Haunted Wood pack your things up, honey

Urine sprinkled onto the peeling bark of one tree, the act of defiance completely intentional. This was not Lusa and her cohort's wood, nor would it ever be, according to the inky spider of the Spire. Though the territory was a decent clip away from the Sawtooth's mountain, it boiled down to a personal note, rather than location. The dark wolf would never cease hunting them. 

Claws raked into the damp soil beneath the heavily wooded area, kicking debris in all directions without remorse or consequence. One shoulder brushed into the solid stalk of an oak, the lichen and other mossy parasites clinging to guard hairs and leaving several in the newly-appointed Delta's wake. Fire-like eyes danced dangerously from one bit of shadow to the next, completely in-tuned with surroundings and the faint stir of approaching adversaries in the dim silence. 

There had been an effort to claim their stake here and the spider sought to rip it all back down.

Eshe strayed from the Hollow with word that she sought the wayward Bhreac. Of course, everything was a bit of a blur. Had she done that...? She thought so. In any case, she was doing that, now, scouring the lands and traveling near and far to find the woman. Presently, she stood quite far, and watched an inky wolf piss on some tree...

"Ah, sorry," she voiced, wilting some. "Didn't mean to come too close to your pack,"

It didn't take long for shenanigans to attract another, yet the average-sized wolf that did emerge was not a face that spider sought. Fiery eyes lit like embers towards the intrusion, softening only when confusion spiced words apologized. For a small moment the Delta simply observed, ears pricked upwards in wary curiosity. Nostrils did not recognize the scent that permeated the female's presence, nor was there recognition that she was of a neighboring pack wolf. 

"Not mine," he admitted somewhat coolly, a slimy smile oozing onto raven-kissed lips. The expression was fleeting, the glimmer of deceit clear and evident without any effort to hide it. "Not anyone's," he added quietly with a faint tilt of soot-colored jawline. "It could be yours," he offered suggestively, as though the terrain was an item so easily auctioned off. Gaze hardened then, the ruse evaporating into a sentinel of black silence, awaiting explanation or the expected arrival of some boring warrior that wished to press their luck.

It was interesting, his response. His smile gave her the willies, but she lingered even still, made curious by his continued words. Not anyone's... So, she mistook him for marking, and he was simply relieving his bladder. Gosh, her mind was out of sorts, and so too was she. She typically was on top of this! How could she be any sort of outrider if her mind wandered so...? And wander it did. Eshe could not help but wonder at Bhreac, and think that she ought to get back to her hunt for her.

The suggestion was nearly missed. Could she lead...? Mm. Maybe one day. "I'm loyal to Mordecai and Harlyn," she decided instead, "I am just looking for my sister. Bhreac. Heard of her?"

Quite openly the cream and grey wolf declared her loyalty. The names, though now heavily imprinted into memory, did not jostle any ideas of where, exactly, this creature lived. Perhaps to more seasoned animals the news would be something of importance, yet the spider adhered to the mountain and strayed little else. Her intrusion was due to some sort of personal quest, it seemed. She sought a blood relative that also had a name foreign and inconclusive. Expression remained steady and calm, intrigued yet bored.

"Oh," he feigned stupidly, the thrum of words proffering just enough kindness so as not to seem harsh or demeaning. "What does she look like?" he asked with a tilt of jawline, feigning interest with skilled deceitfulness. "Does she live here?" he pressed on, curious if this sister was one of the exceedingly annoying bunch that wanted to claim the wood.

Eshe was none the wiser to this wolves feign; she believed his belief to be true. Her tail waved, pleased that he might ask... pleased that he cared. Perhaps he might even offer to help... but she could not even hope for so much. Her life had been filled with tragedy, and then, a great burst of happiness and love and life renewed had come back to it. Her sister, the hollow, Scimitar, and the Irish Riordan... he, too, had gone missing, she realized weakly. Still. Scimitar did not yet proclaim his love to her, and so, her loyalty was to Mordecai and Harlyn despite everything. Bhreac might have left willingly. Riordan, too. She would stay, if it could be helped.

"She is pale white with some black furs... that look like dirt. She lived at the Hollow with me," she responded, supplicating him with where to find her if he found her sibling. Her eyes panned to the Wood.

The amicable little thing seemed to appreciate this inquiry for her features brightened. If the Sawtooth soldier had any heart at all, it would have wrinkled at such a horrible demeanor to mislead the kind wolf. Her location was acquired. A hollow. How interesting. As the conversation waned, so did the attention of company. Her description of the blood relative did little to pinpoint a match, yet no words were spoken of this. In fact, the topic seemed to shift perfectly in the spider's favor.

"Some bad wolves are trying to claim this location," he lead on with a steely heaviness to voice as though this revelation pained him to admit. "They tried to kill a neighboring pack wolf over it. It might not be safe here," he lured smoothly, fiery eyes scanning the forest with her to punctuate this meaning. Leave it to the female to understand now as to why the Delta was marking trees that did not belong to him. "They were warned of their mistake but don't care if what they do is wrong. Don't trust them," he finished with a flicker of tongue over whiskers. Perhaps now that the seed of doubt was planted she, too, would not trust the inhabitants attempting to make this wooded terrain home.

Eshe listened to him, and heard him well. His words brought a different anxiety within her, one that had everything to do with her sister. Perhaps they tried to kill her, too. Perhaps they did... she grimaced, lips peeling back to reveal fangs in a display that spoke of her nervousness. Eshe made to depart, sniffing the air heavily to remember the scent.

But then... a thought... "Do you know of other packs like this sort? Bad," she emphasized. Eshe wanted to know where to avoid... and more than that, where to tell her leaders to avoid, too, if ever they went outside the territory. She doubted it, but the "what if" part of everything caused Eshe to ask. It was always better to be safe than sorry.

