The Heartwood [M] black magic woman put a spell on me

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Jaws snapped, tongue reaching out for the taste of blood and fur – nothing. The leporid evaded his teeth again, bounding off and slipping into a hollowed tree on his far right. Snorting clamorously, Tatsuya rushed over and shoved his snout into the opening, whiskers quivering excitedly. The hare did not seem to be moving any further inward, so he gave it some incentive: he clawed at the entrance. Stopping to listen, he heard the critter shuffling around. It was close and it did not seem to be moving inward...Curious.
INDENTWith hope in his heart, the loner set himself to work, digging feverishly at the earth. What with it being summer, the land was easy to tear into. Had it been any other season he was positive digging would have been more costly. Summer was good for a multitude of things, but nice temperatures was not one of them. Today was particularly hot so it did not take long before he was panting. Nonetheless, he did not stop until he could peek in and see that his prey was at a dead end. Hm. Poor bastard didn't think that through, did he? It stared back at him with wide eyes and quickened breathes, knowing it stared death in the face. Tatsuya carefully dug some more, claws filled with soil. He was not going to give this hare a chance at escaping, so he kept his head low, maw open and salivating wildly. He would reach it in due time.
INDENTAnd reach it he did. It took many different angles until he could angle his head in and actually grab a hold of something. Tatsuya jerked his crown from the hare's terrene prison, putting one massive paw on top of it before snapping it's neck. It died in his teeth, it's blood whetting his appetite. He dug in.
INDENTConsidering how small the hare was, Tatsuya wondered if this had been his wisest course of action. It was nowhere near as large as that doe he took down days ago, but the meal in itself was quick and reasonably easy. Thinking back on it now, it took him far too long to bring down that deer...but he had killed it, and it was rightfully his until a certain someone –
INDENTNo, he reminded himself, glaring at the hare's remains. Don't think about it. What's done is done. There is nothing you can do about it now.
INDENTWith a bit of meat now sloshing around in his belly, the rogue sat against the tree he just desecrated and closed his eyes, cleared his mind, and meditated. He could hear the dry, trilling song of a Brewer's Sparrows far into the distance, perhaps looking to invite a willing female to mate with him. The sound paled likened to the chorus of a masses of finch, sparrow and who knows what else peeping in the foliage far above him. The smells...mostly damp earth followed by a stale after-scent. It kind of smell liked decay. He was not sure what it was from and did not bother inspecting it. Then there was the smell of many trees, of course. An Aspen was nearby, signifying that water was nearby too, but most of the trees surrounding him were Englemenn spruce.
INDENTA cool breeze snaked through the trees, carrying with it a familiar, unwelcome scent...His eyes shot open and his muzzle crinkled. So much for peace and quiet...

poop post done from phone next one will be up to par ;; and also ur writing is the most beautiful

 

Tonravik had visited the hot springs to soak. Iqniq had brought her there, and it was a place she remembered well. She felt a strange soreness, and she left the land. But after her time in the heated waters, she went toward the gorge and the Heartwood. It was a water source that was fresh and also that offered a unique variety of fish. There she lingered between the two points, and watched the water hungrily for moving bodies. The water surged fiercely here, and her ears cupped backward to listen for any sound around her other than the roaring waters.

The woman thrust her muzzle into the waters many a time, and all but one she threw sizable fish back onto the land behind her. The leader looked around her for any sign bears, quickly picking at the aquatic thing and thinking of how she preferred the fish of the ocean to this. The woman felt an awareness in her mind as she realized, that was the fish that she wanted. Still, she ate.


By the time Tatsuya smelled her, she was dry, and only some bones were left. She rose, preparing to return home. 

Tonravik's presence riled him up. Standing abruptly, he hurried on his way to intercept her, tail and hackles rising with each gallop. The sound of rushing waters filled his ears but the she-wolf's smell was as poignant as ever. Ironically, that only seemed to rouse him further. Spotting her moving along the riverside, Tatsuya slowed to a halt. She was a way's off, and she did not seem aware of his position. Yet. He was downwind from her current position, but there was no telling if the wind would stay that way. Air was a fickle thing.
INDENTCrouching low, Tatsuya used the trees as a way to stay hidden. The many trunks of various trees where thick enough to hide his slender bulk. He did this for a while before he neared her roving body. Briefly sticking his head out to check her position, Tatsuya avoided areas on the forest floor that would signal his location. Small twigs and such; objects that would make a sound if stepped on. It felt like an eternity before he was near enough to really see and smell her. She kind of smelled like fish amongst other things. Looking at her, she seemed to move with this...sluggish sort of grace. Like she didn't give two shits if she was alone, away from her precious pack mates. There was an air of nonchalance about her, too, sometimes shifting into a guarded awareness. She was aware of her surroundings, but was she aware of him?
INDENTTatsuya broke free of the treeline, throwing his weight at her. Two lounges and he would be upon her, teeth threatening to rip her apart. And if he was successful in doing so...? Something deep down told him to hold off on spilling her blood, but if she came at him in a frenzy, seeking his blood, he would do the same. Really, he just wanted her on her back, or in a position as humiliating as she put him in mere days ago.

