Kintla Flatlands The Judge

Steel orbs flashed in the growing twilight, and a silver form pad softly into a small clearing among the skeletal trees. A tander breeze pushes back the fur on the girls coat, revealing a still-healing gash on her shoulder, though that fight has been long since won. Aeronwyn felt better then she had in a long time. She was one of a pack, and that automacitally boosted her confidence (and ego). She raked her claws along a dead stump by the border, enjoying the feeling of crumbling wood beneath her honed claws. 

Then, she set out at a trot from the borders, no destination in mind, merely an idea of how she wished to spend the night. Blood, a fight, would certainly be nice.

In light of the famine, the mountain's grip on her had been tight recently, but on this balmy day that dawned she would not be restrained. She would do well to breathe the open spaces of elsewhere -- anywhere, really. She knew it would be in her best interests (as opposed to wallowing in hunger and frustration of such failed hunting), so bid her pale mate a soft see you later and was on her way down the slopes

It was a rolling lope that carried her deeper and deeper into the flatlands, even into the fall of night well after her nose had failed to find decent trails to track. She wouldn't be slowed by that. Instead, empowered and brought to a head with a new kind of energy, one that even permeated the ache left behind by famine just enough to feel it, she pressed onward.

She slowed up when she reached a copse of bare trees, and now her gait was more lurking. This pulled her towards a scent, one that hung vaguely before she knew it. Amekaze approached coolly, and was finally able to catch a glimpse of silver. Now knowing that, she zeroed in with a curious glint in her eyes. She'd found a stranger.

Had the trees been in full growth, there was a chance that the silver woman may have missed the stranger. A chance. But, with the trees being as skeletal as they were, she spotted the black coat quickly. Paws thudded almost silently on the baren ground as she approached quickly, wanting to find she one that dared stray even close(ish) to the pack of darkness. Aeronwyn was on trial, that meaning she had to prove herself.

Her emotionless silver gaze met the green one, would a challenge be recognized or would the female want to talk? Driving away this female with the smell of pack heavy upon her may do well, it may prove to the band of spirits and shadows that she was not a mere hinderance, and that she was a fully capable fighter. She slowed then, gaze meeting the others with an expression of cold indifference, words were not required yet.

She hadn't necessarily headed this way with a specific goal in mind. There were always several factors at play, the constant one being the need to hunt, and a second, much less pressing one was a curiosity for what remained of the dissolved Moonlit pack -- she had met their former alphess not too far from here once. By now it had surely been well over a moon's turn since their time, so traces had to be long gone by now, but that didn't mean she couldn't still investigate for herself.

Instead, there was a chance she had found something more fascinating. There was a distinct ice in the silver of her gaze, and Amekaze's head perked up as she adjusted, interested in a changing way. Their approaches aligned and the dark alpha crept closer, confident when their eyes met. It didn't need to be said, it seemed, and that suited her very well.

She could smell the dark woodland pack on the vicinity and the stranger. Amekaze wasn't intending to pressure a claim, or even intrude with aggressive intentions, but it was in niches like these that she hoped to meet something distinct. Something.. not often found in plain sight, and just for the sake of it. Since all of her efforts towards hunting had failed to spectacularly today, she hoped to find anything she could. But she didn't know if that was it yet. She arced a closer path, wily and almost teasing with the loose swing of her jog and toothy sneer she wore. Amekaze invited her pale opponent to set the pace.

The other crept closer, not breaking the chain of their latched gazes. This was admirable- this femme walked with confidence. Perhaps a little too much. Her walk was loose, careless, a sneer played on her maw. Aeronwyn approached with a few strides, face pulled into a mask of indifference. She had a desire to immedietly set upon this female, fangs flashing, but restrained herself. Silence, the absence of emotion, was sometimes more intimidating than a snarl of growl. Her stalking gait halted abruptly a couple of meters away from the female, icey orbs not leaving the woman's green ones. 

The aroma of pack was on her fur, but it was not one that Aeronwyn recognized. She had explored quite a bit to the east and south, but not yet the mountains. The pack scent was not one in the vicinity of the Brotherhood, leading Aeronwyn to the conclusion that the female was a traveller of some kind, perhaps. 

