Dawnlark Plains Slow Life

For @Arion (tag pls work)! The thread takes place just south of S3 on the map, where the ridge descends into the dawnlark plains.

"Hello there... beautiful," hummed the ragged wolf as he stared down at his perfect specimen.  A large, shit-eating grin played across Reek's face, exposing a row of long, crooked teeth as he could barely contain his excitement at the plant he had found.  It was one that didn't grow back around Ankyra, the bastard had made sure of it when he made his daily rounds. The soil there was far too salty for her to cling to life.  However, in shadow of the ridge, she thrived.  Her flowers were deep red and were marked with a matte black center, like a splotch of spilled ink on a page.  It's bulbous green pods stretched out like arms aimed to worship the sun. Poppy. 

Gently, he caressed one of the seed pods with his paw in same manner one would touch a lover, or a mate. "Shhhhh," he whispered as if he was calming a child. "Only dreams now."  With a careful paw, the bastard took his claw and lightly scored lengthwise down one of the the green pods.  Just barely cutting into it in order to release the sap.  It would be a slow process, but the oozing opioid extract would be a much better prize than the seeds alone.

He moved from each to each with the effervescence of mad gardener, making quick and clean cuts down the sides of the ripening seed pods before moving to the ones that had already dried in the sun. The ones that had crusted over would bare no extract, however the seeds still rattled within them.  Reek carefully plucked them from the plant with his muzzle, cracking their brittle, sun-dried shells over a large leaf in order to collect the falling cascade of seeds that shook from the broken pods.  The haul was larger than the ragged wolf could have ever imagined.  Nearly a hundred seeds pooled together in the leaf.  The extract would have to wait for the next day, Reek decided.  He wrapped the seeds in the leaf and took them in his maw as he turned on his heels to begin the walk back toward the ridge. 

His boredom had vanished after that fight with Falwasi but it soon resumed a day later and with nothing other than hunting, patrolling and bla bla bla to do, he resorted to eating poppy seeds and the various supplies of herbs that could calm his mind. It was that day when he noticed his supply of poppy seeds were diminishing and decided to go add some more to the pile. It was the perfect opportunity to leave the Peak for an adventure too, and perhaps there would be something interesting out there to entertain him. It would also be a good time to check where the poppies grew outside of the Peak. A win win situation. Nothing could be better. The stallion decided to set off immediately, after all, he'd done his daily hunting for the pack and boring old patrolling.

Arion left the Peak behind without so much as a glance and began trotting south of his new home, letting the gods guide his paws to wherever he needed to be, trusting the god Hermes to lead him to where adventure was. Or Poppy. Lost in his thoughts, the Acheron moved, taking no notice of the beautiful nature scenery beside him. He had no idea how much time had passed before the scent of a lone wolf touched his nostrils. His gaze wandered until they alighted on a dark figure who was collecting seeds, from a Poppy flower. He'd found what he needed to find, but it seems someone else had got it before him.

The stallion was downwind of the dark wolf who was stealing his seeds and wondered what he should do next. Confront the wolf, or leave him be. Deciding this could be an interesting encounter that might be able to keep his mind running, Arion moved into the direction of the figure, effectively standing in front of him, blocking his path to the ridge. He strode forward, disregarding everything about socially acceptable behavior and only stopped when he was directly in front of the bastard. "Bored are you?" Arion drawled, fierce golden eyes locking onto the other's yellow brown ones, straightening up onto his full height.

In the ragged wolf's childlike excitement over his collection, he had yet to notice the scent of another close by.  That is, until he turned around from the poppy plant to head back.  When he tuned on his heel, his eyes caught a brown behemoth standing tall and proud, which took him aback with surprise.  Reek recoiled, stumbling back into the cluster of poppies with a definitive ker-thunk.  The seed stalks and flowers bent under his skeletal frame and some broke under the pressure.  However, that wasn't the worst of his losses.  In his fall, the wrapped leaf had come loose in his maw and unfurled on the ground, spilling his bounty of seeds in every which way.

