i'm walking into spiderwebs

It had occurred to Caligula that @Vengeance might not enjoy being having his power undermined.  Not that it had been his intention to do so, but sending off Eldra on a mission to kill a lone wolf was likely far riskier than it was worth.  Still, if the two were of a similar mindset, he imagined the warlord might even find amusement in the events. Perhaps. If not, he was more than willing to accept punishment by whatever means necessary.. and oh, did he hope it was necessary.

For the time being he rested among the trees, nonchalantly grooming a few of the wounds he had received from Eldra during their spar.  Everyone else may have smelled like death, but Caligula was not about to be one of them.  Hims was a clean boyo.

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For once the days had been pretty calm lately. The mist rolling in between the trees. Morning was coming and the Warlord would be preparing to settle down for the day. Thankfully the smog kept the woods fairly dark even during the brightest of days, and yet his circadian rhythm still demanded to sleep at some point... and so he remained with his usual routine.

Before that, the other pale individual of the misty woods caught his attention. The last he had come across his scent was mingled in with Eldra's, and she was nowhere to be seen for a while now. Curiously enough, she was one to linger lately, not straying too far after the last few negative encounters between her and the bogeyman.

“Caligula.” He called first, approaching smoothly without urgency. The man was grooming and yet that didn't matter to him - intruding or not, he had a few questions for the scarred man.

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Ah, there was that putrid stench he was trying so desperately to keep away from his coat. Littered with scars as he was, the surprisingly clean warrior could only wonder why and how @Vengeance chose to keep himself in disarray. He certainly wasn't a hideous wolf (though Caligula wasn't one to talk) and disguising his scent would be beneficial in war.. ah, well, truth be told he just wanted the man to care a bit more about appearances.

The ghost shifted his attention onto the warlord as he arrived, spilling his name casually onto the ground. "War chief," the pale wolf replied in turn, dipping his head in a respectful bow before shifting into his haunches and ultimately rising to stand on all fours. With a beast like Vengeance, being caught unawares meant death.

"What can I do for you?" he inquired politely, flicking his tail idly in the stagnant forest air.

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Unlike Eldra, at least Caligula seemed to know how to treat someone like Vengeance. How to please him without coming off as weak and miserable - perhaps he could teach her a thing or two on how to properly behave in a pack such as the Nightwalkers. A guide of sorts as the Warlord was far too busy to start babysitting members like her who needed more guidance than others.

The way he stood up did not go unnoticed either. Someone was either respectful enough to stand when approached to by a higher-up - or, too weary to be caught with his pants down. Both were respectful reasons.

“You were the last to see Eldra I assume.” He drawled, pausing for a moment before continuing. “Do you have an idea of where she may be?”

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It was curious to him that the warlord was even interested in the whereabouts of the girl, though he supposed she was a toy of sorts. He may not have been the kindest soul, but Caligula had some softness for his students -- to an extent. Perhaps she was not meant to be a soldier, however, and Caligula had given the tools necessary to murder over to a forlorn concubine. Shit, that would have been funny.

"She wanted to be a weapon for you," he began without hesitation, finding the truth a far more potent drug than a lie. "So I have been training her in combat and pushing her to her limits. The other day she tore a pup's spinal cord clear from his body." Caligula had a sickening grin at the memory, wondered how the sun was bleaching the bone back towards his den. Hopefully he would be able to make use of it.

"She wanted more, so I sent her in a quest to find her own quarry and take them down as desired. Tomorrow is our next lesson, so she should be returning any moment now." He awaited some kind of acknowledgment, good or bad, and silently loosened his muscles to brace for an attack. "It was my duty to train green soldiers previously, if I have overstepped I accept fully responsibility for her absence." Caligula's eye drifted to Vengeance's crimsons, poised for a brawl.

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Quickly Caligula gave his answer. Telling the tales of them both working together to sharpen her blade and be of better use to him. Yes, a tool and plaything for his amusement and desire for conquest. He showed no crack in his mask, no amusement, no displeasure either on Caligula's decision to start doing what came naturally to him. Time would tell how effective it was and if he was any good - but at least he had the initiative.

He wouldn't comment on their little journey, not now at least. It was too soon to make a decision on its effectiveness and judgment would come to pass another day on Caligula's work. “She is still excitable.” He starts on a different topic instead, hoping to bring to Caligula's attention something else he may be interested in working on with his new ward. She was his now to work on after all, that burden was his choice.

