Whitestone Monadnock everyone in the old world had a show

A gift of sleeping Craw for @Kara to mess with <3 This is set in the pack den just before dusk, so others are welcome to post at any point, particularly @Odin, but please let Ghost go first! <3 To keep it simple, gonna assume that he's just gone to sleep early and there's nobody else in the den yet.

The day had been nothing but a series of frustrations, one after the other, and the irritations prickled at his skin as though they had manifest into fleas as big as mice. Perhaps it was just that Celandine's betrayal had finally sunk in, which had coupled with the far more forgiveable yet notable absence of Wraith and left Craw feeling as though Whitestone were distinctly lesser than it had a moon's turn ago. At least he trusted his Second to come back, save for disaster - something which he couldn't guarantee wouldn't strike. And the fact that Wraith's return would not just herald the reunion of Craw with his most trusted, but also a chance of the news he so craved... The mice-lice bit and scratched and his flesh itched feverishly.

The sour mood on awakening had been only worsened by the absence of his chewing stick, which had not been where he left it the day before, and he had snapped unfairly at @Greer over its whereabouts - only to remember he had dropped it on the opposite side of the boulder absent-mindedly, and been forced to apologise to the innocent shadow. Choosing to separate himself from the pack in case one of the others accidentally sparked his ire, Craw had flounced down the goat track to the lake by the side of the monadnock for a drink, and endured a hostile face-off with the family of large swans swimming nearby. A missed lunge and beak-bitten nose later, Craw had retreated yet again, stalking out into the tundra to find something to vent his mounting anger upon.

Unhappily (or joyously, depending on your opinion of the wolf), the world hated him that day. What might have been a good outlet turned into a disaster when he came across the well-chewed remains of a young deer's leg, only to have an eagle swoop in at the last moment, completely out of the blue, and carry it clean away. He'd stared at it in disbelief as the huge bird flapped away, and what might have been admiration for a fellow distinguished predator was merely replaced by broiling rage that he had been denied his find.

Determined to find something to destroy, Craw had prowled across the lowlands, increasingly searching for one very particular scent. There was only one way he would be able to reverse the fortunes of the day in a way that was violent and bloody enough to satisfy him. It took him all day, but he knew they were out here somewhere, that family of inferior inbreds which he caught glimpses of occasionally while hunting - and no, he actually wasn't thinking about Askan and his lot. If anything, his memory drifted back to a certain young wolf in the willows who had shared a striking resemblance with himself... and who had also shared a dark and vicious moment together in the interests of teaching and self-discovery.

The coyote family were doomed. His patience honed sharp by his desperate need to relieve himself of the furious itches all through his pelt, Craw laid the trap - himself, parked nearby to a bigger unidentifiable corpse he had found and dragged out here for this explicit purpose - and waited.

By the time his paws were taking him back to the monadnock, the evening air bitingly cold and with a mist descending once more over the lowlands, the fur around Craw's muzzle was thick with mongrel blood, the light in his eyes vicious with satisfaction. Determined not to risk spoiling the day by giving it anymore opportunity to mess with him, Craw stalked straight to the pack dens and dropped down inside, glad to find it yet empty, heart rate gradually returning to a regular pace as the adrenaline in his blood slowly faded.

He fell asleep with the image of coyotes dancing in his mind, and a promise to himself that he'd go back tomorrow and finish the job. It did a little to make up for the infuriating morning.

(This post was last modified: Jan 11, 2017, 12:23 AM by Sahalie. Edit Reason: removing pack tag )

pp of @Odin given with permission from Becu, she will be posting next!

Convincing her brother to go along with her pranks had never been much of a challenge but the older they got the easier it seemed to be able to do. When they were younger it may have taken a couple of pleads and some big puppy wolf eyes but now it took little more than a mischievous grin for him to roll his eyes and come along with her. All of this was good news for Kára and bad news for the rest of the pack who she had unleashed a hellfire of practical jokes on.

Today they were going with one of the classics, dropping something slimy and with any luck smelly on whoever was sleeping in the den. What was that saying? If you snooze you lose, and this was something the children had taken to heart. Whichever pack member was first to fall asleep had only about a 50% chance of making it without any kind of prank befalling them. Crooning with glee the fiery child skipped ahead of Odin so that she could have the first glance at who their victim would be.

Peering over the edge of the den the grey eyes blinked as they took a second to adjust to the dim before glittering at the form of the spider below. Her brother might not like pranking their father (she still called him the childhood nickname of Cer, but knew him to be her dad. After all, the children had never really been told their relationship and she had no reason to think calling your dad Cer was weird.) but Kára had no problem in it.

Glancing over her shoulder towards her brother's dark form the Archer pursed her lips to signal him that he should be quiet and they had a target. Motioning him forward with her tail she mouthed the word NOW.

Coding and image by becuffin

our conscience in the gutter, our dreams up in the sky

Odin Archer

Odin had once again been roped into ferrying... Well, he wasn't even sure. It had come through a hole he had broken in the ice, the cold weather making it slow. It was more slimy than any fish he had carried before and seemed to lack fins, instead its long narrow body flattened out like one long blade. It's wide gaping mouth was now permanently gaping open, sightless eyes only adding to the overall creepiness of its partially frozen after the children had spent the better part of the afternoon tormenting the long wriggler before it finally died a (probably painful) death by suffocation.

