Lost Creek Hollow i'm not, what you think you can see

terance did something peculiar tonight. in that he prayed. 

it had been a long time since he'd done anything of the sort, and in all truth as much as he believed his mother's stories of roman gods, terance had never fully bought into it. he trusted her, trusted them, but he always felt they had a relationship that was separate. 

lately, however, he felt that they'd begun to frown upon him. whatever terance had done wrong was beyond him, and though he'd tried to make it up to them by being a good wolf, it seemed he only made things worse. things only got worse. the only conclusion he'd come to is that they frowned upon him for being weak-minded and emotionally frail-- which he had vowed against. 

so terance prayed for zues' forgiveness, and for his blessing, and for strength in the coming years-- he'd need it. 

it wasn't so obvious that he was doing so. terance sat along the creek, atop a boulder, paws hanging lazily over it, chin tucked and pressed to his chest. and when he'd finished, he merely raised his head, gave a gentle sigh, and then watched the water bubble over the stones. 

in the distance, a toad croaked.

Perhaps his prayers instead summoned the devil.  Or not, but it did happen that Treason was keen to hunt him down and see how the recent upheavals had effected him.  She'd given him some space at first, watching from a distance, but Terance's ability to at the very least put up a neutral facade had improved, so instead she needed to go poke the bear directly.  Perhaps if it was just her and it seemed as though she cared he'd reveal a few secrets -- or at least that's what she was hoping.

She followed his track through the territory and popped onto the scene just as he looked up.  Had he been dozing off or something?  She eyeballed him a moment just to make sure, then dipped her head, Sir?  Treason was being a little bit more formal than she had been recently when they were equals, partially due to his promotion, partially due to the fact she knew she very well could be pushing a few limits if he didn't crack like an egg.

sir?

terance turned to see the face of treason in the soft moonlight that flooded down through the branches overhead. he studied her, green eyes searching her features, resting on her sharp pair of blue iris'. 

"don't sir, me," he quipped, a scowl pressed to his features, "i'm not 8 years old." it was in friendly jest, but his tone lacked the playful edge to suggest such. instead, it came out flat. if he noticed, he didn't comment on it. instead, the dark alpha pushed himself up into a sitting position upon the boulder, ignoring the small pang he felt in his shoulder. it did not matter right now. 

he sat, gaze resting again on the creek as it murmured below them. if you were quiet enough, creative enough, maybe even insane enough, you could probably make out words. terance didn't hear much. despite the reassuring feeling that prayer was supposed to bring you-- a sense of peace and perhaps the idea that everything was okay-- terance felt very little. but so far, the events transpired in the previous days had not quite broken him. he was functioning well enough.

his tail flicked once, a silent offering that treason could join him if she had something to say to him.

Treason snorted, speaking as she started forward, No, but you're now our alpha, regardless of what title covers it.  So he'd better get used to some of it whether he liked it or not.  She didn't particularly care if he still thought it belonged to Rannoch or something like that.  In her eyes, the only true option was to step up and do his job, take the good with the bad or someone else might just decide to take it from him.

Once beside him, she stood for a moment and followed his gaze to the creek.  Hm.  Facade or not, the water didn't seem like it'd be worth that much attention.  She finally took a seat as well, her head lowering slightly as she looked back to him and searched for a reaction.  It was this odd combination of respect and subtle predatory search for weakness.  How are you doing?  Treason expected a brush off, she expected she'd have to pry, that the conversation would end up full of thorns.  Then again, who the hell knew.  Maybe she'd be surprised and he'd be far more open, but she was ready to dual wield can openers.

"hmm," hummed terance in response to her comment. fine. alpha. leader. respect. terance wouldn't demand it from treason. he just couldn't, not from her, not after this.

he took a breath, releasing it in a soft sigh. "as you'd imagine," he replied to her, gaze unwavering from the creek. it was not necessarily interesting, no, but it was distracting. it was something else to focus on. his gaze, eventually, turned back towards his beta, his ears pressing forwards. "i am fine. i'm adjusting," he added, something like a real answer.

Yeah, this was about what she was expecting.  The awkward quiet as she tried to figure out what sort of situation the pack was in.  You've been through a lot.  It was a statement that she felt he wouldn't be able to argue.  Sure, she didn't know the depths to which he'd been wounded, and it was still kind of uncertain if she herself was even able to feel that sort of pain or if she really was actually a sociopath. Jury was still out on that one.

