Silent Moon Plateau I see the world, the one you made up

He couldn't remember anything about this place.

His childhood in Relic Lore had been a blur that he no longer recalled with any clarity, and now that he was back—and he knew he was back with a certainty born of nothing but intuition—he didn't know where to start. The woods were massive, larger than any he'd ever set foot in since leaving, and Darkwater Rapids was such a far away memory that he could hardly grasp it in his mind. He wasn't going to just stumble upon it by wandering about, but he couldn't remember where Cut Rock River had been, either. He had no starting point, and everything was unfamiliar.

Aimless, the black-haired male had made his way to the foothills, and up onto a flat plateau. He picked his way through the trees with their fledgling buds, ice water eyes darting about for anything familiar, but Mace knew better than to hope too fervently. It had been three years. It was really no wonder he didn't know where he was or where to go next. It would have been a miracle if he did. With a sigh that lifted the entirety of his broad chest, the Attaya sat heavily, drawing his tail tightly around his haunches as he considered his next course of action.

(This post was last modified: Apr 12, 2017, 10:39 PM by Mace.)

gorgeous set by kydnt

Beneath a lone tree north of the plateau Iyes sprawled on her side, drinking in a long moment of quiet appreciation. She had grown comfortable with their little gang, and the rarity of other wolves she encountered up on the mountain. It felt like whoever came through the foothills really put the strange into stranger, but she rejoiced to discover that when she didn't feel bothered with socializing she could just stay put higher up where they called home - nobody ever really came that way. That was why the wolf scent that wafted toward her where she rested went peacefully ignored - until she realized it was growing stronger and not going away.

Feeling much like old man jenkins - why are these damn wolves on my damn mountain - she rolled quickly to her four, following the scent with the care and quiet that Kyna had taught her when they'd hunted the marmot. It didn't take long to trace the trail through the thick evergreens that surrounded the flat precipice. Dark legs came to a halt well within the tree-line, using the cover of the white-dusted pines to hide herself from the seated male.

Her bright eyes locked on to the target as she stared at him from a distance, wary of his scent for one reason: that there was a proper adult. Everyone else she'd been palling around with had been around her age, or only a year older. Wariness of them - adult wolves, pack wolves, their strict rules, their concrete boundaries - remained deeply ingrained in the coal-pelted female's bones. She pressed her toes into the cold ground, wondering why he was here and what he intended to do to their group. The urge to remain hidden and keep him under her scrutiny until he left was like a magnet, keeping her stuck behind the far side of the evergreens. But in the end her hesitant bravery won, and she crept past the obstacle to reveal herself.

Iyes drew her head up tall, forcing her own tail to lift as she rounded off one side to confront him face to face. She wouldn't let the giant wolf see that his very presence intimidated her. Neutrality rang in her youthful tone, though she let her gaze remain sharp as her eyes settled on the silver of his own. "Lost?"

adopt thea?

As the man padded between pines and thicker firs, he drank deep the coniferous air, hoping to find the key to a memory in the sharp aroma, but there was nothing forthcoming from the depths of his mind. He could no sooner recall if Cut Rock River or Deepwater Rapids featured conifers or deciduous trees than he could remember the features of his own mother's face. The names of his siblings were lost to him in the same way the features of his birthplace were lost to him. Time had consumed them both.

He felt strangely mournful when he realized that, and was preparing to turn and leave, maybe even find his way back to The Bloodbreakers and put this quest out of his mind, but he was stopped in his tracks. The burly wolf picked up his ears as a much smaller, but much more confident she-wolf stepped out of the shadows. The mercenary cursed himself for not realizing she was there—he was getting sloppy, he thought, and needed to check himself if he was to continue on this path—and acknowledged her by dipping his head lower and tilting back his ears in an effort to refuse any challenge.

Larger he may have been, but Mace was not the sort of wolf who needlessly tussled, and he supposed there was a reason she was approaching him. The flash of her amber gaze on him made him nervous for some reason. That was almost laughable. Mace, nervous? It had been years since he'd last felt that way. And all because of the way a yearling scrutinized him in his most vulnerable of states: alone, confused, and yes, indeed, he was lost. Some adult.

Not sure you can help me find what I'm looking for anyway, he admitted, voice gruff from disuse. How long ago had he left his mercenary band, anyway? Too long. I'm looking for Darkwater Rapids. Heard of it?

gorgeous set by kydnt

Fiery eyes let on a hint of appreciation that he took the time to dip his head in greeting toward her. Iyes suspected he might just be humoring her, but she preferred to think he showed her respect because of the power that her petite frame was doubtlessly commanding in this interaction. The yearling let her high-rising tail fall to a more neutral ground in response to his lack of challenge, turning a curious ear to his query. Darkwater Rapids. Sounded ominous, like something out of a ghost story.

