shy away, shy away phantom
#1
[html]


'cause all i ever had,

cakeThe sky was wet. It seemed less like rain than it did a sea that had risen from its bed to float, as if gravity had been cut off. It simply hovered, to spite him. Work was difficult enough as it was without his glasses; the black wolf struggled to see through the mist, blinking rapidly, vainly, to clear his eyes. The splint wasn't straight, but it would have to do. With a final tug on the strap holding it to his broken leg, Bane leaned heavily back against the tree he sat under. The broken bone would heal soon enough, if he didn't push himself. As for the wounds, he simply hoped they wouldn't get infected.

cakeSlowly, he drew in a deep, steadying breath and surveyed his surroundings. Wet trees, wet ground, and everything smelled of water. Saltwater and rain. It washed the blood out of his cutoff jeans. Bane was sufficiently exhausted, having travelled to the edge of these woods from the mountains, bleeding enough to leave an easy scent trail. He could barely see anything two feet in front of him with this fog. It was cold, raining, almost winter, and his weapons and most of his supplies were currently sitting at the bottom of a cliff, along with his glasses, which he was certain were shattered from the fall. Hardly an ideal situation.
cakeFishing through the small bag beside him, the blue-eyed wolf dug out a small container, which was filled with white pills. He took two, and returned the rest to the bag. Soon he would be able to relax.




[/html]
#2
DaVinci had kept to the packlands for the most part since his mother had given birth, having new siblings that shared the same mixed heritage as he did was strange and yet exciting just the same. His children didn't seem to share their father's interest in gawking at tiny squaking and squeaking puffballs but that was ok, they would in time, atleast he wanted to think that.

The silvery blue hybrid had been stalking the dampwoods, he'd been hunting and had only wounded the deer but he'd been following the blood trail across the lands and knew he must have been coming up on the resting place of the pack's next meal. His head dropped down to the ground as the thoughts of tiny pups and a certain girl flooded his mind. He had been paying so much attention to the daydream that he hadn't even realized he'd started following a crossed bloodtrail somewhere along the line. His paws padded softly along the path as his mind continued on with it's ever after story.

Suddenly he stopped in his tracks, the scent of wolf all over the place as he growled. His mood was going downhill as he believed that his tracking was going to end in finding out that another had finished off the end of his hunt. The male paused and nosed the bloodtrail again, realizing his fault and groaning. He wasn't in the mood for this today at all. The pack needed fed and he didn't have the time to go hauling ass all across the woods to fix his mistake. Sighing to himself he just shook his head, this was just perfect.

Dropping to his haunches the male realized that the fog was closing in and there was no real way he would have been able to find the deer anyways.. no one really had to find out he'd been daydreaming about a girl and had lost dinner. He lifted his nose to the air as he realized that the bloodtrail he'd been following was fresh, he grumbled and pulled himself up, intent on finding just who he was following.

Padding through the mists he could hear a strange rattling sound very close. Pausing for a moment the male called out. "Hello?" He really felt like he was fishing in the dark here with the wall of swirling fog.. so much like home in Clouded Tears had been.
#3
[html]


'cause all i ever had,
cakeBane smelled him coming, even through the thick rain. Would've seen him too, if not for the fog. It wasn't like he was blind, Mother Nature just hated him. More out of reflex than anything, his left hand slithered through the folds of cloth in his bag to wrap around the butterfly knife he carried. The cold steel was comforting and he smiled thinly in the general direction of the strange smell, ears perked as the unfamiliar voice cut through the fog. It wasn't that he expected the worst. The stranger didn't sound hostile, but Bane had learned his lessons, largely the hard way. This one here, this was a pack wolf. You could smell it like fresh meat, or the plague. Bane's was a loner's scent, mingled with the bitter, choking smell of ash and charcoal. It was obvious where he had come from. He had wandered far to get there, the hard road lining his pawpads with callouses. The black wolf knew he hadn't failed yet.

cakeThere had to be someone left alive.

cake"Hey there," Bane called back, smoothly, belying nothing further of his injuries that the heavy scent of his blood wouldn't have given away. He felt drained, and the taste of chalk coated his throat. He regarded both these things with his atypical indifference. "Lookin' for something?" While awaiting a response, he stretched his senses out to scour the area. Faint smell of wolves and deer, blood that may have been fresh, blood that may not have been his. Nothing dangerous. His fingers loosened a little on his balisong.




