A Place to Stay [Mirage/NB/Mortil]

[nightblood]

NightBlood crashed through the brush seemingly as loud as she possibly could as they neared the center of Arnlan. She had a general idea of where Mortil's den was, but had never really seen it herself. There was always the chance that he could be hunting or perhaps at the food stores if he wasn't yet in full physical condition yet after the battle. Sighing loudly, she continued her pace and soon arrived at the place she had met Umbra before the battle with Ultionis. This was the closest spot she knew of that would lead, in some way, to Mortil's cave.

Heaving something of a warning growl, Blood turned to Mirage and locked eyes with him.

"Mortilitas Umbra is not one to make a fool out of or act out around. He is a good fighter and a dear friend of mine. If he sees fit to attack you, I will take his side. Remember that."

With that said, the Sentry turned to face the area in which the gray wolf had appeared before. She lifted her head and let out a loud, but low howl. She remembered distictly that part of his ear had been ripped off in his last battle and she was unsure how it affected him.

[Electus]

Hurting much?

It's your body too. You should know as well as I do that it hurts. A lot.

You forget the pain is significantly lower when I'm not in control.

That's true. So is this half of a left ear going to affect our hearing much?

A little, but nothing serious.

Mortil yawned as he lay in his dark cave he called home, looking sleepily out into the ring of thorns that surrounded a small clearing that he could pad into and gaze at the sky had he wished. It was an ideal spot, remote and hard to find and reach. He winced slightly as he shifted his weight. His wounds were slowly healing, but it still hurt very much when he moved. His right leg continually sent sharp pangs of pain through him no matter how lightly he set it down when walking, and the slashes and gashes on his forehead and chest and side burned almost continuously. But he bore it stoically, and carried on with life as usual.

He faintly heard a howl from a decent distance away, frowning. Nightblood? What was she doing, looking for him? He hardly ever got company, even from her. Slowly, he got to his feet and padded softly out to the clearing of thorns, sending out a howl of his own.

What is it Nightblood?

He hoped it wasn't something urgent. He was tired, and his wounds pained him. But he wasn't a whiner. If he had a duty to do, he would do it.

[Shantik]

The small silver-grey timber that followed Night merely smirked at her words. It wasn't like him to take others seriously, and he really wasn't in the mood to anyway. As stated before, that ultimate temptation had come up, and his wicked mood was back into swing again.

His grin right now though, kind of collided drastically with his bloodied-up body and limping figure. He'd managed to stop most of the bleeding, mostly from his lip, which still stung but now he wasn't tasting blood every step of the way. Most of his bodily wounds still leaked somewhat though, but he paid them no heed, except to cringe a little in pain when spasms wracked his body.

For the longest time, he wondered hat the sam hell Night was doing. The way she crashed through the underbrush, seemingly trying to attract attention to herself...it just appaled him to no end. Then again, she did a lot of things that made him question her sanity. He followed her, and though he limped, he was silent compared to the noise she made. He often winced at the racket.

As she paused to howl, he took the time to fold his haunches under him and rest for a moment. He showed no signs of the weakening he was starting to feel in his muscles; he wanted nothing more than to lay down and sleep, but around others, he daren't. So he simply waited until the answering howl reached his ears.

He pricked his ears in curiousity, but stayed silent, saying nothing. Let NightBlood deal with this. He'd start trouble when he met this so-called 'guardian' he was going to be assigned to in person. He knew he was pretty much accepted right now, so he couldn't care less what this person could do. He could do worse with words. So, ha.

[nightblood]

Blood was hating herself more and more for accepting this one. But in reality, it didn't matter anymore. Those who entered Arnlan didn't leave and live. Tricker and Ziko were special cases. She would have no problem being so harsh with this rogue. She even looked forward to it. And she had no doubt that Umbra would simply love the chance to kill again. Such a lucky wolf Mirage was.

With this in mind, NightBlood could help but smile darkly inside. Mortil returned the howl. Good. He was home. She knew instinctively that he would probably dread the thought of anyone, especially this new recruit, finding out where his den was. She gave a loud bark and bade him to come only as quickly as his wounds would allow and began looking around for an area that would be suitable for Mirage to take shelter while his wounds healed. The Sentry sat down while she waited for the gray male to arrive. She didn't want to look like this particular business was urgent, even though it was to her. And she would've liked to speak to both Mortil and Umbra alone.

[Electus]

Mortil heard Nightblood's returning bark. He padded at a leisurely pace through the thorns, taking a bit more extra time to avoid brushing against any of them.

