Sanguine Cove the snows coming down

Story time! Chan has a holiday-themed tale to share with the kiddos, adults welcome too!
@Lynx @Leo @Stella @Kateri

Chan couldn't help but remember the winter he had spent with a Northern pack who celebrated what they called a solstice, memory upon memory brought back to him each and every snowy day. This afternoon, as the flakes relentlessly fell, the man recalled a particular, bitterly cold night with that pack, and it's children who refused to sleep. Their grandwolf had stayed up with them, talking over whistling winds to gift them with story after story, and Chan had listened just as raptly.

He made his way to the pack's den, into it's spacious cover where a few others resided. His mismatched gaze sought the slightly smaller frames of the children, voice leveling a query as his rump settled down upon the tamped earth.

"Anyone in here ever hear about Colette the Charitable?"

(This post was last modified: Dec 14, 2021, 02:38 AM by Chan.)

Snow sure did get boring very quickly! There were only so many snow games to be played, and besides, it wasn’t like the Vuesain kids were in much mood for play lately. Their dad was getting better, but their mom remained lost, not a word found despite many searches by the adults. Leo just wanted the snow to be over, it held to many bad memories, too many nightmares of his mother, frozen and weak as aunty Moon had been, only, with no one to bring her safely home.   But the grownups said there would be several moons more before the cold dissipated, and until then, the world would remain frozen. So the agouti youth was in no hurry to exit the den in the morning, or at any time really, often huddling in a corner, more content with his own daydreams than anything he might find out in the cold.   Of course, the promise of a story was infinitely more exciting and could make even the brooding teen perk up, head lifting and ears turning towards Chan in obvious interest. No, indeed, he had not heard this tale before. Thoughts ”Speech”

Lakela @DA

The snow had taken over her home and to be honest Kat didn't know how she felt about it. That morning though she thought it was much to cold on her puppy paws to be putting them into it. So she did the only thing she could, curled up at the den entrance to watch it fall waiting for it to stop. There was just to be done. It just couldn't be done while the snow was falling.

Then Chan came on the scene announcing a story time. After a quick glance outside Kateri made her way over to where Chan was with Leo. She always did like the alphas stories so she was sure this would be a good one too.

The question that was asked of them had her shaking her head. Nope, she hadn't heard of this Colette. She was however a little excited to find out about her.

Throwing Kajika in here cause I thought he might be hanging out in the den at the time.

Kajika knew he should be on a patrol or maybe he ting down a rabbit or something. It was the dang blasted weather that kept him from leaving the den that morning. Oh, and the stiffness in his joints that he silently cursed every morning. He was doing his very best not to be grouchy about it all but he was a little bitter. He did his beat not to show it but he still struggled with the idea that he couldn't do everything he once had.

Thankfully it was Chan to the rescue with story time for the children. That would be the perfect thing to take his mind off his own struggles for a little while at the very least. So Kajika sat back and waited for his godson to get started with the story.

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Honestly, he hated the snow. It was wet, cold and just not something Lynx cared for. It made things messy and slippery and there was only so much you could enjoy before he got cold and wanted to go inside and get warm. So he tried to keep himself away from it as much as he could, though now that it has taken over his home, he didn't have much of choice. It was either the den or the snow at this point. Today, he decided he didn't want to be wet or cold, so he stayed in the den most of the day. And it seemed others had his same ideology that day as his siblings and even Kajika were huddled within the den when Chan came in from the dreaded outdoors asking them if they had heard about this Colette. Shaking his head, he hoped the alpha would tell them as he did want to hear this story.

Chan's tail gently tamped the ground at his flank as others responded, giving each of them a toothy smile before beginning.

"Well then, let me tell you! Colette did some pretty wonderful things, and at a very young age. She was born in a pack far North from here, where the world is always frozen and solid land gives way to an ocean of ice. As you can imagine, it's hard living in Winter year-round. It's gets so cold, sometimes the sun doesn't come out at all - it can hide for months. Living somewhere so harsh, Colette's pack, over generations, started to reflect their environment."

