some legends are told

On account of not knowing if Sinaaq will be accepted into OS or not I was vague. Also, hoping to maybe use this as an outrider thread. :-)

The morning was early, the fiery orange sun nothing but a crescent from where it peeked over the snowcapped horizon in the distance. The frozen earth beneath him was covered in a blanket loosely packed snow that crunched under the weight of each step he took. The skyline was painted vibrantly with the colors of dawn, pinks, golds, oranges, purples, reds. Each color bled into the other in a myriad of some deities' skilled painting. Gods had become harder for Sinaaq to believe in and he had all but abandoned them as he held little doubt that they had abandoned him also. Frigga had to leave so passionately in them, changing her name even to except religion that Adlartok's father brought and left with her. Sinaaq had never told Adlartok where he was going when he slipped away from whatever cavern had served as their den but always he returned to the infection. It had been during a hunt that the boy had left, ungrateful and unworthy as Sinaaq now knew the infection to be. Sinaaq did not think of the child, when he had left, had been old enough to take care of himself and thus only had one conclusion he had come to: Adlartok had ran away and likely died. Froze to death, was attacked, perished from starvation. Once, Sinaaq had held hope that the infection, under his careful guidance, would not turn out as idiotic as Sinaaq's inferior parents but it was clear now that the child is just as ignorant. A dissapointment.

How disappointed Frigga would be to learn such a truth and Sinaaq thought, first time with a swell of pity and sorrow in his breast, that it was better Frigga not a lot to see how miserably her only child had failed.

It was only in the absence of Quicksilver's presence — whatever had inspired the Roux-Abrhen off earlier than Sinaaq had risen this morning the darkling could only guess — The spots took to snaking their way out of the darkest recesses of Sinaaq's mind. Hey tolerance for their poison should have been built up by now but still they left him with the sour, metallic taste in his mouth and a new fissure in his already cracked heart. How it managed to still beat it's rhythm like a steady drum in his chest was anyone's guess. A scowl had twisted his angular face, eyes of liquid gold harsh and cold despite the warmth they were colored with. The darkling's pace slowed, however, when he found himself drawing closer to a pack's borders until he came to a complete halt more than an adequate distance between their borders and his body.

With the arsenic of his thoughts, now locked back up, still lingering he smoothed the scowl off of his face, replacing it with the mask of indifference that he wore so perfectly. The darkling had no real purpose of having came this far near the claimed lands of another pack but nevertheless he was here now. Might as well siphon what information he could; and he was curious even if remotely.

Somnia might be one of the nicest wolves you'll get out of RHC

From a distance, the dark figure walking towards the borders looked like Peregrine. But, Somnia was almost certain that Peregrine was still in the territory somewhere. So this dark figure had to be investigated. He didn't step on their doorstep and request a presence, like that loner had, but rather lurked outside her home.

Somnia got to her feet, and started trotting in his direction. As she got closer, it became apparent that he indeed wasn't Peregrine. Her tail raised in authority, as did her posture. Even if she wasn't an Alpha or Beta here, she was directly under them in the hierarchy. Anyone this close to the pack without being a member was at the very bottom of the ladder.

The Gamma kept moving past the border. Only when she was within speaking range of the stranger did she stop. "This is Redhawk Caldera. What's your business here?"

Sinaaq saw the woman's rise of posture into one that resembled that of an authoritarian but the darkling disregarded this dominate display for the simple fact that he was not apart of the pack whose borders he had wandered close too, and therefore concluded that her dominance meant nothing to him. She was nothing to him; it was an unorthodox mixture of malicious amusement and sardonic irritation the fact that she blatantly thought that her standing in this unknown and unimportant pack actually meant something to the wretched Arrluk. Sinaaq, of little doubt, felt certain that she expected him to show subordination to her as she sashayed past the safety of her borders. Fiery gaze watched her movements, his head kept high and proud, unwilling to bend. Sinaaq was not a creature that enjoyed bowing, though he had once became a captive intentionally to keep Adlartok alive when he was failing to do so himself. The situation had been extreme and dire and his captivity had not been long. Obedience had reigned over him in Wintersun, only because of Solia Saturnin. When she failed to be apart of his life, the chains she had grasped to tame him had been shaken off.

