A Raven and a Wolf [Tristan/Open]

[Corvus "Raven" Hunter]

Spring was a lovely time of year. A time of birth, and growth, and flowers growing all over the place. Corvus looked up at the bright spring sky, watching white clouds that seemed almost painted on the perfect blue canvas. Despite the lovely day, the ruby eyed Boogie was irritated. Why? There were two possible reasons. One was that his familiar was a plant, a summer plant at that, so he ended up all alone this time of year. Or...most of the year. Either way. Second was he'd caused his object of affection, Kristopher, so much pain he was sure the blonde boy would never want to see him again.

I'm an idiot.

Cor dragged on his cigarette, blowing out the smoke in little rings. The smoke was purple. Strange, but interesting. Much like the mind he’d happened to hear from a little ways off.

The young Boogie, curious as a human child, had noticed the other Boogie male a few minutes ago and, without permission of any kind, had started to poke around for the hell of it. This guy was pretty awesome, in a fucked up kind of way. But hey, it was Wonderland. Who wasn’t fucked up in one way or another? Still…he was worse than a lot Cor had seen before. The girl he loved was also a girl he thought of as his sister, but they were different people, but they weren’t…Ai and who? Eh. Doesn’t matter He had all the info he needed to stir up a little fun.

Without a moment to spare, Corvus rounded the tree he was standing beside and spoke rather loudly in the direction of Tristan Blackthorne, “Hmm…hey, you. Did you hear about that Higurashi girl? What a shame. Shame, shame, shame.”

Of course, there was nothing wrong with Ai. Corvus just wanted to see what would happen if he ticked off this Boogie fellow.

[Ryan Cardwell]

Spring was never really his season. In his younger years he'd enjoyed it, especially when he'd been with her. But now that he was older, he fond himself much more fond of winter. Only in winter were all the pretty trapping stripped from the world, everything forced to appear as it truly was. It was a time of death and survival, when every moment might be the last and life came only from being the strongest of will. It was much the same as his own life, a constant battle just to make it to the next day. But unlike the seasons, he had no spring on the horizon.

Immediately Tristan was on his feet with a snarl, covering the ground between him and the other boogie far faster than humanly possible. With a strength that only he possess he grabbed the man by his shirt, slamming him up against the nearest tree and holding him there, several feet above the ground. There was nothing but pure rage in his eye as he glared at the man. His voice, when he finally spoke, came out bone chillingly calm and icy. "What about her...?" Tristan was clearly not in the mood for jokes.

Told you it would suck. ><

[Corvus "Raven" Hunter]

The look on Corvus' face went from perfect coy concern to surprise. New observation on this fellow: very, very quick to anger and get you into a compromising postition. Crap. The younger Boogie blinked, one hand rising to grab Tristans wrist, the other reaching for a revolver hidden behind his coat. If this got ugly, it would be shoot first, get the hell out, and explain later. On the other hand, this fellow's rage could be a fun way to pass the time, considering how bored Cor was.

His surprise morphed into a slight smirk, ruby eyes glimmering as he searched his own head for something that would panic him enough into dropping his collar. Lucky him, he had heard a rather lovely rumor circling the north wing. About that odd blood stain in the kitchen that had popped up one evening. "I...I head she had a nasty a-accident a while ago..." Corvus gasped, gripping Tristan's wrist tighter and finding the handle to his gun. "If you'd be so...kind as to let me...urh...breath..."

[Ryan Cardwell]

At first he pulled back a bit, as though he were going to let the man go. That went down the drain quickly as a split second later he slammed him back into the tree, crushing the barks and sending shards of wood flying in all directions. If the man was seeking to free himself then he was certainly doing a piss poor job of it. All he'd succeeded in doing so far was drawing himself closer to the curious ledge that people didn't live long after jumping off of. At this rate he'd be dead in about five minutes, tops.

With another snarl he gripped the boogie's shirt tighter still, the look in his eye quite clearly stating that if he didn't get the right answers out of this man then he'd be the only one leaving this place. "What kind of accident....?" Beneath the rage there was a great underlying fear, fear for the girl he cared about more than any other at this point in his life. He didn't know what he'd do if he lost Ai as well, and it was this fear that in large part fueled the rage he was currently feeling.

[Corvus "Raven" Hunter]

I need to stop following my plan A.

Cor could feel his face turning blue the tighter Tristan's grip got. This was a dumb idea from the start. Oh, and the tree he was being slammed into hurt. A lot. Time for plan B: just tell him the truth. This is because I'm bored, and because I'm bored, I tried to piss you off... Corvus suddenly had a mental image of head going through the tree, breaking his neck and killing him. ...plan C.

The revolver clicked as the red-eyed Boogie pulled it out and held it to the older male's temple. Cor's smile flickered dangerously as he touched the trigger lightly. "Let me down and I'll tell you. I swear, I won't run away on you..." ...you're to much fun.

[Ryan Cardwell]

He heard the gun of course, and of course he didn't care. He could easily kill the man before the trigger could be pulled, and even if he couldn't it probably wouldn't do a whole lot. And then there was the fact that the rage and terror he was currently feeling kinda threw all thoughts of self-preservation out the window.

His teeth bared at the boogie, over sharp canines uncannily resembling a wolf's fangs. Tristan Blackthorne was not one to be trifled with, especially when it came to his humans. That was a lesson this fool was about to learn the hard way. "You'll tell me regardless. Because if you don't, then you definitely won't be running" He was not one to make idle threats, if this boogie had been around very long at all then he'd know that much. He'd also know that Tristan wouldn't even think once about killing him, and he certainly wouldn't bother to look back at the man's bloodied corpse.

