Noctisardor Bypass kneel
hell hath no fury
637 Posts
Ooc — jal
Guardian
Offline
#1
set near the bypass but not like.... on it. also for @Kove, whom nemmy wemmy misses so dearly.

Her attempts at locating her sons in the flatlands had proved unsuccessful, and so, she began the journey east. 

East, a curious direction. Curious, because she had followed the lingering scent of Blackfeather Woods through an ever familiar Mephala's Web, only to discover that it was much easier to find an old frenemy when one had once been one of them. They certainly had not learned much, and she found herself confident that she would have done a much better job at hiding their scent than even they could. Their trail -- fading but ever so present -- carried her dead east, towards the score of mountain peaks in the distance. Of course, if they were fleeing, cover would be the first thing they looked for. 

Prancing forth with a slight spark in her step, she wonders who she may find among the towering rocks. Her sons, or her enemies? Following their fleeing warpath was a choice of undeniable curiosity, bolded with an underline of faith that in finding what as left of Blackfeather Woods, she would find some indication as to where her sons lied. Kove did not cross her mind until his scent hit her like a brick, stopping her dead in her tracks. There was a perpetual gray area where the remains of their fractured relationship existed; in a void of denial and ignorance. He had not been the man she had married in the beginning, but a man warped by arrogance and complete tunnel vision. In the end, he had shown himself to be unsupportive and spiteful, despite having once been a great part in her life. But she had quickly shed his influence when his true colours had been shown, and emerged a woman much stronger than before. Perhaps she owed him something, for it was his distance that led her to Bane; to much greater aspirations than mediocrity and motherhood.

Yet, the chance to see him again, to see him old and perhaps even vulnerable... something she could not simply give up. With a wicked smirk does she throw her head back and echo a summoning call, reaching out to him and pulling him in with an added tone of remorse, of fragility (neither of which she had ever possessed) that would be sure to lure him in.

Placing herself upon her hind, she waits for the familiar flicker of white to flash before her eyes and internally, she silences the hunger for his blood she has been yearning for, for years.
the only way to keep your people loyal is
to make certain they fear you more than they do the enemy
Atâtak Atsanik
918 Posts
Ooc — Kuro
Offline
#2
So long had passed since he’d last taken up residence in the north and, though he was not as far as his heart longed to go, he was content. The circumstances surrounding their temporary relocation were anything but pleasant but, in spite of this, he was not entirely upset by their region of choice. Angered by their loss, perhaps, and even saddened by those that were not able to escape with them, yes, but healing and growing to understand at the same time. Understand that, although they had lost, they were still together—they remained as the wolves of Blackfeather Woods, even though their current base of operations was so far from the forest itself. But they would return—soon, he believed, he could feel it.

Yet, for the time being, he carried on with his usual duties—between allowing his wounds the time needed to heal, of course. Already had the Inuk been heading towards the outskirts of the territory when a howl echoed off its walls, catching his attention. In a matter of seconds, he was alert and on guard, the memories of the war still fresh in his head and prohibiting him from recognising the caller. So he ran—he ran as fast as his legs would allow him to go, easily closing the distance between himself and their guest in record time. Kove was ready to attack, prepared to spill blood and further defend his family from the threat of their enemies—but the face he saw was an entirely different enemy, a traitor that had abandoned the woods and her family.

Maintaining a decent distance between them, the northerner slowed to a stop whilst staring her down. A mass of emotions hit him all at once, nearly winding the man as he stared into the face of his once-lover—but she was his wife no longer, solely a traitor to the woods and to him. He reminded himself of these things, of the troubles in their marriage and the eventual end of their relationship. Kove did not allow for himself to forget any of these things, especially not now, when she was standing right across from him.

“Our change in locations doesn’t mean your actions have been forgotten or your crimes forgiven,” was the first thing to leave his mouth, devoid of all emotion, just as if he were talking to a total stranger. “But you should know that, shouldn’t you? So then why are you here?” For so long now, she’d stayed away, so why return now? What game was she playing at? Whatever the answers, they did not matter, he came to realise—for he would not be partaking in her little game, either way.
hell hath no fury
637 Posts
Ooc — jal
Guardian
Offline
#3
sorry idk why i keep writing novels

And this way forth a ghost comes, devoid of emotion as he greets her as if she is no more than a stranger. But she is used to that, and the burn of his lack of recognition is something that no longer fazes her. Instead, she places crooked smile to grace her teeth, turning only sour and clearly forced as he speaks in tune to blame her for things equally shared by all of Blackfeather Woods. "Crimes..." She hisses with a substanceless humour. "What crimes, husband?" Her eyes narrow a fraction, something subtly threatening behind the gesture and tone of which she says it. She can't help it, he has scratched an itch long since smouldering at the back of her mind, and though she may not acknowledge it, he had gotten to her in under a few words.

"Not loving you enough? Not letting boyfriend Damien rule over me when he was clearly never fit? Not being your subservient wife who would put you over my own dignity?"

Her words come out in raw emotion, etched into the fabric of her voice. It is too much, she reminds herself, the act is too good -- but she finds herself unable to stop, having pent up those words within the cavities of her mind for far too long. "I was your partner, your leader, the mother of your children. I gave everything I had for Blackfeather Woods and was never once thanked. Nothing was ever good enough for you, nor for them." She has lost herself, unable to get a tether on her thoughts as she says them. It as if a dam had been knocked down and the all secrets of the river were spilt out into the waterways, contaminating the existing life that already lived there. She was undoing everything she had tied up when she left the dark woods, setting free words she had never had the chance to before today. And hate-drenched words they were. "And then when I leave after years of being defied and disrespected, of being wished I was gone by all of you -- after I gave you what you wanted -- I am branded a traitor?" There is a glint behind her eyes, a true, unmasked fire that burns ever slowly, churning beneath the surface of her facade. It is wild, untamed by law and civility; and just balancing beneath her collected exterior. 

