Silvertip Mountain eyelet lace & peonies

merrick was at the breaking once more, watching where the captive was held.
the day had lost much of the summertime heat by afternoon, and yet he did not stir to hunt. 
calling for @Surya, merrick lay down upon the sandy edge of the rock formations, suddenly helpless with thoughts of what might have befallen his child.

he came immediately, still cowed by his failure to find merrick's daughter. bruin-witch, surya murmured, tail all but tucked between his legs. i looked, but. . .i am sorry.

slowly, he eased himself down beside the man, though at some distance. he glanced down at the prisoner, wondering why they were going to the trouble of keeping them around. wouldn't they be better off chased away—or dead?

he had thought these wolves lusted for blood. maybe some torture was still in stock for the young wolf, but even so. . .

what can i do? he asked, softly, earnestly.

surya. loyal. apologetic. 
merrick accepted it all and dismissed it all with a burn of his single eye.
"the prisoner. i do not want them killed but,"
tongue lashed his jaws. "perhaps you might see fit to persuade. the best way forward, out of imprisonment, is to hear the word of the bear. truly. not a lie to escape pain."
surya. torturer.

surya's breath left him, abruptly, bursting out into air. the bear, he answered, shifting his forepaws uncertainly. he didn't know about the bear. he didn't know about any of it.

all he knew was his anger, and inflicting it upon someone else.

tell me what to do, he said in plainer language, emerald gaze boring into the other wolf. please. 

he did not understand merrick's cryptic language. even if it had been his own mother tongue, he would have been lost. afloat among these wolves, he was completely at sea.

"if i told you to go over there and hurt them, how would you do it?"
merrick's voice was jovial as the young man put himself entire into the cruel grasp of the bearwitch. "not until death. no broken bones. your — task, surya, is to elicit as much sound as you are able."
the single eye glowed, encouraging the other to speak.

he pursed his lips, thinking. this had nothing to do with the bear-god—at least not to him. pain was easy. he'd never tortured before, but if he thought about how he'd inflict punishment upon his seed-donor sire. . .

i'd make them afraid, surya answered. i would hold them down, put my mouth around their throat, so they think i am to choke them. and squeezing, tighter, tighter. . .NO! this was not his father, this was an asset they needed alive.

he drew his tongue along bared fangs, pondering. i would hurt them where it hurts most, he continued. take flesh from their belly, the pads of their paws, their cheek. hurt them. make them ugly. but leave their eyes, so they could see how ugly they are now.

god, where had that come from? he tucked his tail, almost ashamed of the savagery that'd slipped from his maw. the rage had temporarily commandeered his tongue; now, he was left speechless, gaze intermittently shifting from merrick to the ground.

surya spoke.
the fire in merrick's single eye leapt higher and higher, stoked by the flame of the younger man's wrath. all of it was pleasing, though the talk of ugliness and leaving the eyes brought merrick truly alive.
"and you have not done this before?" he asked softly, watching surya return to himself and shrink away; no, no. "i am in awe of you."

his eyes remained upon the ground. i. . .don't, he stammered, shaking his head. no. i am nothing.

but— angry, surya murmured, and ventured a glance at his bear-king. and loyal. i can—if you ask me to.

it was incredible self-awareness, for one so lost in his own troubles. then again, perhaps he knew more than he let on. he was afraid of letting go, of letting the rage that had built up for so long take over. 

but he'd never survive here if he didn't.

and besides, he liked the one-eyed man.

"anger boils the blood until it is pure."
merrick's voice was not soft but it was low, remembering.
"such righteousness forged me."
the thrill of it had seared him. the seeking of it had scarred him.
"offer your anger to the bear, surya. let him make of you what ursus will."

of course. no one was more forged in rage than merrick. it had been clear from the moment they met—this man was made in madness. 

but here he was saying that it was possible for surya to become so, too—

i will, he promised, quietly and fervently. his eyes were twin tongues of verdant flame. i will do as you ask—and if i call the bear, will he listen?

he'd never done anything—well, no, that wasn't true. he had prayed before, to the gods of his family, but had never heard anything definitive back. he'd lost a lot of faith in gods, really. but if the bear-god heard him, accepted him into the fold. . .

he gazed upon a point just beyond merrick's shoulder, hoping, waiting.

post once more or fade <33

"yes."
merrick's gaze beheld the zeal and power that leapt into the handsome planes of surya's face;
"trust in the bear. you will be tested. you will know yourself."
he straightened and looked off into the wild forests.
"come with me. we will shed blood in the name of ursus once more."