Drooping Willows Wallflower

Elettra only please.

slyscar

i am the master of a nothing place

Slowly the days grew longer, the promise of spring in the air... It was almost enough to make him sick... Almost. And yet still some slow drag pulled at his gut with longing. A need yet to be sated in his three years of life. Was it enough to be leader? Was it enough to claim what was rightfully his when the time came? Or was there more...? Slyscar had always been jealous of Blackcrow, it was more than plain to see should you glance upon him at the right moment - but not for the reasons one might assume. No, it wasn’t the power he held, his charismatic smile or flawless ebony pelt. It wasn’t even the deep booming of his voice, unmistakable from any other. No. Blackcrow had been loved. By everyone. Even by Slyscar himself. And he hated the man for it.

Could he remember the warmth of his mothers embrace? A glance of approval from his father or even a smile of camaraderie from a sibling? No - the memories of his early life had been blocked out just as savagely as the memory of what caused the scar that marred his hind leg. Ugly and twisted, just like the wolf that wore it, and yet somehow he managed to get by - with strategic smiles and jokes and smooth words. It was all a game, and he was tired of playing.

Thrusting his head within the rotted out log, he took a moment to add yet another layer to his coak of confused scents. A dead fox here, some other carrion there, and anything that carried the musty scent of the woods of these lands. Were anyone to stumble upon him they may think him scavenging for food, and he may as well have been trying. He donned an easy look of despair given his current train of thought, before removing his head from it’s musty prison. With a short shake of his dark brown coat he continued on his way amongst the drooping branches of the Willows. No sure destination in sight - yet.

The deed was done. The pack meeting had been called, revealing to all it's members the new and dire updates of the Willow Ridge pack, including all the members it had thus lost, the new Leader and most importantly, the dangerous wolves which now roamed the lands of Relic Lore. Kyrie and Phineas were likely already on their missions, out to inform the other packs and make for an invitation for a gathering. The rest of the members were directed to stay close to home, keeping to the Southern Eden with caution by a weary eye. Elettra was doing the same, awaiting the return of her two members, as well as secretly seeking out Kanosak's company. She desperately worried of the man, wondering if he had gone mad, too, or had been torn until death by the two wolves who had hunted him down. If he was not dead, would he kill himself? Would he seek to kill the wolf who attacked him before doing so, if at all an attempt at ending the disease?
Elettra bit back her tongue in order to hold back the whine. Kanosak had been the fearful face of the Ridge pack. Though he was not the strength he once was with a torn jaw and bad leg, he was a defender none the less, offering intimidation if nothing else and seconding on healing too. He had placed obvious dedication in being here and now, was gone. Not because he had abandoned the pack as others before him, but because he was struck down and separated from them.
So when the scent and sigh of another wolf caught her attention, the woman was left on edge and tense. She had moved beyond the boarders of her home, though still easily within the Drooping Willows, west of where her pack resided. Surely if this man continued on, he might catch went of the pack which lived near, though until that time Elettra had no intention of informing the man that he was near a pack - her pack. After all, so on guard, Elettra had no intention of informing any stranger of anything. The dark woman merely moved on, secretly arching around the male but keeping her distance in an attempt at spying on what he might do and where he may go.

slyscar

i am the master of a nothing place

An uncomfortable prickle began to radiate down the spine of the dark brown wolf as he moved between the skeletal boughs. It was not an uncommon feeling, the tickling burn of being watched - whether the feeling was real or imagined Slyscar continued his innocent ruse. A few steps and a sniff, wander a little further and stop. Ears flicking, his uncertain movements were more reminiscent of a coyote than the confident leader of a pack of marauders. Here and there trails crossed - predator, prey... there were a lot of wolf scents coming and going, so he could only assume he was getting closer to a pack border. The last place he realistically wanted to be right now... but this place was different...

Perhaps it was a twisted perversion that had drawn him to seek out the scent of the one Slimtail had bitten, the one he had whispered twisted promises into the ear of while he slept. The one that would bring him what he finally needed to free his pack of the curse. Perhaps he didn’t even realise that he found himself growing ever closer to the border of the pack that wolf had called home. But it was unlikely. The scent was like a drug, like the scent of the Grove from which Rissa Tainn had been taken. It held too many memories to not draw him in... Still his face remained blank, forlorn at times, completely and utterly lost.

To head west, deeper into the heart of the willows, or south to where the trees began to thin? He wasn’t sure he was ready to face the unadulterated rays of the sun just yet, so he continued on his path, ambling and aimless, wondering if perhaps his watcher, real or imagined, may manifest before his eyes in the dappled light of the Drooping Willows...

As he pushed ever closer, she moved ever more with him. She grows more and more tense the closer he gets to the pack's boarder, her body moving and turning into the distinct stance of a readied attack: her head is low, aligned with her spine and inched back to create a fold of protective fat around her neck. Her eyes are slits of pale grey, her ears pinned against her skull and a snarl across her expression. She slinks like the predator she is, stalking her prey. All the while, she remains silent, her breath calm, stirring a stirring mist of heat in the chilly air. Elettra Archer has no intention of delivering conversation lest she gets caught and has a need for her to. She only waits, seeing if the man may stop at her boarders in which she will promptly tell him he is not welcome, or until he crosses them in which, she attacks.

slyscar

i am the master of a nothing place

The scent was growing stronger this way and he paused, still far enough away that he would not draw any more attention to himself than a regular loner might. Respectful of pack lands and those that dwelled within them. He took a moment, a small wave of his tail, harmless enough. Knowing now that the burning itch of being watched was more likely real than imagined, he turned to move away, rapidly brining himself to a halt as the vision of a dark lady crossed his vision - bearing hardly a welcoming stance.