Sinaaq Arrluk was lawless, free, an anarchist. If she expected any different from him the deceiving fallen angel would leave her with no less than disappointment.

A name was given of the land she had left to linger in no man's land with the Sin, causing vanity incarnate to allow a teasing of a smirk tugging at his lips as his brow rose into a wicked arch over his right eye. What did he want? Information. Power; knowledge was the ultimate power, after all. “I am here as an Outrider,” It was not a lie. Not really. Merely, Sinaaq enjoyed playing the role of the enigma. Never giving too much as he siphoned all that he could. An uneven trade, perhaps, Sinaaq did not care.

Somnia noted how the stranger held his head high, as if being respectful towards this pack he was dangerously close to didn't matter. At least he had answered her question. He was not here to join, which brought some relief, but also more grief. It would've been easy to turn him away by saying that their ranks were full, which wasn't a lie. But no, she now had to deal with him and decide if his Outrider business was of any importance. "What kind of Outrider business are you here for?"

His answer would be what decided if Somnia tried to send him away, or if she let him stay and talk. There was more than one aspect to the trade after all. They could be messengers, passing on news to other packs. Or, they could just be gleaning information. A messenger could be important, and Somnia would not send one away. An information gleaner, on the other hand, was of no importance to her or the pack.

On the coin of fairness Sinaaq Arrluk was not respectful to anyone, though he did not expect this pack woman, who held her posture so dominate as if he had to quiver on his stomach with his tail tucked between his legs before her (unimpressive) presence, to know such a thing. Not even a God could strike that sort of submission from him. It was not in the darkling's nature and he didn't care enough to even part his lips in argumentation if she was not willing to budge. Begging was unbecoming and it was among Sinaaq's list of things he would never do. Sinaaq didn't beg. If he wanted something: he took it. If she was not willing to give him even basic information then he would find it out another way. After all, she wasn't the only wolf in the pack and even so surely there were loners, or wolves from other packs that for the right price would be willing to give him the information he had intended to siphon. He didn't inquire because he cared, he inquired because he wanted to collect information. It was nothing personal and he had no quarrel with these wolves. In the end, Sinaaq's goal was to collect information from all the packs that inhabited the Wilds. After all, the whole point of being an Outrider was to gather basic information on packs and knowing the quickest, most efficient route there in the case that a message carried between packs was urgent.

Her question was initially met with silence, surely a fair question for there was many sides to being an Outrider — something that the darkling enjoyed about the trade — but the urge to respond in a condescending manner was strong. The urge was ignored, for the time being. Sinaaq greatly doubted that being condescending was the way to get anything from her, though he was determined not to kiss her behind, as considered before, going directly to the source was not his only route of option here. “Just a simple collection of information,” Sinaaq spoke simply with a dark, charming quirk of his lips — though whether the charm was genuine or not was certainly up for debate. A cant of his head was given, a smooth, fluid movement as eyes of liquid gold fixated upon her . It would be useless if he did have a message to deliver and it never made it to anyone of importance. Even the names of those that led the pack would be counted as useful, if a bit vague.

It was revealed that the dark wolf wanted information. Somnia didn't know how the Alpha pair would want her to react in a situation like this, but she was certain her guess was correct. After all, weren't they always chasing away strangers? Not including the recruits who came before their ranks were full. And anyways, what good would come to them if the other pack knew all their secrets? However, there were a few pieces of information she could have a positive impact on the pack.

"We're filled to the brink with members, have at least three wardens as well as other wolves that frequently patrol the borders without recognition for the trade, and lastly, we also got two extremely territorial Alphas." While some of it might have been stretched the tiniest bit, ninety-nine percent of it was true. In reality, Somnia didn't know exactly how frequently the borders were patrolled, but they did have three wardens, so someone must be doing them.

There, now the stranger had information. Not information that could be used against them, but information that would -hopefully- restrain his pack from engaging in conflict with them.

