Wolf RPG

Smash didn't want to infringe upon the Alpha female's time, especially since it seemed like she had a whole lot goin' on right now. However, she didn't want to go too long before properly introducing herself to her new leader and giving them both a chance to get to know one another better. Smash doubted she was in any danger of being pitched out on her butt, considering the company @Saena kept (lookin' at you, Reek and Arion) but there was always that chance that she wouldn't be a good fit with the other woman. Smash wanted to find out sooner rather than later.

So she went around Redtail Rise in the hour just before noon shouting, "Saena! Oh, Saena! Where are you, my dea—" Her voice cut off abruptly as Smash slipped on some wet leaves and went tumbling ass over teakettle downhill, somehow managing to land on her feet once she hit bottom. "Slapstick: the best form of comedy!" she announced when she landed, bowing deeply to her invisible audience.

Wynter was enjoying her afternoon. Feeling very accomplished that she had finally managed to catch herself a decent meal. She had successfully hunted a rabbit she spotted as she was out on a stroll. Sure it might not have been the most flawless performance but it was something. She succeeded and that was all that mattered to her in that moment. 

She sat placing the small rabbit at her feet and beginning to tear small pieces off. She hadn't been sat there long before she heard a crashing through the trees. What the.. Wynter looked up to see a chocolate coloured wolf tumbling down the hill. Wynter let out a small chuckle remembering her entrance into the sound. The wolf then stood and bowed shouting "Slapstick the best form of comedy. " Wynter was pretty sure that this wolf didnt know she was there. 

Wynter dug a small hole and buried the rabbit to save for later and trotted over to the fae. "Encore, Encore," she said with a small laugh as she approached. 

Pain still followed Saena wherever she went, from the gash in her side to the ugly scar forming on the side of her neck, but so too did the itchy sensation of healing. As a plateau member, Saena would've treated the injuries as a good reason to take some time off, but that wasn't an option for her here. She'd already asked Reek and Arion to take the reins for her, and the effect on them was profound. She was loathe to do that to any of her other wolves, not while she still breathed and could walk, so she accepted her pain and aches and continued patrolling, albeit more slowly than usual.

She was returning from a patrol when she spotted Wynter feeding alone in the forest. She let out a soft whine to call attention to herself and assure her subordinate that she wasn't interested in the food before approaching, just in case food envy became an issue. Some Alphas believed they were entitled to every scrap and took from their subordinates whenever they wished, but Saena's upbringing and manners prevented her from ever being that sort of wolf. If she ate, it wasn't out of someone else's mouth.

"Hey," she greeted verbally, but before getting any further into the conversation, there was a crash of undergrowth, a voice, and Wynter was enthusiastically saying, "encore!" Saena stepped gingerly forward until the scene was fully visible around a trunk and instantly recognized Smash, the new member who had addressed her at the meeting. Her ears and tail lifted a little to show her uncertainty and as a reminder that Smash was unproven and therefore not necessarily trustworthy, but unlike when she first met Mercury immediately in the wake of disaster, this display was not overstated. She was already returning to her former self, and didn't want to do anything to drive away the silly masked wolf.

"I meant to ask before," she said quietly to Smash while seating herself, "what the hell is a grand poobah?"

Her audience turned out to be more visible than previously thought. Smash started when a voice cried, "Encore, encore!" but she didn't miss a beat. She turned toward the speaker, bowing a second time, so deeply that her nose brushed the earth. She then promptly sat, though before she could unleash a witticism or two, a second wolf joined the first. They were both familiar, though Saena stood out for rather obvious reasons.

"I was actually going to ask you that," Smash replied to the Alpha's question. Forgetting that she should probably check her privilege, she made no conscious effort to display submission for several beats. But recollecting her first encounter with Reek served as a reminder and the two-year-old lowered her head and flicked her ears to the side deferentially. "I figured y'all had some fancy custom ranks or something. It sounds like Reek just maybe stroked out while he was introducing himself."

Unaware that she'd just joked on the woman's mate, Smash turned to face the agouti stranger. "Hey, I'm Smash but you can call me Smash," she quipped, tapping her dark tail against the earth and then giving either of the other two ladies a chance to get a word in edgewise.

Wynter heard Saena approach with a whine and turned her head to greet her. Bowing her head she smiled. "Hey Saena," then she glanced back towards the chocolate wolf who was now taking anohter bow in their direction. Wynter tilted her head as Saena said What the heck is grand poobah. Wynter was utterly confused perhaps these two had talked the first time Wynter had seen the chocolate wolf.

Wynter frowned for a moment giving an unimpressed glance towards the chocolate fae as she mentioned Reek. She chose to say nothing in return that was for Saena to decide. Not her place to speak out against this wolf even if it was her mate she just joked about.

