{Reign} *Over* ~Me~ [Open]

[Sivoncé™]

The rain was pouring down, not any harder than before, but still constant and steady. The Hollow was a mess of puddles and mudpiles, a dangerous zone for any creature. The space seemed dormant, all forms of life were away, hiding in their dens from the waterfall from the clouds.
A deer darted by, startled and galloping for its life...
The femme ran on, paws splashing up a runway of muddy water, but she ignored its splashing onto her pelt. Instead, her paws flew onward, determined not to lose pace with her goal. She sped up again, like a blur among the rain-stained surroundings. She took a great leap, landing squarely on the back of the deer, fangs immediately snapping shut on the back of the neck.
It went limp easy, and the femme jumped neatly from its back before it tumbled. Luckily, it was a young doe she'd slain, and she'd be able to carry the prey back to her den alone. However, a rustling in the brush set her auds perking. "Hello?" Annanti called, moving in front of her prey. "Who's there?"

[Destiny]

Rustle Snap Rustle Rustle Crack
Certainly the creature that was hiding in the brush wasn't trying to hide the fact that it was there. Ironic, you might say. "Just a beaten old brute." The figure that emerged certainly did not look old. Lupus Proeliator age, though definitely very experienced. The fur around his muzzle and on his auds had begun to grey, but that was much more from stress and utter frustration and confusion then age. The rest of the creature's canvas was painted a deep ebony, or ashen, shade. Hues of the grey that was attacking his muzzle here and there. The optics of his were an extremely light icy aqua shade, speckles of bright emerald and traces of an amethyst like color here and there.

[Sivoncé™]

Annanti studied the wizened wolf cautiously, but not with hostility. Her pelt, the dark of her grandfather's with Liv's grey and red, was thick and glossy, still young and full of life. She felt odd, standing near a senior wolf. She dipped her head respectively. When it was only Guerrier and herself, she didn't often think about other wolves, or the rest of the world. She hadn't any worries lately, besides Black Fury's rouges coming about now and then. However, she and Guerrier had easily dealt with any who thought they'd be simply captures. How wrong they were!
"And what might I call you?" She asked, careful to keep her tone respectful. Her legacy and experiances had taught her enough in her young life that a decent wolf who lived to an elder age was a rarity. And so she deeply admired this wolf.

[Sheera]

The brute felt light on his paws as he pranced happily towards his mate, a full-grown deer in his jaws.
As he saw the other brute, he dropped his kill and walked towards the two wolves. He sat next to his mate and sat, watching the other wolf carefully, but, as his mate, not with hostility.
"Pleasant Greetings," he said in an even tone. He, too, had mostly forgotten the rest of the world when he spent his time with Annanti.
He had heard his mate ask the calling question and now waited patiently for an answer.

[Destiny]

There was the slightest smile upon his maw,y he respectful way the fae addressed him was not usual for he. Maw parted, revealing sharp, slightly yellowed with age and such, fangs. A reply would have been given immediately, but he paused to notice the other wolf, a brute. Perhaps her mate. A nod of his crown was given in greeting. "I'm called Nezero. And there's no need to show me any respect, I don't expect that anymore. Nor do I want it." There was a sad melancholy in his melody.
Oh my dear...
I love you more then life itself...
I've saved you time and time again
I trained you as my neophyte, even though were both rogues
I've watched and guarded you since the day we met
And even when I thought you would go back to him, I was kind as I could be
And I still love you
Oh, Moon my blind beauty, how I love you so.

[Sivoncé™]

Annanti studied the wolf curiously, perplexed at his words. He seemed gentle enough...was it truly possible he'd been horrid in the past? Perhaps it had humbled him? She didn't want to pry, but her inquisitive spirit was far too controlling. She meditated quickly, but thoroughly on a way to ask politely. Smiling kindly, she spoke again, "But my dear wolf, you've seen much more than my own eyes, walked farther than my own paws, and felt more than my heart has yet to grasp. There is true honor in that, for through this you have learned more than I, surely so?"

