Willow Ridge just give me a reason

RE: There is a full moon.

just give me a reason

Angier Lyall

just a little bit's enough

Late March; Nightfall; Light snow, semi-cloudy, full moon on the rise; -4° F/-20° C.

Rousing from an evening nap and hours of keeping the Grizzly Hollow den warm, Angier Lyall gathered his feet beneath him and began the night vigil Borden had requested him to perform. It was useless, he felt; the dangers still lurked everywhere about them in the Cedarwood and just waiting for Taima to come home was nothing but futile. For lack of anything better to do, he let his paws take him to the edges of Borden and Jaysyek's markers and well beyond them. An hour or two later, the fresh aroma of awakening willows filtered into his nose, and instead of heeding his brother's request to stay away from the rival pack, Angier boldly strode through the Drooping Willows.

@Elettra, his mind beckoned. His eyes scanned the trees as he drew in excited breaths, deciphering the scents as he went. Breeding season was due to come to a close and its fanciful antics no longer drove the Lyall to the ends of his frayed nerves. In fact, the edging absence of it, left him room to remain aware of where the dark lady had gone and what type of company she kept within her borders. And, though he might not have secretly harbored affection for his female pack mates, like his Uncle had for his mother, a part of him pined for the likes of the Leader of Willow Ridge. Not as her mate but, at the very least, someone of utmost value to her. With talks of Borden moving his family beyond Relic Lore, Angier wanted to be sure he had somewhere to go if he decided not to leave with them.

His tongue lolled out over his molars at the side of his mouth and he took a moment to catch his breath. A part of him began to wonder if the sable ruler and her guards purposefully wove such trails through the trees as to confuse any who dared to follow them. His lumbering frame came to a standstill underneath a drooping willow's boughs. He was shaking, and he was startling unsure if he should be afraid of the fact that he did not know why. It could have easily been the journey or the several distinct smells or the manner in which he had traced Willow Ridge's borders but, somehow, he convinced himself otherwise.

Sprawling out just alongside the edge of the tree's blossoming curtain, he took a few deep breaths. His reasonings and motives as to why he had come here to Elettra Archer's domain would become clear; he just had to reorient himself again... focus... and persuade himself that he was not thinking about abandoning his brother's pack.

written in the scars of my heart

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-squeals with utter excitement- i've been waiting forever!

Late March. It was well into Spring and yet still the winter clung on with a tightening, choking grip, as though refusing to allow the dark woman to move on past all which had happened over the chilling season. Though her world had calmed, it had yet to be resolved. She had lost much and yet still she endured, still perhaps to loose more. Phineas lack of presence did not go without notice. In fact, she noticed the very instant she held the will to pull herself from the confines of the storage den she had secluded herself to. He would never forgive her. Elettra was certain of this. But would he ever return to her?
The woman's break caught at the thought, a near choke before a sigh echoed from parted off-white lips, heat stirring the chill of the air. Her thick coating demanded a favoring of the cooler months though by now she felt trapped by it. She wanted no more to right her path once more, to trust her members to protect her home whilst she ventured, easing her mind with shuffling through the rivers for shells or hunting out new herbs for collection. Though a right path was not on the horizon, she knew. Though she showed no signs, her scent claimed her taken and a familiar feeling of life stirred within her that she could no longer object. The new line of Archer would arrive.
She strodded the boarders of her home with hidden uncertainty, a paranoia secretly coming over her like no other. No longer did she just question if more of her members would be leaving with the breeding season having arrived and coming to an end, but also had a fear of her children's lives. Her past tugged at her memory now more then ever, haunting her and twisting her gut until a whine seeped from parted jaws. She took in a deep breath to right herself and when she did a familiar, musky scent of a man she knew left her heavy with wonder in her swaying stance. Angier. He held a caring for her Elettra through all this time had yet to understand. Perhaps, in her blindness to see anyone's affection for her with how well she had shielded herself from her own affections, she had missed some sign in Angier, too. Maybe he too claimed to "love" her in ways Phineas had claimed, though easily had turned away from her when Elettra had not mind read this all her own. Would Angier, too, be ill with her?
She wanted nothing more then to know, ready to shed away all which had and would further abandon her so she could come to an understanding of what remained. She trudged on through her home's edging until she was near enough to see the large timbered man rest under her one of the willow trees. She pauses there, painted a picture of how she had first met him, under the willows of her very now home. "Where have you been?" Her voice whispers out to him, holding back the true words she wished to say: I missed you.

