Wolf and Fox

[Anubite25]

To say Steel Gaze is having a bad night is an understatement. The Alpha of the Sky Wardens has plenty, plenty weighing on his mind.

Kevin is back at the Tur, or possibly joining the others in their search for Grandfather. Either way he's probably got his hands full with Pure.

Speaking of, a pair of them had damn nearly been the death of the rahu. A lucky intervention by Tony Ward had pulled him out of the fire and evened the odds. Even then, Steel knows he's going to need a couple of hours to patch up. Hours that he's painfully aware he doesn't have.

And then there's Jessie.

Ooooooh boy, Jessie.

Steel pauses in his movements to lick at his wounds a bit, spitting some blood on the ground. For once, for once Jessie had stood up for his beliefs. Unfortunately said beliefs meant he'd been arguing for not killing the Pure's hierarchy when given the chance. Not that Steel has place to complain given the two werewolves he and Tony had left patching up, but priorities needed to be taken.

Top priority, find out if Jessie was a full-on traitor, stupid, cowardly, or some combination of the three. Either way it doesn't promise to be a pleasant conversation as Steel lopes along toward the court of Prideful Harrier.

Yo, Moonfang , get Jessie's fuzzy butt over here. His Alpha wants to have words...

[Moonfang]

Jessie was barreling towards where he last saw Steel when he rounded a corner and nearly ran into the Alpha himself! The surprise sent Jessie tripping over his feet and rolling off to the side of the 'path' through the Hisil. He was left dazed for a few moments as he shifted to Hisil. "S-S-Steel? You d-d-d-didn't get as ffffffar as I thought. Did y-y-y-y-you lose them? Harrior ssssssshould be on h-h-h-h-his way and..." Jessie then noticed just how badly wounded Steel was and got a sickened expression on his face, his skin going pale and green at once. "Wha.. What happened to you?" His tone made it clear that he knew what it was, but he was blindly hopeful that it was something, ANYTHING else than what it clearly was.

[Anubite25]

Steel lets out a low growl at the sight of Jessie. Much as he doesn't like the idea, he needs to be able to speak. Hence, he begins the painful shift to a more mouth-friendly form.

   3 sux, going to Dalu form

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-05-30 16:32:31		Steel Gaze rolls 7 to shift to Dalu (10 Again)		3, 9, 6, 7, 4, 9, 8		3 successes

In just a few seconds, he's up on two legs again, glaring at the other wolf. His wounds look and feel even worse now, but if there's one thing he's used to it's pain.

"Jess... you saw me get slammed by that Pure fucker back there. You saw him get his teeth in me and try to rip my throat out..." His growl is steadily rising into a full on roar as he stomps forward. "THE FUCK DO YOU THINK HAPPENED? WE SAT DOWN FOR A CHAT?!"

Shouting feels good. Steels' gray eyes are wide as he continues to press toward Jessie. If not for his still-knitting injuries you wouldn't guess that he's nearly as hurt as he is.

"I know you're smart, Jess. Fuck, you know more about spirits than most wolves I've met, Steel goes on. "Unfortunately for you, that leaves only two things on the table now..."

He cracks his knuckles, relishing the slight pain as it wakes him up.

"Either you're a coward, or a traitor, and I'm not in the mood to suffer either right now," Steel seethes out. "So you'd better have the best fucking explanation that I've ever heard!"

With that, Jessie's Alpha is quiet, waiting for said explanation.

[Moonfang]

Jessie shook his head the entire time. Both denying the charge and the reality set before him. "N-N-n-...NO! I last sssssaw you ru-ru-running and no mo-mo-more. You-you had ta-ta-to keep running! Th-th-there was only eh-wh-one way out of da-da-that alley" Jessie's eyes unfocused as he spoke, looking around frantically. Sweat starting to bead on his face as his breathing grows heavy. His entire body looked like it was still running despite his lack of movement.

After a bit he comes down, suddenly relaxed like the prior moments hadn't happened. He looked to Steel and smiled weakly, "Y-y-you escaped. That's gu-gu-good. N-n-need Essence?" He held his hands out to give Steel what he had while looking to the sky. "H-h-h-harrier is t-t-taking a wh-wh-while."

[Anubite25]

Steel's teeth are bared. His fist flies back like he's about to deck the cringing wolf in front of him.

He stops, thinking over Jessie's words. One question suddenly burns in his mind and he has to bring it up.

"Jess... you sure you weren't followed to Prideful's turf?"

His fist lowers. It's not like Steel would have been expecting his totem to just drop out of the sky and save him, but if there's a chance...

If there's even the slimmest chance...

Steel continues to glare at Jessie, not accepting the Essence.

"Just cuz two Pure jumped on me doesn't mean they're the only ones around," Steel snarls. "And so help me, if you've lead the Pure to Prideful and the others..."

