Post by Ashen on May 12, 2007 0:22:34 GMT -5
(One day I shall shall learn more creativity with my log titles. Yes.)
Dramatis Personæ:
Alsoomse - Russet Dog
Ender - Another Russet Dog
Freyr - Leader of the Russet Dogs
Lilith - Sangre Alpha
Silvermane - Sangre Packmember
Location: Rippling Stream
The sun has long ago dipped below the horizon, leaving the land to shroud in nightfall with nothing but half a moon as light. One with an almost equally darkened coat ambles in from the west. Like any animal of his size, the Russet's leader requires a daily supply of water. More so as the days and nights get warmer, and his accursed pelt gets no shorter. But thirst does not get in the way of vigilance, and even as Freyr approaches the flowing liquid, the mastiff is on high alert. Laxity has proven a mistake in the past; a mistake he's driven not to make again.
Following the mastiff, the mantled Dane, too, finds thirst a harsh mistress. Adopting the pack mentality has been an easy change, and while Freyr nears the stream, she turns her back to him. Literally watching his back, as her face points toward the shrubbery through which they trekked. "Awful quiet-like 'round these parts." Ender comments quietly.
Alsoomse has followed along at Freyr's side, her shoulder is feeling better but the wound is still healing. Still this doesn't stop the once fighter in getting around and doing her job. She'll let him drink before she does. "That it is.. Wonder wherer the birds are." She murmurs a bit as they move closer to the water, her nose twitching sniffing at the passing air taking in the different scents.
As if a meeting of light and dark in canine form had been arranged by the spirits, a white wolf, speckled with black, yawns as she awakes from her late doze. She's currently situated just south of the farm, near where the river begins as just a small spring, not far from where the pack of feral dogs currently approach the stream. Not very far at all. Ears pricking at the sound of voices, it's not hard for Lilith to pick out the small group of canids as they draw near, and it's likely just as easy for them to notice her as well. Are these the missing dogs from the farm?
Silvermane has followed her alpha here, allowing herself some rest as well. After all, it's difficult to fully recharge after such a long time on the road, and sleep didn't come easy for her. Still, when the dogs approach their water, all rest is pushed out of the grey-toned wolf's mind; she doesn't even have to look at Lilith to know that she's noticed them, too. Her body is still, aside from a slight prickling of the hair on the back of her neck and a flick of her ears to hear the dogs properly. How very curious.
As soon as Ender mentions it, the mastiff pauses to listen for the owls or nightjars that take up the nocturnal serenade. "Hmm, seems so. Not often they shut up for so long." Odd that. Something is surely up, but what? That remains to be seen. As Freyr moves in for a drink, something catches his nose; a scent that should not be there. Forgoing hydration for now, his eyes turn down one way, then the next. His eyesight is lacking, but while it is difficult, he still manages to make out canine forms. A line of fur stands on end, starting from his neck and travelling down until his tail raises along with it. So much for a quick drink.
There is no slurping, chirping, hooting, scurrying, snoring. Anything. 'Too quiet', should be said, but it is not. There is a distinct feeling in the air when attitudes and moods change, and Freyr's subtle shift is about as contagious as yawning. Even with a short pelt, a spiking of fur at the Dane's shoulderblades occurs and she turns to face the direction Freyr does. "What." She utters quietly, nudging Alsoomse, too.
Alsoomse nods while lifting her head pauses at Freyr's side while a yawn escapes her. "Maybe there hidding.." Though from what? Its almost like the birds know something is wrong. A ear twitches to her leader and she glances to the side, eyes narrowing while her own hackles are raised. "Wolves.." She mutters back to Ender. What the heck are they doing here? Her own tail flicks about in the air, head tilting as she looks around to see if anymore are around.
Lilith would likely ask the same question on Alsoomse's mind, if it had been spoken aloud. But in the meantime, Lilith is too busy considering the dogs just as they are scrutinizing her. Slowly shifting onto her belly and up onto all fours, Lilith is somewhere between defensive and offensive mode, her pale silvery eyes never leaving the trio of canines. She won't make the first verbal move here, it seems.
Oh, you say 'wolves' like it's a bad thing, sweetie. Silvermane keeps still, attempting to suss out the dogs, until Lilith rises. Not one to sleep on the job, she too rises herself on dark grey paws, tilting her head to the upper-left. Unlike her superior, she's entirely defensive in her own intimidating way; whether this is because of a threat the dogs pose or not is a question unanswered, however.
