Northstar Vale i'm the pretty prince of parties

He way too young to be huffing and puffing like this.

Jax loudly tried to catch his breath as he trotted towards the scent, which was getting louder and louder by the pawstep. The young Saturnin was a wolf used to forests and plains, not mountains, and crossing the Porcupine Ridge had almost done him in. Thankfully, the land here in the valley was flat, giving his poor heart a break before it thumped right out of his chest; the cold air didn't help, as each deep breath burned his lungs, so that there wasn't a single part of his body that wasn't burning from exhaustion. Finally, the smell of urine and wolf was starting to get overwhelming, and he flopped to the ground, tongue lolling stupidly out of his mouth. Not bothering to stand up, he gave a short howl, then his head fell down to join the rest of his body and he waited. The high and mightys liked it when a newbie was on the ground, why should he bother to get up? 

Pack life, or at least contributing to pack life, wasn't his thing, but he had enough sense of self-preservation to realize the cold bite of winter was here, and his stomach was starting to grumble much more than usual. He needed a refuge, at least until spring peaked over those damned mountains he had just climbed. Though if the alternative was having to climb that nonsense again, he might just stay here after all. But he had a long time to consider that, and now he waited.

Again and again, there were new scents slipping between the cracks. It was enough to make Tryphon's anxiety fluctuate on an hourly basis; but he need not be afraid, not when he had the others to rely on. It was hard for him still, and perhaps it would be for a while, but Tryphon had to learn. He had grabbed a couple of bodies which were lazing in the midday sun and tempted them away from the bulk of the pack for another hunting excursion — wordless, as always — when the tumbling of stones and a flurry of startled birds caught his attention. Looking to his companions, Tryphon froze on the spot, and then boofed softly, indicating  his curiosity. The howl came after and while it wasn't that far-off from their present position, the boy was too nervous to make the first move to intercept.

Paaaaige! Glad we could remedy our "never had a thread together" problem lol <3 p.s. sorry warboner is such a peehead

Once upon a time, Warbone would have been glad to hear the voice of a caller at their borders. He would have went eagerly to find the source, knowing that such a song might mean another body to his congregation... But this was no more. The wolf was so incredibly comfortable with his pack, his numbers, and their support, that anyone initiating a non-distressed howl in the vale -- besides himself or Saena -- was seen as a threat. Who was it that had the nerve to raise their voice when there was no others to join it? An intended usurper, that's who.

The titan rallied three wolves to his side, intent on facing the "threat" with the bulk of his members. Along the way, he picked up on the trail of Tryphon's group, and they all converged to lope seven strong towards the place where the song had long died. He did not find a challenger, but rather a disheveled gray wolf. Young with piercing eyes and a non-violent posture; lying prone as if he had foreseen his own accosting. Warbone stood ahead of the other six wolves, but he kept his distance, an air of menace clear in his body language.

"You have my attention, but now it does not come gently. You have no right to raise your voice here," he called hotly, giving the boy a chance to explain himself -- if only because he was presently collapsed.

It didn't take long for a greeter to come. No, not a greeter; a whole fucking army.

Without lifting his head, Jax flicked his eyes to view this...assortment...as best he could. There were at least five, though he couldn't see much from where he was without moving and risking having this fury of wolves descend upon him. Who he could only guess was the alpha stood at the front, one-eyed and angry. His words rung in Jax's ears, and the Saturnin shifted his gaze to stare straight ahead. A loud smack was heard as he licked his lips before speaking.

"Thank you for your attention, sir. I didn't mean to yell, I'd rather never speak again than be seen as rude. Please let your friends know that as well, I wouldn't want them to think me rude either." Jax spoke this all in a breathy whisper, no part of his body moving other than the obvious mouth. "I'd like a home, and boy oh boy does this place seem great. Not just bells and whistles here, no sir, I can tell you are the real deal, a true pioneer of leadership."

An awkward smile fell across the wolf's face, though his eyes remained staring forward.

They all swept in, creeping from the shadows or careening out from behind trees, some quick and some slow like Tryphon. He watched the others in his peripheral vision, ears rotating with every slight sound, until Warbone advanced and began to speak. With no reason for his own words to spill forth, Tryphon was his usual silent self. He did step up to show support to his first though; the boy poised himself defensively near Warbone's flank. Then, as the stranger began to speak, the boy became a stoic observer.

