Bramble Falls Where is my mind?

Crowe strode proudly, where he was he knew not, but the hallucination behind his eyes, made him believe he was approaching his father, whom was preparing to make him rightful king to Shane Valley. But no, the adoring wolf's and females awaiting courtship suddenly turned to his enemies, not just enemies, they were all the same two, his father and the alpha he murdered. The huge white wolf drew his lips back and snarled, stopping dead in the middle of a forest. Blankly staring into nothingness with a snarl frozen to his face until eventually he snapped back into reality. His snarl remained planted upon his face and he dipped his head down, and followed the scent of a kill that would soon be carrion.

He found a small deer, half picked clean by coyotes and birds, but Crowe did not care, he was starving. He tore into the carcass like it was his last meal. Fed now, the white wolf began to steadily trot towards a very faint pack scent he had caught on the wind. Though it was still a long way off he would still go directly to the border and call if he must, another pack meant more information, it meant he could begin to make his black mark on someone's life, his insanity was eating at him and he was beginning to like it. Come come, little ones, come and meet your death's

So much had happened…and so much had changed. Swift River had gone through months of hardships and heartache, pushing them to the very edge of their own sanity sometimes and asking them the true question as to if they were willing to live or not. They had all lost many but in the process they had all grown closer to one another, and Jessie found herself becoming exceptionally close with Ice. The two had a complicated relationship, but even his grumpy side seemed to bring the best out of her on a bad day. She knew that when Indru had left, that it had been quite odd of her to go into the small dark pit of depression…but it probably had something to do with the fact of how her life had been once her sister had left her for her mate. Of course, it had been much worse when it had come to her sister. Jessie had committed herself to Cali and then she had left, ordering the younger Swiftpaw to stay behind because she had been too young. Yes, Jessie still loved her sister, but the dark edge of depression she had gone into, Indru’s own disappearance had brought back the memory, and it had been one that the young girl had fought hard to keep buried, and now, it was once again boxed in the depths of her mind. Of course, if the old River alpha’s name would come up she would become stiff but otherwise there would be no other reminders of the leader who had tainted all of their minds.

For once, she had decided to wander out of Swift River territory, just to see something else for a change, since ever since she had returned from the journey with Ice and Fenru to look for Rissa. The ending result had not been a pleasant one, and the Swiftpaw had been there for both of the boys, though they were boys and as usual, they had their own ways to handle their emotions. None the less, she had needed her space, and so she had decided to set out to try and perhaps go for a small hunt on her own. That was what she had wanted to become…a huntress and she had led a successful pack hunt. She had also wanted to speak with Corinna, not really knowing the Swift River alphess well. Her mind strayed from her own thoughts when the scent of a loner crushed her nostrils. Upon the unfamiliar scent, Jessie’s nose instantly wrinkled, not having been outside her pack’s borders for quite some time. She snorted, as if attempting to get the scent of the lone wolf out of her nose. And no sooner did she think of it did a large white form come into view. Upon eye contact, the pepper-colored girl’s jaw almost dropped. Compared to her, the man in front of her was enormous! She had never seen him before and let out a stiff bark to let him know of her presence.

The wrecked prince caught the scent a moment before he heard the females bark. Pack scent flooded his nostrils and he almost had suppress that wicked look that usually graced him when in the presence of smaller pack wolfs. The war within his head preached to him of his fathers teachings of respect to other packs, when near their borders or their members. But that same man had exiled him for nothing, the darkness was overtaking in his inner war. Crowe was angry at that, and it always showed. He wanted nothing more than for the agony to expel itself and leave him purged for better or worse. He prowled forward to stand closer to her head and tail flat relaxed, he would not start a fight yet He would first asses the female before him.

She appeared sturdy, but not near as sturdy as he was, of course not many were, however he knew she smelled the scavenged meal on him, which wasn't the most pleasant scent he could carry, and most likely belied his status, or lack thereof. But then he was a warrior, not a hunter by any stretch, if she decided to run for her pack and call challenge to the large white wolf before her he couldn't escape, her build was much better for speed than his. He let the ghostly light of insanity creep into his yellow gaze as he opened his jaws and spoke "Crowe Shane." Like ice the voice slid through the air, laced with threatening tones, this was not his fault merely the way he spoke, with his own brand of insanity.

If she was not a pack wolf however he wold have taken her for his right there, for she was an attractive young lady. He was a twisted wolf and used to be able to love well but his heart no longer felt anything other than anger or pain. For all intents and purposes he was now a machine. There was enough respect left in him to unconsciously dip his head, though a nasty look followed, he hated respect. His had been stripped of him, now he was either insanely bloodthirsty or he was in pain. Today was not a good day, for today they both warred within his shattered mind. It was obvious something was deeply wrong with him today anyone would be able to see it. The mental scars were deep.

