Dragoncrest Cliffs being around angry people relaxes me because i know where i stand.
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Ooc — Stevie
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One of his was missing, and he was pissed.

To be fair, he was pretty pissed about a lot of things lately. Heda's departure, Helix's rise, his younger siblings being useless at like all things, the fact that Rose was still not obsessed with him, Bobby's abandonment, Wildfire being a big ol' crybaby, and now this. Bat, gone. Like Kiwi had been gone. Like Furi was gone. What the damn hell was going on these days?

As usual, Artaax kept the anger and frustration from showing too plainly on his ever-stoney features. Those who knew him best would be able to see, but he had kept to himself so much over the past Summer that there weren't too many left in the pack who knew him that well. That day, one of the former may have seen the anger and frustration on his features as he stalked along the borders, glaring out at the lands beyond Drageda's reach with venom in his eyes.

The feisripa may not have ever openly shown any affection towards his younger siblings, but that did not mean their fates didn't matter to him. They were his to keep and to protect with all the ferocity he spared only for his dragedakru, and especially for those who like him shared the blood of heda. He was not okay with Bat being missing, and he was quickly becoming not okay with doing nothing about it.
 
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Though she serves as Blixen’s right hand, it does not stop her from her other duties. Helix is a warrior through and through and though she spends a fair amount of time on the front lines to keep Drageda safe, meaning she needs to keep her skills up. In Trigeda, she could turn to another and spar at command, if she wanted, but she does not feel comfortable with that here yet. She does not know the warriors that have stayed, beyond Dio and the acting commander, but she’s aware she needs to change it.
 
Artaax, as mentioned by Blixen before, is not easy to find. She hasn’t met him face to face and so when she finds a scent she knows she hasn’t connected with anyone in particular, she follows it. Coming from around a few trees, Helix is faced with a beast of a wolf. He can easily match her in size and she has to question who really carried their children. He does not look like either mother, though, beyond the comparable size and chuffs when she is close enough.
 
“Feisripa,” she questions smoothly, confident in her deduction.
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Ooc — Stevie
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He had never spoken to Helix, nor had he ever felt any desire to. She was another of those outsiders that infiltrated their ranks under the guise of being “sister pack”. It was all bullshit to Artaax. They had never done anything for Drageda and Drageda needed nothing from them. Dutiful though he may be, that did not stop him from forming his own opinions and prejudices. The fact that Blixen has blindly promoted her was sickening to the feisripa, and yet he did not raise his voice against it. He merely looked on with quiet, thoughtful, brooding eyes.

He heard her approaching, tasted her scent on the breeze, and shut his eyes. He paused in his stalking to allow her to approach, taking he few seconds to breathe deeply and steady his roiling temper before turning to offer a stoic dip of his muzzle that would serve as his greeting.
 
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At first, she thinks he’s going to ignore her, but he turns to give her a stiff greeting. Not that she would call that a greeting, really. More like a notion of acknowledgment. He is Heda’s son, blood or not.
 
“May I join you?” she asks once she clears her throat, proper and professional. Prior to Drageda, she’s always known where she stands among other wolves. A leader to warriors but not a pack and Artaax’s lack of expression is rather off putting and she has to play her cards delicately and expect to lose.
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Helix asked to join him. Though it was second nature to him to show no emotions on his features, he still had to fight to keep himself from rolling his eyes. Artaax considered telling her no, but she was fleimkepa, regardless of how strongly he disagreed with it. He dipped his muzzle again before turning back towards his path and continuing on his way. She could follow if she wanted. Hopefully she didn't expect him to carry the conversation, though. She was gonna be real disappointed real fast if that was the case.
 
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Still, Artaax doesn’t say anything. If she weren’t used to silent, warrior type wolves she might consider him mute (though she doesn’t entirely exclude this idea) but Blixen or anyone else hasn’t mentioned anyone except for @Hush, whom has left with Heda a few weeks ago. Feisripa accepts her request but part of her can tell he doesn’t want to and she can garner a pretty good guess why. No matter. Helix lifts her head a little more and wears her title well enough that she will not bow to some petty unhappiness. And if he is not unhappy with her, her display won’t matter. Without saying anything else, she takes in an easy stride and walks along the borders with him.
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Helix did not force a conversation between them, for which Artaax was mildly grateful. He didn't particularly care if she did wish to question him, but that would've changed the moment she did decide to do so, at which point he would be aggravated. Minutes passed though, and the silence lingered until it felt almost comfortable in that he nearly forgot she was even at his side in his disregard for her presence.

