Private All Men Must Die, But We Are Not Men

[Aelin Erevos]

S E O U L 5​

Aelin had been monitoring the perimeter of the thicket from her vantage point in the crook of a tree branch, for an hour. The forest had become a labyrinth of snow and ice, an early morning gust causing her sunken cheeks to redden, a shudder skittering down her spine.

She wiped a thumb over her eyes, brushing away flakes of snow that’d landed in her lashes, trying to stay focused on her surroundings, on the task ahead, and not the bitter cold.

The midnight sky slowly thawed into a glacial blue, vibrant shades of indigo and cream melting together as the sun rose behind the eastern mountains, causing long shadows to be cast over their yet-frozen peaks.

Aelin could feel the morning air start to warm, if only by a fraction.

Hearing the sound of icy snow crunching under heavy boots in the distance, Aelin tried to shift her position, stifling a groan as stiff limbs protested the movement. Her nervous system was not adapted for the environment, no matter how many layers she sloughed on. There was a solution, of course… but not one that Aelin considered viable.

Still. She needed to move, she couldn’t remain idle much longer.

They are only fifteen feet ahead.

Reaching behind her, she unstrung her bow and eased forward, sharp eyes scanning for the hunters she’d scented earlier. It wasn’t the first time trandoshan fur trappers had come looking for the ‘wolves in the mountain’ to try and make a quick credit or two and Aelin was more than prepared to deal with their ilk, putting down well laid traps and snares.

She’d never been out this early though, especially not after living off of the few dried pieces of jerky scraps they had from the last deer she’d caught, for an entire week. Hunger clawed at her stomach, the icy cold clawed at her back.

"This way boys, just up ahead… should be quick work. I hear they're pretty stupid."

She drew her bow, a matter of instinct, tempted to aim it for the head of whoever this ‘leader' was but kept it focused on the taught rope, instead.

A couple… more…

Her breathing became shallow, the grip she held with her thighs loosening on the branch, until her numb limbs finally gave way and she plummeted to the ground.

Crrraaccckkkkk

A shower of pain exploded in her leg, covering her mouth tightly with both hands to stifle the scream bubbling up in her throat, tears beading in the corner of her eyes.

But before she could try to scramble to safety, they were on her. Literally. This time she did scream, the Trandoshan's weighted boot crushing down on her broken leg. “Lookit what we got here,” His reptilian eyes stared down at her. She wanted to bite, to fight back, but could not muster the needed strength. “Trying to protect the wolves, take our bounty? Or maybe you just want a nice warm pelt? Mm? Maybe one of us could keep you warm, instead?" That last line earned him a roar of raucous laughter among his compatriots.

When she stayed silent, a steel toed boot drove hard into her side, almost making her retch. Eyes closed against a dizzying world of colors, the young wolf trying to breath deep, steadying breaths, as the pain ebbed into a crescendo and filtered away. “Go,” she snarled between breaths. “to hell.”

Børre Drage​

 

[Børre Drage]

LOCATION: Seoul V - In the Forest
TIME: Early Morning
THEMES: Forest Ambience
TAGS: Aelin Erevos

Any report of wolves that escaped a planet's local news and jumped around the Holonet caught his attention. of these, reports of wolves where they weren't listed as part of the native or introduced fauna had the Drage heir planning a trip - ever since Freya Drage had returned to them, with many old and infirm of their kind, his kind, her kind, a greater emphasis and more resources had been put into finding any others that were out there, beyond those that they had already re-established ties to in the centuries following the purge: Ulf, Kühn, to name some.

It was such a report that had him all the way out here far from the core, but when he set out as the first light broke, staying downwind of the hunters he'd heard joking amongst themselves a short while ago, it wasn't long until he heard a decidedly humanoid scream, and the scent of blood carried on the breeze - a female, the sound told him. Only a moment's pause was all he needed before breaking into a Force-fuelled sprint, the only way he could be faster without shifting to fur. The only way he was faster despite his size - stride only did so much.

Next thing the hunters knew was the flash of a behemoth of a man, then one by one they attempted to engage him, scrambling to raise rifles until he took one about the head and snapped their neck. As soon as the remaining two saw their compatriot crumple to the ground, the creak of triggers being squeezed had Børre diving out of the way and tackling the next follower about the legs. With the Lupo's weight and the speed of this tackle, the second Trandoshan's legs snapped on impact, his rifle flying several feet. The trando seemed to pass out from the impact of his head on a rock protruding out of the ground and the surge of pain from his busted legs, with Børre rolling away in the wake of another shot from the leader's rifle. He came to his feet and growled.

