Vigils Keep dawn

// Backdated to October 4th, one day after Aytigin becomes leader of Vigil's Keep.
Small powerplay. Let me know if it's not okay.

After Aytigin had met with Neha and the change in leadership had occurred, the large man had decided to rest before seeking Nineva out. She would be the first he spoke to about becoming the new alpha - this was her pack, after all, and he didn't want her to think he was taking it from her. In fact, he wanted to lead it with her, not on his own.

Catching her scent was fairly easy. He padded after it and eventually caught up with her in the middle of the territory.

Hazel eyes softened a bit in relief and he walked over to her side, clearing her throat and dipping his head respectfully. "If I had known you didn't want us to fight back against Driftwood, I wouldn't have done that. I'm sorry," he apologized instantly. "How are you feeling? Up for a chat?" He had a lot to talk to her about, after all.

(This post was last modified: Oct 13, 2018, 08:50 PM by Aytigin.)

Nineva had been out refreshing scent markers when Aytigin found her. As he approached, clearly intent on speaking, she paused what she was during and turned thoughtful eyes toward him. They darkened at his opener, ears sweeping back to show a fraction of her annoyance with his words. She'd just had this debate with Neha, however; for once, the Hervok opted to simply keep her mouth shut. There was no use drilling each member individually for their collective mistake, after all, especially when they had only been following their alpha; the replacement she had appointed.

"I'm well enough. What's on your mind?" she asked, settling her haunches down onto the cold ground.

It was probably best that he just come out and say it, even though it was a little hard to admit. ”I challenged Neha for leadership yesterday,” he admitted, hazel eyes meeting her mismatched gaze. ”And I won. But I wanted you to know that I didn’t want to challenge her - I wanted to challenge you.” It had always been Nin he wanted to prove himself to.

”I want to co-lead with you,” he stated simply. ”It didn’t seem relevant until I challenged Elias and won, where I was in a position that I could actually challenge you. But you’re ill, and Neha... she’s unstable. Her mood swings were so intense at the lake that I felt I had no other choice but to challenge her. But I didn’t want to.” He sighed deeply. ”I wanted to prove that I was strong and worthy enough to be your co-lead, but this was not the way I intended to do so.”

Well, that was a lot to take in at once. Nineva's internal reaction was emotional, but she quelled what she felt, maintaining the stony demeanor that had always been her forte. She needed to be sure of the information she had, and he needed to know exactly why this was a horrible, horrible idea. That wouldn't get across as well if she bit his throat and threw him down like she wanted, like the dominant wolf inside wanted. Calculated words were called for.

"Has it occurred to you," she began, voice level but firm, "that I do not have another wolf lead with me for a reason? That the structure of this pack was deliberate?"

"Those reasons do not change because you can out-wrestle the others. It doesn't matter who you are, Aytigin. I will not lead with another."

Aytigin watched the large female carefully, his eyes narrowed just a bit in caution to gauge her reaction. If she was violent, he would be ready, tense and prepared for yet another battle. No, this had not gone to plan, but he wouldn't be berated for how things went down. How could he control that Neha would be the temporary leader? How could he control that Nineva was sick? That Elias would go missing?

"And why will you not lead with another?" he asked carefully, tilting his head just a bit to the side. "Do you believe that you're the only wolf capable? That you're the strongest or smartest? Why does it have to land solely on you?"

Of course he would want to know why, and that was reasonable. Still this encounter as a whole had worked its way under her skin. It wasn't a simple thing to take leadership, to try and overhaul the hierarchy as it was. It showed either deep discontent, or heighty ambition, and Nineva didn't like the implications behind either. There hadn't even been a time of waiting, no indication of any trust at all being put into the established methods. Even when he'd known exactly what he'd signed up with, it seemed Aytigin had written it off as unsustainable and decided to take matters into his own paws.

He didn't trust her, and she would not trust him any longer because of it.

"There's no such thing as a perfectly balanced pair; individuals don't come so identically crafted. When the differences come to surface, the pack suffers. It builds. I won't be lied to, or undermined, back stabbed or sabotaged as I've witnessed happen to the best of alphas <i>over</i> and over again. It doesn't just weaken the leadership, it weakens the pack. Hurts the pack. Gets children lost and innocents killed."

Her words were haughty and self-righteous, and Ayti narrowed his eyes sharply at their implications. Maybe she wasn't the type of wolf he even wanted to lead beside at all. "Wolves are meant to be different. That's how it balances them out," he told her in response, fighting to keep his fur flat and his face smooth.

"And what if I can out-wrestle you? Beat you for the leadership position?" he asked, tipping his head to the side. "Would you accept being co-lead, or would you just leave?" Because that was cowardly, and Aytigin would have no respect for a wolf who wouldn't accept their own shortcomings. "I asked to not settle near Driftwood, Nin, and you ignored that completely. It made it pretty obvious what my word meant in this pack, and it put us all in danger. Someone had to step up and do something, or we will all die."

It was clear her reply upset him, and she had to wonder how capable of leading he would prove to be when words as simple as those could rile him; when all she'd done was answer his question truthfully. Had he really expected her to just roll over and accept his proposal, to change everything about her own beliefs and methods with a click of his teeth? She'd known that it had been a gamble to take him in despite his past, that he could just repeat the crime the following Spring and she would need to run him out as Lachesis had, but this hadn't been foreseen.

Yes, differences between wolves were important; she would have agreed with him if he hadn't kept going, targeting her with assumptions and accusations. The nice guy mask was coming off, and Nineva was swiftly shown who Aytigin was when he didn't get what he wanted.

