Kintla Flatlands The voices inside my head, I hate them.

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@Mordecai

Kaname was having an argument with Kaname. More precisely, he was having an argument with Itzal, his conscious that never failed to berate him. The assassin was used to voices in his head; they've been there ever since his first kill. But this voice was absolutely annoying. It was the 'good' part of him manifested in one voice that always told him to do the "right" thing to do.

You need to stop aggravating the others in your pack. You creep them out and make them uncomfortable. There is no reason to do that. Itzal hissed.

They should shut up and deal with it. Kaname was sprawled lazily in the tall grass of the plains. He was irritated by Itzal. At least the other voices were entertaining, not like this clucking mother hen.

If you want them to like you, then you will stop acting like a creep!!

"If you would stop talking in my head all the time I would not act so weird!" he snapped, half rising. His eyes stared at nothing, imagining the voice in front of him. "Your voice bothers me! They can tell that I am different because they can almost see the voice talking to me in my eyes!" he growled, his hackles slightly raised. He didn't care if anyone heard him yell. He needed to have this voice expelled from his head, or at least that he confronts the voice once and for all.

If you don't include the [ code][ /code], the OOC tag should work fine. When you include the bracket code, it's just going to basically show, well, the coding if there were any to be shown. Btw, the really light blue text you're using for your speech is really hard for me to read. ;__; *old person hat*

Usually not a late sleeper, Mordecai found that he awoke much later than usual on a particularly nice day. Maybe it was the locale of the Flatlands that caused him to rest easier, or maybe it had been the last interesting few days that had finally forced him into a state of somewhat fitful rest. Either way, by the time he had awoke, the gold-eyed Ostrega found that the sun had perched itself quite high in the sky. It was disorienting, at first.

As he made his way across one rather unknown parchment of land, he cast his gaze out as far as he could feasible see. Trying to spot some little, preferably broken, piece of game lingering out there just for the taking. He didn't feel much like a hunt that day, though hunger had gnawed at him off and on. When nothing popped up or startled as he made his way through the tall grass, he gave up. Besides, in just a matter of a few more minutes, he had the fortune of overhearing something else…

When he found the dark-haired canine midst the fields, he found him alone. The snarling, the snapping, the growled out words that rumbled forth from him were enough for the Ostrega to come approaching quietly. Cautiously. Bristling the fur along his spine merely out of that leery feeling, he barked softly to get the attention of the wolf and his verbal conflict with seemingly nothing.

Oh, alright. Sorry about that. I'll change to a darker color for this thread. :) see if this color works.

"If you want me to stop acting like a 'creep' then stop talking to me all the time!" The imagined Itzal had fully materialized in his eyes, and it was baring its fangs back at him. He assumed an attack posture, ready to strike the apparition.

"Shut up and give me some peace for o- he stopped when a soft bark met his ear. The hallucination of Itzal disappeared as he turned to the sound. A russet and gold wolf with yellow eyes stared uncomfortably at the dark furred assassin. He relaxed slightly, letting his hackles lay flat and his tail to droop slightly. He nodded to the wolf, acting as if nothing happened. "Greetings."

That's a touch easier to read, I think I can imagine. Thanks! :X

As soon as his bark had registered, Mordecai watched in disbelief as the other wolf dropped what he was doing and wheeled on him. For a moment, the Ostrega thought he was going to be at the receiving end of some serious ire, but the demeanor of the other was completely calm. He greeted him, even, as though nothing at all had really been going on. Mordecai looked past him for a moment, wondering if now he would see someone trying to slink away, but saw nothing.

Returning his gaze to the dark-furred canine, he was slow to let his uncomfortable feeling pass. “Uh, hi,” came his rocky start, not entirely sure what to do. Maybe he was just practicing what to say to someone for all he knew, or maybe someone was really there, just someone so small still they sunk through the grass of the wide flatlands. “Who were you yelling at?” Hackles still on end, he rose a little more in height to cant his head in confusion, and kept his distance.

