Bristol was thankful for winter. He didn’t have to stop every few feet to bite, scratch, or rub his body against a rough looking tree for relief. It was there, the itch, but it was minimal; or tolerable, to say the least. Spring was right around the corner and the full blast would come. The idiot wolf that held the medic position didn’t know what he was doing and he couldn’t eat another disgusting plant that may or may not work for his symptoms. He had never bothered to learn or remember what his sister had done for him because he had expected her to be around forever but the night she departed their home, his entire world stopped for a while.
It was only a few weeks he remained. His ties were minimal; he would miss London, of course. Ginny would have nothing to do with him and he rarely saw Fitz anyway. Bristol had simply been out of place the last few months and he couldn’t shake the feeling.
He left Watchtower Coast with the intention of following his sister. He did not rush; he didn’t want to deter or upset her. A week into his travels he thought it might be a bad idea to just surprise her but by that point he’d started to lose her trace and finding it sporadically between home and the last few days. Where he stood, he could smell her, but he could also acknowledge it was not free territory. When he tried to follow his trace in any direction, he ran into some sort of marking that he could not make himself cross. It was not his land to traipse along.
He kept his distance for a while, angling his head up the incline of the territory. He thought about going elsewhere for a while, back to the coast where he could relax with familiar territory, but his lanky legs did not take him anywhere and so caught in a battle of decisions, he lingered just out of reach.
Pied sprang out of the water, her entire body quivering with the cold but her mottled fur, at least, cleansed of the blood spatter from her hunt earlier in the day. With all four feet on firm ground, she braced herself, shook vigorously and then began to lope along the beach. The wind soughed through her coat, drying it but giving her a distinct chill, so Pied eventually arced inland, preparing to head home to her lair, where she would use her mate's body heat to warm herself.
En route, she caught a strange scent and it triggered a change of course as well as a shift in demeanor. Having embraced her inner dominant beast, Pied snapped her head upward, walking like a horse with bridle tethered to a coach. Her ears thrust upward as well and her tail followed suit. She cantered now with purpose, ignoring the shivers that passed through her slender body as she tracked the smell to its source.
She arrived, still damp but able to keep her trembling at bay as she eyed the strange male with a creamy coat. "Can I help you?" she questioned brusquely, her body language strongly conveying the message that she was the dominant wolf here and that she wouldn't tolerate any infringements upon herself, her pack or its territory.
His patience was wearing thin but only with himself. He dropped his head, chewing at the knuckles of his paws in the meantime, and it offered a little relief. It was something that plagued him since he was about six months old and it wasn’t until the pack had a skilled medic that he was able to treat his symptoms. When his sister took to learning, his care continued up until she left home. His stash of herbs dwindled and the wolf that took over a few weeks ago didn’t really know how to help.
Bristol’s head shot up when another approach and his dark eyes quickly took in her posture. His ears and tails drooped and his head dropped several inches. His shoulders relaxed and he shifted to face her. Her smell resembled the scents mixed in to their surrounding and he hoped to assume correctly she was from the area.
“Maybe,” he told her with a silvery voice. “I am looking for my sister. She looks a little like me but more of a… seal point, less staining, and shorter. Good with medicines. Her name is Dublin Redwood.”
When the stranger's posture drooped, Pied chuffed approvingly, though she didn't relax. She maintained her own taut poise as he responded to her question, succinctly summarizing his reasons for standing on the ridge's borders. He sought Dublin, his sister. Of course, Pied knew the other she-wolf, though not well. It intrigued her to hear of Dublin's skills in the medical field. Pied wondered if this tied into her obsession with cleanliness at all.
"Dublin lives here in Horizon Ridge. Would you like me to call her? I'm Pied, by the way," she offered. "What's your name?"
His new companion was quick to respond and he was thankful to have found someone that had information about his sister. He had no reason to distrust her. She held herself well and so far seemed pleased with his display. The tip of his tail waved back and forth against his legs, pleased with his own success, and nodded his head.
Pied.
