Great Bear Wilderness since the darkness covered us

For @Cara, set somewhere sort of northeasterly of OS.

With some affairs in order, Mordecai opted to bite the bullet. He knew he wouldn't have been able to linger long in the wilderness without encountering the Spine. It was easier for him to hunt, easier for him to pathfind through areas he knew. But he had been forced off of that path at some point, forced to cut through the woods that he had never really fleshed out for himself. A pack had taken residence up on Silvertip again, leaving him with a curious, if not bewildering sensation. That fact alone had pressed him onward towards the Spine, not even bothering to stop and investigate the inklings of what had become a well-defined domain.

It really hadn't been on his list of things to do, not that soon. But with the pack residing on the slopes of their former home, it had left him wondering. Maybe it had left him with a modicum of guilt, but certainly not anger. He had thought his leaving to be peaceful and quiet. It had been easier than he had anticipated to turn the pack back over to Cara; it had never really been his to begin with. There had simply been too much there to handle, too much to worry over. It was not the beginning flight that the once fledgling alpha had wanted. Much like the upcoming meeting he felt he was going to have was either. Mordecai crossed over distinctly familiar trails with ease, though he halted himself well beyond the borders of the Spine. If he knew Cara well enough — and he thought he did — he expected to be encountered well before he even scented their borders.

Provided they were still there, of course.

murder by death — last thing

[size=medium]"in the land of gods and monsters,
I was an angel"[/size]

[size=small]Even after his departure, after his decision to voyage to the unknown and abandonment of the Spine, the Ostrega last name had not been wiped out of the place entirely. Like pests, the good type of course, a pair of Ostrega siblings had winded up within the ranks, and with the same spontainety, they had begun to earn a certain liking from the Queen. And even with the knowledge they were somehow related to the man that had caused so much damaged, and at the same time repaired so many things, in the Spine, she continued to regard them with the same regal naturality that she possesed over her subordinates.
But even then, the thought of him, even in passing, always managed to make an appereance in her mind.

Had he found what he was looking for?
A place to spread his own roots? A place without her?
The reason of his departure not having specified during their last conversation and Cara's mouth being to full of herself to allow her to ask had left her in the dark. The most sure thing was that he had. Even if he lacked the fierce determination and recklessness Cara carried in her veins, Mordecai had also proved to be efficient.
Efficiently annoying to the power-thirsty Queen at the time, and now an efficiently reminiscing image in her memory.

And it was now, as the pale Queen of the Spine moved mechnically over her established patrol route of the day that the thought of him managed to weave into her brain again. Would he also be a parent in the Spring? Harlyn, whom she also often missed in her nostalgic reveries, had seemed to be interested in him, hadn't she? What other reason could she have had to turn away -- given that this time animosity with Cara was not a factor?

The thoughts floated in her mind for a second before she momentarily dismiss them to make an impromtu stop along the way. Unelegantly, the female squatted down, unknowingly squashing Mordecai's dwindling doubt of the Spine's existance with the renovation of the border's scent markers and summoning with her thoughts alone.

As soon as his figure entered her line of vision, the female raised her tail over her back, a preventive gesture that portreyed the female's sudden surprise by his return. It was him; she knew as soon as his umistakable scent reached her flaring nostrils. "What are you doing here?" she asked, her tail held erect over her back in a display of the dominance her voice lacked.
While their goodby had been peaceful, it didn't meant their hello would also be so.

[/size]

His pause came just in time, because from the depths of the varied woodland and terrain rose a head and a pair of ears standing sharp. She had blended in with the scenery, perhaps had been doing something to conceal where it was that she had been. The distance between them was more than meager, a ground that he held firmly. He would not approach her borders any closer; seeing her was more than simple affirmation that the Spine was alive and thriving still. The stance she adopted spoke that she still held the position he had left her in, which for all intensive purposes was a good thing. A lot of things could have changed in the span of time he was gone, as much had changed from the founding of that quiet pack.

"I can't come visit?" he queried in response. Maybe it hadn't been a good thing he had come there at all. Perhaps it had been too soon, the wounds that were still lingering unseen were left raw. He hadn't given her much of a reason for wanting to go, other than it had been time for him to move on. If there was ever a time for her to be smug about his leaving and turning things back over, then he supposed it would be then. But the tawny Ostrega held onto neutrality for what it was worth. He had no pull here any more, not over the wolves that were beneath her or her own being. There was nothing to wave around, other than he had come to linger everywhere but the shadows.

