White Fir Notch it's in our hands

For @Marianna, and @Ryker if you wanna jump in. Backdated to 1/7 after Ari has joined & settled in.

His heart was full. Despite the shortage of prey within the pack's territory, they were far from being starved out of their blissful notch, and everything else was going almost too perfectly. Marianna's return was only the cherry on top. @Raela had been relieved to find the girl whole and safe as well, and Gent knew that it meant something to her too that Minka's daughter had willfully returned to them. They didn't have too much to offer in the way of luxuries due to the winter, but he had shown her to one of his private caches, allowing her to fill her taxed stomach before bringing her back to the den. It was effortless to introduce her as his daughter, and while confusion had shown clearly in some of their eyes (especially his children's), they had all settled in together for the night.

The bitter cold could not reach the wolves as they huddled against one another to share their warmth, his family feeling all the more complete with the addition of Ari's giant frame to the dog pile that was his loved ones. Gent's back pressed solidly against Raela's side, who had by now fallen deeply into her slumber. Aleris likewise was stretched out against her mother's opposite flank, soft snores escaping from betwixt her fangs. Ryker and Lucia were knotted together across his forelegs, his muzzle resting atop his only son's back while Marianna shielded his otherwise exposed stomach from the night air.

He could fall asleep easily like that, perfectly content, but his ears perked as one of his children had another idea.

(This post was last modified: Mar 05, 2017, 08:23 PM by Gent.)

i can't be stopped, never walk, i'm a rocket

She hadn't expected the night to get so weird. Her father had come home with a stranger, one that was just as mammoth as he was but opposite in every other way. She had a limp, too; that was one of the first things Lucia had noticed about her. It seemed every wolf had some kind of physical oddity about them, and the young girl had to wonder what would be her mark by the time she became an adult. That train of thought quickly seemed trivial however as this newcomer was introduced.

It wasn't unusual for a stranger to join the pack's ranks, and she rather liked meeting each new member that came to them, even if sometimes they disappeared (like Witch, whom the girl still secretly lamented). But then her fathered dropped that word, introducing this new woman as his daughter. Her stomach did a flip, and not the good kind. What the hell did he mean, she was just like her and Aleris? How could her father have had another child and never spoken a word about her? How many of them really were there, then?

She sat quietly for as long as she could, taking it all in and trying to make sense of it on her own. But as they all settled in for the night, Marianna's breathing joining the cadence like she belonged there so simply, Lucia couldn't hold back the questions any longer.

"What so she's like, our sister? How come you never told us about her?"

(This post was last modified: Mar 05, 2017, 08:39 PM by Lucia.)

There is a family of deer nearby. Hunt Opportunity

At first, Ryker had been just as confused as the others by the introduction of Marinna, Gent's daughter as he had spoken. But a thought had quickly settled into his mind. So she was like Aleris and Lucia then? Just slightly older? While it did confuse him greatly about it and he unknowingly had the same thoughts as Lucia, Ryker knew his father would surely explain in his own time. For now, he was happy to accept her into their pack and eventually get to know her.

However, he wasn't surprised when Lucia finally couldn't hold it in any more, as they had all settled into sleep. Ryker had already been half way sleep but his curiosity at wanting to know more about their new sister, Ryker wiggled slightly and his limp ears perked up to hear what his father had to say.

"Yeah, how come you never told us about her?" Ryker repeated, glancing over towards Marinna, though his voice was in a softer cadence then Lucia's demanding voice. While his sister probably had no qualms about waking the others with her questions and though he wanted to know just as much as she did, Ryker knew they needed their sleep as well.