Quote from Kaqurei on May 30, 2024, 9:00 pm

"S'pose I'm jest tired," Levi said, looking doubtful. There remained the possibility Ulric had a hard time wittling the sound of the Queen's English out of his thick Ulster accent. He'd successfully dodged Levi's attempt at small talk, anyway, and once again, Levi was in check.

Two moves remained. Ulric would either buy his excuse, or move into checkmate. And what then?

Quote from Mae on May 31, 2024, 12:07 am

"Tired?" Ulric was no one's fool, though he should probably like to dance a better jig as one than this. "The day of the full moon? You're not sick, are you?"

Quote from Kaqurei on June 28, 2024, 7:10 pm

Hesitant eyes darted from Ulric's. Eyes that came back, intent to lie, but faltered. There was just the fleeting hope, that Ulric's persistence was not merely blind curiosity, poking at a pond to which he did not know the depths, but perhaps he truly cared what was below. Perhaps he would not shy from it. Perhaps he really did want to know.

But before he could speak, there was the sound of footsteps, and the cabin door opening above. The heavy footfalls and clicks of Saber's claws on the polished wood. Then the footsteps of another, and Levi ducked involuntarily, and shrank from the shadow cast above.

When at last he dared, he raised his head to peek through the cracks up at the Alpha. Then he shifted, and moved to look through a missing knot of wood, to spy Saber out in the yard, heading for the pit. For once, the stranger looked like he knew where he was going, and Levi found that curious. But there was another movement. Bianca's grandfather, readying his dart gun. Like a little boy, Levi glanced over first at Ulric with concern, then up through the cracks at the Alpha, wondering if he would stop him. But he didn't.

Pop! The sound made Levi jump, even though he'd been expecting it. He watched Saber struggle, and fall.

Quote from Mae on June 28, 2024, 10:30 pm

Ulric likewise ducked at the first sound and darted into the crawlspace to avoid being seen. He didn't know why. Maybe it was just the way Levi behaved that made him feel like he might get in trouble for being seen. Or maybe, it was out of respect for Levi, so that he wouldn't give away his hiding spot... whatever the case, Ulric was laying flat on the dirt under the porch.

Kratos' massive black hands appeared through the cracks above Ulric and Levi's heads. The boards creaked under his weight.

Pop!

Ulric flinched.

Saber collapsed in the clearing by the fence. The sound of the police cruisers door opening was heard, then footsteps on gravel...

Ulric didn't even dare to breathe with Kratos sitting above his head, much less crawl closer for a better look.

"Inside."

It was Officer Chapman.

The pitter-pat of Bianca's feet followed.

Ulric looked up through the boards to see the shadow of her feet. There was a curious feeling in the air just then, like a wave of intensity only the soul could feel. Bianca walked up to Kratos, then passed into the cabin without a word. The door closed behind her. Ulric looked again to see what he could of the clearing, and suddenly caught the fleeting yellow light from the Alpha's eyes. His heart froze. He didnt know if he had been seen. In the next moment, the Alpha's gaze was gone.

There was the sound of gravel gritting and crackling together in the clearing. The officer's gait was much slower than his granddaughter. But the sound of his feet was softer, which meant he was not in primal form...

Then there was a long silence... A silence disturbed only by the heavy rise and fall of the Alpha's breath, the sound of the chain link fence clinking in the clearing, birds twittering, and the whistle of the wind through the cracks... A soft mountain breeze came in, smelling like mud and earth, tinted with river trout and elk blood.

Ulric glanced at Levi.

Quote from Kaqurei on June 28, 2024, 10:59 pm

Levi glanced to Ulric, and back again to what could be seen outside. His heart was pounding, but this is where he felt most at home. Hidden. Listening. Watching. That was his job. After his mother died, and his father took him to join his Pack...

He watched the two Alphas, standing over what looked like a near lifeless Saber in the grass. This wolf with no place in the world. They debated his fate. Their words were purposefully vague and cryptic. Not uncommon of unallied Alphas speaking in broad daylight, or in the presence of enemies. He remembered the day he first met his own. More especially, how cold that morning had been. The silvery grey morning skies blended with the log hanging fog. He remembered trembling, more from cold than from nerves, for inside he'd felt numb. It had only been a few days... But his father's remedy to grief was work. He'd lost the world he knew. He needed a place in his new one. A wolf could not be without a place in the world. It was too dangerous, both for him, and the world around him. It was said a life used to solitude was well suited to being a spy. So, by birth and circumstance, Levi became a spy of the Sabres pack.

