--! At Least Someone Listens [OPEN]

[¿℟ᵿҝɸ]

[atrb=width,500,true][atrb=border,0,true][bg=000000] It was just after midday as the local Irrsin trouble maker moped around his designated area, thoroughly bored with his life at this point. He paced back and forth in his little dirt rut, half asleep, and wondering if it really was possible to die of boredom. The sun was cycling through his second day of social isolation and so far he'd been a good boy and not talked to anyone. However, as his current action proved, doing the right thing wasn't nearly as fun and rewarding as wolves said it would be. Those straight-edged folk must never have walked a crooked line like him. Poor guys. Anyone who thought wearing a hole in the dirt was entertaining must live a pretty dull life. After tripping over the same small rock for the upteenth time, Zy decided to take his wandering elsewhere. Making one last pass through his well worn oblong ditch he began stomping through the meadow greenery and into the tall grass. With his head glued to watching his feet, the male obviously wasn't planning on going anywhere specific. He just plodded along, parting the drying sprigs that coated the ground. It was like watching a two year old walk through the zoo. There might be all sorts of interesting things around, but for some odd reason, shoes moving forward was more exciting than a polar bear. Zy's slow and meaningless progress to nowhere was cut short as the idiotic male ran head first into a solid object. He kind of stood there for a second or two, trying to find the motivation to have any sort of reaction. He rubbed the top of his scalp against the textured surface a few times before glancing upwards at the striated branches. "Oh, hello there. . .", he mumbled to the thinning wood-being before him. "How's life been treatin' ya?" His new friend didn't seem to be in the mood for conversation. "I know the feeling man." Zy allowed himself to fall on his side into the fallen leaves below with a crunchy thud. "Life's hard for guys like us. Stuck in one place all the time." He rolled over onto his back to look up at his silent companion. "But then, we can't really leave can we." He gave the tree a sad smile."I mean you, you gotta keep those underground branches. . . underground, so you can stay alive. Not like you chose to grow here either, all by yourself in the middle of this field, with everyone else way off there. . ." His voice trailed off before abruptly starting again. "Turpa can be pretty heartless sometimes, can't she." Zy laughed softly at the mentioning of that goddess. His own encounters with her had been some of the few slivers of light during his darker period. In a way, he did owe his life to that fiery tempest. He knew he was just another of her charity cases, but that didn't stop her brazen words and tough-love tactics from getting him out of his pit on more than one occasion. She was one of the Divine he could tolerate negligence from, but the rest. . . didn't have his green light. He turned his head slightly toward the dens before continuing to gaze up into the overhanging canopy of one. "But, you know what I'm really jealous of?" The ashen male began wiggling around on his back in the leaf-litter. "You get all these leaves. She loves them y'know." Zy let out a puff of air to blow away a leaf that landed on his muzzle. He didn't particularly care if anyone saw him there, rolling around like a puppy, or if anyone heard him talking to his foliaged pal. It wasn't anything him and Tree couldn't fix. Those things really did make the best friends. OOC;; IDEK. 8D Open. Trying to get back on posting. Got bored. Lol.

[/blockquote]
[/color][/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

[⋆Ravɛn]

TORTUGA

[/color][/font][/right]

Tortuga couldn't exactly say that he preferred the day over the night, because if he did, he would be a liar. And while the male had told his fair share of lies - hell, who hadn't? - he found that it would prove boring and useless to waste a lie on such a trivial piece of information. If one were to ask, Tortuga would gladly inform them that he rather enjoyed the blackened skies, the blazing stars, and when it decided to show itself, the luminous moon. He adored the way it lit up his pelt, making him appear beautiful and strange and ethereal. Truly he loved to dance with the shadows, loved to pirouette and sway with them, loved to observe the way that they slid effortlessly over his ivory pelt, as oblivious to his presence as he was enthralled with theirs. He loved the odd way they contorted things, they way they mirrored objects, the way they slunk. Tortuga was, without a doubt, a child of the moon.

Perhaps that was why on this day the sun irritated him so very much, although it did not explain why he had grown so restless and agitated that he had left the side of his mate and his pups. He could say with absolute certainty that he was not growing bored of them. No, he loved his three pups more than he had ever loved anything, and nothing would have ever been able to take the place of Kasimira, who was so stunning that he would have been a fool to grow "bored". Nay, Tortuga wasn't the type to decide he had experienced his fair share of fun and then flit off to find the next group of wolves to grace with his presence. Irrsin was now and would forever be his home. But oh, his paws ached to move!

