Traitors Tor I'm sure I heard you sigh, floating in between where our worlds collide

Lenae discovers the remains of her uncle! Any and all welcome!

Lenae followed the smell of death,hoping to stumble upon a carcass that hadn't yet been picked clean.

Even a little, a mere morsel would be better than nothing. How long had it been since her last proper meal? Try as she might, Lenae struggled to remember and the only images that came to mind were rotting scraps that had been tossed at her feet. She winched and faltered in her steps, causing her to stumble a little as she struggled to force the image from her mind. None of that. None of that whatsoever! The past was in the past and she would not let it get to her.

Except that it already had. Months had passed since that day and still, she was anything but well. Losing all of her loved ones and being imprisoned in her own home wasn't something she could just get over, try as she might. It dictated her thoughts, her actions and every step she took was supposed to take her further away from that monster she'd once called an uncle.

And yet, as fate would have it, it was not to be. Her wants and desires seemingly meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. She'd once longed for her very own prince charming, someone to sweep her off her feet and take her away from the monotony of her humdrum life. She loved the mountains of course and her fellow clan members who lived there too but... Was it wrong for her to yearn for something more? Something new and exciting, like an adventure all of her own.

But those dreams were now battered and broken, much like the bones of her uncles' victims, which he'd tossed off the side of the mountain. She could remember the crunch and cracks as they fell down, and worst of all, the meaty thud as they hit the bottom. The only saving grace was that they were already dead, or at least she hoped, prayed they were.

He-nor any of his lackeys- had scared her physically as they'd seen her as a prize, something to be coveted. But the same couldn't be said for her mentality or her will. She was not the same anymore. Could anyone be after walking away from...that?

Panting-she was utterly exhausted after all- she managed to scramble to the top of the hill. And the sight that she was met with was not one she'd expected or hoped for. Instead of the inviting body of some herbivore, in front of her laid the decomposed, practically skeletal  remains of a wolf. And most troubling of all was the state that it was in. It's face was...Even from a distance she could see that it, whoever they were, had died a violent death. Or in other words, they had been murdered.

Hesitantly, as though she feared they would spring to life and snarl at her, Lenae approached until she was a step or two away from the body. She'd never been the sort with a morbid curiosity, death and violence had always been distasteful to her, she'd enjoyed the sweeter things in life. But now...Who had done this? What sort of monster could hurt someone like this, to have killed them surely in the most painful way?

Her muzzle ached at the thought.

The longer she looked at this sorry state of a wolf, the more she couldn't help but worry for them. Were they being missed? Did they have a family awaiting their return? Maybe it was for the best. Lenae wished she could live in ignorance because at least then she would have had hope, that there would have been light at the end of the dark tunnel. But she had none, everything she knew was gone and she couldn't ever ever go back.

He’d been closed off for so long, shut himself away, buried all his seeds of woe and been helpless as they rooted deep in his body, joined his veins amidst his flesh and muscles. Those seeds that felt so small at the time had grown, unseen, and sprouted saplings along his back. He was life at the forest floor, suffocated by endless shade. But here? God, everything was so open here, so exposed. The tundra wore its heart on its sleeve, and Aleksei wondered if maybe he should do so too; maybe it would do him good.

It was odd, not being surrounded by trees. Born and raised a forest wolf, Aleksei had never gone without the shelter of a canopy far, far above his head. It was bizarre, hard to adjust to, but he welcomed the change. He found it rather enjoyable to watch the stars twinkle in the heavens, lulling him to sleep. He’d also never seen so many birds in his life—eagles and ravens and ducks.

In fact, it was thinking of delicious duck meat (fat, juicy, plump birds) that had Aleksei snooping through the tundra. He figured that a territory as large as this had to have some kind of river system, or even marshland, that the aquatic birds would take advantage of. He hadn’t eaten this morning, and was now fully regretting his choice to take a walk on an empty belly. He huffed a sigh as he pushed on up the hill he had chosen as a vantage point, only to freeze on the spot as he took in the sight before him.

Another wolf stood in front of mangled, rotting carcass. Aleksei could only stare, shock obvious on his face, and he struggled to move. Good god, this was just like Kjors all over again. Was he going to be cursed to discovering decomposing bodies his entire life? He took a step forward, brows furrowed as his eyes danced between looking at the mess of rot and the woman investigating it. “Get back,” he suddenly sputtered, drawing closer still. “It might be diseased.” He couldn’t see the cause of death, only saw the back. How would he have known this was a murder?

