CRIME AND PUNISHMENT | visitor

[Deutschland]

This place looked awful. He had to wonder why anyone would want to live here. Deutschland carefully stepped around in the marsh, ears pricked and nostrils flaring. The scents of the swamp was overriding his senses and it was hard for him to notice a scent line for the border. He had not been with the Ascendants long, so his pelt carried more of a windy loner smell, which was obviously not ideal, since he had been told the Ascendants and Tanglewood were allies, so he would have prefered to go when he smelled like an actual Ascendant, but he couldn’t waste another moment. Anakin had told him Ivan was here and he was going to find him.

The German shepherd paused, stiffening and raising his head. His hackles raised as he looked side to side. This whole place was just unsettling and although he felt guilty about keeping his visit a secret from his mate, Feliciano, he was a little happy because it meant that Feliciano was still safe back at the Ascendants. Too wary to take another step forward, he stayed put and luckily for him, he was a few feet behind the border. He decided he would wait to see if someone would find him. If not, he’d probably leave after an hour so Feliciano wouldn’t notice he was gone .... unless that had already happened. Deutschland sighed heavily through his nose and tried to shake some mud off his paw.

[ABATHUR .]

Abathur empathized with this stranger on their borders - it was most certainly an awful place to live. Muck everywhere, enough to make any animal sick of life. Even him, to a degree. Although, the people in here sort of made up for it, as they were a fun bunch to interact with, and even the territory was interesting to deal with due to the whole mystery of the crater. But the marsh? The marsh was something he took no joy in passing through, even if it was to grab some more fish for his experiments, even if it was for a border patrol.

Though, admittedly, he hadn't done a border patrol in quite a bit. Most of his time spent around the borders was just looking for something interesting to sample, which was very common for some odd reason. Tanglewood was a very, very weird place, but he could deal with that for a bit. Today, though, he didn't find something to sample (unless it was agreed upon by both members), but instead a living canine standing on the border, proud as anyone could look, though he could see the disgust. It was a very empathetic emotion. "Greetings. Name, business," the spider said, doing his best to look the shepherd in the eye even if he was decidedly smaller, only around the size of an adult domestic cat. He really had to get out of this form, it was too small for him to survive an encounter and too big for him to survive it through a normal spider's skills.

tags - "speech"

[Deutschland]

A spider. A big spider. Deutschland’s ears flicked back to lay tightly against his skull as he eyed Abathur warily. He wasn’t totally surprised when it began to talk. He figured a normal sized spider would not ask him for his name and business. ”Deutschland.” He answered curtly, taking a few steps back in case he was standing on the border - he wasn’t really on the border, he just didn’t know it because his sense of smell was weaker than usual.

”And I’m looking for someone named Ivan.” Deutschland’s eyes flickered, deep in thought as he tried to recall memories of his old friend. They had lived in seperate groups, but had still managed to become closer than just “allies”. It was hard not to forget someone like Ivan. ”He ... has purple eyes ... Russian accent .. hmm. Someone from the Ascendants said he’d be here, and that he’s a bear dog.” He desperately hoped that this wasn’t a wild goose chase and that the mysterious lion Anakin was leading him astray. Last time he saw Ivan, he hadn’t been looking so good and it seemed like he was forgetting who he was ... and why on earth would he ever settle in a place like this?

[IVAN Z. BRAGINSKY]

IVAN ZIMAVICH BRAGINSKY ✧ russian bear dog — regent — tags[/color]

The beast approached, fur wet and algae clinging to his form. He wore his mask- it was gunmetal grey. The top was similar to a skull and the bottom half clung to his jaws. The mask gave two long incisors to the bottom, at least four inch long.
The dog was huge and bulky, and hadn’t seen a stranger dog in a while. His canine brain had the better of him, as it ordered to growl and snap at the other dog.
Zimavich’s eyes glowed purple, baring gross yellow teeth. The dog smelled like the very swamp he lived in, like a gross beast. His fur had darkened with mud, matted and thick and smelled moldy- his scarf was wet and dirty.
Transformed, he was.

Ivan was fighting this beastly version of him, as it growled and messed with his mind. He didn’t like this monster- it was profitable but it was a separation from whoever Ivan used to be. He wanted to know whoever or whatever he once was. The floating feeling of his existence had ceased, but it was fight to regain hisself and he felt terrible. The Christian, the scarf, that was Ivan. But the beast? That was Zimavich.

