Dead Empress Backwater but i scream too loud if i speak my mind

@Modesto Finally got this up! Backdated to a couple of hours after the meeting thread

what i really need now is a double shot of crown

Vayko still didn’t know how to process his thoughts. He had been avoidant of everyone and everything, and god he was trying to figure it all out. He rolled his shoulders back with a sigh. He had just finished checking all of the borders, a need to be productive at all times filling out his bones before his paws were naturally guiding him to a small clearing a small distance from the creek that he often liked to spend his time in, especially when he was thinking. He batted a stick around for a minute before knowing that there was only one person he would trust for guidance right now.

He sat back, raising his head to the sky as he called for his Aunt, waiting patiently for her arrival. She always had the answer. She would know whether or not these emotions he had been clouded with were just or if he was simply overreacting. He knew that his emotions were sometimes particularly extra and perhaps his aunt could set him on the right path. He still worried. What would happen if both of the floozies had large litters? What would happen if pups overran their adult members in size? There were far too many concerns he had to feel like he was overreacting.

Still, frustratingly, Vi didn’t seem all that worried, at least not to Vayko. They were supposed to lead together. Vayko knew he was still too young, but he had thought it would still be more of a partnership than it appeared to be at the moment.

(This post was last modified: Apr 16, 2021, 07:59 PM by Vayko.)

Modesto pondered the news from the meeting as Vayko (and likely many others) did. Viorel having bedded the only two wolves in the ranks not of blood, she wondered how the two women would fit into the pack's hierarchy in the future and if such a scandal would disrupt the pack's and the family name's good standing. Then again, in this new land, the pack nor their name had much 'standing'. Still, Modesto would have hoped Viorel would have been more selective over who he chose to be the mother (and first mother) to the next generation of Valle wolves. Alas, they all were basterd pups as it were, lest Vanadis Archer became Vanadis Valle.

As always did Modesto heed the call when she was wanted. Often a woman who stayed in the pack lands then out (she was an advisor after all, not a grunt-worker) she was prompt. She also was prompt because she enjoyed being needed and heard, too.

Making way along the creekside and into the clearing, she came with a lifted muzzle and a 'hrmph' to her nephew. "Not pleased with the news, I take?" She hums and makes to recline at her soft tawny nephew's side.

what i really need now is a double shot of crown

Vayko could not help but snort indignantly at his Aunt’s question, a soft ‘hrmph’ of his own in response as he rode and started to pace. “It was so irresponsible! We talked about one litter. One litter. He went out and knocked up the only two members of the pack he wasn’t related to! Thank heavens there weren’t more.” He was venting at this point, just letting it all out of his system for a moment before he sighed and slumped back into his seat. “Everyone thinks I’m the wild one that needs to be controlled, but I’m starting to think it’s the other way around.” He admitted glumly.

Damn his cousin for being so chaotic, there was no chaos left for him because he was left trying to clean up his messes. “Am I wrong to be angry about this? Is this me being me or is this me being rational?” He honestly didn’t know the difference between the two anymore which was mildly terrifying to him. “And can the pack even support two litters? What will we do if they’re both big?” He had many questions, because it was an uncertain time. His cousin had made sure of that. His plan for how this pack would grow and shape into an empire just as it had been back at home was quickly crumbling at his feet and Vayko did not like change.

And so then her tawny nephew began to pace, speaking about how irresponsible his age-mate cousin had been, how he had been wrong to do so, how it went against the plans which he and Viorel had originally discussed. Modesto tisks, shaking her crown side to side. With a defeated sigh, Vakyo finds the ground again. "You both had an agreement and he went against it. Didnt speak to you personally when it happen to announce his mistake but instead waits for you to know officially in front of the whole pack?" She snorts, unladylike. She was not sure if Viorel had given the information before hand or not, but raises a brow as she looks to her nephew in order to determine if she were correct.

"Your anger is perfectly acceptable to me." She ensured the youth with a sharp nod and hard sun flared eye. "Doesn't make for the best show of trust. You both are supposed to lead side by side, as equals. Their should be no secrets." She spoke, fueling the fire in the young man's veins. Surely, she quite enjoyed all her little nieces and nephews but she did or course have her favorites, being the tawny siblings Vayko and @Sharlee precisely. They were Modesto's own littermates pups.

Trying not to allow Vayko to question what she had said, perhaps to allow him to stew and simmer on her words later, Modesto adjusted the subject. "Not many pups make it beyond their first year of life." She admits to the youth, "They are either stillborn, starve in winter, wander off, get killed, eaten." She describes, "The more pups, the less food to go around. The adults eyes more divided to keep eyes on them, protect them. The more likely deaths happen. She paused there, allowing this to sink in.

what i really need now is a double shot of crown

Vayko eyed her as she started to reason through it and he shook his head. “He didn’t speak to me when it happened… it took both of their scents changing and me avoiding him just waiting for him to speak to me about it for him to discuss it with me and I told him he needed to address the pack about it.” He needed to clarify, because he hadn’t been blindsided at the meeting, simply angry at the situation he had been dealt. He didn’t want to be too angry. His cousin was his age, and yet he couldn’t help but feel that if their situation had been reversed, he would not have made the same decision.

Vayko began to pace back and forth as his aunt fueled him with her words, a low growl of frustration. “I don’t know if this pack can support both litters, but both litters are Valle’s and we could never dream of turning them away.” He insisted, because of that he was absolutely certain. He had made that promise to all three of them, foolishly perhaps… but he had made a promise nonetheless and he was certainly a man of his word.

