Toy

[Karolek]

Today, was a dull day. The clouds, grey. The rain, wet. The wind, chilly.

There were so few wolves left in Arnlan, so few loyal members. Let's just say the rest were taken care of. "Once you enter the land of the darkness, you never leave. You have been warned." That has always been the rule in Arnlan. You join. You stay. You serve. You try to leave? Dead. Even the thought of turning your back on Arnlan was a crime.

Karolek was still set in his ways. For so long, Sofika and himself had ruled the vast lands of Arnlan and never before had the ranks been so depleted. Were the outside wolves no longer interested or compelled by the mysteriousness that was Arnlan? Was the unknowing no longer as seductive as it once was? Well, perhaps the outer lands were empty. Perhaps a disease had wiped out the wolves in the surrounding area and there was no one? Or just no one wanted to come.

The black wolf shifted through the territory with the shadows. His feet glancing over the muck and water. The wind rippled through his fur and the rain almost avoided him. He was rather dry- or else the over head foliage from the trees just stopped the rain from getting in. Nope. It was definitely avoiding him.

He had been gone, for so long. Perhaps the stress of managing the pack had taken its toll and his sister had had enough of his games and his attitude to wards the wolves of Arnlan. He however, still enjoyed playing with them. Now, as he remained unseen, unheard, unnoticed in the shadows, he waited for his next toy victim to come along. He would spook these darned wolves back into shape!

[Squeeji]

Viv had very little idea what had happened to Arnlan, but in the folly of youth...she felt that something was wrong, but it had been wrong the entire time, so she had grown used to it.

When she had joined the pack, she was just a pup, and now, a year old, she still waited, still acting like the pup she had always been, since she wasn't taught and didn't know how to be an adult. Should she hunt? Was she to be a warrior? A guardian? She didn't know...she had no adults to direct her young mind. So, she just kept on doing what she had always done.

She played, romping through the pack territory, like she was chasing some great beast, and when she finally snuck up upon her imaginary monster, she reared up and boxed against the shadows, snapping her teeth and raking her claws until her mouth was full of Fall's leaves.

[Karolek]

How amusing, thought Karolek, as he watched the young female prance around like a complete nutcase. Other may think that it would be cruel to play with the mind of a wolf so young and innocent, so vulnerable and gullible. Karolek on the other hand would have a little fun with her. He wasn't sadistic, mad or evil, he just thought that if he was going to toy with one wolf then he should toy with them all. Treat them the same. Then Sofika couldn't call him a bully. Then again, in this case, she might call him something worse than a jackass...

He wavered around with the shadows as Vivian rolled around attacking the shadows. She has a fair bite on her, he noted and moved slightly to the left to avoid being massacred by her claws. She was quite a mover as well, swift, agile. Perhaps the young female who was just coming to age would find her talent soon and begin her ascent through the ranks. Maybe. If she was up to it. Heh, time to start toying with her, he thought; a sly smirk rolled across his face and he inhaled silently.

"Vivian..." he whispered in a soft, yet ghost like fashion.

"Vivian!" he called again and he moved around within the darkness, back wards and for wards causing the shadows to shift slightly with his movement. Of course it would be his shadows that she would perhaps be able to faintly see, but only because he wanted her too. Karolek made a point of not being seen by anyone. And sometimes he made a point of not being noticed. He was so tuned to the shadows that he could literally stand beside someone and they would not even realise. Vivian didn't realise that the shadow she was playing with, was her alpha standing before her.

[Squeeji]

Perhaps it was because she was too crazy to feel fear like normal youngsters, or maybe it was just because she had been used to the shadows of her home. But the strange voice only managed to get a bit of a start from her. Whipping her head about to see who had known her voice.

"Pete?"

She hadn't seen her friend in ages, he had disappeared during his training many seasons ago, Vivian had known that he had died, she wasn't sure how, but she knew he was no deserter. But still the slight amount of hope that the albino was still alive stirred within her a bit joy, her tail wagging like mad, bowing at the shadow until she noticed the black and green form of Karolek.

"Oh." Ever the good pup, she tilted her head down at the alpha male looking fit to roll over, she had never met him before, but she had heard stories, and he carried himself well. "I'm...sorry alpha Karolek, I thought you were someone else." she made sure not to look at him, but still, she kept shooting her eyes up to glance at the unique green spots glowing on his face.