Aeronwyn stood, eyeing the female and waiting for her to speak of move. She hoped it was the latter, for a chance to fight was exactly what the brooding woman was searching for. Would this female prove not to be aggressive, Aeronwyn would simply push her like the other one, the arrogant girl by the mountain, and wait for her to snap.

The less the pale stranger knew, the better. Amekaze's attachments would hold no merit here. None of it related to it, or them, or any of it. Just her, selfishly. If she could engage this female properly, it would give her plenty to know the other by. Not all could be approached this way, and not all could know what to do with it.

She stepped into this ingrained role with ease. Just a little antagonistic, cocky, but smooth in a steadying blend of defense with offensive preparedness. Experience lent her a certain comfortable sort of self-assured glimmer in her eyes. She's measured up on worse, she believes, and maybe she's keen to have it sting a little. Her teeth still feel dry from the situation with the thrall, the violence riled just oh-so-close choked back down isn't satisfying. She'll be glad to see it go, even if just in part.

Amekaze arced in closer, light on her feet, and aimed to circle the stoic stranger for her first good, long look at her. She's oddly pleased by the silence even now. When she rounded around to the front of her and squared her shoulders just right, she made a head-on lunge, seeking to meet teeth-to-teeth.

The other wants it to. Aeronwyn can see it in the glimmer in her eyes, her step. She is not afraid, has not tried to speak. She falls into the rythms easily, and with confidence. But this is more then a simple spar, Aeronwyn believes. This is different, this is larger than that. The silence is good. No words to fling, no excuses, sounds, noises of little importance. Simply premieval instinct, language of silence. 

And then she springs.

A blur of dark, a spring. Her maw opens in a silent snarl and she too pushes of the ground, the meet tooth to tooth. Aeronwyn does not think just yet. This is a fight in which thinking is overrated, she simply attempt to lock muzzles, and use her teeth and claws to strike whatever flesh presents itself willingly to her maw. But now she goes for the face, teeth to teeth as the female initiated.
This would be fun.

Teeth clatter. While they meet, bone to bone, satisfaction comes in a great rush with a shiver down her spine. She snaps where she can, paws braced, and feels the motions mirrored by the pale female. Teeth clip into her cheek, cutting away at her furs and smarting the skin just enough to remember it, but she's not bothered now -- not even when it happens again, but more towards her chin that time. Maybe, somewhere along the way as she may find a similar luck as she seeks her own purchase into the stranger's space -- and should it grant her any contact, even better.

She's still testing the waters here and volleys back defensively and offensive. Her teeth aren't aiming to rend and maim, necessarily, but she's not keeping it much more measured than that. She doesn't intend this stranger dire harm. If she wanted that to be the case, where would be the sport of it? But, she would adjust as needed. Not knowing her fellow's full intentions (beyond protecting her pack in one way or another), it would be something to keep in mind until she could understand more.

When it suited her, she increased the space between them for a beat only to round around for her side this time teeth first. In the motion, she aimed to swing the rest of herself out of immediate reach all while still aiming her momentum forward.

cameo hehehe,, permission given by Thalia!

The dark wraith was without emotion, her bones churning under the the dark pelt she had once carried with pride. What did it mean now? She had won her place by dethroning the one who had always held unconditional faith for her. The one that had lifted her from the depths of her own self hatred and set her on a course that led her to being as accomplished as she was. She could not take back her actions but it had left a mark on her soul, that she held loyalty to nobody but herself. She was an Alpha now, and and Alpha served no other. Others would serve before her, and she would never bow her head to another liar again. They would bend their necks in sign of her victory and she would take every head that dared to cross her path. Yet, it did not seem enough to reassure her of her actions. Nothing would ever be enough. Instead, she carried on, heavy footfalls leading her to the darkest corners of her mind and the places it roamed, burying herself in every sin she had ever committed and locking her in a cell with her own shame, and tossing away the key into the storm of hatred she had for the ones who caused her this inner turmoil including herself. And she would not be escaping anytime soon.