Although it irked him to do so - as a leader in his own right, Slyscar looked away and tucked his tail low, shrinking under her icy glare. His ears pinned back to his head as he skittered a few steps further away from the growing scent of pack borders and a nervous whine left his chest, one laced with apology and begging forgiveness. He was young yet, old enough to know better but he had not blatantly trespassed.That would have to earn him points surely?

“A-apologies.” he stuttered, hardly the confident and slick tone that usually left his mouth. He was shrinking under her glare, lowering himself further and further into the snow until his belly almost touched the frozen blanket. He rocked for a moment, as if torn between approaching the lady and fleeing. Finally he took a tentative step forwards, clearly keeping his gaze averted. “I wasn’t aware I had come so close... This place is a long way from home.” His eyes darted for a moment to the plush chest of the protector, catching sight of her dipped chin before sliding off to her side again, the perfect image of a lost loner with no desire for a fight.

She didn’t come across as a talker, it would be just his luck... but perhaps he could glean even a tiny gem of information from this encounter.

Fallen. When finally it seemed the man was certain that Elettra had been tailing him, watching his every move, he whipped around to view her and when doing so, flattening at her very sight. His eyes darted downward and away, his tail a tight tuck between his limbs and a whine escaping him before stuttered words as he skitters further from the pack boarders for which he did not belong. A definite snapping of her jaws was offered in warning, her stance as it was before remaining, her tail high in an act of dominance. She was prideful of his reaction, no doubt. Elettra was no master mind to understand the tricks of a man she knew nothing of, but was not a fool to use his submission as an opportunity to get cocky and let off her guard, ether....and so her guard remained. He holds himself in a manner that a wondering loner might have, though his words mention a home that was far from these lands here. "And why is it then that you travel so far?" She questions, hoping the demand of words might gain her some reason as to why he had come so far and why not only this, he had bothered coming so close to pack boarders? The only true reason why a loner would come to a pack's boarder was to join and if not this, then they were up to no good.

slyscar

i am the master of a nothing place

And why is it then that you travel so far? It would seem his demure stance was not enough to fool the guardian of the Willows but a small grin came to his lips that she was speaking to him at least... a harmless grin, friendly even. “Why does any young wolf leave their home?” he dared to question back. “I left before the leaves began to turn... It seems there are many settled here, not just in packs... It is unusual no?”

In his own experience dispersal was to find a mate and start a pack or join one you weren’t related to, to make a life for yourself, not to roam the lands alone. A lone wolf couldn’t make the kills a pack wolf could - possibly a testament to the slimness of his own sides. It was foolish to stay alone for longer than one must. It had been so long since he had reigned his darker side in, it was beginning to feel... constricting, but still he wouldn’t let it show.

Daring to inch just a step closer, shrinking as he moved. He paused... knowing he was more than pushing his luck by doing so, acting like any wild loner wishing to get closer to a pack, to maybe try for acceptance without outright asking for it. He wouldn’t be so bold if the answer weren’t already so clear in her stance, and in her tone. To change his tactics now would be to give himself away. Besides, this game was fun.

She studies him deeply, listening as he spoke of venturing off on his own just before autumn and in this, taking note of his otherwise healthy disposition for a man supposed to be a rogue wolf, living on his own through the dead of the winter. Slim, he was, though still nothing to the starving rogues she had crossed. Her tail twitches behind her with irritation, her silvery attention further narrowed upon him intently. "Yes, perhaps...." The smokey tones of her voice ease out coyly and as he smirks, does she - darker, daring. "I would think it would be in your best interest to join up with them, as opposed to snooping about my pack lands." He had not outright asked to join, to pledge himself to the back through hard work and submission in proof of loyalty and rights within the ranks. He slinks closer now, as though a dog wishes to sneak in a piece of scraps in one quick jerk, and in his movements, she stiffens, offering a deep growl with the jutting of her tongue, licking beyond her teeth in a manner of a cobra ready to strike. "Get." It was her first and final warning.

Short exit is short. I'm happy to leave him here if you want to wrap up with El's next reply to make the 10? Then I don't know how we go about submitting it... I think we just add the link to the competition thread? (I won't be around for the next two days). It's been lovely, although I don't imagine El will want to meet him again? :p

slyscar

i am the master of a nothing place

Get. The command sliced through the air and he allowed himself an apparently involuntary flinch at the cutting tone of her words. Dismissed like a common dog he had to hide the smirk from his face as he began to turn on his tail, exposing his delicate rump should she chose to chase after him with a few well placed nips to his behind as a warning to stay gone.

my pack lands... the words swum through his head laced with satisfaction that this encounter hadn’t been entirely without gains. He would remember her dark face and silver-rimmed lips, her scent. She would be one to watch in the coming months. Perhaps with time she would come to bare an offering of her own...

She watched him go, standing there in full readiness should he dare come around again for a second try along the edge of her borderlands. Little thought or care was placed in Elettra for why he was here and what he wished to accomplish, if anything at all for that matter. Once he was out of sight, he was out of mind and the woman after a few snorts, huffs, and a good marking of her territory, turned and made her way.