For
@Jinx edit: *PUNCHES THE TAG TO WORK*
It had been some time since he had been back in the overgrowth of the forest, he supposed. The air was remarkably damp once again, but quite as cool as he would have liked it. But it was manageable, at least compared to being beneath the full throttle of the sun. He wasn't sure where the time had gone, how winter had seemingly sprung through spring and now approached summer with a heady wind. It had become warm, days longer, and more active bodies bounding about. The prey herds had come back full swing, and he had seen them roaming the flatlands coming down from the foothills. And oh, how he had desired to give them chase. To play predator to a bunch of pre-packaged meat just standing there and waiting. But he hadn't, because to do so would have been foolish. Mordecai was merely just a wolf, one that wandered at that.
In his time, making nothing more than circles through the gullies and fields, he had learned much about the lands around him. Not everything — this done on purpose — but enough. He wanted something more to seek in the world at any given time, and hadn't scoured every inch of the terrain in all four directions. But in the back of his mind, the offer given to him by Jinx still echoed. So when the undesirability of not having more than scraps to eat, his areas of rest disturbed, and on occasion, threats being made had become enough… Mordecai returned to the overgrown forest to seek her.
Initially the gold-eyed Ostrega had hoped to stumble on her again, but found impatience bubbling behind the search in the damp wood. It hadn't helped that it had rained that morning, and now as the afternoon coated the skies, he distantly heard yet another rumble of thunder approaching. If that wasn't an indicator to a change in seasons, he didn't know what was. So he did one better, finding roughly the spot where they had met before as best he could. There, he orientated himself towards the mountain, and with his muzzle drug skyward, called for her. Now he could only hope that she was in range to hear him, and he wouldn't find himself face to face with some other guard trying to give him more than he bargained for.
Much had happened, but Jinx was finally beginning to settle into the role of hard-ass Alpha, having been slighted by the most ambitious of her subordinates. It should have been expected, and though she would have sworn viciously at his lack of loyalty, there was a niggling worm in the back of her brain that told her she had done exactly the same thing in the pursuit of power. But where she saw flaws in others, she saw strengths in herself. Being biased in her own favour was a skill Jinx had carefully perfected over the years, and she held fast to it now.
Her thoughts were far away, her paws carrying her mindlessly on patrol, when a masculine voice yowling from the forest bordering her southern slopes pulled her around like a pair of reins hooked to a ring through her nose. The turn was sudden, but the motions were automatic and smooth, and it was only when she was halfway to Mordecai's location that she actually realized where she was going and why.
He had wisely chosen to meet her at their original fighting spot. Their mingled scents, while fading, still lingered on each new leaf and in the flattened loam, giving Jinx the only indication that this was where they had sparred. “You have considered my offer,” Jinx assumed, fully intending to press the issue until he agreed to join her ranks or else dismissed himself.
He didn't have to wait long. In a matter of minutes, as he had dawdled cautiously in the thick wood, the shape of her hulking form materialized through the dense green. He regarded her with a firm gaze as she made her way to him, the wave in his tail only turning up when he had ascertained that it was in fact her. He was pleased that she had come, and so quickly at that. Fortune seemed to favor his actions, at least this time. Once the distance between them had closed considerably, he dropped his attentive stance for something more relaxed, a stance he knew would be required of him if she hadn't rescinded her offer in the days he had mulled it over.
“I have,” he stated with a bob of his head. “And if the offer still stands, I would like to join you.” The time had come, so to speak, and he was certain that he need not look much further for a stable environment. But for whatever case, Mordecai felt certain that he would thrive beneath her rule. Unlike those he had run with in the past, he was most certain in her capabilities for something different, something more structured. Something more like what he had grown with in his youth. Even though he had set off to see what was out there in the world as a dispersal, it was hard to knock the creature comfort of something like home.