"I'm Wynter," she said trying to hide her slight annoyance still in her tone. "That Reek wolf is my mate," she mentioned. She had to say something in case this wolf decided to further joke about him. She might not have handled further jokes well. Wynter didn't take kindly to people talking about others she cared about like that. Especially strangers. 

Smash's reply wasn't at all what Saena was expecting to hear, for a story about what a grand poobah was seemed much more imminent, so she snorted. "Reek is a pretty silly guy," she explained when Wynter finished her introduction (Saena didn't miss the change in tone, but because she knew that Smash probably meant it harmlessly, she went with this explanation in hopes it would defuse the developing situation), "he was probably pulling your leg. Now that you mention it, grand poobah does sound like something he'd say."

Turning to Wynter, the Alpha female said, "I'm actually glad I ran into you." She hadn't seen Wynter since the announcement of her mateship to Reek, so she was glad for some time with her friend even with Smash present. Besides, she thought it was high time that she make some decisions around here. Promoting Reek was only the first. "About that mother thing," she said slowly, almost teasingly, before at long last she continued, "you ready for it? I'm ready for it."

To any who weren't privy to Saena's original conversation with Wynter and Reek, this was a very odd thing to say, mainly because Saena was not sexually mature at all and couldn't possibly be ready for "that mother thing", and also because it seemingly came out of the blue. Realizing this, she glanced sidelong at Smash, curious to see the newbie's reaction before the truth became clearer.

Smash heard the frost in Wynter's voice (how fitting!) but chose not to dwell on it. "Really! Congratulations. He's quite a catch. How many ladies out there can say they bagged a grand poobah, after all?" she asked with an exaggerated wink.

Saena chipped in with a few choice words that further deflected any tension, not that Smash was really concerned. She gave Wynter the benefit of the doubt. She was probably just really proud of her man and maybe a little possessive too. Smash liked to think she would be the same when she found her one and only someone. She wasn't about to blame the woman.

The Alpha said something else, which immediately intrigued Smash. She glanced between the two she-wolves, orange eyes burning with curiosity. Another wolf might have felt out of place, perhaps even excused herself. Yet Smash was riveted as she tried to guess what was happening here. Saena looked too young, nor did she have a mate... so surely they were discussing Wynter's and Reek's offspring.

"Ooh," the two-year-old commented, "say yes!" She grinned, eyes sparkling. "Don't deny the Rise from the joy of tiny poobahs!" Smash then fell into silence, aware that this was actually quite a huge moment for the would-be mother (not to mention the pack as a whole) and that she was just lucky to be a part of it.

Wynter sighed and relaxed a little. She realized that Smash meant that comment as harmlessly as it could come. She chuckled as the alphess and Smash discussed the meaning of the term grand poobah. She looked at Saena with a smile and a small nod as she mentioned it sounded like something the dark pelted wolf would say. "Yeah it does," then she glanced back at the wolf who had a few moments ago been tumbling down the hill. "Sorry, I suck at first impressions apparently," she said jokingly. 

Saena mentioned that it had been a good thing she had run into her. Wynter wondered what it was that the young Alphess had been meaning to talk to her about. Clearly something was on her mind. "Oh? What's up?" shifting her attention to the white fae. 

To Wynter's surprise she brought up pups. Was this really happening. Did Saena just give her permission to have pups with her mate. A flurry of emotions surged through Wynter's mind. She was both elated and shocked at the same time. A small smile came across Wynter's maw she wasn't sure how well it masked the nervousness that was beginning to creep through her. Her mind filled with questions all beginning with two deadily words. What if.

Wynter looked back to Smash who was encouraging her to accept. All Wynter could manage was a nod in Saena's direction and a smile. Wynter stood. "I should find Reek and tell him," she managed to get out. Then she stood and turned tail twitching happily. She had the intent to find Reek. First though. She needed some place to collect her thoughts. She hoped that no one would follow her. Allow her to have her space. For now at least. 

Well, that didn't go as planned. Saena half-expected Wynter to jump up and celebrate right here and now, but her more reserved reaction brought a frown to the Alpha female's face. Next thing she knew, Wynter was up on her feet and leaving, claiming she had to go tell Reek. Saena smiled, waved her tail, but didn't say anything—she was shocked that the reaction was so... mild.

She glanced at Smash as Wynter moved out of sight, then shrugged. "I thought she'd be more excited," Saena admitted. Puppies were a big deal. The fact that Redtail Rise was ready for them was a big deal. If Wynter wasn't wholly committed to them, then she probably shouldn't be having them... especially because it was a special exception Saena was making to her own desires. She wanted to birth and raise the first puppies of the Rise, the first true heirs, but she had put aside her dream and let her friends have theirs. To have the news received so flatly was... well, a bit insulting. Maybe Wynter just wasn't outwardly excited, or maybe she wasn't excited at all. She couldn't tell the difference.

Nevermind that now, she said with an internal sigh. She twisted around to face Smash fully and asked, "so what kind of mother did you have, to name you Smash of all things?"

