Shadewood A foe turned friend

@Cry

The Bull is under contract once more. Shadewood Keep is the Kingdom he wears chains to, and the journey is a short one from the coast. He finds sanctuary by the Lagoon, pleased that the territory enables secrecy. Though he does not care either way should he end up bumping into one of Shadewood's elusive members. Gripping a deer's leg between his jaws, Reiner reclines next to the waters edge and begins ripping flesh from bone.

The Phantom had secluded himself quite a degree after his short joust with the Demon. He had made to keep himself away from the mass of muscle and mind, his ideal need being to figure himself out. It wasn’t that he was too old to beat the newly recruited- it couldn’t be. In a way, Cry almost suspected the titan to be much older than he, simply from the way he carried himself. Where Cry was considered an old soul, the Demon was seemingly ancient, untouched by the tarnish of showed age. 

But now, under the guise of the trickling moonlight, to find the behemoth. He followed the bold smell across the hidden coves of trail, passing a dig up cache that in essence, led to the Risana Lagoon. This was where he had come across happy Phex so long ago, her piebald self tracking Tula, the fishing bird, so jubilantly. Now, as he neared the quiet rush of falling mineral water, a completely different entity claimed the Lagoon.

The Devil.

He chews akin to a teething pup, rotating the bone between his massive paws and holding it steady as he chomps against it with his molars. The leg itself is not enough to satisfy the hungry hound, but he knows there is more littered across the Keep for him. He gets his payment without question, yet has done little but wait for the shadow to fulfill his contract. His ears flick, amber gaze shifting to spot the apprentice in question. The Bull waits until icy blue eyes meet his amber, and then glances to the empty spot next to him; a beckon.

Something silent passed between the two men, something recognized and true. Cry felt a prickle skitter across his spine once the hellfire eyes touched upon his own, his own hock and hind feeling the gnashing of invisibility teeth that mocked the chews of the man enjoying his meal. But as flighty as that dared to make the ebony ghost, he swallowed and forced the timid feeling down.

Almost as though his mind had been read, the titan observed him and brought that condemned gaze to the empty place beside him. It was a welcome to join him, a welcome without the festive flyers and obnoxious sounds. It was silent, permissing, and Cry followed it with bare hesitation. Making quick work of the distance, he took the place besides the feeding mount of scarred flesh and fur. 

Lesson one is already under way. To become a teacher, it is important that your student understands you. Hence forth a barrier bridges between the two males, for the Bull speaks rarely. Their meeting upon the coast forced his rusted vocals to work, but he much prefers to remain silent. The simple beckon is heeded without hesitation, and Reiner takes to enjoying what is left of his meal while he watches the shadow approach.

Once the midnight male is seated, Reiner releases the hold of his meal, nudging the leg in the direction of his new charge.

He was unsure, clearly foreign in being a student once again. While he hadn’t ever taught anyone as his own, it was strange being here once again. But it was even more of a challenge- with Slade there was flowy language and lies where they’re could both be predictable at some point. But with the Demon, nothing could be gathered as he gave no vocalties. 

He hadn’t had much time to eat today- he had tried to re-enter into the Familial scene but he simply couldn’t find the cord needed to be open, approachable, friendly. He constantly sought excuses to pardon himself. 
He was off center, and couldn’t figure out why.

Taking the offered meal, he began to work at the pieces that the other male had left behind, almost grateful for the scraps like some snivel of a pup, but strangely feeling comfort in sharing something for once with someone. The ex-assassin was conflicted.
But he had eaten, pulling and plucking at stringy sinew and tendon alike, teasing and ripping what he could besides the massive mentor.

What doubts the shadow held for their interaction seemed to wane. The bone is taken without question, and the Bull takes to observing as scraps are ripped clean. Eyes of fire creep down the deer's length, as if despite the offering his hunger remains. Yet the reek of a thunder cloud hung over his apprentice as if it were to begin storming at any moment. Troubles likely brewed underneath the quiet surface, and the Bull finds himself irritated if only because the shadow refuses to utter a word. Massive head turns towards the Keeper, and he reaches to deliver a nip on the shadow's shoulder.

Auds of obsidian swivel to flatten across the top of his dark crown, his mistrust of the mountainous wolf’s teeth sparking that memory of his easy dispatch on that cold coastline. He froze, canines locked over a particularly tight string of muscles that he would need to tug free. It was a warning, him not knowing whether he should speak freely or enjoy the meal. The unknown made him uncomfortable.