Ice-blue eyes narrowed slightly at the wolf, a lone wolf from his smell and looks. Part of him was suspicious, but the other parts chided himself for being so defensively. I was yelling rather loudly wasn't I? he asked himself. The golden eyes of the multicolored wolf looked around, searching for a wolf that would have been at the receiving end of his tirade.

"No one really." he finally sighed. There was no point in lying to him. There was no scent of any other wolf or creature in the area, so if he said that he was yelling at someone, it would be a weak lie. Better to tell the truth than a unsupported lie... his father always told him and his siblings.

If there was one thing Mordecai was learning very quickly about the Teekon Wilds, it was that it happened to be full of some of the strangest creatures he had the privilege of encountering. Everywhere had them, this he knew, but it had been some time since he had seen such a colorful cast flocking together in the same place. It caused him to weigh his actions differently, wondering when and if, or what would set another off and down a path he himself wasn't so keen on going.

“Huh,” he murmured to himself, righting his head. And then louder so he'd be heard: “All right then. Do that often, do you?” So if this fellow was talking to nothing at all, he couldn't help if he had arguments with himself on a regular basis. Not that talking to oneself was necessarily a bad thing he supposed, as they all did it from time to time. His query wasn't a joke though, and no smile broke across his face in wry wit. He was concerned, and perhaps rightly so. What could he expect from this encounter?

The dark wolf smiled humorlessly. "Don't we all?" he chuckled drily. Everyone had internal debates with themselves, whether they were sane or not. His, however, were of the less sane variety, if that was not apparent. "But I rarely talk with myself verbally, let alone so loud as before." He scratched an itch on his ear, trying to seem casual, though that was futile.

He gave the wolf another look over and breathed in his scent. "You're a loner aren't you?" he tried to steer the conversation away from his deteriorating mental health. "Travelling through the land or looking to stay?"

Sated with the response he was given, Mordecai began to smooth himself out a little bit. Maybe the fellow had just been venting himself. Though he couldn't quite help but wonder, he hadn't walked in on the whole shouting match taking place. Unnerving feelings aside, their attention arrived at the fact that Mordecai was, well, being Mordecai. Wandering. His conversational companion did not have to try hard in that moment to lure him away from what they had been discussing, as their new topic was one that he had encountered time after time, after time.

“I haven't decided yet,” he said plainly, “I suppose right now you could say I'm travelling through the same places again and again.” And why not? He hadn't really been run off from any of them, and the packs hadn't rallied against him to shoo him in more physical ways. The Wilds had given him ample game to chase, and plenty of others to talk to. “I figure it can't hurt to wander about for a while.” The Ostrega tested the air himself, finding the scant traces that tied him to the mountain he had come by some days ago. He did not comment on this particular note, though. The Amazonian Kesuk had certainly bolstered quite a crew, it seemed.

Mockingly, Itzal began whispering in his head, trying to provoke the assassin in retaliation. I hope you don't mind me speaking as you are talking to this loner fellow. I won't make you look like a creep will I? Kaname snarled at the sneer in his voice. "Shut up will you?" he muttered to himself, blanking out of the conversation for a brief moment. Noticing his sudden rudeness, and overall creepiness, he coughed awkwardly and stood straight.

"Ah, well, I was a wanderer myself for a while. I usually wandered from place to place, sometimes offering my help to packs in order to get a bit of extra meat. Sometimes I was part of a pack, but not for long." he sighed. "I hope stay permanently in my pack this time."

And just when the level of uncomfortably dropped, it rose again sharply. He had no more finished speaking it seemed when the dark-haired fellow curled his maw into a snarl, though his mumbling was just out of earshot to Mordecai. In response, the Ostrega pulled his ears back sharply, but withheld the urge to bristle and growl back. This canine was a particular one and the nagging sensation that he needed to consider making an exit and staying far, far away rode up on him.

