Wolf RPG

Charon had just passed eight months of age, and weeks were counting down until he would be nine months of age. Finally, the adolescent would be an adult, big and strong. Charon hadn't spoken to Thistle Cloud about becoming a leader since their last conversation about it, over a month ago, but he assumed that nothing had changed: if anything, he had only gotten better at all the things he said he was good at, plus he had gained all three trades that he promised Thistle Cloud he were to get, two of which had not yet been completed at the time of their talk. Nothing could stop his ascension to leadership, in Charon's mind, and he fully expected to be crowned Beta (or Alpha, but maybe he needed something to, you know, grow into) on the day he turned nine months of age.

The youth sat in the clearing near the den, where the puppies were safely tucked inside, keeping watch over them, and practising what he'd tell everyone when he would become a leader. "Thank you! Thank you. Thank you..." He couldn't seem to find the right way to say 'thank you', in. Well, that was a lousy start. "Thaaaank you. Thank youuuu. Thank you, Stavanger Bay!" Charon thoughtfully stared ahead while he considered what to say, and how to say it. "No, thank you don't sound right. Maybe more like, I will lead you well! I will find and punish Ragnar's murderer! The Gods have chosen me!" Charon pursed his lips while he considered if 'The Gods have chosen me' was a bit much. Then again, surely they had chosen him, in a way, through Thistle Cloud's paws on this earth.

Floki had woken from a nap to the sound of Charon's voice, and pricked his little ears to listen to his older brother talk. He liked the sound of his voice, so he stayed quiet for a few minutes, his chin resting on his forepaws as he blinked into the sunlight. There was a pause, and then Charon continued, his voice building in volume and intensity. Floki's tail began to pat the ground behind him, and then he took to his feet.

He padded out into the open air, his button nose wriggling as he was assaulted by scents from all directions. Slowly, he was learning to sort through all the smells, and he already had a catalog of familiar odors -- mostly belonging to the wolves that he spent time with. When his brilliant blue gaze fell on Charon, Floki gave a yip and bounded towards him, nearly tripping over his own large paws multiple times.

"Fankoo! Fankoo!" he cried at the top of his lungs, imitating his sibling's speech with excitement.

Charon turned his head when he heard paws headed towards him, only to see one of his siblings on its way to him. Flóki immitated what Charon had just said, and Charon's tail wagged in excitement. "Yes, Flóks, fankoo indeed!" Rather than repeating his own well-spoken 'thank you', Charon mimicked the way that Flóki had said the word.

"You seem to get bigger every day!" Charon said to Flóki with a grin on his face when his younger brother had reached him. Without realising it, Charon spoke louder to Flóki than he usually did, because the pups were often loud so Charon tended to speak louder because otherwise he wouldn't get over their volume.

Floki skidded to a halt right next to Charon, beaming up at his big brother. He drew himself up as tall as he could, his tail wiggling nonstop behind him. Already, he looked up to Charon and wanted to be just like him. The freckled boy was brave, strong, and imaginative, all things that Floki aspired to be.

"Bigga!" he replied eagerly, understanding that Charon was complimenting his size. Before long, he would be tall like his adopted sibling. Charon's loud volume didn't phase him at all, but instead seemed to ramp up his excitement. "What doin'?" he asked, tilting his head thoughtfully. His tail never ceased its busy whirring.

Charon grinned broadly when his younger brother halted next to him and repeated the word. "That's right, lil' man! Biggaaaaaah! You's gettin' biggah and biggaah!" Charon made a funny face while he imitated his brother's speech and lifted a paw up in the air, as if to indicate how biiiig his lil' bro would become in time.

When Flóki asked what he was doing, Charon said: "I was practising what I'm gonna say when I become a leader of the pack. Do you know what a leader is? They're pretty awesome, like your mother is, and make sure the pack is alright!" Charon looked at his little brother to see if any of the words he'd just said were really coming through; still young and inexperienced in dumbing down words to puppy level himself.

"Bigga an' bigga an' bigga!" Floki repeated, now prancing in place in front of Charon. He gave a little jump, trying to reach Charon's lifted paw, but he fell short. He still had quite a bit of growing to do, but that didn't dampen his spirits at all. His tail continued to writhe nonstop behind him, almost making it hard for him to stand still with its rapid motion.

His little brow furrowed as Charon started to explain to him that he was practicing to become a leader. The older boy had uttered a lot of words, and although Floki was bright, he still struggled with receptive language when sentences were strung together like that. He recognized that Charon had asked him a question, though, and bobbed his head up and down eagerly.

"Ya, weada!" he replied; had he the ability to do so, he would have assured Charon that he would be the awesomest leader of them all.

There was something incredibly adorable about the little wriggly puppies. Charon couldn't help but smile as he looked at Flóki, and he didn't smile all that often. The pups made Charon feel good, like there was a future to Stavanger Bay rather than it slowly evaporating like it had recently. Levi and he were still there, and so were Atreyu, Thistle and the pups -- they'd be fine if they wouldn't lose any more, Charon kept telling himself. He would do his very best to make sure that they wouldn't lose any of this year's pups, like they'd lost half of his own litter, his parents, and Gunnar's siblings.

Charon's tail wagged a few beats when Flóki repeated the word (more or less). Charon was excited, and couldn't wait 'til the day he turned nine months. It'd be awesome. Would there be a pack meeting to inaugurate him as new leader? Would everyone be happy? He hoped they'd find some more members to do his bidding soon.

For now, though... "Do you wanna go hunt some dangerous and fierce bears?" Charon asked Flóki with widened eyes, trying to make sure that he knew hunting bears was really cool, even if he had never actually caught one himself... luckily.

