Willow Ridge my passion is equal to the task

@Elettra only please.

September 15th; Afternoon; Partly Cloudy; 68° F/20° C

Morning had come upon a new day and though he had only needed the few week's worth of healing to recover from his duel with Guiness, Angier found himself struggling to down a rabbit leg with a sprig of browning black hawthorn leaves for breakfast. It wasn't particularly his favorite thing to do, self-medicating with greenery and blossoms, but today he needed any "help" he could get. Once he had managed to strip the stalk of its yellowing fronds, he heaved a sigh and pushed the dirt back over the hole that was now an empty cache. He would have to remember to fill it with a bit of something the next time he went out to hunt.

Picking himself up he strode over Willow Ridge's borders and within the next few hours, well into the afternoon, he managed to find everything he had been looking for and had set out to get. To the untrained eye or inexperienced wolf, it might have looked like the Lyall had merely plucked himself one very impressive flower display. Stems of lengthy light green leaves, full yellow sprigs of solidago with nearly wilted yellow flowers, a small stalk of still-green devil's bite, a branch adorned with bright yellow heart-shaped leaves, and several long-stemmed yellow hooded flowers.

Though he knew better than to disturb Elettra while she was off on her own agenda, he figured it would be best to send one of her sons to retrieve her. His first stop was to check the Infirmary, but as usual, neither of the princes nor the Princess @Morganna were there.

Angier frowned, but not too much... The Willow Ridge matriarch had healed up very well since her unexpected fight with another leader from the east, and the Lyall had to be glad that she was back on her feet. Well, perhaps if he hung around long enough, one of her boys would show up... Hopefully. Not wanting to spoil the stems and petals any more than he needed to, Angier placed his golden bouquet on the ground and waited, glancing over his shoulders every now and then whenever he thought someone was coming his way.

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i solemnly swear

prince sköll archer

that I am up to no good

As Morganna was off with Skana to presumably learn about all sorts of girly stuff that princes could care less about, Sköll and @Asriel had been taken into @Guiness' care for an early morning lesson. Sköll, the darker and leaner of the two brothers, waited ever so patiently for an opportune moment to slip away. He had had enough of being overshadowed, tackled to the ground, and being scolded for playfully trying to mess Asriel up while he concentrated on whatever Guardian-like task was set before him.

It was only when it seemed like both teacher and star pupil had their amber eyes averted - the three of them were supposed to be watching and listening for the characteristic sound of crows in hopes of pinpointing a potential nearby carcass - that the trickster of a prince crept off on his own with barely audible footsteps.

The whole way back to the den, the silver-tinted boy kept low to the ground. Slinking about from the cover of one willow to another and into the shadow of one landmark to the other, he hastily timed and planned out his steps until his destination was in sight. Smiling smugly to himself he crept along from the side of the den to the back end of it, the distinct scent of "Anjee" came to his senses. Perfect. A wicked grin overcame his dark face and he narrowed his ghost gray eyes when they came upon the back of Angier Lyall's towering frame. As a newly acclaimed master of his emotions and speech, and an expert at stalking, he edged forward before springing at the tawny giant's tail.

"HAAAAAAAA!!" He cried out, his ivory-accented jowls chomping down on the bottlebrush-like tail. "GOTCHA ANJEE!! You-be-Skoll-food-now!! Arr-rawrawr!"

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i'm a dreamer, i'm a man

i'm doing whatever i can to make the bad things go away

If Angier had been skittish before, he certainly should have been figuratively "shaking in his boots." He didn't know what he should have expected; maybe Elettra, herself, or perhaps even @Hotei or Kasai or whatever that brute called himself these days, but it was definitely not what was about to happen next. He had only just sat down for roughly five or ten minutes when a shift in the air made one of his large ears pin back uncertainly, at which point he was nearly finished internally giving himself a pep talk and thinking of calling for the Willow Ridge Leader. He had just let out an apprehensive sigh when something lashed out at his tail behind him followed by a "HAAAAAAAA!!" that was yelled out by an undeniably young set of vocal chords. It had been more than enough to make the Lyall nearly jump straight out of his dappled pelt.

"GOTCHA ANJEE!!" the boy continued. The right side of Angier's face distorted in a pained grimace as his muscles tensed while he stood up and whipped about to see who had gotten a hold of him. "You-be-Skoll-food-now!! Arr-rawrawr!" Of course it had to be Sköll... Really, how could he have expected anything or anyone else? With his heart feeling like it was beating several beats a second, he finally managed to step to one side to peer over his left flank and see the gray-eyed boy with his tail in his mouth. "Sssköll," he hissed through his teeth, a frantic and unnerved smile fresh on his muzzle. "Geeze! Don't-don't do that! If ya do that ta @Skana sh'might 'ave a heart attack!"

