Weaving each pose came naturally as the wolf maneuvered himself upon the stage, his purposefully heavy footfalls shaking it as he presented his physique.

To a non-existent audience.

In fact, the only sounds which echoed through the now-empty auditorium were his heavy steps and the faint creaking of his pelt as he flared his immense musculature with each step, showcasing and spreading wide his back as his lats unfurled and his traps hid his head. Whatever was going through the wolf-man's head, it was encompassing enough for him to lose himself in the moments, the weight and heavy movements of each calculated flex filling him with pleasure.

His posing trunks had long-since ridden-up his legs, the flared quads and hamstrings pumped as they held up Darius' impressive brawn with every rumbling step. His body shook with every flex, the flickers of raw power searing through his mind as he indulged himself that perpetually building strength. Each flex pushing him mightier and mightier as the resulting display began to shake the building.

A mischievous smirk lined the wolf's brutish visage as he felt his ambitious carry him soaring far higher than he anticipated, slamming his foot down in front of him, the impact bounding outwards as the stage visibly cracked beneath him, only further enticing him as he flung his arms forward in triumph, arms and chest bulging with excessive strength--enough to compress a cruise liner if it were focused well enough. And with every subsequent push, his exertion building and building and building, unable to get enough of the raw might at his claws.

His ear twitched as his strength-obsessed fugue was abruptly interrupted, his glazed eyes refocusing on a figure in the back waving over to him. He couldn't hear the greeting over his obsessive thoughts of strength and power, made all the more apparent by the copious amounts of drool sliding from his tusked, brutish face.

As the figure approached, he could hear words once more as his earlier high slowly simmered back down to a more manageable state. The human adjusted his large glasses as he spoke--the photographer he loved to work with as he had for nearly a decade now.

"--gonna cause the building to collapse like you did last time. You'd be able to pass that off as an accident once, but I'm fairly certain you'd get some suspicious glances if you repeated that display."

The wolf huffed, resting his hands upon his waist and idly spreading out his already wide physique with a beaming smile. "Like they don't know already--they were just being nice. What can they do? Stop me?"

The photographer rolled his eyes, smiling. "Well...no. But they can make you pay for damages."

Darius flicked his hand dismissively as he strode forth, moving to slide down and off of the stage to meet his contact. The auditorium shook as he slammed down in front of the man, nearly knocking him back in turn. But the photographer had gotten used to his antics, simply holding back and waiting for the brute to stride towards him.

What was once a quiet and uncertain giant that did everything he could to hide himself was now a highly visible hulk that took every motion he made as an opportunity to display and show off his body and might. He had somehow even grown larger over the years, causing the photographer to slowly cant his head higher by the year--and prompting Darius to need to give some amount of space. Or else his handsome face would otherwise be blocked by his massive chest.

The wolf's blue fur shone with the same vibrance it had ten years ago, but every other detail about him shone even brighter. From muscular definition to his stance to the energy in his eyes and the spring in his step, as though the rest of him had caught up to his otherwise unusual color.

His photographer appraised him as he always did--always seeming to find another charm or detail of the oversized lupine he had not seen before. But the loudest trait of all deafened even his prodigious size and overwhelming strength. That infectious confidence that made it clear to all who he was:

Darius Phen, power-hungry and strength-crazed.

The Beast Realized.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Direct follow-up to: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/62122838/

Double-feature! Of course I had to post the remake of the pic right after reposting the original. And with another fresh story to go with it too!

I'm hoping that I'll be able to show the evolution of this character and several others--hence the organization by year. If you put these pictures side by side, you can really see just how much difference ten years can bring--both in design and attitude.

As I grew to better understand what also made me tick, so too did I write the same for Darius--an acceptance and embracing of what made him him. Even if others could not understand or did not approve.

What does it matter when you can clap your hands and knock over all of the pins in a bowling alley at once from the shockwave alone? Not that he has ever done such a silly and wasteful display of his strength.

Just kidding. Of course he has. And that's on the low end.

Art by  Echin