Ghastly Woods A fish out of water

re Reyek finds a fish at the shores of his nearest water source

Reyjiek had been searching for her for a while now. Her narrow escape made him angry. By now she had the little demons that he didn't want in this world.

He kept his nose to the ground, sniffing around, trying to pick up her scent again. It was then that he picked of the scent of something dead. He followed the smell until it brought him to a small pond, there was still water in this pond, and on the shores a fish.

He was very thirst and took a drink from the pond. It definitely wasn't the greatest tasting water, but it was better than nothing. While drinking his fill, he eyeballed the fish. He went over and smelled it. It didn't smell rotting or anything so he decided to rip it to shreds and devour what he could.

Archer Valle

Making the long journey to the Falls was growing tiresome, so Archer decided they needed to try and find water closer to home. Even puddles were growing scarcer, and with two litters to look after their resources were dwindling. It seemed all the prey animals were leaving, heading west. Sometimes Archer thought about following them to see if they knew something he didn't, but he couldn't bear to leave his family. Not like his sisters had. Besides, if he was gone, only @Eros would be left to advocate for their strange guest.

He'd managed to rope Eros into joining him in an expedition to Ghastly Woods to see if they could locate any source of water. His hopes weren't high, but they could at least try to nab some food to drag back home at the very least.

They'd barely arrived when he smelled fish. His mouth watered and his ears pricked. If there was fish, there was water. "Come on, let's- wait." he pulled up short and sniffed the air again, heart dropping. He knew that scent. "Be careful, I think it's that crazy dude I told you about," he murmured to his brother before slowly resuming walking. When he finally laid eyes on the man his suspicions were confirmed. "You" he said disdainfully. What was he doing so close to the territory?

Archer is very haggard and thin; it is obvious he is not doing well.

As he was having his way with the fish, devouring it piece by piece, he got a whiff of a familiar scent, no wait....two familiar scents. One he was all too familiar with. And....another he was unfamiliar with. He kept his head down only moving his one good eye in the direction of the smell as the other called out to him.

'Well well, what oddness brought here. Again, with fish, with water. How odd indeed."

It was then that he lifted his head, carcass of fish in his mouth. He tilted his head, as if confused.

'Why do you smell that way? With another maybe? Maybe....an Inger?"

He smiled a toothy, fishy grin at both of the others. He found a clue to her, he was excited. Chaos Chaos CHAOS.

Eros was very much in his brother's corner when it came to Inger and her children, and thought the tension surrounding their presence and the way everything had gone done was just another unnecessary attempt by the adults to enforce their authority over others. It was another push, but he'd already stepped over that ledge. In his pack, things would be different. Much different.

He caught a whiff of the same carcass Archer had, but his muzzle twisted and crinkled with disgust instead. Anything that reeked of fish so badly turned his stomach, but his thought process did still follow his siblings.

Wait.

Eros immediately complied, peach eyes snapping onto Archer's darker features. What? they quietly asked, and he didn't much like the answer. His brother's story had made him angry the first time he'd heard it, and being reminded still brought up a pinprick of agitation. He'd very much been waiting to give this guy a piece of his mind if he ever saw him, because how dare he try to frighten anyone he loved, much less wasting their food.

His teeth set as he moved forward at his brother's side, ready to be a solid, united front. It didn't take many more strides before the other wolf was visible, looks grizzled with one eye horribly scarred and damaged. He was a lot closer to the villainous form he'd conjured in his mind than Eros had genuinely been expecting, allowing a small fracture line of true fear to begin making its way through his foundation. It wasn't enough to shake him yet, and he kept his head at his shoulders and tail lifted level with his spine as they approached to make it clear that he was ready to throw down if needed.

You, Archer hissed, and the stranger began to talk, musing aloud about coincidences. Something about the lilt of his words reminded him of how Miss Inger spoke, and he wondered briefly if they came from the same far away place before opening his mouth to interrupt and begin his berating.

Why do you smell that way? With another maybe? Maybe....an Inger?

Something struck cold in his gut, a deep instinct that told him everything about the situation was wrong. It caused him to lie on impulse, a tactic rarely implemented by the young Valle.

"No. We don't even know an Eener. It's just us, obviously. I gotta bone to pick with you, ya know."

He took a step forward, aiming to be intimidating and take control of the conversation.

(This post was last modified: Jul 18, 2022, 11:26 PM by Eros.)