And that's why I feel like I need to throw a wrench in here.

Most of Artaax's border patrols yielded him nothing of any interest. There was of course the usual smattering of random scents that he took his time inspecting further, but he rarely felt any sort of alarm over them (except for when he took the scent of a fox way too seriously because he was just that bored). Today  was different. Today's scent made him pause with tensed muscles and rising hackles. Today's scent was canid - not wolf, but similar... coyote. A low growl rumbled in his chest as his eyes narrowed and he lifted his gaze to his surroundings, readying himself for a hunt.

He was going to be real surprised to discover Helix was still with him.
 
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It isn’t difficult to remain silent on the borders. Often times, she checked the borders with the same wolves and they didn’t have everything to talk about. Though there’s much to learn of Drageda and Artaax himself, she isn’t going to get anywhere by forcing it an so she moves at an even pace and all her attention can focus on her surroundings, as it should be.
 
When he shifts into a new position, slowing, Helix does the same. Seconds later she figures out what he’s locked on, the scent of coyote on the air, but she does not prepare herself as he does. A hunter by nature has gone into action and Helix takes a step to the side and out of the way, only watching as he goes through the motions to take out the pest on their borders.
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Helix made no move to draw his attention back to her, and so Artaax remained focused on his hunt. The scent was fairly fresh, so it took him only a few minutes of roaming back and forth amongst the shrubbery before he found his direction and took off in an easy canter. It wasn't near enough that he needed to mask his steps quite yet, but he didn't want to tire himself before the main event.

The trail continued along the borders for a little while, wavering nearer and further every so often. The bold little bastard even crossed into the territory once to creep on a cache someone had stupidly dug far too near to the edge of the territory. Fortunately, the coyote had been forced to turn away empty-handed as the cache had already been emptied but for a couple of meager scraps. Anger flared in his veins at the creature's audacity. If he hadn't already been planning to murder the piece of shit, he definitely would've been on board then.

When Artaax turned away from the empty cache to follow the trail again, he froze upon seeing Helix still there, shadowing him. He emptied his expression within seconds of showing his surprise, but stalked away from her again shortly after, now annoyed both with the coyote, with the fact that the usurper was still around, and with how he'd just been startled by her presence. GDI, Taax, get your head in the game.
 
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She follows along but at a distance, letting him scour the woods for the mangy thing testing their patience. She doesn’t want to interrupt his concentration as he moves one way and suddenly the other, right toward the cache in question. Only a few more steps and she’d be right on him but he turns back, continuing his search, and she manages to startle him anyway. Stunned herself, she takes a step back and watches him, his expression flipping from stern to annoyed and stern again, turning away and returning to his search.
 
This time, she keeps her distance, but trails along anyway. She isn’t going to give up so easily.

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The scent trail began to grow stronger, leaving Artaax's mind little room to continue to consider his embarassment over being surprised by Helix. He quickened his pace for about a mile or so before the scent was strong enough to make him slow to a pace that was more condusive for sneaking up on unsuspecting prey. 
He took care to keep his steps silent as he employed all of his senses to tell him where exactly he would find the coyote, even though he had a good idea already. He trusted his gut in this and moved accordingly, keeping himself upwind of where he suspected the coyote had stopped. He stopped only when his final sense caught hold of the creature and he had it at long last in his sights.

Artaax crouched low to keep himself from sight as he watched his psuedo-cousin tear at the bones of some long dead deer. There was barely any meat left on it, and though the feisripa had zero claim to the carcass, he still felt a spasm of anger that the coyote would dare touch even a single mouthful of food so near to Drageda's territory. Even the barest of scraps were too good for the trespassing scavenger. It needed to die.

The white lion glanced to the side, searching for Helix. He didn't need her help, like, at all, but he'd rather they coordinated an attack together than he go at it solo and she stupidly get in his way. He assumed she wasn't smart enough to let him at it alone like she ought to. So, he gave her the slightest dip of his muzzle - an invitation to follow his lead.
 
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Helix keeps her distance since the awkward encounter but she still follows along. He trots ahead by several feet as he hunts down the source with skill she has not seen in sometime. There are times she is unable to find the scent but he’s zeroed in on it, taking them all the way until they close in on the culprit. When he stops, she slows and comes up behind him with calculated steps to avoid as much sound as possible.
 
He turns to look at her and she watches, competing against his stoic nature. He invites her in, anyway, and she adjusts her posture, setting up for what’s to come.

Mostly, she decides to stay out of the way while Artaax expertly obliterates the coyote.
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