» Dirge of the Ancient Machines [OPEN]

Subject: » Dirge of the Ancient Machines [OPEN] Tue Jul 09 2019, 17:32

Strung out falling from the big time
Welcome to the infinite black skies

There was a stinky, stone-dead human at her feet, and this time it wasn't her fault.

At first the whole happening of hauling her nosy backside over to the naked long-limps' humble packgrounds'd seemed like the best choice she had made in a long, long time- but now Jack was able to see for herself what the shady rumors of who they were, what they did and so on and on were all about, she regretted every step she'd taken towards it.
⠀Coming here was a mistake, a huge one.. but the place lured her further in anyway. There was something about those decaying, weirdly ribbed walls that forced her in, something about the smell of bitter smoke and old oil that tempted her to tiptoe all the way to the grossest if not most spacious room in the whole structure. Home to big, iron boulders the size of a moose.. well, and the corpse of a very small two-leg.

"Ah, shit.." Nothing wrong with corpses, but this human was too small to not be looked over by bigger ones. And since it had been lying there for quite a while and no big human'd taken it away to weep over it or whatever, it could only mean that they were probably still looking for it. And most likely piss-drunk mad at anyone they could blame for its death too..
⠀That was when she started growing paranoid. Every flickering of a shadow could be one of them, just like every rustle in the infiltrating vegetation. They could be here right now without her even realizing it. If the old man was right about how vicious these humans were, even she would have to keep her head low in their spoiled heartlands.

She wasn't afraid! She'd never been! With Graybeard at her side, she'd faced off against bears, grumpy Alphas- everything! So she wasn't frightened by the possibility of possibly being sneaked up on by-..

"Ah shit!" Footsteps, close ones. Jack's eyes narrowed and she immediately hopped into an agitated yet ever so collected - read: ready to jump at anything moving suspiciously - stance, ears twisting and turning to pick up any life-saving sounds, her fanged teeth slightly exposed to whomever was creeping around in front of her. "Nothing edible here, unless you're big into maggots.." she growled, her gaze plastered to the shadows.

Brain clans fractured identity
Fragments and scattered debris

Subject: Re: » Dirge of the Ancient Machines [OPEN] Fri Jul 12 2019, 23:57

Galaxia didn't have much contact with humans in life. And she liked it that way, those weird creatures could stay as far aways from her as possible. But it was still fascinating to see there craft. Those apes sure know how to run things. This place however, seemd no longer in use. In fact Galaxia suspected it hadn't been in use for a while. Her suspicion is confirmed when she ventured further along the broken and muddy walls and floors. Not to mention the stink of The stink of decaying corpses, in the air. Yet the female did not feel any fear. For she knew this place was abandoned, if the humans wanted to come back to this place. They already would have. But that wasn't to say she was alone in this establishment. There was someone else, further down along the hall. Galaxia could smell her faintly over the other overpowering smells. When Galaxia entered the close proximity of the other wolf. The unmistakable glow of fangs greeted her. Followed by a growling voice. The wolf stayed eerily still for a moment, as if she was a statue. Carefully planning her next move. 'A hungry wolf will eat anything.' she spoke, her voice was light, but there was unmistakable dark undertone.

Subject: Re: » Dirge of the Ancient Machines [OPEN] Sat Jul 20 2019, 03:17

If she had to be honest, Korynthe preferred to stay as far away from humans as she could. Why would she put herself in danger, just to see the things those creatures had built? She was just fine hidden away in a forest, thank you very much.

Then again, she wasn't the best at keeping her curiosity under control. As terrifying as humans were, with their...devices they used to kill too efficiently, they were also fascinating.

That, and it seemed like the place she was at right now had been abandoned long ago. It couldn't be too dangerous now, could it? She couldn't even hear the humans from here.

Korynthe walked as silent as she could, exploring the...whatever it was. She couldn't see much use for it. It had been abandoned for enough time that plants had grown inside, and yet the smell of oil still hung around.

She should probably turn around, but where would be the fun in that?

After giving it another thought, Korynthe shook her head and continued. She kept to the shadows. Not that that did much, considering her fur and her bright green eyes, but somehow it still brought a bit of comfort. If anyone here just wasn't paying attention, she could probably slip by.

The area didn't seem like a place where someone would doze off, but who knew? There were plenty of wolves who loved the danger.

