Call it aftermath; Levi

[Longclaw]

LONGCLAW

-I close my eyes, ignore the smoke-

Longclaw can’t be sure where his jurisdiction begins or ends, but as far as he’s aware there’s Warrick to guide them, to lead and wear Tephra’s mantle - and then there’s him.

It’s lonely at the top.

This makes him laugh, (and why shouldn’t he? The shifter’s life has been going swimmingly as of late) mostly due to the irony of it all but he stifles the reaction with a wistful sigh and switches gears internally. There was purpose to his actions today. When normally his rounds would be devil-may-care, this time he peers with a sweeping gaze in hopes of finding a semi-familiar pattern. White splashed haphazardly over bay, one eerie red eye, and a constantly determined yet sour personality should do the trick.

He needed @[Levi], the previous heir, and his reasons are his own. The two had last met on brittle ground at the challenge arena and Longclaw had learned quick respect for the youth; he’d whooped his blue ass on the field and Claw had yet to thank him for the dose of harsh reality. But time had slipped between them and driven the two apart, only to bring one back around in the current moment.

Odd. He’d searched high and low for Offspring’s son and come up short, which was what had led him finally to this place - the back and often ignored side of Tephra’s volcano. Why anyone would come out this far is beyond him but he won’t judge. Claw keeps to himself on a singular island and hordes his own secrets there too. For a moment the Commander pauses, nostrils flaring to whuff the acrid stench that was Tephran’s ‘breeze’, but all he can sense is the thick smell of smoke and fire. The usual.

“Hmm.” He ponders for a moment. Moves on. Decides a different method would be best, “Levi!” He shouts instead, one more time for good measure, “Levi?”

ooc:

[Levi]

Lingering Lurking Loitering

His captive may be gone, but the ex-prince has failed to abandon his quiet corner of Tephra. During the long months, in which he served as jailor, only twice had he been disturbed. He had become comfortable in the quiet, hidden on the backside of the volcano.
Too comfortable.

Lackluster Lifeless Listless

The departure of his prisoner had left the dark stallion unexpectedly empty. No matter that he had not enjoyed his duty, his purpose had been taken from him and with it the semblance of peace that purpose had given him.

Levi tells himself he's glad the bat bitch is gone.
He tells himself it had been a massive hassle to babysit the spiteful, low-born creature.

But, disconcertingly, he finds that he feels something close to disappointment when he walks past the empty cavern where she had been kept. Where he had kept her. Where he had fucked her. Where he had fed her, and she fucked him.

Laughable.

The mottled stallion walks unseeing along a well-worn path, brooding, killing time, and being of no use to anyone - especially not himself - until the sound of his own name pulls him from his thoughts. The shout has come from behind him, and although he can not quite place it, the voice is a familiar one. The anger he has been nursing overflows then, and the heavy stallion whips his weight around to face the direction of the call, sending a fireball whistling above the foliage. 

It wouldn't hurt anyone unless maybe they were a very unlucky bird shifter. But today, like most days, he just didn't care anymore. 

Levi

so scream you, out from behind the bitter ache.

[Longclaw]

LONGCLAW

-I close my eyes, ignore the smoke-

“Fucking hell,” he thinks, rocking back on his hind to watch the ball of flame rattle off. In defense his own power flickers to life, weak thing that it is, trying to spark some sort of shield but it only haphazardly creates a barrier. Patchy, weak from his battle with Lewana.

Good thing he hadn’t needed the knee-jerk reaction.

Longclaw sighs before his teeth can grind together in irritation, the familiar curve of his fangs gliding out to cover his lower lip as he fights the wolf for control. “Do it again,” he mutters under his breath, lurching ahead again to break through the initial barrier of glossy leaves, “I dare you, I double-fucking dare you.” He hisses.

Ah. There he is. That same black cloud hovering over his head, the same grim set of his features that reminded the blue warg of Offspring so much. Claw brushes aside the grasping fingers of twig and branch, ducks his head and then comes back up to bark out, “Is that any way to treat an old buddy?” Which is laughable because the two are certainly not defined as that. “Don’t drive me to gnaw on your thigh, it’s already too tempting.”

He smirks, his eyes flicker to the meaty curve of Levi’s gaskin for just a moment, and then he wipes all semblance of annoying mirth from his otherwise attractive face and asks the real question he’s been wanting to ask this entire time.

“Where’ve you been?”