Tired?

Quite.

I'll take over then. There's no sleep in me today.

Alright.

Mortil slowed his pace and closed his eye, and he and Umbra made the seamless transition. Umbra opened his eye and continued his pace, padding softly but unerring towards the origin of Nightblood's call. The scene wasn't very subtle. Nightblood was accompanied by an injured wolf, and despite the ash-grey wolf's own injuries, Umbra broke out into a grin.

"Well, well." Umbra cackled without preamble, his voice cold and terrifying enough to scare away an enraged bear, "What's this? Lunch?" He laughed harshly, fangs gleaming.

"Or maybe something for me to kill?"

[Shantik]

Mirage sighed as he waited, contentedly bored. He realized now that he was more looking forward to meeting this new wolf than he usually would be. In fact, he would more love to meet them than anyone else, pretty much, in his life. The only other time he was this eager was when he found out he had an older sister. But then, he didn't have the intention then to annoy her out of what was left of her mind.

Finally, when he saw the other come into veiw, his first impression was dissapointment. This wounded old...thing was going to watch him? Ha. Yeah, right. But then he turned his single eye to himself and realized just how bad his own symmary must be. However, his single midnight eye turned back up to the grey wolf - what was his name? Umbra? How feminine...- just in time to catch his words. And his wicked grin returned for the first time in about four minutes...a record.

"I'd love to see you try." He seethed in reply, his own voice just as capable as his new victim's. Maybe worse, if possible. "In the meantime, I wager you'd want a name to put on my gravestone? Almost as bad as yours when it comes to the record of more feminine names for a male wolf. It's Mirage."

Another record. This one for possibly the most insults he could throw at another in the space of ten seconds. A real record.

[nightblood]

"Well, well." Umbra cackled without preamble, his voice cold and terrifying enough to scare away an enraged bear, "What's this? Lunch?" He laughed harshly, fangs gleaming.

"Or maybe something for me to kill?"

After the tingle in her spine evaporated, a single thought entered Blood's mind.

-I wish.-

"I'd love to see you try." He seethed in reply, his own voice just as capable as his new victim's. Maybe worse, if possible. "In the meantime, I wager you'd want a name to put on my gravestone? Almost as bad as yours when it comes to the record of more feminine names for a male wolf. It's Mirage."

The short span of tolerance for this new male was waning thin in NightBlood. There was little more she could do to keep from attacking the wolf beside her than simply roll her eyes at him. She had to keep herself from sitting on him. He was acting so much like a pup.

"Can we please be adult here?" said the Sentry, her head winding toward Mirage at the word 'adult'. "Did I not just explain how NOT to get on his nerves?"

Her eye twitched at the sight of his face, but she forced herself to look back at Mortil.

"New member, Umbra. I need you to watch him while his wounds heal, but if you see any reason he should be... eradicated... by all means, feel free to consider him your next meal. I won't mind."

[Electus]

"In the meantime, I wager you'd want a name to put on my gravestone? Almost as bad as yours when it comes to the record of more feminine names for a male wolf. It's Mirage."

Umbra laughed, his voice echoing loudly off the Arnlanian expanse. "HAHAHA! You've got some nerve. Obviously your latin is just as poor as your intelligence. No matter. Mirage eh? Nightblood probably hopes that you are one."

He peered at him with one bloodshot eye, baring his fangs. "Perhaps your name would be more manly with you turned inside out, eh?"


"New member, Umbra. I need you to watch him while his wounds heal, but if you see any reason he should be... eradicated... by all means, feel free to consider him your next meal. I won't mind."

Umbra snorted. "You want me to babysit this idiot whelp? Fine. But if he wants to waste my time with petty word games, I'd like to forewarn you that his body will be adorning a tree. Mortil won't like it, but what the hell."

He laughed again, the sound grating. "Looks like we'll be getting to know each other...whelp."

[Shantik]

All the while the others spoke, Mirage seemed almost ignorant to it all, almost pulling a stupid look because his grin just kept getting bigger and bigger. In his mind, he went over several points he'd just love to correct with this Umbra's grammer, but actually stayed silent this time. He could just start off on him, but Night had told him to...well, the decent translation was 'shut up', but he forgave her. Didn't matter anyway.