The last reptilian, the leader, laughed and pointed his rifle at the girl, "Thought you would play hero, did you?"

Børre scowled, and his words came seething, vitriolic, "I'm going to make you wish you never hatched," at which the reptile put his boot down on the female's leg again, before stepping off and away from her, "She'll bleed out, anyway, given time." Børre's muscles tensed, as the sole remaining hunter brought his rifle to bear on the to-be Alpha, "I just have to do away with you, now," the hunter spat, so sure of his aim, "Watch, girl, while I murder your saviour."

He saw the hunter squint, as he began to take aim, and as soon as he squeezed the trigger, Børre broke right, hard and fast. then went right for the hunter before he could manage to adjust and re-aim, and the large Lupo ripped the rifle from the Trandoshan's grasp, plowing the butt of the thing into the the reptile's head hard enough to topple him, then threw away the firestick while holding the hunter down with a heavy, booted foot.

"Any last words?"

But the reptile was swimming in and out of consciousness from the hit to his head; crouching, Børre took the creature by the head, and snapped his second and hopefully last neck of the day. Hovering over the lifeless form for a minute more, Børre dropped himself in to the forest-floor detritus alongside the body, taking a seat after all of the exertion, wiping his brow and letting his breathing rate slow, before taking a better look at the female from where he sat. She looked very thin and... small for her approximate age.

"May I approach you?"

From the way she cussed at the hunters, even in pain, she could very well take exception to his proximity, too. She didn't seem feral, but a lone female was unusual, even amongst Zorathi.

 

[Aelin Erevos]

S E O U L 5​

“Ahh, did you hear that boys?” The Trandoshan paused, leaning more weight into her leg as he bent forward, brandishing a talon that he slid beneath her chin to tilt her face up. “She’s got some fight in her after all, a little spit-fire.”

“Touch me again verri,” she spat, “and I promise you’ll die screaming.”

The Trandoshan threw his bulbous head back with laughter, his round lizard eyes flicking over her. “Fortunately, I like my women to have some spirit.”

His face pressed closely to hers, grinning at her with an infested smile, his rank breath almost causing her to gag, but only for a moment.

The sudden flash of an otherworldly giant sprinting from the mountainside and picking his way through the group, turned the lead Trandoshans smug expression into one of confusion as he shot up, his men falling one by one in rapid succession.

Aelin watched the ambush unfold, her own vision crystal clear. Another Lupo. She could smell him as acutely as she saw him, a colossal man kissed by sunlight. For a fleeting moment, she laid there stunned. She hadn’t seen another of their kind since the Zorathi abandoned them with her older sisters in tow. Where had he come from?

Her captors' weighted boot pressed hard on her leg once more, pulling Aelin back to focus on her current predicament. There was an exchange of words between the two males, but with her mind hazed with pain she could not make out what was being said over yet another cry of agony that bubbled across her lips.

Then, like the others, he too, slumped over in a heap on the ground.

The Lupo came to sit, but was careful not to come too close, tinges of exertion coloring his face.

"May I approach you?"

Between the frigid cold and the wound gnawing at her strength, she knew that now was not the time to refuse potential help.

“..Yes.” she answered, after a pause of hesitation. Her fiery eyes held him, appraising every movement. “Thank you, for saving my life… who are you?”

Børre Drage ​

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[Børre Drage]

TAGS: Aelin Erevos

He listened to her thanks without voicing a response, taking some more moments to regain calm while she spoke, "I am Børre, of Clan Drage," he said finally, lumbering to his feet; he stepped over the body and went to her, a hand slipping into a pocket to pull out a length of smooth, dark, self-healing metal with rounded edges, and a small fob. He crouched alongside her, looking her over only with his eyes. He wouldn’t lay a finger on her yet.

"Before I start," he began, plainly, "I will need to make certain your body isn't going to force a change,”, he gestured to her wounded leg with the empty hand, "that won't heal properly if you do," and for his safety and hers being an equally as important reason. He watched for any reaction as he went into explaining what came next.

“I have a simple way to accomplish that,” he held up the short length of metal, "this is an inhibitor bracelet. It sends a signal that blocks that process, when the bracelet is active," then he held up the fob, "this activation key causes the ends of the bracelet to join together seamlessly around your wrist, which activates the signal. It can also deactivate the bracelet, which will make it detach from your wrist."

