See - the Moon is Rising

[Fierfly]

((Sorry for the short post and poor quality >.< not feeling it tonight, but I have time so I figured I'd hop on. Meds))

Venus:

Too easy. Much too easy. She drew the time out. She caught a rabbit for her supper, took a brief dust bath and had groomed the soil back out of her coat again, but now it had the texture she wanted. She'd stopped for a break and a drink at Amoux on the border, but now she was back. Late afternoon sun was sinking beneath the horizon, dying the dry summer sky a lifeless red - it was too hot for the vibrant colors of the spring and fall.

She dropped her trophy and lifted her lip in disdain. You could see the hollows in the cheeks of the skull - they'd know. Oh well, she'd still had every chance of avoiding her. Traveling with a companion, checking the air to see if she was being pursued, pleading for her life, actually trying to run, something.

She tipped her slender head back and folded her oversized ears back against her neck and requested an audience with her alpha and beta. Acribus had suggested she finally prove her adulthood, and she had a proposition to offer. It would have been more impressive with a male, or at least a wolf in better health. She could offer to do it again, something to prove her skills...

Or she could keep being inconspicuous, like before. Maybe it would be better if she stuck to what she new, she wasn't much of a gambler and one could never tell: evil alphas were always a gamble. Well, she'd make a call, wait to see how the field came out before she placed a wager.

[Meds]

((So I gave up Fjord, but will play him for this quick moment))

Acribus, Fjord;

A hollow sound, yet deep, broke through the night sky. It did not fit with the warm surroundings—somehow it felt cold. The sounds were periodic, patterned... thud, thud, click. It was a familiar sound. The sound of ice forming and breaking. It was Fjord coming, each of his steps freezing the moisture at his feet, and thawing and breaking when his paws lifted. The white male with the red slashes moved through the bushes like a frozen tide. Even the air around him was colder—almost misted.
Acribus, his Beta, came slinking behind like a forgotten disease. His own pelt, highlighted with red as well, and yet the whites of his fur were not nearly so pure as Fjord's. Skinny, emaciated, yet if one looked close enough, rippling with taught muscle as he moved in the wake of the icey mist.

"So," Fjord spoke before he was out of the bushes, for he had heard Venus' call. His voice was deep and terrible—cold, almost as if the ice had found its way into his vocal chords. "The Little Sister wants to grown up." His thoughts didn't even flicker to his own whelp, Fia, the pack's only other Little Sister. She, too, would have to grow up soon.
Acribus came through the bushes after Fjord, his purple eyes were untouched by the full moon and appeared black in the night, focused on Venus. This is what she had wanted—this is what he had wanted. Let the ritual begin.

Fjord moved to Venus unhesitatingly, then bent down and inspected the skull before them without moving his eyes from her own. He smelled it, just once. It was fresh enough. Good. The ice around his paws crinkled again. Other than that first inspection, no more attention was paid to the skull—an insight into how little wolves that were not their own meant to Midnight Silence.

Suddenly Acribus sensed he was needed, and he moved forward swiftly. To Venus he went. For a half-moment he remembered that she did not want the mark somewhere obvious, for she wanted to preserve her inconspicuousness. And so as he went to her, he did not bare her shoulder to the Alpha—instead, he grabbed her paw with his teeth and lifted her front leg up, exposing the soft part of her belly just below her elbow.
It would still hurt. It would still be seen if she walked carelessly or if somebody looked hard enough—but it would, mostly, be hidden.

Fjord made no questions as to why Acribus did not show the shoulder. He cared not. His job here was to mark Venus as one of his own. Swiftly, he brought up a half-moon piece of ice from his feet, his eye glowing and the half-moon sharpening and strengthening itself until it burned with a white-hot chill.
In seconds it was over. The little moon had burnt into her flesh and melted, leaving a scar under her front leg that would mark her forever more as a wolf of Midnight Silence. Fjord glanced to Acribus, who dipped his head.

"Acribus tells me you have shown an interest in becoming the Beta Female for this pack." His glowing eye moved back to Venus. "This is acceptable. With the pain I will soon bring down upon Secluded Sunrise, I need more minds in my council." His voice was deep, void of feeling. "I do not require the two of you to become mates—yet. For now, just get used to your new position."

