Sacred Grove Off with their heads

Setting: Dated a couple days after bison feast. There is a heavy snowstorm on its way. Partly Cloudy — 17° F/-9° C
Random Event: Hexamora, you find a stinky, rotten carcass.

With steps as silent as a ghost and a phantasmal form to match Hexamora now found herself heading away from the creek that had recently been her temporary rendezvous point. With the events of the bison feast over and nothing but bones remaining after feeding off its remains for a few days there was no reason for her to stick around the area, especially with the way the sky was starting to look during those last couple days and continued to look on this day. A glance toward the heavens with her green and brown tinted orbs revealed an ever approaching blanket of various shades of grey fighting to engulf the brightening shades of pink and purple that made up the morning sunrise. Brewing before her eyes was the beginning of a snowstorm and a heavy one at that by the look of the clouds settled low in the sky set on devouring the strange land she treads upon.

And the place she now found herself was indeed strange. Since her departure from Heartleaf Creek she followed the flow of water south never letting the source of fresh water out of her bi-colored sight and now a few yards ahead of the ivory clad woman stood the thinned beginnings of what appeared to be a grove unlike any she crossed before. She was yet to take the first step into the grouping of trees, but from the place she stood there was no denying the power faintly radiating up her paws to her shoulders. The sensation caused Hex to squint her eyes warily at the inanimate topiary. "How....odd" the words fell hushed from her lips as if they weren't meant to be spoken aloud, lofting out onto the still morning air. Shrugging off the peculiar sensation that vibrated through her limbs with a quick shake to her pelt one paw moved in front of the other towards the grove, dispersing the low immersed layer of fog which was starting to become a daily occurrence now that the temperature was plummeting to meet the ever-encroaching winter's demands. That morning was no exception either with the air holding a bone chilling temperature of at least 20° F. It wasn't unbearable for the arctic woman, but it was enough to nip harshly at ones nose and force her to curl into the tightest ball at night. Thus Hexamora got an early start to her traveling letting her movements warm her body up.

An hour came and went in the blink of an eye with Hexamora finding herself somewhere in the low lit maze of trees, dawns morning light yet to illuminate through the sparse canopy that remained above. If she had a set destination this would fall under the lost category, but seeing as that wasn't the case her slender frame continued to meander aimlessly through the fog and humming grove. The whole thing was crazy to her and mindblowing. Every tree around her hummed with power, seeping into her paws with each step much stronger than when she first stumbled upon its entrance. Her mental escapade with the power of the grove was short lived as distasteful scent suddenly reached her nostrils almost causing a light burning sensation to her odor reactors, discombobulating her. "What could be creating that putrid smell?" A wrinkle of disgust forming on her muzzle. Deciding to uncover whatever interrupted her fixation over the grove's power her body switched direction to begin heading north east away from the creek she used as a travel marker and towards the smell. Inhaling every now and then to ensure her nose wasn't playing tricks on her the hunt for the source continued, the smell growing stronger and more distinct. Whatever it was, it was rancid. Definitely not something that smelt edible nor was it like she needed to worry about eating at the moment anyways. With the gorging of bison recently Hexamora had started to gain some of her original weight back and a shine was beginning to return to her dull fur as well. She was still a ways away from being deemed fit and healthy, but it was a start.

The Beauvau woman trudged on along the scent trail, her tail wagging lackadaisically behind her. That was until a blast of the stench she had been following smacked her in the face like a brick wall, stopping her dead in her tracks. Ten feet away was the remains of a carcass, the skin, bones and tuffs of fur scattered in a small circumference. God, the thing whatever it was smelt worse than death and being a curious creature the she-wolf approached slowly, dissecting the scene with her eyes to discover the thing was actually the remains of a once chocolate coated wolf. There was no denying the canine bone structure that was beginning to show through the scraps of flesh infested with maggots and other meat hungry insecticides. It was a grueling sight, but that was life. "Better him than me. Must have been one of those panivorous suckers." Hex sneered while lifting a dirt clad paw to poke disrespectfully at the John Doe or Jane Doe's remains causing the skull to dislodge from the shoulders and roll towards her. Another sneer appeared on her countenance as a thought crossed her mind, a swift kick to the skull with her paw following said mystery thought. "Oops. There went your head." The words came out in an amused tone, her gaze watching the poor chaps skull fly into the distance in silence until a round of maniacal laughter erupted from the ebony lining of her lips. All around the woman the tone of her villainous laugh percolated off the trees, no doubt able to reach the ears of anyone in the area. If there was anyone around to hear that is.

