Wolf RPG

Valtyr's incident with the silver woman had been interesting and he found himself wavering closer and closer to her pack's borders. There was a familiarity to the woods that he couldn't quite place... perhaps it was their sight or smell... or perhaps it was their proximity to the glacier where he had once lived. He had never considered settling in the North, for his heart laid to the South, but a sense of unfinished business kept him here and urged the Sveijarn forth. He had been a drifter for quite some time and, honestly, hadn't planned on settling at any one place yet. It was the way things had always been for the young man and the way he thought it would continue.

He took a whiff of a nearby stump. Saena, he knew, recognizing her smell. Valtyr was surprised she still lived in this neck of the woods. He didn't know what was to happen next and so he idled for a bit and lurked around the perimeter of the territory, hoping that he might catch a glimpse of his old pack-mate.

The alpha den it seemed would remain an ill-fitted infirmary.  Both Scarlett and Saena had taken residence in the raggedy wolf's old domicile all the while Reek tended to their wounds.  The work was constant, yet fulfilling.  His days consisted of one great triangle; the caches, where he would take a portion from the meager amount of food they had stored for the coming winter— to the den, where he would drop food off for both his mate and dear friend while simultaneously checking their wounds for infection— and then back to the border, to patrol and keep the pack secure.  

Despite all the work, Reek wasn't complaining. In fact, he was gleeful. Having Saena back within the safety of the borders took a heavy load off of Reek's chest. While, to an extent he was guilty for rejoicing in her clipped wings, it was nice to know she was only a short walk away. Tangible and safe.

The day began to draw to a close and the sun settled low in the sky. Reek rounded the final side of his last triangle of the day before nodding off by returning to the border after dropping off yet another rabbit for his girls. He had only just begun his final patrol when he noticed the scent of another lingering close to the borders of the pack. Reek approached from the cover of brush with his tail held high: a clear indication of his position in the pack. Announcing his presence with a quick bark, he would allow the other to have the first word.

It wasn't long before Valtyr was found. However, it wasn't by the pale woman, Saena. Instead a murky-colored wolf emerged from the fading light of the darkened wood. He was an unfortunate looking man. Small, roguish, and thin with a few gruesome wounds littering a disheveled pelt. Most notably a crooked mark in the corner of his greying maw. Valtyr eyed him with a healthy dose of caution, wondering if the stranger had an unsavory attitude to match his appearance. Was he a guard? Or perhaps the omega?

Not wanting to offend the man, Valtyr stood his ground with a polite expression and neutral posture, but his eyed betrayed his first impression when the pack-wolf collected himself into a dominant posture. It was usual for any wolf to raise himself above a stranger within his dominion... but the ragged man poised himself like an alpha.

Val's tongue ran over his leathery nose, penny-copper eyes looking to the snow deferentially. "Thought I smelled a friend from my childhood," he told the stranger. "I haven't been in the area for a while... her name is Saena. Does she run with you?"

After deciding the newcomer was not a threat once he did a quick glance-over, Reek allowed his posture to relax. Especially after hearing him reference his mate by name.  Of course, he was unfamiliar and being so, Reek was slow to trust.  While he may have been a childhood friend, Saena rarely spoke of her past. Their conversations on the subject tended to stay around family and she had made no previous mention of friends. No doubt, with this stranger he would be wary.

"Of course she does!" he exclaimed, feeling the information safe enough to share.  "She'th my mate."  Normally he would have called her to the borders to patrol along side him, but she was in far to bad a shape to do any heavy moving. Getting her well again was the highest spot on Reek's list of priorities. "She had a bit of a run in down south... got roughed up a bit. She'th resting, but I can tell her you came by." He couldn't bring himself to trust the stranger enough to take him into claimed territory. "What's you name?" he asked, so he could relay the information as fast as he could.

"Mate?" Valtyr echoed with obvious surprise in his intonation. He had always known Saena to be an ambitious woman. She was social, outgoing, and driven as a child, while he had been a late bloomer. Settling down with a wife and family always felt like a far off ambition to the young Sveijarn, but it seemed his old comrade had done it decidedly. Admittedly, it made him feel a bit insecure. Should he consider laying down roots? All instincts pointed to the affirmative. A young man approaching his prime should surely think about being apart something greater than himself.

"Sorry, it just... caught me off-guard," he said with an awkward chuckle. "I guess when you leave for a while it's easy to forget life continues on without you. I haven't seen her in a long time." His gaze drifted over the alpha again, taking in his appearance in a new light... but it didn't help change his first impression, much. If anything, Valtyr became more critical of Saena's choice in a paramour.