(This post was last modified: Feb 06, 2013, 12:47 AM by Crowe.)

It didn’t take long for the white male’s attention to revert back to her, but as soon as she saw him head on, she hadn’t realized the scent of a kill, well, an old one, most likely meaning that this male had not been the predator, but simply savaging for food. As a loner it made sense as to way he was doing so. He was larger than her by far and would probably have trouble hunting prey that could easily outrun him any day. The young girl could also see the slight pain and madness behind the orbs of the male, and she found herself slightly intrigued with the sight, almost as if she wanted to lean in and help him find himself and get a grip on the part of him that wasn’t overloaded with madness and pain. She found herself tilting her head slightly, just wondering if she could dive into his mind and figure out what could have caused this of him. Before she could divulge too much into her thoughts, he spoke and Jessie mentally shook herself out of her daze. She then flicked her tail, constantly reminding herself not to get to involved.

After he gave his name, the younger girl’s eyes flashed. She heard the tone that the man was using with her and unlike most females, even though she was small, could pack a wicked bite. And she wasn’t afraid to…if she needed to she certainly would, no matter the cost. "Jessie Swiftpaw," she replied, her own voice icy and threatening the other male. It was a cue for him not to mess with her and that the better option here would probably be to back off if his plan was to mess with her. He was larger than her, yes…but Jessie was a pack wolf and she also had speed on her side. The benefits of staying with a pack were high in Relic Lore, one of them being having your body developing better each day. This male would be wise not to pick a fight with her if he thought to do so.

Jessie's voice rang clear, and her tone registered in Crowe's mind. Strength was laced with her tone, Crowe liked that, she would not be harmed by him. He saw her head tilt and the very clear look of deep thought cross her face. She wants to know why your mad Crowe. Tell her. Crowe growled softly barely more than a rumble and a whisper "No I will not no one should know." He hadn't even realized he had spoken, he was still staring directly at the girl. He visibly shook himself, attempting to shake the madness.

It was to no avail it had a hold too deep to be removed in a moment. However he had enough of a moments clarity to get out normal words, words only the old honorable Crowe would have spoken. "I'm new to the lands and I smell your pack scent, is there anything you could tell me about your pack and these lands?" They came out polite, much more so than his name had, the madness was gone from the words though his eyes still betrayed it. It was this moments clarity that brought a tidal wave of self loathing. He was wrong in so many ways, and this was one of them. One moment speaking in a murderous tone to a she wolf he had never met. The next moment he was calm and polite.

Perhaps it was the insanity of that simple change in speech that had unhinged him so. Interaction seemed to help as long as the word kept coming Crowe could hold on to this clarity. But as soon as he was left with his own thoughts, the world became a dark mass of hatred and evil. Weakness he was determined to purge, or perhaps it was his own weakness that he really wanted purged for letting blood lust take over his mind and kill that alpha so many moons ago. But now was not the time to dwell on this, he had his mind for a short while. Crowe wished to make use of it, to be friendly for a time until the madness took him back.

OOC: CRC is disbanded at this time, but Jessie doesn't know that.

As soon as she seemed to finally get her attention off of the tortured eyes of the man, his voice echoed in her ears. If he had honestly expected her to have truly asked him about his past, she thought of him foolish. His business was none of hers, unless he brought her into it, otherwise, Jessie would have no reason to ask him about anything. Her tail flickered behind her unconsciously, letting her ears listen to anything else the male had to say. Upon his questions, Jessie’s eyes flashed, an alarm sounding through her brain…he had no rights asking her on information about her pack. Instead of being plain and simple rude about it, she avoided the question all together, a clear warning to the male that she didn’t want him in any of her business, nor did any of them want him knowing about the current goings on within the pack…she figured she could at least give him the pack name though.

With a small sigh, she spoke calmly to the male, her eyes not giving anything away as they icily stared at him, "Swift River. The lands…Relic Lore. There is a vast expanse of areas here and most are quite plentiful. From what I know of, there is a back in the willows, Willow Ridge…a pack up north, Copper Rock Creek, and one up in the mountains, Poison Path." She concluded, her gaze never wavering from his well built body. She was still on guard around the male, unsure if he would hurt her or not, but she knew she sure as hell wasn’t going to let her guard down. With a small snort she raised her head and stared into the depths of his eyes, showing him that she was definitely not scared of him. Jessie wasn’t one to submit to those who didn’t deserve it. Even if it was a male that was a few heads larger than she was.

Withholding information about her pack was something Crowe liked it was a further show of strength in his eyes. She was smart that much was true, she knew the age old unspoken laws of the wild, not to give away information about ones own pack to strangers. Where Crowe came from he recalled that even those whom wished to join the pack would not know what it was like until they arrived at the den sight. The mountain sounded promising, a place of barren desolation, maybe he had come through there a little too quickly. He vaguely remembered the scent of blood on the air when he had been descending the mountain. It had unnerved him, the landscape had been blank white like their had been an avalanche, and if the huge white wolfs suspicions were right, someone lay dead beneath the snow. It had been his reason for leaving, maybe now it would be his reason to return.

