Spectral Woods Crown the Empire

Word Count: 680 words

Scoff was given to nothing and no one in particular given that he was quite alone, replaying the conversation he'd had with Custard upon the topic of leaving Flightless Falcons. It was useless to continue analyzing it, Sveinx knew, but he couldn't help it. To say he hadn't felt slightly offended and betrayed by his brother's outright refusal would be a lie. Custard's unwillingness to accompany him on his grand adventure left an unpleasant sting upon his heart, as if his litter-mate and closest brother had stolen it from his chest and drug it across a bed of razor wire. They were supposed to be partners in crime. Now it was just, Sveinx in crime and Custard the home-body. Where was the fun in that? Whatever the cost it was done, Sveinx had left Flightless Falcons, albeit with a heavy heart. Saying goodbye had been measurably hard, admittedly. Yet, Sveinx felt that it was the best choice for him. Stepping out of the shadows of his older brothers. Aether and March Owl were getting older, and would name their successor(s) soon enough, but Sveinx knew he stood no chance. He was not Aether's first choice because he was too much trouble, and though he had never gotten his mother's stance on where he stood in the long line of possible heirs to the helm Sveinx felt it probably wasn't very high. He had never shown a particular interest in leading, anyway, however he knew himself well enough to know that he would feel judged as another sibling was named Alpha over him and that was sure to induce a jealousy he did not want to feel but knew he would anyway. He was only a man, after all. He wasn't beyond petty feelings, he wasn't mechanical. He had strove to be accepted in his large family, just like his other siblings, longing to know that his parents approved of him, but there were too many shadows that he lived in; and though Sveinx knew that he was loved by Aether and March Owl he knew he had to try to find a home, a niche...somewhere else.

Having grown up in Flightless Falcons, and having stayed within the pack until his ultimate decision to distinguish himself and leave it, he had accompanied March Owl on a few border patrols when his mother had taught him how to be a Guardian, he had been there to witness a few acceptances of potential members. The questions March Owl had asked seemed pretty generic to him, and he knew the basis of what would, likely, be required. Name, Skills, and probably – though this was the question he hated the most – Why. Leaders seemed to like to ask that question and Sveinx's salmon pink tongue flicked out to draw across his leathery black nose almost nervously as large, white paws carried him closer to the borders of a pack, stopping when he was a respectful distance away from them, his mouth feeling dry. If it was a question asked of him what was he supposed to say? He did not know anything of any of these packs so he could say that he was intrigued or that he felt it would fit him best. Those, while likely better answers, would be lies and Sveinx detested lying. Besides, he wasn't very good at it, anyway, so in his lacking of the lying skill he favored honesty even though this, likely, cost him sometimes. As much as everyone claimed to value and want honesty he found that it left a potent sting and often left him feeling resented because the truth hurt.

Poison apple green irises studied the forest for a few silent heartbeats, in which he could hear it thump steady within it's prison of flesh and bone. It reminded him a little of home. Ignoring the swell of what he might have admitted was homesickness within his chest, he let out a short call letting out his interest, patiently waiting for the arrival of either a leader or a pack member.

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It seemed as though everyone was finally getting accustomed to the strange, new lands. At night sometimes the pepper and salt colored woman would find herself staring off into the dark territory afraid that something new would come her way and frighten her. Jessie was settling down well enough though and was quite comfortable with the steady members that were with them. As of yet, their numbers had not changed much and she felt comfortable with the way things were for the time being. This was why when a call asking for her leaders, that was very unfamiliar, sounded from the borders, she instantly winced. She was in mid-hunt, but the prey she had been stalking seemed to have easily ran off due to the alarming noise. The quick rustle of the bushes in front of her just confirming her fears.

With an annoyed snort she started to make her way towards where the call had sounded…or at least where she though it had come from. The Huntress figured there was no point in trying to track prey that was already half scared to death. It would do her no good to have her paws accidently drag against the forest floor alerting her meal and sending her on a wild goose chase. Her small body moved easily through the now familiar trees, her jade eyes looking for the loner who had called the pack to their borders. Eventually she made it to the borders, but with no sign of the loner, mentally cursed herself. The woman had completely forgotten to check the wind.