"No, I would not lead with a wolf who so clearly distrusts me," she spoke with steel on her tongue, and the icy calm that she was so well known for. "I would not accept a situation that I have only ever seen fail, horrifically; I would rather be a subordinate than take part. As such, if you had taken leadership from me, and the pack had supported the change, I would not be so petty as to attack you regardless. Whether or not I left would depend on how you the led pack from there."

If Aytigin surprised her, in this hypothetical, and led well, Nineva would have no reason to be discontented. If he burned the pack to the ground with shit choices, however, or actively asked her to act against her own morals, it was pretty damn reasonable that she would not stick around.

"If they don't want you? If they refuse to acknowledge you? I'll rail against you every day until you respect the pack's decision."

To insist otherwise would make him something of a dictator, the opposite of what he seemed to be proposing. That seemed to be how the world rolled, however; whatever a wolf accused others to be, was likely what he was desperate to hide in himself.

"I didn't ignore you, either, Aytigin. In fact, I've been pretty damn generous with you. Yes, they are our neighbors, but we're plenty far enough from them. Their tantrums don't change that reality. Not to mention, I asked you, along with everyone else, if this was where you wanted to make a home. You all claimed it was. A little drama later, everyone is scrambling to say otherwise instead of holding fast as a pack."

Anyways, it wasn't as though he had wanted them to stay days away because he knew they would be so aggressive as to attack another pack on their own territory without a word said prior. He'd asked, as he had stated, because they didn't like him and likely, he was pretty bitter over getting ousted as he had. When the whole pack wanted to claim that land, his personal problems could not have been expected to dictate them all. It wasn't like Nineva had sent him on scouting missions out to them or purposefully put him in their path.

To say she was disappointed in how things were turning out was a grave understatement. The Surge had only once made an issue of themselves; all of this, all these cracks and rotting beams in the house they'd built together, was not the Surge's fault. They were doing this to themselves, panicking and acting out and grappling to come out on top instead of looking out for one another and trusting in one another.

"You think I'd let us die for a patch of land?" she'd already made it clear to the pack that if the Surge came at them with their allies, the Keep would not stand their ground for this was not worth facing down certain death for; but of course, he had not been present for that meeting.

"You expect to lead well when you allow blind assumptions to drive you to such drastic actions?"

Wow, she was a bitch.

Entitlement and pettiness were obvious in the younger wolf’s words. While the two of them came from very similar places - not wanting to do this or that because of bad experiences - Ayti had tried for many months to work with Nineva as leader. And they still couldn’t hunt west. They still hadn’t moved the pack. Sure, she had advisors, but neither Yuka or Elias would speak against her. They cared for her too much.

”I never said I distrust you,” Aytigin responded in kind, keeping his tone calm. ”I’ve waited for change, but there has been none. You’ve made it clear yourself that you won’t act. I’m doing this for the betterment and safety of the pack. But where I gave you the chance, you’re not even considering me.”

He shrugged his shoulders. ”I do plan on giving you this rank back, so that I can challenge you directly. If I beat you then, and the pack doesn’t like it, I guess they could just chase me out. I’m expecting the pack to not like this change, because of the way it went down,” he went on. ”If I beat you, fairly, I want to be your co-lead, but you’ve made it very obvious that you wouldn’t even let that be a temporary option. And if they still want just you, then I suppose they can still have you.”

”That wasn’t a blind assumption, and my actions are not drastic. In any other pack, challenging up the ranks would be considered normal,” he stated, tone calm and precise. ”If there is no capability for change, then this one-leader thing has already gone too far. There’s no opportunity here.”

He sighed heavily and dipped his head. ”Am I supposed to live and die a loyal follower to the queen?” he inquired.

She had to fight to not roll her eyes when he attempted to clarify on the trust issue, as if a lack of mentioning the word itself could counteract his actions and claims. If he trusted her, he wouldn't be so desperate to balance her out, and he wouldn't be spouting off like he was. It was a point that no longer mattered, however, and certainly one she would not insist upon. In fact, the more he spoke, the more clear it became that talking was fruitless with this one.

"You're really wearing my patience thin, Aytigin. I have told you twice now that I believe your proposal will hurt the pack, the wolves in it, my daughter and yet you believe what is right is for me to step aside and let you have your way regardless? To test run something I know will do harm? I won't. Say what you want about me for it."

It was like asking someone to hold their hand, the hands of those they care about and who trust them to keep them safe, in fire when they've seen it burn others over and over again. And then holding it against them when they refuse.

"As for the change you've been sitting around silently waiting for, taking control of the pack as a whole isn't usually the first step toward making that happen. Demanding a restructuring of the pack without even gauging the approval of the pack, just getting on top so you can ask nice once then show your thorns when there's resistance, challenging not just because you feel more dominant than Yuka or Elias or Neha but so you can force what you want, is not normal in any pack I've known.

You said you wanted to prove yourself, but you've done just the opposite. You having the control isn't the only possibility that existed, I've never shut down a chance for change or opportunity other than this one idea of yours. You might have even noticed that I haven't denied your right to lead this pack in any sense, having won the rank from Neha fairly. I just don't want to do it with you. As I said, if the pack is happy with this, then I have no problem taking the backseat and working as a subordinate to ensure this all works out for the best, just as I have my whole life. If we are healthy and content as a whole, then I am satisfied. I was never in this for title.

If they aren't? You won't give back shit. I will take leadership from you, just as you claim is so run of the mill."