The day began as any other. The sun still rose in the east and songbirds still announced its arrival shortly after as they always did. However, Reek felt a change in the air left lingering after their claiming howl; a static energy. Of course, nothing had physically changed within the grotto, but Reek felt a tad different. This place— it was now undeniable in it's ownership. The surge of pride Reek felt at their claiming ceremony hadn't fully left— in fact, he never thought it would. With claiming the grotto, he proved to himself he could move forward, that life could still plod on.
Reek rose from from the place he had laid his head the previous night and set out into the central reaches of the territory. There, he walked the banks of the crystal blue lake with little purpose other than to enjoy it's beauty. For a moment, Reek entertained the brief thought of going for a swim. It had been so long since his body had graced water, but a nip still hung in the air— and in the water lurked a bitter chill.
However, the cold did not stop him from submerging his forepaws in the frigid water to take a long drink.
Ditty was pleased with his progress for the pack so far, even though he hadn't done all that he wanted to just yet. Mostly, he hadn't recruited all the wolves he wanted to recruit so far. While that was disappointing, Ditty wasn't going to let himself be downered by it — he'd either pull Chubby McChub over the line or maybe that Drag girl would return. And besides, the pack was doing well even though they hadn't all been recruited by him. Ditty still wasn't convinced that this would be the perfect home he was looking for, but it was a good start.
When he noticed Reek dipping his paws into the water, Ditty said to himself, "Oh boy, what a great idea!" and without further ado he started to galop towards the water.
Though he wasn't very hefty or large, Ditty was still quite the force as he crashed into the water. He sprayed water everywhere as he whirred in right beside Reek, likely getting his Alpha soaked in the process, too. Unfortunately once he realised how cold the water yet was, it was too late to pull back and he plunged into the waters, submerging fully.
Reek found comfort in the stillness of the morning. There was nothing more calming, he thought, than beginning his day with a stroll. It had always been his routine in the maplewood to begin his day at dawn, before the rest of the pack awoke, to start his morning right with a patrol, but with the borders freshly marked and caches filled, Reek found his time occupied elsewhere. He pulled his mouth from the water, droplets dribbling back from whence they came, before turning back to continue he plodding lap around the lake.
Ditty's approach went unnoticed until he was already upon him. As Reek's body turned to leave, his gaze caught Ditty barreling in his direction. Reek froze; his brow lifted in confusion. Without taking into account the cold, Ditty barreled right into the lake in a magnificent display. A shower of icy cold water fell upon Reek and he was chilled to the bone. His fur ruffled, however, his response was not out of anger, but surprise.
Reek shuddered, shivering. "Fuck, that's cold," he declared, attempting to shake his pelt dry all while stiffling a wheezing laugh. How Ditty must have felt, fully submerged, Reek couldn't even fathom. "You alright?"
"HhhhhaaaaaaaAAA!" Ditty squealed when he emerged above water and quickly turned around to paddle back to the shore. Damn, that was cold! He looked at Reek — who was pretty wet, too, though not as much as he — once he reached the shoreline and shook his fur (a bit too close to Reek, perhaps). "Sorry!" he blurted out when he realised that he'd wetted Reek, too, in his unfortunate attempt at swimming. Ditty started to shiver, cold from the water, and so he promptly threw himself at the ground to roll in the grass and sand to protect himself from hypothermia.
Everything smelled like spring, everything looked like spring, but damn, it sure wasn't spring just yet as far as the water was concerned!
After her semi-scarring (ego wise) encounter with Tavi, Jhala scouted through the territory as she attempted to get a feel for the place. She had just discovered everything in PR, now she had to go through the whole process again. Whatever, it was her own fault.
As she went, she picked up Reek's strong scent. She followed it eagerly, genuinely hating the feeling of being so alone in her own pack. She wanted a family, friends- she needed a backbone. She saw him, standing half in water and drinking. Wasn't it cold? Did he not care? She stepped forward to greet him when a wolf that closely resembled a cheeto whizzed by. He practically dove into the water, spraying water everywhere- including onto Reek.
Stunned, she held back for a moment, but seeing that Reek was so OK with the situation and not at all angry, she moved forward, letting out a greeting bark. The girl remained just slightly lower than Reek, remembering her Porcupine manners all too well. She smiled, her warm amber gaze flickering to each men with interest.
Watching as Ditty flailed about like a drowning rat, Reek found his laughter uncontainable. On his end, the cold was manageable— easily ignorable even, especially when there was such a distracting show drawing Reek's attention away from the numbing cold that creeped though his extremities. As Ditty scrambled to shore, Reek followed, sniggering all the way.
Showered with yet another barrage of droplets from Ditty's shaking form, Reek shrugged it off. His apology -- though welcome -- Reek deemed ultimately unnecessary. "You're fine Dit," he reassured. "Shit was worth the laughs." For a time, Reek had felt short on laughter. It felt nice to have a happy moment.
