Blackfeather Woods sometimes it seems to me as if i'm just being used
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All Welcome 
northwestern edge of the forest, by the creek. AW but looking for an @Aries -- all other tags are for reference. weather is cool and foggy

@Euron darted in and out of the woods, his angular, mocking face in focus one moment, disappearing into shadow the next. His pelt of silvers and grays, whites and blacks, shimmering in some light she couldn't see, yet they were both steeped in darkness, trapped in an endless forest, she in pursuit, he the pursued. . .or was it the other way around?

His laughter chilled her spine, sent every hair of her pelt prickling as it echoed back through the trees. His tail in front of her, just out of reach. Blood around his muzzle. A bloody pawprint on his shoulder, dripping as if he himself were wounded, rather than just marked.

Tee hee, tee hee, she heard him giggle, and he disappeared. For a moment. Then, without warning, he reappeared in front of her, facing her, bicolored eyes flashing with something she couldn't place. Grinning down on her, his face looking more like a skull than something living. And it transformed into a skull, quite suddenly, spiders crawling out of the sockets of his eyes and nostrils and mouth.

She shrieked, and felt teeth on her neck. And Euron's voice, crooning as gently into her ear as if it had been one of Potema's lullabies, if she'd ever sang them any.

I will never. . .come back. . .to. . .you.


Her body convulsed, and she awoke, groggy and dazed and shuddering uncontrollably in the silent darkness of Blackfeather Woods.

Maegi knew something had changed, and her suspicions were further confirmed when she rose to her feet and found that the tightness around her throat, the weight upon her spine, had disappeared. She rose a tentative forepaw to her neck and gasped as her pad found pelt rather than the cold, hard yoke she'd endured for a moon, now.

The girl had fallen asleep--how curious, as she didn't remember falling asleep, really--by the creek, and she dipped her muzzle to the surface of the water, taking long, thirsty swallows. Tiny drops dribbled from her chin as she raised her head again, blearily surveying her surroundings. Why was she here? She spent most of her time by the Temple or the poison tree; this part of the forest was as unfamiliar to her as if she'd been dropped into some faraway territory.

She stumbled up the bank of the stream, meandering through the Woods and hoping to find familiar landmarks, or at least find another living soul. Blackfeather was quite empty these days, with wolves leaving or dying or being kidnapped and all that, and oftentimes Maegi found it was like living alone, rather than with a pack.

Even her collar had been some company to her in this time of great solitude. Now she didn't even have that.
Silencer
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Ooc — Belle
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#2
The silence was like a thick fog that loomed within the forest, a solemn quietude that allowed hushed whispers from rustled leaves to echo upon the wind and the creaking of branches to shudder and groan. The Reaper danced betwixt these twisted trees, svelte figure weaving around each crooked figure that provided cold company of its own in the Blackfeather domain. It was company that provided no warmth, but the Svartell did not seek any warmth, only slithering through the territory as though he were a snake hidden by dark shadows.

The scent that passed his nostrils was one that he found drew him - it was one somewhat familiar, and he was able to place the scent as that pale girl, Maegi, after a few heartbeats of prolonged stillness. The two had not spoken for a reasonable amount of time, and Aries had no other task, so his footsteps resumed their movements with only a slight shift to the direction in which he had been heading beforehand. 

There she was. He waited, lurked in the darkness like the beast he was. The girl was alone, and the dazed look in her eyes as she searched seemed to hint at the idea of loneliness, as though she was lost and searching not for something, but someone. Except there was nobody in sight and this he was well aware of. What was she doing? "Maegi." His deep voice, developed during his time with these wolves, seemed to pierce the silence, as though his words were a knife slicing into the Wood's solemn tranquility. Aries' figure emerged from the shadows as though he was one with the night, one with the creatures that lurked in the shadows... but was he not just that? He was a soldier, a soldier of the shade. The young man's ears cupped forward, a curious glint in his gaze of ice as he peered at her.
If I cannot bend Heaven,
I will raise Hell.
Ghost
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Finally, she came upon someone--the gray boy, whom she scarcely saw. Who'd been kind to her, in her early days. Oh, what was his name. . .? Maegi's face scrunched for a moment, trying to remember, before relaxing as she gave him a curt nod, letting slip the only sound that came to mind. "Neo," she greeted, her voice pitched low.

The tone was still girlish, to be sure, but it rang hollow, not like tiny, musical bells, like it used to. No longer was the child full of whimsy and wonder; no, there was solemnity clogging every pore, ice carved into every fiber of her being. She was a girl whose heart had frozen over, alone in the woods, with no one to talk to save spirits.

"How are you?" Maegi said mechanically, padding over to sit close to where he stood. Her mismatched eyes drilled into his bright blues. "I haven't seen you since everybody came back." Where she'd had to bear the awful news of her father's and brothers' foray outside the Woods, when she'd learned Vaati had left, too.

So much had changed. . .and none of it for the better.
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Neo, she greeted him, using the forged name from when the Svartell originally came upon the Woods and sought to hide his identity - but he had no need for such a thing anymore. The darkness was the shelter that served as a cold den for Aries to slumber within, and he desired not to return to whatever light had existed in his soul from his youth. "You may call me Aries now if you wish - that is my true name." Though if she prefered to speak the conjured name that he had taken up so long ago, then he gave her permission to do so. It mattered not what he was called.

Her voice was hollow to the ears, a tone that lacked the joyful tune of those still preoccupied with the wonders of life - the prospect of exploration, that mysterious curiousity about the world around them. Yes, Maegi's voice was stripped of this childhood innocence, and he supposed he could not fault her for such a thing. It only reminded him even more of himself. 