... Well, for starters, he'd really need to rethink whether or not Jessie's an idiot.

[Moonfang]

Jessie gave Steel a look of disbelief and shook his head. "No, of c-c-c-course not. I was a-a-a-alert there and b-b-b-back. It would b-b-b-be madness i-i-i-if they just a-a-a-a-appeared out of n-n-n-n-nowhere. And I d-d-d-doubled back on my t-t-t-trail. T-t-t-they would sssssooner come h-h-h-h-here than t-t-t-there." Forcing himself to talk through the stuttering was exhausing for Jessie, both on his voice and his mind. When he finally got through it, he hung his head nad rubbed at his eyes before swallowing and extending the offer of Essence again, "N-N-Now relax and l-l-let me help you... I n-n-n-need you to be r-r-r-relaxed before I e-e-e-explain what Firebringer is g-g-g-gonna do to us."

[Anubite25]

Steel lets out a heavy sigh, taking a step back.

"You don't gotta explain shit, Jess. I already have a pretty good idea," Steel says. And so help me, I probably deserve it for not stopping this before it started."

His glare has relaxed somewhat, but it's clear he's not accepting the Essence offer. He simply crosses his arms, breathing and focusing on his word rather than his wounds.

"I get where you're coming from. Told Firebringer as much before I came chasing you. But dammit, Jess..." Steel shakes his head. "We're talking about being at war here. And in case you missed it, The Pure ain't too concerned with our Oaths."

Steel gestures to his own injured body as he says this.

"Now so help me, we're heading back to the Tur. Right now," Steel explains. "No more talk about stopping the others, you hear? Cuz the situation we're in we can't afford to pull punches. And when Firebringer comes down on us for what happened..."

Ugh. Steel clenches his jaw trying hard not to think what a fun conversation that's gonna be.

"You're gonna have to hope they remember to keep to the Oath with you," Steel points out. "And considering I'm your Alpha, and your little freak-out reflects on me, then I'm gonna have to also."

It's not fear in his voice. Anger is still there... but also disappointment.

[Moonfang]

Jessie took the entire verbal talking down without moving. At first, he looks dejected at his explanation being turned down. And then shocked that he would insist that they return without taking a drop of his own essence, as much as his body is torn completely apart. Then it went to looking at Steel like he was a madman before finally, Jessie hung his head.

He said only this:

"War? Steel.. W-W-When was the last time the T-T-T-Tur was attacked b-b-b-by all of the P-P-P-Pure?"

[Anubite25]

Steel tempers his growl. Jessie wasn't there, he reminds himself. He's still rapidly losing patience.

"Nearly a year ago, alright? That's the night I lost friends," Steel explains, jabbing a finger at Jessie. "A lot of us did. And we found their bodies stuffed into boxes left in our old Tur. You going somewhere with this?"

[Moonfang]

Jessie cringed as Steel explained it. Ok, touchy subject. Treed lightly. He stood up and put his hands up, a gesture that he hoped would show Steel that he meant no harm as he carefully chose his next words and did his best no to stutter. Though he still stammered as he spoke, "As.. horrific as that was. Does the following actions not strike you as odd? For a time, I accepted it. That no Pure wanted to risk their lives facing Gaura Forsaken backed into a corner. That they were swept up in internal politics and territory staking out that would occupy them for almost decades. That only in rare moments would they chose to attack."

He paused, letting his vision settle in to Steel before he went on, "But then Grandfather appeared and threw that all away." He pointed to his head as he went on, "Think about it. A single figure controlling all of the Pure. HE would lay out territory and could have driven the Pure to drive what remained out of Sacromento the next day. Yet.. He did not. Instead of striking you down while you were weakest, he allowed you to grow stronger. He kept every Pure, who's lives were built around this burning their hate to us the moment the Bands were burned from their bodies.. He kept them away from us in mass. Sure, a few struck when we left the Tur but.. never have you faced their full wrath."

Jessie shook his head in disbelief, "I can't not understand why he does this. We should not be facing.." He caught sight of the two Pure, still apparently recovering from the beating that Steel gave them and he cringed a bit, "Facing two pure but instead a whole horde. Yet, we are not. And he is the only unusual variable. If he is removed... Nothing would be stopping the Pure." Jessie looked to Steel, hoping to Mother Luna and Father Wolf that he could see what Jessie saw. What storm was about to bare down on them soon from Firebringer's actions.

Then something struck his thought processes, like a rubber band being flicked at the back of the head. He looked to the two bodies of the Pure with a quizical look.

"Two?"

OOC

Just to make it easier on me and folks reading and because it doesn't actually have a penalty attached to it, I will just make Jessie's stuttering implied.