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+--- Thread: Noctisardor Bypass stone craft (/showthread.php?tid=66706)
stone craft - Faust - December 11, 2025
AW but tagging @Dione
uktark moved along the rim of the bypass like a shadow stitched to the stone—silent, unbreaking, carved from the same cold that shaped the ridges themselves. frost clung to his whiskers, breath steaming in slow, controlled bursts as he swept the perimeter with the precision of a wolf who trusted nothing unless he had tested it himself.every drift, every windcarved hollow, every faint thread of scent was marked and memorized. he paced the choke points where predators could slip through, the narrow spine where snow thinned, the low place where scent pooled heavy. claws clicked against ice-slick rock; ears turned to every whisper of wind.
uktark did not rest.
not while there was territory to secure, not while moondancer and the boy slept below, while his first fang and wife rested, not while winter sharpened its teeth.
always working.
always watching.
a guardian tracing the borders of the life he was building—one cold track at a time.
RE: stone craft - Dione - December 11, 2025
Months alone had thinned Dione, no longer fattened by the support of a pack. She wouldn't complain, there was no sense in it when she had her own picky nature to blame. She was a woman who followed instinct, a need to grow, survive, and leave her genetic mark.
Trails of prey had sent her southwards, but it was the faint scents of markings that pulled her attention now. Lightly strutting the outside of the bypass with a hare hanging from her jaws, something familiar bled through - and then, a figure.
A wolf, a man, one she swore she had seen before. Her eyes squinted to peer through falling snow with the hope of discerning his face.
RE: stone craft - Faust - December 11, 2025
uktark froze mid-stride, nose buried in the cold crust of snow as the scent hit him—
sharp, lean, dusted with hunger and distance…
but underneath, something older.
something from before.
darukaal’s shadowed halls, winter dens, the breath of wolves long gone.
his jaws clicked once, a quiet tic of recognition, and he dragged his tongue over the snow to taste what memory alone could not finish. yes. familiar. faint, but true.
he lifted his head.
the woman stood at the fringe of the bypass, thin as the hunger she carried, hare swinging from her jaws. the wind peeled her scent toward him again, confirming what instinct already knew.
uktark’s posture shifted—broad chest rising, chin lifting, tail stiff with the authority of a man who no longer bent to the past that shaped him. but his stare held something else beneath the frost: acknowledgement. a ghost of what once was.
he stepped forward, deliberate, snow whispering under the dense weight of him, breath steaming from his muzzle in slow ribbons.
darukaal,he rumbled—
not her name, but the truth of what he scented on her.
a word pulled from a life buried, but not forgotten.
his ears twitched forward as he studied her, gaze hard but not unwelcoming.
dione.
RE: stone craft - Dione - December 11, 2025
Her suspicions were confirmed. Faust, but something felt different. She dropped the hare, straightening her posture to size up to his own confidence.
You've changed.She couldn't place what it was, but she felt sure of it.
Darukaal was long gone, Dione had not been there long enough to miss it. She could admit that with it she had lost a worthy hunting partner, however.
A smile twitched at her lips, but willpower kept her tail still. Greeting an old friend was an event worthy of some excitement, but she still didn't know the situation here. Once he had liked her confidence, but now they were not in the Taiga, not on the unclaimed rise or living in the glacier.
She waited for him to make the first move.
RE: stone craft - Faust - December 11, 2025
uktark’s head dipped once—
a nod carved in the same blunt, unornamented fashion as the man himself. her words brushed over him, but he did not flinch beneath them. you’ve changed was truth, not insult. change had been beaten into him, burned into him, taken from him.
uktark,he corrected quietly, the name weighted like stone.
tartok now. from mate.
a painful beat.
tikigak. gone now.
her name left his mouth with the heaviness of earth thrown over a grave. no flourish. no mourning spoken aloud. only fact, as cold as the bypass beneath their paws.
he studied dione for a long, measuring moment—the leanness of travel, the squareness of her stance, the way familiarity tugged at the corner of her mouth even as she fought it down. she was hungry, but not desperate. proud, but not foolish.
good. she had kept herself alive.
uktark’s gaze dropped to the hare at her paws, then back to her face, a low chuff pushing from his chest.
hunt,he offered—blunt, practical, instinctive as breath.
then, with the faintest hook of his muzzle toward the rabbit:
or full already… with rabbit feet?
the faintest ghost of dry humor, roughened by disuse, flickered through his tone.
RE: stone craft - Dione - December 11, 2025
His words were few, straight to the point. They had little of the charm she once found pleasure in.
But his mate was gone. Suddenly her interest was peaked, and she didn't hide the change on her face.
Was he upset, mourning? Did he miss her? Had he moved on? Dione wouldn't ask, and she wouldn't worry about it for very long.
I can hunt.She decides after a beat passes. She's missed hunting with others.
But after, let's talk more.
It feels strange, like she's repeating history all over again.
I'll follow your lead this time.