@[Levi] the muse, she strikes me. Lmao

[Levi]

When it is his one-time rival who reveals himself Levi is surprised, but not disappointed. The day of their mock had taught him more than a year in the Forest had, but he had taken those lessons and simmered with them instead of acting upon them. Unlike his challenger, Longclaw was industrious. Even now the young general carries the scent of the battleground on his flashy blue hide, and Levi knows that a second match could have a very different outcome. 

Deep down, the flaming warg still intimidates him. 
But his father had taught him nothing if not how to suppress the expression of his feelings, and this instinct is nowhere close to surfacing on his features.

Cocking a brow he eyes the other stallion with cautious comradery. He was already feeling better after seeing the other stallion squirm. "Oh, really?" A pause and a breath as the side of his pale mouth begins to curl. Levi watches the other stallions gaze flit to his thigh with a hint of humor in his unflinching eyes.  "I didn't know that was what you were into."

Before his stint as Kuraughs warden Levi had been always on the move. He had patroled boarders, frequented outer islands and made a point of never spending too much time in one corner of the kingdom, so he is not surprised that the keen General had noticed his sudden disappearance.

"I've been right here," he says with honesty; he hadn't truly disappeared. "What's it to you?" 

Levi

so scream you, out from behind the bitter ache.

[Longclaw]

LONGCLAW

-I close my eyes, ignore the smoke-

Had the two any idea of how alike they were, there’s a good chance they’d be convinced they were from the same lineage. Claw laughs away the sexual innuendo and finds himself remotely impressed with the hard facade.

But it's what he sees inside Levi (what he’s beginning to see inside of himself) that invigorates him. The blue stallion had been living just to, well, live up until this point and that’d been fun enough for a while. Life, however, waits for no horse and it’s slipping by with blinding rapidity. Creating new monsters to shadow Longclaw’s thoughts. No longer does his universe revolve around his personal interests; Warrick had asked a heavy task of him and Claw can’t bear the burden alone.

“It’s everything to me, now that Warrick has entrusted Commander of the Guard to my care.” He states bluntly, one hind leg relaxing now that he’s certain Levi won’t blast him. “I immediately understood that there wasn’t an Ambassador or General to confer with, like there’d been when Warrick himself walked in these footsteps.” Claw explains, the steady weight of his emerald eyes resting upon the mottled bay’s face as he speaks.

“I’m pulling this stuff out of my ass, Levi.” He chuckles, hardly willing to believe it himself. “Maybe it’ll fool everyone for a while, but I’m not fooling myself. I need help, someone I can trust, someone who knows what they’re doing.” He emphasizes, hesitating for a only a moment after he finishes. The pause is weighted, uncomfortable almost - Claw has taken a chance on coming here, on telling him this, and that feeling will not lie still until it has an answer.

“I can see that you’ve been … busy.” The shifter finally spouts out, breaking the tension in favor of turning his curious gaze towards the sabino’s fiery mane. It suited him. “But I’d like to know if you’re still a fighter on the inside, if you still want to be one.” He shrugs, causing his shoulder to reject the action with a deep ache.

“You want in, or do you want to be left alone?”

@[Levi] I know he has control over his mane, so if you'd like me to edit that bit out or tweak it, just let me know!

[Levi]

Where his mane should be fire a low orange and red flame crackles, fed by Beqanna's magic. Cords of flame hang from his tails dock, still and steady, but never motionless as the fire turns in on itself. His broad face also remains still, in contrast with his recent outburst, as he watches his peer speak with casual confidence.  

"Warrick trusts me as far as he can throw me." Which wouldn't be far, and he can only assume the blue stallion is acting out on his own now. He wonders if Claw knows about the Hylaine attack which had heavily weighted nearly every interaction since. 

With a head full of smoke and adrenaline raging through his blood his flame had reached for a fleeing mare. They had caught her back leg, pulling her to the ground in a way very similar to the attack which had ended the two stallions mock battle, it's efficiency in that situation had been one of the reasons he had tried the same move on Longclaw. 

That mare had happened to be Tangerine, the future mother of Warrick's children.

After Warrick's coronation, Levi had considered leaving. Kings and Queens were as ever-changing as the tides around them, he wouldn't have been gone forever. But something had stopped him - several somethings with dark pelts and sparkling eyes. Offspring's son assumed there would be no place for him in the winged stallions vision of Tephra. But Claw's suggestion has peaked his curiosity, his industrious peer obviously had something up his sleeve. 

"What exactly are you asking, Claw?"

