Oak Tree Bend State of My Head

Nap suddenly interrupted, the boy began wailing like there was no tomorrow. How dare they wake him, jostle him about, and then lift him into the sky? Pawing angrily at the air in the hopes that he'd strike a fatal blow upon those who disturbed his slumber, the boy continued his hissy-fit, unaware of his father's injuries.

Only when the intermingling of scents hit him, did the boy quiet down. Wide eyes looked into the sea of fur. How many were there? Blinking, Reiko wouldn't have realized he'd been set on the ground if not for the cub staring directly back at him. She was not his sister. His head whirled around to make sure Treyah had arrived safe and sound. Relieved to find her similarly-colored body already set delicately on the soil. He then allowed his attention to return to the other one. Squinting, he found that she was nothing like them. Black as night, and very.. interesting. He leaned away as she leaned forward, though the distance voided any need for such an action.

His still-blue eyes strayed to the noise behind, another large wolf leading her own cubs. Gods there were so many! Choices, choices. Did he stay with Treyah, move forward to see the black cub, or make his way over to the pair? Without even a glance back at his parents, though he knew that he should have at least checked in, the boy took a tentative step towards the dark girl since she was closer than the other two.

 

And I'm trying to find that peace of mind

Triell had been through worse than this. No one had been killed, but the damn elk and he wouldn't have any reoccurring night terrors. Still, that had been well over two, three years ago and he knew he had injured the same shoulder. While not everyone had been at the hunt, he was sure they all knew something bad had happened, but little else. At first he hardly got around, but now he was finding he could limp here or there. Oh hell did it hurt. What it had cost him he could live with. Recover from may be a different story...

Perhaps it was fate, but Naira was swiftly trying to help him mend. He would hate to think where he would be without her. Minding his business, lying down with his small family he felt lucky. When she brought him a remedy he was eager to try it, but a voice raced round the forest, and his ears darted.

Low and behold his nephew was already on the ball, calling them all together. Triell saw nothing wrong with Serach taking his place, in his mind it had always been Cori and Ice's for him to take should he choose. Only, he was sure neither of them had thought it would have ended up this way. Still he couldn't help  the faint smile when Naira huffed. Displeased.

Yes, it was certainly going to take a bit a work to answer. Triell was up for it, well aware how important his task of carrying his son was. Though Reiko protested, he leaned down to him then carefully as he could he shifted his weight before grabbing his boy. Little by little he came to a stand. Now the fun part, trying to shuffle and keep hold of Reiko with his shitty balance. Despite the pain he thought they made good timing, though it felt odd to be so damn slow. As they came to the main den it was a relief to release Reiko, and crash back down. He offered Serach and Spieden a respectful nod from there. Then let his eyes wander to those gathered. They had gotten quite large, but Triell preferred it this way. It was familiar, a comfort to see them flourishing under the circumstances. All the faces. More so all the pups. Wow they were growing, and he grinned. None quite seemed certain what to do.

(This post was last modified: Jun 22, 2016, 03:47 PM by Triell.)

are you with me through it all?

Quentin had known from the very moment he had risen in the morning that he should not have gone too far from the borders of Oak Tree Bend. Whimsy seemed to have gotten the best of him and as that butterfly had finally given up the chase and took to higher places and out into the darker parts of the woods, that faint but summoning call came to his ears. His heart dropped, startled completely as he began to fly through the underbrush. He did not stop until he came to the place he had seen just once - the main part of the Bend, the pack den. Since coupling season had hit, he made sure to stay well away from the area and trying to find just the right teaching materials for Sahalie proved to be a very good reason to keep his distance.

He counted the heads and took in the colors of their pelts. Seven. Seven apart from Sahalie and Darrah. He thought to see if Drift, the pale-coated brother he had not yet seen, was present. His eyes fell on Kino at first before shaking his gaze away with a self-conscious need to make sure he didn't stare. He'd considered Serach, but something told him, especially in the air and poise he held himself in, that he was a bit older. He would have to formally introduce himself sometime or at least "make friends" with those he did not personally know, but for now, a small smile reached his face as he recognized Spieden and her two cubs and it remained there as he took a seat at the back of the group. Even if his apprentice's confidence commonly rubbed off on him, he was still the nomad who had left his home in the east: meek and respectful.