So inhaling quickly and checking around for a little bit, the small woman finally found a valid scent and followed it, eventually coming upon a large white male…much…much larger than her. She kicked herself mentally and strongly willed in her mind for @Ice to show up soon, or someone else. It would help if someone who was larger than her and more intimidating; to address this man in front of her. None the less, the Swiftpaw sister pushed away her fears and spoke to the large beast in front of her, "Jessie Swiftpaw. Who are you?"

this went in a lot of different directions which is what i get when i'm distracted. i'm sorry. xD

If there was one thing Sveinx admired in a pack it was a swift and prompt arrival – as swift as one could expect considering he had no idea what said pack wolf might've been doing prior to his call – to the scene of a curious loner, and potential pack-mate. You could always find either Aether, March Owl or one of their guardians surveying the borders. For being as old as they were when Sveinx had departed months ago – how many he truly didn't know, he'd lost count – about roughly 8 years they were still, surprisingly, pretty spry. No matter how young they might put out he had begun to see the silvers and grays that streaked through Aether's once brilliant ebony coat, signs of his age. He took a lot of herbs to help dull the pain of his body long scar that cut morbidly across his face on the right side. Still, Sveinx found himself admiring his father's determination. He kept going through the perils of his aging body. The woman who approached the borders near where he stood – though Sveinx was determined not to move any closer, retaining that respectful distance away – he bowed his head in a gesture that showed she was dominate because she was a pack wolf and he didn't want to get off on the wrong paw.

When he finally stood back to his full height he noticed that, despite the distance between them, she was smaller than him. Yet, though Sveinx was large, having taken after his mother dominantly, he knew that size mattered but little, in truth. Aether had been smaller than March Owl, smaller than him, but he could knock Sveinx (and had many, many times) on his ass. Medium stature or not, Aether did not lack in intimidation (though his morbid scar might've aided this to his advantage) but what he lacked in brute muscle he made up for in brains. He outwitted his opponents, that was the secret of his success. In a fight, it was all about using your advantages, fleshing out your opponents weaknesses and exposing them. The woman introduced herself as Jessie Swiftpaw, and inquired as to his own identity. “I am Sveinx Redleaf, ma'am,” Despite all his crudeness there was something of a gentleman in there. He was half of Aether, after all, and that stood for something. “You can call me Sven, though, if it's easier than Sveinx.” His name, unique in it's origins, named after a great-grandmother (through adoption technically) and a grandfather (also through adoption, again), while easy for him to say might not be too much of a mouthful to others. So he offered his nickname as an alternative, just in case.

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you do not know who is your friend or who is your enemy until the ICE breaks. Life had to go on, even if it hurt damnably much, and Ice knew that. He knew it, and he resented it, but with his deep sense of honesty, he couldn't allow himself to become a hypocrite. He'd told the pack they needed to go on, he'd told Jessie they needed to go on, so now that it was his turn to go on, he couldn't do what he'd told them not to. So while the call had his fur bristling, his lips peeling back in a snarl, he still heeded it, stalking through the forest on sturdy white legs. It had only been a matter of time before the loners found their scent on the wind and stuck their noses in, and Ice was ready to batter every single one of them to blue-bruised pieces if they so much as glanced the wrong way at his sons. Or if they did anything else to irk him; the normally patient Oak Leader had suffered from a rather dramatic reduction of his fuse since the news of Marsh's fate had been taken to them by Triell. He passed the borders without a whiff of loner, and paused to reinforce one of the markers, lifting his leg with a sigh. Mindless patrols he did fine, but interacting with potentially deranged strangers? He grimaced, and set off again, his own path merging with Jessie's. So, she was already there. The small wolf reminded him of himself, in his days of being a mere subordinate to Indru; he was always there, always ferreting out those who came too close and interrogating them, accompanied by Marsh as often as not. And now, all the hard decisions were his, and he raised his head when he caught sight of them. A massive pale male of a size to rival Fenru, and small, salt-and-pepper Jess. He chuffed to himself, flicked his tail up and raised his head, pinning the stranger with a silver stare. He was far enough off from the borders to keep things fairly calm.. for now. Still, this close to his young sons and pack and territory and everything else he was responsible for, Ice wasn't going to accept just about anything. He halted half a step in front of Jessie, expecting the stranger to at the very least crouch (and if he didn't, well, he'd just have to deal with that). "What do you want?" he asked, masking the weariness with a slight hint of aggression in his tone. .ice aesir