Let the roots & soil drink of me
Whispering leaves & pointing branches will tell them where I'm lying

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

Before that cursed day Lenae used to be a social butterfly. Whilst she wasn't quite as chatty as Everly or Kaela, she'd always enjoyed the company of others and didn't do well if left alone for too long. But of course, that had changed. Almost everything about her had changed, it was getting hard to remember who she had been and what she'd been like. These days it was all just a blur, like a fairy tale she'd once loved as a child.

So to say that she jumped-nearly out of her skin- when she heard a voice behind her wasn't at all out of character nor an exaggeration.

She whirled around with a yelp, nearly tripping over one of the corpses legs in the process. Her ears flicked down to press against her head as she hunched in on herself, trying to be as small and unimposing as possible.Not that it was hard, she was anything but impressive these days and cowering did little to improve that. But the same couldn't be said for the stranger, who was quite possibly the largest wolf she had ever laid her eyes upon.

He was broad and tall, and without a doubt the largest and most imposing wolf she had ever laid eyes upon. Prior to that moment she hadn't even realised that wolves could even get that big.And yet there he was, a monstrosity who could easily snap her neck if he so chose.As much as she wanted, as much as her instincts screamed at her to run, to get away whilst she still could, Lenae did not move. Instead she went over his words in her mind. He must have wanted something, men always wanted something from a girl like her. She'd learnt that the hard way.

So what was it that he'd said?

Get back. It might be diseased.

Oh. That was...Not what she had expected, not at all. And yet, his words did not sit well with her. And she almost-quite strangely- felt protective over this corpse, over this unnamed figure who was no longer in this world.

"No. Somebody hurt them." Her voice was quiet, a whisper, like she was trying not wake them, whoever they were.

But how could she be so sure? The answer was obvious to her.She had already seen what the body of a broken, tortured wolf looked like and this was exactly like it. Crumpled, alone and suffering.

"It's not fair, to leave them like this." She said, her voice getting louder as her conviction grew. It's not what she would have wanted for a loved one and yet it was what she got. It was the least she could do.

(This post was last modified: Jun 11, 2017, 07:01 PM by Lenae.)

Her reaction, sudden and startled, had Aleksei take a few steps back. He wasn’t really up for being on the receiving end of a bite—he knew all too well how wolves taken by surprise could act—so the precaution was instinctive. A whine whistled through his nose. He’d never meant to scare the woman, and actually felt quite bad for blurting out his warning the way he had. Still, he couldn’t ignore the fact that there was a mysterious corpse right in front of him. Sure, he had approached Kjors’ body without a second thought, but that was different somehow. He knew that man and, as tainted as Aleksei’s feelings towards the dragon had been in the end, he felt he had to do right by Karina.

She spoke, and the large male could only blink in surprise. Someone had hurt them? How could she be sure? Curiosity led him to take a few bold steps forward, though he kept a respectful distance from her, and crane his neck forward. He wanted to see—oh. His heart stumbled, and his stomach felt as if it had dropped down to his knees; he hadn’t expected to see that.

Aleksei’s muzzle wrinkled in response, a mixture of disgust, pity, and confusion. It looked gross as all hell, with the dead wolf’s snout torn to shreds, mangled with bone exposed. He sucked in air between his teeth, a hiss that conveyed the feeling of “ouch, yikes”. That couldn’t have been a fun way to die. But why had this happened? What had this wolf done to deserve such an end? Who had they been? Who had done this?

Questions. He had a lot of questions that he likely wouldn’t ever get answers to. Was there any point in thinking about it? He wasn’t here to play detective, to be a righteous man who brought justice to wrong-doers. God, he was just trying to get by! And yet … and yet …

The woman here cared, didn’t she? A stranger to the victim, an unsuspecting discoverer of death, cared about the life that had once been enough to ignore the possibility of contracting sickness. It was brave, in a stupid sort of way, and Aleksei chalked it up to two things. The first was simple: good morals. The second? She might not actually realise that dealing with random corpses was a bad idea. “All right,” he started slowly, turning his attention back to the living, “then what do you propose we do with them? Bury them?” Alek had experience in digging graves, after all.

Let the roots & soil drink of me
Whispering leaves & pointing branches will tell them where I'm lying

Lenae stiffened as the wolf approached, but thankfully he kept his distance and did not barge into her personal space. As most men she'd met tended to do. That wasn't nearly enough to brand him as a saint, as the Selwyn knew full well that looks could be deceiving and that there was no such thing as a gentleman, in this cruel world in which they lived.

From the corner of her eye she saw him blanch as his muzzle wrinkled in disgust. She would have felt offended on the body's behalf, after all it wasn't their fault they had met such a fate, but seeing as she'd just done the same a few moments ago she couldn't do that without being a massive hypocrite. So instead, they simply watched the body in silence, until the stranger broke it. And once again, his words took her by surprise.

