with a graveyard tan carrying a cross

Neverwinter Forest -- Outrider Threadv4 @Mordecai can we backdate this a little so Caiaphas isn't in like 6 places at once today? haha

She had left Atlas in a hurry -- he had practically destroyed her cache and worst, had abandoned her -- a bitter thought that left a venomous pall in her mouth. She had taken to running with a viciousness that was as mindless as it was aimless. But before long she was in unknown territory and her mind, ever inquisitive, sought to discover where the flip she had run off to. The sun had already receded and she walked alone with only her gaunt shadow as company -- above the lush moon watched her stoic and brilliant -- and lent to the world a hushed and tremulous consecrated effulgence.

She did not pause as the treeline thickened -- rather, with a plunge she took to a deerpath until she felt she was hidden from the world. The mist clung thick to the evergreens even in the crisp and cool night -- and with a sigh the female settled into the pinestraw, her lids heavy and mind weary. She could resume her territory excursions tomorrow.

Title: Audioslave - Doesn't Remind Me

Feel free to put it wherever you need to in your timelines. I only keep loose ones, so I'm OK with it. :3

His venture back from meeting with Verrine had taken a bit of a detour. Perhaps it was out of nostalgia already, but Mordecai hadn't graced the overgrown woods for quite some time. He thought that maybe the last time he had come through had been his final departure from Silvertip. The first time had brought him into a meeting with Jinx. In many ways, the woodland was the start of many of his adventures in the Wilds.

Though sunset was heavily upon the terrain when he had first reached the cover of the woods, the canopies above soon blocked out any sort of twilight. A late summer haze blanketed the way before him, but Mordecai moved through it ease and without care. The terrain even after all that time was still familiar to him, and he wondered if the game had repopulated itself in the absence of them hunting from the mountains.

But the thought passed through his mind in favor for a curious scent on the faint breeze. It was of the sea, full of the bracken and watery tinge that he recalled from Verrine. Mordecai's pace slowed as he tested the air thoroughly, though all he could ascertain was that it belonged to no one he knew. Certainly not Verrine, who had gone back to the coast to be with his mate. Someone else, but who? He exhaled, soundly, and allowed curiosity take the better of him as he chose to suss them out.

thanks!

A singular eyelid pried open; visceral yellow brighter than the stars that hung overhead. A rustling noise from the pinestraw alerted her and she froze in her curled position, two torn ears flicked forward apprehensively.

She was not familiar with the lay of the land and bolting was out of the equation -- she was too tired from the trek and any movement she made would only alert whatever animal it was that approached. She weighed her options considered the alternatives and was just about to draw a conclusion when the shape of a wolf emerged from the dusky haze. She stiffened and rose, but made no motion to leave. Instead, she regarded him coolly -- wondering if she had unwittingly passed on his territory. She was sure he would speak soon enough -- for now, the rough delinquent remained silent and sulky, as if she had just been apprehended in the midst of committing some terrible crime.

Woo, finally done with work and at home. I also think this is possibly the first thread we've had in like... two years or something, haha. If I had a thread with you before. I KNOW I REMEMBER YOU. ;~;

He found her not much longer after he began his search. It would have taken longer, but the rising shape and movement in his peripheral drew all focus to her. What he noticed about her first were those piercing eyes, their untamed hue much stronger in contrast to his own. Her overall shape reminded him of Rahzie, who now had gone stray from their ranks. Most overwhelmingly was the scents of the sea, of the grit and fine grain of the sands he had walked many months ago. He drew it once again, and let the breath out soundly.

“You're a long way from home.” He spoke softly, hoping to put her at ease. If she had been resting, which he figured she was, he hadn't fully meant to disturb her from that necessity. Or so he thought, though it seemed more likely he had wanted to disturb her from it; all above things Mordecai held curiosity dearly close to him. Even it had its limits though, as he kept his distance. There was no telling what kind of response he would get from her, or whether or not his assumptions and guesses were hitting all that close to home.

“What brought you all the way out here?”

oH IT'S been FOREVER!! i don't think we've threaded since i played starling/skoll at wws.. and you had leviathan. glad to be writing with you again!

As Mordecai broke forth from the somber and crepuscular shade, Caiaphas studied him. He wore a proud cloak of the most brilliant copper - the lucent gleam of his soft gold eyes met the harsh sheen of her own yellow eyes and she stifled the urge to recoil slightly.

She was somewhat unsettled that he had sifted from the air her origin -- with a flicker of her ebullient eyes she rose and cast a dark look in the direct of the sea -- leagues away. "I'm traveling." She spoke plainly as if it were not already obvious. "Who are you?"