let the stars above shine in your soul

The gray woman was pleased that she was greeted with slight submission, something some loners had refused to offer her and had easily pissed her off. Her question was also answered with ease and much kindness. His last name felt as if it had some origin that she was familiar with. Redleaf. Red leaf. That was it, Swiftpaw. Swift paw. Just as she was about to continue question him and possibly ask where he was from, the large form of Ice came towering through, easily standing over her. She dropped her tail slightly, not wishing to overpower her alpha and respected him by delicately placing a lick to his hind leg, as he stood a half step in front of her, which was a large step, considering her own small state. Her leader easily interjected and Jess almost sunk down at his tone. She was use to her white snowball being aggressive sometimes, but she was still kind of iffy with him.

The Swiftpaw sister had been worried about Ice and had tried being as delicate as she could since the pack had received news of Marsh’s death. She was sure that her friend had taken it harder than they had both wished for, and in truth, Jessie had been trying to avoid him for the past several days. Deep talk was nothing that she was good at, and she felt that if she had been around the Guardian she would have to try and comfort him. Something she had not learned how to do and felt she would not be able to do anyway. So having him here made her feel sort of awkward, but she felt better knowing that she would not have to call for an alpha anymore. Ice would take care of this loner and if he stayed then good for them if not, good for them. The guy was polite when he spoke to her…but weren’t they all? Before they ended up falling into the pit of betrayal?

Sorry about the wait on this, my internet decided it was going to crap out. But it's fixed now! :-)

The woman said nothing to his name, though in all fairness, she really did not get the chance to speak much else, for they were soon approached by another. The male, much like Sveinx himself, was all white, yet his stride and pose all suggested that he was a leader. They were always the easiest to pick out in a crowd, at least, for Sveinx anyway. The leader rose his head and tail in a clear sign of dominance and Sveinx felt his muscles all work, reforming him into respectful submission, because it what was, obviously, expected of him. As far as Sveinx had recalled, Aether had never approached someone like that unless they were trespassing. Aether and this stranger, though, were two different men. The question posed to him by the leader almost made it sounded as if Sveinx was taking valuable time by just breathing on his borders, and though Sveinx was slightly insulted he was careful not to let it show. In truth, he had no idea what was going on in this man’s life.

“I am Sveinx Redleaf, as I was telling Miss Swiftpaw,” He hoped the woman wasn’t offended by calling her ‘miss’ because in reality, he did not know which was appropriate, so he picked one and hoped it was correct. “And I was wondering if you were looking for members for your pack.” Meaning he was homeless and looking for change that. Sveinx’s stance remained submissive as he waited for the information he sought. If they weren’t willing to accept new members then he would move on no fuss, no muss, to another pack who was.

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Cali missed her sister. So much had changed so fast in all of their lives that it seemed they were hardly able to take a breath before the next turn on this rollercoaster of life. She wanted to assure herself that Jessie was all right. The sisters hadn't had any real chance to talk and she hated that. This was her reason for being on Jessie's trail. Perhaps she could talk her into a hunt and the two of them might get a chance to catch up. Her long trotting stride easily made up ground on her petite sister ahead of her and a tinge of excitement coursed through her at the chance to bond with her not-so-baby anymore sister.

As she neared Jessie, other scents carried on the wind, mingling with the younger Swifpaw's. One was Ice, which was little surprise and the other was a strange male. Although Ice was there and her sister was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, she couldn't help the quickening of her stride to reach the impromptu gathering. She arrived just in time to hear the words of the stranger, offering his name to Ice and inquiring about membership for the pack. He seemed polite and submissive enough.

The snowy woman approached the Oak Tree wolves, giving Jessie a loving smile before flanking Ice's other side, slightly behind him as Jessie was, her own white plume somewhere between the two in height. She offered Ice a quick submissive lick to the chin and lifted her head to peruse the male, emerald eyes taking in his apparent health and impressive size. His fur was ivory, a softer shade than her and Ice's pristine white and his eyes a lighter and brighter shade than her own. In silence she waited for Ice's decree. The male seemed acceptable to her, but while she was high ranking, she was not the leader and Ice's word was law on such matters.

