sifting sands [Vetis]

[satyr]

An eerie chill hung over her, as it usually did. It offered little relief from the cruel desert sun; however, though like many of the wolves that she ruled over, Syndra had become used to the heat. A scorpion darted past her, but neither of them paid the other much mind, such a common sight no longer surprised the wolf. Even the cracks, a skyward cry for help from the parched earth, in the ground did not interest her, but why would they? They were cracks, insects, and irrelevant nuisances that inhabited her land. That was what was important - that they land was hers, and hers alone. Her long tail swished behind her as she moved, her gait smooth and quick enough to make it seem like she was not bothered by the scorching heat of the rocks under her paws. Of course she was, but it was another thing she had gotten used to, and learned to embrace during puphood. She shook her short furred body, stretching languidly and pausing in her walk to look out into the distance where the sandy dunes would start. She knew her territory all too well at this point, although running through it and conquering it did help one become aware of their own boundaries. How she wished she could expand her rule...

A spirit, tinted blue and tainted by decay and black smoke, wandered around her. His head drooped, his nose inches from the ground. The spirit certainly wasn't searching for anything, she had summoned it as company - though this spirit did always slouch and move with such...lazy movements. Syndra watched the dead wolf pause, slightly in front of her. The spirit looked at her expectantly. The Alpha merely looked away, easing onto her haunches, the spirit wandering around her, moving in a circle. It was bored, but Syndra couldn't genuinely say she cared much about that. The spirit only served as an extra pair of eyes until Vetis caught up with her, nothing more. If she met any opposition, it would be useless to her and, if it did not leave on its own accord, Syndra would bid it away herself and summon a beast who could actually fight alongside her. Of course, manipulating the opposition into fighting amongst themselves wast much more fun....although the opportunity to do so rarely sprang up.

She recounted the scouts she had sent out a few days prior. So far, only one had come back - the youngling had been sent on a simple and short mission, so it was no anomaly. Syndra's tail slapped against the barren earth once, the thought of the others failing to return or being captured not only inconvenienced her, but failure annoyed her greatly. The dark wolf looked forward, though knew better that Vetis would be coming from behind her. She felt no need to look for him, not with the spirit scoping out the landscape. Still, she disliked being kept waiting - especially for one so important as the Lord Protector. Syndra sighed and let her tail slowly tap against the hard ground. Eventually, a cold rush crashed over her, the spirit she had summoned had obviously seen something and ran from it, through her, before dissipating and leaving this realm. Syndra remained apathetic toward such a sensation, and let her eyes roam over the large expanse of desert in front of her. "Finally." Slowly, the Alpha turned her head to glance behind her.

[Vetis]

The sun bore itself down onto the sand parched earth, making the ground cast a haze on the horizon, easily bringing any unused to the blinding heat into seeing things that weren’t there. That was the assumption at least, there weren’t many under Syndra's command that were unadapted to the heat. A dry tongue swiped over silver tinted jowls, leaving a pale gleam of what would could have been saliva. He had to scrap for any moisture in his mouth, having taken down a few heavy gulps of water a few hours back. Across the plaster like ground, there was a figure in the distance, one that the massive bear like beast was following. Any who onlooker might fear for the smaller, more delicate looking figure who seemed to have a spirit guide trailing at her heels.

He was nearly a mile behind her, and while she was a blurry black speck in the distance that might have actually been a rock, he followed the scent she left behind in her paw steps to make sure he did not lose sight of her. He would never forgive himself if any arm befell the dark pelted vixen. It was his duty to watch over her, it had been since he first laid those slitted blue eyes on her. But onward he pushed, seeing that it appeared she had stopped moving. As he grew closer, his steps got a bit firmer, a bit quicker and his chest puffed out. The sand was practically scalding beneath the black pads. The heat was something he had grown tolerant of, but he often craved the sensation of grass beneath his raw pads. Cracked earth dug into the rough flesh of each step and his ears flicked forward, brushing against black horns before pinning back.

A deep huff came from his lips as he ducked his head forward and stretched those long legs out in a loping run, each step a low thump against the ground as he ran. When he was within yards of her, he felt his paws ache, his lungs heave. He was not made for sleek and elegant running, he was made for stationary bloodshed. When the spirit dashed off, he began to slow his barreling heave, tongue falling from his lips as he panted, eyes closing for a moment before he opened them and looked at his Alpha. When her eyes hit him, he lowered his head to peel his lips into a charming rather sadistic grin. Flashing a wink at her before he moved to wind himself around her side, placing his butt down with a dusty loud thump. “Oh come now my Empress, you know I'm not made for a run.” he rumbled with a smile, his voice was a baritone depth, and rumbled as he spoke. “What qualms your mind?” he asked, lifting one of his back paws to scratch carefully at the base of one of his neck spines.

