Wolf RPG

 

It was morning, now. She was restless; more restless than ever. The woman slipped out of her den to now drink from snow, her mouth dry. Her mate was present still, and would be up until the moment her time came; it was clear, now, it would be soon. Tonravik did not fear what was to come, feeling too world weary to feel much at all other than the pains that came. Her contractions had not yet started; in some few short hours, they would. 

The alpha female presumed her pack to be doing their jobs. While they were all tired, that did not excuse them from what they must now do. Here, they would adapt and overcome. But there were no trespassers she knew of... Which meant that the wolves once of the Spine, now of the Spire, were doing their job. There was one she immediately wished to see, and the woman knew the other was near. Her tail waved behind her.

Furiously, she dug at the cool earth.

Furiously, she snarled at the stone where it laid in the hole she made.

Muddied and yet surprisingly energized, Echelon had already done a fair job of startling whatever had come near to her. A rabbit that got a little too inquisitive, some vulture with nothing better to do. At least she thought it to be a vulture, all massive and hulking with it's stupid head and it's stupid greasy feathers and features. Actually it was an eagle, but calling it a vulture was better because it had been screeching and carrying on long before the sun was up and frankly that was the only reason why she was up.

And probably the only reason why she was setting at tearing up the spot that had once been her bed over a reasonably nice night. Mountains were the way to go and she was inclined to agree, the air thinner and cooler and bound to have more of the propensity to keep them able and ready. Not dirty tired and sun-baked, not like the basin depths of what had been the Spine. Which was really just a bowl of water now with a bunch of logs floating around it. The toilet bowl of the wilderness.

So caught up in her destruction (and so obviously not doing her job probably), she hardly knew Tonravik was coming.

She walked toward Echelon who was fortunately relatively close by. Hearing the earth being torn up, she paused for a brief moment. Sniffing at the air she confirmed that whoever was making these sounds was in fact her aokkatti. So Tonravik resumed her progress in her direction, licking her chops. In no time at all she was there, but with the things in her body it had felt like forever. They kicked and shifted every step of the way.

Moving beyond a massive boulder, there she was, hunkered and digging over one specific area. The leader would have moved to aid her were she not filled with her children due in so short a time. Her bladder was her top priority, suddenly... and she squatted, released, kicked dirt upon it, and looked over her shoulder to the whelping den. Tonravik looked back to the wiry Echelon who had been with her for the longest time of all. Her tail whipped left and right and she let out a low whuff in greeting.

She was oblivious to the approach, carrying on and becoming increasingly focused on such a nonsensical task. It was tiring, but it was also effective for whatever little reason she did it. If anything, perhaps if she were to some how dig past the stone — this she thought as her nails scratched roughly across the shale — then maybe they could have used a hole for something. A grave, a cache, a place to hide things. It didn't matter. Holes were important.

However, Tonravik's short call for her gave her immediate pause, and the mountainsides behind her distorted it. With her back to her still, Echelon's head raised up from the handiwork with a questioning bark in return. It took no more than a couple of seconds for her to realize, and by then she was already whirling around and bounding towards her. But this time she did not let herself go crashing into her; it just wouldn't have been wise.

And just because she was full of puppies didn't mean she'd try and not eat her face for it, anyway. With her tail swinging far and wide, the smaller of the duo reached out to nudge her dirty nose against Tonravik's chin.

The other rose and Tonravik watched her quietly for a moment. Seconds afterward, Echelon had turned toward her and approached. Tonravik stiffened for a moment, but when it was clear her subordinate would not bump into her, she eased. The alpha female circled Echelon tightly, truly glad for her presence, her survival. What she would have done without her aokkatti she was not sure; the woman was a half to a whole.

As the messy nose of Echelon rubbed beneath her chin, Tonravik moved to press her own face roughly into the forehead of the inky subordinate. Her own tail moved arcs similar to Echelon's, swooping mightily and sending gusts of air backward. The alpha knew she would not be seeing Echelon for a while due to being on den rest, but she had no doubts all would be well despite that.

It would have seemed that even now, with all that was going on, they still missed one another. Not that Echelon ever doubted such a thing for a second; she knew this was simply how things were to be. Tonravik had been preened for such a thing from the moment she was capable of learning, just as Echelon had learned to be a capable being of support. Though she did not spare a passing thought about it, it was only about a year ago that they had found themselves with the fraying ends of a band that could have claimed something of their own. Funny, how things worked out.

With a hushed whine, she gestured towards the gentle curve of Tonravik's belly as though to inquire when. She had assumed that what little she had seen of her surely meant that they were there, yet she had not heard a peep out of Iqniq about it. Then again, like the rest of them (or some of the rest of them), they were all so busy being scattered and keeping the grounds safe and stocked.