But Lilith needn't have to; Freyr steps up to that task without hesitation. "Did Storm send you?" His normally hoarse inflection is intensified with his mood. The mastiff repositions himself, away from the water, directly between his companions and the intruding wolves. "The likes of you'nt welcome here." His eyes flit to the second wolf for a moment, then alternate between the two, deciding upon which he should focus.
At one side of the mastiff, the Dane's mantled pelt is spining itself all over the place, the long column of her neck low and ears pinned forward. She will let Freyr do the talking with words. Her body language can speak for her all it cares to. Against the black mask, her silver orbs are wide and a little mad-looking. Insane. Not upset.
Alsoomse follows after Freyr, hackles staying rasied and tail lashing in the air as she goes. Once near the wolves she rests at Freyr's side, head lifting and gaze narrowed. She'll let Freyr do the talking, his the chief after all. Would that wolf actually send her pack do deal with them? As if she care, there all worthless, any wolf is to her.
Storm? Lilith files the name away, since it's obviously of some importance - how else could he or she send other wolves to meet someone? Rather than reply to his question with one of her own, she first offers a statement in reply to his un-welcome: "You don't seem like typical yapping farm dogs. Congratulations on trying to be more like /real/ canines," the alphaess compliments cynically, obviously referring to her own species.
The wolf beside Lilith gives a small, quick sneer at the comment, before leveling her gaze on Freyr. The wild lackey gives the mastiff's own a once-over, noting each of their outward dispositions in her own mind, just in case. Still, she doesn't say anything verbally, either.
Freyr bristles at the comparison, stepping ever closer to the breaking point. "I neither requested nor desire your approval, wolf." He initiates an advance, allow patience a fleeting chance. "Go home. I won't tell you again." If the mastiff is attempting a bluff, it's not evident in the least.
To whatever end Freyr desires of this confrontation, the Dane is, evidently, more than ready to back it up to the fullest. While teeth stay hidden behind the overhang of her cheeks, her posture is easily described as a Trip Wire. With Alsoomse on his other side, it would appear that Freyr's current team is able.
Farm dogs?.. The thought, look at them do they look like collard mutts? "That's because were not farm dogs. No collared fool could survive out here." Alsoomse follows at Freyr's side, careful not to limp in front of the wolves. "This is are land, don't need your kind wandering over it anymore." This said with a faint growl escaping her maw, fangs bare. Of course she has Freyr's back, she always had and alway will.
"This /is/ our home, dog," Lilith replies with a smug, toothy grin. She shows no signs of fear at the feral display. "Or, at least, it soon will be. Now, judging from the tone of your initial question, you don't seem to like this 'Storm'...assuming they are one of the alphas of the pack around here, then I imagine we share the sentiment." If for no other reason than they're living on land that she wants for herself - and that probably is the only reason. "So you see, it'd be much more beneficial for you to...shall we say, ally with us?" Her tail flicks once, though her paws remain steadfast. "Otherwise, you'd have yet /another/ pack around who doesn't care for your presence, and I don't believe those are very good odds in your favor." Her grin suddenly morphs into a cruel sneer, a physical threat to match her verbal one.
Silvermane allows the threats to slip off of her back, like a fish and water, although Alsoomse's strange replacement of words does earn a quick smirk. "Ours," her hoarse, poisonous voice echoes when Lilith begins to speak; it's the first and the only word she utters for the entire speech, although her head does jerk upwards again. Was that a flash of tooth? Couldn't be.
"Wrong." Freyr snaps. "This will never be *your* home." He corrects, tail lashing irately. "What could you possibly do to make up for leeching off my turf, hm?" He's loathe to trust any wolf, and he hasn't even met these before. The offer is given some thought, but that quickly leads to the many downsides of siding with any number of wolves at all. "And allies or no, I will have none of your stink spreading over my dirt and my water."
"Your folk do have a bit of a stench to 'em. Just sayin'." Sing-songy, the Dane's head switches from side to side, a grin spreading over her features. Though because of the excess skin on her cheeks.. it may as well be a fixed, soundless snarl.
Alsoomse just eyes the wolf that corrected her. "Looks like your the ones living with humans to me.." She offers with a thick growl escapes her maw. "We don't work with wolves.. And this will never be /your/ land." There might only be three members of there group here at the moment but its the three that know how to fight and kill if needs be. Meaning there not backing down to some common wolves.