Only when the crows cackled from overhead did she return to the present world, her eyelids blinking heavily as she took in her surroundings. She was no longer within the silent woods, but carried for a new purpose to another land. Maybe she could stay, never return to the mess she had created. Or maybe a new fate awaited her. A cliff with no guardrail seemed an interesting fall. But her train of thought halted, her nose instinctively intaking the scents of one of her own, a new one. It was the one she was promise in, the one too much like her yet a perfect candidate for  replacement if something ever… happened to her. She crept, stalking the scent though the reason for her interest was unknown to her. A fight, between the dark and the light ravaged. Yet, a faint smell.. she knew something. The stranger, the dark one.. something so familiar. Something from the past, something lost and hidden away. The realisation hit her, unrelenting and unprepared. She jumped back in shock, her eyes widened, displaying the white like an addict. It could not be.


Althaia.

The pure joy of the fight sent Aeronwyn's nerves humming, she imagined she could feel the blood rushing through her veins. This was no desperate fight, or one brought on by rage or retaliation. No, this was simple, pure, a fight that felt like dancing. Teeth scrape her muzzle, gash the top of it. it smarts, but this is totally overlooked in the spirit of the moment. 
They close and widen the distance between the two of them, and the dark one aimes for her side. For a brief millasecond, for purposes unknown, Aeronwyn considers allowing the hit. But she slids away, and jaws still scrape againt flesh, and Aeronwyn finds herself missing some of her flank. However, tha pain does not stop her, it invigorates her, and she leaps straight for the female, aiming to barrel into whatever she can with fangs flashing. 

However, it is in mid leap that she notices the scent of another, fleeting, then catches a hint of dark fur. Nemesis. But it is too late to reverse momentum, so Aeronwyn continues, knowing that is she saw the alpha, it is very possible that the other would notice her too. Hopefully not, however, for Aeronwyn wishes to continue this fight a while longer.

ooOOooO cool~ o: edit: since so much noise went down in her threads like right after this one, i went ahead and slipped her on outta here BUT again again sometime tbh

Seconds rush by, they move, intertwined and for a beat she cannot help but wonder if maybe she's found just what she needed. Between them, they seem to maintain a balance -- an unspoken understanding, one that still gave rise to its decent share of exchange. Her teeth tasted blood, and her own skin smarted in return. She didn't pay it that much mind, and instead, allowed herself to be caught up in the feeling of moving.

Because it is an engaging exchange, she does not rein it back immediately upon noticing the other nearby. But, her guards went up in the meantime and she didn't appreciate the extra eyes on them. Neither did she want to rile up pack issues among them. She noticed, with a gentle quiver of the breeze, that her scent matched the pale wolf's: the dark woods. They had her outnumbered in that way but that was understandable with their doorstep near.

She rode out the momentum, matching the charge of the pale female by shouldering into it as harshly as she could. Teeth punctured her hide, but she went with the flow of it and moved aside. She shook off the sting and snapped for her opponents chest before easing back with a low, rumble and a bit more space between them. Once there, she shot a hot glare towards the observer as her tail crept up -- in all, a look that did not appreciate the perceived interruption, nor did she understand her purpose in being here at all. It made her wary but still she lingered for a long, pointed minute.

She smelled blood, hers and otherwise, and more. But she wasn't finished, as a sidelong glance at the icy stranger reminded her with a hungry sneer. "Dance with me again sometime," she growled after leaning in closer to the female's nape, resisting the urge to reach all the way for it. But, with one last gust of a breath and a flippant glance in the direction of the darker stranger, she was moving away from the scene to leave them to whatever they had to do among themselves.

A shoulder thudded into her, teeth met the other's side. Blood and adrenaline were high, the scent of the red brought her senses alive. The primevial dance of fang and claw was satisfying, fulfilly, and the pale wraith was filled with an alertness that made every nerve sing. but alas, they fight did not last, and the two pulled apart. The dark one leaned in, but not to maim, and Aeronwyn listened with a bloodstained smile as she spoke of another meeting, another dance.

The pale wraith watched as the other turned and slipped into the woods, barren as they were, and did not speak. No, this was good, this was simple, natural, and words would ruin the moment. And so the bloody wraith watched the obsidian woman vanish, with eyes that flashed with the light of the moon above.

Thanks for the thread! It was fun :D