Willow Ridge Stealing a moment

For @Leotie.

It had been two weeks. Two weeks since she had birthed her first litter of pups. Two weeks since she had all but put aside her duties of leadship and tended to her duties as a mother. But that was also a part of the Lead's responsibility, was it not? To birth the next generation of the pack? It had also been granted Leotie's as well when Sven had decided to choose her to be the mother of his pups and Ravenna couldn't help but miss the woman. Though from time to time Ravenna was a little stir crazy, wanting to go out and search for herbs and check up on her members, it did not outweighed her drive to tend to her children. She exit the den only to take a quick loop, stretch her legs and then she went back in as she was content with her motherhood. She was born for it, it seemed and also her upbringing had taught her that every moment you had with someone you cared for could be the last. She would miss out on nothing.

So today she decided she would miss out on Leotie no longer. Certainly @Blitz would be back soon and Sven's scent was always near. The pair seemed to take shifts guarding the area while the other guarded the border. They worked together seemingly as well as her and Leotie did. Even Adeltra's scent lingered near who was always willing to keep an eye on the pups while the mother soaked up some sun.

Leotie's den was not far. Very close, actually and so Ravenna only took a few minutes of her time trotting over to the area she made for her own litter. "Leotie, you in there?" Sure she was. It smelt like it at least but she wasn't about to just shove her head in without knowing if she was aware and awake to know who was coming near her pups. "I just couldn't wait any longer. I had to see them for myself."

(This post was last modified: May 22, 2018, 01:53 AM by Ravenna.)

not looking for some fairytale bliss

It was harder than she imagined to leave her pups. In the two weeks since they had come into the world she'd only left to relieve herself and stretch her legs just outside the den. She always stayed close enough to hear their little cries in case they needed her. She felt badly that she hadn't been taking care of her normal duties but she was sure her packmates would understand especially Sven and Ravenna. Something told her that if she were to return to her work so soon Sven might have something to say about it.

She'd recovered quite a bit since the birth of Avella and Scully but she still slept a lot. Often times while they were sleeping, she didn't like to be asleep while they were awake. Though two weeks inside her den she missed a lot of things, Ravenna being one of them. She tried to get updates whenever she saw Addy or Sven but she knew she needed to see the woman for herself. It would give her piece of mind to see that Ravenna and get pups were doing well too.

She didn't have to leave her den to see her friend. As she lay in her den with little Scully between her paws grooming him she heard the very familiar voice of Ravenna. "I am Rav,” she returned her tail thumping the floor of her den. “Come in then and see the children you will be helping to raise.” Leotie was excited for her alpha to see the pups, she'd been waiting for this moment.

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All the silver matriarch needed was that simple agreement for her to come in and she was driving down into the den. Her movements easy though obviously brimming with excitement as her tail smacked on the sides of the den opening. It was a tight fit and to give the mother and pups still breathing room, her back legs and rump remained partially outside still as she brought her upper half close in to see. A funny display for any passbyers. "OH wow...!" She spoke firstly. The little girl's tawny patterns that looks like her mother's were already showing and there was no mistaking the boy between Leotie's front limbs with his malted silver and black. He was a beautiful display of Archer lineage. He could have also thought to look like a mix of Ravenna and Blitz mashed together or even a reminder of Enoki's pattern. "Look at those colors." Ravenna couldnt help but grin as she looked down at her.... Her.... How would she introduce herself to these children when they got old enough to understand, anyhow? It was kind of hard to determine, if you thought about it... Sven was her age-mate nephew, son of her eldest brother. Did that make these pups her grand-niece and nephew? Was she a grand aunt at just three? She couldn't help that it made her feel old already and yet proud her family had grown so much already, even just in their own ranks. In the end, it really didn't matter. Adeltra was her cousin but she treated her as her daughter and both the litters of pups could call her their eldest sister and both Leotie and Ravenna would raise the children together, one as mother and the other as second-mother. They were just one mixed up, mingled and happy family.

