truth be told | prp astryd

[Ronove]

If there was one thing Ronove hated, it was lazy assholes. Yeah, Ronove was a total jerk pretty much all of the time, but at least he got his job done, at least he worked. The Hawk grimaced, off-white teeth poking out from below dark lips like knives slowly being slipped from a cutlery block. Oukoku-kai was a society that liked to preach (literally) about obedience and servitude, about the harshness of their punishments when it came to those who were weak. Pah! What a load of crap! The dark man spat on the ground to his right, rising from his sitting position and taking off. He had an idea. The crowspawn's muscles moved fluidly beneath his onyx pelt, power and unstable anger hidden just under the surface. His destination was Astryd's den, or the place where he usually went if he (rarely) needed to find her. The red woman was getting rusty, not as harsh on her charges as she should have been. In Ronove's opinion, she was unfit for her position, and he craved it; still, she was his superior, and when Astryd gave him and order, he listened. Maybe today, the red bitch would listen to him for a change. After all, his proposal could benefit them both in plenty of ways. When the red Jitte came into his field of vision, Ronove made a bee-line for her, picking up his pace to a swift trot. "Yo Astryd! Jitte!" he called from a distance, hoping to catch her attention. As he neared her, he slowed to a stop and offered her a half-hearted bow. "Look, I'm sick of us being the only ones runnin' these effin' borders. Where are the other Hawks? Are there any other Hawks?" The last meeting she had called told Ronove that no, there weren't any others. They were completely on their own, two wolves to handle the entirety of the border of Death Valley. How fantastic. "Something's gotta give, right? Maybe it's time to bring in some fresh faces." A rank recruitment didn't sound like a bad idea to him. The rank needed active bodies to run the borders, otherwise threats could squeeze through - and they were literally surrounded by heathens. Ronove knew he was taking the risk of sounding like he was trying to tell Astryd how to do her job. It didn't make him hesitate in the slightest, though; something had to change, one way or another.

[Astryd]

Astryd loitered around her den, pulling out tree roots with her teeth and tossing them outside. Sometimes living in the roots of a tree was crap and she couldn't' believe that she didn't think about that when she dug it out. But after all these years, it was home and above all, she hated change. It didn't used to be so. She had left home with no other thought but change and what she could do with her life. Now, she was growing older, almost too old to work. She had already chosen to join Alaunos with the rest of the Sohei in retirement. As far as she was concerned, she had done her part. She had carved out her place in the history or the Valley just like she had carved out her home in the bottom of this tree; with hard work and dilligence.

"Yo Astryd! Jitte! Look, I'm sick of us being the only ones runnin' these effin' borders. Where are the other Hawks? Are there any other Hawks? Something's gotta give, right? Maybe it's time to bring in some fresh faces."

The voice was familiar to Astryd and the female didn't even bother to lift her head from her work at first, not until he grew nearer. When she felt he was close enough, she emerged from her den, shaking dirt from her pelt. What the hell did he want? Her ears drew back harshly and she let a little growl slip from her mouth before licking her nose, trying to keep patient with the boy.

"The other Hawks? Boy, you really can't be that dense. When was the last time you even saw a heathen on the borders?" She asked sarcastically, beginning a slow circle around his left side, never taking her emerald gaze off of him. 'There was once a time when heathens stumbled upon our borders in droves, seeking redemption...a fresh start. There were so many of them, I could pick my fill and it wouldn't even matter. But the Valley is quiet now isn't it?" Astryd stated, watching Ronove for a reaction. Some might see what she said as blasphemous, saying the Valley why basically dying, falling away from their primitive ways and the culture that made them Oukoku-Kai in the first place. But it was true. Something was wrong, terribly wrong, and there was nothing Astryd could do about it.

"There simply isn't enough work to interest the masses. Over the years our numbers have dwindled... without heathens crossing our borders, what is the point of us?" Astryd asked, finally taking a seat. "But if you're so effing restless and are dense enough to believe you can magically make work for us... why don't you put some bite with that bark and step up to the plate.... Jitte." She nearly snarled.

A part of her hated Ronove. He could be a haughty little bastard and yet.... he handled teh borders how Astryd thought they should be handled. She saw a lot of herself in him and the way he conducted his acceptances. Good thing for him, she already had a reputation for him to step into. Of course he would have to make his own way in the end and she was sure that even in the few acceptances they had, he would uphold the strict rules and judgement she had always adhered to.

"But I don't plan on just tossing you into that... I will stick around and help with the borders until you can find suitable Hawks... IF you can anyway." She huffed. Either way, it was ultimately his problem now.

[Ronove]

Astryd's indifference towards him infuriated Ronove, but the timber mix knew when to hold his tongue (most of the time, anyway). The red woman was a higher-up, a superior who could cast him down or even kill him if she wished. He huffed a laugh. Well, she could definitely try. "The other Hawks? Boy, you really can't be that dense. When was the last time you even saw a heathen on the borders? There was once a time when heathens stumbled upon our borders in droves, seeking redemption...a fresh start. There were so many of them, I could pick my fill and it wouldn't even matter. But the Valley is quiet now isn't it?" Her gaze was fierce as she stared him down, but if she were looking for any kind of startled or unsettled reaction, Astryd would be disappointed. The Hawk shifted his weight from right side to left, golden gaze staring almost exasperatedly. Even though he had very little respect for the red woman, Ronove had to admit that she did have a point. The borders were dead, like a riverbed suddenly growing dry. Where once there had been almost too much work to keep up with, now there were barely enough to even warrant the Hawks at all. It left them listless and lazy, as made apparent by the previous meeting Astryd had held. "There simply isn't enough work to interest the masses. Over the years our numbers have dwindled... without heathens crossing our borders, what is the point of us? But if you're so effing restless and are dense enough to believe you can magically make work for us... why don't you put some bite with that bark and step up to the plate.... Jitte." Ronove was honestly thinking of how pitiful Astryd was to be so damned whiny, and was halfway through that thought she said it. At first, the dark male didn't react, his mind processing her words over and over again to ensure that he'd heard her correctly. Had Astryd just stepped down and promoted him? "But I don't plan on just tossing you into that... I will stick around and help with the borders until you can find suitable Hawks... IF you can anyway." Finally. A toothy, savage grin spread across Ronove's muzzle. Pride and an over-inflated sense of accomplishment began to fill his entire body. At last he had seized what he'd been striving, grabbing, clawing his way towards for so long! The man felt on top of the world, the rush of adrenaline and power that overtook his body almost euphoric. That was what Ronove lived for. "Guess we'll see, won't we?" His voice was proud and strong, almost challenging. The crowspawn had to wonder if this was how the Rosa felt all the time. He could get use to that, the feeling of holding such weighty authority. Sure, it was a lower-rung lead position, but it was a start. "Why do you think the borders aren't as busy as they used to be?" What drove potential repenting heathens away from the valley's borders? Ronove suspected that the most common answer to that question would be 'the Red Dragon', but Ronove didn't care for that, and he didn't believe that Astryd did either. If the red woman was anything, she was a realist; her take on the situation could prove valuable.

[Ronove]

nudgin' this up a bit!