Sacred Grove Undeniably Lonely

Kobe listened to the man name himself impatiently. He was irritated. No, beyond that. He was infuriated. He wanted to bite the pale runt of a wolf. Everything about him made the black wolf mad. The lack of confidence, the groveling, the insecurity, his pitiful nature and abhorrent weakness. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the stutter that so much bothered him. He could make out Duck’s words. Communication was still intact, the smaller wolf wasn’t missing a tongue. It was the way he carried himself, the weak personality, the omega like demeanor.
He couldn’t quite explain why but Kobe wanted to thrash him. He wanted to drag him through the snow and toss him off a cliff. Looking down at Duckweed angrily, he regretted ever approaching the sorry excuse for a man. It was the first time he’d met such a wolf and the only time he’d wanted to end a life. It wasn’t his place to decide by any means but he’d be lying to himself if he was to say that the thought didn’t cross his mind.

“Duckweed.” He spat. “You’re a sniveling coward. Where are you from? What pack would keep in such a pathetic excuse for a wolf?”
His ears twitched and he swung his head in the direction of the approaching female. His eyes narrowed and he appraised her pale form apathetically. She was smaller than him but not nearly to the extent of Duckweed’s dwarflike stature. Under normal circumstances, the black wolf would be more cautious when in the presence of two strangers whose neutrality more often soured into enemy than friend, the outright submission of the pale man had empowered him. Kobe felt in control of the situation. Feared. He thought himself the wielder of absolute authority and his tail rose over his back like a banner to indicate to the stranger that he believed himself to hold the dominant place in the forming pecking order.

His ears were forward and he held himself upright and tall wit his chest puffed out to push forth his own importance. He gave her a level look as she spoke. He scoffed at the woman’s compliment to Duckweed’s name. However, when she named herself, he nodded in acknowledgment and lowered his tail from above his head to straight out behind him. Still dominant but not nearly as imposing.

Her cheerful attitude made him remember himself, in light of Duckweed’s sad nature. He’d never met a wolf who’d made him so mad while doing so little. Eido’s introduction was appreciated, although Kobe wasn’t the type to let that on. He liked wolves who were to the point, it saved time.

“I’m Kobe, a loner. What are you doing out here, yearling?”

(This post was last modified: Jan 11, 2017, 05:24 AM by Kobe.)

~~ Do it or don't do it, you'll regret both ~~

The small loner was not at all one to usually put herself in these types of situations; she preferred polite, friendly wolves in conversation, and avoided almost all conflict of any sort. But the small, white wolf was clearly no match for the black male, and while Eido was not, either, she knew that she would probably stand a much better chance if the black male - Kobe, he called himself - were to decide that he actually did want to attack poor little Duckweed. Though, so far he'd been all bark and no bite; he'd been saying some cruel things, but instead of addressing them outright, the pale-furred girl decided to tiptoe her way around them. Perhaps this was a confrontation that she might be able to soothe.

Eido did appreciate that the black male's hackles lowered at her appearance. She no longer felt the initial fear and apprehension that she had experienced before stepping up to introduce herself, but she was quite content to give the loner the authoritative position in the situation. She had her tail lowered, but wagging; submissive, but friendly. Her posture was relaxed, and she took a step just so that she was a bit closer to Kobe than Duckweed was. She felt that he was in much more danger of a tongue-lashing than she. "Kobe is a wonderful name, too. It's a pleasure to meet you," she replied, offering him a smile and keeping her head held lower than his, but only just so. She didn't particularly want to have this wolf be in full control of her, but she didn't mind him showing some dominance. He was bigger, more aggressive. It was just natural. Besides, she got the feeling that this man liked to be in charge. She would take up a submissive posture, but she would not cower before him. However, she still smiled and wagged her tail, and laughed a bit as she spoke her next sentence. "You can use my name in conversation. That's why I gave it to you, silly. I don't particularly like being called 'yearling.'" She didn't speak unkindly; it was more of a joke.

"I'm just exploring, really," she said, in response to his question. "The Lore is beautiful, and I want to see as much as I can. Besides, with such a pleasant conversation going on over here, I just had to jump in." She looked directly at Kobe when she spoke the last part, and okay, that one might have been slightly serious, but Eido couldn't stand to see wolves being disrespected for things that made them who they were. Still, she quickly put a smile back on and asked in return, "Why are you here, 'loner?'" She was actually holding onto the hope that they could all walk away from this without a verbal confrontation. Perhaps they might even come to understand something about one another. Put themselves in the others' paws for a moment, and end up better wolves for it.

