whispers in the rain

After he left his family in that miserable valley, Riptide had gone wandering. Where? Even he did not know, he went wherever his paws took him and rested when fatigue overwhelmed him. He never joined a pack even once in the months, or was it years, that he was alone and exploring the world. He'd admit that this being alone thing didn't really work out with him, for wolves were social creatures in the end and he yearned for the company of his own kind even if it was just to piss them off, though obviously he wasn't going to admit it.

Riptide traveled for so long he had forgotten time entirely. Maybe he was already two years old, or perhaps even three! He did not know, and truth to be told, he didn't really care. You were born, you lived, then you died. Age didn't matter, not to him. Others could boast that they were already adults since they were officially a year old, but to him, they were all the same. All those who lived and roamed this earth were the same, because they were living and not dead.

Riptide stopped by the scent markers of a pack, his ears twitched as he caught the sounds of the wind rustling the leaves of the trees and the small movement of a vole scurrying back into it's home. Black nostrils inhaled the scent of fresh food. Not that he was hungry, he'd recently filled himself up on a deer carcass. He chased away the wolf who caught it and feasted on the meat that remained (which was a lot). Others might say it was unfair, but there were no rules in the wild. Nothing was fair here, or unfair for that matter.

The russet male turned and began walking away, he was in no mood to join a pack yet. Then he stopped and turned around, regarding the dark woods with curious turquoise eyes. He was a respectable distance away (the natives sure were touchy about these things), but would they notice him? Were they strong?

She approached erratically, moving from tree, to tree, to tree. But there the other stood. There the other stayed.

Shego was uncomfortable. While the other wolves here were welcoming to her, she would not be so welcome to outsiders. A hypocrite. But, even if she were aware of this, she would not care. Shego was selfish and this place in days had become her own, also.

She waited five minutes before she ran out into the open, hissing and spitting, "Begone! You are not welcome here! You will DIE here!" Atropos felt it in more than her bones. If he did not listen to her, the black-magic woman would relentlessly try and kill him time after time after time. It was not fair, but Shego was not fair, and she was also not a woman of reason.

The wiry witch was protective of many things.

There was a child in this forest that was hers, and she would damn any other that tried to set their sight on the child she had yet to discover.

Riptide waited for sometime, then decided to turn and leave. Perhaps only a wolf who was trespassing would gain their attention, it didn't matter, he wouldn't join any pack until he had evaluated all packs in this area, then, perhaps he would come back. That is, if all the other packs were even more crappier than this one. But just as he was about to take his leave, a black figure emerged from the dark forest, hissing and spitting so suddenly that his ears splayed against either sides of his skull in distress.

But only for a moment. Riptide's ears sprang up as she told him, no, yelled at him to be gone from the area and that he wasn't welcomed here. If that wasn't enough, she spat at him, saying that he would, apparently die here. He raised a wolfish brow at that and nimbly began backing off from her. Insane woman. "You're not a leader of this pack," he didn't know that, but from her attitude, he couldn't believe she could possibly be a leader. "You cannot tell me to leave without knowing my intentions. I might be wishing to find a home here for all you know."

"Besides," Riptide cocked his head. "I'm too young to die. Who's going to kill me anyways? You?"

She did not argue his words of her lacking the title, but she rebuked him all the same. "This is my home," she bristles, her furs on end, "You are on our borders," comes her words as she takes a step forward, bile rising in her throat, so sick he made her! "L—" But his last words gave her pause...

He spoke of youth like it was an everlasting chalice. Youth ended so quickly, and so did life; the light was smothered in young and old. Early graves, late graves... did it matter? But Atropos, drawn to death as she was, could feel him thrumming the thread of his life, waving it in front of her face. As good as an offering as any.

Death would come for him. Atropos wielded the fangs that cut the thread, and she had many, many beings that worked for her. They did not know it, of course (this was a delusional belief of hers, but she believed it wholeheartedly). And it was then a malignant, toothy grin came onto her features. "Would you like to find out?" Another step forward.

