lo and behold -- open.

[Paint]

i said lo,
lo and behold

His head was like a storm. The trees passed him lethargically and he felt intense jealousy towards them, so boring and simple. He stalked through the forest like a virus, snapping at branches and snarling at weak prey to move. He did not know what had caused this mood, but he had little reason to care. He wanted peace, but he was too busy feeling hateful to assess himself and his mood. He did not think, he just moved, shoulders rolling, muscles tensing and releasing in all the right places as he crashed headlong into a bush and destroyed it as he passed.

i just wanna know,
why i'm so cold

His destruction may be seen as childish, but he would dare anyone to say it to his face. With eyes darkening more than usual, he stopped dead in his tracks and lifted his mighty head. He was even more alert these days, for Myu was pregnant. As was Rose. Any threat to his family or lands was no longer a laughing point, as with every spring. And he was well aware that this may be his last chance to have pups. Sure, he could impregnate some young, eager female next year. But Myu was his mate, and he was unwilling to consider losing her. Even if it meant no more pups next year, he would accept and continue. He had very strong opinions on the taking advantage of young, fertile females- and not the kind you might expect.

and i hope i learn,
before i get old,

He glanced back momentarily at the destruction creating a path behind him. There was some kind of aura, or atmosphere, affecting him. He felt as if he had to watch his back, and far more than usual. The occasional twinge, an ache or pain, was enough to send him into a state of temporary paranoia. He recognised that he was growing old now, but he had to keep reminding himself that there was no other way. Why else have pups? So they can take your place when some lucky wolf finally sinks his teeth into your throat and rips out your lifeline. That's the end- bittersweet, your offspring step up where you left off. But who? Onisim? Rude, stupid perhaps, and he seemed far too young to take over. Justyn was not his own, so he would not contemplate his taking over. Myu may continue without him, and she was certainly tough enough, but he wondered if she would be bothered. Similarly with Rose- he wondered if she would even stick around after his death. So a new pup. That would have to be it, a strong, devilish young male would have to grow up quick and take his place. Or die in the process.

how i could burn,
when i feel so cold

[[Midnight]]

Justyn had grown up. He had lived another year and seen more wolves, met new faces. He was long past adolescence, and though he sometimes still felt like a child, most who didn't know him very well probably just saw him as a handsome and relatively dominant male with a temper like a badger. He wanted to keep it that way. He was getting softer every day, and he felt death breathing down his neck. Because the softer you are in Falling Moon, the more likely it is you're going to be the next to die. And Justyn was not ready to die. There were still many unfulfilled plans on his agenda.

His body was almost too large to be wandering through this forest. The trees were so huge and they grew so close together, so it was impossible for someone of his size to even ponder running full speed through these forests. He'd end up hitting his head and die of a concussion.

So he took it at a leisurely pace, every once in a while stopping to sample the scents in the air and take a look up at the treetops, the likes of which were dark and mysterious and never allowed very much sunlight to seep through. Justyn liked the darkness of the New Moon forest, enjoyed how he felt like he was slinking around like a mountain lion would.

As he rolled his shoulder across the scratchy trunk of a large tree, his head rounded the bark and his eyes caught sight of a shape traveling parallel to him. Justyn recognized the gray fur and the huge bulk immediately, and his eyes narrowed and his heart raced.

Duke.

He hadn't seen Duke for ages. Though they had that Alpha-Beta relationship, things didn't quite work out that way naturally here in Falling Moon. These wolves generally took care of themselves, and it wasn't often that Justyn found himself ever leading a hunt or discussing hunting tactics with Duke or the others. Jusytn hadn't seen Myu lately, either, now that he thought of it, and Justyn wondered if they would be expecting a litter of pups, like Rose and Raiden. How many pups did Duke have by now anyway? Why had none of these pups challenged Justyn for his rank?

Justyn had never thought of these things until now. He hadn't ever worried much about it. To be honest, he never would worry, only wonder.

Justyn swiveled inbetween trees and closed the space between him and the Falling Moon Alpha, until he was a few feet away but walking in pace with in.

"Mighty terrible weather we're having," Justyn spoke up, looking at Duke from the corner of his eyes, but concentrating on his path. "How're things going, Gramps?"

He kept his tone extremely casual. He still felt no fear of Duke, even after all of the threats from the past. In fact, as Justyn swerved around a tree and then drew back close to Duke's side, he noted how much different he seemed since their last meeting. Not old, not yet worn out, but different somehow. He couldn't place it.

[Paint]

Duke sensed Justyn's approach, but it was only natural that his great hulking presence would attract attention as he threw himself through the forest. His place slowed only slightly so that he could hear his headstrong Beta's words over the sound of the twigs snapping beneath his bear-like paws.

His lip did not need to raise, there was so much anger and tension in him already. It was his natural state of being. But he was not particular in the mood for Justyn's bullheaded joking now.

"You tell me, pup," he growled back, voice low and violent. "What've you been doing with your time? Impregnated any females? Checked the borders anytime recently? Done anything dutifully Beta-related?"

He fired the questions imperatively, words stabbing into the dark of the forest. Places like this usually calmed him, but right now his mood was bordering on murderous. There was a time when he'd go and find a fight, but now they seemed to come to him.

He turned his nearly black eyes on Justyn, daring him to respond badly. Duke knew that Justyn didn't particularly like him, in fact probably hated him, and part of him was beginning to wonder why he'd chosen Justyn as his Beta. He had the power to take that position from him, and he damn well would if Justyn refused to respect him. Duke had to be either respected or feared, and if Justyn chose neither then Duke's hellish personality would unleash without question. But Justyn had proved his worth once before, to earn the position, and Duke was sure he would do it again.

[[Midnight]]

As soon as Duke spoke and Justyn matched his pace, Justyn felt the murderous intent flow off of the Alpha in waves. It made his tail tuck slightly between his legs, and his ears relax at their base. He had no intention of engaging Duke in a verbal fight, which always turned into a physical fight in the end. Really, Justyn felt out of character in that moment. He felt a desire to look at Duke's face, study his features, ponder his history. Why was Duke always angry? What kind of past did he have?

But Justyn kept his eyes cast downward, knowing Duke probably wouldn't be interested in answering questions and being stared at. So he took a small breath and tried to relax, letting Duke's temper roll over him casually.

"I have not impregnated any unlucky females," was his first comment, a small smile on his face. He wouldn't dare mention the only two females currently involved in his life, for fear of many things; Duke going on a rampage, never being able to meet with Rose again, having to stay away from the pups. Yes, silence was best.

"I suppose the most Beta-ish thing I've done all week is wander the territory and bark at a few scoundrels," was the next remark. He wondered if that was a good response and if Duke would be appeased. It hadn't occurred to Justyn that Duke would think of taking away his current position in the pack. "Tonight I will wander No-Man's-Land and see how many loners have multiplied."

And maybe to see if my sister is still angry with me, he thought sullenly, remembering the incident weeks back where they had thoughtlessly stabbed one another with hurtful words. She probably couldn't forgive him, it took a special person to forgive tempers and stupidity.

"So what's the plan about the Mooching Stars? Are we ever going to chase them out of here?" he asked curiously, looking over at Duke with a too-casual expressions. The thought of such a suggestion made Justyn neither queasy nor excited, but it was certainly something that weighed on his mind often. Justyn wondered if he would crack an eggshell with that question, and braced himself quietly for any sort of lashout from the Alpha's jaws. He had never tried conversing with Duke so casually, it would be nice to see it go somewhere productive.

[Paint]

Duke did not slow his pace any further, but his eyes stopped staring murderously at Justyn and trained themselves forwards again. He listened to what Justyn had to say carefully. There it was, there was the attitude that had earned Justyn his position here. The reason Duke liked Justyn (well liked was a strong word) was because he wasn't stupid. He knew when to bite his tongue and when his opinion was needed.

"Yes, we need to keep an eye on the borders. And the loners. Don't want another Comatose situation," Duke replied gruffly. Then he realised that Comatose probably wasn't around any more when Justyn was born. He frowned, looking sideways at Justyn. "You won't know who that is. Imagine me but without any morals at all, a loner with no family to protect," he explained, not bothering to explain any further. Finally his pace slowed, and he came to a halt, chest expanding and contracting in the silence of the night. Somewhere nearby an owl hooted at them.

"I'm not sure it's necessary at this point," Duke remarked about the Stars, gazing over his lands and then back at Justyn. His eyes had lost their hellishness, now he was all business. "You may not have pups you feel personally responsible for, but many of us do. I'm not stupid enough to start a war when so many of us will be vulnerable. If the pack expands any more... well. Do you think we need the extra space? Just to prove a point?"

Duke rarely asked anyone's opinions. He took Myu's without question, as he did with Rose, but that was because he loved them. He believed that asking opinions meant weakness, but right now he didn't think Justyn would think him weak. The question itself sounded almost rhetorical, like Duke already had decided an answer and was just asking Justyn's to see if he would agree.

[[Midnight]]

Imagine me, but without morals.

The very idea of such a suggestion made Justyn puzzled. Justyn had not known Comatose, never heard of the likes of him, and found it sad that he couldn't imagine a wolf with any less morals than Duke had. Justyn realized in that moment how sheltered he really was and how little of his own family history he bothered to know.

"So there are eviler things out there besides you," he mused with furrowed brows, so matter of factly that it came off as if Justyn wasn't bothered by evil. The fuzzy image of a face popped in mind, though, and he stopped himself from rolling his eyes. "More evil than my father, I guess."

He continued to listen to Duke with all his attention. He wondered in the back of his mind what other wolves felt when they walked beside this creature, spoke to him so meekly. Everyone feared Duke. They feared him because they were afraid to die.

Cowards, he wanted to spat.

You may not have pups you feel personally responisble for...

Ohh Duke, wrong again. So wrong. But Justyn carried on walking and listening, refusing to give anything away once again. He hated to admit he was so grosly attached to pups that hadn't even been born yet - Duke's grandchildren. And he did feel personally responsible for them, even if he had to protect them from another earthquake.

Duke's question was what made Justyn think of his family. If Falling Moon were to take them over, where would they go? Would they leave, join Falling Moon, or die in battle? Justyn wondered if his words would have enough weight to decide that very future for them. Was he dooming them? Had he doomed them from the start, just by being born?

His face hardened with concentration. He wanted to appear powerful in front of Duke. He wanted to be fearless and prove to Duke that he wasn't afraid of anything. If he showed any signs of mercy and weakness for those in his past, he'd have nowhere left to go. So he spoke the words he wasn't sure he meant:

"I'm all about proving points," Justyn's two cents were. He looked at Duke with a smirk. "The weak will get cocky when they're left untouched. Then again, maybe that's proactive on our part. They may try attacking us first in the future, and they wouldn't stand a chance with their fangs of compassion."

[Paint]

Duke wondered at Justyn's comment. He knew that he was considered an evil wolf, valley-wide, but he sure as hell didn't think he was that one-dimensional. He wouldn't hold back to kill an enemy or smack a rude packmember about to prove a point, but he certainly had morals. Twisted, perhaps, but his values were what made him a good pack leader. Keep the strong, push out the weak. Bring your pups up in the middle of hell and they will become immune to the fire- but don't be cruel to them when they're too weak to understand how to fight. Aim for the top and crush anyone in your way. Stand by and protect your family until they do you wrong. Duke was the solid foundation of what had once been a huge family. If any more of his pups had survived, no doubt they were off somewhere else, spreading his name and genes. In terms of genetics, Duke was the strongest one out there, surely?

He snapped back to reality quickly, again listening to Justyn. The young wolf seemed to be wanting to prove himself again, seem strong. Deep in thought, as usual, but he was deeper than your average messed up pup. Dare he say it, but Duke saw some of himself in the young wolf. He almost chuckled at the thought of it. Justyn sure as hell would not like that one.

"Wrong," Duke replied. "The Stars are very unlikely to attack first. Haven't you ever heard of a fairy story? The 'good' ones try to go about their happy lives without disturbing anyone. That whole 'treat others as you wish to be treated' bullsh*t is their main ethos. It's always the bad ones who cause the trouble."

He paused, assessing Justyn.

"The weak don't get cocky when left untouched. The strong do," he continued, thoughts flashing to Onisim. And maybe even Justyn would challenge him, one of these days. Duke wasn't stupid. "The weak feel lucky when left untouched. However, that comment is invalid anyway, as the Stars are not weak wolves. I haven't fully assessed their pack yet, but they could well be having more pups than us, they could have more fighters than us, they could have more experience. If they don't, then we're fine, but if they do, then we're screwed. The question is- am I willing to place my pack and family in danger simply to gain the whole valley? I don't believe it's necessary at this point."

He growled under his breath, thoughts flashing back the past. He was sure Justyn would see this decision as weak, but that was just inexperience. Duke knew now that timing was everything.

"It was different last time. Our lands were useless, the pack was angry, there wasn't enough good space to go around. It was a mutiny, not one pack against another. We were all part of the Stars back in those days, and we broke away to form something stronger. We broke away, became stronger, took their lands by killing half of them in the process. It was a victory, and well deserved, but now? Do you see any parallel between the two situations? At all?"

His tone was imperative once again, demanding Justyn to answer him. Duke felt as if he had not spoken this strongly or in this depth for a long time. He was not usually one to release negative energy by talking, but the aggression was fading as he thought about the entire situation.

[[Midnight]]

Justyn was aware of where he stood in the current situation, and though he didn't like it, he knew he couldn't change it anymore than he could take back what he had said. But his eyes narrowed and his heart's pace quickened at everything Duke had to told. His mind grew numb when Duke mentioned a tidbit about being a part of the Stars, and the situation being of mutiny. Trying to understand, he ran the information over and over in his head, his mind swarming back to the days when he used to pretend he was Duke, leaping at his brother and sister with jaws agape. His story was always onesided, the adults never had the time or the spirit to correct his childish stories.

Duke had always been a Falling Moon. He had always been evil. He never had morals. That's what he had deduced as a young pup growing up. That's what everyone talked about when the Stars' lands were uprooted and Xaka was murdered in cold blood. When Justyn was born, the Dancing Star's future had already been doomed.

But that's nothing like what Duke was explaining to Justyn.

So the young male's brain swarmed with confusion and he did his best to keep his casual composure. He felt panic and sickness threatening to jar him into anger, but he forced it away and shook his muzzle.

He turned his attention back to the present. Though he had no real desire to do anything to the Dancing Stars, he found himself inctinctively disagreeing with Duke's explanation. When the Alpha turned to look and demand an answer from him, Justyn furrowed his brows and peered thoughtfully back at him.

"Old prejudices die hard," he commented, quietly. "Caden may not know what it means to be a Dancing Star Alpha. But everyone else leftover does. You might underestimate the tenacity of their 'fairy tale' story."

He pictured his sister, who was not in the Dancing Stars anymore. She was a coward who had ran away, just like him. He wondered if they had both somehow shamed their bloodline by running away instead of taking over where Midnight, his mother, had left off. How many other Dancing Stars were too weak to bear the burden of the erathquake?

It also occurred to him then that technically, he or Esmerelda were the rightful heirs to the Stars throne. The thought made him more confused than before.

"Then again, they're different than before," he replied, feeling weary all of a sudden. "So I agree. There's too much to be lost in pointless battles."

He brooded more on the subject in silence, looking ahead with a dark expression. He had lost his youthful passion and was adopting the negative air that Duke had seemed to lose while strategizing out loud. He wanted to think more about what Duke had said, and he needed answers. Tonight, he was surely headed for No-Man's-Land.

[Paint]

Duke watched Justyn's contorting expression. He had no idea what he was thinking, and for the most part he didn't care. But he was certainly feeling like Justyn was pulling away from him. The thought made him angry, made his blood boil and his lips nearly raised. There was never much trust in the Falling Moons, and Justyn had so much potential if he would just fully be on Duke's side. At one time, he had been. Duke had watched him grow as they travelled from Empyrean after the earthquake. It made his hackles stand up to see Justyn come into his own now, out of Duke's control, right under his nose.

There was something that Duke certainly was sensing, though. Justyn wasn't greatful at all. There was no hint of loyalty in his words, he wasn't agreeing with Duke, he wasn't complying.

"Pick a side, Justyn," he suddenly said. His tone remained even, surprisingly, and although he blood was at boiling point. He lifted his great head up, assuming a dominant position. He rarely had to do such a display of authority, but naturally he assumed it at times like this. "I could've killed you when you were weak. The son of my enemy, I had every right to smash your skull in my jaws. Once in a while, you should remember that."

He began to walk away again, but turned back. This time he didn't want Justyn to follow him. He didn't want to talk to the ungrafetul bastard anymore. He was confused and taking his aggression out on Duke, but typically hypocritical, Duke wasn't willing to take it. If Justyn barked, Duke would bite.

"And if you ever turn your back on me and this pack, you can guarantee that you're never coming back. If that sounds at all appealing to you, then go on your way. There is too much to lose in pointless battles- starting one against me now would only end in one way."

He continued to watch Justyn for a minute, black eyes boring into him, before turning and lumbering away. In the darkness, the only sounds were them. If Justyn attacked him now, Duke would hear, and he was ready. His body was tensed, as always, and his mind violent as he walked away.

[[Midnight]]

Justyn should've known Duke would go off on another one of his tangents, but unlike most other times, it was much more random and unprovoked than all of the others. He wondered what he had said that had made Duke so deeply upset so as to go threatening him once again. There was no gaining Duke's favor; he was just like the rest of the Empyrean Valley wolves - prejudice. Biased, and unwilling to change.

Justyn was trying to change, at least.

Instead snarling back the same old bull like usual, Justyn only narrowed his eyes and stopped in his tracks, watching Duke's retreating back with no particular expression on his hardened face.

"You misunderstood my words," was all he could think to say, mostly because it was too confusing to figure out. Duke had just complimented the Stars by saying they were not weak, and Justyn was only pointing out the same. Why should Duke get to rule the world and say what he wanted to, and no one else ever could? Such a baby, Duke was. Justyn was not trying to compliment the Stars in the least, only put their will in perspective.

"Anytime I try to be your ally, it ends up with you getting angry, threatening to kill me, and one of us walking away. Maybe you should make up your mind, too. Do you wish you had killed me, or do you want me as your packmate?"

He turned in the opposite direction, unwilling to try and defend his case any further. It was pointless. Duke was never going to change, in fact if Justyn was lucky, Duke would choose not to take his words as a deep insult and keeping walking, too. But Justyn was determined to never be afraid of Duke. Never. Justyn could be killed by him right here and now, and the only regrets Justyn would have would be that he was unable to see what kind of impact his death would have on the world.

So Justyn kept walking away, his pace as nonchalant as the entry he had minutes before.