Wolf RPG

(Open for any SC wolves! :-) )

Stress worked with tired hands on Tuwawi's nerves, and dreams soon took her after the questionable acceptance from Fox the evening prior. It was a restless sleep, and the new Kappa struggled to stay under throughout the night. Her temporary bed was a makeshift patch beneath a thicket of bramble... uncomfortable and scratchy, but it would do for the time being. This, coupled with the pressure from the Alpha, caused her marble eyes to snap awake at dawn. The red creature willed herself back to sleep, but all efforts were futile. Rest would have to wait.

She sprawled out, stretching this way and that to limber up. Her fur bristled, freshly disheveled from an awkward sleeping position (bed head was a constant issue), as her nose swept the air for signs of life. Tuwawi would have to tread carefully during Swiftcurrent's fragile state, taking caution to fly beneath the radar as to not illicit the Fox's rage. Her flame licked shoulders rolled at the thought, a look of discontent painted on her mug.

The day was fair and offered a fresh morning. Njal was probably attending to his own responsibilities, and so Tuwawi thought it best to head off on her own. Perhaps exploring the creek would be a good start.

Morning found Jinx breaking her fast on a frozen vole carcass. Of the twelve voles whose skulls she had stripped to form her offering circle in the Dungeon, she had cached eight or nine of their beheaded bodies. It did little to comfort her slightly plumper stomach, but it was better than nothing, and would give her some energy until she could afford something meatier.

She was situated in the middle of the creek's woodland, perched atop a thick log that had seen several summers of thick moss and as many winters of thaw. Its base was rotted, and so it was unstable, but that didn't seem to bother the Kesuk at all. She had just polished off the remainder of the vole, licked her cold chops, and bounded down from the log when she came upon Tuwawi wandering the pack land. She did so none too kindly.

For Jinx approached with her head angled toward the sky and her tail aloft, and on her face was an expression of ambivalence and suspicion. She knew nothing of Fox's altercation with Njal and Tuwawi's subsequent questionable acceptance. The yearling had been right to assume Jinx would also be miffed about a trespasser, and she had never seen Tuwawi before. In close enough proximity, Jinx identified her scent as essentially foreign. Her lips peeled back over her teeth as she boldly approached, intent on chasing off what she thought was an intruder.

But before she began a headlong charge in the other wooman's direction (damnit, how alike Fox she looked), she shot a query Tuwawi's way in a loud bark, though even as the question hung in the air she did not cease her approach: "And you are?"

Yay! I was hoping you would respond :)

The forest was quiet and serene until a thunder of footsteps on brittle ice betrayed the swift approach of another wolf. Tuwawi's scarlet lobes swiveled towards her aggressor, followed by a cold and sterling gaze. The she-wolf descended like an avalanche, riding on paws dark as pitch, with glowing molten eyes. Only a few leagues separated the two, and there was little time to glean any details beyond those that were distinct.

The Kappa braced herself with a surefooted grip in case her assailant decided to continue their charge. Familiar with the hostility of Swiftcurrent, Tuwawi assumed a submissive pose. Her body crouched low, hunched over while her inanimate tail draped between sooty hocks. A grimace of fangs appeared beneath a wrinkled expression, but it held a different meaning than Jinx's. "And you are?" the pale wolf rumbled in an accusatory tone, words dripping with the thickness of sap. Already, Swiftcurrent was proving itself to be a place of great dissent.

"Tuwawi," she replied plainly, "mm.. Swiftcurrent's newest." The fact that her arrival had been met with many grievances from Fox remained on a need to know basis. She didn't need, or want, two enemies by the first day -- it would be more beneficial to find an ally among the sharks. Delicately, her gaze drifted towards Jinx's face to better judge her reaction. "My first day here."

She would have relentlessly collided with the red-haired woman, had Tuwawi not been so quick to show submission. The display was enough to ease Jinx into a gentler trot that brought her close, but didn't result in impact. Being a wolf, she was conditioned to notice and accept these postures as harmlessness. Even an intruder on their borders that showed submission would be treated with mercy, albeit quite a lot less of it than a pack mate. Tuwawi wasted no time in introducing herself, with short and clipped sentences that reminded Jinx of a time when she had forfeit her own voice.

Jinx had since regained some, but not all, of her rationality.

