Lone Star Mountain cloud giant

note to those tagged in-post: you are not obligated to respond here, but can! this is just a general "what your character would know about this" kinda thing :) i may be messing up some timelines or w/e BUT LOOK AT THIS
thread takes place a few days after this, for @Vonn <3

as with most things, @Mahler had received news first about diaspora's sequestered guest upon lone star; @Finch, @Takiyok, and @Thorn learned of him second. stigmata advised them all to leave him be, but only for three days - and this was the third. during those three days, the basilisk had provided cold, but adequate leftovers to the plate of his ward and spoken to him at length about who he was. but for the most part stigmata was absent - tending to his own, and leaving the mountainside to vonn's desire - returning faithfully every ice-blown twilight, to see to the lone wolf.

stigmata returned quite early that day, eager to beat anyone of diaspora that might finally want a look at their debtor, but he wasn't sure that vonn even still remained here at this point; tiredly aware that his hospitality was likely being taken advantage of, and that the odds of being repaid were not in his favor. 

the morning was bitterly cold and sunbright when he came to the now familiar shelf he thought of as "house vonn" and he sniffed at a bit of recently disturbed snow. lifting his head, the dark wolf chuffed, waiting to see if vonn came around.

She had no second thoughts about her decision to stay here, more than happy to have something to consider hers again. Taki had not given up hope of finding her family, though, and had planned to head to the coast for a few days to ask the leaders of the packs there if they had seen her sisters or her nieces and nephews. Losing the glacier was a devastating blow, but she knew she could move on from it. Never knowing if her family was alive or dead was something that would haunt her forever, though. So, she had decided to make periodic trips when she could spare the time, going to different packs, hoping to find some answers. If anything, it would be nice to travel long distances again like she had always done for her family when they needed it. 

It was as she was about to head north to Drageda, the pack she was most familiar with, that she remembered that she would be allowed near the wounded stranger. If she was being honest, she had little interest in the injured wolf that was benefiting from their work, but curiosity urged her to seek him out despite her reservations. She knew he was unable to feed himself and his dependence on them was only temporary, but the northerner really had no intentions of interacting with him much until he was able to pull his weight. She understood Stigmata's obligation to help the man and had dutifully aided him in providing meals, but she owed nothing more to the stranger. So it was with some irritation that she made her way to the part of the mountain dedicated to the injured wolf. 

When she arrived, she released chuff in greeting, running her body against his has she came to stand next to him. she glanced around but saw no one else. Looking back towards Stigmata, she raised an eyebrow as if to ask, What now?

just a cameo. pls pp in future posts.

the black-helmed brute had obeyed stigmata’s rule, though on more than on occasion he had found his gaze wandering curiously to the peak, as if expecting some pale savage to come shrieking down the snowpack at any second. wondering as he was, he was pleased to pick up the scent of stigmata returning. 

doggedly, the cur followed stigmata’s fresh set of prints until he came upon the brute, who presently had been intercepted by a female thorn had not met. he hung back, a grim gargoyle watching the mountain, and waiting for any command.

Rodents.

When too sickly to function as a wolf, you instead became feline—and your game became rodents. Not that he consumed them anymore; it was more of a way to get his muscles working once more, if anything. To keep himself sure that he wasn’t entirely without intrinsic function. It had been what he’d kept himself occupied with, when unsupervised; until the peppered male’s greeting, he had been resting. Or, trying to.

And if the impatience at his presence was meant to hurry him along... it couldn’t match the scorn he felt for himself. He knew he was a stranger, practically leeching off of the labor of others; there was nothing that frustrated him more. But as he muscled his way out of the cavern, he saw the peppered Diasporian, a young, dark male he didn’t recall meeting... and then her. Vonn came up short.

A heft of white, pressed along the male he’d come to know as Stigmata. His pale eyes didn’t notice that hers were burnished and bright, only that she didn’t bore the scars of his sister. Still, his jaw quivered, his gaze shuttered close, and he had to look away, to ground himself. He’d always prided himself as an aloof figure, in all the sense of honors and enigmatic sense.

But... Clearing his throat, he turned back again, face a bit impassive and eyes almost despondent. ”Pardon, my lady. You... remind me of my sister.” And had he known where his sister was currently settled, and known the place that this other arctic-one before them was headed... no. He couldn’t ask it of her, not when that glint still lay in her eyes.