[/html]
#4
ooc-Cake?

Davinci heard a voice calling back through the mists, like a phantom in the fog. He frowned, the scent of the other finally overcoming his annoyance at losing the deer as he moved closer to where the other had lain. He paused a few yards away, the shadowy form of the other enough for him at the moment. He could smell the acidic scent of ash and soot from the male like a bad cologne as he cleared his throat. "Long lost what I was tracking..." He said sheepishly. He had no clue who the male was but it was more than apparent now that he'd come from the other side of the mountain.. and mostly only those who'd once resided there had went on searching past the range.

"You looking for something?" he called in echo as he realized that the mist that had clung so tightly to the lands seemed to be clearing slighty, or his eyes were adjusting. Whatever the reason DaVinci took another step closer as he gave a name to his strangly hued face. "DaVinci Nasphrite.. of Phoenix Valley." He took a wild guess as he added. "Formally from Clouded Tears.." If he was right then it would open their conversation further, if wrong.. the guy would probably think he was just a little strange.
#5
[html]
cakeI like cake. Smile Is DaVinci shifted or not?

'cause all i ever had,
cakeFrom the fog came a silver male, and with his appearance Bane drew his focus back into himself, allowing the instinct to fade. He sensed no danger, and he tasted nothing threatening in the air. This stranger was a hybrid, and Bane noted again that he carried that poignant pack scent. It reeked of confinement, of inflexibility, the return payment for loyalty. It was strange to Bane to see a halfling with no open wounds. Strange to see one living.

cakeLazily, as the halfling spoke, Bane drew his hand back from his bag, breathing deeply in the wet air. He looked like an easy target for anyone, broken leg in a splint, claw marks down his side, fresh blood in the air that was obviously his. Soon the pills would be working in his blood, and he was tired, worn from the fight. Looks were deceiving; Bane had killed men in worse condition than this.

cake"If I were, it would be long gone by now," Bane replied. The thin smile had faded to nothing. His expression was neutral. He was starting to feel that wonderful fire. In the meantime, he listened, keeping it short. "Bane. What happened to it?" It was obvious what he was alluding to. Even if DaVinci hadn't mentioned the old pack, the acrid smell of ash clinging to the black wolf, mixing with the blood and adrenaline, would have given it up.
[/html]
#6
-ooc- Sorry, my son is really really sick.. *sighs*

He smirked at the answer the male had given him, atleast he seemed to have some bit of humor.. or atleast some sarcastic draw. DaVinci sat back and took in the whole sight before him as he raised a brow and murmured. "who'd you piss off?" He wasn't for certain if the male had pissed anyone off or if he was just extremely clumsy or unlucky but he wasn't in the best of shape, but that didn't put DaVinci at ease, he knew a man faught like the hounds of hell when they thought it was their last ride.

When the other offered his name it didn't set any sparks flying in his mind, though they looked like they could have come from the same years litters. DaVinci shrugged a should as he turned his face to gaze back through the mists towards the mountain. "Not for certain, last spring a fire ripped through the lands.. most of who's left made it to this side of the mountain.." but not everyone, he thought. Knowing his family had lost those they loved and that there were still many unaccounted for. "You lived there, or just passing through?" he asked as he crouched down next to the tree beside him, using his shoulder to balance himself as he tried to place the other, but like always when it came to that life he came up short. He'd been a bit of a bastard growing up and hadn't really attempted to collect names or remember faces of those he'd pestered.
#7
[html]
cake

i'm just a boat on the ocean
cakeA very faint smile broke his blank gaze as the halfling asked him a key question. "A cougar, actually," was his brief answer, mind flickering through the images of the night before when he'd thrashed to grab his shortsword and the big cat had snapped his leg in its jaw. He had thrown his head back and roared, knuckles white under his dark fur. The sound would have been heard from the mountains to the ocean if that booming thunder hadn't shattered the sky. But he had survived to live another day, whereas the cat had long ago seen its last winter. Survival of the fittest. Or in Bane's case, perhaps the most driven.