The Delta maintained her posture of dominance, assuming the role with ease. It was not a domineering, insecure trait that made her show absolute dominance like this at all times. If anything, it was her upbringing. Nanuq had always maintained a scrupulous posture befitting a queen, and Jinx in all things strived to be like her mother. Nevermind the fact that said mother was far from her daughter's good graces. They were more alike than the Kesuk could ever know. Likewise, she took after her aunt, Siku, in more ways than one. Unfaltering physical command of subordinate wolves was one of them.

"Tuwawi," she repeated, as though to taste the word. All former hostilities had been dropped the minute the red-haired female showed deference, so all that was left was formality. Impish familiarity danced in Jinx's eyes, though it had little to do with the wolf and more to do with the moniker. She longed to ask if the woman had any relation to the pack's leader, since they looked so alike, but put it aside in favour of another question. "It means quick in my mother's tongue. How did you come by this name?"

Sterling eyes traced the alabaster woman's face as it neutralized, visibly appeased by Tuwawi's passivity. Her posture remained submissive, although she felt permitted to stand a little straighter after divulging her identity as Swiftcurrent to the Gamma. The red crested woman fell into the greeting rituals of their breed and reached out her muzzle to graze Jinx's pearly shoulder, breathing in her aroma to file it away in her mind; smells always resounded more than images in the long run. The wild traditions of their kind were no stranger to the kappa, having lived under Siku's regime in Seahawk. It was refreshing to find a wolf so fluent... unlike a few particular encounters Tuwawi had experienced earlier.

Jinx parroted her name with an inquisitive expression, which made Tuwawi raise a brow in an attempt to understand. "It means quick in my mother's tongue. How did you come by this name?" the pale she-wolf asked. A singular red lobe twisted as the question stewed in her mind... a question that perhaps was more momentous than she realized.

Tuwawi only knew of one family who spoke the Northern language: the Kesuks; a family which had many long and gnarled branches growing in opposite directions. There were those loyal to Nanuq, who was Warchief of Shearwater Bay and host to the religion of bear 'gods' and supposed 'dark magic' of every sort. On the other hand was Siku of Tartok, Nanuq's inky sister convicted of her brother-in-law's supposed murder. Now, Tuwawi stood at a crossroad... and suddenly she realized her answer's potential impact, for she pleaded fealty exclusively to Siku and shared her disdain for the wolves of the Bay and their teachings. She had met Nanuq on one account, and her followers, on many others through their alliance with Sterntooth's Kindred, and remembered a time when all of the Valley had turned on the swarthy daughter... chasing her and her ilk into the mist ridden mountains of the South. However the question still stood... was this wolf a daughter of the Bay or was she a sister to Tartok? Was she even a Kesuk at all? Not enough facts presented themselves for Tuwawi to make a solid assessment, and so she would have to tread carefully.

Her inky gaze slunk down the Gamma's body, feeling Jinx's hot eyes on her. The woman was of impressive stature, veiled behind lavish hair. "Mm, not by birth," Tuwawi answered honestly, shifting her weight from one side to another. She didn't know a lick of the foreign language. "It was given to me... as a gift," her sentences became drawn out, but she let a small laugh escape, "or perhaps out of pity. I was once apart of a different pack and went by Proudheart, but it was washed away in a flood." A small frown creased her creatures and stretched the blistered scar on her muzzle. "And before that, a different name. It was never my intention to own so many identities. And you? What is your name?" she offered a wry smile as she spoke, hoping to have steered the conversation in a direction away to avoid revealing her association to Tartok. However, it would depend on how insistent this woman was. Tuwawi was not skilled in the arts of deception, but she had mastered the ability to remain enigmatic to those she did not choose to keep close. However, perhaps some spark would ignite between the two, and forge them closer rather than apart.

If Jinx had suspected Tuwawi's involvement with her dark-furred aunt, she didn't let it on. Faced with a Tartok wolf, Jinx might have laughed, but wouldn't wish them ill will or think less of them for once following a murderous bitch. Siku was a point of contention in the Kesuk family, shamed out of her name more by (in her opinion) her family's rejection of her crap than by Siku's own choice. Had Jinx ever learned all the facts, she would still have sided with her mother, for raising Siku to any rank of recognition presented too many opportunities for a second betrayal. That had been abundantly clear in the authoritarian's treatment of her nieces and nephews, who had done her no harm, and could have been swayed from their mother's harsh opinions... Though she hadn't forgotten who had shown her Sos in the first place.