"Seems so." He agreed to the last words, still keeping his smirk. He gave a slight incline of his head, moving his forlock a bit more over the right side of his face. Since showing Nightblood the truth behind that hair, he'd grown a bit more touchy over it. "Since Night here won't be here to babysit, I suppose an arrangement not to kill each other might be in order?" He shrugged his sleek, yet bloody shoulders, faking a recollective sigh. "Though I'd hate to deprive you of your fun."

[nightblood]

"You want me to babysit this idiot whelp? Fine. But if he wants to waste my time with petty word games, I'd like to forewarn you that his body will be adorning a tree. Mortil won't like it, but what the hell."

"You could kill him right now if you wanted. I'd watch, but I've got a border to maintain."

The Sentry listened while words passed between them. At the first opportunity she had to interject, however, she took it.

"I'd like to repay you for your services, Umbra. I could bring you back something later. A fish or duck... maybe an otter?" She had to smirk at that last statement. He'd only get it if he'd been awake while she and Mortil met with William at the river. She might be able to bring back an otter- but it would have to be one Will didn't know about.

Her ears twitched toward the border. Her paws pivoted as well. She wanted to make sure no other wolf like Mirage entered Arnlan ever again.

[Electus]

"I'd like to repay you for your services, Umbra. I could bring you back something later. A fish or duck... maybe an otter?"

Umbra yawned. "Whatever. Any particular place you have in mind for us to go? Some cave? A dank hole in the ground? Let's get a move on, now. The sunlight is wasting away."

He circled the ground on which he stood slowly, looking at Mirage again. "Lithe of body...you seem light on your feet. Interesting. You and I...will have to have a long talk." Umbra grinned.

"It may be that you're not as weak as you look."

[Shantik]

Mirage contentedly stayed still and silent for the other's conversation, actually becoming quite bored with the thought of staying another minute. He flicked his ears forward at the mention of food, quickly interested. He hadn't really thought of how hungry he was until the thought arose; Duck sounded good. He didn't appeal much to otter or fish (Ugh...), but any bird sounded tasty to him. But he, again, kept totally silent, not speaking a word. They might 'take care' of him, but under no circumstance had the condition of letting him hunt, or hunting for him come up. He might just have to go hungry.

When Umbra stood, he found it only suiting to follow. After sitting for a time, his muscles screamed in protest, having stiffened from the wounds, and he bit his own lip hard to keep from crying out. Holding his head relatively high, but swishing his tail behind him, he kept his single midnight eye on his guardian, his frown and dreary eyes mirroring his tired, weak condition.

"Lithe of body...you seem light on your feet. Interesting. You and I...will have to have a long talk." ..."It may be that you're not as weak as you look."

Mirage felt rather flattered for the first time in quite some years. He smirked, unable to hide it as his raised his chin a bit higher, but not too high in case he 1)exposed his throat 2) Seemed to show a higher status.

[nightblood]

NightBlood immediatly recalled the den in which she had taken Ziko into when she had been captured. She had no intent of sending Mortil to his downfall, but she didn't mind in the least of puting Mirage in danger. She tried to visuallized the landscape around it. If she remembered correctly, there was a hollow log hidden in the brush within sight range of the cave. Mortilitas Umbra would be safe there.

"Follow me," she said instantly. With that, she turned on her heel and moved toward a more open area of Arnlan.

She kept a steady pace so the injured males behind her could keep up. She didn't want to loose either of them. Umbra, because he was scarey when you couldn't see him. Mirage, because she didn't want him running into any other Arnlanian. In truth, she believed that Umbra was the only Arnlanian who would be safe around Mirage. Even she felt a bit threatened by him, no matter how short he was.

[Electus]

"Follow me"

Umbra shrugged and began to follow the red and black female, a bored look on his face as he went. He looked around frequently during the journey and impatiently, getting more bored with every passing step. Really, there wasn't much to do when all you liked to do was kill.

When they arrived at the cave, he looked it over. Easy enough, watch the wolf while he healed, then leave. Easy enough.

"Very well." Umbra said, yawning. "Good day and good night." Without looking back, the ash-grey wolf padded into the cave and promptly lay down, half-closing his eye.

[Shantik]

Mirage followed NightBlood swiftly, his paws barely touching the ground before they left it again, striding quite easily, even with his fresh wounds. Pain was life, and one had to live with it. he kept his steady gaze ahead, not even looking around, his wild hair barely moving with him.

He was finally starting to get vaguely unamused by this all when they came to this den. He eyed it, looking it over. Once he saw Umbra enter, he turned and squeezed reletively easily into the log next to it, his slim form sliding easily into it's mossy confines. He kept his ears open and alert in case anything happened.