Wolf RPG

By the time she had arrived here, her fur was matted and she was spent. The going here was perilous, but she could not have turned back once she was halfway. The Ostrega had always thought herself well-traveled, able to deal with a multitude of land-types, but she found herself wrong by the time she had arrived at the Lake. Perhaps it was more that she had been wandering for so long and it all accumulated to the present point of her exhaustion... but as her wits came about her again, Chehlia was able to see that the trek had been well worth it.

The place was beautiful. The pale woman peered over her shoulder and was reminded of how difficult it was to breach this place. A good place to make home for a pack, she imagined... but Chehlia did not prefer sandy domains. She enjoyed plateaus and greenery, and lakes surrounded by stone. Still, the beauty of this area was not lost on her. And the surroundings provided a good buffer from the cutting winds she had been facing.

She moved nearer to the lakes, her eyes looking out for any other critter there aside from herself. None could be found.

Since Vienna's attack by a cougar Sumayl had not ventured too awfully far from The Sunspire, favoring to be close to home and though he did not impose upon her for the sake of making her sick of him, he visited her often, or sometimes he left her an offering of food in the same manner that a human suitor might leave bouquets of flowers. Sumayl did not fancy himself so much of a romantic because he wasn't, but he did not want her to think that he had forgotten about her ...or worse yet that he didn't care. If Sumayl was being honest he was caring too much, too fast. Though Sumayl was by far and large too logical and practical to believe in such silly, fluffy fairy-tale things if he didn't know better he'd say that the beautiful, optimistic Vienna had him under some kind of spell. A spell that he had no intentions of fighting, even if the idea of “falling” for her was a little frightening, especially to the Playboy who had never been interested in more. Even so, Sumayl was careful to avoid Jace at any and all costs, lest they get into another fight. Vienna knew all about their last one, though it came as no surprise that Jace had ran off and tattled to his sister about Sumayl, who was reminded relevantly of a jealous child. Of course Sumayl wasn't, by any means, ignorant of the fact that if he sought a future with Vienna (providing she wanted one with him as well) he would, more likely than not, need Jace's approval and as things stood currently that did not appear likely in any foreseeable future.

As it turned out there were things that needed tended to within the internal lands of the pack territory, namely keeping up and checking with the food caches. Sumayl contributed here the most, putting patrols of the borders off to a secondary priority, though this was because Gamekeeper was his main focus. He desired the trade and felt the need to put in extra effort since his track record with being insubordinate to Jace likely did not leave a good impression upon the Alpha Female. It came as a genuine surprise that he hadn't been kicked out from The Sunspire, having, in all reality expected it. The fact that he still remained apart of their ranks was genuinely surprising, but Sumayl was not going to complain. The idea of being kicked out of the pack was starting to bother him more and more though the golden Ostrega knew full well that it was largely Vienna's influence upon him. Though there was no law that said he couldn't visit her if he pushed his boundaries until the broke, it certainly couldn't be whenever he felt like just dropping by. Sumayl enjoyed the convenience of being her pack mate a little too much.

Even today, he did not stray too far from The Sunspire, favoring the lower arrow lake, having tracked a little gathering (herd?) of mountain goats that traversed down The Sunspire and convened here to sate their thirst and relax. It wasn't a bad spot, Sumayl had to admit, and it meant that they're pray would be easily accessible when they moved like a cohesive unit to the “watering hole” he considered it. It would be useful in bad weather, when traversing too far from The Sunspire posed the bigger risk. Sumayl had watched them meander back up the mountain when they'd had enough, rising from his sphinx-like position from the ledge her perched upon to study them and 'track' them, when the last had disappeared from his view. It was then that a ivory figure cut through the chilly daylight, striking him, immediately, as vastly familiar. Golden gaze moved towards her to observe her, in turn, noticing that she appeared to be a little worse for wear. For a moment the golden outlaw did not move, unable to shake the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he knew her. It was like deja vu but stronger, more determined and resolute. Regally, the Ostrega leapt down, eyes assessing her again, only to pause, body freezing as her scent wafted his way. His heart stuttered in it's beats for a moment, as he sniffed at the air, desperate to confirm that he was not mistaken.