Agreeee! Your writing is still lovely as ever, too. Mine, not so much, lmao. I'm still trying to wake up before I need to go to work ugh.

This time, things didn't really go to plan. His gentle speech wasn't enough to put her at ease. Not that he could blame her for not wanting to be forthcoming, of course. Information was just as much of a commodity as shelter or food. What she did offer him was just as informative as anything, though, and he had no problem giving a little. “I'm Mordecai.” For a moment, he considered adding on that he lived near the forest, but that wasn't entirely true. The Spine was still a bit of a trek off, and certainly not in the direction he had been heading. He would go home later.

“My brother and his mate live in your pack. Do you know Verrine?” So instead he tried to find some common ground between them, curiosity ever getting the better of him. He did not consider that she had wanted to be left alone, not now that he had gotten her to talk.

YAKK im so out of practice. i love how you write though. i miss levi ;-; glad to see the ostrega family is still flipping HUGE! also im really sorry about this but for some reason im still titled as SB member but caiaphas is actually a LW following the nerdles. she WOULD smell like SB though, bc shes been hanging out around there

If one was to assume she would be at ease once Mordecai exposed his name, one would be surely mistaken -- stiffly, Caiaphas remained slightly on edge; the wild and wicked white of her eyes still evident in the moon's half-gleam through the sordid fog.

When he spoke again to ask her a question she looked mildly confused, reeling inwardly slightly as if to recollect her thoughts and ruminate for the names he spoke of. "No," She ventured truthfully, slightly perplexed by the unknown names he uttered. She tilted her head to the side, her angular muzzle held at a peculiar angle and her torn ears at half-mast and quizzical. "What pack do you think I'm from? Is Verrine your brother?"

I miss Levi too! I had a lot of fun playing him. I'm having a lot of fun learning how to play Mordecai as I go along too, though. And I'll see who I can flag down to maybe fix your titling issues too. I don't think I have the access to do it. :X But I'm glad the confusion fits in with this! edit: re: titling, all you have to do is go into Group Memberships and join the LW group again. SIMPLE FIX!

Initially, he thought he was going to be stonewalled, but her expression delved quickly into one of confusion. He mirrored this as she spoke; his own ears turned back as he gave the landscape an awkward glance. Mordecai considered that maybe he had mistaken the bracken air. He hadn't been close enough to the shoreline for it to dampen his senses. But the scents didn't change either, like some cruel trick revealing itself at the worst but most crucial time.

“My mistake. I thought you came from the Bay.” An apology didn't seem necessary, though he held the tone. He paused for a moment then, if only to compose himself slightly. “You smell like them, or at least a bit. They're ocean-dwellers, always smell like the salt and the water.” This time, he refrained from assuming that she lived by the sea. Perhaps she had just taken a trip and stayed long enough to pick up that same salty tinge.

oh frick am i that dumb I DIDNT EVEN THINK OF THAT!!

She paused as his expression mimicked her own; one of confusion and unsureness. An ear flicked back in uncertainty -- but he spoke as if to ask her to forgive his mistake. She hadn't thought he had committed some grave faux pax -- but for a moment she contemplated being an ass for the sake of it.

But his sincerity merited a brief cave of guilt from the female and she offered him an almost apologetic smile. "Oh." She trailed the utterance, her eyes cast to the side as she rose to start nosing around the vicinity. She was here -- and despite her exhaustion, he had prompted her to get up -- and while she was up she may as well exercise her curiosity. She riffled through the moss and lichen, the interminable silence hanging between them in painful reprose.

Finally, she turned back to him, her curiosity satiated. "I am from the ocean. What about you, Mordecai? Do you come from the ocean too?" Her voice, however normal, did not hide the strangeness of her personality or sheath the off-kilter glean of her curious yet shifty gaze.

Well if it helps, I didn't either! I haven't really played around with all this platform can do lmao.

The fact that she came from the ocean said a lot too. He only knew of a few of the packs that resided in the Wilds. Despite his penchant for meandering, he had never fully explored all that the terrain beyond them offered. It made sense that there would more than likely be others in existence out there, at least beyond the scant few packs he knew. Her statement left a nagging sensation of how little he knew, but the prompt to discover more would have to wait for another time. Leaving the Spine for too long would not be beneficial in its state.

“I don't. I live in a pack near here, though. We used to live on the mountain just beyond here.” He laid the pieces of the puzzle out, if only so she could piece them together. “Guess you could say that I'm passing through out of sentimental reasons. Are you apart of another pack on the shore?” He ventured the guess, but also hoped that maybe she wasn't. The Spine could have used with new blood in its veins, so to speak. That was if Ptarmigan would allow it. The intricacies of that he did not know.

