Tears for the Taken (open)

[Sivoncé™]

Siveria watched the world below through the gaps between the shifting clouds and atmosphere. Her visions were just that -- clouded and gray and fuzzy and unclear. Unclear like the future that was coming towards them like a hurricane on the horizon. They could see the dark lines of approaching the approaching tempest, but no one could really gauge the magnitude of the destruction until it had already hit. This was how it was in the mountain valley now, amongst the places her ancestors had called home and the wolves she called family and friends.
Many will die. But just how many is 'many'?
She knew in her soul they could do nothing to stop the evil brewing in the forest below -- they were dead wolves, not lords of fate. Even though she was considered a goddess, her powers were limited to a little bit of snow here and there, maybe a blizzard if the occasion called for it. Now was not her season, and even if it was, Siv doubted severe weather conditions would really be much of a help right now.
"I just knew we could see what might happen," she thought aloud, "and we could warn them. We might not be able to stop anything, but I wish we could at least prepare them for what is to come...."

[Destiny]

The dark shape that meandered along through the Realm was not and would not be an overtly familiar face for the Goddess of Winter. Mainly due to the very simple fact that he had been Destinian, and he had died a young warrior, though not before he gave the world a son, in battle. Since then, he had spent far too many moons negotiating the occasional peaceful meeting, at his mother's (Myst) wish with her ex-mate, Rane. Things regularly got ugly, and it bothered him more often than he would have liked that his sister did little or nothing to ease the unending tension between their parents. But she was, of course, a fallen Alpha; what more did he expect? She, the namesake of her pack, worrying about trivial things like family relations? Then again, he supposed she had enough to deal with, what with, er, her 'pups', and all that.

It had come time to take a break from being a loyal and considerate family member, and what better way to do that than leave and go very far away? So far, in fact, that his dark eyes fell upon a figure he knew much about, but had never properly met. For a moment, Nuka considered turning around and leaving her be, but the friendly portion of his brain - which was most of it - took the wheel and steered the large black shape in her general direction.

From a safe distance, he 'slowed his roll', and began to pad more slowly, allowing her time to hear the approach. After a few minutes of this, he also took into consideration that a greeting might be in order, and so - oh, but wait. Was she speaking aloud? Hrm. He paused, mid-step, to consider that thought, and then continued at his slow pace, formulating something to say, until finally - "They will prepare themselves, your Goddess-ness." Oddly enough, the silly word sounded perfectly normal on his tongue. "I have been watching, on occasion, the events of my own pack; old friends may prove crucial as they return in these dark times. And new ones, too."

[Sivoncé™]

Siveria looked up at her new companion, unsurprised by his sudden presence. It was something you got used to around here, especially after being here for a while. With so many wolves milling about, you ran into strangers all the time. At first, Siv had been hesitant to start conversations with wolves she had never met -- or some she had never even been alive with -- but curiosity had gotten the best of her after a while, and now she found herself quite at ease in the midst of so many strangers. Most of the time, she had more and common with them than she may have thought.
This wolf in particular was one that she thought she might've glimpsed before, but had never previously spoken to. He spoke the words of a wise wolf, though; it didn't take much to pick up that he had been here for a long time, too -- probably longer she had been. She dipped her head to him in a respectful greeting. Siv might be a goddess and a former alphess, but here, in death, she considered herself rather equal to everyone else.
"I wish I could share your optimism, Stranger. However, I do believe you are right. It is not prophecy wolves that will save them this time. Just the wolves brave enough to take action." She paused, taking in his appearence and committing it to memory. "I am Siveria, former alphess of Silver Mist. And yourself?" Siv rarely admitted it, but she rather disliked the new pack names. They broke away from the traditional 'Mist' endings, making her feel like an ancient.

[Destiny]

Ah, well then. Seeing as there were no protests with regards to company, he continued onwards at a more regular pace until he was within comfortable sitting distance of the stranger. Not too close, but not so far that it was unfriendly, or perhaps rude. There was a particular manner in which he walked that painted him out to be a fallen soldier; a wolf who could and should have been either the pride of his pack or a long-lived Alpha. He had made it to neither. Sometimes, life just isn't fair.

"It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Siveria. You have been here for many moons; it will never be easier to watch them struggle." The conviction in his voice was not venomous, but matter-of-fact. For several moments, he simply gazed off, perhaps mulling over how to go about an introduction. "Though no one has spoken my name in a very long time, it is Nuka. I was once a young warrior of Grey Mist, though that was many moons ago. Even before the leadership of the pack's current namesake." His gaze was settled on something far below, though what, exactly, was any wolf's guess. "And it is not optimism, my lady. It is hope." When will you come home, my son? Are you on your way yet?