[Corvus "Raven" Hunter]

Corvus's smiled finally fell when he realized he wasn't getting out of this one so fast. This guy didn't care that he was pinned with a gun to his temple, he was still ready to slice a random stranger open thinking there was something wrong with his human. And this guy literally meant 'his' human. A small wripple of respect showed in Cor's eyes. This Boogie...even though he's about to kill me...we're a lot alike.

Both caring for something we shouldn't be.

The smile that faded was instantly replaced with a calm, serious expression. Time to let the game go. "Fine. Okay. I heard some ass roughed her up in the kitchen. That's all I know. I wasn't going to say anything. This was supposed to be a prank...but hey, you seem to actually give a shit about the kid." Cor's arms lowered, the gun hanging loosley at his side. "You can kill me now if you want to."

[Ryan Cardwell]

For more than a few moments longer his clenched fists shook in rage, no longer at the man but at whoever it was who had hurt Aione. But even through his rage he could see that it served no purpose to keep the man where he was, and something he soon realized with a heavy sigh. Forcing himself to relax he loosened hios grip, stepping back as he dropped the idiot on the ground. His eye closed against the spring sun, still not fully back to a relaxed state of mind. But then he didn't know why he ws even trying, there was no possible way he could relax now that this knowledge was weighing on his mind. Why didn't she tell me...?

With a deep, heartfelt growl he turned his gaze back onto the boogie, seemingly trying to see straight through the man's soul. "Of course I give a damn about her. She's..." He broke off, certainly not wanting to go into any sort of depth about his relationship with Ai, and certainly not to a boogie. For all he knew the man was jsut toying with him, trying to find out something so that he could use it against him, gods knew there was no shortage of boogies who would love to do just that. And so he quickly changed the subject. "Do you know who it was...?" He dearly hoped the man did, though the offending boogie had better hope he didn't. Because there would be no quick death for such a crime, not at Tristan's hand at least.

[Corvus "Raven" Hunter]

Cor didn't need to hear an explination to get the full story. One more glance with his talent and he knew exactly what Ai Higurashi meant to Tristan Blackthorn. Odd enough, it was the same level of affection he held for Kris, if not stronger. That softened Corvus by a long shot. How often did he meet Boogies who were a) not holding him in a choke hold and b) gave a rats ass about humans. The answer was not to often. What started as a bored morning prank urned into a rather interesting meeting...as long as the foolish trainer kept his sarcasm to himself and managed to get out in one piece.

"Unfourtunatley, the woman who told me didn't know his name. Just that he hasn't been in the palace long and he hasn't really made a name for himself..." the red-eyed Boogie frowned slightly, "...but I heard it isn't the only time this guy's gone after Higurashi. Heard he dragged down the lot of them. Gethering a 'collection'. Load of bullcrap to me." A flash of spring sun hit Cor in the face and he flinched, lowering his top hat to block his gaze. With his expression hidden, a sad, empty smile showed on his face.

"And, y'know, I bet she didn't tell you for a good reason. Wouldn't be the first time a human's done that..."

[Ryan Cardwell]

That just caused his temper to flare yet again, the knowledge that he would now have to hunt this bastard down. To make matters worse he had absolutely nothing to go on. The tidbit about him being a newcomer was entirely useless because Tristan already knew that much. It was the only plausible excuse for why he thought he could encroach upon Tristan's territory. Only two people ever braved his wrath, one because she could get away with it and the other because his hatred had driven him insane. And not even Iugo dared bother with Tristan's humans. Sure he took every opportunity he could to scare the wits out of Piper but that was it, some part of him knew better than to go further. Even he didn't want to die afterall. Or maybe he did. It was a good question.

However the bit about the idiot having taken not only Aione but her family as well caught his attention. So he's the one who brought her here... Most times when a boogie brought a human over, it meant that the human belonged to them. Of course there were exceptions like Tristan who brought them for sale, but he was one of a rare few. Normally Tristan was not one to trifle with other's humans, and was generally the first one to speak out against the all too common practice of treating the humans of others as ones own.

But this was different. The boogie had abandoned her after he'd brought her here, and in so doing abandoned any claim to her. On the other hand, Tristan had claimed her, and not only that but he had stayed with her. That meant she belonged to him bodily, and by chance he had bound her to him heart and soul as well. Her taker or not, the other had no right to her. Because she was his, and he'd be damned if he'd let some little upstart try and take her from him!

While the other boogie flinched at the touch of the sun, Tristan turned straight towards it, glaring at the bright orb. In that moment the sun dimmed perceptibly, though whether that was because of Tristan's gaze or the cloud it hid behind to escape it was up for debate. Whichever it was, Tristan turned back to the man, once again staring through him. "What reason could there possibly be...?" She should have told him...that way he could have killed the bastard and all of this would be over. Why hadn't she...?

[Corvus "Raven" Hunter]

Corvus glanced up at Tristan from under the top hat. This guy was a bit familiar, but since Cor was never one for names and faces and rumors, he never knew one guy from the other. All he knew was that this guy had a head swirled with secrets and affections with humans, issues with some Boogies--Naelona was one of them, of course, no surprise--and there was a new, extremly powerful homicidal streak towards the guy who hurt Aione.

The mind-reader stayed clear of that part of his head.

To the red-eyed male's surprise, the sun dimmed as soon as Tristan stared at it. If Cor didn't know better, he'd think the older man had dulled it's glow. But that was just plain silly. Still didn't stop Corvus from feeling a bit awed. He moved the hat back so his eyes showed clearly in the shaded light. Bright, blood red. His smile was gone, replaced with a blank, serious stare at Tristan. "Maybe she didn't want you to do something? Maybe she thought you'd get hurt, so she kept it to herself?"

The smaller Boogie seemed to look right through Tristan, to the clouds behind him. "Or what if she couldn't tell you?"