Ravensblood Forest oh i don't pay for suits

border marking thread for teaghlaigh's 10+ relevant threads. short post is short~.

The morning was early, the golden sun rising into the horizon, bathing the forest in it's golden light, painting the dark leaves of the seqouias, straggling rays that broke through the canopy that hung above touching like a lover's caress against his back as he moved slowly through the forest, pausing along the path to lift his leg and urinate upon the thick trunks and bracken covered forest floor. He alternated between that and kicking up clumps of grass and dirt, utilizing the scent that his paw pads secreted to aid in the process. It was a slow process, an arduous progression but a necessary one. One section at a time, Arturo told himself, wanting to be through at his border marking. It kept his mind from wandering and thus kept him solely focused in the task he had set upon with determination. He would mark for a few hours, perhaps search for potential recruits and then return right back where he left off. As he had just started, however, he knew he'd be at this for a while and prepared himself for the uneventful task.

*innocent whistling*

In quite a rare moment of abysmal irritation, Furiosa took a washing dip. It was much too quick of an event for her to have achieved any deep cleaning, but she looked her more natural shade— an all-consuming bland frost— and she had achieved her purpose behind the bath which was to drown her fleas. The absence of nagging itches beneath her fur put the pallid wretch in a singularly better mood, which was probably for the best as she came across Arturo in the early morning hours. She remembered him from the hunt several days prior, and of course from his imperial plans to claim these woods. Furiosa realized she probably shouldn't hang around if she wasn't going to pledge to him. "Getting started already?" she purred, sauntering casually until she had come to stand at his earthy shoulder. "What're you calling this place again?"

:D

There was the sound of approach and a quick glance was offered to see who approached as he hiked his leg to mark with urine, unabashed by her approach or the position she'd caught him in. It was natural and the borders damn well weren't going to mark themselves. He recognized her from the hunt the other day, studying her for a moment before his leg lowered and he lowered his head to sniff before, appeased, he took a few steps forward and kicked up grass and dirt. She looked better than she had a few days ago, he thought. Cleaner, at least. Something that a vain beast as Arturo could appreciate. She neared him without reservations, the purr in her voice as she stood near his shoulder causing an amused smirk to tug at the edges of the gangster's lips. “Teaghlaigh, or The Family,” It literally meant the same thing just a difference of language, was all. “and to answer your first question: yes. The borders won't mark themselves.” He offered her a grin as he moved forward a few more steps and kicked up some more grass and dirt, glimpsing at her over his shoulder with unbidden curiosity that he did not give voice to.

The Family. She kept this phrase prominent in her thoughts, finding that she had no latent definition behind the word and becoming fascinated with finding out what it meant to him. She supposed she'd had a family once— a man she had considered her lifelong companion, and a slew of children craft from her very gut— but in the end of things there had been nothing about them, or that place, that would have kept her there. "Now is that really true?" she asked him languidly, after he stated that the borders wouldn't mark themselves. "Have you ever asked them to mark themselves? You might be surprised. I just think you're being pretentious." She was joking, and though her tone didn't allude to that fact, her broad smirking certainly did. A scathingly relaxed Furiosa was the one you wanted to meet; not her violent and temperamental twin.

"I would like to join your cause," she added suddenly, in that straight-forward way she tended to be.

Arturo barked out a laugh when she called him pretentious, asking him if he'd ever asked the borders if they would mark themselves. As it stood, he hadn't ever asked them — then again he had no real intention of breaking that. The day Arturo spoke to inanimate objects ...well he supposed there was little merit to that because he was fairly certain that in an “Riptide” episode he had spoken to the morbid collection of skulls he had kept at the back of his den. Luckily, this was not something that Arturo could claim he remembered and thus he did not linger upon it. He offered Furoisa a smirk with a slight knavish glint in his eyes. “Perhaps I am,” he allowed in a soft murmur to the smoky reticence of his accented voice in regards to being “pretentious”. It did not take her long to delve into the point of her presence and he turned from the tree to face her, appraising her as his fiery gaze took her in. Though she was certainly the ...roughest of those he had (attempted to) recruit he approved. “Good.” The gangster settled, inviting her to join him in the border marking with a smooth gesture of his muzzle, his ears cupped forth, attentive to her.

