Red Fern Forest There's gold in them there hills

Maugrim hadn’t joined a pack to take care of himself. He might have pointed it out to this new woman, who was more heavy-set and seemed to carry a gigantic, misandrous chip on her shoulder; but it seemed like neither the time, nor the place if he wanted to remain under the protection of a decent sized band of wolves. She seemed to think that she could run faster than him, too, which Maugrim had to allow himself a small snort in rebuttal. Rhaegara was several inches shorter than him and a couple of pounds heavier. There was a chance that it was all muscle, that perhaps she was faster than him, but honestly he didn’t find it all too likely.

Really, he was more concerned with what her damn problem was. Was it now socially inappropriate to offer protection? Frustration bubbled up inside of him and he wondered if he would just run into these problems everywhere he went. Maybe this wouldn’t be any different than Mosquito Bay. Now he really did feel like starting a fight. With everything he had, Maugrim picked his way over to his brother, shoved him playfully and gave him that look that said it all:

Bitches, am I right?

The little squirt—Riven?—was at least interested in fostering some sort of camaraderie. If there was a bear it was much more likely that they would all try and fight it, in their own way. Maugrim sent him a winning smile.

But god damn those girls.

The Gerau siblings in the back didn’t seem interested in joining the Big Dig but that was just fine with Maugrim and it seemed equally fine to Hudson. They offered their own work and were quickly on their way.

But he hoped that Hudson did use Rhaegara as bait. Still digging feverishly, head down in the snow, Maugrim smirked to himself. Saga was making some quip about how Maugrim could die taking down a bear if he wanted. He dug faster. What was with these wolves. He made one little joke! He offered protection.

Maugrim always felt like an outsider.

He let the ladies follow Hudson into the cave, first, when they finally broke through all the crusted ice. He stared down at his paws, noting that the pads felt raw and the snow below—when he lifted his leg to inspect—was pink. Bleeding for these wolves and they wanted to just joke about him being eaten by a bear. How rich.

Hudson’s bark just echoed. Maugrim turned to Hrun and shrugged.

The cave was surprisingly warm and the air was pretty stale. It had been encased in snow and ice probably the whole winter, just waiting for someone to find it. The only light that streaked in came from the hole they made, but as Maugrim’s eyes adjusted he could see maybe a couple spots in the ceiling that would allow other light to fall through near the entrance when the season changed and all the terrible white stuff was gone.

“Not bad,” he commented.

Riven frowned a bit at the jabs being tossed back and forth. He thought they were just joking, but as he glanced between the two women, Hudson, and Maugrim (or Hrun - he couldn't really tell which was which sometimes. He'd have to get to know them better,) he noticed a bit of tension in the latter's movements. Which led to Riven tensing up as well, being the emotional sponge that he was. But then he received a smile, and his own maw pulled up in return. There shouldn't be a fight - at least, for the moment.

Adelard and Aubine had decided to head off on their own to scout, but that was okay. There were plenty of them here to dig the cave out, and though Riven was certainly not the strongest person there, he did his best to keep up with the others. Until his paw pads were stinging and his underdeveloped muscles in his back and shoulders were burning.

Eventually, they dug through and the cave opened up. Warmth permeated the air, and Riven relaxed further, soothed by the familiarity of the sensation. He'd never really been cold before he came up here, so even a bit of reprieve was appreciated. And it seemed that the others felt the same - this place was really cool.

"I dunno, Hudson," he began, tail swishing behind him as he watched the larger man. "I think I'm pretty scary, too." He wasn't. Riv was the smallest there by far, but he wanted to foster a nexus between the wolves. Jesting and relaxing were probably good ways to do that, he figured.

His gaze was drawn back toward the brothers - the vocal one in particular, who lifted his foot off the ground and looked at it. The snow beneath the paw was tinged pink, and Riven's eyes widened in surprise. "Ah, you're bleeding!" he yelped, hurrying over to flit around the larger wolf, trying to get a good look at the offending paw pad. Injuries were especially bad in winter, and they couldn't afford to let a small cut become a big issue. "Let me see?" the blond requested, his frenetic energy coming to a halt as he paused and looked up at his packmate.