Perhaps she would go to the ocean. Tonravik would take Iqniq. She wanted her cubs to experience the waves when they were able to, and when they would not be stolen by them. Even a full grown adult could be taken captive by the sea, but she would teach them all she knew of survival. Including surviving the waves.

Tonravik had only just started in her departure when she heard a sound beyond the rivers dull roar. So close to the gushing waters, Tonravik caught sight of the very wolf she had taken a meal from. His demeanor was unpleasant, and Tonravik fully anticipated he was not here to speak. He could have stayed there, in the Heartwood. Were she not so aware, she might have been caught unaware. But there he was, muscles coiled. Tonravik thrust herself forward, out of his line of path, the movement so natural it was truly thoughtless. The woman herself had been right beside them... and as she looked at his trajectory, she became aware of what she may have led him into.

Tatsuya was a simple wolf. He enjoyed fine cuisine and fine company. He enjoyed picking apart thoughts and emotions. He enjoyed watching the sun set, watching the sky fading into a kaleidoscope of colors as the giant, glowing hate orb descended below the horizon. What he did not enjoy getting his ass handed to him on a silver platter while he tries to deal out some goddamn fucking karma!
INDENT“Fu–” Unable to finish, water filled his mouth as he disappeared into the foamy waters. The river battered from all sides, spinning him round and round 'til he lost track of up and down. Straining against the current, he stretched his limbs as far as physically possible. He hoped to feel something – anything – to grab on to. A log, a shoot, a fucking rock, roots, anything would do. Nothing jumped out at him, but he did realize that he was upside down. Angling himself upright, he kicked his legs against the current to break the surface. He gasped and heaved as much air as he could, starved for oxygen.
INDENTWolves were not meant for these swift, cutthroat, precarious waterscapes. Anyone with a brain could see that. Wolves could paddle in placid waters, sure, but this shit was home to salmon and fish. Last he checked, he was not a fucking fish.
INDENTAiming to get out of this turbulent fucking river, he threw his weight as best he could towards the bank, but the goddamned current was to strong. Desperate, Tatsuya let out a cry for help as he was threatened with being forced under again. The idea of drowning was most unpleasant.

In seconds, the wolf was swallowed whole by the hungry mouth of the river. It took him down... and Tonravik stood still for a moment, merely watching, when she noted a foreleg pop out first. Then, a head. She watched him struggle against the waters movement and moved in his direction, arriving in time to look at his bedraggled, sopping wet form partially press against dry land. Tonravik was acutely aware that she could shove him, let him die. Better yet, sit there and watch. Let nature do all of the work for her. As his hind-end was dragged in the opposite direction that he held fast to, Tonravik knew full well his chances of surviving this at all dwindled. And she had all but a millisecond to decide what course she would take.

She had a far better idea.

Tonravik lurched forward and her jaws wrapped around his thick scruff. The woman tugged mightily, knowing that if he tried anything to counter, it would mean her releasing him, her letting him die after all. She tugged mightily and roughly with her weight, the water too powerful for gentleness to be an option, as Tonravik worked with the dark stranger. Had he eaten well recently, she would have struggled with his weight. Tatsuya was no small wolf. Even despite his lack of a decent meal, Tonravik had difficulties. But she would prevail. The water would not be the one to kill him. He was hers to kill, and although she indirectly could have by letting him go...

She preferred that he owe her the life she had enabled him to keep.

What could you do in this situation? It was not possible to win against nature. Try as he might, he was but a mortal in the grand scheme of life. He had not lived his life as fully as he could have...and he regretted it. He regretted not committing himself to a woman or man. He regretted not having kids of his own, by blood or through adoption. He regretted giving his father the cold shoulder as he rushed off to become his own person instead of another pack drone. He regretted finding an enemy in Sakuya and her ilk. But most of all...he regretted trying to kick that bitch's ass because, hey, you can't be going around taking a loner's meal! There's this thing called cause and effect! What the hell is wrong with you?!
INDENTAnd that bitch he was mentally slandering as consciousness started slipping away was going to save his life.
INDENTSomething jerked him from slithering away into nonexistence. Jerked him real hard to the point of pain. It grew in intensity, biting, searing into his flesh like hot knives. So great was his affliction that he expelled most of the water from his lungs just to yelp. Vision returning, air circulating through his lungs, Tatsuya practically dangled from Tonravik's fangs. He was familiar with pain, but this hurt like a mother fucker. Urgh! Balling up, Tatsuya felt long strands of grass brush against his bottom as his rescuer pulled him ashore. Having suffered the full brunt of his weight, he did the rest by sprawling out and taking hold of the wet earth with his claws, digging them in deep to ensure that he was alive, I am still breathing. He was a wolf who yet lived because of that bit –
INDENTIt probably would not be wise referring to her as a bitch now. She was...more than that.
INDENT“Wh–” A fountain of water unexpectedly gushed from his maw, words dying on his tongue. He gasped for breathe, head pounding, body shaking. Coming back to life near the brink of death was an similarly stimulating and debilitating experience; one that was not easy to recover from.
INDENTThe world around them was anything but quiet. It was rancorous and blindingly beautiful. Tatsuya wanted darkness and silence, but knew he would not receive such a mercy. Blearily looking up to the shadow above him, he rasped at her weakly: “Why?”