[Sivoncé™]

She took him in -- his words, his name, his image -- and contemplated all of him carefully. She had been correct in her assumption that he was elder than she; it seemed to her that the younger generations of the dead had far less hope than the elder ones, and the way he conducted himself, too, distinguished him from the freshly deceased. Of course, hope was a flighty thing, and not all of the long-dead carried it, but from experience with other crises and watching the packs escape peril after peril, one could only suppose that fate would work itself out.

This time, though, Siveria knew there was something different. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Nuka of Grey Mist. I have to admit, it always pleases me to meet someone who was from the era of such packs as Grey Mist. My tongue never really adapted to the new names." She paused for a moment, gazing down on the world below with sorrowful eyes. "Yes, there is still hope, but not all will use it. Not every pack will survive this era. When they emerge into the new age, they will have lost an entire people."

[Destiny]

Light-years below, small beings moved throughout the forests. Some fighting, some hunting, some completely oblivious of the current situation. His gaze followed none of the above. Regardless, terrible things went on. He gave a light chuckle in response, taking a second to look her over. Not in an obscene way, but simply committing her to memory, taking note of the way she held herself and so on. "Ah, but which will it be? For I look upon the lands and see not four, but five, and the possibility of an emerging sixth. Though may'haps in the gang form." Where did he see such things, or hear, or think?

[Sivoncé™]

Siv had learned enough of watching the worlds below to know that different wolves tended to see different things there, especially depending on what pack they were from. Nevertheless, Nuka's conclusion surprised her slightly. Up until now, she had merely been looking at the situation as the packs being slowly picked off and absorbed into Blood Mist.
"Perhaps you are right," she pondered aloud. "But I'm not sure if the number of wolves left over from the transitions will be enough to truly constitute a pack -- maybe more like the gang you speak of. Right now, it would seem the Siverians, Sheerans, and Destinians hold strong, but look to the Yozorans. Their ranks are too small to sustain a rebellion, even if all of them choose to fight. The hope is there -- with Iver. I don't think he'll be held back, even if Lyell continues to deny him, but at best, that will buy them time to run away or go down fighting. Thus, I see four packs, and a pawful of Yozoran refugees that will eventually assimilate elsewhere in society. But what do you see, Nuka?"

[Destiny]

As the eye that sees not only close but far continued to look upon the pack-lands below, and a wise mind absorbed the slightly different outlook which she had developed regarding the current, well, 'situation'. "I suppose it is all in the perspective. Perhaps mine has been mildly flawed." He seemed to drift away from her, mentally, as if retreating to a realm where he could undergo much deep thought without speaking. Meanwhile, his eyes seemed to be searching the lands below, looking for particular wolves, noticing things he had perhaps not noticed before. There was the occasional 'hmh' and, once, a momentary widening of his eyes as something took him mildly by surprise.

Eventually, he nodded, and half-turned to her again to resume the conversation and answer her question. "I also see Iver, though there is determination there that may surpass even the desire to rescue his own pack from Bain. He will not be alone. The future holds a faint image of a gang filled with renegade Hellfirians who oppose Blood Mist, or at least Assyria, loners, rogues, runaway pack wolves. And perhaps, should he be succesful, a merge with the remaining Yozorans on the decree that neither would submit to Assyria and her vermin." He brought his head up to look her in the eye, now. Not in a challenging way, but in the way one does when they are delivering possible news that isn't set in stone by the universe, just yet. "I also see new love blossoming, from many of our returning comrades, though not in places where it would be expected. Kar may be pleasantly surprised come the next Moonless Meeting, as will others, and if all goes well, there will be fresh blood for the Siverians, Destinians, Sheerans, and perhaps even the Yozorans." The only reason he had mentioned the Siverian beta specifically, was that he knew the Goddess was of some relation or another, though what, exactly, escaped him at the moment.

[Sivoncé™]

As Nuka grew quiet, Siv took a moment of reflection for herself, taking a closer look at the lands below. She listened in silence as Nuka spoke of what he saw. Siv neither negated or accepted it as truth; these weren't so much facts that they were discussing as possibilities for what might be. That's what a lot of the living fail to understand, she thought. They think it's all planned out, that's it's all a one-way street. They don't realize that every action affects the overall outcome of just about everything.
"My son." Pride shone in her voice at the mention of Kar, now the strong beta and future leader of her pack. Her happiness for Kar was short-lived, however, as her thoughts turned to her daughter, Annelise. She had taken no opinion of her affair with the Yozoran warrior, Shade, but now she feared for her daughter and young grandchildren. If the Yozorans go, Shade might die. Perhaps she should be trying harder, then to see if there was a way for the Yozorans to escape this mess.
"Maybe you are right, and they will be more eager to fight back than I am supposing. But what Blood Mists do you think would split away from Assyria? The trouble with this is that the packs have a very hard prejudice against Blood Mist. Not to say that it is completely unwarranted, seeing as we've been at war with them for ages, but any Blood Mists seeking refuge from Assyria are not going to trust packwolves, and packwolves aren't going to trust them. Assyria has one thing right -- times are changing, and we're going to have to work together in ways we haven't before. I don't justify her actions -- we all know them to be faulted with lust for power and vengeance. But there is prejudice in the forest, and I have a fear that nothing will be strong enough to break it."