However, his opinion was cast aside when the man mentioned some trouble. Valtyr's dotted brows pinched in concern. "Roughed up?" he asked, "is she okay?" He didn't expect to be privy to what had transpired, but asked all the same. "What's trouble is in the South? Anything a traveler should know about? Oh and... has her brother stopped by at all? Pura?" Realizing he swarmed Reek with queries, Valtyr offered a sheepish grin. "Sorry... don't mean to trouble you with all the questions. I've been on the road a while," he admitted candidly, "The name's Valtyr Sveijarn."

The surprise written across the stranger's face was obvious after a single look.  Reek didn't look into it deeply and simply assumed Val didn't find Saena the type to settle down so soon. In fact, Reek felt the same way.  She was beautiful, young, and lively.  She could have taken her pick from a sprawling line of suitors, drifting from man to man as she deemed fit. But instead, she selected him… a homely man who wore his heart pinned to his ankle. He didn't take Val's reaction as an affront to her decision or her selection of a not so physically appealing man; he tried not to think of that often.  

As soon as trouble was mentioned, Val's body language immediately shifted and Reek could see what appeared to be genuine concern.  A flurry of questions were shot in Reek's direction and he intended to address each of them as calm as he could after seeing his reaction.  Seeing the emotion tightly nit in Val's brow fostered a level of trust that he did not feel before. "It's good to meet you Val, I'm Reek."

There was a pause before he addressed his questions. "She should be fine," he answered.  "She's battered and bruised… a few broken ribths, but she'll pull through.  She's strong."  If he knew anything about his mate, it was that she was a fighter. No physical ties could bind her, injury or otherwise. Reek knew this.  "The south should be thafe for you, it's only me and her that have to worry.  We've had a colorful history with one of the packs down there, Redhawk Caldera… it seems they have a vendetta against our entire family."

"Her brother hasn't been around, I've never even met him if that says anything,"  he admitted this fact with a slight chuckle.  They had been together for quite awhile and Pura hadn't even dropped in for a single visit.

Valtyr nodded to acknowledge the alpha's introduction. However unsightly the man to be, Reek was proving to be cut of a generous cloth. He appeared friendly and an open conversationalist... something that was hard to come by in these lean times. More than once Val had been turned away from a pack's borders. Many preferred to be elusive and secretive. Tamerlane Divide, while a good temporary home, hadn't proven beneficial for a long term investment.

He frowned as Reek described Saena's injuries. She was, indeed, a strong and able woman - and so he nodded in agreement that the pale alpha would see the injuries through, no problem. Yet he raised a brow at the source of the squabble. "Redhawk Caldera?" he asked "Doesn't her father live there?" Though the Sveijarn was young during the time in Blacktail Plateau, he had learned a thing or two of the pack - and Saena's - history.

His weight shifted, knowing to not put much hope in Pura's presence. His mentor had a penchant to wander, though perhaps Valtyr hoped he had stuck near Saena. Their bond always seemed strong. "I should have figured," Val noted with a sigh, "I'm sure he's moved on from Teekon. Pura was never one for... pack life."

They got separated somehow, which led Tavi to double back in search of the stranger. When she couldn't find him she assumed he had wandered off. Maybe that he had gotten bored or lost, and didn't actually want to see Saena. It continued to be a point of contention for Tavi; she found it suspicious and odd that Valtyr would be a friend of their leader. Convenient. But when she lost him, she decided to just let it go - and headed back towards the Maplewood. She stopped abruptly when she heard voices though.

There was the strange boy, Valtyr! And with him was -- Reek? Oh, shit. Tavi instantly felt out-of-place. She had failed to protect the borders and now Reek was probably going to yell at her, or something. Having never met the male Alpha, Tavi did not know what to expect aside from what Ukko had casually mentioned to her. It was enough to make her apprehensive and uncharacteristically quiet, as she slunk closer. The two wolves seemed to be on good terms though - neither one was being aggressive, and Valtyr wasn't being chased out. 

Tavi let out a chuff, greeting Reek as she reached the two of them, and cast a questioning look at Valtyr, then one to Reek. What was going on?

The mention of Saena's parentage made Reek visibly grimace. The relaxed sway of his tail ceased. There were few wolves that spurned such a nasty reaction from Reek, but even though his shit-list was relatively short, he burned with a level of hatred that could make a man catch fire from only a foul look. Peregrine topped this unfortunate list. Despite never really doing anything directly to Reek (besides mauling him when it had been entirely his fault), there was no particular reason to hold on to this grudge. It was an imaginary feud, fueled mostly by Reek's own immaturity.