"I like pretentious," she announced in casual loudness. "What's the point of being great if you can't also be smug about it?" Her tone implied general contempt for those who didn't bother to boast. Though she didn't have a problem with those who chose not to, she clearly believed that one was entitled to if they could back it up— and that they should when they could. They delved easily into her personal desires, or rather... She said what she wanted and he accepted. It went just like that. She gave a curt nod as their eyes met, the voided black seeking to be set aflame within the kiln of his own gaze.

Furiosa joined his side easily, giving his lean shoulder an affectionate nip before parting to rub her body against the sapless side of an outlying treetrunk on Ravensblood's border. "Who else follows you?" she asked as she squatted to relieve herself there.

A glimpse was spared towards the newest member of the Family when she let it known that she liked pretentious, speaking further that there was no point in being great if you weren't going to smug about it. He contemplated her words quietly for a few seconds his gaze sweeping over the terrain that spread out wide and long before them. “But sometimes situations call for a more ...quiescent approach.” He remarked thoughtfully. He was not an arrogant man by any means as far as he was personally concerned. He had pride, of course, and some vanity — for such things were two sides of the same coin to the gangster but he did not see himself as entitled and did not expect the world to fall at his feet without effort. His position as Ceannasach left little room for modesty though, and no room for indecision. He was confident to know what he wanted and to go about getting it without losing a wink of sleep at night — regardless of means. There was no room for fear of the hard decisions, or hesitation to pull the trigger.

She neared him and offered him an affectionate nip on his shoulder before she paced ahead of him to rub her body against the trunk of a sequoia before she squatted. He took a moment before answering her question to sniff at another tree base for a few seconds before he lifted his leg to mark it. “So far, a healer named Isley and her companion Palisander who is a hunter,” Of course there were probably others trades the two were potentially aiming for but as those were the ones the two had capitalized upon in their meeting. “and a child — my ward — Chusi who is a warrior in training.” Now they were five with Furiosa among them. Slowly but surely they were becoming something.

“I am actively recruiting when I am not border marking or cache filling.” He informed her, to ensure that their numbers would swell, in time.

Furiosa licked her chops, conceding to the idea that any form of latency could be useful. "Perhaps... But when it doesn't," the vexing woman purred, "you call me." And though the statement came partnered with a wink, there was nothing but absolute honesty within the phrase. Because everyone would have their role within The Family, one would suppose— and she certainly wasn't the kind to mind playing the bad guy. She'd revel in it, when allowed, but could rein in her chaotic nature for the good of Teaghlaigh and would use it too, for that very reason.

Rising from her squat, she scratched at the ground with all four feet and left grooves in the earth that would forage and cement the pack's accumulating scent; and she listened to Arturo, unabashedly watching him lift his leg. Tail swaying in thought, Furiosa turned her surveying gaze out into the forest. Two others and a child. She would need to do some scouting outside of Ravensblood, for all hapless victims and those who simply needn't stand on their own four feet. Everyone just needs a little Family— it was an easy sell.

She resumed her pace at his side. "So which of them is meant to hold the fort down should you step out?" she asked not after too long, turning a sideways eye on the gang leader. "I only ask, so I know who to challenge," came her more than casual addition.

She was a forward type of woman, that had been abundantly clear to Arturo from the get go though now, in their private one on one conversation it was put into more of a perspective. Arturo had his secrets and to an extent he expected Family business to stay within the Family. Not to be spread to the wolves of the Wild, not even to the Comhlach that would come with the ambition of joining them. There was a code, and not compromising the family was tied neatly into the “Family before everything else” rule he expected to be enforced and lived by. Everything Arturo did was for The Family, but he hadn't came to call himself Ceannasach without the spill of blood and the ability to forge himself into it. He was charismatic. He was even gentle at times. But he was cold and hard and utterly unafraid to pull the trigger, too.