"YASSSS!" Floki shouted -- he had clearly understood Charon's question. He didn't know much about bears, being such a young pup, but he had heard his older brother's stories on occasion. And, since he wanted to be just like Charon, it was a given that he would want to become a fierce, strong bear hunter.

In his excitement, he bounded a few feet ahead of Charon, his awkward gait carrying him away from his adopted sibling. He quickly realized that he didn't know where he was going, however, and he stopped and turned back, waiting for the soon-to-be-Beta to take the lead.

Charon watched his brother’s enthusiastic bounding with a grin on his face. The pups were so energetic! Sometimes it was a bit tiring, but most of the time Charon really enjoyed being a big bro and having pups that looked up to him and that he could teach all about being cool. Although he was a bit old to believe in dragons now, especially with his upcoming promotion, Charon didn’t mind teaching his siblings about them. And bears, well… they were real, although Charon had only ever bested one (well, okay, it’d been sleeping and he and Barf face the bear hunter had decided to leave it alone at the time, but whatever). He’d never forget what had happened to his mother.

”Bears are pretty dangerous,” Charon called out to Flóki while he was on his way back to his side, and once they were reunited, Charon lead the way into the forest where they could look for some very fictional bears. ”And you’re not old enough to really like hunt ‘em yet. First you have to observe. But there aren’t that many bears here, so we might not find any. We might find some dragons and trolls, though!” Charon grinned broadly while he mentioned the dragons and trolls. ”I used to have a troll friend when I was younger, but nowadays he’s back living with his family. Trolls aren’t very big –“ Charon indicated a height about up to the underside of his chest with his paw here, ”- but they’re fierce and they’re generally rocky and mossy-looking.” Charon looked to see if Flóki was grasping it all, or if it was too much for him to take in at this age and he needed to tone down on the educational value a bit.

Once Charon was securely by his side, Floki trotted along proudly, head and tail held high. He couldn't have been happier to be going bear hunting with his older brother. He turned his face up towards the freckled boy, blue eyes wide as he tried to absorb every piece of information that Charon shared. Bears were big and dangerous, but not many lived near Stavanger Bay (although he and Jorunn would try their luck with one in just a few weeks' time!). Instead, Charon suggested that they look for dragons and trolls -- Floki didn't know what those creatures were, but they sure sounded exciting!

"Whatta dwagon?" he asked, tilting his head curiously. Charon had described a troll as being a rocky, mossy being -- but Floki was having a hard time picturing a dragon. He needed some help from his imaginative sibling.

Charon was always eager to describe what dragons looked like. He chuckled and eagerly explained while they walked: "Dragons are reaaaaally big lizards -- do you know what a lizard is? -- and they've got huge wings and a really long tail. My adventuring friend Osprey got hit by a dragontail once on our adventures and it slammed her right into the wall! And dragons're really scaly and stuff." Charon looked around the forest as he tried to think of a good place to hunt for dragons, where there were plenty of places to play-pretend that there was actually a dragon about. He took a left turn when they faced a Y-split and looked at Flóki to make sure that he followed along.

"I once had a troll friend called Drake. But he had to go back to the troll pack, because they needed him there." 'Cause I'm no longer a child, Charon thought to himself afterwards. He wondered if Flóki would ever have any imaginary friends. "If you're lucky, you might get a troll friend too, or even a dragon one if you find a friendly one!" Charon put his nose to the air and sniffed the surroundings, as if he was looking for dragons. A smile spread across his face as he ran into a trail of pebbles alongside the trail they were following. "Look, these are dragon stones! That's what dragons leave when they're walking!"

Floki listened attentively as Charon described the appearance of dragons. The older boy used many words that his little brother didn't quite understand, but Floki nodded anyway. The image that he conjured in his mind likely wasn't accurate -- he thought of a lizard (which he had seen skulking around the den once or twice) with a furry wolf's tail and feathered wings like the seagulls that he had often viewed wheeling overhead. Close enough, right?

They soon came to a fork in the path and Charon chose their direction; Floki followed obediently. Pushing boundaries was not something he did often, unlike Jorunn. His twin likely would have insisted that they take the turn to the right, just to be difficult. But Floki was much more compliant, and besides, he was captivated by Charon's descriptions of dragons and trolls. He didn't care where they were headed.

"I wanna one," he said brightly, excited by the prospect of having one of the two mythical creatures as a friend. He halted suddenly and peered down at the rocks that Charon had pointed out. "I wanna!" Floki repeated, diving down and seizing a mouthful of the pebbles. Maybe if he kept them for himself, he would be able to make friends with a dragon!

Charon was kind of proud that Flóki was so excited to have an imaginary friend of his own. He grinned when his little bro took a mouthful of pebbles along. "Shall I help you carry? We can bring 'em back to the den, maybe a dragon'll come back to find them and wants to be your friend," Charon suggested, and he grabbed a mouthful of pebbles himself. Then he reared around to go back on to the den. It was probably for the better: story and adventure time was great for the young ones, but they often grew tired quick and so it was better to stop before they got too tired. End well.

When they reached the den, Charon put the pebbles down so that Flóki could put them wherever. "Y'know, if you want to keep your dragon friend to yourself, we should find you a secret hideout to play at, where you can keep your dragon stones." However, right now seemed like a bit much to take Flóki on an adventure for a secret hideout; they could do it some other time. Charon had always liked to collect treasure, but he'd never had a secret hideout. Perhaps because he cherished the remaining family he had and did not want to spend a lot of time away from them. Flóki, though, he had lots of siblings and doubtlessly he liked to have some of his things for himself. "We'll do that some other time, though. So, do you want to hear another story about dragons?" Without waiting for his brother's reply, Charon started a story about the story dragon -- the story Osprey had once told him, or the gist of it, anyway -- and would continue to tell Flóki stories until he was tired and ready for naptime.