Hollowheart Keep Hell in his eyes

12/29/2013; -18 Degrees Celcius; Light Snow Karpos had woken up a few hours before; he was wide awake. He was patrolling the borders and hunting, trying to do everything and anything he could do. But most of the time it led to failure. He had a fire in his eyes, a passion, to actually do something productive before the sun reached the middle of the sky in a few hours. He gave a small yawn, mainly because he found nothing productive that he could accomplish other than border patrol. Even then, while he was marking the borders, if an adult found him then he was no match for them. So was it really considered the productive thing to do if he would lose in a fight? Probably and probably not, it depended on who showed their face and how ugly it was. His mind was completely focused on the task at hand, and once he had finished his patrol he tried sniffing around for something to eat or scavenge. Any food at all could be used for one crucial thing. Survival. He was thinking back to what Mapplethorpe had said before the hunt. Mr. Aponi's father, as Karpos knew him as, had said a word he didn't understand. As he understood it, the man had said 'Tace'. He had never heard that word before though, so what did it mean? Perhaps tace meant listen, since afterwards the man had told them all to listen up and listen well. But what language was it? He had never heard of a word like that, or maybe he had meant to say taste? Whatever it was, it was a mystery to Karpos. Other than that there was another thing that bugged the boy about the man. It was that he knew his last name. Mr. Aponi's father had referred to him as Slayer, but to his knowledge he had only divulged the last name he bore to Aponi. Had Aponi then told her father who he was? He had hissed the word Slayer and that led him to one last question. Did Mr. Aponi's father know my father? He wondered as he walked around sniffing for prey. Something was obviously on the young man's mind.

(This post was last modified: Dec 30, 2013, 01:17 AM by Karpos.)

Since Naira had left the Pass in search of Aponi - and he had relentlessly followed - Mapplethorpe could not help but continually wonder about the boy his daughter had stumbled into so far from home. Yes, he had made an excellent addition to the pack's growing collection of wards and showed much promise in ensuring the pack remained strong in numbers, but what Mapplethorpe wasn't so sure of was whether or not the boy had run off on his own... like Taima had. The last thing he and Naira needed was an angry patriarch showing up on their doorstep in search of his long lost son and heir. Through the light snow, the grizzled man wandered, placing to memory whatever distinguishing tree mark he could manage to remember. What he couldn't recall on a second pass through this particular part of the woods, he made sure to press his rough paw pads against to establish a scent marker.

Once he had found himself back on track and following in the steps of his pack mates, he lifted his head from the hard-packed snow trail and, allowed his thoughts to stray once more. He was just about to turn sharply to the right and forge his own 'highway' of sorts when, lo and behold, there he was. Slayer... snuffling about in the snow at the corner of his eye. A sly smile crept up along his muzzle and with reorienting himself, he slowly began to approach the dark-pelted boy. His ears remained vigilant and skyward and, though his tail rose from previously being level with his spine, he let out a deep bark, a sort of warm salutation to balance the intimidating facade he normally put up front with the cubs. His eyes, however, remained as they were, seemingly vibrant and much too eerie as they focused on Karpos and what it was he was doing.

"Hello," he slowly pronounced, his tenor voice reaching out to the boy's ears with a hint of curiosity. He opened his mouth to ask something but was diverted when he came to realize that Aponi was nowhere to be seen. "Funny... to see you out on your own," he casually commented. "No doubt Aponi is nearby?" A whiskered brow rose inquisitively and his tail gave a slight wag, but by no means did the concern and suspicion on his face give way just yet.

Look Out!

There is a moose carcass that has been scavenged by a bear nearby. +10 Health

<b style="font-family:georgia; color:#8182A3;">Karpos had continued his wanderings for scents, but nothing had really come up.... until he had caught the scent of dear and moose mixed together. He knew bears were dangerous, so he started to weigh the risks of going and seeing if the bear was still there or not. He decided to take the chance, but proceed with caution. He had almost reached a point where he could see the moose carcass, but then he heard a voice that made him freeze in his tracks. Hello. The tenor voice familiar, and he knew instantly who it was. Voice was one of the few things that gaze away who a wolf was. He turned slowly and he was right. It was Mr. Aponi's father. He was staring at a wolf of intimidation. Of course he wasn't staring into his eyes or anything, if he had learned one thing his entire life, it was that staring a wolf in the eyes was disrespectful and a challenge of authority. He was unsure of what the situation was like.. <b style="font-family:georgia; color:#8182A3;">"Hello Mr. Aponi's father." He said with an unsure tone with just a whisper, he didn't know much about Mr. Aponi's father after all. Not to mention, if there was that bear near them, he didn't want to alert it. Funny... to see you on your own. No doubt Aponi is nearby?" What was this all about? Was it uncommon for him to go someplace without Aponi? Sure they spent a lot of time together, but not every waking second. The thought struck him, whenever he showed up to a pack event he had been with Aponi before hand. That was probably why her father was asking if she was nearby. Karpos gave an answer with a rather calm voice, no longer unsure. <b style="font-family:georgia; color:#8182A3;">"I went out on my own this morning, sir." He offered up the explanation, his eyes still held a bit of caution. This man was the alpha of the pack the pup now called home, but he was left to wonder who he really was. Suddenly he blurted out a question, without really thinking. <b style="font-family:georgia; color:#8182A3;">"What does 'Tace' mean?"