She offered him a side glance as she inquired as to who was in charge when he left the lands, and then added, without a hint of bashfulness, that she intended to challenge them. He regarded her expressionless. So she was ambitious. The hierarchy of Teaghlaigh was formed largely on his trust of those who had proven themselves as apart of the Family but he did not put a stop to rank challenges, either. Would Arturo have been a fearful man he would have been unnerved by her audacity but after a while a slow smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. Arturo was not a fearful man.

“It's quite a burden to bear, that rank,” Arturo drew, not slowing his pace but keeping his gaze level with her. “I have to be able to trust my Póilín — my Second in Command explicitly for they become my red herring.” It was an attainable rank and able to be challenged but it wasn't without it's dangers when maintaining that Family Business stayed within The Family. There were situations in which the red herring role proved useful and Arturo intended to use it to not just his own advantage but to the advantage of The Family as well. “I encourage rank challenges,” Arturo drew in a breath. “but I require the acceptance of what comes with the rank before the challenge.” Because any sign of hesitation and he would not be afraid to push them down the heirarchy ladder. Arturo was not forthcoming with his answer to her question. He did not yet have a red herring, a second in command. He supposed filling the position was on his to-do list but his concerns were more immediate. Like expanding The Family, marking their claim and taking care of those who had become Teaghlaigh, in particular Chusi who though was old enough to not need him around every second of the day, whom he allowed free roam of their forest home, still needed his attention in ways that an adult did not. In hindsight, perhaps he didn't need to be forthcoming. She seemed to have a head for business like himself and perhaps she would be able to pick the answer up from what he'd spoken instead.

Luckily for Arturo, Furiosa's ambitions did not extend to owning anything, let alone an entire pack. She craved control, certainly, but this only encompassed her want of a position to exercise it. She didn't need or want the burden of being responsible for those under her stead, she only wanted the power to assert herself and enforce what laws were set before them. More than any of this, however, was her inability to see past her own traditionalist upbringing— a patriarchy. Deep down she believed that her place was at the side of capable male, not at the helm of a pack; and though it would not be difficult for her to step up in times of crisis, it simply wasn't an overall goal of hers to be anything more than the right-hand. For as sinister as she could be, Furiosa had only been crafted to be the Cerberus at Hades' gates.

"Red herring," she repeated thoughtfully, fining herself with a presumed understanding of what that had meant to him. This society would be an obscure one, so definite in their secrets that no one besides a true member of the Family would even know he led everything. The Póilín was nothing but a powerful decoy— and Furiosa could get behind any idea that facilitated a little bamboozling. "I accept all responsibility I can assume beneath you," she said quickly, her gaze elsewhere as she watched a bird take flight from the brush. "That all you need?" she asked, looking at the dark-faced coywolf again, her tone falling boredly as she asked: "now will you tell me which of your lackeys is your confidant, so I can let them know they've been usurped?" The pale wretch smirked for good measure, though hardly seemed to be joking.

"I'm probably your best bet at keeping secrets anyway. I don't tend to make many friends," the wolf cooed in mock contrite, before laughing.

had to add something xD

omg i love the addam's family~ also, no obligation to match the length. i rambled. :p

The red herring ploy was an easy pill for outsiders to swallow, especially those that looked upon Arturo Fearghal. Those that saw the coywolf — the half breed and nothing else. The very thing that had been the fuel to his fire as a child, as a juvenile had under creation of The Family became one of his strongest weapons. As it was assumed coyotes to be extremely clever and cunning beasts these genetics did not fall short when it came to the Fearghal monarch. Just because he did not seek war did not mean that it would not find him and Teaghlaigh. The red herring was one of his most treasured deceptions. Protect Ceannasach. Protect Teaghlaigh by posing as the ruler. For those who saw him only as coywolf, that drew up the disgust that he'd seen more times than he ever cared to admit upon gazes, and in the curl of lips — he allowed them to draw their own assumptions. Few outside of Teaghlaigh knew already that he truly ruled the forest. Skellige, Kitku, Deirdre.

