Things have been a little off the last few days and it is then he realizes he hasn't seen--or heard or smelled, for that matter--Seana in a while. He tries to think back to the last time he saw her. The day he ran out to Scarlett. It had been brief, taking off with Tavi to search for the cat, but since then? He helped take Scarlett home as much as he could before he deviated with Tavi. He doesn't quite recall seeing her since. Her scent had diluted from the forest and the only other time he'd picked up on
@Reek had been with the new joiner. And that hadn't been a good time to ask about their other alpha.
Ukko notices the tension between his shoulder blades and in an attempt to shake it, he digs through a cache he had stored some leg over turkey. The snow covers most of it but he's able to pick through the dirt and locate it. He wrinkles his nose at the smell but it doesn't deter him, biting off a piece of meat. It's not his favorite but it'll do to tide him over for a while. The rest he considers taking to Scarlett but the growl in his stomach tells him otherwise and he devours what's left. Once there is nothing left over, Ukko works on covering up the cache as if nothing had been there in the first place.
Reek's head was simply spinning. His trip to the coast had set in motion a downward spiral of unlinked events that only served to add to Reek's growing misery. First, the death of his best-friend weighed heavy on his heart. Second, the incident involving Scarlett and the cougar served to play into Reek's paranoia. Third, his wife had yet to return for God knows where. And fourth... the mystery illness that burnt poor Pantleimon to his premature death was beginning to take root in Reek.
How could he have been so foolish? Having just recovered from the flu, his immune system wasn't ready to combat any foreign threat. He should have turned tail and ran as soon as he heard his friend's ragged coughs; but no, he stayed and watched him slowly succumb. Reek feared he would share the same fate. Alone, without his wife beside him.
For the first time in ages, Reek wept. A blended cocktail of fear, despair, and grief hit him all at once. But, the heaving soon passed and Reek slowly limped though the Maplewood in search of some sort of companionship. It wasn't long before he found Ukko reburying one of his caches.
"Got any more of that?" he mumbled. "I really need to eat my feelingths right now."
Ukko licks at his lips as Reek steps up, caught mid-dig when he jerks his head around to see the other dark wolf. It takes a moment to register the lisp, unsure of who he should be looking at, before he’s shaken his head and stepped over the remaining cache site. A disheveled mix of dirt, snow, and piss is all that remains while the boy adjusts his posture. Dominant, but subtle, keeping himself inches lower than the other.
“I don’t,” Ukko tells him, looking over the Alpha’s shoulder to see if anyone else tagged along. Something sour settles in the pit of his stomach, his ear twitching as he bites back the questions he wants to ask. “How is Scarlett?” he decides. He hadn’t seen her since the attack, wishing to give her space, but he feels the need to make sure she’s all right. Guilt turns to acid in his stomach, the turkey he’d nearly inhaled would have been put to better use.
Ears splayed down parallel with his skull in and disappointment and he hung his head low upon finding out there was no food left. He would need to find other ways to cope with his most recent batch of issues. Most of all, he wanted to be numb. Normally, Reek used humor to dull the harshness of reality, but nowadays he felt as if he had no jokes left in him. His only coping mechanism was dashed away to the wayside— but, maybe there was another way to deal.
A nagging thought tugged at the back of Reek's mind: Poppy. Just a bit... only enough to take the edge off, that's all. Arion's dance and downward spiral with narcotics played in his memory, but he wouldn't end up like Arion, he told himself. Perhaps later... and of course, it was only a thought.
"She'th rough," he replied, unable to hide his grim outlook regarding Scarlett. All that was left was the waiting game; he had done what he could, now her fate rested in chance and her own will to live.
Ukko’s lips twist when Reek answers his question. The answer is vague, concerning the boy that Scarlett might not come out on the right side. His jaw tightens, slowly blinks, and turns his face away dissatisfied with the answer. He’d gone so long already without one but he needs them. He needs to know Scarlett is going to be okay. That she’ll be back to herself and he could spend more time with her. He needs to know Saena is okay, and that she’s coming back, but when he can’t look at Reek, he doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do.
“Where is Saena?”
His head sweeps back ‘round, looking at his leader with his eyes narrowed. His tail twitches once, flicking upward at the base of his spine, but relaxes quickly. The tension between his shoulders strength, pulling together, forcing him to rotate his posture so he stands across from the other.
Ukko's frustration was wrought upon his face and made obvious by his body language. Reek huffed and felt the information he supplied, though vague, was accurate. It was hard to asses Scarlett's prognosis so soon, time needed to pass before Reek could venture into the territory of talking specifics with his pack mates. But, they didn't dwell on the subject of Scarlett for long. Ukko's gaze shot away and a pregnant silence set in.