"Mother-dick," Reek spat, his voice sopping wet with aggravation. Quickly, he rose back to all fours to asses the damage. A body shaped indent laid destroyed in the cluster, effectively wiping out the bulk of the plant.  He rooted around in the dirt to collect as many seeds as he he could, as they took priority over the wolf who put him in this position.  However, the black seeds were difficult to discern in the dirt allowing him to only collect about a fifth of his original bounty back into the leaf.

"Look what you made me do,"  Reek lashed out, unable to calm his aggravation.  The Archeron clearly had him in size and strength, however the ragged wolf scolded like a father would to a child. Although, maybe a bit more patronizing. "Are you fucking touched or something?"  

The ragged and smaller wolf cursed and spat as the leaf full of poppy seeds fell and littered the ground, the result of himself surprising the other man. The Acheron did not respond to the vulgar words of the dark furred one, instead raised an eyebrow, the corner of his lip quirked in amusement. He watched silently with bright eyes as Reek attempted to collect as much seeds as possible but in the end could not find all of them. Then the ragged wolf turned on him, spitting profanities and rude words to the Greek. Arion merely offered the man a shrug and a possibly annoying crooked smirk.

Spotting a poppy seed on the ground, he picked it up, chewed and swallowed it, his honey golden gaze alighting on the dark wolf. Having eaten some other herbs that were not for healing sometime ago, the effects still lingered, making Arion slightly high."Unwise," the stallion spoke in his low baritone, his lips still curled in amusement. "I can beat you into a bloody pulp if I wanted to, swearing at me is really not the best option you have." The Acheron tilted his head in a birdlike manner, "Don't appal me when I'm high."

Normally Arion did not go around beating loners or threatening them, but honestly, right now he really could. The stallion trotted closer, towering over the smaller wolf and staring unabashedly at Reek, from a close view, his fur was ruffled, messy and his bright golden eyes were slightly crazed. Like they usually were when he took those herbs.

Reek stood to face the Archeron with bony shoulders pushed as wide as they could go.  The ragged wolf's attempt at intimidation was much akin to a mouse trying to out-muscle a lion.  However comical it appeared, Reek's entire demeanor shifted to the defensive.  Hackles raised and teeth exposed as the wily wolf gave the greek a quick glance over.  The odds were heavily skewed in Arion's favor.  Running was also out of the question, as the Archeron's lean legs would carry him much faster than Reek's ever could.  The only option was to stand ground and pray things worked.

"Arrogant little prick," The bastard spat after the Archeron bit into one of the loose poppy seeds. His poppy seeds. The greek had launched into a quick, this is why you suck, speech further taunting the ragged wolf about his options, which only goaded him further into a seething state of aggravation.  Reek's proverbial Pandora's Box shook violently from the inside to be opened, ready to unleash everything he had in his arsenal toward the Archeron.

The corners of his muzzle twisted into his usual shit-eating grin.  "I know you can," Reek began, his acidic tone shifting into a droll blasé. "I can see you're a fighter, It's pretty obvious judging from that scar on the bridge of your nose.  However, the question to ask here is will you, not can you.  The risk-reward ratio here is pretty disproportionate... What would you gain?  A few poppy seeds and an undamaged pride?"  Reek paused to give the greek one last glance over hoping to gleam any useful information he possibly could. However, the other was a relatively blank slate, leaving Reek with little to work with.

"No, that would be dumb," continued the monotonous motormouth with an arrogant cock of the head matching the greek's.  "Although you haven't given me much evidence otherwise, I'm going to assume you're a man of your wits based on your word choice and phrasing.  Hopefully, one that doesn't make rash decisions like attacking a moderately prepared wolf while high on opium.  So don't patronize me about my options.  I do, and speak, as I damn well please."  

Finishing his winded speech, the ragged wolf turned back into the cluster of poppies to push the loose seeds into a pile, hopefully salvaging some of the rest.

