Shadewood Know your soul gotta know your wealth

Darkness.
There was a cold breath that sought stealthily for his skin, brushing its calloused fingers through his thick fur yet not penetrating down to his warmth. Not even close.
Damp.
The area was damp, his back had clumps of drifted snow weaved in it, only adding to his insulation now. His muzzle was damp, his tongue snaking out to lick his nose, his face. His senses were waking.
It smelt earthy, warm. A bit stinky. 
Light.
It was light in the den. A soft white brightness that came from behind his form. He inhaled deeply. 

He was awake.

Kovertol unfurled, his thick coat hugging heat to him. He didn't feel it at all. He turned, nose ruffling through to find that scent. It stirred something unwelcome in his mind, something that stirred something unwelcome in him. Something that made him rumble and shake his head. 
Feathers in his den dropped in by a wolf.
He dragged himself out of his den, grunting and grumbling.  
He wasn't best pleased with having these dogs sneaking around his patch. 

When he emerged, he stood swaying, still on all fours, assessing his surroundings from under heavy-lidded eyes. Dark thick trees now littered with white. He let out a soft bellow, testing his voice. 
He liked the sound it made, despite still being groggy.

Happy. It was like...her main emotion the past few days. She pranced around doing her job as warrior, but still looking so overtly feminine about it. Thats what she was doing now, wandering around the territory and singing before she got smacked across the face by the most unholy of scents. 


Slowly she marched forward as flashbacks dizzied her mind, a large paw smacking her, flying through air, hitting a tree. She stopped as she spotted the large, still figure of a bear it's sleepy bellow making her cringe. She began to hyperventilate and backed away, circling it from a distance. Was Cry fucking stupid? He had settled a pack I land with a hibernating bear right in the middle of it?! A shudder ran down her spine and she called a panicked cry first for her love @Issun and then for @Cry because dammit she was NOT rushing that thing alone, not this time. "Better stay right there you nasty beast" she grumbled.

His patrolling duty had come to a complete end as Gwen’s pregnancy progressed. He was refilling caches with the speed of an entire pack on his own, snatching and grabbing and moving fowl or varmint that stuttered even remotely near him. And every few hours, the fresh catch he would nab would be brought to the den of his Queen. After the offering, he was back out, slaying the woods of the Keep’s critters. 

In such a bout, the Dark Guardian heard the breathy cry of Minori, his name passing over skittered lips in a way that provoked panick in himself as well. But smothering it, the ex-assassin kept calm. Always calm. That was the only way to complete a contract. 
The ebonian bled his gallop over the frigid floor until he crossed into Kovertol’s awakening, and Minori’s hushed screams. At first, Raziel thought the bear had attacked her- but upon closer understanding, Kovertol was just waking up. Turning to Minori, he brushed a snout against her shoulder, attempting to ease the heavily breathing woman. Fear was unbecoming for her. 

“Minori,” his motionless sea surface baritones began. “That is Kovertol- he is a member of our Family, as well. He is friendly. We have a truce. All is well.” Taking his step back, he gave her some space to breathe on her own. “He is only waking up; I’d advise you allow him his space.” 

Cry had turned a dark crown to the ebony bear, giving a nod to the ursine friend. The beast was probably hungry- he would manly note to visit soon with a few fish or some boar scraps. Possibly even lead him to the caribou he and Gwen had taken down a few days ago. 

He swung his great head to the wolf that threw up a panicked call, the name Cry hitting some sort of reserve in the back of his mind. Whatever. She was annoying. He glared with venom in his toxic jades at the sea held in the glare projected right back at him. He didn't know how long they stood there, him not understanding the words she spat but gathered some inkling of what she meant from her tone.
She didn't like bears for sure.

He let out a breathy sigh, about to start lumbering towards the wolf to find out who the fuck she was but the ebony man slid through the shadows as if appearing from the pockets betwixt the mythical trees here. He snorted softly, clearing his nose of some foreign body he'd inhaled in his slumber but otherwise wasn't worse for wear. He wasn't hungry yet, no. That would come in the following weeks as his body reverted back to normal feeding.
But perhaps he couldn't pass up of finding some leaves. Something to settle him into the spring that was chasing up winters doorstep. 

Again, his gaze was on the pair of wolves and he lumbered towards them now in his easy, sluggish gait. He snorted once more before he reached them and, when he did, extended his pale muzzle to them. 
He expected some reaction from the white marked wolf, perhaps another alarm call or the swing of jaws. 
Either way, he supposed he was too tired to tolerate angsty bullshit right now. He's just woken up after all.

the last week was all dedicated to minori. not only because she carried their children and the next generation of bōshis, it also offered well needed distraction. any time not spent worrying over takara was good for him.

he was alone when a distress call rang through the air. he was quick to his feet and excelerated when a particular smell wafted towards him. bear.

he arrives late and is horrified to see the beast extending its maw towards his mate. his protective nature is ignited and he does not hesitate to jump in between his packmates and the bear with a hardy growl.

He just stood there. Looking calm. Like there wasn't a bear there. Then he explained that the bear was family. She scoffed and then considered the benefits of having a bear as an ally. "And what do we do for him?" she asked curiously, her hackles lying flat though she nimbly skittered backwards as Kovertol swung his head around, not at all ready to be that close to such lethal jaws. Then Issun came onto the scene and her mood changed.

She softened and marvelled at how quickly he had jumped in to save her. Her heart skipped and she quickly rushed toward him, touching her nose to his neck "Cry says he is a friend" she said this firmly, so he'd know she was serious. They couldn't risk the bear getting pissed off and hurting them, especially now that she could be pregnant.

