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+--- Thread: Moonspear fear is the hand that pulls your strings (/showthread.php?tid=31076)
fear is the hand that pulls your strings - Dirge - November 30, 2018
Yes, it was strange indeed to be back here.
A cold air did little to guide him as he stuck to the middle climes of the mountain, seeking familiar ground. Not a lot had changed in the last year, at least speaking of the mountain, but he was not foolish enough to believe that not everything had changed. Moonspear had been swept up in a great wave of change when he had last been apart of their robust ranks. A schism between all of them, he thought of it. A far more messy affair than he had wanted to interest himself with and so he had stayed out, none too keen or caring whether or not it played out in anyone's favor.
Evidently, it had apparently played to the favor of the mountain, for it was still there, still proud. That in itself was a testament to the test of time and how it loved to change things; he had seen many packs come and go through the seasons in the wilderness, and yet this one had remained. Hydra had remained a constant in this churning sea with tides that cared naught for what or who they rendered. Perhaps had Nyx been there, she would have been pleased with it all, but would have found far many other things to be intriguing.
He hadn't forgotten about the family ties that held them all together. It bothered him now, beneath the canopy of trees in this last bastion they dared and tried to hold. It was a part of his own history living and breathing in his face even when he claimed no ties to it at all; a secret if nothing else, that he believed he would take onward to his grave. Perhaps it were a lie, for if his own father had been cut of this particular cloth then he would have certainly been a much different breed altogether.
Dirge took pause along a rise that offered him a fair view of the sloping, snow-covered side that bled out into the valley below. Hydra was busying herself no doubt, already keen to terrorize the flesh of herds out of his view if not spreading the word that she had lured him back after all—and why wouldn't she? She had been forthright in announcing him to begin with, to place scrutiny upon him, and he did not hesitate for a moment that it was there again. He could not let anything burden him here, lest it be teased from him, and thus it was in those moments of solitude that he did not feel reason to play a part or act in a scene. But it would come.
RE: fear is the hand that pulls your strings - Revui (Ghost) - November 30, 2018
A few hours after trailing Hydra beyond the confines of the mountain, Revui can be witnessed passing back over the boundary between the family's claim and the rest of the world. He comes with the usual heft to his stride, no worse for wear. He ducks his head as he goes through a grove of young trees and leaves behind a wolf-sized gap. As the borders come and go beneath him he notices the scent of @Lyra and turns his head - catches her eye - and grunts a hello while she goes about on a patrol. He veers off on his own. Maybe it would've been smarter to stop by at a cache for a bite to eat or take a moment to pause, rest, and then resume his duties. Revui wouldn't stop — not ever.
So, he continues with his duties. He marks a few trees, and climbs up the familiar mountain slopes without any issue; it wasn't until he got to one of the smaller peaks along the ridge that he noticed it. A familiar scent. It was strongly laced with the scent of Hydra and for a split second Revui thought that his sister had beaten him back here. He stopped his climb to look around for her, and saw a different figure loitering among the trees. They blended in extremely well with the woodland and the shadows. Yami, then? Had Hydra gone out and found their lost sister — ?
No, no, that couldn't have been her. This wolf was larger, maybe even a little older. Revui was stalking the stranger through the woods now and he hadn't noticed that he'd started doing that. He could've been a little less intense about it. The stranger must have been the same wolf that Hydra had met earlier, but what was he doing here? He wasn't family. Revui didn't understand that this might've been a suitor for his sister (because he had not been taught these things). Whoever it was, Revui would make sure he was a good fit for Moonspear. Supposedly that started with some good old-fashioned stalking.
RE: fear is the hand that pulls your strings - Dirge - November 30, 2018
From his vantage point there was much he could have seen, had he been looking for it. Dirge couldn't help but suppose that it would only be a matter of time before other come to seek him out, or the solitude become unbearable enough that he abandoned his post altogether to find someone. There's a small list of wolves he could have gone to see—Lyra, Amekaze, perhaps even Charon or Alya—and an even smaller grouping that would be unfamiliar to him. The former list he had ascertained from the borders when they had come over them earlier, they were still somewhat recognizable to him—Hydra did of course, almost always smell of her family.
He would have rather had her company, though, but it would have been unwise to try and sink her in snow drifts more than once a day, or even once a week. It was tempting, a thought he entertained before discarding it altogether on the factual notion that it often led to more desirable inclinations that would most certainly get him into trouble. He cleared his throat, unaware that he had picked up a follower while in his thoughts, and left his post for the trails below. More than likely he thought he would find company along the well-maintained borders the pack held, and would begin to offer his contributions there.
