ɸ AUDIENCE OF ONE ɸ [NIRCO]

[VELDIS]

V E L D I S

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It had been a few weeks since Veldis’ acquisition of Regnen and things seemed to be proceeding well enough. Daleia, the dhole he found shortly after claiming the land, was charming to say the least, and with her help the male had finally gotten a good grip on the territory he now owned much faster than he would have by himself. Having held the borders without challenge Veldis felt it was a good time to scope out the neighboring packs.

With Durkell unoccupied his nearest neighbor was located to the south, nestled within the bog-filled coast. According to rumors he heard while traveling the Alpha of Groavche was a massive beast, much like the wolf who previously owned Regnen. However, unlike the missing Fenrir, this brute had some interesting gossip which piqued Veldis’ slowly growing curiosity. Rumors of the male’s disdain for slavery clung to his mention, though no one seemed quite sure what his true motives were. The Regnen alpha had no passionate opinion of slavery, but the possibility of someone opposing the current regime was interesting, and he mulled the concept over as he journeyed through the spongey marshlands.

Even though Veldis had spent a few months within the lands of Ravensbruck one place he had never ventured was the boglands to the south. Water was a scarce commodity back in his homeland so marshes were almost unheard of there, and during his time as a vagrant swamps were never something he came into contact with. Needless to say, his first step onto a section of spongy peat was a startling tactile experience. It was quite unlike anything he’d stood on before, but, despite its strangeness it wasn’t unpleasant. He lingered around the springy surface, walking gingerly at first, then briskly as he resumed his search for the Goavche borders. Gradually the dry land sunk into a mire of muck and shallow water, causing Veldis to look down, wishing he could take some of the odd surface with him.

When he was told of the southwestern corner of Ravensbruck, most mentioned their immediate dislike of the area, but Veldis wasn’t exactly sure why. His long legs kept most of his upper body out of the seeping sludge and water, and although he did get himself stuck once or twice, the travel wasn’t that unpleasant. He grew up wallowing in mud pools to try and keep cool, so although this gunk was definitely much colder, in a way it was kind of comforting in a nostalgic way. Allowing his mind to wander as he walked, Veldis gradually began to wonder how far into the swamp he’d have to go before a border marker was reached. Deciding he’d probably just missed one by mistake he paused shortly to howl out a greeting, and then continued exploring. He was bound to run into someone eventually, right?

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WC: 475
TAG: Ὀδύσσεια♐ / NIRCO
NOTE: Glubglub.

[NIRCO]

N i r c o

Spring. Nirco could not think of a season he had come to detest more than the one that ushered in the rains and insects. The first heavy showers had already stormed through these lands, the moist grounds still like a sponge that greedily stored every drop despite what was already doused by the waters. Whatever couldn't soak into the mud ran off or pooled among the looming trees and sagging undergrowth. Everything was saturated. It was not as if Nirco was unused to the mud that seemed to have made a permanent home caked to his legs or the dankness to his coat. He could deal with the swamp, the dampness, the ever-looming fog that blanketed the lands and twisted through the darkness. It's what made his home so impenetrable for intruders that didn't know the lay of it all. What he hated was the noise that glided in with Spring. So many insects, so many frogs, singing away in every inch of standing water and every yard of air. Soon they would amass more than they already had and their vile songs would plague his ears for months to come.

The Groavche alpha had been lurking the borders on routine patrol, deft paws gliding over the mire as if he'd been born of this place. Even through the hum of bugs and frogs he'd heard the call drifting from some place in his territory, alarmingly well past the borders. It had lit a fire in his bones and his head and he couldn't help the immediate strike of irritation and concern. After the intruder that had somehow penetrated deep into his lands just weeks past, and the she-wolf Ramsay had found trapped in the mud after that, Nirco was growing weary. The actions of him and his Beta at Auktion Rock some time ago and his intrusion into Einheit might have been the reason for the new-found activity but an explanation for it could not ease him. He had otherwise ostracized himself and his pack from the world and he was overly concerned with protecting Chalandra and her young son from whatever monsters stalked the rest of Ravensbruck. The terrain was one reason he had claimed this place, and he trusted it to slow whomever had dared come calling, whatever their purpose. They were not welcome here.