But, Jinx suspected nothing. She knew only of her own family, and so assumed Tuwawi must have been in the favour of some other Kesuk. Thus, she greeted the woman with a fond extension of her own snout, to preen the fur atop her head as she reached for Jinx's shoulder. The fiery wolf pulled back then, admitting the name was a gift, and apparently, one of many names.

Had she been older at the time, she might have recalled Kindred and its strange renaming ritual. Alas, Jinx had been only a small ball of fluff when Kindred had been a pack, and they had dissolved under the pressure of a flood. She didn't remember that, either. "It's not bad to have many names," she offered when Tuwawi expressed that it hadn't been in her plans to obtain so many. "I have but one: Jinx Kesuk, mambo of Shearwater Bay." Oh, had she known how Tuwawi might look down upon her for her practices and beliefs before uttering that so proudly!

A feeling of shared camaraderie was fleeting; smothered when Jinx confirmed her ancestry. Beneath a demure mask of interest and good etiquette stood a woman scorned by the white wolf's kin, seething like a wild viper. The unsolicited animosity towards the Mambo flowed liberally, accompanied by a sort of pity for a creature stitched and designed for unholy worship by the Kesuks... blood bathers and war mongers who thought everyone an enemy. Wolves who pleaded fealty to invented ursine gods and wished death upon those they hexed. A bloodline so deep in sin, that surely they would never be able to dredge themselves from it.

There was no shortage to Tuwawi's volatile opinions; crafted by her time in Tartok with Siku at the crux. The mountain wolves shared a sort of hive mind — feeding off one another as if they had grown to be a single dark beast. It was known that wolves of the Bay were marked enemies... and this one had seemed to stray too far from her ocean.

Tuwawi's masked face tipped upwards ever so slightly as a knowing look dared to reveal her sentiments. "Jinx Kesuk. Mambo of Shearwater?" The redheaded woman queried, correcting her appearance, "An interesting title... But what are you to Swiftcurrent?" If Jinx could have been inside Tuwawi's head she would have thought her asinine... but malice and pride were deep-rooted, and brewed its own unique poison. "Surely its guardian... you almost bowled me over," she laughed, offering a small wag of her cowlicked umber tail.

Tuwawi stood at a crossroad. She had promised fealty to Fox in order to prove her worth... in order to craft a life for herself and her husband, Njal. And what of their future family? The young they had planned to raise together? The fact that they now shared a home with a cult-like wolf of the sea offered no peace of mind to the Eta — but for a moment Tuwawi's conscious wavered. Jinx had done nothing (yet) to invite such virile feelings and, whether she liked it or not, they were sisters under Swiftcurrent's eye. Bound to the same responsibilities of pack protection. Tuwawi was a woman who was lawful at heart... but could she say the same for Jinx?

The only thing left to do was internalize her feelings and contain her misgivings. Once again, Tuwawi moved closer to inspect Swiftcurrent's gamma, as wolves often did. She moved down Jinx's side in a circular pattern, her nose tracing the scents on her hair along the way. A few scars nestled themselves away, blanketed beneath snowy fur — but it wasn't until Tuwawi reached her midsection that she stopped. "Oh," she uttered in a quiet surprise. The gentle bowing of Jinx's abdomen was unmistakable.

Oh, that Jinx could have been in Tuwawi's head. The opinion of her and her family, born from lies and heretic fears, would have been incentive enough to flay every last inch of flesh from the fiery female's body. There was little to hint at Tuwawi's inner thoughts, however, so Jinx was none the wiser to the other female's condescending opinion, and therefore showed no hostility. There was, however, something off about the way that Tuwawi acknowledged her, as if the woman knew something she probably shouldn't know, or thought that Jinx's position was something to be questioned... And though the Kesuk could not possibly know what the former Tartok wolf was thinking, she could sense something patronizing in the other's question.

It was for this reason that her temper coiled and writhed in her belly. Tuwawi's inspection of her went unnoticed, for Jinx had pulled her posture a little higher. Her stance was more rigid as she stiffened, the change slight but noticeable. "More than you," she reminded Tuwawi, not seeing any reason to justify the question with a more polite response. She could have said she was Gamma, but Jinx was a volatile creature, and petty. It was not like her to respond to something she perceived as condescending with any amount of politeness whatsoever.