[mudmudmud]

"Oh, Siv..." A light chuckle came from an area not too far away. A pair of shimmering, icy eyes appeared from the darkness, a brilliant crescent shining just above them. This countenance was followed by a dark figure, neither too small or too bulky, calmly stepping toward the two conversing wolves. "You always were the ultimatum type. It has always been one way or the other with you, never a happy medium. This time, however, I fear your nature might not be too extreme."

Taking a seat beside her old friend, Yozora looked down upon the packs with a sorrowful, yet desperately optimistic, gaze. It seemed as if the days before their great journey were a million years behind them, the virtues they once held close to their hearts smashed beneath bloody paws. Her pack was once great, dominant, and defiant, not to mention stealthy and somewhat wicked. Before the Blood Mist wolves returned it even seemed as if they were feared. The dark ghost of an alphess spoke again, thinking aloud. "With few members and little courage, it seems as if my pack is falling, my friends. The days of Black Mist have long been over, but these pitiful Yozorans make bile rise in my throat."

It was strange how possessive she seemed over the pack she once ruled. Her teeth ground together at the sight of them, quaking under Assyria's gaze. The pack she once led would have torn the wolf to pieces. "I am disgraced to call them my own..."

[Sivoncé™]

Though it certainly wasn't a compliment, and perhaps if the phrase had come from any other wolf, it would've engaged it temper, a wide grin emerged on Siveria's face. "It's been a long time, Yozora. I'm surprised you don't stink like shadows, with the way you keep yourself hidden," she chuckled. That was the lucky thing about being a dead wolf. You could hide from the realities of life a lot easier than if you were alive. She could turn away from the images of those below right here and right now, and reminisce about old times with and old friends. Siv, however, had found she was never very good at that. She was too much like Yozora had said she was.
Her features suddenly wrinkled with discomfort. "Why did they pick those names, anyway? I mean, besides myself and Destiny, does anybody have kids down there? None of those wolves remember us, anyway. They keep looking to the past for answers, looking up at the stars for someone to save them. If they had the guts to do it themselves, they wouldn't need to do that. If they believed in themselves half as much as they believe in us...and hell, it's not like we've been doing anything for them to deserve it, really."
If they believed in themselves half as much as they believed in us....
She wasn't sure where this thought process was going just yet, but she liked the new direction her mind was taking.
"Maybe there's still hope, Yozora," she brushed her tail over her friend's back in a comforting gesture. "You know, they might look weak now, but everyone has an hour where they are a coward. Everyone had a time when they're too weak to carry on and need someone to pick them up. And those same wolves who buckled with weakness are the ones who will surprise you with strength when you least expect it."
Wasn't that her own story? She wondered if anyone ever realized she'd gone to Verlust to negotiate a possible truce before driving her off a cliff, or if that second part negated whatever had happened before.

[Destiny]

Nuka sat silent for as long as the two deceased alphas spoke. It seemed as if his silence had never ended in the first place, as if his words had not been words at all, but whispers from the wind, sounds created by the air, never having left his vocal chords at all. He was the essence of 'Wolf'. Not the simple wolf that exists as a species, but of the true Wolf, the predator that existed at the very beginning, before they were truly the beasts that the species is today. That is not to say that he was anything more than a simple creature, a lurking spirit, for that was the sum of his existence. Instead, it is simply the only reasonable manner of expressing the 'air' about Nuka. If a wolf could be created from interwoven strands of instinct and loyalty, the strength of the fighter and the nurturing nature of the father, then that was what he was. Nothing more, and nothing less.

He seemed to stand. Or perhaps he never moved at all, but there was a rustling movement about his body that didn't look right for one who was sitting, and he turned heavy eyes to Siveria, to Yozora, once again. For he had recognized the mark upon her forehead, and thus knew the name, the previous position, but little more. Just enough. "There are strange ties being made beneath us. The sands of time are being muddled, but not all is yet lost. There are many ways to skin a wolf." These sentences didn't fit together, yet they did, in an odd disconnected sort of manner, like words that would normally never encounter each other but were perfectly normal on hit tongue. "We will see strength in the hearts of those no one would have ever expected it." His gaze turned to the lands below, zoning in on the Mountains. "And some will show changes of heart so great, not even their own kin could ever have prayed for it." He seemed to be moving away from them, but at the same time had gone very few paw steps. It was simply a feeling one got when around Nuka from time to time, as if he was there, but not in spirit. Perhaps his heart was with his sister.