She knew she was just going to get yelled at for being so casual, so she tensed, preparing herself for the worst.

[Karolek]

"Pete?"

He couldn't have picked a better way for this situation to go. "Pete?!" he echoed, changing the tone to that of an inappropriately enthusiastic exclamation. The young female had seen him by now though, and as she tilted her head to the side in a thoroughly puppyish manner, the Alpha imitated her, a huge grin splitting his muzzle as he did so. Perhaps it was mean to mock someone so small in such a manner. But no matter! She would get over it eventually, and if she didn't then she was no use to anyone anyway so it wouldn't be much of a loss. Karolek had no time for 'depressions' or moping around just because of hurt feelings.

"I'm...sorry alpha Karolek, I thought you were someone else."

He ceased the ridiculous head tilting and straightened up, apparently staring at Vivian (one could never be too sure what he was looking at with all that hair in the way). The silence was long and broken only by the pattering of the rain, which was finally beginning to break through the leaves above. He supposed that was a good thing - plants needed water, right? But it was also fairly annoying because now he had to deal with the water actually touching him and the unpleasant tickling sensation that came with each individual drop to hit him. Not that this was a good time to be contemplating whether or not he was going to allow rain in his forest; there was a terrified youngling before him, and even he couldn't let her sit there in complete silence for too long.

"Oh, it's no problem. I suppose I can ignore your mistake...this time," he mused, still with that toothy grin (which probably looked more like a leer now that he was making threats). Karolek, of course, had no intention of killing the child if she addressed him disrespectfully, but she didn't need to know that...fear was a good management tool. At any rate, he was going to see how she reacted before he progressed the conversation - harassment was always more interesting when it was customized especially for the person he was harassing.

[Squeeji]

If Vivian had been sad or scared, by now it was short lived, Karolek's playfulness was somewhat addictive, especially to a rambunctious young wolf. As soon as he started to tilt his head from side to side, the female tried her best to mirror the gesture, smiling and trying her best to stifle a bit of laughter.

Though still she tried her best to keep low and be respectful, but by now her tail was going wild, wagging back and forth as she was now looking more directly at the alpha.

"Thank you sir." she was now wiggling like mad wanting nothing more than to dart about but she was behaving herself quite nicely. Of course it was starting to look like holding still was going to cause her pain by the way she squirmed.

[Karolek]

He was amused by the puppy's behavior, as well as pleasantly surprised. Despite how much he liked toying with the emotions of his packmates, Karolek wasn't sadistic enough to enjoy seeing them quiver with genuine fear. It made him feel...bad, if that was possible, especially after Sofika had stressed to him how important the pack's loyalty was.

"Thank you sir."

His smile melted away, replaced by a grave, completely un-Karolek-like look. Frown. He raised his head and tail, trying to look dominant (which was difficult, considering his small size and general scruffiness)...and then reached out a paw like lightning and bopped Vivian on the nose, barely resisting the urge to make the 'boop' sound effect. As soon as his paw made contact, his phony serious face broke and the wolf grinned, whirling around and darting into the shadows, black coat melting into the bushes as if he were no more solid than the darkness itself.

Karolek cackled wildly from his hiding place behind the leaves, completely unconcerned by the fact that the noise would make finding him much easier. "Bet you can't catch me!" A game of hide and seek with a puppy? One of the more unorthodox leading methods, but the Alpha of Arnlan had never been a 'normal' leader. He wished his sister were here to see him now - he was bonding!

Though, he conceded, her idea of bonding was different from his. Sofika's was far more boring, with politics instead of play. Pfft!

[Squeeji]

Vivian stops wiggling for a moment, her eyes going wide as the serious looking alpha male stood up all dominate, leaning in with a paw. Oh god, it was just like Pete had said once, he was going to take her head off with his terrible claws. She closed her eyes as tight as she could until...

*poke*

The young female's eyes shot open as she grinned back at Karolek, who shuffled back into the shadows and tried to call her out. "No fair! You're cheatin'!" of course that didn't mean she wasn't going to try, bounding haphazardly after the mysterious wolf, yapping a bit in excitement as she leapt into every shadow and bounded after every movement.