Either way, her approach was just as compassionate as any battle plan.  To do my job, I need to know if at some point the ice is getting too thin. Oh great, she was speaking in metaphor.  I don't want to have to deal with you drowning because someone chucked another rock on.  She didn't like uncertainty, she didn't like the illogical, and she certainly didn't like feeling like the wolf ranked above her might be a breath away from going off the deep end because fate had essentially dumped a pile of bricks on his head.  Treason to a point wasn't sure if he'd see her as overstepping whatever boundaries they had by sort of wedging herself into his business as part of her duties, but she didn't see too many other choices.  Is there anything you want me to run interference on?  She specifically was thinking in terms of Moonnspear or Seabreeze, but if there was something else Treason wasn't aware of, maybe there was something else.

everyone always said that. terance himself always said that. oh, you've been through a lot. oh, i've been through a lot. it sounded less and less sincere, especially coming out of his own mouth. he didn't want compassion anymore. he was tired of being pitied. terance was not going to be pitiful. "that's not an excuse anymore," he told her, green eyes flashing as he looked the two-toned fae down. he hesitated, momentarily, feeling guilty for snapping. he exhaled, heavily, ears pressing forwards.


"i will come to you if anything changes," he informed the hollow's beta, softer this time-- not because treason couldn't take an edge, but because it was unnecessary. "i appreciate it, treason... thank you," he added, with a tightlipped smile and a light bob of his head, "i don't think we need anything right now." maybe he'd think of something in the morning, but nothing came to mind right now. 

the only thing terance could offer her now, to save them from another awkward silence or perhaps treason getting frustrated with his tight-lips was, "i've known rannoch for a long time." relatively speaking, rannoch took up over half of his life.

She didn't flinch a single muscle.  Only an excuse if you use it like one. Otherwise it's just a fact.  Treason knew she was again poking at him when he was raw, but she took her chances.  The only reason she personally would pity him was if he really had broken, but it seemed he hadn't.  Not yet, at least.  But she would keep watching.

Treason dipped her head in acknowledgement.  She was here to do what was needed, as she pretty much always had been.  When you're ready to take up another of the duties, I think it would probably be wise to call a meeting.  It would be good to assure the pack, introduce the new people and whatever. But that wasn't the only thing.  There was that whole thing with Tashkent that still left her feeling somewhat uneasy.  Besides, I met another wolf in one of the areas farther along the creek -- where it becomes a river -- I believe it would be wise to make sure the pack is wary of her and whoever her kin is.  I can explain now, or another time.  If he didn't want to deal with business right now, Treason could kind of understand, but that type of thing was easy for her to understand and deal with.

But it seemed obvious that he was still hurting just from the turn in conversation.  How long were you both in Moonspear, before I met you both?  It might also help her figure out some more about why that pack was still so bent out of shape, though she wasn't sure it would clarify anything, really.  But really, if he wanted to lead things that way, she could follow.  She could learn.

treason's words rang in his ears for a moment. they held wisdom he could only kind of wrap his head around. to claim a label like that felt strange-- but he supposed he understood what she meant. reluctantly, terance opened up a bit. "i'm not sure i know where to go from here," he admitted, ears pushing forwards, "not literally-- i know what i am to this pack, and what i have to do, and i'll do it-- but..." he'd trailed off, unable to find the words to describe the feelings he had. as always. he wished words would come easier to him. "i don't know how i feel," is how he decided to end it. he felt sad, angry, hurt... a little bit empty. but the large majority of him fighting those feelings seemed to cancel them out. and so he felt nothing. almost normal. it was strange and confusing. he wasn't bottling anything up, either, so he wasn't quite sure what the problem was.

the problem was that everything was wrong and nothing was sacred-- and that terance couldn't do anything about it. he eyed her, a wry smile pressing to his lips. "did that make any sense?"

he went around her comment about the pack meeting and the stranger, instead opting to talk first about moonspear. that seemed easy enough to answer, to deal with right now. pack stuff felt a little harder, just because he was used to rannoch doing all the big things. he knew how to do them, but it felt weird to address them as the alpha rather than the right hand. "almost a year. rannoch joined a few moon cycles after me," he told her.  

but, the pack needed leading. so terance addressed everything else as well, his voice a little more slow as he thought through it. "i'll call a meeting in the next few days... i'll have to talk to valette as well, and send a messenger to liri's pack," he began, deciding ultimately they should probably keep good terms with the packs they'd allied with. "who is this wolf?" he then asked her

Terance was floundering a little, but Treason wasn't sure how much of that was normal and how much went beyond it.  She wasn't exactly an empath -- far from it.  But did it make sense?  Eh.  Kinda.  A slight flick of her head.  It existed at least.