"Get you /more/ turf, you stupid dog-pet," Lilith growls, her peppered ears slicking back among snowy headfur. "But that's fine if you won't accept an offer of 'friendship' - all the more land for me. And then I won't have to resort to sharing it with a bunch of fleabitten mongrels just a collar away from taking handouts from Man." Alsoomse's words catch her attention, and her eyes snap towards her as she speaks. "/Living/ with humans? One of my wolves /ate/ the Man who was in that farm up there, bitch. Your pitiful dog-pet morality would have likely prevented you from disgracing a 'Master' in such a way, I'm sure," she snarls viciously. Addressing Silvermane, the alpha turns to hop across the river, beginning to head south along its banks. "Come on. We're not wasting anymore of our time dealing with these mutts."
The Dane's comment earns a deathly glare from Silvermane, while Alsoomse's 'offer' is met with a snap of sharp teeth and a terrible growl. "Fools," comes her soft, hoarse voice, "still in denial, they nurse from the rotten, wormfed breast of Man." She inclines her head to Lilith - it's a little too smooth to be called a /nod/ - and follows after the alpha, her ears flicking behind her. Dogs. /Honestly/.
Freyr snorts dismissively. His brow quirks at the mention of eating a man, muzzle twisting in a half chuckle. Takes a special kind to tolerate /that/ flavor. He says nothing more to their retreating tails, although his eyes do follow, taking in every detail of the wolves' appearance. These are two he won't soon forget. "Think I know why the birds went off." He remarks derisively, turning to regard either of his companions.
"Always have to meddle, don't they." The Dane observes, her nose turned up in a mock haughty gesture. Once the wolves are well out of site, she puffs herself up and prances around, lifting each leg high. "Look at me, I'm a wolf, I don't share and I smell like moose-berries that've baked in the sun. NYAH!" Rolling her eyes, Ender sits down, watching the space the wolves departed in.
"No.. But that man had been dead for weeks, just shows what common scum like you are to eat a human that stank up the whole area, bit*h." Alsoomse offers with a rather calm down while she just grins, fangs seen of course. She has never took handouts from anyone, and killed for her food every time she was tossed in a ring and then out here. If anything the fighter might be more animal then the wolves at times. Though she is amused by this, thinking there get more turf one way or another.. Storm's pack might take these guys out, or they might just kill one another and then there wouldn't be any wolves around to deal with. She merely watches the wolves and blinks as she hears Ender and snickers out while grinning
Dramatis Personæ:
Alsoomse - Russet Dog
Ender - Another Russet Dog
Freyr - Leader of the Russet Dogs
Lilith - Sangre Alpha
Silvermane - Sangre Packmember
Location: Rippling Stream
The sun has long ago dipped below the horizon, leaving the land to shroud in nightfall with nothing but half a moon as light. One with an almost equally darkened coat ambles in from the west. Like any animal of his size, the Russet's leader requires a daily supply of water. More so as the days and nights get warmer, and his accursed pelt gets no shorter. But thirst does not get in the way of vigilance, and even as Freyr approaches the flowing liquid, the mastiff is on high alert. Laxity has proven a mistake in the past; a mistake he's driven not to make again.
Following the mastiff, the mantled Dane, too, finds thirst a harsh mistress. Adopting the pack mentality has been an easy change, and while Freyr nears the stream, she turns her back to him. Literally watching his back, as her face points toward the shrubbery through which they trekked. "Awful quiet-like 'round these parts." Ender comments quietly.
Alsoomse has followed along at Freyr's side, her shoulder is feeling better but the wound is still healing. Still this doesn't stop the once fighter in getting around and doing her job. She'll let him drink before she does. "That it is.. Wonder wherer the birds are." She murmurs a bit as they move closer to the water, her nose twitching sniffing at the passing air taking in the different scents.
As if a meeting of light and dark in canine form had been arranged by the spirits, a white wolf, speckled with black, yawns as she awakes from her late doze. She's currently situated just south of the farm, near where the river begins as just a small spring, not far from where the pack of feral dogs currently approach the stream. Not very far at all. Ears pricking at the sound of voices, it's not hard for Lilith to pick out the small group of canids as they draw near, and it's likely just as easy for them to notice her as well. Are these the missing dogs from the farm?
Silvermane has followed her alpha here, allowing herself some rest as well. After all, it's difficult to fully recharge after such a long time on the road, and sleep didn't come easy for her. Still, when the dogs approach their water, all rest is pushed out of the grey-toned wolf's mind; she doesn't even have to look at Lilith to know that she's noticed them, too. Her body is still, aside from a slight prickling of the hair on the back of her neck and a flick of her ears to hear the dogs properly. How very curious.
