Temper Issues(any)

[Nightshade]

Night played frightening shadows over the Sallin landscapes, to most wolves it would be considered a place of evil, no one would dare set foot on the cursed land. The wind blew fiercely making a hollow whistle sound around the land. Here, in this part of Sallin, a large clearing surrounded by thick trees, inside the clearing barely grass grew, the earth was so dry it seemed like this place was truly cursed.

To Sallin's Queen, Nightshade, however this was a sight to see. Nightshade was looking at the place with what might seem like a sort of joy, knowing the Queen she was probably thinking exactly how to make use of this place that would give it an edge to fear. And that was just what she was doing, starring lonely into the barren land.

The clearing was quite large, at least 30 wolves could find a place to sit comfortably and still there would be place to walk. She was thinking this would be a perfect place for her pack to fight. The clearing was large enough to leave place to circle around and even to fit a wild blood thirsty crowd, she thought sarcastically.

The pale moon made her black pelt shine silver, she must look like a demon from hell now, she thought with a smirk. Shaking her head lightly she retreated to the shadows of the trees.

Turning her head from left to right as she walked through the trees, a behavior she developed when she began thinking of escaping slaves, if she were lucky to catch the imbecile that was doing this....at least she had figured and suspected the Right wolf, Damien.

The coward had escaped Sallin while she had her back turned, now there was only Cohen at the borders. She trusted the mad wolf enough to know that he would not fail her, but it troubled her that right now anyone could slip into or out of Sallin, that's how the former Guardian had done it in the first place, without much surveillance at the borders anyone could slip out.

She would have the warrior, Xai, patrol the borders as well, she could prove useful. She sighted in frustration, that idiot's escape had not only caused her minus one wolf, but also the slaves seemed to get the idea that they could have a hope of escaping.

In her anger she kicked a rock and send it flying into an unsuspecting hare a few feet away. the animal squealed and turned to run at full speed, Nightshade chuckled. She needed someone to take her rage upon, she thought with a snort.

The slaves...

Of course, she thought with a grin, she should take her frustration on the source of her problems, the slaves. She slashed her claws on a sapling as she turned in the direction of the slave's hold. There were enough to slaves to risk loosing another, it shouldn't be much of a problem, 'cept the mess that would leave.

She walked with deliberately slowness as she headed in the direction pondering what would her next moves be....

[Akree]

*bump*

[Brink]

Both darkness and the temperature had fallen. The temperature seemed to have actually plummeted, rather than fallen. This had become painfully apparent to Bear. He lay in the slave’s hold, only barely in its confines. Dangerous, if there had been any of Sallin’s members around. But there weren’t. It was too cold a night for anyone to stand guard. Few of the slaves would actually try escaping anyway. If they did… well, it would be the brightest decision they’ve ever made. Neither was the fact that Bear was standing guard, one a night such as this. The cold air tore and gnawed at your throat with each breath you took, as if it was a living creature. The icy wind bit into you and tugged at your fur. Even with his thick coat, Bear was beginning to feel his paws go numb. Each painful inhalation was a reminder that he should be sleeping with the rest of the slaves, but he couldn’t. Sleep had not come easily the past few nights and the mutt doubted that tonight would be any different.

As the same manner of the “demon queen”, the slave went over the events that had occurred. He had replayed them over and over in his head, and each time came to the same conclusion: They were screwed. Under normal circumstances, Bear clung to hope, like most others. It was a defense mechanism, the old dog reckoned. No matter how faint the light of hope was, people latched onto it. It was easier that way. The mutt wondered how long someone could live in complete reality, how long they could go without even the dimmest of hopes, until insanity inevitably took over… before, he had had some vague hope at escape and freedom… Now, however, with Damien gone, there was no chance for either of those things. No realistic (or unrealistic for that matter) basis for hope. They would live here…

And they would die here…

The realization was difficult to accept, but none of the slaves could deny it forever…There was no hope. That fact was painfully obvious in Bear’s mind as he searched for reasons to hope and repeatedly came back empty-handed.

A far off noise caught the dog’s attention. His head jerked towards its direction. A succession of other noises followed the first… what sounded like a rabbit and laughing? Intently, he listened, waiting for more clues as to who was up and about, lest he need to go rouse the others.

Someone was approaching… slowly, sluggishly, but approaching the Slave’s Hold nonetheless.

Slowly, he rose to his feet and pulled back into the shadows. He didn’t know who was approaching. For all he knew, it could be an outsider. Then again, it might just a Sallinian out to harass the salves. Until the old dog had more information on what approached he wouldn’t wake the others. Best not to bother them if it wasn’t important; they had enough to worry about as it was…

[Nightshade]

Sallin's Queen had completely made up her mind to take her rage out of any unlucky slaves that would be up this night. She would think while she slashed the mutt's side open, it would be better to think with a bit of something to keep her paws occupied. She still headed forward slowly, her paws moving only one slow movement after another, there was no reason to be fast.

