Dragoncrest Cliffs schildwand

for rusalka members/ST members + anyone else

the man's lips skimmed smoothly back. it had been some time since he had returned to the cliffs; he was present now, and a thousand new trailings surrounded him. it seemed a group had begun to settle here. the gargoyle stalked heavily to and fro, and presently began to lift his leg near the stone.
stern gaze searched for movement; angered by the hubris of whoever had gathered close, he bellowed a challenge bull-harsh into the cold air, demanding.

He thinks, that to tee off his father is a joke;
or maybe, aggravating the general was a humorless jab in itself.

Again, it is the self want for more suffering that he tails along Mahler's trail to the cliffs. Unknown to him, his father was perseverating over cliffs that he and his not-mother had fought, rainsweat and battered for these cliffs. Maybe he would have tumfey'd with pride at that they commandeered the cliffs and the grotto. He was not a stoneflower sohn eines monarchen like Thade, and so he was impassive to it all. 

Through the less-than languid nights where he made a mess in the garden or blathered on and on about how bottomless his stomach was, it was eritude. Mahler balanced on the far to oft seldom pillars of true manhood, forever sculpted stalwart steward, destroyed and rebuilt like the Assyrians to Babylon, thanks to the years. 

Someone seizing the cliffs now broke that streak for the clay creature, and while aquiver under the curdling, leonine missive for the intruders, the boy surveys from a ways away, unseen and calculating as he'd grown to be.

wc: 190

Rosalyn had been busy at work protecting their claim, ensuring that the cliffs were rife with the scent of Rusalka and hers.  Erzulie had gone back, as had Raleska and Kaertok, looking for the missing Valravn.  Splitting their numbers was dangerous in uncertain times but none of them could give him up for lost.

She'd hoped that they'd rest here untested, but apparently their luck truly was shit.

When Rosalyn arrived, there was no humor or welcome on her features.  She'd thought she was sick before of men, but here was another, seeking to challenge them for the audacity of trying to live in the world with some semblance of peace.

Her bearing was proud, her eye sharp.  She didn't bother to speak, not when he'd summoned her like that.  Plainly he had a grievance without even bothering to consult, so she'd make him air it the same.

WC: 148

cameo and skippable

Perhaps she was right to follow back toward these cliffs, for the devils cards played it's hand from the unruly summoning of the stone-man toward the red woman of the seas. Dantalion had met, not only Rosalyn, but the little boy Astraeus as well. A coy smile upon her heartfelt features, as a show was to begin.

Afar did they lay, however they did not completely hide themselves. If the others truly wanted to know, Dantalion was there, watching.

The call of some stranger trying to take the land where he had only just arrived was enough to bring Kaertok up alongside Rosalyn. They would need a united front if they meant to claim this land. There were two others lurking nearby, and Kaertok kept both of them in his peripheral vision as best as he could. Rosalyn had no chance against three of them, but two seasoned veterans against three was a much better shot.

He was weary from the traveling, and their search for Valravn had turned up nothing, but he was here, and he would do whatever the red queen wished. That was his duty not just to her, but to Raleska. Earn Rosalyn's trust. Earn Erzulie's trust. Earn Raleska's trust. Those three sentences repeated on a loop in his head.

the woman that appeared bore a single eye, like wylla. but unlike her, wore also the massive scarring gained only by a lifelong refusal to avoid conflict. mahler surveyed her with a heavy look, then shifted it to the fierce sort of pale creature who moved alongside the brutish matriarch. 
this one was an observant man with his body attuned to that of the battlemarked woman. with a flare of his nostrils mahler watched the strangers with a calculating glare, then lifted his chin. "who is it that seeks to claim these cliffs?" the eisen growled in a warning tone. he was aware that a single misstep would be the end of him; while the granite hackles did not quail, mahler loosened himself somewhat, a silent signal toward his willingness toward diplomacy coupled with a promise to meet tooth with tooth.
astraeus, for now unseen.

Squinting due to hinderance of his eyes, one olive one a hazed sage, a wintry-like man shouldering up to the weathered vixen. Nose bridge forms wavelet folds in the faint ghost of a snarl, the sound is rabbitsoft. There were two watchmen here, or rather another woman. Astraeus' scowl finds the bloodlet parka of her this time, not in the element of a bleeding atmosphere.
“Unless you're here to help my dad, you should go,” hissing as he says this, the dangling intimidating of his eternal grudge and somewhat experienced teeth, her incentives. Maybe not as fearsome to @Dantalion, nearer to a feline maybe.

wc: 105

Rosalyn was unaware of any others observing; she was focused solely on Mahler, who seemed to now be reading her with the same intensity she bore towards him.  His initial call had put her on edge, assuming he was here to throw his weight around unwarranted.  But at least he spoke, if in a tone that tempted her hackles to rise.  Who gave you the right to ask?

She couldn't help herself.

You, by the sound of it. She responded, the bite in her tone unforgiving.  If he was going to be rude, she was going to ride that edge as well, though she made no moves towards agression.  She did not want this to end with a fight.  But Rusalka has settled here, and when we came, it was uninhabited.  So I would be interested to hear your reasoning.  

