felt somewhat accepted with his last tribe, but still more like a cog in a machine, a well-oiled machine, but still a machine.

He snapped out from his daydreaming as they entered the mire and put himself on high alert again. "Yeah, I'm up for it", he told Burke as he started sniffing the ground and using a single front paw to check the ground in front of him, tapping it lightly in front of Burke. If anyone was going to fall into anything, bet it be him than the alpha. He dreaded to think of what awaited him back in civilisation if he returned without the leader and his time in the pack would help either, all suspicion would fall directly on him and paying with his life would not be out of the question.

On looking around the place he found something that might help. "Hey look at this." He used his head to motion towards a pile of rocks to his right and carefully padded over to them. "Maybe we can use these for safety, look." He picked on up in his jaws and flung it as far as he could. It land a few yards ahead of them where it sat for a moment before it started slowly disappearing under muddied snow. "Lucky, that eh?"

Burke nodded and grabbed the stick again. He was about to walk when Mac was pointing something out. The male watched without much expression on his face. His pale eyes followed the rock that was flung by the male. That was the rocky pile they often used for marking. Burke placed his large stick down again. "You also have your nose, you know? It is this nifty thing that can detect smells at the end of your muzzle," the male pointed out with light sarcasm. His pale eyes on the younger male. Somehow Mac reminded him a bit of Pietro with his silly solutions. Burke licked his lips channeling his inner mentor. 

"The grounds that are unsafe to stand on is because of the gases coming from the earth. It is also why sometimes you see will-o'-the-wisps. You will get used to it eventually, but if you keep your nose closer to the ground you can detect where it is safe to stand or not." It did take some experience, and Burke was confident that he could walk through the mire with his eye closed but sometimes you did have these undetectable pits where one never could get out from. "Besides, eventually the stones will be gone and we wouldn't have anything to mark," he pointed out to the back and white male.

Macbeth sat and puffed out his chest. He was sure Burke would be impressed, after all Macbeth practically saved his life right? Turns out that wasn't quite the case for the dark male and his proud smile fell as Burke sarcastically told him to use his nose. Stupid! Why didn't he just do that? Maybe he was too hung up on trying to impress the alpha that all he was actually managing to do was make himself look stupid. It was interesting to learn about the mire though and 'will-o'-the-wisps', almost immediately he lowered his nose to the ground like a sniffer dog and made his way slowly along the floor, concentration straining across his face.

Suddenly he pulled his nose away from the ground and then stuck it straight back down there exclaiming "Oh! There's one!" He continued to skim the ground with his nose. "Oh look, there's another...don't walk there." He pointed at a nearby swamp with his nose not unlike a pointer dog.

Burke walked on, marking a tree or even the ground sometimes with a bit of pee. He wanted to be through when marking these borders. The swamps had already a peculiar scent so their scent had to be stronger than that. He appreciated Macbeth pointing out where he couldn't walk, even though he could smell perfectly where he could walk and where not. 

Burke changed his course when Macbeth pointed out another swamp. He stopped to mark again and placed a tree down. "You can mark too you know, just so there will be more scent around this border," he explained. If Mac wanted his Mercenary trade then he would have to do some guardian aspects too, perhaps, unless he wanted to full focus on being a warrior.

Macbeth, completely off in his own world of which we was the one with the biggest head, actually had no idea that Burke could cross the swamp without him and thought himself doing the Alpha a great favour and he swelled with pride at the thought of such an honour. Bless. As they walked further inward, Burke advised him he could scent mark too and that he should. He could not help but wear a small look of confusion, wasn't it just the leaders that got to do that? Their pack, their scent sort of thing? 

He stopped at looked up then opened his mouth to ask, but quickly closed it again. A good warrior never questioned his orders, but he followed them, without question and without complaint. "Can do, sir" and he proceeded to do so, marking at regular intervals as the pair walked on. "So is there a reason for your visit today? Or are we just marking our territory? I know you said you wanted to patrol, but what I mean is has there been an trouble, or trespassers?" He was really hoping the answer was yes, he could use a bit of action.

Burke nodded shortly. In Black Feather he let everyone who wanted to be a guardian mark the borders. This way it would be a check up if the guardians did their work and he would know his pack mates better with who is who. They were a pack and if he were to mark the borders alone he could keep on walking. The male marked along with the subordinate until he asked a question. Burke had to place the stick down again to answer. "These borders aren't trespassed at all or at least not that often. The dry borders as I call them I do daily, and these wet borders weekly. I'd like loners to remind that we are here," he pointed out. "Once a month I do a patrol around the whole of Black Feather and our neighboring territories just to check what is happening there, also scouting for herds."

Burke had been an alpha for a long time, not only at Black Feather but before that time too. He knew how to manage a pack and was becoming quite knowledgable at it. Especially during his time before Black Feather, though this pack had quite its dramatics too while he was here. But seeing that he was a year in this pack and in the upper ranks 9 months of that year period he knew how Black Feather worked. "Usually wolves stay clear of our borders and when they don't we use their bodies as markers at our border," he stated. "They know, and if they don't then they are stupid enough that they deserve to be killed."

Macbeth was impressed to hear of the lack of trespassers in these lands, although that would make his job of impressing Burke much harder if there were no rogue wolves to chase away. One thing he did remember though was the first day he arrived and seeing those bodies marking the borders, so it would appear that loners had tried to gain false entry and quickly been smote down, potentially by Burke himself. "So, dry borders daily, wet weekly and full patrol monthly, got it." He banked the information away in his mind.

There was no doubt with Macbeth that could kill if he needed to but that said, having never taken a life before he was curious as to what it was like to watch the life leave another wolf's eyes and watch their life get extinguished and to know you did that. He swallowed, almost nervous to ask. "So...erm...what's it like? Ya know, I mean, killing another..erm...another wolf?"

Burke trotted on with the stick in his mouth, they were almost all the way through to the swamps. He nodded with the stick in his mouth when Macbeth spoke about the borders. He was pleased that he got it. Border maintenance was extremely important. Once neglected it would make their lands very unsafe to live in. The large male was pleased when he placed one of his feet on dryer land. He dropped the stick and then turned to MacBeth to answer his question he asked.

Burke quirked up his lips as he looked at the male that asked him so hesitantly. "Why don't you kill a wolf and you come tell me how you felt," he returned to the male. He could tell how he experienced it but Macbeth might experience it. Burke thought it would be a nice little assignment for their newest member. He needed his members to have some darkness and maybe this would bring Macbeth closer to that darkness. With that piece of advice Burke nodded the male goodbye, finding that this patrol had come to an end.