Dead Empress Backwater I think this has worked

Ever since the back-to-back incidents with Amondi and Vasco, Xulia had been... struggling. Normal, everyday interactions with packmates had become arduous; she was just tired. Neither of them had died, but Amondi's pups had, and Amondi's blood and Vasco's starving body were stuck in the forefront of her mind. She'd paced the perimeter of the territory countless times for the last few weeks, determined to keep the other Backwater wolves as safe as possible.

She'd zoned out a bit on her patrol that day, and was fairly alarmed at the sound of Viorel's call. The girl padded quickly to the meeting, unsure of what it could possibly be about, until she spotted the gaggle of pups gathered together.

Ah. There were more than she'd anticipated.

Xules was not good with kids. Or, rather, she'd never had the opportunity to be around them before. So, the young woman gave pause, staring at the tiny fluffballs with slowly softening eyes. They were... kind of cute.

A lot had happened in the recent weeks. There were now five children to take care of, among the nine adults (including himself), which meant Andrey was keeping himself busy by contributing to the caches and monitoring the borders. Nothing out of the usual for him; just distancing himself from all the hustle and bustle of the blossoming pack. He was happy for his brother, yes, but it did not mean he was any more thrilled to be here. Months had passed and Andrey was the only Valle still adjusting to their new life, and who had not yet embraced it. He felt bad, to be adding more stress to his brother when he had an army of children to tend to, but he could not force himself to be happy.

He responded to his brother's call with a heavy sigh, but his legs moved swiftly beneath him to ensure he arrived in a somewhat timely manner. The ebony Valle was not late, but he certainly wasn't early. The other members of the pack had gathered with the little Valles, their expressions soft as they observed the future of their pack.

Gross.

He nodded a greeting at his brother and resumed his position just outside of the group, his chocolate gaze sweeping over his nieces and nephews.

Oleander was sleepy. All night long he tossed and turned. Heavy eyelids opened as he heard his father's call beckon through the forest outside. For a while there was silence, and then another call. He blinked the fogginess away to realize that his sisters had long since gotten up for the day. This was soon confirmed with Margo's giggle of "Dada!!"

He scowled in a way that made his soft puppy coat wrinkle where his adult coat had come in around his nose and eyes. Mama was gonna be mad. He knew now just how much his dark-furred sister loved her games. His ears turned forward as he sat up, unsure if he was hearing his sister actually running away. She was gonna be in for it...

His head turned to the den entrance first before he got up on his feet to peer out into the clearing. Mama was there, but he had not counted on her startled yell after his sister. He let out a frightened bark on pure reaction alone, but before he knew it, Mama was nuzzling him out into the open. Then, the nudging turned into herding. The next thing that happened was not surprising. There went Margo, making a scene. Sobbing at the top of her lungs.

Oleander marched into the presence of the others. Following Clover's lead, he assured his littermate by settling down next to her. It was a clumsy sort of 'sit' as he leaned to one side and pressed himself into Margo's flank. Even as another pup came their way, the pale boy didn't budge. It was the least he could do. Turning his attention now to the other boy, he tilted his head. Was this why Dad had called them all over?

         

OLEANDER |

Nobody gets me like you do I'm not the same, not after you

Thank you everyone for applying! The next round will be posted on July 11th

One by one his family began to filter into the spot, emerging from the dense empress, sycamore, poplar, and maple trees. It filled him with joy to see each and every one of them, even his brother who arrived late as always and hung around the back. He greeted each member with a smile and a head nod, although tok to his paws to greet both Clover and Vanadis with affectionate nudges to their chins. But, it wasn’t about any of them, the children were the stars of this show.

There were a few surprises, first and most concerningly was that Violet was nowhere to be found despite her littermates arriving promptly, and in tears. Second, was that his new sister came without any supervision, his mother and her...friends not yet making an appearance. Viorel knew that back home they had had an appointed broodmother who watched every litter, but that wasn’t the case at the Backwater and the leader hoped his mother knew better than to assume that.

Reaching down to nuzzle Archer on the crown of his head before he toddled off to sit with his mother, Viorel watched with amusement as the chaos already unfolded. Margo’s loud and dramatic cries, Hazelnut’s crinkling brow of concern, Eros trying to comfort Margo and kissing Clover as well. Oleander’s determined gaze as he sat next to his sister and pressed his side into hers, all of it brought an enamored smile to his face.

Glancing away from the children for a moment he looked to Clover and only asked, ”Violet?” He could only assume that she had been seen this morning before they had gathered. Then, he addressed everyone else, Viorel’s yellow eyes crinkled as he grinned widely, ”Well, Clover, Vanadis and I thought it was high time the children were formally introduced to everyone.” Point to each one individually he announced, ”Margo, Oleander, Archer, and Eros. And of course, my new sister Hazelnut.”

Looking towards the pups he said quietly, and importantly, ”Margo, Oleander, these are your brothers Archer and Eros. Boys, these are your brother and sister.” It might be a confusing family dynamic, but it was theirs.

(This post was last modified: Jul 02, 2021, 01:41 AM by Viorel.)

Archer watched with poorly concealed awe as even more wolves filtered into the clearing. Daa had a lot of friends! Some of them seemed familiar, and he chalked this up to being family. They must be, right? To all be together like this? He glanced up at Maa, then turned his gaze to watch the sobbing girl with disapproval even as his soft-hearted brother toddled across the small space to try to comfort her.