"That's not good," he tried to scold the prince. "Only good for prey, NOT yer superiors." Inhaling deeply and holding the air in his chest before letting it go, he made quite an effort to smooth out his nerves again, starting by trying lift his tail beyond Skoll's reach. "Where's Mama?" he asked with a slightly recovered smile, anticipating to be impressed by perfect diction this time around. "Is she here? Can you get her for me? Please? I'll wait here, I have a surprise for her."

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i solemnly swear

prince sköll archer

that I am up to no good

The boy should have succumbed to the waves of giggles that were threatening to bubble up from his throat and into the air, but he kept his cool. Instead of busting up with laughter, he stuck his tongue out at his superior, beaming up at him with a malicious, yet boyish, grin that showed off his newly-acquired set of clenched teeth with Angier's tail fur peeking through the gaps. The pale giant seemingly tried to scold him but the prince was not fazed in the slightest. He did what he wanted, and no one, except his mother, possessed the power to put an end to his impish behavior.

The Lyall blathered on about not doing such a thing as pouncing and attacking Skana and only sneaking up on prey, but the second-born paid no mind. Angier really shouldn't have expressed such a concern when it came to @Skana, especially today when Sköll was nowhere near the ol' bat. If anything, Angier should have had more concern over why the prince was away from Guiness and the possibility that @Morganna was already terrorizing and bullying Eletta's Advisor singlehandedly on her own...

As Angier stood up, so did his tail, and Sköll's head craned upward until he had to straighten his legs beneath him. Within moments the plume-like limb was out of his reach, but much to Sköll's satisfaction the black-furred tip of Angier's tail was smoothed into a sharp-looking point with a decent amount of saliva. For a time the trickster stared at just how high Angier had arched his tail up and away from him, but upon being prompted to divulge where his Mama was, Sköll stuck his tongue back out at the man."Can you get Mama for me?" Angier then asked. He even added in a convincingly desperate "Please?" The boy frowned but it was apparent that he was still listening by the way his ears rotated forward, "I'll wait here, I have a surprise for her."

Who... did Angier think he was? The pack messenger? His personal footman? Sköll Archer was the Prince of Willow Ridge! And princes of his stature and age did not fetch his mother, the Queen... unless it called for personal emergencies. Angier's present welfare did not even come close to being concerned with Sköll. "Mother's over there," he stiffly said with perfect articulation, something he had been practicing on his own whenever he found time to be exclusively alone. He even vaguely suggested her location with gesturing his muzzle to the west.

Upon craning his head downward just slightly, it occurred to him that the new dominant male of Willow Ridge had brought something, and the sight of bright yellow foliage through the man's lengthy limbs made Sköll realize that maybe his mother's presence really was needed. One day he would decide for himself what exactly was supposed to be collected and gathered for the pack's "herb cache," but for now, he always stepped aside and allowed his mother to handle the business matters related to the collection of boring, earthy things.

Without another word he gave the tall Lyall his characteristic frown and turned his back on him before setting off at a run to find @Elettra and tell her that Anjee was waiting for her at the pack den, the very location where he and his siblings had been born.

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(This post was last modified: Sep 18, 2013, 02:45 PM by Skoll.)

i'm a dreamer, i'm a man

i'm doing whatever i can to make the bad things go away

Her ventures this afternoon had her to the western edges of the territory, lazily moving about with the limp she still carried in her front left limb. Though her shoulder's stiffness was all well gone, her ankle was still sore with the autumn's cool breeze and it would be a little further until she was fully mended. Satifcation held her though upon her victory and still to this day she is left to wonder how Shade had survived with his wounds, without a healer, without shelter and so horridly far from home. Had he even made it? Was he even still alive? Though she had no intention of killing @Shade Slayer, she had repaved him for his betrayal in full and regretted not the choice she had made although he had left her injured for quite some time. After all, Shade could have easily submit and with it, admit his wrongs, though they had both decided to fight it out until one could fight no longer.
She took to scent marking. The length of her coating molted in various shades of grey, black and hints of gold, rubbing along the length of trees for a deep and glorious scratch. She ruffled herself up through the bushes, effectively leaving yellow pollen and petal within her fur, taking the image of a true herbalist with her. The day was well, simply, calm, and she was happy for it this late, clouded afternoon. Her attentions were merely to her land until, of course, the approach of another brought out her attentions. Her son, @Skoll, the forever venturous child of hers, was making head way into her direction. A wave of her tail is offered, taking a few limped paces into his direction before effectively plopping onto the grassy forest floor on her side for a stretch.