The Hollow wolf appeared to be leaving, a grimace on features causing a physical display of dislike at what the inky spider had exposed. There was a lack of wishing to see the little adventurer off, just yet, in case one of Lusa's idiots arrived to dispatch them both. Not only would it add one more to their enemies, but it would allow proper distraction if more than one showed up at a time.

As if, perhaps, reading the Delta's mind, the average-sized wolf paused to ask one more question. There was a sudden urge to spill the Blackfeather's into the fray as well, wishing their nothingness could be more than that. Yet, such details may pinpoint the allegiance of the inky intruder, as well. Careful consideration weighed the options before choosing not to include the neighboring pack into the list of bad. 

"Just Lusa," he said, having gleaned the name from the ruckus between many wolves from many locations. "She has a few that follow her looking to claim other locations. I heard from their own lips that they want to take everything south of here," he lied smoothly, head tilting towards that of the surrounding locations in elaboration. 

"Who are you?" he wondered suddenly, portraying a level of skepticism that seemed to question whether or not the Hollow wolf was bad as well. "Do you know who else is bad?" he pressed. The stealing of information went both ways.

Lusa. Name given. Lusa and her merry-band. Well, not so merry, it seemed. In any case, this would be a place she would avoid. He answered her question and she readied to depart when he asked a question of her. She paused long enough to answer in earnest, "I don't know of many packs, and this is the first time I've heard of a bad one. I'm a homebody. I wouldn't be so far, if my sister weren't missing..." She sighed wearily, and looked back to the Wood. Eshe wished she had a heroic bone in her body that would cause her to crash into that wood and simply poach the threat.

She glanced to him... "My sister could be in there. Maybe they are hiding her scent..." She had to check. And so, Eshe turned back to him and burst quickly into the woods to get a good whiff of the place. A quick in and out. Stupid. Reckless. Moronic. But if they were bad... and they held her sister... she had to know.

couldn't help myself :3

 She had been patroling the area when voices came from inside the woods. Her blood boiled at this fact. Her band had been having a lot of trouble with the Sawtooth and Caldera lately. Her attempt to talk peace with Peregrine had failed, and she had yet to see another of the SS wolves.

 Lusa walked closer to the noise, as she neared she became more stealthy, listening to the conversation between the tresspassers. It was Grim and another intruder. She could hear the male speak lies of her pack and the other thinking they had kidnapped her sister. Time to come out. "You cannot just jump to conclusions girl," she murmered walking into a patch of light. She eyed down the two, her face calm but body ready to chase the two out, along with the help of her packmates. "So your back for more?", she stated with a slight sneer, "You're pushing your luck, spreading lies around here."

Thanks for joining! :D Just as an FYI, Lusa wouldn't and couldn't know his name yet because he's never told her, nor has anyone used it in front of her to my knowledge. Grim only knows hers because it was divulged at the Caldera meet and smash thing. :P I'm going to play it as though she didn't say it so you can edit your post?

The spider watched thoughtfully as the plan was successful, rooting the banal female and keeping her within conversation. The inky wolf did not expect her to burst into the wooded area and only assumed that this action is what had brought the banged up Lusa. Her appearance caused gaze to immediately darken, a smile coiling on features. Her paltry words were ignored, their fake confidence lost on the Delta. She had been afraid of him once. She would be afraid of him again.

"Where are you hiding her, Lusa?" he asked plainly, stepping towards the dark wolf as he had before. Would she fight this one on her own or would her little sidekicks show up to carry her flag again? Could she manage the spider? Doubtful. Sharply-cut figure intentionally spliced the Hollow wolf in a shroud of protection, shoulders pressing forward and assertive to this new company. "What did you do with her sister?" he growled, that glimmer of trickery doing exactly what was needed.

The rugged wolf dared closer, closing the gap between the blue-eyed hopeful and the assortment of urine the Sawtooth had left at her doorstep. A snap of jaws, suddenly, aimed for the black wolf's face. No charge came with it. A warning.

She was stopped before getting too far (read: anywhere at all). Out from the bushes emerged a woman, pale and injured from... something. Perhaps a scuffle or a skirmish. Or that very killing of the wolf the dark one had mentioned... she bristled at the thought, but tried then to reason, to rationalize. The other added insult to anxious injury in calling her girl, and the Endore visibly stiffened. Normally levelheaded, her nerves certainly had arrived to her head; Eshe was all sorts of bewildered and crazy. "Girl? I'd wager I've seen more moons than you," she harrumphed, ears pricked forward. There was no real telling of age, but scent was a bit of a hint. Exact age? She couldn't know, nor could she guess accurately. They were adults here... but if one insulted the other by way of age, did that not hint at insecurity of their own? Eshe played that card.

Spreading lies? Her ear twitched. "This is about my missing sister," she pressed. She needed this belief to be of the utmost importance, needed to eradicate her own minds potential lie before it blossomed into something far worse. "If you've nothing to hide, if you're not hiding her from me, would you let me in to see?" Her eyes gleamed sharply, her mind chaotic and hard to read.

When the slimy male closed the gap once more, a vicious snarl formed. She wasn't afraid of him anymore. Her demeanor had changed dramatically ever since they arrived here. Short tempered and very moody. When Grim snapped at her face, she dodged, then stared him down with cold eyes.

 Lusa glanced over to the female, not helping but chuckling. "You're a fool if you think you can come in here and stay alive," she chuffed, "But if you insist on knowing, then follow me." She turned around, head low and always watching her back. If the two would follow, they were as good as dead. They were easily outnumbered here and there was nothing they could do about it. If they had some smarts, they would leave now, or pay the consequences.