None he could name would be good enough, she knew that already.  His boorish attempt to intimidate her on her own lands nonwithstanding, she hoped to reason with him.  If he was, as she suspected, from the nearby pack, then she needed to smooth this over sooner than later.

WC: 189

Sungiwok stood shoulder to shoulder with Rosalyn, his head lowered slightly. He noted that the two other wolves besides the three of them facing off were not intervening, which he took to be a good sign. They were not of Rusalka, so that meant they were either with the intruder or neutral. He hoped for the latter, but Kaertok was already prepared to deal with a two-on-three fight if necessary.

The intruder spoke, his words a growl. Rosalyn after, her words a firm warning that they would not be moving from this place. It was, after all, unclaimed until they had arrived. The white glacier of a wolf stood steady, waiting.

"It is not like you can help either, no?" A mused smile to her lips as Dantalion half-heartedly whispered back to the child of earlier. She cared little to the threat given, and didn't have any desire to participate at anytime, simply just watch in the distance. Her pose was of complete neutrality, making no indication she would remove herself from her current laying position.

The devil, only whispers to the saint's ear.

"Do you not have confidence in your father?" Dantalion then laughed lowly, indicating to the Astraeus he would think his father will lose this challenge.

still skippable, commentary to astraeus

aside from the trio, mahler realized with a sinking feeling that they were not alone. and yet his senses were sharpened only for the man and woman before him. rusalka, the blade of the name shoved toward the gargoyle. he had not heard it before, and yet the lines of their stalwart watch upon him promised retribution if he misspoke.
"sagtannet is my home. you are far too close," mahler rumbled lowly, rocks tumbling against one another in the cavern of his chest. and yet he meant each word, and genuinely; he did not wear the scars of the wraith upon the cliffs, and wylla had not lost her eye to the would-be claimants before to allow his capitulation now.
silent, broad paws against the ugliness of the place. "unclaimed, yes. i made sure of that before you ever arrived."

The devil's Laodicean rebuttal prompts the tinboy to rememer 'vati' was just Mahler now,
bygone, not-his-father-ever, melancholic, Gustav Mahler.

His goassamer-delicate heart still yearns to call him that, to call him father, because it knows nothing else. “Nein, rot frau.” he grits his teeth and profers again in common lips, shouldering Satan incarnate a bit but not to follow him into the fray, “not for awhile now.”

Deciding the woman would be no help, Astraeus pads closer, noticeable now by the pirate matriarch and his stoneflower eisen, gaze cautious and hackles raised. he was not keen on fighting, but he would if limbs poised to leap and teeth to latch.

wc: 110

She was correct, it wasn't enough.  You must have quite the expansive crew, to need a claim so large.  She responded, annoyed.  Or do you prefer to stretch yourselves thin, harassing those who would rather just be left alone, in order to feel you are powerful?  

Rosalyn's eyes flicked to the male who appeared behind, but she didn't shift.  In a standoff as tense as this, the smallest movement could trigger something unfortunate.

If you'd rather fight than speak, then I think we are done here.  But don't stand there and pretend we are in the wrong here for seeking to settle in peace.  Her voice took on an iced intensity, and she continued to glare, daring him to argue.  If he didn't show some signs of being swayed then she was through wasting her time here.  He and his ego could go take a short walk off of the edge of the cliffs for all it mattered to her.

WC: 160

If this was too close, how the hell far away did they need to be? To Kaertok, it appeared this was merely some posturing. This man, whoever he was, simply wanted to stir shit up. Why he wanted to, Kaertok could only begin to imagine. He was not very smart, and if he attempted to claim this place and the home he was said to already have, he would spread himself too thin, and his followers would suffer for it. Kaertok would see to that. In fact, Kaertok thought it might be a good idea to scout out this "Sagtannet" and see where it was in the event they needed to launch a counter attack.

For now, though, he remained silent aside Rosalyn, letting her do the talking while he waited for any command she might give. Or perhaps, to defend if the need arose.

he did not like the sound of her voice, the grate of it. the but the fight had all but gone out of mahler as he at last noticed astraeus. fighting the blanch that threatened to clamber beneath his charcoal coat, lavender eyes fastened with an aloof thoughtfulness upon the first pair.
while he had been disinclined to violence by their numbers, he further dismissed it after seeing the boy. scarred though he may be, astraeus was still a child. mahler would not place him directly into danger with more poor decisions. "there vas a voman here who meant to claim these cliffs through blood. i cannot allow that so close. not a second time."
more than he wished to allude; it was of the canyon wolves who had first driven them from sawtooth for which he meant his referral, but mahler would speak no more on that particular subject. these did not seem so warhungry, only travelworn and with a practiced eye for conflict. and he himself, hypervigilant. 
"the choice to fight does not only belong to me, but it will be pressed harder if you seek to move avay from the cliffs," he warned. he did not yet dare to hope for a peace — not yet. lilacstone stare upon the wartorn woman.

Up close, the pirate woman and her bear looked intimidating, scary even. It was obvious their leader dressed in red had seen her life flash before her eyes many a time, and the bear looked as if he was seasoned in that aspect of fighting from his poise and scarlet study his adversaries.

