Wild Cherry Orchard break apart pt. 2

Continuation of this thread, night time, partly cloudy -1 ° F, -18 ° C
Warning: Bad language and stuff throughout thread

Oula was starting to feel like they were going in circles. She asked a few times if the man was sure he was going in the right direction, and whether he was lost, but each time he quite happily responded he was completely confident in his directional skills. Oula wasn't so confident, and she really could have sworn they'd passed a particular tree three times already... from a different direction. But with the dwindling sunlight, it became harder to tell one spindly tree from the next.

The sun had long since set and the half-moon had risen, peeking out between small breaks in the clouds and giving little light. Oula was getting tired of this. Her eyelids were growing heavy, and her legs were starting to get sore from the endless walking. She started to think the man was playing games with her. "Azar?" She called out to him. He didn't respond, as if he didn't hear her. "Azar!" She called louder this time, and still the auburn wolf kept on going. She bared her teeth, jogging forward and skidding in the snow to stop in front of him. "Listen to me!" She snarled. "We've been going all day, and I'm sure we've been going in circles." She growled, clearly wanting answers, narrowed sage eyes glinting in the pale light of the moon. 

(This post was last modified: Feb 05, 2017, 07:57 AM by Oula.)

He had grown the same hunch as Oula it seemed. She was worried about them going in circles and Deacon couldn't exactly disagree. If the two men had been dealing with anyone else, and Joan's life wasn't at stake, he might have been okay with the tricks. This wasn't the case at all. There was a child out there lost and a mother here who seemed to have lost her patience with the auburn man.

The large man had kept his head mostly down for this trip but once Oula snapped his eyes watched. Azar was his ticket to something greater and he wasn't gonna let her rip it up. He would let her have her moment (because it was completely valid of course, she's a mother who just lost a child) but wouldn't let it turn up worse than it needed to be.

Like a shadow, he lingered in the dark background. His bright eyes the only sign that he was still at the scene of Azar and Oula's squabble. It would be interesting to see if Azar really had led them on a wild goose chase. Deacon wouldn't put it past the snarky man to pull a trick but he liked to think he would have had a sliver of decency for a mother in need.

have you checked out my player preferences?

Balthazar casually sauntered through the fields and forest, winding through every little path he could. Despite his claim that he had no idea about the area's terrain, he had actually grown somewhat familiar with the area over the past few days with Deacon. It was easy enough to lead Oula down this little deer trail or that little ravine, looping back through a couple times to throw her sense of direction completely off. He only had to keep this farce up that they were actually going somewhere long enough for the sun to set. This all wouldn't work, otherwise. 

And thankfully the idiot woman hadn't caught onto him. At least, not soon enough. She called out to him, and he grit his teeth, ignoring her. The second time, he did the same. The third time, he had no choice but to confront her, as she literally stuck herself right in his path. He tried to keep a sneer from crossing his face, and instead simply wrinkled his nose in response to her threatening posture. He didn't feel threatened in the least. He smoothed his face, folding his ears back and dipping his head in placation.

"Ahh, I must admit, I did get turned around for a little bit..." He said with false humility. He looked up slightly, meeting fiery sage eyes with his own yellow. "But I swear we're on the right track now. There's a little creek, just past this grove here. I promise you. If it's not, you're free to try searching yourself." She stated, his own patience growing thin with her.

Finally, with teeth bared and hackles raised, it looked like she was getting some answers. Answers just as vague as the platitudes she'd gotten out of him earlier, but at least he claimed there was an endpoint to this madness. If there was no steam, no creek, not even a puddle of water in which this wolf claimed to have seen Joan, Oula would cut her losses. Whether the man was an idiot, or willfully deceitful, she didn't know. Something about him was starting to make her deeply uncomfortable, the way his small, watery yellow eyes looked at her. His face was friendly, for the most part, but... There was just something slightly off about him. But it didn't matter, just past this grove, he said, and she would see whether or not the strange man was worth his word. She moved out of the way, letting him lead on.

Oula followed after him as they skirted around the copse, her ears listening carefully for even the slightest trickle of water. She couldn't hear anything besides the wind through the trees, and her nose smelt no damp river stones nor moss. Just the same forest as everywhere else. Azar's steps grew slower and slower with each step, as if he was delaying the inevitable; that they would get there and there would be nothing. No Joan, no creek. Nothing but a liar. They passed the grove, and before them lay the same forest as the rest. Her hackles bristled. "The creek's not here. She's not here." She said, deadly calm. "I don't know what game you think you're playing with me, but I'm done with it." She spat.

