Noctisardor Bypass Have a seat in the foyer, take a number

Simple border patrol, AW!

Horosk yawned, stretching out his legs from underneath him. With a small grimace, looking out to the somewhat dreary and rainy day. Looks like fun, he sighed, standing up. He shook his pelt and padded out of the Medio den, glancing around him. Beginning to jog and warm himself up on the chilly day, he headed to the borders for a patrol.

Upon arrival, there seemed to be nothing much around. He caught scent of a few things - one, a fresh wolf scent. Clearly a loner, which would have him worried, but he could distinctly scent Gwen here too. They had been here not long ago, so perhaps there was a newcomer amongst their ranks now. Further along, the agouti man could also scent something slightly fainter, but still evident. Again, Gwen's scent was there too. But the stranger's scent was similar to their neighbours, or so he believed. Was this wolf one of them, perhaps? Who knows. Horosk would report back to the Empress later on when he next saw her.

Nothing else seemed of any interest.

Cry hadn't been in the pack for a day, and 3 seperate caches were already filled. Rabbits, those plump little fools, were so easily spooked. And the shadow prince took a healthy advantage of it through a near unhealthy obsession: killing  almost every single rabbit he spooked up. He chose to go after the every-other-hole method, ensuring he did not swipe the numbers of his quarry too badly, lest he make the little critters extinct, and he naturally respected the egosystem enough to not be that stupid. They had to live, too.

The void colored male kept up with the borders, occasionally rubbing his bod along the gnarled bark of trees, or if the defense was weak enough in that specific location, raising a hind to it. He reinforced this border as though his life depended on it, which in fact, it did.

Another circuit was completed as he dug the final cache for this round. Considering fish to be a nice objective, Cry mentally noted bringing himself to do a bit of exploring and locating a large enough water source that harbored the delicacies.

The icy glacials of his locked onto a form not too close to him, distanced well from him. He remembered immediately the day before, where he was as he provided the Alphess with the fresh body of a rabbit, offering it to her as a gift, regardless of whether he was accepted or not. Through his memory, the pale woman was gracious, accepting, and not too long of a chat later, he was given the tinge of her scent, a gentle rub, giving him admittance to the vast land which they owned.

Being released back to the present, the assassin decided to begin introducing himself to the pack, starting with this one. After all, it was only courtesy. Best not to know his packmates as nothing but strangers, though he preferred to know them well enough and not meeting them at all, spying and getting word of the members through word from the leader.

That was him, but today, it was not.

Cry made naturally no noise when on hunts but as he neared the agouti, he pruposefully settled into the natural lope that bode nothing but noise. Not too noisy, just something to announce his presence through non-hostile means. A few minutes passed, and he was  soon in the open proximity of his packmate.

The agouti man cocked his leg at a tree, marking to refresh the scent of the Bypass wolves, but stopped when the aroma of another made him turn his head. Horosk's eyes fell upon a dark coloured wolf, who from a far distance he might have mistaken for Kelina, but he had a tinge of brown in his pelt and lacked the Irya's signature purple eyes.

The stranger carried with him the scent of a lone wolf, but it seemed to be fading - mingling with that of the Ganador troupe. "Hello?" He called as the male neared, assuming this might be a new packmate. He, instinctivly, raised his tail slightly, but his posture was not dominant enough to be close to that of the Empress'.

Cry kept his pace until he was within voice reach of the other wolf. The greeting, though asked as if he snuck up unsuspectingly on the man, Cry ignored the confusion that loomed over something so trivial.

"Hello." Crisp and on point. The assassin continued, his body relaxed with a motionless, dangling tail hanging between well muscled hocks. Cry kept on with the introduction, deciding it would be best to finish it as quickly as possible so he could get back to his own duties.

"I am Cry."
That was it, as the dark guardian wasn't that much of a talker, regardless of whether he was talking to a stranger or a pack member.

Horosk watched the man approach, and shifted his weight between his paws. He did not know this stranger, but he must be a newcomer to the group. No wolf would act this comfortable and calm in another pack's territory, would they? "I'm Horosk... er, nice to meet you..." He raised a brow, then flicked his tail. "I... guess you're new to Ganador?"

"You can help me patrol the borders, if you like." He was not the most outgoing of wolves, but that did not mean he would shut himself off from the conversation. Perhaps he might find a new friend, like he had when he met Semira for the first time. Or maybe not, who knew? He might as well offer the wolf a chance to scout around the edges of the Bypass with him, even if it was not the most interesting job in the world.

But perhaps this wolf did not want to patrol with him, which was fine. Horosk wasn't all that interested in patrolling with this stranger, if he was honest, but he did not want to upset the Empress if she wished to intigrate this male into the rest of the group. You gotta start somewhere, right?