His voice rumbled like distant thunder, Heard of it? and suddenly Iyes couldn't help but hear how high-pitched and girly she sounded in return. "Not once in my life." She served back, her eyes flickering beyond his figure to the wide stretch of plateau that continued on past the wolf. She always got the feeling that saying the name of something - whether it was a wolf, or a pack, or a place - would conjure it into existence. But there wasn't anyone else on the plateau to come magically deliver some news of this Scaryplace Fastwater pack he was talking about. It was just him and Iyes and her quickly developing curiosity in this thing that the pitch-black wolf sought.

Satisfied that he hadn't called on any ghosts, Iyes bumped her friendly dial up just a single notch and tried to be the mensch that she really wasn't. "But I'm Iyes - I'm from here. If its nearby, then I know where it is. Can you describe it?"

adopt thea?

Shallow water has trapped several fish in a small pond. Hunt Opportunity

Not once, she said, and Mace bobbed his head resignedly. He wasn't surprised, but he'd still held a shred of hope that curled away in embers now. He couldn't give in to the feeling of being lost yet, though. Iyes was only one wolf in a wilderness of hundreds, and he'd only asked her a single question. She was young, and perhaps could point him in the right direction with other questions. As she introduced herself and offered another kind of help, the burly jet wolf seated himself, keeping his head respectfully lowered the whole while. If he was going to be asking questions, might as well do it in some manner of comfort.

He didn't miss how assured she came off. Mace wondered about her, about what made her so seemingly confident while at her age he had felt hopelessly unsure of himself, but that wasn't what he was here for. Another time, perhaps. Mace, he returned quietly, then followed with, I'm afraid I cannot. I hardly remember it. It was when I was very young. He was just reaching the prime of his life in the next year or so, but Mace felt a lot older than he really was. A few years of battling preceded by the loss of everyone important did that to a wolf.

What about the Attaya clan? Heard of them? he asked, changing gears, though there was a desperation in his clear blue eyes that said that although he'd dropped the topic of Darkwater Rapids, it was still very important to him. But it was tied to the Attayas directly, and if he could find any remains of that family, which might be easier than finding a specific place he no longer recalled, then he might find his flooded home, too. It was worth a shot, or so he reasoned.

(This post was last modified: Apr 11, 2017, 03:47 AM by Mace.)

gorgeous set by kydnt

A careful gaze watched the male seat himself, in a manner that suggested that this conversation would remain and it would remain harmless. A thin smile appeared then disappeared as quickly as she noticed it - Iyes of course not wanting to show any weakness yet - because she found his company rather pleasant. For once she was actually happy to have misjudged; Mace wasn't the pompous adult she had taken for him behind the guardianship of the evergreen trees.

Her cheek fell toward one side as she regarded the smallest morsel of a tale he offered her: a mystery adventure revolving around his forgotten childhood. She couldn't help but be intrigued by his troubles, almost jealous even as she thought back to her own and sourly decided she would have liked to have that gap in her memory as well. Some sunken story was central to him now, and she was incredibly tempted by the potential to unearth it.

In three syllables he shattered her perception and unearthed something else, uttering a word which assaulted her heart like the staccato of gunshots. Attaya. Her amber eyes flashed like the sun burst out of existence, extinguishing the warmth of her body and filling her bones with dread. Her guard had fallen, prey to the sad look in his pale eyes, only for him to reveal himself as... What was this - a trick? She poised herself on bent legs as a growl played from her throat, in the position to fight or flee.

Accusation was bright in her unblinking stare. In her mother's voice she heard her curse the very name that he'd said, for a very specific reason. The memory swelled in her mind. Silver-threaded hackles rose and her tail hoisted straight up like a black flag of war. Ebony lips pulled back to flash her teeth, white with inexperience, sharp with threat. "Attaya? Mace Attaya?" If that was supposed to be him she couldn't be sure - but what were the chances that she ran into some dark Attaya on this mountain and it wasn't going to be her dad? Iyes put every penny she had into the bet, a snarl hinged on the underside of her every word. "Don't you know who I am?"

Volatile aggression coursed beneath her skin like electricity, her voice sharp with the crackle of lightning. The cloud of wrath that brewed overhead was something mangled and fierce, and she was poised to unleash hell on the Attaya male if he was who she thought he was.

adopt thea?

His thoughts paralleled Iyes as he allowed himself to relish the pleasant company, but all of that was shattered in an instant when suddenly, she growled. The sound bubbled up from her lips where a smile had played moments before, and Mace's own expression—presently peaceful, a light lift of his lips when his name was repeated to him, as though to say, yes, I'm glad you've heard of me—fell suddenly. His mouth tightened into a thinner line, his blue eyes shrouded over with both concern and caution, and he parted his lips to ask what the issue was, but she supplied the answer before he could ever request it.

