• Logout
  • Beqanna

    COTY

    Assailant -- Year 226

    QOTY

    "But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura


    [open]  Make the Devil go weak in the knees - (Anyone)
    #1

    Our skin gets thicker, living out in the snow

    CREVAN

    Bitter winds flew down from Hyaline’s peaks and followed Crevan as he traveled north, out of the mountainous kingdom and along the winding River. They couldn’t bite through his flesh, since it was covered in a thick mixture of cream and tan fur layers deep, but they whistled as they made their way through Taiga’s redwoods, causing the evergreen tops to shudder and sway, even groan now and then. The eerie familiarity of those sounds was a small comfort to the wolf shifter, who padded alongside them without entering.

    He’d been whelped in those dark woods, somewhere underneath the gnarled roots of an ancient tree, and his den mother had called that land their home first - long before replacing it with other homes. He remembered the day their family left and never returned.

    The wind howled again, bending gnarled tree limbs and threatening to dump snow, so Crevan paused. He tipped a faded brown nose to the sky and smelled the rich scent of sap, musky earth, and heavy clouds. His claws dug into the rich soil fed by the river behind him and then relaxed.

    Without another thought, the large wolf lowered his head and blue-black eyes to the quiet seclusion of ancient Taiga. He wanted to enter so he did, just as quiet and mysterious as the trees themselves, like Taiga had been expecting him all along.

    What he hoped to find, he couldn’t say.



    Takin’ a lil’ trip down memory lane
    Reply
    #2

    May might have more than a touch of adventurous roaming spirit in her than originally thought. Here she is, far from the watchful gazes of family and the smoking hulk of the Tephran volcano. The girl in her sabino dress with palmate-antler decoration and sprigs of lavender blooming in her hair, is here - beneath the ancient redwoods. The land is dark and eerie but May is not afraid. 

    She has escaped the exhaustion wearing through on her mother’s face, as she endures another pregnancy. Has escaped the sometimes wet shine of worry in her father’s face for his wolf-friend Red. May couldn’t describe it - she lacked the words at the moment, but she felt a compulsion to seek out those places that are rumored to shelter wolves. She has a sneaking suspicion that she might take after her father in that regard, that a wolf and her might be friends for life.

    Maybe that is why May is weaving through the trees and the quiet, like little red riding hood. Hard not to think of such comparisons since her hair is red - well, most of her is red and sabino-patterned, and she is humming to herself in a tone no louder than a murmur so as to not disturb the birds, which she imagines are nothing short of ravens and crows, hawks and eagles. Beaks and talons, to rend and tear. Like sharp teeth and paws…

    Naturally the girl was too busy humming to herself to hear a thing; not quiet things like the soft pad of paw on forest undergrowth and what snow made it this far inside the Taiga. Too busy almost daydreaming and smiling to herself about how she’s off on a grand adventure to find wolves and the like, because little miss May was not afraid.
     

    may
    those are the voices of
    my brothers, darling;    
    I love the company of wolves        


    @[Crevan] couldn’t resist! ❤️
    Reply
    #3

    Our skin gets thicker, living out in the snow

    CREVAN

    Nothing in Taiga looks familiar anymore. The pale wolf swings his head to the left and then to the right, hoping to catch his bearings but the cold, quiet forest keeps her secrets. As a pup he could run the trails with both eyes closed. Now he can’t seem to make sense of North and South. He could be walking in a circle and never know it.

    Brushing up against one massive trunk, Crevan perches his fore paws on top of an exposed root and inhales the odor of the redwood bark. This smell was more familiar to him, with its heavy layers of musk. It took him back for a moment in time; he could picture Circinae and his brother Corvus clearly, both happy and never suspecting what the future had in store.

    If only they’d known. He thought, pulling away from the rough treeskin.

    Just then, the sound of snapping twigs and faint music interrupt his reminiscing. Crevan opened his dark eyes to the dim of the woods and hunched low to the earth, flattening his ears while peering out from behind the cover of a large, blood red root.

    At first all he could see were the antlers, bobbing in time to the step of whoever bore them, and a growl of hunger swept through his belly. As the creature passed he slunk out from his hiding place and made to follow quietly, using every shadow to his advantage. He stalked May as she hummed and carried on her way, irate that it was a young filly he’d begun to follow and not an elk or moose, but too invested now to give up the chase.