But how could he be mistaken? He would know his baby sister anywhere. Despite that he had not seen her in some months now. Sumayl had hoped his siblings would find their way to him, though he did not hold to the vain hope as others might have.

“Cheh?” He called out to her with trepidation in his voice, afraid that she might vanish like a ghost. “Chehlia!” Sumayl beckoned to her, tail beginning a steady wag with a bubble of joy and hope that warmed his chest.

Truth be told, Chehlia was a bit worse for wear. It had been some time since she had run with a pack, and she knew she would have to join one relatively soon. The Ostrega was sure there was a great plenty here, she simply did not know which to join. Her eyes glanced to the mountains. She was not so good with heights... they were terrifying to her. But if she had to... could she? Chehlia did not have much nerve, too quiet and warm. She wanted to think if she needed to she could face her fears... but she hoped it wouldn't come to that.

The pale waif of a girl moved toward the lake. And when she peered into it, it was difficult to recognize herself. Her face appeared thinner and her sides less full. To begin with, Chehlia was a small creature. A month without a proper meal and scavenging had done much to her features. If her siblings were here, would they know her when they saw her...?

Chehlia.

She heard her name, and blinked slowly. She sighed roughly, thinking it was only a matter of time before you became delusional... but she could not help the hope that had bitten her. Delusions had never came to her before. So that being thought, she turned her head and surveyed the distance. And quite a bit away was a familiar figure, one that she, too, would recognize anywhere. She'd know the faces of all of her siblings, and his voice, normally wrought with pride and arrogance she believed to be playful, was one that she had missed.

Even in her tired state, Chehlia moved to run toward him. Of course, her legs betrayed her some, and she let out a weak laugh (ignore it, ignore it! the sound seemed to ask), continuing on her way. "Sumayl! Thank goodness! Thank goodness!" Her relief was evident, painted all over her face, her body. Her head was low and her ears melted atop her head, as though apologizing for being gone for so long, even though it had been him who had left first. They had all left. Chehlia had been the last to go, the last to come to terms with the fact that her parents had passed; she could not bear to be alone.

The thought was one that brought her to whimper, "Everyone had left, Sumayl, I had to find you guys, I was alone--" her breath caught, and the weakened Chehlia, not sure if he had heard her quiet voice at all, moved to press into him for warmth and comfort both.

As a skilled hunter Sumayl had always liked to believe that it gave him some kind of slight advantage when it came to living the cumbersome life of a loner. Hunting, even against what were likely impossible odds was what he did on a nearly daily basis and so it had seemed no different. Sometimes, he had managed to capture his prize and others he had walked away hungry, settling for small woodland creatures to sate the rumble in his stomach. He knew his physical limits, but his speed and aerodynamic build (lacking the bulk that tended to accompany most warriors' builds) made him ideal for Gamekeeping. It always had, and though some thought that it was some sort of cardinal sin to be part coy-wolf, Sumayl had always been proud of his heritage. It did not make him any less of a canine and if allowed to drill the point home, Sumayl could come up with a thousand different reasons why it made him more superior than a pure blooded wolf. Thus far, Sumayl had not ran into that sort of segregation, not that if he ever did he was overly worried about it. He knew how to put others in their place should they think to rise above him because if anyone knew how to be arrogant and narcissistic it was, without a doubt, Sumayl Ostrega.

While Vienna, whom Sumayl was dangerously beginning to think about as something of a better half to him (likely meaning “caring” was not an adequate enough word for what he was feeling towards her), likely would have believed in such things as “ghosts” or more accurately for this situation: visions, Sumayl did not. It was an assumption, and Sumayl could not say for sure if he was correct or not but he thought it, nevertheless. He, personally, was far too cynical to believe in such things and could come up with only two viable options. Either the pallid beauty that had appeared before him was his sister or someone who looked uncannily alike to her. Fiercely, Sumayl studied her once more, ghosting forward without hesitation, unable to smother the desperation as it rose like a tidal wave within him. It was almost ironic, how much he had not realized he had missed not just her but all of his siblings until that very pivotal moment in time. Sumayl. The golden outlaw let out the breath he had not been aware that he'd been holding in a relieved sigh, because there was no mistaking her identity now.

