Shadewood piit ☆

@Cry first, then any others who want to join <3 (sorry just had muse for her!)

kukutux had followed the shaman across the world, it seemed. they had crossed a mountain range, and then another. the great fish he had caught sustained them, but there was little of it left now. wrapping the remains in the rabbitskin, kukutux had carried it across her shoulders as before. 

the land changed, dropping now into a place of waterfalls and beasts she had never before seen. it seemed her eyes were almost beholding the world of spirits, and she thought upon it when they stopped each night. but at last they came to a great stretch of forest, and cry seemed to grow larger before kukutux. this was his land, and she marveled at how large it was.

he led her into the shadows cast by thickly-laced branches, and the girl was happy to stop, wearied by their long trek. yet she was also nervous, and kept close to the man, wondering when his people would arrive.

Should they be properly keeping mind of the area, Cry would not have had to call them to the front of the woods. However he had watched as the end of Morgan’s hide vanished behind the further end of the forest, he chuckled inwardly. Atleast the man was running his circuits, he noted as he smelled the tangled rope of pack claiming just a front the dark path to the woods. The forest itself was rather well insulated due to the snow.
That made it much easier to exist, and for plant life to hibernate much easier than had the entirety of the ground within the woods be covered in snow. Instead it was bare in most parts, some snow piles underneath some massive elms that were holding too much to bear.
Confidently, the Keep Watcher called for his Family with Kukutux beside him. In his song, the firth that poured from his lips as he threw his head back, was @Gwen, the melody of her name the first to set up the symphony to follow, which held @Phex next, should she be home from one of her millions of travels. Hopeful that @Iskra and the elder were here, @Koro Toro was called within the thinner but more resilient stands of baritones that weaved in the howl, and whomever had settled before he had come back. This would include @Morgan, and @Velvet.

And patiently the Keeper of Shadewood waited for Kukutux to get her first and official Welcome into the Family.

Fly byy, if anyone wants to follow Phex *eyes aspiring warriors* she'll be going up the coast again. You can PP Phex as she's there for the few moments, assume she'll invite Morgan or Laroche, because she's kind, before leaving. 

The girl was picking her way from the woods again, this time to expand her horizons along the coast and see who else had made their packs up there. As she was leaving, Cry had returned. Her ears perked at her summoning, and she moved off in the direction, supposing she could leave with a good-bye to Cry; if she could leave.

As she trotted to Cry she looked to the wolf beside him and smiled, letting her tail wave in greeting. She stopped before the pair, "Hey there! I'm Phex," she tilted her head, introducing herself to the newcomer, "I'm now heading out so I guess I'll catch you later." She moved to press her muzzle to Cry's ruff and winked at the newcomer, whose name she stuck around for, before trotting from the borders and again towards the coast.

The keep was not dissimilar to a bee hive in present days - from dawn til dusk there appeared to be a sort of buzz; the hustle and bustle of a growing unit, who were gaining enough of a presence to not be far off staking an official claim. Fathomless cerulean kept careful watch on the goings of the shadewood troupe, but even she could be caught unawares: Cry's summon had her soft ears perk, nose slanting toward the sky before answering with a short song of acknowledgement and slipping through the trees to greet her husband.

The woman was unfamiliar. Instinctively, Gwen sidled up to her shadowed king and bumped his side affectionately, placing a small greeting-kiss at his ebony cheek before allowing her gaze to fully tip in the direction of the newcomer. "Hi there... I'm Gwen. You must be... a new recruit?" she uttered, still idly melting into the man beside her, as though his warmth might seep into her own bones. She had arrived only seconds after Phex began to depart, but took the notion of smiling at her, just in case the girl might catch a glimpse of it before she dissolved into the undergrowth.

Morgan had made arrangements with his woman just prior, and those arrangements had sprawled into him waking up late. Cry had told him to keep up with Phex, as she was their aspiring Ambassador, who happened to have told him day PRIOR that she was heading out to do more on the road. 

Sitting up, bedraggled and smelling like sweat and musk, the brute felt like his energy was both fully spent and fully replenished at the same time. Velvet had some kind of magic to her, and after last night, he began to wonder whether his last name truly was Hex, or was her’s Hex. Stumbling to his fours, he tried to silently stretch as to not wake up that peacefully sleeping succulent succubus who looked too angelic to have been so naughty a few hours ago. 

Shit, he was gonna be late.

He would’ve just left without kissing her, but the damn rogue wasn’t that way, no more. Despite him praying not to wake her, he bent down to give a soft kiss on her cheek before murmuring a gentle rumble of words in his darlin’s ear. “I’ll be back to ya in no time, Vetty.” And with that, the sex-smelling shaggy ruffian was pulling himself out of their cozy den, throwing himself through one of the thinner and least freezing of rivers, and emerge shaking the water free from a thick and darkly rich pelt of living earth. Hoping he had cleaned off the majority of the minx’s moans and kisses off of his fur, Morgan rushed to Phex’s den, calling out for the splotched girl. “Phex! Phex you in dere?” Apparently not, as his gruff voice went unanswered. 

“Shit.” She must’ve just left, as her tracks were rather fresh in the cold ground. They hadn’t smudged around the edges, either. But if he didn’t catch up, Cry wouldn’t be too happy about it. So he dashed out from the main hunk of woods, still shaking water out of himself, and barreled through the clearing. But he saw Phex there in the distance, flying pst the trio of wolves already there. Shit, and there was Cry. Guessing with a new recruit; over half of the folks here were females, anyway. Best not to get caught up with her...he was trying to keep clean on Vetty’s plate. 

