Dragonfly Fen Will you still call me Superman?

@Jericho only please

don't judge a thing

Karpos Slayer

until you know what's inside it

His mind whirled at the thoughts of this forest and boggy place being his home. He could definitely live here, there were so many adventures for him to face, and the water and all made it all the more challenging. Ana, or as he called her, ma, was always really strict as to them being outside without an adult because of what had happened with the stranger wolf, one whose name he didn’t even know. He had figured out a way though, he always figured out a way. He snuck out in the middle of the night; his ma would never notice him gone as long as he was back by sunrise, besides he wasn’t even going far. It was just over a few logs that crossed very wet spots. Like a large puddle, not a pond, just thicker bogs that he couldn’t jump over. The air was crisp around him and all was calm.

It was also quite humid considering the nighttime; it was the start of summer, which was obvious given the fact that pups were born in late spring and early summer. There was one thing, one thing that he noticed from the sky though, the moon was covered by clouds, but the stars were not. "Mr. Moon, you’d better show your face!" He scorned the moon as if it were a person; it was just what he was good at too. Being silly was one of the few things that Karp was good at. After all, was it not him who had thought that Pella had eaten his mom, who had disappeared to the unknown. But it was fine, because his da had brought a new ma to the family and she took care of them. Still he missed his own ma, the one who had delivered him and named him with his da.

This place reminded him (in a way that brought up no fondness) of the Haze Wood that he and Hush that had resided in prior to their current home in the red tinged forest that they had currently taken up residence in. It was damp and densely populated with all manner of tangling grabbing green things. Stickers in his coat, twigs jabbing and catching, and forever his paws sliding in the muck as he squished unhappily along, ears pinned back for protection as he nosed his way through the underbrush.

The monotony of squelching paws and the dragging feeling of twigs and stickers in his coat was interrupted abruptly by the carrying shout of a young voice. Twisting around, ears released upward to catch further sound, he turned his head to and fro searching for the source of the call. For a moment he could hear nothing but the humming buzz of marsh bugs and the soft sounds of gently moving water. Then the sound movement drew his attention and he turned around in the mud and picked his way toward where the shuffling noise of little paws on soft ground came drifting to his ears from.

It took his eyes a long moment to pick out the small dark form of the pup who stood in defiance, head upturned toward the sky – apparently following up his threatening call to the celestial body above with a stern, hard eyed glare to prove that he meant business. Or, so imagined Jericho guessing on vague posture alone – as he could not actually make out the features of the youngster before him. Without any clear idea on what to say he simply chose to step forward, not bothering to be quiet. After a moment he wordlessly cleared his throat, loud enough – he hoped – to draw the pup's attention. He wasn't really sure he wanted to meet this boy, but it felt strange to have watched him and then simply fade off into the night.

{Dated just after It Ends Tonight}

don't judge a thing

Karpos Slayer

until you know what's inside it

Karpos turned to the noise of a throat clearing, his eyes filled with confusion; he was in this situation yet again. "Get away from me Mr. Ghost!" He called out, assuming it was a ghost like he had seen so often from Spectral Woods. His eyes knew that he was looking in the right area, but he had yet to find the man who had made the noise to signal himself out. "Yer would do best to stay away from me!" He said, a playful growl, he was a puppy with a pack now, if he was harmed, the harmer would have all of Pitch Pine Trail on him to hunt him down, it made him feel safe. The dark man liked to try and blend in, and he could do that here, when it was in the night that was. His eyes calm suddenly, knowing he was always safe.

Karp backed up a bit, watching cautiously on his surroundings, wondering where the mystery man was, or if he was as scary as that one peppered man from Spectral Woods. But that man was protecting his home, and Karp now had to protect his home, Pitch Pine Trail, it was his home and his daddy said they weren’t leaving here every, not until the day they died would they leave, but even then the pack would still live on. It was an eternal home, and Karp was eternally grateful, he sniffed around, glancing at the blobs that were slowly taking form in front of his eyes for the blob that was the other man. He was a mystery man, he was a mystery man, and he was a mystery man. Karpos kept repeating it in his head, and Karp was a stranger to whoever was there, unless it was Ace or Pella or something playing a trick.

