Is Life But A Game?

[† Kadaver †]

It's odd, how someone can be in the most serene of areas, but their mind is racing, completely distracted and almost in another...deminsion. Mirage knew the feeling all to well. Her sub-conscious mind was off in the forbidden zone. It was like a high for her to return to her past, and it fogs her common sense to relive the constant abuse that she was put through. It played like a movie on a screen to the inside of her eye-lids every time she was forced to shut them for her own unwanted health. If it were up to her, Mirage would never sleep

Aside from her tenseness as she slept, no one would ever be able to tell that she was having one of the worst, most realistic nightmares. Rage never showed her fear, and she never again would. She saw where it got her. Everyone wanted to take advantage of the defenseless, broken down, little girl. She knew better now. Her past was one of unforced slavery. One of horrific, multiple rapes and abusement. She was the smallest, and she was always their easy prey. Her dreams were always about the bad times. She could never stay asleep long enough to see her well done revenge against them all. She never saw her kill every single one of them. Only he escaped her grasp of death

The sun shone through the dancing treetops, creating an undo-able maze on the ground below. Her almost still form perched on a boulder, one of the cleanest things in the whole forest. The rain the night before had washed any remaining dirt from it, and although it remained scarred brown, it was clean. Her ivory bodice created a great amount of contrast, and she stuck out like the moon among stars. She was amazingly beautiful, even in her hidden distress. The water that had pooled beneath the rock formed a type of a pathetic moat. She didn't want to be bothered, but her defenses as she slept had run thin. As the sin reflected off of the water, the wind moved the treetops, casting her body in an array of moving shattered glass.

She awoke, but knew better than to open her eyes with a start. Slowly, they opened, shedding a chilly sliver light onto the world. Mir lifted her head and shook the lingering dew drops from her pelt. The wind whispered in her ears, the exact thing she didn't want to hear. He was still after her, and he would be until he was dead, and death by her fangs was the only way Mirage have it.

[eclipse]

Xercese's paws sent him flying across the land. His land. His very own kingdom. And he found himself alive with the power he had. He caught sight of a small brown hare leaping ahead of him in panic, and with a growl of roughish laughter, pounded after it. As he ran, he not only saw the hare in the distance, but a flash of fur as well. He jerked up sharply, a snarl fixing itself on his jaws, and the stench of another wolf filling his black nose.

He gave a short, accusing growl-bark and lunged towards the perpetrator, eyes blazing. At first, it looked like the banished leader that had once ruled this land, but as he neared, he could see it was a she-wolf. His lip lowered, but he did not hold himself any lower.

"Hail! What name do you go by and by what authority do you tread on this land?"

[† Kadaver †]

She didn't move from her self-acclaimed pedistal, but simply stared at the overreacting male with naturally cold eyes. The hare, which was continuing to bolt for it's life, glanced back into the general direction of the male. The wind was on Rage's side, wether she wanted it to be or not. In truth, she didn't care. She had eaten late the day before, and her stomach wasn't even on the verge of complaining about empty space as of yet.

The hare, in that one split second where it wasn't paying attention, turned his head back onto the road ahead of him just to smack, full speed and head-on, into Mirage's perch. A loud snap shattered the serinity in the treetops, sending startled sparrows shooting to the skys, their disturbed squaking murdering the silence. As the last of them dissapeared over the horizon, the deadly stillness returned.

The mangled, bleeding scrap of brown fur lay limp at the base of Mirage's boulder, it's neck snapped and the bones jutting out of it's throat, piercing the arteries that flowed to its brain. The poor creature twitched a few times, it's body spazeming from it's whacked nervous system. It was about ten seconds after the silence had returned, after the world had set it's attention back onto her, that she fianally smiled coyly, both at the rabit's stupidity and the male's demanding nature.

No one got anything out of her that easily. Mirage was no toy, no puppet to be manipulated by whoever thought they could handle the strings. She let out a small chuckle, her melodic voice like that of a chorus of singing silver bells. You land owners are so testy these days. She stated calmly under the pressure of the rigid male.

[eclipse]

Sensing she was not one that would be called dangerous, and rather amused at her comment, he struggled to lower his hackles, and took on what he hoped was a more relaxed pose.

"Forgive me... But when you come unannounced into another's turf, the trust is rather shallow"

His voice dropped slightly, and he lifted the bloody, torn carcass off of the grass. He flicked it onto the rock with a twist of his regal head, and pawed his way up to the top. While he had little problem with a well behaved intruder, having her at a higher position than him was not going to happen. He let his ears perk up slightly as he managed to find footing near her, and he stood proudly by her, his eyes looking over her. For the briefest of seconds, he felt his male hormones flutter, but then they were gone and he was seeing her as the un-trusting king would see a new adviser.

"Shall we start on better grounds, lady?"

He inquired, his voice gentler. Why not keep from making enemies where it counted, eh?

