a fistful of anything is still a fist.

[ghaul]

GHAUL

And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire

He leaves Yadigar weeping and trembling in the Cove with his sister and the corpse they created together. There are other matters that require his attention. He lands with a heavy thud, his wings kicking up a swirl of red dust before he settles. Slowly, Ghaul turns his head and surveys his home, examining each of the outlines he has become so familiar with. There is one in particular that he requires today. Of course, he could track the figure down, but his nose is not as keen as his son’s and he prefers to reserve his energy for now.
 
Instead he lifts his chin and issues the call. Wolfbane. His tone is neither demanding or angry, but rather neutral. It is time they spoke once more, he thinks as his talons eagerly paw at the dry clay beneath him. In exchange for his head, Loess will willingly thrust itself into the fire and burn at his command. Yet, he may have something to offer Pangea still. His small ears turn this way and that as he watches his surroundings for anyone who might approach. After all, the Pangeans are a curious bunch who tend to gather when the energy is right.
 
There are clouds gathering on the horizon that his vision does not pick up. In a few hours, spring rains will bring this desert to life in a way he will never be able to appreciate. He can smell the coming storm, however. He knows the coral deer will bring their fawns to drink from the streams that develop. Would he hunt them alone or would Wolfbane remain his ally long enough to join him, he wonders?
 
He croons softly to himself in thought. Perhaps he will bring a severed leg to his brood as a treat.
 
The sound of someone approaching from behind distracts him from his ideas as he looks over his shoulder. “Wolfbane. Loess and Nerine are after your head, and I am inclined to consider their bargaining,” he admits with a smile curling at the corners of his scar tissue lips. He has always been rather upfront about his intentions, and this conversation is no exception. “But I value you. We have accepted you as a Pangean, and I do not turn easily on my people.”
 
He turns now, facing the other directly as his tail swings back and forth anxiously.
 
“The others have given me proof of their loyalty – defended our borders, raised me as a child, or stolen prisoners. Today I require your proof. Destroy something you value, so I don’t have to.”
 
And then he watches him. Ghaul would lay down his life for his family, for his kingdom, and he would be glad to do it. A sacrifice brought him into this world and it would undoubtedly be his demise. But if he is to spare blood, then another’s must be shed.

@[Wolfbane]

[Wolfbane]

I believe I'd die if I only could

I sure feel strange, but it sure feels good

When there’s time to rest, Wolfbane rests. He sleeps near the extreme edge of Pangea, close to the barren sea where no life teemed in the water. It was too saline, he’d found out. The conditions didn’t support much of anything aside from microbes or other single-celled life forms. Not until the water changed and mixed into the currents, but that wasn’t for a hundred leagues or so.

Nothing that Pangea produced was stimulating. What came from the wasteland was made from the wasteland - even its coral deer.

Yet Wolfbane, like so few others that are beginning to inhabit the eastern kingdom, thrived here. He awoke to the echo of his name, recognizing the summons as only one who’d been given the ability to do so in the past could understand, and arose from his resting place with a shake of pale dust and the stretch of his muscles.
He contemplated ignoring Ghaul’s call, since the tone had been more-or-less neutral, but pushed aside his hesitation only because Ghaul had been the one to welcome him in the first place. "A tit for a tat." Longclaw reasoned, though the other voices in his head stirred him into a mild state of irritation. He was no lapdog to be beckoned.

He was Wolfbane, and as he strode out from the shady cover of a large, overhanging boulder, his forehooves transformed into eagle’s claws: large enough to support his weight and shimmering, iridescent blue. The heat had begun to build in intensity, a sure sign of foul weather, so he molted away the long mane he usually wore and changed the stiff hair into a line of white feathers that blended nicely into his pale wings. Happy with the adjustments, the shapeshifter took to the skies in a few lopes and made his way swiftly from one end of Pangea to where Ghaul was waiting for him.

He’d only come to land and take a few reaching strides forward before Ghaul began.

Bane sighed. He listened, but soon a dull look of boredom glossed over his usually interested eyes. There was nothing new or fascinating about the idea that some place or another wanted him dead, and that Ghaul might be considering trying to appease their wishes. "Keyword: try.” Lupei cackled in his head, but no flicker of amusement colored Bane’s masked face. Ghaul would not be the first, and unless he had the means and the willpower that Loess, Nerine, and Taiga all seemed to lack, he’d find the task unfulfilled - just as they did.

“You mean like my marriage to Lepis, current queen of Loess? Or perhaps breaking the spirit of Lilliana, diplomat to Taiga? Or what about the virginity and life of the new Nerinian queen?” He tallied his offenses one-by-one, unconcerned at admitting the truth, “Or would you like it if I turned my own child against her brood, made her my own pawn? No? I could damage another, I’ve got plenty of whelps... if I hadn’t already done that as well.” His tail slapped at his gleaming hide.

“If you’re seeking action, you’re a bit late to the party. I have raped and pillaged my way across the northern territories - more than any acolyte of yours has done thus far.” The hippogriff’s voice measured a bit sharper, “Maybe you’ve found out the truth for yourself. I value nothing, aside from my own desires and the freedom to enforce them as I see fit.”

Not this Kingdom. Certainly not Ghaul’s approval. Not his wife or his children or even his sanity, no. Hadn’t he told Ghaul exactly what he’d wanted from the beginning? Why, all of a sudden, did Ghaul need further proof? Celina had told him of the now-King’s journey northward; if Ghaul refused to see the obviousness of his nature then it was his own fault for being so petulantly blind in sense, as much as he was in natural sight.

“I’ve left Pangea and her inhabitants alone. There’s your proof.” Bane replied, and the level of his statement couldn’t be mistaken. There wasn’t room for discussion. “Accept that, or lose a valuable weapon in your arsenal.”

For this thread:  Sex: M  ◉  Appearance: Hippogriff version of himself  ◉  Mood: irritated

@[ghaul]