It was clear how arbraisive Cry had made the possibility of comfortability between the two, and though it wasn't intentional, he just refused to be open and overly friendly. It was just insane. Well, no, it was just..He was just a bit of sociopath who couldn't admit such a profile. Socially uncaring, though if he truly tried, he could take upon charm as his uncle had.
Such a thought chilled the assassin,  and immediately he ceased that specific train of though, and sent it into an inferno of unforgiving blaze.

Returning to the current situation, Cry murmured back his confirmation to the russet. "I am."

Those were the last of the words as he was offered to walk with the higher up, and without another word Cry simply waited for the superior to begin the circuit. As it began however, he decided to try his paw at being...nice? Informative. Was informative considered nice?

"Two wolves, one of tan coloring harboring an agouti pattern of darker browns and a pair of white strips across the left of her cape, and the other who was monochrome silver with darker etchings across his neck and maw evenly, I chased from the norther territory of caches and the eastern valley near the lake. Out of the 42 caches I am currently aware of, only 1 was invaded by a ferret, and after 12 minutes of tracking, he was added back to the emptied cache."

His irises were locked before him, flashing left and right as he studied both the terrain and the higher ranking wolf in his peripherals.

I am.

Well, it wasn't really the answer Horosk was expecting, but... Cry was willing to help, at least. The agouti man just nodded slightly and just turned, beginning to walk the same way along the borders that he had been. "....Okay then... Uh... let's go, I guess." He replied with an uncomfortable flick of his tail.

He was about to nose at an old marking place when the other wolf began to speak of his findings, and to be honest Horosk was quite impressed by the... formality. Everyone here was so casual all the time, and to have someone be like this was most intruiging. "Right - great. I'll inform Gwen of that later." His attempt at being somewhat like the male failed, but no matter.

Horosk continued to sniff at various things as they walked, and refreshed markers where and when he could. "How are you finding Ganador so far?" It was simple small talk, but Horosk was unaware of how to continue the conversation from there. It was rather awkward, yes, but silence would be worse. In his personal opinion, anyway.

He didn't nod his appreciation to the russet, instead keeping stoic on the ordeal. Need he give some sort of signal to show he was listening, thankful, admiring the dutiful works of this wolf beside him? Of course not. But it didn't help with the depression of the tension.

More words were sent rather than exchanged, and Cry passed an upturned cache that somene hadn't bothered to replace the top of. Seconds passed as he took a moment to stop and fix the revealed food source, scooping dirt back across the softly aging hunks of rabbit and boar piglet remains. He fell back in stride with the superior.

"It's fine," he replied. "Not many to keep an eye over, or so it seems."

It could just be that he was purposefully sticking to the fringes of the territory, keeping an unblinking eye for trespassers, or some wolves that could be potential fodder- recruits. He meant recruits.
Gracing the left of the company with a cool gaze, Cry returned a question with a question.

"Anything I should know about this place?"

Horosk nodded, eyes trained on the area around them. "Yeah, there isn't a great deal of us. Illecebra tends to stick to the densite at the moment, but that's expected I guess, since she's due any day now. Who have you met?" He asked, curious to the response. He doubted the male had met everyone, since Rhona rarely left the den at the moment and Circe was scarce. Perhaps he had met the others, though. "Mawk tends to patrol often, but he's been checking in on Illecebra more often recently. Semira is also around the borders frequently." 

He paused to scent the air as they walked, and immediately froze. His eyes darted back and forth, soon pinpointing a dark figure in the not-so-far distance. His ears immediately pressed close to his skull. The figure was far enough away from them to not be easily recognisable, but Horosk knew who it was. "Crap." He muttered as small purple dots became evident (he assumed their head turned). It was difficult to see their face, but the agouti man did not need to. The figure locked eyes with the Medio, and for a moment there was no movement between them, but then the wolf seemed to grin and fled the area.

Horosk, however, stayed put. His muscles were tense and his hackles raised, but he made no attempt to follow the wolfess. He blinked and gulped slightly before taking a deep breath and facing the path that the two subordinates had been following. He said not a single work, focusing his gaze firmly on the ground, occasionally looking up to check their surroundings.

Ears keenly sticking to the enviorment and one trained on the higher up, he kept pace well. Silent pads suggested the wolf patrolled alone, yet Cry stood beside him, flesh to flesh. As phantom as he may seem, he was very much real.
The other would not know of that, not as of yet, apparently.

"No one."

It was true. Besides this new male, it felt as though Cry patrolled alone. Semira, he had remarked on, could have patrolled at different intervals than he, but Cry was always around the borders. The circuit never ended...so why should he? The pack's protection should have doubled, tripled now that pups were to be coming soon, but it remained as ghostly as when he had first come to join.