(This post was last modified: Feb 05, 2017, 06:22 AM by Oula.)

It was hard not to feel the tension between the two wolves. Deacon was merely a bystander. He felt like a ghost the way they bickered at each other but not even once was a glance tossed to him. He felt as if in the moment he could simply disappear into thin air and no one would notice. Not the desperate mother or the man with a million promises. His bright amber eyes just simply watched as they came to a conclusion. As if Azar had just tried to put a band-aid over a giant open wound.

There was no creek, no child, not even water in sight. He felt a lump in his throat but he remained calm in the background. His role as a waiting pawn was much easier than trying to weasel his way into the affairs of Azar and Oula. Deacon could feel himself becoming nervous, though. His body full of buzzing nerves and his own hackles bristled in a non-aggressive way. Nothing he did would be noticeable in the dark. He was only an unsuspecting witness to what was going on. He knew for once he held no control. Azar had started this and would have to finish it on his own.

His head turned around to look through the dark, not even a pair of eyes within sight that could possibly be linked to not-so-little Joan. Her scent didn't even seem to be present around here. Why was Azar doing this?

have you checked out my player preferences?

Finally she moved out of the way, seemingly having just a scrap of patience left. The poor, idiot woman. She was clearly uncomfortable, and her suspicion was evident, but still she clung on to the false hope that after all of this, she'd find her daughter at the end of it. The stupid brat had vanished in winter, she was a lost cause anyways. The she-wolf should be more concerned about her own welfare, following unknown wolves on empty promises. Her motherly instinct would have been commendable, if it hadn't caused her to act so foolishly. But Balthazar supposed he should be lucky she wasn't a wiser wolf.

Balthazar knew what was just around those trees, and drew his steps slower and slower. He hoped that she might grow impatient enough to run ahead, but instead she kept following behind him. Perhaps she didn't trust him at all anymore, not wanting to risk her back to him, but it didn't matter, they were close enough. Oula's voice rang out coldly as she finally reached her conclusion, and he slowly turned to look at her. 

"Game?" The beast laughed. "What makes you think this is a game?" He stepped forward. "It's a test, one that you failed, you daft woman." He barked, stepping forward again, goading her. His tail arched high over his back, black ears pointed forward and his jagged teeth revealed in a cruel grin. 

"I'm sure your daughter is dead. Frozen out there somewhere, alone, half buried in snow, the rest eaten by crows." The brute spat at her, taking another step forward. He had bent her to her breaking point, and he was sure she would snap.

Oula watched as the auburn man slowly turned to face her. She wondered if Azar even really was his name. Whatever ugly thing he had been hiding beneath the surface had crawled forth, contempt clear in those beady yellow eyes and his face twisted into a a feral grin. She didn't know what he meant by a test, nor did she really want to know. Her hackles bristled as he started to close in on her, her rounded head ducking downward as her stout legs subconsciously positioned beneath her into a wide, defensive posture.

She could have taken the insults to her intelligence. It didn't matter to her what this idiot thought of her capabilities as to whatever tests he pulled out of thin air. She could have even ignored the fact he had lead her on some wild goose chase and wasted an entire day she could have spent actually searching for her missing daughter. 

But truly, Oula could not expect and could not forgive the horrid filth that seeped from the dark brute's mouth next about her daughter, the image of her worst nightmare so clearly painted. So dearly she longed to sink her fangs into his throat, and tear out any capabilities for speech he had. She would make him regret defiling the memory of her own flesh and blood in such a way. 

White teeth flashed and pale paws dug into the snow as Oula lunged for the beast, aiming for his throat. But he was quick, dancing just out of reach before she could hit him. It almost seemed as if he was expecting this. The pale woman snarled furiously, claws digging through the snow and into the frozen ground as she threw herself at his other side. Again he danced out of the way, snapping back at her and pushing back her assault. Her sage eyes narrowed. The bastard was trying to run! She roared with rage, a white blur as she ran after him. She wouldn't let the piece of shit get away so easily. 

Outlined in the moonlight, she could see he had stopped, leaving his back open towards her. She charged for him, her jaws open and legs outstretched to wrap over his shoulders. And suddenly, the beast dodged to the side. Oula's limbs reached out in front of her, ready to catch herself now that her target had shifted. There was a sickening moment where her paws should have met the ground, but didn't. Then a nauseating spin as she turned head over tail through the air. It was as if the night had swallowed her, before the horrible pain of landing solidly on her back.