It was difficult for him to maintain his slow, steady stride, but had he gone frolicking through the meadows, he surely would have looked mad. Chuckling at the thought, the sound deep and dripping with amusement, he shook his head, pressing forward through the stalks of grass. A startled bird burst from it perch on the ground in front of him, the frantic beat of its wings tempting Tortuga to snap at it, to crush it with the weight of his jaws. But he refrained, for he was not hungry, and he saw no other reason to take the life of the feathered fiend.

"But, you know what I'm really jealous of?"

Tortuga faltered mid-step, turning his head sharply to his right. A short distance away, he spotted a large tree, and beneath it, a wolf. For a moment he squinted at the animal, his hackles raising automatically until he realized that the dark mass of fur was Zy. Instantly smoothing his fur down, Tortuga altered his direction and strode towards both tree and wolf, who seemed to be in a deep conversation with...someone.

"You get all these leaves. She loves them y'know."

The tree. Zy was conversing with the tree. Tortuga was so amused by this that once more he allowed his musical laugh to slip forth from his maw, willing the wind to carry the sound to Zy. As he drew closer, memories flashed through his head. The night Zy returned, the night that his heir were brought into the world...Kyren's punishment, stating that Zy was not to be spoken to for three days. So far, everyone had obeyed this temporary rule. But Tortuga was an Alpha, and he had never been particularly fond of the smaller, less severe rules.

"I have whispered to many things, but never before have I spoken with a tree," he said as he halted a few feet away from Zy, a half-smirk pulling at his lips. "Perhaps I should try some time. It seems as if you were having a very in depth conversation."

[/SIZE]

[¿℟ᵿҝɸ]

[atrb=width,500,true][atrb=border,0,true][bg=000000] It actually was a relatively nice day, in spite of the seventy percent chance of droning silence. It really was lagging on, today, and yesterday, as if even the passage of time had joined forces with the world to wage war against the nefarious forces of Zy. His devious plot of the hour was actually not as evil as the universe seemed to think, unless conversing with trees and making a mess of their discarded leaves was now a criminal offense. But maybe it was, at least to a certain irritating beta that rubbed the male's fur the wrong way. He was talking, though his instructions never said if talking to non-canine things was against the rules, and unless his ruddy, one-eyed, horrible excuse for a wolf-ness was around to hear his ramblings, Zy figured he was ok with talking to his new friend. The more time he spent under Tree, the more Zy started to like him, or her, calling Tree 'it' just seemed too impersonal. He didn't complain when he talked, wasn't judgmental, and seemed to be genuinely interested in their conversation. The only thing his leafy pal could improve on was his responses. It was like he was talking to a bush here. Just when Zy was wishing for Tree to grow a personality he heard a laugh flutter past his ears. He shook off his comfy leaf coat and sat up, looking at the tree with a quizzical expression. At first he thought it might actually be the tree and that his isolation had broken his fragile grip on reality, sending him into a world of delusion where he started making friends with talking inanimate objects. Before he had a chance to turn around to scan the opposing horizon he heard a familiar voice. "I have whispered to many things, but never before have I spoken with a tree, Perhaps I should try some time. It seems as if you were having a very in depth conversation." Lo and behold, as Zy turned he came across the newer of the two Alphas, Tortuga, giving him a look that had a the hinting of a smirk behind it. It seemed as if the guy had deemed himself above Kyren's useless punishment, which made sense since he was an alpha. Zy smirked right back at him, entertained by both Tortuga's words and his obvious negligence to the beta's decree. This alpha was clearly more lax than his mate, who was presumably hovering maternally over her new bundles of fluff. Zy responded in a non-nonchalant tone, acting as if conversing with a tree was completely normal. "You gotta talk to 'em or else they'll never talk back, y'know. They got some pretty interesting stories." He laughed. "And it's not like anyone else will. All of 'em are too pussy to play along and get me a real punishment. I mean, it's not even respectable." Zy rolled his eyes in an exaggerated fashion at Tortuga. Most sklavin would think twice before speaking and acting so formally to a wolf of higher rank, let alone an alpha. But this male, no, he was equally informal to everyone, just to be fair. "So you here to turn me in. . .", He paused and sauntered a few paces closer to the ivory brute. "Or did you have something else in mind?" Zy's maw was twisted into a taunting and playful smirk with his usual tone of mischievous sarcasm and he could barely resist the laughter attempting to force itself free from behind his teeth. He was completely aware of all the social boundaries he was overstepping, but was more concerned with just how the guy in front of him would react to his less-than-normal behavior. So sue him, he was testing the new alpha. Tortuga wasn't getting any special treatment just because. Everyone gets the same awkward and forever lovable Zy.

