Hoshor Plains coming home

for @Cassidy! <3

days and night bleed together, days spent monitoring the herd, making and refreshing borders; nights spent curled against nephele's side, falling asleep to the serenade of the crickets and owls and if the world is still enough, arktos swears he can hear the soft sounds of the slumbering herd.

sleep eludes him tonight; the sky painted a dark navy, the swirls of the stars above guiding his way. the gold of the plains look different in the night. shadows dance, flirting with the soft sugared touch of the moon.

arktos makes a pass by the herd where they slumber together among the tall swaying heathers. one cow snorts and arktos realizes she, too, is awake. their gazes meet. her head rises and the wrangler's chin lifts in return, breath held. can't sleep either? he asks, not expecting an answer.

the cow snorts again, and returns to her light grazing; ignoring him.

he returns to his night-time stroll, warring with himself whether he wanted to patrol or work on progressing borders. there was no time for idle paws but there was something calming about the plains at night. stilling his always strategizing mind.

It had been late, but Cassidy felt the need to explore, to move, it was a typical case of teenage restlessness. He found his way to a large Bison herd, he thought he would watch them for a while, reminded him of his father, his family, his home. He trotted around them, keeping a distance from the thundering beasts, in his head he imagined himself hunting beside his father, a legendary man in Cassidy’s world.

He made his way to a good vantage point where he could watch the whole herd again, and he counted what he could. He’d finished counting when he noticed a tall, dark, wolf-like figure standing the fields, and curiosity won as he decided to approach the man. 

“Howdy.” He greeted, quiet enough that he didn’t startled the herd, “The names’ Cassidy. Who might you be?”

there was much work to do, more borders to establish that arktos had yet to get to and he's reminded of it immediately at the sound of a voice. a voice that comes from the younger man approaching him. given this, arktos knows he doesn't have a lot to stand upon but even so his hackles bristle and the serenity he felt as the night lulled him into with a whiskey'd spell is broken.

warnings tangled with threats almost slip out of his mouth: territorial over the land he'd begun to claim as his home and protective of both his wife and the herd nearby... despite that realistically, arktos was not the most dangerous thing lingering. the herd poised the most danger: individually but as a herd.

but the effort to lower his voice does not go unnoticed by the wrangler.

still, didn't change the fact that trespassing had occurred.

c'mere. tell me, is your fuckin' nose broken cassidy? it was entirely plausible that he'd entered one of the directions that arktos hadn't gotten to. it was a lot of land to cover on his own, admittedly. these plains are claimed, arktos wasn't a man keen on bullshitting or beating 'round the bush. and before you go gettin' any ideas that herd is protected.

it was unfair to assume anything, arktos knows; and is equally as aware that he didn't offer his name in return. but how the youngster reacted to arktos' abrasiveness — lucky as far as the wrangler saw it, that his teeth weren't clamped 'round his throat for trespassing — would determine whether it was even necessary.

i am so sorry for arktos. this was not how i envisioned this going.

Yikes! Over kill bro. ;D

The giant man had spoken brash words to Cassidy, in response to his friendly demeanor, and he shot his back in almost offense. “I beg your pardon? I’ve been mingle ‘round these parts for quite sometime, it ain’t been claimed that I know of. You new to the land? There was a large bison hunt just a couple o’ months ago.”

Some may take him questions as annoying, pushy, too curious, but learning anything is best by either doing, or asking questions.

“By the way, I don’ think you mentioned your name?”

Your good. :)

perhaps arktos was not best cut out for recruitment, perhaps he would be the death of yellowstone before it can even come to fruition. but he does not retract his questions nor his statements even as the younger man takes offense. he does not back down. mossgreen gaze is unwavering.

you didn't mishear me, speaks arktos plainly; he wasn't the kind of man keen on repeating himself either. it hasn't been. but it is now. and that was the simple black and white truth of it. what it was a few months ago don't matter anymore.

an ideal that he had no choice but to live up to every day. a man with no past was a man that cared for no one's past. there was only the present and the future.

i am called arktos and this is yellowstone.