[satyr]

Syndra watched the Lord Protector lumber over to her with a dignified yet restrained air to her, although it did not take a genius to recognize the guileful glint to her purple eyes. A small smirk came over her face as he winked at her, Vetis was a rather amorous wolf. Syndra did not mind such behavior, unless it was in excess or it got in the way of duty. She turned her head in front of her, ears straining for any subtle noise as the male sat down next to her. His husky voice clouding over anything she may have been searching for, Syndra looked at him, regarding him slowly much like one sizes up an opponent - she does this frequently. "Aye..." She adds, almost sweetly. "But you know not to keep me waiting, right?" It was a lightly masked provocation, and not one Syndra felt was particularly necessary. She knew Vetis' loyalty was genuine, and she knew she could trust him. The Alpha wouldn't have given him his title without that trust, Syndra just liked to assert herself over others now and again, though more often over people she did not like or trust. The Alpha glanced over at the horned wolf, cocking an eyebrow at him.

At the question, Syndra shook her head. There wasn't anything truly pressing, and certainly nothing out of the ordinary, going on - but that partially bothered her. It had become much too quiet as of late, and although she had opted to wait for the other packs to move, her greed and ambition made patience a hard thing to grasp. Keeping her head high, her posture and antlers giving her profile an intimidating effect, "Nothing new, truly." Her eyes flicker over to him. "I am hoping to hear more when the scouts return." The Alpha paused for a few more moments before slowly rising and taking a few steps forward. "Let's not linger." The heat bore down on the both of them, the female took a long inhale - feeling almost suffocated by the heat. She longed for the cool caress of night, but that was hours away. Her tail swished back and forth behind her, level with her body as she moved.

[Vetis]

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[atrb=background,http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g210/Tonwe/Table/Vetis2.jpg] "Speech" When she sized him up, he brushed it off lazily, he hoped that she would never turn against him, and if she chose to, he would die without laying a tooth or nail upon her. It was his duty to protect her, so if she snapped at him with an expectation to shred his throat, then well, that was that. But he could always attempt to compel her to change her mind. He did not announce to many of his powers, though Syndra knew of them, he'd never dared use it upon his empress. “Ahh but it was not long, and you got a head start.” he teased back, flashing a toothy laugh as his lips fell apart and his head tilted back. He stretched himself forward a little, letting his thick tail thump across the dusty ground. Looking across the horizon again, he stared off in the distance, unable to see nearly as far as he wished he could. It was unsatisfying. Turning back to her as she shook her head, his attention was back on the lovely amethyst tinted bitch. Her own antlers were smooth against the sunlight and he stared at them for a moment before locking his gaze with hers briefly. “That's unsettling.” he murmured, twisting his expressions in a curious and bothered gaze before turning over his shoulder to look back past the way he'd come. When she began to stand, he too rose, casting a shade over her. While most would have seen it by accident, there was a slight purpose behind it, he wanted to keep her as cool as he could. He would give her the shade and take the brunt of the heat if it meant providing her with a couple degrees difference. The thought made him rather amused and he let a smirk tilt across his jowls before falling as she began to move. He kept in stride beside her, his shoulders and haunches rocking rather heavily as those large pads thumped against cracked earth. “Hopefully they will arrive soon. I'm growing impatient with their dawdling.” he commented, that nether depth growl coming from half parted lips. “What is our plan when they return? Are we hoping for words of the lessened competition, perhaps a few forgotten borders, or a new water source?” he questioned, knowing she had sent the scouts out a few days prior. He knew some were out to find a new water source, but not what the others were in search for.