She paused from her riffling in the damp cold soil, her nose glistening with dew and hoary moss. For a moment she met his soft gaze -- his admittance that he was a local caused her to pause from her surveillance and reconsider how best to now address him.

Mordecai's next question seemed almost hopeful - intuitively, Caiaphas picked up on the delicate intonation behind the inquiry, and she swung around full circle to reapproach him, though she was also cataloging Neverwinter's floral denizens. "So you must be a local, then. Can you tell me about where I am, who is here?" She brushed past his question in an inadvertently rude manner -- and as if apologetic, rushed an answer to his question. "Not yet." She proffered -- both a truth and an untruth -- she had not truly been indoctrinated into the Nereides, and the Nereides had not truly been formed -- yet she felt she belonged to them now all the same.

As she turned about the area, he watched her curiously, wondering just what she was doing. Getting her bearings, if he had to guess, and was never fully able to when she unleashed a series of questions… and the answer he was hoping for. No pack to call home. He offered her a smile all the same though, at first opening his mouth for a moment as though he were about to answer her questions. But instead he closed it momentarily.

“Well, we're in a forest,” he started with, stating the obvious. “Can't say I remember the name of it. And I am a local, but I don't venture as much as I used to. There's no packs this close to here that I'm aware of, but I guess the closest two would be the Plateau across the river to the east here,” he gestured here, “and somewhere roughly in the direction behind me is the Spine.” Beyond that, he didn't know where anything really rested. In all actuality, he had never gotten close enough to the shore to see where Verrine lived, but he knew better than to call on the ire of an unfamiliar pack.

The more the male spoke the more evident it became that he knew a vast amount more than she did about the region. She darted between two tall fern fronds, an ear flicked back as she received his words. It was painfully aware to her that he was a far nicer wolf than she was -- wearily, she resigned to playing the role of affable passerby.

She stopped at a peculiar and smooth rock that rose from the thick lichen like a supplicant to some hidden shrine -- instinctively she placed her paw on it and relished the cold wetness its surface provided. "And which of those two do you belong to? The Spine? The Plateau? What are these things?" She called out in inquiry, now a slight distance away as she ruminated through the dark and damp forest floor. "Forgive my ignorance, I am not from this region." She added in afterthought between heaves, digging around in the dirt as if looking for a special token.

As she stepped away in distraction — or exploration; he couldn't decide which — Mordecai followed curiously. As her queries punctuated the night air, he couldn't help but wonder what it was that she was picking up on. Obviously her traits were far different than his own. “It's alright, I didn't used to be either. I'm from the Spine.” He peered about her digging at a distance, as though he would discern what she was after.

“And those are a couple of the packs that I know of. The proper names being Ouroboros Spine and Blacktail Deer Plateau,” he shook his head dismissively at the way the names felt on his tongue. It was easier to refer to them by their landmass, though spine wasn't exactly as descriptive as a plateau. “What are you looking for?” This time, he opted to try for one of his questions being answered again. The curiosity of what she was doing was far too tempting. He stepped closer.

Her yellow eyes pried through the darkness where shadow met indecipherable gloom -- her nose twitching and ears canted forwards in alert investigation.

The male followed her and explained the names of the pack - she paused as he spoke 'Ouroboros' - hadn't she met someone else from that strangely-named pack? She paused in thought, her eyes adverted sideways as she struggled to recollect the name.

And then she remembered - the black acolyte that told her about the Nereides. "I'm just exploring." She answered, an indifferent roll of her shoulders given. "Why is the pack named Ouroboros Spine?" She pivoted and turned to face him, her bright eyes alight with hushed urgency. "Do you know what the ouroboros is?"

As she turned to face him once more, Mordecai caught the full on emotion of her bright eyes. He was inclined to give in to the sense of dread that lingered within that urgency, but kept it at bay. He had an inkling of what ouroboros meant, but it eluded him. Perhaps Jinx had explained it to him at some point, as it was her that had named the territory. But he couldn't recall and truthfully, didn't want to. Some things were better left to gather dust on the shelves of the mind, versus the repeated visiting of them. She was gone, and he couldn't go and confirm or deny any perceived meaning. He rolled his shoulders in a furry shrug.

“Enlighten me,” he said. Somewhere in there, if he was told, he was certain he could pluck the answer as to why the territory had been named Ouroboros; the naming part for the Spine made sense to him in a convoluted way, if not for the squat mountains that ringed the majority of their territory.

