Wolf RPG

Full Version: oregano gangster
You're currently viewing a stripped down version of our content. View the full version with proper formatting.
Coelacanth, Koi, and @Sixgill fanned out to comb the northeastern coastline, stopping periodically to rest or forage. There was a lot of, “Yes, go ahead and eat that,” and, “No, definitely don’t eat that,” commentary, but the ongoing dialogue was entirely nonverbal. Seelie had learned from her mistake of trying to keep the guppies too sheltered, but she was still overprotective and somewhat neurotic about losing them. The rules were simple (because puppies have problems with complexities):

a. always stay in view of the ocean
b. if you get separated, down-stay

Once Thresher was found, Seelie and Stockholm could start belatedly teaching the Six about basic navigation. Together, they could comb the coast and find their own unique landmarks to help guide them home. It was a rosy dream, but Coelacanth was either too optimistic or too dumb to disbelieve even for a second that it’d come true.
she had not expected to come this far again, where drageda reared against the skies forebodingly. erzulie, ever a proud beast, had never forgiven the wocha for his regard of herself and rosalyn. and they had not needed the pack after all, forging their own way forth and aligning with the former redhawk woman and her children.
now the harlot hunted along the bluff, searching for the small mammals that burrowed beneath the snow this time of year. her pelt had grown thick in response to winter, and provided a barrier to the lash of cold winds rising from the sea. her muzzle low to the earth, erzulie did not immediately note the figure in the distance, and when she did, it was to admire the shape of the dark creature; slimly built, with curious tufts to their raised ears. the two children that followed did not hold erzulie's interest as firmly, and soon she turned away from all three to continue her search for food beneath the drifts.
Moorhen had combed most of this section of the coast by now, and was doubling back to see if she had missed anything, or if Thresher had turned up in her absence. However, it was not the missing child that she came across, but Coelacanth and the remainder of her brood. Two if them, at least. The banded woman strode toward them on swift, determined paws, giving the strange woman a gimlet stare as she rejoined her family.

Still no Treasure? she said to Coelacanth, her voice gruff and low with tension. Her hawkish gaze could not meet the cerulean of her Aralez, but swept over the heads of Undersea's youth.
If Sixgill hadn’t decided to try to eat another inedible thing, Coelacanth might have noticed the odd, strikingly familiar female painted in a huntress’ stalk — but he had. The exact moment that Erzulie paused and glanced their way, a telltale gnawing sound had the Groenendael’s head whipping around to chuff gruffly at her son. Paired with the piercing eye she turned upon him and the swift stiffening of her stance, this was the equivalent of a stern, “I really mean it,” voice. After a moment’s stubbornness, the gold cloud boy released the tight clench of his jaw and unfurled his tongue with a dejected blep. A small, round stone rolled from his mouth as he propped his chin on his paw and huffed his offense, and the erythristic woman went utterly unnoticed.

“Still no,” Moorhen’s Shadow breathed mournfully, her eyes pinning down her third- and lastborn children with a flash of sorrow. Both puppies were incredibly fond of Moorhen and stopped their roving to flock to her, vying desperately for the banded female’s attention. Despite her worry, Seelie smiled, watching fondly as Six and Koi reared up, trying to lick fervently at their sister-aunt’s chin. “Nor `Io. Nor Rokig.”
the call of prey to be found resounded, but erzulie had turned back, curious as a second wolf joined the first. while this one lacked the featherlight appearance of the first, the harlot was charmed by the way the pups moved to her. tightly-knit, it seemed, and some part of her was warmed and made fearful by a sudden realization she herself was alone.
who were these wolves? they had not yet noticed her, and she was too far away to make their voices out. erzulie thought it prudent, then, to make herself scarce and began to move away, not intending to stop unless one of them paused her.
The news caused an unconscious bristling of the banded woman's spine, and this translated into slight gruffness as she greeted the children. They would be used to this rough affection from her, however, and the firm kisses and rough face nibbles would likely not seem out of place. "I will keep looking," she promised, finally daring to look into Coelacanth's dark face. She couldn't help but feel as though she'd failed the other woman. Somehow, finding Thresher would have balanced the scales between them, so that Moorhen would no longer be a ward but a protector in her own right. And the Aralez and Overseer had already given her a new rank, had practically told her she would go out and suceed in bringing their lost child back -

but she still hadn't. And now Seelie was off the island, and that felt wrong.