Throwing himself through the plain before the woods, he dried out his fur as he fought to catch up with the piebald. As he finally came closer, he realized this meeting probably was his alarm - Cry musta called for em. 
Slowing down a bit, the rider tipped his crown, gave a scrambled ‘mornin’ to his posse leaders before spurring back into a gallop to catch up with Phex. “Why you ain’t rouse me, Phex? I wasn’t that sleep-“ were the last words heard from the pair as they disappeared through the wilds.

kukutux' eyes widened as not one, but three wolves each made an approach. the first was a goldcream woman who was comfortable to touch cry, followed closely by a large, shaggy male swathed in red and black. cry did not seem perturbed that they did not stay before him, and it was the arrival of the third that held kukutux' attention.

robes of pale down and a graceful gait, the one called gwen curved in feminine ways and looked upon the girl with a kind expression. suddenly, painfully aware of her own angular body, the way that cry and his wife touched one another in ways one of her own people would find rudely intimate, the young duck averted her eyes. of course the shaman would not want her! look who was his first wife!

"i am kukutux," she managed, gaze fixed upon the cold ground between her small paws. "i greet you." so soft was her voice that she did not think the first two had heard her, but she would meet them another time.

First Phex had flown past with the speed she had always had. She had come and greeted, gotten the newest Family member’s name, gave her own, and went about her trip with soon a galloping Morgan bulling behind her. A greeting from him as well as he made good on Cry’s asking of him. It took wonders to keep up with Phex, and Morgan was doing a rather good job of it.

But his wife was who stole his breath, firstly with her commanding essence and ethereal beauty, and secondly with the warmth she drowned him in with those uncannily blue jewels. She drifted to the pair, and Kukutux had almost vanished from his mind right then and there as Cry had to remember how to breathe, again. It wasn’t until she revived him with a touch, a kiss, her breath, that he could find himself paying attention to his duty. 

Cry took what Gwen had gifted him, giving a grateful rub of the side of his cheek against her immaculate crown. Kukutux’s voice picked his ear to swivel and his snout followed as he planned to introduce her. Dumbly, he had come to the reality that Kukutux had introduced herself already. Gwen had his mind in a blizzard! 

“She is”, he confirmed with a swift nod to the enrapturing Empress. “She is very skilled.” A roll of eyes with a slightly swiveled neck indicated to the meats upon their back. “I’ve never seen of this, before. It is called ‘curing’?” He turned a questioning gaze to the humble pale blond beside him. It was all very new to him.

Iskra was a little late, to be sure of it.

Scratch that, she was a lot late but she would get there, better late than never. The woods were full with the hush of winter, snow thick enough to trap even the brightest of sounds and even the tone of the wind whistling through the trees felt muted, almost as if heard from underwater. It was an auspicious night to encounter a new pack member and indeed, the full moon would greet them soon enough.

She soon came across @Cry, ebony coat soot-dark against the snow, even in the full gloom of night lit only by a sliver of the moon-- and a stranger, a woman, Iskra thinks. "Evening tidings, Cry." She dipped her head down in a quick note of respect, before turning her attentions to their new companion. "Welcome, newcomer! It's an auspicious night to join our band and we are thrilled to have you here. If you ever have need of my healing services, I'm usually on the run somewhere!"

His touch was what melted the ice in her steps, the shielded barrier of steel, drowning into liquid and washed away by his warmth - before being reunited with the shadow king, she'd reverted to her ghosting nature, drifting to and fro with the breath of the wind but never slowing to allow another inside, never stopping to reveal her weaknesses or permit the breaking of her walls. With Cry, everything was different.

She'd be damned if he ever split from her side.

"Kukutux," she repeated, intruiged by the foreign name. "Welcome." The empress gave a slight incline of her alabaster chin, though shifted forward to lightly touch her nose against the woman's shoulder in greeting. Iskra's appearance threatened another smile from Gwen, who cast a friendly gaze in the pale agouti's direction - the shadewood felt truly like home now, filled with warm souls and working paws, a capable family, a perfect team. But... in truth, home would be wherever her husband was.

a gently marked woman stepped toward the trio, but did not give her name. yet her words were light, and kukutux wished very much that she could relax. with gwen so close, however, the girl could not. so assured was this woman with eyes of twilight — the tired duck could never hope to come close.

cry made mention of their burdens, and kukutux wished he had kept silent. the meat was not cured well, for they had been traveling. yet the note of pride in the shaman's voice soothed her inner heart. lowering her eyes after gwen had touched her, the girl glanced toward the third wolf who had joined them, wondering. "thank you," came her low murmur to both cry's mate and her new cohort.

a great exhaustion stole over kukutux now, and her gaze darted to cry, a quick flash of emerald that begged to be led to a sleeping place for the night. she must rest and prepare herself for what was to come.

Cry nearly felt her exhaustion seep into his owm body...unless he too was tired? It had been a while since he had been able to fully rest, and now that he was in a trusted place, a safe spot to rest himself completely, he would relish it while he could, himself. He surely couldn't be getting oo old to travel long distances now, could he? The swift cut of emeralds hit a clash against his glacial gaze and it depressed his energy further.
There was work to be done.

"It's been a journey; Kukutus might need to be shown where the dens are, Iskra, if you could?" Pulling the slices of fish from his back, Cry gently draped them over @Iskra's capable shoulders for her to carry with Kukutux in case the northern fae thought to cure them, as well. Taking a step away from the subtle woman and his packmate, Cry nuzzled Gwen's shoulder as though the simple gesture could simply erase the looming fog. "I am rather spent, myself- I should rest."