"As well as any other." The Reaper responded, though there was a touch more of that rare warmth in his gaze that seemed usually to be reserved for the one who had birthed him. Not even his father (especially not his father) had the honour of being within Aries' good books, but he had witnessed this girl grow up and find darkness within herself from a distance - he had not been a strong figure within her young life, but still there was something akin to understanding that he felt inside his chest. Despite knowing little of each other, the ashen soldier of steel could not help but believe that in some ways, they were not all that different. Her mismatched gaze met his own orbs of ice, those eyes that softened ever so slightly at the steady approach of the pale wolfess. "What about you, how have you been faring?"
If I cannot bend Heaven,
I will raise Hell.
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"Aries." She tested the name gingerly on her tongue, finding it much more to her liking than Neo. With a curt nod, she accepted it, sitting in silence for a long moment as he spoke.

The young man was an enigma, to be sure. He was not Melonii, not Apaata, and yet. . .and yet he belonged, unlike any of the others that had come and gone. Moonshadow, Rouge, Iliksis, Ithrik--all of them were mere passersby in Blackfeather Woods, but this boy was home, and he carried himself as such.

So why did she run into him so infrequently? Surely a wolf dedicated to the forest would be much more visible, whether that meant frequent socialization or just a silent presence on the border. But she'd scarcely seen his pelt at all; he was even more elusive to her than Euron had been, and Euron was sneaky.

The thought of her brother brought her dream's imagery to the forefront of her mind, and she blinked suddenly, trying to wipe it away. Swallowing, she swiped a tongue over dry lips as she responded, "I've been. . ." Her voice trailed off, and she looked to the side, feeling suddenly overwhelmed. "I had this thing around my neck. For a moon or so. I woke up and now it's gone."
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Maegi appeared to accept his birth name, so that was a matter quickly resolved. 

If Aries had looked upon himself as a youth of only a few months old he might have stared in surprise, for never had he forseen that he would grow into the soldier he was now. A man of the night, serving as a ward to a woman with the pelt of the stars and committing actions he knew many would be appalled to hear of - funnily enough, they bothered him naught. He was scarred, muscular; a brute if ever there was one. Yet at the same time, he was like shadow. He could slip between the trees with ease and loom within the darkness with the silence and stealth of a shadow. A born killer, no doubt.

Maegi was an interesting one to his solemn mind - the Svartell's knowledge of her was like an unfinished book, and it bothered him greatly. She seemed to have gone through a lot, and he was aware there were a few complications within her family (the nature of which he was not entirely certain, but it reminded him briefly of his own mess of a background). Not often was he intruiged about another, but there were a few individuals that often were the source of his curiosity. Nyx, for example. He supposed it was partially fault of his own, he had come across Maegi scarcely and even less often did he initiate conversation (though this was his attitude with most, as a silent stalker of steel). The Reaper looked upon her now with but a sliver of that curiousity in his gaze, eyes distantly drifting to the place on her neck where the 'thing' must have been. He noted that she trailed off before but made no mention of it. 

"I assume it's a good thing that it's off?"
If I cannot bend Heaven,
I will raise Hell.
Ghost
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Maegi gave a noncommital shrug, truly at a loss for what she felt in this moment. "I guess," she murmured. She cast her eyes up at the young man. "I don't even really know what it was for, or why it's now gone. It's all just. . .weird." Weird seemed to be a descriptor she used often, lately. Perhaps that was all her life was, and ever would be.

Weird.

"Did you get hurt, in the war?" she asked, for lack of better words. She felt suddenly awkward in the boy's presence, shuffling a bit as she sat. She knew that some had sustained injuries more serious than others--she felt a squeeze of her heart, wondering how Cicero fared--but Aries seemed fine enough, healthy and strong.

Others had not been so lucky. Maegi said a small, silent prayer for Miraak.
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She did not seem to understand what the thing was or how it'd got around her neck, but it mattered little. Whatever it had been, it was no longer there and so it was none of their concern. Maegi explained it all as 'weird', and he supposed she was right, assuming it was not only the thing that she spoke of - the entire of Blackfeather had felt off for a good while now, yet still Aries made no move to depart. The young man gave a short nod, seeing that this topic had come to an end.

Next came mention of the war. It had not been all too spectacular, but the Svartell would be lying if he said he had not enjoyed the thrill - he was an odd one, and he was well aware of it. Messed up, he'd been called, and he'd have to agree. As for injuries... well, he'd been lucky he supposed. "Nothing that could not be cured," Was Aries' reply to her enquiry, icy gaze trailing momentarily to his pelt of ashen, steely hues. Scars were there... but very few from the war.
If I cannot bend Heaven,
I will raise Hell.
Ghost
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She nodded, a sharp, jerky movement, a sudden hitch in her chest as she thought of what she had seen. Lucky for the young man he had not suffered the same fate. Lucky for them all--Miraak had been their only fatality, to her knowledge. The rest had come out, some hurt. . .but alive.

The smell that had cloaked her when the collar first appeared hung around her once more, and she noticed it now with a long breath, face screwing up. It was disgusting, so different from the natural aroma of the forest. Maegi wanted rid of it immediately. She cast an apologetic look at Aries--their conversation had only just begun, but it was hard to draw words from the Svartell--and then glanced to the stream.

"I've--gotta go," the girl said, blinking solemnly. "'Bye, Aries. See you around." With a final dip of her head toward the warrior, she stalked off toward the stream again, intending to submerge herself for a while, until the stink came off.