“Strength will come naturally to her, we need her to think before she acts before she does something brash that endangers us and our alliances.” For should she endanger those... her life would be the last thing she should be concerned about - death would be a form of mercy he would not grant her, nor anyone for that matter who would risk their powerful alliances. Crimson eyes observed the pale man, waiting for a response on whether or not it was something he could, or was willing to do.

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Truth be told, he wished to learn more about the man.  What were his experiences in combat, how many wars had he waged?  Was he all talk and no action, or was there truth danger behind those emotionless eyes?  Caligula would learn the truth eventually, though it became quite evident he would not be learning of his lord's approval anytime soon. Pity. Caligula enjoyed being told he was a good boy.

"I have yet to see her be anything but complicit in what I ask of her, but I will keep that in mind." Excitable? Eldra? All he had ever seen of her was a willing tool, so it surprised him somewhat to hear of another side. Perhaps one day he would see it, or perhaps they would both be fortunate enough that it would be trained out of her. Only time would tell.

Caligula nodded passively, listening rather half-assed as his superior instructed him how to do his job. "It is the mental strength we are working on at the moment, actually. The goal is to reduce her to ashes and build her up in your image, and so far she has done well enough." It was nothing but honesty spoken with the tone of boredom. "I will train the weak to be strong and if they are unteachable, I will dispose of them." He glanced at the man for some kind of reaction, knowing he would find none.

"If there is anything I can do better to serve you..?" he trailed off, brow furrowing. Surely there was something he could improve upon?

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The way Caligula carried himself and spoke, taking matters in his own paws without overstepping boundaries placed by the basic ranks of leader vs followers until more could be gathered for ranks to be handed out officially; it pleased Vengeance. Were he thinking about appointing a General or higher ranks any time soon, Caligula was already a frontrunner in the top picks - though he had few to contend with.

Again, all in due time. He had to be certain of his choices, and the pale man who stood before him not only seemed to have the history to back up his spoken abilities, but his desire to build on the weak was something beyond Vengeance's capabilities. To have someone who can pick up where the Warlord lacked, would be a powerful thing for them.

“Good.” At least he too agreed that not everyone was capable to learn, to be of use, and had to be ultimately disposed of. That was apparently not a conversation they need to have. “For now you are doing more than enough. We need to gather more members and solidify our borders, training the weak and weeding out the hopeless is all I ask for now.” For now indeed. Once they had enough disposable bodies to toss out into the world, he would begin to spread his reach beyond their borders and rule as far as his reach would allow him.

The new world will know of them, of him, whether they wanted to or not.

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Caligula wondered where the woman was, now that he was thinking about it. It really made no difference to him one way or the other whether or not she'd gotten herself killed, regardless of how poorly it would reflect upon himself. The trash would have taken herself out in that way, wouldn't it? Eh, well, they'd cross that bridge when they got to it.

The soldier nodded as his lord praised him in his own way. Caligula figured there would have been more to do, but recruiting and training was about as basic as could be. "I will call for your approval on anyone I bring in." It was only fair that the alpha got to pick and choose who actually made it, after all. "Recruitment isn't my forte, but I will do what I can." Maybe he could use Eldra as a guide? Hm, there were so many options.

"Certainly don't hesitate to let me know if you need anything further, Lord. I am yours." Caligula bowed his head, giving respect where respect was due without kissing too much ass. There was a hint of something more in his words, but the ghost left them to be decided upon by Vengeance.

His tail swished by his hocks, waiting for the man to decide where the conversation migrated next.

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“I expect you would.” After all, with no Generals yet to alleviate some of the leading duties - all had to go through Vengeance himself before they could call themselves 'Nightwalkers'. Even then, there was no guarantee it would be a permanent title on their name... for the current demon of the mist was a fickle being and a temperamental one at that.

“Oh I will.” He purred deeply, satisfied with everything he was hearing and how willing Caligula was to be the perfect soldier without even looking like he was putting much effort into it. Indeed he was his, one among the select few who had joined in the shadows with him, ready to be used as a weapon of war at his command.

He wondered which would be the first to fall among them should a war break out. It was the reality of the life they chose, of the contracts they unintentionally signed upon joining him. Some were meant to die, it was only a matter of who, and when.

Before departing, he had one more matter to bring up with Caligula. “Before I leave you to your bathing.” He hummed lowly, cheekily stepping forward with his charcoal and chocolate banner snaking behind him. “I would like a first-hand demonstration of your abilities Caligula.”