Time, though, was a much easier to nail down thing.  She nodded and got a somewhat thoughtful look, trying to work out just how things might have been.  If they'd been in this pack for slowly-approaching a year and he'd spent a similar amount of time before that previously...   Was much of that was doing things in service to him, not for yourself?  'How long since you did something just because you damn well pleased and didn't regret it in the morning?'  Bluntly phrased questions, yes, but such was Treason.  She could imagine that a wolf might lose some bit of themselves if the one they were dedicated to in one way or another suddenly wasn't in a position to be treated that way.  Treason herself had no such problem -- she was far too greedy a creature to be that way for long.

Either way, the stuff about the meeting all sounded good.  And as long as she didn't have to go over to deal with the Fools, then whatever.  Stuff would get dealt with.  Then there was the troublemaker she mentioned.  Dark brownish-black woman who called herself Tashkent.  Sounds like she's got a few family members lurking around out there too, and I assume they're up to no good.  But she'd have to explain, By calling myself Treason, it's a sort of test.  The response to it has proven to be a pretty good way to judge what I might expect from a person.  She seemed to think it was incredibly amusing -- sort of like a twisted version of uh.. Aerasha or whatever.  She just seemed off.  And since this is about an ongoing thread, pretend this is also where Treason explains whatever happens in the next few posts in it since the thread's getting to kind of a tipping point maybe!  Either way.  Wouldn't trust them.  They might not cause trouble but I'd rather not give them a chance.

her question caught him off guard. his ears pricked, and he studied her for a moment as he tried to genuinely consider her question. "i-- no," he said, hesitating at first but then giving a pretty definitive answer. he continued on, not trying to answer just for the hell of arguing-- he really meant no.  "i left the pack for rannoch, ultimately, but my time at moonspear was my own," he told her. which was true in terance's mind. most of his time at moonspear actually being focusing on lyra's wellbeing... subconsciously, anyway, since terance and lyra didn't spend as much time together as terance might've preferred. 

his brows furrowed a bit, though, because now he was kind of thinking about it. he shifted where he sat, tucking his paws near his chest. terance would give his life for rannoch. and he did, in other ways. truthfully, he didn't regret it, but it certainly was food for thought. he'd spent a lot of his own happiness and wellbeing trying to make sure rannoch and his family were comfortable. 

terance nods as she explains the strange woman in detail and everything treason found wrong with her. terance took it with a grain of salt, because he knew treason to be more cynical than he was. but also took his taking it with a grain of salt, with a grain of salt. because while treason was too cynical, terance saw the good in everyone. they were a good balance, truly. "bizarre," terance murmured, ears flicking, "i'll keep an eye out. if it progresses we can warn the rest of the pack." don't make mountains out of mole hills, but certainly keep it in mind.

She didn't believe him, honestly.  He'd probably gotten wrapped up being someone else's shadow instead.  That or Rannoch had done quite the number on him somehow -- she'd been in the same pack and hadn't ended up under the same spell, after all.  

If there's anyone you think is particularly gullible, probably warn them anyway.  Those with common sense could probably sense the trouble radiating off of that chick.

Treason was debating whether she should stay sitting the reserved and attentive way she was or if she should relax at all.  Or if she should just leave.  There was a bit of a moment of silence as she pondered what to do.  Hm.   Instead, after a moment of silence she looped back around to what had been said before.  Go do something for yourself.  Though she had no idea what that might be.   It might give her an idea if things were wrapping to a close and she should heckle him some other day, or if hitting him with some particularly juicy snark would have its desired effect.