But he did not snap.

'Speak,' the Bull all but says. Lips hover close as he recoils only a hair from the shoulder he bit—not enough to break skin. His ears swerve, standing tall and yet back with an eyebrow slow to raise in question at the shadow frozen in motion. If the boy wanted to keep to himself, he shouldn't have taken the hound's offer.

The ears of the volcanic beast struck to him, a motion that made him think the man was trying to yank a reaction from him. 

Saw your eyes today, in a memory painted in the sky...

He shut his glacials, the calm comsuming him as he tried to empty the anxiety into the emptiness he burdened so well. He was too close to an edge he should not have ever allowed himself to wander near. "What is next?" he asked, releasing the bone. "What is next for us? For this pack? Because the way I've seen it, I have only been able to do so much." 

You smiled and said to me "A love like this can never truly die."
 
"I've struggled," he admitted to the boar-built titan. "I can not lose again." He has kids to be soon. He needed to ensure they could not-
Get away from me.

"I need to be stronger. Better. Wiser."

At last, the dam crumbles. All it takes is that additional push before once more, the shadow drowns before him; this time it is a release of emotional burdens. The Bull has never understood why others were so delicate, and yet experience underneath his belt allowed him to shoulder their doubts. Though the beast is often too keen to squash them when they turn a blind eye.

A gruff exhale escapes from the Bull's nose. You struggle because you are weak.

You give food and land to anyone freely, the Bull says, voice rough and monotone. Youth were stupid nowadays, thinking that they can make everyone happy while all it causes is those around them to take and take and take. The Bull knows greed well.

Don't be a mother, be a leader. Order. Demand. If they wanted someone to wipe their ass for them, they could go running back to their parents. A pack meant everyone pulls their own weight, not one wolf carrying it all.

Cry could hear them all-
all of them simply laughing at the fool he’d become. He had started off strong, keeping to himself, doing his orders and taking pay, leaving. But Slade knew what Cry could have become. That was what he had fostered in the boy, wringing the morality from him like water from a wash rag. He could almost hear the disappointment in Reiner’s voice-
in His voice-
‘You weren’t meant to soak it back up.’

Sithis forgive, it made him sick.

Cry was meant to rule, and he pushed it away for equality, for understanding, for family- 
Goddamnit if he didn’t lead, who else would?! 

“This isn’t even leadership,” he near repeated back the lesson Reiner was trying to almost re-instill into him. “It’s stagnation.” This reality was pulling at a fraying greying scar, reopening a wound that was only just trying to heal. But the freedom. The ability to be able to say whatever it was he wanted, to condemn and to take what was his from anyone. If he fucking wanted Kukutux, there should be nothing from Gwen but compliance. Should he want those fucking puppies to stand beside him and learn what true strength was, they would have to fight for it- not just be handed their leadership quality. 

His gaze froze across the face of the enormous male. “But I’ve already set stuff in stone- what could I possibly do to make anything better, now?”

Almost immediately, the answer hit him. Or atleast a possible answer. He could train. The Devil was just as large as his Uncle had been- and considering he had pinned him and near killed him in something as easy as a slide and the bulk of his weight, he could validate that as a reason. But that would have to come later- he would need logistics first. 

Gears start to click into place, running for the first time in awhile, it seems, and the Bull is fascinated that this boy seems to be familiar with what he advises. Whatever made him decay, if he held such ideals before? Conquered by another, perhaps.

The beast snorts, lips twisting in a grin full of yellow stained teeth as the shadow finds himself lost again all too soon. Restart. Nothing, after all, is truly set in stone. Even an old dog can learn new tricks.

Restart. The beginning, a whole new one, a hard fact that resounded just as honest as his own heartbeat. But it was too sudden, to high in time that would disrupt the tides. Things were not equal here- their pack was still new however. He didn’t want to ruin it so harshly. 
He needed to remain rational- all while remolding this Famiky of his.
All while remolding himself.

“Restarting, remolding...who’s to say they’re not the same?” A smirk slipped over inken lip edge, him feeing a slight of clarity since this mess had come about. 

It was then that he heard a faint but tangible calling of birds grow silent-
someone approached the Keep. A glance to Reiner before departing to the front of the bastion of woods, where untimely Phex and her mate awaited.