Blackfeather Woods Won't Wake From This Dream

Kove has only really conversed with other pack members during the meeting and hunt (both of which held a limited amount of speech between him and another), so I thought it'd be nice for him to make some friends within the pack. Or at least try to.

It had been like a dream to him.
One moment the brute had been running away from someone, claiming he'd never join a pack, and the next he was standing face-to-face with the dark Queen at her pack's border. It had seemed surreal at the time, leaving the brute worrying over whether he'd wake up and find it to be nothing more than a dream or not. The last thing he'd expected, which was what had happened, was to find that he hadn't been asleep. That he'd been wide awake the entire time, even as he'd asked to join the female's ranks. The priestess had seemed to bewitch him at the time, leaving him unable to think correctly. Her words and the way she'd spoken of her religion had been like a spell, pushing his thoughts of never joining a pack far from his mind.

Now, Kove found himself wandering through the forest of the pack, a proud member willing to do what needed to be done to protect it. With the area still new and somewhat unfamiliar to him, he was unsure where he was going or what he was seeing. Everything within the territory's reach seemed strange, their colors not like what he'd seen outside of it. Many of the creatures seemed to have darker pelts clinging to their bodies, but what had really caught his attention was the white deer that could sometimes be seen through the trees. The timber brute would stop each time, and watch as they moved, their pelts closely matching his own. Each time he'd do this, the cervines would end up running, or prancing in some cases, away. Kove would be left to continue through the forest on his own, relying on what small memories he'd had from previous walks through it.

Slade had spent quite a significant amount of time as a watcher for the pack borders, and decided it was time for him to take his trek back within the ominous forest. The Shadow King kept his mind aware of the sounds around him, his auds swiveling with every animal calling, every twig snapped. He was truly home to this place, the darkness welcoming him in every child and hostiley comforting way.

Then, just as quickly as a squirrel snatched it's once relaxed form up the tree, Slade heard a leaf crunch unnaturally to his left. He immediately stopped everything. Blinking. Breathing. Moving. Everything stood silent on him, as his auds focused, honed in on the sound.

Slade was not afraid. He was confident in his ability on destroying that's to both himself and his pack mates. However, he committed to not moving just to assess the possible that.
An immobile Nightmare, he was.

A wolf.
In pack territory.
Slade hoped for the sake of the lupine, that he was a member of the pack.
After scoping the area, Slade found the creator of the noise. A pale Wolf. Much like that of the Moon Bane he had yet to tutor. Yet this Wolf lacked the aggressive demeanor, the way he walked even an indication of his temperament.

"Hello."

Simple greeting. The shadow sire recognized this member of the pack. He was present during the pack meeting. Slade eyed him with the volcanic orbs he held, calming the churning flames within them.
And slowly, did he ebb out of the darkness that blanketed him, his superior camouflage.

The crunching of the leaves had become a common thing as he moved through the forest, the deciduous trees having long since started losing their coverage. It'd stopped bothering him, his ears focusing on other sounds instead. Some animals made noises every now and again, but the noise that sounded to his right came from none of them. It held a voice to it that was capable of forming words the pale brute could understand, words that then became a greeting. He stopped in his steps and turned to look in the direction the voice had come, watching the darkened lupine emerge from the cover of the shadows. Though unsure of his name, he knew him to be apart of the pack from seeing him at the pack meeting. Kove recalled him to be one of the two so eager to join the priestess' religion.

"Greetings," he responded, moving to face the other male.

The dark king regarded the newer member with a regal look, his neck arching in the graceful manner of some favored steed of nobility. Though each motion was seen as one of authority, he kept his actions fluid like, that like a serpent.

"I am Slade. Left hand of the Shadow Queen, Meldresi. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, friend. I remember seeing you at the meeting, previously, yet I've never found out who you were."

The open ended question hung softly in the air, and patiently, Slade awaited a response.

A short sense of relief moved through him as the other mentioned his name. The words saved him from needing to go through some giant spiel over how he'd never heard his name, and so on down the line. Such things had started to bore him rather quickly, but he knew his lack of knowledge to be his own fault. "Kove," the brute voiced. "Nice to officially meet you." The second part brought a smile across his maw, but only a small one. He was still unsure of the darker male, though he seemed kind enough.