Tearing his gaze away to Stigmata, he went on, brow knotting, ”L’matinée. I did not expect you so early. ...I don’t expect to remain prone for much longer.”

my bad omg ;-;

though he partly acknowledged takiyok and thorn's inquiring shadows looming near, stigmata's focus seemed entirely transfixed on the overhang before them, and when vonn emerged from the dawn shade, he noticed the labored male start. stigmata looked slowly over his shoulder at takiyok, who had no such reaction, and then returned his swordsilver eyes towards the mountain guest. ah, a mistake in identity, he thought dolefully as the scarred tumbler explained his reaction.

the warhound was quiet as vonn regained his composure, and went on to assure the general that he would not be their burden much longer. "good," he agreed solemnly. "i was coming to inform you that my wolves would not longer be providing your meals." if he couldn't hunt for himself by now, then gods take him. especially since he did not intend to stay. "i also came to discuss your payment. my cohorts here - takiyok, and thorn," he motioned towards each over his shoulders as he mentioned them; "are our witnesses."

stigmata watched vonn carefully from behind lazily lidded eyes, leaving little room in his deadpan expression for misinterpretation. "i do not think i need to explain to you what it is exactly you owe me, but i am in no need of indentured servants," he huffed - never the kind to obstruct free will. not using any means less than death, that is. and if he was going to kill vonn, he would have done it when he had been most vulnerable, after the angel's fall. "and unless you intend to return every pound of flesh you have received or join us, then i ask only that you never set paw to these mountains again." because if he tried to linger about without paying up, then they'd have to take what they were owed. "your debt may also be forgiven if you sent our way an able body to replace the one you would deprive us of."

He nodded at the mention of payment, heeded the witnesses as they were brought to focus, and further agreed with a soft hum as Stigmata went on. But then he gave pause, his expression becoming quiet and withdrawn in consideration.

If Stigmata was wont for him to return flesh with labor, then Vonn would do so. He'd never specified which labor, however, and the impish realization murmured to him from the reaches of his thoughts. And if this was the repayment that Vonn himself was willing to make due, well... to him, it seemed fair. "I made a vow, mon amie, to repay you. I intend to fufill it." The panther before him had singularly taken it upon his person to provide for the cloud giant; so why not the same, to give back?

"Up until this moment, I have wondered in which fashion I may repay you." With a heady naivety in his eyes, Vonn tipped his head to one side; the innocent, subtle gesture gave notice to the lean tendons in the elegant make of his neck, and drew attention to the finer bones beneath. His own starlit gaze simmered boldly, then, as he tipped his chin up to regard Stigmata's stoic self; his throat bared to him in supplication. "Mon Allgemeines​, I am as able as the fallen come. Should you remain deprived of me?"

There was a partial curl to his lips and a dim fondness in him that he couldn't place; a soft smile within his words. Then, he noted that they still had... guests, should his lovely host accept.

Well, then: witness.

"vonn," the warhound clucked, tipping his own chin downwards in a stiff motion, and giving the wounded solicitor an adamant wag of his tail. he seemed flattered at the implication, and perhaps not entirely put off by it. if anything, stigmata seemed amused by it all - as much as jagged iron could appear so. "i have no use for playthings," he disclosed flatly, unwilling to accept any sort of one-offs from a wolf who had taken more than that from the mouths of his wolves.

he padded forward in his standard slink - slow, calculating, and undaunted - creeping to the male's broad shoulder, where he aimed to place a firm, covetous nibble. "the flesh you owe me, dear vonn, must stay. nourish us, if you will. and if this flesh is not loyal, or otherwise does not fill our bellies, then we do not need it." since he had been misunderstood before, he sought to correct that now, then with a stern and coiling hiss, he added: "and between the two of us, it is not me who will be the one to remain deprived should you leave."

Despite the words, his smile remained, curving into a doting smirk that grew incrementally wider with each step Stigmata took towards him. ”Plaything I may be,” he purred loftily, tipping his chin up to peer up, ”but you would be giving yourself the chance to know how game I am.”