I'm beginning to like Reek. :)

Reek was right to be defensive, although it was really a pathetic attempt at defending himself. Arion was quite violent when he was high, usually he was non-confrontational, keeping his anger in check. Locking his emotions in a small part of him, to Arion, sentiment was a defect and he would not have it in him. However he would still prefer not to get dirty even when those plants were in his bloodstream, therefore resorting to speaking and taunting rather than beating others into a bloody pulp. But he would resort to violence if he was annoyed enough, and that happened more often than not.

A twisted, crooked smile touched touched the Acheron's lips as Reek began speaking, saying that even if he could beat the ragged man into a bloody piece of shit, it did not mean he would. And then he launched into this speech about how he would gain nothing from fighting the dark furred male, or at least not much. Yes, finally someone actually a bit intelligent, he thought to himself, pleased that his journey here was not going to a waste. Despite his rather ugly and ragged look, Reek had brains, much more than most of the wolves he met.

"Oh, I like ya," Arion drawled. "You do have some brains for a huge arsehole," golden eyes analyzed the male in front of him. "But I am bored, and I literally run on these," the Acheron pointed his muzzle towards the poppy flowers. "Mind giving me some? Or do you have something stronger? I could use something stronger. Or I could beat you up,  I mean, thats probably not the best option. I need to physically move and exert physical energy and you might die!" Arion grinned, "Don't want that, do we?"

I really love this thread!  It's like a good ol' fashioned arrogance fueled douche-nado of fun!

 
"You're still here?" snapped the raggedy wolf in a mockingly quizzical tone as he pulled his muzzle back around from the dirt to face the Archeron nose to nose,  once again.  Obviously he wasn't one for basic social cues, as Reek had tried his damnedest to make it perfectly clear that he was done with the other male and his arrogant prodding.  Though, still he stood in front of him, imposing as ever.

Though the greek made it perfectly clear that he admired the ragged bastard's intelligence, it did little to change Reek's manic mentality.  Reek's bellicose scowl stood steadfast across his face.  A complimenting douche-cake was ultimately still a douche-cake.  "That's a one way street buddy," he snapped in reply, taking a small step forward towards Arion. "Because it sure as hell ain't reciprocated."

The Archeron motioned toward the poppy flowers when he asked Reek to part with some of his bounty.  That was the final straw, as Reek intended on taking home the whole kit-and-kabootle.  However, a deal could be reached, since everyone has their price. 

"Quid pro quo fuck-face," Quipped the bastard dryly as a cheshire cat grin spread across his maw.  "Why should I just, give you anything?  Tit for tat, you know?  What do you have for me?" Reek sat back on his rump, eyes alight at his readiness to make a faustian deal. "I'm going to take an extract, super-potent, it'll knock you on your ass, but that'll take some time.  I'll tell you what, you give me what I want and I'll part with a fourth of what I take.  For a heavy user like yourself, that should last, say, two, maybe three weeks.  Seeds are off the table."

"And all I want as payment, is information.  You got the smell of a pack wolf on you.  I wanna know: where that is, who lives there, how many occupants, names (including yours), descriptions, quirks, idiosyncrasies... anything I can use.  And then we'll have ourselves a deal," Reek finished, grinning like a madman. 

Yeah! :P

"Surprised?" the swarthy male cocked his head, adopting a similar mocking tone to Reek's. His honey golden eyes, slightly crazed but fierce all the same locked on the ragged wolf's ones, unafraid and unabashed, a scornful laugh rumbling from his chest. "Looks like you ain't special after all, just like the thousands of wolves who think they can judge one after mere minutes of encountering one. Its seriously not factual or logical." An eyeroll accompanied his small speech, and he smirked annoyingly. "You must be so vacant, don't you get bored?" Then added after an afterthought. "Don't worry, everyone is vacant in these wilds."

Arion pricked his ears, then allowed them to slide back in a bored manner when he finished listening to Reek's speech. "Seriously man? I just threatened to kill you and you're here thinking that you can make a deal with me that involves me betraying my pack?" he said with mock incredulousness. "You've got some serious, serious damage in that head of yours," Arion shook his head slowly, in the manner which meant he thought Reek as a lost cause.