She accepted the responsibilities of the position, undeterred by the risks it posed. He did not think elevating her would pose a risk to him, at least none that he could foresee. She looked the part well enough — a battle worn commander and she was certainly blunt enough to play the role he assigned her. He did not have to make the threat “remember who is really in charge” for he was more than capable and willing to enforce it if it ever came down to it without adding the unnecessary words that would only serve to be redundant.

“The position was vacant.” Arturo told her with a smirk of his own, drawing his salmon colored tongue across his jowls once. It saved her the trouble, really. He pushed forward to the next tree, lifting his leg again to mark his claim before he kicked up clumps of grass, bracken and dirt. “Sorry to deny you the satisfaction of usurping.” He chuckled, sparing her a glance to see her reaction, fiery red-orange gaze bright as it followed her. “You should know Póilín that we have an alliance with the warrior wolves of Blackrock Depths. Their leader, Skellige knows I lead here so the pretense isn't needed with any of them. They are to be welcomed and treated like Family. Anything they need they can have, in exchange for the same courtesies should we go to them.” Since it was time to get down to business beyond border marking.

“We may have an impending alliance with their neighbors, Donnelaith. Their young queen, Deirdre, also knows I lead Teaghlaigh. I would hold a Family Meeting and hear everyone's thoughts before proceeding with it officially since the same choice was not given in regards to Blackrock Depths.” Speaking of the Sentinel wolves made his thoughts flicker to the enchanting Kitku and unsurprisingly Arturo found himself yearning for the young bard's company, but tucked those desires and thoughts away. They had no place in talks of business despite that it might have came across as useful to inform Furiosa that Kitku also knew he led here in case the bard visited.

She was tending her shoulder and claws against a rotted out log as Arturo admitted that the role was vacant, and she turned to him with abruptly lifted brows. His mouth was turned up into a Cheshire cat's grin, and Furiosa's mild shock ebbed languidly into a self-satisfied smirk. "Pity. And here I was looking forward to someone poor usurped fool having a grudge against me," the ivory snake posed in false lament, her wiry tail lashing as she met his torrid eyes. She was not thrown by surreptitiously being named his Póilín, or even by the quick succession in which their conversation progressed— in fact, it was just as she preferred it: straight down to business.

She rolled onto her back along the base of a line of shrubs, scraping her scent there as he informed her of their alliances; present and potential. Furiosa got to her feet and shook herself, dirt and leaves falling from her pelt as she came to relieve herself next to the spot Arturo had last marked. "Probably wouldn't be too wise to have the same relationship we have with Blackrock with another pack. That's too many wolves with privileges to our commodities," she thought aloud. "But a meeting'll decide that for certain," she added, conceding to wait to see what everyone else could see of the situation. She wasn't inclined to sharing anything, but then again, Furiosa knew she needed to make some changes if she expected to make a home here. This wasn't Orca's Beach.

"I'll go looking for some able bodies around here within the next few days— maybe hunt for that big guy we hunted with the other day, he seemed impressionable... and I'll stop by our friends to introduce myself. Blackrock, right? And Donne..whatwasitagain?"