Børre dropped his hands to dangle between his knees.

"It has efficacy on par with the strongest suppressive drugs. with none of the unpleasant side effects," he went on, as if he’d given this explanation before, "it’s a temporary measure so I can stabilise your leg and get you out of the cold safely," he paused, listening for a moment and hearing nothing but the natural sounds of a frigid forest, then gave her a questioning look.

"Any questions?”

 

[Aelin Erevos]

S E O U L 5

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Her brows furrowed at the name, as if she’d heard it from somewhere once before, but could not bring herself to remember. “I’m Aelin, Clan Erevos.” she replied, suddenly growing unprecedentedly self conscious as the hulking Lupo looked her over and began to explain his intentions.

“Any questions?” he’d asked by the end.

Oh, a flood of them. Aelin thought wryly, but none that pertained to what he’d just explained.

Where was he from? Why had he come to Seoul 5? If he was part of a clan, did that mean he had a pack? How many were there? All of these, and more shot through her sharp calculus mind.

However, for now, she suppressed the rising swell of questions, the she-wolf shifting in the snow to set herself to rights, dragging herself to a sitting position while trying hard to conceal the amount of pain she was in as the wound on her leg screamed in angry protest from the movement. Weakness would have gotten her nowhere in life, and she loathed feeling helpless. Years of poverty and starvation hadn't stripped her of her pride, and there was worse pain than this.

Her gaze finally fell to examine the bracelet then flickered back up to the man. “This will suppress my wolf, as long as it’s on?” her brow arched, it was more of a rhetorical question than anything else, trying to wrap her mind around the concept. "I've never heard of such a thing. But,"

Any other wolf might have felt wary about such a device cutting them off from their alter ego, but to Aelin… it seemed a Godsend. Something that would block the agony of her change, that feeling of being flayed alive. She swallowed softly and took a calming breath, nodding in agreement. “I understand, and I don't wish to put either of us in anymore danger. If this helps,” Without another thought on the matter, Aelin held out her wrist for him. Even if she seemed eager, these were precious minutes.

Beyond bleeding out and the numbness seeping in, there was no telling if anymore hunters would come this way - or if other predators that lurked these woods would smell the fresh blood and decide they were hungry enough to come looking. This was the forest, and it was winter. That it was still several miles back to her hut, and she had a need to return to her father, aroused an even greater sense of urgency. He'd been left alone for too long already. “Then do whatever you have to," she charged, "but make it quick.”

Børre Drage ​

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[Børre Drage]

TAGS: Aelin Erevos

Some wolves saw reason, some took more coaxing, and it seemed she was the former. When Aelin offered her wrist he saw expedience rather than eagerness, and he wrapped the length of metal around her wrist snugly enough that it would stay put, but not so tight as to leave a mark. Then he held the fob against where the ends of the bracelet overlapped and applied pressure to the single button under his thumb. The bracelet's ends merged, the material becoming one continuous, consistent loop, "Done."

He withdrew his hands, "It's antibacterial," he informed, looking again at her leg "Now," he began to remove his coat, "I will use my coat to bind your legs together so I can carry you."

As he went to do this, questions queued up in his mind; first, he would slip the coat under her legs, then fold the sides over top of them, and tie it all up with the arms and the waist tie. While he did this, he started to ask the relevant questions.

"Where is your home?"

It was a reasonable assumption that she didn't live out in the frigid open.

"Are there others?"

He had to ask, even if the circumstances might lead him to the conclusion that she was alone. Her answers would affect the rest of how he handled the entire situation.

 

[Aelin Erevos]

S E O U L 5

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After applying the bracelet to her wrist and gingerly wrapping her legs, Børre, with the ease of a titan lifting a rag doll, swept her up from the snowy banks and into his arms. The sensation stole her peace in a wholly different way, the young she-wolf feeling reduced to nothing more than a helpless pup, completely unused to the novel experience of having to accept someone else's help, with no choice but to permit it as he set up the mountain side.

"Three miles up the Lusterra Pass," she answered, pointing to the sharp jutting rocks in the nearby distance. "It's more harrowing in the winter, so you'll need to be careful." she warned, knowing that, while beautiful, many who were unfamiliar with the area and the concept of black ice, especially the inexperienced climber, had met a treacherous end from a single ill-placed step. "I know what to look for, so I'll do my best to guide you."