As it was, it didn't take long to find the stranger whom had howled. His stingy scent was still easy enough to sort out of the boggy, rotting essence that permeated this place and the minute breeze was in his favor. Slowly, methodically like shadows that seemed to haunt the mists, he circled round the figure until he was between them and the their path inwards. It was only at this point did he show himself, a living barrier between this outsider and his home. His dark frame halted yards before the foreigner with his head slightly lowered, legs in a stance that suggested he was ready for any altercation and the fur along his shoulder and spine on end. He didn't hold himself with the outrageous pride of a Dominor, his tail laxed behind him. And for an outstretched moment he merely observed with silence, coasting over the unfamiliar brute with a killing gaze of blue. He was smaller than himself but larger than Ramsay, leaner than his own hulking frame but still defined. Nirco knew himself right to be cautious in the face of a stranger, even with the advantage of his home turf. He always had been.

"The border is half a mile back the way you came, trespasser. Every invasive step you have taken into my home gives me cause." He didn't look like a slave for who would dare take on someone of such a size? It was one reason Nirco himself credited to his own prolonged freedom. He also did not strike Nirco as some brash brute come to take this place, not foolish by his lonesome. He'd howled, announced himself, and lacked that bloodthirst or greed shining in the eye. There was something else lingering there but it was not something Nirco could place and the Groavche alpha couldn't pinpoint who he could have been. Certainly not from the dusted plains of Einheit and he did not fit the description of any Irrsin wolves he'd heard of. If he belonged to another territory it wasn't one Nirco had been privy to. There was a certain disconnect here in Groavche, news of the outside taking some time to reach this place. "What business do you have here? What pack are you from?" His own reaction would surely be dictated by the other's answer. Nirco had no patience for those from the East.

NOTES: Grawr | WORDS: 730 | TAG: ¿℟ᵿҝɸ VELDIS

[VELDIS]

V E L D I S

s o m e   LEGENDS  a r e   T O L D,
 s o m e   t u r n   t o   DUST   o r    t o   GOLD.

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Something stirred in the silt just out of sight, abruptly disturbing the foliage behind him. He’d felt a growing tension gnawing at the back of his mind for a while now, but up until that moment it was shrugged off as nothing more than the onslaught of new sensory stimuli finally wearing on him. Veldis slowed his pace to a standstill, auds twitching atop his furred head, searching for the source. Skating along his peripherals what appeared to be a hulking shadow ebbed to and fro, lingering and observing. Gradually the figure loomed into focus, revealing its true form.

A massive wolf stood a yard or two away, blocking the way in front of him. His broad shoulders spread out in a ready stance; black fur bristling with warning. Sparks of adrenaline splintered throughout Veldis’ muscles, not out of fear but from excitement as he eyed the husky brute across the swamp. From what he’d observed in Ravensbruck the male before him would be considered giant by most locals, but to him he was fairly average compared to what he’d fought back home. Not that he wanted to get into an actual fight with this behemoth, especially not when he clearly resided in this swamp, but it’d been so long since he’d sparred with anyone even remotely threatening that just the thought of it sent a chill down his spine. After a moment more of the two sizing each other up, the ebony brute broke the silence.

"The border is half a mile back the way you came, trespasser. Every invasive step you have taken into my home gives me cause. What business do you have here? What pack are you from?"

Veldis glanced around, as if the border was actually a tangible line drawn in the sky somewhere that he’d simply missed. The bog’s stench was so overpowering and the terrain so distracting that the Regnen male wondered how one was to accurately detect the edge of his land if one did not live here. Still, he knew he was at fault here, and nitpicking the other brute’s border security was not his goal today, not to mention he had a hunch just who this wolf was. His leaf colored eyes roamed lazily across the black pelt of the other, halting when they met with a glistening blue. Time to act official, shape up Vel. Now was not the time to be planning midnight playdates.