[/blockquote]
[/color][/td]
[/tr]
[/table][/center]

[⋆Ravɛn]

TORTUGA

[/color][/font][/right]

"You gotta talk to 'em or else they'll never talk back, y'know. They got some pretty interesting stories. And it's not like anyone else will. All of 'em are too pussy to play along and get me a real punishment. I mean, it's not even respectable."

Perhaps any other Alpha would have immediately snarled and bristled at the nonchalant, definitely non-respectable tone that Zy used. But Tortuga wasn't any other Alpha. No, Zy wasn't cowering and snivelling, bending before Tortuga like the very grass that they stalked through. Tortuga found, however, that he didn't mind. While Zy's tone wasn't something that suggested he worshipped Tortuga, it wasn't blatantly disrespectful, and that Tortuga could handle. So with a flick of his ears, he nodded his head just slightly. "Yes, I imagine the trees do have some interesting stories. Most of them have been alive for so long..."

Zy danced closer, testing his limits as he spoke once more. "So you here to turn me in. . Or did you have something else in mind?"

That certainly should have earned him a swift rebuttal, but instead Tortuga grinned, willing to play along. While Zy would find that the brute was certainly no pushover, he would also discover that Tortuga was not as stiff and unbending as the very tree he previously spoke to. If he cared to, of course. And by the way the Sklavin was pushing his boundaries, Tortuga assumed that he did, in fact, care to.

"Something else," he responded, mirroring Zy's taunting smile. Nothing about the action was malicious or malevolent. Instead, it was almost playful, or as close to playful as Tortuga could get. He was no pup to go frolicking and flitting around without a care in the world, but neither was he a stick in the mud. He hated how very boring some wolves could be, and when a wolf as lively as Zy was offering him a bit of fun, an oppurtunity to step gracefully out of his 'regal' shell for a few moments, of course he would take it. Realizing that he should elaborate instead of leaving his quite suggestive answer hanging in the air, he went on. "In fact, you could turn me in for speaking to you while it's not permitted. But I'm not very worried about that."

And truly he wasn't. Perhaps Zy would come to find that he didn't like Tortuga, and would run to Kasimira or Kyren. But something whispered that this was wrong, and that it wouldn't be in character for him to do such a thing. Something told Tortuga that maybe the Sklavin would appreciate a little rule bending.

"I decided I needed to get away for a little while. Just take a stroll, clear my head, all of that nonsense," he said. As he spoke, he tone was slipping from his usual arrogant, cocky timbre to something more easy-going and natural. He shook himself, glancing around quickly before looking back to Zy. "I saw you over here and decided that maybe you needed a little forbidden company."

[/SIZE]

[¿℟ᵿҝɸ]

[atrb=width,500,true][atrb=border,0,true][bg=000000] "Something else," That look Tortuga gave him could have fooled Zy into thinking he was glancing at a mirrored image of himself, only with an inverted color scheme. The pause just made it all the better to him, although it did let his mind wander to all the potential 'something elses' there were, which was never a good thing to let happen. Prone to rampant escapades to the dark depths of his carnal sin-filled imagination, this situation wasn't an exception. Now sure, Zy saw no harm in the actual thought, but when he was speaking to the canine involved, and with his head-to-mouth filter consisting of a material akin to wet newspaper, the sooner Tortuga filled the void with some form of conversation the chances of some awkward comment slipping out and initiating a facepalm worthy moment were greatly decreased. Luckily, the world didn't chose this opportunity to backhand him, and Tortuga continued talking. "In fact, you could turn me in for speaking to you while it's not permitted. But I'm not very worried about that." Zy smirked at his non-leafy companion. Tortuga was actually correct, he was violating the rule just as much as he was, but the alpha's assumption was spot on. There's no way Zy would go and tattle on the alpha for disobeying an inferior officer's pitiful punishment. It's more likely that the sklavin would get reprimanded for telling on Tortuga for talking to him, because to tell on him, he would have to talk. And what could Zy gain out of it anyway? Nothing except bad news. Deciding to avoid another bad life decision he chose not to do the honest thing yet again, which oddly enough seemed to be the smarter choice. "I decided I needed to get away for a little while. Just take a stroll, clear my head, all of that nonsense, I saw you over here and decided that maybe you needed a little forbidden company." It was understandable, since his new mate had just had pups, not to mention that he was now an alpha. It made Zy curious as to just where Kasimira picked this guy up at. He was obviously not the typical sklavin, or even one at all, but didn't give the impression of a veteran leader. He started formulating a way to get him to start talking about it in the back of his mind while he responded. "Don't worry, it'll just be our little secret." He winked at Tortuga while grinning wryly. Hopefully the guy's sense of humor didn't have an expiration date anytime soon, or else Zy could have just tread over the line a tiny bit. Changing the subject abruptly seemed to be the best course of action. "So, my new king, how fares the land?", he theatrically questioned the male. "How's it compare to wherever that Kazzi found you at?" He shuffled his paws through the leaf litter and pounced down on his short, unkempt, pile of mostly crushed leaves. "I mean, it's cool if you don't wanna answer. Just curious cause you kinda. . . just popped outta nowhere." He laughed slightly. Zy knew he was prying, but at least he gave the guy a way out of answering. That was polite, right? OOC;; BLEH. Late night. BACK TO BIO IA.