YOUR WRITING UGHHHHHHHH

It took time, but time she had. Her muscles flexed and some of her power revealed itself until at last, she managed to hoist him up on the riverbank. She panted afterward, hot with the heat of the damnable day, and let him linger in silence. After all, speaking was not her preference. Tonravik moved to drink from the river, knowing the other was loose-legged and would not be able to stand right his first couple of gos (she had been there before, but had not been pulled out, had merely woken as a yearling sprawled out, half in-half out of the water. After struggling with her gooey limbs, the leader (then pack wolf elsewhere) figured out how to walk again with true gravity).

He began to sputter, and Tonravik turned back to him.

She had acted like a kakkiwak (harpoon for fish), her fangs the sakku. Wolves were taught of this in the riverlands, harpooning a word for fishing, heard through the wind and remembered and passed on. If ever asked what a harpoon was, she would only say, "we are". And so she looked to the large fish splayed exhaustedly at her feet, and remembered him taking down the weak animal she had taken from him because she could, and because she was hungry as she saw his meal. It was greedy, sure, but wolves did not survive in acts of selflessness to one not their own (in her case, her pack).

Tonravik knew the male was strong, and knew there was plenty to fix in him. His temper. His impatience. His area of attack. She had done it largely because she could. But moreso because... "You look strong, useful. It would have been a waste." There is no smirk on her impassible features; she was not kidding. "Do not fight against me. Fight with me. Fear for when you will eat your next meal no more," Tonravik looks to the river, realizing that the wilds had tested him as a lone wolf so many times already. "Come, Kapvik." She realized how distinct his markings were, like the name she had called him—wolverine. She would invite him with her only once, and turned to depart.

NO UR WRITING URRRRRRRRGHHHHH

He – an often spurned loner – has shown Tonravik nothing but odiousness; defied her every step of the way. What use was he to a woman such as her? Straining lobes twitched at her words, surprised to hear her speak even though he prompted her. Her voice lacked feminine inflection and emotion, but her words were no less evoking. For a woman of so few words, she certainly knew how to speak.
INDENTHe was in her debt, but the way she spoke and acted...A wolf such as Tatsuya chooses his master and does their bidding out of love and respect, not because he is forced. Service, to him, is not demeaning; service is an expression of prowess and pride. He serves because the strong deserve to be served with such flawless perfection and such consummate ability. There is pride to be found in service to another. Should he take her offer? Was this all a plan conjured up at the very last second? Tatsuya did not know what to think, feeling his heart and mind pull in two separate directions. He wanted dearly to become one of her flock, but he can't help feeling she planned for his pledge of indentured servitude...It was a doubt that ate at him and would continue to do so well on into the future. A suspicious mind arouses its own demons.
INDENTKapvik, she called him, and so Kapvik he would become.
INDENTWith leaden limbs, Kapvik rose with an obnoxious grunt, laboriously bringing his head to follow. Watching her retreat into the shadows, Kapvik willed himself to follow. He stumbled and tripped, but he followed. With each step he began to feel...normal again. Normal, but dreadfully tired. He tried to match Tonravik's pace, falling into a brisk trot off to her right hind end. Kapvik wanted to believe Tonravik saved his sorry hide without ulterior motives, but the doubt weighted heavily within him. For this, he dared not touch her, fearful of deceit's endearing but chilling sting.

As he came to himself, Tonravik admittedly catered to his movements. Once she knew he was following, she would not leave him behind. Her anger with his actions had all but gone as he, in coming with her, pledged his allegiance to she and hers. Now that they were pack, that he owe her anything was in essence forgotten. They owed each other, now. That was pack. She was only as strong as him, so now, she needed to strengthen what weakness she saw. 

He soon regained his legs, and together the duo picked up the pace, homeward bound.

Last post from me! <3

Having her cater to him eased his mind a bit, but he still remained distant. In time, he was sure to see that Tonravik has no ulterior motives. Until he was positive she was not going to remind him how she saved his life and use that to lord over him would make him feel better. Tatsuya used this as a defense mechanism, but Kapvik felt the distrust unneeded and now, unjustifiable, as he became one with the Spine. Who knows what the future holds. Only that it is unknown and...a little less lonely.
INDENTKapvik felt steadily more invigorated at the idea of a new home and brushed past his alphess, tempting her into a chase that she was certain to win.

- EXIT TATSUYA -