Haunted Wood The voice of rage and ruin.

The forest was a massive, sprawling place of darkness and light; the shadows crossing path with lingering ground-level fog, while patches of fresh snow built up in the gaps. It was different from the mountain; hard to traverse sometimes, which surprised him, and it seemed to go on and on without limit. He'd spent the better part of the afternoon mapping the place out (hoping that he'd encounter @Tzila or @Black Hat during the entire escapade, but so far no luck).

At some point his eager energy waned, and as he hiked through a stand of aspen trees he was met with a dull but constant sound, and the scent of water. The distant echoes of a river—which coaxed him onward, but no matter how far he went it seemed as if he was destined never to find the source. At least an hour passed, maybe two or three, before the sound was so deep and all-consuming that Revui was lost to the clamor of it. He found a ledge upon which to stand, to loom, and much as he'd peered in to the pit that morning... Now he peered at the rushing pulse of a snaking river.

The slower sections were topped with thin ice. Some areas where the water did not flow so freely had become encrusted with it, and that was piled with fresh snow. He drifted down to the embankment with half a mind to try and cross; but as he tested his weight against the frigid edge he felt it shift, beginning to buckle beneath his substantial weight, and so he pulled back. With a piggish huff he began to climb away from the river and back along the wooded hillside.

Tzila was a bundle of nerves. A walking shadow of pent up aggression and irritation. She was sick of biding her time, of lurking ever so patiently as she always did. She knew she mustn't cave in...not yet. The truly clever...the truly gifted, wait. Soon enough the Nightwalkers would get a serious wakeup call and cease doubting her. Call it an old habit of paranoia, stoked from the days of her youth, largely in thanks to the un-relenting antics of her fuckwit brother.

Itching for a scrap with anyone who crossed her path, regardless of if she was acquainted with them or not, she stalked through the dense maze of the forest. Her steps were silent...precise. She held her head down low between her shoulders, cat like, as she usually did when in one of her darker moods. While her cold eyes scanned ahead, she was seriously contemplating a brutal new routine of exercise. Militant style, to mold her body into a living weapon. So much easier said than done, with no end in sight for the famine spread throughout the Teekons.

She had latched on to the new scent. The one belonging to Revui, their former captive. His means of attaining his new title were lost to her as of yet, but she still remembered their solo encounter clearly. Fitting in seamlessly with the shadows...her shadows, she observed him in silence, poised atop that ledge and peering down unto the river. When he pulled back, she made her move, allowing only her head to materialize into the light. "Pity. You have a fighter’s spirit, but you let a simple barrier alter your actions." She said calmly, showing no intention of attacking, like last time. Last time he was a captive. Below her. She had done what came naturally. Put him in his place.

The arrogance of his Ostrega blood won out more often than not, and as a child of the mountain Revui rarely had to be afraid. He had not been afraid in the pit, nor let such a sensation spoil his efforts when he escaped it; he wasn't afraid of the river that sat adjacent to him now, nor of the darkly lit forest around him. He had never had a reason to be afraid of anything—his parents had made sure of that, and his sister Hydra too, giving him attention and training so that he could trust in himself. Yet that also led to some bad habits. His silence, for one—a disinterest in his surroundings, for another. The latter being a major flaw currently, as he remained oblivious to the creature lurking between the trees. The woman stalked after him in silence like a panther, at least until she felt inclined to speak, and the sound interrupted Revui's seemingly automated stride. He stopped, he looked—and when he saw her looming as if she were looking down at him again from the pit's ridge, he grimaced.

The words she spoke were near to meaningless, as always. The tone was all he typically cared about, and her voice was sharp with an antagonistic quality. His tail lashed against his hocks, the end twitching. He glared at her in the same manner that he'd accosted Vengeance—unafraid, filled with challenge. The last time they'd spent time together Revui had been lightly drugged and very injured, and now he was healthy; hungry, bordering on desperate for the taste of some fresh meat or the blood of his enemies. When he looked at her he saw both food and frenzy waiting for him.

One slender, dark foreleg was placed out of the darkness and into the light. Her icy stare held his fast, accepting of his challenge. "You've recovered well." She appraised. Her eyes slid over his form, notably his ribs. They both knew what she was thinking. He needed more meat on his bones and they both knew it. Tzila was accustomed to his voluntary silence, which was fine by her. She could interpret another’s intentions just as easily by body language alone.

And she knew what she saw. Pent up rage. Hunger. The cold desire to render flesh from bone. She knew that look all too well. It didn't stop her from emerging out of her shadows, towards him. As she closed the gap with measured steps, she drew her head up comfortably. Though her movements were loose, it was all an act. Should he have a go at her, she would be ready. Unlike last time, as she inched in close, a breath away from his muzzle, she was not all snarly and scarlet hackles. "There is something that has been tickling my mind for some time now..." She began, her tone no longer laced with that bloated self arrogance. "What was it, precisely, that compelled you to trespass on our lands?"

Black Hat took notice of Revui's scent throughout the territory, and it perplexed him even more than it irritated him. Why was that numbskull captive being allowed to hang around? Was he even still a captive? Revui had free reign despite the obvious threat that he posed, so that was doubtful. It appeared he was out of the loop. He'd have to ask about it.

