Noctisardor Bypass the voodoo engine

She didn't quite know what to expect of this rendezvous. They passed much of the distance in companionable silence, Haunt trying not to speculate too much but brooding anyhow. Would @Arbiter and @Royal be happy to see them? What would they do when the two of them went back to Sapphique rather than staying with Legion? She let out a breath as she walked beside @Vex, across fields and through woods, until they reached the moraine.

Here, she paused as she recollected that day when Rosalyn and Kaertok had discovered her, ailing under Artemis's ghostly eye. Haunt hadn't thought of the goddess in a while and suddenly glanced at her brother, curious if he still saw Sos. She didn't ask. Instead, she motioned for him to follow as she led them over the stony pathway and into the forest beyond it, which bordered the bypass.

When they arrived at the arching gateway, Haunt was so tense she didn't even notice the strange scents laid there. "Want to do the honors?" she asked Vex, her voice a little tight as her eyes cut skittishly from left to right. It was almost like she feared their mother might ambush and trap them. It wasn't a particularly charitable thought, though it wasn't without merit, given their history.

the journey was familiar ...though without the endless and blinding white of the snows it was easier to pick out discerning landmarks that vex makes mental note of for their return journey to the cliffs; for they would return to their new home. vex was particularly determined of this, spending the companionable silence between him and his sister playing over possible scenarios in his mind and how he would hold to his decision as he had time and time again ...because he expects to be met with resistance from their mother.

as they draw closer to the bypass, vex notes the stiffness to haunt's shoulders and though he eyes her he doesn't capitalize upon it. he only thinks to himself that a visit home shouldn't wind anyone so tight. though he expects surefire resistance he knows his decision and wasn't going to let anyone cow him into submission.

they near the borders and vex does notice the difference in scents that mark the bypass. haunt — he warns, even as she asks if he would like to be the one to call. somethin's not right. he motions towards the borders. i don't recognize any of these scents. well, that wasn't true. if he gave the borders another whiff he'd might recognize kigipigak but his hackles are bristling and he's in no mood to try to decipher if he knows anyone or not.

that said, he tips his head back and lets out a call. he wants answers. at the very least he wants to know what happened to his mother.

sorry for any drabble! writing after awhile is hard ;___;

in the fissures of boulder were congregation of serpents. they were disappointing: they could be slighted if approached methodically, and overall appeared drowsy. astraeus takes away from their slow, ribbon-like movements across impervious surfaces are an aesthetic comfort. 
he considers himself to a likeness of a snake.

in sagtannet breathed with oddball faces that had came and gone; the rocks had become a place of infatuation and rumination for thoughts adjacent to: i wonder if quail is as good as it is hyped up to be —or— i wonder if she knows it's her fault i turned out this way.

while in an forest which he found haunted and cold of their borders, an unanticipated call shivered the ghost-birds from their knotholes. a boy with a rigid-looking girl stand in wait aft he finds the call's source. a sweeping study of them both accompanied condemning air,
a twitch of his corroded seaglass-eye.

it was the summoning call of a boy that rose errant on the cold wind and came to mahler's ears. 
he attended with a swift, heavy step, the tread of his large body meant to be unveiled as he traipsed toward the young pair. astraeus now, his boy silent and scarred, and mahler took up residence alongside the growing warrior.
"arbiter is no longer in charge here. this territory now belongs to rivenvood."
he assumed the youthful wolves were the half-grown children he had once scented upon these borders; arbiter's children, perhaps. but this place was not for them, and while he would not be cruel, mahler saw no reason not to place them directly upon their way.

Haunt went still at Vex's warning, turning her attention to the scents littered along the borderline. It was true that many of them were unfamiliar, though she reasoned, "Maybe she recruited some new members." But that did not explain Arbiter's own signature being faded to the point of near absence, something she noted with each fresh inhalation.

Soon, a dark figure appeared, then another. Haunt raised her head, holding it even with her backbone as she warily eyed the pair of strangers. Before she could open her mouth to speak, the second arrival informed them that the bypass no longer belonged to Arbiter and Legion. Haunt's lips parted, stunned by this news. Another pack had stolen the territory from their mother?

There were so many questions Haunt could ask, though there was one much more important than any other. "Where is she? Where is our—Arbiter?"

hope no one minds! <3

mahler rolled his shoulders. "i do not know. she vas not here. she left her son in charge. no vone vas hurt." save, perhaps, for the first man that had folded like autumn leaves beneath the clamp of the shadowpriest's jaws. he eyed them both.
there was little else to say, unless the youths wished to try their mettle against him for the sake of arbiter. but she was canny and strong. she would not need the aid.
he committed their faces to memory instead, wondering in quite a brazen way who had been their father. improper. and yet he tested his own mind as he awaited the reaction of the pair.

I know Viz is dropping @Vex for now. Sorry to skip you, @Astraeus, but I was hoping to wrap this with another round or two avec @Mahler?

The stranger didn't know of Arbiter's whereabouts. Haunt only caught his accent now, as he informed them that their mother hadn't even been present for the takeover. Her ears swept backward and she exchanged a weighty glance with her brother. They pricked again when he let them know nobody had been hurt. She supposed she should be relieved by this news, but...

"Why?" she wanted to know, despite herself. She felt Vex nudge her, perhaps to discourage her from pressing the issue. But Haunt couldn't leave without some answers. "Why did you take the bypass from them?" Though the question was pointed, it was not spoken with any particular aggression, simply pure bewilderment.

the boy had not spoken again. mahler glanced at his tall scarred son and then back to the ghostwhite child. arbiter's daughter.
"because it is the vay of volves. i had more teeth than legion to take this land, i vanted this place, and i claimed it for us." he let out his breath, looking between them both. "it vas not done out of personal spite. only because i vas able."
perhaps if he were not an arrogant individual, mahler might have seen the child's confusion. as it was, she held the same age as his brood, or close, he assumed. she knew by now the manner of their kind. or perhaps she had not seen it until now.

Just because. He had taken it just because he could. Haunt wasn't sure how to feel. On one hand, she was worried about her mother and indignant on her behalf. On the other, this wolf had bested Arbiter and Legion. That was kind of impressive. She felt like a traitor for thinking it but it was true.

"We should go," Haunt declared, nudging at Vex. Their mother wasn't here, so they had no business here any longer. It was a little hard to swallow, though she had no choice.

good to fade? :D<3

he said nothing, only waited for the stunned brood to turn back the way that they had come. 
it was better this way, he supposed; they had not seen battle but now knew it could come and change the manner of their lives.
mahler had not expected them to attack he and rivenwood, but the young were full of heat and verve and illogicality. stranger things had happened, and so he watched for a long while after they disappeared over the horizon.