Paradise Falls contingencies

It’d been weeks, and the scent of char and ash carried by the wind had still yet to dissipate, which became all the more concerning. He would almost have rather had to deal with another drought, than the notion of fire. Something that could spring upon them rapidly, and that they might never see coming until it was too late.

As safe as their forest home had once felt, it could quickly become a death trap if the flames ever made it here. Hopefully, though, he could prevent that.

Jethro didn’t doubt that all of their members were aware of it, and the potential threat that could be caused, except for the newest children. It hadn’t seemed quite necessary to call a meeting at first, but the longer it went on.. well. It couldn’t hurt them to have a contingency in place. And to maybe have someone go out on a scouting trip - to try to find out whether the fires posed any significant threat.

He sat back and sent up a short call for the pack to join him. At least the yearlings and adults.

-- calling the pack together to address the smoke issue. Attendance for adults and yearlings highly encouraged, pups are welcome of course as well if the players would like to add them! Planning on trying to keep this to just two rounds & hopefully start the second around the 20th or so. But please see here for another note. @Flair, @Finley, @Ryder

Chan had thought perhaps matters were actually recovering around them, and then the winds began to bring the stench of fire and all that came with it. Each day it had grown worse, and he had stopped his duties in order to always stay within reach of both his son and daughter. Anxiety coursed through his veins every minute, and he was always ready to scoop his children up and flee if the flames came.

It wasn't sustainable, but he couldn't bring himself to do much else except also fret over @Flair and Marigold. He was at his calmest (which could not in itself be described as a state of calm) when everyone was home.

Highly alert, he heard Jethro shift across the way, a summons quickly following. The children had been sleeping at his side, and he nosed them into rising now so that they could move closer. Chan would greet Jet only with a solemn nod, concern ever evident in his bicolored eyes.

Both her parents and the other wolves were bothering her less often, and so Addison was perfectly content with the changes in the air. Constant naps in the cool the gorge afforded them became steadily more and more appealing, as the effects of the smoke pollution sunk into her body over time. She didn't want to rise when her father signaled them to, but she was learning by now that refusing only got her so far and for so long. With a huff of disappointment she pushed herself up on her auburn paws and trudged after.

When he stopped, so did she, promptly dropping back to the ground and curling up at her father's paws.

(This post was last modified: Aug 23, 2023, 12:09 AM by Marigold.)

I've got so much time to kill

As it turned out, the outside world was rather boring. After the initial few weeks of exploring, Micaden had become less and less interested in the giant redwoods – besides, almost any outside activity left him coughing and wheezing, with pain in his chest and water in his eyes – it was much more fun to stay inside with Ad and Atty, alternating between his sister’s low energy and the older girl’s excitement. It kept him busy enough.

It also meant his world was very limited, with only rare interactions outside their double nuclear family. But he didn’t want for more, at least not yet, happy enough to stick close and only follow the directions of his parents. Even if they were to go outside; though he would allow a small sight to escape him before rising to follow his father and sister.

At least they weren’t going far, and his breathing didn’t have time to become labored. The boy even walked the few extra steps to offer Jethro a greeting: bumping the silvered crown of his head against the adult’s dark shoulder, before returning to sit down, hip against Addison’s side. A yawn split his jowls wide, lids heavy with his sister’s same lethargy, hopefully they could go back inside soon.

She was back to walking the borders every day, though her patrols were much shorter than they used to be, as she couldn’t bare being away from the den for too long. With all the pups now together, they could more easily keep a rotating chaperon, at least one pair of eyes always on them. But that still didn’t ease all her worry. Perhaps it was a good thing that she had her leadership duties to do, or she would be fretting over the children constantly. As it was, she still turned back after only a short jog – with the air thick with smoke, the exercise was unusually draining, and her worry was especially intense – heading back towards the caves where the pack wolves resided. She was halfway there when she heard Jet’s call, a grunt escaping her at the sound; she knew her fellow leader was just as concerned about the smoke as her, and it was no surprise that he would want to discuss it. Still, the prospect wasn’t exactly exciting to her. But it was a necessity, and with a small sigh, she pushed forwards, soon joining the small group. She would sidle up alongside Chan, close enough to brush his side and bend to offer a quick kiss to each of her children, before taking a seat next to Jethro, greeting him with quick nudge of her shoulder; Let’s get to business. ”Speech" Thoughts

dawnthieves.de, FairieGoodMother @DA & Lakela @DA

Of course, they’d want to have a meeting. With the ever-present issue of wildfire smoke complicating things, she’d been somewhat anticipating it, but that did not mean she was looking forward to it. Begrudgingly, Cole altered her course from the quick patrol she’d been intending to take to veer towards the meeting area.