    He wasn’t interested in harming her; Crevan had given up that life when his son Shiye came into the picture. Maybe he could give her a good scare though … remind her that danger lives in their world and often preys on her kind. He’d be doing her a service, really.

    With that in mind, the giant wolf slipped out into the open. He trotted along a high embankment for a few steps and then leapt down between the trees, landing squarely in her path. A snarl was already in place for her to see, gleaming and ferocious as he lifted both eyes but, when their gaze met, Taiga suddenly disappeared from view.

    Somehow this antlered girl was not like any other he’d ever met. In the honeyed, soft glint of her amber stare there was an Alpha wolf, staring right back at Crevan with more authority and dominance than he could ever hope to resist. He stopped snarling and stood up at attention, completely focused on the cherry sabino and her every move.

    “I’m Crevan.” He managed to whisper.



    @[may] So he’s basically reacting to her Wolf Manipulation! If you want anything changed let me know Smile
    Reply
    #4

    Shadows leered and ravens cawed, and still she came on, unafraid. 
    She sang at each step, bold and bright as a lone shaft of light in the dark of the great redwood forest. “You are the moon that breaks the night…” Not once did she hear the quiet pad or the hungry growl; not above the merry thread of her song that seemed to echo off the trunks of the red trees. A red like smeared blood and exposed stringy viscera; something she hadn’t noticed. 

    Nor could she.
    She was too busy looking for wolves.
    Like him —

    Like the wolf that leapt down from amongst the trees to land right in front of her! It was stunning to behold in fur ivory blending into tan, a behemoth of a beast that surely owned this wood. May could not look away - not as it’s eyes met hers and the world became something else, something different. 

    He seemed to bow before her, not physically for he still matched her stare but there was less ferocity in him now - now that she recognized him as an alpha of his kind, just somehow softened by her presence. Then he spoke and though it was but a word, she took it to be his name. She also took it for a treasure, to gain a wolf’s name like he was a magical (and he is!) thing that doesn’t often give his name. 

    To which she uttered back, “I’m May.”
    Then she wondered, what next, for what is a girl to do with a wolf once she’s found him? Tricks are beneath him, and hunting for sport is cruel. So instead she asks, “Is this your forest?”

    may
    those are the voices of
    my brothers, darling;    
    I love the company of wolves        


    @[Crevan] sorry this took forever and it’s so short! ❤️
    Reply
    #5

    Our skin gets thicker, living out in the snow

    CREVAN

    May, like the season that brings life and ends with summer. “May…” The great wolf repeats through rows of jagged teeth, tilting his large head to peer at her sideways. A modest thing when he looks at her; not overly impressive or rare by Beqanna standards, aside from those massive horns that he assumes are more than just for looks. Still, he feels compelled to observe her cautiously and answer the mare with a neutral, respectful tone.

    “Of course it is.” The shifter lies readily, tucking his hind feet underneath him and curling his tail around his forepaws as he sat. Regardless of the truth, no one could keep him from coming or going, so he considered it as much his as anyone else’s. “Sometimes the great red forest is mine as well, or the smaller patch of woods by the River.” He feels compelled to explain, should she come looking for him in the future and not find him available.

    “But for now these are my trails and you,” The big bad wolf huffs, “Are free to walk them if you like.”

    The predator cannot match her in height like this; he looks up to her with bright curiosity and then, quite unexpectedly, the horse inside of him that usually stays quiet and out of the way surges to the forefront of his mind and takes control. He groans only once before closing his eyes and lowering his head to let the natural shape trapped inside burst free. His legs lengthen and his skin fades to the dark color of raw umber, sprouts of dark blue mane shooting up from his forehead and down his neck before a tail of the same shade bursts out between his hind legs.

    Finished, he shakes his head and blinks open the same eyes that had looked at her from below, now peering down from above. “I like the way your red coat matches these trees. Something about you is… special.” Crevan the horse admits in a rolling, deep bass. “Where do you come from?” He wonders aloud, “And why did you come here?”



    @[may] that's ok and you know it <3 she gives him the muse
    Reply




    Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)