“Well-spoken, commanding presence, apparent physical prowess, damn. You sir are either one hell of a wolf, or a brilliant actor.” A smirk crept out from behind his charcoal maw as he took a few hesitant steps closer and began his introduction with a bow. “First let me apologize for crossing so far into your land. Never been in a swamp, and nose doesn’t seem to go well with this place, so I must have just missed the border. Hell, you’re right in front of me and if you weren’t talking I’d be convinced the muck just came to life.” He chuckled lightly, hoping that his answer would be satisfactory. After all, he was telling the truth. The brute before him smelled faintly of wolf, but mostly of overwhelming mugginess and plant matter. Tactically, from a defense perspective, it was ingenious, and Vel couldn’t help but be impressed by the concept.

“My name is Veldis, and I’m the new Regnen alpha. Old owner up and vanished, so if you were friends I didn’t kill him, just to make things clear. I came here looking for the ruler of this place. Heard some interesting... rumors about him and thought I should meet the guy. Y’know, be neighborly, and all that. Nothin’ major.” He waved a mud covered paw, flinging flecks of dirt in the process. Bringing up the whole slavery thing was on the list, but wasn’t exactly something to lead with here in Ravensbruck, and his figured his usual blunt force tactics wouldn’t work on a taboo topic. If it got brought up, so be it, but it wasn’t going to be the first question out of his mouth. “So I take it you’re the guy, considering there aren’t many giant black furred blue eyed wolves wandering around, right?”

WC: 704
TAG: Ὀδύσσεια♐ / NIRCO
NOTE: idk. If you want me to add anything tell me. Wasn't sure how to go about this. blehbleh. <3

[NIRCO]

N i r c o

This was exactly the sort of place a lost damsel or ignorant bastard didn't want to get turned around in. Everything was heavy, thick, suffocating. Insects biting, the endless hum of frogs, strange shadows that shifted at the corner of your vision and when you looked they were gone. The air was muggy, the mists a smothering blanket, the trees towering, looming like massive skeletons that blocked out the sun most days. If you weren't careful some of the mud itself would suck you into its depths and never release. You'd be imprisoned here forever, just another victim to the swamp. Nirco had encountered corpses of wolves before, old and new alike, rotting and forgotten to the world. But this wolf... this one didn't strike the Groavche alpha as another poor soul come to face an unfortunate demise. He was lucky he was facing down a wolf as admirable as the darkly colored brute. His own intentions did not reflect those of deathly swamps he ruled over. Nirco allowed him to speak and make his case, patient even in his rigid stance, time a luxury many an alpha wouldn't allow to a trespasser.

“Well-spoken, commanding presence, apparent physical prowess, damn. You sir are either one hell of a wolf, or a brilliant actor.”

The only hint that he'd even heard the words came from the slightest twitch of the muzzle. It was impossible to tell what it stemmed from, whether it be the vex of irritation or a smirk. He heeded the other's apology and though it was not palpable there was a twinge of amusement that washed over him. At the same moment a crackle of thunder rolled across the sky, threatening the entirety of Groavche with another downpour. Nirco didn't flinch, not a brute to go scurrying off to shelter at the prospect of a storm. He was filthy as it was and wouldn't be returning to the dens without the opportunity to clean himself off, less Chalandra herself kick him right back out. Coated in the very muck that drenched his home, the alpha looked very much the swamp beast mothers warned their pups about to make them behave. He didn't want to frighten Bjorn, though he was perfectly pleased to be some rumored behemoth if it kept others at bay.

Taking two towering steps forward to bring himself face to face with this Veldis, he raked his gaze across him for a sign of deception. There was none. The other was at ease, few waves of tension emanating from his similarly large frame. "And what rumors would those be?" He asked before stalking to the side to bring himself around his new acquaintance in inspection, picking him apart with a slow circle to discover what he was. Lighter in build but by no means meek, and marked in a pattern that Nirco couldn't recall seeing before. Alpha of Regnen was interesting to him. The last he'd heard anything from up north was of Stolz in some distant memory. He knew not what had befallen the land that skirted the Aldine range except what was before him now. He wondered if he were as honorable a brute as Stolz had been as he came before him again.

