Round Stone Crest Come On and Rescue Me

OOC: Dated 8/10. Clear weather, slight wind. 70(ish)° F. @Raela

The thoughts of days past circulated in Moraxia's head as she trotted further towards the mountain-like hill she might soon call home sat nestled in the center of smaller yet still intimidating hills. Her large, clumsy feet now padded cautiously through the underbrush, brown eyes scanning the horizon line for any trace of life. She had been battling emotions of fear, curiosity, and uncertainty for the days leading up to her arrival outside of the pack's territory. Still, optimism flooded her heart when she thought of Raela: the kind wolf she had met days before who had initially invited her into her pack's territory. Her friendly and trusting tone had almost convinced the wolf to come right then and there, but her cowardice proved more comforting. So there she was, wandering with a purpose towards the new territory as it's scent drifted closer to her. Excitement and fright had consumed her emotions lately- and she was enjoying every moment of it. The rush of the unknown drove her closer and closer as the scent grew stronger and stronger. Then suddenly, she stopped, realizing how far she had come. Not too much further now, and she would be inside the supposed safe-haven of the Round Stone Crest pack; or at least on her way to becoming one of them. The wind tousled her fur around as Moraxia stood proud, confident, and ready to face what may come. Throwing her head back sharply, she allowed a bellowing howl to escape her chest and be swept away toward the pack- toward Raela. 'Certainly she will be excited to hear from me,' the howling wolf thought to herself. Once all of her breath had escaped her, the canine sighed deeply to re-expose herself to the air. It was warm and fresh and empowering, especially to the wolf who had spent the last year of her life wishing she was someone more fortunate. Rooted to the spot, she let out another howl- this one more assertive and louder than the first. Surely the pack would have heard the first noise as it ricocheted throughout the land, but Moraxia was too caught up in her wondrous mood to feel complete without one last liberating trumpet. She would become an ally and join the wolf that had so kindly awoken the drowned spirits inside of her, that she was sure of. Image © Ami B./Dawnthieves Manipulation © Miss Freeman

Raela had been enjoying the exuberance of a couple members of the Crest's first litter; Minka's second round of little darlings, when the call rose up their mountain. Raela found a smile slowly forming on her face as she realized that this was likely the woman she'd found days before. The guardian. She turned back to the children as the second joy-filled howl surrounded them. They were to stay here, or at least not to follow. She needed to get to the border fast and there was no way the little ones would be able to keep up. If anything the kids would turn up later, if this meeting dragged on a bit. She had a feeling it would go rather swiftly, though. She bit the pups a quick farewell and set off down the slope.  She almost wanted to call out herself, but there was no need or purpose to it. @Gent and @Minka would be on their way already. Instead she galloped through the trees in relative silence, until the image of the darker female came into view. A friendly, excited bark leapt into the air as she got closer, and Raela's tail wagged out straight behind her. The loner was in high spirits, and it was contagious. No doubt she was pleased to be on the doorstep of a friendly pack after however long she'd been roaming. Raela came to a stop off to her side, perpendicular to what would be the space between this wolf and her Alphas. Hopefully this would go much smoother than the one with Urien. At least Moraxia knew how to speak well, and understandably. “Hey, glad you could join us,” she offered with a grin. Her head turned back to the mountain as the sound of approaching footsteps grew slowly louder.  Image © Chris Smith Photography Manipulation © Jenandra

(This post was last modified: Aug 20, 2015, 08:31 PM by Raela.)

            

Let me know if the pp isn't okay @Gent!

Minka and Gent had been patrolling the borders together, a habit that seemed to have developed recently and wordlessly. One day they had been doing separate patrols and the next they had been doing them as a duo neither really acknowledging that this was different than how it had been. The mother could no longer deny that she had feelings for Gent though they felt so new and foreign there wasn't a chance in hell she would speak them out loud. Instead she did her best to make subtle hints and try to gauge the man's reaction, casual brushing of their shoulders while they walked or still spending the nights laying next to one another though they no longer needed to. They had long since abandoned the birthing den that Minka had allowed Gent to share with her and her pups and had ample space to spread but the fae found herself not wanting to. The nights when she would wake up with the dark male further away or gone on a patrol her heart grew lonely.

She had been trying to catch Gent's expression out of the corner of her eye as once more she brushed against him when the call had arisen. Tawny audits perked forward and her face fell from flirty to serious in an instant, especially when a second call arose. Without a word the pair's pace picked up from a gentle lop to a quick trot, coming upon the loner just a few moments after Raela had. Catching the end of the woman's words Minka's eyebrows rose with surprise, "A friend of yours?" She trusted the woman's judgement so that this loner was approved of by their advisor in training bode well in her favour. Not enough to become automatically accepted of course, but the alpha would consider it a good omen none the less.

click!