This giant of a man seemed brutish, and Cassidy doesn’t cotton to brutes. 
His name was Arktos. And this was Yellowstone, his claim. Arktos knows it hasn’t been claimed, but now it is, and that was that.

“Well then, mister Arktos, I was simply on a late night flaunt, and I ain’t lookin’ for trouble. But I guess I ran into it anyway.” He quipped, holding his tail and head higher in confidence. Imagine the college quarter back who thinks he’s good stuff. “I’ll give ya two choices: You can run me off, and forget about recruits, or, you can try and be more welcome with the land. There will be folks who don’ know bout’ your new claim who frequently travel these here plains.”

He then stood and waited, his olive eyes upon the giant’s face. 

Feel free to deal him a minor injury, like a leg bite or a scratch or somethin’ for being a jerk. XD

trouble? no, no, drawls the wrangler. we're just two men talkin', but arktos visibly toes the line between wanting to cuff the shit out of the boy whose on his lands, giving him choices like he has any authority here, puffing his chest and lifting his chin and tail.

arktos laughs; a deep belly laugh that comes when it's the least expected. you gotta a lot to learn about the world boy, chuckles arktos. and the way i see it, you can stay here and learn. but as an omega, for whatever that little bit 'a bullshit was or, the amusement threatens to die, in arktos' gaze then and he pulls himself up to his full height, upper lip curling back over his teeth; moving closer to cassidy. you can get the fuck off my land.

and as arktos does not expect the first to be a viable option to the arrogant child before him, he suspects that he might meet some resistance to the second. so, he's prepared. prepared to cause pain, to chase off ... if that was what it came to.

Ooh! Lovin’ the drama! He’s gonna be a little jerk again, could ya deal him like a scratch to the shoulder, for the sake of a scar to re-tell the story?Hehe.

The giant laughed a laugh that was like thunder on the plains, and Cassidy wasn’t sure to be afraid, amused, or just to simply stand there confused. Then, within a moments time, the amusement slithers away, and a much more fearsome side crawls in. His hackles raise and he can feel the front of his muzzle, his lips scrunching, almost an instinctive defense mechanism. 

The choices Cassidy shot ricocheted back at him from Arktos. He offered the position of Omega to Cassidy, in this pack he’s trying so hard to form, or, a much more daunting option…. To get off this land.

“Let me think a couple of minutes. It’s a lot to take in.”

He thought, deeply. He had Paeon, but no home, and that part was okay, because home is wherever you go, when your with those close to you.Even if he took the position offered to him, reluctantly, would his life be reduced to an Omega? The lowest a wolf can go, the jester and laughing stock of a pack, in some cases. He could always fight his way up the ladder, or, claim the freedom he has.

Yes, he was still a young man, a child deep inside, and he was terrified, but didn’t want that side to show. He tried his best, straightening himself, adding height, and he looked up to the giant, the only fear showing in the young boy’s eyes. 

“I thank you for your offer and your audience, but I ain’t gonna become an Omega.” His voice was laced with confidence, but fear and anger came through, his lips curled, “These here bison belong to no wolf, just like the land, they’re free, as am I. Now, I’ll oblige and get off your turf, but don’t expect everyone to simply leave these plains as easy.” 

Soon he would turn and high tail it out of there, once the giant had said his last piece.

This was quite fun. Thank you for the thread. And I apologize for my little college hunk here, lol.

no worries, it was definitely a fun thread! as arktos feels he has gotten control over the situation, i can't see him defaulting to violence and silly as this may sound, forcing it feels like being untrue to arktos in the moment.

if there was any hope that the boy might take the offer, might be working to learn and humble himself, it's quickly dashed and accepted as a simple 'is what it is fact'. no way in hell a kid like the one before him was going to willingly admit he had a shit ton to learn about life.

and in arktos' eyes it was clear this boy wasn't yet a man. which, for better or worse stilled the worst of his tendencies.

you got a lotta growin' up to do kid and for your own sake, i hope you do it quick. he levels an unyielding stare. now, go on. get. arktos would follow at a distance to ensure the boy made it out before marking the borders stronger there; to prove a point.