Korynthe, all things considered, wasn't one of them.

And there it was, a voice.

"Ah, shit!"

It didn't seem to come from far. Korynthe continued along the wall for just a bit longer before she spotted two wolves.

"Nothing edible here, unless you're big into maggots…" One of the wolves growled, seemingly the one Korynthe had heard barely a few moments earlier.

The white wolf stood frozen at her spot, but not out of fear it seemed. Curious. Were they not terrified so close to the humans? Were they not ready to run, should the need arise?

"A hungry wolf will eat anything," the white wolf said.

Korynthe stepped out of the shadows and shot the white wolf a slightly grossed out look. "I can't imagine maggots will do much for your hunger, Snow," she said light-heartedly. She wasn't in the mood to fight, nor was she prepared to.

She'd just have to hope the wolves weren't the bad type.

Subject: Re: » Dirge of the Ancient Machines [OPEN] Sun Jul 21 2019, 17:26

What the hell is that?

Whichever path his thoughts took, they always seemed to land at the same destination without a single answer to show for. Indeed, the enigma before him had kept his mind occupied for far too long. So long, in fact, he could no longer urge his body to turn and walk away, to leave the thing jutting from the scrubs behind. He wanted to find out what it was and find out he would.

Perhaps the only way he could describe the oddity was to call it some kind of rock formation or a carcass of some hideous beast. One that had grown to truly monstrous size. The latter seemed most fitting as it was completely hollowed out and rib-like structures formed walls far too thin and steep for a cave. The stench emanating from within, though faded, was vile enough to resemble rotting flesh.

Whatever the monster had looked like in life, it was dead now and so Viggo felt not a single shred of fear for it as he slipped closer, claws tapping on the rock-like ground. Vigilance graced his ears, his eyes, his nose and his steps. Though the monster could no longer harm him, one never knew what lurked near its remains and he was only one wolf. It paid to be on your guard.

The vile smell was stronger here. Different—No, it wasn't one smell. There were two. The first one he had never tasted before but the second curled his lip in recognition. At one point in their lives, every wolf learnt the stench of decomposing meat.

His stomach churned with a mixture of hunger and disgust and yet he marched into the belly of the beast, following his nose. Voices drifted to his ears at the same time the scent of wolf did. He rounded a corner, sauntering over to the group of three surrounding a motionless lump. So that's were the rot came from.

He let his gaze rest on each wolf for a few heartbeats, let his nose tell him who they were. Three females approximately his age. Not of the same pack. Likely strangers if the distance between them was anything to go by. Filing that information away, he set his sights back on the deformed lump sprawled across the floor. Yet another creature he had never seen before.

"What the hell is that?" he said with disdain.

Subject: Re: » Dirge of the Ancient Machines [OPEN] Sun Nov 24 2019, 16:09

Strung out falling from the big time
Welcome to the infinite black skies

Out of the shade stepped a white-furred stranger, not one of a pack or related to anyone she knew. Apparently her taste differed much from the commonsense'd, which was an easy way of forcing Jack's eyes into disgusted slits. Now, she wasn't planning on stopping the freak from munching on either the grossest and most alien of meats, but was that really the best response she could give her? They were at a slaughter scene, for howling out loud! Who knew what big trouble they'd be in if some brutish long-limbed happened by!

"Hey if you consider that the best way to go, be my guest, but if any of 'em two-legs snoops you out in the meantime, you're on your own." Maybe not seeming so possessive of the old kill would help her making a point. Jack took a few steps to the left and furrowed her brow; all the scars on her face wrinkled nicely with every expression she put on. Lovely.. "Tell you what- you keep this hunk of plague and scrap anything off it while I try to find out what exactly's responsible for cutting it down. Not much use in sniffing it for evidence anyway.." With a meaningful twitch of her ear, she prepared herself for a risky search around the facility- if it weren't for two others showing up to mingle. Oh bullocks, couldn't a tracker-to-be look for clues in peace?!

But the company wasn't boring. It'd been a while she had anyone around anyway, ever since she was forced to leave the oldie behind. First came a female- and one she'd never seen before. And not just in the sense of being a stranger, no, she had never seen a wolf like her before either.. There was something special about her, something she couldn't quite describe in the few seconds she looked at her.

