@Mordecai :D
Lucius began his day becoming more and more informed with the land, memorizing every iconic fragment of the thickly tree bearing grounds. The sounds that echoed around the bi-pelted roman, the smashing of brittle, dead, yet vibrantly colorful leaves, to the even sounds of his paced breathing
Inhale, exhale.
Pause.
Repeat.
So many times had he come across the pungent odors of piss from his packmates, the frequency of markings bearing claim to the fresh and lively Spines, that the roman decided to add his among theirs.
After all, he was a new pack member.
Adding his scent to the legion, the Angelus Mortis continued on his way, patrolling the border, as he was to do as assigned, as a pack member.
Patrolling had its moments of sheer boredom. Those times when Mordecai wished he could have broke out and merely rolled about in the leaves for hours at end, or perhaps those times when he was truly half-tempted to go about wandering the countryside. But it was the notion of responsibility that stopped him from doing so, at least some of those times. He wandered when the weather was cooperative, but as it grew colder and the days seemingly shorter, he had been sticking close to the Spine. More snow had decorated the tops of the higher elevations all around them, both in the territory and not, and now he knew it was only a matter of time before it reached them on the ground at any length.
The cold wind, for all it was worth, was beginning to no longer bother him. Decorated plushly, he had finally made his transitions into a better prepared creature for the inclement weather. Unfortunately, there was little he could have done about the lack of daylight, and even then Mordecai felt like he could almost physically see the sun descend out of the sky upon its reach at the apex. The concept of time eluded him even more, especially with the focus on the terrain around him. A good survey of it as he moved along eventually revealed to him that he was no longer alone in his journey, and the two-toned coat of Lucius had crept into his view.
It had been a handful of days since he had last seen him, maybe more than that. It may have been regrettable that Mordecai had already lost track of the yearling, but it wasn't out of lack of attention. It was more of the case that he had been unable to spy Lucius roaming about, except for the very day that their travels were to cross paths. “I see you're keeping yourself busy,” Mordecai spoke out to him as they neared, offering the younger male a wave of his tail. “Have you finally settled in?”
The roman sent the Praetor a dipped head, his tassel returning the wave.
True, he had been quite busy in the lands, getting himself at home in the lands.
Little did he know the events that happened with the other packmembers, for he ha kept himself rather isolated from his fellow pack mates. If he were to be a true member of the Spine, he would have to fix that.
Then again, who was he trying to be friends with?
"I have filled 16 caches, marked 8 horizontals and 8 verticals of the territory, and have repeated the process, since my fort day here, Mordecai."
The Angelus Mortis had no reason to buy himself with anything other than benignity ing the pack, an unless asked for such, would not distract himself with those sorts of non mundane tasks.
"I chased out an intruder approximately 4 days ago, a small lanky little blonde wolf, and saw no more, since.
I have also made a den, quite comfortable. The sacrifice a family of foxes had to pay."
After a beat of silence, the char and ivory layered man added,
"I do enjoy my place here, Mordecai. Thanks, again for that."
Busy was perhaps an understatement to all that Lucius had apparently accomplished. Mordecai was inwardly impressed, but did not display that forwardly. He had not found the caches that Lucius spoke of, but wasn't about to doubt that he had been up to something. Perhaps most of all, he found he was a tad overwhelmed with the information that was said. He hadn't asked for a report, but that was certainly what he received.
“Well that's good, I certainly appreciate your efforts,” were the words that found their way from his mouth, letting those be his only note of the mark Lucius had made so far. His appreciation was genuine — every little bit of work they put into the Spine would only better it for the future, and the winter to come. As always, the rigid structure of speech provided to him from the yearling was a sign of that. “Have the others treated you well?” he asked, curious as to whether or not all of the wolves he had recruited had been accepted one way or another. He had little concern between all of them, but rather those that had been there just as long as Mordecai had. Would they appreciate those efforts? He only hoped so.
A smirk found its way to the chiseled maw of Luc.
Speaking of the Devil. It was as if the Alpha found his way through his head.