[satyr]

When she had first met the same, lumbering beast that sat next to her, Syndra had been hesitant to keep him at anything closer than an arm's length. This feeling of repulsion only intensified after she learned what his abilities were, aside from being a living tank, that is. Still, much to her surprise, he had proven himself to be her most loyal follower, perhaps even more dedicated than the Transcendent...who she still kept at an arm's length for good reason. His loyalty made her question the sort of wolves she could trust in the early days of her rule, surely he was not what Syndra had in mind for a bodyguard, much less a 'beta'. Still, she trusted Vetis with her life, her land, her title, her everything, such a thing didn't come easily to Syndra. The female had never told Vetis this, she was never one for such frivolous talk, and she assumed he was the same way. Syndra only gave a short, but amused, huff and let the subject drop. The only things Syndra carried on were torture and fine emotional acting - not pointless conversations.

Her ears twitched, picking up his mutterings. The Alpha responded quickly, with a sliver of anger in her regal voice. "Enormously so." She shook her head, letting out an exaggerated sigh. "Things are far too quiet for my liking." Syndra admitted, deflecting the blame onto the other packs for her lack of decisive action. She bent her head back to glance up as a bird passed over them. "Still, we have no choice." To attack now would be pointless and rather...unnecessary. Syndra could feign politeness with the other Alphas for a little while longer, knowing the others and their violent natures...it would not be long until they were all at each others' throats. They would be distracted and therefore weakened after fighting amongst each other, it would make her conquest so much more rewarding. The Alpha did not fail to notice the sudden appearance of shade, though she did not speak of it openly as to not embarrass the larger wolf. She gave him a glance and continued onward, appreciating the break her dark body got from the heat. Still, Vetis had a way of making her feel small, but then again, Vetis was a giant amongst ants - a Goliath amongst the hot desert sands. Syndra wondered if his size was natural or another mutation, she had never seen another wolf come close to his size.

Syndra ran her forked tongue over her lips. "As am I." To say she was impatient with her scouts was a colossal understatement. At the moment it felt like she was waiting on baited breath for the scouts to return with even just a shred of information for her. It was some sort of fickle sustenance that never gave her what she wanted, and barely enough of what she needed. Syndra approached Vetis' question carefully, eyes glancing over to him before back over the dunes. "At times like these, I hope for anything." She paused in her patrol to lean down and sniff at the sand for a moment. Her paw pushed away the sand as she continued. "I had the Spymaster send two scouts near Renegade territory..." White bone poked through the golden sand, Syndra pressed her paw over the skull and tilted her head slightly to inspect it nonchalantly. "But, while we wait for the other packs to move, our focus is water. That puddle the others call a stream will not sate us for long." Syndra frowned, looking back up at the Lord Protector.

[Vetis]

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[atrb=background,http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g210/Tonwe/Table/Vetis2.jpg] "Speech" He was a beast beyond proportions. Most on the island didn't reach his mass and while he had quite the temper, he was practically under Syndra's control, despite whether or not he was against her choices. She was his alpha, and he would follow her to his death. So as he cast a shadow over her to give her comfort from the sun, he was thankful she said nothing, instead she just spoke of the disgust of the wolves dragging their paws. Did they fear to return with bad news? Or perhaps they were traitors. His lips peeled back to show dark gums and ivory teeth at the thought. If they were traitors they would need to be eliminated. He would not stand for them, and he knew that his Empress would not either. Large paws hit the ground as he sauntered beside her, a bit of a sway in his steps. Those massive paws tucked in with each step, almost bear like as he kept his pace with hers. He took smaller slower steps to be sure she did not fall behind. While she beat him at speed, his longer legs would keep him ahead of her if they matched step for step. “I hope they will return soon, if not we will need to track them down. I am not patient enough to wait for another week. They should have been back for now.” He scowled, wrinkling his nose. He shook his pelt to ruffle up that fur a bit more and nodded, “It's growing dry with this incessant heat, and it will only get worse when the months hit that the sun stays in the sky longer. Thankfully we get a break from the light when it falls, but with nothing to hold the heat it grows bitter. We need to find a closer water source, we'll lose warriors if they need to make a trek to quench their thirst.” he rambled slowly, his eyes closing half way before he lifted a paw at a scurrying scorpion, racing away from a bird circling in the sky. The shadow cast across the ground and he returned his look down at his Empress, his ears pinning back before scuffing up against his horns as they tilted forward. “We will need to find a new source, perhaps one closer to our realm.” He mused out loud, his tongue rolling those deep words from his chest. It left a sour taste on his tongue, that they were struggling for water, of all things. Not with pests, or with the opposing pack, but water. Something they would surely die without, and it was a problem. Those large eyes closed halfway, slitted pupils widening to absorb more light as they were shadowed by his own flesh.