Oh, and right after her came a male.

"On the bright side: facing off against those long-limps I mentioned may not be that difficult now after all," Jack commented on the scene, making a suave U-turn to face the newcomers and hopefully keep them away from the corpse. "And, uh.. you tell me, big guy. Not surprised human cubs are no less ugly than their parents, but what dead and rotting is, eh?" Once again she decided to try and profile the unfamiliars. The white one had a thing about her- it was either the chilly tone of voice or the look on her face that said that she wasn't kidding about eating trashy flesh. The male didn't give much away appearance-wise either; his eyes looked a tad on the cursed side, but knowing that the scent of decay wasn't his, Jack was convinced he wasn't one of those two-eyed demons the elders used to tell stories about. Then, of course, the brown-furred dame. She was just.. different, somehow. There was a story behind the lush green of her eyes, she could smell strength in the way she stood there, even without saying a word. Something made her feel curious about her, but that was probably because she'd never seen.. no, because she'd never seen a green-eyed wolf before- that had to be it!

Jack cleared her throat before she ultimately sat down about two steps away from the body, suddenly feeling more interested in watching things around the corpse unfold rather than pulling herself away from the action to go look for clues. Not like she was after loads of them anyway; she knew that the young human had gotten itself killed, and the only options available ranged from a clumsy accident to an encounter with a superior beast, with nothing in-between.

Brain clans fractured identity
Fragments and scattered debris

Subject: Re: » Dirge of the Ancient Machines [OPEN] Sat Jan 18 2020, 22:02

There were four now.
There was her, of course, the strange, new wolf from a distant land. There was the rough she-wolf with the heavy accent and the crude language who had first stumbled across the rotting corpse, the white she-wolf who had suggested that she would definitely, 100% eat the corpse, and a male who came in after her. Though the new wolf had two different colours in his eyes, something Korynthe had never seen before, she found her gaze trailing right back to the first she-wolf.
"What the hell is that?" the male asked disdainfully.
"On the bright side: facing off against those long-limps I mentioned may not be that difficult now after all," the yellow-eyed wolf said, turning swiftly to stand between her and the male, and the rotting corpse.
Korynthe didn't mind. The corpse was rather off-putting as scenery for a first meeting with such...interesting company.
"And, uh.. you tell me, big guy. Not surprised human cubs are no less ugly than their parents, but what dead and rotting is, eh?"
Wait.
The corpse was a young one?
She supposed it wasn't of much consequence. Big or small, adult or cub, it mattered little now it was dead.
Though she couldn't help but wonder what had killed the cub.
The yellow-eyed wolf cleared her throat.
Korynthe looked up from where her gaze had drifted to the corpse to the she-wolf, expecting her to say anything.
She didn't. She simply moved a couple steps away from the corpse before sitting down.
Silence hung in the air for a good moment before Korynthe sat down as well and looked around.
"So, introductions or more corpse-talk?" she asked, almost casually, before letting her gaze settle on the yellow-eyed she-wolf once more.
She doubted whether there was anything interesting to say about the corpse, and she was more interested in getting to know the yello-
The three wolves around her.

Subject: Re: » Dirge of the Ancient Machines [OPEN] Sun Jan 19 2020, 00:48

They say ¨the more the merrier¨ And she didn't particularly disagree with that sentiment but...But so many strangers all at once with their own input. It made the situation a little difficult for her to analyse. and plan her next movements correctly. So she stayed quiet for a while, yet she was listening intently to the others. When a brown female seemd to change the topic, Galaxia decided that now would be the best time to speak up again. For this was the perfect opening. ¨Oh no more corps-talk? how sad I was so enjoying it¨ her tone was made out of all sorts of elements, it was light yet with a slight disappointed tone. And if one listened really well, it could hear the dark note vaguely present. A grin danced around her lips as she looked around the room. ¨Ah well, my name is Galaxia pleasure to meet you all.¨

Subject: Re: » Dirge of the Ancient Machines [OPEN] Wed Jan 22 2020, 20:22

It had been a while so many members of his own species had graced him with their presence, the last time summoning unpleasant memories to the forefront of his mind. Too long he had wandered alone with only the scent of wolf in his nose to keep him company. It was nice to sense more of them than their stench. The company was certainly appreciated... but he wasn't sure if he wanted to deal with the eyes lingering just a tad too long on the left side of his face, whether he was ready to hear those curses leap from their throats.