Never Underestimate a Heart of Fire...

you do not know who is your friend or who is your enemy until the ICE breaks. ( No worries. I'm hardly the fastest either. Apologies in advance because Ice is a butt. ) It wasn't always easy being Ice. Nor was it easy being other wolves in the vicinity of Ice. The pale wolf was, at times, a brooding monster waiting to explode, and now more so than ever. While he'd always had a tendency to think either too little or too much, since Triell's return he'd been a bomb going off at random intervals, especially when the slightest thing ticked him off or disturbed his fragile emotional balance. Coming to the borders was one of those things, which was a sad truth for most loners. If Ice would have his way, he'd eat everyone who came near them, but most of the time he managed to restrain himself. These days, that wasn't so easy, and one of his old bad habits had returned: the complete lack of patience, and scorn for, what he deemed to be wolves who either used language carelessly, or informed him of things that were completely, in his opinion, stupid and irrelevant. Sadly, that was the case for Sveinx. It wasn't the first, nor would it likely be the last, loner to say the wrong things to his face there. Jessie might recall a certain encounter with Brenton. "I don't care what you told Jessie, because I wasn't here to hear it," he muttered, wondering why this Sveinx had bothered to fill him in on such a pointless detail. What did it matter to Ice if he'd told Jessie his name, or what the exact phase of the moon tomorrow was called? "And we're never looking but wolves come here anyway and some somehow manage to wind up staying." And he found that he had no more words, simply because it was the sad, tired truth of Ice's life, and because he had answered Sveinx's question. Until another was posed, he had nothing to say, and simply stared at him in a somewhat detached manner. .ice aesir

let the stars above shine in your soul

Go me for making a jumbled mess of EVERYTHING.

She felt like everything was so tense around her…she did not know how to react to how Ice was reacting. There was bad and then there was bad and Ice was definitely acting with the later. She listened to the exchange and even winced when she heard Sveinx’s proposition towards Ice. Definitely the wrong thing to say. Her alpha’s words backed up her thoughts on this and her mind fitted back to awhile ago when her former best friend had come into the pack and later deserted them. The thoughts caused the tense Jessie to stiffen even further, her mind not even comprehending her sister joining them. The younger Swiftpaw made no move to lower her tail in show that Cali was in higher ranks than her, if anything the woman’s tail whisked a little higher than safe for the situation they were in. Ignoring the nagging in her head to keep quiet, she nudged her muzzle into muscle of Ice’s shoulder, a small, barely audible sound only for his ears making its way out of her throat in a whine.

She knew that the white male was going through a hard time with everything going on and the news about Marsh. She did not know what else to say to the male, but she knew that his temper could flare whenever and she also knew that Ice was not one to take kindly to mismatched words and liars. Her heart did ache for him, not completely knowing the pain he was going through…but she could only guess. If anything, even though she loathed the new members so much but at the same time she craved new blood. She could only guess what the others wanted, but she knew she wanted something new, something that wasn’t old, besides the new territory they were on. S he wanted to much, but there was only so many things an alpha could provide for you and greeting someone that they didn’t know and lightly letting them into the pack was definitely not one of them. And inside of herself, she knew this was true, she just wanted Ice to cool down.

doin' some heavy skippin' because of activity check removals.

you do not know who is your friend or who is your enemy until the ICE breaks. It seemed that the polite Sveinx Redleaf wasn't terribly interested in living with a cranky old leader; the male took his leave while Ice watched with flinty eyes, feeling himself sink deeper into the sticky, tarry darkness. This was the past all over again, hackles on end and teeth ready to snap, like a hedgehog curling up so you get spikes in your nose if you try to find the soft, vulnerable center. As the rogue went on his way, Ice couldn't help but wonder what it was he'd missed out on; something great, and glorious? Had he turned a potentially awesome wolf away with his crude tongue? Then in the next moment he decided that if Sveinx wasn't interested in dealing with them as they were, honest and transparent with their damned hearts on their sleeves, then it was for the better all the same. Silently he turned his head, tipping his muzzle down to touch the base of Jessie's nearest ear. She was always there, it seemed, even if the silent, white Cali stood beside them as well, watching with her green eyes. He sighed against her fur, heavy breath rushing out against her ear, before withdrawing. He wasn't particularly interested in saying anything, for what could he say? Sorry? He wasn't sorry; if Sveinx couldn't deal with Ice when he was the underdog, how could the pack possibly stay calm if he was in their ranks? In the end, he simply grunted, and turned to walk away, nosing Jessie and Cali in passing before disappearing into the undergrowth. .ice aesir

let the stars above shine in your soul