Post by Therdde on Jan 21, 2010 8:16:48 GMT -5
Characters:
Wyanet - Female Wolf
Skelaghe - Female Wolf
- Lone Crabapple Tree -
Sprawled out next to the apple tree is Wyanet, chewing on a bone in front of her, worrying her teeth to the middle so that she can lap out the marrow. Her tail is flipping back and forth behind her in a lazy manner, glad to be enjoying the night off for a change, away from the busy activity of the pack. If anything, she has been hoping her sister would wander by, so that she can antagonize her about Abel some more, and talk about how cute they'd be together.
Skelaghe has been spending even less time away from her den since the cougar cub arrived. Any less time away from the den, and she would never leave it. Finally, though, with all of the children sleeping and with Abel keeping watch, she has left to get some fresh air.
Ear twitching upwards, Wyanet takes another bite out of the bone, gives her head a quick shake, then lets out a loud huff as she looks down at the gnawed marks upon the bone. Turning her head, she sniffs the air a few times, then lets out a sharp bark towards her Alpha. She has a happy squint in her eyes, motioning with her head.
Though she did not come out here seeking anyone, when she spots Wyanet and hears the bark from her packmate, Skelaghe alters her path to approach Wyanet directly. Once she is a little closer, she greets Wyanet with, "Good evening." If there is anything particular on the alpha's mind, it doesn't show.
"Hey sis. What's up? Getting a stretch of your legs in?" Wyanet says, lobbing the bone over towards her as she pushes upwards to her haunches, seating herself more properly. "How is the kitten doing? He gonna pull through I take it?" She asks with a lift of her ears upwards, curious to know the child's outcome.
The first question that Skelaghe answers is the one about the cub. "He's eating. It's a good sign." The young male may never be as big or as strong as any cougar that didn't spend their youngest, most developmentally important months in a state of starvation, but it seems likely that the cub will live. "I understand you knew his mother? Did you happen to know his name?"
"No clue what his name was. I only knew Toya shortly. She was a real bitch. Even bitchier than I was." Wyanet says with a wry grin on her face. "Tried to get her to stick with me a bit longer, but she didn't want to venture into your lands, told me she didn't want to hang out with a bunch of 'mutts.'" She says, amused. "Soon as she had the kittens, she told me to get lost, she didn't want me around them, so.. I stepped in a rabbit hole, hurt my paw, and you know the rest of the story."
Skelaghe could have done without the backstory, probably. But then, perhaps she should be happy that this cub will be raised in a more tolerant group than he probably would have, had his mother survived. "Then he will be known as Toyo, to honor his connection to his mother, if not to honor his mother, herself." The name is nothing more than a slightly more masculine version of his mother's name, but it seems fitting.
"That sounds like a good name." Wyanet says as she flops to her side, stretching herself out a bit. "So, how have -you- been lately? Everything calming down for you?" She asks with a roll of her tongue across her muzzle, raising a brow upwards. "You got a smile upon your face again?"
"I'm not sure things will ever be calm here again. But I'm not complaining." At least, mostly not. Skelaghe will probably be happy when she can retire her position... but she is also happy, now. "There is something we must talk about, Wyanet. And I need you to keep an open mind." Skelaghe would not have brought this up again so soon, but there is the matter of the cub, and what she must do to make sure they are capable of caring for it.
"Yeah? What's going on?" Wyanet says as she turns her full attention upon the Alpha as she raises her head upwards a bit, ears lifting inquisitively. "Keep an open mind? I'll try my best." She says with a joking grin upon her face, tail wagging slowly back and forth a bit.
"When we first arrived in these lands, I told Teketa that a pack could not be strong unless it had a strong beta. Now, we find ourselves without one, and while I might have left it open until my son came of age, and could choose his own beta... I have once again found it necessary to leave, and I cannot do so while my pack is not whole." She has practiced this speech to allow her to get the most important parts all in one go, before Wyanet gets a chance to begin arguing.
"That's absurd." Wyanet says with a loud snort. "For one, you think that I'd be a strong Beta, and two, that you think I should be in charge while you go off on another navel contemplation vacation." She doesn't look too happy by her Alpha's words, her brows knitting together in a frown. "Why do you have to leave this time?"
"You /would/ be a strong beta. And you already behave as though you are in charge. Why shouldn't you be?" Skelaghe speaks only partially in jest. Wyanet has never been reluctant to throw her weight around in the past. "I will not be gone long. Just long enough, because if there is something that cougar cubs need that wolf pups don't, and we fail to provide it to Toyo... Then we'll have done him no favors in rescuing him."