<3

just give me a reason

Angier Lyall

just a little bit's enough

The full moon was starting to break through the snowfall, its glow cast stark, confusing shadows against the forest floor. Angier, at last, considered that the weather was partially the reason he felt so disconnected, unable to get a hold and keep hold of his bearings. He pressed his forepaws into the thin sheet of snow beneath him, shaking the light dusting of snowflakes from the crown of his head. "Where have you been?" the question seemed to have come to him from the gentle stirring of the wind and the ear facing outward flicked. He smiled quietly; Angier knew her voice anywhere, he would be damned if he had ever forgotten.

He had search for her through the thin screen the willow's boughs had created but as soon as her was able to find her silvery eyes, he was able to pick out the rest of her from the dark forest around them. He kept still, realizing and assuming that by standing he would purvey the idea that he still anticipated her to initiate him into the ranks of her hierarchy. If he was going to be honest with himself, now that he was here, for now he simply wanted to see her. To "catch up" with one another... to find out if, after all this time, their alliance and each other's company was still worth anything at all. Since his last meeting with Elettra, Borden had done well in beating his brother into submission, making sure that Angier understood that loyalty ought to run in his veins... that if he was to be considered a member of his pack, or any pack for that matter, he was to obey and behave as he was required. The wolves - the Lyall's - of Bertram Valley had roots as old and deep like any other pack, and their code ("Diligently and Honestly") was bound to have been embedded within him. All Angier had needed was a "wake up call" of sorts and Borden had done it.

Old habits died hard, however, and the tawny man was still coming to terms with it all, attempting to tell himself that he could not serve Grizzly Hollow if his brother was not its Leader and his nieces and nephews were no longer kept safe within it. The smile that held strong on his features made him appear coy, and perhaps even a little younger with the wave of his bottlebrush tail. He looked away out of respect, only allowing himself a few glimpses of her figure. "Away," he replied, his tenor voice soft and inviting. The fact that he still carried Borden and Jaysyek's aroma on his pelt brought up within him a twinge of nervousness, and he continued, "I've been making amends."

He tucked his right elbow closer to his torso, his ears relaxing and slightly lowering from the modesty of his answer. "It's been too long, my lady. How've you been?"

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(This post was last modified: Mar 27, 2013, 02:48 AM by Angier.)

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He stays in his placement, a lay rested under the willow trees, its hanging branches blocking a full view of one another, not to mention the darkness which cloaked the world in shadow. The moon grew higher yet still, however, alighting the lands to which it cast a glow to her eyes, as silver and whole as the moon itself. He was making amends and for the time being, she did not understand what of. That is, until she finds herself stepping closer, breathing him in once more and the very familiar scent of the Hollow tugs at her, telling her that he was a trusted member of a man most untrusted by her. Did he after all seek to mend the torn relationship he once held with his brother? And why, if he was such a selfish snake Angier said him to be?
The sigh caught in her throat, daring not to let him hear it. She knew he had not gone to Nina as she had asked for the woman never spoke of him. But to the Hollow was the last place, other then the River, Elettra would have expected him to go. "The winter has pushed my pack and I to the very limits. ..." She admits and with an ease she did not allow to many, not unless she called them true allies, trusted with the honesty that the pack was going through hardships. It was a weakness not taken lightly, though Angier had not broken her trust not to allow him this information. "I'm tired." Though everything of her build said otherwise. Her coat and thick, soft and healthy. Her body lean and curious as ever with food well fed. But there was a drawn distance in that pale gaze where her mental weariness proved the tiredness not within her body, but mind.
She shifts then, her curvy hips as sway as she moves closer, settling onto her hunches only when she is just before him, still on the other side of the weeping veil which blocked their full view of one another, a curtain shadowing the deep, weary emotion in her features. There is a hesitance in her, tension that he too may turn away. Any man she had cared for had thus so far done so and although she had not formed a deeper relationship with Angier then friendship and physical attraction, even the littlest stirs of emotion failed her now. "Your well now, I see...?" It is a light question, though seemingly already answered. Last they had met, he had been nearly hysterical in her eyes, whining at her doorstep for reason and acceptance where she could offer none. She had feared he thought her to have abandoned him, broken their deal and her promise. Was there hope yet still for it kept?

(This post was last modified: Mar 27, 2013, 09:34 PM by Elettra.)

just give me a reason

Angier Lyall

just a little bit's enough

Where he should have heard her emit a sigh, silence pressed against his eardrums. He tilted his muzzle downward, idly eyeing the dark claws at the end of his digits as he learned that winter had not been kind to her. "I'm tired," she divulged. Angier felt his lungs fill with the cold night air, and where the chill had briefly touched him within, a feeling of remorse sent a hot flash through him. If only he had known that she was still vulnerable to taking such a toll, he would have kept away from Vlarindara's old safe haven, ultimately sparing himself his sibling's mandates. But, if he had known, he could have laid here in her company, still at square one, and still very much the double agent he was proud to be.