The further up they went, the less and less forest life seemed to skitter about them, not like it was when they were in the thick of the woods. Except for the sound of the mans boots crunching in freshly fallen snow, they were surrounded by infinite silence and cavernous winds.

"It's just myself and my father. No one else, not anymore." Aelin explained, finally going silent. For the first part of their journey, she'd lain quite stiff against the broad wolfs chest, but after a while she'd slowly relaxed into it, finding it difficult not to. From so close, his scent permeated her senses, musky and wild, and his strong heartbeat had become familiar to her ears. She'd never been so close to another male wolf that wasn't her father and the differences between them couldn't have been more striking.

Finally, as they approached a crag of rocks, Aelin roused. "This bridge leads directly to our home," she nodded, "If you know how to find it," It was the first thing she'd said in nearly an hour, "Most don't make it up this way unless they're hungry for a bounty, which is one reason why we've stayed up here for so long." Aelin tilted her head to look up at him. "You're the first Lupo, outside of my father, that I've seen in... fourteen years. Where did you come from?"

Børre Drage ​

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[Børre Drage]

TAGS: Aelin Erevos

Lifting and carrying Aelin was one of the easiest loads he had ever handled, when it came to Lupo. She was as light as her too-thin body indicated, and he adjusted the strength he put into it, applying more care on top of what was required because of her broken leg. Easy in that it was less of a strain on his muscles, but less simple because of it as well. Unexpected.

"I will trust your guidance, then," was all he said as they set off, part of his thoughts centred on the concept of 'no-one else, not anymore'; what did that truly mean? Why was it? It was isolation... or abandonment... or decimation that he could only imagine, but she wasn't the first he'd met with reduced circumstances, ever since Freya had been a child, bringing home orphaned and wounded animals. Despite initial objections, he had always relented. Now he was a part of it, with a she-wolf's scent wafting under his nose, and her body relaxed against him as he trudged in increasing silence through the fresh snow, to take her... home to what he would suppose was her Alpha. Her silence for the brunt of an hour stalled any questions that pushed up like weeds in his thoughts, until finally. she spoke once again, and posed a question of her own.

"Bellassa," he said, while following her direction and taking to the bridge, "in the Core. Where my clan settled in the aftermath of the Purge," and far from Islimore, "Strange reports of a 'wolf' haunting these woods, when Seoul has no endemic or introduced canid wildlife, lead me here."

Fairly straightforward.

"How long have you been hunting alone?"

 

[Aelin Erevos]

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Appearance | XoXo
Location | Seoul 5
Tag | Børre Drage

"Bellassa?" she repeated, her voice filled with wonderment. "I... still can't believe there are more of our kind out there." she murmered when he was finished, her thick lashes lowering to kiss her cheeks, going quiet for several moments. "I'm grateful you decided to investigate," Aelin said at last, regarding his mentioning of following rumors of wolf hauntings. "I've had to fend off fur trappers before, but lately they've been more... persistent. If you hadn't come when you did... I imagine I wouldn't be here to have this conversation." Aelin said, her voice solemn with the realization that she'd nearly died.

"How long have you been hunting alone?" Børre asked without pause, moving the conversation along.

Aelin sighed and rubbed her temples, "Since I was... well, since I was eight years old." she answered matter-of-factly, "My father hasn't been well for a long time, and I was the only one who could do it. It was that or starve."

What was once a morning sky of pale sherbet shades of cream and gold, slowly began to melt into a glacial sky as the lazy afternoon came upon them, the frozen slopes of the white-capped summits soaking in the orange light. With every passing second the temperature rose, though the atmosphere was far from what anyone could consider being warm, and with his jacket wrapped around her legs she knew that he must be miserable.

"Are you doing alright?" she asked, her voice soft with concern. "We're almost there - a little less than a quarter of a mile to go, just keep on going in that direction." Without Aelin to guide him, it would have been entirely possible that Børre would have passed over their small hut without seeing it at all. Their ramshackle home was nestled inside a shallow gulch and hidden between the mountains, several small but abandoned houses circling around it, each one so white from the fallen snow that it practically disappeared against the pale backdrop. Any noise that came from within the valley was whisked away by the howling wind from high above, it was the perfect camouflage for a clan that did not want to be found. "Down there," she nodded, "the one with the smoke coming from the chimney."