cakeAlready the doctor could feel the drug working in his veins.

cakeAs DaVinci explained, Bane nodded. The fire hadn't been healed from the lands yet. The extent of the damage there would take Mother Nature years to recover. All this planet had was time. DaVinci crouched next to him, and Bane pulled his hand from his bag, allowing his weapon to sit inside, hidden. This halfling had been here for some time and had no reason for violence, despite Bane's weakened and exhausted state. No fear. The paranoia followed him sometimes, both when he were high and when he were sober, but the fact remained he was wanted dead. His would-be assassins were likely an ocean away.

cakeThe halfling asked an interesting question and Bane eyed him studiously. "I did live there. I was born on the coast to an alpha and a madman. But it's been almost two years now." Bane's parents were both enigmas to him. Of his mother, he knew what he had been told by his father. Of his father, he knew what he had seen for the first five months he had lived. But life had happened quickly, and the memories were fleeting now.


[/html]
#8
DaVinci had yet to run into a cougar in his time in these lands but that was a good thing he imagined. He'd seen enough of some of the other wildlife that could and would fight back to know that though they possessed skills that the others didn't have they were still struggling to keep the top position on the food chain. He raised a brow at the thought of fighting such a fierce enemy and said softly. "You're lucky then, I've heard those cats can be like hellhounds.." DaVinci hoped that he would remain lucky enough not to have to face such an enemy but you never knew until your time came.

He couldn't help it but laugh though as the male had taken to explaining who he was. "A Madman?"[b/] he asked with doubt. He could believe it, as many strange folk that had sprung from the lands but after shaking his head be put the thought from his mind and focused on the rest of it all. [b]"Well, if you lived on the coast.. by what I can tell since you don't seem to have a spot of coyote in you.. you must have been from Syemv." DaVinci's ears flicked back as a frown appeared on his maw. There had been another from Syemv that he could remember growing up, a girl he'd played with often and yet so quickly she'd disappeared without a trace. "Did you have a sister?" he asked quietly, the memories of a strange childhood trying to cloud his mind as he tried to stay in the present.

His silvery orbs flickered to the male as he asked, "You will be fine right, I'm not going to have to drag your ass back home and let them tend to you am I?" His eyes twinkled slightly, he wouldn't mind if he had to, but he knew that most liked to keep their dignity and pride ran strong when it came to being toted like a pup when you were well beyond your childhood years. He stretched out as his eyes never left the male, wanting an honest answer to the question. He might be a stranger but he wasn't going to leave the dark hued male here to rot if he needed help.
#9
[html]
cake

i'm just a boat on the ocean
cakeSyemv, the place Bane's father had never belonged and the place Bane would never return to. He felt no sorrow for it being gone now; his indifference was a treasure, and he found if comforting, existing in a state of near total apathy. Long ago the man had accepted he would likely never see his mother again. He was curious, just curious, and his curiosity was just an excuse. His path was clear, although where it would lead him wasn't yet.

cakeBane doubted anyone, even those who had knew him, knew how truly insane his father had been. The episodes brought him away from this place and the guilt brought him back; he was likely wandering in a confused daze now, if he weren't dead. Bane felt nothing for the old man either. It was unfortunate, but life was a bitch. He wondered if he had made it back to Syemv before the lands had burned. "Quite the deduction, Watson," Bane replied absently to the halfling's musings. There was no sarcasm in his voice. He was a wolf, and where he had come from, his kind had kept halflings as slaves. "A sister, yes. And a brother. Willow and Ire. I never knew them. Did you?" As the conversation progressed, Bane was getting the impression this halfling knew something of his family.

cakeHe chuckled at DaVinci's mention of home. Quite the friendly fellow this man was. "I'll be fine, Mr Nasphrite of Phoenix Valley... conveniently, I'm a doctor, and I currently have no home. But I do appreciate your concern. Thank you."


