Whitestone Monadnock every road leads back

@Kino idunno if you wanna join this one or just do an OOC join. I think I'll want it to be just Sahalie and Craw for a little, but you can definitely still join. Only @Craw from the WM wolves please. Takes place an undetermined amount of days after Spieden's join thread (don't care that I'm kinda future-dating this probably by a week. Also gunna say for now that sahalie was a bit too mental to notice morg/greer's scents. For plot.

leaving a clearer note here that this takes place 1/3

Looking up at the towering, geometric pseudo-mountain that rose up before her made her feel a little like vomiting. The girl swallowed the bile down with a dry, painful gulp. Alastor should have been at her side for this, she told herself, but part of her had really wanted to do this alone. They had agreed to come in the afternoon, but here the girl was, the morning sun blinding her right eye. No doubt he would wake in a panic, assuming she had been taken or done something foolish. Like she was doing now. Taking a deep breath, she took a gamble: she had about fifteen minutes before her silver friend arrived. She had to make this count: she had to do it alone, for herself—for how else would she know if her confidence, her sunshine was back?

She couldn't smell Spieden or the children here, and it worried her. She couldn't smell anything, the winter breeze off the rock was so strong. Or maybe it was the nerves. Probably the nerves. The small dark girl took another deep breath and lifted her head. She stared up. The idea that the wolves lived up there sort of scared her. Being on Mount Dire had been a breathtaking experience and she had not been afraid, but now that her sunshine was hidden behind a cloud she began to wonder if she was afraid of heights after all.

She called for someone, anyone, to come see her.

(This post was last modified: Jan 02, 2017, 08:13 PM by Sahalie.)

For a few long, peaceful months, life on the monadnock had been both simple and spacious. The spider had been surrounded by wolves who he knew, who he understood and quickly grew to trust. While he dreamed of the glory days of old, could picture in his minds eye the much larger horde he had gathered back in the shadow of the Howler, he had been content. Treachery didn't lurk in Whitestone like it had in whatever the Khai pack had been called at the time. Few numbers led to a more intimate existence.

But Celandine and Maeve's betrayal did not foreshadow ruin, but a flourishing. So many new joiners. So many women. Seeing them all triggered other memories, old plans, but he was still unsure whether or not it was the right decision to view Whitestone females like he had his old harem. He was different now. He felt different, in his head. Whether or not he was at all unchanged in other parts of his body... he was no medic, no expert, but he doubted it. Such curses of the blood didn't simply float away over time, surely. He couldn't hope for that. He couldn't look at Morganna, at Kara and Odin, couldn't think about Odysseia, and fool himself into thinking that it would be so easy to have the same with her.

What if he couldn't give her what they needed? What if, despite all his work, all his striving to build Whitestone into the thriving monolith of power that it was, and let it all down because of his blood, because of something he had no power to reverse? He was supposed to be their pillar, their leader, and what if he could not do that most basic thing that a pack needed for longterm success?

A pack without puppies was just a holding cell for the otherwise homeless. He couldn't let Whitestone suffer that just because of him.

The call went up, yet another unfamiliar feminine voice from the borders, something so routine now that it was almost mundane. But of course it was not; a stranger on their doorstep meant one of many things, and if they had the wherewithal to summon the local leaders, then it was rarely a bad omen. He had already been halfway up the goat track, dropping off a scrap of meat for @Anaia, so it was hardly an inconvenience to continue on down (after excusing himself from the white woman's presence). The shape waiting for him at the borders was small and brown (not yet another dainty white thing, then) and utterly foreign to him, but that was no strike against her. With a nose full of the musk of Whitestone and no reason to assume anything, he did not yet notice any similarity between this young wolf's scent and that of a much older one who had been their most recent addition.

"Good morning," he rumbled, manner easy as he approached the chocolate girl, for he was fair enough not to treat her with any unkindness despite his own inner quandaries. As he was accustomed to, he paused then, waiting for her to explain herself - for she had come to them, and he would make no assumptions.

;3 @Craw

Usually Sahalie was not so bothered by her short stature, but in this vulnerable hour she felt the full gravity of the hulking man walking towards her. And as he came closer he only became more initimidating. Sahalie had to wonder if this was how all loners felt, standing on the edge of the borders, uncertain of what sort of wolf was supposed to show up. But they did not stare into a pale, scarred face and listen to a raspy, grating breath in Oak Tree Bend. Sahalie's ears wavered only for an instant as she reminded herself to stay strong: there were greater challenges in life, she assured herself, and while the man's appearance was a little grave she looked closer and saw that his expression was benign, even friendly.