He sighed listening to the outcomes, all of the possible outcomes, and he didn’t like any of them. “Is there a right option here?” He asked with a frown on his features. “Is there an outcome where we don’t needlessly lose young lives? Young Valle lives? We don’t know how many pups each of them will have. What if they both have litters of five?” He continued to pace, because perhaps his Aunt could step in where his cousin had failed and calm his nerves. “Viorel says he’ll do his best, but it’s just words and it doesn’t feel like a plan. We need a plan.”

"I see..." The woman spoke and her lips pursed as she was given this information. Vayko had at least known before the meeting so that was good, but it had taken some time for Viorel to come forth. Then, it was Vayko which prodded that it needed to be made clear by the pack as a whole.

The consul took in a deep breath and heaved it out slow, listening to her nephew's low growl with a pleasant 'hmmm' on her lips. "Of course. It would be far easier to do so if the pups were of a subordinate, not blood. But this? The estuary could easily support multiple litters with our numbers." Hence Vayko and Viorel being same year litters. "But not how we are now, but a pinch of what we once were. When the pups are born and the mothers confined to their dens, there will be but six of us to do the hunting, guarding, scouting, not including my mother of course." She stirred the pot of course, surely bringing out a panic. Good. They all should be worried to death what foolish actions may bring.

Then, she began to think, speaking on behalf of what they might do. "We need more able bodies, more wolves to hunt, to protect. We will never know what winter may hold, especially in these new lands, but if they are harsh, you must prepare to be harsh back for the safety of our own young. If it means stealing from other wolves and packs, fighting, even eating them to fill our young's bellies, we must. Nothing must come before us." Though even then, even if they were made to be cruel and cold, no one could predict the future's outcome.

(This post was last modified: May 21, 2021, 01:04 AM by Modesto.)

what i really need now is a double shot of crown

His aunt seemed to process the information as it came, and Vayko blamed himself in part for not giving her all of the information up front. He simply hadn’t thought it important until he had heard her protest. Vayko frowned and sighed with a soft nod as his aunt walked through the thoughts that he had himself. It was not an easy place to be in, of that he was certain… especially with this children being of Viorel’s blood, of Valle blood. Clover’s litter had been planned, and he understood that Vi had developed feelings for the other floozy, Vana, but when it came down to it, he had fucked up. “We are not the Estuary. We haven’t been an empire. We’re brand new.” He simply offered in return, because it was the truth, even if it was simply restating in layman’s terms what she had so eloquently worded.

“I understand that… I fear Viorel is not as worried as me. I think he has his own worries… I just don’t think he sees the severity of the situation like I do.” He answered candidly. He would never be anything but with Modesto. She was his aunt and his advisor and the person he trusted for information. “I think Lee understands the severity of the situation, but… it’s all a mess, Aunt Modesto.”

Another nod, confirmation of both of their feelings on their standing as a pack. One day, maybe, they would be as strong as they once were but even Modesto knew that it would not be the same. For her, it would never be the same.

If his worries are his own and not about the security of the pack... She pauses, sighing and shaking her crown back and forth. The best we can do is be there. You are leader too, you know. Another pause, studying him. If you feel as though things are not getting done that need to when the time comes, you can also make the call. Make the hard decisions if Viorel cannot.

If Viorel would end up being far too caught up in his own drama, with his two women to balance between, maybe Vayko could see more clearly. As it were with the pups not even born yet and winter still quite far from now, no action need take place. Not yet, at least.

I will be there for you, to back up your decisions, Vayko. She ensured her nephew with a weak smile.

(This post was last modified: Jul 27, 2021, 05:33 PM by Modesto.)

what i really need now is a double shot of crown

He listened and hummed softly at his Aunt’s wise words. He didn’t know the precise nature of his cousin’s train of thought and would not speak for his own views… but it was enough to leave Vayko concerned. He didn’t believe that Vi was doing anything intentionally malicious, he just thought that sometimes his cousin didn’t quite use his brain the way that he should, letting emotions overwhelm him instead. He drew in a deep breath, exhaling softly and nodding at that. He was a leader, and he knew that… but he couldn’t help but not feel like it.

“I know I am a leader… sometimes it doesn’t feel like it though.” He admitted softly to his aunt in her confidence. “It feels very much like I’m in Vi’s shadow at times… and I know he doesn’t do it intentionally… but I was not old enough to take the helm with him when the pack was first founded and it feels as if I am still trying to catch up to him.” He explained his train of thought, his concerns, knowing that perhaps she could help him with that feeling as well.

Did other wolves take him seriously? He wasn’t sure. He knew he was brash and abrasive and it was something he was working on in order to handle the pack better, to get them to respect him like they seemed to already Vi. Perhaps it was his own anxiety eating away at him… he was not sure.

(This post was last modified: Jul 15, 2021, 01:47 PM by Vayko.)

"Despite him not being responsible with whom he slept around with upon making that decision, he is the father of the pack. Has created the future..." And as Vayko had stated, he was the lead first before Vayko had entered adulthood there after. He also called all the meetings, organized pack events... Vayko had taken the back stea in leadership thus far but it was not fat from Modesto's way too, whom had been a whisper of decisions in the actual leader's ear. That's what council was, after all. If there was a fuck up, her own or not, the eyes would not be turned to her.

"I don't peg you as the type of wolf to be anyone's shadow though, Vayko." He was too wise a boy, too quick-witted-cunning, as herself. But it were true too, even Modesto was not but a shade or so less of what she once was in the Estuary.

"But leading a pack is more then just popping out pups and talking alot. I'm sure when the opportunity to show your strengths comes, you will be ready for it." She speaks, moving her muzzle to touch at her little nephew's temple with secret affection.