Wolf RPG

FitzDutiful had been accepted and extreme relief had echoed in him. As he meandered through the pack lands he took a moment to recap on that moment.

It had been a fearful encounter - the first time he had ever had to seek acceptance into another pack but, luckily, everything had gone well. He had explained his name to his leader and done reiterated (several times) that he would do everything he could to uphold all his duties in his pack (and no doubt at the expense of himself). He had joined and felt proud of himself for doing so, until he realised that he had never expressed what he wanted from the pack.

Realising that he was going to take a while for him to fight against this part of his nature, he had found himself a temporary den for the night, under a bush, and set out in the morning for an exploration patrol. Sniffing out the borders, the light-coloured wolf had trotted around half of the lands for most of the day, spending time to make sure that it was a job well done. Now, as dusk was among them he spent a brief time pondering whether to continue or sleep before deciding to make his way towards the mountain range where he would seek shelter for the night.

The Alpha male was restless. She's an Outrider, he reminded himself. She's a wanderer at heart and she can take care of herself. Still, Osprey was young. She needed the protection of a pack. And no matter her duties, disappearing for days on end was both unusual and unacceptable.

Then there was the matter at the heart of the issue. He still needed to talk to his young daughter and figure out why on earth she'd exploded at Fox. She and the other kids had accepted his mate without qualms. Was this latent jealousy rearing its ugly head? Was she acting out because of her mother's recent behavior? Peregrine couldn't be sure until he spoke with Junior herself. And he couldn't talk to her if she was avoiding the plateau (or, more likely, him personally) like the plague.

He made a noise of frustration and stopped pacing long enough to flex his lion-like paws into the soil underfoot. It was almost dark and more than twenty-four hours had passed since Junior's flight. He would give it another twenty-four hours. If she didn't come home by tomorrow night, he'd hunt her down the following morning and insist they talk about it. Hopefully, they could work out the issues at hand.

In the meantime, he turned and prepared to find either Fox or Lasher; he needed company and comfort. Instead, he found a stranger. Peregrine blinked, his nostrils flaring. The male bore the pack's signature scent, though he was definitely fresh blood. The Alpha male's tail rose and he craned his head as he approached the stranger. He hadn't anticipated this type of distraction but he welcomed it.

"Evening," he said, betraying none of his inner turmoil. "I'm Perry, the Alpha male. Who are you?"

As Dutiful walked towards the mountain he saw another wolf on an intercept course. He had intended to just give a nod of the head and carry on with his patrol, but the other wolf approached and, dutifully, FitzDutiful waited for them to speak.

"Evening sire," he replied, realising that one of the other leaders approached him from their dominant stance (and then echoed in their words). Respectfully Fitz's body was lowered, and his muzzle raised to look up to his alpha male. He drew his ears back, automatically, and his tail found a life of its own and lowered itself as his back arched slightly. Never, ever, dismiss respect. That was pack duty (and was more likely to guarantee you kept your life).

Now to answer the question: "My name is FitzDutiful, sire, at your command." All opinions of how he was, once again, being true to his namesake and going overboard with it weren't going to appear now. He was just being himself. It would be a retrospective view on this meeting that showed him how, yet again, his duty had come above all else. And that would, once again, cause inner turmoil as he would wonder whether he was missing out on something, whether being dutiful could be a detriment.

Never in his life had Peregrine been called sire. Although the title made his lip twitch in amusement, he almost immediately decided he hated it. He might be a king but being addressed as much wasn't his style. It was overkill.

After the second repetition, he said, "Please, call me Perry." His tail switched and he regarded the newcomer approvingly. "'Dutiful,' huh? Is that one word or two? And is that the name your mother gave you at birth?" he wondered, black head tilting.

Keeping his posture, Dutiful made quick glances towards the blue-green eyes of his alpha that were embedded in a dark charcoal setting. "As you wish," he responded when Perry requested that he was called so.

His name came up and for the first time in his life FitzDutiful found himself explaining his naming conventions and a part of his family history as casual conversation. "FitzDutiful," (a subtle correction) "All one word. I'm... I don't think my mother gave it to me. It's my family's naming convention."

A brief pause to ensure a longer explanation was okay before delving into a CliffsNotes version of it.

"My mother gave me to my father's pack when I was whelped. My father is named Dutiful, I was born out of mate-ship and therefore my name is FitzDutiful." Simple, really, but (a bit stuck for conversation points with an alpha) he returned the question. "How about your name, is there a meaning behind Perry?" Off the top of his head it didn't seem like his pack's version of naming (what kind of trait was Perry?) but maybe there was something there that he didn't know about.