Though honestly, if he didn't figure out how to be his own wolf, she could probably see about using that to her advantage.  If she played her cards right, maybe she could be alpha in all but name, but it would require him dragging on haplessly for long enough for her to get bored waiting.  It'd be easier than a proper coup d'etat, too.

terance nodded once to her suggestion. this could be easily done. he'd probably warn valette when he told her of the change in leadership. perhaps liri as well.

and then he was quiet, unable to properly comment at first. do something for... himself? what did that mean? terance did plenty of things for himself-- at least, he thought he did. he'd left moonspear to avoid lyra, slept with seabreeze cause... he wanted to. and he'd also... uhm... oh. maybe that was all he'd ever done for himself. and the first one was a majority for rannoch anyway, lyra was just his scapegoat. his brow furrowed, frustrated that treason was bringing up good points. 

"like what?" he asked anyway. brows furrowed.

Shrug.  I don't know.  What do you like to do?  I'm sure there's something that's more for your own good than others'.  Personally, Treason would just head off on her own and do something greedy.  Go catch something she knew she wouldn't share.  Maybe cause some trouble, because that was always fun.  Go ruin a coyote's day.  Or just do absolutely nothing and say screw it to being productive.  Sparring would be nice, but that required someone else to cooperate, and people often didn't want to cooperate.

Though yeah, there was her opportunity to be amused.  Treason continued wryly, slowly looking back his way just to see if he'd have the look of annoyance she was expecting, I don't know if it would necessarily qualify as for you but there's the fact you're now definitely the pack's most eligible bachelor.  I'm sure that'll come with all sorts of trouble you can't avoid.  If Seabreeze was kind of a gold digger (which since she went from having a beta's pups to apparently was leading a pack, Treason had to assume was the case), then certainly a few more would appear out of nowhere hoping for their own little chance of glory now that he was an alpha.  It might almost be amusing to watch if she wasn't afraid someone might be successful and pass her in rank.  You could add another one or two to your ex collection before having to worry about pups.  The fact she said this last part pretty brightly (for her) was an obvious sarcastic clue.  Not to mention, she was taking a few leaps in logic here, but he was the one who'd brought up that he had exes, plural, when it was Seabreeze plus one other from Moonspear.

Sure it could backfire, but honestly she'd rather deal with an angry person than one moping around so much.  Angry could be entertaining too.

terance liked to patrol. he liked to watch the stars-- more now over the last few days than he had over the last few weeks, unfortunately. he liked to spend time with rannoch. he also liked to spend time with treason. also with indra, though he knew he less. and... what else did terance like to do? he watched the beta with a curious pair of green eyes, less sad as he was now stuck on this topic, and was unable to think of anything else he enjoyed doing. was that... sad? he wasn't given too long, because soon treason was suggesting a ridiculous approach to this whole thing.

terance was loathsome to admit that getting laid sounded like a wonderful idea. especially if he could swing it in a no-strings-attached kind of way. what a typical man. but could he even do that? terance was prone to attachment quite... immediately. though, also to be fair, if it happened the other way around, terance really didn't want to hurt anyone else's feelings. he wasn't sure if he was capable of maintaining a relationship like that. so, no, terance was less annoyed and more thoughtful about her suggestion. 

his nose still scrunched, but there was a glitter of amusement that resided in his forest gaze, and a hint of a smile that played at the end of his lips. "i wouldn't call it a collection," he defended himself, not at first approaching her idea of him going out on strings of one-night-stands. he did, however, make sure he brought up one detail in her proposal. "so you think i'm the most eligible bachelor?" he teased her with a light, playful growl and a wide, proud smile, his chin tipping up gently.

Ok so he didn't seem to be sulking as much, but she was expecting a snappy reply, not that.  Whether she was purposely ignoring that he was referring to her specifically rather than in a more generic use of "you" or just hadn't thought of it, who knew, but she did respond with a not-so-serious frown, Oh come on, I don't think there's much thinking involved. Here you are, on your own, at the top of the pyramid with room for other leaders should you add them...  If that doesn't get you attention whether you want it or not, I'll eat a pile of leaves.  Because honestly I don't know what the wolf equivalent of a hat would be.

Then again, this was also Treason.  She approached things analytically and occasionally ignored things that didn't seem relevant.  On paper and along a similar vein, she should be the most eligible bachelorette, but that hadn't even crossed her mind.  Which on one hand was probably fair, as it wasn't like she was some super hot social butterfly going out of her way to make men drool.  She just existed.  She existed and hunted, the question was always what she would find.