Jericho's approach was met with the cry of the apparently pretty bold pup. From all of his shouted threats one would have thought he had to bite to back up his bark – perhaps someday he would but for now he was nothing but one lone cub on it's own (as far as Jericho's eyes could see anyway). Not feeling even remotely frightened he took a step closer, crossing into a pale beam of moonlight. Almost it seemed that he shifted from an intangible shadow to a solid form made of more than just dark spaces between pale dapples of moonlight.

“I should stay away or you'll...?” He murmured curiously, settling down onto his haunches to sit in a fashion that suggested leisure. Nothing about him implied threat nor did he seem as though he was going to become suddenly compelled to attack. Still, he did not offer the soothing words that most adults-mistaken-for-bad-guys might have. It didn't do for one so small to be alone and in a dark wood where he could actually run into a guy by far more bad than Jericho. Jericho supposed there wasn't much harm in giving the little guy a small scare to set him straight – not that he intended to do so personally, so much as he didn't feel the need to fall all over himself apologizing and reassuring.

don't judge a thing

Karpos Slayer

until you know what's inside it

The ghost spoke back to him, and it just freaked him out knowing that Mr. Ghost could harm him. He asked a question; and it was a good one, what would he do? "I’ll get me da, and me ma, and Pella, and Ace and Ill and Lach to go and hunt yer down!" He proclaimed, knowing all the adults combined could definitely take down one silly ghost. He was happy with his ‘flawless’ plan that he came up with in a few seconds. His tail wagged, happy almost, and he hoped that they could do this the easy way instead of the hard way. "Show yerself Mr. Ghost!" He demanded somewhat bravely for the man to show himself. Dark fur in the moonlight was always hard to see.

The woman that he called ma, was not truly his ma, she was Anastasia, his adoptive ma. For some reason, Rose had disappeared and he was left with a new ma. He knew that his birth ma had to have had a good reason, though he was mad that she didn’t take him with her. But then he got to know Anastasia and he called her ma because she was sweet and kind and funny and the one who always cared for him. Part of him wanted to run away now, run to his adoptive ma, but he didn’t, he held his ground. That was what warriors were supposed to do right? They were supposed to challenge their enemies bravely.

Karpos's declaration that he would retrieve assistance to back him up from a plethora of wolves that Jericho assumed must be his pack made him rumble a small noise of disapproval. Pragmatically he pointed out, his tones even and without malice, “What if they aren't close enough and you can't reach them before I reach you, what do you do then?” This was a leading question, obviously – he was curious to see if this impulsive randomly met boy could think his way logically through the situation. It wasn't much about terrorizing the boy as it was an experiment based solely on impulsive curiosity of his own – he wouldn't harm the pup, he had no reason to nor the blackness of heart to desire inflicting harm on the innocent.

The once-again spoken demand that he reveal himself made him snort in disdain. “Use your senses instead to find me, the night shadows me but I am not hiding myself from you.” This command was spoken in a harder, sharper voice than he had previously – almost militant in design. He did not raise his voice to do so, there was no need to shout in order for his point to be made. More that he could not help but say such a serious thing without being stern by default and Jericho had never been one much for smothering his instincts.

don't judge a thing

Karpos Slayer

until you know what's inside

Karpos hadn’t wandered too far from the den, and he knew it to be just a hop skip and a jump away from where they were now. But still, what if his howl was not loud enough, he did not let the ghost get too sure of himself. "Silleh ghost, they can hearz me!" He said, almost in a tone to sound sarcastic. But the ghost posed that he find him by himself. There was one small hint for him to take up, the scent of him, and then there was following his voice. He raised his nose and scented the air, but to his displeasure, he found that it was too wet around to find the man who was haunting him, he sniffed again and again but he could not find him. He decided to head off into the direction of the voice, he had heard it in the way he traveled.

He seemed to be so proud when he nearly ran into the black furred man, and was shocked to see that he was real, and not a ghost. "Mr. Ghost, you’re not a ghost!" He said with his simple minded brain not thinking that the man was dangerous. His tail wagged to meet a new friend, although he had thought the same until that one wolf Fenru had scared him out of his fur back in the Spectral Woods, but the heroes [Shade, Capella, Ace] had come and saved him from the evil man who had lurked around him and threatened to hurt his sister Adsi. Adsi had been more scared, and when they had gone back into the den, he had seen the need to comfort his sister, his da came back unharmed as did the rest of them.