(This post was last modified: Jan 11, 2017, 06:24 AM by Eidolon.)

Flinching at every poisoned word, the hatred in the runt's gut festered and boiled, hatred for this vile bully and for himself, for not standing up to it. Well, he had tried to, but the wind had been taken out of his sails just as fast as it had come, like a hurricane of empowerment which had swept past in the blink of an eye. He'd drawn strength from it for that fleeting moment and then it had gone, leaving him high and dry and stranded, vulnerable to the malicious wolf in front of him.

What an utter bastard, he thought, not brave enough to say the words out loud though they pounded against the back of his skull in time with his thumping heartbeat.

He was enjoying this. He had to be. Preying on the weak, probably to make himself feel better about his own sorry existence. Proud rogue, he'd said, as though it were a badge of honour. More like nobody wants to be around me because I'm such a nasty asshole..

Though it might've seemed impossible, the situation only got worse. The soft greeting made him glance over before his gaze sank back to the ground again, dread forming in his gut at the appearance of some other stranger. But what she said next was just bewildering, and Duck's anxiety paused just momentarily to try and process it. Was that... her attempt at being nice...? Why? Had she just overheard everything this piece of work had been saying and that was her version of intervening, to come and compliment his dumb fucking name like that made everything better!? That was how she saved people?

@Nineva would have already ripped the bastard apart, Duck thought, and while he didn't let the smile reach his face so that they might see it, he felt his cheeks tighten just a touch. At all other points in his life, oh, he resented her for it, her and - and his mother, for always saving him, but now that he needed saving, neither were around. He wasn't going to just go find his grey knight, and his mother was a cold corpse by the side of a river.

He'd just have to save himself for once. It was still unclear whether or not this man had any bite behind his bark, and Duck wasn't about to sit here and wait to find out, because as much as he would have welcomed teeth, he couldn't deal with any more external confirmation of everything he thought about himself anyway. It just felt like slipping backwards, like all the slow progress he had been making over the last few months were being pissed on and washed down the stream, and the sensation of drowning was too much.

The woman's arrival did have one beneficial side effect; the black man turned his attention on her instead of whipping his tongue at the helpless some more, and Duck felt his stomach clench unhappily at listening to their conversation, the tonal whiplash so severe that he was afraid he might vomit on the spot. Kobe is a wonderful name too, she said, and Duck's lip curled in the faintest of sneers as he  continued to stare at the ground, saying nothing and trying to steady his breaths. She was dumb as rocks, but at least she was doing what Duck wanted everyone to do anyway, which was completely ignore him. And maybe her presence might distract the 'wonderfully named' Kobe and make him do the same.

Taking a careful step backwards, body still low and hunched over, he stared at their feet in front of him, ears tense and alert despite remaining flattened, waiting for any sign that they might stop him. Hopefully Kobe was too absorbed in his new victim, or just seduced by a prettier face, to care. Why would he care, anyway. The reasonable thing to do would be to let Duck just escape, it wasn't as though they were having any kind of meaningful conversation, it was just an excuse to be abusive! There was no deeper purpose beyond it at all, except for the battering of one ego to inflate another!

Fuck him. Fuck them both. Fuck everyone. Taking one slow step after another, he crept backwards, heart pounding as though he were trying to sneak away from an angry cougar, but no - this situation was far worse.

The yearling threw him off. It wasn’t often that Kobe met another wolf that remained cheerful in the face of his scathing personality but then again, he’d never been good with girls. They were unpredictable creatures. Most had a way with words, others were predictable balls of emotion that he could chuck whichever way he chose. Usually he just incited anger. It was the easiest emotion to control. The most predictable. If he was larger he could guide a verbal war if not he could get away with launching verbal barbs. Anything to make him feel important. To make him feel smart. For his existence to be recognized and retaliated upon.

He liked making people angry. It was the fastest way to drawing lines in the sand. He didn’t like relationships. He was wary of the obligations they carried. He was afraid of the loyalty they required. The burden of friendship that wanted to give and take. While an enemy may want nothing more than to destroy him, a friend wanted to help. But how could he accept another’s help if he wasn’t willing to do so in return? His only loyalty was for himself. No one else mattered. He did not want them to. Therefore distance was key. Distance was best.
He didn’t respond to Eido’s compliment and acted like she’d never said a word.