Adelard, too, had growled at the mention of bears, but remained still. He watched as Aubine advance beyond him, not too far ahead but far enough for her flank to press into his shoulder. His ears, though neutral atop his skull, swiveled forward. With Rhaegara and the other set of "twins" - or, so Adelard assumed -  Hudson, Riven and Saga were well-guarded. They wouldn't miss the siblings if they gained permission to opt out on the den-digging. Back at home, that task was for yearlings who had nothing better to do and meant for three or four wolves. Tops. Adelard would get a faceful of dirt and Aubine was bound to shoulder her way around and get in the way.

He nudged his sibling's ribs when Hudson gave them a verbal 'okay' to go. The sooner they checked the place out, the better.

Before he turned about, he cast his eyes over the entrance after Riven. He felt responsible for the near-grown yearling, but had to trust that the others would do the same. A couple of hesitant steps brought him further away from the group; and, he had to look over his shoulder at Aubine. A quick circuit around and back would be enough to collect first impressions of the area. He barked at Aubine to hurry up.

For a time, he trotted along a path that arced away from the densite, nose in the air and tail high. There were a few instances when he thought he could smell bear. False alarms. Each one of them. They had gone quite a ways away down the frostbitten knoll when he cast his gaze back at his sister.

heat stroke, bring the fire
ADELARD GERAU
black smoke, I take it higher

Aubine gave a grateful nod to Hudson as he excused them from the task at hand. Her tail wagged and she felt Adelard nudge her and then peel himself away from her side. If he had remained rooted in place, she might have questioned him. Yet, she turned to look back at him, he was staring at the cavern entrance. Her brow quirked and she followed his gaze, not quite seeing what he was looking at.

A sharp bark snapped her out of her confusion and she half-skipped into step after Adelard. If he wanted to lead the way, that was fine by her.

They easily wove their way through the forest. The chilled air bit at her nose as she sampled every tree and bit of shrubbery. Of course, they weren't the only creatures in the area but, at least, none of their neighbors so far were bears. Every time Adelard stopped, she did too, and every time he started walking, she followed suit. Nope. No bears.

It felt they had been gone for a decent amount of time when her brother finally had a thought to look at her. She waved her tail about behind her as she hopped through the still-melting snow. A smile curved upward on her maw before melting away into a more serious gaze. "Anything?" she called out to him.

Her eyes raked over him, uncertain if she was reading his body language correctly. Was that worry? Concern? Nervousness? She gave her coat a good shake as she sidled up alongside her brother. A bump of her nose to the side of his neck offered some comfort, "Addie?" She peered up into his face.

(This post was last modified: May 06, 2021, 09:04 PM by Aubine.)

so I risk it all just to be with you
AUBINE GERAU
and I risk it all for this life we choose

Well if you wanted honesty that's all you had to say

The girls chattered away behind him as the rest of the group began to filter in, minus Adelard and Aubine who were still out exploring the area. He couldn’t help the amused grin that slid onto his peppered lips, though his brows quickly rose in surprise when they began mentioning how good of a place it would be to settle down. The man looked around thoughtfully, his tail swaying idly at his hocks as he thought. Honestly, it hadn’t been his intention at all to settle down permanently with this band of hoodlums, but the longer they’d been together the more fond of them he’d found himself becoming. They each had their own quirks, to be sure, but he felt like they meshed well anyways. They’d become something of a little family, certainly nothing to replace his own, but without the assurance that he’d ever see his relatives again...why shouldn’t he find happiness where he was?

His auds swiveled to catch Riven’s words to Maugrim, his silver gaze trailing in mild concern. “You got anything for that, Riv? Can’t have Grim losin’ a foot on us,” he asked, walking by and giving the brown man a light shoulder bump and a questioning look to make sure he was okay as he headed toward the opening of the cave. Once there, he tilted his head back and let loose a howl that echoed into the air, calling for the other set of twins to head back to them. He turned and headed back inside, revelling in the warmth that came with the insulation of the place. Once they had joined them, he looked to the wolves in his presence. “So, the ladies have a good point. This place is probably as good as it’s gonna get ‘round here; nice and cozy inside, seems like there’ll be plenty to hunt come the spring, and no other packs ‘round breathin’ down our necks. We can do our own thing and not have t’ worry ‘bout no one else,” he suggested as he popped a squat, his butt hitting the stone with a grunt as he looked to their little band for thoughts.