"Peace home," she begged, feeling ashamed to have made Coelacanth come after her. As soon as she said it, however, she knew that this was a selfish request. "Be careful," she amended, but by her tone, Coelacanth would likely discern Moorhen's discomfort with her being out all alone. But Moorhen had only known her as a homebody, and not as the wanderer she had often been in days past.
Koi and Sixgill basked in Moorhen’s roughhewn affections, jostling one another with drunken exuberance until at last their greeting devolved into a vigorous wrasslin’ bout. The former Aralez watched lovingly as they tumbled and rolled a couple of meters away, Koi’s ear in Six’s mouth, Six’s paw in Koi’s mouth, like some fluffy, misshapen ouroboros. When Moorhen spoke — a staunch, “I will keep looking,” — Seelie met her sister-daughter’s bloodred gaze with a soft dog-smile-squint and flashed her feathered tail with an air of warm goodwill. “Good girl,” she breathed as gently as she could, outstretching her muzzle to kiss the girl’s cheek, the corner of her mouth, the hollow of her chin. Her smiling mouth quirked even more visibly at the echo of her usual greeting, “Peace home.” She misinterpreted it, believing that Moorhen was announcing her own intention to go — but the concern that stirred intently in those ruddy mahogany eyes helped decode the sentiment.

With a firm nod, “Careful,” Shadow echoed, very solemnly, finely-sculpted head tilting to the side as a soft, lilting whine of invitation stirred in her throat and wisped from her nostrils like dragonsbreath. “Moorhen wish come?” she asked more explicitly, for there was always room in Seelie’s life for the banded Cairn, and if the Agarwaen was fresh and not too tired, the sheepdog would welcome her company.
A tiny frown tipped down the corners of the raven's muzzle when the Shadow declared her good, but Moorhen knew that this was simply her way; Coelacanth could not fathom her loved ones anything but wonderful. She was grateful for this, in a way, even if it sometimes led to situations like the one with Aditya - Moorhen sneezed at the thought and decided to take her leave, ears flapping like a bat's wings at the Shadow's question.

"I will keep looking," she repeated, her voice apologetic. There'd been some kind of disconnect, she realized, but it seemed like a waste of time to try and puzzle it out. Instead, Moorhen moved as if to turn away from the trio, only to find herself physically incapable of leaving the island's heart out here all alone. With an irritable grumble, she turned toward Coelacanth and the children once more. "... I will come."
Coelacanth’s ears fluttered apologetically, their tufted tips touching down lightly upon her nape as Moorhen turned away from them, but her face didn’t broadcast disappointment — only the lonely sort of love that was her trademark. In the end, though, the banded raven retraced her steps with a disgruntled rumble — and Seelie, accustomed to Moorhen’s various moods and modes, glossed past the grumpiness with a delighted attempt to kiss the girl’s shadowed cheek. She fell into step behind the two puppies and beside the Agarwaen, and without preamble, she said mournfully, “Faeryn leaf Undersea.” It wasn’t a question of loyalty for Coelacanth, who didn’t have it in her to doubt the blue she-wolf, and she still couldn’t help the selfish inclination that she could control this somehow — that it was about her leadership methods — and that she had some hand in driving all the others away, too.