His attention, however, peeled away with a bark of greeting. Gaze trailing away from the rolling coywolf, Reek found Jhala standing a short distance away. Noting her smile, Reek smiled back. "Jhala!" He exclaimed. Pointing with his muzzle down to Ditty as he rolled he asked, "Have you met Ditty?" without considering the compromising/embarrassing position he was in.
"when a wolf that closely resembled a cheeto" lmao <3
Even though being wet and cold sucked, at least Reek wasn't mad. He easily shrugged off the apology off and Ditty's tail wagged a cheerful beat while he rolled round in the sand, creating a flapping sound against the ground. He felt much better after having rolled in the sand, even though he looked like crap now. But he knew that all he could do about that was wait for the sand and water to dry up so that he could easily shake off the debris. But at least he wasn't gonna die of hypothermia.
Another wolf approached and Ditty came to his feet again and looked at her. She looked very respectful, more so than Ditty's manners dictated, and he easily approached her. Gosh, she was so tall, bigger than him even! He totally digged that! Ditty pressed his nose against the fur in her side to exchange scents (though, well, he'd probably smell mostly like sand and water), not inhibited by personal boundaries whatsoever.
"Sup, Reek," the girl greeting, her head raising slightly. Reek did not seem to be bothered by a lack of postural respect. Her lowered form and tail wag seemed to mean little to him, as he brushed it off and greeted her with more enthusiasm than she'd heard in a while. He did, however, return her smile, and Jhala appreciated his kindness. She turned to said orange wolf, sopping wet and goofy-faced. Ditty was his name it seemed, and it was a pretty fitting name. She wasn't sure Jhala was an appropriate name for herself, it seemed to formal, but she'd never known anything else.
"No," she began, "I've only-" her response was cut short from shock as Ditty shoved his nose into her side. She stared at Reek with a wide pair of amber eyes before she hesitantly touched her nose to his own shoulder. He smelled of sand and water, as predicted, and she did her best not to scrunch up her nose. She did get a bit of his own scent though, and remembered it for later on. She inched away from him slightly, closer to Reek, mostly out of confusion. She then let her tail wag comfortably behind her, showing she was honestly totally okay, just confused. "I've only met Tavi," she finished, looking to her new alpha with a fond expression.
Ditty took little time in making Jhala's aquiantance by pressing his nose to her side without warning. Jhala looked a bit phased, as she reciprocated with a bit of hesitation, but she otherwise seemed nonplussed. Reek nodded with brow quirked high. "Glad to— uh, see you two are hitting it off," he quipped, chuckling lightly. Was love in the air? 'Tis the season. Reek found it funny that -- seeing as they hadn't even exchanged words yet -- he wanted to smash them together and say 'now kith.''
Jhala, pulling away from Ditty, made her way closer to Reek. He allowed his tail to wag in tandem with her's; comfortably and happily. She meantioned Tavi and Reek smiled. "Ahh, so you've met my—" he paused, face scrunching. He didn't exactly know what to call the relationship he shared with Tavi. He couldn't call her his mistress anymore. She was no longer the other woman... She was more or less the woman at this point. Still, they had put no labels on it -- and with Reek's failures with commitment -- perhaps it was better this way. "—Uh, partner," he quickly added as an addendum.
Ditty didn't even notice that the girl was phased by anything he did; he just didn't understand personal boundaries very well and though it had gotten him in trouble in the past, he had not learned much from it, except on a personal level what wolves he could and could not get close to. "Hi, I'm Ditty!" he said after the exchange of sniffings, with his usual enthusiasm radiating from his words.
"I'm usually like, a lot more handsome-looking," he explained, knowing that his fur was normally soft and fluffy and had a really cool shade of stuff, if it wasn't drenched and then sandied up. The stumble of words Reek provided went mostly unnoticed to Ditty.
Although Reek's comment rushed right over the foxy head of the other beside her, it was fully comprehended by Jhala- perhaps a little too far looked into as well. She felt her face run red, cheeks burning with embarrassment and guilt. What about Anwyl? her blood shrieked as it pounded through her ears. But Reek did not know, and she could not find a way in the brief moments she had to respond to tell him what she was feeling. It didn't really matter, anyway. "Jhala," she half-mumbled in response to Ditty, her ears at half-mast as her tail wagged with uneasiness. His next comment, however, raised her spirits a little as more of his (seemingly) crazy personality shone through. "I bet," she woofed, a little louder this time, her bright smile flashing briefly.
The dark girl looked to Reek, her head tilting. "I'n't that how it works?" she asked, her head falling to the other side. She glanced to Ditty, wondering if he had caught on to the awkwardness that Reek had just sputtered, but he seemed unfazed. "Sorry- that was probs a lil' ignorant, I don't think my old alphas were mated and stuff," she added, hoping her comment would've saved her. It didn't help much had he known the full story. Capri had mentioned that Taggarik had cheated on her- well she'd said chosen- with Vuk. Maybe it really didn't matter.
