Emberwood let's talk about myths baby.

all welcome!

Fig was glad when his companions finally settled on a territory to claim for their burgeoning new pack. Traveling had never been his favorite, though he'd come to appreciate some aspects of it in the team he'd spent doing it on his own. But travel during winter was rough, and now that he had companions he wanted to protect with him, constantly traversing through unfamiliar territories and always being on edge had been tiresome. He was ready to settle and, since he didn't care much one way or the other about where they chose to do so, he was relieved to finally start.

It was midday as he paced the borders they'd laid out, weaving through the thick, pale trunks of aspen trees and marking here and there. It was a nice enough place. Quiet, easy to traverse, and with a mountain at its back looming protectively over it. Fig had no complaints, though he wasn't quite ready to declare it safe yet. He needed to complete several hundred more trips around the borders and explore every nook and cranny the woods held before he bestowed that title upon it. He paused for a moment in his work to just stand and listen, taking a brief break from mentally wandering down the list of to-dos he had built for the day to simply breathe and take in the view.

Now that they'd settled, it was time for her to start learning the borders and internals of the place. She wasn't really feeling the full effort today, not when an alternative was right there. So when she heard her brother nearby, she moved to intercept him and (hopefully) bump her side playfully against his.

As far as big old circles go, this one isn't bad, is it? Patrolling was boring as hell to her, but she did it sometimes on the off chance that she'd run into something interesting. Obviously, here, she didn't have as much choice. It'd take all of them to stake it out initially.

On edge as he was in this new territory, he reacted calmly enough when he sensed her approach. He turned to spy her approaching through the trees, reaching out to nip at her forehead when she came near enough by way of a friend/annoying greeting.

"Not the worst big old circle I've had to walk in over and over and over again," Fig replied with an assessing nod and a smile. He began to move again then, pausing after only a few steps to sniff at the base of a tree. It smelled of squirrel, and not too distantly.

"What're you up to, my liege? Shirking your leader-ly duties already? Or just come to deliver a command to your favorite peasant?" he asked conversationally as he worked, his tail wagging.

Fennec pulled a face at his greeting, but didn't pull away. She fell easily in step with him as he moved on, pausing where he paused, but doing her own exploring of the scents as well.

Absolutely. Lead me, lackey. Your queen wishes to take some air. She flicked her tail with a mock, authorative air, then cackled. You know what title I'm taking. There were a lot of fun options, but there was really only one she'd enjoy being referred to with on the regular.

She wondered, though, if her brother had his sights on anything in particular. Selfishly, she wasn't interested in anyone leading outside of she and Bronco for a while, but she knew that was more of a formality. If he said something, she'd listen, no matter how stupid she'd make it out to be after if she didn't agree.

Fig rolled his eyes are his sister’s command. He didn’t take her seriously, but the way they walked together made it appear as though he did. Anyone who actually knew them would know better, though. Figment always moved like a moon in orbit with Fenn at the center, pulling him this way and that. Definitely not the other way around.

”Is that a question?” Fig had to ask about her comment regarding titles, frowning a little at her with a smile.

Seriously!? Disappointing. Fennec huffed as if offended. Her own brother and it was like he didn't even know her. He could find out when they formed, then, or when they figured or announced all of that shit. Actually, how did they establish that? Was there some kind of meeting or just... yeah. There were some details she still needed to sort about running a pack.

Okay, then. Actual question - what about you? If you could have any job, what'd it be? If she couldn't figure out a way to give him the specifics, she could at least get him close as she could. That was part of the fun of calling the shots.

Fig laughed softly at his sister's retort. She didn't explain what she'd intended with her statement, but he could tell he hadn't reacted properly whatever it was. Unconcerned, he continued along the borders, pausing here and there to mark and inspect unusual scents along the way.

He looked over at her curiously when she posed her next question. What rank he might hold in this pack of hers had never once crossed his mind. He feared Towhee's ambitions for him were simply not meant to be, not because he thought himself incapable of leadership, but because he'd decided it really didn't matter to him. If his family needed a leader, he'd lead. If they needed a guardian, he'd guard. If they needed a court jester with a foul mouth and a lisp, he'd... well, he'd try. He suspected he wouldn't be very good at that, though.

"Whatever one you need," Fig replied honestly, knowing it would likely earn him an eye roll, "I can fight, I can patrol, I can teach. I have a pretty good track record of making sure my companions don't trip or run headlong into trees. Whatever I can do to be useful is fine, really."

It absolutely landed him a dramatic groan, Fennec's effective (maybe ruder?) equivalent of an eye roll. That's so boooring. Fine, once again, it's up to me to make sure you aren't getting lazy. Fennec smirked and prodded at him with a paw, knowing full well there were a lot of ways her brother could be described, but 'lazy' would never be one of them.

Teaching and hunting and fighting was all well and good, but it was hard to find something that would be common between them. She had an idea of what she wanted the ranks of the Emberwood to look like, but like the packs she and Bronco had grown up in, it defined things along roles. I could make you my personal escort, but people might get the wrong idea. She snickered. What do you like better? Hunting, or fighting? She had a guess, but she wanted to hear it from him first.

As expected, Fenn didn't love his answer. He couldn't help but smile at this. "I never claimed to be exciting," he murmured in response, his tail wagging. Truth be told, in comparison with those around him, he was a rather bland individual. But he figured it was what their budding pack needed to balance them out. He wasn't one to fight his own nature, anyway.

At her next question, he paused to think for a moment before answering. "Fighting," he replied, though it didn't seem quite right to say it like that. It made it sound like he was somehow belligerent and liked to cause conflict. He didn't, nor did he actually resort to a real fight if there was a way to talk around it. "Though I prefer to call it defending. Otherwise it sounds like I enjoy picking fights with people. And we both know I only like to do that with you."

Him and Bronco really were cut from the same material. Seems like she'd have to be the teeth of this pack of they were ever going to need to take direct action. She made a face when he clarified it as defending, but it broke with a smile pretty quickly. Of course she knew that.

Fine, defending it is. Between him and her mate, they'd have a pretty solid defensive mindset once they got a few more bodies in the ranks. And that meant she'd still need to find someone to take the lead when it came to hunting, but no worries yet about that. No way Blueberry was up to that job. Maybe Fennec should ask her if she had any interest in healing, though?

And yeah? Alright. Let's see what you got. She squared up and her grin turned into a challenge. It had been a while since she'd had a good spar.

we can fade here if you like or continue! I'm fine either way <3

We can fade now since it's for pack formation :D

She accepted his verbiage alteration without much fuss, bringing a smile to his face. He didn't know what she had in mind for setting up ranks in their pack, but he trusted her to do what was right for them all. He'd never cared much about his rank, anyway. He just wanted to do what his family needed him to do. That was all he'd ever wanted, to be useful.

His tail wagged at her invitation, though he hesitated. They still had borders to claim and territory to investigate. They needed caches and meat to fill them with. They needed to find safe sleeping spaces and good water sources. There was so much to do still before they could call this place officially theirs; they didn't have time to play. It was only a moment, though, before Fig let the weight of his responsibility go and jumped at her. Everyone got a lunch hour, right?