Two pale, barely-golden eyes watched as the young Archer silently gave up his whims and wondered suddenly if the prince had seen the collection he had brought. Had it been enough to convince him? Or was Angier foolish enough to think and blindly assume that Sköll was seconds away from coming back around to scare him again. He frowned as his inner monologue swayed to a point where he believed that he should have sought out @Asriel or @Morganna. With Sköll, one was never quite sure if he was going to truly give up his antics and do as he was told.

"Shit."

He cursed to himself under his breath, pacing in a circle around his bouquet. In nervousness he scanned the spaces between the trees, worry beginning to settle on his beige features as he desperately hoped that the middle-born son - his favorite, if he could be so bold as to admit that he did play favorites when it came to considering which of Elettra's three children listened to him - would not disappoint. The last time he checked, despite being subject to surprise attacks like the one he was recovering from, Sköll took his business with his mother quite seriously... Really, it was just a matter of whether or not the boy would honor his request. These days, the little punk had developed quite a tongue alongside quite the thought process.

Angier resorted to pacing to keep his nerves in check. "C'mon Sköll," he quietly urged in the silence, stopping once when he thought he had heard a set of paws approaching. He thought he was starting to hear things despite having only waited for a few minutes' time; it turned out that it was just a squirrel scurrying away in the distance. "Please do this for me..." In the weeks prior to the rank match with Guiness and the weeks needed to prepare himself for such a formal meeting, Angier counted in his head the five times that he had helped the budding royal in finding his misplaced mouse corpse. At first his siblings had gotten a hold of it, second, Morganna had the gall to steal it from her brother. On a third occasion, the boy had lost it just yards from the den, then he had left it in a pile of herbs in the Infirmary. Recently, Angier had had the poor lifeless thing dropped on his head while he had been asleep. Five times should have been enough validate this particular favor...

(This post was last modified: Oct 08, 2013, 10:49 PM by Angier.)

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i solemnly swear

prince sköll archer

that I am up to no good

Whether it was a true fact that mothers always knew where her children were no matter the distance or not, was something Sköll did not know, but what the prince did know was where his mother was. Aside from keeping track of his siblings' activities (out of sheer desire to stay clear of the two of them), his growing mind had dedicated itself to managing the comings and goings of his only parent. He loved her too much to even let her go, even mentally, for even a few moments. This phase would be outgrown in the coming months, this was for sure, but at four months old, he did still depend on her for the sake of support and stability while he found his footing in the world.

His nose easily found her trail and his willowy limbs readily brought him to her. His ghost gray eyes lifted up from the ground when he could hear her moving through the trees and along the low-lying shrubs, laying claim to the territory that was rightfully hers. It was apparent she had seen him first, for when the boy finally found her face, she was looking at him and moving in his direction. Her tail wagged and his lifted up genially to return the gesture when he shortened the distance between them. As was customary, he lovingly brought his nose and lips to the space under her chin and throat, placing into it a trail of three respectful kisses before drawing away so that he could look upon her fully.

The word "Mother" was no longer foreign on his tongue - in learning it, he used the discovery as a motivator to perfect his diction - and when he addressed her as such, it came from his vocal chords in the sweetest and most endearing tone he could muster. He looked her over and it was obvious by his facial expression alone that he was happy to see that she was slowly getting back to her usual activities. The day she had made it home, smelling of blood and death and other scents that stung at his nose, he had actually worried that she would never be the same; and, in that mindset, he had distanced himself for a time, staying away from her and those who were concerned for her well-being. The shock had worn off and, as soon as he came to accept that her limp was just a telltale sign that she had been through something traumatic as a fight, he came to realize that nothing about Elettra's true spirit had changed. If anything it had become much stronger... and he admired that... even craved to bask in it and be graced with her presence once more.

"Mother," he greeted her confidently, smiling just enough to make his smile touch his eyes and soften the hardening lines on his face. "Anjee has brought back some... plants..." The pause in his words hinted at his uncertainty and he looked at her face quietly in search of acknowledgement about the matter and if she understood what he was saying. "Urbs..." Oh, how he hoped he had said it right. "He..." again, he stopped himself, mentally thinking over his words before he stuttered everything thereafter. "He wants to see you. Says its a surprise." His black ears fell back momentarily once he had relayed the Lyall's message, wondering now if there was something to be had in return for such a task as uniting his two superiors. "He's waiting by the den. Sent me to get you."