(This post was last modified: May 23, 2018, 12:20 AM by Ravenna.)

not looking for some fairytale bliss

Leotie might have been just as excited to see the ridge matriarch as she was to see the Agouti woman. She immediately invited her in as she was one of the only wolves she would allow near her children. Though they were two weeks Leotie was still nervous about letting too many near. Ravenna was to be their second mother and she felt the silver woman had every right to see them. The Agouti woman couldn't help the proud smile that crossed her maw at Ravenna’s exclamation. She gave the alpha a few moments to look over the pups her smile remaining on her face the whole time. “They are pretty aren't they. I never expected them to have such colors. I don't really know what ai was expecting,” she said a little sheepishly. She would have loved them no matter what they looked like but she was just as surprised to see then as Ravenna seemed to be. “The little girl, she’s the tan one, her name is Avella. She was born first. The darker one is a boy and his name is Scully,” she explained. She then looked up.at Ravenna, “I'm so relieved to see you doing well, how are your pups? I've been meaning to come visit. You beat me to it though,” she said giving the woman a playful bump to the shoulder with her nose.

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"Haha..." Ravenna went on with a chuckle at Leotie's comment about their colors and not have known what to expect. "And here I figured my pups would be nearly all black like the majority of Archers, plus given Blitz... But no." She offered a smirk as her shoulders rolled at the thought. They were a mousy tan coloration when they were born and she had thought them to become darker over time but in the two weeks it only seemed like they were getting lighter, blonder. Her thoughts trailed to @Elias momentarily. Last she saw him he no longer smelt of the Aurora Heights and she figured there was no telling when or if she would see him again. Perhaps he had caught the scent of his family he had been looking for all along? Perhaps he'd found him and decided to go back home now? Either way, perhaps it was for the best. "Avella? I like that." She spoke and as she did so, took note of the boy's name... Scully. It reminded her of Skoll and she could only expect Sven had something to do with that. To Leotie's playful touch, she smiles, her tail thumping outside the den. "They are well, the both of them. They are getting lighter in color already it seems which I wasn't expecting. They look nearly identical." Not only had their colors been unexpected, but she had not expected twins either. It was a genetic unknownly from her Lyall side. "Not sure if Adeltra already told, but their names are Ragnar and Freyja." Keeping the 'A' ending to the female's name as seemingly tradition.

not looking for some fairytale bliss

She could laugh along with Ravenna about the coat colors of their pups. “It's one of those big surprises that come with having pups. Like if they will be boys or girls, and how many. I thought for sure I would have at least one white pup cause Sven,” that had been on her mind during her pregnancy. How she hadn't had one she didn't know. “You do have beautiful pups though Rav,” she made sure to tell the silver woman since she hadn't really had the chance to do so. Leotie smiled proudly as Ravenna spoke of liking Avella's name. “I’m glad for that. I heard about the tradition and wanted to keep it going,” she explained as she looked down at her tawny girl. When Ravenna started talking about her pups Leotie gave the woman her full attention. She wanted to know how they were doing after having bugged Addy about it so many times. “I'm happy to hear they are doing well. Addy has probably grown sick of me asking,” she said with a small chuckle. “I can't wait to see them and how they've changed since I last saw them.” Now that the pups had arrived she was excited to have them together and watching them bind with each other. Then the most important thing, Ravenna told her their names, “Those are perfect names for them,” because she could only see Rav naming her pups names like that. “They are like something from a story.”

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Leotie spoke about having expected at least one white pup and to this Ravenna listened to quietly as she pondered. Sven's coloration and even Ravenna's own was one of rarity, actually. Most Archers were dark colors, prodominately black with flecks of perhaps silver or creams. Some of them even, like Judas and Greer were a near unblemished, solid black. Though more rare then the pale colorations of Sven and Ravenna were timber hues. As of the moment Ravenna could only recall Revon being of tawny coloration and had been told of all her mother's children, only Castiel had such pattern though Ravenna had yet to meet this brother of hers.

She smiled at Leotie's words about her pups, swelling with pride where it had already been overfilled. And then she spoke about Avella and how she had planned to keep up the tradition of the "uh" sounding ending (since of course wolves did not know what an 'A' was) and it had her thinking of herself, of Morganna, of Elettra, Adeltra, Attica, and now of course Freyja and Avella's own names. "I'm surprised we both had girls even, since boys are much more common. I'm glad though, now each one will have someone to talk to about 'girl stuff' and 'boy stuff' as they grow up." She chuckled a bit once more.

"I thought the names sounded, I don't know... Powerful?" She spoke after Leotie's comment, and trying to explain how she had felt about the names. Ravenna had a lot of different names she thought would be fitting for her future pups, though it was these two which seemed fitting for her first born son and daughter. Then her head fell, chin and throat pressing to the cool earth as she looked at the one pup not settled between Leotie's legs, Avella. Her nose went to twitching, sniffing the little girl as she looked at her with a smile in her expression.

not looking for some fairytale bliss

Sometimes thinking about her pups and the fact that she didn't know anything about her family saddened her. They wouldn't ever know who their grandparents were or cousins, aunts, uncles on her side. She was thankful though that the archers we're so thick in this part of the lore. They would have their father, Ravenna, and Addy in the ridge. She didn't like Morganna but she was an Archer too and Greer, so much family to learn about so she was thankful for that. Leotie had also taken notice of the coat colors that seemed to be common amongst the Archers she'd had the chance to meet.