He waited for Ukko to speak, and after a short while, another question was posed. "I don' know," he replied. Hints of sadness crept in the quality of his voice. His wife's whereabouts were still a complete mystery, thus adding to the miserable shit-show that was Reek's life as of late. "I haven't theen her thince she went after the cougar... I looked everywhere for her, but I couldn't find a trathe." His voice hitched in his throat. The tears he had managed to suppress earlier found themselves welling back up again in his eyes. There was no fighting the impending breakdown. "I fear... I fear—" was all he managed to sputter before collapsing to the ground in a sobbing wreck.
The moment Reek answers is the same moment he begins to fall apart. The seems give away and he notices the water spring to the other’s gaze before his own voice chokes and before he knows it, Reek is in a sob. Tears spill over and dampen the dark fur of his cheeks. Ukko takes a deep breath and then puts another step between them. The distance grows between them. He awkwardly stands there, usure of whether or not Reek wants comfort from him but the younger wolf can’t find it in himself to do so.
It has been two weeks since Saena had been missing. Two weeks since the cougar attack. His fur bristles, making his already large frame look even bigger with the advantage of his abnormally thick fur.
“So you give up?” the wolf spits, venom behind his teeth. “You don’t tell anyone. We could have helped search,” he adds. Tavi and he would have been more than happy but Ukko had kept his distance, wanting to give space to Scarlett in her healing. He hadn’t heard a word beyond that and when their numbers began to dwindle and Scarlett on the verge of death, Ukko isn’t so sure the other is fit to lead them. Not alone.
Not ever.
“Get up,” Ukko growls. “Take care of your wolves. Lead them.”
Ukko’s ears flatten against the back of his head, angling his face toward the dark wolf. His nose is dipped downward but his head is high. His tail tighten its curl around her spine. Darkened orange eyes bore into Reek’s features, hidden by the breakdown spelling out before him.
“Or step down.”
In a moment of weakness, Reek allowed himself to falter under his own emotional weight. It was inconsequential, he felt, seeing as Ukko was their gamma— and most of all, Reek saw him as a friend. To the pack and himself. He expected the consoling voice of a confidant, a slap on the back, or something born of kindness, especially from Ukko, who had as of yet not demonstrated an ounce of aggression toward the patriarch of the maplewood. The vitriol and venom behind his voice, however, did catch Reek off guard. His dry sobs ceased, replaced only with confused silence.
He was not giving up. Not in any way. Instead, he broke from the weight of trying too hard to keep things together. The two were so completely different, however, to an outsider looking in, it would seem as if it were the former. The death of Pantaleimon, the mauling of Scarlett, Saena's disappearance, their pack's dwindling numbers, it was all so hard to keep together. But, if nothing else, Reek found resolve in Ukko's harsh words. A bitter, angry, and resenting resolve that burned in the depths of his stomach.
Step down.
He was not power incarnate, and neither a dynamic leader or empowered speaker, but he led with his heart. He spoke to his subordinates like equals. He never craved power or control like his uncle before him, in fact, leadership had never truly been the goal in the long run. But, of this pack— his pack, he felt ownership. Forged from the ashes of Redtail Rise, the maplewood was his and his wife's alone. It was not the newbie's place to decide.
Returning to his feet with little grace, Reek glared back at his subordinate. Sorrow gave way into fury and low growl rippled from the depths of his throat. Despite his injuries and emotional state, he held himself high. Tail stood erect and ears shot forward, he postured himself in dominance. His answer was clear.
No.
I wouldn't have started two threads after this if I had known anything like this would have come up. #whoops. Also posting from my phone/work.
It does not take long for Reek to realize the gravity of the situation. The dark wolf scrambles to his feet with far more grace than his injuries allotted him. Ukko doesn't move while the alpha regains his posture and his dark yellowy eyes stare back. With what looks like all the dominance he can muster, Reek stands tall once more. The weakness Ukko witnessed seconds before now gone, and he feels a tug at the corner of his lips to see a wolf worth leading a pack. His own posture doesn't change, eyes narrowing with a slight quirk of his brow. The smile that formed upon his lips turn into a pleased sneer.
Reek would still be a heap on the ground.
Challenging the other wolf hadn't been in his plans for the day but in the moment, he knew weakness could not be afford in Phoenix Maplewood. Not with the absence of their other alpha.
Reek growls and only Ukko's ears twitch as if it's uncertain whether or not it had been heard. His lips lift and show his teeth, coated in saliva, but the younger doesn't make a sound. His tail remains curved above his spine but only his head dips, a fraction, as he waits to see what Reek plans to do. Every muscle tenses, bracing himself should it go haywire, but he doesn't offer an inch in his own decision making. A rumble forms deep in his chest, audible not even to himself, as he tries to calculate Reek's course of action.