Encouraged by this, she launched into her well prepared speech: "I'm Tainn. I mean, Sahalie. My family name is Tainn. Sorry," her ears flashed down again. A bad start. Clearing her throat, she pushed herself to get on with it. Her paws shifted underneath herself as she tried to square her stance, and boldly declared, "And I am here to join your pack." This was not, in fact, the speech she prepared at all as she threw the words out in a hurry. Instead she sounded like a curiously embarrassed Japanese school girl confessing her love or someone ripping a bandaid off. She wanted to roll over and quit.

At least she had the "cute" thing going for her, if other wolves could be believed.

Even though they did not yet belong to him, most loners averted their gaze and displayed the kind of submission customary for standing at somebody else's borders. While he saw no open defiance in this small woman, no direct challenge to his authority... there was something off about her. As though she didn't want to be here, or thought herself above it, or just didn't quite realise what she was expected to do.

It caused him to doubt that she was here to join, except her stumbling and uncertain introduction appeared to prove him wrong. He watched her silently as she spoke, letting her get through it without interruption, outwardly reacting little save for one quirked brow. Once her purpose was declared, he said nothing at first, maintaining his silence in order to better consider exactly what had just turned up on his doorstep.

Sahalie, from the Tainn family, a fact clearly important to her - so why wasn't she with them, whoever and wherever they were? It was easy to see that she hadn't been enduring a hard winter, with her coat full and clean and sides gently rounded in a fine display of well-fedness. Better fed than many of his own, he dare say, and Whitestone certainly was not starving. Judging by her manners, she was reasonably well-raised, but had no idea how to approach an unfamiliar pack, which implied that she had never or rarely had to do so before. Cast out in the middle of winter, perhaps? Was her previous pack so cruel? But the longer he looked, the more he also paid attention to what his nose was telling him... and it had even more snippets to share.

The revelation was interesting - but it also answered a few of his questions. The Coho woman and her children had worn the scents of many, this Sahalie included, and Craw had come across her trail while out patrolling the lowlands as he usually did, but that had been just before Spieden approached them herself, so he had not paid much mind to a wandering group of loners.

But that said... Sahalie's scent was complex and rich, like Spieden's had been, in all the ways that a pack wolf's musk normally was. Like the older Coho, Sahalie hadn't been apart from her pack for long, though all its fading markers - oak, moss, ferns - sparked no recognition in Craw. Wherever she was from, it was nowhere nearby. While he may have wondered why she was here, out of all possible places... he thought that he could guess why. But why not a few days ago, when her travelling companions had joined themselves?

It was time to share what he was thinking. Testing her conduct and reaction would prove more enlightening than more commonplace ways. Ordinarily he would have followed her introduction with one of himself, but this was somewhat beyond that. "You were with Spieden."

@Kino you should probs hop in after craw's next post :) @Craw

Sahalie reminded herself to breath as the yellow eyes moved over her, the wheezy exhale of the leader her only guide. She kept very still, trying not to balk or break under the gravity of the moment. Studying the old wounds on his face was probably a mistake, she realized, and she dropped hey eyes to her own paws. For a fleeting second she wondered what the rock face would do to her paws that had been so well taken care of by the damp mosses of Spectral Woods. Then, without warning, her thoughts jumped to Alastor, who no doubt would be better prepared for this event than she. Alastor would have kept her thoughts tethered to the priorities instead of on her paws. Who cared about paws at a time like this? Panic was setting in again and Sahalie could not even explain it: she did not fear the man at all, and did not exactly fear being denied; but something much larger, existential, and nameless ate away at her.

At last it seemed the man would speak to her, and her eyes lifted as high as his chest at first before a single word caused her eyes to leap up to his stare. She was in awe of him and his understated intellect, the casual way he implied his desire for an explanation. Her head bobbed up and down, mouth hanging a little open. "I shouldn't.... shouldn't have let myself be separated from her. I'm supposed to be taking care of her." How the tides had turned from the woman who she had suckled on to the woman that—Sahalie thought—needed her now. "You see, I just sorta... I've only ever had one home before and I was afraid of settling down in a new one so fast like she wanted. But I realize that's foolish...well, for a lot of reasons." Namely the fact that it was winter and she was not a full adult yet. She, Alastor, and Larkspur would not have an easy surviving, and she should not have expected Spieden to want to keep her children outside the safety of a pack for very long.