Thinking back on Faeryn’s farewell, Coelacanth turned to Moorhen for succor (never mind that the prickly Cairn was scarcely more verbally savvy than she!) and gently pressed, “Faeryn ‘missing something,’” a troubled shadow dimming the seasparkle in her eyes. She cocked her head to the side to regard the girl with a wondering expression. Aside from the obviously missing Thresher, “Moorhen too ‘missing something’?” she asked, her quizzical posture popping a question mark at the end of her silky susurrus. She did not pause, and the measured clip of her steps did not cease, but made it clear that she prioritized Moorhen’s answer enough to lift her hawkeyed stare from her wayward puppies for a prolonged moment.
Moorhen was watching the pups enough for the both of them, which is probably why she didn't really understand the question. Also she's just a dumbass. Her ears flickered irritably at the mention of Faeryn's departure, but she knew better than to say anything against the woman to Coelacanth. And, when pressed, she could only think of one thing that could possibly be missing.

... Thresher.

Sometimes, Moorhen really didn't get Coelacanth. At times like this, she couldn't help but think about the Shadow's love for Doe and wonder... well, what was wrong with her? Why did she break her heart over those that were unworthy to receive her love?

But then Moorhen slanted a glance in the older shewolf's direction, and her expression melted into something tender and indulgent. At least I guaranteed her a place in Seelie's heart. Gone is not really gone, she offered lamely. You think that I was gone. But I um... just somewhere else. It was no great comfort, but it was something. Thresher was not with them, but no one was simply gone.
“…Thresher.”

That hurt, but the pain was not new — it was just another wave in a deep, rolling sea of grief, so the sheepdog did not flinch. On the bright side, if Moorhen wasn’t missing anything, then maybe she would defy the odds and stick around. The unlikely pair had already defied so many odds to get to this place, shoulder-to-shoulder, and Seelie shifted to walk closer still to the wolf who had once been a tiny seashell. She rubbed her cheek against the banded raven’s thick collar of neck ruff.

The wolf in Seelie understood and appreciated what Moorhen was trying to say. After all, Cortens were notorious wanderers. The sheepdog side, though — and the mothering side! — protested mightily. Maybe that was why she’d chosen to make her home on an island. The boundaries were clearer and it was easier to count heads in such a confined space. “Happy,” Coelacanth whispered, tucking her ears back as she nuzzled warmly at the crest of Moorhen’s withers, rising up on tiptoe to do so. “Happy with you — happy you come.” She stopped indulgently as both puppies doublebacked to scrabble against her and Moorhen’s forelegs, lured by what they thought was a game waiting to happen. If ŭmma and Moorhen were doing something, Sixgill and Koi wanted to be included — they both had serious cases of FOMO.
How did I not realize it was my turn in a thread with only two of us?
Moorhn could not help but soften in the face of Coelacanth's affection. She loved the woman dearly, and found more to like about her every day. They didn't always get along or see eye to eye, but Moorhen appreciated her more than ever as she grew out of her adolescence and found herself wanting for companionship more than a caregiver. The inky seawolf had proven herself in both roles, and Moorhen hoped to be the same strong tower to her.

The kids came tumbling back to them, and Moorhen - seeing what had excited them - copied their mother's gesture with a little more violence, grizzling and gently gnawing at the loose skin of their scruffs. Her tail whipped eagerly as they played, and she tossed Sixgill carefully to the side (into Coelacanth's side, rather) as he tried to defend his sister's honor. Koi was next - Moorhen unhooked the girl from her ankle by sneezing in her ear, and the drew back snickering to circle behind Coelacanth, entreating the other woman for back-up.
[tackles lovingly] Want to wrap this one up so we can focus on our current one? ♥

Coelacanth’s trust in Moorhen was absolute. It feels like I’ve said this before, possibly multiple times, but I don’t care. I’m going to say it again. She didn’t bat an eyelash when the banded raven began to roughhouse with her puppies. In fact, she joined in with surprising eagerness, using the bridge of her muzzle to “throw” Sixgill and Koi forward with surprising strength. She took her cues from the larger female, but added her own spin on it, teasing at Sixgill and Koi’s tufted ears with harmless little nips. Beneath it all was an honest vow, though — a desire to guard and protect Moorhen as ardently as the Agarwaen guarded and protected the rest of the pack.

Once the children began to tire, their amateur feints and lunges growing sloppy and haphazard, Seelie soothed them to a stop — and with Moorhen’s help, she shepherded them east to continue the search for their missing littermate.