Perhaps for starters, he would seek out @Amekaze if she were available there. The matron leader of Moonspear had struck him as a reasonable sort for company, and he had not gotten to know her quite as well as he would have liked the time before. Whether or not his presence would have been welcome was another story altogether, but seeing how no one had come out of the jutting spar or snow-speckled trees to run him away yet, he considered the odds ever in his favor.
tag is more for visibility, not necessary to join unless you want to!
RE: fear is the hand that pulls your strings - Revui (Ghost) - November 30, 2018
The man was impressive from a distance. It wasn't something he'd ever say out loud (much like a lot of things) but he couldn't deny that the stranger was appealing for his size and his evident health. It made sense now why Hydra would meet with him. He didn't notice the approaching leviathan in the trees and that was appealing too — that boosted Revui's ego, as he was still young enough to think of himself as separate from the real adults and somehow lesser than them by default, so having this evidently powerful male go about without reference to him was, frankly, something Revui had not expected.
Advancing as he did, and as Arcturus and Yama did, to the adult ranks had meant a change in their status, but also a change in how the pack treated them. It wasn't like they hadn't been appropriately trained as children to take up the mantle as the stewards of Moonspear but the pressure was on them all now, and even Revui could feel the importance of his presence on the slopes. He was the one that routinely watched the borders, who followed the others on their adventures, who tried to keep them as safe as possible. The way that Alya, Lyra, and Hydra did; he thought of their mother and father too, and mentally compared each of them in turn to this stranger who lurked upon the mountain.
Yes, he was impressive. And if he should stray along his path, Revui would be there to make sure the fall was quick and painless.
There was no room on the mountain (on his mountain) for any weakness. So while Revui trailed after the stranger he monitored how well he maneuvered through the jagged rows of maze-like pine, how often he paused for breaks, and whether or not he got lost along the way. He gave the stranger a wide berth but found himself gaining on their position within a few minutes. The testing wasn't going to end there but there was only so much that Revui could glean from the way they moved from this distance. Most strange about this encounter was the speed the stranger kept — like he knew the subtle bends, what to expect around a turn, what path to avoid. Revui was patient but he was not that patient; evidently this man wasn't going to stumble or fail in any obvious regard, meaning that Revui would have to intervene.
His pace picked up and he didn't care if the stranger heard him coming. They were downhill from him, and the addition of gravity helped him thunder along a ridge on his approach. He came up to the stranger from his right flank and he was as agitated in appearance as the first time he'd encountered Sebastian on the borders — full of piss and vinegar, ready to crush the bones of any enemies and especially keen on doing so to this supposed interloper — but, it was a ruse. A good ruse. A level of aggression that came naturally to the boy, that he could channel in to this supposed assault.
He wanted to see what would happen. He wanted to know why Hydra was so interested in this stranger that she'd let him on their mountain, but mostly Revui just wanted a fight, and this was the easiest way to get there.
RE: fear is the hand that pulls your strings - Dirge - November 30, 2018
The brisk air on descent was invigorating, the snow underfoot packed enough on the slope that he made easy work of it until the trail had fully opened up to guide him along. He knew parts of it out of memory—and how surprisingly easy it came back to him—in spite of the changes rendered to the earth by snowfall. It was here that he had spent almost more time than anywhere, he thought, barring the weald. That itself seemed another time now, as he had wished it to be, though as he kicked snow from trail in his wake he could not help but wonder what it looked like in its winter splendor.
The fantasy was crudely tossed away when he heard another set of steps join his; his ears fanned backwards to pick up the cadence of each step, his lips began to curl into a faint smile thinking that perhaps Hydra was returning to repay him a favor of being plunged into snow abruptly. He played it off like he would have any other time, playing almost ignorant to the increase in said pace until it was close enough not to be ignored... and then he chose to whirl around and meet her—
It was not Hydra.
If alarm had a moment to flicker to his features, it was there and gone like a glint in his eye. His hackles rose a half-second before their bodies collided, the blow full of fury and hardly in jest. The world spun beneath him, above him, and once or twice more before he found his footing in the disorienting world, and then he was upright once again in fluid motion. A snarl spit off his lips, muzzle crinkling menacingly to display his teeth. If it had been a run of his luck that the boy was after, he had found it, and Dirge tore after him to make a point.