Though she was glad for this time with her pups she was eager to see Rav’s again to see how they had grown and to get to know them too. They had been beautiful when she had first seen them even though they'd only just been born so she could only imagine what they looked like now. She spoke of the pups names and how she'd wanted to follow tradition. Even though she and Sven weren't mates she still felt like part of the family with the close bonds she had to Sven, Ravenna, and Adeltra. She felt that doing that would also show them how much she appreciated what they had given her, the family she'd never really had. “I didn't realize boys were more common, maybe that's changing with us. I hadn't thought about them having someone to talk to but I'm glad they will have each other. It will be interesting to see what bonds form between them as they grow.” There were so many things that had questions and they just had to wait and see.

Leotie smiled as Ravenna spoke her thoughts in the names she'd given her pups, “They most certainly are powerful names that I hope will give them inspiration through their lives.” She thought of all the things she'd gone through in her life. How low she had gotten after leaving the draw. Perhaps knowing the power in their names would keep them from getting that low and give them the strength to overcome. If Leotie had learned anything since being in the ridge is was that Archers persevered and she felt the names Ravenna had given her children fit very well.

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Ravenna remained laying in her position, half in and half out of the den, nodding lightly as she spoke about how she didn't know men were more common and that perhaps the tide was changing with having two out of four pups being girls from their litters. Usually, they would have been lucky to even have one. "Yeah out of my mom's nine pups she only had three girls. One litter of three was all boys, Greer's litter." She spoke, letting her friend in on the little fact. Leotie always seemed interested in the family dynamics and how they all connected. Perhaps it was because Leotie did not have a family of her own in the Lore. No parents known of, siblings or cousins. Ravenna always assumed it was because it a young age she had broke away from her birth pack like many wolves did to explore and find their own place in the world. The only thing she had ever been told of Leotie's past was that she had 'escaped her yard and got lost'. Ravenna had assumed by the word 'escape' that perhaps home had been a bit rough on her to begin with. Ravenna never pried.

The silver woman was happy here with Leotie, offering simple chatter, wondering if the near future, their first pups adventures as they grew. She would be left to wonder if this was how Enoki and Elettra spent their times together. Though it would be a bit different, this relationship, given the fact that they would be raising their puppies together. Leotie had been given the right to breed of only because of Ravenna and Sven's related connection. It seemed fitting through that if the nephew and aunt were going to rule side by side then they would each choose someone to breed with and in this case it so happened to be the two Beta in the ranks.

Shifting her weight at the entrance, front legs stretched out before her, she wiggled, if only to try and get just a bit closer. Her head fell again onto her front paws, looking over the two colorful pups a moment longer in silence.

not looking for some fairytale bliss

In truth Leotie hadn't ever given much thought to the frequency of males or females in a litter. Though she'd seen a few of them during her time in the lore she'd never been with a pack long enough to see any patterns. Now, however, bringing her own litter into the world and possibly more in the future she found it to be a very important fact to know. “My goodness, nine pups. I can't even imagine,” especially after what she'd gone through with the last two. She of course realized that Rav’s mother'd had them over a few seasons. Idly she wondered if it got a little easier each time. “Knowing that does it make you wonder if you’ll have more boys than girls?” Leotie felt it had to he something to do with genetics so it left her wondering just how strong the archer genetics were. Leotie wondered if she and Sven had pups in the future would she have mostly boys too.

It was this moment though that she and Ravenna were sharing that the Agouti woman cherished the most. Spending time with her friend not worrying about pack matters and instead sharing something special between them. Leotie hadn't ever had a female friend like Rav before. As she watched her friend tried to get a little closer she realized just what the ridge had given her. She knew she was home for good and while she'd thought that about the other packs this...this was do vastly different from those experiences.

“I don't mind if you get closer,” she whispered to Rav with a smile. After all in a couple weeks time they would be raising their pups together. It would he good for her children to get used to the silver woman's scent. “Do you think about what they might become when they are older?” She asked leaning against the back wall of the den to give Ravenna a little more room to enter.

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