His growl persisted and he let out a warning bark.

© madi

[Deutschland]

The scarf and violet eyes gave it away. It was tempting to think that this was a literal swamp monster, given that he had already seen a cat-sized spider at the border. He glanced at Abathur before focusing entirely on the Russian bear dog in front of him. Yes, it was Ivan ... or was he? Growling and snarling wasn’t exactly the sort of greeting he would have expected from an old friend.

He wasn’t stupid either. The other shepherd was probably twice his weight and height and the thick fur caked with mud was a terrific defense from attacks. Deutschland’s short and stocky body was made for guarding sheep in the German countryside, or perhaps to attack people trying to climb over walls. His line was bred to attack wolves and humans, Ivan’s line could probably do that and kill bears.

The eastern German shepherd stood his ground, only swiveling his left ear back when the other dog barked. ”You are really buried deep in there, aren’t you, Ivan?” He kept his posture straight, knowing he was walking on thin ice. He was too prideful to drop to the ground and show his belly, but he didn’t really want to fight someone who used to be his friend, and was evidently stronger than he was. Maybe there could be some happy medium. ”It’s me, Deutschland. When you were a polar bear, you gave me a scarf ... well ... I do not have it now, I lost a lot of things ... I am pretty sure you knit it yourself. Another time, you picked me up and carried me.” He paused and grimaced lightly at the memory, still foggy, but he could clearly remember his embarassment and distaste at being picked up so easily. ”I do not like being carried.” He mused softly, more to himself than directed at Ivan. He might just be talking to a brick wall. Ivan hadn’t said any words so far ... so even with his gentle coaxing, Deutschland was still relatively stiff and hyper-aware. He would not stand a chance going for an offensive attack, but he might have a better shot at survival with defense.

[IVAN Z. BRAGINSKY]

IVAN ZIMAVICH BRAGINSKY ✧ russian bear dog — regent — tags[/color]

Zimavihc perked up and stopped growling at his name. His ears stood at attention, listening to the Shepard’s story and starting to pant. His tail wagged lightly and drool dripped from his mouth. Ears flicked back and tail lowered. There was still suspicion. Distrust.
"You... knew me?” Eyes flicker back and forth, spinning, distrust, unsure. Ivan’s memories had been fuzzy and he was struggling to remember himself. He wanted context. Subtext. He wanted  know exactly who he was and where he had lived.
He made an executive decision. He felt it was in his power as regent. He shouldered his dirty scarf off his neck and threw it at him.
”Put it on your eyes... I’ll take you back to the camp and I want to talk...” Allies or not, he was distrustful and felt the information was better to keep secret.

© madi

[Deutschland]

He wasn’t discouraged, though a bit annoyed because it was obvious that whoever was talking to him was not Ivan and that he was in fact, right, that Ivan was still buried down there somewhere, but buried really deep. He nodded, watching as the other dog contemplated his next move. What he heard next was not exactly what he expected and he was not looking forward to wrapping a dirty scarf over his beautiful blue eyes, but he grudgingly decided he could bear it.

”Alright.” The German shepherd sighed, slipping the scarf over his eyes. Now his ears pricked up and his nostrils flared, trying to make up for his sense of sight. He just didn’t want to step in a deep puddle of mud or get tangled in spider webs ... he could navigate well being blind, but he just wouldn’t be able to remember the landmarks and how to get there, and that was probably exactly what his guide intended. ”Lead the way, then.”

[Luciferr]

[align=center]

But Heed this lesson well,
When the weak court death, They find it -

to Deutschland no doubt all this be would be the sound of a very large creature approaching with the lingering scent of ash, iron and the barely remembered tang of blood considering he could not see - maybe that was for the best, War had gained many a different reaction, by and large mostly trepidation when confronted with something nine feet tall and covered in enough spikes and spines to be a threat if one so much as stumbled into him wrong.

Fen's brow arched as he came upon the scene with a brief glance to the spider before he settled back on Zima whom seemed to know what was going on given the blindfold - the canid beast hummed a question to his fellow regent "whats this Zima?"

[sub]TANGLEWOOD - REGENT - TAGS - REF (9FT) - EXTREME[W]isker[/sub]