“No. In exchange for these courtesies the Depth wolves will go to war besides us should we ever need them and vice versa. The alliance was struck during the famine these Wilds had a few months ago and Skellige had been intent on eating me if I didn't give him the meager vole I had caught. I did what I do best: I thought and avoided it in exchange for a mutually beneficial relationship and the vole. I have lived with the Depth wolves for a few months. Skellige will not take advantage of it.” That had been a worry at first but there was a deep seeded respect for the Depth's Leviathan despite their shaky beginnings. “but I agree. I do not think the terms should be the same, either. We will discuss it as a Family but there is no harm in considering that they do not need to give us anything. We have nothing to bargain with. We'll be parlaying on the back foot and that puts us at a disadvantage. No doubt Skellige has already offered them his warriors. Donnelaith is a pack of healers, not warriors and it was beneficial for them to accept his offer.” Teaghlaigh would have to consider what they were willing to give and ensure that it was in Deirdre's best interests to accept in exchange for what they decided they wanted from them. Or perhaps Deirdre herself would have ideas to offer as to what she wanted in a potential alliance with the gang. “At the very least I seek to be on good terms with their young queen.” If only because of Chusi and Kitku. Arturo wanted to know that the two could travel between the packs without animosity (should Kitku ever get the notion to visit him that was).

Yet, that was something to look at in depth during the Family Meeting he planned to hold upon their official crowning as an empire as she conceded. In the meantime, it gave Furiosa and himself something to think about in their down time. “Good,” Arturo accepted with a sage nod. Admittedly, the “big guy” didn't seem too impressed with him but if she thought she had a shot at convincing him then he wasn't going to hold her back. “That's right. They own the Bay to the southwest of us. Donnelaith is just south of them in The Sentinels. They share a border so you will not need to travel far.” Arturo informed her. It was rather convenient, that.

“Palisander told me he met a woman from Silvertip — the pack south of us. As he has heard it from her she was scouting for a territory to relocate to. They will be leaving their mountain soon I assume. I see no reason to hassle them or introduce ourselves since they will not be around long.” As the Teaghlaigh was his only concern he did not feel at all bad about suggesting to her: “it might yield fruitful when we are certain they are gone to check their caches. See if they left anything behind.” He could not imagine carrying bits of meat from their caches would be all that wise. No doubt it would draw unwanted attention to them by scavengers and other hunters alike. There was always the chance they would clean them out by using them to fill their bellies but there is also the chance that they wouldn't and as Arturo was a man willing to take chances he saw no harm in sending a small scouting party to both ensure they'd left and gather anything they might leave behind.

"Healers, huh? Usually if there's a pack of them, they tend to believe in things like juju and madstones. I'm sure they'll be easy enough to broker a deal with," Furiosa smirked. "It'd be a useful alliance, at any rate, so it's worth seeking." They scratched and peed their way along, forging Teaghlaigh's borders, and hardly missing a beat in conversation as the two operated like a well-oiled machine side by side. She listened to news of Silvertip, not knowing that she had since met a man on a mission from that very pack. If only she had bothered to care...

Since she had a reason now, her trips would be more productive and intentional than they had ever been since leaving her home seas. "I'll stop by the mountain on my way back and check that out— bring you back a gift if I find anything." The Póilín snickered, though wouldn't hold out any hope of finding anything should the pack still be there, or had they cleaned out everything before going. Either way, Furiosa would find out. "Anything else you want me to take care of?" Not that he really needed to ask; clearly he hadn't asked her to do anything so far.

maybe wrap this up with your post? <3 :D

 

Arturo let out a low chuckle when she told him she would bring him back a gift if she found anything. Still, he appreciated her willingness to set to work immediately. It worked in her benefit, really, and if she could bring The Family back useful information well, that would only re-enforce his belief that though he did not know her well making her his Póilín had been the right decision. For him. For The Family. Arturo trusted his intuition when it came to others and thus far it had yet to steer him wrong. He could only hope that it continued to guide him in the right direction. “While you are not out scouting and recruiting help mark borders, build caches. The usual stuff.” The same thing he expected of everyone, really. As long The Family was contributing and pulling their weight he didn't care what they did or how they went about doing it.

"Understood," she agreed leisurely, committing herself further to the task at hand as they progressed along the edge of the forest, staking their claim. Furiosa, in all her grime and glory, could either be a fantastic asset or a brutal enemy depending on what you rolled with the dice. And if nothing else, she saw that Arturo was a gambler— a damned lucky one at that. If only for that reason, he had her respect; and her capability.