The boy seemed to have been staring something but Mapplethorpe didn't even have to look. Just taking one step closer to Karpos was all that it had taken to have the odor of stale bear musk and frozen moose invade his senses. Perhaps the lad had been practicing his tracking skills... and for that, assumptions and all, the Leader found he couldn't particularly be so distrusting or loathsome of him. Karpos, in turning about to briefly meet Mapplethorpe's face, immediately greeted him. His mud-colored eyes averting as his voice dropped to a mere whisper.

"Mapplethorpe," he corrected, his tone sounding a little more stern than he had actually anticipated. "But, 'sir', will do..."

For what seemed like hours, the man studied the young Slayer's face, what little details he could pick up within the sea of midnight black fur. "I went out on my own this morning, sir." The Leader's brows evened out, lending a soft "Mmmmhmm," in reply. He caught Karpos' gaze for a second before the cub looked away again. "What does 'Tace' mean?" His lungs filled themselves with the chilly winter air and he released it in what could have been translated into an obliging sigh. "There are no bears here," he stated, the volume of his voice rising into its usual timbre and fullness. "They've gone to hibernate for the winter. You've no need to be afraid."

He took a step to one side then lifted a fore paw and held it in the air for sometime before taking another step towards the blood-spattered snow in the clearing ahead. He waited for Karpos to follow his lead or even make a move to confirm that his confidence had been recovered. "Tace means to 'be quiet'," he answered at last. "It's from an ancient tongue my ancestors had once spoken." The partial smile that had initially been on his face grew into a more amiable one.

"Eamus," he prompted, eyeing the moose carcass now and moving slowly towards it, "Let's go."

Mr. Aponi's father seemed to have been studying him before he responded with a name to call him by. He was about to correct himself and say 'Hello Mr. Mapplethorpe.' as he once had when he found out Mrs. Aponi's mother was actually Mrs .Naira, however, before he could do so, he was told 'sir' would be just fine. Karpos gave an eager nod. The mnnnhmmmm that followed, Karpos knew it as a response to him heading out alone, then there was a sigh to the man. After Karpos' question about tace, the man stated that there were no bears, and Karpos felt a bit more confident in the area and he was willing to be able to move towards the moose carcass when Mapplethorpe had started to. The chocolate colored boy was kind of nervous still, but excited all the same. The young boy had followed Sir Mapplethorpe's lead towards the deer and he got an explanation. Tace means be quiet. It is from an ancient tongue my ancestors once spoke in. The explanation led Karpos to keep the word in his mind. The word tace, it meant be quiet. He would definately try to pick up on the language that the leader sometimes spoke then. Eamus. Lets go. Another word to save in his memory bank. It took Karpos a while to realize that Sir Mapplethorpe was smiling. A small smile followed on Karpos' muzzle. He decided to offer something up on his own. <b style="font-family:georgia; color:#8182A3;">"Sir, how did you know my last name? I've only ever really told Aponi, well at least, the only one I talk to anymore who knows it is Aponi, perhaps did she tell you?" He was generally curious as to how this man of such prestige knew his name. Little did Karpos know that Sir Mapplethorpe was there when he told Aponi.

The moose looked and smelled like it could have been dead and frozen for nearly over a day but before the masked brute could even think of stepping closer to the kill site or investigating the heavy footfalls that had left an uneven trail into the deepest reaches of the Ghastly Woods, Karpos fired off another question. "Sir, how did you know my last name?" Standing before the mangled body of the hoofed creature, Mapplethorpe turned again to acknowledge the boy, attentively listening. "I've only ever really told Aponi, well at least, the only one I talk to anymore who knows it is Aponi, perhaps did she tell you?"