Did her ears deceive her, or was there a trace of remorse in his voice? What could he possibly be sorry about? It wasn't as though he was the murderer- or perhaps he was. Maybe this was some sick game to him, maybe he'd returned to the scene of his crime to gloat. Surely not...And yet, she couldn't shake the idea from her mind. What if she was his next victim? That thought terrified her of course, it held her heart in a vice like grip and make her lungs heavy as though they were full of lead and yet she didn't move. Nor did she even plan to.

He was right. She wanted to bury them, to give them a proper farewell so they could leave this world and suffer no more.

"Mmm." She hummed in agreement and nodded slowly. She didn't have a lot of strength to spare, but she was willing to put her well being on the line for this, for them. It's not like she had anything else to live for anyway. Not anymore.

His choice of words certainly was...interesting, almost. We. As though they were a partnership. Well, sorry to burst his bubble, but Lenae wanted nothing to do with him. He was unknown to her, an enigma and so he was dangerous. Months ago that would have no doubt enticed her, she would have asked him all sorts of questions and made a thorough effort to get to know him better. But now? She couldn't allow herself to be so vulnerable, as though she was practically begging him to take advantage of her, like those beasts had back home. She realised how childish she had once been, that she hadn't been acting her age and yet, even now, she knew it wasn't her fault.

Innocence wasn't a sin.

"Do you know how? I've never..."Had the chance? Been put in this sort of situation? She didn't know where she'd been going with that to be honest.

(This post was last modified: Jul 16, 2017, 06:44 PM by Lenae.)

Aleksei had kept a lot of things from his family. What he had done whilst he had been gone was never brought up, as if the whole thing were some taboo, but he’d had quite a time of it. He’d seen murder—hell, he’d been dragged into a vicious scheme that even now felt like it was a nightmare, something he’d invented in his sleep. But no. He could remember the crying, the running, the smell, and it made his blood run cold in the middle of the night when he was startled awake by the shrill screams of foxes. Even so, he’d not dealt with their bodies because he fled the scene (he had something important to protect, after all). That experience came about itself. He’d not been as uncomfortable staring a lifeless husk in the face as he originally thought he’d be. Maybe that said something bad about his character?

Another sigh heaved out of his chest as she admitted she’d never buried another wolf, never dug a grave out of the ground. He eyed her for a moment, with those apologetic, sad eyes. How pitiful he must had looked. “If I told you I do, would you find it odd?” Would you judge me? He couldn’t imagine many wolves had dug graves for others, though he wasn’t entirely sure why he cared if people judged him for doing so. It wasn’t like respecting the dead was a dirty thing, that burying someone made you a terrible person. Hell, maybe she’d think it was only family he’d buried. But, wouldn’t she find it bizarre that he asked if she found it odd?

He really wasn’t doing himself any favours, was he?

“Doesn’t matter whether or not you’ve done it before though, I suppose. You just … you just dig.” And so, without another word, he stepped around the body, dug his claws into the soil and began to scoop.

Let the roots & soil drink of me
Whispering leaves & pointing branches will tell them where I'm lying

Was it odd? Probably. But did Lenae find it odd? Not in the least.

If anything, she was envious that he knew, that he was prepared for the emotional and physical exertion that was no doubt ahead. Just like he anticipated, Lenae couldn't help but wonder who he'd buried. A family member? Or was this a habit of his, stumbling upon strangers and doing them a service by putting them in the ground where they belonged? She assumed the former was true, as he didn't seem the sort to do the latter-unless he had to, she imagined.

The maiden couldn't smother the tide of resentment, that swelled up inside of her. How lucky, that his loved one-or ones- was treated with the respect they deserved. Her's hadn't even been granted any basic courtesy. Even now she could remember, as though it had just happened yesterday, how Savion's thugs had...They'd urinated on them, like it was a game to them, like their lives meant nothing.

She gritted her teeth and her tail curled between her legs at the memory. The shakes were threatening to return, she could feel her muscles twitch and clench beneath her skin. It was all too much, getting too much to handle.

Blinking rapidly, Lenae tried-and failed- to clear away the lump blocking her throat. "No, I wouldn't."

But apparently it didn't even matter in the end, like a lot of thing then. Her Father had always seemed so strong, indestructible and as sure as the mountains, and yet she'd seen with her very own eyes how- she winched. Not that.  She was making it worse, almost like she enjoyed making herself hurt in the very worst way.