“If you’d like,” he told her with a nod of his head. “She doesn’t exactly know I followed her but she shouldn’t be upset I did. We always got along so I don’t bring any disruption to your home. I came to be with her.”
He hoped his information wasn’t bizarre or suspicious. Calling his sister would hopefully settle any skepticism. Of course, meeting his sister for the first time in weeks when she had no idea he was coming? Bristol couldn’t predict how she would react to his presence, even if they got along well enough at home.
“My name is Bristol Redwood. It’s lovely to meet you, Pied.”
"So you're looking to join?" she queried when he professed that he wasn't here simply for a temporary visit with his sister but rather a more permanent arrangement. This required Akhlut's presence. Pied paused a moment, wondering who to call first. She ultimately decided to howl for Dublin, who could then call for the pack's Alpha when the time came.
Throwing back her head, Pied's lips formed into an o shape as she howled toward the wintry sky. Her lilting voice carried over the sands, drenching the ears of any wolf within a several-mile radius. If Dublin was at home somewhere on the ridge, she would certainly hear her name being called.
"I'll let her call for our leader when you two are ready to talk to him," the Delta said. In the meantime, she would be alone with Bristol for at least a few minutes, so she didn't want to just stand here and stare at him. "So, what made you follow her here?" she thusly asked, canting her head ever so slightly to the right.
“I am,” he nodded.
Wanting to leave Watchtower Coast had been an easy decision but physically leaving had taken a bit more of a push. Dublin’s absence aided it and going more than a week without seeing his son or ex-mate solidified that he wasn’t needed in their lives. His ability to fit in wasn’t questioned, molding himself to new scenery and structures; he’d never joined another pack but he didn’t expect it to be much different than his former home.
Bristol’s ears twitched forward as Pied called for his sister. He listened to the song carefully, familiarizing himself with the tone and voice of the woman. To hear it for his sister made his heart jump a little with anxiety. What if she really didn’t want him here? If she reacted negatively? He supposed he could go somewhere else. He knew he wouldn’t go back to Watchtower, which was out of the question, but his next destination was an entire mystery all of a sudden. They always got along, though, he couldn’t think of anything that might cause such.
When he was spoken to again, he turned his head to face her.
“She’s my only sister,” Bristol told Pied. “When she left, I started to miss her. I didn’t have any extensive ties. And she’s the only one that has been able to help with the itching.”
His words sunk in and he felt his body flare up with the urge. He hadn’t thought about it in the last several minutes and taking about it set him aflame. He ground his teeth together in order to fight it off, casting a glance in the opposite direction should Dublin should up quicker than anticipated.
He gave a simple and altogether not too interesting reason for following Dublin: he missed her. Bristol's next comment made Pied's ear twitch as if she wasn't sure she'd heard correctly. She knew Dublin was a bit—actually, extremely—finicky about bathing. Her brother seemed to have a quirk of his own. Pied wondered if skin and coat disorders ran in the family... or perhaps they came from a place ridden with fleas?
Licking her lips and fighting the urge to back up a few steps—that would be incredibly rude—Pied tried to think of a tactful thing to say in response. Eventually, she simply repeated, "The itch?" and looked at him with curious, questioning eyes.
Bristol couldn’t stop the smile forming on his features as Pied questioned him. The itch? It sounded like a disease or a plague. His eyes brightened as he turned his direction back to her and away from the pack territory. His family, pack, and he were used to it by now that it wasn’t often questioned.
“The itch, yes,” he repeated with a smirk. “I have terrible allergies. They are worse in spring and fall when things change. Winter when things have died down, it’s much more tolerable. There are herbs and remedies I can use either topically—a salve—to apply to really bad spots or something I eat. I chew my fur out sometimes because it gets bad. It’s kind of like having really bad fleas, I guess.”
He rolled his shoulder, mimicking a shrug, hoping it was enough to make it sound like he wasn’t diseased or contagious.
