Nova Peak darkness is a harsh term don't you think?

@Kiwi showed him the way to the mountain. It was a singular tooth standing jagged and impressive against a moody backdrop of clouds, and upon first sighting it from the rock-hewn lowlands Revui could not help but compare it to home. It was a reminder of what he'd previously been defending and what he would, one day, return to. It was not the same as Moonspear as far as he could tell as he paced the lower reaches, studying the paths and pausing over the canine scents littering the fringe of the claim — but perhaps it was another mountain for him to conquer in its own right. He chuffed to the woman as the pair finally came to a cleared section of forest, anticipating that she'd need to rest after the travel, and said: Your camp is small, remarking on the limited scents he'd discovered - only a handful of wolves lived here, which surprised him.

Kiwi wasn't too winded after their trip, but she was smaller and Revui kept an impressive pace.  She could already tell she'd made an excellent choice inviting him - she had no need to doubt it after all.

Right now, maybe, she responded, for the most part unbothered.  A part of her was a tiny bit offended but hey, recruiting took time.  I can only take the best, though, and there aren't many.  Maybe an excuse, maybe not.  If you know what to look for, then maybe you can help.  Her tail lashed a bit pointedly on that, as she was anxious to form and to capture what was hers.

He had never been given much opportunity within Moonspear beyond what he'd fought for, and eventually earned through toil and trial. Revui had always been a stalwart guardian; a bulwark equipped with hungry teeth who would not let enemies pass by. It was not up to him to deem creatures worthy or not worthy of the mountain - that had been up to others, always. His role had been more decisive. The gnashing of teeth and spilling of blood was all he had ever been good for.

So when Kiwi instructed that he might be of use in other ways, Revui regarded her with an empty glance, and shrugged. I can teach the ones we have, he offered without much enthusiasm; whether he would help beyond that was doubtful. He segued in to another aspect of the situation easily: Where do we fight, and who?

Right. So. Yami had definitely learned at least one thing from the pack's unfortunate encounter with the local wildlife, and that was you do not fuck with bears. Bears are assholes. Really big ones that can punch like a truck. Her body still ached from the bruises she'd sustained, but she'd managed to recover from most of her more major hurts. That didn't stop her from feeling sorry for herself and allowing herself some license to take things a little easier, but that only really worked when Kiwi wasn't around being awesome and making her feel pathetic without even trying.

Fortunately for us all, her view of Kiwi was about to get rocked hard. Yami had been lounging--I mean, recovering...-- when she heard her friend's voice growing slowly louder. She pulled herself up onto all fours quickly and cast around to see if there was a scent trail or a cache or something so she could claim to have been doing something useful. She paused though when she heard the second voice. It was unfamiliar to her, but also unpleasantly not. Her jaw dropped as she realized why she recognized the second wolf, though disbelief kept her full reaction at bay until she had crept out of her hiding place and gone to see the truth for her own eyes.

"NO!" Yami shouted, her way of a greeting/announcement to her own arrival as she charged forward to meet her brother, bristled and snarling. "What the fuck are you doing here?" she demanded, then her eyes darted to her friend and she asked her a very similar question, "What the fuck is he doing here, Kiwi? This is not happening. I'm not going back, I told you before and if I have to beat it into your skull this time before you get it, so help me I fucking will." 

This is all welcome right? Yes. Excellent.

She opened her mouth to reply that that would be helpful, as some needed it (cough) when the very subject of that remark came flying in with an apparent bone to pick.  Kiwi's mouth snapped shut, and she took a second to give a sharp glare to Yami.  She had no clue about her and Revui's connection, but how dare she jump at her like that?  Honestly, any idiot could see what he was doing here.

He's going to help us, obviously, she answered, bristling a little too.  I don't know what you're talking about, not going back.  Of course we're going back, that's the whole point!  If Yami didn't want to help her anymore that was fine, but if she thought she was going to get to stay here and be a part of this if she'd changed her mind then she was definitely wrong.  Just another best friend candidate who couldn't keep up, apparently, just like Clover and Sequoia.

He did not anticipate any backlash for his quick comment, so when a voice rose to shrieking levels Revui's fur bristled and he wheeled to look at Kiwi with a glare; it wasn't until a beat of the heart later that he recognized that voice, and saw that Kiwi was just as surprised as he was. Yami hurtled through his periphery and came to stand boldly before him, bristling and snarling and throwing accusations and fearful rhetoric in his face; words, that's all she had. If she had any power at all she would've used that moment of confusion to attack, but instead she was vaulting useless words at him. Kiwi countered and tried to cut through Yami's mania — but all Revui needed to do was roar.