Not only did Wynter not say yes, she didn't say anything except that she needed to talk to Reek. She made a hasty exit then. Surprised by her underwhelming reaction, Smash shouted, "Tell him I said hello and congrats!" after the female's retreating back before her orange eyes flicked questioningly to the young Alpha's face.

Saena looked a bit perplexed too but rather than mention Wynter's anticlimactic riposte, the leader asked Smash about her name. "A weird one!" she replied without missing a beat. "It's actually an acronym. It stands for Super Majestic Awesome Sexy Hot. Because..." She cocked her chocolate head. "I am all of these things." Her lips twitched into a grin.

"Actually, she named me that as a tribute to her brother, Crash," Smash shared, leaving out all the gory and tragic details of her uncle's death at his mother's teeth when he was just a pup. "But what about you? What kind of mom names their kid say nah?"

A small part of Saena wanted to protest Smash's acronym logic on the basis that her mother couldn't have known she would be those things when she was born, but that small part was overridden by the much, much larger part that thought it was possible and ridiculous. She laughed aloud, not so much at Smash as at the offered meaning of her name, though it did become clear quite quickly that Smash was joking.

She was really named after a relative with an equally queer name, earning a snort from Smash. "But who names their kid Crash?" she wondered, assuming it was some kind of weird tradition that she wouldn't understand. Her family had a lot of bird names, although her immediate family, those who were all gone in some capacity or another, had pretty normal names. Save herself, which Smash quickly pointed out.

"Beats me, she kinda bailed out of the living department before explaining that part," Saena said with a shrug that showed she wasn't all that affected by Pied's death. How could she be, having not so much as met her dam? "The same kind that names their son Pura I guess." She didn't think her brother's name was weird at all, but if hers was weird, than surely his was, too, by Smash's standards. Maybe their families just were never meant to understand each other's name choices.

Smash knew exactly why her grandmother, Yucca, had given her children such peculiar names: she had been raped by a coyote by the name of Risk and had named the products of said rape with accordingly traumatic monikers. She couldn't remember all her aunt's and uncle's names off the top of her her head but, aside from Riot and Crash, there was a Mayhem in there too. Yucca had resented her children, which was why she had ended up badly wounding one and killing another...

But Saena didn't need those gory details, nor was Smash the type to linger on bloody family history. No, that wasn't the example Riot had set at all! So she chose to quip, "I think my great, great, great grandfather's name was Ash and then it became a family tradition to give all the kids names ending in '-ash' and, you know, they went through all the Bashes and Cashes and Dashes and started having to double up on consonants and stuff..." She grinned, tongue lolling from her chocolate maw.

It seemed Smash wasn't the only one to come from tragedy, though hers was much more direct. Smash couldn't imagine losing her mother. Her lips pursed, though only for a moment. Saena mentioned a brother named Pura and the brown she-wolf wondered aloud, "Does he live here at the Rise?" She couldn't recall meeting him, though she was still new. "Sorry about your madre, compadre," she added.

"So, tell me some more about your family. Wanna walk?" she injected in the next breath, smiling and motioning for the Alpha to join her. "Don't you have a sister named Junior or something? Talk about weird names!" With that said, Smash liked that a lot. It was so unconventional. If she ever had a daughter, maybe she would call her Smash Jr., or maybe Riot Jr. after her mother.

Smash explained the tradition, and though it was still pretty weird to Saena, it made a lot more sense. "Sounds odd, but hey, whatever works!" Saena admitted with a grin. When she one day had children, she wouldn't have the slightest idea what she would choose to name them. Maybe she would leave it up to their father, whoever that might be. Names seemed too difficult to just come up with, especially following a theme like that.

"No, the plateau," she answered in regards to her brother, "and no worries. We didn't even really meet her. I have no idea what she looked like." Someone had described Pied once or twice, and Saena had seen her in a dream, but that was very far from reality. There was no telling whether the appearance was right or wrong. She wasn't at all sad about Pied, only about the missed opportunity to have a parent who actually cared, because the story went that Pied would've done anything to ensure her litter's safety and happiness.

"Well, you know about Junior," Saena said, "her name's actually Osprey Junior, after our aunt Osprey. Our dad's name is Peregrine, but honestly, he's a shitbag. We dropped our surname a long time ago, and our association with him went with it. Actually, they aren't even my real family—we were adopted when we were born. Our real dad ran out on us, too. We have another sister named Tytonidae, she lives in the mountains, and our mom, our adoptive one anyway, was called Hawkeye... but we haven't seen her in years..."

And from here, Saena would go on to tell Smash about Blue Willow and Lasher, and a little more about her siblings. It was probably the most that she talked about her family in a very long time, but at the end of it, she felt more comfortable sharing things with Smash that she would only have shared with Reek previously. Of course, she didn't have anything of that nature now, so they parted ways without any surprises, but she did feel like Smash would become a close friend quickly enough if she stuck around.