"Well, maybe I should be Alpha, and you should be Beta than, if I act like I'm in charge, huh?" Wya says, giving her friend a poke in the shoulder. "Then you can carve something in my shoulder." She says, smirking, before sobering up a bit, squinting her eyes a bit in thought. "What is it that you need to get from the cougars?"
sp It is unfortunate for them both that Skelaghe has some deep-seated fears about her ability to hold onto this place she wants to leave for her son. The joke should not upset her, but it does, causing any pretense she was keeping about this being a lighthearted conversation to fade. "Not cougars. Cougar. I know where one who I can rust stays, not two days from here. One who has been a mother, and who will know what young cougars need." The chance that it is very different than what young wolves need is slim, but if there is something, and they don't find out until Toyo fails to grow as a cougar should?
"What can a kitten possibly need besides milk and meat? I don't see them being any different." Wyanet says as she rolls her shoulder upwards in a shrug, before rolling her tongue out across her muzzle. "You sure you want me in charge while you're gone? I may burn the place down by accident or something." She says, eyes rolling upwards as she pushes up to her paws, then gives herself a long stretch. "Why not Ixkin?"
"How should I know, Wyanet? Ashen came to me when he would have been nearly capable of hunting himself, had it not been for his injuries. How should I know what an infant cat needs to stay healthy? What if he is only eating meat because he has to, if he is not old enough, and she knows someone who is nursing cubs? If we are not willing to do everything a cougaress would do for him, do we have any right to keep him here?" Skelaghe's tone leaves little room for argument, and it is no happier when she goes on to say, "Ixkin has never expressed the desire to lead, nor the natural ability... and as someone who didn't, myself, I wouldn't wish that on her. If you refuse, then refuse, and get it over with. I will do what I have to do, as I have always done. I wouldn't be asking if I were not certain, though."
"Still want a cool tattoo thing on my shoulder." Wyanet says as she raises a brow upwards, giving a playful grin on her muzzle. "I'll accept your offer as Beta if you can give me one." Reaching out, she gives her friend a pawing, before shaking her head out quickly to fluff the fur about her scruff.
If Wyanet only wants a "cool tattoo", Skelaghe could see that she gets one. It won't be the sun. That doesn't come without some dedication to the ideals Skelaghe holds, some acknowledgement of the spirit she refers to as Tobba. "When I return, we will talk about giving you some marking."
"Fine.. but you better come through with this." Wyanet says with a smirk, before leaning forward to nip at her friend's neck, followed by a playful growl. With a wiggle of her rump, she looks to bowl herself into her Alpha, letting out a loud yap. It seems that she's in a playful mood now that they had their talk.
It has been a great many months, years, even, since Skelaghe has done anything but the lightest playing with her pups. She used to be the one to initiate playing. Then she got run off from her home by those cougars, and ever since then, her life has seemed plagued by one tragedy or another. She holds her ground, and for a moment, it looks as though she has no intention to join this overgrown, tempermental pup's playing. Then, however, rather suddenly, she leaps forward to meet the rambuctious behaviour of her new second-in-command.
Laughing, Wyanet wraps her paws around the neck of the Alpha as she leaps forward, throwing her body to one side with a quick twist, looking to roll the pair through the grass. Playfully, she pushes back with her back paws, giving nips here, and there as she goes. "Think you can pin me, old lady?" She calls out with a laugh.
In what may be the best proof that Skelaghe was ever, once, a pup herself, she returns nip for nip, bat for bat, and, in the instances when she actually has her feet under her, step for step. When she isn't snapping at the nearest bit of fur, her mouth is open in a grin that, unfortunately, has become rather uncharacteristic, for her. When did that happen. "I've been putting pups in their place since before you were born, Wyanet." Will she actually be able to beat Wyanet, even in play? It's hard to tell, but any way about it, she talks a good game.
"Yeah? I've been putting Alpha's on their back since I -was- a pup." Wyanet says as she continues to snap her teeth outwards, missing by mere inches here, and there as she goes. Gaining her paws once more, she circles around Skelaghe, her tail neutrally raised, her grin wide upon her face. With a dip forward, she moves in a quick zig zag dance, then leaps forward, looking to tackle her frame into the Alpha's with a quick burst of huntress speed.