[/blockquote]
[/color][/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

[⋆Ravɛn]

TORTUGA

[/color][/font][/right]

"Don't worry, it'll just be our little secret."

Tortuga chuckled, nodding his agreement. He imagined that if one of the other pack members were to find out that he had spoken to Zy, specifically the higher ranking ones, they wouldn't be very pleased. Kyren for sure would dislike the idea of Tortuga openly opposing his ruling. But in reality, Tortuga wasn't doing it to rebel again Kyren as a Beta. He wasn't doing it to pull rank, nor was he doing it to cause chaos. When it came down to it, Tortuga almost felt bad for Zy. That, and he felt like he needed to at least attempt to spend some time getting to know the other pack members. Sure, Tortuga could have waited until Zy's punishment was over, but seeing Zy lolling around talking to a tree had shaped the Alphas decision.

"So, my new king, how fares the land? How's it compare to wherever that Kazzi found you at?"

Ah, he's curious about me, then. Tortuga silently observed, listening as Zy went on to say that he 'popped outta nowhere'. Truthfully, Tortuga sort of had. He could only imagine how the pack had seen it. One day they had a single Alpha, and the next she's disappeared momentarily, sending home a mate in her place. He could still remember the first time he stepped foot in Irrsin, the confusion he had caused between the Sklavins, and how it had amused him. Still he found the whole situation a bit funny, and if he could have, he wouldn't have changed a thing about it. Tortuga always had enjoyed shaking things up a little bit.

"I don't mind answering," he responded slowly, before lowering himself into a sitting position, ears constantly working to pick up on the sounds of an intruder approaching. As it was, there was none. He relaxed and began to speak.

"From a young age, I've been on my own. When I left, or was chased from, home as a pup, I stuck around my siblings for a while, but as I grew, I decided I'd do better by myself. So I wandered off. For a while I was your common Freior. I didn't really settle down somewhere, and I was still roaming about when Kasimira found me." He paused, smirking just slightly as he continued on. "I had managed to find my way to Kanzeln Falls. I suppose I was close enough to the Irrsin border to attract her attention. Anyways, you could say that we bonded instantly."

For a moment he was silent as he reflected on the magical night, and on the things that he and Kasimira had experienced. Then, shaking himself out of the thoughts, he shrugged. "When I first entered Irrsin, I witnessed the end of you and Kyren's little argument. After that I heard a good deal about the infamous Zy. I imagine it must have been a shock to you to come back to some strange brute strutting around the dens."

[/SIZE]

[¿℟ᵿҝɸ]