This would be his first meeting with the large band of wolves who called Oak Tree Bend their home, and he hoped it would be nothing but smooth sailing. A bunch of announcements, lots of listening, and perhaps some directions, just the way his Mum doled it all out without even a chance for Quentin to embarrass himself.

Taekwondo (M, W, F) | Rapid-Response Day (Tu) | WoW Nights (F, Sat, Sun)
Beirne may possibly join in any thread Quentin is in at any time, unless requested otherwise.

   

Kyna was out and about when the call rose through the trees, stretching her limbs as she considered venturing off beyond pack boundaries.  Not today, she realized grimly, lifting her nose to the air.  It was Serach who called them – she recognized his voice now, even if she didn’t know him beyond ‘that poor soul suckered into feeding Aponi’.  And, well, the other mothers, but such things did not weight so heavily on the blond’s mind, for she was the one meant to be feeding the silver princess.  Princess of nothing, and yet she held tight her grip, and Kyna remained obligated all the same.

Perhaps she should have tried harder, done the work that Serach was doing, but—

The girl of spun honey shook her head and rounded about, changing her course to head back to the heart of Oak Tree Bend.  By the time she arrived, she realized many of the wolves had gathered already – some she recognized, some she did not.  Aponi was present, Lila nearby – Sahalie and Alastor were sitting together, as to be expected.

Sighing softly through her wet nose, the girl worried the side of her cheek with sharp teeth for several moments before slipping forward.  With a shake, she lifted her head – she’d not worry any further.  She sat in Sahalie’s general vicinity, eyes wandering over the crowd before settling on the pair of alphas.  Her chin tipped.  She’d not be cowed by her mother’s presence, by the fact that Sahalie had more friends than Kyna had toes.  She’d not be cowed.

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A wild dissertation appears!

She felt quite ill.

When the summons rang out, Rue flinched, ears twisting towards it half-heartedly. That was the sound of a wolf calling everyone together. And Rue was part of that everyone, and she hated to think what the consequences were for not attending something like that. Her mother had tugged on her ears and boxed her nose for failing to come when called, and that was just when it was the four of them! The thought gave her pause, and she imagined Serach chewing one of her ears with a helpless giggle. But it wasn't a nice kind of giggle. It was the kind of giggle which desperately hid the fact that she wanted to be sick.

She was pretty sure that none of them knew. Triell was way too gracious to tell them, but that didn't take away the fact that Rue knew what she'd done. And now Serach was in charge. She'd only just arrived and look, she was upsetting the natural order of things already! Maybe Dray was right... maybe she wasn't cut out for living with others. Maybe this was a mistake.

Imagining all the other dutiful Bend wolves making their way to the dens, Rue moaned and flopped onto the ground, writhing about in her inability to cope with all these feelings. "I don't wannaaaaa," she whined, and heard Ruenna, you're a grown-up now, echoed back without prompting, behave like it. With a last, unhappy grunt, the girl rolled over onto her feet and started to stomp towards the meeting.

With every step, it got a little easier. While the idea of facing them all with the weight of what she had done on her shoulders, none of them knew, and there were so many faces she had been previously excited to see. Darrah would be there, and Sahalie, and the others who were at the hunt, and Spieden, and maybe the puppies! No, wait, of course the puppies, because the mothers could hardly attend and not bring them! Oh, that would be fun! By the time she could see and hear them gathered, Rue hesitated out of sight just long enough to shake the residual signs of reluctance from her posture and strode forward, tongue lolling free of a carefree grin and tail wagging happily behind her. They might have been family, but in some ways, they were still strangers. They wouldn't be able to see past her cheerful outside to see the flailing mess of guilty panic inside.

There were so many gathered, so many new faces to put to names, and she suppressed a shriek of delight at the sight of the children. They were lucky this was an important, formal meeting, because while Rue might not have any practice with them, she understood it well enough to know to contain herself for now. "Whaddup," she whispered as she came up behind where @Darrah and @Sahalie were sat next to each other, poking each of their cheeks with her nose in greeting and sitting just behind and between them. She glanced at Triell, but could only manage to smile at him for a moment, because out of them all, he was the only one who might have any idea.