Apparently, not everyone was as proud of the Attaya name as Mace was. He was perplexed by that. His surname was something important to him, the last vestige of a family that never got to rise and his last connection to his parents. As far as he was aware, it had never been sullied.

Uh, he stammered, pulling ears and muzzle alike back until his chin nearly touched his throat and his ears fell to his scalp. A more confused and bashful expression, Mace couldn't possibly have made. He didn't think he'd ever met this young lady before. The Bloodbreakers were comprised mainly of red and cinnamon wolves, with a few dark-haired specimens, but there had only been a small handful of black wolves, including himself, and none younger than he. She couldn't have been from their ranks.

But then who exactly was she? Iyes knew him, that was plain as the aggression she bared at him like a blade, but he certainly didn't know her. No, he replied slowly, deliberate, as if saying the wrong word would trigger an assault. Little did he know, he'd already uttered it. I'm... sorry, but should I?

(This post was last modified: Apr 12, 2017, 02:12 AM by Mace.)

gorgeous set by kydnt

She was expecting his eyes to widen into full moons as recognition dawned on him - but if anything he squinted, like he was... confused? No, he said, soft and easy. Iyes only narrowed her eyes in response. That couldn't have been what he actually meant. If he didn't know her, why was he averting his gaze and flattening his ears like he was ashamed - ashamed that he had been discovered like this? Stammered words furthered his denial, but this attempt to rebuff her wasn't going to work on her, oh no. She saw right through his forgetful act. She never got the chance to meet her own father but she knew by her own mother's words that the bastard's name was Attaya, and that he'd shirk responsibility whenever it was his to claim. It was going to take more than this rebarbative fool's show to convince the coal-pelted yearling that Mace was not her dead-beat-dad. 

Should I? Oh, she seethed. "Shouldn't you?" Iyes snipped back. "How about the name Phaios Luna? You know - your mate? The one who you abandoned to die, turning your back on her and your own kids?" The youth stuck her chin so high in the air that if she tried any harder she'd probably dislocate her own jaw. Her eyes were burning with wildfire, the expression of That's right motherfucker, I'm your kid drawn upon her face. How long could this Attaya pretend not to know his own daughter?

Iyes had trapped him in his own lie now, and couldn't help the bubbles of misplaced anger that were rising toward her throat. A long time ago she used to consider what she'd do if she ever met her father, but it was a situation of make believe, one which she'd abandoned because it just hadn't seemed likely. Now that she was here she didn't quite know what to do with the feelings that had burst into flames all across her body. They needed somewhere to go, so she simpered on, "Whatever. It's like she said. Attayas look like shadows but they lack the permanence." Sick burn from her dead mother.

adopt thea?

In about three seconds, the situation went from, this must be a misunderstanding, to, what the actual what, and Mace's ears popped back up as indignation flared across her visage. The man was patient down to his core, always had been, but he was also immensely proud of his family and name. The family was scattered to the winds, now, but he'd raised Tinley with a great deal of pride. Pride that he himself felt, and that this yearling flung back in his face with a revelation that frankly didn't make sense.

I don't, he spluttered, but was cut off when Iyes straight up insulted him and his family. His blue eyes sparked. She wasn't wrong, and that was the worst part. At least for his part, the Attaya family was kind of flaky. He couldn't speak for his siblings, truly, but Mace was notoriously unreliable, at least in these parts, and he knew it. He'd disappeared. He'd left the Lore without an explanation to anyone, and hadn't returned for close to three years. Now that he was back, he was haunted by the knowledge that it was as Iyes said: he was a shadow without any permanence. Even the knowledge that he'd remained faithfully with The Bloodbreakers for almost two years didn't help, for in the end, he'd left them, too.

When at last Mace's wits returned, he finished his previous thought: I don't even have a mate! I don't know who you're talking about. But maybe he did. Maybe one of the women he'd spent intimate time with fancied him for a mate, had gone off and died after giving birth to... this young wolf? He hadn't gotten all of their names. Not that there were a great many, but Mace had been young and stupid and interested only in what their tails hid. She was of an age with Tinley, roughly. It was possible, although he felt rather unsure of it, if only because of the word "mate". The only woman who might have caught his fancy at the time was most certainly dead, and had birthed a single child, not this one.

But he wasn't unshakably certain of it, for it was possible if rather implausible, and that was frightening.

(This post was last modified: Apr 12, 2017, 10:42 PM by Mace.)

gorgeous set by kydnt