It seemed that his presence did have some sort of effect, though. The awkward beat of silence, the coughing cover up. He honed in on what was being said quickly, as though he were going to really miss some crucial bit of information that might have been key to keeping his own hide on. It did not surprise him to find that he wasn't the only drifter of sorts that had been wandering around; Mordecai wouldn't have been surprised if his inability to keep from having an expressive conversation with himself didn't have something to do with it. “You might want to get the talking to yourself thing under control then.” He also had no problem in stating this, however flat and plain it came from his mouth.

No doubt that was something the other worried about, anyway.

Sorry about the wait. I went to Disney for a trip. :)

The Silvertip assassin snorted in contempt as the loner said plainly that he needs to work on this talking thing of his. Yes it was a problem, but he could control it. This thing did not bother him much anyway. Itzal only spoke to him at certain times, and even then he responded in his head. It was rare for him to verbally speak back.

"I assure you, sir, I can manage this on my own. It doesn't bother me much anyway." he said, in the same manner as the male, but with a much colder tone. [/i]

Awesome! I've never been, despite having been down that way a couple of times. I hope you had a great time! :D

Mordecai had his doubts about whether or not it bothered the dark-haired canine. If it didn't bother him, then why had he just been yelling? But the icy tone was noted just as clearly as his scorn, and the tawny Ostrega debated momentarily whether or not to push the issue. It wasn't really up his avenue to push buttons, but the tendency came once in a while. Maybe it had been a result of other collective reasons, or maybe it was just simply the feeling caressing his state of mind.

Nevertheless, it probably wasn't worth sparking anything. “Right then.” He knew it wasn't just a temporary fugue that brought out his flat tone; Mordecai had never had much of a high opinion of those he found lacking in the mental stability department. “So do you come out here often? Not to argue with yourself, but I'd imagine that the game is pretty fair out here.” In the end, it paid for him to learn more about what he was getting into, at least lay of the land wise. And hunger was ever a pressing issue when he had no pack to back him up.

I did, thanks. :)

"I do not come here often, though I wish I did. I spend more time in the forests by my pack's territory." he said, giving the flatlands a look over. It was unfamiliar and uncomfortable territory to him. The grasslands seemed to go on forever west, but ended once they reached the mountains to the north. The assassin did not like flat, treeless lands such as at all. There was no cover, no places to place an ambush, no where to lead your pursuers in a false trail. It was all....open. He should spend more time in this place, so he wouldn't have to worry about such things.

When that thought crossed his mind, he gave a sigh of relief. He was grateful to be thinking of other things rather than Itzal. The conscience had been bothering him for too long, and he wished to have something else permeating his mind. Like this, for example.

Surprisingly, or maybe not, Mordecai learned that he didn't spend a lot of time in the plains. Of course, the forest did have it's advantages, but the Ostrega liked variety. He found a certain calmness in the plains that he often did not get in the forests… or so he thought anyway. What it more than likely boiled down to was that Mordecai liked the openness simply for the scant memory of home. Even if there hadn't been quite as much grass to be found. But the land of mesas and warm earth was long behind him, a memory so distant in fact that he barely recalled what the earth really had felt like.

“The forests around there are rather nice,” he commented, bobbling his head for a moment. He saw no harm in revealing that he knew where the dark-haired fellow came from. “I've been through them a time or two, anyway. That one is particularly overgrown.” And while he didn't mention it, Mordecai did have a passing thought about the offer that had been given to him. If that wolf was in fact from the pack to which he had received said offer, he wondered what else he would find there.

"So I assume you have been near Silvertip Mountain territory? he mused. It would not be surprising to know that the traveller had been to the Neverwinter and Heartwood forests, seeing as they were nearby the flatlands. He might have been one of the scents he tracked during his patrols.....

Yes, one of the scents you followed....so you could kill someone..... Itzal hissed in his condescending voice. Kaname almost snapped at that one moment, thoroughly annoyed by him. Two years of this nagging, annoying voice! It was enough to make him go mad. Well, mad-er. The dark wolf sighed deeply.

"Have you met anyone from my pack?" It was obvious that the male knew where he came from. He saw no use in hiding that fact. Instead, he inquired if any of his packmates knew this wolf, and if they offered to enlist him into the pack.