The circumstances of Majesty's departure have changed buuut I'm not gonna reference them most likely. I'm so sorry for the wait. @_@ Wildstar came out and I've been playing that in my time off rather than posting, erk.
She quirked the corner of her lip into a knowing smile even as Mordecai confirmed her assumption. Thougj it was an arrogant opinion, Jinx believed that few wolves were able to resist a formal invitation to join Silvertip Mountain, the most serious biznaz pack this side of the Wilds. Slowly she was weeding out the wolves who didn't have the same ideals, and she knew that eventually, it would be the pack she had hoped it would be.
“I'm pleased,” she announced, waving her tail amiably though she still arched it above her back as a permanent fixture of her superiority. So many wolves throughout her life had been dismissive of hierarchy, but even in her absurdly young initiation into leadership of Shearwater Bay, she had been oppressive about it. Presently, she didn't feel the need, though no doubt someday Mordecai would meet with Jinx in a more domineering mood.
“I trust that you are a wolf with the same ideals as myself,” she said, unwilling to repeat the previous week's episode with another wolf who believed in being friendly neighbours with others.
“You would not invite an outsider to our home for tea and crumpets? I run a tight ship when it comes to outsiders anywhere near my territory, and I expect the same of my family. Friend or not, if they are not one of ours, they are to be removed from the vicinity of Silvertip. Is this term agreeable?”
No worries, works for me. Been holding off on starting any new posts/plots otherwise 'cause I didn't know how this thread was gonna go. <3
It did not surprise him that she ran a tight ship. He had hoped for that, but had never been curious enough to fully test the limits of whether or not such was the case. Mordecai may have been inclined once in a while to test his limits as to see how far to push, but he wasn't blindly stupid enough to simply strut right up to some pack and see what happened. It was why he had brought her back out there, for the ease of memory and hopefully, a lack of interruption. So far that had been the case, but they had scarcely been speaking for long. And no one had come following in her footsteps that he could see. He valued the privacy, and it spoke depths.
As for the terms? He could handle that. “Of course,” he said coolly, understanding. He hadn't really made any friends yet, not that Mordecai had ever been too keen on doing so. It had been a long time since he had stuck around anywhere long enough to make any permanent friendships. His loyalty had often been to those who had given him a home, if only to pay a debt for the loan they had given him. Mordecai knew this would very much be the same here, unless he stayed permanently. That was very much up in the air, but the urge to settle and rest had begun to nag him just as much as the lack of stable meals.
“I came from a place where an outsider was better viewed as enemy than friend. I wouldn't think to be bringing anyone around there unless I wanted them to have an unpleasant experience,” he told her, smirking faintly. “The same would apply here, as anywhere else. I've noticed that there's several packs here, so no doubt a natural tension on resources. Their politeness has either been a ploy to bolster their ranks, or to conserve their strength against something else.” He saw no issue in sharing the information with her, though he couldn't have really said he had much experience with any other pack than hers. But even her wolves exuded that towards him, ranging from curiosity to hostility, to simply neutrality regarding his status.
“I believe it is for neither reason,” rejoined Jinx, who had yet to see any reason why any of the Teekon natives were so tolerant. “I believe it is because they are fools who have forgotten that come winter, they will have to bargain and fight for every last scrap of meat, and that their "friends" are the ones they fight against.”
Admittedly, Jinx had once held similar ideals, but that had been in a much larger setting. Shearwater Bay had been more or less isolated the second Venia Dei disbanded, and the pack had been able to afford resource sharing with the nearest neighbours. Here, however, there were already three packs in close proximity, with a fourth being formed upon Wheeling Gull Isle as she spoke that she was wholly unaware of.
“Nevertheless, I am glad you share my view,” said the Alpha with a smile to welcome her newest member. “Allow me to formally welcome you to the mountain.” She did just that without truly waiting for permission, her gaze unwavering as she approached the male with the intent of rubbing her pelt along his sides.