His snarl was more menacing now. He was older, his voice having deepend, and he wasn't going to be talked to in such a way by a lowly creature such as his ex-sister. The young man lunged a step or two towards Yami and moved as if he were going to strike her, throwing his weight towards her, but he did not touch her. The grimace on his face flashed in that moment of indecision and aggression and then cooled to a stoic, hollow expression that was as frigid as Moonspear's frigid peak.

I'm not here for you. He answered coldly, and then turned his full attention to Kiwi as if Yami hadn't just come bursting on to the scene. Evidently this red woman was a friend of his sister. He had pledged to train her warriors and fight in her battle and his lust for bloodshed was stronger than his sense of abandonment and hurt by Yami's betrayal; but only just. I'm here to fight for Kiwi. There - that explained everything right? Right??

Revui's gaze was cold as his icy blue eyes. She remembered him suddenly when they were just kids, and he was just one of the siblings she had tried to play tricks on and get into trouble with her. Now he had grown. Now he was just a giant asshole, and Yami was so not having it.

She didn't flinch at the aggression he showed her in turn. She probably should have, but part of her still felt that kinship of their shared childhood between them that saw this as just another angry spat between two kids. She certainly didn't consciously think of it like that, but it was there. Yami did however falter when Kiwi snapped at her. She fixed her friend with a confused stare, not realizing Kiwi had misunderstood what Yami had been shouting about. She focused instead on what Revui had just ascerted.

"Fight for her? You can't be serious," Yami shot back as her mind connected dots the wrong way, "Did he actually throw you out because you didn't bring me back?" She had suspected that it was for Charon's approval that Revui had tried to kidnap her, but she hadn't really believed that their father would throw her brother out when he learned he hadn't succeeded. It took her all of five seconds though to decide she was right and that she wasn't surprised at all. 

"Kiwi, we cannot trust him," Yami said, turning her attention back to her friend, "He tried to kidnap me like a week before I met you and drag me back to my parents, and he'll probably try to do it again the second I let my guard down. All he cares about is their approval, just like all the rest of them." See how good the Ostrega siblings are at explaining things? Kiwi is very lucky to have them both.

Kiwi was a little annoyed by her misunderstanding, but that definitely didn't mean she was okay with Revui's aggression.  Yami was her second here, the first one she'd recruited, and he was just some random warrior who she'd deemed worthy joining.  He did not have the right to snap at her the way he did, and her immediate bristle and growl of warning showed exactly how she felt about that.

Beyond that show of displeasure, she didn't speak up until Yami finished.  She had no idea what was going on here, and the more they talked, the more she realized they knew each other somehow.  Same birth pack, from the parents comment.  She let her finish, then scoffed a little.  He can try, she said, looking at Revui.  But you belong here now, and you're staying here.  As long as he knows that, I don't see why he can't help us to fight too.  We need warriors and if he's good, he can help.  Her reasoning was matter of fact and totally reliant on the assumption that Revui was willing to bend to her leadership.  She had no idea they were siblings, but it didn't matter.  All that mattered was both of them could help her.

He couldn't help the ire that rose within him as Yami countered his statement, and bristled further, although he made no move to act upon his aggression. It was difficult for Revui to control his innate rage on a good day, and this was swiftly turning in to a bad series of events that made him think he should go against his own word and leave the girls to their war; no matter how much he adored bloodshed and battle, he wasn't going to take any guff from this nobody his sister had become.

When Yami took a stab at him verbally - mentioning that Charon could've chased him out for his failure - he couldn't help but flash his teeth; but he contained himself, sheathed those weapons behind his scowl, and stared Yami down with those frigid eyes of his. She ranted like a madwoman, as was to be expected, and then Kiwi was defending him - there were words flying every which way and Revui was losing patience. At the first opportunity (whether he ended up talking over one or the other didn't really matter to him) he knew he would only get his point across if he spoke up, even if he hated the sound of his own voice.

Father did not send me. I found a giant bear and chased it from the lowlands, trying to keep the pack protected. I got lost. Kiwi found me, I pledged to fight. She said you needed warriors - I am the best warrior in the valley, at this his posture lifted, and he carried himself like a beta as that was the last rank he held before the events had unfolded. Or I could leave. You can try to fight your battle without me, and you will lose. He flashed a glance at Kiwi then and added, Yami is no warrior, she runs when she sees blood. An apt - but mean - reference to her abandonment of the mountain.