[/html]
#10
DaVinci couldn't help but smirk at the words that the male said. He titled his head to the side with one brow quirked as he watched the other with a slight show of amusement on his face. There were few that the boy had ever really been quite relaxed about and he figured that maybe if he'd ever took the chance to perhaps this strange fellow might be one of those small numbers. He stretched his arms high above his head as he shook off the weariness that was growing with the sleepy fog that seemed to want to blanket the boys. Here it was with the approaching winter and yet it seemed almost spring like... but he knew all too soon the weather would come to pass into something dreadful, it always did.

DaVinci's eyes seemed to settle off on some distant view as the ebony furred fellow asked on, speaking of his sibling and wondering if DaVinci had ever held knowledge of them. The silvery blue boy's voice was distant as he admitted the truth. "I knew Willow once.. she was as innocent and filled with life as I was cruel and hateful at that age." a bitter smile played across his lips as he thought of how wrong it was that the innocence had been taken from them while the devil's child had been left to reign. He really didn't want to touch on the subject of Willow, he'd been a puppy and amazed at how easily the soft giggle of the girl had him hypnotized in the blink of an eye.. he had no clue at that age what the strange new emotion that he'd found had been.. now he did of course but he couldn't bring her back.

His eyes turned to gaze at Bane as he seemed to politely decline the hybrid's banter and complain. A slight grin spread across his maw as he admitted. "That's good, I didn't want to carry you anyways." Wasn't he just the nicest soul in the world. He probably would have had better luck knocking the fellow out and dragging him back to the packlands anyways, he doubted the male would have let his pride suffer that much to be carried about like a newly made bride.
#11
[html]
cake

i'm just a boat on the ocean
cakeThe black wolf's exhaustion was fading into nothing, his mind delving again into that wonderful obscurity. How peaceful it was here, in this void on Earth, his own personal world he could escape to when necessary. He was beginning to feel less pain; it dulled to a throb and then faded to something less than that. Bane had spent enough time in his life high that it had become his normal state. It was how he functioned best.

cakeThrough it all, he could still easily focus; it was interesting but bland to hear of his siblings and his family, because Bane had never been nostalgic. It had never happened, never would, and therefore he need not think of it. Willow was a stranger and the past was done. "Is she alive?" It was plain curiosity, nothing more. It was the bloodline he was curious about. He wanted to know if he were the last. DaVinci's bitter smile didn't escape the doctor, he simply decided to ignore it for the moment.

cakeBane raised a single eyebrow at the halfling next to him at his next statement. This fellow seemed more uncouth than the company Bane had become accustomed to keeping, before the prophecy. It wasn't a bad change. "You'd have a hard time." His own reply was tinged with a mix of sarcasm and amusement. Bane was not a small wolf; he had inherited his father's size, Salvaged Eternity's size, and it was obvious in his broad shoulders and thick arms.


[/html]
#12
-omg everyone needs to stop replying.. I swear this is like the 18th reply I've made today! Big Grin -

A yawn cracked the silence between the two as DaVinci titled his head back and let his jawls extend to show a brilliant pink tongue and deadly sharp teeth. Snapping his maw shut with a snap he grinned to the other, knowing the action was very catchy and annoying just the same. He use to bug Firefly on the long nights in the cabin of the ship by doing just that until she would attempt to maul him with her small paws and fierce tiny needle sharp teeth. He chuckled to himself for a second at the thought before sighing and closing his eyes, the brilliant inky blackness that greeted him was nice for that moment in time before a question returned him to real life.