Would the winters really be that bad? Mordecai couldn't help but spare a passing thought about the subject. Certain their pooled resources would dwindle, but he wondered if it would truly end with them all fighting over who ate what. The previous winter had not been the most kind to him, but he had prevailed in the end. Barely, he was willing to wager, and the following spring had been more than generous to him. He wondered, and would wonder later, just how harsh their coastal winters were. But the question was not asked. He would find out sooner or later and made note to be well prepared all the same.
Instead, he drew his focus to the smile that came across her broad muzzle. He felt one of his own coming to his, however absent the action may have been. Despite all her stone-faced stoicism, the approving change in her expression suited her. As she approached, he couldn't help but meet her eyes — not in a challenging way, but one that reflected a wordless gratitude. One that was ready and able to listen, learn, and cooperate. This washed away as she drew close, and he licked passively at her passing chin in camaraderie. It was hard to push the rest of fleeting tension from his body as she brushed past, having been so long since he found himself in that very position. Beneath someone, submissive, but belonging. For at least a little while, he would not deny he could miss being the literal captain of his own ship. But no wolf could survive alone.
As her pass came to an end, he turned after her passing form with a wave in his tail. “It might be helpful if I at least give you my name too,” came his wry commentary. “And that's Mordecai.” At least now she wouldn't have to ask him for it, or turn around and try and beat it out of him. If she felt like it, anyway. At that point, they were going from stranger and recruiter to subordinate and alpha, and Mordecai still did not know what to expect from what had begun their acquaintanceship.
When the ritual of acceptance (as she liked to call it) was completed, she gestured for the tawny male to take his first steps into Silvertip Mountain's territory. The pack's claim was grand, and she had no reason to believe that something better might be out there waiting for them. True, it had little hunting ground itself if one didn't count the mountain goat herds, but they had the expansive Neverwinter Forest next door to hunt in. She already did a fair job of keeping lone wolves out of it, if she did say so herself.
“I am Jinx,” she introduced, being incapable of remembering whether or not she had given her name at their last meeting. “Lecter, my mate, serves as our Beta. You will meet him soon, I reckon, and you will not be able to miss him when you do.” Little did she know that the bloody shaman and Mordecai had already made one another's acquaintance (Chelsie thinks).
Figured I'd let you have the last post in this and we'll wrap this up in favor of newer threads. <3 And Lecter and Mordecai haven't met at this point, though I do have a current thread with Ebs!
Jinx. Now that he had a name to put to the face, he smiled warmly again. There was a rush deep in the processes of his brain, one that triggered a fleeting sort of happiness that he hadn't felt in quite a while. It was always nice to be accepted, even more so to have a certain approval that could not be so readily given out. He may have had a touch of ego somewhere down in there, but Mordecai had the feeling that he had found himself now apart of a group that was very tight-knit. And hopefully, he thought as he took those first step tenative steps to towards the borders, he would find himself well accepted among them.
Names were relatively easy to commit to memory for him, so he safely tucked away for keeping. Her statement of her mate made him wonder just what kind of a creature Lecter really was. It seemed odd, but certain that he would know who he was the moment that they crossed paths. That on its own left him picturing a wolf just as Jinx was, and if that were the case then Mordecai would have not been surprised in her choosing.
"I look forward to meeting those you call kin," he said. And meant it, as they were about to be sharing a little space with him as well. Though he did not speak it, he hoped Jinx would join him on the way back towards the mountain, if only to learn from her whatever she was prepared to impart to him.
Fading 'cause it's old, I'm so sorry I forgot about this one!
“I suspect they will feel the same,” the Kesuk assured him. Mordecai couldn't have been a better representative of all that a traditional wolf stood for. She was assuming this about him, of course, for she knew him only on the surface. Nevertheless, she felt confident he would prove himself in due time.
She accompanied him back to the territory, eventually excusing herself to take a long nap in a dark corner of the mountain. What Mordecai did with his time was up to him, and she made as much known before parting from him.