RE: fear is the hand that pulls your strings - Charon - November 30, 2018
please ignore be until / if he is addressed for now, he's just observing.
Dirge was lucky. Lucky that Hydra liked him. If it had been up to Charon, he would never have let Dirge, who had abandoned them without a word during a scouting mission with Hydra, back here. He worried at times about what Hydra saw in this man, knew that it was no good to be so close to someone with such a bad track record and a tendency to leave. But for now he tolerated this man's presence, simply waiting for him to cock up again so that he could be chased from this mountain once and for all. Charon had liked Dirge in the past, but his respect had been lost upon his disappearance, and in large part, his distaste whenever he thought of Dirge was largely spurred on by the fact the man had not come to see him, but only Hydra, upon his return here, to seek permission back into this pack. It left a bitter taste in Charon's mouth.
From a distance Charon watched as Revui attacked Dirge; he wondered if anything had happened for this fight to occur but then, maybe they were just sparring. Revui loved to spar, so it made sense that he'd take the new guy out for a test run. The alpha and father watched for now, both to see how his son as well as the now more or less stranger he disliked would do.
RE: fear is the hand that pulls your strings - Revui (Ghost) - December 01, 2018
He closed the gap between them both with ease; this stranger might've known the mountain but it was Revui's playground, and he knew each crevice, each subtle shift in topography, exposed root, struggling sapling — he would use that to his advantage. And when he finally reached the stranger he was surprised to see a welcoming posture, and for a split-second he wondered if he had been found out after all. He did not realize that the stranger might've been waiting for someone else, expecting Hydra out of all the wolves of the mountain. Revui should've clued in that this wasn't the best way to greet a newcomer to Moonspear but so far it was his style; if someone couldn't handle the aggression of the leviathan, they had no place upon his mountain.
Revui's body careened in to the stranger's own, and there was enough momentum behind the heavy-set boy that it sent them both sprawling through the trees. Whatever enjoyment Revui might've garnered out of it was gone in a heartbeat. He was being too aggressive. The game had ended as soon as he'd made contact, and this was evidenced by the way the stranger fought to get to his feet again. The snarl woke in Revui something primal that he had no way of understanding. The boy was always one of the more feral creatures of the mountain but he hadn't devolved so much as grown in to himself over time; this stranger's anger (if that's what it was), his posture, his menace — it took Revui to a state of deep and almost prehistoric levels of ferality.
He was just getting to his own feet when he heard that snarling sound, and when he turned to face the stranger he saw the way he carried himself, puffed up and defensive; the leviathan lurched away from him but lowered his own head, pinned his ears, flashed a crocodile grin — all of which to say, show me what you got! At which point the newcomer bolted straight at him. Revui reacted with instinct over any logic, ducking to one side and snapping his teeth near whatever portion of the wolf he was near. He didn't stop snapping either, hoping to drive them back as he stalked in a crescent through the trees, trying to get the other wolf to spin on the spot and lose his footing.
It was a spar, but there was no way to tell if it was meant to be a stupid game or something much more serious, and potentially dangerous.
RE: fear is the hand that pulls your strings - Dirge - December 02, 2018
The boy held his ground as Dirge charged forward, and it was an impressive display. He had always known packs to be a constant test of mettle and saw this as no different; to give in here would be tantamount to damning himself to some lower echelon, as though he were incapable of defending or proving himself. But he was far from the sort to be that way, meeting every snap with another of his own. His offense traded for defense unconsciously as they put on their show, pulling limbs and hide away clean where he could in order to see if there was some distinct pattern at hand.
But where anger had come forward, amusement tore away. He was no fighter by trade, but he could hold his own, and that was exactly what he planned to do. It was easy to seem to follow when he intended to lead, beginning to aim his snaps to suggest where the boy should go—for a time, perhaps even to mirror him, almost mockingly. His tail arched high as his confidence built, and he aimed a sure snap at the passing hocks of the silvery leviathan.
RE: fear is the hand that pulls your strings - Revui (Ghost) - December 02, 2018
The more he assailed his target, the less agitated he felt and the more he was enjoying the process. It reminded Revui (dimly, since he was preoccupied) of his lessons with Llewellyn, of pulling apart the wolverine with Arcturus, and he was slowly changing his form from something desperate and filled with rage to more playful antics. He was growing frustrated pretty quickly too; while he thought he had the upper-hand because he knew the layout of the mountain and held utmost confidence in himself, the stranger was proving to be just as well trained - more experienced, for sure.