Sitting with his head against a tree, Dark was breathing heavily, still trying to catch back his breath. He had been running laps repeatedly, trying to test if he had improved his time before finally taking a break from all the overtiring exercise. Unfortunately, he barely improved at all. It took him about 26 minutes before he grew tired, which wasn't up to his satisfaction. He usually grew tired after 20-25 minutes, but he had barely even scaled 26. He knew he was going to improve eventually, so he just pushed the thought out of his mind for now. His body was fatigued currently and he still didn't even catch his breath yet. Suddenly, his ears flickered at the sound of something.. it sounded like laughter. It wasn't just any ordinary laughter, as a matter of fact, it wasn't a kind of laughter Dark was habitual with. It sounded like a sinister laugh, one coming from someone with only a pure heart of wickedness.

The laughter stopped echoing after a while. "Damnit..". Dark tried to keep his voice extremely quiet. He wasn't in the position to fight at all right now, for all he knew, the person could have been with a pack, which was kind of unlikely, or the person could have been extremely dangerous. He didn't want to take any chances at all, his body was still recovering from exhaustion and he needed to get back most of his energy immediately. He continued resting his head on the tree and stayed motionless, trying not to make a single sound.

(This post was last modified: Nov 16, 2014, 03:18 PM by Dark.)

Oh but there was someone there. It didn't take long for her new toy to disappear out of sight as it flew past a group of trees to land with a hard thunk against something solid. Unbeknownst to her that something was actually a swarthy pelted male with his head rested upon the bark of a tree and the skull ended up colliding with his right shoulder. Now that her play thing was gone what was she going to do for entertainment in this power filled grove? A sigh of dissatisfaction passed her ebony lips knowing she would have to retrieve it herself if she wanted to continue kicking it around.

So with an annoyed snort and a swift kick to the rotted carcass as if it was the dead wolf's fault for losing his or her skull, Hexamora reluctantly trotted in the direction she last saw her precious toy before it vanished. Occasionally disturbing some rabbits tucked away in some brush she would use her snout to push the leaves aside in order to investigate the inside hoping her skull was to be found, but majority of the time it wasnt. That was until after searching one last bush she lifted her head to find its opaque structure nestled against the base of a tree not too far away and she would have contently marched up to claim her prize, but her attention was drawn away from it by the looming form of a wolf sitting against the same tree with his head pressed against its trunk. A silent snarl pulled back the skin of her lips to reveal stained canines at the male who had his back to her. He better not have thought he could take her toy. Hexamora did not share well with others, especially her toys.

Dark felt the impact of the skull on his right shoulder and growled a little on the loud side. He figured that the wolf or whatever creature it was that had laughed would have been long gone by now, and he had finally caught his breath. His body was still a little sore but other than that he thought that he would have been ready to take on anything. He looked down at the ground beside him and saw it. He didn't notice anything else around him, his focus was now only on the skull that had hit his shoulder- which in fact had hurt a little. "This is random..". He said as he dusted it off with one of his paws and picked it up. It was indeed a random development. Dark knew that skulls don't just appear out of nowhere or fall out of the sky. Even if it did fall out of the sky, that would have probably been one of the rarest things in the world.

He examined the wolf skull and tapped on it, then put two of his claws in the holes which once contained the eyes and laughed quietly to himself. Dark did enjoy playing with and having creepy items in his possession. He got up from sitting behind the tree and still continued to stare at the skull. "What can I do with this?..". He thought about the question for about a minute, then decided. "I'll use this as a decoration for my den.. yeah.. that would be amazing..". A sinister grin was cast on his face as he held onto the skull tighter with his paw and looked around the area.