The august shadowmeister promptly explained Rosalyn's designs of conquest for her moor pilgrims, but in common tongue rather than the one they shared. He wondered at the purpose of this momentarily, but of course he said nothing of it. “i cannot allow that so close. not a second time.” — and they could agree on that front at least. He replies in understanding but sparce bats of his eyes.

Selfish, if the others knew,
but he had no qualms with Rusulka as long as their ire never reached him. 

Rosalyn had no way of understanding where this came from and no way of knowing the argument to make it subside.  In her eyes it was a random act of possession, solely a need to grasp places distant in order to clear some deep-seated paranoia.  She resented it and was unable to hide that... it permeated every word she spoke, every look she gave.

These cliffs have done more damage to my family than you can ever know,  she replied, and if you do not seek to claim them, you have no right to be here.  I will not see them used against us a second time.

If they had to leave, so be it.  They would go south again.... far as they could, until they could no longer see even a hint of their shadow on the edge.  But the thought stirred something sick within her.

It wasn't the ground they stood on.  She had no real attachment to these cliffs outside of the security she had thought, foolishly, that they offered.  It was that yet again the decision was being ripped mercilessly from her.  Yet again some outside force was pressing in on them, telling them how to live upon threat of violence, fuck their own volition.  He had no right, but here he was.  Just like others before, and likely, others after.  Did it ever end?

You are the one offering threats.  There is no 'claiming in blood', and if you leave us alone, you'll hear nothing.  Any bloodshed will be your doing, and it will not come without cost.  That was the most she could offer as a promise, and hope it would stay him and whoever he ominously spoke of for a time.  The cost was not a price she was willing to pay, not when it was her children on the line.  

She watched him.  Internally, her caged mind prowled.

WC: 316

The stranger seemed to confuse history with present, something Kaertok had seen fools do before. It was stupid of this wolf to think that anybody who settled here would be the same as the last. That is, unless he was referring to Rosalyn herself, which Kaertok did not believe to be the case (and something she was quick to clarify). If he hated these cliffs and those who settled here so much, shouldn't he be the one moving away? Kaertok certainly thought so, although he did not voice this opinion.

Could this Sagtannet not just stay away from the cliffs? Why was this such a hard thing to ask for? And why did they seem to think so poorly of anybody who settled here? It was a baseless claim, and once again, Kaertok held his tongue. Like the iceberg for a mother he had been born from, he stayed silent, steady, and calm. Only when the waves crashed around him was he a threat.

mahler knew already the reaction that wylla would have upon receiving this news. and he was angered, and heartsore at the idea of yet more conflict. but that had been the decision they made when they both fought the lady of the cliffs.
the gargoyle let the silence pass across his intractable expression. a promise was nothing without impetus, and impetus could be gained through several means. 
the thought of young children back upon the mountain reined mahler. he had taken them from sagtannet so he might save their lives; he would not begin a battle before all options had been weighed. "likevise," the greystone intoned in answer.
it was then that he set his stare in astraeus' direction, dissolving the veil of anonymity between them. mahler would have already turned his back to leave in a confidence he did not feel, but the line of his spine would never be shifted whilst his son remained so close to these stray teeth.
quiet. coolwater. du musst jetzt mit mir kommen.

Skipping with permission!  they said Astraeus could be pp'd out <3

Rosalyn waited with bated breath to hear what he would reply, and the quiet word allowed the air to uncoil some from where it had been gripped in her lungs.  She would take it.  It wasn't much, and was hardly an agreement, but it was enough for now.

She couldn't resist a final word.  Perhaps a last entreaty to whatever soul he might have, something to nudge him towards civility.  In her eyes she'd been more than giving during this exchange; he'd insulted her from the start, and were she younger, this might have gone a wildly different direction.  This place deserves to be a home, not the symbol of fear they made it.  That you look to keep it.  She let her eye linger on him one final moment, and then turned to depart.

She'd pause when she'd gotten a distance away, just to ensure he did not take advantage of being left without supervision at their borders.  She was interested in no more of his words at this point; all she could hope was that the final statement stood true.  Likewise.  Only time would tell.

WC: 187

The two Sagtannet wolves stood down, and it appeared the third had disappeared at some point as well. In this sense, Rosalyn and Kaertok had won this small battle to keep the peace. The Tartok was smart enough to know this was not the end of a potential war, though. That would come later if it was to come at all. For stupid reasons, no less. Rosalyn's words rang true to him as well, and Kaertok was glad to once again be living among those who spoke on the same level.

He had missed Raleska, but he had also missed Rusalka.

The tumultuous leadership had been his main qualm with the place, and Kaertok knew now that Rosalyn (and by extension, Erzulie) were unlikely to be challenged. And even if that happened, Kaertok had a feeling that they held the pack in their grip. Any winning challenger was more like to be ousted from the pack than followed. Little did he know that scenario had played out shortly before his arrival.

Kaertok glanced over his shoulder one more time, ensuring that the strangers here did not seek to start anything now. Rosalyn had paused as well, and the white bear gave her an affirmative nod. He approved of her actions and words.