"No," he admitted without shaking his head. "I was there when she found you... when Naira came to bring Aponi back home, just waiting to escort them back to the Pass." He lowered his head to touch his near-frozen nose to moose's frigid shoulder then snorted to dislodge the scent from his nostrils. As if waiting to see what Karpos would do in light of finding such a fortune near the edges of their threshold, Mapplethorpe walked away and began to peer through the spaces between the crooked trees, walking in a wide arc around both Karpos and the dead moose. The cold air and the snow it had brought to the east might have muffled an assortment of sounds but from what he could tell, the bear that had preyed upon the antlered beast had, indeed, been gone for several hours.

Without even looking at the boy, still too preoccupied in scanning their surroundings, he asked, "Was that all you were curious about?"

The news that the man had gone unknown to him in his first encounter with Aponi was not really surprising; both of the pups had been very caught up in the conversation they had been having. He had been waiting with Mrs. Naira to bring her back to the Pass, and that was one of those things that he had never really known. His mother had left when he was very young and so she never searched for him. His father had been busy running a pack and so Karpos seemed to just disappear and then reappear. He had no real stable discipline structure as to where he could and could not go. A scout, he finally realized, was what he saw to be himself. "Was that all you were curious about?" The man asked without even looking at him, it seemed like he was looked at something, or for something. Karpos took the time to sniff the dead moose, and then he took a small bite, wondering if it was still any good. <b style="font-family:georgia; color:#8182A3;">"No sir, I was wondering... did you know my father?" The words were almost silent, chilled to the bone. Karpos always had a grave voice infliction when he talked about his father. The pup was curious then, and nothing would or could turn him away from the task of learning about who his father was before he {him being Karpos} was born. My Auntie Narime said he was from this side of the mountain, surely more wolves know about him here than they do there. He reasoned with himself as he thought about his questions some more.

If they had been accompanied by the pack, Mapplethorpe would have minded if Karpos had lowered his head to sample a bit of frozen moose. Being that it had only just been the two of them, it actually pleased the tawny Leader that the boy had taken a chance in sampling it. Though the boy's question lingered for some time, the russet-muzzled man stared thoughtfully back at him, watching, just waiting for him to take another bite. "Try something not so close to the pelt," he suggested, turning his attention now to how the corpse had sprawled out. "If you still don't like it, well... suit yourself then. Hunt for yourself."

He casually walked around the kill site once more, golden eyes scrutinizing what he could see on a first impression. What had been left by the bear was more than likely still edible. The clusters of ice crystals he discerned along the snow-covered wounds, he resolved, wouldn't be a problem if they cached it away within the hour. But first, he eyed the Slayer lad again before artfully reaching down to wrench a rib out from beneath a flap of thick brown hide. "Here," he offered, pushing the curved bone over the moose's spine towards Karpos with his nose. "Eat. We are going to stow this whole thing away. The pack is going to need it."

Quietly, he helped himself to the tougher muscles along the moose's neck, peeling away the pelt in long strips before he was able to get to the remnants of exposed shoulder that he wanted. With a crunch he separated the moose's forelimb from its torso and once he had settled down with it between his red-stained paws he finally answered Karpos' question. "I did not know your father; I came from the northwest and I met @Naira on the mountain... I've been with her ever since. I've had very little business to tend to outside of the pack territory... except for that time when Aponi found you..."

everything that kills me makes me feel alive <b style="font-family:georgia; color:#8182A3;">Karpos listened intently and when he was told to eat more, he went to do so. Sir Mapplethorpe however, tore of a piece of rib and gave it to him before he could manage to take a bite. Karpos started to devour the meat on the bone. The news that the pack would be storing the food did not come as a surprise to Karpos, after all it was winter and it was a harsh one at that. The winter made them flee the mountain. He finished up his rib as Mapplethorpe explained how he had little business away from Hollowheart Keep, or what was Nomad's Pass at the time, other than when Aponi found Karpos. He was a little embarrassed about that time. As soon as Naira had showed herself he had turned timid and weak, normally not his style. He probably looked like some foolish rouge trying to lure the pup away from her home further, but he knew that would have been a misunderstanding. <b style="font-family:georgia; color:#8182A3;">"Sir, my old pack, they never really taught me or my sister much of anything other than how to be responsible for ourselves. I mean... I learned to hunt from my aunt, but other than that I've had no formal training. The issue I guess is that all my life, I've aspired to be a Guardian. But I don't know how to fight. Would you be able to give me a few pointers?" He asked Aponi's father as his last question. He looked down at his paws as they scrapped against the snow.