She understood the whine, and her own tail twitched and she let out a low, boarish groan. Soon. So soon, in fact, that talking seemed like a chore (which it perhaps always was to her). Any additional expense of energy perpetually felt like it would be the one thing that set her birthing the future of the Spire into motion... so she did very little, aside from finding her aokkatti. The travel had been long and arduous and she wondered how the dark woman fared, though Tonravik imagined she would know if the other was not faring well.

This was to be their home, now; and Tonravik approved of what areas of the place she had been able to investigate. The climate was different, cooler, and there was snow in the upper reaches where they lingered. She was eager for Winter to come... but at least now, the season had become bearable.

And bearable the season would no doubt remain was the thought that Echelon could not help but mirror. She liked the expanse of territory that they had claimed, though she had done more flitting about it and generally being an asshole of sorts than truly contributing to its exploration. At times, the Spire may as well have been a playground to suit her. At others, she found herself studying what parts of the landscape she could see over the foothills and their bolstered, numerous towers of forestry.

Sometimes, just sometimes, she thought she could see the minuscule movements of others meandering around. But mostly that was probably just the proteins floating through her gaze. Or whatever those annoying little squiggles in one's vision were. Of course her own thoughts to their future were there as well, even if they were not as forefront as they were for Tonravik. There was much to be done and she could have pretended to hear the tickling of some seasonal clock. Summer would give away soon enough, she was willing to believe. Summers did not last forever, not now or ever, and especially not here.

Whether or not they would rally together and hunt was beyond her; she was not much of a hunter for a list of short reasons. But the borders she would maintain without question or prompt, and she did. Nudging Tonravik again, Echelon truly had nothing more to say in that moment. She was simply content in stealing away a few uninterrupted moments — perhaps the last few — that she could with her aokkatti. It was as if to say that they had been through plenty and finally, it was paying off.

Tonravik was glad for the fact that Summer did not last forever. It was her least favorite of all the seasons; it, presently, was useless to her. All she wanted to do was sleep thanks to the heat taking a toll on her energy... and often, she did. By night she was out and about but by day she rest in the shade and near the water. This place would make any future Summer more bearable. The climes here were different than that of the Spine... better. The place had been nearly insufferable, but still survivable; it was why she had intended to remain there. But the Spine was a place rendered uninhabitable by the storm... a strange unfortunate circumstance that ended up being truly fortuitous for the pack. They would gain, she imagined, far more here than they had lost.

The sentiment in the nudge was not lost on Tonravik, who released a heavy breath. It was as though the air had been held in her for days, and now it was released. Even heavy with the life in her, she felt considerably lighter. They had survived this, losing some in the process... Tonravik thought of them, and their fruitless searches for those that had gone missing. She dare not hope for their return—it seemed so unrealistic, and hope was a thing she did not particularly enjoy entertaining—but did wonder if they had, somehow, survived. In the coming days, all that would be revealed.

But Echelon did not think of those who had been torn asunder by the storm that had raged through. Circumstances happened and sometimes, they altered the destiny or lack thereof that would come to them all. Time did not wait for them and nor would she; Echelon found there was little point in doing so. They could be here today and gone tomorrow, as for all they knew the mountain could have come crumbling down on their heads overnight.

This too, she did not think about.

Instead she gave Tonravik another nudge, prompting her to walk along with her.

Tonravik was typically unfeeling and without sentiment. Her hormones caused her moods to transition and untapped feeling to provoke thought, more thought than she was used to. It caused her a headache, and she shook it off. Those that were lost were lost. If they came again, they did; it was pointless to dwell on ghosts. When Echelon nudged her, Tonravik slowly circled around her. She willed the woman to head with her toward the place she would whelp, not able to go beyond where they stood in her condition.

With Tonravik's disinterest in moving away from where they were, Echelon turned with her towards the den.  In a way, she understood and yet did not, and perhaps never would.  This necessity about Tonravik to idle troubled her, but perhaps not as much as knowing that her time was near did.  There were no guarantees about life that they were aware of, other than the fact that they lived and eventually met an die.  Hopefully, whatever ends there were out there in store for them all were honorable.  Some, she knew, would not.

With a rough shake of her coat, she also shook the morbid thoughts away.  Whelping was something where all cards and bets were on the table.  And if Tonravik thought that time was near, then she would not trouble her by encouraging her to go elsewhere.  So with some note of resignation in her posture, Echelon opted to wind in close to her again, a low whine lodged in her throat as they retreated back towards the den to rest.