In a way the two wolves were going from possible enemies to something closer — at least getting to know one-another in a combative manner. Revui soon learned that the stranger favored a certain style and he would have to learn quickly if he was going to counter it, or at least defend against it long enough to come out victorious; but Revui was not a patient creature, and soon enough he was finding himself growing irritated and aggressive all over again. It was a game, sure. It became a game over time. But the more he tried to counter the stranger's snapping or his crowding movement, the more Revui realized he wasn't equipped for this style of fighting.
Llewellyn had tried to tell him - slow down, but all Revui wanted to do was speed this whole thing up, he liked the accomplishment of winning and the sooner he could get there the better. Think before you act — but he was a caveman fighting against someone more developed in style and skill. The last straw was the stranger's attempt to crowd in to him and snap at his heels - this brought an angry roar out of Revui and he dove straight for the stranger's face with his teeth shining, wanting nothing more than to grab at that smug face and tear it in half.
RE: fear is the hand that pulls your strings - Dirge - December 02, 2018
His actions were working out better in his favor than he could have ever anticipated. Even while the boy had more youth to him than Dirge, no doubt experience from a multitude of family members, his actions were akin to hammer through glass than piercing strikes. He was easy to guide, easy to predict, and despite those two things Dirge did not let arrogance blind him entirely. It would breed a certain state of complatency and his downfall would surely be therein.
He picked up on the frustration that was beginning to mount when he proved that he could not be corralled efficiently and it was there that he continued to jab, only to dance away when things became too hairy. It may have only been a spar, but that didn't mean their teeth wouldn't hurt any less, especially if it were tender flesh seized. He favored keeping his ears and what he could of his thick coat, though some sacrifices to it were made. It did little to slow his opponent and the distinct snap-snap-snap! he tuned out—but he heard the angry roar to follow in its wake.
With the boy to close in fast, Dirge did the one thing he could think to do: he moved to butt heads with the coming maw.
RE: fear is the hand that pulls your strings - Revui (Ghost) - December 02, 2018
Revui would win. He had to win. If he'd known that @Charon was watching the combat from nearby he would've been pressed to try harder, but he wasn't aware that the mountain's true king was watching. He only knew that the stranger's strength was getting clearer with every movement, and his own shortcomings were just as blinding. He roared and dove in for an all-out assault fueled by his frustration and realized his mistake almost too late.
The stranger had been goading him with his style rather than the taunting of words. He'd done exactly what Lewellyn had warned against, and Revui fell for every bit of it - and as he dove in to strike, he felt the sharp clatter of his jaws being forced shut as the stranger countered him with his thick skull. Revui tasted blood and was temporarily dazed by the dizzying after-effect of the blow, staggering sidelong in to a tree that shuddered with the effort of bracing against his weight.
The fight was over. He turned his head, glaring with a sweeping glance of his cold eyes, and spat out a tooth.
RE: fear is the hand that pulls your strings - Dirge - December 04, 2018
It was not the most perfect aim on his part, and he paid for it.
Stars swam viciously into his vision as they connected and parted, his head feeling as though it did more than smart. It burned. With a couple of steps to stagger in the opposite from the reeling boy, Dirge was genuinely surprised to find a touch of struggle in how best to compose himself. It was slow and defensive; his head tucked to his chest as he himself reeled, mouth gaping into grimace briefly with an indescribable wave of pain.
But no further charge came, he soon saw—and saw the tooth go sailing for the snow. A snort left him, half-amused and half-stunned as it hadn't exactly been in his plans to actually do some damage, but at least it had been somewhat effective. No doubt both of them were going to be smarting for a good bit, and no doubt to Dirge that his head would be sore long before tomorrow morning. If anything, it would remind him why he didn't go picking fights on the regular.
”You put on a good show,” he said with a nosy exhale, composing himself. ”I'd wager you have a set of very good teachers.” This was probably Hydra's doing all along, a pricey payback for him having shoved her face first into a snow bank for all the world to see. The thought alone was enough to make him smile in the present, but it was a faint display. He considered for a moment asking if his face was going to be all right, but that would have been more salt for wounds—the cold gaze told more than words of primal roars would.