Then his expression changed from a fake, mocking sad expression to one of maniatic amusement. Mirroring the bastard's move, the Acheron lowered himself onto his haunches. "But your deal's a good one, not for the pack though." He smirked, "I've only been there for a few days so.....I can only give you a bit of info, only what I already know which is much more than what you deserve, dickhead."

"I've got something to add though, if I accept this deal, I'm ain't going back to that Peak. No sense in getting officially exiled for treason yada yada yada, so I'll be sticking with you." he announced with a flourish and a twinkle in his eye. "Its not that bad, you can be my official drug dealer."

These two are gonna cause so much trouble, I can already see it!

The bastard rose back to his paws as the insults began to fly.  Obviously, the greek was not one for social graces, or any tact for that manner. However, Reek had given him little reason to offer any social pleasantries in his aggravation.  Perhaps, he had been a dick and deserved the vocal beating he recieved.... or nah. Definitely nah. The ragged wolf concluded that the chocolate colored male deserved the vocal bereavement because, well, he was a douche. "Wrong," Reek chirped with a sardonic smirk.  "I'll give you this, maybe I have some psychological problems, strange obsessions and compulsions, and a general air of eccentricity.  But vacancy?  Nah bub."

"So, let's take a look back, shall we?" He began, stifling a heavy chuckle. "Sure, you 'threatened' to kill me."  If wolves' could give those sarcastic finger quotes to emphasize a point, Reek would have chomped at the bit for the opportunity. "But that doesn't mean shit, so I opted to ignore it.  Empty threats get nowhere when I know for a fact you won't act on them."    

"That's the deal, and it still stands," he snapped. "I wouldn't call it treason, but I can understand why you wouldn't want to go back.  My intentions aren't bad, I just like to hold the cards, you of all the wolves I've ever met should understand that."

Though Reek was proud of the deal he had drafted, the prospect of living with this utter douche nozzle was unsavory at best.  However, given the nature of the situation, the fledgling pack of Redtail Rise needed well equipped members, both physical and mental, and he would be hard pressed to find a better fit for the pack.  "You give me what I want, I'll give you a place to stay," said Reek with a begrudging scowl. "A few others and I are settling in the ridge a couple miles to the west.  I can take you there, introduce you to Saena, and let you guys talk it out. But first, payment."

Same here! :P

Arion shifted his weight, a bored look decorating his chocolate features as the bastard retorted. Reek was really a huge dickhead, an annoying fly bugging him, he reminded the greek of his older brother Krios mixed with his best friend Chiron. It was his way of speaking, the words he chose, the sarcasm and the berating. Except for the fact that Reek was much, much more of a complete douche in the few minutes they had met than his two brothers in the year the'd known each other. See the massive difference there? "You never know," Arion smirked.

"Like I said, you never know. I will kill you if you become even more annoying than you currently are. My threats are usually not empty, its just the matter of when I will act on them," The stallion grinned mockingly at the ragged dark furred wolf. "Don't be so quick to assume things, it'll get ya nowhere you know. Nowhere at all. Better save your breath, man."


Arion cocked his head in a birdlike manner and rose to his full height once more when Reek snapped at him and told him that his intentions for wanting Nova Peak's information wasn't bad. "Ahh. I see," The stallion murmured. "You like many things, don't you?" He did understand the way the ragged arsehole thought, it many ways they were similar, and for a brief moment he wondered if circumstances had been different, would their attitude be different too? Friendly sarcasm instead of snarky insults.

The Acheron pricked his ears when the dark furred wolf offered him a place to stay, albeit begrudgingly which was expected, unfortunately. "The soon to be Alpha, I presume?" Arion spoke, his question was more of a statement since he'd already confirmed inside his head that this Saena was 99.999% the leader of this ridge. "Deal." The stallion nodded to his drug dealer. "But will you still deal me drugs if I get accepted?" a sardonic smirk decorated his maw.