Ah, Eros, he thought fondly, even as he frowned at the other three wolves their size. One of them had arrived on her own. Did she not have a Maa or Daa to be with her? She seemed a lot calmer than the others that had drawn Eros's attention, and for a moment Archer thought about going to sit by her. Instead, his Daa started talking and the younger Valle brother turned his attention back to him.

He recognized his Maa's name, and cataloged the other names to match them to faces later. It was easier with the other children, because Daa pointed each of them out. The unimpressively dramatic girl was Margo, and the boy next to her was Oleander. Archer felt that was quite a mouthful. His chest puffed out proudly when he himself was introduced, and he shot a glance at Eros when he too was named.

The last girl, the one who'd come alone, was different. She was Daa's sister? But Daa was so old! How could he have a sister the age of his children?

Hazelnut.

Archer was once again distracted by his father explaining that the sobber and the mouthful were his brother and sister. His brow furrowed. If they were his siblings, then why weren't they with their Maa? Then he understood; the one who'd come with them, who was comforting Margo even as Eros did the same, was their Maa. She must be the Clover Daa mentioned, right?

His brow furrowed further. Why did Daa have other kids? Were he and Eros not good enough for him?

Well then. Archer would just have to prove that he was better than the rest of them, wouldn't he?

Archer is very haggard and thin; it is obvious he is not doing well.

More and more wolves piled in, big and small, until she thought that her head might explode. Aside from the small visits that wolves sometimes paid to the den, she'd lived much of her life alone, or with her mum, or.. well... this was just a lot. Hazelnut tried really hard to pay attention to whatever her brother was saying, her little eyes dancing from cub to cub as he stated what she could only assume were there names.

He confirmed her suspicions quickly, finally pointing to her and offering her name to the wolves around the clearing before saying something that she couldn't hear to the rest of the cubs. This was.. such a weird day.

The meeting quite quickly devolved into chaos, but honestly, Vanadis hadn't expected anything else. Her boys were initially obedient, sitting just as she had told them to do, but it would seem that the arrival of other children proved to be too much for Eros's rump to stay put.

One cub arrived alone, another missing, and a third bursting into tears. Her own son, Eros, threw obedience out the window in an effort to satiate the young girl, offering what she could only assume was supposed to be a display of comfort to the child as well as her mother. This was.. a mess.

More wolves arrived, and finally Viorel began to speak. Her eyes shuffled from cub to cub, or at least when it came to Sita and Clover's broods. It was her first time seeing the latter's cubs, though she'd heard about them from Viorel.  

Next to arrive was her other nephew, whom she smiled pleasantly to for. She held much pride for the boy and his sister, as though they were her own. With Amondi missing from their lives (or them from her since they did the moving) she could only hope to strengthen their bonds for one another.

Attention was then pulled away from the leading pair when one of the pups began to wail. Her mother meant to sooth as well as one of her little brothers. Modesto smirked, watching the collection of pups with a curious eye. She'd been around plenty throughout her life though had none of her own. There was no feeling of loss in this. She had helped to take care of enough herself, she need not find a donor in order to try to 'fullfill' her life in any way.

Viorel offered his explanation between all the children here, stating their names and pointing to each. Modesto looked to them as they were named, trying to do her best to hold all to memory. For now, unless approached, the woman folded and laid to the floor, content to watch and wait. Today was quite overwhelming for all of them, she figured.

He remained where he was perched, his chocolate gaze observing the bundles of fur gathered before his brother. One of them, Hazelnut, was their younger sister, which Andrey was still coming to terms with. He knew that their father had not been much of a father back home, but it was still a shock to find that his mother was pregnant with another man's cub. Whatever. Just another Valle to add to the collection. It was going to take Andrey awhile to remember all the names of his nieces and nephews -- he always knew that he would have them, eventually, but did not expect there to be five all of a sudden.

There did not seem to be any tension between the mothers -- as far as Andrey could see. But he did not really mingle, so he did not know if everything was as calm as it appeared to be. His brother had landed himself in a tricky situation, but everyone seemed to be handling it well, and were focused on raising the pups as a group. Andrey included, even though he did so from a distance.

She was a little surprised as one of Vanadis' boys made his way to them and began to also comfort Margo, even going as far as giving her a few puppy kisses. A quick glance was sent to the other mother, wondering how she felt about it all, before giving the boy a quick thankful lick of her own to his face. "You're very kind," she said softly with a smile, glad to see that there was a good chance the pups would all get along. Having been so caught up with Margo she faltered at Viorel's questioning of @Violet, turning her head and expecting her eldest daughter to also be next to her. When she was nowhere to be seen Clover sighed, knowing that she had been right behind her, but maybe the introduction with the others was a bit much for her and she had hung back.

"She was right behind me," she said with a slight grimace, hoping that it would not take too much coaxing to get her daughter to meet with the others, but two out of three was not so bad. Clover fell silent as he began to introduce everyone to all the pups, quickly glancing between Vanadis' boys and finally putting their names to their faces. The lone girl, Hazelnut had seemingly arrived on her own, and she pondered as to where her mother was. Surely this was an important enough event to warrant showing up, at least briefly? Nevertheless she shifted her focus back to her children, glancing down at Margo and Oleander with a smile. "Go on, you can say hello," she said encouragingly, before glancing back over her shoulder at where Violet hopefully still was, if she had not already begun to trek back to the den site.