"Yep, that'ths the place," said Reek. His normally friendly features were marred by a deep scowl. They twisted in an ugly manner, even uglier than before (if possible).  But, thankfully, the nasty things he felt had little time to fester, because Reek's attention was ripped away by a chuff calling to both himself and the stranger upon the border.

Tavi. He knew little about her besides the fact that she was a new member, accepted into the fold by Saena. While the two were completely unfamiliar with each other, Reek did not let that interfere with how he regarded her. His scowl softened and his tail wagged gently behind him.  "You two friendths too?" Reek asked, beckoning for her to join him at his side.

Val's frown was short lived. Tavi, the silver guard he had met earlier, emerged from the treeline. The boy could only offer her a sheepish grin, a bit abashed that he had become separated from his escort and intercepted by the alpha. However, it appeared Tavi felt similarly. "We just met," Valtyr said, turning to his acquaintance as she moved to Reek's side. The brooding leader's facade was still spoiled by the thought of Redhawk Caldera, but brightened when his comrade joined the conversation. Valtyr's ear flicked thoughtfully, taking mind to inquire further about the pack politics between the north and south later.

"Tavi found me by the river and showed me the way," Valtyr explained, but the swarthy youth fell silent as he thought for a few moments. Concern for Saena still riddled him... and the thought of having a 'home base' was appealing to the traveler. "Perhaps this is a bit out of left field," he started tentatively, "but you wouldn't be looking for another set of teeth to join your lot, would you? I haven't settled for quite a while... and I it would be nice to have a place to call home." Val's head dipped, "I know the area well. Perhaps I could scout for you... at the very least, I'm a decent hunter," he said, offering his skills to the raggedy leader. Patiently, he waited for their reaction.

Tavi was nervous, and it showed slightly. Her body was more tense than it should have been, she licked her lips idly as if to speak but said nothing, and continued to watch the two wolves. When Reek asked his question she was preparing to shoot a response his way, but the boy spoke over her - and she felt a sharp pressure in her chest. Her tail lashed behind her body once, and after a brief but poignant look at Valtyr, she decided it wasn't worth the energy to get worked up about it. Having someone talk for her was one thing she didn't miss about home.

The boy rattled off more words, some which Tavi expected, some which flooded her ears and drifted through her skull like the wind. She watched Reek for his reaction and response, wondering if he'd allow this kid to join the ranks simply by merit of his friendship with Saena - something Tavi had yet to confirm herself. She looked to Valtyr and studied him for a bit; he wasn't a baby, but he was very young. His limbs were thin and wiry, and he had a racy build. How could he possibly be a good hunter without strength to back it up? Before she could stop herself, Tavi's commanding tone shot through the trees.


"Prove it." She was looking at Val expectantly, only realizing a moment later she may have cut off the alpha. The girl swallowed a sudden lump in her throat and cast him an apologetic glance (it didn't last long though). "I mean... Unless Saena vouches for him, he could be anybody." Why not test him? See what sort of skills (and kills) he could bring to the proverbial table.

It wasn't very surprising that Val wanted to settle in with the pack.  Winter had hit the Teekon Wilds fast and hard. All who had a brain sought shelter from it's icy grip. The environment certainly wasn't fit for life alone, and if one wasn't properly prepared solitude could be a death sentence. While their conversation had been perfectly pleasant so far, Reek had no qualms about turning Valtyr away and letting him face certain death on his own.  Just being a childhood friend to his mate wouldn't completely cut the mustard, he would have to prove his worth.

Upon mentioning he was a decent hunter, Reek felt a glimmer of hope for Valtyr's prospects. They needed all the hunters they could get, now more than ever.  He opened his mouth to speak, but he was already beaten to the punch. Tavi stole the exact words right out of his mouth; prove it. Reek did not consider it a rude thing to do, in fact he possessed few social graces himself, and he saw it as she was taking initiative in the wellbeing of the pack. It was a total brownie-points moment.

"Good call Tavi," shot Reek to his subordinate. Reek's gaze rested again on the prospective joiner. "You heard the lady, take uth out on a hunt."

Valtyr's calm gaze panned between the Maplewood pair, unchanged in its coolness even when the mercurial Tavi challenged his claims. However, the swarthy man was a passive creature and barely flinched when the alpha, Reek, beckoned him to abide. "Right," he answered affirmatively, "it's a fair ask." Yet, a small party of him shuttered nervously, wondering if he would be turned away if the hunt didn't go as planned. Winter was a difficult time for any creature and it was very likely there would be nothing around to snare. One rust-colored ear orbited into the valley and he loped away, pausing only to make sure his new acquaintances followed, with the purpose of finding the scent of prey.