Nightingale Palisade ignite your bones

Craw’s angry orders snapped the subordinate to attention. It was very clear that the monochrome male was not impressed in the slightest, and upon sensing this, Lorcan immediately froze in his tracks and glanced back behind him – golden eyes meeting the piercing yellow glare of his superior before he quickly slunk back towards him, head and tail hanging limp.

Without much more fuss the large grizzly bear took his leave back into the trees and out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Askan making a rather aptly timed exit as well – leaving Lorcan with just his enraged alpha for company.

Craw approached him with teeth bared and tail high. The young male could tell that this was no casual display of dominance. This was real. This was serious. Not wanting to aggravate Craw’s rage anymore as he approached, for fear that he may turn violent, Lorcan immediately crouched down low into a pathetic crawl, russet ears pressed flat against his head and tail curled so far between his legs that it felt uncomfortable to move. The second Craw came within a metre of his being, down onto his back he went, limbs splayed apart and head flung back to expose the delicate white flesh of his undersides.

Golden eyes clenched shut, waiting for that sharp pain when fangs pierced through skin.

Angry snarls filled the air, growing louder and closer in proximity with each word. Lorcan whined in desperate apology as he frantically tried to piece together a reasonable response to Craw’s questions. “I-I w-was out gathering p-p-plants…” He stuttered, muscles growing more tense by the second as he tried to remain still and not squirm, for fear it would provoke him even more. “…b-before the snow hit.” Lorcan dared to flutter open one eye. “M-my friend…a healer, offered to show me where to look—it was unplanned…I-I-I’m..” He gasped for breath. “I’m sorry for not t-telling you, Sir.”

—And then his mind whirled as he desperately tried to gauge the words to explain the whole Askan and bear situation. The adrenaline rush was wearing off and it all just became too much—

…A small yellow puddle slowly melted through the snow. Lorcan whimpered.

“He scared it.” He finally whispered, voice cracking under the pressure.

(This post was last modified: Oct 18, 2016, 04:36 PM by Lorcan.)

# P O R C A N

sometimes, two people have to fall apart to realise

how much they need to fall back together

At least Lorcan knew not to make it worse, and to his credit, behaved in exactly the appropriate way - with extreme admission of guilt. Barrelling forwards to tower over the snivelling wolf on his back, Craw accepted the exposed throat by placing his jaws around it, letting Lorcan feel the growl as it rolled free over the gravel in his throat.

But he wanted to hear what the man had to say for himself, and shortly released so that he could stare down at the submitting fool in contempt. It was no grand excuse and yet Craw thought it was likely to be true. Lorcan Artemieva had given no indication of being subversive or dishonest, but naive, meek? Certainly. The smell of fresh piss reached Craw's nose and his lips curled further, disdainful of the cowardice, but at least it indicated that Lorcan understood the significance of the situation. It was very much what kept Craw's justice from being bloodier.

"Scared it," he sneered, a cruel mockery dancing over his face. "Provoked it. That sour little shit wouldn't scare a duckling. And you just - what, wanted to save him? No - shut up, don't tell me, I don't care. You can tell me exactly what happened and why it was so important once we get back. Assuming," he growled, hoping he wasn't making a mistake in being too lenient, "you still consider yourself a Whitestone wolf."

When it came to strikes, Craw rarely counted past one.

He felt fangs press firmly against his throat, but instead of sharp pain and blood, a low growl caused his voice to quiver. Inwardly, Lorcan breathed a sigh of relief, but still did not allow himself to grow too complacent – this was still very much a serious situation.

Craw curled a lip at the yellow mess he had made and Lorcan’s own charcoal lips pulled into a pitiful grimace. Aside from being killed or chased out, this was about as worse as things could get. The large monochrome male sneered a mocking reply, doubting Lorcan’s description of what had happened. Lorcan whined again, terrified that Craw would somehow turn it back the blame on him, but luckily, Craw at least realised how annoying Askan could be, which dissipated the blame if only just a little.

Lorcan nodded, silently agreeing to spill all once they returned to the Monadnock – hopefully after he had cleaned himself up, but if not, that was also fine. So long as he was going back to the pack. However, in that moment Craw planted a seed of doubt in his mind and Lorcan’s golden eyes immediately darted up to Craw’s scar-ridden face with a pleading look.

If a wolf was capable of crying, Lorcan would be a blubbering mess by now.

“I do! S-sir, I would never abandon the pack willingly!” He barked desperately, very much serious in his response. He winced as Craw seized his muzzle between his teeth again, somewhat aggressively, but still wagged his tail frantically in appreciation that his alpha accepted the apology. “Never..” He reiterated with a coarse whisper as Craw released his grip.

When Craw gestured that it was time to return to the pack Lorcan quickly spun around to grab the bouquet of medicinal plants that had collected on his travels. Then, turning around he slunk immediately back to his superior’s side (who continued to grumble something inaudible to himself) and together made the short trek back to the pack, with Lorcan’s tail firmly tucked between his legs.

~fade~

(This post was last modified: Oct 19, 2016, 09:09 AM by Lorcan.)

# P O R C A N

sometimes, two people have to fall apart to realise

how much they need to fall back together