Unconsciously, Levi's ears folded back. His eyes were focused now, observing the small hints in each Alpha's body language, tone, volume. Their words didn't mean as much as their actions did.

"You were Svalnaglas once, weren't you?" Levi whispered, almost imperceptively. No muscle of his body so much as twitched, and his eyes remained focused on the Alphas.

Quote from Mae on June 28, 2024, 11:38 pm

Ulric dared to breathe again when Kratos stepped off the porch. A long, slow, shaky breath he both drew in and exhaled. Then he crawled, softly, silently, to lay beside Levi and see what could be seen through the wooden slats. Subconsciously, Ulric's body language mimicked Levi; Levi was good at this stuff, Ulric knew that. But why was Ulric hiding? He wanted to be present when Kratos spoke to Tiffany and Chapman... but Kratos kept putting it off or giving him tasks. Maybe... maybe, it was better this way.

Ulric listened keenly to everything that was said between his adoptive brother, the police officer, and the wild haired woman.

[spoiler title="..."]

"We have taken it on trust alone that the family of my pack is my kin." Kratos said. "But you and I both know the danger in that. Today, I will know the nature of your alliance with the Svalnaglas, if we are to make a better agreement."

"So you will know it wholly, if there is a place more discernibly suited for such conversations." Officer Chapman said.

"If I should retract the assertion of my presence in these circumstances, the results would be unfavorable to both of us ... They have as much to tell me as you, and I will have it out one way or another.”

"Very well. Then you will have answers conditionally. Present your questions."

"What is the nature of this alliance?"

"Are you asking him or me, sugar?" Tiffany said,"You've told me to shut the yap up about three times today. ... I told you, we're not here to cause any trouble for you or anybody." 

"I have asked for honesty and have been waiting on your generosity to receive it all day. I will not entertain your round-about way of giving information. ... If you desire my cooperation on any level then I will have it out now. Otherwise, we will declare our stance under the white moon."

"Forgive me, I'm not accustomed to dealing with honest people. So, I'll fork one over; you make me a deal, you let me and Ami come out of this pit, - on the condition we don't leave the area til we're all on the same page, - and I'll tell you what you want. ... In my experience, it takes a hand of trust to get one."

"You want to test me?"

"...."

"If I were in your position, I'd rather get cozied in for the night. The fence and walls do more than keep you in."

"I'm in a bad position. Let's look at the facts. If you're going to let them go back of her own volition, what I say--or don't--could put good people at risk. Regardless of where I stand, my intentions have never been to see people get hurt who don't need to."

.....

"By that same token, our purposes are not dissimilar."

[/spoiler]

Ulric furrowed his brow. He wished he could see more of the exchange, but his vantage was fairly limited.

Levi's whisper broke Ulric's focus on the conversation in the clearing. He looked at him, perhaps to see what kind of accusation could be seen in his eyes. But Levi's focus remained steadfast.  So, Ulric looked back through the holes in the slats.

"No," he whispered. "I never got my mark. Or another name."

Quote from Kaqurei on June 28, 2024, 11:50 pm

"But you're familiar with them," Levi said. His ears swiveled up and focused on the Alphas. There was a pause. "...You smell like them."

Quote from Mae on June 28, 2024, 11:53 pm

Ulric opened his mouth to answer in the affirmative about the first comment, but then came the second, and he completely lost focus on the conversation in the clearing

"I do not," he whispered, "You take that back."

He was offended, but his words didn't have any real threat attached to them.

Quote from Kaqurei on June 29, 2024, 12:05 am

Levi's focus did not falter. "It's nottae insult. Just a fact."

He listened to the dance of words outside. Each brush was no closer to a resolution. Each Alpha seemed to say I respect your authority. But I do not fully trust you. You jump first, then I will follow. And so neither would jump. Saber's fate seemed decided... But that was what bothered Levi most about Kratos: he seemed utterly resolute in his decisions, but changed them on a dime. He never felt totally safe around him, neither as man or wolf. Once, the Alpha had decided to end him. Then just as resolutely, decided to spare him his life... For weeks on end, in that torturous pit.

"D'you know the ones down there, in the Pit?" he whispered. "The one who choked you, with the curly hair?"