He made no reply, letting Mr. Dutiful (the nickname came to him and simply stuck) explain his moniker. It wasn't a particularly interesting story, though Peregrine didn't say this out loud, of course. He only spoke when the new subordinate inquired after his own name. His followed a convention too, albeit an entirely different one.

"It's short for Peregrine. My family has a bit of a bird theme going on," he said. "So, what brought you to the plateau?" he questioned in the next beat.

FitzDutiful nodded to hear about the bird theme that Perry had going on in his family. It made sense, his family had traits as their theme so why wouldn't another have birds. He assumed that every family had some tradition or another, after all, why would you just randomly name your kid something that had no meaning?

The next question made him pause for thought. "I didn't really come here specifically," he explained, wondering if the alpha would take that amiss. "I left my family to find myself in the world, they have legitimate children too. It just so happened I wandered for longer than usual and instead of finding peace with a neighbouring back I ended up finding the plateau, felt at home and sought to stay."

Pretty simple really.

"What kinds of things do you do on a regular basis here? Are there pack activities and such that I should seek to take part in?"

Wolves rarely had a compelling reason for coming to the plateau in particular, and so it went with FitzDutiful. Peregrine wondered how it had made him feel at home, yet didn't press the matter. He wasn't here to interrogate the man. It was actually his duty to perpetuate that feeling, as it was beneficial for all involved if the newcomer felt at home here.

"We host activities every once in a while and try to hunt as a group about once a week," Peregrine replied, "and while attendance isn't necessarily required, it definitely helps boost your standing in the pack. Those who are active, involved and engaged in pack life will find themselves at the top of the ranks. Going after a trade—or two or three—also helps a lot."

Trades. FitzDutiful remembered being told about that when he first joined but, to be completely honest, he had been that nervous that it had all slipped his mind. He looked a bit sheepish as he explained this fact to his alpha. He hoped it wasn't a bad impression to Perry. "I don't suppose you'll mind briefly recapping it for me, do you?" he finished with a bit of a smile.

Dutiful remembered thinking that a few of the trades had sounded interesting to go for - he like the idea of improving himself, bettering himself, and also making sure he was valuable for the back - but he was damned if he couldn't remember what they were called. How do you work towards something you barely remember?

With a small wag of his tail, FitzDutiful awaited the, hopefully coming, recap of these soon to be all important trades.

"Sure," Peregrine answered. He felt a touch of impatience but he knew it was about Osprey and not the question at hand. And shouldn't he just be grateful for this distraction, even if it was tedious? "There's Gamekeepers, Warriors, Wardens, Outriders, Naturalists, Healers, Caretakers, Counselors and Chroniclers. I think that covers it. I think they're all pretty self-explanatory. Gamekeepers are hunters and Outriders are scouts, messengers and ambassadors rolled into one," he added because those two weren't as obvious as the others.

"Thank you," was the response that Perry received after the brief explanation. Counsellor and Chronicler, they were the two that FitzDutiful had wanted to pursue. "Does a Chronicler just include the history of this pack, or is it stories in general?" Dutiful had a few morality stories already in his mind from when he was a child but if it was pack history, he wasn't against learning that. In some ways that might even be better because it would give him a chance to learn all about his new home.

The night was beginning to come in now and Dutiful had a fair amount of things to process as well as determining a way to start his Chronicler and Counsellor duties. He wasn't sure he'd be particularly good at either of them but they both sounded interesting and it also seemed a good idea to combine one with another, just like you could combine the skills of Warrior and Warden.

As Dutiful made his intentions to head towards the mountain range in search of shelter known, he also sent a different line of enquiry out. "If you don't mind, would it be possible to learn about this packs origins from you at some point? I think I heard on the grapevine that you've been with the pack the longest and I believe that would be a good start for a potential Chronicler."

"Both work," the Alpha male answered simply, "though I would definitely encourage you to learn the pack's history and pass it along to our youths, present and future. You should consult with Blue Willow — she's a leader here as well — as she's a journeyman in the trade and could offer some more guidance. I'm not the creative type myself, at least in that way," Peregrine explained. "But, sure, I'd be happy to sit with you and tell you what I know." Only Hawkeye, the pack's founder, could probably tell him more and, well, she was elsewhere now.

"Thank you," and with that FitzDutiful was heading towards the mountain range to seek shelter for the night.

As he walked he kept an eye on the border, but also pondered whether he would be a good fit for the Chronicler trade. He definitely liked the idea of it and Perry hadn't seemed against the idea, either. FitzDutiful wanted to be good at everything but, at the moment, wasn't open to the idea that he wouldn't be. It would just be a case of seeing whether the pack's history came to him well or if it too a little too much effort to learn. In any case, he felt at home and like he had something to give to his new pack.