More so than getting a message across to him, the queen was merely baffling her king. They had fallen into the same routine quite naturally, and he hadn't thought much of it. Truly, he had been appreciative of the time with her, time which was spent either silently enjoying enjoying each other's company or chatting about the children, business or each other. Honestly, Gent wasn't entirely sure which subject he liked the most, and this was all fine with him. But there was something more becoming of these patrols, something instigated by the queen that he couldn't quite get ahead of. Initially, he thought it a personality quirk that was beginning to shine through her more formal demeanor as she grew more comfortable with him. These past few nights, however, he was beginning to catch on to this something more.

Moments before the summons, they had lapsed into another comfortable silence, and that was when she had done it again. Casually almost they had touched, but there was meaning behind it and his pale eyes turned to look down into her honey pools, searching for her intentions. Before he could find a single thing, however, Moraxia's first heralding call rang through the air. Immediately, both alphas turned to pursue the summons, Gent's pace picking up as a second howl swept over them. There was no aggression in the call, and still he anticipated the worse, for not all who knocked would be worthy of a kind greeting.

Yet as they approached, and he witnessed Raela greeting the woman, ease settled within him. His mind drifted to Urien, but only for the briefest of seconds as this stranger showed no signs of insanity. At least, not at first sight, though the king felt certain Raela would not repeat the mishap that had occurred with the man who dubbed him the devil.

Standing close to Minka, as the united front they were, he remained silent as the queen spoke, awaiting for this foreigner to speak her peace without his prompting.

It wasn’t long before Moraxia’s eyes caught sight of Raela as she drifted silently out of the trees toward her. The joyful bark that followed her entrance comforted the amber wolf that stood proudly awaiting her words, as well as the arrival of others. Nodding slightly, a smile leapt onto her face at the delight of new company’s friendly tail wag. She had done well for now, and that satisfied the optimistic fear eating at her gut. The wolf glanced at the trees as Raela stopped in front of her, allowing her eyes to search for other possible companions. “Hey, glad you could join us,” She returned the smile, politely looking into the woman’s eyes and nodding again. She was saving her words for the Alpha, anxiously searching for the right things to say as her mouth grew dry with anticipation. Spotting the wolves as they bounded into view, a slight pain began to ache inside her. Hoping she hadn’t caused any unwanted form of alarm in the pack, she shifted uncomfortably onto her front right paw. Casting a nervous glance at Raela she sighed deeply and tried to remove any sign of fright from her stance before the alpha’s were upon them.

She took them in for a moment silently, avoiding eye contact as best she could. The woman’s coat was quite beautiful, Moraxia thought, as she watched the alphas stop before her. The male wolf standing beside the slightly smaller female gave off an aura of confidence and strength, and the usually intimidating female felt weak. She had yet to meet a wolf larger than her or her father besides the man standing opposite her. "A friend of yours?" The alpha’s calm yet assertive voice relieved some stress inside the amber wolf, allowing the small chuckle that followed her broad smile. Hesitantly looking up to the dominant female’s eyes, her tail instinctively wagged low behind her. “Nice to meet you, miss.” Bowing her head and shoulders respectfully, she cast a friendly glance over to the male wolf beside her. “And you as well, sir.”

She straightened her shoulders and boldly spoke her next words. “I am Moraxia, and I met Raela not long ago while wandering this land. I have found great comfort in the thought of being within the company of allies.” Fearing her words to not be laconic enough for the alphas, she passively aimed her eyes to the grass beneath them. “I was wondering…maybe- if I could be of some help to you,” Anxiety was slowly claiming her thoughts and actions as fear of rejection crept into her mind. “You-you know, maybe you’d let me… join?” The last word was barely audible as the amber wolf’s shell of confidence began to crack and break.

Glancing back up at the faces before her, her brown eyes searched for sympathy as the question danced awkwardly in the air between them for a moment.