"So that's why I wanna join. Well, me and my friends I should say." Now she was really hoping Alastor would be along shortly. Larkspur was somewhere in the area, she had been reassured of this by his occasional howl, but he was busy hunting and scouting the area and she was not sure when he would return.

Shallow water has trapped several fish in a small pond. Hunt Opportunity

She was gracious enough to not even pretend to deny it, instead nodding in conformation. The honesty earned a few small brownie points, even though it came with some fresh concerns, ones which she only added to in her apparently-characteristic babbling. She reminded him of Zeta, the kind of wolf who struggled to control their tongue, who let their head and heart overpower their filter. The kind of wolf he liked to encounter while scouting for knowledge on rival packs... but not so much one he fancied having in his own borders who might say just a little too much to anyone who happened to ask the right questions.

But really, she wasn't giving away that much, and it was only when he'd already shown his hand did she open up more. Maybe he was being a little too quick to judge.

Once more he looked her over, trying to imagine the stout little thing looking after a hardier and older creature like Spieden, amusing himself. But clearly much had happened in this previous pack which he was yet to learn, something which was a definite source of consternation; Spieden's untraditional acceptance had been one thing, afforded the luxury of special treatment due to Morganna's previous attachment to her mother, but that didn't make Whitestone an automatic sanctuary for all the needy and lost wolves of this pack which smelled so much like oak trees. They weren't loners, not really - just temporarily misplaced. He had no doubt they would struggle to think of this place as home, especially if there were many of them. Or maybe that wasn't quite right - they might make themselves too much at home, and forget that this one didn't belong to them.

But he was making assumptions again.

Not knowing how to move forward was rarely a problem the spider faced, and in this particular situation it was not because he could not see the necessary paths ahead - it was because there were so many. The question was whether to treat her as her own entity, or alongside that of Spieden. Did she deserve special treatment too, or should he treat her like any other hopeful loner and send her away with the necessary task? Did he do so with all her friends? Just how many friends? Did she see this as a permanent venture or just a way to keep all her little gang together and safe and fed until they were prepared to re-make whatever they had left behind?

With part of his mind occupied with thoughts of the Rye wolves, part of it worried about spring, and part of it far away in the north with Wraith and all the treasures his Second might have found up there, he was running out of room to give proper consideration to this new possible dilemma.

But he had not built all he did by being found wanting. So he made room.

"I see," he replied at first, cogs steadily turning as he looked at her, judging the priorities of his concerns and acting upon them appropriately. After all, he was in no rush, so there was no need to get intimidated by a long itinerary. "As I understand it, Spieden's fear for her life - the life of her children - was what brought her so far away." There was no need to mention that he knew Capable was part of the reason why she had home this particular way, out of all possible directions; either the girl knew, or it was irrelevant. The Coho had just made a decision and picked a course. "Are you and your friends under similar threat? I am not opposed to hearing you out, but understand it from my perspective... I am hesitant to bring unknown danger into my pack, to risk the safety of my family in order to provide for those I do not know. Not without knowing the full story, so that I might make a proper judgement." As to whether or not you are worth the trouble.

He'd ruined his family once by endangering them through his own poor actions. Like hell was he going to do the same because of the mistakes of some wolves he knew nothing about and cared for even less.

Spieden had recieved this year's limited supply of special treatment, he decided.

(This post was last modified: Dec 30, 2016, 11:56 PM by Craw.)

 

Hal wasn’t there. He’d woken up that morning and found the space against his side cold, blinking into startled consciousness and sitting bolt upright. And, from the staleness of the scent she’d been gone almost an hour. A frown marred his maw, brows furrowing. Where could she have gone? They’d agreed to go join Spieden at the cliffs at around mid-day, toting along the gifts that they’d gotten in hops to entice the leader into allowing them entrance. They were going to have done it together. But, just because she was gone it didn’t mean that she had gone on without him. Right? Maybe she was out trying to catch them breakfast. However, it was very rare that the little brown smudge was up earlier than he was without a goal in mind.