[Destiny]

The slightest twitch of his wolfish lips could be seen. If smiles were all that common a crooked grin would have appeared around now. There was the slightest dip of his crown. The sorrowed, haunted look glimmering in the deepest depths of his pools. "Yes, my dear, perhaps this old wolf has seen more and felt more. Perhaps he knows more too. But love has blinded him to the core of his very being, and sorrow has destroyed any happiness that might have existed. This wolf who was once a great hunter, so great he could mock fight his blind neophyte and sometimes she wouldn't be able to detect him. Now, now he doesn't have the will nor the care to be careful. Not the reason to care that death lurks for him at each corner. Because that wolf who he wishes for his lover has disappeared from his sight and he can't find her. And it's tearing him up inside."

[Sivoncé™]

Annanti still stood, her gaze flickering over him with a rather shocking intensity. He tone was rather flat and emotionless when she spoke again, "What is greatness truly, then?" She inquired, not really asking, more musing than anything. She was pacing a bit; slowly, her paws drew her in a circle around the hollow. "Greatness is, I suppose, the vanquishing of tyrants. The saving of a lover. Taking leadership through blazing days of prosperity. The swiftness of your pawsteps! The speed at which you slay your hunt! Or is it merely happiness?" Her eyes gave nothing away, but her voice turned to ice. "No. I'll tell you what greatness is, Nezero, and you can listen close. I am young and I am free, but even most loners have never done what I have done, never seen what I have seen, and never felt what I have felt. Greatness is nothing heroic. Heroics are just that;; greatness is a different breed all together. When you get so much...shit thrown at you from all directions, when the grim reaper knocks at your door and waits for you in hell, turning back to face your past, doing something heroic because you know it must be you who does it, not because you were prophecsized or promised something...but because your very core was blessed with life for the very purpose. A great wolf will do something heroic when they are the only one who feels the way they feel, sees what they see, and knows, even if they hate it, what has to be done. So yes, you were great once. Great in happiness, then. But now, you are correct. I see none. When love disappears, you fight on. When everything is wrong, you fight. If you're one to give up, then leave." She was heaving now, a single tear rolling down her face. "Because I have seen too much, though I am young. And there is nothing more I detest than those who claimed they were once something when they don't even have the strength to carry on for someone they loved. Something like seeing your brother kill the rest of your family. Something like training and waiting. Waiting because that's what's right. And then something like taking back the lives he stole. I do it for them. It's something like having the courage to go on even though your own mother wanted you dead. It's something like waiting all of these years and then finding out who you are in someone else. And something like fighting it off even though I still have nightmares. I do it for him. I do it for them. So tell me, Nezero, if this love was as deep as you say, why can you not carry on for her?"

[Destiny]

The brute stood, still and dark and un-moving like a total statue. Not breathing, just listening. Optics closed. She was the most intelligent wolf he'd ever met that was as young as she seemed to be. Truly, he felt honoured to be in her presence at the moment. To see a wolf who was great, because she was and he had known it the moment he walked in. As she finished the brute remained completely still and silent. In fact, he almost looked dead. "I can do it. For her. For Moon." When his optics were seen again the flashed with determination. Glittered with ferocity. Shimmered with intelligence. Glimmered with hatred. Shone with love and adoration. They showed a million different things but there were two things that no longer lived in them. The sorrow was gone, completely gone. And the look of a haunted creature had dissapeared. Though his figure did not look as good as it could have he stood his full height, auds perked, tassel high in the air. He looked wise, and powerful in that stance. "Moon." His optics turned upon the sky and he gazed upon it in all its splendor.

[Sivoncé™]

Annanti dipped her head, a respectful gesture. She was currently at a loss for words since she'd spilled out so many before. After a rather awkward silence. Annanti looked from Guerrier to Nezero. "You two up for a hunt?" She offered, wanting to lighten the mood. She was kinda hungry, too. XP

[Destiny]

The brute nodded his crown vigourously. "I haven't eaten for nights, I'm starved!" His tone was humourous but it was true. A crooked grin, his trademark grin, appeared on his maw. It made him seem all the more handsome. The way he stood, crown and tassel held high, chest naturally puffed out, auds perked and a crooked grin on his maw made him seem a lot younger then he was.