Immediately, Sumayl began to scrutinize, frowning as he realized that she likely needed rest and more importantly: decent meals. She appeared to be scrawnier than he remembered, thinned out and in desperate need of someone to take care of and pamper her. Namely, him. Ears cupped forth to listen to her as she spoke, though whimpered was of a much more accurate term, presently, as she leaned into him and he embraced her with welcome, resting his chin lightly on the junction between her shoulders, offering her a preen to the coarse and slightly matted fur he found there. “Ciervo and Andalusia left you?” He demanded, harsher than he had meant too. Irritation for their supposed older siblings rose within him like the heat of a freshly stoked fire. Solice, Rhovia and Caedeth he could understand because they were only their foster siblings, in reality, but her own blood? In Sumayl's constant clamor to be at the top of the “puppy hierarchy” and come off like he was the oldest by taking charge, he had deigned to never forget about Chehlia. She was the quietest out of all of them, akin to how he was without a doubt the loudest. Sumayl had always had the grand idea that if he rose to the top he would take Chehlia with him because he did not want her to be ignored any more than he'd wanted to be (which was not at all). He could be charismatic when he wanted to be, but he had learned, over the years, how to make wolves listen to him when he spoke primarily by being confrontational, thus rendering his charisma null and void.

Not that he could claim that he was any better, Sumayl thought with a sinking feeling. “I guess I'm not any better, huh? I left without you,” He murmured into her fur. “I'm sorry.” But the important part was that she was here now and that he had every intentions of taking care of her, as he always had. Unless she no longer wished for him too.

It was him. Chehlia was relieved to have found one of her kin here, and she clung to him. It was only when he spoke that she mentally backpedaled. Had they left her? She did not think of it as that, just as she did not see Sumayl departing as leaving her. They simply struck off at different times. Chehlia had stayed in a fruitless search, ending it with the confirmation that her parents must be dead and gone. They could not be found, but the truth of it was she had not looked very hard even though she had looked. To see their burnt bodies... after finding just one unrecognizable carcass, she could not bear to keep hunting. But she lingered. What if they had hunted for her...?

So she withdrew to amend her own words. "I wouldn't put it that way," came her gentle words. It was true, if anyone needed protecting it was Chehlia, but she had wanted them to go to prove she could do something. As it turned out, she needed them after all. But Sumayl spoke again, and she could only smile. "You didn't, none of you did. I don't think of it like that. I just... I wanted to stay a little longer, was all," she offered, her voice breaking again. He would understand why. Chehlia had loved her parents with all of her heart. If not by the side of her siblings, she was with her mother or her father. She loved them both equally, and carried the duo in her now.

The Ostrega shook her head at his apology, "You shouldn't be, you didn't do anything..." She nudged him gently, hoping he'd understand that he hadn't done any wrong by her. Neither had any of her siblings. She did not think herself too forgiving, for there had been instances they had upset her in the past and she always was willing to let them know. But here she could be empathetic with them just wanting to go. Chehlia could not, not so soon. The pale wolf still grieved, but she understood that her parents would want her to live on despite their own passing. That was what brought her to find her brothers and sister, else she would have waited 'til she was skin and bones for her parents to come find her. At two, she understood the reality of the situation.

The thought made her press more into her brother, her heart heavy. "It took too long to find you..." a sigh.

There was a part of Sumayl that thought that if he let go of her she might vanish into thin air, nothing more than a creation of his imagination, even though his imagination wasn't nearly so powerful. While the Ostrega children had been quite young when the forest fire had ripped through their home and torn them, tragically, from their parents, it was not something that Sumayl would ever forget. Even now, it haunted his nightmares and threatened to consume even his dreams with the traumatic memory. It had given Sumayl a healthy fear of fire, and a hesitation towards lighting, which he had always assumed was the fire of the sky. At least, he knew it could cause fires on the earth if struck right so in his mind there was little to no difference. Chehlia murmured to him that she did not agree with the way he had worded it, amending herself. To Sumayl it was much of the same thing, and though the golden outlaw frowned he did not say anything further about the matter, backing down for the sake of not wanting to get into a disagreement with his sister, so newly reunited with him. He'd had enough of fighting with wolves — his altercations with the male he only knew, rudely, as “Snow White” and Jace flitting to the forefront of his mind — to last him for a couple of months.