Raela's sunshine eyes were still glimmering a bit with the smile she'd offered to Moraxia as Minka appeared. Her Alphess' words were met with another smile; one that also passed itself over to Gent, followed by a glance off toward the prospective recruit. The loner seemed to pick up her bait immediately; offering pleasant greetings to them both. Good, she thought, glad that this meeting was already going over more smoothly than the last. An encouraging grin pulled at the corners of her mouth as she waited for the larger woman to provide more. The leaders' stances were enough to tell anyone that they wanted to hear what the newcomer had to say. They had been summoned, after all.  Again Moraxia delivered. At first her words were concise and spoken with some degree of confidence. It deteriorated slowly as she continued, however, and Raela's smile softened. She remembered the female's cautious demeanor from when they met, but now it was causing her a little bit of trouble delivering her piece. Raela was ready to back her up before her voice had even gone silent. She was prepared to speak on behalf of this one; seeing as she'd already conversed with the woman about her skills. Raela turned her head back to the Alphas; her comments sitting ready on her tongue.  “Moraxia told me that she'd been trained in Guardianship by her father. She hasn't officially held the role before, but she was very eager to use her skills for our pack.” A faint smile was still visible as she spoke; as if to highlight how pleasant she was trying to be. In finding a trained guardian for the pack, she felt she had done well, but it was Minka and Gent who would be the judge of that. Still, the smaller woman felt optimistic as she looked to the leaders. “I thought her strength might be useful to us,” her eyes wandered back over the nervous woman's towering body. There was no denying the power she would have if she had the chance to build her muscles and recover. Again Raela tried easing the rogue's mind with a grin. They were together on this.  Image © Chris Smith Photography Manipulation © Jenandra

            

Please pp Minka leaving with Gent :) One more post from all of you then we can archive and add Moraxia to the ranks

Gent had been by her side through everything since the moment he had arrived on their doorstep at the Downs, he truly had become her rock. Which is why it made so much sense that their routines had begun to combine until they spent the majority of the day together. It was with ease that they stood next to each other to listen to both the loner and Raela speak their pieces. The golden eyes switched between the woman as they each spoke and Minka couldn't help the smile that graced her features by the end. Looking back towards the larger woman the smile grew, "As Raela might have told you my name is Minka Lagina and this is Gent Lieris, the alphas of Round Stone Crest." Looking towards the darker male she made eye contact briefly to assure that he was on the same line of thinking as she was then she nodded.

Once more she smiled, her golden eyes lighting up as she broke from the man's side and moved forward. Stopping just before the loner she said, "Welcome home Moraxia, welcome to the Crest." Setting herself in motion again she gently circled around the woman, pressing their flanks together. Satisfied that Moraxia now carried enough of her scent to be accepted within the territory she made her way back to Gent's side. On her way she playfully bumped Raela's cheek with her nose murmuring, "Good job Raela." Stopping beside the dark male slightly closer than she had been standing before she waited for him to speak if he wished.

     

"Speech."

click!

As words were bounced around through the air, Gent took his time in passing his eyes repeatedly over this woman's structure, drinking in every detail that he could. Something seemed to be bolstering her, despite her solitary status, though the man couldn't decipher what the balance was nor whether or not it was healthy. Both pride and confidence swam within her, her deference clear but not without a few instances of what might have been misconstrued as defiance to more volatile luminaries. Overall, it was curious rather than disconcerting, and he found himself very much wanting to get to know this woman better.

She spoke of her longer for a home amongst others, the quiddity that brought nearly all rogues to the doors of any establishment. However, there was nothing else offered from her lips as to why exactly they should allow the foreigner to call herself a wolf of the Crest. It was curious that she would not speak of her own skills, especially given the aplomb she delivered her words with, but Raela smoothly stepped in to fill in this missing piece. Guardianship, it seemed the only natural thing this woman would be assigned to given her massive size and dense build. While they already had @Astraeus working to earn the role, and others left empty, it was still in Gent's mind their greatest necessity.

His ears tipped toward Minka as she introduced both herself and him, pale eyes looking down into her questioning gold pools. The nonverbal communication was easy, innate even, and without further hesitation Moraxia had her answer; acceptance. The man watched as his partner underwent the formality of marking the newcomer with her scent, and only when she was once more at his side did he finally part his jaws to address this new addition.

"Rest up, eat your fill, and when you're ready, seek me out before dusk tomorrow," is all that was said, before a smile and nod was directed toward Raela. "Show her the way?"

Wishes imparted, he turned to the west, his and Minka's patrol still unfinished. The queen followed him closely, their paces matched evenly every step of the way, their heads bowed together to whisper of this new ally and what her presence could do for the pack.

