[I.C.J] precious and fragile things

The resounding crack of a bone shattering, splitting evenly in half like a twig snapped in the wind, echoed arcoss the gray stone. The top half fell away from his white jaws as his rough, pink tongue lapped the fatty marrow from the tibia's core. The remains of the small mountain goat lay scattered around the ledge that jutted out over snow covered pines and rocky outcrops. It was a small embankment on Porcupine Ridge, a shelter from stinging winds with it's face turned away from the north. Dovev had no problem laying abreast in the elements, his thick white coat exposed to the biting winter winds. He was born for it.

Tufts of ivory fur, matted flat against his skin, clung to a rather slackened frame as the male slowly rose to his paws. He had expected easier pickings this winter, but it had not been easy. Often, he was forced to leave the confines of the ridge to descend into the edges of the Vale, and that itself was not hindered by silence. Twice Dovev had paced higher ground in the pine forests, scouring the lower ground and stoney outcrops below him. He had remembered the last time that far down, he had spied a white wolf of definative arctic blood prowling along the icy run-off of the snowcaps. Dovev had bit back the urge to chase off the intruder who strayed too ignorantly close to his ridge. Porcupine Ridge was his refuge, albiet a sparse one.

The sun had set long past, and Dovev's silken and thinned body stalked along the pine forests below the gray ridge. His iced pools were of little use in the freezing pitch black of the darkness, but wolves were more than adept at moving with their usual grace when there was no light above. He relied perhaps, most heavily, on his nostrils, which twitched with their own life at every microcosm of aroma. Birds, grass, animals hibernating under the snow. Fox. A stray chamois from the higher mountains. Oak leaves, water, wolf.. Wolf. Dovev's head swiveled around as he stopped. He had reached the edge of the pine forest, the small copse that seperated the wide valley from the rugged terrain of the mountains. Someone had been here recently, and left a scent mark. In usual cicrumstances, Dovev would have marked over the brazen sign and returned to his lair, but as his icy breath pooled about his muzzle, he lingered. Faintly, in the slope of the snowed in land, a cacophony of howls rose in the air and his bowled ears cupped the sound. Unbeknownst to him, a pack had formed in this neighboring territory.

He stepped back from the weak yet present invisible line, retreating a few body lengths into the tree line. As he stretched his massive frame to rest, snow seeped into the canid's pelt like roots taking hold in freshly tilled soil. The cold was a welcome presence to the monochromed beast, a familiar embrace, a lover's touch. From his prone position, the solitary creature tilted his muzzle back to the star-speckled sky and responded the chorus with his own solitary call.

the wolves howled of their cohesion. they were together a pack, and they protected what was theirs. this place was new for anemone, but it was what she would now call home. she darted toward the stray howl, the voice not one she recognized among the many the l'amour knew when they called to protect the lands and ward intruders away. the gunmetal and cinnamon woman moved with the same grace dovev had. she was growing used to this landscape, though had yet to extensively travel upon the rocky mountains and their jutting ridges. she preferred the ocean and its shores to everything else... but had settled here, because the land beneath the bared tooth of the earth was easy to traverse and where anemone lingered. so it was no wonder that she arrived to the pale wolf in little time at all... with a curious air to her. her plume twitched, but her eyes threatened to lean forward in a show of aggression. he was not too close, but her muscles twitched nonetheless beneath her winter furs; the warmth of her breath emerging from flaring nostrils could be noted in the swell of clouded moisture around them. she does not speak, but her curiosity is quite evident. he had sang with the pack as though he were of the pack... which, as of yet, he was not. and so she draws nearer, tilting her head, though the strength in her stride and the twitching of an ear seems to demand he explain himself to her.

Of the calls that radiated up and out of the valley, Raheerah's was not among them. He chose to avoid the sentiments of the group, for despite being their protector, inherently he was not one of them. He did not share ideals of peace and gentle life. Even the warriors, who existed to guard and fight tooth and claw, did not share in his nature. Not that he knew of, anyways. He was a cruel thing. Monstrous, perpetually hungry. He found reprieve from his years imprisoned when the monk released him, and then he fell quiet once more. His hunger a mere lull. It would not awaken lest Lham escape her mortal form and, subsequently, her need for his protection.

He was not like them. And so, he did not sing with them. His light, Xi'nuata, must have gone to join them for Raheerah found himself alone. The beast lingered in his solitude, scouring the border, when another cry had joined the songs of the Vale. It was different, lone, it did not blend with the calls of his packmates. The dragon adjusted his direction and moved to meet the proprietor of the sound.

It seemed Raheerah was not the only one roused by the sound of the lone stranger. A familiar female, grey and tan with eyes much like the tropical waters, stood before the unfamiliar wolf. The oily beast drew near, raising his head and tail in unison. "Anemoneee." Came his greeting, rolling and deep as his gaze flicked to her. Then, he latched his single eye to the vision of the male. "For whaaat reeaason do yoouu siing with uusss." Raheerah drawled, coming to stand next to his packmate.