Preferring to walk than hold conversations in awkward standings, the Tar coated male gently brushed past the Iceberg hued male, saying calmly over his shoulder,

"Pleasure is mine. Come. Let us speak and patrol, at the same time. The borders must be kept under close eye. "

And with that, he kept the pace even, and unhurried.
As he awaited his hopefully following packmate, Slade spoke yet again,

"What has given you the impression that BlackFeather is a beneficial home for you, Kove?"

Though he talked, his eyes scanned, preening, analytical of all that lay before them in the dark and dying woods.

Saying nothing more, Kove began following after the darker male. His pace was nether quick nor slow, but moderate enough to stay near the obsidian man. When he heard the question, no immediate answer was given. The thought had never crossed his mind, really. He'd seen the priestess, heard of her pack and such, and requested to join once he found it was rather interesting. Interesting, grand, and nothing like his birth place. It wasn't bright and cheerful, but dark and mysterious. Everything about the area, and the lupines within it, seemed to catch hold of him and pull him in. He could have fought it, and yet he didn't. Why? Well, not even the ghost himself was all too sure.

"Everything appears to be appealing here," he finally answered, words simple and slow. It was as if he was asking himself if that was the real reason to why he'd chose to stay, or if there was some underlying reason. "What makes it 'beneficial' to me is the atmosphere alone. Nothing like what I'd always been surrounded with. Nothing is boring or all too predictable here." It wasn't a real answer in his mind, but was all he could think up. What truly made it beneficial was something he'd need to find out for himself later on, but for now his half-assed answer was satisfying enough—or, at least, it was to him.

Curiously enough, yet predicted, the artic followed him with no complaint. The leader in Slade appreciated the action, for in his mind, listening, using one's brain, thinking, proved superior to speech.
Slade took a bear like claw, and dragged the obsidian daggers down the front of a tree, a sign to the loners or trespassers who dared risk their lives to touch the forbidden land, that this was a place of danger. After the savage mark he unfurled on the bark, he continued his trek through the territory border, continuing to mark as the pair walked along.

"How have you taken to the beauty of the family? It is true we are unique, yet that's the specialty of the Black Feather Woods, no?"

A special choice of words.

Each time the obsidian lupine raked his claws down the face of a tree, the paler creature's steps would slow and his bright orbs would watch. To him, it was a slightly strange way to mark one's territory, but understandable. It worked to show the threat one possessed, to keep lowly intruders away at the sake of keeping their life. The action was much better thought out than what those in his birth place did. His ears perked slightly to the dark one's words. The questions weren't complex, yet held something to them. Or, at least, it did to Kove.

"I've taken to it quite nicely," he answered, moving forward to scrape his own claws down a tree trunk. He felt the strips of bark beneath his claws, as well as the roughness of the tree on his pads. It wasn't a terrible feeling, he'd admit to that. "This specialty of the pack works well to draw others in, yet this forest pushes them away, doesn't it?" His head turned and his coppery orbs scanned the forest, finding it to be more peaceful than frightening; but everyone had different tastes and views.

Slade listened to the Ivory, his volcanic eyes giving the haunted lands the full watch they deserved. Wolves who attempted to tresspass had a deathwish, and it was a wish Slade was fully willing to grant. His motives were'nt those of a killer, however. His motives were to protect the land. The grounds that belonged to them.
And unless he was hired to take the soul of another, he would keep his deathdealing to a minimum. If he could help himself.

The ivory spoke his opinion on the Woods, and it was one Slade too, had thought when he fist came here.

"Yes, Kove, i have noticed the fear others possess of this land. You can smell the uncertainty on them, as they retreat from our darkness. However, only those who have the heart to approach, will be the ones who have the potential to be one with us. But to truly be within these lands, and not only survive, but to thrive, now that is what gives us our strength."

