Hideaway Strath a catastrophe of ingredients

perhaps a member of tgl roarke hasn't met yet? @Jhala, @Reek, @August, @Rollo, @Tapat? there's no obligation, of course! :-)

The few times that Arturo has taken Roarke out on patrols he has stuck to a very specific trail and a small section of the borders. To the winter’s bane this small little area he is allowed to venture is stale and playing sentry is boring to him. He understands the necessity as best he can — as Ceannasach has drilled it into his head — but Roarke finds no joy in the task and when he and siblings are summoned by Ceannasach to go to the borders he lets out a low groan and hangs his head. He does not want to walk and pee along the borders. He wants to fight! The pale Fearghal prince does not heed his father’s summons. He makes as if he is going to join the coywolf but half way from the rendezvous den and the section of borders — they have already walked and peed upon just the other day! — Roar pauses and takes a mischievous glint to his multi-hued gaze as milky blue transitions to fierce and chilling glacial blue. He does not think he has long before another sibling also answers the invitation and he does not particularly wish to be apprehended.

He darts into the bushes and wiggles his way through them before he takes to the Strath outside the trail. It spills out before him like land yet uncharted and Roarke lets out a lopsided grin as begins to explore the Strath, presuming he is relatively safe. He knows the Strath is a large territory — certainly larger than the little bit that he and his siblings have thus been allowed to explore — and he knows there are wolves in Teaghlaigh besides Arturo, Lotte, Chusi and Hemlock and he sets off on his mission to find what and who he can.

jhala was off trying to make herself useful in new ways, since for once border patrol was making her feel sort of sad. what a weird feeling. instead she was trying to go hunting, but hadn't found any decent scent trails within the territory. she'd go outside, but she was too afraid that her baby would follow her and then forget why he left the territory and become lost once again. the risk was too high, she'd rather stay inside the territory. some other time, maybe.

eventually, she stumbled upon a different scent, that of a different child. her nose twitched, trying to decide if it was with an adult, and then began meandering towards it. all was probably fine-- however old the child was it was surely safe to be out in the territory... but jhala had to make sure. lotte did mention how dangerous the territory would be.

a small white snowflake was soon spotted clear as day a few yards in front of her. curious, she gave a playful woof and tilted her head, trying to grab the little suckers attention.

thank you for joining! ♥

The sound of a jocund woof broke the relative silence that had cocooned the little lion as he aims to take in unexplored territory of the Strath with observant eyes. In fact, he is so focused on mapping the relatively new sights that he gives a start. Ears slick back to his skull and does not hesitate to spin around and lets out a low warning growl as his hybrid milky and glacial gaze falls upon the stranger. For a split second, Roarke does not remember that he is smol and hardly the rapacious Spinesplitter he fancies himself to be. The winter’s bane is not yet so fearsome. Despite that winter’s bane pulls himself up to full height he is reminded that he is a pudgy fluff ball but does not keep the truth from holding his ground. It is a grand illusion the young tundrian will see to reality. Someday.

There is nothing in her posture that says she poses a threat and Roarke’s hostile nature relaxes a bit. He pads closer to her, tail wagging behind him like a banner of a victorious army, weary of her for the moment. He takes the liberty of sniffing her when he is close enough, picking up the strong scent of Teaghlaigh — and others he does not recognize — but she is apart of The Family, he deduces. The agouti woman’s woof has initiated play and he is tempted to release his characteristic roar and play attack her (as wrestling is his favorite thing to play) but remembers Arturo’s push in formalities lately. The coywolf is beginning to sound like a broken record but at least it aids Roarke in remembering that introductions come first. He takes a few steps back and cants his head back to look up at her, studying her. “I’m Roar,” He introduces himself with a lopsided, charming grin, tail wagging in an amiable manner now that he has assessed her for himself. “Wanna wrestle?” And before he lets her get in a breath edgewise he adds, “Or ‘splore?” in a rapid fire manner that articulates the speed of his thoughts. It does not even occur to him that she may drag him back to the rendezvous den or to his father for the lesson he has skipped out on.

if jhala had put two and two together, she might've brought him back right then and there-- but the sound of the call she'd heard earlier had washed clean from her mind by now. it wasn't for her-- why bother? she eyed the kid as he eyed her, noting how seriously he appeared to be sizing her up. she wasn't the tiniest bit afraid of the small pup, amused, maybe. she waited patiently and silently for the boy to finish his scowling, lightening up and immediately falling into a play position. jhala grinned.

"i'm jhala," she returned, tail waving, "and i'd love to wrestle with you, roar." she dropped into a play position, a bow that she had used on her own two kiddos time and time again. astik of course took it a little more seriously than tapat had, always picking up on the moves and remembering them for later use. tapat, on the other hand, just did a lot of tackling and then crying... but that was besides the point. she assumed this little guy, striking her as very headstrong and bossy, would want the first move, so she made no attempts to take that from him.

Jhala. The name does not strike the young winter’s bane with any sort of familiarity, but he does not expect it to. He spends a moment lingering upon her name, repeating it in his mind though he is not sure he would be able to attempt to speak it. It sounds so …exotic to him, unaware that his own name in it’s fullness may sound exotic to others. Her name is temporarily forgotten — as is the fact that he is skipping out on lessons — when she agrees to wrestle with him. Roarke begins to prance in place, tail wagging so hard that he nearly knocks himself off balance, rolling his weight to the opposite side at the last second to keep from tumbling to the ground. She drops into a play bow and his tail stills as he assess her. She has the very distinct advantage of being much larger than him but he far from bothered by such odds. Everything could be felled — and Roarke was discovering through trial and error that it all depended on his opponents weakness and his willingness to exploit it. He tries not to be analytical, though, because this is for fun! “Raaaaahhh!” He lets out his characteristic roar of a battle cry and rushes at her jaws agape as he aims to shoot past her and attack one of her exposed back legs.