I feel like this is the place where I state that Sinaaq's thoughts are purely his own and do not in any way reflect mine personally. :-)

The “information” though Sinaaq would not go as so far as to call it such, admittedly, she offered was vague and, frankly, to the darkling obvious. Anyone with a functioning nose could tell that they were a pack well off in numbers, something that Sinaaq himself had not failed to pick up upon at his initial approach; just as it was obvious that there would be wardens patrolling the borders and that the pack's alpha's were territorial. Wasn't every alpha territorial? Thus far, Sinaaq had yet to come upon one that wasn't and knew that if he were ever to take up the crown and lead a pack that he would be as territorial as a ravaged and savage demon. Then again, Sinaaq had possessive tendencies, and a blunt unwillingness to share anything so this theoretical talk of being territorial was not a far stretch from what he was now. All of this was common knowledge to Sinaaq and the darkling made no attempts to better hide his thinly veiled irritation.

“Do your alpha's have names?” Sinaaq hissed the word subtly at her, tone dark with mild indifference. At this point, his patience was being lost quickly. Having not forgotten his vindication that this information might be easier to grasp a hold of from someone else, he considered that option strongly now, though lingered if only to fuel his own dark and poisonous curiosity; and perhaps because he quite enjoyed the idea that his presence was irritating her. She and her rank whom was wholly insignificant to the wretched. “How else would I know who to call for should I ever have an urgent message for them?” There was such a rarity of such a thing happening, even so, Sinaaq amended mentally, he did not like to go through insignificant messengers ...such as herself. The theoretical message might never make it to the leadership, or it might get mixed upon the way. Sinaaq did not trust others with such delicate things, always favoring to go to the ones who it was intended for and telling them directly.

It was obvious that the dark wolf was irritated with her, and that irritated her. He was the wolf asking for information, yet he couldn't show any manners whatsoever. This only made Somnia not want to give him any specific information. "My Alphas do have names. You could always just call for the Alphas in general. They still go by the title Alpha, whether you know their name or not."

Somnia knew her response wasn't helping the situation. The worst scenario to her was a fight breaking out. But, she could call for backup. How many wolves were there in the Caldera that would love a chance to prove their Warden and Warrior skills?

Archive with your post so it's 10 and counts towards EXP? It seemed like a good place to fade especially since I can't realistically see Sin lingering. Thank you for the thread! :-)

The presumed pompous and tight lipped woman told him nothing useful. Nothing that he had not already figured out on his own, without her unhelpful assistance. He would have been better off bartering the information from a malnourished loner than sit here and try to pull the stick out of her rear-end Sinaaq thought with a inner snicker. Sinaaq had the brief thought that talking to her was like attempting to talk to a brick wall and while in another circumstance he might have admired; or if not admired than at least found her unwillingness to divulge him even a small sliver of information that he could not determine by observation and scent alone as amusing; however, given the circumstances he did not find it neither. He found it irritating. Infuriating, even. She had put him that far behind on the Outrider trade, more or less turning this into a wasted trip and Sinaaq found that he yearned for her to go to someone, someday seeking something for a trade only to be entirely screwed over as she had done to him.

This was not the end; not at all. He would get the information he sought: one way or another. Sinaaq Arrluk did not give up, and would not let this dying dog rest. Instead, he would pester and pry until it told him what he desired and only then would the darkling allow it to die. A dark, charming grin was given to her, sure to flash his teeth, though it's intent was more malicious than it was anything else. Currently, Sinaaq was feeling so very far from charmed.

“I do so hope that someone is as helpful to you someday as you were to me,” Sinaaq spoke with a false kindness to his accented voice. Beneath the falsity his words dripped with venom, each one packed with sarcasm. Without another word, the darkling turned and departed from the proximity of their borders, intent on returning to the place he'd agreed to meet Quicksilver, all the while plotting his next course of action.

Alright by me! :D

Somnia listened to the dark wolf's last words. It wasn't as if she had planned on being mean to him from the start, but Somnia couldn't go around telling everyone about the Caldera's vulnerabilities, not that it had any in her eyes... Except for Fox being a soon-to-be mother. She probably would've stated that in a nicer way too, had it not been for his attitude.

Somnia held back a snarl as she watched him leave. Her eyes followed the dark figure until he left her field of vision. When she was certain that he wasn't coming back, she turned around to head back to do something useful for the pack. Hunting seemed like a good option.