Cry watched however, as the russet turned into a statue, cursing, and watching a wolf who Cry would have thought was a member until Horosk raised the red flag. The dark prince made a move to chase the intruder away, but they had seemed to flee, regardless.
Irritation sparked at the russet, immediately. This was pack home! Why was there no actions being take to release the intruder of breath, blood, and bone? Of life!

"Why do we leave their  dust upon our doorstep?" A frosted shard shaped for slash could only lightly be felt in the words if searched for. Otherwise, curiousity was the main illusion of the sentence. The lack of fury was what should have been most intimidating.

Taking a faster step than that of the companion, Cry loped to the spot where the intruder had been, sniffing, searching for a scent. Only after finding the faint traces of it, did he memorize the aroma, and then cover it up with his own.  A raised hind to the nearest shrubbery, and upon unmarked trees, he curled a fit body around. His own perfume permeated stronger where the hellion once stood, only reinforcing the defense in that general area.

After the ritual finished, Cry returned to the side of the patrolling higher up, pleased in his own work, though disappointed in the lack of the russet's. However, as always, he said nothing.

Horosk knew he should have done something. He could have gone after her, he could have caught up with her. But he couldn't. It was too much. She just needed to leave here. He knew if the others found her she'd be dead - and even though she was a psycho, she was still his sister. He still cared for her. He wouldn't be able to face her if it came down to her death. She had already attacked members of the pack. Horosk could not let that happen.

"Sorry. I... nevermind, you've probably heard of her already. Uhm... Kelina. My sister. She's pretty much the talk of the town," The man sighed slightly, shifting uncomfortably on his paws. "I know I should have reacted. It's just odd... seeing her like this. The way she stares at me - it's unnatural. She never used to be like that." She wants my eyes. She wants me to feel pain. He knew that, he knew she would probably kill him if she had the chance, but he found it so hard to accept. He found it so hard to believe that there was not a string of good left in her. 

"Next time. I know." He said absently, dreaming of their childhood. It was foolish, stupid, but he did it anyway. One of his biggest problems was not being able to let go, he just couldn't. He would find some good in her, he was sure.

For now, he walked on, continuing to mark here and there as he went, bending down his head to sniff at rabbit droppings and the like. The other male probably thought ill of him now, but what was he to do?

More and more, the world only proved how useless emotions were. Cry had turned cold at such things, and the russet would not be releashed from such a belief from the Void Walker.

"If her desire is to maim or murder anyone on this turf, the someone needs to put her down."

Regard for family relations dissapates after they aim to hurt your new family. Either work for the hand that feeds you, or leave it before it backhands you for biting it. Just was the way of the world.

"Unless she is aiming for anyone specific, then they need to go handle her. Off of pack lands, of course."

Cry was adamant in the ideal. It kept peace, it allowed no one who belonged to the pack to get hurt, especially if they were the one to go kill whoever was after him. If they were confident in their skills, definitely. If they weren't, then why were they so busy being above him in rank?

As far as Cry had seen the interaction between the two, she had completely ignored him, her lavender gaze locked onto that of the Medio's, and it was evident she was not fearful of him. That was a problem. Because that, in all totality, told Cry everything he needed to know.
She was after Horosk.
But he did nothing about it.

"I know, I know, and I plan to seek her out soon, but I've been busy. Really busy - there's isn't enough of us here. Leaving the territory can be hard when there's such a small amount of wolves doing so many tasks." He sighed, hoping they could move on from the topic. Yes, he needed to go and sort Kelina out, but how? She was incredibly hard to find. She was an insane wolf who was actually clever. She was good at hiding herself.

His sister would hurt others even if he wasn't the one targeted. That was her way - that was what she did. "She's going to hurt people no matter what I do. Once she's moved on from me, if she does, then she will hurt everyone else too. But I will try my very hardest stop her." He whispered, frowing. Then he walked up ahead, marking a tree and sniffing at an abandoned catch, dismissing the topic.

He's so tsundere, forgive me for his sake.

That was all it took.
His hackles, an etheral cape of darkness raised in his irritation at this wolf. How dare he risk the lives of others for his own schedule? No matter what held him down, nothing should prevent him from stopping this threat, as it bore ill will against the pack! Who was he to just say 'I've had too much to do as of late, sorry.' Does he not know there are wolves in this family that will bear young, soon? This was their job! This is what they were here for!

"Your arrogant ignorance is what will be the bane of us, all. And if you will not take charge of this matter, to bring someone who threatens the safety of those you 'protect' and 'mark the borders' for, then there is no reaon why you need to be here. "

Cry was fully ready to challenge the russet, his wintery gaze daring the man to call his reasoning wrong. Flint shaded claws flexed in the packed loam, his words fueled by the frigid wrath the Medio invoked.