(This post was last modified: Nov 16, 2014, 08:12 PM by Dark.)

The fur along the nape of her neck bristled aggressively the moment his filthy paws touched her trophy, bi-colored eyes narrowing maliciously at the swarthy man. What was with the wolves here always touching and stealing her stuff? Just like with the bison feast where she was disgusted watching the wolves eat her food she now found herself disgusted by the way he touched the skull and seemed to admire it, speaking to himself. "I'll use this as a decoration for my den.. yeah.. that would be amazing.." Oh hell no. Only Hexamora would have the pleasure of admiring the skull and using it as home decor.

With a snarl erupting from the black lining of her lips the ivory woman broke through the bush separating her from the dark coated man. Venom laced her words as she spoke, never letting the skull or the man out of her gaze. "Didn't your mother ever tell you it's not polite to steal someone's things?" Her body posture was rigid as she stepped closer, the guard hairs that lined her body standing on end while a rush of adrenaline began to flow through her veins, anger building just behind that. The man that stood before her was larger, though medium in build and easily swallowed Hex's smaller height without even needing to try, but size did little to intimidate the woman. There was nothing in the world that she feared and nothing in the world she hated more than a thief. Whoever this stranger was no matter what his intentions had been all she saw labeled across his forehead was the word thief. Whether she had to go claw to claw with him, Hex was going to win her skull back. Nobody stole her things.

(This post was last modified: Nov 17, 2014, 12:31 AM by Hexamora.)

Dark stopped staring at the skull as he looked up from it and glared at Hexamona. "Well well well.. who's this?" He had thought to himself. He glanced at the skull then back at the strange female. "So this skull is supposed to be your own?". He laughed slowly. "Look here missy,I don't know who you are,but I honestly don't care. This skull is mine to keep now. I guess you can call it a classic rule of 'finders keepers' if you wish.". The tone of his voice was serious. He wasn't planning to give the skull back to anyone, even if it truly was their own. He wondered about this she-wolf a little. Was this the wolf that was laughing evilly before? It would make sense since she did want a strange object like the skull... but why exactly would she want a skull in the first place? Perhaps for the same reasons as he did? This is how it went on in his mind, on and on with questions, but no answers yet. He decided to slow things down a little.

He continued to tap the skull with his claws more, yet keeping his both eyes locked-on on Hexamora. He kept staring at her bi-colored eyes. Somehow, he found them kind of beautiful in a way, but he decided to put that aside. Right now, she would have been considered an enemy. Dark wouldn't have given her the skull easily, not at all. He wanted to keep it for his own purposes and his own purposes only.

Missy?! Who did he think he was calling her missy? She had a name and there was no way he was going to keep that skull for his own personal pleasures. "I was the one who found the skull so yes, that skull is mine. Give. It. Back." A growl broke the lining of her lips as the last of her words faded off, the whites of her canines unsheathed. This was getting ridiculous and even though she would fight for it if it truly needed to come down to it, she was not in the mood to exert any unnecessary energy on this fool. Besides it didnt look like he would be able to put up much of a fight anyways with how fatigued he looked. Clearly she had an upper hand in that case.

The sound of his claws clicking against the skull sent involuntary cringes down her spine like silent ticks that irked her. 'Stop. Touching. My. Things.' She thought hostilely. Nor did she like the way he kept staring at her odd colored eyes and Hex was very aware that she didn't fit the typical wolf standards with her too white coat and double colored eyes. It hadn't even been a full five minutes and this guy was already so far under her skin it was driving her nuts. Lowering her upper lip to cover her canines she let out a frustrated sigh that was nearly inaudible. How would she go about getting her precious thing back? This would take some serious brainstorming. An annoying flick of her tail followed the many thoughts that crossed the fore front of her mind. Then a possible solution popped up. What if she used her looks against him? Every male no matter how big or bad they tried to seem couldn't resist a little sugar from a she-wolf. It was a distasteful plan, but worth a try. Anything to get her precious back.