Catching Jhala's gaze, Reek felt a nervous jolt work its way though his body. He supposed that was, in fact, how things typically worked. He could see why the others would think that he and Tavi were a mated pair; in a way, Reek had already begun living as if they were— just without the label attached, that's all. "I guess so," he responded with a shrugging roll of his shoulders. After all, to steal the words out of his ex-mate's mouth; only the alpha pair should share genitals with each other.
However, her statement was quickly redacted to which Reek responded with a jovial, "Oh, you're fine. No harm done!" Reek shook his head and smiled. "Our story's a bit more complicated though," he explained. Though fond of stories, it was one of which Reek had neither the time nor the emotional capacity to relay in detail. Instead , Reek simply stole a sly glance at both Ditty and Jhala. "But, between you guys and me..." he continued, voice dropping into a pseudo whisper. "I fancy her a good bit." Of course, his overall goal with Tavi was to move on and start over, but there was still a good part of Reek that knew he could never bring himself to love her in the same way he had Saena.
"Oooooooh!" Ditty said excitedly when Reek said that he fancied Tavi. He'd expected it, truthfully, especially after hearing the juicy story of their being kicked out, but to have it confirmed was still rather exciting. Not only because Ditty loved gossip and rumours, but also because love meant puppies and Ditty adored pups.
Perhaps not the safest one to tell these kind of rumours to, Ditty's tail waved in excitement as he said, "You guys mates yet?" Well, probably not, because of the way Reek had said it, but you never knew. "Will there be pups this spring?" Unaware of the sensitivity of the subject.
Ears perked from both listeners, and Jhala's tail began to wag happily. This was good news to her, she liked having a secured alpha position, it made the pack feel more whole to her. Ditty however, didn't seem to know when to stop. Although Jhala could often be found asking an abundance of questions, somehow she felt that this was a sensitive topic and should probably shut up. The flaming wolf dove into a handful of questions with wide eyes and wagging tail. The ears of the dark girl fell slightly, and although she smiled it was a bit embarrassed for her packmate. She was curious as well though, and therefore didn't add anything more to the conversation in case she hindered his answers. Better Ditty take the blow than she did had Reek been uncomfortable answering anything.
As a creature who felt little shame, it took a lot to make Reek uncomfortable in a social situation. However, Ditty's meantion of pups unsettled Reek in a strange way. Of course, the coywolf was at no fault -- he didn't know of the family Reek had left behind in the Maplewood, nor the pups that would soon be born without a father. A lump formed in the back of Reek's thoat. He opened his mouth to speak, but only sound that passed his lips was a dry wheeze.
"Uh— No," he answered. The more Reek thought about it, the more he figured he wasn't made for mateship. His selfish desires had already destroyed two, and after seeing what he had done to Saena, Reek didn't want to put Tavi through the same amount of pain. "We haven't put any labels on anything," for now, that was how Reek intended to keep things. He enjoyed their fun. He enjoyed her company. Why ruin it with making things too serious?
As far as pups went, there was a distinct possibility. Their affair had taken place right in the height of Tavi's heat, however, Reek discounted the possibility of a pregnancy taking place with denial and naivety. "Probably not this spring, but who knows?" Reek rolled his shouders forward in a shrug. Of course, he had always wanted a family, but after destroying one, he was unsure if he would ever be ready for that sort of responsibility.
Reek's answers were all very non-committal, but Ditty knew that something was brewing and surely, he expected there to be pups around, well, sometime soon. Ish. Maybe. Who knew. Turning his prying eyes towards Jhala again, Ditty was quick to ask, "What about you? You looking to settle down sometime soon? Pups on your mind?" He waggled his eyebrows inappropriately after asking these questions. Ditty was completely unaware of how uncomfortable he had made Reek and he was equally unaware of how he might make Jhala uncomfortable by putting her on the spot as he did.
He had no filter. He threw questions at Reek that even a yearling such as Jhala could see were inappropriate. She lowered her head slightly as she looked to Reek with a weak tail wag, as if to say 'WOW I'm sorry that- this is my packmate damn- I feel obligated to apologize for him'. When the questions were rounded on her, the dark Epsilon had no words for him. Her head raised and her ears fell backwards. She thought to Anwyl- briefly- before she shook her head wildly. "I don't know... about... me having puppies..." she muttered awkwardly, changing what she had wanted to say twice as she said it. Truthfully, she wasn't even sure how to have pups, much less did she think she could right now.
Ditty barely realised that he was the cause of the awkwardness. He didn't take long to ponder about the situation before getting distracted again. "See ya later!" he excitedly squeaked, and then he ran off to look for more treasure, leaving Jhala and Reek be for now.