"I am Nirco, if that's who you were hoping for," he confirmed the puzzle the other had surely already pieced together. "But I'm not sure what you're looking for here. Not many would brave my home, not even to be neighborly." And for the better, too. Nirco was glad to be left alone by the rest of the world. His stance had laxed somewhat, but he was not someone to invite a stranger into his land on hollow words. "Your presence here could cause quite the stirring of rumors for yourself, and not good ones I'm afraid. The eastern queens have little birds everywhere, Veldis, and they'd be all too willing to tear into a wolf spotted in my lands. Were you wise to come all this way?"

NOTES: <333 | WORDS: 652 | TAG: ¿℟ᵿҝɸ VELDIS

[VELDIS]

V E L D I S

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Not much of a personality, are ya boy? Though he didn’t really know what else he expected coming from a guy who folks knew so little about strictly due to his reclusive nature. Thunder rolled across the swiftly darkening sky, distracting Veldis from his current conversation. Sure, it was unwise to take one’s eyes off the opposing party, but if the brute really wanted him dead he’d have taken the opportunity to do so while the shadows still concealed his position. No, even as the hulking male approached and circled him, Veldis could tell it was much more for the purpose of curiosity and less blatant intimidation. “Like what you see?” Audibly laughing he cast a sly wink as he, too, analyzed his companion, biting his tongue to prevent any immoral thoughts from slipping through.

Finally the male introduced himself as Nirco, confirming his suspicions that he was in fact the Groavche alpha. Truth be told, Veldis wasn’t expecting to track the male down so quickly considering how scant the information on him was, but it wasn’t as if he was disappointed by the simplicity of his location. Centrifuge was never his strong-suit in the royal court, leaving that task to his mate who was much more cunning than her suave companion, so establishing communication so easily was a relief. Still, he wasn’t out of the woods yet, especially since contact was only a small portion of fostering relations, but he had high hopes for their potential.

“The eastern queens have little birds everywhere… Were you wise to come all this way?”

Another good natured chuckle loosed upon their gathering, illustrating just how worried Veldis was of the so called ‘queens of the east’. Unlike his hulking companion, the two fems weren’t nearly as secretive, and hardly made themselves as isolated as he did. Loose lips everywhere were full of their facts for the inquisitive, and Veldis had known about the pair long before he took the land of Regnen. Still, he was not foolhardy. He knew they had great sway in Ravensbruck, and should not be taken lightly, but he was not the type to be so effortlessly intimidated. “Let them talk. You’ll find I’m not one to allow two self-righteous femms the privilege of my fear, nor allow them to tell me who I can and cannot associate myself with.” He paused, as if considering his options before continuing. “It does make me wonder just what you did to get such a terrible reputation with them, though it’s not something I’m all that concerned with, especially considering I have much more pressing matters at the moment.” He sighed and shook his head, clearly disappointed with something.

It was now Veldis had to decide whether or not to bring up the topic of slavers to the Groavche alpha. However, with how much of a problem he was having with the unruly bunch, there wasn’t really a reason to not ask his opinion. “I came here hoping to ask for your assistance in a slaver problem I’ve been having. When I first acquired Regnen there was a group of the idiots who’d decided to make a home too close to its borders. Long story short, I told them they weren’t welcome there, they had a bitch-fit and I killed two of noisiest ones. They stopped camping in that spot, but I catch their scent constantly around the edges of my territory.” He remembered when he first walked through the edge of Schreien which made its way into Regnen and had to fight his way out of a small gathering of them. Being so close to the Auction Rock evidently had its own unique problems. “The mongrels are forgetting themselves, and I don’t want to drag my pack into a battle only to have them become targets. I know you have no reason to help, but considering your …stance on these matters, I was wondering if you would care to join me in a little cautionary action to remind the degenerates where belong. “ Veldis smirked mischievously, eager to hear Nirco’s response. Should he say no, he could deal with the matter himself, but after seeing just how imposing Groavche’s leader appeared, he was eager to see his abilities in motion.

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WC: 710
TAG: Ὀδύσσεια♐ / NIRCO
NOTE: Vel stop creepin'. :I <3