"I have not made contact with any other Spine members, unfortunately. The only time I noticed another was from afar, and that was a few days ago. It seems that everyone's agenda too, is filled. "
The way Lucius had been working, he had originally figured he would bump into atleast one of them, however, his thoughts had been futile.
"Were there any you wished I saw, specifically? "
Surprisingly, he had kept to himself. Mordecai wasn't entirely sure of how to take that, but given that they were busy, it seemed reasonable enough that they would have strayed apart to a certain degree. But then again, he doubt this; the Spine wolves were territory enough that they tended to seek out one another. Though a former outlier of his own command a time or two, Mordecai felt concern at this notion.
“No, there's no one in particular. It would do you some good to meet them, though.” He had been there long enough in Mordecai's eyes to have at least met someone else, but the fledgling leader was not inclined to be placing blame so readily. Perhaps Lucius only needed the guidance to set him off in the right direction. “You could probably find a hunter partner easily the next time you go out. There's more than several that would likely pitch in to keep up on the caches you've made.” The more food they tried to hoard away, the better it seemed they'd be.
"That is a wise idea. I respect that."
Luc felt the need to travel, so he bothered his leader a question that flittled from his jaws in a innovative manner.
"Would you like to hunt, Mordecai? If so, maybe then, more members could join in, and after the feast, and a greet around could be held?"
Lucius found himself confident in the hunting finesse between himself and the Alpha, and had no intention of showing otherwise
Not only that, knowing more could partake in such an event, while filling the standard pack cache, a perfect method of gathering pack members together.
Lucius was certainly ambitious, Mordecai could say that about him. The proposal he made wasn't terrible by any means, but the fledgling alpha found himself reluctant to accept it. “Perhaps another time,” he said gently. “I would certainly enjoy a good hunt, but there are other things that I have to attend to first. You could always seek out the others for that, though. I wouldn't have a problem with it.” Offering him an apologetic smile, Mordecai found himself seeking to move on. Even though Lucius had been keeping up on the borders with the others, Mordecai still preferred to do it himself.
“But if you want to, you're welcome to join me while I do some of these things,” he offered instead. Saying goodbye now felt a bit rude, especially when he imagined Lucius was doing what he could to prove himself worthy. It was a fair chance of that and in spite of his desires to do some things solo, Mordecai was willing to depart from the norm and include the yearling. Perhaps he had some things to learn, something that he could teach him for the betterment of them all.
"I accept."
That was the only sentence the bi colored man could say. He had no clue what is was the Alpha had in mind for the duo, yet he was willing to do the best he could at whatever he could do. Lucius padded to the left flank of the leader, his stature that chiseled of perfectly honed muscular skill, holding agility as a side ally within its deep depths.
Thinking upon how the day had trepsed so far, the Angelus Mortis felt he had not started off to a bad beginning in the early dawn of his time as an OS member. However, the desire to meet new wolves found itself tipping between black and white on his activity list.
He would eventually have to run into the fellow pack members.
It was up to them how he would respond in their air, and at such a thought, the familiar smirk that his family wore so well, slipped upon his maw. Sheathing it, he looked expectantly at his leader for the direction in which the two would take.
As Lucius joined him, Mordecai set off towards the borders. His pace was even and steady, slipping across the terrain of the Spine with relative ease. The paths he took were committed to memory but for the time being, he had no problem in letting silence lapse between them. It gave Mordecai the chance to ponder things and most of all, study the ever changing terrain before them for something of particular interest. Jinx had done well in choosing the Spine and even with the approaching winter, there were always bits and pieces of game moving about.
That cohabitation with their natural predators had ensured them a fair amount of survival. For that, Mordecai found he was especially thankful. Not just for their existence, but of the skills that were becoming increasingly apparent with his subordinates. Across open patches of granite where breaks in the forestry were, he drew his gaze skyward. “Looks like the weather will be nice today,” he mentioned passively. He was not overly skilled in picking up on the weather, but no clouds had usually meant plenty of sunshine. “If it stays that way, you'll have some prime hunting weather. Have you been tracking after the herds?”