This was a story that had seen a lot of practice, and he was thankful that the weather had gifted him now with time enough he would not have to spare a single detail. For what he loved most about this story were the values it strove to communicate, and he wanted dearly to pass those same virtues on to the Cove's newest generation.

"Things got to the point that children and yearlings were expected to work and act like adults, and everyone's value was measured by how much meat they contributed to the pack. In turn, food was rationed and passed out according to who was deemed to have most earned it. This competition, fueled by the constant threat of starvation, drove the pack to tear itself apart far more than it strengthened them. The wolves who benefited most, what each new generation saw as success, were the ones who let anger and brutality define their actions.

It can be hard to escape something that's all you know, but Colette saw more than what the adults around showed her. She saw joy in the snow's beauty and fun in the way one slipped upon the ice. She loved unique stones and collected wolf-shaped bones and sticks to play pretend with. She could even get lost just in her own mind, imagining grand adventures beyond the snow, or taking down an entire beach of walruses all on her own so the whole pack could eat for weeks.

Of course, the other pups wanted in on this too. The grown ups around her saw her as a distraction, and ultimately costing them food. Her parents argued for her to be given the chance to grow out of it, and for a time they were successful. Colette couldn't mature out of who she was, though. When she became a yearling and continued to find magic in the world around her, the pack had had enough.

Colette was banished without ever even being told. They wouldn't let her eat, refused to speak with her, and would snap at her sides when she tried to play with others her age. She was given no choice but to leave her home and try to find somewhere else to live."

It was a dark start, but they were getting older and the story would turn soon enough.

(This post was last modified: Feb 24, 2022, 08:55 PM by Chan.)

It seemed Leo was not the only one longing for relief from the trials of winter – even Kajika had sought refuge in the den, and seemed just enthusiastic as the pups at the prospect of a story to help pass the time.   The start wasn’t exactly uplifting though. Leo mentally shuttered at the image of eternal winter, though soon enough he was swept up in the wonders of this far north, did they really live in darkness for months? Already the curious youth had many questions, but he held his tongue, leaving Chan to keep telling his story.   It was a grim picture he painted, so very different from the Cove not only in location but attitude. This was the first time Leo was introduced to pack politics and the idea that other wolves might not do things the same way his family did, and while he was appalled by how Colette was treated, he couldn’t help but be deeply fascinated at the same time.   Ears perked, the boy hunkered down, eager to hear more. Thoughts ”Speech”

Lakela @DA

It was a nice sight to see the children crowded around Chan listening to the story he told them. They seemed to be listening so very closely to every detail. The dark man leaned back against the den wall as he took in the story of Colette. Kajika had to admit that the story didn't have a very happy beginning. Despite knowing that that was how things were for se it didn't make it any more sad for Colette.

He wondered what the youngsters thought about the story so far. His amber gaze drifting their way before returning to Chan as he went on with the story. The dark man finding himself eager to hear what happened to Colette.

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Kateri wasn't the only one to join Chan for a story. Her brothers were there too and even the older wolf Kajika seemed to want to hear the story that the leader had offered to tell them. The young girls tail thumped the ground in anticipation of what she was about to hear.

Chan started the story about Colette once everyone was there. At first it was kind of scary, the pack he spoke about wasn't anything like the cove. Colette sounded really nice, like a wolf she'd like to meet sometime. Then it got sad because she was banished from her pack. Kateri wondered what would happen to her by the end of the story.

The young Vuesain-Slayer couldn't wait to hear the rest. Her tail brushed the ground while Chan went on with the story.

As Chan began his story, the young Vuesain instantly was glad he didn't live where the story took place, anything frozen and cold didn't sound fun at all. It sounded miserable frankly especially with sometimes there not even being sun. At least his home had the sun year-round, or so he thought at least...

Chan's story developed, and he couldn't help feeling sorry and upset for this Colette with what was done to her by her supposed family. He couldn't imagine his family banishing him just because he saw things differently than the rest. Lynx really hoped there was a happy ending to this story.