[size=medium]"in the land of gods and monsters,
I was an angel"[/size]

[size=small]The Ostrega's golden gaze was met with stern determination.
While she held none of these 'emotional wounds' he suddenly reflected back on, she did have a huge amount of pride clouding her eyes and making the possibility of a casual encounter between the former comrades difficult. Again, her huge ego made an appereance in the most inconvenient of times.
Even if she knew very well that they had parted in good terms and his ties to the Spine had recieved a clean cut at the time he made the decision to part peacefully,she could not seem to push away the sweet taste that seeing him back, and seemingly without his followers, gave her.

Where had he left Harlyn?, she wondered silently as she allowed her judgamental eyes to fall down the slopes of his cheeks and then back up to lock with his own. "Sure, but don't make yourself at home" she barked with neutrality. Her own subtle way of telling him that despite the underlying reasons to his visit, he would not be welcomed back. He had made the choice to find his own home, and that is what he'd have to do regardless of his initial mission's success or failure.
Not she, or the Spine, would serve as his backup plan.
He had given up on them, and likewise, they had given up on him.

"Where'd you leave her?" she prompted, her eyes narrowing in curiosity as she watched for any fleeting reaction her words would cause on his face. There was no need for names to be given, he knew very well who she spoke of. "Taking care of the little ones?" she added after a heartbeat, wanting to get more in depth to what had become of them; to what had become of her.
[/size]

He knew holding her gaze was as good as a challenge. But it was hard to resist, hard not to fall back on an old habit where he felt the necessity to override whatever core principal she thought she could hold over him. Yet he still tore his gaze away from her own after a fleeting moment, not wanting to evoke such ire. Those places and times where they had happened before were places and times he didn't want to go back to.

But she sounded bitter to him, even in light of the even keel she possessed. Maybe jealous, if he wanted to slant the way she asked her questions. He had dangled what she wanted over her, so maybe it was somewhere in her thoughts that he and Harlyn had left for that very reason. He could have laughed and honestly, almost did. He was fond of Harlyn, yes, and they had their trysts well beyond the reaches of the Spine or the wilderness he resided in now. But there was nothing to come of it, at least nothing he anticipated.

"We parted ways a while ago," he said, at least unable to keep some of the humor from his tone. "Why, did you think that's why she went with me?" He had never asked her why she decided to come along, but he hadn't turned her away either. Perhaps it was him leaving and her being beneath Cara's rule that had prompted her to go along. Perhaps she had merely wanted to pursue him, see what he was like beyond the status of a leader. And they had parted just as easily as they had banded together, as their paths had taken different turns.

"I just came around to see how you were. I noticed something of concern on my way here," he said after a pause, more or less baiting her to take interest in something else other than him. He wondered if she knew of the wolves on Silvertip now, if the wolves of the Spine were not too engrossed in themselves to have noticed that a part of their heritage was now the start of another's history.

post #400<3
also it seems you have double posted hun

[size=medium]"in the land of gods and monsters,
I was an angel"[/size]

[size=small]To her surprise, and half to her pleasure her deductions had not been accurate. While she had thought the cinammon female she had begun to consider a friend, had been part of the Ostrega's plan to 'move on' she was slightly delighted to hear that the Ostrega roots had not managed to spread before the Moretti's (yeah..right). Had she misread the female's actions, or had he been the one to fuck up Harlyn's attempt to make a family..? She looked ready in her opinion, so.. had it been him the one who had not been in synch?
"I thought that she had gone with you because she liked you" she explained briefly, leaving the baby-making part unspoken yet explicit in the tone of her words.

But nevermind that.
Pleased that his gaze and uncounciously pleased that he had not beaten her to parenthood, she allowed her muscles to relax and the intensity of her burning eyes to fade. He was not here to fight so there was really no use in using hostility as weapon; he was not interested in re-joining it seemed, so she had nothing to worry about anyways. In fact, by the way he willingly showed respect --or what at least tolerance -- towards her, she was even tempted to be decent.

Then it occurred to her that maybe the problem, the animosity, the resentment that lived (or had lived) within them had not been truly theirs -- it had been; at least for Cara, simply a concequence sharing the same roof had brought. It was not the fact he was him, Mordecai Ostrega, but that he had been a Spine wolf with ambition. But now, that he shared no affiliations to the Spine whatsoever, his ambition had become an insignificant factor.
Now he could be looked at as not a threatening competitor but just another wolf -- and if his ambition was as great as hers, in time an acquaintaince.
A friend given the term was not too risky.