Without further ado, the stranger began to paw and scrape at the ground. And with a sigh, Lenae followed suit and began to dig. One two, one two, left right, left right. She kicked and shoved the dirt away till her paws burned and she couldn't dig anymore. She was weak, her legs wobbled under her weight but she had done it. Or rather they had done it.

Struggling to conceal her lack of breath, Lenae dipped her head down and sighed deeply. She thought she would feel good, granting this stranger this basic courtesy and yet she didn't feel better at all. Her heart felt heavier than ever.

"Could you...I'm a little.. Tired." Should she be ashamed? Probably, but it wasn't like she would have been strong enough to push him in when she was at full health anyway. She'd always been a slight, if not curvaceous thing.

(This post was last modified: Jun 13, 2017, 12:35 AM by Lenae.)

There was no emotion, no feeling, in the task at hand for Aleksei. He wasn’t doing it for a wolf he knew, wasn’t doing it because he felt some tie to the deceased. Hell, they could have been a total monster in their life time—maybe their death was a blessing in disguise. Whatever. Then why was he doing it? He might have been loathe to admit it in his current state, but it was because this woman, even with her skittish attitude, had seemed so certain that doing it was necessary, that it was the right thing to do. She had unintentionally made him feel bad for not feeling the same.

Eventually, the two wolves had dug out a sizeable grave. Aleksei’s paws ached, and he panted for a moment to catch his breath (the last flurry of kicks had been the worst) before glancing at his current company. She looked exhausted, with wobbly limbs and a poorly hidden lack of breath. He was silent at her request that he move the corpse, only bobbing his head once before repositioning again. Towering over the dead wolf, Aleksei grunted quietly as his muzzle wrinkled; the stench was overpowering now that he was truly close to it. The fact that some scavenger hadn’t already discovered the carcass and picked the bones clean was a miracle.

He sucked in a deep breath, held it in his chest, and lowered his head. It didn’t take long before his eyes began to water. With a tentative move, the agouti male nudged the body and—oh, fucking hell! He wanted to gag, desperately swallowed it down as he took a step back to cough. The sun sped up the rot process here, clearly. At least the snow and the cold had kept Kjors’ body relatively in tact. All right, to hell with picking the corpse up in his mouth and shifting it that way. Aleksei wasn’t going to risk making himself vomit on a dead person! But he didn’t want to disappoint either, so he gathered his thoughts (and his bravery) before deciding that pushing with his front paws would be the best course of action. He placed one foot on the male and shoved, shifting the bag of bones, skin and weird body goo.

It felt fucking horrible, warm and damp. Aleksei kept his eyes firmly closed, knowing full well how awful it’d look. Just hearing the popping joints and occasional squelch made his skin prickle.

Eventually, after a few shoves and pushes, Alek heard the body half tumble, half slide into the hole. He staggered backwards, wheezing for fresh, untainted corpse air. “I need a moment,” was all he said, fighting back the nausea and the dizziness.

Let the roots & soil drink of me
Whispering leaves & pointing branches will tell them where I'm lying

The smell was revolting, foul beyond measure and yet Lenae didn't gag or wheeze like the stranger. By no means was she immune to it's stinky powers...She simply had nothing in her stomach to throw up. And seeing as these days she always felt sick-in one sense or another, be it physically or mentally- it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. That said, she wasn't as close as her temporary companion was and most importantly she didn't have to touch it.

She watched him as he stumbled away and despite her best attempts to keep her expression bland and impassive- ' oh lovely girl, you'd  look so pretty if you smiled'- she couldn't help but frown in concern. Was he okay? Did he need water? Was there anything she could do? She parted her lips to voice these concerns only to snap her mouth shut just as a soft crooning began to escape. No. That was how she used to speak, all soft, gentle and kind. But she wasn't that girl anymore, she couldn't afford to be in a world like this. She had to toughen up.

That said, this man had gone out of his way to assist her endeavour. At the very least she could try and give him the benefit of doubt...But in doing so, she would be putting her heart on the line again. Or more accurately it meant that she would have to try and trust again. But that wasn't something she could do, not now and not ever. After all she had been through it was an impossibility. It had to be.

With a sigh, Lenae cautiously approached the stranger and got as close as she could manage-a couple of feet away- before she peered up at his face. He wasn't being sick, so that was a good thing, she supposed. Asking if he was okay seemed like a pointless question as it was obvious that neither of them were okay, so she rummaged around in her head for something to say. Anything to break this heavy silence that had descended upon them.

"What's your name?"

It seemed rude to ask for his and yet not offer hers in return. But as much as she wanted to...Her name was all she had left, giving it to a stranger just seemed wrong. A foolish move if she'd ever made one, and she'd made plenty over the years.

"Mine's...Call me Everly."