[† Kadaver †]

That's more like it, bub, cause I know that isn't the way your mother taught to you talk to a lady. She stated, never removing her chilled pools from his. Sure it was a challenge to look an alpha in the eyes, but Rage could handle herself. Besides, in truth she had no idea that this guy was an alpha or just a scout anyways. The lands wern't strongly marked, and in truth she hadn't any idea that anyone lived here anyways. They must have just claimed the land as their own, but Mirage didn't see it that way. All the land was hers in her mind, and no one could tell her where to go or what to do.

Snow white vix wasn't the most comfortable having this brute standing next to her while she was laying down, so she lithly hoisted herself up onto her paws. For a wolf, her curves were tremendous and she, unlike other femmes, didn't waste her time trying to make them that way. Her silky and lengthy fur held static electricity like a baloon, though instead of sticking out in an array of random directions, it clung to her frame with a charged force.

Chuckeling slightly, she replayed the male's last sentance in her head once more. You mean rocks? Lifting her dainty paw and setteing it down once more indicated where teh two of them stood. She never moved her eyes, reading each movement he made before he even made it.

She was in a pretty good mood today, which was odd. Summer usually disguested her. So many lovesick creatures happly dancing around with babies and such. Talk about pure hurl material. In truth, the only thing good about summer was that she didn't get wet and cold, and she stood out like a sore thumb. The trees in the winter time were magnifcently bare, but the snow everywhere matched her. Mirage loathed it with a firey burning passion. She would not blend into the crowd.

[eclipse]

What was more of a grimace made it's way onto Xercese's face as she stood and commented on the rock, and as he listened to her wry, laughing, at-east comments, he felt slightly better.

"Surely a lady such as yourself would prefer a place to lay other than on a hard cold rock..." He paused here, lifting one foot at a time in a sort of disdainful attempt to get an imagionary something off of them. "... for such things are only good for cutting up pawpads or providing shelter."

When she had stood up before, it made him slightly uneasy to see fae with as much unchecked bravado as her. Though she was calm, and her voice was sweet, she was too outspoken in his eyes.

"Ah, but introductions have not been made yet..." he oh-so-barely dipped his head in acknowledging the fact that he was talking to another wolf who deserved his respect, and said "I am Xercese, lord of these lands. It has been... rather interesting to try and hold them, but alas, I have. Surely one with the grace of a dove has a name? To have one but keep it locked away would be a crime!"

[† Kadaver †]

Well, this boy was no fool. Her smile was held inward as she watched him jitter about. There was something about her pressence that always made others weary of her, and in truth, Mirage couldn't love it more. Wether it was females taking a hit on their self-esteem, marveling at the beauty they could never accomplish, males with their over active hormones, or her attitude and eyes just creeped everyone out. It was good for them to keep their distance, if they valued their lives, that is.

Pleasure, Xercese. I am crowned Mirage. She stated in pure confidence, her head held still, not mirroring the male's quick bow. Sure, he was 'alpha' or whatever, but that didn't apply to this little loner. She truly didn't care of he noticed or not, for she already knew by his jitteryness that he wouldn't try to force dominance upon her, which was also good for him. Wether he knew it or not, Rage was already dominating him as she stared deep into his eyes, naturally sending a chill through most wolves.

[eclipse]

Nodding briefly, he straightened himself, and leaped from the rock. Glancing up at her, he opened his maw to speak, then shut it sharply, whirling around, his ears perked. Faintly. Ever so faintly... he heard the rest of his pack a little ways away. He heard the sounds of Micara's enraged voice on the wind, and he bristled. Lowering his head much deeper this time towards the other female, apologetically, he turned with bared fangs towards the source of the sound.

"Forgive me, Mirage, but what little I call my kin have run into difficulties." (under his breath he muttered with a voice full of malice 'and curses to the wandering spirit that possesses them!' before continuing) "and my duty as a leader calls me. If you wish to come, you are more than welcome to, but I make to guarantees it will be pretty." with that, he turned and set off at a lope towards the sounds.

d*mn that stupid hare. He would have to come back for it later.

[† Kadaver †]

No facial expression plagued the femme's face, though internally she rolled her eyes. How annoying. She wasn't about to join this pack, but the fae knew all to well she could handle herself. If Xercease was having trouble holding his pack, they were either large in numbers and he was being challenged or they were so little in numbers there was no way to hold their boarders strong enough to ward off intruders, and the latter was what Mirage stuck too. She hadn't even noticed that this territory was occupied, although she couldn't honestly care less.

She didn't reply to the male before rocketed through the treeline. In truth, she didn't know what she wanted to do. Rage sighed, gracefully hopping off the boulder, her dainty paws imacting the earth without a sound. Snatching up the rabbit, she easily flung it through the air and into the opposite treeline, and not a bad distance either. Hopping back onto the boulder, she jumped off near the other side and trotted lithely to the hare, burying it. She didn't leave a trail the way she went to it, or put it there that matter as it flung through the air. It was her's in her mind, and she wasn't about to fight off a pack for her property. She'd come back for it.

Attempting to make a jump back to the boulder to keep with the no scent thing, she realized that from that side she couldn't jump that far. Starting at a run, she circled a far path around the clearing and started her way to where the male exited.