RE: stone craft - Faust - December 11, 2025
a memory stirred, sharp as antler-tip:
her voice saying nearly the same thing seasons ago, snow on their backs, steam rising from a fresh kill. she had yielded then too, a gesture half-challenge, half-acknowledgment. he remembered the shape of it. the cadence. the way she’d meant it.
he shook his head once, already deciding.
no,he rumbled, breath clouding between them.
you lead.
not courtesy—truth.
this hunt was hers, her feast, her strength to show. he would follow, shadowing at the flank, driving prey toward her jaws as he once had. but this was her claim to take.
he stepped aside, clearing the path with the broad shift of his shoulder, the silent command of a wolf who expected competence and trusted it.
a flick of his muzzle invited her forward.
your kill.
uktark’s gaze held hers a moment longer, steady, weighing, remembering the woman who had matched him stride for stride once before.
beautiful callback!
RE: stone craft - Dione - December 11, 2025
She doesn't hold back her smile this time, tail flagging behind her. Fine, she'll bite.
Lowering her head to catch the wind, she remembers the mule deer she had spotted only an hour earlier. She guesses they must still be close by, and this time she's right.
Speaking not another word, she moves ahead at a lope. She knows Faust, or rather Uktark, will follow.
At a steady pace it does not take long to find the deer. A pair of cows, grazing on what little vegetation they can find and none the wiser to the hunt that is taking place. The left is the older of the two, and weakened by the winter already. An easy prey.
Dione looks to Uktark, waiting for a sign that they are in agreeance.
RE: stone craft - Faust - December 11, 2025
uktark slipped into her wake without hesitation, the snow swallowing his footfalls as he settled into the familiar rhythm of following her lead. she carried the wind well—nose low, body sharp with purpose—and he matched her pace with the quiet certainty of a wolf who had hunted beside her before, and remembered every beat of it.
two cows, one already sagging under winter’s hand—uktark’s gaze flicked to the weaker one instantly. her choice was sound. efficient. he met dione’s look with a single, firm nod, the signal clean and absolute.
agreement.
readiness.
go.
his body angled to the flank, muscles coiling, already preparing to drive the deer exactly where she needed it.
RE: stone craft - Dione - December 11, 2025
The moment Uktark nodded, the chase began.
Dione launched forward, the pair of deer struggling on snow bound legs before taking off with the elder lagging behind.
It could have been a dance, had it not been so violent. Jaws snapping at flanks, bodies twisting and turning to meet the demands of nature, paws eagerly waiting to launch from the ground. It all came naturally to Dione, enough to afford it the patience to wait.
The younger of the deer was already far ahead, the elder calling after it. If not for the adrenaline, Dione might have felt bad.
RE: stone craft - Faust - December 11, 2025
uktark surged in beside her, a dark force cutting through the snow. where dione moved with sharp precision, he moved with crushing purpose—silent, relentless, the shadow to her striking flame.
the elder cow faltered first. he saw the stagger, the slip in her rhythm, and angled hard to her opposite flank. a low growl vibrated in his chest as he swung wide, driving her exactly where dione needed her—into the narrowing pocket between their bodies.
snow exploded beneath his paws as he lunged, teeth clipping the air just behind her hock. not a full bite—just enough to unbalance, to tip her weight wrong.
the cow stumbled.
uktark was already moving, jaws cracking toward her shoulder, forcing her collapse to meet dione’s waiting teeth.
this was the moment he remembered her for: the clean kill that came after the perfect setup. he gave her the space to take it, stepping just wide enough to give her the honor—and the feast.
RE: stone craft - Dione - December 11, 2025
The chemistry was perfect, a bubbling moment of blood and teeth. Dione took the moment crafted for her, jaws latching to the neck of the ungulate while claws tore at the torso.
The deer came down, unable to fight for long. With a final tear at the throat, insurance that their prey would not rise again, Dione threw her head back with a boisterous howl.
Victory, and not only in her hunt.
You're still just as good of a partner, if not better.She decided, satisfied with the results of their hunt.
Now, tell me why you're here.A new territory, maybe?
RE: stone craft - Faust - December 11, 2025
uktark stood over the fallen deer with the steam rising between them, the churned snow, the copper sting of blood thick in the air. dione’s howl cut sharp and bright across the bypass—he did not join it, but his tail lifted, slow, claiming, a silent banner of triumph.
her praise brushed against him like wind on stone. he accepted it with a low rumble, not denial, not pride—simply truth.
he stepped closer, shoulder grazing hers once.
yes.
a single word, but it carried weight. intent. future.
his gaze swept the ridgelines, the chokepoints, the cold never-melting rock that guarded the pass. a basin carved by ice and wind. harsh. defensible. a place only the strongest could hold.
this,he said, voice low as the winter earth beneath them,
is mine to claim.
a beat—his eyes narrowed, something colder, older flickering behind them.
for grey fangs.
RE: stone craft - Dione - December 12, 2025
She had guessed right, then. Dione nods.
Then I'll stay.She has nowhere else to go, nowhere else to be, and he has proven to her that he is capable already. She doesn't ask permission, she sees no reason for him to turn her away.
Stepping close enough for whiskers - nothing more - to touch, she finally takes the chance to check his scent and learn how he has spent his days.
Eat carefully. I'll prepare the pelt when we are done - a housewarming gift.It was a good day, one that deserved some celebration.