RE: fear is the hand that pulls your strings - Charon - December 04, 2018
The mountain king watched from a safe distance. He felt torn between being impressed with his son's fighting, with Dirge's fighting, or feeling a touch of irritation that Dirge was a good fighter and managed to best Revui. The choice to butt heads with oncoming teeth wasn't one Charon would have made, as it seemed a potentially painful and dangerous move for both. But it worked, it seemed.
Maybe if this had been his first litter Charon would have stormed at Dirge for harming one of his precious children, but a multiple-time father Charon'd gotten used to his children getting hurt and in a way, he felt it made them stronger and better prepared for the world. He saw the tooth but it didn't look like it was multiple of them -- so long as Revui wasn't maimed in a way that would impair his survival chances it'd only make him stronger.
He left his spot as audience to this spar and said: "Well fought." He looked at Revui as he said the words, then turned to look at Dirge; the words weren't repeated, but considering Dirge had won the fight, Charon didn't think he needed to.
RE: fear is the hand that pulls your strings - Revui (Ghost) - December 05, 2018
The compliments fell on deaf ears; Revui was too busy nursing the gap in his teeth with the over-working of his tongue. A line of pink-toned spit dribbled out from between his lips, which he gathered with a flick of his tongue, and then he spat that out too. The glare didn't leave his face until he heard his father's commendation — his tone filled with pride, which in turn caused Revui to look sharply over to him and lift his chin just a smidge. He knew he had a lot more to learn, habits to break, and he would not stop until he could be considered one of the best upon the mountain.
His pride hurt the most. Revui loathed the idea that someone new to the mountain could have won this spar, and he was growing sour with every passing moment as he ruminated there in the snow. Without a word - but a glum little look that passed to Dirge - the boy hoisted himself to his feet and plot a course away from his opponent. One day he'd try this again, and he would not stop until he was the winner.
RE: fear is the hand that pulls your strings - Dirge - January 04, 2019
A grisled visage set upon them, unseen for scant moments until its presense was made known—a sidelong glance first brought Charon into his view, twisting away only to snap back again when recognition followed suit. He hadn't known they had an audience, and what an audience it was when it came down to splitting hairs, especially given the praise that rolled freely. Though in his heart of hearts he knew it was unlikely such praise was being offered to him, there was a notch of pride cast in his gaze as he looked to Revui. It had been a decent spar, but the sourness did not seemed ready to leave the yearling yet.
As Revui stalked away, a certain gravity wormed its way into Dirge's consciousness. An uncomfortable reality that with the departure of the boy, there was little to detract from circumstance of his existence; the scope of others was such a place he did enjoy being, but even knaves knew when to stay to sidelines and shadows alike. He continued to watch him go as though it were apart of the plan, to let him go out of earshot to impart commentary and seize direction to take where he saw fit.
"Strong lad," Dirge said, "he took me off guard quite well." A faint smile came to his features; it wasn't exactly every other day that even he was taken unaware so swiftly, nor by force. His gaze stole away to Charon, only this time to linger over the newer set of blinding scars that had been bestowed to him. Parting presents by something, or someone, and no doubt piquing of interest for another time. He'd perhaps try to pry the details from Hydra's lips later.
"Which one is he? Hydra mentioned that they were her shadows, but didn't spare me details other than to keep my wits about me..." and his tail hanging at hock curled and flipped, the amusement lingering for show.
thanks again for being so super patient, guys.
RE: fear is the hand that pulls your strings - Charon - January 08, 2019
Charon glanced after Revui as he stalked away without a word. It was always hard to tell what was going on inside that boy's head, especially since he used so little words. The father turned to Dirge as he spoke words of commendation about Revui, and he smiled, unable to wipe a father's pride off his face. "He is, isn't he? Been very focussed on training." An exceptional thing for a young child, though he had seen it before with Hydra and her sisters. They had been very serious from a young age, too; born warriors, even though Lyra had diverged from that road as they grew up.
Dirge asked who he was and Charon answered easily: "Revui." He looked a lot like Levi, and yet in personality he was so very different. They couldn't be more apart. Maybe it was for the best. "The other boy this year is called Arcturus, and then there's the --" He quieted a moment before he continued. "Yami and Yama, twins. Yami has gone missing, unfortunately." He had been through these motions but somehow it did not get much easier as he grew up. It stung to miss her, and he hoped that she would come home, even though the rational part of his brain did not think the chances very high.