As it were, however, this Lyall, like his brother before him, had put his renegade days behind him, and now Angier was simply hoping to truly put his destructive ways to rest. "I see," he whispered, his eyes taking her in before he fully understood that she had either toiled to keep herself and her pack fit or had suffered something internally in his absence... or both. She approached him, keeping to her side of the canopy. He thought he could feel her eyes on him but he did not directly make eye contact with her, still calmly looking straight ahead through the willow branches. The closeness, even the slightest inkling that she could easily reach out and touch him, set his veins ablaze.

"Your well now, I see...?" He turned slightly to look at her from the corner of his vision. The desire to shed himself of his winter coat had never been greater; he had the mind to curse some distant relatives of his who lent themselves to his thick-pelted lineage. "Yes," he confirmed. "But... Not quite." He peered at her now fully, his eyes straining somewhat to pick out all of her dark features against the moonlight. If the clouds succeeded in shutting out the glow, he would have to gape and ogle even longer than necessary just to take in her beauty, and he was not about ready to toe the lines Borden had helped define. As Elettra was a Leader, Angier, as a subordinate of a neighboring pack, was bound to show her respect.

"I don't know why I'm here," he confessed, fighting to keep himself from pushing back the curtain and uncovering her face. He scoffed, an attempt to keep himself from straight out laughing at himself, "and I forgot the white fir twigs I picked for you."

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(This post was last modified: Mar 27, 2013, 03:31 AM by Angier.)

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Her attention is locked to him, making out every dip and every curve of his being, remembering it and comparing it from the last time she had saw him. Her vision moves over the path of his tawny body, the steak of black which drug along his lower spine, the bleached mask of color around his cheeks, muzzle and at his throat. Those pale golden eyes and dipped bottle brushed tail. She views him with utmost confidence in her examination, whilst he takes much hesitance at looking at her: firstly looking out to her side, then merely looking from the corner of his vision and then finally, fully upon her, though seemingly still avoiding of her direct gaze. Kiche had treated her in a manner similar, knowing the outline of her feet far more then he took to know the features of her hard expression. Likely all of her pack shared this quality: everyone looking at her, though never truly seeing her.
"There will be more twigs and more opportunities to pick them." She holds back any ounce of frustration on the edge of her tongue and after a moment of silence rings once more, she lifts. Her silver eyes dance over the skies, watching the full moon as it broke away from the clouds which moved now away from it as though parting the room for it's entrance. The rays dance over her peppered pelt, taking hold of the silver bits there and allowing them to shine. In moment's she is moving the curtain between them and coming into his little bubble under the willow tree, in a fashion she had done at their first meeting years ago. She is directly before him now, looking down upon them, so close she could feel the heat of his body upon her own. "Have you finished your 'amends', then? Or do you come to tease me with false servitude and devotion once more?" The smallest of smirks then toys on her lips, remembering his objection to her asking him to join her firstly. That it was not the right time and oh, how fate played them when he came to her and she could no longer accept. Was it a game forever to be played? The couple merely 'allies', doomed to see each other once or twice perhaps a year then to ever call themselves friends, pack-mates?

(This post was last modified: Mar 27, 2013, 09:54 PM by Elettra.)

just give me a reason

Angier Lyall

just a little bit's enough

The dark lady assured him that his gift was not missed, that there were more of them to be gathered and even more opportunities in which he could gift them. She turned to observe the skies and he hastily took the chance to gaze fully at her. The snow seemed to be letting up and Angier was grateful for the change. She began to move and instantaneously he focused on her side, watching her shift, part the veil, and edge even closer to him. The heatwave brushed over him again and his tail stiffly extended itself out behind him in a straight line.

His breath, what was meant to be a gasp, was snagged in the confines of his throat. "Have you finished your 'amends', then?" she asked, his body tensing as he could feel the air of dominance roll off of her and onto him. "Or do you come to tease me with false servitude and devotion once more?" He leveled his skull, his ears perking up to their rightful positions as he grasped her second question. Tease... Was that what she thought he was?

Angier's jowls parted, a smirk of his own appearing on his face. He dared to gaze into her face, gauging the smirk that played on her lips. If he was to be continually be honest, then now was a better time than ever. A long time ago, he might have been a follower through and through, but Borden had changed all that. Changed, broken, or fixed, it didn't matter anymore and, suddenly, in realizing Elettra's closeness, all he wanted was to finally be hers.

He breathed out a puff of moisture, the wisp quickly evaporating between them. "Nearly," he replied, his tone insinuating that yet another bargain was to be struck. "I've given you gifts and you've accepted them kindly. You took my advice. I believe your every word. You said you'd be here for me, and yet, here you are." His eyes fell to look her over before meeting her silvery irises.

