Altar of Fire Red light district

Surprise phone post for @Eskil

An odd winter drift had swept over Relic Lore for seemingly one last attempt to grip the life here and snuff it out. It was a cruel and painful reminder to Ravenna of what had happened to her parents at the end of the season. Ravenna would never get over the death of her parents, though over time had began learning more and more how to cope with it. For the time being she had been keeping busy with tending to Enoki, mostly so by searching for herbs to help her with any sickness until she was able to give birth. This day she was doing the same thing, though with seemingly less luck. As the winter chill came through, it had killed off some of the budding flowers and herbs, leaving Ravenna less lucky on her search. Smart enough, she had plenty, through could never not have enough she felt. However, as the clouds rolled over thick in the sky, Ravennas ears perked to the distant growl of the heavens. Trotting along the fields through the tall grasses, she shook as the breeze sent a chill though her thick grey and silvered coat. In the same place she had once rested before, Ravenna hopped up onto the Alter of Fire and then settle down onto her stomach. With the fields out before her and her home within the Drooping Willows out in the distance, she took a deep breath, silently watching the world grow dark, thunder threatening a storm to come.

Eskil's white paws roved over the hilly landscape, the leathery damp surface of his nose skirting across the snowy ground as he went. Eskil too was searching, though unlike his packmate it was not herbs he was looking for. The foul weather and rumbling of the sky did not deter him, and in fact could work to his advantage to shield his presence from any prey. He traced after the tracks of an elk herd, pausing to inspect the patches of disturbed snow where they had stopped to graze over the past few days. As he followed along a set of paw prints crossed his path. Ravenna had passed through recently. Curiosity getting the better of him, he veered off his previous route and trailed after her.

Eskil was hit with a sense of deja vu to see Ravenna sprawled out atop the alabaster altar. It was quite the same scene that he had come across nearly a month ago, but a few differences stood out to him. The intrepid red blossoms had been crushed by the late season snowfall, the dark sky rippled with storm clouds, and no pungent perfume of heat swirled through the air. And most importantly, the woman perched above was no longer a stranger, but a packmate. He chuffed softly in greeting, the muscles beneath his pelt rolling as he pulled himself up the hillside towards Ravenna. 

A flash of lightning briefly illuminated the woman and brought forth the impression of some goddess of storm and sky seated upon a throne of white moonstone, her silver mottled fur melding with the roiling clouds and her pale eyes like lighting. He hesitated briefly at the imposing sight, but pushed forward to the top to stand at the base of the great stone. "I almost thought you were brewing the storm yourself, up here," He remarked with amusement, evergreen eyes flicking up to meet her silver pair while his tail slowly swayed behind him.

She could see his approach through the field, his body moving through the tall grasses which did their best to keep him hidden, only a line of parting blades moving into her direction. With the storm coming in, whipping the cold air around them, she could smell him before she could see him. His large build was not hidden for long, however, as he eased his way up the hillside near her. She is quiet, only watching with interest as he moves to her in much the same fashion he had weeks prior. Stopping below the base of the rock, he comments about a possibility of her conjuring the storm herself.

"Almost?" She quips, her pale silver eyes down hard upon him, staring almost challenging into his own mossy gaze. "Do you not think of me powerful enough to do so?" She pauses only a few seconds until then she chuckles at her own jest, her tail waving behind her with obvious friendliness, her hard expression now softening for him. After another few moments, offering him enough time to respond and perhaps join her atop the rock as he had before, she would speak again, her eyes moving between him and the storm ahead as she did so.

"There is a tall tale that has been passed around in my family. My mother and aunt once spoke of it while Niles and I were still children, shaken by a storm much like this.... The story goes, that Romanov, the very first Archer to step foot into the lands of Torbine and take the throne as his own, was created by the god's them very selves. It happened when the sun and moon collided, creating a storm and engulfing the land in darkness and when he was birthed, he was brought down from the sky by a lightening bolt which struck the sands along the great waters." She smirks once more, her eyes falling on him a moment. Of course, she did not quite believe that her great grandfather was a mortal decended from the gods, though it was an interesting thought. "They say that Romanov's teeth could snap together and flashed like lightening, making his foes fall onto their bellies and that his paws would pound the earth so hard and loud into battle, that it sounded like thunder." When she finished, as though by cue, a Bolt of lightening spiders it's way through the heavens, ending then in a loud clap of thunder which even made Ravenna jerk with a startle, her hairs standing on end. It was, after all, a story likely brought up in order to ease a litter of pup's bones while a storm rage outside the den. They could think of the storm as a reminder of their family and that they were born of greatness, other then it being some kind of monster outside.