RE: fear is the hand that pulls your strings - Dirge - January 22, 2019
Of all the things that had been imparted to him from Hydra, he had been unaware that another sibling of hers had gone astray. His surprise was only slightly masked but he thought little of it—likely that it was too sensitive of a topic to just come up in ordinary conversation, given their usual banter. Instead he let sympathy cross his features by way of his ears folding back; his gaze skirted along the ground at their feet to follow.
"That is unfortunate to hear," he offered. However long ago Yami had gone missing was another story altogether, but he did not pursue the details. Another tidbit to tease out for another time. Instead it was Nyx that crossed his mind here, the thought fast at the heels of wondering whether or not Yami was as old as her siblings now to have survived. Perhaps winter would be kind enough to them both to grant them a lucky reprieve.
"It would seem the year has not been kind to you in more than one way as well," he went on. "More trouble at the borders?" His attention had returned to the grizzled leader, a faint gesture to the scars that littered his face in full. The inquiry seemed to have a likely answer in his eyes, given what he knew of Moonspear's history, and Dirge all but asked if the two were in some connection.
RE: fear is the hand that pulls your strings - Charon - January 24, 2019
When Dirge mentioned that the year had not been kind to him in more than one way, Charon's jaw stiffened a bit. He did not consider himself old in any way but it was undeniable that he was no longer the sprighty two year old he had been when he had fathered his first litter. Time took its toll and it was visible on the outside for the most part. Even though there was no judgement in Dirge's tones, Charon could not help but feel annoyed by this.
It didn't show in his demeanour however, and he shook his head at the question.
I ran into an old ghost from the past in the tuktu lands,Charon said.
Some crazy person who attacked me on sight.He wasn't the only one who'd gotten hurt, but still, it was unfortunate and made him feel vulnerable to miss one of his eyes in sight. Only one step from being totally blind. He startled more often and was less comfortable being on his own, even though he didn't admit to any of that when asked.
How were your travels?he asked; although Charon was not too keen on Dirge's frequent departures from the Spear, maybe he had some valuable information he could share.
RE: fear is the hand that pulls your strings - Dirge - January 27, 2019
Charon's reply left him in brief wonder what sort of life he had lived, and whether or not that past was truly in the past. Then again, given the demeanor of his children, it was not so outlandish to come to the understanding that misfortunate had its way of finding them whether they liked it or not. The best he could muster to that was only a passive sound in his throat, as though in some way he could understand. And he did, though not that particular instance—there were plenty of things in the past that Dirge did not go dredging up, and for good reason.
Just as well, as their conversation shifted gears.
He could talk about the world at length and yet say nothing at all.
"Eventful, to say the least," he began vaguely, "I made the mistake of going a bit too far north for my tastes. Thought the winter here was bad, found out it lingers much longer there. Hospitable folk, though." The same could have been said of many he had met here too. "Had a go through the places out east of here after that, had a gander at the packs there which weren't anything to shout about, and then came around to the coast by summer." He glossed over portions; they didn't seem all that important to him and he doubted they'd have any worth for Charon.
But there was a pause that lingered unintentional—he considered mentioning Nyx—and so he cleared his throat to move it along. If Hydra had divulged such things and they crossed their conversational table, then so be it, but he did not tread lightly through the circumstances there.
"The coast here seems to have an allure to it; I stayed there for the majority of my time until now, and there was no shortage of recruiters looking to bolster their numbers. However most of them fizzle out or move along to better grounds, it would seem." His own attempt was somewhere in there too, not yet forgotten. "One such group was on the mountain closest to the plains north of here. There and gone again in a matter of days," and why, he couldn't have said. It was as though they had vanished, or that perhaps the surrounding woodland had swallowed them whole.
RE: fear is the hand that pulls your strings - Charon - January 29, 2019
Dirge seemed to understand, at least to some degree. Charon did not really want to talk about it at length. He might've called a witch hunt and combed out the tuktu lands had he been Charon of a few years ago but now he knew there were more important matters to tend to. In the grand scheme of things it did not matter as much.
Charon listened and nodded along as Dirge spoke of his travels. Longer winters in the north, packs to the east.. All things that were a bit too far away to truly be interesting to Charon. He'd once had allies and friends in these lands, but things were different now. Eshe and her children were gone and so was Fitz. There weren't any wolves left right now that he had good bonds with, no pack he could call ally. Just as well that it was that way, too. Was easier. Less complicated.
It did seem the coast had numbers that switched up all the time.
I grew up on the coast. Stavanger Bay. It's also one of those territories that's been claimed and gone again in the years that I've lived here.It was strange to him that packs would stay around for so shortly. The only reason his time in the Bay had ended was to create this pack with Amekaze.