He could sense the tension in the smaller wolf, she was a brave one, and she was smart knowing he could shred her. At least in his own mind he could shred anyone to ribbons. Crowe was made from power, but today he was controlled and he was calm. "You can calm down, I'm not going to attack, I've just been eating half rotten meat I'm sure you'd make me sick." It may have been a humorous statement but as much as Crowe was trying to soothe and calm the girl before him he could not sound very reassuring. The madness in his eyes had ebbed leaving only the deep sadness, at the loss of his home. Crowe's thoughts were a wreck as usual and he knew soon the madness would return he would snap at her and force himself to leave before he tried to kill her. He did not want to be a murderer but he felt blood lust coming on a rising tide every day, stronger until he knew he would surely go mad and kill until someone killed him. He hoped he would not feel that for this interaction, but in order for it to go smoothly he had to get her to calm down.

Sorry it took so long for me to reply...I have been busy. <33

Her steel emerald eyes stared hard at him as he evaluated her. The wheels in his head seemed to be turning, and Jess had to give him credit for trying. She was no fool though and she was certainly not going to let some male waltzes in and try to make a fool of her. Her small form remained where she was, though her gaze and ears attentive. She was not in her boundaries and this male was unfamiliar to her. She had a valid reason to be weary of him. Jessie certainly was not scared of him though, not many beings had that ability on her. So far, no males had that effect on her in the area, though perhaps Hotei scared her, but not for the reason of true fear, but more of the scared of, ‘Is He Ever Going To Leave, or Can I Trust Him’ kind of scared. The dark man in front of her was just kind of boring, and his words causing her emerald eyes to light in an odd fire.

After he was finished speaking, a small snort escaped her nostrils, and her ears pricked forward slightly, “Uh huh…well, I suppose I should be going then, if there isn’t anything else you need?” Her lips pursed, her eyes suddenly uninterested. If the man did not need any other information, as in directions to a different direction than here, then the pepper-colored woman could happily return to her duties with the pack. Her black nose twitched once, quickly determining if there was any new prey in the area, though the awful stench of the loner in front of her was strong, she was sure she could pick up a hint of rabbit in the air.

Crowe watched as the light of any interest left the eyes of the she wolf. He felt it come as an unbidden tide, the anger. She had dismissed him, that was not something that went well with him. Insolence! How dare she discard Crowe Shane! I will rip her, I will tear her shred her until she is nothing but fur and bones! The thoughts came through in a powerful current that he could not control it was beginning to haze his vision in a very enticing shade of red, Oh how he wished to maim her, and drag her to her pack, leave her bleeding on the borders. But he was weaker than he used to be and therefore could not be expected to attack for it would mean his own death. But on the other side his twisted mind embraced the thought of letting himself die, his internal hell would seek to exist and he would be released from the madness.

The yellow eyes of the beast lit up and his face twisted into his sinister grin and he simply stared, His wheels began to slow and instinct alongside insanity began to sweep into his heart on black wings. He could feel his grip on reality begin to loosen, he was slipping back into the darkness where his mind made him the darkness and evil. The last part of his rational mind managed to call out to Jessie, "Leave now, before this madness takes me!" he began to growl after he spoke and circle himself slowly, he was trying once again to contain the madness eating away at him until words began to escape him. "No, no, not again, I cannot, I cannot, I must leave, I must leave." his last words were spoken at the form of Jessie as he began to retreat until his very last gesture to the she-wolf was a snarl, with his teeth fully bared. With that he leaped away into the foliage and was off.

The dark male remained silent, his cold eyes watching her closely, and her own eyes tracking his movements quietly. He seemed as though he did not know what to say to her front, and to that all she did was stare at him and almost demand him leaving her sight. The pepper-colored woman could see the transforming anger in his eyes and with it came a simple twitch of her ears when his words did reach her ears. Insanity was quickly taking over the man in front of her, but it seemed as though he would not be sticking around long enough for Jessie to watch, and so instead, she simply turned and slowly made her way back towards Swift River.

She took her time returning back to the pack, taking her own time to gather her thoughts together before re-entering her home. Much had happened, and sometimes all Jess needed to do was stop and think, or store some unwanted memories into the back of her head. Much like the gleaming of Rissa’s skull. It was still as if Jessie could picture it in her mind, the way some mysterious, cruel wolf had ripped the pup’s life away so quickly, not caring what the consequences would be later. The dull ache in her heart, caused her to snort, and she quickly sprinting back into the River territory. Some things were better left forgotten.

{Jessie out.}