With the eel in his way, he had no sight on their target and had to rely on @Kara to line him up and let him know when to release. As his jaws parted his vision was obscured by a the cold grey body that he had dropped, but before it had even reached it's target he knew he had just made a terrible, terrible mistake. Momentarily frozen in place all @Craw would need to do is simply look up to spot the distinctive face of Odin, jaws parted in fear as the nanoseconds ticked by, but finally, his brain sent the message to his feet and he started to run, tail already tucked tightly between his legs. Even though he knew he didn't stand a chance.

@Kara

Just as he was wrapping his jaws around the delicate throat of a yowling and pleading coyote, something jarred him harshly from his sleep. The complete shock rendered him immobile for a few heartbeats as his brain desperately tried to process what had happened, as though one moment he had been laying in the sun in the height of summer, and the next he was suddenly plunged into an icy river. As his pistons fired furiously to catch up, he realised that the sensation of wet and cold on his face were in fact real - and jerked backwards bodily in feral response.

Staring wide-eyed at the eel which lay before his paws, dead and still, it was not long before the last remnants of sleep were banished and he realised what had happened.

The sound of hurriedly retreating footsteps prompted him to look sharply up, teeth bared and eyes flashing as he sought the copper face of the only wolf he knew could be safely blamed. The bellow bubbled up inside him, born from the hot, angry magma deep within and erupted furiously, his hackles raising and skin alive with electricity as his rage built untempered.

"KARA!"

@Odin

Before Odin had even finished dropping the long slimy eel over the edge of the den Kára had been prancing away. Down along the side until she could carefully hop down and stroll back towards the entrance of the den, effectively leaving her brother alone to take the blame. She was just a few feet away when her father had called out her name in rage and the girl would hear the sound of the retreating pawsteps. Snorting she grumbled to herself coward.

Stepping forward and doing her best to drop her tail and ears as if she was truly sorry she looked up with wide grey eyes. Dipping her head lower she mumbled, "Yes daddy?" Usually he was always Cer but Kára had found in situations like these daddy worked better, something about the word softened the spider a little. Hopefully he would fall for her rouse that she had had nothing to do with the prank and it had all been Odin. After all, she had come from beside the den almost immediately after had called and Odin could have been heard running away from above. It wasn't likely that Cer would believe this but it was worth a shot.

Besides, even if he didn't believe it dropping that eel on his head had been hilarious and that made it all worth it.

Coding and image by becuffin

the only reason that i'm here, is to wreak havoc

Odin Archer

Even with his ears pinned back he couldn't miss the bellow, flailing legs slipping out from beneath his lanky frame as he hit a patch of concealed slush right as he put on the brakes. As much as it had been @Kara's idea (as if Odin would ever think to pull such a terrible prank on his own), he had been the one to go along with her and it was his jaws from which the eel fell. He couldn't quite bring himself to let her take the blame all on her own.

Slowly he dragged himself up, ears folded flat, tail still tucked and spine curved in a sorry way he slunk back to the scene of the crime. While his sister may have only appeared concerned, the boy looked every inch the puppy caught pissing on the rug, and all it would take was a glance to know there was probably shit in your shoes as well. One side of his mouth was pulled tight, a short whine leaving his chest to draw @Craw's attention towards himself, "It was me dad," he fessed up with a cringe. If it had of been anyone else he would had vanished down the goat track laughing all the way, but not their parents and Kara knew.

At the sound of footsteps he whipped around, her copper coat only a few shades from the kind of red he was seeing - but even as his rage was narrowing in on her as its target, the still-rational part of him forced him to pause. She had appeared too quickly. The eel had been dropped from the holes above but she was here, not up there, and that sweet tone of voice was enough to sand down the edges of his temper. Just as @Kara knew it would, he stared at her and softened, just enough not to lash out, just enough to make him doubt.

But then that rational side of him piped up again and reminded him that this was exactly the sort of ploy that the little firecracker was infamous for, and the low, dangerous rumble in his throat began again. Yet he was forced to pause again.

The moment @Odin appeared, all doubt as to their guilt vanished in a puff of smoke, shame oozing off the dark boy as though he had been swimming in it. Lips peeling back to display a most displeased array of teeth, he swept towards them, fur bristling, wanting to force them onto their backs beneath him, for while Odin was clearly full of regret his sister was not -

And this was a lesson they'd had before and would repeat until it got through her childish, troublesome skull, and her brother would continue to suffer for her antics.

His reaction was not always this extreme, but she had picked a bad night to make his day worse.

wow look at that character development, @Odin

For a couple of seconds Kára thought the sweet and innocent act might actually work, which was surprising since Cer usually saw right through it. The other members of the pack were more susceptible to being fooled but not her dad. Tail waved slowly behind her as she saw the softening on his face but immediately stopped at the low rumble it was greeted with. Fine. About to drop her ears and tail in shame she was interrupted by her brother who already held an exaggerated posture of the one she was about to perform.

Well shit, now what?

Hesitating for a moment her head was full of turmoil. Was she going to let her brother take all the blame for the prank that had been her idea and let herself get off for free? On one paw she wouldn't be punished, but on the other seeing her brother suffer in her defense would be even worse. If it had been anyone but Odin. She grumbled silently in her head before dropping her ears back, lowering her head and tucking her tail up against her stomach, "An' m' ter dad, w' did it ter-gether." Now all she could do was wait to see the punishment they had been befallen with, and judging by the anger on Cer's face it was going to be a big one.

Coding and image by becuffin

(This post was last modified: Jan 16, 2017, 05:34 PM by Kara.)