Serach's face was easier to look at, so she settled her attention there, tail slowing to a stop as she waited to see exactly how this was gonna go down.

At first Mako was quite excited to be ushered from the den, expecting to be taken somewhere, maybe even the river! But instead his mother simply sat down next to Serach, before them a quickly growing crowd. Mako didn't understand what all the fuss was about, why he had been brought out in the first place. There were a bunch of wolves here, so what? This strange den he'd been stuck in always had tons of wolves swarming around it, popping in and out at odd hours. The adults interested him little, but as he skimmed over the crowd from his vantage point he noticed more little wolves, just like him and Marina. He was baffled at first, where had they come from?

Mako's sea-blue eyes settled on the smallest of the cubs, a girl with a coat as dark as soot tucked under the protective shadow of some lady. Interesting, but not <i>that</i> interesting. Until he glanced sidelong, noticing a tawny coated boy making a slow move towards her. His eyes narrowed, a small, determined huff puffing out his cheeks. He couldn't have cared less about the girl before, but now that there was something somebody else wanted, he couldn't allow them to have it. She would be his.

Mako's movements lacked the hesitancy of the other boy's, his thick limbs carrying him forward at a confident toddle. He swerved around all the adults in his way, paying them no heed as the downward slope away from the den threw him forward with even greater momentum. His face set into a determined scowl as his dark eyes glittered with malice. He growled, the most fearsome sound his little body could muster emerging in a high pitched rumble as he bowled into Reiko, roughly shoving into the younger child to push him back.

Thanks for the quick responses everybody. Next round starts on July 1st. No posting order!

Serach waited, staring out at the ring of trees at the edge of the small clearing place his mother had once claimed as her new home. For one panicked moment, he wondered what would happened if nobody came. It would have been beyond embarrassment, and no doubt led the new leader back to the shadows of the forest where he had spent so much time in his adolescent and young adult life. But even if they were unwilling, they still came, and as more and more of his family began to gather, he felt himself relax despite the nervous fervor building in his stomach at the prospect of speaking to them all.

Sahalie was first, and Serach was grateful for her smile. They were all impacted by Triell's injury, but he knew what it meant to see a parent injured and hurt, and as she approached him and asked him if he would take care of them, he resolutely nodded his head. Nudging her ear with his muzzle, he responded quietly, "Absolutely. It's a big job though, so will you help?" He smiled at her as he stepped back as others began to approach, pulling Sahalie away to sit with them. Before long, she had found herself the center of quite the pile of many of the pack's younger wolves. He could only smile in amusement, but could not help wondering if Sahalie would one day find herself where he was sitting now. Only she would be more loved.

As his pack mates approached, Serach gave them each a small smile and quiet "hello". There were some confused looks, which was to be expected, but he had done his best to prepare for that. Most important of all of them were Spieden and Triell. Spieden seemed content enough, and having her standing at his shoulder made him all the more confident that it was going to be alright. Triell himself said nothing, but his nod in greeting was enough. They had both agreed that this was the best course of action, but there had always been the possibility that the older wolf would change his mind, and was a mess that would have been.

When they were all gathered, the new leader looked to Spieden once more before rising to his feet. As he did, one of Spieden's cubs began resolutely marching down the small incline - headed in Naira and her brood's direction. Chuckling, Serach shook his head as he spoke up, "It seems Mako has the right idea of it. That's part of why I called this meeting - so we could all meet our newest pack mates and let them meet each other." The high-pitched puppy growls coming from Mako and Reiko's direction continued, but there was other news to announce and so Serach continued, raising his voice to be heard. "But there's important business to address first. I know some of you are wondering why I'm the one who called this meeting. A few days ago, Triell was injured in a hunt." He looked to Triell and Naira, and the small ones around him and asked, not for the first time, why it had not been him or one of the others who had been kicked instead. "Until he's back to full strength, he asked me to step up and help Spieden as her co-lead. Between Triell and Spieden, and my mother, I think I've learned from the best, so if there's anything any of you need, let me know." That was the big news, and he paused to let them all of them take it in. There was one more though, and it was that piece, perhaps more than the others, he wasn't thrilled about giving.