Nevertheless, she had not betrayed the dark woods. They had driven her out, and they knew it.

Her eyes cast away from his gaze return to his optics, dead set upon the cold irises she once knew. "I remember your words, 'All you want is power'. You were jealous. But you were right." She could not deny it, all she had ever done was in some form, an access to power. Even her children (and to this day she did not regret it) were tools she used to solidify her throne; surrounding herself with the only beings who would forever stay her most devoted loyalists. And they had played their parts well, for the most part. It was something she would not deny. It was something she was still proud of.

However, regathering her previous composure, she rectifies her perceived motive behind returning to the wilds that she is apparently no longer welcome to. "I am here to fix us, our family. You still miss me, no?" Her head tilts a fraction, as if to beg an honest answer from him. Most likely he will lie, but by now he ought to know that very few things get past her. "I have missed you." Lies. She steps forward, leaning her head into the crook of his neck, a familiar spot to her. She had cared about him once, she had even loved him, but such a time had long since passed. He had become weak, blinded by his own arrogance, to let himself believe he could venture near the storm unscathed. Kove would eventually pay for how weak he had made her feel that day, but perhaps, she simply wanted to relish in the serene nostalgia of simpler times the warmth of his neck brought for now. Or maybe that was a lie too; it was unlikely she knew herself.
the only way to keep your people loyal is
to make certain they fear you more than they do the enemy
Atâtak Atsanik
918 Posts
Ooc — Kuro
Offline
#4
Her voice was like nails on a chalkboard, assaulting his ears each time she opened her mouth; had she always sounded like that, he wondered? It did not matter, none of this mattered—she was nothing more than a stranger to him now, whatever life they’d once shared gone and impossible to reclaim. Even the word husband sounded sour and foreign coming from her mouth, further confirming that there was nothing left between them. He did not feel drawn to her, her reckless and crude antics that he once found endearing now but mere hindrances on his livelihood; he could not imagine a life with her any longer, for all he saw when he thought about what could have been was his own, lifeless body sprawled out on the forest floor. She was a beast—a merciless monster that could be satisfied by none, either in body or spirit. And so at her his lips upturned, incisors glistening with soundless threats.

Husband?” his voice rose, the word like venom on his tongue. “I am not your husband, Nemesis. In fact, I never was—we were living in a delusion, which you shattered.” He never loved her, for how could he offer his affections to a heartless creature? When he found there was nothing to be returned to him, no feelings reciprocated, he did what any wise man would do: he left her. Their union ended just as quickly as it’d begun, the false image that they’d spent countless nights creating shredded and left in utter ruin—and it hadn’t hurt him at all. “Damien was always destined to rule over the woods, whereas you were just a snake that somehow slithered your way into the throne,” he growled, face warped and expression twisted into something unrecognisable. Perhaps he was no longer Kove, perhaps he was someone else—or maybe his patience had finally run out after all these years, and all that remained was the travel-worn phantom of rage.

The words continued to fall from her mouth, but he found truth within none of them. She had been all those things, though it was only ever by title—not once had any of those brands delved any deeper than the surface of her flesh, incapable of reaching out to a heart that was not there. “You were nothing to me. Do not stand there and pretend as if you were anything more than a treacherous bitch.”—the insult carved its way down his tongue, leaving a searing pain in its wake—“You wore those titles but they never meant anything to you—neither I nor even our children were ever anything more to you than pawns to help you climb through the hierarchy.” He was truly ashamed of her. Ashamed that he’d allowed her to get so close to him, that he’d allowed for her to carry and bring into the world children that were never meant to be loved, only used as weapons. They should never have been born, not from Nemesis, and not into a life of servitude; it was unfair to them and, even to this day, he regretted having allowed them to live.

A low, humourless chuckle rose from his throat when she accused him of jealousy—did she, even now, still not know the truth? “I was never jealous of you, Nemesis. How could anyone be jealous of such a lonely and secluded creature?” It was almost funny to think that she believed his words to stem from such a pathetic emotion. “I pitied you, my dear wife. I have always pitied you—the woman who is always alone, who could receive love not even from the children she once carried in her womb. What a sad life to have.” Never had he loved her, not like he loved Scarlett. He had given her as much affection as he could when it counted for something, but their time together was short-lived and the emotions absent from their coupling.

More lies spilled from her mouth, false claims that had his expression hardening and body growing stiff. “You cannot fix something when the pieces were tossed away so long ago,” he stated lowly, gaze narrowing into a glare as she approached. And whilst he did not respond to her question, his ears did perk at the sound of her own answer—lies. “You never took the time to learn anything about me,” he began, the sentence drawn out as he slowly made his way through the words. “You never stopped to consider what I might know, how it was my usefulness that granted me access to the woods and not just history alone.” He tilted his chin downwards, bringing his muzzle next to her ear; he let his breath fan out over the air before saying, “Voices change when the speaker lies.” Immediately after he growled at her, the sound guttural and nearly everlasting: “Get away from me.”

There was no pause between the command and the snapping of his teeth, further warning the woman away from him. He did not want her near him—touching him—and made his disdain for her clear as he just narrowly avoided clamping his jaws down around her neck. There was no waiting for her to speak against him, no opportunity for her to try and lie her way out of this—no, the ghost did not allow for any of that. With the snapping of his jaws and snarls unlike any he’s ever unleashed before, the usually calm wolf had the last of his patience with her worn away and gave chase, ridding the area of her presence. He would chase until she was several territories away and still running, before turning around and returning to the bypass.