Verbal fights were all apart of being confrontational but this was a different situation entirely. Chehlia was his sister and one of the few wolves he hated to fight with. It happened, of course, they were siblings after all, but he made an effort to try to be less like a rebel and more like a good, cordial big brother in her presence. Even if he failed at it. “How Harlyn and Takalv? Is it lonely without the seven of us to there to raise hell?” Sumayl couldn't help but ask her, truly curious about the well being of their foster parents. It had been some time since he had last seen them and though they could never replace Dhani or Celia to Sumayl, he still loved them in a way. Sumayl felt her nudge him, and then lean further into him causing a soft sigh to emit from his lips. “Sorry, Cheh. I didn't realize how far I traveled,” He was used to going long distances to track herds, and had, in all actuality, followed a herd to these very Wilds. Before he had known it there had been a great distance between where he had started and where he had decided to end.

“The important part, though, is that we found each other now,” And he wasn't determined to lose her again any time soon. Ears lowered to rest at half mast atop his skull as he considered seeing if she would join The Sunspire so that they could be in the same pack, or if she had something else in mind. It was true that he did not have good standing with Jace, and did not know Ame well enough to have much of a standing with her besides Alpha and Subordinate and his “bad behavior” would, likely, not grant him any sort of favors with the leadership. But he stubborn enough to try, at the very least, if Chehlia was willing to join The Sunspire, of course. “Do you have anything in mind pack wise? I'm with the pack that lives at the base of this mountain called The Sunspire,” He gestured towards it with his muzzle. Though he wanted her close to him, he would respect her wishes, whether she decided to join The Sunspire, or she did not.

At the mention of Harlyn and Takalv, Chehlia brightened. She called them "mom" and "dad" even still, for they had acted as parents and Chehlia didn't see them as anything but. It was not their fault her parents had perished, and the golden-hearted Chehlia never resented them for a minute. Her only response was a long sadness where she remained mute for a long time. It could have been assumed that she had a speech impediment until she was roused to talk at last by the entirety of the family. His apology was met with a shake of her head. "No worries," she shrugs it off and grins, "I'm here now anyway." She smiles politely. Chehlia didn't mind the travel and the sights, only the toll it took on her. It reminded her of the fact that she was quite dependent on her family...

Again Chehlia nods at his words, agreeing entirely. His query was one she was thankful for. She knew he would ask, simply not when. And she was further relieved by where he lived. Mountain base. "I'll come with you," she decides swiftly. There was no one else she'd rather be with anyway. She had sought family, and family she had found.

There was still a large part of Sumayl that was in disbelief that his sister — one of them at the very least — was here in the Teekon Wilds, physically there with him. It was funny how until he was faced with her again, did he realize how much he had inherently missed her. While he had been alone in the Wilds for some time, Sumayl had plenty of things to focus upon: keeping himself from being kicked out of The Sunspire (as to which he was sure not sure how he had managed to keep a place within it), avoiding Jace as much as he could, looking after Vienna as much as he could without bumping into said brother, working towards his Gamekeeper trade. There had been plenty to occupy his mind and so the reality of how he had missed his siblings had been tucked into some dark corner not to be returned to until they ended up face to face with him, like presently. She shrugged off his apology, and he let it go knowing that it was best to turn their attention to the present and the lingering future instead. There was no real reason to keep lingering within the past, Sumayl had found.

After all, the past was the past for a solid reason.

“Really?” Sumayl asked, mildly surprised though not-so-secretly glad that she had agreed to come with him. He'd never actually recruited anyone before, and hoped that his shaky standing with the leadership of The Sunspire would not hinder his sister's chance of getting in. “We're close enough that I could probably just call for Amekaze,” Because he'd much rather go through the Alpha Female than Jace. “Providing you get accepted, there's someone I want you to meet.” Sumayl told Chehlia vaguely, wondering if Vienna and Chehlia would get along or if they'd end up despising each other as Sumayl and Jace did, though it was hard to imagine Vienna or Chehlia for that matter despising anyone.

Without further ado he tipped his head back and called for Amekaze, hoping that she wasn't too far away to hear his call.