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Truth be told, he hoped there never came a day when he needed to call upon the warlord for any reason.  Outside of anything inconsequential, of course, but certainly nothing so serious as to weigh his worth upon the backs of strangers.  Recruitment was not his thing, never would be, and he was far more likely to chase off someone than welcome them in with open arms.  Still, he would do what he could when the opportunity arose and until that point, Caligula would do nothing but train.  He would start with Eldra and work his way through whoever else belonged to the Walkers, and at the end of it all would stand a mighty army for Vengeance to control.  Caligula had no greater purpose than to forge weapons for a greedy bastard -- like attracted like, after all.

His attention shifted from thoughts of the future as the chief stepped forward, requesting a rather simple thing that caused a wicked grin to split his muzzle.  "I would be delighted," the ghoul said with a low chuckle, effortlessly shifting into a battle ready stance.  "Shall we?"  It was only customary to allow his opponent first bite, wasn't it?  That, and it gave him the briefest of glimpses into how Vengeance battled. 

Caligula's claws sank into the ground, ready whenever his lord commanded it.

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This would be the first time the lord of the woods would spar with another on more pleasant terms since awakening here - if only Caligula know what kind of honor it was to be interested in as opposed to target like all the others. It seems the first move was given the darker beast as the pale man stood his ground, bracing and preparing for whatever would come.

Caligula was a big boy, both were and it seemed that the lord's size and weight would not be his greatest asset here. He approached, eyeing the pale man and choosing a more calculated approach instead of rushing in and using his weight to try and stun them, it simply wouldn't work as well here.

Once close enough, the battle began. Naturally, he lunged toward the blinded side of the pale knight, where his eye was nothing but a hollow hole. Teeth aiming to grab him where the elbow bend in his arm. If he could disrupt his balance, it would be all over.

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His blood hummed with electricity as the dance began, his warlord snatching up the opportunity without hesitation. It had been far too long since he had last fought with someone so similar, and he nearly purred in excitement at the mere idea of showing what he could do.

Going for his blind side wasn't a terribly creative move (he wouldn't be telling him that) but certainly manageable, and as Vengeance's teeth reached for the tender flesh of his armpit, Caligula shifted. The pale lord knew of one way to deter a pit-biter, and that was to bite harder. His teeth snapped towards the right side of Vengeance's neck as it flashed by, attempting to grab hold enough that his lord would be reduced to snapping at air. Naturally he wouldn't be unscathed as a flurry of teeth would cause damage wherever they landed, but as long as he could keep Ven away from his joints, he has a much better chance at victory. No bitey.

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Though his tactic may not have been seen as uncreative, it was also a manner of taking whatever opportunity came. There was a weakness, and if one desired victory, they had to take it with both hands. There may be no honor in dirty fighting, but the spoils go to the victor, in the end, no matter how that victory may have been obtained.

There was more than one way to skin a cat as the saying goes.

Angrily his teeth met with nothing but air, a sharp pain in his neck immediately came with the response to thrust his head toward the aggressor and headbutt him with the side of his head. No one ever truly won in a headbutt, but to the headbutter, the blow was usually a little less. Hoping the pale man was dazed enough, ignoring the pain in his shoulder/neck for the time being, he hoped to seize the opportunity to grab the man's face on his blind side.

Maybe even sink a fang in his empty eye socket. Oh how much fun would that be to drag someone around by the eye hole?

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It would have been inappropriate to laugh, he knew, but Caligula couldn't help but snicker to himself as their bodies clashed. Yes, yes, more of that. A snarl spilled from his lips like honey as he felt the headbutt against his cheek, enough to loosen his hold on Vengeance's neck and release the hound of war. Ow, his feelings.

The upside to not having an eyeball was not experiencing much pain when a stray tooth lodged itself in the empty socket. Uncomfortable, yes, but Caligula had struggled through worse -- and all the attack did was fan the flames in his belly. Oh, so they were gonna play naaasty?

Blood poured from the wound as he jerked his head away from the lord, taking a split second to reorient himself before slamming forward with all the force he could manage. He hoped in the movement the tooth would fuck off, but who knew. Cal didn't even want to think about it at the moment, thank you. Instead he pushed forward with the slam, teeth snapping to find purchase on his lower jaw. The goal was to get his opponent on his back, but.. well, he was a bit larger.

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As a tooth lodged itself through the skin and stopped by bone, he could tell that his desires had come true. He had managed to get himself into the empty hole on the man's face and clamped down to solidify his hold on the man's face. He braced himself, hoping to pull and yank on his face and force him to submit in the strangest way possible. But of course, Caligula wasn't going to go down that easily.