The hessian kept his pace with that of the leader, though he was a off to the side, as the alpha led. As they off roaded the land, taking naturally invisible paths, Lucius found himself enjoying the silence. It allowed him to survey the land, watching the horizon and every moving critter in his peripheral. Electric blue azures kept themselves focused, no matter where his paw placed itself.
The quiet was cancelled by the sudden conversation offered by Mordecai. Weather. Herds. In the Romans mind, it was just another test for activity.
With his left forepaw, the Spine member drew the outter shape of the pack land. He had patrolled it enough to know every stump where piss was, every tree where a tuft of fur remained. After he drew a decent to scale sized map, he focused on where the two lupines were, currently.
"Deer and buck are here", and the duo pelted man laid a claw tip in the to part of the map where the Spines forest were thinnest, " and as we speak, they migrate here. " With that, keeping his claw down, he drew a curved line to the ridged part in the dirt where the trees were more so firs and pines, the unsheddables. "They're traveling in families of 3 and 4, for some reason choosing to split up than to stay as a herd. Easier to kill, in my eyes."
Taking another claw, the roman tapped a part in the upper mid half of the territory, then commenced to circle it.
"Most of our members stray from this area, dulling the scent of predators. This has caused increase of rabbit, raccoon, weasel, and squirrel populations. So far, ive tracked a plentiful amount prepping for the Cold Time, and if we hit it before they set in their hibernation, we will fill approximately four fifths of our current cache count of a shakey 90. "
Stepping back to analyze the map once more, the Angelus Mortis gave his alpha a moment to examine his report.
Realizing that Lucius had come to a stop, Mordecai turned to find the younger wolf scratching at the ground. Only he wasn't really scratching, the Ostrega noticed as he doubled back slightly, he was drawing. Silently, he watched as the fellow made his design, though in actuality Mordecai had to be reined in to figure out what the design was. He was reminded then of Caiaphas and her crude etching of the ouroboros, though this was far from it. By the time Lucius had finished explaining everything, the handiwork his subordinate had done resembled nothing more than a bunch of lines and squiggles.
It wasn't that Mordecai lacked the imagination to figure it out, it was simply that understanding and reading it were skills he did not possess. Still, he admired the attempt all the same, interested in the way Lucius had seemingly kept tabs on everything. It seemed if nothing else, he would make a fine hunter in time. “So the elk have moved on?” This time, his question was more of a test than anything. Mordecai had seen them lingering well beyond the outskirts of their territory, almost as though they had better smarts than to cross over their well marked borders. And fair enough, he supposed, as they had all been making their attempts to hunt them for weeks.
The rust and cream pelted man examined his illustration, and soon reappproached the topic with another sentence.
The deer and buck have already begun their trail into the thicker and more compact woods, however the stragglers have yet to catch up. A smirk drifted to this yearling maw, and he said with confidence,
"The healthy, able, and smartenned elk have already reached their destination, but the lame, sick, and old still struggle with they journey. Seeing how their straggling, theyve been left behind around this section here, "
Luc referenced a midsection of the line he drew of the deer trail, thinking his leader understood it.
The charcoal touched male thickened its line, and turned back to the alpha.
"From what I've dubbed so far, 8 stragglers have been reported so far. That means we still have time to fill our bellies, Imperator."
There it was again, he thought. That strange, foreign word. Mordecai found it distracting, perhaps more than he should have. He considered for a moment ignoring the information given him to wave the title away, but ultimately thought better of it. Perhaps it was meant to be endearing, respectful. A trace of the heritage behind the yearling that he had no concept of. Either way, it seemed Lucius had quite a detailed understanding of where the herds were going. It bested Mordecai's ability by far, though the Ostrega was wont to admit it, even to himself.
"Good," he said, thankful that they did have their time to gather what they could. "Let's move on." He had exhausted his interest in what the herds were doing, and the borders were lengthy at their minimum. They deserved his attention, but they often took the majority of it. An ingrained behavior he had picked up without realizing it and one that had come from Jinx and the way she had kept them vigilant of their original claim. Though the Spine really had little to fear, at least in that moment, their sordid past had kept them beyond aware.
And it was tiresome. Leading Lucius on, Mordecai let silent lapse between them once again.