The day passed by like any other that Magnolia Glen had grown accustom to – Borlla was still injured and lying low, though it seemed for now she was out of any immediate danger. Relief had come to him when they had found the dark she-wolf, @Eek, on the borders – she had proclaimed her knowledge of healing, and that was all Phineas needed to usher her past the borders and accept her with an extended flourish he had perhaps not offered any others yet. Lucero had agreed at the time – she too was hopeful in gaining insight of the talent, and the Argyris male could only hope she would become a willing student to the swarthy female, despite her newfound rank due to Borlla’s injury.


Despite this, the ivory male felt confident that the Glen wolves remained in a good state, especially with the upcoming winter. Kyros and @Hypatia were at the age of learning, and while his daughter was avoiding him, he could only hope to spend more quality time with her to not just close the gap that had grown between them, but to teach her all she needed to know come time to enter the adult ranks of her home. Would they stay within the pack? Or would they disperse, come time that the rites of mother nature called to them, beckoning them to produce as well.


These thoughts were interrupted by the call of another. Hauntingly familiar, yet the regal male was unable to quite place the voice for now. Swinging his muzzle in the direction of the call, his own muzzle tipped up, releasing a song of his own – he would answer their demand and was on his way.


Because he was in the heart of his home, the moments passed all too quickly before he had closed the distance between the two. Moments drifted past, and soon an hour passed. Finally, with the scent of the other increasing with an aching familiarity, Phineas caught gaze of the male who had called for his attention. Aeolus stood before him – as large and proud as he recalled his littermate. Blinking stoically, the Argyris wolf hesitated in his pace now, his fiery eyes regarding the other with hesitance. Erebos had remained indifferent to him. Thanos had welcomed him warmly. How would Aeolus react?

Aeolus -- almost as large as himself -- bristled the moment his eyes fell to rest upon Phineas. It was the only indication he needed to realize how this meeting would go, and Phineas lifted himself taller well, his own hackles bristling dangerously as he took a step threateningly closer to the silver male. Each one of his siblings had sought him out -- each asking the same question, with their accusations. They were entitled to, naturally. He had left without a goodbye, and yet as the words spat at him, the accusations stretched further than his simple leaving. In turn, he was being accused of being the ruin to his birth pack.


"Are you done yet?" The words hissed past his lips as a snarl bubbled in his throat. Phineas' ears flickered dangerously back to his skull, his figure taut as he held himself back from pouncing at his brother and forcing him to stand down. "Don't play the fool and blame me for single handedly ruining our birth pack, Aeolus," he began, his voice low and laced with a growl. "I was no heir to a throne. Any of you three could have challenged him and taken my place. Instead, all three of you left as well." Snorting, Phineas took a pace back, his orange eyes ablaze as they studied his littermate coldly. "That's on all three of you just as much as it is me." Tired of playing the one solely responsible for bringing a pack to ruins, he awaited his brothers next charges, his lips pulled back in a sneer.

Look Out!

There are several fresh rabbit tracks in the snow. Hunt Opportunity

It was as if everything he had said had went beyond Aeolus’ grasp in his anger. The ivory male uttered another growl, his muzzle lifting as his fiery eyes locked upon the male before him – a wolf so familiar to him, that he knew the exact pattern of his pelt, the intricate weave of grey to brown to cream. “Why didn’t you throw him out?” He would try once more – Aeolus, @Thanos, @Erebos.. each of them stewed in their own form of anger, yet none of them had attempted to overthrow the one wolf who was truly to blame for it all. Neither had he, but somehow, as he was the first to leave, that had laid the blame to rest on him.


A snort escaped him at his littermate’s statement. Not once had Phineas mentioned a physical fight, and where the notion came from was beyond him. Yet he was derailed with more questions, and with flashing eyes that rounded upon his brother’s own, a sneer fell to his lips. “I left because it was all I could handle at that point,” he allowed, his tone soft and yet dangerous. “Everything I had fought for, everything I had worked for had all been destroyed by the she-wolf I had thought to love. There was no point in banishing him, or her.. or their bastard children.” He winced slightly now at the mention of the cubs – pitch black fur, adoring eyes. He had loved them so, and yet he was tainted by them. “Because at the end, he had already taken my home and everything from me, whether he was there or not.”


He fell silent then, his figure lifting even more so as Aeolus continued. “You, Erebos, Thanos.. you all came here, hunting me down, flinging your accusations as if it will mend however you feel wronged, when in truth, you all should be pointing to yourselves. The day I found Demi with him I lost my family, my everything. All three of you still had something to fight for – your birth pack was so important to you and yet you stood aside and let it fall to ruin. That’s on you.” He regarded the male quietly now, his hackles bristling as he tensed. The altercations he was partaking with his so called ‘family’ was all the proof he needed that his decision had been right. “This here,” he swept his muzzle do the direction of Magnolia Glen, his eyes narrowing. “They are my true family.”

Aeolus countered an argument – a moot point, in the eyes of the ivory man and he snorted in response. “If you had no support than it was clearly what the pack wanted,” he responded in turn. It was disappointing to hear – bitter in the end, knowing that the loyalists of the pack he had once lead had accepted the dark man as their Leader rather than Phineas’ own flesh and blood. It was likely the doing of Desdeomona and Thorne – the two had wrapped the entire pack around their paw, and the regal could already sense his demise had been on the way.. he had just come across them sooner than expected.


What was done was done – the ivory wolf could easily admit he never should have left without a goodbye—had done so to Thanos, even. But he would not shoulder the blame of the entire pack crashing and burning – not when his brothers had all did the exact same thing he had. “You call this family?” He stressed the words, his paw lifting t sweep the ground below him in the distance between them. His brothers had not revealed any worry for him – they only held on to their anger. Everything they had once been was long gone now.


“Don’t begin flinging around accusations, Aeolus,” he advised quietly, his eyes regarding his brother sternly. If the male wanted to go toe to toe, all he had to do was mention his mate and kids – that fuse alone would set the ivory beast off. “You don’t even know them nor have you asked about them. Don’t pretend to care.”