Sympathetically backing her up, Raela came to the rescue. “Moraxia told me that she'd been trained in Guardianship by her father.” Moraxia held back an eye roll. ‘That’s one way to put it...’ she thought angrily. “She hasn't officially held the role before, but she was very eager to use her skills for our pack. I thought her strength might be useful to us.” Catching Raela’s eyes, she cast back a slight grin and shifted her body to a more authoritative position. This wolf’s smile of assurance inspired her to stand a little taller and, perhaps, have more dignity. Quietly nodding in appreciation and listening to what the alpha had to say, she respectfully kept her eyes intertwined with the female. "As Raela might have told you my name is Minka Lagina and this is Gent Lieris, the alphas of Round Stone Crest." The wolf was soft spoken and lovely, she thought, as she introduced her and what Moraxia had assumed was her mate. ‘A nice pairing, both seem gentle and confident enough to keep well in order,’ her mind wandered for a few seconds.
               
The woman’s advancement, as peaceful as it was intended to be, still startled the amber wolf. Her tail steadied and her body tensed as she paused to speak. "Welcome home Moraxia, welcome to the Crest." Her mouth dropped open quickly, hearing the words she had been waiting a full year for. It couldn’t be real; the feeling was almost too sweet and romantic to be believable. The canine steadied her thoughts to keep from becoming lachrymose in front of her new alphas. Lost in her feelings of bliss she barely noticed the alpha circling her though she had already become quite comfortable in her presence. Smiling and nodding frantically at her new allies and leaders, she gratefully said “Thank you! Thank you, Minka!” as the alpha passed by her. "Rest up, eat your fill, and when you're ready, seek me out before dusk tomorrow," The male alpha, Gent, she wasn’t as sure about but kept a smile plastered to her face anyway while he spoke. “Yes, sir.” The silence he had greeted her with was perplexing to the wolf. She couldn’t quite nail down his personality, but something about him screamed ‘keep your distance.’ The smile he handed to Raela eased her mind slightly.
               
Watching the alphas disappear into the distance, she couldn’t help but mutter a small victorious ‘yes’ under her breath. Turning to the female still beside her, she smiled largely. “Thank you. Sometimes I trip over my words, among a lot of other things.” Moraxia jokingly held up one of her large, disproportionate paws and giggled to herself. “Hey- it could have gone worse I guess. What’s next?” She playfully asked, watching Raela’s kind eyes.

Now assured that Moraxia was feeling a bit better, as evidenced by her slight grin, Raela turned her attention back to the jury of this little trial. Minka spoke directly to Moraxia;  her tone soft and friendly. It was a very good sign, and Rae couldn't contain the smile on her face. Her chest swelled as if she knew the answer already, but the deal wasn't sealed quite yet. Something passed between the leaders' eyes; something they both knew. Inwardly she began to wonder just when the two of them had gotten so close, so comfortable with each other. When the matriarch made her move, Raela was nearly certain. Even the woman's face spoke of acceptance. Her golden eyes trailed the Alpha's path, watching closely as she stopped before the rogue. Moraxia visibly tensed, but it was to be expected. Minka was still a stranger to her, after all.  The words she spoke confirmed it. An infectious, elated flurry of wagging erupted from behind the validated subordinate. With glowing eyes she observed the ritual, her heart full of excitement and joy for what she'd accomplished. Moraxia was beyond pleased, as she should have been, and Raela felt her gratitude fully. She'd given the loner a home. That's exactly what her leader had said. It only served to bolster the smaller woman's respect for her superior; for the woman who'd taken her in so many months ago. They were beautiful words to extend to a vagrant of any sort, and this was a beautiful place.  As if she needed any further reasons for happiness, Raela was a bit surprised by Minka's slight change in direction. She moved up, nudging the would-be advisor and offering a quiet word of approval. Her smile burst into a wide grin; the contact propelling her tail into even more vigorous motion. She could have yipped for joy if it had been appropriate. She wasn't able to offer her thanks though, as the Crest's Queen had already returned to her cohort's side. The brilliance of the moment dampened only when he spoke; giving out the first orders their new member would have to follow. Raela closed her mouth in an attempt to manage her beaming grin a bit better. His eyes met hers, and the King's smile was returned in full. “Yes,” she breathed, watching them turn away.  The leaders slowly merged back into the woods from whence they came. Raela couldn't help but notice how harmonious the two's pace had become. She was glad that the leaders had found their niche beside each other in the wake of that terrible tragedy, but it seemed like something more than a good formal partnership. Her bad ear turned to catch Moraxia's nearly inaudible utterance, and the woman's head followed. She chuckled at the larger woman's words, noting now how gargantuan her feet actually were. It was as if she'd never quite grown into them. “Next, I show you the territory, and introduce you to everyone else. C'mon,” she quipped, bounding into an easy lope. She'd have to show her the den, the borders, as well as inform her of their pack mates' roles and ranks. Best of all, though, was that she simply had to introduce her to the little ones – if they could actually find them all, that is.  Image © Chris Smith Photography Manipulation © Jenandra