If the fight were real, Skelaghe would be doing her best to keep Wyanet from getting her feet under her, for precisely this reason. The Alphaess is no huntress. She never has been. She feeds herself and can feed her pups, but it takes a lot of very real work and a fair bit of luck, for her. She has only just managed to keep up with Wyanet's motions so that she is not tackled from behind, but she is, most definitely, teckled, and when she does, it drives her feet from under her, causing her to hit the ground on her side, an action that aused her to wince even in the complete absence of pain. Whether it hurts or not, this is not a comfortable feeling, and she responds by nipping quickly at Wyanet's sole intact ear.
Grinning, Wyanet sprawls herself out on top of Skelaghe, giving her muzzle a quick nip, before letting out a heavy, playful pant. She relaxes a bit, giving her friend a bit of a hug around the neck, followed by a firm nuzzling. With a loud chuff, she lets out a soft breath. "I really need to teach you how to hunt, or to fight.. or something. I can't do all the work around here." She says teasingly.
"If you aren't going to do all the work around here, what is my motivation to keep you around, Wyanet?" Skelaghe's tone makes it very clear that she's joking. Given how, just moments ago, she was upset by a joke that may have hit a little too close to home, she probably shouldn't have made it. Hopefully, though, it will not fall flat.
"Well, I do bring all the good looking guys to the pack." Wyanet says with a grin on her face as she pushes a paw up against her friend's muzzle. "So if anything, I'm improving real estate." She lolls her tongue out playfully, before flopping her chin down into her Alpha's chest. "I suppose I can teach everyone else how to fight. The Kitchi were determined warriors, taught when we were young to survive."
Skelaghe doesn't appreciate one of Wyanet's final statements much either, but it doesn't upset her as the earlier joke did. "Whereas I was taught that if I was meant to survive, I would. Survival, by itself, is not much of a goal to teach our youth. Teach the adults what you will, but right now, I should prefer to focus on teaching my children how not to fight. They fight well enough without any instruction."
"I'm a warrior, Skelaghe. There's not much else I'm good at, besides being a tease, a pain in your ass, or a babysitter." Wyanet says as she gives her friend another gentle bat to the shoulder, before climbing off, and giving herself a long stretch. Her tail curls upwards, and over her back as she goes, her jaws dropping down into a loud yawn. "You know I love you, right?"
Skelaghe rolls once Wyanet has finally gotten of her, coming to a rest on her belly. "Being a warrior does not remove your free will, Wya. But even if you are the biggest pain I will ever know... I suppose I love you, too." Skelaghe does her part to try to keep the conversation as light as possible, then stretches out while she remains lying down.
Wyanet - Female Wolf
Skelaghe - Female Wolf
- Lone Crabapple Tree -
Sprawled out next to the apple tree is Wyanet, chewing on a bone in front of her, worrying her teeth to the middle so that she can lap out the marrow. Her tail is flipping back and forth behind her in a lazy manner, glad to be enjoying the night off for a change, away from the busy activity of the pack. If anything, she has been hoping her sister would wander by, so that she can antagonize her about Abel some more, and talk about how cute they'd be together.
Skelaghe has been spending even less time away from her den since the cougar cub arrived. Any less time away from the den, and she would never leave it. Finally, though, with all of the children sleeping and with Abel keeping watch, she has left to get some fresh air.
Ear twitching upwards, Wyanet takes another bite out of the bone, gives her head a quick shake, then lets out a loud huff as she looks down at the gnawed marks upon the bone. Turning her head, she sniffs the air a few times, then lets out a sharp bark towards her Alpha. She has a happy squint in her eyes, motioning with her head.
Though she did not come out here seeking anyone, when she spots Wyanet and hears the bark from her packmate, Skelaghe alters her path to approach Wyanet directly. Once she is a little closer, she greets Wyanet with, "Good evening." If there is anything particular on the alpha's mind, it doesn't show.
"Hey sis. What's up? Getting a stretch of your legs in?" Wyanet says, lobbing the bone over towards her as she pushes upwards to her haunches, seating herself more properly. "How is the kitten doing? He gonna pull through I take it?" She asks with a lift of her ears upwards, curious to know the child's outcome.
The first question that Skelaghe answers is the one about the cub. "He's eating. It's a good sign." The young male may never be as big or as strong as any cougar that didn't spend their youngest, most developmentally important months in a state of starvation, but it seems likely that the cub will live. "I understand you knew his mother? Did you happen to know his name?"
"No clue what his name was. I only knew Toya shortly. She was a real bitch. Even bitchier than I was." Wyanet says with a wry grin on her face. "Tried to get her to stick with me a bit longer, but she didn't want to venture into your lands, told me she didn't want to hang out with a bunch of 'mutts.'" She says, amused. "Soon as she had the kittens, she told me to get lost, she didn't want me around them, so.. I stepped in a rabbit hole, hurt my paw, and you know the rest of the story."
