Round Stone Crest Hello Mother, Hello Father

Set about a mile or two outside the boarders if that's okay with you. @Raela  

Tiger orange optics surveyed the dense collection of spruce and pine trees that flanked him on either side, cream limbs patrolling the expanse of landscape with relative ease despite the gradually increasing mountainous terrain. Shifting scents of prey and predators alike earning nothing more than a mild flick of a single ebony laced ear. Since late yesterday it was decided. If the fun didn't want to come to him, than he would have to just go out and find the fun for himself spare that chance encounter with that one man with that one name who liked to talk funny and not funny in an amusing kind of way, but a weird 'Why you talking like that?' way. Certainly it had risen a brow upon the Asurn's face.

What was it his blasted name had been, though? Gunthar? No, not quite right. Eirian rattled in his mind to try and grasp the name of that darn wolf. Then, it clicked. Gunnar! That was it. A brief look of ecstatic joy cloaked his handsome features for recalling the name of the sacrilegious beast, but there was little time to dwell on the unimportant when there was fun to be had on the horizon. On the downwind current came quite the peculiar and pungent perfume of someone familiar that brought a wicked grin to his swarthy colored lips. "Well, what do we have here?" he purred delectably in a burble manner to himself ignoring all possibilities of another overhearing his words meant for no one in particular.  

Like a thief in the night the dark agouti man was propelled through the sodden foliage with confident and determined strides from the sudden downpour earlier in the week. Someone was about to be paid a family visit. Head tilted back jaws were parted to allow a piercing cry to cut through the air beckoning the presence of his long (partially)forgotten cousin. What a family reunion this would be.

They were on the move again. The deer just couldn't seem to sit still. She would have thought that in the summer heat the beasts would have chosen to rest, or at least not change position so darn often. Tracking them every few days was beginning to get annoying. Before, the little group had wandered placidly enough from meadow to meadow in the Crest territory, but ever since the wolves had taken one they seemed restless. It made sense that if these deer had been living in relative comfort without a resident pack stalking them for some time before the Downs wolves relocated, that they would panic a bit at being preyed upon.  The sudden introduction of predators was making them uneasy. Each time she left to check on them for the pack, the creatures had moved further than the day before. Tracking them was beginning to become a nuisance, if only for the fact that she had to repeatedly stray outside of the borders. Just wandering the territory's edges alone made her uneasy, but here she was, more than a mile out with her nose to the ground. What if Vitani's still out here? Ugh, if you all just came back and let us eat you, everything would be much easier, she mused, accepting the absurdity of the notion. She was on edge as always, with her ruddy ears flicking like radars. A sound she had first regarded as nothing was getting slowly louder, enough to make the lithe brown woman halt her steps.  She tipped her head to better listen. Was it, footsteps?  A horrific and forceful blast of sound made the woman jump. The pack wolf's legs splayed defensively and her head whirled to face the threat. It took her a moment to process that the call was in fact to request her presence and attention. Well, whoever it was had her now. The deer trail was forgotten as her panicked golden eyes swept through the forest. Her breathing quickened; body fully prepared to sprint for home. Few thoughts could cross her mind in those dragging seconds, but the footsteps drew ever closer. The girl wasn't about to hand herself willingly to some strange rogue. She stayed put, nervously scanning the area with her hackles on end. There was no scent to give him away, from the direction he was approaching... Image © Chris Smith Photography Manipulation © Jenandra

            

There are several fresh rabbit tracks in the mud. Hunt Opportunity

Howl cut off to dwindle into a soft silence, russet audits swayed towards the rear than forward once more in hopes of catching a responding sound from his kin. Yet, as Eirian waited oh so patiently nothing but the sound of nuisance birds chirping and summer time insects fluttering about filled them. Not a single response. A frown marred the once excited expression that previously claimed his facial features, brows coming together to furrow curiously. "Ohhh cousin, why don't you come out and play? I know you're here, I can smell you." He sang out in a sing-song tone as pads pushed forward through the shrubbery along the scent trail of his relative. 

It didn't take long for tangerine orbs to hone in on the defensively hunched embodiment of his cousin, the frown quickly transforming back into a wicked grin. "There she is. If it isn't my favorite exiled cousin, Raela!" Voice dripping heavily in a crooning tone at the stirred up memory of what had happened those many moons ago back within the founding Asurn pack. Gliding effortlessly closer to the older woman, the dark agouti man circled her cowered frame, taking in every inch of her that had come to change since he last laid eyes upon her. A smirk twitching at the corner of his dark inky lips. "You look well. For an outcast that is. Really suits you." More teasing falling from his slithering tongue while a small bout of nostalgic laughter filled the air between them. Those genetic orange optics holding a special twinkle in the sunlight. Oh, an interesting family reunion indeed. If only Aunty and Uncle could see her now!