Done! @Dovev

He rose, a devil summoned by the blanket of snow, the wind giving shape to the creature and adorning its face with two colorless jewels. Muscles twitched, stretching his pelt across a figure of taut bones and sparked appendages, fueled by the approach. He smelled before he saw the silhouette trekking on the upwards slope with a slender body that betrayed her nature. She stood opposite of him, across the silent border. Dovev's skull lowered in anticipation, ebony lips curled in a small grin. Her subtle, unspoken language was not lost on him. His own body took a slight step forward, ears perked with their inner curve pointing towards her. With glimmering eyes of hazy gunmetal, Dovev almost begged the female to dare step across the border and into the realm he still guarded. The Ridge was still his until he stepped across that threshold and relinquished control.
It wasn't long until another beast followed the paw prints the first pack member had etched into the white fleece. A very air seemed to pulse from him, an innate demand for obedience. When the arctic beast caught glimpse of titan who stood aside his packmate, his neck slowly tilted his muzzle counterclockwise. The soot-gray brute's grizzled and torn face carried a similar quality of a familiar familial punishment. One that had even been inflicted on his own kin, who still remained far to the north. The loss of the right eye, the skin scarred beyond recognition and carved in such a way that the right side of the mouth was permanently bared in a sly grin. Dovevs' relative's face was a mirror of the brute now standing before him, missing only the obvious pattern this stranger had. Albeit the wounds were inflicted for a different purpose, but it did allow the mind to wander and jump from past scenes to morbid ideas. And it wasn't long before the intriguing and intense creature took the air into his heavily accented command.
For whaaat reeaason do yoouu siing with uusss?
The smile upon Dovev's snares grew soft and placid, and his body slackened from the previous unspoken dare towards the fae. The moon was rising. It was time for him to move into a new chapter of his life, and see just what sort of events he could puruse.
For the most simple of reasons. To join your ranks. He paused, his orbs that were nothing more than broken shards of ice searched each of their faces.
If you'll allow me.

Her lips curl into a bemused-yet-cold grin, her eyes seeming to darken. Tension is wrought in the air as she seems to sense his dare, and truth be told the young woman had every desire to respond. He was close enough that she could chase him, but he respected the sanctity of their land. She acknowledged this with her peace. Her temper was quick to ignite, but the arrival of Raheerah was water to an ember only just forming. Her head lowered and tail flicked in greeting to her leader, but her attentions were wholly on Dovev lest he decide to test her patience.

Ah! But it seemed he was not a troublemaker. This was curious to Anemone... and she did not yet ease up, not entirely convinced. She had noted his challenge and looked to him, wondering if this were some sort of con to get into their borders. Best to let Raheerah control this situation.

Raheerah had not been aware of the silent dare issued by the stranger; he had no understanding of the tension his packmate previously held bundled in his muscles before the dragon's approach. But he looked upon her, and then to him; another fleeting glance at Anemone before his attentions resided on the stranger for good. His single eye burned like the molten core of a volcano, like the sun, gleaming hot in an arctic sunset. He took note of the softening of his posture, twisting his ears on his head like a curious hound, and he listened. The very reason he expected played forth from the silence, though it was hardly enough to satisfy the creature. Raheerah uttered a low, thunderous rumbling from his chest, guttural in all its presence.

"Daaare amuuuse me, what foooool assumption of truuth must be maade befoorrre I do that?" He licked his lips and hummed with mild amusement, eying the wolf only a year younger than he. "Whaat liiieee can yoouu spiin to tell of your worrth?" His voice was hard and poisonous - pity to whichever creature met Raheerah at the borders of this Vale, for he was surely far less easily convinced than Lham or the monk. He thought little of this one, and of any other; words were meaningless until they could be proven. So, with some vague beguilement he waited for the man to tell him of all the reasons Raheerah would let him past the borders, all the while keeping his eye fixated, shivering only as the gentle breathing fronds of a fire.

With expectations the female's face rose to meet Dovev's silent push, and the male turned his attentions away from her. It was to be predicted, he supposed, this aggression to defend a territory and expand one's own. The titan glanced towards the larger, metaled beast with his twisted visage. The wintry evening was slowly blanketing the earth, and along with it the wolf's spine and neck. Dovev felt comfortable in the chill, it's silent power a formidable ally in all manners of things. He did not miss the subtleties the one-eyed brute had given, and the arctic creature's muzzle revealed a small, tiny curve upwards as the rumbling words rolled onto the air. The bone-hued canid shifted forward, moving slightly towards the border.
I rather you'd trust in what I do, not in what I say, the male spoke in response, addressing the fact that something as brazen as an attempt to join did not mean automatic disclosure. He'd prefer if he won the allotted respect and trust this pack had to give over being indoctrinated into the ranks and forgotten like an old bone.


so sorry for late reply!

thats okay, and @Anemone i hope you don't mind me skipping you!

He was rigid and unmoving, the mountainous monster held his ground until the stranger had taken a step forward. Raheerah returned the gesture, encroaching on the stranger in as equal attempt to protect his borders as the wolf did to cross them. His teeth remained visible through curled lips, but nothing came until the stranger's words had entered the air. Then, a low, baritone eruption of laughter spilled from his lips, cruel and deranged. "Wiiiiiiise woorrrds. Buuuut theyy are nott whaat I seeek." Raheerah grunted. He could have been hypocritical in this sense, accusing the male of spouting lies to prove his merit only to reject any indication that the male would rather prove it with action - the lies were what Raheerah wanted, if only to know what to expect. "Teeell mee whaat yoou can offerr for the Vaale. Aand I wiiill juudge you froom theerre." He added coolly.