“The same as we would for our own. We care for each other.” That was as much as he could offer the woman, his own mindset calling him absolutely ludacris for allowing such a danger near his family, himself, their unborn children. But if he could smother his fear, so could she. “You have the fear of someone who knows of bears and their brutality,” he began, turning from her to stand his scruff up so she could see the patchwork that began there, and trailed over his own muscled shoulders and led down his dark spine. Crisscrossing dark grey skin glinted in the winter reflection, greeting both dark wolves with their unveiled appearance. His voice came over one shoulder, murmuring to the pair as he wanted to show his voice didn’t match his body, a rugged and carelessly hostile thing that had lived through enough as it was to continue to fend. It was vocal solace, soft, yet strong. A leader, in fearful times. 

“His name is Kovertol,” he began, translating the name between wolf and bear. “And he will not take any shit, just as much as you all, as much as all of us won’t. We are respectful of each other, and that is how it will remain.” 

From there, he ventured up that step, extending a snout to the bear,
offering the scent-greet as animals of their kind typically did. His banner lay swishing a gentle rhythm, a friendly tone but without too much motion as to set off the ursine to the new company. Moving aside, he gave the pair their chance to greet the bear, and find their own peace should they choose it.

The brute swung his head to the shadow had airs of fury radiating from him like spools of shadow. He let his elongated canines show in warning of don't fuck with me.  He wasn't in the mood to have some parasite hanging off him trying to be a hero for his pack. He looked to Cry, his eyes seeking out those lines that had once ripped into him. It explained the fear the man once had for him. 
He heard his name cross his lips, letting his head dip in a nod. He wasn't in the mood for talking yet.
​
He reached his muzzle to Cry as he'd offered his, sniffing him intently. There was a lot of new scents on him, evident in the pair that stood beside him. He took another step forward, finding new scents under the layers of fur. He'd brought a mate here. One that wasn't here before; was that why he'd left for the short time before his hibernation?

The brute turned his head to the other dark pair, extending his muzzle to greet them in a similar fashion. He wanted to know everything here. He was a guardian here, albeit a somewhat passive one. He wasn't one for canine affairs, but wouldn't stop to protect his land in the woods. This pack accepted him on these lands -- some begrudgingly -- but he'd had somewhere to hibernate. He wouldn't let that go easily.

It was reasonable enough though she was reluctant to go anywhere near the ursine, near the large lumbering paws and massive crushing jaws that could end a life so quickly. She pressed her side against Issun, silently offering a soothing presence as she watched her leader exchange scents with this bear, Kovertol. "And he helps us? I assume protection?" she asked of Cry, not giving a flying fack that the bear was right there and she could have spoken to it.

After the two separated she watched as Kovertol extended his large head in her and Issun's direction and while her ears went back showing her anxiety she still held her ground. She hesitated for a moment and then slowly stepped closer, extending her own muzzle and sniffing Kovertol, committing the scent to memory. "I apologise for my out burst. I've had a really bad run in with a different bear before" she murmured, not expecting a reply but feeling it best to try and start developing some sort of trust.

this must be a dream. he had to be dreaming. there was no way any sane wolf would let a bear in their home and cry was a sane man. was he? perhaps he made poor judgment of him at first, because this was the last thing he’d expect from him.

“are you serious?” his tone was harsh and impatient derived from the stress of everything that went on a few days ago to now. issun realized it and took a deep breath to calm himself. “we can’t just let it waltz around like it owns the place. there’s not enough food for us and a bear. and what if it attacks one of us? future pups? we need to-”

issun was cut short when the creature extended his snout to the pair. he instinctively hugged close to minori’s side and flashed his teeth. cry may have respect for the beast, but the warrior never would.

He breathed softly on the muzzle of the female. She spoke, seemingly in apology. He blinked then nodded once. He half guessed. As for the male, he threw a withering glare in his direction, his small ears twitching. He was not impressed.

Alas, he had to move on and reinforce his own claim around the place. He didn't want no grizzly asshat rolling up in his condo and attacking his pack. His pack, as well as the ebony man's. Cry. He stepped back and his lips drew upwards in a grin. It was good to see he was alive and kickin'. He turned, ambling off to the northern reaches of the woods to mark and scratch some trees and rub up on them. He needed it, he was itchy as hell. Food would come in the next few days following his metabolism returning to normal. Hopefully. Perhaps he could talk more with the newer inhabitants, too.

Cry gave a grin at the bear, upped a chin to the masssive behemoth of ursine before watching him leave to live his extra most bestest life. Finally addressing the charcoal male, Cry met the gaze, calm and steady. 

“At your hostility, has Kovertol drawn fang or claw against you?” Bears, Cry guessed, if threatened, you take the time to use that underlying power and energy to eradicate said threat. Should Issuns threat have been taken into consideration by the bear, Issun would possibly have been smacked around like some sort of rag doll. “He denied your engagement because of me, Issun. He and I have an understanding. Even so, Kovertol has claimed these woods as home before I had even first stepped paw here- he deserves our respect not only as guests, but as neighbors, as well. And if you violate that, then you will have made a powerful enemy against the Family on your own behalf.”

Raziel has seen the abundance of food that lay waiting for them since coming- Kovertol did not dent it with his one stomach as opposed to all what, 8? 9? Of theirs. The pups would be fine. They would be under supervision, regardless.

Turning from the asian pair, Cry began to leave them where they stood, mildly disappointed in Issun for his inability to mend his rugged thinking. But the thing was- Cry understood the thinking. The incapablity to just drop a certain ledger against a process, act, thing, rule- he knew it well, as with it was duty. But it was often biased, selfish- and that was his change to independify himself from such cookie cut mentality.
So he could not blame Issun should it take him a while longer to mature and ripen into an understanding individual, as well.

”Minori, whenever you are free, if I may have a word in private, please.”