For she too, was young; but it was clear by the look in her eyes she was no stranger to death, that she had seen it many times before.

Riptide listened as she kept yelling at him, though why he even bothered taking in her screeching noise was something that even he, himself did not know. Truth to be told, the loner did not actually care that he was by Blackfeather Woods borders and that this pack was her home, it didn't matter to him. All he needed to know was the name of the pack, which he had and nothing else. He knew he was upon pack borders, all his senses were functioning normally after all. He didn't need to know this was the home to a crazy woman, in fact, that would only make sure he wouldn't join unless necessary. Perhaps this was an asylum. A pack asylum, where all the crazy dudes went.

Every step she took towards him, Riptide took several back. He wasn't a coward, but he wasn't recklessly brave either. He most certainly didn't want to be remembered by being stupid and confronting a crazy lady just to be killed by her. No, he wanted to be remembered for being great, and if not that, at least for some 'good deed', which he currently had none.

The youth didn't bother hiding the grimace that took over his features for a second as a toothy grin occupied the girl's features and when she offered him a question, asking if he wished to find out if she could kill him, he flashed her a charming grin. "No thanks," Riptide said, turquoise eyes gleaming as he regarded the dark girl and took yet another step back. "Like I said, I'm too young to die. Though if you have a better offer to kill me, be sure to tell me next time."

Burke was in not a good mood today, and he wasn't taking anyone's shit. The alpha kept close to the borders to make sure that there wouldn't be any trespassers in his territory. The charcoal tank of a male also wanted to be on the look out for his mate, who was still missing. In the end he would have to accept that something happened to her, but that was a worry for later. He had been studying Shego and the confrontation with the arrogant male, the female proved that she was worthy of the pack. She was taking on duties as a warden and Burke was appreciating that greatly. If the disrespecting male had the intentions of joining then Burke decided it was too late.

The immensely sized male, charged from the shadows like a buffalo. His teeth bared as he shot from the under grove. He lunged at the loner's neck without hesitation, ready to send a message. He would learn Shego that she could be far more aggressive towards disrespecting loners. They were the pack that held the Dark Brotherhood, a tight group of assassins. Burke wouldn't allow anyone of his members, even non-brotherhood, to be talked down by some pup. Burke tried to bite down in the stranger without mercy before letting go. The bite would be just a warning. The Dark King growled. His message was very clear. 'Get off my lawn or I will kill you right now'. He had no need to talk to this pup. If he would keep this attitude the young wolf wouldn't age into an old wolf. Burke's docked tail stood up dominantly, along with his hackles raised. His pale ice blue eyes shot for a second towards Shego, telling her that if this pup let out one more squeak she was allowed to rip him to shreds and use it in one of her blood offerings.

Shego hissed at him as he declines her offer.

Her choices given were not truly choices. She had already decided.

Still this wolf remained, and so Shego imagined that he indeed did wish to find out after all. Of course, it was a bluff on her part. She was no fighter; she was lanky and lean, too narrow to be of much use in that avenue. Shego was made to run. The coywolf knew she was good at exhausting others... both mentally, and physically. But she would not lay a tooth on him until that point, or she might be harmed herself in the process.

It seemed none of this mattered. Here came the alpha male, charging in on her behalf.

Shego watched with morbid fascination, wondering how it would all play out... She was stiff, but inched forward. Only Burke's look held her back... and she let out a high-pitched cackle, the sound something of a dare.

last post from me. one more post from each of you guys and we can archive it :)

Riptide was about to turn and leave this creepy black forest behind when a charcoal male came charging towards him like a bull. He was large for a wolf and stocky, which meant he was most likely clumsy and slow. Disadvantages, disadvantages everyone. To the tawny youth, only having size and strength was terrible weakness, a weakness that was worst than even speed. However muscle you had, you were most likely fall sooner than later if you were so slow you couldn't even dodge the blows. But that was just the Silversea's opinion.