Dark chuckled and smirked a little. "Calm down and chill a little, alright? First of all, I'm actually pretty curious right now, what's your name and why do you want a skull?". He guessed that the she-wolf's name would've been something as weird as her eyes. Maybe something like 'Brareona' or 'Saranesa'... or maybe not. His plan currently was incredibly simple. Maybe stall out a few minutes talking to rest his muscles a little. They were still a little sore so he needed this plan to work. He at least wanted it to last for about just five minutes. Longer would have been good as well, but he didn't think he would have been able to stall longer than the wanted time.

If this plan had worked correctly, the she-wolf might have given him some useful information. If she was stupid enough, even give information by accident that would have given him an upper advantage against her. Possibly a fear? A weakness even? Yes.. that would have been fun. The smirk disappeared suddenly from his face as a serious look quickly replaced it. "Don't worry, I'm a fair wolf. I'll tell you who I am and all that once you do it first. After all, I asked you first, so that would be the polite thing to do, wouldn't you agree?" Seeing her angry was pure pleasure to Dark. He loved to annoy and torment wolves sometimes. To him, it was fun and he sure loved fun, even if he had an odd and different way of having fun.

Hexamora rolled back onto her haunches with a disinterested look settling upon her face at his attempt to gain some information about her. Did he really think she was dumb enough to just hand over her name and plans that easily? She should have been insulted by that, but then again even she didn't know what she wanted to do with the skull. All she did know was that she didnt want him, whoever he was, to have it. Talk about a selfish woman. "My mother told me not to talk to strangers so you're not learning anything." A sneer tinted her words as she wrapped her tail loosely around her paws.

A smirk couldn't go unnoticed on his lips as he spoke, but as soon as it appeared it was gone when he spoke once more. "Don't worry, I'm a fair wolf. I'll tell you who I am and all that once you do it first. After all, I asked you first, so that would be the polite thing to do, wouldn't you agree?" Polite? Poor guy must have a bad sense of judging people because the Beauvau woman was far from polite. "Actually, I'd have to disagree. You see politeness really isn't my style, whoever you may be." As quick as a rabbit she flicked her gaze down at the skull before returning it to his own making sure that it was safe and sound. The ivory woman was running out of time and patience in getting it back. It was time to turn on the charm. Raising back to all fours she slowly began to circle around his body and the tree he was nestled against, gaze taking in every detail of himself. "But indulge a woman such as myself for a moment. What does a strong man such as yourself want with a skull? Isn't it a little dare I say..creepy?"

Dark thought for a moment before uttering anything out of his mouth. The female wolf now circling around him had just called him 'strong' out of nowhere. He quickly figured out what she was trying to do. It was almost too obvious. Oh-ho-ho. That was a little too close for comfort. If she didn't switch so quickly from not wanting to tell Dark anything about her to complimenting him, he would have fallen for it like a pup. He decided to play along quickly before she thought he had figured anything out. He held onto the skull with his paw tighter, being almost unnoticeable, not letting go of it at all. "To be honest, I enjoy creepy things, but a lovely lady like you shouldn't have a creepy object like a skull, you should have nice, shiny and sparkly gemstones instead to reflect your beauty.". Dark did like Hexamora, but he had also hated her. It was about 50/50. If he didn't like her, he would have probably vomitted from the words that rolled off his tongue. 'Lovely'? Blegh, if he wasn't such a good actor, his lunch would have been spilled out on the ground by now.

He had to continue faking it though, until either she cracked or he cracked from the act. Either way, he was getting some time to rest his muscles. At least his plan was working out almost perfectly. He laughed in his mind a little at how desperate this female was just to get a skull. He couldn't wait to see how far she would go to get it.

(This post was last modified: Nov 18, 2014, 01:59 AM by Dark.)