Ashbash 2016 - Ian Schneider 

He stood in silence, taking in the stale air and new light sliding into their cave for a long moment before the boy popped into the cave behind him. Maugrim hadn't even realized anyone would notice him—except the women looking to derride him—but the little guy very quickly picked up on the trail of pink snow he was leaving behind him. The dark wolf glanced at him, shrugging a little awkwardly and holding his paw out to Riven a little shyly.

Now he had just gone and made another spectacle of himself. This was going to go well.

Maugrim waited to hear the jeers from other pack mates—Saga and the tall "fast" bitch, mainly—and yet there was nothing. He realized suddenly that his body had tensed without him even realizing it. Many years of being the brunt of jokes or picked on for any weakness made the response simply automatic. Instead, Hudson nonchallantly called the dark twin by a nickname only Hrun had used before. It was... surpising. Nice. His golden eyes blinked rapidly. It was nice to have wolves show concern.

However, the paw would have to wait for now and Maugrim was fine with that. As the last of them filed in Hudson opened up the floor by offering this to be "it", the thing or the place that they had been searching for. Maugrim glanced over at Hrun who wasn't too far away. Was this it? He couldn't be sure. But it was fine. It wasn't a dumb open meadow or painful forest. Seemed perfectly fine. "Sounds good to me," Maugrim offered, not sure if he was supposed to say anything here or if Hudson was lookign for input.

"So what, we're Cave wolves now?"

Rhaegara had meant nothing of her teasing other than to simply tease and make the situation light, but somehow it felt as if she had done the opposite. It would no doubt haunt her. These things tended to bother her when she was trying to sleep, thinking about all the other ways the situation could have gone instead. The comment came from Huddy and it turned out to be… not all that outlandish. They were basically already a pack, even if they were nomads. Still, she had questions, and she needed answers to those questions. “I mean, sounds fair to me.” She mused before tilting her head to the side.

“Are we going to be some kind of pack now, rather than just a band? Who all is going to take up the mantle of a leader.” It had once been the thing that Rhaegara had craved, the thing she had been trained to do since birth… but now she wasn’t so sure. She didn’t know if she truly wanted to be a leader, or if it was simply something her parents had willed so hard for her to do that she had thought she wanted nothing more. Perhaps the lost princess was simply never meant to be a queen. There was much to consider, but she could dwell on that later themselves.

She hummed at Maugrim’s question and looked around. “I reckon it’s a little big for a cave…” She admitted as she sniffed about. “A chasm maybe?” It had a nice ring to it in her mind.

A warren of rabbits is hidden under a nearby tree. +3 Health

Concern laced her features at Riven's proclamation, and her head swiveled to find who had been injured. Thankfully, it wasn't anything too pressing, and the young healer was already on it, so she figured it was best to leave them to it since she'd only be in the way.

Hudson drew her attention, listing some of the place's positive traits, and she found herself unable to disagree. At the very least, she enjoyed the thought of staying put for a while. Maugrim didn't seem opposed to the idea, and Rhae even raised the question of who might be given the leader title, so she was likely in as well. "We could put it to a vote?" That way it would be fair, and no one would be left with hard feelings.

Her brow rose in thought at the twin's question. Being a cave wolf didn't sound too bad. "I'm down with chasm." She looked to the rest of the group, awaiting their opinions as well.

Sága is currently travelling with Huddy, Aubine, Adelard, Rhaegara, Riven, Maugrim & Hrun

Adelard watched as Aubine drew close, taking up her usual spot at his flank. She looked concerned and the masked man's ears drew to the sides before coming forward again. He wasn't worried about the area and its still unknown threats. Instead, he bothered what unknown threats might have laid in wait for his packmates. For Riven.

He blinked a few times, slowly in reassurance, and combed his teeth down her right temple and cheek.

"Come on," he coaxed. "Let's close the boundaries and patrol as we go. Then we'll head in for the night." Again, the sight of the blond man with the pale blue eyes flashed across his memory. This was all the least he could have done to ensure his safety and the pack's wellbeing.

Light, quick steps brought them further through the forest. Down slippery slopes and through the Spring-drawn undergrowth, they left their tracks. Every now and then, he tipped his head back in a heralding song to further establish the pack's presence.

Fern dwellers and passing rogues beware, he announced, there were wolves in these parts now...

heat stroke, bring the fire
ADELARD GERAU
black smoke, I take it higher