"The Alphas in Nova Peak are called Scimitar and Bazi Frostfur. A mated pair. Scimitar's the male, he's an agouti wolf, large and burly, built for strength, brute force. Turquoise eyes, his fur color consists mostly of blacks, cinnamon browns and creams. Stoic. Bazi's an arctic wolf, she's currently pregnant with Scim's babies. White fur and gray blue eyes. Middle sized. I would say Scimitar's more the threat of the two. There's Kaskara, the Beta who I've never seen before, only heard. Falwasi's a member of the pack, a veteran by the looks of it. Another agouti, built for speed, agile. She consists of mostly cream, pale gold and some browns with copper eyes." Arion spoke extremely quickly, it wasn't really done intentionally, it was what he always did when having a whole load of information to deliver. "Thats all I know of the others. There's probably a few more members whom I haven't met. And if you'll like to know my name, I'll need to know yours first."

A quick flash of fangs were showed, gleaming alabaster and sharp as a knife. "You better keep your end of the deal, dickhead," he grinned.

End it here and start a new one with @Saena set directly after this one?  I can start up a new one later tonight when I get out of my night classes!

The bastard's manic grin returned as Arion spilled the beans on his soon-to-be-former pack.  The fact that the Archeron was so quick to divulge such sensitive information to a stranger was worrisome to the ragged con-man, however, a deal was a deal, and Reek would be sure to honor his word.  Plus, the fledgeling pack would have much to gain with another wolf who had an alright head on his shoulders and a good physicality to-boot, douche-canoe or not.

One of the names that Arion rattled off in his informative spiel had caught Reek's surprised attention. Bazi Frostfur, his beach-friend he'd met briefly during the stint he spent with the sirens of Ankyra Sound.  "You know Baz? That's where she's from?" he hurriedly implored in maladroit surprise after the greek had finished providing his information. "God, she must be ready to burst by now—"  he added, suddenly remembering her pregnancy. It had been quite a bit of time since the two had met each other by the tangle, she could have possibly had her pups by now.  "—I know her... sort of.  We met briefly. Nice girl,"  piped Reek in explanation.   

Reek silently logged the rest of the information into the depths of his memory, where it would hopefully and eventually find use.  "You held up your end, I'll hold up mine, Reek stated dryly, motioning with his muzzle toward the remaining seed pods that weren't crushed under the bastard's previous fall.  "A fourth of this will be all yours.  We'll come back in the morning and I'll collect it for you."

"Awkward as this is, I don't have a name," responded Reek to Arion's simple request.  "Where I'm from, the bastard born aren't given that privilege.  But, everyone calls me Reek... you can too if you want."  Reek turned on his haunches toward the west and the land that Saena intended to claim.  "We've set up a couple miles that-a-way," he said, pointing with his muzzle.  "We'll walk and talk."

Yep! Last post :)

"Course I know her, she's my former Alpha," Arion rolled his eye, but flashed Reek an arrogant wink and a smirk. By using the word former, he had acknowledged he was no longer a Peak wolf, but a loner, and therefore also acknowledged that he was going with Reek now. When he winked, he meant to annoy the ragged loner by reminding him that he was now stuck with the greek. "Yep, she's literally a gigantic ball of white fur," the stallion agreed with a nod of his head, remembering how Bazi looked like the last time he saw her. The pups would be coming soon he knew, and he felt only a twinge of regret he could not meet the children of the Alphas. But then, he'd never really been extremely good with kids.

"Good," Arion mimicked Reek's dry tone before smiling faintly. The vocal battle with Reek had cleared his head and he no longer felt bored, he calculated he would not be crazy with boredom until tomorrow which was good as they were probably going to meet this Saena soon to be leader today. Hopefully. If she wasn't there, Zeus knows what he could do for the rest of the afternoon. 

The ragged introduced himself as a wolf without a name, that the bastard born where he came from did not have a name but everyone called him Reek. "Interesting, I'm a bastard too, but my stepmother did not mind, so I have the privileges of having a name." The chocolate coated warrior shrugged, "The name's Thanatos but everyone calls me Arion," when they're not angry at me, he added with amusement in his head. 

Nodding, the εὐγενής followed the fellow bastard towards their destination.