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i'm a dreamer, i'm a man

i'm doing whatever i can to make the bad things go away

She lays there, her eyes of pale grey hue dancing over her child, growing more and more each day to her amazement and surprise. Of course, the woman had bared children before, but having them at her side not even long enough for them to drink their first sips of milk, be cleaned, found out of their sexes and named, Elettra's first true experience with children had been those that she harbored now - had been Skoll. She listens on about his words of 'Anjee', his words reminding her that although he had grown so very much, he was still none the less a child. Four months was not long, mainly when you had lived over first years and yet still how much he had learned amazed her. All her children did even though it seemed like it was her second born which strove for her attention the most.
It is made clear though that this day his intentions had not been his own, but the work of Angier Lyall. So he had brought herbs back to the den, what of it? Angier had taken a position of what seemed an all around 'survivalist' within the pack, without a doubt gained from his time as a rogue come and come again. He held no set task, though hunted, guarded, watched the children and gathered herbs to store within the den as he pleased. This seemed no different, though the word 'surprise' seemed curious to her. Why had he now just come and find her himself? He had been known for stalking her trail and she had a wonder all this time how the dominant spat between him and Guiness had finally turned out. Perhaps it had been his failure against the mass that was Guiness, which had held him back all this time?
She didn't know. Elettra Archer was no scholar. Although she was a smart enough woman, it was without a doubt that her skills lied in combat and herbal remedy. As one might say, the woman was 'street smart' not entirely 'book smart'. "Angier." She says the way, as though only for her son to here the name on her tongue so that in time he may be able to speak it properly. "Duty calls, then?" Elettra could only assume that Angier had some kind of information for her on behalf on he pack or that perhaps this 'surprise' would be that he had, indeed, rose to power. The sound of 'Duty' would surely deter Skoll from wanting to come on such a business trip and as she lifted herself from the ground she would only stay with her look-alike long enough to press her muzzle to his nape before retreating to the pack den.

Skewing up the post order 'cause I can. @Elettra, feel free to post again if you'd like, Angier will post after in reply. :D

i solemnly swear

prince sköll archer

that I am up to no good

"Angier." The proper pronunciation of the Lyall's first name made him grimace, the spiderweb of thoughts in his head internally attacking and scolding him for actually saying it wrong in his mother's face. These past few months Angier had always been "Anjee," and even when Sköll addressed him by that name, the large subordinate had always acknowledged him. "An-jeer," he corrected himself quietly, hoping he had said the word loud enough as to let her know that he had taken note of her correction.

Her next question was quick to call to his attention and, in turn, he solemnly nodded. Duty had been apart of his vocabulary ever since he was old enough to comprehend words in its spoken form. For Mother to relay and understand that her duty as a pack herbalist and healer had been summoned upon, meant that he was relieved and had no other business to attend to. Angier, himself, had not even given him additional orders apart from alerting Elettra that she was needed by him.

The black-and-white matriarch touched her maw to the back of his neck and was off. In being left alone, the second-born Archer glanced in the direction she had gone off to, wondering now if he should follow for the sake of lobbying for a reward. His left forepaw lifted from the ground and he moved forward before stopping in his tracks before releasing an airy sigh. It had taken several moments but he eventually realized that the simple touch he had received from his mother had been enough to warrant his docile behavior. After running his tongue down his leathery nose, he grazed his tongue over one side of his ivory-lined lips. If Angier was going to be busy with talking to Elettra, then now was the perfect time to check up on the two well-hidden caches that only the Lyall filled on a daily basis...

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i'm a dreamer, i'm a man

i'm doing whatever i can to make the bad things go away

Her silken black ears remained swiveled back, listening out for her son should he decide he wanted to come along. Elettra Archer thought little of the words her child offered her, thinking note that perhaps some 'deep' conversation might be about her, or that Angier had any intention to try to woo her as his initial introduction into Willow Ridge had been based upon. 'What his soul desired' had yet still to be fully aware to Elettra, where action spoke much louder then words in her lifetime. He had though, been a man of many words upon his arrival as finally announcing his 'freedom' to become a Willow Ridge member, as she (and he though with her unable to accept him at the time) had wanted him to be some quite some time. He had said, that above all else his desire was to be hers. That he had loved her, a previous tense he used when explaining his inability to ever tell it to her. But did he still now or was he simply seeking an easy crown without any currently atop it? "It scared me before, I've never known such a feeling as attachment until you." Elettra's heart quakes to the memory of his words, slowing her down slightly in fear of it. This passion, this desire, this love. "And I will make you mine." She breaths deep, her approach nearly cautiousness as she nears the pack den. "Firstly, I belong to you..." Pale grey eyes look up to him then as she arches her back along the length of dying willow branches, moving slowly into his direction. "Angier..." Her words whisper, the same dark tongue she always held. Her eyes went fleeting to the collection of herbs gathered near before meeting his full attention once more.