(This post was last modified: Apr 24, 2017, 05:12 PM by Ravenna.)

@Ravenna

He held back a flinch as she quipped back, for a moment concerned that he'd said something inadvertently insulting to the woman before she continued, a laugh and the wag of her tail signifying she was only joking. The creamy banner of his tail began a slow, pleasant sway as the corner of his lips worked up in a small smile. "I do not yet know what you are and are not capable of." He said with a smirk. He was still getting a read on the Archer-Lyall, getting to know when she was joking and whether or not she was sorceress were on his to-do list. With that, he pulled himself up onto the rock, much like before settling himself at the woman's side, if not a little closer than last time. For better or worse there was no overwhelming scent this time, and so it was much easier to focus on the conversation at hand rather than other things.

He tilted his head towards her as she began her tale set to the perfect illustration of the wild storm that swept around them and across the plains. He listened closely, enraptured by the thought of such a wolf harnessing the powers of the sky in such a way, born from a lighting bolt. It was an amazing story, tall-tale or not it was certainly a great piece of lore to pass down through the family. As she finished her story a bolt tore across the sky, the lands before them momentarily lit as bright as daylight in a blinding flash. He noticed Ravenna jolt, and Eskil would be lying to say it hadn't startled him a little as well. But he easily reached over and touched his jaw to her shoulder in a small comfort the same way a human might place a hand.

"You never know, perhaps there is a little of it left in you." He chuckled easily as he pulled away. "I can't say my lineage holds any such wonders. Quite simply, my great-great grandfather was born beneath a white pine, an only bastard born to a single mother." Scandalous? Perhaps it was a rough start, but where he went mattered more than where he came from. "Oleksander far exceeded any expectations had of him, he went on to become a great warrior that brought many packs together and ended those that would not bow." His mouth pulled in a flat time. It was a legacy that had finally lead to ruin, and he was now learning that there were other ways of life that did not include so much bloodshed.

There is a family of deer nearby. Hunt Opportunity

Eskil would come to settle with Ravenna atop the rock then. His large form close at her side, closer then before now that it was "safe" to do so. Of course, Ravenna found it no less harder to press herself against him as she had felt the need to before... though now, should they ever court one another, she knew she would not have to worry about a breeding resulting in children. Children which would certainly disrupt the hierarchy within the pack in a similar manner which in had her elder sister, Morganna. Ravenna had far from fallen for the man at her side however. After all, he had not been here for long enough to do so and she was not about to fall for just one of the first men (other then Bojack's short stay) to enter the pack that was not bound to her by blood. Still, that didn't mean she couldn't flirt.

To his touch at her shoulder, offering his comfort from her little jolt, she would smile. Her pale silver eyes dancing over his mossy green color as he made the comment on her behalf of perhaps harboring some of the power of Romanov. To anyone who had known her mother, it would have not seemed far-fetched. After all, Ravenna had only all and ever heard great things about her mother from everyone who had known her. Ravenna could not have been more proud of her parents and her heritage. The thought pained her. A pain which she literally swallowed down and kept well hidden. She would have loved it if Eskil could have met them.

Ravenna's silken gray ears twitch now and although the thunder still rolled before them, the skies growing darker and darker as the storm neared, her attention was placed to the wolf at her side. She felt at ease with him next to her, happy and safe. It was odd to feel in such a manner given the fact that he had not been here very long and she did not know him as well as she knew everyone else in her pack. Though perhaps it was her lack of not knowing him as much which made her feel in this manner. After all, so many which she had loved and trusted and thought she knew had broken her heart time and time again.