"prepare to eat leaves, then," terance quipped, but shifted where he sad into a less stiff position and released a long, thoughtful sigh. "maybe i'll go do something crazy," he added, wondering what crazy would entail. a one night stand-- maybe, but with someone in the pack? that sounded like it could go horribly south horribly fast. and terance really didn't want to be known as that guy. or totally let rannoch down while he was leading.

oh, wait, do something not for rannoch. he supposed he'd have to get over that mental mountain. 

all said and done, though, terance was glad rannoch was alright. that he would probably heal fully. it took a lot of the stress that had originally been placed on his shoulders off. if rannoch had actually died in the fight, terance was unsure what he would've done. what would've happened? hopefully he'd never find out. for now, terance remained fully capable of existing. and he was doing pretty well-- less pitiful than expected of him.

he eyed treason curiously. "i'll give you all the details," he told her. but he probably wouldn't.

Do you get to eat them instead when the obvious happens or do I have to settle for an 'I told you so'?  She stretched and got to her feet, stepping down the drop to the creek to take a drink.  She dipped her head, did so, and after licking the droplets off her maw, hopped back up to where she was.  Smirking, she continued, Just don't overdo it and end up on a week-long bender, hmm?  I don't think you'd be able to live down having to be retrieved from a tree or something.

Treason still wasn't sure what to think of him, when it came right down to it.  Twice now she'd seen him broken, and twice she'd wondered if he was going to hold himself together.  He had, apparently, but she couldn't figure out how the scars ran.  She still had her mental list, her plots and plans, but a certain amount had been bogged down in cross-outs and uncertainty.  Probably a row or two of question marks as well.  Either way, Terance's recent promotion had only added to the confusion, as now she didn't know what she wanted to encourage nor what things would happen beyond her control.  Maybe if he did do something crazy she could get a better idea of who he was.. Other than someone else's faithful sheep.

"i suppose me eating leaves in a fair trade," he returned, but terance didn't plan on eating any leaves. and then he watched as treason dropped to take a drink, eyeing her curiously. not in a different light than usual, but terance silently wondered what she truly thought of him. after all, telling him to go off and hook up with women was sort of a strange suggestion. he supposed treason was different, in that sense though, so he tried not to look to deeply into it. 

she commented again. "i'll try my best-- retrieving me from a tree might be a fun challenge, though," he remarked with a flick of his ears, "i'll eat my leaves while i'm up there."

Again, things beyond her control.  Even if she did eventually come to the conclusion that Terance was the best option of whatever males she came across, it wasn't like any non-productive flings would ruin him more than his already having pups with a woman Treason considered far inferior to herself already had.  What she wanted was him to return to something resembling normal so she actually could judge him properly. However that happened?  Hell, she didn't care.  She was reasonably morally flexible, just figure it how to make it happen.

Her grin was a little wider and she gave a particularly catlike lash of her tail, Oh, I do hope you like them.  And you should hope it happens sooner rather than later -- I'd imagine once they've been buried under the snow for a month or so, they probably taste a lot like dirt.

For now, at least, she was done testing her limits.  She needed to see the results of this little experiment and that would likely take time unless he had some sort of bizarre instant change in personality.  It was probably about time to go.  And once that heals, a vague swipe of her paw towards the remnants of the bear attack, if you want to train, let me know.

"dirt leaves," chimed terance in a deep hum, "the perfect midnight snack." 

instant change in personality! pft! terance? never! i mean, unless you account for how easily he was emotionally swayed by anything who he cared about said to him... then, yes. he would of course undergo an instant change in personality. or, at least, try to. whoops. "yes ma'am," came his response then, a dip of his head to pair with it, "hopefully it'll be fine within the next few weeks... it isn't too deep." and then with one big, catlike sweep of his tail-- which ended up arced above his back-- terance said, "alright, i guess i gotta get back to work." which was, honestly, the opposite of this whole conversation but whatever. who cares. terance was feeling in much better spirits than when they started-- and it showed, too. he could get some work done now, he was confident.

so he stood, made a heavy stretch, and then nodded to treason. "thanks," was all he said. the rest was left unspoken, but implied. she understood. and then, he headed off through the territory.