And without another word, the Alpha turned and left, the ice crackling as he went.

-Exit Fjord-

Acribus gave her a dark, fleeting smile. Yet. As if he cared about things of that nature—but the Alpha got what he wanted. Acribus cracked his neck once, then dipped his head to Venus.
"Beta."

((She did want to be Beta, right? And if that mark is in a bad spot, just read it as if it went wherever you wanted it haha))

[Fierfly]

((Sorry for the long delay, I've been really sapped lately))

Venus:

She'd only seen Fjord up close once before, and not quite this close. He was massive and terrible. Somehow even amidst the dust and sand his white coat remained pure and frosty - perhaps he took the same pains with remaining neatly groomed she did, it was irrelevant however. He crested the rise before her, muscles in his large shoulders rippling with raw power and guile and Acribus' mangy frame slinking in behind him like the filthy shadow he was. "So, the Little Sister wants to grow up," he observed quietly, aloofly. She managed not to shudder, but instead lifted a lip in a sort of salute - not a disturbed curdled-milk rise of the lip, more of a he reeked of power and her teeth were his to do as he told her to, and bowed her head in greeting for a proper acknowledgement of his superiority over hers. "Alpha,"

She didn't fully raise her head, she still didn't trust that her offering would be accepted, but she did raise it enough where she could read Fjord's lips if he continued to speak lowly. If he was displeased she had to know - that was not the kind of news you wanted to wait to hear about. He barely paused as he approached her, only stooped to sniff the trophy once. He didn't see the hollow cheeks or the dull of the coat, only smelled the fresh bitter flavor of blood, and apparently that was enough.

Acribus shot forward and yanked her fore-leg up like she was about to sit back and beg, exposing the soft fur on her belly. She turned to Acribus, about to hiss at him when a crackling squeal came from her abdomen. Her soft blue eyes widened and she opened her maw to scream and the cold burning peeling away her fur and branding the soft white skin beneath. Only the softest whimper escaped her lips, instead she clamped her jaws down on her tongue and ground her claws into the soil as the ice burned away the skin and froze her blood there - if he had not been pleased then-

The brand dropped beneath her. That was the only way she knew what had happened - she'd been branded. There it was, the half-moon branding, still sizzling with the heat of her body as it had collided with the lifeless cold of the brand.

She looked up at her alpha, squaring her shoulders and turning her ears to pick up his next words. Acribus had reported to him of her desire to be beta female - he needed more voices on his council, he accepted the request. They would not be required to mate...yet, for now she was to learn of her position and practice performing in it, and the great wraith of ice took his leave.

Venus' eyes dropped to her paws. Beta female? She'd said no such thing, and yet - and yet this was too delicious and rare an opportunity to pass up. Still, beta female with Acribus? One day bearing his pups? At least it would probably only be once, and now she had weight to throw around - it was better than being a harem femme or an omega or Little Sister. Besides, it was only if Fjord needed, his own spawn were healthy and rambunctious, he would not need young soldiers again for some time. She would solve this dilemma when it came to her, for now she could afford not to worry. Instead she could enjoy the sweet victory of such a great promotion. From a little Sister to the fourth-ranked in the whole pack, and all for the head of a sick and dying wolf. Not a bad bargain.

Warm, rich wine slipped from between her lips and dribbled down her chin and splashed one of her paws. She hadn't tasted the copper until just then - biting her tongue not to scream must have pierced her tongue. She felt another drop of the dye slip down the other side. Gingerly, she experimented moving the appendage. Ah, it was still functional, tender and she could feel more drops oozing out either side where she'd notched it with her oversized canines, but it was still functional, that was what was important.

She noted Acribus yet by her side and turned to him. He smiled wolfishly and dipped his head to her. "Beta," he wheezed maliciously,

She straightened, holding her dainty head high and proud. "Beta," she greeted in reply, returning the nod of acknowledgement. "I believe I shall report to you then in the morning to be briefed on my new duties."