Apperently not, according to his next response.
To see how I was, she wondered silently, her slim ears twisting over her cranium as her mind tried to make sense of what possible explanation would his concern --after all they had been through -- conceal.
Was this interest he held legitimate? Was there a reason for it not to be?
He wasn't her.
He wasn't power-hungry and grudgeful as she was; he was better than that.

"Of concern?" she barked, her voice slowly transitioning from hesitant to attentive. "What is it?" she then prodded, not being able to stand quiet as he prepared to unload the news on her.

[/size]

Appears that I did, so thanks for catching that!

Her statement, however offhandedly, only furthered his thought that she had been jealous. But of what exactly, Mordecai did not entertain the thoughts of. He had never questioned why Harlyn had come along and more than likely never would. In the same vein, he would not dangle the fact that she had come along over Cara's head either. But the fact that she seemed insistent that Harlyn had been fond of him told him more than enough what she thought his plans were. And they could not have been anything further from the truth; Mordecai had never much thought into settling.

As that topic was laid to rest beneath so many others of their sordid past, his baiting became effective. He hadn't expected her interest to be captured so easily, instead of the belief she would have questioned him further about what it was he had done or where he had gone. What he intended to do. But now that her interest was obtained, their conversation would take a more neutral direction.

"It would appear a pack has taken up residence on Silvertip," he said, sparing but a moment to explain. "Normally I would have come from the path leading from there, but their borders contain a part of it. It piqued my interest, hence why I came here." If she knew about it, then he had wasted the time in a manner of speaking. Aside from his curiosity, that news was the only thing he had brought along. But other than the existence of that pack there, Mordecai knew nothing about it. Nothing of who led it or what they were like. Eventually he would find out, though.

finally caught up with cara after all exams and stuff e.e
wheee

[size=medium]"in the land of gods and monsters,
I was an angel"[/size]

[size=small]Despite the bruises and dents that adorned their relationship it had been after the last time they had seen one another, when the former Spine leader had announced to her his departure, that Cara had decided to give him, should they ever meet again, the benefit of the doubt unless he proved to deserve less. And as their paths had effectively overlapped once again, it was with silent respect for all that they had previously shared that she abstained from making of this a witty exchange of subtle insults to one another.
Finally, she had laid the skeletons of her closet to rest, but as always, she too had the door of it unlocked and ready to blow out at the smallest provokation.

And much to his luck his shoking revelation, despite being a hurtful exposure of what her first home had become, was not seen as a provokation -- at least not from him. With the news landing on her like a sucker punch, Cara's delicate featured twisted into a disgusted grimace. Regardless of whether she held power over the land or not (which she didn't) she felt utterly insulted by the fact that another pack, another set of wolves with nothing to do with Jinx or with what the Mountain really stood for, simply barged in there like vultures narrowing in on the carcass of a loved one.

"Bastards!" she exclaimed with a muffled growl, her ears suddenly flattening against her skull in pure ire as she tried to make out what she could do with this information. Her rage, regardless of how justified it could feel for her, was not worth a battle -- especially not with the threat of the other fucker looming in the corner and her desire to breed in her mind.
Yet, it felt to heavy and imporant to be simply dismissed.

"Have you met any of them as you travelled?" she asked, her eyes voraciously hungry for any more information he could provide.
[/size]

I hope your exams went well! :D

Unsurprisingly, she responded with the ire that he would have anticipated from her. He supposed had he held a deeper tie to the mountain, he would have felt the same. But as it were, even his own liking to the Spine had withered and decayed; its dissolution and past tied in with his history made it very much hallowed ground. Things changed, very simply so, and Mordecai was oft to change right along with them. It was easier to go with the flow than always fight the current, even though he had his times of swimming against that current, so to speak.

"I haven't yet," he said, "but I intend to visit. I'm curious to know who took claim of it." Whether or not they had been apart of Silvertip before in some installation, if they knew the way it tied in with local history, there were a lot of options and questions he could have asked. As to when he would investigate it, Mordecai hadn't decided. But he knew without thinking it over that it would be soon.