She would probably decided to wake up a slave if there was none awake, she needed the exercise, but it was such a pain. She would have to go into one of the den's of the disgusting mutt and haul them away from the den, if she got lucky it would be alone and she would have no other problem. But of course, most of the swine would sleep in pairs or groups, making it even harder to pull one out without much trouble and the young would most definitely be protected. She knew they would, it was common slave sense.

Not that it ever did make any sense.

Soon she spotted the light veil of moonlight beyond the trees that would make out the Slave's Hold. It spoke true to its name, the slave's hold held all the slaves. It was a ghastly place, to the north the ground raised slightly in a short stuffy hill that accentuated that it was most definitely a hold, then it slipped downward after a few twelve to twenty feet before so it straightened completely revealing patchy ground, grass and weeds. The place stunk of animals that were most definitely rotting alive and the "lovely" clearing was surrounded entirely in trees, some thick and strong some spindly and weak.

As she reached the hold she spotted little movement only the shift of the wind in the moonlight. Those who moved simply twitched on their sleep. but she wasn't convinced, her yellow eyes scanned the hold for any moving figure-

Aha!

There was one mutt!r there in the shadows, definitely awake, probably hoping no one saw him and only a few feet away from her. It felt oh so good to have one awake. Smiling she approached the mutt.

[Brink]

Absently, Bear stared through the night, towards the direction in which the unknown assailant approached… if that’s what it was. It could be anyone. A Sallinian out and about. A slave who snuck off. A prey animal disturbed from its sleep (his stomach growled at the thought). Some poor bastard who had gotten lost and wandered into the packlands. Could be anyone… he told himself. Anyone at all…

Anyone like Damien? a voice in the back of his mind jeered at him. It was stupid and unlikely to even think that he had made it out of Sallin alive… however, if he had been caught, the queen probably would have torn him to shreds in a public viewing. That meant that there was a good chance that he was still out there. It was also doubtable, however, that he had been alive. From what Bear, had heard from Thaddeus and Blackavar, the wolf had been in a bad way when he had left. He’d had a limb removed, after all. There was little hope of surviving such an injury in this cold weather, let alone surviving it on the run.

In short, he was dead. Bear assured himself of that fact (unhappily so), as to keep himself from searching for light in the darkness, where no light was to be found. Besides, even on the off chance that Damien had been able to escape this shithole, what were the chances that someone or something didn’t kill him? He was a Sallinian after all, and most other creatures did not take kindly to the “Demon Queen” and her followers.

He is dead, Bear insisted mentally, still unable to accept the fact that all hope had been lost, along with Damien.

The dog had seemed to have forgotten about the intruder (if that’s what it really was) while he tried reasoning with himself. He grew less distracted however, as the footsteps drew closer. They came directly towards the Hold. That worried the large dog. His features, previously blank and unreadable, became noticeably drawn. At this point, he had become anxious. Who the hell was coming to the keep in the dead of night? And for what purpose? The haggard dog stared nervously into the night. Not far from him was the creature. It was large. Looked canine too. Apparently, it had spotted him too because it turned in his direction and approached, grinning. At first, he couldn’t make out who it was. When he did happen to figure out who approached, he had but one thought:

Oh, shit.

[Nightshade]

What stood in front of her was very much well one of those slaves, just the think she was looking for. Her thin black lips pulled back to reveal her teeth in what could be a smile, which was rare of Nightshade, except on those special moments that meant someone would be in pain. One paw lifted elegantly after the other as she made her way towards the dog, which resembled an over fluffed and way big badger.

She supposed he would try some valiant act, not that she had intention of killing him, at least not yet. He would maybe try to show himself as being brave an unafraid, but since the coward of Damien left the slaves seemed even more miserable than usual, the only thing she was particularly fond of since he departed. The fool would suffer for that, if only she could get his claws on him, she would shove him in front of the slaves and rip the swine to shreds!

Her eyes narrowed as she saw the dog turn his head, apparently he didn't notice who was coming to take her rage out on him, because his expression remained calm, wary, but calm. She bit back a smile thinking how that would change soon enough.

She slowed her steps as she neared the slave; already he showed some kind of shock, more likely cursing his own luck. She stood barely ten feet away, her eyes narrowed and the remnants of a smile playing in her thin black lips.

-"You there " she barked, low but harsh, it would be a problem if more slaves were to arise from sleep "Come’ ere." she almost hissed.

Her eyes flicked momentarily to the hold, wary so that no other slaves stood up for the scared little pup in front of her, she could deal with all of them, she knew, they were weak and underfed, but she wouldn't like to much trouble (yes, she is greatly aware of the slaves distaste for her, doesn't care for it, but it doesn't mean she won't watch her back). Satisfied her yellow eyes flicked back to the dog and her tail twitched slightly behind her which could be compared as a tail wag, contemplating the events that would happen. This time her smile was broader, but like always Nightshade's smiles seemed to turn her eyes to pieces of ice rather than warm them like a real smile should.