(This post was last modified: Feb 05, 2017, 07:28 AM by Oula.)

The large man didn't know what to do. Suddenly Azar got so sick and Deacon could do nothing but play the role of little ghost boy. Scrambling to keep up with the duo but never once going further than the scrappers. He could only watch as a spectator and nothing more. Perhaps some part of him should have picked a side to defend but his loyalty didn't truly lay with either of these creatures. His loyalty didn't even lay with him. He was convinced he had withered it into nothing more than smoke.

As things progress he felt more distant from reality. Like this was all some bad dream where Oula represented his good and Azar his evil. As if he'd wake up and still be warm in a den next to Nineva and Felix. None of that was true, though. He had experienced the day starting and ending with the growing tensions and the overall aggression. Both nothing felt real and everything felt real. While the two partial strangers duked it out in front of him he was duking it out with himself in his mind.

But there was a moment that everything seemed to change. Two fighting shadows seemed to turn into one. The mother had disappeared and Deacon finally understood where Azar had led them. There had been a pit out here when they were hunting. Oula was now trapped, Azar was there and the dark boy was feeling as misplaced as ever. "W-we need to go." He scrambled a bit. "They'll come looking for her and we aren't even that far. We can't take them on. You can't take them on." He whispered to the auburn man who had shown his true colors. Deacon knew that if Azar had every intention of keeping Oula trapped in a pit for his own pleasure, well then it was time to disappear.

have you checked out my player preferences?

If Balthazar needed any proof that this woman was an idiot, he now had it. With just a few words he'd managed to whip her into a rage. She even might have been a decent fighter, but running at him like a raging bull it was all to easy for him to feint one way or the other and avoid her fangs slicing the air. He didn't bother trying to fight her, only giving enough of an impression that he might put up a fight. Sensing the she-wolf was bloodlusted enough to blindly chase him, he found his opening and took off. Predictably, she followed him, and he lead her to the sinkhole he'd nearly fallen into himself just days before. With a simple sidestep, the lioness was caught in the trap.

The young wolf finally spoke up, and Balthazar had to admit he had nearly forgotten he existed with how quiet Deacon had been. At least he hadn't tried to interfere. He looked for the dark wolf that nearly melded with the shadows, finding just his amber eyes standing out in the darkness.

"No." He said flatly. "She has information I need, and I'm not going anywhere until I get it out of her." He said. Balthazar returned his attention to the pit, bracing his paws against the rim and laying down, peeking his head just over the edge. His eyes strained for the bottom, finding the pale she-wolf's form sprawled across it. She was awfully still down there. Fuck, he hoped he hadn't killed her. You couldn't really interrogate the dead.

"Hey!" He yelled down at her. He heard a groan, and she started to stir. 

"So, Whitebark. Tell me where he is then. We got rid of all you wretched lot. All except one. Or, two. Seeing as you're here." He drawled down at her. She was another loose end he would have to tie up, but at this moment he still needed her.

"So just tell me where he is, and I'll let you out of there." He lied.

Oula felt like she'd been trampled by a moose, her back ached and her head throbbed, her shoulder felt like it was on fire. She groaned, opening her eyes into complete darkness. For a moment she wondered if she died, and she was waiting in some sort of purgatory. A voice echoed down to her, and her eyes rolled up to see those two damned beady yellow eyes looking at her. So she'd fallen. That fucking bastard. As soon as she got up there, she was going to kill that fucker. Slowly.

Oula tried to roll, ignoring the flames of pain that licked at her back and hips. It was hard to tell if anything was broken, or just bruised, but finally she managed to get on her belly. The monster was already making demands of her, and she looked up at him with confusion. Tell him where who was? Got rid of what lot? She didn't understand, but apparently coming up with this information was her key to getting out of here. Which she didn't believe in the least.

"I don't... I don't know what you're talking about," She panted. It was unlikely that pleading with the beast was going to get her any mercy, but she honestly hadn't a clue what he-

"YOU!" She snarled, a hollow sound that lacked the savageness she'd held earlier. A lioness in a snare wasn't as frightening, but she could still try. She stood up, legs shaking as she tipped forward, reaching for the walls of her prison. Her claws dug up the sides, panting against the pain as she tried to scratch her way out to get at him, but it was no use, the frozen earth went farther than she could reach.