"I don't think they've been there very long though, the claim seemed fresh. Disorganized," he went on to say, plucking a word from the air. If he had more information to offer, he would have gladly exchanged it with her. Yet it seemed just as well to wet her interest; Mordecai imagined once their meeting was over, she would send scouts to investigate, if she didn't go herself.

i think they did :D -- have another one A HUGE ONE soon though ;_;

[size=medium]"in the land of gods and monsters,
I was an angel"[/size]

[size=small]They owed each other nothing, she knew it, and assumed he did too -- yet she could not help but feel grateful he had taken the trouble to even come to her. If the roles had been inversed, would she have done the same?, she wondered silently while taking in every other word the Ostrega pronounced as if were water for her dehydrated lust for control that reigned in her heart. "I will definitely go too, at the smallest chance I get" she barked in a heartbeat, her ears pricking attentively as he broke her interruption to continue.

And it was with only piqued interest that she recieved his next declaration. So they were barely settling? Immediately, the Queen knew that she, despite the dangers and risks, had to go -- and she had to go as fast as she possibly could that was sure. The less time she gave them to establish roots the easier they'd be to cut.
Or at least to pry on.

A war was not needed, nor wanted in the Spine, but a close neighbor, especially in the sacred lands that were the mountain sides and its caves was less appreciated.
For now, and until she made her own opinion of the so called intruders of her past home, she would not act.
But neither would she stand with her arms crossed.

"I appreciate you told me -- my Outriders and Wardens had not told me yet" she barked, raising what could only be an amiable smile in his direction --perhaps for the first time ever.

[/size]

Well in that case, good luck again! Should we wrap up soon?

He wondered, briefly, if she would actually get the opportunity to go. Mordecai knew the path that she was on, knew how calling the demands were. What few chances he had taken to get away had surprisingly not cost him. But then again, he had also led at a different time when the stakes were much higher. Her smile did little to disarm him, though he offered one back all the same. Her appreciation was genuine, as far as he could tell.

"Hopefully they're friendly," he commented, feeling for something that would close out their conversation. He had come there to do what he intended to and now… he had no reason to wear out his welcome. "I suppose I should be on my way though, and let you get back to your patrol." Whether not she had actually been patrolling, he couldn't have said. It was a likely assumption he was willing to make, knowing her well enough to believe she was adamant in keeping up on them.

thanks :* and this will be my second to last (or maybe last) post
lets get these two together again in the future tho ;__;

[size=medium]"in the land of gods and monsters,
I was an angel"[/size]

[size=small]Regardless of his opinion about her last gesture, the Spine Queen did not falter when she saw the male she had once wished ill to, respond with the same friendliness. He was no longer a threat to her, or to the Spine, therefore he was not deserving of her animosity. Even if the history would forever be entwined in the very back of them, the moment he had renounced to the Spine he had too lifted himself off Cara's blacklist.
He was just some other wolf now.
One that right now, was providing very well welcomed aid -- and for that she was grateful.

Suddenly, with the news having been delivered and the messanger, Mordecai, feeling the urge to say goodbye some last comments were thrown into the air. The first, did little to quiet the plans and acusations going on inside the Queen's mind. Friendly or not -- they had something, that was hers. Symbolically only, but still hers.

The second thing that left the former Spine's member was a goodbye.
One that caused Cara's head to bob in agreement. She understood that he had no desires to stay further, she felt the same way -- but she could not deny that however unexpected, his visit had not been unappreciated.

"It was good to see you Mordecai." she barked, wondering if he'd doubt of the sincerity of her voice, until she realized it didn't really matter. He could believe what he liked. "Thank you for coming all the way here..." she continued, her lips unvoluntarily twisting this time into another soft smile that was short-lived yet, heavily meaningful.

"I... I appreciate it" she confessed, feeling that she at least, owed him the truth she had deprived him from during their shared co-leadership.
She appreciated someone other than heserlf; she appreciated him.
[/size]

Indeed! We'll have to thread again in the future, maybe once I figure out where a couple of other threads are going. :3

Before his inevitable departure, he received sparing words of kindness from her. It prompted a wane smile from him, in part from amusement but also warmth. It was a stilted thank-you and genuine, no doubt as awkward for her to give as it was him to receive. He imagined if there were few things she would appreciate, it was unbridled information from the likes of some disperser in the wilderness. Otherwise he still felt that she would have balked at it and waved it away; their relationship had never been one of kind directness.

Offering her a mere nod as a gesture of you're welcome, Mordecai turned tail and headed off.