The scholar in Caiaphas nearly trilled with excitement when the male admitted he did not know the origin of the name -- gently, her brow furrowed and she pushed over a frond of ferns and came closer, settling not too far from him all lithe and catlike.

She looked at him carefully before speaking, wondering how best to articulate the explanation. Gingerly she raised a front paw and drew what resembled a circle in the moist and insensate earth. The childish scrawl was crude, and where the base of the circle started she applied a strange arrow-like formation with a singular claw and looked up, circumspect and pondering.

"The ouroboros, or as the Greeks called them, οὐροβόρος ὄφις is a symbol of eternal recurrence. Similar to a phoenix, which never dies. Some cultures have used the symbol to express ad infinitum an existence that does not wax or wane. It is usually a snake depicted eating its tail. In the Norse culture.." She paused, and for a moment her unkind voice seemed almost fond as she recalled the stories of her upbringing: "In Norse, we know it to be Jormungandr, the Serpent of Midgard whose unravellings will end the world." She finished with a dark flourish and offered a bland smile.

"Is that explanation enough for you? Surely, whoever named the place had a reason for it. Do you know of the reason?"

He had captured her interest firmly now, and Mordecai watched and listened to what she had to say regarding the territory's namesake. The circle that she made, while it was crude, did in fact represent the generic shape of the Spine well. The story behind it also brought a sense of understanding to him, which he grasped easily and nodded with some enthusiasm. Within it though, it also seemed to give some hints back to her own upbringing, though he couldn't have said he knew what Norse was, anyway. Another culture, apparently one privy to wolves of certain places. The same went for Greek, as well.

“I don't know the exact reason, but I think I understand it,” he said after a moment of thought. “That circle you drew, that's the shape of our territory. We went there to leave a place that had led to some… unraveled situations, to borrow a word. I suppose that's how it got its name.” Right then and there, he almost wished Jinx alive to ask her himself. But there was nothing that could grant him that request, yet he knew he would retain the information was truth in light of it. Going from Silvertip to the Spine had been a rebirth, not dissimilar to a phoenix.

“Funny though, how it has two different meanings. In one, birth. In the other, death. Yet the two seem to follow each other, like a circle.” He smiled, albeit with a quirk. “Do you ever wonder how someone out there coined such a theory?”

Inwardly, Caiaphas appreciated the adept wolf's interest in her explanation - she found herself far more loquacious than usual and afforded it to the pleasant company she was having. She looked down at the poorly drawn circle, studying it as she listened to the male speak.

He, in turn, enlightened her to the pack's origin - and then followed it with a question. She looked upward, though her gaze fell to the conifer trees that flanked them in the dismal dusk. The manner in which he spoke elucidated clearly that he was an intelligent being that fully understood the ouruboros' sigil, and furthermore, had understood Caiaphas' terrible teaching. "Probably the same idea of the circle of life. Someone afraid of dying, needing some sort of validation that it is not the end of the game." She answered absently, darkly -- though her expression remained the same. "What situation caused your pack to unravel, if you don't mind me asking?"

He had never really given death much thought. Mordecai understood it was an inevitably, but had never considered whether or not something lied beyond it. Then again, he had not been exposed to a lot of death in the world either, and did not think about the lives that he took from meager things like prey. Her statement gave him pause, but only briefly. He had no rejoinder for it. Whatever would happen, would happen. If something existed beyond the earthly bounds that they walked on now, then he would discover them when his time was up.

Her next question posed an interesting topic though. Mordecai did not see the harm in telling her all the same. “It was a combination of things. Deserters who stole our resources. Nearby packs encroaching on our hunting grounds. We left because we didn't want the competition come winter.” And besides, living on a mountain was beginning to sound like a bad idea come winter anyway, he thought. More importantly for himself, he was only then realizing that he thought himself a local from a prior statement of hers. Local had such a permanent tie to it; Mordecai had never thought of himself as a permanent anything.

“Either way, where we are now is better. Terrain is better, game's not bad. You know, if you're looking for a place to stay before it snows, we could use an extra body or two.” Lessons over, he blindly returned to his intial thoughts.

She listened as he recounted the situation that had lead to the pack's dispersal and rebirth; there was nothing that seemed too drastic about the story. Such was life -- much like the very sigil that they discussed.

He then offered something she hadn't expected - sharply her attention drew back to him in full focus and it looked as if she had been lambasted or sidewinded without any sort of provocation or warning. She shuffled -- and her gaze swept uncomfortably to the side as she figured out how to politely defer the offering. For whatever reason, the little poltroon found her wit had forsaken her -- and for even more bizarre and unknown reasons she found herself not wanting to let him down.