As soon as Ender mentions it, the mastiff pauses to listen for the owls or nightjars that take up the nocturnal serenade. "Hmm, seems so. Not often they shut up for so long." Odd that. Something is surely up, but what? That remains to be seen. As Freyr moves in for a drink, something catches his nose; a scent that should not be there. Forgoing hydration for now, his eyes turn down one way, then the next. His eyesight is lacking, but while it is difficult, he still manages to make out canine forms. A line of fur stands on end, starting from his neck and travelling down until his tail raises along with it. So much for a quick drink.
There is no slurping, chirping, hooting, scurrying, snoring. Anything. 'Too quiet', should be said, but it is not. There is a distinct feeling in the air when attitudes and moods change, and Freyr's subtle shift is about as contagious as yawning. Even with a short pelt, a spiking of fur at the Dane's shoulderblades occurs and she turns to face the direction Freyr does. "What." She utters quietly, nudging Alsoomse, too.
Alsoomse nods while lifting her head pauses at Freyr's side while a yawn escapes her. "Maybe there hidding.." Though from what? Its almost like the birds know something is wrong. A ear twitches to her leader and she glances to the side, eyes narrowing while her own hackles are raised. "Wolves.." She mutters back to Ender. What the heck are they doing here? Her own tail flicks about in the air, head tilting as she looks around to see if anymore are around.
Lilith would likely ask the same question on Alsoomse's mind, if it had been spoken aloud. But in the meantime, Lilith is too busy considering the dogs just as they are scrutinizing her. Slowly shifting onto her belly and up onto all fours, Lilith is somewhere between defensive and offensive mode, her pale silvery eyes never leaving the trio of canines. She won't make the first verbal move here, it seems.
Oh, you say 'wolves' like it's a bad thing, sweetie. Silvermane keeps still, attempting to suss out the dogs, until Lilith rises. Not one to sleep on the job, she too rises herself on dark grey paws, tilting her head to the upper-left. Unlike her superior, she's entirely defensive in her own intimidating way; whether this is because of a threat the dogs pose or not is a question unanswered, however.
But Lilith needn't have to; Freyr steps up to that task without hesitation. "Did Storm send you?" His normally hoarse inflection is intensified with his mood. The mastiff repositions himself, away from the water, directly between his companions and the intruding wolves. "The likes of you'nt welcome here." His eyes flit to the second wolf for a moment, then alternate between the two, deciding upon which he should focus.
At one side of the mastiff, the Dane's mantled pelt is spining itself all over the place, the long column of her neck low and ears pinned forward. She will let Freyr do the talking with words. Her body language can speak for her all it cares to. Against the black mask, her silver orbs are wide and a little mad-looking. Insane. Not upset.
Alsoomse follows after Freyr, hackles staying rasied and tail lashing in the air as she goes. Once near the wolves she rests at Freyr's side, head lifting and gaze narrowed. She'll let Freyr do the talking, his the chief after all. Would that wolf actually send her pack do deal with them? As if she care, there all worthless, any wolf is to her.
Storm? Lilith files the name away, since it's obviously of some importance - how else could he or she send other wolves to meet someone? Rather than reply to his question with one of her own, she first offers a statement in reply to his un-welcome: "You don't seem like typical yapping farm dogs. Congratulations on trying to be more like /real/ canines," the alphaess compliments cynically, obviously referring to her own species.
The wolf beside Lilith gives a small, quick sneer at the comment, before leveling her gaze on Freyr. The wild lackey gives the mastiff's own a once-over, noting each of their outward dispositions in her own mind, just in case. Still, she doesn't say anything verbally, either.
Freyr bristles at the comparison, stepping ever closer to the breaking point. "I neither requested nor desire your approval, wolf." He initiates an advance, allow patience a fleeting chance. "Go home. I won't tell you again." If the mastiff is attempting a bluff, it's not evident in the least.
To whatever end Freyr desires of this confrontation, the Dane is, evidently, more than ready to back it up to the fullest. While teeth stay hidden behind the overhang of her cheeks, her posture is easily described as a Trip Wire. With Alsoomse on his other side, it would appear that Freyr's current team is able.
Farm dogs?.. The thought, look at them do they look like collard mutts? "That's because were not farm dogs. No collared fool could survive out here." Alsoomse follows at Freyr's side, careful not to limp in front of the wolves. "This is are land, don't need your kind wandering over it anymore." This said with a faint growl escaping her maw, fangs bare. Of course she has Freyr's back, she always had and alway will.
