10-27-2018, 09:34 PM
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<i>Ruan.</i>
His name slipped through his barrier, pushed his cold lips into a silent snarl over pale teeth. He didn't like the effect her voice had on him, even softened by his firm magic holding her at arm's length. He didn't like the sting, the pang in his chest that used to care so deeply for all, the urge to answer and give everything he could no matter who it was. Give all of himself as he always had. Didn't she know it was better this way?
<i>I need you here.</i>
The words themselves when placed that way would have been pleading, passive and needing. They would've nearly disgusted him now, or once upon a time they would have called to him, would have appealed to his unconditional heart. He craved to care for those who chose it of him, chose to accept and trust him to protect and love them. He'd once been the Heart of the Taiga for most of its entire existence. Its second, and last, monarch.
In some way, he did need to be needed. He wasn't born a leader, had been so content to serve under Romek and Maribel as they led, but his wife had created him to be one. She had risen him up from his humble, subservient loyalty to their king and queen and created a Dominant Alpha, caretaker of their forest, steady and faithful to a damn fault. (More faithful than she turned out to be.)
So many damn faults.
But these words by the purple mage outside his ice, formed and shaped into a command, was exactly that. A command, not a plea. It was blatant fact laid solidly in his expert hands to consider, a command that he pay attention to his peoples' needs. What was left of them. And she was his people. The boy who had taken on Ruan's natural-born color as his own to disguise him, protect him, whose emotions she pressed into his mind, his heart, was his people. His dwindling pack. His son in some profound way. His only son. But not in the way Jinju was his daughter. There was no other like Jinju to him. His second in command, his whole being. His entire trust. The only one that had proven to deserve it.
He deliberated.
He would protect them.
<i>I need you here</i>. He let it repeat in his mind, echo in his soul. Not a plea, only fact. She physically, magically, couldn't do this alone. Without him. It was him she chose to assist her. She would fall, and she needed him.
He was quiet as he contemplated it, scrutinized every angle, every fault he'd bear in ignoring her, every advantage she had without his aid. And then he measured everything he could give her to help, had he been a whole man still. Had he not been so ripped apart from so many unseen enemies and trusted loved ones alike. He could've helped her so much.
But he was nameless now.
<i>"Stop being a coward."</i>
So not entirely nameless, then.
<i>"Stop hiding."</i>
He would rise to the challenge. Not for the insult, but for the distinct fact that a stranger now stood amongst his pack as if he belonged. As if he could demand things of the Alpha that had survived so much in their treasured forest that had known his paws, his howls, his heart. His life. His blood.
But the winter wolf was feral now, losing sudden hold of that careful thread of humane sanity as it slipped hopelessly through his deft fingers. He squared up, let their magic build until it would shatter then abruptly added his own, exploded his small fortress outward with them with a packed gunshot that rang out through the mountains. Bladed shards of ice flew out, pelting and lodging into nearby trees with solid <i>thunks</i> before melting instantly, the strength of his magic focused elsewhere.
He emerged as a wild threat, a blur of wolven fur and his roar lost in the pounding echo between the trees. His magic was set loose as it gripped the mulberry man's legs from his hooves to his knees, locking him to the ground where he stood. Ruan lunged forward in the very same moment, teeth bared and a growl deep in his throat, snarling viciously and aiming for the only one he didn't recognize, driven on by the man's intimate nearness to his dear friend, his pack. He aimed for the man's throat with lethal intent, his armor manifesting in a zip of magic, leaving his precious daughter of glass behind in the safety of a half-built, frozen shelter to guard her against seeing him this way. He was at least conscious enough to wish for that.
He would protect her even now. Even as he lost his mind.
Always the Guardian.
The Taigan.</div> </div> </div>
<a href="https://youtu.be/_ubnhgZgsfc"><i>Bet you didn't think that I'd come back to life</i></a></center>
<i>Ruan.</i>
His name slipped through his barrier, pushed his cold lips into a silent snarl over pale teeth. He didn't like the effect her voice had on him, even softened by his firm magic holding her at arm's length. He didn't like the sting, the pang in his chest that used to care so deeply for all, the urge to answer and give everything he could no matter who it was. Give all of himself as he always had. Didn't she know it was better this way?
<i>I need you here.</i>
The words themselves when placed that way would have been pleading, passive and needing. They would've nearly disgusted him now, or once upon a time they would have called to him, would have appealed to his unconditional heart. He craved to care for those who chose it of him, chose to accept and trust him to protect and love them. He'd once been the Heart of the Taiga for most of its entire existence. Its second, and last, monarch.
In some way, he did need to be needed. He wasn't born a leader, had been so content to serve under Romek and Maribel as they led, but his wife had created him to be one. She had risen him up from his humble, subservient loyalty to their king and queen and created a Dominant Alpha, caretaker of their forest, steady and faithful to a damn fault. (More faithful than she turned out to be.)
So many damn faults.
But these words by the purple mage outside his ice, formed and shaped into a command, was exactly that. A command, not a plea. It was blatant fact laid solidly in his expert hands to consider, a command that he pay attention to his peoples' needs. What was left of them. And she was his people. The boy who had taken on Ruan's natural-born color as his own to disguise him, protect him, whose emotions she pressed into his mind, his heart, was his people. His dwindling pack. His son in some profound way. His only son. But not in the way Jinju was his daughter. There was no other like Jinju to him. His second in command, his whole being. His entire trust. The only one that had proven to deserve it.
He deliberated.
He would protect them.
<i>I need you here</i>. He let it repeat in his mind, echo in his soul. Not a plea, only fact. She physically, magically, couldn't do this alone. Without him. It was him she chose to assist her. She would fall, and she needed him.
He was quiet as he contemplated it, scrutinized every angle, every fault he'd bear in ignoring her, every advantage she had without his aid. And then he measured everything he could give her to help, had he been a whole man still. Had he not been so ripped apart from so many unseen enemies and trusted loved ones alike. He could've helped her so much.
But he was nameless now.
<i>"Stop being a coward."</i>
So not entirely nameless, then.
<i>"Stop hiding."</i>
He would rise to the challenge. Not for the insult, but for the distinct fact that a stranger now stood amongst his pack as if he belonged. As if he could demand things of the Alpha that had survived so much in their treasured forest that had known his paws, his howls, his heart. His life. His blood.
But the winter wolf was feral now, losing sudden hold of that careful thread of humane sanity as it slipped hopelessly through his deft fingers. He squared up, let their magic build until it would shatter then abruptly added his own, exploded his small fortress outward with them with a packed gunshot that rang out through the mountains. Bladed shards of ice flew out, pelting and lodging into nearby trees with solid <i>thunks</i> before melting instantly, the strength of his magic focused elsewhere.
He emerged as a wild threat, a blur of wolven fur and his roar lost in the pounding echo between the trees. His magic was set loose as it gripped the mulberry man's legs from his hooves to his knees, locking him to the ground where he stood. Ruan lunged forward in the very same moment, teeth bared and a growl deep in his throat, snarling viciously and aiming for the only one he didn't recognize, driven on by the man's intimate nearness to his dear friend, his pack. He aimed for the man's throat with lethal intent, his armor manifesting in a zip of magic, leaving his precious daughter of glass behind in the safety of a half-built, frozen shelter to guard her against seeing him this way. He was at least conscious enough to wish for that.
He would protect her even now. Even as he lost his mind.
Always the Guardian.
The Taigan.</div> </div> </div>
<a href="https://youtu.be/_ubnhgZgsfc"><i>Bet you didn't think that I'd come back to life</i></a></center>