Fortunately, none of them remarked on his supposed "witch-eye" and kept the mangled body at their feet on the subject. The golden-eyed female had a lot of words to share on the matter. "On the bright side: facing off against those long-limps I mentioned may not be that difficult now after all," she said and Viggo raised an eyebrow in her direction. Planning to slay more of these ugly things, now was she? He wasn't sure whether to be annoyed or amused she concluded he, or any of the others, would join the hunt. The long-limped creature at their feet didn't look intimidating, rotting flesh and bared bones aside. Could be interesting. Nothing like a good hunt to get acquainted with your fellow wolves.

"And, uh.. you tell me, big guy," began the golden-eyed female's reply to his disgusted question. "Not surprised human cubs are no less ugly than their parents, but what dead and rotting is, eh?"

Cub? So this maggot-invested thing was not an adult? He could scarcely imagine how ugly the creatures that had birthed it must look. His mental images certainly weren't pretty. The corner of his mouth twitched upward and he silently hoped she would drag all their asses back outside to hunt the adult versions of this thing. He wanted to see the big ones. How they lived. How they moved. It had to be an odd sight to behold, considering those disproportionately long hind legs. Maybe it got him some answers about the skeleton of the creature surrounding them, as well.

But to his disappointment, in his silence the conversation had steered away from the rotting corpse and instead went to an introductory round. The white female named herself Galaxia and Viggo mirrored the grin playing across her lips—if more subdued and laced with more masculine charm. "The pleasure is mine," he said in his characteristic, smooth voice and gave a gentle incline of his head—perhaps the deepest bow and show of respect he had ever given another wolf. "The name's Viggo. And who might you be?" he asked, shifting that grin to the two other females.

Subject: Re: » Dirge of the Ancient Machines [OPEN] Thu Jan 23 2020, 08:14

Strung out falling from the big time
Welcome to the infinite black skies

Stiff-faced standoffs were common occurrences in the world of the drifters, and while she wasn't particularly fond of all the chilly looks and hidden thoughts, Jack was starting to see why. The further away one ventured from their homeland, the quainter their fellow wolves seemed to get. Not that they were weird or downright insane- just different. One such unique wolf with unusual manners was the green-eyed female whom she'd been eyeing earlier. Amidst the tense and word-scarce interactions, she proposed..

"Meet'n'greet, huh? Yeah, couldn't think of a more, um.." Did this she-wolf really deserve that acidic sarcasm of hers? Maybe there was no bad intention behind it- how could there possibly be? Playing kind for once wouldn't hurt a soul..

Jack however was tossed back to the end of the line when the two others hopped in to introduce themselves first, each an owner of a name she didn't know but spoke of outlandish heritage. It was good to know and have confirmation that she wasn't the only outsider, as this would suggest there was a silent migration stream rippling about; in time, this would mean more and more wolves until the country earned itself a name and was able to be colonized fully. Obviously by those who preferred to be contained by rules and policies, of course. Freewalkers like her would only have to keep an eye out for such folk.

Would they all make for proper packfolk? Her eyes went over each of them, actually caring for her self-formulated answer answer very little before she - of course - ended up at the green-eyed female. She seemed too free, too strong and intelligent to be an alpha's pawn. No, they were of the same kind, her and Jack. She had to be.

Random outburst aside, she soon realized she had to show off her manners too.

"Name's Jack, pleasure meetin' ya," she said with a short but steadfast nod. That grin, she didn't like it. Not at all. "Last time I saw someone grimace like that he tried to eat me. But here's to cultural diversity in.. facial expression, I suppose." The first thing the old man had taught her was to drop the attitude. Jack hadn't liked that order, and ended up proving him there was nothing wrong about an attitude moons later. Especially in her case, as females in her part of the wild were taught to shut the blazes up and be passive, it was a tool to shock wolves and keep them at a paw's length- that she liked more than cold-hearted threats or good intentions that would remain abused.

But the she-wolf, didn't she have a name too? Jack could already appreciate being able to give the face a name. Made it easier to think..

Brain clans fractured identity
Fragments and scattered debris

Subject: Re: » Dirge of the Ancient Machines [OPEN]

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