Not much appeared to be different about the exiled Asurn before him. Same generic saddled pattern likened to their bloodline, same canary marbles tucked behind a faint mask. Physically she looked the same spare a missing notch in her right ear and looking more built than he remembered. Yet, he couldn't quite place his paw on what it was about her that seemed to be different. Perhaps it was the intertwined stench of musk and perfume from others upon her pelt that knocked him for a loop. Inhaling the various odors nearly made him hurl his afternoon snack. She was mingling with mutts! Unholy half breeds! Blasphemy!

Her heartbeat was drumming relentlessly in her ears while the silence suffocated everything like a heavy blanket. The footsteps had ceased. Was he sneaking up on her? No no, her ears would pick it up. What was he doing? She hated this sick feeling here. Was she supposed to wait and just be picked off? There was no way in the world she was going toward the wolf that had called like that. She should be running. She should have been running already. His voice brought her hair to the tallest it could possibly stand. The sing-song tones wove through the trees like a gaseous poison. Cousin? There was a note of familiarity in the tone, but she couldn't place it. She had many cousins. Cousins...  Oh no. Was the stranger really an Asurn? Her stomach turned with dread as she heard the footsteps resume. The forest sounds began to drown under her heartbeat and the deadly footfalls. Her eyes flicked nervously in that direction. Watching. Watching... The movement was the first thing she saw. It was a dark agouti wolf, a fact that brought her nothing but anxiety. She swallowed hard, unable to tear her eyes from the approaching figure. The pack wolf's tail tucked itself away, and she glanced to his eyes only once as the man spoke again. Gold eyes widened with the realization as her name slid between his foul lips. Immediately instinct gripped her, slapping her eyes to the ground. She remembered. She stole glances at his feet, realizing with terror that he was still coming for her. Who he was exactly, was another question. But he was an Asurn, and that was frightening enough. How had they found her here? Rae started to feel as if she'd vomit. He was getting too close, and he was smiling. Could she outrun him? Her eyes snapped about, registering all possible routes of escape. She stepped back as he came closer, lip twitching in the beginnings of a defensive snarl. It was not a wise move around an Asurn, to be sure, but she was fighting it. All of her muscles were completely drenched in adrenaline; they were aching to be used. He was circling around her. Nervously she spun to face him as best she could; ears flat with submission. Her eyes kept catching glances of his pelt, and she repeated his voice in her head. Did she know him? Was this one of the pups? The revelation hit much slower than it should have; but eventually it did come; gliding in on his wicked voice. A voice very similar to a yearling she once knew. Now the pieces fit.  Eirian. She nearly said it out loud. He was laughing at her; mocking her. This brickbat stung just as much as the others. Her eyes hardened to slits as she glared at his toes. This was one of the demons she'd babysat two years ago. One of the tortured souls who'd once surely been an innocent pup. Clearly nothing was left of that now; nothing was left when he was a yearling either. When the boy had finished laughing his demeanor seemed to change. She heard his swift inhales, and noticed how sick he looked a moment later. Oh, she remembered the Asurns and their stupid ideals clear as day. Rock hard eyes struck daggers at his legs, knowing exactly what he was going to complain about next, and she forced a low-toned response into the air. “That's my pack and they'll come after you if you hurt me,” she declared boldly. “What do you want Eirian?” Image © Chris Smith Photography Manipulation © Jenandra

            

Eirian's words had struck home just they intended to as his cousin obtained a new hardness to those canary tinted eyes of hers. His tail swaying vigorously at his rump like a pup being praised for the first time as Raela shed the fear that evidently wracked her frame and dared speak so boldly to her kin. Now this was the Asurn side he knew must still be lodged inside her pathetic shell. A mock gasp of shock escaped his maw while those orange optics of his widened to mirror the sound for emphasis, single paw lifted to feign being hurt by her words. "Why, I'm hurt you would think so lowly of me. We are kin after all." For a moment his head tucked beneath a swiftly risen paw as if her words were about to force a tear from his eyes. 