He rose to his paws and wobbled outside, following where the traces of the scent led. His frown furrowed even further when he found where it was going. ”Fucking hell, Sahalie,” he cursed, turning around and loping back to the den. He picked up the two hares he’d caught the day before by the ears. It had taken him hours to track and kill them in the landscape they had been staying and hungry as he had been afterwards he’d saved them to serve as offering. He took off at a run, broad chest expanding and contracting effortlessly and muscles bunching and unbunching to work his way across the landscape and to follow the path that his stubborn friend had taken.

The silver boy could see the pinpricks in the distance and unable to make out who they were just yet he slowed to a trot just in case. Upon coming closer he was able to see that one of the wolves was indeed Hal, accompanied by a large, rough looking wolf. The posture and way he held himself told him all he needed to know about his placement, and if that hadn’t been enough that fact that Hal’s offerings still laid out proved to him that she was still in the process of joining. Glancing over to the girl he could tell she was struggling, caught in a situation she’d never been put in before. He lowered his head, the bottoms of the limp hares barely scraping the ground and his tail lowering to a respectable position. Auds swiveled forward to catch what he was saying. Similar threat? His brows furrowed for a moment, trying to ascertain what he could be talking about. His mind raced, filling in blanks and the only thing that he could think of would be that he was referencing Spieden and their current situation. So, she had told him huh?

He knew he had to think quickly. There was no need for him to woof in greeting or anything, the open plains made certain that he would be seen long before. Kino sidled up next to his friend slowly, his movements sure and low. Resting the hares in front of him, he offering a dip of his head. “Hello, sir. My name is Alastor Leigh and I am here to join with my friend. I ask you to excuse my tardiness,” he explained, keeping his voice as low and steady as his posture. “I also heard your question from before and would like to provide an explanation for that as well.” Previously his topaz gaze had been lowered, but now he raised it to make eye contact. It wasn’t a forceful contact, but rather he wanted to provide a more meaningful connection to what he was about to say. Eye contact seemed to make someone pay more attention to you, and that was what he wanted. “Family to us is important. Like you, we would never want to do anything to bring harm to those important to us. Likewise, we would never go somewhere that previous harm might follow. If we thought that we would be followed here, we would not have come. Personal reasons aside and looking at a larger picture, we value the merits of family itself. Bringing harm to someone else’s family is shameful. If we thought that us joining your ranks would bring harm to those residing within, we also would not have asked to join. If we are granted entrance, you and your pack become a family to us and we protect what is ours.”Truthfully the wolves in this pack might not actually ever become close enough to them to become family, but he meant it when he said that they would protect them if they allowed them entrance. Now, it was time to see what the spidery man thought of his words.

siki indicated that it would be okay for me to add in craw's reaction to Kino. Also this post is kind of a mess @Craw

Silently the man considered her and out of the corner of her golden eyes she saw a grey, indistinct shape moving towards them. Sahalie did not need for it to come any close to know it had been just the boy she had wished for. The silver boy was moving quickly but her eyes lifted once more to the darkened face. His answer to her was entirely neutral: just a simple declaration of understanding and it worried her, though she could tell that this man was analytical, calculating. She had never met a wolf like this and wondered if this was how it would be in the north: quiet, subdued, methodical. But he continued her heart began to sink in her chest, disheartened by the man's wariness. It seemed that he had heard so little of the story, and of course the story only came from Spieden or the mouth of babes, and it was very warped. He hadn't been given the chance to know the full story, and yet he had taken in the woman any way despite feeling that it put his pack into danger.

Despite only just arriving, knowing little of what had been spoken, Alastor launched into a speech. It was a preamble much closer to the one that she had prepared and subsequently bungled in front of the Lord of the Rock. Alastor was much more formal in his tone and respectful in his posture, and Sahalie hoped that that would help their case, but as the boy went on she gingerly looked up to test the waters and didn't like the expression she saw on his face: the man was distincly unimpressed. Sahalie realized now that Alastor's speech, for all of the values it reflected, was a very meandering, half-answer to the question. The man had asked for the full story and Al had given exactly none of it. Her heart pounded. She really did not want to have to step over Al, who she always seemed to be attempting to control, but this moment was too important for her to remain silent. "Al, it's okay," she said, wondering if Al was jus trying to avoid the story because he did not trust the man or something.