"This /is/ our home, dog," Lilith replies with a smug, toothy grin. She shows no signs of fear at the feral display. "Or, at least, it soon will be. Now, judging from the tone of your initial question, you don't seem to like this 'Storm'...assuming they are one of the alphas of the pack around here, then I imagine we share the sentiment." If for no other reason than they're living on land that she wants for herself - and that probably is the only reason. "So you see, it'd be much more beneficial for you to...shall we say, ally with us?" Her tail flicks once, though her paws remain steadfast. "Otherwise, you'd have yet /another/ pack around who doesn't care for your presence, and I don't believe those are very good odds in your favor." Her grin suddenly morphs into a cruel sneer, a physical threat to match her verbal one.
Silvermane allows the threats to slip off of her back, like a fish and water, although Alsoomse's strange replacement of words does earn a quick smirk. "Ours," her hoarse, poisonous voice echoes when Lilith begins to speak; it's the first and the only word she utters for the entire speech, although her head does jerk upwards again. Was that a flash of tooth? Couldn't be.
"Wrong." Freyr snaps. "This will never be *your* home." He corrects, tail lashing irately. "What could you possibly do to make up for leeching off my turf, hm?" He's loathe to trust any wolf, and he hasn't even met these before. The offer is given some thought, but that quickly leads to the many downsides of siding with any number of wolves at all. "And allies or no, I will have none of your stink spreading over my dirt and my water."
"Your folk do have a bit of a stench to 'em. Just sayin'." Sing-songy, the Dane's head switches from side to side, a grin spreading over her features. Though because of the excess skin on her cheeks.. it may as well be a fixed, soundless snarl.
Alsoomse just eyes the wolf that corrected her. "Looks like your the ones living with humans to me.." She offers with a thick growl escapes her maw. "We don't work with wolves.. And this will never be /your/ land." There might only be three members of there group here at the moment but its the three that know how to fight and kill if needs be. Meaning there not backing down to some common wolves.
"Get you /more/ turf, you stupid dog-pet," Lilith growls, her peppered ears slicking back among snowy headfur. "But that's fine if you won't accept an offer of 'friendship' - all the more land for me. And then I won't have to resort to sharing it with a bunch of fleabitten mongrels just a collar away from taking handouts from Man." Alsoomse's words catch her attention, and her eyes snap towards her as she speaks. "/Living/ with humans? One of my wolves /ate/ the Man who was in that farm up there, bitch. Your pitiful dog-pet morality would have likely prevented you from disgracing a 'Master' in such a way, I'm sure," she snarls viciously. Addressing Silvermane, the alpha turns to hop across the river, beginning to head south along its banks. "Come on. We're not wasting anymore of our time dealing with these mutts."
The Dane's comment earns a deathly glare from Silvermane, while Alsoomse's 'offer' is met with a snap of sharp teeth and a terrible growl. "Fools," comes her soft, hoarse voice, "still in denial, they nurse from the rotten, wormfed breast of Man." She inclines her head to Lilith - it's a little too smooth to be called a /nod/ - and follows after the alpha, her ears flicking behind her. Dogs. /Honestly/.
Freyr snorts dismissively. His brow quirks at the mention of eating a man, muzzle twisting in a half chuckle. Takes a special kind to tolerate /that/ flavor. He says nothing more to their retreating tails, although his eyes do follow, taking in every detail of the wolves' appearance. These are two he won't soon forget. "Think I know why the birds went off." He remarks derisively, turning to regard either of his companions.
"Always have to meddle, don't they." The Dane observes, her nose turned up in a mock haughty gesture. Once the wolves are well out of site, she puffs herself up and prances around, lifting each leg high. "Look at me, I'm a wolf, I don't share and I smell like moose-berries that've baked in the sun. NYAH!" Rolling her eyes, Ender sits down, watching the space the wolves departed in.
"No.. But that man had been dead for weeks, just shows what common scum like you are to eat a human that stank up the whole area, bit*h." Alsoomse offers with a rather calm down while she just grins, fangs seen of course. She has never took handouts from anyone, and killed for her food every time she was tossed in a ring and then out here. If anything the fighter might be more animal then the wolves at times. Though she is amused by this, thinking there get more turf one way or another.. Storm's pack might take these guys out, or they might just kill one another and then there wouldn't be any wolves around to deal with. She merely watches the wolves and blinks as she hears Ender and snickers out while grinning