Snorting at his own acting the raised paw smoothly lowered back down to touch the earth below, eyes narrowing into slits at the accusation of him wanting something. "What do I want? Is it so wrong of me to pay my cousin a friendly visit to catch up upon catching wind of her?" There was no need to festinate this meeting was there? Tossing his head aside, there was no shortness of dramatics during this conversation from Eirian's behalf. A personality trait he had since birth. "Tell me, cousin. What's it like living among those wretched best? Did you happen to amount to greatness and rule over the mutts like a proper Asurn?" More berating underlined his words knowing very well that there was no possible way she could say yes to his latter question. Upon an inhale of her perfume there was no aroma of power to her hair, just the stench of her pack mates and those who claimed the positions that would one day belong to Eirian one day. Once all plans were set into a final motion.

What a damn liar. She could hear his ham-like acting and see his movements from her peripherals even as her sunny eyes drilled holes in his feet. She didn't look up as the charade continued, glancing only once when she knew he was finished. His next sentence sounded almost serious, but she was well aware that he was only here for his own amusement. This had nothing to do with missing her. She kept silent despite the anxiousness and the heat of her blood. If he really wanted to cause serious trouble he would have done it already; but this didn't mean she was letting her guard down.  Her ears dared to lift from her skull as the Asurn man continued on; whining about the mixes in her pack. Raela drew her legs back up underneath her and straightened her back, though her tail remained tucked. Anything less was bound to be seen as disrespect, and she didn't need a fight. The Crest woman could tell he expected no real tales of her rise to power, and there would be none. But what would she tell him? Again the female's voice slithered out in a hard tone. “These 'wretched beasts' have treated me far better than any Asurn ever has. Not that you care.” It was still a voice sharp as her own fangs. “But if you're so curious, I'm in training to be their advisor.” If he could smell them, he'd already know that meant helping both a plains wolf and a mackenzie; their sworn enemies, but Gent and Minka would never loose her favor over simple genetics.  Her eyes dug through the ground and another spiteful sentence emerged from her black lips. “I rank third and I'll be moving on second.” Her old demeanor; the Asurn-given one, had surfaced. Cold, but seeking approval nonetheless. She didn't exactly expect or even want praise of any kind from this demon, but she knew there was little else she could share that he would be interested in. Until now the idea of challenging for Cessair's rank had been a faint notion; something she could probably have accomplished but seemed impossible in her insecure mind. Back and forth she had wrestled with it, but only for brief moments. There was the threat to their friendship as well but the pale woman seemed forgiving enough. Raela had taken Gent's training, and  even if the encounter before it was a flop it was experience nonetheless. If she made it back to the pack unscathed, perhaps it was about time she moved up. Most would not have waited so long as she; be them friendly types or not. It was instinct, and if anything surfaced around an Asurn it was instinct.  Image © Chris Smith Photography Manipulation © Jenandra

            

Fiery orange gaze watched closely as his cousin made a shift in her stance, opting to stand upright before him albeit her tail remained tucked at her rear as it should in his presence. Eirian was going to be a future king after all and no king should be shown a smidgen of disrespect. Dark rust tinged audits swerved back to press against his skull momentarily before pivoting forward once more at the remark that tumbled from her mouth. Claiming that those filthy sacrilegious creatures she called family treated her better than her own flesh and blood. On top of seeking a position as an adviser to those sworn as mortal enemies to all Asurns, warranting a minor wrinkling of his muzzle to reveal the shiny points of his teeth. He dared her to push her luck further with such blaspheme slander. An Asurn refused eleemosynary actions. Yet, Rae had gobbled it up wholeheartedly from their paws. "Perhaps if you hadn't been so weak you would have had the grand upbringing as I myself has had." Tone matching the sharpness his cousin spat at him.

Another spiteful string of words slithered from Raela's lips, this one enough to appease his flaming anger over having his bloodline desecrated verbally, if only momentarily. Gradually the skin upon his face smoothed back out, the corners of his leathery lips curving into a pleased grin upon hearing she at least wasn't sitting idly at the bottom of the totem pole. "Well, I'm shocked to hear you're not rotting at the bottom of the pack, but pleased you still have some true Asurn left in you." A quick spark flickering across his tangerine optics briefly. "You know it's the Asurn blood that pumps in your very veins that made you claw your way to the top. Secretly you still hunger for some of that power, do you not?" Slowly tan colored limbs carried Eirian's embodiment in a wide circle around his standstill kin, gaze obviously scanning over her features in a studying manor.