Strange. I never understand why some wolves and packs stay around for so shortly.He was here to create a legacy, and he had; the mountain flourished with many children and the pack stood strong for over three years, even if their numbers had dwindled and gone up.
RE: fear is the hand that pulls your strings - Dirge - February 07, 2019
The revelation of history was not quite something Dirge had anticipated, yet he took it all in with a turn of his ear as though he would miss something crucial, some little crumb of information that would be oh so important later. It was almost involuntary, this response; it was the flash and sparkle of flint off steel that stirred at the embers of a curiosity he had not yet snuffed out altogether. He wondered in the flicker of an instant if his own father had been from such a place, that there was some sort of connection. But he doubted his father to be cut from the same gib as Charon, and would not press the interest. He adopted the distraction instead.
"I'd imagine they're not cut out for all that wet sand," he said, too simply and flat to be done. "But perhaps some find it not to their tastes, instead believing in creature comforts of sanctity and security. The coast does not afford many those options, least of what I've seen. A grotto or salty cavern here and there doesn't really compare to a mountain or forest, or a combination of the two." Woodland for cover and game, mountains for mapping and fresh water; the list went on, no doubt known to the two.
"Of course I'm sure the reality is that they've taken on a fool's errand and barely have time to sort themselves, let alone lead a pack. Loftly goals and such, rather than necessity. Take a bit from either column and you've got a recipe for collapse at one point or another. Minds and attitudes change too," he went on, only to end on the point that had lead him back there. He would have liked to hold onto the weald, naturally, but two wolves a pack did not make, and even more so when the reality of it had become only one.
"But pride goes before a fall, isn't that what they say?"
RE: fear is the hand that pulls your strings - Charon - February 08, 2019
Charon was a little salty (pun intended) when Dirge went on to say that the ocean didn't provide the same security the mountains did. Like excuse you Charon's ocean was the best ocean and even though this mountain better displayed his greatness and status, Stavanger Bay would always have a place in his heart. He doubted that it was because the oceanside did not provide that those packs left. They probably left because they were weak-asses.
Not showing much of his saltiness but instead sounding rather calm and neutral (though his relatives might've picked out that he was actually salty, were they here) Charon said,
I doubt it. Stavanger Bay's territory is quite diverse. And it's not the only territory where wolves've come and gone.Neverwinter Forest was another and the wolves of Silvertip and Redhawk had moved, too.
Anyway, what Dirge said next spoke to Charon much more. He nodded in agreement, looking a little more friendly again now.
Yeah, a lot of slackers out there,he agreed after Dirge said that pride came before the fall. Which was kind of funny because -- a thing Charon of course did not realise -- Charon himself was quite prideful.
After a short moment of silence Charon mentioned,
I'm glad you've stayed with us, Dirge. I had my doubts when you and Hydra went on this journey and she returned without you. But it seems that you pulled through.Charon even offered a small smile to Dirge. He might still have some doubts in his mind about Dirge, but considering all wolves that presently lived on the mountain, Dirge was certainly one of those who had stayed the longest outside of his family.
RE: fear is the hand that pulls your strings - Dirge - March 15, 2019
If there had been a modicum of emotion to flicker across his features, it may have been surprise. But the trace of it was nothing more than a hint; he did not expect continued praise to be extended, least of all from such a prideful creature. He was no stranger to the disdain cast towards those who remained for such a limited time, nor did he ever expect that it would be tolerated. Perhaps having known which palms to grease had only aided him again, no matter the end game in mind.
"I don't make promises I can't keep," he offered, lips tugging into a demure there-and-gone smile. "And I felt it better to offer my services here again than somewhere else. Why take my chances potentially struggling to survive the winter wilds when I can bolster the very place that I know can endure? Your claim's reputation preceeds itself, after all." The pack had endured much, but it had come out time and time again. He didn't need a historian to tell him that when the land could describe it.
There were of course, other amenities that he enjoyed, but hardly worth mention.
feel free to wrap this up if you want since i've taken absolute ages.
RE: fear is the hand that pulls your strings - Charon - March 25, 2019
Charon nodded as Dirge logically explained his loyalty, but if it was really that simple, they would have many more wolves who stayed rather than up and left.
Hmm,he murmured as their conversation came to a natural close.
See you later, Dirge.And he started making his way off, hoping to find Ame for a quick hunt.