Yami glared at her brother as Kiwi attempted to reassure her that she would not be kidnapped, that she would somehow be safe with this hulking snake around. She allowed herself to be the tiniest bit mollified by this, mostly because she too was trying to console herself that she would be safe and in doing so reminded herself that he had no backup this time. Revui couldn't drag her back on his own, so unless he had some other lunkhead friends around waiting to help him, then she was confident that she wouldn't be going anywhere. Plus, she had Kiwi.

Unless dragging her back wasn't the plan this time...

She snorted derisively when Revui confessed to getting lost, but snapped back an "Oh, the fuck," when he declared himself to be the best warrior in the valley. Fat chance of that. Yami didn't know who the best warrior was, but she was betting it wasn't her dickbitch of a brother. She fumed at him as he continued, baring her teeth at the end when he boasted and then insulted her. "I run from elitist, brain-washed lunatics you mean," she corrected him sharply, letting any other arguments against him staying remain unspoken for the moment.

Oh, she did not like that either.  This wasn't her fight, and she was growing as impatient as Revui over it, just not for the same reasons.  She would take their aid because she trusted that Revui at least knew how to fight and she trusted that Yami would learn.  She'd seen Yami face down a bear; her courage wasn't in question, and Revui's self declared worth made her eyes narrow some.

We will win with or without you. She stated, clearly and without a shiver of doubt.  Kiwi would roust them herself if that's what it took, and the confidence that she would succeed set in more and more each day.  I've already fought beside her and she did not run.  Maybe she wasn't the problem.  

I don't care who stays, but if you want to fight for something and help me to build what I intend, great.  If not, stop wasting my time.  She cut looks at both of them, wondering if they would stay or go.  She would not chase Revui off to appease Yami, but she also wouldn't acknowledge Revui's claims.  Her only real faith was in herself, and that was how it should be.

His aggression ebbed; not because of what Kiwi said, nor because he might've decided to relax when confronted by his sister, but because he lost some of his fire. It wasn't worth the effort to be as riled-up as he had become. The boy was proud and self-assured regardless of what these girls said to him, although the tale of Yami fighting a bear sounded like a poor attempt to rival his own doings, earning a snicker. It would've been impressive to watch such a thing occur but there was no way Revui could trust what he was hearing. His sister, who had abandoned the mountain and had struggled to fight back when he had come to claim her, fighting something as formidable as a bear? Right.

I don't care who stays, but if you want to fight for something and help me to build what I intend, great.  If not, stop wasting my time. Kiwi concluded and Revui's gaze briefly matched her own - she looked to him, to Yami, back again, and only when she glanced his way the second time did he allow himself to turn away in deference. She was small but seemed to have the confidence to make up for anything she lacked. For now that was enough to assuage whatever Revui was feeling on the matter - he was still intent to do battle, although his patience wasn't one of his most successful traits.

Without a word he began to stride away from the both of them; his pace was lackluster, suggesting he wasn't about to abandon anyone, least of all the power of his word. He'd pledged to help and so that's what he would do.

Yami could tell her friend was irritated, but her ire seemed directed at Revui, which made her feel all the more self-righteous in her own anger at her brother. She straightened proudly (aka smugly) when Kiwi spoke of her participation in fighting off the bear. She was tempted to make a smart remark about how she'd managed it without getting lost, unlike some muscle-bound morons she had been born alongside, but she held her tongue. Revui was thinking it already. She was positive.

Then came the latter comment, which cut. It cut real good. Yami lost her angry visage immediately to look at Kiwi in hurt surprise. She didn't care who stayed? Seriously? After everything? She looked back at Revui as he nodded and slid off into the territory. Her anger blazed red hot again then as she re-centered her rage upon him and directed the rest of her shit emotions into it. She glanced at Kiwi momentarily before she too turned and slid away, heading higher up into the mountains where she could angry cry in peace.

This was the part that was likely going to burn Kiwi in the end; she didn't realize how her words would land, nor did she care.  Fact was, she didn't want Yami to go.  But after Sequoia, and Clover, she wasn't about to beg her to stay either.  It was better to pretend, and if she said it enough, she knew that in the end she'd start believing it.  Until they were a pack, officially, she wasn't going to put her trust in anyone yet.

She watched them both leave wordlessly, but noticed that neither left to depart the claim.  Good.  They'd cool off and then realize she was right, surely.  That or they were smart enough to have already realized it.  Either way, she was one stronger, and slowly but surely creeping her way to her goal.

Satisfied, she departed to make another round of her new claim's edge.