“You are a yearling.” He said matter-of-factly, not used to others stating their opinions on how he addressed them. But pleasant conversation? He laughed. “More like a verbal mauling.”

It was then that he noticed that Duckweed had moved and was still backing up. He stared at the man and watched him as he continued to slink away. He made no move to stop the runt. He felt like there was no point, the wolf deserved no such effort. Whether or not he learned from the encounter didn’t concern Kobe but perhaps the weak packwolf would make sure to be with a companion if they happened to cross paths again. Only then did it occur to the black wolf that he didn’t know what pack Duckweed was from. But what did it matter? They were probably all weak anyway. Such wolves would likely die out with the cold.

“Huh?” Kobe turned back to Eido. He offered her a wry smile, surprised by her boldness to address him as a loner when he was older than her. Perhaps he just held too much regard for formality, if only in that aspect. “I’m just…passing through, like loners do. What else is there to do in winter but survive to spring?”

~~ Do it or don't do it, you'll regret both ~~

The struggles of empathy were that Eido was experiencing the contempt and self-righteousness of Kobe and the anger and loathing of Duckweed at the same exact time, and it felt as though she were being pulled in two entirely different directions. Three, if one were to count her own emotions of uncertainty, anxiety, and forceful calm that she placed upon herself. She glanced back at Duckweed as he backed away, sensing a sort of change in his mood. The young loner didn't like the look in the white wolf's eye, and hoped that she hadn't done anything he hadn't wanted or needed her to do. If she had messed something up, she hadn't meant to. She thought about apologizing to him, but refrained and instead let him back away, unsure of how to call him back into the conversation. That would've been messed up, after the crap Kobe had been saying to him. It would be cruel of her to force him to stay, even though she had wanted to get to know the small male. She didn't know if it was possible in this situation, however.

Speaking of, the bastard himself seemed to be proud of himself, and that wasn't okay. A verbal mauling, huh? Eido didn't think of herself capable of that, but she did feel as though the black male needed to know that what he had done was not okay. "That's not something you should be proud of, you know. Bullying wolves who can't defend themselves. You were being a serious ass," she told him, lifting her own tail a bit to express how serious she was, and that she was not myrmidon to Kobe's dominance to the extent that she had shown earlier. She wasn't being aggressive - not by a long shot - but she wasn't going to just sit there and stand while someone was proud of bullying another wolf. "Besides that, how do you plan on surviving to spring if you anger a pack wolf and they decide to go after you, only with their whole pack? You'll be ripped to pieces." She knew she was stepping into risky territory, but to tell the truth, this loner's treatment of the small wolf had struck a chord within her, and she couldn't ignore it. Not to save her life.

The one nice thing that the asshole managed to do was finally show apathy. Though they both saw him retreating, both looked right at him, neither said a word. The girl finally managed to say something with a bit of bite to it, calling Kobe out on his attitude, but she still ignored Duckweed completely. Sure, he was asking for it, and he'd have resented her all the same for simpering over him, but how was just acting like he was as irrelevant as Kobe did any better?

But it didn't matter. They could both go fuck themselves. Once he was at a distance he considered safe enough to show his back, the runt turned tail and fled back to the safety of the thicket.

He never should have left it, after all.

-exit-

Kobe's ears twitched as Eido began to nag. "You're annoying." He said, absently. Her words had gone through one ear and out the other. If he wanted to be reprimanded he would return to his natal pack. Being laid into by a stranger wasn't his idea of a plausible passtime. He eyed her posture. She wanted to show she was serious? Did she think her words of wisdom would miraculously change him? How naive. What an idiot. What an annoyance. With his prey backing out, he had already lost interest. This woman was simply in the way.

"If I get ripped apart. It will be because I choose to die. I'm not so much a fool as to roll around with a pack wolf at their borders. Beside most wolves are lenient cowards who'd rather make peace with words than teeth." He stared at her with a pointed intensity. "You are no different. Get your head out of the clouds. This world is cruel, the only rules we have to abide by are the ones we set for ourselves."
How foolish, how annoying. If she had been a pack wolf he may have thought twice. Or maybe not. Force of personality was the only name of the game and to him, she simply did not have it.

(This post was last modified: Jan 24, 2017, 09:30 PM by Kobe.)

~~ Do it or don't do it, you'll regret both ~~