So that was its name. Silvertip Mountain. It seemed fitting, in hindsight. What little of the mountain he had seen through the canopies had always been snowcapped, and the shadow it cast was long into the proceeding valley. Out there though, it was well behind him. Mordecai nodded to his first query all the same though, because in a way he had been close to the territory. “I've been close to it, but not that close. I know better.” He had never been the headstrong type to just disregard where territories were likely to be. Mordecai may have followed footsteps into the Wilds, but he had branched off from them before they converged anywhere remotely like a border. And at times, the wind had been in his favor. Either way, it was simply not worth the ire when he had no reason to come marching up to their broad mark.

“And I have met some from your pack. Your leader for one, I believe.“ While he had never learned Jinx's name, he was certain that his sparring partner from the woods had been none other than a leader. The commanding air about her had been much more than the male before him. The others he couldn't say much about. There had been the equally dark-coated male that had gone headlong into the water some days ago, and more recently he had begun to think the yearling that had tried to accost him in another nearby forest was from there. But Mordecai would not assume that were the case, as they could have easily come into contact with the Silvertip wolves long after he had.

The dark wolf blanked out for a second, thinking back on that time not too long ago that Itzal recalled. Had his scent been one of those he followed? And what happened to that scent? He should have made it to the source unless the scent disappeared on him. Normally he didn't lose a trail like that...Was it this wolf's scent? He blinked again, only half registering the wolf's remarks. So he had known some of his packmates. Kaname wondered who else he had met besides his leader. The half-ugly Erika? The brutish Sitri? The witch doctor Lecter? The toxicologist Tyrande?

"Have any of them given you trouble?" he asked, snorting softly in amusement as he imagined one of his packmates chasing the loner off before he got the chance to introduce himself. Silvertip wolves were not the friendly sort, be them on the pack's territory or on neutral grounds. Kaname was one of them, but he was more subtlely threatening than aggressively so.

When it came to whether or not any of them had given him trouble, Mordecai was initially prepared to say yes. But his tongue stayed as he tilted his head to the side carefully, as though he were thinking back well into the past. Not entirely sure whether or not the one who had given him trouble was apart of that pack, he wasn't about to either give the satisfaction of affirming what the dark wolf was asking, or totally denying it either. All in all, Mordecai really hadn't much trouble with the wolves of the Wilds. Thankfully.

“No more than I anticipated, you could say.” He added a smile to the end of his words, letting that be what settled the trouble he had ever received. Mordecai, for the most part, would not have gotten as far out from his homeland if he had been anything but decent towards others. He knew when to pick a fight, and more importantly, when not to. “Why do you ask though? Are you guys the local troublemakers around here?” His smile warped then, melting into something more mischievous. He meant it in jest and only hoped it would be taken that way, but, ah well, whatever happened, happened.

Troublemakers. Some would call them that, especially those that met Kaname. From what he could tell, Silvertip Mountain was not the most loved in Teekon Woods. Many of them hated the pack. Especially his alpha Jinx. Actually, most talk about Silvertip was about Jinx. He supposed that she did not like that one bit. It was one thing to be whispered about in fear, but it was another thing to be talked about with contempt.

"Not really, we simply are more aggressive and territorial than the others. Even off of our borders." he smiled back at the loner, who had smirked in jest during his remark.

He had a hard time gauging whether or not his comment was well received. There was something that Mordecai found almost unnerving about the smile that appeared across Kaname's muzzle. Moreover, he wasn't sure whether or not that feeling found itself conveyed in that moment. More aggressive and territorial though? The tawny Ostrega wasn't sure that he knew what that meant. But he didn't know enough about the Kesuk at the helm of the pack to know whether or not she requested that they went parading the lands like they owned them. Sure, the mountain and the reserves around it he could see, but he was also interpreting what was being said literally.