As if to express that he approved of what he saw, he smiled. He knew something about her scent had changed but his foolish heart still fluttered and leapt about in his chest. A throaty chuckle accompanied his unspoken assumptions. If that was how she was going to play, then he was all the more willing to play along. "You need me, don't you?"

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"The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark
No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart"

She does not move from her placement, body high and erect before him, tail low, but arching outward somewhat with a stiffness which matched his own. Her smirk was returned with his own, an expression which she'd seen mockingly upon his features time and time before, challenging her in ways none other dared to try. He had not always been aligned to her, after all, and their relationship had seemed to always be a question for her: Why had he helped her when she had questioned Borden before? Why had he then specifically sought her out for alliance? Brought her gift and his aid, begging to be a part of her life? She wondered time and time before if the things he had done had only been to get back at his brother, as well as secure a place to live when he fucked up everywhere else. Or, as odd as it might have seemed to her, perhaps someone actually liked her.
His words then offer the same bargaining gesture they had always. An eye for an eye. Elettra did little for anyone (lest they were of her pack in which in the end, they worked to serve anyhow) for free and Angier seemed the same in manner. An offer for another offer in turn. He believed her every word and to this she kept to remembrance, also taking note that he admitted her being here for him when she said she would. Alas, Elettra knows now he does not feel as though she had broken her promise. Her tail dances a moment, a slight flagging wave to this. He looks to her then, full and daringly and smiles. Her heart, left in the dark, stirs.
Emotion. The question demanded an opening of it, a weakness to need someone's support in her life. Her trust in them, their helping paw. They were far from lovers, the pair and yet still she had grown to trust the man for all he had done; the truth he had spilled of her once leader, the gifts of food and herb to secure their relationship, the sworn alliance to be there for her when she needed him. And oh, how she needed him now. After so many in the pack had left, be in in death, injury, betrayal or simply missing, Elettra clung to those whom she still trusted in her life. Those had yet to break her heart. Fear overwhelmed her in a heated rush, bringing tension to her limbs which had they not locked in place, dared to quake. "I need you."

(This post was last modified: Mar 28, 2013, 02:08 AM by Elettra.)

just give me a reason

Angier Lyall

just a little bit's enough

Three simple little words. That was all it had taken to make the Lyall's smile curl upward even further. "I need you." The confirmation that he was needed... wanted... made a lump form in his throat. There might not have been anything actually sexual or amorous about his question and her answer but he beamed up at her to show that he was rather pleased with her reply.

He sniffed, his ears swiveling back then righting themselves again. "Hmm," he mused, the expression sounding somewhat on the smug side. His tail swept back over to the side of his forelimb."My lady," he began again, the words soft on the ears and light in tone. "Elettra..."

"Do you really think I have th' gall to tease you?" he questioned. "I mean, truly?" He tilted his muzzle upward, bringing the tip of his nose close to hers as his half-lidded gaze tried to see what emotions really reflected back at him in her eyes. "What could I possibly reap from taunting the most powerful woman in all of Relic Lore?"

His smile broadened slightly, the tip of his tail lifting before falling back to the forest floor. "I thought you'd be over me by now," he breathed, the admission seeming fragile as soon as it left his lips. He turned his head just slightly away, overcome with abrupt embarrassment. Underneath the coat of white and mottled tans that made up his face, heat radiated in his cheeks. "What could you possibly need me for?"

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He beams up at her, happy, alight with such a thing which warmed them both despite the chill in the air, the still delicate falling of snow which coated her backside. There is a moment of mocking, testing her as he had done time before and her jaws tightened, tensed with a quick rage that had ever been her personal. What slip of feelings she held for him from her words were something of a delicacy not to be walked on, the fire in her heart ignited with he the fuel to feed the flames. She had gone through much this past winter, this spring. She was touchy, vulnerable, weary and pregnant. Far more wildness in her had swelled in order for her to become the devil some had already thought her to be.
He speaks soft to her now, cooing her name as though to sooth her and put out the flames. He tips his muzzle up to meet along the length of her downward one and she is stilled, the small smirk once forming over her lips again, her eyes alight with a danger; playful, yet deadly. The conversation in some form was deep, causing him to tread on thin ice. "I take you as a sly enough man to play with fire." Her words are an echo of his own, cool with her dark vocals. He turns then slightly away and she too, turns opposite, her heavy chest breathing in deeply. Silent, at first, as she gathers the right words. "Your my ally, my friend. My trust comes not lightly, so I do not simply 'get over' those who hold it." She would confirm this to him, her head drawing upwards, her attention to the stars, the moon, as she addresses his question. "All of which I feel I have been lacking...." Oh, and how much so this had been. "Respect," which he had always shown her, "Loyalty, with his once desires to serve her, be hers, "Trust..." Which he had always proven to have. He did say he believed her every word, did he not? ...And most of all. "Someone who will stay."