The tank lunged for Riptide's neck but the tawny male was quick and sidestepped, but he wasn't quick enough and Burke's teeth grazed his neck, leaving a thin gash. It wasn't deep, no worse than a thorn cut, but the youth was still indignant. Granted, the attack was warranted and justified, given the fact that he was close to the borders and had played with one of the pack members quite rudely. Riptide wouldn't care if Burke aimed for his paws or something, but he had aimed for his neck, clearly aiming to slaughter the innocent boy or give him a permanent injury. That asshole.

The insane lady also let out a high pitched cackle which simply confirmed Riptide's thought of the wolves of this pack being completely fucking batshit crazy. Yep. He was most definitely done here.

"Laters!" Riptide called over his shoulder as he turned and began trotting away from the pack. "Practice your aim next time, old man. And I'll be sure to do you guys a favor and dissuade all the wolves who wish to join your batshit insane clan from joining."

Actually I would like to have one more post after Shego's reply so I can use this thread for EXP, if that is okay ;)

The Dark King seemed to make his message come across to the other without saying another words to him. Though the arrogant pup had to make another insult coming at him. The tank of a male was clearly not amused. Even though the young wolf might have dodged his attack Burke was still far closer than he was before. He lunged again at the wolf and chased after the pup in an adult body until he was more than a few strides away from their borders. Black Feather was more than stocked with wolves. Now they member count was up they were allowed to be picky. Burke couldn't care less if the other wolf would tell other loners to say away. It meant the wolves that would approach their border had a higher interest of joining this 'batshit insane clan'. Burke knew that bad advertising for their pack was how he reached these borders more than half a year ago.

Burke knew he wasn't going to keep up with the other male but that was the point. Once he was at a distance Burke liked he stopped his chase. His docked tail standing up high in the air. He trotted back to Shego. His statue clearly more pleased than he was when the intruder was too close to their lands. "Next time someone is rude to you, please slid their throats right on the spot," he stated with a court nod. "If they don't start with 'I want to join this pack' then I might start to mark the borders with the blood of trespassers to keep these rude wolves away," Burke stated. He was surprised by his own darkness. A hint a smile tugged on his lips. "I might start doing that actually. Hmm. Thanks for the inspiration, Shego." After all it were her blood offers that got him on the topic of slicing throats.

Wild Fauna cameo. At your service!

The little brown bat winged his way through the dark forest. Considering it was dark and his vision was poor, he had trouble telling what time of day it was. The part of him that was supposed to be in tune with those things was broken, leaving the little bat a bit insane as he roamed just as easily in full daylight as he did in full darkness. Echo location was pretty bad ass that way. It didn't require light to see by. Just vibrations that told him where things were and where to go.

He squeaked to note this tree and that tree. He flew jagged patterns through the woods as he hunted mosquitoes and other tasty snacks. Mm. That one was good. That bug was juicy. That other one had a nice crunch to it. With all the snacking, he was getting terribly full and with all the flying he was wiggling things right through his system until he realized he really needed to take a crap.

The advantage to flying was that one could pretty much go where ever they so desired. It simply deposited from one's rump and fell wherever it landed. In this instance, Asbestos winged his way across the gray wolf and dropped the kids off like little torpedoes of legitimate bat shit. Insane.

-Asbestos exits-

Whoever this stranger was, Shego intended to simply kill by principle; the very nerve of him! She let out another shriek and launched for him herself... but held back, hearing the voice of her leader and listening well.

"Their blood could serve for better uses," she grinned, the expression hideous on her narrow features, "But I have seen a pack here use bones. It is a good idea," her tail flicked, but she is thoughtful again, "But the bones too... are useful. The things the dead have seen!"

She falls back, ears flat upon her head. "I will do as you say, happily so," she lilted, "And am pleased to inspire you so."

Last post! Thanks! Both of you!!

Burke nodded towards the female. "This one will not come back, if he does you know what to do now," he spoke with a soft grunt. "Good wardening skills," he spoke and then looked at their border. He decided that he should continue marking those borders. He would prefer to use the trespasser's blood now, but for now his pee would have to do it. The tall male nodded Shego goodbye. Not realizing that he wouldn't see the female in a long time.

-END THREAD-