He jerked his head while Vengeance tried to pull, and with the rounded edges, he had a hard time keeping his grip. Their bodies collided causing a final slip of his tooth to leave the nook it had nestled in. In a move that reminded him of his fight with the man in Elkshire's woods, he found himself on the receiving end of a mandible bite.

Having little options left, he himself bit down on the muzzle of the pale warrior as well as a last-ditch effort to get him to let go by risking a paw to shove it in between Caligula's gums and teeth to pull at his lips, trying to angle his paw in a way to dig his claws in and push, rip and tear and see if that would get the man to let go. Trying to keep his center of gravity lower than usual thanks to having three legs on the ground rather than the four, he lowered his weight and hind legs to help balance out.

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It wasn't a beautiful fight, but the good ones never were.

Although his eye socket was free, Caligula now had the wonderful chomp to contend with and oh, it stung quite a bit. The ghoul tightened his grip for the next bout, not looking to crush the bones but enough to secure Vengeance's jaw. That was his jaw now. He owned his bottom jaw, thank you.

He hissed in frustration as the warlord made to swing his paw upwards, but the brief window gave him opportunity. Caligula, still holding onto Vengeance's muzzle, surged forward in an attempt to drag his lord along with him. He hoped to knock him off balance and, by pulling his muzzle, twist the man's neck until he had no choice but to flip onto his side or back. Pinning him was ideal, but Caligula certainly wouldn't mind getting him on the ground. It was as good as over should the wolf go belly up, and had the fight been real, his next move would have been to simply disembowel.

But that probably didn't look that great on a resume.

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Frustratingly, this fight was not going his way. The lord of putrescence growled viciously, infuriated by how things were turning out. Certainly, you could not win them all - but damn he wanted to. The maw into the man's cheek didn't work and immediately he was forced to return to having all fours on the ground, struggling to keep his balance by digging his nails in and constantly shifting his weight. Tail lashing, snaking, twisting in order to keep him on his feet.

He would not go down. Foam bubbled from his enraged maw, dripping along the sides of his lips angrily as he had come to the conclusion - the realization and somewhat acceptance of his situation. With legs splayed out and shadowing Caligula's movements to barely keep himself on his feet, all he could do now was go on the defensive with nothing else to do.

In his attempt to show who the victor was, the unfortunate loser this round let go of the pale warrior's maw. Releasing the pressure and only moving to stabilize himself, no more did he fight against it.

However.... if Caligula was keen on pinning the earth titan - things would swiftly change from a friendly spar and into something much more. For both their sakes, he hoped the man would notice the small white flag offered.

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A warrior accustomed to battles, Caligula knew when his opponent had been bested.
Still, he gave the warlord kudos for being able to withstand having his jaw nearly snapped. He wouldn't have wanted it any other way if he were to follow this man to the gates of hell, and so there were no hard feelings to be had when he felt Vengeance release his grip. Caligula thought no less of the wolf by any means and was grateful for the opportunity to show off, though humility was necessary to avoid wounding the lord's ego. Princes and kings were fragile, he hardly wanted to begin some feud between them simply over a few moves.

Caligula was happy to relinquish his hold on Vengeance as the battle came to a natural conclusion. He was feeling a bit arrogant about the whole thing but never let it show on his expressionless face as he spun to the chief. "I hope you approve," he said with a humorless laugh, giving a few slow wags of his tail. It felt wonderful to spar, truly.

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Again the pale warrior was wise to not test the waters even in victory. The two men managed to step back, Vengeance running his along his bottom lips where he could reach some of the puncture wounds. The rest, he would have @"Bramble" look at - make use of their healer finally, it was why he brought her in after all.

“Eldra is lucky you took her in.” It was as good of praise as he would get for now. There were other, better things that could feed a man's ego after all and it would all come in due time, provided that Caligula would continue to impress as he has been thus far. “Enjoy your victory - for now.” The drawl in his final words was his own special way of indicating there were no hard feelings and that perhaps... next time things would end differently.

He always loved a challenge after all. And he would remember this until the next time they met, for now, he wandered away toward where he kept the little healer girl.

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last from me!

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Caligula could only guess at how wounded the man's pride was to be bested by an underling, but hey, he wasn't complaining. It made him look rather well put together to have shown off his talents, didn't it? He was the man taking charge of training the troops, so his display was as much of job security as it was anything else.

"Of course, my lord." Oh, Caligula would most certainly enjoy his victory. Caligula remained where he was at the darker man departed and, with a soft huff, Caligula returned to grooming on the forest floor.

{exit}

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