((Ba, no muse for wolves recently :/))

[Brink]

Upon first seeing the demon queen, the large dog was unsure of what to do. After the initial shock of seeing that bitch here, obviously up to no good, Bear had been angry. More than that, he had been downright right enraged. Being a rather docile creature, he had no inclination to violence. In fact, he had disliked it quite a lot. It had seemed rather pointless, going around attacking each other like they were mindless animals, with only the capability of committing violence. That may have been how the humans saw them, and also how a handful of them acted, but they were not all like that. They were all fully capable of being civil creatures. His time in Sallin had changed his view on this. Now, he believed that there were times when it was a necessary evil.

This was one of those times.

Despite all the fury that he felt, he knew that in his current state– starving and freezing – that he would not be able to defeat Nightshade. If one as weak as he was capable of defeating the Sallin’s terrible queen, than the slaves would have been free long ago. With all the other slaves apparently sleeping, he was alone. Perhaps if all of them attacked at once, they’d have a chance of bringing her down. But, in doing so, he endangered all the other slaves. The chances of killing her without having one or two of themselves killed was incredibly slim. There was also a chance that they would fail, either because two few of the slaves had the courage to rise against their “master” or because other Sallinians were alerted of the ongoing attack.

"You there. Come’ ere."

Bear, not willing to risk the lives of his fellow slaves unless they were sure to earn their freedom, relented. Eyes downcast, head bowed, he moved towards her as she commanded in an awkward limp. Nothing was seriously wrong with him; having sat so long in the cold, his paws had become numb. Bear looked, altogether, pitiful. He felt pitiful too, following Nightshade’s orders.

He didn’t dare look at her. In doing so, he risked her seeing that he wasn’t just another dull-minded servant, and that he was damn angry. Slowly, he crossed the ten feet that separated them, exaggerating his limp a bit. If he was pitiful enough, maybe she wouldn’t do as much damage to him. On the other hand, his weakness might add to her anger. Either way, this encounter wouldn’t end well.

[Nightshade]

((Sry for being in first person, no muse for third))

In the darkness I could not quiet make the detail of the shape before me. The only thing that was clear was that this slave was a muscled fellow, he would have made a fine warrior from whenever the hell he came from, but now, he was completely the opposite -a slave. My eyes narrowed against the faint shape, trying to make out more of him, I should have probably placed one paw forward and get a better look at him, but I wanted him to come towards me. Who was him to deserve such an audience as the likes of me? The question was humorous and the corners of my thin black lips lifted up into the ghost of a smile. This would prove an interesting night.

He hesitated once I called to him, the hesitation was barely there -but still it was and that was what mattered. How could he hesitate? His Queen had called him forth he should respond! He was nothing but a worthless slave! A dog! Nothing else, he deserved exactly what he deserved and it enraged him to see that tiny hesitation. Then the questions popped into my head. Why would he hesitate? He had no reason too, unless...

Unless he was one of those resistant slaves.

The type that thought themselves heroes, the type that was completely selfless. Of course now I was getting worked up over nothing. If he was, I was going to break his spirit, if he wasn't...well it wasn't much of a loss anyways. Still, he responded how any other slave should have, he dropped his gaze to the cracked ground and limped forward. Limped! It amused me and this time I couldn't help the small smile. But then I noted there was no reason for a limp, the idiot was overdoing it. What was he trying to achieve with such a pitiful display of weakness?

Sympathy?

He was pathetic.

As he got near I noted the scars he sported. Who had done them? Cohen was the only name that popped into my head, he had such a way of doing things that pleased him and as long as he was pleased with his torture he was a darling to be around. Of course now I was exaggerating. Shifting the subject to the problem at hand I inspected this thing in the same manner you inspected a sick deer, thinking whether it be good food or just a health risk.

I moved my paws slowly, I circled him, noting scars and weak spots, parts where the fur was matted with dirt. Overall he looked better than the rest of the slaves. Not physically of course, but it looked more of...what did they call it? Hope?

Yes, that -whatever it was.

My eyes narrowed, I wrinkled my nose at the horrible stench that floated from him, that stench they all carried of disease and death and starvation all that added to the poor way in which they kept their coats. My eyes narrowed to slits as I inspected him, but i wanted to see if the limping was true so I nudged him. It wasn't gentle, it was meant to make him be moved a few steps from his position if he truly possessed a limp -not being able to maintain his balance correctly.

Of course I wasn't giving him the chance to react correctly so barely a few seconds after the nudge I bucked, forcing my weight on my hind legs and with my front, giving the dog a good kick of his side. I figured I would toy with him and see how he reacted.