Archer Valle

Once again this crazy man was in front of him, once again with fish - as the man was quick to point out. Archer wasn't sure if he was worried that the man remembered him or not; clearly he'd left some sort of impression, but did he want to be familiar with someone so clearly unhinged? Especially with his brother at his side?

Only, this time, Archer felt more confident in his ability to defend his home. He and Eros weren't fighters, but there were two of them and one crazy guy. The Valle boys could drive him off if they needed to.

And then he said something that made a chill run down his spine. Speaking with their guest wasn't easy; she and her pups spoke a different language, but Archer was confident the woman's name was @Inger and the pups were Llinnea and Asmund. That was about all he was confident with when it came to information about the trio, at least until the pups got older. Why should this wild man know her name?

Before Archer could do anything about it, Eros stepped forward, raising is tail and taking control of the confrontation. He did something that Archer did not expect: he lied. The younger Valle boy resisted the urge to glance at his brother; he didn't want to expose the untruth. Instead he fell into step at his littermate's shoulder and lifted his lip to show his teeth, ready to support Eros and take direction from him.

Archer is very haggard and thin; it is obvious he is not doing well.

Reyjiek tilted his head slightly, fish still in his mouth and saw the other two posturing. He couldn't help but laugh at them, dropping his fish. This definitely meant that they knew something about Inger.

"Calm, Calm, No fight intended. Just asking questions."

He let out a slight smile, and sat back, showing that he didn't intend to fight the other two. He then scratched his ear to also show that he was calm.

"What is bringing here? Not sure what want, but is fine. Have met one of already yeah?"

He continued with his smile and just sat there, not moving a muscle, fish at his feet. He was curious what these two knew, and if they could lead him to Inger. He really wanted the chaos, he didn't want there to be any more little ones about, so he figured that she must have had them and wanted to catch her while they were still little.

Despite their ruffled appearance and clear intent, the other remained calm. Way too calm. Eros didn't like it at all. Each minute they spent in the guy's company the more reasons he seemed to give his skin to crawl. Scowling deeply, the young boy felt his anger waken and rouse.

"You really don't make a lot of sense, ya know," he barked with a coating of venom that was rare to find in the Valle's typical speech. Eros took a step forward.

"I said it's not fine. You're a bully n' you need to steer clear of here. You got it?"

(This post was last modified: Aug 11, 2022, 12:25 AM by Eros.)

Reyjiek couldn't help but laugh at the feisty little one in front of him. He sort of reminded Reyjiek of himself. He liked this boy, he thought that he would be able to gain some information from these two if he could get the little one to like him.

He laid down where he was and cocked his head a little.

"Well, feisty. Don't worry. No danger here. I like little one. He like Odin eye. No worry. Am just searching. Looking for lost. Maybe can help find missing thing yes?"

He looked both of them over. He could still make out the smell of Inger, lingering on them and was very excited to find her. Her wanted to do this as quickly as possible.

Archer Valle

Archer did not trust this strange man, did not trust that he didn't want a fight. While he hadn't been particularly aggressive with him the last time they'd met, he'd been strange and wasteful. Here he was, once again devouring fish. At least he was actually eating it this time instead of just throwing it around. Eros clearly didn't care for the man's attitude either, as he demanded the man leave.

The stranger seemed nonplussed, chortling instead of worrying about the fact that he was outnumbered. He even laid down. Archer growled at the man's audacity. Were they not being clear? The man clearly wasn't right in the head, and yet it would be expected that he would know he wasn't exactly safe. He continued to repeat that he wasn't a danger, that he was looking for something. A something like Inger? Archer's gut churned at the thought.

"Are you thick?" he snapped. "He said get lost! You're not welcome in these parts!"

Archer is very haggard and thin; it is obvious he is not doing well.

The stranger continued not to take Eros seriously, and the building poison inside began to sear. His peach eyes glowered, anger emphasizing the orange amongst their fruity hues. No one ever dared act so flippantly when Viorel was angry with them. Was he not muscular enough, not intimidating or severe enough? It aggravated him almost as much as the man's actual trespasses.

Odin, was that his name? It was difficult for the young Valle to make sense of his choppy speech, especially when he currently possessed so little patience. Were it someone else, he might have put more effort into understanding. Likewise, had another stronger asked him for help he would have been happy to give it. Not this wolf, an outsider who had upset his brother and now continued to dismiss the way they clearly felt about him.

Archer gave the rogue his last warning, for if he didn't start minding them Eros would try to persuade with his teeth next.