[atrb=width,500,true][atrb=border,0,true][bg=000000] "I don't mind answering," Tortuga's answer was actually surprising. Zy didn't expect the guy to just open up to some random canine he just met, let alone one that was a sklavin owned by him and his mate. He figured he would brush off the question like it was an irritating fly and move onto another topic, or even reprimand the overly curious male. The chance to learn just where this interesting male had come from was something that could keep Zy's ever flitting attention span Seeing Tortuga sit, he followed his example, though distinctly more fidgety. "From a young age, I've been on my own. When I left, or was chased from, home as a pup, I stuck around my siblings for a while, but as I grew, I decided I'd do better by myself. So I wandered off. For a while I was your common Freior. I didn't really settle down somewhere, and I was still roaming about when Kasimira found me." It was a bitter irony how similar their pasts were; so much so that it brought on a small grin in Zy. They both had difficulty fitting into pack life, though their reasons might have been slightly different. And he was a Freior, or was, but had lost his freedom by choice. The point where their stories diverged was when Zy fell into the merciless clutches of slavery. It made him wonder why Tortuga was spared, and why he was condemned by fate. A faint sensation of jealousy came over him when he thought of this unjust series of events. Why had the universe allowed the ivory male to walk? Just what made him so special? What made any of the dominors different than the rest of their own kin which they enslaved? His line of unanswerable questions was cut off by an irritating reminder. 'You chose to stay in this life.' He realized he wasn't jealous of Tortuga's freedom, rather, Zy envied his bravery. He could face up to the outside world. Zy had his chances for freedom-- more chances than he deserved-- and yet he threw them all away. It wasn't the steps that led up to escape that scared him, no, he loved the ride. It was the final leap, the finishing cut that would sever the chain of slavery, that he was unable to make. It was as if that insignificant inch forward would cause him to fall into the dark, uncertain, ocean below. He couldn't take that last step and risk the plunge. Zy could fool anyone but himself, he was a coward. Hearing his name snapped him out of his thoughts long enough to catch the rest of Tortuga's story. "I imagine it must have been a shock to you to come back to some strange brute strutting around the dens." Zy laughed at Tortuga's thought. True, he had been a bit confused, but the pups were more shocking than the 'strange brute' who was 'strutting around the dens'. Honestly, he was too distracted by everything else to really take time to be shocked about Tortuga. "I figured the pups had to come from somewhere. And I was glad it was some mysterious stranger instead of that asshat Kyren. Not even the Queen's hotness could make up for that guy's uggo."He laughed. "You two fit together sooo much better." That was Zy's way of saying he'd given Tort's and Kasimira's coupling up his seal of approval. As if his opinion really would change anything anyway. Especially when he phrased his disapproval of Kyren like it was from the musings of a disgruntled 14 year old girl. Socially inept as usual. "I guess I should be more concerned when strangers walk in, huh." He scrunched his forehead together in thought. "But what if they're cute. That's what got you in, right?" Zy tried to hold in a smirk, but was probably failing. Someone should start keeping a tally of his inappropriate remarks.

[/blockquote]
[/color][/td]
[/tr]
[/table][/center]

[⋆Ravɛn]

TORTUGA

[/color][/font][/right]

"I figured the pups had to come from somewhere. And I was glad it was some mysterious stranger instead of that asshat Kyren. Not even the Queen's hotness could make up for that guy's uggo. You two fit together sooo much better."

Tortuga laughed, shaking himself as he considered Zy's words. It seemed that Kyren truly did get on Zy's nerves, and vice versa. For a brief second, Tortuga wondered if Zy would manage to last without eventually snapping and doing something completely insane. Truly it seemed that Zy would be the first to get sick of Kyren and decide to disregard ranks just for the sake of putting the Beta in his place, but then again, Zy had a way with words that Tortuga thought might easily ruffle anyone's fur, even the Beta's.

"You two are constantly at each others throats. Verbally, at least," Tortuga observed, his voice not stern but instead almost curious. "I wonder how long it will be before one of you decides to say screw it and just go at it. And not in a good way." He smirked then, beginning to slip in his own inappropriate comments here and there. He found himself almost relaxing around Zy, which was a relief. It was nice to not have to act so...high and mighty all the time, as much as Tortuga did enjoy strutting around like he was a god. His own arrogance became exhausting, however; everyone needed a little break. "The tension between you two is heavy. I think the only thing holding the both of you back at this point is your ranks. But aside from that, I do appreciate your...approval of Kasimira and I. It's nice to know I'm not hated."

"I guess I should be more concerned when strangers walk in, huh. But what if they're cute. That's what got you in, right?"

Tortuga shiftened his weight as his grin widened, cerulean eyes glittering with amusement. It seemed that any conversation with Zy was riddled with informal comments and small, hilarious gestures. Tortuga wondered why he hadn't made it a point to speak to the Sklavin earlier, but then reminded himself that for a while, Zy had been missing and he himself had been busy with new little bundles of fur.

"I'm flattered that you think I'm attractive," Tortuga said, a familiar smirk tugging at his lips. "I suppose my looks had something to do with it. If looks are the key, however, maybe I should keep an eye on you." If Zy had been a female, it would certainly seem like Tortuga was flirting - without a doubt. Even as it was, it could have appeared so. Tortuga made no move to change this, however. He was enjoying the fact that he could finally speak freely. Which is why he was reluctant when he realized that he had to go.

"I'll admit, I've very much enjoyed speaking with you. Even if it was forbidden," he said with a grin. Then he got to his paws, shaking himself and sighing. "But unfortunately, I can't hide out here forever. I need to do a little patrolling, check on everyone else, all of that good stuff. Hopefully we'll get the oppurtunity to talk again soon."

With that, Tortuga cast one last fleeting look at Zy before he turned, his steps almost reluctant as he slid off in the same direction he had approached from.

[/SIZE]