Wolf RPG

The lake had brought many good things to Damien. Ideas swarmed his mind, and a plan quickly formed in his head on how he would get his pack through the hunger. Fish did not need vegetation to survive, and so the Greatwater Lake had remained a silver platter to hungry wanderers.

Damien sated his hunger by fishing what little daylight he had, and under the stars he looked for a safe place to spend the night before he could try walking back home. After the feast it wouldn't be such a hard journey as it had been from home, so Damien nested himself under a tree knowing that his little trip hadn't gone to waste.

Having found prey at the silvery lake previously, and brought it back to Ryūjin for his packmates, Noctura shortly returned in the hope that he might find more. His vast musculature had not dwindled during the famine but his general mass had, making him look as though he were made of black trees and branches. He was not a godly sight as he walked through the dark.

Before he reached the edge of the lake, the stars then told him something. Starlight reflected suddenly from something among the trees, and Noctura halted to regard it. Its outline was there: a wolf, blacker than he, motionless but very much alive — for it was his open eyes that had caught the light. Noctura said nothing yet but remained standing, quite visible, a stark silhouette in the moonlight.

Damien was surprised by a shadow. A wolf, large and stronger than he had found him in a vulnerable position, and Damien hated feeling vulnerable. Although he was still, the threat to the dark prince was imminent. He shifted his gaze, trying to make out his face to see if it was someone he could recognize, but the moon was backlighting his silhouette, making it impossible for Damien to see.

"Who are you?" Damien barked, breaking the silence, but adding even more heat to the tension that was already burning between the two males. He slowly got up to take a defensive position, feeling unsure of the other male's intentions.

Noctura was not a proud or power-hungry sort, so while many males of his age would find this handsome brute a threat or a rival, Noctura's intentions were peaceful. He answered obligingly: Noctura of Ryūjin. A name that might mean nothing to many.

There was something faintly magical about the sight of the dark stranger there in the shadows, his eyes exactly like two shimmering stars. But it was not an innocuous magic. Who are you.

Truthfully, Damien was simply not in his best mood. The dark prince was overwhelmed by his new position and responsibilities, not to mention hungry and far from home, all of which put Damien in an uncomfortable position and not the best one to deal with large males should they decide they wanted a piece of him.

The silhouette spoke, giving Damien his name and provenance, then asked back. "Mehrunes," answered the Dark prince calmly, keeping his first name for himself, and leaving his origin unspoken. He usually only allowed members of his pack to call him Damien, he was protective over his identity knowing that should he need to hide it one day anyone who knew who he was could be a problem.

Ryujin was not a name that Damien knew, but he had, however, met it's leader back when he traveled to the Sunspire Mountains not so long ago. "Where is this "Ryujin" you speak of, if I may ask?" asked the Dark Prince curiously. By that point he had realized that there was probably no danger coming from the dark giant, so his nerves had started calming down.

Mehrunes was a fair name, somewhat melodic but at the same time ringing with the dryness of some ancient force. It suited the black wolf well, just as Noctura was suited to his own name, which belonged to the night.

However, he did not fail to notice that no pack was given, even though Noctura had stated his. He was not an unduly mistrustful wolf, but he did notice that the other male was well-built and relatively healthy (or as healthy as he could be, given the famine). He was unlikely to be a lone wolf. So he likely belonged to a pack, and had actively decided not to tell Noctura of it.

I trust you understand that I can't give a stranger directions to my pack unless I have reason to, he said fairly, giving Mehrunes the respect of assuming he would indeed understand. Why do you ask about Ryūjin — is it a familiar name?

The shadow prince understood the concerns of the other male perfectly well. In his position, Damien would have done the same, probably even denied the existence of his own pack to keep it in the shadows, so Noctura's comment was met with a comprehensive, yet annoyed nod. Damien did not like to be refused a request.

The moonlight hurt his eyes, so Damien moved next to the night brute to better see his face from another angle. He held back a gasp, astonished by the resemblance of Noctura's features to his own. Dark coat, pale silver eyes. A memory of dark days for Damien rewind in his mind, the days when he suffered for many losses, and of a friendly face that had helped him battle the angst. A sniff or two were taken to better keep record of Noctura's identity in case it was needed in the future, but in that moment he noticed something he had failed to pick up before. Asterr's scent was mixed with Noctura's own, hard to notice if not paying close attention.

"No, the name is not familiar but... Is Ryujin Asterr Draconid's pack?" he dared ask  as the memory of her face blended with Noctura's own.

Noctura did not miss the note of frustration in Mehrunes' acceptance of his hesitance, and nor did he rise to it. Both males were aware: times were dark, and homes were sacred.

The other came to sit with him rather than before him, and Noctura saw there a pair of very pale eyes like twin moons. Those eyes regarded him, and then he shared his familiarity with Ryūjin. Yes, he replied, interested that Mehrunes was acquainted with Asterr. So you know of my young Chieftess, he concluded with some approval.

"I do," replied Damien proudly, as if it gave him some form of higher status just for being acquainted with the female. Truthfully, Damien did not know Asterr was the leader of her pack, he had suspected it for the way her companion regarded her, but he had never guessed it.

"We met some time ago. She said she'd visit but I haven't seen her again to this day," spoke Damien with a tone of disappointment. The young shadow had expected her to visit, feeling that she had been more than just a pointless acquaintance, and actually hoping that he hadn't been that to her. But she hadn't even sought him out, making the dark prince wonder whether he'd even been meaningful to her.

"Tell her Damien hasn't forgotten her promise," he said, not clarifying that that was his first name, nor what promise he was talking about. Feeling nothing else needed be said, the shadow prince got up and walked past the night brute, parting home-bound with a low bark at Noctura before disappearing in the darkness.

Noctura flicked one ear backwards, trying to ward off his curiosity about the connection between Asterr and this wolf. For it seemed the one to whom starlight had led him regarded her highly, as most males did, and she had made some mysterious — though private — promise to him.

As he did not think much of being reduced to being an ignorant messenger, Noctura remained silent at Damien's request and watched him go. Then he wandered the lake's shores for a while, watching the stars reflected on its shimmering surface.