He turned those storm hued eyes to the midnight male as he frowned and just shook his head. He was quiet a second before softly admitting. "I don't know.. your mother came looking for her, we use to hang out a lot when we were little.. but it was like she'd disappeared like a ghost." There was a sadness in his words as he let the truth of it all come to face. He could remember the troubled woman who'd come asking for Willow at the same time he'd been doing the same. So short a time and yet so much he could remember of it all. He missed his childhood friend so much and yet they were just tiny moments in time compared to the life he had now.. why did they seem so important he wasn't sure. He probably would never really know.

Gritting his teeth for a moment he cast his eyes away again before they revealed too much into his tattered soul. He'd been a horrible brat growing up and yet somehow he'd ended up half decent.. or so he thought. He could be wrong but he hoped he wasn't.

The world seemed to shift away from the serious tones as Bane continued the joking banter, DaVinci didn't have a problem with leaving the past in the past, infact he preferred it thatway. A grin was greeted towads the words as DaVinci shrugged his shoulders and said almost innocently. "No one said I was going to be gentle.." Hell, he'd have thought he'd done a damn fine job if the male was still alive by the time he'd got him to the Shaman's hut. The boy really was the devil inside, but that wasn't always the worst thing to be.
#13
[html]
cakeWanna wrap this up, if there's nothing else for them to discuss? We'll need another soon either way, I'd like Bane to meet Iskata before she dies. Smile

i'm just a boat on the ocean
cakeDisappeared; a lot of people tended to do that. Each and every soul on the vast Earth lived in their own world, a survivor of a place nobody else had ever seen. The humans had been a lot more connected, before they had killed themselves off. They hadn't been able to hide as easily. But in these times it was easy to vanish, to walk away and disappear. Even if she were alive -- which sounded unlikely -- Willow might as well have been dead. Bane had already written her off in his head, and that would be the end of it.

cakeNow, despite Bane's lack of compassion on the subject of his family -- and on many other subjects besides just that -- he didn't miss the halfling's mood shift when he spoke of Bane's sister. Bane was an attentive creature with the kind of depth that was rare enough to be different. He was understanding, though that wasn't necessarily because he understood; he had never had a chance to have childhood friends growing up. His father had always had his sights set on something bigger than his son. In that sense, DaVinci was lucky.

cake"Unfortunately, in this state, I doubt I'd be able to fight back much," Bane confessed, glancing down briefly through blurry eyes at his fresh wounds and the broken leg. It didn't hurt anymore, and the warmth was familiar and welcome. It made him feel less on edge. It made him temporarily forget that he had virtually nothing, and wouldn't until he could walk again. "In fact, I think I could use some rest to regain some of my strength, in case some future companion isn't quite as friendly as you are." The instinct was already sleeping, and Bane had a feeling he would see this Mr Nasphrite again before the winter was over.


[/html]
#14
-DaVi has such a strange sense of humor...-

DaVinci smirked at the truth the male admitted as he seemed to be fighting the sleep that wished to claim him. The silvery steele male shook his head in false disappointment as he remarked. "Well that takes all the fun out of it if you just let me get away with it." His words a teasing grumble as he stood up and stretched his long limbs. He had a horrible sense of humor but it hadn't got him killed yet. He figured that the male probably wouldn't even get the meaning of it as sleep as he seemed.

Nodding to the male as he leaned back against the tree a moment longer before he admitted. "I had better not come back here tomorrow and find some future companion having taken advantage of you while I was away." Though the male figured that Bane could take care of himself, even in the state he currently rested in.. he still made the off remarks. The sly smirk parted his lips as he bowed away from the male. He might return to the place in the morn to make certain that the male hadn't turned into dinner for another but that would wait til the morrow.

Now there was chores to return home and tend to.. as well as spend a night stuck in the past and wondering where all his tiny companions may have disappeared to over time. It would be a long night indeed for many faces had been removed from his short life already. DaVinci stepped away into the fog that he'd risen out of and moved silently through the woods to the place called Phoenix Valley.


Forum Jump: