InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "It really is you."

Wolf Skyhorse (wolf_leader) wrote in devils_tower,
@ 2008-05-15 23:21:00

Entry tags:

azrael, wolf

Week Five -- Wednesday
Who: Wolf and Azrael
Where: Mountain Lion turf
When: Wednesday morning
Why: Wolf wants a meeting with Azrael concerning the power outage.

Visiting Mountain Lion turf was the last thing that Wolf wanted to do, and going there with the intent to see Azrael himself was even farther down on his list. The two of them usually kept their distance. Two year old actions still dictated every nuance of their relationship, which was far from a pleasant thing. He hadn’t been able to sleep the night before. Not that he’d had much of a chance anyway. After the meeting he ran around town checking on people’s personal supplies, and even chopping or retrieving wood for those who needed it. By the time he hit the pillow it was 3am. Despite his exhaustion he didn’t fall asleep until 6am and then once again woke up around 10am. He gave up on trying to sleep and drug himself out of his warm bed. He could hear the wind outside and the thought of riding all the way to the Mountain Lion lodge in it made him groan.

He rode alone to the edge of the Mountain Lion territory and waited for one of the patrols to find him. They made him get off of his horse so they could search him and his saddle for weapons or anything else. Even though guns were scarce they still had to watch our for knives and other deadly weapons. He rode the rest of the way to the lodge with one guard behind him and one guard in front of him. It was a decent ride from the edge of the Lion’s territory to the lodge but the tense atmosphere between the guards and him kept him alert and on edge. God, he was so tired and had no desire to do this but he had to. He never would have dreamt of sending anyone else into the Lion’s den. He owed it to his tribe and so for the next few hours, or how ever long it took he’d have to play the game. He knew he’d have to really be sharp around Azrael and keep his exhaustion to himself. It was like Azrael could smell weakness and Wolf didn’t want to appear weak in the least.

When they approached the lodge another guard came up to Wolf and ushered him off of his horse. Wolf tried to glance around inconspicuously. Even though it was daylight he couldn’t tell if they were using electricity or not, though there was a steady stream of smoke pouring from the main chimney. Wolf walked into the lodge with the guard behind him. “I’ll see if he will see you. Wait here.” The guard gave Wolf a threatening glare with which Wolf returned a look of cold indifference.

He sighed and brought his hands behind his back as he waited, studying his surroundings from the place he’d been told to stay. Now all he could do was wait and see if Azrael would even meet with him.

(Post a new comment)

winged_death
2008-05-16 09:32 am UTC (link)

Azrael hadn't slept so well last night either. He'd caught about three hours in all, but had spent the rest of the night just lying in bed, thinking. His mechanics had been working around the clock since the power outage, but according to the last runner's report from the plant, there was still no improvement in the situation. The Mountain Lions were nothing if not well-organized, though; they had plenty of wood and every hearth in the lodge now had a fire crackling in it. They were missing a few of their creature comforts, but they were surviving, and they could feasibly survive the winter like this, with a bit of extra work by everybody.

Survival in a literal sense wasn't what was on Azrael's mind. The power plant was his tribe's main source of leverage over...well, everybody else, and the loss of it would be a blow to their control. Azrael liked control. Possible political scenarios went around and around in his mind all night, predicting his opponents' moves, and his counteracts, several steps ahead. Like a chess game. That's all this was - one big chess game, and he may have just lost his queen.

His last runner had come in at seven with no news, and Azrael had been awake since then. He had addressed his tribe last night, assured them that everything was being done to take care of the problem, and told them to go about their business until it was. And so they did, their leader included. The only thing different about his day was the regular reports from the plant, and the fact that he'd moved the chair in his office closer to the window, both to take advantage of the morning light in the absence of electricity, and to watch anxiously for anybody bringing news of improvement. A fire was also lit in the rarely-used fireplace.

When the knock came on his door, Azrael was seated at this chair, a book open in his lap. His eyes weren't moving across the page; he didn't even know what book it was. He grunted a "come in," to the knock, not lifting his eyes. It wasn't a runner, and he didn't particularly want to talk to anybody else.

"Wolf here to see you, Boss." Azrael looked up and nodded at the guard, who left and shut the door behind him. Closing his book and placing it on the windowsill, he rubbed a hand over his face, then got up and stood in front of his desk, leaning back to sit on it with his arms crossed across his chest. Wolf was usually fun to mess with, but Azrael wasn't much in the mood at the moment. When the door opened again, his face was impassive, but his eyes were sharp as ever, and his mind was working quickly.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

wolf_leader
2008-05-16 10:19 pm UTC (link)

Wolf didn’t have to wait long and when the guard came for him he was ready. It had been quite a while since he’d seen Azrael and from what he could remember of the encounter it hadn’t ended well. Unlike Trinity, Azrael was not as successful in pushing his buttons. Granted, Azrael’s very presence sent chills of annoyance up his spine, but he was usually able to control himself better than with Trinity. Trinity was pure evil and not ashamed to throw it all out there, whereas Azrael seemed a great deal more cunning and particular about when and where to exercise his dark side.

Wolf entered the office behind the guard who took a stance next to Wolf after he shut the door behind them. Wolf glanced at the guard and raised his brows in mock surprise. There was no way that Wolf would ever try anything alone and on Mountain Lion turf. Besides, he was not one to act without a reason and so far Azrael had not given him a reason to act. Azrael looked the same, smug, cool and calculating as ever. Wolf hooked his thumbs in his pocket as he stood there. “Hello Azrael.” He hadn’t seen Azrael since before the Mountain Lions had burned that poor drifter boy alive. The thought of that heinous act made Wolf’s stomach turn and clench with anger. Justice was perhaps the most important thing to Wolf, and what they’d done to that boy was more than simply unjust, it was pure evil. He sighed softly in an attempt to clear his head and focus on the issue at hand. Wolf had made his feelings known concerning the drifter incident last month at the Halloween party. “I’m sure you know why I’m here. Let’s save ourselves from the small talk and get right to the point. Care to tell me what’s going on?”

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

winged_death
2008-05-16 11:07 pm UTC (link)

It was rare that the leaders of the two tribes came face to face, and it was usually not with the intent to be civil, at least on the Lions' end. Wolf looked a bit more worn-out than he had at their last altercation, a detail that Azrael noted with grim satisfaction. Any way he had the upper hand when it came to his biggest rival was a good one in his book.

Azrael's face didn't change as Wolf greeted him, but his eyes glinted with a morbid sort of amusement, both at the question and at the situation itself. Wolf was fairly easy to read, for the most part. He was preoccupied with abstracts like good and fair and just, and was thus predictable. Azrael subscribed more to the idea of success, and his version of justice was considerably less compassionate than the other tribes'. Hence the burning of the drifter. In Azrael's eyes, it had been necessary; nobody would be stealing from his tribe again anytime soon. Make one extreme example, and he wouldn't have to make any more. He surmised that Wolf wouldn't take that stance on the issue, and Azrael was proven right by his little speech at the Halloween party. By the way Wolf was looking at him now, the other man hadn't forgotten that episode, just as Azrael wouldn't forget their two-year old animosity. He had underestimated Wolf once, and Azrael was a fast learner: he never made the same mistake twice.

Wolf phrased his question in a way that made Azrael blink. They'd had problems with power before, and Wolf hadn't marched on down to the lodge to see him, then. Granted, none of them were this lengthy, and it had been better since he'd taken Watts on as chief mechanic, but it almost sounded like Wolf was accusing him of something. "Nice to see you, too, Wolf," he said smoothly. "Care to specify the problem?" Part of him was just being annoying, while the other part was actually curious as to what Wolf could be blaming him for this time.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

wolf_leader
2008-05-23 04:59 am UTC (link)

Azrael was cunning and liked to play games whereas Wolf was almost the complete opposite. Wolf liked to be direct and get right to the point. He never saw the value in beating around the bush. That was another reason he never would have made a good lawyer or politician in the old world. His father always told Wolf that he was too human, too concerned with things like feelings. When he helped his dad in the court room he’d always had trouble separating himself from the situation or working within the frame of the law.

Azrael’s apparent amused indifference did little to quell the annoyance that had risen in the back of Wolf’s throat. There were times when Wolf indulged in Azrael’s games, he almost couldn’t help being sucked into them. Today he wanted nothing of the sort and he was determined to try his best to stay out of the fancy word-play and subtle manipulations.

He nodded with a scoff and shake of his head, “Of course you’d need specification considering you and your tribe are at the heart of every problem around here.” Already he had failed miserably in the avoiding the game department. His jaw tightened as he tried to regain himself. “I’m sure you’ve noticed that the power has gone down. I have people that want answers and the rumor has it that you’re the one who can give them to me.”

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

winged_death
2008-05-23 05:49 am UTC (link)

Fancy word-play and subtle manipulations were not only Azrael's game, they were his way of life. He wasn't particularly strong or anything, and he may not have had it in him to slit somebody's throat with his own knife, but he was damn smart and sneaky, and that's what had worked so far as keeping him alive had gone. Words were a wonderful distraction; Azrael's tended to be ambiguous, much like his personality, and kept people wondering what he was playing at - often right up until they felt a blade between their shoulders. He had considered politics as a career and would've been good at it, but in the end had opted for medicine, because it made for more interesting and challenging college subject matter. A bored Azrael was never a good thing, no matter what the setting.

This time, he couldn't keep his amusement at bay, and his lips twisted into a maddening smirk of the sort that his teachers had both hated and dreaded, and had gotten him swung at a few times in the past. Ignoring the blatant and rather uninteresting insult, he settled further back against his mahogany desk, stretching out his long legs in front of them and crossing them. "You don't say. Lord knows I live to cater to people." The way he said his last word was laced with derision, making it clear what he thought of the people Wolf was referring to.

As he said this, Azrael was mentally debating. He wasn't an expert on geothermal energy, and from what he heard, anybody who was anywhere close to one was drawing a blank. Conveying their current level of uncertainty, though, would be a very bad political move indeed. He made a quick decision: Wolf could know that they were all in the same boat, but he didn't need to know how fast they were sinking.

"You might say we've noticed." He wasn't going to outright say that the Lodge was powerless, but he looked pointedly at the tall stack of firewood in the corner. Azrael knew Wolf wasn't stupid, despite the whole 'annoying idealist' aspect of his personality.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

wolf_leader
2008-05-23 10:15 pm UTC (link)

Azrael’s sarcasm was almost enough to push Wolf’s buttons but not quite. Trinity on the other hand knew exactly what to say and how to say it to get Wolf going. Luckily for them both, Wolf had much more measurable control around Azrael. Wolf scowled and glanced at the guard standing, grinning, at his side. “So, you’ve noticed, but you’ve attempted to avoid the latter half of my statement.” Wolf took a step closer to Azrael so that they were almost toe to toe. The guard flinched, the grin falling from his face as he placed his hand on the hilt of the knife at his hip.

“What’s going on at the power station Azrael? How permanent is this?” His question was ridiculous, as if there were degrees of permanence. Azrael’s cold, nonchalant expression already told Wolf everything he needed to know. Just as he suspected there was little chance of getting a genuine answer from Azrael. Yet what else could Wolf have done besides try? Even if he didn’t have an answer to give his tribe he at least tried, and the fact that the Mountain Lion leader wouldn’t share information only made them look worse and Wolf look better.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

winged_death
2008-05-23 10:57 pm UTC (link)

If Azrael had a major weakness, it was this: if the opportunity presented itself, he could not resist making obvious jabs at people, no matter who it was. Maybe it was for the best that he hadn't gone into politics...oh wait, he had, and hadn't really had a choice in the matter.

Still smirking, he glanced at his guard and gave him a nod, and the hand left the knife. Then he turned to Wolf, and the smile got wider. He lifted himself up onto his desk and then leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees with his hands clasped together. "Alright, Wolfie, let me explain this in terms you'll understand." From his posture and tone, he looked and sounded for all the world like a teacher explaining a foreign concept to a student, but his expression remained vaguely mocking. "We have permanent in the terms of markers, which stick around for a few days but eventually wash off. We have permanent in the terms of things like residence, and records, which tend to last longer but can always be changed under the right circumstances." With each sentence, he ticked off a finger. He knew he was being an ass, but Wolf deserved it, for that idiotic question. "And then we have the actual meaning of the word permanence, which encompasses concepts like death, and particularly unfortunate cases of stupidity. My power plant does not fall into the latter category, so you might say that the answer to your question is: it's not."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

wolf_leader
2008-05-27 05:43 am UTC (link)

There really was nothing like a facetious lecture from Azrael to brighten up Wolf's day. Wolf hated when people turned his words around or made a mockery of them when they knew their true meaning regardless of the way they'd come out. He crossed his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes with sigh. Drawing the skin just below his bottom lip between his teeth he looked somewhat like an annoyed child as he waited for Azrael's little speech to finish.

When Azrael had finished his performance Wolf feigned a clap. "That was almost as clever as the darling witticisms Trinity comes up with." He paused and glanced at the guard who was grinning like an idiot beside him. It crossed his mind that perhaps he should have brought Otter with him. If he had one of two things could have happened; there could have been a miracle and Otter could have managed a straight answer from Azrael or Azrael could have torn the poor sweet guy to pieces. The latter was perhaps the more likely.

"Do you think it would kill you to be serious and real with me for once?" He sighed again, mulling over his next words in his mind. It was no secret that power equaled heat and heat equaled survival. It was no secret that all of the tribes and not just the Wolves would suffer more than usual through the harsh Wyoming winter if electricity was no longer available. However, Wolf didn't want to play into the idea of the area's dependence on the Mountain Lions anymore than he had to. "Since it's not permanent I want a time frame. When can we expect the power to be back on?" The Mountain Lions may have the power but it was the Wolves that had the major food supply, a factor that was just important when it came to surviving the winter. "Oh, and when did you want us to deliver your next shipment of food?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

winged_death
2008-05-27 03:54 pm UTC (link)

Serious and real was what Azrael was forced to be more often than he'd like nowadays. Messing with Wolf was like recreation to him. Azrael laced his fingers together again, the same cold smirk on his face as Wolf oh-so-subtly reminded him that the Wolves may have been dependent on the Lions' power, but the Lions needed the Wolves' food.

He turned his clasped hands to one side to glance at his expensive wristwatch. The report was late. There was probably no news anyway, but Wolf didn't have to know that. "Okay, then," he said casually. "You want a serious answer? I don't know yet. And the reason I don't know is because my messenger is late." It was somewhat serious - serious coated in only one layer of bullshit, if you will. Azrael had actually physically participated in the restoration of the plant, but he'd pretty much just done the heavy lifting in the absence of many worker bees to do it. He was no geothermal energy specialist, and could thus not even make an estimate as to the time frame they were looking at. Could the whole thing be knocked out by an earthquake? He didn't know, and the people who did weren't here to brief rival tribe leaders.

That was all Azrael had to say on the subject of the power. Wolf was already aware of how dependent the city was on it (Azrael never let him forget it) and so there was little need to rub it in. It might've made Azrael feel better to do a little rubbing, but it wouldn't have been smart.

"Sunday is fine, as usual," he remarked, ignoring the fact that Wolf's question hadn't been an actual question, but a reminder. "How is dear Caldwell? Still kicking?" The Lions hadn't succeeded in acquiring the Caldwell's farm, for the sole reason that there was still one Caldwell left in it. The one they'd gone to school with, actually. Azrael hadn't thought much of him - whatever he went by nowadays, Az could never remember - but he'd proved remarkably resilient.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

wolf_leader
2008-06-15 06:16 pm UTC (link)

The meeting was turning out just as Wolf thought it was going to: pointless. How could he ever have assumed that Azrael would be willing to talk to him in a cooperative manner? The man had never done so before and once again all Wolf's wishful thinking had gotten him nothing, nothing but a good twenty minutes of sarcastic harassment. He should have used this time to finish the last of the winter preparations but he felt like he had to come here. At least he was showing his tribe that he was trying to do something, even if that something was not very fruitful it was the only thing that he could do. Besides, his efforts to converse with the Mountain Lions and their lack of cooperation would only add points to his name and subtract points from theirs.

Among the many differences that existed between Wolf and Azrael there was a fundamental one that always bothered Wolf. While Wolf was literally out working the fields with his people Azrael was sitting in his office with his feet up, watching his people through the window. The fact that Azrael didn't know what was going on with such a serious problem because his runner was late disgusted Wolf. Why wasn't he down there in the trenches doing what he could to figure things out? Wolf hated laziness and in his eyes Azrael was the epitome of both of those things. "Mm, I suppose that's a good enough reason not to know since your own two feet appear to be broken."

Wolf's gaze narrowed when Azrael spoke so flippantly of Otter. "Otter is just fine and I'll let him know that you were so kind to inquire." Wolf took a step back and the guard moved to follow him. Wolf glared at the guard. "I know the way out." He reached back to take the door knob and as he left he did not show his back to Azrael until the last minute.

(Reply to this) (Parent)