Revui and Tzila's trails came together at one point, which drew him towards them. He couldn't imagine the man being warm towards her (or anyone here, really). Black Hat stopped a good distance off, dark monochrome fur blending in nicely with the misty woods. He observed their interaction, surprised he hadn't sprung upon her yet. But with how dangerously close Tzila brought her snout to his, he expected a fight to break out any second now. And when it did, he wouldn't hesitate to leap into the fray.

She moved more like a catamount than a wolf, which he detested, but it did not frighten him any more than anything else in these hellish woods. He had defeated cats before, and bears, and anything else thrown in to his path; one day he would rip the throat out of this bitch too and savour the taste, but that was not going to happen anytime soon. Not unless she forced it out of him—it would not take much goading for Revui to lose what limited cool he carried.

The tone of her voice was grating. It was like she was asking for something, or trying to tempt something out of him—a childish game he had never been subjected to growing up. His games were rough; they were hard and they contained lessons for the future, not manipulation. The closer she got and the more she spoke, the shorter his patience became.

He watched her, skeptical of this closeness and this feigned intimacy. Her face came so close to his—he could smell her breath, see the shine of light catch on her teeth as she spoke, and his entire body tensed with the desire to attack, attack, attack. [i]What was it, precisely, that compelled you to trespass--? A low rumble cuts from his core, scything through the rest of her query.

Although he isn't willing to give up any space to her (such weakness could not be tolerated) he pulls back from her with a sneer. The ground shook. The forest looked.. safe. I was hungry, alone. And really what did it matter how he came to be here? He was here now, out of the pit and of higher rank than most of his captors. Everything was working out now that he was free.

This steele coated man may have thought his icy composure may serve him well, disguising his rage. But Tzila saw right through it. That cold flame in his eyes. She knew that look all too well. The reason why, was that it was often she wore in her youth, under the torment of her own blood brother. She wanted to make him pay...to break him. And she had. He would be a fool to ever show his face again, that wretched kin of hers.

What had been nothing but weeks of selective silence on behalf of his part, the brute finally spoke! She wanted to laugh, and the very words he said nearly made her do so. If Tzila could have face palmed in this moment, then she most certainly would have. With an expression of feigned perplexidness, she shook her head. "The forest looked safe." "What are you seriously just that fucking stupid or is your nose broken?" If it was one thing she couldn't stand in others, it was utter, blatant stupidity. Her voice grew more severe. "The borders are marked for a reason." She took a meaningful step forward, lips curling, tail thrust upright. "You were practically asking to be attacked...to be taken captive. You brought this shit storm unto yourself." His family, his pack, Moonspear would have surely done just the same, if not executed a trespasser. It was the way of the wolf. Raw instinct.

Feel free to skip him unless a fight breaks out!

Finally, Revui spoke. His voice sounded unnatural if only for the simple fact that he rarely used it. His ears flattened when Tzila insulted him right in his face. What are you doing, you bloody fool?! Are you trying to get your face ripped off? He thought, expecting the worst. What the hell was she trying to accomplish by pissing him off? Black Hat had half a mind to walk away and let her be torn to shreds should it come to that, but self-preservation stopped him. He never passed up the opportunity to weaken a threat. Still, Tzila was really asking for it now.

For someone who held themselves in such high esteem, and who had shown some physical prowess (at least in relation to someone already damaged and stuck in a pit, for what little that was worth) the dark woman seemed quite happy to goad the leviathan in to a rage; it was already hard for him to focus with her so close, but the further egging-on of her tone was almost more than he could handle. Revui didn't care so much for the words used—he had never put much value in the hot air escaping from any wolf's mouth—so the actual terms she used to insult him did not incite much of a reaction. It was entirely based around her tone, her posture, her proximity... And his body tensed further, his lips shifting uncomfortably across his slick teeth as he tried to fight against the urge to snarl or to snap; this was a moment he had been trained for, this is precisely what Hydra had tried to drill in to him when he was much younger, and now he found himself anchoring himself to those lessons in the heat of the moment. Oh, how he wanted to rip that smile to pieces.

You brought this shit storm unto yourself, the woman jabbed mercilessly, pressing her luck with every syllable. Was it worth it to explain himself? Maybe. She would probably take any words he uttered and fashion them in to a verbal blade with which to try and make more pointless little cuts; he could endure this ling-chi for as long as she could dish it out. Reacting at all would only make things worse—even if he really, truly, wanted to feast upon her blood. He could have defended himself well enough with his teeth but hardly with his tongue: she was right, it had been foolish. He had been desperate and afraid, both of which being aspects of himself that Revui reviled. At the same time, he knew in his heart he was never in any real danger; the boy could fight off the likes of Black Hat and their superior, the red bitch who had first accosted him—and if things had been truly dire, he'd merely have had to call for aid from the mountain.

Sure, it was a few hours away—but Moonspear was so close, and Revui's faith in the fortitude of his family remained indelible.

And now I am here, he finally slurs to her, the tension in his jaw slackening just enough to allow him to speak; more like spit the words. I am a soldier in the eyes of your master, equal to you. But one day he would surpass her—and soon. Then what?