His story was short, though offering her the name of the man which was eldest in their family line and where he had come from. He was another great warrior, a conqueror. Ravenna was not a fool in knowing that this came with much loss and much bloodshed. There were wolves within her family she had been told of, even her own close relatives, that held a more darker nature and yet still found place within the family despite this. "I bet a fight between Oleksander and Romanov would have been a sight to see... both horrible and yet a story no one would ever forget." She pondered this more or less, her ears turning back and her head lifting back out to the sky. "It is a good thing then we come from completely different places or else we would not be here now." And she very much enjoyed being here now. Even with so much death, she could never imagine straying far from these willows she called home. "You said you had traveled here searching for someone..." She then begins, picking up pieces of the conversation from when she had first met him. "Who was that? I could help, you know." She offered, turning her attention yet again back to him. "We can ask the neighboring packs if they know them and to keep an eye out." She did not know what would become of Eskil Whitebark once he found who he was looking for, though she didn't want him to give up if this goal of his was what he really had come to Relic Lore for.

(This post was last modified: May 24, 2017, 12:56 AM by Ravenna.)

@Ravenna Wow sorry for the wait!!

A small smile of amusement pulled at the edges of his lips at the thought she put forth. "Indeed it would be." He chuckled in agreement. To see two legends of the past would be nothing less than a battle of the gods. Perhaps the sky too would dance as it did now, light crackling across the dark.

Eskil glanced towards Ravenna at the pale woman's question, ears perking as he followed with a nod of his head. "I had been, yes." He responded, his elbows shifting against the hard stone to gain a more comfortable positioning. "My sister, her name's Oula. Short, grey, green eyes and a bad temper. She left us a few years ago to avenge the death of one of our comrades." He said at first. He had known Oula and Rorik were close and his own suspicions as to just how close, though had never confirmed anything either way. He'd thought it was a foolish idea for her to go chasing after that loner, but there was no convincing her otherwise. "Haven't seen her since." His broad shoulders rolled in an easy shrug.

"I figured she'd either decided she was done with us all or gotten herself killed. But I found her tracks this winter, and she's the only real family I have left now." He explained to Ravenna just what made his deserter sister so important to him now when he'd held little interest in finding her before.

Gosh I suck yet the same. :>

Ravenna would listen quietly as Eskil opened up to her, not hiding his original intention of coming to the Lore in order to seek out his sister whom had left their home pack a while back in order to avenge one of her fallen family members. It seemed like a well enough reason to want to leave in order to do such a thing. It seemed like something Skoll would end up doing, or Sven even. Though the fact that his sister had never returned and that he had not seen her in years was off-putting. Perhaps Eskil had been right in feeling a bit at loss when it came to finding his sister, thinking that he might want to give up. After all, what would make him think that she ended up here? Still, she could have evened up in Relic Lore with the same chances that she could have ended up anywhere else and there was no trouble in just asking around for the woman when they were already out and about or their normal every day duties.

Then he went into explaining that he had seen her prints this past winter, which left her ears to perk once more. So there was more of a chance, after all, that she was here within the Lore's clutches. She was all the family he really had left and these words only made Ravenna want to help her pack mate more so. After all, Ravenna understood what it was like to loose family (and a lot of it) for her own seemed to be dropping like flies all around her. She would do anything to have her parents pack, her sisters, any of her many brothers... they were all gone. All of them. "Oula." She spoke the name, with a hopes that saying it out loud she would be able to remember it. She had quite the memory, she'd like to think. She was gray, short, with green eyes and a bad temper. The last part didn't seem like something that would make for a good meeting, but that wouldn't stop Ravenna Lyall. "I can always ask the Draw wolves to the north. I have a friend there. And then if you'd like, we can visit Grizzly Hollow out north-west." And as far as she knew, she still have family there, which was worth looking into. Although Lyalls and Archers alike were known to be stubborn, wanders and thrill-seekers, perhaps Ravenna would have more of a family left around her if she reached out to not only the Archers, but the Lyalls.

(This post was last modified: Jul 18, 2017, 11:19 PM by Ravenna.)