When Arturo makes the call to greet him near the borders, Mallaidh is the first on her feet and on her way. Occasionally she glances back to see the others follow along, excited to spend more time working and following in her father’s footsteps. She doesn’t know where the drive comes from, and she wonders why the others don’t have it—especially Roarke—but she focuses on her own tasks. If she paid attention to the others as much as she did herself, there’d be no time for improvement!
 
Her brows knit together as two of her siblings rush forward and she slows down, looking over her shoulder to no longer see her brother. Mallaidh narrows her eyes a little and she back pedals a step or two before pivoting all the way around and retreats the way she’d came until her younger brother’s scent is back in her path.
 
It deviates from the initial trail and she worms her way through the brush until the scent of another catches her attention. With ears cupped forward, nose flaring, she pops out of the other side of the clearing to see her brother charge at a wolf she does not recognize. Her eyes widen in surprise and she reacts quickly, rushing forward to give her brother a paw of help in taking down their opponent.

i am SO sorry for the delay, please forgive me <3

roar didn't seem to care so much for introductions. as soon as jhala agreed to a friendly spar, he was rushing her with tiny teeth. good for him! jhala loved a good, feisty pup-- it showed potential. maybe she'd find him to be a good border buddy. already in a playbow, jhala was about as ready as she'd ever be for a three month old attack. he rushed right past her! jhala was somewhat caught off guard, assuming his first shot would be to headbutt her chest (like tapat would do when they played)-- clever kid! or maybe not, considering she was comparing him to tapat (bless his heart). her best maneuver was a horse kick and rotate, which left her in another bow facing him again. she'd felt the sharp (but soft) knick of puppy-teeth, but he didn't get to latch on!

her tail was still wagging as she waited for the kid to make another move when, suddenly, out of the corner of her eye she spotted another tiny child making a beeline towards her-- and it looked unhappy. her attention was fully locked on that kid, an opening to roar (not that she was truly worried about leaving herself vulnerable to a toddler).

it's alright! ♥ also oops.

His attack misses! Or it connects but it is only a partial (perhaps even a sliver of an) attack and his teeth just scrapes against Jhala’s flesh. Roarke lets out a low noise of discontent as he attempts to regroup as she kicks out — not unlike an equestrian would — and spins to face him once more in a playful bow. He seeks to charge her again only to pause as a dark streak darting out from rustling bushes catches his eye. Mallaidh had found him — or perhaps followed, he isn’t very sure — and is not rushing to come to his aid. As his sister steals Jhala’s attention and focus Roarke sees the woman is open for attack but he is suddenly crestfallen. Because Molly has found him, for one, and because he now thinks that Jhala will forever think him as weak because he has to have his sister fight his battles for him. Roarke sort of …deflates and his shoulders slump as his ears slick back to rest against his skull. The fire of fight is stolen from him and in it’s empty wake leaves Roarke with a miasma of emotions that he struggles to process: jealousy, annoyance, and a smart that he will, in time, learn is a bruised ego despite that these thoughts (of Jhala presuming him weak and thinking he cannot spar with her on his own namely) are of his own creation and until proven otherwise remain his own assumptions. He turns his back to them with an audible huff and attempts to slink away and lick his proverbial wounds and pout like the petulant child that he is.

Mallaidh doesn’t have eyes for anything except the woman trying to eat her brother but she’s been spotted well before she’d gotten close—something she’ll evaluate later. Too far into the attack, however, she’s forced to follow through and she launches at the other with wide, open jaws full of very sharp puppy teeth. She does not realize Roarke has settled on the sidelines, pouting, for she’s far too busy being the protector. Arturo told her to eat those that cause harm and, well, she looks a little big but she’s certain she can do it.

before long, the tiny fur ball was almost to her-- and jhala realized she was not backing down. the mama bear let out a quick yip and backpedaled from the child, somewhat amused but also worried she'd get one of her legs gnawed off. "roar is this one of your siblings??" she asked quickly, trying to make the kiddo realize that it was all for fun-- she was not an intruder... this time, anyway. "i'm jhala! i live her!" she added, trying to block off any other attacks with a large paw, aiming to push the child away best she could.

last post for me & roarlil! :-)

Roarke’s escape is halted, if only for a moment, as Jhala calls out to him. He glimpses over his shoulder at where Molly is trying to attack Jhala and Jhala tries to defend herself and lets out a loud, frustrated huff. “She’s my sister.” Roarke offers but his mood is ruined and all he wants to do is pout (over a misunderstanding that is his own) and scowl at his growing bone collection. So, he does not linger. While he thinks both Jhala and Molly are preoccupied with one another he slips into the underbrush and heads back to the king sequoia to worry at his favorite bone of the moment.

She catches her brother from the corner of her eye as she sets her attack on Jhala who barely gets away from her attack. The defeated she’s my sister gives her enough answer that she slows to a stop, realizing what has taken place. Awkwardly, she stands there and watches her brother leave and the woman explain who she is. Mallaih gives her one scrutinizing look, determining whether or not to believe her, before she bounces off and follows after her brother. Occasionally, she looks back over her shoulder but she stalks along behind him.