A hushed breath whispered down his throat, and he could taste the cold that the Diaspore leader had been steeped in. Groaning low and breathy when the host took a taste of him, Vonn couldn’t help but lick his own fangs. It was with a lidded gaze and heavy lashes that he leaned in, his brow just scarce caressing Stigmata’s own while another breath shuddered from his winter lungs. Already, he quivered with sensation, with the anticipation of what was yet to come.

But he was not deaf, or so blinded with eros that Stigmata’s proposal went through his addled mind. The porcelain male, all the same, rounded his shoulder further into the they gray one’s hold, muzzle rippling at the delicious twinge. ”Loins for loyalty,” giving a mirthless, intimate laugh, eyes soft as her let himself linger close. 

”Oh, there is not that you will leave me aching. Regardless, should I grace these mountains once more, I expect to be devoured, Stigmata,” his own words just as promising as the darkened one’s. There was a flicker in his muzzle, spritely, before he clicked his fangs just shy of Stigmata’s chin; an incessant, edging tease that Vonn was.

”I traipse these Wilds for the sake of seeking my sister, wrought with worry she should be; if she may yet live.” Shamelessly, he pressed closer, his voice a murmur, ”Make love to you under the stars you would wont, alas, she is who I endure for.” Inhaling deep, shakily, the tenant retreated fleetly, stepped away, throat hoarse as he felt himself tighten. Gaze full of longing and self-indulgence as he stuttered, ”Until then, mon roi, I will pursue one who fits my position better. Well,” he laughed, private and worn and sensual, ”not for your singular taking, of course.”

She was not quite prepared for the weird way the free-loader looked at her, and she merely stared back at him, waiting for an explanation for his strange behavior. She felt Stigmata turn to her, clearly perplexed by the situation as well, but he would find her looking just as confused. 

Vonn explained that she reminded him of his sister. It was not the first time she had been told by a stranger that she reminded them of someone else they knew. What? Did every one here know a white wolf with RBF or something? It didn't matter because she clearly was not the sister he was looking for.

Now was time to see if he would prove her wrong and repay them for their kindness. She was a little surprised to hear Stigmata offer the man safe exit from the territory carrying his debt; she was inclined to believe they would most likely never see him again after this if he chose to leave, but she couldn't say she would have done differently honestly.

The events that unfolded next were highly unusual. Taki wasn't sure she was seeing the situation clearly, but the continued lewd exchange between the men proved that she was indeed interpreting things correctly. What the fuck was this? Taki released a heavy sigh. Well, if you two are done flirting, I have somewhere I need to be, she said coolly. She dipped her head towards Stigmata, a raised eyebrow wishing him a mostly snarky good luck before turning to leave. She offered her quiet packmate a dip of her head as well before padding away towards the coast, completely ignoring the free-loader as she didn't wish to waste anymore time on him.

last one from me <3 now, HURRY UP AURE!!

as vonn murmured and coiled about him like a pet snake, stigmata rumbled in displeasure and rolled his eyes at the breathy drama. the mending archangel had every reason to worship the iron wolf. the male's generosity alone should have marked him for sainthood in the foreigner's eyes. but the warhound himself was under no such illusions. before him was a half-mended specter. a beautiful man, if one ever could be called such, but one who had done nothing for diaspora but take from it and offer breathy promises in return - the fulfillment of which he had no way of knowing would ever be repaid.

but stigmata had held up his end. and vonn would repay diaspora, one way or another, if he ever returned to these peaks. as twisted as things had become - even sending takiyok away in revulsion - everything stigmata had said he had meant quite literally. coyness aside.

he shoved lightly as vonn departed from him, and shook himself; glad to be rid of the premature physical connection he did not approve of. stigmata was general. if just anyone could rub up against him, no problem, then what kind of ruler did that make him? the place at his side was currently reserved for mahler, so he was glad when the male left him before he had to reprimand the actions himself. "you will not magick me, vonn. you owe us life. not pleasures." wiggling his tail, the wolf snorted, and loose-trotted back to where he had been standing before.

"begone from these mountains, enchanter," he said over his shoulder, motioning for thorn to take up after takiyok's trail, before following at a slower clip. he paused to look back at the starry-eyed druid. "i hope you find your sister," the mountain wraith told the celestial twin in earnest, before turning to disappear swiftly down the mountain with his comrades.