"Spieden was the leader of the pack I was born into, Oak Tree Bend. She was the leader up until very recently, when she was challenged by another member," Sahalie had to hope that telling the most mild, the most unbiased version of the story would best for the best, "Spieden... uh, she's. She's been through a lot and the loss triggered something in her and she felt like she had to leave. I stayed behind to smooth things out. Lots of things... changed as a result of the challenge. I left my pack on good terms, to take care of Spieden, and there is absolutely no danger. I've no idea what Spieden told you, but she's been through a lot and I assume... if you thought she was threatened...that she's still very rattled." But this painted Spieden in a very bad light: some woman who had just gone off her rocker. What if the man thought he had let some sort of loony into his home?

"But Spieden is a good wolf and she was a good leader. She just needs some time to heal and I'm here to help her." This all seemed like an awful lot of speech, and an awful lot for the man to take in. She fell silent and awaited their judgement.

(This post was last modified: Jan 01, 2017, 10:20 PM by Sahalie.)

He ain't quite done with them yet, but thought I'd finish this post here to give them a chance to react :) @Kino

The identity of the grey wolf was easy to guess from his deliberate approach, but Craw had been partway through his response by the time he noticed it. By the time the larger wolf came to stand at Sahalie's side, laying two hares at his feet, it was clear that he had heard the latter half of the spider's little speech - and despite lacking context, decided to throw himself into a reply of his own after introducing himself.

It started off well enough. Where Sahalie had no idea how to act around superior wolves, Alastor's speech and tone and body language were far more amenable. Matters took a different turn the moment he lifted his gaze to meet Craw's, the gesture not meant to be defiant but it conveyed a forcefulness nonetheless which tickled the spider's spine, the earliest of sensations which precluded a raising of hackles.

It was a cute little speech. It should have ended much earlier, for the longer the young wolf talked, the more it became clear just what an evasive non-answer was being offered. Ears flicking back in distaste, eyes narrowing, head lifting slightly so as to better peer down at the large boy who thought that flowery promises meant anything on their own. Had Craw asked about their opinion on the value of family, Alastor would have scored much more highly. Alas, he had not asked for a declaration of devotion or core values, but merely a presentation of facts, of which he was offered not one.

Judging by how uncomfortable Sahalie looked, when Craw glanced at her mid-ramble, she knew it, too. That was the only reason he let her speak up afterwards without first laughing in their pretty little faces.

Rather more steely in temperament than he had been a short while ago, his hard yellow gaze slipped cooly to the chocolate girl as she began. As much as Alastor's reply had been empty, hers was rich, as though she knew how her companion's answer had been lacking and sought to correct it the best she could. The tension in his frame softened as he listened, placated by her factual and thorough account. No doubt there were still a great many details left unsaid, but he was satisfied with her choices, because there was only so indepth she could have gone before it went much too far in the other direction and became irrelevant. Her thoroughness was well balanced with brevity.

The suggestion that the threat on Spieden's tail was not entirely real was of particular interest. If she was unstable, then he wanted to know about it, because while he was in no position to kick her out - he could hardly do that to Morganna - it would, at least, give him good reason to keep a close eye on the wolf who had benefited from an unorthodox acceptance. Watching Sahalie closely, he did not find her words or manner suspicious. He had looked into the face of deception and did not see it here. Her story matched up with what little he knew, or at least he saw no holes. Licking his teeth in contemplation, he glanced between the two of them, but ultimately one statement stood out:

There is absolutely no danger.

"Thank you." While not entirely impressed overall, they had earned enough merit between them - from her straight answers to his mostly submissive display to the two conspicuous hares laid between them - that he decided they had earned their fair chance. "I don't know what you're used to," he wheezed, mostly directed at Sahalie since he guessed she was the least worldly, though possibly otherwise a sharp little thing, "but here, we are more discerning of our candidates.The tradition is to ask for five gifts over five days, anything you wish, but it seems like you are a step ahead..." he said, glancing pointedly at the hares, "So I will make it four gifts, four days. Each. Think of it as an opportunity to put your meat where your mouth is." And then he looked at Alastor, offering for the first time since approaching them a thin smile, in what he thought was a rather gracious interpretation of the young man's speech. "You'll understand if I believe your promises once I see them in action. Words are wind."