Skelaghe could have done without the backstory, probably. But then, perhaps she should be happy that this cub will be raised in a more tolerant group than he probably would have, had his mother survived. "Then he will be known as Toyo, to honor his connection to his mother, if not to honor his mother, herself." The name is nothing more than a slightly more masculine version of his mother's name, but it seems fitting.
"That sounds like a good name." Wyanet says as she flops to her side, stretching herself out a bit. "So, how have -you- been lately? Everything calming down for you?" She asks with a roll of her tongue across her muzzle, raising a brow upwards. "You got a smile upon your face again?"
"I'm not sure things will ever be calm here again. But I'm not complaining." At least, mostly not. Skelaghe will probably be happy when she can retire her position... but she is also happy, now. "There is something we must talk about, Wyanet. And I need you to keep an open mind." Skelaghe would not have brought this up again so soon, but there is the matter of the cub, and what she must do to make sure they are capable of caring for it.
"Yeah? What's going on?" Wyanet says as she turns her full attention upon the Alpha as she raises her head upwards a bit, ears lifting inquisitively. "Keep an open mind? I'll try my best." She says with a joking grin upon her face, tail wagging slowly back and forth a bit.
"When we first arrived in these lands, I told Teketa that a pack could not be strong unless it had a strong beta. Now, we find ourselves without one, and while I might have left it open until my son came of age, and could choose his own beta... I have once again found it necessary to leave, and I cannot do so while my pack is not whole." She has practiced this speech to allow her to get the most important parts all in one go, before Wyanet gets a chance to begin arguing.
"That's absurd." Wyanet says with a loud snort. "For one, you think that I'd be a strong Beta, and two, that you think I should be in charge while you go off on another navel contemplation vacation." She doesn't look too happy by her Alpha's words, her brows knitting together in a frown. "Why do you have to leave this time?"
"You /would/ be a strong beta. And you already behave as though you are in charge. Why shouldn't you be?" Skelaghe speaks only partially in jest. Wyanet has never been reluctant to throw her weight around in the past. "I will not be gone long. Just long enough, because if there is something that cougar cubs need that wolf pups don't, and we fail to provide it to Toyo... Then we'll have done him no favors in rescuing him."
"Well, maybe I should be Alpha, and you should be Beta than, if I act like I'm in charge, huh?" Wya says, giving her friend a poke in the shoulder. "Then you can carve something in my shoulder." She says, smirking, before sobering up a bit, squinting her eyes a bit in thought. "What is it that you need to get from the cougars?"
sp It is unfortunate for them both that Skelaghe has some deep-seated fears about her ability to hold onto this place she wants to leave for her son. The joke should not upset her, but it does, causing any pretense she was keeping about this being a lighthearted conversation to fade. "Not cougars. Cougar. I know where one who I can rust stays, not two days from here. One who has been a mother, and who will know what young cougars need." The chance that it is very different than what young wolves need is slim, but if there is something, and they don't find out until Toyo fails to grow as a cougar should?
"What can a kitten possibly need besides milk and meat? I don't see them being any different." Wyanet says as she rolls her shoulder upwards in a shrug, before rolling her tongue out across her muzzle. "You sure you want me in charge while you're gone? I may burn the place down by accident or something." She says, eyes rolling upwards as she pushes up to her paws, then gives herself a long stretch. "Why not Ixkin?"
"How should I know, Wyanet? Ashen came to me when he would have been nearly capable of hunting himself, had it not been for his injuries. How should I know what an infant cat needs to stay healthy? What if he is only eating meat because he has to, if he is not old enough, and she knows someone who is nursing cubs? If we are not willing to do everything a cougaress would do for him, do we have any right to keep him here?" Skelaghe's tone leaves little room for argument, and it is no happier when she goes on to say, "Ixkin has never expressed the desire to lead, nor the natural ability... and as someone who didn't, myself, I wouldn't wish that on her. If you refuse, then refuse, and get it over with. I will do what I have to do, as I have always done. I wouldn't be asking if I were not certain, though."
"Still want a cool tattoo thing on my shoulder." Wyanet says as she raises a brow upwards, giving a playful grin on her muzzle. "I'll accept your offer as Beta if you can give me one." Reaching out, she gives her friend a pawing, before shaking her head out quickly to fluff the fur about her scruff.
If Wyanet only wants a "cool tattoo", Skelaghe could see that she gets one. It won't be the sun. That doesn't come without some dedication to the ideals Skelaghe holds, some acknowledgement of the spirit she refers to as Tobba. "When I return, we will talk about giving you some marking."