Slade's orbs immediately set upon the form of a dying fox. The smalll mammal was slowly being devoured by a python of sorts, the scaley beast swallowing its paralyzed prey, whole. Slade wondered exactly how it felt to watch as your world slowly turned black, to feel your body as it was compacted into another animals, to know you were being eaten, and to not have the strength or ability whatsoever, to do anything about it. To be unable to save even your own life.

Slade's words drifted through the ears of the pale brute, but he did not say anything more right away. His orbs followed the other's gaze, watching the snake with it's prey. It was an interesting sight to behold, as well as one he'd never seen before. It was too cold for snakes to live in the wild up North, and during his travels as a loner, he never sought out the creatures. To be honest, Kove had never even heard of the beings, except for in stories, and his original image was not even close to matching what they really looked like. Smooth and scaly, some bright and some dark; they varied as much as lupines.

"What of those who approach, but can not find a way to thrive and grow with the land?" Pulling his copper eyes from the previous sight, they rested back on the dark figure. "What becomes of them?"

For some reason, Kove had asked a question that sparked a bit of philisophical insight from the dark brute, and with the appreciated question, came the soft spoken answer from the king.

"Then they are are devoured by the land, itself."

The irony of life. Everything was created to be destroyed, and everything that is destroyed is to create. The cycle od life, and death. A beautiful dance shared by all that lay breath upon the cold frosty air of the morn, to the content sigh of sleep at the night.

Turning to the snow coated companion, Slade suddenly asked,

"Will you too, be eaten, by the hungry lands, Kove?"

Slade had no intention of being blunt with the ivory. He was never a blunt being. He had to have his words forever twisted in some sort of poetic rhymn, the feel of an undetected threat or promise within the gilded depths of his lyrics.

When would you like to end this? c:

The words were simple when alone, and yet when strung together they held something to them. They held a meaning, they created a bridge over to the concept of life and death. Would the ghost be so quick as to allow death to grip him? The answer was obvious in his mind.

"I've escaped the deadly talons of a land once before," Kove spoke, recalling the event that had pushed him from the home from which he was born. "I have no plans of allowing this land to sink it's fangs into me, either." He wanted to thrive and grow, and to be one with the land only when Astraea called his name. The corners of his maw twitched slightly, as if a frown were about to spread across it, at the thought of the old deity his parents use to speak so highly of. She was not the one to watch over this land, though. If death were to meet him, he knew it would not be the maiden that carried him away, but another force instead.

The pale creature wanted to know if the land had claimed the lives of any others before him, knowing the question would pull his mind out of the past. The whisper in the back of his skull tried to stop him from asking the question, knowing the answer would more than likely be obvious. Of course others would have died on the land. No space on the planet can be sparred completely of death, for with death, life could not carry out her plans. For once, the whisper one, and he kept his maw shut.

•this can be my last post. Beautiful threadage, Renee. •



Slade found himself taking a higher liking to this Artic wolf, his temperament indeed different from that of his lookalike, but just as enjoyable. With a softer voice, Slade spoke to the pale one,

"I do believe you just might make it, Kove. As much as it disappoints me, I must part ways. There is business I must attend to."

Turning from the ivory, Slade began to make his way to the shadow covered grove, but before dissapearing, he called over his shoulder,

"And Kove, keep that determination, and you will thrive on these lands. After all, our worst enemy is ourselves."

And with that, The dark king vanished.

Thank you, Xandir. uwu I enjoyed this thread.

While his ears had picked up the words of the shadow, he said nothing in response. He couldn't think of something to say that wouldn't ruin the words that still hung in the air, so he decided on saying nothing at all. Kove did nod, though, so as not to appear as if he'd not heard. The ghost stood in place until the form of the other had well since vanished into the shadows that lingered all around, before heading off himself. He continued to head along the borders, thinking of the words he'd be left with, glad to have received them. To thrive was at the top of his list of things to do, and it was exactly what he planned on doing. The last time he'd nearly given up was not a memory he was fond of, and was not something he'd ever wish to relive. So, he wouldn't. He would remember the last words Slade had given him, and always keep his determination to live and thrive from faltering.