"Oh.. that's very kind of you." She trailed off unsure and painful. "I am traveling with a small band of sisters on the beach. It is not quite a pack, but maybe someday I can visit the Spine?" She offered as a way of appeasement -- and while this was not the full truth, like all things Caiaphas uttered, it was not too far from the truth either.

Lmao, figured out why my internet was going out... it was getting ready to storm. Lightning interference wat. But anyway, I was looking into mifi stuff and Straight Talk has a good deal so I might look into what our local Walmart has, hmm! MAY FIX MY POOR INTERNETS FOR GOOD.

For a moment, he almost wished he hadn't offered with the way that she reacted. It reminded him of how some wolves had reacted to the summery hot grit that made up the lands of Sedona. Still, she did decline politely and offered an explanation all the same. He was disheartened, but not insulted. His smile turned a touch sad, but it went away just the same as she mentioned visiting the Spine. Mordecai let out a breath.

“Maybe someday you can. I wouldn't be able to take you inside our territory, of course, but I could show you the ring of mountains from a distance. They're really quite a sight. I didn't even know they were there until we had come up on them, to be honest.” No, never in a million years would Mordecai have expected to find the Spine where it lied. While the mountains were rather squat and the seasons would render them more visible, it was what lied within the territory that made it interesting. Had he any say in it, he wouldn't have minded permitted a few visitors… but it was also safe to say that he would have had ulterior motives regarding permission.

“I'm glad you have somewhere to go home to, though. Maybe if I ever get out to the shore again, I'll find you and pay you a visit?”

ooooh yay glad I could help!! Like I said the Mifi was what kept me afloat for three years on WWS! Ps I think Mordecai is Caiaphas' first pleasant encounter here! Thank you for the thread I am glad we are writing together again. I put an ambiguous ending here but I would love to thread again. Where does Mordecai normally travel besides the spine? MYbe I can set up another thread for us??

He handled her deflection well -- in a graceful manner Caiaphas could only hope to duplicate. His offer seemed genuine and Caiaphas wondered briefly what the world he lived in was like, where warmth and acceptance was given even to reedy and delinquent things like herself.

"That would be nice." She replied, to both of the things he mentioned. She knew, however, that the Nereides would not treat him with the equality he (and other males) was used to, but the strand was vast and long and no soul had to see of their encounter.

"If you ever visit the ocean, give us a howl. The sisters may not be receptive but I can show you around." Caiaphas paused, surprised by the words she had just uttered -- was this wolf, dappled as he was in moonlight, a friend? Had he found in her some affable strain or was he simply a tolerant wolf who was not put off by her idiosyncrasies? She afforded a weak smile, overcome suddenly by the exhaustion that had taken her previously. "It was nice to meet you, Mordecai. But I am tired." With that she abruptly slumped into the freshly overturned earth, watching him with an observant yet unobtrusive eye.

Tbh, he normally wanders about in the grey area that OS is in, which is apart of Great Bear Wilderness. So if you wanted to you could always just start something up there and we can make up the landscape? Also sorry if this post sounds sleepy, I really don't want to wake up right now ughhh. Stupid work. *could not sleep last night at alllll*

For all her quirks, he felt as though he had uncovered a gem in the rough. The pleasantries were a nice change up from what he had felt in the air for weeks. But like all good things, they usually had to come to an end eventually. As she slipped back towards the damp and musky earth, he knew with certainty it was time to go home himself. Not because he was tired, but rather out of a sense of duty. There was no telling what had transpired at the Spine in his absence, but then again, it could have neither been nothing at all or everything coming apart at the hinges.

“It was nice to meet you too,” he said, realizing then that he had never caught her name. But sometimes a name wasn't really necessary either, was it? As he stepped away to let her rest, he mulled over the conscious thought of going and visiting the coast again someday. If only to seek her out.

fading!! thank you for the thread... please if you ever wanna thread just send me a pm! i had fun

Politely, the russet male backpedaled and departed her company, but not before extending what seemed to be a warm goodbye. She looked up sleepily, curled in a fetal position already.

"Oh! If you are ever in the area, ask for Caiaphas!" She called out, admittedly belatedly -- his shadow had long since receded and the only mark of his presence was the disturbed pinestraw. She shrugged -- if he didn't hear her, perhaps she could tell him another time -- and with a sleepy roll of her shoulders and a toothy yawn, Caiaphas fell onto her side and fell asleep swiftly.