"Fine.. but you better come through with this." Wyanet says with a smirk, before leaning forward to nip at her friend's neck, followed by a playful growl. With a wiggle of her rump, she looks to bowl herself into her Alpha, letting out a loud yap. It seems that she's in a playful mood now that they had their talk.
It has been a great many months, years, even, since Skelaghe has done anything but the lightest playing with her pups. She used to be the one to initiate playing. Then she got run off from her home by those cougars, and ever since then, her life has seemed plagued by one tragedy or another. She holds her ground, and for a moment, it looks as though she has no intention to join this overgrown, tempermental pup's playing. Then, however, rather suddenly, she leaps forward to meet the rambuctious behaviour of her new second-in-command.
Laughing, Wyanet wraps her paws around the neck of the Alpha as she leaps forward, throwing her body to one side with a quick twist, looking to roll the pair through the grass. Playfully, she pushes back with her back paws, giving nips here, and there as she goes. "Think you can pin me, old lady?" She calls out with a laugh.
In what may be the best proof that Skelaghe was ever, once, a pup herself, she returns nip for nip, bat for bat, and, in the instances when she actually has her feet under her, step for step. When she isn't snapping at the nearest bit of fur, her mouth is open in a grin that, unfortunately, has become rather uncharacteristic, for her. When did that happen. "I've been putting pups in their place since before you were born, Wyanet." Will she actually be able to beat Wyanet, even in play? It's hard to tell, but any way about it, she talks a good game.
"Yeah? I've been putting Alpha's on their back since I -was- a pup." Wyanet says as she continues to snap her teeth outwards, missing by mere inches here, and there as she goes. Gaining her paws once more, she circles around Skelaghe, her tail neutrally raised, her grin wide upon her face. With a dip forward, she moves in a quick zig zag dance, then leaps forward, looking to tackle her frame into the Alpha's with a quick burst of huntress speed.
If the fight were real, Skelaghe would be doing her best to keep Wyanet from getting her feet under her, for precisely this reason. The Alphaess is no huntress. She never has been. She feeds herself and can feed her pups, but it takes a lot of very real work and a fair bit of luck, for her. She has only just managed to keep up with Wyanet's motions so that she is not tackled from behind, but she is, most definitely, teckled, and when she does, it drives her feet from under her, causing her to hit the ground on her side, an action that aused her to wince even in the complete absence of pain. Whether it hurts or not, this is not a comfortable feeling, and she responds by nipping quickly at Wyanet's sole intact ear.
Grinning, Wyanet sprawls herself out on top of Skelaghe, giving her muzzle a quick nip, before letting out a heavy, playful pant. She relaxes a bit, giving her friend a bit of a hug around the neck, followed by a firm nuzzling. With a loud chuff, she lets out a soft breath. "I really need to teach you how to hunt, or to fight.. or something. I can't do all the work around here." She says teasingly.
"If you aren't going to do all the work around here, what is my motivation to keep you around, Wyanet?" Skelaghe's tone makes it very clear that she's joking. Given how, just moments ago, she was upset by a joke that may have hit a little too close to home, she probably shouldn't have made it. Hopefully, though, it will not fall flat.
"Well, I do bring all the good looking guys to the pack." Wyanet says with a grin on her face as she pushes a paw up against her friend's muzzle. "So if anything, I'm improving real estate." She lolls her tongue out playfully, before flopping her chin down into her Alpha's chest. "I suppose I can teach everyone else how to fight. The Kitchi were determined warriors, taught when we were young to survive."
Skelaghe doesn't appreciate one of Wyanet's final statements much either, but it doesn't upset her as the earlier joke did. "Whereas I was taught that if I was meant to survive, I would. Survival, by itself, is not much of a goal to teach our youth. Teach the adults what you will, but right now, I should prefer to focus on teaching my children how not to fight. They fight well enough without any instruction."
"I'm a warrior, Skelaghe. There's not much else I'm good at, besides being a tease, a pain in your ass, or a babysitter." Wyanet says as she gives her friend another gentle bat to the shoulder, before climbing off, and giving herself a long stretch. Her tail curls upwards, and over her back as she goes, her jaws dropping down into a loud yawn. "You know I love you, right?"
Skelaghe rolls once Wyanet has finally gotten of her, coming to a rest on her belly. "Being a warrior does not remove your free will, Wya. But even if you are the biggest pain I will ever know... I suppose I love you, too." Skelaghe does her part to try to keep the conversation as light as possible, then stretches out while she remains lying down.