"There's something else...a few days before the hunt, Drift came to talk to Triell and I. He's decided to leave the Bend, at least for the summer and head south, out of Relic Lore." His gaze went to Sahalie, his heart pouring out to her even as the words spoke. Drift had gone missing before, and this time he had told his family beforehand and he hoped it would soften the blow, but it was hard to lose a sibling no matter the circumstances. He could only hope that the mini-pack of wolves who surrounded her would be able to at least distract from the void of Drift's absence.

"Spieden, Naira, Aponi, if you wouldn't mind?" He said, looking to each mother in turn. He knew the pups names, but felt it would be better if the mothers themselves introduced their young.

Being on time, it seemed, was not destined to be young Marina’s thing. Though their mother had ushered them from the den, the young Coho was not entirely interested in leaving playtime just yet. As much as she wanted to continue to play, it seemed her littermate was not of the same mind – he followed after their dam. The sable girl planted her rump down and whined loudly, fully expecting Mako to return back inside, and continue with their wrestling. He did not. Ears pricked forward as her brows followed. The young seal pup whined a little more loudly. Still, Mako did not return – perhaps he was not returning at all.

Gathering her fat paws underneath her legs, the young girl bounded out of the den with all the grace of a drunken moose. She did, in fact, trip once, bashing her jaw on the ground as her back feet continued to pedal. Fortunately, this did not deter young Marina, and she joined the gathering as Serach spoke. Her mother was easy to locate, and the pup did once bump into her mum’s leg before bright puppy blues gazed out over the others. So many!

Marina had never seen so many wolves before! Her mind spun with all the possibilities, recognizing some, forming a dozen questions for the others. It was then she noticed her brother toddling towards one of the other puppies, and the plump girl sprung after him, ambling awkwardly with a loud thrum. Nyang, came the sound, the girl snapping her jaws as she thrummed again.

Wait up!

 

Lila's look didn't go unnoticed as she glanced towards the other pups and back up towards her mother. Nodding with a smile Aponi gestured with her muzzle towards the others, clearly indicating that her daughter was free to go play with them if she so wished. Triell's appearance was distracting enough and the blue eyes trailed towards his injury, though she offered no nod towards him as she had to Spieden and Serach. The dark man had never done anything personally towards the Aquila woman but his attachment to Naira was enough.

Once again Aponi's attention was pulled from where it had settled when her older daughter appeared and then gave them no attention. Kyna's distance had never gone unnoticed by the new mother but hadn't had the time or frankly the patience to address it. She had given the blonde child everything she possibly could since she had returned and still the girl acted as if her mother had tossed her aside like garbage. It was the nonsense of a child and with the new birth she didn't have the time. Perhaps she had too much of Phineas in her, always brooding over something but whatever the reason she would have to grow out of it soon or spend her whole life miserable.

Turning her now wary eyes from Kyna to Serach as he began speaking she couldn't help but smile when he announced that he was taking over as leader. It had nothing to do with the Tainn being injured which was unfortunate of course but the respect she felt for the paler man. However this meeting would not all be about the change in leadership and after waiting for Spieden to introduce her two Aponi spoke up, "My daughter is Lila." Looking over the black child she awaited to see how she would respond to being the center of attention .

 

"Until he's back to full strength"

Surely that meant the arrangement was only temporary, so why had Darrah been so damn worried? He couldn't help but smile at Serach's words, as awful as that might sound. It wasn't that the Tainn was unsure that his ally would be a good ruler, in fact probably the exact opposite, however he'd longed to be alpha himself for just about as long as he could remember. Having Triell pass the throne down to him would be a lot more desirable than having to beef it out with someone who might very well have more of a claim to it now than he ever would. Though the thought still taunted him quietly at the back of his head. What if?

Only Drift's name was able to cause the raven to stumble back into reality, and in fact managed to bring a sense of dread along with it. 'Leave the Bend..?' his eyes widened at the idea. Darrah hadn't managed to get a hold of his young brother since returning, and now it was looking like the chances of that ever happening had just been significantly lowered. "It's going to be okay.." He whispered, nuzzling into Sahalie. Surely the news would hit her harder.

Celebrate the way the night hides scars.

Darrah Tainn

At some point,

I started looking at the ground more than the sky

It’s hard even to breathe.