“To an extent, I presume,” he probed curiously, trying to ascertain the overall mood through the chilly gaze meeting his. “You're not trying to give me a good chase carrying on about how you own the grounds. So we must be relatively neutral this far out.” That was of course, disregarding the fact that maybe Kaname had come out there to be alone.

"I'm not one to randomly chase people," he said. Kaname could sense the slight confusion in the wolf's tone. He didn't seem to be sure if his comment was placed correctly. The Eta rarely gave a clear answer anyway, so he did not blame the wolf. "And besides, we are closer to Blacktail Deer Plateau than Silvertip Mountain." He looked around the sea of green grass and the distant Sunspire Mountains that was located nearby the pack's borders. "There's no point in me wasting my energy doing that here..."

*beats internet to stay connected more than ten seconds at at time*

If there was meant to be any implication at the Silvertip wolf's words, Mordecai missed it. But Kaname's otherwise proved his assumption correct; they really were too far out for either one of them to pose a real threat to property. This wasn't really the first time he had picked up on that, but he could not place any blame. It wasn't worth the expenditure of energy to drive off anyone who could get too close. And besides, Mordecai, at times, believed in letting others come to him, rather than actively seeking them out.

“Are you saying you'd chase me?” It seemed like a fitting question. With Jinx's offer still on his table, he wondered just how close he was going to have to get to either chance an encounter with her, or summon her. And if he did have to get close to her proverbial borders, he did not want to be at the receiving end of some rogue guardian's sharp teeth.

"Yes. That is our alpha's rule: to chase off any wolf close to pack territory." To be honest, he quite liked this loner. But, if he did see him near the mountain, he would be forced to chase him off. He feared and respected Jinx, and he did not want to be on her list of people to hate. "But if you were interested in calling any one from the pack, you would have to call for them, near our buffer zone." The buffer zone was a short distance into some of the outlying lands that was unofficially property of Silvertip Mountain. Kaname wanted to propose to just incorporate the zones into the territory, since he had some trouble with an intruder unaware he was on unofficial pack land, but he never got the chance to speak to Jinx.

Up to you whether or not you want Kaname to join him. I figured we could always have an updated thread since I guess he's more in STM than out now. :P

So in short, Mordecai deemed the wolf's answer to be a resounding yes. It humored him to think of himself being run off from somewhere, but that was something he had never had to face. And hopefully, would never have to face. Time on that winding, twisting road had allowed him to figure out whatever means he needed to survive, and never once had they steered him into stealing from a pack. Scavenging on half-rancid meals left to be bleached by the sun, yes. But he had always assumed that every pack out there was no less than like his own birthplace, where defending the frontline was most important in keeping the ones inside safe.

“Of course,” he said. “I wouldn't do it any other way.” Though left unspoken, he couldn't help but assume that they must have had a lot of fools who tried to march right in and act like they belonged. And that, he found a little troubling. But it too, was not unlike his origins. Sighing and casting his gaze out across the flatlands once again, Mordecai found a certain restlessness captivating his thoughts soon thereafter. “Well, I should leave you to it. I think I might go see what I can scare up to chase out here.” Hunger was still an ever pressing worry at the back of his mind. Mordecai had only gone a few paces away from Kaname though, when he paused and turned his head back to look at him.

“Unless you want to join me?” Two wolves could certainly fair better at finding a meal than just one, after all.

Sorry for the wait, I have finals coming up next week.

His tail twitched softly, sensing the end of a conversation. He was pleased that it happened however, since it quieted Itzal for a moment. But as all wolves must die, all conversations have to end. Part of him thought that the wolf was interested in joining Silvertip Mountain. He was obviously a wanderer, but he had interacted with his pack before. Maybe he was interested.

Kaname was about to dip his head and wish him farewell as the wolf trotted away to find prey when he stopped and turned back. Unless you want to join me? he said. The ice eyed assasssin paused and thought for a moment before answering. "Sure." he could certainly help the wolf for once, and when they did catch prey he would leave it all to him to eat, the loner needed it more than he. He trotted over to join him, chuckling to himself as he remembered something suddenly. "My name is Kaname by the way."