Jericho wasn't convinced in the slightest that help would arrive to save the boy if he called out to them – at least, not in time to actually do anything about any evil intentioned wrong doer. He wondered at what point puppies picked up true logic rather than the instinctual reliance on family and pack to protect them. He wondered if this boy could really sense that he himself wasn't really evil and didn't truly intend to hurt him and thus he hadn't responded in a truly appropriate fashion. Running and hiding was the best thing a pup of his age out on his own, facing an unknown enemy could do. Not very courageous, but definitely the best option if he wanted to live on to see the next sunrise.

At Jericho's behest the boy paused to seek him out, taking his advice. A small smile touched his mouth, hidden by the shroud of shade around him. He didn't bother to keep his amusement hidden when the darkly colored pup realized he wasn't a ghost, simply a wolf by any other – while he didn't laugh his voice was touched by his smile. “True.” He replied, affirming that he was indeed real and amongst the living. “I'm as real and alive as you are.” There seemed to be very little else to say for the time being – he'd let the boy pick the pace they moved at. He himself viewed this meeting as of little consequence. With his life the way it was now there wasn't much for a puppy of any kind to offer him other than a casual meeting.

Bleck, sorry for the yucky post...

don't judge a thing

Karpos Slayer

until you know what's inside

The big black man was talking too much logic for the young pup, alive and well were words that Karpos did not care to listen too. He yawned a bit, but then realized the man was on pack territory, he was not that far from the den either. "You might want to leavehs, in case Ace or me da is out patrolling." He informed the male who he considered a friend, though he barely knew him. He hoped the man might ask his da to join so he could play with him more, he seemed fun to track down through the wet marsh like area that he called home. "But what is ur name?" He asked, so he knew if he heard his da mention anything of the man.

His tail wagged, his tongue hanging out of his mouth, panting. He was having so much fun that he had become tired and should have started to head back, he was maybe a few wolf lengths from the den, just out of sight of it. He thought about what would happen if his da caught him out here with this man, if it was anything like last time, there would be a lot of yelling and scaring on the part of the young man’s mind. That evil peppered wolf from Spectral Woods had been talking to him, and ended up scaring him in which he called for help. But this time he did not call for there was nothing to fear.

My post is icky. I'm all rusty ;____;

If Jericho had known the boy now considered him to be a friend it might have wrung out a laugh from him. There wasn't much of a basis for any kind of relationship between them aside from this chance meeting it would have seemed unlikely to him that they would ever run into one another again. As an adult he, of course, had very different ideas of what friendship was. However – the life of a cub was brief, hardly on this earth for a measurable amount of time it was probably true that puppies had to make what they could of their barely lived lives whenever they could. The truth was, Jericho didn't really make friends – he had a few as any wolf of his age was bound to – his companion Hush was the only one that remained in his life – the others (mostly members of Tartok) had faded from his life.

The pup's warning was taken – though he did not heed it much. He was full well capable of holding his own and while his nose told him that some small group of lone wolves camped here he doubted seriously that there were enough of them to truly threaten him. Still, he didn't openly discard the dark colored boy's warning and instead shrugged his dark shoulders responding in the same even keeled tones that he replied to almost everything with. “Jericho.” He murmured simply before getting up to go sliding smoothly off into the dark – near vanishing on silent paws. He paused, turning to glance over one raggedly torn shoulder to regard the boy who remained nameless to him with eyes made pale and near colorless by the moonlight. “Hey kid. Next time you run into a stranger? Don't seek him out. Run and hide, fast and quiet as you can. Not everyone is as soft hearted as me.” There was a lilting edge to his words on his last sentence, an implication of humor though it was hard to say what it was over. Having imparted these words he simply turned and departed without so much as a backward glance, vanishing into the dark as quickly as he'd appeared.

(This post was last modified: Jul 13, 2013, 02:11 AM by Jericho.)