“It can’t be transferred like fleas can or else my siblings would be as miserable as I am. The wolf that I had to see when Dublin left home… didn’t really know what he was doing and trying new stuff and even in this season I couldn’t get enough relief. He’s young. I unfortunately didn’t make an effort to remember what to do to help myself. That’s not the only reason I left, either, or the only reason I want to be with my sister. I’m pretty good at a lot of things.”
He trailed off when he realized he was talking a lot, trying to fill the space, and he wished for his sister to show soon.
“What is the leader like? If you don’t mind my asking, of course. And your position here?” he asked with a smile and wag of his tail, trying to pass the time and hoping he wasn’t pushing for too much information.
She listened raptly, mightily intrigued by this unfortunate disorder. When he finished, she mulled for a moment, then said, "I'm sorry, that sounds unpleasant. As the pack's hopeful Caretaker, I'd love to help make you more comfortable if you join. I'm not medically savvy, per se, but maybe Dublin can help teach me...? There's Jinx as well; I'm pretty sure she knows a lot about herbs..."
When Bristol inquired about the leader, a shadow passed through Pied's heterochromatic eyes and her lips pressed together for a few beats. When she opened her mouth eventually, she began to say something, stalled, then eventually admitted, "I'm don't know Akhlut very well and I don't see him often enough to really say." Realizing how that sounded, Pied frowned almost sheepishly and quickly added, "When he is around, he's personable." She paused, sighing softly.
Wondering if she'd just talked Bristol out of joining the ridge, Pied cleared her throat and said, "I'm the Delta. Even if Akhlut's not the most, ah, present leader, there's several of us at the top of the ranks who keep everything running smoothly." Relatively, she thought mentally, thinking back on how the Alpha's scarcity had really begun to impact the pack only recently.
Dublin had been minding her herb stores when Pied's voice rang out over the ridge, summoning her by name. Silver-blue eyes furrowed slightly, and the cream female was perhaps even annoyed by the disturbance... but she was outranked, and was bound to follow orders by her superiors. As soon as she was at a good stopping point—the herbs she had found tucked away near the roots of sequoias now neatly organized in her personal cache—Dublin turned away and began to run towards the call. If she had been paying closer attention, she might have realized that the sound originated towards the borders... but that didn't occur to her until she was nearly there.
At that point, she was truly confused about what Pied wanted with her. As the lowest ranked (as far as she knew), Dublin was certain that she was of no use to the mottled yearling (a cruel joke, as far as the Redwood was concerned). When she approached, her posture was appropriately subdued... but then she saw him, that familiar stained and patchy fur, and Dublin ran towards him—all excited yips and wagging tail.
"Bristol!" she cried as she neared, oblivious to whatever conversation she was interrupting, "You look awful." Still, for one so concerned with her own appearance, Dublin neared her brother and thrust her nose against his cheek in greeting.
I'm sorry to disrupt the posting order but I wanted to go ahead and pull Pied from the thread. :)
Edit on 02/21: I don't want this to be discarded, so I'm going to finagle an ending for all of us...
Before Bristol could ponder this information and very likely strongly reconsider joining Horizon Ridge, the delicate thunder of footfalls announced Dublin's imminent arrival. The Delta sidestepped out of the way, politely allowing the brother and sister room to reunite. She watched with a small smile playing on her lips, paying no attention whatsoever to her subordinate's body language. What did something like that matter at a time like this?
"I'll leave you two to catch up. Bristol, it was nice meeting you." Pied began to turn, facing Dublin as she did so and saying to her, "I haven't called for Akhlut yet..." She shrugged her pale shoulders lightly as if to add, I'll leave that up to you. With a parting bark and final, "See you two around," the Delta then turned and trotted away in the direction of her den. Her fur was only very slightly damp now but she could always use a bit of snuggling with her mate.
As she made her way home, she heard Dublin's voice rise up behind her, calling for Akhlut. She paused, waiting to see if he would respond. When the Alpha's howled response rose into the air, her lips twitched and Pied proceeded, reassured to have heard his voice and happy that he was taking care of the sibling duo.