Coral tongue peeked out from its moistened domain behind closed lips to grace his chops with a subtle lick, paws continuing their circling motion like a vulture waiting to descend upon a carcass. "Raela, Raela, Raela. Why fight your natural instincts?" He spoke in a crooning voice that would give the tawny woman all the praise her harbored former self would need to hear, pausing his steps once he reached his original position.

His reaction was nothing short of predictable. Raela knew better than to expect her remark to slip by him without some angry comeback barking from is clenched teeth. He still thought his childhood was grand. Ha. How well the Asurns could manipulate their own blood. His insult clenched her jaw, but it was all too familiar. Memories were already flooding back, and she didn't like it one bit. Her second utterance brought about a remarkable change in tone. Genuinely impressed? Perhaps, but not much. She'd actually grown quite used to not being lowest; she supposed if challenged that she would defend her rank as vehemently as any other would. There was a position she never saw herself in.  Now he was going on about the Asurn genetics she undoubtedly had. It wasn't a fact the woman prided herself on. For all their power they were a ruthless, loveless bunch. Her ears flattened even harder against his words, but Eirian was intent on pursuing this path of conversation. She could practically feel the cold shell wrapping itself around her chest – tamping down anything that tried to rise. She'd not challenged a single wolf for her current rank, but of he believed she had, so be it. Raela wasn't about to correct him. If anything it at least made her seem more formidable as an opponent; less likely to be beaten for his pride and amusement.  Did she want power? His question mulled around aimlessly in her ears, though her eyes trailed his circling feet diligently. If he moved on her, she would be ready. Her heart resumed its agitated beating. She was so confused by this whole encounter. She had no desire to lead; it was a frightening prospect. There was so much more to the kind of leadership she would want to posess, Minka's and Gent's leadership, not the Asurns. She never felt comfortable with so much attention, so much stress... But she couldn't say they she didn't like the idea of being a Second. A Beta. What if one day that morphed into wanting to lead? I promised Minka, she reminded herself solidly. She owed the woman too much.   His words came at an all to perfect and undoubtedly practiced moment. For a second the woman's eyes grew wide and her ears pricked. That was as close to a reward as any of them had ever gotten with her; as amiable as they could be, really. It was alien, and yet welcome. The neglected child in her leapt up, crying to be heard. He approved of what she was doing. Approved... She looked higher, near his chest, though her golden eyes grew distant in glow. There were so many thoughts. She didn't want to lead like an Asurn. She never could. She loved this close knit pack. She was perfectly happy to remain where she was. And yet, she couldn't tell him any of that. The minute she did he'd cut it all off.  So what could she tell him? “I suppose I do want some power,” she replied, still trying to remain cold. Watching him brought another damning thought to her tongue. How could he mean any of this? “Surely you don't think I can be an Alpha, do you?” Her eyes struck the dirt again as she waited. He could have any reaction this time.  Image © Chris Smith Photography Manipulation © Jenandra

            

A fade from you and we can wrap this up if you'd like :D

It took an amount of mental strength to keep his lips from parting to allow a villainous bought of laughter to echo off the surrounding spruce and pine tree trunks, orange optics glinting in a scheming manor at his work of slowly awakening the dormant Asurn Raela fought so hard to deny. Watching intently as her gaze gradually grew in confidence to reach the creamy tufts of fur at his chest. She admitted to wanting some power, but that was all Eirian needed to hear. All it took was one small taste of what a person wanted to create a ravenous hunger that could never be truly sated. A little nudge in the right direction was all the agouti woman needed now and what kind of cousin would he be if he didn't offer that?

Lo and behold the exact opportunity for such a gesture arose as she spoke a question. Asking him if he thought she had the qualifications to become an alpha. Morphing his facial features into mock sincere compassion, Eirian lowered his skull to catch the dropped gaze that suddenly lost all confidence it once held. Oh, he would make sure to beatify the imprisoned beast inside. "That is like asking if a bird knows how to fly." In truth he didn't think she had an ounce of chance obtaining such a noble role, but it would be mighty fun to watch her try. Stirring up some trouble in this unholy pack of hers would lead to quite the fun specter to watch. "Of course you can become an alpha. You are an Asurn after all and do we as a whole not aspire for greatness? You can have whatever you want if you hunger for it enough." Straight hogwash, but whatever she needed to hear he was more than happy to blab into her awaiting ears.