Though Warbone had been intensely put off by the young male's introduction to the vale, he was not a wolf beyond the influence of flattery. Words meant very little to him, at the end of the day, but he would be lying if he said it wasn't nice to hear that he was so readily recognized as a driving force to this congregation. His ears pressed forward, taking several steps forward as he felt bolstered by a someone standing at his flank. He didn't need to look to know it was Tryphon, whose specter of a presence he had begun count on, as he could recognize it without sight.

"Why should we take you in?" he asked, his tone no less harsh, though there seemed to be genuine curiosity there for the sterling wolf. Warbone trotted even closer, coming to stand where his shadow slipped over the grounded young man like a cloak. He was a handsome thing, with fur that seemed ill-suited for the cold, but then again, so did an otter's coat; and surely they survived colder. His good-looking qualities, however, did not yet overshadow his fault. "You lie here, showing the proper deference that is for now preserving your life... but all I know about you is that you summoned us. Forced us to find you -- as if we need you -- when it is your want of a home that has brought you here. Were you simply too lazy or too weak to complete your journey? You do not look frightened, so surely it was not fear that kept you at bay..."

Even as he knew he was being harsh, he wanted to see how the male could handle it. If he could handle the First's demanding nature at all. "Of what use could you possibly be to us, if we are already finishing your tasks for you?"

His voice would never betray him, but Jax felt a twinge of fear as the leader stepped forward and hulked over him. He was in a very vulnerable position, and though he might be able to outrun the wolf above him, he would never be able to outrun the entire entourage that surrounded that wolf. Keeping the side of his face firmly planted on the ground so he wouldn't be mistaken for trying to go for the leader's throat, Jax rolled over on his back, tail wagging pathetically between his hind legs. The shit-eating grin he had been wearing turned apologetic as he responded to the towering figure's questions.

"Ah, where are my manners? I was trying to be, as the pups say back home, safe rather than sorry. Some packs would tear you limb from limb for going farther than I did, I am glad to see you are not one of those packs! Though, perhaps I'd be in a less...awkward situation, if you were." He licked his lips again, glancing around to make sure none of the groupies had snuck around to ambush him while he was talking.  This pack was a mystery to Jax, as he had stumbled upon it purely by accident; hoping to find refuge from the biting winds of winter in the valley, he had picked up the scent shortly after crossing the ridge and followed it to where he was now. For all he knew, this was one of those weird cults, and he was about to be whisked away as a sacrifice. 

"Should we start over? Do you want to take your, ah, friends, back, and I can seek you out all nice and proper? No howling, no shortcuts, just me finding you, how's that?"

Feel free to PP Tryphon or skip him if necessary. He's really just watching and waiting for commands.

The stranger was an oddity and the more both the first and the newcomer spoke, the less and less inclined Tryphon was to welcome him. But it was not his call; if Warbone saw him worthy, they would become one of the Duskvale wolves. Still, Tryphon had his reservations. There was far too much talking and far too little action. He lingered by Warbone's haunch all the same, keeping his thoughts to himself, and waited to see what the first would do.

Warbone was almost completely placated by the male's submissiveness and eagerness to rectify the situation. He had a soft spot for the impressionable; those that were old enough to handle themselves, yet young enough to mold still as he desired. The male felt inclined to accept the offer of a redo, but none of the other five had come forward, and still, there was an unsettled vibe coming from his flank. He knew without looking that it was Tryphon continuing to linger without any positivity towards the new potential. He had learned rather quickly -- through the gold and sterling wolf's preferred silence -- to read his body language or feel the air for what things went unsaid between them.

Typically he cared for little, if at all, for the opinion of others. He would accept this male whether anyone liked it or not, and his opinion would become law. But Warbone was getting sick of his own arrogance even, and he felt closer to the wolves of the vale than he had in any where else besides his birthplace. In an uncharacteristic attempt to show that he valued and trusted the opinion of those closest to him, he said: "my companion here, will decide your fate." And he stepped back, proverbially handing Tryphon the reins.

Aside from being on the alert that they weren't planning to mob him, Jax had paid no attention to the wolves surrounding the leader; to be fair, from his awkward position he couldn't exactly see them. The scents all blended together to form one smell of pure wolfiness, so that he couldn't even discern how many individuals there were with his nose. So when the male towering over him told him his companion would decide, Jax shifted his head just enough to see a pale shape standing next to the darker leader. "Hi," he stated, a neutral tone to hide his growing discomfort at the situation he had put himself in. Every pack he had visited before now had had a welcoming committee of one or two wolves; he wasn't sure he had ever seen this many other wolves at once before, much less surrounding him, at the command of a leader who could easily give the word for an attack.