It seemed, then, that they were both at a crossroads. While Tuwawi was busy considering how living in the same pack as Jinx was a bad thing (the Kesuk, after all, had never met the red-furred bitch in her life and could not be expected to understand any animosity if it presented itself), Jinx was busy considering turning her back and walking away without another word. Tuwawi had not verbally let on to any of her thoughts, so Jinx was only aware of what she perceived to be an inferior questioning her, but for her, that was enough to cry "disrespect" over.

Though, she didn't leave yet. Part of her was awaiting an explanation for being questioned. Perhaps it was as simple as not really knowing why Shearwater Bay had anything to do with Swiftcurrent Creek... But even if it was an understandable misunderstanding, Jinx had never been terribly reasonable, and put far too much emphasis on her homeland than anybody else did. It was questionable whether it being a misunderstanding would change her negative attitude at all.

When Jinx's posture stiffened Tuwawi retreated and abandoned her interest surrounding the Mambo's swollen belly. It was a poor moment to mention it, although the fact that she carried life cemented itself into back of the Eta's mind. A tang of envy stung the newly named Sveijarn, who was now bested in both rank and motherhood; unaware of Jinx's darker sentiments revolving around the growing fetuses.

The mood shifted when the Mambo appeared to pick up on her subversive tone. 'More than you,' Jinx said icily, unapologetic words expressed with flat inflection. Tuwawi's body shrunk in response, ears falling flat to the wayside as the bad taste in her mouth grew more foul. She didn't want to pick this fight. Not yet. "Mm, that is true," was all Tuwawi could utter to agree with that fact, as she felt adding more words would sound crass and further fuel the Kesuks's suspicion. However, Jinx lingered... noxious eyes hunting for something more for Tuwawi to give. Her tongue rolled over her nose indecisively, unsure what appeasement the Gamma sought. "Your responsibilities, I mean..." she started to explain, "...do you prefer to act as a guardian here? I used to be a navigator in a pack I was once apart of."

Her question was earnest now as Tuwawi attempted to reign in their tense exchange. Scarlet caped shoulders rolled into a full body shake, instinctively diffusing her own strained energy. A small wag off her tail gestured amicably, offering Jinx a bit more conversation, "most recently I hail from Neverwinter Forest... although... that pack is no more, as well." The group had dissolved upon Chakra's departure. It seemed to be a running trend in Tuwawi's life.

Tuwawi did well to shrink away, although Jinx probably wouldn't physically harm her. It was taboo to harm a pack mate, though the Kesuk didn't know when she started respecting the order of pack, either. It appeased her temper for her superiority to be acknowledged, though it was as much about her ego as it was her actual contributions. The red-pelted woman might have lost the Kesuk's initial favour, but if she kept her head low and bit her tongue, Jinx might find it in herself to one day forgive the wench.

"Its fighter," she corrected, for although she did wander the borders and act as sentry, Jinx's aim was never to chase away a threat. Should an intruder present themselves, she wouldn't follow on their heels with tame nips to goad them away. She would find their necks with her teeth and spill their blood upon Swiftcurrent's soil as a reminder that they were not a group to be trifled with. She said little else on the subject, if only because the title of "fighter" was pretty self-explanatory, and Tuwawi had brought up something far more interesting.

The last thing Jinx had ever expected, after all, was for Chakra Feralheart to abandon her pack. When last they met, the spider queen had seemed confident and powerful, two alluring characteristics that Jinx had admired. "That is strange," she mused with a thoughtful frown. "The spider queen left her web? It doesn't seem like her."

Swiftcurrent's gamma didn't linger on the topic of co-ranks — her short, clipped sentence offered little explanation. Fighter? The words seemed unpolished, and Tuwawi didn't know exactly what the role implied, even though the word itself was frank. Did this wolf only see herself as a weapon of destruction?

As Jinx's attention to the conversation switched, so did Tuwawi's. Chakra became the topic of interest, whom the Mambo referred to as Spider Queen. Even though her time in the pack was brief, Tuwawi had never heard their pale alpha be called that name, though she didn't think to question it. "I was sad to see her go. She was a good leader," finally, they found common ground in their opinion of the Feralheart, both considering the wild-born woman a figure of elite leadership. "I think Neverwinter's numbers dwindled too low... and she sought better purchase to the South," Tuwawi explained, "a few stayed in Teekon. I am not sure if the other packs know," though they would in time, when Chakra and her kin's scent faded from the grand wood. "I traveled North to Swiftcurrent, to join my mate Njal. Perhaps you have met him?" she asked. Njal had been present since Swiftcurrent's initiation... so it was possible.