Despite the sharp and throbbing pain in his shoulder where the poorly healing scab had torn, Reek felt a certain level of strength. He felt it as if it were an invisible force, working though his extrematies and pulsing outward, into both the ground upon he stood firm and in his gaze, transfixed on his adversary. There was a fire burning in his gut. One of tempestuous fury fueled by emotional upheaval. It would not be quelled.
He took a pained step forward, but he bit back a grimace and refused to let the pain show. This was delicate dance made from appearances and impressions. There was no room for weakness indeed. "Who the fuck do you think you are?" rumbled Reek, accompanied by a low and rippling growl. Righteous anger took hold.
"There'th something I don't think you understhtand, Ukko..." his name dripped off Reek's tongue with acidic venom. But, the betrayal he felt in his heart stung far worse than any foul or biting tongue. While warmth had wormed it's way into Reek's heart durning his tenure in Redtail Rise and Phoenix Maplewood, his blood in this moment ran cold. A familiar numbness took root and Reek fell back into old ways. "I have been here since the beginning. Before thith pack was even thith pack. I payed my dueth. Everything I have done hath been for the sake of my people, my family, and my wife. But you—"
"You ungrateful, little child. Where where you newbie? What have you done?" Reek let the question linger before speaking once more. "Stand down... and talk to me once you've gained some proper perspective on addressing your superiorths." It was unfortunate really, Reek had such high hopes for the plucky newbie he had accepted at the border, but those hopes were dashed with his attempt at posturing. However, if Ukko didn't want his reputation spoiled even further, he would do as he was told.
Ukko watches the fire blaze in Reek’s gaze, watches as his mind rolls before he can form words. The smile upon his own lips begins to fade and his face hardens. His frustration had gotten the better of him in a short burst and the wolf weeping on the ground is replaced by the wolf he met on the borders, that he’s seen throughout the pack lands, that—despite a few minor details—Ukko had been willing to follow. The emotion settling into Reek’s fire, however, doesn’t settle well. The pit of his stomach turns, biting back his words and remaining steady.
His own sunny gaze does not break and he begins to pick apart Reek’s weaker areas. The wound to his jaw, his shoulder, and the thin sticks he calls legs. Ukko doesn’t go for them, doesn’t make it easy for himself, and feels a pull of gravity. Fingers grip at his fur to tug him downward but he resists long enough to hear Reek spit venom. Heat travels through his veins, filling his body with something new, something Ukko isn’t even sure of himself. A growl rolls deep in his chest, this time audible, once the wolf speaks down to him.
Reek goes on about something that barely seems relevant, barely gives someone that worth of leading, that forces Ukko to lift a paw as if he might take a step forward. He teeters only a moment as the other continues, calling him a child and digging up what is presented to be imaginary. His eyes narrow, daring the other to come forward, before he feels it dash. The dark wolf doesn’t relax but his tail twitches enough to lower, as well as his head, but hardly an act of submission as his blood boil. As if Ukko could help what Reek spits out, that because he hadn’t been there from the beginning makes him any less important.
Ukko tightens his jaws as he bites back shouting everything he’s done for the pack, for his leaders, only to have his accomplishments belittled. The rumble turns into a whine; small, quiet. His nose tilts to expose his throat when all he wants is to expose his teeth, to show Reek his own weakness. The cold air bites at the open invitation, reminding him where he stands. The wolf remains silent, thinking better of his actions—for now.
Well this has certainly been a thread!
The tirade Reek unleashed had been completely emotionally charged. The sentiment behind it was corrupted by Reek's new impression of Ukko; a potential usurper, and most of all, a threat to last shred of stability he had in his life. It was a disappointment really, and even though Reek wanted to make Ukko feel useless in this particular instant, he had proven himself a valuable asset to the pack time and time again. A particular asset that Reek at one point even considered worthy of beta-hood. The words he spouted may have had no factual merit, but their intention was only to hurt: to spread the misery he felt in his own heart.
From what he could tell, the aggression that Ukko demonstrated relented (bitterly, of course). His head lowered and the domineering posture of the subordinate changed. A weak whine passed though Ukko's lips. Reek took a step forward and allowed his gaze to dig into his subordinate's skull, full-bore. Staring at the exposed throat, Reek wondered if he should quell the threat here and now, but ultimately decided that Ukko was still a member of his family. With what Reek thought as an act of mercy, he did not reach out and thrash him about. No, he let him be.
"
You disappoint me Ukko," he chided before turning away to leave. Scarlett needed constant care and Reek was more than apt to spend his time with a pack mate who was grateful of the services he provided. Sauntering off into the forest, he left his subordinate behind to think about the consequences of what he had done.
-Reek Exits-