In a surprising turn of events, Warbone gave over the acceptance of the stranger to Tryphon; he hadn't anticipated this, but was quick to adapt. He briefly cricked his tail as a show of confusion, but when he advanced beyond the first and towards Jax, his bushy tail was laying placidly in place above his hocks.

The boy heard the stranger speak, but paid little attention to that. Words mattered little to Tryphon. How someone felt, how they smelled, and their behavioral ticks were each more important. As he slipped closer to Jax, Tryphon studied him. He reached with his snout towards the stranger's own and sniffed, tasting both the air between them and getting a sense of the gray wolf's health; he tasted the hot breath upon his wet nose. Then he moved around the prone form of the wolf and took in the many layers of scent across his body — the scent of alder and ash, a faint deer scent (presumably from when Jax was hiking the trails up to this point), an errant note of pine. He seemed healthy, and well traveled.

Contented by all that he found, Tryphon's next move was to rumble a pleasantly deep note in the depths of his throat. He withdrew from the inspection and glanced carefully to Warbone, at which point he gave a slight tail flick, and side-stepped so that he could bump the stranger with some part of his body — planting his scent and those he carried upon Jax.

Whatever Tryphon had been feeling before, it seemed to melt away once he had the chance to explore the young male himself. Warbone stood back, his tail swaying as he observed his compatriot's actions, who ended the quick exchange with a move to place his scent onto the stranger. The wolf gave an assenting nod, for if he was not sure about letting the breach of etiquette go before, he was sure about it now. Jax would be the first and only exception to his growing distaste for audience calls. It was so far his only overstep, and it would have been acceptable almost anywhere else. Besides, if the recruit felt bad enough about his mistake, he'd certainly seek to make up for it while staying here.

"Get up. Come meet the rest of us," he rumbled, accepting the wolf without ever asking or being told his name. That didn't matter to him, and he was sure they'd all learn each other's names eventually. For now, it was important only that he found his place among them. Warbone motioned, seeking to have Jax stand between himself and Tryphon, as they turned to introduce him to the others.

Welcome to DV!

As the leader's companion stepped forward, Jax was able to get a more complete look of the male. The first thing noticed was the interesting marking he carried on his face, a splash of color on an otherwise pale body; it was hard not to notice that first, as the wolf's face came inches from his own. To keep his mind off how uncomfortably close the stranger was while his scent was sampled--even if his life weren't in possible danger, the Saturnin hated being touched--he let his eyes roam up to the body crowding him. He was smaller than the leader, but not unimpressive to look at. As he left his face, Jax became hyer-aware of the male's nose sifting over the rest of his body, unpleasant chills taking him as he realized how completely vulnerable he was right now. Not a word was spoken throughout the entire process, so when he heard a sound come from his examiner at last, he licked his lips and flicked his ears up towards the source of the sound. Before he could ask what his fate was, he felt the rough bump of the male's body, causing him to flinch and press his ears back down on his skull in annoyance. 

His annoyance was short-lived, as the lead male's voice broke through the silence. He didn't have to say it twice; Jax leapt to his paws as soon as he was commanded, taking a moment to lower his front half to the ground and stretch out his back. Welp, that was easy, he thought to himself with quick shake. Making sure to keep his tail and ears lowered, he slipped in between the two head honchoes, beaming at the wolves who were gatherd around them. Now that he wasn't on his side and at the mercy of their commander, he felt no fear towards them, just the smug confidence of acceptance. "Thank you, my sirs, thank you. No regrets will be head, none, I swear it." He looked to his left and right, smiling at the two males.

Joining a pack was one of the easiest ventures a wolf could make; some packs might be full, some leaders might not like something about a potential recruit, but generally speaking — this was the easy part. Tryphon turned his ears towards the first when he spoke, and then they cupped the air expectantly, shooting forwards upon his head as he listened to the gray newcomer reply; they were flanking Jax now, leading him through the territory. There was something in the way Jax smiled that did not sit well with Tryphon though, and he reached out to give the boy a (possibly undeserved) snap of his teeth when his face was nearer to him. It was harmless; a dominant reaction likely resulting from Tryphon's need to grab at Jax's nose and reinforce his own high position. His snap met air and he lagged back a half-step, then turned his attention away from the new boy, as if he had heard something in the distance that was of greater importance. He followed alongside Warbone until the trio met with others, then broke away and found something else to occupy his time.