"She gave me that impression," Jinx agreed, resisting the urge to compare the Feralheart woman to the Kesuk family she descended from. Chakra no doubt had differences in how she lived and how she operated a pack. Tuwawi took a guess as to why the spider queen had left, implying that the Feralheart queen's departure had been in secret, or at least, had been secret from Tuwawi. Either Chakra hadn't made her reasons for leaving public knowledge, or Tuwawi hadn't been close enough with the Alpha to know.

"Curiouser and curiouser," the Kesuk mused, as though she had forgotten Tuwawi was there at all. She hadn't, however, and proved it in the next instant by adding, "I got the impression she would die in that forest. I find it curious that dwindling numbers might discourage her enough to leave." After a moment of mulling over that, her pale shoulders lifted into a resigned shrug. "We all have our motives. Perhaps hers were more... Ambitiousss than that forest could fulfil."

Or perhaps Chakra had done as she had once done, and followed a different path that led her away from home. Perhaps Chakra would one day return to find her forest nothing more significant than any other forest. Should that happen, Jinx would be quick to find the spider queen and recruit her to Swiftcurrent's cause, if only because she respected her so much.

Tuwawi went on the mention Njal, which brought her lips up into a sort of grimacing smile. "Your mate is a fine warrior," she said, but I bested him in the end. "He obliged me when I was in the mood for a spar. He surprised me with his speed." More accurately, Jinx had a moment of naive misjudgement and assumed he was slow based on his boxier physique, but she was loathe to admit too much fault on her part.

Charka's disappearance was mulled over by the thoughtful gamma who commented that such an act was uncharacteristic of the forest queen. It was true her departure had been abrupt without much notice given... but it was also true that Tuwawi hadn't exactly been the most attentive subordinate. The ember had been prone to certain joyrides outside the territory, lulled by the wilds as she searched to fill a vacant part of her spirit. As a result, only a few bonds formed. Coupled with the latency of her membership, Tuwawi had never had the chance to harvest the fruits the southern pack sowed before each wolf went their own way. Yet the memory of Neverwinter and its alpha would always be synonymous in description; equal parts noble, fierce, and proud.

Tuwawi reclined to accept Jinx's opinion, as she had no suggestion for the Ferlheart's motives otherwise. "Mm, perhaps," she replied neutrally. Already the time since she had abandoned the bright wood seemed to have grown long. It was fickle that way... warped to its user's perception. In the blink of an eye it would be Spring... and in another blink Tuwawi would be gray and bedridden. "The Earth holds many opportunities for its children," she mused, "I am sure Chakra will discover another." It was true. Any creature ambitious enough would find success in this land — no matter how small the purchase. When one door closed, another always opened.

Njal had been found in this way, as had Swiftcurrent. Destiny was an intangible thing the Tartok pleged didn't put much faith in... but good timing, hard work, and a smart wit were all very real qualities no wolf should be without. Finally these attributes had aligned at last, leading Tuwawi to the creek pack and place she could name home. Her husband had been among the initiated, and a small glimmer shone in the red woman's eyes when Jinx remarked that he was a skilled fighter. "Mm, that he is," she agreed wholeheartedly, savoring the compliments but unaware that the outcome had not been in his favor, "he has always been a remarkable guardsman." Pride swelled in her chest, her own ambition growing swiftly. She need not stay lowest ranked for long.

With these thoughts on her mind, Tuwawi attention drifted to ways she might prove herself worthy. Her gaze wandered far off as she felt that the hour had arrived to depart; Jinx seemingly appeased for now. "I suppose the time had come for me to return to my patrol," she told the enemy Kesuk, wanting nothing more than to be dismissed and devoid of her looming presence despite the agreeable expression on her face, "... I have much to learn about this land." She turned again to Jinx with a nod of acknowledgement, as if asking for permission, smokey gaze tracing the woman's cheek, "I am sure we will see each other again soon." Then she turned away, figure draped like heavy silk, and disappeared between the evergreens to continue her exploration.