Predictably, aside from Jet, everyone else who’d arrived there so far were among those she’d largely sought to avoid. The children especially - the ghost wanted nothing to do with them.

Colette kept her gaze averted from all as she closed in, save for a quick nod to each of her leaders. Otherwise, she stayed as far back from the little family as possible, looking around for those who hadn’t arrived yet.

Sorry for my delay getting in here!

The mother had been taking advantage of the fact that Chan was taking a shift watching over the little ones to retreat just over the borders. She was searching desperately for any sign of Caspian now that Atara was old enough she didn’t need to be attached at all times to her mother. She wanted her remaining children safe and sound, but her mind was often with the lost boy who as far as she knew had nobody to protect or guide him through any fire that might overtake them. At least Atara and Ryder had the pack and its members, Caspian was all alone.

Lifting her head at Jethro’s call the Lennox woman gave one last frantic scan of the horizon for anything that might give sign of her lost teen before abandoning the task. She wasn’t searching anywhere that had not been searched a thousand times by now anyways. Hurrying as much as she could, at least before the smoke forced her to slow to avoid a coughing fit, Finley was unhappy to see that she was one of the later joining members.

She gave a respectable nod to both leaders before settling beside Colette further on the edge. From here she could keep an eye out in case Atara came tearing through here much like the dust devils her and Reika had once faced. She wasn’t here yet but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to interrupt at any given moment.

"It is not a flutterby," Ryder could be heard at a distance before appearing shortly after his mother.

"For the final freakin' time, it's called a butterfly."

Atara had been following him around for several hours now, and he was definitely ready to hand her off to one of her parents. When he'd heard Jethro's summons he didn't think it would be news to celebrate, but he was eager to corral his little sister in that direction anyways.

Still, they had moved through the smoke at an easy pace. It had been a long time since Ryder had been able to run, as doing so with this kind of smog to breathe sent him into coughing fits that he couldn't push through.

He came to sit next to his mother, a few feet between their flanks. The only noise more he made was a petulant sigh when Atty threw herself onto his forepaws.

(This post was last modified: Aug 22, 2023, 11:53 PM by Ryder.)

Atara had two things to say to her brother. One, a big, loud raspberry. The other, repeated over and over as she gleefully bounded alongside him. Every now and then, she'd stop to hack and cough a moment, but her recovery was always quick, bouncing back as though nothing was wrong at all with their world.

"Flutterby flutterbyes! Flutterbyzzzz."

The word was fun even if it was wrong, and anyways, Ryder paid her more attention when she aggravated him. That was the reinforcement behind her behavior now. When they reached the others she would frolic amongst them all to say hi, headbutting what she could reach of her father and then tumbling right back into her sibling's space.

Atara sat purposefully on his paws and tilted back her dark crown to look up at him, a mischievous look in her changling eyes as she smirked and whispered, "flutterby."

(This post was last modified: Aug 23, 2023, 12:02 AM by Marigold.)

Marigold's instincts were telling her to leave. While never saying as much, she still knew her father felt the same. He was back to acting like a frightened hare, ready to bolt at any moment. She was used to being strong for a parent, for Auburn, for everyone else but that didn't mean it wasn't growing exhausting. Mar needed to find a light at the end of this tunnel, or else she would have to force one.

Jethro's call caught her attention and brought her swiftly onto her paws. Would this be some form of action she could latch onto? Lithe legs carried her through the forest and to the meeting place, standing separate from the others and focused mostly on the leaders situated to speak. Occasionally, Mar would spare a few seconds to watch her young siblings, worry clear in those hard, metallic eyes of hers.