Levi

so scream you, out from behind the bitter ache.

[Longclaw]

LongClaw

-I close my eyes, Ignore the smoke-

He’s pretty much totally unaware of the Hyaline incident. It’d been a time where his focus had been set to internal affairs. The dawning hours of his curse had just set in and back then, Longclaw had only been concerned with a few things - mainly sex.

The only change since then was his level of responsibility. He lived with the curse, every irritating moment of his life, but by shutting himself away and honing his desires into a craft, he’s come to live the semblance of a figured-out life. He’s even managed to begin a family - an insurmountable feat the shifter hadn’t wanted to touch with a ten foot pole.

So back then he’d been a horny teenager. Now he was a gentleman rake and trying his best to succeed at the task of Commanding. So Levi was a detested trouble-maker. Someday he could easily be an inverted, successful variation of that picture. He was letting all of the wrong reasons stand in his way. “Friends close, enemies closer.” He bites in response to the Warrick comment.

Whatever it was that lay brooding between them, it wasn’t any business of his. If Warrick revolted against his decision in this current moment, the Overseer would be the first to let Claw know. He’d still argue in favor of the bay stallion remaining, anyways.

“Help me teach the new recruits. I want a revival of sorts, the system needs a good shake.” He explains, the outline of many thought-heavy afternoons beginning to take shape before his eyes. “What did the Amazons and the Tundra brothers do in the past? … Tattoos, was it? Yes.” He muses, lost to this thoughts for a moment with the mutterings of “... something simpler, perhaps.”

He snaps free. “I’m due a visit to Nerine, but after that I’d like to begin a formal training session. If I call one together, can I expect you to show?”

@[Levi]

[Levi]

"... branding, perhaps?"  The dark stallion suggests, and the smile which graces his lips has a hint of something wicked in it. He would never outgrow his attraction to flames, and he finds the idea of willing victims fascinating. It reminds him of the way he had allowed Karaugh to feed on his nutrient-rich blood during her imprisonment. The thought of the rolls being reversed, his flames dancing along the skin of someone who isn't afraid their heated touch, is enticing - even if it was under much less sexually charged circumstances.

Longclaw has thought this out, as he should have with the weighty title of General resting on his slim blue shoulders, and as for training recruits and shaking things up, Levi can only agree. "I'll help. Patrolling the beach and guarding prisoners is tedious after a while." He had assumed the General was up to date on the recent imprisonment of Karaugh, but he watches for any hint of surprise on Claw's face anyway.

Just as the conversation seems to be wrapping up, a passing comment catches his attention.

"Nerine, huh?" He watches the iridescent stallion with well-hidden misgiving, wondering why Warrick would send his second in command on such a journey. "What takes you there, business or pleasure?"

The coinciding details of the two stallions impending travels are uncanny. Could it be possible that Ceara had found someone else to escort her to Nerine after he had delayed their trip? The thought that his sister could be acquainted - or worse- with Longclaw sends a thread of fear snaking through his blood, and he does not mention his planned trip to that same kingdom with Ceara.  

Levi

so scream you, out from behind the bitter ache.

[Longclaw]

LongClaw

-I close my eyes, Ignore the smoke-

The afterthought of, “... branding, perhaps?’ is a sideroad in this conversation Longclaw couldn’t be happier to travel down. He smiles wickedly; the tug of a silent, impish agreement transforming his face from stoic to pure malevolence in a matter of seconds. Claw has always been one to be quick on the fly but Levi … he continues to pleasantly surprise a horse now and then. “I’ll help.” The brutish stallion agrees, and that answer is more than enough to satisfy Tephra’s blue militant. “Yes, Nerine.” He barks back in short reply. “What’s it to you?”

That devilish smirk holds for just a moment longer.

“My trophy for this shitty body art is a one-on-one with Isobell, Lady Queen of Nerine.” Claw breaks at last, dropping the faux grin for a more natural stance as he motions to his ribboned shoulder. The blood and grit had thus far hardened into a black mess of a scab - nothing very pretty to look at but still appealing to the few flies hovering around it. “So without further adieu, I need to go freshen up for a long trip.” He chuckles softly, making to twist around and head back in the direction he originally appeared from.

Odd, that Levi would want to talk about his trip to Nerine above anything else. “Not my business.” The warg thinks before turning to glance at the bay once more. “See you soon.” He predicts, and then he’s turned about to shuffle through the overgrowth and once more, out of Levi’s affairs.

@[Levi]