"You are a pathetic excuse of a guardian to this pack. Kneel, or fight to stake your claim on stagnant beliefs, curr."

S'okay lmao. Lil bit of cussing, lemme know if you want me to remove it!

The very moment the darker wolf's hackles rose and he heard the words, Horosk snapped his head around. "I am not arrogant or ignorant! I know what is going on and I know that I need to stop it. I plan to. I can't just go and prance over to that bitch and demand she leave us alone! That won't work on her!" He turned his body around so he was facing the Inferior. He would not normally think of someone using their title in this pack, unless it was the Empress, but he was angry. And he wasn't often angry.

"You know very little of this situation. I have already promised everyone that I will fight her and I will kill her if it comes to that, but you prodding me constantly since we saw her is not helping!" He snarled, flicking his tail and feeling his own hackles rise. He had been caught off guard when Kelina was spotted - he had not expected her to come so close while clearly in sight.

psh, it doesn't faze me, doll. No biggie, at all.

Cry did not back down in the face of this man, his spectrum of priority was too accute. Too categorized.
Gems glistened in their narrowed aim.

"I don't give a single shard of damn what's going on. Nor did I expect you to ask her shit. Get it through your head, just as she has through hers. Words don't mean anything. Actions do. And your lack of proves you a coward."

Void hued lips unsheathed ivories begging to take part in a dance that needed only purchase and blood.
They snapped, audible clicks bringing promise to anything that dared near them.

"A promise is worthless, just as you are. Either prove you care more than someone who literally just joined this damn family, or go frolick with bears, featherspine. You let her roam rampant, frothing with death and destruction to others, and you think she is just some minor thing to let pass. She is a threat, and we will either put her down together, or if your sorry ass can't bother since you're too busy, then I will."

Family matters meant nothing to Cry, and if someone couldn't protect the wolves they bedded with, then they were nothing. By definition, nothing. Sister, or no sister. Mother, or no mother. Father, or no father. The pack was your life line, and either you stand for it, or you don't. Stavanger Bay was where he had spent most of his pack time, and when it came to defending family, that pack had entombed most of the belief into the assassin. Family was all you had. Blood meant nothing. Those who watched your back while you slept, were worth more than the breath you wasted forsaking their's. What if Gwen had come to find this whelp was simply too busy to protect the family she had worked hard to make work?

Horosk is such a little angry potato right now cx

He was getting more irritable as time passed. "Actions, huh? You want actions?" He spat and lashed his tail. "I never said she was a minor thing! I know she is a danger - what do you think I am, a pup? You seem to be treating me like I don't understand. I understand the situation more than you do!" With his words spoken, Horosk paid no more attention to the hateful retorts that they had thrown at each other. He sprang forward, paws outstretched and fangs bared. He was never so angry, and he never tried to start fights, but this stranger was taking it too far.

Actions he had said. Actions he wanted. Horosk planned to deliver that request both to Kelina and this guy. The Medio was furious - the problem would have easily been solved if he had gone after Kelina when he saw her, but she was indeed so very much stronger and faster than he. He would have no chance of catching her, let alone fighting her. He would try, yes, but that had not been the ideal opportunity.

He hadn't even attacked. Yet. However, less words needed to be slaughtered in the situation as the russet sprang with the temper that normal subordinates would be culled by. Cry was no such toddler. He was trained under Slade, the King of Nightmares and a murderer by nature, refined by Raziel, Roman ruler with ruthless fangs to those who knew not when and when not to act accordingly, and imbued with the fearlessness of Stavanger's cold beach pack, the family of viking led wolves just as merciless as the waves that both hounded the bay as it did to ensnare souls with it's relentless beauty. He was most of all, an assassin, hunter of those who were top on a list of the Damned. Horosk was a pack mate, yes, his superior, yes, but to Cry, something as silly as ranks meant shit to him. Your rank was not handed to you. Your rank was earned.
Today would be the day the assassin would see if this Medio was worth being respected for a decision that quite frankly, was foolish.

Cry braced his fours within the ground, claws that vexed into the soil doing well to latch onto dirt and root systems he semi-conciously sought for. After rooting himself in, he dipped low and prepared for the impact, the nape of his ruff exposed and his shoulders welcoming the brute force. Once that smashing hit came, Cry thrust himself up, his aim to shove the russet cleanly from him, refusing the superiors furious embrace.

"You have proved not only you are a pup, but an inept child! We could have taken that swine of a sister down together, since you are too cowbrained and pussy-footed to do it yourself," he taunted through both righteous fury and a wrath of justified fire.